more pictures of MAC Fafi collection

i found a few more pictures of the Fafi collection on the Fafi thread on Specktra. According to the poster, all picture credits belong to Erin on MySpace, a MAC artist.









Note that these pictures seem a bit washed out due to flash, if you compare it to the previously leaked pictures of the collection. But they're still great pictures nonetheless - it gave me something to drool over in the meantime :D

another shiseido commercial

Felt like sharing this commercial :D its so ridiculous and yet funny.
i used to hate japanese commercials because i thought they were retarded but i think i'm appreciating them more now haha :D

What would you replace if you lost your makeup collection (touch wood)?

I've amassed quite a lot of makeup since the beginnning of my obsession. My bf got me the Sephora traincase back in November, and it was barely enough to contain all my makeup. Now with the new items I've hauled since, I need another one...although I think I might just get one of those Caboodles traincases from Wal-mart instead of blowing money on a new one. In the meantime, I'm going to refrain from buying more makeup for the next few months, although the Fafi collection will be an exception.

Anyway, recent posts by Mayaari and Mrs Lynne on what they would keep if forced to pare down their collection, have gotten me thinking about that same question. although in a slightly different context:

If I lost my traincase, what would I absolutely need to replace? A lot of my stuff was bought because I wanted to try it out, but there isn't a whole lot in there that I actually depend on.

So here are the products I would repurchase:

Foundations/concealers

• Everyday Minerals Intensive Light concealer
• Everyday Minerals Sunlight concealer
• Silk Naturals foundation
• Silk Naturals perfecting powder
  

Blushes/Bronzers/Highlighters

• Everyday Minerals Apple blush
• MAC Emote blush - to contour
• MAC Light Flush MSF
• MAC Global Glow MSF (if it wasn't LE that is)
  

Eyeshadows

• MAC Electra eyeshadow
• MAC Beautiful Iris eyeshadow
• MAC Violet pigment
• Everyday Minerals Snowflakes eyeshadow
• ELF quad in Butternut
  

Eyeliners/Mascaras

• Blinc Kiss Me mascara
• MAC Fluidline (although I might use the chance to try Dipdown instead of buying Blacktrack again)
  

Lipsticks/glosses

• MAC Viva Glam V lipstick
• Dior Addict Ultra Reflect gloss in Raffia Orange
• The Body Shop Shimmer lip balm in Cranberry
  

Primers

• Urban Decay Primer Potion
  

Brushes/Tools

• MAC 188
• Sephora Stipping brush (or I might take the opportunity to try the full sized 187 this time)
• SpaResource angled cheek brush (Wal-mart brand)
• ELF eyeshadow brush
• Sephora crease brush - to blend eyeshadows
• Annabelle slant liner brush
• ELF eyelash curler

I also calculated the estimated cost of replacing all these items, including international shipping for products from ELF, Everyday Minerals and Silk Naturals, and the total comes to about...

$400.

Guess I better take care of it lol. It usually sits around at home anyways. Its the MAC makeup and face brushes that account for a large percent of that total. Also doesn't help that in Canada, MAC costs more and the tax in Ontario is 13%.

So, if you lost your makeup collection, what products would you absolutely have to repurchase?

Shiseido commercial look - my attempt

I was feeling inspired by this commercial about 2 weeks ago, and decided to try it out last week. Unfortunately my limited skills with liquid liner got the better of me. I could have used pencil but I didn't have a blue pencil liner in my collection.

Also I don't know what to do about the lipcolour. My lips are very pigmented so I couldn't get the light colour to show up pale on me...and when I used concealer to mute my natural lipcolour, it washed me out so I looked ghostly :S

Not a very successful attempt, but since I promised I would do this look here it is:

The makeup look I wanted to replicate -







I am sooooooo jealous of her lips. They actually have a nice shape to them. Mine look thick and just there. :(




And my unworthy version -







And if you look closely below you can see here that my liner is flaking ! grrr...:(



Do not buy NYX liquid liner! It flaked like crazy. Unless there's some trick with liquid liner that I don't know about? I don't usually use liquid liner so that might be why?



So if anyone's interested the stuff I used was:

• Everday Minerals Intensive Light concealer + Silk Naturals foundation
• Everyday Minerals Theme Park blush
• NYX Electric Blue liquid liner
• MAC Indianwood Paint Pot on outer 1/3 of lower lashline + some Annabelle gold shadow on top to make it look more yellow gold
• Annabelle gold shadow + Everyday Minerals Baby Bath shadow on lids
• Blinc Kiss Me mascara
• Lips were some combo of MAC Sandy B + NYC Cameo + Rimmel Tiramisu liner - I tried all sorts of combos to get my lips to look peach-pink like the model but obviously failed :S

I think I'll just stick with gel liners after this...if I wanted to do this look again I'd use MAC Fluidline in Wave probably. Unless there's a L'oreal HIP gel liner available in dark blue? Alternatively, I could look for a cheap blue pencil liner.

By the way, is it just me or does the angle of this picture look like the angle used in mascara ads?



Yay for Blinc mascara!

Later note: Forgot to add that i would use blue mascara if I had it, but I didn't want to buy another tube when I still have a lot of Blinc left.

lesportsac in canada?

Does anyone know where's the best place to find a good selection of LeSportsac in Canada (Toronto)?

After seeing Nessa's post on her Fafi LeSportsac cosmetic bag I was nosing around LeSportsac and fell in love with the tokidoki Denaro wallet.

I know its probably all sold out by now...I'm so out of touch with these things.

But I would still love to check out the new Fafi Spring 2007 collection being released, so if anyone knows where I can see them, please let me know!

skincare haul

some skincare haulage...

Clarins:

I tried the facial treatments at the Clarins skin spa last year, and although I don't think the treatments did anything for me other than giving me some overly scented relaxation time, I did find a couple of products worked quite well for me. So when I saw The Bay had another gift with purchase promotion I got two items that I've been running low on - the Gentle Exfoliating Refiner and the Extra-comfort toning lotion.

With purchase of two items (one of those must be skincare), you get a giftbag with trial sizes of other skin products. The gift bags are always the same, there's always a choice of 4 bags with products catered to a specific age range. I got the one targeted for skin in the 20s, called the Nomalizing gift:

- Purifying Cleansing Gel for oily skin (I'll save this for the summer)
- Water Purify One step cleanser
- Pore Minimizing Serum
- Pure and Radiant Mask (I have the pro size of thisalready...works well)
- Clarins Men Moisture balm sample





Lancome:

On my last Lancome purchase I got a gift with purchase that included eyeshadows and lipstick, but I wasn't impressed by them at all. The shadows were too sheer and the lipstick too dark for my taste. So this time they were offering a different gift, one that was all skincare samples, so I decided to restock my Aqua Fusion cream this time. Aqua Fusion cream by the way is awesome for my dry skin because it hydrates AND yet doesn't feel greasy at all. All expensive/drugstore creams i've tried are either not hydrating enough or leave a greasy shine on my face, except this one.

The gift included with purchase consisted of:

- white Lancome travel bag
- Primordiale Cell Defense Skin Perfecting serum trial size
- High Potency Night Moisturizer with some vitamin B stuff, trial size
- High Resolution eye gel sample
- Hydra Intense hydrating gel mask sample




Also got my gold polish as you can see on the right of the pic above.

The OPI Golden Rules! polish isn't quite as brilliant as the MAC Gold Veneer but it'll do...

tagged

almost got hit by an SUV monday night. i was sitting on the passenger side minding my own business. we're making a perfectly legal left turn at an intersection just as oncoming traffic is supposed to be stopping but a white SUV kept on going. It came pretty darn close, if it hadn't stopped in time it would've plowed into the side of our car. *Sigh* too many people on the roads that have no clue how to drive.

But anyway I got tagged by Elizabeth and Fei to show "What's in my purse?" so here it is :)

I switch between several bags/purse through the week depending on what I need to carry, but i'll focus on what i usually carry in these two.

For weekends, my small purse:



Doesn't contain much - I don't even use a wallet with this little bag - i stick my cards and bills into the side pocket and use mini sizes of whatever I want to carry with me lol. I know i need a bigger purse but I just can't find any ones I like...I always end up liking the small ones better. I think part of the problem is being petite - large purses tend to look oversized on me.

The contents:



Top row:
Clean & Clear blotting sheets, Purell hand sanitizer, eye drops for contacts, more eye drops, silver travel mirror (only 100 yen! :D)

Middle row:
Tissue, L'occitane hand cream, extra Sephora Beauty Insider tag, movie stub and a grocery receipt, ELF eye palette containing a mix of shadows from NYX and MAC.

Bottom row:
Korean Air pen, Dentyne Frostbites gum (usually I carry Excel mints but forgot to buy more), NYC Fragile Pink lipstick, Blistex lipbalm, Sony Ericsson phone.


When I go to work I use any old messenger bags so I can stick a bottle of water in and my lunch:



I can stick so much more in here as well:



Top row:
Dior shades, C&C sheets, Purell berry scented sanitizer :), Visine, another ELF palette.

Middle row:
Nintendo DS, the same pen, tissue, Dentyne gum and Blistex lipbalm; MAC Mattene lipstick, Guerlain lipgloss, Sony Ericsson phone.

Bottom row:
Ovaltine biscuits to snack on, Bliss hand cream, folding hairbrush/comb, hair elastic, Japanese brand hand warmer pack(stays hot for ~24 hrs!), The Body Shop Satsuma shimmer lipbalm.

And also my wallet and keys - the keystrap with my home keys, and the metal one for my work key and access card so they clip to my belt loop.



Not too exciting unfortunately...I don't carry around much makeup except for lipstuff and eyeshadow to touch up, because I don't like putting on makeup in the middle of the day. I have this thing for using makeup only after I've washed my face. Also most public washrooms in malls and stuff are gross and too public for me to feel comfortable applying makeup there :S

So....I'm tagging:

Alienman
Girl Meets Makeup
Gezebel
Jewels
Mulzanza
Mae
Petitebelle

purples galore~

another purple one, this time using the Ardell falsies I just received.

[Face]

- Laura Mercier Hydrating Primer
- Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation #3
- Silk Naturals Perfecting Powder
- MAC Sculpt/Accentuate Powder to contour/highlight
- Everyday Minerals Photo Album blush

[Eyes]

- Urban Decay Primer Potion
- LORAC Greatest Hits CD2 palette - Pink Mist eyeshadow from lashline to browbone
- LORAC Greatest Htis CD2 palette - Dreamy eyeshadow on inner corner
- MAC Beautiful Iris eyeshadow on middle of lid
- NYX Deep Purple eyeshadow on outer corner
- NYX Lavender Jumbo eye pencil on lower lashline.
- MAC Blacktrack Fluidline
- Ardell InvisiBands lashes in Demi Pixies

[Lips]

- Blistex SPF30 lipbalm
- MAC Mattene lipstick in Poise/Flattering in the pics - but I ended up taking both off and using NYC Ultra Last lipstick in Fragile Pink because that colour was more subtle,

Random useless fact....in here I ended up using a complete mix of brands - higher end and drugstore brand stuff.





The dark version of DUO glue works better than the white ones, but still not perfectly. I covered up the lighter bits with more liner afterwards.

I really like this lash style though, its very different from anything I have. Definitely not that natural because of the spiky design, but because they are demi length they don't look as over the top as most other lashes in this style.

My eyes being retardedly assymetrical - the one on the right wanted to be double lidded while the left wanted to be monolid - which i find makes me look super retarded / cross-eyed? in pictures...:(



They're all right by themselves, its just that together they look odd.

Left (my right one):



Right (my left one):



And...this is me looking really suprised...because doing that seemed to be the only way to get the falsies to really show on camera. They're all nice and long in real life but on camera they don't show up too much.






P.S. Elizabeth - I know, I tried taking a 'cutesy' one but just couldn't! I ended up looking super creepy - like mad Samira of The Ring crazy LOL. Maybe I'll give it another try on my next post :)

Pure Luxe order

I made another online purchase again today...shhhhh...this time from Pure Luxe Cosmetics.

But in my defence, I really need to find a suitable cleanser for my dry yet blackhead prone skin. So after seeing Vanessa rave about Pure Luxe's calamine soap, and checking out the ingredients, I decided to give it a try.

The ingredients look quite promising:

"Olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, water, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, calamine powder, ricinus communis (castor) oil, bytospermum parkii (shea) butter, sodium hydroxide, emu oil, matricaria recutita (chamomile), hibiscus sabdariffa (hisiscus flower), anthemis nobilis oil (chamomile essential oil), melaleuca alternifolia oil (tea tree essential oil), pelargonium roseum asperum oil (rose geranium essential oil), sodium lactate, silk fiber".

Since shipping was $3.50 for orders under $10, I decided to try other samples too. So I ended up ordering about $7 worth of samples and a face brush:

1. Soothing Calamine facial bar sample, $1

From the website: "This soap is excellent for troubled skin. Full of beneficial ingredients all designed to aid and soothe. Made with premium oils such Shea Butter and Emu Oil. Calamine powder (zinc oxide & iron oxide) for its soothing effect, chamomile and hibiscus for soothing anti-inflammatory properties and mild astringency, rose geranium essential oil to help balance sebum and to keep skin supple. Tea tree essential oil for its anti-bacterial and anti-acneic effects, and chamomile essential oil to help soothe irritated skin. "

Sounds like its exactly what I need! Hopefully it'll live up to its claims.

2. Facial brush, $2.50

"The perfect cleansing brush for all of Pure Luxe's new facial bars! Ultra-soft bristles gently exfoliate as you clean. Palm sized brush with overcap. "

3. Cleansing oil sample $2 (their cleansing oil is actually more expensive than DHC - maybe because it uses all natural ingredients?)

4. Kaleidoscope eyeshadow in Oasis sample, $2

Brighter summery turquoise in jar. Color changes from metallic blue/green/pearl beige/silver.

5. Kaleidoscope eyeshadow in Prismaic, $2

Medium teal green in jar. Color changes from lilac-red/silver/green-blue.

These shadows are supposed to be different than regular ones hence the more expensive price. Apparently they are similar to duochromes but more like multichromes - the site shows how they can change to 3 different colours in total under different lighting. From the website:

"The Kaleidoscope Collection is a unique set of shadows that completely change colors depending on light and angle! Each color shifts to three seperate shades. This is NOT interference like most micas, THESE are a complete, radical changes of color! Within each different color shift, you will have interference in those, so it is possible to see 6-8 shades. ALL IN ONE PRODUCT"

Sounds too good to be true, but I want to try them anyway - 3 different shades would be interesting enough for me.

Will post pictures and review as soon as they arrive.

false lashes haul

My order from Madame Madeline came in yesterday. Surprisingly, I didn't get charged duties on it. I guess if its only a little above the limit then Customs will let it go. I heard somewhere that Canadian customs doesn't charge duties on things made in the States under the NAFTA agreement. That would explain why I didn't get charged on the Everyday Minerals order, however I was expecting that this might be charged as most or all Ardell lashes are made in Sri Lanka/Indonesia.

I love how the people at MM manage to pack everything into the box so perfectly - no space wasted!




Contents:




What I actually ordered:

1. Ardell InvisiBand Demi Pixies, 4 pairs for $8.80:



2. Ardell Fashion Lashes 112, 2 for about $4.50:



These are bottom lashes - but they're still pretty long. Wish they had something shorter. Originally I wanted the invisiband version but those have been discontinued.

3. Ardell InvisiBand Fairies, 4 for $8.80:



4. Elise Faux Eyelashes #313 (half lashes), 2 for $1.55 on sale



I'm quite disappointed in these because they aren't curled at all! I couldn't tell from the website, but looking at them now, the lashes are stick straight. I don't see the point of putting on falsies if they are just going to stick straight down/out?

I guess I'll try curling them - maybe the point of having them straight is so that you can curl them with your own lashes when they're applied? At least these were cheap...$1.55 for two. But I ended up getting 3, the 3rd being the free pair of lashes promotion that they give with most orders.

5. DUO Eyelash Adhesive in Dark, $4.35:



I have the clear version and it works great, except the glue never really dries clear no matter how little I put on. So I wanted to try the dark version to see if that blends with eyeliner and the lash spine better.


I wonder if there's really a difference between the regular lashes and the invisibands from Ardell, because I've noticed some Invisibands seem to look the same as the regular Fashion lashes. I wanted the Invisibands mostly because I really don't like the time it takes to apply eyeliner and also to remove it. So I figured I could try out Invisibands to see if they can stand on their own without needing black liner to cover up the spine. I'll see how it goes this weekend.

some ramblings.

I love Avril's bright pink streak in her hair.



I really want to dye a streak of my hair like that, but in bright electric blue so that it contrasts with my brownish black hair. I wouldn't dare do it myself though because I haven't dyed my own hair before ever, and I'd probably have to bleach that strand to get the blue to show up like how I want.

***

So I was at Wal-mart yesterday trying to find a lipstick that looked like the one that Misaki Itou was wearing here, but with no luck. I did pick up CoverGirl's Incredifull lipstick in Honey Rose 960, but when I tried it on at home I realised it was too bright and orangy, and didn't look like the Shiseido one at all.

However, I thought that Shiseido colour looked a lot like MAC lipstick in Sandy B. but less shimmery than Sandy B. So I emailed MAC to see if they could recommend a non-frost lipstick close to Sandy B, and with better colour payoff. Here's what they suggested:

"For a light peach lipstick that has great coverage, choose CHERISH Satin Lipstick (a pale pink beige with peach undertones). It's similar in tone to SANDY B, but with no shimmer and better payoff."

I won't be able to make it to MAC until next weekend, so anyone that already has Cherish lipstick, would you agree with what they said?

Also I couldn't find any nailpolishes at Wal-mart that were gold coloured...and I don't want to pay CDN$12 for the MAC one from the Holiday collection....any ideas?

everyday minerals eotd!

Look from yesterday, which includes a partial Everyday Minerals EOTD :)

[Face]

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in #3
MAC Sculpt powder to contour
MAC Light Flush MSF
Silk Naturals Perfecting Powder

[Eyes]

Urban Decay Primer Potion
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline
Missha Dolly Eyelash A-103 lashes
MAC Electra eyeshadow (inner corner of eyelids)
Everyday Minerals Snowflakes eyeshadow (middle of eyelids)
Everyday Minerals Mystic Night eyeshadow (outer corners to contour)
Edit: Also used MAC Accentuate powder to highlight brow

[Lips]

Blistex Ultra Protection SPF 30 lipbalm
MAC Mattene lipstick in Flattering








This one with flash:



So you can see the falsies :) which took me over 15 mins to apply properly, and another 30 mins to get eyeliner right :S I don't use eyeliner much so I suck at applying it.





I LOVE Snowflakes eyeshadow. Its such a pretty purple colour with gorgeous blue tones, I guess you could call it a duochrome.

Mystic Night is still a bit disappointing for me, I was expecting it to be bluer, with no purple. Actually from these pics, if I didn't know I would've thought Mystic Night to be the blueish purple in the centre, but it comes out purple.

Itou Misaki Shiseido commercial

Came across some Shiseido commercials for the Japanese market. I'm loving the blue eyeliner paired with gold liner on the bottom here. Also I love how she has gold tipped french manicure, I so want to do that now! Although I can't wear nail polish to work, I might do just the tips for a weekend. Anyone can recommend a good gold nail polish?

Also I love that peach lipstick, anyone know of a drugstore lipstick in a similar shade? I wish Shiseido here would sell the same stuff as the ones for the Japanese market.

everyday minerals haul

i received my everyday minerals haul a few days ago. Was quite happy to get them this week because work was getting me stressed out so getting a package helped me feel better :)

Here's the stuff I got:



Taking that picture makes me feel guilty about my MAC habit....after all, that entire haul cost the same as this at Canadian pricing...:



But anyway, on to specifics on what I got:

1. Personal Custom Kit Mini - I picked all blushes, mostly the new additions to their line:



2. Mini eyeshadow kit, also pictured with 2 full size eyeshadows that were free:



3. Free brushes with order since it was over $30, and the eye definer brush was included as part of the mini eye kit.



4. Free sample kit, but nothing too exciting there so I didn't take any pictures. Just some extra samples of Light, Light Olive but in Intensive formula, an extra sample of Light Winged Butter Original glo, and an extra sample of Multitasking concealer.

On to swatches and some rambling!

1. Blushes



Anytime:
Came out as a lilac pink, the pic doesn't show it properly here. It looks scary in this picture and in the pot, but I tried it on my face today and it comes out ok on my NC25 complexion. I still would only pair it with cool-toned eyeshadow and lipcolour though. Its such a cool pink it will definitely clash with any warm colours.

Text Message:
Rich reddish-brown. Reminds me of red bricks lol. Quite pigmented but seems like a fun colour still.

Corner Office & Theme Park:
More apricoty-peachy toned :P I don't know which is the right word to describe them. Medium to very pigmented. Theme Park looks to be one of my favourite colours from this haul.

Cookie Sheet & Photo Album:
Quite pigmented. These are more berry toned, they look super pretty so I can't wait to use these.

Best Friends:
Soft rosy pink, less pigmented. I swatched Once and Again here even though that was from my previous haul, because I'd thought it looked the same as Best Friends in the container. Fortunately there is a difference, its a darker pink.


2. Eyeshadow



Mystic Night: I was expecting a midnight blue from EM's description but this turned out to be more dark purple with a very faint hint of blue sparkle :( Its a pretty colour but still, I was expecting a more vibrant dark blue. I'm not sure why I don't see a whole lot of difference between it and Well Being eyeshadow, which is supposed to be medium purple per EM. Sigh.

Well Being: I'd call it a dark purple with shimmer. More eggplant purple. A bit disappointing because I already have eggplant purple eyeshadow and I expected something different.

Snowflakes: One of my favourites from this haul. At first it reminded me of MAC Violet pigment but when I swatched them both, Snowflakes has a bluer tone to it and is less vibrant. Looks very wearable.




Shopping Spree: From EM's description it sounded like an interesting duochrome, and I'm happy to say it is. It reminds me of a toned down version of MAC Club eyeshadow. Like Club, it appears to be reddish brown, but there is green shimmer in it depending on what angle you view the swatch at.

Gingerbread Man: Rich chocolate brown with shimmer. Looks like it'll make a great crease colour.

Wild Flowers: Matte brownish taupe, I got it because I want more matte neutrals in my collection.

Birdhouse: Light caramel colour, I picked it because I was lemming a MAC Matte2 shadow in the same colour but didn't feel like paying the extra $$ for such a simple colour. I don't mind paying for more unique colours from MAC, but for neutral/lighter colours I usually go cheap :P

Baby Bath: Supposed to be pearl finish, but looks like shimmer (I labelled the swatch wrong). The colour looks perfect for highlighting the brow or inner corner.

Oasis: Light brown colour with gold shimmer, can't wait to use it :)




Swatched Silk Natural's Lush eyeshadow just for comparison. (Lush btw is supposed to be a dupe of MAC Humid but I don't think so...its darker and duller than Humid.)

Tinsel Time: Pretty olive colour, I like this better than any of the olive shades I already own.

Pressed Olive: Ok I thought Pressed Olive would be olive. But instead its more of a silvery light green with bluish tinge. I wasn't expecting that blue part of it at all, but I still like it.

Cypress: I was disappointed at how light it looked in the container, but fortunately the swatch is exactly what I thought it would be. Nice medium green with gold shimmer.


3. Brushes: Seem decent for whatever they're priced at regularly. For me these were free/included in a kit. The fan brush is alright, nothing to get excited about. It got a bit mauled in transit but after a wash the bristles were ok. The lip brush and eye definer brush feel soft and acceptable quality. I haven't tried them out yet but if they perform spectacularly I'll be sure to mention it :)



Unfortunately, the lash/brow comb seem to have a bit of a problem:



There wasn't anything helping the brush head adhere to the wooden handle...I guess their manufacturer really should've used a better glue. Oh well I guess I'll use some Krazy glue if I feel like it later. I don't find lash combs useful though, they never do anything for mascara clumps.

After this haul, except for the MAC Fafi collection, feel free to hit me over the head if I get any more blushes/eyeshadows...:S