All posts tagged: beauty

FOTD + OOTD: Yummy Umami

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This is not how I looked like, after sampling one (or three) Umami burgers. It just so happens that I’m prone to making such faces. The burgers were quite good, actually, but that’s another tale for another time. Angry Face of the Day. This is just here because it shows off the mauvey-ness of my makeup the most. On my face: Face: Ahava Light Foundation, The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil Pore Minimiser, Guerlain Météorites (Perles d’Azur) Eyes: Benefit Lemon Aid, The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil Concealer, bareMinerals A Vision in Velvet (Satin Gold, Velvet Mauve, Velvet Vanilla), Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura Painting Liner (Blackish Satin Purple), The Body Shop Brow Kit, Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus 12 Cheeks: NARS Illuminator (Orgasm), Revlon Color Stay Mineral BLush (Roseberry) Lips: NARS Sheer Lipstick (Vendanges) This was my outfit for the day! As you can see, I am quite an awkward individual (with funny proportions), which explains the surprise displayed by people who know me in real life, upon learning about this recent beauty …

Made-Up History: The Birth of Venus

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Made-Up History (get it?) will be a series of translations of art (for now) onto makeup. It merges two growing loves, one old and one new, which is why I have resolved to do it. In the process, I hope to get better at both, but I guess this really works out my makeup muscle more. Today, I chose to do Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus or “Nascita di Venere,” which is a very famous painting. We saw this in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy about two months ago, and I was completely enamored by it. The Birth of Venus presents a scene—the goddess of love stepping ashore on a shell—and is the sort of story that unfurls the more you look at it. In the 1350s, Christianity was prevalent in places like Florence. In Siena, war was attributed to the town’s reverence for a statue of Venus, a sort of idolatry that someone warned was forbidden by their faith. This followed the destruction of the Sienese statue, as Venus was then regarded …

Makeup Raves from the Unlikeliest Or, Why This Blog Exists

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I have had apprehensions about this descent into makeup madness, especially about actually writing about cosmetics and other girly things. It’s partly because it was a foreign sort of obsession, in that it was far removed from things I usually liked. Also, I didn’t really know all that much about it yet, so I didn’t know if I “deserved” to talk about it like I was an expert. Mainly though, I shied away from the idea because there’s a certain stigma associated with “frivolous” endeavors like this. I suppose things that focus on physicality and vanity, instead of “nobler pursuits” like literature, culture, art or whatever else people think falls in that category. I finally put this blog up less than a month ago because makeup made me happy. That’s the simplest reason there is. It made me happy to talk about it and to share the great and not-so-great things I’ve tried. I liked writing about makeup and discovering new things about it. Since it’s not a conversation staple with people I hang out …

Drugstore Finds: Fanny Serrano Eyeshadow + a Bonus Blush

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Before I became really interested in makeup, my exposure to it was limited to trips to department stores and The Body Shop. The only brands I knew were drugstore brands, with the exception of some higher end brands like Chanel which ran a bunch of Rouge Coco ads I saw a lot on a trip to Hong Kong. Now, I prefer to buy a little bit more on the expensive side (because of overall quality), but every now and then I find that I can’t say ‘no’ to cheaper brands. My mom’s been a fan of Fanny Serrano’s makeup, especially the eyelash curler which is reportedly a pretty good Shu Uemura dupe. When I was on an eyeshadow kick, during which I bought two quads and a twenty-shade mineral set in one go, I couldn’t help but pick up a few of these. At Php 195 a pop (aka four grams), these are quite a steal. Fanny Serrano Eyeshadow Swatches, L-R: Beach Sand, Honey Glitter, Potter Clay, Mulberry Wine Beach Sand is the first shade …

Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura: Rouge Unlimited Lipstick

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One of my personal favorite Holiday 2012 Collections has been Shu Uemura’s collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld. I’ve reviewed part of my haul already (see: Prestigious Bordeaux Eye and Cheek Palette, Blackish Satin Purple Painting Liner), but now here’s a look at the three out of the four lipsticks I managed to snag. I got Celebrity Beige and Luxe Burgundy, while my beautiful sister Isabel got Mon Shu Red. Before all of the swatches and samples, I think we ought to take a moment to fawn over this limited edition collection’s super cute packaging. Is it annoying if I call it kawaii? Because it totally is. The top half, where the transparent cap goes, has the Shu Uemura logo on its silver body, with a bunch of red dots circling the perimeter. I love Shu Uemura’s transparent caps on lipsticks because it’s very very easy to tell what lipstick you’re reaching for with just one look. As for the bottom half… It’s Mon Shu Girl, the red-eyed wonder! I know some people (namely those who don’t …

Playlist: 4 Eye Looks Using bareMinerals’ A Vision in Velvet

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Here’s a closeup of my “new discovery” in this post. I’d gotten bareMinerals’ A Vision in Velvet without prior knowledge as to how to apply and work with mineral shadows. As a result, I was met with a disastrous first impression. However, with my faith in this product renewed by the awesomeness of a layer of MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque all over my lid, I set out to try out some more combinations. After all, the thing comes in twenty shades. My eyes glazed over as I tried to come up with the permutations for those colors. As was mentioned, the first look (above) is just the Rubenesque Paint Pot all over the lid, with Satin Plum on the crease and the inner and outer corners. Pretty. It’s pretty subtle, too, with the shimmers visible only up close. Here, I just swiped Velvet Violet over the center of a lid, for an overall purple-y look. It’s a little less warm and a little more intense (for some reason?). Next, I started with a clean …

Playlist: MAC Paint Pot (Rubenesque) & bareMinerals Satin Plum

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I lifted my makeup ban and got a MAC paint pot yesterday, which I had been meaning to for a while. Paint Pots are essentially cream eyeshadows that you can wear alone or as a base for your eyeshadows. I don’t know if they have other functions, but I think that alone is pretty cool in itself. I got it in Rubenesque, which is a beautiful peach bronze that has hints of rose at some turns. Anyway, I’ll review this some other time, but all you really need to know is that I really freaking love it so much. In the middle of uploading work stuff, I decided to play with my new paint pot and one of the shades that came with bareMinerals’ A Vision in Velvet, which let’s face it, really swatched pretty horribly. Not one to give up on underperforming things—and also things that cost me $80—I was eager to try and make a few looks with some of the shades. This is the first look I’ve tried in literally three minutes, …