Nudey Friday

Eh, before you get any weird thoughts, I AM properly clothed :D

By nude, of course I was referring to my makeup style today.
Well, it's a bit mixed between nude eyes cross "no makeup" style.

So this morning I woke up feeling confused what colors to put on my eyes. Owning 28 different eyeshadows does not make it easier, mind you. In fact, it makes it a bit harder to decide. Since I work full time, I have to consider what makeup style I'm going to wear to work that will not look too much but still explore here and there. Although I admit sometimes I just put on heavy smokey eyes to work just because I feel like it :p


I decided "nude eyes with cat-eye flick" should be the best, since I'm wearing black shirt and I planned to wear this new pretty statement necklace so I needed to tone down my makeup to balance a bit with the necklace. If I wore blackish smokey eyes, I thought it would be a bit too much, except if I had a plan for Friday nite out, which I dont :)

Doing nude eyes is not just leaving your eyes without anything on. In fact, doing nude eyes (and "no makeup" style) is one of the most difficult things. You have to make sure the lids are colored but in nude enough colors to give that polished look but still look like you wear (almost) nothing. 

So I put on MAC Paint Pot as base to my whole lids. A thin layer of Revlon eyeshadow quad on lower lid up to the crease, a bit on the inner corner of eyes for light-up effect, then the off-white wave of Body Shop Shimmer Waves as the highlight on brow bones.  I didn't add any darker colors to the creases (normally I would, to define them a bit more) since I was running late for work already :p

To define my eyes, I added cat-eyed style eyeliner. So it's actually a bit like pin-up look, give me sort of like 50's movie stars style where they sported nude eyes but with heavy liners and lots of mascaras. I skipped the bright red lips, of course, like I said, I wanted to keep the face clean and natural enough for the necklace to be the spot of highlight.

One thing to note, when you draw clean black eyeline especially when you try to make it cat-eyed, you have to make sure no skin exposed in between your upper-lashes or even upper waterline. And when you do that cat-eyed corner flick, make sure you fill in completely on that corner with the eyeliner. I used the gel eyeliner, so it was a bit like drawing and filling areas completely with crayon. You can find a bunch of videos in YouTube where they show you in details how to draw perfect cat-eyes lines or you can check this one here by Temptalia. For me, I skipped the lower lashes / lower waterline part, obviously. I'm still not used to having my lower lash lined, unless it's only subtly lined with dark eyeshadow.

As usual, few coats of mascara is a must. For face and cheeks, lately it's been sort of a routine that I use PAC foundation, Bobbi Brown creamy concealer under eyes, and Bobbi's Pot Rouge as blush, all set with Revlon loose powder. Then I swiped Body Shop Shimmer Waves on the cheekbones area and over the blush lightly, just to give my cheeks a bit sheen. One thin layer of Revlon lipstick and Max Factor Lipfinity gloss, then all done.

  

final look of the day

Pardon me for the photo result. It looks a bit too yellow bright, and the eyelines are not very visible due to my eyelids type. I'll try to keep improving the pictures quality :)

Meanwhile, here are closer look at the necklace :)

 

 Bought it at LaCodefin Kemang last week, for a cheap price at IDR 88.000 only ! It's heavy, not the thin light metal type, that's why I consider it cheap. I love the beautifully carved petals, the details are neat. I think it will match some of my black tops or dresses, especially those with low-curve necklines :)

Below are list of products I used :

- PAC Liquid Foundation
- Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer  - Sand
- Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge - Blushed Rose
- Revlon Loose Powder - Ivory
- Viva brow pencil - dark brown
- MAC Paint Pot - Painterly
- Revlon quad shadow - Midnight Mauve
- MAC Fluidline - Blacktrack (gel-liner)
- Max Factor - False Lash Effect
- The Body Shop Shimmer Waves
- Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm
- Revlon Plump Sexxxy Lipstick - 011 Pure Pleasure
- Max Factor Lipfinity Colour & Gloss - 590 Glazed Caramel ( I used the Step 2 tube only)

I need to update the shade type of the PAC liquid foundation and also the Revlon loose powder. I think the foundation is either #02 or #04, and the loose powder is Ivory. But I could be wrong, so I'll double check them and update the post as soon as possible.

I didn't mean for this blog to be a Friday Look blog, but it seems that I'm so lazy that I only update them on Fridays! Sorry for that :p I will try to update more often (meaning I'll have to bust out more looks to try on! Fun!)

Have a nice weekend, y'all ! :)

Bluey Silvery Doodle-Do!

I made up that "doodle-do". I don't even know what means :p

Anyway, today's outfits are blue jeans with grayish top. The top has big blue flower print with blue rhinestones all over, which gave me idea to match my look today with the colors.

Remember my previous post regarding my latest splurge ? Well, I figured today would be a good chance to put those 2 eyeshadows and shimmer waves on work. It's Friday anyway so I thought it'd be fun to pump-up the look a bit, like I was going for a Friday nite out, although I am now actually sitting in office, 5.45 PM, typing this post before going home directly :p

The look is pretty simple.
After prepping eyelids with Urban Decay Primer, I just put the silver on the lower eyelid up to near the outer-v. Then the blue went to the outer-v part. Blended it up a bit, kinda framing inward toward the inner corner of the eyes, up to middle of the lids. For browbone highlight and inner corner of eyes, as usual I used the Revlon quads like the one I used here. Lined the eyes with MAC Engraved, curled the lashes, 2 coats of Max Factor mascara and 1 coat of Maybelline mascara, voila! Eyes done :)

One lesson learned here : you should really blend the outer-v immediately. I didn't because I put the brow bones highlight first and I thought the highlight should help cover the harsh lines of the blue colors. They couldn't. So the blue looks a bit harsh, sorry! I don't know whether something was wrong with the blue shadow texture, or with my MAC 217 (it felt too soft and couldn't blend as smooth as usual, hmm...). Need to recheck the brush tonight...

Here are the result looks :

 Full face

             Without flash                                       with flash

For blush, as usual I used Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Blushed Rose, on top of foundation and before loose powder. And highlighted with The Body Shop shimmer waves. For lips I pat a bit of the Pot Rouge (prepped with Burt's Bees lipbalm first) and finished with clear lipgloss from Body Shop.

Pardon my zits. They have been extremely resistant, and new ones show up whenever old ones just start to disappear, they've been driving me mad for almost one month! I've never had so many acnes on my chin for so long, usually one or two but not for this long and consecutively :( And there are several break-outs near my nose as well :( I wonder what is causing them... :(


Ok, I think I still have several posts that I should do to avoid more confusion, especially regarding brushes and foundation and primer that I use. Promise, next time :P

Happy weekend! :)

Latest Haul

Look at my latest haul !

I went to The Body Shop few days ago and tried this Shimmer Waves. I was looking for any affordable nice shimmer or highlighter product for cheeks. Finally today I made up my mind that instead of keep pondering over how expensive the highlighters of Make Up For Ever, or the gorgeous ones from NARS (that are not available here in Jakarta, by the way...), I decided to buy this one.

The Body Shop has 2 choices of colors, the other one is more to bronzy golden shades. Usually my skin is more to warm tone (peachy coral blushes look better on me rather than pinky ones), but since I was looking for a soft sheen, I decided to pick this pink tone version. Honestly speaking, I only need the lowest 2 waves, but what the heck, the upper 3 colors can be used as eyeshadows as well (just tested the number 3 - middle wave on my lids). So...

And of course, Shopping Devil did not stop her seduce on me just with one product. No...I had to lay my eyes on the gorgeous single pan eyeshadows. I've been lusting over these 2 colors since 4 months ago, and have kept myself very restrained. But today, with 15% discount, thanks to my friend's birthday moment - The Body Shop compliments members with one little product as gift and 15% discount on one single receipt purchases made on the day members claim the gift - I couldn't hold myself any longer.

 Left pan is a silver color, and right one is a midnight shimmery blue color.

I have a feeling they both will look fantastic for a night out smokey eyes....

Have you ever gone on impulsive shopping like I did? I bet you did! Do share with me on the comments :)

Obssessive Possessions

Lots of  "s" in there, isn't it? :)


Where do I start?

Well, I'm just one of many makeup junkies/lovers, and of course I still consider myself at beginner's level. Some of the makeup junkies/lovers have very amazing skills although they are not professional makeup artists. I wasn't as good as I am now, few years ago. And I wasn't as interested or in love with makeup as I am now.

I can't even remember which event triggered me, but suddenly I found myself browsing through many videos on the internet, videos on makeup tutorials. The more I watched, the deeper I got attached. And I ended up doing a (kinda regular) hoard every month or so. Well, sometimes once every week or two :P

Until now, my most collections are eyeshadows. I have around 25 or 26 pieces of eyeshadow. Single to palette. Powder to cream. Compact to loose. Cheap to expensive, local to international brand. I don't know why I'm so interested in eyeshadows. Probably because the most attractive part of face is eyes, in my opinion. How you do your eyes makeup defines what look you want the world to see. You can be a sexy intriguing lady with dark smokey eyes, innocent with natural brownish colors, or simple and soft with nude style. The possibilities are unlimited.

For some ladies, lips hold the most important position. Not so much for me. Although I do have more lipgloss and lipsticks more than I need, same case with eyeliners. Well, don't we all, makeup junkies? :p

Mascara came in a bit late into my life. I remember there were times I put on nice eyeshadow and face completely done with foundation and blush on and lipstick but I couldn't use mascara, because I just simply didn't know how to properly use mascara. I remember it made me feel my whole look a bit "incomplete". And thank God a beauty assistant at the store taught me how to use mascara properly. She literally saved my life :p

For face, sadly I have difficulties to find suitable foundations with reasonable price. With eyeshadow, the error factor is much lower, so it's not really a loss when you realize "Ouch...I have already had ALMOST similar color apparently..." You can always use it for gradation. With foundation, it's going to cover your whole face and neck, so it's really important to find one that suits your skin color and type and lasts for decent hours. You don't want to look like wearing mask and you don't want it to look oily within just a couple of hours. And such good foundations are not cheap, that's why I don't experiment much in that area.

Concealer is probably the 2nd in place for most tricky makeup piece. Like foundation, you can't afford to pick wrong color. Too dark, it won't cover the dark circles / areas under your eyes. Too bright, you'll look horrible too. And not many makeup brands provide good concealer. Concealer was the last basic item I purchased after 1.5 years since I started "building up" my collections.


I think I should make a complete list of all my makeup items. It could serve as my (personal) inventory too. Will do that in the next post :)

Hellow Yellow! Orange You Glad You're Sunshining Bright Today?

Every morning, most of us ladies face the ultimate challenge : What am I gonna wear today?

Instead of spending minutes going through my already wreckage wardrobe, I decided to just pull this gingery -yellow turtleneck, which has been kept unworn for quite some time because it somehow came back with subtle dark stains on the arms from the laundry. I thought, what the heck, no one's going to notice it (no one yet, so far...)

So, to match the colors of my shadows with my outfit, I turned to my latest purchase.
I bought 2 of these Sariayu Trend Warna 2011 yesterday : the "Alun Serunai" and the "Petikan Sitar". I had previously bought the "Denting Kecapi", which I used to make my entry for the Sariayu Trend Warna contest (you can see it here. Vote for me if you like :D ). I was quite impressed with the colors, turned out they were quite good, even vibrant. Of course I needed a little help from Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion. But on its own without primer, the Sariayu shadows lasted quite long without creasing, 4-5 hours on my not-so-oily lids. The colors were less vibrant without any primer, though.

I used the soft orange color of Petikan Sitar (looked soft golden yellow on my lid) for the inner lid up to almost half part of the lid. Then added in the orange of Alun Serunai from the half until near the outer-v (outer corner of my eyes), blended it with the soft orange. Then for the outer-v I blended the dark chocolate of Petikan Sitar, from outer-v blended up to the crease but I ended it before it reached inner corner of my eyes.

For highlight on the brow bone and a little shimmer on the inner corner, I used this Revlon eyeshadow quad. The upper-left for brow bone highlight, and the upper-right for inner corner shimmer.

Sorry I forgot the correct name, and can not find it in Revlon 's website either.

As for brow, I use my regular brow pencil from Viva (dark brown). I have quite thick brows but their shapes are unruly ! So I had to add in the brow pencil for nice arched shape and continued ends. To frame the eyeshadows, I used MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil in "Engraved" (black color) and curled my lashes with the magnificent Shu Uemura lash curler . 2 layers of Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara and a layer of Maybelline Volume Express mascara (I can't find it in Maybelline's website as well!), and my eyes were done!

Moved on to cheeks, it was pretty simple. I put on cream blush on after moisturizer (or foundation, if I use foundation) before powder. Currently I'm in love with Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge blush, the one I used was Blushed Rose, a brownish pink. It suits my yellow-undertoned skin because although I'm considered quite fair, I'm not the rosy-toned fair that can pull of fresh bright pink. At least I don't think so. Anyway, the color was picked by one of Bobbi's store makeup artists and I love it. Just swirl your middle finger 2-3 times on the pot, then pat on gently along the cheekbones and blend it. It creates soft, natural color that mimics my natural cheek color when blushing. Love it! :) Then after that I put on the Caring Colors Illuminizing two way cake compact powder.

Normally, cream products should not be put on top of powdery products, but this Pot Rouge is exceptional. You can actually put them on top of your face powder, if you can pat on very gently and blend it softly with fingers, it will look more "pop" on your cheek.

To add a little bit more color, I grabbed my blush brush (Oriflame Giordani Gold) and swiped on a thin layer of The BodyShop Cheek Color in 04 Golden Pink. For lips I had prepped them with Burt's Bees Beeswax lipbalm during moisturizing, so then I only added a think layer of Loreal lipstik in Pink Suede, topped it with clear lipgloss from Bodyshop, then voila! Ready :)

What do you think of the result? :)
I really appreciate any comments and don't hesitate if you have any questions that I might be able to help answer, just drop them in the comments :)