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Beauty Boo-boo: NARS + Washi

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MBB - NARS Packaging Washi

It finally happened.

The rubbery texture of one of my NARS compacts has finally melted off. I was waiting for it, and one of them started to succumb to this unholy heat. Granted, it was my first ever NARS purchase, and I wish I could say that it was something other than the ubiquitous Orgasm, but it wasn’t. I am so very beige sometimes.

Anyway, I tried to get rid of the sticky, but it wouldn’t budge. So I just wrapped it around in sticky tape. If you’re not familiar with washi tape (how???), it’s basically printed masking tape that originated from Japan (of course). People use it for everything—they even developed larger tapes to cover larger surfaces, much like wallpaper and temporary paint.

Basically, I just wrapped most of the exposed sticky surface in a variety of tapes and called it creativity.

nars

I think it turned out pretty nice. Pretty summery, which makes me feel like I have created a limited edition packaging for summer days, kind of. I think it’s pretty cute. 🙂

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5 Things Friday: My Favorite Multi-Purpose Products

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On the spotlight for today’s 5 Things Friday are some of my favorite multi-purpose products. They’re basically things you can use for more than one thing. There’s just something awesome about being able to use one thing many different ways.

For the makeup bits, here are two products that can be used for the cheeks, the lips, and the eyes: the Addiction Cheek Stick and the OCC Creme Colour Concentrate. I haven’t tried the BECCA Beach Tint on my eyes, but it’s a great lip and cheek product, too. All three remain steadfast favorites in my makeup swamp. Next up, I’ve got bareMinerals Liner Shadow, which I actually primarily use on my eyebrows. It’s a great deep matte brown for both liner and shadow, too. Last but not the least, my tin of the cult favorite Smith’s Rosebud Salve. What can’t this little pot do? I don’t like it as a lip moisturizer, but I use it on dry, irritated spots and my gross cuticles. I have read many other different uses (i.e. hair wax? Pimple treatment?!), so I may have to give those a try.

What are your favorite multi-purpose products?

FOTD: Notoriously Morbid in the Springtime

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FOTD - In the Springtime

Just a quick Spring look for all y’alls using some Notoriously Morbid eyeshadows that I am in the middle of testing out and reviewing. Notoriously Morbid is an indie cosmetics company that I wanted to try out way back when. I placed an order in February and got my parcel in late March, which is pretty standard for international shipping. Anyway. Here’s what’s going on with my mug.

My base is just comprised of the Le Métier de Beauté Peau Vierge Correcteur in Medium, the Le Métier de Beauté Eye Brightening and Setting Powder in Refresh, and the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Poweder in Dim Light. It’s so freaking hot, I don’t even want to bother with face products, other than my SPF. If you’re curious about my favorite Spring/Summer Face base, click here.

For cheeks, I have my Tom Ford Cheek Color in Wicked, which I am beginning to appreciate just recently. It’s a very beautiful sheeny pink. It’s almost like a super pigmented highlight. It’s gorgeous. My lips are just coated with a Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Boy.

FOTD - In the Springtime 2

For eyes, I have on Notoriously Morbid’s Pornographic Priestess and Nighttime in Emerald City on my lid. On my lower lash line, I smudged on a bit of Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil in Roach (which I used on my upper lash line as well) and hazed that out with NM’s One November. For mascara, I just have the Le Métier de Beauté Anamorphic Lash Mascara.

Eyebrows are courtesy of the K-Palette marker in 01. (I know they are janked. 😦 I have been doing a new routine, though, that’s working out much better. Let me know if you want to know about it!)

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BNT Girls Collaboration: SNSD Mr Mr Makeup (Seohyun)

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Before my batch of BNT Girls (possibly) disbands, we thought we’d cook up a makeup collaboration featuring looks from SNSD/Girls Generation’s new video for the song, Mr Mr! You can watch the video here:

We each picked a girl who wore a makeup look we wanted to recreate! I’m not sure what time the other girls are planning to post their looks, so I’ll just add the links as they come. 🙂 Anyway, I did this look back when I still had long hair!

I was picking between Yuri and Seohyun, but Seohyun had the look I wanted to recreate the most:

(It took me a while to remember their names, haha. I’m not a big fan of K-Pop, but that’s only because I don’t know where to start. But that’s another story.)

I never would have thought to pair purple eye makeup with a red lip; that just seems to cross over to super bold territory for me. Still, I persevered. Read More

Hello Waffle Cosmetics: The Tangled/Persinette Collection

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I first heard of Hello Waffle Cosmetics from the subreddit, Indiemakeupandmore. The owner, Christine, is a user there and was offering a blogger discount since she was just setting up her shop. I bought a sampler pack of the Tangled collection (now renamed The Persinette Collection), as well as a tinted lip balm (Crookshanks, renamed Ginger Kitties). Christine gave me a sample of Polyp as well, which I found to be extremely generous. 🙂

But, for now, I will focus on the eyeshadows.

Hello Waffle - Tangled Collection

I honestly didn’t realize that there were a total of sixteen shades in this collection. I’ve swatched them in two parts, in the order that they were packed. Read More

Makeup Inventory: Addiction Cheek Sticks

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Presenting… my latest iteration of my Addiction Cheek Stick inventory. These are possibly some of my favorite makeup bits ever, and I’m trying really hard not to buy everything from the range. If you aren’t familiar, Cheek Sticks are multi-purpose products by Japanese brand, Addiction by Ayako. Ayako was a makeup artist that worked closely with François Nars (of NARS, duh), which probably explains a lot of the brand’s aesthetic direction.

MUI - Addiction Cheek Sticks - Open 2

Cheek Sticks can be used on the cheeks, lips, and even eyes (though they are not crease-free). In a span of a year, I have amassed five different shades, all of which I love. From lightest to darkest, I have African Sunset, Tea Rose, Rose Bar (my newest one!), Revenge (my first one!), and Suspicious. They are swatched in the same order below:

MUI - Addiction Cheek Sticks - Swatches

The most versatile one, in my opinion, is Rose Bar, though I am able to use Revenge pretty much anywhere also. It’s just a less agreeable color than Rose Bar. Tea Rose was a fast favorite and was in rotation for a while. I foresee African Sunset as a summer staple. Suspicious looks scary, but it’s actually really pretty on the cheeks.

MUI - Addiction Cheek Sticks - Open 1

Although they are multi-purpose products, I like them best used as cheek colors. Some of the shades, like Suspicious, are too dry on the lips. I don’t generally use them for the eyes since they aren’t crease-proof and I have similar shades of eye makeup anyway.

If you like the idea of multi-purpose products, tune in later this week when I post some of my favorite ones!

Addiction by Ayako is only available in counters all over Japan, though Ichibankao sells them at a significant markup (incl. postage) online.

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Recent Obsessions: SPF in Lip Products

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SPF

When I was traveling around, I noticed that my lips would get more sore and chapped than they usually were. I attributed it to the cold, but also to sun exposure. I also saw quite a bit of lip products all around Japan that boasted of SPF.

I didn’t want sun damage and the lips are a part of our body that we often forget to protect, which is why I picked up a few here and there. Except for the Dior Addict Lip Glow, I bought everything in the photo on that trip. I have two lip products by Ettusais, the Lip Essence N Stick (SPF 10) and the Lip Essence with hypergloss oil (SPF 18 PA++). From MUJI, I have the Medicated Lip Cream (SPF 12) and a tinted balm of sorts (SPF 13 PA++).

I’ve been making it a habit to wear these under my lip products, which makes me feel less paranoid about their exposure to the sun. They’re all easy to reapply on-the-go, too.

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