Review: Carli Bybel x BH Cosmetics Palette (+ swatches!)
Thursday, 11 August 2016 at August 11, 2016
By now, I'm sure it's no surprise that eyeshadow palettes are one of my greatest weakness. Personally, I have subscribed to Carli Bybel on Youtube before she released this palette. When I saw her releasing this palette and using it, I literally fell in love with it. Unfortunately, there is no proper retailer in Singapore that sells BH Cosmetics (Smoochiezz brings in BH Cosmetics but not every single item they offer) so I gave up on purchasing that palette.
However, weeks ago I decided to ship in a couple of beauty products from the US (watch my US beauty haul here!) and whilst browsing
Ulta, I spotted this palette and I just had to get it especially when it only costs
S$25 (including all charges incurred via Shopandbox.com, yes, shopping in Singapore is never the cheapest)!
This palette consists of 12 eyeshadows and 4 highlighters, that's S$2 per shade! I love how you get eyeshadows and highlights in one palette as it makes it even more value for money. Despite being so affordable, the quality of the palette is too good for its price.
The packaging is simple but sturdy. I love how it's not made up of some flimsy plastic that screeches when the hinges collides (
got a lot of that experience in cheap palettes), instead, it is made up of this hard cardboard type material. Like I said, it is simple, but it feels sturdy enough to bring out. Plus, cardboard will not break if you drop it on the ground.
The shades are mostly shimmery, in brown and gold hues which I thought was perfect for all year round, perfect for all skin tones too. There are light and dark shades so you can definitely create a smokey look, a simple look, a clean look, endless looks with this palette! Oh, there are also a couple of reds which increases the variation of looks you can create. The pigmentation and quality of the product itself is amazing. I don't remember all BH Cosmetics being such good quality but this palette here is top-notch.
Look at the swatches for yourself!
(top five shades)
(top five shades - with flash)
(middle row shades)
(middle row shades - with flash)
(4 highlighters)
(4 highlighters - with flash)
Overall, this palette is amazing! I definitely recommend it if you are going to ship in products from the US or if you're heading there yourself (this palette only costs S$15 without shipping charges!)!
Labels: beauty, eyeshadow palettes, make-up, review
Review: Anastasia Berverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette (+ swatches!)
Wednesday, 10 August 2016 at August 10, 2016
Falling in love with an eyeshadow palette at first sight has always been a weakness of mine. I chanced upon the Anastasia Berverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette while I was purchasing the Lorac Pro Palette 3 and immediately fell in love with it. I've never owned anything from Anastasia Beverly Hills, so everything was as exciting for me as if I was entering a newly bloomed relationship.
I got this palette from Ulta.com via Shopandbox.com. Along with it, I also bought a bunch of other make-up products from the US (watch the haul video here!). Because I had it went through an agent and had to get it shipped from the US, it included a ton of service charges, paypal charges, and shipping charges. Total up, this palette costs approximately
S$70.
This palette came in a soft, velvety medium pink packaging with the name "Modern Renaissance" smacked right in the center. I wished someone would have bothered picking out a fancier font but I guess the softness of the velvet case made it up for the simple font. In general, there is honestly nothing much fancy about the packaging.
It includes 14 eyeshadow shades, a mixture of matte and shimmers, a mixture of warm neutrals and reds. If you've been following me for awhile, you'll know that I love wearing warm-toned eyeshadows, neautral eyeshadows, reds and pinks eyeshadows, and that is what this palette is all about! What's more, fall in right around the corner and these colours just reflects the fall and winter season so well.
(with flash)
Overall, I think this palette would be great if you are someone who loves wearing shades like pink and berry. Although there are still a good number of warm neutrals such as golds and browns for you to create eye looks without the loud pink and red shades, I'd say that those are the highlight for this palette. If you're not into pinks and reds, I'd recommend looking for other palettes in the market.
Labels: beauty, eyeshadow palettes, make-up, review
Review: Lorac Pro Palette 3 (+ swatches!)
Tuesday, 9 August 2016 at August 09, 2016
Following the success of the Lorac Pro Palette 1 & 2, Lorac has recently launched the
Lorac Pro Palette 3 in the US on the 3rd July 2016. I was lucky to be able to get my hands on one of these so soon here in Singapore thanks to Shopandbox.com where I was able to ship from the US! (not sponsored) I got the palette off Ulta.com and together with the all the other miscellaneous charges, it costs about
S$73.
It is no secret that I am in love with my Lorac Pro Palette. I've so far mentioned it in a favourites video twice and I'm pretty sure it is the first product that was featured in 2 favourites video. I just kept going back to it because of its basic, simple and warm shades. I also love how the packaging is extremely thin and lightweight. I often it bring it out because I can just put it right at the bottom of my bag or slot it at the sides.
Lorac Pro Palette 3 has the exact same packaging with the Pro Palette 1, except that it is in pale beige. Similarly, it also consists of 8 matte shades and 8 shimmer shades. This time round, it has a mixture of yellow-toned and red-toned shades along with a few basics. I believe by now, the quality of Lorac's eyeshadow is well-known. They are soft and smooth to touch, and very saturated. They are quite loose-packed though, so just be careful not to pick up too much product on your eyeshadow brush as it might fall all over your face. A little goes a long way with these highly pigmented eyeshadows. Another thing that I love about Lorac is that the names of their eyeshadows are really straight-forward.
Starting with the top row of matte shades, we have Blanc, Canvas, Cool Taupe, Pink Nude, Clay, Terracotta, Dark Brown, and Jet Black.
(with flash)
Blanc is a super pale yellow shade which I'd use as a matte highlighter for my brow bone. If you are pale enough, you can also use this to set your under eye concealer. If you want to add bright and loud shades to your eyes, this would act as a nice base to pop on before adding your loud colours.
Canvas is a natural skin tone shade. Like the name says, this is great as a base for your lids as it will cancel out any redness or veins, creating a nice blank canvas for you to express yourself.
Cool Taupe is a a light brown shade that is cool toned (so, without the orange tones in it). This is the perfect shade for shading and contouring your eyes and nose!
Pink Nude is a light and sweet peachy shade which looks very soft and feminine.
Clay is a light sandy brown with hints of orange in it. Compared to Cool Taupe, this is a much warmer shade and would be good for contouring of your eyes if you are wearing a warm toned eye make-up look.
Though the name of the next shadow is called
Terracotta, I feel like Terracotta should be a little bit more red and orange, rather than yellow. Hence I feel like this shade looks more like a light mustard shade.
The last 2 matte shades,
Dark Brown and
Jet Black are pretty self-explanatory and straight-forward as their names.
Moving on to the shimmer shades, we've got Light Gold, Almond Pearl, Medallion, Light Pewter, Amethyst, Rose Bronze, Dark Mocha, and Truffle.
(with flash)
Light Gold looks like a mixture of Blanc, Pink Nude and glitters. If you're all about shimmer highlights, this is the perfect shade to highlight those inner corners, brow bones, lower lash line, etc.
Almond Pearl is a muted pale pink with iridescent shimmers. Again, another shade that's great for highlighting.
Medallion is a light metallic bronze shade and it's so pretty! I think it would definitely be a good shade to pop right in the center of your lids to make them pop.
The Lorac Pro Palette 1 came with a shade called Pewter.
Light Pewter looked nothing like a lighter version of Pewter. In the Pro Palette 3, Light Pewter is a champagne silver shimmer with pink tones. It looks very similar to Almond Pearl, however the shimmer in this one is more chunky and silvery.
Amethyst is a deep warm toned berry shade. Definitely one of my favourite shades.
Rose Bronze is hands down my favourite shade out of all 16. This is a mixture of a muted pale pink, bronze and shimmer. Absolutely feminine and stunning!
Dark Mocha is a dark shimmer brown shade. It also has more of a reddish undertone compared to the matte Dark Brown shade. Perfect to pair with the other pink toned shades in this palette. Personally I think it would go perfect with Rose Bronze and Amethyst.
Lastly, we've got
Truffle which is simply a darker version of Dark Mocha.
Overall, I LOVE this palette! I love the shades included, I think they are so versatile and similar to the Pro Palette 1, there are countless of looks you can create with these colours. I also feel like the yellow-orange-red tones eyeshadows will look really good for the fall and winter season as it kinda resembles the colours of autumn leaves don't you think? The Lorac Pro Palettes are not the most affordable palettes here in Singapore and literally no where is selling them (no where that you can actually feel and swatch the palette yourself), however the quality is definitely worth the price plus looking at how much use I've gotten out of my Pro Palette 1, I haven't even hit pan on any (well, almost, but not yet)! If you love wearing warm, pink toned eyeshadows, definitely consider this one!
Labels: beauty, eyeshadow palettes, make-up, review
Huge July US Beauty Haul! (feat. Lorac, Anastasia, Kat Von D, Milani...)
Saturday, 6 August 2016 at August 06, 2016
FAQ: All about me
Thursday, 4 August 2016 at August 04, 2016
During the past years of doing Youtube and basically "going public", I've received many questions regarding myself. So today, I will be answering them once more and I thought that this would also be a good chance for you to get to know me better! Have any more questions you wish to know about me? Feel free to leave them in the comments section! ;)
QNS: Where are you from?
ANS: I'm from Singapore!
QNS: How old are you?
ANS: I'm born in 1992.
QNS: Are you Chinese? Malay?
ANS: I'm a Chinese! But I suck (a lot) in Chinese. My Mom is a Filipino and so we speak English all the time, and no, I don't understand Tagalog (wish I do though).
QNS: Why do you speak in an "accent"?
ANS: Personally, I don't think I'm speaking in an accent because it just comes off so naturally for me. Of course, being a Singaporean I do speak in Singlish. But my viewers come from all around the world because I do mainly beauty reviews, so I refrain from using Singlish in my videos. I speak the way I speak in my videos when I'm having a presentation or speaking to a stranger too!
QNS: Do you learn/speak Korean?
ANS: Hmmm a little I guess. I have been loving K-pop since I was in Secondary 2 (2007), I self-taught myself Korean since then and I've always taken interest in Korean and Korea's culture.
QNS: Why did you start making Youtube videos?
ANS: Initially, I wanted to simply document my life because I love the feeling of looking back at old photos and videos and reminiscing. Sometimes it gets very, very cringeworthy but I love the feeling of knowing how I was like back then. I watch tons of beauty vlogs, so I thought I'd do them too since my life itself isn't that interesting to be filmed frequently. After I started my full-time job, Youtube is also a way to continue growing and building my interest in creating and designing.
QNS: Is Youtube your full-time job?
ANS: Nope! I do have a full-time job outside of Youtube. Youtube (and this blog) is more of a hobby and interest that I love a lot.
QNS: What are you working as full-time?
ANS: I work in the Corporate Finance sector.
QNS: What does "thatxxRin" means?
ANS: I adopted the username "xxRin" when I was 16 years old. It was supposed to be a twist on my name Maureen. Technically the process went from Maureen to xxxReen to xxRin. I love G-dragon, and he released a song titled "that XX" so... I basically combined the song with my username. Sorry, it doesn't actually have a deep meaning to it lol!
QNS: What camera are you using?
ANS: For my "sit-down" videos, I am using the Canon t6i or EOS 750D with kit lens. And for my "vlogs", I am using the Canon G7 X Mark II.
QNS: What application do you use to edit your videos?
ANS: I'm using Final Cut Pro X.
Tutorial: BECCA x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Collection Face Palette
Wednesday, 3 August 2016 at August 03, 2016
Today, I'm gonna show you how you can stretch your dollar with the
BECCA x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Collection Face Palette! As we all know, that is a face palette that comprises of 3 blushes and 2 highlights. But today, instead of using the shades for my face, I will be showing you how I am able to use this palette to create a summery, bright and fun eye make-up look.
Read my review and swatches for the BECCA x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Collection Face Palette Here!
First off, taking the shade Amaretto, I will be adding some definitions and contour to my eyes. So just sweeping this shade at the crease, depositing most of the products on the outer edges.
Next, with Pamplemousse, I am applying this shade on the outer corners, and inner corners of my eyes. Make sure to avoid the middle portion of your crease as we will be adding another shade later. I'm also applying this shade onto the outer bottom lash line to balance out the pop of colour.
Next, I will be taking Prosecco Pop and applying it right in the center of my lids to make my eyes pop. Going back with Pamplemousse to blend the two shade together gently. Be sure not to over-blend as we still want to highlight the different shades.
Lastly to highlight, I'm using Champagne Pop on my inner corners, as well as brow bone.
I'm completely the eye look with my current favourite Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Mad Max Brown and a pair of pre-glued falsies from Ing Lashtoc in "Cute Girl" for fluttery and fun lashes.
Moving on to my face, I am taking Amaretto to contour my face. For my cheeks, I'm using Rose Spritz, and lastly to highlight my cheekbones, cupid's bow and tip of my nose, I am using Champagne Pop.
Add a bright pink lipstick and top it off with some lip gloss to complete the entire look!
This look was really simple to do due to the highly pigmented shades off the face palette. Do let me know if you've tried this look out!
Labels: beauty, face, looks, make-up, tips, tutorials
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