Category Archives: Makeup

[MYTH]: “I have a sensitive skin so I don’t put on foundation”

26 Friday Oct 2012

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Calling all the girls! I’m pretty sure that either you or at least ONE of your friends have told you: “I have a sensitive skin so I don’t put on foundation… it will trigger pimples”. I know more than 5 people who have told me that and sad to say, I once thought the same.

But that is just a MYTH. Let me tell you ways to be able to apply foundation on your face without ‘ruining’ your skin.

1) Apply Primer beforehand: I couldn’t stress this enough. Primer is the KEY. Every time you watch those makeup gurus tell you about primer, they always say: it helps your makeup stick longer. Which is true and I couldn’t agree more. But they seem to forget to mention the most important thing, which is that primer prevents makeup to go into your pores. It closes your pores hence prevents zits/pimples! My favorite primer is MAKE UP FOREVER HD PRIMER in no.5 because I have uneven redness in my skin. But any primer would do, though I do suggest you to take this as your ‘investment’ and invest more in primer than foundation. Hence, getting a more expensive but good primer would let you go off with a slightly cheaper foundation. By ‘good’ primer, I mean one that suits your skin, you can ask for a free tester first. Try it for at least 2 weeks and if it suits you then stick to it! Keep in mind though that expensive doesn’t always mean that it will suit your skin.

2) Choose a foundation that is suitable for you: Again, the same theory applies to the foundation. The price does not define the quality. Test it first. I have a few favorite ones, one of which I have just started loving and I will review that soon! But of course my all time favorite goes to MAKE UP FOREVER HD FOUNDATION.

3) Wash your face every night: Some girls get so lazy after crazy tiring nights (I do too, but please spare 5-10 minutes to properly wash your face!). So I would suggest first by using a special eye make up remover especially for your mascara because I find a normal face wash doesn’t take off all of my mascara. Then I would use facial wipes (or baby wipes – non alcohol and fragrant ones)! Then wash your face using daily scrub (for night only) or Clarisonic (night only too). I love love the Clarisonic and shall review that soon. That is my daily routine.

4) Deep cleanse your face once in a week/two weeks: by deep cleansing I would say use a good scrub. Any scrub would do. I use one from Lancome just because I happen to bought one a while ago. Use whatever you have but make sure it’s not a daily one! Because you need to deep cleanse it! Using Clarisonic is not enough!

5) Clean your brushes: this is a crucial step that a lot of people seem to always forget or ‘pretend to forget’. It is a pain to clean your brushes especially when you are in a hurry! So my suggestion, get one of those brush cleanser say from MAC or MAKE UP FOREVER or anything. Then every once in two/three weeks, at most a month, deep cleanse it using baby shampoo. This is important because a normal brush cleanser does not clean your brush properly. Similarly like our face, we need to deep clean it once in a while.

I’m not even kidding. I have a very sensitive skin whether it is for face or my whole body! But I follow these 5 simple steps and my skin is fine. No joke.

All the best!

Love,

Shannen ♥

The Beauty of Having ‘The Asian Eyes’

27 Thursday Sep 2012

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Being an Asian myself, I understand, and have heard many women saying how they ‘dislike’ or ‘hate’ having the Asian eyes. Having the small and monolid eyes make it difficult to work with. Well, I understand what you all are saying, I thought the same too. Until one day, when I took the pro makeup classes, I was talking about this until I heard a makeup artist I know who is Caucasian saying she would rather have the Asian eyes.

This makes me wonder… Is it just that us human would never be satisfied with what we have? Or is it just something that they see and we don’t? So after thinking about this. I have finally come to agreed with the beauty of having the Asian eyes. The following is why,

1. Asian eyes don’t have crease, so you have to create your OWN crease! Makeup has something to do with creativity and as a makeup artist or someone who enjoys doing make up, you love doing creative looks. So be it! Create your own crease. Generally, it should be right below your brow bone. But the beauty is that if you go slightly too high or too low, it wouldn’t matter much. You wouldn’t see it much. To be honest, after this course when I tried to do it on my ‘hooded eyes’ or the Caucasian eyes it is much more difficult because you need to be more precise and you need a fair amount of products for it to really show well.

2. Having small asian eyes can make beginners easier for making their cat-eye/winged liner and their smokey eye. Why? because you have an approximation. When you close your eyes and fill it in with either Kohl pencil (for smokey) or cream/liquid eyeliner. You realize that your line for stoping (thickness wise) is at the line where you open your eyes and you cannot see the line. So when you smudge it, you get a beautiful gradient.

3. The fact that our eyes have different shape, it doesn’t mean that we cannot pull off the looks that you see in youtube. Yes you can! Yes, with the same colors too! The only difference is that you need a different technique! When you see those gurus on youtube doing their make up and when it gets to the end of the eyes they just apply it normally or flat. No, you need to pull up. Make sure your brush is in upward direction. Because otherwise, you will not get a good look because it will just make your eyes smaller.

4. Did you know now many shops sell those tape where you can put in your eyes to create double eyelid? Yes, you can use it on top of your makeup and it will not do anything to it! So that means your eyes are very versatile. Isn’t it a great thing to do? You can get them for very cheap too. I got a set from Face Shop in Singapore for about $2SGD. Good price, eh?

5. Here are tips to make your eyes bigger: First, say you like your eyes to appear bigger, rather than reading my advice in step 3. Read this instead. In the end/edge of your eyes, make sure that it is in circle shape. Then put mascara on your lower lash. But make sure that it is only the edge of the eyes to the middle (don’t put it all). If you are a bit confuse, search up Twiggy. That’s where the inspiration comes from.

So don’t worry! Asian eyes are not bad at all. Embrace the eyes you got. They are very versatile, you shall love it! There is no need to get those double eyelids surgery really! With the help of those stickers, you can get both looks in a cheap price and they’re handy too!

All the best girls,

With love,

Shannen ♥

How to: a quick and easy ‘smokey eyes’

10 Monday Sep 2012

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This will be my first how to makeup post. I hope you enjoy this, please let me know if you want any specifics and let me know your thoughts about this to.

Smokey eyes is one of the latest makeup trends. After many celebrities, especially Kim Kardashian, use it. Smokey eyes become the ‘go-to look’ for many people. I myself personally, love smokey eyes. Because it’s quick and it is easy to transform from your daily makeup and night makeup.

Here is an example on how to get your very simple smokey eye:

** Remember to always clean and moisturize your face before you start you makeup  and your hands too! The following steps are only for the eye looks

1. Prime your eyes with any primer. My favourite are: Urban Decay Primer Potion or the Too Faced Primer. But if you are not willing to spend too much money on primer it’s fine, you can even use your concealer. On this model, I used the Too Faced primer.

2. Use Kohl Pencil. Kohl pencil (preferably in black or dark blue) will make your job so much easier. It directly increase the intensity of the colors because it’s just so strong. You can use any kohl pencil, on this model however I used the Make Up For Ever Kohl pencil. 

Tip: if you have the ‘typical asian eyes’, like the model, put the kohl pencil up to your eye lid. If you do not have the asian eyes but rather ‘hooded eyes’ then you can estimate it, it shouldn’t go too high.

3. Blend the color from kohl pencil. Do it by upward direction. On this step, you can already see the smokey effect. Remember you will still need to put eyeshadows on top of it so it could be a bit messy.

4. Top it with dark blue eye shadows. If you do not wish to use dark blue, you can change it to other colors. On this model, I used the dark blue from Make Up For Ever Smokey palette. This dark blue should go high enough until around your crease. But remember don’t go over your crease, if you are good at approximating, slightly lower than your crease will be good. Because you will need to blend in, because harsh line in makeup is a crime. 

Tip: if you have the asian eyes and feel like you don’t have a crease! Don’t worry, your crease is the part right under your brow bone (you can try to feel it first now!). Also, always remember when you place your shadow, when it gets to the end, make sure it goes upwards. So your eyes won’t look dopey!

5. Add a dark purple on the outer corner, making a slanted V. This was not necessary, if you want a quick one, you can skip this step. But I added it to play with more color. What it does is that it adds more color to the eyes! Since it’s daily makeup, I do not recommend black (though if you want to then it’s up to you), because you want to keep it soft and more natural. So dark purple or darker blue would do. On the model, I used the dark purple from Make Up For Ever smokey palette. 

6. Blending your colors! This is an important step that YOU MUST NOT SKIP. When you blend, you should blend in left and right direction, like a car’s window wiper. Do not put much pressure. You can also blend in upwards, but remember not too high!

Tip: to blend you can actually use the same brush as the brush you used for your eye shadow brush. But remember, to blend, you need to have a clean brush! So clean your brush first!

7. Line your water line. Use any black eyeliner or the same Kohl pencil. On this model, I used the same kohl pencil from Make Up For Ever.

8. Add dark blue below your waterline and make sure you join it! This is the same dark blue or color that you put on your eyes. If you used a second color, then you can add the dark purple (or whatever it is) only one the outside of your eyes (you don’t need to go all the way in). But again, make sure you join it.

9. Highlight. To highlight you just use a bright color, perhaps white or cream. Then put this under your brow. It can also help to soften the eye-look. On this model, I used the cream color from the Make Up For Ever palette.

10. Curl your lashes and add some mascara. On this model, I used the Shu Uemura curler and Make Up Forever Smokey Lash Mascara.

That is all you need! After you do it a few times, you can do this in 5 minutes!

If you are interested to know how you can transform this look to a night look, please let me know. Or keep waiting, because I will post about it soon!

Let me know if you have any questions. I will answer it as quick as possible.

Products used:

– Too Faced primer, Make Up For Ever Smokey Palette (dark blue, cream, and dark purple), Make up Forever Kohl Pencil, Shu Uemura lash curler, Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash.

Swatches for the eye shadows:

– Without flash:

– With flash:

– The palette:

Additional information:

On the model’s face, I used: Make Up For Ever Primer (no. 0), Make Up For Ever Concealer, Make Up Forever HD Foundation, Bobbi Brown blush in Peony (no. 16), Make Up For Ever Sculpting Kit in no 2, Make up For Ever Lip palette (no. 15) – neutral tone.

Shannen ♥

How to pull off a bright lipstick color

09 Friday Mar 2012

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Today when I was randomly going through my ‘make up station’, as I’d like to call it. I began to realize the number of lipsticks I own! Oh wow, insane!

But I saw some bright colors and I began to wonder if I can pull it off again now like I used to. The answer is no, and here is why. By the way, I am not referring to neon colors it can be bright like the Lady Gaga for mac color! Which is one of my favorite. Here are tips to pull off bright colors:

1) Moisturize, moisturize, and MOSTURIZE: bright colors highlight your lips. Your lips are the center of the show! The last thing you would want to see is a perfect make up, with perfect color lipstick on cracked lips!!!!!!! Definite NO NO

P.s: I’d recommend Kiehl’s lip balm but it’s quite pricey. Nivea would so great too. Mac prep & prime is quite goood too! But remember to scrub your lips 3 times a week! You can get the scrubs from drug stores or even Lush!!

2) Lip liner is crucial: you want your lips to stand out. What if people see the imbalanced color? Or messy lining? Oh no!!! So you would want to get a start with same color based! Besides these will stay on even if you drink, so it’s a plus 🙂 I’d say a nude one would do well and it’s useful, since you can use it with any colors! But if you happen to have the same lip liner as your lipstick then go ahead

P.s: if you’re not too good at putting on lipstick, remember to outline the outer lips and as well as filling. Otherwise, filling would do just fine.

3) Remember, your lips are the center of the show. So, make your other make up neutral. Say you are putting on a bright lipstick, a soft pink or peach blush would do. And neutral (brown, grey, black, or simple eye lining) eye make up should do the job. If it’s too colorful, remember you’ll look like a drag queen!!!

So these are my quick & simple tips.

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Picture taken from here

Good luck & enjoy!

Feel free to ask me any questions!

Shannen 🙂