Glamour Flip Top Makeup Box From The Makeup Box Shop

I am sorry to bore all the non-makeup readers. But I am so excited that I did not put up a Stalk my Nom in between. The reason for my excitement is because I have wanted one of these since forever. Did I say forever? Yes.. people think I exaggerate but I don't. I think it has been a lemming for one and a half years. I had been voyeuring this storage box for a long time on the interwebs. Heck I joined a few competitions that were giving away these beautiful "Kardashian makeup storage". I don't even know where I saw these first and lord knows it was not from watching Keeping up with the Kardashians.

Earlier this month, I joined in the Instagram competition hosted by TheMakeupBoxAU and you can see the picture that I had to repost. I try to avoid joining every single Instagram competition that I come across as it might annoy people who get a ton of the same pictures in their timeline. So I only selectively join the ones that I really want to win. This storage box was definitely reposted in my timeline as well so the competition was fierce! The competition ended on the 15th of April. I had my work laptop on as I had to submit something urgently that day. I looked at Instagram and was tagged that I won! I pretty much moon walk in my head and then proceeded to sms some people, post on facebook and Instagram. WOOOOHOOO! The other good news was I also submitted what I had to for work by 9pm, not too bad!. :)

The ladies so kindly sent my makeup box the next day - so happy! When I received it, D came home from childcare and said this is the garage and put his toy cars in it. Mick said this is for Mummy's makeup. D told me that I can put makeup on certain drawers but this one - and he points to one is his garage shed for his cars. I said ok... knowing that I could not fill the box fully anyway. I left him an empty drawer.

So here are before pictures. I am quite ashamed of my before .. so please do not judge and think lord Lingy what on earth, are you living with dust covered expensive makeup!?

Drawerful of odds and ends plus nail polish

Super old Dior GWP storage case Main Makeup Storage

Random bits I found gathering dust!

Also now known as Dior case of Storage Shame

Now that I am hanging my head in shame, this is the after that I completed packing yesterday! I started in the morning while getting ready for work. And quite honestly being able to see what I have made me dabble in some makeup and put on some yesterday. Here is the bottom drawer which can accomodate the widest items. I can report that Hello Darling cannot be standing in this drawer but you can put two layers on. Note to all the nail polish manufacturers, square bottles store best! Kthx!!

Bottom Drawer Nail Polish Goodies

Top to Bottom: Foundation & Brush, Lipsticks, Cheeks, Eyes, D's Car Garage Shed, Nails

So the top flip top are all face products including my Real Techniques eye brush set. I also put odds and ends like my nail clippers and tweezers. Second drawer was lipsticks.. basically I have 1 or 2 in my handbag and this is the rest. Yeah.. that's it one layer of lip products so this drawer is half filled - actually I have not included my newly purchased lip butters. Next drawer is even more empty, there is one Shu Umuera cream, one YoungBlood unused and a Nars. Bad effort there Lingy... get shopping. Eyes drawer is full at the moment so I do not need any help there. Next drawer is D's garage shed so that one is a no-go zone for me. :) The last drawer is full except I could fit a second layer of Hello Darling polishes but where's the fun? It's nice to see all the colours at one go!

The Glamour Flip Top Makeup Storage box can be purchased from The Makeup Box Shop. Thank you so much for picking me as the very very lucky winner. I am really so grateful. And honestly I am going to jump up now and do a moon walk to pick my nail polish colour! 

The Body Shop Moisture White Shiso BB Cream

The Body Shop Moisture White BB Serum 

I have to confess that this is the first and only BB cream that I have tried. So I pretty much have no basis of comparison. I know BB creams have been the rage for ages - where have I been? BB, CC, DD ... the only double alphabet I am very well acquainted with is AA. My bra cup size. True story. So when I was sent the Body Shop BB Cream in the post as a care package, I jumped for joy. Woohoo!!

I have been using this a lot since I received this. You can even see this in the first picture as the cap has marks on it, serves me right for not taking pictures prior to using. The comments from my friends include, you put on makeup today, it just makes you look like you have good skin, colour suits you quite well. So people have been noticing that I have used something different. Happy dance! The thing about BB cream is that it is so easy to use, I layer it on top of the serum and blend very easily and quickly. I usually pat on some face powder at mid day but overall I did not find it too oily as this is one complaint that I have heard from other BB cream users. 

Coverage of this BB cream is light to medium, I do see that it evens out my skin tone and hides any redness. But remember my weird forehead scar? You could still see a faint scar but it did not bother me. My skin felt brighter and it is light and was easy to blend by just using fingers. I had used it as if I was applying moisturiser and did not need much each time. The pump works really well and I was able to control very well the amount that I pumped each time.

The downside to this is there is only one shade. I am lucky that it works for me but if you were darker toned than me, I would swatch this in a store first. I also think that in terms of other BB cream in the market it is comparatively expensive at AUD $48.95 for 30ml. I do believe in paying more for a good product than buying a lot of cheap things that do not work. But if you are heading to Asia I can tell you that this is much cheaper in Singapore. It retails for SGD $38 so stock up while you are over there. 

Price: $48.95 for 30ml I do consider this on the pricey side - but then everyone knows I am a spendthrift on skincare and makeup but tell me what you think.

Purpose: I found it worked very well for me in terms of the colour shade and coverage. It is just easy to use and blended with just my fingers. It took no time at all and people did notice that I was wearing something. They also commented that it looks like I was wearing makeup or I had good skin. WOOHOO! I hope you can see the picture on the right after I had blended in the BB cream, the blue-ish veins were evened out and made it look smoother.

Stalk my Holiday: High End Shopping

This holiday sounds epic right? It's like a perpetual stalk fest. I have not even talked about the tourist activities or food yet!

What does one do when on holiday in Singapore? We go to shops. And more shops. Hell yeah there's a tunnel linking two buildings, Singapore will put shops in there.

We went to Marina Bay Sands one day because Mick had never been. I wanted to show him the faux Venice, ours is like a poor man's version and it's hilarious. Marina Bay Sands had a special event on during Earth Hour. Typical of Asia, let's have a light and water show to talk about Earth Hour!! You only go to Marina Bay Sands if you want one thing - repeat after me - high end luxury boutiques. Oh yeah now we are talking.

The conversation went like this. Mick: Let's go to LV. Me: No it's ok. We walk past LV again at another level. Me: Let's go to LV. Mick: I TOLD YOU TO GO EARLIER! I am glad we entered through the bottom basement level because check this out!

LV Maison Island Singapore

Is it Louis Vuitton boutique or is it an art gallery? Oh right, let's just put art in here. Oh wait multi levels Louis Vuitton? Get out.. let's just put a lot of amazing lights here.

ZOMG like ZOMG

I had my eye on a pair of LV flat shoes for ages... It had embossed LV monogram and was not offensive in terms of price tag or the monogram design. When on holiday right? BUY BUY BUY. Anyway, Mick said he would buy this for me. But meanwhile I spy a gorgeous pair of heels. It was just crying out to be tried.. hey it's size 37. That's my size!! I have to say that I have never received better customer service from a LV store and I have to give props to Stefanie who whispered the price of the Sofia Coppola bag that I was eyeing. Spared me the embarrassment of WTFFFF out loud!

So like I own them flats!

I had a very good time even waiting for confirmation on whether LV Ion would hold onto this shoe for me. I had to go a size down to 36 as per adviced - which of course I didn't listen at first. We were offered drinks at LV. GET OUT! I usually get a slanty eye glance at Chanel Melbourne at best followed by we don't have you size while they stare blankly at me. We were sipping hot green tea while they wait to receive confirmation about stock at Ion.

So here is Orchard Ion ... in full glory... I actually really really like this place. Because there is a variety of FOOD, high end and low end shops. It has everything.. and is linked to everywhere else. Like what else do you want people! You never have to leave this building ever. And a bit of history about Ion. There was nothing there. It was a train station facade and nothing else but empty land and grass. 

Orchard Ion

Opposite Orchard Ion is a historical icon called Tangs. Seriously get yourself to Tangs Beauty Hall, it is amazing. Check what is at the front door.

Hello beautiful Tom Ford Beauty Counters

There isn't just one Tom Ford Counter... there are MANY. On the left side of the above picture are the Tom Ford couture perfumes. And the makeup items are on the right. I went with a list of things to buy for someone.. perfume, lipstick.. It felt very fun going up and saying I want this and that but I am not buying today. I am coming back this week, put it aside for me please.

I went back another day with Pickles who wanted to come with me and Mum. Pickles thought he was in heaven being with the girls and trying out makeup. He told Mick later when he went home that we drew on the back of his hand. Everyone was swooning over him as you can expect. 

Mum and Pickles being pretty

And these are the Tom Ford items that I bought.. althought the Violet Fatale lipstick was not for me. I also bought a Tom Ford Noir de Noir perfume that my work BFF had on her list which is SGD$320 for 50ml. Talk about luxury and opulent.

Naked Coral and Violet Fatale

Oh haiii pretttyyy

Let me know if you are already sick of the holiday pictures! Because I have a lot more.

New Weekday Makeup Stuffs

I am not sure if you guys know, but my weekday makeup routine used to be - NIL.
Yeap that's right, bare face. Insert look of horror here. Some positive influenced by the lovely beauty bloggers and my skincare/makeup BFF at work. I am now putting in some effort. Some.. not a lot. But hey, when compared to bareface. Anything is improvement right? Although I have to say that it never bothered me to be makeup free in public. If you are a beauty blogger - insert horrified look emoticon here.

I caved and bought the Shu Uemura Glow Fit compact powder... did I tell you that it is SPF26 as well? Perfect as I am lazy and I sometimes skip sunscreen for my face. Queue the horrifying look of my Mum here. Mum is the ultimate in sun-fearing Chinese lady. She will stick an umbrella in your face and will change seats on a bus in Singapore 200 times on a trip if required to avoid the sun.

I have to admit that I caved before finishing the little sample pack because Strawberrynet gave me an additional 5% off "welcome back" discount. I later found out that I wasn't special, as most people also had that offer and a higher discount. Insert sigh here. Honestly I felt bad for buying online as the ladies there have always been nice to me. But it was half the price from Strawberrynet! The compact box is included with the powder whereas it is sold separately here.

I have to say that I had not bought a MAC lipstick ever in my life. I am not sure why or what happened. But I seemed to have the wrong memory or something stuck in my head. I have always associated MAC with being dry and matte. This is another throwback to the late 1990s back when MAC only just landed in Singapore. Yes I was the hip teenager with money alright - don't judge. It was the original Viva Glam that I had in mind, that red one! I think my friend had this as I do not remember ever buying it. This is where the story blurs.. as to why I had a misconception of MAC lipsticks. Anyway, fast forward to seeing Girl About Town in real life. I was like yeah yeah yeah buy buy buy. I bought it from eBay and gosh was it glam or was it glam. Creamy in texture, long lasting and beautiful vanilla scent. Hooked at first swipe.  

My skincare BFF then bought something from the Sheen Sumpreme range, I believe it was New Temptation.. followed by someone else in the office who bought Insanely It. I had a package in the US waiting to be shipped and I jumped on MAC US site to have a look. Yeah Full Speed looks ok from swatches online. Oh did I mention it was $16 on the US site and includes free shipping within the US? There was no additional costs either to consolidate and ship my two packages to Australia. There you go.. parcel forwarding 101 - don't spend often but spend big when you do and consolidate. Most companies offer free shipping within the US so make use of those! :)