My Happily Ever After

Fabulous

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I’m reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

I think that will be my theme for this year.

“FABULOUS”

Just saying it makes me smile.

I confessed in a reblog that I’d grown up with a low self-esteem and if you’ve spent more than two decades feeling that way, it’s quite hard to break out of it. The toughest part? You can’t just rely on other people to help you get out of that rut. You have to know how to help yourself.

I started this blog mostly for the fun of discovering what I can do with make-up. I’ve made myself look older, younger, more chinita (local Filipino term for “Chinese-looking” in reference to the eyes), or simply perked myself up because of the fun colours I’ve begun to explore.

I figure I want to go a little deeper than that.

I don’t know if everyone has their own “drug” but I think I’ve found mine. Basically it’s “If I look pretty in my own eyes then I feel pretty. If I feel pretty then I feel more confident.” Some people work on their beauty from the inside out; I’ve had to work mine from the outside in.

I think what few looks I’ve posted here reflects how I’m feeling so far. Mostly I tend to put up neutral looks with just one pop of colour (either eyes or lips) if I put in any bright colours at all. I’ve started gaining my confidence footing though I’m still a long ways off from calling attention in a crowded room by simply walking into it.

As always, baby steps.

Originally posted as Boudoir Angel on Tumblr, 27 January 2011

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It’s about feeling fabulous

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I’m reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

There have been so many things I’d turned my nose up at in the past that I totally go for or approve of now.
Take, for example, anti-cellulite massages. I used to think it was a huge joke but apparently, it works because after I had one, firends commented that my legs looked much better! They’re still huge in my opinion, but they’ve begun to smooth out and get less jiggly which I like.

To that end I also thank Skechers’ Shape-ups because it delivered as promised: a gym workout with less effort, just keep walking. Our busy schedule has us walking the dogs two to three times a week now and even with that I feel the burn and see results.

As a bride-to-be, it’s important to me to look fabulous on the day but I am a firm believer in the fact that feeling fabulous is a huge factor in looking fabulous. And actively doing something to improve my self-image is seriously upping the ante on that.

Eleven more months!

Originally posted as Boudoir Angel on Tumblr, 24 January 2011

via Blogger http://bit.ly/S14lxn

From Charlene Fernandez Bobis: Have You Ever Been?

From her Wordpress blog:

I’ve noticed that a lot of people who try to impose their beliefs on others are ignorant of consequences. The belief is often more important than reality. So instead of lecturing at you about something I believe in, I’ll tell you a little story and you can draw your own conclusions. (Keep reading the post…)

This whole RH Bill fiasco (and I do consider it to be one heck of a fiasco) has rather successfully turned the entire country topsy-turvy.

Varying opinions notwithstanding, the very idea that there is even a need for such a law to be passed has been considered ludicrous by some sectors and individuals, not to mention the slew of pro and anti followers who, as mentioned, often try to impose their beliefs on others.

As with the linked blog entry, I am not going to attempt to win anyone over. I’m rather stubborn myself and usually, the harder someone tries to win me over, the harder I fight to prove that person wrong. So I’m not about to waste words or effort in that way.

I will, however, share the following:

#1 What they know
A cousin has a thirteen-year-old who is now studying in a co-ed school. During the course of our conversation, mention was made of the RH Bill. Off-hand I said, “I am willing to bet that she and her batchmates know more than my batchmates—myself being excluded since my mother educated me on the nuances of such matters early—knew at the same age.”

Rather emphatically, she nods and says, “I have found things in her saved bookmarks that shocked me. I haven’t mentioned finding them to her, I just closed them back up and acted like I didn’t see a thing.”

We agreed that, as a parent (her) and future parent (me), we cannot at all hope to control what kids our exposed to. But we can guide them and pray they make the right choices for themselves. When the education comes from places we least expect it to, we have to be prepared to roll with the punches and, by the Lord’s Grace, be comforted by the fact that we did right by the children we were blessed to care for in His name.

#2 What people think they know

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Layering

Date Night

This, boys and girls, is why you should wear powders and bases that are your precise shade. Or it could have been the flash seeing that the image on the left looks a great deal better than the one on the right. Either way, my face looked considerably pale and white compared to my neck. Ghost impressionist, anyone?

This photo taken in the car may actually be proof that yep, I definitely did something wrong with my make-up application. Flash notwithstanding. Perhaps I neglected to apply it to my neck properly?

The product in question is the Myra VitaGlow which I reviewed here and here. Despite my criticism, I naturally kept using the product. I wasn’t about to waste a perfectly good tube of product. By the time I had to dispose of it, I still hadn’t quite gotten the hang of using it to get the results it advertised. That said, it may have looked different life as my fiancé would have been very quick to point out any distinct colour difference on my skin. He is quite possibly the most brutal make-up judge. No mercy critiquing, that one.

All that aside, this look was brought to you by:

Myra VitaGlow
Fashion 21 Stick Eye Shadow in Clay
The Face Shop Baked Shimmer in Apricot Nuance
Ever Bilena Blush in Starlight Shine
Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara in Black
The Face Shop Lipstick in PP403
M.A.C. Matte Lipstick in Diva

And to be fair to the product, for all my whining about the difference in colour between my face and neck, VitaGlow covered beautifully. Sheer, but veils blemishes.

I also want to put a shout out in to one of the local clothing brands, Get Laud: the top I’m wearing, called Sala, was part of their 2010 collection.

Originally posted as Boudoir Angel on Tumblr, 21 January 2011

via Blogger http://bit.ly/QUPEh7

I know I ought to finish the Ireland 2012 series but…

Well, let’s just put it this way: there are far too many pictures to wrap my head around at the moment.

So let’s go travel elsewhere for a while.

I’ve had this entry bookmarked for a few months now (take a look at the blog entry date). It’s an entry by Chantelle, a.k.a. Fat Mum Slim, on her blog and it talks about little language nuances which, in her case, are Australian.

I took this photo on the weekend, while visiting a Farmer’s Market. It’s controversial and I didn’t know it. I shared it on Instagram and people got a bit ‘funny’ about it, because ‘spunk’ means something else. Other than good looking that is. Let’s not go there. (Keep reading her entry here.)

I am no stranger to such strange words, phrases, and word use. In fact, I have been as much a user of strange words, phrases, and word use as I have been a victim of it.

My first exposure to alternate uses of the English language came when I was thirteen and entering a familiar yet not quite familiar world because it was the first truly English-speaking country I visited—previous travels involved Southeast Asian countries which, at the time, weren’t very good with English yet.

One of the basic things I came away with was this

I’ve been very obnoxious about correcting that ever since. ^.^

But it’s not just about breaking language and language use barriers. It’s also about cultural ones.

One of the things I am determined to teach my children is to at least understand and respect if they cannot accept the practices of another culture. There are many things in various cultures that, from the stand point of my own culture, are repressive sometimes even offensive. And I’m sure there are those who find the culture I’m from repressive and/or offensive at some points.

I don’t believe that things like that can be helped, really. The differences in our surroundings, history, beliefs, and development created the different cultures we now have. These are the same things that have influenced what we do and don’t tolerate and how we use the words that we do.

I’m no expert in etymology but this is how I see it anyway.

English is the language I most commonly use and the one I feel most comfortable speaking. Ironic since I’m not of any of the native English-speaking races. Technically, English ought to be my second language but the truth is that it’s my first and I find it so fascinating that all these native speakers each have their own ways of using the language and on top of that, the non-natives like myself have our own brand of (x)-lish each.

Communication is probably one of humanity’s most amazing gifts. A words within a single language can be used in so many ways and mean so many different things to each person or group of people and eventually, they evolve into entirely new expressions. In my native language alone, the mixture of English and Filipino (“Filipino” being a mix in itself of various dialects from all over the country) in our daily language has evolved into different variants, the most prevalent/funniest/confusing being what we call “Gay Speak.”

On the flip side, the same dynamism can English majors like me squirm too. Texting and chatting online has developed its own life and brand of language that has turned many students into spelling- and grammar-challenged citizens.

But we’ll leave that one for another day.

For now I’ll look at this old blog entry by Chantelle, read through the comments, and just smile at the fact that I’ve once again managed to find a way to travel to another country through reading.

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Left Behind #2: Bare Skin

I’ve learned you’re meant to use make-up bases and all but I figured what works for Lauren Luke ought to work for me, especially in this tropical heat. So at the time I originally posted this, I simply used my M.A.C. Strobe Cream (1) to provide a bit of moisture and smoothing underneath my powder or foundation.

Along with the Strobe Cream, I would use the Myra Daily Sun Protect for a bit of SPF or on occasion, use just either the Myra VitaGlow (2), or Maybelline Clear Smooth Minerals BB Cream (3). They’re both quite light though as you can see from the swatches (4).

This face powder was my go-to staple for years. It’s the Maybelline Clear Smooth Extra in Honey. My grandmother taught me to use face powders when I was nine (I know…a bit of early development there, haha) but I’m really rather lazy and I often had the tendency to put too much of it on so it only became detrimental to my skin condition and eventually I just stopped using it.

It took a while for me to get back to using powders, mainly so it could sop up the icky oils on my T-zone. I applied it as thinly as I could manage to with my unpractised hand, only to have to completely busted when we went into theatre and I had to lay on the foundation thickly.

Enter my mother’s staple, the Max Factor Creme Puff 2-way cake foundation in Nouveau Beige.

Never had my skin been so face to face Photoshopped as when we were involved in that production. Never had my skin been so white either, hahaha! Truth is that it matches my skin quite well but as part of my character creation, I applied it as thick as it would go to make my face look far lighter than the rest of me.

Eventually, after getting addicted to Lauren Luke’s make-up tutorials, I thought to explore M.A.C. Cosmetics. Frankly, I don’t use enough make-up to warrant keeping so many products on hand but at the time, I ‘d expected we’d be in production for a good long while and I figured grabbing some good quality items would be great.

Enter this last powder, my M.A.C. Studio Fix Powder + Foundation in NC42. A thin layer of this baby covered my flaws like magic and I was hooked.

Before using this product, I didn’t believe I needed multiple shades of powder. After all, I live in the tropics where sunlight barely ever left us. And then summer came and I remembered that even the heat of the air can and will cause burns…or at least tanning.

I haven’t bought a second shade of Studio Fix yet but eventually, when all the other products I have are gone, I will likely end up grabbing an NC43 compact as well, just so I have a “warm weather colour” and a “cold weather colour.”

This, The Face Shop’s Baked Shimmer in Apricot Nuance, I consider to be one of my best trial products ever.

“Trial” not because I got it for free to try out—really, I’m not as devoted a make-up geek as that to receive notice from companies, much less receive freebies to try and review—but because I saw it, I thought it was cute, so I thought I’d try it out.

As I mentioned in this product review entry, it is far more pigmented than I expected for a shimmer brick, and I can use it in so many different ways it’s ridiculous. And while the pigment fades over time, leaving just the shimmer, applying it sparingly gives just enough liveliness to the face that I still say it’s worth the effort putting the product on in the first place.

Originally posted as Boudoir Angel on Tumblr, 23 January 2011

via Blogger http://bit.ly/SpjGG3

Left Behind #1: Tools

Thanks to my experience in theatre work, I have actually learned how to apply almost all of my make-up using these oval sponges, from foundation, contouring, eye shadow and blush.

I’m still getting varying feedback from make-up artist friends, and have seen the effects of both sponge and brush application for foundation, but I’m a little on the fence still on which direction I prefer to go.

These days though, I’ve been mostly using BB creams as my base and for those I have been using my (clean) fingers, usually. Lauren Luke has mentioned that it’s okay to just use your fingers if the application is on your own face but make-up residue is make-up residue so I may need to decide at some point which way I want to go, even if it’s for my BB creams.

I have, in a previous entry, shown off my Suesh brush set, but these are my little bits and pieces from all over the place that I occasionally use whenever there’s a particular need for this or that type of brush.

From left to right, the remnants of my Juliana brush set (1) which was a or six-piece set that had a powder brush, these two shader brushes and lipstick brush, a mascara wand, and a brow brush; the last two of the brushes that came free with an old make-up case (2); two Watsons eye shadow brushes and my Philosophy crease brush (3) all of which I seem to end up using for blending; and two fan brushes from an old Nu Skin pack (4) that I normally use for face cream or mask application.

You may have noticed my fascination with making my eyelashes look completely fake. This La Cross pocket-sized lash curler does the trick beautifully for me, considering I often apply my make-up on the road. And of course, one always has to keep pencils nice and sharp hence the Watsons pencil sharpener.

What I love most about this sharpener is that if you look closely, there is a little toothpick-looking piece right near where the camera flash hit. That it comes with its own pick is a winner for me because I don’t have to wait until I get home to pick out whatever wax and pigment is left on the sharpener blade. Also, the top and bottom bits of the sharpener come off for more thorough clean ups.

I have these cotton buds in my case as well to help with fall out clean up though I’ve never really turned to them for that purpose, I’m afraid. I’m such a cosmetics barbarian, hahaha!

And on the right, a five-piece stacking jar set from Watsons, meant to hold creams, perhaps, or other more solid objects, but I actually put my eye shadow powders in them (when they were de-potted, so to speak) as well as lipstick remnants just because they’re so convenient to lug around.

Some tools have been discarded since due to hair fall and/or “old age” (old, crusty, and stiff sponges, blech) so this is what’s left of the odds and ends I’ve bought and received. Eventually I will probably pare down again either from over use or skill increase. Until then, I’m wearing the heck out of these!

Of course, for proper maintenance, one has to first, take off extra oil and while I’m not too fond of this particular oil control sheet, it does the job fairly well (1). This Human Nature Cleanser and Make-up Remover (2) has been my go-to cleanser since 2010 when I first received a bottle of it as a gift. It cleans and moisturises in one go—perfect for theatrical use, in my opinion, since it very easily strips off make-up no matter how thickly it was applied.

Originally posted as Boudoir Angel on Tumblr, 21 January 2011

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Information Update: The Face Shop Baked Shimmer Palettes

Highlight
Pink Nuance
Apricot Nuance
Gold Nuance
Plum Nuance

I had no camera with which to take photos of each palette but I think I’ll try and ask if I can snap swatch images for my blog when next I go to a store.

Originally posted as Boudoir Angel on Tumblr, 19 January 2011

via Blogger http://bit.ly/OpQDSE

Everything in its place, continued

was inspired by the organizational style of Marlena from Makeup Geek.com, who featured in several YouTube videos how she, as a professional make-up artist, stores and organizes her stash.

Obviously not everyone has/can make/needs as much space as she does after all, Marlena does this professionally, but there are so many gems in this video that she really inspired me to put all my stuff together and get them cleaned up and organised.

These guidelines for organizing cosmetics actually applies to any organizational project:

Group items by a common feature, whether its by use, type of product or brand.
Use containers that are suited for the products you intend to store. This is most useful if you have an entire collection of products. Uniform containers definitely look neater and more organized than a hodgepodge of different types of containers but if you’re going to use different types of containers, selecting ones in the same colour family would tie the collection together.
As a matter of personal preference, I tend to choose containers that can stack rather than just lie flat on the counter or shelf. For this, however, you need to be sure of the sizes of the items you place in each container.
Label. As much as I often laugh at Martha Stewart for her framed labels, I do actually label a lot of my stuff and my containers. This is most helpful if the containers are not transparent or, like Marlena, you have colours and brands to think about.
A place for everything and everything in its place. I’m so guilty of this a lot of the time but you will definitely get farther in your efforts to organise if you also learn to put things back where you got them.

Feel free to comment and show off your own mad skills at organising! ^_^

Originally posted as Boudoir Angel on Tumblr, 19 January 2011

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