2013 Beauty Favourites

Trumpets! Unfurl the flags! Confetti! Parading horses! It's time...

Following are some beauty favourites from the past year. Not necessarily the most used items, just ones that make my heart flutter.

Hopefully, it is useful. In any case I had fun compiling it.

 L-R: Elizabeth Arden Poppy Cream Color Intrigue lipstick, Anna Sui 701, Elizabeth Arden Cassis Ceramide lipstick, Anna Sui 303, Elizabeth Arden Neoclassical Coral - Center: Cargo 'South Beach' lipgloss quad/wheel/thingamajigger

Poppy Cream: The red to surpass all reds. The formula was creamy, superb.
It has been replaced with "Power Red" in the Beautiful Colour line. Out of sheer obstinacy, I will not be purchasing that one, although I have swatched it to compare, it has NOTHING on Poppy Cream.

Anna Sui 701: My perfect nude lips. More on the honey side of nudes, than pinky/beige. Formula: feels sheer, but opaque. I use Lizzy Arden's Sugared Kiss lipliner beneath it, if I can be arsed.

Cassis: I love berries, I love plums, and this is the best one of my collection. The ceramide lipsticks have an amazing formula, smooth, not too creamy, it actually imparts a lot of moisture and colour to dry lips. Fine shimmer, nothing frosty. Understated compared to other berries/plums that I have, but not in a boring way. Luxurious, slightly weighty, golden packaging.

Anna Sui 303: A fun pink, the closest to "bubblegum pink" I can pull off on my skintone.

Cargo South beach lipgloss quad: I can't stand gloopy gloss, this is an extremely soft, like, softer than butter, formula. It is also quite moisturizing, like a soft, creamy balm. Doesn't feel heavy/sticky/gloopy andn gloppy.
Pigmented enough to be stand-alone lip colours.

Lypsyl, Dior Rose balm

Lypsyl: Cherry flavour reeks, plan to get the basic, unscented one, once this is fini. Dunno what's so special about it. The ingredients seem straightforward enough. Still, it's a little miracle. Weightless feeling on the lips, sinks in well, just need to apply a couple of times a day. It isn't one of those "addictive" balms which do more harm than good, and dry out lips over time so that you have to constantly reapply.

Dior balm: Feels very thick and "protective." Imparts the slightest bit of pale pink colour. Need very little, but still, as you can see, I've hit pan.

TOP L-R: Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, MAC Typographic, Annabelle Smudgepot gel liner, LUSH Sophisticated cream shadow, Pupa Luminys Silk 701
MIDDLE: Revlon Naturally Glamourous palette, Fyrinnae Snow Leopard, Electric Stardust (discontinued), Immortality, Estee Lauder Cream Shadow Mochachino, Benefit Strut cream shadow.
LAST: Lise Watier Eye Shine in Fauve, Anna Sui pen eyeliner in 500, Elizabeth Arden Smoky Eyes Powder pencil, Artist of Makeup 9-pan eyeshadow palette, Benefit Big Beautiful eyes palette.

Fyrinnae Stuffffs: Pixie Epoxy-great little base to help glittery eyeshadows stay on instead of scattering onto your cheek (the cheek!). I use it as an eyeshadow primer, too. It works well with loose e/s. Snow leopard eyeshadow is a gleaming taupe. Electric Stardust is a colour-changing mint-green. Immortality is a basic black with multi-coloured glitter.

Eyeliners:
Annabelle smudgepot gel liner: I find it better than Bobbi Brown, etc. Also better than the more inexpensive Maybelline/Essence/WetnWild gel liners. It is very creamy, but a tiny bit spreads out across the whole eye, so it's not as cakey as some others can be, esp if they are built up. Easy to manouvre or build up, dries perfectly opaque, crisp blackest of blacks, and doesn't hurt when used in the waterline.
Lise Watier Fauve: Lavender taupe. Smooth, no tugging necessary. Je use it for the lower lashline, it gives the perfect amount of defining shadow, but the subtle shine/shimmer also makes the eyes look a bit bigger and shinier than if it were an opaque colour. Stays on all day, but you have a little window to smudge it out across the lid if you please.
Anna Sui pen eyeliner in 500: This is amazingggggg. It's a rich brown with a golden sheen running through it, soooo pretty. It is a great liquid eyeliner formula, in a felt tip pen form. The felt tip is fine, precise, but flexible, and can be turned on its side, so you can get a thinner line inwards, and thicken it outwards in ONE FELL SWOOP! You turn the end once, and you get enough 'liquid' for both eyes (unlike other twisty-pen liners where you have to turn again and again).
Elizabeth Arden Smoky Eyes powder pencil in black: You get a hazy line, so it looks instantly smokey. It is a sophisticated, smudged-out sort of look, and it lasts all day for me. It is pigmented, but not overly so (not like those overly-creamy, newfangled 'gel liners' which I don't like).

Eyeshadows:
MAC Typographic: Tis the divine Matte2 formula, smooth, rich pigment, blends well. A basic almost-black. You can build it up to black. Very versatile. It gives that powder kohl look, without hassle of fallout. I love it for outer V or to soften the edge of eyeliner... Everyone should have this.
LUSH Sophisticated: Gleaming lavender taupe, exact match for Lise Watier's Fauve. Cream shadow that you apply with a sponge applicator, great formula. it works well as a base for any taupe looks, or alone blended at the crease.
Pupa Luminys Silk 401: MY VERY FIRST TAUPE. Baked eyeshadow, it is actually more massive than in the pic (I have used it so much that the round dome shape has flattened, and I've hit pan). Shimmery pale brownish taupe. Lasts allllll day without primer.
Estee Lauder Mochachino: A cream shadow which never creases, yet not too thick and annoyingly paint-like. My fave cream shadow formula, better than Shiseido, etc, imo. Colour is a taupe with a bluish shimmer, builds up to a darkish cool brown.
Benefit Strut: Stands alone (although I have used it with other colours) as an all-over lid colour, with black liner (in waterline too).. A bluish-greyish, shimmery, Young Hollywood, smokey eye look for the masses! ( Caveat: needs some sort of eye primer.

Palettes:
Revlon Naturally Glamourous: Inexpensive, assortment of brown eyeshadows with a taupe thrown in for good measure. Good quality, except for the white-ish shadow (comes out as a dirty muddy pale...something. Not pigmented).
Artist of Makeup palette: Good formula! Addictively beautiful colours! The 9-palette is very useful! Magnetized! Have used it nonstop since acquisition! A closer look:

L-R: St Tropez, Hush, Espresso, Hollywood, Marrakech, Bare Canvas, Cocoa, Brazen, Nutmeg

Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes: A no-brainer, basic neutral look, the concealer isn't bad (I use it to clean up edges or define the eyebrow half the time). Comes with useful little brushes.

Skincare:
Neostrata Toning Solution Level 2: Keeps my skin smooth, clear (not this week though as I've been too lazy to use it), and seems to brighten it a bit. AHA, BHA? Am covered.
Saeed Ghani Rosewater mist: I use it every day, under moisturizer, over makeup, last thing at night... Was misting it in Little Love's face yesterday, to his delight... Here is his testimonial: "gah goo ba ba da mmm mmm." I like it very much, it's a hoot and a half!
Bioderma Hydrabio Riche moisturizer: Perfect for sensitive, dry skin. Superbly moisturizing, yet light texture, sinks in. Gives a nice boing to the skin, or maybe I imagine it. Has niacinamide not too far down the ingredients list, so here's hoping it's contributing some brightening effect.
Burt's Bees Radiance Night Cream: Just a good night cream, that, of the many ones I've tried, doesn't irritate or break out my skin. Rich and moisturizing, absorbs well on top of freshly misted skin, so long as I am cognizant of using only the teensiest amount. Downside: scent isn't the best,, but JE NE GIVE A DAMN PAS!

Didn't photograph: my fave body skincare, perfume, bronzer, blush, foundation. You need something to anticipate, don't you?

Three Perfect Taupes

Taupe is one of those colours that sounds boring, but looks fantastic.

 The problem with taupe eyeshadow is that there is a great variety available, and it's hard to sift through and figure out what works. What suits Mademoiselle Zut Alors may, on her sister, Sacre Bleue, look like a bruise on the mend.

I prefer lavender-toned taupes, an even mix of cool and warm, so they stand out on my warm lids/skin but don't dull down the twinkle in my eye, the zest in my step.

BTW, I do realize the futility of blogging about eyeshadow, without pictures to illustrate. Especially for such a complex category like 'taupe'....for which the merest fleck or variance in hue can change the effect, but...bear with me. Because a) no functioning camera, and b) my taste is FLAWLESS.

So without further ado, three incredible taupes:

1) slap and go, aka LUSH's cream shadow in Sophisticated.
Metallic in the best way, not overt but, as the name says, SOPHISTICATED..
Somehow...does not crease but fades evenly, acts as a fine base.
No visible flecks of shimmer yet it gleams upon le lids, a yummy lavender-taupe. Great formula and non-tacky colour.

 (P.S. its twin in pencil form is Lise Watier Fauve, which I know many use only as a cream shadow...but doing so with a pencil means it runs out faster and you are unsuspectingly aging your lids with all that rubbing, smudging action.

2) Classic with a kick, aka Estee Lauder cream shadow in Mochachino. The best cream-shadow-in-a-pot formula I have come across. Miles better than Shiseido, for instance, (slippy-slidey) or MAC (too drying), for me. A cool-toned taupe that is slightly bluish, greyish, lavender...Has the most finely milled and barely-there sheen. Will suit everyone!

3) shimmer that doesn't suck, aka Pupa Luminys in 401. If you live in Canada, you can get this at Rexall. This was the first taupe I fell for, and nothing can snatch away its crown.

The taupe that proved to me...taupes are not humdrum at all. Shimmery baked shadow. Warm-toned rosy taupe (if you want a slightly cooler one akin to MAC Satin Taupe, try Pupa's 400). Blends at edges into a cool-toned brown, which is convenient (do not need any other shadow).
 The best eyeshadow formula ever and very pigmented. Expensive, but so worth it.
 Note: Do not drop it. I dropped mine, the lid closed, but half of it had crumbled. I devoted an evening lovingly repressing it into tiny pans.


Why all these don't suck: they don't dull the skin/eyes. They brighten and define at the same time, which is a big call.

They are all easy to incorporate into any look, or use alone. The cream shadows are particularly easy, to sheer out or build up. They don't scream, they whisper elegance. And if there's one thing we've all learned from years of attending polo and ornamenting the stands, it's that....

Elegance is an attitude. Indeed. 

Lipstick Palette and brief how-to

 Carting around a load of lipsticks, glosses seems like a frivolity. It is actually quite essential to running my daily errands. A comfort blanket sort of thing. One to refresh the favoured lip of the day, another dozen 'just in case'--to stave off boredom I suppose. Of course, one or two more, bought during the day's course, to come join the happy family.

 I tried to keep it up, I really did. Despite the already cumbersome 'diaper bag' (what an ugly term),  crowded with cosmetics, a couple of books, tissues, keys, coins, wallet, bottles of formula, and, yes-diapers... I persisted with my 10+ unnecessary lipsticks. 

But then I went and did this...

Ugly old eyeshadow palette full of chalky colours. In this pic the useless eyeshadows have been scraped out, palette washed and disinfected..

To snazzy lip palette painted prettily for kicks... 

There are plenty of depotting tutorials on the internet, for lipsticks. The gist is: behead the luckless lippie. Put it in spoon, hold spoon above candle (NOT TOO CLOSE!). 

Whistle the classic tune relied upon by generations of lumberjacks and gold prospectors, it's raining men.

 There will be fumes. They are not to be inhaled (nausea! headache!). 

Once the lipstick seems to have completely liquified, delicately pour it into the pan without burning yourself. Leave to set. You can mix lipsticks (eg a sliver of a brown lipstick, a sliver of a pink) to make different shades. Experimenting is fun! My favourite shade here is the mix of Vasanti's Spain and Estee Lauder's Bois de Rose.

Here we have an array of well-melted and not-so-well-melted lipsticks (where I got impatient, and didn't wait for it to fully melt, are the blotchy bits). Yes, it's been used and loved. Just this and a lip brush is all I need.

Right to left

 Estee Lauder Tiramisu
Revlon lip butter Creme brulee
Estee Lauder Tiger eye

Rimmel paradise
Rimmel Kate Moss 14
Estee Lauder Rose tea

Revlon Copperglow berry + tiramisu
Revlon Copperglow berry
Bois de rose

Estee Lauder Tiramisu (again)
Rimmel amethyst shimmer
Rimmel amethyst shimmer (twice because I have several tubes of this)

Vasanti spain
Vasanti spain + EL bois de rose
boots sheer temptation delight

Guerlain Gigi
Revlon fuchsia fusion
Revlon love that pink

Miss Dior Cherie Bow (Review)

I had to get the Miss Dior Cherie Bow palette. The packaging = glorious cuteness, cute gloriousness, whichever way you look at it (on your head or sideways).

In terms of a review, I don't want to be honest.

I want to praise it to the skies.

 I love it and have been using it EVERY DAY since acquisition.

But the truth is that it...no I won't say it! OK I will: only the eyeshadows are good.

Of which there are only three, and pretty dull colours. They work better in conjunction with other shadows, useful to have, but so boring on their own.

The gel liner sucks. It smudges, hard to get on lids, etc.
The lipgloss is moisturizing but also, sucky. I have a Dior travel palette in which EVERY ITEM is a keeper, glosses included, it's puzzling why they would release something so mediocre. Recession chic... Sheikh Recession..

Frankly, most people require each item to dazzle / delight, in a palette, in order for them to fork over their life savings. But me different (loco).
This is the 2nd time in a row Dior has disappointed me. I was still reeling from the bitter letdown, that was their travel brush set (brushes shed, don't work as well as my Ecotools ones...could've spent that cash on two sets of Real Techniques)...

But all's well that ends well. Because I get a genuine thrill of little-girl-joy from it, something I haven't gotten since the days of tea parties with teddy bears, Mrs Bunny, and the whole string of her "friends and relations". I find excuses to use it every single day. This is something Minnie Mouse would keep in her purse along with a string of plastic pearls and a slice of cheddar.



Day look

Estee Lauder Mochachino cream shadow as base, followed by all three eyeshadow shades, lightest to darkest. Nothing on lower lash line.

Same look carried into evening (Arabic smokey eye):

Essence's black gel liner on both upper and lower lash lines, winged out. (Tried to use the gel liner included in the Dior palette, but it was a fail)

 In between the two wings, a flick of the palest pink eyeshadow.

More dark shadow piled onto lid. More mascara.
 Nothing on waterline.
 Quite authentic, as I saw many Saudi women do this exact type of makeup.

Items used:

Omorovicza Queen of Hungary Mist

Guerlain primer

Omorovicza Complexion Enhancer (not in pic)

Diorskin Nude Sculpting Powder

Annabelle Haute Chocolate used to contour

Estee Lauder cream shadow Mochachino

Dior Cherie Bow Palette

MAC Expensive Pink on outer 3rd of lid (to add warmth)

Fyrinnae Evocation on inner corner (sparkle)

Rimmel Paradise lipstick