Best Beauty Bargain Of 2013

Good Day Everyone,

So here it is, as promised in my recent absence post, the best beauty bargain of 2013, in my opinion, the Soap & Glory The Yule Monty gift set.

I came across this completely by chance whilst visiting home last month and was surprised to see it still on the shelves in my local Boots (drugstore) given the hype around this bargain. I’ve never really tried many Soap & Glory products (the busy packaging always put me off) but with the level of discount on offer, naturally I had to pick one up ;o) Or rather my mum picked it up for me as an early birthday present - thanks mum :o) It was only after the purchase that I thought to myself “hmm how’s this going to fit into my suitcase?” as its a very large case. But luckily for me, my hubby is a wiz at packing and we managed to bring this box of goodies back to Singapore with us.

The set contains nine full sized Soap & Glory products all enclosed within this special limited edition bag designed by British fashion designer Jonathan Saunders. This delightful package was reduced from £60 down to £27 so a better than half price deal given the 55% discount. When you unzip the bag there is a pink cardboard box inside, protecting the products. The bag itself has a lovely flower design with a silver zip. On the inside, it is lined in grey / silver coloured fabric with a zip pocket in the lid.

The nine products included are;

1. Hand Food hand cream
2. Sugar Crush body wash
3. The Righteous Butter body butter
4. Peaches and Clean deep purifying cleanser
5. Heel Genius foot cream
6. Butter Yourself moisture lotion
7. The Scrub Of Your Life body buffer
8. Thick & Fast super volume mascara
9. Sexy Mother Pucker XL lipgloss in Pink Out Loud

If you bought these same nine full sized products individually from Boots then they would cost you a total of £70.50 so at £27 I’m sure you will agree that these are a real bargain. Plus you get this lovely bag to keep which will come in very handy for storing my growing collection of makeup ;o)

As well as the nine full sized products, there is also, no not condoms even though that’s what it looks like, but three days worth of the Genius in a Bottle super serum. The sample comes with a £5 off Soap & Glory facial skincare voucher, which I won’t be using now I’m back in Singapore.

For those of you in Singapore, I was at Sephora today and saw that they are selling the Soap & Glory The Yule Monty gift set at a discounted price of $88 SGD (approx. £44) down from $148 SGD, and while that isn't as good a bargain as what I managed to get, it is still a pretty good deal. The Plaza Singapura Sephora store had a lot of these gift sets still for sale, although the bag is not the limited edition one but rather the black and white design with the red zip, just like the Bubble Barrelled gift set I bought a couple of months ago (see photo here).

I haven't used any of these products yet as I currently have quite a few Body Shop products on the go and I don't like to have too many of the same type of products opened at the same time. So I'm going to be good and wait for my current round of body products to finish before I dive into this delightful package.

Did you pick up this bargain by any chance? What was your best beauty bargain of 2013?

Love Sheen xxx

Sephora Sales Shopping

Good Day Everyone,

Sephora had a 20% of all items sale last week for three days and naturally I had to pop in and have a gander at all the delightful things. I went in on the second day of the sale and it was crazy!  Despite all of the checkout tills being open the queue was about 30 customers long all the time I was there. However, I persevered and walk away with a few bargains although I must say I was most restrained and bought mainly Secret Santa presents for my hubby’s office. I didn't buy any makeup even though Sephora in Singapore have now started to stock Tarte cosmetics... finally! I was sooo tempted by their blushes and lipsticks but exerted some serious self control and did not succumb to the temptation but I did walk away with a few bits for myself... after all it was 20% off ;o)

I bought three Secret Santa gifts for my hubby’s office that I’m really pleased with and think the recipients will also like them. I bought a Stila Holiday Essential Kit. This contains their famous ‘Kitten’ eye shadow, a waterproof liquid liner in the colour Intense Black and a liquid lipstick in the colour Beso. As this is a gift I haven’t opened it and therefore have no colour swatches for you, but I did swatch the red liquid lipstick in store and the colour is amazing. You can never go wrong with a good red lip around Christmas time. It’s one of those reds that just lights up your entire face and all you need is swipe of some black eyeliner and a subtle sheen of shimmery shadow on your lids and you’re good to go. In that respect, this kit is perfect for creating a Christmassy look.

I bought a Soap & Glory gift set called Good, Butter, Best which contains their three best selling body butters in trial size. I always think miniatures / trial size packs are a great way to sample multiple products or scents from a brand. This way if there’s a product or scent that you don’t like then at least you didn't waste your money on a standard size which costs more. Whilst Soap & Glory isn't too difficult to come by in Singapore, I know that a lot of the people in my hubby’s office haven’t tried Soap & Glory products and so this will be a great gift for someone who’s new to the brand.

I picked up another Soap & Glory product. This is their A Wash Upon A Star gift set with a travel size of The Righteous Butter body butter and the Clean on Me shower gel. Soap & Glory products always smell amazing and so make the perfect little gift. They are also packaged in rectangular boxes making them nice and easy to wrap – a definite plus for those of us with less than perfect wrapping skills, like me! Both products also have a little red tag that you can use to hang the boxes onto the Christmas tree as they are not that heavy.

For myself, I bought a Caudalie makeup remover cleansing water with organic grape and camomile as I’m running seriously low on makeup remover. I recently purchased the Caudalie instant foaming cleanser with grape and sage which was my first ever purchase from the Caudalie brand. I think together these make a nice little duo and I’ll keep you posted on how I get on with these products.

For a while now, I've been looking for a convenient way of carrying my perfume around with me. As I’m living in a very hot humid climate it’s all the more important to have something portable for those moments when you just need to freshen up and smell better than... well sweat, if I’m being honest. So I bought this universal atomizer from Sephora hoping it would do the trick. It is supposed to be adaptable to all perfume bottles, even sprays and can be filled without needing a funnel. I just tried filling this today and have to admit it was not all that easy. I managed to get perfume all over my hands and the atomizer which in turn started to rub off the black Sephora branding. So I took it upon myself to complete the job and remove all of the black Sephora branding and now the atomizer is just plain silver which suits me fine. 

I guess I should also confess that I tried to fill the atomizer based on the drawing on the back of the box before I realised that there was an instruction leaflet tucked underneath the lid of the box. In my defense, the leaflet was folded into a tiny little piece and neatly tucked underneath the lid so when I opened the box from the bottom and pulled the atomizer out the instructions remained tucked under the lid – that’ll teach me to open things from the wrong end! Hopefully the filling experience will be better next time, when I actually pay attention to the instructions and in the meantime fingers crossed that the contents don’t leak into my handbag! Oh and FYI the atomizer is supposed to contain around 55 sprays, in case you’re interested :o)

Finally, as I’d bought a couple of Soap & Glory Secret Santa gifts, I realised that I’d never really tried much from the brand myself! Even when I was living in England and had Boots to indulge myself, I tended to opt for The Sanctuary Spa products over Soap & Glory on the Boots 3 for 2. I’m not sure why but I was always put off by the packaging, a bit like I have been with Benefit cosmetics. The packaging always looks too busy and I have a preference for the clean, minimal, sleek look. Anyway last week I decided it was about time I looked beyond the packaging! Sephora has several Soap & Glory gift sets and I picked up the Bubble Barrelled set. The set comes with a great selection of mini-sized products to try including hand cream, foot cream, body butter, body scrub, shower gel, shampoo and a headband which is actually really nice and soft and will come in handy when I do my face masks etc. 

All of these products come inside a lovely vanity case which has a black and white design with a red zip. The case is surprisingly large and will come in very handy for travelling. The only thing that I dislike about the vanity case is that the handle isn't at the top, but at the back which means if I pick the case up by the handle, the contents all tumble around inside. I haven’t got round to trying any of the products yet and so cannot comment on these but rest assured I’ll let you know my thoughts once I have.

So there you have it, my Sephora sales shopping. I think I was pretty well behaved, don’t you? Did you pick anything up from the Sephora sale where you are? What did you buy? Have you tried any of these products yourself? What did you think?

Love Sheen xxx

(Note: I purchased these products with my hubby's money)

NYX Cosmetics Mini Haul

Good Day Everyone,

Want to see what I bought from Sephora on my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur? Well you're in luck because I'm going to share it all here with you :o) I decided to venture into unknown territory and try a makeup brand that I’d never tried before, NYX. NYX is available in the UK, and from Sephora stores in Singapore. NYX is quite an inexpensive brand, relatively speaking, and so if you’re on a tight budget or just staring out in makeup and don’t want to spend a small fortune whilst you find your way then it’s definitely worth checking out. I've not had the chance to play around with all of the products for long enough to form a solid opinion so I'll just give you my initial thoughts as I go along. 

Starting with the lip products, I picked up two Glam Gloss Aqua Luxe lip glosses. I got the colour GLG04 Glitter Dreams which is a raspberry pink shade and GLG10 The Last Party, a salmony peachy shade. Both lip glosses are not sticky (thus reducing the likelihood of getting my hair stuck onto my lips with a slight gust of wind .. phew!) but they do have a lot and when I say a lot I really do mean a lot of shimmer in them so I don’t tend to wear these during the day. The shimmer, and it is shimmer rather than chunky glitter, is very fine and I certainly don’t feel it on my lips. I wear these lip glosses over lipsticks, especially the peachy one rather than alone. This is because due to the natural colour of my own lips the peachy lip gloss just looks like shimmer on my bare lips as the colour doesn't show up against my lips natural pigmentation. I do wear the pink shade alone as the colour is pigmented enough to show up on my bare lips. On top of lipsticks these glosses make my lips look a bit fuller and give a sort of 3D effect :o) 

I also picked up a Color Lip Balm in the colour CLB07 Spasibo, a soft nudey peach, the colour of which doesn't show up on my lips. This lip balm just melts onto my lips when I apply it and leaves them with a soft sheen. It feels very hydrating on the lips and has a slight, not offensive, sweet smell which fades quickly.

L to R: Spasibo color lip balm,
The Last Party gloss, Glitter Dreams gloss

Moving on to the eye products. Given that eyes are my ‘thing’ I picked up five eye products. I got a Jumbo Eye Pencil in the colour 630 Cashmere, a soft gold colour, which I absolutely love and this is the product I've used the most from this little haul. It is an incredibly versatile and multipurpose product. I use to highlight my inner v / inner corner of my eyes to brighten and open them up, I use it as an eye shadow all over my lids and it gives my eyelids a beautiful golden sheen that’s not too much for the daytime, I add a matte brown colour in the crease and lashings of mascara and voila my eyes are done. I also use this pencil on the top of my cupids bow for a bit of subtle highlighting as well as on the centre of my lips with most of my lipsticks for a slightly fuller effect. I love this pencil!

I got a roll on shimmer in the colour RES14 Salmon which I would say is more of a rose gold colour than salmon (I don’t think there is enough pink in it to be referred to as 'salmon'). The roll on shimmer can be used on the eyes, face and body. I tend to use this on nights out on the centre of my lid for a pop of colour and sparkle with darker colours in the crease. As you can see from the swatch photograph the roller ball applies the colour really evenly so I don’t need to use a brush to apply this or my fingers, although you could if you wanted to.

The eye product that I've been least impressed with has got to be the Eye Shadow Base in the colour White Pearl. This has too much sparkle in it for my liking to be used as a universal eye shadow base. The sparkle shines through which is great if that’s the look you are going for but not great for a matte eye look. As a result I only use this when I am going to be using shimmery, sparkly eye shadows on top of this and this base does enhance the shimmery-ness but I’m not sure that it actually makes my eye shadows last any longer than usual or prevent it from creasing – the juries definitely still out on this one!

L to R: White Pearl eye shadow base,
Salmon roll on shimmer, Cashmere jumbo eye pencil

I picked up two eyeliners, one in the colour SL07 Jet Black and one in SL11 Gun Metal, which has silver flecks in it. Both of these are incredibly soft, creamy and glide on easily without any tugging at the skin. They can be smudged when I first apply them as they are very soft but as a result it is difficult to do a very thin and precise line with them but I guess that’s where liquid liner plays a role ;o) I've used the Jet Black colour which is a matte black on the water line and the staying power was pretty good which is what I would have expected given that these are marketed as waterproof liners. Both of these tend to stay in place one applied and I've not suffered any panda eye issues with them yet ;o)

L to R: Single swipe of Jet Black eyeliner , Jet Black layered,
 Gun Metal layered, Gun Metal single swipe

Last but not least, I picked up just one face product and that was the Mosaic Powder Blush in the shade MPB 01 Highlighter. This contains five pastel shades of soft powder which when applied correctly leaves a lovely sheen to my skin. I tend to swirl my brush across all of the colours, tap of the excess (a very important step) and lightly apply it to the tops of my cheek for a subtle sheen. Now it’s very important to tap of the excess because otherwise, with my yellow toned skin, I can look like I just have two lilacy stripes across my cheeks (not cute). 

There’s no sparkle in this highlighter and I wouldn't even say it has shimmer in it (if it does then it’s incredibly fine and invisible to my naked eye!), the best word to describe the effect of this highlighter is ‘sheen’ because that’s what it leaves on my skin. I also use this as a brow bone highlighter given the lack of sparkle and shimmer, and the colours could be used as eye shadows too I suppose.

The 5 colours individually with a mix
of all the colours on the right

Overall I've been pretty impressed with my first taste of NYX cosmetics. The one area where I've not been too impressed is with the quality of the packaging which is very cheap and plastic like. I've already managed to gain numerous cracks in the clear plastic lid of the Jumbo Eye Pencil and I haven’t even dropped it. Plus the black NYX writing on the clear plastic lid of the highlighter has practically rubbed of just by me cleaning the lid. In addition, the powder highlighter is incredibly fragile and crumbly. I can imagine this falling apart if I ever dropped it and it’s certainly not a product that I would ever travel with. But then given the relatively inexpensive cost of the products I guess I shouldn't have too high an expectation from the packaging.

Have you tried any of the NYX products? What was your experience? What’s your favourite NYX product?

Love Sheen xxx

For the UK: Website

For the US: Website

For Singapore, you can find NYX at Sephora

(Note: I purchased these products with my own money)

Sephora Collection Blush Me!

Good Day Everyone,

Whenever I have been in a Sephora store lately, I've been paying a bit more attention to Sephora’s own line of makeup, Sephora Collection. Typically in the past I have spent my time looking at the various makeup brands that I am most familiar with (Stila, Make Up For Ever, Smashbox, Dior etc) and ignored Sephora’s own line. This is because I’m the kind of person that tends to stick with makeup brands that I know and have had positive experiences with. Makeup isn't cheap, especially in Asia and I really dislike the idea of spending money on something which I then don’t use because either the colour wasn't quite right for my skin tone, or the product didn't have much staying power etc. Returning makeup products that just didn't work for you isn't really something you do in Singapore or the UK for that matter, unlike in the US which definitely leads the way in good customer service and returns policies (from my experience). 

On my last few visits to Sephora I have found myself drawn to the Sephora Collection blush me! blush in the colour Abricot No.11. That’s right Abricot (not apricot). The shimmery golden tones of this blush have been calling out to me for a while now and finally, I not only heard their call, but answered it by making my purchase :o)

Now Sephora describes this as;

 “What it is: Three shades of coordinated color for cheeks. What it is formulated to do: Highlights, contours, and adds radiance to your cheeks with a single swipe of the brush. Can also be used on eyes for a pop of vibrant, shimmering color.”

The blush is split into three colour strips of gold, rose gold and bronze. All three colours have a lovely shimmery (not glittery) effect. The packaging is very sleek and I love the see through lid as it makes it very easy to see the colours when rummaging through a box full of makeup products. There is no mirror which doesn't really bother me. I quickly realised that there is a knack to opening the lid, which once I mastered, made life a lot easier :o)

On my medium skin tone, this blush does not work well as a blush but I had kind of guessed this from the colour swatches I had done in store. The colour wash is too sheer and lacking in depth and just doesn't show on my yellow skin tone the way I would want a blush to show. If I try to build up the colour by layering I end up building the shimmery effect rather than the colour itself. Given the shimmer, I don't tend to use this blush to contour with as I prefer a matte contour product.

From left to right: gold, rose gold, bronze, swirl of all 3 colours

It is really difficult to pick up just one colour from this blush unless you use a highly tapered brush or an eye shadow brush. I find the colours work best when swirled together to create a beautiful warm toned highlighter, which I often pair with a peach or coral blush and this was my main reason for purchasing. The blush leaves a very pretty golden sheen on the cheek which glistens beautifully in the light – a glistening sheen, if you will - see what I did there? ;o)

A close up of the colours with several layers of product

In addition, all three colours make nice eye shadows whether used together to create a look or separately. I will use the gold colour as an inner corner highlighter and bring the colour in on the inner third of my eyelid. I then use the rose gold as my main eye shadow colour on my lid and use the bronze colour in the crease and outer third of my eye to create some depth. The result is a pretty, warm, autumnal look that goes perfectly with my brown eyes.

So whilst this blush is not a great blush, for me, it is a beautiful highlighter which was my reason for buying it and a lovely eye shadow trio and for that reason it makes my experience of Sephora Collection blush a positive one!

Have you tried any of the Sephora Collection products? Which have been your favourites?

Love Sheen xxx

My verdict:

As a blush 2/5

As a highlighter 4/5

As an eye shadow 3/5

For the UK: unfortunately there are no Spehora stores so it means buying online from the US

For the US: click here although I think this particular product has been discontinued

For Singapore you can find his product currently at Sephora for $24SGD

(Note: I purchased this product with my own money)

Sephora Collection Contour Eye Pencils

Good Day Everyone,

There are certain types of makeup products where I do tend to go high end, like concealers and foundations, because I like to be colour matched and have the opportunity to wear the product for the day to see how it wears before parting with mine/my hubby’s hard earned pennies. Also, I find the whole idea of trying to colour match myself at the drugstore way too stressful. The mirrors tend to be so small that combined with the artificial store lighting, I’m never confident that I’m picking the right shade.

However, there are other types of makeup products where I tend not to go high end, like eyeliners, mascaras, lip products, because a) I don’t need to be colour matched and therefore I’m confident to pick shades myself and b) because I honestly believe that you can get great quality products at much more palatable prices at the drugstore. Let me add a c) to that which is that for products in colours that I don’t tend to wear often I just don’t believe in spending lots of money. Coloured eye liners and mascaras are a great example of what I mean here.

I've recently started to delve into some of Sephora’s own branded products and I have to say I've been very impressed with these Sephora Collection Contour Eye Pencils that claim to be waterproof and provide 12hr wear. I recently picked up three colours;

• Snakeskin dress – a beautiful olive / khaki green with gold flecks
• Girls night out – a gorgeous gold shade
• Blonde ambition – described as a ‘beige’ by Sephora but I’d say it’s more of a pearly cream

All three of the eye pencils are incredibly easy to use, have a slight shimmer (the olive colour has flecks of gold as well), glide on smoothly, are very soft so there’s no tugging on my eyelids and once on, they do not budge. Seriously the staying power of these is amazing! On me, they certainly do last for the 12hrs Sephora claims. How often do you get a makeup product that actually lasts for as long as it claims to?

I don’t find these particularly blendable as they set very quickly and so I have to move incredibly quickly if I do want to blend and typically I use my fingers for any blending action as I find the warmth of my fingers helps improve the blendability (I know it’s not a word but you get what I mean) of the pencils.

I don’t tend to wear these pencils on my waterline just because I don’t often wear anything on my waterline (unless I want to intensify a smokey eye look in which case I use a black kohl pencil). My favourite way of wearing these is on my eyelids, very close to the lash line in a thin but not too thin line, and/or below my lower lash line. I often use Blonde ambition as an inner corner highlighter and I've even used Girls night out in the same way when I've done a warm toned (e.g. brown) smokey eye.

I find Snakeskin dress works beautifully with my brown eyes and I wear this on my top and bottom lash line on the outer two thirds and for the inner third I use Girls night out which works to highlight the inner corners but also compliments the olive green colour perfectly.

These are not retractable pencils so there is some product wastage due to the sharpening but as these are relatively inexpensive this is something I can live with. Also, as these are very soft and creamy I do find it quite difficult to achieve a very thin and precise line but then again that’s what liquid eyeliners for! Even though the colour doesn't budge throughout the day, it does come off reasonably easily with eye makeup remover.

All in all I think there are around 35 colours so a huge selection and cost around $12 (SGD) and $9 in the US so relatively inexpensive (for Singapore) which means I can pick up a few other colours. So there we have it coloured eye liners that don't make my eyes water with their price ;o)

Have you tried these? What were your thoughts? Is there anything else from the Sephora line that has been impressive?

Love Sheen xxx

My verdict 5/5

For the UK: unfortunately there are no Sephora stores so it means buying online from the US

For the US: click here

For Singapore you can find this product at Sephora 

(Note: I purchased this product with my own money)

Stila Convertible Color For Cheeks & Lips

Good Day Everyone,

One of the highlights of a recent trip back home to England (aside from seeing my friends and family) was the time I spent in Harvey Nichols department store, more specifically the Stila counter (website). It’s fair to say, I had a bit of a Stila ‘splurge’.

I first came across Stila at Sephora in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) where I purchased the One Step Illuminate from their One Step range (click here for thoughts on that). As I had some time to spare I went onto explore other Stila products and one that caught my eye in particular was the Convertible Color for cheeks and lips. However, I resisted the temptation to buy as I’d already spent rather a lot on makeup. So prior to my trip home I had done my research, swatched the colours at my local Sephora and compared the prices in Asia with those back home to see where I could get the best deal. As is often the case, it was cheaper to buy in England and so I waited patiently for my upcoming trip.

Before I even got to the Stila counter at Harvey Nics (it was only later after the splurge that I realised Stila is also available in Boots and so I missed out on my Boots points... how annoyed was I - grrr!) I already knew I wanted to buy the Color Convertible in the colour Gladiola. I’m a sucker for anything that’s peachy/corally/orangey as I feel it really suits my warm complexion irrespective of the shade, whereas with pinks I feel I have to be a bit more choosey as not all shades of pink suit me. Whilst at the Stila counter I also decided to purchase the blush in a pink shade and boy did it take me a looong time to choose between Gerbera and Lillium. I (eventually) settled for Gerbera – a soft pink.

The blushes cost £16 each and you get 4.25g (0.15oz) of product for your pennies. They come in the cutest of round compacts, with the outside colour coordinated to the colour of the blush inside. The top of the compact has a floral embossed design with ‘Stila’ and ‘convertible color’ written across it. Inside, the lid contains a decent sized round mirror which is very handy for when you’re on the go, and the blush itself. There is no applicator. Being a cream blush this is not an issue in the slightest (for me). The compact is light weight and snaps shut which means I’m quite happy to throw it into my handbag without the fear of it opening and turning everything a bright orange colour ;o)

The colour pay off is amazing!Both blushes are true to colour and whilst Gladiola looks a little scary as a bright orange, it blends out (see last photo) to a beautiful peachy coral colour so don’t let the orangeness put you off (trust me).  I have always preferred cream blushes over powder as I love the dewy, glistening finish they give making my face look all youthful and glowy, and these did not disappoint!

You can apply these blushes with your fingers, however, my preferred method of application is to use my Real Techniques stippling brush (click here for thoughts on this brush). Not only does it avoid staining my fingers, but I find that I use much less of the product when applying this way. The brush also creates a very diffused, air brushed look where the edges of the blush just seem to blend seamlessly in my skin / foundation and there are no harsh lines / edges denoting where the blush colour ends. I love this look and struggle to achieve this effect when I use my fingers. The colour lasts a long time and does not go blotchy as it fades towards the end of the day.

These blushes can also be used as lip colours, however, I’m not keen on using them on my lips as I find them a little drying plus I feel the colour is a little 'patchy'. Also, I can’t seem to put my finger on it but for some reason I just do not like how they feel on my lips. A part of me thinks it might be psychological. As these look like blushes rather than lip products, my mind is telling me that these are not quite right on the lips plus my primary reason for the purchase was to use them on my cheeks.

In summary, I think these are absolutely gorgeous blushes with a wide colour selection and the cutest of packaging. I personally cannot wait for my next trip back home to expand my collection :o) Have you ever tried these blushes? What were your thoughts? Which colour did you go for?

Love Sheen xxx

My verdict:

• For cheeks 5/5
• For lips 3/5

(Note: I purchased these products with my own money)

Making Up For Lost Makeup Time

Good Day Everyone,

In the past 6-12 months I’ve probably bought more makeup than the past 6-12 years (believe me these pictures are just the tip of the iceberg ;o). It’s not that I didn’t used to wear makeup, I just wasn’t ever that passionate about it. However, I’m sure we’re all familiar with the saying ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone’? My makeup didn’t go anywhere, in case you were wondering, but what did go was my ‘mojo’ and my zest for life.

The steroid medication that I was taking to manage my arthritis made me gain so much weight that my petite frame of 4’ 11” (1.49m) was being distorted out of proportion (or so I felt!). I moved to Singapore being a size bigger than I was used to and whilst here I just continued to gain weight. I hated looking at myself in the mirror and as I got bigger and puffier I stopped bothering with makeup and taking pride in my appearance. I was incredibly down in the dumps. When I gave up work to concentrate on my health I had less of a reason to wear makeup because I was at home most of the time - nobody I knew was going to see me!

However, as I came of the steroids, lost the excess weight and started exercising to manage my arthritis I found myself again :o) I still take medication for my arthritis but this one doesn’t have weight gain as a side effect! Losing the excess weight was a huge confidence boost! I had to go out and buy a new wardrobe in my smaller size 10. Whilst I’m not the slimmest I’ve ever been, I suddenly had a huge appreciation for my slimmed down figure. I didn’t care about being a size 6-8 again like I was in my 20s, I was just overjoyed at not being a size 14 anymore and more importantly looking in proportion again. I no longer despair about having wobbly thighs or not having a flat stomach or prominent cheek bones. Instead, I now appreciate the figure that I have more than ever before because I know one day, as my arthritis progresses over time, I will have to go onto more potent medication that will most likely result in weight gain. So until then I’m going to make the most of the figure I have :o)

Over the past few months I’ve been re-discovering makeup (as you can see from the photos) and have developed a bit of a passion for it. Its sooo colourful and sparkly and pretty – I love it, plus having Sephora nearby really helps! Having more time on my hands has meant I can actually shop at a more leisurely pace which has led me to explore and seek out new products. I also had a special event recently (more on this to come) for which I decided to do my own make so naturally I needed to practice ;o)

When it comes to makeup, I believe in focussing on what I think are my best features and for me that is my skin (I’m extremely lucky to have inherited my mum’s good skin – I really can’t take much credit for it!). Quite ironic really given that I’ve been a psoriasis sufferer since I was 17 (luckily it has never spread to my face). The other feature that I tend to focus on is my eyes (well eyebrows to be precise but hey they frame my eyes). So I’m on a mission to find my ‘perfect’ mascara, eyeliner, concealer and foundation and have also invested in some eye shadow palettes.

I’ve had so much fun playing with all these new colours and textures that I think my hubby is a little concerned that it’s turning into a bit of an obsession, but I can read him like a book, and I know he’s just happy to see that I’ve found my mojo and zest for life again.

Have you found your ‘perfect’ mascara, eyeliner, concealer and foundation? Which brand was it? Which makeup brand do you think does the best mascara / eyeliner / concealer / foundation? I’d certainly welcome any recommendations :o)

Love Sheen xxx