The Boxing Day sales are off to a roaring start here in London. I hadn't planned to shop much on this trip but still, it was difficult to resist picking up a few bargains.
At Fenwick's, I snagged the last Clinique Taste of Honey coffret (£20; originally £30) of four Almost Lipsticks in Black Honey, Luscious Honey, Shy Honey and Flirty Honey, as well as the final bottle of Shu Uemura UV Under Base Mousse Tsuya from the Karl Lagerfeld collection (£16; originally £29).
The Laura Mercier Petite Baked Eye Color Trio in Golden Metallics was marked down to £10, half of its original price.
At Space.NK, I picked up the Stila Seeing Stars Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner Set for £12.50, also 50% off the original price. That works out to just £2.50 per eyeliner.
At House of Fraser, I picked up a couple of Biba tops.
Plus a Ted Baker bag at 30% off.
Stocked up on my favourite Cranberry range at the Body Shop. The shower gel was dirt cheap at just £2 while the hand soap was £2.50.
The coup de grace was finding the Lush Wonderful Christmas Time gift box at Victoria station for 50% off. In the UK, Lush holds a sale only once a year that starts on Boxing Day with their holiday collection and gifts all at half price. Their gift boxes usually sell out incredibly fast so I was ecstatic to discover this. Another Lush store that I visited in Reading on Boxing Day had completely sold out of the gift sets.
My husband has been buying this for me the past couple of years. So glad we decided not to purchase this earlier before Christmas!
Nestled amidst a sea of packaging peanuts are 24 of the limited edition holiday products. It's a generous bounty that can last me well until next Christmas, judging by past experience.
Santa's Sack Bubble Bar.
Sandy Santa Sugar Scrub.
Rocket Reusable Bubble Bar
This winter in London has been one of interminable rain but nevertheless, it's been wonderful being able to spend time with my family in one of my favourite cities and re-charge for the new year. Hope you've had a lovely Christmas as well!
Recently, I ordered the Laura Mercier Mini Lip Glacé Collection in Rich Berries (US$48) from Nordstrom. There is another set in Soft Nudes but that looked too pale and sheer for my liking. I prefer lipglosses that give a healthy pop of color.
Rich Berries is somewhat of a misnomer as the shades are predominantly pink-toned rather than true berry hues. Each mini lip glace is 2.8g/0.1oz, which is pretty decent. I like the chic, compact packaging which is the perfect size for popping into even the tiniest purses.
The slanted doe foot sponge applicator pulls out of the tube with just the right amount of gloss at the tip for one lip, so usually I need to re-dip once or twice for one application.
From left to right: Violet, Rose, Sangria, Cerise and Brownberry.
Only Cerise is a cream shade without any shimmer particles. Violet is the most shimmery of the lot. I'm not a fan of the oddly artificial scent but once applied, it does not bother me.
I love the glossy, non-sticky texture of these lip glaces as they do not pool in fine lines or feather. While not as highly shiny as YSL Glossy Stains, they usually last a good three hours on my lips, eventually fading to a soft stain. They do transfer easily onto cups and require touch-ups after a meal. Cerise is shown in the pic below.
The pic below shows Sangria, my favourite shade in the set.
Made in the USA, I think the Rich Berries Lip Glacé set makes a perfect gift for a friend or for yourself for this holiday season. All the shades are easily wearable with a feminine grace and there is enough variety in the set to keep things interesting.
First 100 customers to have a Flawless Face demo at the Tangs counter will receive a travel-sized Tinted Moisturiser. Details in the emailer below. My top Laura Mercier recommendation would be their Caviar Sticks.
Discover Laura Mercier's secrets to a Flawless Face, and receive a sample of their Foundation Primer at Sephora stores in Singapore, from now until 29 August.
I received my haul from Kate Somerville and Nordstrom.com today, shipped via Borderlinx again.
Kate Somerville had a year-end special in which they were giving away their famous ExfoliKate (US$85) with purchases of US$200. while Nordstrom was offering an 18-piece GWP with any US$85 beauty purchase.
From Kate, I purchased the 9!! Kit (US$116), the Micro Glycolic Polisher (US$90) and EradiKate (US$22). Somerville is supposed to be the facialist to the stars in Los Angeles.
From Nordstrom, I got the Clinique Turnaround Radiance Peel (US$55), DDF Glycolic 10% Exfoliating Oil Control Gel (US$48), Sulfur Therapeutic Mask (US$38) and Glycolic 10% Toning Complex (US$35). It seems like many members of MUA swear by DDF skincare for combating acne so I was interested to try out some of its products.
I was also curious about the Clinique peel, which comes with 8 vials of a low-level (30%) glycolic peel and a tube of Calming Cream. Clinique will be launching the Turnaround' Instant Facial in Singapore in February but not the Radiance Peel.
The GWP that came with my Nordstrom order. The pouch is nothing special but the samples in it are pretty awesome with a good mix of fragrances, skincare and makeup products. It had Annick Goutal Gardenia Passion EDT (1.75ml), True Religion EDP (1.57ml), Viva La Juicy EDP, Prada Infusion D'Homme EDT, Philosophy Amazing Grace Perfumed Firming Body Emulsion 15ml, L'Occitane Ultra Rich Cream 8ml, Lancome Renergie MIcrolift Night 2g, Lancome Renergie Microlift Superior Lifting Cream SPF15 2g, Lippmann Stripper to go (lacquer remover finger mitt), ZO Skinhealthy Oclipse Sunscreen Primer SPF30 4ml, Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel 3ml, Clinique High Impact Mascara, Laura Mercier Mulberry Lip Stain, Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals Face Color in Glee, Kinerase Extreme Lift Face 7ml and a pack of Shiseido cotton pads.
I love receiving perfume sample vials! Even though I already have too many to count, these are a great way to try out a fragrance without committing to the full size.
Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals Face Color in Glee (.02oz) which is a medium rosy pink which looks like it'd be a great everyday blush shade. The .03oz retails for US$18 normally so this alone makes the GWP quite valuable!
Laura Mercier Mulberry Lip Stain. This comes in a smaller pot than the normal retail size but the net weight is actually the same (0.21oz) which means the retail value is US$20. Another great value item! Hopefully, I'll actually get around to using it out of my mountain of lippies.
Once again, Borderlinx was very fast in despatching my package to me. I asked for the shipment to be released on Tuesday and on Friday morning, I received it! As I had a US$5 discount code, I paid only S$36.10 (US$23.92) for shipping, which I felt was very reasonable considering the number of items in my orders which came in two fairly sizeable boxes. With this shipment, I probably don't need to buy any more skincare for the rest of the year :-)
Thought I would review some of the stuff that I had received earlier this week :-)
Cynthia Rowley for Avon Lip Gloss
This is described as a "sheer super-shaping, gleaming, glossy color with SPF 15. Maxi-moisturizing formula with vitamins A, C and E and jojoba oil for the smoothest definition and lip-magnifying shine." I'm happy to say that the lipgloss does live up to that description. It goes on smoothly and gives a nice glossy, moisturising finish that lasted quite well. I got this in Plum Orchid and Very Violet. I used them over the Plum Orchid Lipstick. Very Violet lipgloss turned the lipstick a lighter shade of pinky violet while Plum Orchid intensified the original plummy mauvce color with added shine. And the wonderful thing is that these are only $4.50! These are definitely worth the price and more!
Cynthia Rowley for Avon Lipstick
I got only one of these in Plum Orchid. On the website, it's described as "sheer creamy color. Moisturizing formula with vitamin E." It does go on quite creamy and can be easily layered for greater intensity or sheered out with your finger for a light berry tint that looks like you've been eating raspberries. It comes in a short fat tube that's sturdy enough to just throw in your bag and go. And again, it's super affordable at only US$4.50! These go fantastically well with the lipglosses so I would recommend snapping up both if you can.
Cynthia Rowley for Avon Eyeshadow Quad
I also got this is Plum Orchid. I got this mostly because of the cute packaging. For only US$8, I was not expecting much of the eyeshadows but these actually turned out to be quite decent with medium color payoff. It does have to be layered a few times for the level of intensity that I like. The shade are flattering and easy to blend.
Tarte Natural Beauty Cheek Stain
On the Sephora website, the Natural Beauty Cheek Stain picture shows a domed top like Tarte's other cheek stains but the one I received had a flat top without the usual accompanying plastic cap. The great thing about this cheek stain is that it is preservative-free and does not contain parabens (Tarte's regular cheek stains usually contain propylparaben) but then it also only has a shelf-life of 6 months marked on the packaging. In terms of the color, Natural Beauty is the most similar to Flush, the very first cheek stain that Tarte launched. On me, it's a sheer cherry red that looks quite natural as long as you use a light hand.
Tarte We Wish Happiness Mini Cheekstain Set
I really adore this! It's my favourite out of all the mini cheekstain sets that I've purchased. All the shades are easy to wear with great color payoff and no gritty bits. Enchanted is the lightest shade but still shows up as a lovely pink tint. Merry is a brighter rose tint. The little purple case is also super adorable.
Some other products that I'm using regularly now:
Laura Mercier Kohl Eye Pencil
I got this in Black Turquoise and Black Gold (from the fally 2007 Stormy collection) back in New York in August. These were US$19 each and I have to say they're worth every cent and more. Before getting these, I was actually not a regular user of eye pencils as I find them too time-consuming and it was difficult to find one with just the right texture that was not too hard and not too easily smudged. The Laura Mercier Kohl Eye Pencils strike just the right balance. They are soft enough to be applied easily without any fuss, a dream to blend and they last well without creasing. I've been using these virtually daily. I love the Black Gold as a liner along the lower lashline and also at the inner corners of the upper eyelids for added sparkle and complexity. Black Turquoise goes well with blue or green eyeshadow shades. I've been using these daily for more than 3 weeks and still haven't had to sharpen these once so I think they will probably last a really long time!
Jill Stuart Powder Foundation
This is not holy grail material for me but It's not bad too. The color match is good (I wear #101 Linen) and it is quite easy to apply and blend to a natural finish. But if you have any dry or flakey patches of skin, this foundation will accentuate them. It lasts quite well over several hours of wear but I need to blot several times as my skin gets very oily. Overall, I still prefer Revue's powder foundations (e.g. Essence In and Still Keep) as they give me a more flawless finish with better coverage of skin redness, pores and acne scars.
