Year: 2012

Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura: Rouge Unlimited Lipstick

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One of my personal favorite Holiday 2012 Collections has been Shu Uemura’s collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld. I’ve reviewed part of my haul already (see: Prestigious Bordeaux Eye and Cheek Palette, Blackish Satin Purple Painting Liner), but now here’s a look at the three out of the four lipsticks I managed to snag. I got Celebrity Beige and Luxe Burgundy, while my beautiful sister Isabel got Mon Shu Red. Before all of the swatches and samples, I think we ought to take a moment to fawn over this limited edition collection’s super cute packaging. Is it annoying if I call it kawaii? Because it totally is. The top half, where the transparent cap goes, has the Shu Uemura logo on its silver body, with a bunch of red dots circling the perimeter. I love Shu Uemura’s transparent caps on lipsticks because it’s very very easy to tell what lipstick you’re reaching for with just one look. As for the bottom half… It’s Mon Shu Girl, the red-eyed wonder! I know some people (namely those who don’t …

MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque

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For a while now, I’ve been encountering “paint pots” referred to in beauty blogs and videos, and I’ve always wondered what they were. On MAC’s website website, Paint Pots are described as: A highly pigmented eye colour that goes on creamy but dries to an intense, vibrant finish. Long-wearing, colourfast. Creates seamless coverage without weight or caking. Blends smoothly over the lids. Cream-based, can be mixed with M·A·C shadows and liners. I’d been jonesin’ for one of these pots of magic for quite a bit of time, but running into a color called Rubenesque sealed the deal. “Rubenesque” is a term that pertains to Baroque artist, Peter Paul Rubens, though it doesn’t directly refer to him. This is what he looks like: Rather, the term was applied to the ladies he was known to paint: very plump and curvy. These women were considered to be the epitome of beauty at the time. The Three Graces by Peter Paul Rubens Venus at a Mirror If you notice, there is a pinkish tinge to these Rubenesque women’s …

Browhaus: House of Construction

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I haven’t had my eyebrows done—general threading—since fourth year high school for senior prom, so I thought it was time for another session. I mean, it’s been around seven years. (Also, the eyeshadow close-ups I’ve been posting make me look like a super fancy scruffy puppy.) I went to Browhaus in Greenbelt 5! It was kind of hard to find, but I think we are just geographically-challenged. The store is located at the 4th floor, near other salons and cosmetic places. It was pretty small and fuss-free. There was a receiving area, a small nook for sitting down, and a wall with a row of rooms where the treatments are done. They looked like doors inside a chartreuse submarine! I kind of really love the name, because it’s a play on Bauhaus, the German school responsible for the clean, minimal aesthetic that’s still somehow visually striking and arresting. Bauhaus, in German, literally means “House of Construction,” so I think Browhaus was a clever little name. How freaking cooler would it have been if the interiors …

Playlist: 4 Eye Looks Using bareMinerals’ A Vision in Velvet

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Here’s a closeup of my “new discovery” in this post. I’d gotten bareMinerals’ A Vision in Velvet without prior knowledge as to how to apply and work with mineral shadows. As a result, I was met with a disastrous first impression. However, with my faith in this product renewed by the awesomeness of a layer of MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque all over my lid, I set out to try out some more combinations. After all, the thing comes in twenty shades. My eyes glazed over as I tried to come up with the permutations for those colors. As was mentioned, the first look (above) is just the Rubenesque Paint Pot all over the lid, with Satin Plum on the crease and the inner and outer corners. Pretty. It’s pretty subtle, too, with the shimmers visible only up close. Here, I just swiped Velvet Violet over the center of a lid, for an overall purple-y look. It’s a little less warm and a little more intense (for some reason?). Next, I started with a clean …

Playlist: MAC Paint Pot (Rubenesque) & bareMinerals Satin Plum

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I lifted my makeup ban and got a MAC paint pot yesterday, which I had been meaning to for a while. Paint Pots are essentially cream eyeshadows that you can wear alone or as a base for your eyeshadows. I don’t know if they have other functions, but I think that alone is pretty cool in itself. I got it in Rubenesque, which is a beautiful peach bronze that has hints of rose at some turns. Anyway, I’ll review this some other time, but all you really need to know is that I really freaking love it so much. In the middle of uploading work stuff, I decided to play with my new paint pot and one of the shades that came with bareMinerals’ A Vision in Velvet, which let’s face it, really swatched pretty horribly. Not one to give up on underperforming things—and also things that cost me $80—I was eager to try and make a few looks with some of the shades. This is the first look I’ve tried in literally three minutes, …

Counter Swatch: NARS x Andy Warhol

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I dropped by the NARS counter yesterday and took a few quick swatches of their holiday collection, which is a collaboration with Andy Warhol. Sarie asked Robbie, the SA, to hold an Edie Set for me, but I wanted to look at some of the other products, too. The sets are rather pretty. The two collections that are not exclusive to Sephora seem to be available here, except for the polishes. TV Party, an orange shade, is the only individual polish that seems to be available in Manila. The Larger Than Life Lipglosses (Php 1450) are the first ones I swatched. In order, from the top: Viva, Penny Arcade, International Velvet, Candy Says, and Holly Woodlawn. The formulation is rather nice, though sticky. I was turned off by gloss a few years ago, and this is the first one I’ve tried—and liked—since “going off” of glosses. The Soft Touch Shadow Pencils are a tricky subject, something I’m willing to try, but perhaps not right now. Top to bottom, Calabria (not part of this collection, but …

FOTD & OOTD: November 6

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Behold, my Face of the Day! Get it? No? Oh, okay. I was rushing out of the house so I only had time to swipe a light wash of bareMinerals’ The Happy Place over my lids, put on NARS blush in Orgasm, and Guerlain Météorites in Perles d’Azur. I had to put my lipstick (Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited in Celebrity Beige) on in the car, on the way to the MRT. Sometimes I wonder how much easier life would be if the public transport system in the Philippines was better. I think about that a lot, especially when I am in the train cars, fearing for my life and my possessions. It was a pretty busy day, so I’m glad I wore comfy things, but before I move on, please check out my necklace. It’s a release by ofakind and Brvtvs, and ever since I got it, I have rarely left the house without it. If you care, dress is from Asos, shoes are from Muji, Chambray shirt is a Sarie hand-me-down. My bag is …