Hello everyone!
Well, I
promised I was gonna talk about makeup, so here I am!
As you know, I love makeup. I own a lot of it, and I wear a
lot of it. This is just a basic look as what I put on my face on a day-to-day
basis. Of course, I might play with the colors, or the thickness of my eyeliner,
or add some false lashes to the mix, but usually, this is what I do every day. Yes,
even when I go to work.
And now... ready?
Oh my goodness! I really hate my face without makeup. I look
like I’m 12, and like I’ve been living in a cave for the last 10 years… lol.
These are the basic products that I use first
From left to right:
1. It’s Skin power 10 formula VC
effector
2. Biotherm Homme high recharge
eye shot
3. Etude House precious minerals
BB cream
4. Tony Moly Silky Smooth Balm
5. L’Oreal Revitalift eye contours
roll-on concealer
6. Etude House precious minerals
powder
Now let me ramble on a bit about each product.
The little yellow bottle is from the Korean brand It’s Skin. If you don’t know yet, Korean cosmetics are absolutely AWESOME, and have
the added benefit of being super CHEAP! I bought this on a whim in Shin-Okubo
(korea-town) and I really like it. They have a whole line of these for various
things from whitening your skin, to wrinkles, to tightening your skin… there’s
like 12 different colors and they all do something different. This one is for
brightening up your skin, and you can really see it seconds after you apply it.
I’m not really sure as to “what” it is… a moisturizer? A moisturizing toner? Essence?
But whatever. It feels like a light moisturizer so that’s what I use it for.
After that, I use the little Biotherm eye stick. You might
have noticed that it’s from the men’s line. Yes. And who cares? Lol. I was
looking for something for the circles under my eyes (that never ever go away)
and the girl at the store when I went home recommended this to me. For some
reason, there isn’t an equivalent in the women’s line… why?? This thing does
something similar to the VC Effector, it has green tea and other ingredients
that activate the circulation of the blood under your skin, so it brightens up
those dark areas under your eyes. I also sometimes use it on my nose, where it’s
a bit red, and the redness goes away! It’s a really nice little product! (^^)
Now, as for the order of things, I’m not sure if you should put the primer on before or after the BB cream (since bb cream is also a moisturizer…) but I always put the bb cream on first since it has moisturizing propreties and i'm afraid the primer would prevent it from really soaking into my skin.
The BB cream I use is from another Korean brand, Etude House, and I really love it and it’s so cheap and awesome, especially in the summer cuz it’s very light. I used to buy MAC foundation before and I was paying through the roof (4,000yen) cuz it’s more expensive here than back home… stupid import laws… but I tried this one and I just loved it! And it’s only about 1,700yen. As you can see, that’s a huge price gap. I do not miss my MAC :p
After the BB cream, I follow up with the shinny little egg (no but seriously,
isn’t the packaging totally cute?!) from Tony Moly, which is another Korean brand.
This is a make up primer/base and it’s AMAZING. I don’t use it everyday though,
cuz mostly I can’t be bothered, but if I have a special occasion or a big date,
I’ll definitely add the extra step. What it does is that it makes your skin
suuuuuper smooth, going over your wrinkles or imperfections, so that when you
apply your makeup afterwards, your skin is less “bumpy” and thus the makeup
goes on smoother.
After that, I put concealer under my eyes. As I’ve mentioned before, the circles under my eyes are my worst “problem area”. They’re not circles, really, I just have these deep wedges under my eyes that no amount of sleep can make go away… *sigh* so I’ve tried a LOT of different types of concealers. I really like this L’Oreal one because it also doubles as an anti-wrinkle cream. Who knows how well that works, but the concealer at least works very well. It’s liquidy and goes on very smooth. There are only 2 shades though, so if you’re not pasty white, or pasty pink, you’re out of luck.
Finally, I apply a light coating of powder all over my face
to set things in place, and voila! Step 1 is done. (lol. We’re only getting
started)
Once my base makeup is done, I’ll apply some blush. These
days, I’m really liking this BYS bronzer that I got, and I wear it pretty much
all the time, even paired with another blush. Today I’m wearing it with a
bright pink blush from MAC. But I change pretty much every day. I have about 10
different shades of blush. What I do is I brush on some bronzer on my
cheekbones, then I go down towards my chin. Then I apply the pink color on the
apples of my cheeks.
Now that was a lot of me talking, and no pictures for you. I’m
sorry. I actually took some photos of my face in between stages, but I was so
appalled by them that I decided not to show you. Haha. Patience though, there
are some coming!
1. A medium eyeshadow brush
2. A thin eyeshadow brush
3. A big fluffy eyeshadow brush
4. Coastal Scents ultra-shimmer
palette
5. MAC eyeshadow base
6. Maybelline eyeliner pencil
7. Eyeliner brush (this is
actually a lip-liner brush though… lol)
8. MAC gel liner
Playtime!!
Ok, this is the fun part. Look at that color palette. Look at
it!!! Actually, I have two of those cuz they were having a sale on the Coastal
Scents website when I bought it. My second one is called “Metal Mania” and has –
as the name says – more metallic tones. This is great if you are someone who
loves playing with colors when you do your makeup and wear something different
every day. If, however, you’re someone who tends to wear the same shades all
the time, I wouldn’t recommend this since the little plaquettes of eyeshadow
are so small, you’d run out of them really fast. Also, you need a primer for
this eyeshadow if you want it to stay on. But that’s only a minor setback. I
use a MAC primer. And though it’s expensive, I bought it last summer and use it
every single day and I’m not even halfway done yet, so it’s definitely worth
it.
So first, that’s what you wanna do. Apply the eyeshadow
base all over your lid.
Then, you wanna choose a “medium” color and – using the
medium brush – apply it all over your lid.
After that, you’re gonna pick a light color and apply it
under your eyebrow. I suggest not using anything other than shades of white to
yellowy gold, cuz it just looks weird.
Then, you’re gonna pick a dark color, and apply it in the
corner of your eye, making a little “V” with your smaller brush.
After that, you take the fluffy brush and blend it all in.
and tadah! Pretty eyeshadow.
After the shadow, it’s eyeliner time. This is my lazy day
makeup, so I just line my lower lashes with the pencil, and smudge it a bit. Because
I’m blonde, it looks like I have no bottom lashes (or upper lashes for that
matter) so doing that creates a little bit of eye-contour for me.
Then, I take
my MAC gel liner, and paint it onto my upper lash line with my lip-liner brush.
The reason I use a lip liner brush for my eyeliner is that I like the length and
it works well for me. I also use MAC gel liner because it gives a really
strong, dark, black, and it doesn’t “double up” throughout the day. I’m not
sure what the professional term is for this, but with many types of eyeliner,
you’ll put it on and go through your day and then stop in the bathroom at 3pm
and realize that your eyeliner has printed a little copy of itself into your
eye crease, and it’s really not sexy at all (haha). Well MAC gel doesn’t do
that. So go buy it! Lol. Also, one little pot like that lasts a really long
time. More than 6 months. And I use it every day.
Finally, the last 2 steps are mascara, and lipstick. Now,
my favorite mascara of all time is Hypnose by Lancome, but it’s about 4000yen a
tube here, and lasts about 3 months, and I am poor, so now I use Maybelline
Magnum Volume Express. It’s really not bad for a cheapie mascara. And look, I got
a hello kitty on this one! XD
Tip for really volumey lashes : don’t apply your mascara
for 5 seconds!! Spend at least one or two minute on each eye! Do it over and
over again! Start from your lashline then zigzag up. Again and again. And then,
to reach the tip of the lashes and make them longer, you gotta look down and
push your brush up. Or I do this thing where I keep my brush in place and just
blink on it. It sounds really retarded said like this, but it makes a huge
difference.
Finally, I applied a bit of Melliesh lip gloss to my lips,
and voila! Unfortunately, it seems that they’ve discontinued this particular
type of gloss… which is a shame cuz it’s really nice.
And here's the final result!
And here’s a montage of me pulling stupid faces…
That’s it!
I hope I didn’t bore you too much with the details, but I do
love blathering on about makeup. Please feel free to ask me if you have any
questions about products and whatnot!!
Peace,
KC