All posts filed under: Features

TBG 2016 Skincare Picks

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The 2016 skincare launches that worked for my skin. Skin Inc Pure Serum Mist. Seriously makes my face GLOW. I spritz it on to refresh my skin in the middle of the day, before I touch up with a BB cushion for a porcelain-like complexion. Super love. Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Ampoules. My go-to when I have had a late night but need to look well-rested the next morning for important meetings. I layer the dry oil-like formula on top of the brand’s signature ADR serum for a 💥-packed skin-nourishing combo.    Clarins Booster. The idea is so ingenious. This watery formula is not to be used on its own but blended with a cream, serum, or even liquid foundation. It does not change the consistency of the product you’re blending it with, but you get extra customised benefits for the skin. I like the Energy version which visibly perks up my tired skin. Lush Softy Foot Lotion. I use this not just on my feet but all over because it smells amazing with …

TBG 2016 Makeup and Gadget Picks

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The 2016 launches that made the cut here on The Beauty Gazette. The Shu x Murakami collection is  super cute. The Eye and Cheek Palette in Cosmiikawaii ticks all the right boxes for on-trend shades like burgundy and deep coral. Tom Ford Soleil Eye and Cheek Palette in Warm has all the perfect colours for a goddess makeup look. Urban Decay Vice Lipstick. 100 shades to choose from. Love the cream and matte shades that packs a punch. Fave: Ravenswood, the perfect #MLBB (My Lips But Better) colour. Shiseido Rouge Rouge– Excellent texture and colour with a beautiful sheen. Lightweight but truly gorgeous pay off. Go for Bloodstone. Dyson Supersonic Dryer, never tried a leaner, meaner, sexier hairdryer Estee Lauder x VB collection surprised me with classic bright shades that are unlike VB, but with classy smokey hues that are so VB Foreo Luna 2. If you think the Clarisonic is too harsh for your skin, this is the alternative. Gentle and effective for exfoliation. I left it in the shower for a whole year …

SK-II Facial Treatment Essence Limited Edition Festive Designs 2016

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If you swear by SK-II’s Facial Treatment Essence, then its yearly limited edition designs will get you hyped. Another pretty addition to the dressing table, this year’s FTE is emblazoned with the ephemeral Japanese art of Suminagashi. An ancient marbling art form, Suminagashi translates to floating ink in English.  Surprisingly easy to create, and each pattern is different; so you can never re-create the exact same lines and curves because it is all left to chance. The masters drip bright paint onto a tray of water to create patterns; then lay a sheet of paper on top of the ink so it is”printed” on. Suminagashi is fitting for this year’s SK-II FTE festive theme. After all, the FTE was inspired by aged sake, which kept the brewers’ hands youthful-looking. My own experience with the FTE? I’ve used it for many years, and it never disappoints. It keeps my skin clearer and translucent-looking. So much so that whenever I stop using it, I actually see a difference in my skin tone and start to break out. …

Tom Ford Winter Soleil Eye and Cheek Palette

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If you want to indulge in a single handy palette to get you through the year-end holidays and  the new year, this Limited Edition Tom Ford one is it. With its coral-pink blush (no glitter or metallic flecks for the grown woman) and complementary light pink highlighter, this palette ($250) best suits those with fair to tanned skin tones. In particular, I am in love with the eyeshadow quartet (like I do with all the other TF shadows) because they have the right amount of matte, sparkle, and pigment for a multi-dimensional smokey make-up look. The shades are built on soft and sexy brown shades, which are a lot less harsh and in-your-face than black and grey shadows. All you need is a kohl liner, mascara, and a matte bronzer to complete Tom Ford’s iconic goddess aesthetic.

Farm to Beauty at Spa Esprit

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Like in every other Metropolitan city with its citizens becoming increasingly conscious of the way they consume, such as in New York City and Hong Kong, Singapore has followed suit with the rooftop/ urban farming trend. There may already be a few farm-to-restaurant table rooftop gardens in the city, but Spa Esprit’s Farm-to-Beauty salon concept is the first. With a chain of at least 25 outlets, with the brand names Browhaus, Strip, and We Need A Hero, the Spa Esprit Group is always forward-thinking and creative with its business strategy. Four years in the making, the 10,000 sq ft rooftop garden at Raffles City Shopping Centre in Singapore is where Spa Esprit grows its crop of 16 varieties of herbs and other plants; that are eventually turned into calming teas and beauty balms that are stocked at its outlet in the mall. Working with the Edible Garden City  to battle windy conditions, pests, and watering hiccups, Spa Esprit’s current rooftop garden harvest includes aloe vera, spearmint, passion flower, chrysanthemum, lemon balm, Mexican tarragon, and blue pea flower. …

Christian Louboutin Fragrances

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Shoe designer Christian Louboutin has an uncanny ability to make women desire whatever he creates.  Famous for his red-soled spindly stilettos – inspired by showgirls he admires – Louboutin cracked into the beauty market in 2014 with his Rouge Louboutin Nail Lacquer. Just so that he could have the perfect polish shades match his open-toed creations. The ombre glass bottles come with dramatic caps that resemble a spike, and stiletto heel. Next, came the range of lipsticks that are constantly sold out; even when they cost US$90 a pop. Gorgeously packaged, the lipsticks are shaped to look like bullets with intricate rococo designs.  That’s the appeal of Louboutin’s femme fatale aesthetic: ultra-feminine and sexy  but always a little bit dangerous (and intimidating).  This fall, Louboutin expands his beauty range with three fragrances.  The bottles of twisted ombre glass are beautiful and ornamental as all things Louboutin. Tornade Blonde:  “The scent of love and adventure, a gorgeous red rose lies deep in a bed of sweet violet and cassis. Feminine and potent, animalistic yet floral, Tornade …

Loewe 001 Woman

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Inspired by the unbearable delicacy of the ‘morning after’, Loewe 001 Woman is part of a duo of fragrances by the brand’s creative director Jonathan Anderson. The Loewe 001 range is the first by the designer. “This is a very personal project for me. I spent alot of time working on it because it’s something I really believe in. Above all, I wanted the fragrance to feel credible, an organic extension of what Loewe stands for today.” The brand says it smells like: “…an upper register of tangerine and bergamot and a sandalwood middle section with lower hints of jasmine and vanilla.” What this EDP smells like to me: vanilla, tonka beans, caramel, balanced with white florals and a hint of musk and suede. Feminine with an edge.

Top picks from escentials for Holiday 2016

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unnamed, Byredo To mark the 10th anniversary of the Swedish perfume house, its founder Ben Gorham decided on offering its fans a bottle of juice that is open to interpretation. A concoction of  pink pepper notes, gin accord, orris stem, violet, moss and fir balsam. “The names of the BYREDO fragrances often describe the origin of an idea, a thought that leads to a brief presented to the perfumer. With fragrance being completely subjective these names spark the imagination of the perfumer and finally the customer. They each experience the fragrance even before they smell the ingredients in the bottle. We still find it fascinating that people interpret our fragrances in so many ways. To celebrate BYREDO’s 10 year anniversary we created an unnamed fragrance that allows our customers to choose a name meaningful to them, and customize the label of their bottle.” -Ben Gorham The festive fir tree: A lush, pine-laden forest, woody tones of resin, cedar and patchouli       3. A la Rose set, Maison Francis Kurkdjian The A la Rose EDP – …

Skin Inc’s new serums

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These coloured dropper bottles, each filled with little pastel-coloured globules suspended in a clear liquid. Slowly but surely, these bottles – that come in technicolor shades – are becoming iconic and making waves in the international market. What Skin Inc offers is something I have not seen in any other beauty label: skincare that is simple, effective, and customised to one’s skin condition. There are 10 serums to choose from, and each contains one main active ingredient that addresses a specific skin concern. The active ingredient is encapsulated in those pastel-coloured bubbles so it is kept fresh, and burst upon application. The clear liquid is made of water and skin-hydrating glycerin. Because the active ingredients are encapsulated, customisation is simple and can even be done at home. It is all a matter of mixing up to three of the individual serums that suit your skin concerns into one bottle. French pine bark – Antioxidant protection Vitamin A – Even out skin tone Chlorella – Brighten and anti-spot Licorice – Calm irritated skin Hyaluronic acid – …

3D-Printed cosmetics is now a reality. So now what?

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So the personal 3D make-up printer Mink will be launching this year. It allows you to select any colour that you want, found online or offline (just take a picture), and 3D-print it to make your own eyeshadow or lipstick. Judging from the prototype demo in promotional clips, 3D-printed make-up still seems like a pipe dream. The eyeshadow that was “3D-printed”- or essentially a pot of white eyeshadow dyed with the preferred shade – was far from pigmented. It pretty much looked like what you would get with children’s make-up, all chalky and with little colour pay-off. The perfect make-up formula, with just the right amount of pigment, texture, spread-ability, staying power and a reasonable shelf-life, takes hours in the lab, and millions of dollars to make. It is going to take a while (or maybe never) before a cheap, home 3D-printer can churn out your dream colour cosmetics in all its glorious perfection. That said, Mink is still indeed a disruptive invention.Who is not enticed by the idea of on-demand, customised make-up? But for now, the …