Naked Bronze

Hello pretty earthlings! I hope you're all well!

Urban Decay's Naked palettes have proven to be one of the holy grails to many people, including myself. Personally, I like their very first Naked palette the most because I love my bronzy, brown shades. A few weeks ago, I decided to bust out my Naked palettes to use for a Raya open house and was contemplating between Naked 1, 2 and 3. But I, of course, ended up using Naked 1 and that happens all the time! Can never say no to Half Baked in that palette.

To cut to the chase, here are the products I used!

• MAC Face And Body foundation // Real Techniques Buffing brush.
• Rimmel Stay Matte powder // Real Techniques Multi-Task brush.
• theBalm Bahama Mama bronzer // Real Techniques Contour  brush.
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz.
• Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner.
• Maybelline The Falsies mascara // Shu Eumura eyelash curler.

And here comes the main star of this blog post, the Naked Bronze look!

1. Blended Buck onto the outer crease to create depth // Holika Holika fluffy blending brush.
2. Applied Half Baked onto the first half of eyelid // Real Techniques Base Shadow brush.
3. Applied Smog on centre of eyelid and blend it into Half Baked to ensure there are no obvious, harsh lines that separate both shadows // Real Techniques Base Shadow brush.
4. Applied Dark Horse onto the outer-V of the lid and blend it into Smog to create a gradient effect (a gradient effect is a transition of a lighter shade to a darker shade) // Holika Holika fluffy blending brush.
5. Using my ring finger, I dabbed it into Half Baked and applied it again on the first half of my eyelid (repeating step #2). This will intensify the look, as applying with your finger (with its  natural warmth) deposits more product than using a brush to do so.

• NYX's soft matte lip cream in Monte Carlo

And here's the completed look! :)

I really think a bronzy with a smoked out eye-look is a timeless one. You can combine it with a bold lip color, like red, and it will give you a foolproof, classy evening look. You combine it with a more subtle, neutral lip color (and also applying less of the darker eyeshadow at the outer-V of the eyelid) and ta-da!, you get a more wearable, daily look.

I hope this post has helped you and as always, thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful weekend ahead of you!

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Mini BH Cosmetics Haul.

Hello pretty earthlings!! BH Cosmetics (link here!) makes one of the most affordable and good quality products, ever. I know this because I've seen so many reviews on YouTube. If there is anyone who is new to makeup and don't want to spend a lot of money on it, BH is definitely a good way to start one's makeup journey!

Sadly there aren't any shops that carry the brand in Brunei. Then again, it doesn't matter because BH's official website offers international shipping *throws confetti*. If I remember correctly, international shipping fee to Brunei is a flat rate of USD21.95, using USPS and tracking of parcel is provided. I received the postcard to collect the stuff I ordered from BH after waiting for approximately three weeks. I could only collect them the next day because the post office closed early. The torment!

Without further ado, here are the stuff I ordered!

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Bombshell Bronze (USD4.95) in the shade Siren*. There are three shades altogether:

• Diva, which has a matte finish with tones of warm sunny bronze.
• Starlet, which has an illuminating finish with tones of beige, pink and peachy bronze.
• *Siren, which has a shimmering finish with tones of deep gold, copper and bronze.

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The Sculpt and Blend brush set, which is actually the "initiator" of my haul in the very first place! I have Sigma's Mrs. Bunny Essential Kit (USD159 excluding shipping) and it is much more expensive than BH's (USD22.95 ≅ USD23). I have only used my Sigma brushes twice (during big festivities like the Chinese New Year) since I got it the beginning of this year because it's expensive. What a dumb reason, I know! I tend to keep the more expensive things and use them for a more special event or function but I ALWAYS end up using Real Techniques brushes because they are much cheaper, again, than Sigma. Bad bad bad habit.

Okay, gotta get back on (the BH) track! The Sculpt and Blend brush costs ≅USD23 and has ten brushes altogether. Each brush is basically worth only ≅USD2.30. The bristles of these feel similar to that of Sigma's. BH's feel a lot lighter though, but it don't matter! If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, this set is definitely for you. This particular set contains:

• a round blending face brush
• an angled blending face brush
• a tapered contouring face brush
• a flat blending face brush
• an angled contouring face brush
• a small tapered contouring face brush
• a small angled blending face brush
• a small flat blending face brush
• a small angled contouring face brush
• a small round blending face brush

Though they are all labeled as face brushes, the smaller ones can actually be used to apply products like eyeshadows. Like Michelle Phan has mentioned before, you can use anything for anything (or something along that line).

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The 6 Color Palette! This palette has six large spheres of high and pigmented color powder, which can be used to contour and shade, or as blushers.

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And finally, the highlight of this post, featuring BH's Eyes On The 70's and Eyes On The 80's palettes! I ordered the 60's palette from Urban Outfitters in my previous post (click here!) and I knew I had to get the 70's and 80's one. Each palette contains 30 eyeshadows that are matte, shimmery and glittery. You can create many looks with these, ranging from normal everyday ones (with neutral and warm shades) to crazy, blown-out looks (with..basically all the other shades).

Phew that was one lengthy post! If you have made it until here, thank you so much for reading! I hope this post has helped you :)

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Tartelette!

I've officially become a Tartelette last month because of their Amazonian clay full coverage foundation. It is nothing short of amazing on my skin! I have oily skin but it has gotten much better since I amped up my skincare regime since June. A friend (also my makeup mule) helped me bring back the Tarte foundation along with their maracuja creaseless concealer. And they both work so well together. Best $99 ever spent ($60 for the foundation and $39 for the concealer at Sephora Singapore).

Last week was the beginning of Raya so I thought, what better time to open up new products and use? After my everyday skincare routine, I used a little of Benefit's POREfessional as a base and then applied the Tarte foundation using a damp Real Techniques' Miracle Complexion sponge and it is a (much cheaper) dupe to the original Beauty Blender. The foundation is really easy to blend and it is build-able, so you can layer or pack on if you like a fuller coverage. I only applied one layer because 1) I wanted to see how one layer holds up and 2) I wanted a more natural look because it was day-time. After applying the foundation, I dabbed a little bit of the maracuja creaseless concealer on my under-eye circles and I kid you not, you only need the tiniest bit because a little goes a long way and it has a thick consistency. I decided not to use any powder because again, I wanted it to be light.

I started wearing the foundation at about four in the afternoon and actually had a pretty long night (inclusive of sweating like mad at a basketball match with many people sweating like mad too). When I got home around midnight, the foundation still looked good. And that was when I decided that the foundation is. amazing. 

Tarte's Amazonian clay full coverage foundation

Tarte's Maracuja Creaseless concealer

Benefit's They're Real! push-up liner

Revlon's Lash Potion mascara

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz

NYX soft matte lip cream in Prague on my lips

I just realised I don't usually use any false eyelashes or blushes. I should probably start investing in some (any reason to shop for more makeup...)!

Anyway, thank you for reading and have a great weekend ahead of you!!

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