#LOVE LIST #5: Beauty Edition

Since the beauty component of this blog has been MIA-ing quite a bit as or late, I thought I'd dedicate a Love List for the beauty products I'm currently loving!

I have been sent a few products at the start of the year (can you believe we are already in the second quarter of the year?!?) and finally got the chance to try them out and these are the ones that I'm diggin' at the moment!

Illamasqua Speckled Nail Polish in Fragile - A gorgeous Tiffany blue WITH speckles! That means you don't have to go through the hassle of applying 5 coats (2 for the base colour, 2 for the glitter AND top coat)! I was wearing this nail polish during my short trip back to Malaysia - and one of Mum's friend was IN LOVE with this nail polish. Lucky her, I brought it with me. =P

Wearing Katie and Ambition here 

Illamasqua Blush Duo in Katie and Ambition - Ambition is a mauve coloured blush with tiny bits of glitters whereas Katie is a matte baby pink blush. Ambition is a great colour on its own - it gives ithat gorgeous flush (somewhere between bronze and coral) within being to over the top; Katie, on the other hand, is a tad too pale for my skin to wear on its own! 

A CLOSE UP of the blush combination :)

However, Katie is the perfect shade to mattify Ambition if I am feeling a no-glitter kinda day! This Blush Duo has been my everyday blush during my short Malaysia trip during Easter! 

Models Prefer Lust Lipstick in Cupcake - Another new found love of mine - this coral lippie with extremely moisturising formula is surprisingly pigmented and long-lasting. It reminds me a lot of Revlon's Lip Butter in Trutti Frutti (reviewed HERE). The best thing is? It's only $11.99 a pop. Gotta love me some good cheapie lippie! 

Benefit FAKE UP Concealer - You might have came across this product on Through Beauty Eyes from my Social Diaries #2 updates (Remember the topless butler? Yes, THAT) I finally get around to trying this and my FAKE UP cherry was popped after a long haul flight. Needless to say, I was hooked since then and FAKE UP has definitely made its way to claim the HG concealer spot. LATERS, dry undereyes! However, if you're looking for a full coverage concealer - this might not be the man (or lady) for you as the formula is pretty sheer (due to its moisturising nature I suppose). I do get the desirable concealing I am looking for by applying a couple of layers. Make sure you try it out at your nearest Benefit counter before doing any purchase! A quick tip I learnt from the #FakeUpevent is to apply this concealer in a "V shape" on your undereye and blend it upwards using your ring finger. 

URIAGE Thermal Water for sensitive skin - This baby was a life savior during my short trip to Malaysia - a couple of pump of this thermal water in the hot and humid weather is one of my simple pleasures in life! So refreshing, so good. URIAGE Eau Thermal is still saving my life skin now that I am back in Sydney. With the change in weather - my skin has been PMS-ing like a bitch. Ridiculously dry and rashes poppin' up left right centre (quite literally). I try to spray this every half an hour or so to replenish my skin with some water it desperately needs. LOVE! 

Hope you enjoyed this my love list and quick reviews this week. J

Have you tried any of these products?

What are on your love list this week and did any of the above products make it into your list?

XOXO,

A

TBE How To: Japenezu-Inspired-Look

Hey lovelies,

How was your weekend? Hope you all had a great one. :D Is it me or did just weekend just flew by and its Monday again? Woke up to a crappy weather ( it has been raining non-stop in Sydney since last night) and work was pretty bad either.:S Thank god for little things that put a smile back on my face. Gosh, I feel so high school again. =P

Anyways, lets cut the crap and proceed to some beauty-related stuff, shall we? For those who knows me personally should probably know by now that I was never into the whole Japanese fashion thingo. It was just never my kind of thing. However, the curiosity in me took over and I decided to try out a Japanese-inspired-FOTD today after a friend of mine sent me this magazine shot and asked me to try this look out.

Epic eyeliner with nude lips. The trick here is to blend your eyeliner out with black eyeshadow to soften the harsh edges of the eyeliner.Before I got into the eyeshadow-stage, all I wore was eyeliner and mascara, so this look is something that I have never really tried before. (Extra points for first timer!:D)

And this is what I got. I know its no where near as good as the magazine and the eyeliner wasn't epic and thick enough but I don't want to look like I am attending a photoshoot (cheeewahhhh) when all I am going to is, to work. =.=" Hence, a less dramatic look.

On my EYES

Any excessive creasing will transform the look from chic to trashy, so I primed my eyes using ELF Mineral Eye Primer first. Then, using the beige-coloured eyeshadow from the SILKY GIRL Duo Eye Shadow in Iced Ginger, I applied it all over my lid. Before lining my upper lash line with Revlon Colorstay Eyeliner (Pencil) in black, I applied NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Slate all over my lid to set the eyeliner so that it stays longer.

The next step is the key to create the soft but bold look - using a blending blush, blend away the harsh line of your eyeliner using a black eyeshadow. And here, I am using the black (with bits of shimmers) from my 88 warm colour palette.

For the lower lash line, after lining using the same Revlon Colorstay Eyeliner (Pencil) in black , I set the eyeliner using the Outer Corner colour (a matte darkish grey colour) from Maybelline Smokey Quad in Natural Smokes.

Think we're done? Don't forget the most important step of any make up routine - your lashes. If you're one of those who always goes "Meh, it's just lashes. They aren't gonna make much of a difference.", you're making a HUGE mistake.Because, lashes.does.make.a.difference. It opens up your eyes and probably enlarge it by 10x. As I mentioned earlier on, I don't want to look too out there for work (where no formal dress code is enforced), hence I gave falsies a miss.

HOWEVER, I did apply 2 coats of mascara, one to volumize and another one to lengthen my lashes. I used Maybelline Magnum Volum' Mascara in Black and Rimmel Glam Eyes Lash Flirt in Kohl Black.

I used In2It Waterproof Eyebrow Colour in Eye Brown and Loreal Brow Stylist in Dark Brown to fill in brows.

On my FACE

Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream

Etude House Magic BB Cream

ELF Contouring Blush and Bronzing Powder

Physician Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin Matte Finishing Veil in Translucent

On my LIPS

NYX Round Lipstick in CIRCE

NYX Mega Shine Lipgloss in Frosted Beige

-With flash-

-Without flash-

- Why is it so friggin' cold today???-

-Peace out, mate!-

-Outfit of the Day -

The Superwoman hoodie above is my recent purchase from JayJays last week, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it! Have been wearing them out everyday since I got it. It keeps me so warm and comfy!! JaysJays was having an extra 20% off all items on that particular day, so on top of the $10 mark down from 39 bucks, I got an extra 20% off and paid only $23 for this hoodie. Best investment ever. :D

Wow, this post is pretty word-ful. Sorry if it doesn't make much sense to you as I have been at work all day and I should be in bed half an hour ago but I felt like updating this space before hitting the sack.

What do you think of my very first Japanese-gyaru inspired look? Did I pass or fail? Lol.

Hope you guys have a great week ahead!! :D

PS: I will reply the comments tomorrow, my last day of work for the week. CAN'T WAIT! :)

XOXO,

A

TBE How To: Combine Spring & Autumn in one look?

While most of the beauties from the other side of the globe are welcoming spring with their open arms; the Southern hemisphere is getting ready to embrace the cold as we are almost halfway into autumn now. Spring is all about bright colours and floral-ish stuff; while autumn (or fall, the way the Americans call them) is more about earthy, neutral colours.

As we all know, there is no black and white in make up. Make up is versatile and its all up to the person on how and what she wants to do with her current make up collection. Make up is all about mix and match. Make up is all about being adventurous and try on different colours. That's why I love make up. :D You don't have to follow a rule or a guideline in order to achieve that gorgeous look you one. (Of course, that doesn't give you a pass to apply 10 layers of foundation and paint your eyes with 20 colours and get away with it.)

So, what do you get when you combine Autumn AND Spring together?

I decided to add a hint of spring to my usual neutral browns the other day, when the temperature hit a maximum of 28 degrees, in the middle of autumn. You gotta love Sydney sometimes, for the abundance of sunshine. Just sometimes though. As I mentioned in theprevious post, I am back to the square one after 2 weeks of gloomy weather, which consists of nothing but clouds and rain.

I haven't had the chance to use the NYX pigments ( no longer a pigments virgin now yay) I got from CrushCosmetics (gonna do a post on my CrushCosmetics haul and the impeccable customer services they provide soon! :P) a couple of weeks back as the colours I got are kinda out there. Well, not anymore if you neutralise it with your favourite brown/copper colour. =P

This is my faithful 88 Warm Colour Palette, which I have been raving about in every post of mine. It has been a good three weeks since this palette arrived and I have been playing around with for the past 2 weeks. Well, we shall see how long does it take before the "enthusiasm" dies off and I resume to torturing my bank account again by purchasing more eye shadows. (Next in mind, to try out the 482034820348203842038402348023 colours from NYX single shadow line.)

STEP 1: Using Etude House Shine Up Stick in Pink Beam as an eyeshadow base, pack on NYX Ultra Pearl Mania in Purple Pearl all over the lid. As this was a day look, I gently tap on one layer of Colour #1(a matte-ish lilac) from my 88 Warm Colour Palette to tone down the colour a lil.

Just a quick tip here for those who has really dry skin like me, especially the eye lid area:

Try applying vasaline before applying any BB Cream/ powder ( I can't really say for foundation as I barely use it) You will notice the difference. (My lid and the brow bone are was flaky before application but it is much better after applying vasaline.)

STEP 2: Using a crease brush, grab colour #2 from the 88 warm colour palette and apply it at the outer V of your lid and bring it inwards, along your crease.

STEP 3: Then, apply Colour #3 from the 88 warm colour palette on the outer V area to create more dimension to the look as well as applying a tiny bit of Colour #4 from the 88 warm colour palettealong the inner tear duct area, using a blending brush. Blend away all the harsh edges.

STEP 4: Apply Colour #5 from the 88 warm colour palette on your brown bone area and apply it onto the inner corner of your lower lash line with an angled brush. Line your upper lash line with either gel liner or liquid liner (whichever floats your boat). I am using Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Eyeliner in black. Then, apply a generous layer of mascara and I used Maybelline Magnum Volume Mascara. To complete the eye part, I lined my lower lashline using Sports Girl's Draw the Line Eyeliner in purple (which was really shit btw) and set the liner with Colour #6 from the 88 warm colour palette,, using an angled brush.

Don't forget to fill in your brows. It DOES make a difference, trust me. :) I was once a lazy eyebrow-filler (if there's such word lol) but now I can't leave the house without doing my brows. I used In2It Waterproof Eyebrow Colour in Eyebrown here.

To complete the look, I used Sports Girls Oh My Goodness Bronzing Powder in "Steal the Spotlight" and Etude House Lovely Cookie Blush in 04. As for the lips, I used my Lucas PaPaw Ointment and Rimmel's Moisture Review Lipstick in Nude Delight.

I have finally gave in and bought a tube of Lucas Papaw Ointment last week when they were having a special at Priceline. A few of my friends had swore by this product and claimed that this is the BEST lip balm ever. I have been putting off buying it because I don't really like the smell of it but it IS very moisturizing to the lips. So, we shall see. I might do a review on this after trying it out for a couple more weeks. :D

See what I mean by looking pale after 2 weeks??? Now, the bronzer looks overdone on me! :( *pulls hair*

Hope you guys enjoy this Blog-torial. Let me know what do you guys think about the whole blog-torial thing. ( I actually tried filming a tutorial for this look, but my laptop crash EVERY.SINGLE.TIME I try to convert the files to WMV for editing. I shit you not. So, I gave up and did a blog-torial instead.)

I shall end this day with my Nails of the Week - Revlon Red by REVLON :)

ps: I have updated my Fellow Beauties Page *click here*. Feel free to check them out. :) Gonna update them in another couple of days.

XOXO,

A