Pandamonium + greetings from Dublin

No unfortunately I'm not heading on a trip....though I wish I was! I finally cracked open my MAC Pandamonium quad to do a look with it.




You can see how well the Lorac Visual Effects mascara lengthens here. The brush has an odd shape and takes some getting used to though.




The MAC quad colours are nice, but the violet-pink colour in the quad requires quite a bit of packing on to show up.




(using the Dariya hair velcro in black here, it comes in handy!)


Products used:



Face:
Skinfood Gingko BB cream
Cargo blu_ray powder 01
MAC Emote
Joe Fresh blush in Pink (not pictured)

Eyes:
Benefit cream shadow in Bunny Hop as base
MAC Pandamonium quad (off-white to highlight browbone, violet-pink all over lid, blue on outer corner, and grey to darken the outer corner of the liner slightly)
Kate Super Sharp liner in Black
Lorac Visual Effects mascara

Lips:
Benefit lipstick in Lady's Choice


I received a lovely package the other day all the way from Dublin! Liz had an anniversary contest/giveaway for her blog, and I was one of the winners :) She knew I was interested in the Barry M dazzle dusts so she got some for me, along with a Dublin postcard :D




The dazzle dusts come in small open glass jars, the colours from left to right are:
Kingfisher, Aqua Gold and Midnight




The colours look amazing, especially Midnight and Aqua Gold which look perfect for summer! They are very finely milled, the texture reminds me of NYX pigments or Annabelle pigments, but I much prefer Barry M's colour selection AND packaging format. The NYX pigments were particularly bad because the tiny bottles would dispense too much or leak sometimes, but these Barry M ones are a lot more practical!

Swatches:




Thank you Liz! Will be posting a look with these colours in the near future :)

Back with some swatches and a Guerlain makeover

Sorry I have been absent again! Thank you for all the kind comments on my contest entry, I really appreciate it :)

Firstly, I received a question from Iraz asking whether MAC pans could fit into ELF palettes - Yes they can, and vice versa. Other brands that make the same size eyeshadow pans are Annabelle, and Milani.

Here are some swatches that I promised to post from my Sephora haul:

Lorac Pink Python palette





The blue shade is very similar to MAC Parrot, so I swatched it above for comparison. In the pan they look quite similar too.




Benefit Creaseless Cream shadows/liners

Clockwise from left: Birthday Suit, Skinny Jeans, Bunny Hop (received this in a swap)



I swatched them with the Shiseido Hydro Powders just for comparison's sake.

L-R: Glistening Sand (Shiseido), Birthday Suit, Skinny Jeans, Bunny Hop, Bare Pink (Shiseido).



Bunny Hop looks quite similar to Bare Pink actually, though Bare Pink is a little more muted.



I've only used Birthday Suit so far and just once, so I can't really review the product fully but so far it doesn't seem quite as creaseless as the name suggests. Pros - The formula feels super creamy and soft. It takes a while to dry down which could be good I guess if you plan to blend it with other colours. However as a base it takes a while to dry which I think makes it crease without any primer underneath. Will test with UDPP to see if that improves the problem.


I went to the mall to check out the Guerlain summer collection, and got a makeover as well.










The makeup artist used the following: (Summer LE items in bold)

Eyes:
-Guerlain lid primer (sucks, the colours creased within a few hours :P)
-Summer Splash palette (all 4 colours)
-Bleu Cerise mascara on top and bottom lashes

Face:
-Divinora face primer
-Aqua-something foundation (lol I can't remember the name but it was pretty good)
-Some blush I can't remember
-Nacre des Mers Meteorites (Pressed) on top

Lips:
-Kiss Kiss liplift to neutralize lipcolour (similar to MAC Lip Erase)
-Rose Sable stick gloss

I also got my hair cut - I guess you can't really see in the pictures as all the stylist did was take off some length (4-5 inches) and layered it a bit more. I was going to go short but she didn't think the look would suit my hair type (extremely flat) so I decided not to bother this time.

Here's what I got - the Lagon Bleu kohl and Le2 mascara in Bleu Cerise, both limited edition. I really wanted the summer palette, but they were already sold out of it in that location...



The blue kohl + my current Brun Dore kohl (permanent) which I still haven't really tested either...



Lagun Bleu kohl:




The Bleu Cerise mascara is pretty good! In fact, I wasn't even going to get the mascara but the makeup artist totally sold me on it when she used it, because it was the first coloured mascara that ever showed up on me. The two brushes are quite good at getting to every last there is, especially because of the small brush for the lower lashes. The formula also lengthens a lot, and provides some volume. This summer version is waterproof, but I haven't tested it yet on that aspect. The drawback though is a little bit of clumping after a few coats, and it takes some effort to remove due to its waterproof nature.

Main brush for top lashes


Mini brush for bottom lashes.



Swatches: Top to bottom: Bleu Cerise mascara, Lagun Bleu kohl, Brun Dore kohl



The kohl shows up as a baby blue but when I tried it today it looked a bit teal-ish on my skin - could be the yellow undertones + baby blue = teal?



Can't really see the kohl because it smudged off but you can see the mascara lengthens. The blue doesn't photograph well, but it definitely shows up better than many other coloured mascaras.

The eyeshadow palette looks very similar to the Lorac palette above actually, but the shades are sheerer and more subtle. Also the warm brown in the Lorac palette is replaced by a cool taupe-brown colour (see Temptalia's picture of the quad). I still want it though, so hopefully the SA can get a hold of one for me.

By the way, I've also updated my sale page with a few more items here.

P.S. Canadians, Shoppers Drug Mart has Essie on sale @ CDN$7.99 (usually $10+ I think), while GOSH products are 20% off, both offers until Friday

Sephora Benefit order, NZ swap, & tag

Here's what I got from that Sephora order I made to make use of the Benefit gift with purchase:



But first, about the GWP - it was actually nicer than I had expected. It was a large cosmetic case that would have actually held all the stuff I ordered plus the GWP items :P

Cheesy Benefit girl-doll on the cover


Its huge and comes with brush pockets too to store brushes on the go! Perfect for a long haul trip.



The stuff inside: Badgal mascara in blue, Benefit Rush Hour, California Kissin' lipgloss, and a super retro-cheesy huge satin shower cap...hahaha




To get the GWP, I ordered the Benefit Girls Night In set (which is on sale online for $38 instead of $48 btw!)

It contains two cream shadows: Birthday Suit, Strut, and Benefit lipstick in Lady's Choice. It also included a brush and 3 fridge magnets but I can't locate the pics at the moment :/ I'll post more detailed pics and swatches when I do a review on the set.




The new Lorac In the Pink set, it comes in the black cosmetic bag in the top picture, and contains the following:

Pink Python palette (reminds me of the Snake Charmer palette!)
Lorac Visual Effects mascara
Eyeliner/shadow pencil in Pink Diamond
Mini Mocktail in Sex on the Beach





The colours are a little brighter than your usual Lorac palette, another reason why I wanted to try it. Also I think its a pretty good deal because this set was priced the same as a normal Lorac palette costs, but it includes 3 extra items and the cosmetic bag. It shows on Sephora that it is an online exclusive only.


Also ordered the Korres Love your lips set



I'm actually not sure if I want to keep this yet so I'm not opening it for now. Its a great deal for $38 but I do tend to neglect my lipglosses so maybe I should save the money for something else.


I also did a swap with Joanna for her Smashbox tokidoki quad. She included a TON of chocolates, so much that I felt bad for not including more in mine!



The above pic shows only 1/3 of the chocolates remaining...

As usual it was the packaging that drew me in:






Quick tag game from Chi (Chyix2) Audrie, and Katie!

What is your current obsession?
- Short hair! I want to do something drastic with my hair, and cut it short but I don't know where's a good place to get it done.

What is your weirdest obsession?
- I really can't think of any that are weird enough for this question! Maybe my obsession with Chris Martin (of Coldplay)? Haha :D

What are you wearing today?
- black Forever 21 tee and grey knee length shorts. It was too hot for anything else :P

What’s your favorite comfort food?
- chocolate, if I want something sweet, or oreo ice cream sandwiches / McD's cones if its hot. If I'm craving something savoury its cream of chicken soup with some pasta added to it :)

What would make today special?
- flowers :)

What would you like to learn to do?
- Cook amazingly well

What’s the last thing you bought?
- A whole bunch of makeup from Anna's blog sale

What are you listening to right now?
- an old rerun of CSI on TV

What is your favorite weather?
- Sunny and balmy but not humid. 15-20 degrees C is the best! My skin hates anything else.

What is your most challenging goal right now?
- Moving forward in my job

What do you think about the person who tagged you?
- I would love to meet all of them! I've only ever known them online through ABB and blogging, and they sound like they lead such interesting lives! :)

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would it be?
- Most likely Japan :)

What would you like to have in your hands at right now?
- Key to the above home and a winning lottery ticket :P

If you could swap lives with anyone for one day who would it be & why?
- Natalie Portman, she's gorgeous but still seems so down to earth.

If you would go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
- Hong Kong / Japan to shop, haha

Which language do you wanna learn?
- I used to want to learn French when I was younger, but these days I'd rather learn another Asian language - maybe Korean. Or if I could speak all the Chinese dialects that'd be pretty good too.

What do you look for in a friend?
- Someone loyal and dependable

Who do you want to meet in person?
- Bloggers!

What’s your favorite type of music?
- Soundtracks - eg the ones from Miyazaki's films and some animes.

What’s your dream job?
- Designing makeup :P I would love to be the people who come up with concepts, colours, and packaging for makeup collections.

Any favorite model?
- Gemma Ward

If you had $100 now what would you spend on it?
- Put it towards my vacation this year, if I find someplace to go

Things you wish you could change in the past?
- Listening to my parents too much when I was a kid....lol. I think things would've be a whole lot more exciting if I had been a bit more rebellious.

Fashion Pet Peeve?
- When people wear super short shorts and a skimpy tee all at the same time - its too much skin all at once and just looks trashy! And they usually wear it with rubber flip flops...

Do you admire anyone’s stye?
- Karla and Melissa, I love what they wear, wish I had the guts to do so!

Describe your personal style.
- Girly / tomboyish depending on my mood

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
- Chocolate + more chocolate

What’s your favorite makeup brand?
- I really don't have a single favourite because I love trying out different brands from high to low end. But the brand that probably gets most of my money is still MAC...

Do you get enough beauty sleep? yes or no? why?
- No, because I'm a night owl by nature but I have to get to work earlier than most.

Why did you start your (beauty) blog?
- I was getting a little bored at ABB at the time and needed a place to post whatever I wanted, so decided to have my own blog.

Sephora Benefit GWP and nails

Sephora has a new GWP: If you spend over $50 and one of the items in your cart is from Benefit, enter BEAUTYGEMS at checkout to receive the following set:

• Full-size BADgal Lash Mascara
• Full-size Rush Hour Lip & Cheek color
• Full-size California Kissin' lip shine
• Bathina showercap
• Luscious Lana Beauty bag (Source)

Thats one of the best codes I've ever seen from Sephora! So...of course I had to give it a try and order something :P

Not sure what to get from Benefit? I've never tried their products before, but the items that I always see great raves are their Coralista blush, and their cream shadow/liner pots. In fact I ordered the Benefit Girls' Night In set recommended by Katie because she made it look so good :P

Unfortunately the Ebates cashback is now back to 4% (it was 8% again for a month or so) but the GWP is still a great deal.

Asos also has a sale including certain items from Paul & Joe, Korres, Benefit, and Urban Decay.

Adam Beauty has also added many new things - BB creams, Dariya sheets,

***

In other news, I also did my nails with the gradient look today using the Canmake polish from Glow:





I love the colour! I'll have to look for more Canmake colours to get now :) The gradient look is also surprisingly easy to do, and so much more forgiving of mistakes than a regular solid colour.


Since we're on the topic of nails, I also used Zoya Harmonie a few weeks ago to do my toes. Its the bottle on the right:



And this is how it looks on, with only two coats:



Its extremely opaque though slightly streaky on the first coat. But I'm definitely a Zoya convert now, especially since they're supposed to be free of the Big 3 chemicals commonly found in polish(formaldehyde, toluene, DBP).


I also picked up my first polish from Nicole by OPI in Love your Life:



Yes, the only reason I got it was because it had heart shaped pieces in the polish :P The polish is essentially clear though so it'll require a base coat underneath. I do wish there were more hearts in the polish though, because once you apply it the hearts are too spread out. You can only get about 2-3 hearts per nail, unless you deliberately pick up the heart pieces from the bottle (huge hassle btw).