Lust, Not Must: Luxe Beauty Products I Prefer Not To Be Without

You know there are always products that you buy even though you know logically, that there are lot of affordable alternatives? They aren’t a “MUST” and life most definitely can go on without them. However budget allowing, you will keep going for these - over cheaper alternatives - every time. 

Here are some of mine!

Tom Ford Eye Color Quads - so pricey, but so gorgeous. And the color combinations are always so beautifully put together that you don’t need to be great at color coordination to put a great eye look together.

Fresh Sugar Lip Balms - finding perfect lip balm is like finding a perfect mascara; everyone likes something different. And it's like Goldilocks trying different bowls of porridge when you're looking for the perfect one - some are not moisturizing enough, some are too gloopy and sticky, some are too runny, some are too thick... I always sigh despairingly at how expensive a tube of Fresh Sugar balm is compared to something I can pick up at the drugstore - but I always repurchase them. And I sigh and wish I was one of those for whom Maybelline Babylips works just fine.

YSL Rouge Volupte Lipsticks - no these are not the most expensive lipsticks I own; but I do use them up pretty darned fast because they are so soft and creamy and need lots of touching up through the day. But we still love them.

La Mer The Intensive Revitalizing Mask - sleeping packs and leave-on masks are a dime a dozen these days. So why do I have to fall in love with one of the most expensive ones around? This is instantly nourishing but still feels fresh on my dry skin. The comfortable feeling and glow lasts for the whole day.

Aurelia Bamboo Muslin Cloths - hot cloth cleansing has made a world of difference for my skin. It polishes and exfoliates without irritating my dry and semi-sensitive skin. And these anti-bacterial, ultra-soft muslins are still my favorite. I remove makeup and use a cream cleanser, then dampen one of these in hot water and finish my face cleansing routine with a few wipes. No foaming wash required.

Serge Lutens fragrances - no these aren’t the priciest as far as niche scents are concerned, but I definitely have more favorites from this line - and use these more - than my Frederic Malles or any of the other niche lines. So naturally I wish they were cheaper or came in larger, more economical sizes than the standard 50ml.

La Prairie Skin Caviar Foundation and Concealer - this costs a veritable bomb. But it makes my skin feel so good and gives such a perfected, luminous, demi-matte finish that I just buy it against my better judgment. Plus, having a matching concealer in the cap is just - handy.

Urban Decay Alice Through The Looking Glass palette

Urban Decay's released their Alice Through The Looking Glass palette (SGD$88) in Singapore and here are swatches and a couple of quick eye looks, plus my first impressions on the shades.

The presentation is beautiful if you have a predilection for fantastical, psychedelic dream-scapes. The material is cardboard so this is not a heavy palette. Everything is in theme with the visuals in Alice Through The Looking Glass. 

The palette itself comes with a mirror, a quote from Alice, and a foldout that reveals a big blue butterfly within.

It's no surprise that the colors in the palette echo the tones seen throughout the movie. But aside from 4 brighter shades, the palette is filled with lots of neutrals. This is actually a rather versatile palette. There are plenty of options to create either bright and colorful, or soft and wearable looks.

What I always like doing is to combine neutrals and color. This allows me to create flattering, wearable looks that have just enough of a pop of color to make things fun and eye-catching. If you want, you can go to town with mostly bright colors, or play it safe with neutrals.

Shades used below:

A little navy pencil along upper lash line and outer 1/3 of lower lashes
 Bandersnatch and Metamorphosis around lash line
Dormouse as transition along socket
Duchess on lid
Royal Flush on inner corners

Lashes used: Ardell 120 Demis

I wish I could say all the shades are consistently good, but as with many palettes, there are some stellar shades, some so-so, and one so poor quality that I was actually shocked.

In the first row, the two greens, Hatter and Heads Will Roll, were so-so. Time, the gunmetal with a slight blue sparkle, is incredible. I got that swatch in just a single touch.

Dream On - now how did this shade make it into the palette??!
I had to rub a few times just to get that faint grey sparkly stain you see in the image. It's not really an overcoat type of shadow - the texture is too dry and the color is too deep. I'm just puzzled why this shade made the grade; shouldn't there be a minimum quality requirement for Urban Decay shadows?


That aside, most of the other shades are pretty nice in this row. I love Gone Mad and Duchess, and Reflection is a can't-go-wrong matte beige.

As for the warm-themed third row. These 5 shades make a perfect Fall palette.

I had initially expected Metamorphosis to be a bit bright and garish, but it's actually a nice periwinkle satin blue. Pretty.

Also, Cake looks very bright but if you blend it in with other shades it's just a soft warm rose shade, as in the look below.

Shades used below:

Cake in the socket and blended out towards the temple
Paradox on the lid
Gone Mad in outer corner
 Lily around inner corners
A little black liner smudged along the lash line, and a bit of Time blended over it to smoke out the line 

Lashes used: Ardell 110s

Both looks were done using a mix of brushes and without any eyeshadow primer.

This is a 2/3 neutrals, 1/3 colors palette. I think this is a good option for those who maybe want to experiment a bit with colors once in awhile, but mainly want plenty of neutral everyday shades. The quality is generally good, aside from that strangely unpigmented shade Dream On, everything performs pretty well. The brights are all pretty sheer and blend out quite easily, so it's probably more suited to those who aren't too daring with colors yet. Don't expect an intensely bright effect from the greens, blues and pink unless you really pack on the pigments over a good primer.

Sixteen92 Summer 2016 Fragrances

I've been giving most of the Sixteen92 Summer 2016 release a test-run, and I believe I've tried all of them with the exception of "Rid of Me".

The collection is mostly inspired by the 90s Riot Grrrl movement and 90s rock chicks, and are named after specific songs. The scents however, are decidedly modern and quite quirky, which is kinda what I expect of indie perfumery lines like these.

I spoke about scents from the Sixteen92 general catalogue in a previous post, as well as general information on pricing, shipping etc, so if you want to take a look at that, hop over to this page. I'll focus this post on the Summer 2016 collection, which like all seasonal collections is available for a limited period while stocks last.

There are about 10 scents in total - 9 of which I've tried so far.

Sixteen92 Summer 2016 scents Part 1

BELLS FOR HER - Sweet basil, dandelion, star jasmine, green vines, mandarin, ozone, green tea, crushed mint

This was a surprise hit for me. I had wanted a fresh scent that wouldn't be sweet or fruity, and this one is a gorgeous green-floral. 70% green, 30% delicate jasmine. The hint of mandarin and ozone almost creates a fig-like note. Aromatic without being sugary. This is one I will stock up on since I don't know when it will go away for good. It wouldn't be out of place on a Jo Malone or Diptyque counter.

BRUISE VIOLET - Red lipstick accord, dusting powder, white iris, violet leaf, Damascus & Bulgarian rose, red grapefruit zest

The inside of a makeup bag that holds high-end lipsticks and powders, all scented with powdery iris, violet and rose. If you muted the powder slightly and amped the gorgeous florals, you would get Bruise Violet. There is even a slightly waxy undertone that REALLY smells (pleasantly) like a tube of lipstick. Pretty amazing, and for a makeup lover like me, utterly fun.

DOLL PARTS - Rhubarb, white cake, white peach, cassis, osmanthus, ginger flower

You get a soft burst of fruity peach and cassis at first, but it dies down and the sweet vanilla cake accord comes out. Not a heavy buttery pound cake but the softer fluffier type. I'm not a huge fan of peach in fragrances usually because it has a tendency to blend with and make other notes smell a bit candy-like and artificial so I was happy that this doesn't happen with Doll Parts. After dry-down you get a rather light vanilla cake and sweet rhubarb jam. Nice and pretty, and far less cloying than you might imagine.

NEW RADIO - Vanilla milkshake accord, maraschino cherry, pink lemonade, grass clippings, waffle cone
This is one for the gourmand lovers. This is creamy-smooth vanilla ice cream on a sweet vanilla waffle cone, then the green vegetal grass clippings come in to balance out the sweetness. This is the thing that makes the scent unique and not just another heavy bakery dessert scent. The overall effect is standing on grass, eating vanilla ice cream with a hint of fruitiness around the edges. The pink lemonade never comes out for me; it's far far away in the background adding a tiny bit of freshness and keeping the vanilla milkshake accord from being flat and cloying. Oddly enough the waffle cone leaves, then returns, then leaves, then returns. Another favorite of mine.

Shu Uemura Color Atelier Eye Shadow Swatches and Review

Shu Uemura has revamped their eyeshadow line and added an additional 41 shades, They will also be resurrecting 5 discontinued shades, so the total will eventually add up to 100 whopping colors.

Currently in Singapore, there is stock for 82 colors. 41 new, 41 catalogue. Once stock issues have been sorted out all 100 shades in 6 textures (matte, pearl, metallic, shimmer, iridescent, and glitter) will be available for you to pick to your heart's content. 

If you've never purchased Shu shadows before, you'll know they usually work with a custom-system where you buy empty 4-pan palettes for SGD$25 (that's the most common size) and slot in individual shadows at $22 each. The shadows are very reasonably priced as far as high-end shadows go in Singapore, but the palettes themselves tend to be a bit expensive.

If you're put off by that, what a lot of people do is keep their eyeshadows and blushes in the original plastic cases, buy one or two eyeshadow palettes, and just slot in 4 shadows - or 2 shadows and a blush - whenever they need to bring their makeup around. (Or skip the palette entirely if you don't travel or have large custom palettes already; it's up to you.)

Grey-toned smoky eye done with the 4-pan palette pictured at top of post

Shu Uemura shadows have always been great quality; there's no dispute on that. But I've always felt their strength was in the metallic (ME), iridescent (IR) and glitter (G) textures, and not so much the mattes, which were not as buildable or blendable.

But I was quite surprised after swatching 41 new and 2 re-promoted shades below that a lot of the mattes were actually my favorites of the lot. They are designed to have high color fidelity; what you see is what you get. And the textures are also meant to be ultra-smooth and easy to blend.

My custom palette is composed of the below shades:

M 907 -  matte white (catalogue)

M 613 - matte baby aqua (new)

M 935 - matte dove grey (new)

IR 685 - iridescent navy (new)

MAC Blue Nectar Lipstick Swatches

Nothing as gorgeous as shiny, brand new tubes of lipstick. Especially with colors like these.

MAC's Blue Nectar collection launches soon (5 Aug) in Singapore, and features lots of floral-inspired shades from orchid purple to gladiola fuchsia to hibiscus red. And these are pigmented as heck. I personally can't pull off the ultra pale pastels anymore, but if you have a taste for dramatically pale lips, these give good pay-off.

Courting Seduction and Riot House are crazy pale marshmallow shades that are so far from natural that you really don't have to think about whether they suit pale or dark skins. They "suit no one", so they could suit everybody depending on whether you have the guts for it.

Same for the ultra deep purple, Lust Extract. I would say you need to be careful about building this color up, or it can look patchy because it is so dark. But it's actually a rather nice shade, and more flattering than you might imagine.

As for all the mid-range colors, they are gorgeous.

I think Sweet Venom will give a soft candy mouth to fair girls and actually gives more of a "pastel" themed effect than the paler shades. Try it with colorful purple or green cat-eye liner and matching peachy-beige blush.

As for the corals, reds, and pinks, I can't see these going wrong on most people. Ablaze reminds me of a deeper Viva Glam Nicki I. Not as milky, but still bright, so it's probably easier to pull off without looking that neon effect. Barbeque was a shade in the Toledo collection and a gorgeous vermillion red that would look gorgeous on girls with a yellow undertone.

And those pinks, Intoxica, Breathing Fire, and Invite Intrigue? I love them. The only reason you might want to skip these would be that they are not especially rare shades and probably easy to dupe or find in many other ranges. But in terms of color, smoothness and intensity, these are fab.

I think there are a couple of shades missing in my press bag so I can't swatch the full range, but let me know what you think of these colors and which you're interested in!

Sixteen92 Perfumes

A reader recommended that I check out Sixteen92.com if I loved Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oils, so I did - and I ended up purchasing quite a number of items from them. And I'm not disappointed!

The collection is not huge. 

They have a General Catalogue of 15 permanent scents, all of which can be purchased in 4 sizes - 2ml sample vials, 6ml vials, 10ml roll-ons in the oil form, and 30ml parfum sprays in alcohol base. And then they have seasonal limited edition collections, which are online while stocks last. They also sell body products and wax melts which I have not tried. 

Summer 2016 scents inspired by the 90s Riot Grrrl movement and rock chicks

Prices are also very reasonable despite the fact that these are mostly, if not all, made with - as far as I can tell - natural essences and absolutes instead of cheaper synthetics. US$20-22 for 10ml roll-ons which, if you are used to paying $17.50-30 for BPALs which are half the size, is very good. 

I buy most of these in 10ml roll-ons even though I actually like the look of the 6ml vials more - just because I am excessive and I don't like to worry about running out too soon. And 10ml will last a long time since you don't need a whole lot to get good scent at all. The fact that they come in black roll-on tubes also means your scents are better protected from light, which can degrade scent molecules.

I've tried quite a number of scents - all in the oil form because I just love those so much better than sprays in general. 

• They sit closer to the skin, 
• have a more consistent scent strength throughout the day, and 
• last longer than many alcohol-based scents, which are either too strong in the beginning, or fade too quickly over the day.

I will say if you are used to BPALs (and the 600+ strong catalogue with as many scent ingredients as the day is long), you might find Sixteen92's smaller range lacks variety. There are recurring notes in many scents, which is completely understandable. Natural absolutes can be shockingly expensive if you've ever studied natural perfumery or purchased ingredients, so it seems reasonable that a new business not start with an inventory of hundreds of different essences.

To their credit, the scents don't smell alike. I think they are all unique and different from one another, and run the gamut from likeably-pretty sweet or floral scents, to more quirky green, woody, smoky, or dark ones.

From the General Catalogue, here are the scents I've tried, which I will review briefly below since they are available permanently.

BLACK SUGAR - Spun brown sugar, red berries, vanilla and tonka bean absolute dance with a sprinkle of dirt, a swirl of cauldron smoke, and a drop of bittersweet cocao absolute.

My thoughts: One of my favorites; try this if you love sweet foody scents or the idea of Aquolina's Pink Sugar. This is Pink Sugar's caramel cotton candy with a sexy, dark, soft smokiness, and without that burnt chemical undertone (I can smell that licorice note in PS and I don't like it). I admit that because I am crazy, I adulterate my vial of Black Sugar with a few extra drops of cacao absolute for an extra bitter chocolate kick. Lasts hours and hours.

GRIMM - Cocao absolute, Tonka bean, tobacco, immortelle, wet forest moss & leaves

My thoughts: Tobacco, tobacco, tobacco with lots of earthy wet vegetation, and a back-note of bitter cocoa. Very masculine, pungent, and dark on first sniff, but this warms up and rounds out on the skin, and the creamier, sweeter cocoa and tonka aspect comes out a little more. Not for the faint of heart. I disliked this at first but found myself going back again and again to sniff it. This is like that abrasive, intriguing bad boy you can't get along with, who ends up charming you in spite of yourself.

HELLEBORE - Tuberose absolute, Sambac Jasmine, oakmoss, tobacco, chilled earth, cocao, black musk

My thoughts: Strange earthy floral. When I saw the name I thought this would be a rose scent. Turns out it is tuberose. With jasmine. Both indolic florals with a pungent, dirty, almost decayed undertone. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I love tuberose and jasmine. I'm just not always sure about tobacco notes. I think it overpowers most blends, and with Grimm, it works with the dark earthy cocoa, immortelle and oakmoss. Here, the whole composition reminds me of flower petals decaying on damp forest floor. That might actually be pretty interesting, but it's not immediately appealing to me, and I need to test it further to see how it develops.

LA LLORONA - Bulgarian and Egyptian rose absolute, pink and white pepper, pink grapefruit, wisteria, cashmere wood, pale amber

My thoughts: I could almost swear I smelt neroli or orange blossom in here, but it's probably just the bright pink grapefruit blended with soft clean flower. This is one of the lighter, "whiter" scents in the Sixteen92 catalogue and one I do reach for once in awhile when I crave something clean but not detergent-like. Very classy but not a heavy, shoulder-pads and Chanel bag floral. Not the longest-lasting scent, which is expected of a soft floral.

LOLITA - Crisp apple skins, tart peach candies, rose absolute, sugared violet

My thoughts: This is Sixteen92's bestseller, and I was extremely excited, but it turned out to not be one of my favorites, simply because peach and rose always tend to blend into a note that makes me think of bubblegum. (How two natural notes can combine and turn into artificially flavoring I'll never know.) But that's just me. On it's own, this is a sweet, girly scent that is neither overtly floral nor overtly fruity. Everything meshes into - bright candy. Not for me, but probably fun and yummy for a lot of people.

MELLIFERA - Wildflower honey accord (not vegan), violet, sambac jasmine, vanilla infused sugar, sandalwood

My thoughts: One of my favorites. I don't like eating honey, but I LOVE honey and beeswax notes in perfumery. Mellifera has the linear simplicity you'd expect of a honey scent, but it's also got the complexity of wildflower honey. It is sweet, but also a hint of leathery animalic tones, and beautiful woodland notes of flowers and trees. If you don't like the smell of honey you might not like this one. If you are a BPAL fan and you like O but wish it was less musky or syrupy, try Mellifera.

PAPER MOON - Soft vanilla musk, benzoin, oakmoss, trailing ivy, peach blossom, rose

My thoughts: Vegetal, green, with an underpinning of sweetness that peeps out from beneath the carpet of green vines. This is very unique, and was previously a limited edition scent which was so popular that it made it into the permanent catalogue. Not one I reach for all the time, but definitely one that is very unique and that I go back to once in while.

SOUTHERN GOTHIC - Mandarin, apple, natural coconut pulp, magnolia grandiflora, sambac jasmine, sweet balsam, white sandalwood

My thoughts: Languid, sleepy, sunny white florals with a tropical bend. It's not a sticky piña colada scent; more a hot-weather bloom which is quite refined and non-sugary. Interesting play-off between clean florals and fruits with a gamey thick coconut pulp. This coconut note is not like refreshing coconut water. It's creamier and heavier, like thick coconut milk used often in Asian cooking. Despite this, the scent doesn't go over into foody territory.

WICKED - Three vanillas, aged patchouli, almond buttercream 

My thoughts: Another one I disliked at first, but slowly started to crave  in no time. Just because they say three vanillas does not mean there is three times the amount of vanilla as patchouli. If you expect a creamy, gourmand scent, you will be very surprised. And if you are not used to patchouli, this aged stuff might be shocking to your nose. It is deep, earthy, musky and pungent. The almond buttercream is not noticeable on its own, and just adds some body to the vanilla, which is also quite dark. More like smoky resinous vanilla absolute than ice-cream vanilla.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with what I have. If you want generic scents, there are not that many. Most of these have a lot of personality and may appeal more to adventurous noses. Often, despite the listing of common notes like vanilla, jasmine, cocoa, they do not smell anything like mainstream fragrances containing those notes. This is mainly because natural essences are a LOT more complex than synthetics, and there is also variation between batches depending on harvest. But that's part of the fun for me. You never know exactly what you're going to get.

Service is relatively quick and Claire the owner is very responsive. I've requested to combine multiple orders to save on shipping and she's done it and refunded me the excess money without questions asked. If I have to have a complaint, it would be that the black paper labels on the 10ml roll on vials have a tendency to lift up at the edges, and presentation-wise, it just does not look as great as the 6ml sticker labels.

To see more, have a look at their scent catalogue. I am waiting for an order of a few more of their Summer 2016 scents and will try to review those soon!