Back from Australia + Bloom Makeup

G'day mates! I'm back from Australia! I'm a bit jet lagged though, because it's an 18 hour difference between California and Melbourne, Australia. I was there for 8 days, and I devoted 3 of those days for shopping :) One of my favorite Australian stores is Myers, and I picked up an Australian brand makeup set there. The brand is called Bloom. They had 2 new eyeshadow colors that I liked, and luckily they had a special set that came with the 2 eyeshadows that I wanted. So I ended up buying the set for $99 AUD (valued at $145 AUD), which includes tax. This is about $68 USD.



The makeup artist also gave me a free scented wax bead candle and two pieces of chocolate too! I didn't even know about it until after I already paid. :)



There were two different kits, one that was more of a blue/green set (even the bag is different) and this one that is brown/bronze.

Here's what is says on the box:

Bloom Bohemian Luxe Limited Edition Colour Collection Pack
Opulent and exotic, Bohemian Luxe fuses a bohemian sensibility with an irreverent edge to create a seriously feminine look.

Featuring a strong palette of earthy, bronze-toned Eye Shadows and Bloom's unique Shadow Liner, Bohemian Luxe has a relaxed romance at its core. Complete your doe-eyed look with curled lashes and Full & Flirty Mascara.

Contains:
Cosmetic Bag - Makeup Essentials
Eye Shadow - Chestnut
Eye Shadow - Amber
Shadow Liner - Ebony Brown
Full & Flirty Mascara - Black
Eyelash Curler


The eye shadows (chestnut [left] and amber [right]) are really pretty and easy to blend.

Even the free french lavender-scented candle looks and smells great! It burns for 30 hours.

Here's what I used on my EOTD:

MAC Paint Pot in "Soft Ochre"

MAC E/S in "Sugarshot" (highlight)

Bloom E/S in "Amber" (inner corner and center lid)

Bloom E/S in "Chestnut" (outer corner and blend into center lid)

Bloom Shadow Liner in "Ebony Brown"

Bloom Full & Flirty Mascara in "Black"

Taken in the Grand Hyatt Melbourne bathroom of my hotel room (LOL). The scarf is from a store called Forever New, which was right across the street from Myers.

This picture was taken when I (officially) finished shopping the day before my flight back home. Stores close early (6pm on Saturdays!), so I was hopping into taxis the whole day, making sure I got to go to all the stores and factory outlets I Googled before the trip. Big brownie points go to my boyfriend for being so good with the shopping part of our trip! haha I'll post more Australian brand makeup purchases and my makeup looks I did there soon!

MAC Sugarsweet Haul and Swatches

I had a very long week filled with midterms and homework, and now that I'm officially on Spring Break (as of 3PM today), I went to the mall after school and hauled these items from MAC's Spring 2009 collection called Sugarsweet.

Here are the swatches of the items I purchased:

(click on image to enlarge)

I initially wanted to buy Red Velvet shadestick, but after trying it on I decided to get something I would use more often. So instead of the pinkish-red color, I got Butternutty (light white gold color similar to Beige-ing shadestick) and Penny (copper color similar to Indianwood paint pot). Butternutty is a great highlighter color as well as a base color for your entire lid.

Here's how Dear Cupcake looks over Red Velvet (Sugarshot e/s is on the top without any base, Dear Cupcake over Red Velvet is on the bottom):

Dear Cupcake e/s looks just as pretty over Butternutty as it does over Red Velvet -- it just ends up looking like light pink rather than hot pink.

The 5 lipsticks from this collection are awesome. I wish I could have bought all of them. I ended up getting three, because I couldn't decide which one I wanted most (this is where a shopping buddy would have come in handy haha).

This is how I eventually convinced myself to get all three lipsticks:

1) I don't have any lipstick that looks like Bubbles. This light creme color would look great when I wear dramatic smokey or colorful eye shadow. Also, Bubbles applied on top of any lipstick will make the overall color lighter.

2) Lollipop Loving is the lipstick I originally wanted to get (after reading other reviews online). I have been into peach-colored lipstick lately, and this one has green shimmer in it. Too cute!

3) Touch lipstick is a very nice natural color. It's the perfect shade of brown -- not too dark and not too light. Also, this color matches really well with the shadesticks I already decided on getting.

So there you have it! Definitely check out this collection!

:B

(P.S. I'm off to Australia tomorrow, so hopefully I'll find some local brand drugstore makeup to blog about!)

Gold and Black Makeup Look

I wanted to play with my Ultra Shimmer 88 Eye Shadow Palette again. I ordered it from Coastal Scents last November, but I haven't really been using it much until now. I don't know why I didn't use it sooner -- the colors are really pigmented, especially for the price!

Here's how my Gold and Black makeup look turned out:



When I use a lot of color on my eyes, I try to keep my lips as neutral as possible. I usually like to either make my eyeshadow pop out or my lipstick stand out, not really both at the same time.


EYES
MAC Paint Pot in "Soft Ochre" (can you tell by now that this is my favorite paint pot? haha)
Coastal Scents Ultra Shimmer 88 Eye Shadow Palette (4th row, 2nd column gold on inner to center lid, up to browbone; 8th row, 11th column black on center lid to outer corner)
MAC e/s in "Femme Fi" (as highlight on outer and inner browbone only)
MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack"
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in "Lucky" (apply lightly on lower lash line)


Here's the Coastal Scents palette again so that you can look up which colors I used:

CHEEKS
MAC blush in "Enough Said"
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in "Soft and Gentle"

LIPS
Lancome l/s in "Luxe" (this was a free gift last month)
Benefit 24k Lipstick (on top of Luxe; released at Sephora in a Holiday 2008 gift set)

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Blue Makeup Look

Here's my Eye of the Day (EOTD)!

What I used:

MAC Paint Pot in "Soft Ochre"

Coastal Scents Ultra Shimmer 88 Eye Shadow Palette (1st row, 6th column as highlight; 2nd row, 6th column on crease; 7th row, 6th column on lower lid)

MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack"

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in "Electric" (lower lash line)

If you'd like to buy the same e/s palette I used for this look, visit http://www.coastalscents.com/. I bought it for $24.95. :)

Everyday Brown Makeup Look

I try to hang out with my mom every other weekend. When I come over, we catch up on life (this includes what new makeup we've seen/tried/bought/etc.). Then I almost always end up giving her (as well as my sister(s) who happen to be home at the time) a makeover. For our last makeup session, I came up with this everyday brown look that she can wear to work/dinner/outings/etc. Here's how it turned out:




EYES
MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre
MAC Devoted Poppy Holiday Palette: Sweet Eyes e/s (as highlight), Amourously e/s (on crease)
MAC Mineralize Eye Shado Trio in Inter-View (dark brown e/s on entire lower lid and swipe a little of the middle gold e/s right on the center of the lid)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (as e/l)

CHEEKS
MAC Hello Kitty Beauty Powder Blush in Tippy (just a little bit on the apples)
MAC Hello Kitty Beauty Powder Blush in Fun & Games (under Tippy, contour cheekbone and bring up towards temple)
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle (on top of where you put Tippy to make it not as bright)

LIPS
Dior Addict l/s in 420

If you didn't get a chance to buy the Devoted Poppy palette over the holidays, you can use other colors to achieve this look. For Sweet Eyes, use a shimmery muted golden beige e/s and for Amourously, use a frosty antique gold e/s.

These makeup sessions are so much fun. I look forward to it all the time.

Thanks Ma, for being my model (and role model) ;)

The Story of Me and My Lancome Foundation

When I worked at my first job in high school, I was so excited to get my first paycheck. As soon as I cashed the check in, I bought two items -- a titanium Yonex tennis racket (like what Martina Hingis was using back then) and Lancome Photogenic foundation. It was my first time trying a foundation that was not from a local drug store (Loreal True Match, Revlon Color Stay, etc.). When I tried it on my face, I absolutely loved it. However, I only bought that one bottle, because I was saving for my first year at UC Berkeley. Repeatedly paying $30 for foundation was going to be a bad habit I could not afford at the time.

Over the years, I kept that same empty foundation bottle so that 1) I could remember my shade (so that when I graduated from college and got a good paying job, I could run to the nearest Macy’s and buy them in bulk) and 2) it was a nice memory to remind me of the days when I worked at a toy store making minimum wage and saving for the little things that I wanted. Now that I'm older and have worked at a few places (and saved, lol), I buy this foundation all the time. I even keep some in stock just in case I might run out.

About a year ago, Lancome replaced Photogenic with Photogenic Lumessence. Fortunately, I still like it just as much as the old formula. I’m on my second bottle now, and I use it everyday.

So what I was originally getting at with all of this is that every couple months, Macy’s gives a free makeup gift with any $29.50 Lancome purchase. Every time they have one, I end up buying a new bottle of my foundation and getting a new gift. The most recent gift was this Lancome Chic Travel free gift that came out last month:
Here’s a look I did using the free Lancome makeup (and some MAC blush of course haha):

EYES
Lancome Color Design e/s quad (Latte, Waif, Mannequin, and The New Black)

MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack as e/l

CHEEKS
MAC Hello Kitty blush in Fun & Games
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft & Gentle

LIPS
Lancome Le Rouge Absolu l/s in Luxe

Next time Lancome has a free gift, you should definitely check it out (and Lancome Photogenic Lumessence too)!

Tropical Makeup Look

Want to add a little color on your eyelids without having to spend too much dough? CoverGirl Eye Enhancers in Tropical Fusion comes with four fun eyeshadows for only ~$5 (USD).

I bought it at Walgreens when there was a CoverGirl Buy One Get One 50% Off sale, so I picked up this contouring blush as well:

CoverGirl Instant Cheekbones in Peach Perfection

This is how my tropical look turned out (I used all four eyeshadow colors and the peach blush):

I was aiming for a colorful yet subtle look.

This CoverGirl quad is perfect for those of you who do not wear these types of colors often but have always wanted to try it out. It's cheap, and the colors are not too shocking.

EYES

MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre

MAC Femme Fi (highlight)

CoverGirl Eye Enhancers in Tropical Fusion (all four colors applied to lid -- same order as it appears in the quad)

MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack

CHEEKS

CoverGirl Instant Cheekbones in Peach Perfection (darkest color to define cheekbones, middle color on apples of cheeks, and lightest color "2 finger" lengths from bottom of eyes)

MAC Mineralize Blush in Soft & Gentle (very little applied on apple of cheeks)

LIPS

MAC l/s in High Tea

Party Purple Makeup Look

I went to a friend's birthday party on Friday, and I decided to wear my new lavender XOXO jacket I bought at Macy's last weekend. I came up with this purple makeup look to match my outfit (as usual) :) Here's what I used:

EYES
MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre (on entire lid)
MAC E/S in Digit (as highlight)
Coastal Scents 88 Shimmer Palette -- 8th column, 4th row purple e/s (on crease)
Coastal Scents 88 Shimmer Palette -- 6th column, 8th row dark purple e/s (on lower lid)

MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (eyeliner)

Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter E/L in Metalhead (place right above blacktrack line)

CHEEKS

MAC Blush in Stark Naked

LIPS

MAC L/S in Violetta

MAC Cremesheen L/S in Lavender Whip (on top of Violetta)