All posts tagged: beauty

Softly Sometimes Holiday Giveaway!

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GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED JANUARY 1, 2015. (Well, it’s about time.) So, this is the first ever giveaway on Softly Sometimes. I know I promised you guys this giveaway weeks before, but I had to wait for all of the ~elements~ to kind of come together. Not that I need to disclose it or anything, but everything has been purchased by myself. I wanted to show a range of my favorite products, so I hope you all like it. 🙂 What I’m Giving Away: — Le Métier de Beauté Kaleidoscope Eye Kit in Gravité — BITE Beauty Best Bite Remix — Aromateria Solid Perfume in Ender — Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Amour (deluxe size) Le Métier de Beauté makes some of my favorite makeup products, which is why I’ve amassed quite a few items despite the hefty price tag. Gravité is a limited edition Kaleidoscope Eye Kit (fancy word for eyeshadow quad) and it’s a “spare” I had that I figured I didn’t need. BITE Beauty is a recent discovery, and one …

A (Late) Sephora VIB Haul

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Just a small one. I was in Korea when I placed my order, so I didn’t go too crazy because I was hoarding all I could hoard over there. The transit time to Manila is also kinda long, so this post is coming to you pretty late. Simple Human Mini Sensor Mirror This is kind of a big ticket item but I’d been hankering for a round mirror with a light for over a year now, and I asked Sarie for this for Christmas… and I guess I opened it early! It runs on a USB charge (which means no batteries) and magnifies 10x. It also folds in on itself and has a case that’s nifty for traveling.

Birchbox - Vanity Affair

Picking Apart Birchbox’s Limited Edition Vanity Affair Box

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‘Cause that’s how I roll. I mainly wanted this Birchbox Vanity Affair Box ($98) because it had a Birchbox-exclusive MAKE Colour palette called Calypso that had eight eyeshadows (!) which I don’t believe has happened yet. They usually have a lip color mixed in with the shadows. Anyway, the palette itself ($40) is available on Birchbox, but I was interested in a lot of the items in the Vanity Affair box, too. After a lot of deliberation (like weeks, OK?), I gave in. I figured I could pick the box apart and give some items as gifts. So, this post isn’t technically an unboxing, since this is an incomplete box. I set aside three items for gifts: the Maison Caulières Perfumed Bath Oil (which sounds awesome but I don’t have a tub), the Stephanie Johnson Tinseltown Jewelry Tray (which I know someone else will enjoy more), and the TOCCA Eau de Parfum Margaux (which I think my grandma will like a lot).

Currently Obsessed: Aromateria

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OK, so I’ve just written up a post on my main blog, Nothing Spaces, where I went on and on… and on about Aromateria. Aromateria is a local brand that makes solid perfumes. I was such a big fan of LUSH’s solid perfumes, annoying packaging aside, and I particularly liked Dirty, which is incidentally such a clean and fresh scent. I first heard about Aromateria from Sheena, who Instagrammed a few scents two years ago. I know both Eliza and Wiji are fans, too.

New Old Face No. 1

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Introducing New Old Face, in which I test out new products in conjunction with old favorites that I came back to. Here’s t first “New Old Face,” feat. NARS Dual Intensity Eyeshadows and a MAC Lustre Lipstick that has been a longstanding favorite. (I seriously don’t know why people don’t talk about this shade more often.) NEW BASES I’ve got a new base and concealer in use here: the Happy Skin Cosmetics Zit Zapper Second Skin Cream and the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser. The Happy Skin cream only comes in one shade, which was too light for my liking when I first got it a a few months ago, and I have the Maybelline concealer in Medium.

Too Cool for School Glam Rock Urban Shadows

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Two of my purchases from Seoul were these Glam Rock Urban Shadows from Too Cool for School. I got a dirty olive in a satin finish (13 Viva Green) and a frosty light peach (3 Peach Glow). They are very easy colors to wear, apply, and pair together. The texture of the shadows is smooth, but not so soft and buttery that it goes all over the place. They crease on me without a primer, but so do all other eyeshadows, except for Ellis Faas Creamy Eyes.

On not giving a shit:

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When I first got into makeup, I didn’t think it would make me think this hard. I know that’s kinda funny, but it’s true. I’ve had many episodes of what felt like existential crises, all thanks to something that most people would deem frivolous and shallow. And OK, maybe these personal observations and this “”inner turmoil”” are pretty petty in the grand scheme of things… but even deeming that shallow is part of what brings about this line of questioning. Let me explain: Makeup and beauty have always been linked to vanity even if we, as beauty lovers and enthusiasts, know that that’s not always the case. Still, this outside judgement somehow makes me feel guilty, sometimes, even about just merely liking makeup. One of my earliest posts, Makeup Raves from the Unlikeliest, kind of delves into that incongruity of my apparent personality and this sudden interest in makeup. There is a stigma attached to makeup that automatically stamps people who are into it as rilly, rilly shallow and ditzy people. Then, I feel really …