This edition of Testing Tuesday is Dohwa Dienstag! Because iz international wimmin of mystery, innit? And alliteration.
To showcase a few of the YSL goodies I'm giving away (you have two more days to enter, so get cracking!), I could think of no better look than a version of "Dohwa" makeup -- Do Hwa in Korean means 'peach blossom', abstract peach blossoms are on the cover of the YSL Beauty Blossom Collector Palette, and sprays and pots of the stuff are currently strewn all about Hong Kong to mark the Spring Festival / Lunar New Year. The stars, they align!
Ever since Amy left a fantastic comment drawing this Korean trend to my attention (thank you, Amy!) I've been having such fun trying it outand pretending to be Oh Ji-Young that NOT bringing liner in to sharpen the inner corner now feels unnatural. The tutorials I mashed together for today's look are:
1. Amy's original link from so young's beauty room, which features a great quick breakdown of the aesthetic and easy, approachable application (link):
2. A slightly more elaborate version from Pony's Beauty Diary, which uses some different tricks (e.g. multiple flicks) to achieve some similar effects, and a hilarious experiment to see whether dohwa makeup really does make one irresistibly sexy.... (link)
3. Korean TV show 'Get It Beauty' did an episode on Dohwa makeup last year, including guest plastic surgeons and physiognomists (seriously, physiognomists still exist?! And I will never get over how prevalent plastic surgery is in South Korea), moar pseudoscience delivered with hysterical cut-aways to members of the audience/panel nodding in enlightenment/sagacity (Hyun-A's sexiness is to all due to her round nose and nothing at all to do with the semi-naked writhing around bath bubbles breathy singing about 'cream'? Right.) but also a really good makeover section with what seems to me a more subtle and thoughtful application, aegyo sal and all.
An English-subtitled version is online (part I and part II) and I strongly recommend all beauty geeks to take a gander.
The products I used for my mashup include the Beauty Blossom Collector Palette[*], Rouge Volupté #34 Rose Asarine[*] and Cream Eyeliner in #5 Cherry Black from my YSL giveaway, but these are my own products -- the giveaway winner will be getting brand new versions, of course. The eyeshadow colours I chose are inspired by YSL's spring Pivoine Crush quint (see silverkis and mostlysunny for more) but tweaked for my colouring and skin:
1. and 2. come from Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Prestigious Bordeaux
3. from Shu x Karl Smoky Velvet (EU version)
4. Fire-Tailed Sunbird, 5. Capricious Nightingale and 6. Sweet Dust Seriema are all by Rouge Bunny Rouge.
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I kept things very soft and pretty and springy (I know, I know... florals, for spring...?) with some holographic pinkypeach (4) washed over the lid, adding depth to the inner and outer corners with a silver-dusted rose (1) and blending everything out with a my-skin-but-sheenier icy white-pink (5). On the lower lashline I added a dab more rose (1) at the inner 1/3 to join the upper lid and narrow the eye there, patted a mix of coppery- and white- golds (2+3) over the centre (la, I cry golden tears!), and shaded the other corner with matte taupe (6) extended outwards.
More of the matte taupe (6) on an eyeliner brush to sketch an aegyo sal line underneath my eye, and subtly highlighted the 'pad' with (5). YSL Cherry Black liner extended in a curvy dohwa flick and sharpening inner corner (which looks off-black in my terrible lighting, sorry!)
Doubled-up mascaras with Fasio Full Dynamic Volume and Long, for dohwa's epic lashy look.
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YSL Beauty Blossom Collector Palette blush swept onto apples -- lower, more centralised placement than I usually go for, to go for a dohwa rabbit face (?!) and Rose Asarine on lips. I didn't take the thin-upper-fuller-lower lip thing too seriously, underdrawing the upper lip only slightly, blending out with foundation, but tried to achieve the upward tilting petal-pout shape from the Get It Beauty makeover. I do take this lipstick very seriously, however. Since deodorising it* I've worn no other colour for days. DAYS.
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*deodorising: airtight box, charcoal deodoriser, wayward lipsticks (Innisfree Creamy Lip Tint 15 Apple Red, YSL Rouge Volupté 34 Rose Asarine[*], YSL RV Shine 5 Fuchsia In Excess[*]), a few days. Done!
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To showcase a few of the YSL goodies I'm giving away (you have two more days to enter, so get cracking!), I could think of no better look than a version of "Dohwa" makeup -- Do Hwa in Korean means 'peach blossom', abstract peach blossoms are on the cover of the YSL Beauty Blossom Collector Palette, and sprays and pots of the stuff are currently strewn all about Hong Kong to mark the Spring Festival / Lunar New Year. The stars, they align!
 |
| This was the best picture I could get of the Times Square display. Remember the 80 proof booze, yeah? |
Ever since Amy left a fantastic comment drawing this Korean trend to my attention (thank you, Amy!) I've been having such fun trying it out
1. Amy's original link from so young's beauty room, which features a great quick breakdown of the aesthetic and easy, approachable application (link):
2. A slightly more elaborate version from Pony's Beauty Diary, which uses some different tricks (e.g. multiple flicks) to achieve some similar effects, and a hilarious experiment to see whether dohwa makeup really does make one irresistibly sexy.... (link)
3. Korean TV show 'Get It Beauty' did an episode on Dohwa makeup last year, including guest plastic surgeons and physiognomists (seriously, physiognomists still exist?! And I will never get over how prevalent plastic surgery is in South Korea), moar pseudoscience delivered with hysterical cut-aways to members of the audience/panel nodding in enlightenment/sagacity (Hyun-A's sexiness is to all due to her round nose and nothing at all to do with the semi-naked writhing around bath bubbles breathy singing about 'cream'? Right.) but also a really good makeover section with what seems to me a more subtle and thoughtful application, aegyo sal and all.
An English-subtitled version is online (part I and part II) and I strongly recommend all beauty geeks to take a gander.
The products I used for my mashup include the Beauty Blossom Collector Palette[*], Rouge Volupté #34 Rose Asarine[*] and Cream Eyeliner in #5 Cherry Black from my YSL giveaway, but these are my own products -- the giveaway winner will be getting brand new versions, of course. The eyeshadow colours I chose are inspired by YSL's spring Pivoine Crush quint (see silverkis and mostlysunny for more) but tweaked for my colouring and skin:
1. and 2. come from Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Prestigious Bordeaux
3. from Shu x Karl Smoky Velvet (EU version)
4. Fire-Tailed Sunbird, 5. Capricious Nightingale and 6. Sweet Dust Seriema are all by Rouge Bunny Rouge.
I kept things very soft and pretty and springy (I know, I know... florals, for spring...?) with some holographic pinkypeach (4) washed over the lid, adding depth to the inner and outer corners with a silver-dusted rose (1) and blending everything out with a my-skin-but-sheenier icy white-pink (5). On the lower lashline I added a dab more rose (1) at the inner 1/3 to join the upper lid and narrow the eye there, patted a mix of coppery- and white- golds (2+3) over the centre (la, I cry golden tears!), and shaded the other corner with matte taupe (6) extended outwards.
More of the matte taupe (6) on an eyeliner brush to sketch an aegyo sal line underneath my eye, and subtly highlighted the 'pad' with (5). YSL Cherry Black liner extended in a curvy dohwa flick and sharpening inner corner (which looks off-black in my terrible lighting, sorry!)
Doubled-up mascaras with Fasio Full Dynamic Volume and Long, for dohwa's epic lashy look.
YSL Beauty Blossom Collector Palette blush swept onto apples -- lower, more centralised placement than I usually go for, to go for a dohwa rabbit face (?!) and Rose Asarine on lips. I didn't take the thin-upper-fuller-lower lip thing too seriously, underdrawing the upper lip only slightly, blending out with foundation, but tried to achieve the upward tilting petal-pout shape from the Get It Beauty makeover. I do take this lipstick very seriously, however. Since deodorising it* I've worn no other colour for days. DAYS.
Base is Graftobian Porcelain mixed with Suqqu Makeup Base Creamy, with Burberry Sheer 01 concealer under eyes, and Shiseido High Beam White as copious central-face highlight. Brows Shu Uemura Hard 9 Seal Brown (I tried blunting and moving my natural arches inwards for a slightly more rounded dohwa brow but suspect I'm too hairy for serious brow tweaks.)
Apart from the lower blush placement (which just makes me look a bit globular, really, and not sold on rabbitface as something to aspire to anyway....), I find this look immensely flattering. In-built smize, yo! No-one's chased after and and prostrated themselves at my feet, however, so I declare the irresistible blossom effect LIES. Shocking, eh. If you try it, promise to let me know all the salacious deets of the scandalous love affairs that ensue.
Disclosure: products marked with [*] were given to me free of charge