Note: This is an image-heavy post.

© Ed Gregory

Hello hello and happy new year’s eve!

I hope you’ve had a good break over Christmas. I thought I’d get a week-long break but as it turns out, after all the cooking, cleaning, tidying up, working on the back end of the blog, etc, I had just a day of not needing to do anything. Oh well, still, can’t complain! 🙂

During the break, I had some time to think about how 2015 has been for me. I originally thought it was a bit of a slow year for me (even though time still somehow felt like it’s flying by so quickly) but when I went through the photos I’ve taken all year, blog posts and email newsletters I’ve written, it turns out that 2015 has actually been a blast. Even though there were a few things that didn’t go my way, there were a lot of good, unexpected things that happened that made my year a great one.

In light of it being the day before 2016 begins, I’d like to share my highlights of the year with you. Here they are in no particular order.

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THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!

In just two days we’ll be celebrating Christmas and then a week after that, the dawning of 2016. 2015 has been a great year for me albeit it going a bit unexpected but great all the same and I cannot wait for what 2016 will bring.

Just before we take a break during the silly season to eat, drink and be merry, I’d love to celebrate Christmas and the new year with you by giving you a chance to win this awesome gift set!

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© NinaMalyna

I’ve been meaning to do a comparison of dual-phase makeup removers for quite some time now. For the past number of months, I’ve been “collecting” dual-phase makeup removers (mostly purchased, one was sent to me for review) and have been trying each one out thoroughly to see how they fare against each other. I love dual-phase makeup removers because I find that they do a much better job in removing eye makeup than regular makeup removers or micellar waters. They work very well with the oil and sebum on the eyelids to dislodge the gunk in comparison to water-based makeup removers.

A few years ago, I attended a wedding overseas and I thought I could just bring my Bioderma Sensibio H20 micellar water to remove all of my makeup and not have to bring an extra dual-phased makeup remover as well. I didn’t have any cleansing oil or balm with me either. I had waterproof eyeliner and mascara on, and let me tell you, they were a real pain in the arse to remove with micellar water. It was late at night and there wasn’t anyone I could borrow makeup removers from, so there I was, in the bathroom, rubbing my poor delicate eyelids till they were red just so I could dislodge that damn waterproof mascara and eyeliner.

That incident taught me 2 things: 1) I never wore waterproof mascara again after that and 2) always bring a dual-phased eye makeup remover when travelling, especially if I’m going to bring my waterproof eyeliner with me as well. Regular eyeliners tend to budge and smear on my oily eyelids, even if primer on, so waterproof eyeliners are, unfortunately, non-negotiable in my makeup bag.

After months of trial, here are the results of the dual-phase makeup removers I’ve tried. You might be surprised to read my opinion on one very popular one.

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