My Makeup Brushes

These are my brushes. The cups are from Daiso. So cute right?! Starting with the eyebrow spoolie near the top and going clockwise the brushes are:

Sonia Kashuk spoolie brush #127
Real Techniques duo-finer contour brush
The Body Shop eyeshadow brush
Real Techniques stippling brush
ELF concealer brush
The Body Shop blusher brush
Real Techniques duo-fiber eye brush
Real Techniques blush brush
Quo liner/brow brush
Real Techniques duo-fiber face brush
Quo all over shadow brush
Only Minerals foundation brush
The Body Shop eyeshadow blender brush

Review: Maybelline Japan Cosmos Hyper Shadow and Kate Real Create Eyes

Maybelline Japan Cosmos Hyper Shadow in BR-1 Luna Brown

These are mixed pigment, marbled, baked eyeshadows. When I bought this I thought it would be identical to the (get ready for a really long name!) Maybelline Eye Studio Colour Pearls Marbleized Eyeshadow Duo, which I have in Persuasive Plum. Both are marbled, baked eyeshadow duos. The duos come with gorgeous colours that are perfect for each other. It  I bought Persuasive Plum in Canada last summer and wore it non-stop for about 2 months. I love the colours, the pigmentation, and how blendable they are. They're super easy to work with. All that being said, I might prefer the Japanese version. 

My only complaint with the former is that I have to be careful of fallout, especially with the darker shade. The Japanese formula seems to be a bit firmer, which makes for less shadow in places I don't want it. I might actually prefer the Luna Brown, but I'll have to use it more to see if it's true love, or just a fleeting flirtation.

Kate Real Create Eyes in BR-3

An 5-shade eyeshadow palette with "clear soft-transmitting colors and deep monotone colors for creating deeply contoured eyes." I really like shimmer shadows, and boy am I in the right country. It's actually a challenge to find a shadow (or any kind of makeup) that won't light you up like a disco ball!

 Let's start with the packaging. I love it! It's pretty and a visual departure from other drugstore eyeshadow palettes. The palette comes in a little plastic package which has visual instructions on how to use the shades to create a look. It would have been nice if this was printed on the back of the compact instead. 

You might have noticed that there are five shades, but only swatches for four. The palest shade, in the top left corner, is a shimmery cream shadow that is supposed to be used as a primer base for the rest of the shadows. I tried it and it's absolute crap. It made the shadow crease so much! The powder shadows work better without it. I think it's a great idea but the execution fell way short. They should have left it out and made the purple shade in the middle bigger because I'm gonna hit pan on that shade way before the other ones!

I really like both of these shadows, and would recommend the Maybelline one for sure. I think the formula, pigmentation, etc. of the Kate powder shadows is great, but next time I would go for a palette without the cream shade.

Have you tried and shadows my Kate or Maybelline Japan? What do you think?

Too Cool for School

I featured two of these products in my January Favourites video. First I would like to talk about the packaging because seriously! It is amazing! Who doesn't want dinosaurs or a sketched cityscape on their makeup?

Too Cool for School Dinoplatz-eye Krrrayon Stick in #2 Swing with Me
The colour is a rosy gold with little gold flecks in it. I like to use this with the Canmake Lasting Multi Eyebase WP because it can crease a little if I wear it all day long. That being said I think this is a great eyeshadow. I really like eyeshadow sticks because they're really convenient, quick, and don't make a mess. This eyeshadow is really long lasting. There is a little smudger on the bottom which I don't normally use; I prefer to use a brush to blend. But I think this product is perfect for travelling, and would use it then.

Too Cool for School Dinoplatz Lost Identity Lip Colour
They advertise it as both a lip stain and a lip balm, but I think it's more of a stain. It doesn't dry my lips out but it's not ultra moisturizing either. The colour lasts much longer than the moisture! One added bonus of this colour changing formula is that it doesn't leave a pink mark on your wine glass (which I actually don't mind) This lip crayon is perfect for creating that gradient lip effect that's so popular, especially in Korea.

Pumpkin Sleeping Pack
One of the benefits of buying beauty in Korea is all the free samples, which I have raved about before. These were some of those samples. For anyone who doesn't know what a sleeping pack is - I had to look it up myself, so you'll get no judgement from me - it's something you put on right before bed, after all your other nighttime skin care products. It's really rich and sinks into your skin overnight, making your skin soft and plump. These are especially good for winter, when it's so dry. I did like this, but two uses is just not enough to decide if it's something I would purchase a full size of. It did make my skin feel nice.

When I go back to Korea, I will be picking up a few more products from Too Cool for School! Do you have anything from them? Any you would recommend? Leave me a comment!

Bye x

Bite High Pigment Lip Pencils

From left to right: Quince, Rhubarb, Cranberry, and Madeira.

From left to right: Madeira, Cranberry, Rhubarb, Quince.

BITE is a Canadian company, run out of downtown Toronto - yay Canada! Their products are all-natural and they want to make lipsticks that are high performance but still healthy enough to eat. All the ingredients are food-grade quality! Their thing is "Edgy, Edible, Innovation for Lips". These are lipsticks that will give you absolutely no reason to not love them!

Unfortunately for me, BITE is not available in Japan. However, I was lucky enough to open this holiday set of four at Christmas, they made it into my Christmas Haul video. These are miniatures of the matte High Pigment Lip Pencils. They don't contain any parabens, sulfates, synthetics, petrochemicals or byproducts, phthalates, GMOs, tricolsan. They DO contain the antioxident resveratrol (5 glasses of red wine worth!) which helps fight free radicals and has anti aging benefits. Wow! Like I said, a lipstick a girl could really commit to!

This little set comes with four colours, which I know you can see because you have eyes, but I'm going to describe them anyway! It comes with Madeira, a nude-pink, Cranberry, the perfect deep holiday red, Rhubarb, a plum rose, and Quince, a rose berry. These lipsticks are super pigmented, long lasting, creamy, and make my lips happy. I wore Quince out to an izakaya (Japanese-style bar) a couple weeks ago, and it lasted all evening, through beers and bar snacks. 

I love this lipstick and finally have a lipstick that loves me back.

Photo Shoot

Last weekend I was playing with my makeup and my camera. I wanted to get an interesting photo for the outshot for my youtube videos. I love setting up makeup and taking photos of it. It's just so pretty! Here's the final result and a few other playful, behind the scenes shots. I took the first two with my iphone and the rest with my Canon PowerShot SX40 HS.

And, here it is!

January Favourites

Look who got it together this month and finished her favourites on time! Aren't you proud of me? I know I sure am! Haha. Thanks for watching! Enjoy!

Lipsticks: The Red Edit

I was feeling artsy (again) this weekend and wanted to take a different approach to a post about lipsticks. As I'm sure you've already deduced (clever reader) this post is about the reds. These are all the reds in my collection and I thought it would be neat to display them in my sketchbook. It really highlights some of the differences in tone and texture of the products. Let's start in the top left with the sheer, more pink-toned reds. 

Kate UNLOCK Bloody Lacquer RD-1. The sheer red with cool undertones. I featured this in my monthly favourites - video coming soon! - and have been wearing it a lot lately. It's a new release from Kate this month. This red is really easy to wear. It's buildable so you can sport a more subtle lip, or a bold one. The aspect of this that I've been the most impressed by is how moisturizing it is!

Lavshuca Lav Fake 01. The stain/multipurpose red. I wrote a review of this when I first picked it up. You can read it here. It looks really similar in colour to the Kate red, but is more of a stain that a lipstick. It's more long lasting, and less moisturizing. It's really versatile though, since it can be used for lips, cheeks, and eyes.

Rimmel Volume Lipstick in Gold Digger. The red with gold shimmer. This made it into my lipstick challenge back in October, where you can read a full review. 

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Red Lacquer. The sheer bright red with orange undertones. I didn't realize how orange this lipstick was until I put it next to all my other reds. I've talked about my disappointment with this before. It just doesn't last. I still love the colour though!

CoverGirl Natureluxe Gloss Balm. The tinted lip balm. Read my review here. Nice for on the go. It's pretty moisturizing. I would recommend this for people who don't like to wear lipstick.

Canmake Stay-On Balm Rouge. The sheer rosy red. Read my review from September here. These things are great! They're really similar to the Revlon lip butters. One of my students told me I looked like Taylor Swift when I was wearing this a little while ago. Yet another reason to love it. This red has more of a dusty rose tinge to it than any of my other reds. 

Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Ultra Lipstick in Brick. The bold red. This lipstick is a statement piece. It's really pigmented. I think this dark red would be flattering on everyone. It's not for the faint of heart and is sure to make the wearer the center of attention. It looks very similar to Wine with Everything on the page, but Brick has more pink, where the other one has a bit more orange.

Quo Poppy. The rusty red with shimmer and hints of burnt orange. You can't see it in the photo, but this has much more shimmer than the other reds in that corner. The shimmer is finer than in Gold Digger. This red is great for fall, and I recommend it especially for red heads. It really complements my hair and green eyes. This colours has great coverage and pigmentation, and lasting power. 

Top Shop Velvet Lips in Velveteen Ribbon. The liquid lipstick. This is a matte liquid lipstick, with cool undertones. It lasts for days. Seriously, I can't say enough good things about this. I like to use a lip balm before I go in with this, since the formula is a bit drying. 

Bite High Pigment Pencil in Cranberry. The lip crayon. This colour has a little raspberry in it. The coverage is great and it's lasted through dinner and drinks, with only a minor touch up. It also smells great!

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Wine with Everything. The go-to red. This has been the red I reach for on a night out for years. I love the colour. I always get compliments when I wear this. The wear is great, it's not too drying for something so pigmented. This is another colour that I think would look great on anyone. I though I'd lost it when I was putting together all my reds for this post, and had a mini panic attack. I know I have 10 other red lipsticks but I adore this one, and I have so many good memories of nights out with it. Also, the name is perfection! It's like it was made just for me!

That's it! Well done, if you've made it through all those reds. What do you think if this kind of post? Should I do more with corals, or neutrals? Leave me a comment! What's your favourite red lipstick?