Thursday, March 24, 2011

Lolita New York - two rather special e/s shades

Just wanted to make a special mention of two eyeshadows in Lolita's collection. They are Blue Lagoon and Studio 54.

Not sure if you can see the difference in the picture but its really noticeable when its on your own skin. The top part of the swatch is done dry with no primer; the middle portion is done over a glycerin-based primer and at the bottom, you have a wet swatch. Same eye shadow color but three rather different looks.

The dry swatch looks more faded and less intense. The middle part looks more vibrant and has a glossy sheen to it. Wet, these could easily be used as liners.

I can see how one shade can easily be used for an entire EOTD... as a liner, as a lid color and as a blended out color.


Pretty sure that I'll be getting samples of these two shades when I dop by Lolita NY again... and will report back with EOTDs or something similar. :P

Til next time....

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

My current nail lurve....

Let me just say this first... last year, my heart was given to glitters. OPI's Mad as a Hatter made me smile every time I saw it on my nails. Sad to say, I can't find it anymore... and just can't find a reasonable dupe of it... *cries*

This year, I've found myself drawn increasingly to duochromes... multichromes. A friend just asked me exactly what a duochrome is... so I did some looking around... you know what? there isn't a definition found the dictionary. So here's my definition after some thinking. You know how when you look at an oil spill in sunlight, it shimmers with all sorts of colors depending on the angle you're looking at? that's a quality of duochromes. Every angle you look at them, you see different colors. Some have only two or three shades. For example, blue and greens and teals... or magenta, purples and pinks... while others have so many colors that they are like opening a jewel case never knowing what gemstone you'd get.

I haunt a few nail polish blogs and when I saw this particular shade... well, I fell in love with it. What first really sold me on this color was AllLacqueredUp's blog post... it looked like something from outer space literally. Mysterious and other worldly.

Then I headed to google images (one of my favourite places to find swatches) to see what other pics there were... here's just a snapshot of what I found.


I used this shade this year for Chinese New Year and I think it just added a little bit of fun to my otherwise "sane" outfits.

These pictures were posted before but here they are again... ORLY's SPACE CADET...



I wonder what my next nail polish love will be... it sure isn't crackle nail polishes... although they're lots of fun! *grin*

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Lolita New York - rainbow colored eye shadows - PIC HEAVY!

This is a follow up on my previous post...

I spent a good hour playing with the eye shadows while wating for a friend to get 'lashed' up. *giggle*.


Eye shadows made by Jo L. are not new to me. I've been playing with them since her SilkMineral days. The textures and staying power have always been good. Different from my usual TSS shades. Slightly more creamy, if that makes any sense.


The full size prices were too high for my comfort zone and I have yet to finish a full size. To be honest, I haven't even finshed any sample baggie I have! Altho' I'm really really close with one of my favourite highlights. So it was with real excitment that I heard Lolita NY was now selling their eyeshadows at SGD3 a baggie. There's an option to pay for jars if you want them that way too. I went home with four little baggies of loveliness... read til the end to find out which. *grin*

These are swatches made on dry skin with no primer at all. I used the cotton buds provided at the store. So pigmentation as you can tell, is rather good. Except for a couple which turned out weird and I found out later where formulated to be used wet.

So lets get to the colors themselves... I'm gonna post several photos so you can get a better idea of the shades. Click on each picture and you should get larger images. Names will be listed from left to right, top to bottom.



Gold Socceress, Green Witch, Purple Temptress, Blue Elf
Break of Dawn, Misty Glow, Dreamy Haze, Yearning Heart
Angel, Charm, Fallen, Unspeakable


I'm gonna start from top to bottom. Angel was a matte purple with a vibrancy that I haven't seen elsewhere. Fallen and Unspeakable have a satin finish that is really very gorgeous.

Really liked Dreamy Haze and Yearning Heart. They have been calling my name for a long time.

Loved the look of the first row in their pots. The colors looked so complex and interesting. Was really disappointed with the way they swatched though... later I found out why. They were supposed to be used wet... so here's more pics of them swatched with a wet cotton bud. Apologies for the small pics but I think they do capture the eye shadows rather well.





NEXT!




New York Taxi, Brooklyn Skyline, Manhattan Skyline, Studio 54, Soho
Serendipity3, Liberty, Central Park, Hudson River, Niagara Falls
The Broadway, Moscato, White Rajah, Warrior Dance, Eagle Dance, Ritual Dance, Daan Kayuh


Studio 54 looked like a lovely crease color...

Central Park was a green that jumped out at me. But I have similar colors already in my collection.

Love the last row of mattes... brought a sample of Daan Kayuh home with me to use as a brow powder.

NEXT!



Asti, Cordon Rouge, Negro Diablio, Tequila Sunrise, Emeraldtini, Blue Lagoon
Rose Gold, Pure, Autumn Ray


Guess I'm on a green streak or something but Emeraldtini called to me and so did Autumn Ray. So I brought both of them home. My other pics for this visit were Yearning Heart and Daan Kayuh.

Stay tune for one more post on these eye shadows and then another on the blusher range... so many pictures and so little time to blog... such is life huh?

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

musings about coupon sites

Here locally, there's been a sudden influx of coupon sites. I know in the States, Groupon is making itself known as well. Basically, they are sites that offer heavily discounted deal on various products and services. Its a win-win for both company and consumer. We get a good deal and the company gets publicity and an influx of new customers.

Being on a tight budget, I've taken advantage of quite a few offers over the last couple of months. No regrets so far... so why this post?

well, I've found that some of the offers have hidden costs. It can range from dealing with hard selling while enjoying the discounted service to something like this offer... which to be honest, I was really tempted to take up.


Gellish is the new "in-thing" among nail enthusiasts. It claims to be able to last 3-4 weeks with NO signs of wear and tear. The only reason why you would have to reapply is due to nail growth. Current prices for Gellish treatments here are way outta my budget. Seriously. So the SGD25 offer is really a STEAL! and I have until June to use the coupon. Nice :D

So I filled out the necessary details and was about to hit the "BUY" button when a thought suddenly struck me. How much will it cost me to get the Gellish off my nails? Bear in mind, this is a special treatment and so you need to go back to the salon to get them to remove it for you. If you're reapplying, that removal fee would be part of the reapplication fee. Make sense?

But for people like me who won't reapply... well... how much would it cost? well, a lovely GF did the calling around for me and found out that costs vary from SGD2 per nail to SGD 4 a nail. Do the maths... that's SGD20-SGD40 just to take it off...

does SGD25 seem so worthwhile any more? I don't think so!

So I guess what I'm saying is... if you see a deal that's really worth your dollars... read and reread all the fine print and make sure you're happy before you hit the "BUY" button. There are wonderful deals out there... I know cos I just bought one to use tomorrow. :D


No prizes for guessing what's for lunch *grin*

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Lolita New York - the shop

Most of you on FB would have already seen herdottyness' pics (yes, I'm talking to you ex-Voxers) to the rest of my friends from near and far... here's my take on yesterday's outing... its gonna be in parts cos I'm swamped with work and really should be clearing that and not blogging... but whatever... *giggle*

frankly speaking, in terms of pics, I don't have that much. Reason being... I am ready to toss my phone cum camera into the rubbish bin as soon as my contract expires and I can get a new one. Seriously... the silly camera keeps tell me to open the lens cover when its already open!!!! can vomit blood... but with a *lot* of persistence, here's some pics from Lolita NY @ Marina Square.

Just some back ground, Lolita NY was set up by the same people who brought you SilkMineral. Jo L, a good friend and salesperson, has expanded the range of miracle protein products available and these are sold solely at her shop and not online. I think its getting to a stage where everything that can have miracle protein in it is available in some shape or form.


Here's the section that has soaps, shampoos, facial cleanser, a lovely foot scrub and her latest product, essential oil blends. Let's kinda walk through the shelves...

Personally, I love her handmade soaps (the ones at the bottom of the picture). Each has miracle protein in it and special blends of essential oils to cater to different skin issues. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I use the soap for bathing and for washing my face. Currently, I'm using some of her older versions of her soaps but just stocked up yesterday with orange/bergamot, clarysage/lavender in both the plain and detox (with dead sea mud) versions. I can't wait to try them out. If you're around Marina Square, do drop by and take a whiff of the gorgeous scents. Then imagine filling your bathroom with them... sheer luxury I tell ya!

heading up on the left side of the pics, you can see two shelves with little bottles of additives that can be poured into shampoos/cleansers. They can do a variety of things, revitalize your scalp, soften your skin, ease eczema and the list goes on. You can either choose to add them to the products she sells OR you can bring them home and add them to what you're using. Now, isn't that lovely?

In between the shelves of additives, is the facial cleanser. Now I have a friend (you know who you are and you really should blog this yourself!!) who has ditched her SKII cleanser for Lolita's. Her baby's skin is doing much better too! Her choice of additives are miracle protein and lavender. I haven't tried it... *yet* just because I'm really happy with the soap bars.

Speaking of lavender... I gotta tell you... Lolita's lavender is like none other that I've smelt. Its soooooo good! I think it'd make a convert of the most die hard "hate lavender" club. Ok, enough of the side track...

Top shelf on the left holds her bottles of shampoo. She's got three varieties... Orange/Beramot, ClarySage/Lavender and TeaTree/Eucalyptus to cater to different scalp and hair needs. Again, I have my own favourite shampoo at the moment and have 1 litre left so this is on the "to try" list sometime down the line as well.

for more information on the soaps, additives and shampoos, head to Lolita's FB page and check out the photo albums. Lots to see and read there :)

On the other side, top to bottom, are facial masks (just add water), essential oil blends and miracle protein.


She's got tester shelves for her latest collections, little packets of trial size products and Taiwan's Yuan soaps.

Now here's the side of the shop that I really really had fun with...


I've been using SilkMineral colors since very early on. These are just a step further. More complex and interesting colors. More on that later on though.

And before I go, here's the price for the lip glosses I mentioned in another earlier post...


ok... I really have to run off to do some actual work.. not blogging... so I'll be back with swatches of all the pretty eyeshadow colors.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Lolita New York - blushes

Like I mentioned in my previous post, Lolita NY has really beautiful mineral makeup. Given that Jo L. is concerned about keeping skin healthy, her makeup products have ingredients that are safe or even beneficial.

Here's her blushes... I saw Moet two or three times and am totally in love with it. Its the third from the left in the pictures.

(from left to right): krouge rose, peach melba, moet, english rose, crystal, sunset cast, cupid, dee blush, love, paddy dance, after glory, bridgestone breeze


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