beauty guru Archives - 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

6 Eye Makeup Looks With One Liquid Eyeliner (Part 2/2)!

April 21, 2015

Hi everyone =)

I am continuing my 6 different eyeliner looks with one liquid liner today! You can read part 1 here. I decided to separate the looks into two posts, because I thought that it would be too long of a single post.

Just in case you didn’t read part 1, I decided to use my Dolly Wink liquid liner that my friends bought for me in Hong Kong. You can buy them in North America as well, but the prices are a bit higher due to importing, etc. Things are usually cheaper in Asia =)

Dolly Wink is a very popular brand among the Asian beauty industry, it is probably the equivalent to the Kat Von D tattoo liner craze, but Dolly Wink is cheaper. I like my Dolly Wink liner because the pigment is great, lasts long, and the fine tip of the brush makes it very easy to create different looks.

Here is my eye without any eyeliner! I took this picture to show the differences that eyeliner can do to your eye.

The staight line/under eye: Oops, I forgot to include the “under eye” in the picture as well! This is a combination of two looks.

For this look, I tight lined my eye (more information on how to do that here), and then instead of winging my liner upwards, I followed the downward slope of my eye to create a straight, parellel line that extends further.

One of my favourite beauty gurus talked about it in her videos once so I decided to try it out for myself. The straight line look is very popular in Asian beauty culture, as it gives the appearance of a rounded eye. The straight line also your eyes look rounder and bigger, while the classic winged liner makes your eyes look more sultry.

I also used the Dolly Wink liner as a bottom liner as well! I normally never line my lower lash line, but I decided to try it this time. Lining your bottom lash line is pretty self explanatory. I used lighter strokes so that the colour was not as dark as the top.

My friend, Pauline did a guest post for me and she is a big fan of doing the “straight line” liner look too! Read how she did hers here!

The Egyptian cat eye/under eye:

This is another take on the classic wing, but with more drama and intensity 😉 Start by tight lining your eye, and then extend the wing out. The further you extend, the better! Egyptian makeup was all about a long, beautiful, and thick winged liner. After you have extended, go back and apply your liner over, so that the wing gets thicker.

Tips:
-Go back and ensure that the line you created is even
-Since this look is requires such thick eyeliner, it would look a bit odd if the thick liner suddenly started in the middle of your eye. Line your whole upper eyelid, including the corner =)
-If you’re a beginner, this may take a while to perfect but I believe in you! Practice makes perfect =)

As I was creating this look, I extended my wing so much and it felt so weird! I wasn’t sure if I would like the end result or not, but I really do! I probably would save this look for special occasions, because it’s too intense for me to wear on a daily basis.

I ended this look by lining my lower lash line as well! This time, I lined my lower lash starting from the inner corner, and used a bit more at the outer corner so that it would connect with the top line.

Speaking of Egyptian cat eye, my other friend Rachel, also wrote a guest post on a Cleopatra inspired makeup look! I love how intense her wing is!

Which one of these would you rather try? Or maybe both?!

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

GUEST POST: Sasa.com Makeup & Skincare Haul!

April 16, 2015

Hi everyone!

Special blog post today- everyone, virtually meet one of my good friends, Pauline (She’s super awesome)! She has agreed to write a guest post for me and I’m excited to share it with you all today. See what type of Asian cosmetics Pauline bought from Sasa.com and how she wore them to the Japanese cherry blossom festival.

Happy reading everyone!

Carmen

~~~~~

Hello everybody! I am doing this for my friend, Carmen, as a guest post, and will be the very first time doing this! So, hopefully this goes well… haha!

I recently bought some makeup and face products from this super famous Hong Kong make up store: Sasa. I usually purchase my makeup and face products from here because it’s cheap and my skin seems like to like Asian brands of makeup/skin products. They also often do free shipping once in a while!

The first product I’m going to introduce is an eyeliner by Majorlica Majorca: the cream pencil liner.

I must say, this cream liner is super smooth to line your eyes with, and it’s super creamy. Usually with creamy eyeliner, it smudges easily, but this eyeliner didn’t smudge and actually stayed on my eyes for the whole day! Especially when I tight lined with this eyeliner, I was ready for this to smudge all over my eyes by the end of the day. I was so surprised at how it stayed on so well! 5/5 for this product! =)
The second product is: Majorlica Majorca’s jeweling pencil. This product is basically a white eyeliner to put on your eye corners to brightening up your eye as well as giving an illusion of having bigger eyes!

Nothing really special about this eyeliner, as I think all white eyeliners can do the same as this one can. 😛

Third product: Majorlica Marjoca’s perfect automatic liner: This product was kind of weird to use at first. So, the first thing you do is twist the bottom of this eyeliner until the ink comes out from the tip. The con of this is that if you twist too much, the ink will splat out and comes into a big mess.

However, after you clean that up, you can just apply that on your eyes just like any other eyeliner would … If you do not want to clean up the mess, this might not be the best product for you, because you will have to twist the bottom every time you want to use this product.

This eyeliner also stayed on really well on my eyes, and was pretty easy to apply as well. So, other than the whole twisting thing, I would rate this 4.5/5 ☺
Hehe … I have combined the three eyeliners mentioned above today, for my makeup look of the day! I went to the cherry blossom Japanese festival with a couple of my friends today, so I thought “hey, why not try out these products if I am going to blog about them anyway!”

I used the cream eyeliner to tight line my upper line as well as my water line. Like I mentioned, it stayed on without smudging the entire day. I then used the perfect liner to line across my eye and winged it out just a tiny bit, facing downwards, to give an illusion of a cute round eye. (…or eyes…)

Finally, I used the white eyeliner to put on my eye corners to brighten up my eyes. ☺

And here’s me in a Yukata ☺ .. To protect my friends’ privacy, I have turned them into Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma.

Okay, on with the other products!
Fourth product: Shu Uemura Skin purifier (in premium A/I) This product … is godly. Although this is a “cleansing oil”, this will not clog your pores nor will you have a disgusting oily feeling left on your skin after. Honestly, I can say it is like rubbing pearls on your face. There are 4 easy steps to using this purifier:

1.) Pump 4 pumps on your hand (hand and face dry)
2.) Rub the oil all over your face (and eyes if you have eye make up on)
3.) Add water to the oil until it turns into a milky foamy wash
4.) Rinse and wipe your face

Your makeup is literally all gone, and you do not have to go through a second cleanser to clean your face. The oil also leaves you with smooth skin and feeling hydrated.

The best part about this product is : THIS IS FOR SENSITIVE & DRY SKIN!!! Which is a big problem for me, because sadly, I have super sensitive skin … So now that I have found this, I rate it 10/5!
Last product I’m going to talk about is: Laniege Multiberry Yogurt Pack. I have mentioned above that my face is super sensitive … and this mask did not go well with my skin. I gave this mask a try because of all the good things I have heard about it.

It also says that it is for “all skin types” – and let me tell you … It’s not. If you have sensitive skin, do not go for this product. My face reacted one minute after I put this on … The burning sensation and my face was literally all red like a cherry.

I must say, though, this mask smells like as if you are in a strawberry land … So the pro I can only say about this is that it smells super yummy.

That’s it to my guest post! I hope all of you enjoyed reading about these Asian products and maybe try some out on your own as well!

-Pauline

~~~~~

Thanks for guest blogging, Pauline! You look so good in the yukata. I want to wear one too!

What are some of your favourite Asian cosmetics?

-Carmen

Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash

January 11, 2015

Harroooo everyone! =)

About a month ago, I told you all about my Black Friday Sephora mini haul. One of the items I bought during the sale, which I briefly mentioned in that post, was the Bliss fabulous foaming face wash, a 2 in 1 cleanser and exfoliator.

It was one of those items where I wasn’t planning on buying it, but I saw that it was on sale for 50% off and had great reviews. I took too long deciding whether or not to buy it, and when I went to checkout, I found it was sold out along with all the other products I wanted =(

But when I went to Sephora in person the following day, I was happy to find that they had plenty in store, for the same sale price! I got it for $12 canadian, usually it is $24.

Because Sephora is always better at marketing a product than I am, here is what they say- “Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash harnesses the power of botanical soothing technology and super soft exfoliating beads to deliver a simply sensational skincare solution. This bestselling, oil-free purifier instantly dissolves excess oil and makeup and lifts away dead cells, leaving skin clean, nourished, and fresh.”

Maybe because I read so many great reviews on this product, I was expecting more than it delivered. Some people claimed that this product instantly melted away their entire face makeup, so I was really excited to try it because having difficulty removing makeup when you just want to go sleep is a pain!

I tried this a few times when I had full coverage makeup on, it did not remove all my makeup easily. It also did not come off instantly, I had to scrub. It also said that it is an exfoliator, but I see this as a cleanser because it doesn’t do a great job in exfoliating.

I think this face wash would be good on a daily basis, but if you are wearing full coverage, I would recommend something else. My Lush Herbalism cleanser does an amazing job at taking off makeup, clearing breakouts, making my skin tone even, etc… it is truly a magical product. Actually, even my $3 St. Ives Apricot Scrub does a better job at exfoliating and taking off my makeup LOL!

I really liked the light scent it had, it was very refreshing. The gel formula also had a bit of a cooling sensation. This did not dry out my face at all, and felt really moisturized after usage.

For $24 regular price, I don’t think I would buy it again because it’s not worth the price to me. There are products out there that are definitely better at removing makeup, and for a better price as well. However, I am glad that I tried it and I’ll probably finish the bottle eventually because it’s not a bad product. I just had higher hopes for it! =)

What are your favourite face washes? Let me know in the comments down below!

-Carmen

Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon

January 6, 2015

Hi everyone!

After buying Sephora’s Draw the Line 2014 set and using most of the products for two months now, I decided it was finally time to talk about them! One of the products included in this year’s set was the Marc Jacob’s Highliner gel eye crayon, which retails for $30 Canadian (full sized product) at Sephora. The set only included the sample size, which was half the size of the full but I still thought it was a good deal with the set!

Funny story, I wasn’t actually planning on using this until I had finished one of the other pencil liners in the set. Of course, I accidentally misplaced that one somewhere and the rest of the pencil liners I had weren’t that great, so I decided on opening this one.

It seems like gel liners are all the rage right now, and for great reason too! I remember the first time I tried gel liner, it was one of the gel pots from MAC back in high school. Ever since then, I’ve loved gel liners for how smooth it glides on your eyelid and the intensity of the colour. Gel liners are more pigmented due to the way that it is formulated.

Combining the gel and crayon eyeliner into one, the Marc Jacobs highliner was born!

I can’t think of a single negative thing about this product except for the cost, maybe. At first use, I loved how smooth and easy it was to apply, and how pigmented and intense the colour was. It also does not smudge the whole day and night, and is waterproof.

In fact, this eyeliner is all that I’ve been using lately since it seems I’m always in a rush in the mornings now. It takes me 15 seconds to quickly tight line my eyes, and what results is an intense and striking black that lasts all day! Any makeup product that is easy and fast to apply, and long lasting, is good to me.

One thing I don’t like about pencil products is having to look for my sharpener. This product comes with a built in sharpener so you don’t have to worry about it becoming dull. It also comes with a twist up bottom!

I’ve also been looking for a replacement gold liner since my favourite gold shade of the Sephora + Pantone has been discontinued (how sad), I might give the champagne shade a try next time I’m in Sephora. But at $30 a pop, it does not come cheap =( However, I’ve come to realize that I much prefer high quality eyeliners that are worth the investment, than a cheap one which smudges or does not last the whole day- the annoyance and retouching up is not worth it. Which means I need to carefully manage my money (aka no more useless sugary drinks or random snacks)!

What are your thoughts on gel liner? Have you tried the Marc Jacobs highliner before and what did you think of it?

Thanks for reading!
-Carmen