My Favorite Lipcolors!

I love me some lip colors! Over the years, my makeup routine has changed. I went from all-around heavy on the eye (insert: dark eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara) to just curl my eyelashes, blush and some color to my lip!

Lip colors can really brighten your face, and I do feel, especially when you're sitting in an office all day with the air condition on, you tend to look pale when you don't add just a hint of colors to your lips. Just touch-up on your lipstick, and you look ten times better and fresher!

So I thought I'm gonna do a post about the different lipsticks and lipgloss that I've been experimenting and also share my favorites! 

Firstly, these!

I used to love, love lipgloss! But I think nowadays I prefer lipstick and when you find the right lipstick that's moisturizing and doesn't make your lips feel so dry, that's how you find a winner. So let's start from left to right.

1. Motives Lip Gloss in Drama Queen

I actually got this as a Christmas present from a colleague, and the color is this nice soft pink with glitters and gloss. It actually looks more nude when I put it on my lip, so I definitely would love to see the color show off more. If you just want a hint of color and gloss without being too obvious, I think you can give this a try!

2. Stila Liquid Lipstick in Fiery

Okay, this one is really, really red, I gotta warn you. It's so red that even when you try, you can't completely wipe the color off so easily. Maybe that's a good thing cos you know the color won't rub off when you eat or something. It feels kinda milky in your lip - I'm still trying to rock on a full-front bold red lipstick but if you do, this one definitely takes the cake. I just don't know whether this is the best product in terms of feeling nice and moist on your lip, because I do think this gets dry after wearing this a while, And you have to be really skilled with the brush while applying this because like I said, it's really red!

3. Etude House Peach Water Gloss in Peach Milk

I got this as a gift also, and it's the first time I'm trying out a product from Etude House. Can't say much about it - it does the job, it gives me this nude, natural color as well and this one is not as glittery as the Motives lipgloss. 

4. Curvy Lip Silicone in 805

What attracted me to this one is its packaging. I bought this from Sasa in Hong Kong upon just randomly browsing at their cosmetics section. It says that it has silicone to make your lips look fuller and plumper, so hey, I'm sold! I like this lip gloss as the color is very nude and it feels soft in my lip - although a bit too sticky for my liking. It also has this very interesting applicator that is not like other lipglosses. In terms of whether it really makes your lip fuller and thicker? Hm, I kinda feel that it does, although that could very well just be me. Oh and this stays for quite a while too! Next time I'm in Hong Kong, I would definitely wanna see if they have this in other colors.

Okay, moving on to strictly lipsticks, which I love now! And I'm starting to embrace these bolder colors as opposed to just sticking to natural, nude colors when I was younger. 

5. Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in True Red

So this is probably one of the earlier lipsticks in red that I got to try out something bold. And I really like it! It's matte bright red, and I usually apply this with another lipstick brush instead of the lipstick itself for a more precise application. It tends to be a bit dry though, so I always carry my lip balm everywhere to just add on whenever my lip feels dry. 

6. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Plum Velour

Oh I love, love this color! Tried this for fun as well as I've never tried purple lipstick before. But surprisingly I really like this and it definitely makes me more adventurous to maybe try something darker also. This purple is not as dark as it looks, it still brightens up my face but I do feel more 'dark and mysterious' whenever I put this on. And the texture is just perfect, unlike the previous Revlon, this one doesn't make my lips feel dry at all. 

7. Mac Amplified Lipstick in Craving

Another favorite of mine is this Mac lipstick in darker pink. I absolutely love this color too and it's both moisturizing and comfortable to use. I meant to actually look for other colors of this collection too because I love the feeling of this in my lips!

But, actually I was sidetracked on the way to Mac by the sales lady from Laneige and since then, I've been a huge fan of this brand! I think this is the first Korean brand that I love! I started using their lipbalm and their BB cream as well and so far they're fabulous. So let's go on to my Most Favorite Lipsticks so far, both by Laneige!

8. Laneige K-Secret Cushion Tint in Red Orange

So this has been my favorite for a few months now and it's so unique that one side of it is the lipstick, while the other side is the applicator. The applicator itself is a round-sponge that you can use to dab the lipstick in your lips to blend the colors. It's super easy and convenient to use and I love the color! It doesn't wipe off easily too and it's not dry at all. 

A couple of weeks ago, though, I got this new serum intense lipstick and we got a winner, ladies and gentlemen!

9. Laneige Serum Intense Lipstick in LED Pink

This is my absolute favorite! I'm obsessed with this that I have to carry this everywhere I go, and I make sure I do a touch-up when I'm in the office. The color is actually very pink (it doesn't show that way due to poor lightning) and I normally don't wear bright pink so I wasn't sure at first. But I love, love it! The pink looks amazing and it feels great too! Super hydrating and not dry at all, I can even straightaway apply the lipstick without lipbalm and still feel great. I would definitely recommend everyone try this brand if you're in the lookout for lipsticks. After this, I would certainly get their other colors too!  

So there you go! Hope you enjoy the post and find it somewhat useful, otherwise well, just look at the pretty pictures! I would love to know your favorite lipcolors too!

Stay awesome, people!

Boyhood

I scream in delight when I heard about this movie. It's no surprise that I'm a huge, huge fan of Richard Linklater and the "Before" trilogy; in fact they are my most favourite movies of all time.

I remember being younger and so in love with Before Sunrise and Before Sunset that I had to make sure I made the guys I was currently dating watch (and love) them too. Somehow I wanted them to share the same deep emotional thoughts and wavelength that made me love these movies so much.

(No wonder those relationship never lasted. Ha!)

The genre is so unique; it's whether you love it, or you hate it. You either would fall deeply in love with it (like me), or find it super boring and when you just don't appreciate this type of deep conversation and relate able characters and pure emotions without exaggerating, special effects, all those Hollywood blah. My friend J is one of them.

In fact, now he admitted of finding it so boring that he almost fell to his death while watching it, but maintained his composure because I threatened him he wanted to impress me (so he said now). I probably had scarred him for life.

Anyway, I'm getting off track now. Let's get back to the point: Boyhood. Yes, so this is Richard Linklater's new movie and if you have been living in cave, I'm sure you've heard a huge buzz around; this being the only movie who took a spam of 12 years to film. It has also won a lot of awards (Golden Globes recently) and nominated for Oscars for more, including Best Picture and Best Director!

I missed seeing it in the cinema here, but I got lucky because the film was on the in-flight entertainment on my flight to Brisbane en route to New Zealand! So I spent almost 3 hours just indulging in this cinematic pleasure that brought back so much feelings and happiness (really similar feelings I have whenever I watch Before trilogy.)

My quickie review? It's an honest, real representation of a boy growing up in a family when like, all families, it's not always paradise. They overcome struggles and tears (divorce, alcoholic abusive dad, bullying at school, etc) but importantly also share the good times and, more importantly, how they stay together as a family despite their shortcomings.

I love, love, Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke in this. They make it flawlessly real and I can really feel Patricia's character's struggles being a single mom and doing the things she does. I love her! And as for Ethan Hawke, he's brilliant as expected, not that I ever doubted it.

Some of my favourite conversation from the movie:

Mason: Dad, there's no real magic in the world, right?
Dad: What do you mean?
Mason: You know, like elves and stuff. People just made that up.
Dad: Oh, I don't know. I mean, what makes you think that elves are any more magical than something like a whale? You know what I mean? What if I told you a story about how underneath the ocean, there was this giant sea mammal that used sonar and sang songs and it was so big that its heart was the size of a car and you could crawl through the arteries? I mean, you'd think that was pretty magical, right?

Mom: [Mason is leaving for college] This is the worst day of my life.
Mason: What are you talking about?
Mom: [Starts crying] I knew this day was coming. I just... I didn't know you were going to be so fucking happy to be leaving.
Mason: I mean it's not that I'm that happy... what do you expect?
Mom: You know what I'm realising? My life is just going to go. Like that. This series of milestones. Getting married. Having kids. Getting divorced. The time that we thought you were dyslexic. When I taught you how to ride a bike. Getting divorced... again. Getting my masters degree. Finally getting the job I wanted. Sending Samantha off to college. Sending you off to college. You know what's next? Huh? It's my fucking funeral! Just go, and leave my picture!
Mason: Aren't you jumping ahead by, like, 40 years or something?
Mom: I just thought there would be more..

The pace of the movie is slow; I found myself enjoying the first part of the film more than the last half, but overall I really enjoyed this journey. It's amazing seeing Mason (the main boy's character) grow up and see how he transforms to a young man and I think that's what happens to us: we get confused, distracted, frustrated sometimes at our lives. We act out, rebel as a teenager, but his mom is such a strong figure in his life that no matter what live throws at him, I feel that his mom can always keep him grounded.

You care so much about this family because you literally grow up with them. And I think this is the point of this crazy idea of shooting over the spam of 12 years. Anybody who watches it would relate so much to this person and this family.

Overall, I would recommend everyone to watch this! There are a lot of things I love about this film, and I found myself smiling and crying with them, and I think that says a lot when a film can make you feel that way.