Review: Too Faced The Bronzed and The Beautiful

When my dear internet friend, Creamymilk, opened a shopping spree for Too Faced products on December last year, I decided to get this palette along with the Natural Eye Palette.

Fact #1: I love palettes. They would come in handy while traveling (which I do a lot during June to December) and I think they are good value for my money. Fact #2: I love bronzers. They add more color to my face when I look dead pale in the morning. So when I heard there was a palette full of Too Faced most-loved bronzers, I just had to get it.

Too Faced The Bronzed and The Beautiful Bronzing Powder

(from Sephora)
What it is:
A collection of Too Faced's best-selling bronzers.

What it does:
Go on and get your "glow" on with the Too Faced The Bronzed and the Beautiful Bronzing Kit. This couture collection of the best of the best bronzers features all the Too Faced bronzer products coveted for their glorious golden, skin-perfecting, realistic, natural fake-bake performance--and they never look orange.
What else you need to know:
The kit features Too Faced's Snow Bunny, a winter shade that brightens, illuminates, and highlights skin with a subtle bronze; Pink Leopard Bronzer, a skin-perfecting bronzer that instantly neutralizes, sculpts, and warms up a light-to-medium skintone for a healthy glow; Sun Bunny, a classic bronzer that started a revolution, glowing up skin with the ideal year round fake bake. No wonder it's a celebrity favorite! Also included is the Flatbuki brush, especially designed for on-the-go Too Faced girls to guarantee flawless application with every glamorous use.

I have medium olive skin tone and I am happy to say that all three bronzers actually work for me on different levels. Snow Bunny is my favorite. If you are dark-skinned, say NC-40 or darker, I don't think it would show up much on you as a bronzer, but you could still use it for highlighting. On my skin this powder manages to get rid of my "morning dullness" and gives me a warm glow. I like to layer it over my matte blushes too, it'd give them more "life" so to speak. When I first swatched it with my finger, I admit I was shocked. This bronzer is pretty shimmery. It's not the kind of cheap shimmer if you ask me, but still... it is shimmery. So if you're oily-skinned like me, you might want to use VERY light hand to apply it. I use the kabuki brush that comes with the palette (this brush is baby soft!!) to apply it on my cheekbones and under my eyes to brighten my face. I avoid wearing it on my T-zone as it will accentuate my oiliness during the day (not gonna be an issue if you love to touch up, but I'm such a lazy bum most of the time, lol).


Pink Leopard is more of a blush than a bronzer for me. The color is very natural; warm bronzy pink that goes on sheer on my skin. I think this wouldn't work as a contouring bronzer since it's very shimmery. If you are more of a matte person, this might not be for you. I myself haven't worn it that often, but I'm happy that they include it in the palette. It makes the palette complete, you know? I could reach to it and wear it as a blush whenever I don't feel like "bronzing" myself.

Now the Sun Bunny is the true bronzer of all three. I use it on either side on my face, my cheekbones, and my jawlines for a lovely sun-kissed look. It is highly pigmented so it could get too orangey if I'm not careful. It's definitely not as shimmery as the other two, but it rather has a slight sheen that is almost unnoticeable on the face. I think it's a good bronzer, but I am yet to announce it as my HG. I will still continue my search of the perfect bronzer, but as of now, I'm happy with this palette.

Final question, would I repurchase? I would repurchase Snow Bunny if I ever run out of it, but not the other two. I really like the glow it gives me and the fact that it's NOT orange.

So that's my 2 cents about this kit. I think for $35, it's a great deal especially that they include a super soft flatbuki brush in it. The texture of the powders is also very rich and smooth, therefore they're easy to apply and blend. Plus, it looks really cute on my vanity table. Gotta love the beachy, summery design!

FOTD: trying out my new L'oreal foundation

L'oreal White Perfect Pearl

- SPF 18/PA++
- Immediate radiance with White Pearl Complex
- Long lasting anti dullness effect
- With Melanin block and Vitamin C
- UVA/UVB protaction for fair skintone

I bought it three days ago. Not in a whim! I've actually been contemplating to buy a drugstore liquid foundation for a while. I got bored with my current mineral foundations, to be honest.

My shade on Revlon Colorstay was never in stock, so I went ahead and picked up L'oreal. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this line of foundation is only being sold in Asia. It cost me not more than US$12 (IDR 116.000) for a 30 ml product. Look at the lovely pump dispenser! Definitely a win.

Now when I take pictures with flash, this foundation kind of makes my face look ghostly. It might be because of the SPF, but I swear I look normal in person. My shade is N4 - Nude Beige, which is the second darkest of 4 shades available. What I like most about this foundation is the flawless and glowy finish it gives me.

There is no "disco ball effect" despite of the fact that this foundation contains shimmers, much like the Photoready foundation from Revlon.


The consistency is just lovely. It is not too thick nor too thin, and is actually very easy to spread on the skin. It doesn't dry out too fast and feels very lightweight when on. I won't recommend to use fingers to apply it as that will give you patchy finish. I apply it with my flat top brush from Everyday Minerals. It gives me a medium coverage.

I don't think this foundation is very buildable though, it can make you look cakey. I also notice that the formula would settle on my fine lines if I use too much. So it's better to start with thin layer and build up the coverage if you want. I can't really say much yet on the lasting power nor if my skin reacts to the formula. I'd need more time to do a full review on the product.

Without flash:

If you're wondering, here's what I used on my face today:

-NYX concealer in jar
- L'oreal White Perfect Pearl Foundation
- Elf translucent mattifying powder
-Too Faced Snow Bunny bronzer
- Everyday Minerals blush "Summer Stroll"

Lips:
-Maybelline Moisture Extreme "Natural Nude"
- MAC lipglass "Prrr"

Eyes:
-UDPP
-NYX Jazz Night palette: cool brown e/s, dark purple e/s, frosty lavender e/s
- NYX nude e/s from TS05 trio
- Matte black e/s from CS 88 palette
- Maybelline unstoppable eyeliner in black
-Maybelline volum express mascara + falsies

Do ask if you got any questions about this foundation! I'd be glad to help. :)

Link Love :)

Hello there! I woke up this morning thinking what kind of shenanigans I will get myself into today. Haha. Anyways, here's this week's link love from BBLL community. Have fun this weekend y'all! :)


Over at theNotice, Rae shares an amazingly pigmented bright blue eye -- done with shadows from the drugstore!

This week, Louise gets an (almost!) exclusive look at a Lancome mascara that has them queuing down the aisles in Harrods, and promises better lashes in a month.

Yinnie Dances with the fairies with her fairy inspired EOTD.

Phyrra dishes with Britton from Haus of Gloi for this month's Indie Spotlight at Fresco Phyrra.

Blaq Vixen Beauty decides to treat her skin to a Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector Regimen!

Retrodiva checks out three new innovative drugstore foundations. See which ones she would recommend!

Krasey Beauty takes a trip across the pond to bring you complete swatches and a review of MAC's newest, Give Me Liberty of London.

Looking for a great cream eyeliner that won't break the bank? Lipglossiping may have just the thing...

Sophie from melovemakeup talks about how much she loves Trilogy's Everything Balm.

TheLipPrint adds a little more Allure to her life with Chanel.

Michelle at Lipstick Rules laments her Liberty Of London lipstick purchases... but then finds a way to make it work!

Check out the swatches of Yummy Mummy by butter LONDON at Makeup4All.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed falls in love with the 10 year anniverary editions of Lancôme Juicy Tubes!

Follow Jellyminx's step-by-step tutorial for a pinky-coral look for Spring.

Over at Music and Make Up, Jo celebrates her birthday with a purple smokey eye courtesy of MAC's Violet Pigment.

***

Beautywoome has a giveaway with Europe's coolest new beauty brand. Win 1 of 10 Ellis Faas Ellis Red lipsticks.

Audrey Dao is giving away $89 worth of Napolean Perdis makeup as part of her 1 year blog anniversary.

Mz More at The Glamorous Gleam is having a giveaway in honor of her 200+ Followers. Check out the goodies galore!

Tutorial: Smokey Green with L'oreal HiP Lively

There is this one makeup look I always do when I'm in a hurry: dark green smokey look with my L'oreal HiP eyeshadow duo in Lively. I call it my "foolproof makeup" just because it works for me and I can do it real fast. I have yet to find any other substitutes for this shade of green. If you're icky with drugstore makeup, then Misdemeanor from Urban Decay is pretty close and might produce the same effect. For daytime I usually go for more natural false lashes because it's subtle enough to wear and at night it's also glam enough, just opt for more dramatic false lashes. Win-win! :D


Products Used:
- Urban Decay Primer Potion
- NYX jumbo eyeshadow pencil in Lemon & Milk
- L'oreal Hip eyeshadow duo in Lively
- Coastal Scents 88 matte eyeshadow palette (taupey grey color last column, 4th row & light beige highlight color - 1st column, 2nd row)
- Revlon Colorstay liquid eyeliner (upper lashline)
- Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero (waterline)
- Maybelline Volum' Express Turbo Boost mascara
- Ardell False Lashes #110

Here's the swatches of the eyeshadows I used in case you're looking for something similar in your stash ;)

1. Lively (green side)
2. Lively (taupe side)
3. 88 palette (taupe-y grey, a bit shimmery)
4. 88 palette (light whitish beige for highlight)

So first of all, prime your eyes. Wait until the primer sets then apply NYX jumbo pencil in Lemon on your lid and Milk on your brow bone, just like this...


You could skip this step if you want, but I like using cream eyeshadows for my base since they'll make the powder eyeshadow stays put longer and looks more vibrant too.

Next, blend the cream eyeshadow with your finger. Blend the green color upward and the white color downward.


With a regular eyeshadow brush (pick the one that's dense), pat the dark green eyeshadow from Lively to your eyelid. Don't go too far to the crease.


Blend the top edges with a fluffier eyeshadow brush, just like so:


Then grab a dense crease brush and apply the grey color from 88 palette on the crease, starting from the outer corner going inward.


Take the taupe color from Lively using a blending brush (I'm using ELF's), apply it just on the outer edges of the grey color and blend.


Using ELF eyeshadow C brush, apply the beige color from 88 palette on browbone. I prefer matte highlight color than shimmery one for this look.


I take it to the inner corner of my eye...


Blend the highlight color down to the taupe color just a little bit. I'm using a big, fluffy blending brush. It should look like this afterward:


Then I apply the green eyeshadow to my lower lashline with ELF small precision brush and the beige color on the inner corner of my eye.


do your eyebrows, apply eyeliner, mascara, false lashes... and you're done. Pretty easy, right?



And here's my finished look...

on my face:
- Hanskin Premium BB Cream
- ELF translucent mattifying powder
- Too Faced snow bunny bronzer
- NYX cream blush in tea rose

on my lips:
- MAC lipglass in Prrr

That's it and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. I actually was going to post this yesterday but my internet messed up, I couldn't get a stable connection. Dang, sucky internet. :(

Metal: A Headbanger's Journey

Last night I saw this documentary film called Metal: A Headbanger's Journey and frankly, it brings back sooo many memories growing up during the early 90's. Of course, I had not even entered kindergarten yet back then, but I clearly remember those old pictures of me and my brother. He was only about 9 years old and was ALWAYS wearing those black, oversized Metallica t-shirts. I kind of wish I had those old photo albums but they're all kept at my parents' house. I remember when we were little (I, my brother, and my cousins) would gather around and had our pictures taken. Most of the time, in those pictures, we all sort of raised our hands and did the devil horn sign. It's amazing. I mean, there we were, kids age 4 to 15, living in a small town in Borneo, Indonesia, listening to stuff like Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Metallica, Slayer, etc etc. That could only mean one thing; the heavy metal culture was so powerful and literally THE most popular music back then. Even without the help of MTV, they reached us and they were warmly accepted.

It doesn't mean that our parents were so oblivious that they didn't do something about it. Obviously, those bands were very very aggressive, it sparked a great concern among the adults. My parents were cautious, indeed. One time my mom told my brother to take down one of his Iron Maiden posters (it was one of those scary, demonic looking heavy metal posters). I remember because my brother told me to get him the scissors. He cut off the scary part of the poster and pinned up the poster back to his bedroom door.

hands down, THE greatest Metallica album ever

I guess that "old school" part of our lives never really went away. I grew up listening to alternative rock (you know, stuff like Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, and all that jazz) but I have always been fascinated by heavy metal, still am, and will always be. I'm so going to email my brother about this awesome documentary film. He's at work now, I know it would make his day.

Well, that's about me and a little about my early years. Hopefully I could come up with a makeup-related post later today. I've been working on this Too Faced review for the longest of time! I have two palettes from Too Faced I received in the mail about a week ago. One is the bronzer palette (The Bronzed and The Beautiful) and the other one is the Natural Eye palette (it's lovely).

Funny how now I'm talking about this kind of music in my MAKEUP blog. lmao. Have a great Thursday!

I stepped on cat pee.

Man, the title rocks! Haha. And yeah, I really did. Aslan decided that it's about time to be rebellious. He peed on the carpet. Took me about an hour or so to clean it up. I simply googled how to deal with this kind of stuff and you apparently just need some baking powder, vinegar, and some fabric softener with strong scent. I acted fast, so it didn't leave nasty odor. Thank God for the internet! Lol.

Here's an FOTD :)
(it's gloomy outside, hence the gloomy face... I guess)

^please excuse my obnoxious face, lol

I used my Milani Catwalk palette from this post. I applied the steel blue color all over the lid, the grey color on the crease, and added some matte black eyeshadow on the outer V. It's pretty simple, really. The color payoff of the Milani palette is just amazing, especially with damp brush.

However, I kind of wish I had cream eyeshadows now. The color must have been more vibrant with blue cream eyeshadow underneath. I'm thinking of getting some from MAD minerals. Has any of you tried their cream eyeshadows? They look amazing and some are recognized as dupes of MAC paintpots.

Hmm what else what else?

Oh, the usual drill...
on my face:
- Maybelline Mineral Powder Foundation
- NYX cream blush in tea rose
- Everyday Minerals blush in Nick Nack
- Too Faced Sun Bunny bronzer (I got this in a palette! Review's coming soon)

on my lips:
- NYX Rea

And a book I just read:

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.
I really, honestly enjoyed it. I just couldn't stop turning the page.
This is definitely something I'd recommend to everyone. :)

About Blogging + Awards!!

First of all, I finally saw Alice in Wonderland last night!


I'm sure if you're a makeup enthusiast, you will enjoy seeing the movie. Haha, yes, I ended up focusing more on the Red Queen's blue eyeshadow and White Queen's complexion rather than the movie itself. In my opinion, Madhatter's makeup is by far the best, but Red Queen's was a bit nauseating. I think they could have done better with her makeup. Story wise, I do think the plot moves a little bit too fast. I was expecting something witty and emotionally-attaching characters like in Edward Scissorhands but I didn't get those from this movie. The only thing I liked about it was the flying cat (made me giggle all the time). Even that, I couldn't even remember his name. It was just an "in and out" experience for me. Maybe I asked too much, but hey, it's still enjoyable to watch with the boyfriend. We had a nice date. :)

Here comes a few things I notice about blogger lately!
(And a few things about me as a blogger too)

1. Now blogger has found a way for us to keep our widgets when we change our xml layout. Before this, your widgets will be deleted whenever you change your layout (thus, I had to open a note pad file and copy-paste all the widget codes before I do any changes)... and that sucks. So, cheers to blogger for hearing our complaints! :D

2. BUT, there is still another thing missing... It turns out that you cannot keep your "blog list" when you decide to change your layout. So everytime I change mine, I will have to update my blog list again, adding blogs one by one into it. I read a lot of blogs but I want to display only some of them, so it's pretty much a pain in the ass having to go through all the blogs to finally get the job done.

3. I don't like it when I have draft posts lying around. Haha. I will delete them so my "edit posts" section looks neat. (I wish I was the same way when it comes to tidying up my room)

4. Do you know the navi bar up there on your blog, where you can see the follow link (it's usually in blue color, but you can actually change its color even make it transparent)? I notice that using this layout will make my navi bar unavailable and I hate that. I know it looks neat without the that ugly blue bar but it's actually very helpful! I use the navi bar when I want to follow someone's blog, it's faster than doing it through the follow button on the widget.

5. You can also click the "next" link on the navi bar, and you'll be taken to another blog with the same theme (like, another beauty blog).

6. You cannot show your blog on your profile if you chose the blog to be private. I have a personal "diary" (though I don't write on it as much) but only me, my bf, and my sister can read it. I used to be able to show the link on my profile, it was "Pretty Much My Life". I've been writing a personal blog since the end of 2006.

7. This is just my opinion and you don't have to agree with me. Sometimes I find some people on blogger who take "followers" too seriously. Like, if you got a lot of followers = you're popular, if you're not then... I don't know. I'm not saying that it doesn't make me happy when someone's following my blog, but you gotta admit it, it IS annoying when someone leaves you a comment saying, "Hey great blog! I'm following, please follow me back!"
My reaction was, "YAY, someone likes my blog!" (insert super happy, big grin over here)... Until I found out she was leaving the exact same comments on other people's posts. Did she even READ my post? Or did she just shamelessly spamming people to gain more followers? Do whatever you want, but what's the point? Readers/followers come and go but I have fun doing this blog and if someone finds my post useful, I'd be even more thrilled. I think that's more important than the number of followers you have.

8. I don't like music player on a blog. It's just that, most of the time I surf the internet while listening to my own iTunes playlist. And usually, I put on my headphone and turn up the volume. So when I visit a blog with a music player, you know what happens... Some random tune comes out of nowhere and I thought I had a heart attack. Hahaha. Worst case scenario is that I don't even like/understand the song and the pause/stop button on the player doesn't work. So yeah... that's that.

9. Do you read other blogs other than beauty blogs? Anything interesting? I love reading people's personal blogs, funny blogs, etc even though I don't follow them (I'm a lurker, hehehe).

and 10. I love blog awards... Thank you Eve & Klaudia!!!

From Eve



1. Post the logo on your Blog
2. Pass it to 12 bloggers that inspire you!
3. Link the bloggers and let them know!!

From Klaudia

1. Thank & link the person who gave you the award
2. Pass this award onto bloggers you recently discovered and think deserve this award
3. Contact said blogs & let them know they've won
4. State 7 facts about yourself

7 facts about me... (I think I've done it before but whatever, enjoy!)
1. I love my sister. She's 16 now and we don't look much alike (okay, we don't look alike at all), but we're like soulmates! She gets me and my craziness, although doesn't always tolerate them (yes I'm the evil one, haha). We don't see each other much (she lives in my hometown with my parents), I miss her a lot. :(
2. I write fictions and poetry (although not so much anymore because of the lack of time).
3. I'm not a nail polish addict like some girls in the beauty blogging world are. But I do buy them sometimes when I feel like it.
4. My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years now. :)
5. I swim to keep myself in shape, at least twice a week.
6. I have only been in a relationship 5 times. (someone asked this on my formspring, lol)
7. I'm such a bad cook. I think even my boyfriend is better than me. Lol. But I'm learning, you know. :P

***

A lot of bloggers have inspired me. Noticing how random I've been in blogging, I'd like to give these awards to people with consistency in their blogs and all the friendly bloggers I've come across. They're all awesome and they make me want to be a better beauty blogger :)
I'm passing these two awards to:

- Nikki
- Dao
- Gaby
- Sara
- Connie
- Bicky
- Kiku
-SilhoutteScreams

- Tao
- Shop N Chomp


I have a Too Faced sort-of-a-review coming up. Look forward to that! :)

This Brand Deserves Some Love!

Okay, I might be late in joining the bandwagon. But seriously, MILANI, where have you been all my life?!

I did read/hear A LOT of raves about their eyeshadows but it's not until now that I got the chance to try them myself. Since I'm new to the brand, I decided to order only 3 things: a bronzer, an eyeshadow single from their Runway line, and a palette which is called Runway Eyes Fashion Shadows.

Here's my small haul...


Let's just ignore the bronzer (gah, too orange for me as usual, I'm done with drugstore bronzers now I guess) and take a closer look at the eyeshadows.

MILANI RUNWAY EYESHADOW - #03 BRONZE DOLL

-gorgeous color (bronze with golden flecks)
-super pigmented
-even more pigmented when you use it wet
-stays put!!! (it lasts for like 7-8 hours on top of UDPP, I have never experienced it before with other drugstore eyeshadows, not even NYX)
-cheapie cheapie! (right now $4.99 on cherry culture)
-seriously, what more do you want?!?
-okay, the packaging is kind of weird-looking but I'm not much of a packaging whore, lol

SWATCHED:
left: dry, right: wet


MILANI RUNWAY EYES FASHION SHADOWS - #08 CATWALK

-VERY pigmented
-smooth texture
-it's $6.90 on cherry culture right now, I think it's a steal
-stays put too! (even the white color is amazinggg - you know how most cheap palettes have super chalky highlight color, right?)
-applies effortlessly, no joke
-not even hard to blend!
-the only downside I find is the stupid bar shape design! It's hard to swipe a certain type of brush on them sometimes so you gotta be EXTRA CAREFUL not to touch the other colors (because the eyeshadow bars are placed very close to each other)

SWATCHED:

And here's the eye makeup I did with these eyeshadows. I used bronze doll on the lid and the copperish red from the palette on the outer corner. On the inner corner of my eyes I used MAC goldenaire pigment. For highlight I swiped on Urban Decay's Sellout eyeshadow.

on my face:
-maybelline mineral powder foundation
-milani powder bronzer in light
-light pink blush from Coastal Scents 26 pcs combo palette

on my lips:
-Rimmel nude delight
- MAC flowerplay

I'm so getting more Milani eyeshadows after this!