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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

FOTD: How the hell do you rock pastel lips?

May I figure it out...eventually...

FOTD: Green and Purple Cut Creases

I'm normally not a fan of cut creases on monolids, since there's way more flattering ways to do your eyes. But yes, it can be done, and it's a fun make up challenge to do every now and then.



Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Review: Midsummer Dreams Apothecary (Part 1)

I recently purchased a sampler pack of all of Midsummer Dreams Apothecary's Fairy Tale perfumes and two solid perfumes (Sultan's Daughter & Snow White) since:

a) I always love supporting indie brands
b) I'm a sucker for pretty packaging
c) Art Nouveau logo?? LOVE.


Customer Service


I have to say, Cheryl from Midsummer Dreams Apothecary is freaking awesome. So my credit card screwed up and I got charged $3,000 for a $30 purchase. I got a text message from my credit card company immediately to tell me I just spent $3,000 and I shat my pants. I immediately called up Paypal & messaged Cheryl, and they were both great. Cheryl was so responsive and I got more help from her than from my private banker. I'm so, so, so grateful for all her help. When my bank insisted on the merchant sending me proof that they only charged me $30, I got a response in less than an hour from her. And this was with a crazy time difference.

All this happened on April 7, I got everything settled and my order was shipped on April 13, I received it today on April 29. Pretty awesome for an international shipment (US to Indonesia). 22 days turnaround time while dealing with a credit card screw up is incredibly impressive! 


Packaging

My order came in the cutest packaging ever!

Stickers? OMFG yay!

Don't you feel all giggly and girly just looking at the packaging? Love!

Some of the perfume oils were leaking so I got a whiff of how all the oils would smell blended together and it's actually pretty nice! It sounds really weird, but it smells like a socialite granny: powder rooms, something a very classy & clean, and a hint of something old (could be all the amber). You imagine this perfume being worn by a very proper, Julie Andrews style grandma who's constantly wearing Chanel suits. I instinctively felt the need to sit up a bit straighter.  



Solid Perfume Review

I've only tried the solid perfumes since I'm saving the perfume oils for when I get back from Singapore. The packaging is obviously gorgeous. I love the tube too, makes it easy and convenient to apply. I find that the scent is not as strong (like most solid perfumes) and start fading after 1h for Sultan's Daughter and 2h for Snow White.


Now for the solid perfume fragrance reviews:

Sultan's Daughter

Image courtesy of: Midsummer Dreams Apothecary


Notes: Vanilla, Jasmine, Amber, Fig, Ylang Ylang

First impression: I can see this smell being very exotic in the US, but for an Indonesian, it smells very nostalgic. It smells like the oils they usually use when you get a Javanese massage - a smell that always makes me think of jasmines & batik.

5 min in: Still smelling like an Indonesian spa with a hint of a heady incense. A very creamy, flowery smell. My coworker says it smells like when you're getting a masage. 

30 min in: The heady incense smell is gone, and there's a clean, almost soapy, jasmine smell. Reminds me of Balinese hotels.

1h in: The smell is mostly faded.

Overall impression: This scent is like a trip to Indonesia. I'm not sure if Cheryl has ever been here, but she really captured the essence of the country in here. My Indonesian coworkers say it smells "normal" but if I get a whiff of this back when I was still in the US, I'd probably bawl from homesickness. 

Snow White

Image courtesy of: Midsummer Dreams Apothecary

Notes: Vanilla, Apple, Ylang Ylang, Balsam, Cedar, Rosewood, Pear, Bergamot, Fig

First Impression: I thought it smells like minty rain with a hint of apples.

5 min in:  I smell more of the apple now. It's smells like a deeper, more complex version of DKNY's red apple perfume. Love it!

30 min in: I smell a hint of something warm and sugary. Almost like brown sugar?

1h in: Smell's a bit faint but smells like apple pie. I'm hungry. I just want to eat myself...in a non-sexual way.

2h in: The smell's very faint now and it's a bit more floral. 

Overall impression: I love, love, love this scent. It's an apple smell that's delicious but light at the same time. It makes me hungry and yet doesn't make me smell like ants are about to swarm me.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Tutorial: Red, Gold & Bronze Gradient Liner

So I did a gradient Red, Gold & Bronze liner the last time and thought I might as well post a tutorial.

Eye close ups. The bronze & gold are the same colour (Müse's Fae Haven), only the gold turns to this bronze-ish burnt gold over blackliner.

Tutorial:


  1. For a clean, crisp line, put tape on your eyes, lining it with the curve of your bottom lids.
  2. Apply a brown/taupe colour and wash it out.
  3. Use a black liner and draw the line. For monolids, remember to draw with your eyes open to make sure the line peaks out of your eyes.
  4. Apply the red shadow from the outer edge of the line to halfway across your lids. I'm using Müse's Sparkle, Sweetie!, which is an iridescent pink that turns into this burnt red over the black liner.
  5. Apply the gold shadow on the other half of your lids. The gold I'm using is Müse's Fae Haven and it's a very shimmery, iridescent gold that turns into this bronze-ish, burnt gold over the black liner.
  6. Blend.
  7. Remove tape.
  8. Line outer half of the lower lashline tightly with a brown liner. I'm using Urban Decay's Bourbon.
  9. Apply gold shadow on the inner corner of your eyes and the inner half of your lower lash-line. Still using Müse's Fae Haven for this.
  10. Apply mascara. Using Fiberwig mascara layered over Maybeline's The Colossal. 



Final look!


Sunday, April 27, 2014

FOTD: Red, Gold & Bronze Gradient Liner



 I wanted to see how far one colour can go, so here's a FOTD featuring Müse's Fae Haven as a lip, eye & cheek highlighter colour.







Müse's Fae Haven
The gold and bronze is both Müse's Fae Haven! The peach-gold turns into bronze when layered against a dark liner.

I dabbed Müse's Fae Haven over my lip balm to get this lip colour.




Saturday, April 26, 2014

EOTN: Purple, Golds & Killer Wings



Beauty Trick: Layer Your Eyeshadow Over Eyeliner

You can create whole new colours by layering your eyeshadow over black or white eyeliner. Black eyeliner is especially great for bringing out the dimensions in light, iridescent colours.



Try this out over different coloured eyeliners and see what you get!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

EOTD: Stripey Eyeliner!


To get this look:

1. Line your eyes with a white eyeliner. For monolids, remember to line with your eyes open so you get the line placement right.
2. Pick a colour, tap on straight down to create a stripe. Do this with all the colours you want.
3. Dip a cotton bud into eye make up remover and wipe off any mess if there's any. You can also do this to make the line really sharp & crisp.
4. Lash on.

Review: Fragonard Perfumes

I've seen the Fragonard store in Plaza Indonesia and always wanted to get their perfumes since I'm such a sucker for pretty packaging. 
Look how pretty the store is!


I decided to go buy a perfume today and started sniffing. Most of the scents are unimpressive to me. They smell ordinary and lack complexity. Many even smell like room sprays. Two stood out and I had to do a skin test to see how the fragrances morph so here's my review for the scents:

Mimosa

Image courtesy of: http://fimgs.net/

First Impression: It's a sharp, fresh scent with green notes. Smells like crisp, clean linens and I was definitely drawn in. 

5 min in: It starts smelling rather flat. The smell reminds me of a spa. Starting to think this is a smell I rather spray in my room or on linens, not on my skin. 

20 min in: Ok, now I'm getting a minty licorice smell that's almost medicinal.  

30 min in: I'm now getting a chemical-ish scent...I smell like a sterile room with notes of melted bubble gum. 

Over an hour in: Help. It smells like melted plastic blown up. I don't even..

Bleu Riviera

Image courtesy of: http://fimgs.net/

First impression: On the bottle, it just smells like summer -citrus & fresh water. Love! Upon spraying, there's some undertones of a dirty, earthy smell. I smell like a dude hiding bad BO with perfume instead of showering. 

5 min in: The BO smell is gone, thank gods. It's now a pretty alluring, masculine scent. Still smelling the citrusy notes but the cool water scent is stronger. 

20 min in: It's actually a pleasant scent now, more unisex. I think I may get this.  

30 min in: Never mind, the chemical-ish smell popped out. It's not unpleasant, but the smell reminds me an upscale toilet. Hey, at least it's upscale. 

Over an hour in: There's a bit of a powdery undertone coming out, but I still smell like a toilet. Ok, more like a toilet powder room in an upscale place. You know, where you smell puffs of powder from old ladies powdering their face? Still more bearable than Mimosa, which is giving me a headache right now

Overall Review


5/10: Will never buy. I'm still giving them an average rating because I'm a sucker for pretty packaging and I can see these scents smelling great as a room/toilet spray. Definitely not wearable. 


And this is why it's so important to test out how the perfume smells on your skin.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

FOTD: Ready For Work - Blue & Bronze

When going with baby blues, I find a more violet-toned colour works better against my pale Asian skin. 

To keep the look more work appropriate, I kept blended the blue softly out, letting it only peek slightly above my eyes. With monolids, keep your eyes open while lining so you know how thick the line has to be.