Bobbi Brown’s New Spring Collection...

Note: There’s just one more day left for the Valentine’s Giveaway – if you haven’t already submitted your entry, better get to it quick! Giveaway closes at 12.00midnight local time (GMT + 8.00) on 31 January 2009 (Sat). Good luck!

"Pairing different textures on the face is what's new for spring." - Bobbi Brown

I dunno about that, but Bobbi’s new Blushed Pink Collection is definitely looking very romantic indeed. Well on its way to OD-ing for Valentine’s Day I reckon. The new items include the Sparkle Eye Shadow (Limited Edition), Lip Compact (Limited Edition) and new Eye Shadow shades. Just check out the designs…ooo…

Sparkle Eye Shadow (Limited Edition)

The Sparkle Eye Shadow has a featherweight formula that instantly lights up eyes with a unique combination of shimmering pearls and glitter in a translucent base. The creamy-soft powder shadow glides on smoothly and clings to lids for crease-free, long-lasting wear, while shadow pans feature clear protective covers and can be popped out of the compacts and inserted into Bobbi’s customizable palettes.

There are four colours available in the new selection – I’m particularly liking the look of the Ballet and Sunlight, but I'll have to look at them up close before I succumb to getting one! :D


Lip Compact (Limited Edition)

Blushed pink lips are the perfect complement to the season's soft, sparkly eye. Bobbi’s created three gorgeous options for the Lip Compacts, each with a different finish: high shine, glittery and creamy. Each lip pan features a clear protective cover and can be popped out of its compact and inserted into Bobbi’s customizable palettes.

Me likey!! The Blush Pink Creamy Lip Colour is just CALLING my name...eeepss!! And the Nude Pink Lip Gloss isn't anything to sneeze at either - if the colour's close to that in the picture, I'm so going to be lemming it...


New Eye Shadow Shades

On a whole, Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow is available in a range of shades for lids, lining eyes, and defining brows. This silky, matte formula glides on smoothly and blends easily. But for this spring, Bobbi’s introduced two new shades of brown – Mink and Birch – to give eyes soft definition. Each colour comes in a sleep flip-top compact that can be used individually or assembled into palettes (sold separately).

I’m liking the look of the lip compacts, but maybe not so the others…what’s your take? Has anyone seen these up close yet?

CNY Presents!!

My favourite shot of CNY…with the obligatory red packets of course! :)

LOL…yes, I know CNY is normally associated with red packets @ angpows, but within my family it’s also a time of exchanging presents – sort of a tradition on our part. You see, since all the aunties (ie. our moms) used to exchange stuff with each other (“pai neen”), the younger ones decided that we wanted to do the same. Clearly, we couldn’t exchange tins of abalone and dried meat (and it wasn’t very appealing either!) so that’s where this present tradition came in. As the years went on, other relatives started getting in on the act and the list of presents (and recipients!) have been growing ever since…which made for a very festive season indeed!

*phew*…now that that explanation is over – got a bit sentimental there – on to the presents!!

#1 – L’Occitane package from my aunt…I love their packaging!

She got me a L’Occitane Aromatherapy Set which consisted of Shower Gel, Body Lotion, Shampoo, Conditioner, Hand Cream and Verbena Soap. The whole package smelt like citrus when I opened it…one of my favourite scents…mmm…

And if that wasn’t enough, everything in the package came in a lovely environmentally-friendly cloth drawstring bag!

#2 – a big heap of lovely goodies made up of skincare, makeup and body care…and they all smell absolutely gorgeous (I’ll break this down in a later post!)


#3 – from my Singapore cousin…Bobbi Brown!! (damn girl, you really know how to pick them!)

It turned out to be a lip gloss trio that came in an absolutely adorable leather zip case…I’m ecstatic over it!!

The shades are simply gorgeous too…I’ll do swatches of this soon…love it love it love it!! (don’t worry, I introduced her to Paperdoll in return – and got her stuff from Stila too!)

#4 – from yet another cousin. She used to be the Bodyshop advocate (a title which has since been passed on to me), and this time decided to give us Crabtree & Evelyn products instead!


#5 – not last, and definitely not least…a lovely necklace & earrings set. And I can take pride in knowing that set is absolutely unique too… ;) There will be more on this later, but in the meantime…*bliss*

There are a couple of other presents I haven’t posted up, but I’ll save those for another post. Ah, it’s good to be back – and now I’ve got a great new stash of stuff to review…woohoo!! :)

Happy Birthday Rinnah!!

** This is an unrelated post, but quite appropriate for Rinnah since she's a fellow blogger and fan of all things pretty! :)

I’m back!

Ahhh…back in my nice air-conditioned room after a couple of days away. Gosh it was a warm CNY, but great to meet up with the extended family again, some of which I only get to see once a year.

Besides the usual angpows/ red packets, I got some really nice presents too (always an added bonus! *grins*) and for some reason, this year everyone bought me beauty or body products…LOL…I wonder why… o.O …anyway, I’ll be sharing those with you shortly but in the meantime, I’ll leave you with a picture of my CNY nails – cherry blossoms, anyone?

So ladies, how was your CNY? :) Share share!!

Breaking off for CNY…

Wow…you guys are really getting into the spirit of the Valentine’s Giveaway eh? :D Keep those entries coming ladies, and feel free to spread the word too – after all, we gotta share the love on Valentine’s right? *wink*

Anyhow, this is just to let you all know I’ll be travelling for the next few days…so here’s wishing all of you a very Happy Chinese New Year in advance. For those of you travelling outstation and heading back to your hometowns, stay safe and I’ll see you all soon! *hugz*

Beetrice’s Reviews Valentine Giveaway!!

Valentine’s Day – the day everyone loves…or loves to hate. :D (just kidding!) Plenty of gift ideas, heaps of *overpriced* meal sets and countless declarations of love (some in rather zany ways!) However, on this day one thing is clear…the world will be divided into two categories: those going out and those staying in, no matter your relationship status.

This year after mulling over it a bit (don’t be fooled by the seemingly hard thinking, I actually had fun!) I’ve decided to host a – what else?? – VALENTINE’S DAY GIVEAWAY for my readers!
* Apologies to my international readers, this giveaway is restricted to Malaysia only (for further details please see T&C below)

I have two lovely packages to give away to two lucky readers, and here’s the best bit – I’ve specially selected the items in each set to cater to the two categories I mentioned earlier, and will be delivered in time to enjoy come 14th February. Still a bit fuzzy about what I’m talking about? Don’t worry…just read on, and all will be explained… :)

Now to the fun part…have a gander at what you could win:

SET ONE – Going Out

- If you’re going out, these items will have you looking fab for the evening… :) -


SET TWO – Staying In

- Not going out? No worries, you’ll have a relaxing night in with this selection – and come out looking fab afterwards! -

Are you all excited yet? Scroll on below for details on how to enter the giveaway…


How To Enter
To enter, leave a comment below in this post telling me which set you’d like to win and why, together with your email address. Entries for this giveaway will close at 12midnight on 31 January 2009 (Malaysian Time/ GMT + 8.00). The entries will be tabulated and a winner for each set will be selected at random. Due to time factors, I’ve set the closing date a fair period before Valentine’s Day in order to have enough time for the sets to reach the winners before Valentine’s Day. :)


Terms & Conditions (Please Read)

• This contest is open to Malaysian residents only
• Anyone can enter irrespective of whether you have won anything before
• One entry per person – please play fair and let everyone have an equal chance
• Entries submitted via email will not be eligible
• I will be contacting the lucky winner via the email in your comment, so please use a valid email address. If I do not get a response from you within 2 (two) days, I will pick another winner
• Every effort will be made on my part to have the sets arrive at the winners before Valentine’s Day, but please understand I have no control over the speed of the local postal service...

GOOD LUCK, AND HAVE FUN!! :)

Lancôme Ôscillation Mascara – finally!

Lancôme recently had a small session to give some bloggers a preview to the much-hyped Ôscillation mascara. And we finally had a chance to try out the mascara that has been touted as one of the most revolutionary innovations (when it came out) to date.

Lancôme Ôscillation is a vibrating power mascara that is designed to create glossy, thick lashes. The formula is creamy, fluid and supple in texture, resulting in a glossy look and smooth application. This formula is designed to work specifically with the battery-operated brush which provides 7,000 micro-oscillations per minute, wrapping lashes up to 360 degrees.

It was a nice set up, although the lighting didn’t help with my photos – sorry for some of the blur photos!

This is the little part that makes the wand vibrate. It’s quite easy to handle, and the button is made of soft rubber so you won’t have to worry about squeezing too hard.

I was quite impressed with the Ôscillation mascara when it was tried on the model – they even have a tool to help measure the length and curl of your lashes, which I was quite hesitant on sticking so close to my eye but really, you don’t need it since the results are quite obvious.

Good thing I didn’t wear mascara to the event – I tried it on one side first. The photo is a bit blur, but you can see the difference in the length (indicated by the red circles)

Applying mascara while the wand is vibrating is a weird experience though. It's gentle enough not to have your hand shaking all over your face, but the slight tingle (not to mention the discreet 'bzzz' sound!) might take getting used to.

Full effect – damn…I have lashes!! :D

Close up – okay, I didn’t have the already-long lashes some of the others had to begin with, but for me this is quite impressive since the only other time I’ve seen them this *boom* is with Dior Iconic…or false lashes.

Lancôme Ôscillation will be retailing at RM120 and will be launched in Malaysia in April 2009. But for those of you that have been absolutely dying for it to come to our shores, read on for some good news:

Lancôme Malaysia has decided to unveil a limited, first-edition supply of this little masterpiece early but only for a WEEK (4th to 10th Feb) at the Centre Court, Suria KLCC. And here’s the inside tip – you can call the Isetan KLCC Lancôme counter (03-2382 0281) to leave your name on a waiting list, and they will call you once the stock arrives.

They will be releasing just 400 tubes during this promotion. As of yesterday, there were already 80 names on the waitlist so you’d better hurry if you want one.

NYX Cosmetics Round Lip Gloss…

During my last Cherryculture haul, I took advantage of a 25% discount on all NYX products to try some products that I hadn’t tried before – which included NYX Cosmetics’ Round Lip Glosses. I’d read some lovely reviews on this product, and couldn’t wait to see if the road test would hold up to its reputation.

Description:
NYX Cosmetics Round Lip Gloss is the new lip gloss that feels silky smooth and long lasting to highlight that sexy pucker of yours. The colour in the tube is guaranteed to be the same colour on your lips.

The Verdict:
The shade I’m reviewing is Golden Prune. First off, the price is just unbeatable – after the discount, the gloss was just USD1.50 (approx. RM5.60)…where do you find glosses so cheap? And at first swatch, the colour really is as close to the tube colour as you can get with a gloss. For the road test, I wore it to my cousin’s wedding – the colour payoff? Why not check the photos below and let me know what you think. :)

Can I just say that I LOVE the shade…it’s absolutely brilliant with the golden flecks and goes on as smooth as butter. And as far as texture goes, it’s in the mid-range of stickiness which I’m quite taken with as it’s sticky enough for staying power, but still liquid-ey enough to give my lips a nice shiny sheen with great coverage.

There’s one gripe I have to make about this product though. There are serious manufacturing defects in the assembly of the gloss! Out of the three shades I ordered, two have similar problems – the ‘stopper’ thing was loose, which means that I have to hold the stopper in place with my thumbnail while pulling the wand out or the whole piece will come out like the picture below:

What’s more, the wand was a bit loose in one of the glosses, causing it to shake slightly from side to side. It’s a bummer, because the product itself is EXCELLENT. All they’d need to do is to up the QC on the production of the vessels and I would seriously be buying these up in CRATES. And with 36 shades, I don’t think that’s going to be hard to do…LOL!

NYX Cosmetics Round Lip Gloss can be purchased on the Cherry Culture site and retails at USD2.00.


Rating: 3.5 / 5 (it would have scored 4.5 if not for the manufacturing issues)
Value: $$$

Tea Tree Oil & Witch Hazel – Guardian vs Boots…

What’s with Guardian and Boots? Both have come out with almost identical blemish solutions that contain tea tree oil and witch hazel! Then again, similar product ingredients do not necessarily equal similar product effectiveness, which I found out when I tested both Guardian’s Tea Tree Oil & Witch Hazel Night Treatment Gel and Boots’ Tea Tree Oil & Witch Hazel Anti-Blemish Spot Cream. For the sake of brevity, I will refer to them by their brand names during the comparison.

#1 – Guardian Tea Tree Oil & Witch Hazel Night Treatment Gel…

Description:
Guardian Night Treatment Gel is non-greasy and ideal for oily and acne-prone skin. It works intensively while you sleep to reduce spot-causing bacteria growth and promote fresh, radiant-looking skin during the day. Lightly moisturising, it hydrates and soothes blemished skin without blocking pores. It comes in a 75ml tube with a flip-top cover.


#2 – Boots Tea Tree Oil & Witch Hazel Anti-Blemish Spot Cream

Description:
Boots Tea Anti-Blemish Spot Cream is non-greasy and contains antibacterial tea tree oil and skin calming witch hazel to help keep your skin clear and healthy by helping to reduce inflammation and spots. It penetrates deep into skin, targeting blemishes and pimples as well as reduces sebum production. Gentle enough to be used morning and evening. It comes in a 30ml tube.


The Verdict:

Design – Guardian comes in a flip-top tube, while Boots comes in a tube with a screw top. In terms of personal preference, I like using the flip-top tube especially since it’s also transparent, which makes it easy to see how much is left. Boots’ screw-top tube on the other hand is much safer for travelling purposes as the top isn’t likely to come off in your bag. However, with an opaque tube, it’s hard to gauge the amount in the tube.

Price – Guardian gel cost me approximately RM15.88, while the Boots cream was THB129 (approx. RM13) in Bangkok.

First Swipe – Guardian comes in a gel form and has a very light, pleasant scent. I like the fact that it gives a cooling sensation, even if it is a little liquidy. On the other hand, Boots comes in a cream format and the smell is kind of medicine-y which reminds me of Oxy… just not appealing.

Effectiveness – I used both Guardian and Boots on the same area of my face to combat a breakout caused by switching shampoo (the new shampoo irritated my skin, which caused a whole area along my hairline and chin to break out in spots!) and after applying the gel/cream on different areas of the breakout, I had better results with the Guardian gel than the Boots cream which surprised me. The Guardian gel contains denatured alcohol which can be drying on skin, but it works!

Truth be told, I miss my Body Shop Sage & Comfrey Blemish Gel!! Admittedly it cost RM23.50 for just 30ml, but it worked WONDERS and was worth every drop…and I was bummed when they decided to discontinue it. I still have a tiny bit of a tube left though, and that is extremely precious!! (Body Shop, if you’re reading this…PLEASE bring it back!!)

However, if it was a choice between Boots and Guardian, Guardian comes out as the clear winner. If I can’t have my Sage & Comfrey Blemish Gel, I’ll settle for Guardian’s Tea tree Oil & Witch Hazel Night Treatment Gel. It’s good value for money, available locally and works pretty well.


What’s your HG product for breakouts? I’d love to hear from you ladies!

Beauty bloggie meet @ TGIF…

Since it's Monday, I thought I'd post up something a little more fun than the usual review...enjoy the pics!

Last Friday was a bit of a doozie for me…it involved having to contend with lovely traffic jams (gosh, it looked like EVERYONE was out in town on Friday afternoon/evening!) to pick up Tine and make it to the Curve to meet with some beauty blogger friends for dinner. Thank God, we reached there (somewhat) on time, thanks to some of the culprits being distracted by Daiso (that must be Connie’s favourite store of all time!)

The main reason for this was for Tine to meet some of the other bloggers – you know the scenario…we always comment on other people’s blogs, but never quite manage to meet in person. :) And since she was back for a whirlwind visit in KL, what better timing?

Tine, Prettybeautiful and Rinnah


Carmen, Connie and Kahani


See what happens when beauty bloggers get together? They immediately start talking makeup!!

Another chronic sign of being a blogger – the proliferation of cameras!! I tell you, everyone at the dinner had a camera…not that we could fight with Rinnah’s DSLR baby…haha…

Kahani, Syen and Tine – this is one of my favourite shots. It was an accident since I “borrowed” the flash from Prettybeautiful’s camera at the same time she took the photo, but hey, whatever works! :)

Everyone in – Carmen, Connie, Prettybeautiful, Rinnah, Beetrice, Kahani, Tine and Syen

And what did we do immediately after dinner? Why, head right back to Daiso of course! LOL…what did you expect?


We’ve got to do this more often k girls? :)

El-Cactus Bistro & Bar @ Port Dickson…

During a company trip to Port Dickson, we ate at this little place called El-Cactus which looked really unassuming from the road but turned out to be quite a find.

The place is tucked away in a little corner of Port Dickson just past the 2nd mile and has really nice ambience for dinner, a drink, or just to hang out in general.

Fully stocked bar to cook up any cocktail your heart desires




You can actually play a game of pool while waiting for your food – anyone up for the challenge?

Ambience aside, the food is actually pretty good! El-Cactus serves a variety of tapas and fusion food which will suit most tastes. One thing to note though is that if the place is crowded or you have a big group, you may have to wait a while for your food to arrive. We went as a group of 12 plus people, and had to wait about 30 minutes between our appetisers and main courses. I guess that’s what the pool table is for? o.O

Frozen Margarita, which is available in lime, strawberry or mango (RM13.50) I had the lime variant, which was really good. The ice was blended just right for my tastebuds – it gave me a bit of a buzz too!

Getting hungry…where’s the food??

Sauteed Fresh Mushrooms & Garlic served on toast (RM15.00) This is served on fluffy airy bread topped with a mix of mushrooms tossed in a garlic cream sauce which gives a nice contrast between the crisp toast and succulent mushrooms.

Lobster Cream & Prawn Soup. This is a mixture that has a smooth blend of lobster cream and bits of fresh prawns in the mixture. I can’t remember exactly how much it was, but it was a bargain at about RM12.00-RM13.00

Cheesy Nachos (RM20.00) You can get these in beef, chicken or vegetarian versions. The dish comes with melted cheddar on corn chips together with guacamole, sour cream, jalapeno peppers, diced capsicum and salsa. This is best eaten straight out from the kitchen since the melted cheese and chicken on corn chips combo is just *heaven*…

Surf & Turf – a succulent combination of steak and prawns with sautéed vegetables on the side. I like the fact that they used fresh vegetables like zucchini, carrots, eggplant, onions and capsicum because the whole frozen ‘mixed vegetable’ mix of carrots, corn and peas (and mind you, I DETEST frozen peas) is just such a lazy way out.

All in all, I’d have to say El-Cactus is a pretty decent place to eat in Port Dickson, and surprisingly affordable (I’d expected the prices to be substantially higher given the ‘out of the way’ location). Coupled with good music and nice ambience, it was a pleasant oasis to find in Port Dickson.


El-Cactus Bistro & Bar
Lot 2674, Batu 2,
Jalan Pantai,
71000 Port Dickson


Rating: 3 / 5
Value: $$