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)

Stila Perfect & Correct Foundation

Good Day Everyone,

I picked up this Stila Perfect & Correct Foundation during my recent ‘Stila splurge’ and have been trying it out for a while and I have to say I’m impressed. A year ago I hadn't even heard of Stila but I’m fast becoming a fan of their products.

Now before I get stuck in let me just say that this is not a full coverage foundation so if that’s the kind of look you go for then I’m afraid it’s not for you. I tend to prefer light to medium coverage but more importantly I like foundations that feel light weight on my skin, rather than heavy and mask like. This foundation has a mousse like consistency and feels incredibly light, so much so that I don’t actually feel like I’m wearing foundation. I find that half a pump is all I need to do my entire face (minus my forehead as I don’t need foundation there. I’m a great believer in only applying foundation where I need it rather than covering my entire face with it). 

If I’m in a rush then I tend to apply this with my fingers, but my preferred method is to stipple it onto my face and then swirl and buff it into my skin using my Real Techniques stippling brush (review) as this creates a very flawless finish. I only apply one layer of the foundation as I find that to be sufficient to even out my skin tone and to reduce the appearance of my dark circles which I then further cover up with a concealer. This foundation can be built up to medium coverage, however, I’d recommend leaving a minute or so in between each layer so that your skin and the foundation have time to adjust to each other and you can see the coverage you're getting as you apply each layer.

On me, this foundation lasts a good 6-8 hours and wears of evenly throughout the day without looking patchy or uneven. In terms of finish, this is neither a matte foundation nor does is it look particularly dewy, like my Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation. I find it leaves my skin looking very natural with a subtle glow. I don’t always tend to powder after I've used this foundation as it’s not dewy or oily looking but sometimes I do dust a little powder on and around my nose if it’s looking a bit oily. I quite like to use this foundation mixed in with my Stila One Step Illuminate (review) as I find this gives more of a ‘glowing from within’ look due to the micro shimmer in the illuminator, making my skin look more luminous and healthy.

I have normal to dry skin and I find this foundation to be very hydrating and it doesn't emphasise any dry areas. The foundation is suspended in a clear serum along with a white swirl containing the built in moisturising primer, however, I do still moisturise my skin before using this as my skin is quite dry but I don't use a separate primer. This clear serum contains Stila's youth revival bio-available mineral complex^TM and the product also contains potent antioxidants as well as skin soothing chamomile. In simple terms, this product seems to provide a lot of nourishing benefits for the skin. According to Stila all this helps to;

• Diminish the look of fine lines and wrinkles
• Minimize pores
• Hydrate and balance
• Control oil

I can't yet comment on the first point but I'd certainly agree with the bottom three points. My skin has always been very happy and appreciative whenever I apply this foundation. Even at the end of the day my skin still feels hydrated which, for a dry skin suffer like me, is great news :o)

I absolutely love the packaging. The foundation comes in a plastic bottle with a pump that's easy to keep clean and the lid comes of easily which is great for my arthritic fingers :o) I've dropped this bottle on tiled and wooden floors and it hasn't even cracked and so I tend to take this foundation with me when travelling! Love robust packaging! One of the things I love the most about the packaging is that there appears to be no product wastage as there is a platform devise (I think it’s called an airless pump but don’t quote me on that) that pushes the product up from the bottom and sides of the bottle as I use up the foundation. You can see from the pictures that I’m about half way through this bottle and there is no foundation stuck to the sides and the bottom of the bottle. Also as the bottle is clear I can see exactly how much product I have left before it runs out. One of my frustrations with some foundations (I’m looking at you my Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation) is not being able to tell how much product I have left and the pump not pumping out all of the product at the bottom of the bottle leading to product wastage and wasted pennies!

The only drawback to this product is that there are only eight shades in the range so don’t you all go expecting to find the perfect shade match! I fall in between Tone and Medium but didn't fancy buying two foundations that I would then mix to create my own custom shade and so I bought the slightly darker shade, Medium. I opted for the darker shade because the foundation can be sheered out and it does seem to colour adapt a little (I think). The end result is that I have a healthy sun kissed colour to my face. If ever I fall in between two shade colours then I will always opt for the slightly darker colour rather than lighter as I always worry that the lighter colour could make me look a bit ‘grey’ and ‘ashy’, whereas a slightly darker colour will make me look more sun-kissed and bronzed.

The foundation costs £28.50 in the UK and you get the standard 30ml (1 fl. oz).

Have you tried this foundation? What was your experience? Which is your favourite foundation?

Love Sheen xxx

My verdict: 5/5
For the UK: http://stila.co.uk/
For the US: http://www.stilacosmetics.com/
For Singapore you can find this product at Sephora

(Note: I purchased this product 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