Smokey Blue

Smokey Blue

This look reminds me of the Midnight Sky look that I posted earlier this year. It was a much more subtle version of the look though.

& of course, I'm still loving this blue eyeshadow (CS 18) from BH Cosmetics.

Let me update you: BLOGLOVIN' • INSTAGRAM • FACEBOOK • TWITTER

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Cranberry Gold

Cranberry Gold

Another wedding, another makeup look.

I started off by applying the brown eyeshadow in my crease & was planning on stopping there but I had time so I played around some more.

Products Used:

Eyes:

• Too Faced Shadow Insurance Primer [lid till under the brow + inner corner + lower lashline]

• MAC eyeshadow in Cranberry [all over lid]

• BH Cosmetics eyeshadow in MM17 [crease & blended upward toward the browbone + lower lashline]

• Gold pencil eyeliner [tear duct + inner corner of lid & lower lashline + waterline]

• Senna Cosmetics Glow Eye Color in Flare [under brow & over the areas where I applied the gold pencil eyeliner]

• Maybelline waterproof liquid eyeliner in Black [upper lashline]

• L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara in Carbon Black [upper & lower lashes]

•  Senna Cosmetics' Sketch-a-Brow Pencil in Dark Taupe 

Lips:

• C.O. Bigelow's Rose Salve [from Bath & Body Works]

• Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip in 14C - Light Rosewood

Face:

• Revlon Colorstay Foundation for combination/oily skin in 250 Fresh Beige

• Cover FX Conceal FX Camouflage Concealer in Medium [under eye & nose]

• Maybelline Dream Matte Powder in Honey - Medium 3-4  [to set concealer & dusted lightly on T-zone]

• Too Faced Chocolate Soleil matte bronzing powder [contoured cheeks]

• Dior Shimmer Powder in 002 Amber Diamond [cheekbone highlight]

• Laura Geller's Blush-N-Brighten in Roseberry [cheeks] 

•  Senna Cosmetics' Sketch-a-Brow Pencil in Dark Taupe

You can see a bit more of my gorgeous Waseem Noor outfit in the pic below. I absolutely love the bold colours with the black. I didn't really match my makeup to my outfit this time.

By the way, I'm loving the MUFE Aqua Lip in 14C. The last 2 pictures show the colour the best.

Let me update you: BLOGLOVIN' • INSTAGRAM • FACEBOOK • TWITTER

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Butterfly on a Pearl

Butterfly on a Pearl

"Pearls lie not on the seashore. If thou desirest one thou must dive for it"

- Chinese Proverb

Faux Pearl Crystal Butterfly Alloy Wedding Bridal Stud Earrings (Item ID: 2540)

Price: $1.99

Buy it here

These cute earrings are from BornPrettyStore.com, where you can find tons of things for nail art, eyelashes, and a lot more. Use the coupon code "SAIMESEK31" for 10% off your purchase. 

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Review: Dressing Up Your Nails Using Konad's m36 Plate

Review: Dressing Up Your Nails Using Konad's m36 Plate

Spending time doing nail art is something that I usually stay away from since I find it time consuming & messy because I'm not really good at it so I waste more time fixing mistakes. The Konad stamping nail art kit, however, makes the whole nail art process a bit easier for me.

Base nail polish: Pure Ice in Electric!

The Basic Nail Art Stamping Kit by Konad that I received from Nail Polish Canada includes the stamper, scraper, mini Konad nail polish, & the m36 plate.

Price: $17 CAD

Buy it here

I looked at the directions first because I've never tried nail art stamping & the process looked pretty simple, so I tried it. It took me 2 tries to get the hang of it, but after that it was fairly easy.

Base nail polish: Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry in 170 Expresso

Base nail polish: Maybelline's Color Show Metallics in 100 Navy Narcissist

Base nail polish: Mary Kay in Radiant Red

This design is purposely close the edge because I wanted it to look like the butterflies were flying away.

For some of the designs, the edges didn't transfer properly because I didn't pick it up on the stamper very well. However, the more I practised, the better I got at it.

There were also times when I got delayed by maybe 3 seconds but by then the stamper didn't pick the nail polish. I think this was the most challenging part about the whole process but speed is something that you'd pick up with time as soon as you're comfortable with the process.

Another thing that will require more practice (or just being careful & quick) is if you would like to transfer the design to the edge of your nail, you might have to play around with the placement till you get it right.

Here are all the designs on the Konad m36 plate up close.

Overall, doing nail art with the help of the Konad stamping nail art kit was fun & easy; it just took a bit of practice & speed. I loved the second nail art design that I did in this post (the rose design across the top of each nail) - it was beautiful & looked like I spent a long time doing it!

Nail Polish Canada also sells various Konad stamping plates for under $10. I was browsing through some of them & I absolutely LOVE Konad's image plate #S6 because of the bold designs.

Have you tried any stamping nail art kits? How was your experience?

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Matte Mint & Sparkling Gold

Matte Mint & Sparkling Gold

Forever 21: Love & Beauty nail polish in Mint

Hard Candy: Just Nails nail polish in Matte-ly in Love

ALDO: peep-toe heels in the style Kinseth-85

Love this colour combo! ♥

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Light Summers

Light Summers

Ever since I was in grade 8, I've been obsessed with black liquid eyeliner - the darker the better. But this year I managed to go without liquid eyeliner not once, not twice, but several times, which might come as quite a surprise if you've seen me over the years.

Part of it might be the fact that I started using L'Oreal's Voluminous mascara in Carbon Black, which is such a rich black & it makes your lashes look extremely dark & full.

My eyebrows are super dark & by that I mean jet black, so I'm always looking for the darkest mascara or liquid eyeliner, so that my eyebrows aren't overpowering the rest of my features.

It could also be because as I'm growing older, my makeup application is evolving with me. That's always a good thing because you don't want to be stuck with the same old routine & tricks. I've applied the tricks & tips that I've absorbed from reading a lot of beauty blogs & watching even more YouTube videos/tutorials. What good would it do if I gained all that information & didn't put it to use to see how it works for my face & adapt those techniques?

Whatever brought about this change, I quite like it especially in the summer because it makes me look fresh. I avoided dark eyeshadows or blushes as well, keeping the look light.


Do you change up your look in the summer?

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Review: ES A715 lashes

Review: ES A715 lashes

I am so excited & grateful that Furless Cosmetics has posted my makeup look, the Spunky Bright Magenta Look, on their site! Yup, that's my eye right there! ;)

This reminded me that I haven't reviewed the lashes (from KKCenterHK.com) I wore in that makeup look post so I thought what better time to do it than now.

ES A715

Price: $15.69 (USD) for a box of 10

Buy it here

Pros:

• Blends in very well with natural lashes.
• Makes lashes look full.
• Just the right amount of curl.
• Fairly easy to apply.
• Look nice in close up pictures/portraits.

Cons:

• Price listed for the all the ES 10 pairs false eyelashes has increased by 3 times!
• Box doesn't come with a window, so you have to open it to see what kind of lashes are inside.

Here are 2 looks that I've posted in which I'm wearing these lashes:

 

In the looking using browns on the left, I cut the lashes in half & applied both of those pieces on top of each other in the outer half/corner of the eye. In the look on the right, I've used the whole false eyelash.

Do you like lashes that look natural or do you prefer something more dramatic?

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Review: My BH Cosmetics' 15 Colour Eyeshadow Pro Customized Palette

Review: My BH Cosmetics' 15 Colour Eyeshadow Pro Customized Palette

Hey everyone! So I've posted a lot of looks using eyeshadows from my BH Cosmetics' 15 Colour Eyeshadow Pro Customized Palette & I'm finally getting around to doing a review on the palette as well as the 15 eyeshadows that were kindly sent to me for review consideration. I kept putting off the review because I wanted to use each eyeshadow at least a few times (for blog post looks & otherwise) so I could put together an honest review based on my experience from using each eyeshadow more than just once or twice. Now that I've been using this palette for months & reaching for it everyday (because of one of the eyeshadows), I'm ready to start this lengthy review! **rolls up sleeves to begin** haha

The eyeshadow palette itself is a little thick but it's not long & big, so you can easily hold it in your hand while applying makeup or even carry it in your handbag with you. It's a dull finish, so you don't have to worry about leaving fingerprints on it everywhere. I absolutely LOVE the huge mirror on the inside - it's a blessing because the natural light in my room is horrible, so most times I just stand in front of the window with the palette stretched out in front of me in one hand & makeup brush in the other. You could probably do your whole face just by using this mirror. I dropped this palette once; it was open & it dropped on the carpet & the magnet wasn't strong enough to hold a few of the eyeshadows in place, but none of them broke. You can easily replace the eyeshadows by using your nail to take the current eyeshadow out of place. The best part is that instead of the 15 eyeshadow palette, you can get the 6 eyeshadow palette instead, put in neutral shades or the shades that you use the most, & carry it with you everywhere!

Now that we're done with the outside, lets get to the beautiful eyeshadows inside the palette. You can customize the palette by choosing from a wide selection of colours & textures. The textures available are Warm Matte (WM), Warm Shimmer (WS), Cool Matte (CM), Cool Shimmer (CS), Metallic Matte (MM), & Metallic Shimmer (MS). The eyeshadows are sold individually so you don't have to buy the palette. Each eyeshadow is also labelled with the name of the company & colour code on the back, so if you end up using it all & the 'bh' imprint is erased, you'll still have all the info you need on the back to re-purchase.

Here are the colours that I chose for my customized palette:

I've also added my thoughts on each shade just in case you're curious.
Scroll down if you'd rather skip the description & head straight to take a peek at the swatches instead.

WM09 - Great as a blush for medium to darker skin tones. Very pigmented.
(as seen in Swarovski Inspired Spring Fun)

WM06 - Takes a bit of effort to make it show up on my skin tone unless I'm using a white eyeshadow base. I was determined to make it show up in my swatch picture though, so I swatched it about 2-3 times.

WM08 - Not as pigmented as I'd like for my skin tone unless I'm using a white eyeshadow base, but better pigmentation than WM06.
(as seen in Happy Valentine's Day - Coral, Pinks, & Purples Look, Glamourizing Browns With Colour)

WM20 - Hot pink that's great for any pink eyeshadow lover. Pigmented & smooth.
(as seen in Happy Valentine's Day - Coral, Pinks, & Purples Look, Glamourizing Browns With Colour, Makeup Look at My Cousin's Wedding)

MM05 - Reddish brown that I looked at on the website & thought it could work as a nice blush colour, but it turned out to be a bit too dark.

CS18 - Such a beautiful, shimmery colour & extremely pigmented. I absolutely love this one. Just a slight bit of fall out.
(as seen in Mums Anniversary Makeup, Midnight Sky, Glamourizing Browns With Colour)

MM19 - Fallout & the fact that you really need to build up this eyeshadow annoys me a little & that has kept me from using this eyeshadow more than I have.
(as seen in Midnight Sky)

CS06 - True to the colour in the pan & really pretty & shimmery, but it has fallout so you have to be careful.
(as seen in Gradient Orchid Look)

CM08 - Colour appears a bit lighter & different when swatched as compared to the colour in the pan.
(as seen in Happy Valentine's Day - Coral, Pinks, & Purples Look)

CS16 - Super shimmery & super messy because of way too much fallout than any pan eyeshadow should ever have.
(as seen in Happy Valentine's Day - Coral, Pinks, & Purples Look, Gradient Orchid Look)

CS01 - I picked out this colour because I thought it would look great as a highlight colour, but in real life this colour is a bit dark when you look at it in the pan & it looks even darker when swatched or applied. The only Cool Shimmer eyeshadow that I didn't get fallout with.
(as seen in Glamourizing Browns With Colour)

CM02 - Very pretty & pigmented shade. On my skintone this shade looks like a purple-ish brown.
(as seen in Swarovski Inspired Spring Fun, Glamourizing Browns With Colour)

MM06 - Pigmented & smooth application.
(as seen in Midnight Sky, Gradient Orchid Look)

MM17 - This has been my go-to crease colour for the past few months.. no joke. I used to apply MAC's eyeshadow in Saddle in my crease with a blending brush, but ever since I've tried this colour, I've only used MAC's Saddle once. I usually use this for my everyday neutral looks & here's exactly what I do: apply eyeshadow primer, use BH Cosmetics' Blending Brush (see review of this brush here) to apply MM17 eyeshadow in the crease & blend, curl lashes, apply black liquid eyeliner, & finish off by applying mascara to the bottom & top lashes. Voila! This is the eyeshadow that I've used the most from this palette & I absolutely love it for adding depth to my eye because it really is the perfect crease colour for my skintone - I've written a whole paragraph about it... do you need more proof as to how much I love this?
(as seen in Minimal Makeup, Glamourizing Browns With Colour, Bold Earth Toned Eyes & Red Lips, Makeup Look at My Cousin's Wedding)

CM20 - I didn't expect the colour pay off to be that great, which is exactly why this is one of the shades that I picked. I've tried some black eyeshadows from drugstore brands & I've been disappointed, so I was skeptical about this, but this shade is super pigmented & you don't get fall out either!
(as seen in Midnight Sky, Gradient Orchid Look, Glamourizing Browns With Colour, Makeup Look at My Cousin's Wedding)

Swatches! Roll your mouse over the picture below to see the names/codes of the eyeshadows.

Overall, the range of colours & finishes is great, but I wish they had more greens & maybe even yellows to choose from. The colours on the website are not true to life, so people will have a hard time picking out the eyeshadows. If I knew the eyeshadows would turn out so much darker & vibrant than the images on the website, I would have picked out a few greens. The pigmentation of the darker shades as well as the shimmer eyeshadows is awesome even without a base, but I experienced fallout with almost all of the shimmery shades. The eyeshadows blend easily & the price is great for the amount of product you receive. I haven't included the prices because BH Cosmetics usually has amazing sales & the prices keep changing - they're very reasonable though, so check out the site.

Definitely give these a try, especially the 6 Colour Eyeshadow Pro Customized Palette if you want something to carry with you wherever you go.

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Eid-ul-Fitr (Aug 19, 2012) Henna

Eid-ul-Fitr (Aug 19, 2012) Henna

I was really excited to apply henna this Eid because I had finally decided that I'm going to try making henna from scratch. If you've read my blog posts about henna before you might remember that I don't like using henna cones that you can buy in stores because of all the chemicals that they add. Not only do those chemical filled henna cones smell weird, but when the henna starts fading, it peels off my skin & looks so disgusting!

I can't remember the last time I was so excited to apply henna. I know I don't look excited at all though, but that's just how I look when I'm concentrating. Henna application is serious business... no smiling, no distractions!

I found these henna designs via a mehndi/henna app that I downloaded on my iPhone & decided to try them out.

I only left the henna on for about 4 hours since I applied it late at night & I had to be up early to get ready & head out to a park where the Eid prayers were being held. The colour still turned out amazing though & it kept getting darker for the next 2 days - just the way natural henna does!

For those who don't know, henna cones that have tons of chemicals are also known as emergency cones because the colour is super dark the next day thanks to all the chemicals. I like my natural henna way better though.

I was too lazy to take pics this time around, so a huge thank you to my friend, Wamiq, & my mum for taking these pics via their cell phones & making this blog post possible.

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Makeup Look at My Cousin's Wedding

Makeup Look at My Cousin's Wedding

While doing my makeup for my cousins wedding, I chose to use colours that matched my outfit. Now a lot of people don't like when makeup matches with the outfit, but I feel like matching your makeup to your outfit works really well for South Asian events.

If you've seen my post on the makeup look that I did for the mehendi/henna party (one of the pre-wedding ceremonies), you will see that not only do I match the makeup colours to my outfit, but I also avoid details on my eyelid. I do this on purpose for 2 reasons. First, I don't have much lid space, but I have a lot of space from my crease to under my brow. Second, I prefer applying a thick line of liquid eyeliner on my upper lashline because it looks better with the shape of my face & suits me more when the look is completed. Now, when I apply a thick line of liquid eyeliner, it ends up covering a lot of that lid space, so I tend to bring my lid colour a little above the crease to open up my eye a bit.

Third, I'm lazy & don't want to spend time doing details on my eyelid when they won't show as much because of my eye shape.

Products Used:

• Too Faced Shadow Insurance Primer [lid till under the brow + inner corner + lower lashline]

• Senna Cosmetics Glow Eye Color in Flare [applied as highlight - under brow & inner corner of eye]

• Prestige Cosmetics eyeshadow in C-179 Golden Retriever [lid & crease]

• BH Cosmetics eyeshadow in MM17 [outer half of browbone]

• BH Cosmetics eyeshadow in WM20 [inner half of browbone]

• BH Cosmetics eyeshadow in CM20 [outer corner + upper & lower wings + lower lashline]

• Maybelline waterproof liquid eyeliner in Black [upper lashline]

• L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara in Carbon Black [upper & lower lashes]

• Annabelle Cosmetics Smudgeliner in Black Out [tigthline + lower lashline]

• Light blue nail art rhinestone [inner corner]

So whenever I take pics for blog posts, I usually always have 1 or 2 pics where I'm making faces. I mean come on.. I get sick of smiling so much, especially since I was smiling all day at the wedding. I finally decided to include one of these funny face pics. Not without cause though.. in the pic you can also see the colours of my outfit: orangeish yellow (I don't even know what you'd call that colour, but it's so unique), hot pink, light blue, & a lot of silver bling.

I wish I had enough time to apply false lashes as well, but it takes me a while to apply them. Since I was running a bit late, I didn't want to mess up my makeup & decided against it.

I really think the matchy-matchy makeup worked well. What do you think?

Are you pro matchy-matchy or totally against it?

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Bold Earth Toned Eyes & Red Lips

Bold Earth Toned Eyes & Red Lips

I wore this look for one of the pre-wedding ceremonies at my cousins wedding: the mehendi/henna night.

My outfit was red, green, & gold, so I decided to use those colours in my look.

I decided to go with a look that's a little similar to a gold & green combo that I did a while ago because I really like how it turned out. Pairing the look with red lips completed the look & made it look 10 times better!

 These pictures were taken at the end of the night (around 1 am), so my lipstick wore off & I was working the next morning so I took these pics as fast as I could & headed off to bed. At least I finally posted a look, right? :)

Products Used:

Eyes:

• Too Faced Shadow Insurance Primer [lid till under the brow + inner corner + lower lashline]

• Senna Cosmetics Glow Eye Color in Flare [applied as hihglight - under brow & inner corner of eye]

• Prestige Cosmetics eyeshadow in C-179 Golden Retriever [lid & blended up to the crease]

• BH Cosmetics eyeshadow in MM17 [crease & blended upward toward the browbone]

• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk [lower lashline - to help the green eyeshadow stick & avoid fallout]

• 120 eyeshadow palette (1st edition) - shimmery dark green eyeshadow (O2 in reference chart below) [lower lashline & winged on the outer corner]

• Maybelline waterproof liquid eyeliner in Black [upper lashline]

• L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara in Carbon Black [upper & lower lashes]

Lips:

• C.O. Bigelow's Rose Salve [from Bath & Body Works]

• Revlon matte lipstick in 007 In the Red

Face:

• Revlon Colorstay Foundation for combination/oily skin in 250 Fresh Beige

• Senna Cosmetics concealer palette in [under eye & nose]

• Maybelline Dream Matte Powder in Honey - Medium 3-4  [to set concealer & dusted lightly on T-zone (forehead + nose) to help control oil throughout the night]

• Too Faced Chocolate Soleil matte bronzing powder [contoured cheeks]

• Dior Shimmer Powder in 002 Amber Diamond [cheekbone highlight]

• Barry M Blusher in BL1 - Pink Orchid [cheeks]

For reference purposes, here are pictures of the 120 eyeshadow palette (1st edition) & the BH Cosmetics palette.

The red lips along with the rest of the makeup might seem like a bit much, but I can't stress how much the red lips completed the look especially since desi (South Asian) outfits are heavily embroidered & the wedding ceremonies are filled with tons of colours!

I'll be posting the makeup look that I did for the wedding as well, so stay tuned for that.

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Review: BornPrettyStore.com eyelashes #728B

Review: BornPrettyStore.com eyelashes #728B

I've been trying the 728B lashes from BornPrettyStore.com for a few months now, but each time I try to apply them, I end up feeling incompetent. At first I thought it was just me, so I gave the lashes a few more tries, but even then they're just not working well for me. I guess this is a little warning before my list of pros & cons because I don't have many pros for this particular style.

Item ID: 728B

Price: $8.54 for a box of 10

Buy it here

Pros

• Box comes with a "window" so you can easily see which style they are.

• Not very stiff.

Cons

• The first 2 times that I tried applying these lashes, I couldn't get them to blend with my natural lashes at all & it just ruined the whole look. I feel like I really have to make an effort to blend my natural & fake lashes because of how the fake lashes are curled.

• Since the lashes are curled a lot & long, it makes it hard to apply the lashes.

• The lashes look plastic-y in close up pictures instead of wispy & flirty, so it's best to avoid them if you're going to be taking those kinds of pictures or, in my opinion, even if you're going on a date.

I've actually worn these lashes in 4 looks that I've posted so far, so you can click each picture to see the corresponding blog post & check these lashes out in action.

Another thing that I'd like to add is that I've tried these lashes out in 4 posts because each time I thought I'd get better at applying them, but that really wasn't the case when I applied the full strip of lashes. The only time I liked wearing these lashes was when I cut the lashes in half & wore them in the Swarovski Inspired Spring Fun post.

How do you think the lashes looked when used in the makeup looks that I've posted?


Even though the lashes didn't work out for me, I'm loving the nail art rhinestones from this online store (use the coupon code SAIMESEK31 for 10% off your purchase) that I've used & reviewed. I recently used those rhinestones in a makeup look.. pictures are coming up soon!

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Metallic Green Charcoal Look

Metallic Green Charcoal Look

 While browsing through the Eye Graffiti blog last night I saw a look by Azure that I wanted to try. I've been wanting to use my 88 Metal eyeshadow palette from Sedona Lace for a while now since I hardly ever use it & the palette had all the colours that I could use for this look, so I did an inspired look today. Since all the colours used were metallic/shimmery, I think it threw my camera off because the colours didn't show up nicely, but enjoy!

I wish the blue showed up a bit darker instead of the frosty blue that it showed up as. I still liked the look though.

Click here to see the original look by Azure on the Eye Graffiti blog. Azure's look has such pretty reddish-gold flecks of glitter.

Warning: once you visit the Eye Graffiti blog you are going to end up spending tons of time browsing through all their wonderful looks. Seriously, I'm not kidding.

Have you tried the 88 Metal eyeshadow palette?

How do you like it?

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