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A place for me to share all my make-up ramblings...enjoy!

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themakeupblogette@hotmail.com

My name is Sophia!

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FAQ & DISCLAIMER

About Me

My name is Sophia, and I am in my early 30s. I am from Singapore and I am the sole writer of this blog.

About this Blog

I started this blog in 2006, I like to use a wide range of brands though I seem to have a growing preference for higher-end brands in recent years. I also like to share interesting things I have come across about makeup and beauty.

Currently The Makeup Blogette receives 39,000 unique views monthly or 2,238,932 views and counting.

My Makeup Style

I like classic looks (neutral tones on eyes, anything goes for lips & cheeks), though occasionally I try out dramatic/ statement looks.  I believe that a flawless base is the key to achieving great makeup looks.  I also believe that if you don't have great skin to start with, fake it with a good foundation routine, and even greater skincare.  I am currently loving Clarins & Lancome skincare products, and Vichy NormaDerm for tackling with breakouts.

What Cameras do I use?

Most of the pictures you see in post 2010 entries are taken with my Canon G-11.  Previously I was using Canon Ixus 80.  I do post some pictures which are taken with my iphone4 which I will state in that particular entry.  I have stopped watermarking my pictures as of 2011, because I think watermarks are ugly in general, and does not prevent people from stealing my pictures if they wish to.  I just take it as a compliment that my pictures are even worth stealing in the first place. I might look into getting a Canon EOS next year, not just for blogging purposes, but I also like photography in general.

My Favourite Makeup Brand(s)

It is hard to name just one, but I like NARS, Chanel, Illamasqua and the ocasional Guerlain, Dior & Urban Decay item.  I own quite a stash of MAC items, but recently I have stopped catching up with their collections, and I much prefer to splurge on a few really outstanding items.

Where to find me

Twitter (link button above!)  Email (stated above!)  Instagram (makeup_blogette)

I have no official Facebook fan page, and currently have no intention to start one at all.  The Makeup Blogette remains my personal hobby and property, so as such, I don't believe in having a Facebook fanpage for it.

Final Disclaimer

I bought/ paid for all of the products mentioned in this blog. I am not affliated to any company. If certain products are sent to me for review purposes, I will say so and express my honest opinions about them. In any case, I will only review and showcase the products which I have personally tried and tested, and enjoy using. I do not get paid to review anything.

No ads, no paid links etc please.  I am in charge of all content and pictures here.

I am not a makeup artist, nor do I have any professional training in makeup.

 

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    March 17, 2013

    Essie Spring 2013: Madison Ave-Hue & Maximillian Strasse Her


    I ordered 2 of the Essie Spring 2013 collection from my usual and only Essie supplier - Tammy (link here).  It seems like a quiet collection, I have yet to come across blogs with full swatches, so it was a little hard to decide if I wanted everything from the collection or just pick my faves - in the end I went for two colors which I thought the names are quite cute, and also the color description seem unique.  I just can't resist a good Essie, and I find that in recent couple of years, they are really bringing out small and beautiful collections - almost all with superb formula. 


    Collection information - 

    The Essie spring collection is inspired by some of the most fashionable cities in the world: New York, London, Paris, Munich, Tokyo and Rio. It’s full of soft milky hues with one eye popping orange red to brighten up the mix. Here’s the full shade breakdown:

    • Madison Ave-Hue – chic upper east side pink (with silver shimmer)
    • Go Ginza- soft cherry blossom pink
    • Avenue Maintain – lovely Parisian blue
    • Bond With Whomever – poshLondonlilac
    • Maximillian Strasse Her – cool grey green
    • Hip-Anema – poppy-bright red orange

    Swatches - 

    Both colors I picked are perfectly opaque in two coats.
     

    Madison Ave-Hue is a pretty cool toned medium pink with very fine and subtle silver shimmer - not very obvious when applied though.  It is a flattering pink on my skintone. The finish is very glossy.


    Maximillian Strasse Her - is a cool grey with a green/mint tinge. It is very unique, I don't have any close ebough dupes in my stash to even compare. It's that kind of grey toned shade which I cannot resist. 

    Hope this entry has been helpful, thank you for reading!
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    March 16, 2013

    Essie No More Film [Photos & Swatches]


    Hi!

    I am currently in love with Essie's No More Film - it is part of their Resort 2012 collection, I had passed on it when it came out ( I bought Sure Shot instead) ...but when I chanced upon this beautiful deep inky purple shade at a smoochiezz bazaar at Harborfront.... I just couldn't resist. 

    The formula is creamy, and opaque in one coat.  I painted two coats just so that it will look more 'smooth' in terms of the surface.  It is super glossy - no topcoat used here. 

    I am wearing this shade on my toes now.  Loves!

    Thanks for looking!

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    November 25, 2012

    Essie Winter 2013: My Top Picks


    Hi hi!

    I picked 3 shades from the Winter 2012 collection. The other colors are beautiful, but not very unique.. and I think I have a soft spot for Essie glitters.  They last very well, and always somehow manage to look quite like something different.  

    The first one, which I picked up simply because it is such a beautiful electifying blue shade.... but..hmmm in actual fact, I hardly wear blues like this in real life!  Maybe I would wear it for a day, and then I would clean them off. 

    This is Butler Please, a creamy marine cool blue.  It has a neon finish, drying semi matte.  A glossy topcoat is compulsory! 
    The color here is quite accurate to real life, but when I snapped a picture with  my iphone, the color looks darker, and absolutely popping. 



    This is the iphone pic. 


    Next, we have Leading Lady - a raspberry red, and the consistency of this, I can only describe as a JAM... it is a little thick, but easy enough to apply.  It is densely packed with matching red glitter bits.  I painted 2 coats to achieve this intensity. 

    Don't mind my dry cuticles though.  I was on a swatching marathon this morning. 



    And lastly, my fave, Beyond Cozy - a pale white gold glitter, very opaque because it is so densely packed with glitter bits.  Applies very smoothly.

    Love these shades I picked.  

    Are you getting any of the Essie Winter 2012 collection? 

    I got my Essies from timtam00.blogspot.sg - she stocks the best and latest Essie collections.  

    Eugenia (Ommorphia) has the complete collection swatched and review (link link link)  Check it out! 

    That's all, and thanks for looking!

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    September 25, 2012

    Nails Story: Essie We're In It Together [Photos & Swatches]

    Hi hi

    Essie recently launched a Breast Cancer Awareness collection of four shades of pink.. I was tempted to get all four.. but I am not a huge pink wearer and I had been hauling much polishes... so I thought.. I should just pick one which I think I would love.  And I am very impressed by this pink.. it contains the ultra fine shimmer that some of the Essie polishes have.. and in my opinion, these fine shimmer is not really to add a certain texture to the look, the shade doesn't look shimmery, but instead it looks ultra creamy, but yet super glossy.  

    The color can tend to be a little patchy if you apply it unevenly, and I used 3 coats in this entry just to make the color pop.  But I think 2 coats will be sufficient. 

    The shimmer are in purple and blue... and together they make the pink look quite cool toned, and adds a little dimension. 

    Again, pictures in this entry are taken with my brand new iphone5, and you can see how it captures the shimmer, and whether it is under natural or artificial lighting, the pictures turn out awesome! 

    Attempting a macro-shot.

    in natural lighting

    in artificial daylight lighting

    Love this pink!

    Thanks for looking! 

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    July 04, 2012

    Nails Story: Nubar Black Polka Dots

    I bought the NUBAR Polka Dot Black polish a while back, and it was very funny how I went about getting it, I literally typed in my google bar, 'where to buy nubar polish' and this UK based Nubar retailer site popped up, and it offered FREE INTL SHIPPING, but not wanting to be crazy and order a whole bunch, I stuck with my one and only wishlist item and placed my order.  I think the package came in a week, whilst I was gone in TW. 

    It retails for 8 pounds, but with the FREE INTL SHIPPING (I really can't stress that enough) it's totally worth it. And makes me want to buy more NUBAR polishes. 

    Anyway, back to the polish, it is a black glitter polish suspended in a clear base, though it looks greyish in the bottle. 

    It looks fab layered over creamy pale pastel colors, for that 'cookies and cream' or some kind of chic interesting girly manicure.  

    I had to apply 2 coats for the bigger glitter bits to show up more. 

    But I love love love it. 

    Website link here click click click!   [Nubar-Nailz]

    Photos & Swatches

    and back to my pretty manicure

    It's a glitter, but yet it isn't blingy. Which makes it interesting. :)

    Pink is OPI Pink Friday

    another combo which I did for fun

    grabbed the pic off my instagram

    I used Essie Instant Hot 

    That's all, and thanks for reading!

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    June 30, 2012

    Nails Story: Creamy & Glittery Pastel Green

    Hi hi!

    This is another TW related haul entry.. we spent one of the days at this nail supplies store (it's pretty out of the way, and not exactly a normal retail shop, so I shan't even go into the details of the what and where of the place).  Kim wanted to stock up on her nail biz essentials, and for the rest of us who tagged along, it was another time for us to check out the endless, and I really mean endless rows and rows of glitters (which you can use to make glitter nail polishes), nail stickers (the designs and range is mind-boogling), and also nail embelishments and studs etc etc...  We also took the chance to make a few nail polish purchases, because they were selling TINS nail polishes for quite cheap (think S$11 a bottle). 

    I chanced about this no brand glitter nail polish, simply because the color combo of this bottle really attracted me.  There are small glitter bits and the main bigger bits are a light pink and light green foil shades.  I thought they were a sweet combo and something different from the usual holographic/ silver/ brighter shades of glitter. 

    I used it this week, pairing the glitter polish with Essie's Navigate Her, which matches the green glitter bits in the polish. 

    I really don't know the brand name of the polish... some of you were asking  me on instagram... sorry! 

    Photos & swatches

    I also bought 2 packets of nail sticks, because while Kim was at the cashier, I was just looking at the stuff she bought, and I thought, wow these stickers look super cute, and after Kim gave me some ideas for future nail art designs, I caved and bought them.  They aren't exactly cheap, but Kim said the quality is really good, because these don't shrivel and curl up. 

    the camelia flower motif is so very chanel-nesque! 

    that's all, and thanks for reading!

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    May 26, 2012

    Nails Story: Three Summery Essies [Photos & Swatches]

    I purchased 3 new Essie nail polishes lately, it's really becoming one of my fave 'drugstore' nail polish brands to regularly make purchases from - I like their smoothy creamy colors, and the names always suck me in.

    My favourite place to get Essie nail polishes - in case you are wondering - because they aren't always readily available in person from the nail polish suppliers at Scape Park (Dyon), or PNC (Chinatown).

    Timtam blogspot - Sg seller - she is amazingly fast and effective, and you receive your order within 2 days after making payment. And she often stocks the latest collections very quickly.  She sells other brands like OPI, Orly, China Glaze too.

    The Essies are normally $11 each but I think I got mine at around $9.50 each because of some promo discount going on.

    http://timtam00.blogspot.com/

     

    Nail Vibe http://www.nailvibe.com/shop/

    Two of the colors,  A Crewed Interest & Navigate Her are from the Essie Spring 2012 collection

    Essie Action - the neon orange is from the Poppy Razzi collection (4 neons)

    [all swatches are taken with Nail Tek II base coat, and Seche Vite topcoat]

    Navigate Her

    A milky pastel green that leans quite warm.  Very cream, very opaque.  I don't have anything in the exact same tone in my stash.  Illamasqua MILF is more minty cool toned, and so are many of my other pastel greens that lean towards teal or blue.

    A Crewed Interest

    A little thin in terms of formula, I needed 3 coats for full color payoff.  It is a pale peachy beige, and super glossy.  I like this shade on my skintone.

    a comparison of Essie peachy & pinks in my collection

    Lastly, we have Action - a highlighter neon orange.  I painted this over a white base to give the color a truer payoff, and pop.

     

    What are your fave summer nail polishes?

     

    Hope this has been helpful, and thanks for looking!

     

     

     

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    May 16, 2012

    Nails Story: MAC Peachstock [Photos, Swatches & Comparisons]

    Hi!

    I had purchased this a couple of weeks back but because of my extensions, I never got to swatching and applying the shade on my own nails.  Now that the extensions are off, there will be a slight backlog of nail polish entries up on the blog. I have a ton of other stuff to slowly feature as well.  Time just seems to be zooming by lately!

    Not quite sure what this MAC collection is (shock horror!), but it is a collection of lipglass, lipsticks, and nail polish - they take all their best selling shades, and come up with matching exact shades in the products mentioned.   So you have St Germaine lipglass, lipstick, nail polish, Russian Red, Ravishing, Myth, Angel, etc etc.  If you stalk Temptalia, you would also know that some of  the shades are only exclusive to certain regions (Russian Red, sadly isn't available here, or else I would have gotten that too).

    So I got only one nail polish - in the shade Peachstock - which is ironically lost in my drawer of lipsticks, I think I had earlier B2M for a Peachstock, and never worn it.  Anyway, Peachstock is a peachy nude color.  The consistency of the nail polish (at least I know for this shade) is extremely creamy and smooth.  I also swatched St Germaine at the counter, but with all the OPI milky pinks in my stash, I just didn't feel like shelling out the $$ for anymore MAC polishes.

    I really like this nude shade - the consistency is really important here - 2 even coats give you perfect payoff, and you have very naturally professional groomed looking hands. It's hard to believe, but I can never ever get enough of nude nail polish, they are all the same.... yet not quite.  As you will see in my comparisons, there isn't an exact dupe.  And I am only comparing with the 'darker' nudes, and not the off-white type of nudes (think Essie Topless & Barefoot, or even beigey nudes like RBL's Grunge or Deborah Lippmann's Fashion).

    Bottomline - if you love nude, you need this nail polish.

    Photos & swatches:

    swatches are done with Nailtek II, 2 coats of color, and Seche Vite topcoat

    comparisons - the closest is probably the CND Desert Suede

     

    I hope this has been helpful, and thank you for looking!

     

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    April 15, 2012

    Haul: Butter London now Available at Takashimaya [Photos, Trout Pout Swatches & Comparisons]

    I remember someone on Twitter saying that Butter London is now available at Takashimaya, and so when I was there yesterday with my sister to buy more Yankee Candles, I popped around the corner to check the collection out.  It is located near the L'OCCITANE counter, and the display is not very very outstanding.  It might seem like a weird place to stock Butter London, but a quick scan around the area seems to show that the basement of Takashimaya is devoted to all these niche brands, there is also Korres, Juice Beauty, and several other natural beauty products.

    Prices?

    The nailpolish are S$25 each, the treatment products are mostly S$32 each.

    At revolveclothing.com where I ordered my Butter London nail polish they are USD14 each.  I won't say it's crazy marked-up prices, but at least they are under S$30.  And for the experience of being able to see them in person, and pick and choose your shades, the price to me, is worth it. Plus instant gratification factor is priceless.

    However, if I want to buy 3 or more shades, I would opt to purchase them online from revolveclothing.com instead.  Besides at taka, there seems to be only one piece of each nailpolish color in stock.  Some of the shades have 2 or 3 pieces, but that's all it.   They also stock the newly release lipgloss.  They are pigmented, but too sticky for my liking.  I think the glosses retail for S$32 each.

    I only picked up Trout Pout ($25), the basecoat, and the quick drying topcoat ($32 each).  Trout Pout is from their latest summer collection.

    I will try to review the basecoat and topcoats in the next few weeks.

     

    quick comparisons

    this seems to be the perfect summer shade

    peachy, corally orangey shade that isn't neon or too bright

    I don't normally go for this color, but now I am getting a little obsessed with finding and owning similar shades!

    I will be featuring DIOR's Bikini in its own entry at a later date.  The summer collection will be launched 1 May 2012.

    another quick pic I took with my phone last night

    Here are some pictures I snapped at the Butter London display yesterday

     

    That's all, and thank you for looking!

     

     

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    April 14, 2012

    Essie Bridal Collection for Spring 2012 [Photos & Quick Swatches]

    These Essie pastels are too yummy for me to pass up.  I was briefly contemplating the entire OPI NYC Ballet collection, but when I saw the swatches and review on Eugenia's blog, I was totally suckered to get this entire collection instead.  I am fully aware that the textures are completely different (the OPI collection is a series of sheer jelly pastels) whereas the Essie Bridal collection are more intense and opaque, easier for me to apply.

    My fingernails are terribly dry at the moment so taking good nail swatches right now is not a good time, and not doing justice to this beautiful collection, so I shall direct you to Eugenia's review and swatch entry, so you can see for yourself why I am so attracted and in love with this collection in the first place.

    I ordered the whole set from eBay.. and inclusive of shipping, works out to be about the same as the usual Essie e-retailers here.  Plus, I get them super quickly!  (the collection is still in 'pre-order' status on timtam00 the last I checked)

    Link here! Ommorphia Beauty Bar

    instant hot is my fave among all these, I think.  It is an off-white palest pink shade, well, it prolly looks just white 80% of the time, but it contains such fine shimmer, and has this pale undertone of pink, reminding me of yogurt. Yums!

    like to be bad is the sheerest of all, needing 3 coats (I applied 2 coats for the other shades) but it contains very fine pink shimmer.   Very girly and pretty.

    who is the boss is a pastel milky blue green that also has a grey tinge.  Reminds me of MAC's Hyperion..but more green/grey.

    love & acceptance is a lilac shade, which Essie seems to include in almost every collection.  But I compared with 2 other Essie lilac shades in my stash (Lilacism) and they aren't dupes at all.

     

    I find that I am leaning more and more towards Essies rather than OPIs or China Glaze these days....and it's good, because Essie seems to be improving the consistency of their polishes, and they have nicely edited and classy collections (read: not huge ones like 12 shades and gimmicky movie tie-ins).

     

     

    That's all, and thanks for looking!