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Saturday, May 30, 2015

Discworld Inspired: The Wizards

Background: I wanted to create several EOTDs that's Discworld inspired but still wearable for work. 

This one's inspired by the wizards. Gold is obviously a must since wizards love sparkly things and gold, and of course, I had to add in Octarine –the colour of magic (a sort of greenish-purple).


single eyelid make up, asian eyes


single eyelid make up, asian eyes



Thursday, May 28, 2015

Review & Recommendation: 4 Scents from ZOMG Smells' Gabriel's City Collection

I previously tried out ZOMG Smells (review here) and was impressed by their quality, so I got 4 more decants of their Gabriel's City Collection from Ajevie. I'll probably buy a sample set from them soon, but at the moment, I still have a huge backlog of stuff to review so I'm holding off on buying from them.

Anyway, while most of these scents didn't work out on me, I'm still really impressed with the quality and would recommend this scent to anyone. Especially people who love old English apothecary type of herbal smells.

So on to reviews! As always, reviews are done blind until the TL;DR's written. If anything in the notes surprise me, I write an overview.


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Anna 


"Honeycakes, fine rose-petal tea steeped just long enough and no more, and a dab of neroli, vanilla, and the most expensive sandalwood"

Omg this starts off so gorgeous! There's honeysuckle and a sweet, candied sort of rose. It's different from my favourite honeysuckle-rose combo though (MDA's Rapunzel has it). The rose here is velvety and candied, and it's heavier on the rose. It's also more creamy rather than fresh & grassy.

This is the prettiest cake ever...and it's what I imagine would smell like this scent!
Awesome masterpiece by sweettweetsbakery.blogspot


The rose does get heavier with time, and there's hints of powderiness. It gets a bit too sweet at times for me, but my skin does amp up sweetness and I still like it overall. This is definitely a scent you either love or hate.

TL;DR: Creamy, candied rose.



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Colin


"Refined French lavender, sharp amber, ambergris, Atlas and Virginia cedarwoods, and an expensively sweet herbal cologne with cardamom, frankincense, nutmeg, bay, and clean, bright sandalwood."

This is a very soapy smell. Have you ever tried eating soap as a kid? I did. I wasn't a smart child...anyway, this smells like eating soap. There's an absinthe sort of herbalness to it, which makes it smell even more soapy on me. For some reason, my skin eats this scent up really fast. After about 10 min, the scent got faint on me and it becomes more of a blue, soapy candy that's kind of dusty and tart, but it still feels like you're eating something you shouldn't be eating.

By 40 min, the scent's nearly gone. 

TL;DR: Eating a bar of soap & washing it down with absinthe.

Overview: Not sure what's causing the absinthe scent, but I'm guessing it's the cardamom mixed with everything else. I know cardamom sometimes has a soapy sort of taste, so maybe that's behind the soapy feel too.


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Drake


"The refined blend of imported lavender oil has been replaced by fresh crushed buds, he's down to just the sharper of the two cedarwoods, the memory of nutmeg, and a less poncy sandalwood that warms the skin and rubs up against the new things in his life: grave-dirt, freshly-broken twigs underfoot, earthy patchouli-- and of course, dragon's blood."

This has a dirt and herbs sort of scent to it too, but there's a peanut butter sort of creaminess to it and a lavender sort of iciness. The herbs part is an old English apothecary sort of herbal poultice smell –smells bitter, clean and made up of crushed dried leaves and roots. I don't know what to make of this scent. It's....interesting. I can appreciate the quality, but I don't like it. Neither do I hate it. I'm just confused and don't know what to make of it. I'm not sure who would wear this, but the next time someone wants weird scents, I'm destashing this to him/her.

After about 20 min, the peanut butter creaminess gets more dominant so it kind of smells like a peanut butter milkshake that's been mixed with tea tree/eucalyptus/lavender essential oil, and then poured over perfumed, fragrant wood.

TL;DR: Peanut butter milkshake that's been mixed with tea tree/eucalyptus/lavender essential oil, and then poured over perfumed, fragrant wood.





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The Green Lady


"Sharp green galbanum, fresh wild lavender, cedar coffinwood, vetiver, patchouli and sandalwood for a last touch of the living on their lost ones, and grave-dirt."

This is a medicinal green and dirt. It's fresh leaves cut to make some herbal remedy that's bitter, cool & sharp. The scent is definitely unisex, leaning towards masculine. Despite all the herbal bits, it's still cool, light, and has hints of a masculine green note I've sniffed before in high end men's cologne. It's definitely not a boring mainstream high end cologne though! If you like earthy, herbal scents, you'll definitely love this. It's the scent of trudging in a forest turned into a refined perfume. I personally love this and think it smells like a guy who's very refined & elegant, yet kind of quirky and probably loves experimenting with....herbs. Somebody Johnny Depp-ish. Here's a picture I'd pick for an ad for this scent:

Ok...I think steampunk styles are so hot.
Awesome photography by Mascha Seitz



TL;DR: The scent of trudging in a forest turned into a refined perfume.

Overview: Oh wow...I normally hate patchouli but this isn't bad at all!


EOTD: Non-Blended Look!

Yesterday, /u/normalcypolice challenged IMAM to a non-blended look. Here's my take on it!

asian eyes, single eyelids make up, asian make up

Product list:

* NYX Milk
* Clio Kill Black
* Backstreet Makeup Co ((love))
* Ten Three Labs (Electric Love)
* Mad Labs Cosmetics (Pyrite)
* Life's Entropy (Enchant)
* a couple of customized colours

Monday, May 25, 2015

Discworld Inspired: Magrat

Background: I wanted to create several EOTDs that's Discworld inspired but still wearable for work. 

This one's inspired by Magrat, a total wet hen with a lot of steel inside her. I have to admit, I found Magrat annoying at first, but by the time she was kicking the elven queen's ass, I was in love with her.

single eyelid make up, asian eyes

The pink is one of the colour changing eyeshadows I made (I named it Just Erotic & the recipe's here) that looks more pink or plum, depending on the angle! The silvery liner is a old eyeshadow I have, foiled with TKB Trading's Mineral Wetliner.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Friday, May 22, 2015

Review & Recommendation: 8 scents from Midnight Gypsy Alchemy & Body Butter Review

Last time, I was so impressed by Midnight Gypsy Alchemy's (MGA) quality that I had to make two more orders so I can try out more perfumes, as well as their bath products (for my previous MGA review, head here). Unfortunately, I have a big problem with MGA –I want everything. I thought the more scents I try, the easier it'll be for me to pick a favourite, but nooo.

So quick customer service review....


Customer Service Review


First of all, everything arrived packaged impressively as usual, and there's no leakage this time! Unfortunately, this was the only photo I remembered to take since I got too impatient about trying everything out:



Like my previous order, each scent sample comes with a card with the scent description & notes. It's a nice touch, even though the environmentalist in me cringed a bit. It's definitely pretty enough to send straight away as a gift to someone without needing to repackage it to make it look nicer though!

My previous order took 21 days since the order date before it got shipped, but the next 3 orders I made had better TAT (12-14 days):



  • Ordered: 14 & 16 Nov (I asked these to be combined) 
  • Shipped: 28 Nov  

  • Ordered: 19 Dec  
  • Shipped: 5 Jan

I don't take note of when the package actually arrives in Indonesia since it could be customs' fault if the package takes too long. 

Oh, and one of the reasons I love this company? They have FREE international shipping. Now on to the scent & products review!



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Body Butter Review

The texture is like thickened lotion, but one of those lotion that's advertised to have a "watery touch". It doesn't feel heavy at all, and it's not sticky either –your skin has that slight dampness like after putting on a very light body lotion, and that's it. It does feel "watery" (not diluted, more like a fresh spritz) and if you look at the picture of the newly opened lotion (it doesn't come with any safety seal), you can see there's water condensation on the lid:




It's pretty much comfortable enough to go back to typing immediately right after using it, but like Haus of Gloi's (HoG's) pumpkin butters, it takes about 3-5 min before it feels like the lotion's really absorbed into your skin already. Moisture-wise, it's much more moisturizing than Solstice Scents' body butter, but less moisturizing than Haus of Gloi's.

As for the scent, it's at medium strength –you can smell it at around casual conversation distance but no further. I've only tried one scent, so I would need to try out more scents before I come to any solid conclusions, but I did notice that the scent I picked is different in body butter vs perfume oil form.

Night of the Spirits Body Butter Scent Review 

I ordered this scent in body butter form because the perfume reminds me so much of my friend's baby. It has that baby creamy scent, but it's not just a general creamy baby scent, it just reminds me of my friend's baby (long review here).  

When I got the body butter, it immediately became clear why it reminds me so much of my friend's baby –it smells like a that creamy baby scent, mixed with Indonesian herbal ointments. The herbal bit is far stronger in the body butter, and that's how it clicked   in my head why it made me think of my friend's baby specifically. Like a lot of Indonesian babies, she gets massaged daily by her nanny with minyak telon, and gets slathered with ointments to prevent mosquito bites or ease the itch from mosquito bites. She also gets this hair tonic to help her grow more/better hair. The herbal bit is a combination of all those ointments, minyak telon and hair tonic, and it may be a bit off-putting for someone else who don't have the positive cultural associations with this sort of herbal smell.

Oh, and the reason she needs hair tonic is because she has very little hair. Like very little. She actually sadly pats her head whenever she sees me or her mom play with our hair, and gets so happy whenever I drape my hair over her head.



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Perfume Oil Scent Reviews


Ok, in my last perfume review (Sweet Anthem), a couple of people asked me why I didn't put a pic of the hot shirtless dude I had in my previous review from the same brand. I promised to pepper my next review with lots of hot, shirtless dudes in my next review, so I'm delivering.

As always, all perfume reviews are done blind until the TL;DRs are written. An overview gets written if any of the notes surprise me.


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Chocolate Mystique



"Divine chocolate alchemy at its finest, made by way of oil infusion with the natural chocolate scent of pure cocoa absolute, cocoa butter, essential oils in cardamom, sandalwood and vanilla, infused with cardamom seed and a touch of hand ground coffee . A scent so indulgant and rich one cannot help but to submit to the enticing aroma."

This is amazing! It smells like actual chocolate for one, with a dark chocolate tartness. It definitely smells milky, with an amber sort of warmth and an almost floral fragrance. Not exactly floral, but floral in the way some wine connoisseurs will describe a wine to have a "floral bouquet". It makes me think of gourmet floral chocolates, where it no longer smells floral, but the flowers just infuse the chocolate with a complex richness that make you want to write odes to it. A chocolate that looks something like this:

This is from a store in New Orleans called Sucré, which I can't stop browsing. I want to make a trip to New Orleans just to visit them! Check out their store here! Oh, and their Flickr page is the best page for food porn. I can't stop drooling.

It's just so fragrant! I want to bathe in this. I think I need to get a body butter in this fragrance! Oh, and the scent doesn't morph as is fades, so the lingering traces you get on your skin is still the same delicious scent, just a bit more faint.

TL;DR: Rich, gourmet, milky dark chocolate with the richest almost floral fragrance. Lovingly served to you on top of this guys' abs:
Yup. You can expect every hot guy break to be introduced with this amount of subtlety.
Awesome photography by Mattia Valerio

Overview: Ambers are often sandalwood & vanilla mixes, so that may be where that amber sort of warmth is coming from. I'm just really amazed by how rich this scent is from that relatively "plain" list of notes!

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Earth & Wild Roots 


"A dark foliage and fig scent touched by earthen mushrooms, spirited herbal mint and light musk like powders. A blend created with mushroom, tonka bean, vanilla, oakmoss absolutes, orris root and agar wood co2's, fig fruit extract, myrrh resin, essential oils of peppermint, ambrette seed, cedarwood, amyris, infused in ground organic figs, mushrooms, tonka beans, vanilla beans, mint leaves and cedar wood."

Oh dear. This is a HOT scent. First, it has that slightly sharp, sweet sandalwood scent that make me go weak in the knees. Then, there's traces of that cool yet spicy earth you get in HoG's Ploughman, which makes me fall even deeper in lust. Finally, there's something sort of musky in this that just makes me me think of languorously lying in bed after a hot, steamy...er, hugging session.

Anybody noticed how perfect the highlighter placement is on her cheeks?
Hot photography by Artur K


The musky bit is a tad feminine but the rest is masculine, so I'm not sure if I'm lusting after a hot man or a hot woman. The sharp sandalwood may go too "dusty" for some people but I personally love it since wood, earth & leather notes are my personal weakness when it comes to masculine scents.

After about 10-15 min, there's a scent that smells like boiled baby carrots at the base of this scent. The hot scent is still dominant, and the boiled baby carrots are hardly noticeable, but I just thought it's a bit weird.

After about an hour, it's mostly that musk, which now smells a tad cottony. It's now more comforting than hot, but I'm fine with just an hour of hotness.

TL;DR: That moment before you tumble into bed with a hot man, woman or well, why the heck not, both.

Overview: I was looking up what amyris was since I was trying to figure out what's causing the boiled baby carrots smell, and found this on Wikipedia:

Amyris is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek word αμυρων (amyron), which means "intensely scented" and refers to the strong odor of the resin.  Members of the genus are commonly known as Torchwoods because of their highly flammable wood.

Oh my gods, how can she miss the opportunity to name this scent Torchwood??? 3 words: Captain Jack Harkness.

Seriously. He's so hot. Why is he so hot?
Image courtesy of fanshare.com
Oh, and of course. Here's John Barrowman shirtless:



*cough* back on topic. I have no idea what's causing the boiled baby carrots bit, but apparently ambrette seeds may be behind that seductive musk. I'm looking for more scents with ambrette seeds now.

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Magick & Moonlight


"A mysterious floral, lime aroma with a powdery under tone fragrance made with essential oils of frankincense,sandalwood, lime ,lavender, jasmine and vanilla absolute, infused with lime peels,lavender buds, jasmine petals and ground coconut."

Oh, this is such an Indonesian scent! Jasmines are the star here, and it's actual, fresh jasmines that you either love or hate. I personally love them, but I've heard some people saying jasmines smell like death. It's a watery jasmine scent, and I'm not talking about a blue note. Actually watery. It smells like rain on jasmines. You'll often encounter this scent when you're walking into upmarket tourist-friendly Indonesian hotels or restaurants. For everyone who lives/has visited Jakarta, you know that scent Tesate always has? That scent.

As soon as I sniffed this, I can hear the sound of gamelans and now I have this gamelan music stuck in my head. The bamboo gamelan kind.
Gamelans are traditional Indonesian instruments that look like xylophones.
If you search for gamelans on Google images, you'll be under the impression that they're instruments played primarily by white people, which may now be true considering it's a dying art in Indonesia. I was in my college's gamelan orchestra, and I was the only Indonesian they had in years....we even revived a traditional song (as in we were the first to play it again in 50 years) that died because no one in the village wanted to learn how to play it. Yup. While all my friends were going on and on about how cool it was we're reviving a "dead song", I'm sitting in sheepish silence because my countrymen let it die.
Image courtesy of usd.edu
Oh and here's a guy wearing the slutty version of an Indonesian batik-print sarong. Because why the hell not.

This is a guy named Lane Fuller, whom I'm assuming is at least a model...
Image courtesy of famewatcher.com

And another guy:

This is Korean male model, Oh Jong Sung.
Image courtesy of famewatcher.com
TL;DR: Jasmines freshly sprayed with water.


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Mandrake Garden 

"Made with balsam peru resin, absolutes in tobacco,vanilla,honeysuckle,essential oils in ginger, fennel, jasmine, infused with ground ginger, fennel seeds, vanilla bean and tobacco leaves."

At first, this smells like a floral cinnamon milk. The milk is leaning towards that game-y milk sort of scent at first but luckily it got better on me. By about 10 min, clean, fresh jasmines took over and now it smells like jasmines with hints of cardamom-milk-cinnamon type of desserts you get in Indian cuisine. Like a lot of MGA's jasmine scents, this also has that fresh water sort of scent to it.

TL;DR: Catching a whiff of Indian milky desserts served in the background, while sitting in a hotel lobby decorated with fresh jasmines while waiting for a rendezvous with this guy:

This guy's Shahid Kapoor and his job must be to look professionally gorgeous. The image is from 123wallpapers.in, and here's the link where you can get a high-res copy of this pic. It's so high-res, you can see every water droplet on his glorious chest.



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Pavo Real 


"A blend created with natural strawberry isolates, jasmine, honeysuckle, rose ,orris root absolutes,essential oils in orange blossom ,vetiver, patchouli, bergamot, clove and coriander , delicately infused with real strawberry fruit, patchouli leaves,orange peels and rose petals."

This is what I expected Haus of Gloi's (HoG) Ruth to smell like! There's strawberries in this, and hints of herbal salves that gives this scent a clean, old European apothecary touch to it. Ruth is far too herbal though, so you start thinking of old people people wearing actual herbal salves. This just smell like the clean hands of a nun working in an apothecary (I'm thinking really expensive, old school European apothecary that are run by nuns and attached to convents that look like castles), or a aesthetician in a more medical sort of spa. It's so gorgeous!

Oh, and of course, the aesthetician will totally look like this:

But it's a totally respectable spa. Really.
Gorgeous photo by Benjo Arwas, I really recommend checking his profile out for more hot photos of hot people


TL;DR: Strawberry salve from a luxurious, old European apothecary.

Overview: Here are the notes for HoG's Ruth:
"Fresh strawberry, green patchouli, rose geranium and crushed violet leaf."
Yup, it's the strawberry & patchouli combo that makes them smell similar.


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Raven Spell 


"Captured is a bit of raven mystery in a special blend of dark violet floral spice and berries with essential oils of sensual sweet sandalwood,cinnamon, frankincense and orris root ,violet leaf absolute,infused with blackberry fruit extract, dragons blood resin,orris root ,real blueberries and apples."

I'm getting an acrid smell, the same sour, acrid smell that's usually a black tea note going wrong. It smells like Chinese preserved citrus peels. It's softened by this butter mints sort of powdery scent (there's no actual minty scent), and while I love the butter mint sort of powderiness, nothing can save the sour, acrid scent.

Speaking of powdery, here's a powdery shirtless dude:
Apparently this dude is a HK actor named Clement Tien.
Hot photography by Cymbie Yan


I don't know guys, I'm running out of ideas of how to subtly segue into hot shirtless dudes.

TL;DR: Sour, acrid woody smell that's only slightly tempered by butter mints sort of powderiness.

Overview: Ok, so the violets are the ones creating the butter mint sort of powderiness. Maybe it's the fruits and sandalwood creating the acrid, sour scent.

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The Evening Stars


"A fragrance to relax and unwind to in a special blend of floral, and earthy fruit mix in essential oils of ylang ylang, anise, sandalwood, honeysuckle absolute, infused with amber resin, pineapple ,coconut, tarragon leaves an aroma sure to enchant and take you away from the cares of the day."

There's that ylang ylang scent that smells like cottony oil. Ylang ylang always makes me feel nostalgic because it reminds me of childhood vacations to Bali. Unfortunately, there's this prominent scent that smells really chemical-ish and I can only describe as sickly sweet & balloon-ish. I know MGA only does natural perfumes, so I'm itching to see the notes to see what's going on.

After about 25 min, the balloon-y scent subsided a bit, and now smells exactly like these ylang ylang rice soaps that used to be in a lot of resort/country club bathrooms (in Indonesia at least). The scent is cottony ylang ylang, with a cool, fragrant sort of powdery rice sort of scent, mixed with that soap smell every soap seems to have.

On the subject of country clubs, here, have a hot shirtless tennis player....which every decent country club should have if they want my business:

Totally what every country club needs.
Image courtesy of tennisplayershirtless.tumblr.com. Yup, this is a thing.


TL;DR: Sickly sweet, balloon-ish chemicals mixed with cottony ylang ylang, turning into ylang ylang rice soap.

Overview: That's it. The sickly sweet, ballon-ish scent is an ester scent, and I'm guessing it came from the pineapple. Not a fan of this, unfortunately.


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The Music of The Night 


"A scent of enchanted beauty cloaked in the mystery of blended citrus,smoked woods and sweet floral tobacco. Created with frangipani, tobacco absolutes, agarwood CO2, myrhh resins, essential oils in , bergamot, lime, ylang ylang,infused in tobacco leaves and lime peels."

Oooh...this smells delicious. It starts off smelling like a creamy Indonesian mung bean dessert spiced up with ginger, spicy cloves, and cinnamon. By about 10-15 min, the creaminess disappeared and I get more of a watery cinnamon & cloves lotion scent. Watery cinnamon & cloves lotion sounds unappealing, but it's awesome, I promise. It smells like sipping a cup of creamy chai while sitting next to a hot guy in a trendy café. It's the kind of that's filled with minimalist furniture and has a monochrome colour scheme to make you feel like you'll be prodded by people in white lab coats anytime soon. It's a combination of creamy gourmand and clean, watery scents that blends beautifully instead of clashing.

Oh yes, and here's your drinking companion:
Yup. Totally normal to drink coffee with your washboard abs hanging out.
Benjo Arwas again. Seriously. Check his profile out.


TL;DR: Drinking creamy chai while sitting in a clean, trendy café.

Overview: There's a lot of wood in the notes, but the woody bits smell more like chai or add a spiciness to the scent on me. It does't smell like straight up wood.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

FOTD & EOTD: Teal & Purple Gradient!

This is a kind of old look I did, that I realized I didn't upload on my blog. I suck at multi-tasking so maintaining both a blog & an instagram account can be quite a pain >.<

Monday, May 18, 2015

Review & Recommendation: Sweet Anthem's Enchanted Collection

As you can tell from my previous reviews (click on the tag on the right or here), I'm a huuuggee fan of Sweet Anthem. I think their scents are of amazing quality and smell like high end perfumes, so when Meredith offered to send me some free samples, I was ecstatic.

Here's how everything came:




I was kinda "unlucky" this time, because unlike the Fall Collection that didn't work out for me, this collection works amazingly on me. So this ended up happening:


Yup. I bought the entire set of 4 10 ml perfumes. Nope, Meredith didn't ask me too or offered any discount/freebies. Yup. I have a shopping problem.

So here's the reviews, done blind as always until the TL;DRs are written. If anything in the notes surprise me, I write an overview.


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Black Queen

"Apple,  Linden Blossom, Oakmoss, Tonka Bean"

Omg I LOVE this! At first, I got some delicious fruity chewy candy, but now I'm getting this cool, light floral-fruity fragrance that has something very mildly bitter grounding it and making it so much richer and more complex.

After about 10-15 min, I'm getting this powdery sort of vanilla scent and that's the main part of the scent. I still love it, but the initial scent is so much better. The powdery vanilla makes me think of vanity tables with too much lace & frills, or Nanette Lepore type of scents, but there's something in this that keeps it cool and light, stopping it from going too powdery. I guess the interior design equivalent of this scent would be the shabby chic style, where items that are typically garishly twee are arranged in a way that they become elegant instead. This is what I'm talking about:

A lot of the items in this room look like something your grandma or Dolores Umbridge would like, but properly arranged, they look elegant.
Image courtesy of betterdecoratingbible.com


I way prefer the initial scent, but this part is nice enough that I'll still consider getting a full size of this.

TL;DR: Fruity chewy candy turning into a cool, light sort of powdery vanilla.


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Briar Rose

"Beeswax, Rose Otto, Tomato Leaf, White Amber"

I think I smell roses in this but it could be a suggestion from the name. I definitely smell very fragrant honey and it's kind of weird, but I'm getting hints of what smells like candied cherry tomatoes. The candied cherry tomatoes start smelling closer to green grapes after about 15 min, so maybe it's a grape note taking its time to settle. The green grapes are those Japanese kinds that's really fragrant (similar to Japanese green grape candies) and has an almost jelly-like texture.

There's a slightly waxy and woody scent at the bottom of this, so the scent ends up smelling like honey spilled on a rustic wood table, with candied tomatoes/green grapes served on top of it, while the smell of roses wafts in from the gardens. That may not sound too tempting, but it's really a pretty scent. The scent makes me think of a fresh-faced beautiful young woman, living in a picturesque farm house that looks like this:
Everyone needs to add driving in the Tuscan countryside to their bucket list.
Gorgeous photography by Alex Polli



TL;DR: Honey, roses & green grapes in a picturesque countryside kitchen.

Overview: Huh. I don't know how tomato leaf smells like, but I wonder if it smells like candied tomatoes or green grapes.

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Red Queen

"Cardamom, Fig, Honey, Leather, Rose, White Pepper"

This is such an intoxicating scent. First, there's leather. I'm a sucker for leather. Masculine, bitter leather. I just get so weak in the knees. At the same time, there's this musky sort of floral blended into it, but the scent still stays pretty masculine. The scent makes me think of trysts in grand libraries (think the Beauty & the Beast library) with a really hot, old-fashioned guy in a suede jacket.

It's a heavier scent and can get a bit heady in hot weather, so watch out for that. I find it very seductive, but I'm still wondering if this is a scent I'd wear frequently enough to justify buying a full size.

TL;DR: Hot trysts with a hot guy (or masculine leaning woman) in the Beauty & The Beast library.


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Snow White

"Petit Grain, Osmanthus, White Musk, Vetiver"

At first, I got this masculine sort of bitter green that reminds me of hunting lodges. Then, I start getting hints of that scent that I usually associate with purple calcium supplements. The amazing thing is, it never turns into purple calcium supplements and stays amazing. Yes, there's that "purple" sort of smell (vaguely artificial grapes/blueberry/blackberry-ish) that I personally find a tad cloying, but this version has a cool and watery touch to it. It's the kind of cool water that almost has a metallic taste to it.

Like a lot of Sweet Anthem scents, this smells luxurious and can easily pass of as a high end mainstream scent. This scent is perfect for those who love "purple" sort of scents but need a more luxurious, high-class version of it that's suitable for attending the Met Gala. If I'm picking an ad for this scent, it'll be this picture:

I really want to know how they took this picture if the flare effect isn't from editing.
Awesome photo by Daniel Tam

When the scent dries down on me, it becomes this smells like cool, fresh water –so fresh that's it's sweet –coming out a metallic pipe. I hate purple scents so I'm not crazy over this scent, but I have to admit Sweet Anthem did a good job making it tolerable. I wouldn't buy a full size of it, but I didn't mind wearing this scent the whole day while testing it.

TL;DR: Purple scent turned high end.

Overview: I think it's the osmanthus. It likes creating that chalky calcium supplement sort of scent.


Creating a Cashmere Dupe Using Life's Entropy's Lip Theories

I was playing with Life's Entropy's lip theories recently...

Yup. 3 parts Quantum + 2 parts Transformation + 1 part Osmosis = Cashmere dupe

This is awesome because I can't support Lime Crime as a company (google "Lime Crime controversy" and you'll see the whole litany of shady shit the owner has pulled), but I do like griege shades. Here's the result on my lips!





Sunday, May 17, 2015

Discworld Inspired: The Luggage

I wanted to create several EOTDs that's Discworld inspired but still wearable for work. This one is inspired by The Luggage –a ball of murderous rage disguised as a harmless wooden trunk.




Saturday, May 16, 2015

Tutorial: Glittery Green & Teal Eye


 I recently did this glittery EOTD:


Excuse the dry lids >.<



It actually works well without the glitter too:



Anyway, here's the tutorial for it:



1. First, apply tape to get a really crisp line. To figure out the angle of the tape, use your lower lash line as a guide, and let the tape follow its upwards curve. Apply a green eyeshadow to about 2/3rds of the inner half of your eye.

2. Apply the teal shadow to the outer 1/3, and bend it together with the green.
3. Apply the gold highlighting colour to the rest of your lids and blend the green & teal shadow tightly with a small, stiff brush.

4. Apply the eyeliner. The tape will also help you get a crisp wing in this step.

5. Remove tape (and apply mascara if you don't have eyelash extensions like me). Apply a light blue eyeliner on the inner half of your lower lash line and a dark blue eyeliner on the outer half of your lower lash line, and blend them in the middle. If you don't have colourful eyeliner, grab a white liner, line your lower lash line, and pat eyeshadow on it. You can finish here or pat on a glitter adhesive where you want to apply glitter.

6. To get the glitter spaced out randomly, I drop it on a tissue, press my fingers against the glitter, then tap whatever glitter my finger picked up on my lids.


Friday, May 15, 2015

Review & Recommendations: 4 Scents from HoG's Summer Collection

I ordered from Haus of Gloi's (HoG's) Summer collection last year but ended up procrastinating on the reviews since I rock at procrastination.

Not pictured, The Brier Path whipped soap & Komodo pumpkin butter because I stupidly finished them up before taking this photo.
 Then HoG announced Komodo's getting discontinued since the mangosteen note has been discontinued by their suppliers, so I thought I better finally write up the review so people can decide whether or not they should snap it up now.




So for HoG's scents, it's important to remember they smell differently across different mediums. That's why a scent that smells amazing in a whipped soap can smell completely gross in pumpkin butter or perfume oil versions. I love HoG's scents in their bath products, but the same scents in perfume oil version often doesn't work on me. That's why I'll mention which form I'm reviewing each scent in.

I only got these scents in pumpkin butter & whipped soap versions and for a more detailed review of HoG's whipped soaps, you can head here. I've discussed the pumpkin butters here and there, but I realized I never really went in depth with my pumpkin butter review:


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Pumpkin Butter Review


HoG's pumpkin butter has become my standard for all body butters. They leave my skin extremely soft yet they get absorbed so fast! They're usually absorbed within 3 minutes, 5 minutes max depending on how wet my skin is prior to application. I end up comparing every moisturizer, indie and mainstream, to these pumpkin butters, and so far the only product I like as much is Haunt's skin glossing oil.

Texture-wise, it's like softened butter, and spreads very easily. Before being absorbed into your skin, it leaves a thin layer of oiliness and a honey-type of stickiness. Real honey, not the fake kind. If you're buying real, pure honey, they're actually not that sticky. One way of testing your honey to make sure it's not mixed with sugar is to smear it on your hands then put tissue over it. With real honey, you should be able to peel the tissue off easily, without ripping it.

The scent's very strong –when I put it on my legs, I can smell it even if I'm sitting up. The smell lingers on your skin until the next morning. This has better throw than a lot of solid perfumes I have.

So on to scent reviews!


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Komodo

"Mangosteen, Tahitian vanilla bean, dragon blood resin and faded tropical blooms."


Whipped Soap

Oh my gods, this is gorgeous! It smells like the perfumed version of mangosteens (ie. more fragrant and none of that fruit sap scent actual mangosteens come with), with that scent you get when you cut thick, juicy plant stalks. If you've tried Fresh's Mangosteen perfume, it's that same mangosteen note. When I wash this down, the scent that lingers on my skin is this sweet, tropical fruit medley that smells so familiar. It's a scent I've smelled before as a child, and probably in some mainstream soap or shampoo version. It's a really gorgeous scent.

Pumpkin Butter

/u/minkishly gave this to me because she hated the scent no matter how hard she tried to like it, and that confused me. The whipped soap smelled so great! As soon as I tried it, I got it. The first clue I got was that I don't smell the same, fragrant mangosteen in the tub, and got more of the plant stalk bit.

As soon as I put it on, the most prominent smell in the pumpkin butter is this wood incense smell. It's the smell of unlit incense, which can be awesome for some people, but for people who grew up in Asia, it smells like an old, dank, dimly lit store that's often manned by an old Chinese man in a singlet or an old Chinese woman in shapeless short-sleeved shirt and pants. There's still the mangosteen, but it's not as fruity and fragrant as in the whipped soap and smells more dull and muted. The plant stalks bit also doesn't smell as fresh, and smells more like plant stalks that have wilted for a day under a hot sun.

I'm still a huge fan of this scent in whipped soap version though, and will probably buy it again in whipped soap version, and maybe even try out the bubbling scrub version.



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Sanctum

"Muskmelon, coconut water infused with bergamot flower, kaffir lime, polished ho wood and sticky benzoin."

Whipped Soap

I was wondering how watermelon and coconut would smell like, and somehow, it ends up smelling like a melon chewy candy. It's soooo delicious! As I wash the soap down, I'm getting this lime spritz sort of scent, only the spritz part is with a very sharp and dry in a wooden way.


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The Brier Path

"Sun drenched trail leading to a day dream of ripe berries and woods rose, rich forest loam, ozone, dark amber and cream."

Whipped Soap

If any of you reads Discworld novels, I thought this smells like what walking up to Margrat Garlick's cottage would smell like. It starts with this sweet flowering garden scent –a medley of berries and florals. There's a bit of a herbal sort of smell, which I'm guessing is from the loam. The herbal smell is more of an old English apothecary sort of herbal. As you wash it off, you get hints of this wood & thatch sort of cottage scent.

I imagine Magrat's cottage looking like a less manicured version of this. I first saw this on Pintrest, but can't find the original source  or the location of this cottage anywhere.



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Zazz

"Tart cranberry, pink grapefruit, sparkling champagne all shook up with crushed ginger root."

Whipped Soap

I'm getting that champagne note that smells like fizzy citrus, and the other fruits mixed into the scent makes me think of pink champagne. The fizz gets really, really spicy and even has a wood resin sort of bite to it as I wash it down, which I think is the ginger root at work.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Review & Recommendation: 11 Scents from Arcana's Cocktails for Charity, Honey and Venom, & Meow Collections

I ordered Ajevie's decants for Arcana's Cocktails for Charity, Honey and Venom, & Meow collections, but only just got my decants since I had them sent to Singapore. A lot of the scents I ordered are sold out already, so I'm only reviewing the scents that are still available for purchase. So if you want to purchase Arcana, you can go to either of these sources:


Since the scents available are spread out between these stores, I'll list out where you can purchase each scent from to make things easier. Arcana sells out quickly though, so the listings may have changed.

For my previous Arcana reviews, which include a discussion of their longevity and sillage, you can click on the Arcana label on the right or here. As usual, reviews are done blind until the TL;DR's written. If anything surprises me, I write an overview.

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Cat's Whiskers 

"Only for true sybarites. Rich eggnog, dark rum, a suggestion of waffles, a hint of smoky bacon, and 1 tiny drop of sparkling mint." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent)

The first thing that hit me is that kind of oily sort of of gourmand note that's often referred to as pancakes/donuts/funnel cake/etc. It was cloying at first, but started getting lighter. There's a maple syrup sort of sweetness and something else in this that reminds me of Pumpkins Crave Bacons, and I love it as much as I love Pumpkins Crave Bacons. This just has more of a wood resin sort of dryness to it and a real soy milk sort of milkiness to it.

By 10 min, it smells really close to Pumpkins Crave Bacons, so I need to sniff both at the same time.

TL;DR: A light version of that pancakes/donuts/funnel cakes note with a maple syrup-like sweetness and a real soy milk sort of milkiness.

Overview: Here are the notes for Pumpkins Crave Bacon:

"Sugar pumpkin with maple, nutmeg, and smoky bacon accord."

Now that I'm sniffing them side by side, they're definitely very different. Cat's Whiskers is warmer and more "oily" in scent, and also has that wood resin sort of dustiness to it. Pumpkins Crave Bacon is cooler, with a drier sort of bacon. You also get pumpkins in it, which can go slightly tart on my skin. The bacon in both scents are also very different; Cat's Whiskers is maple syrup drenched, streaky, and oily bacon, Pumpkins Crave Bacon is dry, savoury, maple-glazed bacon. If I'm asked to pick my favourite out of the two, I'd pick Pumpkins Crave Bacon.


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Cupid the Archer: Silver

"Petitgrain, sweet coconut, Omani frankincense, tiare petals, and silvery narcissus." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent)

When I first opened the bottle, I got coconut water –not artificial coconut but actual coconut water. Not the soft drink type of coconut water either, it's the kind of coconut water that's fresh from a newly opened coconut. On my skin though, I just got a burst of smoke at first. It worried me a bit but after three minutes I start getting this very rich musky coconut. There's the scent of tropical flowers mingled into this. The tropical flowers tries to lighten the scent, but overall the coconut weighs it down and it becomes a very heavy, heady scent.

The coconut bit start reminding me of sun tan oil after 10 min, with slightly piercing florals. The florals kept getting more and more piercing on me to the point where it smells like obnoxiously perfumed sun tan oil. The initial scents are just so perfect, that I'm cursing my skin chemistry right now. I think this scent will smell heavenly on a different skin chemistry!

TL;DR: Obnoxiously floral perfumed sun tan oil.


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Cupid the Archer: Gold

"Bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, cocoa absolute, spiced rum, 10 year aged cruelty-free beeswax absolute, and a pinch of blood orange." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

I got delicious cocoa wafting up, but at the base there's an off smell that didn't reveal itself to be this waxy orange until 2-5 min into the scent. Theo cocoa is the richest, dark chocolate that makes me drool. The orange part smells like the gooey, liquid centre of an orange chocolate truffle. Unfortunately, the waxy part makes me think of these sort of orange-flavoured wafers:


This is actually a soap! You can buy it from LoveLeeSoaps on Etsy. I've never tried this company though!


It just spoils the entire scent for me. Luckily, after about 30 min, the cocoa is the most prominent part of the scent, and the part that wafts around as I walk. If I go close to the skin, I still get orange wafers, but if I avoid sniffing too close, it's rich, decadent dark chocolate. 

When the scent dries down after about 2h, the scent that gets left behind unfortunately smells like curdled milk on me.

TL;DR: The most luxurious orange chocolate truffle smushed between artificial orange wafers.


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Fanning the Fur

"Almond, vetiver, luxuriant amber resin, coconut milk, peru balsam, and whiskey." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

I get fragrant almond milk with something savoury, which makes me think of large chunks of chopped almonds. It really smells like chopped almonds. Actual chopped almonds, not a romanticized almond. Sure, the bit that smells like almond milk smells like a perfumed version of almond milk, but the savoury part smells like actual almond chunks. They even have that fibrous sort of smell. I feel like I'm sniffing a high-fiber, trail-mix sort of muesli with lots of almond, served with the most fragrant, sweet almond milk. I'm actually getting hungry sniffing this. I'm not sure how I feel about this scent. I love this scent, I'm very impressed by it and it makes me hungry....but it's like BathSabbath's November Coming Fire, which smells like the most gastronomically orgasmic lamb chops –it's not really something I want to scent myself with.

As it dries down, the scent becomes closer to a Japanese milk pudding flavoured chewy candy, with hints of wood.

TL;DR: Fragrant almond milk with actual chopped almonds.

Overview: Huh, on second sniff, I can smell a bit of the whiskey, which I think is the reason for the almond milk bit smelling as fragrant as it does. I think the amber resin, vetiver & balsam's the one that adds realism to the savoury chopped almond scent.


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Honey & Venom

"Honey amber, black amber, smoky oudh, black vanilla, and kyphi." (Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

Oh wow. When I opened the bottle, I got hit by that fragrant, thin honey note I just love. The kind that has an almost wooden touch to it and will be a melodic high note if it were a sound. This one has wood though. Old wood. Only it's not the kind of old wood that reminds you of coffins and grandparents' homes like NAVA's old wood. This is the kind of wood that makes you think of Indonesian palaces that are rich in history –it's dark, rich, almost incense-like. For the Asia-based readers, don't worry, this does not smell like a mama-san store/your grandma's altar/one of those old Chinese store manned by an old Chinese man in a singlet.

It's a very seductive scent and definitely makes me think of mystical Indonesian myths and legends. If I'm asked by the Indonesian tourism board to pick a scent that would represent Indonesia (the way we'd like to be represented...not how Indonesia actually smells), this is it. I need a full bottle of this. It's a matter of national pride.

indonesia, francesca tanmizi, bali
A photo I took of a barong dancer. Yup, he's jumping over fire.


TL;DR: Indonesian myths & legends.

Overview: Holy crap. That's it. There's oud in this and this smells so close to the Sumbawan oud I get from my dad's friend! I wonder if the oud Julia uses is Sumbawan oud.


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Jabberwoking

"Fresh gingerroot with ginger grass, strawberry, satsuma, raspberry, ruby grapefruit, apricot, chai, and green musk." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

Oooh....this is a burst of fruits. It smells like a pink fruit punch, but with something vegetable-ish that I can't place. The scent ends up smelling like a pink fruit punch from a healthy juice bar, where they add stuff like wheatgrass, ginger and cayenne pepper to make the juice healthier and help you detox/balance/whatever.

TL;DR: Pink fruit punch made healthy.

Overview: I'm guessing it's the ginger grass, chai & green musk making it smell like a healthy vegetable juice.


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Paddling the Pink Canoe

"Dragonsblood, vintage patchouli, citron, pink salt, pink musk, and amber." (Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

This is musky and sugary, in a soft, pink way. I don't know if I got pink from the suggestion from the scent's name, but it's very girly, and feminine, and just makes you think of soft, pink rooms. The sugary bit is cool and light, and not the piercing sort of "sugar" note that's similar to Aquolina's Pink Sugar.

Unfortunately, after 10-15 min, I start getting a bit of a searing, fizzy tartness that reminds me of room sprays. It's a really lovely scent, but I just can't get over that room spray bit.

TL;DR: Pink musk room spray.



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Giggle Water

"Champagne infused with tropical white blossoms, citron, mango, sweet skin musk, and green galbanum." (Pretty Indulgent)



At first I got a burst of mangoes but then it becomes that fizzy citrus scent that's often referred to as a champagne note, with the mango in the background to make it smell like a tropical fruit champagne cocktail. The fizzy citrus bit is definitely prominent and it starts getting sharp and almost woody at times. Unfortunately, the fizzy citrus bit also gets so amplified on my skin that it drowned out the other subtler scents, and this scent ends up smelling a bit one-dimensional on me after about 20-30 min. If I force myself to keep sniffing it until my nose gets used to the assault of the fizzy citrus note, I can pick up subtler scents like crushed, fresh, young green leaves, and mangoes. Unfortunately, the only thing I can catch when the scent is wafting around is just that single fizzy citrus note.

TL;DR: Fizzy citrus assault, with crushed, fresh, young green leaves, and mangoes hiding in the flank.


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Sitting Pretty

"Sugared rum poured slowly over warm, sensual vanilla musk." (Pretty Indulgent)


This reminds me of Pumpkins Crave Treats in that warm, brown sugar pie sort of way. If you've ever tried Momofuku's crack pie, it's similar to that scent, only a bit more perfumed. 


You can get the recipe for this here from epicurious.com. The pie is basically made up of sugar, egg, vanilla,  and cream. It sounds disgusting but it's really like crack – you can't stop eating it even though you know you'll hate yourself afterwards.


This one has an oily, margarine-like quality to the scent though, and it ends up being much more heavier than Pumpkins Crave Treats. In suffocatingly hot, tropical weather, it gets too cloying and heavy, unfortunately. There's also hints of a raisin-like sweetness, similar to Possets' Gelato: Vaniglia and Solstice Scents' Kitchen.

TL;DR: Oily, margarine version of Momofuku's crack pie with raisin-like sweetness.


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Travelers

"A deep, dark blend of labdanum resin, worn leather, Mysore sandalwood, smoked resins of frankincense and myrrh, red dragonsblood, kush, and a hint of zazz." (Pretty Indulgent)

Crap. This kinda reminds me of a Chinese medicine store. One that tries to be brightly lit and modern, but the resulting scent is bitter Chinese medicine, a bitter, sterile smell, red joss sticks, and some lush, musky Lampberger room fragrance trying valiantly to hide all the other scents. 

It does get more luxuriously musky with time, but it's still mostly red joss sticks. Definitely a more luxurious, perfumed version of red joss sticks, but still red joss sticks. It's the way you can create a gourmet mac & cheese with 5 types of cheese and truffle oil, but it's still a mac & cheese. Red joss sticks reminds me of my grandma's creepy altar that glows red at night, so I'm not a fan of this scent.


You can fancy it up all you want, it still smells like your grandma's creepy altar.
Image courtesy of agarscentsbazaar.com


TL;DR: Luxurious red joss sticks.



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Twirling the Pearl

"Rich, golden honey, marshmallow, lavender milk, soft musk, and a tiny hint of green galbanum." (Pretty Indulgent)

Ok. I'm confused. On one hand, there's this light, watery lavender that makes me think of lavender toner swiped across your face during a spa treatment during. At the same time, there's the most realistic marshmallow note I've ever encountered. It's so realistic, it goes straight to my stomach and makes me hungry. But the lavender toner bit is inedible. It's two awesome scents combined together to confuse my brain —can I eat it, or should I keep my mouth shut?



As it dries down, it becomes powdery lavender marshmallow with freshly cut plant stalks. I love this marshmallow note so much, I hope Arcana does an entire marshmallow collection!

TL;DR: Lavenders and marshmallows.