My First Mini Blog Sale! (UPDATED)

Hello loves!

First of all, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!

Just wanted to announce that I am holding my first blog sale because I will be moving again.... (more like my family will be moving) but this means that I need to clear out some of my makeup collection to save space.

I used to have a separate blog sale site at: iAMminky3blogsale.blogspot.com, but I'm considering on getting rid of it (still available though!).  It's getting a little complicating taking care of two blogs at once. I think I still have to get used to it, but for now, I'll post all the items here as well!

Hello!

Thank you for checking out my blog sale.

Please make sure to read all rules before purchasing.

At the moment, I am only shipping within the United States.

1. All prices and sales are final - No Returns or Exchanges

You get items in their "as is" condition. (I will try my best to describe everything: i.e. condition, usage)

2. Shipping and handling fees are first item = $3 ~~ additional items add $0.50

If you purchase 5+, then there will shipping discount.  I'll give you more details if this applies to you.

I will ship via USPS w/ a delivery confirmation number.

3. If you would like to make a purchase please contact me at iAMminky3@gmail.com

In the email, let me know:

1. What item or items you want

2. Your shipping address

3. Only PayPal gift payments are accepted. I will give you instructions on how to pay with PayPal gift if needed.

4. If PayPal payment is not received within 2 days (48 hours), the item will be available for sale again.

During those 48 hours, I will post a PENDING sign on that item.

If PayPal payment has cleared, I will put a SOLD sign.

All items are sold on a first come, first serve basis.

5. I am not responsible for any lost packages or damages that may have occurred after I've shipped them out. I will do my best to make sure all items are well-protected and nicely packaged.

If you would like your package to be insured, you will have to pay for additional insurance.

Although this sale is a small at the moment, I will continue to update because I am going to be moving again and need to downsize my collection. I'm hoping to add a few more items within this week.

SOLD

MAC Prep and Prime Skin Base Visage

(Comes with original packaging)

SOLD

Ralph Lauren: Romance (Set)

Sensuous Body Moisturizer and Sensuous Bath and Shower Gel (1.7 FL OZ)

Brand New

L'egere White Multi BB Cream

Used 1x

$13.99

SOLD

Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream No.21

Revlon ColorStay Foundation

Normal/Dry Skin: 110 Ivory

Used 1x

$4.99

My Current Obsession: Cleaning My Makeup Brushes (MAC Brush Cleanser vs. Estee Lauder Brush Cleanser)

Hello lovelies!

Haven't blogged for over a week, but finally I have some chance to sit down and talk about one of my current obsessions at the moment.... cleaning my makeup brushes! XD

Yes! It sounds kind of silly, but I find that there's nothing wrong with being obsessive about cleaning brushes! It's good for our brushes and for our skin as well! I have to be honest though that I'm talking about spot cleaning rather than deep cleaning brushes. I deep clean my brushes maybe once a week or once every two weeks. I find it isn't that necessary to deep clean them often since I spot clean my brushes all the time.

When I first was looking for cheaper alternatives for brush cleansers, I decided to try out the Essence of Beauty Brush cleaners from CVS.  I'm a fan of their brushes so I had high expectations for the two cleansers I got.

One of the cleansers was meant for spot cleaning and looked like:

Image from: kizzy-online.com

I was very disappointed with this brush cleanser because it did absolutely nothing for my brushes.  None of the colors came out of the brushes and literally I felt like I was spraying water on my brushes.  I ended up throwing it out so I'm not 100% sure what are the ingredients.  I do recall it had a small scent of alcohol, but let me repeat that it did nothing for my brushes.  To add to that, it took so long for my brushes to dry! The price was nice though at under $5.

I also purchased the Essence of Beauty Extra Gentle Brush Cleaner (4.2 FL. OZ)

I ended up keeping this brush cleanser since it's meant for more deep cleaning uses.  I found that it did deep clean my brushes, but I would have to say that it didn't do much for removing colors from brushes, especially from my foundation brushes and my natural hair brushes.  There's an interesting smell to it, but overall, it's "okay" for the cost of $5.

I got tired of not getting the results I wanted when I spot cleaned my brushes so I opted for a more pricier brush cleanser from Estee Lauder.  The exact name is the Estee Lauder Hygienic Spray.  I have an older version of this spray brush cleanser... or I think I do? I can't seem to find it elsewhere online, but the current brush cleansers from Estee Lauder look awfully similar to the MAC brush cleanser.

Here's mine!

Here's the current brush cleanser from Estee Lauder.

This brush cleanser definitely did more for my brushes than the Essence of Beauty cleanser, but it still was hard to take off colors when spot cleaning. The price is $15 for this cleanser.  It did seem to spot clean my brushes but after a few sprays, the result wasn't what I was highly anticipated.  The cleanser is high in alcohol scent and brushes dry fairly quickly after each use.  What I do like about this spray is that it contains witch hazel and could also be used to sanitize hands, cosmetic pencils, and brushes.  I never attempted to deep clean my brushes with this brush cleanser.

I decided to give the MAC brush cleanser a try since it was cheaper than the Estee Lauder one at $12.  The MAC one is very popular and highly recommended for those who want good spot cleaning for their brushes.

I found the color of this brush cleanser to be a very pretty light pink! :)

I was so eager to test it out once I purchased it and the results were amazing! I remember that I tweeted about how much I loved this brush cleanser after my first use of it! I think I tweeted that I never felt so happy spot cleaning my brushes! xD The amazing factor was that the colors really disappeared from my brushes and my brushes looked good as new! Even the toughest colors somehow seemed to come off!

One thing I didn't like was the packaging since it didn't have a spray. In order to avoid losing product, I put some of the cleanser in a spray bottle.

If you don't believe me... haha... I gave it a test for you to see!!

Here's a showdown of the Estee Lauder Hygienic Spray Brush Cleanser and the MAC Brush Cleanser!

You guys can be the judge!

DUN DUN DUN!!! ^o^

For this experiment/battle, I chose to use a really highly pigmented eyeshadow to use with my MAC 217 brush.  The lucky eyeshadow was chosen from my Urban Decay Naked Palette.

The shade I used was Creep, which is a dark blue shadow with silver flex.

Here's the clean MAC 217 brush:

Okay.. now let's put some of the dark shadow on it!

First up is going to be the MAC cleanser.  I like to clean my brushes on a clean paper towel, but lots of people like to use facial tissue or towels.  Just make sure it's clean! :)

Here's the first tinkle... I mean spray! haha.

Okay, now let's get cleaning!

Spray 1:

ehh... not bad but didn't clean everything. As you can see on the towel, a lot of the pigment from the shadow came off. Let's give it another try!

Spray 2:

oooh! Getting there! Most of the pigment is off the brush! 

How about we give it one more little spray and I think it will do the trick!

Spray 3:

Ah yes! The result is lovely! It looks pretty clean now! :)

Okay! Shall we move onto the opponent... the Estee Lauder Hygienic Spray Brush Cleanser?

We have the brush with more eyeshadow again:

Let's get cleaning again! Woohoo!

Spray 1:

The first spot cleaning looks actually pretty good! I would have to say it looks cleaner than how it looked with the first spray of the MAC Brush Cleanser.

Spray 2:

The second spray hardly did anything! As you can see on the towel, hardly any pigments came off the brush.

I think this is the problem with this brush cleanser.  It doesn't thoroughly remove the pigments from the brush. If I only had the Estee Lauder brush cleanser, I would have to stop on the second spray because there's no point in trying to clean it any further.

I still wanted to clean my brush so I ended up using one more spray of the MAC Brush Cleanser and it did the trick!! :)

Good as new!

So what do you guys think?

I would have to say the MAC Brush Cleanser is the winner!

For deep cleaning my brushes, I like to use the technique with using Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Dawn Dishwashing Soap.  I feel that this method really takes off the pigments and kills all the germs and bacteria on my brushes!

Make sure to give those brushes a good cleaning!

Love,

Mindy

FOTD: Out and About on a Sunday Morning

Hello loves!

I just wanted to make a quick FOTD (Face of the Day) blog post before I head on out.
I think I've gotten addicted to blogging again... or at least reading blogs and stuff. :)

Anyways, here are some pics of my face today. That sounds kind of funny for some reason!
It makes me happy that most of my acne has cleared, but my skin looks really clean thanks to my camera's beauty mode function.  I still have a few blemishes here and there.

Makeup on my face:

Foundation: Revlon Photoready Makeup in 003 Shell

Clinique Acne Solutions Clearing Concealer

MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20

MAC Pressed Blot Powder in Medium

E.L.F. Contouring Blush and Bronzing Powder

Having monolid (single eyelid) eyes, I feel like I have a lot lid space (which I am actually happy about).  As you can see from my pictures, I have so much room from my eyes to my eyebrows.  I find this feature about myself actually fun because I have lots of space to play around with eyeshadow and different looks.  When I want to be dramatic, I can put a dark eyeshadow a little higher than usual and blend it out.  For a more natural look, I try not to pull the color too high, but high enough so that it can make my eyes appear larger.

If you have monolid eyes, be proud of them! LOL.  For a long time, I didn't know how to work with monolid eyes and I struggled with figuring out the best looks.  For a monolid girl, I have fairly large eyes, but I still struggle with the "small eyes" feature and sometimes it's hard for me to replicate a certain look.  Just remember that practice makes perfect and it's all about trial and error.

Eye makeup today:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Urban Decay Naked Palette - Darkhorse, Half Baked, Smog, and Creep

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Whiskey

MAC Eyeshadow in Blanc Type (for highlight)

Stila Smudge Pot in Black to line my eyes

Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes in 0L to line my bottom lashline

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Voluptuous Mascara in Very Black

I think I'm going through an Urban Decay obsession at the moment!!!

I'm hoping to make more tutorials (video and pic-tuts) in a couple weeks after finals and stuff. I can't wait to go on break and visit my family and see some snow!  My younger sister texted me a picture of the first snow they had a few days ago.  She knows how much I love snow... 

I may or may not blog later today! We'll see what happens. ♥

Love,

Mindy

New HG Face Powder: MAC Blot Powder vs. MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Natural

I've been meaning to post this a while ago, but I finally have a chance to share with you guys my new HG face powder from MAC. After reading and hearing so many good things about the MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Natural, I had to give it a try and see if it lived up to its hype.

Here's a brief intro about my skin:
I would consider myself very fair skinned for being Asian.  Lots of my friends say that I'm paler than a lot of their white friends. LOL. I am about shade NC 15-20 for foundations from MAC.  Let's just say, I lean more towards NC 15.  I hardly get tan, even in the summer because I try not to go outside much because I have sensitive skin that burns really easily (even with using high SPF products).  Also, I have sensitive, mainly combination (occasionally dry), acne-prone skin, and I tend to get somewhat oily on my t-zone (forehead and nose).

Anyways, my goal when looking for a powder is something that will set my foundation and concealer well, not oxidize too much into a dark color, not too cakey, and has long-lasting power.  To add to that, I also look for something that will control oil and not break me out.  In other words, I've been on the search for that "perfect" powder that would do everything that I mentioned before.

I've tried several powders before, but the powder that I've been loyal to has been my Maybelline Dream Matte Powder - Cream, which is the lightest shade that they have.

As you can see, I've hit pan!

The reason why I liked the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder - Cream was because it had nice coverage and felt great on the skin.  Also, it helped set my foundation and gave a nice matte finish.  It seemed to control oil on my face and the price was my favorite part about it! Under $10 it was a great buy!  The only problem I had with this powder was that it wasn't long lasting/wearing.  After going out for a little bit, I noticed that the powder seemed to be doing nothing for my skin.  

I decided to be a little adventurous and try out some MAC powders.  At first, I was slightly hesitant because MAC face products such as their primers and foundations tend to break me out. :(  The only thing that really works for me are their concealers (which I really love).  Anyways, I decided to go with the MAC Mineralized Skinfinish (MSF) Natural because so many people love it and people have been saying that the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder is a great alternative to the MSF Natural.

I went to the MAC store and looked at their MSF Natural shades and the makeup artist there told me that I would be better off with Light Medium.  I thought I may need to go with Light, but she said that it would be too light for me.  Being slightly weary, I tried it in the store, but just decided to try it and test it out when I got home.

At first glance, I noticed that the powder looked very similar to the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder and it had the same consistency.  The product itself is very powdery so I took note that I will not be needing much on a powder brush when I apply it.  However, when I looked at the powder, the powder appeared slightly darker than the Dream Matte Powder in Light.  When you apply this powder, remember to not use too much because it will appear cakey.  

Lot of people have claimed that this powder gives a almost flawless and natural finish and some people use this as a foundation itself.  For me, since I was looking for a setting powder, I applied this after my foundation.  

Here is what I experienced with this powder after using this for about 2 weeks:

The powder was slightly too yellow/dark for my skin when it oxidized after a few hours.  When I first applied it after foundation, it was a decent color match, but the powder kept getting darker and darker.  The MAC makeup artist explained that this is because when the powder mixes with oils, it will oxidize into a darker color.  My face ended up looking a lot more yellow throughout the day.  Another thing I noticed with this was that it did absolutely nothing for oil control on my face.  If I may say it, I actually thought that this powder may have contributed more oil to my face.  Because of all the oil, the powder also didn't seem very long lasting and at the end of the day, my skin didn't look good at all!  To add to that, I was beginning to see little bumps on my forehead and this is a big "no no" for me.  I don't think the MSF Natural was the main reason for these little bumps, but I got scared and stopped using this powder.

I'm not exactly sure why this product didn't work for me because I had high expectations and hopes because of all the good reviews that it was getting from other people.  However, this being $26 (which isn't exactly cheap) I decided to return this, thanks to MAC's 30 day refund/exchange rule.

Feeling slightly disappointed with the MSF Natural, I decided to give MAC another try and bought the pressed MAC Blot Powder.  Several people have expressed their love for this powder and said that they used this to control the oil on their face and to set their foundation, hence the name: Blot Powder. 

What's nice is that it comes with a sponge applicator, but I don't use the sponge applicator for hygienic reasons. I don't like the idea of putting the oil on my face back into a product. >.<

As you may see, I purchased this product in the color "Medium" and I have to say it's still very light and is close in color to my Dream Matte powder.  The MAC makeup artist told me that the Blot Powder in "Light" would be too light.  I actually agreed with her.

Here's a side by side comparison of the three colors:

The blot powder looks like the lightest, but it's very similar to the Dream Matte powder in real life.

Reading and watching some reviews, several people say that the MAC Blot Powder gives no coverage or very minimum coverage.  To be honest, I think that this gives a great natural coverage.  I make sure to press my powder brush into the product and instead of swirling it around my face, I press the product onto my face.  This way, it gives a smooth coverage.  I definitely prefer this coverage over the MSF Natural.  Also, because it is very light, you have to make sure to not over-apply this powder because then it could look cakey.  Just remember that less is more with this product! :)

My favorite part about this powder is that it is long-lasting and also it controls the oil on my face well.  I'm writing this blog post at around 7:30 pm and I applied this powder at around 8:00 am.  To be honest, I didn't have to blot the oil on my face at all, which is very surprising for me because with other products, I would have to use my oil blotting sheets to remove excess oil.  I wouldn't say that my face is completely matte right now, but it is not so oily that I can get away with not blotting.  Also, my skin still looks smooth and decent.  I would take a picture right now, but I kind of look like a mess so I'll make sure to post pics next time.

This powder doesn't seem to oxidize into a darker color and I have to say that I don't have any weird bumps or break outs from it.  Could this be my new HG powder? During my last couple weeks I've been using this powder, I must say that I am very satisfied and happy with every use of it.  I would say that this is a very good $22 purchase and I will definitely be re-purchasing it.  If I change my mind, I will let you know, but this has taken my place for being my new HG powder!!! :)

If you guys want to purchase this, check out your local MAC store or check online at www.maccosmetics.com.

I am planning on making a video about this in detail and how I apply it, but for now, I think I am done with this post! :)

I know this was super long, but I wanted to share this with you guys so that you can check it out and share your experiences with these products! Let me know if you would like to share anything! I would love to hear.

Love,

Mindy