By Janness Koh

I am a major makeup junkie and am always up to date with brands and products out in the market even the ones that aren’t sold in Singapore. It always gets me excited whenever I see more brands I love finally hitting our small island but there’s still so much more brands to discover that haven’t made it here yet. You need to get your hands on these brands if you are traveling to the United States.

Psstt… top secret ok, just for our readers here. If you have friends in the United States, you can place an order with sephora.com and ship to them, then have them send to you. Just choose Malaysia as your billing country but still fill up with your Singapore billing address. I have tried a few times and it works though sometimes it might still fail with certain credit cards. Don’t even attempt to use a freight forwarder address because they will cancel for sure, tried and tested. Also, do you know that you can join their membership program for free too and they have better deals and birthday gift than Singapore’s. Ssshhhh…

1. Bite Beauty

I love concept behind Bite Beauty’s products to use only food grade ingredients. Isn’t that just wonderful news for you girls out there who have all kinds of allergies with cosmetics. However, the downside is it also means they have a shorter shelf life (had mine for 2+ years and still doing ok though). Their lip products are amazingly pigmented with just one application and is so comfortable to wear. They even have a Bite Lip Lab in New York City where you can customise your very own unique colour! Definitely on my checklist. During Christmas season, they will also release a few limited edition sets that are mini sized which is a great option because you get to try out more than one colour and honestly who can always finish a full tube of lipstick?*Image credit to Sephora.com
2. Buxom

Love love love Buxom’s lip glosses. I swear they are the prettiest glosses ever without looking like you have a gloop of mess (they smell like caramel to me.) They have that tingling sensation on your lips and do help to make them plumper but nothing overboard or pain that you won’t be able to handle. Their glosses look great alone or as a topper over lipliner and lipsticks.

*Images credit to Sephora.com

3. Lorac

Lorac is by far my favourite brand for eyeshadows. They do an amazing job with their colour selection in every palette, super pigmented and easy to blend, just great overall quality. I own 2 out of 3 of their Pro palettes and if you can get someone to help you get their limited edition palette from Ulta during Christmas because they are usually amazing as well. Great news if you want to try because you can get this shipped to Singapore via Amazon.

4. Charlotte Tilbury

This is actually a UK company and one of my favourite high end cosmetic brands. All of their packaging is so classic, almost with an old Hollywood feel and which girl doesn’t love anything in rose gold packaging. Their products are of course really good quality, so pretty but at the same time so expensive too. Cult favourite is their Filmstar Bronze & Glow which now comes in another colour suitable for medium to dark skin tone.

I also love their Hot Lips lipsticks that are collaborated with different celebrities inspired by their iconic lip shades. Celebrities includesKim Kardashian, Miranda Kerr, Carina Lau, Liv Tyler, and etc. Another product you must have is their Cheek to Chic blushers that comes in two tones. This blusher gives such a nice glowy look without any heavy glitters, you can even skip your highlighter with this.

You can get your hands on this brand via Cult Beauty that ships direct from UK. The good thing about this site is that they actually deduct the tax if you are shipping out of UK and its free shipping when you hit a minimum of £50. Plus, if I’m not wrong, you get a 10-15% discount on your first purchase with them.

5. Covergirl

Now for the more affordable brands starting with Covergirl. I wish they would bring back Covergirl in Singapore because I love their products. They have a great selection from face to eyes. To name a few, their Supersizer mascara is awesome and it’s their best one so far in my opinion. Covergirl also makes some of the best drugstore lipsticks and I have quite a few in my collection as well as some very good foundations and powder. You will be able to get most of their products shipped to Singapore via Amazon too.

*Some images credit to amazon.com

6. Milani

Another brand that used to be available in Singapore. This brand has been getting a lot more attention these days because of more and more good products they are launching like their Conceal + Perfect foundation. The most popular product from them is their baked blush in the color Luminoso which got a lot of hype because people name it as a dupe for NARS blush in Orgasm. I actually prefer Milani’s. This brand is so affordable and you can get via Amazon yet again!

*Some images credit to Amazon.com
There’s a lot more brands that are still not in Singapore yet but the list here are the ones I actually own and tried before. Lots of brands that are available here will have products or colours that aren’t available too. For example, Sephora’s cream lip stain that I love, there are at least twice as much colour options in the USA. Tarte’s Rainforest of the Sea collection, Dior’s Crème de Rose lip balm, Chanel’s Soleil Tan de Chanel, and etc are all products not available in Singapore even though the brand is here.