Month: April 2014

Tonal Exercise: Matte Browns

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If you’ve ever taken an art class before, you’d be familiar with tonal exercises. Tonal exercises are what you use to study shade gradations. One such exercise is similar to what I have illustrated here—bars of a color, from white to dark/black, shown in varying degrees. Here are some very utilized eyeshadows: my matte browns. Starting from a non-brown but a beige-y off-white, Laura Mercier’s Vanilla Nuts is actually a shade I use(d) fairly often as a base for my entire lid and as a browbone highlight. Le Métier de Beauté’s Tamarack and Laura Mercier’s Café Au Lait are two subtle crease colors, to aid with transition and slight depth. Addiction Truffle is a warm, creamy matte brown I use for the outer corner or crease. Laura Mercier’s Coffee Ground is darker, the shade of cocoa powder. I use that for the outer corner or a really dark crease, too. Last, but not the least, Laura Mercier’s Rich Coffee, which is great for the outer corner, too, but is also a very nice dark brown …

Never Forget Mascara Expiration Again!

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This tip is so simple that I almost feel like a criminal for even sparing one whole post for it. I think the picture even says it all. Basically, like every other beauty nut, I tend to have more than one mascara tube open at a time. As such, it’s hard for me to keep track of their “expiration dates.” Most mascaras expire 3 to 6 months after the tube is first opened, and while some tubes helpfully state what particular time frame the mascaras should be kept, I doubt that we all remember when we first opened that delicious tube. Writing down the date when you first opened the mascara can help with hygiene. The washi tape just helps with cuteness. As we can see here, October 2013 was a great month for mascara sampling for me. Sometimes, you can go with smelling the mascara (Too funky? Too bad to use!) but I think this is a more accurate way to do things. Here is the why: Mascara is one of the beauty products …

Think Pink

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Like most of OCC’s products, the Crème Colour Concentrates can be used for any part of the body. Specifically, it’s marketed for the eyes, cheeks, and lips. I have two colors, a pale green one called Cthulu that I will mostly use on the eyes… for reasons that, I think, are obvious. Then, there’s Newt, a pretty milky peachy pink. I’ve used it a couple of times, but I thought it would be interesting to utilize it for all of the parts of my face. Here’s a look I made using it as a cream eyeshadow, a blush, and a lip color. To be honest, I don’t think this works well as a lip color. For the eyes, it’s a great base if you’ve got a primer on already. Which is to say it’s not that crease-proof. I mixed Newt with a bit of Smith’s Rosebud Salve for my blush. It turns out, it makes for a great highlight, too! On the eyes, I’ve also used the two darker shades from the Wet n Wild …

(Another) No Makeup Makeup Look: Bright Eyes

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“No makeup” makeup has a strong presence in the beauty world, and the opinion on this is split into two factions: the people who appreciate and love it and the people who don’t see the point. Over the last few months, I’ve gotten several anonymous comments about how my makeup is being “wasted” and is useless because you can’t detect it on my face. (That’s a whole other story.) I’m personally a fan of the no makeup makeup look. There’s nothing wrong with enhancing your features and going for subtlety. Understated is good. Plus, there are actually people who can’t wear wild makeup looks to work. I am not one of those people, but I still dig these looks. Also, I don’t really feel comfortable with the thought of someone actually being able to see foundation, etc. on my face. Why on earth would you want that? I would not wish that upon the most annoying of the people I am annoyed at. I don’t really have evil foes.

Wish it were real: Rijks Muse Make Up

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A few days ago, my friend Angel posted a link on my wall… and then I lost my shit. Check this out, my friends: Rijks Muse Make Up! The Rijksmuseum is located in Amsterdam and it is one of the most well-known art sites there. It houses beautiful paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Monet, among others. It’s a fairly small museum, but it’s very Dutch. I went in 2012, and it was amazing. One of the coolest things about the Rijksmuseum is their website! It is very interactive, and it has an awesome section called Rijksstudio. To celebrate Rijksstudio’s first anniversary, the Rijksmuseum launched the Make Your Masterpiece design competition where everyone was invited to create an offshoot or remix the works found in the Rijksmuseum’s collection. More here. Rijks Muse Make Up won first place! It’s basically a fictional makeup line designed by Asnate Bockis and Rogier Arents. The “range” is inspired by 5 pieces in the Rijksmuseum’s collection. The makeup line Rijks Muse is inspired by the colour palettes in five …

Le Métier de Beauté Peau Vierge Correcteur Concealer

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Ahhh, another Le Métier de Beauté product again this week. Don’t mind if I do! I received the Peau Vierge Correcteur Concealer in Medium ($95) in my Beauty Vault VIP March box. It’s something I’ve been eyeing for a while now, but never really followed through with, because it’s so damn expensive. Product Description: “This luxuriously creamy concealer has the power to naturally cover flaws as it corrects them. The formula is designed to work like skincare—it encourages collagen production, diminishes the appearance of dark circles, softens lines, blurs blemishes and tightens the look of pores within a week of daily use. Light-diffusing coverage creates a smooth, luminous, undetectable finish. Broad-spectrum SPF 16 protects the skin from damaging UVA/UVB rays.” It only comes in two shades, Fraise/Cool and Medium. Much to the chagrin of my fellow BVV subscribers whose skin colors don’t fit in that spectrum. I think it’s kind of weird that LMdB has been sending complexion products (the Face Kaleidoscope, this concealer and the powder in April), when they have specifically stated they …

5 Things Friday: Japanese Drugstore Finds

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Today’s 5 Things Friday (which I hope I will follow through on forever and ever) features some finds from a handful of Japanese drugstores on my last trip to Tokyo/Osaka. If you have never shopped around a Japanese drugstore, you have never known real joy. (Just kidding.) I think you can tell that I really held back this time around. These are actually pretty practical finds, except for the lipstick… so I’m pretty proud of myself. Heh. I actually have six things here, but let me explain. I picked up the MUJI Nail Polish Remover, which are basically just packets of sheets doused in nail polish remover. My polish was driving me nuts, so I was happy I saw these at a Family Mart! I think they might be acetone-free; the formula was definitely more oily than alcohol-y. Next up is the Suncut Water in UV Protect Essence, which is just facial sunscreen. They have an abundance of these. I just picked one up with a high SPF. I got a 2 for 1 deal …