Promotion: Crabtree and Evelyn with Hello Kitty

Crabtree & Evelyn has once again collaborated with Hello Kitty to launch GWPs, cute the Kitty might have been but cuteness comes at a price if you can afford it......

The collaboration.

The GWPs for various amount spent on Crabtree & Evelyn's products.

GWPs consist of tea cups and saucers, plates and tea sets.

Coupons with S$ off if your purchase runs up to a certain amount.

Terms and conditions.

I am not sure if this collaboration is going to suceed in making more gals to hand in their dough, it is just beyond me that one spends that much just for the GWP. Please don't get me wrong, i am not a Hello Kitty hater (I can't be one, for my sister is a hard core fan and i have lived with her all my life along with Hello Kitty), nor i dislike Crabtree & Evelyn's products. In fact, i haul like nobody's business when a certain range appeals to me.

Okie, basically here's how it works.....

If you are drawn to Hello Kitty's cuteness and spend above S$180.00 nett in a single receipt, you get 2 sets of tea cups with saucers.

If you like Hello Kitty enough to see her everyday, and is willing to spend up to S$320.00 nett in a single receipt, you get those 2 sets of tea cups and saucers, they throw in 4 small plates as well.

Finally, if you can't live without Hello Kitty and no word other than "love" can describe your intimate relationship with her, handover S$460.00 nett in a single receipt and, get all that people who spent S$180.00 and S$320.00 will get, you get a whole high tea set as well which comprise of a tea pot, a tea cup with saucer, a small plate and a 2 tier cake stand free!

Once you have gotten all that, now you just need to figure how you are going to use up all that S$460.00 worth of handcream, body wash, body cream, fragrances, soaps, scrubs and etc etc......unless you are hauling Christmas presents for your family and friends too, otherwise it is simply beyond me to imagine one could possibly finish up all the products that amount of money can buy.

I love Crabtree & Evelyn's products, in fact i have backups for things i love from them, but not this kind of promotion.....

What i would like to see from them?

More quality products and innovative ones as well, please.

Just my humble 2 cents worth.

Note: No feline was harmed in the writing of this post.

 



Review: Ciate Wait Unitl Dark and possible dupes

This is a post that is way long overdue, i might have as well forgotten all about it until i was trying to reorganise my nail polish stash. I would like to take this opportunity to thank a friend, Mr J for updating me on beauty related news and for his generosity in gifting me stuffs from time to time.

Now, introducing Ciate Paint Pots in Wait Until Dark.....

Ciate Paint Pots- Wait Until Dark.

This is such a cute bottle, something totally different from the usual "OPI" kind of packaging, you know brands such as "China Glaze", "Orly" and well perhaps a few more others sport the similar roundish bottle and fat rounded cap. With a cute black bow attached (by glue) to the bottle, one can't help but be drawn to it (and yes, cute bow is a girl thing). The long handle makes it easier to twist the cap from the bottle, plus the rectangular packaging actually save space during storage (minimum storage wastage).

 Side view of the bottle.

 Wait Until Dark- 13.5ml. made in France.

Quantity-wise, Ciate nail enamel contains 13.5ml which is a little lesser than OPI's standard 15ml, but then again i have not known anybody who can finish her bottle of OPI yet. I am just halfway through my OPI's Tickle my Francey with my frequent usage. Personally, i am contented with the amount as i do try to rotate among my stash if i can help it.

It is a breeze applying Wait Unitl Dark, the formula is slightly thinner than the standard OPI's formula, yet application is smooth and it took 2 coats to obtain decent opacity and 3 coats for total opacity which is pretty much standard. Drying time for Ciate nail enamel is pretty fast, and no smudges once the color sets and dries.

Now, what wow me is the color..... when i cast my first glance upon it, i thought this is such a dupable color and i should have no problem spotting similar shades in my stash. I was wrong.

In the bottle, Wait Until Dark sports a resemblance to OPI's Eiffel for This Color from the France Collection 2008. However, the resemblance stops the minute i pulled EFTC out from my stash and placed them side by side each other.

Eiffel for This Color is a burgundy wine red while Wait Until Dark is a vampish dark blackish purple with subtle shimmer in it. Then, i thought maybe Lincoln Park after Dark might be its dupe, and so i pulled it out, only to realise that mine is the suede edition, which i applied a top coat after the nail color settled thinking that i might be able to create the dupe (as i have seen on several blogs, OPI suede's coloring does get darker and more beautiful if a top coat is applied to it, totally alter the look). Lincoln Park after Dark (suede with top coat) has visible shimmer and appears more purplish.

As one can see in the photos below, i have nothing in my stash that resembles WUD totally, at the most they are considered "distant cousins", not really "family".

Well, i would love to snag more of Ciate's nail enamel, if they are more widely available.

 Ciate Paint Pots Nail Enamel in Wait Until Dark- no chipping at all even when i am done doing the household chores.

 Love the color.

 OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark Sude.

 See the visible shimmer in the bottle.

OPI's Eiffel for this Color (France Collection,2008).

It's purplish red made me think that it might be a dupe for WUD.

 L-R: OPI Lincoln Park after Dark Suede (with top coat), Ciate Wait Unitl Dark, OPI Eiffel for this Color and Ciate Wait Until Dark (2 coats each).

 L-R: OPI Lincoln Park after Dark Suede (with top coat), Ciate Wait Unitl Dark, OPI Eiffel for this Color and Ciate Wait Until Dark (2 coats each).

Note: Ciate's Wait Until Dark is gifted by a friend, i doubt its available locally in the stores.



Review: The Body SHop Chocomania Shower Cream

I love chocolate, so much so that i can eat it almost everyday if my waistline ever stops expanding. : )

Sometimes the mere thought of it makes me happy, and of course not forgetting the monthly craving for it (you girls know why. ; ) ).

 Much as i can't live without it (yes! Chocolate addict here), to bathe in it or rather something that smells totally like it is a different matter all together.

I happen to come across Chocomania Shower Cream as part of a GWP from The Body Shop, it is something that i am keen to try as it deviates from the usual floral, fruity or musky churn ups that one usually see from The Body Shop. Receiving as part of the GWP naturally spiced up the purchase i made then.

                                                    The sinful Chocomania indulgence.

The Chocomania Shower Cream by The Body Shop has to be the weirdest thing in my stash. Packaged in the typical Body Shop shower bottle, it is nothing out of the normal really, however the creamy glistering brown molten liquid that the bottle house looks like its good enough to drink (No, i am NOT that crazy yet).

The rich chocolate brown seems like a good nail color (which i wonder if it will ever work on the nails).

When i lifted up the cap in the bath room, i was caught by surprise by the strong chocolate scent, a tad too strong i would say. Was hesitant to pour it on the bath lily as i don't want to wake up in the middle of the night bitten by ants drawn to the confectionary scent.

Of course, curiosity caught up with me and yes i bathe in it. True enough, my mother who was in the kitchen could catch the scent of the the shower cream and asked what i am doing in the bathroom (???).

Personally, i find it more moisturising than the usual shower gels from The Body Shop, while the scent is strong straight from the bottle, it subsided relatively fast when i am out of the bathroom. It rinses fairly easily too which i like.

Interestingly, i found 2 ants on my arms the next morning when i woke up...... 

Would probably buy it if i were on a No-chocolate diet......

List of ingredients.

Available at S$14.90 for 250ml at all The Body Shop stores (Limited Edition).

Review: RMK Mix Colors for Eyes EX03 Purple

 This is my first RMK eyeshadow palette and honestly speaking after hearing so much about RMK's eyeshadow, how pigmented they are, how expensive they are and how easy they are to use, etc.

Naturally, I am excited to lay my hands on one of them and try them out. Imagine my delight when i saw them in a sale, the EX-03 purple from the 2011 Summer makeup collection. It's one of the palette that aroused my BFF's and my interest back then.

I hauled not 1 but 2, one for my BFF and one for me.

While RMK's makeup base and blusher impress me, sad to say i can't say the same for its eyeshadow palette, especially after my encounter with this particular palette.

2 words- very disappointed, read on and you will know why.

 The nifty signature silver cardboard packaging.

EX-03 Mix Colors for Eyes (Shiny, think its shimmery) Purple palette.

List of ingredients, contains 5.7g or 0.19oz in total which evens out to a 1.4g per color.

 Finger prints prone shiny surface, its not metal but metallic coated plastic.

In terms of packaging, the eyeshadow palette is housed in its signature sleek silver coated plastic holder, as usual the highly reflective shiny cover is a fingerprint magnet. Other than that, its actually very convenient to bring around, especially if you are travelling overseas, the niffty palette doesn't take up much space. I like the packaging just not the shiny fingerprint magnet casing. 

The beautiful colors.

The colors, oh they are beautiful and the combination is very different from what i have currently in my stash (browns, beiges and blacks dominate most of the time). I have to confess that i am a purple and gold lover in secret, though i do not think i can carry them well, but when i first lay my eyes on this palette i knew i have to have it.

On the palette, the the lavender or lilac purple looks like it can work on my skintone, the light gold and whitish silver look sophisticated and elegant enough to layer on, my only problem lies with the baby blue. It has the potential to look awkward on me and i risk looking like something went totally wrong in the morning.

Still, i hauled it without being able to swatch them on the spot as i really like the other 3 colors. 

That's when things turn out unexpectedly, when i first swipe my MAC 217 on the purple, nothing came off and so i tried with my 239, likewise nothing came off. Now, after trying with 2 brushes, the surface of the eyeshadow became a little waxy and this doesn't seems right to me.

Then i wipe the surface with tissue paper, so the colors managed to came off which i try using my fingers (clean of course), the texture is rather waxy too and i have only hints of color on my fingers. Bad feeling just gets stronger.

Finally, i resort to using cotton buds to apply the eyeshadows, and yes finally we have some decent color payoffs here. The cotton buds literally took off chunks of the eyeshadows (they are actually soft but why waxy? That i do not understand), while i managed to spread them out on my arms, which they finally look pigmented enough, however there are some fallouts as well in the process of swatching as you can see in the pictures below.

Another way for the eyeshadows to show up nicely would be to use those plastic spongue applicators that comes with eyeshadow palettes.

Maybe i got a dud, but i am skeptical about that. QC for japanese products are usually very strict and my previous pleasant experiences with RMK, Lunasol and Shiseido simply does not warrant my doubt that i got a dud.

I understand that the colors are supposed to be sheer and subtle, however that should not translate to bad color payoffs and, especially at the retail price point of S$65.00 for this palette. 

At that price point, personally i would expect at least good color payoff (be it sheer or pigmented), good lasting power (number of hours of wear) and good packaging. Otherwise, i might as well spend my pretty penny elsewhere.

Hope my 2 cents worth helps, as a matter of fact despite this experience, i am not so quick to write off RMK's eyeshadows totally yet. Maybe next time.

 After using my MAC brush to swipe across several times.

 After using cotton buds to swipe it a few more times.

Taken under normal sunlight near the window.

L-R:light gold, whitish silver, purple and light baby blue.

Taken further in the room, under normal sunlight.

L-R: light gold, whitish silver, purple and light baby blue.

 Taken under the lights in the room.

L-R: light baby blue, purple, whitish silve and light gold.

The cotton buds used to swatched the palette.



Something Random..... Corrynne Handmade Natural Soap

This is a little something that my brother got me when he was in Australia for an exchange programme early last month and it wasn't until recently that i had a bit of a time to do some posting. : (

It's from Corrynne's Natural Soap Body Products, a Western Australian company that makes environmentally friendly and harmful chemical free products.

According to my brother, he commented that when he stumbled upon Corrynne in Australia, he thought that i would have check out the store if i were in Australia with him and interestingly the scent of the shop resembles that of LUSH.

Thus, in he went and bought a small bar of "Lavender Patchouli and Vanilla" soap for me. Its sweet of him to have thought of me and bought something that he thought i would like, of course it would have been better if he brought back the "Patchouli, Ylang Ylang and Rosehip", "Rose Geranium", "Patchouli and Sandalwood" and well an assortment of other products home too. But one must not be greedy.

Am i that greedy? Nah, after he gave me the soap, my sister and mom gave him a piece of their mind for not bringing more back.... tsk tsk. There simply isn't much to share. A small bar of soap is hardly much to share and being a Obsessive Compulsive freak, not to mention i dig the scent of my soap, i kept it in my closet to scent my clothes.

Do check out the website if you are interested and the price is pretty reasonable too.

http://www.soaps.net.au/

Brown paper packaging that strikes me as ecco friendly.

Closer look at the description of the product.

 

The types of scent available.

A peep into the paperbag.

Lavender Patchouli and Vanilla soap. Think its 100g?

 

Marble-like swirls, rather artistic isn't it?