nude lips

The Daily Face #22: An Everyday Autumnal Thing

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Long time, no daily face post, huh? Well, here I am bringing you yet another edition of detailing the products that are currently residing on my face, after a somewhat long hiatus. I assure you that said hiatus was accidental; for a while towards the end of the summer, I wasn’t necessarily feeling the result of my makeup or writing posts of this variety and as soon as I got out of that funk, school was in session and things got all sort of crazy and I just wasn’t mustering the energy to take decent face photos or product photos and all that jazz. Except today — but I’m doing this as another form of procrastination, so I’m not sure that it completely counts… Alas, I thought I would give a rundown of the products gracing my face and provide some information on the highlights.

Smashbox Photo-Op Eyeshadow Palette in Cherry Smokes ($44)

I’ve yammered on about this before and my mixed thoughts towards this beauty (read: amazing quality interesting shadows but lacking coherence as an intensive stand-alone palette) but recently I haven’t been able to get enough of this more wearable rusty autumnal-eye that features this palette and just this palette. For simply blending purposes, I began with the matte cream Bare shade all over the lid but then when for the peach-tinged champagne shade called Shell. I went in with the stunning coppery shade Oxidize on the outer portion of the lid and through the crease and this was definitely the most interesting part but then I finished with the deeper matte Rustic in the outer corner and along the lashline. I’ve been pleased with how this straddles the line in between having that gorgeous red-tone and being overkill on a daily basis.

Dior Star Fluid Foundation in 20 Light Beige ($50)

So, I spotted this enticing talked-about beauty for the first time at Shopper’s Drugmart yesterday and after seeing that it was only $50 (the same as it costs in the US, unlike the $58 that Sephora lists online) and asking the girl there if I could return the product if my skin went crazy, I had to get it and so I did. I’ve only tried this once (today) but I couldn’t resist sharing my very early thoughts here. This shade is ideal for me, with lovely beige undertones that is a perfect match for me now and should also suffice as I grow paler, which is rather nice but I rather enjoyed the product too. Despite being free of irritating alcohol, this foundation offers substantial medium-coverage and a weightless feel on the skin. It was a nice finish that was particularly flattering on uneven texture, starting off satin-y with that kind of inner luminosity to it and so far so good. Time will only tell if this turns out to be as fabulous as I’ve heard bloggers saying left and right…

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 FACE: Dior Star Fluid Foundation in 20 | NARS Contour Blush in Paloma | Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette | L’Oreal True Match Blush in Innocent Flush
EYES: Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light to Medium Bisque | NARS Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base | Smashbox Cherry Smokes Photo-Op Palette | Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner in Brown(out) | L’Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara | MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Brow Set in Quiet Brunette
LIPS: L’Oreal Glossy Balm in Ginger Candy

What have you been wearing lately?

Maggie, x.

The Daily Face #10: A Little Less Typical But Really More Of The Same

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I apologize for the interruption in my regular posting schedule (erm that my posts have been lacking in frequency) but things have been crazy in the last few days and I’ve hardly mustered the energy to remove my makeup and wash my face when I’ve gotten home so posts weren’t really a possibility. I haven’t done one of these posts in a while so I thought I would share what I’m wearing, not that it’s groundbreakingly different or anything – but I did incorporate some cooler tones and I went for a darker shade on the lid that I’m used to.

FACE: Make Up For Ever Mat Velvet + in 40, Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in 125 Very Fair, Sonia Kashuk Undetectable Creme Bronzer in Warm Tan, Revlon Photoready Skin Lights in Pink Light, Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Natural Beauty,  MAC Coquette eyeshadow (brows) EYES: MAC Prolongwear Paint Pot in Layin’ Low, Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette (Strange, Nooner, Mugshot and Darkside), Annabelle Smoothliner in Brownie, L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess Mascara in Black LIPS: Maybelline ‘The Buffs’ Lipstick in Nude Lust

Lately I’ve tended to do my eye makeup before my face makeup because as much as I like the oh-so-popular palette in question, fallout seems to be inevitable. I’m loving my recently-acquired MAC Layin’ Low Paintpot because it primes in an instant and leaves a flattering warm brown tinge to the lids that can help to make other shades look a little more wearable – not that today’s shades need it though. The look is a little smokier on the lid than I typically go for but it was nice to break the habit – I put the silvery-taupe Mugshot over the lid. The much-loved pigmented Nooner was blended through the crease, the bizarrely ordinary Strange (misnomer) to highlight and brighten the inner corner and the unique grey Darkside to do what I always do, add definition in the outer corner of my large round eyes. I thought the whole smoky thing called for some smudgy liner so I went for Annabelle Brownie which is a fantastic deep chocolate liner that’s a steal and did the usual swipe or two and I shoved some of the impressive L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess on both sets of my lashes. I was too lazy to grab the palette it was in to photograph it, but obviously I filled in the brows with an angle brush and the magical (not exactly kidding) MAC Coquette. 

On the face, I’ve been feeling a more matte and fuller coverage theme, not because my skin is not acting its best (because it actually is behaving), but I’ve been feeling the more done-up (but not heavy-looking) skin. I grabbed my Make Up For Ever Mat Velvet + which I have almost used up and if you’re curious this was my first Sephora purchase ever and this was my absolute favourite when I had more combination skin a few years back. I bought the shade in the summer when I have more colour and for some odd reason when I get darker, my yellow undertones become more apparent so I have to be quite careful with blending in this one not because it’s a bit dark, but rather it can look weirdly yellow in patches unless I blend it. Because I started off on this tangent, I figure I might as well continue with my thoughts on the foundation. It’s a velvety semi-matte finish that hardly highlights dry patches at all (impressive) and provides medium-buildable coverage that I have in fact been out in the rain for an hour in with my foundation still intact. I shouldn’t know this but this foundation lasts for about twenty hours without powder on me even when my skins a little on the oilier side (normal skin for you) and if applied in small amounts with some effort, it can look skinlike rather than mask-like. I felt like going for some cream bronzer to add some shape and added some glow back into my skin with the luminous Revlon Pink Light liquid highlighter on my cheekbones. Although the formula isn’t my favourite (but I will admit that its longevity is legendary), I’ve been loving the matte watermelon-pink Tarte Natural Beauty on my cheeks for that flushed look. For how scary it looks in the pan, it looks surprisingly natural on the cheeks…

Out of the Maybelline The Buffs collection, I had first had indifferent feelings towards Nude Lust, favouring the peachier-undertone of the paler nude but lately I’ve been enjoying this darker nude with beigier undertones. However, note that if you have ghastly looking lips like mine, applying too much can make you look dead and as much as I love the formula, they do highlight dry patches (I have them aplenty – questionable grammatical usage there for an english student…….) in case you were wondering. So before I write myself in to a coma and cause anyone reading this to die of boredom, I’ll stop going on and on. I’ve been enjoying this slightly smoky look lately with a nude lip – it seems appropriate for the weird season right now where it’s most definitely not spring but sometimes it actually can reach zero degrees on a good day.

What have you been wearing lately? Am I the only person it’s by no means spring for yet?

Maggie, x.

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Maybelline ‘The Buffs’ Lipsticks in Blushing Beige & Nude Lust

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top: Blushing Beige bottom: Nude Lust
top: Blushing Beige
bottom: Nude Lust

“Spring Break” can be somewhat of a funny thing; when you think of said break, you most likely are thinking about partying down south and relaxing but in my reality, it’s going to be spent sleeping and trying to get some much-needed work out of the way. So this break (beginning today err yesterday now) does not actually feel like your average break (I’ve such a thing does exist) as it will involve a good quantity of labour but let me say that I’m delighted to have some time to breathe and laze around home in pyjamas with my hair in a messy bun, plopped unattractively on the top of my head. Step one is getting out some of these posts that I’ve been meaning to write for ages.

As always, it took ages for the Maybelline The Buffs Lipsticks Lipsticks to enter to the Canadian waters but when they did and went on sale while doing it, I was all over that display. The collection features numerous ‘nude’ lipsticks that would suit a variety of skin-tones ranging from the pale beiges to darker browns and I picked up two shades on the lighter end (but not the lightest) of the spectrum, 915 Blushing Beige and 920 Nude Lust. These are a part of the large colorsensational line and retail for $9-10 CDN and certainly less in the US. Blushing Beige applies (and swatches) paler than it appears in the tube so although the shades look similar in the tube, they are remarkably different on the lips. This shade is a warm-toned peachy nude that is on the lighter end of the spectrum but does not appear ghastly in the least. Nude Lust has a more neutral base and comes off as a medium-toned beigey nude with a wee bit of brown in it and none of that peachiness.

Both of the shades have that typical Maybelline play-doh smell that I may not particularly like but am not altogether bothered by. The entire Buffs collection comes in the unexpected packaging except the bullets are covered with a more opaque beige-brown lid that looks a great deal less cheap than the packaging of the much-loved Vivids line, if you ask me.

While the formula is not infallible, I was quite impressed with it overall. I’ve only tried these shades which are obviously both on the lighter end of the spectrum but I do find these shades highlight the dry patches in my lips ever-so-slightly – but I do have very dry lips which I do not actually in fact exfoliate… Both of these have a nice cream finish that last on the lips for 3-4 hours with slight eating and drinking which is impressive for how comfortable and lightweight they are to wear. I do not necessarily find them hydrating but I’m certain that they are not drying in the slightest and they are lightweight on the lips. The formula reminds me of MAC Cremesheen finish but to be honest I like these better (read: I don’t adore the cremesheen formula). They are fairly opaque but can be sheered out slightly.

These two shades have found a home in my purchase along with my stash of lip products that seem to accumulate and I’ve been enjoying wearing these loads. I love both of the shades for different reasons and the only thing that would make it better is if they kind of had a shade that mixed the qualities of the two, being slightly darker like Nude Lust whilst still having the flattering pink-undertone of Blushing Beige. Blushing Beige, on me at least, seems to be shade that I reach for when I’m wearing heavier eye makeup as it is a bit too light to be worn with more minimal makeup on the eyes, whereas Nude Lust can be worn wearing lighter eye makeup as it isn’t so pale – I’m aware that I’m stating the obvious here but it had to be done.

915 Blushing Beige
915 Blushing Beige
920 Nude Lust
920 Nude Lust

Barely Blushing is similar to MAC Creme d’Nude in both finish and colour, however it is slightly darker and has stronger peachy undertones. Nude Lust reminded me of MAC Patisserie but the Maybelline offering has much stronger beige undertones and the formula is much more opaque and less shimmery and glossy. Patisserie is very pink in comparison.

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Top-Bottom: Maybelline Barely Blushing, MAC Creme d’Nude, Maybelline Nude Lust, MAC Patisserie

Have you tried any of these? What are your thoughts?

Maggie, x.

Daytime Nude Lips and Tangent

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When I first started getting really into makeup, in 9th/10th grade, I was a nude lips kind of girl. That sort of changed lately, starting in my senior year of high school, when I started venturing into wearing brighter lips and before then, nothing at all. I suspect this was because pinks (especially cool-toned ones) look absolutely horrible on me. After I discovered brighter lipsticks, nudes (especially pale ones) were delegated to occasions where I wore a dramatic smokey eye. Lately as I’ve begun my no-buy, I’ve been in a rut in terms of lipstick – there was nothing in between just good old lip balm and a bold statement lip and I’ve been digging out my nudes as a solution of sorts. In my early days of makeup, nudes were my daily go-to and over the last little bit, I’ve been enjoying them and I think they can be worn on an everyday basis. Even more, they can be quite flattering.

I found myself quite liking the way that nude lips put the emphasis on my eyes and how low maintenance it was. I used MAC Creme d’Nude Lipstick which was my second lipstick from MAC and the third lipstick I ever purchased (the previous two were complete failures). I stupidly bought MAC Viva Glam Gaga, which was a horribly unflattering cool-toned pink and I should have learned from that mistake… In other words, this was my first lipstick love.

I may have accidentally taken the above photo with flash and captured the dreaded flashback effect but what can you expect wearing an spf 50 BB Cream? I’ve gotten back into using Skin79 Snail Nutrition on the regular and it is a great one. Cheek products were standard. The concealer/highlighter from Rimmel is very nice and has been making its way into my everyday routine.

The daytime smoky-ish eye is a look I always think can look great but is hard to do without overdoing it. However, using my old stand-by MAC Woodwinked and adding in some trusty Sketch, Dazzlelight, Satin Taupe and Charcoal Brown and I have to say it’s one of the few (as of late) days where I’ve been really liking my makeup. Although I abhorr the word, Woodwinked really does make the blue eyes ‘pop’ and stand out without looking heavily made up.

Happy Wednesday! Thoughts?

 

FACE: Skin 79 Snail Nutrition BB Cream, Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer/Highlighter in Ivory, Benefit Rockateur Boxed Powder, Sonia Kashuk Undetectable Cream Bronzer in Warm Tan

EYES: NYX HD Eyeshadow Base, MAC Dazzlelight, Woodwinked, Charcoal Brown, Satin Taupe and Sketch eye shadows, Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Brown, Maybelline the Falsies mascara, Revlon Brow Fantasy in Brunette

LIPS: MAC Creme d’Nude lipstick

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