Laura Mercier Haul

Hi everyone! I am back! I wanted to share my recent haul from the Laura Mercier at Rustan's Essences in Robinson's Place. They have a less 10% off sale on all their products which started last March 26, 2012 and will end until the end of this month so better hurry up!

As you all know I am a big fan of M.A.C. products but late last year I had to change the foundation I am using since I am breaking out so much. I am using the Silk creme foundation of LM in the shade of Cashew biege. I will do a full review on that for my next post.

Yesterday, I was only planning to buy a powder foundation and a brown eyeliner but I ended up buying their Custom Artist Portfolio for home and away, a Stickgloss in Rosewater (a lipstick with a glossy effect) & a foundation powder in the shade of no. 04. I have been wanting a good storage for my make ups for travelling. Floe (make-up artist in Rustan's Essences), told me to grab the Custom Artist Portfolio since its included in their sale and she'll give me a freebie of 1 eyeshadow. Of course! I couldn't resist it! I am happy with my recent purchase and thanks to my "H" for the approving.

Custom Artist Portfolio, Stickgloss in Rosewater, Foundation Powder, Sequin Eye Colour in  Ice black

Custom Artist Portfolio retails at 4250 php (but I got mine less 10% off)

Custom Artist Porfolio For Home & Away
Dimension: 11.5" X 9.5" X 3
Includes:
 - Portfolio Organizer
- 4 Removable mesh bags
- Removable pocketed brush page
- 6- well costum compacts
- 3-well costum compacts

these are the Well custom compacts in 3's and 6's

mesh bags ( i love that its a magnetic one) 

Foundation Powder in No.4
Laura Mercier Foundation Powder is a wet/dry powder formulation
that contains oil control ingredients to hinder shine.

Stickgloss Lip Colour
Shade: ROSEWATER (soft-sheer-pink)
Laura Mercier Stickgloss cares for your lips
while delivering colour in a sheer and sophisticated finish.

Sequin Eye Colour
Shade: Black Ice (black gunmetal with fleck)
Laura Mercier Sequin Eye Colour has soft-sparkle effects that glisten and captivates.
The deep-impact shades can be swept over eyes softly for a stunning day look,
 or applied with more intensity for evening glamour.

That is it! They're all my essential haul. I will do a full review on each item soon! Please comment below for any questions. I am so glad to have the time to write again.

M.A.C. Nocturnelle

     My previous post was my first lipstick from M.A.C., so today I am going to share with you gals my very first eye shadow from M.A.C. which is "Nocturnelle". It is a frost finish and it is described as pinked-up chrome purple from their site. I think it is a limited edition, at the time I purchased this one I just asked the make-up artist any shade of eye shadow she could suggest to me and she picked this color for me. For the longest time I have been wearing this shade during special occasions together with a light pink shimmery shade of e/s from body shop. 

     The color is so gorgeous right from the pan and also true to its color when applied on. It is really a beautiful plum color for my skin tone, great for smokey eyes whether it is used as the base color for all over the eyelids or it can be used to contour the crease part of the eyes. It is by far my favorite even though I have already accumulated other shades of eye shadows for my vanity kit. 

     I asked Ish Sison ( my favorite make up artist of all time from M.A.C. Trinoma) if it is available in the store she told me she isn't familiar with it and that maybe it is a limited edition. So for those interested with this particular shade so sorry. 

    It is TGIF now and I think I'll ask "H" for a dinner tonight and for sure I'll glam up with my Nocturnelle. Have a nice weekend everyone and oh! don't forget to vote for the 7 New Wonders of Nature it is the last day today. Love love love...

Choosing The Right Shade (What Foundation Are You Part 2)

Choosing the right shade of makeup foundation can be daunting for us ladies right? If we picked the wrong one, we would end up like a clown or a ghost! We don’t wanna scare the person who sees us. I admit I’ve been in a situation wherein I had a photo where my face looks so white compared to my skin color. I bet you don’t want that to happen to you. That was before when I still don’t know the “what nots and “what tos” about cosmetics.

Now that we have a better understanding on how to choose what kind of foundation suits our skin type, the crucial part of picking the perfect shade is our next step. With this said, understanding our skintone and undertone will lead us into choosing the right shade. This will also be a helpful guide in choosing the best color of eyeshadow, lipstick, blush on or in choosing the color of our clothes that will best compliment our color if we have a better understanding of these 2.

Skin tone is the actual color of our skin. We Filipinos ranges from fair to medium dark brown skin tone. Our skin tone changes depending on our sun exposure. Take me for example, my usual color is lightly tanned but during summer especially if I spend sometime in the beach my skin tone turns into a medium dark shade.

Undertone is the color beneath our skin. It is the color that casts like shadow beneath our skin. This never changes no matter how many times our skin tone changes. Undertones can be yellow, orange, red, pink, blue, brown, or olive. It’s also divided into 3 categories: warm, cool and neutral.

How do we determine if we fall under warm, cool or neutral undertone? From what I’ve learned the easiest way is to look at your wrist or the underside of your arm. Take a look at the color of your veins. If it appears to be purplish blue then you are under the cool category. On the other hand if it appears to be greenish blue, you’re under the warm category. With the neutral undertones the color of the vein is less obvious and cannot be easily recognized.

Now that we are armed with this enlightenment we can now look for the perfect shade of foundation for our skin tone. Cool toned skin are best suited with pinkish colors or bluish colors while yellow, peach or golden shades are for the warm toned skin. We Asians usually have yellow undertone, so when scouting for your make up foundation look for a yellow based ones.

Tips tips tips

choose 3 shades closest to your skincolor
swab each of them on your jawline

• Choose the shade that matches the depth of the skin on your jawline/neckline.

• Be sure to test to color on your face (not your wrist or hand!)

• We often have oily skin, which can cause the foundation to oxidize and appear darker when it mixes with oil, so try a foundation that is slightly lighter than your complexion.

*blend each of the shade but be careful
not to mix with the other shades
*choose which shade disappears on your
skin
*for this photo I picked #1 as the shade of
foundation closest to my skin color

• From my personal experience, when I look for the right shade I ask the SA to apply 3 shades closest to my skin color at my jawline. I wouldn't buy right away, I’ll tell the SA that I’ll come back after I do whatever errands I need to do at the mall. The reason for this is that I had the mistake of buying right away of what I thought is already the right shade for me, when I got home it turned out the shade is a bit darker since the color oxidized already after sometime. The thing is, in our country it’s very hard to return and exchange products.

• The reason why I have different foundations, my skin color changes quickly when under the exposure from sun. During summer I get a shade darker than usual. I also prefer to use Shisheido waterproof with a high SPF (SPF 43). Since my family loves going to the beach at summertime I opt for a waterproof liquid foundation. I usually use this alone, I don’t put on a powder to set it and just use a cheek stain for my blush for a light and natural look.

• (I’ll also add how to choose a concealer since this is related to the topic.)

According to famous makeup artist Bobbie Brown, Orange-based tones blend best into dark or black skin. I have also read into one article that is best to choose a peachy or salmon color when you wanna hide the the dark circle of your undereye. Use a light pat of concealer under your eyes then blend.

Are you overwhelmed already? This is why I don’t believe that being beautiful should be effortless. If we wanna look at our best we should have a conscious effort in doing it. Enhancing the beauty within us will help us stand out. It’s fun to be a girl! (Expensive too!--- as uttered by "H")

***( The content of this post is basing from my personal experiences, tips I got from make up artists, SA from make up counters everytime I try different brands of make ups and also acquired through reading over the years.)