summer nails

I did my nails yesterday and decided to use Zoya Lily, a pale metallic pink I picked up 2 years ago but have not touched since. Since the colour was quite sheer, after 2 coats of Zoya Lily I added 1 coat of Maybelline Colourama, a pink flakie polish suspended in sheer jelly red.

If you look closely you can still see the white tips of my nails. Am deliberating adding some glitter to the tips to disguise 'em.

Also, while digging through my iphone pictures I found one from July of Milani 3D Cyberspace that I had been meaning to post. The perfect blue for cooling down on those hot summer days! 

What have you been wearing on your nails lately?

Maybelline Eyestudio - Green with Envy

Of the 3 quads I've tried, this is my favourite quad from the Eyestudio line so far. The colours are soft and swatch easily.




Simple basic look using Green with Envy:



The colours are pigmented and easily blendable, yet each colour stands out on its own without looking muddy. There is a bit of fallout but not so much that you look like a confetti accident.



This was taken at the end of the day so unfortunately most of my makeup already wore off. For the record I was wearing MAC Refined MSF and Jazzed lipstick as well as the concealer and foundation.





If you're wondering why my lip colour changed in the last picture its because I was trying out MAC Honeymoon lipstick. It doesn't really go with this look though, seems to wash me out. A pink lip colour definitely complements the green tones more.


Icyswirls got me in a recent post with a 'Would you Rather' tag, so here goes :)

1.Would you rather go out with messy hair and nice makeup or nice hair and no makeup?
Messy hair + nice makeup! No great hair day can hide my pores and redness...

2.Would you rather shave your eyebrows or have your eyelashes fall out?
Assuming the eyelashes will grow back again (since shaving brows is temporary) I would go without lashes. Mostly because brows frame my face and my lashes aren't even noticed by anyone unless I curl them. I'd rather just use fake lashes.

3.Would you rather be forced to only shop at MAC or Sephora for the rest of your life?
Sephora! MAC has really tempting LE products sometimes but it gets boring. At least Sephora has variety.

4.Would you rather wear lipgloss/lipliner look or 80's perm?
Lipgloss/lipliner.

5.Would you rather leave the house with an obvious foundation line or overdone blush?
Foundation line...I've probably done it before unintentionally with foundation that oxidized on me

6.Would you rather wear mc hammer pants or biker shorts in public?
Mc hammer pants at least I could claim it was a fashion phase.

7.Would you rather have a bad orangey spray tan or really weird tan lines that cant be covered?
I can't decide! Maybe the tan lines...

8.Would you rather have a bad haircut or bad hair color?
Hair colour

9.Would you rather HAVE YOUTUBE or TWITTER taken away forever?
I use Twitter way more often than YT...but YT has tutorials on anything and everything so probably would give up Twitter.

10.Would you rather give up using makeup brushes or mascara?
Makeup brushes. When I first started using makeup I was too cheap/ignorant to buy brushes so fingers were my tools of choice :D

What were your first makeup items?

I started late with wearing makeup. My parents never allowed me to buy or use makeup, with the exception of a lipstick for a piano recital when I was around 8 or 9. Even during university, I felt quite lost anywhere near a makeup counter or Sephora. In fact I hated the strong perfume smell whenever I passed by Sephora, and was quite unimpressed with the confusing array of products available.

However when I started job hunting I realised I would soon have to start learning how to wear makeup. Back then, there weren't any beauty blogs around, but there was Makeupalley, so it was from those reviews, and magazines that I ended up starting with these products:



100 yen store eyelash curler
I had to buy this secretly because my mom would have asked me what it was, and then why I was wasting my money on unnecessary stuff (She only wore blush and lipstick her entire life, and only to work). I still have it but never really use it since I preferred my ELF curlers. I got this when I was visiting my parents in Japan, and I do remember secretly trying a gloss and eyeshadow from the 100 yen store as well. Too bad I threw them out long ago...so no pictures.

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind concealer
Discontinued now. I read probably a million reviews on concealer before settling on this one. It was fine in terms of consistency (not much caking) but did not fully cover my dark circles. I've since found that most drugstore concealers just cannot do as good of a job as the high end brands. This went bad a couple of years ago so I got rid of it.

Rimmel Exaggerate liner in a forest green colour
I picked this up because many articles I read said green would make brown eyes pop :) It was really nice soft pencil liner, but to my dismay migrated to my lower lashline immediately. Not impressed. I've tossed this since.

Rimmel Kajal liner in a brown colour
Basic liner. Also smudged easily but a little less noticeable than the Exaggerate liner. I think this has also been discontinued. Have tossed this since as well.

Maybelline Expertwear Quad in Seashore Frosts
This quad is still sold in stores, but in a reformulated version. Mine was the old version with poorer colour payoff. Back then I had no idea how to wear all 4 colours at once, so I would only wear 2 at a time. But I figured at least I was getting my money's worth by having 4 colours in one. I don't use it anymore but still keep it in my stash for old time's sake :P

Maybelline Dream Mousse Bronzer in Sun Glow
I don't think I read reviews on this one. I just bought it because the idea of mousse sounded cool, and at the time bronzer was just gaining popularity. This actually contains more shimmer than colour, which makes it more of a summer highlighting product. I still use this once in a while - have scraped off the top layer a few times to ensure it is still sanitary. By the way, if you're wondering why this is the 3rd Maybelline product here, its because I had a bit of a soft spot for Maybelline as they were one of the few brands my mom ever used.

The Body Shop Cranberry Lip Balm
Although this was a lip balm, it contained a moderate amount of shimmer, which gave a moisturized, 'my lips but better' look. I loved the smell too. Must repurchase this winter - I think its only sold during the Christmas season.

So tell me, what were your first makeup products? Do you repurchased them still?

Not so Taupe Temptress

Here's another look I did with a Maybelline Eye Studio quad - Taupe Temptress:





The colours in this quad are more shimmery than Sapphire Siren.




The usual - middle two shades over the mobile lid, dark shade in outer corner, and lightest shade to highlight inner corner of eyes. Also highlighted under the brow with Marcelle Minerals eyeshadow in Playa.


(not sure what was up with my lashes - I must've not curled them yet in this pic)



Although the colours looked slightly berry-ish to me in the palette, they come off on my skin as being more brownish taupe. I think this would suit warmer, more tan skintones better. Also, the grey-green contacts didn't help - green contacts would've made the colour pop more.


Full face - paired with Canmake Cream Cheek blush in 07 Coral Peach, and OCC Lip Tar in Grandma (yes I finally used it!)




(I'm not too keen on this look really, so did not plan to put up any more pics)


I'm not sure if this colour really went with the quad...but anyways at least you get to see the Lip Tar in action. The colour was very pigmented and intense. I needed less than a drop for this amount of coverage. It wasn't as drying as I expected, but it does go best with moisturized, non-flakey lips.



Definitely not a colour my grandma would wear! Lol :D

Sapphire eyes

A while back, I received the Maybelline Eyestudio range to review. They have a bunch of quads in the lineup, and one of the first I tried was the Sapphire Siren quad.



The colours are quite pigmented, and pearlized with shimmers.


The white and black shade have tiny glitter in them but it does not create any messy fallout, much to my surprise. The green and blue colours have a frost finish and blend well.

Here is my look using the quad!










(These pics are before my haircut by the way hence the longer hair)

Although the colours are pigmented, I found that they kind of blend too well into each other and just look like a turquoise blue on my skin. Next time I'll try using a pale base underneath to see if the colour comes out more.

Also used in the look was the Etude House Happy Peach stamp blush. Surprisingly, when I applied the colour with a brush (as opposed to finger swatching) the colour shows up well. In real life it shows up as a natural peachy-pink flush. Don't ask me why the colour looks a bit reddish here...Can't remember what lip gloss I used. Possibly Annabelle's Cherryoke gloss :)

Anyway, so have any of you tried the Eye Studio quads? Opinions?

MAC Chromagraphic Pencil, Annabelle Minerals, & Maybelline EyeStudio

- comes in 2 shades, NW15/NW25 and NW25/NC30
- creamy
- pigmented
- multi purpose - waterline, reverse lip liner, concealer


NW15/NW20 swatch:



As a concealer, the colour is too light for my NC20-25 skin, but the darker shade is too dark. I haven't had the chance to use it as a lipliner yet but will report back on that!

The main reason I purchased it was to line the waterline, as I read on Temptalia that it was supposed to brighten up eyes like a white pencil would (but more naturally).

Before lining with the Chromagraphic Pencil:


After with the Chromagraphic Pencil on waterline:


Even with the slight lighting change I think it does perk up the look of your eyes a little bit. It also looks very natural, without being harsh like a white liner would. Unfortunately, it does not last long on my waterline. I put the liner on right before taking the after picture, and it still wore off within 15-20 minutes! :( I guess this means I have rather watery eyes :/

If you are interested in the product I would recommend getting this from a store first to try. That way you can still return or exchange it easily if it does not work.


Anyway even though the pencil was a fail for me, here is the rest of my look which uses the Maybelline EyeStudio duo in Ivy Icon and Annabelle Mineral Blush in Sugar Rush.




excuse the dark circles...I was using a mineral concealer which was clearly not enough coverage for that day.

The Annabelle blush colour is a gorgeous warm medium pink. The texture and pigmentation is quite good, as I only needed a miniscule amount on my duo fibre brush to get that colour.





The only thing I did not like was that the colour had too much shimmer in it - it made my cheeks look a bit too frosty. Maybe thats why the colour is called Sugar Rush, like glaze on a sweet bun?


For eyes I was trying out the Maybelline Eye Studio duo in 70 Ivy Icon:









The greens have a shimmery finish with great pigmentation. There are some sparkles in the product but they are still rather fine, and not that noticeable unlike some of MAC's recent releases. There is slight fallout but it is barely noticeable since the glitter isn't that chunky and isn't that predominant in the formulation.

The only thing I could complain about may be the lack of contrast between the two sides of the duo. A slightly darker colour that I could use for the crease, or the contour the outermost corner of the eye would make it perfect.

Here you can see the swatches aren't that different. Top swatch is the swirly side, bottom swatch is the plain green side.



Have you tried any of these products? What do you think?

Happy Lunar New Year!

Hope you had a great new year with lots of red packets, if you celebrate it! I had a 3 day weekend which was nice, but somehow didn't get much done.

I apologize for being away from the blog for so long. I've been focusing on grad school applications so I basically spent the last few weeks studying for the tests or lurking around blogs via Google Reader.

Saturday (just before New Year) I finally managed to get my hair cut. I kinda didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted so the end result wasn't quite to my liking. The length was what I wanted but I think next time I would ask for the back to be shorter relative to the sides.



Used Too Faced Smurfette lip gloss and Bourjois Ambre d'Or blush that day.





Sunday for Chinese New Year we had hotpot at home. I decided to wear gold themed eyeshadow in line with the occasion:







All colours were from the Maybelline Amber Adventure quad, one of my first ever quads when I started getting into makeup. Haven't used it in ages so it was nice to find it again in my stash. The bottom lashline (very faint, I know) had a little bit of gold liner on the outer 1/2 (MAC Brassy Fluidline).

Anyway next weekend is the beauty blogger meetup in Toronto hosted by the lovely Farah, and I'm super excited for it! Hope your week goes well :)

Swatches: MAC Holiday '08 pigments, Maybelline Roller Color

MAC Cool pigment set

L-R: Reflects Blackened Red, Cool Frost, Quietly, Pinked Mauve, Teal



Reflects Blackened Red
Hard to swatch properly. It actually has red glitter flashes rather than the brown you see in the picture. I've heard this looks great as a nailpolish!

Cool Frost
Very frosty (lol). Also a bit chunky so doesn't apply smoothly

Quietly
Lilac colour with silver sparkles. Its a warmer purple than Beautiful Iris eyeshadow but cooler than Lovely Lilac pigment. Supposedly an Asia exclusive colour when it was first released.

Pinked Mauve
Warm dark pink. Shimmery with great colour payoff

Teal
Green-blue colour, also shimmery and pigmented. I think just about every MAC fan owns this colour, or at least a sample of it.


MAC Warm pigment set

L-R: Reflects Antique Gold, Gold Dusk, Gold Mode, Melon, Gold Stroke



Reflects Antique Gold
Glitter that reflects gold. The name pretty much summed it up :)

Gold Dusk
Pale gold, slightly frosty

Gold Mode
Champagne gold colour. Definitely my favourite colour of the set.

Melon
Warm peach gold. Shimmery and pigmented

Gold Stroke
Warm chocolate brown with sort of a gold sheen to it.


Here's what they look like in the bottles for comparison's sake, all in the same order as the swatches:




Maybelline Roller Colour eyeshadow




L-R: Make a Move Mauve, On Track Lilac, Steel Wheelin, On the Ball Blue, Skate til Midnight




Make a Move Mauve
My favourite colour of this series. It was my very first makeup item! I got this because I wanted a backup as the first one is running low. Its a shimmery warm mauve that my best friend picked out for me the first time we went makeup shopping :)

On Track Lilac
Lilac colour, a cooler shade when compared with MAC's Quietly pigment.

Steel Wheelin
Silver-grey colour. Its a bit more greyish compared to MAC's Electra eyeshadow.

On the Ball Blue
Shimmery powder blue.

Skate til Midnight
Kind of disappointing. Its not as pigmented as it appears in the bottle, so I had to roll it on several times to get a good colour payoff. Its still a lot lighter than what I wanted though.

These come in 2.5g sizes, the same amount as with the MAC pigment sets. They are discontinued but they can be found on eBay.

Many people complain about the roller ball applicator but I think it makes the product more accessible than MAC's pigment sets. I find the trick to getting enough product out of these is to tap the roller ball against the back of your hand first, before rolling on the colour. Tapping it first helps get more pigment onto the applicator.

If that still doesn't work for you then remove the roller ball applicator on top (lots of people prefer this method) and use a brush to apply.