The need of a good primer

If you have not read my previous beauty review, you can catch it here. :)


This would be my 2nd beauty review. Getting em up one by one! ;P

*Sorry for the stains on my Skin Equalizer*

Well now for a proper primer review. I have always contemplated on whether I should spend on a primer, it took me the longest time to decide on getting a primer after countless time being persuade by the salesperson in Sephora. 

Well, all beauty junkie should know that the use of a primer is to correct skin tone and even out the texture of the skin to achieve longer lasting make up result. Many have mentioned that, putting on primer will lessen the need of applying more foundation. I did not want to believe all this sales gimmick at first but after personally trying it, it true as it can be! It makes foundation application easier and the amount used is also lesser. Good deal, good deal! :)

Many are afraid of priming due to the texture of the product, the greasy feel and fear of pores clogging. Nah~ primer helps to reduce oil emission for me. In my previous post, i mentioned about how I'm an oil factory right? HAHA. Primer helps to control oiliness.

I mentioned the first primer that I have tried is the Make Up Forever Skim Equalizer to correct my skin tone. I bought the Blue one as I have a mild case of red-ness. I will be comparing the Skin Equalizer to Benefit Pore-fessional. Both are equally great product, it depends on which texture you are more comfortable with.

Before I start, here is an image of how my skin looks like after my morning bath and without any make up on. I am afraid to look into the mirror sometimes, the fear of looking at these pot holes. =( =( =( =(
My sis is born with great skin but mine is horrendous! =( =( =( =(

How to apply foundation to  that kind of face? ='( ='( ='(

I decided to purchase the Make Up Forever not because I did my research or whatsoever but cause I truth Make Up Forever! #TeamMakeUpForever because of the foundation I'm currently using. Leaving that for another post.

What I discovered after buying the Step 1 Skin Equalizer is that it is formulated with hyaluronic acid to hydrate the skin. No wonder, it controls my emission of oil la, even Eric noticed it lo the first time I used it, tried it on without even putting on foundation and he asked me, 'how come your face not oily one today?'. So i told him, 'SEE, always ask me don't buy don't buy! I buy good stuff so it doesn't strain my skin any MOREE!'. He doesn't know how to reply to that. #Win

The one that I bought is from the tone corrector range. It helps to correct imbalance color tone and deliver radiance and hydration to the skin.

See, it's very lightweight, nothing too heavy that would make you look like Avator or Smurf. HAHAH

Gently dap it around to spread first before rubbing it into you skin.

The primer leaves a hint go blue-ness in your skin but nothing too extreme lo okay! It helps to correct redness ma that's why! Best thing is, it feels like you applied nothing at all.

Moving on, stole this from le-sister =P

I have tried this on once.. shhhh, she doesn't know *but now she does cause she is deafly reading this*.

This was actually my first choice for primer when i first consider buying but Sabrina beat me to this so i ended up getting the Skin Equalizer, to regretting my buy but I kinda like this too.

Love Benefit products packaging, girls are sucker for pretty packaging and I cannot deny that Benefit are one of the best in terms of outlook!

Personally love the POREfessional, it reduces my size of my pores but of course, it is still visible la. Who am i kidding, my pores are like pot hole size le! If any primer can close the hole, please recommend to me, I will queue to buy!

A small amount would do unless if you face is the size of an A4 paper la. LOLOL.. kids kids!

After blending it in, you don't see a single thing. Your skin is as smooth as baby's bump, it feels a bit greasy during application but it definitely isn't la. It's the smoothness of the primer that makes it feel greasy.


Here is an example of how both primer look on the skins:
Right: Skin Equalizer (slightly blu-ish)
Left: POREfessional (magic! you see nothing)

I personally prefer the Skin Equalizer, even after rinsing with water, you can still see hints of blue, this shows that it's quite waterproof.

On to the face now,

Before - visible redness

After Priming - reduced redness, lesser visibility of pores too *excuse the eyelashes and tower*

After foundation, blusher and loose powder, with natural lighting.

After 8 hours of being out, no touch up or whatsoever - mild visible oiliness, can see it from the shine.

All in all, it's a good investment even though it cost a bomb to purchase the Skin Equalizer primer. Check out Sephora if you are interested. :)

Signing off,
Samantha Tew

What's on my skin?

This is definitely not a paid review neither is this a sponsored product review. Would just like to share what is on my face when i meet people out of the house & office. Yea, i usually don't put make up on in the office cause i don't see the need of it neither is anybody looking at me.

By the way, this is my first beauty review. Don't judge me so much for the lack of information.

The only reasons i splurge on make up is cause when i meet clients or bloggers, i need to look as presentable as possible but even at times, i just slap on foundation, blusher and get my brow drawn on and i'm all set to go meet people.

My skin hasn't been good all my life, it has looks of scars and open pores (pot holes i call it), it will not recover unless i decides to get on with laser treatment which i can't effort obviously, so make up is the only way at the moment.

Here is how my skin looks like without anything on. It doesn't look very bad here cause of Samsung NX Mini, it's a selfie camera, kinda help to find the flaws.

Having very sensitive skins with loads of scars indirectly place a kind of fear in me to only put good stuff on my face.

Another one of my problem is freaking oily skin, many beauticians claimed that skin too dehydrated already that's why it emits oil as a replacement. So, I have no choice but to stick to matte products to avoid worst cases of oil emission. Gosh, i sound like an oil factory. HAHA

Well, i start of with the basic kay

1. Primer

Make Up Forever Face (blue) - Bad redness in my skin as you can see from the above picture, needed something that controls oil and also equalize the redness. Bought this at RM180+ -. Loving how smooth the texture is but it is really expensive for a medium size tube and quite a bit is needed to cover the entire face. Nevertheless still a good buy. Will be trying out the Guerlein Primer when this runs out

2. Foundation

I have tried on a couple foundation of different brand, but I would name my favorite here:

Make Up Forever Mat Velvet

This is how it looks like on my skin. I love it! The best purchase. This foundation stays on for the entire day even outdoor, it doesn't flake or shows hint of dryness even though it is matte. Of course, the skins get oily after 2 hours but it's definitely better than the other products I have tried.

I will probably get down with a full review soon when I have more time at hand.

3. Brows (Shu Uemura)

I used to work with Cyber color brow pencil but my friend/colleague says that I look like Sinchan, even with feature light hand, a lot of colors gets on the brow so it becomes too thick. There, look Sin Chan with make up:

But, a friend introduced me to the Shu Uemura Eye Brow pencil and it only cost RM80+, might as well give it a try! IT'S THE BEST BROW PENCIL! It's comes off so natural. Never am I switching to another brand. I guess when it comes to make up, it's all about trying and testing it. If it doesn't suit it, you gotta change.

Well, here is the one with Shu's, #BrowGameStrong <3

3. Blusher - hands down all Urban Decay products! I'm a huge fan of Urban Decay. I bought the Flushed Palette a year back cause i thought, HEY! got bronzer, highlighter and blusher le, worth it and to top on, the color quite safe la, nothing extreme to go out with. If i;m not mistaken this palette cost RM110. Love the pigmentation, i never had to apply on my brush or I might look like a baboon if I do.

Recently, I went a big gung-ho larh, I wanted to try on a different tone cause I saw Bobo's cheek color looks so nice and it looks a bit orange-y/red-ish and I was also introduced to the 8 hours afterglow by Urbang Decay when i attend Michiekins & Bwincessnana's Mermaid Dreams Mono Pop launch a month back.

Had my mind set on buying one of the blusher, set my mind on the tone below:

Urbang Decay Afterglow 8 Hours Powder Blush - BANG!

As usual, apply only very very mild to your brush to avoid being a red traffic light.

If you are fairly fair, this color would suit you pretty well! Cost about RM90?! It definitely is a BANG! :P

Did a little shading on my hand:

Left to right: Urban Decay BANG, Urban Decay Flushed Palette and Silky Girl Pink

Before i forget, never ever purchase Silky Girl, look what happened to both my blusher. Made a mess in my make up pouch! *urghh*

4. Eyeliner

As I have mentioned, my face emits oil easily, same goes to eye lid. I have tried countless eyeliner of different brand and stumble across this!

To warn you first, this isn't exactly an eyeliner! HAHAH! This is a black color eyelash glue.

It works magic, it's waterproof as well. Take a slightly longer time to dry up but it stays on for the entire day without smudges! NO JOKE!

If you are death tired of having all kind of smudges, please go to the nearest SASA and get yourself this - Dolly Wink Eyelash Glue.

The tip is so thin and sharp, your wing-liner would be perfect as well. Furthermore, it's goddamn cheap! RM40 only for such a great product, CAN-NEVER-RESIST!

Last but not least

5. Concealer

I often skip this step unless the zits game is strong larh!

Heard lotsa review about this product, decided to give it a try. Not my favorite product tbh

The Maracuja Ceaseless Concealer by Tarte. Pretty pricey for a small tube RM110! but it consist of some healing ingredient which helps to heal zits.

The texture of this product is quite thick/glue-y! It's not easy to apply this on the entire face, If you are only looking at patting on concealer and leave the house, this is definitely not the product for you.

Am planning to purchase the NARS concealer soon, not so soon maybe! A bit poor atm. HAHAH

That's all folks! Thanks for staying till the end, it really is a motivation if people do read your updates. HAHAH.

Will probably do a full review on each product soon! :)

Only thing that is missing is on the lips, I have got too many lip products! Will get on to that soon.

Stay tune.

Signing off,
Samantha Tew

Sephora Black Card

Look what came in the post today? heheh.. *squealing*

Tadahh~ The Sephora Black Card. It has my name imprinted on it!

Don't know how much did I purchased in order to be eligible for this card, but guess what since i am talking about this, will just list down the thing that I have brought from Sephora since the beginning of this year. Yeap, I only just started buying stuff from Sephora this year.

1. Make Up Forever Mat Velvet Foundation

- Before spending RM160+ on this i actually did a thorough research on which is the best foundation for my skin type. I was quite sure i had very oily skin so I needed something matte, watch so many youtube videos and this was recommended a lot but after trying it out for almost a year now, i think i might not repurchase this bottle. Am already planning to move on to Nars to give it a try. 

- No doubt the coverage is excellent but I noticed that before a complete 3 − 4 hours, a lot of oil has been produced la.

2. Urban Decay Naked Palette 3

- My favorite purchase from Sephora by far. LOVE all the colors, the pigmentations are great too even without a base. Awesome awesome buy. This palette cost RM180 if i'm not mistaken. Pretty pricey but worth the money paid. It blend so super well and the colors are so natural and rosy that you honestly can't resist them.

3. Marc Jacobs Gloss

- Brought this cause i thought i needed to invest in a good gloss. So disappointed with it. Stopped using for a very long time already after purchasing but have to get back to finishing up this tube before i proceed to another brand. No more Marc Jacobs cosmetics. 

4. Benefit Porefessional Matte Powder

- Recommended by the salesgirl as i was telling her that my skin is so oily even a matte foundation isn't helping. It does help in controlling my oily face for a while but nothing over 2 hours though. Need to do a lot of touch up which i always forget cause i get distracted and busy all the time with something else.

5. Soap & Glory Body Butter

- Major love this purchase. Smells so good on the skin. Wear them to sleep at night and the next morning, the smell is still there. My room smells so good all the time after i apply this. 500ML for RM80!?* is definitely worth it! =)

6. Urban Decay Flushed

-Major thumbs up for Urban Decay honestly. The two palette that I purchase are great stuff! The bronzer could have been slightly darker but I think for now this would do. The blusher is amazing, just a small touch with my brush and it is already very pinkish. Highly recommended!

This are the things that I have purchased so far from Sephora. The black card came with two awesome goodie.

- 10% off on my next purchase *yahoooooo, now i have 3 10% lined up to be used*

- complimentary make over which i am not quite sure if I would use it. HAHAH

Thank you Sephora for sending over a black card! <3

Signing off,

Samantha Tew