FOTD: Happy Valentine’s Day!

Dear all, happy Valentine’s Day! Whether you’re single or coupled up, I hope you’ve had a good day and everything will continue in the right direction. If you have any plans tonight, what are they? I’m posting a quick FOTD (doubling OOTD I guess) before heading out for dinner with Dr. D. We started planning WAY late, so I’m happy the Thai restaurant we wanted to go to still had a free table. But anyways, onto the FOTD!

I did the same look as this one. It one of my firsts and the pictures were really bad, but I really like the duo and think purple is a pretty romantic color, so I went with it. Also, I’m wearing one of the few items I own that are cooler in colors, so I thought the silver would coordinate better than for example gold. I used quite a bit more purple today, so it is smokier than the first go. However, it did take some patience to build the purple up. I had the feeling that every time I blended too much color disappeared, so I had to go back and add more! I used Tarte Peaceful on my cheeks, and Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Peach Parfait.

Just one more so you can see the amount of contour color there actually is:

I used Bdellium Tools 953 duet fiber foundation brush to create the perfect base with foundation, 934 precision concealer brush to conceal the undereye area and spots, and 965 duet fiber blusher brush to achieve very natural-looking flushed cheeks. My review for the 3 brushes are coming up soon, so stay tuned!

I am wearing one of my favorite Lavand dresses, so I thought I’d take a picture of myself from farther away to show you:

Don’t worry. It’s not SO freezing cold out there and I’ll be wrapped up with cardigan, scarf, coat, and boots, so I’ll be fine!

I have some exciting posts coming up, so keep your eyes peeled. Until then, I hope you’re having fun!

Lots of love,

Sunny xx

PS: Have you seen my Vote for Sunny post? I’m participating in the Bobbi Brown Pretty Powerful campaign in Belgium, and I would really appreciate it if you could vote for me! Voting is a little tricky because the page is in Dutch, but my talented bestie made a graph so everybody could follow the steps easily. Want to challenge yourself, learn some Dutch, and earn my eternal gratitude? Please check this out! Thanks a lot in advance!

Swatch, Review, & Comparison: Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Blissful

Hey everyone, happy Saturday! It’s pretty cold but very sunny here, so I’m happily blogging in the sun! What are your plans? Do you have anything exciting coming up this weekend?

Today I’m going to share my Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Blissful with you. I swear these Blushes have some kind of addictive substance, because here is my third one…

Blissful is described as a “warm peach,” but on me it is also a bit coral and a bit pink. I suspect this color will show up rather differently on different people, though I’ll have to say it looks pretty good from all the swatch pictures I’ve seen. It is matte, which makes it perfect for every day. Especially if you want to add a highlighter or even a shimmery bronzer afterwards, a matte blush is the foolproof choice. Like the other matte one I own (Exposed), it doesn’t just lie flat on your cheeks because it’s matte. Instead, it gives this glow that can’t be mistaken to be shine.

The texture is very fine, but not as soft and powdery as Peaceful and Exposed are. The good thing is it’s harder to kick so much product loose with the brush, but at the same time it takes a little building up. I am personally fine with it. Between a blush that is so insanely pigmented and one that I can build up, I prefer one that I can build up. Believe me, building blush up is easier than having to tone it down once you have overdosed on it! I have recently switched to a duo-fiber blush brush (Bdellium 965, which will be reviewed shortly), and of course this could be the thing that makes the difference. However, even when I was swatching with my finger, I had the idea that the blush is a bit more solid.

Now onto the swatch:

Here is the comparison between Blissful and Peaceful, another “peachy” blush:

As you can see, they are significantly different. If you already own Peaceful, don’t worry because Blissful is not even close to being similar!

Here is how it looks on my face. I tried my best to take a picture that will give you an idea how it looks, but it is very hard to capture blushes with a camera so bear with me (I wore Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick on the top of my cheekbones, so that’s where the shimmer comes from):

This lasts better on me than Exposed (Exposed is exactly the color of my cheeks, so I don’t see very well when it fades/disappears), but the 12-hour claim Tarte makes still falls short a little. All Tarte blushes fade on me towards the end of the day, though they don’t really disappear. They don’t oxidize or change color on me either, which is a big plus!

Now that I have accumulated a bit more experience with Tarte blushes, I can say that their fortes lie in strong pigmentation, fine texture, and a good range of shade selection especially when it comes to matte blushes. I have the impression that a good matte blush is harder to come by nowadays, so if you’re looking for one like that, remember to give Tarte a chance!

What do you think? Have you tried Tarte any blushes? What are your favorite blushes?

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: Golden Olive, a Subtle Way to Wear Green with MAC Sumptuous Olive, Urban Decay Stash, and the Naked Palette

(I’m sorry about the bathroom picture, but the pictures I managed to snap before leaving the house this morning were not of good quality, and by the time I got home at night my bathroom is basically the place that has the best lighting for photos)

Hello everybody!

Phew, the weekend is almost over. One more day and it’s the weekend! How are you guys doing? Are you planning for the weekend already?

I went to Brussels today with my best friend HM and ex-roommate T. We all met in Taiwan 6 and a half years ago. When I think about it I can hardly believe how much time has gone by! Just because any excuse is good for playing with makeup, I tried to incorporate some colors into my look today. Don’t be frightened even if you are a total newbie when it comes to non-neutral eyeshadows though. As you will see, this is really a very subtle and safe way of exploring the realm of colors!

To see more photos and the list of products I used, please keep reading!

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 53 Light Beige
Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder
Bobbi Brown Sable on eyebrows
MAC Sumptuous Olive on inner half of the lids, Urban Decay Smog on the outer half, and Darkhorse in the outer v.
The lightest shade of the NYX Rock and Roll trio to highlight my inner corners, and Bobbi Brown Bone to highlight my brow bones.
For my lower lash line, I used Urban Decay Stash and Urban Decay Darkhorse to smudge it out a bit.
Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black for my upper lash line
Maybelline Magnum Volum’ Express Black (waterproof)
Tarte Peaceful on cheek
Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronzing Powder in Bali Brown under my cheekbones, sweeping into my temples and forehead
Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Bronze on the top of my cheekbones and down my nose bridge
MAC Sweetie

Here are two close-up photos of my eye so you can see everything clearly:

As you can see, Sumptuous Olive’s green sheen is subtle. You can only see a flash of green from certain angles, so if you are just getting into wearing more colors it is a shade I would highly recommend. It allows you to experiment without going out of your comfort zone, and it is quite a team player! Urban Decay Stash performs beautifully well on my lower lash line. Even though I used Darkhorse to smudge it out, you can definitely catch the green in it. If you are a bit more comfortable with wearing colors, you can easily smudge it out with for example Urban Decay Mildew instead.

One last photo in which you can see more of that olive green:

All the photos were taken a bit more than 12 hours after the application. However, besides having to blot my T-zone once and reapply my lipstick, I think my makeup held up really well until I decided to remove it! Thumbs up for quality cosmetics!

How do you feel about wearing colors? Are you comfortable with it or are you still feeling your way around? What are your favorite colors if you use any? Are you a green fiend (hahaha I just found the definition of green fiend on Urban Dictionary. Let’s say I am not a green fiend in that sense, but if Urban Decay names this eyeliner Stash, I think it is only appropriate to make this association) like me?

Swatch & Review: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Exposed, Peaceful

Hello everyone!

How is everybody feeling today? Are you more or less back to the work-day rhythm? Before I start today’s swatch and review, I’d like to share with you that my submission for Beautezine’s Weekly Challenge: Show Us Your New Year’s Eve Look has been accepted! You can see the link here. It’s a big pleasure and I also truly adore my fellow contestants’ looks! If you would like to see more picture of my New Year’s Eve look, here is the link to my FOTD.

Now let’s get down to business! After the entire online beauty community raved and raved about Tarte blushes, I felt I couldn’t be left out of the hype anymore! Technically speaking these are the first powder blushes I own, so I can’t really compare them to anything. However, even with my limited experience I can tell you I am pretty happy with them!

Peaceful is part of the QVC-exclusive Glow Your Way to Gorgeous set. From what I heard it would only be available till the 31st of December 2011, but I just checked their website and it’s still there. I got mine separately from eBay though, and I paid about 24 dollars (including shipping) so it is a pretty good deal!

Peaceful is described as a “soft rose,” but I respectfully beg to differ. To me it looks like a peach. When I swatched it on the back of my hands for the first time, I was a little apprehensive. The color seems so bold, and it is SHIMMERY! Call me ignorant, but this is the first shimmery blush I own, and I was a bit scared it would be over the top. As you will be able to see in the swatch pictures, the shimmer is almost silvery. To my utter relief however, once on my cheeks the shimmer is barely visible. This blush is very pigmented. Not SO pigmented that you need a duo-fiber brush not to look like a clown, but you might not want to go crazy with it right from the start since you can very easily build it up. The shimmer does not emphasize my pores. Instead, it makes my cheeks glow from within. I have worn it once for about 8 hours, and it held on just fine. I still have to experiment with longer hours to see if it is true to the 12-hour claim.

Let’s move on to the much-coveted Exposed. Exposed is described to be a nude, which seems like an elusive concept when it comes to a blush, but we’ll get to that later. The finish is matte, and at least on the back of my hand this is what I would call a soft rose. The pigmentation is there, but it is not as strong as Peaceful for example. However, it is also a blush you can build up. The texture is very soft, and when I swatch it with my finger it is a bit powdery. My MAC 168 also kicks a bit more powder loose than necessary, so I wouldn’t want to swirl it in the pan like crazy. You know how people say when you choose a blush, you should pick one that is close to the shade of your natural flush after a jog? Well, Exposed is more like the natural color of my cheeks without the jog, but that is why is is so impressive! I have not ventured that far into the blush world yet, so blushes play the supporting role in my looks. Exposed is definitely very good at just that! I am sure whatever else you choose to wear on your face, Exposed wouldn’t be the wrong blush to go with it. With that said however, the wear time is a bit less impressive. While Peaceful holds on strong for 8 hours, Exposed would look a little faded at that point.

Here are the swatch pictures. The two stripes on the left are Peaceful heavily swatched and blended out, and the other two on the right are Exposed heavily swatched and blended out.

If you want to see these two in action, please click on their tags. Just as an example, I have worn Peaceful here, and Exposed here.

I’m having a lot of fun with these blushes, not to the point that I’d want to collect them all, but definitely to the point that I’d like to try some more of them. I should receive Blissful at some point, and I will for sure swatch that for you guys as well. By the way, I just checked the Sephora website and found 4 new shades on offer! I believe that Adored was previously part of a Sephora-exclusive shade, while Glisten was a QVC-exclusive one. At the moment all four of them (Adored, Buff, Frisky, Glisten) are out of stock, but I am already looking forward to seeing some swatches and reviews!

What do you think? Have you jumped the Tarte blush bandwagon? What is your favorite shade? If you haven’t, what would you like to try first?

Sunny xx