Interview Makeup Look

Here's a look I would wear to a job interview or to a business meeting. For formal occasions, I normally stick to neutral colors with a little bit of contouring, a touch of blush, and eye shadows that are shades of brown, light gold/peach, and cream.

I use a light color on the inner corners of my eyes to bring attention to them. When you're interviewing or meeting with people, you want to make eye contact during most if not all of the conversation -- your eyes should be the focal point.


EYES
MAC Paint Pot in "Soft Ochre" (entire lid)
MAC E/S in "Honey Lust" (inner and center lid)
MAC E/S in "Nylon" (blend on tear duct and apply on inner lower lash line to brighten eye)
MAC E/S in "Saddle" (outer corner)
MAC E/S in "Antiqued" (outer V, on top of "Saddle")
MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack" (upper lash line)

CHEEKS
MAC Powder Blush in "Harmony" (contour)
MAC Sheertone Blush in "Peaches" (apples of cheeks)

LIPS
MAC L/S in "Jist"

I also straightened my hair with a flat iron in these pictures. My hair is already naturally straight, but I like to flat iron my hair to give it extra shine. I used the Chi flat iron my mom got me for my last birthday. :)

Flip and Antiqued Brown Makeup Look

After writing my post yesterday about using MAC "Flip" eye shadow instead of "Gorgeous Gold" for a more golden look, I decided to do it so that I could take a picture and show you how it would look like.

I used different blush and lipstick this time for some variety. I like the look of "Flip" eye shadow more than "Gorgeous Gold", and I think it would look nice with any type of outfit because it's more neutral.


The steps I used for the eye shadow application is the same as yesterday's look:

EYES
Too Faced Shadow Insurance (entire lid)
MAC E/S in "Flip" (inner corner)
MAC E/S in "Saddle" (center to outer lid)
MAC E/S in "Antiqued" (outer V and blend towards center)
MAC E/S in "Vanilla" (highlight)
MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack"

CHEEKS

MAC Mineralize Blush Duo in "Light Over Dark" (use the dark color to contour and the light color on apples of cheek)

LIPS
MAC L/S in "Touch"

If you try other colors besides "Flip" and "Gorgeous Gold", I'd love to see a picture! I think the "Saddle" and "Antiqued" combination is so nice and can be used with another color that matches some part of your outfit. Email me your photo (nerdygirlmakeup@gmail.com), and you could be featured on my blog. :)

Gorgeous Gold and Brown Makeup Look

The first MAC eye shadows that I completely used up were "Antiqued" and a limited edition shade called "Bagatelle". I finally bought a refill pan of "Antiqued" on Friday, and I have added it to my MAC palette collection. Unfortunately, I haven't found "Bagatelle" anywhere -- it's a soft, goldish tan color that's great as a highlight and for inner corners. Here's a look that I used to wear almost everyday, but with "Gorgeous Gold" instead of "Bagatelle":


EYES
Too Faced Shadow Insurance (entire lid)
MAC E/S in "Gorgeous Gold" (inner corner)
MAC E/S in "Saddle" (center to outer lid)
MAC E/S in "Antiqued" (outer V and blend towards center)
MAC E/S in "Vanilla" (highlight)
MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack"

CHEEKS
MAC Powder Blush in "Harmony" (contour)
MAC Sheertone Blush in "Peaches" (apples of cheeks)
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural and Shimmer (shimmer just above apples; powder forehead, nose, and chin)

LIPS
MAC L/S in "Tanarama"

I think "Gorgeous Gold" kind of has a yellowish-lime look to it, so I wore a lime green shirt when I wore this makeup look on Saturday. You can substitute MAC "Flip" or "Amber Lights" to achieve a more golden look.

Office-Friendly Makeup Look with a Pop

I used MAC E/S in "Newly Minted" to add a hint of colorful teal for this look. Putting a bright color that matches your clothes on your lower lid and then blending a brown/taupe color on your crease helps dim down the brightness to give you a more professional yet youthful look.


Here's what I used and how I applied this makeup:

EYES
Too Faced Shadow Insurance (entire lid)
MAC E/S in "Newly Minted" (lower lid)
MAC E/S in "Satin Taupe" (outer corner and crease; blend with a fluffy brush like MAC 224)
MAC E/S in "Brule" (highlight)
MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack" (upper lash line)

CHEEKS
MAC Powder Blush in "Harmony" (contour)
MAC Sheertone Blush in "Blushbaby"" (on apples of cheeks and blend just above "Harmony")
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural and Shimmer (shimmer just above apples; powder forehead and chin)

NOSE (optional)
MAC Powder Blush in "Harmony" (contour sides and bottom tip of nose with MAC 224 brush; use a light hand!)
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural and Shimmer (shimmer down the nose, between the contoured sides)

LIPS
MAC L/S in "Touch"

Brown and Hot Pink Makeup Look

I used MAC E/S in "Soft Brown" for the first time today, and I really like it. It's the color on the center of my eyelids. It's matte and easy to blend.


I was already done putting my eyeshadow on when I decided to use my MAC L/S in "Snow Orchid" again. I ended up adding a hot pink e/s from my Coastal Scents 88 Palette to my outer lower lash lines to match the lipstick.


EYES
MAC Paint Pot in "Soft Ochre" (entire lid)
MAC E/S in "Retrospeck" (inner corner, tear duct, and inner lower lash line)
MAC E/S in "Soft Brown" (center lid)
MAC E/S in "Glamour Check!" (outer V and outer half of crease)
hot pink e/s from Coastal Scents 88 Piece Makeup Palette (7th row, 7th column; outer lower lash line)

CHEEKS
MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush in "Dollymix" (on apples)

LIPS
MAC L/S in "Snow Orchid"

Hooray for Friday and long weekends! Hope you all get to relax and soak in some sun! :)

EOTD using MAC Flip E/S

Hi everyone! I'm back! I finished my 5th and last final today, but I haven't had much sleep lately since I've been studying a lot. I wanted to write a post as soon as I got home from my final, so here it is! This one's just going to be an EOTD (Eye Of The Day).

Here's what I'm wearing:

MAC Paint Pot in "Soft Ochre" (entire lid)
MAC E/S in "Femme Fi" (highlight)
MAC E/S in "Flip" (lower lid)
MAC E/S in "Mulch" (outer V and crease)
MAC E/S in "Goldmine" (apply a little on the center lid to blend Mulch and Flip)
MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack"

MAC Flip E/S is limited edition, so if you want to pick one up, you should get it while you still can!

Brown Script Makeup Look

This is my first look using MAC E/S in "Brown Script". It's a matte2 pro color, and I got a refill pan of it the other day. It's a terracotta color that I was drawn to when I was looking through all the eye shadows at the store -- now to think of it, I blame my boyfriend for this because he's been into buying clay pots lately for our plants and this shade looks exactly like the color of the clay pots (LOL). Anyway, here's how it turned out.

I was going to call this post "Brown and Pink Makeup Look", because I did use a pink color on my eyes. However, it turned out more peachy/orange, so I ended up using peachy blush and lipstick.


EYES
Too Faced Shadow Insurance (all over lid)
MAC Paint Pot in "Fresco Rose" (lower lid)
MAC E/S in "Expensive Pink" (lower lid on top of paint pot)
MAC E/S in "Brown Script" (crease and outer V)
MAC E/S in "Ricepaper" (highlight)
MAC E/S in "Handwritten" (e/l -- use MAC 266 or any small angled brush to apply)
MAC Mineralize E/S Duo in "Heat Element" (just a little of the gold color on the inner lower lash line)

CHEEKS

MAC Powder Blush in "Harmony" (contour)

MAC Sheertone Blush in "Peaches" (apples of cheeks)

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural and Shimmer (shimmer just above apples, powder on T zone -- forehead, nose, and chin)

LIPS
MAC L/S in "Jist"

FOTD: Taupe and Gold Makeup Look

Here's my first look using the MAC eyeshadow refill pans in "Omega" and "Satin Taupe" that I got last week. "Omega" is a nice matte taupe color that is great for natural or smokey brown looks. If you're blonde, you could also try this shade for your eyebrows.

EYES

Two Faced Shadow Insurance (entire lid)

MAC Paint Pot in "Indianwood" (lower lid)

MAC E/S in "Sugarshot" (highlight and tear duct)

MAC E/S in "Omega" (crease)

MAC E/S in "Satin Taupe" (outer V and contour)

MAC E/S in "Amber Lights" (inner and center lid)

MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack" (upper lashline)

CHEEKS

MAC Powder Blush in "Harmony" (contour)

MAC Sheertone Blush in "Peaches" (apples of cheeks)

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural and Shimmer (shimmer just above apples, powder on T zone -- forehead, nose, and chin)

LIPS

MAC L/S in "Touch"

Smokey Brown Makeup Look

While I was in Australia, the movie "Hoodwinked!" was showing on TV in my hotel room. I started watching the first half hour, and I was actually enjoying it (LOL). I like corny jokes though, so if you do too, I recommend it haha. Anyway, the title of the movie reminded me that there's a MAC eye shadow called "Woodwinked" that I bought last December but haven't really used. So I used it yesterday and here's what I came up with:

EYES

MAC Paint Pot in "Soft Ochre"

MAC E/S in "Shroom" (highlight)

MAC E/S in "Espresso" (crease)

MAC E/S in "Woodwinked" (lower lid)

MAC E/S in "Ground Brown" (applied just above crease with MAC 266 brush; blend!)

MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack"

CHEEKS

MAC Mineralize Blush Duo in "Light Over Dark"

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in "Soft & Gentle"

LIPS

MAC Cremestick Liner in "Caramellow"

MAC L/S in "Touch"

:)

Bronzy Beach Makeup Look (using Too Faced Duos)

After a week of rainy and extremely windy weather, the sun has come out and it's beautiful outside! It's supposed to be in the 80s this weekend, so I'll probably make a trip to the beach for a picnic and some sandcastle building. :) Here's my bronzy beach look that I'm wearing today:

I used the Too Faced products that I blogged about yesterday. The eye shadow duos are really easy to blend.

EYES

Too Faced First Base (apply as a primer on the lower lid and blend upwards toward brow bone with finger)

Too Faced E/S Duo in "George & Weezie" (light gold color as highlight, light brown color on the crease)

Too Faced E/S Duo in "Full Frontal" (brown color on the lower lid and blend up to crease)

MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack" (as eye liner)

CHEEKS

MAC Mineralize Blush Duo in "Light Over Dark"

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in "Soft & Gentle"

LIPS

MAC L/S in "Frenzy"

Happy Friday!

"Shock" Purple and Brown Makeup Look

I came up with this makeup look on the first day of my Australia trip. I stopped by Walgreens before the flight (to load up on Airborne haha), and I picked up a purple Milani eye shadow called "Shock". This was the first time I used it, and I really like the color (especially since it was only $3.49 USD). It looks similar to MAC Stars 'N Rockets, and it's 1/4th the price!

EYES

MAC Paint Pot in "Soft Ochre"

MAC E/S in "Femme Fi" (highlight)

Milani E/S in "Shock" (inner corner and center lid)

MAC E/S in "Handwritten" (outer corner blended to center lid and crease)

Loreal HiP creme E/L in "Eggplant" (upper lash line)

Loreal HiP creme E/L in "Teal" (lower lash line)

CHEEKS

MAC Mineralize Blush Duo in "Light Over Dark"

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in "Soft & Gentle"

LIPS

MAC L/S in "Touch" <-- from MAC Sugarsweet Collection

Peachy Brown Makeup Look using MAC Sugarsweet

Here's the first look I came up with using some items I bought from MAC's Sugarsweet Spring 2009 collection:


EYES
MAC Shadestick in "Butternutty" (highlight) <-- Sugarsweet
MAC Shadestick in "Penny" (lower lid and crease) <-- Sugarsweet
MAC E/S in "Sugarshot" (on top of Butternutty) <-- Sugarsweet
MAC E/S in "Dear Cupcake" (crease) <-- Sugarsweet
MAC E/S in "Handwritten" (lower lid)
MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack"

CHEEKS
MAC Mineralize Blush Duo in "Hot Planet"
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in "Soft & Gentle"

LIPS
MAC L/S in "Lollipop Loving" <-- Sugarsweet

I put this makeup on the day of my flight to Australia. I wanted to do a little experiment to see how my makeup would look like when I arrived at my hotel in Melbourne, Australia (exactly 24 hours later). Here's how it turned out:

Not too shabby if you ask me! It goes to show that eye shadow primers really do make a big difference!

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!

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)!

My New Hair Color and MAC Brunette (Blonde) Redhead Makeup Look

Last week, I went to the salon to get my hair cut and colored. I wanted to go back to my original hair color (dark brown) and get two red lowlights. I also bought two eye shadows from the MAC Brunette Blonde Redhead collection. I didn't realized until I started writing this blog entry that one color is from the Brunette collection (Femme Fi) and the other is from the Redhead collection (French Cuff) haha :) I guess it worked out!

I love these two eye shadow colors. They look so pretty together. I used them with MAC Glamour Check! to achieve this look. This is a nice everyday look. I would also probably use this look to go to interviews.

EYES

MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre

MAC E/S in Femme Fi (browbone)

MAC E/S in French Cuff (crease)

MAC E/S in Glamour Check! (lid)

MAC E/S in Carbon (eyeliner)

CHEEKS

MAC Blush in Stark Naked

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Medium/Natural and Shimmer

LIPS

MAC L/S in Too Swoon For

P.S. I'm also wearing one of the Bumpits hair volumizing inserts. You may have see the infomercials on this LOL It's made by Big Happie Hair. I don't use it as often as I thought I would, but it does give a good *bump* without having to tease. :P

Golden Brown Makeup Look

The very first MAC Paint Pot I bought was Indianwood back in September 2008. I own 8 paint pots now, and Indianwood is still my favorite. Here's a look where I used Indianwood as a base to really bring out the golden/bronzy colors:

Here's what I used:

MAC Paint Pot in Indianwood (all over lid)

MAC e/s in Twinks (outer corner)

MAC e/s in Woodwinked (center lid) -- use MAC e/s in Amber Lights instead if you want it to be really golden

MAC e/s in Honey Lust (inner corner)

MAC e/s in Carbon (eyeliner)

If you haven't already bought MAC Indianwood Paint Pot, I definitely recommend it, especially because it looks great by itself as well. I tend to sport my Indianwood on the lid, blending with my ring finger towards my crease, on days that I am rushing out the door.

What MAC Paint Pots do you have and what eye shadows do you like using them with?

MAC Electric Eel Makeup Look

One of the colors my boyfriend got for me was Electric Eel (see previous post to see the other colors he gave me for anniversary). I was so excited about this color, because it is sooo pretty. Here's how it turned out:

I used MAC Electric Eel e/s on the lid, MAC Mulch e/s and MAC Ground Brown e/s on the crease, and MAC Ricepaper e/s to highlight the brow bone. MAC Ground Brown is a pro color that I picked up back in August when I was in Las Vegas at the Mac Pro store in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. If you don't have this color, any dark brown color will work too. :)

MAC Brownish Blue Makeup Tutorial

My first look using MAC's Passions of Red holiday palette in Classic Eyes.




EYES
MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study
MAC Devoted Poppy: 6 Classic Eyes palette
MAC Carbon e/s for eye liner

CHEEKS
MAC Stark Naked Blush

FACE
MAC Select SPF 15 Foundation in NC30
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural

LIPS
MAC "To Swoon For" from the Adorine Carmine Rose Lips set

Enjoy! :B

Classic Makeup Tutorial using MAC Red She Said

This is Part 1: Eyes and Cheeks