Sunday 29 December 2013

Little Black Beauty Box by StyleXStyle: December Edition

I absolutely love the Little Black Box by SytleXStyle as they offer exclusive branded skincare/makeup from Robinson Departmental Store thus you know the quality is there. This month's version is no exception as the brands got bigger and better.

One thing that I want to mention, it is very sweet of them, especially the owner (or is it!?) Sharon Au (a Mediacorp artist but seldom see her on TV nowadays though) emailed me about being unable to reach me through my phone when they wanted to deliver the box. This is such a nice gesture and I just felt really appreciated as a customer. So, all cozy things aside, let's get on to the product.


This box costs $21.99, a little pricier than other month's boxes but I'm not complaining one bit as look at all the products contained within the box below o_O
And the delivery came within the 2nd week which I think is decent for a beauty box.

Holy moly!!! I was surprised till the brim!!!
Clinique, Lab Series, Origins, MAC, Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown, DKNY and La Mer!!!!
Speaking about exclusivity... This totally rocks!!!


Lab Series for Men Age Rescue Face Lotion and Multi Action Face Wash
Clinique DDMG (a holy grail when I was in my early twenties)
Origins Make A Difference Plus+ Serum and Plantsciption Anti-aging Serum (love both as they having this soothing emollient texture and smells like herb too)


DKNY Delicious Skin Perfume (as its name suggested, it really smells delicious and sweet)
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum
Bobbi Brown Lip Gloss
La Mer Moisturising Gel (I think its alright but I couldn't justify the price that comes with it)
MAC Eye Makeup Remover (this product sucks as it doesn't do anything to my waterproof mascara) and Zoom Lash Mascara

I'm just so excited to try them all out. Thumbs up for this month's box. Hopefully next month would be equally as good.

Friday 13 December 2013

Christmas Gift Guide (For Him)

Shopping for men is always a hard chore for me. I totally do not have any inkling whatsoever to buy for guys and it always ended up with Men's Shirt or Skincare product (and Fact-of-the-Day, men really doesn't like receiving these as gifts). 

Thus, after years of experimenting and constant questioning, I have come up with this list that hopefully might make your guy happy or to assist those poor desperate people (mainly ladies) out there who haven't got a clue what to buy for the beaus... 

Those items listed are those that are available worldwide. I'll try to link them to websites that offers international shipping or else, you can find them at your local store.

Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio Perfume
Who: Grown up Men (this smells so sexay!!!)
Where: Feel Unique, International


Creative Woofer & Sub Woofer
Who: The Tech Addict (well, that makes it all men range 15-100 years old :P)
Where: Amazon or your electronic local store


Apple Ear Piece
Who: Generally, all men with MP3s (who use these now anyways?) and phones
Where: Nubox, Singapore or Amazon or your local Apple store


Junk Food (preferably healthier ones - just put them in a pretty packaging and wahlah)
Who: Every single human guys that consumes food
Where: Local Organic Food Store


Loccitane Men's collection 
Who: Men who takes care of their looks
Where: Feel Unique, International


Adidas Performance Essential Team Bag
Who: Sporty Morties 
Where: Online, Singapore or Your Adidas Local Store 


Ted Baker 3 Pack Logo Socks Giftset
Who: All Men who are into fashion, or maybe not
Where: Asos, International


Hugo Boss Watch and Cufflink Gift Set
Who: Dad, brothers and boyfriends (special ones as they are not cheap)
Where: Asos, International


Adidas Pro Grip Trainer
Who: Health Conscious Men or Body Builder
Where: Online, Singapore or you local Adidas Store


Remote Control Monster Toy Truck
Who: Boys and Men (its true, I had asked all YY chromosome homo-sapiens and all of them admit that they will still gladly receive this as a gift)
Where: Online, International


Monday 9 December 2013

Christmas Gift Guide (For Her)

Apologies to those staying outside Singapore and Malaysia as the items below are found in these 2 countries and I'm not entirely sure whether you can get them elsewhere unless I specified so...

So, let's get on with it, shall we?

Victoria Secret Bangles 
Who: Teens and those in their early twenties or those that are fashion forward
Where: JPO, Malaysia but you can find it in all Victoria Secret outlet worldwide)


Statement Necklaces
Who: Office ladies or those who are fashion forward
Where: Lovisa, Singapore but I'm sure there any much many more choices in high street fashion store eg: H&M, Forever 21, Primark etc


The Little Black Beauty Box
Who: Practically anyone as they are surprise beauty boxes, read my review here
Where: Online, Singapore


Glow in the Dark Nail Polish
Who: Teens or those who are adventurous when it comes to beauty
Where: Qoo10, Singapore


Bobbi Brown Makeup Brush Set
Who: Beauty fanatics
Where: Deal.com.sg, Singapore but you can definitely purchase individual over any Bobbi Brown counter, however on a higher price.


Dumbbells 
Who: Health conscious ladies
Where: Deal.com.sg, Singapore but of course there are many choices out there at any health/fitness supply store.


Pearl White Gold Necklace
Who: Anyone who loves jewellery (and I bet is all women who does)
Where: Denni, major retail departmental store (eg: Metro) but I am guessing that you can buy those delicate classy necklace in any jewellery stores


And if all the above fails...
Flowers
Who: Mum and Aunts and Grandma and Teachers and Colleagues and Girlfriends. Just basically anyone with boobs
Where: Garden, of course not you silly, THE FLORIST!!

Saturday 7 December 2013

Top 4 Tips to Prevent Pimples

My Skin Type: Dry to Combination
Pimple Prone Areas: Forehead, Between the Eyebrows, Cheekbone


1. Determine the food that causes the breakout
- As cliche as it sounds, but it really took years for me to figure that the food I consumed does play a significant role in determining the clearness of my skin. For me, its dairy (milk, ice-cream and yoghurt) and excess sugar (ice-cream, cookies and chocolate), which are tickets to pimple-land. Some may be "allergic" to seafood or some to spicy oily food. It really depends as all of our bodies are different. If you do have breakouts issue, do try to eliminate certain type of food gradually in order to pin point which food is your body not coping well with. There will surely bound to be a triggering-food-point and then you ought to control your intake of that particular food.

2. Take your vitamins
- No, I'm not saying that you should gobble all sorts of vitamins and minerals. They are certain group of vitamins that help such as Vitamin A, B (Beta-carotene) and C. The clarity of my skin has significantly improve after I down those aforementioned Vitamins once every two days. And I do mean SIGNIFICANTLY!!! I'm not going to go into details of how it works, thus, I'll let this website do the talking.

3. Keep your fingers away from any pre-breakouts, or just Stop Touching Your Face
- My mum (or all those mums out there) has been right all these while. Do not touch your face in any circumstances. Seriously, that's where a gazillion germs are breeding and they are more than happy to find a fertile ground aka your face (due to oil which is nutrient to them -__-) to multiply. Thus, as tempting as it may be to pinch those nasty pesky pimples or just running your fingers across your face, just don't let your hands go near your face. You will regret it, I promise.

4. Choose suitable skincare products
- Yes, ladies (and gentlemen). Although this may be an expensive step, but there is no way that you can avoid this step. Trial-and-error each and every brand and see which kind of skincare suits you. Once a product enhances your capability to pop more pimples, bin them. Like immediately, throw them away!!! You don't want to take risk with your face as you only gonna get one face for the rest of your life. You don't want to ruin that precious face of yours just because its a waste to throw new products away. I've learned it the hard way, just shuddering at the thought that I had put up with the whole Olay Total Effects Moisturiser which made me breakout like crazy, and which in turn left scars. Not a pretty sight I can assure you.
- So, don't be afraid to try out different skincare brands and types. Experiment. Have fun. Veer towards blemish fighting products that contains AHA, BHA, Salicylic Acid, Benzoyl Peroxide and apply on targeted areas. I highly recommend Peter Thomas Roth's AHA/BHA Acne Clearing Gel (on a pricier side, also available in any Sephora outlet) or if you are on a budget, Clinelle's Blemish Clear gel is great too.


And of course, these are not the only steps to prevent pimples or breakouts as I'm sure there are tons of website that will offer you a whole chunk of preventive measure to cure and prevent breakouts. However, I just thought that I'd share my 2 cents in preventing this forever-there catastrophe. Hopefully, they help ^_^

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Beauty Box Comparison: Bellabox Vs The Little Black Beauty Box

And let the games begin:




Price: $21.99
Delivery: First 2 weeks of the month
Products: 9 products. 
1. Youth and Radiance Revealing Fluid (15ml)
2. 24Hr Soothing and Rehydrating Fresh Mask (15ml)
3. Comforting Cleansing Milk (35ml)
4. Brightening BB Cream SPF30 PA+++ (15ml)
5. Fondant Cleansing Gel (15ml)
6. Multi-Purpose Dry Oil (10ml)
7. Micellar Cleansing Water (35ml)
8. 24Hr Soothing and Moisturising Emulsion (15ml)
9. Clarifying Cream-Mask (15ml)
Products Quality: 4/5 (As with all Nuxe products. Love love love the Fluid)
Presentation: 5/5 (The shiny black box is gorgeous, sleek and chic with a ribbon on top. Something that I will not hesitate to re-use and put on my table to store my stuff. Items are carefully placed and packaged with lining)
Subscription Process: 3/5 (There are no 3, 6, 12 months subscription available. Thus, you need to place order every month when they are out, meaning inconvenient)
Pros: 
1. Quantity and quality of the products are just great and worth-while. 
2. The choice of products to be in the box is satisfying too with brands that are well recognized in the beauty arena. 
3. The themes/brands for each box are being told upfront so that consumers can select whether they would like to purchase or not.
4. The price is definitely worth the products that you will be getting. 
Cons: 
1. Subscription process is not even a subscription kind of service as it is more like online shopping buy one things at a time. 
2. Their customer service is a bit slow, whereby they took around 3 weeks to reply my enquiries. 
3. Boxes sold out really fast if it were a special edition.
4. No pamphlet or indicators to show all the products and their direction-of-using and the ingredients





Price: $19.95
Delivery: First 2 weeks of the month (however, for the November edition, I only got it at the end of the month -_-)
Products: 10 products. 
1. Tote bag
2. Cosmopolitan Magazine
3. Collection Colour Pout Pucker
4. Collection Colour Pout Flirt
5. Makeup Pouch
6. Elizabeth Arden Untold Eau De Parfum
7. Jacqueline Burchell Nail Polish
8. Goodskin Labs Exten-10 Sample
9. Goodskin Labs Circleplex-2 Sample
10. Whisper Cosmo Heavy Day
Products Quality: 3/5 (Few favourites are the Collection Lip Stains and the magazine)
Presentation: 3/5 (Mediocre packaging and it doesn't even come in a box)
Subscription Process: 5/5 (A good few subscription choices for those that does not want to subscribe for a year) 
Pros: 
1. Pamphlet or indicators are available to show all the products and their description.
2. Good customer service as they inform customers when a delivery was delayed.
3. A good mixture of skincare and makeup in the box, thus, pleasing both side of the beauty globe.
4. Customers will get surprises without knowing what is coming (although they do give hints on their website of what is to be expected).
5. Subscription choices are great. 
6. The website has an e-shop for customers to purchase individual products that they get in their boxes. Boxes are also available for purchase, sometimes even with discounts. 
Cons: 
1. With almost the same amount of money, The Little Black Beauty Box fare much better in terms of product choices and qualities
2. The packaging just doesn't cut it for me (even for the November edition)
3. Sidetrack a bit, the November edition came in really really extremely late, at around the last week of November. Although they did apologize for the delay, but I think its still unacceptable for a box to come in at the end of the month.