Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Airfoam.

It's the new Maybelline Dream Nude Airfoam! I bought this yesterday in Sun Beige and here's what I think. (I'll add some of my own photos when I get round to taking them).

Initial Impression: Annoying but Intriguing.

I'm a complete sucker for gimmicks and novelty. But I don't really like Maybelline, in fact I don't think I have anything else in my makeup collection that is from Maybelline. When Dream Matte Mousse initially came out years back I was like "OMG Mousse?! WOW!" just because of the novelty factor. But when I tried it I couldn't stand it, it's sooo cakey and sets into lines, just BLEURGH. Waste of money quite frankly and I didn't want to be disappointed again.

But with this, the whole air/foam/canister/mousse thing was just too intriguing once again, and this is what really made me buy it.

Shades: There's 8. That's hardly enough but I guess that's standard for high street brands. I spent like 30 minutes trying to choose between Sun Beige and Sand. Sun Beige just looked a bit too dark and the latter too light. I ended up buying Sun Beige and when I got home and tried it on my face turns out it isn't too bad, it is a bit dark but I'm wearing a lot more turtle necks now it's winter so who can tell, and in the summer I'll be more tanned.

Dispenser: Another annoyance, I don't care about the fact you have to shake it cus I usually do that with my liquid foundations anyway, it's the fact that it's really hard to control the amount you get. I'm getting a bit more used to it now though, but I hate wasting product.

Coverage: I read some other reviews saying the coverage was too little or light but I have to disagree, I'd say it has medium coverage and definitely more than a tinted moisturizer (which is what I'd consider as light). And it looks and feels really natural which is a big bonus. Some of you may be familiar with Lisa Aldridge, and I totally agree with her motto of only covering what you need to. So this is great applied lightly all over the face to even out the skin tone, then use a concealer on your problem areas, you shouldn't cover up the good parts of your skin! Again I have to stress that it feels super light and it also sets really well on the face HOWEVER if it's rainy or you cry a lot, then you need to invest in a good finishing powder like Vichy Dermablend Setting Powder to repel the water. The reason for this is because it goes really milky when it comes in contact with liquid, more so than with other foundations in my experience.

Application: Yes it does dry quickly so it needs to be applied quite quickly to avoid streaks. But I don't mess around I like to get my makeup done quick so I'm pretty fast anyway. And application for me is very simple:

Ever seen a man apply aftershave? That's basically what I do, apply it on my fingers, rub my hands together and apply it in circular patting motions all over my face. It also helps to keep a wet sponge incase there are any streaks or if you want to blend away at your neck or hairline.

Lasting power: I'm still quite undecided about this. I don't think makeup ever stays perfect all day but when I look in a mirror halfway through the day I notice the problem areas which are dependent on the lasting power of my concealer and not so much the foundation. I do notice that my skin tone doesn't look as even after a while but yesterday I slacked with primer and setting powder which makes a huge difference. I'd say the lasting power isn't too bad, no better than other foundations but no worse either.

Price: RRP £8.99 from Superdrug but currently on sale for £6.99

I have no problem with this price whatsoever, it's quite a standard price for a high street brand and none of the other foundations I use are this cheap. The only other highstreet foundations that I've used and liked are Revlon PhotoReady Foundation which retails at £12.99 and 17 Photo Flawless Foundation which was £6.49.

Overall: For the moment I must say I like it!

Nailed it

I've never really tried doing any fancy shit with my nails. Just one color and that's it, most of the time my nails aren't done at all. I was doing some (what was meant to be window) shopping in my local area and I picked up:

MUA Black Nail Polish £1.00 from Superdrug

BeautyUK Matte Topcoat £1.99 from Superdrug

NailNation 3D Nail Art 99p from the 99p store

This is the result

So I did 1 coat of the black, popped on a sticker and then put on the matte topcoat. The nail stickers are really quite easy to use and I'm really quite impressed considering they were from the 99p shop. I may get a few more packs tomorrow. I like it! Sweet deal.

Hair Woes

I want my hair to be this long again :'((

(from 2008/2009 - ignore the faces)

And I'm very impatient.

Sleeping

I just loooooooove sleeping. Seriously it's the best. I'm really lazy.

And because I'm so lazy I think it's great that you can beautify yourself while your sleeping, with a good beauty sleep routine. So the basic rule is: Get 6-8 hours of sleep a night. Less than 6 is too little, and more than 8 apparently shortens your lifespan. Crazy.

And here's all the extra stuff you can do and the products I recommend to do it with:

1. Body

You're body loses moisture when you sleep soooo if you slather on some lotion before catching your Zzzz's then not only will you retain more moisture, you wake up with awesomely soft and healthy feeling skin. Even better is to have a shower before bed then slap it on while the skin is still a bit damp to lock in even more moisture. Recommendations:

Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Deep Moisture Body Lotion

Price: £7.00 +/- for 400ml

 

Great stuff. Affordable, non-greasy, and does what it says, for me at least. I used to have really dry skin to the point were I'd scratch my legs in the night because the dryness made them itchy but that doesn't happen anymore. Yay.

Garnier Hydralock

Price: £5.50 +/- for 400ml

Another fave. I've always been quite wary of Garnier products after my entire body broke out in itchy red bumps from one of their gradual tanners. Thank god I didn't have the same reaction to this. And again it's very affordable and really does moisturize my skin.

2. Hands and Feet

Champneys Spa Treatments Overnight Hand Therapy

Price: £10.00 from Boots for 100ml

Put the cream on your hands then put the gloves. Wake up with super soft hands. I thought I'd get annoyed by the whole sleeping with gloves thing but it really wasn't that bad at all. And it really works.

Soap & Glory Hand Food Hand Cream

Price: £4.85 +/- from for 125ml

I ran out of the lotion that comes with the Champneys Hand Therapy set so now I just use my go to hand moisturizer which is this one right here. Great smell and works just as effectively if you still have the gloves.

Boots Botanics Overnight Foot Treatment

Price: £3.56 from Boots for 100ml

For smooth soft tootsies. This stuff works. If I massage some on before sleep my feet really do feel refreshed the next day. Probably works even better if you put socks on.

3.Eyes

I don't use eye cream. It's just never been part of my skin care. That's probably why I have fine lines and dark circles. I've heard loads about the Dream Products Eye Dream which has a huge online following. I'll be trying this stuff as soon as I have some funds. It can only be ordered online and you can download the product list here. 

L'Oreal Paris Lash Renewing Serum

Price: £6.99 +/- for 7.5ml

I bought this stuff after I accidentally singed my eyelashes. Thankfully they're back now, I apply this stuff before bed and I've definitely noticed that my eyelashes are thicker and healthier even prior to being burnt.

4. Hair

John Freida Frizz Ease Miraculous Recovery

Price: Around £3.60 +/-for 150ml

I like to do an overnight hair treatment like a masque or hot oil when my hair really needs it. I'll just use whatever I happen to have at the time but this is one of my favorites. Wash your hair at night, apply this and wear a shower cap to bed then wash it out in the morning. You need to wash it out properly to prevent your hair from just being greasy if you're prone to being a greaseball.

Hello!

Prior to starting this blog I've had a look at quite a few other blogs to try and see what makes for good reading. And I can't even begin to count how many of these blogs had the description along the lines of:

"Just another girl blogging about beauty and fashion, product reviews, tips etc etc etccccc.....".

And the majority of these makeup bloggers/gurus seem to be asian. Seriously, how many asian girls are blogging about makeup and Outfits of the Day? The only asian girls I know hardly wear any makeup?

Anyway, so it's 2012! And for me that means I want to have:

Longer Hair

Better Skin

Better Sense of Style

Blablabla....

In a nutshell I want to improve myself in the looks department. I'm not ugly and I do scrub up ok but that's just the thing, I don't scrub up all that often! And by scrub up I don't mean shower I mean make an effort to look nice. I've definitely let myself go in the past few years (getting into a relationship kind of made me think what's the point once I got comfortable not to wear makeup around my significant other).

SO YES! This is in fact just another blog about self improvement looks wise e.g. health, beauty, fashion, etc. I'm no expert, I'm just a regular consumer wanting to look as good as a celeb with out the biggest of budgets -- in fact I'm between jobs right now so ZERO budget really. So that's what I'll be talking about, good products, bad products, and everything beauuutiful. Oh and another thing, I'm Asian!