Christmas 2010, pt 2: Beauty Bounty
My obsession with makeup is no mystery to my family and friends, so I always get all sorts of beauty goodies as Chrsitmas presents. And I made out with a bonus this year (haven't gotten one of those in a while!), so I decided to add a few items to my stash. Behold this year's bounty:
MAC #35 lashes and lip gelee in Bubble Lounge, 3 Make Up For Ever aqua creams (shades 5, 14, 15), a Benefit creaseless cream shadow in Get Figgy, a set of 2 lip glosses and 2 nail polishes (including black polish, which I've been dying to try!) and to top it all off - a Sephora gift card. Am I loved, or am I loved?!
Today, I tried out a subtle eye look with the MUFE #15 aqua cream spread all over my lid, and up a little past the crease. I toped it off with a thin layer of Benefit's creaseless cream shadow in Get Figgy on my lid, patted gently into my lash line. I love how effortlessly these two formulas blend and fade into each other.
Labels: Benefit, MAC, Make Up For Ever
Smokey Step-by-Step
A few posts back, I featured some pictures on the way I do a
smokey eye and got a request from a reader for a step-by-step on how I achieve the look. I took a few shots over the weekend, and now have the utmost respect for bloggers who do the demo thing on every post. It requires some work, but I think it's actually helped me perfect my technique! So without further ado, to get to this:
You must do this:
Start out by spreading a rich brown colored cream eyeshadow as your base. I use
Too Faced Lockdown in Dramarama.
Spread it evenly over the lid, but don't get too close to the brow bone.
Next, line your upper lash line with a rich black liner. As always, my go-to is
Make Up Forever's Aqua Eyes.
Next, take a brown grey powder shadow and pat it over your lid, blend it slightly into your crease. I use Korres eyeshadows, which I think are being discontinued because
they're on super sale on Sephora.com and KorresUSA.com.
Too add some depth and dimension to your lids, layer the brown grey shadow with a purple shadow. (again, I use Korres for this). The result should look something like this (color on my right eye is better blended):
Next, apply a Kohl liner to your lower lash & water line. Dip a flat liner brush into the grey brown shadow, and blend it with the liner to create a smudged line under your lashes. Here are the tools I use (hat snuck in there...it's not necessary to create this look :)
You can also use an actual smudging brush. I've had some recent success with
Sonia Kashuk's.
Don't be afraid to create a thicker lower lashline than you normally would -- smudge, smudge, smudge! It's a key part of the smokey look!
Finish off with mascara & curl and you're good to go!
Labels: Korres, Make Up For Ever, Sonia Kashuk, Too Faced
Smokey for Sephora!
I do a smokey eye with greys and plums that's heavier on the lids/lighter on the lower lashline than a traditional smokey eye. Instead of heavy shadows for the lower lashline, I use a kohl liner. The result is polished enough for a big meeeting, but edgy enough to stand out. I use Korres and Too Faced shadows, plus Make Up For Ever liners for this look.
tools of the smokey trade:
Labels: Korres, Make Up For Ever, Sephora, Too Faced
goldenGrey Sunday
How did you spend your Sunday? I spent mine hamming it up in front of a camera trying on piece after piece of cool-ass vintage picked out by my most stylish friend -- it was pretty much girl heaven. You can see some behind-the-scenes pics from the shoot
here on Jo Anne's blog .
She asked me to help with makeup, so I brought a few (hundred) of my most essential products:
We started the day around 1:30, then 800 shots later, we were done! Think it was around 8:30 when we wrapped, and it was honestly the fastest 7 hour time lapse of my life. Time flies when you're checking things off your 'things to do before I turn 30' list!
As far as makeup went, she asked for cat eyes and pale lips. This is me after I got home, so my makeup isn't the freshest in this shot, but it'll give you an idea of where we were going with it --
On my eyes: MAC eyeshadow in Carbon as liner, layered over Make Up Forever Kohl Pencil, 1K. MAC #7 lashes.
Nervous but excited to see the final shots!!
Labels: MAC, Make Up For Ever
Lyrics and Lipgloss: Rihanna
First things first: I looooooooooooooove Prince. I am obsessed with him on a scary level and will probably do a lyrics and lipgloss feature on him soon. As mentioned in my earlier post, the illustration you see here comes curtesy of my talented artist of a sister. Guess you can say she supports my *other* addiction.
But back to the task at hand....so not *quite* a sucess, but I had a lot of fun trying Rihanna's color combo out. Here's my recipe for this look:
Eyes -
Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes liner in Purple 11L, Blue 3L and Shu Uemura's Eye Light Pencil for highlighting the brow bone and inner corners.
Lips -
Korres Lip Butter in Quince layered with Givenchy Lip Gloss in Fuscia
Cheeks -
Benefit Creaseless Cream shadow in Samba-dy Loves Me as contour blush
On my Head -
Snake Chain headband from Forever 21 - this one is grey, the one available online is silver
I got the colors down pat, but I need to work on my face swagger. Rihanna is too fierce for me to keep up with!!! Here's a closeup of my eye tools for this look. From top to bottom, it's Purple, Eye Light and Blue.
Labels: Benefit, Korres, Lyrics and Lipgloss, Make Up For Ever, Shu Uemura
Misty Blue
For some reason, I've been craving to wear blue in any capacity lately, face included. Maybe I miss the blue skies in all this rain! Make Up For Ever's array of colors and famous Aqua Eyes formula is helping me big time with this. There are three blues to choose from, not including the blue-greens. I settled on Majorelle Blue 15L (metallic royal blue) and love how easy it is to apply on the entire lid. The pigment in this is just killer. I'm on the hunt for a sexy, fun look to sport for the BF's 30th birthday which is coming up this week, and the blue stuff is in the running.
Labels: Make Up For Ever
The Green Stuff
I'm not really a superstitious person, but if you hail from a Filipino family you can't help it if a little of the rituals and 'omens' rub off on you. So when my palms were super itchy last week, it came as no surpise to me when the president of my company announced that our paycuts were being reversed.
You see, Itchy palms = Influx of mula in Filipino Superstition Land. Now, just because I'm getting my money back doesn't mean that I'm on a one-way track to Splurge City. In the 6 months the paycut has been in effect, I learned a thing or two about saving, and those are lessons I won't soon forget. So in honor of the green stuff, I did a few looks (one on me, one on my lil sis) with green shadows and liners.
I used Make Up Forever Aqua Eyes in Bronze Green 5L, the green color in the Too Faced Glamour to Go 2 palette and a SUPER old limited edition turquoise shadow from MAC....can't tell what the name is anymore, but even the little case it comes in is turquoise.
Labels: MAC, Make Up For Ever, Too Faced
No Pharcyde for Us
This is a weird angle, but I liked how it showed the wispiness of these lashes.
Though we didn't actually get the chance to see Pharcyde at Yoshi's SF (show was sold out when we got there), I had a great time dining out with friends who were ALL smart enough to get advance tickets. The BF and I were the only shmucks who had to leave at show time. Still, the food was great (the Spicy Geisha roll was actually kinda CRUCIAL) and it's always nice to get a lil dolled up for a change in scenery when there's finally a break in the rain.
And by dolled up, I mean more fun with smoky eyes! I busted out only the grey shades in the
Korres kit this time. And lined my bottom waterline with loads of
Aqua Eyes. I also used my Blinking Cool MAC lashes, and pushed them down for a sleepy/dreamy effect. These lashes are great, but beware the bright camera flash - it washes them out completely, as evidenced in the pic below. I love them for their natural, fluttery effect but would go for thicker lashes at a photo-heavy event.
Labels: Korres, Make Up For Ever
Lyrics and Lipgloss: Beyonce Video Phone
Video Phone mission ALMOST accomplished. I think this is how good it's gonna get, since I don't have Beyonce's lighting...or microbangs...or face... I compensated for my lack of bangs with a headband, not much I could do about the lighting & face thing at this stage of the game. However, my boyfriend (the photographer) did a good job of not laughing at my attempts to copy Queen B, so I guess that's a different kind of mission accomplished :)
B2:
E2:
This time with feeling--sort of. This is why Beyonce is famous and I'm not!:
Here's a closer/brighter view:
I used: MAC Lipstick in Doubonet, Nars Gloss in Blood Work, Korres bronzer, the usual suspects on my eyes (Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes, Too Faced Lockdown shadow)
Labels: Korres, Lyrics and Lipgloss, MAC, Make Up For Ever, Music Videos, Nars, Too Faced
VIB Status
Thanks to my VIB (Very Important Beauty Insider) status at Sephora, I spent my entire Sunday shopping for gorgeous Christmas presents for my VIP friends. All VIBs received a code/coupon for 20% off at Sephora & Sephora.com (TWENTY percent!!) I LOVE special-invitation shopping events. Am a sucker for them ... so rest assured I went to town. I can't reveal everything I bought, because like I said, l bought a ton of presents, but I made sure to pick up a few stocking stuffers for myself:
MAKE UP FOREVER Khol Pencil in Black 1. I've been wanting to experiment with a more smudged liner look, and I think the kohl pencils are the best tools of the trade for this. I've heard great things about Chanel's kohl pencil, but because of my affinity for MUFE's Aqua Eyes, I feel I owe to the brand to give their kohl a shot. So excited!
Tarte Crown Jewels Lipgloss Multi-Gift Set: I've been eyeing this forevs. It's a set of 15 glosses (FIFTEEN!!!) crowned with Sephora's Natural Seal of approval. I never dissect the list of ingredients before purchasing a lipgloss, but I'd like to start making this a habit. Think about how long that stuff sits on our lips and how much of it we accidentally ingest. It might as well be non-toxic. On a happier note, these beauties are packaged five to a box, so I technically have 2 sets to give away and 1 to keep for myself. I plan to mix & match my gift boxes so my friends get a nice collection of neutrals, berries and glitter shades. I'm going to be the BEST Santa EVER!!
Too Faced LOCKDOWN Ultimate Creaseless Cream Eye Shadow in Bedroom Eyes. You've seen this product in so many past entries, surely you know I'd jump at the chance to stock up at a discount. I didn't buy more than one tube though, for two reasons:
1) 1 tube lasts a century, so the unused tubes would sit idle and when this happens ... (continue to #2!)
2) the formula tends to "separate" when not in use. The oilier ingredient separates from the pigment and you have to shake the tube before it's wearable. It's sort of a pain, so one tube for now ... still juiced though!!
Expect a full report when the goods come in.
Labels: Make Up For Ever, Sephora, Tarte, Too Faced
My Cleopatra Makeover
This year, I decided to dress up as Cleopatra for Halloween. My boyfriend was Marc Anthony. Here's a shot of us hammin it up:
To emulate the Queen of the Nile I used the following goodies - I was all about my eyes that night:
Too Faced Eyeshadow in Crushed Amethyst
Make Up Forever Aqua Eyes 0L Black
Red Cherry Lashes #523 -- for drama!
Vincent Longo Hydro Stick in Luna Bronze -- this creates a gorgeous dewy glow all over my face and is perfect for a soft highlight on cheekbones
Make Up Forever HD Microfinish Powder -- to set the record straight
Vincent Longo Lip Vinyl in Felini Red -- bold, but totally wearable red
Here's a shot of us on the PACKED BART ride home (we were soooo comfortable!):
Labels: Make Up For Ever, Red Cherry, Too Faced, Vincent Longo
Wedding Look #2
I am fresh from Puerto Vallarta, but wanted to post the second look that I put together (and unltimately ended up going with) for the wedding.
I am going through serious beach withdrawals, but am happy to be back in the Bay Area's beautiful mild weather. It was HOT & HUMID in Mexico. These beauties held up pretty well in the thick Puerto Vallartan air (MAC lipstick in California Dreamin, MAC Paint in Architechture to sculpt cheeks, Laura Mercier creme eyeshadow in Bronze, MAC Painpots in Quite Natural, Stila all over shimmer #2, Make Up Forever Aqua Eyes, Givenchy Gloss Interdit in Glamorous Fuscia):
I went with Fuscia lips because I thought they would show up better in picutres. I was right! Here is my headshot from the trial run (that's my cutie puppy Domino). Will post pictures from the wedding as soon as I can upload them.
Labels: Givenchy, Laura Mercier, MAC, Make Up For Ever, Stila
Glam in 8 minutes: My BART Routine
My 40 minute train ride into San Francisco every morning consists of a little nap, some reading, some journaling, and this 8 minute makeover:
NOTE: it wasn't always doable in 8 minutes. This routine & product collection has been perfected over 6 straight years of BARTing into work. That's approximately 1,440 morning trips on Bay Area Rapid Transit!!
Here's a shot of my starting lineup (notice the packaging on some of these -- I use them ALL THE TIME):
The real beauty of this routine is it can be done whilst sitting on your ass, and without the use of a brush. All you need are your FINGERS! You'll have to get over the fear of everyone gawking at your audacity to conduct a full makeover on the morning commute. The truth is, everyone is either too sleepy or too engrossed in their Op-Ed to care. So, to the lineup. I've pictured them above in order of application.
Origins Quick, Hide! Easy blend concealer: I've been using this stuff for YEARS, and it's terrific if you don't like the full-full-coverage look. I like my skin to look real, so I only dab this on my problematic areas (lil under the eyes, down the nose, a few dots on the cheeks) and it works great. I use the 03 Medium shade. This takes a minute MAX.
Too Faced Lock Down: Apply this fantastic creme eyeshadow on your lids, and blend with your ring finger (it has the softest touch) up to as close to your brow as you like. I only use one color in my BART routine: Bedroom Eyes. Too Faced has perfected the creme eyeshadow, as far as I'm concerned. I use cremes 99.9% of the time, so I've tried a lot of them, and this one is by far THE BEST in terms of blendability and staying power (I NEVER need a touchup). Application takes 2 - 3 minutes, depending on how much you put on, how much you have to blend.
Makeup For Ever Aqua Eyes eyeliner: This doesn't provide as thin a line as I would like, unless I sharpen it before each use, but in terms of depth of color and lasting color, nothing beats it. I wear contacts, and this never irritates them (KEY factor in determining your eyeliner life partner!) I line my top lash line & lower water line. 1 minute.
Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara: As I've mentioned before, this is my tried & true. Been using this for about a year and a half and all attempts to try other brands have resulted in me running back to this, and begging its forgiveness. Takes me back everytime. Sometimes I plus up my lashes with Estee Lauder's Lash Primer Plus. If you're looking for a lash primer, this stuff is the business:
If you add in this primer step, the mascara application takes 2 minutes. Mascara alone would take 1 minute.
MAC Paints in Architecture: I'm a fan of the chiseled & blushed cheeks of the 80's, so I use this cream to create the illusion of cheekbones. I smear & blend it right underneath my cheekbone. Takes 30 seconds!
Givenchy Gloss Interdit: As you know, I purchased two of these bad boys just recently. They're my newest edition to mission: BART beauty. I use the Coral Frenzy color more than Glamorous Fuschia, but I like them both. This takes 30 seconds, too.
And that's a wrap. Follow the steps above and you should be good to go & ready to work!
Labels: Make Up For Ever, Origins, Tarte, Too Faced
