My new HG foundation...

So... I've noticed that I've got more and more nail polish posts... so I thought I should introduce something that has been a recent addition to my makeup table.

warning... I don't normally like reading gushy posts and I try my best not to write them *BUT* this is probably going to turn up to be one. I tried my best but you know I don't normally find HG products. I'm loyal to stuff but I don't label them HG. Just scrolling through my blog, I think the only time I mentioned "HG" was when referring to my favourite e/s and base combination.

Long term readers of this blog would know I lurve SilkNaturals' foundation. For years now... well, for as long as I found SN's foundies, they have been a staple in my m/u routine. I love how they sat on my face, I loved spending time once a month mixing them up, I loved being able to tweak them to each day's needs/wants. I loved feeling like I had just skin on and not a thick layer of gunk.

So what has changed? nothing really... I just found something that makes me feel more beautiful and seems to work better on my skin as well. Let me see if I can explain why (pretty much off the top of my head)...

• This foundation melts into the skin. You can't feel it once its on. Doesn't even need that spritz to make it sink in.
• it kinda doubles as a concealer for me. works lovely under my eyes to hide any darkness. when applied around my nose, it lightens the shadows there so that my nose doesn't look quite so fat. (finally found a use for EDM's eyebuki... it works great in those areas!)
• it works as a highlighter of sorts... when applied with a sponge strategically, I get cheekbones! well... not really, but my natural flush appears and the need for a blusher goes down by quite a bit.
• its got nothing in its ingredient list that will hurt my skin. Jo even does a patch test for some ingredients to make sure of that. 
• while it doesn't have a SPF rating, I know its got mineral sunscreens like Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide in it that helps to block both UVA and UVB rays.
• its got silk in its formulation that helps to moisturize and protect my skin's moisture levels
• as compared to SN, I use less of it... with more effect. Perhaps that has to do with the different coverage levels. I don't really know. All I do know, is less of it goes into my swirly bowl and my face looks fine. 
• and the BEST part of it? its all personally CUSTOMIZED to fit your needs and wants in terms of foundation. So if you want more coverage, you got it! If you want to hide those ginormous pores... *drum roll* they're gone.

Jo L. at Lolita NY does this by walking you through a set of cards. Each card deals with a different area of concern. She asks about your sun exposure (to determine how much sun blocking ingredients you need), skin type (for oil control, moisture, etc), figures out your skin undertones (warm or cool) and asks you if you want any extra goodies (eg you could request to look more glowy/dewy).

The set of cards on the top left were her original version. I was honored to be the first to get to use the latest set (bottom centre). It was fun to read all the little writeups on each card and decide what I wanted in my foundation.

I've known for a long time that I'm a cool girl... and given that I love purple, it was such fun to see her pop some purple correcting powder into my mix. It helps to brighten up my face. Especially good on days when I feel like death warmed over. The two small piles of powders where what colored up my base mixture. Jo L. says I've got an easy skin tone/color to work with. And given that I've watched three other friends get their custom blends done and all of them took longer to get perfect than mine... I guess I gotta believe her. :P

Here was my finished product... what's new is that little recipe card that Jo L. included. Its an easy way to keep track of what went into your particular blend. And if you need to tweak something the next round, you already know what you started with. I heard from Jo L. that some overseas clients are asking that once they have their specific 'recipes', they'd like to order online... I'm not sure if that service is going to be provided but I guess they're really hoping that it will be.

I tried to swatch this foundation... but failed miserably. How do you swatch something that is the perfect match for your skin? That's really what it looks like... skin. MY skin but better.

I've used this for two weeks plus now... really can't find anything to complain about. I did switch back to SN for a day and found it just needed more work to buff in, to set, to mix up (and to think I used to enjoy  tweaking). Call me lazy...

In interests of being honest, this was a 'sponsored' foundie... Jo L. is a dear friend to me and she seen me drool while she mixes up custom blends for other friends. I kept trying them and loving the way they felt and how they looked when applied. Then I'd lament that it didn't suit my skin... like duh... it wasn't meant for me... So it was a real surprise when she asked me to sit down slightly over 2 weeks ago and set about mixing up powders for me. Its so different when you know the end result was going home with you!

Again, being totally honest... am I gonna buy more when this pot runs out... you betcha!!!! If you're looking for a skin-friendly mineral foundation, you really can't go far wrong with Lolita's!

*disclaimer* there has been no gun put to my head to make me write this post or any other post about any product/company. My opinions are my own and not influenced by friendship or any other such thing. And I think this is really my first sponsored post... in a sense... everything else has been bought by my own moolah.

Lolita New York - rainbow colored eye shadows - PIC HEAVY!

This is a follow up on my previous post...

I spent a good hour playing with the eye shadows while wating for a friend to get 'lashed' up. *giggle*.

Eye shadows made by Jo L. are not new to me. I've been playing with them since her SilkMineral days. The textures and staying power have always been good. Different from my usual TSS shades. Slightly more creamy, if that makes any sense.

The full size prices were too high for my comfort zone and I have yet to finish a full size. To be honest, I haven't even finshed any sample baggie I have! Altho' I'm really really close with one of my favourite highlights. So it was with real excitment that I heard Lolita NY was now selling their eyeshadows at SGD3 a baggie. There's an option to pay for jars if you want them that way too. I went home with four little baggies of loveliness... read til the end to find out which. *grin*

These are swatches made on dry skin with no primer at all. I used the cotton buds provided at the store. So pigmentation as you can tell, is rather good. Except for a couple which turned out weird and I found out later where formulated to be used wet.

So lets get to the colors themselves... I'm gonna post several photos so you can get a better idea of the shades. Click on each picture and you should get larger images. Names will be listed from left to right, top to bottom.

Gold Socceress, Green Witch, Purple Temptress, Blue Elf
Break of Dawn, Misty Glow, Dreamy Haze, Yearning Heart
Angel, Charm, Fallen, Unspeakable

I'm gonna start from top to bottom. Angel was a matte purple with a vibrancy that I haven't seen elsewhere. Fallen and Unspeakable have a satin finish that is really very gorgeous.

Really liked Dreamy Haze and Yearning Heart. They have been calling my name for a long time.

Loved the look of the first row in their pots. The colors looked so complex and interesting. Was really disappointed with the way they swatched though... later I found out why. They were supposed to be used wet... so here's more pics of them swatched with a wet cotton bud. Apologies for the small pics but I think they do capture the eye shadows rather well.

NEXT!

New York Taxi, Brooklyn Skyline, Manhattan Skyline, Studio 54, Soho
Serendipity3, Liberty, Central Park, Hudson River, Niagara Falls
The Broadway, Moscato, White Rajah, Warrior Dance, Eagle Dance, Ritual Dance, Daan Kayuh

Studio 54 looked like a lovely crease color...

Central Park was a green that jumped out at me. But I have similar colors already in my collection.

Love the last row of mattes... brought a sample of Daan Kayuh home with me to use as a brow powder.

NEXT!

Asti, Cordon Rouge, Negro Diablio, Tequila Sunrise, Emeraldtini, Blue Lagoon
Rose Gold, Pure, Autumn Ray

Guess I'm on a green streak or something but Emeraldtini called to me and so did Autumn Ray. So I brought both of them home. My other pics for this visit were Yearning Heart and Daan Kayuh.

Stay tune for one more post on these eye shadows and then another on the blusher range... so many pictures and so little time to blog... such is life huh?

Pretty glosses that are good for your lips!

okay... its been a while since I blogged because I wanted the posts to be perfect and I just didn't have the time to get posts perfect... does that make any sense? *sigh*

so here's a draft-type post... but at least its going up... *grin*

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Went beauty browsing with thedottiness recently. We headed down to Lolita NY at Marina Square.

Jo L. has added a new range of lip glosses to her range. Instead of the usual balm style pots, she's made liquid glosses which have tonnes of Vit E and other goodies that result in super soft lovely lips.

I didn't take note of colors or prices.. yeah I know I'm a horrid blogger... sighz... but here are a couple of pics.

The glosses aren't too pigmented so they're good for those who prefer lip treatments without too much colour. I was really tempted by the pink shade... the one on the bottom row, second from the left. But Jo L. told me to finish what I had first. LOL! She's really sweet. But I loved the way my lips looked and felt after trying a sample.

what I'm using to cleanse...

lots of questions from different girlfriends about what I've been using to take off makeup and cleanse my face... so here's a post... actually been planning to do it for quite a while, just been procrastinating non-stop. LOLz!

so lets start with...



Meet Shiseido's Aqualabel Moist foam cleanser... its the red tube in the middle. Pic is courtesy of Mag... I've actually used up this tube. Kept it in my shower and used it when in the mornings to get my skin cleaned for the day ahead.

My impressions of this... didn't really like it. Its not that it didn't clean... it did and left the skin feeling a little taut. Which is kinda strange for something that's supposed to come from the Moisturizing range. Why I didn't like it... I think its because I've gotten used to the effect a AHA cleanser has on my skin and this just didn't feel as clean. So this isn't on my rebuy list!

Here's... the current day cleanser and my current m/u daily remover...



lets talk about the cleanser first. Its Hado Labo's AHA/BHA Exfoliating Face wash. For those of you in Asia who really like MMBB"s AHA cream cleanser, this is a really good alternative. So much so that I'm on my second tube.

its what I use in the mornings. I love how easily it foams up. Don't really have to use much to wash the entire face. I double cleanse so I do take my time washing during the first round (usually I'm rinsing off the shampoo from my hair). Kinda giving the AHA/BHA part of the cleanser time to work on my skin while giving the face a bit of a massage. The second round is just a quick clean.

what i'm left with is lovely clean skin thats ready for whatever I put on it next. Really really like it... enough to have started on my second tube!

So now on to my nite routine...

for my makeup cleanser... it really started out as a kinda experiment. I ran out of my usual and visited the Value Dollar near my place. While there, I saw this small bottle of Pond's White Balance Cleansing Milk. Its got AHA too... which always gets my attention. *grin* Anyways, I tried it. Figured since its mineral oil based, it should be oily enough to get makeup off.

So how has it worked... the answer is yes as you can see from the level of the cleanser left. I only use about the size of a 20 cent coin. I head for my eyes first to give it a little more time to work on my Majorlica Majorca liquid liner (which is usually the most stubborn m/u item). A gentle massage all over the face makes the bb cream, fondation and everything else glide off my skin. I use a piece of facial cotton to wipe off the cleanser before I finish with washing my face.

I'm currently trying a new soap from SilkMineral... its called the Detox Facial Soap. This bar of soap has two sides to it. One side has dead sea mud which helps to pull out dirt and grime from the pores. The other side is mainly a lavender/silk soap which gives the skin a more gentle cleanse.

I use the dead sea side first, rubbing it over wet skin. This does *not* foam but you definitely can feel there's soap on your skin. I concentrate especially on my nose area which is always a hot spot in terms of blackheads. After rinsing it off, I use the lavender side as a quick follow up.

What I end up with after all this is a face that feels clean and fresh and not at all tight. In fact once patted dry, its really soft and feels a little more supple. I've only been using this soap for two weeks now and don't feel confident enough to say much more. I will report back after I hit the one month mark. So far, I'm happy.

I have a bar of the Healing Facial Soap which I'm using as a bath soap... again, have just started using it so really can't give much feedback but like the Detox soap, it is making me happy.

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

The problem with having a little girl in the house is that she loves to get into my makeup zone. And what does she do there… well, make a mess of things. What did you expect?

Its fine *if* she’s under supervision… if she’s not… all sorts of things happen.

credit to WeHeartIt.com

Just as a quick example that happened last night, I went to wash up for bed and found… wet powder residue all over my sink area! my swirly bowl was wet and right side up near the sink (not where I usually leave it upside down) and the pot of powder… well, it was empty and had little drops of water running around inside. It looked kinda like this…

credit to WeHeartIt.com

The nice thing to note is that I finally have proof first hand that mineral makeup is waterproof! everything was running on top of everything else. Rather fun to watch actually.

So this morning, I sat down and mixed up a new batch of powder to put in my freshly washed powder pot… here’s my recipe for now…

1.5 tsps of SilkNatural’s Date Bait powder
1 tsp of SilkNatural’s Perfecting Powder
.5 tsp of SilkNatural’s Zinc finishing powder
.5 tsp of Coastal Scents’ silica powder

Mix it all up and here’s what you get…

Let me give you the rationale behind this blend. I, personally, find the perfecting powder by itself a little too plain. I wanted a little hint of color to even out some skin tones hence the addition of Date Bait.

Date Bait, by itself, on my skin is way too dark (I’m a NC20 I think) but blended into together with the other powders, I get a subtle almost pinky cream shade.

The Zinc finishing powder is for sun protection plus I find it really makes the powder feel quite a bit smoother. Seems to go on better somehow. Hard to quantify but hey even if it doesn’t really do anything in terms of texture, I rest easier knowing I’ve got an additional amount of sun protection. :P

Silica… hmm, at one stage there was sooo much talk about silica. Basically, I’m using it for the oil control and simply to use up the huge bottle I bought from Coastal Scents a long time ago. Once I run out, this ‘ingredient’ will likely get dropped from my list unless I decide to buy some from SilkMineral, which would cut down my shipping cost and time.

To use, I just shake some out into my swirly bowl, add a little SilkNaturals glow if I think I need the extra boost, swirl my EDM long handled Kabuki through it and apply on my face.

I love using SilkNatural’s powders… they give me a nice even finish and seems to ‘blurrify’ my pores a little. I like being able to mix things up til I get the ‘perfect’ combination for me. Its a little bit of effort but oh so worth it. And I love the price tag on them too. :)

Am contemplating purchasing a bb powder pact to use while I’m on the go. Again, the sun protection is a major factor for me… but then again, who am I kidding, I *never* touch up once I’m out the door… excuses, excuses…

What face powders do you use? and why do you like them? let me know ok?

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 everyday eotd look

I really don’t do fantastical eotds every single day. I don’t even wear makeup everyday. LOL! particularly so when I’m in a lazy mood or my kids’ work overwhelm my schedule.

So here’s what I normally do if I wanna just brighten up my eyes a little.

Both these two eotds were done using SilkMinerals eyeshadows. I tend to reach for those because they are gentler colors and easy to blend out. Plus I like the prices too so I’m not afraid to use them all up.

So my technique… or whatever you wanna call it is…

• grab my monistat and blend that all over. I really do believe in using a base to protect my skin from the color I’m gonna put on top.
• grab an eyeliner and color in half my lid. Or another way of describing that would be to draw a super thick line above my upper lashes.
• using my finger I usually smudge that a little
• grab my bigger Essence of Beauty crease brush and dip it into the e/shadow
• pat the e/shadow onto the lid then blend it outwards and upwards to the brow bone. This is where Silkminerals e/shadow really works well. I can get a graduated shade that goes from opaque to sheer.
• grab my eyeliner again and put a thin line on my upper lashes and on my upper waterline
• mascara if I feel like it

SM’s spring green w L’oreal’s HIP liner in green

SM’s soft violet (LE shade) w Silkygirl’s funky eyeliner in Purple

this pic was taken after about 7 hours after application. Still looks pretty good in my opinion. :)

What’s your everyday look? Leave a comment and let me know. :D

silkminerals - eotd

  

As I’ve said in previous posts, I love SilkMineral’s pearl e/s. They go on so prettily and easy. In this look, I decided to be a little more colorful and use three together although it is very easy to use them by themselves as I’ve done here.

 

Its been a while since I did this look but here’s what I think I used.

Monistat – base
NYX JEP in yoghurt – lid
SilkMinerals CornFlower – inner lid
SilkMinerals Cyan – mid lid
SilkMinerals Orchid – outer lid
Dayna’s Minerals in Browsin’ Black for the brows

if I’m not wrong, MM liquid liner in black to line the top lashes.

:)

silk minerals pearl e/s

got these a while ago… couldn’t resist buying more colors from the Pearl range at Silk Minerals. They are so easy to use and have such a lovely sheen to them. Not overly sparkly but more pearlescent.

I found that if I buffed them out… they imparted an almost glow from within kinda color. Whether you’re just starting out with e/s or a long time user, you’ll bound to fall in love with them. I know I did.

 

here are some eotds using the new colors. I lined all with MM’s liquid eyeliner in black. For color placement, I used one shade patted heavily on the lid and blended upwards til it reached the brow bone. Monistat was used as a base. Brows were courtesy of DM’s Just Browsing Brown.

Cyan… blended upwards

Spring green…

Orchid… if I’m not wrong… I think I used HIP’s green liner… I can’t remember :(

Blue Pearl eotd – a simple tute

this wasn’t requested by anyone… just felt like trying this out again. Hopefully, I’ll get a few more comments than my previous tute.

my aim is to use only SilkMineral e/s where possible. Pictures of brushes used can be found here.

so we start off with plain clean skin…

 

get a dab of Monistat… you don’t really need much… apply on lid using your ring finger

using my Loew-Cornell Maxine Mop #270 (any dense synthetic brush would do), grab some Blue Pearl and pat it on to your lid. concentrated the color on the lid area. used my Loew-Cornell blender mop #276 to gently blend upwards. using the tip of the brush makes things more sheer.

using the liner end of my SN ultimate e/s brush, pat e/s on to the lash line. I used Grape on the upper lash line and outer 1/2 of the lower lash line. Blue Pearl to fill up the rest of the lower lash line.

final result

used Pomegranate as blusher

used SN’s clear lip gloss on lips

and topped with some Pomegranate pigment

Foundation was my usual blend. Brows were Dayna’s Minerals Better than Black brow powder.

    

and that’s it… hope this was useful…