My make up and Moi.

Have been thinking of doing this post for a long time but always, never had the patience nor gather enough effort to actually sit down to do it. Plus the fact that I have way too much make up, to do a post like this means I got to go and take photos of the stack of make up lying in my drawer and the thought of it puts me off already.

But out of a sudden, I thought, I should do a post on it, and I shall only "feature" those items that I'm using almost on a daily basis or else 2,3 times a week. But, of all the items featured mostly from Benefits Cosmetics and Clarins, I still have lots of them of different various brands lying in the cupboard waiting for me to dig them out to see the sunlight again... But unfortunately, I think I most likely will not do that since it has been ages since I last brought them out of the drawer and I figured the next time they see sunlight, it will be into the bin already.

I must first declare that I'm a lazy person, hence, my make up are mostly the simple and idiot proof kind. Colors and shades are mostly neutrals hence nothing should go wrong. I hate mixing and matching of colors because I know I will never get to finish pots and pots of colors yet I'll keep buying and I'm just too lazy and honestly cannot really be bothered to go on a mixing and matching mood in the early mornings. Hence, I've changed my make up habit to only include things that either come in box or small quantity. Anything that comes in a big packaging only belongs to the family of essentials and usually, it falls into my Bases and or Foundation family.

Anyway, to start it off, my various bases and foundation.
In our hot and super sunny Singapore, Sunblock is very very important. I almost never leave home without it unless it's just a trip to the coffee shop downstairs to get food. I've been using Clarins Sunblock for almost 2 years and I really like it. It's very light, not oily and definitely easy to absorb into the skin. There's no additional fragrance so, need not be afraid of those weird smells. And an amount of close to a dollar coin size is enough to cover my whole face and best of all, the SPF is 40! That's one of the highest sun block I've used so far.

I've got rather oily eye lids sad to say, and my eye shadow (ES) does not stay on. Either that, or it will start to have that ugly crease line by the middle of the day! Hence, I've been going around without ES for a long time. But, I've found my Saviour! The Benefit Cosmetics (BC) Nude Eye Primer is good! It helps me to lock in my ES for most of the day, unless I've accidentally added too much ES, else my lids looks pretty good till I head for home in the evenings. On those days where I'm lazy or on weekends, where I just need minimal coverage, I'll just use the lemon aid to dab and blend it over my lids and my eyes look fresh!

I use a face primer for the rest of my face and again, it's from BC; That Gal. This has a natural sweet fragrance that reminds me of sweet strawberries. I never fail to put this on before my liquid foundation, which I'm currently using Estee's. That Gal is also great for weekends when I go to church and I don't want to put on the full make up and wash off everything in just a matter of 2,3 hours, I'll use just the primer with the rest of my other point make up and I'm ready to go. That of course, also gives me more sleeping time!

After the bases and foundation, comes the rest of the colors.
There are some ladies who die die must start their make up from their brows down to eyes, then cheeks and lips. I do not follow such a formula. I just do whichever I feel like doing first.

And in most cases, I start with my eye lashes. As I usually add a few layers of lash protector, (currently using Mavala), I'll do that first. While it's in the process of drying, I'll do my cheeks. Yups. Cheeks. Sometimes, I'll use the High Beam (3 dots on cheek bones) and Benetint (3,4 strokes) and blend blend blend. Or I'll just use the cream blusher. Most times, I'll add a layer or two of the Dandelion over my cheeks to give it a girly pinky blush. But almost all the time, I'll add High Beam to the curve of my brows and also the bridge of my nose to give it just a little highlight and to bring out my features.

Next, I'll do my brows. Either the BC, Big Beautiful Eyes BBE) darkest shade or I'll just use some eyebrow pencil to fill in and to darken. No particular brand, as long as I like it, I'll use it. Sasa has some pretty cheap and good brands or Kate has it too.

To achieve that dolly looking curvy eyelash, definitely need a curler, I hate those manual curlers where you got to "kiap" it for a few seconds. I've switched to a battery operated one. That's part of the reason why I put layers and layers of lash protectors over my lash before "kiapping" it. After the curling, I usually will do my ES, which the BC, BBE is so convenient. I hate the bit of a big pot and I can NEVER finish the colors, but BBE comes in 3 shades and 2 small brushes which makes it so convenient for me to use. When I need lighter and brighter colors, I'll use lesser. When I want it to last and be more outstanding, I'll just use the darker shades. Best for lazy people like me! But on those days I'm lazy, I have an even better and idiot proof yet guaranteed to wake up those peepers! The Eye Bright! A pink soft pencil which is used on the lids and once blended gives a soft pink to those peepers and immediately caused those peepers to appear bigger and brighter!

Lastly for my peepers, how can I forget the eyeliner and lashes that I've painstakingly protected and curled? A thin, dark line on the upper lash and then a coat of mascara. I swear by MM mascara. It's a subsidiary of Shishedo make up and I love it to bits! It lengthens very well and lashes stays curled for the whole day! Best of all, it's so affordable at less than $18 SGD! Only thing is, if it's purchased locally, it costs more than $30! But get your girlies to get it in Taiwan or Japan and it's really so cheap! The current tube is already my 3rd or maybe even 4th!

I'm not a lippies person, I find it a hassle and a damn waste to keep applying lippies especially when I got to re-apply after a drink or a meal. I hate that kind of hassle and it irritates me no end when I see my own lippies mark on the cup or straw or anything.

Hence, I only use lip balm or gloss, to give that shine and also to protect my very dry lips. For the protection & moisture, I'm using Clarins Moisture Replenishing Lip Balm. Not bad, can feel that it's liquid base and I quite like it only thing is, I don't quite like the way the design of the mouth of the balm. But then again, I guess there's not much choice.

A recent discovery is the California Kissin gloss by BC. There's mint in it hence there's a refreshing feeling on the lips after application and there's some glitter which really makes my lips shine!

For the grand finale, how can I forget the loose powder. 1 sure way to hide any redness and spots will be the Bluff Dust. I just sweep it all over my face adding more when necessary over areas that needs to be hidden. Else I'm ready to go now.

I have another 2 small boxes of items of BC, those are my touch ups and like the name suggest, "Just In Case" for any of those just in case moments!

I think by now, I would have already spent close to 30 mins just on my face, taking another 5 minutes for my hair, accessories (which I seldom change, I wear the same daily) and a few squirts of my fragrance, I'm really ready to get out of the house. Usually by now, Hubby will be giving me hints that he's running late! hahahahahah....

So, that's the products I'm using and how I do my make up in the mornings in a nutshell. I know, it's not the right way or procedure nor do I really care, because, I think so far my face is pretty presentable as it is when I do reach office.