Year: 2012

Sneak Peek: Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura

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A few days ago, I got a text from the Shu Uemura branch in Trinoma, announcing a pre-launch of their collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld. I had been seriously jonesin’ for these little treasures (!) since Sarie shot the press launch a few weeks back. I keep dropping by Shu branches to check, but the collection is slated for local release on the first week of November. On October 28, though, Shu Fanatics were given a chance to sample and purchase the items in the collection. Naturally, I jumped at the chance! The collection features four Rouge Unlimited Lipsticks, swatched here. From L-R: Mon Shu Red, Parisienne Pink, Celebrity Beige, and Luxe Burgundy. The shades are wonderful and the formula was smooth, with decent color payoff. My sister and I actually ended up getting three shades. The collection features a special limited edition eyelash curler with a red pad and a Mon Shu Charm (so cute!), a pretty set of Premium Eyelashes, and two six-shade eyeshadow palettes, Prestigious Bordeaux and Smoky Velvet (pictured below). The SA …

FOTD: Guerlain Turandot

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I wanted to take my eyeshadow palette from Guerlain’s Holiday 2012 collection out for a spin, so I put it on last minute. I was just tailing something like a press conference before Kent Williams’ exhibit at Blanc in Peninsula Manila. Naturally, I didn’t want to look too made up, so the colors of Guerlain’s Turandot Eyeshadow Palette seemed like a perfect fit. FOTD: Guerlain Turandot, Bobbi Brown Long-wear Gel Liner in Sepia Ink, MAC Jubilee Kent Williams is amazing. Here is chinny me, appreciating one of my favorite works on display, which happens to be a painted sketch. I have a love affair with these shoes (Clarks Desert Grace). Matching outfit with Nicky. With fellow fangirl, Val! With Sarie (who took all of these photos) and Kent Williams (!). Anyway, I quite like this palette. I’ll review it soon!

Guerlain by Emilio Pucci: Météorites in Perles d’Azur

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Hi, everyone (by this, I mean the sole reader of this blog)! So, during my late-night, obsessive online trawling, I kept hearing about this legendary product and decided to get one for myself to try it out. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with “finishing” my face, just because my skin somehow accentuates cakey-ness. And well, no one wants that. I hate face powders and contacts. The loose powders I’ve tried are either too powdery or too shimmery. Enter Guerlain’s Météorites! Often regarded as a miracle product, the météorites are designed to correct things like redness, and to illuminate the face and make it radiant. Sounds like mumbo jumbo to me, but I do not listen to my inner voice all that much, so I resolved to get one from this holiday’s Liu Collection. However, upon hearing that it’s more shimmery than the usual météorites (eek!) and not all that warm, I decided to go for one of the permanent shades, Teint Dore. The Guerlain counter I went to didn’t have it, and so, …

NARS Duo in Habanera

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NARS Habanera is technically my first duo eyeshadow purchase, and I say technically because I bought two of these babies in one go, the other color being Paramaribo. I’d swatched this about six or so months ago, but I was hesitant to get something so glittery, so I settled on getting a trio instead (Ramatuelle). As is the case with “things I don’t buy but really, really want,” I have often thought about this duo, going as far as revisiting the same NARS branch and swatching it over and over again. The lighting in the store accentuates the glitter, and I keep saying “No, it’s way too glittery,” but alas. My resolve to “get something else” broke, so now we are here. The question is, of course, Is it worth it? Habanera is a duo that pairs two obvious-but-also-not colors together. The left side of the pan is a frosty mint green that seems to have some hints of silver and, at turns, ice-blue. It’s a smooth, creamy color that applies so well and is …

FOTD: NARS Ramatuelle & Chanel Boy (Rouge Coco Shine)

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My “gateway drug” into make-up was a single, harmless stick of Chanel’s Rouge Coco in Perlé (02). Now, I have four Chanel lipsticks, but only because I have been successful at resisting. If I had it my way, I’d buy the whole lot! But that’s another story for another time. Today, the spotlight is on my last Chanel acquisition, from the Rouge Coco Shine line, Boy. I eyed it at the Duty Free counter on the way back from Hong Kong, but I left with what would be my first Rouge Coco Shine shade, Antigone (a pinkish red shade). At the time, I thought Boy swatched a little bit too pink for me, and I didn’t know if I could wear it out so much. I’ve been thinking about this shade for quite a while, and the next time I found myself at a Chanel counter, I grabbed Boy immediately and I’m quite glad I did. As it turns out, Rouge Coco Shine applies somewhat sheer. I myself don’t really like a lot of coverage, …

MAC Trax & MAC Amber Lights

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I got my first MAC eyeshadows yesterday, in a fit of blind consumerism. Overall, I’m quite happy with my purchases—Trax and Amber Lights—as I had been curious about MAC eyeshadows. I’d also been looking for shadows in a nice purple and a shimmery bronze for a while, so these pretty much fit the bill. MAC Trax First up is MAC Trax, which is a purple velvet shadow with quite a bit of shimmer. Velvet shadows give a softer color than what they look like on the pan and have a velvety texture. You can use them as a wash or as a light shadow. I like to think of them as toned blending modes on Photoshop. Trax has decent color payoff, but is only obviously purple if you use a base or a primer. On its own on my skin tone, it kind of looks like the beginnings of a glittery bruise. Next is MAC Amber Lights, a peach-y golden bronze shadow with considerable shimmer. It is a Frost shadow, which appear to be metallic …

Benefit’s Lemon Aid

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Benefit’s Lemon Aid is a “color correcting eyelid primer” meant to correct discoloration and hide unsightly veins or bumps on eyelids. It can be worn under makeup or alone. I’d been looking for an eyelid primer I could use as an alternative for Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer, which I had been using. It tends to dry and set pretty permanently if I don’t spread it around quickly. Plus, the bottle is an annoying curvy shape—like Genie’s bottle, or Genie himself, for that matter—with a lot of places the doe-tip applicator can’t really get to. I feel that wastes a lot of product. I have read up on Lemon Aid, and it seems that a lot of people are not fans of this product. However, these reviews by Musings of a Muse and The Makeup Snob have convinced me to pick it up and try it for myself. Lemon Aid comes in a cute, slim and compact case that includes a mirror as big as its snap on lid. L: Lemon Aid, unblended, R: …