29 March 2014

look of the day - dark lips + defined brows/review - nyx soft matte lip creams

I really need to start doing makeup on the weekends so I have things to post here, yeah?

Last weekend, my sister came home for her first university spring break, so I didn't get a chance to sit down at my desk to paint my face, but this weekend I finally got some time for myself. I was inspired by the fall runway looks with dark, vampy lips, clean eyes, and defined brows. (Yes, I'm still stuck in fall makeup and that's perfectly up my alley.)

Mostly, I just wanted to use the darkest NYX lip cream that I own...


 Yes, dark lips are a year-round thing for me, but rarely do I go this dark. This colour would have been perfect for my Wednesday Addams costume and it's 100% fitting for Lorde!

Nothing too complicated was involved in this look. Put a little concealer on where it's needed--for me, that's around my mouth, chin, between my eyebrows, over my red patches on my cheeks, and under my eyes--and that was it for the face. Fill in your brows using a brow powder duo. The lighter shade goes on the inner half of the eyebrow and the darker shade on the outer half, and then brush out your brows to make them look less harsh, and finish them off with a swipe of brow gel.

For the eyes, take a black liner and tightline your lashes. (If you don't know what tightlining means, check out this article!) Curl your lashes and then put on a coat of mascara.

The lips are key here. With a dark lip like this, I would suggest filling in your lips with a matching lip liner to give you full coverage since once a dark lip colour is smudged, it's very noticeable. I didn't use lip liner because I wanted to see what this colour looked like on its own.

BROWS
Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Express brow kit in Brunette
Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Brow Gel in Granite

EYES
Upper lash line - Liner - Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion (matte blackest black)
Lashes - Maybelline Volum' Express the Mega Plush mascara in Blackest Black

FACE
Benefit Fake Up Concealer in 01 Light
Under eyes - Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 15 Fair

LIPS
NYX Cosmetics Soft Matte Lip Cream in Transylvania (matte deep violet)


Since I just bought the NYX lip creams that I don't own, I thought I would do a review on them.

(Credit: ULTA.com)

Availability: Most ULTA stores and some Target stores, as well as nyxcosmetics.com.
Shades: These come in 22 shades and to my knowledge, all of them are permanent.
Price: $6 each, although ULTA often has buy one, get one 50% off deals.

All shades. TOP ROW: Cairo, Athens, Stockholm, London, Abu Dhabi, Zurich, Cannes. MIDDLE ROW: San Paulo, Antwerp, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Tokyo, Sydney, Milan, Prague. BOTTOM ROW: Morocco, Ibiza, Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo, Copenhagen, Transylvania.


About:
Neither lipstick nor lip gloss, this matte lip cream is a new kind of lip color that goes on silky smooth and sets to a matte finish. Soft Matte Lip Cream is surprisingly durable and, unlike some matte lipstick formulas, also moisturizing.

Ingredients:
Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Dimethicone, Beeswax, Glyceryl Behenate/Eicosadioate, Phenoxyethanol, Dimethicone/Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Talc, Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Silica, Aluminum Starch Octennylsuccinate, Isohexadecane, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Propylene Carbonate, Parfum. MAY CONTAIN: Ci 77019 (Mica) / CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 15850 (D&C Red 6 Na Salt), CI 15850 (D& C Red 7 Ca Lake), CI 15985:1 (FD&C Yellow 6 Al Lake), CI 19140:1 (FD&C Yellow 5 Al Lake), CI 45410 (D&C Red 28 Al Lake), CI 77491 (Iron Oxide Red), CI 77492 (Iron Oxide Yellow), CI 77499 (Iron Oxide Black), CI 77742 (Manganese Violet), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide).

Disclaimer: Do not apply these right after putting on lip balm! They will be streaky and uneven and difficult with which to work.

I really like these! I own all 22 shades and haven't had the chance to try all of them, but generally, I find that they apply nicely and dry down to actually give you a matte look rather than a satin one like many matte lipsticks end up doing. They have a bit of a vanilla/cupcake scent that lingers for a while after application. It doesn't bother me as I love most gourmand smells, but it might be a selling point for you or something that turns you off.

As long as I don't furiously press my lips against water bottles or cups, I've never had too much of an issue with transfer. However, if you accidentally bring a tissue near your mouth, you can bet that it will come off. They won't last through a meal since they're oil-based (organic solvent-based, if you're a science person like me) and will dissolve quickly, but water doesn't make the colour budge.

I recently just bought the 13 that I didn't own previously and with work going on, I haven't had a chance to test them all out. The ones that I've used more than once are Cannes (matte muted mauve), Antwerp (mid-tone yellow-toned pink), Ibiza (matte deep rose pink), Monte Carlo (deep cranberry red), and Copenhagen (matte rich plum). Cannes is a MLBB shade for me and Copenhagen might be one of my all-time favourite lip colours.

Since my lips are rather pigmented, some of these shades might not have the coverage to appear true to their actual colour. Transylvania is sheerer than the other colours I've tried, so I do recommend using a lip liner underneath it. The next time I wear it, I definitely will.

If there is a shade you'd like to see swatched on my lips, please let me know and I'll get that done ASAP.

Tomorrow is my first VIB Rouge event at Sephora. I've been one for a while now (... whoops, spending) but this is the first time that I've been able to attend something so I'm pretty excited. I'm currently sitting here writing this post whilst I try to tint my hair purple. I know you're supposed to bleach your hair before you put in semi-permanent dyes like Manic Panic, Beyond the Zone Color Jamz, Ion Color Brilliance, and Special Effects, but I don't want the bright colour. So my hair is dark burgundy (really just dark brown with a tint of red) but hopefully it'll deposit something.

09 March 2014

look of the day - colour of the year

Wow, it's been a while.

I started my first adult job two weeks ago, so that's my excuse for not posting. I'm a civil engineer working in Construction services and I happen to be the only girl of eight people in the trailers--yes, we work in trailers but they're not shoddy so it's okay--and my work hours are from 7AM - 3:30PM. Any time I do bother to put on makeup, I very rarely bother doing anything elaborate, partially because I'm trying to keep a low profile during my first year, and partially because doing my makeup at about 6AM is never conducive to anything creative.

All I do is wear jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweater to work every day anyway, so anything colourful just looks sort of out of place.

I had planned to do something last weekend for the blog, but my sister came home from university and we ended up out of the house pretty much the entire time. My parents decided to go to some orchid show at Botanic Gardens and so I was home alone for the first time in months, so makeup time was definitely available!

I'm sure you've all heard that Pantone's colour of the year is Radiant Orchid, and if you haven't... Surprise! This look is centered on the shade. Now, I tried the eye look with two different lip colours, one of them being OCC's lip tar in Hoochie, which is slightly more purple than the colour of the year. It looked really weird to me in the photos, but I'll post one anyway.


... Yeah, I like the lip colour, but not in this look! (Also, the CC cream from Smashbox that I used was a sample in a shade that's too dark for my skin, but it was the lightest shade that wasn't noticeably pink.)


The brows might be my favourite part of this look. I used a normal brown brow powder to fill in the outer edge and arch, but using two muted purple shades from an eyeshadow palette, I filled in the front of my brows, with the lighter shade in the innermost part and the darker shade toward the arch. (Note to self: wear brows like this more often once you dye your hair purple-brown/burgundy.)

For the eyes, take a purple shade with golden shimmer and tap that into the inner corner. Then take a pigmented, mostly matte red-toned purple across the lid. Using a medium-deep brown, blend it into the outer corner and up toward the crease, and take a deep purple to smooth the transition between bright purple and brown. Taking a shimmery purple shade, press it into the crease above the lid. Use a matte, creamy shade to blend the colours toward the brow bone. Line the upper waterline and lash line with a black pencil.

Underneath the eye, gently sweep a light pink shimmer close to the lash line. Take a deep taupe pencil and line the lower waterline. Finish off the eyes with a coat or two of mascara.

This look needs a bit of blush to balance it out, even for someone like me who doesn't like to use blush too often. I actually used a cream eyeshadow for blush--it's so much fun to use makeup in unexpected ways.

For the lips, you can just use a pinky nude shade if you want to wear this out and about. (By the way, I think it's totally great for daily wear. Purples are easy to tone down to seem like neutrals.)

Any listed eyeshadow shade that doesn't have a brand name attached is from the Laura Mercier Artist's Palette. One day, I'll write a rave review about this palette because the shadows were so easy to blend and use and they managed to make a neutral palette not boring by incorporating pink tones and purples, BUT today is not that day. Not when it's evening and all I want to do is sleep because Daylight Savings Time threw me off.

BROWS
Inner corner - Plum Smoke (matte/smoky amethyst)
Inner brow - Violet Ink (matte/muted eggplant purple)
Outer brow - Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Brunette (darker shade)

EYES
theBalm Put a Lid On It! eyeshadow primer
Inner corner - African Violet (luster/violet copper shimmer)
Lid - Sugarpill pressed eyeshadow in 2AM (matte purple with slight pearl sheen)
Outer corner - Truffle (matte/deep chocolate taupe)
Crease - Kir Royal (sateen/deep aubergine) + Victorian Disco Cosmetics loose eyeshadow in Water Siblings (pink-purple with bright blue shimmer)
Browbone - Vanilla Nuts (matte/light neutral champagne)
Lower lash line - Guava (sateen/peach stucco)
Lower waterline - Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Desperation (deep taupe to gray matte)
Upper waterline + lash line - Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero (black)
Lashes - Maybelline Volum' Express the Mega Plush mascara in Blackest Black

FACE
Smashbox Camera Ready CC Cream in Light
Kat Von D Lock-It Tattoo Concealer in Light 16
Blush - Maybelline Color Tattoo Metal 24HR Cream Gel Shadow in 55 Inked in Pink

LIPS
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmpetics lip tar in Hoochie (extreme magenta)
NYX Cosmetics Butter Lipstick in Hunk (website says "blue violet" but it's definitely a cool-toned magenta pink)