Make Up For Ever Aqua Brow

I recently bought the Make Up For Ever (MUFE) Aqua Brow. Let me tell you....what a difference a set of brows makes!

Here are some pros and cons of the MUFE Aqua Brow:

The PROS:
It will last forever (the tube itself in size is a lot of product)
It's waterproof
For the price (compared to other mid-end brands, it's very good in size of product)
It dries and sets very fast


The CONS:
It takes a long time to apply the product
You will have to clean your brush after every application (at least it's not after every brow?)
It dries and sets very fast

Here are some pictures..I tried to get this blog post up as soon as possible after work, so I only had time to do one eyebrow and snapped pictures as soon as I can before the sun went down:

I use my Sigma E65 Small Angle brush to apply it. The shade I have is in 25. Sephora's website has 4 color options and MUFE's website offers 7 shades.

This amount will cover both brows. The tube shelf life says 12 months (FYI)

Before:

 After:

Another before and after for comparison:

You can find this product at Sephora or MUFE for $20

I give this product a 8/10

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

Following my previous review NYX review, I am doing a NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil review. I have a total of 12 Jumbo Eye Pencils and fair to say, that's a lot of colors to experiment with! If you don't know what Jumbo Eye Pencils are, these are creamy eye pencils that you can use (and sharpen) as eyeshadow sticks and blend out on your eyes. They are both an eyeliner and an eyeshadow.

Let's get started:

(L to R): Milk, Cottage Cheese, Strawberry Milk, Cashmere, Yogurt, Pure Gold, Iced Mocha, French Fries, Rust, Dark Brown, Slate, Black Bean)

I've laid them out in the order of lightest to darkest. Let me point out a few things:

1. The caps: They are terrible. If you cap them too tight, they crack. If you don't cap them carefully, you might smudge the pencil. ARG. Let's hope NYX can find a better solution!

2. Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk: This is a cult favorite. It can be used as a base, it's a great white matte cream that you can use to cancel out all color on your lid and you can use it to lay your bright shadows on (or any shadows).

3. Milk, Dark Brown and Black Bean are the 3 matte colors that I have. The rest all have a hint of shimmer in them.

4. The lighter colors have less of a color pay-off than the darker colors.

5. Oily lids beware! Prime your lids (and wear powder shadows on top, if necessary) to prevent creasing.

Swatched on NC 25 skin:

NYX products can be found at NYX Cosmetics Ulta, Cherry Culture, Target

Mac Paint Pots vs Maybelline Color Tattoos

This is a comparison post about the texture and wear of the Mac Paint Pots vs Maybelline Color Tattoos. Also, I have a dupe!

Read on...

Here are some pictures of the paint points I have. I already made a separate post of Mac Soft Ochre paint point. It's a long loved basic paint pot for those that are NC skin toned (if you are more cooler in skintone, Mac Painterly is your best bet for a base). That post can be found here: Mac Soft Ochre

Ok, so I bought NEW Mac paint pots that just came out in their Pro Longwear line recently. All Paint Pots are $20 each:

Tailor Grey is a simple taupe-y grey and Constructivist is a gorgeous shimmery brown. When I say shimmery, it's not a overwhelming shimmer. Since I just got these, I have no problems with creasing with using these and they last all day. I will be using Tailor Grey as a base for dark/fall smokey eye looks.

Now, let's get to the Maybelline Color Tattoos:

I have 6 colors. There aren't many matte shades in this line. Tough as Taupe is the only one I have that's matte (it may be the only matte one in the line). 

Let's compare the two:

Price:

Paint Pots (PP) are $20 each and Color Tattoos (CT) are usually Buy 1 get 1 50% off here in the U.S. at the drugstores. 1 CT usually runs around $5.99-$7.99 depending on where you get it.

Colors:

PP has a TON more options than the CT. Not only does the PP have a wider color selection, but it also carries a better range (more mattes, more brighter colors).

Staying Power:

I'll preface by saying I do not give in the hype of brands that market their product with things like "24hrs"...because let's be serious here, I DO NOT wear my makeup for 24 hours straight. I will say this, both PP and CT lasts all day. However, CT has creased on me if I wear it by itself, whereas, the PP has not creased on me worn alone. Neither creased if worn as a base.

Color Pay-Off:

PP has a better color pay-off than the CT. Hands down. The lighter colors in the CT line are so sheer (this may also be the reason why it creases on my lids easier). A single swipe of PP has a better pay off than a single swipe of CT.

Lasting Over Time:

I've read the stories of people having issues of their paint pots drying. I cannot give a fair comparison because I haven't had my paint pots long. I've had Soft Ochre for about a month and it's still perfectly fine. I've had some of my CT for about a year and it's perfectly fine. I believe that if you keep them sealed properly and keep good care of your makeup, it shouldn't be an issue. I store my makeup in it's separately makeup room (you can see my post here of my Makeup Room) so I think that helps.

Overall:

I think overall, if you're thinking about the price, you could technically get THREE CTs for the price  of 1 PP, however, a lot of makeup and like, many other things, it's about quality, not quantity! I definitely suggest a couple of good colors from CT (Tough as Taupe is a favorite and Barely Branded is a nice creamy with a light shimmer as well). 

Dupe Alert:

As I promised, I did find a good dupe. One of Mac's new Pro Longwear PP (Tailor Grey) and one of my favorite CT (Tough as Taupe) is pretty close in color:

I hope this post was helpful!

[TUTORIAL TIME] Face and Eyes

Ever wondered what it takes to achieve a flawless face? Or at least, semi flawless?

Below is a before and after of me. No touch-up, no photoshops, no lighting tricks. Just the camera, me, and a before and after shot with and without makeup.

BEFORE AND AFTER:

PRODUCTS USED:

It's crazy seeing all the products laid out to see what it takes to make a full face. Everything here is what I used on my face. This is a complete full face. Please note this picture does NOT includes the Lorac Pro palette for eyes and it also does not include brushes used. Let's name the products. I'll name them in the order of how I used it. For reference, I have combo skin (normal face, oily T-Zone) and I am NC25:

1. Benefit Stay Flawless 15-Hour Primer (used as a primer all over my face)
2. Mac Prep +  Prime BB Creme in Light Plus (all over face as my face coverage...I use either BB creams or foundations or powders)
3. L'oreal True Match Concealer in Light/Medium (all over my chin and the sides of my nose)
4. Covergirl & Olay Eye Concealer in 205 (under my eye)

Steps 1-4 is a base, once these steps are done, I can then add color to my skin...moving on:

5. Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzer (I add this to bronze my temples, and where the sun hits)
6. The Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer (I use this above my cheekbone as a highlighter)
7. Sonia Kashuk's Blush in Sunset (I add this to the outer apples of my cheek)
8. Mac Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium (I dust this finish powder all over after to set everything)
9. YSL Sheer Candy in #9 Cool Guava (2 coats)

Steps 5-9 finishes adding color to my face. Now, most people will do their eyes before their foundation, which is what I normally do, but since I was trying to do a close up of eye tutorial as well, I wanted to get the face done first. Either way is fine, but if your eye makeup has a lot of fallout, it's easier to do eye makeup first. Let's move on to eyes and finish everything off!

Eyes: I have downward turned monolid eyes. Obviously, this is pretty rare in the U.S. (where I live). So below is a step-by-step guide of how I usually do my eyes:

BRUSHES:

Just as important in applications and products are also the tools that you use. Below are the tools I used in today's makeup look (I realized afterwards that I forgot to include the eyelash curler). Let's go into detail to what each brush is used for:

1. Real Techniques (RT) Duo-Fiber Eye Brush: This was my blending brush. Once I packed on a color, I used this brush to blend out the color on my eyes.
2. e.l.f Small Angled Brush: I used this for 2 things, filling in my brows and also to line my liner in Black eyeshadow.
3. RT Stippling Brush: I used this brush to put on my cream bronzer.
4. Sonia Kashuk No. 106 Brush: I used this to pack my eyeshadow on the creases and corners on
5. RT Blush Brush: I used this to put my blush on.
6. RT Duo-Fiber Contour Brush: I used this to put on highlighter.
7. RT Powder Brush: I dust an all over powder on my face.
8. RT Contour Brush: I use this to dust powder under my eyes (it's a smaller brush).

I hope this was helpful! Let me know what other tutorials you might be interested in!

[TUTORIAL TIME] D.I.Y. Eyebrows

Let's get down to business, and defeat these brows!

First, let me just say, I had to grow mine out for a good 2.5 weeks to be able to do this tutorial. I hope you guys really enjoy this! I will say one thing, I do NOT use scissors. I have not ever trimmed my own brows before. I'm not THAT confident in myself yet. I have, however, used those mini razors on my brows. Let me tell you, those are amazing! They are very easy to use and are fast!

I tend to do my own brows except for maybe once a year or twice a year where I'll go and get them threaded, but that's about it. By, 'do my own brows', I mean I just tweeze them.

Here's a quick tutorial I put together. Keep in mind, I've decided to give 3 options in terms of what to use to fill in your brows. Pencil, powder and gel.

Let's get started with the tools:

The highlighter crayon is used to sketch where you will be tweezing. You can use anything. I choose this particular crayon because it will also double as my brow highlighter.

The Color Tattoo, Mac shadow (in Brun) and the Sephora Brow Pencil are the 3 products we will use to fill our brows at the end. All the rest of the products you see are the tools we will use to prep our canvas.

Step 1:

I didn't actually mean dirty...I meant unkept..anyhow. If you google 'brow arch' you will find a billion and one search results for different shapes. First, I'd like to apologize for not including my nose (which is oh-so-important when measuring arches). Basically, you want to keep your arch natural. Don't try to change anything outrageous. If you at the left line, I clearly have a LOT of eyebrow hair to the left of that line. Does that mean I should tweeze all of that? NO! The lines are just a guide! However, if you look at the middle line, your highest arch, should align with you outside pupil and the outer nostril. Alright, enough staring at my unkept brow? Let's move along...

Step 2:

Sorry for the blurry picture. Alright, I've marked where I'd like to tweeze. Anything outside the line can be tweezed. Let's go!

Step 3:

MUCH BETTER! Now that you've tweezed everything outside the line, go ahead and clean everything up! After the crayon mark is wiped up, take a closer look. Use the spoolie and brush everything in place and see if you need to tweeze any additional stray hairs. This is also a good time to use the clear brow gel and stick everything in place and double check!

Step 4:

Time to fill it up! Take your favorite product and start filling your brow up! Remember to fill the outside first, then use the mascara spoolie and brush it in and step back and take a look. Don't overfill! Then if need be, fill the insides last. This is done with Mac's eyeshadow in Brun. My hair color is jet black for reference.

Below are some other ways of filling in your brows:

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know if there are any other tutorials you'd like to see!

Palette Wars: Lorac Pro -vs- Naked 2

Most of you have heard of the Naked palettes. More specifically, there are 3 Naked palettes: Naked, Naked 2 and Naked Basics. In my humble opinion, there is absolutely no need to own all 3 of the Naked palettes (unless you have money to throw around). Many have said that the first Naked (1, or the original) palette is better suited for those that are more neutral or cool toned and the Naked 2 is more for those that are warm toned and the Naked Basics palette is an all matte neutral small, convenient palette that's easy to carry.

I own the Naked 2 and the Naked Basics palettes. I also own the Lorac Pro palette. 

If you are thinking of only owning (1) ONE universal palette, I'll share with you my comparison of the Naked 2 -vs- the Lorac Pro below and hopefully it will help you decide which is a better choice.

Urban Decay NAKED 2 ($50):

PROS: This is great palette with 12 shades of warms and neutrals that's mixed with shimmers and mattes. The first shade, Foxy is the perfect brow highlight shade and the last shade Blackout is the perfect black to seal your liner with. It's versatile and multifunctional. The case is durable and sturdy, made of a metal tin (beats the cardboard stuff anyday). It comes with a dual ended brush and it also comes with a mini lipgloss. Let's be real, no one is getting the Naked 2 for the gloss or the brush though. It also comes with a HUGE mirror, which is great for travel/on the go. The textures of the shadows are buttery soft and glides on smoothly. 

CONS: To maximize the use of the colors, especially the lighter colors, I would definitely suggest using a primer or a base. The lighter colors does not show up as well without it. I do experience slight fallout with the shadows, this also might have to do with the fact that the shadows are so buttery soft (which is a good thing). I just suggest that you do your eye makeup first. Color variety is lacking for the cost. These are just your basic neutrals and warms. You will not be able to create any colors that are fun and vibrant with the Naked 2.

Lorac Pro ($42)

PROS: This is a great palette with 8 mattes and 8 shimmers (which totals 16 shadows, compared to Naked 2's 12). The price is cheaper than Naked 2 as well. I love the fact that you so many mattes. Matte shadows are hard to find, has anyone noticed that? Also, the color spectrum of the Lorac Pro is amazing. You have your lights and you have your darks. The number/variety of looks you can pull off with the Lorac Pro is probably higher than with the Naked 2. The colors were easier to blend compared to the Naked 2 and the payoff was also better.

CONS: The packaging can be a lot better. I feel as though if I dropped my palette, it will break and shatter into a million pieces. Other than that, really that's the only con I can think of. 

So the winner of the Palette War? LORAC PRO!

If you are in the market for one palette, one palette to rule them all...Lorac Pro is your best bet! Just try not to drop it.

You can find this product at:

Sephora: Naked 2 for $50 or Lorac Pro for $42

I give Naked 2 a 8/10 and Lorac Pro a 8.5/10

Mac Soft Ochre Paint Pot

As a warm-toned Asian (NC25 in Mac), Paint Pot in Soft Ochre is about the best thing since sliced bread for me.

How much do I love Soft Ochre? Let me count the ways:

1. It's a base: it makes my eyeshadows THAT much more vibrant and colorful.
2. It's a primer: goodbye primers, since I've been using Soft Ochre, I haven't had the need for my primers. Before you say anything, let me just preface by saying, I GOT SOME GREASY LIDS. Eyeliners transferring? Check! Eyeshadows creasing? Check! Eyeshadows disappearing at the end of the day? Check! Obviously, you can still feel free to use your primer, but this particular shade of Paint Pot takes care of everything for me.
3. It's a concealer (for my eyelids, don't be confused, I only use it on my eyelids): I take it all the way up to my brows though, this means it conceals the redness of when I have just plucked my brows.

What else do you need to know:

1. It goes on creamy and dries fast. Very fast. So blend it out right away and let it set and then do what you have to do afterwards!
2. Store it upside down (this is what's been rumored on the web, do a search if you don't believe me), but I honestly haven't had mine long enough to know, nor have I been storing mine upside down!
3. Soft Ochre vs Painterly: as with all Mac products, they breakdown their line to NC or NW (though newer products are more neutral)...these two popular paint pots are just that. One is more yellow/warm toned and the other is more pink/cool toned. I obviously love Soft Ochre because it suits my skintone better. 

So to my fellow NCers (in skintone), Soft Ochre is the way to go!

You can find this product at:

Mac Cosmetics for $20

I give this product a 9/10