Tutorial: Super Simple Rainbow Ombré Liner!

Happy Pride everyone! So if you're looking for inspiration for Pride makeup, here's a really simple, beginner friendly look you can do!

If you prefer a video tutorial of this look, check out the video instead!

April-May 2017 Skincare Routine

Ok, I've been bad at keeping this updated, but I did a lot of traveling in April & May, that my skincare routine kind of went out of whack. So...here's some updates to significant changes in my skin:

• 2 Week Trip to Korea early May: This ironically made me breakout, because I decided to survive on samples and have a whole new skincare routine. I guess the months of great skin make me forget how fragile and acne prone my skin actually is. Plus this included a sudden change in weather and diet. 
• Running out of my supplements: My digestive system isn't the best thanks Sjögren's, so I need to take probiotics, magnesium, HCl and digestive enzymes supplements. I messed up and ran out of one after the other during these few months, and getting replacements take me a week or two since I need someone to bring them over from Singapore. My skin broke out so much.
• Anaemia struck: I bleached out badly so none of my foundations match. I ended up going bare faced most days and when I do wear makeup, I only use concealer on spots. This may have helped clear the breakout faster. 

So yeah, my skincare routine had to change to one that combats acne. Oh, and I had to go to the dermatologist to get a shot for the intense cystic acne that popped along my jawline. They're so bad, I'm still dealing with the post-inflamation hyperpigmentation. 

April-May 2017 Skincare Routine

Now, for my skincare routine as of April-May 2017, with reviews. I'm constantly trying out new products, so this will change every month. Bolded items are tried & tested holy grail items I strongly recommend, the rest are items I'm meh about or still testing out. New items are in red.


AM:

• Mermete's Boryeong Mud Cleanser: like Glam Glow's mud cleanser, I love it, but it's too expensive, looking for a dupe
• Wipe down with CosRX's Natural BHA Skin Returning A-Sol: This is amazing. It really helped me fight my new breakouts. 
• Sulwhasoo First Activating Serum: my skin got really good since I used this, because it really does help your skin absorb everything better. When I ran out of this, I find my serums and moisturizers swimming around in my face and refusing to get absorbed.
• It's Skin Power 10 Formula VC Effector: no one can tell me the percentage of Vitamin C in contains, so I'm not happy about it. It doesn't seem as strong as my previous Vitamin C serums, but there's no noticeable adverse effects yet, so I'm going to just use it until I run out.
• Vitacreme B12's Vita Blanc: I notice this really helped fade some of my hyperpigmentation. It's not a magic formula that'll make them disappear completely, but the fading is noticeable enough that this is worth using.
• Hada Labo serum Anti-Aging version: this has retinoids to combat breakouts too!  
• Sulwhasoo ginseng eye cream: this is magic. The sunken holes under my eyes started disappearing
• Wojin Effect's Baby Glow Cream: I'm still torn on this. On one hand it feels very thick and sticky going on, but it doesn't feel greasy at all. My face looks so juicy and glowy after using this, BUT it also has this white cast that takes forever to rub out. I can't recommend this to someone with a darker skin tone at all. Does an amazing job moisturizing me, so I'll be using it until I finish it. Probably won't repurchase it if I can find a better daytime moisturizer.
• Anessa's suncreen: I like it, and just like Biore's Perfect Face Milk, it doesn't leave me greasy and feels amazing going on. It doesn't leave the powdery texture that Biore does, so it's not that great of a makeup primer, but I way prefer this sunscreen's scent. But for the price, Biore's perfect face Milk is more worth it. 

PM:

• L'Oreal Micellar Water makeup remover: I moved on to water based makeup removers since oil-based ones were breaking me out. I've tried Garnier's & Bioderma's too, but L'Oreal's is the best since it wipes off my makeup as well as Garnier, but doesn't sting my eyes as much
• Marmete's Boryeong Mud Cleanser
• Wipe down with CosRX's Natural BHA Skin Returning A-Sol
• Sulwhasoo First Activating Serum
• It's Skin Power 10 Formula VC Effector
• Hada Labo serum Anti-Aging version  
• Sulwhasoo's Time Treasure Renovating Eye Serum: I think at this point of my life, 2 eye creams are an overkill so I don't see much of a difference. This makes it easier for me to give myself eye massages though, so I use it. Don't think I'll repurchase given the price.
• Sulwhasoo ginseng eye cream
• Vitacreme B12: this is for moisturization. It may be good, but I think my skincare is already so intense, it didn't make much of a difference. 
• Etude House's Age Defense Firming Cream: (used only for 1 week) feels so heavy and greasy on my skin, and takes forever to rub in. I suspect this was making my breakout worse, so I nixed it. 
• Etude House collagen sleeping pack: get this. Everyone I recommended it to got glowing, plump cheeks. May not make a difference if you're early 20s and younger, but in your late 20s, it's the difference between late 20s and early 20s

Every other day at night:

• Sheet masks: I'm a fan of anything by Leader's Brand, except the masks that come in stiff hard paper that just falls off my face, and anything with ginseng or snail. My Beauty Diary is my favourite budget face masks, and the brands I most frequently buy are Etude House, Innisfree & The Face Shop just because they're easy to access in Singapore. Also just discovered Holika Holika's Black Snail Black Snail Hydro-Gel Repair Mask and it's AMAZING. My skin gets so glowy and plump the next day.
• Etude House's lip patch: the only thing that hydrates my lips...Sjögren's means my lips are often split and bleeding, but at $5/piece, I don't use it that often
• Glam Glow mud mask: clears my breakouts so well. On my husband who takes terrible care of his skin, this makes a HUGE difference. His face ends up so clean and bright afterwards!
• Cure Natural Aqua Gel: I used to have a lot of whiteheads and this helped reduce them significantly. Huge fan. I used it daily when I was clearing up my skin, but now it's every other day.
• Origani's God's Nectar Manuka Honey Gentle Peel: this is not gentle at all. I'll end up with balls of dead skin that's lifted off, but still stuck to my skin. You can either leave them there and have your cheeks feel grainy, or scrub it off with a towel and end up with red, irritated skin. I stopped using it on my face, and used it on my legs instead. Does wonders for clearing out my ingrown hair!

During breakouts:

• Cosrx one step pimple clear pad: I just discovered this and it's magic. Brings stubborn acne to head so fast, and if you're patient, helps them disappear. I'm bad and I pop.
• Nexcare acne cover patches: sucks all the gunk out after you pop. I love it.

I'm finally destashing!

I'm on Carousell now! Ok, so I know most of my Singaporean friends use this, so I've been dying to try it out...but I've just been procrastinating on destashing because deep down, I'm a hoarder granny. Finally stopped procrastinating and did it since Carousell was offering free profile boosts in exchange for reviews! I'm also @workingwithmonolids there, check out my profile and click here to buy from me:

I'm only selling in the beauty section right now, but let me know if you guys are interested in my pre-loved clothes! Oh, and I get gifted a LOT of neutral palettes, but I tend to get bored of neutrals. So typically, I'd only do 1-2 tutorials before I want to destash them, so if you see any palette you're interested in from my tutorials, let me know! As you can see, I'm already destashing my Paris palette because I only use it for tutorials. I hardly ever use browns in real life...it's all about the unicorn & mermaid makeup...

I'm also always down for meeting new people, so I've also ticked the meetup option for delivery, so if you want to say hi to me, feel free to pick that delivery method :P

Oh, and here's how I took the photos XD

It's seriously easy to do guys...just snap a pic on your phone, hit the sell button, fill in the details and that's it.

It's as easy as uploading a pic on instagram. Anyway, hope you find something you like, because my makeup stash is piling upppppp.

Review: Thalgo Skincare Products

So I posted a video of myself getting a spa treatment from Thalgo:

So Thalgo gave me their products to try out and here's my review! The face products are all mini samples, and the dry oil & scrub are full size items. For the prices, I'm using the prices they're sold at in Indonesia, so everything's in Rupiah.

Face

Thalgo Silicium Eye Cream

Rp 816,000

Ok, so the current state of my eye is that I'm aging and developing hollows underneath my eyes. Prior to this eye cream, I was using Sulwhasoo's Concentrated Ginseng eye cream and well...that eye cream is really, really amazing. I'm pretty sure Thalgo's Silicium eye cream is amazing on some people, buuuuutttttt...my eyes are used to Sulwhasoo's eye cream is just really intense. Two weeks of using that eye cream and I noticed the hollows underneath my eyes filling up and plumping up. I looked much more refresh. I've never encountered an eye cream that's as good as Sulwhasoo's so I wasn't that surprised or disappointed when my hollows returned with Thalgo's eye cream. I think I'm just a bad candidate for testing eye creams, because my eyes have felt the magic of Sulwhasoo. I do like how light Thalgo's eye cream feels though!

Thalgo Collagen Concentrate

 Rp 1,098,000

I simply added this as an extra step to my current routine. I see no difference, but my sample is only enough for 2 weeks (using 2x/day), and 2 weeks is seldom enough to see a significant difference. My skin is also used to a lot of pampering with regular Hydrafacials, sheet masks & sleeping packs, so seeing a difference may be hard. This is a clear, light gel and seems to get absorbed fast.

Thalgo Hyaluronic Filler 

Rp 807,000

This one feels heavy and a tad sticky, and my face does feel sticky after a while. I use it after the Collagen Concentrate, and I added it as an extra step in my routine too. I didn't really see any difference either, but as I mentioned above, 2 weeks is a short time.

Melt-away Mask - Instant Comfort 

Rp 534,000

This is actually the winner from this set. I really loved this mask, because it feels light going on, but my face feels so moisturized afterwards! Oh and the creamy formula means I can give myself a face massage while I mask. I kept touching my face because it just feels so soft...it's one of the items I'll probably repurchase.

Oh and as an added bonus, this smells heavenly. It's a very light, clean, mango-vanilla scent with a hint of clean clay. It's a comforting smell that makes me think of snuggling with a fluffy blanket in bed while eating oatmeal.

I like this so much, I bought 2 of them straight away, one for me, one for my mom-in-law!

Body

Thalgo Polynesia Sacred Oil

Rp 567,000

This smells lovely! It smells like tiare and coconut oil. The coconut oil does run a bit sunblock-ish, but it still reminds me of sitting by the poolside in an island resort. It's a slightly heavier dry oil formula than what I'm used to, in the sense that it does feel like you have oil on you for a while, even though it doesn't feel greasy. I guess it just feels like you've just finished a massage. This will make an excellent massage oil btw.

It does come with shimmer, and leaves a light, sparkly golden sheen on your skin.

Exotic Island Body Scrub 

Rp 953,000


This is a salt scrub and I'm a fan of salt & sugar scrubs since they're better for the environment than microbeads. They're very generous with the oil, and scrubbing your skin will leave you with a luxurious, thick coat of oil. It may be a bit too heavy for some people, but if you're constantly in airconditioned rooms or going through winter, it's what your thirsty skin needs. I barely even need to moisturize after I get out of the bath, and I can't stop touching my skin. It feels sooo good!

The scent is predominantly coconut oil, but I do sniff hints of vanilla and some tangy fruit. The salt granules are large, so you can really slough off your dead skin.

One thing to note is that it is salt, so it'll sting if you have open wounds...I realized I nicked myself while shaving this way.