Dior, J’adore! (My fascination with the house of Dior)

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If I was stuck on Mars and had to pick a single high-end brand that I would need to stick with for the rest of my life, I would probably have to say Dior. 

Dior just happens to be the brand where I love the largest RANGE of products across their base, eye, lash, lip, and fragrance offerings. I might love Make Up For Ever Face foundations, Chanel polishes, Shu Uemura brow pencils, MAC lipsticks, Urban Decay liners, Lancôme powders and skincare, but as a whole, Dior is an “all-rounder” for me. 

As a teen reading fashion magazines for the first time in the 90s, Chanel represented a rather severe, restrained and modernist approach to luxury with its clean lines and sleek black and white. Dior on the other hand, was always about mystery and seduction with its signature midnight-blue and baroque-gold.

I do personally think the late Galliano was about the best thing that happened to them, because he added an incomparable sense of style, fantasy and mystery to a by-then outdated brand. 

My favorite products from the range:

1. Diorskin Nude liquid foundation - despite the name this is actually medium coverage, with a nice velvet finish. When my skin isn’t at its best, I always - ALWAYS - reach for this automatically. It covers without looking unnatural. The trick is to apply it with fingers; many people find it hard to apply with a brush or sponge.
2. Dior lip care products - Lipglow, Lip polish, Creme de Rose, Lip Maximizer… yes, I’ve used all their lip care products for years. But out of all 3, I’d say the only must-try is Lipglow, the legendery color-changing lip balm stick. There are tons of color-changing balms around but most of them are way too pink and unnatural looking. This one never looks like too much.
3. Diorific lipsticks - this iconic range has been around for ages, and it’s still as longwearing and intensely pigmented as ever. I’m not a huge fan of the newer - dare I say wimpier - Rouge Diors but Diorific is still there and still fab.
4. Dior Addict glosses - the main lipgloss line of the brand comes in 3 finishes; Pearly, Sparkling (glittery), and Pure (creme). My favorites are the Pure!
5. Dior eyeshadows - back when Chanel and Lancome had not-so-great shadows, Dior set the bar with their creamy, silky formulas and gorgeous 5-color compacts. (Even though they recently had a price adjustment and are now a heart stopping S$100 per 5 Couleur palette in Singapore.) I love them because while Chanel and Lancome have stepped up their game a lot, you still get better value with Dior in Asia, purely by comparing price per gram of product.
6. Perfumes  - Dior’s perfumes were some of the first I fell for 10 years ago when I outgrew my Gap Dream and Coolwater Woman. Tragically, 2 of my all-time favorite classics (Diorissimo and Hypnotic Poison) were reformulated. Diorissimo is a gigantic 3D fresh-cut lily of the valley, and the original formula is clean with an edge of animal at the same time; “a virgin with a dirty mind”. The newer pour Monsieur formulation pictured above is just “virginal”. Still extremely pretty - but not quite as interesting.  Ditto for Hypnotic Poison, which has become a strangely metallic and watery thing. On the reverse, there is the exquisite J’adore l’Or, which is a much warmer, richer, denser version of the original, with amber notes and the use of exclusive Grasse rose and jasmine absolutes, harvested from fields reserved for Dior. I also like Pure Poison, which is one of those rare “fresh white floral” scents that doesn’t disappear from the skin in an hour. 

Party Look #7: Grown-up Barbie (with MAC Pink Nouveau lipstick)

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For girls who don’t want too serious a look for the holiday season, here’s a quick makeup look using a bright Barbie pink.

The eye look is a slight variation on the Laneige look with red lips done recently, just not as glittery.

A favorite of both Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, MAC Pink Nouveau is THE classic medium pastel pink. If you love the look of Saint Germain but have medium to tan skin and find it too chalky and pale, try Pink Nouveau!

Products used:

Base: Ginvera Green Tea BB cream

Concealer: Make Up For Ever Lift Concealer #2

Powder: ClearLast powder in Medicated Ochre

Brows: Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Pencil in Seal Brown

Eyeshadows: Laniege Pure Radiant Shadow No. 2 Shine Gold

Liquid Liner: Heroine Make Impact Liquid Eyeliner

Mascara: Heroine Make Long & Curl mascara

Blush: NYX Pinky blush

Lips: MAC Pink Nouveau satin lipstick

Party Look #8: Radiant Orchid

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In line with the 2014 Color of the Year, here’s a very simple look that plays with contrasting vibrant colors and contrasting textures (matte and shimmer). 

Products used:

1. Base: Tosowoong Chokchok Shining CC Cushion #21
2. Concealer: MAC Studio Moisture Cover NW20
3. Setting powder: Bourjois Poudre de Riz de Java
4. Brows: Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Pencil in Seal Brown
5. Eyeshadows: MAC Dynamic Duo 4 (matte pink and matte dark purple) and MAC Lustreleaf (shimmery pale green)
6. Liquid Liner: Heroine Make Impact Liquid Eyeliner
7. Lashes: Ardell 110 (these are the basic “invisible” lashes for those who don’t like unnatural looking strips!)

Hello from Tokyo, Japan!

It’s my 2nd day here and I’ve already experienced a hail storm (the clatter sounded like someone pouring ball bearings down the roof, until I saw all the “raindrops” bouncing a foot off the window-ledges) and 2 minor earthquakes; the first around 4.0 ("We’ve got a vibrating bed?" was my thought until our room on the 10th floor started rocking), and then 3.1 the next morning. 

Nonetheless, this is a vibrant city with a unique culture, great food, good shopping, and probably the highest concentration per square mile of the most well-mannered people on earth. 

A greeting or a Thank You is not complete without the requisite bow, and it’s considered highly impolite to talk on your mobile phone in confined areas like public transport because it “disturbs other passengers”.

And any place where cats are honored as harbingers of good fortune, and the countless humble corner drugstores sell Shiseido eyelash curlers for SGD10 (USD8.50 or so) is automatically a winner in my book anyway.

I’ll post about beauty shopping and products soon!

Holiday Look #9: Elven-Green Sheen (glimmering soft colors)

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This is a look done with a light touch, but the glimmering textures and emerald green hue make for quite a statement.

I used 2 Lancôme cream shadows, but do note powders will work just as well if they are quite silky and translucent (most Japanese makeup brands, as well as YSL Beauté use pigments that are sheer and high-sheen enough to substitute for cream finishes).

Products used:

1. Base: Rachel K CC Cream in Sunkissed
2. Concealer: MAC Studiofinish Concealer in NW20
3. Powder: none (I kept things slightly dewy)
4. Brows: Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Pencil in Seal Brown
5. Green Cream Shadow: Lancôme Emeraude Eternelle
6. Silver Cream Shadow: Lancôme Diamant Argenté
7. Green liner: Clinique Quickliner Intense in 14 Intense Peacock
8. Gold powder shadow: YSL Avenue Marceau pelette (this is an Asia exclusive; any soft yellow-gold that isn’t too white or orange would work)
9. Liquid Liner (optional): Heroine Make Impact Eyeliner
10. Mascara: Maybelline Great Lash in Black
11. Blush: The Body Shop Matte Bronzer 01 + Shimmer Waves in Coral (mixed for a tawny peachy glow!)
12. Peach-nude lipstick: MAC Kinda Sexy
13. Peach gloss (optional): Maybelline Lip Polish in Glam 1 - I have it on only on the left face shot, so you can see if you prefer it glossy or matte.

Catrice Liquid Metal Eyeshadows

Was quite thrilled to see these gorgeous shadows at the Catrice counter. 

Holiday Look #10: Dreamy, iridescent purple eye look (Catrice Liquid Metal Eyeshadows)

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No hard edges or harsh colors in this look!

Everything is kept cloudy and soft with just 3 metallic colors. 

One optional step that I used was a matte brown liner, used to subtly rim the lower waterline and the upper lash line.

Products:

1. Base: Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus M-G 04
2. Concealer: MAC Studio Moisture Cover in NW20
3. Powder: ClearLast powder in Medicated Ochre
4. Brown shadow: Catrice Nougat It Right
5. Silver-Lavender shadow: Catrice Mauves Like Jagger
6. Purple shadow: I Nuovi Dust in Ultraviolet
7. Brown liner [optional]: Shu Uemura Lasting Soft Gel Liner in M Brown 02
8. Mascara: Heroine Make Long & Curl mascara

A Beauty Junkie in Asakusa (Beyond Sensoji Temple): Hyakusuke and Calaugh Cat Cafe!

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If you’re a beauty junkie and ever in Asakusa (Tokyo) to visit the majestic Sensoji Temple, make sure to wend your way through the little nearby alleys to visit Hyakusuke, a “blink and you’ll miss it” corner store that has supplied makeup and beauty supplies to geisha and kabuki theater actors for almost 200 years. 

I was slightly taken aback by how modest - and tiny - it was. And you need to really look hard to find what you want. I purchased 3 traditional hand-made Yachiyo brushes. (I didn’t realize it at the time but if you’ve seen those distinctive cottony goat-hair brushes with cane-wrapped handles from premium brands like Nars, Hakuhodo, and Rae Morris, these are the same thing for cheaper.)

In top image from left:

Flat Kabuki brush: these slightly stiff, flat-top brushes were meant to blend and paint on white face paint, but have been adapted by brands like Nars and Rae Morris for use as contouring and finishing brushes. These flat brushes come in a range of lengths and widths. 

Large Yachiyo face brush: this slightly slanted puffy brush was the largest face brush available in Hyakusuke (7cm in length), so it’s not huge but perfect for applying powder and contouring/blush quite precisely, because it’s a lot softer and more cottony than the slanted MAC 168. 

Medium Yachiyo face brush: this is more typical fluffy kabuki brush shape that most people know, but a lot smaller. This shape comes in a myriad of handle lengths.

Most of the brushes I saw range from just around 1500 - 3000 yen. Very reasonable.

I also bought a large jar of the ShikOlive face cream sold in the store, which is a rich but non-greasy moisturizer containing lithospermum root and olive extracts for long-lasting hydration. (This is less well-known than Horse Oil cream, but it’s no less effective - besides being made from pure plant extracts. If you see it around, do check it out.)

Do remember that a lot of the little stores around the Asakusa area do not accept credit, so if you want to stock up on skincare and brushes, or invest it one of those gorgeous little traditional lip makeup bowls coated in red lacquer, you will need to bring plenty of cash. (I would have bought a lot more than the above if I’d know.)

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CALAUGH Cafe

This one’s for the cat lovers.

If you’ve not heard of them before, they’re uniquely Japanese system (although I hear there is at least one in South Korea now). It’s quite normal to pay to spend a bit of time with a few furry friends while having a cup of matcha patte - without the emotional and financial commitment of actually owning a cat. Payment options vary; in some you have to pay an amount upfront for the first hour in the cafe, during which you have access to free-flow snacks and drinks on premise, and in others like Calaugh, you have to order a compulsory dish or beverage, during which your first hour in the store is free, and a small sum is added on for every additional 15mins.

In the cafe, you’ll find quite a number of pampered felines lounging around on couches, and up on shelves or perches. You can go right ahead and pet them (they’re all very gentle and even-tempered as far as cats go, unless you really annoy them or threaten them) or purchase some cat treats for them. When we visited, there were 2 other couples as well as a family of 3 in the cafe.

Some cafes require that you make an appointment before visiting, so do find out ahead of time!

Holiday Look #10: Soft Swallow-Tail Cut Crease (MAC Steamy)

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There were requests for a cut-crease look, so I decided to do one, but keep the “cut” very soft-focus and dreamy instead of too hard and severe.

It IS a more complicated look to do and took more products than usual, so click the pictorial image above to expand it and read instructions clearly. Not a look for you if you don’t have the time and patience for drama!

The key things that were critical to the velvety black intensity at the lash and socket line were a super intense and creamy black liner and a lip brush that I dabbed into dark navy blue powder shadow and used to smooth and even out the liner. 

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Tools: I used 3 Loveybelle brushes in this look because of their specific shapes. Just look for similar shapes if you’re not able to get these!

1. Flat PUPA eyeshadow brush: Flat shadow brush for packing on eyeshadow over lids (available in Jan 2014)
2. PUPA blending eyeshadow brush: Pointed pencil-shaped buffing brush for applying color in tight areas
3. Lip Liner brush: a thinner and firmer synthetic brush that works well with creams and provides a lot of precision even while it blends

Products:

1. Concealer: MAC Studiofinish Concealer NW20
2. Setting powder: Bourjois Poudre de Riz de Java
3. Brows: Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Pencil in Grey
4. Grey/beige highlight: MAC Vex (pale taupe-grey with pink shift)
5. Teal shadow: MAC Steamy (the best teal metallic, hands down; I prefer the consistency of this to alternatives like Urban Decay Shattered)
6. Satin/Matte dark navy shadow: “Roar” from Tarte’s Call of the Wild palette. (I used this because I have it. Don’t buy an entire palette just to get one shade! MAC Contrast is quite similar though more metallic.)
7. Black liner: Maybelline Master Drama in Midnight Drama (you really need something very, very intense and creamy; choose only a pencil like this or a gel liner in a pot) 
8. Red Cherry lashes #16

Holiday Look #11: Lavende et Pêche (OCC Lip Tar in Grandma and Urban Decay Vice 2 palette)

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OCC Grandma is one of my favorite peach/coral lip colors in the world. And the rather tongue-in-cheek name notwithstanding, this is one of the prettiest orange tones around. 

It’s not surprising then that they came up with a sparkly version of the color called Electric Grandma, which I wrote about awhile back, for the ultra-funky folks. Above, the 2nd full-face image was taken wearing Electric Grandma. It’s slightly less pink than original Grandma.

It’s an automatic reaction to pair warm eye colors with corals, but don’t forget that contrasting shades like blues and violets look beautiful with them too.

Products used:

Foundation: Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus All Smooth Makeup #04

Concealer: MAC Studiofinish Concealer NW20

Powder: ClearLast powder in Medicated Ochre

Brows: Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Pencil in Grey

Blush: TheBalm Hot Mama

Eyeliner or Black base: Shahnaz Husain kajal

Black-purple: Urban Decay Vice 2 “Voodoo”

Blue-violet: Urban Decay Vice 2 “Betrayal”

Pink-toned beige: Urban Decay Vice 2 “Dope”

Mascara: Maybelline Great Lash in Blackest Black

Lips: Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics lip tar in Grandma | Electric Grandma

Holiday Look #12: Charcoal and Pink (88 Shimmer Palette and MAC Pink Nouveau)

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A soft charcoal eye with soft pink lips. Unlike the Pink Nouveau look a while back, the lipstick is applied very lightly, and concentrated in the center of the lips, for a slight ombre effect. 

If you like bright pink but find it a bit scary on you, try wearing it this way with a nude pencil instead!

Products:

Base: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation 52

Concealer: MAC Studiofinish Concealer NW20

Powder: none used for this look

Blush: Laniege Pure Radiant Blush #3

Brows: Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Pencil in Grey

Grey cream shadow: Diorshow Fusion Mono in Aventure

Powder shadows: All from 88 Shimmer palette (Coastalscents.com); dark charcoal shade used in step 2 is the darkest shade at the bottom right of the palette.

Black liner: Maybelline Master Drama in Midnight Drama

Mascara: Maybelline Great Lash mascara

Lipliner: Givenchy lip pencil #3

Lipstick: MAC Pink Nouveau

Yves Saint Laurent Gloss Volupté: Voluptuous Kisses in 2014!

Seems every other high-end makeup junkie has a stash of the classic, melt-on-your-lips, gorgeously-packaged Rouge Volupté lipsticks in their drawer, so I’m expecting some of the fanaticism to continue in the new year with the launch of 24 brand new shades of Gloss Volupté. (Shade availability may vary by country, so check with your local counters for more information!)

If you like the plush, lightweight, balm-like feel of the lipsticks, you will probably also love the weightless “melting” feel of these new-generation glosses that give high shine in one light coat without needing to glop on a thick layer of product. No gummy, greasiness or stickiness! 

The adorable lip-shaped applicators come with a hollow well in the center, and a gentle bend, to pick up just the right amount of product, curve over the lip surface comfortably, and distribute product evenly.

I received 4 shades for reviewing/swatching purposes, so unfortunately I won’t be able to show you every single color but the names and numbers are all listed below for reference. 

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Gold - 10 shades with yellow-gold micro-sparkles

N° 1 GOLD* (translucent gold sparks)

N° 2 OR SAHARIENNE

N° 3 ROSE FUSION

N° 4 FUCHSIA VERMEIL

N° 10 OR ROSE

N° 15 GRENADE PÉPITE

N° 19 ROSE ORFÈVRE

N° 20 NUDE CARAT

N° 30 CORAIL LINGOT

N° 49 TERRIBLEMENT FUCHSIA

Iridescent - 5 shades with a metallic shine

N° 101 IRIDESCENT

N° 102 ROSE SATINE

N° 103 OPIUM PERSAN

N° 104 PRUNE ORGANDI

N° 105 BRUN LAMÉ – Limited Edition

Pure - 9 shades with a translucent, shimmer/sparkle-free creme finish

N° 201 PURE* (clear)

N° 202 ROSE JERSEY

N° 203 CORAIL GANDOURA

N° 204 CORAIL TRAPÈZE

N° 205 ROUGE SHANTUNG

N° 206 FUCHSIA ORAN

N° 207 ROUGE VELOURS

N° 208 FAUVE

N° 209 SMOKING* – Limited Edition (translucent black)

*3 SPECIAL GLOSS COATS

These three shades are designed to be applied as a top coat over another GLOSS VOLUPTÉ or a ROUGE VOLUPTÉ lipstick for intense sheen or a special effect.

(Pictured at top: YSL Rouge Volupté Shine N° 16 Orange Impertinent, with Gloss Volupté N° 1 GOLD, N° 19 ROSE ORFÈVRE, N° 202 ROSE JERSEY and N° 206 FUCHSIA ORAN.)

A Find: Mitsuyoshi Makeup!

I certainly wasn’t expecting to find this tiny little gem of a brand/store while walking through Shibuya station the other day. Like Hyakusuke, it honestly didn’t look like anything much from the outside. Until you look closer and realize just how much they carry.

Here are some reasons you should stop by if you happen to be in Tokyo:

1. Crammed into the tiny little store near Exit 6 of the Subway station (near the basement metro-exit of Tokyu department store) are stocks of the full range of Mitsuyoshi theatrical makeup supplies and tools.
2. They sell beautiful natural-hair brushes at reasonable prices (not quite as cheap as Hakusuke in Asakusa but in a much bigger range) from traditional Yachiyo style, to modern shapes and handles. They also sell a huge range of sponges, puffs, containers, AND also lots of palettes for foundations and lip products. 
3. If you love multitasking base/concealer products like pancake or stick foundations, you will find tons of colors and options here. 
4. You can find good quality eyeshadows, loose pigments and cosmetic glitter galore.
5. If you need special effects products (skull caps, fake blood, spirit gum, glues, hair coloring powders, etc) you can find them here.
6. They sell incredible beautiful hand-made lashes - on par with the premiums you see at Shu Uemura - just without the fancy packaging, OR the fancy prices. I bought beaded lashes and black feather lashes for a little over 1500 yen a pair. A fraction of what they’d cost elsewhere at the same quality.
7. If you’re into Geisha/Maiko makeup, you can find everything you need to recreate the look here, from the hard and soft waxes used to prime the skin, to the white face paint, to brushes and puffs, and loose powders. Like Hyakusuke, the brand has supplied kabuki theater actors, dancers, revue stars, and geiko for a long time. 

I actually visited the store twice. Once after spending an hour looking through their extensive product flyer, which lists all the items they stock, AND all the shades available. 

Some fun things I purchased (top image):

1. Lashes
2. Camouflage foundation 
3. Super-pigmented, long-lasting eye/lip paints that I’m mainly intending for use on the lips. These things are so pigmented, they are like easy-to-use, non-bleeding, portable (and cheaper) lip tars.
4. A canister of Tonoko powder. These matte loose powders are designed to be mixed into white powders for geiko and kabuki actors to shade/contour their faces after the white paint and powder go on, but make fantastically economical blushes (that whole shaker cost me about S$6+).
5. A Pro eye blending brush (the most expensive thing here at 1980 yen (about S$36), but far more reasonable than anything I would have been able to find at this quality from a mainstream brand)
6. Blood Paint. No I’m not planning for a super-early Halloween. These watery-gels are PERFECT alternatives for lip/cheek tints and according to the flyer, usable on clothing as well. They even come in 5 or 6 different tones, depending on whether you prefer your “blood” to be more brown, more rose, more red, etc.

I’ve occasionally seen Mitsuyoshi products on places like eBay and Rakuten, but the prices are usually quite high, so I can’t say I recommend buying online. More of a must-visit if you’re traveling!

Low-end pretties: Canmake, Coffret D’or, Rimmel 

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Yes, this is proof there are low-end drugstore beauty products that work as good as a lot of higher-end ones. And here are 3 of the ones I’ve been addicted to since I got them.

The Coffret D’Or blush/highlighter compact which caused quite a lot of hearts to flutter on Instagram. Plus, it’s on the slightly paler side, which makes it great as a base for a halo effect under more intense blushers.

Tip: Don’t just get sucked in by pretty over-sprays and beautiful visuals on blusher/highlighters like these. ALWAYS swirl all the colors together and swatch the mixture to see if you can actually see any color. There are a lot of beautiful looking compacts that are either too pale or too chalky (it looks like nothing but a lifeless beige/white) to do anything useful.

Canmake Cheek Brush 01 is made with very soft synthetic bristles, ombre-ed pink at the tips for maximum cuteness, doesn’t shed, and costs very little. What’s not to love?

Rimmel Marshmallow Look lipstick in 007. URGH why is it that Rimmel had to be discontinued in Singapore just when they came out with quite a lot of interesting products? One of the things I instantly gravitated to in Tokyo drugstores was the Marshmallow Look lipstick range. I don’t know what exactly makes these lipsticks “marshmallow-like”, but they’re just perfectly good creme lipsticks to me. And that pinky-beige nude, 007, is just perfect for a balance between mod and girly.

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(Photo notes: Anna Sui “tiara” ring with lavender stones on top-left.)

P.S. Shots were taken by the window so they might look slightly paler than the actual!

Blooming Pink Cheeks!

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Was inspired by the makeup look I saw on quite a lot of fashionable young women when I was in Tokyo recently. 

Instead of eyes or lips, they favored a rather exaggerated flushed cheek as the focal point of their makeup. But it wasn’t just a case of slapping on a load of blusher. There’s a specific look where they mimic a glowy, radiant effect and the blush color is intense but not heavy or dark looking. If you’re extremely fair-skinned, you just need to apply a very neon-colored blush over face powder.

Extra Tip: Bring your blush just a tiny bit in closer towards your nose than usual. This helps exaggerate that cute wind-blown, doll-like effect, instead of the typical blush along the cheekbones.

If you’re not porcelain (and most of us aren’t), you can imitate that effect easily by applying a matte or semi-matte pale highlighter or blush as a color base for a brighter, more intense blush to “float” and look more color-true on top of it. If you own those multi-color blushes with a paler shade, that’s perfect for this use.

Products used: 

Foundation: Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Makeup 04

Concealer: MAC Studiofinish Concealer NW20

Setting powder: ClearLast powder in Medicated Ochre

Shadows: Benefit Groovy Kinda Love kit 

Liquid Liner: Heroine Make Impact Liquid Liner

False lashes: Diamond Lash flared half-strips (cut full strip lashes if you can’t find half strips)

Mascara: Maybelline Great Lash Mascara

Blush (pale): Etude House Face Color Corset #2 Lavender Fit

Blush (intense): Mitsuyoshi Tonoko Powder in 2P - try a hot pink like MAC Peony Petal (pictured above) or NYX Pinky

Lipliner: Givenchy Lip Pencil #3

Lipstain: Benefit Benetint (apply a little clear balm over for some extra sheen if you want)

An Unexpected Xmas Package: Bobbi Brown Telluride Glow Collection

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Received an expected package from Bobbi Brown the other day, and totally went weak at the knees when I saw the Telluride Glow kit, which I’d thought was a Nordstrom/US-exclusive from Fall 2013 and wasn’t expecting to see here!

The coffret is filled with 5 wearable, neutral products typical of Bobbi Brown, including:

A 6-shade Brown Smoky Eye palette including:

1. Bone
2. Blazing Star 
3. Woodrose
4. Pink Copper
5. Heather Rose
6. Smokey Brown

A Telluride Illuminating Bronzing Powder - a gorgeous tawny matte bronzer with a pink hue, so it doubles as blush AND contour, and I expect will be gorgeous for anyone from light-medium to olive/caramel skins. 

A Long-Wear Gel Liner in Black Ink - the classic bestseller

An Extreme Party Mascara in Black - a mascara that’s better for those who like a cleaner, more natural look

A High Shimmer Lip Gloss in Bellini - a warm beige-nude with mauve-pink sparkles (applied over a thin layer of nude pencil in lip swatch image)

The 2 stars for me are Bellini gloss and Telluride bronzer though the shadows are pretty and very wearable! Am trying to confirm with the team if this kit and the shades inside are all still available in the permanent collection or in Asia even. (If anyone knows, do let me know!)

Metallic Pistachio-Olive Eye Pictorial

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Here’s a quick eye look for fans of green, or those of you with hazel or green eyes. (Yes, just because you have green eyes doesn’t mean you need to avoid green shadows. Just avoid greens that are much stronger and brighter than your eyes if you don’t want their color to appear a bit duller.)

Color theory aside, there’s not rule that there are specific colors anyone must or must not wear. Remember there are a lot of other factors than eye color. Your hair, your skin, the rest of your makeup, your outfit, your personal preferences…

This is an eye look that would go with basic nudes, a beige-pink, or even a translucent red gloss on the lips. It does go with bright pink as well but I would avoid that just because it would look a bit over-the-top for the day and quite “Barbie”. But it’s up to you!

Products used:

1. Concealer: MAC Studiofinish Concealer NW20
2. Brows: Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Pencil in Grey
3. Olive and dark bronze shadows: Dior 3 Couleurs Smoky palette in 481 Smoky Khaki 
4. Green gold shadow: MAC Golden Olive pigment
5. Black shadow: (use one from anywhere!)
6. Black liquid liner: Heroine Make Impact Liquid Liner
7. Olive metallic pencil: Clinique Quickliner Intense in Intense Peridot
8. Mascara: Maybelline Great Lash in Black

Addiction Cosmetics (A very small introduction!)

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Of all the Japanese makeup artist brands on the market, one of the newest and most exciting kids on the block is Addiction. While it’s not internationally available yet, I’m hoping it will be very soon, given its rising popularity.

From what little info I was able to gather, it’s better known for its incredibly pigmented shadows, its concealers, and its liquid blushers (in a paint-on bottles like those from Majolica Majorca etc). 

I obviously had to pick out just a few of my favorite items, so after lots of swatching at the counter, I went with 4 shadows and 2 cheek colors that looked incredibly silky and pigmented, and their high-coverage blemish concealer in a pot. I had wanted to try the liquid blushers, but a lot of the shades were out of stock already, so I had to give those a miss. 

They had beautiful eyeshadow quads as well, but I felt those were a bit expensive for the amount of product, and I didn’t want all 4 shades in each quad, so I decided to stick with the monos. 

Price-wise, it’s not cheap though. Expect prices similar to RMK and Shu Uemura. 

[Requested] Dior 809 Petal Shine Eye palette Tutorial (Day to Night!)

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Here’s a soft day-to-night look using one of my all time favorite eyeshadow palettes from Dior. The colors are quite soft, so it’s not often used for evening looks, but here’s a way to get the drama without destroying that soft hazy purple luminescence!

First thing to remember is you don’t need to use the same palette! Just look for colors that are similar in palettes like the 88 Shimmer or even the 88 Metal Mania. Just look for something with soft shimmery beiges, a soft pink, and one medium bright purple)

Products used:

Foundation: Make Up For Ever HD Foundation #120

Concealer: Make Up For Ever Lift Concealer #2

Brows: Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 in Grey + Canmake Brow mascara 01

Powder: Bourjois Poudre de Riz de Java (for a little glow)

Cheeks: Chanel Joues Contraste in 44 Narcisse (MAC Pink Swoon or elf Pink Passion are both quite similar)

Eyeshadows: Dior 5 Couleur in 809 Petal Shine

Eyeliner (day): I used Clinique Quickliner Intense in Intense Aubergine, a plum metallic, to bring out the purple hues in the look. A brown like Lancome’s Hypnose Khol will make the overall look more neutral.

Eyeliner (night): Something very dense and black and creamy like Maybelline Master Drama liner in Midnight Drama will give you intensity while allowing you to smoke it out with shadow.

Mascara: Lancome Hypnose Dolleyes in Black

Lipstick: MAC Creme Cup (if you have medium or tan skin, Maybelline’s Warm Me Up is a more flattering option)

Lipgloss: YSL Gloss Volupte in Rose Orfevre, a soft peachy-nude with gold sparkles