drivel about frivol

well, aint that the level of sparkling drivel you expect from this blog? :D

I was tagged by Liz (the lovelier-than-Taylor Liz!) of So Lonely in Gorgeous to share some pictures of babydriveller, and took the opportunity to snap some after Sunday night dinner at my parents'. Like Liz, I was a child of the '80s, so these pictures are fuzz-ay :P Also, difficult to lift arms holding camera while in foodcoma.

To begin with the most topical: aged 4(?), after raiding my mother's vanity. I maintain that the wings aren't too bad for a first timer working with those dryyyyyy '80s pencil textures, though the blush placement is admittedly a little low...

This looks like a mugshot because it is -- my grandma took it as evidence of my misdemeanour :P

Heading back in time, this comes from my first birthday/100-day celebration (? maybe someone with kids could say if I look more 100 or 365 days old? Clearly the tableful of gigantic foods is skewing things -- how can I be expected to exercise moderation with regard to lipstick or cake with this kind of upbringing?)

I am so demanding a me-sized cake for my upcoming 30th, btw. And that pony, finally.
Also, fun fact: during the toljabee ceremony after this feast, baby-me picked up the brush, which was thought to denote a scholarly future. We know better now.

Further evidence of early susceptibility to fluff:

I still make this exact face every time the Suqqu cheek brush kisses (yes, kisses!) my cheek.

Speaking of which, y'all no longer have the right to complain about my barfalicious winsome head-tilt in blog pics. Because sifting through these baby pictures makes it clear I was JUST BORN THAT WAY, OKAY.

Sometimes, to shake things up, I might change direction.

and throw in a duckpout or two....

Yeesh, that's a lot of cutesey for Monday morning. *hands 'round barf bucket* All Liz's fault, remember. Do check out her (unfairly adorable) pictures, and hop on over to Wondegondigo for belly's (unfairly awesome) ones, too!

Just a quickie, inspired by a recent makeupalley 'neglected palettes' challenge. Though lately the combination of spring allergies and insane workload has meant that pretty much all my eyeshadows fall into the neglected category... much like this blog. Hmm :/

Anyway, here's a half-assed look and post :D

i.e. I grabbed some Shu Uemura pans from my long-discontinued 36-pan boutique palette (seriously, new Shu, it's been years since the Colour Atelier line launched, and you're still only offering refillable quads?!), threw in a discontinued second-gen Shu blush in P Red 14 (one of the few powder blushes I've kept, for sentimental reasons, though also because it's just so silky), and completed the look by cheating with a new acquisition, the gorgeous Surratt Lipslique in Rubis, a gift from the wonderful bellyhead, who has the full range swatched.

ME 126 and ME 786 are both from the Colour Atelier line, and currently available. The others are all discontinued: P 610 a first-gen turquoise veil, ME 471 a second-gen complex silvered-olive metallic [the current ME 471 is slightly drier and sheerer but tonally v. close] and platonic unicorn taupe ME Silver 945. Perfect. Undupeable. Trust me -- this is my fifth and final pan, and it's still the shadow against which I swatch all taupes.

P610 washed roughly all over lid up through sockets and under eyes. ME 786 patted over lid, blended out with ME 126 through socket; more ME 126 layered heavily over ME 786 as a base, blended up from the inner corner -- more colour accent than highlight. ME 945 used dry (!) to line, extended slightly straight out. On the lower lashline, ME 471 to line lower lashline, thinning towards the inner corner. Brainless, because I simply followed the natural contours of my sockets/eyelids/lashlines.

Also brainless: blush on cheeks, lipslique on lips.

Other products: Max Factor Clump Defy water-resistant mascara (nice but not spectacular), Suqqu brow powder 02 (dc), Shu Uemura Whitefficient UV Underbase Mousse Pink/Purple set with Paul&Joe Face Powder S (bird balls) as base.

Is Marc Jacobs Lovemarc Lip Gel in Strange Magic true love, or a true miss for Lola's Secret Beauty Blog ? How did it compare to Tom Ford Nude Vanilla?

Carrie from eyeliner on a cat shares her love of multi-tasking products in her Spring Skin Care Round-Up-- and she also has an exclusive discount code just for her readers!

Find out why Jessika from polish insomniac has fallen in LOVE with the new FingerPaints Pastel Rain collection!

The Pink Sith lives up to her moniker with her Top 10 PINK Lipsticks. Check out what made the list!

Mostly Sunny thinks technology really has made the world a better place! For example, with YSL Fuchsia Désinvolte Baby Doll Kiss & Blush, you can now use one product on your lips and cheeks and look fabulous for hours on end!

Prime Beauty visits the French Riveria, indulges in chocolate and gets a tan with no burn all with the Too Faced Limited Edition Bonjour Bronzing Wardrobe, a must-have for pale girls!

Beauty Info Zone wants you to rethink your Easter basket with Lush's Funny Bunny set. Look Ma, no cavities!

Win It!!! Head over to Pammy Blogs Beauty to find out how you can win a "Year's Supply" of Dove products!

Phyrra wants us to kick back and have a drink with the new Silk Naturals Happy Hour Spring 2014 collection!

drivel about frivol examines the evolution of a beauty junkie, through a selection of Kate's baby pictures, including baby's first FOTD. With wings.

As the cosmetic industry keeps upping it's game lip products continue to become more and more impressive. Perilously Pale shows us the new Lancome Lip Lover and what makes it such a standout on the market right now.

Want to plump? Your lips that is. 15 Minute Beauty has shared a luscious way to do so with Bliss Pout-O-Matic.

Making a virtue of my continued eyeshadow-neglect (dammit, spring! stop it with the pollen already), I present the first in a series (remember my epic gift card Innisfree haul?) of Korean lipstick reviews!

Laneige Serum Intense is a new formula launched for spring 2014, with twenty vibrant shades and incorporating a so-called 'LED pigment downsizing technology' (....google translate?) to guarantee true, clear colour in an unctuous, high-glide base.

The shade I was sent to try is one of the four headliners, LR08 Flare Magenta (sometimes mis-Anglicised as 'Flair Magenta' even on the official site/packaging), which is a clear, briiiight, hot pink, with, I actually do think, a true-to-copy, novel way of suspending pigment that makes for a lit-from-within 'LED' brightness. (Distinct from either the clear or neon brights of the past, or the gleaming finishes of squishy jelly, classic gloss, or creamy lipstick, it's a quality I've only otherwise encountered in the new Dior Fluid Sticks, and I think a result of a genuine innovation.)

Hopefully these comparison swatches will illustrate this -- see how Mona Lisette and Flare Magenta share a common stained-glassiness? Distinct from the equally loud Guerlain Rouge G Girly, which has a more opaquely creamy brightness. Guerlain Rouge Autos in Reflex [LE Holiday 2013], with its white base, and Chamade, with its soft warm rosiness, look noticeably more muted in contrast (more pastel and soft respectively). In contrast, I said. I know these are all fairly eyeball-searing :D

all swatches one swipe, except for Mona Lisette, which is two (more for evenness than to build pigment)

As for warmth, a makeupalley poll came out inconclusive, and I still dunno what neutral-hyphenated? temperature to call it. However, to my eye/on my skin, Flare Magenta both swatches and applies true to tube, so let's just keep calling it HOT.

(Lunasol Sheer Glossy Eyes EX-01 Nuance Grey and EX-04 Peach Beige on eyes, Etude House Blueberry Cheesecake cream blush on cheeks.)

As you can tell, the texture is indeed a serum-like, gel-cream, which melts onto and glides effortlessly across the lips; it borders on having too much slip for me; the formula doesn't bleed / sink into lines / migrate as the even slicker Visée Creamy Lipsticks did, but it can get a little messy on application and entail some cleanup of lipline edges with a q-tip or (as I prefer) a concealer brush. The lightweight, unsticky feel and stained-glass glossiness is very flattering on vertical liplines, giving a subtle plumping effect that looks more modern than a heavier lacquered-glossy finish.

Wear is pretty decent -- much better than you might expect from this glossy a formula. After a meal a strong, even stain is still evident -- Flare Magenta fades to a midtone pink-red. On my very dry, picky lips, this formula is very, very slightly drying, but that's easily mitigated by a thin layer of a waxy balm underneath (which is how I wear 99% of lipsticks), and the formula is pigmented enough not to be sheered out / muted down by a bit of balm.

Scent/taste: thankfully faint (most other Korean brands leave me reeling upon uncapping), slightly sweet and rosy, very quick to fade.

Packaging: the Serum Intense lipsticks come in a fairly sleek, no-nonsense twist-up silver inner tube encased in clear plastic, which again picks up the lit-from-within theme. All edges are slightly rounded, and it's neither obnoxiously heavy nor flimsily light.

shown here with one of the new Laneige quads in 6 Classy Mood, which I'll review another day

Head on to makeup-box for swatches of the full range -- any catch your eye? It's a vibrant lineup, very much in tune with the currently dominant Korean clean-face-bright-lips trend.

Disclosure: the Laneige products in this post were sent free of charge for consideration.

Pans of the Week:

Addiction cheekstick in Amazing (first reviewed/acquired way back in 2011)
Guerlain Rouge Automatique in Chamade (which is, despite my greater affection for Liu, my most-worn Rouge Auto -- a step up / rose from 'my lips but better' (comparison swatches), so presumably 'my lips but WAY BETTARRRRRR MATEY'
and Suqqu Blend Eyeshadow 09 Koju (long discontinued, much loved -- included today because despite hitting pan on it a while back I've only just today had to face the fact that the warm grey (top right pan) really is more finished than merely panned D: So long, my perfect grey palette! It's been a glorious five years :')

Another Pan of the Week (ho ho, seewhatididthere)

Grapefruit pull-apart sweet bread, adapted from this recipe. The changes I made were motivated by necessity -- I used the zest of two pink grapefruits (so cheap and juicy at the farmers' market last week) to replace the orange/lemon in the original; used a mix of 2:1 light to dark muscovado sugars for the sprinkle; and substituted mascarpone for the cream cheese for icing. Also ate leftover icing from bowl after drizzling. Wait, who said that. I did no such thing. *shifty eyes*

Some process pics since the original recipe is a bit wall-of-text even for me (can't see a glasshouse without wanting to lob a rock at it, me...)

loaf ingredients; sugar crumble; my juicy grapefruits (don't ask to see my melons, this aint that kind of blog)

yeasty and nubile after its first rise (check out gothic novel and knitting pattern in background -- multitasking, yo

the faffing around bit with layering: check out how embarrassingly un-rectangular my rectangles are -- 0 artistic bone in body as I keep telling youse

all assembled -- I poured over all the leftover melted butter over the top before putting it into the oven

just out of the oven: check out that golden butter crust :O~~~

iced and um... torn. I wanted to see if the tearing mechanism worked properly. For science.

entropy

Actually, not only did this come out less pull-apart than fall-apart bread, an extra layer of fail was added by the fact that we somehow managed to eat the WHOLE ENTIRE LOAF for breakfast during, um, tasting. So that whole '14 servings' bit in the original recipe? *hollow laughter followed by citrussy belch*

Happy Easter Weekend, everyone! I've got to rustle up another of these tonight XD

It's 15 Minute Beauty's turn to answer some questions, so of course she's answering 15 of them! Head over to see why she still can't really smell chocolate (really) and if she's a gloss or lipstick girl!

It's such a lazy blog cliché, but I really have no idea where this month went. It's already the last Saturday of April, which means a Femme Boulevard post, and thankfully it too is a lazy one, incorporating the oldest and newest products we own into a look.
Be sure to check out Lily's take over at ChloeAsh too!

The oldest: Urban Decay Pallor single, circa 1998 and well loved. Pastels are perennials for spring, of course, but this particular lavender satin perfectly encapsulates that late '90s efflorescence of pastel-lid-washes for me, and I admit to a bit of 'saving it for best' for fear of using it up.
Close-up -- Pallor has a complex rainbow iridescence constituted of very fine microshimmer, and in ye olde UD's gorgeous silky texture, which enables pleasingly neatly-shaped pan; drier, more loosely packed shadow formulas tend to crumble into dust as soon as you look at them after hitting pan, or grow unsightly hardened warts that require scraping off -- check out some MAC satin or Nars duo testers at a busy counter if you don't know what I mean.

The newest: Lancôme Lip Lover 336 Orange Manège, a hybrid balm-gloss formula in a hybrid shade of juicy coral-orange. My haikiewlet:

click: candied rose tang

amusingly bendy wand

jelly corange tint

i.e. nice but tain't no Fluid Stick. And why the sneaky microshimmer? >:C

Lancome Lip Lover 336 Orange Manege swatch

For swatches of other shades in the line, see Wondegondigo and Quirky, Busy and Beautiful. Mostly Sunny has reviewed316 Rose Attrape-Coeur.

The buffers completing the look: Kiko Stick Eyeshadow in 04 Golden Chocolate (my Kiko sticks are swatched here) and Visée Blend Colour Cheek in OR-6 (review STILL forthcoming because I suck).

Shadow placement was inspired by a THREE spring promo: pattern B, here, and looks like this up close:

Other products
Eyes: Kiko white kajal layered heavily on waterline, Max Factor Clump Crusher Water-Resistant mascara. Za Everbrow 03 through brows.
Base: another newest, a sample of Bobbi Brown's new Skin stick foundation in 00 Alabaster, with Bobbi Brown Creamy Corrector in Porcelain Bisque under eyes.

Pretty straightforward and, a subtly '60s-referential spring look, I think?
Enjoy the last weekend of the month, and I hope it's a sunny one where you are! I'll be shivering and ironically sewing up breezy sundresses in the forlorn hope that it will stop raining one day :P

When Mostly Sunny got wind of a pencil liner that is supposed to be as good as a gel liner, she had to see for herself if it can do everything a gel liner can while sparing her a dirty brush to wash afterwards! Did the liner-addicted monolidder live happily ever after with Bobbi Brown Pitch Black Perfectly Defined Gel Eyeliner?

Carrie from eyeliner on a cat explores the world of Vincent Longo Cosmetics on her quest for a new face for Spring-- see which products quickly became her favorites!

Phyrra brings you the 25 Best Vegan Foundations!

Prime Beauty gives us the low down on her Top 10 Pink Lipsticks for spring and summer. Some may surprise you!

Lola's Secret Beauty Blog wants to know whether blogger swatches cause you to make well-reasoned purchases, or cause you to over-purchase? What do you do to fight the temptation of buying everything that you want, or think you want?

The Pink Sith has Princesses, Wizards and so much more in her Algenist Complete Eye Renewal Balm review!

Looking for some great new affordable scents for Spring? Pammy Blogs Beauty checks out Pure White Gardenia from Bodycology and Strawberry and Cream from be Delectable!

Ever wonder what the oldest and the newest products in a beauty junkie's stash look like? See both in action on Kate's face over at drivel about frivol. Hot mess a v. real possibility.

Check out the new limited edition Marc Jacobs Enamored Nail Lacquer in New Wave on polish insomniac.

Earth Day itself may be over but it’s not a day that should be celebrated only 1 day a year. Click to learn what recommends for eco living.

15 Minute Beauty got some great tips to get professional blow at results at home!

Maybe something like Perilously Pale shows us how get the perfect nautical mani fitting for any yacht excursion (in our dreams!) with the Dior Transat Summer 2014 collection.

Part 2 of my post-brand-relaunch Visée review series examines the four eyeshadow palettes I've acquired: the first (Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1) a thoughtful gift from Rosy very soon after the relaunch, whose textures so impressed me I then purchased the other three: Smoky Rich Eyes GY-7, Nudy Rich Eyes BE-5, and Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3.

I've decided to cram reviewlets of all four into one long post (srsly, epic scroll ahead) to minimise repetition, and also to shed some light on my personal selection/stash-building process; of these four, I've kept two Vis-yay's and ditched two Vis-eh's.

Currently, Visée makes three ranges of eyeshadow palettes, all in variations of lacy-detail-embossed-black plastic casing, which you can see on ichibankao (also the most convenient place to purchase this brand if you're outside Japan).
Smoky Rich Eyes quints feature (from left to right): a sheer, slightly-shimmery cream base (a thin, silicone-slippery formula); two mid-tone, medium-pigmented silky satins; and a split pan of two dark definer/liner shades, of marginally drier satin textures and slightly stronger pigmentation.
Nudy Rich Eyes also include (anticlockwise from top) a similar cream base and two mid-tone, medium-pigmented satins; its darkest shade is a slightly more pigmented satin (like the top of the split-pan in the Smoky Rich quints), and the final pan is a delicate glitter topcoat. These 'Nudy' quints are all built around subtle tonal gradations; BE- in Japanese makeup stands for 'beige', and these are all variously peachier-, browner- or rosier-tinged light neutrals.
Glossy Rich Eyes quads are the most high-impact palettes in the line, with the strongest pigmentation, boldest finishes and most contrasting colour-combinations; they map onto the Glam Glow Eyes range, my favourite from the previous Visée lineup. Top left is a glitter topcoat, creamier in texture and less scattered in finish than the glitter from Nudy Rich Eyes; top right a medium-pigmented mid-tone sparkling satin; bottom left a pigmented, unctuous metallic-with-sparkles shade; and bottom right a very pigmented, slightly drier, metallic-with-sparkles liner. Textures are overall denser, creamier and more velvety than the dry, silky ones in the Smoky/Nudy Rich palettes.

Nuances and preferences aside, the quality of these products is STELLAR. Smooth, effortlessly blendable, with enough light-scattering microshimmer of various degrees to 'lift' hooded lids, and pigmented [by which I don't mean opaque, but every shade is as pigmented as its purpose requires -- a glitter topcoat is by design translucent, a liner shade more solid -- and none require 'work' with packing/layering/separate bases to achieve visible effects].

So the TL;DR reason I kept the two I did (Nudy BE-5 and Glossy PK-3) is, simply, colour: both are rosier, and clearer, and thus more flattering on me than the two Smoky Rich quints (whose textures I actually think are marginally the 'best' from the brand). Swatches:

The Vis-yays: Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3 and Nudy Rich Eyes BE-5

While a collector/curator strives for variety in a well-rounded collection (and that's a temptingly rational set of criteria / motivation to shop), usability is a more important consideration for a....well, user, like me, shuttling between shoebox flats in London and Hong Kong. Spot the common colour story in my recent batch of pans?

Sonia Rykiel Mousse Eyeshadow 05 [swatched], Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Abstraction [featured]
Shu Uemura Colour Atelier single ME126 [swatched], and topcoats G White Rainbow, IR115 and G251 [showcased]

Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1 vs. Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3

Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1 promised to fit neatly into this peachypinky neutral niche, but swatched next to Glossy PK-3 it becomes clear how much warmer, heavier and more muted its tones are, an effect exacerbated by its smoother, less glittery (and so literally less 'light' in many senses) satin finishes:

left: Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3 | right: Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1

In practice: Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1 creates a soft, pink-tinged brown gradient. Note how unified overall the textures and tones are, blending imperceptibly into each other, though I actually consciously tried not to blend this look much: peach on lid, pink to shade inner 'v', lighter brown on outer 'v', darker brown to line. Palest ivory cream dabbed onto second quarter of mobile lid. Lower lashline horizontal gradient from palest to darkest. It pretty much always produces a look like this, however I place the various colours in this palette.

Similar (FOR SCIENCE) placement and application-strength with Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3 (peach on lid and further to shade inner v, red-pink on outer, brown to line, glitter topcoat dabbed on second quarter of mobile lid) produces a much more vibrant, high-contrast look:

Again the same placement with Glossy PK-3, with an incredibly light hand, gives something closer to the original Smoky PK-1 look, but much lighter and more varied texturally:

Full face pics:

Look 1. (Smoky Rich PK-1)

Look 3. Glossy Rich PK-3 lightly

These two looks are as similar as I could make them (i.e. identical to most eyes) but I hope you, dear readers, who come here for insanely pernickety wank about even the most boring neutral nothingy looks, can see why I prefer the second.

Though, really, Glossy PK-3 would win anyway for sheer versatility. When I'm not forcing a comparison with Smoky PK-1 I'd most often wear it at 'medium strength' (look 2 above) which looks like this, and is absolutely my favourite of this trio of looks. In another post (because zomg this one's long enough already) I'll show you this quad at full k-pop-inspired strength.

In all these looks I'm wearing Visée Blend Colour Cheeks in OR-6 and Lip Balm and Gloss in OR-20.

Smoky Rich Eyes GY-7 vs Nudy Rich Eyes BE-5

If the choice between GlossyPK-3 and Smoky PK-1 came down to the vagaries of variability and versatility, the one between Smoky GY-7 and Nudy BE-5 is more clearly a case of undertonal preference: yellow vs pink, though the Nudy quints also contain more textural variation.

I've posted these looks before in my Visée Creamy Lipstick review, but here are the closed-eye pictures:

Smoky Rich Eyes GY-7

Nudy Rich Eyes BE-5

Similar placements again, though I know the lip colours throw things off. Sorry! Hopefully this swatch set of NudyBE-5, SmokyGY-7 and some of my favourite, representative RBR neutrals (Sweet Dust Seriema, Blackpepper Jay and Grey Go-Away Lourie matte shadows, Night-Wind Sailing pigment.) will illustrate why BE-5 sits more harmoniously on my skin and with my personal RBR 'palette' than GY-7:

When I do wear yellow-based shades, they tend to be be more gilded and less dusty: here the four main shades of Smoky Rich GY-7 (Visée 1-4) swatched with comparable shades fro Suqqu 1 Kakitsubata, 6 Ginbudou, and EX-12 Hisuidama quads, and from THREE 05 Love Revolution duo and 08 Spirit Light quad.

I think it's the combination of grey WITH yellow which makes these Visée neutrals so tricky for me -- I like my yellows richer/warmer and my greys cooler, and both clearer and cleaner than the hybrid muted sepia GY-7 tends to.

....*crickets*

For anyone still reading: in conclusion, the new range of Visée eyeshadows are highly recommended for their refined textures and ease of use, but bear in mind that neutrals are the trickiest things to shop for, even with such a wide range of nuanced undertonal and textural variants available within the brand. If you've sampled any yourself, I'd love to hear your thoughts (especially in relation to your skintone / preferences) and whether you agree with my picks for myself.

Incidentally, these depot/repot very easily -- the shadows are baked into a plastic pan, which is fastened with the soft glue typical of Japanese brands into the bigger plastic palette, and may be levered up by wedging the handle of a pair of tweezers in between the two pans and jiggling:

So at least my makeup storage won't be as overstuffed as my blog posts. :D

Some of you may know that I took up dressmaking in earnest in 2013 i.e. we are discounting and nevermentioningagain the "patterns / learning to operate the sewing machine correctly / vaguely human shapes are for LOSARS" artefacts I used to whip up as a teen before tangling rakishly about my person, with a, "....they're DECONSTRUCTED, okay?"drawl.

Er... anyway, so this is one hobby that's definitely taken off this time 'round -- to outstrip makeup periodically(!) -- and I decided to take part in 'Me Made May' (read more) this year. My personal pledge is very simple: to incorporate at least one self-made garment into every outfit for the whole month with bonus points (by which I mean cake) for building the outfit around the garment, hopefully to avoid cheating with self-knit scarves thrown over an entirely shop-bought outfit towards the end of the month....

My ultimate aim is to make almost all of my own clothing, as I already do with knitwear, and since my brain likes to convince itself that vintage '30s bias-cut satin slinky full length gowns can totes be daywear while pattern/fabric shopping, hopefully this MMM project will provide visual evidence of 1. which makes really do fit best into my life and 2. the most pressing (er, gaping?) gaps in my emerging self-sewn wardrobe. Towards the end of the month, as I run out of items, MMM will hopefully act as a spur to finish off those boring fiddly details I usually put off like hemming, understitching linings/facings by hand, sewing buttons, blocking knits etc. Or as a spur to do laundry. *shifty eyes*

...I may be teetering on the edge of the bandwagon already :P My Sunday 'outfit' consisting of all PJ's all the time. But I did make my own bunny slippers:

pattern: hopsalots by tinyowlknits

yarn: Rowan Purelife Organic British Sheep Breeds Mid-Brown Blue Faced Leicester, with other leftover Rowan scraps.

I do have a wedding to attend next Sunday, so there'll be actual clothings next week :P

But for now, here's this week's roundup. For ~~SCIENCE~~ POSTERITY.

Thursday, May 1st: black pencil skirt

A typical this-is-why-I'm-not-a-fashion-blogger uniform of mine -- prepared to be bored by many more looser shirt+slim skirt or fitted shirt+voluminous skirt combos over the month.

pattern: Burda Jenny C, lengthened in both waistband and skirt body to take account of my 5'8"+ long torso and tapered more sharply at the hem made to make more of a wriggle skirt.
fabric: black Ponte di Roma jersey (cotton blend)
shop-bought: Anthropologie cotton shirt

Friday May 2nd: forest green pullover

Vaguely schoolgirlish/marmish getup. It became suddenly and unfeasibly cold in London, and I was flying to an even colder European city, so the opaques came out of storage :P

pattern: Peabody by Leila Raabe

yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Shelter US Targhee-Columbia wool in Button Jar

shop-bought: COS shirt, Japanese wool skirt, Falke Pure Matt 100 tights, Duo ankle boots

Saturday May 3rd: taupe coatigan

In the even-colder European city, I brainlessly recreated an outfit I've worn often over this past winter:

pattern: Holt from Smoulder by Kim Hargreaves, lengthened, with significantly slimmer sleeves (srsly)
yarn: Rowan Big Wool (squishy merino) + black wood buttons

shop-bought: Topshop Boutique black silk shift (c.2002), 7FAMK mid-rise skinnies,

Russell & Bromley ankle boots

Detail of the buttons, which took me longer to choose and then sew on than the entire sweater took to knit:

And the projects I'm aiming to finish in time to wear next week?

A simple, girly blouse eked out of some Liberty lawn leftover from a top I made for mum for Mother's Day:

bodice assembled, but decided at the last minute to insert pleats into the sleeves XD

Lacy cardigan cannibalised from an old project whose fit I was never satisfied with, so DESTROYED:

reskeined and washed yarn hung up to dry

SHINY NEW THING I will no doubt unmake in a few years because crazy like that:

^This is my knit-three-bits-of-a-sweater-simultaneously-because-I-don't-know-how-much-length-I-can-get-from-my-recycled-yarn process. Quite brain-knotting, and not v. conducive to catching all the subtle nuances in (a much improved on the previous season!) Mad Men.

....so this is turning into drivel about fabrications. I'd meant to post a few makeuppy reviews, but my camera has been hiccupping all week and I ended up discarding every fuzzy picture it took. D: It's now at the camera wizards and hopefully will be back to its usual beeping at my cunningly angled face servitude soon.

So here's this week's (phone-snapped) roundup of me-made outfits instead, pick up right where we left off:

Monday May 5th: rustic oatmeal cardigan

Oh the awkward outfits that ensue when you drag a driveller into the countryside on a bank holiday Monday... to complete the ensemble, imagine with a navy duffle coat, wellies and a mulish expression.

cardigan: Indigo Banded Cardigan by Cecily Glowik Macdonald, in Rowan Kid Classic shades Dashing and Peat

shop-bought: Uniqlo flannel shirt, Markus Lupfer sequinned skirt, Falke Pure Matt opaques

Tuesday, May 6th: vintage lace sweater + murky linen skirt

To celebrate my return to civilisation, the first entirely me-made outfit! :D And a return to the uniform.

sweater: Lady's Evening Jumper (1940s) reprinted in A Stitch in Time Vol. 2 with slimmer sleeves, in Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace (merino/silk) in Water

skirt: Sewaholic Hollyburn, with widened waistband, in Nani Iro Nuance-Muji Southwark linen

Wednesday, May 7th: brocade skirt

Winter is coming. Again. I don't know why I bother ever putting tights away. This brocade skirt is one of my very first makes, from early last year (note vaguely drunken buttons and undulating hem) and I used actual upholstery fabric from a bin of remnants, hence the stiffness. Erm, I mean, architectural volume. Also functions as permanent arse-cushion, so win.

pattern: Megan Nielsen Kelly skirt, in brocade upholstery fabric

shop-bought: Uniqlo silk shirt, charity-shop/thrifted cardigan, Falke tights, as before

Thursday, May 8th: girliest knit ever

'nuff said? XD You can't tell in this drab lighting, but the white silk/mohair I used for the frills is shot through with legit GLITTAH. Calls for a rustling red silk skirt, natch.

blouse: Rosa by Kim Hargreaves, in Rowan 4ply Soft wool Tea Rose and Kidsilk Night Starlight

shop-bought: Whistles silk skirt (about 6 y.o.)

Friday, May 9th: two-toned honeycomb pullover

Oh look, it's a previously blogged make. I still have problems styling this pullover (I realise my 'styling' consists of pairing a sweater with a skirt ALL THE TIME, shush) and have realised the main problem is the hem (both the detailing, and the length); in future I should reserve this length for cardigans and you should administer smacks should I post covetously about other hem-detailed patterns.

sweater: Petit-Four Pullover by Heather Zopetti, in (recycled) Rowan navy Extra Fine Merino DK and Fine Lace (alpaca/merino) Vintage accents.

shop-bought: Markus Lupfer skirt and Falke tights, as above

Saturday, May 10th: girly Liberty blouse

The project-in-progress from last week, finished! The sleeves are now sitting kind of oddly, but such are the wages of freehanding afterthought pleats :P

blouse: Sewaholic Alma, in Liberty Wiltshire S Tana Lawn

shop-bought: 7FAMK jeans, Russell&Bromley raffia wedges

You stultified, yet? :D

I found it helpful, anyway :P It took putting this post together to make me realise that I haven't worn a dress all week. Which is surprising, because I love dresses -- one-pieces, as the Japanese call them -- which usually form the brainless bedrock of my wardrobe. Not that my top&skirt combos are particularly intellectually taxing :P But a one-piece cuts even that amount of thinking time in half.

So, mid-project realisation: more dresses. And, the British spring being what it is, preferably in heavier weights and wool blends in solid dark colours.

My love affair with these Fluid Sticks continues to... roil and ...be torrid, and stuff. So as soon as my quarterly no-buy ended (no really, we're talking literal stroke-of-midnight paypalling here...) I was off to replenish my trio of hyphenated reds with a set of twins: the decidedly wintry 995 Intrigue and perky summer-child 373 Rieuse.

Dior Fluid Stick 373 Rieuse, 995 Intrigue

Drivel on the formula and its versatility may be found in my original review; here are all five of my shades swatched together (one swipe):

...yeah, apparently separating the triplets don't make them look any less identical OH THE SHAAAAAME.

Moving on, two brainlessly unoriginal tonal looks with the newbies. Because brain currently occupied with bias-square-reinforcement and multiple pivoted seams in a tricksy Rachel Comey for Vogue pattern.

373 Rieuse

eyes: Charlotte Tilbury Champagne Diamonds [review], Suqqu 06 Ginbudou gold and grey shades [review], Rose de Versailles Oscar liquid liner.

cheek: Jill Stuart Mix Compact 9 Little Bouquet [review]

base: Shu Uemura UV Underbase Cream Pink, Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture Foundation 001

Closeup

Dior Fluid Stick 373 Rieuse, Charlotte Tilbury Champagne Diamonds, Suqqu Ginbudou, Jill Stuart Little Bouquet

This shade is slightly lighter and softer than my original three, but applies and wears just as flawlessly on me, without drying my lips out. It fades throughout the day to a more pastel, satin-finish version of itself. Perfect for spring/summer and general gamboling about bein pretty and witty and briiiiiight *glass shatters*

Anyway.

995 Intrigue

...however, is a fluid...stickier.... and patchier. and wait, where did those purple tones go?

eyes: two burgundy creams, the warmer copper-flecked Charlotte Tilbury Amethyst Aphrodisiac [review] over lid and the cooler blue-sparked Chanel Diapason on lower lashline [review].
cheeks: Addiction Damask Rose cheekstick [swatched]
base: Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation 00 Alabaster, Rouge Bunny Rouge Sea of Tranquility highlighter

Closeup

Dior Fluid Stick 995 Intrigue, Charlotte Tilbury Amethyst Aphrodisiac, Chanel Diapason, Addiction Damask Rose

This was the fourth look I'd posted with Intrigue on makeupalley, and probably the least patchy result I've ever achieved, despite trying many a permutation of application method + tool. Patchiness aside, there's no disguising the fact that this is just awfully brown, though. (And not just on me, witness.) And once it's faded or blotted down into satin-stain form, the browned base becomes even more obvious:

^this my 'really, y u gotta rust on me like that, Intrigue?!' face.

So, a comic and a tragic mask. A sunny delight and a staked vamp. A Tyrell and a Stark. I could carry on all night :P To stop me, please jump in with your recommendations for a proper browntoneless, preferably glossy vamp. Or I may just repurchased Glossy Stain Violet Edition. I'd also love to hear from anyone who's experienced patchiness with the darker Fluid Stick shades, or a solution to that problem.

Products in both looks: Bobbi Brown Porcelain Bisque undereye concealer, Paul&Joe Face Colour S aka bird balls, Fasio Full Dynamic Volume mascara, Za EverBrow 03.

The 'Look Ma, No Knits' edition! Because not only did spring finally deign to visit London, summer came right on its heels, and the week went from warm to glorious. Which probably means we'll be back in woolens&waterproofs next week, but in the meantime, since most of my makes from this first year of sewing have fallen on the unlined sundress/little blouse side, I have a lot of new things to show :)

Sunday May 11th: summery sundress

As this ticks every conceivable girly box with its sweetheart neckline, pastel floral print, and full, gathered skirt, I was taking a risk by wearing it to a friend's wedding. But success! No-one confused me for a bridesmaid -- my friends being as contrarian as may be expected, they were in slinky black numbers. And I got to twirl around a country house playing Lady Poodle Fancypantspants in this.

dress: Sewaholic Cambie in Nani Iro *Single* Gauze in Bird's Eye -- this was a really delicate, open fabric that frayed as soon as I looked at it sideways, making it even more high-maintenance to work with than double gauze. Think twice before you purchase -- I took a risk as I wanted this particular icy pale colourway, rather than the darker yellow available in doublegauze. Lined in white organic cotton lawn -- visible through the open weave, and pulling the colours even paler.

shop-bought shoes: still those Stuart Weitzman Russell&Bromley raffia wedges -- because no-one can say I don't get the most out of my 12 buys a year ;)

Monday, May 12th: murky linen skirt (again)

skirt again Sewaholic Hollyburn, in Nani Iro Nuance-Muji Southwark linen from last Tuesday, this time showing my widened waistband mod.
shop-bought: COS silk blouse, a few years old

Tuesday, May 13th: print pencil

MOAR UNIFOARM *honkshu*

skirt: Vogue 1324 modified exactly according to the Sewing Lawyer's instructions, disguised brilliantly by the busy print on this stretch cotton sateen. This means there is legit a disturbingly truncated kangaroo pouch inside, but no-one can tell, honest... *shifty eyes*
shop-bought: Anthropologie silk blouse, Stuart Weitzmann R&B wedges [blahblah neither a fashion blogger nor a shoe girl am boring blah]

Wednesday, May 14th: 1940s crepe dress

Feeling a bit mid-century mid-week, I dug out this crepe dress, made last year, from a 1940s maternity pattern (it cleverly wraps around the back):

dress: vintage Simplicity 3454 in Liberty Tana Crepe (so, so lovely and spoingy this stuff; wish they'd release more than one measly colourway a season.... sans collar, shoulder pads and about 10" each off the hem and width (well I exaggerate, but only slightly -- seriously, y those 1940s broads so broad?!) Good thing wrap dresses are so forgiving -- if you attempt a vintage pattern I cannot stress enough the importance of measuring the pattern pieces to work out a final garment measurement before jumping in with the shears as enthusiastically as I like to XD
shop-bought: cropped out shoes were low-heeled grey brogues from a Japanese brand, v period.

Thursday, May 15th: b&w shirtdress

First of many (my soul is the site of epic ongoing internecine war between love of shirtdresses and loathing of button-sewing) and nicely illustrative of my highly literal approach to button-matching :P Thursday is when the weather shifted straight into high summer, in case you can't tell :D

dress: Colette Hawthorn (after about 5 muslins, because Colette so does not draft for my body type, sob sob) in white cotton Swiss dot (underlined with white cotton batiste) and black cotton/linen, all HK market buys.

shoes: Taiwanese market buy. On their last legs, quite frankly -- anyone spotted cute low-heeled yellow sandals out and about recently?

Friday, May 16th, dashed tunic

I love fabrics that look scribbled-on -- or randomly highlighted, as this does -- almost as much as I love Victorian pseudo swearwords. Dashed, pshaw, etc.

tunic: Simplicity 1810 in Liberty Tana Lawn Milla D

shop-bought: 7FAMK mid-rise skinnies, as before

Saturday, May 17th: princess maxi

A girly dress that inspired much mockery from the friends I met in it, but the swish of my skirts say I care not. Also: that tickles, did I swirl up a squirrel in the park? And do squirrels carry rabies? >.>

maxi: Simlicity Project Runway 1610, in a HK market silk/linen blend

collar: from Japanese brand 'as know as de base' [incidentally, I also own its sister which you can see on Sulli in her latest Etude House ad -- how's that for surprise on-topic makeup trivia, eh?]

Sunday, May 18th: colourblocked confusion

Only I could take a new pattern that plays into the 2014 ss activewear trend, and render a totally unsporty floral confection.

dress: Vogue 9001 with raised neckline, extended waistband, and self-drafted half-circle skirt (had neither the yardage nor the patience for the original many-yoked and -pleated affair), in Liberty Tana Lawn and a hot-pink linen/cotton blend.

shoes: sameoldsameold

Not sure I can sum up this week's me-learned lessons as yet (too hot to think or indeed worry about grammar) so here are some works in progress:

The recycled cardigan is mostly complete, MMM inspiring me to get on with the boring grosgrain-ribbon-backing / button sewing bit. Two weeks = highly motivated compared with my usual >2 months' obligatory languishing period for finished knit projects.

Isn't that polkadotted grosgrain just darling. And cunning -- offering great camouflage for my red knots :P Computer in the background, because I still can't sew without the consolation of audiovisual fluffy meta:You're All Surrounded, for inquiring minds.

Or indeed knit.

ANOTHER sensible jeweltoned cardigan oh lord my uniform it is so bland and thus in dire need of tv thrills. Although it may be time to question one's choice of viewing when one's variegated yarn starts resembling blood spatter....

Finally, in breaking in-progress news, kimchi pancake's a-sizzling and so I must hie! Recipe here - the perfect lazy Monday night supper, though I halve the amount of salt she uses, and whisk up some soy / rice wing vinegar / sesame-oil dipping sauce on the side.

A much-belated, oft-requested review of a product that probably no longer qualifies as 'new' :P Bobbi Brown's 2014 reformulated version of their cult foundation stick, in the palest shade, 00 Alabaster.

Bobbi Brown is one of the few mainstream brands that actually offers a shade pale enough for me -- see Skin liquid swatched among my foundation matches here -- '00 Alabaster' is significantly paler than a MAC 15-depth, and more neutral in tone than the brand's other, uniformly yellow, offerings. As with all brands, the same name/number doesn't necessarily designate the same colour across the various formulas in that brand (remind me to swatch all the wildly variant MAC NC/NW15's for your amusement some time...) so FYI, other pasty folks, the 'Alabaster' in Bobbi Brown's Luminous Moisturising, Moisture Rich, Tinted Moisturising Balm and Tinted Moisturiser formulas all run significantly darker and warmer -- unwearably so for me.

However! I was very pleased to find that the new Skin Stick foundation's 00 Alabaster was a decent match to Skin liquid. And being on the hunt for a stick foundation to replace my beloved discontinued Shu Nobara -- sticks being so convenient for the localised application I usually favour for base, and doubling up as concealer to boot -- I swooped:

Bobbi Brown Skin Stick Foundation 00 Alabaster Review

As expected of a stick foundation, the Skin Stick offers good coverage in a thick cream formula -- medium-to-full, about on par with the Vapour stick foundation I reviewed previously. It's both sheerer than the old Bobbi Brown Stick foundation and less emollient -- making it a little trickier to blend, and a little drier in appearance, especially as the day goes on. It's also not the kindest to any textural issues common to dry skin, highlighting even tiny flakes or raised dry bumps in irritated / eczema patches -- though that said, it sits more elegantly on my very dry skintype than the stage makeup brands that provide closer matches for my skintone.
After a month of testing, I find I get better results by applying this on smooth (recently exfoliated), very well moisturised skin (preferably freshly sheet-masked), on top of a still-tacky moisturising primer; and the very best finish by mixing a little of my face oil with the foundation (currently HABA's squalane) on the back of my hand, before applying -- this sacrifices some coverage, but textural prettiness is more important to me than perfectly even pigmentation anyway.

Ready for the before&after part?

BEFORE

I know, I don't really need foundation at the moment, and yes foundation reviews are pretty pointless on already-even-ish skin but I've been waiting for a stress-induced breakout of some kind for so long it's entirely possibly this product will be discontinued before I go to press, so I'm posting anyway shush :P

AFTER

In the interests of SCIENCE, for the purposes of this review I applied the BB Skin Stick neat, drawing a few lines and dots on my face, without any of the ameliorating tricks mentioned above, over only my usual daytime skincare and sunscreen, and blended it out with a No 7 foundation brush.

Bobbi Brown Skin Stick Foundation 00 Alabaster

Aside from the fact that it's a bit dark for me at the moment [I'd usually apply a much sheerer layer which makes this less evident], note the good coverage that knocks out my cheek pinkness, visible veins and most of my vestigial freckles, creating a more uniformly-toned, satin-matte canvas. (I also added some RBR lip balm for the 'After' btw -- this foundation will not gloss- or warm up your lips :P)

CLOSEUPS

To illustrate some of my textural complaints, note how the foundation brings up some tiny flakes on the tip of my nose and between my brows, and highlights the bumps/pores on my inner cheeks, which aren't as visible on my bare skin:

Okay, you can stop squinting and resisting the urge to smack me :P Minor niggles, I admit, but isn't that what you come here for? Notice how beautifully the stick foundation photographs even in ultra close-up, without any flattened flashback.

Swatches

Vapour Atmosphere Luminous Stick Foundation 90

Shu Uemura Nobara Stick 584

Bobbi Brown Skin Stick 00 Alabaster

Bobbi Brown Skin Liquid 00 Alabaster

Graftobian Hi-Def Glamour Creme Lady Fair -- my closest match right now

foundation swatches: Vapour Atmosphere Luminous Stick Foundation 90, Shu Uemura Nobara Stick Foundation 584, Bobbi Brown Skin Stick 00 Alabaster, Skin Liquid 00 Alabaster, Graftobian Hi-Def Glamour Creme Lady Fair

Next to the neutral Graftobian Lady Fair, the other four shades are obviously pink-tinged (Vapour the most strongly, Shu Uemura the least), though they're still within the neutral-hyphenated range -- they'd look beige next to a genuinely pink line like MAC's NW shades. I think even these arm swipes hint at how much smoother the emollient Vapour and siliconey Shu formulas look on my current skin compared with the other three -- Graftobian looking the driest and sinking into cracks despite being freshly applied -- the BB liquid is a formula I tend to reserve for summer.

In conclusion, much like the Bobbi Brown Skin liquid, the new Skin stick is very much a compromise formula for me. Readily available, a passable match worn sheer / when I get some colour, and not as unflatteringly dry a texture as the stage makeup brands that offer paler shades. I like it enough to save it for future summers in Asia, which are hot and humid enough to dial down my skin's dryness from freakishly-saharan to just vaguely-human level. It should sit more smoothly on my dry skin in the heat, and in greater humidity I think its matte skin-grabbiness will become a boon rather than a bit of a liability. Updates will be forthcoming.

Ingredients

PS How many times have I blogged about sticks lately? Fluidsticks, skinsticks, pointy sticks (aka knitting needles)... However, I solemnly declare that never shall a review of Nudestix (er, sic) darken these portals, owing to my tragic allergy to 'duck pose selfies' and 'instafame' [click 'additional info'].

Graphic editorial makeup usually connotes something bold and fierce and totally cool in that fashion-ugly fashion. Y'know, primrose-yellow blush, blue lipstick in a joker grin, one entire eyelid covered with abstract rendition of festering sore, that kinda thing. But I woke up today[1] to utterly glorious spring sunshine with birds twittering[2] and the scent of blossoms [3] on the air so can only offer a contrarian Fotherington-Thomas-twee [4] spin on graphic. [5]

[1] why yes, I should stop doing these looks at the last minute
[2] okay, pigeons. LDN pigeons sometimes do tweet, okay? Especially if they've been pecking at a pack of purple wave....
[3] well, blossom. Shortly before it wilted in the fog of exhaust.
[4] hullo clouds hullo sky etc.
[5] phototropic footnoting. Totally a thing.

PRODUCTS

anticlockwise from top left:
lilac: CLIO Gelspresso Waterproof Pastel Upper Liner #4 Peace One Day (pencil), Yaby PP064 Violet Crystal (powder)
yellow: CLIO Gelspresso Waterproof Pastel Upper Liner #1 Keep Calm (pencil), Catrice John Lemon (powder)
orange: 3 Concept Eyes Creamy Waterproof Eyeliner #11 Orancia
mint: ditto, #10 Mojito
pink: ditto, #9 Wow Pink (pencil), Dior Fluid Stick 575 Wonderland (lip), Dior Addict It Lash Mascara It Pink (lashes), Kiko Super Colour Eyeliner 108 Pearly Frivolous Pink (liquid)

not pictured: Graftobian HD Glamour Creme Foundation Lady Fair

THE (HIGHLY DUBIOUS) RESULTS:

Should be pretty obvious what went where -- this aint my most elegant or refined effort :P

Liner/lash closeup

To show the pretty sparkles in that Kiko pink liner -- one of the v few liquids I've kept during my transition to almost all-pencil/potted liners. And also look how well the new Dior pink mascara (LE for summer) covers my black lashes without any kind of base/primer/special prep! I'm pretty enamoured of this new formula, in fact, so expect to see a few more looks with this, and perhaps the blue and purple shades too...

Be sure to check out my fellow femmes and their graphic looks!
Lilit's at Makeup & Macaroons
Teri's at Bellachique
and Joey's at Joey'space

I know, I still need to blog the last fortnight of Me Made May, but camera hiccups / wagon fallings-off / general busytimes mean that I'm running behind on pics. In the meantime, here's an alliterative alternative: some scans from the April edition of Maquia, my favourite Japanese beauty mag. (This issue I borrowed from my mother during a recent clothes swap / general girly session -- along with other randoms, including items of clothing and her foundation stash, so stay tuned for some NC10-15 base swatches, too.)

Anyway, this was another enjoyably geeky issue, with a particularly detailed feature on the new 'Reverse ULTRA-C Eye'. Don't worry, I boggled too :P The internets didn't help much either, but at least the makeup itself is very simple, both in execution and in terms of the effect it aims to achieve. Basically, it's a lower-lashline-led look, curving up into a soft 'C' at the outer corner, which opens up the eye as effectively as a traditional smokey gradation would, but requiring much less product/time. I'm always a fan of negative space in makeup (e.g. here) but this tutorial demonstrates how wearable/natural this kind of application can look if well-blended, and its lightness and spirit of simplification feels feels especially right for spring/summer.

Close-up of the tutorial, using KATE Spotlighting Eyes OR-1

A warm-toned variation, with Givenchy Le Prisme 86 Rose Attraction, darker tones calling for a more contained application:

KATE Colorcious Diamond Eyes SV-1 for a cooler spin; the main twist here is a horizontal / foreshortened-liner-like upper lid highlight (step 3) rather than the dot in the first demo, or the vertical oblong of the second.

Now some variations suggested for some different eyeshapes -- remember, these ideas aren't prescriptive, and you're free to borrow from the placement tweaks for any of these!

left: monolids | right: up-tilted eyes.

left: hooded / inner-double lids | right: small eyes

The other tutorial feature in this issue is blush-focussed, and bloody adorable: 'The LOVE Cheek'.
Not only do I LOVE gimmicky alphabetical makeup diagrams without exception, but I also really like the way the placement of these gimmicky shapes are guided by the entire face and other features, unlike the more usual blush application tutorials I'd come across previously, which often treat the cheek as a disconnected free-floating expanse of flesh in which various placements are guaranteed to create certain effects, differences in anatomy notwithstanding.

The L cheek creates a fun, healthy glow, and involves a peachy/orange base shade, topped with highlighter applied in an 'L' shape whose vertical stroke is as wide as the distance from the outer ring of your pupil to the end of your eye. The eye-relation ensures a properly centralised highlight for YOUR face, and is a much neater way of achieving this effect than fumbling around cheekbones / apples, blahblah. Fingers keep things soft and sheer.
The key products used are Lavshuca Dress Glow Cheek OR-1 (pre-numbered step) and RMK Glow Stick (steps 1-3); some alternative products are showcased at the bottom of the page -- please leave me a comment if you want any identified.

The O Cheek for that pure 'n' girly thing, in 'blood-beneath-the-skin' shades i.e. hyphenated reds. The blush circles are centred directly below the pupil and applied with a puff in light patting motions for a soft matte finish. Note that extra sheer circles are dotted onto the tips of the nose and chin, to unify/harmonise/clownify proceedings. Don't laugh, after one too many J tutes, I tried it out and found it could actually look sweetly pretty. Products: Élégance Slick Face (!) Cream Face Colour in RD301 as base (pre-numbered step), Majolica Majorca Puff de Cheek RD414 for the main colour (steps 1-3).

The V Cheek gives a youthful 'smiling' lift to the face without being quite as zomg!girly as the O. Brush-applied pinks -- a mid-tone warm shade and a cooler pale highlight. They used the Coffret D'Or Smile Up Cheeks limited-edition spring 2014 shade 13 Natural Rose [core shades 01 Pink or 03 Rose could both work depending on skintone] -- the blended coral-pink tone of the entire blush used as a base (pre-numbered step), the mid-tone pink at the centre for the lower V, and the cool pink-white edge of the blush for the upper. The V's / little hearts should be the same width as your eyes. and overlap the 'base' blush.

The E Cheek offers a a sculpted, dimensional look and unsurprisingly its placement is similar to the classic 3/E bronzer application, from temples down the jawline, though done in colour. First a 'my cheeks but better' shade of coral blush is swept horizontally from apples outwards (pre-numbered step), then a light contouring colour from down the temples, stopping at the outer edge of the cheekbone, and then curved out again along the jawline, stopping at the outside of the lip (steps 1-2). The upper edge of the cheekbone has a narrow highlight, starting below the outer corner of the eye and swept outwards (step 3) -- unlike the previous 3 looks, this placement uses the eyes and other features as a guide to avoid the centre of the face. Ipsa Face Colour Designing Palette 201OR used [which I do not recommend, btw; the 'contour' shades in this range are all shimmery for the luvva kittens]

Sick of diagrams yet? Here are some simple office-appropriate looks featuring various spring collection palettes. Amusingly pairing off industry/brand.

e.g. Agency = Maquillage True Eyeshadow PK-232

The second 'Trend' look apparently involves GLITTER ALL DOWN YO FACE. I actually recently met a literary agent working(?) this look; now I'm glad I didn't take her aside discretely to point out her shadow fallout and proffer a q-tip *phew*

Work at a startup? You'd better be wearing Lunasol Sand Natural Eyes 04 (okay, I legit like the placements in this one, too -- looks 1 and 3 make nice use of negative space again).

More OL (office lady) looks -- this time a feature on what some real women wear when they're on (at work) and off (at leisure).

I always enjoy seeing makeup being used, and some of these ladies hit pan even faster than I do :P
Cheek out the sliver of pan in this nurse's Coffret D'Or blush:

This lady (finance) clearly loves her Lunasol Beige Beige quad -- the no.1 best selling eyeshadow quad in Japan for the last 10 years, I believe.

I found it interesting how little most of these women's makeup varied between their on/off days, actually, considering the whole premise of this feature. However strong their 'baseline' look (some models and makeup artists featured favoured bolder makeup than the two women above) they all seemed to stick to one style of eye makeup, in particular, mostly just switching lip colours and base finishes:

Which I find a little puzzling. Of course time / longing for MOAR BED are an enormous constraining factor when doing one's slap in the mornings, but surely leisure time = more time for more elaborate looks? Or even noticeably less time for a more relaxed look? And some of the bolder looks featuring falsies ^^ surely already take long enough that changing up colour/placement wouldn't slow one down that much? Hmm. Maybe it's simply that I have time for non-uniform makeup because I spend none on hair. :P

To clarify, it's not that I think women are obligated to experiment. But when every woman (there were about 20, I think) in a feature focused specifically on the differences between on/off makeup all present with such a uniform, it tends to flag up the socially obligatory nature of makeup for women in Japan, who don't seem to be allowed to be 'off' much to my lazy English eye. Which obviously is why there's a market there to justify specialist-interest publications like Maquia and its competitors.... But still. Feminist niggler here just wants makeup to be totally voluntary and frivolous fun for everyone :(

More up my street: a fun, chalky-pastel liner look, set in among darker tonal powder shading.

:O So this is the correct way to use pastel pencils! And they say glossy mags are just fluff....

Look, it's another non-me-made-may alliterative post! :P

Many of the emails sent to this blog address (aside from those gems offering to enlarge my prostate and/or make le big bucks by shilling probiotic jelly earrings via affiliate links...) are about pale foundations, and a large proportion of those tend to begin 'I'm just slightly darker than you....,' so when on a recent visit to my slightly-darker-than-me-but-still-paler-than-NC15 mother, I decided to snag&swatch her foundation stash for your convenience and mine.

Some basic details:
skintone: in between NC10-15, cool yellow [I'd usually shorthand my skintone as neutral NC/W5-10]

skintype: mature, combination (dry-normal cheeks, oily nose and lids)

preferences: a light-textured, quick-to-apply formula for everyday, with greater coverage for special occasions. She doesn't really experience problems with wear-time / oxidation, but is very picky about textures -- they mustlook flattering both on fine lines of the drier areas of her face, and on the larger pores in the oilier areas. She prefers not to use separate primers / setting powders, so all foundations must apply and work as one-step products, and she prefers satin / skinlike finishes, nothing either matte or dewy. She also doesn't own separate concealers, preferring to add another layer of foundation over areas that need it, but not too much -- believing that it's better for some imperfection to show through than to look obviously made-up.

foundations (left to right): Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation 0 Porcelain, Suqqu Frame Fix Cream Foundation 101 (older formula), Suqqu Frame Fix Cream N Foundation 101 (newer formula)*, MAC Face&Body N1 and White (which she mixes to get a match), Addiction Powder Foundation 01 Wafers.

from sheerest to most pigmented: Addiction powder (applied with brush), MAC F&B, BB Skin, Addiction (applied with sponge), Suqqu FFC, Suqqu FFCN.

from least to most matte: MAC F&B, BB Skin, Suqqu FFCN, Addiction powder/Suqqu FFC

tools/application: fingers with liquids (MAC and Bobbi Brown), a damp Beautyblender sponge with a miniscule amount (think pinhead dot) of the Suqqu creams, and either a dense flat sponge or a soft fluffy brush with the Addiction powder, depending on desired coverage.

*in brief, newer Suqqu > older Suqqu cream, in both coverage and textural-perfection, but requires an even lighter hand due to its boost in pigmentation. Best pressed into still-tacky-from-skincare skin, or as a tiny dot mixed into sunscreen to create a tinted moisturiser.

I've swatched her foundations with a representative selection of my matches, from the paler Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture 001 through medium Bobbi Brown Skin Liquid 00 Alabaster, to darkest Laura Mercier Soft Ivory; with MAC N1 as a control in both swatchsets. The darkest shades in my lineup overlap with the palest ones in hers (so this is how/where I'd draw the NC/W10-ish line) -- a difference similar to the one between Bobbi Brown Skin Alabaster and Porcelain (the next BB shade up, 1 Warm Ivory, is another full step darker and the equivalent of the average MAC NC15). I also swatched MAC's F&B N1 neat, for a clearer shade reference, though she actually mixes it with white in the wearing.

Hope this has been helpful to some of you! I'll pass on all further questions, but bear in mind that while she wears/owns more makeup than your average muggle, my mother doesn't share my geek enthusiasm about the exact angle at which to hold one's sponge on alternate Thursdays etc. Much disappoints. Wow. So intergenerational heartaches. Long Day's Journey Into Night aint got nothing on this.

So late, so excessively alliterative, so, in fact, jeJUNE...

And now that my audience of three has dwindled down to one after that revolting opening, limber up your scrolling finger, because it's a big 'un, rounding up the last fortnight's worth of outfits from Me-Made May 2014.

Starting with one of my most versatile makes, the Vogue 1324print pencil first shown in week 3 (May 13th), which I wore thrice more:

1. with black silk shirt and bra-cami, both Uniqlo. necklace: Anthropologie. shoes: Russell&Bromley Stuart Weitzmann raffia wedges.

2. with a self-knit pink cropped cotton sweater (pattern: Kim Hargreaves' Anaïs, yarn: Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton DK in Madder); though I dislike working with cotton, I flippin' love this sweater --longtime readers may have seen it in action back in this outfit-set from 2012.

3. moar pink&croppedness: the shirt from Butterick x Gertie B5895, sewn up during MMM. I plan to make the jeans in this set, too, so wish me luck!

Another versatile pencil skirt, the modified Burdy Jenny C from week 1, day 1 of MMM; I'm glad I made the suspenders removable-with-buttons (Lynda Maynard's Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques held my hand throughout), as I more often wear the skirt without them:

4. shop-bought shirt: &otherstories x Vika Gaziskaya collection. I'm not one for designer/fast fashion retailer collabs, as a rule, but the quality fabrics, witty prints, and architectural volume in this range added up to PURE AWESOME. tights: Jonathan Aston sheer coloured tights Fuchsia. shoes: Barclay Foot Art (Japanese) grey oxfords

5. blouse: another MMM-make (MMMM?), Sewaholic Alma in progress during week 1 and shown finished in week 2 (May 10th). Mustard cashmere cardi: COS. belt: charity shop. tights: Falke Pure Matt 100D Anthracite. shoes: Duo

6. Another outfit with the Alma blouse, but, in a shocking twist, with a blue cashmere cardigan (Brora) and white skirt (Jill Stuart) this time. Same tights&shoes. OH THE ORIGINALITY.

7. Dressing down the Jill Stuart skirt with a slouchy Grainline Studios Hemlocktee (free pdf patterns ftw!) in some German organic cotton jersey. The hem came out hella ripply, because this was my first time sewing with super-light-almost-tissue-weight jersey, and the stripes made that excruciatingly obvious, so I can only wear it knotted :P But I love the relaxed baby kimono sleeves (which I think the Japanese call 'French sleeves', amusingly enough) and the knock-out-a-top-in-an-hour factor is unarguably brilliant. shoes: Carvela suede wedges

8. I love that white Jill Stuart skirt so much -- it also featured in that rare outfit post from two years ago -- and inspired by the horizontal pleats it shares with another shop-bought favourite, the burgundy Whistles skirt both in that old post and MMM week 2 (May 8th), I added some to my no-pattern, improvised red&white gathered skirt, which you probably can't see because of the scribbly print XD I will write up a separate post detailing its making to prove that the pleats ARE there, honest...
Paired with the red lace sweater also finished in May (pattern, recycled yarn, details). shoes: Carvela, as before.

9. The gathered skirt with another knotted tee, this time a Sewaholic Renfrew, with various fit mods and without the banded hem, in a nice cross-weave-ish chambray-look cotton jersey I bought in Hong Kong. necklace: J. Crew.

10. Happy with the fit of that last Sewaholic Renfrew tee, I rejigged my modified bodice (this time with a v-neck and less ease) into a knit dress by whacking on a basic half-circle skirt at the natural waist and lengthening and slimming down the sleeves. Fabric is a drapey wool-blend knit, from a girlfriend's stash -- perfect for those suddenly-chilly London 'spring' days. tights: Falke Pure Matt 100D Marine shoes: Barclay, as before.

And done!

If you've been counting you can tell I fell off my self-hitched wear-at-least-one-self-made-garment wagon a few times, owing to the whole self-made wardrobe not fully jiving with lifestyle requirements thing; not a huge surprise/deal, considering how new this hobby is, but it will function as a kick up the arse for me to get on with mastering trickier fabrics like silk, and upping my finishing game for extra polish. On the other hand, I also need to make more casual wear -- comfy tees for both lazing-at-home and running-about days, non-crease-y knit dresses I can fly in, roomy shifts, that kind of thing.

Also, more cold-weather layers and wool-blends. Because I need them for at least ten months out of twelve. ^This post alone gives a pretty good indication of my variable climate :P In particular, learning to sew fine-gauge knits like the shop-bought cardigans in outfits 5 and 6 would be handy. Blazers too. And learning to cobble, because my shoe wardrobe is tragically minimal, yo. Ditto jewellery. Anyone want to lend me a blowtorch? >:D

PS Big ole 50% sale over at Craftsy right now, for anyone looking to take up / resume this hobby, or treat themselves to some of the classes on their wishlist....

Welcome to another edition of Makeup Fakeup!

Featuring my distant desired object du saison, Suqqu's limited-edition summer quad, EX-20 Natsubotan. As, uninspired by the promo images, I foolishly waited until day three after release to saunter over to the counter and swatch... and fall... and hear it was long goooooone, and then to throw a three-hour keening'n'hair-pulling tantrum over the multi-A4-paged waiting list which had already accumulated by then. Y'know, the usual.

But being all indomitable and womanful and the owner of *coughmumble* eyeshadows already, as well as a pre-existing blog tag for this very eventuality....

I worked from a combination of how the actual palette looked on my skin, and reference swatches at Color Me Loud (truer-to-tone for me) and Swatcharama! (truer-to-texture). On my pale, neutral skintone the top left shade in the palette read as predominantly pale, cool gold sparkle, for which I used the bottom right pan from THREE 4D Eyeshadow Palette 08 Spirit Light (swatch). The pale pink base comes from Suqqu EX-12 Hisuidama (review). For the main-event pink and plum, Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in Rose Des Vents, and a roughly equal mix of Ebloui (feature) and Diapason (review).
Blush is Kjaer Weis Lovely (feature), lip Suqqu Creamy Glow 02 Kyoganoko (swatch), finally back in stock in the UK.

Basic unimaginative placement: the hybrid plum to line, split and opened at the tail of the eye; prime-event pink blended over mobile lid and outer half of lower lashline; pale satin pink on inner corner, blended up through inner half of socket; gold sparkle dabbed on inner half of lower lashline. L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic WP mascara. [I forgot brows!]

Base: Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture Foundation 001, set with Paul&Joe bird balls; Bobbi Brown Porcelain Bisque concealer pot under eyes.

Eyes open, at a slightly more human distance :P

*recites 'I don't need no summer peony' mantra*

Hope you've all had a lovely week! Any cravings slaked or slayed recently?

Apologies for the sporadic posting of late; I've been gearing up for another trip to Asia and trying to spend as much time as possible with my real-life nearest&dearest as I can. But missing you all! My soul, such torments to endure. :P

Comfort food is called for, so today I thought I'd dust off the camera and share one of my favourite summer suppers, the Japanese cold noodle dish zaru soba. Pick up some e-chopsticks and dig in :)

Admittedly not the quickest of things to whip up, but I find all the processes quite enjoyable, and careful timing, which is the most stress-inducing part of cooking for me, isn't a factor. Also, YUMMEH, which makes it all worth it.

At least an hour before, make the dipping sauce (I like to do this at least the night before, and make a big batch to store in the fridge -- it'll keep for a fortnight). This will make about 500ml of sauce or about 8 servings:

1. Make up a basic dashi stock however you like it (my usual ratio is a pint of water : a palm-sized piece of kombu : a small handful of bonito flakes, and a couple of dried anchovies for an extra umami hit), set aside.

2. Heat 100ml mirin with a tablespoon of sugar in a separate small pan until the sugar dissolves. Add 100ml soy sauce and turn the heat low, stirring gently for a minute or so to warm through. Then pour this mixture into the dashi from step 1 and simmer together gently for about 3 minutes. Cool.

From here on the quantities make enough for four (or for two-greedy-people-with-leftovers -- I like rolling up leftover kakiage with some spicy mayo into maki for lunch):

~~Julienne~~ Chop a large potato into chubby matchsticky bits and soak in cold water:

Noodles: Bring another pot of water to the boil, add a pinch of salt and cook your soba (100g per person) according to the packet instructions (usually 3-4 mins. Don't guess and overcook! You want them noodles so bouncy they chew back, not soggy strands). Look for the 100% buckwheat, salt-free stuff:

Drain and rinse well in cold running water until it resembles SLIMY WURMS:

Shake very dry, then plop onto fancy zaru (bamboo draining basket) if you have one. Or just use my sushi-mat-on-a-plate method, like an unspeakable savage *shifty eyes* Sprinkle some kizami nori over the top if you have any handy, and set aside.

Garnish: Finely slice a spring onion or two, and place into bowl along with some wasabi and toasted sesame seeds. I like to pour our everyone's dipping sauce at this point too.

yes, my bowl haz kitty on't. Iz toddler. And that is a mug doing double duty as a dipping bowl. Because hostess with the mostest.

All the cold ingredients ready, it's time for the kakiage:

Drain the potatoes you've been soaking and dry well in a clean tea-towel. Add a carrot and courgette (or two of each if they're small), chopped similarly:

For the batter: Measure 1 cup of flour (the higher the gluten content the better -- I used strong white flour but Italian 00 is even better; alas, I used up the last of that for a batch of choc chip cookies) into a biggish bowl, break an egg into the middle, and add a few good twists of salt and pepper. I've found the most reliable way of ensuring a crisp batter is to use very cold, fizzy water -- pour it in gradually, mixing well all the while, until you get a very thick, greek-yoghurt-ish texture.

Toss in the veg, adding a little more flour and water if really needed (probably not --if there's no 'spare' batter at the bottom or the bowl that's ideal), and then pick up random clumps with chopsticks to fry at a moderate temperature, turning halfway through, until browned -- about 2 minutes per batch. [Can you tell I'm primarily a baker, rather than a cook? Persnickity about batter, vague when it comes to doing stuff with it. I use exactly the same exact method wot my grandma taught me, so pleeeease don't ask me about specific degrees of oil and thicknesses of pan and whatnot because I won't know XD]

Let everyone garnish their dipping sauce to taste...

And eat while the kakiage's still hot and crunchy, in perfect contrast to the chewy cold noodles and refreshing savoury sauce:

PS this pic shows half the amount of food this recipe produces; I couldn't fit everything into one frame :P

And for afters, my latest entropic failbake, a strawberry and almond crumble cake which, owing to my sins against ye ineffable gods of glutinous batter subsidence, ended up as crumbling cake. I should open a bakery called #presentparticiplepastries, yes?

Adapted from here, though I substituted orange flower water for vanilla extract, and almonds for walnuts. Still very edible, though very sweet -- next time I'd cut the sugar on the ~~topping~~ middling by at least 2/3rds.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Well, this is embarrassingly late. According to my my picasa albums, I bought Art of Parties two whole years ago, in June 2012 -- and that's when I took these pristine snaps:

THREE 4D Eyeshadow Palette 04 Art of Parties

in (angled) sunlight

The case is THREE's typical matte grey rubber, with the palette identified by the colour of the letters on the lid -- this lavender signifies Art of Parties.

A cloudy/overcast pictures -- note how the tones shift

Direct flash pic captures some of the extra tones of sparkle in all four shades (can you spot the subtle and sparse pink flecks hiding in both bottom shades?)...

....although sunlight produced the most true-to-texture picture:

...which is still toddler-aged, zomg, but hopefully hints at the distinction between the two glitters (top left amethyst denser and finer, bottom right peach featuring larger particles more discretely packed), and between those and the dense sparkle-packed cream (top right) and finally the smooth bottom left satin.

Swatched from light to dark:

THREE 4D Eyeshadow Palette 04 Art of Parties swatches

Pale, soft, peachy-gold glitter with pink, icy blue and warmer gold sparkle

Medium amethyst glitter with turquoise, sky blue and pink flecks

Warm chestnut brown with sparse shimmer in several tones of pink

Gunmetal base heavily packed with predominantly violet and emerald microshimmer

Swatches and shade description from this post, in which you can see all five of my THREE quads swatched.

I plan to pull a full-onStar Guitar lookathon with this palette, too, but less overwhelmingly all-at-spammy-once, so to ease you in, here are two looks, both spitting the quad down the middle into two pairs of duos. (On my skintone, all four shades can also stand alone as singles, but even I am not so cruel as to bore you with four basic washesOTD :P)

1. Peach + Chestnut (...that sounds like a potentially tasty mix, actually) makes a very understated eye -- peach glitter washed all over lid, chestnut to line (used neat, not foiled or mixed or nuttin') and both layered on the lower lashline.

I'm testing out a sample of the new Guerlain Cils D'Enfer Maxi Lash Waterproof mascara, btw, which holy fat lashes batman :O Expect me to 1. purchase a full size and 2. review it hopefully before 2016. Anyhoo, gratuitous mascara shot nonetheless shows the intensified banked-coals-y pink sheen you get by combining these two otherwise mostly yellow-based shades, both smuggling pink shimmer:

More warm tones to complete the look: Rouge Bunny Rouge Sea of Tranquility liquid highlighter for opalescent gleaminess in the centre of my face, and powder bronzer At Goldcombe Bay for subtle peachy gilding on the outer portions. Kjaer Weis Lovely cream blush, and YSL Rouge Pur Couture 57 Pink Rhapsody lipstick.

2. Gunmetal and amethyst: neither so tasty nor conventionally summery, but complex cream & multifaceted glitter is my one true makeup love and the reason I fell so hard for this brand in the first place :D Gunmetal over lid and lower lashline, extended out, and amethyst swept up both into socket and down into lashline from inner corner, and used to accent/underline the extention. Kiko white kohl on inner waterline to remove distracting red rims (due to allergies not glitter fallout).

Another not-so-summery thing was the weather/lighting this morning, so I couldn't capture the complexity of the gunmetal to my satisfaction. This was the best shot I managed to get of the complex pink-and-blue sparkles, and how the base gets warmer as you blend it out. (Never quite so matte/warm as it looks on the outer half of my socket here though. Stupid lighting-catching chicanery.)

A cooler and more polished base for this look, with Shu Uemura UV Underbase Mousse Pink/Purple set with Paul& Joe bird balls (Face Powder S). Face Stockholm cream blush Tokyo on both cheeks and (over balm) lips.

Tokyo is the most recent addition to my Face Stockholm cream blush stable, and it comes with some sad news. Because while I managed to score it for half price (£11), that's only because Fenwick Bond St are dropping the brand, thus putting everything on sale. D: Snag while you can.

Long time no see, dear ones! In the spirit of K.I.S.S. I haven't been wearing much interesting (or indeed unsmeared) makeup so far this sweltering Asian summer, but the ladies of Femme Boulevard have administered a kick up the arse in the form of this month's vamp challenge, so, swapping one four-letter word for another....

Both my newly grown hair and my old and enduring fondness for the S-of-stupidity mean that Louise Brooks is my achingly obvious inspiration for this one. If you haven't read her witty and waspish and wry essay collection, Lulu in Hollywood, I highly recommend it (and skipping Tynan's decidedly.... let'sjustcallit 'gushy' intro. oh em gee, ken, yr id is showing, put it away now kthx'). Available as a free ebook at the Open Library (with a short waiting list), so no excuses <3

The products, consisting of black, white and, er... sticks:

black: Shiseido BK912 Caviar (my second! Staple starlit off-black cream); KATE brow pencil BK-1 (a gift from a pal, this is darker than my hair so black as my soul...); Suqqu brow pen01 Moss Green ; Guerlain Cils D'Enfer Maxi Lash WP (to which I did succumb after last month's glorious sample)
white: Shiseido WT907 Paperwhite (an even finer-milled satin off-white than my beloved, recently-panned-thus-too-fragile-to-pack Shiseido High Beam White highlighter) and 3CE Lip Pigment in Modern White
sticks: Guerlain Greta mixed with MAC Pro Paintstick in Rich Purple for a deepened red lip; Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Stick Alabaster (which, as my original review guessed, is working much better for my summer-tanned skin in the heat&humidity of E and SE Asia)

Key aspects of this look are pretty well-illustrated by that Lulu in Hollywood cover :P Even with such a handy colouring-in guide the hardest thing for me was to stop my fingers from employing their usual prettifying tricks; 1920s makeup appeals to me precisely because it is so scrappy and slapdash and defiant, but it takes actually applying it to bring home how many unspoken rules of contemporary makeup flattery it breaks.

Brows, eyes and lips downturned, thinned and shortened. I skipped curling my lashes for only about the fifth time since I turned 13, to help 'drop' the eye and place even more emphasis on the heavily mascara-ed lower lashes and thickened outer lower lashline. Triangular placement of Shiseido Caviar.
Spoolied some 3CE Modern White through the brows I wanted to 'erase' (mostly at the inner corner and at my fairly-high natural arch), then sponged on a coat of BB foundation, before sketching in the straight, short, slightly down-tilted Brooks brows with the black KATE pencil, cross hatching with the Suqqu pen between my natural hair and the drawn-on ones.

Closeup of the eye and brow -- look how ~~messy~~ period-appropriate it is >:C

Lips were outlined quite heavily with BB foundation, blended inwards, to thin them down. Lengthened top lip slightly over lower corners for a downward tilt. I played with a bit of reverse contouring with the 3CE modern white pigment to achieve that '20s rounded cheek&jaw, and blended everything with a good dusting of Shiseido Paperwhite. Because despite MINUTES, MINUTES I TELL YOU of straightening, my hair's never going to retain Brooksian deco sleekness in this humidity, tending more towards the Colleen Moore anyway....

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! Be sure to check out my fiendish fellow femmes Lily and Lilit and their vamp looks.

Hello world! As you can tell, I am shooting for 'laziest blogger of the year' this year, so thanks for all your support *genuflects* But as before, my lovely pals of Femme Boulevard have dragged me out of hibernation, in order to present our various interpretations of a simple, seasonal look.

It seems the ideal opportunity to show you the kind of makeup uniform I've been living in this month, with a built-in excuse for / handy illustration of why this blog has been so quiet: I've become basic, yo. :P But hey, it's seasonal because normcore is the new FASHUN :D and in any case, a bit of simplicity always feels suitably palate-cleansing and back-to-schoolish for autumn -- witness my autonal series from two years ago.

Products:

lips: Guerlain Rouge G Gladys, one of my rare recent acquisitions, and the focus of this simple look. The colour is a vibrant jewelled fuchsia, with a berry richness that make it my most-worn lipstick of early autumn, and an ultra-shiny, lacquered finish thanks to its profusion of (hidden) microshimmer in tones of blue and red. Its formula stands up to the best of the Rouge G line (my favourite lipstick formula), with intense pigment, fine-line-plumping plushness and a truly impressive lip-hugging yet moisturising wear-time, fading evenly to a rosy stain after multiple hours, drinks and noms.

face: Surratt Artistique Blush 4 Vreeland Rougeur is its ideal tonal companion: among my many red blushes, this one has a berry ruddiness that feels almost parodically autumnal; a subtle warmth keeps it looking neutral even on my naturally cool pink cheeks and gives the perfect Red-Delicious flush -- best worn on apples, natch. The formula is excellent, too -- silky, finely-milled and fragrance-free powder that rivals my favourite THREE and Rouge Bunny Rouge blushes in quality, wearing as a texturally undetectable satin on skin.
Shiseido Luminising Satin Face Colour WT905 High Beam White is an old faithful: this is my second pan, and already showing a dip.

eyes: Chanel Illusion D'Ombre 85 Mirifique smoked along and out from lashlines, with the outer corner kept open, to keep my eyes looking open (or embiggened) in glasses. The silver from Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Smoky Velvet (EU/Asia version), layered over from inner corner to middle of eye for a tonal dimensional highlight. Which black&white gradation is, oops, basically the non-costume version of the last look I posted XD One slick of Maybelline Rocket WP mascara, my current natural/defining/nothingy formula, as anything with more oomph (like the Guerlain Cils D'Enfer WP I still love) makes my lashes crash against my lenses with every blink.

as you see, back-to-schoolism extends to wardrobe too

Now, don't I look totally competent / awake / unlikely to abandon a blog for months out of sheer laziness? The power of makeup.

other products/basics: Shu Uemura Underbase Cream Pink, Burberry Sheer Touch concealer 01, Suqqu Brow Pen 02 Brown, Paul&Joe bird balls.

Do click over to my fellow Femmes' interpretations of this month's theme:
Teri's at Bellachique
Lily's at Chloeash
and Lilit's (our sister from another hemisphere) at Makeup&Macaroons

A lookbook, representative of my basic makeup doings (cough snort) during my blog hiatus. I've chosen to include only looks featuring products I haven't shown you before, with reviewlets, since the life unbeautiful is taking up way too much of my brainspace right now to allow for the usual rambly reviews proper. Try to contain your gusty sighs of relief....

(If you're a member of makeupalley, you may have seen these posted over the last few months, but please point your fingers / scratchy GWP brushes of Blame and Shunning at those fellow MUAers who told me to just go and blog them already / anyway. :P)
Consider yourselves forewarned, and scroll straight down to the end for recompense. By which I mean PIE.

The products:

clockwise from compact: Rouge Bunny Rouge At Goldcombe Bay powder bronzer, Shu Uemura Tint in Gelato AT03 Fantasy Orange, Jill Stuart Lip Blossom 08 Pretty Poppy, Benefique Theoty Lipstick Melty-Touch PK-06, Addiction Pastel Love lip gloss, Etude House Play 101 Pencils 15 and 39, Dior It-Lash It-Purple mascara, Guerlain Kiss Kiss lipsticks in Sugar Kiss and Red Love.

Look 1: orange, high-contrast

The combination of bright lip&cheek tint (Shu Uemura Tint In Gelato AT03 Fantasy Orange) with coloured mascara (Dior It-Purple It-Lash) perfectly suited my minimal-effort-maximum-impact approach to simple summer makeup, in no-brainer complementary tones of yellorange and blurple.

Dior It Lash It Purple, Shu Tint In Gelato AT03 Fantasy Orange

This mascara shares the excellent formula of its pink sister, but reads as less vibrant on my black lashes than in the tube, so I smudged some Diego Dalla Palma Storm Violet shadow [review] along lashlines to help it along, blending out with the blue-white from Suqqu Hisuidama [review].

The Shu tint blends out to a a soft glow-from-within matte on my cheeks and, layered more thickly (and worn over balm), as a satin on my lips, where, owing to its high silicone content, it's surprisingly kind to vertical liplines. In pigmentation, blendability and scent-freedom(!) this formula has been and will remain a summer staple for years to come, displacing the Becca Beach Tints in my heart. I like best to pair its modern matte finish with fresh, glowy-but-not-dewy skin: here courtesy of Shu Uemura Underbase Cream Pink set with loose Guerlain Meteorites in Mythic (discontinued).

Look 2: orange, low-contrast

Another staple look took the opposite approach to create a soft monotonal gradation of tones -- my favourite this season has been orangey peach, to 'summerize' the rose tones of my 'no makeup' look. In common with that basic recipe, the eyecolour here is a wash of one of Etude House's Play 101 pencils (#15 is one of the 'glossy' shade, with no shimmer, which adds dimension naturally as it catches the light, obviating any need of further shading/highlighting procucts), and Rouge Bunny Rouge powder bronzer replaces blush in a 'W' placement (over bridge of nose as well as cheeks). Addiction lipgloss in Pastel Love works as un-makeup for my lips: its jelly texture conceals and evens out out my dry areas and fine liplines [I've shown you this formula in action before], while its warm peachy-beige tint cancels out their corpsical blue-mauve tones.

Etude House Play 15 Pencil, Rouge Bunny Rouge Goldcombe Bay powder bronzer, Addiction Pastel Love gloss

Touches of Rouge Bunny Rouge Seas of Tranquility highlighter to add some warmth as well as plenty of glow to unbronzed areas of skin, set again with Guerlain Mythic ballz, and (because my waterlines were a little red this particular day) a bit of GOSH white eye kohl on the inner rim and the grey cream from THREE Tranquil Oasis [swatch] for softer-(and-glossier-)than-black lashline definition. Maybelline Rocket WP mascara for light, fluttery lashes.

Here's a swatch comparison between the Etude House Play 15 pencil, THREE Love Satisfaction duo [review] and Kiko Colour Kajal 104 Red to illustrate the glossy finish and pinky coral tones (vs. the pastel tangerine and primary red of the other two oranges) which make it such a good 'neutral' orange for me.

THREE Love Satisfaction, Etude House Play 15 Pencil, Kiko 105 Red Kajal

And a look at how the Rouge Bunny Rouge At Goldcombe Bay powder bronzer compares to their liquid offering, which I've finally used up after three happy years together: in short, the powder is slightly paler and cooler-toned, and blends out to an even more exquisitely airy skin-flattering satin texture.

Intermission: this year's jellies

Last year confirmed that a jelly finish looks most flattering on my dry, dehydrated and lined lips in an alternately boiling/aggressively air-conditioned climate. Having a decent wardrobe of them from last year, I only added two new products: Benefique Theoty Melty-Touch lipstick PK-06 (a warm pink to replace the Addiction Psychadelic gloss and Coffret D'Or RD128 I'd finished, and more pigmented and truer a jelly than either); and Jill Stuart Lip Blossom 08 Pretty Poppy, a glossy warm red that sits in between the slightly cool-toned Lunasol Cherry Red and more orange Chicca Amaryllis. (All the shades named here were featured in last year's jelly roundup.) Unusually for Japanese formulas, both of these are scented: a clean tea-rose for the Benefique and candied peach-and-floral for the Jill Stuart.

Shiseido Benefique Theoty Melty Touch lipstick PK-06 and Jill Stuart lip blossom 08 Pretty Poppy

preposterous J-brand packaging is an added bonus -- and check out the flip-up mirror lid on that JS

Shiseido Benefique Theoty Melty Touch lipstick PK-06

Benefique PK-06

Jill Stuart 08 Pretty Poppy

(I tended to wear these with tightlining, glasses and a tonally similar blush, so no full-face pics because BASIC.)

However, I did add two shades from the new Guerlain Kiss Kiss lipstick range to my stash: 343 Sugar Kiss (cheery coral pink) and 324 Red Love (softened strawberry). Evonnz has great lip swatches of the various offerings in the line, which, as is customary with Guerlain, vary quite a bit in terms of pigmentation and finish. Both of mine are medium-pigment crellies (or maybe, considering the texture and candied violet scent, fondants), with greater creamy glide than the usual Rouge Automatique or Rouge G formulas, but surprisingly superior lasting- and staining-power to the Autos.

Swatched with the samples from my blister pack: see the squishiness?

Guerlain Kiss Kiss lipstick swatches: Baby Rose, Red Love, Rouge Kiss, Sugar Kiss, Sexy Coral

The soft red of Red Love went well with not-quite-true blues (muted by grey just as the lipstick is warmed by strawberry) for a vaguely retro look i.e. the three right-most pans from Lunasol Vivid Clear Eyes EX-02 [Rouge Deluxe's review], Rose de Versailles Oscar black liquid liner and GOSH white kohl. Sheer application of Canmake CL01 Clear Red Heart cheeks.

On the other hand, I liked to wear the perennially sweetly-pretty-for-summer coral Sugar Kiss with an oh-so-SS-2014-dahling mixed metal haze on the eyes: here the complex olive-bronze Etude House Play 101 Pencil in 39 blended out with the coral-pink glitter from THREE Tranquil Oasis [swatch]. Blush is my favourite nude, Chicca Flush Blush 01 Baby Girl [review].

Guerlain Kiss Kiss Sugar Kiss, Etude Play 39 pencil

Admittedly, my interpretation of the mixed metals trend was more or less 'wear this Etude House pencil with all of the things all summer long', because it is basically the complexparkly lovechild of two of my beloveds: RBR Abyssinian Catbird, and THREE Eye Rock pencil, closer resembling the AbCat the more you blend it out, while applying at full strength with a depth that rivals Eye Rock.

While the Etude House Play 101 pencils had more misses than hits for me (in particular the 'matte' and 'creamy' formulas dragged like chalk across my dry skin), this one was an absolute standout -- buttery, pigmented, and blendable, applying intensely without looking crepey on my lids, and without the fallout issues I experienced with several other 'glitters' in the line. It's now working beautifully as an eyeshadow in autumn, with some black waterlining for a sultry smokey eye -- the only issue being that its opaque twist-up mechanism makes it hard to gauge how much I have left.

(In the last two looks I'm wearing Shu Uemura Whitefficient pink/purple mousse, set with Paul&Joe bird balls as base, and my last tube of Fasio Full Dynamic Volume mascara :'( In all looks, Burberry Sheer Touch concealer 01 and Suqqu brow pen 01 or 02.)

Finally, if you've made it thus far, here's an autumnal afterword. Can it really be that I'm blogging something I did last weekend instead of three months ago? :O

Rosemary pecan pie, by Ruby Tandoh (she of last year's Bake Off), with the modifications I make to all pecan pie recipes to dial back the sweetness: substitute walnuts for half the pecans in the filling, unrefined molasses sugar (I like this) for regular brown sugar, and a glug of bourbon for the vanilla. And add extra salt, water retention bedamned. The rosemary in this recipe added the perfect smoky savoury depth, and I can't recommend it highly enough. [You may find, as I do, that using molasses sugar requires a slightly longer baking time at a lower temperature (45 mins at 170C), preparing to throw a sheet of foil over the pie for the last 10 minutes if the nuts on top seem to be burning.]

I am in full-on autumn mode now, and hope to actually post some looks and reviews while this season's still...seasonal. Thanks to everyone still reading for your patience, and do let me know what's been going on in your makeup lives lately :)

Until the release of Christmas set A, I had thought that 2014 would've been my first Suqqu-quad-less year since my falling for the brand since 2009. Then I saw the palette in Set A, EX-22 Yukiichigo (雪苺, snow strawberry), and the rest is picspam:

natural light, overcast

Yeeeeeeah. *_*
More shots in different lighting conditions, to demonstrate its seductive shiftiness:

bright direct sunlight

bright artificial light

Two textural and contrasting-flash illustrative close-ups:

bright sunlight

Swatches, made with included sponge applicator onto bare arm

Suqqu EX-22 Yukiichigo Christmas Set A swatch

Left to right
bottom left pan: very pigmented burgundy gel-cream with packed with olive-bronze glitter that flashes where it catches the light
top left pan: soft mauve satin base with cooler microshimmer in icy pinks and blues, flashing lilac as a whole; medium+ pigment
top right pan: pigmented peony with warm gold duochrome, mostly a frost leavened some sparse aqua sparkle
bottom right pan: sheer-medium pale peach-pink satin with sparse silver-peach microshimmer

The contrasting base and flash / sparkle in each shade, even the understated bottom-right 'base', is absolutely the selling point of this palette, and something that wasn't evident at all in the promo pictures. The burgundy-bronze cream, in particular, photographs deceptively as simply an olive-bronze, since the intensely packed shimmer catches the light like unto ye hypnotic glitter vortex. of doooooom. but once you break up the surface of the pan (what with the frantic slathering everywheres), the rich base comes through more strongly:

In practice, the more you blend/sheer out the cream (which is as effortlessly creamy, lightweight, high-slip and workable as Suqqu's gel liners or their Creamy Glow lipsticks in texture), the more evident the burgundy base becomes, while a bolder, built-up application (e.g. with a dense fine liner brush) produces a complex bronze. Both aspects visible in this look, which involves the burgundy bronze cream buffed along the mobile lid and blended out; the gilded pink in the outer crease; lilac in the inner corner, blended up through socket, and accenting the outer corner; and peach satin as a transition shade/blender. More burgundy-bronze smudged along the lower lashline. Kiko white kajal on waterline, and L'Oreal Papillon False Lash Flutter WP mascara.

Paired with the lipstick in this set (Creamy Glow Moist EX-13 Beniaka), whose soft warmth I feel clash slightly with this palette (it seems better suited to EX-23 in Set B):

For this second look, I wanted to showcase the cream as liner (a job to which it's slightly better suited, considering 1. its ultralight texture which can make overblending as eyeshadow a little too easy, 2. maximum glitter and 3. hoarding of precious yet woefully tiny pan (already showing dips, people! *hyperventilates*). Pink in a triangular placement on lid, blended out with peach satin, and lilac layered below the bronze/burgundy cream on lower lashline. Suqqu Creamy Glow 18 Karakurenai on lips, inspired by this Suqqu Global video (it would be impossible for me to achieve that shade and saturation with the set's EX-13 lipstick) for a more decided clash.
Lighter lashes, so as not to compete with the liner, with L'Oreal Miss Manga WP.

In both looks I'm wearing Shu Underbase Cream Pink, RBR Sea of Tranquility highlighter, Burberry Sheer Touch Concealer 01 and Paul&Joe Face Powder S (bird balls) as base, and Suqqu brow pens through brows (01 Moss Green in the first look, 02 Brown in the second).

Postscript 1: comparison swatches
I know, these belong in the main body of a review, but my lighting has been so terrible every time I've tried to do these, I'm shoving them here. For shame. (But posting anyway, because shame schmame? Or just shhhh, look, sparkly.)

a. bottom left burgundy-bronze cream (see what I meant about making a dip in it already? WOECAKES) with Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Ebloui and Charlotte Tilbury Amethyst Aphrodisiac pencil:

The Suqqu has a very clear creamy shimmer-free burgundy base with contrasting bronze shimmer-flash thing going on, while the other two are more holistic sparklefests. Also pretty different, colourwise, though the CT base has something of the rich depth of the Suqqu burgundy, and the Chanel also combines a warm (red-brown) base and cooler (green'n'gold) sparkle.

b. top left lilac with the violet glitter third-sliver from Suqqu EX-17 Hatsushimo, Shiseido Ghost and the amethyst from THREE 04 Art of Parties.

EX-22 is most similar to Ghost in its satin-with-occasional-specks-of-contrasting-shimmer finish, while tonally it's closer to though more muted and warm in its base than EX-17. The THREE is here ~~because I luff eet~~ as and example of a more scattered glitter and a purple with a cool blue rather than warm pink base.

c. top right pink with the pinks from Suqqu 08 Mizuaoi and EX-17 Hatsushimo, the rose glitter from THREE 06 Tranquil Oasis, RBR Eaten All the Cherries pigment and Chanel Rose des Vents Illusion D'Ombre.

Even with my penchant for these kinds of colours, I don't have a 'dupe' for the Yukiichigo pink in my stash, thrown by its combination of bright perky pink base (making most of these other shades look more muted than they wear on their own) and warmer (almost coppery) gold flash. The closest would be the RBR, but even that looks cooler and slightly dustier in comparison.

d. bottom right peach satin with the peach base from EX-17 Hatsushimo and RBR Bashful Flamingo

Well the RBR looks hilariously dark here, but that's how a NW15-20 foundation looks on my skin too :P The Suqqu pair are similar in their relative delicacy, but hopefully you can see in this isolated swatch what I meant about the complexity of even the understated 'base' shade in EX-22 -- it has a warmer base with a hint of a pink/gold halo and subtle cooler sparkle overlaid on top, unlike the very lovely but pretty much uniform (and cooler) satin of EX-17.

(I've included Suqqu EX-17 Hatsushimo (reviewed) in three of these comparisons, but even this most-similar Suqqu palette isn't all that close to EX-22 Yukiichigo; it's a much cooler, less blingy composition, with the glitter kept tastefully to that violet sliver -- if Hatsuhimo is an enchanted starlit walk in a frosted wonderland, Yukiichigo is the swathed-in-mink-and-diamonds, chandelier-lit, champagne-fuelled reel.)

Postscript 2:Packaging
I'm a heretic who cares naught for such things, but admittedly it's cool that Suqqu continued last year's'scatter holo-glitter over the palette' tradition with, this time, pink-and-gold on white:

There's some holo on the label of the compact lipstick EX-13 Beniaka, too, which is exquisitely dainty. As in, without the holographic Suqqu I might well fish this out of my bag one day and chug it down as a reeeeefreshing mint. Those less liable to blind-snack out of their handbags can, however, throw it in there with impunity -- the case is small but perfectly formed, and closes securely with a snap.

As with all the Creamy Glow Moists (Beniaka was released previously in traditional tube form, too), it's a scent-free sheer (buildable to medium) lipstick with a flatteringly cushy jelly (but not too glossy) finish, though my dry lips feel parched in this without balm underneath.

Sadly also keeping with tradition, the coffret again includes skincare-I-have-no-use-for, this year deluxe minis of Reset Cleansing Cream and Refining Foam, the first (makeup-removal) and second (soap) steps respectively of the Japanese double-cleansing routine. You'll have to look to a better blogger for details on those :)

Ingredients:

I hope this has been helpful to those of you still making up your minds about Suqqu Christmas. In the UK the brand will be opening yet another counter (in addition to the ones at Selfridges and Fenwicks Bond Street), in Harrods -- so that's one more source for the sparkly :)

As for me, work and travel and lighting (cheers for the free mood lighting, semi-permanent cloud of smog!) continue to conspire against my blogging as often as I'd like but no, the blog lives (well, shambles) on! I don't want to be annoying and promise a posting schedule I probably won't keep, so expect a post when you see one, and I at least hope it will be soon :)

goo goo ga ga

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The Beauty Spotlight Team: Weekend Links

Visée Eyeshadow Palette Roundup

Me-Made May 2014 Week 1

Me-Made May 2014: Week 2

MOAR Dior: Fluid Sticks 373 Rieuse and 995 Intrigue

Me-Made May 2014: Week 3

Foundation Review: Bobbi Brown Skin Stick 00 Alabaster

Femme Boulevard Goes Graphic!

Magazine Monday: Maquia April 2014

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Me-Made May 2014: The Final Fortnight

Fake-Up: Suqqu EX-20 Natsubotan

Friday Night Dinner

Two Looks with THREE 04 Art of Parties 4D Eyeshadow Palette

Femme Boulevard Vamps It Up

Femme Boulevard: Simple and Seasonal

Summery Summary

SUQQU 2014 Christmas Set A featuring EX-22 Yukiichigo