Round Up: Aussie BB Creams 2012

Second last day of 2012! I thought I'd compile a post of BB creams which are now available in Australia and a list of trends that I thought was really interesting this year!

First up, we now have a total of 17 BB creams readily available in Australia. 

BB creams have made a remarkable hit to the Western cosmetics/beauty industry this year, made famous by beauty communities from South East Asia. I'm pretty sure BB creams existed way before that.. sure did a take a while for BB creams to be noticed by the West!

We'll start off with drugstore brands ^_^ I'm not going by chronological order, but who doesn't know "Australia's first BB cream"? Yeap. That's right! Garnier came out with the very first BB cream (I was so annoyed with their ad!) and soon introduced another version for combination to oily skin types. 

• Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream ($13.95) -- review here.
• Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream for Combination to Oily Skin ($13.95)

• Chi Chi Super BB Cream ($19.95) -- haven't seen this around before!
• L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Total Repair 10 BB Cream ($35.95)
• L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream ($26.95)

• Innoxa Skin Perfecting Foundation 5 in 1 BB Cream ($24.95)
• Nude By Nature BB Cream ($19.95)
• Palmer's Eventone BB Cream ($9.99) -- review here.

• Sanctuary Spa Skin Perfecting BB Cream ($29.99) -- never heard of this brand, but it's exclusive to Priceline.
• Rimmel London 9-in-1 BB Cream ($12.95)
• Maybelline Dream Fresh 8 in 1 BB Cream ($15.95) -- available from Priceline online shop for the moment.

• Models Prefer BB Cream ($19.99)

 Now, for the high end brands --

• Bobbi Brown BB Cream SPF 35+++ ($60)
• Biotherm White Detox Translu-Cell BB Cream ($49)
• Jane Iredale Glow Time BB Cream ($72) -- available from professional clinics, plastic/cosmetic surgeons, dermatologists.

• MAC Prep & Prime BB Beauty Balm Compact SPF 30/PA++ ($49)
• MAC Prep & Prime BB Beauty Balm SPF 35/PA++ ($49)

From the list, I've only tried 3 BB Creams.. not much at all. I'm not crazy over BB creams though. Foundations will work fine!

Are YOU a BB-lover? Which BB creams have you tried?

Any listed BB creams sparked your interest?

Nails: Purple Glitz n' Glam -- Face Of Australia ft. Chi Chi

Hey there peepos! I hope you guys all had a wonderful and safe Christmas! Let me know how you celebrated Christmas, because all I did was stay home and paint ma nails.. Not even kidding!

I was playing with some purple glitz and glam -- Face Of Australia's 'Castle on a Cloud' from their Pastels collection and a purple glitter nail polish from Chi Chi (this comes in a set of 8 lacquers from Target called 'Bling It On').

'Castle On A Cloud' is a very light and pale lavender. It seems like the more lacquers I try from this collection, the better it's getting! The formula and pigmentation of this one was much better than their previous lacquer that I tried "I'll Take You to the Candy Shop" -- I didn't struggle with any streakiness or sheerness so 3 coats was enough for an opaque finish!

I topped that goodness off with Chi Chi's purple glitter top coat!

The clear-based glitter top coat contains large hexagonal glitters, accompanied by tiny round glitters. Although it did look pretty, I somewhat didn't like how the hex glitters are so large! I would've like it better at a smaller size..

The clear base is SO thick. Ugh. I went though a whole lot of trouble trying to get any hex glitters on the nails as the first coat gave me a fair amount of small rounds and about 1-2 hex's (sometimes, none at all). And because of its extremely thick consistency, I couldn't layer on a second coat or it'll never dry!

I'm really not impressed of this Chi Chi glitter coat, but I have two more bottles of these glitter lacquers to try until I can officially dub these as the 'thickest glitter top coats'! Hmph!


I wish you guys all had a wonderful and lovely Christmas where ever you are in the world! Today is my Mum's 54th birthday! My sister and I got beautiful peonies and lilies delivered to her workplace... ^_^

She asked me today, "If I were to receive flowers every year for my birthday, I wonder how many flowers more can I receive?".

You will be receiving birthday flowers for the rest of my life, silly! Happy birthday Mummy Pig!!! ^_^


I hope you guys are having a wonderful day! The weather is beautiful in Sydney today.. I'm home painting my nails.... again -_-"

What are you wearing on YOUR nails today?!

4 Xmas Nail Polishes & Manicures to inspire YOU!

I wish I was a creative peanut to whip up some creative Christmas-inspired manicures to share with you guys, but sadly.. I just lack creativity. I actually thought up of a few ideal Christmas manicures, but it seems like everytime I do get to it.. it just never turns out right!

Does anyone have the same problem?!

So instead, I thought I'd share with you some of my 'Christmas' nail polish picks! These colours are cheerful and festive, perfect to wear alone or you can even incorporate them into manicures!!

First up is one of my favourites of ALL time..

ORLY's Sweet Peacock has always stood out to me as the perfect 'Silent Night' blue! It has an amazing sparkly, foily finish which are my abso-fave finishes of all! It's one of the only fewer 'eye-catchin' nail polishes which can keep me staring at my nails all day... take my words for it... all day baby!

It's consistency is thin and somewhat 'runny' BUT.. but but.. it applies to be opaque in two coats! However, with most foily nail lacquers, its sparkles does rub off into silver shimmers after a day of wear. Nevertheless, it's still one of my top favourites ever. Like.. Ever. 

But in Sydney of Australia, you see, we don't have silent nights with the oh so snowy... Instead, we have bright and hot summery days with mood-changing temperatures at night.. which is okay I guess. Better than the gloomy and rainy season!

Another nail lacquer to get you red-dy for Christmas is Rimmel's Lycra Nail Polish in Hot Rock. Red for all no matter where you're from. 

In the bottle, it's full of beautiful gold shimmers, but when applied, those gold shimmers are nowhere to be seen, how lol and sad. Nevertheless, it is a cheery red with subtle supposedly-to-be gold shimmers. Quite pigmented with a so so smooth application, but the brush is a bit flimsy. I can sure pull this off with one coat!

Don't mind the black linings, it's from the previous nail polish I swatched.. hehe.

I snagged this at the markets for $1, but I haven't ever seen these Lycra nail lacquers in store in Aussie. Perhaps you could check online or if you're from America then you may be able to find it locally!

Another red nail lacquer, but this one's more of a darker metallic crimson red, which screams "holidays!"... say hi to Face Of Australia's Flaming Lava!

Reminds ya much of the red of mistletoes.. yes? I've just received this one in my mail and it's SO pigmented and smooth! I could also go with one coat of this!

I'm very impressed with this one and hopefully other shades from this 'Colour Pro Triple Action' range remains to be consistent with its high quality! Can't wait to try other shades yayay!

Another one by Face Of Australia from an older collection ( I'm sure you've seen me posted about before here) is Calypso-Gold from their Barbados collection. This collection is now discontinued in store, but you can still find them on Fashion Addict.

Calypso-Gold is a pearly warm-toned champagne with subtle gold shimmers! It's elegant and beautiful. One of the fewer light shades that I find to look okay on my darker-toned hands hehe.

To me, the shade itself is quite festive! Sure, it doesn't remind me of anything 'Christmas-y' but it's just something about it... hmm.. do you feel me?

So that's that!

-- On to 4 simple, yet beautiful Xmas-inspired manicures that I'd love to share with you (with proper credits to their authors)!

Cute little Santas on your nails by Michelle @ LabMuffin

Creative Abstract Christmas Tree design @ Nail Side

Simple glitter manicure from Pinterest (let me know if this is yours!)

Michelle @ Lab Muffin again! Just recently discovered her blog so don't mind me! :P

Link to this nail art from her site is here >

At times like this.. I wish I owned a Konad stamping kit to make up for my disastrous nail art skills. Meep.

What's on YOUR nails this Christmas? Which is your go-to Xmas shade?

Share with my any other of your fave Xmas-inspired manicures!

I'm doing nothing for Christmas, but if you don't hear from me before Christmas.. I'm wishing YOU and your loved ones a safe and wonderful Christmas!!


Disclaimer: ORLY and Face Of Australia nail lacquers mentioned in this post were provided for review considerations only. I am not obligated to review, mention or post about these products. All opinions within this post belongs to me and remains 100% truthful and unbiased.

Latest Lovin' Combo -- Perfect Pout in PINK ft. Australis & Prestige

Back in Nam, all I used to ever wear were cute and natural pink shades... and maybe nudes. But it wasn't until I started hanging out with Alice the Malice (@arsyparsy) that I started to explore the bright and bold world of lippies.

And my favourite bolds to turn to?

I love me bold pinks! Instantly plumps up the shapes of my lips without seeking too much attention.. because I'm still a newbie to red lipsticks.

The combo that I am absolutely loving right now....

I've used Prestige's Waterproof Lipliner in 'Diva' that I purchased from the markets for $2.50.

'Diva' on its own

'Diva' is a deeper reddish-pink, which is pretty pigmented and stays on quite long for its super matte finish. And unfortunately because of that, it doesn't glide on too well (you can try warming it up a tad by a hair dryer or so) and does feel drying on the lips. Meep.

Too matte though, just too matte! I need some gloss in my life!

Of course, that's when Australis' Colour Inject Mineral Lip Gloss in Polka hits the stage and flaunts it glossiness!

'Polka' over 'Diva'

'Polka' is a cool-toned bright pink which is very pretty, but I personally wouldn't wear it alone. It's just too cool toned to work with my skin tone on its own. Nevertheless, its spectacular formula hasn't changed one bit! I haven't used Australis' Lip Glosses for yonks now and it's formula still serves to be super glossy in finish, smooth and not overly "annoyingly" sticky and slippery.

Prestige's Diva and Australis' Polka

However, because it's quite pigmented and the shade itself is so bright, it becomes super duper obvious when it transfers... so I'd be extremely careful that if it does happen to be a windy day, my hair doesn't transfer the gloss to my chin or anywhere else around my face (it happened). It could be annoying, but I've chose to just deal with it :)

Sorry friends, but I can see myself wearing this until the end of this Summer.. hope you won't be bored!

What's YOUR favourite lip combo right now?

Which are your favourite bolds -- red, orange.. even purple maybe?!

Disclaimer: Australis' 'Polka' Lip Gloss was provided for review consideration. I was not obligated to post about, review and/or mention this product in my post(s). All opinions expressed within this post are of my own and remains uninfluenced. Please refer to this site's disclosure policy. 

Some Outstanding Sales (18 Dec 2012): Priceline

Hey, I haven't forgot about you guys.. :(

I've just been SO incredibly sick that I haven't been able to blog! It was the first time in my life ever that I got food poisoning..... pretty sure it was salmon that I ate! And adding to that, I also had my "time of the month" cramps right after that... so let me tell ya.. I now officially look like a zombie.

A zombie who's trying to get back into action with the blogging mojo.

So let's start off with the small and simple "SOS" posts, okay? I'll have to take baby steps again because I'm not really feeling it right now! T_T

1. PRICELINE: Buy 1 get 1 free for Rimmel London's LIPS & EYES! If you're still interested in those ScandalEyes Waterproof Kohl Eyeliners then now is the perfect time as BOGO offers are probably the best Australia could do. Ends 24 Dec 2012.

2. PRICELINE: Buy 1 get 1 free for Bourjois' LIPS & NAILS! Their 1 Second Nail Polishes launched last month so again.. now is the perfect time to pick up those! Ends 24 Dec 2012.

3. PRICELINE: Save 20% on Maybelline, Covergirl, L'Oreal Paris, Australis, Innoxa and Sally Hansen cosmetic ranges. Ends 17 Dec 2012.


Yeap. Three sales only. You read right.

I'm not sure why Priceline has so less sales on cosmetics this time and not to mention, these sales only goes for 6 days. Meep.

I'm so tiredddddddd.. back to bed me goes!

Palmer's Eventone BB Cream -- Review

In October, I blogged about my first impression of Palmer's Eventone BB Cream and finally after a long trialling period.. I am excited to share with you my thoughts on it!

SPF 15+ huh?

First of all! Love the hygienic and handy squeeze-tube packaging along with its dispensing hole which is just the perfect size, allowing control over how much to be dispense!

However, do not love how in its typical "BB cream" nature, it is only available in two shades (meep!) -- Fair/Light and Medium/Dark. Both shades are too light and too dark, so my perfect combination is the mixture of both! I'm glad that these shades don't lean overly cool in terms of undertones which means "yay for no pink face!", but heads up.. it does oxidise to be darker!

Fair/Light, Medium/Dark

Although neither shades suit moi, I feel like it is a good thing in the bigger picture since you'll be able to mix and match the shades to your skin tone, seasonal changes and also use them to highlight and contour (I actually do this!). So overall, it will be able to cater to a broader spectrum of skin tones. Of course, this isn't something I'd do with an exxy foundation, but since these are SO affordable ($9.95 each with occasional sales at Chemist Warehouse), it is really no biggie to purchase both shades! What do you say?

Click to enlarge

It also has the perfect consistency -- not too thin and not too thick, but strangely, it can feel quite grippy upon application and tends to settle in quite quick. A quick fix to this is to add a dot of moisturiser to the product to allow more blending time.. oh, and don't forget to use your fingers to keep the product nicely melted! :)

Click to enlarge

Depsite its fussy finger application, grippy-ness and limited shade range, I still REALLY enjoy using this BB cream! My main concerns are acne scars which needs to be covered and dry patches which needs to be hydrated (or left alone) and this does it all. For a lighter coverage that'd even out my redness, I'd blend it in with my fingers in circular motions, but if I'm seeking medium coverage then I'd apply it in patting motions! Yeap! There's a difference depending on your method of application!

Adding to that, it also has a dewy finish and lasts a GOOD 8 hours on my skin, with very little shine seeping through. Hooray! I'm still so happy that it leaves my dry patches alone! Hooray!

Before & After -- Overall face shot

I have no idea whether these do or do not live up to the hype of Asian BB creams, but I really like it! I think you'd like it too if you have normal to drier skin types!

Have you tried Palmer's Eventone BB Cream?

What do you think of it?

Palmer's Eventone BB Creams are only available at My Chemist (online) and Chemist Warehouse for $9.99. 

Disclaimer: This product was provided for review consideration. However, I am not obligated to review or mention this product in my posts! All opinions of this post are my own and remains uninfluenced. For more information, please refer to my Disclosure policy.