Highlighter

How to look good even when you had a bad night?

Paris B 14 Comments

So you had a bad night. You wake up in the morning and see dark rings under your bleary eyes, and blotchy skin. What do you do?

Well, here’s where makeup can help you.

The key here is to keep things natural. From personal experience, I’ve found that on days when I wake up looking and feeling terrible, light natural makeup is best.

The key items you’ll need are:-

  • Concealer
  • Foundation
  • Highlighter
  • A light or nude colored eyeshadow
  • Eyeliner
  • Mascara
  • Light peach or pink blush

And here’s how I put it all together.
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Review: Spring 2008 Dior Flower Blossom Palette

Paris B 3 Comments

I’d been watching out for this palette from Dior for Spring 2008. What makes me happy is that the Dior Spring 2008 makeup collection is already in the stores and its still Spring! Usually we would be lucky to get them in by summer.

Dior blossom palette

Anyway, I finally got a chance to see and test the Dior Flower Blossom palette. Do I like it? Erm… its pretty. You can’t deny it. It is like looking at a watercolour painting with all its pastel shades of a flower garden.

The Dior Flower Blossom palette is an all in one palette containing colours that can be used as eyeshadow, blush and highlighter. The middle colour is a shimmery light pink which makes a cute blush. The blue, green and yellow are in fact iridescent shades. They don’t look like much but when applied on the skin, take on an iridescent shimmer when the light hits it. The base pink/peach colour is a shimmery highlighter.

All in all, this palette is, in one word – shimmery. Definitely not for the faint hearted. I would have a problem using this for a couple of reasons:

  • The colour areas are too small. I tested the colours using my fingers so I got the blue and green and yellow for the eyeshadow colours. If you are using a brush, I’d imagine you’d have a problem if your brush head is too large. The blush shade too requires a rather small brush and I’m not quite sure how you’d be able to reach the highlighter shade unless you are very careful. That said, a light swipe across all the colours might produce a lovely shimmery effect.
  • The colours are too pastel and shimmery. Not for everyone. I for example, prefer slightly stronger shades as opposed to iridescent shades partly because of that now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t colour.
  • It won’t suit all colouring. The colours are so pale that I can imagine them looking fresh and pretty on someone with fair colouring. I can’t quite see it working on someone with a strong tan or darker colouring, as I’d expect it might only show up as shimmer – and there are lots more highlighters out there than this one.
  • Its too pretty! Face it this is just too lovely to mess up! The sales assistant assured me that the colour and shimmer goes all the way through, not just on the top, so I guess we’ll have to take her word for it.

This is Dior’s limited edition Spring 2008 face palette and retails at all Dior counters for RM169.

Pros: A work of art to admire, Lovely shimmer effect

Cons: Colours too light, too shimmery overall, colour areas are too small

[rating:3.5/5]

Review: Makeup: The Body Shop Shimmer Waves

Paris B 3 Comments

The makeup from The Body Shop never really captured my imagination even though they were some of the first makeup I’d ever used. However, the Shimmer Waves piqued my interest when they were first launched because they look so similar to Bobbi Brown’s Shimmerbricks.

bodyshopshimmer

I have 2 – Blush and Peach. If I recall correctly, Peach was a limited edition item. They both serve the same function i.e. as an all over highlighter and as eyeshadow. What this means is that you can just carry this palette with you on a holiday and have everything you need to do your face.

I like Blush. It is essentially 5 shades of pink. Swirled together and used as a blush, it gives a slight glow to the skin without too much shimmer. The texture of the compact is harder than Bobbi Brown’s Shimmerbricks and there is less shimmer so there is no chance of looking like a disco ball. Blush really helps make me look awake on days when all I want to do is go right back to sleep.

I bought Peach because I like peach colours on my skin. However, Peach tends towards looking a bit too frosty for my liking. It makes my cheeks look oily although it looks lovely on the eyes. I eventually gave this one away because I wasn’t reaching for it enough.

I think they are a limited edition item here in Malaysia although it could be a regular item in the UK and the USA. They retailed here for about RM75 each which isn’t too bad considering that you are getting an all in one eyeshadow and blush/highlighter in one compact.

Pros: All in one compact

Cons: Can be frosty depending on colour

[rating:4/5]

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