2012 - What. a. year!

It’s a bit late, but I figure it’s not too late to do a recap of 2012 since we’re still in January right? Right? I initially thought I hadn’t done all that much, but after looking through photos and matching events, hey, it’s still quite a list! (beauty or otherwise).

*takes a deep breath* and here we go!

January got off to a fabulous start spa-ing and doing a massive gift exchange with the evurl ladies – I think this was the only group shot we actually got all year! LOL…we’re terrible at taking photos like that :P Watched Ballet Revolucion.

Saw Freeze in Genting pre-CNY with the family. Had CNY dinner with the evurl ladies…for beauty bloggers, we sure focus a lot on food! :D Watched Swan Lake. Met the lovely ladies behind Bellabox, and have been a huge (okay, even bigger!) fan of theirs ever since.

Loved the i-Light 2012 show at MBS. Munched my way through classy food at Savour 2012, and still trying to recreate this 'ice cream crafted to look like a potato'. Re-discovered my love for blushes…especially the “it’s so pretty I can’t bear to use it!” ones.

Had even more classy food at World Gourmet Summit 2012 and been trying to recreate some of them at home with *some* success (will not subject poor souls to it until they've been perfected though). Bought my first ever Deborah Lippmann polish.

Descended on Tine and LeGeeque in Melbourne. Shopped till my wallet threatened to melt. Got my nails done by the awesomely talented Clara Hwang. Met Tinnipoo for the first time, and got a good workout from laughing too hard. Fell head over heels for my god-furkid, Coco (whose human mum will definitely protest she’s since become a total monster).

Tried rainbow eyeliner for the first time, inspired by Connie. Hit up Lady Gaga (paws up little monsters!) with Rinnah and Dom. Discovered how crazy Dom can be about food (or just in general).

Visited the Redken Rock the Runway show. Had a most fun and useful hair workshop with Jorge Joao in the lead up to the Redken show.

Took part in my first Standard Charted run ever (and survived!). Watched La Cage Aux Folles and laughed myself silly. Watched Comedy Masala and laughed even harder. Caught up with old friend and local comedian Kuah Jenhan and marvelled at how times have changed.

Headed to Cameron Highlands on my first fully-sponsored trip thanks to Strawberry Park Resort. Tried my first gelish manicure thanks to psawyerbeauty. Got engaged to a guy who makes me laugh till my sides hurt, and then some.

Hopped over to Batam for a day trip and ayam penyet. Moved apartments in Singapore, and fell in love with its rooftop pool. Did the whole fan thing and descended on the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Artscience Museum. Regressed even further back to my childhood visiting Universal Studios Singapore and loved every minute of it.

Made my first order of Stickygram magnets (won’t be my last!). Dicovered Mary Kay and some new loves. Watched Avenue Q for the third time (second in Singapore), and sang along. Got my feet tapping to Burn the Floor.

Bought my first Longchamp (at duty-free, no less!). Received my first Marc by Marc Jacobs item – an iPhone cover!! (larp you long time, you know who you are). Developed a love for Yankee Candles. Visited Batam once again (this time the posh side at Montigo Resorts!) on a company trip, and now want to go back there before the rates go up. Went to Bangkok on a belated birthday trip with the fiancé.

Had my first French degustation experience at Le Normandie at the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok (yes, the irony of having French food in Bangkok…it was awesomely impressive though!). Gave the Thai economy a huge boost thanks to all my shopping there. Loved Fresh Sugar lipbalms so much, I ended up with a Fresh Sugar Christmas tree when Sephora launched their seasonal sets. Started doing up my apartment back in KL…I love my quirky lamp and blow-up reindeer! :D

And there you have it – when I was going through it, I realised I actually watched quite a number of shows in 2012…averaging out to about one a month! I love that they’re so accessible here (and it doesn't help that I just booked another THREE for January and May in 2013). :P

Here’s hoping your 2012 was as good for you as mine was for me. 2013 is going to be a huge year for me as well - bring it on!! :D

The week in Instagram…

It’s been a long and busy week since coming back from Melbourne, and I thought I’d just share some of the moments with you via Instagram. If you’re already following me on Instagram, you should have seen most of the photos below…and if you’re not, well, why not? :D If you’re into beauty, pets, food and a bit of random scenes here and there, my username on Instagram is beetrice.

And now, on to the highlights of the last week!

On Tuesday, Redken kindly invited me to a hair workshop with Canadian hairstylist Jorge Joao who was in town in conjunction with their show at the Audi Fashion Festival. I’ll go into a detailed post about this later since he did share some great tips, and I learned how to do a super quick side braid to my hair too!

My invites to Redken’s Rock the Runway show at the Audi Fashion Festival on Thursday! The waiting itself was killer, but thankfully we stood near the door where there were gusts of air-conditioning everytime the security let someone in/out. (They wouldn’t let us in early since they were still changing sets)

When we were finally let into the show, there was another long wait for people to take their seats – to be honest, it was quite chaotic with ushers guiding people one way then another…but oh well…and so when there’s nothing to do but wait, I got snap-happy with Rinnah. :P

The show itself was about 40minutes in length, but the highlight would have been the ‘live’ show by Jorge…just check out that cloud from the amount of hairspray he used to hold the style in place – and all done in under 10minutes too! (more on the fancy hairstyles to come in another post)

Saturday was all about events as well…there was the Lancome Rouge in Love roadshow and event happening at KLCC, and after being told by Tine about what we now call the “Emma Watson” shade (the colour she wears in the advertisements), I simply had to give #375B a try…not too bad I reckon?

The same hue came out slightly different for each wearer – on Emma it comes across as closer to fuschia, but in this case with Yani and Dom (yes, we’re all wearing the same lippie!), it’s a matter of “same same, but different”…LOL! It was great catching up with the usual culprits over lunch too, and darn, I miss you evurl ladies!

Indulged in The Last Polka ice cream while waiting for my next event…their new Chocolate Banana Cake is pretty cool (with real cake chunks in it!) and of course, I could never say no to Salted Gula Melaka…this flavour is and will always be my favourite!

One of the items spotted during the Silkygirl event on Saturday was this tri-colour lipgloss (reminded me somewhat of MAC). I was told this is limited edition and has been out since April in 5 shades, but I haven’t seen it around. Has anyone tried it?

The rest of Saturday was spent in Seremban, which is a haven for cheap and FAST food…all the dishes you see above came out within 15minutes of ordering! And ooohhh the salted-egg crabs – my gran has suddenly developed a taste for this…after 92years! We couldn’t say no to the old dame, so who am I to decline? *wink*

Granny doing what she does best, but now we’ve discovered the mahjong queen has a telltale smirk (captured here!) every time she’s about to win – not that we can do anything to avoid losing money to her though…

Welcome to my Kit Kat heaven…all thanks to a friend who surprised me with these from her trip to Japan! :D Thank yous babe, you know who you are!

Last, but certainly not least…said friend who went to Japan got me my Laduree rose petal blush!! The photos don’t even begin to do it justice and I’m still hankering to get my hands on that pretty egg it’s supposed to be housed in, but for now I can say I CAN HAZ LADUREE! :D :D :D

Yes, I’m that excited. It smells exactly like roses and has so much detail you can even see the rose veins in the pattern. *satisfied sigh*

How was your week/ weekend? I’d love to hear about it! :D

Clinique Juiced Up Colour – Spring 2010...

It’s almost the end of the spring season, but you wouldn’t know it looking at the weather outside – it seems like the spring showers are only hitting Singapore and Malaysia now, swinging between torrential showers and blistering heat.

Yesterday after going out for a meeting, I got caught in a torrential downpour that err, was extremely windy and ‘spattery’. That aside though, I still arrived at the office feeling pretty good since my light hand with makeup hadn’t faded!

The products I used were actually from Clinique’s Spring 2010 Juiced Up Colour collection – the All Over Colour in Mixed Berries and Fresh Picked Eyeshadow in Fresh Picked Pear.

Allover Colour in Mixed Berries was one of the items that I could barely bear to ‘defile’ simply because it looks so awesome. I found out though, a good way to force myself to use it was to make it one of the only two blushes in my bag when I came to Singapore – voila! No choice but to start using it... :D

All the three individual colours are pretty on their own – I’ve also found that the lightest shade can be used as a pretty brow highlighter too! Once swirled together they create a nice soft glow (pic below)

I used it together with the Fresh Picked Eyeshadow in Fresh Picked Pear, which is a pale gold and green with a satiny sheen in a super-cute pear pattern. The eyeshadow itself is quite easy to pick up with either fingers or brush, although personally I prefer using my fingers.

However, I found that the colour of the eyeshadow is quite sheer when I use my fingers – using an eyeshadow brush works better if you like more intense colour, but I happen to like just a ‘wash’ of colour instead of eye-catching shades...particularly at work!

As you can see from the swatches above, they’re slightly on the sheer side but still quite pretty. Love this for the days I just want a hint of colour without having to fuss too much! :D

This is what I ended up with both Allover Colour and Fresh Picked Eyeshadow applied – apologies if it’s not really clear in the picture, but the lighting in my office doesn’t make for very good photos. :s Mind you, this was after surviving through a downpour, so I reckon it’s not too bad. Your thoughts?


Clinique Fresh Picked Allover Colour (RM115) and Fresh Picked Eye Shadow (RM75) are both limited edition items and part of the Clinique Juiced Up Colour – Spring 2010 collection, now available at all Clinique counters.

Clinique Juiced Up Colour – Spring 2010…

Clinique’s latest Spring 2010 collection – Juiced Up Colour is looking pretty yummy to me at the moment! :D Late last year I tried out the Vitamin C Lip Smoothie Antioxidant Lip Colour which I loved for giving me lip-smacking ermm…lips! I dunno about you, but that had me just waiting for the rest of the Spring collection which I knew was going to be fruit-inspired.

And what a collection of fruit – damn the textured palettes! They look so pretty it’s going to be a real challenge bringing myself to desecrate the surface…*howls*…but all for the sake of beauty, eh?

One of the centerpieces of this collection is the limited edition Fresh Picked Allover Colour which has a lovely berry pattern pressed into the three soft shimmer shades. It’s absolutely gorgeous in real life and looks good enough to eat. :p (you'll see why in a bit!)

The other centerpiece is none other than the limited edition Fresh Picked Eye Shadow – seen here in Fresh Picked Berry. The other shade, Fresh Picked Pear has green-pale gold shades (which you can see below).

Clinique has also added a new Lash Power Volumising Mascara to its mascara portfolio in Black Onyx (seen in the main product picture above). As for me, I’m currently trying out the Fresh Picked Allover Colour in Mixed Berries and Fresh Picked Eye Shadow in Fresh Picked Pear from the Juiced Up Collection – will be back soon with my thoughts on the individual products once I’m through testing them, but for now I’d say they definitely warrant a closer look if you pass a Clinique counter. :)

Have you seen these yet, or tried them out? Let me know what you think, and have a brilliant weekend!


Clinique Juiced Up Colour – Spring 2010:
Fresh Picked Allover Colour (Limited Edition) – RM115
Fresh Picked Eye Shadow (Limited Edition) – RM75
Vitamin C Lip Smoothie Antioxidant Lip Colour – RM66
Lash Power Volumising Mascara – RM75


Clinique’s Juiced Up Colour – Spring 2010 Collection will be available from February 2010 at all Clinique counters nationwide.

The Balm® – Down Boy!

It may be almost three months past my birthday, but I’m still enjoying my presents… :) This morning, I dug into the The Balm® Down Boy shadow/blush which was a gift from two loverly ladies. Yes, I realise I’m a bit behind given that everyone’s been raving about this, but what can I say – damn the pretty packaging! :D

Description:
So many men, so little time…A polished and put-together woman will make the boys go wild. This baby pink shadow/blush will add just the right amount of colour to ensure that you turn heads. Our formula is paraben-free and made of fine-graded powder, which helps to provide an even and smooth texture to the skin. The light reflecting particles also give off an aura of elegance. When you can’t keep the boys away, blame it on the blush.

The Verdict:
At first glance, The Balm®’s packaging is very reminiscent of the likes of Benefit Cosmetics and Beautilicious. I’m all for environmentally-friendly paper packaging, but this also means that I can’t get this baby wet (even accidentally!) But otherwise, being such a sucker for presentation, I love the retro feel of the casing. :) And how cheeky is the saying “So many men, so little time…”?

The blush itself is really soft and easy to pick up with a brush – just dusting my brush lightly across the surface picked up enough colour to give a light flush to my cheeks. As with most pink blushes, it’s recommended that you start light and build up the colour as you go along to avoid looking like you’ve got two clown cheeks (eeks!!)

For me, a light dusting is all I really need for a work day, so this suits me to a ‘T’. The colour is actually a little more intense in real life than what comes out in the photo, but still quite pretty nonetheless.

The Balm® also has Stainiac (cheek and lip stain I reckon is somewhat similar to Benetint) as well as two other shadow/blushes in Hot Mama (a pinky-peach hue that’ll work even if you ain’t a ‘mama’ yet!) and Cabana Boy (a shimmery pink dusty rose hue with an oh-so-romantic-novel design on the cover). After trying Down Boy, I have to say I’m pretty tempted to try the others, even though I’m not a big blush person to begin with…*beats down the temptation with a makeup case* I might not be beating them off with a stick, but it definitely put a skip in my step!

What did you think of Down Boy (if you’ve tried it), and have you tried any other items from The Balm®? If so, lemme hear your thoughts! :D

The Balm® Down Boy shadow/blush is available at selected Sasa outlets and retails at approximately RM65.


Rating:4.5 / 5
Value: $$

Maybelline Angelfit Blush in Strawberry...

When I’m in a hurry (typically that’s most mornings!), I tend to throw anything and everything into my bag in a bid to be over-prepared rather than under-prepared. This also extends to my makeup – thankfully I’ve always got a small pouch with all the essentials on hand for quick touch-ups on the go, and believe you me, this pouch has been a lifesaver on more than one occasion! Suffice to say, the contents of the pouch would have to be those that have been tried and tested (I try to save new items for the more leisurely days in case it all goes wrong) and one of the items in this arsenal is the Maybelline Angelfit Blush in Strawberry.

Description:
Luminous cheek blush that naturally brightens up and sculpts your face. Contains radiant pearls and pure colour pigments that diffuse light and highlight your natural complexion with luminous colour. Ultra-blendable refined powders which fit perfectly to your skin. Expert brush that enables quick and easy application. Dermatologist tested.

The Verdict:
Strawberry is a pink shade with some shimmer – think Strawberry Shortcake pink, if your memory permits. :) The part I like about this is the brush with angled bristles which makes it easy to contour under my cheekbones on days I’m feeling rather “face-shapeless” (I think you ladies get what I’m trying to say!). There’s a tiny mirror hidden under the brush, but I wouldn’t suggest using it unless you have no other alternative as it’s seriously small.

The colour itself looks great on my cheeks, and brightens up my entire face. I usually opt to have two light swipes of it on and just below my cheekbones for a very subtle glow, and darken it slightly for evening use. The lasting power of this blush is pretty decent as well. Once, when I was trying to fix some overdone dark eye makeup done by some mad sales assistant, I swiped a little bit of the blush on my eyelids (I wouldn’t recommend this for all, but hey, I was feeling rather desperate at the time since I was rushing to meet some friends and couldn’t go home to wash it off) and it actually brightened the flat dark brown shade to something a little lighter and added enough shimmer to soften the look – it worked out to be a shade close to dark burgundy-brown which worked a lot better than the scary ‘I-forgot-to-take-off-my-sh*t-coloured-eye-mask’ look I’d been given. At less than RM30 a pop this is really quite affordable too, so there’s not much wrong with it other than the tiny mirror. :)

You can also read Paris’ take on the blush here, while swatches of the four colours are available on Lipglosseater’s site.


Maybelline Angelfit Blush is available in 4 shades and retails at RM29.90 each.


Rating: 4 / 5
Value: $$

Clarins Nude Inspiration Autumn/Winter Collection 2009…

Last week I’m sure a lot of you would have heard about Clarins’ launch of their Autumn/ Winter Collection, aptly named Nude Inspiration for the nature-inspired hues seen throughout the collection. Instead of going for the actual launch itself (which was during working hours anyway), Clarins had a separate session the next day for a few bloggers to test out the collection for ourselves – less people, more ‘playtime’ with the products and free reign to accost the obliging beauty advisor with questions…what’s not to like? :) I reckon we had a nicer time there than if we had gone for the actual launch itself! Heehee...

The collection includes a Face & Blush Duo Compact (Limited Edition), Eyebrow Kit “Pro” Palette, Colour Quartet for Eyes: Nude, Concealer Stick as well as new shades of their Single Eye Colours and Joli Rouge.

This limited edition compact is absolutely gorgeous – I fell in love with the gold dusted wheat pattern on the surface of the face compact as well as the blush duo (the gold dust is only for decoration though, and will eventually wear off). A note though that the colours of the blush are slightly skewed towards warmer tones so you may want to test it out to see if it suits your skintone. If I was to pick one ‘lemming’ item from the collection, this would be it!

The Colour Quartet for Eyes: Nudes is another lovely compact. With iridescent brown, peach/pink and beige shades and just the right amount of shimmer, this is great for everyday use housed in their trademark silver compact. Their makeup artist tried it out on Xin, and the resulting look was very pretty indeed – so much so she ended up getting one for herself! :D

I was told that the Eyebrow Kit “Pro” Palette is a new addition to their permanent lineup. At first glance, Sue and myself had the same thought of this palette bearing some similarities to Beautilicious’ ‘Arch It Right’ Kit, but it comes with a beige-pink eyeshadow to highlight the browbone once you’re done shaping and filling in your brows. The trick here is to fill in your brows with the appropriate colour before using the wax to ‘set’ your brows in place (you can see what I mean later on in this post)

There are also 9 new additions to their Single Eye Colours that cover a myriad of colour families. Shade-wise, the colours are slightly more pigmented than what you see in the picture above. It’s suggested that the eyeshadow be pat on rather than swiped on so that the colour will adhere better, which sounds like good advice.

Oh, and did I mention their new Joli Rouge shades are gorgeous? There are 6 new shades, all of which are very wearable for most skintones right down to the bright red – given Paris’ penchant for red lippie, it’s no wonder her eyes lit up when she saw it…for me, I went giddy for Gold Plum which is a light plum shade with golden pearl shimmer…ooolala…

Now to the part I was talking about earlier – my brows! Hehe…usually, I’m pretty slack when it comes to dealing with my eyebrows on a daily basis. At most, I just swipe them with a bit of brow mascara to keep them in place, and only take the time to draw/ shape them when I go out for events.

Before – yes, these are my somewhat sparse brows au naturel...and please ignore the 'lack of sleep' eyebags (it's been a long week!)

After – beauty events manager Michelle used the brown shade in the Eyebrow Palette to fill in my brows, added some colour from the Colour Quartet and finished off with their mascara (which gives a fabulous curl when paired with their lash primer by the way). Something that could possibly be carried off for a day or night look – all I’d need to do for the evening look is up the ante with some black eyeliner and add a touch of deep red lippie!

At the end of the session, we were pleasantly touched by the generosity of the Clarins representatives…despite our ogling over the collection, I must admit I was rather shocked when I opened the pouch in my paper bag.

The bag itself is adorable – I love the motif, and there’s even a small mirror on the inside of the closing flap. Some beauty companies come out with lovely bags and premiums, and this is one of the nicer ones I’ve seen so far…decent enough for an evening clutch, no?

But the best was yet to come – inside the pouch was the Face & Blush Duo Compact that I was eyeing, along with a Single Eye Colour and Joli Rouge from the collection’s new shades…can’t wait to get my hands dirty with them! *bliss*

Pricing for the Clarins Nude Inspiration Collection are as follows:
Face & Blush Duo Compact – RM160
Colour Quartet for Eyes: Nudes – RM145
Eyebrow Kit “Pro” Palette – RM135
Concealer – RM88
Single Eye Colour – RM60
Joli Rouge – RM79

The Clarins Nude Inspiration Collection will be available from 1st September onwards at all Clarins counters nationwide including Institut Clarins and Clarins boutiques.


Have any of you checked out the collection, and if you did, what is/are your favourite(s)? :)