Holiday look: Gold & berry

For most of this year I've been wearing mostly neutrals, so for Christmas I decided to do something different for a change. I was wearing red glitter tights, and a green wool skirt so it seemed like a good idea to match it with berry lips and gold eyes:





Closeup:






Products used:

Cream bases
Shiseido Hydro-Powder in Glistening Sand on inner corner of eye
MAC Brassy Fluidline on rest of eye

Eyeshadow
MAC Gold Mode pigment on inner corner of eye
MAC Cosmic eyeshadow on middle of eye
Annabelle 101 eyeshadow on outer corner of eye
Lunasol Geminate Liner EX02
Blinc Kiss Me mascara

Lips
Lancome berry coloured lipstick from a GWP a while back

Face
Lunasol Water Cream Foundation
Cle de Peau concealer
MAC Emote blush to contour

Festive gold and green look

Here's a festive look I wore a few days ago, a subtle gold and green look with colored liners. Perfect for a day of Christmas shopping to get you in the mood :)









What I used:

MAC Fluidline in Brassy on upper lashline
Gosh Velvet Touch pencil liner in Green Grass on outer lower lashline
Urban Decay 24/7 pencil liner in Yeyo on inner 1/2 of lower lashline
Blinc Kiss Me mascara on lashes

Korres Mango Lipstick in 14 Pink

MAC MSF in Stereo Rose
MAC Emote to contour
Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer in Porcelain
Cle de Peau concealer stick
Eve Pearl Salmon concealer

Gold & pink summer

What I used:

Face
Biore UV milk base
Mix of Guerlain Parure Extreme 02 & Lunasol Water Cream foundation YO-02
Cargo blu-ray concealer 02

Blush
MAC So Ceylon MSF
MAC Emote blush

Lips
MAC Jazzed lipstick

Eyes
UDPP as base
Maybelline Amber Adventure quad
Annabelle Pinked eyeshadow
Kate Super Sharp Liner BK-1
Mary Kay Ultimate mascara

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

Dolce Vita

Closer look of Nars Dolce Vita:



Dolce Vita appears as a brick red in the pan, slightly scary for someone fair skinned and prone to redness like me. In fact I've had it for a year without actually wearing it because I was afraid it would make me look like I have rosacea. However I'm glad I decided to give it a go, because when applied lightly (just don't pack in on) with a blush brush it gives a healthy glow to my cheeks.



Also, Revlon Peach looks different here compared with my previous post, probably due to the sunny lighting + different camera settings. I think the most accurate representation of the colour is actually in the first full face picture.


Eyeshadow closeup - used all colours from the Lavshuca Eye Select palette in PU-2






Here is the full breakdown of what I used:

Face
Mix of Lunasol Water Cream foundation + Guerlain Parure Extreme
Cargo blu-ray concealer
MAC Emote blush
Nars Dolce Vita blush

Lips
Revlon Colourburst in Peach

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Lavshuca Eye Colour Select in PU-2
Kate Super Sharp Liner BK-1
Mary Kay Ultimate mascara

On The Scene

I did a In the Groove look last weekend, using MAC's On The Scene facechart as inspiration but using Stereo Rose instead of Petticoat MSF.



My take:






Eyes:






Lips with Jazzed lipstick: Note that my natural lip colour does make it look pinker than it is




I used:




Stereo Rose leaves a gorgeous glow, as long as you apply sparingly with a duo fibre brush.





I can see why it may be a bit orange on some but I think it is still wearable if you apply just a touch of it. I just used my MAC 131 flat duo fibre brush to swipe the MSF surface lightly and tapped it on my cheekbones. After that you can blend it out further with a clean brush if you find it too strong for your liking.

Guerlain Parure Extreme & Dior 649 Ready to Glow

About 2-3 weeks ago, the local drugstore chain here, Shoppers Drug Mart had another of their bonus redemption weekends. I took the opportunity to redeem my store points since the bonus was an extra $50 in addition to the $150 worth of points I had.

In fact, this weekend is another bonus redemption weekend - perhaps the last chance to redeem points before changes to the point values take place in July.

Anyway since I don't really need more colour makeup, I did some research, and decided to focus on foundations since I don't have a good summer foundation. I settled on the Guerlain Parure Extreme, and Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Powder foundation. I also decided to try a Dior quint for the first time. (The rest of the redemption was made up of just non-makeup items.)



Guerlain Parure Extreme in 02 Beige Clair. This is the lightest shade available here(I think they might have a lighter one in Asia), but I find it a shade too dark for me right now :(




Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Fresh Powder Makeup SPF 10. I haven't opened this because I am still trying to decide if it is worthwhile keeping...should I? I have 1 more week to exchange it...any opinions on this foundation?




Dior palette in 649 Ready to Glow, Summer 2010 collection. My first Dior quint! I've used Dior Detective Chic palettes before, but their texture is quite different from their iridescent quints.






The colours are very glowy, and quite suitable for daytime wear at the office. I like that there is a cool grey shade and a warmer brown shade that allows you to darken the colour for a more intense look, just in case you are going somewhere right after work.




Here you can see the Guerlain Beige Clair shade is a tad darker than my neck :S I tried dusting some Guerlain Mythic meteorites on top but it doesn't help to lighten the look very much.

I do like the finish of the Parure Extreme though, it controls oil nicely, and seemed to last longer than other foundations. Not to mention the scent is light and pleasant, quite different from the sweet rose scent Guerlain uses in their powder products.




The colours in the Dior 649 quint are quite iridescent all right, you can see how glowy my eyelids are! The only drawback to the light colours is that the pigmentation isn't intense, so they look similar from far.



Funnily enough, despite the mismatched foundation colour I received some compliments on my skin the day I used it, but perhaps it was because I was indoors where the difference between my face and neck wasn't quite as apparent. I think I may still keep the Parure Extreme because of its wear and finish, but find ways to match up my neck skintone instead...


What I used

Guerlain Parure Extreme Foundation 02 Beige Clair
Guerlain Meteorites Mythic
Cargo Blu-ray concealer 01

Etude House Cheek Stamp Blush in Happy Peach
Marcelle Lux Gloss in Muse

Urban Decay Primer Potion
Dior 5 Color Iridescent Quint in 649 Ready to Glow
ELF Pink Ice to highlight under brow
Mary Kay Ultimate mascara in Black

Almost natural...but better

Thanks to a tweet from Fei, I found out about a technique that Queenie (Beauty QQ) was using to apply falsies - underneath her natural lashes instead of over:

Youtube video of her explaining it in Cantonese
Youtube video tutorial applying the lashes - skip to 3:40

These are the fake lashes I used - Andrea #53's. I used a pair that I had already worn a few times, so they look a bit scraggly and more natural rather than being completely uniform.



I followed Beauty QQ's instructions and cut them into 4 pieces. Applied them with tweezers, very carefully underneath my natural lashes. Trust me, this is not a time for your annoying sibling/significant other to goof around and run into your elbow...



Don't these look pretty natural? Even from the side view you can't see any tell tale misalignment of the fake lash with natural lash, or heavy eyeliner to cover fake lash spine.



I love how you can barely see the spine of the lashes, even from underneath. As Fei said they look almost like lash extensions.




Anyway, here is the rest of the look!








What I used:



Face
Lunasol Water Cream Foundation
Eve Pearl Salmon undereye concealer treatment
Maybelline Dream Matte powder

Cheek & Lip
Annabelle Zebra Bronzer in Haute Gold
MAC Emote blush
MAC Brave New Bronze Lipstick
Balmshell's Weekend in the Hamptons gloss

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Lavshuca Eye Color Select PK-1
Marcelle Minerals eyeshadow in Playa
Kate Frame Impact eyeliner
Andrea Modlash #53s



I still can't get over how natural the fake lashes look compared with applying them on top...will have to do this more often! I think this technique works best with natural hair lashes though, since the spines are thinner and lashes more flexible than plastic Asian lashes, and thus more comfortable.

Have you tried this technique before? What do you think?