night-out eyes

The holidays are slowly winding down and I thought I'd share my go-to night-out eye look. More often than not this is what I would go for; a few variations here and there, but the mascara, taupe-y purples, that MAC Paint Pot, and shimmer (of some sort) remained consistent. 

1. MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Frozen Violet

I already did a bit of a review about this when I first got it here, and what I said pretty much remains the same; it's a bit too dark to be part of my daytime look but serves as a perfect base for dark evening looks. I still love this taupey-purple colour, and it's been my go-to look in winter.

2. Bare Minerals Eyecolour in Nude Beach

This has been part of my make-up bag for quite a while now, and was mentioned briefly here. Considering how much I use this shade, it's still got a surprising amount of product left in the pot, but then again, a little goes a long way. It's a very shimmery glitterbug shade that has a pink twinge but still silvery enough to blend with almost any eyeshadow. It also glides on beautifully and gives any look that extra bit of sparkly oomph.

3. Nars Eyeshadow Duo in Brousse

This is one of my most well-loved Nars Eyeshadow Duos -- the taupe shade acts as a lovely eyeliner for daytime looks, and both tend to be slapped on haphazardly for give my evening looks a bit more depth. Both shades are fairly pigmented but easily buildable and I find myself reaching for this duo quite often when preparing myself for an evening out.

4. Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero

I've been a big fan of these eyeliners for a while now, I started off with Bourbon and branched out into a fair few shades. You can never go wrong with a plain black eyeliner and this is one of my favourites for the waterline and smudging along the lash line to give my look a bit more depth.

5. Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Gel Creamliner for Brown Eyes

When I feel like adding even more drama to the look, I sometimes try to add a cat-eye with an angled brush. More often than not it fails and I end up smudging it out to create a more smoky look, but once in a while it'll work out. This is a 'gel creamliner' and I don't really know what that means but I've had it for a while and it hasn't dried out yet so yay I guess. 

6. Shiseido Eyelash Curler

I've tried the Shu Uemura eyelash curlers before but never bothered investing in one since this seems to do the job perfectly well. The squishy bit needs to be replaced soon, I think this is going to be the second time I've replaced mine but the curlers seem to be a good shape and work quite well on my eyes.

7. Maybelline Volum'Express the HyperCurl

If you've been reading my blog you'll know that this is a much loved mascara of mine (it's been mentioned here, here, and I carry it around in my purse as can be seen here). I'm not going to say any more about this other than this is some good stuff.

summer to autumn: eyes

1. MAC Paint Pot in Indianwood

I've already confessed my love for this product here, but it really is the best. Nine times out of ten this is my eye shadow base of choice and it has never, ever, ever disappointed me.

2. Urban Decay NAKED Palette

When I first got this palette, I really didn't use it much as I would lean towards my army of NARS eye shadows most of the time, but over the last month or so, I've found myself reaching for this almost every day. My favourite shade of the moment has been Half-Baked, a shimmery gold, swept over the entire lid (on top of Indianwood). When I'm going for a more matte look , I'll dab Buck into the outer corner and edges, but when I feel like being extra shimmery, I'll use Smog instead. Transitioning into night adventures, I'll add an extra bit of Darkhorse along my upper and lower lash lines to intensify everything a bit. This palette is awesome: 12 buttery soft, extremely pigmented, every day neutral shades that take you from day to night.

3. Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Stick in Bad Girl Bronze

This is probably one of my favourite products of the moment: a fantastic bronze-y brown cream formula in the shape of a stick. It lasts excellently on my oily eyelids and the fact that it is a cream stick makes it easy to apply and smudge along the lash line as sort of an eyeliner replacement. I will be adding various shades to my collection in the near future.

4. Maybelline Volum'Express the Hypercurl

Like Indianwood, this product has been part of my make up routine for years; I have already professed my undying love for it here and here, and in the last month, it's made it back into my daily routine.

5. BrowMousse by Tweezerman

Nothing particularly amazing, this has been my brow groomer for the last few years (yes I still haven't gotten through this tube and it's been a very long time). It seems to work well enough at keeping my messy eyebrows in place for most of the day but it does sometimes leave a white cast on my dark hair.

l'oréal infallible 24 hour eye shadow

I'll be honest, this product isn't exactly one of my most regularly used shadows because for some reason, the plastic presser-thingmabob annoys me and I simply can't be bothered to deal with it. But, every single time I use it, I think to myself "why do I not reach for this more often?"

These shadows (I only have this shade but I have swatched all of them) are so, so incredibly pigmented -- a small, gentle swipe of your finger in the pot is all you need. I have noticed they smell distinctly odd, almost a sort of chemical-y, factory-processed scent, it's quite hard to describe and I can't quite pin it down but it's not overly off-putting that I can't use the product. Side note -- I've also noticed that the Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill shadows smell exactly the same to these (I have wasted many hours milling about aimlessly in Sephora), and considering that both brands are run by the same umbrella company, I'm fairly certain they're the same product in different packaging. Anyway, I bought this shade, Iced Latte, with the intentions of it being mainly an inner corner highlight to brighten up my face a bit. However, with much experimentation and mucking around trying to find what combinations of creams and other powder shadows look good together, I've found that this always creates a bizarrely unique result.

This shade looks quite yellow and champagne-y in the pot but when applied, it looks almost slightly silver-y. In the autumn and winter months, I paired this with the Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Pomegranate Punk and more recently with my much-loved MAC Paint Pot in Indianwood. A dab of this with your ring finger in the middle of the eyelid and gently blended out with a fluffy brush over the base shadow leaves your eyes looking almost ethereal, like you've got a pool of glimmering water over your lids. Glimmering water is really the only way I can think of describing it; it's not iridescent and not quite glittery, just unbelievably shimmery and radiant. It seems to last well on my oily eyelids when combined with some sort of base, but I'm doubtful as to whether it really is a '24 hour' eye shadow per se. Anyway, if you already have this shade, give it a go over a darker cream shadow to give it a bit of depth as it seems to just make everything perfectly glow-y.

loves of the summer so far: eyes & lips

1. MAC Paint Pot in Indianwood

One of the first makeup items I ever bought in my life, this has been in and out of my routine for years but remained one of my favourites. It is the perfect bronze-y shade, especially during the summer with a bit of a tan, and is somehow capable of withstanding the 75%+ humidity that exists in Hong Kong as well as the oil that seems to inevitably spread over my eyelids. Perfect for sprucing up your face on a day by the pool and any on any other average day as a base under both matte and shimmery powder eyeshadows.

2. NARS Eyeshadow in Cyprus

I love NARS packaging. I don't care if the matte black gets dirty over time. I will forever love the simplistically beautiful clamshell compacts, and it was the fact that the single eyeshadows are a dinky adorable mini-size that compelled me to buy this shade. I've found over the years that this is the perfect every-day eyeshadow for giving your face that bit of 'oomph' to wake you up and look ever so put together, when in reality, all you did was squash a fluffy brush into the product and haphazardly smear it across your eyelids whilst half-awake. It is pleasantly shimmery when layered under equally shimmery cream shadows, (for example the aforementioned MAC Paint Pot), yet not too over the top to remain neutral enough for those days when you want to look like you've not quite got anything on. 

3. Maybelline Full'n Soft

This mascara is runner-up to my favourite ever - Maybelline Volum'Express the HyperCurl. It is a close-contender and slowly becoming my preferred of the two as it leaves my eyelashes with the perfect amount of volume and length whilst managing to hold the curl for the entire day.

4. Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in 300 Rose Blush

A whimsical purchase from New York which I liked at first but fell out of love with as I was preoccupied with my reds and plums during the cold and dreary winter. This has made it into my bag almost every day in place of my much-loved Clinique Chubby Stick in Chunky Cherry as I find it to be the perfect pinch of pink for my face during the summer months. It has a small amount of shimmer, doesn't lean too far pink, (in fact it probably leans closer to red), and has the loveliest smooth finish on the lips. I was also much surprised to find out that it has SPF 18 the other day when I was giving the label a glance to check the name of the colour and I'm also surprised to say that I've gone through about half the tube already since whipping it out earlier this month. Love.