a hoarder's blog

This is my haul from MAC's Heavenly Creature collection. I only bought cheek products although I was very tempted by the eyeshadows too. But after calculating how much it would cost if I added them to my bill, I decided not to get them, pretty as they are.

Swatching the products in person made my decision easier as to what to get. I skipped Center of the Universe MSF and Earthshine MSF as they were too dark and bronzey for my skin. As for the mineralize blush, I skipped Solar Ray (very very pretty peach and gold, but too much shimmer for my liking) and Stratus (too dark).

So these are joining my mineralize collection.

Star Wonder MSF (Plumy pink with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments)

Light Year MSF (Peachy pink with gold shimmer)

Ring Of Saturn mineralize blush (Terracotta and gold melange)

Supernova mineralize blush (Magenta and burnished gold)

Swatches:

The MAC Hey, Sailor! collection was launched exclusively at Raffles City MAC last Friday and I went to take a look. They didn't have the highlight powder in Crew, the item I was most interested to see. I was told that it hadn't arrived yet, when in fact, as I learnt yesterday, it is not part of the Asian launch. I swatched the blushers and while one barely showed up on my skin, the other looked like it had some obvious glitter in it (I swear I saw specks of chunky glitter! In retrospective it might be that the blush was contaminated with some other product). I sighed with relief as I decided that I wouldn't be buying anything from this collection except maybe the powerpoint pencil in Handforged.

Fast forward one week later to the islandwide launch of the collection. I wanted to check out Crew (I didn't know yet that it's not part of the Asian release). I only learnt it then when I was at Tangs where the testers were brand new on display. I swatched the blushers again. And you guessed it. I went back home with them. Both.

Both have a satin finish that gives off a subtle sheen. And while I said that Launch Away barely showed up on my skin, I was wrong. I wore it today and it gave me a hint of colour on its own (the colour is very buildable). I then added a bit of Fleet Fast on top for a little pop. 

MAC Tres Cheek is a collection of six powder blushers and the one I bought is called Modern Mandarin (described as a red-orange with a satin finish). It has good pigmentation as compared to some of the others I swatched which didn't show up too well on my skin. I

These days I don't go crazy over blushes as I used to, which is a good thing really.

Some blushes in the same colour family that I found in my stash!

(click for bigger swatch pic)

This mineralize blush in Early Morning is the only item I picked from the MAC Naturally collection. It is described as a peachy pink. On me, I thought it looked more orangey than peachy. I am particularly liking this one because it is matte. It is very smooth, somewhat powdery, but doesn't contain the glitter and frostiness of previously released mineralized blushes. The only other two mineralize blushes that I have in my stash that are also non-glittery are those from MAC Semi-Precious collection: Pressed Amber and Warmth Of Coral. I realize that I did not do a haul post on that collection. That was more than half a year ago. Oops.

Yesterday night was a good night, filled with great company, food and makeup goodies. A big thank you to Sophia, Kim, Amy, Jerlaine and Kas for the presents and the awesome cake, and also to Gwen who came to meet us too.

Dinner was at Everything with Fries (EwF) at Orchard Central. We each had a Har Jeong Kai burger meal with either sour cream and onion fries and garlic fries. The serving is pretty generous for a $9.90 meal and I personally couldn't finish this.

(Most pics below taken with my iPhone3GS)

The birthday cake! The girls had lighted a candle and were waiting to surprise me with this yummy looking chocolate cake on the table while I was away in the washroom. This cake is from Awfully Chocolate which, as it turns out, are the same people behind EwF.

The presents! Urban Decay Mariposa palette and fresh Brown Sugar edp. I am so happy with my gifts. Been lemming for both and now I can strike them off my wishlist.

That was not all. More goodies were exchanged and passed around. Everytime we meet it's like Christmas.

Benefit velvet eyeshadows from Jerlaine's mini spree. I chose a couple of neutral shades in Fawn Over Me and Tickled Mink.

Beauty.com F&F 20% sale spree items from Gwen. I got a large Z-palette after I filled my first one with Inglot eyeshadow pans, and also bought the Cargo Safari collection that Kim recommended to me. It comes with a full-sized blush in Coral Beach, an eyeshadow duo in gold and olive green shades, an eye pencil in khaki, a lip gloss in Serengeti and a mascara. Not bad for USD34 when a blush by itself costs USD28. Comes in a cute little pouch.

My first Cargo blush:

After dinner, we trooped to Lush which had just opened at Wisma Atria. It's just like a candy store. Everything looks so yummy and smells good. I didn't buy anything there and then, but I'm sure I'll be back to check out the store soon.

Last stop for the day was Sephora and I walked out with 2 tokidoki palettes.

So this is my first showcase sort of post, and I will be showing you my stash of Gransenbon blushers. I have a total of 9 Gran blushers, 3 of which were bought at full price (SGD29.90) when they were still being sold at Watsons. The rest are "second-hand" from sg_beauty, which means that I got them for cheaper than retail.

All the pretty colours (click on pic to open in new window):

The colours are very soft and give you a nice natural flush with a few sweeps. Most, if not all, contain fine shimmers, it just depends on how much only. Gold shimmers are most apparent for #7, 8, 9, 12, 13.

The sun was playing hide and seek on that day. Tried my best to get some good shots. Enjoy the swatches!

Swatches L-R: 01 - lady rose, 02 - candy pink, 04 - orange brown

Swatches L-R: 07 - blossom pink, 08 - pretty orange, 09 - apricot ginger

Swatches L-R: 11 - sugar marmalade,  12 - peach rose, 13 - cherry fromage

Victoria's Secret, famous for their underwear, lingerie, swimwear, lotions, creams and mists, also carries a pretty comprehensive beauty line. I bought these from Sophia (the make-up blogette) who got them in the US during the VS semi-annual sale. No better time to try them out I say.

Nice packaging, modern and simple.

This is a baked mineral eyeshadow quad. It is about the size of a MSF, but contains a lot less product. It has a dome shape, which is characteristic of baked mineral products.

The colours are rather pigmented (those are one swipe swatches) but not very unique. I'm liking the colour combi though.

Next up are a blush trio and a bronzer trio. The colours are pretty much muted and look very soft. I actually visualized them as brighter (I don't know why) and not so dull looking, so I was a bit surprised when I saw them in real life.

These are swatches of the individual colours, blush followed by bronzer. They are very sheer, but that means that they're buildable. They have a very slight amount of shimmer, barely noticeable.

The trios when swatched together. I've worn the Afterglow blush and I must say that I quite like it. It lasted the whole day, giving me a nice glow.

These Tarte blushers were very kindly CP-ed by Sophia (the make-up blogette) while she was on holiday in the States in June. In fact, I have tons of other stuff to show you but erm, I have been VERY lazy with blog updates recently. I will slowly get to it.

OK, back to the blushers. Don't they look pretty? They come in 8 shades and cost USD25 each. Here I have Tipsy, which is a coral, and Blissful, which is described as a warm peach. The casing's colour matches the blush colour, making it easier to spot and pick them out from the 683438907 black casings of blushers that some of you might have in your collection. *ahem*

Before getting to the swatches, here is some information taken from Tarte's website which might make you wanna consider adding the Tarte Amazonian blush to your beauty arsenal. (If the font is too small to read, just click on the pic to open in another window)

And here are some swatches:

They look kinda similar here, but Blissful is slightly pinker.

Methinks they make great everyday go-to blushers for a cheery pop of colour on the cheeks.

All the goodies here were bought during sales, 20% or 25% off at different times and I wanted to receive everything before doing a collective haul entry.

So what do we have?

Everything unboxed:

Bronzer in Writhe (golden tan)

"Shape, define, tempt and tease. Illamasqua Bronzer contains crushed pearl powder, for a smooth, even finish that leaves skin begging to be caressed. Apply to face and body for a beautiful bronzed glow that will last until dawn."

This was on sale at 30% off in the Summer Shop. Very very fine powder and super glowy.

Another 3 blushes for my collection!

Thrust - Deep Magenta Pink

Nymph - Warm Candy Pink

Panic - Deep Cherry Red

The first pic is closer to how it looks like in real. The second pic brings out the "cherry" tone of the colour.

Liquid Metal in Enrapture (Molten Bronze), also 30% in the Summer Shop

Swatches:

This is just one swipe of Panic! It's so bloody intense and pigmented.

And a little comparison between Illamasqua Panic and nars Exhibit A, both reddish matte blushes.

They don't look the same at all. Panic has more pink in it and Exhibit A has more orange, even though the latter is officially described as a Brilliant Red.

Swatches:

Again, only one swipe of Panic and like 3 swipes of Exhibit A.

Toxic duo box. Love the illustrations.

Woohoo! My first Illamasqua nail polishes!! Exciting for me cos I've always wanted to try them out but always found them a tad bit expensive (U.P: £13.50 each). I finally decided to take the plunge and go for the Toxic Duo in Radium & Stagnate during a 20% sale and it came down to £16.80 after discount. Force was on sale at 30% in the Summer Shop.

Swatches:

Force - Deep Electric Blue

Looks darker in real, almost a blurple. Couldn't pick up the colour with my camera. This could be a one coater if you like to apply your polish thick. If you apply a second coat, be careful of uneven layers because it has a tendency to settle fast as the formula is quite thick.

Radium - Acidic lime, shimmer finish

Applied a bit streaky, but a second or third coat will cover the streaks and bald spots. I have nothing like this in my collection and I think it will attract a lot of attention if I wear this to work because it is so bright.

Stagnate - Grey Mauve

Lovely application, had no problem at all and once again, could be a one coater if you apply thickly, but two coats will bring out the intensity and depth of the colour.

Hope you liked the swatches! :)

The MAC Surf, Baby! collection was launched last Friday and since I was out and about around the Harbourfront area (more precisely at the Canon Customer Service Centre cos my camera had a glitch), I stopped by MAC@Tangs Vivocity to check it out. This is what I hauled although I wasn't particularly hyped up about this collection when the press images were first released. I guess it's a different matter when you're in the shop, you kinda don't know what you're doing, judgement gets clouded, determination to not buy anything just crumbles, etc. I don't know what it is. Anyway, small haul of just 3 items from this rather big collection.

• Studio Careblend Pressed Powder in Lush-Light Bronze (mid-tone rosy pink brown)
• Nail lacquer in Ocean Dip (mid-tone creamy aqua)
• Cheek Powder in My Paradise (peach pressed powder with gold hibiscus flower overspray)

Pictures taken with the other cameras at home (my Lumix DMC-FX7 and Canon G9) while the Canon S95 is out.