We’ve been hitting unreal high temps here in Manila, and most days, I just like forgoing makeup. However, I recently wore my Ellis Faas Skin Veil* after going off of it for a while, and I remembered just how beautiful it makes my skin look like, so I thought I’d do a post on my favorite base combinations have been as of late. Read More
I posted about a hypothetical makeup line about a year ago called Rijks Muse, which was a winning entry for a contest that the Rijksmuseum held that asked for some potential products and merch using images from their permanent collection. As of my posting last year, there were talks of possibly developing an actual line, but fast forward to today and there is no Rijks Muse in sight! So I took it into my own hands and “made” my own palette. Read More
Not that I wear makeup everyday, but you know what I mean.
I’ve personally amassed a ridiculous amount of brushes, but having dialed back on the makeup obsession, there are just a few brushes that I regularly use now. Here are the face brushes that I’ve been using as of late. I am thinking about making a “Favorite Brushes” or “Most Useful Brushes” post sometime in the near future.
Sigma F86 Tapered Kabuki Brush**
This is the newest addition to my arsenal and I freaking love it for liquid bases that need more than finger action to blend out properly. The tapered end makes it easy for you to reach weird nooks on your face, like the space around your nose and all around under your eyes, and other places that need precision.
Real Techniques Expert Face Brush
This was my weapon of choice for liquid bases, but now I find I use it a lot for cream products like blush and bronzers. It still works great for your regular face base, but it also works wonderfully when it comes to cream color products.
NARS Yachiyo Kabuki Brush
This is such a great blush + contour blender, especially if you are working with stubbornly pigmented powder products. The structure of the brush—a disappointing lightweight black wisteria handle—allows for a light, foolproof application. I never really wanted this brush until the sales assistant at NARS applied an intense strawberry red blush on me AND IT LOOKED SO NATURAL! And I then swore never to let an SA touch my face again, lol. The tulip shape makes it a great contour brush, too. 🙂
Hakuhodo H601 Brush
This is my workhorse. This literally does everything powder-related and it does it well. It’s a portable brush, and retracting it changes the size and shape of the brush, so it can work as an all-over face brush, a blush brush, and a contour brush. It’s so freaking soft, too. I bring this pretty much everywhere I go.
Hakuhodo G5519BkSL Powder Brush
This is my most expensive brush, but one that I use everyday. It gives the most lightweight dusting of powder, so my makeup never looks cakey. I mainly use it to set my under-eye area and my T-Zone, though I’ve used it occasionally to apply blush or bronzer. The hair on this brush is the softest ever, too: a mix of blue squirrel and goat. The animal hair harvested by Hakuhodo are also supposedly ethically harvested, but the wording on their statement (found via Temptalia) seems a little vague and makes me feel a little dubious:
As you may know, some Asian counties raise goats for their food, like cattle or poultry. Our suppliers buy only hair from these butchers.
We also import squirrel and weasel (sable) hairs from suppliers in the EU and Asian countries. These suppliers have explained to us that they obtain those hairs from animals that have been exterminated for reasons other than for their hair. We do know that the squirrels and weasels were not harmed, or killed, for only the purpose of obtaining their hair: the hair is a byproduct.
All purchases of materials and supplies strictly adhere to Japan’s Welfare and Management of Animals Act, as well as any related international laws.
A little sketchy, right? It reads as kind of a convoluted way of saying, “Well, we didn’t kill them for the hair… but yeah, they died. And then we took the hairs.” I mean, correct me if I’m wrong. If they are, indeed, not killed and are just harvested from, what are the conditions in which these animals are kept?
Sorry this turned out to be a bummer post, but I think it’s better to be well-informed before purchasing things. I bought these a long, long time ago, and although I love them, I’m not sure if I feel comfortable buying brushes made with natural hair anymore. I mean, I honestly prefer them, but if I’m going to be thinking about squirrels and goats every time I put on my makeup, it’s just not worth it.
Any recommendations for good synthetic brushes are welcome. I like my RT ones, but they don’t really keep well + I haven’t tried many of their eye brushes. I’ve tried a few other synthetic brushes, but I never really found anything that at least applied makeup as well as the ones I’ve come to love. HELP!
** Sample + affiliate link.
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So, I eventually broke and purchased a few items—two of them, rather thoughtlessly, I think—and I guess these are my makeup items for January-March 2015. Not to confuse you, but I made a deal with myself to buy 1 makeup item per month in 2015. In an effort to curb my makeup shopping. Obviously, it’s worked but I’m kicking myself in the face, haha. I talk a bit about the items in the video above (it’s short!) but I’ll post some swatches below:
Why these are my thoughtless purchases: I love Train Bleu, but I think I should have held off and gotten the Pure Matte Lipstick in Volga! It seems more of the shade I’m looking for. I’ll use this anyway, because it’s really pretty, too.
And for my “WTF?” I’ve got MAC Viva Glam Rihanna II. It’s a really frosty brown. I’m wearing it in the video. In a weird way, I do like it, but I still feel iffy about MAC selling in China, despite being manufactured in Canada. That part really pisses me off. I console myself by the thought of Viva Glam’s tie-up with the MAC AIDS Fund: “Every cent of the selling price of M·A·C VIVA GLAM lipstick and lipglass is donated to the M·A·C AIDS Fund.”
Come on, now. You know you love it. I already have a shade that’s in this palette (Subra, last two swatches on the top row, which I love) but the limited shade in this palette, Ursa Major, is so pretty. I’m swooning! I think this is a great buy if you love the Dual-Intensity eyeshadows because the palette pans come with 1g of product per shade, whereas the singles come with 1.5g. With the price of the palette, you get two individual shades. AND URSA MAJOR!
So there’s that. I’ve been keeping a list of the items I want to check out and most of them are liquid lipsticks in weird colors, brow products, and cheek products… Which is honestly kind of dangerous, because I’ve discovered lately that I’m not really a cheek product person! What does one do with that knowledge coupled with a ridiculous type of yearning. HMM.
Anyway, those are my new purchases. I’ll try them out more and see how I like them, but so far, I am in love with that NARS palette.
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I’m not one to layer my lip colors all that much, which explains why glosses and liners get little love from me. I think I’m just lazy that way, a grab-and-go kinda girl, I guess. However, I have been trying to make not-so-perfect lip shades work better for me with the power of layering. Read More
In Glow vs. Glow, I’m pitting two known glow-givers against each other. It all started when I noticed that the Le Métier de Beauté Peau Vierge Anti-Aging Tinted Complexe is THE SAME PRODUCT as the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector—or is it? At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss them both as liquid highlighters, but it’s not quite the end of that story. Read More
I wore this look recently to a birthday dinner. The pear-like qualities of ColourPop’s Sleigh is a little subtle—it’s described as an “icy sage”—but that’s OK. It lets me wear a pink as bright as Tom Ford’s Flamingo, which is a shade that I’m still not sure why I even bought. Here are swatches of the eyeshadows I used:
Swatched, top to bottom: MAKE Khaki*, Rouge Bunny Rouge Abyssinian Catbird, ColourPop Sleigh
Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint (Medium), Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder (Ethereal Light), Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush (Mood Exposure)
Tom Ford Flamingo: I don’t know, you guys. I just can’t seem to really get into this lip color. I mean, it doesn’t look horrible or too garish, but I think that my aversion to purples and oranges switched on over to bright, medium pinks. I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS. And I hate that I bought this lipstick in this color, haha. Thoughts?!
K-Palette Real Lasting 2Way Eyebrow Marker (G101, powder only)*, Nature Republic Eye Primer, ColourPop Super Shock Shadow (Sleigh), MAKE Matte Eyeshadow (Khaki)*, Rouge Bunny Rouge Abyssinian Catbird, K-Palette Rose-Scented Liquid Liner*, ILIA Mascara (Shadow of a Doubt)
Sleigh is actually part of a limited edition holiday collection of 6, which is back up on ColourPop.com.
And that’s it! My green eyeshadow phase isn’t over yet, and I’ve got a lot of plans to wear it this Spring. Funny how that worked out. What are you into at the moment? 🙂
* Items marked with an asterisk are PR Samples.
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Softly Sometimes 