Archives for July 2013

Organic Makeup that conceals and claims to be good for your skin from Nvey Eco and RMS Beauty

July 24, 2013 Paris B 18 Comments

There aren’t many organic makeup brands around are there? Maybe there are, but I’m just not aware mainly because I’m not that specialized in the natural, organic field. But recently, I was introduced to a foundation by Nvey Eco and I also bought a highly raved concealer from RMS Beauty to see what the hype was about.

Since I have 2 concealers from 2 organic makeup brands, I thought it would be useful to have them both in one post so those of you who are interested in trying organic makeup will know of your options.

It has taken me a while to figure out if I like these or if they measure up to other non-organic makeup brands. The thing is, I recently found a firm favourite, and you might even call it Holy Grail concealer in the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer so when I discovered that, everything else paled in comparison.

It was against this background that I put the Nvey Eco Erase Concealer and RMS Beauty Un Cover-up to the test and had to adjust my thinking accordingly.

Both these organic concealers come in a “paste” form i.e. they are compressed cream products that took me a while to figure out how to use. After a lot of experimenting, my final conclusion is that both these products work best using your fingers. In fact, you will HATE it if you don’t use your fingers and try to use a brush. How do I know? Because I did. A month ago, that would have been my review. Hate this, don’t buy it. But if you ask me now, I actually quite like these with a few caveats.

Your Say: What skincare are you using day and night? Here is mine!

July 23, 2013 Paris B 104 Comments

Last year, I shared some of the skincare I was using on a daily basis and 2 years ago, I shared my day and night skincare routine. I thoroughly enjoyed how everyone chipped in to share all of your day and night routines too! I thought it would be interesting to revisit it annually and see how far or not we have come and whether my and your routine have been working for you.

Towards the end of 2012, and in early 2013 my skin went crazy. I had a lot of problems with breakouts and for some reason, everything went out of control. I didn’t even change my skincare which really puzzled me. What I did then was to pare back my skincare to the bare minimum – cleanse, tone and moisturise. Slowly, I got things under control and then, I started getting back into a routine.

It might interest you to know that for the most part, I have been using this range of skincare day and night for at least 6 months now in various combinations and I’ve had the best skin that I’ve ever had in all my years *touchwood*! Granted, it’s not flawless nor perfect, but it’s the best I’ve ever had, I can walk out without makeup if I wanted to (imperfections and all) and that makes me very happy.

So here is my present skincare routine and some quick notes on what I might change or switch out as I go along. I can’t say I’ll be using this same routine in another 6 months, but who knows eh? Do share your routine too! Has it changed from a year ago? Is your skin doing better now than it was 6 or 12 months ago?

It’ll be interesting to see if the budget-friendly base makeup in Covo Cosmetics gives you luxe for less

July 22, 2013 Paris B 16 Comments

New brands in the cosmetics market always pique the interest, especially if they come in with a wallet-friendly pricetag. Ditto a brand that is homegrown. My only concern with homegrown brands is their longevity. Its hard to compete with the big players out there!

Not too long ago, I was introduced to local brand Covo Cosmetics and I told you about their affordable 3-Free nail polish. Expanding my horizons a little further, I’ll be exploring some of their other offerings starting with what they say are their bestsellers – the HD Picturesque Liquid Foundation, HD Picturesque Loose Powder and HD Picturesque Primer. The latter doesn’t interest me, as I don’t use primer at all so I’m afraid you’ll have to figure that one out for yourself.

Well how about that – an affordable HD quality base!

I will tell you that scepticism aside, one of the 2 items did made me pause and go “Hmm… this isn’t too bad!” The other, had me go “OMG! This looks just like something I own from YSL!”

Shade selection is a little limited but they do serve most local Asian skintones quite well – not too light and most certainly not too pink. Importantly, how well do they perform?

Well, let’s say that they do perform well enough. Both products.

The fruity, floral Dior Addict Eau Delice is lovely in Summer but it wears well when it’s cool too

July 21, 2013 Paris B 10 Comments

I don’t have a lot of experiences with Dior fragrances but from the ones I am familiar with, they have a very floral touch to the scent. My favourites Miss Dior Cherie and J’Adore EDT are clearly floral scents. So when I first heard that the new Dior Addict Eau Delice had a berry slant, I paused for a bit.

My experiences with berry scented fragrances aren’t very positive. Both Lancome Tresor Midnight Rose and Lanvin Jeanne Couture have a strong berry scent to my nose and they don’t sit well on my skin. With Eau Delice, I have to say that it was a scent I had to warm up to. I didn’t love it at first scent but like Diptyque Volutes, it’s one I have to let “breathe” a little before I open up to it.

Dior Addict Eau Delice is a new scent in the Dior Addict series. The previous versions are Eau Fraiche and Eau Sensuelle but truth to tell, Dior Addict scents aren’t high on my love list. Eau Delice comes in a coral-orange tinted bottle, bearing the same packaging as the rest in the collection, and does have a summery feel to it.

I attribute it to 2 things – the scent and the colour of the bottle. It gives off that lovely fun vibe. Coral-orange is such a fun colour, its hard to not think of summer and warm weather when you look at it 🙂