Elianto Face Powder Brush (H) (01S) Review

[UPDATED REVIEW]

Elianto is a brand name that gets mentioned a lot on my blog and I do love a lot of their products because they’re so cheap! I have reviewed products from Elianto in the past here (mascara) and here (makeup brush). Today I shall review the Elianto Face Powder Brush.

The product. The fact that it comes with a brush guard is a huge plus point!

Bristles.

The bristles are very loosely packed.

Very soft.

Description:

Large face powder brush.

Bristles: Synthetic, loosely packed long fibres. It is extremely soft and the colour gradually darkens at the tip.

Ferrule: Metal ferrule with a glossy black finish.

Handle: Black finish wooden handle (I’m assuming).

Price: MYR 35.90 but Elianto constantly offers discounts so watch out for them!

Where to buy: Elianto counters nationwide and from their E-store at elianto.biz.

 

Pros:

Soft, really really soft!

Because of its long fibres and the fact that is it loosely packed, it is efficient in picking up powder and dusting it on the face very effortless.

The brush guard!!! That is highly appreciated!

It has not shed or frayed thus far and I’ve had it for years.

The ferrule and handle are sturdy.

 

Cons:

Cleaning is a little bit of a pain because it is a larger brush.

 

Ratings

9/10

I love this brush. It is a good brush to dust bronzer or powder and also dust off excess powder from the face. If one is skilled enough even blusher can be applied using this brush.

Benefit Gimme Brow Volumizing Fiber Gel Review

Yes! Another high end product review! I purchased this last year and completely forgot to put it into a haul.

Benefit is an American based company and all products are made in the USA! This is a review on the very popular Benefit Gimme Brow.

Outer packaging.

Claims on the packaging.

Description, including ingredients. Sorry about the sticker residue on the bottom right.

The product.

Label on the tube.

Wand. It’s really small! And notice the tiny fibers.

Description: Tinted volumising gel for the brows. Comes in 3 grams/0.1 oz product and in three shades, 01 Light, 03 Medium, and 05 Deep.

Where to buy: Sephora outlets nationwide (store list here), Benefit Boutiques (1 Utama, Petaling Jaya; Starhill Gallery, Kuala Lumpur; Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur; Gurney Plaza, Penang).

Price: MYR 125.00, (MYR 145.00 on the Benefit website)

Swatch

Bare brows.

Does make my brows fuller. The tint is showing up a little stronger than it seems in person.

Pros:

Holds brows in place very well!

The colour is good for me (although it may seem a little off in the picture).

Makes brows fuller!

Formula is pretty pigmented for a brow product.

Lasts very well a good 6 to 7 hours of wear before it starts fading and even then product doesn’t just disappear.

Soft, tiny wand for even the sparsest of brows.

Dries fast and matte.

 

Cons:

Too EXPENSIVE, for 3, THREE grams of product!!!!!

It makes my brows feel a tiny bit stiff although not crunchy.

Not very accessible because Sephora and Benefit stores aren’t available in all states.

Right around the two month mark, the product started smelling funky or perhaps it already does smell like that, I have no idea (but I use it anyway because it doesn’t actually go in my eye).

 

Rating:

8/10

Do I love this product? HECK YES!!!!!! Will I buy it again? HECK NO!!!!!!!!!

Silkygirl Hydra Clean Makeup Remover Review

[UPDATED REVIEW]

Silkygirl happens to be one of my favourite drugstore brands here in Malaysia. I have reviewed their products in the past here, here, and here. Today is a review of the Hydra Clean makeup remover.

The product.

Description on the back of the bottle.

Screw cap bottle.

It is lotion-like with a very runny consistency.

Description: It is a lotion type makeup remover that contains Vitamin E, chamomile and aloe vera extract.

Where to buy: All major drugstores and supermarkets that have the Silkygirl stand.

Price: MYR 18.90 for 165ml and MYR 10.90 for 100ml (as with everything at the drugstore, wait for a discount or promotion!)

Effectiveness.

Concealer, liquid foundation, powder, eyeshadow, liner, lipstick, liquid lipstick (swatched on skin), waterproof mascara (also swatched on skin).

All the makeup dissolved.

The liquid lipstick was work, and you can clearly see some mascara residue. Everything else came off pretty easily.

 

Pros:

It is pretty good at removing makeup.

Does not leave a sticky residue.

Skin feels fresh after makeup removal.

It has a nice soft scent.

It is definitely hydrating.

 

Cons:

The directions say that you need to rinse off with water which is another tiresome step for me.

The biggest con for me which is going to affect the rating of this product is the fact that my skin has a burning sensation after using this, especially around the eyes. It feels like I have rubbed my face hard, repeatedly when in fact, I haven’t.

 

Ratings;

4/10

I have used this in the past with no problems, however, my skin has definitely changed and with that the big con has become a deterrent for me to continue using this product. This is actually my second bottle of it which I purchased after having enjoyed the first one, but alas. 😦

Etude House My Beauty Tool Brush 130 Contour Review

Etude House is a Korean brand that was established in 1985 and they’ve been in Malaysia for quite a while now. I’ve reviewed a product from the brand in the past, which was the Play 101 Pencil (review link here) and I have also written about their hand creams (link here).

This is a review on the My Beauty Tool (which is a line of makeup brushes and sponges I believe), Face Brush 130 Contour.

Packaging.

Description on the back, mostly in Korean.

The tiny little English bit.

The brush. I want to bring to your attention the beautiful ferrule (visit Makeup Lingo Dictionary to see what this means; link here).

Bristles up close.

Very soft and very loosely packed.

Description:

Makeup brush intended for applying and blending out contour.

Bristles: Horse hair (information retrieved from the Etude House website). Long very loosely packed bristles.

Ferrule: Aluminum and very beautifully finished!

Handle: Wood with a light pink glossy finish.

Price: MYR 51 (price may have increased).

Where to buy: Etude House counters nationwide.

 

Pros:

Extremely soft.

Hasn’t shed since I’ve bought and used it (has been over a year and a half); that’s saying a lot considering it’s natural hair bristles!

It is multi-functional (blending eyeshadow, applying highlighter, dusting off powder).

Sturdy ferrule and handle!

 

Cons:

Extra care is needed when cleaning.

 

Note: It is natural hair bristles so that may be something to consider.

 

Rating:

8.9/10

I love this brush and my best use for it is applying highlighter! If you own a similar brush try it!

Essence I Love Stage Eyeshadow Base Review

[UPDATED REVIEW]

I love Essence products; affordable and the brand offers a wide range of products. Essence is owned by Cosnova which is a company based in Germany. This review is on the I ❤ STAGE eyeshadow base which is an eyeshadow primer.

The product.

Description on the side of the tube.

The wand. Standard doe-foot applicator.

Description:

It is an eyeshadow base that has a very similar consistency to a concealer. There is about 4ml of product and it comes in only one shade.

Price: MYR 15.80

Where to buy: Watsons [updated 14/072017].

 

Swatch

It is very light in colour and appear even lighter when blended out which makes for good primer since colour would show up nicely.

With some poorly pigmented eyeshadows.

With flash. It seems a little bit more obvious here.

 

Pros:

It is one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) eyeshadow primers available in Malaysian drugstores.

As seen in the pictures above it really does enhance the colour of the eyeshadow.

Although the colour is pretty light, it does not show through eyeshadow (as in the hand swatch picture).

Blends seamlessly into the skin and it is not patchy or streaky.

Eyeshadow blends very seamlessly on the eyelids with this primer.

Eyeshadow lasts longer on the eyelids (7 hours of wear on my friend and the eyeshadow had just faded a tiny bit).

Helps with creasing of eyeshadow (used it on a friend with eyelids that have lines – and that’s not a bad thing, merely an observation – and it worked!).

 

Cons:

I don’t know just how long eyeshadow would last but 7 hours of wear is pretty amazing for a drugstore eyeshadow primer.

The ashy look to it might just cause a problem on very deep skin tones if over applied (only the tiniest dollop is necessary).

 

Rating:

8/10

It’s cheap, gets the job done pretty well and is available at the drugstore! Enough said!

Just A Little Goodbye

I do follow other blogs and all I do are dear blogosphere friends of mine (YES, even those that don’t bother replying to comments….. 😛 😛 😛 ).

But I am facing a couple of months of intense work and I don’t know how I am going to be able to keep up with blog reading and catching up with all the wonderful posts you lovely people write.

I have, in the past, been absent for a while but I always knew it wouldn’t be too far along before I eventually caught up. This time around, I really don’t know how long I am going to be away.

However, anticipating this hiatus, I do have posts lined up until the end of September. All will publish automatically so the blog runs even without my supervision.

I do hope you all stay well.

Keep being amazing!

Take care.

Well wishes,

From,

Harivaindaran K. Veeriah

(see you in a couple of months!)

5 Things About Makeup I DON’T Like, That Most People Do!

Watching YouTube videos, after YouTube videos, you’re almost conditioned into liking trends, products and techniques. We can all agree blindly hopping onto a bandwagon just because a YouTuber told us to, is not something we want to do, although we may appreciate the opinion of some. Beauty YouTubers get my eyes rolling, A LOT! I, in fact, have roasted beauty YouTubers in the past (go ahead, read it here and here, laugh).

But YouTube isn’t the demon here. I love YouTube. I love watching makeup videos, I love people caking on foundation and concealers on their face. Watching makeup being blended out with a makeup sponge is my visual therapy. It steadies my heart rate and brings down my stress levels. NO KIDDING!

I digress, anyway, there are certain, universally loved things/trends/products in makeup that make me go……..

Image from Giphy.com

All of these are norms by this point in the beauty industry and…… ummmmm……, you know what, just come along and I’ll explain.

 

These are in no particular order.

 

1. Highlighter

Yes, I DON’T LIKE HIGHLIGHTERS!

No, I am not specifically talking about the blinding trend on YouTube and Instagram these days.

Image from http://www.nikkietutorials.com/

NO, I don’t even like highlighting concealers!!!!

I especially hate it when MUAs go three or four shades lighter to conceal the under-eye area and to highlight! It works on lighter skin tones. On darker skin tone it looks FAKE! I prefer an even skin tone and I try to match the under-eye concealer or go, AT MOST, half a shade lighter. I find that on deeper skin tones, the eyes pop a little more when the under-eyes are not so overtly highlighted.

Alas, when doing stage makeup I can’t step away from it.

So it goes without saying that I also don’t care for shimmery highlighters. I have 2 highlighters both of which I didn’t purchase myself. Everything else is part of a palette in which I actually wanted the other shades in it instead of the highlighter.

I DON’T LIKE HIGHLIGHTERS!!!!!!!

 

2. Holographic anything

Anyone else get a headache with all these holographic packaging and highlighters!

Just me then.

ERGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

NO, I AM NOT KIDDING! This isn’t even the cynical me talking. This is not even satire!

I actually, PHYSICALLY get a headache!!!! It even makes me a little anxious!

NO!!!!!

PASS!!!!

 

3. The phrase “Holy Grail”

If you have one for 10 years, that’s a holy grail.

If it changes every year, please STFU!!!!!!!!!

“HOLY GRAIL” MY FOOT!!!!!!!!!!!

I find it so cliche. Everytime someone says this is my holy grail, it means they discount all possible products available in the market and no ONE person could have had used it all!

I have tried using the phrase and in my head I go, “YOU SOUND STUPID!”

 

4. Waterproof mascara

I know some of you are going……..

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Part of why you don’t really see me reviewing waterproof mascaras, not ones that are hard to remove anyway, is because I don’t like them!!!

If I am using mascara, not a single drop of tear is coming out of my eyeballs nor is sweat coming ANYWHERE close to them!

I don’t cry at weddings because you don’t when you attend Indian weddings. You just laugh and the rest of the time get stressed trying to answer relatives asking about your marriage status (that’s a whole other conversation!!!).

I don’t wear makeup if I know I am going to sweat. ONLY exception being stage makeup! And even then, my waterproof mascaras are ones that come off with just water.

I DON’T LIKE WATERPROOF MASCARAS!

 

5. Online makeup shopping

This fittingly makes me the cavemen of the 21st century.

I have, of course, shopped online before, but every time I did (which you can count with both hands), I get a tiny panic attack after payment! WILL I be the victim of the dreaded product shattered and broken nightmare??!!!!

I have even said this on my blog. I don’t like online shopping and will only condone it when there are no other options! I want to touch, feel, swatch, hold, caress, look, compare, purchase and carry it out of the shop, safely in my hands!!!

If you really are concerned for me, then imagine me doing this.

Image from Tumblr.

NO, not the laughing face, the bitch face!

 

I hope you enjoyed reading!

Fashion; My Love for It

I have loved fashion since I was a teenager and it was kind of triggered after having watched how cool and colourful Bollywood and Tamil Indian cinema costumes were (and still are).

Until I was about 19 or 20, I wanted to study fashion design. In fact, even towards the end of my bachelor’s degree I still thought I’d quit the science field and run off to an art school to pursue fashion design.

It would have fed my soul.

Evidently that didn’t happen.

But I don’t want to let it go.

So here’s this little blog where I can actually do something with it.

I just sketched out a little something.

I want to do more of these.

Hopefully it will manifest into something real.

Hopefully…

I follow beauty pageants and so this is a something a contestant might wear. The entire thing would be knit stretch jersey and the detail in blue would be embroidery. The borders would also be the same blue in which the detail would be done. The red would be in silk satin, pleated and pressed. I imagine the border blue to be teal. The dress darker blue to be a deeper ultramarine and the red satin to be a blood red colour. Just couldn’t find proper coloured pencils to get those specific colours.

Some really cheap, bad quality coloured pencils I had lying around.

Elianto Single Eyeshadows Review

[UPDATED REVIEW]

**MOST OF THESE EYESHADOWS HAVE BEEN DISCONTINUED EXCEPT THE ONES IN THE INDIVIDUAL PACKAGING.**

Elianto is a local retail makeup brand that comes at very affordable prices. I collected these eyeshadows over a period of time. I don’t have names of the older ones because I never imagined I’d ever start a makeup blog 😛 . I am going to be swatching and reviewing ALL the Elianto eyeshadows I own. The only ones that are currently available to purchase are the three single shadows not in the palette. So this is just a big swatch-fest parading as a review. HAHAHA!

The two palettes and the single shadows I own. I bought the palettes separately and each pan individually.

Only after taking that collective shot did I realise I had this quad in my collection which I won from a giveaway from who is now my blogger bestie Lakshmi (author of Big is Compatible; link here).

The matte pink shade on the left is one I already have; ballet pink (scroll down). The shimmery pink one is called pink lady; the grey one is called cool grey and the dark one is called taupe. These are all in plastic pans; all also discontinued.

From left to right, cool grey, pink lady, taupe.

Moving on to the large palette.

1-5 are the older ones when they came in metal pans. I don’t have the names of these (these have been discontinued).

• 1- Deep brown with a little bit specs of gold glitter. Doesn’t really show up in a swatch.
• 2- Gold glittery.
• 3- Matte deep purple.
• 4- Dark blue with blue glitter.
• 5- Light blue, iridescent.

6-10 are the newer ones when it was switched to plastic pans (these I have shade names for, all mattes, and these have also been discontinued).

• 6- Burlywood (dark peachy transition shade).
• 7- Sienna Gold (brownish ochre).
• 8- Scarlet Red (red).
• 9- Venus Brown (matte deep brown).
• 10- Ballet pink (sweet pink).

A closer look. YES! Hit pan on the gold!

AND on the brown! It works well as a contour shade! Metal pan and plastic pan difference can be spotted here.

Hand swatch. All the old ones in the metal pan. They do pick up better with brushes though.

The newer ones in plastic pans.

This is the 6 pan palette which only has 4 shades housed.

The smaller palette. It comes with a full sized mirror!

From left to right, plum purple, night blue, lilac purple, evergreen. All mattes!

And these are the ones still available; the single eyeshadows.

The three single ones. These are still available.

These are just mono eyeshadows in 01 White, 13 Cocoa, B138 Espresso.

Description: Individual eyeshadows from Elianto that come in several finishes. They no more come in just pans, each single shadow come with its own plastic packaging. They contain 2.5 grams of product.

Price: The mono shadows retail at MYR 9.90. The 6-colour empty palette retails for MYR 21.90.

Where to buy: Elianto booths nationwide and also online at www.elianto.biz

 

I used the white shade for my Halloween look (post link here).

I also used them on my YouTube video. If you opened up the description box they’re all listed.

 

Pros:

All the shadows are pretty well pigmented.

Some shades blend very well.

They are smooth, pick up well (both with a brush and the fingers) and deposit on the eyelids very well.

Price is a huge plus for the amount of product in the pan.

Decent wear time (5 hours before it begins to start fading).

 

Cons:

Some shades can be a tad bit streaky and patchy especially the matte shades.

Some of the newer ones are a little powdery and may result in fallout.

Some of the newer ones are not very long lasting.

Just demonstrating the powdery attribute I mentioned.

Ratings:

7.9/10

These are nice eyeshadows and the cons are things I can work around. They are not just affordable, they are actually cheap. Great for experimentation! Some shades are a bit of a miss so I’d suggest doing a swatch first before purchasing.

MAC Viva Glam I Lipstick Review

I can’t believe I am finally reviewing a MAC product! MAC is huge in Malaysia; ask someone who knows makeup to name a high end makeup brand and MAC is perhaps the first brand they suggest.

Today I review the first ever MAC Viva Glam lipstick launched in 1994!

So for you people not in the know, the first ever MAC Viva Glam line was endorsed by Rupaul Andre Charles!!! Look it up darlings! LOOK IT UP!!!!

The outer packaging.

Ingredients list on the side of the box.

The name of the shade.

The iconic bullet shaped lipstick tube.

Isn’t that a beauty???

YASSS!!!!!! I love that red!!!!

Shade name on the bottom of the tube.

Swatch.

Description: This particular line of lipsticks comes in several shades and are always celebrity endorsed. Part of proceeds from sales of these lipsticks go the MAC AIDS Fund. MAC lipsticks come in 3 grams/0.1 oz of product. This particular shade has a matte finish.

Where to buy: MAC counters; counters are available in Penang, Pahang, Selangor, Wilayah Persekutuan, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak usually in shopping malls.

Price: MYR 78

 

Pros:

Smooth and easy to apply.

Very pigmented!

Very opaque!

VERY long wearing!

VERY comfortable (like you are wearing nothing on the lips).

Does NOT at ALL emphasize fine lines on the lips.

This shade in particular is very complimentary for a wide range of skin tones!

Re-application is perhaps just one swipe and done kind of deal. VERY easy!

Although not particularly moisturising, it doesn’t dry out the lips either.

 

Cons

Not smudge proof or transfer resistant.

Price (which isn’t that bad considering some drugstore lipsticks in Malaysia can cost up to MYR 59 and I have not met MAC’s worthy competitor although there are dupes in terms of shade and finish).

 

Rating:

9.6/10

STELLAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *applause*