January 25, 2013

NOTD: Maybelline Auburn Ablaze

It's winter time and who doesn't like the warmth on their tips? In addition, I tend to wear warm colours for most of the seasons since I have yellow-base skintone. That's skintone-friendly colour choice for me =D


Maybelline Auburn Ablaze

This brownish plum colour is one of my winter favourite for 2012. It has hint of brown which is kinda good match to warm tone skin, and the plum colour is not really standing out which is the point that makes this products a staple. That means very wearable feminine colour to me, even with green long sleeved shirt. 

I picked up hoping for somewhat dried-blood colour. I live in a real small city where I have No Sephora, No Costco, No Sears building, No H&M, and No subway. Seriously. Also winter in this city is longer than half an year, and we had "feels like -42C" on 20th of January 2013. I heard "how the winter is like" before fall which seems like only 2 days, so I desperately NEEDED something to cheer up myself for upcoming winter, and purchased this without a glace on swatch of this colour. But this one is darker than my expectation. So after one application, I didn't like it. 

Whether I like it or not, grocery store I got this doesn't have refund policy for opened/used one from other than their own brand(e.g. Great Value at Walmart). So guess what? I gave this two more tries, simply because I didn't have winter colour. Back then, I didn't do much of colouring my nail. This is my first nail colour I purchased in Canada, and I didn't put many of my nail polishes from my Korean home I stayed for 2 years. I was sort of plain nail girl for months. In summer, I was happy with China glaze Yee-Haw and Jingle Bells. 

Anyway, I don't know what kind of magic the two more application did, but the colour is just simply adorable and suit for everyday, and that makes me sad that this is one of limited edition. =(    I guess I will buy a thinner sometime later. 

January 17, 2013

MOTD 2013-01-17

I have a dinner with in-laws today at local restaurant. Not a frequent thing that would occur, so I thought I would wear a make up for it. I don't work right now, so wearing a make up is totally up to what I like to do. 



There are what I used today.
- Nars Bronzer Laguna
- Nars Blusher Deep Throat
- Nars Tinted Moisturizer Alaska
- L'oreal Carresse Sunset Angora
- Almay Shimmer-i for brown
- Marcelle Browduo Dark 
- RealTechnique Travel essential 
- Clinique Even better Concealer Porcelain(VF)
- Clinique Blended face powder Invisible blend (I forgot to take a picture of it)
 
I applied concealer to around the nose, undereye, and tinted moisturizer to all over my face with the foundation brush. The concealer is lighter than my skin colour, but it is ok since I use it under the foundation. That lightens up some dark area before foundation, then the foundation sets on it when I blend it. 
 
I also put Vaseline on my lip to prep for lipstick. Caresse seems like moisturizing lipstick, but it doesn't feels like. It is not drying matte lip stick, but apparently not sheer moisturizing one. 
 
Then I powdered oily areas, and applied bronzer and blush on cheek. Powder is only there to set the foundation, and the colours I picked for my bronzer and blush is easy to blend and good colours for everyday. Well, at least for me. 

Almay shadow trio is gentle and nicely pigmented with proper amount of shimmer that doesn't stand out. My in-laws never said a good thing about celebrities with bold colour &sparkling make up, so I assume that they don't prefer that kind of make up. I think this neutral pinkish coral and brown trio with very finely grounded shimmer is good choice for this kind of meeting/appointment/dinner. Lip colour is picked in that sense as well. Vaseline should moisturized my lip while I apply eyeshadow and cheek make up. I removed the greasy ointment on my lip with pursing motion, then applied the lipstick. Light application of this product would balance the eye and lip make up.

As the final step, I fill the empty spots of my brows and brush them with transparent mascara. I love this browduo from Marcelle that has both brow pencil and clear mascara in one stick. It is just so convenient to use both edge with lesser mess on bath counter, and to carry with me :) 


This is my final look! 



Thanks for reading!

January 16, 2013

Parcel from iHerb, and something from Drugstore

I got some notice card from Canada Post yesterday. Two boxes of Korean foods from my friend in Vancouver, and one box from iHerb came in. Since international shipping is either difficult or expensive, I prefer iHerb's FREE SHIPPING events =) I ordered them on 31st of December, and they came here today! It is not 7-business-day like what they said, I am ok as long as they come. 



These are what I got! Real Techniques Core collection, Travel essential, and blusher brushes! 
Most brushes of two collections are for face, and I ordered both at the same time on purpose. I love my beautyblender, but I am wondering what it is like to applying foundation with RT brushes after reading all the rave reviews. Some said stippling brush is the best, but I don't like to do the motion of stippling; it seems like the motion needs more patience than I have. 

Core collection has 4 face brushes including brushes that I will use for concealer, highlighter, foundation, and bronzer. The collection is designed as one Detailer brush for concealer, Pinted Foundation Brush to build custom coverage, Buffing Brush for powder/mineral foundation, and Contour Brush for contouring/soft-focus finish. But I don't think I will follow every single detail of what they are supposed to do :')

Travel collection is much simple package of brushes. One foundation brush, one multitask brush for all powder products, and one brush for eye makeup. It doesn't have concealer brush nor eye liner brush, but seems like most-needed pack of brush if I pack for a personal travel. I already have pack of mini brushes from Bobbi Brown, but they are somewhat expensive so that I don't want to take a risk of losing/stolen them on trip. I usually brought full-sized cheap drugstore brushes, but they sheds and left hairs on my face. I hope this set doesn't. This set is well-priced, and well-picked one. Brush for eye shadow is definitely needed for sure, face brush for powder ones is absolutely essential not to mention foundation brush. I am not sure about the foundation brush, though. Some are using the multitask brush for foundation, then how can I apply blusher and bronzer? 

That's right. I thought I need to mix these collections for my trip. I would like to make my travel package since I go for pleasure travel more than three times a year: in March, May,  and one time in autumn. When I ordered them, the idea crossed my mind and I was like "why not?" It was kinda advanture though, because I've never used them before. 

Whole sets feel very soft, and they are denser than my former travel brushes. Blusher brush which I ordered just because it is none of any collection is also feel great on my cheek. I like how it's shaped! It looks like Yachiyo brush from Nars =)

I think I will get starter set sooner later. 

I was little tired today, when I picked up my mails. Huge boxes came in, and I know most of them are for me, I should be excited for them coming. But I went to bed at 4am last night because I was so focused reading a book. After 4 hours of sleep, I felt tired but didn't want to go back to sleep. Instead, I bought something from drugstore. 

 
Almay shimmer-i for browns, Clinique concealer, and two of L'oreal Caresse lipsticks.
I already got Almay smokey-i for brown which I really like, and wanted to try this one as well. I like Almay's colour pick up for eye colours. Not like cover girl's line which is my tried-but-not-like-it, Almay's shadow set is both beautiful on my eyes and wearable for everyday. 
Clinique concealer is my choice after one month of searching for right concealer. I like that the package is in a pot and I can apply it with a brush that I can easily cleanse. Though I am not sure why the sales person recommended porcelain colour to me, I'm gonna try it. 
L'oreal Caresse seems like famous dupe of YSL Glossy stain. It was on 50% sale, and how can I resist to the price like $6.99CAD? Got them in Sunset Angora and Cardinal Plume. Hope they look like the original YSL Glossy stain on my lip XD. I love the colours in the pictures from google, but I am not sure what they will be like on my pale lip. 

Thanks for reading! 

January 13, 2013

Sky on Sunday

I still remember a sentence "People these days are so busy that they don't have a second to stop working and watch the sky"  that I read from a textbook.  I don't have a job right now,  but that doesn't mean I have enough time to "look up."
I am doing this posting weekly, so that many people can see the  real sky. No nice photo effect/filter. 


Today was good day. I had enough sleep of 9 hours, and one good yoga hour. My husband got home at 8 AM after his night sift, and I am perfectly enjoying me-time. Read daily reads-blogs, 50 pages of book, writing yesterday's diary, yoga,  etc. 

I think it is great idea to have one extra room for my self so that I won't wake up someone due to what I do while someone's asleep. I have my room with books, desk for desktop PC, sofa for reading,  and little space for yoga. Nice cozy room indeed. 

 

While I write things about my room, you may think I would take a picture of sky from window of my room. But weather today was too good to take a picture through window. So I took little adventure of going out and take a picture! I saw the sun for an hour, and outdoor temperature 2P M is -21 Celsius. Since it is normal to see the sky darkened at 4 PM, I guess now is the time to take a picture of nice blue sky. 

January 10, 2013

Review: Spa socks

When I was in Toronto, I had no problem with dryness. I had oily to oily combination skill at that time, depending on the season. Now I live in Northern Alberta, and have oily combination for summer, dry combination skin type for winter, and just combination for in-between seasons.

The climate changed my skintype including hands and feet. I got bodyscrub and bodybutter from the body shop, and I love using them on my body and hands. Not on my feet. I just cannot stand or walk right after I applied the product. So I bought pumice stone, foot scrub, bubble foot soak, ped egg, and spa socks. I literally tried them all in nine months, and the best thing is this.

Spa socks!
It looked like normal bed socks in mint green. But it has more than that. 
Its inside is coated with gelled oils.  


Showing how it's coated

The moisturizing effect seems like good, but not great at first use; the results get better with time. If I wanted fast result, I will use Vaseline. But then, I need to get a steamed tower to wipe off the ointment after some time. Too much work for me. There is no fun like colouring nails. But this sock is much easier to *use*. Put the socks on, and leave it for half an hour. Put your makeup, read a book, or watch TV. And you're good to take that socks off and go. On the box, it says 30 minutes at a time, three times a week, and for three months. 
Supply for one quarter at coast of around $30CAD, I am very satisfied with this socks. 


With my favourite "slipper"

Some of you may not like the feeling of wearing gel-inside socks while walking. Well, I don't like it. So, this is what I do. I have slipper for my cold feet no matter how high the room temperature is. I am wearing summer clothing now, but that doesn't mean I am not wearing my slipper. This keeps my feet warm, and hold the socks when I'm wearing  the socks so that I can move and do vacuum, walk, run, whatever I like to. 

I am posting this because the socks is running out of oils inside, and that reminds me to post this and buy another pair. I'll get another one tomorrow for first quarter of 2013. 


Thanks for reading!

January 08, 2013

NOTD: L'oreal Red tote

When I bought this, I was frustrated. Confidential document was missing when I need it most. I even paid for Express service, and they failed me getting the document on time. OMG. What else can I really say?

Instead of getting angry and be stressful, I bought this colour to calm down myself. Red without shimmer makes me feel STRONG, giving me the strength to hold myself tight.


L'orea Red tote


It is a little-bit-dark red colour. Bright bold red looks good in the bottle, but is not a good match with my hand. The colour wold make my hand skintone looked more yellow-ish, and I don't think I can wear that colour if I start to work. I worked in Treasury division, known for its conservative, and I would like to continue my carrier in the same field as well in the future. So this wearable, bit-dark colour is perfect for me as a *investment*.

One coat seems enough for a day, but I applied one more coat in this picture. That is not for the colour, but to cover my not-very-skillful fingers' humble job.


Thanks for reading!

January 07, 2013

Sky on Sunday

I still remember a sentence "People these days are so busy that they don't have a second to stop working and watch the sky"  that I read from a textbook.  I don't have a job right now,  but that doesn't mean I have enough time to "look up."
I am doing this posting weekly, so that many people can see the  real sky. No nice photo effect/filter. 


It was snowy all day.  It wasn't cold but I caught a cold.  Since I spent whole day on my bed,  not many thing happened except the noise of dragging snow from the road.
O that noise woke me up,  made me mad. I was hoping they move  and work on another building of my condo,  but they didn't.  So I went out to get some fresh air,  hoping to avoid the noise. 

Here is the picture I got while on the road to Tim Hortons. 



The colour of sky seems like my mood at the time.  When I homed,  the *noise* went home too.  I enjoyed good amount of sleep last night,  got well today.

January 03, 2013

Short review: Beautyblender


I got a Beautyblender when I went to Edmonton in November 2012.
It was released quite a long-long ago, and many online reviews are already there. So here is my quick review.

from http://beautyblender.ca

Run luke warm water thru the sponge for a minute, and this 5.7cm sponge will be 6.5cm in height. 8 mm in height seems like very small in numbers, but it looks quite a change when you see it. I use it every time I apply my choice of foundation/tinted moisturizer.
 
I don't know the science behind this product, but I surely do know the result! I can apply three layers of foundation with this sponge without being cakey.  Recently I use a tinted moistuizer from Nars which has sheer and buildable coverage, and no concealer. After three layers of it, my face still looks natural but neat without a touch of concealer!