REVIEW: Eyeliners from Cherry Culture

So this will be a review about 3 of the 4 eyeliners i purchased from my previous haul from Cherry Culture. As you can see there is the two Amuse liners (at a bargain clearance $0.45) and the Jordana Quickliner (at also a bargain of $1.34). The fourth eyeliner that i have not reviewed is the LA Colours Auto liner ($2.25) because it was very well wrapped/sealed and i dont like to open products for no reason...i have plenty of already open/unfinished liners sitting around!

So these are the three I'll be showing you guys today...I made a mistake, the Jordana Quickliner Eyes is actualy in 'Cocoa' and NOT brown :P But you can see that the Amuse pencil liners are longer than the wind up crayon style of the Jordana one. I must admit I was really hoping that the Amuse liners would turn out well...although they were only $0.45, but if they didnt, well hey, thats what you paid for :P

I started out with the Amuse Black liner....and MY GOSH...IT WAS HORRIFIC! As you can see in the above picture, I tried to draw swatches on my hand with force, and it was just hard, and waxy, there was no "glide" in the application whatsoever, and worst of all, i could HARDLY SEE IT; pure dissapointment. 

BUT! It was not until i got to the second one, the Amuse Brown liner that i sighed in relief, this was much better, in pigment, and application. It was so much softer/less waxy!! it glided ALOT more than its black counterpart, and deposited alot more pigment. I guess it depends on the colour you buy :S odd.

The jordana quickliner eyes in "COCOA" (sorry for the mistake in the pic). This turned out to have the best formula out of the three, it was gorgeously smooth and glided over my skin with such ease...as you can see in the picture its alot shinier, or oiler (hence that gliding feeling) compared to the Amuse Brown liner which is abit drier and chunkier.  The only thing i would criticize about this one is the colour, its abit too much of a warm red/orange brown for me, I personally much rather prefer the dark brown presented by the Amuse Brown Liner.

This colour used wrongly may risk making me look bloodshot in the eyes (too much red) but if its used right, it can still help create a hot smouldering eye look!

a preview of me with Jordana Quickliner Cocoa - with no mascara

Stuffyouu cherryculture :(

Why....is it...that after i have ordered some stuff...cherry culture goes on to have a freakin secret 25% off NYX sale....WHYYYYYYY

im never buying anything thats not over 20% sale AGAIN :( HMPH

international shipping is bad enough, it pretty much eradicates the discount anyways.

P.S uni is killing me. save me?

Maybelline Eye Studio : Irresistible Ivy

The name just caught my "eye" :P

Suits me dontcha think?

Just found it while browsing, its only in America so i doubt I'd be thinking of pulling an arm to get it any time soon! Just thought the name was coincidental :D

CherryCulture Ships in Sweet Time ;)

its literally only been 4 or 5 days since i placed my order on CherryCulture.com and it arrived this morning!!! from america to australia that fast? buying stuff from there usually takes about 2 weeks or more! amazed...

reviews will be up soon. i just cant do them today because its me and my hunnie's 22nd lunaversary ;) (aka 22 months / 1 year and 10 months) so we are going out to see a mooovieee :) wub him :D

i might edit this post later to add in the reviews, or should i just post separately? dunooo....
meh.

kk g2g movie now ciao xx :D

-------- *UPDATE* IM BACK WITH (lots of) PICTURES------

The parcel!! eee!

bubble wrapped in minipacks

The products are (top to bottom, left to right):

1. NYX concealer in a jar - Medium

2. L.A Girl Diamond Top Coat

3. L.A Girl Calcium Builder

4. Amuse Ultra Fine Liner - Brown

5. Amuse Ultra Fine Liner - Black

6. L.A Colors  Auto Eyeliner - Black

7. Jordana Quickliner eyes - 09 Cocoa

8. NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil - Milk

9. NYX triple shadow palette - Lake Moss

10. 4x NYX Round Glosses

11. 2x NYX MegaShine Lipglosses

REVIEW L.A Girl treatments : Calcium Builder

Price: $2.69 (cherryculture.com sale)

Brush: The brush is quite slimlined, thin, and is made of see through bristles. Its a really good size for smooth application as it holds/deposits/spreads the right amount. I really like this brush :) Makes painting nails easier!

Colour: Although it shows a milky tint in the bottle, it shows up clear and shiny on nails, even after i applied 5 coats to build up thickness.

Drying Speed: The drying speed is quite good, even as you start building up your layers you can start to feel the sticky drag (dont worry it doesnt leave streaks at all! it sets oh-so-smoooth). To me this is a good thing, so you know that its not just watery polish with no substance, after all, it is supposed to be a nail treatment!

Does it deliver what it claims?: Overall i do feel that my nail gets thicker and stronger with more layers of this stuff, i originally bought this because i had a waitressing job and the constant wetting of my hands make my nails brittle and weak (and layers would peel off! yuck!). Time to get my nails back into shape!

REVIEW NYX Round Glosses / NYX Mega Shine Lipglosses

Nyx Round Glosses:

1. Queen of Africa

2. Mauve

3. Sorbet

4. Whipped

Nyx MegaShine Lipglosses:

5. Smokey Look

6. Dolly Pink

NYX Round Glosses

Price: $1.80 (cherryculture.com sale)

Amount: 2.5ml

Applicator: Doe foot applicator, angled. REALLY STIFF :( makes it harder to apply a gloss that is a thin consistency! The fluffs on the doe foot applicator are sooo short that it hardly helps to soften the application. My suggestion is to turn the applicator into a brush tip! yay!

Colour: Many many many different shades available for sale!!! Some with shimmer, some without, some colours are more pigmented than others.

Sorbet can be seen to slightly even out liptones and add a nice gloss, however its still abit thin/see-thru in places and i think it would look better if lipstick was used as a base.

You can also see how see-through queen of africa is. i was expecting more of the deep purple with a blue duochrome like seen in the bottle. nevertheless, its still a gorgeous vampy plum and would look better over a lipstick!

Texture: These glosses are very thin, but smooth/moisturising and not sticky, so they are comfortable to wear; so comfortable in fact, that sometimes i feel that i could forget i was even wearing it! You can see from the swatches above how thin they are, especially "Queen of Africa" as compared to "dolly pink" from the Megashine range below.

The only thing that surprised me here is that although its very thin, it was rather hard to wipe off while doing swatches, making me think that it could actually/possibly last me some time throughout the day if i were to wear it!

Smell: This is the only thing that bothers me. It smells like my orange home surface wipes...aka it feels like im eating orange detergent.

NYX MegaShine Lip Glosses

Price: $3.37 (cherryculture.com sale)

Amount: 15ml

Applicator: Doe foot applicator, angled, larger than the round glosses! It has more/longer 'fluffs' on the applicator and is a tiny bit more flexible than the applicators of the round glosses.

Colour: As above, many many different shades available for sale, some colours being more pigmented than others, like Dolly Pink! Smokey Look had the slightest amount of very refined shimmers and the colour itself is sheerer, and Dolly Pink remains a shimmerless and extremely vibrant Barbie hot pink.

Dolly Pink could be worn on its own, but Smokey look should be worn over a nude lipstick or lips set with some sort of foundation base or lip erase (as i have a really pigmented ring on the outside of my lips).

Texture: These ones are alot thicker, creamier, and feel like it has more 'substance' than the round glosses, however remain unsticky and comfortable to wear. However i probably wouldnt be able to forget i was wearing it due to it being abit more moisture heavy :) These are definitely the better quality glosses in comparison. It really gives my lips that "juicy" factor :)

Smell: It smells strongly like a really musky cherry candy. The smell goes away pretty fast though, after application.

OVERALL VERDICT
(RoundGloss vs MegaShine)

Round Gloss Pros:

• Cheaper Alternative, only around $2
• Non sticky and comfortable
• So light that it feels I'm not wearing it at all
• Love the look of the packaging (reminds me of MAC cremesheen glosses)

Round Gloss Cons:

• Smells like Orange surface cleaner
• Too thin, reminds me of lipstain liquid mixed with some watery gloss, so pigmentation settles into fine lines and is abit see-thru
• Only 2.5ml of product
• Inflexible and hard applicator with minimal cushioning

Megashine Pros:

• Smells better IMO. Id take 'strong musky cherry candy' over 'orange detergent' anyday :) at least one of them seems to be a flavour you should have near your mouth :P
• Thicker, more moisturising, gives that juicy look to lips
• Non sticky and comfortable
• Pigmentation of some colours (e.g Dolly Pink) proves to be significantly better than Round Glosses
• A whopping 15 ML of product compared to the measly 2.4ML in the Round Glosses!
• Applicator is more flexible and has longer furs for better cushioning and to grab more gloss out of the tube in one swipe.

Megashine Cons:

• The more expensive alternative ($4) even though thats still cheap; but it really makes a difference if you're purchasing like 20 different colours :P

• There were many raves on the colour "Smokey Look", and it personally disapointed me because although it was a juicy nude colour, it wasnt pigmented enough to cover the pigmentation on my lips (without a lipstick or liperase underneath). But thats just on the one colour, Dolly Pink had amazing pigmentation, so it just depends on the colour you buy!

SHOPPING: Cherry Culture order

Hey peeps...
I've been so busy lately with uni and being super stressed out! Havent had time to do anything more with blogging, but i guess i had to post something, it seriously is a place i can escape to and relieve some stress! RANT!

Well so you all know, Cherry culture had a 10% off sale recently, and i couldnt be bothered waiting for a 20% off sale, so i spoilt myself and bought some items i had been wanting to try out for a while!

15 items for $35 is a darn good deal, but then the shipping comes in *rolls eyes*. For those of you who know me or read my blog. I AM THE BIGGEST STINGE! 

$50 is quite a pinch for me :P

and yes yes. i finally am jumping on the NYX round/mega gloss and concealer jar bandwagon...after reading many many rave reviews about them!

So, you can expect reviews in the future for these items...and because i am not a working beauty blogger with expendable income everymonth (god save the poor students), im planning on slowly reviewing my whole collection of products i already own. which is ALOT! so i shouldnt run out of hopefully interesting content :P

P.S i just need to express to you guys that I HATE THAT E.L.F DOESNT SHIP TO AUSTRALIA

RAAAHHHHH

outraged man. totaly. lol.

tatas ! xo

FOTD: Don't ever leave me bored and alone with a makeup kit

I was bored, i know it looks insane.

• BROWS:  BYS blue eyeliner
• EYESHADOW:  A hand-me-down pigmented blue shadow (brand discontinued) just use any pigmented blue shadow.
• CONTACTS: BYS blue contacts
• LIPS: L'occitane 100% shea butter pot, then tiny drop of OCC Makeup Blue Liptar smeared over the top with fingertips.

As  I said. I was feeling crazy :D

SWATCHES: NYX Round Lipsticks

My Haul from Cherryculture involved a whole lot of NYX round lippies for $1.75 each. I must say that it is gorgeously creamy and pigmented for its price, although the quality cant be compared to MAC cremesheens (my fave lipsticks), its still extremely good. At such a low price, a girl can afford to try a few out ;)

First row of lippies <3 a="" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixarnm4sud3LJwDb5Y_sxnQDcWuP9pU0ueF9PJrtnZoA4BTpQfq1CgIgnGgl5CmW_dk5-Y4AWtw6dBnKdUQV2NpSW1HWQRwPKBCVGw7hx0GciWd6Rj6T3occWUhcGxzlETFhVHA3VAJA0/s1600/IMG_7562sml.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}">


Second row of lippies 

Circe in comparison with my Creme de nude MAC Creemesheen lipstick. Circe is creamy, but its more of a matte creamy, whereas cremesheen by MAC is a dewy creme, if that makes sense, and also its a few shades lighter, however both are gorgeous nudes on my NC40(Mac studio powder) skintone. See all the swatches next for more detail!


All the swatches! Click to see everything bigger! my favourites would have to be Circe and Orange soda. They both look absolutely HOT with a smokey eye! B52 is actualy the darkest colour that i would consider every day wearable (for me) because its not too brown, not too red, not too plum; its not too light, and not dark enough to be considered vampish. i cant describe it more than just the perfect middle shade of EVERYTHING! Oh and i do like the way strawberry milk looked in the pictures, but when applying it you may want to 'dab' it on, as if u swipe as usual...strawberry milk may apply unevenly. Lastly, apologies for the horiffic swatches for "Tea" and "B52" and others...as i was applying the lipstick and swiping it off in order to take swatches, it made my lip abit sore and "water" with saliva...thats why my lipstick application isnt perfect.


This is my full face shot with Circe :)


All in all, these are a musthave for any lady that wants every shade under the sun (if you like having something to match every occasion). They are creamy (matte finish), pigmented (not very lasting but you can always reapply :D ). I definitely use these more than my liptars just because i dont dare to bring my liptars around (as they tend to break in bags etc) and that is NOT good :P

LOTD: Mothers Colours

Have you ever noticed that, even though you think you have all your perfect colours worked out, and you totally think that your moms makeup is old fashioned and outdated, yet when you go back to experiment, you find out that you were TOTALY WRONG, and that your moms colours and makeup look awesome on you? well thats what happened to me.

When i was a little girl i was the one playing with my moms red lipstick and red nail varnish, smearing it all over my face before going to church because i thought it made me pretty. But as i grew into my tweens and experimentations with low grade pink eyeshadows and glittery lipglosses started, i was determined that dark lip colours would never look good on me in my life, and as a 19 year old now, im in love with light pinks and nudes, and ive been pretty convinced that those are the only colours that would make me look good or suit me...

i was so wrong!

this is me trying out my moms 20+ year old rouge that she has now handed down to me, and it matches me perfectly and makes my lips look hot hot hot!






dont i look so grown up, vampy and sophisticated? :P







it is a SIGN! that i am growing up :P
haha
i dont know
maybe not
:P

EOTD: Colourful Peacock?

Eye of the day! Peacock inspired im thinking? not sure, i just decided to play with the colours :P

The eye look below...sorry guys i cbf'd listing down the products i used, just look at the pics and copy the colours :P but for this look i recomend having high pigmented e/s or else it will be a pain in the arse to create and unpigmented, talced up eyeshadows wil just make you look grey and patchy and gross.

I used the cheap fake lashes from ebay, the natural style ones :)



and yeah i know that i did do the rest of my face therefore it should be an FOTD instead (face of the day) buttt its just your regular natural cream blush, highlighter, and nude lipstick/lipgloss...so theres nothing to discuss :P



and yes yes the false lash on the left eye is peeling at the corners. i even tried to photoshop it right, but i gave up prety quick cos im tired :P so just ignore that. this pic is for u to see my eyelids anyhoo!








okkk doneeee :P this is my lazy post bwahaha

SWATCHES: Assorted blushes and bronzers

Yay swatch time!
had a little bit of time on my hands today so i thought id just test out some of the products i already have and my thoughts on them!

These are the three singular powder bronzers that i own, one Rimmel Natural bronzer, and two BYS bronzers, one is the normal one and the other one is a face and body bronzer from the island bronze range. The Rimmel one was probably more expensive than both the BYS's put together :P haha

VERDICT
Rimmel Natural Bronzer: is super natural, even though in the picture it looks like you can hardly see it, this is actually a good thing... it bronzes a nice natural brown that gives me a tanned glow without actualy altering the colour of my face. my fave :)

BYS bronzer powder: Honestly, whenever i use this, i get abit scared or use an extra light hand/brush. This is quite pigmented and doesnt blend very well, and its pigmented in a slightly bad way as its way too red and doesnt give a natural tan, sometimes its also too gliterry for my liking...but as i said, with a light hand and the right tools, i stil can get a softer tone to it.

BYS island bronze: this is even worse than the previous in terms of redness. This has more glitter and its abit too highly/dangerously pigmented for bronzer and is hard to blend, it often turns out uneven especially when i try to bronze my body, but i guess a good huge brush has a huge role to play here too. The only time this would work well is if you were already SUPER TANNED in skintone and was just looking for a nice glow to the cheeks/body. OR use a fibre optic brush :)



Okie dokie, the next cheek products to swatch are the Boujois blush pots, the brown one was aparently blush but i use it for bronzing :) whatevs same thing anyways. its for cheeks.

VERDICT:
Actualy, all of these are really hardly compacted and it took a lot of layering to get the colours to come out on my arm so that i could take swatch pics, but the good thing is even though they are realy hard and dry, they arent powdery or ashy at all! you can see that nice glow and adherence to the skin when it is applied. I guess thats a nice quality about their blushes, you can build up the colour and sheen and blend it right in sooo subtly and smoothly as you wish.

The pink one, is a nice rosy pink with a gold sheen, pretty :) i usually apply it to the apples of my cheeks

The light pink/gold one, lacks in the pigment/colour department and has alot more really fine glitters, i use this for highlight!

The brown one, has alot less glitter but still has a glowy sheen, so sometimes i opt to use it for a bronzer underneath my cheekbones


Then comes the CREAM PRODUCTS! these are a cream bronzer and cream blush by SugarBaby

VERDICT:
The Blush: this is the product i got first (in a sale for $4) and i fell in love with it, the colour was so perfect for some reason, it just had the right hues and undertones to work with my yellow/olive based skin and make it look so naturally flushed. Its the same dusky rose that i have found with "Everyday Minerals" swimming pool blush that i used in my Natural Look post. The benefit of it being in cream form was that it gave me the most gorgeously juicy GLOW. The formula is so soft, creamy and blendable, think the texture of souffle...mmmm <3 br="" it="" love="">
The bronzer: OMG WHAT A DISASTER! I loved the blush soo much that i went hunting for other cream cheek products hoping the get the same texture and effect, but just in a brown/bronze colour. Alas that did not turn out to be. The texture is completely different, its not soft and souffle-ey, rather its alot chalkier and drier (as u can see in the pic). The colour is way too unatural like the BYS bronzers before, way too red and too much glitter! noooo :(


Okay so now im going to do a review on the BYS shimmer balls that i bought previously...the first thing that caught me when i actually unwrapped the product and opened it, is that the shimmer balls werent powdery at all like the ones i tested in the shops; even though they were dry, they were more like clay dry, so they still stuck together in an elastic chunky sort of way, think bluetac mixed with lots and lots of powder. So when i tried to dab and roll my blush brush onto them, nothing really stuck to the brush...


its not that the product is bad at all, infact, its quite good for its price...still gives a gorgeous sheen when i roll a shimmerball between my fingers, the only problem is to get the shimmerness onto my brush that goes onto my face!!


dont worry, i know what to do....

Press, press, crush crush, crunch crush


yayyy! so now the product is in finer chunks, it finally can be picked up by my blush brush :)


look at that yummy glow :D


i love glow :D
that is all

SHOPPING: Another trip to stingy retail therapy

okay, firstly im going to apologise...SORRY FOR THE ULTRA CRAP QUALITY OF THE IMAGES THAT WILL BE POSTED! its about 1:07AM and i had no energy to go outside to get my good camera to take proper photos...so i settled for my mac's photobooth instead...

so i went to garden city today and picked up a few bargains.

This is the first, its supposed to be a strengthening nail colour with calcium and iron to prevent breaking (my poor nails are in need of this right now!) they were $3! noice ;)

UPDATE: ok guys i just tried this and it goes on sooo sheer on the first 2-3 coats as if its transparent...but it dries quick and after i put on more and more layers, it becomes this gooorgeous milky pink with the awesomest shine!!! its like im wearing shiny acrylics but im not! i LOVE IT! buying some more...three bucks omg soo cheap.
well ok. these pics (mac inbuilt webcam) dont do it any justice. but whatever. its better than no picture :P



I couldnt resist this...it was $1...like COME ON what DONT you buy for $1 :P (sorry about the photo, the quality was sooo bad that i had to photoshop in the real creamy pink colour that it was...the original photobooth photo made it look blue when it was pink.....weeeiiiird)


and foundation! im not exactly sure if its my colour...i tend to be alittle more on the tanned side, but hey if it doesnt work out for me i can always give it to my fair skinned-loving mother :) and the best bit about it was the price...


like OMG!!! foundation for a DOLLAR???? wow. just stunned :P




AND APART FROM THAT... ive actually made my first two purchases from ebay! BARGAIN!
my first purchase was a set of 40 FALSE LASHES. Usually from the shops in australia, a normal pair of falsies are an average of $14 - $18. Now i scored 40 pairs off ebay...for only AUD$10.50...now how is that even comprehensible...i think im never going to buy anything now unless i check if theres a FREAKIN CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE on ebay. like WOW.


The second BARGAIN that i got were these professional brush set of 34 at a bargain price of $28! thats like under a dollar per brush! again, at the shops today, i was checking out some brushes that (werent even the good brands such as MAC) and they sold for 16 dollars per brush....and im getting 34 amazing ones for less than a dollar each? WOW...i am in love with ebay

Pilot Post!

My first post! I guess i should introduce everything, Im Ivy, asian, living in Australia. Im pretty much obsessed with makeup, i see it as creating art on a face, painting it, creating artistic looks, trying out different things, brushes, colours, textures, love it!! I probably should start off my first post with my collection/stash of what i already own... P.S A shoutout to karl my boo! he was the one who manipulated me into starting this :P


So here's my makeup table! In my room!!



My Collection of OCC liptars! <3 a="" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir-HJimLqU6Y2KmV7UXScWpwl_-D30qBoGWICc0FDIo7rdvIj0V-SyYgbMLbRUVIU9AmD6XQ7JDqT4Q_VSMoJJ97V7Bf6qiuuuNCUaOqM7WGRR3gtKLebrVlcEbLHxB2vlj1a39LZszFk/s1600-h/IMG_6579.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}">



Some of my liquid foundations and my eyeshadows on top!



Some of my Everyday Minerals powders/blushes - they are the best mineral makeup for value! (yes im the biggest cheapo)...i think if you order more than 12 items u get like 60% off the whole order...or more! i dont remember :P



Fake lashes, facial scrubs, more minerals, lipbalms, and just stuff!!



Second drawer :)









Alright...now youve seen the makeup i have, ill show you what i bought today!

An eyeshadow box from Target, i know it says $10 but it was on sale for $5!


The gorgeous colours inside :D


Two dollar face wipes! a must have for after you get back from a late night out in town!


Nailpolishes...i couldnt resist! they were toooo cutee


I love the concept of shimmer balls for illumination, but i skipped the pricey versions and opted for the cheap $4 dollar version...some products just arent worth paying $50 for!!


Stay tuned for some more tips, tricks, looks, swatches, reviews, and maybe even tutorials in the future!
love ivy xoxo