lips Archives - Page 5 of 8 - Curiously Carmen

Smashbox Be Legendary Cream Lipstick

March 4, 2016

Fun fact- my mom is a competitive ballroom dancer, which means she has a big makeup collection for her performances! She usually wears drugstore makeup and doesn’t like to splurge on makeup products, but she was looking for a very high grade and long lasting full coverage foundation for her performances.

This was already 5+ years ago, but the lady at Sephora recommended a Smashbox foundation, which was my first introduction to Smashbox. Being the curious teenager I was, I decided to try it as well. Unfortunately, we both did not like the foundation at all! It was very thick, oily, and uncomfortable. I hope they have since improved their formula!

Since then, I tried a sample of one of the Smashbox primers (forgot which it was) and it made me break out. As you can see, my experience with Smashbox hasn’t been positive so I haven’t really tried any of their other products for a long time, until now! Hopefully, their lip products would be better for me than their face products???
I bought this lipstick ‘somewhat’ impulsively. I say ‘somewhat’ because I was looking for a dark, deep burgundy lipstick for awhile now although I didn’t know which brand I wanted. I went to Sephora one weekend and after looking around for awhile with no luck, I asked one of the girls there if they carried a lipstick similar to the Too Faced melted in berry red.

(I would have just bought the Too Faced liquid lipstick, but had a bad experience and ended up returning it. I know, I am probably one of the only people who don’t like the melted lipstick line! I wish it turned out for me because their shades are gorgeous.)

The girl suggested the Smashbox Be Legendary line in the shade witchy. I didn’t want to keep looking anymore, and when she swatched it for me, it was the definitely the perfect vampy shade I was looking for!

The Smashbox Be Legendary line is available in both matte and creamy shades. As you can see from the swatch, witchy is part of the cream line. I honestly didn’t have a preference for matte or creamy, I just really wanted a dark and vampy shade!

As advertised, this lipstick is pretty creamy, smooth and moisturizing. It is also nicely pigmented. My favourite part of this lipstick is how smooth and non-drying it was.

However, I did find that the lipstick did apply unevenly. You can slightly see on the swatch that the shade is a bit uneven. You can’t really see the unevenness in real life or in pictures though, unless you look really carefully. I also found that there were small ‘specks’ of colour when applying.

I fixed this by dabbing the specks off with a napkin or by using more product to cover it up.

Overall, I think this lipstick is alright. I don’t think I would repurchase this as there are cheaper options out there, but I don’t hate it either. I really love the shade and how creamy it is though!

Meh…

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Valentines Day Makeup Look – Soft, Cute & Romantic

February 8, 2016

I have been trying to put my makeup to use more, which means that hopefully I’ll be able to create more looks to share (if I have enough time, that is). Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I thought I would create a soft, romantic look to wear.

I don’t have any grand Valentine’s Day plans, but it’s always a great excuse to get dolled up!

Since I normally create all my eyeshadow looks with the Naked palette, I decided to out of my comfort zone and try my other eyeshadows!

I used mostly my Estee Lauder eyeshadow set on the top, to create the soft, romantic look. It has such great shades and I couldn’t think of a better occasion to use it!

I also used my new Arbonne smoothed over lipstick in Willow. I love the pigment and creaminess of the lipstick. Unfortunately, I broke it right after I used it the first time so I had to be really careful when applying it this time (it’s almost cracked in half, boo). Again, I don’t normally wear light/nude shades so this look was quite different from what I would usually wear!
1) Start by applying white eyeshadow to your eyelids. This will help the other eyeshadow colours pop out and look more vibrant. Since I was just playing around with this look and not going out, I didn’t wear primer but I would highly recommend a good primer that will make the eyeshadow more vivid.
Products used: Estee Lauder eyeshadow sets

2) Afterwards, use a light pink and ivory base to create that soft look on your eyelid. Then, use the lilac shade all over your eyelid and a bit over your crease. Be generous with the lilac shade as this is the shade you want to stand out!
Products used: Estee Lauder eyeshadow sets

3) To finish off the eyeshadow, use a smaller and more condensed brush (your pinky would be fine too) and dab it in a highly pigmented gold eyeshadow. Dab the gold shimmer on the inner corners of your eye to give this a more glamorous, yet romantic look.
Products used: The Face Shop gold eyeshadow
4) Use a black liquid liner and line your eyes. Since I wanted to keep this look soft, I didn’t wing out my liner as much as I normally would. However, you could wing out your liner if you’d like!
Products used: Kat Von D liquid liner

5) As for the face, I wanted a soft look so I brought out my rosy pink bush and applied it to my cheeks. Rosy blush has the ability to immediately soften your look and make it a lot more cuter.
Products used: ELF blush

6) Finish by applying a soft nude colour on your lip.
Products used: Arbonne smoothed over lipstick

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Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Holiday Makeup ft. THEFACESHOP

December 4, 2015

In collaboration with the Canadian Beauty Bloggers Network and THEFACESHOP, I’ve created a simple holiday makeup look using their products. I can’t believe that it is already almost Christmas. I am so excited!

This was the first time that I’ve tried THEFACESHOP makeup products, I usually stick with their skincare products. With the five products that I used to create this look, I found the products to be really worth the price and will be taking a closer look at their makeup products next time I stop by a store. They are a great alternative to your everyday drugstore products.

Products:

Gelset smudgeproof auto liner in 04 – purple
Single shadow pot in glitter (GL01)
Freshian volumizing mascara in 01- curling
Single blush in br01
Face it lipstick in creamy matte (pk101)

After applying my foundation and lightly filling in my brows, I gently dusted the gold eyeshadow on my eyelids. Adding a bit more sparkle because I just love sparkle, I dabbed some onto the bottom inner corner of my eyes to make them pop as well.

Afterwards, I used the eyeliner to create a very simple winged liner. Although the shade is purple, it showed up more as a black shade on my skin and there was a hint of shimmer in certain lights. I decided to also line the bottom of my eye to create more dramatic and striking look, which is something I never do.

To finish off my eyes, I used two coats of mascara, which was more than enough! The mascara was very voluminous and I liked how it accentuated my lower lashes very nicely too.

I really liked the blush, which added some highlight to my non-existent cheekbones. It gave my skin a nice healthy burst of colour as well. Although this is a blush, it can definitely double as a highlighter as well.

I finished the look with some lipstick. I normally shy away from bright pink colours, but was pleasantly surprised at how it matched my skin. I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone!
There you have it! A very simple holiday makeup look with some glitter. I love holiday makup because it gives me an excuse to wear more glitter on my eyes. I actually wore some of the glitter eyeshadow to the office yesterday too. I was really tired and wanted to give my eyes a dash of shimmer.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Current Lip Colours – Fall 2015

October 31, 2015

Seeing that my last few posts were product reviews, I thought I would switch things up and share with you which lip colours I’m currently using or that I keep in my purse. I’m not sure why, but for the past while, my makeup bag (in my purse) has been full of only lip colours, Vaseline, bandages, and a rollerball perfume. What type of makeup bag is that? I need to re-organize my makeup bag and replace the lip products with other things!

I keep telling myself that I should only keep a minimum of 2 lipsticks while I’m on the go, but somehow it ends up being more. But if I wear a smaller bag, I only carry one with me. So maybe I should start carrying only small bags?? Nah, I can’t wear small bags on a regular basis =P
Starting from top, going clockwise

Courreges Estee Lauder cheek + lip ball in ultra pink: I reviewed this on my previous post, and it is definitely one of my favourite lip colours. It’s super easy to dab on your lip when you’re in a rush, but want to add some colour to your face. Also, don’t let the name fool you – it’s not actually that bright of a pink.

Covergirl lip perfection in 360 euphoria: Honestly, I’m not sure why this is in my makeup bag and I should probably take it out. Nothing too special about this lipstick, I think I found it in my room one day and wanted to give it some use. Although it doesn’t look super bright, I find this shade a bit too bright for me on a daily basis.

Weird, because I know that the lip ball looks brighter but the lip ball is actually more sheer.

NARS satin lip pencil in rikugien: I love this lip pencil because it looks really natural, and glides on really well!

Chanel in 80 etole: This is probably my favourite out of the bunch, sentimentally speaking. It was a birthday present from the boyfriend and he sneakily took one of my other lipsticks to the Chanel counter when I was at work. Then, he asked them which shade would match the most and gave me this one!

Not only is the shade very versatile and great for almost any occasion or just everyday wear, it has a nice floral scent to it and is pretty long lasting too.

Well, there you have the lip colours that I currently keep in my makeup bag! I should do a de-cluttering of my makeup bag and select only two lip colours, four seems a bit too much to me and it adds a tiny bit of weight to my purse for no reason. I’m curious to look back on this post a year later and see what I end up with then.

Thank for reading!

-Carmen

Courrèges Estée Lauder Lip + Cheek Ball

October 28, 2015

Estee Lauder has paired up with French designer, Andre Courrèges on a line called Courrèges Estee Lauder. A few products were created combining his modern, futuristic, and geometric style, one of which I will review today. But first, here are some pictures to give you an idea of his style from the 60s.

(L) Ina Balke in Courrèges, 1965. (R) Courrèges, 1965. Credit: ShrimptonCouture.com — (L) Ina Balke in Courrèges, 1965. (R) Courrèges, 1965.
Credit: ShrimptonCouture.com

His style is very geometric, and after doing some research on him before writing this post, found out that was very popular in the 60s. I’ve never heard of him before attending the Estee Lauder media preview event, as with a few other attendees as well! See what type of things you can learn when you start beauty blogging? =P

His design incorporates many simple shapes such as triangles, trapezoids, squares, and rectangles.
Staying true to his geometric and futuristic style, the lip & cheek ball features a chrome metal design in a sphere. I could totally paint this into a Pokeball. Nah jk, knowing me and art, I would probably still find a way to mess that up.
The surface of the ball is reflective, and it took me a long time to get a ‘decent’ shot that hid my phone’s reflection before giving up. It just wasn’t meant to be.

But now we can play a game – can you spot me trying to hide in the reflection of the ball? LOL.

Here is a swatch of the product. The product goes on pretty sheer, this is two swatches of the lip & cheek ball. As you can tell, the colour is a soft, rosy pink that would go with a plethora of makeup looks! The official shade name is ‘ultra pink’.

Although this is suitable for both lips and cheeks, I’ve only used this on my lips. I know that many people use lipstick on their cheeks as a blush hack, but I try to stay away from that. From a young age, my mom and her friends have warned me about putting lipstick on skin as they did that when they were younger, and thought that the lipstick did some damage to her skin. Hence, I grew up with the mindset that lipstick on cheeks = no bueno!

Of course, we all have our different opinions and some people may not see the harm in doing so. It probably is fine, but I just chose not to do it – to each their own, right?
I try to take advantage of the sun whenever possible, here is a picture wearing the lip & cheek ball on my lunch break. I love wearing this colour when I’m at work because it is not too striking or dramatic. I feel that sometimes my lips look sickly pale, even though I’m not sick so this shade adds a bit of healthy colour to my face.

Living in Vancouver, we have many days consumed by depressing cloud and rain which not only affects my mood sometimes, but also prevents the amount of pictures I can take for my blog! Whenever I see a glint of sunshine in the fall and winter months, you bet I am outside taking advantage of natural lighting 😉

The lip & cheek ball retails for approximately $28 CAD. I’ve also included the full line above, although I’m not certain if all products are carried in Canada.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Press sample featured. Opinions are own.