January 31, 201

This is the look I wore to our date today. I was feeling cheerful and giddy so I wore bright greens and teals to reflect my mood. I also wore Vegas Volt which I only wear in the summer when I have a tan. I softened it for my winter skin with pinky nude lipgloss.

Hope you guys like this, and hope you all had an amazing weekend!

Face
Cover FX Primer
LW Portfolio
MUFE HD 118 (Flesh)
Ben Nye powder
Sculpt
Cantaloupe blush - Please tell me I don't need Ripe Peach??
BB Apricot Shimmer Brick

Eyes
Painterly p/p - base
Kelly Green p/m - with mm for lid base
Rated R e/s - inner 1/3 lid
MUFE #93 - mid 1/3 lid
Teal p/m - outer lid
Prussian e/s - outer v
Gorgeous Gold e/s - above crease
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
UD Covet 24/7 - lower lashline
Annabelle Lapis e/l - to line
Lancome Hypnose mascara

Lips
Vegas Volt l/s
Underage l/g









This one is in natural lighting

January 31, 2010

So I wasn't supposed to blog today but the hubby had to do some work so I might as well get a couple of posts in as I won't be able to tomorrow.

For this edition of Sunday's Fave Post, I've selected Scranie's post on OPI Hong Kong Swatches.

So I know this is a little biased as I've been uber excited about this collection for a while now. But I just loved her swatches and she confirmed my lemmings for me (Jade is the New Black, Meet Me on the Star Ferry, Suzi Says Fen Shui). In general, I always trust Scrangie's swatches and her dupes. If you don't already follow her (but who isn't?), definitely check her out. Her nailpolish swatches are the best out there.

Have you seen Scrangie's post with the new OPI swatches? What did you think? What was your favourite blog post of this past week?

January 30, 2010

Tomorrow is Marc and I 7th anniversary; we've been together 7 years and married for 2.5 years. I cannot believe time went by so quickly. I'm staying away from computer and all that tomorrow as we will be having one of our old school dates: taking the train from Carleton University (where we met) to go to the movies and then eat at Kelsey's! We do the fancy dinner thing on our wedding anniversaries but for the dating ones, it's best to remember the time when we had no car, house, jobs...lol! Just two poor engineering students in love, hehe!

I thought I share some pics of us with you guys for this occasion. So yeah, this is not a makeup post :D


This pic is pretty old. Probably taken in our first or second year of dating (2003/2004) at our favourite martini lounge. My sister played around with the setting of this and I don't know where the original is anymore :(


This I believe is New Year's Eve 2006. This is also one of our favourite clubs we used to frequent when we were still at school. I actually remember that night quite clearly despite the alcohol!


One of our engagement shots from May 2008. This photoshoot was an amazing experience for us and we both loved the photographer's work. He also shot our wedding (of course). We will be going back to him for our 10th anniversary. This is also Marc's face engagement pic we did.


This was taken right after our wedding ceremony. I like this picture as we were so in the moment and happy that I didn't even notice the photographer taking this picture. I know some ppl get stressed at their wedding but our wedding day was truly best day of my life.


This one was taken about a year ago at my 27th b-day party. I feel like we have grown together and I kinda see it in the pictures. I was lucky to have found a man who appreciates my impatience, my chattery personality and my makeup addiction amongst all things.

Hope you guys liked this pictures. Enjoys your weekend! I will be back on Monday :)

January 29, 2010

MAC's newest collection, Spring Forecast is scheduled to be released in North America on February 11th. I was lucky enough to be invited to a preview party at my local freestanding store on February 2. Here's the invite:



You can open it like kinda like a book and each page has one of the selected trend colours (pink, purple, coral and neutral/bronze). This will be my second time attending a preview party. I sure hope it's not as crowded as the Hello Kitty event.

I'm trying to build a wishlist for this collection as this is the first MAC collection that has actually grabbed my attention since Style Black. I think it's mostly coz it's a huge collection and also organized by colour category so there's something for everyone. You can find full collection description and swatches on Specktra. The swatches look positively drool worthy!

Luckily, I will be getting some cash from hubby for my b-day (which happens to be three days after the event). It's actually the first time I'll be using hubby's money to buy makeup; I feel kinda odd about it, lol! Based on the swatches I've seen, these are the products I'm considering:

- Perky and Straw Harvest e/s
- Purple Quad
- Neutral pigment set
- Bronzillla l/s
- Bubblegum or Victoria l/s (Victorian looks like a colour that usually clashes with my skintone though)
- Electric Fuchsia l/s

Have you guys seen the pictures from this new collection? What's on your wishlist (if any)? Who's also going to a preview party?

January 29, 2010

Since I have to work tomorrow, I came home a bit earlier and can do a couple of posts before it's time to go to dinner with the hubby. Hope everyone will have an amazing Friday night!

Jen from Jen's beauty blog is having a 6-month giveaway and I decided to the the makeover part of it just for fun. My look isn't really artsy or anything just colourful. I was inspired by sunset as you can tell. Wish me luck! Here's the look:

Face
Cover FX primer
LW Portfolio
MUFE F&B #32
Ben Nye Translucent Powder
Sculpt
Otherwordly blush

Eyes
Rubenesque p/p - base
Goldmine e/s - inner 1/3 lid
Melon p/m - mid 1/3 lid
MUFE #5 - outer 1/3 lid
MUFE #75 - crease
MUFE #39 - outer v (I told you I use this one a lot!)
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
BB Cobalt ink g/l
Lancome Hypnose mascara
Gosh Gold Cadillac e/l - waterline

Lips
Powersuite Matten
Melon p/m - centre of lips

January 28, 2010

Happy Thursday everyone! Seems like we've almost survived another week. Mine at work hasn't been as crazy as it used to be, though I can see signs of it picking up next week and I even have to work on Saturday :(

For this week's poll, I wanted to ask your opinions on drugstore (low end) vs department store (high end) makeup. When shopping for beauty products, do you tend to exclusively go for drugstore or high end?

In general, I stick mostly to medium to high end products. Most of my makeup stash consists of MAC, MUFE, Nars and now also Bobbi Brown. I have had good experience with these brands colour selection and pigmentation. However, there are some great drugstores gems out there. For example, I don't think your mascara HAS to be high end. True, I love my Lancome Hypnose but I also use Cover Girl Lashblast on a daily basis. I also have been using Annabelle's kohl liners and eyeshadows since highschool and I still love them. I'm also now getting into their lipliners and I think they're great quality. Other drugstore gems are Gosh velvet liners and NYX jumbo pencils and loose pigments. I tend to stay away from drugstore foundations though. I have a more uncommon skintone so I always have a hard time with colour match.

In conclusion, would say I'm 80% high end and 20% low end makeup user!

What is your take on this topic?

January 27, 2010

I looooove Essie's spring collection, the Art of Spring. I like pastel colours and there are plenty of pastels in this collex. Neo Whimsical is a dusty baby pink, that's the best I can describe it. It applies a little on the liquidy side but the colour is just gorgeous. I usually have good luck with Essie's staying power on me and this one is no exception.

This swatch is three coats:

January 26, 2010

I'm actually not digging my face in either one of these pics. I absolutely need to do something about the fine hair above the lips (didn't have time to do it last weekend). I did like this colour combo though so I thought I post the look anyway. We had quite bit of snow today, right on top of the freezing rain of yesterday and hence there were tones of accidents on the highway. Gotta love winter driving!

Here's the look with my weird face. Again, excuse the stupid fine hair, will be removed tonight, I promise guys!

Face
LW concealer
SSF NW25
Ben Nye Powder
Cantaloupe blush

Eyes
Greenstroke p/p - base
Lucky Green e/s - inner 1/3 lid
Crest the Wave e/s - middle of the lid
Solar White e/s - on top of CTW
One Off e/s - outer lid
Plumage e/s - outer v
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
UD Stash 24/7 - to line

Lips
Myth l/s - I see an obsessing beginning. I feel like I wear this everyday!
A random Dior peachy gloss

January 26, 2010

It's that time of the month again, I mean it's time to list my fave products of the months and state why they made it to top five. Based on the survey I had about ppl's fave type of posts on Beautyspot, my favourites seemed to be popular so this will be reoccurring post near the end of each month.

Here's the picture of everything together:


1. Nars Damned matte velvet pencil
This lipstick has been on my blog's side bar for a month now as "product of the moment". There is a reason for that. Nars Damned is the most gorgeous garnet shade I've ever seen. I tend to wear lotsa darker lips in colder weather and this colour is just perfect. Another plus is the ease of application with the velvet pencil. You don't really need a liner and the texture is sorta satiny so it doesn't dry lips like other mattes. Nars Damned is a bit pricey but I know I will buy it again when I run out. I've had it since late November and it's been used quite a lot.

2. Annabelle Flame Lip Liner
I just recently gotten into the habit of wearing lipliners and I must say that it makes a huge difference when I'm wearing red, fuchsia or dark lips. I started using Annabelle's liners coz I hears good things about them from fellow Canadians and I also loved the price. I gotta says I was not disappointed. Annabelle's Flame lip liner is especially my favourite as I did tones of red lips/retro looks this January and this liner worked under all of my red lippies; from deeper ones to bright blue tone ones. As of now I have three of their lipliners but I will definitely be getting more.

3. Bobbi Brown Cobalt Ink Gel Liner
I've never met a navy coloured eyeliner I didn't like. But I love the texture and ease of application of Bobbi Brown's gel liners. They're much like MAC's fluidlines but there are more colours to choose from and it's also a bit longer lasting. I love this particular shade (and all dark blues), as I find lining my lids with dark blue really brings them out the golden flecks in my eyes or you can say makes my eyes pop!

4. MAC Light Affair Nail Polish
This gorgeous pale gray with touches of lavender shade was released with MAC's Love Lace on Boxing Day. I usually have a soft spot for "interesting" (read: unique) soft shades and this nail polish immediately caught my attention. I don't usually buy MAC nail polishes but this shade was just too chic to pass up. I also love how it applies and lasts on my nails. I've been wearing Light Affair at least once a week and that's a lot for someone with my nail polish stash. I find it super flattering on my skintone.

5. Makeup Forever #39 Eyeshadow
This gorgeous matte wine shade was one of my most used eyeshadows in January. I love how pigmented it is and how smoothly it applies and blends. I find that this particular wine shade is very versatile so I have paired it with greens, blues, purples, golds....you name it. Everyday I have to resist the urge of wearing MUFE #39 again. I love all matte MUFE colours but this particular one gets lotsa love from me these days.

Have you tried any of these products? What were your favourite January products?

January 25, 2010

I survived another Monday! I just finished devouring my pasta with homemade pesto and while I wait for it to digest so I can start my workout, I can get some blogging done. I actually quite liked this look that I did yesterday for a visit to my folks. I find that fuchsia is a good colour on me and I did less eyeshadow and more eyeliner for a change.

Hope you guys like this and enjoy your Monday night :)

Face
MUFE F&B #32
Stark Naked bpb
Petticoat MSF

Eyes
Painterly p/p - base
All Races e/s - all over lid
Esspresso e/s - crease
Black GPS - to line
Blue Flame MES - over the GPS
Lise watier eyeglitter in Saphir - over Blue Flame
Feline e/k
Lancome Hypnose mascara

Lips
Annabelle Fuchsia l/l
Gladiola l/s
Creme d'Allure d/g

January 24, 2010

This weekend went by so fast! I'm not ready to be back to work yet, especially not the busy upcoming week. How did everyone's weekend go? Hope you are all well rested and ready to take over the week.

For this past week's fave post, I've selected a creative post from Madam B Fatale. I was already a big fan of this beautiful lady's creative looks but I thought her DYI Palette post was especially inspiring. She explains how she makes her own super unique eyeshadow palettes with pretty much things lying around the house. I love the leopard print that she selected especially, very cool!

If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you check out her DYI Palette Post. Let me know what you think. I know I'm inspired to depot all my random palettes now.

January 24, 2010

We ended up not going skiing coz I fell down right on our driveway and hurt my butt :( it's not anything serious but I was (and am) in pain and didn't think skiing and falling down more would be wise. Damn you ice and snow! Instead we went on a "date", we still go on dates frequently though we've been together nearly 7 year. We went to our favourite French bistro and wine bar and had a blast.

This is the look I wore out: glittery purple. Hope you guys are enjoying the weekend so far.

Face
Cover FX primer
LW concealer
MUFE HD 118
Ben Nye powder
Sculpt
Nars Desire blush

Eyes
Artifact p/p - base
Young Punk MES - outer and inner lid
Pink Opal p/m - middle of the lid and tear duct
Graphology e/s - to deepen crease
Stars n Rockets e/s - above crease
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
Smashbox liquid liner
Feline
Lancome Hypnose mascara

Lips
Annabelle Bordeaux l/l
Nars Damned vmp

January 23, 2010

gaaaaah, this nail polish is soooo gorgeous, I want to lick my nails! I thought Mad as a Hatter was hot but Absolutely Alice is even better. I don't think I've ever seen a better blue glitter polish. Hands down this is one of the top 5 nail polishes ever made.

Application was quite good. You'll need 2-3 coats to get the full potential though. This is 3 coats and yuck at my dry fingers :(

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

January 22, 2010

It's so weird that I've had this nail polish for a year and in fact I wore it every week last winter and still haven't swatched it! In fact Sheer Your Toys that came out with OPI's last year winter collection is one of my favourit winter colours.

Sheer Your Toys is a shimmery gray polish with lilac flashes to it. It really is a difficult colour to describe. I really dig its uniqueness though. This is two coats:

January 21, 2010

I did some damage to my wallet yesterday at my freestanding MAC store and Nars counter. In fact I didn't even know that we had a Nars counter at the Bay, I'm pretty sure it's new. I don't have to go to Sephora or Murale for my Nars fix anymore, yey! Here's the total damage:

Note: all swatches on NW25/30 skin with no base.

I went to MAC first to check out the new bright eyeshadows that have been added to the perm line. I ended up with Lucky Green and Winkle. This shouldn't be any surprise as you all know I love my blues and greens.

Lucky Green is yellow tones green with amazing buttery texture. I have similar shades in my stash but no exact dupe.


Left to right: Chartreuse p/m (Pro), Golden Olive p/m, Lucky Green e/s, Rated R e/s (LE)

Winkle is a periwinkle shade with satin texture. It's very pigmented and swatches sorta matte with a slight sheen. I have no dupes for this in my stash but I swatched it next to two blues I had thought were similar (but are not).


Left to right: Cornflower p/m, Winkle e/s, Tilt e/s

I also fulfilled a long time lemming of mine and bought Myth lipstick. Myth is super pigmented and ultra nude. It's about the same colour as my face (my face is a couple of shade lighter than my arms) so it's very dramatic. It looks gorgeous layered with Underage or Glamour For All. As you can tell, my previous nudes are nothing like Myth, they all have pink undertones that Myth lacks.


Left to right: YSL Rouge Volupte No.1, Myth, Honeylove, Blankety

From the Nars counter, I bought Eurydice duo and Red Dragon matte velvet pencil.

Eurydice is a gorgeous duo of burgundy purple and dark shimmering gray. I love how the two colours work together. This is my first Nars duo btw.


Left to right: MUFE #39, Eurydice, Smoke Signals p/m (LE)


Left to right: Eurydice, Cinderfella MES

Dragon Girl is a blue based pin-up red. As some of you know I'm a big fan of red lips and can never pass up on nice opaque lipsticks. The closest dupe I have to Dragon Girl is MAC's Ruby Woo, though Dragon Girl is softer and easier to apply, no need for a lip liner.


Left to right: Ruby Woo, Dragon Girl

Hope you find the swatches helpful. I now need to go on a no-buy for a while!

January 21, 2010

Happy Thursday everyone! Thursday is actually my favourite day of the week. It's only one day away from the weekend and also pay day every second week. Not to mention most MAC collections are released on Thursdays. It's also Poll Day, lol!

Anyway, for today's poll, the question is: for those of you guys that wear lipstick on a regular basis, what texture of lipstick do you prefer? Most of my lipsticks (80%) are MAC with some Nars, YSL, Dior and Lancome thrown in there. MAC classifies their lipstick by texture and there are Amplified Cream (creamy, pigmented and opaque), Lustre (sheer, moisturizing and shiny), Frost (frosty and more pigmented than lustre), Matte (matte, slightly drying and pigmented), Satin (satiny feel and pigmented), Glaze (super sheer) and finally creamsheen (a mix of Amp Cream and Lustre).

Wearing a super nude or bright red lipsticks, I always prefer my lipsticks to be pigmented and opaque. Hence I tend to buy mostly MAC's amp creams, mattes and satins as well as Nars's matte lipsticks and velvet matte pencils. I do occasionally wear other formulas but these three, especially MAC's amp creams, are my favourites!

Share your favourite lipstick texture (and brand) in comments and please use the poll on the right hand side to vote.

January 20, 2010

I used some warmer colours in my makeup today which is sorta rare for me. I subconsciously always reach for my cool (and lately matte) colours but I thought I mix it up. It was another cloudy day and I adjusted the setting of my camera for the closeups but i think it washed out the colours; they're kinda more dull, even my eye colour shows as dark brown instead of the golden honey brown :( oh well, hopefully we'll get some sunshine tomorrow. Meanwhile, I should go finish up my cooking so I can hit up my MAC freestanding tonight!

Here's the look. Let me know what you guys think.

Face
LW concealer
SSF NW25
Ben Nye Powder
Eversun bpb
Sunspill loose bp

Eyes
Rubenesque p/p - base
Mythology e/s - mid lid
Chocolate Brown p/m - inner and outer lid
Embark e/s - outer v
Evening Aura e/s - above crease
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
Creme de Miel e/s - tear duct
UD Bourbon 24/7 - lower lashline
Annabelle Brown s/l - to line

Lips
Cream Cup l/s
My Favourite Pink d/g

January 19, 2010

I started lining my eyes when I was about 15 using a super thin liquid liner from a European brand I cannot remember the name of. Since I started with the most difficult form of eyeliner, using gel and pencil liners became a breeze for me. Since I discovered the gel liners namely MAC's fluidlines, Bobbi Brown's gel liners and Stila's Smudge Pots, I totally forgot about my first eyeliner love, the liquid liner. I also was too lazy to bother with the thin and soft brushes that usually come with liquid liners. Until I saw the Smashbox Heartbreaker collection and this:



The liquid liner included with the heartbreaker is about the same size as your average pencil liner and is very slim. It has a sturdy felt tip which looks like this:



The felt tip makes lining of the eyes a breeze. I have been using this eyeliner pretty much everyday since I bought it last week. It makes my cat liner application a breeze. This eyeliner comes only in shade black and has a tiny hint of shine when applied. It's quite opaque in one swipe which is a bonus. On me, the liner lasts all day and through my workout. It's however quite easy to clean messy application with a q-tip.

I cannot think of any cons for this product. Except maybe the price which is $28CAD, but I still will happily buy another when I run out. I do hope that this liner stays as part of the permanent Smashbox line.

Here's a quick swatch I made for your guys:


Anyone else tried this liquid liner yet? Thoughts?

January 18, 2010

I went back to my fave colours, matte pale blues, lilacs and white for the first day of the week. I always feel happiest with these colours. I also got a tone of compliments at work on my hair, which is weird coz these men never noticed my change of hairstyle. I guess the bangs were too noticeable, lol!

How was everyone's Monday? Hope you all survived it. Btw, I'm still positively overwhelmed with the responses to my giveaway. Thank you all for following and commenting on the blog and taking part in my giveaway. Best of luck to you all :)

Face
LW concealer
SSF NW25
Ben Nye Powder
Nars Desire blush

Eyes
Pure White c/l - base
Gesso e/s - inner lid
Tilt e/s - outer lid
MUFE #9 - crease
MUFE #92 - outer v
Solar White e/s - highlight
Delphic f/l - to line
Lise Watier Silver e/l - lower lashline

Lips
Snob l/s
Snowscene l/g









and since i heart hats, here's a picture with another one of my fave hats: