MAKEUP

The Christopher Kane for NARS Collection

June 16, 2015 Leave a Comment

Third NARS store in Malaysia has opened in Mid Valley since May 2015 and just recently they have launched The Christopher Kane for NARS Collection.

The Christopher Kane for NARS Collection consist of limited edition collection of unexpected shades and formula inspired by the nature of neon and the nude shades to compliment. This collection showcases Christopher Kane’s unexpected and edgy design aesthetic with NARS’ iconic and bold beauty philosophy, is the first fashion collaboration to feature a full line of Eyeshadows, Blushes, Illuminating Multiples, and Lip Glosses. Eyes are enhanced with iridescent rose gold, pink lilac, and violet. Cheeks are flushed with soft beige or hot pink. And lips are saturated in high-shine shades of neon pink and coral that subtly stain after the gloss is gone.

Image Courtesy of NARS Malaysia

Who is Christopher Kane?

A global renowned fashion talent who started his own label since 2006 then capitalising on the success of the award winning MA collection that attracted so much media attention. He debuted with Spring/Summer 2007 collection later that year in London attracted even more attention as well as immediate sales.

Kane’s design reflects a woman’s attitude as opposed to age. It is no surprise where Christopher Kane has earned the attention of Kering (formerly PPR), the French luxury goods group that includes Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. The group then invested in the share in Kane’s share and now expanding to the retail level in 2014. His first store is located Mount Street, Mayfair, London.

Lip glosses from left to right, Mezmer Nebulous, Nucleus, Glow Pink. Retails at MYR95.00.

Lip glosses swatches from left to right, Mezmer Nebulous, Nucleus, Glow Pink. Sheer texture with a hint of color.

Violet Atom Illuminating Multiple. Retails at MYR154.

Violet Atom Illuminating Multiple swatch. Finishes off velvety smooth, non-oily or tacky.

Blushers from left to right, Starscape, Silent Nude.

Blushers swatch from left to right, Starscape and Silent Nude. Finishes off matte and soft, shades are buildable.

Parallel Universe Duo Eyeshadow, retails at MYR 128.00.

Parallel Universe Duo Eyeshadow swatch, shimmery finish and goes on easily.

Outer Limits Single Eyeshadow, retails at MYR 98.00.

Outer Limits Single Eyeshadow swatch, warm undertone with shimmery finish.

This collection can be found in NARS Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur and Gurney Plaza, Penang.

xoxo,
Traclyn Yeoh

Urban Decay Summer 2015 Collection & Swatches

June 10, 2015 Leave a Comment

Summer! Where all the high bright colors are up everywhere you go. Urban Decay brings summer 2015 line up that has us dreaming of bold and edgy colors to wear it like late-night pool parties and rooftop sunsets. From new lipgloss and blush formulas to exciting innovation in some of their bestselling products, this season will blow you away.

I had the chance to preview the upcoming Urban Decay Summer Collection that was held on last Saturday in front of Sephora Mid Valley. This collection will be available in Sephora stores in July 2015.

The summer collection includes 9 shades of individual blushers from bright to pastel tones.

A line up of 14 shades of lip glosses, eight eye shadows and an interesting stick primer. Let’s get into details!

Ultimate Ozone Multipurpose Primer Pencil

‘Inspired by our bestselling, slim-barreled Ozone 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil, Ultimate Ozone is an indispensable primer in pencil form. This clear, THICK-barreled undercover wonder does it all. Hold lip color in place. Prevent feathering. Correct mistakes. Even fill in fine lines! No matter how you use Ultimate Ozone, our creamy, long-lasting formula glides on clear to prevent your most embarrassing beauty nightmares.’

Retail Price: MYR62

Revolution High-Color Lip Gloss

‘This high-coverage, ultra-pigmented formula lays down all the color you crave in one coat. Choose from 14 lust-worthy shades in both cream and sparkle textures. With gorgeous nudes, bold brights and deep, dark shades, our lineup contains something for everyone. From longstanding UD favorites (like 69, Big Bang, Punch Drunk and Apocalypse) to never-before-seen shades destined for cult status, Revolution Lipgloss has all your high-impact gloss needs covered.’

Retail price: MYR85.00

Swatches for 14 shades of the Revolution High-Color Lip Gloss and two of shades (Quiver and Kinky) will not be carried in Malaysia.

Eight New Eye Shadows

‘Urban Decay introduces EIGHT brand-spanking-NEW Eyeshadow singles. There’s a little something for everyone—from color junkies to fans of neutral mattes. (See, we DO read all your pleas on Facebook.) The lineup: six gorgeous, shifty duotones—in shades like blue, gold, peach, burgundy and even red!—and two versatile matte neutrals. With the addition of these new shades, our already huge Eyeshadow lineup now includes a whopping 12 duotones and an everexpanding range of matte shades.’

Retail price: MYR73.14

Swatches for the new eight shades, they come in matte and metallic duotones.

Afterglow 8-Hour Powder Blush

‘Afterglow 8-Hour Powder Blush—the foolproof way to create that effortless, radiant look. Just a few quick swipes of Afterglow gives you the kind of easy, sexy, lit-from-within glow that makes people wonder if you spent the whole weekend in a secret love den. The best part? Much like the lingering effects of a romantic rendezvous, Afterglow won’t quit. Our extremely blendable, finely milled formula goes on sheer and provides eight long hours of wearable, buildable color. And wait until you feel it! Lightweight yet luxurious, Afterglow has a soft, creamy texture that always applies beautifully. The lineup: nine scintillating shades…some with a matte finish, and others with a hint of shimmer.’

Retail Price: MYR89.00

Swatches for the blushers and personally, I quite like Bittersweet although it is purple but it gives a light hint of pink over the cheeks without looking purple at all.

Urban Decay Summer 2015 collection will be hitting Sephora stores in July 2015. Time to save some now and shop next month!

xoxo,
Traclyn Yeoh

Review: Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush in Candy Glow Gives You Natural Glowing Cheeks With A Hint of Pink

May 6, 2015 Leave a Comment

As much as I love blushers, I am not the type who would use heavily to have rosy pink cheeks. Instead, I like just a hint of pink to create that natural glow pink flushed cheeks. Often times you could hardly see me in heavy pink cheeks. Couldn’t deny the fact that I was very much attracted to the packaging of Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush which made me pick them.

‘Choose from three no-fail color palette blushes to take the guesswork out of creating a sweet, romantic flush. In each baked, heart shaped blush there are three individual color swatches. The baking process and multiple colors create dimensional color to provide the look of younger, brighter, healthier skin. It’s like having Hollywood lighting wherever you go.
Blush is like dessert, you didn’t know you loved it until you had a taste of it. Our blush was developed with easy application and a no-fail color palette in mind—to take the guesswork out of creating a sweet, romantic flush. It’s the little black dress of blushes.’

The heart shape cardboard box was attractive to me because it looked vintage and sweet at the same time. Plus with the shade that I have chosen, the combination of pink and cold makes the packaging even lovely.

The shade that I have chosen is Candy Glow and let’s check on how the texture looks like on a close up.

The blush is 3 dimensional which normally baked makeup is. The blusher may seem shiny and all but after careful observation, it isn’t give that extreme shine as it can be seen here. Comes with 3 tones to create that natural pink flush where I do recommend to swirl your makeup brush to get an even shade over your cheeks.

From the swatch, you are able to witness that the shades aren’t as shimmery, in fact one of the shade is matte. From left to right, there is cold pink with fine silver glitters, matte peach and coral with fine gold glitters.

This blusher contains mica, talc and silica, great to know if you are sensitive to any of these ingredients.

Applying this blusher is simple and easy, just swirl your makeup brush over it and brush it over the cheeks. The swirling will mix 3 of the blush shades to create a beautiful faint pink shade.

From the before and after, the blusher creates a beautiful glow with a hint of pink. The shimmer is not overly done and it is not flaky that it settles in the pores. The shade is buildable.

Above all…

I love this blush! Though it could be hefty on the price, this is just what I am looking for. A blusher that gives me the glow with a hint of pink that is not overly done. I have came across some shimmering blusher that the shimmer or glitters actually settles in the pores which accentuates the size of the pores and this doesn’t. In fact, I quite like to apply this blusher and I would dust a little on my forehead and nose bridge to highlight them mildly. Because of the packaging, I would place it on my beauty counter to be part of a decorative item.

Price: MYR119.00

Weight: 5.5g/ 0.19oz

Availability: Sephora nationwide

PROs:

Natural glow with a hint of pink
The glitters does not settle into pores
Buildable shade
Lovely and attractive packaging
Easy to use
Never overly done

CONs:

Hefty price for selective people

My Rating: 4.9/5

xoxo,
Traclyn Yeoh

Review: Urban Decay Moondust Eye Shadow in Ether, Works Better Wet!

April 23, 2015 Leave a Comment

Sparkly sparkle, let all the glitter dust makes it magic to set glamour and elegance to the scene. This is what came into my mind about Urban Decay Moondust Eye Shadow.

‘Moondust Eyeshadow is infused with a delicate, microfine sparkle and gorgeous 3-D pearls—for a
glistening, iridescent effect and amazing flashes of multidimensional sparkle. We recommend applying
Moondust with your fingers. For extra intense color payout, apply it with a wet finger or brush dipped in water, then blend out the edges with a dry brush.

MOONDUST EYESHADOW IS AVAILABLE IN FOUR NEW SHADES:
ETHER – light purple with pink-blue 3-D sparkle and shift
SCORPIO – matte black with gold 3-D sparkle
SOLSTICE – metallic pink-red with green 3-D sparkle and shift
COSMIC – metallic white with iridescent 3-D sparkle and shift’

The shade that I have is called Ether , a light purple shade with pink and blue 3D sparkle and lift. As this shade is labelled on the box, the sticker does reflect the shade of the eye shadow.

From the ingredients listing, I could see there is talc and silica. I have no issue with these ingredient but just to highlight, if you are ingredients sensitive.

This eye shadow comes in a single eye shadow pot of pearlescent faint blue with transparent lid embossed with UD in the middle. The transparent lid allows ones to shade and texture of the eye shadow.

On the closer look, the texture seems gritty and what I’m worried of is will it go smooth on my eyelids as well as how much of fall outs will it be.

This eye shadow pot was also designed to be able to remove from it’s casing and to be placed into your Urban Decay customized ‘build your own palette’.

Let’s have a look over the swatch. You can definitely tell this is a heavily pigmented in purple with glitters of pink and blue. Though it seems gritty but from the swatch using my fingers, I could almost barely feel them. It’s like soft flakes that I have touched and I have created two looks using this eye shadow.

Understand that it’s recommended to use finger for the best result but that doesn’t mean I could not use an eye shadow brush right? I’m so used to using makeup brushes and I hardly use fingers now unless I don’t have any brushes with me at all.

The first look is to dab the eye shadow on the eyelid and dab until to the desired opacity. Blend well after and it creates an iridescent beautiful sparkles around the eyes. This is the dry application technique.

Finish off with eye liner and mascara. This look goes well for both day and night.

Second look here is to create bold eye liner out of it. Using synthetic brush and dip into some water then the eye shadow. This is called wet application technique. Start lining on the lash line thicker than how we usually apply eye liner. Complete the line with a wing at the corner and half way to the lower lash to balance out the look. Finish off with eye liner with similar length of the eye shadow and apply mascara to boost those lashes up.

This look brings the edginess, elegance and glamour.

Above all…

I love this eye shadow where it gives a very beautiful sparkle. At first I lost interest with the eye shadow from the dry application because the color pay off wasn’t as good from the swatch but once I did the wet application technique, I’m in love.

For dry application, there is fall outs and it isn’t obvious for me because my lashes caught most of it. You could actually see it on the image where I show steps to apply for dry technique. I have no issues with the wet application at all, it goes on smoothly without fuss. Throughout the day, the glitter does move around to the crease from blinking which is not an issue because it is still pretty. In conclusion, it would be best to apply this eye shadow with finger or using wet application technique.

Price: MYR72.00

Weight: 1.5grams / 0.05 oz.

Availability: Sephora nationwide

PROs: