What's in my travel pack?

So I'm not always home. And over the years, especially ever since I started uni and I was staying on-campus, I travelled between campus and home (for work at the weekends) a lot(!) thus, I have been trying to solve the problem of HOW to pack my beauty products whilst travelling, or staying over at friends etc etc. 

I'm pretty happy with how my "pack" is these days. It's all very compact, it fits in my handbag neatly (obviously not the dinky wee bags, but one of decent size) and it isn't heavy to walk around with. So if you go between places a lot, you are staying over at your boyfriend's/friends or you're going on holiday- whatever the reason!- I hope this would be helpful.  

As I have mentioned, it is all very compact. Nothing too oversized. Essentially, I have two make-up bags: one is an Estee Lauder snake-skin, thats probably just a little bit bigger than an A5 sheet of paper and the other is a pencil case-like bag that I got from one of my Glossybox a while ago. 

If you wear contacts like me, you should purchase a travel-size bottle of solution, and it's also re-usable, so you can refill when you've finished.

Make-up wipes are the best for when you want to travel light! The Simple Oil-balancing wipes are my favourite as it cleanses my make-up without leaving that sticky residue other wipes do, instead it leaves my skin feeling matte and fresh.  

Here is what's inside the bags!...Surprised?

In the purple zip-bag I normally pack a toothbrush and hoping that other people will have toothpaste, then I have these Muji stack containers where I store my moisturisers, face primer and face wash -I told you it was compact didn't I? Then I shove all my make-up brushes, brow palette, foundation, powder and a blush in it.

In the pencil-case bag, I put in all my pen-like make-up inside. So concealers, mascaras, gel/kohl/liquid liners, tweezers, Carmex and there's space for my Shu Uemura lash curler! Normally I would put in my favourite lipstick of the week in there too.
If I remember, I try to bring my own face cloth because I somehow feel silly asking for a face-cloth, so I'd rather bring my own.

Unless I knew I was going to somewhere special or if it was to some special occassion, this is generally what I take with me. I hardly wear eye-shadows or false lashes these days as I feel there isn't an actual need especially when I'm always in a rush.

Happy 1st September folks! Can't believe the year has gone by so quickly!

Favourite Product of the Week: Tutti Frutti

FPOW!
So my favourite product of the week is a lip product and since it's summer, I like to opt for a more coral lip colour. My favourite this week is Revlon's Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti 015. Now these have been out in the shops for a while now (must've been at least a year or two now) so you can still grab them at most Revlon counters or drugstores and I've probably had this one for about a year(?)...

I'm just so in love with the colour and its versatility to go with most of the eye looks I go for. It's also wearable on a daily basis because even though it's corally-red, it isn't overwhelmingly bright which is great because I could also wear this to work and it just gives me a pop of colour. The application comes off semi-sheer but build-able. Of course, because it is a lip butter, it is also super moisturising which is just what I need lately.

Review: Benefit's Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation

First of all, I was told by a few people said that this was good for oily skin. What a lie. But to be fair, I wouldn't know for sure if I hadn't tried it for myself.

I've been using this foundation for a week now and have been wearing through different sort of occasions depending what was happening during the week of course! Some days I wear it with a finishing powder some days just pressed powder.

The first thing I noticed about this foundation is that it gives a rather dewy complexion to the skin. I immediately thought "this is so not for oily skin!" because as much as how nice the dewy effect looks, if you have oily skin, your face will just become more and more shiny quicker. Nevertheless, I still wanted to see how long it will last until my face gets really shiny.

FACE BEFORE FOUNDATION WAS APPLIED 

So to start with, I had a few blemishes around my face (the most obvious one being on top of my lip) and redness around the nose area and the bit between my brows (the daylight meant the camera couldn't capture the redness but its there).

FACE AFTER FOUNDATION IS APPLIED

The coverage for this foundation is light - medium, but I felt that it was build-able. In fact, I found that since I normally use my fingers to apply, I decided to switch to using a flat-top brush and that gave more coverage with fewer layers.

On a hot day, the shine comes through quicker, maybe 4hours? and then I would feel I need to use oil blotting papers. On cold dry days, it lasts longer, perhaps a maximum of 8hours for me personally. I have mix feelings about this foundation partly because I do love the shade, it does feel hydrating, it's not heavy, has SPF25 and oil-free (this was probably the bit that was misleading some people) but I was rather gutted to notice instantly that my face wasn't going to stay matte. 

However, I will still keep using this foundation because I discovered that by using a finishing powder or blotting powder the foundation will stay longer so its the end of the world with this product -just invest in a really good finishing powder instead (and because its £24.50 non-refundable.....I am forced to keep it anyway).

My shade is Champagne which when blended, matches my skin very well

Also just to note: the liquid comes out more on the watery/thinner side than I thought, which is why it gives only light-medium coverage.

Also the only reason I'm looking for a foundation/base for oily skin is because all of a sudden my skin decided to lean more to the oily side, I'm not sure if its because of the change in weather or the act of my hormones. 

Next I am going to try Maybelline's SuperStay 24hr foundation. If you have any review/make-up look requests then feel free to leave a comment below OR you can follow me on my Twitter account @SoapyC and I will reply you there. =]

Easy Red Lip Look

Hey folks! It has been 2yrs since I had filmed videos and even then they were rubbish! Out of the blue though, I decided to film one for fun. However forgetting that editing isn't fun at all as it took me 6hours to work out how to use the programme, start editing, then I had to re-edit because it crashed and I had forgotten to save -nightmare.

In the end though, I was happy with the result. =]

About the look


I sometimes feel that some Asians (particularly amongst my friends) that having a bright red lip seems too much for them if it was to be worn casually. Personally, I love red lipsticks. So I decided to show people how to wear it as an overall look.
In balance with the bright lip, I kept the eyes simple and accentuate the cheeks. Truthfully though, to wear anything bright or a bit more quirky and different, all you need is a touch of confidence. And the bright lips? -Just smile.

FOTD: Sweet Pink

This is actually the make-up I had on yesterday, but it's pretty similar to my every-day look anyway. I am currently totally in love with the Kate Moss spring collection lipsticks for Rimmel in the shade no.16! It's a sweet rosey pink and normally I would be more a coral or nude person, this one made it to my everyday-go-to lipstick list! My eyes are then, to keep the look soft, I used brown shades from the Naked Palette. My cheeks I used a new favourite of mines from MAC's mineral blushes collection.

LIPS

Rimmel Kate Moss Spring Collection Lipstick in no.16

EYES

Crease: Naked Palette - Sidecar

Outer crease bring towards middle and up: Naked Palette- Buck

Brow bone: Naked Palette- Virgin

Mascara: Maybelline Colossal Waterproof Mascara in Black

Top liner: L'oreal's Super Liner Carbon Gloss in Black

Bottom Liner: Maybelline's Gel Liner in Black and runned over with HD Brows shadow in Carbon

Brows: HD Brows Vamp Palette in Rich Brown

FACE & CHEEKS

Face: Rimmel's Wake Me Up Foundation in 103 True Ivory,

Maybelline's Mineral Concealer in 02 Natural (I heard this line is discontinued?), 

MAC's Studio Fix Pressed Powder in NW20

Blusher: MAC's Mineralize Blush in Dainty

No Filter and under natural lighting

That's it! It's boiling in my room just now so I'm going to go cool down for a bit (like stick my head in the fridge!).