Paul & Joe Website update

The Paul & Joe website has been updated with the spring "Parasol" collection. According to my SA, the collection may arrive in Singapore only after Chinese New Year (which falls on 3 February). For the Isetan Private Sale today, all Paul & Joe regular items will be at 20% discount.

The special website for the spring collection can be viewed here while the new wallpaper can be downloaded here. The Face Color Kit (with the box and furoshiki cloth) that will be released in Japan on 4 February is not listed on the English and French websites so it could well be Japan-exclusive.

Quite bizarrely, instead of using one of the prints from the new spring collection, Paul & Joe Japan will be giving away this cat print pouch and tissue case with purchase of 8400yen in Japan starting from 4 February. This print was featured in the Bonbon Factory collection from Spring 2008.

Sale at Sephora

Passed by the Sephora store in Ion Orchard today and saw that they had a small post-Christmas sale going on. Some of the items on offer include Hourglass brushes, Veil Fluid Makeup and Illusion Tinted Moisturizer which are at 30% off. Hourglass eyeshadow duos and lipsticks are buy one, get one free. Other sale items include Too Faced Galaxy Glam eyeshadows and lipsticks, and Pop Beauty nail polishes. The Mineral Flowers and Babies Only skincare lines are 20% off. Nothing by Urban Decay, MUFE, Soap & Glory or Benefit on sale, as far as I could see.

Stila Make An Impression In Moscow

Make An Impression In Moscow, the fourth in the Stila Collectible Travel Palette series, seemed boring at first, compared to Trendsetting in Tokyo and Fabulous in Fiji. However, after wearing it a couple of times, I've grown to like it. It's the kind of palette that I'd reach for on a day when I don't want to mess around with too bright or dramatic shades but without resorting to boring neutrals.

The four powder eyeshadows all have a lovely shimmery finish without any chunky glitter or overt frostiness. The shades are Matryoschka (peach-toned beige), Chill (pale sky blue), Nadia (orange copper), and Mink (medium brown).

Of the four, Chill surprised me by being the most pigmented. The rest had pretty good colour payoff as well. The Convertible Color in Lily is again too sheer on me. I wish that they had dispensed with the Convertible Color and included another two or four eyeshadows in its place as I just have no use for the Convertible Colors. Still, I can't complain too much as these palettes cost a mere US$10 a piece, and you do get four very wearable eyeshadows in them.


Using Urban Decay Primer Potion as the base all over the lid, I applied Matryoshka as a wash over the browbone area down to the inner corners, Chill over the eye socket area, Nadia as an accent just above the outer half of the crease and Mink at the outer corners. Then I finished by lining the upper eyelid with Shiseido Automatic Fine Eyeliner BK901 and applying Visee Wide Impact (Curl Long) mascara in BK002 Blue Black.

Chill adds a nice pop of colour and helps to make the eyes look more awake, without being too loud. I was worried that Nadia would look too orange-toned but it turned out to be a nice accent shade that complemented Mink quite well.

The other products I used today were Maquillage Stick Foundation UV Pink Ochre 10, Cosme Decorte AQ Face Powder N 001, Dior Skinflash, K-Palette Real Lasting Eyebrow 02, Beauté de Kosé Rouge Fantasist PK809 Carmine Pink and Esprique Precious Gradation Layer Cheeks 01 Coral Red.

And that finally concludes my reviews of the six Travel Palettes! I'm going to miss collecting these palettes, but hopefully Stila will continue to release more interesting palettes in 2011, with these Stila Girl illustrations. Hope it hasn't been too boring for those of you who are not Stila fans.

Laneige Spring 2011

UrCosme.com has posted the ad visual and product pics of the Laneige '60s-inspired Spring 2011 makeup collection.

Stila Trendsetting in Tokyo

Trendsetting in Tokyo was the third in the Stila Collectible Travel Palette series.

The palette contains Sakura Convertible Color (bright pink) and four powder eyeshadows in Sake (beige with shimmer), Kawai (shimmery bubblegum pink), Shibuya (matte blue), and Peace Sign (black with silver shimmer).

For this look, I used Beauté de Kosé Eye Fantasist GR750 Dressed Leaf all over the lids as the base. I applied Sake over the browbone area as the highlight and at the inner corners, Kawai from the inner corners to the middle of the lid and along the lower lashline, Shibuya in the middle of the lid and Peace Sign at the outer corners of the upper and lower lashlines. Blending Shibuya on top of Kawai helps to bring out the purple tone in Shibuya.

I finished by applying Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner and Visee Wide Impact (Curl Long) mascara BK002 Blue Black.

All the four eyeshadows have fairly good colour payoff with only Peace Sign causing some powdery fallout on my under eye area during the application process. Sake, Kawai and Peace Sign apply with more of a soft pearl glimmer rather than bright metallic shine. The Sakura Convertible Color did not work well on me as it felt greasy and applied very sheer. Nevertheless, Trendsetting in Tokyo is one of my favourite palettes in this series. The beige, pink and black shades are fairly easy to dupe, but the inclusion of the matte blue shade allows one to create some interesting combinations.

The other products I used were Josie Maran Tinted Moisturizer in Creme, Cosme Decorte AQ Face Powder N 001, Dior Skinflash, K-Palette Real Lasting Eyebrow 02, Beauté de Kosé Rouge Fantasist RO602 Imperial Fuschia and Esprique Precious Gradation Layer Cheeks 01 Coral Red.

You can see the other looks that I did with Road to Radiance Across the USA, Pretty in Paris, Fabulous in Fiji, and Adventurous in Aspen. I was hoping that Stila would continue this Travel Palette series but instead, they've just launched three Stila for E! Live from the Red Carpet palettes. Each palette retails for US$25 and contains 6 eyeshadows, 1 convertible color and Kitten All Over Shimmer Powder. The palettes also come with either a mini mascara, lipglaze or eyeliner. The shade combinations don't really appeal to me so I probably will be skipping those.

Liberty 2011 Spring & Summer Mooks

According to the TKJ brand mook website, there will be two Liberty mooks released in the second half of January! The official name of the mook is "Liberty Print 2011 spring＆summer style" in "1 Tatum" and "2 Poppy & Daisy". No pics are available yet. This is probably to coincide with the Liberty spring fair campaign that will see several Japanese fashion brands releasing Liberty print items. You can read about the first Liberty mook that was released in in March here. Can't wait for these to arrive at Kino!

Kenzoki Milky Rice Body Scrub

Yesterday being Christmas, I decided to break out the Kenzoki Milky Rice Body Scrub. I had purchased this a few months ago but decided to save it for a special occasion while I finish up my other body scrubs.

With just one use, I have to say that I am completely and unreservedly smitten. It is simply heavenly. The scrub is part of Kenzoki's Sensual range which has a soothing rice steam scent with a subtle sweet milkiness.

The scrub looks like porridge and has just the perfect creamy consistency without being too watery. The scrubby bits provide just the right amount of exfoliation and do not feel harsh or too abrasive. The scrubby bits also don't melt away. I didn't like the Jill Stuart Sugar Body Scrub as the sugar bits melt away too fast, giving you less than a minute of scrubbing action.

The scrub also rinses off easily without leaving any greasy residue. Not only did it leave my skin extra soft and scented with the subtle rice fragrance, my skin also felt well moisturised without the need to apply a separate body lotion. Compared to Lush Buffy Body Butter which is also a moisturising and exfoliating scrub to be used in the shower, Buffy was more intensively hydrating and left my skin feeling slightly oily. For Singapore's hot and humid climate, the Kenzoki Milky Rice Body Scrub feels much more comfortable. I was also impressed by the fact that when I woke up the next morning (about 10 hours later), my skin still had that silky soft and hydrated feeling.

Here's the product description and explanation of the key ingredients in the scrub like plant water, rice wax and rice powder.




Here's the ingredients list. The body scrub is made in France and the box is printed with a shelf life of 18 months.

The Milky-Rice Body Scrub normally retails at S$68 for 200ml, which makes it a very pricey indulgence but after using it, I think it's definitely worth treating yourself to it once in a while. The best time to purchase it is during Metro's 20% storewide sales as the Kenzo counters give a direct 20% discount during these sales. You can find the Kenzoki skincare line at Metro Paragon, Robinsons (Raffles City & Centrepoint) as well as Takashimaya.

Stila Adventurous in Aspen

Adventurous in Aspen is a new Stila Travel Palette that is exclusive to Sephora. Stila had earlier put out five of these Travel Palettes, starting with Road to Radiance Across The USA and ending with Fabulous in Fiji. Adventurous in Aspen (US$10) came as a nice "bonus" surprise of sorts, and naturally I had to get it to complete my collection.


I liked the thoughtful inscription inside under the mirror. Some of you may remember that Stila's early eyeshadow palettes that came in round cardboard packaging usually had quotes printed on the under side of the cover.

The four powder eyeshadows are Snow Angel (pale shimmery lavender), Icicles (dusky blue), Glisten (dirty metallic bronze) and Ajax (black with gold glitter flecks). The Rosy Convertible Color is a standard light pink.

The eyeshadows are as usual, pretty good quality and easy to apply and blend. There are also no repeats of any shades from the previous Travel Palettes, which I appreciate. Snow Angel reminds me of MAC Digit but with more of a shimmery glimmer. Icicles looks similar to MAC Deep Truth at first but turned out to be more sheer and with a heavier grey tone. Glisten has a lovely rich metallic finish while Ajax is a intense sooty black that causes a bit of fallout while being applied.

The Convertible Color was again a total bomb for me. When I received it, it was already "sweating" majorly. I used a Gatsby oil blotting sheet to lift off the surface oil. The oil soaked completely through the Gatsy sheet, turning it transparent. It still felt greasy to touch and applied too sheer.

Using a green Beauté de Kosé Eye Fantasist as the base, I applied Snow Angel from the browbone down to the crease, Icicle over the eye socket area, Glisten at the inner corners and along the lashline, and Ajax along the upper lashline and outer corners. Then I finished by lining the upper lashline with Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner and applying my usual Visee mascara.

Here's the simple look that I did for the Christmas gathering with my family yesterday. The lip color is NARS Strawberry Fields Lip Gloss, which photographed redder than it actually is in real life.


Despite the mediocre quality of the Convertible Colors, I've greatly enjoyed collecting the Travel Palettes and wish that Stila would continue the series. Look how pretty they are stacked up like mini hardcover books!

Re-organised Makeup Case

I decided to re-organise my makeup case and switch up to the new, super roomy case that was gifted to me by the kind folks at Anna Sui recently. With a depth of about 15cm, it's deep enough to store most eyeliners and mascaras vertically. These are the items that I use most frequently, with several of my daily staples as well as new acquisitions that I'll be trying out in the coming days.

As the case has no dividers, I decided to make my own by simply cutting up some Kenzoki product boxes and taping them together. This allows me to store the products grouped by product type instead of having everything lumped together in one messy jumble.

In these three small boxes, I have my mascaras (left), under eye highlighters (middle) and eyeliners (right).

The big box in the centre stores my Beauté de Kosé Eye Fantasists, some lipglosses and my Maquillage Stick Foundation.

On the right side of the case are my new Sleek i-Divine palettes and blushes, lipsticks from Tom Ford, Burberry, RMK and Armani, as well as MAC and Addiction lipglosses.

In the side pocket at the back, I've tucked in my new Lakmé Silk Route quad, a RMK quad and a Topshop cream blush that I use frequently.

At the front of the case, I've stored my liquid base makeup (primers, foundation, concealer, highlighter), using the plastic box of a Seikisho Mask White (with one side cut off).

If you are looking for makeup storage options, it's always useful to check out Muji. I have both their 5-tray clear Lucite chest and the 6-drawer plastic chests.

As Mag received this case too, I'm tagging her to do a similar post! :-)