LookFantastic Beauty Box January 2017 Review, Unboxing

LookFantastic Beauty Box January 2017 Review, Unboxing

Vintage Cosmetic Company Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, January 19, 2017

The first LookFantastic Beauty Box of the year is here. It is themed the Beauty Revolution Edition, meant to overhaul our routine and help make new beauty discoveries. You would expect this box to be skincare-centric, but three of the products are actually makeup this time!
I love the positive design of the box itself. Lots of hope for the new year. The box comes with the January edition of the Elle UK magazine, and the regular beauty-box magazine, which is now glossy and contains breakfast recipe ideas and lifestyle articles, apart from more on beauty products.

Scroll down for the contents of the LookFantastic Beauty Box January 2017.

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Beautylish Lucky Bag 2017 Review, Unboxing, Contents

Beautylish Lucky Bag 2017 Review, Unboxing, Contents

Wayne Goss Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, January 14, 2017

Meet the world's best beauty box. It comes out only once a year, on Boxing Day. I bought last year's Beautylish Lucky Bag, which you can see here, and fell in love with the concept.
Lucky Bags are popular in Japan around the New Year time - businesses distribute them, believing they will bring good luck to the recipients.
There is no actual bag - the contents of the Beautylish Lucky Bag come in a regular box with special wrapping paper. The owl, which Beautylish incorporates in the wrapping paper each year, is said to bring luck. Nils, who co-founded Beautylish, tells his staff to make each bag better than the previous years'.
The Lucky Bag costs $75, and international customers need to pay shipping as well. You cannot combine orders with the Lucky Bag. But the contents are worth a lot more - my own bag contains products worth a whopping $194, as you can see below. 
Spoiler: There are NO eyeshadows in my Lucky Bag!

Scroll down for the contents of the Beautylish Lucky Bag 2017.

16 Cute Makeup Buys From Feelunique's Birthday Sale

16 Cute Makeup Buys From Feelunique's Birthday Sale

Zoella Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, October 14, 2016

International beauty retail giant Feelunique - one of those rare sellers who ship everywhere - is celebrating their birthday this week with a series of offers, including 30% off on Bourjois. .
From today until Saturday - 15 October - you get £10 off a purchase of £60, which includes free worldwide shipping, using code BLUE. On Sunday, 16 October, you get 15% off everything, using code RAINBOW. Codes are not valid on already discounted products.

Here is a list of the cutest beauty buys to take advantage of the Feelunique Birthday Sale.

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Why You Need The Brush Guard For Your Makeup Brushes

Why You Need The Brush Guard For Your Makeup Brushes

Wayne Goss Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, October 10, 2016

Last year, I invested in some Wayne Goss, Koyudo, Hakuhodo and Chikuhodo makeup brushes - see here for the Wayne Goss brushes and my thoughts on them. All of these are handcrafted in Kumano, Japan, and the bristles, made of natural goat or squirrel hair, is never cut at the tips, so the brushes are the softest and most delicate.
Being the rough handler and klutz that I am, I knew it was only a matter of time before I ended up mutilating the bristles. After all, we are talking about someone who once stepped on a glass nail file.
The Brush Guard protects your makeup brushes from rough handling, travel, dust, accidents and even the rigours of washing and drying. It keeps the bristles even and in shape. 

Scroll down for more on how Brush Guards protect makeup brushes.

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Why You Need The Best Of Sigma Makeup Brush Set

Why You Need The Best Of Sigma Makeup Brush Set

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Is there any makeup user who does not love Sigma's makeup brushes? Luxuriously crafted, cruelty-free, soft, dense Sigmax bristles in heavy wooden handles and chrome ferrules, with a two-year warranty - what's not to love?
Choosing the right Sigma brushes can be confusing. There are six different eyeliner brushes. Ten blending brushes for eyeshadows. Which do you pick - where do you start?
Thankfully, Sigma themselves have provided the answer. A comprehensive, seven-brush set of four eye makeup brushes and three face makeup brushes - their seven bestselling brushes.

Scroll down for more on the Best of Sigma makeup brush set.

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Moomooi By Feelunique LE Accessories Collection S/S 2016

Moomooi By Feelunique LE Accessories Collection S/S 2016

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Beauty retail giant Feelunique has collaborated with fashion illustrator @moomooi - Meredith Wing, whose clients include Cosmopolitan, Coach, De Beers and Rebecca Minkoff - to launch an exclusive limited edition accessories collection for Spring/Summer 2016. Wing is known for giving her illustrations a 3D effect, by using flowers, fruit, vegetables and other material along with the drawings. The collection, which includes makeup accessories, bags/fashion accessories and iPhone accessories, is inspired by the Pantone Colours for 2016 - Rose Quartz and Serendipity.

Scroll down for deets on the @moomooi by Feelunique Limited Edition Accessories Collection for S/S 2016.

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Best Wash Cloths For Cleansing Your Face

Best Wash Cloths For Cleansing Your Face

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, June 07, 2016

Do you use flannel or muslin cloths to wash your face and remove makeup? I do now. Until December, I used the same towel to dry my hands and face, and admit to having used even turbie twists for drying my face at a pinch. Which, according to my derm when I consulted her over a horrible breakout, is as bad as using the same pillowcase for weeks on end. Lesson learnt, I now have separate wash cloths for the face, and change the cloth after every cleanse.
Using wash cloths for cleansing your face is not only a luxurious, pampering step in your routine, but it also improves circulation, provides gentle exfoliation and leaves your face squeaky-clean and 100% makeup-free without resorting to harsh cleansers or specialised makeup removers. Ideal facial cloths are flannel, though I use muslin if I am using an exfoliating or resurfacing cleanser or following with a peel. Here are the best face cleansing cloths out there, in descending order.

Scroll down for a list of the best flannel wash cloths for cleansing your face.

LookFantastic Beauty Box May 2016

LookFantastic Beauty Box May 2016

Wet Brush Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, May 23, 2016

LookFantastic's May 2016 edition is themed #LFHelloBeautiful. Last month, they released spoilers that this box would contain body and hair products - the April box was supposed to be au naturel face care but contained mostly bath and body products. The product magazine says this month's products will give you a flawless and radiant complexion. A copy of this month's issue of Elle UK is included with the exclusively-designed green box.

Scroll down to take a look at the contents of the May 2016 LookFantastic Beauty Box.

Why You Need Wayne Goss Makeup Brushes

Why You Need Wayne Goss Makeup Brushes

Wayne Goss Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Ever since I bought my first Wayne Goss brush last November - see here - my older makeup brushes have been languishing in oblivion while the WG brushes have not left the top of my vanity.
Believe me, the hype is real. Every bit of it. All my other brushes are just knocked out of the ball park with these.
Before we go any further - I bought these. Wayne Goss has no idea I exist. I gain nothing except maybe lose a few hours taking photos, writing, cropping and so on.

Scroll down for deets on all the Wayne Goss makeup brushes and how I use them.

Best Beauty Gadgets 2015: Holiday Gift Guide, Round-Up

Best Beauty Gadgets 2015: Holiday Gift Guide, Round-Up

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, December 16, 2015

There is still time to get some last minute gifts - or well-deserved treats for yourself - in. These beauty gadgets may be spendy, but they are certainly great investments for your skin and help save on other skincare and treatment expenses. Plus, having tried all seven, I can tell you they WORK, and are therefore good value for money.

Scroll down for the lowdown on the top beauty gadgets out there, from cleansers to hair stylers.

Tarte Stroke of Midnight Brush Set for Holiday 2015 Review

Tarte Stroke of Midnight Brush Set for Holiday 2015 Review

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, November 19, 2015

I wanted something from the Tarte Holiday 2015 collection because of the sequinned packaging, but not much remained except for the limited edition Stroke of Midnight Brush Set and Travel Case.
The sequinned travel case is spacious and ideal for holding makeup brushes or for jars or bottles of skincare and liquid foundation and other makeup securely during air or road travel. They certainly have paid a lot of attention to detail when it comes to the packaging, even the external box. There are five makeup brushes in this set.

Scroll down for my thoughts on the Tarte Holidaze Stroke of Midnight LE Brush Set for Holiday 2015.

Eyeshadow Blending Brush Haul From Beautylish

Eyeshadow Blending Brush Haul From Beautylish

Wayne Goss Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Last weekend, Beautylish had a gift card event - if you shopped for $100, you would get a $20 gift card, which only expires in December 2016. I love shopping at Beautylish because of excellent customer care including handwritten thank-you notes, four- (five at the most) day international delivery with Fedex, and free international shipping above $100. This is not quite a haul; I only bought four brushes without really thinking.
I was somewhat makeupped-out after hauling Advent Calendars and Holiday gift sets wily-nily, so I did not really have a must-buy list. Hemmed and hawed my way through their inventory for a while, and finally decided that I would buy some blending brushes from brands I had not tried before, just to reach $100 and get the gift card. Had I only known I would fall in love....
Here are the brushes I got.

Home Facials With Mira-Skin Ultrasound Skincare Device and Hyaluronic Serum

Home Facials With Mira-Skin Ultrasound Skincare Device and Hyaluronic Serum

Treatment Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, November 11, 2015

After being involved in a motorbike accident four years ago (was in neuro-intensive care and don't really remember a couple of weeks of my life), I was put on ultrasound therapy for a few weeks. My torn back and hip muscles were massaged two or three times a week with an ultrasound device after topical painkillers and muscle relaxants were applied. If that could help heal deep, complex muscular tissues and get me back to leading as active a lifestyle as I am doing now, imagine what ultrasound can do for damaged skin. Ultrasound facials are all the rage now, for skin tightening and repair.
It turns out that mitochondrial repair begins to slow down at 20, and hyaluronic acid in the skin begins to degrade after teenage - not at 30 as I had originally thought. Which means I should have begun anti-ageing treatment a few years AGO and not a few years later as I had intended.
Salon owner Anni Valentine had the genius idea of designing an ultrasound device for home use, to deliver treatment products more effectively to the skin, to rejuvenate it and to help heal wrinkles. Made by Swiss firm Mira of Mira-Water fame, the hand-held, wireless device comes along with a conducive ultrasound gel and a hyaluronic serum, though you can use the device with your favourite skin serum.

Scroll down for more about the Mira-Skin Ultrasound Skincare Starter Kit.

Sonia Kashuk Ombre Obsessed LE Makeup Brush Set for Fall 2015

Sonia Kashuk Ombre Obsessed LE Makeup Brush Set for Fall 2015

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, October 28, 2015

I have an early Holiday haul to show you, but before I sit down to take photos of everything together, take a gander at the Sonia Kashuk Ombre Brushes - one of three sets from the brand for Fall 2015. Stunners, aren't they? Ombre brushes in Fall colours. What's not to love?

Scroll down for the lowdown on the Sonia Kashuk Ombre Obsessed LE Makeup Brush Set for Fall 2015.

Mix or Apply Makeup With the Paw Palette

Mix or Apply Makeup With the Paw Palette

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Do you apply foundation on the back of your hand before dipping in your favourite brush or Beautyblender? Or, do you mix your foundation - such as the Custom Cover Drops - with something else to customise coverage or shade? Or do you mix cream blushes or lip pigments or eyeshadows? If so, then this is a must-have.
I have lost count of the number of times I saw faint foundation marks on my left hand, when I was at the steering wheel, or worse, much later. The morning rush can often mean we forget to wipe the fiddly things.
Enter the Paw Palette. It is one of those little things that matter much. The hygienic way to mix and apply your makeup, be it foundation, lip tars, eyeshadow or concealer. With no wastage.

Scroll down for more details about the Paw Palette.

Look Good Feel Better Makeup Brushes

Look Good Feel Better Makeup Brushes

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, October 15, 2015

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Although spared (thus far) dealing with breast cancer in particular, my Gramps - known as the "godfather" of the shipping industry in my city - was diagnosed with cancer last year so I know at first-hand the turmoil the disease, its diagnosis and treatment can cause in the lives of the patient and their family.
Look Good Feel Better is an organisation that supports women and teens who are struggling with visible side-effects of cancer treatment. Some of these side-effects can be damaging to self-esteem and confidence and I know some extrovert ladies who completely stopped venturing out after they started chemo. The organisation provides free hair, skincare and makeup services and workshops to women and teens, and thereby gives them a sense of normalcy. When I found Look Good Feel Better makeup brushes on FeelUnique, I bought some at once.

Scroll down for my thoughts on the Look Good Feel Better Makeup Brushes.

Linziclip Claw Hair Clip Accessories Intl Giveaway

Linziclip Claw Hair Clip Accessories Intl Giveaway

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, October 12, 2015

My favourite hair accessories are the revolutionary cylindrical and flat-backed Linziclips, reviewed here. I am willing to shout this out from the rooftops. These are comfortable and sturdy and come with hidden springs, so no danger of getting my already-tangly hair caught. Best of all, I can lean back without the clip digging right into my brain. And, they come in beautiful designs, and in three sizes. They are must-haves and they make great stocking stuffers. 

Here is your chance to win these gorgeous clips for yourself. You can choose sizes and also if you want subtle or bright designs. Exact designs may not be chosen, and photographs in this post are for illustrative purposes only and may not depict the actual prize.
I bet the winners will LOVE these - if you win, do share photos of yourself wearing your clips.
Now, I know there can only be a few winners, so what you can do is, you can head over and enter my Instagram giveaway of these as well (live now)! Double the winners; double the Linziclips! What are you waiting for?

Scroll down for more on Linziclips, eye-candy photographs of the clips, and to enter the giveaway!

Etude House My Beauty Tool Secret Face Makeup Brush 121 Review

Etude House My Beauty Tool Secret Face Makeup Brush 121 Review

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, September 17, 2015

Ever wanted to try out an oval makeup brush, but hesitated to spend on those gorgeous-looking Artis Elite brushes? Korean cult brand Etude House has an affordable solution.
The Etude House My Beauty Tool Face Makeup Brush 121 is a small toothbrush-like, oval-head brush with a gold plastic body. It comes with a removable head and comes with a sponge attachment as well. The only makeup sponge I swear by is the Beautyblender. Everything else is latex-y, and the sponge attachment of this brush is no exception. So I will be concentrating on the brush attachment.

Scroll down for my experience with the Etude House My Beauty Tool Secret Skin Face Makeup Brush 121.

Sigma 3DHD Kabuki and Precision face makeup brushes review

Sigma 3DHD Kabuki and Precision face makeup brushes review

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, May 05, 2015

Ridged brushes for flawless application and blending.

When it comes to face makeup, it is not easy to find a brush that gives a smooth, flawless finish without leaving brush marks. Sigma's 3DHD makeup brush range (PR Sample), however, promises to cover pores and smooth out the skin, without streaky marks. That sounds like any girl's dream. Best of all, unlike other makeup brush ranges, there are just two brushes in the 3DHD range - one for concealing and precision work and the other for foundation and setting powder.

Scroll down for my review of the Sigma 3DHD Kabuki and Precision face makeup brushes.

Missamé 10pc Bamboo Makeup Brush Set review

Missamé 10pc Bamboo Makeup Brush Set review

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, April 10, 2015

A cruelty-free, soft and lightweight makeup brush set in a compact case.

What qualities do you look for in a makeup brush? For me, bristles must be soft and well-packed, the brush must not be too long or heavy and it must not look or feel cheap. Plus, I must be able to find some use for it in my makeup routine, even if it may not be the use the company intends.
With lightweight bamboo handles, aluminium ferrules and synthetic taklon brushes, the 10-piece cruelty-free bamboo makeup brush set from Missamé (PR sample*) pretty much ticks every box in my checklist. They are 'pettably' soft, and come with a travel-friendly pouch. They look and feel sturdy - I've sat on two of the eye brushes (don't ask; blame my niece) and nothing happened.
Missamé, founded by animal lover Amy Ng, is a California-based brand that launched their cruelty-free makeup brushes last year. Their aim is to make professional-quality brushes at affordable prices and they offer a satisfaction guarantee.
How much do you think this set costs? Guess! You will know the answer towards the end of the post.

Check out my thoughts on the 10 bamboo makeup brushes from Missamé.