soft feline....

a classic cat-eye-and-red-lips look with softer more natural colors.

eyes: for the base that supplied a nude shimmer and natural sculpting i generously swept bare escentuals, bare minerals, eye color in bare skin on both lids. to deepen my eye socket very supply i added a matte very light light-brown eye shadow (in my crease) and vanilla sugar (also by bare escentials) (on my tear duct and centre of my movable lid). for the soft winged-eyeliner (that is crucial for the cat-eye) i first used a matte chocolate-brown swiss with a small eye shadow brush and then a dark brown, with an eye liner brush along the top lash row only. as far as my eye lashes.... i made sure to give them a nice eye-opening lift, by slowly closing my eyes at the same time as carefully pulling my lash architect wand, from the roots to the tips.

lips: instead of the classic-50s-red i chose craving, a soft berry tone by mac cosmetics, after lining my lips a matching lip liner.

have fun

all i need...

have you ever asked yourself: if you could only eat one thing (not a meal) for the rest of your life... what would it be? well i have...... my answer is pretzels... bavarian pretzels (i am after all guilty of a hashtaaag-pretzel on instagram....... more than once.... or twice) 

as far as make-up gowes..... this is my answer (keeping in mind that this could will change): 

skin:  revlon's photoready bb cream, skin perfecter with spy 30

eyes: bronze eyeliner that i roughly frame my eyes with and smudge with my fingers before adding black eyeliner on my upper waterline and (of course) mascara.

and the lip color that i have literally been wearing almost every day...... stila's liquid lipstick in aria (and even though i have told you about it, about a million times before) it is my unbeaten champion. no-fuss, no-smudge, co crease.... and best non-classic-red color. the other day i wore this lipstick... and after a good-old midnight snack (at ottos's tacos) my friend says to me "what is that lipstick!? i have to buy it! it made it through tacos aaaand guac!!!". there you have it.

but no matter how many beauty products you neeeeed, or want.... have fun!

bare minimum

i am back in shanghai after my two week vaycay in new york, that was absolutely incredible. (you got a liiiittle idea about that here) i'm not gonna lie.... i had so much fun that it was maaaaybe (but not really) good when it was time to leave... or i might have died... of sleep deprivation. but actually more likely... a bagel-overdose..... i kid you not.  maaaan do i still have stories to tell photos to show you. 

 my trip also involved breaking my mac powder foundation, multiple fingernails, my roommates' friends' cup (i reimbursed her for it, don't worry) and maaaaybe also a heart (no reimbursing possible.....) jk..... i hope.

anyway, when i travel i do like to travel light... also when it comes to my make-up. (you might have came across this topic before...... like here or here). i still found myself not using most of the little pots of color i brought with me. if you have been checking out this little blog of mine for a while (so probably my direct family.... jk) you will have noticed that i have definitely been doing less complicated and time-intensive make-up looks lately. but for the past few weeks my routine has been reduced to the bare minimum..... not because of time or laziness, though. i actually really just like it more.

revlon, photoready bb cream, skin perfecter with spf 30 (here i first introduced you to it). i am not even using any powder over it and really like the dewy finish. okok a little concealer for those little friends that i can't travel without.... breakouts. then of course mascara (sometimes also just on the top row) you are about to ask "what mascara do you use?" the answer is "lash architect, baby!" my one and only.  after filling my brows lightly and throwing  mac's lip conditioner (tube) in my bag, i am out the door.

when i want a little more i only add a touch of blush with mac, mineralize skinfinsh, in soft and gentle on my cheek bone and brow bone aaaand any sort of lip color i was in the mood for.

so ladies... how bare can youuuu go?

non-black liners

i have been using my non-black eyeliners sooo much (like here, here... or here and a buuuuunch more times that i didn't post) that i thought it would be time to purchase some new colors…. a quick visit to sephora (luckily they have them here in shanghai!) took care of that. 

eyes: today i used both of my new colors… purple and green (thumb down for theses un-creative names, sephora) of the base i used a purple-silver loose powder (one of my faves, but unfortunately a limited edition by mac) the purple eyeliner i used along the upper lash row and the green along the lower lashes. on the outer corner i used the little sponge (the eyeliners come with) to blend the two colors together. while making sure to get the roots really well, i coated my lashes with mascara… and that was already it! this is definitely one of those looks that looks much more complicated / time-intensive than it is.

blush: for some reason i felt like a slightly bronzed skin today, so i used the brown color in my benefit, 10 box and swept it just below the cheekbones. 

lips: after defining the edge very subtly with revlon, tint+blam in rendezvous i layered my mac lipstick in twig (that i told you about here) over it, for that i-am-totally-not-wering-lipstick-but-just-naturally-have-these-luscious-lips look.

...and having a really good-hair-day also helped this look! you know how i love those..... well, who does't?

can’t go wrong

with this look you just can’t go wrong...... a subtle gold shimmering eye and classic red lipstick.

eyes: into the buff by bare escentuals  is my go-to natural-gold shimmer. i used it as the first layer on my eye lids. true gold on the other hand, is veeery gold and veeerry sparkly. it is perfect for adding that extra sparkle and sculpting of the eyelids, by placing it on the centre of the movable lid and the tear duct. for a more intense look i rimmed my eyes along the lashes with a mat dark-brown eyeshadow, and between the lashes and the waterlines i drew black eye liner before finishing up with mascara. 

lips: the lipstick i used was ara red #999 by dior cosmetics, after carefully lining my lips with a red lipliner.

blush: i used my bright red mac blush, frankly scarlet.


have fun

cat-eye-calvins

the day of this make-up i was rockin' #mycalvins (not quiiiiite pulling it off as good as marky.....) anyway, to counter balance the sports bra, i did a more feminine cat-eye-thaaang.

eyes: for the base i used one of my faves, that i haven’t used in a while because it was a special edition eyeshadow by mac, named performing art. it is just the perfect soft shimmery light grey. because (on my eyes) i don’t like doing a stronger eyeliner without sculpting the eyelid (at least a bit) i places light pink on the centre of the movable lid and on the brow bone. i also used this color to subtly highlight the bottom lid. the cat-eye line i created by pulling plumage (also mac) along the upper lashes with a short bristled brush (like this one). then i defined the outer swoosh with a short line of black liquid eyeliner, starting only from the very outer edge of my upper lid and ending in a sharp point. 

for the rest of my face (foundation, blush, brows and lips) i did this. because if you find something that works... work it!

by the way... this look is totally under the influence of my new muse that i have yet to tell you all about.

new version.....

my summer make-up has still been very more or less simple and usually with focus on the lips. i have been doing versions of this. 

even though i just changed two small thing it gave me a completely different look. 

this time i used a frosted pink eyeshadow color on the crease over mac, paints in stilife and lipstick in media (with my vino lip pencil).

have fun

a bit of drama

lately my make-up has been very minimal…. so the other day i was in the mood for a little bit more dramatic look.

just remember: "all drama must remain on stage!"

skin: for  a more intense make-up look like this i like the skin to be very even too. that means revlon, photoready bb cream, skin perfecter with spy 30 under bare essentials, bare minerals, original foundation broad spectrum and for that extra little drama-factor benefit, 10, bronzing and highlighting duo

eyes: once again i used all that glitters by mac as the base. with a medium eyeshadow brush i placed a silvery-purple (unfortunately it was a special edition) pigment by mac on the movable lids. and incase you think that i ooonly use name-brand make-up…… i'll prove you wrong. the eye liner i used is by a total drugstore-cosmetics line… p2. i really like their fantastic chrome kajal eyeliners though and this one is 060 black granite. i pulled it generous along both lash lines and then smudged it with my fingers, before coating my eye lashes with mascara. (was having a bad-lash-day……..)

lips: i filled my entire lips with mac's lip pencil in night moth and then painted lipstick in media over it. 

and i guess the bitch-face just came with the look…. jk. 

good-hair-and-skin-day

like good-hair-days, good-skin-days come out of nowhere… but if they do it is aaaawesom. and the other day i was having both. the saaame day.

in those cases you don't want to mess around too much......

for my mane i used a little of osis, dust it on my roots and baxter of california, clay pomade in the lengths of my hair. 

i didn't use foundation on my skin, but just sculpted it lightly with benefit, 10, bronzing and highlighting duo. 

my eye-make-up i also kept quite simple.... with mac, paints in stilife as the base and all that glitters eye shadow in the crease. after pulling a delicate line along the upper lash row, with liquid liner i coated the lashes with mascara, while leaving the bottom bare. 

the eye shadow colors i am using lately are mac's embarc and deep damson. 

and once again....... stila, stay all day liquid lipstick in aria. because, if you have a product that you get compliments on basically every time you wear it why not wear it..... all the time?

now all you have to do is throw on a cute outfit and you can take on the world (or you know..... something that comes close to that.) i had a lovely dinner with friends... met new people and went on a two hour midnight stroll across manhattan bridge.

so ladies and gents, when your next good-hair/skin-day comes along make the best of it and have fun!

green fuel...

over the past months i have been working out more than i ever have in my life. not because i think i haaave to, or because it is what you are "supposed to do".... but it honestly really makes me feel good and it fills me with pride when i see how my body has change. together with working out at (five to seven times a week) i also wanted to fuel my body, the right way. i stopped trying all those eating fads (that are just out of control, here in new york...) and i learned to listen to my body (not something i am generally toooo good at) and i noticed that a lot of the things i was eating just didn't make me feel satisfied or good.

i have tried a lot of different pre and post work-out foods.... which are especially important when i do back-to-back classes, like yoga and pilates). (if you follow me on instagram) you might have already noticed that i am totally addicted to juice press...










i can't tell you how much i looooove drinking body fit before my workout. it is soooo delicious (even though i do not(!) like fennel......) (and i am not just saying that.... i promise! i would neeever spend ten(!) dollars on something that doesn't taste good and make me feel great.) it really really energizes me without weighing me down. after my classes or my morning run i have found that the remedy is what my body really needs. recently, i have started adding hem protein to it (....which you may or may not like).

 (still haven't found the magic potion to help me master my yoga-goal-pose... pada urdhva dhanurasana. jk... it's not magic... it's practice... i know. which will make it that much more rewarding when i do finally get that leg in a perfect straight line up the sky.)

matte smoke

i like doing a stronger look on fridays so i am ready for... whatever..... (or i'll have my little helpers with me...) and haven't done a good-old smoky eye in a while. for this look i only used matte colors. the eye shadows are all by mac... in quarry for the base. deep damson to deepen the crease and carbon at the outer v and along the lashes. my other favorite matte products are golden gate blush by bare escentuals and revlon just bitten lipstain + balm.

 

don't forget the lips

it is easy to forget the lips when doing an eye-make-up look.....

lips: mac, lipstick, twig. i got his product in a mac goody-bag. and i have to say that this is a color i would usually not purchase, because i would think "oh, this is so close to my natural lip color anyway... why bother? i'd rather spend my money on a more noticeable shade (like craving or my newest lip pencil nightmoth)". but (after using it) that is actually why i like it so much... it doesn't overpower the stronger eye make-up, but with it's matte flesh-color it subtly completes my make-up look (as oppose to bare lips).

eyes: with a larger eye shadow brush i placed aquadisiac, by mac on the general aria of both of my lids. since the shimmery turquoise is not exactly a close-to-skin-color color, i placed all that glitters from my crease to the edge of the already painted aquadisiac. i used a smaller brush for bare escentuals, soiree along the rim of my eyes. for sculpting i dusted a frosted pink on the centre of my movable lid, before drawing a taupe colored eye liner at the outer half of my eyelashes. the finishing touch was a gold eye liner on the bottom tear duct. i didn't use toooo much mascara, in order to keep my lashes soft and full.

brows: mac eye shadows in swiss chocolate and embark finished with browgel

skin: revlon, bb cream and bare escentuals, blush in golden gate


have fun

nightmoth

i don't know why but the dark-lip look just makes me feel super cool bad-ass……

i have been trying to decide for a while now, which lipstick i should get to fulfill this need (without coming too close to my favorite dar-but-not-too-dark lipstick, media). and because (last time at the mac store) i still couldn't decide between the dark side and all the other bad-ass shades, the high-girl-crush-potentional sales woman had the genius suggestion to just layer a different lip pencil under my media….

e voila! nightmoth lip pencil under media

yeah…. the lips have to be well pre-moisturized (like for all lipstick-days) but then the pencil really holds on to the pigments of the lipstick.

have fun!

spring-touch

now that spring finally decided to make a couple of appearances in new york i have really been in the mood for more colorful make-up...

 

 

eyes: you might have noticed that i have been using mac's all that glitters a loooot lately. it is so suitable to start out most looks with because it is such a beautiful close-to-nude shimmer that will make it easy to avoid not-sufficiently-blended looking eye shadows. (i would also highly recommend this color if you are not toooo comfortable with wearing shadow on your eye lids at all. you can not go wrong with this.) anyway, after a rather generous amount of it, i blotted bare escentuals loose powder, in the buff on the center of the movable lid, on the inner corners of my eyes and below the arch of my eye brows. with a small eye shadow brush i drew coppering (by mac) along both lash rows and also on the outer v. with a short bristled brush (similar to #214 by mac) i carefully placed my sparkly-blue shadow liberty (that i first told you about here) on my bottom eye lid. i then decided to optically deepen the crease more, which i achieved with a couple of strokes of antiqued (also by mac). the most important step for this look was coating the bottom waterline with a turquoise eyeliner.... and to refine it a bit more... i used aquadisiac (anooother mac eye shadow...) for the bottom tear duct.

 

since this eye-make-up had a lot of layers and such....... i did my new-default-look on the rest of my face.

 

 

have fun!

black turtleneck

first off... this post is overdue....... it was the last time i was wearing a turtleneck. yay! so lets just file it under flashback-friday.

 

whenever i wear a turtleneck and or my hair pulled back i pay extra attention to me make-up. nothing to hide behind..... ya know?

 

 

eyes: i built this eyeshadow by first using a blending brush to apply all that glitters and on the general aria of both eyelids. with a c-motion i deepened the creace with quarry. staying on the movable part of my eyelid i spread a silvery-purple pigment (limited edition........). all by mac cosmetics. using a small eyeshadow brush i rimed my eyes with liberty by bare escentuals (that i also did a look with here), before carefully finishing the look with black eyeshadow at the very roots of my lashes and mascara.

 

lips: the lipstick is media lined with vino (also both by mac.....)

 

since that is already kind of a lot..... i kept the rest of my face (blush... brows... etc.) quite basic.

 

 

on that note...... happy fiiiiiidaaaay!

 

 

ultimate orchid

because it is spring... and because i am always on the search for a lip color to pair with darker eye make-up....

 

my newest addition to my over-flowing make-up table is revlon, colorstay ultimate, liquid lipstick in ultimate orchid.

 

I love the look of it and how it is easy to handle and long-lasting.... but am not in loooooove with the way it makes my lips feel (somehow... rubbery......)

 

have fun

take your own advice

this morning i reeeeally had to remind myself of my own advice to get up early and go to the gym.... luckily i was wearing my gym clothes and taking them off before getting them sweaty would have been a major fail!

 

the sprortsbra i like to sleep in (because it is not so tight and constricting) is my new gapfit racerback bra.

 

sorry i only have this instagram pic to show you.... but you can find it here

 

 

new default

sometimes i need to do a fast make-up. like when i go for a pre-work run. (if you are asking yourself how anyone in their right mind can manage to hit the gym before work…. i have some tips for you)

usually i will grab my blending brush like mac's #224 and swirl on mac eyeshadow antiqued for example... and end up with some sort of natural-brownish-smoky-eye. (like here or here)

i feel like it is time for a new default….



i am soooooo happy with my new foundations! and i will be telling you about them again and again...... revlon, photoready bb cream, skin perfecter with spf 30 under bare essentials, bare minerals, original foundation broad spectrum.

for this natural-always-good quick make-up i used... all that glitters by mac as the base. grey eye shadow for the soft cat-eye line (from middle of the lid a litte past the outer corner).on the bottom lid and on the brow bone... vanilla sugar. and in the buff   on the bottom tear duct and centre of top lash line (both by bare escentuals). mascara (of course lash architect by l'oreal paris) only on the top lashes.

for my brows i have been using dark brown eye shadow with an angled brow brush. must have them threaded.....

on my lips... revlon, colorstay ultimate, liquid lipstick, miracle mauve

for the this subtle summer-glow i use the frosted pink color from the benefit,10, bronzing and highlighting face powder duo on the apples of my cheeks and mac mineralize skinfinish, soft and gentle on along the cheekbones (and sometimes above the arch of my brow)

i have been doing this type of look aloooot lately. first i felt a bit naked... because it is a lot less color than what i usually do. but it is good to switch it up from time to time and i have been getting a lot of good feedback.

have you tried a new default look lately?

copper plum

then i started this make-up i didn't quite know what i wanted to do…. i just knew that i wanted to use a different color for the bottom lid....

eyes: i used bare essentials, bare minerals in passionate plum as the main color on my top lid. along the lashes and in the crease i also painted a matt grey. for the bottom lid i chose a shimmery-copper look. i achieved that with mac's coppering and then a dusting with bare minerals loose powder in the buff.

lips: revlon, kissable balm stain, rendezvous

are you ever stuck with your make-up or clothes and can't think of a new look?
i'm blaming it on this stupid long winter (here in new york), that seems to finally be over now. wohoooooo! so have fun!

silver... spring...

one of the things spring has brought out in me (apart from a bunch of happy hormones) is the mood for some metalicsI am finding myself in the mood for some metallic.......

 

 

eyes: for the base of this look i used one of my favorite mac eye shadow colors (that unfortunately was a special edition…..) performing art. on the center of my movable lid i blotted let loose shimmering shadow dust in rejoice by prestige (it has a really good "easy-dip" applicator... which makes it a great little friend to add to my on-the-go-touchups kit. adding a little silver dust can never hurt. right?) and spread it out with my finger. for more dimension i drew silver eyeliner on my bottom tear duct and in the middle of my upper lid. along the very roots of my  upper lashes i used an angled eyeliner brush and black eye shadow to draw a delicate line.

brows: the mac eye shadow colors i used for my brows were embark and black

lips: haven't used my stila, stay all day, liquid lipstick in aria in a while. but it made me remember how much i looove it. i applied it before brunch and running a couple of errands. shortly after leaving the house i noticed that i forgot it at home….. but let me tell you… i did not need it. i even had to remove it with water and a towel before heading to the gym later that night. amazing this little product. (for a more detailed review on the liquid lipstick click here)

have a fun weekend ladies and gents. i hope the sun is shining where you are and if not...... you gotta shiiiiiine yourself! remember? cloudy day.... sparkle away!