Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder

Hey all!

i’ve heard so much great stuff about the Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder that I HAD TO GET 2 when i went to the states last year. I had totally forgotten about it until a few weeks ago, and since then, this is been upgraded to my must buy must have holy grail now!

I have the older version, where they only have a tiny hole for the powder to come out. If i had to choose something i hate about this, the packaging would most probably the only thing i hate.

The new packaging looks like this now, as you can see, there are more holes, making the use much faster and easier. The only problem i think this new packaging might bring is, when you bring this around, it might get alittle messy. Dear Tarte, if you are listening, please change your packaging to that of a mineral make up powder, so we can close and open the sifters. Thanks.

Anyways, back to why i love this so darn much.

1) It feels so amazing on it skin. The powder is so finely milled that it feels like nothing, it also is truly transparent. Unlike many other brands that claims to be translucent, but yet looks white when you apply it

2) It has really decent oil controlling properties. With even just the smallest amount, you can see and feel how the powder transform your face to be smoother and matter. When it is hot and humid, it keeps my oils at bay for around 6 hours before i will feel the need to start blotting again, but if i am indoors or if it was less humid, it usually last for about 8 hours.

lastly! and the reason why i am so crazily in love with this again is because. IT IS A FREAKING AWESOME DRY SHAMPOO. yup. you heard me right. Dry shampoo. Here is a short backstory. My hair turns oily crazy fast. Even if i wash my hair in the morning, by night it would already be soaked in oil. In the past i would wash my hair daily, but i read that the more i wash it the worst it will get. So i got myself some dry shampoo, and sadly, NONE of them worked for me, in fact, it made my hair look even more oily. Then the thought hit me. Scalp is just skin too. So if the Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder works great for the oils on my skin, why not try it out on my hair. AND OMG. i was blown away!!! It did SUCH A GREAT JOB, i my hair did not turn oily at all for 3 days!!!

I would advice not using this until your hair become oily though, and use it SPARINGLY. Cause i used way too much on myself once, and my head turned really dry and flaky. A little goes a really long way, i normally use a brush like i would with my face. or sometimes i would also just pour a small amount on my hands, and slowly rub it into my scalp.

For you oily girls out there, i feel you so much. But the good news is, the oils that we hate so much now, will help prevent wrinkles at bay when we get older.

Till then

D

Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Treatment

Hey all,

i’ve never been a fan of lip sticks, as i have found most of them to be too drying. And as the day passes, i hate how my lips would flake and how it would look on me. And also, my lips are never perfectly moisturised enough for any lipstick to look pretty on me to begin with. Chapped lips are never a pretty look.

Which is why i was SO BLOWN AWAY when i first tried Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Treatment out. My very first one was Sugar Coral. I’ve cleaned that whole thing out now, but i went back to Sephora when i was in Singapore   and i bought a bunch of other colors.

These are the 4 colors i got.

From Left to Right

Tulip, Petal, Cherry and Plum

I’ve also included some swatches below.

The one on the left is with out flash and the one on the right is with.

As you can see, these lip treatments are majorly pigmented. The best part is how they really feel and act like a lip balm, but have the pigmentation of a lipstick! They also smell AMAZING. Can i girl ask for any more?

THIS IS MY ULTIMATE HOLY GRAIL FOR LIPS.

The only complaint i have is the texture and smell for all the colors are not exacty consistent, and since i am buying it from another country, it is really hard for me to make returns or anything like that.

Lets say for example, the one that i was most disappoint with was the Fresh Sugar Plum Lip treatment. It smelt horrible, and the color was off. It was a chocolate color, when it should have been… well…. plum! And the smell, oh the smell! i could not even bear to have the product on my lips for any longer than a minute. It was really bad. And it saddens me to say that even though it was not a cheap product 34SGD i had to throw it out.

T.T

Petal was great in terms of pigmentation and smell, but for some reason, the texture was weird. I am not sure if all the ‘shimmer’ types are supposed to behave this way, but it is not very comfortable to use. It is almost as if there are little beads in the lip treatment? and every time you smack or rub your lips together, it feels rough and just very not sexy.

But on the brighter note, these were the only 2 colors that i had a problem with. Including Sugar Coral and the advance lip treatment that i loved. 2 failed products out of 6 did not seem like such a bad bet. And when all the color and pigmentation and texture is right. Boy oh boy, that thing become make up gold.

i guess my advice would be, if you are lucky enough to have a shop near you that sell the Sugar Tinted lip Treatment products, make sure you test it out before your buy it. Unless you want to end up wasting money like me.  And for those of you like me, who cannot buy it in your own country, well, may the odds ever be in your favor.

Till then,

D

Best Body Moisturisers for Spring

Hey all,

so i am finally back from japan, and boy was it cold there. We expected it to be around 10-24 degrees, but it turned out that it was around 3 degrees. So very very cold indeed. Anyways, although i was not prepared in terms of clothing, i was very prepared in terms of my moisturisers and cosmetics. i learnt the hard way that when you go to a cold and dry weather, it is very extremely important to moisturise top to bottom, unless peeling flaking burning skin is your cup of tea.

Lets talk about which body moisturisers i used in the trip today.

Every night I would use a combination of two different products.

This is the SebaMed Anti Dry Hydrating Body lotion. The whole SebaMed Anti dry series was actually first introduced to me by my dermatologist. At that time, i had strange red bumps appearing all over my body, and when i tried to squeeze the bumps out, a lump of oil/hair with water would come out. i went to 2 doctors, the first said that it was an allergy reaction to dust, and the other said that i had very dry skin. The first doctor gave me medicated cream, and when i was on the cream, it did help reduce the size and the amount of the bumps, but whenever i got off the medicated cream, the bumps would be back again. The doctor said that i will have to be on that cream for the rest of my life as i am allergic to dust. However, that cream had steroids in it, so i was really hesitant on the idea of being on it for the rest of my life

That’s when i went to look for a second opinion. And that’s when the second doctor told me, this could have been caused by several factors. Yes, i could have been allergic to dust, but, i could also simply be having really dry skin. So she told me to try out their whole series, ranging from their body soap, to their body lotion. And i have got to say,SebaMed Anti Dry Hydrating Body lotion is AMAZING. It is extremely light weight, and i think this is fragrance free. I am not exactly sure though, but after sniffing at it for a few seconds, i really could not smell anything from it. I LOVE IT.

The second product that i use together with the Sebamed body lotion is this baby. Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Skin Therapy Oil. Whoa, that was a mouthful. Remember how i was on a hunt for a good oil? I saw this in a random drugstore one day, and i decided to give it a go.

This has got to be one of the most lightweight oil there is in the market. It gets absorbed almost instantly and it does not leave you with any oily residue. I use it on both my face and body and it is simply fantastic. Not only is it lightweight enough for it to not clog my pores or break me out, it is also heavy duty enough for my body not to dry out. As you can see from the sheer amount that we used how much my mum and i loved it!

I will talk about my crazy haul and other products that i used when i was there soon.

Till then

D

I highly strongly recommend the Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Skin Therapy Oil!

BareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation

Hey all,

today i would like to talk about a product that i have been fairly disappointed in.

As i have previously mentioned, BareMinerals have always had a special place in my heart, so when the new BareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation came out, i was fairly intrigued.  On top of that, there was so much hype going on youtube about this product. I remember wayne goss (https://www.youtube.com/user/gossmakeupartist) and weylie (https://www.youtube.com/user/ilikeweylie) saying that they loved it and how amazing it was, so i decided to give it a go.

I know they say that the best way to apply it was with their special brush, but i really did not want to spend MORE money on brushes so i only got the foundation. i bought the foundation for about USD$29 (IDR 377.000rp)

First, lets talk about packaging. It comes in a plastic bottle, and there is like a shaker inside? you have to shake really well before use as sometimes the ingredients can separate. Anyways, up until here, there is no problem. The problem is this is a pour out kind of foundation. And sometimes after shaking really hard, when i try to pour the product out, NOTHING comes out. so i try to squeeze alittle out and *vush* a flood of foundation comes out. And the annoying part is, even when i put the bottle back upright, the foundation still continues to pour out. I am assuming that when you shake it, you create some kind of air bubble inside, and when you try to pour it out, the little shaker ball thing blocks the entrance, and when you push and try and force the foundation out, the air pushes out foundation and it just gets messy. I hate the application really, i would much prefer a dropper kind of package? or a pump? Or is mine simply faulty? cause it happens ALL THE TIME. such a waste of product!!

This is how the texture looks like, as you can see, it is not as runny as you would think it is. It also has a slight scent, not exactly pleasing, but not repulsive either.

As you can see, when blended out properly, the finish is really like skin. And when blending, it really does not feel like another other foundations or bb creams i have tried. It almost feels like an oil serum. HOWEVER, blending can be a total bitch. I tried using a brush, with 1-2 drops, it is still okay, but anything more than 2 drops it just looks horrible. it is almost as if the product cannot be absorbed into the skin. I saw streaks of foundation everywhere. The worst part was that the foundation looks as though it was clinging on dry patches, but the peculiar thing was that i did not have any dry patches. It happened almost always when i use a brush (ANY BRUSH) to apply this. And everything i did seem to make it worse. If you use a beauty blender, i fear that you will be wasting your foundation, and i believe it will mostly be absorbed by your sponge. The best way i found to apply this foundation is by using your fingers. And the trick is to let the foundation dry layer by layer. That means, use 1-2 drops first, and let it dry for a while before you build the coverage up.

Lasting power was very bad, not only did it transfer EVERYWHERE, if you perspire, this foundation will melt off your face. However, i did find it to be EXTREMELY moisturising. It does not exactly feel light on the skin though, those of you who use oil type serums or treatments should find that this feels similar to that.

All in all, the biggest problem i have with it is actually how badly it transfers. I really hate that when it happens. And it also is rather time consuming to apply. Other than that, it is a decent product. I did not break out from it and the price is decent too.

I would say if you live in a humid country, you might want to give this a skip. But if you have dry skin and live in a slightly drier region. You might really come to like this.

I will be going out of the country for a week or so, do not think i will be able to access the internet there. So see you when i am back!!

Till then,

D