NARS Matte Multiple in Exumas; Feels Like in the Bahamas

Meet the newest item in my collection;

the NARS Matte Multiple in Exumas as part of NARS matte multiple family. Price wise? You know NARS. Satisfaction level: maximum. I can say that I am so in love with this newbie.

NARS Matte Multiple comes in 3 brown shades for contouring and 4 pop shades for blush and lip tint. What I love about NARS is because they always named their products with a very interesting geographical names, either world's cities, lakes, name of countries, gulf, cape and even those pervert names such as Sex Machine or Deep Throat (sorry, this is so age-restricted post :D) Since my fave school's subject was geography, so I can exactly guess what's behind each of NARS' product name and found it very attractive. 

Thanks to Cafe Make Up, for giving us the pretty swatches. Above is the complete NARS Matte Multiple collections and below is the swatches from the four pop shades; Anguilla, Exumas, Laos and Siam. Very pretty names, aren't they?

I initially wanted to try on Laos, because the rosy shade looks really tempting. However, I remember that I already owned two rosy shades (MAC Autoerotique and Sleek Rose Gold) and lack of peachy shades. I eventually picked Exumas, which name was taken from the group of islands in the Bahamas. I thought the name reminds me of summer, exactly similar with our season right now (minus the beaches in Jakarta).

I purchased at Strawberrynet.com when they had a promo and good deal. It is sold at USD 39 at NARS website. It consists of 7,5gr of product, quite small for a blush (and I wish I wouldn't finish it too soon). The color looks two times darker in the stick, yet very subtle when applied. Here is the swatch on the back of my hand, before and after blended.

The color is corally peach, not too pink nor orange. The result is amazing, I wear this from morning 7am and I can still see my cheeks glow at 3pm! I feel like being in the beach in the hot sunny Jakarta.

I can't believe that I am really impressed with this tiny product. The texture is easy to blend, and it's matte, so it fits my super oily skin and doesn't make me oilier at all! It doesn't accentuate my large pores and the most important thing is the fact that it doesn't have shimmer and glitters, but glow! The more hours you wear this, the more natural it looks.

This photo is taken at 1pm in the hot and sunny afternoon and after having outdoor activities, and moreover I applied this blush at 7am in the morning! My face looks dewy, and I am sure that I will use this blush until te last swipe, too, likey other NARS products.

How about you? Which shade is your favorite from the NARS Matte Multiple range?

See you in my next post ~xoxo

Matte Lipstick Madness #1: Australis Velourlips in Doo-Bai

I feel ashamed when I saw the last update I made to this blog was December 2014.

Yes, pardon me for not being a consistent beauty blogger and probably the laziest in town. However, during my absence, don't ask me how many stuff I tried and bought to discover my make up journey. Tons of new shades of foundation (and ended up reselling items that didn't suit me), a few powders, and a couple of matte lipsticks slash lip cream. 

These matte lipsticks are now really in the hype. Two-three years ago, I started to fall in love with Make Up Forever Aqua Rouge Lip Cream even though the price was more expensive than even the regular MAC best-selling lipsticks. Yet, nowadays, the matte lip creams come in hundreds color: from nudes to bolds, from neutrals to pops. It comes in a fair price to the doesn't-make-any-sense one. It's like 2015 trend, and begun with Lime Crime Velvetines series that were launched mid last year, which according to me, very disappointing and doesn't live up to the hype at all.

And my effort to discover the matte lip creams continued. One of my colleagues, when having a business trip to Sydney, successfully bought me this gem; Australis Velourlips Matte Lip Cream. I heard that this brand only available in Australia, and I was curious to try one of its shades. I initially wanted to try on Buda-Pash (yes their names were inspired from exotic cities in all over the world but with 'slang' spelling) the dark red that recently being loved by all women in the universe, but, consider its wearability, I ended up picking Doo-Bai instead. I found it's a really pretty shade, which is not real red but not too wine nor cherry. 

It just looks like an ordinary dark red in the tube. But wait until I swatch it on the back of my hand. These Velourlips come in fabulous shades such as Tok-io (bright purple), Pa-Ree (nude beige), Bar-Tha-Lo-Na (bright pink-based red), Shang-Hi (bright fuchsia), Ro-Ma (baby pink) which really compliments the fair skinned girls, and many more.

Now you can see how different Doo-Bai when swatched and in the tube. You can see the touch of wine there, not purple, not pink. I just super loooove this. I am really bored with pink-based red, the most common red shades sold in Indonesia. The color payoff is good, and buildable. Here I only swatched 1 layer, and it can be deep red if I swatch some more layers. Like this:

That's exactly how it looks on lips, with two layers. It makes my lips look fuller and plumper. With the price of around AUD 10 (around IDR 100,000), this is the best matte lip cream I have ever worn. The formula is super soft, application is easy and not patchy, though you must be careful to fill up your lips with this kind of color, because once it goes out of the lip line, you have to prepare your oil-baded remover to vanish the stain! On the other side, that means the staying power is incredible. And it's not smudging and fading like I experienced with Lime Crime.  It doesnt' dry out my lips, too, which is awesome considering its low price. In Indonesia, you can get it at several online stores at around IDR 175.000-IDR 200.000.

  

My complete look wearing this shade. Details are: NARS single eye shadow in fez and ABh dipbrow pomade in dark brown for eyes, MUFE hd foundation no. 160 and Bobbi Brown sheer pressed powder in warm natural as base, NARS matte multiple in exumas for cheeks and Australis velourlips in doo-bai on lips. And I am ready-set-go for this weekend!

Please leave your comments and follow my account for upcoming reviews. I will be posting this Matte Lip Cream Madness series for two or three more from other brands. Stay tune! -xoxo-

[REVIEW] Anastasia Beverly Hills Tamanna Palette

Girls,

I am back with a review (plus EOTD) of the new released Anastasia Beverly Hills Tamanna Palette!

Following the previous Amrezy and Maya Mia palette, Anastasia Beverly Hills (ABH) launched the third palette, Tamanna, as inspired by the famous instagram darling and beauty blogger Tamanna Roashan (@DressYourFace).

@amrezy

@maya_mia_y

@DressYourFace

I asked my friend who lives in US to buy me at ULTA, and one thing that caught me most from Tamanna was the color selections that look like Sleek Oh-So-Special, dominantly consist of chocolate, coral and broze with combination of shimmer, matte and satin.

See the packaging. It reminds me a lot of middle east slash indian pattern. It looks so exotic, with maroon color and gold. I simply love the box that reminiscing me of TheBalm product, it has magnetic closure and made of thick paper but doesn't look cheap at all. The size is not small but still handy and can fit my make up case. It's rather sleek and lighweight. It includes a mirror and a dual-ended brush.

The colors? For me it's such a perfect combination. It's more like the Maya Mia than Amrezy, as Amrezy has the bright purple and emerald green outside of the basic colors. Maya Mia looks pretty similar, but I think it has more mattes than the shimmers. Maya Mia also consists of blue (Aqua), and unlike Aqua which is matte, Tamanna has the shimmering blue named Venezia.

The color payoff is brilliant. You can see from the swatches of the 10 colors above. The first line is without any base, and the bottom line is with NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil Milk underneath. The difference is not so significant, although the color will look as bright as it looks on the pan if we are using base. Especially the blue one.

The palette consists of 10 colors, they are:

Fresh: light beige (matte)

Blush: frosty light pink (shimmer)

Venezia: blue turquoise (shimmer)

Gilded: bronze (shimmer)

Custom: light taupe (shimmer)

Sangria: plum based red (shimmer)

Bengal: muted orange (satin)

Chocolate: dark chocolate (satin)

China Rose: light coral (shimmer)

Noir: black (matte)

It has 2 matte colors, 2 satin and the rest are shimmery. My favorite is Sangria and China Rose, but Custom and Glided are very pretty for inner lid and base. Bengal is quite unique, but I think it would compliment fairer skin more as it looks clashed to my skin tone.

EOTD:

- I wore Venezia on my inner lid

- Applied Noir to create crease

- I put Chocolate on my outer waterline

- Applied China Rose on the inner waterline

- Highlight the inner corner with Custom

- Tidy up the lower eyebrow line with Fresh

Voila! And this is my FOTD. Even the China Rose can be worn as blush and Chocolate can be used for contouring!

Clinique Stay Matte Oil Free in Honey for base, Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade in Dark Brown, NYX Matte Lipstick in Sierra

I simply love this palette, as I think all colors are versatile and no redundant to one another. The pigmentation goes well and it doesn't really fallout. With base, it stays from morning to after lunch, then it starts getting faded a little bit by bit. The price is USD 29 (+ tax) and I found it's worthy. It's almost half of UD Naked, anyway, but the quality wouldn't disappoint you.

Do you have either Maya Mia or Amrezy palette? Would you mind sharing the review to me?

See you on my next post! ~xoxo~

[Review] Sleek Blush On in Rose Gold: Who Needs NARS Orgasm Anyway?

Hola, hello!

I am back. Yes, successfully back to write another post since I have been absent for...2 months???!! Don't ask me what kind of blogger I am, but my activities were just unbearably super tight. I mean super tight that I couldn't even breath and relax.

I visited three cities in Japan in October for holiday with my hubby and little daughter, sold my apartment and managed to buy an indent house. I left my job and moving to another project which, thankfully, still under the same roof. However, the new project is an ongoing project so I had to catch everything up very soon and within the first month I had to go somewhere for business trip. Time flies and so here is December.

Before moving forward, I'll post some of our pictures during autumn in Japan :)

Eikando Shrine, Kyoto

Universal Studio Japan, Osaka

Shibuya Square, Tokyo

Ah, forget it. I have been officially back into reality X)

Okay, so the first item came up in my mind after a long break is my current favorite blush on from Sleek Cosmetics.

You might have heard a lot about Sleek Cosmetics since it is famous for the iDivine eye shadow palette. They have been well known as the gorgeous, good UK brand with reasonable price and decent quality. The eye palette itself, I have none. Not because I didn't like them, but I have been searching and waiting for its Arabian Night Collection to be re-launched. Or maybe they are not going to make this as permanent range, too bad :(

Courtesy of http://lipdrama.blogspot.com/2014/07/sleek-makeups-arabian-nights-i-divine.html

I mean, look at this palette. How could I not love the jewel-toned, bold and beautiful palette like this?

Okay, back to topic. I bought the Sleek Blush On in Rose Gold back in late October, as I had been using The Balm Cindy Lou Manizer as my daily blush+highlighter. But somehow I feel like I didn't need to use highlighter everyday (although Cindy Lou is very versatile and doesn't have those chunky glitters not even gritty sparkles. At that time I needed to be a little bit rational since I have spent a lot in Japan, and I have been wanting to try NARS Orgasm because I am now liking the barely-seen-blush style on my face. After did some research, I saw that this Sleek blush is totally the same with Orgasm. Wanna see?

NARS Orgasm - Courtesy of beautylish.com

Sleek Blush On - Rose Gold

What's good?

:: The color! It's peachy pink that looks pinkier than NARS Orgasm on the pan. Yes, it's a bit pinkier but only a slight little. That wouldn't make any difference on your cheek.
:: The golden sheen is very, very nice! It's like putting the blush and highlighter at the same time, saving a lot of your time, everywhere.
:: Packaging is as SLEEK as its name. It won't consume space in my daily make up kit.
:: It has a quite large mirror in it. Even though the packaging is small, but the size of the mirror is as big as the blush.
:: Price. I really think that nobody would need to buy NARS Orgasm if they could have the same thing at 1/4 price.

What's missing?

* Though I know it is the consequence of having a sleek packaging, I still wish that it comes with brush :D
* Staying power is...not that long. It stays for 6-8 hours on me. But I think NARS would do the same on my face (based on my previous experience with NARS Angelika). My face is way too oily. The only blush that stays until 12 hours is only Lover by Illamasqua :)

See the golden sheen? I am no longer using my messy highlighter for daily.

Well, I am totally happy with this item and I think I will stick to this until I hit the pan in the next couple of months. Usually I am not easy to be pleased by blushers, but if I love one blush, I would finish it to the last swipe.

See you on my next post!

My Oily & Acne-Prone Skin Care Routine

Dear beauties,

Those who have a super oily and acne-prone skin, you might be interested to read through my post.

As I mentioned many times earlier through my previous blog posts, I have been struggling with acne (and dermatologist) since I was in Junior High School. I consumed everything; high-dose vitamin A, infused vitamin C, antibiotics, other supplement, etc just to keep the zits away from my face. What I really hate of having acne-prone skin is that we cannot just stop the doctor's medication since the skin would be back to its 'original' condition after a while. This non-stop vicious cycle was once really, really irritating me.

When I got pregnant and had a baby around 3 years ago, I decided to take care of this problem on my own, since some of the medicines were not allowed for pregnant mom. I mean, my last dermatologist said that my acne caused by hormones, and there was nothing I could do about it. Only less than 20% factor came from outside, for instance; make up residue, dirt, etc. I can prove this to you, that even if I didn't wear any make up in daily basis, and tried to wash my skin 3 times a day, my skin is never ever free from acne. The new acne would still be forming when it was close to my menstruation period, and yes, as you could already expected, the acne scars left behind are so annoying and looked like it would stay forever in my face. That is soooo sad.

Thus, last year, I started to tried on several products (skin care) on my face, and as you can assume, I started it from the least expensive or drugstore products. The consequence of doing trial & error, my face could become worse after trying one products. Please be noted that in terms of make up, I have never experienced any case of irritation or severe breakout (only once, with Body Shop compact powder. strange, huh?). But for skin care, yes. In conclusion, I am very allergic to Clinique skin care range and Hada Labo. That really made my skin in trouble. US products are generally safe for me, but I have to admit that Japanese products and me are not good friends. I've never felt satisfied with them (perhaps, except my current most-wanted Majolica Majorca mascara!). As for Korean products, they usually didn't make my skin bad, but definitely not better too. I would say that they just have so-so products for my skin.

Jump to my skin routine (I hope you feel enough with my intro above), let me just tell you that I am wearing regular make up in daily basis. You name it: foundation (or BB cream at the least), powder, blush on, highlighter, eyeshadows, eyeliner and lipstick. I sometimes only skip mascara if I am in hurry. You can imagine that I applied this make up at around 6-7 in the morning, and remove at around 6-7 in the evening. In total, I always wear make up for approximately 12 hours a day, almost 7 days a week (I will let it bare only when I don't go out of home).

I know that it sounds too harsh for my skin. But once again, my skin is not very sensitive and I didn't get much benefit if I let it bare for a quite long time. Below I wanna share with you about how I deal with my skin care routine everyday. I started to realize that skin is a very important asset so I was trying to find a higher end moisturizer and night serum to get this long-term investment.

CLEANSER

How I love using local product Sariayu milk cleanser to remove the make up and dirt on my face everyday. It feels light, the texture is nice, it also has a very good scent from natural ingredients: lime, rose, kenanga, gambir, etc. My favorite is the rose one, because it has a fresh floral scent and it's so gentle. I have never had any bad experience using this product so I never think the need to buy expensive milk cleanser for my daily routine. Yes, once or twice I tries other products too yet so far my second favorite was the Body Shop Cucumber Milk Cleanser which has been discontinued here :(


EYE & LIP MAKE UP REMOVER

To be honest, I don't like using eye & lip make up remover until I found this from Clarins. I simply love this and I think this eye & lip make up remover is very refreshing. It doesn't have terrible scent, too. Though it's a bit pricey, but it can last up to 4 months because we only need a little to remove eyeshadows and lipstick residue.


FACE WASH

Speaking of face wash, I think this is the best product and the best range from the Body Shop that suits my skin condition. Yes, I love the Tea Tree range since long time ago and always fall in love with its scent. This facial wash is quite light and it gives a decent benefit for my acne skin because it has anti-bacterial agent and also reduce impurities. For me, this product would always be there in my bathroom stash.


FACIAL SCRUB

Let me tell you that this facial scrub from Kiehl's is a true winner. The Amazonian White Clay extract is really good to remove the excess oil and tighten gigantic pores like mine. I use this product three times a week or whenever I think I need just because my blackheads and whiteheads are sitting up on my nose. I also use this for my entire face but still I focus the pressure around the nose. Voila! The blackheads gone in second and my face feels really clean after that. Yes, its price is kinda steep, but this is a little goes along the way. So, don't worry. It will last up to 6 months for regular use. I have reviewed this product before, here.

DAY CREAM

I am going to tell you my deepest secret, that I've never worn any moisturizer in my life because I thought every moisturizer would only make my face greasier and oilier. Hey, where have I been? There are a lot of choices of moisturizer for oily skin, and we really need moisturizer to keep skin hydrated and balanced. I was so wrong before, I knew. So, after reading a lot of reviews for the best moisturizer for oily skin, I finally found Clarins Daily Gel-Cream Energizer that been said targeting young people in 20-ish. As my age is still 29, I thought, why didn't I give a shot? LOL :D Seriously, I am so freaking our with the rich moisturizer outside because even in air conditioned room, my face would be oily just after 4 hours applying make up. And moreover, I am living in a humid and sometimes-too-hot Jakarta. I am freaking out that somehow a moisturizer would melt my foundation in the middle of the day. After I found this (and tried this for 2-3 weeks), thankfully, I found that this one is a very good moisturizer. Its gel-like texture is kinda light, not too creamy and rich, it gives me a natural radiance during the day (I think that because its Vitamin C and turmeric extract), but the best thing is....it could reduce the appearance of acne scars in my face just within 2 weeks! I am not kidding you here as I have a lot, so I would notice if it's significantly changed. I super love this moisturizer and will keep buying this. Besides, it didn't cause any breakout (like Clinique) and the scent is very very fresh like citrus! How I love it made my skin supple, smooth and well-moisturized, just with the portion I exactly need.


NIGHT SERUM

Oh, hello all ladies outhere, let me introduce you to my HG serum; Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate. I think there are a lot of good reviews for this product as this one seems one of the Kiehl's best sellers. The price is yeah, just 3/4 cheaper than my mom's Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair (that focuses on more mature and aged skin), but it worth every penny. Seriously! First I felt doubtful and unsure whether this oil-based serum could give a good benefit to my skin as I already have a tons of oil supply :D But after using it for 3 months, I realized that this oil is veryyy goood to balance out my skin and makes it much more supple. It feels like heaven, smells like heavenly lavender, and it's also almost 100% purely extracted from natural oils (see the ingredients). No paraben and fragrance, so it will also be perfect for sensitive skin. I am using this every night and wake up with a baby-soft skin in the morning. It also successfully reduces my formation of blackheads. I am definitely SOLD for this product. A Rp. 630,000 per bottle could last for at least 6 months. Think about good long term investment for your skin :)

So, now, have you ever tried one of these products? What do you feel about them? Feel free to share : ~xoxo~

Gotta Glow: A Beyonce Inspired Make Up Look

Dear beauties,

How are you girls doing? It's September already and I hope it's gonna be very nice to me :)

Lately I felt so overwhelmed with my energizer bunny a.k.a. my daughter, It's been a while since I posted my last inspired make up, probably it was in June, so I thought it would be a good start if I create another one in the first September post. And the inspiration goes to...

Beyonce. In case you don't know :p

Yes, Beyonce, that diva! I wouldn't tell you how much I loved her voice since she was in Destiny's Child (and my most favorite Brown Eyes at that moment), but I also admire her look and her glowing, sun-kissed make up. As I feel more alike to Beyonce rather than to the K-Pop gank, and accidentally I found a grab-and-go outfit that resembles Beyonce's signature style, so be it!

ALERT: Sorry for the low resolutions pictures below. I found it's impossible for me to create make up look during the day (because I am working) and during the day in weekend (because my daughter is so possessive), so apparently I only would have time before sleep :(

BASE:

Put on your favorite liquid foundation that will give you a dewy finish. There's nothing wrong with excess oil if you want to create a glowing look like Beyonce's. But, don't forget to prime and prep before applying foundation, to make it lasts longer, and set with your favorite loose powder to make it stays on place. Please be reminded to use your exact color or one shade darker, as you want to have a sun-kissed make up rather than Bella Swan's look in Twilight.


EYES:

First of all, let's have a conclusion that Beyonce always wearing a natural eye make up, but with noticeable shimmer. Even though sometimes she had smokey-eyes, but the color remains very neutral. As I was creating this look at night, so I prefer to make it smokier than just natural eyes. The color that I put on my lid was mostly gold/bronze and shimmer peach, but I used a dark blue color on the crease, instead of taupe or chocolate. Put on the black eyeliner to sharpen your eyes, and don't forget to apply a single stroke of brown eyeshadow on the outer waterline, continue with the lightest shimmery shade on the inner corner. Add falsies.

CHEEKS:

This part was the most interesting, as you may put a lot of bronzer on the apple of your cheeks after contouring your face.Don't be afraid because we want to show off that glow!

After bronzer, you may also need to apply highlighter on the upper cheekbones and under eyes area. Highlighter is very useful to reflect the light and create a natural glow. You can see the instant difference on before and after tapping some highlighter on some parts of your face.

LIPS:

Well, Beyonce is known for her wild and chic personality. Although most of the times Beyonce is wearing a nude lipstick, but adding a brighter and braver color is not a sin. So, this is the time to wear on bold lipstick (besides bold lipstick is really really happening now). You can choose either dark red, dark purple or burgundy.


...and VOILA!

Final look. And oh, this look is also wearable for day, just change the lipstick into coral.

This is the result that I made last night. Pretty alike, eh, except for the blonde hair. Sorry, feel hesitate to color my hair since I am proud enough with black :)

What do you think of this look?
I hope you enjoy and already feel 'glowing' today. Have a nice Wednesday! ~xoxo~

PRODUCTS USED:

Eyes: Make Over Le Secret Fantaisie Trivia Eyeshadow in Magical Fairy Tale, Make Over Powder Eye Shadow in Frozen Pink, Make Over Eyebrow Pencil in Brown Latte, Mizzu Eyeliner Pen in Black

Base & Cheeks: Make Over Ultra Cover Liquid Matte Foundation in #4 Amber Rose, Bourjois Healthy Balance Unifying Powder in Light Beige, Make Over Face Contour Kit, TheBalm Mary-Loumanizer, Make Over Blush On in #7 Coral Cruise, The Body Shop Brush on Bronze Pearl

Lips: Sephora Creamy Lip Stain in #4 Endless Purple

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