It's Harder to Be Vain with Sensitive Skin

Hi everyone,

I was having a bitchfest melt down heart to heart tweeting session earlier today.

Belly: Oh, no! You di-dn't! I'm playing "Angry Birds." Stop disrupting me with your ranting tweets!

Ok, Belly! Go back to playing your game.

You see, I got careless. A few months ago when zits still occupied on my face, I did not dare to touch a non-mineral foundation. I would be dead to the skin. Zip, bam, boom! Gone! Zits, zits, and more zits if I used it. But now, things changed. My skin has become smoother to the point of zit free. I am so proud of it.

And that's when I got cocky.

Two nights ago, I played with my makeup stash and suddenly, a "bright" idea came to my head. "Yesh! I'm gonna use this liquid foundation on my face and see how it looks."

I gleefully opened the jar of foundation, used a dual-fiber brush to stiple it on my face, and contour, contour, contour. The foundation was good: not only did it cover my dark spots, it also concealed the dark circles. My actually looked quite amazing afterward. I was happy with the result but since it was time to go to bed, I removed everything off my face.

Yesterday, I woke up wondering why I had these tiny bumps from my forehead down to my chin. I washed my face again and applied coconut oil, which soothed my skin tremendously. Today, I studied my skin again and realized they are not acne bumps. It took me a while to add things together and I realized the culprit was the liquid foundation I used!

Needless to say, I was more than upset. It took me months of diligent skincare and drinking herbal medicine to get me to a clear skin state. But a few minutes of having liquid foundation almost destroyed it. I'm thankful that I didn't wear the whole face out. My skin could have been even more tragic state than this.

The morale of the story: know your skin. If it's sensitive, only stick with what benefits it.

I do admit that I miss liquid foundation. Mineral foundation is fun but sadly, it does not last as long as liquid or cream. If you have oily skin like me, any mineral foundation that lasts more than 4 hours is a miracle. Right now, I'm using a turmeric cream to remediate my skin. I'm surprised that my skin loves products with turmeric. A big part of it being clear is from the turmeric cream and face wash.

That's all for now, folks! I hope you'll have a nice weekend.

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One Dollar Wonder: ELF Plumping Lip Glaze in Baby Doll

Hi everyone,

Once in a while, I'd like to blog about a product that costs only a dollar but works really well. Looking back at all these posts, I realized we should call it "The ELF Section" already. After all, who does dollar products better than Eyes Lips Face?

Normally, I don't buy ELF makeup as much. In order to have a successful haul from ELF, research is the key. It takes a lot of time to determine what to buy since there are so many products from the site and all of them look so tempting. To feel safe, I stick with their brushes but once in a while, I braved up and ordered some makeup.

When I did my research, ELF Plumping Lip Glaze got mixed reviews. However, that did not stop me from buying one in "Baby Doll." Somehow, I'm attracted to sheer pink-coral lip colors and I can't help it. Plus, the discounts and deals ELF usually has made it easier for me to add an extra item to my order.

ELF Plumping Lip Glaze in Baby Doll ($1)

The label

 This lip glaze has two parts: the white iridescent part acts as a primer. You are supposed to use it first as it contains mint that would swell your puckers up.

White part with a doe foot applicator

 Then, you apply the glaze on your lip. You can buy different colors and the glaze is the part that's not the same. That means, if you buy 10 glazes, you get 10 white iridescent primers with mint in it. I guess this explains why I only bought 1 lip glaze that time.

The color glaze. This is Baby Pink under sunlight. It looks more coral.
Under incandescent light, it veers toward pink.

Skin swatch
(L-R): glaze in Baby Pink, incandescent primer

On my lips
Picture was taken indoor. See what I mean about it being more pink under incandescent light?

And now, here are the good and the bad of ELF Plumping Lip Glaze:

The Good:

• It costs only $1 and is very decent
• It is not sticky: the glaze feels more like a balm than a gloss. In fact, I think it's between a balm and a gloss. For those who opt for comfortable lip wear, this one is for you.
• Color is sheer but layerable: Baby Doll just gives me a hint of color. It's one of those "my lips but better" products. In fact, it looks exactly like my natural lip color on a good day :)
• Does not feel goopy when layered up
• Lasting power is quite nice: I ate and drank and still felt a hint of glaze on my lips

The Bad:

• The white primer part stings. Really, really stings: the first time I used it, I almost yelled out some profanity. No, actually, I cursed in all the languages I can speak. Yup, this stuff is made for the thick-skinned people. If you are allergic to mint, run away. This is not for you.
• It does not shine: this is one of the biggest gripe when I first used it. But again, it is a glaze, not a gloss.
• The glaze part is quite small: I don't use it a lot but it seems to be half-way gone already. But again, it's only $1. I can't expect a Wonder Woman size lip gloss for it, can I?
• The number 1 ingredient is paraffidum liquidum: this is mineral oil, which explains why this product is so inexpensive. 

After yelling some profanity the first time I used it, my lips kind of adjusted to the pain. Now, it's mildly irritated for the first 10 minutes or so. After that, the tingling sensation goes away.

Does it make my lips look like the ones on Ms. Angelina Jolie's face?

You judge for yourself. I think my bottom lip swelled up quite nicely. 

Do I have to apply the white part first?
Nope, not really. I got creative one time and put the glaze on first. Then, I dotted the white part to the center of my lips. Kapow! Awesome lush lips. It still stung, though. But I think applying it later makes it less painful.

I think ELF Plumping Lip Glaze is the budget version of DuWop Lip Venom but with a hint of color. Or Bare Escentual Buxom Lips. I tried them all before and they stung like *insert profanity here* (haha!) I think Baby Doll looks similar to Buxom Lips Bunny. Instead of dolling out $18 to get bee sting lips and yell some profanity, I'd go with the ELF Plumping Lip Glaze instead.

Disclaimer: I bought this product.

So, what do you think? Have you tried it before? Please let me know in the comment section, ok?

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Rimmel London Glam'Eyes Day 2 Night Mascara: Nice Concept but...

Hi everyone,

Once upon a time in a cold land far, far away, I discovered a brand called Rimmel London. In order for me to get some of their makeup, I had to drive to a big Walmart near Anne Arundel mall. The other stores did not carry it. I got a kohl eyeliner, a mascara, and some doo-dads. And I was disappointed. While tooted as London's #1 makeup brand, the products at that time was not that good. The eyeliner and mascara smudged. The other stuff failed to impress me.

But that was a long time ago. Last year, Rimmel London did a major revamp and I fell in love again. In fact, I believe this brand produces some really neat and high-quality products with budget prices. Their Glam'Eyes mono eyeshadows are extremely silky and pigmented. Also, I love, love, love their lipsticks.

Like many ladies with stubby and sparse lashes out there, I want them all: I want the length, I want the curl, and I want the volume. Sadly, most mascaras out there only manage to perform one or two of the criteria. This leads me to using multiple mascaras at the same time. Usually, I would couple a volumizing mascara with a lengthening one. But my wallet screams.

When I saw this Glam'Eyes Day 2 Night mascara, I had to buy it. The kind folks at Rimmel answered to my prayer and released a mascara that has a length brush and a volume brush. Wow!

I was so giddy to take this mascara to the register, slap it down with a coupon and asked how much. It was about $6 or $7 with the coupon, which is not so bad. Besides, the mascara is black and pink and adorable.

Glam'Eyes Day 2 Night Defined Length/Intese Volume Mascara in Black

I came home, took some pictures, and applied the mascara on my eyes (more about this later.) I waited for it to knock my socks off. Well, I waited and waited and waited...

While I was waiting, I took some pictures to show you guys.

Here's the mascara on its own. Notice the caps. The pink one is for length and the black one is for volume.

Close-up at the caps.

75% more length and 12 times more volume? Wow!
However, I wonder where they got the number and what kind of experiments they did to produce them. Yes, the geek in me had to speak out.

Top cap for length, bottom cap for thickness.
This is the equivalence of an abstract on the mascara. Can't get shorter and sweeter than this.

Wanna know what happened next when I opened the mascara? Jump!

This is how the length brush looks.
The wand is thinner. I mean, stick thin. I was afraid to press it too hard and the whole thing would snap in half.

This is how the volume brush looks.
The wand is thicker and attracts more materials. I had to blot it off.

Being a curious person, I wanted to know how they could fit 2 brushes inside a tube of mascara. So, I took the length brush out and removed the cap volume brush after that. And ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is what happened:

Say what? There's only one wand?

Y'see, the people at Rimmel are clever. And they took physics seriously. The Volume Brush is actually a tube with a wider radius so the plastic brush can go through. Once the length brush is inside the volume brush, it creates a new wand with more thickness. And guess what? More thickness = more force. The brush is no longer flimsy. Also, the plastic piece of the volume brush acts as a separator that takes away excess mascara. Therefore, the length brush has less product, which helps separate the lashes better.

To even further my geekiness, I did an experiment: 1 coat of length followed by one coat of volume on one eye. Reverse the process on another. I did not even remember which treatment on what side.

Disclaimer: my right eye (the one you see on the left) has more eyelashes. Also, the lashes are longer.

Can you tell the difference? Honestly, I can't. The right eye (your left) may look like it has more longer lashes but the truth is, the right eye has more lashes. The length is about the same on the lashes in both eyes. I applied another volume coat and the lashes began to stick together.

Needless to say, my socks were still on.

While I was disappointed that I still need to buy 2 mascaras to satisfy my need, I have to admit this mascara ain't that bad. One, it creates some subtle length and volume. Two, it may flake but does not smudge. And three, it feels gentle on my eyes. I believe Rimmel London is one of the few brands that actually tweaks the mascara formula instead of putting the same old, same old juice in the tube and use a different wand.

The list of ingredient

Will I buy this mascara again? Maybe not. It's fancy but it does not give me what I want (length, volume, and curl.) However, if my memory serves me right, MAC did something similar in a limited edition some months before that. And that one was really limited. Poof, and it's gone. The Glam'Eyes Day2Night is not. At least for now.

Disclaimer: I bought this product.

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Rhoto, Rhoto, Rhoto! Here's Why I Love Rhoto

Hey there, lovelies,

A few weeks ago, my eyes blinked uncontrollably. It happens whenever I use the computer too much. Normally, I would eat about 4 bananas in 2-3 days and the blinking would go away. This time around, we ran out of bananas and I thought of V. Rhoto. It's an awesome Japanese brand that makes eye drops with cooling  sensation. I used it before when I was studying for the college entrance exam. I went out with blinking eyes and all to buy a bottle.

Here's how it looks in the Asian market. The North American version is different.

After about 15 years, the bottle still looks the same.

Ingredient list

 However, my point is not about how awesome Rhoto works as an eye drop solution. You see, I had a zit near my right eye that refused to go away despite me spacking on T3 Mycin gel on it. I almost drowned the thing in this antibiotic solution. For days, the stubborn zit refused to shrink. When I watered my eyes with Rhoto, some of the eye drops spilled over to the zit. Guess what happened the next morning?

The bugger shrank!

Not only did it shrink, it was about 50% smaller, too! I was so happy that I placed a drop of V. Rhoto directly on the zit. It got even smaller later! I got happier!

Which reminds me of a tip makeup artists use to shrink flaming red zits: they use redness relieving eye drops on them. I tried it with Visine and some other eye drop brands but none of them worked as spectacularly as V. Rhoto.

And children, that's why I love Rhoto so much!

While we are talking about eyes, I've been tweeting about my eyes for a while now. You see, I have epiblepharon since I was born. It is an eye condition where the eyelashes turn inward and rub onto the cornea. In my case, the lower lashes really bothered me, especially the one on the left eye. About a week ago, my surgeon's schedule freed up and I went to the hospital to fix this problem.

The surgery went really well and my stitches were removed earlier this morning. But for about half a week, my eyes were swollen. A picture of my eyes with the stitches after the jump. (Warning: it's quite graphic! If you're faint hearted, please don't look.)

I took this picture yesterday. Swelling was minimal

For years, I woke up with red eyes. I teared up very easily and the more I rubbed, the redder my eyes became. I always felt like there was sand in my eyes. The surgeon told me as time progresses, I will have no scars. I am glad to proceed with the surgery. Epiblepharon leads to scratched cornea, which is bad for the eyesight in the long run.

I was very afraid during the whole surgery since my eyes were open and I could see the scalpel moving back and forth. However, I did not feel any pain since the surgeon injected a numbing agent around the lower lash line (it was painful!) Also, I saw the needle and thread twirling around when she sewed the incisions. And kids, that's why I don't do any plastic surgeries on my eyes. It is scary! One corrective surgery is enough for me already.

Two related results from this surgery, though: (1) my eyes are bigger, and (2) they are even. My eyes used to look like this O_o. Now, they are even, although the right one may look a hair smaller if you look closely. But still, I am banned from a list of food for another 2 weeks since the surgeon is afraid I may have protruded scars.

That's all for today, folks! If you want to try Rhoto, I saw it in the eye drop section at Target. It costs around $4-5 a bottle there. It's a really good redness relieving eye drop, too.

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A Watercolor Sky

Hi everyone,

Since I got my Canon G12, I've become obsessed with taking pictures. Sometimes, I found myself at a moment where the scene looked so spectacular that I wanted to capture the image. The house my family is living is quite tall and the view to the skyline can be picturesque at some certain times during the day. Recently, I found myself being amazed of the colors of the sky and I had to take some pictures.

Saigon is growing with construction signs everywhere. This building is going to be the tallest one in our area. The crane is hovering back and forth all day and night.

I hope you'll have a nice weekend. See you next week!

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I Can Haz a FOTD!

Hi everyone,

Yay! I finally posted a makeup look up in herre! It's been a while, I know. Please bare with me. Not being able to do FOTDs is antagonizing for me, too. Last week, I was invited to a wedding reception and had to do makeup. What would look nice with my black and white dress? A smokey eyes look. I guess smokey eyes makeup is my forte and when in doubt, I use it.

My "I can haz a FOTD look"
It's smokey eyes with a Japanese influence. Look how huge my eyes are :]

 Wanna know how I did it? Jump!

First of all, it's not one of those "in your face" makeup looks with black eyeshadow. I used the same principle here but with different products. I sneaked in Sue Devitt Lonely Splendor and boy, did it work! Yes, I found it when I took things out of my luggage. I'm glad it is still here with me. This lavender-taupe eyeshadow makes a whole lot of a difference in this look.

The pictures were taken after the party and the walls in my room are green. Hence, the crappiest pictures I've ever had!

Open eye

Semi-close eye

What I used:

Eyes:

• L'Oreal HiP Chrome Eyeliner in Black Shock as a base and to line my eyes
• L'Oreal HiP Chrome Eyeliner in Silver Lightning to line my upper eyelids and lower waterline. Hence, the doll eyes effect.
• Christian Siriano for VS eyeshadow in Gilded Fierce
• Rimmel London Glam Eyes single eyeshadow in Night Jewel
• Sue Devitt eyeshadow in Lonely Splendor
• Matte white eyeshadow from Wet n Wild Vanity palette to highlight
• Shu Uemura eyelash curler
• Kiss Me Heroine Make mascara

Cheeks:

• Benefit Coralista

Lips:

• Rimmel London Celeb lipstick

Note:

• To make my eyes look bigger and more wide awake, I applied Silver Lightning to the upper lash line after applying eye shadows. Then, I applied black eyeliner from the outer corner to 2/3 of the lash line.
• Silver Lightning to the waterline of the lower lash line equals anime/manga heroine eyes.

I hope you enjoy this FOTD. I'm sorry for the crappy pictures. I do wish to have GLAMCOR Classic Light Kit in my room. If you have any suggestions for taking better pictures with green walls, please let me know. I really appreciate it!

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Thee Smart Cookies

Hi there, beautiful!

Every week, I went through the same routine all over again. Around Sunday, I used self-encouragement to find writing topics for this blog. "I give up!" I threw my hands in the air. "I have absolutely nothing to write in here!"

Then, a calm inner voice that sounded like a cross between Morgan Freeman and Yoda told me to look into my picture archive. "Maybe you'll find something worthy to write in there, my child," the voice said. And that, my friends, is how My Makeup Blog has been surviving for almost 3 years now.

Today's post is one of the results of the inner voice. A couple of months ago, somebody gave us a box of cookies. Unlike many cookies I've eaten before, these guys are really special. They are 100% handmade during a certain time of the year. And best of all, they are tiny. The size of my thumb tiny.

I managed to take some pictures before we devoured them all. We call them "The Smart Cookies." And no, I'm not kidding. That's the name.

Four types of smart cookies

Flower

Rose bud

This one looks like a hedgehog
Who ate Sonic?

This one looks like a snail. Or a leaf.
I had no time to contemplate since it was inside my belly already :P

The filling was the same to all of them. They all had soft caramelized shredded coconut. Yummylicious, I must say! Now, I look at the photos longingly, as I can't have them anymore. They are on sale once a year during Qing Ming. Probably our version of the Girl Scout "Crack" Cookies.

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