more from A Girl Like Me…

Wanted to play up A Girl Like Me more after using it as a blending color in the earlier eotd. Used a different color placement this time. Less of a smokey eye look. Photos were taken after a long day hence the slight clumping at the crease line, slight fall out below the eye and the shiny skin.

• Monistat – all over eye base
• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yoghurt – all over lid smudged
• TSS Beyond Skin Deep – patted on lid and as a highlight on brow bone
• TSS A Girl Like Me – on the crease and up towards the brow bone
• TSS Biggest Impact – used a small angled brush and drew in a darker line right at the crease and blended upwards
• Majolica Majorca liquid liner in BL603 (blue)

Starburst copied…

First time I saw the video tutorial for this look, I said ‘too bright’ and ‘pink… ewwww!’ But the look stayed in my head for more than a week and I started to try and figure out how I could copy it. Why? well, just cos it’d be something I’ve never done before.

First up, what to use? minerals? or one of my palettes? Minerals was my first choice so I started swatching…

Now although I know I don’t normally buy yellows or pinks much less reds… I plowed through my collection of minerals and turned up with these red/pinks…

• Beauty from the Earth Rasberry
• SilkMinerals Strawberry
• SilkMinerals Pomegranate
• TSS Vampires Tap Dancing (LE Storybook)
• Aromaleigh lookinforakiss
• Aromaleigh peony

nice pinks, not reds, but to me, they looked a little too blue for the eotd I was going for… still looking for that elusive red…

finding yellows was equally challenging…

do you see a problem? I did… no really pure yellow yellows. more golds and bronzey golds. Sigh…

I finally resorted to following VoT’s suggestions on using the 88 matte palette and 120 palette. And here was what I came up with… only thing I left out was the false eyelashes.

• Monistat – base
• NYX jumbo eye pencil in strawberry milk
• from the 88 matte palette – pink, red and white
• from the 120 palette – yellow
• Majolica Majorca liquid liner in black
• Maybelline mascara

So do you think I got close enough to my target? let me know.

My Eyeliner collection

Just thought I’d line up all my liners in a pretty swatch… so here’s everything I use on a ‘regular’ basis along with some thoughts on each.

TOP ROW (left to right)

Silkygirl long wearing eyeliner in 02 Black Brown

haven’t used this in eons! especially since I got Maybelline’s gel liner. But this was my first liner ever… so it deserves mention :P

Silkygirl funky eyelights pencil in Ocean Blue (02)

Silkygirl funky eyelights pencil in Pure Purple (04)

to be honest, haven’t used these two in quite a while. Not that they aren’t good… just have gotten really distracted my my MM liquid liners. Will revisit them soon I think, these swatches have gotten me interested again :P

L’oreal HIP liner in 950 Navy

L’oreal HIP liner in 940 Green

Love these two especially for lining the upper waterline. They stay for quite a while and add depth to my lash line. Have been experimenting with using them on my lower lash line using the ELF small angled brush… so far, working out ok. But need to practice a little more to get the effect I’d really like

Majolica Majorca Neo liner in Black (BK999)

Majolica Majorca Neo liner in Shiny Black (BK911)

Majolica Majorca Perfect liner in Green (GR604)

Majolica Majorca Perfect liner in Blue (BL603)

what can I say? I use these liners most of the time. A small thin line defines my eyes while a thicker line with a wing adds a touch of drama. Tacks a little practice to get it done right but once mastered, its the “go to” liner for nice dark bold lines.

BOTTOM ROW (left to right)

UD 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Deviant

UD 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Electric

UD 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Covet

just got these three liners from UD’s GWP promotion. Deviant is full size while Electric and Covet are trial sizes. I have got to say these have to be the silkiest, smoothest liners I’ve ever tried. No issue with smudging soon after applied but once they set, they don’t go anywhere. Lovely. The only down side is the price. *sigh*

Cream/Gel EyeLiner by Maybelline EyeStudio in brown

I don’t use this nearly enough. Find the brush fiddly compared to the other pencils. But I do like this for tightlining on top of other colored liners. Eg if I use the Silkygirl liner and want to define my lash line a little more, I use this smooshed (is that a word??) into my lashes so they stand out more. The colored line is still there but my lashes have an identity of their own.

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What are your favourite liners? and why? Leave a comment and tell me.

A Prosperous Start to the New Year

Gong Xi! Gong Xi! To my chinese readers… may the year be filled with good fortune and lots to eat! and above all “shen ti jian kang”! (gee I hope I get that hypy right… :P)

The first day was a looooooong tiring day of visiting, dealing with sugar high kids and a homebody hubby who just wanted to go home. We covered a total of 9 homes… starting out from home at 7.30 and finishing at about 4. Headed back to my mom’s place for some r&r before two more aunties and assorted cousins visited in the evening. By staying those extra hours at my mom’s, I ‘escaped’ having to visit two more houses. *grin*

Finally reached our home at 9.30. Super tired… my kids just washed up and it was “lights out”. Even my hubby slept pretty early.

By 10.30, when I was finished sorting and clearing stuff, all I could hear was the collective chorus of snores. Rather heart warming… but then maybe I’m just strange.

So here’s my look for the first day… tried out a new pair of half falsies – Ardell Accents Lashes 301. Used them with the DUO lash glue. They got glued on at 6.45am.

Impressions : easier to use than full lashes and I didn’t run about the whole day feeling like I had spiders on my lids. On the whole, very happy with them. They added length at the ends where it mattered. Only thing I’d do different the next time would be to put mascara on and curl my lashes before putting these babies on.

On to the EOTD (as usual, click thru for bigger pics) :

• Monistat – base
• NYX jumbo eye pencil in baby blue
• smudged all over lid and up into the crease
• to take off some of the ‘redness’ aka warmth from the shades I was using next
• TSS The Doll House (LE Grab Bag)
• patted all over lid
• used under the brows as a highlight
• TSS Goodness and Grace (LE Ho Ho ‘08)
• 1/3 out lid and up to the crease and blended to the brow bone
• TSS One Stuck Sleigh (LE Ho Ho ‘08)
• outer v and blended
• Majolica Majorca Neo liquid liner in black (999)
• upper lash line
• Maybelline’s Volum’ Express Turbo Boost mascara in black
• Inuovi’s brow pencil in Cocoa

 

Face :

• Biore’s Radiant Sunscreen lotion
• SilkNatural’s foundation and perfecting powder blend

Cheeks :

• Canmake blush in 05
• SilkNaturals’ blush in Climax and Babydoll (mixed)

Lips :

• SilkNaturals organic lipgloss in Rare Berry

And here’s what my eotd looked like at 9.45pm…  the lashes stayed put (even though I’d brought both glue and liner just in case)… minimal creasing near the tear duct. Hardly any fading I could see.

Really, for me, NYX jumbo eye pencils combined with TSS e/s are my HG for long wearing looks that last through heat, humidity and super long days.

I am officially broke… (part 2)

To continue my Watson’s hauls… sigh… I searched two outlets for Canmake blushes. Finally found them… swatched all six colors (01 to 06 from left to right; top to bottom) and four Majolica Majorca Neo liquid liners (no, I don’t remember the code numbers).

I won’t bother to post pics of the display unit or the individual blush casings… they’re all over the blogsphere… just do a search. I did do swatches for my own reference. Something I like to do so that I see how it turns up on my skin tone.

The pics were taken in store and without any base using my fingertips.

 

Am so tempted to pick up the green liner and the dark brown liner… but that’d put me back another close to 40 bucks.

As for the blushes… was really drawn to 01 which was a pretty light pink. There was only one left too… but in the end decided on 05 which is a peachy pink.

Used with a fibre optic brush (Ann’s suggestion), it produces a pretty flushed look on my skin. Quite like it and have used it two days in a row now. In terms of lasting power, I can still see it on my cheeks at the end of a 12 hour day so I think that’s pretty good mileage. Am happy with my buy and thinking… just thinking… about 01 still.

I brought my daughter along with me on this swatching adventure. Monkey see, monkey do right? so this was the result…

can pass? I think got some hope ya?

and see her pretty sparkly slip ons. My mil just brought them home from Hanoi… she’s so proud of them.

My last purchase was the much raved about Maybelline gel eye liner. I got this in brown. Again, it was at 20% off so it was a good time to give it try. I haven’t opened it yet so have got no swatches and no opinions to share. Will definitely update you when I do get my brush into the pot. *giggle*

Have a colorful day everyone! I know I am. :D

Sunday’s FOTD revisited

Found a couple more pics of Sunday’s look. Hope you enjoy them :)

I am officially broke… (part 1)

Watsons… can I say that I hate your sales? the 20% off on makeup items is just so tempting even someone on a tight budget like myself can’t resist. Then to have them offer 20% off on Majolica Majorca for the first time ever… how on earth could I resist? (I also blame Ann for her lovely enabling power!)

So.. I’ve been lemming the new colors ever since they launched in fall 2009.

I’ve got their older liners in Black (999) and Shiny Black (I think 991 or 995) but really wanted colored liners. So this was the perfect opportunity (and yes, I am punning. LOL!)

Colors I got are BL603 (blue) and GR604 (green).

so.. swatch time! this pic was taken in daylight. The inner two lines were done with enough liner liquid for it to be visibly higher than my skin. Kinda like a long bubble of liner. It took quite a while to dry. The outer two lines was done with much less liner.

 

My opinion…

If you like color and are willing to wait while they dry… get these liners. They really do last a looooong time on your eye once dry. I used the blue one yesterday for more than 12 hours with no smudging at all… before you ask.. eotd pics are in the works.

If you like darker liners, get this.

However….

If you prefer a less watery liquid liner, get the old range “Neo” which is less watery, dries faster but has less fun colors (at least according to me).

If you have the type of eye lid which creates a new line if you blink before the liner dries, do NOT get these liners… you’ll smudge big big time unless you have strong lid discipline!

For me, its back to lemming for Neo liners… I’d love to get one in both the light brown and the darker brown. Don’t really like the other shades… *sobs*

for pictures of packaging and details of the liner itself… check out the link I’ve included at near the top of my post. :)

No makeup day?

Ever woken up in the morning… say on a lazy Saturday… and decided, “No, I won’t use any makeup today… “

Well, I did that this morning and then we decided to go out for lunch. Sigh…

Let me backtrack a little here. As the months have gone by recently, I’ve noticed more and more spots turning up on my face. You can call them age spots but I think they’re basically sun damage finally showing up after all these years. So my resolution for this year is actually to use my sunblock regularly as long as I’m headed out into the sun.

Back to today… given that we’re leaving house at 12 noon… I think I’m gonna see some sun. Don’t you? So off to my m/u zone I headed to put on some sunbock.

BUT once that goes on… I *have* to set it with some powder… and then I look so washed out… I *have* to add some blusher… then my eyes look so plain… I *have* to fill in brows and add some liner.

Sigh… there goes the no m/u day. LOL!

Anyways… played with my new MM liner in green today… haul post with swatches will go up probably tomorrow… so hold your questions. Answers will be coming! If you can believe it, its still not dry on my lids and its been about 5 mins. Sigh. Really don’t like this formulation *at all*

So here’s my uber duper plain eotd for today.

Face Powder
MM Perfect liquid liner in GR604
Inuovi brow pencil in cocoa

can you see how wet this liner is… sigh…

Used another new haul item on my cheeks. The Canmake blush that everyone seems to be raving about. I got the 05 shade. Used with a f/o brush with a slight dusting of SN’s Climax on top to set it.

k.. now i’m really running out the door! LOL!

*edited to add…. the smudge you see on the pics wasn’t on my eye… I looked after I posted and its not there. I’m guess there was a smudge on the camera lens? don’t really know :P

Super Simple EOTD II

Someone… and I won’t say who… complained that I used a LE shade that wasn’t available any more. So here’s a similar look using a regular shade that was is one of my favourites to use as a highlight or even over another color to lighten it up a little.

no base – unless u count sunblock
NYX JEP in baby blue – all over lid
TSS Moonlight Whimsey – patted on lid and blended upwards til the brow bone
MM’s liquid eyeliner in 995
MM’s gorgeous lash mascara 
Maybelline’s Volum’ Express Turbo Boost mascara in black 
Inuovi’s brow pencil in Cocoa (found the name :P)

Super simple EOTD

Didn’t feel very colorful today… so here’s what I came up with…

No base
NYX JEP in Yoghurt – all over lid
TSS Beyond Skin Deep – patted on lid and blended upwards all the way to the brow.
MM’s liquid eyeliner in 995 (I think… its the greyish/silverish black) – tried for a slightly winged look
MM’s gorgeous lash mascara
Maybelline’s Volum’ Express Turbo Boost mascara in black
Inuovi’s brow pencil in I dunno what color. *lol*

 

I had forgotten how totally goregous Beyond Skin Deep is. It gives a lovely subtle glow to my eyes that is really so pretty. Am pretty sure I’ve got a spare sample baggie of this color cos I love love love it. Now to rummage through my stash again. For asians, I can’t emphasize how much I love this color! Sadly it was an LE… so I doubt its available any more. Still no harm checking with Heather from TheSheSpace :P

These pics were taken at 11.37pm and the m/u was applied at 4pm so… eyes are slightly oily. Apologies. Forgot to take pics as I was rushing out the door.

As a Dueling Diva in a Fairytale you can Float on a Cloud while being a Scatterbrain – TSS eotd

Shopping my stash again :)

 

Monistat – base all over
NYX JEP in horseradish – all over lid and smudged up
TSS Float on a Cloud – inner lid
TSS Scatter Brain – mid to outer lid
TSS Be The Fairytale (LE Cindy) – crease upwards
TSS Dueling Divas – highlight
DM just browsin’ black – brows
MM liquid eyeliner in Black
Ardell either demure or 110s.. I think…

Secret Wishes makes a Prince a Pauper – TSS etod

I am really outta time. Sorry this hasn’t been edited at all… just wanted to get it posted. :P

Monistat – base
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Pacific – all over lid and smudged upwards
TSS Secret Wishes (LE Cindy) – inner lid and highlight
TSS Prince to Pauper (LE Cindy) – mid lid
TSS Fairest of Them All – with the larger EOB crease brush - outer lid, crease up to brow bone
TSS Lucifer’s Chariot (Go Glam) – with the smaller EOB crease brush – crease, outer v
TSS Zelda’s Revenge – again with the smaller crease brush – outer V
MM liquid eyeliner in black

Majolica Majorca Jewelling Eyes

Had to run down to central yesterday to post out some packages so decided to drop by Watsons on the way home.

MM just released this summer collection of e/s and I was hoping to take a closer look at it.

Top (left to right): VI782, RD784, PK785, GR780
Bottom (left to right): BL381, PK383, GD886, SV887

I only swatched VI782 and BL381 and then gave up. The colors just weren’t attractive enough for me to keep going. If you’d like to see the whole range swatched, drop by Iswii’s blog.

here’s the pics I took (VI782 on top)

the top left corner e/s was the most sparkly in each quad. According to the diagram, its supposed to be use to play up the middle of the lid and under the brow bone.

My cousin is going to Taiwan on Sunday and I was tempted to ask him to get me some but after seeing these swatches… well, I’m glad I don’t like them cos then I get to save some money. *big grin*

More greens using TSS LEs

This was a look I did two Saturdays ago… April 18th… I was still on my green streak… so here’s more greens…

Monistat – base
NYX JEP in horse raddish – all over lid and smudged
TSS Beyond Skin Deep (LE LiveInspired) – highlight
TSS Buddha Kiss (LE Twinkle) – inner 1/3 lid
TSS Broken Mind (LE Twinkle) – mid 1/3 lid
TSS Be the FairyTale (LE Cindy) – outer 1/3 lid & crease
TSS Native of Nature (LE Live Inspired) – outer v
MM liquid liner in black
DM’s Just Browsing Brown - brows
no mascara

Not quite St. Patrick’s Day…

So I’m feeling green… that’s better than feeling blue right? :P

Did this for my first full day outing in a while (last Saturday). I’ve just been feeling so lousy lately but with our church’s Easter celebrations for the kids… well, my kids made me promise to go with them this one time.

Then I find out on Wednesday that I have to conduct my usual workshop for BMSG. A group I’m committed to helping out in. After all, I can’t pay it back but I sure can pay it forward! Being able to help and encourage other breastfeeding moms is so satisfying… I know its totally OT but making the effort to encourage even when I’m feeling bad :

bfg isn't a bed of roses... its a long hard marathon but it can be completed... just one step at the time.

and then getting comments like

I like this.. sounds so beautiful. :) I will use that as my motto. :)

It just makes everything so worthwhile! *big grin*

Then I got a call just before my workshop asking if we were free to join my cousin for dinner… its been ages since we last met up so I said yes and prayed real hard that I’d have the energy to last.

Dinner was a blast. My girl and his son paired up and my youngest and his daughter paired up… so cute! Its always fun to catch up with each other’s lives and enjoy each other’s company. I wish we did see more of each other but with different schedules… its been hard.

Ok, sorry for the long detour… back to my eotd… LOL!

Monistat – base
NYX JEP in horseradish – all over lid
TSS Buddha Kiss – inner lid
TSS Broken Mind – mid lid
TSS Be the Fairytale – outer lid/crease
TSS Native of Nature – applied w a small crease brush on the outer V
TSS Beyond Skin Deep – highlight
MM liquid e/liner in black
Brows – DM’s Better than Black

  

This look went on at 8am and came off at about 10pm… no creasing and still looked fresh and green.