Friday, May 29, 2009

Beauty Binge:Make Up of the Week

I don't do FOTDs or EOTDs, but I thought I'd pick one look from the week that I liked and list down the products I used in Make-Up of the Week.

Out of all the regular eyeshadow colours : browns, purples, blues, blacks; I had such a hard time blending green on me. Greens are said to look great with hazel and brown eyes, but I honestly don't really but into that. I think any colour suits any skin tone and any eye colour as long as you blend the colours well.

I have avoided using greens because I could never seemed to get it right. I either over-blend and make it look muddy, or under-blend and make it look ... scary!! LOL. I can blend dark smokey looks, but can't work with simple greens. So this week, I've decided to give the greens a go again. Usually, when I need to experiment and learn, I'll reach for an easy and cheap palette. I love palettes!! All the colours you need are already there so it takes the guess work out of coordinating the shades. An easy palette for me is a trio: you get a highlighter, lid colour and a crease/liner colour. When I learn and experiment, I go back to the basics, and avoid layering colours. In this case, I took out my trusty cheapo brand Wet n' Wild MegaEyes Trio in Amazon Greens.

Wet n' Wild MegaEyes in Amazon Greens

The top colour is actually brighter in person - it's a lime green colour and I couldn't imagine using that as my highlight, so I took out my
CoverGirl Eye Enhancers Single in Champagne, a light shimmery beige colour with gold undertones. It's one of my favourite highlight shades. So for this "green experiment" I had to layer colours, as I wanted to use all three shades in the palette.

I like how this green look turned out. This palette is so easy to use and so easy to blend that it was almost effortless!! Yay! I can blend greens now!!

Here's what I used this week for my tryout with greens:

Face
Foundation: Revlon ColorStay Active Light Makeup in Natural Beige.
Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark (to set).


Cheeks
Blush: NYX Powder Blush in Taupe to contour; NYX Creme Rouge in Orange on apples; MAC Blush in Foolish Me on top of creme blush; Wet n' Wild MegaGlo Illuminating Powder in Spotlight Peach to highlight and as light dusting all over face to finish.

Eyes
Undereye concealer: Loreal Touche Magique (d/c); EDM Abbot's Perk Me Up to set concealer.
Eyes:ELF Studio eye primer; Revlon Illuminance Creme Shadow in Moonlit Jewels (green colour) as base; Wet n' Wild MegaEyes in Amazon Greens - lime green (top) on lids, olive (bottom) in crease blending out, dark green (middle) outer 'v'; CG Eye Enhancers Single in Champagne to highlight; ELF Studio eyeliner & shadow stick in green/moss (just the eyeliner) to line lower lashline; Jordana Kajal Kohl pencil in Onyx to line upper lashline and to tightline.
Mascara: CG Volume Exact in Very Black.
Brows: Loreal Brow Stylist in Light Brown.


Lips
Lips: Revlon Shiny Sheers in Peachy Sheen.

Jeez! Those Wet n' Wild MegaEyes trios are so easy to use! Try to look past the cheap and ugly packaging, this product delivers like a rock star!! They are only for $2.99 and you can find them at drugstore.com. Can't say it enough: Great Buy!



Thanks for poppin' by!

xoxo,
puss.inheels@yahoo.com

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Intermission

Hola Chicas.

I am still trying out different templates and backgrounds, so please bear with me. I don't like how some blogs are so heavily loaded with links that it takes a hundred years to fully load, so I am avoiding that with my blog. The problem is I get bored with things so quickly (makeup included - why do you think I have a truck load of products??) and there's always a need to change things around. I am still looking for an almost-perfect template (because there's
no such thing as perfect, if not this would be a dull place to live in!) so I will keep on trying different things on my blog. My apologies if these changes are giving you unexplained migraine and the sort.

Meantime, I had pretty nice make-up on yesterd
ay, so tomorrow's Make-up of the Week will be on yesterday's face.

OK dokes ... me going to tinker more on this notebook to see what else in the world wide web that catches me eye ...


Take care!!

xoxo,

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Beauty Binge:Paw-stamped & approved! May faves.

Since I have such a *huge* make-up collection, I thought it would be great, at every end of the month, to list down 5 things I enjoyed using in that month. I get new products at least once a month, so some are new, some are old stuff tucked away which I have re-discovered. Enjoy!

Time really flies! Can you believe it's the end of May already?? I'm still trying to wrap my head around this being 2009!! Sheesh! Here are 5 products that rocked my month of May! In no particular order:

1. ELF Studio Eyeliner & Studio Stick

I wasn't really sure if I wanted to get this product because the idea of a eyeliner on one end and a shadow stick on the other seemed so unexciting. But it was only for $3, so I thought, what the heck. I've liked what I have so far from the regular ELF and their more sleek-looking Studio line, and ... Hel-lo!! I have this in green/moss and I *loved* it!! The shadow stick melted and broke when I got it - I had to stick it back in. Problem fixed. This is such a great product!! I use the shadow stick on my lids, blend it out, and line with the liner. The shadow is smudge-proof, but the liner isn't. No biggie, you can always set the liner with a powder shadow. I use this on my super-duper lazy days, and I can still manage to look a bit more polished! Planning to get more ... too bad the colour selection is quite poor.


2. Femme Couture Liquid Eyeliner
I've discovered after collecting and trying different types of eyeliners, that I am a liquid liner kinda gal. I thought I've found my love in Prestige Cosmetics liquid liners, but an online spree for Sallybeauty.com opened the opportunity for me to try this liner. It's such a great product that I don't understand why it's so under the beauty radar. It's very easy to use, one swipe and your done. No kidding! You don't need to go back to the pot for more product - the brush carries you from inner to outer eyelid effortlessly. It's smooth and silky, and oh-so-freakin' black!! I've never had a liner this black!! I am so impressed, I'm lemming for the brown one too!! This is for $4.99 from Sallybeauty.com. Too bad it only comes in brown and black.

3. Monistat Chafing Relief Powder-gel
I was very reluctant to get this despite the raves of an excellent face primer. But really ... why would anyone want to put chafing gel on their faces?? After a disappointing performance from Revlon Beyond Natural Smoothing Primer, I decided to grit my teeth and get this. Lo and behold!! This product is not over-hyped - it's all true! My face is silky and matte, and my foundation glides on, stays matte with hardly much mid-day shine! Amazing stuff!!

4. Wet n' Wild MegaGlo Illuminating Powder
This has fast become a staple in my make-up routine. I don't find it to be that shimmery like a lot of claims, but you can get greasy if you go over-board. Like any product, it's always smarter to go lighter than build it up slowly. I love this stuff! I use it as a highlighter and more often as a finishing powder lightly dusted all over my face. Gives me a nice hint of glow with colour and makes my whole look 'come together' and warmer. I've also used this as a eye shadow palette. Very recession-friendly for an all-in-one palette!

5. ELF Studio Eye Primer & Liner Sealer.I haven't a clue on how to use the liner sealer side so that remains untouched, but the eye primer is quite nice. Granted, it's not as outstanding as my Loreal Decrease or Too Faced Shadow Insurance. I haven't use this for long days though, only on days when I know I'll be out and about for a couple of hours. It dries quickly to a matte finish, shadows go on smooth and true to their colours - pretty much what other eye primers do. But I don't think the staying power is as great as the other ones, but for $3, it does a pretty decent job. Me like!

Paw-stamped and approved for May!

Have a great day!

xoxo,
puss.inheels@yahoo.com

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Their Majesties

His Majesty King Mok


Her Majesty Queen Raisa


Your loyal and humble servant,
PUSS

Monday, May 25, 2009

Beauty Binge: Currrrl 'em lashes!

Truth to be told, I don't need eyelash curlers. I was born with long, curled lashes so having an eyelash curler is unnecessary. But I couldn't help myself! My ex co-host used to primp her lashes in between on-air sets and could never stop raving about her Shu Uemura eyelash curler. She has stick straight lashes and the device made her look more wide-eyed. On and on she went ... it's such a fabulous tool ... this thing is da bomb ... see now I have lashes, what would I do without my Shu ... bla bla bla. Such a little devil she was ... day in day out ... such a fabulous tool! Aiyoh! What's a poor girl like me to do but to get a pair myself, much to my co-host's amusement! But you don't need it!!

Hah! How can you stop a beauty addict from getting fabulous beauty tools?? At the time, I paid RM50 (price has increased since!), and yes, she was right. It is an
amazing tool ... although my lashes didn't really need it! But who cares?! I have the ShuUemura eyelash curler - the Godfather of all curlers!! WOOT!

Shiseido. Shu Uemura.

I was so besotted with my Shu curler, so much so I had it in my handbag at all times, and I used it whenever and wherever. Most times, in my car when I am stuck in traffic!! So since I have this curler in my handbag, I gave myself another reason to get another curler for home-use, when my make-up artist raved about the Shiseido eyelash curlers. *smacks forehead*

The Shiseido ones are a little pricier but my Gawd! They are awesome!! I also found out that I liked my Shiseido curler better - it's built better, and is more comfortable to use.


I finally caved after many other ELF products later, and bought their 'Mechanical Curler'. Nothing fancy - the spring action in the curler is what made it "mechanical" and boy! What a hit that was with me!! This simple feature made the ELF curler more fun to use. Ever since I have it, I've put my 2 expensive curlers to rest and have been reaching for the ELF. It's a dollar, it doesn't pinch, or poke like you would expect cheap curlers do. I was so impressed, I bought 2 more!!

2 extra ELF eyelash curlers I didn't need!!

However, ELF has 'improved' their curlers since.

For starters, the grips are bigger and bulkier, the colour of the rubber pad has been changed from white to black and now they provide an extra pad for your curler. The shape of the head, they way it performs still remain the same and am loving it even more because it's for a dollar!! I have such a soft spot for cheapo products that work like a million bucks!

ELF new. ELF old version. See the diff?

ELF new. ELF older version.

There's nothing special on the way I use them. I tilt the curler upwards so the head rests into my crease, hold for 10 seconds, release a little, move up a little on the lashes and clamp on for 5 more seconds, I get a nice curl rather then a 'bent'. I learned this way seemed to hold my curls up better even after I coat them with lashings of heavy-duty voluming mascara! Some make-up artists like to heat up their curlers with hairdryers so it curls better, but I 've never had that done to mine. My lashes are quite well-behaved.

I do realise I only have a pair of lashes and having 4 eyelash curlers (excluding the extra ELF I bought!) seemed a little wasteful, but I love them all the same. I seemed to be reaching for the ELF curlers more now, and sometimes I wished if I wasn't such a brand snob before, I would've saved a lot of money. Silly me.

*sigh*

You live and learn, I guess!

4 eyelash curlers for a pair of lashes ..ahaks!

Suddenly, I feel the need to curl my lashes ...

Have a great make-up week!!


xoxo,
puss.inheels@yahoo.com

Friday, May 22, 2009

Beauty Binge:Make Up of the Week

I don't do FOTDs or EOTDs, but I thought I'd pick one look from the week that I liked and list down the products I used in Make-Up of the Week.

I can't believe out of all the looks I had on this week, I actually liked the "natural" look best! I generally can't stand natural/neutral make-up - it's so boring! What I normally do if I do reach for the neutral colours or palettes is I'd amp it up with a colour
ed eyeliner, pencil or liquid on my upper lash lines and keep my lower lash lines pretty much bare. This is a great way of making your neutral make-up look less boring and a little more interesting. If you do use coloured liners, best you line only one part - upper lash line or lower, as colouring both may make you look like an ... ummm ... 'over-decorated christmas tree', 'know what I mean?

I love Silky Girl Funky Eyelights pencils. They come in a variety of fun colours and are budge-proof! CoastalScents has a bunch of unconventional coloured gel liners you can try, if gel liners are your thing. I'm more into liquids so I have a bunch of awesome colours from Wet n' Wild and Prestige.

This time, I took out my
Cover Girl Eye Enhancers Trio in Shimmering Sands. This palette has been in the market for as long as I can remember. The colours are very shimmery and quite pale, which hardly showed up on my MAC NC40-42 skin. The lightest colour was too frosty for my liking as an all-over lid colour , so I kept it as a highlight colour. The other 2 shades were a little better and gave me a nice hint of colours.

CoverGirl Eye Enhancers in Shimmering Sands

I have something similar to this in
Revlon Colorstay quad. "In the Buff" (this shade is not available in Malaysia :( ) has pretty much the same shades minus the over-the-top shimmers, and I think I like that better for barely-there make-up. If you have lighter skin tone, these shades might come off better on you. I like using a matte white base to bring the colours out and in this case, I reached for my CS gel liner in Silk White. The colours came out brighter. That's another trick I learned if you find your colours are not coming off as well on you - use a matte white base.

I like Cover Girl - their shadows are very pigmented and very blendable. The packaging's a little cheap though, but I'm not one bothered much with packaging. It's the product inside that matters.

I also used
Smashbox Photo Finish foundation primer. I have a sample and have been curious about this primer. It broke me out, 'nuff said. I am sticking to my Monistat Chafing relief Powder-Gel as primer. Plus, it's cheaper! Smashbox felt a little too 'slippery' on my skin. So this is taken outta my list, thank you very much! (Thank Gawd for samples!)

Here are the products I used for this week's natural/neutral make-up:

Face
Face primer: Smashbox Photo Finsih Foundation Primer (sample size)
Foundation: Maybelline Clear Smooth Minerals Liquid Foundation in WO2 Natural Buff
Loose Powder: Milani Loose Powder in Medium to set.


Eyes
Primer: ELF Studio eye primer.
Eyes: ELF Tone Correcting Concealer in Light; CS gel liner in Silk White as base; CG Trio in Shimmering sands: light pink(far right) for highlight, brown(middle) for lids, dark brown(far left) for crease; Wet n' Wild MegaLiner liquid liner in Blue to line upper lash line, SilkyGirl Long-wearing Eyeliner in Black Brown on 1/3 outer lower lash line; Rimmel Exaggerate eyeliner in Black to tightline; Avon Daring Curves mascara in Black; Loreal Brow Stylist in Light Brown.


Cheeks
Bronzer: Milani Sunset Duos in Sunset Beach (the bronzer part only) light dusting all over face.
Blush: CG Cheekers in Golden Pink to contour; The Body Shop Sun Lustre Bronzer in Bronze Gleam (LE) on apples.



Lips
Lips: ELF Mineral Lipstick in Barely Bitten.

I've completely forgotten of the 2 ELF Mineral lippies I have! I generally don't like lipsticks, maybe that's why. The ELF Mineral lipsticks don't feel like lipsticks though, they feel more like lipbalms - very light on the lips. This colour didn't come off as bright, but I figured with neutral eyes with a bit of blue eyeliner, I can get away with red lips, and the look turned out nicely balanced. WOOT!


Have a great weekend, y'all!

xoxo,

puss.inheels@yahoo.com

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Beauty Binge: Glo' with Wet n' Wild!

I was looking for products that would give me a glowy, bronzed look. I live in Malaysia where it is summer all year round and the humidity is around 84%. So if your not careful, glowy can turn greasy in a matter of minutes. As much as I am happy we left the flat and boring mattes in the 90's, going glowy and dewy is tricky business in this climate. I normally like my foundations matte, but I do like to highlight my face every now and then.

When I saw this product from Cargo, I was intrigued. This looked like a multi-purpose product, which I also like. And their Beach Blush with 4 different shades looked interesting. This can double up as an eye shadow palette! But c'mon! I am not going to pay $26 for coloured stripes in a tin! So my hunt for an affordable alternative began. Yes, I am a bargain hunter, and I strongly believe you do not need to give up your left arm for a fabulous product.


Cargo Beach Blush
*image from cargo*

Over the last few months, Wet n' Wild has totally found its way into my heart. It's super-affordable, the products are fun to play with, and the quality has continuously been a pleasant surprise. Yes, I have a soft spot for this cheapie brand, and I am not ashamed to admit it. So when I saw its version of the Cargo Beach Blush, I was wildly ecstatic!

Wet n' Wild MegaGlo Illumintaing Powder retails for a mere $3.99 and comes in a plastic container. They come in 3 shades: Catwalk Pink, Spotlight Peach
and Starlight Bronze. I am pretty sure the pink would not show on my MAC NC40-42 skin, so I got the Peach and the Bronze shades.

*image from wnwbeauty.com*

And whadyaknow! These turned out to be the pretty cousins of Cargo Beach Blush! I use them as a highlighter for instant cheekbones, although I notice these babies are not as shimmery. They're nice as a blush too as the different shades in the pan give you an interesting subtle mix of colours on your cheeks.

Another way I've recently enjoyed using them are as eye shadows! They are not too shimmery but incredibly pigmented. The different shades come off really well on my eyes, and they are easy to use as shadows. They are finely milled so they are not powdery and are smooth as silk which makes them very easy to blend.


I also always use this as the final step before I put my make-up away - lightly brush the colours all over my face just to complete the look. It makes my whole entire look 'warmer', and sunkissed which I really love.

The only gripe I have of this powders is that if worn as a blush or all-over powder, they don't last very long. On me, it disappears almost always after lunch. But surprisingly, the staying power is better as shadows. Hang on...oh yeah. Probably because I use eye primer underneath. But hey, you can't beat the price!

For $3.99, these perform really well. They are not too shimmery, so you won't end up looking like a grease ball even if you slightly over do it, and very pigmented. They are multi-purpose which is always great for traveling.


Spotlight Peach. Starlight Bronze.

Blusher, highlighter and eye shadow palette all-in-one. Another product worth checking out, from Wet n Wild!

Thanks for swingin' by!

xoxo,
puss.inheels@yahoo.com

Monday, May 18, 2009

Beauty Binge: 88-colour palette all hype?

Gawd knows how long I've been eye-balling this palette!

I've seen the tutorials on YouTube, I read all the rave reviews, I followed the discussions in beauty forums, I've stared at the pictures of this palette on coastalscents.com, beauty blogs, and yet I kept giving myself excuses not to get it. Why? Simply because there were too many colours! What was I going to do with so many colours? I have way too many trios and quads in my stash, I just didn't need another palette - especially one with 88 colours!!

But.... I caved and finally got one. Cheaper than CoastalScents. Cheaper than eBay. I didn't have to wait forever for the palette to arrive. Order and pay today. Got it the next day. Found this exact palette from LowYat.net. This girl was selling it for a mere RM59! And trust me, I had been logging on to her thread for months trying to decide - buy or not, buy or not. Finally, it's mine! I was excited! Yessssss!!!! I have all the colours to complete my every make-up needs!!


Who was I kidding?? *smirk*


This palette is all the rave especially in the US. Funny how a no-brand made in China item can be so popular! And stuff like that have been flooding the Malaysian market for years! It's true what they say: when it's not there, you look for it; when it's under your nose, you don't see it! I bet this palette has been in Malaysia for a while. It just hasn't been getting the attention until now. tsk tsk.

The 88 colour palette I have is the 'regular' one - some colours are satin, some are matte, maybe a couple of colours are metallic. Yes, they are gorgeous!! I sure have a weakness for palettes like these! The pans are the size of a 5 sen coin and according to the ingredients list listed at the bottom of the box, they contain among others: Talc, Mica, Mineral Oil and all sorts of Prabens. If your allergic to talc, hate mineral oil and trying to be praben-free, you can pass on this palette!


I tried at least 3 different looks with this palette. Boy! They sure are pigmented! But....with all the looks that I did, they turned out chalky on me. Am I doing something wrong here?? The mattes are hard to blend, and some colours came out splotchy. Some of the lighter colours are a bit too sheer for me, but the satin colours are alright. I wasn't wow-ed. I was hoping they would be as silky as the NYX shadows. But even the $.99 Sally Girl shadows apply waaaaay better! What an anti-climax!

The colours are powdery. Dip your brush in the pan, and you get powder everywhere! So you do get fall-outs. I *love* bright shadows, but you need to be super light-handed to apply these, because just a little goes a (bright!) long way. If you like natural and subtle make-up, I dare say this palette is not for you!

5-sen size pans

They're also quite fragile. I found four colours shattered when I received my palette - 1 shattered completely and had just a little left stuck to the sides, 2 colours was halved, and 1 other colour was slightly damaged. Oh! Well! They're still usable though, plus I have 84 perfect colours left! Not too much of a loss!!

Bottom line is, for me, this palette is nice to have, but not a must-have. I know there are a lot of beauty gurus who recommend this to those new to eye make-up, but I personally disagree. I always think it's wiser to start small. Start from the bottom and work your way up. At least that was what I did, and I didn't lose anything. I started out with duos and trios, where the colours were already given, so it takes the guess- work out in coordinating the shades. I studied my eye shape, understand colour placement, identified where my crease, outer 'v' etc are, learned to use different brushes, worked, and worked and worked on my blending. Once I was comfortable with that, I graduated to a quad and learned the art of layering colours.


I couldn't possibly learn all that when I have too many colours to confuse me. For one, I wouldn't know how to coordinate the colours! So I suggest if you're trying to learn eye shadow application techniques for your eyes, start small. It's a lot easier working with 3 colours than with 88.

I doubt these colour palettes will go out of style anyway, so you can always come back to buy them. As for me, I'm not giving up yet! I need to play with this palette more and find colours that can work better on me. After all, I have 88 colours to choose from, right?

Thanks for dropping by. Have a good day!


xoxo,
puss.inheels@yahoo.com

Friday, May 15, 2009

Beauty Binge:Make Up of the Week

I don't do FOTDs or EOTDs, but I thought I'd pick one look from the week that I liked and list down the products I used in Make-Up of the Week.

One of my many favourite looks is coloured smokey, and for some reason, I always end up doing some kind of plum or pink smokey - they're less intense and I love those colours!!

I took out an old quad from Lancome. It was a gift-with purchase quad, where the label has fallen off so I couldn't tell you the name of the quad or even the colours, but like with every palette, I try to utilize all the colours given. This is a relatively easy quad to use as it doesn't take much layering
. It's pretty straight forward.

Lancome

One thing I like about high-end brand eye shadows is the texture is so 'buttery'! This eye shadow quad applied smoothly, without over-doing the shimmer (which I like - too much shimmer ages me!), and it was very, very easy to blend. But like most high-end brand eye shadows (excluding MAC), the colours are too 'safe' and quite blah for my liking. I like bright colours, and it's tough trying to find a high-end brand that delivers bright, bold colours. Except for MAC.

I also used my MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation with Fix + for the face, and I like this combo. Some products just suck on their own! For a long time, I hardly ever touched my MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation. Until I used it together with MAC Fix +, then it's (almost) a match made in heaven! I also found out for my MAC NC 40-42 skin, NYX Concealer in a Jar in Medium works much better to cover my dark circles. I have one in Beige, that works OK too, but Medium's right up my alley! I don't normally fancy cream concealers. They settle into fine lines and make the under eyes drier that it already is. NYX Concealer in a Jar is no exception, but when I wore it this week, it didn't cake on me.

Here's a rundown of the products I used for my light pink smokey this week:


Face
Foundation: MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation in NC 35 with Fix +.
Concealer: NYX Concealer in a Jar in Medium.


Cheeks
Cheeks: Wet n' Wild Bronzzer in Bali Bronze to highlight; CoverGirl Cheekers Blush in Golden Pink to contour; Loreal Blush Delice in Rosy Cheeks on apples; Wet n' Wild MegaGlo Illuminating Powder in Spotlight Peach as all over colour to finish.

Eyes
Eye primer: MAC Paint Pot in Girl Friday
Eyes: Lancome quad: light purple (bottom right) on lids, pink (top left) in crease blending upwards a little, black (bottom left) outer 'V' gently smoke out, white (top left) highlight; ELF Liquid Eyeliner in Plum to line upper lash line - I left the bottom lash line bare.
Mascara: Cover Girl LashBlast in Very Black.
Brows: Loreal Brow Stylist in Light Brown.


Lips
Lips: Rimmel Rich Moisture Lipstick in 279 Smooch; Palladio plump n' shine in Creamy Pink.

Here are another 2 products that sucked on their own (on me at least!) but are so great together. Rimmel Rich Moisture Lipstick in Smooch is a nude peachy-pink lipstick that washed me out as I have pigmented lips. I was so devastated because I have been looking high and low for this shade, and found it on eBay. I think the Rich Moisture lippies are discontinued and Smooch is almost impossible to find. Palladio plump n shine lipgloss in creamy pink also looked horrendous on me on its own! It's a nice lipgloss with peachy undertones, and it tingles when you put it on. It has a brush tip applicator, which I like and these two together gave me a subtle nude peach look. Very nice!

You can find Palladio glosses on sallybeauty.com or ulta.com.


Have an awesome weekend!

xoxo,
puss.inheels@yahoo.com

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Beauty Binge: MAC Studio Fix Powder with Fix Plus

I have never been a powder foundation kinda gal. Even on rushed days, I make time to put on liquid foundation and normally reserved cream for nights. I love how liquid and cream foundies look and feel on my skin - smooth, even-toned, buildable and natural.

I know a lot of women prefer powder foundation as it is quick and easy. I just don't fancy the powdery look that comes with it, and sometimes, it can look cakey. I can have a powder foundation compact in my handbag and not use it for months. I'm also not much of a touch-up girl which also explains the untouched powder compact in my bag. Nevertheless, I do have one for my "just in case" moments, but that doesn't come by too often...

It must have been a twist of insanity when I was asking around for a good and affordable powder foundation. I guess I wanted to jump on the bandwagon of "quick and easy make-up". I don't know who I was trying to kid, but yeah, I had many suggestions pointing at the direction of MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation. Great! I love MAC! It's probably the only high end brand I truly adore! So off to the MAC store I went.

I bought my
MAC Studio Fix Powder for less than RM100, with my MAC Pro Card. I was in entertainment, remember, so I do get these kind of perks every now and then. It was very reasonable, but it was *hate* at first try.

*image from maccosmetics.com*

First of all, it was THE WRONG COLOUR!! The STUPID MAC SA matched me to NC35, at least a shade lighter. Since my skin is notoriously known to oxidise quite quickly, it eventually adjusted to the right shade, but for the first hour, I looked like I had slapped on a carton of flour on my face. %#*&@! With the cr@ppy exchange policy in this neck of the woods, I couldn't change with the right shade, so I had to make do. %#*&@!

Second point,
MAC Studio Fix Powder looked powdery on me. I hated it. White and powdery...what an AWFUL combo! I just *hate* the look that has a layer of powder on my face, you know what I mean?? I see that in so many women here, and I wasn't about to add to that statistic! *cringe*

Lastly, I also learned it's an awful powder for photography! Because my Mac Studio Fix Powder was lighter than my natural skin tone, I had to use a brush to apply which eliminated the colour contrast in person. When the pictures came out, to my horror, I looked like I had a mask on!! It was awful! Apparently, some friends have also told me, even with the right shade match, Studio Fix Powder does not come off well in photographs. So I avoided using my Studio Fix Powder like the plague whenever I know there are cameras around.

Long story short, MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation is the least favourite of the MAC products I have (and with the MAC Pro Card, I have quite a bit!). For a long time, it stayed in my handbag untouched, until I took it out and stuck in the far, far corner of my make-up drawer.

I have used it once in a while, but after all these years, I hardly made a dent in it. I hate throwing away/giving away my make-up no matter how awful they are, so I improvised. Although using a brush cuts out the difference in the shade, it also applies sheer. And me no like sheer make-up. I like my foundation medium to full coverage. So even after finding a solution somewhat, it still remains my least favourite.


Until I was introduced to the wonderful world of MAC Fix +.... Holy Cow! Where have you been all my life?? MAC Fix + is a multipurpose spray that contains glycerin (which traps moisture into your skin to keep you moisturized all day), chamomile, green tea and a host of other healthy ingredients. It can be used at a mixing medium for loose pigments or make your frost and shimmer shadows brighter (not recommended to use with matte shadows!), to set your make-up, as a toner, refresher spray on a hot day or to cut the powdery look and feel of your powder foundation, just to name a few.

*image from maccosmetics.com*

Now, I've been told by the STUPID MAC SA, that MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation can NEVER be used wet, unlike most powder foundations. Since I hated the product, I decided to take a chance. Didn't care if I ruin it, as that would give me great reason to toss it out...

I made use of another product I regret buying - the
ELF Kabuki brush from their mineral line. The bristles felt like it was taken from a squirrel that's been run down by a car! OK. Too graphic, but really! It's so rough and scratchy! I must've washed the sucker for like a million and a half times, conditioned it, and it's still not as soft! So I just left it on the table unused, until now.

So OK, after that long background info (sorry!), here's how I normally use them: I'd spray Fix + on the kabuki, gently pat the kabuki on a tissue to get rid of the excess moisture, swirl it into my Studio Fix Powder, then apply.

The result is a smooth, non-powdery make-up, natural but still gives me that medium coverage I so loved. AWESOME!! I love it when I make something utterly useless, work!!

Like with all the products you can use wet: wet/dry shadows, mineralized duo shadows, mineral blushers, etc. you need to leave the cover
open overnight before storing. There's a wet patch on my powder every time I used it with Fix +, I just leave it open to dry. That way, your make-up won't get moldy.

Using MAC Fix + with powder foundation is also great these days, what with the crazy heatwave Malaysia has been experiencing lately. The powder feels lighter on the skin without compromising the coverage you want.


MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation + Fix Plus = Pure Love....
Purrrrr.....

Thanks for reading!!


xoxo,

puss.inheels@yahoo.com