The part of my beauty routine that I hate the most is shaving. It’s boring and if feels likes such a chore! Unfortunately that’s something that I have to do every day (or every couple of days if I’m lazy) because, using razors, hair tends to grow back again very soon.

I tried depilatory creams but they didn’t work for me and waxing is painful. Besides, nothing gives me a quick and close shave like razors do. The only problem is, those blades seem to turn dull pretty fast! And buying new ones all the time can be expensive.

Luckily, there are a few things you can do to prolong the shelf-life of your razors that will keep both your skin and wallet happy. Here’s how:

Clean the blade: after shaving, always wash the blade to remove all traces of shaving creams or whatever other product you use instead, dirt and hair. This will keep the blade sharp and working properly.

Dry the blade: water can corrode the blade, which can cause it to become jagged. To prevent this from happening, gently dry it with a towel. In alternative, you can dry the blade with a blow-dryer but don’t use it for too long. A few seconds should be enough.

Don’t store the razor in the bathroom: this will avoid the blades being exposed to the steam and humidity every time you take a shower.

Use alcohol: rubbing some alcohol on the blade after every use will keep it clean and disinfect it too.

Do you use razors to shave? if so, what do you do to prolong the shel-life of the blades?

Source

I’m in love with the Wish Upon A Star collection created by Japanese fashion designer Tsumori Chisato exclusively for Shu Uemura. The cute packaging is decorated with the designer’s favorite Japanese icons “twinkle star” and “lucky cat” to add a playful spirit throughout the collection.

PLANET CAT COUTURE PALETTE ($65.00)
This cute LE palette 3 pressed eyeshadows (Black Glitz , Shiny Silver, and Copper), 1 cream eyeliner (Black Purple), 1 cream highlighter (Gold Iridescent), 1 blush (Apricot Pink), and 2 dual-ended applicators (wide tip/narrow tip and cheek brush/liner brush).

RADIANT RIBBON COUTURE PALETTE ($65.00)
A pretty LE palette that contains everything you need for the perfect holiday look: 3 pressed eyeshadows (Rose Pink, Shiny Gold, and Pale Purple), 1 cream eyeliner (Dark Brown), 1 cream highlighter (Diamond), 1 blush (Salmon Pink), and 2 dual-ended applicators (wide tip/narrow tip and cheek brush/liner brush).

DUO COLOR HIGHLIGHTER GOLDEN SNOW ($45.00)
The cute compact includes two shimmering highlighting powders that provide a perfect golden glow.

GLOSS UNLIMITED MINI TRIO SET + POUCH ($45.00)
The pink Tsumori Chisato satin pouch contains three Gloss Unlimited shades in Venus Peach, Moon Gold and Scorpion Red.

ROUGE UNLIMITED JUPITER BROWN ($25.00)
Rouge Unlimited lipstick in Jupiter Brown (LE) is encased within Tsumori Chisato’s exclusive “Lucky Cat” packaging design.

MINI BRUSH SET ($69.00)
The cute golden case contains a chic brush set perfect for touch ups. The set includes 1 essential face/cheek brush, 2 eyeshadow brushes, and 1 lip/eyeliner brush.

COSMETICS POUCH ($29.00)
A cute cosmetic pouch decorated with lucky stars .

What’s your favourite palette?

Beautiful With Brains says: I love Sleek Curious palette. It features a mix of beautiful and pigmented greens, blues and purples and the most beautiful white shade I have ever seen!

From Collistar’s website:
Characterized by a luminous, silky and airy texture, this eyeshadow merges instantly on contact with the skin, adhering perfectly to the eyelids. Enriched with pearly pigments, it is ideal as an ultra-luminous eye make-up with record wear. The innovative “inkwell” bottle and special latex applicator ensure a rapid and even application.

What I liked:
- beautiful, shimmery shade
- light texture
- pigmented
- lasts long without creasing

What I didn’t like:
- hard to blend
- the packaging
- the price

Collistar Eyeshadow Luminous Powder is available in 10 shades, all enriched with pearlized pigments for a very sparkling effect. The shade I have is called Glitter Black and is a greyish black with multicoloured shimmers.

Although they look like huge glitters in the swatch, the pearlized pigments are actually very small in real life and very very shimmery, which may put some people off. But I love the effect very much and I feel like I have a  starry night sky on my lids whenever I wear this!

The eyeshadow has medium pigmentation and a very light and airy texture. The bottle needs to be shaken before application and when you do so, you can hear the sound made by the small balls present inside, which I believe are there to keep the consistency fluid.

I was also impressed with the staying power. If I don’t use a primer, Glitter Black lasts about 10 hours without creasing on my not-oily lids. But you can make the color last all day by applying it over a base.

While I like the formula, I won’t purchase this in other colors because I hate the packaging and the applicator. The shadow comes in a bottle that resemble that of nail polish, only smaller. It is quite light and it doesn’t report how much product it contains so I have no way of knowing how much is left in it and how long it will last.

In addition, it comes with a sponge-tip applicator and I’m worried it won’t manage to get all the product out and there will still be loads left when I think it has all run out. But that is not the only problem I have with the applicator.

Collistar says it is supposed to make application easier, but it actually makes it harder! It is difficult to reach small areas like the inner part of your eye and it is almost impossible to blend the shadow using this applicator. Every time I tried, I always ended up making a huge mess!

And you can’t apply the product straight from the bottle with a normal eyeshadow brush as they are too big to fit in the small opening. So, I have to apply with the sponge applicator and blend with an eyeshadow brush which defeats the purpose of the sponge tip (why having it in the first place if I have to use another brush anyway?).

And because it takes a while to apply, it’s not a shadow I use if I don’t have much time to get ready. It’s a shame cos I love the texture, the color and how shimmery it is and I would have purchased more shades if the packaging had been more practical. But as it is, it’s not worth the hassle imo.

Summary
Collistar Luminous Powder eyeshadow is a pigmented, very shimmery shadow with an airy texture that lasts long without creasing. But the sponge applicator makes blending difficult and you can’t see how much product is still left in the bottle.

Rating: 3/5

how are you all today? Hope you’ve had a nice and relaxing weekend. Last Saturday, I did something that I don’t do often: I wore a kinda natural, subdued look. As much as I love my brights, every now and then it’s nice to do something more wearable.

Since I don’t have many natural shades, I decided to pair brown with silver and although I don’t love how it turned out I don’t think it looks that bad either. The pictures do though. I’m sorry for that but they were taken after a rare night out under artificial lights so that’s why they’re not that good.

I just thought I’d post them anyway as you don’t see me often sporting this kind of look. And because I’m not very creative or good at creating natural, wearable looks, any suggestion is very appreciated. Without further ado, here’s the look:

Products used:
- Urban Decay Primer Potion
- Sleek Curious eyeshadow palette (silver, white and medium brown)
- Sleek Chaos eyeshadow palette (dark brown)
- Pupa pencil eyeliner
- L’Oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara

Directions:
- Apply UDPP all over lid as a base.
- Apply a soft silver shade (I used the one in the Sleek Curious palette) on the lid and crease.
- Swipe a medium brown shade (I used the one in Sleek Curious palette) on the outer corner. With MAC 219 pencil, apply the shade on the lower lashline too.
- With MAC 219 pencil brush, apply a line of dark brown eyeshadow (I used the one in Sleek Chaos palette) on the crease. Now take a crease brush (I used Smashbox’s) and gently blend the color, sweeping it up.
- Apply a white shade (I used the one in the Sleek Curious palette) on the browbone to highlight and on the tear-duct to open up the eye.
- Apply a black pencil liner on the lid.
- Finish off with mascara.