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.

winter base

1. Vichy Aera Mineral BB

This BB Cream was something I bought when BB creams were a huge fad, but back then I wasn't big a big user of foundations or bases, and would simply dab concealer over my face where it was needed. I thought that Vichy was a good skincare brand so their BB cream couldn't be bad and decided to give it a go. When swatching at my local drugstore, I chose the darker shade which I still find to be quite light on me these days and I only use this when at my ultimate palest. I've been using this a lot during the winter months, both in New York and in Hong Kong as I feel like this is 'better' for your skin than putting an actual foundation on, but who knows if this is actually any better. Though it goes on a tad grey for my liking, it magically evens out my skin tone and somehow gives a bit of a glow. Bonus - this BB cream is paraben free, hypoallergenic, tested on sensitive skin and fragrance free and has SPF 20. 

2. Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in Medium

This concealer is full coverage to the maximum -- it's very thick and was almost difficult to squeeze out of the tube at first, but when dabbed over blemished with your ring finger, it blends seamlessly into the skin. It's heavily pigmented so even the thinnest layer will give you enough coverage, and is tacky enough that it's not sticky, but long-wearing. It's also meant to be creaseless and waterproof -- the waterproof part I find fairly believable as this does make it through a sweaty 45 minute long spin class, but it does tend to gather in my annoying undereye creases (even when set with powder) but that's the only place on my face it does that.

3. Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch in 3 Glow

This is a YSL Touch Éclat-esque type of thing with the clicky brush and the brightening concealer. I don't find this product particularly revolutionary or life-changing, but it helps at concealing my endless eyebags and is a nice item to keep in my purse for when makeup slips off. 

4. Laura Mercier Invisible Loose Setting Powder in Universal

I've already raved about this powder here so I won't delve into too much detail. This powder has been a long-time favourite in my collection, I've been through about three of these pots now, I pretty much use it every day, so it won't be going away anytime soon.

5. Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in Exposed

 I mentioned this lovely blush here when I was favouring it during spring weather, but in all honesty, I've been favouring this blush ever since I purchased it.  The Tarte blushes are known for their long-wearing quality, and safe to say, it meets its reputation. This shade in particular, is the perfect everyday shade to give your face that extra bit of colour without being overpowering, and matches perfectly with a dark night-out eye.

6. MAC Pro Longwear Bronzing Powder in Sun Dipped

Like the prior two listed, this bronzer was also spoken about briefly here. I find that this is probably my favourite bronzer for the winter months -- it's not too dark to make your face look like a separate entity from your body, and it's also got a hint of shimmer in it to give you that extra glow-y look during the paler months. Even better - the packaging is absolutely fantastic, but unfortunately it is limited edition.