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Nosy Beauty Vol. 23: Delia

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Hi everyone! Sorry for missing last week’s Nosy Beauty post. I didn’t even realize it was a Saturday until I was in the mountains and too late to even queue the post. New Resolution: Pay attention. HEH! Anyway, this week’s guest of honor ’round these parts is Delia, from Shimmery Black. She’s an amazing girl who comes up with some of the most stunning eye looks. She’s definitely one of my favorite beauty bloggers.

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shimmeryblack.wordpress.com

My name is Delia, I’m 18 and I’m currently a student (oh, the horror). I love nature, art and, besides blogging at Shimmery Black, I sometimes do photography.

Regarding my beauty philosophy, I think make-up should be most importantly effective and not essentially obvious. For instance, a thin black line right at the base of the lashes is more flattering than painting your whole lid with liquid liner (which I’ve actually seen on some girls). Read More

Happy Skin Eye Need a Miracle Concealer

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Happy Skin - Eye Need a Miracle

So, I dragged my mom to a Happy Skin Counter and this is what she ended up getting. To be honest, I think she got the Eye Need a Miracle Concealer for me, since I wouldn’t shut up about it. I didn’t want to buy it just yet because it had an alarming amount of glitter in it, for something that’s supposed to conceal dark circles.

Happy Skin - Eye Need a Miracle - Tube

Eye Need a Miracle only has one shade, Butter, and I’ve been told that it “adjusts” to any skin tone. I’m a big ol’ skeptic when it comes to these things because I can’t fathom how that works out, but it swatches fine on my medium skin color:

Happy Skin - Eye Need a Miracle - Swatch

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State of Skin: Skin Care Routine Update

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SOS - Face 1

Hey everyone! To start the year off (my Inglot post was scheduled prematurely, lol), I wanted to do a bit of a basics series. Let me begin with skin. 🙂 This is what my freshly-washed face looks like in the morning. I’ve had pretty good luck with skin and breakouts for the duration of my life—I’ve maybe had 10 really bad pimples in 25 years—aside from allergies, etc.

SOS - Face 2

When I started wearing makeup, I started getting problems. I didn’t use to wash my face; I only washed it when I remembered to. In the shower. So, adding gunk was particularly problematic. I had great luck with shu uemura’s cleansing oils (I used the yellow variant/balancing one), but it’s expensive + not cruelty-free, which is weird to say because I’m not sure if the ff. items are CF, but bear with me! Read More

First Encounters with Inglot

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Another spoil from Black Friday. I only got it now because I live in a faraway land South East Asia. Anyway, I purchased 2 Inglot Palettes and some innards from the actual Inglot site. I was on a ban when I stepped into the Inglot store that just opened here in the Philippines, but I figured I could take advantage of a 20% off sale once I was “allowed” to purchase makeup, so I did.

Here’s the damage…

Inglot - 2 Palettes

OK, so I got two palettes: one 5-shadow palette, and one blush + 3-shadow palette. I don’t know what they’re actually called, I think just EB and [5] Square, as indicated by their boxes. The packaging is awesome and sleek. Very minimalist, though I think I’d have preferred the logo to not be patterned over the ENTIRE cover. The cover is frosted plastic that’s pretty heavy-duty, and it attaches to the actual matte black case with four strong magnets on each corner. I predict that this will be a long-ish entry, so I’ll cut it here. Read More

13 Best of 2013

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OK, so I had a hard time narrowing this down because 2013 was a big year of discovery for me, in terms of beauty and makeup. However, I really had to pick through and determine which products made a big impact on me and my makeup life. Here goes!

13of2013 - 1

Addiction Cheek Sticks: some of my best discoveries from my Japan trip! I have 4 shades, but my favorites are Tea Rose and Revenge. They are such a great formula, sort of like cream blushes in a traditional lipstick form. The formula is a little varied, though, for a multi-purpose product. Some shades don’t work out since they can be drying. Other shades are Suspicious and African Sunset.

Le Métier de Beauté Anamorphic Lash Mascara: Sarie got this for me as a GWP. It’s lightweight and gives the most natural definition and just a tiny bit of volume. I love it because it is cruelty-free, holds a curl, gives a bit of definition, and is easy to take off. Read the review here.

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer: I love this primer! It is my favorite primer so far, and I have quite a few. It leaves a great, smooth base and keeps the oils at bay. Read my review here. Read More

Makeup Storage for Small Spaces: December 2013

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MU Storage - Whole Desk

OK, so I’ve been planning this post for a while, but it’s a) embarrassing, and b) hard to come up with a system that you’re happy with. I think this is good for me right now. I have very little space, and I like it like that because it’s extremely obvious when I go overboard. On my work/only desk, I have a corner, a cubby, and a drawer for makeup I want within my reach. By this, I mean, I have a separate drawer for back-ups (e.g. new mascara I don’t want to open because of current mascaras in rotation, etc.) and products I don’t reach for often.

There were a lot more photos in the original iteration of this post, but I only kept the useful ones to show my main set-up. The desk looks neat because the other crap I have (books, bags, etc.) are on my bed, ha. Read More

The One You All Knew I’d Eventually Get… The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette

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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette

I resisted and failed. Sort of. This is my brother’s Christmas and late birthday gift to me—the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette. I am one of the crazy people that are absolutely in love with these, and I actually only have one other shade left to try, thanks to this palette. (Diffused Light, if you’re wondering.) If you are looking for an in-depth review of what exactly these powders are, I wrote one quite a while back, which you can read here. I’m still a firm believer in these, though, if that’s any indication (to you) of how awesome these are.

This is a holiday release by Hourglass, and has three shades and a travel-sized Veil Mineral Primer, which is my HG Primer and costs an arm and a leg, so YAY. The shades are as follows:

  • Dim Light — a neutral peach beige powder that blurs imperfections and highlights the complexion.
  • Incandescent Light (Limited Edition) — an opalescent pearl powder that brightens the complexion with a celestial glow.
  • Radiant Light — a sun-kissed golden beige powder that enhances the complexion with believable subtle warmth.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette - Swatches
L-R, swatched: Dim Light, Incandescent Light, Radiant Light

Hourglass Comparison

The powders in this palette are way smaller than the original powders. Someone did the math~ and found out that you actually pay more per g. when you buy the palette. I’m guessing that’s why they threw in the Veil Mineral Primer, which is priced at about $8.32 for 0.16oz, compared to the cost of the full size at $52 for 1.0 fl oz. Read More