Tag: Soap&Glory

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

It’s a perfect time to renew everything.

Including my makeup bag. I’ve been having the green makeup bag from Muji like forever, if it can talk, it’ll say ‘enough’. So, for 2013, I’ll go for metallic makeup bag from MAC (from Magic, Mirth & Mischief Collection).

Used to carry a lot inside my makeup bag, it was bulging and not to mention, heavy. So I cut down a few pieces and replaced them with double duty beauty products.

What’s inside my makeup bag for the upcoming year?

–       Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat : I carry concealer every day, to retouch under eyes makeup and side noses. It won’t crack over foundation & powder.

–       Kate Spade ‘Pop’ Lipstick Crayon : Always carry two lipsticks, one for night and one for day. I use this convenient lipstick crayon for night look (sometimes for day too, depends on the mood).

–       Soap & Glory ‘Naked Beige’ Lipstick : Now, this is my serious day lipstick when I want to be under the fabulous radar. LOL.

–       The Body Shop Lily Cole ‘Pink’ Lip & Cheek Dome : Double duty, and I don’t have to carry my blush brush anymore. Just dab and pat. Love it.

–       RMK Pressed Powder : It’s actually a setting powder to provide flawless finish, but I found it great to keep the skin matte without looking dull.

–       Kiehl’s Aromatic Blends Nashi Blossom & Pink Grapefruit Fragrance : Perfect size for traveling in a chic minimalist 30 ml bottle. So me.

–       L’Occitane Smooth Hands : Because I wash my hands a lot and dry hands are big NO NO.

IT’S NOT JUST A LITTLE CRUSH

Being a sweet teeth, I always love the sweet scent of sugar. And when I first tried this body scrub, it smell so divine, I really want to eat it.

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub is filled with goodies great enough to eat like smashed brown sugar, sweet lime, almond oil and macadamia grains. See, even the ingredients are so tempting, right? And as any Soap & Glory products, it looks good in the bathroom. 

Why I love it?
– It smell so sweet.
– The texture is not as harsh as I expected, don’t imagine sugar as sugar for your coffee. Trust me, it’s nothing like ordinary sugar. It’s more pasty.
– It leaves my skin so soft afterwards and the scent does stay for a while, even my bathroom smell heavenly. 
– It doesn’t irritate, scratch, leave sticky feeling afterwards.
– Great product with an accessible price always a winner.
– It won’t give me sugar rush or added calories intake. 

How to apply?
– Before using soap in the shower, damp the whole skin (body only, please), and scrub evenly. 
– Scrub more on hard spots, like knees and elbows (sometimes I use it on the back of my feet too)
– Rinse well and never forget to use body lotion.
– Recommended to use depending on the level of scaliness you have to deal with. Mine will be once a week.

Repurchase? Yup!

WHITE RACCOON EYES

You remember this famous concealer mishap pictures of Nicole Kidman. A lesson for us mere mortals not to over do it on under eyes concealer.

I won’t lie, it feels good to know that even celebrities who have their own glam team can still experience make up mishaps. Yes, I know dark undereyes, panda eyes, raccoon eyes or whatever they called it can be such hell. But, there’s hope. Really. And please don’t copy Nicole Kidman’s makeup artist trick for her look above (most probably he or she is fired after Nic saw her own pic). The darker your under eyes circles doesn’t mean that you have to piled up on too light concealer and white powder. 

Trick to avoid tricky eyes concealer:
Best choice is to choose one shade lighter than your own foundation, pat a little concealer with your ring finger and dust your ordinary face powder on top with brush. Personally, I’ll never put foundation on top of concealer, because it’ll intensify more fine lines. So if you do have fine lines under the eyes already, I suggest you to skip foundation on top of concealer. And if you have dry skin especially under the eyes, pick a liquid concealer, rather than the creamy ones. More on staying power, easier to blend in so it’ll appear more natural. Yellow tone concealers are your best bet if you want to cover the raccoon eyes naturally, too.
Here are my own items/favorites:
– Soap & Glory Trick & Treatment
– Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat
– Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit
– Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage 

REST MY CASE

The beauty of cosmetics packaging. The beauty brands are working very hard to boost their sales and one of the factor to achieve that goal is to have a beautiful packaging which will attract many customers, including me.

How many times have you bought something because of its’ packaging? Maybe, you haven’t even read about the reviews yet, but you just fell in love with it you have to buy it asap? The feelings are very mutual here. It happened to me all the time. It’s even crazier if they are limited edition. I am sold. Here are my beautiful packaging collection.

5 MINUTES MAKEUP

These are my power makeup tools to get me ready in 5 minutes, tops!

The key to achieve super fast makeup for me is getting the right products, the multi function types, so my skin will still look healthy beneath all those makeup. Here are my current favorites (step by step):

> 1st step: Eye Cream. It’s super important to put on the right eye cream if you have sensitive eyes like mine. Some eye creams (no matter how expensive they are) will make my eyes red and teary the whole day. Imagine to my surprise when I found Estee Lauder Time Zone Eye Cream. It become my first base for the eyes area, to make it feel soft and less wrinklish. A good eye cream will be a perfect base for the concealer to stay put throughout the day. 

> Step 2: Eyes concealer. For those who suffered dark circles whatever the causes are, we need strong brightening under eyes concealer. And Soap & Glory Trick & Treatment is my champ. It has light-reflecting pigments plus peptides that fight aging while making dark circles lightened. Even though it has yellowish pigment, don’t freak out. It somehow minimize fine lines and neutralize dark under eye circles. Just pat wisely, don’t overdo this baby.

> Step3: Moisturizer and foundation. If I have to rush through the door, I don’t have time to put on moisturizer slowly and perfectly, neither to slapped on some foundation with the blending brush. Perfect answer to my prayer for skin base: Olay Total Effects 7in1 Day Cream. Moisturizer and foundation in one that cleverly disguised fine lines+wrinkles+black spots or ex-acne spots, balancing the skin tone (especially when you have red areas on the sides of nose and chin), soften dry skin parts, made big pores somehow look smaller and brighten the skin altogether at once. How’s that for a perfect product?

> Step4: Blush. Still, we need blush, not to contour and make our face look slimmer. It’ll make your whole face brightened with just a stroke on the apple of the cheeks. I love MAC Mineralize Blush, as it gives shimmery glow that make skin looks healthier and happier. My shade: Happy Together.

> Step5: Brow shaping. Nope, no time to do the perfect arches. That’s why I recommend to wax your eyebrows regularly (mine will be twice a month), so you won’t need too much of your time shaping them every day. My trick is just to shape the eyebrows with Sleek Brow Kit. I don’t use the powder provided to shape, I just apply the wax with the brush which I took from one of the beauty counters. 

> Step6: Lashes. Seriously, do you have the time to deal with mascara’s clump and have to separate it lash by lash when you’re in a hurry? Invest in a perfect eyelash curler. Mine is Shu Uemura and it has been with me for ages through thick and thin. Clip and hold for 10 seconds for each eyes, that should do just fine.

> Final step: Oily skin be gone. For perfect matte skin that last throughout your active day, I swear by this MAC Prep+Prime Finishing Powder. Don’t let the white powder inside the compact fool you. It won’t leave any white traces even if you have darker skin.  

Remember: makeup is all about having fun with the products. So never feel pressured of wearing makeup, no matter how minimal time you have. I know I do. 

THE BATTLE OF EYEBROWS PENCILS

Boooooo *thumbs down > Unlike many others that rely on Viva Eyebrow Pencil to create that perfect arches, I just don’t get the overrated reviews about it. I tried the brown color which I thought will suit my lighter hair better, but apparently, it’s too brown, it looked fake on me. I wouldn’t dare to try the black one.

Woohooo *thumbs up > Fascinated by the name, I’ve tried Soap & Glory Arch de Triumph (cute name, right?). It has double end, one to shape your brows, and the other one is a highlighter to be smudge on the brows’ bone. The texture of the pencil contains wax-like, so it really shaped the brows easily, and the highlighter is very easy to blend because of its’ creamy texture. The color is perfect, it looks natural.

Yeaaayyyy *all fingers up > My newest darling, Anastasia Beverly Hills. Love the automatic pencil that doesn’t require sharpening. Love the texture as it glides smoothly on the brows, and the color (mine #11) suits perfectly to my hair color. So this is my champion.