Is there Really a MAC Satin Taupe Dupe in the NYX Rock and Roll Trio?

I am going to make a confession that will make most beauty bloggers and readers scream: I am not (yet) a fan of taupe.

Before you pelt me with stones however, you have to hear my story. In the beginning of this blog, I swatched the NYX Rock and Roll trio (click here for a trip down memory lane). While I was impressed with the quality in general, I just never managed to make the colors work for me. Since people say the middle shade is a dupe for MAC Satin Taupe, I did the math and decided that taupe is not for my rather warm skin tone.

However, recently, to help a bride who never wears makeup to obtain a small amount of foundation she needed for her makeup trial and big day, I had to purchase something from MAC. That’s when I thought: maybe I can make this immensely popular shade work for me after all. Long story short, Satin Taupe ended up in my hands.

Belle de Jour: Let’s Play Makeup with Anne-Fleur!

Hey everyone,

I hope you’ve been enjoying your weekend! I’m SO impossibly glad that this one is over. I honestly think the stars were not properly aligned, because a lot of people I know had a rough one! But anyways, if you also had it hard let’s just rejoice it’s over!

A while ago my bestie HM thought it was a good idea to chat up girls on the train and ask them if they wanted to have a makeup play date. Basically the idea is that they could check my stash out, maybe get some new ideas, and have a nice girly time together. I in return get to see (and show you guys) how the pieces look on different skin tones!

That’s how she found Anne-Fleur, our belle de jour. She is finishing her studies in the same town, and she’s one of the rare girls who actually do wear some makeup on a daily basis. She’s extremely nice, smart, and cute!

As I might have told you guys, not so many people in the university town where I live wear makeup. For some reason the general consensus is that if you have brains, you don’t need to pay attention to something as frivolous as your appearance. Law students are probably the only exceptions, but in every other faculty wearing makeup is pretty much frowned upon. That’s also Anne-Fleur’s dilemma. She’s almost the only girl she knows that wears a bit of foundation, mascara, and so on. Sometimes she finds it hard to have to explain to people why she does that.

I used the darkest shade of NYX Rock and Roll trio on her outer corners, Urban Decay Verve as a light wash, and Urban Decay Booty Call for her inner corners. I also patted some Booty Call on the center of her eye lids to brighten her eyes up. Because Anne-Fleur has cute puppy eyes and I didn’t want it to seem obvious that the outer corners droop a little, I only lined the inner 2/3 of her upper lash line. Some mascara and Dior Addict Extreme in Lucky later, she was done!

We went to a book cafe after that for a bite to eat and took some photos of her. Doesn’t she look happy?

Here is the close-up of her eyes.

I think the NYX shade and Lucky definitely look better on her than they do on me!

Anne-Fleur also write a little paragraph about what she thinks of the play date, and here it is:

Because you’re worth it… A statement that catches your eye while watching your TV on a lazy Sunday, or while stopping by at the perfumery on a shopping trip with your girlfriends. Due to the high frequency by which the famous slogan of L’Oréal passes you by, you might no longer reflect on its meaning. I did, when I spent a delightful afternoon with the lovely lady who runs this blog. I was lucky enough to have her arrange my makeup, while being treated with some useful tips and tricks. The result: I felt feminine and beautiful. Like I was worth it. A feeling each of us should have. And I captured it, on a bright Friday afternoon – with a big smile on my face and an ever bigger thank you to Sunny!

To be honest I was really really flattered to read this paragraph! While I by no means encourage everyone to wear makeup, I find it a real pity that people feel the pressure to not wear any when they want to wear some. It always takes a lot of courage to be the odd one out, but I hope Anne-Fleur will go on having fun and looking the way SHE WANTS TO in the future!

Isn’t she so gorgeous and happy? Thanks so much Anne-Fleur for spending a lovely afternoon with us. I truly hope you have taken some positive vibe from our meeting and you’re going to keep being who you want to be!

What do you guys think? Have you ever been criticized or questioned for how much makeup you wear/don’t wear? Is this Belle de Jour series something you would like to see from time to time?

Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx

FOTD: Snow Bubble Pop K-pop Inspired Look

Hey everybody, it’s FRIDAY! Isn’t it almost the best day of the week? What are your plans for the weekend? Do you have exciting things planned or are you going to chill?

Dr. D and I made plans to go for Thai food tonight, so in the early afternoon I proceeded to take my shower, put on some makeup, and then go work at a cafe till dinnertime. When I got out of the shower however, I saw large snowflakes falling. I heard earlier today that there was a snowstorm in the Netherlands, and I knew my foolish hope of having the weather stay freezing but sunny was over. Since I had more time to spare, I decided to follow a K-pop inspired tutorial by Jen from From Head to Toe. Hyuna’s Bubble Pop was BIG last summer when I was in Taiwan, and despite the fact that the only part I could follow is “bubble bubble bubble pop bubble bubble pop pop,” the song has stuck in my head. It’s just so bright and cheerful!

I largely followed Jen’s tutorial, replacing what I don’t have with the closest shades I have. Here is the list of products and breakdown:

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 53 Light Beige
NARS Stick Concealer in Custard (swatch and review coming soon)
Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder
Bobbi Brown Sable on eyebrows

The middle shade of NYX Rock and Roll was used in a half-moon shape (Jen used Urban Decay Underground which I don’t have, and this one is the only remotely taup-y shade I own at the moment). Darkhorse was used in the same shape closer to my lash line. With the tip of MAC 239, I put the gold shade of L’Oreal Metallic HiP duo in Gilded on my lower lash line (Jen used Urban Decay Honey, which is also a yellow gold), Half Baked in the inner corners and layered a bit on the lower lash line, and Smog to smoke out the outer half of the lower lash line.

I lined my upper lash line with Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black (Jen used a pencil liner for both her upper and lower lash line, but I knew a pencil liner doesn’t stand a chance on my upper lash line so I went with my usual gel liner), but the line doesn’t go up as what I usually do. Instead, it is just slightly extended following my natural eye shape. I was supposed to line my lower waterline with Urban Decay Zero, and then connect the outer corners with the line I created with the gel liner. However, I might have been a little over-enthusiastic with all that gold shadow earlier on, and I found it pretty difficult to line! After some struggle, I ended up with both my water AND lash line lined, and it wasn’t very neat. Oh well…

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes (review coming soon)
Tarte Blissful on cheeks (Jen didn’t use a blush, but I was testing this one out. Swatch and review coming soon)
Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Bronze on the top of my cheekbones, forehead, and down my nose bridge
Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Soft Matte Bronzer to contour
Chanel Rouge Coco Mademoiselle was dabbed onto my lips, creating more natural pink lips

Here are some close-ups so you can see the eyes better:

This is how the eyes look when they are downcast. You can also play spot-the-kitten with this one 🙂

I took some pictures in the usual bathroom light, but since there was still natural light I wanted to play with that too. It washed my complexion out, and I had to switch to “snow” mode on my camera to deal with the super bright white light, but I kind of like how “surreal” these pictures turned out.

So that’s my snow day Bubble Pop FOTD for you! What do you think? Do you like my regular winged-out eyeliner better or when I follow my real lash line like in this look? I need some input here! Also, are you a fan of K-pop or celebrity-inspired looks in general?

I have recently hauled quite a bit of exciting stuff that I want to share with you, so definitely stay tuned for that! Follow me on Twitter (especially if you want to see more kitty photos) and Bloglovin’. I have plans to start a Mostly Sunny Facebook page soon, and I will keep you posted when that happens!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Sunny xx

FOTD: Happy Chinese New Year Gold and Purple with MAC Woodwinked and Satellite Dreams

Hello everybody! Happy Chinese New Year for those who celebrate it! I invited some friends over for homemade dumplings, caramel apple cake, and tiramisu. I had a great time (and the food was apparently good)! Now that the guests are gone, I’m going to share the look I did for the occasion with you.

Since I didn’t have to leave the comfort of my home, I could wear a dress that I normally can’t in this weather. It’s purple with yellow, fuchsia, teal, and tangerine leaves, and I thought I’d do a bold look to match it color-wise.

Products I used:
Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 53 Light Beige
Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder
Bobbi Brown Sable on eyebrows
I primed my eyelids with UDPP (unless otherwise stated, I systematically use UDPP) before putting MAC Woodwinked on the inner half of my lids. For the outer half, I used Satellite Dreams. I used a bit of Urban Decay Purple Haze for my outer v. The lightest shade of NYX Rock and Roll was used for my inner corners, and Bobbi Brown Bone for my brow bones.
I applied Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black on my upper lash line.
Urban Decay Zero was used for my lower lash line, smudged out with Satellite Dreams.
Maybelline Magnum Volum’ Express Black (waterproof)
Tarte Peaceful on cheeks.
Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess (swatch and review coming soon)
MAC Sweetie on lips

Here are some closeup pictures so you can see my eye makeup better:

It is probably not a very work-friendly everyday look, but I like how it turned out! Satellite Dreams looks a bit pink when sheered out. The real color is closer to how it looks on my lower lash line. A recent post by Beautezine shares a quick tip of pulling pink-based eyeshadows off without looking like you have an eye infection: in short, go all out with your eyeliner! The black helps separate the whites of your eyes from the eyeshadows, so you don’t look like a bunny rabbit! I have seldom combined two non-neutral colors together, but this experiment has encouraged me to explore more 🙂

More pictures from different angles so you see everything better:

That’s it for today! Thanks for reading, everyone! Don’t forget to follow me with Bloglovin’ or Twitter if you like the look 🙂

Sunny xx

FOTD: Unabashedly Green and Gold with MAC Woodwinked, Humid, Urban Decay Mildew!

Yesterday I went to my old housemate T’s birthday party in Brussels. His whole family was here, as well as some close friends that I know but haven’t seen for a while. It was nice! Afterwards I went wedding dress shopping with his sister S. It was a bit like a real-life episode of Say Yes to the Dress with her mum having drastically different taste from her own, but at the end they managed to reach a compromise so everybody went home happy!

I received MAC Woodwinked in a swap this week and wanted to put it to use (swatch and review coming soon). To spice things up a bit more, I decided to incorporate Humid as well. And yes, I love Darkhorse, but for once I wanted to switch to something else. I ended up going for a shade in my Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone palette, and dare I say myself that was pretty ingenious! Here are more pictures, the list of products that I used, and detailed breakdown!

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 53 Light Beige
Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder
Bobbi Brown Sable on eyebrows
I primed my eyelids with UDPP (unless otherwise stated, I systematically use UDPP) before putting MAC Woodwinked on two thirds of my lids. For the outer third, I used the crease shade on the right column of Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone. The lightest shade of NYX Rock and Roll was used for my inner corners, and Bobbi Brown Bone for my brow bones.
I applied Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black on my upper lash line and waterline, smudged out with MAC Humid.
Urban Decay Mildew was used for my lower lash line, also smudged out with Humid.
Maybelline Magnum Volum’ Express Black (waterproof)
Cargo Rome on cheeks (swatch and review coming soon)
MAC Harmony to contour
Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess (swatch and review coming soon)
Burt’s Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil on lips

I used not to like gold at all because I associated it with the type of accessories my mother/grandmother would wear. It is supposed to be traditional and old-fashioned, not cool. Even with my initial success with Urban Decay Half Naked, I didn’t feel the impulse to collect more gold eyeshadows. After I saw how L’Oreal HiP Metallic Shadow duo in Gilded worked for me however, the gold-digging monster awoke in me. MAC Woodwinked is my latest acquisition, but I already have MAC Goldmine, MAC Gorgeous Gold, and NARS Paramaribo (among many others haha) high on my wish list! Woodwinked is a shimmery warm gold on me. I see a bit of red in it, so it is almost coppery but not quite.

I knew that Darkhorse would be a no-brainer to pair with it, but just because it’s a great shade doesn’t mean I have to prove it to my dear readers in each and every one of my FOTDs. Instead, I grabbed my Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone and used the crease shade of the right column for the outer third of my lids. I had not previously used this shade before, but it’s a charcoal brown with gold shimmer, so what could possibly go wrong? It turned out that I basically hit the jackpot! Not only did the gold shimmer play very nicely with Woodwinked, two things that I had not foreseen happened. First of all, when paired with gold, this crease shade shows an interesting green tinge. It’s almost as if it were rusted brass or something. I’m sorry I can’t come up with a more romantic/accurate comparison, but that was the first thing that popped up in my head when I was applying this eyeshadow, and I was mesmerized. Second, this makes a killer crease shade for me personally, because it is so natural yet effective that it is as if I had a real crease! I don’t know what makes this so special. I have seen a lot of good crease shades, but not all of them make it look like I have a real crease.

For my lower lash line, I opted for Urban Decay Mildew, and I smudged both my upper and lower lash line out with MAC Humid. Humid is a bold green that is actually pretty versatile, and pairing it with gold is one of my favorite ways to wear it! The effect is not very much in-your-face, but it is definitely there.

Before I can blabber on and on, let’s see some more pictures!

Behold the pop of green:

At a certain angle you see the greenish tinge of the crease shade:

With my downcast eyes, you can see the shimmery gold in MAC Woodwinked better:

All in all I was pretty happy about it! On my cheeks I tested out Cargo Rome and Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess. I’ll have the swatches and reviews up soon!

The only part that I couldn’t quite “make it work” was still the lip color, so I just went with my lip balm instead. I would love for example a peachy and a coral lip product, but picking lip products is usually very difficult for me. My lips are naturally pretty pigmented, so a lot of lipsticks/glosses that look great in the tube don’t change anything at all for me. I am not too comfortable wearing very bold lip colors yet (and I don’t want my lip color to compete with my eyes), so I am a bit stuck. Does anyone have any recommendations? I would really appreciate it!

That’s my green and gold FOTD for ya! If you like it, please “like” this post, follow me with Bloglovin’, or leave a comment (especially if you have recommendations for good coral/peachy lip colors)! Thanks guys! I hope you’re enjoying your weekend, please stay tuned and stick around!

Sunny xx