Posts Tagged ‘Makeup Tips’

I have this nasty little habit when I go mascara shopping: I tend to pick up several mascaras at once and store them somewhere for a couple a months before I get to opening any one of them. Call me a mascara hoarder, but even when I got the Maybelline Colossal Volume Express mascara waaaaayyyy before it hit the shores of Singapore as the Maybelline Magnum Mascara, it took me about 8 months later before the mascara got to see daylight. LOL.

Please dont ask me why that happens. But perhaps it’s just knowing that after I’ve found the best mascara that I dub the holy grail of mascaras, nothing else comes close. Except maybe its sister mascara with an additional pulse.

Still, I’m always on the look out for new mascaras that promise to curl, lengthen and volumise your lashes. So when I walked into Duane Reade, the local drugstore, the first night here in New York, I had a bimbogasm when I saw the shelves of makeup. I picked out a whole bunch of mascaras, but decided I only have so many lashes that I can coat with mascara. So those we couldnt get back home in Singapore were the ones I landed up with.

Clockwise from top:
- Covergirl Lash Blast Luxe mega volume shimmering mascara
- Covergirl Exact Highlights eye brightening mascara
- Maybelline Define-a-lash Volume mascara
- Rimmel Glam Eyes Lash Flirt mascara
- Maybelline Pulse Perfection Vibrating mascara (review here)
- Maybelline Define-a-lash Lengthening mascara (review here)

Me picking up the same two mascaras time and time again is probably the best testament to how amazing I think they are. As for the rest, I promise I will get a review up for each of them within the next….. 3 months maybe? Haha. Or it might be better if you told me which one you’d like to see a review on and I’d get started on that pronto.

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You must already know that Singapore has its very own Sephora. Two in fact. But I’ve always lamented on the lack of cool brands they carry. After just spending two days in the beauty department of various department stores and in Sephora right here in New York itself, I realise I get turned on excited by brands such as Urban Decay, Smashbox, NARS, DuWop and Buxom. Being such a beauty junkie, Sephora was naturally the first store I wanted to visit.

The very first Sephora I stepped into here in New York was located near the financial district Wall Street. I saw the store, squealed my head off and rushed to take a photo from across the road. Going inside was like dying and going to beauty heaven. It wasnt one of the largest Sephoras, but it still held all the coveted brands we dont get back in Singapore. It was where all the cool brands were and at that point, the long flight we had to sit through was well worth it.

The shop was rather crowded compared to the deserted streets outside. I walked inside and had to keep my grabby little hands to myself. It wouldnt be wise of me to spend my entire budget on makeup stuff on my very first day in the City now would it? I thus had to distract myself by getting trigger happy.

Here are some of the brands that we dont have back home.

They, of course, stock some of the same brands we have here in our Sephora, but carry a much wider range of products. I havent done any serious damage in Sephora as yet. But I did get myself Super Orgasm from NARS to see how different it is from its sister blush Orgasm. I foresee many more ventures into Sephora these coming few days. Haha. In fact, there’s another one along 5th Avenue near Empire State Building.

Sephora is located in many places in New York City, but the ones I’ve been to are at:
150 Broadway
New York, NY 10038-4381
Monday – Friday: 8 am – 8 pm
Saturday: 11 am – 7 pm
Sunday: 12 pm – 6 pm

597 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10017
On 5th Avenue, between East 48th & 49th Streets
Monday – Saturday: 10 am – 8 pm
Sunday: 11 am – 7 pm

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First there was M.A.C and Barbie, then they teamed up with Hello Kitty. Now, according to a little bird, M.A.C is working with Disney for a second time to feature 4 Disney Villains in a new collection aptly named the MAC Disney Venomous Villains Collection!

After much investigation and browsing through various sources, lipstick, powder, lip gloss and blush will be in this collection. Have a look at the video and guess who the Disney Villains will be!

Did you see any familiar characters? I think I spotted Cruella DeVil from 101 Dalmatians and the Evil Queen from Snow White. Oohhh.. This is all too deliciously devious. I can already imagine the colors and the bright beautiful packaging. Cruella’s monochromatic hair and red lips are sure to inspire some shades of lippie if not some already funky hair dos. I wonder if the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland will make an appearance. I quite like the powerful red/black combination of her dress.

The collection is said to debut late September at MAC locations worldwide.

Who would YOU like to see featured in 4 Disney Venomous Villains collection?

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With the beginning of a new month, I can safely tell you that beginnings are just as difficult as endings. A beginning always holds uncertainty; a beginning is always full of pebbles along the way; a beginning is always where you start mucking about before you finally find what works for you. As much as you always plan for something, the unexpected never fails to happen and it’s these unexpected surprises that you have to deal with that make a simple beginning challenging yet so very exciting.

It is with the beginning of dweam.com as a Singapore Beauty Blog that I say goodbye to my previous direction. It is today I welcome a new beauty direction in my blog.

I’ve always toyed with the idea of starting a full fledged beauty blog. I can tell you it was difficult to do so. The beginning is always tough. I never thought that I was qualified to do so despite spending all my years in University on stage dancing; never thought that all the time I spent in front of the camera and on the runway was enough for me to tell anyone how to do their makeup. In fact, why would they listen to an ugly duckling like me?


Can you guess which one is me? Hahaha. Fresh faced into Uni. Taken when I was in Year 1 in 2004.

But maybe it was really when I finally ventured into the pageantry circuit and had to “fend for myself” that I finally got the courage to start. Afterall it was then that I had the most “drastic” changes in terms of how I looked. Hahaha. No, it was not plastic, but merely a refining of the basic techniques I already had. With this experience in dance, modeling and pageantry, yes, I’ve decided to give myself the go ahead. That’s not to say, up to this point, my beauty tutorials, makeup reviews and DIYs come from professional backgrounds. They are simply genuine reflections of what I do, use, experience and feel for the products on a regular basis.


Fast forward 4 years later, 2008.

However, beauty, to me, is not merely about who has the biggest eyes, the fullest lips, using the best makeup or having the most extensive number of products. I have to say that coming from a Psychology background (oh yes, I’m trained in Psychology. Let me read your mind now) that beauty to me is really just a mental state. I fully believe that we can and all should dream of the beautiful to be truly outstanding. My one month in the Philippines representing Singapore as Miss Earth also taught me that exact same thing. It wasn’t the girl who had the flashiest clothes, biggest eyes or the best hair that eventually won the crown. It was the girl who could compose herself well in times of duress that finally got crowned Queen. It was her who could smile despite not having things go her way. It was her who was a friend to all. Despite landing only Top 16, I have to admit, I learnt a lot during that trip to last me a lifetime.

Being beautiful is an art, but more importantly, being beautiful is a holistic development. As I share with you what makes me beautiful outside and in through my DIYs, reviews, tutorials, outfit posts, the not-so-newly conceived SneakerSunday and the occasional lifestyle posts, I hope new readers and potential followers will take my hand (albeit a virtual one) and join me in my beauty journey. For those who have been following me for a long time, I thank you for your unfailing support. There are so many people I have to thank, because without them dweam.com would not be where it is now. But, I will leave that for another day.

As an ending note, my dream for this blog is to inspire you, my reader, to become more beautiful inside and out as you explore uncharted territories with me, in this new chapter of dweam.


2010. Photo credits: Brad Lau

This is me. This is dweam now.

Not everyone can be a beauty queen, but everyone can be beautiful.

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I’m sure many die-hard mascara fans would have already heard of the big name vibrating mascaras: Lancome Oscillation Vibrating mascara and the Estee Lauder TurboLash All Effects Motion mascara. But did you know that drugstore brand Maybelline, for a third of the price, has it’s own affordable version of the vibrating mascara? Yes, the Maybelline Define-a-Lash Pulse Perfection mascara is the powerful sister mascara of the Define-a-Lash series mascaras that knows how to give your lashes a good time.

When I crowned the Maybelline Define-a-Lash Lengthening mascara my all-time favourite mascara, I figured the vibrating version would probably be as just good, or possibly even better due to the 7000 vibrations per minute wand. The vibrating wand does what no hand can do.

Now girls, listen up. THIS is the secret weapon I use to apply mascara to my bottom lashes. Using only the tip of the vibrating wand, gently press it to your bottom lashes and press the on button. Your job is to wait and let the wand work its magic on your lashes. The wand does all that zig-zag work for you lengthening, separating and voluminizing your lashes in one simple sweep.

This mascara wasn’t previously available in Singapore (I had to order mine from drugstore.com) but a limited edition one is now retailing in all good department stores and Watsons outlets for SGD$29.90.

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With the intense heat these days, the perfect place to spend and pretend it’s summer is the beach. You’ve got your favourite swimwear, beach towel and sunblock. But just as you’re about to go out, you wonder, OH NO, DO I NEED BEACH MAKEUP too?

I fully subscribe to the idea of wearing makeup when you’re going to the beach. You really, don’t know who’s going to be taking your pictures or you might even spot a beach hunk playing beach volleyball with his hot friends. Haha. But seriously, most foundations come with sunblock, so that’s the ONE reason why you should wear makeup especially if you don’t religiously apply sunblock daily. The key when wearing makeup on the beach is to ensure everything is waterproof.

So when I went to Sentosa recently for a shoot, everything had to be “insured”. Insured with primers, that is.

Here’s the breakdown for the beach look I did:

Face
Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer
M.A.C Studio Fix foundation
M.A.C Studio Sculpt Concealer
M.A.C Pinch-o-peach blush
M.A.C Dsquared Sculpt and Shape powder in Accentuate Sculpt

Eyes
NARS Eyeshadow in Pandora
M.A.C Paint Pot in Rubenesque
M.A.C Royal Assets in Smokey Eyes
Everyday Minerals eyeshadow in Hoodie
Majolica Majorca eyeshadow palette in GR750
Maybelline Define-a-lash mascara (review here)
Majolica Majorca Lash Gorgeous Wing mascara

Lips
Smashbox Oplump Lip plumper

Would you believe me if I told you that this face was the one I did for the photo in the banner above? :D

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