Storing sample jars and Daiso eyelash curler

I'm feeling a little cranky right now. I think I had a bad week although it's only halfway through. And even when I come online, sprees are not going smooth, :(

Got the impulse to do a huge NYX haul.


Anyway, so here I am. To do some ranting......

I went to Daiso earlier and was pretty excited. Picked up a couple of stuff.

I finally found a way of storing my sample jars (they gave me a big headache). Probably got inspired after reading this blog entry. It looks like this.


But I found the price of the case ridiculously high.

So i picked up this at Daiso. This is for making ice sticks and it's 2 pieces stuck together.



And you know what? They fit the sample jars perfectly. I can get 28 jars in it, and they don't roll about as much. And it's only $2.



So there you go. A cheap storage solution for sample jars. Since there's 2 pieces of it, you can store 56 sample jars. But I don't really like the bottom layer as the pattern's concaved in another direction. But it still works as well. And the jars wouldn't fall out since the sides are higher up. You can stack these up but it would be troublesome to look through.I think the best would be to put these in those small tiered drawers.

But of course, you have to make sure your sample jars don't leak when placing them sideways. Some of mine do so I got a little worried when placing them like that.

Overall, I'm really pleased with it. It's really neat now.


I also picked up Daiso's eyelash curlers. Read it off Cozycot forums that a nameless brand eyelash curler works pretty well. There was no picture of it but only a description. Anyway I ended up picking up only eyelash curler with a spring. It's the silver one on the right.




And when I got home to try it, I agree it works pretty well. At least it works tonnes better than the Manicure curler I bought from Guardians (the gold one on the left). You can curl many times with the Manicure curler and it wouldn't work. I studied the both of them. Amazingly, they look almost the same (except the Manicure curler was more sturdy). I've always thought it was the curvature of the Manicure curler that didn't work for me. It wasn't it. The curvature and the length of both curlers were exactly the same. Rather it was only the leverage thing that was different. I know they look the same but the Manicure's lever was actually more steep and protuding out a little more and no matter how I use it, I can't fit the curler close to all my lashes and get my lashes at the ends curled. Suddenly it makes a lot of sense why it didn't work for me. The Daiso curler's lever was a little shorter so when you press it close to your eyes, the curler fits the lashes perfectly. But that applies to me. If you have higher cheekbones, maybe curlers with steeper leverage might work better for me. Just maybe.

Never knew there's so much knowledge to getting an eyelash curler. o.O
I haven't figured out the difference between spring curlers and non-spring ones yet though.



I also picked up their undereye concealer (in the middle) because it looks so yellow. The shade is "Light Beige". And my verdict is, don't get it. Haha.

It comes out in a shade looking like very very light beige. Almost like the colour pencil colour which we use for colouring humans we drew when we were kids. I tried it on the undereyes and yes, they conceal super well because you get two white streaks under your eyes. It was fun though. Haha. It is super illuminating and I still managed to find some use as a highlighter. But I don't recommend it as undereye concealer, unless perhaps you are super fair.

The pencil on the extreme left is a Rhomlom multi-use pencil which I just bought elsewhere. I think I'll blog about it another day.

New Hauls: NYX Round Lipsticks

So here's my NYX haul from MsCuppyCakes.

I bought 10 NYX round lipsticks at USD$1.25 each and 1 loose pearl eyeshadow at $0.99 each. Shipping was USD$3.50.

So here are the round lipsticks.


Left to right: Summerlove, Circe, Iris, Perfect, Darling, Thalia, Pumpkin Pie, Tea Rose, Vitamin, Indian Pink

I have tried and tried to take photos but my camera is just so bad. Haha. With or without lighting, I think it never captures the pretty colours well enough. If you really want to know which photo shows the colours best, it's the one above.


Left to right: Summerlove, Circe, Iris, Perfect, Darling

These photos don't show the true colours but I think it gives a clearer picture of the undertones.

Summerlove - A frosty pale lilac/plum pink. It's the only lipstick I didn't like because it was too frosty.

Circe - A brown-beige and peachy nude. Almost lip concealer colour for me. But it didn't go on smoothly for me. But works as a lip concealer.

Iris - Gorgeous in the tube. It's a peachy colour with golden shimmers. But on the lips, the golden shimmers are very over the top. Best used for layering. I tried it again and realised when you layer it once, the gold is natural looking. Quite nice if you want to do a sunkissed bronzy look.

Perfect - A mature pink. I don't really know how to describe it but it's like what I've read, something suitable for work. It's just a neutral matte colour. I would say it's a sister of Thalia. Same depth but Perfect's reddish/pinkish while Thalia's plummy.

Darling - It looks like a brown but on closely look, you will see pinks in it. It looks dark but has shimmers in it. It's quite a pretty colour and the shimmers are subtle. Not much colour on me but gives your lips a nice sheen.


Left to right: Thalia, Pumpkin Pie, Tea Rose, Vitamin, Indian Pink

Thalia - Mauvey plummy colour. It's a matte colour. Almost a sister to SummerLove. Same kind of plummy-ness but darker. I like this.

Pumpkin Pie - Light brown toned nude peach with orange/coral iridescents in it. But turns up looking a little orange. I think the iridescents are more obvious than the original colour. I like this too.

Tea Rose - Medium barbie pink colour. Or it's just a medium rose. I don't like true pink lipsticks but this is a colour I like.

Vitamin - Bright neon coral-reddish orange colour. It's sheer. Gives my lips a pop of colour that's not over loud. I like this too.

Indian Pink - Brownish reddish with shimmers. It was the reddest out of the lot. It's quite a bright colour on the lips. Definitely not Indian pink. But I like it anyway.

I've tried very hard to give accurate descriptions. I hope this works for you.

Anyway here's the pearl loose eyeshadow in Nude Pearl. Colour seems true.


It's a very small bottle, like thumb-sized. Heard good reviews for them so it wouldn't hurt to try one. I got Nude Pearl because I heard it's a champagne gold colour, good for highlighting.

And lastly, about MsCuppycakes, I'm quite pleased with the service. I didn't get anything missing. I received my order in about 10 working days after it's shipped. But I did notice my lipsticks look a little wet. There were beads of moisture spotted on a few of them like the lipsticks were "sweating" away. I'm no lipstick guru so I don't know if it means the lippies were old stock that water start oozing out due to the oil. Or it could just be condensation at work. If it means anything, let me know.

But if you are interested to order cheap round lipsticks, I would still recommend them for they are the cheapest at the moment. For colours, youtube has a lot of reviews on them. I went through a few videos and was quite impressed by the swatches done. You can take a look.

Make a list of what you like and it'll be easier for you to narrow it down. For me, it was "No frosty lippies, light to medium shades, no reds, no straight browns, no purples (Thalia was the exception for there were raves), no overly loud colours like fushia pinks". What I hauled was quite close to what I wanted except I was expecting more pinks but totally no idea what happened when I saw half of them looking brown (but they aren't really that dark or that brown). But I'm happy with what I got. :)

I'll play around with them and update again.

John Little Expo Sales (8 - 19 April)

I'm so happy my NYX haul came in. Bought a couple of round lipsticks and they're pretty. I'll do up pictures later.

Meanwhile, John Little Expo Sales is coming again. It starts tomorrow.

Taken off: EXPO site

John Little Expo Sale
08 April 2009 - 19 April 2009

Event type : Retailer & Sales
Venue : Hall 5
Admission : Public - Free Admission
Event Schedules : Time: 10.30am to 10pm

Website : www.johnlittle.com.sg

Tutorial: Pressing mineral powder/pigments

Decided to press some of the mineral powder/ pigments I have. So here's a quick tutorial on how to do it.

1. Get ready the following items:

- a scoop/spatula (this came from Silk Natural foundation kit. It's very tiny)
- your pigments/powder (I'm pressing my Everyday Minerals powder)
- a dropper for dripping alcohol (got this from Daiso. It's inside their cosmetic jar travel kits)
- metal pans (from Coastal Scents. Cheap if you just buy the pans. But it's better if you have a compact for storing them so you can consider their custom compacts too.)
- Isopropyl alcohol ( it makes you high! :D kidding....)
- toothpicks (missing from photo)


2. Sterilize your tools with cotton bud with isopropyl alcohol. Let them dry.

Warning. I use the "flooding" method and I don't try to press them until it's a full pan. I find it fuss-free. But the end product might not always be nice. I'll explain later.

3. Scoop powder into the pan. Then spread it evenly. Try to fill half of the pan.

4. Using the dripper, drip isopropyl alcohol into the pan gently (or else powder will fly up). Keep adding until you think it's enough to "melt" the powder inside.



5. Using the toothpick, stir the powder and the isopropyl alcohol. Keep stirring until the powder can no longer be seen, as if everything has "melted". You have to make sure it's stirred thoroughly or else when it dries and you use it, it will return to powder state.

6. Sit it aside and let it dry.



7. When it is about 80% dry, place a kitchen towel over the pans. As these are eyeshadow pans, place a 20 cent coin over the kitchen towel and press hard. This will force excess moisture out and make the pigments be pressed tight. (I didn't do this part because when I returned, they look super dry)



8. Leave them to dry overnight. If you are afraid of dust, use something to cover over them.

9. Put them in a nice compact. Tada!


Left side: Everyday Minerals concealer in Pick Me up Pink and Peach.
Right Side: Simply Naturals pigment in Sweetheart. Everyday Minerals concealer in Lavender.

I love the end product. But when I swatched it, it didn't turn out well. I'll wait for it to dry thoroughly and use it tomorrow. I've pressed them in pill box before and generally the Everyday Minerals concealers work fine when pressed.

I used the "flooding" method because it's neater that way. But it's a waste of isopropyl alcohol. And sometimes the powder doesn't get mixed up thoroughly. You can compare with the other method which requires you to mix separately in another jar until it's a paste form before spreading it on the pans. It's mentioned in this tutorial.



Pressing pigments (to me) depends on the brand of the pigments too. And sometimes luck.

For Everyday Minerals, isopropyl alcohol alone will do the job.
For M*A*D Minerals, it's not enough. The powder will crumble. You have to mix one drop of glycerin as a binder in the isopropyl alcohol (pour it out for mixing).
For Joppa Minerals, do the same as M*A*D. But it's not fool-proof all the time. Joppa doesn't seem to stay pressed well.

Generally, if you want to start, test with a pigment which you don't really like first. So that if it fails, you wouldn't feel so much of a pain. If you want to fill it to a full pan, try to press twice like in the youtube video. This will help to ensure that the entire pan is dry.

Good luck. :)

New Hauls: Silk Naturals

Received my mini haul today. Very excited.

I caved it because I wanted Precious. It's a dupe for Eve Pearl's Hunny Bunny. :)
Here's it.



Bought:

- Precious lip gloss (Clone of Hunny Bunny. Swatched only this and it was so pretty. Need to try this soon.)
- Sample Jamie Blush (something that I've been wanting to try. The shade is different from other Silk Naturals blushes I've got. They are about to remove it from the site)
- Sample Concealer Sleep In a Jar - Medium (Light Peach was too light for me)
- Sample Heavy Coverage Ivory Foundation Base (I want to mix my own concealer :D)
- Sample Glow Foundation Base (it's their new foundation base which is slightly more glow-y)
- Yellow Color Booster for foundation (It's SUPER yellow. I totally love it. I could totally tweak my foundation to the right amount of yellow now and maybe even do a yellow concealer for the undereyes. I've left posts asking Everyday Minerals to invent these pure colored bases so that it's easier for tweaking foundations but apparently EDM didn't hear me. But Silk Naturals did. Love them. I think I whined a little that when we have sprees for Silk Naturals, shipping gets expensive. And they added that FREE shipping for large orders soon after. :D Love love love how Silk Naturals respond to customers.)

Here's Jamie Blush and Sleep in a Jar - Medium upclose. Yeah I know the amount of samples in the 5g jar is so little. That's the only thing I'm not happy with. But as their ingredients are expensive and they are a small company struggling against other bigger mineral makeup companies, I guess we cannot complain.



Colours are a little off. But I kind of like the look of Jamie. The concealer looks promising too.

And here's the freebies.


Got the Green Goddess mask for making USD$10 of orders . It's a clay mask in powder forum. Not very exciting but I didn't mind trying. Silk Naturals likes to slip a freebie for customers to try. Don't want to complain but I got Tender lip gloss AGAIN. It's a little gross they give lipgloss, cream liners samples in a cotton bud bu oh well, at least it's a freebie.

If you are tempted to make an order too, just thought you would like to know that they give 5% discount off for first-timer orders. Just key in the code "friend" before checking out. :D