The age old question. I think about this all the time. What beauty essential can you skimp on and what must you splurge on. Over the years, I believe I may have come to some conclusion on this question. I’m going to share my thoughts with you today and then you can share your thoughts as well.

Please, however, note that I am no beauty expert and what I am about to say is purely based on my own experiences using products meant for me. So, here’s my two cents worth!

Skincare

Cleanser

I think you can skimp on cleansers. There really isn’t anything extraordinary or miracle ingredient that any brand can put for something that you need just to wash off makeup, oil and dirt on your face. A basic and simple cleanser will do the trick and an inexpensive one you can find at the drugstore or even a mid-range one is as good as any budget killer cleansers at the skincare or cosmetic brand counters.

Toner

Another skincare item everyone can skimp and save heaps on. Many toners promoted by skincare and cosmetic brands out there are seriously overrated and don’t really do anything above and beyond what a basic toner from the drugstore can do.

Moisturizer

I personally have always believed that moisturizer is a definite splurge item. However, my opinion has somewhat changed slightly. I still believe that high end moisturizers are great and highly beneficial for the skin because there are plenty miraculous ingredients that have been packed in those moisturizers as they have been thoroughly researched by cosmetic and skincare houses such as Clinique, Biotherm and what not. However, I recently tried Olay’s Total Effects cream and it was great! So, I still stand on my believe that it’s essential somewhat to splurge on your moisturizers but in essence, find what works for you, and if it comes packed in a cream worth $40, hey, you save your $100 for something else.

Serum

This is another skincare item which I feel is worth splurging on. Again, big cosmetic and skincare houses have put in tons of money, efforts and research into finding great ingredients for such concentrated treatments for your skin and I feel that a serum you splurge on is often worth every penny whilst a serum you skimp on often does nothing to your skin.

Eye Cream

Definitely splurge on this one. A lot of skimp eye creams I’ve tried have not done any justice to my eye area at all. So, in my opinion, a good eye cream is often found at those big flashy brand counters.

Body Care

Well, I personally don’t think you need to splurge on body care. Any body wash and exfoliator you can find in the drugstore is good just to clean your body. Most drugstore body lotions are moisturizing enough for any skin types and for your firming needs, I personally think that those you find at the drugstore works equally as good as those you buy from expensive departmental store brands.

Hair Care

Hmm…I’m a bit mixed on this one. So I’ll analyze this one by one, item by item.

Shampoo and Conditioner

I’d love to say that for most people you can really skimp on hair care. Any good drugstore brands would be enough to clean and condition your hair. Unfortunately, for people of my hair types (curly, coarse and frizzy), I’d have to say that sadly, hair care is a must splurge item. So far, no drugstore shampoo and conditioner have worked on my hair. Sad fact, but true. Consider yourselves lucky if you can spend $4 on a shampoo instead of $25 a bottle.

Leave in Conditioner / Hair Serum

I’m glad to say that I’ve found drugstore brands that work on my hair. So there is no real need to splurge on this. I myself am using a mix of drugstore and expensive hair treatments for my hair.

Hair Brushes

I personally don’t spend too much on my hair brushes. I buy mine at the drugstore and I hate those tough bristled ones so I stick to plastic. It’s probably not good for my hair but that’s what my scalp can tolerate so I say skimp on hair brushes.

Makeup

Foundation, Concealer and Primer

Splurge on all of them. Whilst drugstores often have quite a range of foundation shades, it’s often a hit and miss. What you can find at departmental store brands such as MAC and Bobbi Brown would way surpass your imagination and you can definitely find one that is perfect for your skin shade there.

I’ve often found that purchasing foundation and concealers from the drugstore often results in a bit of a heartbreak. I’ve spent so much money trying to find the right shade at the drugstore, but at the end of the day, nothing beats a trained eye at those splurge cosmetic counters as they would be able to determine the best foundation texture and shade for your skin type and color just by taking one look at you.

With primers, I don’t know about you, but I’ve often found that luxe primers seems to fare better in moisturizing and prepping my skin for makeup than it’s lesser budget counterparts.

Eyeliner and Eyeshadow

Skimp on eyeliners. All pencil eyeliners are made of wax and there is no need to pay $30 when you can get a perfectly good one for $7.

Eyeshadows…hmm….well, colors come and go. If you’re like me and you hardly use eyeshadows, I’d say skimp on them. Drugstore ones are good enough. I find brands like Prestige, Red Earth and L’oreal has pretty decent eyeshadows. However, people often say good, nice, and strong colors that hold are often the ones you’d find at those splurge counters. If I gotta have a splurge eyeshadow, I’d often buy palettes. I feel that spending $90 on 7 eyeshadows is far better than spending $35 on one.

Makeup Brushes

You can get a pretty good collection of makeup brushes from those you can find at the drugstore. Artiste by Manicare and Eco-Tools have got pretty decent brushes. The Body Shop’s brushes are pretty great as well and they aren’t too pricey at about $30 a brush. Synthetic brushes are often simpler to handle, easier to maintain, easier to clean and definitely much easier to use. I myself have only used synthetic brushes and am loving it.

However, cheap makeup brushes may not last necessarily as long as those $70 a brush from MAC. So if you have the cash, perhaps invest in one or two really super-duper good makeup brush that will enhance your collection. Otherwise, you can really pretty much skimp it.

Lipstick, Lipliner and Lip Gloss

If all you’re after are just colors, then skimp it! Drugstore brands like Revlon, Maybelline and L’oreal make absolutely fantastic and moisturizing lipglosses and lipsticks.

Mascara

I’d definitely say skimp it! Often, the best mascaras are often those you’d find at the drugstore like Maybelline’s Great Lash Mascara.

Blush and Bronzers

I’d say splurge on them! Why? The blush and bronzer powders on a luxe cosmetic brand one is often pulverized and finely done to such a degree that you can put heaps on your face and still not look like a clown. Plus, there’s heaps better, more flattering colors at the department store than at the drugstore.

What are your thoughts on this? That was my two cents, what’s yours?

Description: Rich, yet mild soap-free cleansing foam that gently rinses away make-up, impurities and daily grime, leaving skin clean, without the tight feeling that soap often leaves. Soothing and calming on sensitive skin.

Ingredients: Water, Aloe Barbadensis Gel, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Pentylene Glycol, Sorbitol, Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Citric Acid, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Coco-Glucoside , Glyceryl Oleate, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Dimethicone Copolyol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Lecithin, Tocopherol

I honestly didn’t expect to love this facial wash, but I did. The scent is very, very light and not unpleasant and I use this beautiful foaming cleanser in the morning. It’s perfect for my dry skin as it is gentle, non-drying and absolutely moisturizing for my skin.

I started using this since a year ago and it has been great. The foam is light and it’s nice to cleanse with in the morning. I prefer a light cleanser in the morning and a more heavy-duty cleanser for the night. This one’s perfect for winter as it is non-drying; and in the summer, well the aloe just helps cool the skin, which is good for the hot months.

Basically, it comes in a 125ml foam pump bottle and I’d shake the bottle first before pumping out the foam. One pump is usually enough to clean my face. Some may argue that the foam is too light and thus feel that their face has not been cleaned thoroughly. However, for me, that lightness in the morning is perfect as all I need from a cleanser in the morning is to remove residues of my night-time skincare and something just to make my face and skin feel fresher. This does the job perfectly.

You would also be surprised at how long this product lasts. I purchased this sometime last year and with such regular use, it’s only now that it’s coming to an end. That’s almost 8 months. Plus, it’s cheap at AUD 18.95.

When I purchased it, I used it twice a day. However, I felt that for a night cleanser, it’s not enough as the texture is too light and I feel that it does not remove all the grime and makeup residue properly. So I started using this only for the morning and am currently using Biotherm White Detox Polishing Clarifying Cleansing Foam at night.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with this product and will definitely repurchase.

Description: Daily alcohol free toner for all skin types, including sensitive skin.

You may well drool over this product’s ingredient list as it includes pure Blue Chamomile, Aloe Vera, Green Tea and Parsley Seed extracts to name a few. Toning completes the process of facial cleansing by removing any last traces of grime and preparing the skin for moisturizing or skin treatments. Daily use of the superb, anti-oxidant rich, botanical toner will assist in balancing the skin, refining pores and evening out skin tone.

This toner certainly did not disappoint. It was a gentle and moderately moisturizing toner for my dry skin. I like that it leaves my skin nice and soft and smooth after I wipe a cotton pad soaked with it all over my face. The smell, hmm, like all other Aesop products, it smells herbal-ish and medicinal.

The liquid is quite thick but it absorbs quickly onto my skin. It does not leave a tight or parched feeling, which is great. It comes in the huge 200ml bottle which lasts quite a while but takes up a chunk of space. One other thing that is not too great is it’s price. At AUD 70, it’s a pretty hefty price to pay for a toner.

So, whilst it is a decent enough toner for my dry skin and a natural one filled to the brim with anti-oxidants, it is too much for my pocket to take on and there are definitely other cheaper, possibly better toners than this one.

Dang! I’ve gotten the flu shot earlier this month, yet, here I am, down with the flu for the past three days! A pretty bad one too. My eyes and ears hurt and are hot, my temperature’s high, body aches and chills, nausea, you name it and I’ve got it. I’ve been nursing this flu episode for days now and it’s nowhere to getting better. I can pretty much just lie in bed, wake up and look at the PC for about 15 minutes before getting all migraine-ish again, or lie in bed and watch TV. Oh well, nothing I can do about it I guess. Will just keep the fluids up and keep resting and hopefully I’ll get better by the week so that I could at least clock in a day or two at work this week.

Anyhoos, I’ll be back soon my dears with more reviews and more stories to share. Stay indulgent, stay beautiful and take care, peeps!

I had been having severe and debilitating period pain for almost as long as I can remember. It basically started when I first started menstruating and continued on. I’ve always thought that having the kind of severe period pain that I had was normal, something that every woman goes through every month, until I realize that my pain was probably one hundred times worse than what other women experienced. With my kind of pain, it wasn’t just that horrible, uncomfortable feeling, but there are times when I couldn’t walk or sleep and all I could do is sit crouching in one corner with a heat pack and take tons of painkillers trying to numb the pain that wouldn’t go away.

I lived with this pain for as long as I could remember, often missing school, uni, work as the pain that I was suffering with was just too excruciating, too unbearable. As a result, now, mild painkillers don’t work on me anymore and when I have any pain, I’ve got to take up strong prescription painkillers and if it’s really that bad, I’d just have to go to ER for an injection.

It was in 2005 when I was 23 that I found out my excruciating and debilitating period pain was not normal and is in fact due to a condition, affecting at least 10% of women of reproductive age, called Endometriosis.

I woke up one day with a pain that was worse than usual that I thought I was dying. I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk and I was basically in tears and walking bent in a 90 degree angle which obviously hurt my back like crazy! My parents took me to the specialist who suspected I had a ruptured appendicitis. So I went into surgery straightaway that day and it was during that surgery that the surgeons found out that I had endometriosis. The pain that was killing me was not the appendix (which they took out anyway) but the endometriosis condition.

So what is endometriosis?

It is a condition that affects millions of women worldwide, yet it is generally misunderstood. It took me almost ten years of suffering with monthly excruciatingly painful period pain to finally get the correct diagnosis. Years of visiting the GP and even Gynecologists in Malaysia proved to be fruitless in curing me or relieving me of my pain and suffering.

Endometriosis basically occurs when the tissue that normally lines the uterus (the endometrium) is found in sites outside the uterus. The misplaced tissue implants itself onto the surface of the tissue or organ where it has been deposited and begins to grow and function. This tissue commonly grows on the uterine or fallopian tubes, the ovaries or the tissue lining the pelvis. Endometriosis may cause scar tissue between the different organs in the pelvis.

Basically, what happens to someone with endometriosis is that when you have your period, apart from the usual menstrual bleeding that comes out, you would also be bleeding internally wherever you have endometriosis cells as these cells function in the same way as the uterus lining which sheds during menstruation. These cells or implants respond to the hormones of the menstrual cycle in the same way as does the uterus lining or endometrium. Like the endometrium, it would bleed except it has no way to escape from your body, so it bleeds onto the surface of surrounding organs and tissues which leads to inflammation, scarring and development of adhesions between organs which causes them to stick together. Thus causing the pain like no other. If you have one of these cells on your ovary, it may even increase in size and grow into a cyst, often called chocolate cyst.

Symptoms of this condition are:

• Period Pain
• Abdominal, back and/or pelvic pain
• Heavy or irregular bleeding
• Bowel or bladder symptoms
• Infertility
• Premenstrual symptoms
• Tiredness
• Mood changes
• Bloating

Endometriosis is a nasty thing to have. Since the appendicitis surgery, I had another surgery to remove my endometriosis which, according to the doctor was in Stage 3.

Endometriosis is a terrible condition to have as it can recur even if you’ve had surgery for it. My doctor told me that there is a possibility that it may recur as during surgery, a doctor can only burn out the cells they can see, but there might be smaller spots which they cannot see which can grow and multiply in the future thus causing a recurrence.

Let me tell you from my own personal experience that this condition is a condition that can have a major impact on your life, interfering with work, social life, family life and your overall health, but it is the least understood condition and you will not get any sympathy from anyone when you complain of this condition as no one (unless you’ve felt the degree of pain that comes with this condition) can understand the extent of period pain that you would feel if you are suffering from Endometriosis.

How is Endometriosis diagnosed?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a test to diagnose endometriosis. It will not appear in an ultrasound and the only sure way to see if one has endometriosis is through a laparoscopy surgery. It is a minor operation performed under general anesthetic, where a small telescope is inserted into the abdomen through a hole cut in the belly button. Through this, the gynecologist can look for the implants or signs of cysts.

It varies in stages from 1 to 5, 1 being mild and 5 being the most severe.

How is it treated?

Unfortunately, there is no cure. Treatment is just a form of prevention but there is no guarantee that it won’t happen again. The treatment options depend on the severity of the condition, symptoms, stage of endometriosis and sites of implants.

The goal is often to improve and reduce symptoms, eliminate implants and maximize fertility.

However, again, be mindful that there is no guarantee as endometriosis is a chronic condition and may recur despite hormonal or surgical treatment.

Hormonal therapies may be used to suppress the growth of endometrial cells in endometriosis. It is also sometimes used to suppress the period with the aim to suppress the recurrence of endometriosis. Usually with endometriosis treatments, your aim would either be to simulate pregnancy or to simulate menopause which would assist in suppressing the recurrence. I chose to be on the Pill after surgery to prevent the recurrence and control the growth of the endometrial cells.

I have not had any terrible recurring symptoms yet, however, at times, I would feel that terrible period pain again, but as it is does not happen every month, I think I’m okay.

Myths about Endometriosis

There are doctors who tell patients that Endometriosis will disappear once you get pregnant. The only difference is when you’re pregnant, you’re not having hormonal stimulations of the tissue. However, the Endo is still there.

Another myth is that a hysterectomy is an all cure for this condition. It is not. If you take the uterus out and your endometriosis cells are still there like on your ovaries or Pouch of Douglas for example, it will still be there and you will continue to have pain due to the hormonal stimulation of those endo implants.

As for me, all I want is to stop hurting and right now I’m okay. So, I’m just wishing and praying that the Endometriosis pain will never come back.

Source: Endometriosis.org

Our internet connection is finally in! Yay! I’m finally being saved from my Internet deprivation syndrome. More reviews to follow! Stay tuned!

Description: Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Hydrating Makeup SPF 10 blends 100% natural pigments with Dior’s exclusive, active mineralized water to deliver flawless, glowing skin that actually improves over time. By using advances in mineral makeup technology, this product will take your complexion to a whole new level.

I got a tiny sample of this in a magazine recently and after trying it on a couple of times, I absolutely loved it! It seems to be hydrating and perfect for my dry skin, particularly in the upcoming colder months. I went for a few more trials at the Dior counter and have now discovered the exact shade for my skin tone which is in Honey Beige 040 (light mocha for medium complexions with neutral undertones). After those few trials, I really am in love with this product! I’m thinking of getting it, but, being Dior, it obviously costs a bomb at AUD 75. *Sigh*

I’m still trying to justify whether or not this purchase is warranted, but chances are this might be my splurge next month!

Description: A warm shade of earthy clay. Very subtle. Beautiful on any skin tone.

Adobe Sun by Signature Minerals is a beautiful coral-ish shade, a blush I purchased sometime last year from their website. This is probably my most well-worn mineral blush to date because the shade is just so perfect and beautiful, and goes with almost everything I wear, no matter what mood I’m in or look I’m after. It’s a very versatile shade, and perfect to compliment absolutely everything.

*Adobe Sun Mineral Pigments*

The shade seems to be a subtle pink blended with an earthy tone which makes it very coral-ish. Adobe Sun is a matte blush. On me, the pink pigments seems to be stronger than the earthy side and thus, I end up with an almost Dandelion-ish shade on my cheeks, which is perfect!

I love this blush! It is quite pigmented, thus a little goes a long way. I purchased the full size 20g jar at USD 10 and as you can see though I use this almost on a daily basis, I still have truckloads of it, so, it’s a definite value-for-money purchase.

I have several of their blushes but I truly love Adobe Sun the best!

I apply this with my angled blush brush from Everyday Minerals and the result is an absolute beauty, if I can say so myself.

I apologize for my rather sporadic posts. Our internet connection migration is taking donkey years to happen and up till today, we still do not have any! Thus, I have been unable to properly do a post and had just been stealing a little bit of time here and there to do that Bourjois Mascara review post at work (which isn’t easy to get away with, I tell you!).

So, please bear with my sporadic appearance, girls!

On a brighter note, two weeks more to go to declare the giveaway winner. So, for those still interested to enter, there’s still some time!! To date, I’ve had about 10 entries, which to me means that at least 10 people read my blog! I’m delighted about that! hehe…Being relatively new in the beauty blogging scene, I don’t think I have that much traffic as compared to other beauty blogs out there. But I’m happy sharing my experiences with others and will keep doing this.

I’m actually quite excited about this and am thinking of doing more of this in time to come.

Till my next post, take care!

Description: Intensely lengthening and root emphasizing. An innovative new mascara with a flexible new generation brush that enables you to create a perfect doe-eyed look.

The brush has a double action.

Step 1: Use long bristles to stretch the mascara formula from root to tip. Intensely lengthens lashes without clumping.

Step 2: Use short bristles to deposit formula at the base of the lashes, emphasizing roots for a liner effect. It will look as though you have used a pencil kohl in the inside rim of your lashes, without the hassle!

The mascara formula is enriched with kohl to intensify the result.

For an intense glance that will surely be irresistible.

I picked up this mascara sometime last year at Priceline and I’ve been using this alternately with my other mascaras for almost 6 months now. I knew nothing about this mascara when I picked it up, had not done my research or read any reviews on it prior to my purchase. Thus, I was a bit weary of it, particularly on its claims to produce the liner effect. However, out of curiosity, I truly wanted to see the doe-eyed effect that this mascara promises. Plus any mascara which can line my eyes in one go earns a star from me. On some aspects, deliver it does. I was generally quite pleased with this very first Bourjois product purchase of mine. However, on other aspects, it definitely has flaws and is thus not perfect.

This mascara is meant to produce a doe eyed effect with an automatic liner effect at the bottom of your lashes. It has a rich kohl formula and the texture of the mascara is quite thick. You’ve got to be super careful and patient when applying this one, as otherwise it can clump your lashes together, particularly with the short bristle side, due to its incredibly rich texture and formula.

The wand is quite unique as such that it has two sides to it. One side with longer bristles for volume and longer lashes and the other shorter bristled side is meant to produce the liner effect. So, I basically coat my lashes using each side of the wand once each, using the longer side first. However, I use both sides rather sparingly and would often use another lash comb to spread the formula out across all my lashes as the product build up on this one is a bit too much for me. Whilst using the wand on its own produces incredibly beautiful and lustrous lashes, your eyes would really stand out and I’m just a girl who prefers natural looking make-up.

That said, if you want dramatic, stand-out, almost false-eyelashes-look eyes, this is definitely your answer. The mascara I purchased is the one in black and the black in this one is a real, seriously rich black. It gives you luscious, luscious volume and noticeable length as well. And the eyeliner effect? It’s there, though very subtle, unless you really coat your lashes with a few coats of this using the shorter bristles.

As the formula is thick, you really do not need to coat your lashes too many times on this. However, that really depends, I guess, on the look you’re after.

For me, once is more than enough as it really does produce extremely long, dark and thick lashes! When you brush the wand over your lashes, you can see a little clumping. However, if you continue brushing it a few more times, the rich formula will spread through all your lashes, producing beautiful and incredible looking eyes. The more you brush, the more even is the distribution.

For me, as I did not want to have eyes that are too bold and stand out too much, particularly for work, I usually coat it once with the wand and use another lash comb to separate and spread the formula on my lashes evenly. I like this effect better rather than having incredibly thick and long camel-like lashes as my own natural lashes are long already.

*Forgive the unkempt eyebrows*

On the day I took the above picture, I wore this mascara to work. Thus, I barely coated it as I didn’t want to stand out too much and wanted almost natural looking lashes, but you can still see the elongated lash effect that this mascara produces and the subtle liner effect at the bottom.

When using this mascara with its shorter bristled side, you’ve got to be ultra careful as otherwise there is a fair chance that you’ll get too much mascara on your roots. Plus, there is always that possibility of poking your eyes. Trust me, I’ve done this a great many times. It hurts.

I tend to use the short bristles rather sparingly. I’d basically just brush a dash of it and use another lash comb to spread it out evenly on the roots.

I’ve also tried doing it the other way round and applying with the shorter side first then the longer side. This seems to produce a better effect in my opinion as your lashes are coated to the root first with the liner effect and whatever extra product you’ve got there can be separated and spread evenly with the longer side all the way to the tip. However, using it this way takes a great deal of patience and time, as the short bristles are quite pokey to the eye. The results, however, are quite worth the effort.

This mascara is not waterproof. However, that is not the problem. The problem with this mascara is that whilst it does deliver beautiful, luscious, thick and almost lined lashes, it smudges. Just after a few hours of wearing it, it would smudge a little under my eyes. Not flakes, just light black smudges. No rubbing of the eyes, no frantic dancing, no vigorous movement at all, but it would smudge anyway. This, however, is easily removed with a little dab of the cotton bud soaked in water or eye makeup remover.

It also takes quite a while to dry. So, if you so much as blink a little too rapidly after putting this on, you’ll definitely have little black smudge-dots under your eyes.

Taking it off can also be quite painful. There’s a fair bit of light rubbing with your cotton pad soaked in your makeup remover that you need to do to remove this one.

This mascara, to me, is a pretty decent one for occasional usage when you desire a more dramatic eye look. For everyday usage, I’d feel it’s definitely not worth the hassle. There is just too much to do, too much time wastage, just to get the formula right on your eyes for that doe eyed look. However, for a night out or an occasion and you want dramatic eyes, this would be a good one and would only cost you $24 at Priceline in Australia.

The formula is a beautiful one and does create strikingly luscious and dramatic looking lashes, plus the liner effect definitely deserves a star, so thumbs up for that. However, thumbs down as it doesn’t last and for the massive hassles in removal and smudges that it produces.