Month: June 2013

LUSH Ultrabland Facial Cleanser

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If you recall my Going Cruelty-Free post on facial cleansers, I had mentioned I needed to find a good makeup remover replacement since the one I’d been using wasn’t and I was nearly out of it (i.e. Laneige Eye & Lip Waterproof Remover, which is pretty much amazing). I want to thank everyone who left a suggestion. Many of them, I wanted to try but can’t get a hold of here. One of the ones I could get was LUSH’s Ultrabland. Ultrabland is essentially a facial cleanser, though one that is vastly different from the first one I tried, Aqua Marina. Instead of coming from a spongy loaf, like some of their cleansers, Ultrablend is a creamy product that has a nondescript (though a little unpleasant) smell. You take a bit of it and slather it all over your face. I rub away heavier makeup like mascara with the gunk still on my face. Then, instead of washing it off, you take a damp flannel cloth or cotton pad and then wipe the cream—and all …

Covet: MAKE Cosmetics

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A few weeks (months?) ago, I posted a list of beauty things that I’d been eyeing over at & Other Stories, a brand that I can’t get here in Manila. Here is another brand that is sadly out of reach: MAKE. MAKE is: “a cosmetic brand that finds beauty in inspiration. Its mission is to encourage self-expression through color by fostering contemporary collaborations between makeup artists and creatives worldwide. MAKE is the first for-benefit beauty brand on We See Beauty and is Made in New York.” You can read more about MAKE here. So, I looked through their shop (which, by the way, has very interesting moving campaigns and pictures, when you scroll all the way down) and these are my picks: Matte Eyeshadow in Purple Sage ($18) • Matte Eyeshadow in Poppy ($18) Satin Eyeshadow in Great Lakes ($18) • Satin Eyeshadow in Santa Fe ($18) Satin Eyeshadow in Yellow Brick Road ($18) • Custom Effects Pigment in Reykjavik ($18) Molten Eyeshadow in Metallic Bronze ($18) • Gel Eyeliner Pencil in Very Brown ($14) …

Live in Layers with Le Métier de Beauté’s Lip Crèmes

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Alliteration forever! Obviously. So. These things. These things are amazing. The Le Métier de Beauté Lip Crèmes are lipstick/gloss hybrids, which means that they are a little thicker than glosses and pretty much have the pigmentation of lipsticks, but they come in a liquid formula. I think that’s sort of similar to the concept of liquid lipsticks, although these come in a different finish and formula than those that I’ve tried (i.e. Revlon ColorStay Liquid Lipstick, Guerlain Rouge G L’Extrait). These are also quite unique because they’re meant to be mixed together or layered over each other or other lop products. Which, when you think about it, is kind of like their eyeshadow technique, the couches de couleur, made popular by their Kaleidoscope Eye Kits. I have three lip crèmes, two of which are fairly recent acquisitions. Here are the swatches: Swatches, L-R: Le Métier de Beauté Lip Crèmes in Fraise Crème, Café Crème, and Crème Caramel These come in many other different colors, so it’s kind of hard to pick, but you can always …

Softly Special: My Top Five Favorite Eye Palettes

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I know I did Lipstick Week not too long ago, but the truthiest truth out there is that I’m an eyeshadow lady. I fricken love the stuff. I think that’s really where it all went downhill. I can remember the first eye product I purchased that changed everything and how I looked at eye makeup (i.e. bareMinerals’ READY 2.0 in The Scenic Route). And then I was doomed to a life of swatching. I don’t know if I want to make a whole week’s worth of celebration out of this, because eye swatches are much, much harder to do than lipstick swatches, but I’ll begin by outing my favorite eye palettes for all of you. What I basically look for in eyeshadow palettes is versatility, which I feel like entails a good variety of tone, texture, and shade. With that little checklist in mind, I looked at my palette collection and picked out a few favorites. Here goes nothing! Honorable Mention: Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs in Turandot (Review) This was the first high-end palette I …

Unboxing: BDJ Box for June 2013* & Thoughts on Subscription Boxes

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I received my BDJ Box for June a few days ago, but I’ve only gotten around to writing this post now. I edited the pictures on my iPad Mini and am writing this post on the WordPress app. I’m already so tired of typing (because I keep making mistakes!) but let’s see how long I can keep this up. The June box is chock-full of stuff. Let’s see if they’re things that I’d enjoy. First up are three items from the L’Oreal Paris Fall Repair 3x Line: the shampoo (Php 110, 180ml), conditioner (Php 119, 180ml), and hair tonic (Php 259, 90ml). This line is designed to reduce hair fall by strengthening and nourishing your hair. If these look familiar, then you’ve been paying attention! Both the shampoo and conditioner were part of BDJ Box’s L’Oreal themed box a few months back, and they were bigger sizes then. I appreciate the inclusion of the tonic, but there’s just something about getting repeats that is disappointing, even if they are perfectly good products. Next up is …

LUSH Cream Eyeshadow in Sophisticated

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A while back, LUSH released a color cosmetics line and I’ve always wanted to try something from there out but didn’t really get a chance to. Until recently, that is! I finally took the plunge and got a cream eyeshadow. I figured that I might as well try some CF cream shadows that I like before saying goodbye to the ones I love and have. Anyway, I picked out Sophisticated, a shimmering taupe cream color. I tried out a couple, but I couldn’t take my mind off of this. It’s a beautiful taupe shadow that I felt would go with most of the colors that I owned. I really fell in love with it. This is an opaque swatch, and below is a blended out swatch: Here, it’s Sophisticated with shu uemura’s ME medium brown 885 in the outer corner and crease: These don’t crease, by the way. The line on my eyelid is just my eyelid. 🙂 I can’t put my finger on if it’s warm or cool, to be honest. I feel like …

Makeup No-Buy Update: One Month Mark

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One month ago, I put myself on a Makeup No-Buy, and this is just a little update to let you know how I was doing. 🙂 So far, I’ve only purchased two things with points from a loyalty card: — e.l.f. Liquid Eyeliner — essence Stay All-Day Long-Lasting Eyeshadow in Glammy Goes To… I’ve also received two gifts from my aunt: — BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal — BECCA Beach Tint in Guava And, that’s about it! Skincare things and clothes don’t count, though, and I’m beginning to think I should have a spending ban altogether. Le sigh. All in all, I think I’ve been doing pretty good, though.