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.

FOTD: Feels like Spring with Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone, Urban Decay Lucky, MAC Sunday Afternoon, Dior Addict Extreme Plaza

Hey everyone,

TGIF! What are your plans for the weekend? Do you have anything planned?

Yesterday my bestie HM was in town, and I quickly slapped on some makeup before going out to play. Do note that these pictures were taken about 8 hours after application, so despite the fact that it held up very well, it wasn’t as neat as it was freshly applied. My apologies!

For my eyes, I used the left column of Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone. I pretty much followed the instructions, only with the Browbone shade for my inner corners and Definer shade to smudge out my lower lash line. My brow bones were highlighted with Bobbi Brown Bone as usual, and lower lash line was lined with Urban Decay Lucky. I thought the copper shade of Lucky would make good friends with the coppery Crease shade of the palette.

I had MAC Sunday Afternoon on my cheeks, because I thought it’d work pretty well with Dior Addict Extreme Plaza. I used the matte part for blush and the shimmery strip for highlighting. I like it better this way than when all the colors are mixed together! I took a photo of my lips too. Remember I said the Addict Extremes could be built up throughout the day? This is how Plaza looks after a couple of reapplications. It is not opaque, but it is for sure not as sheer as it is upon the first application either!

Just a couple more pictures so you could get a better idea.

I had a minimal amount of foundation on, just blended a tiny bit in my T-zone and a little in the center of my face. I also had some Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronzing Powder in Bali Brown all over my face. In person it gives a pretty tan/glow (but I used a VERY light hand), but in pictures it doesn’t show up too well (that or it was because it faded after 8 hours). I’ve also been testing out the Fairy Drops Platinum mascara. I will for sure review it soon on the blog, so keep your eyes peeled!

That’s it for today! There are a million things I want to show and share with you, but at the moment I’m trying to meet a deadline, so my hands are tied. Hopefully I can get it out of my way today and blog a bit more this weekend!

Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx

FOTD with NARS Paramaribo & Guerlain Coque d’Or (120) Rouge Automatique

Hey everybody,

How’s your weekend so far? The weather feels almost like spring here today, so we went out for a walk and sushi dinner. Since I wanted to test some stuff out, I thought I’d show you an FOTD!

I used NARS Paramaribo for my eyes, with the lighter shade on the inner half and darker on the outer. My inner corners were highlighted with the Browbone shade on the left column of Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone. My upper lash line was lined with Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black, lower lash line with Urban Decay Bourbon and then smudged out with the darker shade of Paramaribo. I used Tarte Blissful on my cheeks, a bit of Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Bronze, and some Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Soft Matte Bronzer to contour. For some reason, I thought the slightly “retro” Paramaribo would go well with Guerlain Coque d’Or, so that’s what ended up on my lips!

A couple more shots so you can see the eyes better:

I will swatch/review Paramaribo and Coque d’Or soon (expect them early next week), but I can tell you I’m getting a major kick out of both!

One last picture:

I finally managed to keep one post short and sweet! Thanks for reading, folks! For those of you who have stuck around, a big thank you and I will keep trying to keep you entertained 🙂 For those of you who just found this blog, please subscribe or leave a comment if you like what you see, and I promise there are only better things to come!

I hope you’re enjoying a fantastic weekend!

Sunny xx

This Week’s FOTDs: MAC Shale, Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone, Urban Decay Naked Palette

Happy Sunday everyone! How is your weekend so far? I am actually down with a stomach flu, so besides working on my blog I haven’t done much this weekend. Ah well. At least I’ll probably lose some weight over this lol

I took some photos of the FOTDs I did this week. However, since I am really unhappy about how one of them turned out and the other is an old standby, I didn’t want to do separate posts about them. On top of that, I managed to bruise a patch of skin on my nose bridge trying to get rid of a spot. Concealer worked but didn’t make it disappear entirely. I toyed with the idea of not putting any FOTDs up this week, but since blogging is a way of keeping track, I’m putting both looks in one post.

The first look was done with MAC Shale on lids, the definer shade of the right column of Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone to contour, and the Browbone shade of the right column to highlight the inner corners. The definer shade was also used to smudge my lower lash line out. It turned out weird. Really really weird, in a way that it darkened my face instead of brightening it. I guess Shale is not meant to be mixed with these two shades, or maybe I didn’t use them strategically enough.

Here is the eye closeup so you can see how bleh it is:

All in all, NOT a combination I’d do again!

The other one was an old standby with the Naked Palette. I used Half Baked on lids, Smog to contour, and Darkhorse on my lower lash line.

It’s a no-brainer, but it’s something I have always appreciated ever since I got the palette almost a year and a half ago. I do think I’m getting a little too pale to wear Half Baked well though. Can’t wait for the warm and sunny season to come!

I wore Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Peach Parfait for both looks. Swatch and review will come soon!

How about you? How would you wear a color like Shale? What is a look you tried and actively disliked recently?

PS: Jazz, the cat of Christina from The Makeup Train got seriously ill. He was taken to the vet’s and managed to make a full and speedy recovery. However, the bill is huge, so Christina started a blog sale to try to generate some fund. Please take a look if you’re interested! It’s getting makeup and helping a cat at the same time!

Sunny xx

FOTD: A Darker Shade of Green with Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone & My Two Cents on Monolid Eyeliner

Hey everybody, happy Friday! Aren’t you glad you made it this far? What are your plans for the weekend?

Last night I was invited to the welcome event of the city I live in, and I thought I’d play a bit more with my Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone palette (swatched here). It turned out to be a bit more intense than what I would usually wear, but since the event was at night I thought I could get away with it. Anyways, without further ado:

List of products and breakdown:
Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 53 Light Beige
Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder
Bobbi Brown Sable on eyebrows

I applied the crease shade of the right column in the outer half of my eyes, dragging the color in. I used the eyelid color for the inner half of my lids, blending the color in with the crease shade. I highlighted the inner corners with the browbone shade, and my brow bones with Bobbi Brown Bone.

I lined my upper and lower lash line (rather thickly) with Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black. I smudged the upper lash line with Creep and lower lash line with Darkhorse from the Naked Palette.

Maybelline Magnum Volum’ Express Black (waterproof)
Cargo Beachblush in Cable Beach on my cheeks (swatch and review coming soon).
Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess bronzer
Top of my cheekbones and the bridge of my nose were highlighted with Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Bronze (swatch and review coming soon)

Bobbi Brown Nougat on lips

Here are the closeup pictures of my eye:

The look turned out to be more intense because proportionally there was more crease shade than what I would normally use. The olive green eyelid shade was really intensified by the darker crease shade! I do have to warn you while the crease shade is very unique, for bigger areas it is not the easiest to work with. It is a bit patchy, and I had to take my time making it smooth. Also, excuse the fallout from Creep. I tried to smudge my upper lash line out with the tiny little eyeliner brush that came with my Maybelline gel liner, and I don’t think it is designed for powder products.

Here are some more pictures so you get a better look of my face. Do excuse the big post-acne pigmentation spot on my cheek though. I learnt a lesson of not picking at my face before going to bed at 1AM, regardless of how good the idea seems at the time!

Because I have monolids myself, I’ve been thinking what kind of advice I would give to other monolidded girls who are just getting into makeup. Besides using a gel liner, I think beginners will benefit from smudging their eyeliner out with an eyeshadow. That way it will still look good even if you can’t get a crisp line! I would say that those with monolids can get away with more black/dark colors in our eye makeup. If you don’t want to look too dramatic or dark (especially during daytime for example), just remember to limit dark colors to the part of your lids that is not visible when your eyes are open. If you feel like going all out, you can of course do so!

That’s it for today! If you also have monolids, what are your tips for eye makeup?

If you like the look, don’t forget to follow me with Bloglovin’ or Twitter! I’m just getting into Twitter and it’s lots of fun, so come join me!

Sunny xx

Psst for those who live in Belgium, I found Comfort Zone on this website if you’re interested in purchasing one! Other than that it’s pretty tricky to get anything Wet n’ Wild here!