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-

Wet 'n Wild Megalast Lip Colour in Cherry Bomb: Because the Dark Lipstick is 'In'

Since last month I feel like going out from my comfort zone: 

it's my mattened-nude-beige-lips.

I saw a lot of MUA, beauty bloggers (inside and outside) who are promoting the dark vampy lips. Admit that I am so tempted to try. In my younger times, I never touch this kind of lipstick (neither the bright pink neon one), because dark lips make me look too mature. But life is changing now.

At first I was thinking to buy Lime Crime Velvetines Liquid Lip in shade Wicked, as the color is so bold burgundy red and it provides super matte finish. It has a doe-foot applicator and so far I found that it's perfect to evenly apply a liquid lipstick. But, I am almost broke had a tight budget here! This month, I have bought couple of cosmetics (and apparently dissatisfied with two out of six items, but yeah, life goes on) so I need to fasten my belt a little bit. This month, my daughter will be celebrating her 3rd birthday at school so you can imagine how much money that I will spend :D

Hmm..let's find a dupe then. If not, let's find a drugstore cheap lipstick to fulfill this desire.

I was googling hard and bumped into this Wet n Wild Megalast series. Well, at first I wasn't so sure that the color payoff and the intensity would look great, but I thought I would not go wrong with idr 55,000 lipstick, and I found that Mimo is selling them at the lowest price.

My take on the product:

Wet 'n Wild Megalast Lipstick comes in a wide variety of shades. I remember that I owned this already in shade Rosebud. I underestimated this lipstick but I was totally wrong. It's color payoff, consistency and level of comfort on lips are similar with Nyx Matte Lipstick. And Nyx's costs 1,5 times higher that Wet 'n Wild.

This shade's called Cherry Bomb. It's a truly cherry red but slight pinkier, leaning to burgundy red. What I did not expect from this lipstick is the intensity. It's nearly perfect. It's matte, doesn't smudge on lips at all (even in some MAC Matte's, they smudge!). Staying power is superb, for 6 hours without eating, and will leave a pretty dark red stain after eating, which still looks okay.

For the packaging, you will got what you pay. It comes with black plastic tube with clear cap. Looks so cheap, huh? Haha...I actually don't really mind with that, but one thing that I concern is the packaging makes it difficult for us to avoid messiness, as the cap will easily scratch the lipstick because half of it is outside the tube.  

For me, this is the darkest color I have purchased. Previously I have tried OCC Liptar in Black Dahlia (it's a lot darker and winier than this), but the difficult application of OCC Liptar compeletely turned me off! It wasn't reflect the money spent as it was quite expensive (originally sold for around 20 usd). I eventually sold it to someone else. 

My rate for this product is 4.5/5.0

I just can't believe that Wet 'n Wild Cherry Bomb possesses some qualities that the high-end lipsticks have. Admit that I don't feel luxurious when wearing this, but as a starter, I am giving this the highest rate of the history since I began to write a beauty blog. I am so in love with it.

For those who wanna see the full variety of Wet n' Wild products, you can visit here.

See you on my nest post. Sneak peek: the BB cream & pact from Tony Moly, my most favorite Korean make up brand. Stay tuned. ~xoxo~

TheBalm Voyage Make Up Competition: Earthy-Turkey Look

Ladies!

I am going to submit my make up look to participate in the Balm Voyage Make Up Competition, held by the lovely Ms. Chell Sanjaya and Lotte Shopping Avenue.

I am a big fan of TheBalm Cosmetics quite recently. IMHO, they are unique. I love the packaging (sooo vintage!) and the products are mostly great, at least so far I have tried its luminizer combo; Mary Lou and Cindy Lou, the Plump Your Plucker lip gloss (I am not a lipgloss person but I can tell that this lipgloss is quite nice because it has fruity scent and tingling sensation) and I have also ordered that plummy Instain Blush in Pinstripe. can't wait to try it on and make a review!

Last night, I was surprised because my daughter slept so early at 9 (yes, 9 is so early, because she used to go to bed at 11-12), thus I had a free time to create the make up look. For those who've never heard about TheBalm Voyage or even TheBalm Cosmetic, just go to this link to see how pretty their products are.

Balm Voyage - cover

Balm Voyage - color selections

Balm Voyage

Holiday Face Palette

Girls, for you who love travelling… you must really have this best holiday palette from theBalm, Balm Voyage. This travel friendly palette has unique packaging that contains 16 jet setting shadow paired with 3 lip and cheek cream, very practical, complete and easy to carry anywhere. Have high color pigmentation with an excellent level of visibility and long-wearing. So, you do not need to frequently look at the mirror to make sure your makeup, because the colors will always stay to beautify your face no matter how long you are out enjoying your days. In addition, it has many choices of colors; it’s easy for you to create any looks based on your desire.

Hey, that thing really suits me! I DO love traveling. Of course I wouldn't ignore this competition because its theme is rather interesting. After a tough deliberation (as if this is America's Next Top Model's show), I initially thinking to create the Australian look or Manila, as I am pretty much sure that people would prefer Ameirca and Italy. But finally I decided to pick Istanbul look, because I love to make an earthy make up and I thought the Istanbul will be good to represent the look.

ISTANBUL is the largest city of Turkey, a country that is located both in Asia and Europe. Common people usually misled to think that Istanbul is the Turkey's capital, yet the real capital city is Ankara. The biggest event in Turkey's history was the Ottoman Empire that held the power for more than 6 centuries (1200ish-1900ish), before it was collapsed at the end of World War I. Turkey is widely known as a country that consists of big Muslim community that upholds secularism. Speaking of Turkish women, they are naturally beautiful, because they have combination between Caucasian, Arabic and Persian. They used to wear Hijab/scarf with style, that's what I like from them, like the picture below. Oh, I am so inspired now!

Courtesy of www.raihaneh.com

Now let's go to the tutorial. Firstly, prime+prep your face to create a good canvas with primer and if you have dry skin, you can add moisturizer. Apply your favorite foundation afterwards, use brush for a more airbrushed finish. Put some finishing powder if you have oily skin, to keep your face fresh longer.

I always found that the eye make up as the most challenging task. Not only because I have a typical Asian small eyes, but I also have a narrow lid which really limits me  to be creative with thousand shades of eye shadows out there.
Step 1: Apply rich brown shadow on lower lid.
Step 2: Apply thinly grey taupe shadow from crease to the upper lid.

Step 3: Apply lime green shade on the outer corner of the lid. Blend seamlessly.

Step 4:  Apply TheBalm Cindy Loumanizer at the inner corner of the lid to highlight.

Step 5: Apply Revlon Grow Luscious Lash Liner in Emerald at the outer corner of lower lash line to add some sparkles.

Step 6: Apply the brown/black eye liner

Step 7: Apply mascara and eyebrow to make your eyebrow thicker and neat.

After your eyes are set, the next thing to do is to contour the cheek. Because I was making an earthy look, so I was consistent to pick warmer tones for contouring (orangy brown) and blush (dusty warm rose). At the end, I put a terracotta lipstick to complete the look.

Don't forget to add scarf as an accessories, then voila, I magically turned into a Turkish woman (well at least I tried, though my Asian eyes can't lie) :D

EYES: 

• Bourjouis Ombre a Paupieres #74 in Brun Somptueux (Rich Brown) 
• Urban Decay Dangerous Palette in Mushrooms 
• Too Faced Glamour to Go Palette in Lime Green
•  TheBalm Cindy Loumanizer
•  Revlon Grow Luscious Lash Liner in Emerald
• Silky Girl Gel Eyeliner in Brown
• Mavala Waterproof Mascara in Black
• Revlon Eye Brow Pencil in Brown

BASE:

• BareMinerals Prime Time Primer
• Revlon Airbrush Photoready Mousse Make Up in Medium Beige

CHEEKS:

• Bourjois Blush in Tomette
• MAC Extra Dimensional Blush in Autoerotique

LIPS:

• MAC Matte in Chili
• Make Up Forever Aqua Rouge in Brown Beige
  

Are you ready to fly to Istanbul with me? ~xoxo~