haul on the make-up blogette

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.

May 2013
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THE BALM: Hot Mama! & Cabana Boy blushes [Photos & Swatches]

When you have the chance to shop for half price at The Balm... you don't say no... you start looking for goodies which you can try out! I passed on the eyeshadow palettes, but I had to grab a couple of powder blushes. I have heard great stuff about the pigmentation of these blushes (think along the lines of Sleek makeup, and MAC) and I am glad I got these. Many thanks to Eliza for helping with the order! I think I paid just under S$25 for BOTH of these blushes inclusive of shipping.

The packaging reminds of Benefit makeup, with the cute illustrations and cardboard boxes. They are fairly compact, and holds decent amount of product.

Firstly, we have Cabana Boy - a plummy pink blush with a satin finish.

And next Hot Mama! - a rose gold - just like Sleek Makeup's Rosegold blush. There are dupes like this everywhere, and this is a very smooth and finely milled blush. I love the gold sheen, it's like a built-in cheek highlighter.

Swatches:

Have you checked out The Balm powder blushes?

Thanks for reading!

Posted on May 11, 2013 at 2:30AM | Permalink | 1 Comment

Filed in: Review, haul, Swatches, The Balm, Blushes, cabana boy, hot mama! | Tagged with: review, haul, swatches, the balm, blushes, cabana boy, hot mama!

May 04, 2013

YSL Summer Manicure with Vert D'Orient & Jade Imperial

YSL Spring and Summer collections see the release of two highly sought after polishes - Jade Imperial, and Vert D'Orient. Supplies of both shades are extremely limited, though the stores do re-stock them time to time. It is best to put your name on the reservation lists, to avoid any disappointment. They retail for S$35 each.

I recently added Vert D'Orient to my collection, and it is beautiful. I like the fact that it is dark enough, and has that milky muted tone which makes it look less green. YSL polishes have excellent formula, and this is no exception.

I paired both shades together for the ultimate YSL SS2013 Jade manicure look.

Loving this combo!

What's on your nails recently?

Thanks for looking!

Posted on May 04, 2013 at 8:34PM | Permalink | 0 Comments

Filed in: Review, haul, manicure, Swatches, YSL, vernis, SS2013, jade imperial, Vert D'Orient | Tagged with: review, manicure, haul, YSL, swatches, vernis, SS2013, jade imperial, Vert D'Orient

April 28, 2013

Maybelline Vivids Lipsticks in Vibrant Mandarin & Electric Orange [Photos & Swatches]

Hi hi!

This is a special entry featuring the new Maybelline Vivids on my sister, Meryllyn. She is really into bright lippies lately, especially the warm reds and oranges. So I ordered a couple of the new Maybelline Vivids for her, seeing as they will be right up her alley. Got these through Eliza who placed the order, so much thanks to her! These two costs about S$18 after shipping, super great bargain. Currently, she is loving my Estee Lauder Wild Fire and Shu Uemura orange lippy, and she wants to try out more.

The colors are just gorgeous and comparable to a lot of pricier lipsticks.

Here are two colors my sister picked:

And another product close up -

Swatches on my hand -

They are very creamy, and pigmented.

Just a note - if you have naturally pigmented lips (like Meryl here), you should go for the very cream intense lipsticks so they will show up true to color. The sheer or anything very glossy shiny will not show up true to color on your lips because your own lip color will change the color of the lipstick itself.

Electric Orange

is a vibrant orange, it is very wearable because it is not matte, and doesn't contain the stark white pigment in the formula (think of MAC Morange)

overall look on Meryl
(a list of all products used will be listed below)

Vibrant Mandarin
A orangey red.
This is gorgeous.

and the overall look

What do you think of these colors on Meryl? I think they will keep her happy for a long time!

All products used:

Face - Ettusais BB Loose Powder, finished with Guerlain pressed meteorites (how I envy her super smooth & poreless complexion!)

Cheeks - NARS Gilda blush

Eyes - Inglot eyeshadows

Brows - Shu Uemura pencil

Liner - Heavy Rotation liquid liner

Hope this is useful, and thank you for reading!

Posted on April 28, 2013 at 4:10AM | Permalink | 8 Comments

Filed in: Review, haul, Swatches, lipsticks, Maybelline Vivids Lipsticks, Vibrant Mandarin, Electric Orange | Tagged with: review, haul, lipsticks, swatches, Maybelline Vivids Lipsticks, Vibrant Mandarin, Electric Orange

April 27, 2013

Illamasqua Noble, Cameo & Force [Photos & Swatches]

Here's Part 2 of my Illamasqua polishes swatches - all the blues and purples - 90% of my illamasqua polishes have excellent formula, I don't think there's any one which I own that isn't creamy and pigmented, unless they are meant to be shimmery sheer topcoats or jelly formula.

Do note that my Canon camera is totally blinded by these vibrant shades, and after Cameo, I had to use my iphone5 for a more true to life color results.

All swatches here are shown with 2 coats, no top coat, no base coat.

Here we have Cameo (which together with Noble, used to be Sephora exclusive until they are recently available at the Illamasqua website). This is a cornflower blue, which isn't too 'stark' it is very opaque with a soft finish, if you know what I mean. No staining.

a truer color payoff of Cameo in this angle.

Next is Force - a brilliant shade of deep purple+navy or blurple as some nailpolish bloggers say (I can't decide) with just the faintest hint of a muted grey tone. In pictures it is showing very purple, and no grey at all. Quite hard to get a good shot. The formula is excellent, a one coater, though I applied two here to show the finish.
This didn't stain my nails after removal.

Lastly, we have Noble - which is a bright cyan blue which seems to pop out from the photo below, right?
Love the formula and consistency, and how bright it looks (best on short nails) but it stains like mad upon removal.

That's all for now, and thanks for looking!

Posted on April 27, 2013 at 9:23PM | Permalink | 1 Comment

Filed in: Review, haul, nail polishes, manicure, Swatches, blue, Illamasqua Noble, Cameo, Force | Tagged with: review, blue, cameo, manicure, haul, swatches, Nail Polishes, force, Illamasqua Noble

April 14, 2013

Collection Avant-Première de Chanel: Starlet, Paparazzi, Cinema & Provocation

This entry features 3 new Chanel shades from their latest collectiom, the Collection Avant-Premiere - centred around movies and stars...hence the names, and the very classic and glamorous shades. All the formula on these polishes are richly pigmented, I applied 2 coats in each of these pictures which show the full color intensity of the polishes.

Do note that these polishes are part of the permanent collection. Though there are news that Starlet is LE. Provocation is a re-release from last year's Fashion's Night Out collection the Twin Sets. (click here to see my full review and swatches)

These are the 3 I bought to complete the collection.

Cinema - tomato red, creamy. A very soft focus glamorous red.

Paparazzi - warm plummy rosy shade with gold sheen

Starlet - peachy pink with fine shimmer

Swatches here

all are 2 coats, no top coat.

I think Paparazzi is my fave, it is quite unique (to me).

comparison of Chanel reds in my collection

Pirate - most cool toned, almost jelly consistency

Cinema - creamy, soft red, not as intense as Dragon, looks neutral toned compared to Dragon and Coromandel

Coromandel - one coater (but I applied 2 coats here), brightest, with slight sheen

Dragon - looks slightly cool toned here, but more neutral in real life, brighter than Cinema

I must say that Cinema applies brighter than it actually looks in the bottle.

Hope this overview has been useful.

Next on my Chanel list are the Les Beiges collection! I want the brush and the powder! Then the summer polishes....

Sorry that I haven't been able to blog much lately except spamming nail polish swatches, a little out of sorts and can't seem to get down to 'serious' blogging about makeup products and new launches. I will be fully back soon!

Thanks for reading, happy Sunday!

Posted on April 14, 2013 at 12:07AM | Permalink | 2 Comments

Filed in: chanel, Review, haul, Swatches, nailpolish, vernis, Collection Avant-Première de Chanel | Tagged with: chanel, review, nailpolish, haul, swatches, vernis, Collection Avant-Première de Chanel

April 11, 2013

Nails Inc Leather Effect is LOVE!

Hi hi!

A couple of weeks back, I spotted these Nails Inc Leather Effect nailpolishes at Sephora (they were all launched at Sephora, along with Butter London and Ciate polishes)...and I picked up the Leather Effect ones, I had swatched them in store, and think that I like the 'leathery' effect - they feel a little grainy to the touch.

It is quite interesting, and potentially a love/hate nail trend. I have never really paid attention to the current "textured" nails trend... so I was pleasantly surprised that I like this after swatching them.

A topcoat is not necessarily with these Leather Effect nails. They dry pretty fast like a matte polish, and as they dry, the leather effect starts to form.

I bought my leather nailpolish in two classic shades which I know I would wear often - nude and black. After all, these are the usual leather colors, no?

Swatches:

What do you think of these leather effect nail polish?

They last a good 4-5 days without any topcoat, and retail for S$22 each.

Hope these swatches have been useful, and thanks for reading!

Posted on April 11, 2013 at 9:11AM | Permalink | 1 Comment

Filed in: Review, haul, Swatches, nailpolish, nails inc, leather effect | Tagged with: review, nailpolish, haul, swatches, nails inc, leather effect

April 11, 2013

Three Hakuhodo Brushes

A while back, some of us made an order for Hakuhodo brushes online (thanks to Ruby!) and these are the 3 brushes I ordered, all face brushes - having touched them in person at the BeautyAsia fair, I have a better idea of what kind of brushes I want... ideally I would want the kabuki brushes..but they are retailing at USD120 each..which is a little out of my price range for what I want to pay for brushes at the moment...but for now, here they are:

The bigger brush is G5556, a Goat & Synthetic fibre brush, which is slightly angled, and I would use it for cream and liquid foundations. I have already washed these brushes, so they are looking very FLUFFY....they didn't initially come like in the box though. I haven't actually use these brushes yet...so I can't comment on whether they shed while application.

The smaller one is J528 Highlighter Brush - it looks really cute, made of goat hair. I think this brush is perfect for foundations, cheek highlight, and general blending of the face etc..

Here's a size comparison:

I also got a retractable brush which I can use to powder my face on the go..This is the J601 Slide Face round and flat, it is made of goat hair.

Quite happy with my purchase, and I think I shall start using them tomorrow!

Thanks for looking!

Posted on April 11, 2013 at 8:40AM | Permalink | 0 Comments

Filed in: haul, Hakuhodo brushes | Tagged with: haul, Hakuhodo brushes

April 11, 2013

BeautyAsia 2013 Haul: Four ORLY nailpolishes

Hi hi!

Sometime back, I went to the Beauty Asia Fair 2013 with Sarah... we checked out the annual beauty fair, and I was most looking forward to getting myself some Hakuhodo brushes..but when I realised that they were not for actual retail sale (the brand is looking for local retailers) I was like...what's there to get?

Well, I got some random nail supplies (base coats & seche vite, not that I need them, but it is nice to have endless supply of backups..haha), hair mask, and these Orly polishes. I have vaguely heard of these colors, but never really got into buying them. When I saw how gorgeous the glitter effects are, I just allowed myself to grab a few.

They didn't swatch very well, partly I was a little impatient, and they turned out quite gunky.....but here we go:

Sunglasses at Night - holographic glitter strips... I love how they really catch the light, and just shine very mysteriously in the sheer jelly black base. I think this is best applied over a black base as shown. The base formula is on the thick side, so I was torn trying to get as many of the strips out, and not to lay on too thick a layer...and the same goes for the other two glitter shades...

Can't be Tamed - purple glitter packed with lots of smaller silver and maybe black glitter bits.
Ultraviolet - like the name states... this is chocfull with glitter bits and applies the most easily and evenly among the 3 glitter polishes.

Quick swatches over black:

And lastly, we have Orly Rage - a pale rose gold that's a hot fave among many. The formula is impressive, you can get away with one even coat, but I applied two coats here for maximum impact. It's realy gorgeous.

That's all I have for this entry.

Thanks for looking!

Posted on April 11, 2013 at 8:15AM | Permalink | 0 Comments

Filed in: Nail Polish, haul, Glitter, Swatches, Orly, beautyasia 2013 | Tagged with: nail polish, haul, glitter, swatches, orly, beautyasia 2013

April 07, 2013

Dior Shimmer Powder Amber Diamond

Hi hi!

I had to get my hands on Dior Amber Diamond - and I am glad to get it before the thing gets discontinued! It is so highly talked about, much raved as an amazing face highlighter and even though I already have lots and lots of the other 'famous' highlighters, I still wanted this. And it's also many of my friends' fave highlighters...well, all that just sold me! (and also Mabel's recent review totally pushed me over!)

I think it retails for S$71...and I got it at Tangs Orchard.

The package is very classic Dior, in their dark blue sleek packaging. The powder doesn't come with a brush.

Here's a pic of the powder.... Gorgeous!

A close up. It contains 5 shades of a golden tan.... from the palest off white to a healthy radiant tan shade. When swirled together, they give the cheeks a warm glow.

Here are the 5 shades swatched - the darker stripes has a peachy sheen to it... while the paler shades remind me of NARS Albatross.

The texture is very fine, and the sheen is very subtle... it is not an in your face kind of shine, but the effect is there.

I then used my finger and swirled all the swatches together... and this is what I got. which is a closer match to what it would look like when applied.

I can see myself using this quite often. Because it actually has some color, I can also use it to blend blushes...and also use on the eyes for some all over the eyelids action.

Just one more look - I am so glad I managed to get this!

That's all, and thanks for looking!

Posted on April 07, 2013 at 6:16AM | Permalink | 2 Comments

Filed in: Review, haul, Swatches, bronzer, Dior, blusher, Dior amber diamond | Tagged with: review, dior, haul, bronzer, swatches, blusher, Dior Amber Diamond

April 07, 2013

Urban Decay Flushed Palette [Photos & Swatches]

Hi hi!

The weekly spam is back... it is becoming impossible to update the blog during the week these days, and even during the weekend, I am not home most of the time! I finally got some time yesterday morning to take pictures of some new goodies, and will quickly post the pictures and swatches up first, and I can start using them...and I shall plan some LOTDs revolving these goodies soon, I promise!

First, we have the Urban Decay Flushed palette - I think it retails for S$46 at Sephora stores...and when I swatched it, I knew I wanted it. All 3 shades suit my skintone very well. And I like cheek palettes like this... very easy to use, great for travelling. I like that the bronzer shade is not too dark (which means it only suits light complexions actually) and I can use it all over the outline of my face to add some warmth and shading.

The highlight shade is a pinky tone one that adds the right touch of radiance to my skin. I have used this palette over two days, and I really like the glowy effect it gives.

The blush itself is quite pigmented, a rosy pink shade. It has very very subtle shimmer, but otherwise it looks mostly matte.

All three shades are very smooth, and go onto the face beautifully. I highly recommend!

I just use the same brush to apply all 3 products cos I am lazy and fuss free that way. But if I want a really finished look, I would probably (and should) use a separate smaller brush to apply the highlight shade.

The size of this palette is slightly bigger than the Basics palette, and it doesn't have that rubbery texture of the Basics palette. The palette also comes with a large enough mirror for me to do my makeup up close.

Close ups & swatches:

Have you gotten the Urban Decay Flushed palette yet?

Thanks for looking!

Posted on April 07, 2013 at 6:15AM | Permalink | 0 Comments

Filed in: Review, Urban Decay, haul, Swatches, blusher, flushed palette | Tagged with: review, Urban Decay, haul, swatches, blusher, flushed palette

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Archives

THE BALM: Hot Mama! & Cabana Boy blushes [Photos & Swatches]

YSL Summer Manicure with Vert D'Orient & Jade Imperial

Maybelline Vivids Lipsticks in Vibrant Mandarin & Electric Orange [Photos & Swatches]

Illamasqua Noble, Cameo & Force [Photos & Swatches]

Collection Avant-Première de Chanel: Starlet, Paparazzi, Cinema & Provocation

Nails Inc Leather Effect is LOVE!

Three Hakuhodo Brushes

BeautyAsia 2013 Haul: Four ORLY nailpolishes

Dior Shimmer Powder Amber Diamond

Urban Decay Flushed Palette [Photos & Swatches]

Search

About Me

e-mail

BLOGLOVIN

Follow @makeup_blogette on Instagram

Twitter Me!

Latest Headlines

Tags

2215 followers

Hot Links: Basic Makeup!

Reviews: Foundations

Latest Comments

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FAQ & DISCLAIMER

Archive

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