NYX soft matte lip creams pt. II.

Hi earthlings!

In October 2014, I featured and blogged about my six very much loved NYX's soft matte lip creams. You can check it out here! In that particular entry, you can find my review and pictures of swatches of shades: Zurich, Ibiza, Addis Ababa, Prague, Monte Carlo and Copenhagen.

As the title of the blog today suggests, it's high time I updated my humble collection of NYX's soft matte lip creams! This update is brought to you by three shades: Abu Dhabi, Rome and Budapest. Abu Dhabi was given to me by a dear friend last year. Thank you Mai! As for Rome and Budapest, I just bought them at BND18 each from a Bruneian seller on Instagram, @makeupzone.bn. 

Without further ado, here are the pictures that I took today! :)

↑ (L-R) Abu Dhabi, Rome, Budapest.

↑ Abu Dhabi

↬ A soft, nude brown shade. I often pair this together with Zurich to create a beautiful nude with a hint of peach combination.

 ↑ Rome

↬ A mauve, dusty rose shade. I think this is a beautiful shade and will look good on many skin tones! Rome actually reminds me of my Kat Von D's everlasting liquid lipstick in the shade Lolita.

↑ Budapest

↬ I see this as a wine-y shade and is redder than Rome, though both shades look a tad similar from the tube. Rome leans more towards brown and Budapest on the other hand, towards red.

These lip products smell amazing, as usual! The consistency is very creamy, as the name of the product would suggest. Though they appear creamy upon application, the finish is matte, but not overly matte that your lips end up being chapped and dry. I find myself reaching out for NYX soft matte lip creams more on a daily basis, just because they are so easy to apply and the fact that they aren't drying (with the pigmentation they offer) is definitely a bonus. In addition to that, they are easy to remove, in which the contrary poses a problem by other lip creams or liquid lip products. If your lips are naturally dry which may cause certain lip products to be drying on you, smack on some lip mask, moisturiser or Vaseline before heading to bed. This simple step has made my life much easier when it comes to applying lip products! 

I hope this blog post is helpful to any of you who might be interested in these lip products! Please don't hesitate to leave a comment down below if you have any further questions. Have a great weekend ahead of you!

Gladyator signing out.

Read More

Silver Edge.

Hi errbadeh! Last Saturday was a fun-filled one indeed. The beau and I were invited to a wedding reception at Empire. For the dinner, I decided to use some BH Cosmetics' products that I have never used yet - the 6 color & blush palette, Eyes On The 70s palette and the rose gold brush set. Without further ado, here are ze pictures!

Eyes:

↬ Using Bobbi Brown black gel liner and angled liner brush #1, I first mapped out the wing shape that I would like.

↬ Applied black eyeshadow #3 according to the winged shape drawn previously, only covering the outer third of eyelid.

↬ Applied silver eyeshadow #1 across the entire lid where it's left empty without the black eyeshadow.

↬ Applied light purple eyeshadow #2 on the centre of lid to create a little dimension so the whole eyelook won't look too monochromatic.

↬ Used tapered blending brush #3 to blend everything altogether.

Base/Face:

↬  Used Benefit POREfessional's primer as base.

↬  Applied Tarte Amazonian clay foundation and Tarte maracuja creaseless concealer under my eyes - classic foundation brush #1.

↬  Powdered T-Zone and under eyes with powder 2 - powder brush #3.

↬  Bronzed cheeks with powder 3 and blush powder 4 - angled brush #2.

↬ Used Anastasia Beverly Hills' dipbrow pomade to fill in and shape brows.

↬ ACurled lashes and coated them with Essence's Lashes Go Wild mascara.

↬ Tightlined only upper lash line using 3 Concept Eyes waterproof eyeliner [skipped using the basic eyeliner because I didn't want the eyelook to look too top-heavy].

Lips:

↬ NYX's soft matte lip cream in Copenhagen.

With this look, I started off with doing my eyes first because if I happen to make any mistakes and if any cleaning up is required, I can do so without worrying that I would mess up my foundation/base. Also, since I was working with a darker eyeshadow, I was worried that there might be fallouts.

I guess that's all for now! Thanks for reading and have great week ahead of you.

Gladyator signing out.

Read More

NYX soft matte lip creams.

Hello everyone! I am very excited to share this post with you because it'll be about something that I love love love. It's none other than NYX's soft matte lip creams! I have featured a few shades in previous blog posts (links here!: Paddle Pop, Naked Bronze, Selfish Silver Smoke, Purple Line, Bronzed).

I think you might be able to tell that NYX's soft matte lip creams represent my very-much used lip products, ever. They are pigmented, they don't dry up your lips and they smell like heaven! The pictures and swatches below will show you why!

(L-R) Zurich, Ibiza, Addis Ababa, Prague, Monte Carlo, Copenhagen.

↬ Zurich.

↬ Nude shade (my perfect nude!) that doesn't make you look too washed out. Perfect for everyday use when you just want a subtle pop of color on your lips.

↬ Ibiza.

↬ Dark peach shade.

↬ Featured here! Purple Line

↬ Addis Ababa.

↬ Barbie pink shade.

↬ Featured here! Paddle Pop

↬ Prague.

↬ Dark purple shade (my favourite one out of all!).

↬ Featured here! Selfish Silver Smoke and Bronzed.

↬ Monte Carlo.

↬ Blue-toned red shade; pin-up red shade.

↬ Featured here! Naked Bronze

↬ Copenhagen.

↬ Wine shade; dark berry shade.

↬ I've yet to try this as I just got it recently. But I know I'm going to love it as much as I do Prague! It seems to be a little darker than Prague (but at least it doesn't look as it does in its tube...).

I purchased Zurich, Ibiza and Prague from Urban Outfitters (link here!). You can get the soft matte lip creams for USD6 from the website, that ships to Brunei at a flat rate of USD30 so you could buy as many products (not just NYX) as you want to maximise the international shipping fee.

However, if you don't wish to buy them online as you need to wait for approximately three weeks to a month, you can get them at Shop@Sarah's at Seri Kiulap Mall. But I don't recommend because they cost roughly BND16 (I purchased Monte Carlo there which I felt ripped off about).

As aforementioned, I just recently purchased Copenhagen from a dear friend who sells makeup products on her Instagram (@blushnsmudge_bn). Great customer service too! I got Copenhagen for BND13 which is BND3 cheaper than what you would get from Shop@Sarah's. BND3 is actually a lot of difference (to me at least) because..add 20cents and you can buy yourself some Thien-Thien chicken rice!!! Do follow her makeup page for more, you won't regret it!

I hope this post has helped you in one way or another. You need at least one soft matte lip cream in your lipstick collection! Butttt, please don't blame me if you decide to have more than one after that hehe. Once again, thank you so much for reading! Have a great weekend ahead of you!

Gladyator signing out.

Read More

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!

Gladyator signing out.

Read More

Selfish Silver Smoke

Hello pretty earthlings! I attended a dinner last Saturday, the 12th. I initially wanted to use the Naked 1 palette because it's my all time favourite, but I saw my unopened-still-in-its-plastic-bag NudeTude palette so I think I might as well make use of it!

From the title of this post, it needs no pointing-out that I made this eye look on the one shade that caught my eye, Selfish, a silvery taupe shade. Hence it is the main color of this look. The products I used are as below :D

Face/Base

• Benefit the POREfessional primer
• Yves Saint Lauret Le Teint Touche Éclat foundation
• NYX Above & Beyond Coverage concealer
• Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder
• theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer as a highlighter
• theBalm Betty-Lou Manizer as a bronzer
• Sleek Blush by 3 in pink lemonade

Eyes

      Shadows:

• Applied Selfish from the inner corners to the middle of eyelid, leaving the outer corner bare
• Lightly tapped brush onto Serious and put it on the outer crease of eyelid, blending inwards together with Selfish
• Used my ring finger to apply a little hint of Stand-offish on the middle of eyelid to give that extra pop and dimension so the entire eye look won't look too flat

      Rest of the eye area:

• Bobbi Brown long-wear gel eyeliner in Black Ink
• Shu Eumura eyelash curler
• Revlon Lash Potion mascara
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Ebony

Lips

• NYX soft matte lip cream in Prague

Brushes

• Foundation - Real Techniques buffing brush
• Concealer - Real Techniques domed shadow brush
• Powder - Real Techniques multitask brush
• Eyeshadows - Real Techniques base shadow brush
• Eyeliner - Real Techniques fine liner brush
• Bronzer - Real Techniques contour brush

Final look!

I really liked how everything turned out in the end, nothing too fancy and yet nothing too..simple. I hope you had a great weekend and here's to another one!

Gladyator signing out.

Read More

Bronzed.

Hi everyone! I attended a wedding last fortnight and I did a look which is always my all-time favourite, featuring my all-time favourite shade, brown! I think this will suit most eye colors because you can always either play it up by packing more eyeshadow, or warm it down by putting on less initially. Without further ado, here are what I used :)

Face/Base

• Benefit the POREfessional primer
• Yves Saint Lauret Le Teint Touche Éclat foundation
• NYX Above & Beyond Coverage concealer
• Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder

Eyes

• Em Cosmetics Shade Play in Bali Bronzes
• Shade 1 on the inner corner, shades 2+3 on centre of eyelids and 4 on the outer V. Blend appropriately to ensure that there are no harsh edges.
• Shu Eumura eyelash curler
• Maybelline The Rocket mascara
• Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner in Deep Black
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Ebony

Lips

• NYX soft matte lip cream in Prague

Brush

(Right to left)

• Sigma F82 round kabuki brush [to apply foundation]
• Sigma F30 large powder brush [to set foundation with powder]
• Sigma E40 tapered blending brush [to blend eyeshadows]
• Sigma E55 eyeshading brush [to apply eyeshadows]

When all is put together....

I hope this post helped you in a way or another. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to post them down below in the comments section! Thank you for reading!

Gladyator signing out.

Read More

Review - NYX Ibiza.

Most people know that NYX makes one of the best makeup products. Not only that, they're affordable too! One of my favorite product from NYX is their soft matte lip creams. It's pigmented, the consistency is somewhat creamy but it dries matte. Also, it smells amazing like...cupcakes. To date, I have this product in four shades. Today, I'm going to show you the shade Ibiza, a pink/muted rose gold shade with a bit of coral-y hint to it.

NYX soft matte lip cream in Ibiza.

Since it dries matte, be sure to moisturise your lips prior to applying it to ensure that it stays on beautifully. Hope this post helped you!

Gladyator signing out.

Read More

Makeup Look - Purple Line

Hi!

Just got back from a dinner/function/gathering of a baby's full-moon, meaning the baby has just turned one month old! Opted for a light purple eye look with a touch of slight smokiness. Here are what I used!

Face/Base

• NARS Sheer Matte foundation in Barcelona
• NYX Full Coverage Concealer

Eyes

• Cosmetics Shade Play in Tokyo Palette [1+2 on the inner most eye corner, 3 on the middle of the lids and 4 on the outer lid. Blend properly to ensure that there are no harsh lines]
• Physician's Formula purple gel eyeliner

Brows

• Anastasia Brow Wiz in Ebony

Cheeks

• Sleek Make Up "Blush by 3" in Pink Lemonade [centre, cream one]

Brushes

• Real Techniques buffing brush [foundation]
• Real Techniques deluxe crease brush [concealer]
• Real Techniques base shadow brush [eyeshadows]
• Real Techniques pixel-point eyeliner brush [eyeliner]

Lips

• NYX soft matte lip cream in Ibiza

Here's the finished look with everything aforementioned put together :)

Decided to call this look Purple Line because I was coincidentally listening to DBSK/TVXQ's music called Purple Line.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and here's to a good one ahead!

Gladyator signing out.

Read More