Haul, Swatches & Reviews: Tarte, The Balm, Cyber Colors, Fenty Beauty, 3CE & DreamWeaver

In the month of October, I've been sent birthday vouchers and coupons from various brands and I went on a shopping frenzy!

So during mid-Oct, I went to SaSa to stock up my almost finishing oil cleanser and went online to get something during the Sephora 20% sale. When I visited SaSa and asked about cleansing oil, I was told that Cyber Colors has stocked up new big bottles of Cleansing Oil. Omy~ Finally! I was waiting so long for one of my favourite Cleansing Oil. They have discontinued the purifying range for very long time and now it's back! And it came back in a larger bottle~ Along with the cleansing oil, I also went around swatching foundations itching to buy just ANY foundation.
Among all the stuffs I got for the month, I also received a quality FEILER handkerchief, given to me by DreamWeaver which is a store retailing scarfs, shawls and stoles made from the finest hand-crafted fibers from the manufacturing centres of the world including Kashmir, Nepal, France, Italy and Japan. FEILER is a brand that is well liked in Japan as seen in Instagram #feiler hashtag. If you like Japanese products like these, get them at DreamWeaver outlet @ #B1-37A Takashimaya Shopping Centre. More of this hanky will be shared in my Instagram soon~ (^,~)

So one of the purchase at SaSa was Even Steven Whipped Foundation in Light Clair. At the store, I actually went around swatching several foundations but couldn't make up my mind. I initially wanted the April Skin cushion so badly but did not know why when I have the chance to buy it, I hesitated. I went online to read a little bit of the review and learnt that it would turn pretty cakey and a little dry even on oily skin users, resulting in more sebum production at the end of the day. I mean, which foundation could last whole day yah? 9 out of 10 of my current foundations wouldn't last more than 10 hours without looking cakey, dry and what not, if you ask me. Anyways, because the April Skin Cushion foundation that SaSa @ Waterway Point holds wasn't the latest version so I decided to get The Balm Even Steven as the BA told me it was new and she applied a little on her face directly to demonstrate that it does not look cakey even when applied on top of other foundation. Well, I was kinda half convinced and also it was on offer thus I bought it. Along with the foundation, I also got Cyber Colors 24 hrs EyeBrow Pen in 03 Brown. Honestly I did not need more brow products.. I guess I just forgotten I had 294105 no of brow products. *roll eyes at myself*

During the Sephora 20% sale, I went in Sephora website and got myself Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Foundation SPF 15 in Fair Sand. Reason because I wanted a shade lighter than my current Tarte foundation which is Light Sand and I'm eager to try out other Tarte foundations. I did not swatch prior to getting it so basically it was kinda risky but well, I often still get the incorrect shade even when I swatched so, *shrugs* whatever. Lolx~

So here's Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Foundation SPF15 Fair Sand vs The Balm Even Steven Light Clair. And ovbiously Light Clair is SO much darker than Fair Sand. My actual skin is somewhere in between the 2 shades. Also, these 2 foundations are of different tone. Tarte is slightly towards warm, yellow while The Balm is definitely a neutral beige, somewhat towards the cool side hence it appeared dull on my skin. I usually prefer a more yellow tone foundation but it's so hard for me to find one that could match my kind of yellow-ish skin.

Below shows more swatches of the 2 foundations and the Cyber Colors brow pen.
The Balm Even Steven Whipped Foundation is very silicone-y, spreads very smoothly like a silicone based primer that it felt almost powdery-like and has a pretty matte finish. I have tried it without setting powder on it and with powder, I felt that it transfers pretty badly without powder so I prefer to set light layer of powder over it. Its coverage is about medium. While for Tarte's, it's a little creamy with tiny bit of silicone texture to it and it has semi-matte finish. As it's a really light shade hence I used it together with my other slightly darker shade foundations, focusing this shade in center of my face so as to enhance my features. It couldn't cover much of my dark spots since it's lighter than my skin shade and I think using less of this foundation is better than using more hence I prevent myself from layering the product too much. It made my face look really fair in the radiant kind of way and with setting powder, my face looked pretty good except for areas where I have large pores. I could see that the foundation settled into my pores and after I powder, I have dots of visible light beige foundation in my pores. In this area however The Balm Even Steven did a better job than Tarte Amazonian Clay. Tarte foundie would also make me look cakey at end of the day if I applied too much and it's also pretty drying on my dehydrated yet oily skin.
Cyber Colors Eyebrow Pen is pretty pigmented, and I find that it's not too waxy like some other brands but still a tad waxy which could make some of my brow hair stick together or stick to my skin when I layer more of the product.

Next up, I'm swatching Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Water Foundation SPF 15 in Light Sand against Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Foundation SPF 15 Fair Sand.

Swatches of Water Foundation Light Sand vs Amazonian Clay Foundation Fair Sand. Its a pretty huge jump from 1 shade to the other with the same yellow tone.

Understanding that they both comes from different range, I decided to head down to Sephora outlet to do more swatches. Though Light Sand looks very close to my skin tone but I prefer to use half to a shade lighter to make my skin look brighter.

So here's the 2 foundation swatches I did at Sephora.
I noticed there's a different naming for the shade "Fair Sand" from the Rainforest of the Sea Water Foundations range (newly launched in Singapore!). They named it Fair-Light Sand, so I thought it could be slightly darker than Fair Sand but nope. It IS basically the same shade as Amazonian Clay's Fair Sand.
The shade system for both range are roughly the same. Regardless which one I pick, I will still end up with a big difference for the light shades of "Sand". One being too light and another being slightly darker than my skin. (Do note that back of my hand has different shade from my face and also neck. My whole body has different shades and tone because of slight discolouration caused by sun damage and skin sensitivity.

Aside from buying stuffs in Oct, I also received gifts from friends. Dear Kas got me a Fenty Beauty Match Stix. The colour is so pretty! She said it's kinda like NARS Orgasm blush colour! Woots~ I was pretty excited to use it!

Here's the packaging~

Fenty Beauty Match Stix Yacht Lyfe Ingredients. More photos can be seen in my Instagram too~

I took out my one and only shimmer stick which is 3CE Shimmer Stick in Pink to swatch against Fenty's.

3CE Shimmer Stick is mainly used for highlight only. Upon swatching both, I find 3CE shimmer less obvious and doesn't sparkle as beautifully as- Fenty's.

Here's a video of the swatch (which I also posted in my IG. During my 3CE purchase that time, I picked Pink instead of Peach because I clearly remembered that it looked really pretty when I swatched, it had a slight duo sheen and sparkles nicely. Perhaps it was the spot lights in the shop that enhanced the effect. Under natural sunlight, it seems to have lose out alot.

Lastly, a LOTD of me using The Balm Even Steven Light Clair foundation dabbed on with Fenty shimmer stick Yacht Lyfe. Before powdering, I was sure that the blush-highlighter was pretty pink and obvious (IRL). However they didn't appear obvious and as beautifully in my photos.. sigh~
I also realised that Even Steven Whipped Foundation although look dark and dull on my face IRL, it appeared really fair and had this white cast in my photos when shot under indoor white lighting. It's no wonder my man told me that my face look white when I asked him, while I only could see that my face look really grey and dull in mirrors. Nonetheless, I could still manage with the foundation even though the tone wasn't perfect for me (Best recommend to people who are neutral cool undertone). As long as I add bright, warm colours on my point makeup, I look fine... just not as radiant as when I wear warm tone foundations. Anyhoo, I'm so loving Fenty Beauty Shimmer Stick! It appeared so nice on my cheeks without appearing too thick, greasy, cakey AT ALL. It felt a tad less greasy than 3CE's too. Loving it so far~ ^,^

Alrighty~ That's all for my random haul and swatches! I hope to write more of my other purchases as well soon! I really missed doing these kind of blogposts! ^,^