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.
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 …
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 …
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.
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 …
I’ve had this palette for a while, but I’m still astounded by how many combinations I can get out of it, given that it only has six shades. I think that’s a true mark of value. Everyone knows there’s always that one pesky shade in a palette that you can’t seem to use. With NARS And God Created the Woman, all the shades are useful, even as multi-purpose products when you’re in a pinch. I use Belissima and Coconut Grove to mix when I need to make eyebrow touch-ups. DAY ONE Shades used: Alhambra, Belissima, and Galapagos After 7 hours of wear in the summer heat. BLAH! I may feel like shit, but my eyeshadow still looks gewd. I think so anyway. Btw, this is the makeup I was wearing on my Twitter profile picture! Rest of the Makeup: Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer, NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer (Ginger), Le Métier de Beauté Eye Brightening and Setting Powder (Refresh), bareMinerals Original Loose Powder Foundation (Medium Beige), K-Palette Real Lasting Eyebrow 24H (02), The Body Shop Brow …
Sometime last week, I got an unexpected package from Myra, which I think is pretty popular for their girl vitamins (Myra 300 E). The first tinted moisturizer I ever tried was by Myra, back in college probably, and I chucked that thing out incredibly quick because I was much more afraid of shimmery things on my face back then. This time around, I got to try their version of the BB Cream. I say “their version” because I don’t think this comes even close to your standard BB Cream.
Softly Sometimes 