Spring Day FOTD with Lise Watier Pastel Power

Since Wednesday was the official first day of Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, it was only apropos to pull out my Lise Watier Spring 2013 Pastel Power goodies for a FOTD. For swatches and my review of the Pastel Power collection visit this post.

Products used: 

1. Apply coral shade from Lise Watier Pastel Power Quartet over entire eyelid;
2. Apply light grey shade to brow bone;
3. Apply teal shade to outer V and crease;
4. Use pale blue shade to blend the teal shade into the coral and light grey;
5. Line upper lash line with Clio Urban Khaki liquid liner;
6. Line lower lash line with Lise Watier Vert Sarcelle Eye Shine liner;
7. Lise Watier Pink Powder blush on cheeks;
8. Lise Watier Corail Punch and Gosh Cool Lip Jam in 104 on lips;

African Violet FOTD

So it appears that I haven't done a purple FOTD yet on this here blog. SHOCKING!! Must be remedied immediately!!
Other than being my favourite colour, purple is also universally flattering and I've been told by various beauty industry insiders that it will be THE colour this Autumn.
I used the Stila In The Moment palette that I reviewed back in this post.

Products used:

Eyes:

• Lise Watier Crayon Jumbo in Peche Melba as all over base;
• Stila Instinct (top row first from left) all over lid;
• Glance (top row middle) from middle of lid to outer corner;
• Improvise (top row second from right) outer corner and crease;
• Blend;
• Improvise on outer half of lower lash line;
• Tetra (Smudge Stick Waterproof Liner) on upper lash line;

Face:

• Lise Watier Havana Baked Bronzer as contour;
• The Body Shop Roseflower blush on apples of cheeks;

Lips:

• Benefit Jing-a-ling lipstick;
• Essence Candy Bar lipgloss

In other news, I have decided to run and join the circus:

and bake cookies:

Lise Watier Summer Sunset collection for Summer 2012 FOTD

I am really really late with my review of this collection, but seeing as how both Summer and this collection only arrived on my doorstep 2 weeks ago, now is as good a time as any.
The Summer Sunset collection launched back in May of this year and consists of 2 new limited edition eyeshadow palettes in Tropical and Paradis ($38), a limited edition bronzing powder palette ($35), a new Duo Glam Rouge Infini lipstick duo in Rose Ombre Glam ($27), 3 limited edition Crystal Drops glosses in Tangerine, Dragon Fruit, and Smoothie ($18), 2 limited edition shades of nail polish in Tangerine and Dragon Fruit ($12.50), 3 new Jumbo Crayons in Peche Melba, Sunshine and Moonlight, Havana baked bronzer, 3-in-1 Miracle Primer in Bronze, Sun Smart Tinted Universal UV Shield, Gold Liquid Silk, and the limited edition Summer Sunset EDT.
Like most other Summer releases, Lise Watier's Summer Sunset collection is heavy on bronze and shimmer. The bronzing powder palette and the Havana baked bronzer offer similar effects - warmth with a golden sheen - so buy one or the other. I'm currently ridiculously tan and enjoy using them interchangeably as a bronzer and as a contour powder.
The eyeshadow and bronzing powder come in a colourful clam shell clutch which can be reused as a wallet.  The eyeshadows are very soft and finely milled, however, they are rather crumbly and nowhere near as pigmented or as buttery as the shadows found in their quads. They lasted a whole day over a Jumbo Crayon base.
I know some people find the Crystal Drops glosses to be too sheer but I love how glossy they made my lips and Tangerine was surprisingly pigmented on me!
Whilst I didn't particularly enjoy their Neiges EDT (it smells like highly perfumed soap on me), the Summer Sunset EDT definitely won me over as I'm a sucker for fresh florals.
I love the concept of a stain and lipstick in one package, however, the Duo Glam Rouge Infini lipstick duo was a severe disappointment. The stain part of it wasn't too bad, the lipstick part was just awful. The matte finish emphasised every single lip line and dry patch I had, and as if that wasn't enough, it also dried my lips out something terrible and shares the same weird liquorice taste as their Plumpissimo line.
Summer Sunset is available now at Lisewatier.com, Thebay.com, and in stores and online at Londondrugs.com

Products used: Crystal Drops Ultra-Shine Lip Gloss in Tangerine; Summer Sunset Bronzing Powder; Crayon Jumbo in Peche Melba; Havana All Over Baked Bronzer; Summer Sunset Eyeshadow Palette in Tropical; Annabelle Smoothliner in Jade; MaxFactor 2000 Calorie mascara; NYX Concealer In A Jar; Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation; and GOSH Effects Powder in Bottle

Peche Melba as base. Tropical palette: light gold shadow from inner corner to middle of lid; green shadow from middle of lid to outer corner; blend dark brown shadow into crease. Line upper and lower lash line with Annabelle Jade, pat Gosh Bottle over Jade liner. Contour cheeks using Havana bronzer. Use peach and pink stripes from Summer Sunset Bronzing palette as blusher. Finish with Crystal Drops gloss.

Swatches of Summer Sunset eyeshadow palette in Tropical:

Stila Vibrant in Vancouver travel palette review & swatches

Damage: US$16 CAN$21
Stila sez:
"The cute, collectible makeup palettes that started a cult following are back and better than ever. Five palettes featuring 5 ultra-wearable eye shadow shades, which can be worn wet or dry, a multi-tasking convertible color for lips and cheeks, plus a mirror and a how-to face chart make these palettes perfect for on-the-go touchups and a must-have for every Stila girl's makeup bag or clutch. At only $16 each, why not collect them all?"
Nunu sez:
I've never tried any of Stila's travel palettes before, however, I have a few of their regular eyeshadows and have nary a bad word to say about them, so I was quite looking forward to trying this palette!
Designed as an all-in-one travel friendly palette, it contains 5 eyeshadows and a convertible colour blush which doubles as a lip colour. Much like the Tokidoki Arte palettes, these Travel Palettes were originally intended to be a budget friendly line, however, they have escalated from their original price of US$10 to US$12 last year and now to US$16. To add salt to the wound, us Canadians will have to fork out a whopping CAN$21 for one of these palettes.
The cardboard packaging is sturdy and should have no problem surviving in your cosmetics bag. I am kind of iffy about the fact that they put powder and cream products in the same compartment, my convertible colour has already collected a layer of eyeshadow dust :/.
The colours included in the palette are very safe neutrals which are impossible to screw up. It's pretty easy to go from Grouse Grind to Yaletown with this palette simply by adding some of the darker shades and turning it into a smokey eye.
Good concept, baaaad quality!!
I'm sorry to say it, but the quality of this palette really disappointed me. The quality is nothing like the shadows in their regular line. The texture of these eyeshadows were hard and pigmentation was difficult to build up. The shimmery shades fared slightly better but matte shades were chalky and powdery. It is anything but vibrant. $10? Deal. $16? Okaaayyy, but pushing it. $21? Definitely not! Either up the quality or lower the price.

Swatches from left: Cypress, Seaplane, English Bay, Granville, Coal Harbour, and Tiger Lily Convertible Colour. I had to really dig in to get the colours to show up. The small compartments also meant lots of cross contamination.

FOTD using English Bay all over the lid, Cypress in the crease and outer corners, Coal Harbour as upper and lower liner and Tiger Lily on cheeks and lips.

Other Tine said it basically looks like I'm not wearing any makeup. Perhaps that is the point? That Vancouverites are so laid back that even when they put on makeup it looks like they have nothing on?

Majolica Majorca Blood On Cheek and Lip Colour review and FOTD

When the other half of the Travelling 'tines came back from her Asia travels, she smuggled with her person a bustling cache of smuggled goods for this tine. Yes, I'm "this tine" and she's "that tine". Sometimes we switch it around and she's "this tine" and I'm "that tine". Baanaanaa and Potayto.
Anyway! Inside the beautiful tin with the morbid name lies a rather alarmingly red gel blush. The texture is not unlike C.O. Bigalow's Rose Salve, maybe just a smidge harder. Whilst it looks rather intimidating in the pot, on skin diffuses into a sheer natural flush.
Having barely mastered cream blushes, I knew I was tempting fate with a gel tint. Applying with fingers made a big mess of my foundation, so in the end I used my Sonia Kashuk flat top brush which always makes short work of applying and blending cream type products. The result is a very natural, I-just-came-in-from-a-romp-in-the-cold flush.
The finish is non-sticky but doesn't ever really dry down completely so setting with a powder is imperative. I actually quite like layering this under my No. 13 Laduree Cameo Blush.
My only quibbles with the product is that: a. I'm not really fond of the balmy finish; and b. lasting time is like 3-4 hours max.
Verdict: A nice little multi-tasker but not really for girls with oily skin or for those who want long-lasting wear.

On me, it swatched more raspberry than red.

FOTD with Blood On on cheeks and lips. Sorry I am going through a bit of a spotty phase right now.

Never take yourself too seriously.

Products used:

Makeup Meme.

As organised by Yumeko of Bittenbefore. All photos taken on my trusty Motorola Droid because I still can't find my DSLR's cable. I am clearly still struggling to understand the Android camera functions.

Lip Products:

The L'Oreal Colour Riche Balm resides in my office drawers. The subtle hint colour and shine that it gives is tres work friendly. I love the scent of the Jack Black balm!! It smells like lemon meringue pie!!

Eyeshadow:

Unsurprisingly, all I've been using lately are the L'Oreal Colour Infallibles as well as the Visee x Smacky Glam palette from Yume!

Blush:

Into coral and orange blushes lately!!!

Foundation:

The Addiction Tinted Moisturiser is officially down in my HG book. I knew I had to hunt it down after trying a sample of it when I was on holiday in Florida last year. IT KEPT MY FACE MATTE!!!

Mascara:

I'll be posting a review on the Kate Art Dial mascara soon! The MaxFactor 2000 Calorie is my HG mascara that I shamelessly beg/blackmail/bribe my UK friends to stock up for me.

And a FOTD using the above!

Bwahahahah! Don't I look like I'm some kind of real estate agent on those bus bench adverts?!!

L'Oreal L'Or Electric Collection Color Infallible Eyeshadow

I don't know how much longer I can keep up with collecting these eyeshadows, I really adore their texture and their pigmentation and long lastingness is most excellent, but I am fast running out of storage space for these lil buggers. In the event that I stop collecting, you can always head over to Asiyakei's blog for swatches as I'm sure her OCDness will not allow her to stop collecting xD.
Anyway! The L'Or Electric collection was created to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. The collection has not yet been released in North America and I don't know if it ever will but I can confirm its release in both the UK and Asia. I got mine courtesy of my Hong Kong CP buddy and fellow polish fiend Rach of Through The Looking Glass (Thanks Rach! Nice boobs! *gets slapped* xD)

Three new shades of the Color Infallible eyeshadow were released with this collection; Magnetic Coral, Cosmic Black and Metallic Lilac. In the UK, 3 additional shades, Innocent Turquoise, Sassy Marshmallow, and Naughty Strawberry were also released as a part of the same collection. Those are on their way to me and I will post swatches of them once I receive them.

From left: Magnetic Coral; Cosmic Black; and Metallic Lilac

Both Magnetic Coral and Metallic Lilac have bits of purple pigment mixed in with the base colour, something I've only seen in the Georgio Armani Eyes To Kill shadows, however, in swatches the purple bits are not apparent.
If you're think Metallic Lilac and Cosmic Black look familiar, you're quite right...

Swatches from left: L'Oreal Infallible Flashback Silver; L'Oreal Infallible Metallic Lilac; Armani Eyes to Kill 04 Nola; and Chanel Illusion d'ombre Illusoire

Swatches from left: L'Oreal Infallible Magnetic Coral; Bronze Goddess and Cosmic Black

Indeed, in the pan, Metallic Lilac and Cosmic Black appear to be similar to Flashback Silver and Bronze Goddess but once swatched these shades are quite different.
Metallic Lilac is darker and pulls more blue than Flashback Silver. Armani ETK Nola is darker than Metallic Lilac.
Cosmic Black is an antique green gold on a black base which swatches significantly darker to Bronze Goddess.
Magnetic Coral looks rather scary in the pan and in swatches, but it can definitely be sheered down to be wearable. I wore it in my FOTD with Infallible Color in Amber Rush and think it's a rather good alternative to Pantone's Tangerine Tango.

Yah, sorry about shitty phone camera photos. I appear to have misplaced my DSLR's transfer cable somewhere...
Of the 3 shades, I would say Metallic Lilac is not a must-have for me. I already have Flashback Silver and I rarely use silver shades in my daily makeup routine. Fans of shades like MAC Silver Ring, Knight Divine and Smoke & Mirrors would enjoy it though.

Official Judgy Face FOTD

I'm not original enough to come up with my own colour combinations so I copied D's EOTD. Hee! She is probably giving me judgy face right now xD.
We're trying to get Jian to do the same EOTD so it can become the official judgy face EOTD. Y'all probably have no clue what I'm babbling on about so I'm just going to shut up now.

 Products used: L'Oreal Color Infallible in Sahara Treasure, Bronze Goddess and Burning Black; Maybelline Blush in Pressworthy Pink; Revlon Lip Butter in Sugar Plum; Nars Laguna; Armani Luminous Silk foundation; Revlon Colorstay Creme Gel Liner in black; and CoverGirl Lash Blast Fusion mascara

 Lid = Sahara Treasure; Outer V = Bronze Goddess; Crease = Burning Black

I also had my hair cut again! What do you guys think? It's "funkier" now, or so I lamely tell myself xD

Also I got mail =^.^=

Sasa mask haul of epic proportions plus more love from my UK smuggler V! My order arrived so fast this time that it has restored my faith, albeit temporarily, in Sasa. I made my order on March 8 and it arrived on March 14! Perhaps it's cos I paid via Paypal this time.
Trying out some new brands of masks as MBDs have been getting pricier -_____-". The BeautyMate Anti-Acne masks (green and white box in the back) are friggen awesome!! It really does lessen the redness and swelling of acne overnight! This is my second box already!

Benefit Hervana Blush review and fotd

Yet another Enabled by Justine post.
While I love their Full Finish lipsticks (seriously THE most moisturising lipsticks EVAH!), I've never really paid any attention to Benefit cosmetics. Despite this, I was somehow talked into making an order for their Hervana blusher back in December during the pre-sale.
Like all Benefit blushers, Hervana comes packaged as a small cardboard box. A plastic tray insert on top of the blusher pan holds a slanted brush. A small mirror is included on the lid. It is definitely not the most travel friendly packaging in the world but if it's just going to sit in your drawer then it doesn't really matter.
Hervana consists of a psychedelic swirl of beige, peach, pink and fuchsia. The individual colours cannot be used alone and mixed together it produces a warm medium pink. Some of the shades have a slight sheen to them but the overall finish is quite matte. The powder is finely milled and wears well for 5-6hrs after which it starts to fade.
I would recommend using a stiffer flat blush brush as fluffier brushes won't pick up enough product.
On darker skin Hervana might be more of a highlighter because even on my fail pale self I had to layer it several times to show better. I would recommend testing it out first to see if it turns ashy.
I paid $28 and the box contains 0.28 oz (7.9g) of product. For comparison, a Chanel Joues Contrast blush is $43 for 0.14oz and a MAC blush is $22 for 0.10oz. So a few bucks more than a MAC blush you get almost 3 times the amount of product but for $2 you can get an amazing love you long time blush from Daiso. I therefore conclude that the Benefit Hervana blush is pretty but not necessary. The results just aren't unique enough for it to be a MUST BUY.

So psychedelic xD

Swatches:

FOTD:

Products used:

One last camwhore