Beauty

As I mentioned in this post some time ago, I am one of the ambassador’s for The Body Shop’s Cruelty-Free beauty campaign! As you may remember, March 11th was a great victory for our little furry friends – the EU officially banned the use of animal testing on cosmetics. And to celebrate this special campaign, singer Leona Lewis, The X Factor UK winner, vegetarian and animal lover, teamed up with The Body Shop to create her own cruelty free makeup collection. I have been using it the last few weeks and I have to say I am really impressed! Older readers might remember my post on high school makeup, my best friend and I used to use TBS makeup a lot so I know it’s great products.

My favourite of the bunch? Well I can’t really pick, but it’s definitely the Face Shimmer Palette, the gorgeous blush brush and the lipgloss. As Leona herself says, the collection is “playful, fashion-forward and perfect for Spring.” I agree! There is a real girliness to her products that I haven’t seen TBS do and it’s really cute. I really love the hot pink petal-shaped blush brush, which has just replaced my MAC blush brush. It might look small, but it’s really strong and the bristles are firmly in place, which allows for great control. In fact, I was thinking of buying another one to use as a Kabuki brush for loose powder, I really like it! Also, the collection includes a special White Musk Libertine fragrance, which I really love as well. If you’ve seen my photos on Instagram, I’ve talked a lot about these favourites of mine – the Face Shimmer gives such a pretty glow (I prefer the Oh Deer! Blush one for everyday wear, and I’ll keep the Oh Deer! Bronze for summer when I want something more bronzey). The fragrance is really unique; nothing I have smelled before. To me, it smells like caramel and musk, which you would think is a weird mix but it smells lovely… The musk is the first artificially musk, so absolutely no animals were harmed. For some reason, it reminds me of Leona, even though I have obviously not met her.

The collection also includes some gorgeous eyeshadow shades (my favorite is Bronze Bliss), a few lipgloss shades, with my favorite being Deerlicious Fuschia, which I think Leona is wearing in the photo above.

Have you tried anything from Leona’s collection yet? Let me know if you have and which ones were your favorites. Also, don’t forget to sign the Cruelty-Free pledge at all The Body Shop stores! The more signatures we have the more voices – and I think it’s time we target the rest of the world to ban animal testing! :)

For the past week or two I’ve been testing out See by Chloe, the debut fragrance from the See by Chloe line (aka “Chloe’s little sister”). I was really excited about this perfume because as probably Chloe they make some of the most lovely, feminine scents in the most stunning bottles. I still have my Eau De Chloe which is seriously one of the most pretty bottles, don’t you think? So, as a fragrance addict, I was already eagerly awaiting See by Chloe in Singapore as I have been reading about their debut fragrance. Also – that bottle! I read that it was inspired by an antique bird cage, and I think you can definitely see that. As usual, Chloe has done a great job with their bottle design.

On to the scent. I was ready for a general “fresh” and floral scent just in time for Spring. However, See by Chloe – like all Chloe fragrances – has something a little more unique, a little more “old school”. While See by Chloe is indeed a very fresh, floral scent, there is a sharp bitterness to it – think a bitter nut thrown into a sea of bergamot and apple. It gives the freshness of bergamot that woody, sharpness which I love. This sharpness also gives a slight edge to the usual fresh scent which I really like; so instead of say, a field of flowers in Spring, it’s like the forest in Spring. Just lovely! Ylang Ylang and jasmine come into play once the top notes settle, making the scent still undeniably feminine and lovely (usually woody fragrances start to steer off to “masculine” territory, but not with See by Chloe).

Fresh, floral and a bit of edge – definitely one of my favorite releases this year! I love it. Have you tried See by Chloe yet? It is available right now, so run, don’t walk to TANGS Orchard or Vivocity, Takashimaya D.S., Robinsons or Isetan Scotts. In other words it’s everywhere! ;) A 50ml bottle is S$122. If you’re overseas, you can find the fragrance online at Macys or Amazon Beauty.

Last Monday, before going off to The Body Shop event, I popped into Spa Esprit to try out their latest offering, a massage called Back to Balance. Using pure essential oils and a special AromaTouch technique, the massage is meant for those who need to, well, get back to balance. Stress, toxic environments, weak immune system can dull us and make us feeling like utter crap, and in 90 mins the Back to Balance massage aims to reverse that!

This was my first time going into Spa Esprit, and I loved the rustic, urban feel to the spa – doesn’t it look fab? Totally serene, calm and nice, like you’re right in nature.

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As some of you might know, I am quite the fan of BB creams. I used to love (and still do, it’s still a great product) Laura Mercier’s Tinted Moisturizer, but with BB creams popping up everywhere with much better SPF and benefits, I’ve slowly moved onto them. There are many new ones that recently came out, so I’ve been rotating BB creams around every few days and I think it’s time for a proper review!

1. Kiehl’s Actively Correcting & Beautifying BB Cream: This BB Cream is impressive in it’s features, in that it has a whopping SPF50 and contains Vitamin C, which as you might remember from an old post, Vitamin C is amazing for the skin in terms of anti ageing, exfoliating, brighting, and firming. While it’s a great BB cream, one thing is that the tint is so light – almost too light – and that you’ll need at least two layers (or a big dallop of the product) for proper coverage. However, if you have great skin already and are looking for a tinted sunscreen, this is it.

2. Philosophy Be Your Best BB Cream: You gotta love Philosophy and their positive messages. This BB cream is fair – the SPF could be higher (especially against its competitors), but it’s still decent. The BB cream is light and gives a slight tint and long lasting finish. There’s nothing really to complain about this one really, it just does what it says and it’s good. My mom loves it.

3. Clarins UV PLUS HP Multi-Protection Perfecting BB cream: I was surprised that they came out with a BB cream, because their famous UV Plus HP Sunscreen already has a tinted version, so I thought it’s basically the same thing and tricky marketing. However, it’s not really – this BB cream has more coverage and was a little thicker than their sunscreen. It still has the same SPF 40 though, which is good in my books. Just… the price! Clarins is always pricy and this 30ml BB cream is $74.

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