Kikay Spring Cleaning

Recently, I decided to pare down all of my makeup into ONE small makeup kit. As in one only. Not easy if you see how much I've accumulated all these years. And since a lot of my girl friends keep asking me which products work best, I think this will guide them pretty well. With much pain, I ended up with the following which I highly recommend (and use) regularly:

1. Cinema Secrets Concealer (the small pot takes little room)
2. Lancome Flextencils mascara in "Noir" (I have lots of tiny sample sizes)
3. Shiseido 'brown' browliner (short and works great; got this on sale in Hongkong)
4. Prestige eyeliner in 'Dark Brown' (not short yet but this works well)
5. NARS Colorwash in 'Pussycat' (like Benetint but better and in a smaller nail polis-style bottle)
6. Shiseido Rouge Flush Accentuating Stick (to color cheeks and lips in a flash if I'm avoiding a matte face)
7. MAC Viva Glam V lipstick (For night)
8. L'Occitane Pressed Powder in 'Banane' (Bar-none, one of the best pressed powders to tone down reddish tones; the pretty packaging doesn't hurt either) OR Lancome Dual Finish powder foundation (switch between the two depending on what kind of coverage I need for the day or if I have something at night)
9. Tweezer (any brand will do)
10. Shu Uemura lash curler (deserves all the press)
11. Watercolors retractable powder brush (doesn't mess up my makeup bag with loose powder)
12. Covergirl Cheekers blush in 'Rose Silk' ('cause I don't wanna mess up my expensive NARS one; besides, this looks exactly like NARS Orgasm anyway)
13. Kiehl's lip balm #1 (a gift from Lester)

Other swear-bys which I don't lug around but which I also consider Holy Grail status:

1. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer. The BEST.
2. Skin Allison Rafaelle loose powder
3. Lancome Color Focus eyeshadows. Very pigmented. Great staying power.
4. Kanebo UV Revue Pressed Powder

Given all the above, in real life, when things get busy, I often just rush out the door with just sunscreen, eye cream, lip gloss and powder and forget about reapplying at all. :P But it always pays to make an effort.