recently i received some new toys from my friend. thank you!! things that are either not available here or overpriced here. thanks so much! i finally had the chance to photograph them and start to play with my new toys.

it's australia day today. public holiday. i went out briefly with this look.

on my eyes, mac paint pot in soft orchre all over the lids. a thin winged eyeliner with maybelline's master precise eyeliner. nyx eye / eyebrown pencil in seafoam green just above the winged line. the eye pencil also applied to outer 1/3 of lower lash and smudged out with cotton bud.

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i hope everyone had a great chinese new year, whether you celebrate it or not.

darling girl cosmetics eyeshadow in dragon's breath. it was gwp with purchase $10 or more from last year's black friday sale. i chose to wear this eyeshadow on chinese new year because it has the name 'dragon' which matches the chinese zodiac for this year. the pretty sparkles are to die for!

dragon's breath is such a pretty color. looks sort of blackish blue or green on my eyes with loads of golden sparkles. it's so hard to capture the sparkles on camera.

i first primed my eyes with 2 layers of udpp followed by evil shades spectrum pots in absorbed near the lashline. padded darling girl cosmetics eyeshadow in dragon's breath all over the lid and outer lower lashline, silk naturals eyeshadow in u r cute at inner corner and inner lower lashline, black rose minerals eyeshadow in bonehead on the brow bone.

top lashline was tightlined with maybelline eyestudio master pricise eyeliner. lashes coated with maybelline colossal mascara and inner corner lashes with maybelline great lash lots of lashes mascara.

i didn't have time to redo my makeup for the family reunion dinner. face was oilier and eyeshadow creased slightly after the whole day. did a bit of blotting and powdering to freshen up the look.

i intensified the eyes more for the evening. re-touched up the top lashline with maybelline eyestudio precision eyeliner, lined the top lashline with maybelline gel liner in charcoal. added more dragon's breath all over the lid and lower lashlines.

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i love it just by looking at the word. instant age rewind. erase dark circles.

the product promises to 'erase away the signs around your eyes'.

exactly what i need!

this comes with puff applicator.

in general, i don't like product that comes with any form of applicator attached. especially when it's a wet product. i'm concerned that it may be breeding grounds for things i don't want to know.

the applicator is saturated with concealer by twisting the cap. 1 or 2 twists will get enough product for normal application. however when it's new you need to work on twisting.

it comes in 3 colors. like most drugstore products, the color range are quite limited.

color swatched at the back of my hand, unblended.

when blended, they almost match my skin. light is a tad bit lighter and medium is a tad bit darker. i've using these 2 alone under my eyes and they didn't look too off.

i can't use brightener alone because it will be too light. i can layer it over either light or medium to give luminous glow. just make sure less than normal on the first layer to prevent caking. yes, i tried applied both layer as i would with the 'normal' amount and i looked awful!

my thoughts

the product feels creamy and smooth when applied, and can be easily blended into the skin.

the coverage is great. it covers my dark circles quite well! i was instantly impressed!

fine lines around my eyes is another concern. my fine lines aren't really that serious visually, but when i take close up eotd photos and turn on camera's macro mode, they are blown up loud and clear.

though it doesn't erase the lines, it doesn't settle deep into them. the lines appears softer.

i find that i don't need to powder this under eye area and it still last all day (8 hrs) on me. powder contributes to the caking factor and eccentuates the lines around the eyes. another plus!

the product also says to reduce puffiness. i don't have this problem and can't say much about it.

however, the applicator... it's a love-hate relationship.

the applicator makes application convenient, quick and easy. just 1 or 2 twists gets enough product on the puff and apply directly to the under eye area. it can also be used to blend out the concealer. i prefer to complete the blending job with my finger or a concealer brush to give a more even look.

at the same time, i'm worried about contamination. it'd be nice if the applicator can be detached and cleaned. the best i can do is to tissue off as much product as possible from the applicator after use.

given that the product does erase the years away visually and fixes 2 of my biggest concerns, dark circle and fine lines, it's getting my love.

this is a new product available in january and rrp aud$18.95.

product was sent for consideration.

it's chinese new year's eve. this is what i wore to family lunch (we're having lunch for the traditional meal instead of dinner this year). i didn't have time to take photos before i got out of the house. this was taken 4 hours later.

i wore the traditionally lucky festive color, gold and red. gold = wealth and who doesn't love having lots of wealth (after health)? the look was more sparkly earlier but the liquid glitter didn't last long and 'cracked'.

the eyes were primed with udpp followed by evil shades spectrum pots in pink prysm. roughly created a winged liner with maybelline eye studio gel liner in brown (doesn't have to be perfect because it will be smudged out and provide a guide for the gold glitter).

the golden color was detrivore eyeshadow in greed about 2/3 of the lid and the red was  black rose minerals eyeshadow in piggy #3 at the outer corner (though the red is hardly visible after blending).

the full top lashline was lined with the brown from pf gel cream liner for blue eyes and the center of top lash was lined maybelline master precise eye liner. models prefer golden glitter liquid liner on the top lashline and chanel stylo yeux waterproof eyeliner #10 on the waterline and smudged out with greed.

the look was completed with 2 coats maybelline colossal mascara on the lashes and great lash lots of lashes mascara at the inner corner lashes.

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evil shades spectrum palette. i bought this last year for my birthday (which was in august) for usd$20. they're now usd$30.

the product is wax based pigmented color. it's said to be a cross between nyx jumbo pencils and paintpots. they can be worn alone or used as base to intensify colors of eyeshadows.

at the time of order, there were no color choices. now you can customize the palette with colors of your choice. it comes with 2 sponge tip applicators.

color swatched at the back of my hand applied about 3 to 4 swipes with the sponge tip applicator.

i thought i've already written a post about this. apparently i forgot.

initial thoughts

i read some great reviews the spectrum pots. nyx jumbo pencils don't work for me. i was hoping these will.

the first disappointment was the color intensity. i've seen swatches with intense colors. however, as seen from my swatch, i had to do apply many swipes to get some color intensity. i couldn't get the green to show up. imagine how sheer it is when applied on the delicated eyes. it was after reading more reviews that the colors are in fact that way. i've learned not to rely too much on arm swatches, where the colors are usually more intense. they are great to demonstrate the color complexity but they don't usually end up that way on my eyes.

it was the color intensity expectation i found application difficult. i couldn't get any colors on my eyes. i found the sponge tip applicator useless. it just wipes off the primer applied before it and eyeshadows creased badly. it was hard picking up colors with my fingers. i couldn't work out how to appy. instruction from the website also suggested stiff brush (which i don't have) and cotton swab (couldn't apply the color evenly).

the disappointment is gone after learning that that's how they should be.

the next disappointment was the crease factor. nyx jumbo pencils crease on me. if used as color base, increased the rate of eyeshadow creasing.

i do have difficult eyes to work with. a lot of products crease even though many claimed that they work. i was hoping this will be the exception. like nyx jumbo pencil, while color of eyeshadow are more intense, it increased the rate of eyeshadow creasing. sometimes eyeshadow creased almost immediately! i tried different ways of application and they all failed.

i concluded back then that it's another failed product! i've not touched this palettel for months since then. until x'mas holiday.

second chance

while tidying my makeups during the holidays, i came across this palette and was debating to keep it or not. since i hate things going wasted, i decided to work on it again.

i'm not sure if it's due to the nature of the palette packaging, they will become drier. and it works better on me when it's drier!

from memory it was waxier when i got it a few months ago. it's harder to pick up product with my finger due to the drier consistency, but there are products there. on the other hand, i find that the colors are a bit more intense when padded on my lids than initial use.

in addition, eyeshadow last longer than when i first tried them. i've been using them as base quite frequently this holiday, when i don't wear makeup full day. surprisingly, eyeshadows did not crease until about 4 hours later. on the eye that has very bad crease problem, the eyeshadows faded greatly by about 6 hours. these were used over either udpp or tfsi.

while they may not last whole day on my eyes, i'm glad to find out they are usable now. i will not wear them on normal working days but i can use them when i'm only wearing makeup for a few hours.

i've used it a lot during the holidays and now on weekends.