Archive for March 2012

Elements: KARA

 I was somewhat inspired by this advert featuring Korean pop starlet Goo Hara:

Linked from Daily Kpop News.
Which resulted in me waking up the next morning and thinking, 'Huh. Today, I want to wear makeup like Goo Hara.' Thus, here are the products I used to do that.

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I wore the crisscross lashes as it looks like Hara is wearing a similar style. While her eyeshadow is more silvery, I smudged the purple eye crayon on my lids as a sort of primer, then added a soft wash of the bronzey taupe eyeshadow colour, all over the lid. Rather than matching the colours exactly, my aim was to create something that would give the same effect as the makeup she was wearing. Her makeup makes her look soft but glamourous, wintery, but gives light to her face. Silver and pink were the colours that achieved that on her skin, but gold and purple worked just as well on mine.
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While I went with her defined black eyeliner on the upper lid (I used Sleek's 'Ink Pot' for that. The wing ran. Typical) the lower lid featured BeautyUK's purple eye crayon on the outer corner and the gold to highlight.

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A light peach on the lips, a hint of orange blush and E.L.F's face powder to impart 1/100ths of Hara's imperfection-free skin. Sigh. A girl can dream.

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Some Korean treats to get you in the frame of mind that I was in on that particular morning.

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The Rimmel varnish is entirely unrelated to anything, I just took the picture with it, for some reason.

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How was this post? Did you enjoy it/hate it? Continue posting more 'makeup diary' type posts like this? Feedback please!

I Surrendered to the Cherry Carmex Cult

and I'm not complaining.

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I noticed Carmex on offer at my local Superdrug and the bright yellow gaudiness of the tube lured me in. It's firmly in my little pot of 'western things' that I see glamourous American beauty bloggers posting about but don't often see in the UK. Maybe I too now own a little part of the U.S?

I don't think I'm addicted to it (yet) because even under that luscious cherry scent you can smell menthol and assorted strong smelling...smells. Doesn't taste of much. Leaves my lips feeling reasonably not dry. Will keep using for the novelty factor. If your lips aren't as fussy as mine, it'll probably suit better.

This was a proper review but my laptop decided to spontaneously shut down and Blogger hadn't saved anything and I don't have the heart to write it all out again. Can't wait to get rid of this hunk of crap. In the meantime, enjoy your one picture.

tsukema tsukeru

this is an eyelash post.

I used my college production of We Will Rock You as an excuse as an opportunity to explore the glorious world of false eyelashes. Up until now, I had one box of upper and one box of lower lashes, both from KKCenterHK (review is linked) and felt it was time to branch into some more daring styles. On a student budget. Henceforth.

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False eyelashes, ordered from eBay. The seller I bought these from sold them for about £6 or so? That's the price I paid for all five boxes (I think) as the lower lashes came seperately. They had plenty of styles to choose from, but I was a little worried about how the lash bands would feel. I hate feeling false lashes on my eyes, especially as I wear contacts, so suspected the bands might be too thick and heavy for my eyes. Luckily, this wasn't a problem with most of the styles.

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It's not really a secret to regular blog readers that I enjoy Korean popular culture immensly, so I mostly chose styles that reminded me of the false lashes my favourite Korean celebrities wear. I'm quite the fan of Korean and Japanese street fashion, as well, and the criss cross lashes in particular struck me as 'gyaru' in look. Look out for an inferior recreation of aforementioned looks on the blog, haha.

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I ordered a natural pair for everyday wear. Obviously, not to be worn everyday. Just for when I want a little extra 'lift' to my lashes, as they're not particularly curly and I don't have an eyelash curler, lol.

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I've nicknamed these 'Baby TOWIE'. They're quite dramatic, something I would either wear for a nighttime party or cut in half and worn on the outer corners.

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These are another pair of 'gyaru' looking lashes...I'm envisaging these teamed with circle lenses and a golden eye pencil. Peachy lips and orange blush? Could work, could work.

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Criss cross lashes. The curve on these isn't fantastic (they're not very well shaped) but some subtle stationary work (think strategic scissor usage and bending the band around a pencil) and these are wearable. I've worn these as half lashes and quite like them, they've got a lift about them that isn't especially obvious but just adds to the look.

If you were wondering what the title reference is all about, it's dedicated to the flawless Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and her second single;

I don't think you could cram more eyelashes into that video.

E.L.F II

I felt the need to order yet more E.L.F. I can't remember exactly what the promotion was this time, probably either free shipping or some percentage of money off, but I ordered.

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As with my previous experience, postage was nice and speedy. I think this took about three days to reach me?

I was so enamoured with my Studio Conditioning Lip Balm in 'Berry' that I ordered another in 'Romantic Rouge'
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Had also heard people raving about the Studio HD Face Powder, so that went in the cart, along with some more brushes. I find E.L.F brushes hit and miss. One had the handle and ferrule seperate as soon as I took it out of the packet, and several more feel a bit wobbly, but their angled blush/bronzer/contour brushes are so good I ordered two more.

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As I always promise but rarely deliver, full reviews coming soon? I need to examine my E.L.F brush collection in depth and talk about it, as some of it is 'meh' but much of it is 'YEAH'.

Westfield

I attended a conference on getting into medicine on Saturday, which I enjoyed very much. After that, a friend and I took the tube up to Westfield Stratford, somewhere I had been very up for going as it houses the only UK stores of KIKO and INGLOT, brands that I have been interested in for a long time.

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INGLOT was the first store I visited and actually a huge letdown. Some of the colours were out of stock and the SA seemed rude and snobbish. Even my friend commented 'That lady wasn't very nice' as we left. If even he noticed (he's a guy that was entirely uninterested in visiting anything makeup related) then I would say that there's an issue there. Maybe the SA was just having a bad day, but as a first time visitor who was spending a not-small sum of money, I would have rather she kept it to herself.
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My KIKO experience was much better. The ladies were smiley and helpful, and I even got offered a basket when one saw me struggling with so many nail polishes! It mirrored my experience in the Italian store pretty well and I'd happily visit again, especially considering the amount of product that was on sale.
Superdrug Westfield is surprisingly rubbish? There was no MUA stand, for starters, which upset me as I was up for purchasing all of the lip balms from the Love Hearts collection. It didn't seem much bigger than other Superdrug stores I've visited, and overall was just pretty average. Which there is nothing wrong with.

17 Mirror Shine Lip Swatches

About time...have been entirely snowed under by college work and the school musical (We Will Rock You - entirely epic). Even so, I promised you lip swatches here and lip swatches you shall have.

Beehive
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Purple Haze
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Peace

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Cookie
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Plum Perfection
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Hollywood
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They don't feel particularly moisturising on the lips, but your lips shouldn't come away feeling any drier than they were before application. They're not scented, which is something I dislike as they smell a little waxy. Other than that, considering they're not too pricey, they're a good investment. I've got all the colours I'm interested in, though, so won't be looking for any more.

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