Here’s a confession. I was so caught up with some freelance job I signed on earlier the month that I have no time to blog at all. I haven’t been drafting any blog post for the past few days nor have I been photographing product for the past one week. Boy was I in a panic mode yesterday night as I have nothing on for today. So I started to search through all my memory card for draft photos and voilà! I saw that I had the AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze photo batch ready, which I was suppose to review a few months ago but never get the chance to write about it. So here it is!

I am all about lipstick *all hail lipstick*. I never like lip gloss and I cringe whenever someone buy a lip gloss. I just couldn’t understand why would anyone like stickiness on their lips except for the moisturizing effect. I did cringe a bit when I was given this AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze. I told myself to give it a try and I think (yes I think) I’m okay with it.

Last year I attended the AUPRES X MIVVA Pampering Workshop and that’s when I was introduced to 2-upcoming new product namely AUPRES Dimensional Face Creator and AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze. Both new product was suppose to be launch two months after that. I even had the opportunity to try these duo at the makeover station provided. The makeup artist told me that this is a “lip glaze”, which is a marriage product between a lipstick and lip gloss. I thought the idea was catchy although not new. I remember Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze feels quite comfortable on my lips so yeah, I kinda like it.

AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze is housed in a tube similar to lip gloss. It’s quite bulky and large comparing to other lip glosses. Or maybe this is just my imagination since I don’t own a lot of lip gloss haha . Anyhow I like the shinny silver top a lot.

One uniqueness of AUPRES is definitely the signature flower logo. In this case the pretty flower is placed right on top, as a jewel-like decoration. Super girly girl . Street Love approve!

Beside being a lipstick lip gloss hybrid, AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze applicator is also another feature to note. It’s not a plastic applicator, it’s not the usual doe-foot applicator, it’s both. Introducing one of it’s kind flat elliptical double-side brushtop. This dual-surface applicator is consisting of one side of smooth flat surface and another side with fine hair. Why need a dual-surface applicator eh? Well I was told that the flat surface is to smooth the lip glaze on the lips while the side with fine hair is to smear and apply lip glaze all over the lips. Personally I’m not a fan of doe-foot applicator. I find that the sponge tend to tear off. I would prefer a plastic or brush-like applicator. As long as nothing tear off will do

Does this dual-surface brush works better? Yes and no. It all depends on individual preference. As for me, I like the brush. It works very well on me, just as what the applicator was designed for. I say no harm accepting new innovation. Just need to adapt and get used to it

Overall, AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze comes in 12 stunning shades to choose from. The shade that I have is PK481. As for me, I’m quite glad that I had the pink one. The shade is not too pink and not too mauve or dull. It’s an ideal shade of pink for me. That, provided if you like pink as much as I do.

This lip glaze is designed to give the lips a translucent 3D texture created by shiny pearlescent. I feel that the lip glaze contain more lip gloss DNA than the lipstick. I have to warn you – it’s extremely glossy and shinny so be light handed when applying. It feels light on the lips but you will definitely feel the product on the lips. AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze applies on quite streaky but nothing that pressing your lips together can’t solve. It is also quite moisturising although I do feel a teeny weeny tacky when I pressed my lips together. Comparing to lip gloss, this is definitely far more less sticky. Eventhough so you will still need a lip makeup remover to remove the product off the lips.

I’ve been using this AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze for continuously every single day for the first few months. What I do love the most is the color. Its “my lips but better” (MLBB) on me. It matches everything from the colorful eyeshadow to different clothing color and even different shades of blushes. I think the shades goes well with everything mainly due to the shade itself. I can’t comment or say the same for other shade though.

Sadly not all good thing comes without any cons. Whenever I have this lip glaze on the lips for a few hours, the skin on my lips tend to separate itself and peels off. This usually happens to me whenever I put on lip gloss as well. Good that it removes the dead thick skin off my lips and I’m left with super soft lips but bad whenever I’m at an event or appointment. Sometimes I even purposely apply this lip glaze on just to get rid off dead skin LOL. It works everytime. I also like to top my lipstick off with this AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze. It works well on some lipstick and doesn’t on certain lipstick, especially Burberry Lip Velvet. This lip glaze will just melt the top skin of my lips off! Including the lipstick undearneath! Nasty.

Let’s see. Despite this AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze bears the closest DNA to lip gloss, something which I’m not fond of, it is the only lip glaze/gloss I’m using at the moment. I don’t know. I’m not sure how I feel about this lip product but I find myself liking it in a way. For me, it is somehow better than a normal lip gloss. The color payoff may not be the most opaque one, eventhough so I certainly like the color a lot. Does this change my mind about lip gloss? Certainly not. I still prefer lipstick

Disclaimer: Product was given to me as door gift during AUPRES X MIVVA Pampering Workshop. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.

The post AUPRES Stay Luxurious Lip Glaze: A pretty lipstick lip gloss hybrid from a beautiful marriage appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona

I’m pretttttyyy sure you’ve tried the old AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask. To be honest I’m not quite a fan of sleeping mask because I rely on slapping on a thick gel moisturizer to sleep which works as sleeping mask most of the time . I did tried one of the Korean brand that was famous for it’s sleeping mask but felt it to be a bit meh. I then tried AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask (because I like the white little balls in it) and thought it’s rather cool that the white balls melts away during application. Not quite there yet in impressing me. I still felt that my gel moisturizer works better. When AUPRES said they are reformulating, repackage and relaunch it’s famous AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask, I have high hopes. The new sleeping mask is now named as AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX.

AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask was first launched back in August 2009. The product was initiated after researcher found that lack of sleep will lead to skin roughness, dryness and dullness. AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX is a one-step easy solution to those that are too busy with everyday lifestyle. Regardless if you have dry skin or even oily skin, retaining the skin’s moisture level is very important. I am a firm believer that a properly hydrated skin (even oily skin) will be able to prevent and solve any skin problem

The new AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX is in a cutesy pink, semi-clear tub. No prize for guessing I melted a bit seeing the pink. I’m a pink girl . The whole package comes with a 80g of AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX, a spatula in a casing and a product leaflet.

I would expect to see a separate inner lid for the tub of AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX, but there wasn’t any. Not that I mind. Just curious. The new tub opening is however sealed with a transparent plastic. If I’m not mistaken it’s previous ancestor doesn’t have have a separate inner lid too.

AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX comes in a gel type consistency and texture. This slumber mask will then intensively act and do it’s magic on the skin during sleep. Are you aware that the golden hour for skin renewal and rejuvenation is from 10pm to 2pm? During that period of time, cell division that are responsible for regenerating the skin rises up by 300 per cent. When the skin metabolic rate speeds up, the body’s cell shows an increase of production and reduced the protein breakdown. Protein are building blocks needed for cell growth and for repair of damage accumulated from daytime activity such as ultraviolet rays. So that’s why during night time these protein breakdown is reduced to help with skin rejuvenation. However skin renewal and skin repair activity peaks at around 1am. That is also the time when we are in the deepest sleep. This, is called beauty sleep

Main Features of AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX

AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX works by implementing it’s three main features into the sleeping mask.

• Skin Beautifying Fine Turning Factor – help to increase skin’s cell turnover and revitalize the skin.
• Recovering Ingredient For Troubled Skin Due To Lack of Sleep – help in preventing skin issues caused by lack of beauty sleep. So even if you have bad sleep, you will still wake up with a good skin!
• Lavender Scent – helps to sleep well and in giving a deep, sound sleep at night.

You must be wondering what is that small little white beads in the gel right? These are actually called the microcapsules that contain hydration energy. On the older version of AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask, I know that the beads melts away as I was massaging the gel onto my face. What I like about the new AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX is that I can actually feel the microcapsules and feel the microcapsules broke on the touch of my fingers as I was massaging. Even before that I dropped by AUPRES counter and had a small demo on the back of my hand, I was literally surprised that I can actually feel and I know these water beads broke and melt. I wasn’t expecting that

So what does this sleeping mask do? Simple. The name of the product “AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX” really gave it away. You apply this on top of all your skin care, yes you still need to apply your skin care and just go to sleep. There will be no rinsing required. It’s a sleeping mask! What this sleeping mask do is that it further enhance and moisturize your skin as you sleep because sometimes the serum/emulsion/cream that you applied on is not sufficient. Remember the skin renewal and rejuvenation golden hours that I was talking about earlier? By layering AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX on, your skin will continue to work on the cell renewal even after the golden hour. That’s the whole purpose of applying AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX on

Using this AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX is really simple. I usually use the spatula to scoop some of the sleeping mask out, dot onto both my cheeks, forehead, nose, chin and spread all over face. There wasn’t any technique really but AUPRES do have a recommended application method, which I don’t follow when it comes to Step 2 lol. However I would still want you to know the proper way of using AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX so here’s a diagram that I made for you

AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX is recommended to use 2 to 3 times a week. You don’t need to use it every night but if you insist, why not? Just go ahead and do whichever your skin is comfortable with . I’m a bit of a skin care freak so I use this on every alternate night. Sometimes if my skin is telling me that I don’t have enough skin care on I’ll just slap on a layer of this sleeping mask. The scent is quite fragrant. My nose detect mostly floral scent. AUPRES did maintain it’s original scent from the previous version. I don’t find it nose clogging but there are times when my hormones are acting up, I do feel a bit nauseas. It’s not the sleeping mask. I will be nauseas on everything else usually lol. Ahhh the joy of being a women.

My experience? Well, I was shocked. It was a Saturday morning and I had AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX the night before. Most sleeping mask is in gel texture but rather thick and sticky. This one is the total opposite. It’s in gel no doubt but it turns to slightly watery upon spreading and because of that, it doesn’t sit on the surface of my skin. Most people told me they will prevent from applying skin care at night as they wouldn’t want to stain the pillow. I say why not put a face towel on top of the pillow? I used to detest at this but eventually I did sleep on a face towel on top of my pillow as my skin care is staining my pillow badly. Usually I will sleep on my back for a bit, letting all the skin care absorb into my skin before I turn to the side. With other sleeping mask, I will still wake up with a layer of mask on my face. This layer of mask is sticky and oily that are slippery when I wash my face. The shocking part that I was telling you earlier is that I woke up with a oil-free, clean face. That is really really odd for me as I never woke up with oil-free face. I bounced out of bed straight to the mirror and what I saw is a well-hydrated and brighter skin. So without brushing my teeth and washing my face, here’s my out-of-bed look. What did I tell ya . Convinced?

Here’s the ingredient list for those that are interested.

What can I say? I said I don’t quite like sleeping mask as none have convince me but the new AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX managed to prove to me that sleeping mask indeed work and it does hydrate the skin all night long. The different between the old version with the new version is the added Lavender scent that promote relaxing and good sleep throughout the night. The new version also provide a full 8-hours of hydration during sleep. Now I get the hype

Disclaimer: Product was sent to me for review consideration. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.

The post Review: Waking up to a Bouncy Skin with AUPRES Aqua Active Sleeping Mask EX. How? The Key is Improving Skin Function and Rejuvenate Skin While Sleeping appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona

It is pretty normal for Asian not into contouring their face, unlike Caucasian whereas contouring and highlight is a part of their makeup regime. I am certainly not into bronzing or contouring my face. I grew up in a beauty society that the fairer and brighter your complexion, the better it is. Which explains why Asian (and me) are into whitening products and highlighting / illuminating.

Many years ago I bought a blush + contour palette so I started applying the contour powder onto my jaw line. Well, that’s where I was told it should be. Let’s just say it turns out horrible when I looked into the mirror as I saw a huge brown patch from my jawline to upper neck. The rest of my face and neck are fair. So much so for trying to have a slimmer face :D. I don’t have a wide face at that time to begin with. But that soon was changed when I was diagnosed with a rather serious early stage of Hyperthyroidism. My face and body now are the result of 4 years of intensive medication. At this point of time I’m slowly recovering and gaining back my previous look before medication. It’s a painfully slow process.

Here’s a confession. I’ve been slacking off everything recently because I was hooked to You Tube. Gosh these videos can be addictive ya’know. I notice all the beauty You Tubers are into contouring their face with a bronzer. I absolutely love the after-contour look but I thought it looks weird especially on the side. One day while looking into the mirror in my office’s washroom, I thought my face and makeup looked flat. My curiosity in contouring was building up day by day and I wanted to give dimension to my look. I guess I was lucky because I have AUPRES Dimensional Face Creator #RD1 sitting in my drawer. That’s when all the craziness started.

AUPRES Dimensional Face Creator was launched a few months ago back in August 2013. I was one of the lucky one to get this palette a month before it was launched, thanks to a pampering event co-organized by MIVVA and AUPRES. This beautiful palette has been sitting in my drawer unused because I have not taken any picture of it. So once in a while I’ll take this out and admire the floral print on top of the blushes, highlighter and contour powder.

This palette is quite huge in size. It was housed in a shiny black outer box and comes with a black velvet pouch. Seeing a pouch included for a palette never fail to put a smile on my face. I think that it’s a pretty good gesture as the palette is smooth and shiny so a protection would be good.

The top part of the palette is opaque light pink with “AUPRES” printed on it while the bottom is a clear base. I can see all the powder residue that somehow managed it’s way and trapped underneath the pan through the clear base. Hmmm.

Well, hello there! :D. AUPRES is also known for it’s signature flower logo. Not sure what flower is this because I wasn’t at the brand launch last year but I like small details like this on a simple packaging. This is actually a button to pop the lid open. Just press and the lid will open up with a ‘click’ sound.

Unlike any other blush or eyeshadow palette I ever seen, AUPRES Dimensional Face Creator comes with a clear inner separator. This is not just a divider but it also close tightly, which is rather interesting or unnecessary and yet I wouldn’t mind this extra lid to prevent powder residue on the mirror.

So far I’m already liking what I see, especially all the extra gesture included

A dual-ended brush is included instead of the usual single side brush as this palette is a contour, blush and highlighter all-in-one. Usually I don’t see these brushes to be at the best quality which often are scratchy and not working as it was suppose to, this AUPRES Dimensional Face Creator dual-ended brush however beg to differ. It is the most softest brush I ever felt. The quality is actually quite good considering no one ever gave out a good brush in a palette. Having said that, I only use the blush side of the brush for highlighter. I find the angled side are too small for me to contour. Anyhow you can still use it to contour the side of your nose

There are four shades of AUPRES Dimensional Face Creator to choose from namely PK1, RD1, OR1 and RS1. The one I have on hand is RS1 which is the most wearable shade among all four in my opinion. The below shade description of each palette are based on my personal opinion. You are advised to head over to AUPRES counter to try out and choose the best palette for your skin tone

PK1 – Pinkish blush with yellow-tone highlighter and lighter shade of contour.
RD1 – Pinkish coral blush with white highlighter and medium shade of contour.
OR1 – Orangey, coral yellowish blush with pink-tone highlighter and medium shade of contour.
RS1 – Fuchsia pink blush with silverish white highlighter and lighter shade of contour.

The blush is a tri-color blush which range from dark pink to medium pink and to lighter pink. The darkest color is the most matte and less shimmering of all three. These blush is super pigmented with good color payoff but far too powdery. You are advised to apply this blush with light-handed application stroke or else ended up looking like a baboon butt lol :D. I usually dip my brush on the blush instead of swiping my brush over so that my brush doesn’t pick up too much of the color. Color is definitely buildable, that’s for sure

The highlighter and contour is matte and also powdery. For some reason the highlighter is less shimmering that the lightest blush color. But there is definitely shimmer bits in it. One thing I learn from You Tubers is that matte contour powder is the best to use when it comes to contouring. I don’t think so I have seen any contouring powder that are shimmering but if you have, just stay away from it. Or if you plan to use your shimmering brown eyeshadow…just stop. Shimmering powder tend to bounce the light back making your face look oily and swollen or bigger.

Now here comes the most exciting part. Face contouring :D. Although I have watched a lot You Tube videos but never once have I watch a video on how to contour the face. All these while I only went gaga over ready contoured face lol. A day before I contour my face with AUPRES Dimensional Face Creator palette, I You Tube (of course) for Lisa Eldridge tutorial video. I knew that I cannot simply just search for a video so I was hoping this famous UK makeup artist have done one and I was in luck. Hers was a complete and intense type of contouring, blush and highlight tutorial. I knew people would be staring at me if I were to do that to my face so I simplified the contouring and came up with my version of contouring *proud* :D.

Before I begin, let me just say this again. This is MY VERSION of contouring. It may not be the right way but it was 90% close and done according to my preference and liking. So don’t be judgemental ok? Makeup is suppose to be fun!

(1) Prep your face with skin care, put all base makeup on follow up by eye makeup etc. You get the drill. Usually I’ll wait for a while for the base make up to set as I want to avoid the chances of sweeping off the base makeup. Take a fluffy brush. Here I’m using Definite Contour Brush. You can use any blusher brush. Just make sure it’s soft, fluffy and not too big. Next, suck your cheeks in and make a kissing mouth. Look for your cheek bone. Once you’ve found your cheek bone, swipe the contour powder along and a little bit below the cheek bone gently. My personal favourite way is to run my brush along AUPRES Dimensional Face Creator highlighter AND contour powder. This way the contouring is not too harsh and dark.

(2) Run the brush along highlighter and contour powder again and swipe the brush along the jawline gently. Then swipe up and down from the jawline to the upper neck, bringing the contour powder down a bit so that your jaw and neck is the same color. This also help to shape the jawline. At this point of time you can already see the difference on the jawline WITH contouring.

(3) It is also important to contour along the hairline. In my case both left and right corner of my hairline are more higher, leaving me with a larger forehead space. Usually I’ll do a “C” shape from hairline to my temple.

(4) I have higher nose shape already so I would skip contouring the sides of my nose or tip and proceed to blush. As I mentioned earlier, the blush is pigmented so I’ll just dip the brush on the blush and dip along the cheekbone line, just above the contour line. Once I’m done with dipping both cheek (with the same brush), I’ll run the brush along the blush to smoothen the application. I choose to use the same contour brush as the brush is smaller, softer and it works well for me. Take the dual-ended brush and use the brush to apply highlighter above the cheeks, nose bridge, cupid’s bow and chin.

Here is the Before and After. My contouring wasn’t an intense one because I’m not sure how people will accept the look but there is indeed significant differences.

The difference is more obvious from the front. My face is more dimensional, more toned looking and more lively. There is more color to it instead of just a flat fair face from the usual base makeup. My face is also a tad bit smaller on the jaw in real. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture that in the photo.

What do you think? It’s not a major improvement but I’m pretty happy about the whole dimension face look :D. Oh and another tip. If you contour too much and you want to tone the contouring down, just use a clean brush and smoothen the area out. Works everytime

Disclaimer: Product was given to me as door gift during AUPRES X MIVVA Pampering Workshop. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.

The post Review: Contour, Blush and Highlight With AUPRES Dimensional Face Creator appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona

I guess many of you have heard and know of the brand AUPRES. For those who still didn’t have a bit clue about AUPRES…well AUPRES is French for “next to you, close to you”. It is an exclusive skincare and makeup brand launched in 1994 that only reaches our Malaysia shore on the 4th quater of last year. The philosophy of the brand is that they believe skincare is a woman’s ultimate companion in life for achieving and maintaining beautiful skin. I say ditto to that and may I add that it is also beautifully packaged and very affordable too!

I didn’t get to go to their launch last year but thanks to the wonderful people at MIVVA for extending an invite to me for AUPRES Pampering Workshop which was held last Saturday, and also thanks to AUPRES Malaysia for coming up with a session for the bloggers that I am able to get close to AUPRES to learn more about the brand.

I reached slightly late due to the massive traffic jam at Jalan Tun Razak (I heard SMART tunnel is worse). As soon as I reached Zang Toi cafe located at 4th Floor of Pavilion KL, I can see that most bloggers already arrived. All the pampering station is full but I was ushered to the makeover station where I had my flash makeover using AUPRES’s latest and upcoming makeup products which I can’t reveal here yet. You got to find out in August

All dolled up. As I just had makeup on at home before heading out, the makeup artist only blot excess oil, touch-up with powder, blusher and lip glaze. That is good enough for me

Although I can’t reveal the new upcoming products used on the makeover yet however I can show you this. The pretty AUPRES Lively Finish Pressed Powder. Been eyeing on this for so long. I foresee that I’m going back to grab this haha!

The biggest station is skin consultation whereas expert is there to advice on our skin condition and recommend suitable products. I think this is really good for us when we wanted to purchase the product later on. Sometimes I can be quite lost standing in front of the counter because of the varieties of product. I always keep the list of recommendation for future reference.

The most anticipated and a station that I was really looking forward to go to is the Tarot Card Reading. I never do Tarot card reading before. Hard to believe but it’s true. I’m not the type that like to know what’s planned for the future. I don’t like to know ahead. But this time round I decided to do my reading but only ask about the current, not past or future :). This is one good and pleasant experience!

By right I should go for the hand massage station first. It should be the first in my context when it comes to pampering. And the hand massage station is right at the front :D. But I did it the second last lol.

The hand massage is not using hand product but using AUPRES skincare. It was so good. Always love a hand massage :D. And no…it’s not sticky at all.

I didn’t get to cook this time but I do get to decorate my own cupcake to bring home. This is a great idea as I have been asked to cook a few times recently but never on cupcake decorating. I am someone who is more into baking than cooking. It has been ages since I last bake too.

There is two type of cupcake for us to choose – chocolate or vanilla. You bet I chose chocolate :D. And also lots of decoration for us to be creative with. You know I’m not in the creative department but hey this is one fun activity. Got to do this more frequent

There is a long table in the middle and that table showcased AUPRES skincare as well as the upcoming makeup products which I can’t reveal so why not admire just the skincare first eh? The flowers are absolutely beautiful. The overall setting is very well-planned and lovely

We were also served delicious refreshment and I had a big cup of coffee. Feel like pairing the cupcake with the coffee but nah. Too pretty to eat haha!

And here is my cupcake decoration. A girly girl theme for me. I just got to add that big red love in too, afterall this is Street Love

I had fun catching up with friends as well as being pampered and gain some knowledge on the brand and products. Thank you once again to AUPRES and MIVVA for having me

The post A Day of Fun and Full With Pampering at AUPRES X MIVVA Pampering Workshop appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona