Bronzer Battle: Benefit Hoola Bronzer VS Too Faced Chocolate Soleil

This post will be my first comparing post. So exciteeed! I'm gonna be talking about the two most talked about bronzers in the industry, the Benefit Hoola bronzer and Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer. If you're a hard-core youtube watcher like me, you would have heard about these two bronzers. I will review each bronzer and compare the two, and then you can decide which one worth the money.

Now, the first thing you noticed about this bronzer must be the packaging. Too Faced is always killing it. The packaging is beautiful I cannot stop touching it. And yes guys, the smell! It does smell like chocolate. You may not be able to smell it in store but when you first open it, damn the smell was so strong and it was so good. Now I'm afraid I will lose the smell if I open it too often (unreasonable worry). The Chocolate Soleil is made for medium to deep skin tone, so if you have a light skin or you don't like strong bronzer or contour, I strongly suggest you go with Milk Chocolate Soleil, which come from the same line. I have light skin but I can handle strong bronzing and contouring. This bronzer blends so well on the skin, like I'm not even joking. It is a matte bronzer but I feel like my skin is glowing with this bronzer. Blends out beautifully. Have I said that? 

I wouldn't use this bronzer as a contour powder because it is quite warm, but if you don't feel like contouring but you still want to define those cheekbones naturally, this bronzer is beyond perfect.  

Packaging wise, it's a hit and miss. Some people like it some people don't. I know some people expect more considering the price, but hey, it comes with a brush. A lot of people like the brush because it is like a dupe for NARS oh-so-famous Ita brush. The shape is similar but I'm sorry, I don't like the brush :(. I think the bristles are rough, it doesn't blend the bronzer well, and I'm just not feeling it. Anyway, let's talk about the products. A lot of people use this bronzer for contouring because it has a grey undertone and this bronzer fits all skin colors. It is a matte bronzer and it also blends out beautifully. It is very powdery, so you can get a lot with just a swipe of brush (always tap your brush!). And I just recently hit pan on this one (yaaaaaz!). Beauty addicts are so proud when they hit pan, because it means they actually use the product. When actually it's a bad thing because then we have to buy another one.   

Packaging wise, Too Faced wins. It has a decent mirror and a compact, sturdy packaging with embossing compared to Benefit paper box. It has a mirror, but can barely see your face, and it's unnecessarily very bulky. Too Faced Chocolate Soleil is warmer (more orange) than Benefit Hoola, but I feel like Too Faced is more long lasting than Benefit. Too Faced comes with a box while the Benefit doesn't. The Too Faced one contains 10 gr of product while the Benefit one contains 8 gr of product. Too Faced Chocolate Soleil retails at $42, can be found only in Sephora. Benefit Hoola Bronzer retails for $46 can be found in Sephora, Benefit boutique, and Changi Airport (cheaper in Changi duty free store, $40.70). I love both of them, and I think you will not be disappointed buying either one of them.

Ax

Too Faced Soul Mates Blushing Bronzer Review

AAAAAA! I promised myself I would not scream. But, I cannot control myself. I find myself blushing every time I think that I actually, finally have this bronzer. Yes guys, this couple finally hit Singapore. This Too Faced Soul Mates bronzing duo finally available in Sephora. I've always wanted this bronzer ever since I saw it on Intagram like months ago. I thought this is a limited edition piece and the fact that our Sephora is so god damn slow on updated stuffs, I gave up my hope. I saw it on Beautylish and I almost bought it but I need to spend US $75 to get free shipping, and I was like, bye. 

But yesterday, like literally yesterday, I went to Sephora with mah gurl and we were like, SHOCKED. We went to Sephora ION and we saw the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar Palette. Yes, they are finally here. After all beauty gurus raved about it and the madness has stopped. It came. Thank you, Sephora Singapore. But the most shocking thing was this one. The Soul Mates bronzer duo. They were sold out at Sephora ION and we were so heartbroken. I felt like the world has come to an end. We asked one of the staff and she said it is only available in Sephora ION and they will not restock it very soon. Well, you know what, she was f-ing wrong! We almost went home but we went to Sephora Taka just to browse around, and heeeeey, I literally ran when I saw they have this bronzer on display and gagged when I saw a stock. There were three Ross and Rachel and five Carrie and Big. I snatched one without even thinking without even looking at the price. It's $48 by the way.

But honestly, have you ever seen anything so beautiful? This is like the best packaging I've ever seen like EVER. I have no words how to describe it but I do have more amount of pictures than usual for this review. Please be patient and scroll down, you may see the same pictures because I couldn't decide which shots to put because they are all beutiful! I need help! 

Now, this bronzer came in two shades, Ross and Rachel and Carrie and Big. If you ask me, it's obvious which one I'll pick. First of all, I don't watch Friends. And Ross and Rachel is for medium to deep skin-tone while Carrie and Big is for light to medium skin-tone. So it is a perfect match for me. Every cents you spent from 48$ is worth it. Apart from the most beautiful packaging, it contains a lot of product, 18g!! (comparison: Benefit box blush 8g, Too Faced chocolate soleil bronzer 10g).

This bronzer is not too powdery, so you can never add too much on your brush. You can go heavy handedly on this one. I think that's a good thing. Another thing is the color, this bronzer is so warm, it is on the orange side. You cannot use this bronzer for contouring, this is for warming up your face, to give you a bronzed, sun-kissed look. It is on the orange side but it is not too orange for me. It is for light skin, so it just gives you that healthy glowing look. Love it. It is said on the packaging, you can use the colors separately, or you can mix the two colors together to give you a blushed bronzy look. I tried using only the bronzer shade and it is beautiful. Please guys, run to your nearest Sephora and grab this couple before they sold out completely!


Ax

Ebay Finds: Jessup Makeup Brushes

Don't you love starring at a bunch of matching brushes? And when they are from Ebay for $15.5? They are from the brand Jessup. You might have heard about it, a lot of gurus got their brushes from Ebay as well and they all loving them. Well, me too. 

I chose the 10 brushes set, 5 face brushes and 5 eye brushes. I bought it from this seller, they have tons of different sets and colors, and they offer free international shipping. Yay! I thought they would take one month to arrive but to my surprise they arrived in less than 3 weeks. Pretty fast for an Ebay free shipped stuff. The face brushes are so dense and the bristles are super soft. It's just amazing considering their price. They have flat top kabuki, angled kabuki, and the pointed kabuki, perfect for contouring or your under eyes (it is my favorite of them all!). The eye brushes, they are dense but fluffy, perfect for blending. Blending made easy with these brushes. If you are looking for a set of brush, please please do yourself a favor and get this brush set! You will not regret it, you will love it, and stare it all day long.

Ax 

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream Review

I swear, it's only April, but I can say liquid lipstick is the makeup item of 2015. This NYX matte lip cream has been my favorite for a while now. I started buying them when I saw on Instagram that 'Istanbul' is a good dupe, like totaly similar to Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipstick in 'Lovely'. I was like, bam, I'm sold. And now I have 9 of them. 8 here, because I forgot the other one was in my purse and I only realized it after I finish taking picture. The other one I have is 'Abu Dhabi' by the way, brown nude color. Because I couldn't get my hands on the ABH ones, why not have the cheaper alternatives. They're 12$ each at Sephora and they are incredibly awesome!

These lipsticks are amazing, but they are not so pigmented on the lips you kinda have to build them up and they can look a bit patchy, because sometimes you will find like a lump of products. Like the 'Istanbul' swatch above, it's not so smooth. But doesn't mater, small problem. The lipstick smells good actually, kinda like a vanilla scent, and they last so long. The problem I have with matte lipsticks, it's that they make your lips so dry and they cling to the dry patches, and when you re-apply the product, it's like the worst thing ever. Hot mess. But this one is not. I notice it goes on smoothly even after a re-apply. Another thing to note it takes a while for them to set on your lips, like 2 minutes. They have been favorites of mine, they should be yours too.


Ax

NARS Sheer Glow Foundation Review

It's finally here! I'm going to talk about my holy grail, all-time-favorite, comfort foundation. This foundation is called sheer glow, but it is not sheer at all! The coverage is pretty decent, medium, buildable to full coverage. Now, when you see reviews online, most of them wouldn't recommend this foundation for oily skin. I have oily skin and I am loving this foundation. I swear by it!

The foundation doesn't come with a pump, you can buy it separately for 10$ (I never did, because I think it's a waste of money and I don't have problem pouring this foundation as it is not so watery). The reason why I have two different colors is because I first bought this foundation when Sephora had a 20% discount, and Ceylan was the lightest color they had at that time. I knew the color wouldn't match my skin but I bought it anyway because it was like now or never. I would never be able to purchase this foundation with full price (72$) so I bought it anyway. I did some reasearch before I bought this, and overall I saw good reviews, and I was so into NARS cosmetics at that time, so I forced myself to buy it. Guilty. 

The next thing I knew, I loved it. The color Ceylan is only slightly darker than my skin (my real NARS foundation shade is Gobi) so I used it anyway. Then I found a good deal online for this foundation in the color Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc is lighter than my skin but I knew it would be a perfect color if I mix it with my Ceylan. So I got Mont Blanc and now I've been mixing those two color together to achieve my perfect color. I mix them together with 1:2, Mont Blanc: Ceylan. 

You can also notice that the square cap can be taken out, leaving only the small cap. It is a perfect option when you are travelling, to save some space. 

Back to the performance, this foundation gives you a dewy finish but not so over-the-top glowing. I do find myself oily through out the day, especially in my T zone. What I do is just blot my face with oil absorbing film and then boom. My makeup will look good as new. The oil film did not take any of my makeup and this foundation could stay on my face for like 12+ hours. Long lasting, nice coverage, nice finish, nice consistency. The price is a bit overwhelming, but let me tell you something. It. is. worth. it. If you want to invest something in makeup, invest in a foundation, and if you ask me, invest in this foundation. End of conversation. This will change your life. I am an extremist for this foundation, so don't say anything bad about this foundation or imma slay you. 

JK.

Have a great week everyone :)

Ax

MAC Julia Petit Collection in Singapore

Like, what? MAC is coming back with another collaboration? I feel like it was just last week they came up with MAC Bao Bao Wan (which I totally missed). Julia Petit is a Brazilian beauty blogger and beauty icon, now she's collaborating with MAC. Talking about dream come true. As you can see from the picture above the theme is very tropical as she was inspired by her city Sao Paulo.

makeupandbeautyblog.com

MAC Julia Petit Lipsticks in Boca (Satin), Petite Red (Satin), and Acai (Matte) [33$ each]

MAC Julia Petit Lip Glass in Purpurine (33$)

MAC Julia Petit Morganite Eyeshadows 2x (Sunstoned, lustre and Choco Cake, matte)

MAC Julia Petit Sagu Eyeshadows 2x (Druzy, lustre and Black Plum, matte) 

MAC Julia Petit Moving Sand Eyeshadows 2x (Mumu, matte and Noite, Lustre) 

(49$)

MAC Julia Petit Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Pressed Powder (44$)

MAC Julia Petit Powder Blush in Linda (42$)

MAC Julia Petit Liquidlast Liner in Wet Road (34$)

MAC Julia Petit Lustre Drops (36$)

All information about prices are taken from Makeup Stash.

Anything caught your eyes? I definitely will have that nude lipsticks. And I'm thinking about getting the purple one because last time I bought a red lipstick from the Toledo collection, it's time to be more experimental. I'm also thinking about the pressed finishing powder, not because of the packaging but I have never tried any powder from MAC and I think this will be a great time to finally try one. 

Keep building your wishlist because this collection will be available in Singapore at March 20th 2015, at MAC Tangs Orchard, MAC ION Orchard, and MAC Ngee Ann City. All three stores in Orchard! Looks like I will have to go squeeze through Orchard in the morning. 

Ax

Australis AC ON TOUR Contour Kit Review

Hell, yes! Finally I can talk about this contour kit! If you guys are a big youtube watcher like me, I'm sure you all have seen this contour kit before. This is the contour kit from Australis cosmetics called AC ON TOUR. This contour kit was not available in Singapore but now it is. I found a new online shop called Awesome Colours, they are amazing, they offer products that are hard to find in Singapore like BH Cosmetics and Australis. The best thing is, they are all affordable! /shriek. I am so glad I found them and now I can talk about this contour kit. I posted my review of the Anastasia Beverly Hills contour kit, and this one is so similar to it. 

Just like the ABH contour kit, this one has 6 different shades, 3 for highlight and 3 for contour. I would say this is a great dupe for the ABH contour kit where the ABH one is 40 US$ and this one is 20S$. It also came with a short tutorial on how to contour and highlight at the back of the kit. 

I couldn't believe myself, but ever since I received this kit, I never found myself grabbing for the ABH kit. Insane. The first thing I noticed from this palette is that, this stuff is damn pigmented. Too pigmented for a contouring. It's so easy to grab too much product with your brush and your contour can look muddy so easily. Believe me when I say with this product, a little really DOES go a long way. With my ABH kit, I could dip my brush 3-4 times and it would still look fine. With this one I can only dip my brush once without putting any pressure, then I can have my contour done. I would say this kit is not for beginners but once you got your hand on contouring, this kit is perfect. I found this one is so blendable (if you get a proper amount on your brush) and when it sets on your face, it looks gorgeous. And the colors are so similar to the ABH kit. And about the highlight shade, can I say, I am obsessed with the banana shade (the yellow one). A lot of people use the banana shade on ABH kit to set their under eyes, but I did not like the ABH one. Maybe it's just me because 99% of the world loves it. The australis one, me likey. Not so sure about the shimmery one, because it is so creamy, so not powder-like. Anyway, please do yourself a favor and get this kit.


Ax