September 30, 2010

Yey for not being late for my monthly favourite post this time around! This edition of monthly favourites was a difficult one for me. Fall is my favourite season for beauty so I had a hard time choosing between my loves. It would be lame if I put 5 dark lipsticks that I love so I spread the love around.



1. Chanel Rouge Noir Rouge Coco - as you know by now, Rouge Coco is my favourite lipstick formula ever! Rouge Noir is a classic deep fall shade. It's a dark burgundy and very flattering on (well, at least on my skintone). I get tones of compliment when I wear this, I did a swatch here.

2. MAC Amorous Dazzleglass Cream - This limited edition dazzleglass was released last fall I believe and it's one of the most stunning gloss shades ever. I love my red and burgundy lipsticks and this shade is just divine over them. I really want to try it over black lipstick too...maybe this weekend ;)

3. Cargo 3 in 1 Mascara - I won a few of these in the gorgeous Joy from Makeup Junkie giveaway and it has become my daily mascara. I love how quickly it volumizes/thickens my lashes and it's super black. It will take me a while to run out (I won like 10 mascaras, lol), but when I do I will re-purchase.

4. MAC Pearl Blossom Beauty Powder - This is an older LE product that I snagged with the Barbie collection. It's a very light beauty powder and offer a pearly pale pink sheen to the cheeks. It looks gorgeous on top of all my pink blushes or on it's own for a nice pink glow. Since I'm doing bold eyes and lips lately, I dig the simplicity of this product.

5. MUFE #112 e/s - I would call this matte shade a darker peachy shade with strong pink undertones. I love that my Sephora now has a bigger MUFE aisle so I can get more of their eyeshadows. This particular shade is great as a transition colour for all the burgundy shades I've been wearing. Like all MUFE eyeshadows, it goes on smooth and pigmented and blends like a dream!

Do you own any of these products? What are some of your September favourites?

September 30, 2010

Happy Thursday gals! Another week is almost over and I'm one week closer to my short vacation. Short but better than nothing, lol!

For today's poll, I wanted to ask you about your makeup brushes and how many you use on a daily basis. For me it depends on the look I'm going for in general. But for a "simple" daily look, I use:

- Quo flat cream shadow brush for my paintpots
- MAC 239 for lid
- MAC 226 or 217 for crease (depending on look)
- MAC 224 to blend above crease
- Crown Brush Angle brush for my highlight
- Quo angled liner brush for eyebrows
- MAC 187 for my foundation
- Crown Brush small kabuki for my setting powder
- Quo powder brush for my blush

Holly molly, that's 9 brushes for one simple look! If I'm doing something more specific, I use even more! I guess I could bypass the 187 and just apply foundation with my fingers but I like how the brush makes the process quicker.

How many makeup brushes do you guys use on a daily basis? Please share in comments.

September 29, 2010

Here you have the second Cult of Cherry Inspired look. Again, I didn't buy the quads in this collection and am not trying to dupe the exact colours, it's simply an inspiration as I looooved that collection. These colours are more like the ones in Spiced Chocolate quad, warm and bronzey. I paired them with juicy red lips (hello Cult of Cherry l/g) as I didn't want to do predictable nude lips. Hope you guys like it!

P.S. This look earned me a lot of compliments in the office yesterday!

Face
LW Portfolio - Light
Nars sheer glow foundation - Punjab
Ben Nye powder
BB Nude shimmerbrick

Eyes
Painterly p/p - base
Artifact p/p - base for outer and inner lid
Coppering e/s - inner and outer lid and crease
Embark - inner and outer v
MUFE #112 - above crease
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
Gesso e/s - middle of lid
Smashbox Heartbreaker l/l - to line
Chanel Inimitable mascara in burgundy

Lips
Annabelle Flame l/l
Liza Red l/s
Cult of Cherry l/g







and OOTD was a BDBG beige cashmere dress. Boots are from Aldo (prob about 2 years old):

September 28, 2010

It's a cold and rainy day today and it seems like we're gonna be rained on all week long. I wanted to wear my Chartreuse pigment which I hadn't used in a minute. I thought why not turn this look into a Tempting Quad inspired look. Tempting quad was released with MAC's Cult of Cherry collection (one of MAC's finest) back in 2008. Now I actually didn't get any of the CoC quads, only lip products. But thought it would be good idea to do a series of Cult of Cherry looks inspired by the quads and the deep vampy lip products.

So there you have it! Hope you guys like this first Cult of Cherry installment.

Face
LW Portfolio - Light
Nars sheer glow - Punjab
Ben Nye powder
X-Rocks blush

Eyes
Painterly p/p - base
Chartreuse p/m - inner lid
Star Violet p/m - outer lid
Nars Bali e/s - crease
Coppering e/s - above crease
Crest the wave e/s - tear duct
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
UD Stash 24/7 - lower lashline
Smashbox Heartbreaker l/l - to line
Cargo mascara

Lips
MUFE 13C l/l
MUFE rouge intense #48
Amorous d/g

September 27, 2010

I was getting super frustrated with my hair these past few weeks. I mean, I do love my hair. I have a tone of it, yet my hair isn't very thick so I can let it air dry to a great body. It has good volume and I love the waves. I was just really bored with the shape. I hadn't coloured my hair since last September and the last time I had a hair cut was in Februrary.

As some of you might know, my mom is a professional hair stylist. I got her to dye my hair darker but with more red tones. My skintone is quite neutral (or beige) and I think the red helps warm it up a bit. I also got it trimmed and did some longer bangs. LOVED the result! I can't stop looking at myself in the mirror now, lol!

What do you guys think? Let's the cam-whoring begin!

September 26, 2010

Hey guys! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend seeing there's only a few hours of it left. Hubby and I attended another b-day party last night and had a blast. We also went out after that b-day party to meet up with some coworkers for drinks and overall had an amazing Saturday night.

I tried to recreate this "parallel eyeliner" shape i keep seeing in magazine and not sure how I feel about it. The overall look came out ok but not sure if I try the liner thing again, lol! Let me know how I feel...oh and the dreaded SPF face, I don't know why I wear SPF at night too. It's probably just habit.

Face
MUFE F&B #32
Ben Nye powder
Sculpt
Stark Naked bpb
Pearl Blossom bp

Eyes
Painterly p/p - base
Annabelle Brown k/l - to cut crease
Embark e/s - to blend above crease
Cork e/s - above crease
MUFE #112 - lid
Vanilla p/m - highlight
BB Chocolate Shimmer g/l - to line
Stila Kajal k/l - waterline and inner liner
Lancome Hypnose mascara

Lips
Nars Sex Machine mvp
Underage l/g





As for the outfit, I went for one of my favourite fabrics, lace. I cannot get enough lace, have been a convert since I hit 16, lol! Top is from Bedo, skirt from H&M and shoes are by Nina Shoes (they're lacy like as well):

September 24, 2010

I'm not having a greatest time these days as I continue to be super overwhelmed with work and other mix issues. But I like blogging as a distraction where everybody speaks the language of makeup :D I did this fall inspired look today and used my beloved Heritage Rouge pigment. As I mentioned on this blog before, I adore burgundy tones on my eyes. There's just something about this types of shades.

I paired the whole thing with berry lips to be fully fall-like cliche, lol! Hope you guys like this. Oh and excuse the imperfect liner, I guess I rushed when I got to that part.

Face
LW Portfolio Concealer - Light
MUFE F&B #32
Ben Nye Powder
Sculpt powder
Chanel Plum Attraction blush

Eyes
Painterly p/p - base for above crease
Artifact p/p - base for lid
MUFE #112 - above crease
MUFE #15 - inner lid
Heritage Rouge p/m - outer lid
Vanilla p/m - highlight
Smashbox heartbreaker l/l - to line
Chanel Inimitable mascara in Burgundy

Lips
Annabelle Bordeauz l/l
Lancome French Touch l/s
Purple rage l/g

September 23, 2010

I was wearing a super soft light pink (almost nude shade) cashmere sweater today and got inspired to do a soft look. I feel very feminine with this kind of shades. Weirdly enough, I wore this look to an all day site visit and many of the guys told me I looked "radiant".

Hope you guys like this simple look.

Face
LW Portfolio concealer - Light
MUFE F&B #32
Ben Nye powder
Stark Naked bpb
Shell Pearl bp

Eyes
MUFE Aqua Cream #5 - base
All That Glitters e/s - inner lid
Expensive Pink e/s - outer lid
Post Haste e/s - crease
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
Jest e/s - inner crease
Microviolet f/l - to line
Stila Topaz k/l - waterline
Chanel Inimitable mascara in burgundy

Lips
In Synch l/l
Snob l/s
Clear Gloss

September 23, 2010

I have more of a controversial topic to ask your opinion on this Thursday. Kinda trying to be bolder with these topics and I love to hear your thoughts. I will share mine too though I might receive some heat for it.

What is your position on colour contact lenses? In short, I'm not a fan on myself but like them on some ppl. For one, I like my eye colour, I like that it's not really plain brown and has multi coloured (green and gold) flakes resulting in my eye colour changing depending on my makeup/clothes. And two, I just feel "off" with coloured contacts. Most of my mom's side of family has green eyes. I've tried green contacts in the past (in my teens) and everyone told me they look very natural on me. I wore them a few times for fun but it's not something I would always do. When it comes to other people, everyone dresses as they like and my position won't change anything. I'm not the biggest fan of coloured contacts that are an unlikley choice for the person's race (race not equal ethnicity btw). It's fine when people wear them for fun (treat it like an accessory, same as makeup) but odd when it's a regular thing or the wearer insists that's their own eye colour, hmmmm....

Anyway, what is your take on colour contacts? Please share in comments.

September 22, 2010

Sorry for lack of posts yesterday guys! I was working late and then had dinner for a friend and by the time I got home I really wanted to take a bath and not blog, lol! This is the look from Monday actually when I went back to doing more colours on my eyes. I always like blue and purple together but this is a lot less purple than I usually do.

Hope you like this look :)

Face
LW Portfolio
Nars sheer glow - Punjab
Ben Nye powder
Azalea Blossom b/o

Eyes
Painterly p/p - base
Winkle e/s - inner lid
Clarity e/s - outer lid
Climate Blue e/s - crease
Stars n Rockets e/s - above crease
Vanilla p/m - highlight
BB Cobalt ink g/l - to line
Cargo Swimmable e/l - blue shade on lower lashline
Cargo mascara

Lips
Nars Roman Holiday l/s
My Favourite Pink d/g

September 21, 2010

I did this look over the weekend actually when one of my dear friends who's been away from the country came over 10 months came to visit me. I really like neutral eyes and bold lips; this is the type of look I always go back to. The bold lips could be red, bright pink or dark wine like Chanel's Rouge Noir Rouge Coco (total HG by now).

This look is the exact opposite of the look I posted yesterday with the drama focused on the lips. I think that I personally prefer bold lips on me than bold eyes. But I also like variety. Oh, and I love Chanel's Inimitable mascara, it does a great job at curling my lashes and the burgundy shade really brings out the gold and green in my golden brown eyes.

Face
LW Portfolio concealer - Light
Nars Sheer Glow foundation - Punjab
Ben Nye powder
Chanel Plum Attraction

Eyes
Painterly p/p - base
Blanc Type e/s - all over lid
Copperplate e/s - crease
Solar White e/s - highlight
MUFE #39 - lower lashline
Smashbox Heartbreaker l/l - to line
Chanel Inimitable mascara in burgundy

Lips
MUFE 13C l/l
Chanel Rouge Noir RC

September 20, 2010

Happy Monday lovelies! I had a busy weekend but quite enjoyed it. We attended a close friend's b-day on Saturday night and another friend who's back from a 10-month stay in Egypt came over for dinner last night. Overall, a great weekend. I still need to work on my damned P.Eng summary which I keep putting off coz I'm super lazy. It will be done next weekend though.

I went for a dramatic smokey eyes and pale pick lips. I hadn't done a super smokey eye for a bit and loved the result. All the girls at the party loved my makeup too and got some request to do makeup for another one the girls who's b-day is next week. Hope you guys like this too :)

Face
Annabelle Mineral Foundation - Barely Beige
Sculpt powder
Chanel Plum Attraction blush - really make sure you dust this on, it's reaaaaally pigmented!

Eyes
Black GPS - base for lid
Painterly p/p - base for crease and above
Later p/m - inner and outer lid and into the crease
Young Punk MES - middle of lid
Poison Pen e/s - above crease
Vanilla p/m - tear duct
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
LW Smokeye kohl in black - to line
Lancome Hypnose mascara

Lips
In Synch l/l
Going Casual c/g







and here's a pic from the house party. Left to right: my baby sis, my hubby, me and the birthday girl:

September 19, 2010

For my second installment of the Tried and True series, I selected one of my makeup staples. By staple I mean that I use this product Every-Single-Day! I acquired Blanc Type e/s when MAC first introduced their Matte2 e/s formula in late 2007. I love matte2 eyeshadows and every single one that I have in my stash is a winner in my eyes. I love that these shades are matte yet apply smoothly not patchy like other MAC matte shades.

Blanc Type is very similar to MAC's Brule in terms of colour (a light ivory) but I find it applies much better. I started using Blanc Type as my brow highlighter instead of Brule as soon as I got it. As you can tell by my picture, this shade gets a lot of love from me. I prefer matte shades as brow highlighter and hence use this one everyday:

September 18, 2010

Happy Saturday gals! I had a makeover appointment over at Chanel today so my day started pretty good indeed! I love the makeup the artist did on me, as requested by me he did berry red lips and subtle smokey eyes. We were chatting the whole time as he was a big fan of foreign films so the overall experience was great. Here's the look he did on me:





I really liked the skin routine he did on me, I think I might eventually switch my skin care to Chanel's. It's just so luxurious and everything feels amazing on. Oh, and I got so tanned this summer than my Vitalumiere shade is up to 040 from 020, lol! Go me!

And here's what I hauled all together:


left to right: Inimitable mascara in Burgundy, Plum Attraction blush and RA gloss in Emois

I wanted Plum Attraction since Chanel's fall collection launched back in August. This is a gorgeous plummy shade that goes very smooth. I love how Chanel's blushes apply. Here's a closer look:


Inimitable mascara is new to Chanel and I have never tried their mascaras so I thought why not start with this one. I got the burgundy one as it's best shade on gold brown eyes.


Last but not least, I got one of the new RA`Extrait de Gloss to try and I went for the pinky red shade of Emois. The applicator on these glosses are shaped to frame your lips as you apply. I will let you know my thoughts once I use all of these products.



That was it! Hauled any pretties lately? Please share in comments.

September 17, 2010

Zoya Edyta is another polish that's been in my possession for over two months and finally I felt the urge to wear it. I'm telling ya, start of fall season has been very inspirational for me! Zoya is one of the most unique shades in my stash. It's a darker olive green shade with gold shimmer and applies very smoothly. One of those polishes you could do only one layer and get full on colour but I did two out of habit. I absolutely love this shade. I'm not the biggest fan of green nail polish shades but this one is so dark and sophisticated. I couldn't stop checking out my own nails today, hehe!

Here's a two coat swatch for you guys:

September 16, 2010

We're back to our weekly scheduled blog polls as of today! I'm trying to keep up with the blog postings despite things being super crazy with work. I only got home now and it's 8 pm. I've been at work since 7 am :/ I really hate end of season in construction, it's totally overwhelming for us and we're under staffed right now.

Anyway, today's poll discussion is about falsies. I have "still" never tried false lashes! I think I'm just lazy and not ready to experiment with them. I have pretty long and full lashes which is probably another reason for my lack of experimenting motives. I do want to try some extreme lashes like MAC #44 soon hopefully.

Do you wear false lashes? If so, how often do you sport them? What are some of your fave brands of lashes?

September 15, 2010

As promised in my I'm a Rebel FOTD, I decided to swatch all my vampy/fall shade lipsticks for you guys. Dark lips were all I wore as a teenager and after taking a few years off from the vamp look, I jumped back into it a couple of years ago. I think I'll forever be a closet goth, lol! I'm from the school of thought that anyone regardless of their skintone can wear these bold vampy shades, it really is just dependent on your comfort zone.

Tip: Now, what you want to do when wearing dark shades like these is to use a lip liner first and fill in your lips. Two of my favourites dark lip liners are Annabelle Bordeaux and MUFE 13C. You also want to make sure that your lips are well moisturized as you don't want cracky lips like the last two pics I have here, lol! I didn't take any of these two tips myself today as these are just swatches for comparison purpose.

Keeping all that in mind, here are the swatches:


1. Lancome French Touch l/s: This is a new shade for Lancome fall collection and is probably one of my most wearable vampy shades. It's a softer burgundy with brown undertones but reads more dark red on my lips as mine are a pinky red shade. If you have dark lips, this will be more of a brown burgundy shade. The texture is very creamy and soft with slight shimmer, you could get away not wearing lip liner with this one.


2. Nars Afghan Red l/s - This is one of my top favourite lipstick shades ever! Afghan Red is a beautiful soft wine shade. This is again a very wearable fall shade suitable for all skintones. Afghan Red is a satin finish which in Nars wrold means it goes semi opaque, is buildable and the texture is super creamy.


3. MAC Rebel - One of the hidden gems of MAC's perm line, Rebel is a dark plummy shade with strong pink undertones. It swatches like a dark fuchsia on my lips. Rebel is a satin lipstick which in MAC word means that it goes on very opaque but is a bit drying. But the shade is so beautiful that bit of dryness is worth it.


4. Nars Damned Matte Velvet Pencil - Nars Matte velvet formula is my favourite lipstick formula ever created. Damned is a dark magenta shade, similar to MAC Rebel but with more red undertones where Rebel has purple undertones. Nars Damned is the one dark shade I wear with smokey eyes all the time. I love this with burgundy smokey eyes, very smoldering and sexy. Good job Nars!


5. MAC Kirsch Mattene - I adore MAC's Mattene formula, I really wish they'd make all their mattenes perm. Kirsch is a lovely deep wine shade released with Cult of Cherry collection in 2008. Mattenes are completely matte but not drying like MAC's regular matte and satin formulas. Kirsch is a bolder shade for folks who want to venture into deeper fall shades.


6. MAC Night Violet Mattene - Another Mattene love! Night Violet is a matte dark violet shade as the name implies. This shade is definitely not for the faint of heart but of course your can always wear it as a stain. But what's the fun in that?


7. MUFE Rouge Intense Artist #13 - This is the only metallic fall shade in my stash. I picked it up on a whim at Sephora last week and never thought I'd love it this much! #13 is part of the Pearl finish of the Rouge Intense Artist which makes it shimmer to metallic borderline. This lipstick is a warm toned dark red with gold particle which makes me think it'll be great for the holidays.


8. MUFE Rouge Intense Artist #48 - OMG! This is the most gorgeous straight up burgundy lipstick ever! I think I just about fainted when I first tried it on! I would say it's slightly warm toned but can be worn by both cool and warm toned ladies. This creamy and opaque lipstick is everything I wanted MAC Kittenish to be; In fact MUFE #48 is Kittenish' boss!


9. Chanel Rouge Coco in Rouge Noir - Ok, I will admit that I only picked this one up because of the name. This is one of those classic Chanel shades that I always wanted to get and I love their Rouge Coco formula; hydrating and long lasting. Rouge Noir looks like a brownish boring shade in tube but is much more flattering on the lips. This is another shade not for the faint of heart. I would pair it with neutral eyes and lotsa mascara. This shade has earned me lotsa compliments the 2 times I've worn it so far.

Arm swatches - forgot to included my beloved Damned :(


Left to right: Rebel, Afghan Red, French Touch


Left to right: Night Violet, Kirsch, Rebel


Left to right: Rouge Noir, #48, #13

Hope this looooong post was helpful to you guys! Any fellow vampy lip lovers out there? What are some of your favourite shades?