Brown Eye Makeup

I always like brown, neutral eyeshadows. They are versatile and you can do smoky eyes for a more dramatic look or just go with a natural look. I watched a video on youtube and decided to try doing my eyes slightly different.

Didn't use much eyeshadows. Only used Kate Trick Eyes GD-1, Kanebo Lunasol 05 Close of Night, a black eyeliner pencil from MAC. Inner corner and outer corner of the eyes were blended upwards with darker brown eye shadow. And in the middle, I use lighter shade, so it add dimensions. Also, I used Kate Eyebrow pencil, false eyelashes to make the eyes look bigger.

Christmas Gift from miles away

I've been waiting for this special package from Hong Kong for almost 3 weeks. Finally USPS delivered them to me. I guess with the airlines reducing the number of flights, it's been difficult to mail things out from overseas.

Anyways, I'm so happy to see this package. My friend didn't tell me what it was. And I'm so surprised that Hello Kitty has such a nice gift package. THANK YOU SOOO  MUCH!!!

From the left: a body lotion, a fragrance (light fruity scent), and a lip gloss key chain. The kitty has sparkles on her skirt, so she's pretty cute. And actually some of my other fragrance have similar scent as this (i.e. Marc Jacobs Daisy and Burberry Brit Sheer), so I can use it as well.

Here's the lip gloss:

I'm not sure if I will use the lip gloss but the key chain is very made, so I probably will use it. :D

Playing with Eye Makeup 1

I don't know about you. But when I'm kinda bored, I like to play with makeup at home. Here's what I used:

Eye Shadows I used: Mac Blue Flame, Kate Trick Eyes BU-1 & GD-1

Jill Stuart Eye Jelly 08

Mascaras: Maybelline Colossal Volum' Express & XXL Extensions


Why I used two?? Each one serves different purposes. I always use XXL's primer as a base and its mascara together. This mascara instantly lengthens all my lashes but it may smudge. The Colossal one is a gift from a friend, so I just use on the top to lengthen my lashes further and it doesn't smudge.

MAC PearlGlide Eye liner in Rave. It's a deep purple with purple shimmers on it. Pretty cool.

Kate Eye Pencil - BR-2. This pencil is very fine but I kinda like it because it gradually builds up the color and doesn't create harsh lines.It's retractable, too. 

Steps I did with my eyelid:

1) GD-1 base color all over my eyelid

2) I put the color from the bottom left of GD-1 on my brow bone area.

3) Eye Jelly is placed on the bottom 1/3 of my eye lid. Just spread it evenly.

4) Mac Blue Frame is placed on top of the eye jelly. This color is cool but it doesn't tend to stay if you don't use something cream based to hold it.

5) Bottom lash line: I mixed the two colors from Kate Trick Eyes BU-1.

6)Eye line: I used MAC Rave to fill in between my lashes. I didn't line my eyes above the lashes... kinda lazy to do that but the false eyelashes I used would make my eyes look like I have eyeliner on.

7) Put on false eyelashes; then mascaras.

8) Fill my brows.

Final look... looks alright, right?

Urban Decay Cream Shadow: Midnight Rodeo & Delinquent

I received a sample of the Urban Decay Cream Shadow from one of my Sephora purchases. It's kinda nice once in awhile that they have samples for makeup. The actual product comes in a tube with a wand and contains 0.2oz.

Midnight rodeo is a pink champagne color with silver and iridescent glitter.And deliquent is a metallic deep purple color. Here's how it looks like under natural light:

And here's a swatch:

Midnight rodeo is nice to use as a base. And delinquent is a very rich purple color and good for smoky eye. This cream shadow is easy to blend but you've got to blend it fast because it dries quite fast. Maybe because I spent a bit more time playing with it. I forgot to put the Too Faced primer on but surprisingly it didn't smudge a bit and lasted most of the day. My cousin saw me last night and said my eyes looked sparkly. Now, should I spend another $17 for a tube of cream eye shadow??? They have so many colors to choose from. But I'm still planning on getting one of the Jill Stuart eye jellies when I go back to HK...

Korres Mini Haul

Korres had a black friday sale. I've been using Korres body butter for awhile and I like their Guava body butter a LOT! Their products are in the natural products category and their body butters are paraben free, silicone free, mineral oil free, propylene glycol free, and ethanolamine free. I wasn't really planning on getting something on black friday but the deal was too good to miss. The shower gels were buy 1 get 1 free and there was a special package (as shown on the pic) with 3 bottles of body butter and 3 mini shower gels. And best of all, everything was 20% off, $50 purchase with free shipping plus a free jumbo size Guava body butter.  The purchase also included 3 samples. I got White Tea facial fluid gel cleanser, yoghurt mask, and Quercetin & Oak antiageing/antiwrinkle Day Cream to try. Most of them will go to my relatives and a few buddies when I go visit Hong Kong later.

Korres Cyber Monday Sale

Korres has a Mega Cyber Monday sale. I've been using its Guava body butter for a year now. It's made without paraben and smells very nice. Anyways, a lot of stuffs are buy 1 get 1 free and if you spend over $50, they give you a free JUMBO size Guava body butter (regular price is $29)!!! Offer ends Tuesday (12/5).

La Mer The Powder

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog. Oh well. I feel like I should be holding back on my purchases but... Thanksgiving is a special time to be thankful for all the things I have. So, I'll share this one with you. A special friend of mine offered to use her special discount to get me this. Thank you so much!!

I'm shade 01 - creme. Retail price is $65 and the net weight is .88oz/25g. The content is a lot more than other brands, so do not look at the price when you buy. If you compare closely, this is 3x more than some department store brands. Quite worth the price! The powder is very fine and translucent, so I would use this to set my liquid foundation. I haven't used the powder sponge that comes with it because I only want a small amount of the powder on my face, so I use a powder brush instead. Here's how the container looks like.

It's huge!!! I put a Bobbi Brown lip stick next to it, so you can see how big this jar is. It's not heavy because it's plastic. Can't carry this with me, so I'm planning to get an empty container to put some of this to carry in my purse.

The powder is absolutely fine! I've tried a number of brands and I think this is the best I've used. It stays on most of the day and I don't need to blot the excess oil as much.

Kanebo Kate Diamond Cut Eyes PU-1

Diamond Cut Eyes PU-1 is Kanebo Kate's Fall collection. It's an addition to its existing line . I guess I'm always drawn to purple eyeshadows. You can get this for about $17 or so + shipping on the internet. This line has very pretty, pigmented colors and it's a good palette for the Fall/Winter. I need to put some eyeshadow primer to keep it long lasting. Here's a swatch:

Just so you know, all the colors have shimmers/glitters in it.

(1) & (2) are glitters and they are pretty similar to other glitters in the other palettes.

(3) is a white shimmery color; good for base color or highlight near the brow bone area

(4) is the lilac/lavender color with a hint of shimmers. I bought this palette mostly because of this color because I don't have this tone of purple. ;)

(5) is very pigmented. Can be used as an eyeliner or for creating a smoky eye look.This also has a little bit of shimmers in it.

The Return of Hard Candy

Hard Candy is now available at selected Walmart. There's not one closed to home, so ordered a few on their website. Back row starting from the left: Hot Pants nail polish ($5), Mr. Wrong nail polish ($5), and creamy eyeshadow in Queenie ($5). The front is the liquid eyeliner named "walk the line" ($6). It's a light gray eyeliner.


I like painting my nails, so probably I am more excited about getting these two nail polishes more than anything else. Each comes with a plastic ring. Gotta take it off before applying the nail polish, or else will make a mess. Here is the swatch:

From the right:

• Right - Mr. Wrong: a dark shimmery blackish gray. I like the color. Very cool.
• Middle - Hot Pants - It's a glitter nail polish with a hint of purple color. I put a coat on first and then added 2 more coats towards the tip. Very sheer color and you can't really tell unless you put several layers on.
• Left - I put a coat of Mr. Wrong first and then add a coat of Hot Pants to the top. Looks pretty nice I think. I just need to grow my nail longer. :D
  

Moving to the creamy eyeshadow - Queenie, here's a swatch:

It's very glittery and is a gel like shadow. The eyeliner is alright. It's not very pigmented but glides on well. 

 The liquid eyeliner color is kinda light. I've heard nice things about the eyeliner being able to stay on for awhile. I just need to find a color combination that will work with this eyeliner and give that a try...

Cleansing Solutions Reviews

Doing a review on skincare can be quite biased because of personal preference, skin condition, and also what kind of makeup you use. Let me just start off by telling you foaming cleanser would not work for my dry, sensitive skin. And I don't like how cleaning oil feels on my face, so I prefer using cleansing milk or cleansing solution. If my skin reacts to a product, my cheeks would have rashes or dry patches for days. Given my skin gives me quite a bit of troubles, I am hesitant to try different skincare products. The following cleansing solutions I find reasonably priced and yet work for my skin. They don't have as many ingredients as other kinds of cleanser. I bought them because they are all alcohol free, soap free, colorant free, and can be used for both face and eyes. I still use MAC eye makeup remover to remove mascara because I use waterproof mascara.

How would you use this kind of cleansing solutions? Use a cotton pad with the cleansing solution and wipe your face. No rinsing is required but you should pad dry after you wipe your face. I would not use cotton pads/balls from local drugstores because they soak up your solution like a sponge and will waste a ton!! Check out Asian grocery stores for better cotton pads. Mine actually can split into 2, so I can use 4 sides. :D

From left to right: 1) Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micelle Solution 2) Vichy Purete Thermale Calming Cleansing Lotion and 3) Aquamoist Cleansing Solution

1) Bioderma Sensibio H20 Micelle - Costs CDN$30. You can also find this on several website for $30+. This is a 500ml bottle and can run fast. This is my 3rd bottle. I don't wear makeup everyday, so this probably will last for about 6 months. Cleansing power is the best of all 3. Compare to the other two products, my skin does feel a bit drier but it's not so much of an issue as soon as I put some moisturizer on.

2) Vichy Purete Calming Cleansing Solution - You can get this 200ml bottle on Vichy's website for $14. I bought 2 of them when Ulta cleared out their stocks for $6 per bottle last year. :D I am about to finish this up. It's lightly scented because of the rose phytophenol. It doesn't feel dry after but I do need to wipe my face twice to get all the makeup off.

3) Aquamoist Cleansing Solution - This is made in Japan whereas the other two are made in France. This is my first bottle and I bought it via Sasa for about $10. Same size as Vichy's. I then saw it at a Japanese grocery store for $12. Cleans well and my face feels moist after using it.

Kanebo Lunasol Star Shower Eyes 05

Star Shower Eyes is Kanebo Lunasol's new Fall 2009 collection. There are 5 palettes and I picked the neutral color 05 - Close of Night. Many reviewers picked 03 or 04. 03 is a blue and green palette and I would buy it just by looking at the other people's reviews. But I'm not a fan of blue color eye palette. I've purchased a few but they don't seem to look right on me... My friend picked this up for me from Hong Kong. If you purchase it online, it can range from $49 to $67.  The packaging is the same as the other Lunasol palettes, nothing special. Inside the box, the palette is wrapped with a styrofoam to protect the palette. Good for me who depend on mail orders.;)

The palette is pretty shimmery. Let's take a look at the swatches:

(1) is an orange base color. It reminds me of the orange base color in the Estee Lauder's Caramel Truffle palette. Lunasol has all the sparkles and the orange color is slightly brighter. See there's a star logo on the upper left corner. I will just let it stay there. ;)

(2) is a white golden frosty shimmer and can be used for highlight your brow bone area. I like to put a little bit of this in the middle of my eye lid.

(3) I mix this along with (4). (4) is a darker color and when the two mix together, the color looks more like a dark olive green. Pretty interesting.

Overall, I think this palette is pretty versatile. The sparkles in this palette are very nice... I love it!

Beauty Maker AquaEye Concealer

I have tried Bobbi Brown's concealers like Eye Brightener (light), Face Touch Up Stick (Sand), and Creamy Concealer. I'm currently still using their eye brightener and touch up stick. Too bad the Touch up stick cannot be used for the under eye area because it contains clay that may dry up your skin. Otherwise, that will be perfect for me. It's very convenient.

BeautyMaker AquaEye concealer is made in Taiwan and has 3 shades. The product line is targeted to the Taiwan market mainly but you can find this concealer on several websites for less than $14. Inside the box, there's a white pamphlet printed in Chinese about the whole product line. Here's the description of the product: "it's developed specifically for use under and around the eye area. The ingredients help counteract shadows, reduce redness, hide dark circles and other imperfections and give skin a more even tone. Long-lasting coverage builds from moderate to full."

One interesting thing I found was the ingredients listed on the box and the back of the actual product are inconsistent. Perhaps I don't quite understand the chemical terms listed at the back to tell whether it's inaccurate or what. And the expiration dates are different (36 months vs 24 months). Well, you probably will finish this 3 grams of concealer up in less than 2 years. ;) I would throw away after a year or so for sanitary reasons.

In terms of the texture and consistency, it's not as thick as the Bobbi Brown's creamy concealer. I don't use my finger to pad onto my undereye area and use a concealer brush instead. It's easy to put it on and as you dab, it becomes dry and turns into a powder form. I find that quite interesting. You don't really need  powder to keep it on. Because it's slightly dry after you put it on, I don't recommend using this if your under eye area already have developed fine dry lines. Coverage is pretty good though, see before and after pics for a comparison. Btw, that's a mosquito bite mark that lasts over a month.

Kate Reflect Mirror Eyes PU-2

Kanebo Kate Reflect Mirror Eyes is their new Fall 09' collection and you can get one from some beauty websites between $16 to $18. I saw this PU-2 on the August More magazine and thought it looks kinda good. I have been buying Kate's eyeshadows ever since my friend bought me one years ago. Its quality is no different than some of the department store brands and very reasonably priced. Their eyeshadows usually have high pigmentation and the texture is smooth. Love it!

Since I have accumulated a few Kate's eyeshadows, particularly the brown palettes, I got this PU-2 instead. I am not sure if I like so much about this palette because it's quite sheer. A bit different than the other Kate palettes. Let me show you the swatches:

 

This palette has 3 colors; more of a purple grey combination and all have shimmers. I would use (1) as a base for eyelid. The pigmentation on (1) is not so great because it's sheer. I put on a few layers on to make it show on this picture. (2) is quite nice and most pigmented out of the three. (3) probably can be used as an eyeliner or used on your eyes' outer corner for a more dramatic look.  If you are not into heavy makeup and want something more natural, this will be a nice palette. I wore that for work the other day and looked kinda nice. :)

Beauty Package

My best friend helped me got a few things from Hong Kong. Here they are:

1. A Koji Makeup Mascara Protector Comb. Got this only because to qualify for free shipping to my friend's place. Will figure out how to use that later. The comb is sort of wide. I hope I don't poke my eyes.
   
2. Beauty Maker Aqua Eye Concealer - Bright (lightest shade).
   
3. Kanebo Lunasol Star Shower Eyes 05 - Close of Night
4. Jill Stuart Jelly Eye Color 08
5. Coffret D'or GY-37
6. Coffret D'or GY-45
7. Sasa nail sticker

Out of all the stuffs I got, I like Jill Stuart jelly eye color the best. The Lunasol palette is quite good because of its earthy tone. Will review some of them individually later...

Lunasol Lighting For Eyes 03

I have heard a lot of good things about Kanebo Lunasol eye shadows. It costs quite a bit to ship from Asia to the US, and so I don't feel like purchasing it at all. The average price on the web may cost from $45 to over $60. Bobodave had this item on sale earlier with free shipping, so I ordered it right away.

The palette itself is quite natural. Each shade has sheer shimmer on it. If you use just the top two colors (1&2), it probably won't show much other than people will see you have something on. The bottom left shade (3) has some purple sparkles and can be used for smoky eyes or just a liner. The bottom right (4) silver color is very sparkly. You can dab a bit over your lid or use to line the inner corners of your eyes. Keep in mind the sparkles are quite big; you don't wanna put too much.

Here's a swatch for your reference:

In terms of the texture, I like it because it's quite silky and smooth. I would prime my eye lids and this palette will stay on most of the day.

My New Hello Kitty Crocs

A very dear friend sent me a Hello Kitty package. She helped me got two pairs of Crocs, which are limited editions in Asia. Each pair of Crocs comes with a Hello Kitty bag. They are just too cute!