My Make-up Box

The last time I de-cluttered (again), I threw out almost 90% of my make-up products. All expired and barely used. What a waste.

I use make-up only when there is an occasion. Also, I am lazy to do it on a daily basis when I don’t really need to. Nevertheless, I felt necessary to own every eye shadow and lipstick and blusher shade – just in case. How silly. Everything expired before I even had a chance to apply it. I mean, how many special occasions are there in a year?

When I replenished my make-up collection I decided minimalism is the way to go. I like the nude and subtle look because I believe in applying make-up to enhance your features, not paint them. So, neutral earth colours it is.

This is a list of my entire make up collection and they do the job for me wonderfully:

1. Elianto BB Cream, natural shade number 02.
2. Maybelline Mineral power foundation powder.
3. Cover Girl TruConceal concealer.
4. Lo’real Infallible eyeliner in black. A thin line for a simple day look and smudged lines for a smokey evening look, with or without eyeshadow. Doubles up as an eyebrow pencil for me too – dabbing it along my brows and smudging it using the built-in smudger to blend into and shape my natural browline.
5. Maybelline Expert Wear eyeshadow in Natural Smokes. Can be either applied lightly in the day or used to build colours for a smokey eye finish in the evening.
6. Maybelline Falsies VolumExpress waterproof mascara. Because I have short and droopy eyelashes.
7. Sally Hansen lip gloss, one in nude and one in peach/pink.
8. Thin Lizzy 6 in 1 Professional Powder in Light as my blusher. When travelling, this is my blusher, eyeshadow and face sculptor/bronzer all in one. Love it.

When I bought my Thin Lizzy, it came as a set with a brown and black eye pencil and a clear lip gloss. Otherwise, I only have one of each essential makeup product. My makeup box is well equipped to create a few different looks for me. It is complete and minimalist. I am happy.

How many make-up products do you have and actually use?

Women’s Right To Skincare Products

Hi, my name is Tien. I am a skincare products addict.

*Caution: Girly post ahead!

People always say there are typically two types of women. They are either the “handbags type” or the “shoes type”. While I am definitely a big fan of shoes over handbags, I rarely ever spend over $50 for a pair of shoes, no matter how pretty they may be. And trust me, there are some really pretty shoes out there!

Are you into handbags or shoes?

If there is one thing I ever splurge on, its skincare products!

My mom brought me up with her motto, “As a woman, there are two things in life you should NEVER put a price on – your health and your FACE!”

Mom is a big fan of obsessed with skincare products herself. Whenever she decided to buy a new skincare set, she would pass on leftover expensive creams and serums to me and my sister. Therefore, we were “trained” to use serious skincare from as early as 13 years old. Living in Malaysia, my mom swears by sunblock creams and I understood SPF before I even understood Biology. Really.

I was blessed with clear, acne-free and fair skin all through my teenage years. I think I owe that to those expensive creams from mom. By the time I turned 15, I started noticing freckles on both my cheeks. I still have them, and I adore my freckles. They are my thing I have seen girls drawing on fake freckles on their face using brown eyeliners, so I am certainly blessed!

My mom wasn’t impressed by them since day one because according to her knowledge on dermatology, from all the books she read, freckles are onset of pigmentation. See, I told you she was is obsessed. While I adore my freckles, I do realise that my mom is right. Therefore I use sunscreen everyday without fail to keep my cute little freckles from spreading to become ugly patches of pigmentation (pigmentation is catalysed by sun damage). Just to keep them in check. Certainly not to “erase” them!

Being a typical asian female, my absolute priority skincare concern has always been about whitening. Some of my significant skincare splurges over the years include:

1. Biotherm Bioresource range – rectified my very dry skin during my late teens to normal/combination skin now. Loved the Aquasource Non-Stop moisturiser!
2. Murad, the Pomegranate range – my most exorbitant skincare purchase ever! Couldn’t bring myself to buy the second set after spending a third of my monthly salary on the first one. Plus, results wasn’t anything to shout about.
3. Clinique Derma White range – after two sets I see no results…..at all! Didn’t think it’s worth a third set. I continued using their All About Eyes eye cream though, love it!

Then there were random splurges on night creams, face masks, anti-aging serums of various (again, expensive) brands every now and then.

Then I found Shiseido! I’ve always dodged Shiseido because it is super expensive in Malaysia! I took the plunge and never looked back! I loved it. I have used the White Luscent range and The Skincare range and they are both awesome. Most importantly I saw results before the first bottle finished. They keep my freckles in check instead of erasing them too

I have been a loyal fan of Shiseido ever since. In New Zealand, Shiseido has very good value sets for sale along with fancy and practical free gifts. I get all giddy whenever my bottle of toner or moisturiser finishes because then I get to shop for new ones and get free gifts.

My recent Shiseido splurge

Last week, I treated myself with a brand new White Luscent promo-set ($86 dollar savings!) which came with a cute makeup bag. To qualify for the 9-piece gift set, I picked up another face massage cum deep cleansing cream (I had to buy at least 2 Shiseido products to qualify). The lady over the counter must have seen me cringe at the total price and offered me a further 15% discount. Sweet!

My 9-piece gift set: travel size Shiseido skincare, makeup and fragrance products, plus the bag too!

Yes I splurged but it’s all worth it and I’m happy!

Que the L’Oreal TV commercial (ironically for my Shiseido buy instead): Because you’re worth it!

What’s your favourite skincare brand, if you have one? Do you have a skincare product you swear by? What’s your skincare regime like? Share your secret girls!