Magazine Monday: DIY Interwebs Edition!

The smog outside my window lingers yet, likewise my post-flu brain fog, but I miss blahblahing to all of you! So, despite the fact that I've actually not bought any beauty mags for months, I thought I'd cobble together my own version of magazine monday with some inspiration from around the interwebs.

Get It Beauty, a Korean cable tv show dedicated to, erm, beauty. I'd linked to their dohwa makeup episode previously, but since then have been working through all the English-subtitled videos I could find (mostly here and also here) and enjoying myself immensely. Even though most of the guest artists can't hold a candle to Jung Saem Mool's* school of ultra-refinement, I just like seeing them work, and the scrappier (even all-out messy) approaches can feel very refreshing -- it's just makeup, after all, and it washes off. Despite their individual differences, I think all the makeup artists featured share a few things that make my beauty geek heart go pitter-patter: intense attention to detail and the dorky too-specific terminology to go with it (the Engrish just adds spice); sensitivity to trends and new textures and ways of doing things; and readiness to make the most of products by multitasking and mixing and of unconventional tools like spoons and toothpicks. The models are generally members of the audience, which means a wider range of features and skintypes/tones than one usually sees in makeup tutorials.
Note: as is common in E. Asia, the tone is often highly prescriptive with much emphasis on the one ideal standard of beauty for all kinds of inconsequential things (the goal: must give everyone a complex about the shape of the triangle formed by their earlobe-to-nostril-to-third-brow-hair), but as I'm not subject to them I can just sit back and marvel at the different cultural connotations of, say, a down-turned eye-shape all dilettante-like, and gigglesnort at the '3D face scanner' they like to trot out. Still, prepare to twitch occasionally as the panel break down all the 'flaws' in a perfectly attractive face, and make sure anything you have to hand to throw at your screen won't break it :P

*JSM has also worked on the show, and I got a kick out of hearing her own "pok pok pok" sound effect for those signature tapping motions :D

Disclaimers done, have some pick'n'mix of my favourites:

For those still suffering withdrawal symptoms after the ending of Miss Korea, here's GIB's take on nineties vs 2013's nineties revival makeup [link]:


Tips and tricks for face-shaping, using mostly matte / skin-like textures, well blended [link]:
(The inbuilt smile thing looks a bit dodgy at the end of that video, but I can't nitpick the final results shown in part 4.)

 Some wackier blush shapes to play with [link]:


A trio of videos on K-pop girl group makeup, with a fascinating glimpse into the current connotations of single vs double lids in K makeup, influential on but at a slight angle to the Japanese and Chinese discourses with which I'm more familiar -- interestingly, there's a meme in J and C circles I keep coming across that Korean makeup artists work 'best' with monolids, and at least in these videos, it seems to be due to the fact that monolids aren't seen as a problem to be corrected right off the bat:

Blind Test is GIB's version of VoCE's 10-item deathmatch. With less SCIENCE (and fewer oranges and random sweeties stuck to lips :/) Here's an example, on primers. You can flip through the Blind Test archive here.

Finally, for Korean-speakers, the latest season has just begun, with the first episode on March 5th introducing new emcee Yoo In-Na (uh, luhv huh!), with guest stars like the adorable IU, and my gals from SPICA :D Seriously, does this show know how to EAT MY WHOLE ENTIRE BRAIN or what? The episode pits two spring 2014 lip trends against each other: 'lovely' pink vs 'stylish' orange -- with the inevitable segue into My Love from Another Star :D Here's SPICA Juhyung's pink makeover.





I'm currently on a soft no-buy while working my way through the last season's worth of purchases, separating the keeps from the goats. Er. You know. But my fabulous/evil blogroll keeps brandishing tempting new things -- brandishing, I say! -- so it is clearly my duty to spread the infection further. With my blush and eyeliner wardrobes pretty much complete, I'm mostly eyeing up new-gen, everything-but-the-kitchen sink lip formulas, hybrid challengers to the YSL Glossy Stain throne:



YSL's own latest offering, YSL Baby Doll Kiss & Blush, which seems to have affinities with the Addiction Cheek Polish I tried and liked last year, as seen on Really Ree and Temptalia:

And, as the spring release sold out in record time in Hong Kong, I hope to at least be able to test the three new (and piiiiink, and hopefully jellyyyyy) shades of Jill Stuart Lip Blossom due for summer, as previewed by Rouge Deluxe:

Finally, despite having had ill luck with 3CE lip products thus far, I continue to be drawn in by their obnoxious colour palette and hilarious shade names :D The new hybrid serum Creamy Lip Colourlipsticks seem a promisingly glossy bet for my desiccated lips, appearing much more flattering on their models' lip textures than any of their previous formulas:


Inspire me with your comments and further suggestions for topics you'd like to read about until I get out from under this cloud....