Makeup Tips to Slash Years Off

Another year bites the dust. It's been a roller coaster ride. As experiences led to more wisdom and eye-opening lessons, the skin went on to mature as well. Getting older is generally dreaded, especially after 35. Personally, I believe it's beautiful. The little wrinkles attest to all the times you should never have gotten up, but did. The little bit of salt and pepper says you have learned a thing or two, the reading glasses that you now need to read the fine print just proves that your inner voice is now smart enough to say, "Hey! Read the fine print."

That's not to say that you should just let yourself go. Keeping ship shape regardless of age obviously begins with a healthy life style, you know... healthy diet, plenty of water, regular exercise, the usual, but makeup can help boost your look by kicking a few years off, making you look more vibrant, fresh and that of course, leads to more confidence. Look good, feel good has a lot of truth to it.

Here are a few tips that women can incorporate in their daily makeup routines that lead to more younger look:

Colour Pop Ultra Matte Liquid Lipsticks

Ultra matte is an accurate description. Girls, I have to say, was not expecting these to be a wowing product for me, prior experience with liquid lipsticks has not been pleasant, and I'm talking higher end brands. Suffice it to say, these little suckers packed one hell of a bang for the buck.

Makeup Favourites: 2015 Edition

It's been quite a year. And it's almost over, 2016 holds new exciting unknown adventures. Thought I should really get on top of this one, have been doing a favourites of the year regularly and it's time to see what made the list of the most used, most loved products of this year.

This year the theme of my go to look has been the no makeup makeup look. Seriously, looking at my most reached for lippies I saw no hues of wine, burgundy or red. Not even deep pinks. I've used them on occasion, but not enough to make the list.

There's an idea for a new year's resolution: use more deeper shades.

I just love seeing what everyone out there has in their stash and what they love most. So let's just get into mine.

Clinique Cheek Pop Blush in Ginger Pop and Plum Pop Review

Clinique Cheek Pops are by far the most beautifully packaged blushes I have ever owned/seen. Just take a moment to admire the cuteness of these beauties. The moment I laid my eyes on them, I knew I had to get one and ended up with 2 out of the then released 4 shades.

Clinique Cheek Pop Blushes in Ginger Pop and Plum Pop

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua- My Holy Grail Foundation at Last

I realize that I have been absent from the blogging arena for a while now. Some things went down, but the dust has finally settled. Suffice it to say, the reviews, tips and makeup related posts will now a be a more frequent part of your feed.

Right, moving along... as you all know I am a self-professed makeup junkie, but among the makeup categories, foundation takes the prize. The wisdom of all top-makeup artists makes so much more sense; a flawless (or as flawless as can be) base, makes for the ideal canvas for the rest of the paraphernalia on your vanity. I should totally do a post on my humble vanity ( ahem ahem) sometime soon. But I digress.

This puppy has been in my stash all sealed for a while now. Come the dry winter months combined with my prior experience with the big sister of this foundation (find the review and dupe here), I gave it a go.

Loreal LA Palette in Rose - A Mini-Review

The Naked Palettes from Urban Decay have set off the revolution of nude eye shadow palettes, but let's face it, they have the tendency to break the bank. Good news is there are great drugstore versions now, like this particular one...

Here is the low down on this palette by a co-author of this blog:

Tag by 'Allure By N'- 11 Things You Did Not Know About Me

I was so excited to write this post since even though I have done tag posts before, this is my first formal one in which I have been specifically tagged.

She has come up with some interesting questions and I hope to answer them as honestly as I can although some appear to be quite mind boggling...

June Favourites

This getting to be a bad pretty habit, procrastination that is. Each time I want to do a favourites post, I end up putting it up way after the 5th.

I finally got around to doing it. This month I have a couple of beauty items apart from just makeup. Some are staples, things that are just classic and that I feel very strongly of never letting go, others are new discoveries.

Let's dive right in:

New MAC Lipstick and Dupe

I was all excited for the unveiling of my new MAC lipstick. This one was on my most wanted list for ages and ages. As I was happily swatching it, it dawned on me that I had put up a post of a lipstick that was very very similar to it just a while back; in fact it was my last post. Okay I'm telling you already... the name of my newest addition is none other than MAC's infamous Velvet Teddy.

Color Studio Professional Lipsticks

There's love at first sight, and there is falling in love steadily; which is what is happening between this brand and I. I brought a brush from this line on the advice of my sister (reviewed here) and just recently, my sister-in-law and I were standing at the display, pondering what to buy.

 As we stood their leisurely swatching things, ladies were coming up asking the sales woman to give them lipsticks with the particular lipstick name. My sister-in-law and I looked each other, a little surprised. Was this range the new MAC? It certainly looked like it from the way things were going. So we just took the plunge. We tried getting our hands on a matte shade, but it was sold out, so we picked out two from the creamy finish line. We got the two shades in 'Tornado' and 'Runway'.

Maybelline Color Drama Velvet Lip Pencils

I thought that these pencils would a little bigger, but they are smaller than your average jumbo lip pencils. When I first caught a whiff of them online, I was intrigued since they looked very nice and were reasonably prized. They are not the retractable ones, they need to be sharpened. This is a plus for me since I like the tip to be sharpish to get a clean lip line.

It was a pleasant surprise to receive these from my sister-in-law (also co-author of this blog) though I believe she has left the heavy lifting to me...(I'm ducking).....nevertheless, I tried them out albeit just once. If you want to know my first impressions, read on.

Shades: 510 Red Essential and 210 Keep it Classy

The Colossal Kajal 12H Extra Black Pencil

I've got a tonne of eye pencils all tucked away in a nifty little box. There's something so pretty about them, all the pretty colors and packaging. But black is the one colour you can not have enough of. It's most used and anybody can use it and look good. It is also enough to do an entire eye look. In a hurry just swipe it across your lids and smudge, BAM! Instant smoky eye. Then go over closer to you lash line, tight line on the upper and lower lids. Gorgeous smoky eyes in under 2 minutes. Generally speaking, you'll be looking for a formula that is matte, stays put, yet is pliable enough to smudge out when you apply it and is very very black. So does this product fit the bill?

MAC's Satin Taupe, Is It Worth the Hype?

I just love using palettes that have a good variety of eyeshadows. It's very convenient. It also enables you to get creative. A few lovely ones that spring to mind are Urban Decay's Vice 3 (review here), both the Lorac Pro Palettes and the Naked Palettes. With all of these, I don't really have to use primer, just a light hand with concealer works (but just set with powder) and they last all day. They just need a dab in the pan for good colour payoff.

To be honest, I am just not a fan of singles. Although the Satin Taupe from Mac is housed in a quad, I'll still say its a single. But is it worth it? MAC eyeshadows are pretty expensive and it could set you back quite a bit to make a quad. I remember thoroughly researching MAC eyeshadows when I wanted to build mine.

Satin Taupe was probably the most hyped best seller. I liked the swatches too (though I thought they looked different in each picture-but more on that later). And so it was that I became the proud of owner of this eyeshadow.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Colour Rush Intense Balm

Having worn more or less matte lips consistently for a couple of weeks now, this morning I felt like a different finish was in order. Also, I was sleepy so I was looking a little lack luster as it were. The culprit I suspect, was that midnight dessert that chased away my beauty sleep only for it to come right back at me in the wee hours of the morning.

So I just went through my usual routine in a very routine way, but jazzed it up a little with the Rimmel Lip Balm Jumbo stick in 200 Keep Mauving. Although I had used it on a number of occasions before, I only just noticed its awesomeness this morning.

These are available in a variety of colours, all of them very pretty, but since I shy away from reds and pasty colours that totally wash me out, I picked up the browny pinky shade in Keep Mauving. I don't really see the mauve in it, but okay. 

April Favorites

April passed by very fast, I guess I'll be saying that for May as well. I mean its already the 7th. Sadly this month, I feel like I've gotten myself into a makeup rut. Getting ready for work in the morning is one of the best parts of my day, but this past month I've been sticking to very neutral looks. This was a complete 360 degree turn from last month. You can read that post here.

At any rate, I still don't see myself reaching out for more bolder looks any time soon, I'm suspecting it must be the summer heat. Naaa... who am I kidding, it's just a rut, pure and simple.

On with the show: Excuse the grubbiness on few of the products, its a result of sometimes rushed mornings.

Olay Total Effects 7 in 1 Instant Smoothing Serum

Well time just keeps on ticking away, and although I have rather good skin for a woman in her late 30's, I can't be kidding myself that the effects of aging won't catch up sooner or later. The objective of course, is the latter. I usually have skin care samples lying around that I use every now and then, but when those ran out I actually panicked, ever so slightly, but panic I did. And so as my brother, his wife and 2 children and my mom were on their way out to the department store, I invited myself to tag along. "Oh, don't worry about the kids, I'll keep an eye on them, you all just concentrate on your shopping," I said. Little did they know about my diabolical plan of giving them the slip at the beauty department. At any rate, I managed to tell my mom to hang on the kids while I step away for a moment. A moment, that's a laugh. The choices were endless. I ended up picking up the product mentioned above. I hadn't read any reviews and had no idea what I was signing up for.

Color Studio Professional Powder Brush

Brushes (tools) matter. They do. Found out through personal experience. Good news is, they don't necessarily have to be expensive to deliver on performance. Having said that, I am always on the lookout for a nice brush. You can pretty much imagine my excitement when my sister pointed out this sweet innocent looking stall at the mall the other day. She told me their brushes were well known, not expensive and very good quality. I was a little skeptic, and went up for closer inspection. As it dawned on me my sister was right, I turned around and gave her an accusatory look as if to say, "And you are telling me this just now... what is wrong with you girl?" There was a display on a vertical rack with all types of makeup brushes and nail art tools. Since I was already hunting for a good big powder brush, I picked up the one on display. The brand name is Color Studio Professional and is easily available here in Pakistan.

Dome Powder Face Brush by Color Studio Professional

The Top 5 Beauty Mistakes I Used to Make

Though I've never had professional training in the field of makeup application, being an avid fan of learning new techniques and keeping up with what's going on in the makeup world is a passion I take quite seriously. Through the hit and trial method I have come to a few very important conclusions when it comes to applying makeup, generally speaking. I wanted to share these insights with other younger aspiring makeup fans out there about what I have picked up over the past 20 or so odd years since I became interested.

March Favorites

Here we are almost in mid-April and I am just now posting this. It happens right. So without wasting any more time I'll delve right into it.

January Favorites

Yes I'll admit I'm a little late with this post, but better late than never. I've been using a few products this month with great diligence. I've settled into this comfy relationship and I know they will work for me every time. Without further ado I give you... my January favs:

My Brown/ Brown based Lipstick Favs

With the return of the brown/ browny nude/ brown based lips this coming season, I decided to go through my stash and fell in love of some my since forgotten and hardly used lipsticks and I just kept wondering why I hadn't been using them for some time. But here they are....

I love this entire color range so much, and it looks absolutely gorgeous on medium to dark skin tones, it's pretty for night events and goes superbly with gold eyeshadow.

Urban Decay Vice 3 Palette

As always, the Vice palettes that Urban Decay release every year comes with a great deal of hustle and bustle in the makeup world. These are limited edition items, and makeup junkies need to get their fix... since I did not own the previous 2 versions, I decided to cave in to my dark side.

Makeup: Best of 2014

So another year has ended. It's been an interesting year in terms of makeup, all sorts of looks trended from the no makeup makeup look, to the vampy lip to the super chiseled look. This year I noticed there have been quite a few products that I have been using quite consistently, some I rediscovered. So without further I ado, I give you my 2104 fav makeup picks: