Holiday/Spring Look

Apologies for the disappearance! Had massive finals to complete. Now I'm back! Here is a Holiday or Spring look, depending mostly on your outfit. I'm wearing a teal shirt, so this looks much more Spring-y. But this is perfect for the holiday as well, due to the smashingly bright lips. The picture does my lips no justice. It is runway-bright. I would describe it as a spotlight peach orange. I love this lipstick. It's the Sheen Supreme Lipstick from MAC called Sheer Mandarin (pro color). It is not sheer at all! And it has not the slightest hint of red in it, just in-your-face orange. The picture does it no justice! Did I mention the whole Sheen Supreme Lipstick range is my absolute favourite out of all lipsticks in the world? They are truly amazing, you have to try them out! The lashes this time are also from MAC, and they are amazing. They are the #43, LE from quite some time ago, and they are dashing!!! Amazing blend of brown and black hair, natural and super long and sexy!

Holiday Nail - Glitter on Nude

Gold is my favourite metallic. So when it comes to glitter, it's always going to be gold for me. Today I just want to share a simple idea for a holiday nail. It's gorgeous under ball room light, it's almost dazzling and mesmerizing. The picture is pretty, but believe me it does my nails no justice. They are gorgeous! I can't stop staring at my nails hahaha, and they are not over the top at all, and they are very very feminine and elegant. Enjoy!

FOTD

Okay I have not been very keen on updating this blog. Apologies to that. It's mainly because my parents are currently on vacation (I know..what a random time of the year to go on a vacation...) and they took my beautiful camera. I am left with my iPhone camera and my Macbook, which doesn't give me that true colour when I swatch and stuff.

But I can do face of the day! But do know that I don't do these things often, because I am just um..what's the word I'm looking for..oh yeah, lazy.

My hat is from Korea apparently (according to my dear mother).

When Do People DISLIKE a Product Review?

I got really irritated recently by reading some of the Makeupalley reviews,  and also got quite frustrated at some comments my visitors left on a certain blog post of mine. Here is the reason why: when people disagree with the blogger/reviewer's opinion on a product, they will think the review is unhelpful. That really bothers me sometimes. There are close to 7 billion people now on Earth, if everyone shares the same opinion, what would we come to?!

If you read the MUA reviews and see the ratings, you will often see low ratings on people that clearly didn't enjoy the product. Sometimes people that wrote one to two line only but loved the product ended up with a higher rating. Not that rating of the reviews matters in life, but you can just see how biased people are already, whether they have the product already or not.

Halloween Look: Water Nymph

Okay I admit I don't do special effect makeup much. Okay I also admit it is because I don't do them well. Plus I am lazy and don't have much props to begin with. If I were to do a Halloween look, it would still be within the range of possible-among-normal-mankind. Those crazy things like peeling skin, or bloody drooping eyeball like the amazing Petrilude can do, well..just not my thing. Here is one example, perfect for your..I don't know..Halloween parties? I kept everything within the definition of elegance. Nothing scary or anything, but something I wouldn't do on a normal day. Very easy to do, except the crazy lashes I made myself, and some pencil sketching techniques.

The lashes were inspired by the little skirts made by Shu Uemura last season. Though the skirts are not suitable for this look. I used similar fabric with glitter on them, cut them into random pieces and stick them on the end of the false lashes, to create a water drop and foggy feel. (Remember in books, authors would describe woman on a foggy day something like "she blinked, I can see moisture forming droplets of water on her long lashes", or something like that. That is what I was going for.) Make sure you keep the fabric minimal, and your glitters stick, you don't want them in your eyes when you blink.

Eyes:
1. Soft Ochre Paint Pot all over lid to brow bone, then put MAC Retrospeck all over the base all the way to brow bone as well. If you want more bling and drama, change Retrospeck to any light glitter you want.

Let's Talk Lip Balm?

Today I'm gonna talk about my favourite lip balms. I have so many lip balms it's a psychotic obsession, and I have forgot-lipbalms-phobia, meaning I will have a panic attack if I realize today I did not bring my lip balms with me. Anyway, since I have tried almost all lip balms in today's market, from highend of drugstore, I am safe to make a conclusion that the following are the best ones.

Let's start off with my favourite tinted lip balm. Although it by no means my favourite lip balm, but it comes a close second. The Holy Grail stand is reserved for my Jack Black until I die. But you'll hear more on that later.

Retro Japanese Cat Eyes

I remember before the Asian geniuses mastered the art of circle lenses, in the decade between 1998 - 2010, Japanese magazines used to do a kind of cat eye (ish) look called the “小惡魔眼妝” or "Little Devil Eyes" (LOL excuse the lameness in my direct translation). Basically they were smokey neutrals, with dark eyeliners up and below the eye, the liner is thicker on the outer 1/3 of the bottom lashline, to create a droopy effect, and with a tiny bit of winging out from the BOTTOM lashline, and lots of mascara or false lashes. Japanese magazines were famed for having doll like models with impossibly large eyes, sharp noses, small mouth and boney figures. The makeup artists were skilled at doing impossibly gorgeous makeup, so dramatic, yet so pretty. Of course, I think they were also the first country in Asia to utilize the benefits of false eyelashes in full. Anyway, here is my little take on the look. I used to do this all the time, seems like I still have it in me!

Dior DiorShow Mascara - Mitzah

Ah how I looked forward to this collection. But when the items came out in Sephora, the display is beautiful, but I was not impressed at all. First of all, I'm not into Dior eyeshadow palette texture, and the colour is too Earthy and mute for me. It will darken my eyelid and yellow them, and I find colour themes like these often age me. The colour combination reminds me of a previous collection from a certain brand, I'm thinking Bobbi Brown. But I'm not sure and can't grasp my finger on it. Anyway, after a long and unnecessary linger at the Dior counter in Sephora, I finally just got myself the mascara, and then because I'm insane I also got the lash serum with it. But that is a different post.

This review focuses on the performance, since the packaging is nothing unusual for a DiorShow mascara. Same tube, same brush. The colour is a beautiful shimmery brown, and it looks boring from the tube. So I didn't bother with the pictures. You can barely see the shimmer in the tube or on your lashes, but they serve another purpose, as I will tell you shortly. But first, the mascara and its basic abilities and performances.

I think the main difference from the DiorShow and Lancome Hypnose (or the such volumizing mascara) is the thickness they create. For years I thought DiorShow is the one that will give drastic thickness, and Hypnose just the volume, but I was wrong. DiorShow gives you volume and length, and most importantly, it gives a clean look, almost natural. In the pictures I had 2 coats of the mascara on, and I was happy with the length and the separation, although it does not hold your curl that well, I was amazed at how clean and clump-free this looks. I am always a fan of slightly clumpy thick lashes, but now that I wore this, I feel like this is great too. It smudges a little bit after about 4 hours, but only a slight bit, nothing runny and nothing scary.

Firstly, here is an embarrassing picture of my naked lashes.

2 coats

Golden Prune

When it comes to purple, the only eyeshadow combination I ever loved, and still love, is MAC Trax + Sketch. It is the perfect plum/purple combo that will work on absolutely everyone. And it is not a fresh purple combo, it is a sultry one, since it has a brown undertone. I remember Pixiwoo2 Tanya has done a Valentine's look with this combo, and it was so exciting because they were my favourite colours, and it was so pretty.

This is a dramatic look, perfect for clubbing and the such business.

Las Vegas & Duty Free Haul

You never see me do hauls! Because I don't haul LOL. I never really go out and buy a bunch of things, or buy a bunch of things in a short while. I buy things in singular terms, over extended periods of times. So really, my makeup collection is not that big, even though it seems like a massive amount. (Mostly because I'm very wordy when I do reviews..You'd have to excuse me.)

But Duty Free..Sometimes I buy more than usual, but most of the times I only get fragrances, one at a time. But because I fly very often, things build up. That is not to say I have massive amount of perfumes. I'm very controlled when I shop. Last month was one of those times when I felt like I need makeup as I entered those duty free stores in the airport, and when I got to the States..if you are a Canadian beauty junkie you would know, States means saving. Hence the haul. No perfume this time (only a small one, for a reason), just some makeup. (I'm technically still on P10P..that needs to pause.)

Vegas Update

Some quick updates. I'm currently in Las Vegas and experiencing some massive heat, and editing some pictures for this blog as well. Vegas is really not my type of place to stay, I don't really like it here. I like travel, I don't like resorts. I travel to learn and see, not to relax and party. Usually when I travel I go to European and Asian countries, I love Austria and Germany, even Belgium. I also love to tour around China, Thailand and the such. But most of the hyped up places, like say, Paris, I just don't make much of a connection with. Maybe because there is so much hype, everyone else goes and makes those places jam packed with tourists, and that just makes the experience unpleasant.

Same in North America. I have a problem with Vegas. It is burning hot here in Summer and so much going on. I think for most people, locations around the world are usually a love or hate situation. Vegas, I can see why so many people love, but it just isn't my place. I have never seen this many beautiful people in one place at one time, so many lights, music, parties, gambling, alcohol, beautiful silhouettes, impossible stilettos.. It's like seeing the Seven Deadly Sins come alive in one place. Vegas is where everything shallow meets up and makes a connection. People come here to do and see what they normally can't in their regular lives. I see the point, but since I'm never going to do those things in the first place, I like but don't love here. 

My Current Mani & Pedi

Ah, how I missed doing my nails, and I do them in NO TIME AT ALL. I'm gifted at doing French I'm guess, it takes me no time and no tools. Though I didn't do a real French lol. I'll show you. Pedi first, because everyone seems to love them so much!!

Clinique Black Honey Look

Here is a quick look with all the colours from the quad. Enjoy!

Clinique Black Honey Eyeshadow Quad

I was always intrigued by Clinique's Black Honey lipstick/lipgloss. I'm a sucker for honey. Unfortunately, the lip products were all too dark for me, and I'm really not into a reddish tinted lips anyway, I'm always a nude lip person. So when the eyeshadow came out, I was so excited, because I can finally try something from this line.

Clinique's eyeshadows were never really good in my opinion. They have that dry powdery feel, that really looks quite chalky to me. Since they are very powdery, they are VERY easily blended away. If you swatch some on you hands, with gentle rubbing motion, you can completely erase the shadows from your hand, leaving no stain behind at all. If it weren't for the Black Honey concept, I would probably never buy a full sized Clinique quad.

The packaging is beautiful, and it is very chic looking. The back of the palette is transparent, with 4 colours showing that represents the shadow colours inside. Keep in mind those 4 colour blocks are not the real eyeshadow, they are coloured plastic that mimic the colours of the shadows. When you open it, each eyeshadow is rimmed in similar coloured rings.

OPI Skull & Glossbones

I didn't intend to get this colour from the collection at first, because I thought Stranger Tides was so much better. And this is just a wannabe nude version of my beloved Stranger Tides. But I heard SO much hype, how this is the perfect grey, how it is the perfect neutral nude.. I finally caved in and got myself one. Because you just can't have too many neutral nail polishes. (Shakes head ...for the sarcastic effect.)

I don't love it still, but I like it much better now. It is a great neutral for school, work etc, while still has that unique vibe.

2 coats, no top coat. Book is Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange

Quick Review for MAC Feline

Sorry guys I've ignored you for so long. I'm going to Las Vegas tomorrow, and I had many Summer courses and the such, so I was overwhelmed and really quite busy for the past few months. I'll add some reviews and looks on here tonight, depending on how much time I have, and how crappy my photoshop skills can get. Here is a mini review of MAC Feline Eyepencil.

MAC MAC Me Over Swatches

Essie's Topless and Barefoot & OPI Silver Shatter

About the Essie Topless & Barefoot, like I said in my June Favourites post, I hated this colour initially, but it definitely grew on me. Excuse my horribly done nails this time. I think I was in a rush, and I could NEVER, EVER get used to the Essie's brushes. They are just..awkward.

As of the shatter...I don't like it at all.

2 coats, with top coat. Book is The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

Maybelline Stylish Smokes Quad in Natural Smokes Look

I almost never wear eyeshadows this way. But this is for my readers with deep eye sockets, since I almost never do crease looks on this blog. Just a basic look nothing fancy. This quad is pretty chalky, not finely milled, and I'm not quite used to that. But for the price, it is definitely a steal. The 4 colours can be duped in MAC eyeshadows by Vanilla, Smokes and Diamonds, Mulch and Typographic.

June Favourites

This is really late, but I never do this kind of things anyway because I just think there may be too repetitive over the months. But I think people like to read these regardless (I like to mostly..), so here they are. Do you dig my beachy oceanic bedding?

OPI Stranger Tides

You know, as I search up nail polish pictures on the web, I often find that when the blogger holds the bottle in their hand (uh..like I used to do like..all the time), it is awfully distracting! You never know how the polishes look like in real life because who is going to hold a bottle of their nail polish with them all the time?!

So I got this idea from another blogger, I don't know who she is (more like..forgot -.-) so don't ask me. I'm going to do my polish swatches with books from now on, and one of my favourite books too! And such a gorgeous cover, perfectly neutral to contrast against any nail polishes. (lol...)

MAC Semi-Precious Collection Swatches

Yuki's one of my favourite Taiwanese Beauty Bloggers! And Semi-Precious Swatches are out on her website!

Her website is in Chinese, but her pictures are labelled with English. And all the pictures are out with the exception of 2 MSE's.  (Permission to linkage given by Yuki.)

Enjoy!

Picture belongs to Yuki's Lazy Channel

Blush Obsession Series - MAC Margin Blush

Now that Summer is just around the corner, I have switched to more bronzy blushes. I used to despise orange bronzy blushes, I always loved pink and rose and all those girly stuff, orange makes me think of tarnish overbronzed girls you see in Magazines or ads that normally, normally, people in real life don't want to look like.

But like I said many many times before, women are complex and weird species. We can one day hate something to the depth of our bones, and the next day loving it more than ever before.

MAC Margin. Nars Orgasm's older, maturer, bronzed and oversexed sister. How sexy exactly? I could have NEVER, EVER, EVER picked this up in the MAC store. I'm more of a Pinch o' Peach kinda person. So this orange bland shimmery bronze colour could never catch my eye. Only my friend knows me so well, they get me the most awful yet most suitable to me colours.

A orange peach is how I would describe it, with the finest mill of gold shimmer, very frosty I assure you, but very glowy. The kind of glow that is almost not natural, almost shiny, but not yet there. When it is on the face, you cannot see any glitter or any shimmer, just very prominent golden glow on a peached bronze base.

Pigmentation is INTENSE, and this one reminds me of Cargo blushes. Soft and buttery and creamy texture, just a dab of brush in the pan will bring up enough pigmentation and product for both cheeks. Especially you are from NC20 - NC25. I don't recommend anyone paler than NC20 to use this, because this could turn clownish. Lasting power however, reminds me of NARS, a total all day wear.

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation

Finally I had enough time with this foundation to provide you an adequate review.

Like I said before, I do like this foundation, and it applies on the back of my hand A LOT better than how it appears on my skin. Thus I guess people with normal to combo skin (that is, combo as in normal + little oily, not normal + dry, since flakes is a major no no for this foundation) would love this.

As I have also said before, some background information, I have extreme dry skin. They are flaky year-round, only the level of flakiness changes. My shade of this is Cream Ivory, I am a solid MAC NC20.

Here is what it looks like.

Kim Kardashian Look

Big photo accident. I took detailed pictures of the eyes but I somehow managed to lose them. BIG FAIL. But oh well, I'll just post up all the random face pics I took. -.-

Yes these have been edited, but other than the lighting (the pictures were way too red to be acceptable) adjusting, there's not much actual altering of the look itself.

Estee Lauder Spring 2011 - Wild Violet Palette

Sure it's Summer already, but this palette goes with all seasons in my opinion! Thanks to the gorgeous purple in the middle that spiced this otherwise neutral palette into something a little..twinkly.

Look at the GLORIOUS packaging...it's honestly to die for...

Update

Hey guys. I haven't updated in a while, I'm just so tired. I stayed off my healthy life-style track, I haven't gone jogging in the mornings for at least 2 weeks by now, and I have been letting myself off on sweets. AND most importantly, I have not been sleeping properly. For some reason, every night I will be very sleepy and won't be able to fall asleep, or rather not wanting to fall asleep. The result is unnecessary bags and circles under eyes and being always so tired. I will try to go back to my good old way of living.

On the bright side, I have taken several pictures for several posts that I'm preparing to get up on here. Also I want to update you that I FINALLY GOT MY NAKED PALETTE. But the review and swatches won't be up any time soon, I'm currently on Project 10 Pan..AGAIN. This time I hope it's going to go smoothly and no surprise purchases to ruin my plan. But I do need to buy stuff when MAC come out with the Semi-Precious Collection. I'll DIE if I don't at least get a MSF.

Also I have tested out the Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation, I can't say I LOVE LOVE it so much as the NARS Sheer Glow, but at least I like it. But then again, if I finish, I probably won't repurchase it. Details all later!

I'll talk to you soon! Have a lovely week!

xx

Sephora by OPI - Ocean Love Potion

Such a strange name! But it is a gorgeous colour. This goes well with my Mediterranean Escape look no? It is a teal colour, with pretty much balance green and blue, I would say at first glance it is more green than blue, but then again, when it comes to teal, I'm pretty much colour blind. So I say it is a neutral teal.

It is matte, and opaque. The brush reminds me of China Glaze, or a little Essie-ish, the point is it's thin and long. Opaque means it is full coverage in the first coat. A second coat is perfection. It dries shiny, but not blinding shine, it's just average shine level. Wear time is good, it lasts relatively long, like regular OPI nail polishes. Currently this is the only Sephora nail polish I own, I used to own Non-fat half caff, which was also one of my favourites until I found OPI Dulce de Leche. Other than the brush, everything else is OPI-ish, except here it is more expensive than OPI. I don't really understand why.

Pictures have been edited to show the most true to life colours. It's cloudy today the colour showed up way too blue. So here are the edited pictures. These look almost identical to my nails atm. 2 Coats, no top coat this time cause I got so bored and lazy when I was doing my nails.. yeah...

Mediterranean Escape

Here we go. The first look I did entirely using my fingers only. No brushes were used.

Foundation Update

Okay so I went out and got myself 2 new foundations. The Makeup Forever Face and Body, and of course, the much hyped Laura Mercier Silk Creme.

Here is just a short little update kind of review, I'll do extensive reviews later when I have more time with them.

Laura Mercier Silk Creme

Um..How should I say this...I liked the packaging, and the amount they give you (35ml and a hefty price tag, but not that bad in my opinion, it's Laura Mercier, what do you expect? A 1.5g pot pf concealer here costs like 30 bucks.) I like the foundation, but it is a bit heavy for me. I wear it by mixing it with a little bit of my toner so to thin it out, because I know Laura Mercier has really pigmented stuff. But it still goes on a little heavy. I like the finish, kind of invisible, but if someone comes close, they can definitely tell you are wearing makeup. My shade is Cream Ivory. Perfect match NC20. If you are NC15 this can be a bit dark for you. And unfortunately this is the palest shade with a yellow undertone. The same shade with a pink undertone is called Rose Ivory.

And while everyone says this is for dry skin, I think not. I think it's for normal skin. You will see patches on your face if you have dry areas, but relatively, it's not that bad. Overall, I like it, but like I said, since I regard invisibility as priority, I would say it's not my favourite.

MUFE Face & Body

I like this, I really do. It is kind of like Nars Sheer Glow to me, except it is slightly...plastic. The texture on the face, while applying it, and also after it dries, feels kind of plastic. It's not a bad thing, because it gives a glow without being sticky and overly rich. I hate the smell though, it has a slight floral fragrance, kind of reminds me of a lighter version of Pond's Cold Cream scent. I HATE the scent of Pond's Cold cream, so this is a personal preference. It's wonderful for Summer, because once it sets, it won't budge. No wet feeling on face, when you touch your face it will be dry. It will stay where it should be staying, and no pooling in pores, none of that crap. And yes, it covers pores extremely well, and it is invisible on skin. It doesn't cover everything, but like what I said with Nars Sheer Glow, it somehow makes face look flawless anyway. It will accentuate dry parts, but looks very natural. The description of it is true, this is like a second layer of skin, only better, glowier and a little plastic looking. A lovely finish. I would say this has now become one of my favourites. I find it similar to Nars Sheer Glow, only glowier. And perhaps a longer wear. (I need to more test on that.)

Here is a picture of me wearing MUFE F&B. My shade is 20, about NC 20. But if you are NC 15 or NW 15 - NW20, you could get away with it. I find it not too yellow, it's pretty neutral, with equal amount of pink and yellow (again, like Nars sheer glow Deaville.) And it covers redness really well!

There is not photo touch-up. This is me, wearing moisturizer and MUFE F&B. One layer. Applied with finger. I apologize for the unnecessary shades, I didn't even know they were on my face when I was taking the photo...

Thanks for reading guys! Have a wonderful week!

xx

MAC Club Feline

I hate the Burmese Beauty Quad (it was an epic MAC fail), I think you've heard enough of me on that. Here is a tutorial on how to use just one single eyeshadow called CLUB from MAC to create a feline cat-eye look, without the hassle and the price-tag of a quad (which scattered sparkle and shimmer everywhere and was chalky like hell).

Club is a duochrome VP finish shadow. It has a sheen of forest green shimmer, but the base is a very red brown. The shimmer is mostly forest green, but can appear differently under different angles. When blended out with a large blending brush, the shimmer will diffuse and only the red brown base will show.

I don't like Club much to be honest. Believe it or not it was the very first MAC eyeshadow I ever bought. At the time I only needed an eyeliner-type of eyeshadow that had a bit of oomph to it. And the MA made me buy Club. I regret it to today, though I don't really know why I don't like it. I just never reach for it.

I really need to do some stuff to my brows...

Cherry Blossom

I love cherry blossoms, and now that they are in full bloom, I decide to do this look. I wish the best upon Japan.

A Little Bit of Sunshine from Pandora

Summer in Pandora! How gorgeous is that!!!??

Too Faced Naked Eyes Look

Here is the look promised. =)

Too Faced Naked Eye Palette

Ahh..I lusted after this for this long, even longer than it's popular sister Natural palette. I'll tell you why in a second. But first, let me tell you how much I WANT, LUST, CRAVE after Urban Decay naked palette!! *From now on..the story goes uh, off topic......* It's like the soul of all eye makeups! It's like the foundation of all looks! And the texture of UD eyeshadow..omg...*goes on and on and on for days...nights...moons...saves 50000000 words* BUT, of course, it's not available still!! I saw one just last week in the Sephora Downtown, but of course, it's the tester! And I was all like "why why why" and she was all like..*continues on and on and on...*

OKAY! Finally, after I tell you how I feel about UD palette, now let me tell you why I wanted this. I'm Asian (duh), and being Asian means when we open our eyes, we don't hide our eyeshadow, simply because we don't have a deep sunken-in eye socket, our brow bones are relatively flat. It has nothing to do with foldings with the lids I tell you! The depth of the crease depends on how deep set your eyeballs are in your sockets. When girls in Asian has folded eyelid, they still don't hide their eyeshadow when they open their eyes. So it has nothing to do with race or whatever jibber jabber people are talking about now a days. It is simply that when eyes are more deep set, eyeshadows look better, and general facial structures look better.

So having said that, it means if we wear coloured shadow, or very shimmery ones, the eyeshadow will be on full display at all times on our lids. So in a way, it's not a shadow anymore, it's more like just colour on eyes. In a sense I think eyeshadow should enhance looks, cooperate with outfits, but it should not be full on "in your face blue" or "in your face orange" at all times. Same goes with shimmer. So it is rather difficult with Asian girls and eyeshadows, at least in my experience.

So, when this palette came out, while others think it is very boring and light palette, I knew it would be my daily thing. I wanted this and last month, I finally just went and get it. And since then, I haven't touched any of my other shadows.....T-T I wear it every day, and I'll show you the swatches.

The glorious packaging.

Vintage Spring Look

Hello, hello! Long time no see!

Here is a new look, I did a vintage version for Spring because everyone is like "Fresh" and "Pastel", and I said: I want "Vintage"!

Argh!!! Please ignore my lashes on my upper lashes line! Every time I wear falsies, I can never catch all my lashes in the curler when I do the final curl to blend them together. So they look so bad I'm so sorry!

Bronzer Obsession Series: Nars Casino

I like how everyone is trapped in the craze for Laguna.

While Laguna is great, I only think it is good used as a bronzer. If you contour with bronzers, and you have a warm undertone, how's Laguna good?!

Now, before you decide to throw stones at me, I need to clarify something. I have a lot of red undertone in my skin, and my skin is ultra sensitive. A slight touch on my face will turn that entire area red, and I embarrass so easily! And when I turn red, I don't turn pink, I turn tomato red.

So for me, naturally, when I was on my search for a contour, I was worrying what everyone else was worrying, I do not want to look like an orange. I mean a tomato and an orange just don't go well together. So I looked into Laguna and almost bought it, because everyone raves how it has no orange at all, how it is a golden brown that is excellent for fair skin's contour.

Except, of course, when I put it on at Sephora, it was...yellow. I am not exaggerating at all. It appeared that I have a dark yellow patch on the side of my face. It was dead obvious that I wanted to contour but uh..failed. Honestly I was puzzled, how did that happen?

Then I saw Casino, it is not by any means darker in the pan, just warmer. What the hell, I'll give it a try too, and I did. And guess what, it looked a lot more natural on me. Though slightly more orange toned than that golden beige brown that Laguna has, it appears much more like a shadow of my own, instead of an obvious use of cosmetics to create a dirty looking hollow.

Lancôme Taupe Craze Look

Enough said. Here comes pictures. It's a very light palette after all, very natural. Did not bother with the liner shade. I do like the palette on my eyes, but I can't be happy with the amount of fall out! Look under my eyes, I did not sweep my eyeshadow on, I pressed them on. I don't do swipes unless I'm blending, and when I blended this look, I was very gentle because the texture of this palette is awesomely smooth. Even then the fall out is still very prominent. Also, as you can see, this is relatively warm on my eyes. I wish wish wish it would be more taupish, as I'm not a big fan of warm looks on my warm skin, they always end up looking too red.

I would also like to point something else out. I know this is supposed to be used to emphasize eyes. According to the tutorial picture inside, I think this quad is for golden hazel eyes. HOWEVER, I don't know what reflects the palette has, but it does make things look more yellow! And especially, my eye whites! And my eye whites are not by any means yellow to begin with, but some how, while my brown eyes do look more clear and golden warm tones of my eyes are brought out as you can see in the picture, my whites also end up looking yellow! Weird eh?

Here we go, enjoy!

Lancôme Color Design 5 Pan Palette in Taupe Craze - The Land of Fall Out

This is brand new line of eyeshadows that Lancome just came out with in February 2011. Promised to brighten eyes and guaranteed smooth and intense pigmentation, long lasting power, and no creasing what so ever. This particular shade, called Taupe Craze, was featured in various red-carpet looks recently, I thought this would be The It palette this year. NO. No, no, no, no, no.

You know, as much as I LOVE Lancome, I'm utterly disappointed! Retailed at $48.00USD + tax, this is a very mediocre product.

OPI You Don't Know Jacques!

I obviously shouldn't like these shades. All nailpolishes I have are all really girly ones. I don't have a single black nail polish, no greys, just pinks, purples, reds, and possibly maroons. (Well ok, this has something to do with boys not liking my dark nails, but I mean...in reality I don't like dark nails either...Especially on nails that has not been properly groomed, polish has not been properly put on, and/or chipping nail polishes, dark polish may make you look like a witch! Or have horrible hands!) Sometimes I have a few bright blues or teals, but that's about it. But this, this is one of those polishes I keep even though it appears to me that I may not really like it. But again and again I purchase it, sometimes I sell it, but soon I would go out and buy another bottle. After a long time, I came to the conclusion that you know what? I really truly like this colour!

Honestly, OPI's Le Collection de France has thus far (still!) been my favourite. Nothing has beaten it yet.

2 coats, with top coat.

China Glaze Chiaroscuro

What a odd little name to pronounce!

And what a romantic demure colour of a nail polish! 

This is my first and only China Glaze, considering where I am in Canada, it is very hard to get my needy evil hands on China Glaze polishes. Fortunately there's OPI here everywhere to calm my hysterical heart for nail polishes, otherwise what kind of psycho state would I be in?!

Anyway the colour is one of my favourites (again..). It is a nude peachy pink, topped with fine detailed sprinkle of pale pale gold and green shimmer. The shimmer is so fine that it creates a sheen rather than sparkle. It looks not mature, nor does it look girly. It looks lady-like. Very romantic and pretty! I HATE shimmery nail polishes (though I don't hate glitters on my ring finger's tip ;) ). All I ever have are cremes and...cremes. I feel like shimmery nail polishes make my nail beds look so wide and manly! And who the hell wants that!? But this one, this is so carefully crafted, finely made to the details to impress, that the shimmer does not indeed do any bad, but to emphasize the gorgeous nude peachy-pink undertone with a slightly odd and surprisingly perfected final touch. (Man I can write! I mean, it's just a nail polish lmao.)

Formula is sheer, 2 coats is a necessity not an option. But like all sheer nail polishes, it is relatively fool-proof. Having used to put up with cremes, now this feels too easy to do. Dries in NO TIME. But not very shiny, has a satin finish that glows rather than shines. So a top coat is necessary. Keep in mind that one coat of this will make your nails look healthy. 2 coats shows the colour. Lasts and lasts and lasts on your nails. Some say it looks like Nars Orgasm blush. I don't think so. The concept is similar obviously, but Nars Orgasm is a lot darker than this, has heavier golden shimmer (not as pale as this polish) and no green cast.

2 coats, with top coat.

OPI Baguette Me Not

Another one of my favourite OPI's. Honestly, of all the OPI's that I have, they are all my favourites. I'm VERY OCD about my nail polishes. When I pick them in store I could pretty much drive everyone insane. And if I come home and I don't like it I would sell it immediately. But with experience I sell less and less now, what I pick on in store now are usually my dead-on favourites, they appear exactly what I imagine they should appear, and a tip is that, nail polishes would always appear at least 1 shade darker than in the bottle once they end up on your tips.

2 coats with clear top coat. Colour appears slightly too red.

MAC Peacocky Collection

Wow, finally the quality of eyeshadow that I actually expected from MAC since the beginning of time.

When I got into makeup at the beginning, I did not care for MAC that much, I only bought their lip products. I was spoiled by the quality of Lancome, Shiseido, Dior, and Nars. (The previous three brands were my mom's favourites for skin care, she's been a lifetime devotee to Shiseido. So I literally started my makeup life with samples from these brands. Nars was my own personal favourite.) Then when I finally started using MAC eyeshadows, I found them.......chalky, and not as creamy and pigmented as I like. Lancome makes eyeshadow with sublime excellence. They are almost like cream to powders, with the intensity of pigmentation that guarantees true-to-pan application on the eyelids.

Now when the Peacocky collection first came out, I was almost disappointed. The lip products did not move me, and the size of these shadows looked like a gimmick, and they must be very costly as well. But when I swatched them, boy was I impressed! They are literally like pressed pigments. They are so smooth and pigmented. Like UD eyeshadows but finer. Still not quite there with Lamcome but what a huge improvement! They contain more than double the amount in a regular MAC eyeshadow, at 6 bucks more here in Canada ($23.50 instead of $17.50). They are promised to not fade or crease on the eyes. Though I don't care much for that, nothing fades or creases with TFSI anyway.

Here we go, I got four of them. They are: Dandizette, Centre Stage, Dalliance, Unflappable.

New Year's Look - Part II

Okay, here is the more neutral one. This is actually my favourite. Very antiqued, tarnished, very classy and yet not too boring.