[COLLECTION] Best of Beauty 2015

Stock Photo from PinkPot

2015 ~ It wasn't my best year. There were a lot of changes and transitions that really force growth. Even now, I don't know if there will ever be a moment when I won't be growing. I think that's just life. You face challenges, you meet them, and then you deal with it to the best of your abilities. While in the meantime, indulge in things that make you happy - which in my case is playing with makeup.

MAKE UP

On the beauty front, I really stuck with simple, easy things that I knew I could depend on.  Here are my beauty favourites of 2015. This is the first time I'm writing this type of post and I'm truly showing everything that I would genuinely repurchase if I ever use up. Many, many of the things are stuff I've shown before and if you ever ask me for recommendations, these are the things I would suggest.

Too Cool For School - Artclass by Rodin: It's become my go-to-contour palette this entire year. Neither too cool nor too warm, I think it will suit a lot of skintones. (Reviewed Here)

Clio Touching Apple Cheek: This is my second favourite for contour. Simple and quick, it gives me instant cheekbones - though it's not as long lasting as the TCFS.

Urban Decay Duo Shadow in Sin/Mushroom: I love this combination. Sin is amazingly natural, bright, and beautiful while Mushroom is warmer and taupe. It's just an easy duo to have and to throw into my purse when I'm traveling.

Etude House Surprise Concealer: My go-to for amazing coverage under the eyes. Got to keep those bags under control!

Essence Long Lasting Lipstick (Barely There): I highly recommend this lipstick range for anybody. It's a drugstore gem. (Shown Here)

Dior Addict Lip Glow: This goes into my work bag everyday - simple, moisturizing, and gives a natural tint of colour.

Make Up For Ever Aqua Shadow 20E: Just about my favourite stick shadow at the moment. The colour is light neutral taupe.

Innisfree Ampoule Intense Cushion: It's really hydrating but not overly dewy!

Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Liner (Black Scotch):  I love this liner! It's seriously a great everyday special something colour. I see it on Sephora.ca so I guess, it's back this year? (Reviewed Here)

Tony Moly Peach Lip Balm: This is my favourite lip balm of all times. It's clear but really hydrating. I put it on before I sleep and in the morning I can still feel it. It smells really tastey too!

Dior Rosy Glow Blush: This is actually my second favorite blush of this year and every time I use it, I try to be really careful not to dent the design. My absolute favourite blush is Etude House's Cookie Blusher in Grapefruit. I've lost it somewhere though. 

Etude House Dr. Mascara Fixer: This mascara primer out performs a lot of more expensive lashes primers.

Physician's Formula Custom Eye Enhancing Eyeliner Trio: I've been using these for years and I still can't find anything better. They last really well and does not smudge on my oily eyelids.

Etude House Drawing Eye Brow Pencil: This is a simple slanted pencil that twists up. It's really cheap and easy to use. I've gone through many of these.

Darkness Eye Lash Glue: The best eyelash glue ever. It's got a wand tip that allows for more precision.

SKIN CARE

Missha Flower Bouquet Cherry Blossom Cleansing Oil: It gets everything off easily and doesn't leave my skin feeling dry nor irritated. (Reviewed Here)

Mamonde Lotus Mud Mask: This draws out clogged pores without feeling overly drying. In fact, after rinsing it off, my skin feels pretty nice. (Reviewed Here)

Aritaum Fair Smile Fermentation Lip and Eye Remover: This really gets even the most stubborn eye makeup off easily. (Reviewed Here)

Physician's Formula Ultra Nourishing Argan Oil: I love adding a drop of this into my moisturizer just to amp up hydration.

Scinic Snail Matrix Cream: This stuff is wonderful! I pulled it out after my skin began having really dry patches again. When I use this I don't need the Physician's Formula Argan Oil. (Reviewed Here).

Origins Ginzing Eye Cream: This eye cream has a bit of cooling sensation as well as a peach tint so it's great in the morning when I'm in a hurry but I'm also feeling tired.

Clarins Super Restorative Total Eye Concentrate: Really light, hydrating, sinks in quickly and does not mess with my eye makeup. The only downside is that it's expensive. I've just been using this at night time to ration out the sample. 

Bother Pure-Fect Skin Gel Cleanser: Although it may seem like a runny clear gel, it actually lathers up amazingly and cleans my skin without stripping it. 

That's it for my favourites 2015! I felt almost a bit guilty pulling this list together after realizing a lot of the products are things I've reviewed but I hope you've found it helpful. I'd like to know, what are your favourite item of last year?

6 comments Aritaum, biotherm, bobbi brown, clarions, Clio, collection, Dior, etude house, Innisfree, Mamonde, missha, Origins, physician's formula, scinic, Tony Moly, too cool for school, Urban Decay

My Bronzer and Contour Collection

Finding a good contour shade is a true mission for any beauty enthusiast such as myself. I'm constantly on the lookout for the perfect shade that will give me those cheekbones. Part of the reason why its so hard is because we constantly use the words bronzer and contour interchangeably. It wasn't until I brought all my bronzing/contour stuff together that I realize there is a clear difference between something that's meant to contour and something that's meant to bronze. Bronzer to me is something that makes you look like you've got enough sun and contour is for creating shadows out of nothing.

Looking at my collection now, I can see what kinds of colours suit my skin and the shades I should gravitate more towards for future purchases.

Clio Touching Apple Cheek #05 Land Brown: This is probably my second favourite bronzer. It's the only cream contour in my collection and despite having a bit of red in it, it's cool toned.  I love how I can apply it without a brush. It's easily bendable - however over blending will lead to the product disappearing.  The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't twist up. Once I flatten the dome, its done.

Etude House Aloha (#02 Sun Pink/ Cherry Brown): I've made a dent in this product which is saying a lot. Cherry Brown despite its name is not overly warm nor cool and it's not too soft nor too powdery dry. With a gentle hand, it blends out easily and wears beautifully. I consider this a contour product. 

Nars Laguna Bronzing Powder (Mini Duo with Orgasm Blush): This is cult favourite is a beautiful warm brown with a golden sheen. It can add depth to the cheekbones but it will also add that golden sun kissed glow.

Tarte Off the Cuff Palette (Park Ave Princess): This is a highly pigmented warm tone bronzer. A little goes a long way! It's got a bit too much red for my liking.

Urban Decay Naked Flush (Native): Although I love the pigmentation and texture of this bronzer I'm not a fan of how it looks on me. My skin tone brings out the orange in this product which can result in me looking like an oompa loompa if I go a bit heavy.

Physician's Formula Nude Wear (Light Bronzer): When pictures of these cute little boxes were taking over Instagram, I went out and purchased this along with one of the blushes. However, this my least used bronzer. This product is meant to be used as a glowy bronzer to add that sun kissed look all over the skin. My skin's a bit pale for that to look natural so I rarely use this.

Tony Moly (#5 Brown Sugar): Although this is really too light to do any serious contour with, it's alright as a buffer shade. When I've got time, I add this first and then apply a darker contour shade on top. When swatching the bronzers together, I found that it's really similar to the Physician's Formula Nude Wear Bronzer.

Too Cool For School Contour: This is a really popular contour palette in Korea. The three different strips allow me to contour different sections of my face naturally. It's also cool toned which really suits my skin.

Phew~ I'm glad I finally have a post up again. Even though it's only been about a week since my last post, I really felt a void not doing this and it made me appreciate blogging so much more. Blogging  is an important creative outlet for me and the only space where I can really spend some "me" time-s selfish as it sounds. No one is ever kidding when they say "me" time is important, I'm just glad that I have that moment and also be able to contribute information to all the beauty enthusiasts out there at the same time. 

Thanks for reading my little blog. I really love interacting with you guys!

2 comments bronzer, Clio, collection, contour, etude house, Nars, physician's formula, tarte, Tony Moly, too cool for school, Urban Decay

[MOTD] Rosy Brown Lips with Essence's Barely There Lipstick

Nudes and browns have never been my color... or so I thought. I watched this Bubzbeauty video, and I was really inspired by her Mac Velvety Teddy lip color. It's hard to wear a brown lip color and pull it off on its own if you've got pale skin but I've discovered that if you combine the look with brown eyeshadow and contour, you can look really put together. 

I'm not confident that I will be wearing brown lipstick often enough to invest in a Mac lipstick, so I searched online for the next best thing which is Wet N' Wild Bare It All. That's unavailable where I live, so the next alternative is essence Barely There.

 This is actually my second time trying a brown lipstick and I'm so glad I did. The first brown lipstick I tried was a mauvey brown lipstick that looked horrible on my skin tone. It made me look so sick that I was just convinced that browns and mauves aren't for me. While mauvey browns still don't work for me, rosey browns do! Once again, I am reminded that colours work for everyone as long as you find the right tone. 

The camera is picking up slightly more pink than there is in real life. 

Essence's 06 Barely There is an excellent way for pale people to test the water with brown lipsticks and it would also make a nice natural, My Lips But Better color for people who have darker skin tones. The rosiness makes it look quite natural but the brown gives it a slight uniqueness. The essence Long Lasting lipstick formula is quite moisturizing and creamy. It's really comfortable and easy to apply which is really amazing. Despite the name, I would describe the staying power to be decent but not what I would call long lasting. On my lips, it does come off onto things like mugs and napkins and when it does that, it fades beautifully. 

I've actually recommended Barely There to a couple of friends before and both backed from it due to how dark the lipstick bullet looks. In the swatch below, you can see that Barely There is a nice and natural colour. Nothing to be afraid of. 

This is more true to color.  This lipstick has lovely pigmentation.  If you want to sheer the color out, you can apply it with a lip brush instead of directly from the bullet. 

Products Used

essence 06 Barely There, Tony Moly Circle Lens Mascara, Etude House Surprise Concealer, Maybelline Color Tattoo in 80 Creamy Beige, Innisfree Eco Gel Liner in Brown, Too Cool For School Artclass, Tarte Off The Cuff Blush Palette (dark mauve shade), Holika Holika Single Eyeshadow in SBK01 (not in photo)

While trying to create a brownish smokey eye, I fell in love with the Maybelline Color Tattoo in 80 Creamy Beige. It's a few shades darker than my skin tone and the edges blended out beautifully. It really created a soft base for the other darker browns I pat on top of it. I finished off the look with a brown liner instead of black to keep the eyes soft. 

About essence

In case you are unfamiliar with essence, it's a German company that has recently expanded into North America over the last two years. You can find it at Shoppers Drug Mart if you live in Canada. They have a wide range of cosmetics with nothing over $5. What's amazing about it is that many of their products are fantastic for the pricing. As with all brands there are hits and misses. The hits of essence would have to be their Long Lasting Lipsticks, lip liners, and silk blushes. 

Have you tried essence? If so, what are you favourite items?

* As usual, everything was purchased by me. Not a sponsored post. 

8 comments essence, etude house, Innisfree, lipstick, maybelline, motd, tarte, Tony Moly, too cool for school

[REVIEW] Too Cool For School Art Class By Rodin

Hi everyone, you might have seen this bad boy around everywhere recently. It's the Too Cool For School Art Class by Rodin [contour kit?]. I saw it in numerous places but I think what really got me was Ssin's stamp of approval. As I've mentioned in my August Favorites post, I've recently gained a bit of weight - around 10 to 15 - to be exact and I've been using the Clio's Apple Bronzer to contour and make my face look less puffy.  While the Clio's Apple Bronzer makes an quick and obvious difference, this product does not. I will explain why.

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