Clarins Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil

Several weeks ago my face became really really dry and the skin around my cheeks was especially dry and became really scaly and itchy (apologies if that grosses you out slightly). I had been on the beach and under the sun over the weekend and didn't moisturize enough afterwards...which is terrible of me! I tried everything to re-hydrate my skin which included using the Laneige Sleeping mask, Origins Drink Up Intensive mask, hyaluronic sheet masks, Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre every night...anything and everything I thought was intensely hydrating! Sadly, nothing was really working, at least not at the pace I wanted it to work. During the day, I would wear a hydrating BB cream for work but my skin got so bad that people at work started asking me what was up with my skin because the scaly dry skin was quite noticeable underneath the BB cream. So I started looking through my stash of samples and came across a tiny vial of Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil and I thought why the hell not and used up the whole vial to drench my skin...and BOOM. My skin was saved overnight! The extremely dry and scaly parts of my skin felt smoother, plumper and re-hydrated after using the oil. I was so impressed, I bought a full-size bottle the very next day since my skin was definitely still in need of this miracle worker.

NARS Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base

I'm the kind of girl that will have liquid eyeliner smudged or eyeshadow creased across her lids if I don't have primer on...that's how oily my lids get towards the end of the day. It's my constant nightmare! After using the cult-favourite Urban Decay Primer Potion for a while, I wanted a change and having heard really good reviews about the NARS Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base I decided to go for it.

D&G 3 L'Imperatrice Perfume

I've had my nose on the D&G 3 L'Imperatrice for years... and it's taken me years to finally buy it. You know how it goes...too many perfumes, too little time! I first found out about it from a friend and at the time, it was her Scent for the Year. Do any of you do that too? Just have one signature scent for the year/till its last drop? 

Dior Crème de Rose Smoothing Plumping Lip Balm

Confession: This is the most expensive lip balm I've ever purchased in my entire life.

Okay okay...fair enough I did purchase it willingly so really I only have myself to blame for spending HK$240 on a lip balm. Why? For the pure and simple reason: I am a beauty addict. And one of our many traits is that we love a good hype and we eventually always end up giving in. I have been seeing so many people rave about the Dior Crème de Rose Lip Balm for quite a while now, and at first I told myself "Oh helllll no Carmen, you are not spending such a ridiculous amount on a lip balm!" and "Seriously, Carmen. Do you really need more lip balms?" Then one day, long story short, I walked by a Dior counter and I left with this lip balm in my bag.

NYX Studio Finishing Powder

Hello everyone...it's been a LONG while!

I ran out of both my MAC Blot Powder and Prep+Prime Transparent Finishing Powder (well both of them hit pan pretty hard and subsequently crumbled into pieces), so I went on the hunt for a new setting powder because as much as I do like those two MAC powders, it wasn't really doing as good of a job for me anymore... I was getting super greasy, super fast.

I checked out the powders from Bare Minerals and Make Up For Ever but I wasn't in the mood to risk paying a huge amount for a product I wasn't 120% sure on. Continuing my hunt, I found myself perusing the NYX counters and ended up debating between their Mineral Finishing Powder and Studio Finishing Powder - both loose powders. Now I'm honestly not the biggest fan of loose powders, they are simply too messy to work with but I guess deep down in my subconscious I wanted a change from powder compacts. One of the NYX ladies recommended the SFP over MFP for 'a longer matte finish'... and when I heard those key words, I was sold.