Styling Products -Unlisted Brand - Lee Stafford All Shagged Out
thursday 5/14/2005 8:10:00 AM
Lee Stafford is a UK-based hair guru whose product line comes in shocking pink packaging. All Shagged Out is a unique styling product. It's a powder wax. Powder (!) is suspended in a dry-ish pomade formula to give you a tousled, separated, matte look. I adore it. My hair is stick-straight Asian with wispy (read: icky) layers. Normally, I would not be able to twist my hair up and secure it with a stick pin; it's simply too straight. But this adds "grab" and volume to my hair, so styling it that way is now so much easier.
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Styling Products -Garnier - Fructis Style Surf Hair
thursday 5/6/2005 11:27:00 AM
I just bought this on a whim and now think it could be my HG hair product. Whoa. My hair is past my shoulders and just on the verge of flat-iron straight. It's cut in very wispy layers, the ends of which flip out raggedly. I can't do anything about my hair yet because it needs more length for me to work with. Today I used Surf Hair and twisted my hair up and secured it with an alligator clip like I normally do. After 20 minutes, I took down the clip, and my hair is beach-goddess wavy, with no ragged flyaways, and no crunchy crackly feeling. And to think I recently sprung for Bedhead's Small Talk which is more than thrice the price and definitely inferior in result. :-( Surf Hair rocks. I'm stocking up.
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Lipstick -Youngblood - Brown Sugar
thursday 4/17/2005 7:21:00 PM
Surprise, surprise. I like Youngblood's mineral powders but never gave their lipsticks a look until recently. Creamy formulas, good-to-great coverage, above-average staying power. The limited color selection is the only drawback of this range. Brown Sugar is a browned medium orange with just a hint of golden shimmer. Casual yet clean and polished, like a pair of tailored khaki pants.
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Powder -Shu Uemura - Shu Uemura White Recovery
thursday 4/17/2005 7:06:00 PM
I bought this in 754 (the equivalent of 7YR, or at least it says so on the package). It has an SPF of 24, so I feel confident wearing this without a sunscreen underneath. The finish on my skin is matte, powdery and full-coverage at the beginning, but I either let my skin's natural oiliness darken the foundation a tad, or mix it with a very little jojoba oil to get that natural, glowy look. I've also applied it with a kabuki brush as a setting powder, and that works as well. That being said, the color isn't as close a match as I thought it would be. In outdoor light, it is more neutral than warm, and needs correction for my yellow undertones. That's probably due to the "whitening" benefit of the product. I'd buy it again because it's a great formulation, but will go with the next darker shade.
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Eye Shadow -Yves Saint Laurent - Fard Éclat Ombre #1
thursday 4/2/2005 1:35:00 AM
This cream-to-powder eyeshadow is one of the most tenacious shadows to ever get on my very oily eyelids. For that alone I want to get all the shades. The shade I first bought is this one. It's like a veil of shimmering warm pink that manages to be quite sheer in texture yet have noticeable color at the same time. A good investment for the summer.
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Powder -Yves Saint Laurent - Teint Eclat de Perle
thursday 4/2/2005 1:26:00 AM
Also called Pearly Powder Radiance Foundation, this is a new release from YSL in Asia. (I don't know if it's available elsewhere.) It's a light-diffusing wet-dry powder foundation that comes in a huge golden compact. The powder is extremely finely milled, has only the faintest fragrance, and spreads evenly on moisturized skin. It comes with an SPF of 20, which is fantastic - I dislike having to put too many layers of product on my face. I don't see the "radiance" part when I use it dry, but definitely when applied with a wet sponge or when I mist my face after application. I'm really liking this. I got it in #5, which has pronounced yellow undertones for medium complexions.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lipstick -Guerlain - Divinora 482
thursday 3/27/2005 11:47:00 AM
I dropped by the Guerlain counter because I'd read (and wanted to believe) all the hype over Angelina Jolie's Divinora 480 lips. ;-) However, when I tried on that shade, I immediately joined the ranks of B-horror-movie starlets. Way, way too dead on my Asian MMM skin. But the texture and finish were remarkable - a non-dry matte velvet. So I experimented with all the shades they had. 482 is THE neutral nude for darker, browner skins with yellow undertones. It is lively enough to actually be flattering, and yet delivers on that beige-yet-somehow-natural lip look. MAC has a similar shade, but only Divinora (as far as I can tell) has a formula like this. Very much worth the money. And the packaging is deservedly luxe. Ten lippies!
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Eyeliner -Shiseido - Eyeliner Pencil Duo in D3 Electric Iris
thursday 2/18/2005 12:48:00 AM
The Eyeliner Pencil Duos are presented as part of Shiseido's Spring/Summer 2005 collection. One end is a light shade, the other dark. Electric Iris has a deep grayed purple with microfine silver shimmer on one end, and a bright lime green with shimmer on the other. The purple end stays put all day, but is a little hard on the eyelids - you'll need to warm it between your fingertips first before applying if you don't want tugging. The green end is softer and goes on more smoothly, but it does fade a little earlier than the purple end. All in all, a great buy if only for the color combination and the staying power. The other combinations in the lineup are a shimmery black and silver, and a bronzed brown with a peachy beige.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eye Shadow -Shiseido - Hydro-Powder Eyeshadow in H4 Spring Plum
thursday 2/14/2005 10:29:00 AM
This isn't plum the way I think of plum. It's more of a warm medium pink with extremely fine greenish-gold shimmer particles. (Yes, greenish!) It's decadently packaged, exorbitantly priced, and absolutely undeniably gorgeous. It doesn't feel as cool as, let's say, the Awake loose powders, but I didn't buy it for the cooling effect, but for the staying power. And it stays! On my extremely oily eyelids, at least 5 hours without creasing or fading. Very spendy, but worth it. The color is unique and, in my opinion, a must-have for makeup junkies.
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Fragrances -Lanvin - Eclat D'Arpege
thursday 2/12/2005 4:28:00 AM
It had been migraine-hot in Bangkok and any fragrance that had crystalline, light, or summer versions drew my eye at the airport duty free. Thus Eclat d'Arpege. Until now I wish I hadn't bought this. On my skin, it is a very, very expensive dead ringer for the fragrance in Pantene shampoo.
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Fragrances -Fruits & Passion - Lemon Vanilla Eau de Toilette [DISCONTINUED]
thursday 2/12/2005 3:11:00 AM
Simple and satisfying. The lemon reminds me of Senorita candy, little lemon ovals wrapped in foil popular in my grandmothers' time. The vanilla is very subtle and close to the skin, and only appears after several minutes. It softens the astringency of the lemon and stops me from smelling like dishwashing liquid. Unfortunately, I do get tired easily of scents that are straightforward in this fashion. I'll exploring layering this with other fragrances in my collection - I wonder how it will smell with Karma?
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Lip Gloss -Yves Saint Laurent - Baume D'Ete Tinted Lip Balm - #1
thursday 2/11/2005 12:02:00 PM
I love this! Neutral brown with golden shimmer particles in the tube. On lips, the brown hardly shows, except for a hint of warmth tinged with gold. The texture is smooth and almost creamy. I'm not too fond of flavored gloss - this tastes like melon bubblegum - but it disappears after several minutes. NARS Torrid on cheeks plus this and I'm good to go!
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Lip Gloss -MAC - Lipglass- revealing
thursday 2/4/2005 8:02:00 AM
I've been doing variations on the nude lip recently, and bought Revealing based on the color in the tube. I can see why it can look dead on complexions that are naturally pink or even cool-to-neutral; you need warm undertones to carry this off successfully. It is a medium caramel, quite pigmented for a gloss, and very, very shiny without being shimmery (which I like). It looks stunning when layered over MAC Underplay lipstick.
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Lip Gloss -MAC - Lustreglass - Spring Bean
thursday 2/4/2005 7:54:00 AM
I'm an Asian MMM, and Spring Bean gives my pigmented lips a shiny, faintly glittery, honeyed look that is sexy but not over-the-top. I expect the green in Spring Bean modulates the redness of my lips and brings out the flesh tones, without hiding the natural lip texture. It's a unique look. I like wearing this with NARS Gina on my cheeks and very defined eyebrows. I'd give this 6 lippies if I could.
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Blush -Yves Saint Laurent - Blush Variation #13
thursday 2/2/2005 6:26:00 AM
What a delightful blush! The combination of brownish plum and light peach with golden shimmer results in a very natural flush with a hint of plum on my cheeks.
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