Face of the Day: Feminine, Natural

Foundation: Shu Uemura Glow Enhancing Powder Foundation (applied using a damp Beauty Blender so it doesn't look cakey :D)

Undereye concealer: Benefit Erase Paste

Eyebrows: MAC Eye Brows in Brunette

Eyeshadows: NARS Bengali, Urban Decay Naked 2 (Tease and Bootycall)

Eyeliner: K-Palette Super Black Eyeliner (upper lash line only)

Mascara: The Face Shop Collagen Volume Mascara

False Eyelashes: The Face Shop Daily Beauty Tools Eyelashes

Contouring: Shu Uemura Glow On in Medium Amber

Blush: The Face Shop Face It Designing Blusher 02

Highlight: Benefit High Beam

Lipstick: Laura Mercier in Barely Nude

Lip Liner: MAC Lip Liner in Subculture

some of the products I used

My favorite makeup look!

Concealers 101

Acne scars, redness, uneven skin tone, dark under eye circles, hyper pigmentation, huge pores. If you're someone who's had any of the following problems with the face, it's a safe guess to say you're a huge fan of concealers. 

Almost everyone I know who wears makeup has at least one concealer stored for everyday use. For emergency breakouts, late nights, puffy eyes, and touch ups throughout the day... concealers are definitely "holy grail" material for anyone vain enough to pile up gunk on their face. (that is me, yes) 

In this post, I'll be discussing the different types of concealers and the specific skin condition it's supposed to be covering up. (Note: All from experience! :D) 

My collection of different types of concealers.

1.) Correctors 

Bobbi Brown Corrector

Correctors are mainly used to even out the skin tone. You can get away with using just this if you have relatively clear skin and light under eye circles. This is a godsend for redness around the nose, lips and eyes. It can also cover up hyperpigmentation/sun spots fairly well. The consistency is kind of stiff, which makes it stay put pretty long throughout the day. 

Bobbi Brown has the best corrector as far as I know. Although for fairer girls living here in the Philippines, they don't carry the Ivory shades Bobbi Brown releases worldwide. This is the lightest color they have - Light Peach (for warm undertones). The lightest they have for cool undertones is Light Bisque. It goes on a little dark on my skin (I switch between NC15-NC20 in MAC) but it works anyway!

 2.) Pot Concealers

Pot concealers are best for covering up blemishes such as pores, acne, scarring, and age spots. Consistency-wise, these are pretty heavy - sometimes too heavy to be used for dark circles. If you use pot concealers under your eyes, you probably notice them crease throughout the day. The skin around the eye area is thinner compared to the rest of the face so the weight of your products tend to pile up.

Laura Mercier Secret Concealer, MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer

3.) Concealer Palettes

Most concealer palettes come from brands who cater to studio/professional makeup (e.g. Ben Nye, Graftobian, Make Up Forever, Kryolan, Coastal Scents etc.) and they usually comprise of at least 5 shades including colors like green, purple and red for very specific skin coverage. Laura Mercier's famous Secret Camouflage is a very usable concealer palette which only comes in two shades - a yellowish one, and a salmon-y one. This concealer is very versatile - it's stiff enough to be used on blemishes, but creamy enough to be used under the eye (albeit sparingly). I use it mainly on my blemishes by first patting on the salmon color to even out the skin tone, and then finishing off with the yellow color to cover up the area :) 

Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage - HG Blemish Concealer!

4.) Liquid/Creamy Concealers

If a concealer is liquid or is being marketed as being "creamy", it's safe to say that it's meant to be used under the eye area. Like I said above, the skin around the eye is pretty delicate so it's best to use aqueous products with light and buildable consistencies around it. Also, these concealers tend to have a "brightening" effect which is perfect for tired eyes and dark circles.

Benefit Erase Paste and Lancome Effacernes. The Lancome Effacernes is my HG Undereye concealer! It doesn't crease or budge! Most concealers run because I have oily/combo skin but this one just stays put. 

5.) Highlighter/Concealer Pens

AAAHHHH! These things are miraculous! At first, I wasn't convinced as my first experience with a highlighting/concealing pen was the YSL Touche Eclat and it didn't really do anything for me. But then I got to try the Clarins one, then the Dior one... then okay, I am hooked! These pens are great because they not only conceal, but they also have little speckles of light reflecting particles which make your eyes 10x more brighter than just wearing an ordinary under eye concealer.  This is wonderful for girls with light under eye circles. But for girls (like me!) who have dark ones from genetics or perennial allergies (p_p. me again), this is a great product to layer over your favorite under eye concealer. :) Miracles!!!

Dior SkinFlash Radiance Booster Pen and Clarins Instant Light Brush On Perfector. The Dior has more highlight while the Clarins has more conceal. The downside to highlighter pens: they tend to be on the pricey side especially because they contain a lot less product than other concealers. This isn't a makeup "need", it's really more of a makeup "want". :) 

 If you want to try what it's like to have a highlighter/concealer pen without the commitment of buying one, try dabbing on a tiny amount of liquid highlighter (like Benefit High Beam) after applying your favorite under eye concealer. :)



Hope you enjoyed this post! And if you have any more concealers to recommend, please do tell me! I'm a HUGE fan! :D

My Favorite Benefit Products!

I love Benefit! I was so glad they decided to open a branch here in the Philippines otherwise I'd have to keep getting my Benefit fix from abroad/online. 

My favorite products from Benefit include:

Realness of Concealness Mini Fake It Kit, High Beam, Watt's Up, Dandelion, Erase Paste and Brow-Zings

The Realness of Concealness kit includes a mini High Beam, mini Lip Plump, mini Ooh La Lift, Lemon Aid and Boi-Ing in Medium. I got it abroad and I hope the Greenbelt branch would carry it soon. It's definitely a steal!

Here I am wearing everything Benefit for a very neat and simple look. I used Brow-Zings for my brows, Lemon Aid for my eyelids, Erase Paste for my under eye circles, Watt's Up for my cheekbones, High Beam for the bridge of my nose/brow bone/cupid's bow, Dandelion for my cheeks (and light dusting all over my face), Boi-Ing for the sides of my nose and naso-labial crease, and the lip plump for a nude lip color.) 

I love Benefit! Can't wait to get my hands on the new Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Liquid Foundation. I heard it's a brightening foundation with SPF 25 PA++. Woot!

02/02/12 Mini Haul

Hi everyone! Here are some of the new stuff I got earlier today:

Shiseido The Makeup Brightening Veil, Benefit Dandelion, Shu Uemura Brown Cross False Eyelashes, Etude House Precious Mineral Sheer Glowing Skin BB Cream, Shu Uemura White Recovery Ex+ Brightening Cleansing Oil
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Shu Uemura White Recovery Ex+ Brightening Cleansing Oil Advanced Formula

I love how Shu Uemura has different sizes for their cleansing oils so if you just want to try out a product, you can just go ahead and buy the least expensive 100 mL bottle. The White Recovery Ex+ Line is a relatively new skincare line Shu launched earlier this year (if I'm not mistaken) so I was still a bit hesitant to get the big bottle which costs around Php 6000 ($133.00. YUP. It costs around $50 more here. I suggest hoarding all the Shu Uemura products you can in HK or Korea where they're cheapest) -_-. What made me even more hesitant was the name. "White Recovery"? I don't really care for whitening products as I'm already pretty light skinned and any whiter I'll start to look sickly. But the sales rep told me it doesn't really whiten your skin per se, but recovers a kind of glow that most people with dull skin have. I gave it a go since I'm a huge fan of brightening (not whitening!!!) products anyway.
And. WOW. This is an amazing product. It goes on as oil to remove makeup. But washing it off with water emulsifies the product and turns it into a foamy/soapy cleanser which leaves your face feeling clean and moisturized without a dry/taut feeling. The sales rep also told me this is perfect for people with combination skin (me!!!) so I think I've found my HG makeup remover/cleanser/moisturizer. Definitely repurchasing this one! Worth it! Perfect for lazy nights when I just wanna skip the my whole skincare routine.
I also have to recommend this to people with sensitive skin like me. My mom was right when she told me that Asian women should only stick to Asian skincare products. Western brands are too strong and almost always end up breaking me out or giving me dry skin in the morning. Shu Uemura, and Shiseido are perfect :) (another drugstore brand that I use is the Neutrogena Fine Fairness line because I heard it was formulated specifically for Asians and they don't sell it in the US.)

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I'm a bit sad I can't review the Shiseido The Makeup Brightening Veil, Benefit Dandelion and Etude House BB Cream because I just came from the dermatologist and I've been avoiding makeup because of the open pores/skin inflammation. :( Will post individual reviews when my skin fully heals!

(i finally caved in and bought a bb cream after seeing all these reviews online about how girls would get clearer skin after months of use. I used to dismiss all these claims because I love my nars foundation and it's sheer and lightweight enough for everyday use, but we'll see!)

Me, still fresh with derma scars/inflammation >_<

The only makeup I'm wearing here is MAC Eye Brows Pencil in Brunette and Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Tiger Lily. Two things I can't leave the house unfinished are my eyebrows and lips. XD I don't mind not wearing concealer or foundation, as long as my brows and lips are taken care of then I'll be fine. I learned that skincare is much much MUCH more important than makeup anyway. If you really want that "glow" people keep talking about, take care of your skin and make sure your products are suited to your skin type and complexion for maximum results. :) 

my skincare routine as of 02/02/12:
pre-cleaning: Shu Uemura Balancing Cleansing Oil
cleanser: Shu Uemura White Recovery Ex+ Brightening Cleansing Oil
toner: AHAVA Matifying Toner
serum: Vitamin C Serum
moisturizer: AHAVA Matifying Moisturizer
eye care: Clarins Sun Wrinkle Eye Contour Cream
sunscreen: Neutrogena Fine Fairness UV Block SPF 50++
Thanks for reading! :)

My Basic Look

Step 1: Cleanse, Tone, Moisturize, Sunscreen etc

Step 2: Pore Minimizing Primer (I'm using Majolica Majorca Skin Lingerie Pore Cover) *Note: I only discovered about this brand recently when I found out it was the (younger, cheaper and hipper) sister company of Shiseido. :D

Step 3: Matte foundation in areas you need it (T-zone, under eye circles). I'm using Makeup Forever Mat Velvet+Matifying Foundation in Porcelain.

Step 4: Eyebrows!!! I'm using Benefit Brow-Zings in Medium.

Step 5: Falsies. I'm a very anti-mascara person just because every time I wear mascara it smudges under my eyes making me look like I have even bigger under eye circles U_U. I've tried countless of mascaras from Lancome to Shiseido to MAC to Maybelline and.. GOSH just wear falsies it gives you the same effect without the hassle of checking for smudging every 2 hours XD (an exception though is the Helena Rubenstein mascara I was able to try from my friend Jen. Super wow exceptional non-smudge mascara) I'm using Japanese Fairy Eyelash falsies.

Step 6: Conceal/Highlight. I'm using Clarins Instant Light Brush On Perfector in 00, a 2-in-1 Highlighter/Concealer which does WONDERS for my face. Under eye circles, blemishes... gone! The best product I have ever used and I think that's saying a lot! I used to think my Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage + Benefit High Beam was going to be the best highlight/conceal combination I would have but I was dead wrong. Like I said in my previous post, even better than the YSL Touche Eclat. ^_^ A lot cheaper too.

This is my everyday look when I don't know where I'm headed for the day. It's appropriate for both day time and night time so if it just so happens that I'll be out til night time then it's alright. XD Just a swipe of Chapstick then I'm off!

What's your go-to look?

Inside My Makeup Bag

Hi guys! This is my first ever post and my eager attempt at beauty blogging. I'm not really a makeup or skin care expert, I just enjoy these things a lot and it'd be nice to find other people who enjoy the same things that I do. So okay here is my first post!

My make up bag (surprisingly it's not that heavy as it looks and it can fit right in my everyday bag) This includes all the makeup I need for retouching throughout the day. (If only all my stuff could fit in my bag, I'd throw it all in there. But since I'm limited, here are my essentials.)

Inside:

Top, L-R: Laura Mercier Undercover Pot, Chanel Purete Mat, NARS Lipstick in Napoli
Middle L-R: Kleenex tissues (^_^), Benefit High Beam mini, Chapstick, NARS Lipgloss in Chihuahua, Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Powder Pink
Bottom: Clarins Instant Light Brush On Perfector (!!! HG MAKEUP !!!)

I'll try to do an individual review of the Clarins highlighter/concealer brush since it's the one makeup item I cannot live without. (For everyone who's familiar with the YSL Touche Eclat, I prefer Clarins by a huge stretch :D)

What's inside your makeup bag?