Favorites: February 2016!


If you've been following my Instagram, I've been posting the products I use everyday and so the products from this Favorites post won't be any surprise. I'm still very much into highlighter, but I've been going for that "glow from within" look this month. 

My very sweet roommates got me the Becca Backlight Priming Filter for my birthday and I've been using it every day since getting it. I wear it under sheerer foundations to give myself a nice glow, but it does get hidden if you use anything with medium and higher coverage. I hear people have had great luck with mixing their foundations with this primer, but I haven't tried that yet. Even though my face looks more luminous, it doesn't make me oily and does a pretty good job at priming my face as well.

To add even more glow, I've been patting the Benefit Cosmetics Girl Meets Pearl liquid highlighter on my cheekbones. I can wear it under and above foundation and the golden pink sheen is gorgeous. To bump up the color even more, I layer the Wet n Wild Color Icon Ombre Blush in The Princess Daiquiries on top. It's more of a pinky highlighter on me than a blush, but I don't mind. I was kind of expecting that after seeing how light the blush looked.

I switched out my Cover FX Custom Cover Drops + Boujois Healthy Mix Foundation combo and started using the L'oreal True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation W3 instead. It doesn't give me the same coverage as the other combo, but the formula and finish is gorgeous. I still need a high coverage concealer for my acne marks, but that's just my own self consciousness about my skin. 


L to R;
Becca Backlight Priming Filter
Benefit Cosmetics Girl Meets Pearl
Wet n Wild Color Icon Ombre Blush in The Princess Daiquiries
L'oreal True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation in W3

I've been using all four products almost every day and just doing a wash of color on my lids to give myself a natural and luminous look. For the last couple of days, I've been going darker on my lids and so you'll probably see a drastic difference in March's favorites post. I'm already excited thinking about it since I got a lot of smokier looking eye products near end of February!

Have you tried any of these products? Do you prefer a luminous or matte finish?

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Tag: The Beauty Lover


The very lovely Cindy from cindyhyue tagged me to do the Beauty Lover Tag. If you haven't seen her blog before, you need to check it out! She has such gorgeous pictures and I can't help but stare at all of them. She's also super nice and hopefully we can meet up in person one day!

I was going to edit the pictures from the gif so that the white balance could be better, but just initially putting it together to see what it would look like crashed my laptop 2-3 times. I give up!

1. If you could have anyone in the world do your makeup, who would it be?
I'm going to go a bit different and say Nikkie from Nikkietutorials. She has hooded eyes and always does beautifully glamours makeup looks. Every eye look on me looks very "neutral" since everything disappears once I open my eyes. I think I've gotten natural/neutral looks down and would love someone to teach me how to be glamourous. 

2. What's your top makeup tip?
The biggest tip I can give is in regards to winged liner! I've been using eyeliner for almost 10 years and it's usually the easiest way to draw attention to my eyes. Because I have hooded lids, it's sometimes hard to gauge where the wing should go. I used to extend the line while my eyes were closed, but that makes the wing look like a weird hook instead. What I've learned is that keeping your eyes open while mapping and drawing in the wing will give you better results. It sounds simple, but it was so groundbreaking to me. Pen liquid liners with brush applicators are also probably the easiest to use for creating the perfect wing as well!

3. What one makeup item could you not live without?
My answer is similar to Cindy's in that I really love lash curlers because they open up my eyes, but does that count as a makeup item or tool? If it's a tool, then I would say waterproof mascara to use after curling my lashes :)

4. What one skincare item could you not live without?
I'm going to somewhat cheat and say a facial oil! A lot of oils can be used as an oil cleanser to break down makeup and then also as a moisturizer. I also want to choose a face cleanser like in Cindy's post, but most face cleansers make my face feel dry and cause me to break out even more.

5. What are you worst at when it comes to applying makeup?
I can't figure out blush. I somehow built up a small collection of blushes for most of the wearable blush colors, but I rarely touch them. I instead reach for colored highlighters that also give me a sheer wash of color as well as shimmer. Blush just ends up looking blotchy and out of place on me no matter how hard I try.

6. What's your biggest pet peeve when it comes to beauty?
I actually really dislike it when people crimp their lashes so hard with their lash curler that it ends up looking like a 90 degree angle. I've seen some people do it in real life and I don't understand how it happens. It's such a small thing, but I tend to notice it since I also pay a lot of attention to my own lashes to make sure they're curling correctly. 

7. What's your favorite makeup era?
I like the 1940's ish era where everything had a Hollywood Glamour kind of look, but was still simple. There were bolder bows and red lips, and that's just my jam. I also like the 1920's where the hair was adorably short and everyone went heavy on the blush, but you know... I don't know how to use blush.

8. What's your guilty pleasure product?
I initially wanted to say dark lips but when I really think about it, it's probably colored eyeliners. I used to have some liquid color eyeliners, but now I have a stash of colored pencil eyeliners instead. I rarely use them, but I always want to get more when I think I'm cool enough to wear them. Then I realize that's a lie and will probably never wear them.

9. What's your underdog product?
I absolutely love the Wet n Wild Shimmer Palette in Rose Champagne glow. It was originally in the Fergie line and I hear it's being repackaged, but I haven't seen it since that line was merged with the original WNW. I'm hoping that if I mention it enough, it's going to reappear in stores again sooner. It gives me a beautiful glow that doesn't make my face look "wet" like the Becca Cosmetics highlighters and it's only 5ish dollars for a huge pan of product! 

10. What's your favorite makeup product of 2015?
It wasn't released in 2015, but I'm going to choose the Lorac Unzipped Palette. It is one of those palettes that just go with everything and all of the shadows are pigmented and easy to use. I love cream shadows and would've chosen one of the new brands I've tried out, but nothing is going to beat the Unzipped Palette for the year of 2015.

& now for those I'm going to tag!
Kim from KimKine
Charmaine from Charrmyn
Susan from lejolie / zanita
+ anyone else that wants to do the tag!

I love these kind of things and learning more about the bloggers I follow!

And by the way, I'm super glad the days are longer again so that I can have more time with the sun.

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Review & Swatches: Dose of Colors Matte Liquid Lipstick in Mood


One of my very very good friends aka my biffle got me the Dose of Colors Matte Liquid Lipstick in Mood for my birthday. Ever since its launch, I've been drawn drawn to the dark red but purple shade and kept constantly looking at the website and Dose of Colors Instagram profile. The liquid matte lipsticks retail for $18 and contains 0.16 ounces / 4.5 grams of product. As far as I'm aware, Dose of Colors is only available on their website.
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Review & Swatches: L'oreal True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation in W3


The L'oreal True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation is L'oreals answer to the trending "cushion" foundation that is currently very popular in Asia. The shade I got is W3, but it's a touch light for my face right now but there wasn't a 3.5 in the warm range. If you're not familiar with the True Match line, the foundations is split into three ranges - Warm, Neutral, and Cool. Cushion foundations are basically made up of a sponge soaked with thinner liquid foundations housed in a compact that's easy to apply with the rubycell puff. The combination gives a more airbrushed and natural look. This particular cushion foundation contains 0.51 ounces / 14.6 grams of product and retails for around $16.00.

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Review & Swatches: Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit in Dolce K


The Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit in Dolce K is a midtone neutral brown nude "kit" that comes with a lip liner and matte liquid lipstick. I'm actually surprised that I even have this in my possession since it keeps getting sold out in seconds. I half got this because of the hype, but I also love the lipstick colors Kylie wears. Everyone has their own personal opinions about Kylie Jenner and the Kardashian, but they always have amazing makeup! The whole lip kit is $29 and contains 1 pencil lip liner with 0.03 ounces / 1.0 gram of product and 1 matte liquid lipstick with 0.11 ounces / 3.25 mL of product. 

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Face of the Day: Valentine's Day 2016


Happy Valentine's Day! I'm in California and so it's pretty much almost over, but here's my look I did to go out with my boyfriend! We're actually very low key and usually don't do anything... and then three weeks ago, he jokingly told me to plan something since he was planning my birthday. I did panic a little bit since I thought everything would've been booked up a month in advanced but I was also pretty excited since it was the first time in 4 years we would be able to spend the day together. 

Anyway, back to makeup - Here's what I used today! I wanted to keep things on the pinky / rose side and it also matched with the flowers on my dress.


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Review & Swatches: Burberry Wet & Dry Glow Shadow in No. 002 Nude


The Burberry Wet & Dry Glow Shadow in No. 002 Nude is from the more glittery / luminous version of the original Wet & Dry Silk Shadows. The claims include giving an "effortless wash of luminous, highlighting color" on the lids and like the original version, these can also be used dry to be more subtle and wet to be more dramatic / metallic. The Burberry website said that these shadows can also be used as a "top coat" to make other shadows more luminous. There is 1.8 grams / 0.06 ounces of product and retails for $29.

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Review & Swatches: L'oral Infallible Pro Matte Glosses in Forbidden Kiss and Nude Allure


The L'oreal Infallible Pro Matte Glosses in Forbidden Kiss and Nude Allure are relatively new releases from L'oreal and it combines the cushiony feel of a gloss with the longevity and pigmentation of a liquid lipstick. Unlike the popular liquid matte lipsticks out right now, these don't claim to be budge / transfer proof. They instead emphasize on giving a velvety finish and look with all day comfort. There is 0.21 fluid ounces / 6.3 grams and they retail for around $9.99 each.

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Review & Swatches: Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in Masochist


The Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in Masochist is a dark raspberry / fuchsia matte liquid lipstick and surprisingly, it's one of the colors I wear the most from Jeffree Star Cosmetics. Even though this color is from their permanent line, it was sold out for a long time and is coming back on February 12th! I actually got this the same time as Androgyny, but didn't feel rushed to do it until now so that I can put my thoughts out there before the huge restock. There is 0.19 fluid ounces / 5.6 grams of product and retails for $18. You can find it on the Jeffree Star Cosmetic website here, but also on Beautylish here (which has free shipping over 30!).
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Review & Swatches: Etude House Look At My Eyes Monkey Wish Eyes in GR707, BE109, and PK013 [Pink Bird Box]


The Lunar New Year is coming up soon (February 8!) and it'll be the Year of the Monkey! To celebrate, Etude House brought out some new shades from their Look At My Eyes range with special packaging. The Look At My Eyes Monkey Wish Eyes collection contains both jewel and velvet finishes and includes 6 new limited edition shades. The velvet finish version of the shadows retail for $4.60 and the jewel finish version of the shades retail for $7.20. Both versions contain 0.07 ounces / 2 grams of product and you can find these shadows on Etude House's website here!

In this post, I'll be reviewing GR707 Exam Passed, BE109 Pay Day, and PK013 Cheer up! If you missed it, I also reviewed the Big Cover Concealer BB and Cushion Concealer here.

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Review & Swatches: Etude House Big Cover Concealer BB in #23 Sand and Cushion Concealer in Peach Pink [Pink Bird Box]


Etude House recently brought out their Big Cover collection and includes base products that perfect and create flawless skin. Each of the items in this line are different takes on concealer, but they're all high coverage products. The products I will be reviewing are the Big Cover Concealer BB SPF50+ / PA+++ in #23 Sand and the Big Cover Cushion Concealer SPF 30/PA++ in Peach Pink and they both can be found on the global Etude House website here.

Just as a heads up, this will be a picture heavy post but it will hopefully be less wordy than the other Pink Bird Box I talked about last month. There will be another post later this week to talk about the Look At My Eyes Monkey Wish Eyes that I also got in this month's box!
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