2012 Favourites

It’s still January, I can still post 2012 lists. So let’s seeee

Gadgets

iPad Mini

Check out my review here. Still loving it, still using it everyday, more so than my Macbook Air. I’m currently playing The Walking Dead and shit is scary and fun. Kotaku mentioned avoiding iOS for the Walking Dead, but really it’s just for the iPhone. There’s no issues playing on the iPad as far as I’m concerned! It’s apparently cheaper than other platforms too. $15.99 for 4 episodes, if you download the first episode now for free.

Apple TV

This was for mom to watch things from her iPad on the TV. So, so useful. Completely worth buying if you would like to stream things from your iPhone, iPad or Macbooks or even PC now that iTunes 11 has that ability. At a priceo f around $110, it’s not too bad an investment 🙂 It’s also very small and cute.

My PlayStation Vita didn’t make this list because… well, it’s collecting dust. And you know what? When something obvious like the Walking Dead doesn’t end up on the Vita but every other platform, it really does say something about it. Now I need to figure out if I can let it go and sell… :[

Entertainment

I really liked The Avengers. I can’t seem to remember anything else. There was the Dark Knight Rises, but it didn’t leave that big an impression for me.

Call of Duty Black Ops II Zombies was a disappointment, but I’m now addicted to the Multiplayer mode instead. Huzzah!

Beauty

left to right

Avene Thermal Spring Water

Just in time for 2012. This thing… is a lifesaver. Got sunburnt near the end of the year, somehow found out about this and voila, relief. Not just a sunburn btw, sunburn-turned-horribly-inflamed-eczema. Eczema people, use that sunscreen like no tomorrow and make sure you thoroughly apply it to all areas. I failed to cover all areas.

Now this spring water can be used as I did, for relief of eczema or sunburns but it also has other uses like a hydrating face mist or toner. In any case, I really like it. Refreshing and cooling.

Bastiste Dry shampoo

Super lazy, tired and cbfed washing your hair? Get this. I feel sorry for the me who didn’t know about this earlier. It really works! As to the turning your hair grey or white, that’s okay, you just have to massage it through and it’ll go away.

I got the tropical flavour and that was way too sweet and vanilla, this new FRESH is nice. It’s … well, fresh and not that fragrant at all.

Bioderma Makeup Remover

Discovered this from the millions of bloggers that love it. Hardly use this, but when I do, it works, feels great and doesn’t irritate for my sensitive skin. Thumbs up.

Revlon Kissable Lip Stain in Honey

I never really did review these did I ho ho ho. I now have Honey, Darling, Precious and Rendevous. All of which I bought from ebay! I’ve never used any beauty product so religiously since I never really wear any other make up. But I wear Honey almost every day. Easy, smooth and awesome lasting power. Tick, tick and tick.

Review: Bobbi Brown Corrector (and Concealer)

Ah super dry under eye and super dark eye circles… my faaaaavourite~ /sarcasm

Finding a hydrating concealer is pretty wtf for me and it’s also the most important makeup item that I need – thanks to panda eyes. I’ve been to a few counters to try their concealers or brighteners to find they’re mostly shit at covering, do nothing and/or way too dry and cakey on me. Dior, YSL’s Touche something, none of them.

Bobbi Brown Corrector (Light Bisque) and Creamy Concealer (Ivory, Pale Yellow)

Bobbi Brown’s corrector ($46) and concealer though… it’s not holy grail, but more holy shit-it-works. I love the corrector and it’s the only thing I use nowadays, you can see I’ve used a lot more of that than the concealer.

The corrector, which is peach or pink based is meant to neutralize the purples and blues and while the concealer, which is yellow-based is meant to conceal. I find the corrector is creamier than the concealer, or because I am so dry, putting on two layers immediately has the flakey effect. Either way, I don’t need it to completely cover my dark circles, I just need it to reduce a lot of it and it does exactly that. I can still see some dryness sometimes, but it’s very minimal compared to everything else. The downside to this is I find it doesn’t really last the whole day.

Here’s my ninja sample I took this morning – right eye wearing Bobbi Brown. Gotta say the iPhone is making it look better than irl though… ho ho ho, but you get the gist.

Left eye – Nothing vs Right eye – Bobbi Brown Corrector

I like to put it on using the Bobbi Brown concealer brush and then patting it in with my ring finger after I’ve moisturised my eyes (still using that emu oil eye cream, oh yeah!) and then a bit of Laura Mercier’s Translucent Loose Setting Powder and I’m good to go. If you don’t have super dry eyes like me, applying the concealer as well will probably be even better but alas I don’t need it unless I really look like I’ve been punched in the eye.

As another comparison, Bareminerals recently released their own correcting concealer and ‘stroke of light’ eye brightener. I used to be a Bareminerals fan so immediately went to try it out, I mean, it’s half the price. But to my disappointment, it was dry and dry. The more brands I try, the more I like my Bobbi Brown, but I can’t stop trying either… I want that HG concealer goddamnit and I’ve now discovered this Ellis Faas concealer that everyone seems to love as well… well then…hmm

This and lip color, and I have the Revlon Kissable! that I will review later, are the only things I tend to wear these days when I can be bothered. I look alive and awake and don’t have people from work telling me to wake up. Ha!

What’s your fave concealer? 🙂

Findation, Foundation-Finder, Awesomeness, Woah

Do you know about Findation.com? It’s new, it’s cool and you should check it out.

What is it?

Enter in the foundation brand and product you use and get recommended color matches from other brands! Simple!

I put in Laura Mercier’s Tinted Moisturiser in Nude (this is pretty much the only thing I’m using now) and Giorgio Armani’s Luminous Silk Foundation in 3.75 – I don’t use this but I was perfectly color matched to it. It is basically my skin color. Which is funny because I told myself to definitely remember this in order to find other shades from other brands if I came across someone who wore the same thing. And then this came along. It’s perfect.

Findation Homepage – list your stuff

Here’s a bit of the results page! I didn’t put in BareMinerals’ in Fairly Light to see if it would recommend it to me (it’s the one I have) and it did!

Recommended Matches

How does it work?

Crowdsourcing. It requires people like you, me and everyone to help enter in your own colors. I guess from that, the mathematical craziness in the background will then work out the best matches across these different brands and products. The more people/samples, the better the results. So I really do encourage everyone to go check it out.

It’s a new startup project by Kate Morris this year who co-started Adorebeauty.com.au, you should know about that one. Really good to know it’s Made in Australia (maybe not technically, but you get the gist). Would love to see a list of concealers added in. I normally have trouble with that one.

I’ll definitely be using this to double check the shades I buy next. Being Asian means a lot of people at the counters incorrectly color match me by assuming I am very yellow based, unfortunately. :[

Have a go and let me know if it works for you :]