Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler

Good Day Everyone,

Not so long ago I somehow managed to lose my eyelash curlers and so as part of my birthday presents last month my hubby bought me a new set. When it came to deciding which eyelash curler to get, I did a lot of research online and saw that the Shu Uemura one had many positive reviews. So of I wandered to the Shu Uemura store one Saturday with my hubby. Whilst there, I had a play with the new S curler as well as checking out the regular eyelash curler. From the online reviews, the S curler seems to be a Marmite type thing where some people love it and others not so much.

 

Whilst the S curler in theory sounds great, a smaller, more universal, curler that allows you to get the tiny lashes at the inner corners and really get close to the roots, in practical terms I wasn’t all that impressed. Being a much smaller curler, it would take at least three curls to do the lashes on each eye. That’s just way too much work for a task that should take just a few seconds. Add on to that that some people curl their lashes three times with a regular curler; once at the root, once halfway down and once towards the tip, to ensure they get a nice curl rather than a crimp. That means to do one eye with the S curler, you’d have to curl nine times – three times across the lashes and three times down the lashes – that’s just ridiculous. Now I know most people don’t curl their lashes three times every day to get that perfect curl, but you get what I mean? And so I opted for the regular Shu Uemura eyelash curler.

I’ve been using this curler for almost a month now and I have to say I love it… so so much! First of all the size of the curler fits my eyes perfectly. I’ve read comments online where some people find it a bit too small for their eyes and some people have commented that this curler was designed for the Asian eye which tends to be smaller. Now I don’t know if any of that is true but I do have small eyes and this fits my eyes really well. 

 

Secondly, the curler is very easy and comfortable to use. I’ve had no pinching incidences whatsoever and it hasn’t pulled any of my lashes. I can get all of my lashes into it right from the little ones on the inner corner to all of my outer lashes. I don’t have long (or thick) eyelashes and the curl produced by this curler really does wonders for opening up my eyes. Some days I don’t wear mascara at all, as I like to give my lashes a breather, but on those days I will still curl my lashes and even without mascara the curl makes such a difference to my eyes. Finally, the silicone pad in the curler is rounded which means I get a beautiful elongated curl rather than a harsh crimp. 

What a difference a curl makes (without mascara)

The curler comes with a second silicone rubber pad replacement. According to Shu Uemura, with daily use one silicone pad will last approximately three months. Now as far as I’m aware you can’t buy the silicone replacement pads on their own. This means (and it also says this on the box) that you are supposed to purchase a new curler every six months. To me, that’s just ridiculous! Why would I need to buy a new curler? I don’t see why or how the metal part of the curler would get damaged or worn so quickly. Plus, I don’t know anyone that buys a new curler every six months. To me, it just sounds like a money making tactic as these curlers are not exactly cheap ($30 SGD / approx. £15). Also, I expect the silicone pad to last longer than three months. Curling my eyelashes takes a matter of seconds so even with daily use I can’t imagine the silicone pad wearing down that quickly.

Aside from that little irritation, I have really been enjoying using these curlers and hope they last me at least the year before I need to replace them. Have you tried the ShuUemura curlers? What was your experience? Which are your favourite eyelash curlers?

Love Sheen xxx 

Singapore: You can get this curler from the Shu Uemura stores.
UK: You can get this curler from Space.N.K. 
US: You can get this curler from the Shu Uemura US website.

Roasted Vegetables Three Ways

Good Day Everyone,

When it comes to getting my five-a-day, I find eating fruit so much easier than vegetables. With fruit you simply peel / wash / chop and voila it’s ready to eat but with most vegetables there is that additional step of cooking that makes it just that bit more time and energy heavy. Also, some vegetables such as butternut squash are beyond the means of my arthritic hands and fingers. I just do not have the grip nor the strength in my hands to chop and / or peel such tough vegetables. 

So in order to make eating vegetables a bit easier, my hubby tends to bulk roast a selection of vegetables that we can eat for more than one day. Now this post isn’t a recipe per se but just me sharing the different ways in which we eat roasted vegetables. 

A few days ago my hubby made the below tray of roasted vegetables. He peeled and cut up the super hard to cook vegetables like sweet potatoes, potatoes and butternut squash and par boiled them. This is so that they can be roasted at the same time as the not so tough vegetables which don’t need be par boiled, like baby carrots and baby courgettes.

In a foil baking tray he added some olive oil, balsamic vinegar which helps to bring out the sweetness of the carrots, the par boiled sweet potatoes, potatoes and butternut squash as well as some baby carrots, baby courgettes, cherry tomatoes, baby bell peppers (capsicum), spring onions, peeled and quartered red onions, peeled whole cloves of garlic, olives, halved limes and some fresh sprigs of rosemary. To be honest, you could use any vegetables or herbs you like. My hubby just used what we had at home but he will often use other vegetables such as mushrooms and parsnip as well. He then covered the foil baking tray with a sheet of foil and roasted the vegetables until they were cooked.

We then had these for supper and they go perfectly with some fish or chicken. My hubby even eats them on their own as a meal, as he doesn’t eat chicken and isn’t a fan of fish.

The next day, I took some of the vegetables and heated them up in some olive oil in a frying pan but first I sliced some of the chunkier vegetables, like the potatoes and butternut squash. Whilst the vegetables were heating in the frying pan, I whisked an egg with some milk, turmeric (I add turmeric to almost everything these days as a way of upping my intake of anti-inflammatory foods) and a pinch of salt. I then added the egg mixture into the frying pan and finished with a little bit of grated cheese on top and voila I made an omelette come frittata that I had with some fresh avocado.

Finally, the third way we eat these roasted vegetables is by whizzing the cold left over vegetables in a blender and adding them to a pan with some vegetable stock, heat through and you have roasted vegetable soup.

So there you go, three meal ideas / ways of eating roasted vegetables and the best bit is that by bulk roasting you save not only time and energy but also on the gas bill too ;o)

What do you think to our way of eating more vegetables but reducing the time and effort spent in preparing and cooking them? Do you have any tips or ideas on how to incorporate more vegetables in to our diet with minimal effort? I’d love to hear your thoughts / ideas :o)

Love Sheen xxx

Slowly Slowly

Good Day Everyone,

Just one more day to go until the weekend! Woohoo!

Technology has never been a strong point of mine but since starting this blog I've realised that I do need to join the rest of the world and move into the 21st century of technological communication. So slowly slowly I have been getting myself out there.

Not long ago I spent some time tearing my hair out as I figured out how to add social media icons on to this blog. I'm glad I persevered because the sense of achievement I felt was amazing... kind of like the old days when I was a career girl and would win a big project or make a big saving by negotiating with suppliers... Oh how I miss those days.

I'm digressing. OK coming back to this post, today I got myself on Instagram. I've seen various friends post photos on Facebook for a long time now that have been edited / taken / shared via Instagram and always aaah-ed and oooh-ed as to how pretty they looked. Well now I've joined that club.

As you will see from the icons to the right of this blog post (when looking at it on desktop / web view) I have added this Instagram camera icon so go ahead and take a peak :o) Or you can click here. There will be plenty more to come because I can now make the photos I take on my iphone look half decent. This means I don't need to use my grown-up i.e. heavy camera all the time.

Let me know if you're on Instagram too as I'll be spending lots of time peeking around this colourful bit of technology :o)

Love Sheen xxx

Benefit Go TropiCORAL Lip & Cheek Kit

Good Day Everyone,

I’ve always been put off trying Benefit makeup due to the busy packaging design which just doesn’t appeal to me and feels a bit gimmicky. Given that Benefit makeup is not cheap by any means I’d rather spend my money on brands that I feel invest their money on creating great products rather than funky packaging. However, giving Benefit the benefit of doubt I purchased this Go TropiCORAL Lip & Cheek Kit a few months back with my Sephora members 10% discount as my first foray into Benefit makeup. I had initially gone to the Benefit counter with a mind to check out the ever so raved about Coralista powder blush as I’m a sucker for anything peachy coral toned. Once there I noticed that for almost the same price as a full sized blush I could get this kit which contained four mini products including the blush I was after. It seemed like a no brainer. I love miniatures as it’s a great way of trialling more products without spending too much more money.

 The mini products come in a little cardboard container which has a mirror in the lid. Despite being made out of cardboard the packaging does feel pretty sturdy but as there is no shut mechanism or fastening to keep the lid secure, you couldn’t simply throw this little box of goodies into your bag / suitcase without first putting it back into the original box the kit comes in. The packaging design is very Benefit-esque in its style with the vibrant colours and leopard print around the sides.

Inside the box, as well as a mirror there is tips and tricks booklet which tells you how and where to use the products with numbers corresponding to the four different products (just in case you were confused as to which is which – like how?!) The tips and tricks booklet is a nice idea for anyone who may be a beginner when it comes to makeup but otherwise it can be removed from the lid and binned – can you guess what I did with it as soon as I took these photos ;o) 

One of the frustrating things about the packaging is that all of the products can be removed and stored elsewhere apart from the blush and I just find that sooo annoying. I wish the blush was self-contained because I could then store all of the products in my makeup bag instead of having to keep hold of this box just because of the blush. It also means that I can’t simply throw the blush in my bag for on the go touch ups unless I’m prepared to take the whole box with me. I can appreciate that many people will love the box and it does make for a great gift, but for me personally, I could live without it. On the plus side, once the blush is finished you can actually remove the internal packaging structure that keeps the products in place and you’ll be left with a trinket box to keep little treasures in – nice touch.

Now on to the fun stuff, the products. The four mini products that come with this kit are;

•  High Beam highlighter described as a luminescent complexion enhancer - 4ml

• Chachatint described as a mango tinted lip and cheek stain – 4ml

• Coralista powder blush – 3.0g – plus a brush applicator

• Ultra Plush Coralista lip gloss – 6.5ml

 Now whilst the quantities may not sound like much you have to remember that with the High Beam and Chachatint, a little goes a mighty long way and so I expect these miniatures to last a pretty long time.

High Beam is the coveted Benefit highlighter that has a pearly pink iridescent to it. It comes in a little bottle with a nail polish brush type applicator. Personally, I find it a bit too shimmery to be used as a brow bone highlighter but I do love using this on my cheek bones and cupids bow. As I have more yellow toned skin, I do have to work High Beam into my skin otherwise it can look a bit too obvious due to its pale pink colouring. This highlighter is more suited to lighter skin tones as on darker skin it will look too pinky white and maybe even a bit frosty. I can’t help but feel that the Benefit’s Sun Beam highlighter, which has a more golden bronze colouring, would have complimented the warm coral colours of this kit better than High Beam. Another way I love to use High Beam is to mix it in with my moisturiser on days when I’m wearing minimal makeup and no foundation because it leaves my skin with a subtle all over luminescent that doesn’t look sparkly or shimmery.

Left: High Beam highlighter, right: Coralista blush

 Coralista is a pinky peach blush with some very subtle shimmer. It is much sheerer and less pigmented that what I was expecting and I do have to build it up for it to show on my NC25-30 yellow skin tone. Consequently, I don’t think the colour would be best suited for darker skin tones, although it may work as a highlighter for a nice sheen on the cheek bones due to the shimmer. Initially I was a bit disappointed with the lack of pigmentation but recently I’ve found this to be an ideal blush for no makeup makeup days and because of the subtle shimmer, I tend to use this more as a highlighter when I’m wearing other matte coral / peachy blushes. The little brush that comes with the blush is useless as the rectangular shape just doesn’t work to apply blush. I do wish makeup companies would stop including brushes just for the sake of it. Having said that I have found this brush to be quite good for contouring underneath my cheek bones as the size works perfectly for my face and it does blend out the powder quite nicely so perhaps all is not lost with it ;o)

Chachatint is a bright orangey mango colour and like the High Beam comes in a little bottle with a brush applicator. This colour is pretty potent in its vibrancy and has amazing staying power. Using it as a cheek stain, I have to work incredibly fast to blend it otherwise it does look patchy and a bit clown like. When it works, I’m referring to the blending element, this can look beautiful but it is hard to work and leaves me with a fiercely stained finger. I just feel that a product shouldn’t be quite this hard or require so much effort for it to work. As a result I tend to use this more as a lip tint because I hate having makeup stained fingers and this stuff is a real bugger to remove even with an effective makeup remover. Also as the colour is pretty vibrant I prefer to have that pop of colour on my lips rather than my cheeks and this does look good with the Ultra Plush Coralista lip gloss over the top of it.

Left: Chachatint, right: Ultra Plush Coralista lip gloss

 And that brings me nicely onto the Ultra Plush Coralista lip gloss. I love the texture of this lip gloss, it’s not sticky at all and is so incredibly comfortable to wear. It’s not as orange as what it looks on the photo as the colour sheers out. It’s great to wear on its own for a subtle glossy sheen of colour or for a more vibrant look it works great over the Chachatint but that’s definitely more suited to spring / summer time.

Overall, I think this little kit would make an excellent gift for someone who enjoys makeup and for me it was a great way of trying out a number of Benefit products without going to the expense of purchasing full size items. I’m glad I picked up this little set rather than a full sized Coralista blush as I think the lack of pigmentation would have left me really disappointed give the cost of the blush, whereas at least now, I’ve been able to try three additional products. I can’t say I’ve been hugely wowed by any of the products but at the same time I will and do use them, I just don’t think I’ll be rushing out to buy full sized items when these miniatures run out.

Have you tried out any of these products? Were you wowed by them? Which do you think are Benefit’s best products?

Love Sheen xxx

My verdict: 4/5

For the UK you can find this product at Boots

For Singapore you can find this product at Sephora

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