Hauliday at Sephora!

Hauliday! Holiday! Hauliday! Pardon my weak pun. :P

But yes, I went on a haul at Sephora today! I started work at the crack of dawn and was done by mid morning and I thought since I was already out, why not head somewhere. And that 'somewhere' was Sephora. :D

(From top, clockwise) Smashbox Full Exposure Palette, Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12h Concealer, Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara (mini version), Benefit Porefessional (mini version), Tarte Amazonian Clay 12h blush, Nyx Butter Gloss

Smashbox Full Exposure Palette

Honestly, I bought more than what I intended to and this palette is one of my 'unintended' buys. I've been looking up on eyeshadow palettes with a good mix of neutrals. The ones I have considered are the Too Faced Chocolate Bar, Too Faced Natural Eyes, Lorac Pro Palette, Zoeva Naturally Yours and so on. You get the drift. I saw ilikewyelie used the Smashbox Full Exposure Palette in one of her videos and I was won over by it. The mattes looked like they will work well on my tan skin, and she did a beautiful look with this palette on her monolid eyes. 

The palette also has a mix of warm and cool tones unlike the Naked palettes. I own a Naked 2 and I'm still trying to love it. :(

I read some negative reviews on this palette so it's a little worrying. I really hope this palette will be worth the buck! I don't want to have another underused palette sitting in my drawer.

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12h Blush in Blissful

This is one item I set out to buy! I don't have many blushes; the ones I have are from the Japanese brand Brigette. They are pretty with a slight shimmer in them. So I don't have a matte blush and recently, I've been very aware of my pores. O_O They look larger than usual. 

I went to the store and swatched the Tarte blushes and had initially settled on the shade Captivating, which is a warm peach. But the sales assistant encouraged me to consider Blissful because she felt Captivating may have too much orange for my skin tone. I was hesitant about Blissful as it has more pink in it compared to Captivating and pink blushes don't suit me. 

Blissful swatched on skin

She asked me to wait for a couple of minutes for the blushes to settle on her skin. The colours did change a little when they react with skin temperature. Captivated became quite orangey and the colour looked like it may be a little muddy on me. Blissful, on the other hand, became a well-balanced peach with an obvious pink undertone. The SA then tried Blissful on me and it really perked up my look, which was great because I only had less than 8 hours of sleep over the past two days and I looked washed out. 

Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12h Concealer

An intended buy! Looking for a waterproof concealer with good coverage for my blemishes and spots. Bought the shade light medium honey.

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara

Not an intended buy! I already have my HG Majolica Majorca mascara but I thought the small size will be great when I need to pack my staying-at-the-boyfriend's make up bag.

Benefit Porefessional Face Primer

Semi-intended buy because of my pores. T_T I am using the Motives Perfecting Face Primer and it's good - doesn't break me out, keeps my make up for a longer period. But somehow it does nothing to minimise the appearance of my pores. Hopefully, this Benefit primer will do the job.

Nyx Butter Gloss

Semi-intended! The reason is I currently don't own a single lip gloss. I know. As for the shade, I could only find 'BL G07' on it but I suspect it may be Creme Brulee? 

I got a freebie from Sephora too - their Beauty on the Fly make up pouch! I was thinking of getting a bigger make up pouch so I can dump more stuff in it so this is timely! The only downside is it's clear, which means my boyfriend can see its content. I tend to hide my purchases from him because he is VERY thrifty. :X

That's all for this haul! This post took me close to 4 hours to compete! And it's all thanks to this princess:

My boyfriend's cat Dewey who is the boss of me. She was whining for my attention. I had to accompany her while she was napping on the sofa. It's crazy how she is so similar to a toddler.

Thank you for reading!

Review: Ettusais BB Mineral Liquid

Hello and this is the very first post of this blog!

Recently I was on a hunt for a BB cream that will be great for daily usage. The criteria I had was:

1. BB cream should not feel like foundation on my face, I wanted something lightweight and feels like second skin. 
2. It should not break me out and this is huge factor because I have sensitive skin.
3. It should not be too fair or look ashy on me. I've gotten BB creams from other brands before but they always look too light or grayish on me. I don't aspire to have fifty shades of gray on me. So finding a tone that fits my tan yellowy skin is important. 

While reading and watching tons of beauty reviews and videos, the brand Ettusais caught my attention. A Japanese youtuber SekineRisa reviewed the Ettusais Aqua Foundation and I was intrigued by how the foundation matches her asian skin tone. Cutting the long story short, I went to the Ettusais website, read up about its BB creams and marched down to a Ettusais counter.

Ettusais has a couple of BB creams available: BB Mineral Cream, BB Mineral Gel, BB Mineral White and BB Mineral Liquid. Okay that was a lot of 'BB' in one sentence!

The Ettusais sales assistant asked me a couple of questions on my skin type - I have a oily T-zone and sensitive cheeks - and introduced me the BB Mineral Liquid. I intended to find out more about the other products but... English wasn't the SA's first language and also she directed me straight to the paying counter right after I confirmed my selection. -_-

Anyway, let's get right to the product!

Official Product Description: 
An all-in-one makeup base, foundation and concealer that spreads easily, makes the skin fresh and light to give a smooth, matte finish. Let's go matte and smooth with this 8-in-1 liquid foundation! The ultra-light liquid to powder foundation leaves your skin feeling naturally soft, supple with no sticky after feel! It spreads easily and adheres well to the skin. Shine-Free Powder and Smooth Matte Powder rapidly absorb sebum to achieve a natural lasting finish. With SPF 35 PA ++, it protects skin from UV rays!

The packaging also likened the final skin texture after application to a baby's skin. *raise eyebrow*

Firstly, the bottle is small, it fits smugly into the size of my palm and the product feels light which is great for travelling, and I often need to bring my makeup out.

The product is watery and light, and you need to shake the bottle before applying, very much like most Japanese sunscreens. 

There are two shades in total:

(taken from Ettusais' website)

The SA recommended Natural Beige and I bought that.

The BB Mineral Liquid in Natural Beige

The consistency of the product is true to its namesake - Liquid. So it's not heavy nor creamy. The photo above is before application. I have slight redness and an uneven skin tone.

After Application

This BB Mineral Liquid evens out my skin and covers up the redness and little imperfections I have on my arm. One thing to note, you have to apply and blend this out really quickly as it settles into a powdery finish in seconds. 

I have used this BB Mineral Liquid out on a couple of occasions.

• The powdery finish makes well for my oily T-zone. I only started to get shiny after 5 - 6 hours.
• The coverage is good and does a decent job at covering pimple scars. Although I would still have a layer of concealer under this Mineral Liquid.
• Problem with the powdery finish is I can't use cream products after applying this because it creases. T_T
• It did not break me out!
• The shade Natural Beige suits my yellow based skin and I don't look gray. WOOHOO.
• The product slowly disappears from my T-zone thanks to its Holy Oilyness but it stays put on the rest of my face

This is definitely one idiot-proof product that I can slap on and dash out of the house without worrying about having an even finish or my skin resembling the corpse bride!

Bought it for S$38 at the Ettusais Counter at Tampines Mall Isetan.