Make Up Shopping - NYX

OMG, can someone stop me from shopping? We just got a car & SC's nightly driving practice to the malls isn't helping my shopping madness!

Last night I saw a huge NYX counter in Tsuen Wan's City Landmark & could not resist getting this make up palette in a cute box. It has neutral shadow colors that I already have (sigh...), few shades of blush & bronzer. It cost HK$290.

It'd be great for business trips (more excuses from a shopping addict).

I also have a major addiction to buying eyeliner pencil, so I'm trying out this brown one. So far so good, it costs HK$85.

Please no more shopping mall tonight.

M-A-C Cosmetics Spring 2011: Wonder Woman

Love M-A-C Cosmetics brilliant Wonder Woman idea!
How cool! How fierce!

And super duper cute packaging...


Cute!


Cute! Cute! Cute!


There was also a demo on how to transform ourselves to Wonder women...








Very nice...




Sharp! Gorgeous!

But I'm not sure if I can pull it off...
You like?

What's in My Make Up Bag?

My make up bag.
It's this cute Naraya vanity given by a colleague from Bangkok.


It can surprisingly house loads of my junk :D

What's in it?

My face colors:

Clockwise from left top: VoV face color, Fasio liquid foundation, Sasa matte two way cake, no brand concealer (no good, dunno why I still keep it), Shu Uemura stick blush, Majolica Majorca compact powder (no good), Cyber color blush.

My eye make up:

From top left: two Japanese brand gel eyeliner (brown and black), no brand lash curler, eye talk double eyelid glue/fake lashes glue, Lavshuca sparkly gold shadow, Bobby Brown gel liner (charcoal), courreges shimmery pink shadow, Shu Uemura liquid shadow (shimmery gray brown) and sparkly highligher (light blue), VoV sparkly eye color (dark green, light yellow and white), no brand shadow (purple and pink), Revlon brown shadow palette, Don glue, Shu Uemura palette (light blue), and Laneige eye palette (I use their dark and light gray a lot)

My lip colors:

From top left: L'oreal lipstick (something neutral), Japanese brand lip gloss (neutral), no brand lip gloss (sheer red with sparkles), Shu Uemura lip gloss, Revlon lipstick (vintage red), Max factor lipstick (very red), and another Revlon lipstick (neutral)

My eyeliners, brushes and tools:

Various eyeliner pencils, mascara (Kiss Me - Japanese brand), Bobby Brown make up brushes, very fine comb, nail clipper, super sharp scissors, tweezer, nail file.

Whew! Out of all that madness, what do I normally use every day?
Just these ones...

Make Up Forever olive gray eyeliner pencil, Bobby Brown charcoal gel eyeliner, Sasa matte two way cake, Cyber color blush (as eyeshadow and blush), and courreges shimmery pink shadow as face and brow bone highlight. Heheheh.

What do I carry with me when I go out?

My make up pouch, a batik pouch from Batik Keris, Indonesia. Super lightweight, washable, looks decent, fits quite a lot, and it's a piece of home ^_^

What's in it?

Nivea lip balm with a bit of color (red), bobby pin and a couple of elastics in my favorite color (these were from when my hair was long enough to tie up in pony/pig tails), Sasa matte two way cake, maybelline concealer (for emergency occasional pimple cover ups), bourjois pencil eyeliner in dark gray, maybelline blush (broken, I need a new one, clearly), and a comb (free from some hotel, again, broken, it lost a tooth!)

Whew! What a girl needs to do to look decent :S
See how I love buying but ended up always using the same few things again and again?
Aiya!

Eyeliner, eyeliner, eyeliner

You know that I don't believe in natural beauty.
If it's not make up. It's probably photoshop ^_*
One beauty product I can't live without...eyeliners!
I need them to give myself some eyes, as I have none :(
Here's my tiny collection.
Most are cheap, some good, some crap.


My latest purchase...Make Up Forever's Aqua Eyes.

I bought two colors, dark grey that's so dark it's almost black...and olive green grayish shade.
Love them so much! They're easy to put on, sliding smoothly even on these dry autumn days (although it makes me question if they will stay put in summer), the colors are pretty solid, and it stays on the whole day with no smudge! They're affordable too...HK$155 each, with 10% discount if you bought two.
I have to buy more colors stat!

For a bit of sparkle...I love buying Sasa's retractable sparkly eyeliners.

They're inexpensive (about HK$39 each?) but they're good! The only thing I don't like about sparkly eyeliners? I keep getting some sparkles in my eyes and it's darn annoying, sometimes even painful! There's a solution to this problem though..if you're not as lazy as me, you probably wear mascara. The mascara will prevent the sparkle from going into my eyes. In lazy days where I wouldn't bother putting on any mascara...no sparkly eyeliner. Don't try their pencil eyeliner though. Bad bad bad.

My old favorite...Cyber colors.
Love the retractable ones, but not a big fan of the pencil ones. I should really throw the pencil ones out.

Too bad I always drop the retractable ones and broke the eyeliner inside...I stopped buying cyber color eyeliners after dropping off and breaking quite a few. Thank God they aren't expensive.

Here are some other random brands I have...

Red earth pencil eyeliner, I love this particular color but when I put it on, the color's uneven. Yes, another one to throw away.
Maybelline's Define A Line. I love this shade of plum, although it's not dark enough for me. I normally put on another layer of black and treat this as eyeshadow. It's smooth and the color's rich with a little shine. Love it and would love to buy more colors.
Bourjois Waterproof Clubbing Pencil Eyeliner. It doesn't live up to its convincing name. Put this on if you want an extreme smoky smudgy look. It's a pain in the ass to sharpen too, as the pencil part kept "melting".
Bodyshop two color pencil eyeliner. An impulse purchase, I was smitten by the pretty sales rep. These colors are too light for my eyes, but I couldn't bring myself to throw this away. I think of it as a memento of stupid purchase.
Prosays sparkly eyeliner. Love this one. The glitter is a lot finer and sparklier than Sasa. I will definitely buy more of this. I don't wear it as often since I need to put on some mascara to survive the glitter.

You probably noticed that I buy lots of pencil or retractable pencil eyeliner. I don't do well with liquid eyeliner, even the big ones. I had a couple and have thrown them away.
I do love gel eyeliner though. These are my favorites...

Some random Japanese brand I bought from Sasa. They're good and inexpensive (HK$79 including a brush?) ! I love how solid the colors of gel eyeliner give. I use this for "special occassions" such as....
Fridays ^_*

Remind me to throw the ones I don't like, they're eating up my tiny storage!

Attack of Red Lipped Gals

@lapetitcreme and I had an agreement to wear our red red REDest lipstick last Friday. She showed up with red-ish lips but not quite red enough. I was fully prepared, I made the girls put on my super red lipstick and had our guy pal @jasonbonvivant take our pictures ;)

That was @lapetitcreme, me and @sporbo...we were supposed to pout ;) yo?!

OK, giving up pouting...we just put on our deadliest killer smiles.

The Lipstick = Max Factor #820 Intensely Red


What d'ya think? Did we pull it off?

Guys with Eyeliner, Yay or Nay?

I might be a little crazy, but I dig guys with eyeliner.

It screams confidence, and it does take a huge courage to walk around the town with girls elbowed their boyfriends to look, girlfriends whispered to each other, mothers covered their son's eyes (ok, I exaggerated this bit hehe), all talking about the-pretty-weirdo-with-his-eyeliner.

Just don't do the ultra thin eyebrows, guys. Some people might like it, but not my cup of tea.

Punk and pretty, with a touch of mytery.
Ahhh, I love them metros.

I don't think you need to do the all black, metal studded rock ensemble to carry the smoky eyes.
Be different and wear something pretty. It's summer for freak's sake.
Just a touch of metal studs would be enough.

Blue fedora = IT, HK$299
Purple t-shirt = circa long long time ago
Vest = FCK Kitterick at IT, HK$149
Shorts = Cotton On, HK$199
Belt = Argyle Center, HK$20
Eyeliner = Sasa, black with silver sparkles retractable pencil liner, HK$39

Hair and Makeup Makeover

My good friend Peewee. Naturally beautiful. Nice eyes, great smile, and super soft, fine, straight, hair and lots of it.

At a recent conference, I offered a makeover session for her, just trying out a different look, adding an extra excitement to the already hectic exhibition. So, one early morning, before our exhibition started, while we are preparing some materials, we squeezed in a makeover time!

Hair: I added soft curls using a ceramic curling iron
it's instant glamour!


Make up:
- Eyes: she loves winter colors and picked a pale and sparkly teal shadow for the day. I added a touch of peach shadow, thick dark brown gel liner and lenghtening+volumizing mascara to create depth and width to her eyes
- Cheeks: her skin is sensitive to blush, so I added the blush digitally. Oppps
- Lips: she put on her own lipstick, the shade of summer peach, on her full and luscious lips
- I removed her braces digitally. It wasn't necessary, but if you've ever worn braces before, it's a nice break not to see them sometimes ^_^

I Don't Believe in Natural Beauty

I don't wake up every morning looking fabulous. I generally wake up looking like a zombie. It took a considerable amount of effort for me to look the way I try to look (hopefully rather fresh). Not that much, as I don't have that much time to spare in the morning :p
Anyway, here's my daily make up routine...

Moisturizing

Face
In summer, I use Olay white radiance (HK$59 for a big bottle). It makes a perfect base, it evens out skin tone, and gives UV protection. In winter, my skin needs something better or it will crack. I use Laneige's balancing emulsion (HK$139 for a big bottle) for combination skin. It's light yet moisturizing.

Lips
I use Nivea repair (approx HK$22/tube), it moisturizes without being too greasy.

PS. Did you notice that my mirror was super dusty?

Foundation/Powder

In summer, I use Fasio's 2-in-1 powder/foundation (HK$99).

...and in winter, I use Fasio's liquid foundation (HK$69) . It provides enough coverage, yet it's light. Plus, it is very affordable.

Eyebrow

I love using powder brow color, in brown. Just any generic brand (below HK$50) will do.

PS. Did you notice that my mirror has been cleaned?

Cheeks/Eyes

I am naturally pale. The only time I get rosy cheeks would be the time I get kinda drunk. So when I am sober, I need some colors to bring my face to life.

I use VOV compact blush (can't remember the price). It's perfect to be left at home, as the packaging isn't exactly tiny. The rosy color is great on my skin, but I might wanna change to something with a lighter scent. This one is too perfumy.

I can't be bothered to play with eye shadow every day, so I just dab a bit of blush on my lids

My eyes. Not only they are single eyelid, they are practically non existent. They are probably the smallest set of eyes I've seen everywhere! This is how I deal with my non eyes.

Draw huge-HUGE lines on the lid! I use not so dark brown daily, as it smudges less than black. I love Cyber Color's gray brown or light brown retractable liner pencil (HK$39). It glides smoothly across my lid, and it doesn't get smudged so easily. I need a minimum of 6mm thick to make it visible when my eyes opened.

See the difference?

I can't be bothered with mascara every day...as they normally irritate my eyes, and with my non existent lashes...they don't help much. I just use them for special occasions, and I might put on fake lashes for very special occasions ;)

Lips

A good friend of mine, V, the owner of V Beauty Blog, sent me this fantastic NYX lipstick! The color I tried was Thalia, it's a mix of natural pinkish color with a touch of taupe and berry. It suits my yellow skin perfectly! It moisturizes and it stays put!

...the price is recession-proof (HK$39 including local shipping), and the packaging is super cute! I am thinking to get loads of these for Christmas gifts...but I guess I might end up keeping them for myself (as always) HAHA!
Visit V's Beauty blog and check out more fab products at great prices!

Here's how I look like after the 5-10 minutes make up routine. Hopefully zombie-like no more!