Be still, my beating heart! Urban Decay's Summer 2015 collection is everything I could want and more - pigmented, glossy, and oh-so-bold.

I had the pleasure of trialling a few pieces from the collection, and they are fast becoming my favourite pieces of makeup to wear.

Let's start off with my favourites from the collection - two beautiful Afterglow 8-Hour Powder Blush shades. Score is the most beautiful, skin-enhancing peach blush with pink tones and a beautiful shimmer. Bittersweet is a purple that looks scary in the pan, but I find that it's always these scary-looking blushes that come out looking the most beautiful on the skin. This gives you a unique glow to your skin that someone who's looking at you won't quite be able to place. Swatches below:

Next, their Revolution High Color Lipgloss. I have the shades Brickhouse, Vice, Bittersweet, and Liar. Brickhouse and Bittersweet, my two favourites, are swatched below for your ogling pleasure. These lipglosses are long-lasting, gooey, and highly pigmented. The swatches below were done with just 2 coats of gloss.

And finally, here's a look I created with the products:

Wearing Tonic eyeshadow in the inner corners, Lounge eyeshadow in the centre of the lid, Backfire in the crease, Score blush on the cheeks, and Vice on the lips.

The Urban Decay Summer 2015 collection is stellar, and I foresee it selling out pretty fast, so get your butts in store now to check these babies out!

Hello everyone and I am so sorry this is late! The holidays and then transitioning into work made me completely neglect this poor blog, which really isn't surprising at all -.-

Anyway I thought today's update should be about a couple of products I've been trialling and a couple of new things that have happened since I last saw you all, so here it is!

1. La Mer The Hydrating Facial

Boy, oh boy, is this mask a treat! It comes packaged as luxuriously as you would expect of a La Mer product - green box, white packet, and then the sheet mask, sandwiched between two plastic holders to keep the creamy product saturated into the mask. Once you remove the mask itself, you immediately feel just how much rich, creamy product is packed into one sheet mask - the mask feels thick, super creamy, and just so densely packed, it's insane. To use, rinse your skin, then remove the mask and apply according to the cuts and contours of the mask, made to fit the face, of course. Leave on for just 8 minutes (and literally, you only need 8 minutes. I left mine on a tad too long and the cream kind of melted into my skin - a good thing - and down my face, getting into my eyes - not so good! - and that really stung!), and massage the remaining product into your skin. I like to use my facial massage technique with this mask.

After application, my skin felt incredibly plump and smooth. I have been struggling with dry skin in some areas, so I have a flaky chin and forehead, but this smoothed everything down and gave me such soft skin. So good.

2. Urban Decay Spring 2015

Urban Decay needs no introduction at this point. This year's Spring collection is nothing short of gorgeous. True to their edgy roots, their Spring collection features no pastels and pretty pinks. Instead, the brand chose to release a selection of sheer-but-dark lipsticks, a fab mascara/primer hybrid (more on that in a bit), a foundation and concealer, and a stellar selection of eyeshadows.

My favourites are most definitely the eyeshadows and the mascara! The eyeshadows are gorgeous, multi-dimensional shimmery pans of makeup goodness - take a look at their swatches below:

And that mascara/primer is something else! You know how most times when you're out all day and have another event to attend in the evening, you tend to just freshen up your makeup rather than redo it all, and when it comes to your mascara it's kind of touch and go there, because your lashes are stiff as f**k and all you want to do is add on product but you feel like you're pulling them clean off your face instead? That's where their Mascara Resurrection comes in. This baby smooths and softens that day-old mascara, and makes your lashes pliable enough to accept an easy application of extra mascara. What's more, it actually primes your lashes for that application, making them longer and thicker. Even my sister, who never bothers with lashes, noticed them enough to ask me if I was using  falsies - the ultimate compliment!!

The concealer as a bit of a disappointment for me, because I have lines underneath my eyes (ugh!), and these just settle into those lines no matter what I try to do to stop the creasing! The concealer itself is lovely and I still do use it to conceal my imperfections (this performs particularly well on dry areas) and to highlight my brow bone. Not under the eyes though.

3. Miss Dior

I was so excited to receive a fresh delivery of the gorgeous new range of Miss Dior fragranced products, including a shower gel and lotion duo, the new Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet fragrance, a deodorant, and an interesting hair mist! All the products smell so deliciously feminine, not a scent I tend to gravitate towards, but I love these so much, I've been reaching for the fragrance, deodorant, and hair mist almost daily. And you know that the best way to get your fragrance to last all day and all night, is to layer them - this range allows you to do just that!

4. My new hair colour!

I just had to share this because colouring my hair has always been one of my favourite experiences. I remember getting lovely comments and questions about my balayage back when I was still in Melbourne, so this time I wanted to post a little bit about my current hair colour and where I got it done. Here's what it looks like now:

I had it done at Grace Salon in Bangsar Village II - from the get-go, you can tell that they have a wealth of knowledge and experience behind them, and that they're committed to helping you find a hair colour that's best suited to your lifestyle and preferences. They take things step-by-step, advising you along the way and taking the time to make sure that things are going according to plan, making leeway for change if it looks like the colour isn't taking or won't turn out the way you wanted it to.

They also took the time to recommend the proper hair care products for my hair, what to use and what not to, as well as how to care for my hair. The advice I received was invaluable and is helping so much with my hair care post-colouring.

With the owners of Grace Salon, Grace and Lisa

5. Bobbi Brown Extra Illuminating Moisture Balm

Oh my gosh this is my absolute favourite product at the moment! It is marketed as skincare, but I use it as makeup and it is beautiful. It is a lightweight moisturiser with the most finely milled shimmer particles that make a very natural, yet very high shine look. I adore the finish that I get with this! If you're looking for a highlighter, seriously, look no further than this beauty right here. I am honestly blown away by how beautiful it makes your skin look! Plus, with skincare benefits, how can you go wrong with this?! Here's how it looks on me:


This retails for RM245 per bottle at all Bobbi Brown Counters.

6. Estee Lauder Micro Essence
Last but not least, the Estee Lauder Micro Essence. Brands don't like us bloggers making comparisons between their products and products of other, competing brands, but let's face it - that's the best way I can describe something sometimes! This is Estee Lauder's answer to SK-II's Facial Treatment Essence - a serum-esque product that's as light as water (literally - it looks and feels almost exactly like water) and absorbs easily and quickly into the skin. Like the SK-II FTE, this product is meant to be applied before serum and moisturiser, after cleansing.
Its performance? I would say that it's almost on par with the SK-II FTE. It brightens and clears my skin (I didn't experience the nasty 'breaking in' problem that I had with the FTE, where I had to endure a week or so of breakouts before my skin finally got used to it and cleared), it makes my skin look healthy and glowing, and it helps keep my skin hydrated.
In all honesty I would probably rate this an 8/10 to the SK-II FTE's 9/10, but it's a negligible difference, especially since it's about RM100 more affordable than the SK-II. A bottle of this stuff retails for RM320 per 150mL.

GUYS! The Urban Decay Vice 3 palette is out in stores now, and I think you're gonna like this one!

Whilst I understand the appeal of the Naked palettes, I am a total sucker for Urban Decay's other palettes, like the Electric palette, the other Vice palettes, and my longtime Book of Shadows loves. I love the colour options, the pigmentation, and the smoothness of Urban Decay's eyeshadows, and this Vice 3 palette is no exception.

As always, the palette includes a pretty high-quality (dual-ended) brush, and this particular palette also comes packaged in a foam Vice clutch.

And now, on to swatches!

All eyeshadows in this palette are soooo smooth and easy to blend, beautifully pigmented (this is what I love most about Urban Decay eyeshadows - the pigmentation is always on point!), and feature a wide range of colours that are brand new to the Urban Decay eyeshadow line.

My favourite by far? The incredibly gorgeous 'Bondage' - a black plum with gold and pink shimmer. SO pretty!

If you're looking to expand from the neutrals of the Naked palettes, or you're just looking for a good palette that will definitely take you from day to night, easy peasy, this is it! It has all the eyeshadows you need to create great subtle daytime looks, and it will most definitely give you unique, colour-rich nighttime looks! What sets it apart from other eyeshadows is definitely its smoothness and intense pigment - perfect for someone like me who loves a good, strong smoky eye!

I'll be creating looks from this palette on both my Instagram as well as YouTube, so keep a lookout for those!

The Urban Decay Vice 3 palettes is now in Sephora stores, and retails for RM200.

Since I moved back to Malaysia, I've gotten a lot of questions from Malaysians and Singaporeans particularly about how to keep skin oil-free in this humid tropical weather. I myself have an interest in this issue, since I have oily-combination skin, and my makeup literally melts off my face by noon.

I won't try to solve the entirety of this question in one blogpost, but I have trialled a few powder-based products that purport to help with oily skin, and want to share with you my thoughts so you can make an informed purchase to help you combat the noontime oiliness. I've also trialled a few skincare and liquid base products, which I will post about at a later date.

For now, here are my reviews of these powder-based mattifying makeup products for oily skin and humid weather:

1. Urban Decay De-slick Mattifying Powder

This is a colourless powder, quite similar in texture and appearance to the Make Up For Ever HD Pressed powder. It comes in a pretty, sturdy purple compact, and does a pretty damned good job at keeping the oils at bay. I apply this with a fluffy powder brush most days, but when I need more heavy-duty oil absorbing, I use a slightly denser brush so I can pack on more powder, and it does work better to a certain extent. It's not 100% effective, but I would say that it does what it claims to do much better than some other products I've tried, and I'm liking the ease of use that comes with a compact powder. Note that there is no coverage with this powder, simply oil-absorbing goodness.

2. Maybelline White Superfresh Powder Foundation

This is a foundation powder, which means you can apply this straight onto your skin after skincare and sunscreen (I would never recommend going without a layer of sunscreen, even if your foundation or moisturiser contains sun protection - in this case, this powder has an SPF of 34 PA+++). It's got a medium coverage and does a great job of evening out the skin tone and hiding minor blemishes and scars. The fantastic thing about this product is that it's being marketed as a one-stop, no-touchups-needed solution, and I think it really does what it says. I apply this using my kabuki foundation brush each day, and the foundation powder stays on throughout the day without greasing up at all. An easy-to-use, lightweight compact also means that you can pop this into your makeup bag and use the packaged applicator sponge just in case you wanted to take your look well into the night (it's not a miracle worker, so you're gonna need to touch up if you're going from a full day's work to play at night).

3. Alima Pure Satin Matte Foundation

Alima Pure is a brand that sits pretty high up on the list of safe, environmentally-friendly products, which is why I love it so much. Free of practically everything on the EWG's hazardous ingredients list, this product is definitely skin-friendly. What's more, it actually works. Again, I like to apply powder foundations like this one with a kabuki brush, and use a smaller brush to pick up the same foundation and apply it as a concealer. Using this both as a foundation and concealer, most of my scars and blemishes are covered, save for particularly angry-looking ones. I feel comfortable wearing this on my skin, and it keeps it a nice, glowing sort of matte, for well over half a day. After that, a touch up is needed, which can be a little annoying with loose-powder if you're on the go. Other than that, I really enjoy using this foundation.

4. Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Powder

This doesn't actually claim to be mattifying, but I find that applying about 2 light layers of this loose powder does keep the shine at bay for about half a day or so. I like using this at night, because it looks really natural and doesn't dull the colours and textures of the products that I'm using underneath it. Out of all the products on this list, it is also the lightest and doesn't clog my skin at all.

And that about sums up my favourite powders at the moment for oily skin and humid weather! Did I miss out any of your favourites? Let me know, I'd love to try out more of these products!

NYX Jumbo Eye Crayon in Purple

NYX Single Eyeshadow in Purple

Ellis Faas Creamy Eyes in E103 (review here)

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer in #20 Light

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Powder

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Vapour

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Dollface

MAC Lipstick in Snob

Luview Glossy Kiss lipgloss (milky pink end)

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