Sunday, November 15, 2009

SWATCHES: Assorted blushes and bronzers

Yay swatch time!
had a little bit of time on my hands today so i thought id just test out some of the products i already have and my thoughts on them!

These are the three singular powder bronzers that i own, one Rimmel Natural bronzer, and two BYS bronzers, one is the normal one and the other one is a face and body bronzer from the island bronze range. The Rimmel one was probably more expensive than both the BYS's put together :P haha

VERDICT
Rimmel Natural Bronzer: is super natural, even though in the picture it looks like you can hardly see it, this is actually a good thing... it bronzes a nice natural brown that gives me a tanned glow without actualy altering the colour of my face. my fave :)

BYS bronzer powder: Honestly, whenever i use this, i get abit scared or use an extra light hand/brush. This is quite pigmented and doesnt blend very well, and its pigmented in a slightly bad way as its way too red and doesnt give a natural tan, sometimes its also too gliterry for my liking...but as i said, with a light hand and the right tools, i stil can get a softer tone to it.

BYS island bronze: this is even worse than the previous in terms of redness. This has more glitter and its abit too highly/dangerously pigmented for bronzer and is hard to blend, it often turns out uneven especially when i try to bronze my body, but i guess a good huge brush has a huge role to play here too. The only time this would work well is if you were already SUPER TANNED in skintone and was just looking for a nice glow to the cheeks/body. OR use a fibre optic brush :)



Okie dokie, the next cheek products to swatch are the Boujois blush pots, the brown one was aparently blush but i use it for bronzing :) whatevs same thing anyways. its for cheeks.

VERDICT:
Actualy, all of these are really hardly compacted and it took a lot of layering to get the colours to come out on my arm so that i could take swatch pics, but the good thing is even though they are realy hard and dry, they arent powdery or ashy at all! you can see that nice glow and adherence to the skin when it is applied. I guess thats a nice quality about their blushes, you can build up the colour and sheen and blend it right in sooo subtly and smoothly as you wish.

The pink one, is a nice rosy pink with a gold sheen, pretty :) i usually apply it to the apples of my cheeks

The light pink/gold one, lacks in the pigment/colour department and has alot more really fine glitters, i use this for highlight!

The brown one, has alot less glitter but still has a glowy sheen, so sometimes i opt to use it for a bronzer underneath my cheekbones


Then comes the CREAM PRODUCTS! these are a cream bronzer and cream blush by SugarBaby

VERDICT:
The Blush: this is the product i got first (in a sale for $4) and i fell in love with it, the colour was so perfect for some reason, it just had the right hues and undertones to work with my yellow/olive based skin and make it look so naturally flushed. Its the same dusky rose that i have found with "Everyday Minerals" swimming pool blush that i used in my Natural Look post. The benefit of it being in cream form was that it gave me the most gorgeously juicy GLOW. The formula is so soft, creamy and blendable, think the texture of souffle...mmmm <3 br="" it="" love="">
The bronzer: OMG WHAT A DISASTER! I loved the blush soo much that i went hunting for other cream cheek products hoping the get the same texture and effect, but just in a brown/bronze colour. Alas that did not turn out to be. The texture is completely different, its not soft and souffle-ey, rather its alot chalkier and drier (as u can see in the pic). The colour is way too unatural like the BYS bronzers before, way too red and too much glitter! noooo :(


Okay so now im going to do a review on the BYS shimmer balls that i bought previously...the first thing that caught me when i actually unwrapped the product and opened it, is that the shimmer balls werent powdery at all like the ones i tested in the shops; even though they were dry, they were more like clay dry, so they still stuck together in an elastic chunky sort of way, think bluetac mixed with lots and lots of powder. So when i tried to dab and roll my blush brush onto them, nothing really stuck to the brush...


its not that the product is bad at all, infact, its quite good for its price...still gives a gorgeous sheen when i roll a shimmerball between my fingers, the only problem is to get the shimmerness onto my brush that goes onto my face!!


dont worry, i know what to do....

Press, press, crush crush, crunch crush


yayyy! so now the product is in finer chunks, it finally can be picked up by my blush brush :)


look at that yummy glow :D


i love glow :D
that is all

Saturday, November 14, 2009

SHOPPING: Another trip to stingy retail therapy

okay, firstly im going to apologise...SORRY FOR THE ULTRA CRAP QUALITY OF THE IMAGES THAT WILL BE POSTED! its about 1:07AM and i had no energy to go outside to get my good camera to take proper photos...so i settled for my mac's photobooth instead...

so i went to garden city today and picked up a few bargains.

This is the first, its supposed to be a strengthening nail colour with calcium and iron to prevent breaking (my poor nails are in need of this right now!) they were $3! noice ;)

UPDATE: ok guys i just tried this and it goes on sooo sheer on the first 2-3 coats as if its transparent...but it dries quick and after i put on more and more layers, it becomes this gooorgeous milky pink with the awesomest shine!!! its like im wearing shiny acrylics but im not! i LOVE IT! buying some more...three bucks omg soo cheap.
well ok. these pics (mac inbuilt webcam) dont do it any justice. but whatever. its better than no picture :P



I couldnt resist this...it was $1...like COME ON what DONT you buy for $1 :P (sorry about the photo, the quality was sooo bad that i had to photoshop in the real creamy pink colour that it was...the original photobooth photo made it look blue when it was pink.....weeeiiiird)


and foundation! im not exactly sure if its my colour...i tend to be alittle more on the tanned side, but hey if it doesnt work out for me i can always give it to my fair skinned-loving mother :) and the best bit about it was the price...


like OMG!!! foundation for a DOLLAR???? wow. just stunned :P




AND APART FROM THAT... ive actually made my first two purchases from ebay! BARGAIN!
my first purchase was a set of 40 FALSE LASHES. Usually from the shops in australia, a normal pair of falsies are an average of $14 - $18. Now i scored 40 pairs off ebay...for only AUD$10.50...now how is that even comprehensible...i think im never going to buy anything now unless i check if theres a FREAKIN CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE on ebay. like WOW.


The second BARGAIN that i got were these professional brush set of 34 at a bargain price of $28! thats like under a dollar per brush! again, at the shops today, i was checking out some brushes that (werent even the good brands such as MAC) and they sold for 16 dollars per brush....and im getting 34 amazing ones for less than a dollar each? WOW...i am in love with ebay

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Pilot Post!

My first post! I guess i should introduce everything, Im Ivy, asian, living in Australia. Im pretty much obsessed with makeup, i see it as creating art on a face, painting it, creating artistic looks, trying out different things, brushes, colours, textures, love it!! I probably should start off my first post with my collection/stash of what i already own... P.S A shoutout to karl my boo! he was the one who manipulated me into starting this :P


So here's my makeup table! In my room!!



My Collection of OCC liptars! <3 a="" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j7pyi169wbE/SvmDECgM5cI/AAAAAAAAABA/fhjdtuLs8lI/s1600-h/IMG_6579.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}">



Some of my liquid foundations and my eyeshadows on top!



Some of my Everyday Minerals powders/blushes - they are the best mineral makeup for value! (yes im the biggest cheapo)...i think if you order more than 12 items u get like 60% off the whole order...or more! i dont remember :P



Fake lashes, facial scrubs, more minerals, lipbalms, and just stuff!!



Second drawer :)









Alright...now youve seen the makeup i have, ill show you what i bought today!

An eyeshadow box from Target, i know it says $10 but it was on sale for $5!


The gorgeous colours inside :D


Two dollar face wipes! a must have for after you get back from a late night out in town!


Nailpolishes...i couldnt resist! they were toooo cutee


I love the concept of shimmer balls for illumination, but i skipped the pricey versions and opted for the cheap $4 dollar version...some products just arent worth paying $50 for!!


Stay tuned for some more tips, tricks, looks, swatches, reviews, and maybe even tutorials in the future!
love ivy xoxo