Makeup Storage Solution

Helmer, and on top of Helmer is my makeup which I reach for on a daily basis

Hong Kong isn't an easy place to live in (or even surviving in) I'm telling you, it is definitely not for the faint-hearted.  I don't have the luxury of living in a spacious flat anymore, spaces in Hong Kong are limited, everywhere.

My room is small, which I shared with Mr Holiday.  Before I moved back here, I was worried about storage available for all my beauty stash.  Honestly, my makeup collection has grown so much, the quantity has reached to an 'abormal' level.  

Luckily, I have a petite but well functioned dressing table.  However, what's lacking is a storage for all my makeup.  I went to Ikea, of course that's where you would go when looking for furnitures.  Tell you a little secret, I've made at least 6 trips to Ikea in the first 2 weeks after I arrived in Hong Kong, crazy eh?

My dressing table and makeup storage stack in my very humble room

I kept looking and looking; then rediscovered this white, office looking stack of drawers-on-wheels.  Hang on a minute, I have one (but in red) in London already - I didn't use it for any beauty-related things, it was merely a stack of drawers to hold 'equipments and bits and bobs' like spare light bulbs, screwdrivers, hammer, etc.  How boring is that!

But, ladies and gentlemen, can I introduce to you Helmer?

Helmer is available in red and white, the size is 28x69 cm with 6 generous sized drawers and cost a reasonable £25.  

I know that in the beauty blogger world, Alex is a much more popular choice, a bigger (36 x 115cm) and with more drawers, 9 instead of 6; but costs a lot more at £90.

I also love Helmer the fact that the shape is sleek and fits with smaller flat environment.  Helmer is on wheels so you can swirl it around easier if you need to.  Also it's provided with small pieces of paper you can label the content of each drawer as you can see in the pictures above.

I have filled up all 6 compartments and found the spaces very easy to work with.

I put my daily makeup brushes, mascaras, eyeliner and eyebrow products, blushers and some eye products that I reach for on a daily basis; on top of Helmer for easier access (as you can see in pictures above).  I would then switch up these products with what I have in my drawer.

On the first drawer, I put in all my base products - foundations, tinted moisturisers, primers, sponges and eyeliner pencil sharpeners.  I am also a fan of Muji so I put my products in desk storage organisers from Muji so that the content looks more organised.

On the second drawer, I have all my lip products in the front for easier and more visible presentation when I open the drawer, and at the back I have some bigger palettes and some miscellaneous eye products.  All of which I put them into my empty birch boxes!

Then comes up my favourite drawer, my crazy amount of blushers, and a small collection of eye shadows and palettes. I stole the idea from my sister who has also recently organised her makeup collection.  She used one of those empty iphone boxes to hold some of her makeup.

Like so, it holds like a dream!  Not only does it fit perfectly with my blusher drawer, it also saves me a bit of money on buying more trays whilst recycling these very sturdy and high quality iphone empty boxes!

Then comes on my nail products drawer.  Although not highly organised/ colour coordinated, it is big enough to hold all my nail products and I can find my favourite colours to wear quite easily.  At the back of the drawer, I put all of the stick-on fake nails as well.

In here, I put some other bits and bobs, like fake eyelashes, my hair dryer, my tangle teezer and my Ciate Caviar nail box set.

Then in my bottom drawer, I have my set of hair styling tool and a large collection of makeup brushes which I don't reach for on a daily basis.

As you can see, when you open the each drawer, you can slide open quite generously to find things which you put at the back of each drawer.

I hope that I have given you an alternative idea for storing your large/ small makeup collection.

Helmer or Alex?

Shopping ban and ban

Ok, it's official; I think I must have got some kind of obsessions with handbags. I just cannot resist the temptation, a lot of the times.

Apart from banning myself from buying more mascaras, I've decided I'm not going to buy ANY handbags until Christmas Day.

Yes, you heard me right and this is OFFICIAL! My tiny room cannot hold anymore new handbag additions, it's getting serious. A person, a normal person simply doesn't need THAT many handbags, I'm so freaking ill!

To mark the end of my unusual handbag shopping behaviour and the start of a new handbag free life, I couldn't help but have bought yet another handbag. I waited for 2 days and couldn't sleep on it and went into Zara to buy it. Total failure and guilt but am loving my new addition! Look how sad I am!

I'll report on how much of a struggle I will feel in the next 2 months or so. I'm not buying any handbags, I promised myself and you.

Wish me all the luck in the world! See you guys at the other end!

Disappointing Product #4 - Champneys Mineral Detox Body Scrub

Do you exfoliate your body using a body scrub when you shower?  My answer is never!  However, my sister (Forksandbrushes) is a MASSIVE fan of body scrub and she often tells me how great her skin feels after a good exfoliating session in the shower.  So I thought I would follow her footsteps and find out the secret about body scrub.

The Champneys Mineral Detox Body Scrub is the first body scrub product that I reached for so I didn't know what to expect.  However, I'm quite disappointed by it.  First of all, I seem to need  A LOT of these products in one go; which seems to be not very economical.

After I squeezed some of the product out of the tube, it looks like this.......

A clear to slight pale green gel with green scrubs in the mix.  The scent of it isn't particularly appealing to me.  I think it smells like a men's shower product, a bit like an aftershave scent.  The scrub isn't the roughest so I didn't feel that it scratched my skin too badly which is a good thing I suppose.  I would say it's a medium scrub with bits to scrub your skin but not hard enough to scratch your skin if you have sensitive skin.  However the scrub never manages to cling on to my body long enough for the exfoliation to take place.  It is so easily washed down by water from the shower, so consequently I have to keep squeezing out even more products to use.

Although it didn't dry my skin out afterwards, I didn't feel it's done anything to my skin.

I've heard loads of good things about this brand, Champneys but I'm rather disappointed by this particular product.

What's your favourite body scrub?


Disclaimer: The post contains purely a collection of opinions of my own and they are not representative of others.  THe use of these products are entirely my own experiences. This post is for sharing experiences purpose. It is in no way of affecting consumers' choice of purchase.  The views expressed are entirely my own and once again is not representative of others.

Wowed by Liz Earle's Hot Cloth Cleanser

Liz Earle shop on Guildford high street

I must be the last person on this planet to jump onto the Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser bandwagon. I heard of the brand for such a long time and the rave that her products have received all these years.  I visited her shop/ beauty counter on numerous occasions but it wasn't until in the summer when I visited Guildford, I was pleasantly surprised to see a Liz Earle shop on the high street (it's rare you find a Liz Earle shop as you can only normally find its counter in either a bigger Boots or John Lewis) so I went in and see if the excitement would lead me into buying anything from there.

The answer is YES!

I didn't want to commit to a full size Hot Cloth Cleanser just yet, so this Essential Try-Me kit (£23) came in just perfectly for a Liz Earle newbie - me.

In this Try-Me kit you can find

• a 30ml Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser,
• a 15ml Skin Repair Moisturiser, 
• 50ml Instant Boost Skin Tonic, 
• a 50 ml Eye Bright Soothing Eye Lotion, 
• a muslin cloth.  

What's more impressive is that normally with these try-me products, you get a 'suitable for all skin type' range but with Liz Earle, she thought carefully about the different skin types women have, hence she made this Try-Me kit available and suitable for 3 skin types: Dry/ Sensitive (which is what I picked up), Normal/Combination, Combination/Oily.

I brought this set with me when I was away in Prague for a 4 days and 3 nights trip, perfect to carry with me. I was immediately impressed by the results of all 5 products that they provided.

After removing my makeup in the evening, I pat dried my face first then squeeze a generous amount of the Hot Cloth Cleanser and worked it into my skin in circular motion, including my eyes and lashes.  The product is so gentle that it didn't irritate my sensitive eyes.  Then I dampened my muslin cloth under warm water, then gently removed the cleanser off from my face.  This process made sure that all of the remaining dirt (makeup and from exposing my skin to the outside world all day) was removed completely.  It was somewhat reassuring to see that the muslin cloth picked up so much dirt, yuck!  I could also see that my facial skin looked cleaner, clearer and brightened up!

Then I rinsed my face with cold water, pat dried then used a cotton pad to sweep some of the Instant Boost Skin Tonic all over my face.  With the Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion, I used this two ways as suggested.  I used it as an eye mask by pouring the lotion onto two cotton pads then leave it on my eye areas for about 5-10 mins, it is a very soothing process, plus the fact that this lotion is so gentle you can hardly feel that it's doing anything to the skin but when the 10 mins is up, you can see that your eye areas are instantly brightened and looking less tired.  I have also used this eye lotion in the morning just sweeping them across my eye areas to give my eyes a bit of a 'lift'.  Both methods prove effective.

I also really liked the skin repair moisturiser which I used morning and evening.  The texture is a light cream and absorbed so quickly that I felt my skin was instantly hydrated without feeling greasy.

After the first night of using these products, I was sold and wanted to invest in the full size version which I did and am enjoying using the full sized version for over a month now!

Liz Earle, thank you for inventing such wonderful range of products!

What do you think of these products?

P.S. If anyone knows where I can buy Liz Earle's products in Hong Kong, please let me know!

Autumnal makeup platter

It's still pretty warm in Hong Kong (well at least to me it is!) but I can't help but wanting to create a autumnal evening look for myself last week when I met up with a girlfriend.  Do excuse the condition of my skin - thanks to the stress caused by relocation and the weather my body is adjusting to.

Autumnal Makeup Look 2013

To create this look, I needed a few products to prep for a flawless base.  Since moving to Hong Kong, Clinique's Super City Block SPF 40 has become my everyday staple product.  Not only does it create a shield for my skin to protect against the strong sunlight, it also specifically provides a block from all the air pollution I might be exposed to - I definitely needed this living in Hong Kong.  As this was an evening look I wanted something that provides a bit more coverage whilst giving a natural finish, of course my trusted base has to be the Veil Fluid Makeup by hourglass.  Every time when I wear this I'm wowed by how good a coverage this gives but offers such a transparent and dewy finish to my skin - a complete 'wake me up' product!  

Other base products used (concealing):

• Undercover pot by Laura Mercier
• Un-cover up concealer by RMS Beauty

For my eyes, I experimented a little bit more with my Charlotte Tilbury's colour coded eyeshadow palette in Dolci Vita.  This quad has some perfect darker nude colours which is great for an autumnal smokey eye look.  I love also the shimmery goldie brown shade which makes my eyes 'pop', great for an evening sparkle for those tired eyes.

The quad serves duo purpose for a warm colour tone makeup look, which is great for both a natural look but if you want to intensify the effect, you can also do so to create a heavy smokey eye look.  I went for a more natural toned look.

There isn't a day I wouldn't use my Kiko Precision Eye Pencil.  I simply cannot rave this eye pencil enough, it's soft but not too soft that you can hardly draw a perfect eyeline.

Moving onto lashes!  My goodness, I wish I discovered the Diorshow Heat Curler for lashes earlier - although I wouldn't say it changed my life, it certainly has made a difference to my lashes.  This product is very safe and easy to use.  A few sweep/ comb through my lashes when it's heated up, then curling my lashes like usual - I could see my lashes looking a lot more curler and much easier to curl.  I'm rather addicted to my L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic Infinite Length Effect Mascara (Waterproof) which says what it says on the tin - lengthen my lashes!  Since I did my eye makeup using the Charlotte Tilbury's eyeshadow quad, I thought it makes sense to also apply her Full Fat Lashes mascara.

For my cheeks, instead of going for a blusher product; I opted for a cult product by hourglass, the Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light.  I found it a little too pink for me if I used this either all over my face or as a highlighter, so one day I applied this on the apple of my cheeks and found it worked amazingly well.  It highlights my cheeks by giving it a contour to my face whilst lifting the colour of my face because of its soft champagney pink colour.  I also contoured my face using Body Shop's honey bronze bronzing powder and giving my face a little warmth to complement with my eye makeup.

It wouldn't be a completed autumnal nude look if I didn't paint my lips with hourglass Femme Nude Lip Stylo. I loved how my face turned out to be quite pale but remained sharp and uplifted!

I hope you like this look!  What autumnal makeup have you been rocking these days?  Will you add any of the above products I used to your beauty stash?

Chantecaille Just Skin Anti-Smog Tinted Moisturiser - does it worth the money?

Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturiser (50g) costs a whooping £57 is definitely one of the most expensive 'tinted moisturiser' on the market out there.

Does it worth breaking the bank to get this?

I wanted this for ages but bearing it in mind it has a price tag of £57 (second time I mentioned about the price now in less than 50 words), I waited and waited but every time when I went into Space NK, I squeezed some into my hands and fell in love with it.  I researched and watched loads of reviews on Youtube et al and heard only positive comments.

Finally I caved in, few months ago.

I had it colour-matched and I'm a 'nude' according to Chantecaille.  Ever since I got it I didn't find myself using it everyday, rather disappointingly.  I found myself wanting another alternative tinted moisturiser/ bb cream rather than sticking with my Chantecaille purchase.  On an average month, I probably would use this just the ONE time.

The texture is in between of a cream/ watery base, for the most part it is very hydrating however on a recent wear, I still found it a bit drying round my nose areas which is strange considered how moisturising it is for my other parts in the face.  However the very sheer finish is a little too sheer for me.

It does live up to the standard of 'Just Skin' finish - it disappears in my skin after blending it all over the face.  This to me really is the ultimate 'tinted moisturiser' - a moisturiser with colour.  It doesn't provide any coverage at all I don't think, I can even say it made my skin looked a bit tanned, but this might down to the colour match rather than the product itself.  But every time when I wear it I would ask my sister how it looks on my skin, she would praise rather than frown.  So, I guess it's fine and I worry too much.

But, there's just something lacking.  I can't quite put my fingers on it where, what and how.  You definitely don't need to use any tools to apply this on your face - beauty blender or brushes to apply this.  Simply your finger-tips is your best companion to this tinted moisturiser because this really is merely a very expensive coloured moisturiser, you wouldn't even think of using a brush to apply your day/ evening moisturiser, would you?

I'm disappointed with this, it doesn't worth my money, it's simply way TOO expensive.  I want to say I LOVED IT and want to tell the world about it, but I can't and don't want to lie to myself.  Instead of giving it away to someone who may benefit from this, I think because of how much it worths, I would use it up nevertheless and pray that one day it suddenly makes me feeling super excited and be smitten by it.

I have since tried another Chantecaille product - a Coral Reefs Palette which consists of a perfect powder highlighter (so perfect that I am now looking to re-purchase that particular shade), and two other eyeshadow shades and a blush colour.

Are you a fan of Chantecaille?  Have you tried the Just Skin Tinted Moisturiser?  Did you like it?

Chantecaille products are available in the UK from Space NK, Liberty and Harrods.  Whilst you lot out there in Hong Kong, you can find it in Lane Crawford, Joyce Beauty and Harvey Nichols - for a full list, please click here.

2-week shopping ban is officially O-V-E-R!

I'm so happy to announce that my 2-week shopping ban challenge is finally O-V-E-R!  If you don't know what I'm talking about and want to catch up on the why, what and how, you can click here and here.

In the end, apart from breaking my rules to buy a few tops; I have done really well in the beauty departments.  No unnecessary purchase!

I'm so pleased that I'm finally done with this challenge and I can resume to my normal self by venturing out more to the exciting beauty world in Hong Kong.  I also cannot wait to share more with you guys in due course.

However, since the challenge, I have felt the benefits of it which is - I got to use up more in my beauty stash so I have picked one particular item that I am going to not buy anymore until 31 December 2013 - this is mascara.  I have way too many of them and if I continue to add anymore to my collection, there's going to be one thing happen - wastage!  I'll report on this and probably going to do some more in depth reviews on my mascaras on how I think they perform.

Meanwhile, please continue to support my blog and spread the words.  I am so grateful for all of you who have visited my blog since it's started in April, I cannot believe that I have been writing blogs for half a year now and I have enjoyed this experience immensely.  I look forward to bringing you more exciting new discoveries on this side of the world, and sharing with you some product reviews.

Have a lovely day everyone, wherever you may be.