My First Giveaway: Karmin Titanium Flat Iron

Starting from November 28 to December 20, 2008 I will be having a giveaway. The people at www.myhairstylingtools.com were kind enough to give a Karmin titanium flat iron to one lucky reader. If you'd like to see the results that can be achieved with the flat iron, check out the My Hair Styling Tools Blog. The giveaway is open to anyone in the US and Canada and to enter please email me the following:

• Your name
• Two of your favourite beauty products and why you love them so much
• A very embarassing beauty related story/mishap.

I will announce the winner on December 23, 2008 and post the winning entry.

Also, I have to codes for www.myhairstylingtools.com.
DIVA25 - Good for $25 off any Karmin Titanium Hair straightener
DIVA10 - Good for $10 off any item

Crabtree and Evelyn Conditioning Body Lotion

In the winter months I like to stick to heavier cream, in fact I am addicted to body oils and body butters during that time. However, since the weather is not yet technically at a stage where your tears form tiny icicles in your tear ducts I don't need to break out the heavy artillery.
The Crabtree and Evelyn conditioning body lotion contains lemon and coriander essential oils and reminds me a lot of something similar from the Bath and Body works scent-wise. The lotion however sinks in quicker and therefore seems to moisturizer better. It doesn't leave a greasy film behind and feels quite light.

The scent is very light and pleasant. As noted, it smells of lemon and coriander. Don't be afraid that the coriander part will make you smelling like body odour or like you just finished cooking your favourite Indian curry. It brings a touch of warmth to the smell and grounds the lemon. All in all, it's a great basic moistuizer with a really yummy smell.

Some of My Essentials Part 1

I had a request for some of my essential make-up items and here is the first installment.

Smashbox Bliss or Smashbox Champagne


Forget the eternal MAC Ricepaper or Shroom eyeshadows. Bliss and Champagne are two buttery soft shadows that have the right colour composition and frost. They make the perfect highlighting shade. One quick swipe across the browbone and my eyes get a lift and look alive and awake. And did I mention that the texture is to die for?

Carmex


This seems to work better than any fancy lipbalm out there. It's an essential that saves my cracked, bleeding lips everytime. It's not fancy but it works.

Bobbi Brown Bronzer in Medium

One of my favourite products. It's a no-brainer really. It's matte and so natural that it's become my go-to bronzer. I use it as a blush, contour, or, and here's a shocker, bronzer. Because it doesn't have shimmer and doesn't have deep orange undertones there's no leather handbag
quality to the look I end up with.

Vasanti Eye Pencil in Black

Lately I've become too lazy to put on my gel eyeliner so I've resorted to a quick swipe of kohl pencil. All kohl pencils smudge on me but the Vasanti eye pencil is one of the more resilient ones. The reason I love it is that t glides on smoothly, without tugging in the least and it is intensely black. It makes for a gorgeous quick smoulder. In the picture I'm wearing the pencil liner on my waterline and smudged slightly along my top lashes.

image source: www.smashbox.com, www.bobbibroncosmetics.com, www.drugstore.com, my own pic

Guerlain Meteorites: Alternative to Fair and Lovely

Whenever I'm gone for a while it seems my sarcasm must return in full force to make up for my absence. I truly feel that the snark in the title shows my disappointment sufficiently.

I had long been tempted to buy the Guerlain meteorites and I have tried them out several times on my hands. It was a bit glittery so I always skipped it. My curiosity got to me and after almost a year, yes a year (praise my self-restraint people), I finally tried Beige Chic, Mythic and Pink Freeze on my face.

On lighter skin, it would be beautiful I'm sure. Since nothing spectacular happened on my face I'm not sure exactly what the beautiful effect would be but I'm trying to be fair to the product. On my nc45 skin tone however, all I got was a lightening of my make-up. After trying out each colour meteorites at separate occasions, I noticed it looked like I was wearing a face powder that was too light for my skin tone. In fact, I was asked during every attempt if I knew that my foundation should be "the colour of my skin, not the colour I wish my skin was" by various people.

As for the glow, this is where the Fair and Lovely comparison comes in. The glow I was looking for eluded me. There was no subtle dim lighting surrounding my face as the meteorites simply lightened my face. Unfortunately, none of the shades made any impact resembling a soft, diffused glow. If you're looking for a soft glow this holiday and if you have a skintone like mine, skip this product altogether.

image source: www.evecare.com

Nicole Kidman's Make-up Breakdown Continued

So here's the next and final chapter in attempting Nicole Kidman's make-up. Keep in mind that I do have different colouring and two-toned lips. And I am sad to report the make-up didn't turn me into Nicole Kidman, but I can drown those sorrows over chocolate pancakes int he morning (this is a whole new chapter in my life where I am obsessed with, you guessed it, chocolate pancakes).

Here's the photo for reference again:


Make-Up Used:

• Sally Hansen Carmindy cream blush in Ginger
• Vincent Longo Wet Kitty lipstick
• MAC Plum Perfect tinted lip conditioner

Step 1:
Apply the Ginger cream blush with your fingertips to the apple of the cheeks and then blend towards the temple. You can add a bit of extra blush on the apple to give a slightly more flushed look.


Step 2:
Fill in lips with the Wet Kitty lipstick.



Step 3:
Finish the look by topping your lips with the Plum Perfect tinted lip conditioner. I didn't want to use gloss because that would be too shiny. The lip conditioner gives a more sophisticated sheen.


Final Result: