A present from the colleagues…

I do apologize for the recent lack of posts – some of you would have known about the recent turn of events in my work life (yes, I do have a day job! LOL…). Last Thursday was my last day at work, after which I’ll be taking a bit of a break to focus on my sites as well as a couple of other things before getting back into the rat race…hehe…

The colleagues had a hilarious send-off for me on Thurs (yes ma dears, I’m going to miss you all terribly too!) but this was really the icing on the cake – they really do know me and my penchant for purple!

I was quite amused that they bought the “Wrinkle Reduction” set (hmmm…what are they implying?!?), but it does come with the Perfectionist CP+ which they’ve heard me raving about, so I’m downright touched that they remembered all this! Love you guys!! (and now I have even more stuff to review!)

Kiehl’s Midvalley Is Now Open!

If you have been wanting to get your fix of Kiehl’s and don’t quite want to go all the way to 1 Utama or Pavilion, there’s good news...Kiehl’s is now open in Midvalley!

At the opening, the entire area outside the Kiehl’s store was simply packed with media and local celebs

True to Kiehl’s ‘green’ style, everything was green...so green that even the cotton candy served was green!!

They also launched the “Preserve our Playground” initiative, which will see Kiehl’s offering limited edition tote bags featuring the artwork of two local artists, both of which were present for the ceremony.

Artists signing…and photographers in my way!


The main highlight of the afternoon was seeing Dato’ Mohd Khalid, also known as LAT. He signed a specially designed bag with his artwork on it.


Lat’s version of the Kiehl’s bag…I want me one of those, they’re so adorably cute!!


The two bags designed by Roslisham Ismail and Vincent Leong – these bags will be sold exclusively at Kiehl’s Midvalley store at RM20 each.


100% of sales from these bags will be donated to Yayasan Anak Warisan Alam (YAWA), so do be generous – it’s for a good cause!


That aside, the opening of the store was quite amusing – I’d never seen a ribbon cutting quite like this before with the empty bottles!

Every Kiehl’s outlet has a life-size replica of a skeleton, and this time was no different – except that friendly Mr Bones was SO friendly, everyone took advantage of him!

LOL...yup, I took advantage of him too...hey, at least I went for the arm instead of the pelvis like some of the others! :D

I had a chance to take a Polaroid with Paris too – I was told that all these photos are posted up on the “wall of fame” in Kiehl’s...have a look and see if you can spot it. :)

The store was absolutely packed afterwards with everyone wanting to get into the store so I didn’t go in, but I’ll definitely be back to check out their product range, especially that rather yummy drink they served during the event (the Yerbamate tea)...yum yum!

Paul & Joe Member Sales @ Parkson KLCC…

Just got this email from the Paul & Joe people – on 29th May (Fri), Parkson KLCC is having its members' sales with 5x bonuslink points and 2x vouchers with every RM150 purchase. Paul & Joe is also having some nice promos as well:

Limited Edition Kitten Set (Face Colour, Lip Balm and Kitten Pouch) – RM200


Hand Care Kit (nail protector, orange scented hand cream and gloves) – RM161


Disney protective hand cream – RM67


Fragrance Set (solid perfume, body powder, body cream & drawstring pouch) – RM190

Their New Limited Edition Summer Set (nail enamel & 3-layer colour lipgloss) is also available, although I haven’t been able to get any pricing info for it.


And if those haven’t already caught your eye, take a gander at these Free Gift With Purchase sets:

Spring 09 Original Bag & Eco Pouch (pink) with every purchase of RM350


Autumn-Winter08 Luggage with pouch with every purchase of RM400


Summer 09 Waterproof Shopping Bag & Waterproof Pouch (can double up as a brush case) with every purchase of RM450

Sorry for some of the quality of the photos, these were the pictures sent to me via email. *sigh*...they're just so pretty aren't they? But do have fun, and let me know if you picked up a good deal! :)

Food + Bloggers = Chaos! :D

What do you get when you get a bunch of crazy, zany bloggers together for food on a weekend? Total chaos…LOL…

We discovered that the food at Ole Ole Bali is fantastic and affordable, but the service is totally bad not to mention the place is a bit of a hazard (Kahani can attest to that!)…and that it’s dangerous to give us a chocolate overload (at Schokolart where the service is impeccable!!), because you never know what will be said next!

Good food, yummy dessert and great company…when’s the next round eh? ;)

Stage Cosmetics Summer Sale…

Starting tomorrow, Stage is having their Summer Holidays Sale right up to the weekend of June 7th with a 20% discount storewide for the 2nd item onwards, as well as a 50% discount on all nail colours (valid on 2nd purchase onwards except for the ‘All Rounder’)

Personally, I might just pick up another tube of their Opening Act complexion enhancer…I’ve just pitted it against Benefit’s That Gal for some interesting results – coming up soon! :)

Stage Cosmetics can be found at the following locations:-

Wilayah Persekutuan:
- Pavilion KL
- Mid Valley Megamall

Selangor:
- Tropicana City Mall

Penang:
- Queensbay Mall

Kuantan:
- East Coast Mall

Johor Bahru:
- AEON Bukit Indah

Sarawak:
- The Spring, Kuching

Results: Beetrice’s Reviews Blogoversary Giveaway…

Have you all been sitting at the edge of your seats waiting for the announcement? LOL…apologies for the long wait, as it was quite a task sifting through all the entries. The entries for both sets were quite evenly matched with a slight tip towards Set #2 – why I wonder…

There were a number of entries that unfortunately had to be disqualified due to non-compliance with the terms and conditions laid out in the entry post – I even had one person try to enter the giveaway TWICE with different emails! I know everyone wants to win, but come on…play fair.

After removing the disqualified entries and adding in the bonus entries, the names were run through a randomiser for the results, and here are the winners!

1. SET ONE – FOR MALAYSIAN READERS

KIM CHONG of narqueliekim[at]gmail[dot]com

2. SET TWO – FOR EVERYONE!

MEL of melvel[at]gmail[dot]com

Congratulations to both of you on winning the giveaway, and I will be in touch shortly for your mailing details. You have 48 hours to respond, failing which I will pick another winner. :)

For those that didn’t win, there will be plenty of other opportunities in the future, so keep on reading and enjoy the rest of the week!

The Westin KL…

One of the rare perks of working in the industry that I do is that on occasion, I get to stay overnight in hotels. Trust me, it’s not really a big perk since the implication of staying in a hotel means that we had to work extraordinarily late AND wake up really early for an event the next day.

However, one of the places that I really enjoy staying at (even if it’s just a few hours) is The Westin. They have absolutely lovely rooms and amenities, which never fails to bring on the “I wish I could stay here” pangs.

The main reason for this? The Heavenly Bed…there’s been plenty of hype about it, and it’s all true. 10 layers of serious comfort – the fluffy pillows, luxurious sheets, the mattress that just molds to your shape…oh, I could go on and on and on…there’s just layers and layers of pure indulgence there! Apparently, so many people have raved so much about this bed that you can actually purchase one for your own home if you want to. The price doesn’t come cheap though…if I’m not mistaken, the bed costs somewhere in the region of a cool RM20,000!!

Of course, the luxury at the Westin isn’t only limited to the bed…they’ve also managed to work in a small but perfectly designed bathroom, which is another weakness of mine. The doors were also uniquely designed to resemble those of a closet – it’s like walking into a “walk-in bathroom”, if that makes sense…

I love bathtubs…there’s just something so decadent about being able to relax in a tub with plenty of bubbles and some aromatherapy candles…the point was to leave totally relaxed, right? LOL…

There’s plenty of space for you to put all your things on the counter…and that cute apple-shaped thing is actually a container for facial cotton. Spare towels are also stored in the bathroom in a built-in cubby below the sink, which spares you having to call room service.

They even managed to squeeze in a shower stall into the small bathroom. The thing that I really like about it is because all the elements of the bathroom have been fitted in without making it feel cramped. I actually still have space to move around, which is great.

As far as prices go, you get what you pay for. Undoubtedly, The Westin is a five star hotel, which means that its rooms and services also come at a premium. However, if you can afford it you’d be hard pressed to not want to come back for more once you’ve tried it…I know I would – anyone want to sponsor me? LOL…prices start upwards of RM400 per night.


Rating: 4.5 / 5
Value: $$ (you definitely get what you pay for)

The Body Shop Sales are here!! :)

Hey ladies, just a quick one from me today…the massive annual Body Shop sales are here! :) It starts today, and on 22nd May, Body Shop Members get an additional 10% off.

Some of the items which are quite worth getting:
Oceanus EDT and shower gel – 50% off
Pink Grapefruit and Mango shower gels (the 400ml bottles) – 30% off
Certain makeup items – 50% off
Vit C / Aloe ranges – 10% off
Selected bath lilies – 30% off
Special sets – 10-70% off


At any rate, all the items are AT LEAST 10% off (10% + 10% if you’re a Body Shop Member buying today) so now’s a good time to stock up! :) The sales are on until 14 June, so have fun!!

FJ Benjamin Warehouse Sale @ Centro Klang…

I reckon this is pretty self-explanatory…LOL…

Blogoversary Giveaway Closed!

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all your entries! Beetrice’s Reviews Blogoversary Giveaway is now closed.

The entries (not forgetting the bonus entries) will be tabulated, sorted, and run through a randomiser. Results will be out soon - stay posted, and good luck!

Laura Mercier Spring 2009 Collection…

Ever since resolving to get more sleep by sacrificing my morning makeup time (I now apply 2-way foundation in the car!), I’ve given up on using mineral makeup except on weekends or on my days off. However, Laura Mercier’s latest Spring 2009 Collection is making me think twice…they’ve come out with a Flawless Face set under their Mineral Kit Collection:

The Flawless Face Mineral Kit offers a collection of mineral products for flawless coverage that looks and feels like your own skin. With four products to make your complexion appear clear and immaculate together with three tools and instructions for perfect, easy application, you’ll be looking nothing short of a million bucks.

Above are all the items you get in the kit, together with a bag to carry it all in. There’s an exclusive introductory price now of RM449 for this (original value RM790, while the total actual size is valued at RM1,029).

But here’s the bad part – this set retails for just USD100 on the Laura Mercier website! I know there’s sure to be a markup when products are sold overseas, but this is ridiculous! It’s literally DOUBLE the price, and that’s after applying the conversion rate! (even the introductory price is about 30-40% higher) *heart attack*

Mineral Primer – RM132
Mineral Powder (available in Sand / Natural Beige) – RM135
Mini Mineral Illuminating Powder (available in Candlelight / Starlight) – RM139
Mineral Powder Bronzer (Warm Bronze) – RM135
Mineral Primer Brush – RM145
Mineral Face Brush – RM155
Blending Brush – RM129


Apart from this, Laura Mercier has also unveiled two other collections for its Spring 2009 lineup – the Gilded Garden Collection and Bronze Goddess Collection.

Gilded Garden Collection – Mosaic Shimmer Bloc softly illuminates cheeks with the perfect flush of rosy color, while a bouquet of four shimmery eye colours add a hint of glamour with gold accents. Lip Stains in Hibiscus and English Rose and Lip Colour - Stickgloss in Azalea and Tiger Lily add a pop of colour to the lips. The Limited Edition collection will have you looking fresh, floral, and beautifully-polished throughout Spring.

Bronze Goddess Collection – Limited edition Body Bronzing Makeup and Sun-Free Gradual Self-Tanner gives skin an instant sun-kissed glow with a hint of Almond Coconut fragrance. The Bronzing Gel adds the perfect warmth and radiance to the face, while the new moisturizing HydraTint SPF 15 Lip Balms provide a splash of colour complementing your bronzed summer skin.


I haven’t seen these two collections in Malaysia yet though, just the Mineral Kit. I wonder if they’ll be coming in or not, but with the ridiculous price differences I doubt if I’d be mad enough over any of the products to buy…sigh…

Cakes or cookies?

LOL...the above ambiguity was not quite intended, but I couldn’t resist...I saw this on the Muse’s site recently and my jaw totally DROPPED. I knew that a lot of ladies, particularly Asian women want to have bigger busts but this?? Who else but the Japanese could come up with such a concept...*shakes head*

Of all things, F-Cup (what a name?!?) has come up with a range of cakes, cookies and even tea that contains 11 essential vitamins to enhance your breasts. I don’t think they’re available locally (I’d like to see them try getting this past our health officials or better yet, the halal product board!) or even within the region, but you can apparently order them if you reside in the US.

F-Cup Cake – comes in Soy Milk, Chocolate and Banana flavour. The instructions suggest 1-2 cakes per day to see results (they don’t say how long though!), but each box only contains 9 cakes so I’m guessing you’ll have to order quite a bit!

Funnily enough, the information on the site also says that a F cup size in Japan is like a DD cup size in the US. What on earth is that supposed to mean – that there’s different measurements of cup size in different countries? Besides, I cannot even begin to imagine what a F cup size would look like on an Asian female, taking into account that we’re somewhat shorter than our Caucasian counterparts...grossly out of proportion for sure!

F-Cup Cookies – come in Soy Milk or Pralines & Chocolate flavour. Again, all you need is 1-2 cookies daily.

F-Cup Tea – Peach flavour...also includes 20mg of Dandelion extract to stimulate the production of female hormones and supposedly promote a more feminine shape. Note to the ladies out there: Don’t ever give your guy dandelion extract!

And best of all, if you don’t have time for cookies, tea and cake, just go for the in-between, for every occasion gum!

You can have up to 3 pieces of this B2Up Bust Up gum per day...anymore and you may end up with loose bowel movements...hmm...

Each one of the cakes, cookies or tea sachets above contains 50mg of the herbal breast enhancer Pueraria Mirifica, which is reportedly supposed to give larger, fuller, firmer breasts, improved circulation and healthier hair and skin...basically your miracle cure. It’s a natural plant estrogen derivative, but err...I don’t think I’ll be indulging on these anytime soon – I’m pretty happy with what I already have!


Just had a random thought...chickens and soyabean milk are supposed to be full of estrogen right? That WOULD have the same or better effect as these (rather expensive!) ingredients for an afternoon tea. LOL...what do you ladies think? Would you actually try something like this?

Cover Girl Instant Cheekbones Contouring Blush…

Note: There’s only a few hours left before the Beetrice’s Reviews Blogoversary Giveaway closes. If you haven’t entered yet, do so quick before the deadline tomorrow night! :)

I was passed this blush to try sometime back, and after trying it a couple of times, it got buried under as other products caught my eye. However, when I was looking for a bit of a contouring boost recently, this came to mind, and I decided to do a full review on it. For the sake of brevity, I’m just going to refer to this as the CG Contouring Blush k?

Description:
Cover Girl Instant Cheekbones Contouring Blush lets you create cheekbones you wish you had been born with, instantly and easily. Each compact contains three expertly coordinated shades that add natural-looking contour – so you can look like you were born with great cheekbones anytime! The formula is lightweight, blendable and dermatologically-tested.

The Verdict:
The shade I got was #210 – Peach Perfection. It wouldn’t have been a colour I would normally pick out for myself, but I decided to give it a try anyway. I’ve discovered that as I can carry off both warm and cool tone colours as long as it isn’t too far in either direction. Of course, I have my personal favourites, but who doesn’t?

Texture-wise, this blush is quite fine and fairly pigmented. A light dusting is enough to give you some colour, which you can then build on as you like for more emphasis. I’d suggest you don’t go overboard on this though, since the idea is just to give you an illusion of having cheekbones, not actually look like you’ve drawn them on. (who remembers Mariah Carey’s ‘painted' “abs” at an awards show? Definitely.Not.Nice.)

One thing that I notice about the blush when I opened it was the scent. I have only ever smelt it on Cover Girl products (when they used to bring it into Malaysia some years back – it’s been since withdrawn from the local market) and this blush was no different. I liken it to a very talc-like scent, which can be a bit off-putting to some. Thankfully you only need a little bit of powder to do the job so the scent isn’t very noticeable once you have the blush on, but the Cover Girl people should really do something about it as the scent’s been there for as long as I can remember.

CG Contouring Blush is available in 4 shades – Peach Perfection, Refined Rose, Purely Plum and Sophisticated Sable. It’s not entirely clear from the image above, but the Peach and Rose are more suited for warm tones, while the Plum and Sable suit cool tones better. And do use a decent blush brush to apply it – I’ve long found that the brushes that come with these blush compacts are usually quite hopeless, and the CG one is no better. If anything it just feels like flimsy plastic, so I usually just use my own brush.

To make it easier to use the contouring blush, CG has come up with a simple step-by-step tutorial on how to use the blush, which I’ve replicated below:

TIP: If you’re like me and have some trouble finding that almost non-existent “hollow space” below the cheekbone (If I didn’t have problems finding it, I wouldn’t need the contouring blush in the first place right?), just suck in your cheeks – see the hollowed-out spaces? There you go!

Also, to find your cheekbones (or to make them look even more defined with or without makeup) smiling with your teeth showing (no simpering half-smiles here!) instantly pushes out your cheekbones for easy definition.

Ingredient list

I found that the shimmery texture of the powder did help to accentuate my cheekbones, albeit quite subtly while giving a nice flush to my cheeks without looking clown-like. However, as far as staying power goes this didn’t last very long – the look held for all of a couple of hours before it totally faded to oblivion. Good for a short trip out, but don’t hope for it to last for an evening event which is quite a pity, since it did look quite pretty. It’s also quite affordable, but I still can’t get past that talc-like smell and the lack of staying power…if these areas were addressed, I’d probably be lemming it…


Cover Girl Instant Cheekbones Contouring Blush retails at approximately USD5 or its currency equivalent and is available at Cover Girl counters in Australia and US. (not sure if it’s available anywhere else though)


Rating: 3 / 5
Value: $$

Inuovi Ditch & Switch for Lips…

Pretty self-explanatory, right? If you want a nice new lippie / gloss, just bring any old lip gloss or lipstick (just scrabble around your bags/ drawers…I’m sure you’ll find one!) and bring it down to any of the inuovi outlets (not to be confused with inuovi displays like the ones you see at Sasa) to qualify for a new inuovi lip product at 50% off.

The only conditions attached are that you can’t ditch a inuovi product for the change (why would you want to in the first place?) and it’s limited to one switch per customer. Personally, I have both the Ultragloss (#Dream) and Ivoluxe lipstick (#Ego…LOL!) and both are quite decent.

This offer is valid from now until 30th May – inuovi outlets can be found at the following locations:

Selangor / W.P.:
- Sunway Pyramid
- Parkson Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

Penang:
- Parkson Gurney Plaza
- Parkson Perangin Mall

Melaka:
- Parkson Melaka

Kuantan:
- Parkson East Coast Mall

Johor:
- Metrojaya Danga City Mall


This is a monthly promotion, so once you’re done with your lips, look out for the next Ditch & Switch for dressing up your eyes in June. :)

Bitten by the nail bug…

Monday’s here…already?? Dang, the weekend just flies by doesn’t it? Hehe…how many of you went to IBE over the weekend? :)

I happened to pass by the Konad nail stamping booth on my way out, and the pretty designs just caught my eye. I’ve never been one to DIY my nails other than the usual solid layer of polish since I am a total klutz at manipulating implements with wet nails, but there’s a first time for everything right?

Since they had a “Buy 4 Get 1 Free” promotion at the expo, I decided to give it a try – 2 bottles of special nail polish (apparently it’s a different consistency to normal nail polish @ RM10 a tiny bottle!), 2 image plates (M21 and M32 at RM16 each) and one stamper & scraper set (RM14). The total after deducting the lowest value item was RM50…not too bad I reckon.

Since then, I’ve been playing around a bit with the various designs…as you can see, I still have a LOONG way to go before I’m anywhere close to the likes of Nikki and Prettybeautiful… :D

L-R: Random dots of colour swirled with a pin, monochrome ‘splats’ using stamping plate, black flower design (also using stamping plate)


Still trying to get the hang of it, but slow and steady I suppose…did you guys have fun with your weekend? :D

Makeup in the Malaysia Book of Records?

This morning at 1 Utama, there were simply hordes of ladies queued up at the main concourse area of the old wing – all of which were waiting for their turn to be made up for the “Biggest Participation in Beauty Make-Up Event” to be endorsed by the Malaysia Book of Records. Were you one of them?

From the information given, the three organisers – namely Watsons, Maybelline and Clara International – had to achieve a target of 1,400 participants between 10am and 9.30pm. The part I found quite amusing was that the complete make-up was detailed out to the last detail – “Each participant must undergo a complete make-up session, which constitutes the application of face powder, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, blusher and lipstick.” LOL!

All the makeup was sponsored by Maybelline. I did see them using quite a lot of their minerals range, as well as the Eye Studio quads – funny how the Cats Eye mascara didn’t get much use, even though it was heavily hyped at the venue itself.

They had this system where the different makeup artists each had a placard to hold up once they were done – it was quite efficient I must say…if only our local government offices worked as fast! (It also proves that you can put on a decent ‘face’ of makeup in under 15 minutes!)

For us though, after looking at the whole queue of people we weren’t too keen on participating so we decided to take a walk around the mall after the main announcement. However, when we passed by again at 2pm or so, the queue had shortened considerably, so since we didn’t have to wait long, Paris and myself ended up as the makeup guinea pigs!

#832 – over 800 people is just 4 hours? That’s not too bad…


Paris getting her makeup done…heehee…


On the way out – done in just under 15 minutes. The girl even had time to fill in my eyebrows!

I found it quite funny that although we had been in separate areas of the makeup corners, they used the same Eye Studio quad (I think it was New York) on us – with quite different results! Paris said she looked scary, while I thought my eyeliner was way shaky. Eeeps!

They took both “before” and “after” photos on the way in and out of the makeup area, and Paris pointed out something we both found hilarious – the statement the photographer at the exit asked us: “So, have you done your makeup already?” LOL!! How would you have answered that?

The first 1,000 to complete the makeup were given a Maybelline Impact Express Smooth Pencil Eyeshadow together with some vouchers and a certificate of participation. One of the vouchers was a RM5 Maybelline voucher only valid for today, so I ended up picking out their Unstoppable Eyeliner in Aubergine…it’s a lovely colour that’s not quite purple, not quite brown.

The numbers were already bordering on 1,000 when we left the area at about 3pm, but I’m not sure if they managed to hit their target of 1,400 participants by 9.30pm. I hope they did though!

Did any of you make it there for the makeup session? :)