Year: 2013

So You Want to Build a MAC Quad? Part I

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Here are just some ideas if you want to venture into the world of MAC but can’t justify purchasing eleventy billion eyeshadows in one go. I’ve posted about my friend Laura’s suggestions over here, but to narrow things down, have a look at the combinations I made with the shadows I already own. 🙂 I chose to put together quads, since they seem to be the most cost efficient for people who are starting out, and because MAC creates customizable quads in their PRO stores and online. Sadly, these are not available in the MAC counters here in the Philippines, but you can put them in Wild Peach palettes or Z-Palettes instead. 🙂 Without further ado, here are three of the quads I’ve “created”: Purple Haze — Malt, Quarry, Trax, Sketch This first combination is an assortment of purples and purpley shades. We have two matte shades (Malt & Quarry), and two velvet shades (Trax & Sketch) This is great for all kinds of purple looks across the board. You can have a day look, …

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils in Bahama and Dolce Vita

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The NARS lip pencils have always intrigued me, and Krysty’s review of the Satin Lip Pencil in Sex Machine convinced me to finally go ahead and check them out. I was originally set on getting that, but I went with my gut instinct that told me I wouldn’t like a cool blue pink on myself, so I looked for a different color. The first one I got was a warm, deep brown with red undertones called Bahama. Here it is in action. I rather like it, though it’s a bit too dark a brown than I prefer. I do love wearing it, though with fresh, clean eyes and strong brows, like in this look. The Velvet Matte Lip Pencils glide on with an effortless smoothness, carefully coating each inch of lip with a beautiful opaque shade. I loved this so much, I decided to get myself another matte shade, this time in Dolce Vita, which is a deep pinky red. This is another color that seems to be great for everyday wear, if you are …

Nosy Beauty Vol. 2: Mona

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So, here’s my second installment of Nosy Beauty, featuring my mama, Mona! This series is basically just me poking around other people’s things, specifically their makeup bags. You can read the first post, on my sister here. My mom’s name is Mona Lisa. Incidentally, she is a full-time artist, but she manages an art gallery with my dad, who is also an artist. She likes going on her Facebook, getting good deals on stuff, dogs and babies. She is also very generous and likes being helpful, though like me, she has a short fuse, haha. Also like me, she is a middle child. My mom is the kind of lady who is annoyingly pretty, especially given her age. I won’t disclose it, but her oldest kid, my brother, is in his late twenties. Her beauty philosophy strikes me as somewhat utilitarian. She likes finding products that work for her, instead of trying new things all the time, which is what I tend to do. My sister’s more like her, in that aspect. I am very …

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tars & Loose Color Concentrates

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I wouldn’t call this a haul, really. I originally bought three products from OCC, but they sent the lip tars without the loose color concentrate, and long story short, they sent one more LCC along with my missing item. So, yay for me. 🙂 This was a very old post that I hadn’t finished doing, but I thought I would post it still because I haven’t spoken about these yet. Anyway, here are some quick thoughts on the Lip Tars, which are what I have gotten around to using. I love both colors that I got, namely Lydia and Strumpet. Here’s the description on the OCC website: Product Description: “A stunning new innovation in lip color, OCC Lip Tar combines the longevity of a lipstick, with the ease of application of a gloss. Goes on slick and moist, and dries down to a satin finish. Ultra-saturated in color, Lip Tar contains an unprecedented amount of pigment – a little goes a very, very long way! An intense yet featherweight layer of color that never looks …

Mineral Madness Day 4: Nestyr Lingered in Twilight Mist

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We made it to Day 4 of Mineral Madness, where I take on the challenge to try to make 7 eye looks with mineral eyeshadow! To address some questions: — nope, I am not using any other mineral makeup besides eyeshadow — BUT, a mineral makeup foundation, etc. post is in the works — a rough guide for mineral n00bs is also in the works, as you guys had some questions for me in the comments — also, I may post more looks but perhaps in the next month or much later For Day 4, I decided to do a very soft look using three eyeshadows, two from Shiro Cosmetics and one from the bareMinerals holiday set, A Vision in Velvet. Here is what I came up with: I made a soft crease gradient with bM’s Satin Mist, which is a sort of light silver grey, with very slight, imperceptible shimmer. It’s pretty matte, actually. Then I patted on Nestyr on the inner two-thirds of my eye. Lingered in Twilight was blended into Nestyr from …

Made-Up History: Andy Warhol’s “Marilyn Diptych,” 1962

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Made-Up History is a series I made up in which I try to make looks based on works of art. In this week’s installment, I take on a work by Andy Warhol called Marilyn Diptych. To see the rest of the looks, click here. This work of art was made on the year my mother was born. It was also the year that Marilyn Monroe died. During this period, Andy Warhol created more than twenty silkscreen paintings of her, which remain to be some of his most recognized work. Marilyn Diptych is a duplication of a promotional image of Marilyn Monroe for her film Niagara, which was made in 1953. Setting it apart from the other images, this particular work has two renderings of the same image—one done in color, and one done in black—beside each other. Warhol was famous for the things he would say, one of which was Art is whatever you can get away with. While I don’t necessarily believe that to be totally true, it seemed to be what propelled him …

Mineral Madness Day 3: Plums & Hyacinths

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For Day 3 of Mineral Madness, where I force myself to use my mineral eyeshadows, I have here a fairly purple look anchored on the very beautiful shimmery lilac by bareMinerals called Hyacinth. Not wanting to take away from the general prettiness of this color, I just used Satin Plum, also from bareMinerals. It is a fairly matte color so I used it in the outer corner of the eye, as well as on the outer crease. I added an eye kohl to my lower lash line, too. It’s MAC’s Prunella. I like it, though I feel like I should have used a deeper neutral like a dark brown instead of another purple. As it is, this has a very 90s feel to it; I can’t put my finger on it, but it may be the general cool lightness of the shadow paired with a milky lip, which makes me think of the frosted lipsticks of the past. I could just be making all of that up, though. (‘Scuse the spots, I didn’t feel like …