USA Haul - Sephora & Nordstrom

Last holiday season, my husband’s aunt was travelling to US. I did not let this opportunity wasted by asking a favor from her to bring back some goodies from US. I did the shopping online at Sephora and Nordstrom and asked them to deliver the goods to my aunt’s address in US. I had so much fun shopping online on both websites because it is something that we cannot find here in our country (Boo hoo hoo, I know). All of those brands to shop..made me drool all over the floor! Unfortunately I couldn’t shop them all or else my credit card would cut itself into two hahaha. 

These are the stuffs I managed to click away to the shopping cart. 

From top to bottom:

Dior Nail Polish in Massai

Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer

Givenchy Le Rouge in Corail Decolette

Aveda Dry Remedy Moisturizing Mask

Chloe Miniature Perfume

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette

Tom Ford Lipstick in Indian Rose

Eyeko Eye Do Liquid Eyeliner

The amazing thing when you shop for cosmetics in US, they are very generous in giving out samples. Sephora gave me 3 free samples to choose on my way out from the online store. I also got a small birthday present too to claim from Make Up Forever. That is not all, there were some promo code around, so I put one in and got myself another sample size of Fresh Black Tea Age Delay Eye Concentrate. Really happy because I have been wanting to try Fresh skincare line for quite sometime.

Nordstrom blew me off with their gift with purchase bonus. I got a whole bunch of samples which most of them are the best selling products in Nordstrom and also a small sample package from Bobbi Brown. Trust me when I said that I was beaming ear to ear when I finally got to open my package at home. I felt so ecstatic!  

So here I am as a true make up and beauty addict would like to share these gorgeous babies with all of you beauty lovers out there. Will do review on most of them, especially the ones that I actually bought. I finally got myself a Tom Ford lipstick!! Yeayyyyy!! Thank you for reading, darling!

The perfume vials

The skincare samples

Nordstrom also threw in a pretty burgundy faux leather clutch too

Cheers,

Stef

Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet

Chanel is one beauty brand that can make its fan going head over heels for their products. One of them is the foundation. Many people have been raving for their foundation. It took me a long time to finally get one because actually I’m not a foundation person. For some reasons, my skin tends to breakout whenever I wear foundation daily. Thank God for BB and CC cream, my complexion is saved. That is why, I don’t have a lot of foundations and rather picky in picking out one. Usually I will be wearing foundation for 2-3 days and the rotate it with BB or CC cream to prevent breakout.

I have always wanted to try Chanel foundation since years ago and had been in dilemma in which foundation to choose. I finally landed my choice to Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet. I picked shade 20 Beige for my yellow undertone. I love this foundation because of its lightweight texture. The fluid consistency is a bit runny because of its lightweight texture, and when you applied it to your face it will instantly blends with your skin. Then, it will set and leaves you with a smooth matte finish. It felt velvety too, just like its name. The formula is oil free so this is a wonderful foundation for you who have combination or oily skin. The coverage is light but I think you can build it up a little bit more without makes it cakey. I do prefer a natural coverage foundation that is why I’m in love with this foundation. It only covered 80% the redness of my skin and my eye bag but I like how it covers and smoothen my pores. The formula also contains SPF 15 broad spectrum sun protection to help you fight the sun exposure (it’s not enough for me though, you know how vicious our sun is). 

As usual I set it with Laneige or Shu Uemura Loose Powder and it held for 6 hours before I need to blot or retouch. 4 hours if I wear a non oil free sunscreen under it. Sometimes I will just leave it unblotted because the shine is actually not that bad. It gave me a decent glow to hang on for some more hours before I really have to blot or wash it all away at the end of the day. I might want to try to set it using only Guerlain Meteorites and see how long it will stay put and if it’s going to create a luminous look *noted to self*
On the picture below, I did not set it with any powder or any concealer yet. The look is only using the foundation. You can see that even though its matte finish, but it did not look super matte and powdery.

The packaging is similar to Vitalumiere Aqua, made of plastic with black color all over it. I love how sleek and classy it looked. However, I need to wipe it every time after I use it because the packaging will usually smeared by my fingerprints. 

All in all, this is a fantastic foundation for you who like natural coverage which lightweight, without worrying that it will weigh your skin down. The result is a perfect matte with a smooth velvety complexion to brazen your daily busy day.

What is your go to daily foundation? Please do share with me 

Cheers,

Stef

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick 52 Rosy Coral

I rarely wore lipstick in my daily look. I only had 2 tinted lip balm and 1 lipstick which I usually would just forget to wear after finishing my look and it took me years to finish one lip product. But everything changed since Cheon Song Yi came. Cheon Song Yi, the 15 seconds fairy that mesmerizes millions of people in 2014 with her charm in Korean drama My Love From The Star. She is my inspiration to add lipstick on my daily look. The game was like totally change, now that I own 14 lipsticks! All in just one year time. Specifically, I adore Song Yi’s YSL Rouge Pur Couture #52 Rosy Coral and IOPE Color Fit Lipstick #23 Violet Pink (if you want to know more about the lipsticks she used, check this useful link). 2014 is also the year where women dare to slap on that bold lip color, so I shamelessly jumped on that wagon too. I started experimenting with bold colors on my lips thanks to that. 

Today I would like to write a review about the first one, YSL Rouge Pur Couture #52 Rosy Coral. Let’s skip the effort to get this lipstick straight to the review, shall we?

Where should I start? Let’s see..the packaging, the golden shiny case that looks so luxurious. It is sturdy and really protects the lipstick well, but it gets dirty easily by fingerprints. 

The color is ahhmayzing! It literally took my breath away the first time I open it. It is exactly what the lipstick name is, a rosy coral. A wonderful mix of pink and coral, it pops out your lips, and it definitely gives you that oomph factor to your whole look. It can also brighten up your complexion and you know how it will affect the rest of your day, right? You will feel instantly pumped up just by looking at its color. 

On the swatch, the left one is when I swipe it once and the right one is 2-3 swipes. Rosy Coral is pigmented and creamy. It glides pretty easily and has a subtle scent. The color is buildable depends on your liking. The bullet is strong enough for a very light pat on the lip to achieve that transparent natural coral color on your lip if you opt for more subtle look. In the FOTD (pardon the Little Tikes' Car photobomb), I use 2-3 swipes on my lips and usually last on me for a good 4-5 hours. When it fades, it will still leave a nice stain on your lips. It looked a bit muted on the picture, but IRL the color pops out.

I have dry lips and on the several first attempts, I was actually kind of disappointed because the lipstick tends to dry my lips even though I already put on lip balm before. I almost gave up and planned to toss the lipstick away (please don’t scream), but then I decided to try it again remembering the effort that I spent to get it and also the hype from the fans. To my surprise, the lipstick turned out doing well on my lips. I still put on lip balm under it (the same lip balm), nothing is changed, so perhaps maybe my lips wasn’t in a good condition at the previous try. For me, this is not a lipstick on my chapped or very dry lips days because it might look unpleasant since it has creamy and not glossy finish, it will just look awful. A lip exfoliation might needed before you put it on if you have the same problem like me. I would pick something glossier or just stick with lip balm on those days. 

I love this lipstick and clearly it’s a keeper. Will I repurchase when it’s finished? Yes, I do. I haven’t yet to try other Song Yi’s lipstick but I would say this one is worth to try simply because of the distinct color. Let me know which one from Song Yi’s lipstick that is your favorite. Next, I would love to try IOPE’s lipstick. My mom is going to South Korea and hopefully she can grab one for me *crossing fingers*.

Cheers,
Stef

Instagram Account

Hello Gorgeous! Just a quick post about my Instagram or IG account. Joined the wagon a year ago and I am hooked! I even left Twitter for it because somehow I feel IG is more comfortable to use and I love to see all of those interesting pictures. They said that a picture means a thousand words and that is true. 

In my IG account, I usually share the tidbits of my daily life that consists of  beauty products, food, books, my family, and of course my selfies LOL! The IG account name is stefaniecarolina. Please do visit and take a look around :)

Cheers,
Stef

Daily Skincare Regime

Happy New Year Gorgeous!!
I wish you an amazing year full of joy, peace, adventure, and wisdom. May all your resolutions will come true! I am very excited with this year because I have a lot of things I want to achieve. One of them is maintaining this beauty blog and share my love for beauty products to the readers.
As my first post in 2015, I would like to share about my daily skincare regime. Lo and behold, this sharing will take you quite some time to read since there will be a quick review as well on the products that I use. 

A polished skin is necessary if you wanted your makeup to look good and sits perfectly on your face. Everybody has different skin type and condition, and it’s sure not an easy journey to find your best skincare regime or combo to get that healthy glowy skin. But nowadays, there are a lot of skincare products on the market that I believe can cater our skin’s needs and it’s a matter of trial and error until your skin get that perfect combination of products and finally can perform its best.

As for me, my skin type is normal to combination but has the tendency to get dehydrated. You can see it easily after I clean and wash my face, the skin is pretty dry and need quite moisture to make it not look dull. I don’t have a lot of problems with acne, just occasional zits that comes with my PMS period. I have big pores and some acne scars around the cheek that I wish I can photoshop in real life as well as the persistent eye bag that makes me look tired all the time.

I started to use skincare more than just facial wash since I was in senior high school. I started with using facial moisturizer. Gradually, I added toner, serum, and sunscreen. My skincare regime nowadays involves cleansing oil, facial wash, toner, essence, serum, moisturizer, sunscreen, and a frequent exfoliant. Occasionally I will slap on some facial mask when I feel my skin needs a boost up. 

Without any further due, let’s go to the details, shall we?

Cleansing

Kose Softymo Deep Cleansing Oil

La Roche Posay Physiological Cleansing Gel

The Body Shop Aloe Gentle Facial Wash

The first step is cleansing. In the morning, I would only wash my face using La Roche Posay since I do not put makeup on at night, so gentle cleansing is enough. As for night cleansing, I always do double cleansing by using Softymo cleansing oil first to remove all of my makeup and then followed by Garnier facial wash. I would lather my face with the cleansing oil first, massage it a bit to make sure that no traces of makeup left. Afterwards, I wash my face. 

Facial wash is the part of my skincare which I experiment on frequently because that’s the part which I know will least irritate my skin unlike trying on new serum or moisturizer. Unfortunately, up until now, I haven’t found my HG facial wash. I need something that I can feel that my face is squeaky clean when I wash it but without drying it after wash. You know that dry almost chalky feeling on your face after you wash it? Well, me no likey those kinds of facial wash. This is my first time using The Body Shop. I chose it because it is aimed for sensitive skin, so my thought it will not make my skin dry. It actually not, yeayyy!! When you press the pump, the foam will come out and usually I use 2 pumps for my face and my neck area.

You might ask why I dont just use LRP then? Before this variant, I tried the Toleriane line which the after wash effect is making my skin a tad dry, so I decided to get the more moisturizing one and the SA recommended me this line. I would say this cleanser is more like Cetaphil Daily Cleanser. The texture is the same and has no fragrance as well. I’m not saying that it doesn’t clean well, it’s just I don’t get that clean feeling washing my face with it, just like what I experienced with Cetaphil. Yes, it did not make my skin dry but I just don’t feel clean, if you know what I mean. So, I decided it will be best to use it in the morning for the non makeup face.

Toning and Prepping

SK II Facial Clear Lotion

SK II Facial Treatment Essence

As you can see in the picture, my skincare line consists of many SK II products. I have been using them for around 4 years and find it a trustworthy product, that’s why it’s hard for me to experiment with other skincare brands. 

I think I don’t need to explain a lot about these 2 products especially because many of you would know how it works. After cleansing my face, I would tone it with the clear lotion and continue with the Facial Treatment Essence aka The Miracle Water. I used to spritz it using an atomizer but then decided to just pour it on my palms and then pat it to my face and neck. It’s a bit plentiful but my skin feel so hydrated after I do it hence the result is better on me. Some people say that you can use it as a face mask or to compress your acne to clam it down, but I never tried those, so I cannot comment on that.

Serum and Moisturizer (See picture above)

SK II Cellumination Essence EX

SK II Stempower

SK II Cellumination Day Surge UV SPF 30+++

A line up of SK II products waiting after the skin is prepped. The Cellumination Essence EX goes first. This serum has been my HG for achieving that glowy smooth skin texture. No more dull face whne you’re friends with this serum. It brightens and evens out your skintone, giving a supple glowing from within skin. This is the previous version before they launched the Cellumination Aura Essence just a while ago. 

As for moisturizer, I use two different kind for day and night. I am very happy that SK II launched Cellumination Day Surge UV SPF 30+++ to complete its Cellumination range, so without hesitating, I changed my Cellumination Deep Surge EX moisturizer with this one. In my opinion, it is the perfect day moisturizer for it contains broad sun protection spectrum compare to the Deep Surge (it has no sun protection) yet it doesn’t feel too heavy on your skin for daytime use. The texture is just a bit stickier than the first, but its fine by me. 

Anti aging product is essential to use as soon as you feel, well.. aging. I think the ideal time to start investing on your anti aging skin care is when you’re 25. Usually you’re also in the age where budget is not so tight anymore so you definitely can afford the “advance” skin care line. If you’re now more than 25 years old, fear not, but you better start browse and googling which anti aging products that can accommodate your skin issues. Better late than never, yes? The phrase aging gracefully is not without a work you know ;)

2 years ago I discovered SK II Stempower moisturizer. Attracted to its promise that it will enhance the ability to renew itself and makes the skin look firmer, I purchased it. It also mentioned that it will tighten the pores too. I love this red jar a lot and the texture is actually pretty light so you can use it for day time moisturizer. But I use it as my night time moisturizer because it doesn’t contain any SPF and I believe that an anti aging product works better at night when we are sleeping. After application you will feel your skin smoother and it is firmer in the morning after. SK II also has the Stempower Essence, an anti aging serum to be applied before the moisturizer. Experiencing satisfaction with the moisturizer, automatically when it launched, I want to complete my anti aging line with the serum, but unfortunately the ingredients in the Stempower Essence is a bit rich for me. My usually free of zits face got visitors. Even though that the zit came one after the other one’s gone, still I felt that something was not right, so I stopped the serum application and my skin went back to normal. Considering that the serum is too rich for my skin, I gave it to my mom who is in her 50s. As it turned out, my mom loves it to bits because she found it helps with her aging skin. So you might want to try it first for at least a week to see if the serum works well for you. 

Sun Protection

Ettusais UV Block Base SPF50+ PA++++

When I am out and about, I would add more sun protection to protect my skin better. Currently, I am using Ettusais UV Block Base SPF50+ PA++++. The texture is a bit thick but it is still easy to spread on your skin and my skin absorbed it pretty well too. I love the scent of it which I would say a bit herbal-ish similar to tea tree scent even though it said that its fragrances free. I also have other sunscreen sample from Lancome and Shu Uemura, but let’s talk about it more on a different post.

Exfoliation

Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant (Salicylic Acid)

This is my HG liquid exfoliant! Found out about it recently and I would say it’s a must have product in your skincare arsenal. This exfoliant claims to shrink enlarged pores due to its ability to exfoliate skin’s surface and the inside the pore, leaving the skin surface smooth, unclogged pores, and improving skin’s turnover rate. I love what it did to my skin, it really shrinks my pores because it cleans my pores well and my skin texture also feel smoother. The direction is to use it daily but I only use it 2 times a week. At first you may use it 3 times a week, but after you see that your skin condition improving, you might want to reduce the frequency because too much exfoliation will not give you better result. Don’t forget to use sunscreen every time you go out of the house because BHA usage leads to more sensitive skin towards the sun exposure. You only need a small amount of it so this is a good investment because one bottle will last you for quite a while.

Booster

SK II Facial Treatment Repair C

SK II Whitening Spots Specialist

Sometimes, our skin needs more that the usual regime. I call it skin booster. My go to skin booster are SK II Facial Treatment Repair C and SK II Whitening Spot Specialist. I usually put on the Repair C 2 times a week to increase my skin’s moisture level and to improve the texture. I use it before the moisturizer at night and the next morning my skin felt so supple and smooth, plumped but not puffy, ready for the day. It also claims to reduce the appearance of fine lines but that is something that I haven’t really noticed.

SK II Whitening Spots Specialist comes to the rescue when I feel my skin tone is dull. It will give me brighter complexion within a week or two. Brightening or whitening products can dry up your skin, so I usually use it before my moisturizer at night so I can slap on extra moisturizer to keep my skin hydrated, something I cannot do on daytime. Hopefully this product can also help me in reducing the appearance of skin pigmentation or spots. 

Well, that’s my skincare regime on a daily basis. Hope my sharing can help to give some insight for you in terms of picking the right skin care that suits you. So far, I’m pretty happy with my regime result. I will update you again if I decided to change it. Thank you for reading my quite lengthy post.

Toodles,

Stef