FOTD

Tom Ford Lipstick Flash of Pink Lip Color Review, Swatch and FOTD

September 27, 2015

Tom Ford recently added new colors to his permanent lip color collection. I tested all of them out at the counter, and in the end I just brought back Flash of Pink which was a gorgeous and unique pink color that looked very flattering on me. There was no tester for something wild which was the other shade I planned to purchase, so I’ll probably go back for another visit soon! The new colors are now available here online in Australia.

The reign of the world’s most expensive lipstick has recently been taken over by Louboutin Beaute from Tom Ford (albeit I think the packaging of the former is a little OTT..). Splurging AUD$70 on a tube of lipstick does make me feel better, as I think the packaging of Tom Ford still tops every other brand, and the formulation is also flawless. Flash of Pink is a rosy fuchsia pink with a hint of metallic sheen. It contains micro magenta shimmer and it still has the same luxurious creamy texture as with all the other colors from the range – it goes on silky smooth in a satin finish, and I don’t feel any glitter on my sensitive lips when I wear it.

The Tom Ford SA described Flash of Pink as an expensive pink lip color with an edge. I wasn’t so sure when I saw the color from the tube, but on the lips it didn’t look as metallic as I thought . As you can see from my swatch below, it looks shimmery with frost on hand, but on the lips there was just a hint of metallic sheen at certain angles that actually makes the color pop and unique. It is intensely pigmented and has a lasting power of 4-5 hours.

Close up swatch

Flash of Pink Lip Swatch

I have finally managed to take some FOTD for today’s post – it’s been so long I almost forgot how to do it lol!

Other makeup used in the FOTD include

Face

Shu Uemura Brightening Base

Sulwhasoo Cushion Foundation (reviewed here)

Tom Ford Flawless Powder Foundation (new, review coming soon)

Tom Ford Illuminating Powder for highlight (reviewed here)

Marc by Marc Jacobs Contouring Powder (reviewed here)

Eyes

Chanel Entrelaces Eyeshadow Palette (reviewed here)

Dior Addict It Liquid Eyeliner (reviewed here)

Lancome Mascara

Visee Eyebrow Pencil & Powder

{ 1 comment }

Labels: FOTD • LIPSTICK • Tom Ford

Bobbi Brown Hot Collection – Cheek Palette Pink and Art Stick in Hot Pink Review, Swatch and FOTD

March 30, 2015

I have been eyeing some Bobbi Brown blushes for as long as I can remember – there are some really beautiful pink shades in their individual blush range. And I am glad I waited that long as Bobbi Brown has recently released a limited edition Cheek Palette in Pink from the Hot Collection that contains all the pink blush shades I have been longing for! Of course I had to get this palette (as it’s a lot cheaper than acquiring the blushes individually), as well as the matching lip Art Stick in Hot Pink.

The Cheek Palette is housed in a classic Bobbi Brown black glossy case. I was told by the SA that this case was all hand made so I have to handle it with care. I examined the case inside-out and up-side down, and I really couldn’t tell the difference between this case and the other Bobbi Brown non hand made case. The palette contains 3 variations of pink shades in different finishes, which is what I love about buying a palette as I love layering for different looks.

Shade Description (from left to right):

Pale Pink – A blue based bright pink in matte finish. It is non powdery, has a matte finish and is easy to apply and blend.

Pink – A pale pearly pink shimmer with a hint of golden peachy sheen. It can be used alone as a highlighter or layer it over the blush for a subtle glow.

Powder Pink – A neutral baby pink in matte finish. I absolutely adore this shade as it looks so soft and pretty alone , or can be layered with Pale Pink to add some dimension for a more fresh look.

The Bobbi Brown Art Stick is a hybrid between lipstick and lip liner that comes with a sharpener. It has a creamy crayon-like texture that is blendable, and doesn’t feel heavy to be used over the entire lips. It is not as moisturizing as the good lipsticks, but it’s not drying my lips out either. It applies quite creamy and sets to a semi-matte finish. The pigment is very intense so a little goes a long way, and it lasts a good 6-8 hours on me.

The Art Stick in Hot Pink is an ultra saturated neon bright pink. It may not be the shade for everyone, but as for me I love how it looks against my complexion as it just instantly brightens it up and makes me appear more energized. Since it’s so bright and long lasting, I also love the fact that it fades into a softer pink throughout the day.

Group Swatch

From left to right: Pale Pink, Pink Highlighter, Powder Pink, Art Stick Hot Pink

FOTD wearing all 3 blush shades layered together, and Hot Pink on my lips.

I bought mine at David Jones, and the Bobbi Brown Hot Collection is also available at Nordstrom in the US.

{ 6 comments }

Labels: BLUSH • BOBBI BROWN • FOTD • LIPSTICK

SHISEIDO MAQUILLAGE Dramatic Melting Rouge Lipstick Review, Swatches and FOTD – PK227 and RD425

February 11, 2015

Sheseido Maquillage has released a new line of lipsticks this year called Dramatic Melting Rouge. Since I am a devotee of their highly popular lip gloss (Essence Glamorous Rouge that has won many beauty awards in Japan), I was excited about this new launch. Similar to the lip gloss that was enriched with hyaluronic acid, this new lipstick claims to have a high concentration of their unique blend of ‘beauty oil’ that hydrates your lips like moisturizing essence, and provides a full coverage with a mirror shine gloss.

I picked the colors PK227 and RD425 – a pink and a bright red as they are my go-to colors these days. The texture completely lives up to my expectations as they are ultra smooth and glides on like silk that just melts into your lips. It nourishes even the driest lips without enhancing any dry skin and lines, and make them appear fuller and youthful. It feels very lightweight and extremely hydrating on the lips. The coverage is excellent and it’s opaque with a degree of translucency. It also has a jelly like shine without any shimmer which I absolutely adore. Best of all, they are very long lasting for a glossy lipstick. The colors remain at full intensity even after 4 hours of wear and I even had snacks in between!

Shiseido Maquillage Dramatic Melting Rouge in PK227 is a beautiful girly and soft neutral pink that is neither too cool or nor too warm. You probably would have seen a gazillion of them on my blog, but this shade just guarantees to make me feel happy and pretty which is the most important purpose of wearing makeup!

Lip Swatch with a single swipe – natural day light

FOTD wearing PK227

Shiseido Maquillage Dramatic Melting Rouge in RD425 is a bright cherry red in high gloss. You can either apply this color to the center of your lips for a gradient look, or you can apply it to your entire lips for a more glamorous look but still stay young and fresh.

FOTD wearing RD425

Group Swatch

Left PK227 Right RD425

Other makeups used in the FOTDs include

DIOR Diorskin STAR Studio Foundation

CHANEL Natural Finish Loose Powder

YSL Touche Eclat

NARS Illuminator Limited Edition

HOURGLASS Ambient Blush Palette Limited Edition (reviewed here)

JILL STUART Ribbon Couture Eye 03 Vintage Satin (reviewed here)

{ 13 comments }

Labels: CHANEL • DIOR • FOTD • HOURGLASS • Jill Stuart • LIPSTICK • Maquillage by Shiseido • NARS • SHISEIDO

Tom Ford Nude Dip Eye Color Quad and Contouring Cheek Color Duo Stroked Review, Swatch and FOTD

October 1, 2014

Today’s review is for the most beautiful eyeshadow palette that Tom Ford has ever released – The Nude Dip Eye Color Quad from the Fall 2014 collection, and the Contouring Cheek Color Duo Stroked. I don’t really go out of my way to buy things, as my motto has always been “if it’s meant to be mine it will be”. But I hunted frantically for this quad (see this post) as it’s simply too irresistible!

As the name suggests, the colors of this quad are very neutral and nude in a very elegant and sophisticated way. The texture is buttery and extremely finely milled, so I prefer to use a dense eyeshadow brush to apply these shadows to get the maximum impact. All the shades are highly shimmery and that’s the beauty of this quad. Had this quad been in a normal matte to satin finish, then it would have certainly lost its glamourous appeal and made it too common. Since the colors are so soft and neutral, the high shimmer gives a glistening effect that just makes your eye makeup stand out more. Of course you can always tune it down by using a less dense brush.

Color Description

Top Left – beige champagne

Top Right – peachy-pink champagne

Bottom Left – cool taupe

Bottom Right – cool chocolate brown in satin finish

Except for the dark brown shade, the rest of them are classic colors for a wash of color on the lid. I like to layer them to get a soft gradient look for more depth and dimension. When these colors are layered together, the combination pulls quite cool on me.

On my cheeks is the Tom Ford Contouring Cheek Color Duo which is another must have from his Fall 2014 Collection. This palette is actually quite good value for money as you get both the highlighter and the blush for a much cheaper price than if you buy them individually from Tom Ford. The blush appears to be a saturated coral from the pan, and I was a little worried that it might pull too dark and brown on me. It actually transforms to a very fresh, bright yet soft coral when I applied it gently. The highlighter also deserves a thumbs up – it gives a translucent veil of glow on the cheekbones that works well with my skin tone, and it is just as good as the highlighter in the Filmstar palette by Charlotte Tilbury (reviewed here)!

Close up

Total look

Other products used:

Tom Ford Traceless Foundation

Tom Ford Translucent Finishing Powder (reviewed here)

Elegance Perfect Brow Powder (reviewed here)

Tom Ford Lip Color Twist of Fate (reviewed here)

{ 7 comments }

Labels: BRUSHES • EYESHADOW • FOTD • HIGHLIGHTER • Tom Ford

Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow Review, Swatch and FOTD

September 8, 2014

The Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow Face Sculpt and Highlighter is the most highly raved product of her line and I am so glad that I bought it while it was still in stock as it completely lived up to my expectations. It is a very beautiful and harmonious highlighter and bronzer that would look great on various skin tones.

Both the bronzer and the highlighter feel very high quality – the powder is very finely milled, and it feels velvety soft and they apply silky smooth and easy to blend seamlessly. The pigmentation is on the higher spectrum for me, so I have to use a very soft and fluffy brush to apply this product for a soft and subtle effect. The brush featured in the below picture is the CHIKUHODO GSN G2 that I highly recommend for a fool-proof contouring and highlighting application.

The bronzer is a neutral warm medium brown with micro shimmer that doesn’t look visible on the skin. I apply this product very light-handed under my cheekbones for a subtle contouring effect. As an Asian with fair skin tone (NC15-20) I don’t normally wear shimmery bronzers as a lot of them just look odd on my complexion (trust me I have tried a few and the feedback I received from friends were just hilarious!), whereas this one blends in with my natural skin tone very well, as it gives me a healthy glow look rather than “your tan went wrong” look.

The highlighter is just exceptionally beautiful. The shade is a pearly gold neutral champagne color (neither too warm nor too pink) with quite visible but refined shimmer on the skin (not frosty and glittery). A little bit of this goes a long way and this is by far the most long lasting highlighter I have ever come across. Applying this product light-handed gives me a “supermodel glow” that looks more intense than what I would normally achieve with my regular highlighters that were made for a subtle brightening effect. This is a perfect product for highlighting the cheekbones for a more lifted and modelesque effect.

On me

You can find the Filmstar Bronze and Glow online at Nordstrom or Net-A-Porter worldwide.

{ 3 comments }

Labels: Charlotte Tilbury • FOTD • HIGHLIGHTER

Charlotte Tilbury Eyeshadow Quad Review, Swatches and FOTD – The Dolce Vita

September 2, 2014

Charlotte Tilbury has been officially launched in the US as they are now available at Nordstrom online! I know that many beauty enthusiasts are eager to dip their toes into the new makeup line, so I thought I’ll share my review for one of the best products from her line which is the Luxury Eye Shadow Palette in Dolce Vita. It’s absolutely stunning and I have been wearing it every single day since I had it!

If you have seen this post, you would know that I have ranted about the packaging of some of her products. Fortunately, this eyeshadow palette is quite weighty and feels sturdy in the hand. What’s missing from the palette is the mini size applicators! I don’t mind not having them, but it just means that I will not carry this palette with me in my makeup pouch for retouch as I don’t like to bring an extra set of eyeshadow brushes/applicators.

On to the stunning eye shadows themselves. Dolce Vita is a very bold and rich eye shadow palette – they are neutral colors yet quite unique and edgy that make you instantly drawn to them. The texture is silky smooth (except for the copper glitter shade) so it applies evenly and easy to blend, and the pigmentation is ultra rich which reminded me of those ultra pigmented Nars eye shadows. A very gentle dip into the eye shadow is enough to do the whole eye for a natural look.

The colors look different depending on the angles you are looking at

The colors are versatile all year around. The bronze and coppery colors are perfect for the warm weather, and they also have a hint of burgundy and olive undertones which makes them great for fall as well. I didn’t think this would be an everyday palette for me, until I had them on and for some magic reason the colors just make my eyes appear brighter and more sparkly, and they look really flattering against my complexion.

Color Description:

Top Left – Pinky beige champagne color (soft shimmer) that you can never have too many of.

Top Right – Copper with a burgundy undertone with silver shimmer in satin finish.

Bottom Left – Warm gold with visible glitters in a sparkly and metallic finish. This is my favorite shade as it is ‘dramatic’ but wearable. It feels quite creamy and dense for a glittery shade and it applies with no fall-out. I like to dab a little bit of this on to the center of the lid, and the metallic sheen of this shade is to just die for.

Bottom Right – Medium khaki brown with gold shimmer. It’s very pigmented so I like to use this shade on the outer-v gently as well as lining the lash line.

At a different angle that shows how beautiful the gold shade is!

In my FOTD, I am wearing the champagne color as a base color, then blend the burgundy shade from the lash line in to the crease. The gold shade is added over the burgundy color for a pop of sparkle, and the khaki shade is added to the outer-v and along the lower lash line.

Other products used in the FOTD include

– YSL Youth Liberator Serum Foundation (review coming soon)

– Giorgio Armani Cheek Fabric 502 SKIN (reviewed here)

– Chanel Le Volume Mascara

– Guerlain KISSKISS Lip Colour 325 Rouge Kiss (reviewed here) – need to get more colors from this range, absolutely love it!

Bottom Line: If you want to try out the Charlotte Tilbury line, I highly recommend this beautiful eye shadow palette. You can find her new beauty line at Nordstrom online in the US, Selfridges in the UK, and Net-A-Porter world wide.

{ 13 comments }

Labels: Charlotte Tilbury • EYESHADOW • FOTD

Giorgio Armani Cheek Fabric Blush Review and Swatches – POP, FLESH, ATTITUDE and SKIN

August 31, 2014

Giorgio Armani has revamped their iconic Sheer Blush this year with the old range being discontinued. The new range is called Cheek Fabric Blush and I picked up the pinks 500 POP and 507 FLESH, and the peachy pinks 306 ATTITUDE and 502 SKIN. I love their Sheer Blushes for the quality, but I am also pleased to see this new range as they certainly look more appealing in the aspect of packaging as well as color choices.

The new Cheek Fabric Blush is housed in a glossy black lacquer case with an incase mirror. First impression was that it is a lot smaller than the previous version – it only has 4 grams of product whereas the Sheer Blush was 6 grams. The con is that it retails for the same price but you get much less product (as with everything else these days…), and the pro is that it is more compact and portable to carry.

It has the silkiest and smoothest texture you can ever get from a blush, and it is ultra finely milled as with all Armani makeup so it looks very light and easy to blend on the skin. In terms of finish, the Cheek Fabric applies slightly more vibrant and brighter, so if you think the old range was too sheer you will be happy with the color payoff of this one. It retains its signature seamless flush of color look with a lit-from-within soft glow, which means it wold never look patchy and heavy with a visible edge line/border.

The new colors that I picked are quite similar to the old ones (as you can see in my below swatches). Nevertheless they are really beautiful everyday colors (particuarly the pinks), and I am sure I will get frequent use out of these.

500 POP (Limited Edition) is an angelic matte milky pink with no shimmer. Compared to Sheer Blush 12 it leans more of a neutral pale pink, and can be used either as blush for fair complexion, or as an overall beauty powder that gives a sheer wash of soft pink glow to the cheeks.

507 FLESH is a bright candy pink with micro gold shimmer which doesn’t show up on the skin. This is a must-have color from this new collection for me!

306 ATTITUDE is a bright peachy pink with silver shimmer. The color is similar to Sheer Blush 10 but leans slightly more coral. This is a universally flattering color that would look lovely on anyone (think about Nars Orgasm…)

502 SKIN is a softer version of peachy pinky with micro silver shimmer. It looks very similar to Sheer Blush 02 in the pan but goes on more vibrant and has a stronger pink undertone.

This is a FOTD/Selfie wearing the Cheek Fabric 502 SKIN which was taken with my new selfie camera CASIO TR35. If you follow me on Instagram you would know I just spent a ridiculous amount of money on this camera. It wasn’t love at first sight as I had really high expectations on it but I am starting to love it more and more as I get to know how to operate this camera better. I will definitely post a proper review for the camera in the coming weeks.

Overall the new range has better color pay off and feel silkier than the Sheer Blushes. The quality difference is not that significant compared to the Sheer Blush as they were already superior to begin with, however they are worthy to collect as the new generation blush from Giorgio Armani. The Cheek Fabric is available at Nordstrom, and you can still get hold of the Sheer Blushes on Neiman Marcus online in the US.

{ 12 comments }

Labels: BLUSH • FOTD • Giorgio Armani • SELFIE

Suqqu Blend Color Eye Shadow 16 HANASHOUBU Review, Swatch and FOTD

August 4, 2014

I love looking at new makeup, as much as I love having my wardrobe filled with brand new clothes with tags on. Is there a name for such a syndrome?! Anyway I finally decided to use my beloved Suqqu Blend Color Eye Shadow 16 HANASHOUBU for the first time last week which I have had for quite a while. It is such a beautiful palette that is not so neutral so I decided to take some FOTDs.

I fell in love with this palette as soon as I saw the preview picture from its Spring 2014 collection. A bright lavender is the only pop of color I feel comfortable having it on my eyes other than the usual neutral shades, and I have 100% faith in this palette by Suqqu. The rest of the colors are beautiful neutrals that complement the purple. The quality is as good as an eye shadow can get in a refined and elegant way. All shades are velvety smooth, soft, and adhere to the skin beautifully without enhancing any dry lines on your eyes. All the colors have a soft shimmer with a delicate gleam.

Color Description:

Top Left: Milky vanilla with shimmer that makes a perfect base color

Top Right: Medium taupe brown with shimmer – perfect neutral brown shade for my complexion

Bottom Left: Lavender with iridescent shimmer that is highly pigmented

Bottom Right: Nude pink with shimmer (slightly more sparkly) that is great for highlighting

FOTD

I applied the vanilla shade all over the lid, then the taupe brown along the upper lash line then I layered the lavender on top to create a soft smoky look.

For the lower lash line, I just lined the lavender shade along the outer 2/3, and highlight the inner corner with the pale pink shade.