Urban Decay Alice Through The Looking Glass palette

Urban Decay's released their Alice Through The Looking Glass palette (SGD$88) in Singapore and here are swatches and a couple of quick eye looks, plus my first impressions on the shades.

The presentation is beautiful if you have a predilection for fantastical, psychedelic dream-scapes. The material is cardboard so this is not a heavy palette. Everything is in theme with the visuals in Alice Through The Looking Glass. 

The palette itself comes with a mirror, a quote from Alice, and a foldout that reveals a big blue butterfly within.

It's no surprise that the colors in the palette echo the tones seen throughout the movie. But aside from 4 brighter shades, the palette is filled with lots of neutrals. This is actually a rather versatile palette. There are plenty of options to create either bright and colorful, or soft and wearable looks.

What I always like doing is to combine neutrals and color. This allows me to create flattering, wearable looks that have just enough of a pop of color to make things fun and eye-catching. If you want, you can go to town with mostly bright colors, or play it safe with neutrals.

Shades used below:

A little navy pencil along upper lash line and outer 1/3 of lower lashes
 Bandersnatch and Metamorphosis around lash line
Dormouse as transition along socket
Duchess on lid
Royal Flush on inner corners

Lashes used: Ardell 120 Demis

I wish I could say all the shades are consistently good, but as with many palettes, there are some stellar shades, some so-so, and one so poor quality that I was actually shocked.

In the first row, the two greens, Hatter and Heads Will Roll, were so-so. Time, the gunmetal with a slight blue sparkle, is incredible. I got that swatch in just a single touch.

Dream On - now how did this shade make it into the palette??!
I had to rub a few times just to get that faint grey sparkly stain you see in the image. It's not really an overcoat type of shadow - the texture is too dry and the color is too deep. I'm just puzzled why this shade made the grade; shouldn't there be a minimum quality requirement for Urban Decay shadows?


That aside, most of the other shades are pretty nice in this row. I love Gone Mad and Duchess, and Reflection is a can't-go-wrong matte beige.

As for the warm-themed third row. These 5 shades make a perfect Fall palette.

I had initially expected Metamorphosis to be a bit bright and garish, but it's actually a nice periwinkle satin blue. Pretty.

Also, Cake looks very bright but if you blend it in with other shades it's just a soft warm rose shade, as in the look below.

Shades used below:

Cake in the socket and blended out towards the temple
Paradox on the lid
Gone Mad in outer corner
 Lily around inner corners
A little black liner smudged along the lash line, and a bit of Time blended over it to smoke out the line 

Lashes used: Ardell 110s

Both looks were done using a mix of brushes and without any eyeshadow primer.

This is a 2/3 neutrals, 1/3 colors palette. I think this is a good option for those who maybe want to experiment a bit with colors once in awhile, but mainly want plenty of neutral everyday shades. The quality is generally good, aside from that strangely unpigmented shade Dream On, everything performs pretty well. The brights are all pretty sheer and blend out quite easily, so it's probably more suited to those who aren't too daring with colors yet. Don't expect an intensely bright effect from the greens, blues and pink unless you really pack on the pigments over a good primer.

RMK Cool n' Pop 2016 Summer Collection

RMK's Cool n' Pop 2016 Summer Collection looks like a win from the get-go. 

The marshmallowy eye and cheek colors, the sorbet-tinted lip balms, and the candy-colored mascaras and nautical-themed nail polishes.

Still, on closer look, it does strike me that this is a very quintessentially "Japanese Spring/Summer" collection. 

• The cheek colors are very soft -  too soft to show up if you have medium to tan skin
• The powder eyeshadow textures are very fine (and shimmery) - too fine and shimmery to be very strong without a good base
• The cream shadow sticks pigmented but very pastel - so there is not going to be much definition around the eye area if you don't use shades from outside the collection
• The tinted balm sticks are gorgeous for an on-the-go hint of color but not all the shades are equally pigmented

Doesn't mean it's a bad collection. If you have very pale coloring (pale hair, eyes, and skin) you will look absolutely gorgeous, which exactly explains the choice of model for the campaign. However if you have dark hair, dark skin and/or dark eyes, the colors can look a bit pastel and chalky, or simply not show up on you.

If you love the look of the collection but you're not sure how you can pull it off with your coloring, here are a few tips.

1. Make sure you have a soft matte grey shadow in your own makeup stash, or you buy the grey cream shadow stick. This is the only shade in the collection that can give you any sort of definition around the eye area, so apply it around the socket line, outer corners of lids, and along the lash line so you can retain some definition and prevent your eye lids (especially if you have typical East Asian features) from looking puffy or flat.

2. Keep the look a bit more wearable by pairing pastels with one of the neutrals like grey/silver/pearl shades in the collection. (The look below was done using shadow stick 02 (pastel blue) 05 (grey), Ingenious Powder Eyes 17 (blue) and 18 (pearl-white)

3. Be aware that if you have very dark eyes like me, colored mascaras can make your lashes "disappear" at a distance. A reason I avoid them usually. I personally feel this sort of look is more flattering for those with lighter eyes or colored lenses. 

General rule of thumb: Whatever is darkest stands out the most and makes everything else around it look "softer" in contrast. Just know that if you don't want your lashes to "fade", never go for mascaras lighter than your eye color.

That said, this tubing mascara formula is fantastic, and if you're just looking to make a statement with funky colorful lashes, or you have light eyes, go for it. It is SO pigmented you can really tint your lashes quickly. And it is so long-wearing even oil remover doesn't break it down. You need warm water to break it down.

 

And the final look re-interpreted on someone with my coloring!

I did not apply the color the exact way Rumiko did on the model of course. I'm trying to test all the colors I got in one eye look and this is what I ended up with.

I love RMK blushes and face powders in general, but I would skip the shades in this collection if you want visible blush and you are not porcelain pale. Go for other colors in their general collection.

The lip tints I really like formula-wise - they have a subtle minty feel, and aren't too squishy and soft (I hate it when balm sticks break off at the tips during application). Only thing is you need to test on your lips to see what shade is visible. Your lips are rosier than your hand so just because you can see the color on your wrist does not mean it will show up on your lips.

I love shade 05 (the soft red, worn above) because it is the one that is most visible on me. It just gives a soft warm rosy color and creates a healthier effect. I had been initially more excited by the deep berry shade 06, but the color barely showed up on my lips unfortunately. 

If you're just looking for a barely-there lip care product with a small amount of sun protection (SPF16) these are lovely though.

As for the polishes? I tried 2 - EX-48 (cool ash grey) and EX-49 (nautical blue), and they are fantastic. I've used a lot of pale creme greys before, from Revlon to Chanel, and they've always been a touch sheer and streaky until you build up 2-3 coats or even more. EX-48 is so pigmented that you CAN technically go with 1 coat if you are short on time. And I just love the soft greys and the nautical blue shades.

Blame It On NARS Summer Gifting Kits: Swatches and Overview

We are in the thick of previewing all the Fall Winter 2015 makeup releases, but I just had to talk about NARS' 3 Summer Gifting kits which launched in Singapore this month.

There are 2 Lip Pencil kits and 1 Blush Palette. And these are all gorgeously colorful and perfect as a nice luxurious gift for someone special.

There are unique paint swirls and spatters on each of the covers. My favorite is probably the Blame It On NARS blush palette (SGD$120), with the pink, yellow and violet swirls. But just based on the contents, this would be the one I would invest in as well. I was very pleased to see that none of the shades within are repeats of the shades in my Virtual Domination palette from the holiday season last year.

Casino is a bronzer I've been meaning to try, so having it in a convenient palette along with 3 other shades is perfect. Daydream and New Attitude are gorgeous soft pink blushes as well. The only shade I am not quite as enamored of is Satellite of Love. It's just way too sparkly, and just not the type of shade I wear as highlighter. (I prefer fine-grained pearlescence so it looks less like fairy-dust, more like a dewy gleam on the cheeks.)

The Kit also comes with a mini Ita brush for you to tint and sculpt your cheeks.

The Lipstick Kits ($85) are worth checking out too.

For soft-lip lovers, Ultimate NARS is the way to go. You get 1 matte pencil, the gorgeously wearable Sex Machine (the rosy plummy bitten lip shade) and 2  Satins, a soft caramel beige Biscayne Park, and a pale cotton candy pink Stourhead.

Stourhead might be a bit intimidating for some, but you can always wear it sheer as a soft tint so you don't go too Snooki.

My personal pick is True NARS Kit for sure.

I love all 3 shades within, and these are colors I'd wear regularly. Yu is a magenta pink, Luxembourg a cherry-red, and the only Velvet Matte Lip Pencil, Provocative Red, is a muted, elegant oxblood.

Each Lip Pencil Kit comes with a sharpener.

Tom Ford Cream and Powder Eye Color Demo in 02 Black Oyster

Tom Ford's Cream and Powder Eye Color duos (SGD$85) are an interesting product that I've not tried before this year, with the Summer 2015 Soleil makeup collection. They've been released previously, and I have swatches of 3 of the 4 duos swatched here for you, as well as a demo using 02 Black Oyster.

Tom Ford Cream and Powder Eye Color Duos in Midnight Sea (black-bronze and marine blue metallic), Peach Gold (peach and champagne sparkle), and Black Oyster (blackened taupe with silver sparkle).

Tom Ford Cream and Powder Eye Color Duos layered

A 4th duo, Nude Bronze, is a re-promote apparently, and the press sample was not available when I was swatching these, so here are the remaining 3.

They're all gorgeous, but I would say if you are going to be spending on a Tom Ford, go with one of the dark shades. Peach Gold is pretty enough, but really nothing spectacular or that different once layered. And it's pretty on the hand, but I always find peach metallics too orange and brassy on the eyelid. It's up to you of course! If it looks good on your skin, go ahead. My 2 picks out of these 3 are Black Oyster for that gleaming smoky "wet" look, and Midnight Sea because the unlikely pairing of the marine blue over the dark bronze is just absolutely amazing.

The texture of the duos are pretty interesting because the cream is not a solid shadow. In fact, they're quite like squeeze-tube cream shadows, and have the texture of creamy bread spreads. They DO set, but not very quickly, so you have quite a bit of time to sheer them out and blend them around. The thing to remember is that even after they set, they don't lock down like solid cream shadows do, so you should probably always pair them with a powder overcoat for best results.

The powders that come with the duos come in 2 textures. Some are metallic (like Midnight Sea), and some are sparkly (like Black Oyster). Both are gorgeous. The sparkle shades are the exact same texture as the sparkle shades you find in some of the Tom Ford quads.

Technically, you CAN recreate the effect using any cream shadow and a sparkly or metallic eyeshadow, and I've been doing it for years, so I would say the main reason to get any of these are the color combinations available.

Here's my preferred way of using it.

I also used other products from the range in the look. Namely, the sheer Rose Soleil lipstick, the Cream Cheek Color in Rose Sand, and bronzer in Terra to sculpt the face.

I'll do a separate post showcasing the cheek and lip products!

The Body Shop Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes and Matte Kajals

The Body Shop has launched some products that I was quite excited to try.

First off, there are the Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes (SGD$34.90).
Many of us are fans of the original Honey Bronze Bronzers, myself included, so I was quite interested when I heard about the new "domes".

These are easy-to-use cream products that you can swipe on and blend out in a minute. No brushes needed. The product itself is castor oil based, but it strangely feels like one of those new NARS multiples that I can't quite call "cream to powder" because they aren't powdery/matte, but rather, set to a non-greasy lightweight silicone-y finish on the skin.

There are 3 shades available; 01 is a soft champagne, 02 a coral pink with a gold sheen, and 03 a soft tawny bronze.

My fave is a tie between 01 and 02. I love dewy sheen on the cheekbones, so I always like fine-grained champagne shades that don't look overly sparkly and glittery. And 02 can pass for a NARS Orgasm Multiple, but in a drier formula, and with less of that yellow-gold sheen, so it's actually a bit easier to wear and more flattering if you don't want to emphasize large pores. These are translucent and buildable enough that they would look good on most skins, but I think the blush would look a bit more like a warm highlight on darker skins.

It's quite sheer and doesn't really build up to high intensity, so a soft tint is what you're going to get.

The second product launched are the Matte Kajals ($22.90), which are a reformulation of the original kajals, and designed to give creamier, more intense payoff using black rose extract and fair trade marula oil. And they do go on opaque and smooth. Like any kajal, these are meant to be smudgy and smooth for applying on the waterline and as bases for smoky looks, and aren't designed to be bullet-proof liners, so make sure you keep that in mind.

And like all kajals, they are safe for the waterline and for contact lens wearers or those with sensitive eyes.

My only gripe regarding these kajals is there is only 0.8g of product per tube. What you see exposed at the top of the package is exactly the amount of product you get. There is nothing hidden inside that you can twist up.

It's not a whole lot considering kajals are soft and tend to get used up quite easily, so if you are on a tight budget, these might not be the best option compared to other lipstick-style kajals available, although these do go on smoother than many other drugstore options I've tried.

And packaging-wise, for both the kajals AND the domes, you have to be rather careful when uncapping and recapping them, because you can easily smoosh the product (or decapitate your kajals) with the cap if you're not careful. They can't be retracted.

Aside from these points though, these new products are well worth checking out. I especially recommend the Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes if you like non-greasy cream cheek products.

Bobbi Brown Hot Collection Lip Color Swatches and Makeup LookPictorial/Tutorial

Bobbi Brown's Spring 2015 Hot Collection features soft neutral eyes and lots of strong vibrant colors on the lips. My favorite kinda combination for most days. 

I've got a quick makeup look here for you using items from the collection!

The main star of the show is one of the amazing Art Sticks. Now I haven't tried any of these before now, and I'm quite blown-away, even though I usually find Bobbi Brown's lip products to be among some of the best on the market. 

Bobbi Brown Art Sticks in (from left) Hot Orange, Hot Berry, and Hot Pink

Bobbi Brown Art Stick swatches

The pigmentation is completely opaque, and you get very vibrant intense color once the product goes on. They aren't dry like liners, so I wouldn't recommend them for that purpose. They're more of a rich satin texture. Not quite matte.

For this particular look, I used Hot Berry, which is a gorgeous deep magenta.

If you're not sure about such an intense color, go with the Sheer Lip Colors.

These are cushy glossy bright colors in softer shades than the Art Sticks so you can have bright lips without all that intensity.

To complement the cool magenta lips, I went with a cool pink blush. These Cheek Palettes from the collection are just GORGEOUS. I was so excited to see them. You get 3 colors, one a soft shade to apply as a base color, one a stronger shade to apply as a pop in the center of your cheeks, then finally, you use the center highlight shade along your cheekbones.

But there is nothing stopping you from using these as 3 separate cheek products.

These blushes look soft but believe me they can build up quickly to very intense colors, so use a light hand - and a soft brush. 

Because my lips are the focus for the look, I kept the blush very soft and subtle, using only Pale Pink blush and then Pink highlighter for a bit of a glow. 

On the eyes, I used the amazing Hot Nudes palette, which I swatched yesterday. This palette has 8 shades, and I wanted a glowy lid, but nothing too dramatic so it wouldn't fight for attention with the lips.

So I picked 2 of the shimmer shades in the palette, Nude Glow, and Bronzed Beige, for the lids. Then I used Nude Petal in the socket to blend out any edges, and Smoke as a soft brown liner shade. 

The step by step look is below!

The finished eye, after applying mascara, should look dewy and defined, but not take too much attention away from the lips.

And here's the final look!
The Bobbi Brown Hot Collection launches 6 March in Singapore at Isetan Scotts, 13 March island-wide. 

P.S. To win an SGD200 hamper from Bobbi Brown Singapore, or 1 of 5 pairs of passes (worth 2 x $100) to their Look of The Season workshop in early March, hop on over to fb.com/bobbibrownsg, Like the page if you haven't, and comment and say which of the 3 products used in this look is your personal favorite. 

Winners will need to be in Singapore to receive the hamper and attend the course!