Powder Foundation: NYX Stay Matte But Not Flat Foundation

So I bought this, out of curiosity, as review has it that it lets your foundation stay matte for longer! I chose Creamy Natural as the shade on NYX's website looks quite similar to my skintone.

However, upon receiving, I was shocked because it's more to like a fair colour!

The packaging looks really cute. It's sturdy and easy to hold.

That's the back of the packaging. The hole is supposed to be airy for the sponge which is located below the powder.

That's how fair the powder is. This is the first level of the packaging.

Once you lift up the powder plate, there's your sponge applicator. I don't use sponges to apply as I prefer to use the stippling method when applying powder foundation/bronzer.

That's the swatch.

Overall: Upon application to my face, the colour isn't at all that fair. It blends well with my skintone albeit myself being a medium. My skin usually gets oily after about 4 hours after makeup is applied but with this powder, I don't get oily until 4pm which is really good as I apply my makeup at about 7.30am. The best thing is, even when it gets oily by then, it's not as oily as I usually get with other powders! Bravo NYX! I'm definately repurchasing once this runs out.

Essie Going Incognito

This is the last polish I have from Essie Winter 2010 collection.

As you can see from the pictures, it's green. The colour is exactly as pictured. It's easy to apply and dries quite well. Green's not really my kind of colour though but overall, it's of a great formula.

CND Stickey
Essie Going Incognito
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Esther's Nails: China Glaze Poinsetta

Written by Esther; Edited by Sharon

A gorgeous bright red which instantly reminds me of the Santa Claus costume. It has a jelly finish which is very shiny even with top coat.

The photos without flash give a better idea on how the actual colour looks like. Great formula which can be an 1 coater if you have steady hand, i use 2 coats in the photos for full opacity.

Definitely fun colour and suitable for Christmas and Chinese New Year season. As a lover of red myself, I definitely love this colour and can't take my eyes off my fingers after I have this colour on. :D

Note from the Editor: Esther, I really love this colour! I will probably get 1 for myself real soon! :D 

Essie Masquerade Belle

Another polish from Essie's Winter 2010 collection. This is Masquerade Belle.

It's a really warm brown with a hint of reddish in it. This colour reminds me so much of OPI Yes I Can, Can minus the very minimal shimmer. I'll do a side by side comparison real soon and I've just realised I haven't done any review/swatches of OPI Yes I Can, Can.

Okay, back to Masquerade Belle. The polish is extreme easy to work with, opaque within the 1st coat if you put on a thicker one, which I did but this is 2 coats anyway. Drying time was really good and I absolutely love this colour!

CND Stickey
Essie Masquerade Belle
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Review: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

So, I've been using SV for the past month. Up until today, it's left with that much (refer picture below).

With this much left, the top coat starts to thickened already! OMG, I was like WHAT?! Anyway, I've purchased Seche Restore just for this as I've read in MUA that it's really good in thinning the SV top coat.

Overall, this top coat is so COOL. My manicure is always dry to touch upon 5 minutes of application and after about 15 minutes, I can do whatever without worrying about denting it. Of course, I'm being more careful and hard core torturing won't be good for your manicure if it's done within the first hour. Oh and my manicure looks really luxurious with this top coat. It looks like it has a really thick layer of shiny stuff on it.

Yes, it is shiny!

However, after about 3 days, the shine goes away and I start getting scratches on my manicure. The scratches are due to the fact that I do alot of typing, cooking and cleaning though.

I've never looked back! I will never use another top coat anymore!

China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint

This polish is of a light green creme colour. It's my sister's by the way.

I quite like the colour on my nails though. It doesn't look too weird on my tanned skin.

First coat was alright but if you had on too little polish on the brush, it might be streaky. I tried applying a thick coat on a few nails and it worked. Drying time was really good too. As usual, I applied a 2nd coat to every nail.

CND Stickey
China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Essie Hot Coco

Another one of Essie Winter 2010's collection.

This is Hot Coco. It's a smokey taupe creme polish. I didn't quite like it from what I see in the bottle but upon application on my nails, it looked awesome as it goes well with my skintone. It's more of a  milky chocolate colour.

Upon 1st layer, it went on streaky unless if it's a thick coat. The pictures below are 2 coats. Drying time wasn't as fast as Silken Cord but it's ok as I'm using Seche Vite's Dry Fast Top Coat. Regardless of how slow polishes dry, Seche just speeds it up for me.

CND Stickey
Essie Hot Coco
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Essie Silken Cord

I purchased the Essie Winter 2010 mini pack awhile ago. It has 4 colours but I will only show you one today.

This is called Silken Cord. It's a warm red creme polish. It was already opaque with the 1st coat but as usual, I put on a 2nd coat. This polish is so easy to apply with absolutely no streaks and consistency was perfect! Drying time was not bad!

Here you go!

CND Stickey
Essie Silken Cord
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

OPI Espresso Your Style & OPI Rising Star

Since I've just got Seche Vite's Fast Dry Top Coat, I tried out applying OPI Espresso Your Style on my finger nails as this polish dries really, I mean REALLY slow.

Anyway, it dried up super fast with Seche! Then the next day, I wanted to try out if I could 'French' up my nails with normal cellophane tape to get the line straight. I know, it's not supposed to be super straight but I've no idea how to cut it to the nail's shape.

Have a look at the pictures below and tell me what you think of it!

CND Stickey
OPI Espresso Your Style (2 coats)
Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat

OPI Rising Star (french tips - 2 coats)
Essie Good To Go

China Glaze Something Sweet

Again, I don't know what's wrong with me but I keep buying colours that is really hard to apply.

This polish is streaky at first coat and 3rd coat looks perfect. It's in the medium consistency level. Luckily it wasn't thin, otherwise.....

Drying time was average. I am going to use the Seche top coat to get to dry faster.

Anyway, the picture does not come out as the true colour no matter how I tried! It's more of a light peachy pink kind of colour with a touch of lilac. Does that make sense?

CND Stickey
China Glaze Something Sweet
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Mono Comme Ca 62

I'm back again with the 2nd polish from this brand. Again, I got it because of the heart shaped glitter and that it's pinkish red.

How could I resist the bottle!? Anyway, the polish is very sheer and it seems to be a jelly polish since it is really shiny. This is 2 coats. I feel that it will be good for layering.

CND Stickey
Mono Comme Ca 62
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Mono Comme Ca 64

So I was in Tokyo and so I got myself 3 Mono polishes. Here I've swatched colour 64 which is a sheer purple polish with heart shaped and square shaped glitters.

It's actually the size of a mini bottle and I'm very satisfied with the quality of the brush. The polish is actually really shiny without top coat but I just couldn't resist applying them.

It's really hard trying to pick up the heart shaped glitter. Argh!! Oh well, I thought the polish was cute so, I got it and it's ¥180. That translates into RM7.03 per bottle. The polish dries up in a very acceptable time which is fast.

This is 2 coats. Please excuse the yellowing nails.

Enjoy!

CND Stickey
Mono Comme Ca 64
Essie Good To Go

Etude BL501 & OPI Last Friday Night

Here is nail of the week. I think it looks good. In real life, it is slightly darker.

CND Stickey
Etude BL501
OPI Last Friday Night
Essie Good To Go
CND Shiney (for the extra shine!)

Click for review of Etude BL501 & OPI Last Friday Night.

Eyeshadow: Mono Comme Ca

I arrived really early into Haneda Airport, Tokyo early this month. My flight out of Tokyo was at 11.45pm and I didn't want to squeeze into the train during rush hour where it'll last till about 8pm. I was alone with 2 pieces of luggage and it was warm (not forgetting humid).

So the first thing I did was to check out the airport since I didn't have time when I arrived a week before that at 10.30pm.

I went to the highest floor and found the Mono shop. Their makeup was on sale at 70% off! I got 4 eyeshadows for ¥270 each. What a bargain at RM10.56 each! I wanted to get all the colours available but I already have alot of browns and golds in my own collection so yea.

Colour 11

Look at the packaging! It's simple and yet cute with the polka-dot cover.

This is a gun-metal silver.  It's in the range of medium frosted though.

As you can see above, it's a really lovely colour.

Colour 42

This is another frosted silver eyeshadow with hints of dark blue.

As you can see, the blue barely shows up on the swatch. But I still like this colour!

Colour 64

Another frosty light pink colour.

I just love this!! :D

Colour 69

Frosted medium red. I've no idea why I picked this colour but it looks really sexy.

All the eyeshadows are really finely milled and not at all flaky considering it being frosted colours. It glides on easily on my eyelids and colour pay-off is really good.

I also bought a couple of nail polishes from the same store. Swatches & review will be up real soon!

Zoya Perrie

This is actually quite a nice colour in the bottle, which turns out the same on the nails. However, seems like there are blue streaks. Maybe because I did not shake the bottle long enough to get the colour more mixed up? I'll swatch it again soon.

It was very opaque upon 1st coat. Drying time was ok, not as fast as the glitter/foil Zoyas. This is 2 coats.

I tried to take the photo under cool flourescent light but it turned out more to blue-purple. At least I got the colour more accurate under warm lighting - pink-purple-ish.

CND Stickey
Zoya Perrie
CND Shiney