Beauty: November Bellabox

The concept of a monthly subscription box filled with the latest samples in the beauty world is more than overdue on our sunny island. I've been watching Birchbox reviews by missglamorazzi (aka Ingrid) for far too long, wishing that somehow, someway it would grace our shores. And it finally has! Bellabox.sg launched their first box of goodies in October 2011. 

Being apprehensive of the quality of products in the box, I wasn't ready to part with SGD15 in October so I held back, waited for reviews and was sold the minute I saw OCC Lip Tars on the Bellabox.sg FB page (the reviews still didn't phase me much, I don't regret not having the October Bellabox).

What is Bellabox?

For SGD15 a month, you get 5 samples from cult favorite/up and coming/established brands. You pay the $15 as a monthly subscription on PayPal (you don't need an account, just a credit card) and you can cancel anytime before they bill you for your next box.

Pros 

You get to try some pretty cool products and you can buy them on their website if you really love 'em. You get reward points for writing product reviews and sharing your opinion.

Cons

This being my first box and all, I can't say that I'm disappointed with it. But I'm pretty sure you'll get to a point where you won't want some of the stuff in the box. 

So now that that's out of the way, here's the November Bellabox!

The November Bellabox

The theme for this month's box is Beauty by Nature featuring beauty products that are made from some top notch natural ingredients. 

Skinfactory Eye Dream Honey Patches

Retails on Bellabox.sg for $15 for a pack of 4 masks

This is supposed to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and puffiness. I haven't really experienced any of these things so I might pass this off to me mum to give it a try. 

Korres Body Butter - Guava
Retails on Bellabox.sg for $37.00 for 150ml
 

Who doesn't love Korres? But I wasn't too fazed by the body butter sample I received. Yes it's amazeballs but I'd have preferred getting a sample of their organic and natural makeup. Some eyeshadow, primer, whatever.

Davines MELU Anti-Breakage Lustrous Shampoo & Conditioner 
Retails on Bellabox.sg for $28 and $29 for 250ml respectively
 

I love love l o v eeeee the smell of this stuff. Just smells so clean! I am definitely going to be using this til the containers are emptied!

Duchess Marden Damascena Anti-Wrinkle Serum
Retails on Bellabox.sg for $89.90 for 30ml

Yet another thing I'll probably be passing off to me mum to try. It smells divine though and I'm tempted to try it myself. The sample I received is 1.8ml and I'm probably guessing that the 30ml you get if you were to pay the full price might last you a long while. Maybe both me and mum and the sisters will be giving this a try. :P

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (OCC) Lip Tar in Pageant
Retails on Bellabox.sg for $18.90 

Alas, this was the reason I spent $15 on the box. The color I got is Pageant, a bright hot pink color that when worn, reminds me of something Nicki Minaj wore in her Super Bass video (although minus all the frost). I absolutely love the minty smell of the lip tar and after seeing that loads of other peoples got different colors, I think I might be buying me some from the website. I hope the tube you get is bigger though, I can't help but think this is a sample size.


So that was this month's Bellabox! 

I'll try to do up a review of the stuff that I'm interested in and if I buy anything I'll be sure to post up a haul video.

Anyhoo


Peace lovies.


Til the next post.

Books: A Game of Thrones

 






A Song of Fire and Ice Book One
A Game of Thrones
by George R.R. Martin

I never heard of the series of A Song of Fire and Ice by Martin until I chanced upon the HBO trailer for the first season of Game of Thrones. And honestly, only after watching the entire first season (10 episodes mind you) did I decide that I should probably start reading the books.

There is a whole plethora of information out there on Martin and the books which were originally meant to be a trilogy  and now has 5 books to the series name with a reported 2 more scheduled.

Everyone is pretty much in raptures about the HBO series, but the books are somewhat of a different quality. I think HBO did credit to the books, which are so much more vivid in description and detail as compared to the show.

If you're looking for a good read, I'd suggest first checking out the pilot episode of the series and deciding from there. It's not a book that everyone would enjoy, as odd as I find it, some people just don't like fantasy as a genre.

Give me dragons, swords and heroic tales and I'm in. I can't wait to start Book Two. :)

If you read it, let me know what you think.

Peace lovies.

Til the next post.

Fashion: Erm...?

Whenever I see Kourtney Kardashian, I will always remember how she pulled her baby out while giving birth. Strangest and yet coolest thing I've ever seen.

So I've been reading up on the Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries filing for divorce after 72 days blah blah and I saw this photo of Kourtney.

At first, I just saw the dress and thought. Hmm, cool shape. Then the pattern kinda overtook the shape and then I saw she was wearing flip flops.

One. The dress looks like one of those oversized abayas/jalabiyas meant to be worn AT HOME.
Two. The pattern isn't so bad truly and at least she tried to break it up with a black belt in the center.
Three. Flip flops? Really?
Four. Let's not even get to the fact that the dress overpowers Kourtney's petite frame.

Questionable taste at its best. I'd save this outfit for home use thanks. 

What do you think?

Peace lovies.

Til the next post.

Nails: Happy Halloween!

Hope you lovely spooks had a happy fun time on All Hallow's Eve (aka Halloween)!

I just wanted to share an awesome nail design that I did special for October 31st. :D (Spare the photos - taken at night with my iPhone!)

Left hand

Right Hand

What I used

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Nails 09 Timeless White
OPI He's My Boo (the perfect Halloween orange!)
OPI Black Shatter
OPI I Only Date Werewolves (to draw on the pumpkin face)

My friend and I had a great time playing with chocolate eyeballs and fanged lip chocolates. It made my manicure look like a monster! I love it.

The Nail Lacquers
 
He's My Boo and I Only Date Werewolves are from the OPI Spookettes Mini Collection. The inspiration for my little pumpkin came from this photo:

They actually gave stickers but I decided that I didn't want to use the stickers. I'd rather save them for constant inspiration. In the photo above you can also see the color of He's My Boo. It really is just a Halloween color.

Peace lovies. Hope you're having a great All Saint's Day!

Til the next post.

Beauty: OPI feat Nicki Minaj

Ok seriously, who doesn't love Super Bass? It's an awesome fantastic song with a super technicolor music video that is reminisce of the Aqua and Barbie girl franchise days. If you don't you probably won't be much into the recently announce Nicki Minaj and OPI collaboration.

I just had to share my thoughts on the matter. The colors are not astonishingly ground breaking and the collection is a little like Nicki Minaj herself, neither here not there, despite being all out wacko (I mean that in the nicest way possible!).

Super Bass Shatter

Yup. A n o t h e r shatter color. The only shatter I own and will probably ever own is the eponymous Black Shatter that launched with the Katy Perry OPI collection and the first Serena Williams collab. The deep purple color is an absolute beaute though. If only they didn't have it with the darn shatter effect.

Pink Friday

See what I mean with the whole throwback to Aqua and the Barbie Girl franchise days? This right here is classic Barbie is a STUNNA way. If Nicki Minaj pulls this color off then I'll consider getting me a bottle. More swatches needed to convince me to part with my cash though.

Metallic 4 Life

Holy B L I N G - A - L I N G Batman. This color is the love child of a disco ball and and well, like ten other disco balls. My inner magpie is screaming with delight. Here's the catch - it's a glitter (read: pain in the beeehind to remove).

Fly

Oh my awesome love at first sight. Teal is my friend. My best best best best friend. Well, I mean, next to a few other colors of course, but something about this color just makes me want it everywhere - on the walls, on the ceiling, on my cupboard doors, on my iPhone (the cover, not the screen obviously). This has won a definite Y E S from yours truly.

Save Me

I'll be honest here. This color reminds me of a get-up Ms. Minaj has shocked us with before. And it just makes me think - is the name supposed to mean something? The color's making me think of confetti vomit. *whoops* o.O

Did It On 'Em

Now, I'm not expert on G terms but what on earth is that supposed to mean. Lime is not my friend. At all. But I can see a pairing between this color and the Super Bass Shatter looking pretty fierce. Problem is, I don't see the worth in a bottle of nail polish that can only be paired with another nail polish color. It's double the money for one manicure.

Right, so based on first impressions, I'm really only interested in Fly. The teal color is most definitely fly. The collection debuts in January, but I expect it'd be March thereabouts before I can get my hands on it.

Here's looking forward to it!

Peace lovies.

Til the next post.