Year: 2013

Quickie: Wing It with the MAC 266

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When I asked Laura for help picking out MAC items, she remarked that since I seemed to be having trouble applying liner (I was), I should take a look at the MAC 266 brush, a very small, stiff angled brush. She recommended that I use a dark eyeshadow (e.g. MAC Carbon) and push the color into my lashline. I’m a little better at eyeshadow now, but this remains an astonishing little tool that I’m glad I ended up getting. I used it to apply my KATE Gel Liner for my NARS Paramaribo review. I cleaned the brush right away, since I hate it when gel liner sits on brush bristles. I’m sure the brushes hate it, too. The line is awesome, and I get a lot of control with it. I’ve sworn by the Marionnaud N°37, which is basically the same thing, only with a little spoolie on the other end. They’re the same brush, in theory, because they are both stiff, angled brushes for the eyes. I use the N°37 all the time for …

Softly Sometimes & the Holy Grail: My HG Products

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Liz of Project Vanity posted her Holy Grail products yesterday and I thought I’d do the same! If you didn’t already know, Holy Grail or HG products are essentially a person’s “Best of the Best.” You may loooooove eleventy billion products, but you probably have a favorite favorite, if you know what I mean. Here are my own! I’ll follow her format and add a couple of my own. 🙂 For reference, I think I am a warmer neutral, around light-medium. I’ve never been shade matched at anywhere, but I’ve inputted (weird word) my foundation shades on Findation, and here are supposedly my shades all across the board. It says that I am an NC37, an NW30, and an NC40. So you can imagine my confusion. I am not very oily, but I do oil up occasionally, and I do have a lot of dry flakes. So I don’t know what skin type that is. Very helpful, aren’t I? Also, I live in a very humid area. Anyway, let’s get started!

NARS Duo in Paramaribo

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This NARS Duo called Paramaribo is one that I really wanted to love. It’s one of the first NARS Duos I got, the other one being Habanera (review) and I was so impressed by how velvety-soft the eyeshadows were, and how beautiful the pigmentation of both colors were. Paramaribo came out with NARS’ Spring 2012 collection, and it pairs two colors—a metallic brass & metallic bronze—together. To me, it just looks like two different greens, but as we’ve already established, I am sometimes unrefined. 🙂 Anyway, I busted it out for a proper review as it seems to be a very beautiful, very sunny duo. “Paramaribo” is the capital in Suriname, South America. It is located near the Suriname river, and viewed from the top, you can see where they may have culled inspiration from, when creating this duo. Suriname has a very rich history of European colonization, as well as very a diverse populace with a variety of religions, cultures, and beliefs. I guess, much like a lot of other places. 🙂 Though the …

MAC Mineralize Rich Lipstick in Elegant Accent

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The MAC Mineralize Rich Lipsticks are “a 77-Mineral Moist Complex that instantly nourishes lips with maximum moisture in a lightweight, non-sticky formula. Larger bullet applies bright, long lasting colour in a single stroke. Medium shine finish, buildable coverage. Magnetic closure.” Apparently its magnetic closure is something to note. It’s actually kind of cool, I must admit, and it seems to have a stronger magnetic attraction than that of the Guerlain lipsticks, which makes me feel better about throwing these in a bag, than I do when I throw those. But enough about that! I selected a shade called Elegant Accent, which looks like a deep, pinky coral on the website swatch, but is described as a “mid-tonal warm rose cream.” I bought this shade based on many, many swatch comparisons online, and it seemed to be the color that attracted me the most. Unfortunately, it pulls a little pink on me. It’s not a bad color; it just wasn’t what I was looking for. If you noticed, I don’t really use a lot of pink …

Made-Up History: Vincent Van Gogh’s “Almond Blossom,” 1890

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This is a late one. I wanted to get it out in time for my sister’s birthday (June 11) but things got in the way. Truthfully, I was afraid to talk about Van Gogh, because there are so many things to say about him. His is a heartbreaking story that I dare not get into right now. Still, he’s one of my favorite artists (as clichéd as it may be) and this work of his Almond Blossom is a touching gift to his brother, Theo, and his wife when Vincent received news of their new baby as a symbol of new life. If you are fortunate enough to see any of Van Gogh’s works in person, I suggest that you do so. The movement of the strokes evoke such powerful emotions.

4 Product Face

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Here’s a very quick and basic day look that you can throw on easily, and with only 4 products! It’s very light and ideal for when you wake up late, or if you don’t necessarily want to bring a whole lot of products along with you on a holiday. Here’s what I used to achieve this look: PRODUCTS: — NARS Tinted Moisturizer (Alaska) — The Body Shop Brow & Liner Kit (02) — BECCA Beach Tint (Guava) — Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder (Luminous Light) TOOLS: — Marionnaud N°38 Eyes (Slanted + Spoolie) — Hakuhodo H601 brush — shu uemura eyelash curler If you’re keen to know how I did it, watch this video: The only thing I would do differently for this look was to maybe pat a little bit more of the brown shades on my eye to kind of intensify the color, and maybe add a bit of the darker brown to the outer ‘v’ for depth. Other than that, I think this is a pretty good look! It looks grossly simple and …

too cool for school’s Dinoplatz Pearl Bay Invasion in #1 Mother of Pearl

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If you’re looking for a product to add a lit-from-within glow to your makeup base, this might be the answer! Or one of, anyway. The Dinoplatz Pearl Bay Invasion in #1 Mother of Pearl by too cool for school is a liquid illuminator that you can mix with your face base or use to highlight certain points. Product Description: “Radiant skin that seems like 100 of fluorescent lights turned on.” — Creates three-dimensional & natural skin through pearls by reflection & curve of light. — 7 ingredients that contain high moisture keep moisturizing skin for hours. — adheres to skin tightly and leaves smooth and refreshing feeling. I don’t know about the rest of its claims—I didn’t particularly feel like this moisturized my skin or refreshed it—but I can vouch for it creating a natural-looking dewiness. I only ever use this mixed in with my face base (1:2, illuminator:BB cream ratio) because the pump dispenses too much product for me to just use it on isolated parts of my face. I’m tempted to depot just …