✧ Online Haul: ColourPop Cosmetics ✧

Happy Monday errbadeh! It's already the middle of November and we only have a month and a half left till we're all greeted by 2017. Crazy how quickly time flies huh? I feel that I always say that in every blogpost haha. But that's only because it's true.

In August, I posted my first online haul on ColourPop Cosmetics since they had only launched their worldwide shipping on the 12th of July. Back in September, they then had FREE international shipping promotion if your purchases are above USD50 (and it's going to be free until the end of this year! YAY!) and shipping fee is USD9.99 for purchases below USD50.

This time around I ordered an eyeshadow quad, a highlighter and six lip products. My order was placed on the 22nd of September and I was sent an e-mail with USPS tracking number after five working days. My parcel arrived and was collected on the 20th of October.

Here are some pictures I took!

⇣ The iconic ColourPop box and their greeting card ⇣

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⇣ Lip products ⇣

↬ Calypso (ultra satin) - a medium toned rose shade.

↬ Baracuda (ultra satin) - a deep rosy, mauve shade.

↬ Hutch (ultra satin) - a dark, purplish plum shade.

↬ Lost (ultra satin) - a medium brown shade.

↬ Love Bug (ultra matte) - a burnt orange shade.

↬ Stain (ultra glossy) - a soft burgundy shade with a sheer finish.

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⇣ Zingara Super Shock Shadow Collection ⇣

▶︎ (Top to Bottom)  ◀︎

↬ Seeker - a warm, reddish brown shade in a matte finish.
↬ Paradox - a burgundy red shade in a satin finish.

↬ Elixir - a warm, orange matte shade.
↬ Jinxie - a pearlised champagne gold shade.

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⇣ Highlighter ⇣

↬ Spoon - a light silver, champagne highlight with a lot of sparkle.

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 ☃ A little round up.. ☃

I have always liked ColourPop's eyeshadows because they have a very creamy consistency. I usually apply and pack them on to my eyelids using my fingers first and I then only use a fluffy brush to do all the blending. I feel that ColourPop's eyeshadows apply the best with fingers first. As for their lip products, I gravitate towards ultra satin lips than I do their ultra matte lips. Ultra satin ones feel more comfortable on my lips. Ultra matte lips tend to be more drying so that's where all the lip balms come into good use!

For the look above, I used the Zingara eyeshadow quad to a live orchestra event a few weeks ago, paired with the ultra satin lips in the shade Lost and the highlighter Spoon. 

 ⇣ Me wearing ultra satin lips in the shade Calypso ⇣

⇣ Me wearing ultra satin lips in the shade Baracuda ⇣

⇣ Me wearing ultra matte lips in the shade Love Bug ⇣

I recently made another order from the website and it revolves around their latest collaboration with HELLO KITTY! Soooo excited to receive the parcel but I shall patiently wait, knowing that parcels usually take two to four weeks to arrive to Brunei.

Till then, thank you for reading! I hope this blogpost is helpful in a way or two. Please leave a comment or question down below if you have any! Have a great week ahead of y'allz.

Gladyator signing out.

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✧ Online Haul: Anastasia Beverly Hills ✧

Happy Monday, errbadeh!

The past week has been a tad hectic. I had my graduation last two Saturdays and I'm officially a Masters holder yay *throws confetti*.  To "prepare" myself for the event, I decided to get some stuff from ABH. I saw that they were releasing their new Master Palette by Mario as well as a new liquid lipstick in the shade Allison. So... I went on and did a little damage by purchasing those two products and a liquid lipstick in the shade Veronica. Guilty not guilty!

I already own a few liquid lipsticks  (shades: Kathryn, Dusty Rose, Catnip, Ashton) from ABH from an online haul a few months back. So for this blogpost, I will combine both hauls. Here are some pictures I took!

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↯ What I got! ↯

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↯ Master Palette by Mario eyeshadow palette ↯

▶︎ (L-R) ◀︎

↬ Hollywood - a medium-toned gold shade with a slight shimmer.
↬ NYC - a reddish, bronze shade with a pearly sheen finish.

↬ Kim - a medium-toned brown shade with a tad of orange undertone and has a slight sheen finish.

↬ Muse - a medium-toned copper shade with a metallic sheen finish.
↬ Marina - a slight peachy, medium-toned champagne shade with a metallic finish.

↬ Claudia - a grayish blue metallic shade.

↬ Lula - a muted taupe matte shade. 
↬ Isabel - an orangey, terracotta shade with a matte finish.
↬ Violeta - a darker reddish brown shade with a matte finish.

↬ 5th Ave - a medium gold shade with a metallic finish,
↬ Bronx - a olive green shade with a metallic finish.

↬ Paris - a brownish, bronze shade with a frosted finish.

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↯ Liquid lipsticks↯

▶︎ (Top to bottom) ◀︎

↬ Ashton - a medium-toned brown shade.
↬ Dusty Rose - a muted, purplish pink shade.

↬ Catnip - a medium-toned purplish plum shade.

↬ Kathryn - a red shade with a pink undertone.
↬ Allison - a pinky, brown shade (which I think can pass as a darker version of Dusty Rose!).

↬ Veronica - a muted, plum-ish mauve shade.

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 ☃ A little round up.. ☃

I really, really like the liquid lipsticks. On me, they aren't drying at all and they last a looong time. I once wore Kathryn to Jerudong Park, which included me having really good (and oily) food and still, the lipstick held up until the end of the night with only a tad of feathering on the outer corners of my lips. I've worn all six shades above and I like all of them. Here are some pictures of me using them! (L-R, top to bottom: Ashton, Dusty Rose, Catnip, Allison, Veronica, Kathryn)

 

 

 

As for the Mario eyeshadow palette, the payoff is AMAZING. I used it (in the last two pictures above) when I had rehearsals for my graduation and on the actual day of the event too. My makeup held up the entire day, despite sweating a lot throughout the day.

The eyeshadow palette is USD45 and each liquid lipstick is USD20. The shipping fee to Brunei costs approximately USD18 but the courier is UPS so your parcel is shipped directly to your house. And that only means no queuing up at the post office and getting taxed! That also means, no queuing up at the post office and getting taxed for your parcel (YAY!)!

I personally don't mind paying for the shipping fee because it is really convenient. If it's too hefty, you can always find friends who are interested in ordering so the shipping fee can be divided accordingly.

I hope this blogpost has helped you in a way or two. Please don't hesitate to leave any comments or questions down below if you have any. Thank you for reading and have a great week ahead of you!

Gladyator signin' out.

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✧ Overview of my U.K. haul! ✧

Hiiiiiii everyone!

It has been over a month since I last updated my blog, which was before I flew off to the U.K. for a two-week holiday with ze mister. The entire trip passed by oh so quickly! I had a really amazing time. So many beautiful, wonderful memories were created and they will be forever cherished and held close to my heart. I look forward to our next adventure already!

My trip, naturally, had me doing some makeup shopping. There is no way that Makeup Gladyator would come back to Brunei empty handed! I actually did not have any to-buy-lists, I just bought anything that I came across that was worth hauling back to Brunei.

I took some pictures today to share with you my entire makeup haul!

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↯ What I got! ↯

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↯ Charlotte Tilbury↯

↬ Charlotte Tilbury Magic Foundation £29.50

↬ Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution lipstick £23.00

↬ Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish skin perfecting micropowder £33.00

↬ Charlotte Tilbury The Dolce Vita Luxury Eyeshadow Palette £38.00

↬ Charlotte Tilbury Brow Lift eyebrow pencil £22.50

↬ Charlotte Tilbury Legendary Lashes mascara £25.00

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↯ Kiko Cosmetics↯

↬ Kiko Cosmetics blush cocoa shock £11.00

↬ Kiko Cosmetics Ultimate pen long wear eyeliner £7.00

↬ Kiko Cosmetics Creamy colour comfort liner £6.00

↬ Kiko Cosmetics Enigma lip pencil £6.00

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↯ MAC Cosmetics & Stila Cosmetics ↯

↬ MAC Cosmetics eyeshadow x15 palette £65.00

↬ MAC Cosmetics matte lipstick £16.00

↬ Stila Cosmetics stay all day® liquid lipstick £16.00

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↯ Urban Decay ↯

↬ Urban Decay All Nighter liquid foundation £27.00

↬ Urban Decay NAKED Skin weightless complete coverage concealer £18.00

↬ Urban Decay Vice lipsticks £15.00

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↯ Huda Beauty↯

↬ Huda Beauty liquid matte £18.00

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 ☃ A little round up.. ☃

I'd like to think I was very productive with my makeup haul! The salesladies there that attended to me were legit cutthroat, man! In addition to that enable-r, ze mister's patience and his "Take your time, no need to rush! I'll be here waiting" totally did not help too!  So, I really bought more than I actually planned to. Guilty not guilty hehe.

I have yet to use any of what I bought in this haul, except for all the Huda Beauty liquid mattes! Buttt, for all the Charlotte Tilbury and Urban Decay products, they were all used on me because customers actually get to have products tested on them. So I was able to get my face done by the salesladies hehe. It definitely felt good to be made up by other people. I guess that is their way to make customers leave the store with things in their plastic bags!

I will be doing separate blogposts for the different products across the different brands aforementioned! So watch this space :D

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading as much I did hauling and writing up this blogpost.

Gladyator signing out.

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✧ Mini haul: Lash stuff & Rosehip Oil ✧

Hi everyone!

I'm flying off this weekend so I thought I might squeeze in a blogpost before I leave. The long-awaited trip is finally around the corner and I can't wait to see how our Airbnb listings will look like in real life. Before I get too excited, I should probably focus on the main objective of this blogpost, which is to share with you some stuff that I've bought for my holiday.

I am not one to use fake lashes because I have always felt that they are heavy on my eyes and I don't fancy the feeling of having my eyes weighed down. I think I have only used fake eyelashes twice ever since I started playing with makeup. One day, I came across a local Instagram seller called Shoppers Droppers (link here!) and saw that they were carrying some Ardell products. I came to know about the brand Ardell when I watched a few of Jaclyn Hill's videos and saw her liking towards Ardell's falsies, typically those in the Demi Wispies style.

So I thought to myself that I should probably try using falsies for once and what better way to get into that than by getting myself some Demi Wispies!? So I sent Shoppers Droppers an Instagram direct message and was responded very promptly, which I highly appreciated. I ended up getting Ardell's lash applicator and their LashGrip black eyelash adhesive. I also saw that Shoppers Droppers had some rosehip oil in their in-stocks and since I had read on the internet about how good RHO is, I decided to add the rosehip oil into my purchase list as well.

In addition to my purchase order, Shoppers Droppers was kind enough to send two additional Jouer products to me to review. I was not paid or sponsored in any way so my thoughts and comments are 100% honest.

Here are some pictures I took today!

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↯ My order items! ↯

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↯ Lash stuff! ↯

▶︎ Ardell Demi Wispies ◀︎

▶︎ Ardell Demi Wispies ◀︎

▶︎ Ardell eyelash applicator and LashGrip black adhesive ◀︎

▶︎ Ardell eyelash applicator and LashGrip black adhesive ◀︎

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↯ Rosehip oil ↯

▶︎ Life-flo pure rosehip seed oil ◀︎

▶︎ Life-flo pure rosehip seed oil ◀︎

I have been using rosehip oil for about a week now, incorporating it into my daily skincare routine and I love it! It keeps my skin really hydrated because I have combination of dry and oily skin. Whenever I use my Laneige BB cushion, my skin tends to be really dry with patchiness here and there. But when I used it yesterday, my skin surprisingly did not feel dry at all! There were no dry patches like there usually would be. I was thoroughly surprised.

I will continue using rose hip oil for a longer period of time and update whenever necessary! But so far, I really do like how it has been beneficial to my skin.

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↯ Lip stuff! ↯

▶︎ Jouer long-wear lip crème liquid lipstick and one from their limited edition mermaid collection ◀︎

▶︎ Top to bottom ◀︎

Long-wear lip crème liquid lipstick in the shade pêche

Mermaid long-wear lip crème liquid lipstick in the shade in the shade daiquiri

↬ Pêche- a light peach shade with a pink undertone in a matte finish.
↬ Daiquiri - a medium-toned peachy, coral shade in a metallic matte finish.

Both lip products have a sweet, vanilla scent and they swatch beautifully and effortlessly. Looking at how beautiful the swatches are, I decided to apply them on my lips. To my surprise, it was rather difficult to apply Pêche and it was quite streaky. I had some trouble layering Pêche and trying to make it work but I could not. On my skin tone, Pêche was a little light and made me look washed out. But these aforementioned problems are quite common with lighter shades from any brand. I'm certain that the darker tones from Jouer's liquid lipstick line will be much better, considering they actually do swatch veryyyy easily and effortlessly. 

I moved on to try out the mermaid limited edition one in the shade Daiquiri and Daiquiri applied much better than Pêche did. It's a beautiful shade, and I think it will look really good paired with brown smokey eyes!

▶︎ Daiquri feat. my bare, post-workout face ◀︎

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 ☃ A little round up.. ☃

I can't wait to try and use Ardell's lash products for my trip! The Ardell Demi Wispies falsies are BND22, lash applicator and adhesive are BND10 each. As for the rosehip oil, it's priced at BND12. The Jouer lip products are BND30 each. Give Shoppers Droppers a holla if you're interested in getting these items! They also carry other products such as Milani and Rimmel, and they have Huda Beauty's liquid lipsticks on the way so head over there if you're looking to get yourself some of those goodies!

Thank you so much for reading and making it down this far. I hope you have a great week ahead of you! Gladyator signing out.

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✧ Review: Mily D Vanity Mirror by ColorpopBN ✧

TGIF!

We're already nearing the middle of August. This blog has just turned two years old. I posted my very first entry on the 6th of July 2014. It's crazy how time flies! I have loved makeup and enjoyed collecting them since, I'd say, the year 2012? But only picked up the courage to start a blog two years later, thanks to the beau's motivation and support.

I don't know whether it's sad to say that I have never owned a proper vanity mirror until now. For the past many years, what I have been using are basically: normal mirrors with my study lamp (a Panasonic one with white LED light). Come to think of it, I wouldn't say it's sad because I still managed to do my makeup with no problem at all.

I have used the aforementioned method for the longest time, then I decided I needed a 'proper' vanity mirror, one with lights. So I actually went to Paloma to purchase a BND159 (if I remember correctly) Beurer Illuminated Cosmetics Mirror. 

I only used it once or twice, and sold it off because it didn't suit my needs. So since then, I had gotten back to my trusty old way of using my 6-years-old mirror and my Panasonic study lamp which has served me well since I was in my second year of Undergraduate in UBD.

It is now finally time to try something new because ColorpopBN (Instagram account link here!) has kindly sent me to review their Mily D Vanity Mirror and share with you all my thoughts on it. I was not paid or compensated in any form. This will be my 100% honest opinion, as per usual.

Mily D Vanity Mirror by ColorpopBN is a vanity makeup mirror with inbuilt 16 white LED lights. The entire mirror, with its base attached, doesn't feel heavy at all. It's travel-friendly because of its size, which is that of an iPad. In addition to that, it has a touch-screen ON/OFF interface, it is wireless and is operated with four AA batteries. So you need not worry about any wires dangling or getting caught by itself in your luggage. We all know the pain of trying to un-dangle wires... 

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↯ Mily D Vanity Mirror ↯

▶︎ White box that includes the mirror and the base ◀︎

▶︎ Base of the mirror ◀︎

▶︎ Front of the mirror ◀︎

▶︎ Back of the mirror with the hinge, to be attached to the base ◀︎

 ▶︎ ON/OFF switch ◀︎

▶︎ ON/OFF touch-screen interface ◀︎

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To see how bright it is, I turned off all the lights in the room and had the vanity mirror as my sole light source. I also turned off the auto-flash settings in my camera so the pictures will be as they are in real life. To my surprise, it really managed to light up pretty well, even in total darkness!

▶︎ Look at how clear the reflection is! ◀︎

▶︎ Also, yes, all the pictures on my blog are taken with my trusty Samsung NX Mini because I don't have a DSLR or a fancier camera huhu ◀︎

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↯ Additional specs ↯

▶︎ General-facing direction of the mirror ◀︎

As you can see in the pictures above, you can have the mirror tilted at 0° up to 180°. I personally would only tilt it to an angle that I'm comfortable with when doing my makeup and would not actually 'rotate' it because it might loosen the hinge to the point that you might not even be able to tilt it at all. But that's just my preference. Tilt it however you want, homie!

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 ☃ A little round up.. ☃

I like the fact that this Mily D Vanity Mirror isn't at all bulky and at the same time, you get the quality from the LED lights too. An important aspect, to me at least, is that it is wireless! You needn't designate an electronic socket just to use the mirror when doing your makeup. You can bring it around when you travel because it isn't big at all. However, you might want to consider storing the mirror properly so it does not get scratched in your luggage.

If you're ever interested in having a mirror like this but don't want to pay loads of money to try one and have the possibility of not liking it in the end, you can give Mily D Vanity Mirror a try. It retails for BND45 and comes in a few colours such as lavender, white and mint (!!). Give ColorpopBN a holla if you have any questions regarding this mirror, or you can simply comment down below if you have any questions or thoughts you'd like to share!

I'd like to say a huge thank you to the girls at ColorpopBN for sending me this little gem!

I hope this blogpost has helped you in a way or two. Thanks so much for reading and making it down here! Have a great weekend ahead of y'allz.

Gladyator signing out!

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