Sunday "Face of the Day": Gold and Chocolate feat. some Recent Faves

INGLOT's reopened in Singapore (a temporary pop-up at Robinsons JEM from now until Aug 2016) after a short hiatus, and one of the star launches you should check out is the HD Lip Tint Mattes.

When it comes to matte liquid lipsticks, I tend to go for the reds, nudes, pinks, purples... This time round I suddenly thought I should go for the one shade that is severely under-represented in my very bloated lip color collection. Brown.

I can't wear browns usually. They make me look a bit dead. The exception is when they are very deep and dark. And this is a PERFECT shade for this sort of uber-matte velvet texture. Looks like antique brown velvet. So I'm very in love with this lip product right now.

I did also want to put on a number of other recent things that have really caught my attention.

LANEIGE's reformulated BB Cushion Pore Control

I was raving about this product on Dayre the other day, because I finally feel they've come out with a formula that can resist sweat and shine for a decent amount of time. The original Pore Control cushion was less dewy than the original Whitening formula, but it never really felt like it was made for oilier skins.

This new one sets to a fresh clean feel and doesn't transfer onto your fingers or feel tacky on the skin. It doesn't go to a flat matte, but it also doesn't look shiny, if that makes sense. Give it a couple of minutes and it goes to a demi-matte skin-like texture with light-medium coverage that can blur discolorations and faint blemishes.

I also like the new cushion with the textured, firm surface. I get a more controlled amount of product, and the foundation doesn't just all soak through the puff where it is wasted. This also makes it so much easier for me to clean my puffs regularly.

I'm also testing the new Whitening Cushion from LANIEGE, which has more advanced skincare properties, but so far - just in terms of how they look and perform through the day, the Pore Control formula is my pick. Both formulas have SPF50 PA+++.

ALBION Elegance La Poudre Haute Nuance

Now this gorgeous thing is ALBION's Elegance La Poudre Haute Nuance. If you're like me, you probably did not know ALBION had a powder. This Japanese skincare brand is famed for their robust science and research, and being suppliers to the Japanese royal family.

But they've also launched a permanent line of skin illuminating powder, a la Guerlain Meteorites.

The Elegance La Poudre Haute Nuances were previously a limited edition holiday release (SG$125 for the 8.8g pan, $188 for the 27g), but were so popular that the brand has decided to include them into the permanent line-up. Yay for us.

The best-seller and classic shade is I, which I am testing here.

The powder texture is so fine that you get a very matte, poreless look and a very illuminated effect because of the color-correctors. There is no shimmer at all. The powder is also designed to be oil and water resistant, so it keeps you looking fresh for longer.

It comes with a small soft puff, and you use it like a pressed powder, but I personally prefer to use a small soft brush instead, because illuminating powders can leave a bit of a cast around the edges of your face which powder puffs only exacerbate - and powder puffs tend to be the worst culprits because they deposit so much product around the outsides.

If you're bringing the gold compact out for touch-ups by all means use the puff; most of us touch up around the T-zone and inside areas of the face. This can brighten and counteract some of the oxidation and darkening that tends to occur when wearing foundations for more than a few hours.

Now my point makeup: INGLOT!

Because my lips were so dark and matte, I wanted luminous iridescent lids to balance out the look.

INGLOT has released about 5 new AMC Pure Pigment Shadows (SG$29) this season - and I always love these things because they are often duochrome, or even triple-chrome. Turn you face different angles, and you get 2-3 different colors on the lids. I picked out 3 faves - 22, 118, and 119.

INGLOT AMC Pure Pigment Shadows in 22 (left) and 118.

For today's look, I went with a brown chubby pencil around the lid and lashes (MAC Bitter Clove) just to add some shape and definition first, then layered on the pigments. 

I like to use these damp, with a drop of mixing liquid or Duraline for all-day wear. You can also use eye drops. Just dampen your finger, dip it into the pigment, and then smooth the mixture over your lids like a cream.

As for the lips, I've already mentioned the HD Lip Tint Matte in shade 18 (SG$32). This goes on a milk chocolate color but they almost always darken after a few minutes, so make sure you leave the swatches on your skin for a few minutes before picking a shade.

This formula actually feels pretty lightweight and not as dry as I feared. And it does set to a perfect matte in a minute without looking patchy. These don't smudge or feather, and I also don't use lip liners with them because they are quite precise. Just arm yourself with a clean cotton bud to rub out any mistakes before the product sets.

Makeup before/after!

Weekend Smoky Sparkle: Urban Decay Naked Smoky Look

There's a single glitter-infused shade in the Naked Smoky palette by Urban Decay, and the shade is gorgeous (Armor) but weekend is pretty much the only time I would wear it!

You have to be prepared for some fallout when you wear glitter smoky shades, so if you can, try to do your eye makeup first, and the rest after you clean up or you'll have tiny specks of glitter and black on your cheeks, your nose, etc.

The four shades I picked out today were:

• Main lid shade: Armor - metallic taupe with platinum glitter
• Socket and wings at outer corners: Smolder - deep prune
• Lash line: Black Mail - satin charcoal
• Inner Corners: High - pale champagne beige

I did also use a little of the 2 palest matte shades (Combust and Thirteen) on my browbone just to clean up and serve as contrast against the metallics on the lids.

Tip:

This is a smoky look, but I didn't smoke the color up too high above the socket. In fact I stopped right at the socket line. I wanted a more elongated catty effect, rather than a full-on rounded smoky eye, so when I was blending I concentrated on sweeping and diffusing the colors outwards from the outer corners instead of upwards.

I did try using the dual-ended blender/smudger brush included with the palette. I love the smudger tip for applying shadows along the upper and lower lash lines.  It's very precise but shaped just right for getting a soft smoky liner look.

The blender tip though, I'm not a huge fan of. Partly because UD's bristles are packed too stiff and not fluffy enough to really diffuse shadows. You CAN still use this to pack and buff on color but you will get tons of fall-out using this shape for that purpose. It's better used clean to blend out edges or to buff two colors together. Which means you might need a separate packer brush to apply shadows onto the lids, before going in with this to blend.

Other products used in this look:

• Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil in Perversion - applied along the waterline and lash line, but smudged out a little so there is no hard defined line.
• Eyeko Black Magic mascara
• Afterglow Blush in Score - peachy-pink blush
• Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick in Sheer Liar - rosy beige-brown my-lips-but-better color with a creamy semi-sheer texture

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!