All posts filed under: Miscellaneous

All the Things: On Beauty, Buying, and Blogging

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Softly Sometimes has been alive for a fraction of the time that most websites (and beauty blogs) have been up, and frankly, I feel a little bit bored with it. I haven’t really grown tired of “beauty” or “blogging,” but I have grown tired of buying. Or at least, some aspects of it. I’ve been on a low-buy since April and I haven’t really bought a lot of beauty things since then. However, when I resubscribed to the Le Métier de Beauté Beauty Vault VIP 2014 round, it made me think about my relationship with “beauty,” or rather, beauty products… and why I often feel the need to have and to own. To be fair to myself (heh), my case of the grabby hands has toned down quite a bit since freefalling into the world of beauty, as we have all come to know it. Whenever I asked a person unfamiliar with the world of beauty blogging the “What’s your beauty philosophy?” question for Nosy Beauty, I feel kind of weird because I don’t want …

Unboxing: BDJ June 2014 Box*

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Happy Monday everyone! Here’s a quick unboxing post, courtesy of the awesome surprise the ladies at BDJ Box left for me on Saturday. The June 2014 BDJ Box is another brand exclusive by Benefit. I’ve had great experiences with Benefit as a brand—in fact, one of my first base products was their tinted moisturizer, You Rebel Lite—but when I decided to focus on cruelty-free beauty brands, Benefit fell by the wayside, which was a tiny bit frustrating for me, as they have been releasing quite a few products that have been in development for a long time. One thing that Benefit does well is minis. I know that sounds really dumb, but when they want you to try their products, they really go all the way. Each sample in this box, for example, come as a mini version of their regular packaging, with some card packaging to mimic the boxes that full-size items may come in.

20 Days of Lipstick: Week 2 Recap

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Yay, here’s Week 2 of my Beauty Dare to wear 20 different lipsticks in a month, in an effort to stay away from the neutrals and MLBBs I always reach for and to keep my lipsticks in a healthy rotation. If you missed the Week 1 Recap, it’s here. DAY SIX feat. MAC Creamsheen Lipstick in Ravishing I love this color, but I hate this formula, which is probably why I don’t wear this shade that often. It’s just heavy and icky, but the color is just fantastic, I think.

Favorite Filipino Cosmetics

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Happy Independence Day for my fellow Filipinos! 🙂 I thought I’d mention some of my favorite Filipino cosmetics, as a tribute and all. I didn’t have trouble thinking of many—because we have a pretty good range and selection of local cosmetics—but, I’m aware that I don’t have a lot of brand variation. EYES I love the Happy Skin Eye Am Here To Stay Eyeliners, both the liquid and gel ones! I do find that the tip of the liquid liner, which is a marker felt type, gets gunky and messed up really quickly. For eyeshadow, my top picks are the ones by Fanny Serrano. These ones have been depotted, as you can see. I must remember to wear these more! An affordable option with excellent pigmentation and performance. LIPS My favorite lip options are the Snoe Beauty Rouge Deluxe Lipsticks and—surprise, surprise—the Happy Skin Shut Up & Kiss Me Moisturising Lippies. BASE My absolute favorite local foundation is a loose mineral one by Ellana Minerals*! I love this for a very smoothed over, velvety, and …

Makeup Inventory: Addiction by Ayako Eyeshadows

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One of my undeniable makeup loves as of late has been Addiction. I remember seeing a brown cheek/lipstick and a mustard eyeshadow on Xiao of Messy Wands and I was so intrigued by it. After a fateful visit to Japanese counters (or several), it was pretty much love at first sight. Addiction has similar aesthetic sensibilities with NARS, another favorite cosmetics brand, both with the products, the overall makeup philosophy (at least, it seems like), and the look and feel of the brand. They are like sisters. I’ve mentioned this before, but it doesn’t hurt to mention again: Addiction was created by Ayako, a former makeup artist and “student” of François Nars. It explains the influences and the similarities, but I do think that Addiction isn’t necessarily derivative; it just grew and developed from a foundation in NARS. I find Addiction to be a bit more careful in terms of production and collections than NARS, which is understandable since Addiction is a way smaller brand with a smaller market. A common critique with NARS is …

20 Days of Lipstick: Week 1 Recap

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Here’s what happened during my first week of the self-imposed beauty dare. To refresh your memory, I am trying to wear a different shade of lipstick for twenty weekdays in June. Day 1 feat. Tom Ford Lipstick in Flamingo I think, deep down, this is the lipstick that sparked this challenge, actually. I bought this blindly, as a miseducated consumer. I say this because it is a fairly bright pink, and I don’t really wear a lot of pinks. I asked Sarie what she thought of it, and she said “It makes you look yellow.” So. Hmm. I don’t know how I feel about this lipstick, but I can’t seem to say goodbye to it. Mostly because it was really expensive.

May Favorites, sort of: Lip Crayons!

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I was really thinking about all my beauty favorites this May, and came up with zero things—I either rotated stuff so often, it would be unfair to call them favorites or I didn’t care to wear much makeup. I couldn’t really think of “real” favorites… Except, that is, for lip crayons! These were the lip products I tend to reach for the most the entire month. From the color choices on the lids, I think you can see why I kind of had to go on my Beauty Dare. Anyway, my favorites are the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils (my NARS VMLP in Bahama is missing—I can’t find it anywhere!) and the Happy Skin Shut Up and Kiss Me Moisturizing Lippies, which are the easiest freaking things to wear. I also love the Addiction by Ayako Lipcrayon and the NARS Satin Lip Pencil, but I only have one shade in each (my NARS one is LE, too), so I rarely use either of them. Glossier options are the Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss …