An Ode to Pink Eyeshadows

If it wasn't obvious already (which, I'm sure; it's not), I've accumulated a fair amount of warm toned eyeshadow these past months. Starting from ZOEVA's Caramel melange palette, and now I have total of two palettes full of pinkish and reddish colors. I know it's little compared to some other bloggers out there with their infinite amount of palettes, but the thought of having too much to actually wear sends me into this spiral of anxiety. Am I the only one?

I'm omitting the said Caramel Melange from this post for the sake of focusing on to the pinkish tones only. Starting with the stunning Cherry Blossom palette from Etude House. I didn't have high hope to begin with, I expected some to be horribly crumbly, a fall out fess, or not doing anything at all period, and, voila! It's actually better than I expected.

Some shades are duds, like two colors on right end (which is INCREDIBLY disappointing, because, boy, was I looking forward to that bright magenta one), some are stellar. God-sent. Life-saver. The shimmery champagne and peach are my favorites throughout September as all-over lids color, instant wake me up color, they'd say. They look beautiful under my eyes too, with the matte brown smudged on the corner and lash lines.

I love to mix the muted purple (matte) with the brown one as crease/transitional color. It's definitely on pigmented shade as it shows up with purplish hue instead of turning muddy color on my darker lids. The gold shade (5th from bottom) has no gold pigment whatsoever, but it's perfect pick when I want some sparkles on my eyes.

The rest are single eyeshadows, again, from Korean Brands. I regret not picking up more Aritaum mono shadow, they're cheap as chips, and are splendid on the lids. I can never seem to skip patting this glittery shadow in Coral Mod on the center of my lids. Of course when I actually bother putting on makeup, aka. mostly three times a week as of late. I already picked at least three other colors to add to my collection, I'm addicted, it seems.

Lazier day calls for Enamel Eyes, another product from Etude House. It's cream product that I usually stay away at least 100000 ft radius from (oily lids ahead), but this one surprisingly stay put. Maybe thanks to the primer I never fail to put on prior from slathering this on. Either way, it's gorgeous coral-y, orange shade with specks of gold.

The remaining two producst are single shadows from The Saem that I've mentioned time to time. Both are mattes, both can be infuriatingly powdery, but both manage to escape the curse of patchy, non-pigmented matte. Fear it not, the red isn't as intimidating in real life. Applied with light hand, it gives a nice breathe of statement color, usually, I used it on the outer corner of my eyes, with the pink one as all over lid color.

Whilst they work beautifully together, like butter on toast, of course I love to experiment. Throw all these warm tones together, no eyeliner, smudge the darkest and boldest color instead, slather those shimmers, and glitters! Throw some matte on the crease! Add some more red! Pat on glitters!

It sounds mad. It sounds crazy. But that's how I've been sporting my eyes for the last three to four months (again; when I can be bothered, because you only have time as little as energy at 4 AM). The trend might have passed with the release of UD's Naked Heat (that I'm checking everyday at Sephora Online like Vulture), but I'm never one to follow the trend anyways, so, I will continue charming pink clouds onto the lids for, months to come.

What's your favorite pink eyeshadows?

a Confession of

Here I am, 7 am in the morning, sitting in front of my mother's laptop, pondering what should I write to explain about my absence this past couple of months. As another thought, that I didn’t have any drink with me entered my thought, I realize something, that might came across as selfish, that; hey, I don’t owe anyone but myself an explanation.

Which is, incredibly selfish, one might say so. But by the end of the day, this blog is another space of mine, a personal space, or at least; that's what it supposed to be, until I got trapped, tangled in what we called 'blogger cliché', and looking back my past entries I began questioning myself; just who were you trying to emulate, self?

Simply put, they didn't feel like me, that writing style, that attempt to be a cheery and upbeat twenty something girl who enjoys candle, routinely slathers body lotion, and have a structured life, it's not me. But maybe what got me the most is that writing style. is. not. me. 

I write like this; ramble-y, so many comas in between and might annoy the hell out of anyone who's used to flowy sentences (what is flowy sentences, even?). I go round and round, making unnecessary long description about how someone's voice is rich, like honey dips, gold like sun that sits on morning dew. I write nonsensical, my thought goes everywhere and where, and return to point one. I did it well, incredibly so on my other writing outlet, but not here.

To be completly, and painfully honest; I never feel satisfied at this blog, and despite my denials, like; a year old denial, it's because I keep comparing myself to other bloggers. See? That blogger cliché, again. This little space structured out of HTMLs and JPGs is supposed to be mine, but reading my past entries, there's this strange sense of detachment.

Back to my previous question; who am I trying to emulate?

My favorite bloggers, with no doubt. And that is so wrong in so many levels, because I realize by the end of the day what I love about them is how personal their blogs are, it feels like they are talking to me themselves. They have their own writing style, their own photography, none of them are exact carbon copy of one another, and they're supposed to be who I aspire to be.

But it's a mistake, that everyone easily fell into when they first started this. The sin called comparison, and ironic turn of wanting to be better, brought me here, and here I am, with my own voice, with my own writing style (which you have noticed by now; very ramble-y, 180 degrees turn of my past entries), ready to tear it all down.

Enter 'Dear Lunatics', Changing my blog url is a huge decision, it's a long winding steps, too, but I'm willing to take these baby steps. It's a long process, like learning to brew the right coffee, like discovering yourself. Like waking up in the morning knowing you have to tackle the day but your limbs are too weary, and you are not ready, but your head is ringing sirene of; get up, you failure! Everybody can, why cannot you?

I will no longer force myself to write about what I do not want to write. I will not force myself to make content calendar to fill. While some of you might screech in horror; "NO! CONTENT CALENDAR IS LIFE!" , I think it's a step that I need. For now. The key. For now. Too many things are happening with me this year, as I've addressed a couple of times in this blog (which is the only explanation I could give you for now). I'm still trying to find an even ground for myself, and if that included walking away from the safe structure that I've been standing on all these times, then so be it.

There's no promise I can give as to when I will make a comeback, instead, I can give it that I'll be falling out of the regular blogger train and hop onto the slow blogger ones. That’s it, everyone. Have a nice Sunday!

And I will make myself a cup of coffee. By the way, my mom suddenly announced she had a hairdresses appointment for me in 30 minutes, so, another to-do list un-checked.

But you know, what? It's fine.

Everyday Makeup Staples

As much as the beauty content I consume every day is the morning I wake up feeling putting on makeup is the last thing I’d do. Hopefully I’m not alone in this department, I reckon each person have their own reasoning, but for me, mostly because of fatigue. The need to look presentable prevails still, and these are the products I reach for when the blue-morning comes.

Never before I thought a primer will bring excitement to my life. If you remember last year, I fawned so much over MAX FACTOR’s faceffinity, this one is even better. While both are lovely as foundation base, PAUL & JOE PROTECTING FOUNDATION PRIMER works as beautifully alone. The official website doesn’t mention anything about what this silky liquid contains, but it lives true to its moisturizing and lightweight claim. It is very fluid, easy to apply, rather than primer, this resembles a tinted moisturizer. Smoothing this over my face instantly banishes the dullness of my skin, brightens up, and enlivens my face. The perfect one for lazy morning.

Until last year, I was never a brow person. I mentioned briefly in my last post that it’s all the Korean beauty bits that got me excited about brows. While I’m getting better at drawing my brows, in the morning when all I want to do is fall face first on the bed instead of stepping out to tackle busy day, a tinted brow mascara is the ultimate life saver. THE SAEM BROWCARA in BROWN is bought precisely for this reason; aye, I bought it to save my lazy-ass soul. Like other brow mascara out there, just a wiggle here and there, voila! They might not be Instagram-worthy brows, but they save my brows from looking like two sad caterpillars sitting on top of my eyes.

A staple from last year is my JILL STUART LAYER BLUSH in OLD ROSE. Looking at the dents, you can tell this blush has been thoroughlyl loved. I mean, who’s not excited looking at that elegant packaging, am I right? Containing very fine shimmer, this pinky-mauve blush lifts up my complexion in a breeze. A swipe of this on the apple of my cheeks and I’m ready to tackle the day.

Lips is that one department I can never leave out because I’d look like a sickly looking potato (is that even a thing?). I moved temporary out of my house for renovation, and I had tucked away lipsticks that I no longer wear, leaving me with only two of them. What I thought would be the chance to use up old products changed upon purchase and purchase of lipstick (hope I’m not the only one who had committed this atrocity). As of late, I’ve been loving NYX SOFT MATTE LIP CREAM in BUDAPEST or PRAGUE, with old love BURBERRY LIP VELVET in OBXBLOOD occasionally thrown into the mix.