All posts tagged: featured

On Consumerism & Spring Cleaning

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I’ve been going back and forth on this topic for quite a while now, and have been sitting on this particular blog post for about a month. I don’t really know what to say about “it,” but I do know that I want to take part in the conversation. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts on the matter of consumerism and over-consumption, all of which, at least in part, echo what I feel as a person and as a… how do I say it? Mindless drone? Sheep? Just kidding. I’m not here to berate myself for liking material things, but I do want to examine my personal habits as someone who does enjoy, in some measure, shopping, acquisitions, and beautiful things. First off: I hate to admit it, but I think this blog is a big indicator that I am a hoarder. When I was drafting this post, I felt like I wanted to “out” myself as a terrible person who collects useless things only to abandon them later. Then I backtracked and …

Wish it were real: Rijks Muse Make Up

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A few days ago, my friend Angel posted a link on my wall… and then I lost my shit. Check this out, my friends: Rijks Muse Make Up! The Rijksmuseum is located in Amsterdam and it is one of the most well-known art sites there. It houses beautiful paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Monet, among others. It’s a fairly small museum, but it’s very Dutch. I went in 2012, and it was amazing. One of the coolest things about the Rijksmuseum is their website! It is very interactive, and it has an awesome section called Rijksstudio. To celebrate Rijksstudio’s first anniversary, the Rijksmuseum launched the Make Your Masterpiece design competition where everyone was invited to create an offshoot or remix the works found in the Rijksmuseum’s collection. More here. Rijks Muse Make Up won first place! It’s basically a fictional makeup line designed by Asnate Bockis and Rogier Arents. The “range” is inspired by 5 pieces in the Rijksmuseum’s collection. The makeup line Rijks Muse is inspired by the colour palettes in five …

One Week NARSissist: 5 Looks

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Reviving my “One Week Series,” which I have done only twice before, using the Urban Decay Naked and Urban Decay Naked 2 palettes. In case it isn’t obvious yet, I will use an eyeshadow palette for five days, and the looks that I come up with will be cataloged here. I used to post them on five different days, but I thought that for this round, I’ll just post the looks all in one spot. I’ve picked out the NARS NARSissist Eyeshadow Palette, which I’ve reviewed here. While I love it, part of me is also ambivalent towards it. Using it for five consecutive looks will allow me to form a more educated opinion about it, I guess. Shari has reviewed it a week ago and was not impressed. I think this is a perfect palette for the series, though, as majority of the shades in this palette are part of NARS’ permanent offerings. If you miss out on the palette or don’t like the reviews but you see a look you’d like to recreate, …

Beauty Boo-boo: NARS + Washi

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It finally happened. The rubbery texture of one of my NARS compacts has finally melted off. I was waiting for it, and one of them started to succumb to this unholy heat. Granted, it was my first ever NARS purchase, and I wish I could say that it was something other than the ubiquitous Orgasm, but it wasn’t. I am so very beige sometimes. Anyway, I tried to get rid of the sticky, but it wouldn’t budge. So I just wrapped it around in sticky tape. If you’re not familiar with washi tape (how???), it’s basically printed masking tape that originated from Japan (of course). People use it for everything—they even developed larger tapes to cover larger surfaces, much like wallpaper and temporary paint. Basically, I just wrapped most of the exposed sticky surface in a variety of tapes and called it creativity. I think it turned out pretty nice. Pretty summery, which makes me feel like I have created a limited edition packaging for summer days, kind of. I think it’s pretty cute. 🙂 …

5 Things Friday: My Favorite Multi-Purpose Products

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On the spotlight for today’s 5 Things Friday are some of my favorite multi-purpose products. They’re basically things you can use for more than one thing. There’s just something awesome about being able to use one thing many different ways. For the makeup bits, here are two products that can be used for the cheeks, the lips, and the eyes: the Addiction Cheek Stick and the OCC Creme Colour Concentrate. I haven’t tried the BECCA Beach Tint on my eyes, but it’s a great lip and cheek product, too. All three remain steadfast favorites in my makeup swamp. Next up, I’ve got bareMinerals Liner Shadow, which I actually primarily use on my eyebrows. It’s a great deep matte brown for both liner and shadow, too. Last but not the least, my tin of the cult favorite Smith’s Rosebud Salve. What can’t this little pot do? I don’t like it as a lip moisturizer, but I use it on dry, irritated spots and my gross cuticles. I have read many other different uses (i.e. hair wax? …

BNT Girls Collaboration: SNSD Mr Mr Makeup (Seohyun)

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Before my batch of BNT Girls (possibly) disbands, we thought we’d cook up a makeup collaboration featuring looks from SNSD/Girls Generation’s new video for the song, Mr Mr! You can watch the video here: We each picked a girl who wore a makeup look we wanted to recreate! I’m not sure what time the other girls are planning to post their looks, so I’ll just add the links as they come. 🙂 Anyway, I did this look back when I still had long hair! I was picking between Yuri and Seohyun, but Seohyun had the look I wanted to recreate the most: (It took me a while to remember their names, haha. I’m not a big fan of K-Pop, but that’s only because I don’t know where to start. But that’s another story.) I never would have thought to pair purple eye makeup with a red lip; that just seems to cross over to super bold territory for me. Still, I persevered.

Makeup Inventory: Addiction Cheek Sticks

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Presenting… my latest iteration of my Addiction Cheek Stick inventory. These are possibly some of my favorite makeup bits ever, and I’m trying really hard not to buy everything from the range. If you aren’t familiar, Cheek Sticks are multi-purpose products by Japanese brand, Addiction by Ayako. Ayako was a makeup artist that worked closely with François Nars (of NARS, duh), which probably explains a lot of the brand’s aesthetic direction. Cheek Sticks can be used on the cheeks, lips, and even eyes (though they are not crease-free). In a span of a year, I have amassed five different shades, all of which I love. From lightest to darkest, I have African Sunset, Tea Rose, Rose Bar (my newest one!), Revenge (my first one!), and Suspicious. They are swatched in the same order below: The most versatile one, in my opinion, is Rose Bar, though I am able to use Revenge pretty much anywhere also. It’s just a less agreeable color than Rose Bar. Tea Rose was a fast favorite and was in rotation for …