Cairo & Baby Lips

To get back into the groove, I thought I'd show you two new additions to my makeup collection! I've been thinking more wear-ability lately since I can only bring so much to college. I bought these a few months ago on my birthday (which happens to be the last time I bought makeup -- woot!).

William the Hippo in Pop Art Tumbler from The Met.

First item is a NARS eyeshadow in Cairo. It's my first actually. I'd always gone into Sephora and admired the NARS eyeshadows but never actually bought one. Now I have, and I do not regret it!

Cairo is a pale, beige-taupe with the slightest hint of shimmer. It's basically matte, but if you look closely, there's this subtle iridescence that is just beautiful. Hopefully you can see it in the swatch below. I think this is the perfect everyday eyeshadow color (for me at least). Definitely give it a swatch whenever you can!

Cairo on the eyes and finger.

The second thing I got is a Laura Mercier Sheer Lip Color in Baby Lips. I've been really loving sheer lip products lately so I went for this. It's sheer, but not too sheer that there's no color. Sheer lippies are my best friends on lazy days or when I'm in a rush. You don't need a mirror!

Just a pair of"baby lips", just kidding they're mine.

Baby Lips is a soft, warm pink. It's kind of a 'my lips but better' color for me. The lip product is like a lip butter -- the color is sheer, but the product is creamy and moisturizing. In the swatch, I only applied Baby Lips to part of my bottom lip so you can see the opacity. It has a nice amount of shine too! I digz it.

This has been...kind of...a mini haul...? Signing off now!

A Faithful Companion

"It's been such a long time, dear friend," I said to Birthday Suit. "Sometimes I feel naked without you."

We embraced and I twisted open her cap to find that her edges had shrunken away. A pang of guilt hit me. I had neglected her and all of my makeup for far too long. Having met her three years ago, when the Benefit Creasless Cream Eyeshadows had just come out, Birthday Suit had been a constant presence in my makeup routine. That was, until I'd decided to take a break from makeup. 

I had always been fond of her. I'd crack a smile every time I caught a glimpse of her wearing her cute, dove-patterned lid. In the beginning of the hiatus, I'd open my drawer just to swatch her on my hand ever so often. But then, after a while, I left her alone. She just sat there, staring out wistfully from inside my drawer. It would be months, even a year before I lay my fingers on her again.

And when I finally did, she showed me what exactly she was made of. Even after all this time, she was the same lightweight, smooth, and creamy eyeshadow she was the first time we encountered each other. She had shrunk a little, but she was still that beautiful shimmery pale taupe I had fallen in love with in the first place. She was still my one and only, Birthday Suit.

Her smile was just the same as ever. It was bright. And it shone with gold sparkles here and there. Just like always. I found myself inevitably drawn to her yet again. We began to talk. She told me about how she loved watching me grow up, even if it was a little bittersweet. I told her about how much I wanted to have her with me everyday, on my eyes, but I just couldn't find the time.

We talked it out, then she reached for my hand. And she laid down onto the back of my hand, as comfortable as ever. I rocked my hand back and forth, and she smiled her same old illuminating smile at me. I smiled back, enchanted again by her beauty. Soon, we were talking and laughing and joking like old friends. 

Now, we're inseparable, just like me and my very own birthday suit.

Purples are Gray-t!

It was just another boring day in Maggie's room but then she decided to put makeup on!

I wanted to do a darker eye/fall-into-winter look, so by default I turned to purple eyeshadows. And well, I thought purple would be a good color for this kind of look anyway. Plus, I wanted to use my MAC Moth Brown that I got from Dovey, hehe.

In addition to Moth Brown, I also used a L'Oreal Infallible in Sahara Treasure that I got from Jian a while back. Next to Moth Brown, it turned into this lovely grayish-brown as opposed to its usual gold-bronze nature. Such an unexpected, but pleasant turn of events!

Even though my eyes were a little bit more dramatic, I thought red lips would still go well with the look. I really didn't want to do nude lips. That weird expressionless picture of me on the right was supposed to show off the perfect flush my Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Plum Wine gives me!

Why yes, I do have weird bottom dimples.

To intensify the look, I used Urban Decay's Frigid to deepen the outer v, and to balance all the darkness, I popped on L'Oreal Iced Latte in the inner corners. Products used:

• Benefit Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow in Birthday Suit
• L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Sahara Treasure & Iced Latte
• MAC Eyeshadow in Moth Brown
• Urban Decay Deluxe Eyeshadow in Frigid
• Revlon Matte Eyeshadow in Vintage Lace
• L'Oreal HiP Color Chrome Eyeliner in Violet Volt
• Max Factor 2000 Calorie Dramatic Look Mascara in Black (thanks Jian!)
• Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Plum Wine
• NARS lipstick in Flamenco

Alas! Maggie would have been all dolled up with nowhere to go...but she did have somewhere to go. And she had forgotten that she'd run out of makeup wipes, so she ended up going out to dinner with her parents with all of that on (well, sans red lips)!? It was a lot more makeup than she was used to, but her parents said it was pretty (for once), so perhaps it won't be too bad if she were to wear something like this more often?

Yeah, I don't know why I'm speaking in the third person either.

Fall into Autumn

Your cheeks turn red from the crisp, cold air. You start bundling up in a nice chunky scarf. You lose the summer dresses and break out the warm pea coat. You chuckle a little the first day you're able to see your own breath. You are delighted by all the warm colors invading the trees. You see more and more leaves piling up on the ground with each passing day. Before you know it, you've fallen into the loveliest season of the year: autumn.

With September having finally arrived, the end of summer and the shuffling in of autumn is nigh. Autumn in New England has always been so magical. Whether it is going apple-picking or simply taking a walk in the park, the season brings a calm beauty to our surroundings that I just can't describe. The foliage is absolutely beautiful and the air so crisp. 

When I first got my DSLR last year in November, I was so giddy in testing out the settings and getting to know this baby that I went out a lot to take pictures throughout the city. I took these pictures just a week before the trees lost all their leaves. After half an hour or so, my fingers were basically all frozen but I still kept on snapping away.

The squirrel was so chubby and ready to hibernate.

And so, to welcome the incoming autumn, I pulled some makeup products from my collection that reminded me of the warm autumn leaves and the overall essence of the season. It made me think of cozy browns and taupes as well as deep plums and reds.

• L'Oreal HiP Shadow Stick in Meticulous (2): I can imagine a nice argyle sweater with this pale taupe, almost barley-like color.
• Revlon Beyond Natural Eye Pencil in Brown (1): This is the perfect warm red-brown, like rich, warm caramel. The pencil itself is nice and creamy.
• MAC Eyeshadow in Evening Aura (7): The pale, yellow-orange hue that leaves turn into in the beginning of the season is exemplified in this eyeshadow.
• Revlon Colorstay Eyeshadow Quad in Coffee Bean (8): The consumption of hot coffee marks the beginning of the cooler months, and what better to represent that than this quad of cozy neutrals so aptly named?
• MAC Eyeshadow in Satin Taupe (3): I have a thin, knitted beanie in this cult-favorite taupe from MAC. It's perfect for those cold, but not too cold days, not to mention beanies are so cute.
• Maybelline Expertwear Eyeshadow in Urban Brown (6): This is such a rich, teddy bear brown color, and I think autumn truly is the season of rich colors.
• Lancome Color Design Eyeshadow in Brown Mist (4): A cool brown with a forest green shimmer, I liken this to the exposed branches and tree trunks during the later half of the season.
• Maybelline Expertwear Eyeshadow in Cinnamon Spice (5): This is probably my quintessential fall eyeshadow color. Not only is the name of the color oh-so appropriate, the color itself reminds me of spiced cider, Thanksgiving, and of course, cinnamon/pumpkin spice lattes.

My favorite type of foliage is when the leaves turn a deep, vibrant, gorgeous red. It's breathtaking. The red is such a contrast against the usually cloudless, pale blue sky and against the other foliage. I likened this color to lip and cheek products.

• Cover Girl Outlast Lip Stain in Plum Pout (11): More than anything, this is a deep red rather than a plum. Freshly applied, the color is so deep and pigmented, but after a while it leaves the perfect berry stain that I associate with autumn.
• Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Rose (12): This is a lovely muted rose that is just perfect for this season -- definitely my staple autumn lip.
• NARS Lipstick in Flamenco (13): Vibrant red lips are always popular, but this one allows you the option of building up the color or leaving it sheer.
• Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment (14): The cold weather can take a toll on your lips, so this is great to keep them moisturized. It has a very pleasant lemon scent.
• Rimmel Blush in Plum (10): I wish I had a deeper plum blush, but this will do for now. It is a muted dusty plum color that provides the right amount of flush to the cheeks.
• L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Smoldering Plum (9): You know I love this already, but basically this is the deep purple/plum color of the season. 
• Jack Black Lip Balm in Lemon & Chamomile (15): Another lemon scent, eh? Well this one reminds me of yummy lemon honey tea...which is perfect to warm yourself up in cold weather!

So, are you guys looking forward to the cooler weather of autumn as much as I am? And to those of you in the southern hemisphere, it's going to be spring and summer soon, I think? I've always wondered, what's it like to have Christmas during the summer? Ah, but I can't wait for the colder months, mmmm...

The Rose Gold Craze

I've noticed that in the past year, rose gold has become quite popular amongst bloggers, Youtubers, and well, general trend-conscious people. I see countless videos and posts with recently acquired rose gold accessories and bloggers dawning said rose gold accessories (namely those Michael Kors watches). And even more recently, the obsession has crossed over into makeup.

I cracked open my Polyvore I hadn't touched in 2 years for this. Can you feel the dedication?

Lately, I've been hearing and reading a lot of bloggers ooh-ing and ahh-ing at how such and such makeup product "looks almost like a rose gold color." It's a pretty interesting obsession. I personally don't own any rose gold things (though it'd be lovely to own just one), but I can see why it's getting so crazy.

Rose gold (also known as red gold and pink gold) is a metal mixture of gold and copper, which explains the rosy hue. The more copper there is in the mixture, the more intense the red color is. So with that in mind, I decided to mix up some "rose gold" myself...using makeup. Shall we begin?

And indeed it created some rather pretty pretty shades.

Center: L'Oreal HiP Shadow Stick in 'Unmistakable', Clockwise from top: MAC 'Springsheen' blush, The Body Shop 'Sundown Glow' Trio, Benefit 'Nice Melons' eyeshadow, MAC 'Evening Aura' eyeshadow.

I used Unmistakable as a base to create the rosy hue. I then layered the products over the red base. I chose these more orangey shades instead of an actual gold eyeshadow because I felt that a gold would just completely mask over any red I'd add to it.

For the Sundown Glow trio, I swirled all three shades together to create a pretty bronze color to lay over the base. This little experiment produced quite the variety of "rose golds." I was already ooh-ing and ahh-ing by the time I laid the first shadow over the red base.

A tiny bit of fun: I just had to do a mini photo shoot with this little structure I made with the products. Balancing the eyeshadows on top of the rounded top of the trio proved to be quite the challenge. But I conquered it in the end, huzzah!

Now, finally to the swatches. Feast your eyes on some lovely rosy metallic-ness!

 L-R: Sundown Glow, Springsheen, Evening Aura, Nice Melons, all on top of Unmistakable.

The Sundown Glow trio created a really gorgeous rose bronze. The Springsheen combination turned into a pinky rose shade with a gold sheen. The two eyeshadows produced much more "rose gold"-like shades. Evening Aura leaned more gold with an understated rosy undertone. The combination I liked the most was Nice Melons on top of Unmistakable. Not only did it create the best "rose gold", it also had the prettiest finish. Nice Melons itself already has *the prettiest* iridescent sheen, and so paired on top of the red base, it created a phenomenal, glowy rose gold. 

So, now I must ask, have you tapped into the rose gold craze? Do you have a rose gold-like makeup product?

Beautiful Blue Beach

Haaaayyyyyy guissseeezz! 

I'm back from Puerto Rico! It's actually been almost a week since I've come back, but my internship started so I haven't had the time to check back in. My Puerto Rico post will come...soon enough! I took soooo many pictures that I don't even want to look at them yet, let alone edit them. In the meantime, I did sift through some of them and found these shots of the beautiful beach my resort was next to. They really blue me away (ehehehe I had to).

The varying colors of blue, light blue, dark blue, blue-green, green-blue...such a multitude of blues blending together into the horizon. The sky, the clouds, the water -- they were all so beautiful and clear. The sand was so finely grained and had such a vibrant color. As the warm waves washed up on shore and retreated back again, I pondered about life and its mystique.

 

The only things obscuring complimenting the sky were these fluffy white clouds, passing by and moving along their ways. How great it would be to reach up and grab some off to eat like cotton candy (though it wouldn't taste very sweet).

And so, I decided to pull some colors from my collection to remind myself of that temporary getaway, that "paradise lost." While definitely not as beautiful and vibrant, these do make me reminisce about where I was a week ago. Along with this little turtle as my companion, I took another trip back to Puerto Rico in my mind.

Clockwise from my travel companion (Just noticed how it went from blues to gold/champagnes...I did not plan that little spectrum -- how cool!):

• Urban Decay eyeshadow in Painkiller: This gorgeous, vibrant aqua blue screamed "THE OCEAN" to me. It's so bright and blue-tiful. 'nuff said.
• L'Oreal HiP pigment in Valiant: This is such a complex blue to me. The base color is a cornflower blue, but because of the purple duochrome, it flashes an indigo that's so pretty. I don't know about you, but an indigo eyeshadow is hard to come by in my opinion. 
• Lancome Le Crayon Kohl in Le Bleu de Jim: I've showcased the beauty of this eyeliner before, but here again is this beautiful, bright, super-vibrant, kapow cobalt blue eyeliner PENCIL. I still, to this day, am shocked by how bright it is despite being a pencil. This color really represented the sky to me. Sometimes the sky can be so blue, it's shocking.
• L'Oreal Color Chrome Eyeliner in Gold Charge: This is the most perfect gold color ever. Not to mention, the eyeliner is smooth and stays on forever. Gold is such a summery color. Like coral, it invokes the images of the beach, the sand, and the hot sun.
• L'Oreal Colour Juice Lip Gloss in Strawberry Smoothie: I picked this not only because of the name, but also because the color of it is exactly the same shade as how the sand was. Yes, it was that orange.
• MAC lipstick in Marquise D': This has the prettiest golden sheen ever. It may seem like a boring ol' sheer pink lip color at first, but that sheen running through it just makes it beautiful. I think that this is perfect for summer, not only is the lipstick light and sheer, but the color is just gorgeous.
• L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Iced Latte: This is the quintessential champagne color. And white is the quintessential summer color. People wear white bikinis, white shirts, white dresses, white hats, white pants -- white everything in the summer. It helps people stay slightly cooler since white reflects sunlight (as opposed to black). Here, Iced Latte is the perfect balance of that summer white and the beautiful pearls in oysters. 

I just realized there was a whole lot of L'Oreal goin' on in this grouping...oh well! Here are swatches of the colors. Doesn't it scream the beach to you?

1. Marquise D', 2. Strawberry Smoothie, 3. Iced Latte, 4. Gold Charge, 5. Valiant, 6. Painkiller, 7. Le Bleu de Jim

One of my mentors gave me these magazines that my company publishes. They talk about the projects that the whole firm works on and other design interest stories. He's letting me keep them! I really liked the cover on this one. Try finding the items that were in this post! Some of them are pretty well hidden. ;)

Tell me if you found all of them!

It's only my third day at the internship and already I'm being exposed to so much design and architecture. It's really amazing how much work goes into one single project. I can't help but feel scared and overwhelmed about what my future could be like. But at the same time, I'm really loving every minute of it. 

Smoldering Lattes: an Infallible Concoction

I recently acquired two L'Oreal Infallibles to add to my collection. I adored the UK-exclusive Sahara Treasure Infallible I received from Jian, so it was about time I got a few more. I got Iced Latte, which I had been lemming for the longest time, and a new summer shade, Smoldering Plum.

The L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows have been making the rounds on blogs all over the world. Even though it's been months since its first release, new collections have kept the hype going. It's kind of amazing that a drugstore item could cause so much buzz and still maintain it. 

Iced Latte is one of the original shades and has been raved about constantly. The first time I laid eyes on Iced Latte, which was months ago, I knew I had to get it. Although I'm not sure why there was such a delay between my first encounter with it and my actual purchase of it. Laziness, I guess? 

Iced Latte is the perfect champagne color. It has a beautiful pearly finish, and it is amazingly opaque. It applies super smooth, and I imagine it would look fabulous as an inner tearduct highlight. It's just as I anticipated, maybe even more, and I can already tell that it will become a staple in my collection. 

I was just going to leave with Iced Latte, but then this other one caught my eye: Smoldering Plum. Skewed by the horrid store lighting, it didn't look very impressive. It looked like a burnt sienna color, but something still made me look. Though I was wary of why none of them were sealed (are they ever sealed?), I decided to unscrew the cap to get a better look, and thus revealed the most beautiful plum I'd ever seen. In my mind, the whole scene was just this giant euphoria of my hair being blown back and the eyeshadow illuminating in my hands. Yes, it was that amazing.

Smoldering Plum is a gorgeous plum shade with an understated coppery pink iridescence running through it. It's really hard to explain and photograph this eyeshadow, but you'll have to take my word on it that it's really something. If those velvet royal purple robes that kings and queens wore back in the day were turned into an eyeshadow, Smoldering Plum would be just that. The color itself, the consistency, and the pigmentation are fit for a queen. I can just picture how gorgeous and "smoldering" this shade would be for a smokey eye.

Swatches in natural lighting, no flash: Iced Latte (left), Smoldering Plum (right).

The swatches above are all from just one swipe of each eyeshadow. The quality of these eyeshadows is really superb. Iced Latte is so beautifully pearlescent and Smoldering Plum is just so deep and regal. I couldn't quite capture the iridescence in Smoldering Plum, but it really is there. If I had been in actual sunlight, the swatches would have definitely shown better on my camera (alas!). But I will definitely show this off in a look soon enough!

Next on my Infallibles list: Liquid Diamond, another unique shade that came out with their summer collection. It's this really complex silver that flashes lavender/lilac in some lights, pale blue in some, and just plain silver in others. I'm not sure if I'm explaining it right but I think...I think I need it. So tell me, have you fallen to the Infallibles craze yet?

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

It was another typical day on Maggie's bookshelf: the books were stacked on top of each other in disarray, the little trinkets were all on the verge of falling off the shelves to their doom, and the miscellaneous items were all just...miscellaneous. Everything was just the usual.

But on this day, Domo, an inhabitant of Maggie's bookshelf, happened upon an Urban Decay eyeshadow. The eyeshadow had always been there, but Domo had never really taken notice. There was someone familiar inside that eyeshadow -- it was his robot friend from way back when! Domo was extremely confused as to why his friend was stuck in there. In desperation, he let out a thunderous roar...

Note the comic book-like effect. 

But alas! His frantic outcry was to no avail; nothing happened. Domo started clawing at the little eyeshadow. His friend wasn't moving either. He seemed perfectly content in that little container. Domo flipped it over and read the label on the back. Whatever it was, its name was Ruthless.

Domo walked away, sad that he couldn't free his dear friend. But suddenly, the eyeshadow flipped open! It revealed a pale taupe rectangle with a pearlescent sheen. It had the slightest signs and marks of prior usage. Startled but still curious, Domo slowly inched back toward the eyeshadow.

I'm getting quite tan...

He finally realized that he had actually passed by this eyeshadow many times in the past. He just never really paid much attention to it. He stared at the interesting color it had.  Domo thought, huh, it must look good on the skin. And so he borrowed Maggie's hand to swatch the eyeshadow. Indeed it looked great on her skin. It was a lovely medium-tone lid color. It was the perfect natural smokey eyeshadow color. There was this nice golden sheen to it too.

Excited by the eyeshadow's pretty color, Domo began to dance. It was a simple, silly dance, but the eyeshadow seemed to feel compelled to join in as well. He lifted his little arms up and down as the eyeshadow opened and closed. It was a delightful little show. 

By now, Domo had forgotten his little friend stuck in the eyeshadow. The little robot seemed fine in there; he had his pet dinosaur to keep him company anyway.

A Sahara Treasure from London

L'Oreal's new Infaillible eyeshadows: not really a pressed eyeshadow nor a cream one -- somewhere in between. 

A hybrid of sorts? 

It's hard to put a label on this new breed of eyeshadows, but it's definitely not hard to see how awesome they are. The lovely Jian (not really from London but close enough!) sent me a UK-only Infaillible, Sahara Treasure. Thus ensued a mini-photoshoot with the eyeshadow. Here are some of its best shots.

Sahara Treasure standing tall and proud.

Uncapped and ready to be swatched.

Look at me and my pretty iridescence!

In the pot, it appears to be a bronzey-taupe color, but when swatched and applied the color turns into a muted, grayish gold. It's a really interesting color, yet perfect for everyday wear. It also has such a gorgeous iridescent/metallic sheen. Using my ring finger, a simple swipe of this all over the lid provides the prettiest wash of color. 

Sahara Treasure on the lid, nothing else.

I'm thoroughly impressed and intrigued by this product and can't wait to go get more. I have my eyes on Iced Latte and Bronzed Taupe. Is this the re-awakening of Maggie's makeup obsession in a time of needed penny-pinching? Sadly indeed I think it is so.

Jian also sent me a bunch of other goodies. She is definitely one of the funniest and most honest bloggers I know. Thank you so much for everything! I've never owned such a fancily-packaged lipstick and the nail polish looks/sounds so cool. I can't wait to try them all! :D

She cut out the twitter bird (perfectly) herself, how awesome is that?!

I hope you had an awesome weekend and will have an even more awesome week ahead! My Cali post is up next -- be ready for tons of picture vomit!