All posts tagged: cosmetics

Nosy Beauty Vol. 28: Erin

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Nosy Beauty is back! After an unexpected hiatus, sorry guys. This week, I’ve got Erin, who I first met online because of a shared love for film photography. Ooo~ Ha-ro! My name is Erin, a catwoman already in her late 20s who likes writing for fun & money and taking pictures in black & white. I run my own webzine – Parallel Planets. I’m currently in Tokyo, Japan and I’m loving every day that I’m here. My make-up bag is very basic that if it were a real girl, you wouldn’t bother dating it. Haha. Seriously, though, my make-up process is not very scientific. As much as possible, I try to appear “comely” in 5 steps or less. STEP 1: So, before applying any make-up, I always put on Nivea Soft Cream just to moisturize my face before applying some liquid foundation – I currently use Kanebo, which is readily available here in Tokyo. STEP 2: I love wearing eyeliner. It was the first make-up which I learned how to use and I’ve been using …

Bedside Matters

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LOL the title is just a “play on words” thing for night routine. After cleansing, this is what I typically use. The heat has been so unforgiving lately, that my skin started to really freak out. I figured it was the heavy moisturizers I’d been using so I switched to a few lighter alternatives. After thoroughly taking my makeup off and sometimes toning, sometimes not, I used to use the Le Métier de Beauté Peau Vierge Complexion Serum and Dark Spot Corrector, but as it is out of my price range right now (I mean, $125 for 0.5 oz?!), I turned to the forgotten serums and anti-aging potions in my stash right now. Sidenote: You know what’s funny? It never occurred to me to research just what peau vierge meant, and it turns out it’s French for VIRGIN SKIN. Almost spit out my drink there. Ha. My usual sequence goes like this: — A generous pump of the bareMinerals Multi-Wrinkle Repair, which I purchased quite a while ago. I like it because it’s like and …

Mascara Backlog

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I might have a problem. I have 5 kinds of mascara open right now (3 full-size, 2 samples), but these are the ones that I have yet to even try. I can’t seem to curb my mascara enthusiasm and buy more than I can use up in one time. Actually, no, that’s not true. I have been holding back. Imagine my “to-test” pile if I didn’t give a crap. We beauty lovers tend to over-buy stuff and hoard things we don’t need, but mascara seems to be a bit trickier since it expires fast (and it is unhygienic to ignore the expiration durations here) and you can only use it so much. I don’t know how to get the most “bang for my buck,” so to speak. What is your “problem area” when it comes to makeup? Mine is actually eyeshadow, but I’m so overwhelmed by the fact that I have so much unopened mascara! I’m so curious to see how these will fare with my lashes, but I’m also scared of germs so I’m …

Stashed & Forgotten: MAC Powder Blush in Plum Foolery

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It’s been a busy few weeks and makeup purchases have been few and far in between, so I’m still in the middle of testing some of them. Here’s an ode to an old blush love, though. Stashed & Forgotten is what I call some old-ish makeup items that I haven’t gotten around to featuring here. Today’s feature is the MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush in Plum Foolery I only have 3 MAC blushes from their regular range, and I think that this shade Plum Foolery is one of the best. I keep forgetting about it because I stash it in a MAC Large double palette, but I think it’s a great plum blush. Similar to NARS’ Sin, which is one of my favorite NARS shades, Plum Foolery is shot through with some fine, gold shimmer. It adds an overall glowy quality to the blush, so I usually forgo the highlighter. This has more true plum tones than Sin, though, leaning more berry than muted with more pink and warmth than its NARS sister. It is well-pigmented …

Victorian Disco Swatchfest

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Ahem, a haul/swatch post. We gotta stop meeting like this. This Victorian Disco order was made back in January. I just got a hold of them last week, oy vey! I took advantage of the “blogger pack” and ordered two to save on shipping. Each pack comes with a mini jar, and 6 samples, I think. I was kindly given two samples by Ashley! Yay! Here are the samples I got. I had ordered Why Does It Have to Be Dragons?, so I have an extra sample. It’s a beautiful rich chocolate brown with some sparkles and slight red tones. Water Siblings is beautiful and I’m glad to have been sent it because I wouldn’t have gotten it myself. It’s a bright pink with a strong violet sheen. In Training is a beautiful cool blackened eggplant shade with a sheen and some silver sparks. Dalek Disco is a toasted brown shot with gold. Spacey Wacey is TARDIS blue with minimal sheen but a smattering of multi-colored sparks. Aura is a really pale pink that’s kind …

Tonal Exercise: Matte Browns

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If you’ve ever taken an art class before, you’d be familiar with tonal exercises. Tonal exercises are what you use to study shade gradations. One such exercise is similar to what I have illustrated here—bars of a color, from white to dark/black, shown in varying degrees. Here are some very utilized eyeshadows: my matte browns. Starting from a non-brown but a beige-y off-white, Laura Mercier’s Vanilla Nuts is actually a shade I use(d) fairly often as a base for my entire lid and as a browbone highlight. Le Métier de Beauté’s Tamarack and Laura Mercier’s Café Au Lait are two subtle crease colors, to aid with transition and slight depth. Addiction Truffle is a warm, creamy matte brown I use for the outer corner or crease. Laura Mercier’s Coffee Ground is darker, the shade of cocoa powder. I use that for the outer corner or a really dark crease, too. Last, but not the least, Laura Mercier’s Rich Coffee, which is great for the outer corner, too, but is also a very nice dark brown …