My minimal face for Fall

NARS blush in Deep Throat
L'Oreal Voluminous waterproof mascara in black
Maquillage by Shiseido eyebrow pencil (102, GY921)
Canmake eyebrow pencil (02)
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus
MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF 35 in NW-25
Prestige waterproof automatic eyeliner in 02 Expresso
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on eye pencil in Bourbon
Shu Uemura eyelash curler
Kiss Me Heroine Make volume & curl mascara 

I am a foundation girl all-season. I just need the coverage foundation gives me and I can't part with it. But recently I have been finding myself reaching for a slightly different routine than my typical liquid foundation face routine. Now, if there is one thing you should know about me, it is given any day throughout the year I am in a rush. That's just reality that I have to press the snooze button several times before I drag myself out of my cozy bed. Getting ready and turning myself into a relatively-presentable state with shortest amount of time is my daily goal.

To achieve that, I have rekindled my love for MAC studio finish concealer. It is a thick, high-coverage concealer and I use my fingers to warm up the product and apply to my skin directly. After covering my blemishes, acne scars, and any other imperfections, I turn right to MAC MSF natural to set the concealer. MSF natural doesn't give a lot of coverage but I like how it never looks cakey on my skin. To boost the coverage a little bit, I usually reach for my elf flat-top powder brush to apply the powder. And this is pretty much my face makeup. If I have an extra 30 seconds to spare, then I will apply a tiny bit of NARS deep throat blush onto my cheeks to give my face some life.


Face is done, now my eyes. Eyebrows have become a must in my book nowadays. My brows are a little bit sparse especially towards the arch, filling them in just frame my face so much better. Eyebrow pencil is the quick and easy way to go. Some people complain about not being natural when using an eyebrow pencil, I think doing it in small, light strokes is the key. My favourite eyebrow pencil at the moment is the Maquillage eyebrow pencil. Maquillage is a line from Shiseido but I am pretty sure it's not available in North America. I bought mine from Hong Kong but when this runs out, I will have to look for alternatives here. It's quite special because one end is a pencil, and the other end is a powder. The powder can be used more for the "head" of your brows to give a softer look and the pencil can fill the rest. Not only do I like this convenient design, the colour match is quite perfect for me. I used to use the Canmake eyebrow pencil, which is a dark brown colour. But through time I find it is a little bit too "reddish undertone" for my brows. I still use it sometimes because I am trying to savour my Maquillage pencil and trying to use this up. The Maquillage pencil is more of an ashy brown colour. But if you ask me, I will definitely choose the Maquillage eyebrow pencil over the Canmake one.

For eyeliner, I prefer brown eyeliners more than black. I think it is just softer and more suitable on a daily basis. I used to never wear eyeliner because I just think it's too much and doesn't fit my hooded eyes. However, recently it has grown on me. I still don't like doing a thick line all across the lid, but what I do is to tight line towards the end of my eyes and to do a half-line on my lids. This just gives my eyes more definition, and at the same time, still natural enough. The two trustworthy eyeliner pencils that do not smudge on me are Prestige waterproof automatic eyeliner in Expresso and Urban Decay 24/7 glide-on eye pencil in Bourbon. Two different price points yet I love equally. Bourbon has a little shimmer in it so when I fancy some glitters on my eyes, I will choose Bourbon. (And when I say shimmer/glitters, it is really really really subtle.)

Lastly, curl my eyelashes with my holy-grail Shu Uemura eyelash curler and splash on some volumizing mascara. Yes, two options again, namely L'Oreal voluminous waterproof mascara in black and Kiss Me Heroine Make volume & curl mascara. I don't just stick with one thing all the time. I like some varieties. I really am not one of those people that will get into a rut with makeup. So this means, I am not sure how long this "routine" will last, haha. But that's the fun of experimenting with makeup.


p.s. I took these pictures on a very nice Fall day, definitely a day to remember......  

Let the empties continue...

OK,
so let's just jump right in without further ado, we have lots of talk about!

(Left to Right)
My beauty diary peach soda eye & lip makeup remover (dual-phase)
MAC Fix+ skin refresher / finishing mist
Fancl mild cleansing oil (special edition bottle)

• My beauty diary peach soda makeup remover - I remove my eye makeup separately from my face makeup and I have come to the realization that dual-phase removers work the best. This is no exception. I like it a lot, doesn't leave a greasy film on my eyes yet effective! There isn't any special scent to it despite the name. It is pretty to look at though because the bottom layer is a pink liquid. =) I also like the scroll cap packaging, easy and do not have to worry about leaking. Good for traveling! 
• MAC Fix plus - a very popular product in the beauty community. It's an OK product to me, it works in terms of making your makeup looks more dewy and less powdery. Staying power? I am not 100% sold. I also am not too crazy about the mist, the packaging doesn't produce a mist that is fine enough. As opposed to what the salesperson said, I didn't think MAC Fix plus helps to fight humidity. I was using it during my stay in HK, where heat and humidity are all there is left in Summer months. Still, I think this is not a bad product and I might consider repurchasing for Winter. 
• Fancl cleansing oil - Holy Grail status in my book! My first cleansing oil and I always have this on hand no matter how many cleansing oils I try. 

(Left to Right)
Laneige water sleeping pack plus
Chanel Precision UV essentiel daily protection SPF 45/PA+++
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri anti-chip top coat
NUXE intensive firming cream
Origins super spot remover
Dior Miss Dior Cherie L'eau Eau de Toilette 

• Laneige water sleep pack plus - an overnight mask that gives moisture to your skin when you are sleeping. To be honest, I have used a few jars of it before even though I can't say I am crazy about it. However, I discovered it is quite good to use during long haul flights. May repurchase but I kind of want to try something else for the moment. 
• Chanel prevision UV essentiel daily protection fluid - big NO NO for me. Yes, you would think everything from Chanel must be good but I struggled to use this up. I hate sunscreen being thick and greasy and this is exactly how I feel about this. I used this up by applying it to my neck area. I do not recommend this at all. =(
• Sally Hansen insta-dri top coat - a great, affordable top coat and I did enjoy it a lot. Like the mega-shine top coat, it is no exception that towards the end of the bottle, the product gets too thick and goopy to use. Still trying to find my favourite top coat but I will certainly keep this in mind. 
• NUXE intensive firming cream - I love the smell of this cream! It came from a sample set and it claims to have bamboo, amazonian plants and kigelia africana in the product. Can't speak for the firming ability but I would repurchase just for the scent. However, I am unable to find this line in stores so I wonder if it's like a limited edition thing? 
• Origins super spot remover - I need to have at least one acne treatment on hand at all time and this serves the purpose. I actually already repurchased and am using the 2nd bottle of it. I find it hard to say if any of these acne clearing products really works, but my philosophy is to "keep holding on". This spot remover doesn't make my skin peels with 1.5% salicylic acid in it, and it works well underneath makeup which is critical to me. 
• Dior Miss Dior cherie L'eau EDT - I am trying to use up some of my perfume samples and this is first in line. I do not own the original Miss Dior cherie perfume so I am not sure how they compare. Scent is very personal and hard to describe but all in all, I am not intrigued to buy the full size. 

(Left to Right)
Prestige my blackest lashes mascara
Fairy Drops mascara
Lancome cils booster mascara base
NARS pro-prime smudge proof eyeshadow base 

Finally some makeup bits! 

• Prestige my blackest lashes mascara - heard a few people raving about this mascara, claiming it to be similar to the Makeup Forever Smoky Lash. First of all, my Asian lashes are extremely hard to hold curls so waterproof mascara is almost always a must. My blackest lashes mascara does not come in a waterproof formula but I was still intrigued to try this out. Well, my lashes went straight almost immediately after I applied this mascara... so needless to say, I won't repurchase this. 
• Fairy Drops mascara - a Japanese brand mascara and I often prefer Japanese brands when it comes to mascara. Maybe because our lash types are more similar. It has a very interesting wand with 3 "balls" on it and it was amazing at keeping my curls. I already bought a 2nd tube of this (with different packaging and slightly different wand) because I am a sucker for mascaras. Also, I found that with this mascara, it is best to wait for a period of time before it reaches its best performance stage (in other words, it might be too wet when you first start to use it). 
• Lancome cils booster mascara base - this was a gift from my friend, before I knew anything about makeup (I still don't know a lot of things of course). It was basically sitting in my drawers for years before I finally open it. Despite the fact that this is a "star" product, I can't say I love it. Again it made my lashes straight.... I don't know if they have changed the formula over the years (probably have) so I might try the new formula some day. 
• NARS pro-prime smudge proof eyeshadow base - got this sample size from Sephora in a mini NARS set. After finishing this little sample up, I ran to Sephora and bought the full size. It serves its purpose well and I think it performs even slightly better than my Two Faced Shadow Insurance in humid weather. The only downside is the packaging... it gets dirty so easily and I would prefer it in a tube like the Two Faced one or the newly packaged Urban Decay primer potion. 

Woooo, so this wraps up my super long and overdue empties post. I hope I can keep this spirit going and let's also hope that I won't accumulate that many to blog at a time again....-.-