With the submission of FOS today, I’m two exams away from the end of law school, and I don’t know whether to feel happy or sad. :( It’s not a work that I would say is representative of what I’m capable of, and I think it can be improved, but it’s definitely better than what I submitted for the mid-term (very little can trump that awful piece of work, really).
In the course of submitting my paper, I saw some law interviewees freaking out about their interviews, and was wondering why I’ve never seen them around till Year 4! Quite apt though, that I conclude the end of the teaching semester with a humbling reminder as to how this whole journey began. This makes me want to sing Elton John’s Circle of Life. Hahaha!
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FY, Sharms, Jolin and I marked the end of Reading Week with dinner at Cedele! The food was ok, but the service was AWFUL. Seriously. Like FY said, “there is a reason why Sun with Moon (next door) got queue but Cedele doesn’t have.” OMG. It was great destressing with them nonetheless! Despite this sem being the most jialat of all 8 sems in terms of workload, I feel like I’ve actually chillaxed a lot more, in the sense that I’ve had SO many dinners with friends this semester – I think I averaged at least 1 a week, come to think of it! I didn’t understand the seeming slackness of the seniors last year, but I get it now. This last sem of school just feels so precious that you want to make the very most of it, to concentrate all the great things there are about academia – the stressing, the shopping, the dinners, the friendships, the mugging, the hilarity, the heart-to-heart conversations, even the shared feeling of impending doom – into these final four months. I’m going to miss law school so, so much!
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As I got to Orchard much earlier than the other three, I had a FABULOUS time testing all the different concealers in CK Tang and Takashimaya! Tres bimbotic, I know, but I think I earned that little sojourn into mindlessness after five days of endless FOS. After trying all sorts of brands, I finally settled on (surprise surprise) the Kanebo Lunasol Under Eyes Base. I’ve used it once so far (today) and it’s quite brilliant. Hopefully my opinion of it will not change!
To save concealer-hunters the trouble of going through the testing (and because I’m not in a mood to study right now), I shall provide a summary of my findings. Grins.
Concealer reviews
Dior Skinflash: N/A
The salesgirl informed a chagrined me that the Skinflash pen was not a concealer, merely a highlighter. It really provides ZERO coverage. But it seems like quite a great highlighter!
Shu Uemura’s Mark Cealer: 1/5
This was the most disappointing of the lot. Given the rave reviews about it, I expected much more. It provides very little coverage – no more than plain foundation, even though (a) I don’t make it a point to pack in the foundation under the eyes, and (b) the foundation I use is classified as sheer-medium coverage. The lack of coverage is even more amazing because the concealer was applied for me by one of their makeup artists! It also has a weird watery texture that makes the pigment sink into fine lines and look cakey once the fluid dries.
Clarins Instant Light: 2/5
The smell of this product is awful. It’s strong and it’s awful. I cannot abide smelly things. Otherwise, the texture is fine, and the pen applicator is quite easy to use.
Lancome’s Effacernes: 2/5
It has an oily looking finish, and the colour doesn’t match well with my skin tone. It makes me look like I’ve applied eye medication or something. Shudders. The coverage is as bad as Shu Uemura’s Mark Cealer, but the good thing about it is that it doesn’t look cakey.
Chanel’s Eclat Lumiere: 4/5
This would have been my brand of choice if not for the price. It costs S$54 off the counter!!! And from the reviews on MakeUpAlley, it doesn’t last very long – about a month on average. I can’t shell out $54 per month on concealer. That’s MAD. If you have money to burn, though, it’s everything you want in a concealer. It sits well, doesn’t look cakey, has a good consistency, blends well, has coverage full enough to conceal my dark eye circles, contains light-reflecting particles for a brightening effect, and comes in a handy pen applicator (although I find pen applicators to be quite unhygienic, actually).
Kanebo Lunasol Under Eyes Base: 5/5
I saved the best for last. Grins. It’s as good as Chanel’s Eclat Lumiere, with all the good properties ascribed to it above – without the hefty price tag. Doe foot applicator concealers like this one usually last twice as long as the click pen concealers, and it only costs S$46! Why pay more when you can have the same for less, right? Another advantage of this concealer is that it comes in five or six shades – more likelihood of a closer match to your skin tone. Chanel only had 2 shades at the CK Tang counter.
I really wanted to try Rouge Bunny Rouge’s Luminous Skin Wand, but it appears they’ve pulled out of the Singapore market! I traipsed all the way to Paragon just to try this one out – I felt it worth the walk even in my not-so-comfortable heels because it had won the InStyle 2009 award (which only celebrates the big brands, so RBR winning it must mean it’s really something). But sadly, when I reached my destination, Customer Service informed me that “Rouge Bunny Rouge don’t have already!”. Dammit. I heard the airport counter closed too. The only other place I’ve seen it is in Bugis, and I’m betting that one’s kaput as well.
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Today was generally an excellent day, minus the frantic footnoting and rephrasing that consumed the better part of it. Friends, I love you. :)
the eternal childhood of the whimsical mind. 