Month: July 2014

Recent Aquisitions/Currently Testing

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Remember when I said I was done with shopping! Done with too much makeup! Done with being a consumerism hag! Well. It turns out that I am not, in fact, done with those things just yet. I haven’t gone off the deep end—I have been quite good between March and mid-June—but in the end, I think I decided that it was okay to try some new things, as opposed to all of them, from time to time. Here are some of my recent purchases, brought on by a crippling sense of discontent (I got over it), and what I think about them so far. NARS Semi-Matte Lipstick in Heat Wave I was in a fairly bad place when I placed (ha) an order for a couple of NARS lipsticks plus the Yachiyo brush. One of those lipsticks was Heat Wave, bought because of a sudden hankering for MAC’s Lady Danger. So far… Well, I really like it. The first time I tried it on, I fought with an overwhelming sense of dread because I felt …

FOTD: I Went to a Wedding Pt. Deux

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My cousin got married on the 11th! Here is the face I put on for that day—12 hours after application! I was going to use a palette but ended up going back to a few singles I haven’t used much and an old favorite that I’ve stashed away in one of my drawers. My face base is my usual one these days: a primer (Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer), the NARS Sheer Glow (Punjab), the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer (Ginger), set with a combination of Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders (Mood Light and Luminous Light) and the Le Métier de Beauté Eye Brightening and Setting Powder (Refresh) for my under-eye concealing. I should note that this is the face of someone who did not touch her base up once for an entire 12 hours. I used the Urban Decay Primer Potion instead of a MAC Paint Pot, and holy shit I forgot how much I loved this stuff. Wowwww. It really is the best eye primer, in my opinion. I used Breathtaking from my bareMinerals READY 2.0 …

Nosy Beauty Vol. 31: Angel

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YAY, A NOSY BEAUTY RIGHT ON SCHEDULE! /shuffle Today, I’ve got someone I actually met in real life first—a rarity!—at the launch of The Manila Review, one of the projects I’m involved with. Say hello to Angel, who was introduced to me by our mutual friend, Deus, and who immediately told me that she loved makeup, too. 🙂 She writes about life in Holland, art, and Scandinavian culture, among other things over here. I love this week’s Nosy Beauty because Angel didn’t scrimp on photographs! Heh. I hope you all enjoy it, too! I’m Angel, an editor, writer and communications strategist, and Ambassador of Dutch and Scandinavian culture. I love listening to music, discovering new art and design, hanging out with friends and exploring new cities. I am currently based in Holland, where I work for an international travel magazine. These are some of my favourite items (not necessarily what I use daily). The makeup bag is from Paul & Joe – I don’t really lug around a makeup bag, usually I just use it …

Carina Santos: Outfit Repeater

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I claimed, once upon a time, that this was a beauty and style blog, and I did in fact post the occasional OOTD here and there. I think the reason for that is that I am the type of person who chooses comfort over style, always. The other reason is that I am a complete outfit repeater. I don’t really have a lot of outfit pictures, so I looked for instances that I repeated whole outfits, or at least the major components of them. For your reference and for the sake of this post: when I started caring about clothes (after college, sadly, lol), I went for better-looking comfort, so I had a lot of cardigans, pull-overs, short-sleeved sweaters, vests, etc. to make my outfits look a bit more put together than your true blue basics. I mean, these are still basics, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. Ahem. Okay, so let’s start with a really funny picture in which I try to look “fierce,” lol. This was from a magazine feature! The makeup was …

Victorian Disco FOTD: Dashing Doctor, Spacey Wacey and Mollywobbles

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The sheer amount of indie samples I have amassed is kind of really scary. Actually more ridiculous, but let’s go with scary. I’ve decided to actively use up some of the samples. My eye base is MAC Paint Pot in Painterly with a sheer, sheer layer of the Oslo Cosmetics Eye Bond Primer Wand over it. For this look, I used some of my Victorian Disco shadows! I’ve got Dashing Doctor on the lids with Spacey Wacey on the outer corners, and a rather pretty coral called Mollywobbles on the lower lash line. Standard black liquid liner on my upper lash line. Quite unsure of what my blush color is here (pretty sure it might be Illamasqua’s Cream Blusher in Dixie?) but the lip is MAC’s Rebel, which is a new discovery/revelation for me. And that’s that! I’ve been trying to wear more colors on my eyes lately, and I think I’m enjoying it quite a bit. Follow me: Bloglovin' • Twitter • Instagram • YouTube • Facebook

20 Days of Lipstick: Week 4 Recap

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And the last week of 20 Days of Lipstick is late and ends on a Tuesday. Mostly because I didn’t want to extend it for another week (i.e. prolong the recap and post next Sunday), just because I ran out of days for lipstick-wearing. Anyway, ahem. DAY FIFTEEN feat. Le Métier de Beauté Hydra-Crème Lipstick in Signature I got this in the first Le Métier de Beauté Beauty Vault VIP box, when they had yet to launch the Hydra-Crème line, and I would never have picked this for myself. Mostly because I don’t believe that reds look all that good on me. I’m glad I got this, though, because I think it might be my favorite “real” red (in case Guerlain’s Orgueil is too purple to count for all y’all. The formula is fantastic, too, if anyone was wondering. Especially for a matte lipstick! I forgot how much I loved this one, to be honest.

Stashed & Forgotten: MAC Powder Blush in Ambering Rose

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Here’s another “forgotten” item from my days of overpurchasing. (Oops.) It’s a MAC Sheertone Shimmer Powder Blush in Ambering Rose, described by MAC as a “muted rose.” I myself find it to be a bit more of a golden terracotta/brick-ish color. It’s warmer and more orange-leaning than what I consider to be a rose—not exactly a color I’d immediately spring for—but it looked like a cooler rose shade online.