Palettes and palettes of shades everywhere!

It’s almost like a kaleidoscope of shimmery colours and pastel hues.

Guess where I am now?

 Greetings from Kanebo’s makeup counter in Parkson, 1Utama!

In the last couple of weeks, I was invited to review Kanebo’s latest makeup range – the ‘Sandy Beige Purification’ brought to us by LUNASOL’s 2014 Spring Makeup Collection.

This features purifiying makeup for spring inspired by the scenery of the sand. The collection shows different aspects of monotone and emphasizes natural beauty without making colours stand out too much.

 The Kanebo counter at a glance.

Just a little background before we begin.

Founded in 1887, Kanebo Cosmetics is now a leading Japanese producer of cosmetics which comprises 4 brands under their wing, namely Kanebo, LUNASOL, Impress & Blanchir Superior.

As mentioned earlier, I will be featuring LUNASOL’s latest range which includes their basic skincare, base makeup and point makeup today. 

But first, take a look at an overview of the many swatches of colours available from their entire range from the previous collections to the latest!

Exciting no? With colours like that in endless amounts of bottles, palettes and applicators, we girls will definitely be spoilt for choice!

Anyway… let’s begin. 

On average days, this is how I would usually look in my everyday basic makeup.

I must admit I’m not a pro when it comes to make up. 

Heck, I don’t even know how to apply full make up!

There are lots of things which I omit in my daily make up regime like primer, make up base, eyeshadow, foundation, loose powder, concealer, blusher, bronzer, highlighter, illuminating powder, lip liner and gosh only heaven knows what else women usually slap onto their faces. 

So clearly, I’m excited! Let’s see what LUNASOL can surprise me with!

STEP 1: MAKE UP REMOVER

LUNASOL Watery Oil Cleanser.

Since I already have my makeup on, my make up artist had to first remove it.

This is a cleansing oil with a light feel without any stickiness that instantly cleanses away hard-to-remove makeup, impurities in the pores of the skin and blackheads.

Two rounds of this was applied to ensure face was thoroughly cleansed.

I loved its citrus bubblegum-like scent! 

STEP 2: TONER

Also known as Balancing Milk, this is an emulsion that captures moisture while regulating the water-oil balance.

Leads to succulent, stable skin with a smooth, fine texture.

STEP 3: MOISTURIZER

Also known as the Moist Conditioner, this is lotion with a succulent, mellow texture that quickly reaches moisture to the entire skin.
It leads to translucent skin by regulating the water balance. 

My makeup artist Tshu Chiao was gentle in applying the skincare for me and took the effort to explain whenever I raised a question about the products and ideal skincare regime.

 Ta-daaa! There you go, my naked face.

Hope this doesn’t scare you cos this is how I look before any makeup. Haha!

After the Basic Skincare, it’s now time to move on to Base Makeup.

STEP 1: MAKE UP BASE

 LUNASOL Smoothing Makeup Base

This makeup bass helps to fill visible pores and uneven surfaces with a creamy texture and creates an even film over the skin to leave it silky smooth.
It also absorbs perspiration and sebum, and this non-greasy texture as when first applied lasts for many hours. 

Plus point: It also has a sunblock in it! – SPF22･PA++

STEP 2: FOUNDATION

 LUNASOL Modeling Beige Skin

This innovative “Nude Base” was born out of LUNASOL’s famous eye shadow “SKIN MODELING EYES Beige Beige” that makes the skin look beautiful. 
Its light texture instantly beautifies your skin while conditioning the skin tone and texture to achieve incomparable beige skin.

This foundation also has a sunblock in it! SPF30・PA++

STEP 3: FACE POWDER

 LUNASOL Skin Contrast Face Powder

A face powder that contains micro-particle powderS that meltingly blends with the skin, leaving it crystal clear and elegant looking.

This helps to achieve a velvety smooth texture, as if a translucent veil lies over the skin!

That’s the end of the Base Makeup, which preps your skin for the Point Makeup.

Initially, I didn’t know what Point Makeup meant as well. 

I found out that it is actually your regular makeup such as eyebrow pencils, eyeliners, eyeshadows, lipsticks, blushers and so on. These colours helps to give life to your face!

STEP 1: EYEBROW PENCIL & POWDER

Did you know that using different tools for your eyebrows will make your eyebrows look different? Yeah, I didn’t know either.

LUNASOL even has this thing called Brow Styling Mascara! For review purposes, I decided to stick to the basics.

LUNASOL Brow Styling Pencil and Brow Styling Compact Powder

The pencil allows users to draw lines as if adding individual hairs to the eyebrows.

Thick or fine lines can be done with a soft touch to create eyebrows with a natural, soft look. This is easy to use so that anyone can create beautiful, detailed eyebrows.

The powder on the other hand, creates natural, three-dimensional eyebrows. (wow, right?)

Natural-looking eyebrows now has more depth by adding the nuance color to three light and dark colors. Definitely recommended for the advanced makeup users! (Not for newbies unless you are naturally gifted at makeup from the start)

I fear I might make a complete fool of myself should I attempt using that.

STEP 2: EYESHADOW

 LUNASOL Sand Natural Eyes

A four-color eye shadow set that consists of beautiful monotone colors, as if cut from the scenery of sand!
All colors meltingly blend with the skin, and the overlaying exquisitely accentuates the natural contours of the eyelids for a dramatic look.

Check out the effects of the 4 different colours palettes:

They have the Neutral Sand, Clear Sand, Warm Sand and Cool Sand.

So which did I choose? Personally. I love dark makeup.

By dark makeup, I am referring to darker shades and darker, bolder and deeper colours that stand out! I used to have a goth/emo/punk phase back when I was a teenager so I guess this streak still lingers in me a little. 

Even till now, I absolutely dislike the ‘barely there’ or ‘nude’ makeup look. It makes girls look so pale and odd. Just my two cents.

 Needless to say, I chose the forth one – Cool Sand.

 They actually have another range of eyeshadow as well.

Sand Pastel Eyes, which comes in light pink, orange, yellow, green and beige.

This is a limited-edition bi-color eye shadow set reminiscent of the scenery of sand.
These shiny colors with sand-like sparkles sits over the airy pastel colors for a spring-like finish adorned with clear colors and sparkles.

Unless I am going for a garden party, a kid’s birthday, a baby shower or a wedding dinner, I usually don’t wear ‘sweet’ pastel colours. Told you, I fancy the bolder, darker colours that packs a punch and an attitude to boot. 😉

STEP 3: EYELINER

 LUNASOL Shiny Pencil Eyeliner

This is a pearly eyeliner pencil that naturally blends with the skin while defining the eyes.
It emphasizes brown variations with superb nuances.

After applying this eyeliner, I found that it wasn’t dark enough for me. 

So when I mentioned that it wasn’t dark enough, my makeup artist quickly recommended something darker and bolder called the Intellectual Liquid Eyeliner.

 LEFT: Pencil Eyeliner | RIGHT: Liquid Eyeliner

This liquid eyeliner draws professional-looking eye lines with a delicate touch.
The long-lasting effect has been enhanced with the same smooth touch that is unique to a brush-pen-type eye liner. It blends with the skin and defines the eyes naturally.

STEP 4: MASCARA

LUNASOL’s 2014 Spring Collection does not feature any mascaras for that ‘spring-like’ fresh-faced neutral look. But the mascara is quite a vital tool for me so I insisted to have it on.

Here’s the effect of the Lash Defining Mascara from previous collections.

 Yup, that’s me. My kind of kohl-like cat-eyes

STEP 5: BLUSHER

 LUNASOL Sand Natural Cheeks

Let it be known that I have never applied blusher in my entire life before. LOL!

Honestly, I don’t like pinkish rosy cheeks as I prefer a sharper, more sunken, chiselled look  due to my naturally high cheekbones. (Although my prominent cheekbones can get quite annoying in photos) 

Another reason is that I wasn’t blessed with a good complexion so applying blusher might only emphasize that flaw. 🙁

Regardless, for my girls who like to apply copious amounts of blusher, check these two shades out!

Natural Pink and Natural Orange.

This is a limited-edition cheek color that looks as if the ever-changing scenery of sand has been captured inside it.
Blending three colors creates a subtle radiance and healthy look and also blends well with the skin tone to create a natural, healthy-looking complexion.

STEP 6: LIPSTICK

 LUNASOL Full Glamour Lips

Introducing 6 new colors for spring inspired by the natural color of the lips.
This adds a luster that appears to come from within while complementing the skin.

This lipstick is so fun to apply!

You can clearly see the moist, rich colours from the texture on the back of my hand. 

It comfortably adheres to the lips with a meltingly smooth texture and brings out the beauty of the skin with a fresh color and luster.

We’ve come to the end!

Wow… 6 steps in total of Point Make up. And that doesn’t even include the first 3 steps in Basic Skincare and the next 3 steps in Base Makeup! 

Now I totally get it when people wonder why girls take so long to do their full-makeup.

Just to show you the difference, here’s a funny photo of me.

The left is with full makeup and the  right has no makeup. So weird!

This reminds me of DC Comic’s Batman’s arch-enemy – Two-Face.

So just like me, left is with makeup and right is without makeup HAHAHA

After I was satisfied taking the pictures, my makeup artist continued with the other side of my face to balance the look for the final outcome.

I must say that I’ve learnt a lot from her and am happy the results of the makeover! 

Despite feeling a little odd with blusher on (my first time!), I think she did a fantastic job at recreating LUNASOL’s 2014 Spring look on my face with a slightly dark twist – just to suit my style, as requested.

Here’s a Before VS After shot, like I promised.

BEFORE (no makeup) VS AFTER (with LUNASOL makeup)

I usually go to the office without makeup (and even wear my glasses!) or with very light makeup on.

The only time I wear makeup is when I’m hanging out with my circle friends, going out dating or late-night partying. Apart from that?

I’m a monster with no makeup on HAHA. 

Decided to throw in a little extra. Here’s another Before VS After comparison!

BEFORE (My usual daily makeup) VS AFTER (LUNASOL makeover)

I like the right one better! Hmmm.. maybe I should consider using blusher after all 😛

 Thank you, Kanebo for a wonderful evening.

I learn so much about makeup, blending, and skincare that I never knew prior to this!

 Also, mega credits go to my makeup artist of the day Tshu Chiao.

We got along so well!

If you fancy LUNASOL’s new 2014 Spring Collection, why don’t you pop by your nearest Kanebo counter?

Check out their store locations: here

You can always give their gorgeously packaged products a little try!

 Or get their gift set to surprise someone special!

And if the evening wasn’t pleasant enough, KANEBO also gifted me a little cute pink pouch containing lots of travel-sized skincare and makeup before I left!

Such a nifty little surprise. Might be putting that up for a mini giveaway for you readers to enjoy so stay tuned. 

 Take a look here when I went for a an afternoon of girly pampering at Amante Nail Spa and Body Care!

———————————————————————————————————————

For more information on Lunasol by Kanebo, get in touch with them!

Log on to their official website at: www.kanebo-my.net

LIKE them on their Facebook page at: fb.com/kanebomalaysia

e-mail them at: info@kanebocos.com.my

Or call them at this contact number: +603-79549170

When you hardly ever get to meet the people that matter due to a myriad of "excuses" such as busy schedules, distance, no money, can't be bothered dressing up, no time, don't feel like going out and the like, nothing beats spending a full day out with them when you finally get the chance.

For bestie Joyce and I, we don't hang out as often as we did (when we were both students/classmates) anymore, but absence only makes the heart grow fonder!

Remember my previous chapter about the Super Sweet BFF Hello Kitty party that we decided to go together?

I headed to her place last Saturday morning and picked her up for our full day out!

We were excited and gushed about what the day had in store for us.

Our plan for the day was to have a catch-up lunch together before pampering ourselves with a girly afternoon of manicures, make-up makeovers, hair styling, taking lots of photos together, airbrush tattoos, catching a movie and so much more.

My Hello Kitty look of the day (for a competition)

I don't usually portray the "act cute" or put on the whole "oh-look-at-me-I'm-so-Japanese-I-must-be-kawaii" look, but this afternoon was an image I went for to match the Hello Kitty theme of the event.

You know I never fail to go in accordance to ANY themeparty, right? This was no exception.

Arriving on the red carpet at GSC Pavilion KL

I signed my name on the guestlist, we got ourselves wrist-tagged and were ready to start our day!

But before that, I was given a baby pink Hello Kitty press kit.

Inside, it was packed with so many goodies that the girliest of all girls could only love!

A Hello Kitty facial mask, glittery faux gems, custom-made Hello Kitty raspberry-flavoured candy,

bling decor-stickers & a Hello Kitty notebook all in a matching Hello Kitty baby pink goody bag.

Despite being already inside the event vicinity, we could not stop enthusing over the first thing that greeted us at the entrance. It was life-sized and probably the LARGEST decoration set-up of the party.

See it for yourself!

It was an enormous Hello Kitty arch made of baby pink helium balloons!!

Apart from that, we were totally blown away by the rest of the carefully-thought out decorations and interior

It really set us in the perfect mood for an all-girls day out!

One section of the venue was set in a Hello Kitty tea-party theme.

There was a delightful display of assorted pastries, candies, Hello Kitty cupcakes, strawberries and other desserts all in pink! How adorable

Even the drinks were pink. Check it out!

Sipping on a milky rosewater syrup drink,

popularly known as the 'Sirap Bandung' to the locals

We continued exploring the area and took even more photos as the time passed.

Just a little heads up, I'm going to regurgitate almost all the photos that of Joyce and I took of ourselves in this blog post. We will not be responsible if you get sick of our faces after your finish reading this

At the official photo wall of the Samsung Galaxy Y Hello Kitty Super Sweet BFF party!

After some thinking, we then decided on what to treat ourselves with first.

As the manicure booth had a lesser queue at the time, the first thing we did was to get our nails done!

At the manicure booth

As I liked all the colours, the manicurist decided to give me a mix of all!

Done! She even stuck diamante blings and tiny Hello Kitty stickers on some of my nails

Next up, we headed to where all the dressing tables with huge & brightly-lit mirrors were!

Can anyone say, hello superstar?

Reminds me of an actual make-over studio! You know, the kind you see in movies?

We couldn't resist taking a selfie with it

I had my make-up touched up and got the make-up artist to draw pink whiskers on my cheeks…

… while bestieJoyce got her hair done in a pretty, fancy do!

Here I am waiting for my turn!

I waited for almost half an hour only to realize that I probably wasn't going to get my hair done anytime soon

The crowd was massive, particularly in the hair and make-up booths! Everyone was queuing up to get themselves snazzy new hairdos

Look how busy all the stylists were with the throng of enthusiastic girls!!

In the end, I didn't manage to get my hair done.  But no matter! BestieJoyce did

Look at her really cool Roman princess-like hair braids! I absolutely loved it

It was sectioned & braided into several parts, tied down, twisted into buns, bobby pinned into place

and all jazz that can only professional hair stylists could comprehend!

Having so many tattoos (real ones, mind you!) you would think that I am disinterested in airbrush tattoos

But you're wrong! I was really keen and even queued up for it.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get my Hello Kitty airbrush tattoo done as well!
I shall tell you why, in a bit. But first, photos with my friends

Jojo & I

Kate & I (thanks for the photo, babe!)

Yeeing & I (thanks for the photo too, babe!)

bestieJoyce and I

Audrey, Cheesie & I

So many of my other girl friends were there; it was near impossible to take a photo with ALL of them.

Anyway, bestieJoyce and I continued with our day's activities…

Live Facebook updates of the Hello Kitty event!

The huge screen was in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Y Hello Kittylimited edition smartphone!

How smart of Samsung to decorate it as such, instead of just a boring black screen, ey?

And guess who was on their Facebook live updates? *wink*

Thanks for the photo, Samsung!!

Hello Kitty usherettes showcasing the said limited edition Hello Kitty smartphone

I got to take a look & play around with the Samsung Galaxy Y. I liked it a lot!

An even closer look. Look at the cute interface, the icons and the wallpaper!!

I think this smartphone is a really cool entry-level phone for female, girlish youngsters who likes being online, virtually & socially connected and of course, one who loves pink and Hello Kitty!

Oh yes, which reminds me! If you purchase one, you will stand a chance to win a trip to the much talked about Hello Kitty Sanrio town! Details: here

Not too long after, our emcee of the afternoon,

Jojo Struys, had begun announcing the nominees of the 'Best Dressed' competition.

Guess what? I got nominated

Thanks Audrey!

Here I am with some of the fellow nominees for the Hello Kitty 'Best Dressed' competition!

Remember when I said I didn't get to do my airbrush tattoo?

Here's the story : I was queuing up for it for a long time until it was almost my turn! But suddenly, my name was called out to go onstage as a finalist for the said competition just before I began my airbrush tattoo! Bye bye tattoo

But everything turned out better than expected, for I was one of the five winners of

the 'Best Dressed' competition and won myself that Galaxy Y Hello Kitty limited edition smartphone!

As this was a BFF party for best friends, Samsung also gave the prize to the winners' best friend!

So by association, bestieJoyce won a Samsung Galaxy Y Hello Kitty limited edition smartphone too!

The first thing I said to her was, "Chehwaaaaahh. Very lucky to be my friend, hor?" 

LOL I'm kidding!

SO HAPPY. I WON I WON I WON!!!

Thank you so much, dear judges and to Samsung!

Us being on film!

After all the hullabaloo was over, the final activity took to the stage.

The usherettes made sure the runway was completely clear of people, as a bevy of five beautiful Hello Kitty models sashayed into the venue and gave us a brilliant catwalk show, displaying all things girly & their Hello Kitty ensemble, of course!

Some of the models posing for countless cameras on the bright pink podiums

Want a closer look at ALL EIGHT of the Hello Kitty models?
Yup, I thought so. Here you go!

The beautiful, lanky and feminine Hello Kitty models of the day onstage!

BestieJoyce and I loved their whole Hello Kitty get-up! Such creative outfits, not to mention adorable too

Our favorite was the one on the right, with the long, flowy gown comprising a lacy, satin corset with frills and ruffles for a skirt that bounced everytime she took a step forward. It was elaborate yet very chic!

Another one of, what felt like, three million photos we took that afternoon

Our final selfie before we adjourned inside for the premier screening of 'The Rise of the Guardians'

Upon entering the cinema hall, we saw that we were supplied popcorn (in a Hello Kitty box) and a drink!

I must say, well done to the team behind today's event! Everything, from the start of the event right till the very end, was done in the minutest details to make us feel special and pampered

Yay! Hello Kitty popcorn for all of us

Before the movie began, we had a little time to selfie again

'The Rise of the Guardians' was a brilliant animated movie!

I left the cinema filled with fond memories of my childhood, of fairy tales and believing in the magic of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, the Boogeyman, the Easter Bunny and so much more.

The movie was not only hilarious at so many parts, it was laden with moral values and the spirit of friendship, love and adventure too. Oh, and not forgetting, lots and lots of snow

Here's to a wonderful start to December!

As we go on, we remember, all the times we, had together…

and as our lives change, from whatever, we will still be friends forever!

Yes, it's a song, if you didn't already realize

Thank you Samsung, for having us today. As if it wasn't obvious enough, you made us two very happy girls indeed!