For beautifully crafted makeup accessories, Anna Sui is by far and away the best in the business. Back in December, I received their Beauty Mirror L as a surprise going away gift.
Framed by Anna Sui's signature rose and butterfly motifs, the mirror is generously sized, standing at 10.8 inches tall and 8.5 inches wide. Made in Japan, the mirror feels quite weighty and has a decent width so it does not feel flimsy at all.
The hook allows you to adjust the chain and the angle of the mirror as you like.
The Beauty Mirror L was a limited edition item from last year's holiday collection. According to Maddy Loves, it was previously released in 2003. I'm not sure if it is still available at the counters in Singapore, where it was priced around S$91 (versus 6030yen in Japan). If you are in the US, it is still available on Urban Outfitters for US$58.
I keep the mirror on top of my Muji drawers, which holds the bulk of my makeup stash.
The Muji 6-drawer chests are perfect for organising makeup products as they come with adjustable dividers. They are very sturdy and easy to clean. Two of these are more than four years old and they still show no sign of wear and tear. Each costs S$56, which seems expensive but considering the number of years they will last you, they are a worthwhile investment. Toyogo offers much cheaper storage alternatives but nothing as functional and well-designed as this.
The Maquia editor tweeted these pics of Anna Sui's next summer collection debuting on 26 April in Japan. It's a pirates-themed collection, hence the skull and crossbones motif on the two palettes which contain eye and lip colors in sunset and lagoon-inspired combinations.
The nailpolishes come in a pretty treasure chest-like case.
Details in the mailer below.
Benefit's newest Hervana blush (S$46; 8g) will be released in Singapore in February. It's a beautiful swirl of four shades (shell, peach, rose and berry) that blends together for a pleasing orchid blossom hue.
Check out the reviews and swatches on Scrangie, Beaut.ie, Vampy Varnish, Karlasugar
In addition, Benefit has lowered their prices in Singapore so that it's more aligned with the rest of the region. Judging by the price of Hervana alone, there's still quite a gap with the US retail price of US$28 (about S$36) but it's much better than the price in France (€32, about S$52). I don't have information on the new prices, but you can check easily at their counters in Sephora, Takashimaya, Robinsons Raffles City or Tangs Orchard.
Being a long-time collector of Stila palettes, especially those featuring the Stila Girls illustrations, I couldn't resist picking up the two Ulta-exclusive palettes that were released last October. Like the five Beach Palettes released last year, these retailed for US$14 each. They are no longer available on Ulta but I thought I'd review them anyway.
Stila has been releasing so many palettes exclusive to various retailers such as Macys and Nordstrom, that I've given up on being able to collect all of them. There was even a Glam and Glitz palette offered as part of Sephora's Black Friday sale. The last straw was their recent release of three Nordstrom Rack-exclusive palettes that were essentially a re-packaging of the Travel Palettes released back in 2010 (see reviews on Vampy Varnish and Nouveau Cheap). I disliked the Convertible Colors in those palettes, so it's not worth trying to buy them off Ebay just for the cute cover illustrations.
Like the Beach Palettes, 'Tis The Season to Dazzle and A Few of My Favorite Things each contain four powder eyeshadows, a cheek color and Kitten bronzing powder. While Kitten may be Stila's most famous shade, it's a bit of a waste to include it in both palettes as one can only use so much of a frosty highlighter!
When I first opened up 'Tis The Season to Dazzle, I was captivated by Wrapping, which looks like a complex blackened purple with violet shimmer. Sadly, the violet shimmer is for the most part, too subtle to be noticeable when applied. I wonder if Star and Candle were mis-named as Star is a flat pale beige that disappears into my skin while Candle is a metallic beige. Tinsel is a greyish taupe with silver sparkles.
The blush in Cheer has the worst color payoff I've ever encountered from Stila. It was virtually impossible to pick up any color no matter how many times I ran my brush across it. Even swatching it with my fingertip took several tries. While I liked the cover design, the quality control on the production of this palette was lacking. The rest of the shades in the palette, except for Star, had decent payoff.
These swatches done on bare skin without any primer underneath. Most consisted of two to three layers to get the shades to show up well.
A Few of My Favorite Things is a peach and brown combination that works well for the daytime. Most of the shades had pretty good color payoff although Chocolate and Marshmallow feel dry and slightly dusty to touch.
Again, while I love the cover illustration, the eyeshadows and blushes don't appeal to me that much. The shimmer that you see in the swatches is actually much less obvious under most lighting conditions.
Here's the look that I did with 'Tis The Season to Dazzle.
For this look, my skin is very blotchy with a lot of redness as I'm not wearing any foundation or powder, as I was still trying to let my skin recover from the recent bout of eczema. (Thanks to everyone who shared their experience and recommendations with regard to eczema! After using the Avene Cold Cream for a few days, my skin is now back to normal.)
Here's the look that I did today with A Few of My Favorite Things.
For this look, I'm also wearing Rouge Bunny Rouge Milk Aquarelle Liquid Foundation, which was part of my recent Zuneta.com order. The shade 025 Almond Milk Parfait turned out to be an excellent match for my skintone. It helped to even out my skintone although it did not cover blemishes and pigmentation marks completely. The satin finish felt lightweight and it didn't oxidise over more than eight hours of wear. My skin needed blotting about every three hours, which is pretty good for me (but in general, my skin requires much less blotting in this dry winter climate than in Singapore's humid tropical weather). I'll post a more detailed review after I've tested it out a few more times.
