Make Up tips From 女人我最大

have been watching the famous taiwanese variety show, 女人我最大 on scv lately. Was more interested cos I hope to learn more about make up application haha.

Learnt something interesting about the application of liquid foundation. To have more natural make up, be it radiant or what, simply mix skincare with our liquid foundation :) Ive heard of this tip before but have not tried it since i do not have liquid foundation at home.

The make up artist in the show was saying, by doing this, we can add skincare benefits to make up. If you wanna have more radiant and whitening, add whitening products. For more hydration, of cos moisturising products. The proportion will be 1/3 skincare, 2/3 foundation. Too much will affect the coverage of the foundation.

Do choose products that are more watery like emulsion or essence, not cream. Adding watery essence etc, can 'dilute' thicker liquid foundation and make application of foundation easier too. The make up artist mix(massage the foundation & essence on the back of his hands, saying that the heat (our body temperature) on our hands helps mixing both products.

Apply our daily skincare, make up base, liquid foundation ( with added skincare), then loose powder ( so that the foundation can stay longer).

Well, I will try this when i get my 1st liquid foundation haha. That will probably be 2months later when i feel richer hehe.

The other tip is for eye make up. Some of us may have oily eye lids and eye shadows may crease etc. If you wanna save on eye primer, can probably try getting eye shadows of cream texture. Meaning we apply cream eye shadow 1st then the usual powder ones. This will help eye make up to stay longer. Some of those eye palettes in the market already have this combination if you notice. In this case i guess the cream shadow will most probably be the base (lighter color).

Alternatively, you can put a towel in the fridge then take it out to 'cool' the eye lids. This will help to control oil. Do note that opting for ice cubes with towel is a no-no cos that will hurt our skin.

Lastly, apply loose powder on our eye lids hoping to control oil is a no-no too. He said something like if we secrete oil, the loose powder will make the eye make up look worse.

Hmm, seems like im really interested in make up now. Hopefully i will become some expert one day haha.

How To Create Lots of Foam with Cleansers?!

As promised, today's post will be on foam! haha.

I am not sure how many of us out there have got this same problem as me. I always have difficulty creating enough foam with foam cleansers. I used foam cleansers ( those in tube form) for many years, since i was a secondary school kid, all the way to university year 1. I remembered the last one i tried was thefaceshop mung bean cleanser haha. I guess many of us now still do since it was the most common kind of cleansers in our local market.

Well, no1 teached me how to properly lather up etc. What i did was , squeeze about 1.5cm of cleanser onto my wet hands then rub back and forth, then the cleanser will become sorta like a creamy liquid form, I will then massage them onto my face.

Over the years I became more and more crazy about skincare lol, I read magazines, watched beauty variety shows etc, and realised that it is very important to create enough foam while cleansing to ensure that our faces are properly cleansed and yet not too drying for our skin. I came upon fancl washing powder and fell in love with the cushiony foammmm!! :) Since then, I never touch those foam cleansers anymore cos i think they cant provide me the same kinda foam i get from fancl.

I tried ettusais soap cleanser and I managed to create lotsa foam with fancl's foaming ball too. Just roll the ball on the soap for like 10seconds, then squeeze the ball a bit, keep rolling and you will get enough foam. I am not sure how people usually lather up soap cleansers but I find it very easy with fancl foaming ball. I got to know this method cos i was given a foaming ball by ettusais when i purchase their soap 2 years ago. It was on promotion and it came with free casing and foam ball. Since i am a fancl cleanser at the same time, I've got no problem getting their foam ball too. Those who have problem lathering enough with soap cleansers can try this method. Its quite easy to get foam ball from fancl counters, just tell them you need one and they will give it to you generously. I heard that we need to pay in japan for that!

I tried DHC salicylic acne wash sample lately and i decided to use it with the foaming ball since i knew i could never create enough foam with my bare hands. It was in gel form so i rolled the ball back and forth, allowing it to 'absorb' in the gel. Within seconds, trust me, it less than 5 seconds, with a little squeezing for the ball, foam was created! I dint managed to snap a photo of it but i tried it with vichy purifying cleansing gel today. That was my 1st gel cleanser, received it as a freebie when i bought the pore minimiser product lately. I opened it not long ago but was too busy to try it haha.

the blue ball on the right is how fancl foaming ball looks like. They come in green too.

shocking right haha! I used roughly same amount of gel for both tries yet the difference was soooo biggggg!

I dont have any opened foam cleansers (tube form) with me right now so i cant try it, but if you have the same problem as me, try it with fancl foaming ball! OR any other foaming sponge/ball you can find in the market :) I was thinking daiso may have such cleansing tools since japanese are crazy about foam haha.

Alternatively, you can opt for mousse or bubble cleansers, those pump kind whereby foam was already created and stored in those pump bottles and we just need to press the pump to get the foam. I know hada labo, nuxe ($20+) & Juju aquamoist (around $15) have their cleansers in pump form at watsons. Do take note that these cleansers finishes faster. Whether those foam are 'thin' or dense, i guess will have to depends on brand.

Cleo September 2010 Issue

Bought this issue last friday and found it to be one of the most informative & interesting issue so far, at least for me. Usually a copy of cleo wont last me more than 1.5h, but i actually spent quite some time reading this issue.

SO whats in this issue?! I only list those that i find interesting haha.

Great beauty finds under $25 recommended by 11 makeup & hair experts.

New skincare or makeup in Sg!

- DHC acne care make up series ( Not found in Watsons yet, prolly 2 more weeks?)

- Kanebo Freshel BB cream & Skincare ( Heeren ALT, Sasa, John Little & Watsons)

- Heme BB cream (Watsons & Sasa. I notice Heme carry this brand too, not sure if bb cream is found there though)

- Dr Wu BB cream ( Watsons & OG)

- Ettusais speedy eye make of & eye lash essence with chrysanthemum extract. Ettusais always has a 1 page special in CLeo I realised.i dont think these 2 products are out yet, prolly end of the month.

Freebies for this issue: One Whisper 40cm pad, Lancome genifique youth activator sample sachet.

For Watsons card members, 20% with 40 bonus points ( =$2) with every purchase of himalaya neem range.

Interesting Facts & articles:

Do we need to apply moisturiser after masking?! Yes if you've dehydrated skin. a moisturiser is used to seal in the goodness of the mask, but do remember to give our skin a few minutes to absorb in mask before applying moisturiser :)

Burning Questions about lip sticks! Foolproof way of applying lipstick especially when you've dry lips. I learnt quite a bit on lipsticks from this article :)

Fashion Trends this Fall/Winter

What do i Use these brushes for? An article on brushes, showing us the different types of brushes available in the market, good for beginners like myself! Im trying to find out about the different types of brushes for eye make up lately.

Guys who hold their girlfriends' Handbag: Fool or Foe? quite an interesting article.

Products that I am keen on after reading Cleo:

(Got to know them from 2page maquillage special)

Maquillage Treatment Lasting compact: Combines the coverage of a liquid foundation with the smoothness of powder to give natural looking yet flawless skin. sounds like cream foundation to me haha. 70% treatment ingredients, skin is kept moisturised up to 8 hrs! sounds great hur?!

Maquillage Rouge Enamel ($43). Pretty packaging! Provides the gloss from lipgloss and brighter colors from lip stick. Not sure if its a 2-way application though.

Kate white eye liner pencil. To line lower lash and prolly inner eye. should be affordable too haha. Then i need not use my eye shadow to highlight inner eye area anymore. Got interested about eye make up lately hohoho~

Conclusion: An issue worth buying! :)

Fancl Fresh 5th Issue

My stupid brother woke me up from my beauty sleep, I cant get back to sleep anymore. So here I am, blogging about how wonderful Fancl is haha. Sidetrack a little, I dont understand it when he chose to play the guitar ( in strips =.= horizontal stripes top & vertical strips boxers >.<, what a combination!) rather than starting his work earlier. Wierd brother huh!

alright, enough of the grumbles.

I was back home late yestersday and was surprised to see a large envelope with the word Fancl printed on it. Then I realise it must be the fresh issue! I took it on my way home earlier today and dint expect them to mail a copy to me! This is what i call service! :) So sweet of them, thumbs up! Made me feel privileged as their member.

Watsons sent a SMS some time ago telling me that I am entitled to a copy of the current glow magazine cos i spent a minimum amount there. till now, i still dint receive it. Emailed them twice and they dint bother to reply. Call the number written in front of the cashier, stating that thats the customer service number but that number dint even get through. What kinda rubbish is this! So you can imagine my face when experiences with both are so different. Its not about the magazine, its about service seriously. I can be quite particular about this at times.

Love the simple yet elegant fresh cover :) Its their 5th issue so far. I only knew about Fresh when they are at their 2nd issue. Very informative articles as compared to most beauty magazines, explaining why certain skin problems seem to be bugging us etc.

Fresh discuss about whitening, pore problem, wrinkles & hydration (Hyaluronic Aicd) in this issue. Explained very clearly about the ingredients they have in respective products which help to combat different skin problems, adding in some beauty tips here and there. They also have a make up corner teaching us the different ways of applying make up :) I like it when they engage their readers by having Q&A corner, interactive hub and voting in every issue too. I won myself washing powder with puff (for voting my best travel friendly product) and a box of tense up (sharing tips on anti-aging) in their 3rd issue. :) They sent me the washing powder wrapped up securely in box. They even delivered me the tense up ( I can even decide the best timing! ) to my doorstep.. I was so impressed with their service seriously.

Since its their 10th Anniversary in SG, we are 'granted' a wish! haha. By making a purchase of at least $50 between 23 july and 26 aug, we will be able to tell Fancl our wishes (related to FAncl) and the 10 most interesting entries will have their wishes granted :) Interesting hur.. lol. To know more about other promotions going on in aug, just log on to their website will do.

I'm happy to see Fancl becoming eco-friendly too! By saying no to paper bag with every purchase, we will receive a 10cents rebate which may be offset against our next purchase :) Hopefully the tense up packaging can be changed to something more environment friendly as well.

Get your free copy at any of the Fancl outlets and get to know your skin better today. I love fancl! haha. i'm like advertising them lol. well, I dont know why, i am just crazy over fancl, miao should know hehe.

Freshness of Your Products

Ever since i started using Fancl products, I became very particular about the freshness of my products, mainly because I am afraid that expired stuff will cause chaos for my face and give me zits. I don wanna risk my face for this >.<>shelf life affects the effectiveness of the products. Even for unfinished products, as long as time is up, i will dump them into the bin heartlessly haha. Nonetheless, this GOOD habit of mine burnt a BIG hole in my wallet in the long run.

dont assume counter brands will be safer than drugstore brands.. this is so not true! even for samples that u’ve taken, tak note of their expiry dates/manufactured dates but i guess only jap brands, ettusais esp, wrote the expiry dates on their samples.


that symbol(dustbin look alike with a 6M written inside) simply means that the shelf life is only 6mths, once opened! there is a diff with the shelf life for opened & unopened products!

if the product stated the expiry date, it only means that it can last for eg, 2yrs when its UNOPENED. if u wanna noe how long it can last when its OPEN, check the symbol. if its nt available, use it up within 1 yr is my suggestion to u. DONT TRUST THOSE SALESGER, they may not even know their stuff well, and they always tell u its 2/3yrs, to cheat you into buying the products of cos.

this is the same for products containing vit c, if the content is high, i tnk they can only last for 3mths once opened, as they oxidise and is v active. thats the main reason why i dont usu buy giant sized products unless im v confident that i can finish it in a yr.

Below is a gauge of how long the products should stay in your room once opened: Cleanser/Toner/moisturiser/foundation/blusher/eye shadow/lip/pimple cream: 1 year
Sheet mask: 2-3 years
Mascara: 3-6months

1 tip is to get these stickers from popular and paste one onto every product u buy! 5sheets for $1.80

for make up, do rmb to wash ur sponges & brushes too. for sponges, i wash mine with the sponge cleanser found @ daiso (recommended by AY). Fancl has one selling at $15 too. for brushes, i saw some bloggers washing with johnson baby shampoo. Clinique has one too, 236ml at $40, while sephora's one is 60ml $12.

Review: Veet Wax Strips (Dry Skin)

I started waxing a couple of years ago.. simply bcos i cant stand the hair on my legs haha!

Its available in Watsons, guardian, ntuc & Sasa. 20 wax strips for $15, with 4 perfect finish wipes. Veet has 20% off their products quite regularly, so do grab the chance when there is sale!

I got the one for dry skin (green color) instead of the pink one thats for normal skin. I just thought if its meant for dry skin, it wont be as harsh. I tried both types and they work the same too.

We've to warm the strips slightly with our palms before usage. I hate this step cos it tends to dirty my hands since i re-use the strips once. Lately, i found a way to do it fast.. use a cup warmer! lol. Just put it there for say 5sec and the wax strips will be ready for use :)

Alternatively, i think the hair dryer will do the same.. though ive not tried that before.

If there is some wax left on skin, I will use the perfect wipes to clean it off. It will be much better after that.

Verdict: 9/10 Reasonably priced wax strips. Removes my hair rather effectively.

After waxing, I will try not to expose my skin in the sun. And if i really have to, i will apply sunblock on my legs. This will prevent my skin from darkening. I forgt where i read this, but its a must to remember this tip!

After waxing for so many years, I realised its hard to prevent ingrown hair. Regular scrubbing do help to improve the situation. But do not scrub immediately after waxing! do it 2-3 days later.

I apply slow hair growth cream on my legs to slow down the growth rate.. Then I wont have to wax so often. I wil review on this soon in another post.

With regular waxing, the hair will naturally grow slower.

I realised the pores on my legs seems to became more obvious over the years as well. Minmin suggested applying unwanted toner on the legs to minimise the pores. I've yet to try this method but since it works on the face, it may work on the legs too! moreover, since we've got no more use for the toner anymore, instead of discarding it, we can put it to better use :) It may enhance absorption of our body lotion too. So why not!