Sweet Anthem

Here are the fragances I ordered from SA:


From the 'regular' line: Catherine, Tara and Marianne
From the Fall 2011 line-up: Nell, Maureen and Annabelle.


They were $4 each and Meredith even threw in an extra, Rebecca, so the price went down to $3.423. But since shipping was $9, I paid a total of $33 for 7 scents. Confused yet?


Here's what SA says about each scent:
Catherine (floral) - Amber, Bergamot, Red Tea, Wisteria
Regal sea air wafts through droves of blooming wisteria trees in the summer palace. The Empress mulls over a new space for her shoes while sipping red caravan tea in the Amber room.
Tara (floral) - A royal rose in the throes of war - surrounded by a corona of currants, thyme, saffron, cedarwood branches, and ancient spice trade tea blends. 
• Top Notes: Red Currant, Saffron, Thyme
• Heart Notes: Damascus Rose
• Base Notes: Black Tea, Rosewood, Tobacco

Marianne (floral) - Fig, Guava, Leather, Mahogany, Peony, Pink Pepper, Tuberose, White Patchouli 

Romantic spices, sugared peony blossoms, and tuberose flowers from a lover; they read together in whispers, from a dust-laden tome of Shakespearean sonnets.

Rebecca (musk) - Agarwood, Amber, Black Pepper, Bluebonnets, Ginger, Honey, Pear, Tobacco

The deepest black oud and smoke, mulled with a harvest blend of honey and amber, and livened with ginger and cranberry. Candied pears, Texas flowers, and late summer blooms are strewn throughout.

Nell (Spice) - Black Tea, Cardamom, Carnation, Creamy Milk, Rose, Peach

A tea fit for any such party: gilded roses, a bouquet of carnations, and a black tea sweetened with milk, spiked with a smattering of cardamom, and a peach slice swimming where a lemon should be.

Annabelle (Marine) - White Amber, Jasmine, Osmanthus, Sea Salt

Sweltering jasmine flowers cling to a cloud of osmanthus, and the spray of sea air and salty musk will surely keep you oceanside even though the summer respite has left us.

Maureen (Oriental) - Almond, Chai Tea, Fig, Moroccan Mint, Moroccan Rose, Myrrh

These thousand dreams could wake you; a complicated, seductive "floriental" for any girl child in the dark.

Rebecca doesnt smell musky to me at all. In the bottle, it is sweet, abit too sweet, slightly cough syrup-y and I can get a hint of spice.  On my skin though, I only smell the sweetness of the scent, mostly honey and flowers.  No hint of pepper nor tobacco after about 10 minutes.
More than 20minutes after, the scent smells more 'grounded', not so bright.  This is likely to be the tobacco coming through, but again, it is not bad or smoky. Just makes the scent less bright and sweet.
This is really a very nice scent to wear, easy on the nose, nothing too strong, and am intrigued by the slight smokiness.
The smokiness really comes out at the end, but I would not say that it is an overpowering smokiness.  For someone new to such scents, it is still quite bearable, probably due to the juxtaposition with the sweet scent of the rest of the perfume.

I got alot of the Currant from Tara when it was first applied, slightly tart smell with a bit of rose. After a few minutes though, the rose really comes through, with just a hint of the tartness at the back. I get a bit of a 'green' scent coming through as well, could be the thyme but I have not took a whiff of 'real' thyme before aside from knowing that it is a type of herb. Quite a demure, lady scent, something for days where I am going for the 'look', which is not very often.  10 minutes down, still a very green, rosy scent.

Maureen started out with very heavy almond, which made be cringe.  I can take the nuts but i dislike anything almond-flavoured.  After awhile, I start to get the Tea and slight sweetness from probably the fig.  After around an hour also, there doesnt seem to be alot of change.  The scent is very very sweet.  I dont get alot of the Chai, which would probably bring down the sweetness a notch.  And I can totally get the 'floreiental' girl child in the dark vibe.  Not for me.

NY Times Personality Quiz

You are super stylish and you love nothing more than shopping both for yourself and your home which is beautifully furnished from top to bottom. You take great pride in how things look outwardly and have a great admiration for the aesthetically beautiful. You have got a wonderfully childlike spirit. You see the beauty in the simplest of things. Happiness is not something to save for the future, it's about living in the moment.

You're creative and imaginative and like to be inspired. Home is where your heart is and you love nothing more than putting personal touches to your space. You're laid-back and relaxed with a very healthy attitude to life. Naturally down-to-earth, you don't believe in sweating the small stuff. Life's for living, with minimum stress and maximum enjoyment and so fun with family and friends is top of the list as far as you're concerned. Food is a definite passion too and you're always up for tantalizing your taste buds. You're a bit of a dreamer at heart. But there's nothing wrong with that. Set your sights high and you'll create the life you deserve. The Home and Garden section is perfect for you - bring the latest trends into your home

My Result! Nothing too out of the ordinary and truth be told, too vague to be surprising. :D

Wiggle Perfume and Sundries

First off, I am by no means a perfume girl.  Most scents smell generic to me and I do not have the nose to differentiate one note from another.  The nose for food smells, yes, but perfume, nope!

Nonetheless, I do still get sucked in by reviews and packaging and therefore, Wiggle.  I ordered and received my order a while ago but never really played with the items for awhile.  As I do not use perfume everyday, I can take some time to go through what I have and form an opinion on them.  After many months, these are my thoughts. (Expect short, like or dislike reviews, like I said, I dont really know my scents)

DU BOIS:
I like this.  I was testing this and Valdoste and decided that DB is much more wearable and likable to me then Valdoste.  Valdoste smells a tad 'sharp' and 'obvious', if that makes sense.  Basically, it doesnt fit.

Du Bois however, after it settles for abit, gives a comforting and yes, creamy scent.  It is not a 'clear' scent but warm and easy to wear, i feel.

Here's the description from Wiggle:

Du Bois: DuBois is a heady, lavish blend of creamy white scents. A mix of gardenia, almond, and egyptian musk with a hint of cinnamon, this fragrance is very luxurious and sophisticated, but still equally appropriate for day or evening. There's something very retro about this scent, it's very ladylike and glamorous, with a bit of a sparkle.

Valdoste: I cant seem to find the listing for Valdoste.  Maybe it is seasonal? Anyways, Im smelling this 30mins after application and it seems to have settled to less 'obvious; scent on me.  It is still more cheery and bright than Du Bois though and maybe more suitable for weekends, to boost the mood? We'll see.

Lastly,  Wiggle's etsy listings are very well thought out and interesting.  It is definitely worth a look.

Lucy Minerals Haul

This is not my first order but my previous orders have always centered on LM's face products. I got my hands on a few eyeshadows previously and loved the texture! They were always smooth and shimmery and doesnt irritate my eyes at all.

This time round, Anne had a fundraiser bundle of $15 for 5 eyeshadows, all proceeds go to her employee Maria who had some hospital bills to pay due to the early birth of her daughter. LM's eyeshadows usually go for $7 each so this was too good a promo for me to miss. In order to get the freebie for orders over $25, I ordered also 2 Ambrosia Lipbalms. I already have 1 of them and needed the other 2 to complete my 'collection' :P

Here's what I got:

There's more than just 5 containers there because I asked for 4 blush samples in lieu of the full-sized blush with over $25 purchase.

For the blushes, i asked for Mocha, Juicy Peach, Sunny Bronze and Matte Rose.

It is really unexpected that when I swatched these I found that 2 are more matte in nature (Sunny Bronze and Matte Rose) and the other 2 are very shimmery. My swatches did not turn out very well so I am not going to post it here. Suffice to say one would prefer a lighter hand when handling LM blushes.

As for the eyeshadow bundle I ordered: Chelsea (neutral shimmer); Blush Beige (matte); Rose Shimmer (cool shimmer); Antique Lilac (cool shimmer) and Sand Castle (neutral shimmer)

The swatch order is as listed above.
Chelsea and Sand Castle appeared very similar on my arm even though Chelsea seemed more taupe in the jar. They are both very much a shimmery reddish brown.
Blush Beige may actually work as a blush and reminds me of the Matte Apricot color I have from LM.
Rose Shimmer is a bright shimmery pink, much brighter than in the swatch. Will look great as a lip color!
Antique Lilac is very true to the swatch but with more shimmers.

To be very honest, the colors arent what I would wear often but I still have to give LM credit for the texture of their pigments. I swatch with my finger and none is scratchy as far as I could tell. Nonetheless, they are very simple colors, no where near as complex as say, fyrinnae or Darling Girl but they are good basic colors to have. I also have Mocha Shimmer and Driftwood which were my favourite one-wash colors awhile back so I am speaking from experience here.

LM is also very famous for their foundations which contain antioxidants. Do check them out as they have specials very often which make purchasing from them a very fun.

Here's the link to the website: http://www.lucyminerals.com/

Gem Nails @ Toa Payoh Central

So, despite my supposed financial constraint, I went to get a pedicure this morning at Gem Nails. It wasn't exactly planned but I had intended to get a new pedicure as the one I got previously from Clarke Quay is starting to grow out.

Gem Nails looks nice enough. Simple, with leather chairs and white tubs but I do have quite a few gripes:
1) the water level in the tub is not high enough! My feet feels cold.
2) there is no scrub included in the $33 for pedicure (I like getting scrubs and I expect them when I pay for a 'normal' pedi)
3) they do not use the fan blower, which means you have to wait longer. This is not a problem if I have time but I don't, i needed to come back for class. What resulted is extremely smudged nails when I came home from school.
4) The girl who did my nails seemed nice enough but the others seems like they couldn't care less. When people walk in, they somehow can pretend they did not see them for about 1 minute or 2, what's up with that!?

Anyways, I am now on the search for a $30 classic pedicure. The search might be a long one though, with Groupon and BigDeal keep having deals on mani/pedis. I just bought one, $30 for 'spa' mani pedi, and I have another one I bought earlier, also for many pedi, but cheaper $28. Can't wait to go and get myself pampered (again) =)