Tweet My Favourite Products of 2010

Hi everyone :)

Before i start reviewing and swatching all my new goodies :), i thought i should do a little post to wrap up my 2010! I know this is a bit late, but better late than never! :D so, here are my all time favourite products of 2010 :) I use most of these products on a daily basis, some i have even repurchased once or several times!


note: Since there are a TON of products i want to mention, i will try not to go into full details about each product unless it is one i have never reviewed on this blog. Otherwise, i will put links under the products i have previously reviewed that will direct you to the review post :)

Favourite Face/Skincare Products of 2010

1. Revlon Photoready Foundation in Nude
Im almost done my first bottle and i do plan on repurchasing once im done :) i know it does has some shimmer which some people might not like, but i dont think its too noticeable once applied. What i love about it is that is gives pretty good coverage, helps evens out my skintone and is very nice for photos :) i also LOVE the pump! its probably the best pump i've ever used as it allows you to pump out as much or little as you need <3

2. Maybelline Mineral Power Concealer
-review here-

3. Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder - translucent
Im already finishing my second compact, so you can really tell how much i love this lol i apply this daily with my ELF kabuki brush to set my foundation. What i love about it is that its easy to use (in pressed form so its not messy), does a great job of setting my makeup so i dont look shiny, keeps my oily tzone matte for the whole day, annnd its cheap to buy! I also use this with a small fluffy brush to set my concealer and it helps alot! :)

4. Clarisonic Classic in Pink
-review here-

5. Neutrogena Oil-Free Fresh Moisture
This is my all time favourite moisturizer!! I know im weird, but i dont like using creams or lotions on my face because it feels too heavy and oily for my already oily skin. so i tend to stick to only using gel moisturizers and this one is my HG. although its got a gel like consistency, it feels as moisturizing as any other cream lotions but absorbs much faster and leaves behind nice silky soft skin :)

i have repurchased this moisturizer so many times i have lost count and im almost done the tube i have now! so its about time i go repurchase another :) unfortunately, the last few times i went searching for this, i couldnt find it! i am SOO worried that its getting discontinued so next time i find one, im stocking up like no tomorrow!!

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Favourite Eye Products of 2010

1. Urban Decay Naked Palette
- review here -

 2. Wet n' Wild Coloricon Palettes
- review here -

3. Stila Smudgepot in Bronze
I dont normally venture outside drugstore products too often, but i am SO glad i did for this one! I love love love this product and have used up quite a big chunk of it lol (pretty much used it everyday since i got it!) i chose the shade bronze because black seems too heavy for day-to-day wear, but aside from color, the formula itself is amazing! super soft and creamy, but once its on, it stays on! i love it and will most definitely repurchase once im done!

4. Covergirl Lashblast Volume - waterproof
This has been my favourite mascara ever since i first started using it. Although it doesnt volumize as much as id like, it definitely lengths and darkens my lashes nicely. The best part about this, is that it holds my straight asian lashes in a curl for the whole freaking day! *yay* my lashes are so stubbornly straight that not alot of mascara can hold them up, but this one does and since its cheap & readily available, im not switching mascaras for awhile!

mascara runner-up : Loreal Voluminous in Black Brown
Sometimes when i want more volume in my lashes, i use this mascara first and then a layer of covergirl after. I really like this mascara as well because it really helps add volume and thickness to my lashes. I chose the shade in black brown so i could wear this on its own for lazymakeup days :) but overall, if covergirl never came out with their lashblast, this would be my mascara!

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Favourite Lip Products of 2010

1. Nivea Essential or A Kiss of Moisture
- review here -


2. Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine
Along with my nivea tubes, i also LOVE this stufff! It smells heavenly (like butterscotch *yumm*) and gives my lips just the perfect amount of moisture. I tend to use this in the morning after i wash and moisturize my face. then after im done applying makeup, my lips will be all ready and prepped up for any lipstick/gloss i plan on putting on for that day :) the only thing i dont like about this is the application method as it comes in a small jar.. so its not as sanitary as others. still, i love both the packaging and the product inside!

3. Maybelline Moisture Extreme in Nude Blush
- review here -


4. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipglosses - all shades
These lipglosses are the best lipglosses ever! Although i do have to say the pigmentation could be slightly better, and the color choices could be slightly wider, i absolutely love the formula! it is soo smooth and 100% not sticky! I know alot of people dont mind the stickness, but i for one cant stand it! So these lipglosses are perfect for me and currently, my favourite shade is Life's a Peach :)

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Favourite Blushes of 2010

1. Annabelle - Rapture
2. ELF - Candid Coral (swatch)
3. MAC MSF in Stereo Rose & Petticoat (swatch)

4. Hard Candy - Living Doll & Honeymoon (swatch living doll, swatch honeymoon, both applied)

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Favourite Nail Polishes of 2010

sparkling diamonds - LA colors

1. Sally Hansen - Silver Slightblade
2. Nailene french manicure - Petal Pusher
3. LA Colors - Mega Watt
4. Rimmel - Steel Grey (Swatch)
5. Revlon - Minted (swatch)
6. Nicole by OPI - Black to the future (swatch)
7. Sally Hansen - Gray by Gray (swatch)
8. LA Colors - Sparkling Diamonds (Swatch)

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Favourite Brushes of 2010

1. ELF Studio Powder Brush (review)
2. ELF Studio Kabuki Face Brush
3. ELF Studio Small Angled Brush
4. Ecotools Bronzer Brush (review)
5. Ecotools Crease Brush
6. Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush (review)
7. Sigma E30 Pencil Brush (review)
8. Sigma E40 Tapered Blending Brush (review)

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Favourite Skin Boosters & Serums of 2010

1. The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost
Great as a primer and a skin boost! This not only smells sooo good! (think oranges!) but also has a silky texture that is great for prepping your skin for makeup :) Plus, its supposed to make your skin less dull and i think its done a great job!


2. Loreal Lash Serum

i lovee this stuff! you apply it day and night on your lashes and its supposed to make them thicker, longer and healthier! although i dont have crazy results, i do notice that my lashes are alot healthier now in that less fall off during makeup removal. Plus, i do notice slight thickening and lengthing and i am soo excited :D <3

3. My Beauty Diary Masks - Natto & Aloe Vera
- review here - 

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and i think that about sums it up :) theres probably  a ton of other products i wish i could mention and it took me a long while to narrow it down to the list i have above lol. but overall, im happy with the ones i chose :) Starting with next post, there will be a TON of new swatches and reviews :) i hope you're all as excited as i am! take care!

Tweet Time Flies When You're with the Clarisonic ♥

and no, im not joking! Read on to find out why! ♥

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the first time i used my clarisonic, time went by sooo fast! normally you spend 20 secs on forehead, 20 on nose & chin and then 10 secs for each side of the cheek. and literally, after the first 20 secs, i wasnt even done my whole forehead (and no, my forehead isnt that big!!!) haha, so im not sure what went wrong there.. i think its cause im so used to taking my time rubbing in my cleanser, making it foam etc so that it actually feels like its cleaning.. but with the clarisonic, all you have to do is gently (with a little bit of pressure) move it in circles across your forehead. so after i failed the first minute with my clarisonic, i decided to give it another test run... and it worked much better :)

so here's what i learned...

 

 If you want to just skip right to the review and my thoughts on the Clarisonic...

just keep scrolling down! :D

Pinkbox Makeup's clarisonic guide for the "first timers" :)

1. charge clarisonic for 24 hours (yes we hate it, but you gotta do it!)

2. remove as much makeup as you can (especially eye makeup) with makeup remover

3. wet both your face and the brush slightly

4. apply a dot of cleanser on brush, as well as on your cheeks, nose and chin (i do this because the first area i cleanse with the clarisonic is my forehead.. after 20 seconds, i feel like the cleanser is used up. but there isnt enough time to apply more onto the brush so i just put it right on my face)

5. push the button, hear it beep and put it to your forehead :)

6. move the brush in small circular motions.. you dont need to push too hard, nor do you need to circle an area too much. key point is, keep the brush moving! cover your whole forehead quickly and then keep repeating left to right (or right to left) until the next beep

7. move onto your nose & chin, make sure you get the nose real good if you have blackheads! (i focus more on the sides of my nose as thats where my pores are bigger)

8. next two beeps are for your cheeks, same method, keep the brush moving!

9. when the clarisonic stops, you're done! hopefully you covered your whole face on your first try! if not, dont worry.. you can push the button again and finish up. just dont use it for too long on your face or else you're going to end up over-exfoiliating and dry out your skin.

10. rinse your face and feel how smooooth it is!

11. pat your face dry with a clean towel and apply moisturizer. PAT, dont rub!

12. rinse brushhead with water. (because i use foundation almost everyday, i like to add a drop of my The body shop tea tree oil cleanser or my Burts bees anti blemish cleanser to help get rid of any makeup remaining on the bristles. these cleansers also have antibiotic properties that help keep my brush clean :D)

 dirty brush :(

main thing to note, is to keep the brush moving. you dont want to over-exfoiliate one area. i learned this the hard way from over-exfoiliating my nose area because i wanted to get rid of all the blackheads. now its going through a dry patch :(

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Now that we cleared up how to use it, heres my initial impression

1. This felt really good on my face, like a little massage :D

2. other brushes ive used are definitely not comparable.. i think i must have sensitive skin because all the other brushes i've tried have hurt my face! no matter how soft i push those brushes, it feels like im scratching my face :( however.. the clarisonic is completely different and i was surprised! i think its because the bristles move back and forth so fast (over 300x per second!!) that you just dont feel anything but a nice vibration :)

3. I used their "gentle hydro cleanser" and there was no foaming whatsoever (.. i like my cleansers to foam). as a result, it didnt "feel" like it was cleaning as much as i wanted it to

4. The real difference comes when you rinse your face.. once i splashed some water on my face, i immediately felt my skin was super smooth.. almost as if i had exfoiliated super hard with my st. ives scrubs (which i found out was horrible for your skin because you are just scratching it!) anyways, i couldnt stop feeling it and i mustve rinsed my face like 20 times hahaha!

5. Face was a little pink after but nowhere near my super red face after using an exfoiliator.

6. i feel that my moisturizer got absorbed faster than usual

7. My acne and acne scars are still here, although i didnt expect them to be gone after one use haha

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and the next morning....

Pretty much the same, had a great little massage on my face and my skin felt super smooth afterwards. I then applied moisturizer and primer as per usual.

Here's the part that i love the most! i used one 'half' pump (meaning i didnt push the pump all the way down) of my revlon photoready foundation and applied it onto my face as usual with my ELF flat top kabuki brush. normally, it takes another 'half' pump to fully cover my face but this time around, i didnt have to use that extra pump! i was so surprised at how smoothly my foundation went on.. it even covered up my blemishes quite nicely so i only had to use concealer on the big trouble spots!

note: prior to using the clarisonic, my blemishes really red and hard to cover. in addition, my acne scars were very dry and even after covering them, you could still see them due to the dryness and flakyness... gross? i know :(

however, after using the clarisonic twice, my acne scars were no longer dry and flaky! of course, they were still there, but they were 100x more easier to cover which i loveeeed :D although you could still see all my spots and scars, my skin felt a lot smoother to touch and that, is why i loveeee my clarisonic so much right now :D

picture time!

the left column is with no makeup applied (eek!) and the right side is with one 'half' pump of revlon photoready foundation.

 and the tools i used to do this daily

my ELF powder brush & my revlon photoready in nude

see how dense it is? and its super super super soft as well!

this is in comparison with my Quo duo fibre stippling brush.

i used to use the Quo brush daily to apply foundation, but now i find that the denser ELF brush does a better job of giving me a smoother finish.. it definitely provides better coverage!

note: as you might know, my bf got me sigma makeup brushes for an early xmas present! in the package, i got the F80 flat top kabuki brush *yay* which is supposed to be amazing for applying foundation! i will be comparing that with the ELF powder brush after my finals are over :) i cant wait!!

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impression as of today

i love it! every usage feels like a mini spa :D however, i would say that this is no miracle worker. My acne and scaring are still here (although slightly reduced), but my face is definitely much smoother and softer. i find that blemishes are much easier to cover up now that they are not dry and flaky. Also, the large pores on the sides of my nose seem to have gotten smaller and i feel that my skintone has also improved. Previously, the lower parts of my cheeks suffer from redness, but i find that it is more pink than red now :) So yes, im very happy with the results! even if they arent 'life turning, acne disappearing' magic, i can happily say that my skin has improved :)

on another note, im almost done my gently hydro cleanser and im going to be testing out Philosophy's purity cleanser! *yay* heard great things about this and hope it'll help reduce my blemishes :)

Conclusion

overall, i would say that if you have the extra money to spend (or someone to hint it to for christmas :P) and want to step up your cleansing routine to the next level, then the clarisonic will become your best friend and help you get smoother, softer skin.

On the other hand, i wouldnt really say this is a miracle worker in that blemishes and acne do not 'magically disappear' (they usually never do anyways haha). so if you're tight on money, or dont have very many blemishes to start off with anyways, i would recommend that you pass on this for now and possibly step up your cleaning routine by maybe adding in a toner, a soft exfoiliator once a week and some deep cleansing masks to really clean deep into those pores!

and for those who just like to skim through:

if you have the extra $$, suffer from uneven skintone, dry patches, acne, blemishes & scarring (thats hard to cover up!) - i would recommend you give this a try! the resulting smoother & more even skin allows for you to easily cover up any smaller blemishes.


however, if you're tight on money, have pretty good skin anyways (apart from small blemishes), then i think that this wont give "as" much of a difference. yes, you'll get cleaner and smoother skin, but you could achieve that using other methods as well :)

Tweet Got a date with my Clarisonic ♥

Hi! Hope everyone's black Friday went well! (and i hope you all didnt spend TOO much money lol) anyways, if you follow me on twitter, you probably heard my excited tweeds about a huge package I received a day or two ago! Inside of course was my new baby pink clarisonic!! I really have to admire clarisonic for their super fast shipping, I think I placed my order not even a week ago, add in the snowy and icy roads and all, im surprised it came so fast!

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Here's my new pink clarisonic classic ♥  :) so preeeety!

yay :)

and i got it engraved for free too :)

Now, the weirdest thing about all this, was that my mom had called me telling me that the ups guy had left this package under our doormat!! Not considering the fact that this package cost me quite a bit of money, but have you seen the size of this box?

Here it is next to a water bottle, this thing is huge! And if I were to walk by my house, I think it'd be pretty obvious theres something under our doormat! I just wish I was home to actually see it because I still don't believe that happened!




Anyways... I'm sure you all know what happens next.......


I unwrap my box, scream in delight to see my new baby toy in PINK, take out everything else (including my bf's grey clarisonic which by the way, looks super cool lol) as always, pictures tell a thousand words.. so heres a couple thousand :)

unwrapping of boxes! its been a long year, i need an early christmas!

bfs & mine  ♥

closer up pic, all wrapped up :)

note, the grey  clarisonic comes with a normal brushhead (grey), the pink comes with a sensitive brushhead (white)

kit included:

clarisonic classic, cradle, lid for brush, 3 cleansers

eww.. haha i wonder if my makeup's that trapped :(

3 sample cleansers

refreshing gel, gentle hydro, nourishing care

and a free gift for purchasing on their website!

a full sized gently hydro cleanser plus a sensitive brush head (blue) and a normal one (grey)

and then, i take a quick peek at the manual and bam! What do I see?

"Prior to the first use,

charge the Clarisonic handle for 24 hours."

Now I know, I dd my research prior to buying this set and I knew there would be this dreaded 24 hr charge before I could start using it.. But a part of me kept pushing that off to the side in hopes that it wasnt true lol that maybe I could charge it for a few hours first, use it for ONE minute, then let it charge all it wants until the next morn lol. Unfortunately, that's not how it works! So to be good, I let it charge on my desk, and trust me, its hard not to look at it with it's green lights flashing :(

charging... the green lights are actually flashing lol

btw.. i got the skin care duo (grey & pink) which saved me $50! PLUS i got the free full sized cleanser & 2 extra brushheads ($30 value) PLUS clarisonic had a "LGFB" (look good feel better) sale which gave me 15% off on top of that! so no,
im not "baller"! :)

Well, one whole day later, I think it's finally ready! The green lights have stopped flashing and in ready to test it out! Bad news is, I'll have to save my initial review for a couple days later because I'll be busy at school tmr :( I know, school on sat? University sucks! Lol but to keep you motivated, here, keep looking at pictures :) isn't it preeeety? Hahaha

  Oh and here's my naked palette!  ♥

This is as far as I got to playing with it, just overall product pictures :( gotta save swatching and using for another day :( boooooooooooo

Okay! Time for a date with my clarisonic, hope things turn out well! ;) wish us luck!  ♥

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btw... dont forget to enter my giveaway for a karmin g3 flat iron worth $130! being a follower counts as 1 entry ! just fill out the form and you'll be entered :D

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