Saturday, August 28, 2010

NYX Jumbo Pencils

Oh the raves about these little things I tell you! Of course I just HAD to investigate!

Hence, I present to you these:-



From left to right:- Milk, Pure Gold, Purple Velvet, Orange and Black Bean.

The must have colors are Milk and Black Bean. Milk used as a base so lighter colors applied on it pop and Black Bean as a base for smoky looks.

What you notice first is that these are not your regular slimline pencils. These are the Sumo Wrestlers of the pencil world and hence the name "Jumbo" Eye Pencils! For the relatively cheap price (less than 15 ringgits) I was all excited at the amount of product that I got!

The best part is that these pencils apply so very smoothly and are dreamy creamy which makes it so super blendable. Because it is creamy though, there can be a tendency to overuse. So exercise caution when using as a little goes a very long way.

On the downside.....because of the Jumbo-ness, it is not ideal for using to precisely line the eyes. You will most likely end up with an uneven line. (You can tell that I tried to do it right?) 

You will also need to invest in a sharpener that is big enough to accomodate the larger girth that this pencil has but this is not difficult as these sharpeners are easily found. You know when I am sharpening my lip liners, I always mourn the fact that a lot (a LOT!) of product is wasted from the sharpening....I hate that which is why I was delighted to come across many video's online on de-potting (yes! de-potting) the Eye Pencil without changing the quality or consistency of the product. I may give it a go and report back later with my findings.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Kings & Queens Nefertiti Honey Soap

Free from Mineral oil and parabens, Kings & Queens Nefertiti Honey soap got me all giddy from first smell! Yummeh!

When I have time, I like to spend my Saturday afternoon taking a nice long shower and I would take the time to work in some scrubbing and rubbing into the whole routine. I picked the Nefertiti Honey soap from the range to join the other little gems that I use during my shower.

The bar is huge (larger than the standard bar of soap) and I needed to shop for a soap dish large enough to house the honeyed beast, which of course took a long time as I had to shop in several places before I was happy with this one dish! Did I ever tell you that I am a little crazy?

I don't need to go into the wonderful properties of honey but if it is good enough for Queen Nefertiti, it's good enough for lil' ol' me!

The soap lathers a little more than normal soap and is very sudsy. The smell was nicer when it was still in the package so I was a little disappointed with the intensity which was far less  than when it was unused and packaged! Bah! Also, I felt that the soap was a little drying to my skin despite the fact that this soap is enriched with Pomegranate, Blue Egyptian Lotus and Malachite extracts.

So, nothing magical about this soap apart from the fact that it is a little more luxe than normal soaps and you do need to treat yourself a little now and then eh!

King & Queens does some lovely body butter, body milk and shower gels apart from their soaps. I purchased this at Shins at One Utama for RM25.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

NYX Blushes in Silky Rose, Desert Rose and Pecan






I recently purchased these little babies and have since taken them for a test drive.

The first thing that I noticed was that nice embossed or quilted pyramid pattern on it which I really love. For me it adds a touch of luxury and its fun to look at. 

I am sure that all of you already know that NYX (pronounced Nix) is affordable and has really taken off because of the price as well as quality. Unfortunately though, not available in Malaysia yet which is really sad!

The three colors that I picked up were Silky Rose, Desert Rose as well as Pecan.

My first impressions were that they did not look as finely milled as I had expected. When I swept a fan brush over the blush for the first time, I was alarmed at how chalky and powdery the blush was and this confirmed my initial impression of it.

However, these blushes are intensely pigmented which means that you should use it sparingly as you can pick up too much color and then have a huge spot of color on your cheek. A fan brush works well for picking up a light dusting of this blush and blending well (perhaps you can use a kabuki brush to buff the color well) is KEY in getting the color evenly on your cheeks. Some of us tend to sweep our brush into the pan to pick up the color - not so for this one. It will only pick up too much color and leave you with a chalky mess to deal with. So whatever brush you use, make sure you gently sweep it across the color. I know some blushes take some work with the brush to get it to pick up a decent amount of color. But if you are patient and wield some measure of control over your brush, these blushes will work very nicely. Remember it is easier to build color to the desired amount rather than take away.

I love both Silky and Desert Rose which is great on Indian skin. I purchased Pecan to use as a contour and I am still improving my technique with it.

I hope dear readers that you will stick by me as I have loads more NYX products to review and will do so soon!