Don’t you just love cashmere?

Hey everyone,

I know, I know, I’m on a major neutrals kick lately…. ah well. Guess its just trying to use something that will last the whole day without looking messed up after I’m done with chasing kids. Its the hols and this mummy is tired…

k… on with the EOTD for today… stash shopping again, this time trying *not* to use TSS at all… so here’s what I came up with.

From SilkNaturals website – description & swatches:

Dolce- copper brown shimmer- MAC Sweet Sienna clone

my thots : Love the ever so slight glitter in this e/s. And it does a fab job at defining my crease when I’m going for a ‘nude’ look.

 

Cashmere- shimmery nude pink

my thots : this is one of those colors I love using all over my lid. It brightens up my eyes and gives me a polished look without making me look ‘made up’. If that makes any sense whatsoever.

 

Monistat – all over eye area
NYX Jumbo eye pencil in yoghurt – on lid and smudged
SN’s Cashmere – patted on the lid and blended upwards til brow
SN’s Dolce – crease
Maybelline’s gel liner in brown – upper liner

    

I’ll be leaving on a road trip with my family and parents to Melaka this weekend so I’ll catch up with posts when I get back. I sure hope I can stop myself from buying a hundred and one things. Sigh. I know that getting my beaded sandals redone is definitely a must do. :D

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?

SilkNaturals 2010 Spring Colors

Gorgeous spring colors from SilkNaturals…

Mystery Adventure Club.. who doesn’t like a mystery? I sure do! I love surprises too… Karen promises for a one time payment of US$37.95 (int’l)/US$34.95 (US), you’ll get three lovely shipments over 3 months. Each shipment will have GWP products worth a minimum of US$12. You could anything ranging from eye shadows to skin care products. So if you’d like to add more excitement in life, consider signing up for this club.

The eye shadows are so vibrant looking. Different from the ‘usual’ range SN offers. Karen says its because her intern, Thea, designed most of them this time. I’m tempted… very tempted but have never really liked the texture and color payoff of SN e/s. I like bright colors and SN til now didn’t have them. But now… oh deary me… I so need help in not pressing that “add to cart” button.

I’m oh so tempted to pick up the two new lippies, Best Friend and Truly. They look so fun! and I’ve always loved SN lippies and their prices too.

As with my eyeshadows (but to a much lesser degree), I have more than enough lippies already… all except two are from SN.

Decisions… decisions… decisions… I hate making them! and I think I’m going through major haulage withdrawal symptoms… I really gotta stop looking at websites… but don’t let me stop you from shopping… *evil grin*

Using glows and blush as eye shadow

 

For the 2nd day of Chinese New Year, I wanted a simply defined eye. Nothing too drama.

There’s been quite a few video tutorials on defined neutral eyes so with the tips I picked up… here’s my version.

Monistat – base
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yoghurt – all over lid; smudged up to crease
SilkNaturals Perfecting Glow in Splendid – patted all over eye area up to brow bone
SilkNaturals Cocoaberry blush (discontinued) – crease
TSS The Doll House (LE grab bag) – brow highlight; inner 1/2 lower lash line
NYX Jumbo Eye pencil in Blackbean – upper lash line
TSS Bit by Glitz (LE Something Twinkling ‘08) – patted on top of blackbean); outer 1/2 lower lashline

    

finally got eyeshadow to look nice on my lower lash line… and its all thanks to my lovely new ELF small angled brush… look out for my review coming up :)

It Made My Day

One thing I like about SilkNaturals is how upfront and honest Karen is. She’s always ready to help with a difficult order and bends over backwards to agree to my complicated requests.

I love her perfecting powders and foundation and don’t see myself changing brands anytime soon.

With the recent disasters in Haiti, her warm heart has again made an appearance. Read what she has to say :

It's been a rough week for the people in Haiti. My heart goes out to the people who were effected by the earthquake, and I'd like to do something to help.

So...post something here. It could be anything- something that made your day, a little joke, something cute your kids said, that your husband did the dishes, maybe a favorite recipe. Anything at all is cool in my book as long as you keep it clean (something that you'd say to your grandmother is usually a good yardstick).

Between now and Sunday evening, for each person that posts to this thread Silk Naturals will donate $.50 to Doctors without Boarders. I'm capping it at $500- but we only have 800 or so forum members- so tell your friends! Call your sister, or your Mother, or your best friend- post it to your Facebook status- get the word out!

What made my day?? Lots of things- but I'm especially happy about a certain shipment I got today, and puppy kisses when I got home. Puppy kisses always make my day. And I got to visit my Mother, and talked to my sister!

So I dropped by the forum thread and posted this up :

- to have a loving hubby who insists that I sleep and rest when I'm feeling horrid
- to have a loving son who insists on accompanying me to a workshop just in case mummy needs my help
- to have loving kids who once I finally woke up to eat dinner, all gathered around the table with me. Telling me what they've been up to and hugging me
life just doesn't get much better when you're sick

Please just take a couple of minutes to do the same. It doesn’t cost you much but may help someone in Haiti a great deal.

Off to baby my poor nose and head… I hate being sick.

BFTE eotd #1

Here’s the first of what I hope to be a couple of Beauty From the Earth (BFTE) eotds.

To start things off… a lovely golden e/s called Sunshine. What an apt name. Its a ray of sunshine that brightens up your eye.

here I used BFTE Sunshine on top of NYX JEP in Yoghurt. My base as usual is Monistat. The liner is NYX JEP in blackbean with Fyrinnae’s Sea Turtle e/s patted on top. Brows are filled in with Inuovi’s cocoa pencil. No mascara.

 

and here’s my fotd…

SN mix of foundation, perfecting powder, date bait, zinc and silica
SN blush in Babydoll
SN lipgloss in peace

   

before you ask… the guy with the ear behind me… is my hubby. LOL!   

A call at 4am…

Ok, so here’s another total rant… stop reading here if you don’t wanna hear all about it and scroll down about a page to read about more fun stuff… two hauls!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am soooo praying that this is just a STAGE in my eldest’s development. Been dealing with so many issue this past couple of weeks. Ranging from lying to stealing (well, according to him borrowing… but who borrows $100??) and now…

He spent the nite at my MIL’s. I went to bed forgetting to switch off my ringer on my handphone (this is my old set cos my new set won’t take photos and I had to send it in for servicing which is a whole ‘nother rant! *grrrrrrr*)

Woke up from a deep sound sleep by a very loud ringing phone. Picked up the call and was greeted by silence… lots of silence. Even with my repeated hullos… there was no reply… and then the call got disconnected. Given the number reflected by my caller id… the suspect list was really short… couldn’t be my MIL or my FIL… so only person left in the house… my son.

The call triggered one of the worst headaches I’ve had since getting preggy way back in 2001. It wasn’t an ache… but a throbbing pain echoing in my head. The kind that makes you wanna bang your head against something. So got up and popped in two panadols (paracetamol) and tried to go back to sleep.

Woke up late with the pain still there… mumbled some nonsense to my hubby over the phone (yeah, I know… same house and I can’t get my butt off my bed to go talk to him in person) and he coaxed me to go eat something so that he could give me a stronger painkiller afterwards. After breakfast, in went Ponstan, an antiacid and a muscle relaxant. All of which combined to make the pain more of a fuzzy interference in my head.

The meds have lasted quite a while and the pain hasn’t really returned… it more of a nagging ache now. Much easier to handle… just that I’m sensitive to sharp sounds. Sends an echo bouncing round my head. Sigh…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyways… on to more fun stuff… checked my mailbox…

*drum roll*

My package from LT was there… nice and fat… and so was my recent SN order. (no pics… cos no phone => no camera *sobs*)

*cartwheels around the room*

I <3 <3 getting packages in the mail!!!

opened LT’s first and here’s what she sent me (for pics, check out her post here -

• SN perfecting powder (yippeeee I’m all out)
• Revlon azure mist palette (been eyeing this in the stores but couldn’t bring myself to pay the price)
• LA Splash liquid eyeliner in Blue Whale
• EDM blush sample in Walkie Talkie
• Body Shop blue and pink/peach e/s
• Jessie’s Girl e/s in skywalker (can’t wait to try this one out!)
• Ulta e/s in Truffle and Zephyr
• Juice organics light tint moisturizer – sample size (ideal for my quick trip to Malacca coming soon)

Its been a while since I’ve gotten excited over m/u but getting my hands stuff I’ve been drooling over and itching to try… well, put it this way… pretty good chance I’ll be going out with my face done tomorrow. :D

Then I opened my second (smaller package).

*wanders off on a tangent*

You know how there are some companies that just give you such good service that you can’t stop buying from them? Well, I gotta say SilkNaturals is one of my all time fav m/u companies. Their customer service totally rocks! even when I had problems with shipping going awol, they made it up to me.

ok… so I placed an order to restock on perfecting powder, date bait, foundation (ebony, white and tried a packet of the new glow) and their new zinc powder. The way it works is that they give one free ‘surprise’ e/s and then with every $30 you get a e/s of your choice FOC.

well, I don’t like SN’s e/s… doesn’t suit my need for color *grin* but I DO like their lippies… so I added a note to my order asking if I could please change my free e/s to a lippie instead.

Surprise surprise… they not only sent my the freebie lippie I requested for but an extra one for good measure… and… I still got a free e/s thrown in.

The color I asked for was Fashionista… a nude wine shimmer vegan lipstick and I got Mirage (Ultra Nude Vegan Lip Gloss) as my extra. I have to say I wouldn’t have order Mirage on my own… but I can’t wait to see what it looks like on my lips and how it’d blend with other shades to make something special :)

So… the day started out bad and ended on a pretty upbeat note. Gotta stay thankful even on bad days, don’t you think?

stay cool everyone and Happy Thanksgiving for those of you who celebrate it.

2 SN Perfecting glow swatches

This is done especially for Ann… who is currently filling up my order with more ‘wants’. LOL!

The swatches are done w a ‘heavy’ finger tip.. too lazy to go get my brushes… and the photos really don’t do justice to how pretty and subtle these glows are.

on the right is SN splendid perfecting glow.

Splendid is our clone of Bare Escentual's Flawless Radience All Over Face Color.  It's a creamy white tone with just a hint of golden pearl.  It gives the most gorgeous flawless, luminous, dewy finish.  There is some glow to it, but on this one it's really not over the top- just dust a little on your cheeks, chin and forehead for a youthful dewy look.

my description – erm… it looks silvery whitish to me but just a nice silvery glow when brushed lightly on… particularly good for the inner corners of the eyes :)

on the left is SN crystal perfecting glow.

Pefecting Glows are a cross between our regular Perfecting Powder and a Glow- they're very closely related to Bare Escentual's Radiance powders and give your skin a nice healthy look.  There is a good amount of silica in it which is going to help control oil, and hide pores.  Crystal is our clone to BE's Clear Radiance- BUT without the chunks of gold glitter.  It does have a slightly irridescent golden pink sheen, and looks gorgeous on light skin tones.  You could use this all over your face, or just to highlight- it applies easily with just a regular kabuki brush.

my description – more of a pinkish glow. love layering this on top of blushes or as a light brow highlight.

Personally I like both… very subtle ‘glow’ when applied with a big face brush… love using them as a brow highlight as well especially when I’m doing more everyday/neutral looks. Also adds a little something special if layered on top of blush/eye shadow.

 

SN Primer – the experiment continues

In my previous experiment, I used the SN Primer with my usual combination of NYX jumbo eye pencils and TSS eye shadows… the results were dismal to say the least…

So I decided the next step would be to try the primer with SN eyeshadows. After all, it comes from the same company and so should work well together… right?

I used Thistle, Naughty and Bewitched on top of the SN primer.

Somehow, I lost the morning pics I took but here are the ‘after’ pics – about 12 hours later.

11.21PM

 

Conclusion, SN Primer + SN eyeshadow equals long lasting e/s wear with no creasing :)

Next experiment is SN primer with TSS e/s. This is rather fun :P

SN Primer – a review

Many thanks to Agnes who gave me permission to try out her brand new SN Primer.

So as promised, here’s a review using my usual combo of NYX JEP and TSS e/s… still wanna experiment one more time with it using SN shadows instead. May I, Agnes? (makes sense that SN e/s would work better with a SN primer yes? we’ll see)

the pot itself is rather large as you can tell from this photo. (sorry didn’t think to take a comparision shot) and you only need a little to cover the entire eye area.

my inital impressions of the primer is that its not as slippery as the monistat that I’m used to… but having said that, it went on smoothly and easily. Unlike monistat, it left a light coat of a whitish skin base which really helped to even out my skin tone in the eye area resulting in prettier application of colors I think.

SN Primer – as base
NYX JEP in Oyster – lid
TSS stuffed in a stocking (LE Ice) – highlight
TSS take a you day (LE Story) – lid
TSS lured by life (LE Story) – crease
brows – Dayna’s just browsing black

tried to use the silkygirl purple liner but… *note to self – NEVER EVER do a dark purple e/s when you want to try out a dark purple liner!*

so used L’oreal HIP liner in navy on top of the silkygirl

I applied this at 10.30am.

and at 10.30pm… here’s the results…

rather disappointing on the whole… almost like I didn’t put any primer on at all… :((

will try again… using SN colors and no NYX JEP… am hoping it will trun out better. :P