Make-up For Your Eyebrow

One thing that we often neglect when applying make-up is to do our eyebrows (for me this is true especially when rushing in the morning). Most of my friends say that they can’t leave the house without a mascara or lipgloss, but a pair of well made eyebrows can actually frame your whole face and made it look a lot more polished than wearing tons of mascaras and lipglosses. Longer eyebrows can even make your face look younger. Especially the trend seems to favor thick, long, and dark eyebrow. Thus a well made pair of eyebrows is a must!

Here are my tips of having a beautiful eyebrows every time.
1. Go to a salon and get your eyebrows shaped professionally. This is the most important point. Not everyone is blessed with a well defined set of brows or the skills to shape your brows symmetrically. So invest in professionally shaped eyebrows at least every 2-3 months. Once your brows are shaped, you simply need to pluck any stray hairs growing back. However, try not to pluck hairs that are too close to your eye brow, as you risk having over plucked eyebrows (which usually started with plucking several hair on one side and realizing that your eyebrows are not symmetrical, thus continuing to pluck some more hair on the other side and so on…)

2. Once your eyebrows have been shaped, you can simply fill in your brows with any kind of brow products. Some of my favorite brow products are:

MAC Brow Set and Laura Mercier Brow Powder Duo. Mac Brow Set is a mascara-like product, with slightly smaller wand than normal mascara. You only need to brush the wand lightly over your brows (or more like dabbing) and brush it with a mascara brush (it can be dirt cheap low quality mascara brush, as the purpose is simply to make sure even distribution of the product over your brows). Laura Mercier Brow Powder Duo came in two brownish taupe colors, which can be blended to match your brow color. The finish of Laura Mercier Brow Powder Duo is more natural and subtle when compared with Mac Brow Set. So I usually use brow powder for daytime and brow set for night time.

MAC Brow Set - Laura Mercier Brow Powder Duo

Another more common option is to use brow pencil. In Indonesia, a local brand called Viva is well known for its brow pencil (I just realised that they actually have a website!). The Viva brow pencil itself is sharp with firm consistency. When applying it using repeated light stroke, you can draw the look of hair strands on your brows, thus achieving a more natural look. Or you can use a creamier eye brow pencil like Bobbi Brown Brow Pencil, but an extra extra light application is a must to avoid having ‘Crayon Sinchan’ eyebrow. My tips is to use an eyebrow brush, drag the creamy brown pencil lightly on the brush, and brush your brow using short light strokes.

3. Another must have product on my list is clear brow gel. It helps shape and tamed those unruly brows into shape and holds brow powder or pencil in place all day long.

4. If you have very sparse brows, then invest in eye stencil set released by Anastasia (even Elf, Avon, and Sephora have their own range of eye stencil set). Once you get the hang of it, you can probably stencil your brow in a dash. Most of these set comes with the brow powders in different colors and a stiff brush applicator.

Now it’s time to try to do your brows everyday and see the difference it made to your face :)

P.S. for those who got confused when I referred to ‘Crayon Sinchan’ eyebrow, here is what a pair of Crayon Sinchan eyebrows look like... LOL..

XOXO,

Vichy Normaderm Promat Ultra Mattifying Lotion

It's time for another skin care review. My main problem with my combination skin is that it gets oily (especially on T zone area) real bad but I keep having dried flaky skin on my nose (also on my T zone) and around my jaw. The oily face reduces my makeup staying power. It also makes most of loose powder oxidize after a few hours. While all sort of mattifying or oil free moisturizer makes the dryer parts of my face gets even dryer, and my makeup emphasized all the flaky. So it’s a bit of a catch 22… I need to get rid of my dried flaky skin so makeup can be applied smoothly, but I cannot use rich moisturizer because it’ll make my face even oilier.

I was at a local drugstore during my trip to Europe and was actually buying some lip gloss with SPF when I chatted to the sales assistant. She has a very clear smooth pore less skin without eye bag or dark circles under her eyes... And you can tell that she's not even wearing any makeup. So I chatted with her for some skin care tips (yeah... I get a bit random at times).

Basically, she told me about Vichy. We actually have Vichy sold in drugstores in Indonesia, so I was reluctant to buy any Vichy product since I planned to buy things that I couldn't find in Indonesia. But, I did buy an eye gel (since mine is running out) and a mattifying moisturizer from Vichy. I ended up loving the mattifying moisturizer!

It's called Vichy Normaderm Promat. Here's what the official product description.

Instant matte effect and lasting shine control. UVA/UVB sunscreen filters protect against shine activating UV rays.

A recent advance in understanding shine-prone skin: daily UV rays can stimulate the skin to produce more oil and increase shine by 26%.

"Dry Finish" Technology: a shine-control formula with blotting micro-spheres for a lasting mattifying effect. Excess oil is absorbed, skin is left smooth and even. Intra-pore LHA and Vitamin CG help control shine.

UVA/UVA Sunscreen Protection: SPF 15 protects skin from the sun's harmful rays. Regulates the appearance of shine. Prevents re-occuring oiliness caused by UV ray exposure.

Skin is ultra-matte, comfortable and velvety.
Oil-free, light, non-greasy moisturizer.
Will not clog pores nor dry out skin.
Excellent base for makeup.

I've been using it for almost 2 months and it kept my face from getting oily. The formulation is creamy but not sticky at all. It’s absorbed quickly and leaves your skin matte, like you didn’t actually put any moisturizer on. I do continue with ROC Minesol Sunscreen (SPF it’s a must if you want to keep wrinkles and aging skin at bay), but the Vichy Normaderm Promat even stops the more oily finish of the sunscreen from making my face all oily and shinny.

Usually, I start blotting my face after 3-4 hrs of applying makeup. But now I only have to blot my face once at the end of the day, which is right after I left work after 6:00 PM (after more than 8 hrs of applying makeup). My makeup stays intact all day. Also I've tried different loose powders and noticed that they actually don't oxidize on me.

The mattifying moisturizer makes a good combo when used together with my Liz Earle hot & polish cleanser, as the cleanser cleanse my face without stripping the moisture out of it. As a result, I can get away wearing very light moisturizer. I do amp up my moisturizing regime at night, by using a moisturizing serum at night and slap up some moisturizing mask twice a week. That way, my skin gets all the moisture it need when I’m fast asleep and no one cares if my face gets as shinny as the bottom of an oiled up frying pan.

XOXO,

La Femme Sparkle Dust Stack & Eye shadow

My small purchase of La Femme Sparkle Dust Stack and single eye shadow arrived on my door step Friday evening and I woke up early on Saturday morning to play the new addition to my La Femme collection. The only La Femme Cosmetics products that I have purchased before are the blush on rouge and the glow on rouge, which I obsessively acquired one by one. My good experience with the brand fueled my curiosity to try La Femme other products, which seems to be less popular than the blushes. I decided to try its eye make-up because I love doing eye make-up.

The Sparkle Dust Stack is a set of 6 sparkle dust (loose pigments) colors in a container slightly smaller the full sized sparkle dust. I did the math and the sparkle dust stack seems to be a more logical purchase as I probably will never finish the sparkle dust in smaller container, let alone a full size sparkle dust. So I purchase the Sparkle Dust Stack #4 for $12.85 (the full size sparkle dust cost $3.95 for 4.5grams, which I think is still a good deal) and a single shadow in Iridescent Taupe for $2.97. I selected the colors randomly since I couldn’t (and too lazy to) find swatches of sparkle dust and single shadow on the web. Here are pictures and swatches of La Femme Sparkle Dust Stack and Iridescent Taupe

L-R: Iridescent Taupe, Sparkle Dust Stack #4 (consist of #5 Opal, #20 Chantilly, #7 Flamenco, #2 Rose Chiffon, #32 Ruby, and #38 Gypsy Wine)

Sparkle Dust

The actual color of sparkle dust is more vibrant and has a shimmery pearlescent finish rather than just plain glitter. For example, the #5 Opal and #7 Flamenco have bluish shine under the light. Some colors actually look duo tone when swatches on my hand. The sparkle dust color in #2 Rose Chiffon is said to be a dupe of MAC pigment in Fuchsia. But I can’t really verify since I don’t have MAC Fuchsia.

I have nothing to complain about the pigmentation and staying power of both sparkle dust and single shadows. It glides easily and stayed on all day without creasing when applied over Urban Decay Shadow Primer. You can see from the picture below how fine the sparkle dusts are. When applied, it blended out smoothly and effortlessly. I also did not experience as much fall out compared to when applying MAC pigments. I’m guessing the very fine texture of the sparkle dust actually reduce the fall out, because your brush does not actually pick up too much product. When compared to MAC pigments, you can see that MAC pigments tend to clump together.

If you love pigments, you will love these sparkle dusts. In my opinion, La Femme Sparkle Dust is not comparable to MAC pigments because they are two different kinds of pigments. The Sparkle Dust seems to give a more glowy finish while MAC pigments give more vibrant colours. Since I’m a sucker for eye shadow, I would probably collect the both La Femme Sparkle Dust and MAC pigments anyway. Now I just have to find a way to depot them into shadow pan so I can travel with it ;)

Single Shadow

The La Femme single shadow is HUGE! It’s the same size as their blush on rouge. The powders are not as densely packed as MAC shadows, so you only need to lightly brush the pan to pick up enough colors on your brush. I love to wear the Iridescent Taupe on my crease as it’s such a neutral color and can go with most of my shadows. It’s also light enough to be worn to the office or for day time look. I have ordered other colors and finishes to try, so I’ll say more about the single shadow when I get my hands on more of them.

Overall impression: I'm glad I found another high quality product with a very reasonable price tag. I will definitely repurchase them (in other colors, since I doubt that they'll ever run out)

XOXO,

Another update...

I'm doing another blogger template update because some visitors were kind enough to let me know that my old layout was doing crazy things when accessed using Internet Explorer. Since I have no idea what could cause the problem other than that the template was made to be compatible with Mozilla Firefox only, so the easiest solution was to replace the template with a new one that's compatible on both IE and Firefox. Silly me... I should've checked the template before hand rather than changing it only after a month!

So another face lift to this blog. It's only 6 months old and 2 face lifts already... Doesn't it a close enough reflection of the my own vanity :p

XOXO,

Nars Fall 2010 Collection

I'm in love with NARS Fall 2010 promo image of Daphne Guiness, who is the muse for Francois Nars' Fall 2010 collection. She did a wonderful job as I'm head over heels with the vibrant royal purple eye shadow, rosy lips, elegant brownish pink blush!

So here's in my shopping list...
- Doceur blush: described as soft pink-brown colored blush. It looks very elegant on Daphne, but I'm hoping it doesn't make my yellow-tone Asian skin tone look dirty or dull. Thankfully I heard it's not a limited edition blush, so there's no rush there...
- Strawberry Fields lip gloss: described as deeply pigmented strawberry color and almost opaque. *excited!!* I've placed my order already!
- Daphne Single Eye Shadow: a vibrant royal purple eye shadow for a purple lover like me. Well... just look at the promo image, isn't it gorgeous?!?
- Mangrove Single Eye Shadow: a yellowy-lime shadow perfect for brightening up your inner corner.. I'm so gonna copy Daphne's make up!! Hahahaha...

XOXO,

Gosh Cosmetics Nail Lacquer in Pink Rose & Frou Frou

I'm feeling so cheerful everytime I look at my manicure this week. The polish called Pink Rose from Gosh Cosmetics, a European based cosmetic company I discovered during my summer cruise. The packaging of Gosh Cosmetics seemed plain and uninteresing to me. The counter I visited was a drugstore counter and was not as fun or glamorous or interesting enough to me. The only reason I picked up my nail polish is because a friend asked me to find some colours that cannot find online. But now I'm loving them like mad and regretting that I only picked up two nail polishes....

image: Gosh Americas

I bought two colors: Pink Rose and Frou Frou. They didn't even have a tester, so I had to pick the colors based on the color from the bottle. Pink Rose looked like a barbie doll hot pink while Frou Frou looked like pinkish chrome to me. Here is Gosh Nail Lacquer in Pink Rose. The swatch picture actually looks more coral than pink. I guess the camera washed out the color a little bit. In real life it's more blueish pink rather than coral. This is after a base coat by OPI, two layers of Gosh Pink Rose, and no top coat.

The polish is very smooth and quite opaque. 1 layer of polish will definitely cover your nail without streaks and the second layer will result in opaque barbie doll pink. I don't usually carry off hot pink nail polish as it can make my fingers look darker, but this is one of a few hot pink colour that works on me. The formula is just right, it wasn't gloopy or runny at all.

Here a picture I took for Frou Frou. In this picture I had 2 coats on and it's been on for almost a week. Again the camera doesn't do justice on how pretty and striking the colour looks in real life. It's not a frosted colour, but more like a very very fine glitter that dried to a chrome finish. The formula is slightly more runny than Pink Rose, but it makes the application much easier as its runny formula results in non-streaky finish. I usually find it hard to apply metallic polish because they streak easily, but even 1 coat of Frou Frou covered my nail color completely without streaking.

Look how pretty the chrome finish is... it actually sparkles under the sunlight because the polish is made from very very tiny and fine glitter... I'm in lurve...

I think it's a nice addition to my nail polish collection. Now.... if only they make a more interesting nail polish bottle... ;)

XOXO,

Swatches - Joppa Mineral Blush

For me, warmer weather means lighter cosmetics and for me minerals cosmetic is the light way to go. So I thought I'll post swatches of my Joppa Minerals Blushers/Bronzers.

I have a 22 blushers and bronzers sample pack from Joppa Minerals, which I ordered so I can decide colors are that are most suitable for my skin tone before ordering the full size blush. The samples come in plastic zip lock bags, which makes it ideal for traveling, as the whole 22 blushers and bronzers can fit easily into your handbag. Just tip a little bit on to a clean tissue/paper and you can use it straight away.


Here are the swatches done on the inside of my forearm. My coloring is NC30, but my forearm is way lighter. I think it’s about NC15-NC20.

 

My favorite blushers and bronzers would be (in no particular order):

• Pink Lemonade: it gives me a healthy glow. The swatch looks powdery, but you can see a hint of peach when applied on the cheek
• Plumeria: despite the name, it does not have any hint of plum when applied, but it’s a more natural grown up color for my coloring.
• Delightful: is suitable for my everyday blush. Its rosy color and slight shimmer gives me a healthy sun kissed glow
• Back from the Beach: it’s the perfect bronzer color for me. It has slight orangey tinge to it, without make my skin looks dirty.
• Savannah: another favorite for my everyday blush, which have more peachy tone rather than Delightful’s pinkish tone 
• Tuscany: The perfect highlighter for me. It's not too shimmery, which is what I preferred as too much shimmer can enlarged my pores.

XOXO,