Fill in your Brows!

     The other day I went on a trip to Sephora to pick up a brow pencil. I’ve been using a MAC duo brow shader in Ivoire/Walnut for the past couple of years now (which I love) but realized that I’m not always going to have a brow brush on me so the powder would be useless to me in times of need. Pencil to the rescue! At least that’s the hope anyways.

     Anastasia has the original and ever-so-popular “Perfect Brow Pencil” and a new product called the “Brow Wiz”. The Brow Pencil is a standard pencil shader with a spooly brush on the other end. What makes the Anastasia pencil so different from other brow pencils is the product itself (DUH!).

     There are many of you who, like me, have fallen victim to crazy exaggerated brow lines that you get from most brow pencils. This is because with most brow pencils, the deep rich colours will transfer onto your skin heavily even if you used a light hand. This usually leads to holy-shanani-BROWS! Or brushier-than-thou’s etc etc... With the Anastasia one, the perfect amount of colour is transferred onto your skin. The firmer you press, the more colour you get. The formula of this product generally gives you that feathery effect so that your brows look naturally shaped & beautiful.

     I tested various colours on the back of my hand and trust me, it takes a while for the tip to warm-up and give off heavy colour. The pencil tip is not rough, even when sharpened to a point. It’s “velvety-smooth” texture feels good against the skin and when used with the built-in brow brush, it creates the perfect natural looking brow.

     While both formulas were made basically the same, I much prefer the Brow Wiz over the Brow Pencil solely because of the packaging. Some people think that the formula is what’s making this product better they’re different from each other (pencil vs. Crayon) so it’s pretty hard to say. This product has a waxy-crayon texture as opposed to pencil which naturally gives it a slightly firmer lead that resists easy-breakage. It works just like a mechanical pencil: you can twist it to expose more of the tip/lead/crayon or to close it away. This helps to save product and it never needs sharpening (travel life-saver!). With pencils, I find that if you forget to sharpen and the tip is dull, you usually end up with blurry undefined smudges. Ew.

     It also has a built-in spooly brush on the other end which helps to blend the product into the natural brows. The tiny tip allows for tiny natural looking strokes which is ideal for filling in sparse brows. I know there are a lot of ladies who LOVE to completely draw in their brows...... I personally find it tacky looking because it’s so in-your-face-fake. That’s why I like this product because it helps give me the ultimate natural look without looking overly done. My brows are sparse and light too, don’t get me wrong, but IDK I guess I don’t want people to freak out if a water-rollercoaster washes away one of my brows (EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH????) LOL Naw, this product hasn’t rubbed off on me yet and I’ve been wearing it for over 8 hours. So far I believe it to be sweat proof and rain proof. (Take that watercoaster!) For reference, I use Medium Ash which is a taupey-brown colour. It works well with those who have dark hair all the way up to light blondes. It really all depends on how you like your brows I guess.

Shade Yourself Beautiful

     I’m pretty much a very lazy person. I don’t like to go out as much as I used to because it requires me to put on makeup... and once I get started, I always find a reason why I can’t just walk out with only eyeliner or mascara; I always find a reason as to why I also need this on or that on. It quickly becomes a full face of makeup T^T If people were to see me on the street its either barefaced-look-like-the-walking-dead-day or everything-I-can-think-of-minus-eyeshadow-on-my-face-day. LOL. But no honestly, ever since I gained weight I can NOT live without the power of my sculpt/highlight powder!!! (Kim Kardashian def. made this her signature look... that and her nude lips)

     The purpose of contouring and highlighting is to create an optical illusion; it’s an attempt to create a more “ideal” oval-shaped face. I could write pages after pages about the different face shapes and how to correct them but honestly, that would take too long to write and I highly doubt anyone would read it all. Here’s a sketch my kid sister helped me with (that I used as part of my Book of Looks for makeup class *yeye*) that I will share with you all. If you don’t know what face shape you have, look in the mirror and outline your face with a lipstick (or washable marker) to help determine your shape.

**Curved lines means swirly circle blush on the cheek apples whereas the straight lines means to extend the blush towards the temples ;)

     I naturally have an oval-shaped face but ever since getting sick and gaining weight over the years, my face is now ROUND *smacks self in the face* Highlighting will help accentuate and bring features forward whereas contouring will help sculpt and minimize features (because darker shades will help recede any unwanted features).

     I know a lot of people use bronzers to contour their face but I personally haven't found any favourable bronzer. The majority of them are much too shimmery for my liking (who the hell ever heard of shimmering shadows? Please. This isn't a sparkley vampire whack sitatuation here...) My HG so far is the MAC Sculpt and Shape Duos which came out in 4 different combination compacts. The colour I bought was the Sculpt & Accentuate duo-powder that came out in 2007 (if I remember correctly). This is my baby. It never leaves my side. Anyone who would dare try to pry it from my hands will die. >:T

Bone beige/Emphasize: Palest cream & Tan

Accentuate/Sculpt: Pale blushed beige & Soft taupe brown

Lightsweep/Shadester: Soft peachy beige & Mid-tone leathery brown

Warm light/Definitive: Clean peach/Mid-tone reddish brown

     I foolishly only bought one back-up of this product and balled my eyes out when they discontinued this product. For MAC Pro members they have a variety of shape & sculpt colours but I wasn’t qualified for their membership at the time. Anyways, in 2009 they launched a line called D-Squared which had the exact duo-powder! Different packaging, exact same product. I was SO relieved, I bought lots of back-ups :D

Now that I’m eligible for the MAC Pro membership as a Makeup Artist, I can get a full-sized sculpting powder compact for when I hit pan with my duo. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet~

MAC's Gentle vs. Chanel's Rose Temptation

Make-up Art Cosmetics

     I attended a MAC Cosmetic seminar last week (or was it 2 weeks ago?) that was pretty fun. There were two guest speakers/artists there named Stephan and Genvive. Originally, Genvive chose me to be her model for the seminar but then the esthetics teacher had to complain that "it was unfair if the artists chose their own models". Really now?! She suggested that it was fairer to put every attendee's name into a bag and randomly select volunteer models. I thought that was fair until I noticed that she put all of her students' names from her class into a separate bag, and the rest of ours (hair, makeup, and everyone else) in another bag. Which means that no matter what, somebody from her esthetics class will get to be a volunteer model for the day. Am I bitter? Hell yes!! If anything, its the makeup people that should get the "special treatment" to get the personal opportunity to learn from the MAC spokepeople, not the esthetics people. They do facials and massages, not makeup. GAAAHH Just rethinking about this makes me so angry. I had fun though and learned a lot of pretty interesting stuff in 2 hours.

     Did you know that MAC was originally founded in Toronto?! Yayy for something cool that's Canadian LOL! But of course, as most cool Canadian companies go, they were bought out by Estée Lauder. So much for cool Canadian T^T.... I know there are a lot of people who feel that MAC is not "cool" because it’s not high-end enough. Are you kidding me? Just because they went from providing products to only industry professionals to providing products to the everyday consumer does not mean they lost any credibility. MAC is one of the most biggest - if not THE biggest - cosmetics providers in all of the fashion industry. That's HUGE. The quality of their products are good and are fairly priced. Well... usually ;) $7 eyeshadow from the drugstore sounds much better than spending $17 on an eyeshadow from MAC but the quality of the product (finely milled powders, pigmentation etc) does not compare. If you're looking to invest in a good product then MAC is the way to go.

     Here's my take on companies: if they specialize in something then most likely its the good sh*t and all their secondary comings are either pretty decent or trash. For example, Chanel is first and foremost a French fashion house. That's what the specialize in - haute couture and ready-to-wear items. Their next services are handbags, perfumery, cosmetics etc. So how does Chanel fair in comparison with MAC who specializes in makeup? Well lets do a mini comparison shall we? I'm going to compare the Chanel Joues Contraste powder blush in Rose Temptation to the MAC Mineralized blush in Gentle, as well as give you a mini review on both blushes (I'm on a roll today eh? HAHA)

     Chanel's Rose Temptation is a Fall 2010 LE blush. For $47CAD you get 4grams(0.14oz) of product which is on the steeper side in terms of pricing goes. It has a light pigmentation but is more powdery than it is pressed. I think this is the result of this particular Fall 2010 blush collection being "baked" and as a result is not as finely milled (apparently Chanel JC blushes in EU are baked; this is a first for the NA line). This means that a light hand is important here because even though it has a light pigmentation, the product gives off so much excess powder that you end up over-applying the colour. "Mistakes" could finish 4grams of product pretty darn quickly and that would be such a waste of $47.

     Rose Temptation is a darker and duskier pink with hints of brown. On NC20-25 skin, it will give a naturally flushed appearance. NC30+ could still wear this colour, depending on the application pressure and brush used but the brown in this blush will definitely appear more pronounced. It looks shimmery in the pan but once applied, its almost matte. I dislike the brush that comes with this blush so I love to use my MAC109 instead. This wasn't a must-by for me but I got it because I love vintage rose colours :)

     MAC's Gentle cost me $26.50CAD for about 3.5grams(0.11oz) of product. Although this mineralized blush is also supposedly baked, it is not as powdery. This means that it will probably last longer than Rose Temptation even though it has less product. Another bonus? It's cheaper by $20! That's my kind of deal haha!

     It is generously pigmented as compared to Rose Temptation, but with the right brush and application technique this blush can be extremely buildable and pretty! The colour reminds me of raspberry ice cream/mauvey-pink but with a hint of gold. It is pinker than Rose Temptation. It's not overly shimmery so my oily gals can still use this product! I like to apply this colour with my MAC130 brush (love this for blushes lately!).

Fantasy Makeup

     Boy am I behind on blogging. I have a written list of stuff I'm supposed to post up and I'm behind by 6 T^T... I have all the pictures taken and everything but I've been swarmed with so many things lately that I haven't found the time to blog about current (or should I say "past" now) events. Tonight's post is a little backwards. What I mean by this is that today's post is actually based on today's events which I wanted to share even though I have 5 other blogposts I'm technically supposed to put up before this one. I guess I'm cheating a little on my blog >:D

     All I did today was makeup, makeup, MAKEUP! My legs feel so sore from standing all day at the Richard Robinson photoshoot I was doing today (future post with pictures coming soon!). I honestly have to applaud all the models who had to stand out in the -18C weather and model some not-very-winter-appropriate fashions. I stood outside on set for about 10 mintues and had to jet because IT WAS FREEZING out there!!! I preferred to return to the makeup/hair room, which although was hectic as hell, was warm. I've been up since 5:30am because the makeup part of the photoshoot started at 8am this morning. I finally got to go home and rest my feet after a long 11hr makeup-centered long day. Needless to say: I am BOOKED!!

     I finished off the second half of the day doing some fantasy-inspired makeup. I love makeup and all, and while fantasy makeup is fun because you get to be creative and play with fun colours... It does wear you out a bit because it takes longer than your typical every-day makeup application. Here are some of the looks from tonight, as well as a demo by the ever-so-lovely Kim :)

My kid sister might kill me for posting pictures of her on here... But here's the fantasy-look I did on her: DEAD FLOUNDER ;)

Stylish Jsinn :)

     I just wanted to share my super duper handsome little cousin JSINN. He came over for a sleep-over the other day with some other kids and we made lasagna and played games. Out of nowhere, he's like "I want to get a mohawk". I was floored! HAHA! "Don't you mean a fauxhawk?" He looks at me and fusses with his hair: "I want my hair like THIS. I want my hair to come up like this. It happens to me sometimes when I wake up in the morning". BAHAHAHHA! He's adorable really. So I went on to explain to him the difference between a mohawk and a fauxhawk; of course he really meant the latter. My aunt wasn't too thrilled because Jsinn's only 6 and apparently a fauxhawk is too street-like... That evening we cut his hair anyways but a shorter version of a fauxhawk as to meet her halfway et voila~~~

Styled by Yours Truly ;)

Missha BB Cream vs. MAC Select SPF 15 Foundation

   Food food food... That’s all I’ve been blogging about so far. So here’s my first blog post on makeup! I’ve been meaning to write some product reviews but it just takes so much longer than doing food posts LOL! I actually already wrote a blog post about this exact topic but it got deleted and auto-saved blank by accident! So here’s to round two of writing the exact same blog post! 

How... Nostalgic...

   The first item on the list is the Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream. Let’s talk background: BB Cream stands for Blemish Balm Cream and was popularized by Korean Celebrities. There isn’t a wide range of shades for this product which is such a bummer because it’s becoming such a popular product on the Western side of the world too. These are the following shades offered:

No. 13 Milky Beige = NC10-15

No. 21 Light Beige = NC15-20

No. 23 Natural Beige = NC25-30

No. 31 Golden Beige = NC35-40

  

   Although I’m an NC35, I bought shade No.23 and I personally think it looks fine. It blends magically into my skin and trust me when I say a little will go a LONG way!! As with most BB Creams, the colour is a little grayish-whitish-ashy... Not because I’m not matching myself to the “right shade” but because of the high SPF in the product. Missha BB Cream has an amazing SPF42. Most Western foundations only offer SPF 15. The consistency of this product is obviously creamy but it has a very buildable coverage. This means that yes, girls with good skin can still use this product as long as it’s applied with a light hand. Even if you “accidently” pack on mounds of the stuff on your face, it won’t cake or crease. But do trust me when I say that this product will give you a major white cast if you apply too much (Hello Casper’s Cousin!). Less is more, ladies. And like I said, a little will go a long way and will provide you great coverage.

   The packaging is very travel-friendly and convenient. It comes in a tube with a pump and secure nozzle lid. I have never experienced any product leak/explosion in my bag. I really like foundations that come with a pump because it’s so much more hygienic and bag-friendly. A “fair” price range for this product would be $15-20CAD for a 50ml tube (taxes and s/h already included!) This product promises to “lighten skin tone by healing visible wrinkles and blemishes with excellent skin-cover ability, and prevent skin aging through effective whitening and anti-wrinkle properties”. I’ve been using my Missha BB Cream for over a year now and while I can’t say much for its ability to heal blemishes or wrinkles, I will say that this product has not broken out my super sensitive oily acne-prone skin. I’ve worn this product for over 12 hrs (busy busy days! Bad, I know..) and only required some light blotting. There is some decent sebum control power in this product, but I wouldn’t skip out on primer and/or blotting sheets ;)

   I like to apply this product using my Sigma Sigmax HD Flat-top Brush (F80). I absolutely love the Sigmax Trio Brushes; I will write a full review soon. The bristles are super soft and dense which allows you to evenly spread the product all over your face while blending/buffing it into your skin for a natural finish. Even with the typical BB Cream ash-effect, I find that No.23 suits well with my NC35 in that it covers my acne scars and looks natural. If anything, it BRIGHTENS my complexion – no ash-effect here. When you first dispense this product, it looks so gray and unnatural. But if you apply it with the right brush, and remember to blend blend blend... Then you will honestly fall in love with BB Creams! Here’s half my hand with No.23 blended in. You can’t really see a difference IMO... But I’ll let you decide that for yourself. 

Any guessers as to which side is natural vs. BB Creamed?

   I previously owned a MAC Select Foundation but I’ve since then returned it. Fortunately, both of my younger sisters bought the MAC Select (one’s an NC30 and the other an NC40) so I was able to steal it from their rooms to swatch for this post MUAHAHAHAHA >:D This is a liquid foundation that comes in about 18 shades (NC20-50, NW15-47) and comes with SPF 15. MAC Select is a water-based foundation which means that it won’t clog your pores or irritate even sensitive skin (still test-swatch it just in case!) What this also means is that the coverage, while it is still buildable, is light-medium. I don’t suggest applying this type of foundation with a sponge as it will soak up all the product (spongebob!!!) and you’ll end up dispensing more than you really need. Denser brushes such as the Sigmax HD Brushes or MAC190 are recommended. Stay clear of using the ever-so-popular duo fibre brushes (ex. MAC187) with this product because it will leave streaks on your face. When applied correctly, this foundation will leave you with a very natural matte finish. The staying power of this foundation is decent (6hours or so). There isn’t any sebum control in this product so my oily girls will definitely have to remember them blotting sheets and use a good primer!

   The package is not travel-friendly at all. It comes in a glass bottle which can shatter in your bag. This retails for $32CAD + tax for 30ml. It’s not very hygienic because of its simplistic screw on cap. You’ll end up having to dip/pour/spill way too much product which is such a waste. Not to mention how this will increase the speed of your foundation oxidizing in the bottle! You can purchase a separate foundation pump at any MAC store for $7CAD (highly recommended). It has a twist open-close mechanism and a nozzle cap to further prevent leakage.

   Overall, the MAC Select is not a horrible product so go ahead and purchase it.... If you have good skin ;) And if you can pick up a sample or full-sized Missha BB Cream then I highly recommend you do so! Don’t be too intimidated to try new things, ladies. Just remember to apply with the right brush + use a light hand + little bit of product + blend blend BLEND!

ABA Haul etc...

I had to wake up early today to run to the grocery store and buy stuff to make my sisters' lunches (learn to make your own food for once!!). I managed to pick myself up some yummy fruity berry yogurt parfait with oatmeal. This is pure goodness I swear! I'm not particularly huge on diary products but this I will eat! It needs more oatmeal though IMO.

I had about half of a tomato leftover from making my sisters' sandwiches so I made myself one for lunch. This baby was pretty jammed packed lol I basically shoved everything I had leftover in it: bolonga + turkey breast + lettuce + lots of tomatoes and ketchup/mustard/mayo/hot sauce. Yupp, I like to put Sriracha Hot Sauce in my sandwich. Hell, I put it into almost everything I can eat actually LOL yay for Vietnamese hot sauce :D I don't think this was a healthy lunch... But it was damn close enough I say! Hahaha

Now onto the ABA Haul. Yesterday I went to the ABA Hair Show (convention) in Montreal. Picked up some pretty good sh*t for cheap prices. I was looking for some good deals on makeup but seeing as it was a HAIR show, there were only a few booths that sold makeup products.

Gorgeous pressed powder I picked up for contouring. I LOVE to contour! I refuse to do my makeup without contouring my face. It gives it that "beautiful bone structure look". Kim Kardashian's face is always contoured; so gorgeous!

Only managed to favour two eyeshadows. They are very fine with buildable colour. I bought them on the basis that they compliment eachother very well and they will suit all skin colours. What's cute about these pots is that underneath the e/s is a compartment for a mini brush and it even has a mirror! Not that big of a fan for sponge applicators though.

There were a ton of good deals on makeup brushes. The quality was decent; not too spectacular so I didn't pick up anything except for 2 brushes. They were selling a brushroll + 15 brushes for a mere $25. I think this is a good deal for those starting out in makeup and can't afford to purchase other brands like MAC. I picked up a super soft powder brush for my aunt and this cute retractable brush for myself:

The bristles are relatively soft. This is a travel kabuki/powder brush. I love retractable brushes right now because they are much more sanitary to travel with rather than carrying brushes in a typical case (excess eyeshadow mixed with cream liner mixed with foundation = gross!) If you only open it part way, it's perfect for contouring because of its oblong shape (as opposed to the full bloom bristles of a kabuki powder brush when its opened all the way).

Last of the makeup is this gorgeous lipstick I bought. It's the perfect rosey red colour that is quite pigmented. I was looking for a true red lipstick but this was the reddest colour they had at the show. I haven't tried it yet so I can't say much about moisture.

Picked up 2 of these 1" curling irons from Hot tools. They were only $40 each.

I picked up 3 of these babies (only $80 each!) One as a backup to the one I have currently, one for my godmom, and one for my aunt. I've been using this hairdryer for 10years and it has NEVER failed me. My aunt uses these at her salon too. These are a much better investment than those cheap Conair & Babyliss dryers that most people use. Uckk Gross. I don't even want to talk about Conair.

This is my BABY!!!! I was SO HAPPY that FHI had a booth at the hair show. I have their Special Edition Runway 1" straightening iron that I received as a gift years ago and I love love LOVE it!

The hairdryer retails for $145 USD + taxes by itself but they were selling it for $115 CAD (no tax). I picked up this beautiful package that came with both the dryer AND 1" straightening iron for only $140 CAD (no tax!) And my lovely mom was able to get them to throw in this full sized bottle of FHI Hot Sauce (heat protectant for hair) for free. Yay for bargaining asian moms! LOL!!

The cheapest deals I found there has got to be the $0.75 combs, $2.50 false lashes, Moroccanoil (HG!!!) and the Sebastian Reshaper Hairspray.

There's just too many more items to list here. Let's just say that this trip was a good one haha! Next stop: IMATS Toronto 2011!!! Must start saving up ASAP! :)