Make Up Basics: Concealer & Corrector

Everyone's skin is different and there may be certain areas that require extra coverage or neutralizing.  Foundation alone might not be able to assist with these needs and hence a concealer -- and sometimes a corrector as well -- is applied.

CONCEALER

Concealers does pretty much exactly as the name suggests, it conceals.  Similar to foundations, concealers are available in a variety of forms:

• liquid - often packaged in click pens, tubes with doe foot wands, pumps or squeeze tubes
• cream - commonly packaged in jars, pots, metal pans, palettes, pencil or stick form
• powder - packaged in a sifter jar and mostly found in mineral make up lines

The most common usages for concealers are to mask darkness under the eyes (mainly caused by sleep deprivation but is sometimes hereditary) and to hide acne, zits/pimples, birthmarks, scars, redness and dark spots.

Perfumes & Mists: GUESS (New) for Women

Those close to me are very much aware of my inability to resist scents.  I'll be the first to admit that my perfume collection is insane but I love them all!  Lately, I've been into body mists/splashes as well and thought this would be another nice series to add to the blog.

Starting off this series is GUESS (New) for Women:

This is one of the first perfumes that I bought when I started working.  I hadn't planned on getting it at all but after a whiff, I was sold.  I typically steer clear of musky scents but the combination of all the other notes makes this one a personal favorite.  The scent lingers throughout the day (read: long lasting), is youthful, edgy and undoubtedly sexy.  Despite my obnoxious perfume collection, I'm almost done with my second bottle of this with a back up in store.  I bought a smaller version for travelling and a pendant version of it as well.  The full size packaging is considerably durable but for one of my bottles, the cap detached from the plastic mould insert somehow.  I love that it comes with a cute drawstring pouch too.

Notes
Tangerine, green apple, freesia, pink peony, muguet, peach, red fruit, cedar wood, amber and musk.

Type
Eau De Parfum (EDP)

Retail Prices
30ml (1oz) - AUD$19 (Bought at Priceline ~RM62)
50ml (1.7oz) - US$45
75ml (2.5oz) - RM215 (Bought for S$49 in Singapore at a wholesaler ~RM120)

NOTE: Online retailers and discount outlets may offer lower prices.

Special Deals on Sigma - Save US$10

There's currently a US$10 savings (no coupon required) on the Sigma website for selected items as pictured below for those interested.

Click image to go to page

The only coupon code I could find at this time is LEESHA2011 which takes off 10% from your entire purchase.  The coupon is only valid until August 4th, 2011 (EST).

For a limited time, Sigma is offering a sample of their latest eye shadow palettes for purchases of US$75 and above per order:

Photo source: Sigma Facebook page

The sample includes Reveal, Act and Oversee from the Dare, Bare and Flare palettes respectively.  This is the same mini palette they were giving out during IMATS LA in June and is definitely a fun little palette to tote around in your purse or just to try out the quality of the eye shadows.

For every purchase of US$30 and above, you'll still receive a free gift -- a travel sized silver handled E25 (previously the SS217) brush:

Photo source: ACW

This has to be one of my favorite eye brushes.  It's an ideal size to contour my eyes and blend out color.

Jewelmint Picks: August 2011

August is here and Jewelmint has already come out with brand new pieces for their showroom.  Selected pieces from previous months' collection are still available for purchase on the site but here are some of the new pieces that I caught my attention:

Here To Eternity Set

I felt this was a beautiful elegant set.  It's rare to find jewelry integrating both yellow and rose gold in one piece.  The earrings are cute and demure all in one, and perfect everyday studs.  The multistrand necklace looks delicate and romantic with a knot, the word "Love" and a horizontal bar filled with crystals on each strand respectively.  This piece was one of the pieces included in my August showroom.  Jewelmint is slowly beginning to capture my style.

Krishna Diamong Earrings

I could be wrong but I think this has appeared in previous months before but aren't they just a beauty?  These stud earrings are double layered and is such a classy piece to be worn for formal events and functions but yet is still wearable enough for regular days to glam up a more relaxed T-shirt and jeans outfit.

New Wave Ring

I've seen similar armadillo type rings before and gives an edge to any outfit.  YouTube gurus such as Jessica Harlow and Michelle Phan have often worn rings that look like this in many videos and photos.  I'm not sure where they bought their rings but I know Karmaloop has a few to choose from:

Photo source: Karmaloop

Jewelmint is a subscription based service providing personalized jewelry suggestions for US$29.99/month.  The subscription gives you 1 credit for use to purchase any one piece of jewelry item from your personalized showroom (or you can add other pieces not in your showroom that were not suggested to you).  Additional pieces can also be purchased at US$29.99 each.  This service is currently available in the US and US territories only.

First Impression: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush

While in the States a month ago, I got to see up close and swatch the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush.  I had relatively high expectations for this blush and was already thinking of getting one or two (or more) especially after hearing such good things about it and seeing it on one of emilynoel83's videos awhile back.

Photo source: Sephora

Here are some keywords from the product review on Sephora.com:

Excited lil ole me went swatch happy at Sephora when I spotted the Tarte display.  I know a lot of people have been singing praises for this particular product but sadly for me, it completely did not meet my expectations.  I was rather disappointed at the color payoff from the swatches and ended up buying none.

For every color that I had swatched from the display, I could barely get any product on my skin.  And for the swatches that I did managed to pick up some color, it completely disappeared when blended into my skin.  The texture was hard and powdery and not at all buttery or creamy.  Of course it being clay based I guess I should've expected it though.

I might eventually try an order a color in the future to re-evaluate the product and try picking up color with a brush instead.  I imagine if a brush would be able to pick up the color, it would look beautiful and natural blended on the skin (maybe even with a cream blush base?).

The blush comes in 8 shades in Sephora and retails for US$25 each.

Have you tried this product? Love it or hate it?

Sigma Flare Palette

Finally!  I'm so excited to be able to start posting about the Sigma eye shadow palettes.  I received mine a month ago and despite having taken some product photos, I thought it best to do some a little test first and try to conjure up a look to go with the palette.  Plus, I think I've been doing too many Sigma posts back to back in this space I felt I should break it up a bit.

Each palette is priced at US$35 and is available for purchase on the Sigma website.  Assuming a brush value of US$9 (the full size brush retails at US$9/each), each eye shadow is only US$3.25 (less than RM10/each)! Click on the image above to purchase and receive a free gift with your order.

Anyways, there are 3 palettes altogether: Flare, Dare and Bare.  The package came with a little leaflet (Sigma's signature) that talks more about the palettes as well as a sample look for each.

Palette Leaflet

I was quite surprised at the actual size of the palette.  It's approximately +3/4in in length, +1/3in depth and height compared to the Urban Decay Naked Palette.

I'm starting off with the Flare palette so here we go.