Categories
Beauty

On Trial in May 2017 – AVON, Relouis, Faberlic

The start of a new series? We shall see. I intend to pick up several products and give them a good use throughout the month. They could be completely new or they could be some poor unfortunate souls stuck in the limbo of my collection. Since I’m on a semi-no-buy, it will more than likely be the latter.

In May, however, all the products were new.

relouis complimenti! face powder

Relouis Complimenti! Compact Powder in 01 (lightest)

My old compact powder (coincidentally by Relouis as well) finally gave up the ghost, so I went and bought practically the cheapest available on the local market. As much as I was OK with the previous incarnation of Relouis compact powder, I am having trouble with this one.

  • It does not appear to be as finely milled;
  • it’s very picky in terms of brushes it wants to work with;
  • it doesn’t stay put for a long time;
  • although the coverage is very light, it piles on and starts to cake, especially around my nose, as the day goes by;
  • I do not enjoy the scent;
  • it seems to be going pretty fast – if you look closely into the photo below, you will see that the ridges of the pan are already visible. They’ve been visible since the first week of usage.

complimenti! face powder

The positive factors are:

  • packaging – it’s black, white, and modern-looking;
  • the compact opens up to 180 degrees;
  • the shade. Although it has a pink undertone (I don’t), it’s light enough and sheer enough to fit my skin tone.

I wanted this to be sort of a workhorse, and although I’ll continue using it until it’s gone, I might pick up something else in the interim – something that would actually suit my needs.

avon mark finishing powder

AVON Mark. Magix HD Finishing Powder

I’ve been setting my face with Isadora Loose Powder for a while, but was on the fence about the result I was getting. Although I will not be writing off Isadora Powder completely, AVON Mark. Magix HD Finishing Powder gives me a better result. It doesn’t alter the colour of my foundation as it is truly translucent. It’s not the most finely milled powder I’ve encountered, but it’s nice enough. Gives a matte finish. The sifter is nice too – I’ve barely had an overshake with it, and I’m a chronic powder overshaker. You can also close it, so you can take the powder with you and not worry about spilling it everywhere.

avon mark finishing powder dispenser

I’m pretty sure this will stay with me for a while, and if AVON still runs them when I’m out, I’ll be repurchasing.

faberlic express volume

Faberlic EXPRESS Volume Mascara

I bought this mascara a while ago, but only opened it this month. It was a blind buy, so to say, and I had no idea the brush would be so small. So far, I’ve got mixed feelings about this: Sometimes I feel like it gives me good length and good volume; other days I feel like it gives me relatively long, but messy and spiky lashes with little to no volume. As it ages, it’s getting better.

No gripes with longevity, though. Stays put throughout the day.

faberlic mascara wand

Categories
Beauty

Face of the Day #4: The Prodigy Show FOTD.

When was the last time I put up one of these posts? October 2015, that’s when. I should do this more often.

I went to The Prodigy show the first Saturday of June. I’ll be riding that wave for the rest of the month for sure. Make-up wise, it was the perfect opportunity to break out my black lipstick.

Here’s what I wore:

face of the day flatlay

List of products:

Face & Base:

  • face primer: Inglot Mattifying Under Makeup Base
  • eye primer: Artdeco Pure Minerals Mineral Eyeshadow Base Sensitive
  • foundation: MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15 in NW10 (really old post *shudder shudder*; update coming up)
  • concealer: only God knows 😀 I think it’s BeYu
  • undereye setting powder: e.l.f. High Definition Undereye Setting Powder
  • setting powder: AVON Mark. Magix HD Finishing Powder
  • blusher: Giordani Gold Bronzing Pearls Compact Heritage Edition in Natural Radiance 33167 (very mini-review on Insta)

I am slowly beginning to tame the MAC foundation – about damn time, considering I’ve had it for so long. Plus I’m nearing the end of my stash, and don’t really want to buy anything new until I go through all the old ones. It is quite a heavy base, though, so perhaps I would need to get something lighter for the dog days of summer.

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Giordani Gold Bronzing Pearls Compact in Natural Radiance I praised on my Instagram a while ago, and really want to write a full-feature post about it, but I’m having problems with photographing it on my face. It’s a really natural-looking blusher – the name Natural Radiance is very apt for this product – which makes it a really good starter blusher. You have to be really heavy-handed to overdo it.

Eyes & Brows

  • brows: Artdeco Eyebrow Powder in 2
  • eyeliner & shadow base: BeYu Color Biggie in 201
  • eyeshadow: Mac Eye Shadow x15 Cool Neutral Palette, shades Pick Me Up, French Clay, Pearled Earth, and Black Tied
  • mascara: Faberlic Express Volume Mascara 5556

I’ve been using Artdeco Eyebrow Powder nearly every day for a couple of months now, and I barely made a dip in the product. Granted, I don’t use a lot – just a touch of shading and shaping, but I’m still surprised. Artdeco eyebrow powders and eye shadows don’t have a lot of product in the pan (just 0.7 g/ 0.02 oz), but considering how long it’s taking me to even make a more or less visible dip, I suppose it’s fine.

BeYu Color Biggie in 201 was my holy grail pencil for waterline. It stayed put for almost the entire day, which is unprecedented for me. Unfortunately, this time it betrayed me, but I think it’s just the matter of age. BeYu Color Biggies are no longer imported here (huge mistake), so what I bought were testers from a local retailer. Otherwise they’re really good.

I have a couple of massive projects planned for MAC Eye Shadow x 15/ Cool Neutral. 😀 Below are close-ups of the shadows I used. I wasn’t going for anything fancy – just something dark and pronounced around the eye that was reasonably blended around the edges.

mac pearled earth closeup

MAC Pearled Earth went all over the lid.

mac black tied closeup

MAC Black Tied (ugh isn’t it gorgeous) went to the outer V and was also used as a under eye liner.

mack pick me up and french clay

MAC Pick Me Up (top left) and MAC French Clay (bottom right) were used for blending out and in the inner corner.

Lips:

  • liner: Oriflame The One Gel Eye Liner Pencil 32091
  • lipstick: Golden Rose Velvet Matte Lipstick in 33

I lined my lips with Oriflame The One Gel Eye Liner Pencil, thinking that the lipstick on its own might bleed outside the edges, but ultimately I think it was a mistake. Golden Rose Velvet Matte lipstick in the shade 33 looks better on its own. I filled my lips with the eyeliner as well, and where I did that, the lipstick appeared patchy.

I’m an office worker, and although I fully believe that black is a neutral colour both in makeup and clothes, the management is bound to disagree with me. (I also believe leopard print to be neutral, but that’s a story for another day…) Seeing as most of my days are spent in the office, I don’t think I’d get the opportunity to rock a black lip any time soon, but I will try wearing it on the weekend without the liner to see how it performs. Recently I bought several other lipsticks from this line, and want to write a detailed post about them as well.

End result:

black lipstick selfie

And from my Instagram on the day of the Prodigy show:

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