Valentine's Day is only a couple of days away, so I've rushed the edit and upload of this Valentine's Day makeup tutorial - and this is one that is perfect for a night out with your girlfriends or with your special someone.

Here's the video. I hope you like it! x

Products mentioned:

Kiehl's Ultra Hydrating Cream

The latest offering in moisturiser from Kiehl's, this is an ultra-hydrating moisturiser that is ultra-lightweight in texture. It is the lightest moisturiser that I have ever tried, but it still does feel a tiny bit slick on the skin, so I would recommend it for dry skin types. I like to use it to prep my skin before I use a powder-based foundation, because I find that it helps make my skin a little bit tacky so that it helps the powder stick, and also gives it a more glowy finish.

Rouge Bunny Rouge Seas of Illumination Highlighter

I've been a fan of Rouge Bunny Rouge ever since I spotted the brand on some of my favourite blogs, and finally got a chance to try it without the hefty shipping price tag when I discovered that Luxola carries the brand on their website (free shipping with orders above RM40 in Malaysia). This highlighter is pink-toned with multi-coloured shimmer, and gives the skin a lovely glow. It is pigmented enough that you don't need to 'wet' your skin and ruin the rest of your makeup - only a little bit is more than enough to give your skin a soft, luminous glow.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Express Kit in Brunette

This is my favourite brow product, not because of the texture or formulation of the powder, but because of the brush. Anastasia knows her brows, and this is one of the best brow brushes I have come across by far. It has just the right amount of stiffness to help me shape my brows properly, particularly at the bottom edges.

Sleek Contour Kit in Medium

One of my favourite contour products just because it is easy to use, doesn't have any shimmer in it at all, and is a great match for my skin tone. I don't like contour powders that are too orange, because they don't look natural at all, and this is one of the few drugstore products that gets it right.

Sigma Paris Palette

I am late to the party on this one, I admit, but only because it was so difficult to get my hands on Sigma before this! I know they ship worldwide, but unless you're doing a group order, their shipping increases with each product you add to your cart, and usually once I add a few products to my cart, I end up getting depressed by the shipping cost and close the whole window. This one was another shipment from Luxola, and my gosh it is beautiful! Some of the colours are absolutely amazing, particularly the purples, which is why I chose to use them in this tutorial.

Smashbox Limitless Eyeliner in Onyx

This is a great eyeliner to use when you're doing a smoky eye, because it is quite smudge proof once it sets. Don't use it if you have particularly oily lids or watery eyes, because it isn't 100% smudge proof, but if you're neither, it's a great smoky liner to have.

Lavie Lashes

Lavie is a brand of lashes released by a friend of mine, and I am immensely flattered that she chose to send me a selection of her lashes to trial and show you guys here on the blog and my channel. I am wearing the Lolas, and what I love about her line of lashes is that they are so wearable! They are just right for my eyes, and that is difficult to find because most lashes are too long or too large for my eyes. These fit just right, so I urge anyone of Asian descent to try these if you've been looking for a more natural but still striking look!

Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush in Spicey

I honestly didn't even think to buy this colour - I just knew I wanted a new Watercolour Blush because I have the colour Cherub and absolutely adore it. I only bought this colour because it was so highly recommended online, and when it arrived I was slightly underwhelmed by the brick red colour. But once I applied it, I fell head over heels in love! The colour just lit my entire face up, and brought such a beautiful warmth to my cheeks. I highly recommend this for warm skin tones - you won't regret it!

Too Faced La Creme Color Drenched Lipstick in Nude Beach

Fast becoming one of my favourite lipsticks because of its lovely mauve-y nude colour. It is really flattering against my skin and I love the creamy texture. I wish it was a tiny bit more pigmented, but still love it to death anyway.

I've been in a bit of a shopping rut, and while that's not a bad thing for my wallet, I was feeling quite uninspired in terms of my blog and YouTube channel. Then came Chinese New Year, ang pau, and loads of visiting and nights out. I started wearing more makeup, and became more interested in latest releases, and products that had been released for a while, but that I felt I did not need.

Now the name of this post is a little bit misleading, because it implies that I already have all these products in my beauty cupboard. Some of these are actually products that I have placed orders on, and are on their way to me! But I thought I'd write this post anyway, in case anyone was in need of a bit of retail therapy and needed some inspiration :)

Tarte Marajuca Creaseless Concealer

This concealer is a funny one, because it attracts such a wide spectrum of opinion when it comes to its main marketed characteristic - being 'creaseless'. Some say that this product is their 'holy-grail' concealer that will not budge under the eyes, but then some others say that this concealer creases like crazy and settles into fine lines, no matter what they do; and the opinion is divided equally on either side. I personally have tried this on top of a hydrating, but not overly rich, eye cream, and experienced a tiny bit of creasing under my eyes, though much less than the creasing I experienced with a lot of other under eye concealers. Not a holy grail product, but not bad, either. It really does brighten the undereye area, so if you're looking for a good product to give you that Kim Kardashian contoured effect, this is a great concealer-slash-highlighter to try.

Too Faced La Creme Color Drenched Lipstick in Nude Beach

Both my sister and I were immediately attracted to this colour when we were swatching the Too Faced La Creme lipsticks. I had heard so many raves about this product that I had to try it for myself, and I was looking for a pretty mauve-y beige/nude with just the right amount of pink (I am a very picky person when it comes to nude lipsticks, since I have so many) - and this was just perfect! It is just the right amount of nude to lighten my lips without making me look too washed out, and it has just the tiniest bit of sheerness to it, so that a small amount of my lip colour shows through, and that really helps it complement and flatter my skin tone. It has a lovely creamy texture, and reminds me a lot of my favourite L'Oreal Fairest Nude Color Riche lipstick.

Smashbox Full Exposure Palette

Whenever a nude palette gets released, I heave a sigh of annoyance and wonder why so many people get caught up in the craze. Unless a brand comes up with unique neutrals that flatter skin tones perfectly, I don't get why everyone has to buy into the craze and throw their money at the SAs. My own Naked palette looks almost new, rotting away in my makeup drawers. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should own at least one neutral palette, but stick to just one great palette that has a good mix of mattes and shimmers, with colours that (most importantly) flatter your skin tone. Once you find a selection of neutrals with undertones that flatter your skin tone, you will take your makeup to a whole new level, trust me. Against my own principles, I fell in love with the Smashbox Full Exposure palette partly because of the satisfying number of matte eyeshadows, and majorly because I had just swatched one of Smashbox's latest palettes (the Wonder Vision eye palettes), and the textures of their eyeshadows made me dance a little jig inside. Their latest formulation of eyeshadows are the bomb diggity. So insanely smooth and velvety, and as fluffy as clouds! PLEASE GO AND BUY SMASHBOX EYESHADOWS. THEY WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

BeautyBlender Sponge

This is another product that I haven't yet gotten my grubby little makeup stained hands on, but one that I am sure will impress. I am starting to really love using two different foundations on my face - a lighter one for the centre of my face, and one a few shades darker to contour the outside of my face - and I haven't found the best way to apply it yet. Using a brush can make you mix the product up a little bit too much, and using your fingers is a little bit messy when you're trying to blend two foundation colours together only at the edges where they meet, so I have decided that the best solution would be to use the famed beauty blender. I've seen so many makeup artists who contour beautifully use this, so I am more than happy with my decision to purchase it. I also want to see how it performs with smoothing concealer onto my undereye area - I have to deal with some pretty deep set lines under my eyes, and so far everything is settling into those lines. I am hoping that the combination of the Tarte concealer above and the BeautyBlender will solve my creasing woes!

And that is all I have so far! Have you tried any of these products, and do you recommend them? I'd love to hear your product recommendations too!

Being from a hot, humid, tropical country like Malaysia, I never really had to pay much thought to luminous skin. There was shine everywhere on my face, and if I put a powder over it, it still looked moisturised and dewy.

But then I came to Australia, where the weather just sucked my skin and hair dry (why is it that my hair has more bounce and volume when I'm in Malaysia, where it's hot and humid?!) and my face started showing signs of moisture loss. My skin became dull and lacklustre, and the one thing I focused on with constant devotion was getting luminous skin.

If you're from a country that is pretty dry in general, or if you are in the cold, or even if you are in a tropical country and have dry skin (yes, it happens!), here are a couple of makeup products that will really boost the luminosity in your skin!

Illuminating Primers



Illuminating primers fill in any crevices you may have in your skin, and provide a smooth canvas for your makeup to adhere to. There are tons of illuminising primers on the market that also add luminosity to the skin.  The above primers - the JK Jemma Kidd Mannequin Skin Complexion Enhancer and the L'Oreal Paris Lumi Magique Pure Light primer - are some great options. You don't have to worry about obvious shimmer or oily-looking skin - these are subtle enough just so your skin has a 'glow' about it, without looking like a disco ball. Here they are swatched below:


Both these primers are subtle enough to work on any skin tone, but if you love a pastel, cool-toned look then go for the L'Oreal Pure Light Primer, and if you love that warm golden tint then the Jemma Kidd is perfect.

Illuminators


You can also add an illuminator on top of your makeup to add that glow and luminosity to your skin. The Bloom Illuminiser in Glow, Face of Australia Mineral Therapy Liquid Illuminator in Angel Flame, and the INIKA Light Reflect Highlighting Creme are all illuminators with a subtle shimmer running through them without being too obvious. They suit almost every skin tone because the shimmer in them is multicoloured and therefore doesn't lean too far either way on the warm/cool scale. Again, I've swatched them below:


The Face of Australia product should be used with a very light hand because it is extremely pigmented and is more suited to be used as a blush instead of an all-over highlighter. All three illuminators posses very fine shimmer pigments so you won't look glitter-crazy.
Illuminators look particularly lovely in the winter when the light is very subtle. It brings out a gorgeous glow in your skin.

Shimmer Infused Blush


If you don't like the added step of putting on an illuminator, you might want to try a shimmer-infused blush. Depending on what products you use, shimmer-blushes are very versatile and can give you anything from a healthy, glowing daytime look to a more glamorous nighttime shine.

I highly recommend the Clinique Fresh Bloom Allover Color for a subtle daytime sheen. If you're a fan of pigmented blushes, definitely try the Sleek MakeUP blushes in Pomegranate and Rose Gold - the Pomegranate has a more subtle shimmer whilst the Rose Gold is very glamorous without going over-the-top with shimmer. A huge plus is that they are extremely affordable. The Bobbi Brown Shimmerbrick needs no introduction - this cult product is gorgeous and subtle enough for day, but can be layered to create a more intense evening look. Here they are swatched on my arm:


Eyeshadow Colours and Textures




Eyeshadows used to be plain, powder pigments that added colour to your skin. With the latest technologies, you can now add texture to your eyeshadows and create an eye makeup that adds to the overall moisturised, polished look of your skin. Use the Too Faced Intense Eyeshadow in Poison Orchid in the daytime as a liner or at night as an all-over eyeshadow - purple eyeshadow is perfect for adding a gorgeous glow to both cool and warm-toned skins.
If you have more mature skin, stay away from glitter. Instead, play around with texture with the Clinique Lid Smoothie in Imprompt-blue (the perfect everyday colour for winter!) and the new Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream Shadow in Nude Beach (launching in August 2012). Here are swatches:


Balm-textured Lipsticks




Hate the stickiness of a lipgloss? These new hybrid lipsticks are perfect for winter. Your hair doesn't stick to them, and you don't have too much shine on your lips, which can look a little bit unprofessional. The pinky tones of all three lipsticks - the L'Oreal Color Riche Nutri Shine in Rose Guava (AUD 22.95), the Bloom Princess (AUD 28) and the Clinique Almost Lipstick in Shy Honey (AUD 36) - all add a subtle glow to the skin. The balmy shine also makes the lips look more moisturised and plump.

Brighten Your Décolletage




Spray the Bobbi Brown Shimmering Fragrance Oil on your décolletage and on the tops of your arms to add to your overall glow. The oils (essential oils of olive, sesame, avocado and jojoba) plump and moisturise your skin, and the shimmer is undetectable, yet so effective, it's insane. The Beach Fragrance (which smells of frangipani) might be a little out of place right now in winter, but you all know I never believed that a fragrance has to be season-appropriate anyway.
This fragrance is available from August 12 at Bobbi Brown counters.

I hope you found this post helpful! Do you have any special tips that you use to enhance your glow?