March 4, 2010

One of my favourite purchases of February was Stila's Jewel Palette that was released with their spring collection. This is an glimmering/shimmering palette of 4 colours:

Gold Topaz - a golden champagne colour
Black Diamond - a black shade with small silver glitters
Rose Quartz - a medium rosy pink
Amethysts - a dark grayed shimmery eggplant



Description of Jewel from the Stila website: "The Jewel Eye Shadow formula creates a glistening wave of color that glimmers and sparkles across your lids like no other to give your eyes a brilliant, sequin-like reflection.The eye shadow shades provide buildable color that evenly glides onto your lids. The perfect blend of pigment and pearl delivers a weightless feel on the eye, leaving lids glamorous and glistening."

First impression was that this palette is tiny! I would say each shade is probably half the size of a MAC eyeshadow. The texture of these eyeshadows is different from anything I've ever tried. They look harder in the pan but go on smooth, creamy and pigmented. They last over 10 hours on my lids without creasing (I always use Painterly p/p as base) and have an almost liquid glimmering look once applied. I honestly have never seen any product like these eyeshadows. I would say Stila totally nailed the shimmer/glitter trend but stepped it up even more as unlike MAC MES, I experienced no fallout whatsoever with these colours.

I love all four colours as all four apply beautifully and can be mixed matched with each other or with other shades in my stash. I would say Gold Topaz is my fave though, I can totally see myself wearing it as a light wash on my lids; a neutral colour with tones of character.

If you haven't got this palette yet, I would suggest at least checking it out next time you're in Sephora. It's been quite some time I've been this impressed with eyeshadows and I truly feel that Jewel palette is a unique and beautiful product.

Here are swatches on my NW25 arm with no base:

Left to right: Black Diamonds, Amethysts, Rose Quartz, Gold Topaz

Have you seen/tried Stila Jewel palette? What are your thoughts?

March 4, 2010

Happy Thursday everyone! Today's poll is pretty brief, as in there's only a "yes" or "no" answer or you can select "other" and elaborate more here.

I was selecting my makeup today and realized that ever since it started getting warmer here and I can smell spring coming, I'm definitely gravitating towards spring colours. These days I tend to reach for pastel colours and bright pink lipsticks. I've noticed I do the same at the beginning of every season; when fall is coming I start wearing my vampy lipsticks, I do frosty white, silver and blue at the begining of winter, pastels at the start of spring and gold/bronze eyes and nude lips at the beining of summer. However, in every season, as time passes, I notice that my makeup colour/application changes depend on my mood. I no longer care what the season is, I just do as I please.

What is your take on seasonal makeup? Do you follow any rules or are you a rule breaker?

March 3, 2010

I love my Old Gold p/m but I hadn't used it for so long. I wanted to give it a shout today since it was a beautiful and sunny day, perfect timing for some shimmer and glimmer! I also rediscovered my Strange Hybrid l/s; another oldie but goodie I hadn't used in moons! When I started looking at the pics though, i realized this looks a lot like yesterday's look, lol! Yay for being original!!! Next look will be different, promise!

How's everyone's Hump Day? I've been busy today in the office but no site inspection. I'm used to being in/out of the office so I still got a little bored.

Face
LW Portfolio
SSF NW25
Ben Nye Translucent Powder
Sculpt
Other Wordly blush

Eyes
Greenstroke p/p - base
Crest the Wave e/s - inner lid
Old Gold e/s - outer lid
Copper p/m - crease (I get so much fallout with all my metal pigments, damn it!)
Embark e/s - outer v
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
Teal p/m - lower lashline
BB Ivy Shimmer g/l - to line

Lips
Strange Hybrid l/s
Nymphette l/g

March 3, 2010

I was tagged by lovely Amira of Makeup Check. Sorry about the delay hun. Here's the deal: "Post 10 things that make you happy, try to do at least one of them today, link back to the person who awarded you and pass along for up to ten people."

Ok, let's see:

1. Being with my husband, there's nothing in the world that makes me happier.
2. A good night sleep; I seldom sleep well so when I do it's such a blessing.
3. Getting a tan, I love getting more "coloured"! Where the heck is the summer, save me from my pastiness oh Great Sun!
4. Blogging makes me super happy, it's the greatest hobby of mine!
5. Buying cosmetics, especially highly anticipated MAC collections as well as Nars and Chanel products.
6. Traveling to new places and meeting new people.
7. Acing a big meeting and putting all the highly egoistic men in their place is also a great joy of mine, haha!
8. Dancing, especially Persian dance. I feel in my element, happy and relaxed.
9. Easting cheesecake. I try not to eat too much sweets, but boy do I love cheesecake.
10. Getting my hair done professionally. My mom is a hair stylist so I get to do this often. Nothing like a nice salon blow out!

Now I want to tag:
1. Nepenthe
2. Shayla
3. Shining Star
4. Fintia
5. Naive Nails

March 2, 2010

I wanted to wear my Nars Niagara l/s today so I decided to wear greens on the eyes. I wasn't really able to get good pictures but trust me, it looked cute IRL, lol! How's everyone's week going so far? Mine is pretty busy so the week's going by pretty fast for me.

Here's the look, hope you guys like it :)

Face
LW portfolio
Nars Sheer Glow foundation - Light5 (Fiji)
Ben Nye translucent powder
Lovejoy mb

Eyes
Greenstroke p/p - base
OCC Atmosphere p/m lid
MUFE #83 - outer lid
Naked Cosmetics Ivory set (mint green shade) - tear duct
Espresso e/s - crease
Embark e/s - outer v
All Races e/s - highlight
UD Covet 24/7 - lower lahshline
LW Blak Teal e/l - to line

Lips
Nars Niagara l/s

March 2, 2010

I know I'm late with my favourites this month. I think I bought too much stuff and reviewed too many products so the favourites got pushed back. But better late than never, right?

1. Nars Sheer Glow Foundation as if I need to rave about this product more! I purchased this foundation about two weeks ago and already cannot go back to my other foundations. Amazing texture, great coverage, feels great on my skin and lasts on my face till I take it off. For full review, please refer to my Nars Sheer Glow foundation review. Two thumbs up and job well done Francois Nars!

2. Royal Brand Bent Eyeliner Brush I picked this up back in November from IMATS, you can see my haul post here. I started using it a lot since this winter though. This is the best eyeliner brush I've ever tried and the angled shape makes achieving the cat shape liner (my favourite) a breeze. My MAC 209 started collecting dust since I discovered this baby.

3. 100% Cocoa Butter I received this product as a gift from a friend and I believe she purchased it from a Carribean general store. This cocoa butter has been the best gift to my lack luster and dry winter hair. I scarpe off a bit of the product and warm it up in my palms. Then I massage it all over my hair, let it sit for 20-30 minutes and then wash my hair. My hair has gained its healthy shine back and I'm happy.

4. MAC True Babe lipgloss this is the best hot pink lipgloss I've ever tried. It's opaque and creamy, applies really well and lasts a long time on my lips. I make it last even longer by filling my lips with my beloved Annabelle Fuchsia l/l first. True Babe is not for the faint of heart but if you love bold pinks, you can definitely rock this. True Babe is an LE product with Riveting collection so if you want it, run and get it!

5. Bobbi Brown Nude Shimmer Brick I did this post a week or so ago including the swatches of all my BB shimer bricks. I love them all but lately I've been using Nude pretty much every single day. I love this particular shimmer brick as it gives me that super model glow. It's the perfect soft bronzer for my winter skin and really warms up my cheeks. Like all other shimmer bricks, Nude's indicidual stripes can also be used as eyeshadows. This is an LE product so I'm not sure if you can still find it, parhaps you can swap for it or find it at a CCO.

Have you used any of these 5 products? What were your tope 5 products for the month of February?

March 1, 2010

Can you guys believe it's already March? Spring is so near, I'm excited coz that means I can start planing for my vacation soon (I'm leaving in May). I haven't been on vacation for a long time and I'm really exhausted! This is actually the look I did yesterday for an outing with the hubby (included shopping and brunch). We went straight to our friends' place to watch the hockey game. Speaking of which, congratulations to all Canadians! It was a great game and our team was amazing.

I used Cinderfella MES after a while coz I was just craving a smokey and sparkling eye look. I also wanted to wear my Myth l/s which I only wear with smokey eyes (coz it's too nude). Hope you guys like this. Have an awesome Monday night everyone!

P.S. I'll be posting my Fabruary Faves tomorrow. Sorry I'm late this time guys!

Face
LW Portfolio
Nars Sheer Glow foundation - Light 5 (Fiji)
Ben Nye Translucent Powder
Sculpt
BB Nude Shimmer Brick

Eyes
Black GPS
Cinderfella MES - lid
Silverthorn e/s - inner lid
Satin Taupe e/s - crease
Blanc Type e/s - highlight
Feline e/k - to line
NYX Black e/s - to smudge liner
Lancome Hypnose mascara

Lips
Myth l/s
Rags to Riches d/g