2012 Favorites

Hello!

It's the last day of 2012 and I have to say that last year I started this blog as a part of 2011 new year resolution, the blog is growing super slow afterwards but I love writing something once in a while :) I think for 2013 I have to vow to post more reviews and share more stuff here and also at overmellow.

Just moments before this year ends I wanted to list some of my favorites for this year, I will write more thorough review or swatch for each product/thing mentioned later :)

Skincare

Cleanser Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Oil-Free Acne Wash
Toner Bioderma Sensibio H2O
Exfoliant Paula's Choice 2% BHA Gel
Spot Treatment Mario Badescu Drying Lotion
Sunscreen Shiseido Sun Protection Lotion
Mask Freeman Avocado & Oatmeal Facial Mask
Body "Cleanser" Dove Bar Soap
Lotion Eucerin Repair Lotion 10% Urea

Make Up

Liquid Foundation Make Up For Ever Mat Velvet+ and Revlon Photoready
BB Cream Diorsnow UV Shield White Reveal SPF 50 PA+++
Tinted Moisturizer Bobbi Brown SPF 15
Setting Powder MAC Blot Powder
Powder Foundation Everyday Minerals Matte Base
(come to think of it, I hardly ever wear face primer this year)
Make Up Brush Sigma
Eye Primer Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Eyeshadow Palette Too Faced Natural Eye Palette
Eyeliner Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner and MUFE Aqua Eyes
Mascara Maybelline Falsies Flared and Urban Decay Supercurl
Blush MAC Peachykeen
Lipstick Bobbi Brown Creamy Matte Lip Color in Über Pink
Lipgloss Lioele Blooming Gloss in Vanilla Pink and Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in Insouciance

Nails

Nail Base Seche Rebuild (replacing my ever favorite Nail Envy)
Nail Top Coat Seche Vite
Nail Polish 
OPI Dulce de Leche is still my most favorite but from the ones I got in 2012; I love Essie Penny Talk

There they are fully listed. Most things are the ones I wear on daily basis so it's not difficult to pick a favorite. I'm still looking for go-to highlighter, concealer and bronzer tho. What I usually wear now is just so-so, therefore they are not included in the list :) I guess that's all for now, cheers for the new year!

Essential Brushes

Lately I have been using only two brushes to do my make up. I've mentioned a couple times that I rarely wear eyeshadows, I usually only apply some primer then eyeliner on my eyelids. So I don't have any go-to eye brushes *shame*

These two are the brushes I'm wearing lately. The first one is Bubbi HD Flawless brush. I got this one at shopbubbi.com from make up brushes line by Lindy a.k.a bubzbeauty. I've been eyeing this brush for quite a while because of its similarities with Shiseido foundation brush. It has dense angled short bristles for an HD finish. I kept myself from buying it because I had my Everyday Minerals flat top brush already. But eventually that brush just shed and shed and I think it's time for me to replace it. So I placed my order and the brush arrived.

More blogging soon

Hi!

I've been away for quite some time because we were moving to a new house and was internet connection-less. Thankfully yesterday the connection's active and I can blog again :)

My last post was about my June Glossybox that I received during our last days in the old home ^^ so I have to update about some things...

I decided to terminate my Glossybox subscription. It's always exciting to receive new products every month and I have to admit that the price for 5 products made a really good deal, but even so I have never reached for my products so often. I still stick to the things I bought on my own, so I think what's the point? €12.50 can buy me something else this month so I decided to terminate my subscription.

I tink I have found my skincare routine at least for now. I have been meaning to write a post about it but as I've started, I stopped and just save it. Maybe I should write about it more thoroughly the next time. But as for now, I'm happy to say that I'm okay and content to get out of the house wearing nothing on my face but sunscreen. It's quite an achievement for me and my self esteem ;)

I started playing with eyeshadows! Well, don't expect anything sophisticated, just a little dab of cream shadows blended by fingers, but hey, it's something for me :)

I guess that's all for now. I'm excited to write another post soon ^^ Now I have to take care of my laundry first lol. See you!

June Glossybox

Once again another Glossybox have arrived :) Actually today I was expecting three packages and two of them arrived already. I'm still waiting for the third and the most anticipated one!

Anyway this is the June Glossybox, finally arrived after some teasers from the Facebook and Twitter page of Glossybox.nl. Most of the things on the box are related to summer weather change even though we have summer only one or two days here.

So let's take a closer look!

Only You, Diabolique

Pardon the tacky title, but it was the first thing I had in my mind everytime I think about this nail polish brand. Only You is a new nail polish brand from ICI Paris XL. So far I only found them at ICI Paris XL. It retails for €4.95 a bottle, which is 10 ml.

Right now they have a promotion; when you buy two nail polishes, you get one free bottle of nail polish remover (ICI Paris' brand). So last week (June 6th) when I went out to buy more Mavala delicious colors nail polishes, I dropped by at ICI Paris. Unfortunately they didn't stock Mavala, but I saw the promotion ad for Only You so I grabbed two nail polishes, Diabolique and Lucky Dutch (a bright Holland orange, to root for the Holland football team, I guess).

Cyclades Blue

Quick swatch of Mavala Cyclades Blue. Pardon my ugly cuticles, I just wiped off the Lemon Cream then put Nail Envy and Cyclades Blue. This is one coat without top coat. Quite opaque but I think second coat won't hurt either. :) 

Lemony Lemons

On my birthday this year, I went to Amsterdam to meet up with my aunts :) They wanted to go shopping and meet me on the day so I figured why not meet up in Amsterdam (Rotterdam is farther from where they came and I think they prefer Amsterdam because it has more designer brand stores)

After we had lunch, we went to a small parfumerie and I was so close to buying Chanel June nail polish as a present for myself ^^ but then I went to the Mavala counter and browsed through their collection and found... their Delicious Collection! I ended up buying Lemon Cream and Fresh Melon, and also Cyclades Blue from their Art Colour collection. I think Fresh Melon is close enough to be a Chanel June dupe, and it's like 20 € less! 

This is what I ended up buying; Lemon Cream, Cyclades Blue and Fresh Melon. I think after this I would go out and buy the rest of the Delicious collection.

Birthday Wishlist

It's closing in to my birthday (yay!) I'm turning 25 in about 3 weeks *sigh*
I'd like to think that turning 25 is quite a big milestone :P but I guess as you get older, people don't take birthday too seriously anymore. Still, I'm a big fan of birthdays (like how Lily loves her birthday on How I Met Your Mother, seriously) I love waking up at midnight or staying late to wait til I turn a year older. I kept every birthday messages I got for that year until the next one comes (provided I don't change phone) and I will still be awake til the last hours of fifth of June just to close the day :)

For the 25th, I wanted to held a brunch/lunch like I've done about the last 6 years or so. But as I thought it through, I don't really have many friends here and my birthday would fall on a weekday so I canceled it. I love making/buying cakes for my own birthday and planning my brunch, but I guess that won't be the case this year. I love surprises tho, I've never had anyone throwing a surprise birthday for me and I think that's kind of the top of my wishlist almost all my life ahaha cheesy lady.

Sweet hubby decided to take some days off on my birthday weekend and we're going to go on a celebration roadtrip (yay!) :))) I thought that would be one of his busy weeks, but he said it's okay :) so instead of planning a brunch, I planned our trip for that weekend. So far everything's ready, just have to pick my clothes for the trip (yea rite) :))

As for my birthday wishlist... Here are the things I want for this year's birthday. Since this is a whatever-i-want list, I just put everything in there :D

Blogger Appreciation Award

So I've been tagged by my sister (her blog just got a dotcom domain, btw, congrats!) for a Blogger Appreciation Award :)

This tag is quite simple and short but somehow I forgot about it in some weeks that she had to remind me about it ^^;; These are the things you have to do if you're tagged with this award;

1. Thank the person who gave you the award with their blog link on your post.

2. Answer the following 4 questions.

3. Award the blogger appreciation award as many readers/commenters/followers as you'd like.

4. Let the blogger know you've just awarded them (by leaving a comment/email/tweet/etc).

The Questions:

1. How long have you been blogging?

2. What are 1-2 reasons why you started blogging?

3. What types of blog do you like to follow/read?

4. What is 1 thing you would like to improve on as a blogger/on your blog?

So here goes...

How long have you been blogging?

I have to say it first, I'm not quite sure. Before it came to blogging, I had a website long time ago that accommodated my affection for Magic Knight Rayearth (yeah, I was a part time otaku, just a little) during junior high school years. Then I have several domains until I arrived here. I wrote quite many posts back in friendster blog (which has, sadly, terminated) and then multiply, then migrating to blogspot, even tho I used to have a blogspot domain even before that... I consider the real start was my friendster blog, which was in 2005 :) so it's been 7 years since then.

What are 1-2 reasons why you started blogging?

At first I thought it's just an idea of a diary, I thought no one would read it anyway :P I wrote lyrics that I love, random pics and whatever it is that crossed my mind. Then after some time, I did realize that it's nice reading your old posts for keepsake reasons. As for peachysweetness, it was my 2011 resolution to start a *beauty* blog. I think it would be somewhat helpful to someone if I keep a record of the things I tried, cosmetic-wise. And I think it's good for me too to keep track of what cosmetic products I already owned and made me more aware before buying new stuff :)

What types of blog do you like to follow/read?

I love reading reviews. Maybe that's why Temptalia is one of my most visited links. I honestly rarely bother about tutorials because I think I already grasped the basic (really really basic) so most tutorials that I watched was mostly different in eye make up. And until now I don't really do anything with my eyes, just eyeliner is enough. The only tutorials I have in my browser's bookmark are pinkfishpie's Elegant Princess Make Up Tutorial Transformation and Wintery Silver Make Up Tutorial. Whenever I wear eyeshadows I basically go from those links. I think it's because she has the same lids as mine :D

Aside from reviews, I love reading Asian beauty blogs because of the skintone and sometimes monolids similarities, also because I think there are so many great products still out there with more affordable prices. I also love reading european beauty blogs for more reachable brands :)

What is 1 thing you would like to improve on as a blogger/on your blog?

When I read other blogs, seeing the pictures is what excites me. If I saw a review with just one picture and lots of words, I won't enjoy it so much. That's why I wish I could improve the amount and quality of my pictures in the blog. :) 

So I guess that's all for this tag. I'd like to tag Jian from Pinkfishtart and Vero from christyvero ! :) Have fun with it, girls ^^

Barbie might Love Essie Lovie Dovie

As I mentioned in my April Glossy Box post / report, I received a bottle of Essie Lovie Dovie in it :) I was really excited over it, especially after I learnt that everyone also got Essie polish in their box but different colors. I'm glad that I got this one, honestly. Sorry for the cheesy caption pic, I couldn't take my pics off lenslight and instagram these days so I thought I'd put that one up :) Let's take a closer look, shall we?

April Glossy Box

Hi! I'm sorry for being quite MIA for the last three weeks. My family is here for vacation so I'm a bit occupied (happily, of course) you can see the post about them here. Before I knew it, it's the third week of the month already and it means another new Glossybox! I got the notification of shipment yesterday and today it arrived! Yay :) Let's open it together :))

Stash Swatches: Blush

A little while ago, I have mentioned 10 of my favorite beauty products in this post (and video). Shortly after that I realized that I mentioned and showed the products but I think it would be nicer to show how they swatch. I'm sure there are many swatches of my blushes all over the internet. But this is how they pretty much look on my skin.

Since I don't really have many blushes. I have NARS Orgasm and MAC Peachykeen which basically can replace each other (Maybe I shouldn't recommend getting both, but who am I to say that since I have both. Two of each. ;)) I have one more that I rarely reached for which is MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Stereo Rose. It is just as pretty as the other two but with more sheen and sometimes I forgot and I already applied either Orgasm or Peachykeen when I found Stereo Rose in my stash :)

So I thought why not just swatched the three together :)

March (and first) Glossy Box!

So just today I received my very first Glossy Box. I am quite late to hop on beauty box bandwagon and now here I am receiving my first one. I don't know many here in Netherlands but I think even if there's many, Glossy Box is one of the leading ones then ;) I'm so excited to receive my first box and I want to share it right away!

In Line for Reviews

Just this Monday I received almost everything I was waiting for arrived in the mailbox. Aside from the long awaited residence permit approval, I got the samples from Paula's Choice, Crazy Rumors Perk-Mocha lip balm and NYX lip palette from Boozyshop and Inglot AMC Liquid Blush from Inglot.

We've been preparing our house for my parents' (and lots other family members) visit next month so I haven't been able to do a thorough review. But I will write as soon as possible, of course :D Now I'm still waiting for Mario Badescu Drying Lotion and Ceramicore ceramic pans from a teleshopping channel :P

H&M Orange Lane

Continuing from my H&M Pink Road review, this is the second polish I got from their Spring collection. It's called Orange Lane, which is, as the name stated, a bright orange. I've never had such bright orange in my stash before, let's take a look :)

H&M Pink Road

The spring is coming and H&M is gearing up their cosmetic line with a cute collection decorated with light green, pink, purple and birdies like this one right here :) I don't know if they have a special name for the collection but I was drawn to how cute the ensemble is. I wanted to buy the pocket folded mirror but I haven't managed to, so I got the nail polishes instead ;) The new collection has four nail polishes, which are City Pink (a hot pink), Pink Road (an in between purple and red pink), Orange Lane (a bright orange) and Green Street (a leaf green). I was thinking for some time between my many visits to H&M so the last time I went there, Green Street was already sold out, at least in the store I visited. At the website, however, both Green Street and City Pink has already sold out. So I went home with Pink Road and Orange Lane (will be reviewed later, of course). Let's take a look at Pink Road first :)

Tagged Video Done!

Just a quick update that my sister has done her Top 10 Products Video that I tagged her a month ago in this post :D Do check it out and go to her blog as well at allthatmakeup.blogspot.com :)

Enjoy!

Bobbi Brown Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15 Review and Swatches

A little update of my skincare quest. I am still doing a trial on and off with a few products. Tried a toner, break out, back to using only Purity. Using my Skin Sonic religiously, still breaking out a few, changed my foundations. Using powder foundation, liquid foundation, I can't hardly keep track as good as when I started. So I think right now I have to give my skin a break (a break, not break out) by using lighter things on it. Aside from Purity and Skin Sonic (which I use more gently these days) I only use Clearasil Overnight Cream.

But I always think going out bare faced is a little bit offensive (for myself) so I decided that I need something light for cover up. I opt for tinted moisturizer and have been doing my research around the web for quite some time. I then decided to buy MAC Studio Moisture Fix. So last Friday as I and hubby went to the centrum for koopavond (when the stores up til late! 9 pm, that is), I went through the make up counters at Bijenkorf and wanted to ask the sales assistant at MAC for Studio Moisture Fix. But they seemed a bit busy at that time so I wander around to Bobbi Brown counter. My friend Retno already told me how much she loves their tinted moisturizer and I was kinda sold but I think the price tag would be too much for me.

China Glaze Sugar High

China Glaze Sugar High is a part of their Up & Away collection back from December 2009. I was a bit late in purchasing this polish, I bought it around last year. From the Up & Away collection I bought Sugar High and Four Leaf Clover :)

I once tried wearing this but I thought it was too bright for the day so I clean it off. This is only the second time I wear Sugar High so I decided to post about it here.

Hair-talk

Hi there!

So, for Valentine's Day this year the top highlight of my day was getting my first haircut in Netherland :) Yes it is quite a big step because for the last two years I was very careful about who is cutting my hair.

I have naturally wavy hair, but not in an awesome kinda way. I straightened it regularly. The first time I straighten it was quite a disaster, damaged my hair so badly. And by the time the wavy part already outgrown the straightness, I got a haircut that basically got rid of the straight parts. Which left me clueless about how to style it. It was during my final college year and I was busy and hopeless bout my hair so I went for blow dry almost every two days (wasting money!).

Then I figured I need to straighten it again, but in different place where I can be comfortable and sure that I am not damaging my hair, or at least lessen the damage. I found what I asked with Yumie, a hairstylist quite far from my home. She offered Schwarzkopf Strait Therapy and gave me advices about how to take care of my hair. Since my hair was quite damaged at the time, she had to cut the ends to get rid of split ends, then she straighten it. I love that the result was not entirely straight like a broom ;P Since then I shampoo+conditioner+mask religiously.

After about 9 months my hair started to get wavy again, I already knew that it would only be straight for approximately 8 months. I went to her place again and mentioned that I am growing my hair long for the wedding in November. I switched my haircare to Schwarzkopf after that. I love their Repair Rescue line :) Between these times I only got my haircut by her or by one more trusted one at Irwan, named Ma'in (introduced by my friend Retno :D). Even though when I was growing my hair longer, I only went for haircut to fix my layers and make sure of getting rid of split ends, I only got my haircut by these two. The last one I got was after the wedding. After growing it long and maintaining it, I want to go back to my short bob :) so I went to Irwan and got my bob back.

Dear Readers,

Wishing you a lovely Valentine's day! :)

Late Monday Post and Update

I pasted this poll from makeupandbeautyblog :) I've always wanted to fill it but I think since I don't have a beauty blog I hesitated for sometime :P (I hesitated for lots of things already, should stop :P) So here goes...

1. Mood:

Right now I am quite bubbly and looking forward to Valentine's Day next week

2. How do you feel about teal eyeliner?

I love them! I usually don't buy eyeliners aside from black ones, but I bought MAC's Undercurrent cuz it's just so beautiful

3. The name of a perfume you own but never wear?

I have Lancome Miracle and Thierry Mugler Angel Lily that I keep at my Mom's wardrobe back in Jakarta. I love Lancome Miracle but the Angel Lily seems too mature for me. I still don't have them with me now tho :)

My Top 10 Cosmetics Products

Soooo... after hesitating for quite a long time, I finally upload this video of me talking about my top 10 cosmetic products. Here it is if you want to watch it, if you just want to see the list of products, just scroll down :) oh and excuse the gtalk sound around 9:00 :P

I made this video because of a post by Jian at pinkfishtart :)

I enjoyed preparing for this and I actually have 10 products to show :D

Go-to Neutral | OPI Dulce de Leche

I guess I have mentioned OPI Dulce de Leche quite many times so I feel like I need to show it here.

So, OPI Dulce de Leche is my go-to neutral. I have several polishes I'd like to think as nude or neutral but I still love this one most. I first saw OPI Dulce de Leche in an edition of InStyle, recommended by Lauren Conrad. That time I got really curious and wanted to have that polish. I don't have a thing for Lauren Conrad, but I think the name kinda attracted me to it. Apparently, this polish was a part of OPI South American collection.

Cleansers Comparison: Sephora | Philosophy | Lancaster

After a quick packing (All my stuff are for summer!) and about 16 hours plane ride to reach Amsterdam, I arrived at our home in Rotterdam without any cleanser... I don't have a make up remover in any form. Oh I have a pack of wipes I bought from home but I couldn't rely on it for a thorough removal. So the next Sunday while I was in Sephora, I bought a cleansing oil by Sephora. I think I got it for around 11 euros.

OPI Metallic 4 Life from Nicki Minaj Collection

Nail polish or OPI addicts everywhere must have heard for quite some time that Nicki Minaj was collaborating with OPI to make some new shades. Finally this month it came out :)

The collection has two glitter polishes, Metallic 4 Life and Save Me (She wore Save Me on the ad), three créme polishes; Pink Friday, Did It On 'Em and Fly, and one shatter polish called Super Bass. I honestly thought it would be more shimmery and glittery but maybe because the holiday collection (The Muppets) was just out with the glitters and shimmers, this collection has to tone down a little.

I kinda like the créme colors but I decided to pass on them because I don't think they stood out enough. For the pink, I have Sparrow Me the Drama already which I think a shade darker but still quite close. I don't dig the green in Did It On 'Em, but I was considering to buy Fly. Which I then pass because I think I can find teal créme any other time.

As for the shatter polish, I have to mention here that I don't follow the shatter polish hype. I have one shatter/crackle polish from a giveaway but I worn it only once to try. I love watching the polish shattered on my nails but then I would just remove it. That means I would only have it on for about a minute. I've tried wearing it for a day but it makes me feel itchy to remove it. Well, it looks good on some people but maybe it's just not my thing :) so I pass on the Super Bass shatter as well.

Save Me was a nice color for a glitter polish. I like the silver in this polish but I really don't like the holographic bar glitter. It kind of look messy in my opinion, like dipping a glued nail to glitter confetti (Don't ask for another description, that's what I had on top of my head ;) so I passed on it either. Funny, tho, the other day when I was at Sephora buying a cleanser, the man behind the cashier was wearing Save Me, and I asked him,

"What are you wearing on your nails?"

"It's O P I"

"Oh, is it from the Nicki Minaj collection?"

"Yes. But sold out."

I can't believe he gave me attitude just because he was wearing a sold out Save Me *eye roll* :P

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H&M Berry Love

I always think that red is a classic nail polish color. Whether it's bright, yellow based, blue based, it looks like it belongs nicely on the nails. The problem is there's so many hues of red, rubies, crimson, brick red, maroon, scarlet, and quite long list not to mention pinks and oranges. Honestly I hardly have any red in my nail polish stash, maybe I was too busy collecting the nude colors. I remembered I had one red polish from Revlon called Love That Red and one mini Essie Red Nouveau. Oh, and also one mini OPI from one Christmas collection which I forgot the name. I finished the two minis already and almost ran out of Love That Red so I left them all back in Jakarta.

A week ago I was looking at my nail polishes and wanted to wear red. When I get to Sephora I wanted to buy OPI Big Apple Red which I have always thinking of buying (but never did). Then I think, 13.95 euros... I guess I better check out H&M first, since they have a red polish named (cliché) Red Nails. But my local H&M didn't have Red Nails so I grabbed their other red polish from the disney collection, it's called Berry Love.

My Favorite Pink : OPI Got a Date To-Knight

Ever since I started collecting nail polish, pink always has a special spot in my heart. I love neutral colors that makes your nails look healthy. Some people might say those kind of colors are boring, but I think it's pretty. I have similar looking colors that might be too much alike in the bottle, but I think they differ in applications. When I was going to get married, I searched for the nude colors that I love I bought OPI and Orly's but then since I didn't do my own manicure and pedicure for that day, I ended up wearing something from the nail salon.

OPI Got a Date To-Knight in natural light

Hiding Behind the LUSH

Continuing to my skincare quest, I am beginning to sense flaky and dry patches on my skin which I (again) think caused by the weather. Winter is tricky because I've never been in this cold of a weather for so long. And I've heard snow is coming this January so I guess I better figure this out as soon as possible. So in consideration to that, I searched for an exfoliating scrub, basically by reading reviews online at makeupalley or temptalia's hit list :) and I was attracted to LUSH products because of their natural ingredients. Well, I'm not a chemical genius but I guess natural things are better for your skin (yea, it's a lame line but that's just it :D).

All the things from LUSH, with iPhone for size comparison :)