brushes, again??

i'll be getting those new elf brushes tomorrow, yey! it's gonna be perfect tomorrow and for the rest of the week to use it since i haven't brought home the ones i use at work for cleaning. then i'd probably provide my two cents next week, if you haven't heard of the gazillion reviews you can find on the internet. i'm excited!

lining the entire waterline

this is one look i dreaded to try (again) for some time. i used to do it once, and it looked horrendous. so i put it off for so long, even if i did look good on it some 10 years ago. yeah, that's one reason why i kept the black liner at bay - some things just work well when you're younger :P


but then again, i gave it a try last tuesday, and whoa, it looked great. perhaps, i can say that it's the technique that was missing all along. i just didn't know to apply the kohl liner well. but last tuesday, i suddenly had the courage, and boy am i glad i revisited it. i got lots of nice compliments about the look which i kind of eventually thought of Kim Kardashian's many liner/mascara laden looks. the result was so pretty that one colleague at the office said, "Girl, you are gonna do that on my eyes tomorrow". And i gladly said yes. Too bad, i didn't take photos. Perhaps tomorrow, i'll do it again. And take a photo or two and post here this weekend. 


happy painting...

revlon foundations and trying a new routine

a friend gave me a gift of my choice - a couple of foundations that i can mix to get the correct shade i want. i have been really wanting to get these since i ultimately want to do makeup for people as a freelance makeup artist. so after a grueling research on which products to get, i finally decided on revlon ones. i had been a revlon sucker even before i wanted to do makeup for other people. i had their several illuninance creme shadows that i got at walmart when i was in the US 2007, then i also got myself their colorstay eyeshadow quad, the custom creations foundations, i got super lustrous lip gloss and the colorburst and matte lippies, and they all are my favorites. i just thought revlon stuff is good enough, and reasonably priced even here in the philippines. so, i got a colorstay foundation in the lightest i could get (sand beige) and a photo ready one in caramel. i combined both products to come up with the shade i need, and i thought the mixture was amazing. i used them last week with my other favorite products to make a new daily makeup routine that is wearable at work. it's not that i already hate my mineral product routine, i just gotta try something new.
i'll post photos of my looks next week as i didn't get the chance to take photos last week. i'll also put on the products i used and a mini-review.

Light, shimmery pigments on the inner tear ducts to make eyes pop

i had been seeing youtube makeup gurus do this, especially on a dark smoky eye look. i tried it on myself, and it looked horrendous on me. just like how the gurus do it, i use a shimmery white pigment/eye shadow, but it just didn’t seem to work on me. the promised result of brighter, more lively eyes instead made me look like i was ready for work – as clown at the local theme park.

but lately i had been sporting this (about a month now) and boy, am i glad i finally (and accidentally) found what works best for me. it’s Adore by Ellana, a white pigment that shifts into a shimmery peachy pink after a few seconds on the skin. brilliant! it made my eyes pop and awake! now i get why it worked. i’m basically a tan-brown filipino woman. so my skin shimmer shouldn’t be white, but peachy/coral-ey or anything with color, right? and i just remembered that most of the gurus i’ve seen do this trick are lighter-skinned people – yellow-toned asians, and white caucasians. well, some brown asian gurus also use this, and i never thought that it didn’t really flatter them much at all as i just focused on the rest of the eye makeup, since, to me, this technique is fairly new.

so, there i go – happy to have found out something new that works for me teehee...

next up - i'm quite broke lately but the following are surely on my wish list : Revlon Photo Ready foundation, Smashbox PhotoFinish Primer (which you can buy at P2,150 for a set of the 30ml primer, a lid primer and some other primer at the Beauty Bar, Podium - yay!), Stila Kajal eyeliner in Onyx, Stila Convertible Color and Ellana Powder Primer. crossing fingers on how i work this on my budget. :D

a year's worth of pigments...

it's been a year since i had been introduced to mineral makeup. and i love wearing them on a daily basis because they don't make me breakout. using it daily may seem like an inefficient way for me to hone my skills in makeup, because they're, in my own opinion, just perfect as 'daily makeup" -  not for special occasions, which most makeup artists are hired to work on. but, i might as well have to say some something about it. i love them. they are very safe to use even for the most sensitive skin, and very economical. i can buy pigments for less than a hundred pesos per color since i signed up as dealer for Ellana, thus big discounts.


 so far, i've accumulated quite a number of pigments for the past year, mostly ones for the eyes since the colors are so irresistible. i had given family and girl friends the ones i think they'd love, as well as my proven foundation and blush variants. 

some of them i've already reviewed,  so here's my take on the ones i had been using for some time now but never talked about yet:
ethereal - i was in need of a matte black pigment that i can carry with me everyday. works well to darken the outer v, or to line the eyes using a damp brush. as usual, be mindful of the falling pigments on the under eyes, might not be an easy feat to take off when you're done with concealing and stuff.
wish - i use this daily on my brows. just the perfect grayish brown i'm looking for for my eye brows. i also use this to lightly contour my creases to transform a day look to night.
exquisite - this is my most favorite neutral shadow and i use it every single day. this was my intended gift to all my girlfriends last xmas, but ellana ran out for some reason. i was able to give my mom and one girlfriend, though. i also use this to contour my nose, amazing results as i tend to look flat without applying it.
beloved - a lighter version of Wish. i use it also for contouring the crease on a day-time look.
paradise - a plumy red-brown which can also be used as eyeliner as it's very pigmented and to contour creases. use sparingly, might result to a punched eye look if done overboard.
serene - brownish red pigment which i used on my lids at my brother's wedding last Oct. 2010.
dream - shimmery white, which can also be used for lining the waterlines. can also be used on the lids if you want to "wake up" your tired eyes as white disappears into the skin and all that's left are the pretty but subtle sparkle. 
adore - white that shifts into shimmery peachy copper. love it on my inner tear ducts (i'm tan so a bit of copper works). i also use it as highlights on my cheeks. really nice on photos :)
sensational - which i missed to include in the photo. it's also white at first sight, like the previous two pigments mentioned, but this one shifts into gold so it's perfect for highlighting my cheek bones, nose bridge, and brow bones. can also be used as cheek blush for that metallic goddess look, also gives a glamorous look on photos :)
fantasy - a grayish blue that i use as highlighter on the inner tear duct area on a blue smokey eye look. this one has some frost to it, i'll probably try this as a lid color.
bluebell - due to its bright shade, i use this on the inner lid. very pretty and gives a fun hint to the sultry smoky eye look.
knockout - i use this in the outer part of the lids, and to contour the creases.
marigold - something i bought in preparation of the summer. nice on lids, especially on the inner part.
dawn - a coppery shimmer i like to use on the outer lids especially with Marigold. nice combo as as a work/school makeup if you don't get too crazy :)
temptress - the darkest i have in the greens department. it's very sheer, and it leaves gold hints which makes it nice on the lids alone for all light to medium skin color.
sea breeze - sheer teal-green perfect for lighter girls. i thought it's a lighter version of Temptress, but i could be wrong.
carefree - aqua-green that leaves white shimmers, pretty on the inner tear duct areas to make tired eyes pop.
orchid - one of the violets i recently acquired. very bright pigment i use on the inner lids, paired with Laugh on the outer v, and Whisper on the inner tear ducts.


that's it, for now. i can probably find out more ways to bring out the best in these pigments, and i'll surely post them here. and will acquire some more pigments, so stay tuned.


'til next time...