9 posts tagged “makeup”
For myself. Does that count?
1. 2 pairs ElleActive yoga pants from World of Sports (30% off) - in black and blue
2. 2 mascaras from Sasa - Kiss Me Active Girl Max Volume and Naris Wink Up Styling (I'm searching for my HG mascara again)
3. From Gap (30% + 10% off)
a. Stripey waffle v-neck tee
Was incredibly tired and sleepy after work today, but could not resist the lure of the Taka 14th anniversary sale!
When I got to Orchard, I was sidetracked by the "15% off storewide" sign at TopShop. This is in conjunction with FRESH! The Graduate Showcase (Singapore Fashion Week 2007) this Saturday, and ends on Sunday. I haven't found anything good at TopShop for awhile now, but I never stop trying! This time I tried on a few things and decided on this.
Not my usual style at all - I don't usually look too good in voluminous things. This one was actually okay. Maybe because it was a size 6 and from the Petite range? The knit is a little chunky, but it's a acrylic-nylon blend and not scratchy.
At Taka, I went to get the Lunasol palette (Geminate Eyes 01) and eye jelly (Jelly Eyes EX02, a beige-gold) I wanted. Palette was the last piece in 01! Everything is very, very sparkly, and I can't wait to try them out. So glad I didn't grab them earlier at full price. SA gave me a small pouch as a GWP.
Was planning to get an Envirosax but they were out of the design I wanted. While walking around B1, I saw lots of table mirrors. Now, I used to have a GWP swivel mirror I got from Urban Decay and it served me well for several years, though it wasn't very big and the magnification wasn't very strong. But finally it got so wobbly on its pedestal I had to replace it. Being too cheapskate to get a "real" one, I ended up with a regular mirror from Muji. It's okay, but I've been really missing magnification.
So I looked at the collection at Taka carefully, and finally picked one that was of a comfortable size. The pedestal part is a little small, but weighted and shouldn't cause the mirror to tip over too easily if I'm careful. Small pedestal = small footprint, so space-saving. Magnification is 5X, which is good enough. Not a fancy brand (Kokopelli Collection) but still almost $90 before discount. I think a good investment, though, and will make life easier in the mornings!
I also almost got a toner from Aesop. I calculate that after 10% off, it's about the price you pay in Australia, so not a bad deal. But do I really need an expensive toner? 2 more days to decide!
I finally had my hair cut today. I also really really need a colour job, but neither Le Salon nor Kr+ has colour promotions going on at the moment. Should I try other places? Decisions, decisions...
Walked around Orchard afterwards and did not end up with clothes or shoes! I looked, but nothing appealed. Phew!
Picked by a Blossom Dearie CD at Gramophone. I first heard her on theJazz; she has this amazing little-girl voice that is strangely evocative. Her CDs seem to be hard to find - the one I got was the only one on the shelf. I plan to search at HMV next, but I might just get a couple from Amazon instead.
Went to check out the Alexander McQueen collection at MAC. As expected, I was very taken by the paint pots! After pigments and fluidlines, paint pots are shaping up to be my next MAC addiction. On their own they can be somewhat flat (even the shimmery ones), but with an eyeshadow - or, even better, a pigment - over it, it's simple yet gorgeous. I finish off with a fluidline for real oomph. I got Electro Sky (royal intense blue) and Otherworldly (mid tone sea blue). I tried Pharaoh (creamy yellow green) too, but it's harder to wear with the colours I've got at home, and I honestly don't find lime green all that attractive as eyeshadow.
Got half a day off today after all, and I thought I was quite productive!
After my morning class, I went for yoga, showered, ate, shopped, had a pedi and returned to school for the P's presentation.
I had maybe 20 minutes at Tangs, and was planning to perhaps buy Bare Study paint pot since it supposedly makes a good base, but they'd sold out! Tried Painterly but disliked the pink cast - would not work on my skin. In the end I decided to buy colours that were intense enough to wear on their own. I picked Indianwood and Delft. Very outstanding colours! I had accumulated quite a bit of rebate from my previous purchases and decided to redeem them all, so that I made less of a dent on my credit card account. Not sure now if I still "need" Bare Study. Do I?
Have a couple more Thursday afternoons off lined up. Something to look forward to!
I've been quite good about buying makeup for some time now, but I have a fatal weakness for MAC pigments (and fluidlines too). I was totally powerless before the Rushmetal collection. Oooh... shiny!
After much deliberation, I limited myself to 4: Copperized, Cocomotion, Rushmetal and Gold Mode. I bought them at Isetan so I got 5% discount and $10 vouchers from the purchase. It was really hard to decide, cos I liked all but Quick Frost. But buying 7 would be too extravagant :(
I just got this off The Age's beauty blog by Lisa Bjorksten.
No makeup, no promotion?
If you've ever wondered how make-up (or lack thereof) affects the way you're treated in the corporate world, consider this: a study conducted by US economists Hamermesh and Biddle found that women who wear make-up earn 20 to 30 per cent higher incomes than women who do not.
A sobering stat to remember as you hit the snooze button for a third time tomorrow morning. Go on, get up and spend those extra few precious minutes slapping on some lippie - it could take you on the road to riches.
I recently read an article by a woman who believed that wearing make-up was a waste of time, right up until her friend pointed out her lack of 'face' was hurting her career. "If you don't bother with lipstick, it makes people wonder what other details you can't be bothered with," the friend said. The buddy went on to recount "stories of qualified, talented women she's known who she would never refer to clients or for business because of their appearance - long, unstyled hair, more-casual-than-professional clothes, no make-up".
It got me to thinking: I'd often feel incredibly uncomfortable in high level meetings without a face (usually just concealer, mascara and some pink blush to add colour to my cheeks) and more than once in this situation I've caught my (immaculately groomed) boss giving me the sideways disapproving glance. And if I turned up to work without a skerrik of make-up, I'd often be greeted with not "good morning" but "are you OK, you look very pale" - that can't be a bonus in an office where you're trying to build your manager's confidence in you.
You can't underestimate the power of good grooming in the workplace, says career coach Lisa O'Brien. "Grooming is incredibly important to how you are perceived by colleagues and managers. In boardroom/office environments it is important to present a professional image. To be groomed in an immaculate manner at all times," she says.
But while no make-up can have its drawbacks, going OTT is just as bad. O'Brien suggests natural-looking make-up, a face that'll make you look healthy. "I always recommend to my clients that they wear lipstick that is a natural looking as possible. Of course you can go for some colour to brighten your face, but not red. Partially because it will distract the men in your office! Save the red lipstick for a hot date," she says.
A long time ago I worked with a bunch of women, but two really stood out for me in meetings - opposite ends of the spectrum but both as bad as each other. One would never wear even a scrap of make-up. She looked scruffy and as a result - bad as it is to admit, but human nature nonetheless - it was hard to think of her, or her work, as schmick and professional. The other gal was, well put it this way, she looked like she arose at 5am every morning to apply her face and curl her locks. She always smelt like way too much expensive shampoo and wore eyeliner and lashes so heavy I sometimes had to pinch myself to see that I had actually made it home from the nightclub and into the office. I just couldn't ever take her seriously. Grooming's one thing, but that's just too much. Even psychologists agree that overly complicated and careful make-up screams that you think more about your appearance than your work.
The rest of the post is just makeup recommendations that work better on angmohs. Anyway, great incentive to wake up early in the mornings - and I need every bit I can get, what with having to start work at 8.30am soon (why???)
A post about makeup today!
Okay, so how many of you reading this bought MAC #187 Duo Fibre brush when it was first launched? I confess that I gave into temptation after the MA demonstrated how it can be used to blend liquid foundation. Of course, because I seldom use liquid foundation, I ended up using it for things like highlighter and blusher (though the Lancome skunk brush is probably better for the latter). Which is more often than I use my flat foundation brushes, all of which are in cold storage.
A few days ago, I was suddenly inspired to use the brush to blend stick foundation instead - and it worked surprisingly well! It's quick, and works the foundation right into the skin. The advantage of this brush for liquid foundation is that it doesn't leave streak marks, and this is true for stick foundation as well. The one I used is one of the old Proudia A/W formulas, which is a little creamy, so I don't know if the brush will work equally well with the powdery kind.
The other thing I recently experimented with is tightlining. I first heard of this technique from K, but didn't really understand how I could do it without the liner getting onto the lower lid. After reading this article, I decided to give it a go. Results are variable at the moment; I think it depends on the brush I use. I find it a bit harder to get an even line, compared to lining from the top, and I'm not sure what would happen if I didn't use a waterproof liner like MAC Fluidlines. The article suggests lining from the top as well (i.e. lining both below and above the lash line), and I'm sure it gives me the definition I like, but I wonder if this is all too fiddly to work into my morning routine (unlike K, I'm so not a morning person!)
Or "Cosmetics shopping in Melbourne 2".
Actually this should be a backdated post. In April, I think it was, Sharon-Lee, celebrity eyebrow "artist" from Sydney came to Myer to promote her new-ish makeup line. She and her assistant were going to do eyebrow shaping for an obscene fee. Since this is redeemable with purchase and I've been eyeing her eyeshadow palette for ages, I decided to go for it. The results were quite good, though I feel that threading is cleaner and infinitely cheaper to do.
Anyway, I was attracted to the palette because it seems to have everything one would need for eyes and cheeks. The pigment is good and the texture quite fine. The colours mix well with each other too. There's a silver-white shimmer (highlighter), a white that flashes blue, a shimmery mauve-pink (doubles as blusher), a dark brown flecked with gold (ok for brows), black with gold shimmer (might be excellent as liner if wet), and a bronze. The huge mirror is a bonus, though I think putting swarovski crystals on makeup products is just tacky. Plus who uses these mini brushes anyway?
I tried the palette out when I went to the Lion King musical (btw, excellent! I wore my blue silk top from Cue, with a brown leather skirt and high boots), and it worked well. I just need to experiment with wetting the black for liner. Sharon-Lee doesn't make anything else that tempts me, which is just as well.
I should also mention here the Smudge brush I got from Scott Barnes. I haven't used it yet; I bought it because I thought it has a great shape and the right stiffness. SB brushes are very good quality; I've been quite tempted by his angled Cheek brush, but it's not cheap.
Here's what I bought today, one for myself and another for K in Singapore: Scott Barnes Chic Palette in Posh. It looks very pretty in the palette, and rather bright, but it's perfectly natural on skin. The wonderful thing is that it's incredibly silky, easily the silkiest blusher I've come across (think of the smoothest powder you've tried).
I've been making my rounds of the Melbourne makeup counters, and whoever thinks service here is always better is so wrong. I don't very often ask to have products tried on me anymore, but I is new to makeup, and the only way to find what she likes is to try, try and try some more.
It is the policy here that for a makeover, 2 items have to be purchased. I wasn't consciously aware of this, and it certainly isn't unreasonable, but with many SAs eager to try their products on you, it's not unreasonable either to let them decide just how far short of a full makeover they are willing to do without a sale. If this is a huge issue - you don't want to work for no sale - remind the customer of that upfront. Tell your customer, I can do X, but if you want the works, you'll have to buy 2 products or whatever.
Our experience at the Myer Bobbi Brown counter left a bad taste in my mouth. She was obviously not very willing to help in the first place, and we left after being made to feel like freeloaders. The embarrassment alone is enough for us to give it a wide berth in the future, I think. I honestly feel there was no call for that sort of attitude, especially when there were no other customers.
The service we've experienced at places like Aesop at QV, Sharon-Lee and Kit at Myer, and (especially) Mecca at DJ couldn't be more different. Friendly and approachable, their willingness to help makes a return trip so much more likely! Recommend products on us when we ask, offer to show us how it works, and you could very easily sell half the counter. Not a difficult concept to understand.
Kudos especially to Kristy at Mecca. Wary after BB, and having been informed on Mecca's makeover policy (2 products, minimum of A$60), I only asked to try eyeshadow colours on, but once she sat down, proceeded to get a full makeover free. What really amazed me was that she did a much better job than the MA at Chapel St MAC, and the latter cost A$90. Here's a Caucasian MA who can do East Asian eyes skilfully - a rarity in these parts. I'm not too proud to admit that I learnt something today, too, jaded as I am. It's unfortunate that Kristy's not always at the counter, being now, like us, a student at Melbourne Uni.
If you like to contour your eyes by using the darkest shade at the outer corners, going lighter as you reach the inner corners, try this. Divide the area of your eyelid into 3 parts by imagining lines that go from the corner of your nose to your eyelid, with the outermost line crossing the outer corner of your eye, as you would when you decide where your brows end (use a pencil). This is my favourite way of wearing eye makeup, but it's a bit of an inexact science with me, and I'm eager to try this tip the next time. (The colours she used today were Stila Shell, Viola and Espresso.) She also suggested doing this with the darkest shade first, creating a smoky-eyed look this way.
Yes, this is part 1, just because I'm sure I'll have more to say later on this topic.
