Dressed Up with Blue-Brown Pigment for the Eyes

I went to an event recently that needed me to be very dressed up. My zits were not inflamed then and I had a few marks that I needed concealor for. Other than that the skin is fairly natural with a bit of powder on the forehead to stop shine (damn my oily skin). The focus is mostly on the eyes which I kept very dramatic (big surprise, I know) and I kept the rest of the face fairly neutral.

Also, I used the Sand Pink blush from Bobbi's Cocoa Mauve collection. It's a versatile shade that I find I can have a lot of fun with.


Tools Used:

• MAC 242 brush. This is great for those annoying hyperpigmentation marks I'm trying to fade. This is also perfect for applying loose pigments and cream shadows.
  
• MAC 129 brush for powder and blush.
  
• MAC 219 brush for applying detail in the crease.
• A thin art store brush I use for cream liner.

Make-up Used:

• Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Luminous Matte Pressed Powder
• Revlon Skinlights Illuminating Touch in Medium
• Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream Shadow in Galaxy
• MAC Blue Brown pigment
• MAC Ricepaper
• MAC Carbon
• L'Oreal HiP cream liner in Black
• Guerlain Loose Kohl in Noir. I love this as a liner on my lower waterline but a basic black liner should do.
• L'Oreal Panoramic Curl mascara
• Bobbi Brown Sand Pink blush
• Chanel Rouge Allure lipstick in Silhouette. This is my favourite lipstick of all time by the way.

Step 1:
Groom eyebrows and set them in place. With the 242 brush, pat on Galaxy cream shadow to the lid. Be sure to stop right above the crease

Step 2:
Dip the 242 brush in the Blue Brown pigment and apply over the Galaxy cream shadow.

Step 3:
Apply carbon to the crease very lightly and blend out with the 217 brush. Then, accentuate the very outer edges with the 219 brush dipped in carbon. Blend out so that there are no hard edges but keep the very outer edges dark so you get defined drama.

Step 4:
Line your top lid by starting off with a very thin line at the inner corner and make the line medium-thick as you get to the outer edge. Gently wing the liner slightly past the black shadow.

Step 5:
Line your bottom lid with the Guerlain loose kohl.

Step 6:
Coat your top and bottom lashes liberally with the Panoramic Curl mascara.

Initial Result:

Step 7:
Apply concealor to under-eyes and any blemishes. I liked doing this after the eyes because this way my make-up won't get ruined by eyeshadow fall out. In case you were wondering I camouflaged the red marks that are left with the Skinlights Illuminating Wand. If you ever do see it anywhere, I really recommend you try it. it's amazing for marks and under-eye circles.

Step 8:
Lightly dust the Luminous Matte Pressed Powder all over. Keep it light because you want your skin to show through and you've already applied the necessary concealor.

Step 9:
Smile and apply Sand Pink blush to the apple of the cheeks and blend towards the temples. Keep the application light because your eyes should be the focus.

Step 10:
Finish the look with the Silhouette lipstick.

MAC Lustre Twin Boss Brown/Slave to Pink Review

I'm something of a lipstick, lipgloss, and lipbalm junkie. There's a word for people like me but I don't think it can be used in polite society so I'll let you guess the exact phrase you could use to describe my obsession. When MAC came out with their Lustre Twins I rolled my eyes since I'm not a very big fan of their pro-longwear lippies in general. However, the Boss Brown/Slave to Pink duo really deserves praises.


The duo is a very easy neutral that I think looks fabulous with a natural face or even with dark eyes. Either way it's my favourite duo from the collection. Boss Brown is a neutral brown with hints of mauve and bronze and Slave to Pink is a pearly champagne pink. Worn alone, Boss Brown is fairly dull on my pigmented lips and really is not spectacular enough to own. It is also very sticky but that's just an issue I have with the pro-longwear lippies in general. Adding Slave to Pink transform the shade from dull to a versatile neutral that can be worn with anything.

The staying power of the duo is fairly good but it dries my lips out more than MAC's usual lipsticks (which I find very drying in general). It is necessary to reapply the Slave to Pink side but the combined effect is so pretty that I don't really mind doing that. If you're looking for a long-lasting neutral that you can use in a great variety of looks, give this one a try.

And in case you're wondering, my smile is just that lopsided.

Skin Experiment (I Can't Believe I'm Doing This)

All of a sudden in the past two months, maybe because of extreme stress, my skin has been breaking out on my right cheek like no other. I now have a smattering of red angry scars on my right cheek. So I decided to keep a progress log here, I will just show the hated patch of red skin, where you can see the progress and see what the treatment will do.

The treatments I ordered are from make-up artist's choice. I'm just posting my progress and REALLY caution you against trying something strong if you haven't been to a derm before. I also started off with very mild treatments.

So I will post my first pic of the patch later today and I used one treatment of the TCA 12.5% at home peel. It did nothing. My marks were still red and I got three new cystic pimples because of it. I am going to post my progress with pics and description. Let me know if this is interesting to you ladies at all.

Bobbi Brown Cocoa Mauve Review

My camera's battery doesn't seem to be charging well and I can almost swear I can hear some little demons laughing after they cursed my ability to use electronics properly. That's a completely different issue altogether. I'm so sorry I've been absent, it's been interesting to say the least. Here' a review of Bobbi's Cocoa Mauve collection at Nordstrom.


First of all, let me say that the bag the make-up comes with isn't that exciting. Somehow Bobbi always seems to come up with bags as incentives. I hate this because I know I will never use those bags. However, it is a decent sized bag and I'm sure it is quite useful in the right hands (just not mine).

I was afraid the collection would be too cool toned or look muddy on my skin. My skin is so strongly yellow I have to be careful when it comes to anything taupe or gray because they can make me look like I've been inhaling all kinds of substances. The Iced Mauve Metallic shadow is a wearable grayish taupe with just enough depth, darkness, and warmth to stop me from looking like I enjoyed the X-Files movie a bit too much.

I was also surprised how much I liked the Cocoa Mauve gel liner. True, it's nowhere near an intensely dark colour but its warm shinner and soft but slightly different cocoa colour is dark enough to enhance my eyes without being overpowering.

My favourite part of the entire collection is the Sand Pink blush. While this is partly because I have a blush obsession, I also think that the blush would perk up a wide range of skintones beautifully. If anything it's great for us sallow-toned ladies.

The Berry Mauve creamy lipcolour is very pretty but I only just barely see it on my pigmented lips. It leaves a soft flush on my lips but I do wish it had been a bit deeper so I could actually play with the colour more. It is a lovely lip colour that would beautiful on lighter skintones but I do wish I didnt have to concentrate on making my lip colour show up.

Overall, I really like this collection. Let me know if you want to see swatches or me actually wearing the make-up. I could also do a Cocoa Mauve inspired FOTD of you ladies would like.