nyx eyeshadow swatches

Hello,


Finally got around to swatching all my NYX products. These are all my single eyeshadows. All colours have been swatched without a base, no flash in natural light. Click for a larger view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Overall I love these shadows. They have such a high colour payoff and with so many colours to choose from, it's no wonder why NYX has made such a name for itself. Oh and price? I scored these off Cherry Culture for US$2.80 during their 20% off sale. These really are favourite my beauty products. The packaging is compact and they can be depotted to be transfered to thrid party makeup pallet to save some space. 5/5

♥♥♥♥♥

Blush & eyeshadow trios swatches are still to come :)

jenni&ying xo

a mecca night

Howdy!

So holidays have been far more busier than I imagined so apologies for the lack of blog action. I recently cashed in my $150 makeup lesson at Mecca Cosmetica (thanks Ying!). The makeup artist went through everything - from moisturisers, toners, primers & foundation to blush, highlights and shadows.

The look she showed me was a beautiful smokey plum eye using all Nars foundation, bronzer, blush highlighter and eyeshadows. 

Here's the face chart she drew me up (she used so many products!!):

Out of the $150 (plus a little extra), I purchased Nars Shear Glow foundation in Light 2, Stila smudge pot in Black and Nars multi-stick "The Multiple". These products really impressed me. 

Nars foundation costs AU$99 so it isn't something I'm going to be using all the time, but it glides onto the skin effortlessly and blends in incredibly. 

The smudge pot (AU$42) does NOT smudge AT ALL! It is called "smudge pot" because of its dual purpose for lining the eye and creating a smokey effect by smudging. The artist even used it on my upper waterline. 

And lastly, the Nars multi-stick (retailing at a hefty AU$89) is really pretty when blended into the skin (see below). The colour I purchased is called copacabana and can be used as a highlighter for cheeks, inner eye, brow bone and even lips! And you get a lot of product so I thought it was worth it ;) 

And here's the look:

And this is my outfit for the night including my new faux leather jacket from Living Doll & skirt from bardot.

Continuing with the black trend I went for a black and silver gradient nail with extra glitter dust applied to the tips. For those of you that haven't heard of Ulta3 (made famous through Vogue Aus Forums), they are an Australian polish with a considerably good formula for the price -> $2! Only a few chemists tend to stock them, so I was lucky to score this one. Can't wait to go back for more haha!

And the best part? Freebies! A part of the vogue promo, I scored a whole box of goodies including a mini Nars bronzer (so cute!) and Stila kitten eyeshadow!!

So all in all, I had a great night out. Off to watch Toy Story 3 tonight!


jenni&ying xo

And then came the uni break ...

My apologies for this much delayed post! Jen and I have both been really busy with ... relaxing. Oh, and working as well. You'd think that with all the free time that we've been having this blog would be full of new and exciting posts but unfortunately, the free time has just made us more lazy. :O But so much to say tell in this post!

I finally went and saw SATC 2 with a couple of girlfriends and it was Uh-Mazing! I know that it's had a few bad reviews but overall I think that most of us girls go just to see what Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are going to be wearing in each scene.


My absolute favourite outfit - Carrie wore this when out shopping at a spice market in Abu Dhabi

It's just so whimsical and NYC meets a fairytale!

Also, just wanted to show you girls this - 

That's right, we ate popcorn from a shoe box! I have to say, why didn't someone think of this earlier? Ah, the novelty of eating out of a SATC 2 shoe box ... hehehe, still makes me giggle.

Jen and I went out to an amazing pizza place called Little Caesars in Leederville (http://www.littlecaesarspizzeria.com.au). The owner Theo Kalogeracos has won many international awards for his pizzas.

We had to line up for about 15 minutes which in Perth, means that the place is definitely worth going to. For those of you that don't know, Perth is the Capital of Western Australia and is the most isolated city in the world. That's not to say we're all stuck in the middle of the desert with no communication with the outside world, but it does take a while for things to hit our shores and we usually never have to queue up for getting into a restaurant.

We had the Spanokopita, Jane's Addiction and Greek Lamb pizzas which were the best pizza to be had in Perth and dare I say the whole of Australia but they were nothing compared to The Black Forest dessert pizza. 

In the words of Usher - Oh My Gosh! It was this deliciously warm chocolate cake/very thin pizza crust confection with cherries, ice-cream, cream and a dusting of icing sugar on top. Jen and I basically salivated just looking at it. Unfortunately, in the midst of our Black Forest craze, we forgot to take pictures but I managed to find one on the internet which I am going to borrow courtesy of some other random internet blogger.

Is that not the most orgasmic thing you've ever seen?!? We will definitely be going back!

Also, my 21st birthday is coming up and my parents, being the generous and loving parents that they are, took me shopping for my big birthday present. I fell in love with an Omega Watch from Watches of Switzerland on King St. It's from their women's Constellation collection called the Quadrella. It looks so classy yet young as well - the coloured gemstones makes a nice change from Omega's usual style of just using diamonds. So I'm a very happy girl :D

Phew! Very long post, but I promise that I will be regularly updating so they shouldn't be as long as this one in the future. Well, at least I hope so. Thanks so much for reading til the end!

jenni&ying xo

Hi ladies,


Ok, so three exams down one to go! Can't believe how I survived ... hehe.


I was going to do a Fiberwig/Shu Uemura post but unfortunately I've been having some problems with my eyes ... have yet to go see the doctor because I haven't had the time but basically they're a bit dry/swollen - gross I know. I'm holding off on wearing any eye makeup until I get a chance to see the doctor so unfortunately the post is going to be a while in the making!


But onto more pleasant things; I've bought quite a clothes in the last couple of weeks, so I'll definitely do a big haul post when I receive everything. In the meantime here's an outfit that's brand new but I haven't had a chance to wear yet - still waiting on tights from Asos.com as it's quite chilly in the land of West Oz at the moment.

The entire outfit is from Forever New which is a mid-range Australian brand. I absolutely love love love their dresses, skirts and tops! Sooooo pretty and feminine.


The cardigan is so versatile because it can be worn as a knitted top or as a cardigan and the tulle skirt is a lovely pink/nude colour. Still looking for a pair of flats to wear with it though as I seem to only have black flats :( at least it'll give me an excuse to buy new shoes :D


Also, I'm on a hunt for a new pink shade of lipstick. Mine is running out and I thought I'd give another brand a go. Have been looking at some Rouge Volupté lipsticks by YSL; namely Nude Beige. I love how YSL have such creamy and pigmented lipsticks but I'll have to go instore to try Nude Beige out to see how it works with my skin tone.

Anywho, I shall get back to study now but if any of you girls have a recommendation on a nice pinky shade, let me know!

jenni&ying xo

Woodland Green FOTD and Gradient Nails

So I've been wanting to do a look somewhat inspired by the new Robin Hood movie by using greens and bronzes and this is what I came up with:

(Sorry the lighting and colours aren't very good in these shots)

 

Step-by-step process:

1. Prime eyes using Two Faced Shadow Insurance (a dot size cover entire lid)
2. Apply a light shimmery/metalic green eyeshadow on the inner half of the lid. Here I used "Sea Green" loose eyeshadow by Savvy (You can buy this at Priceline for about $7 it think; it's one of my favourites ^.^)
3. Use a bronze shadow on outer half of the lid and blend the two colours together. Here I used NYX "Golden".
4. Using a crease brush, take that bronze colour into and above your crease, keeping a sharp edge at the outer eye corner (at this stage you can cheat by applying some tape to get those perfect lines)
5. Bring the light green up to meet the crease colour and blend
6. Take a darker green and, using a flat brush, apply to the bottom outer half of your lash line. At the outer corner, blend this with the bronze colour. I'm using NYX "Kiwi".
6. Use a fine brush and gel eyeliner to tightly line your top lash line and flick the liner out following the sharp edge you created in step 4. I'm using Inglot's gel eyeliner in black.
7. With the remaining liner on your brush, lightly go over the bottom lash line, stopping half way.
8. To brighten your eyes, add a dot of white shadow in the inner corner and blend. Line your bottom waterline with a white eye pencil.
9. Curl you lashes and apply a generous coat of mascara

You're Done!

For the rest of my face, I just used NYX "Natural" blush applied with a stippling brush and NYX "Rose" Lipstick.

I personally love green eyeshadow and it saddens me just a little every time someone says blue eyes don't match :( But I think this is a nice subtle green look anyone can pull off.

Onto another recent nail art experimentation of mine: gradient nails! Some colour combinations can look stunning when done right. I went for a pink combo and this is what I came up with:

You might not be able to tell, but I've used three colours: OPI "Princesses Rule!" as the base and top coat, OPI "Lunch at the Dehli" in the middle and OPI "Koala Berry" at the tip.

It's super easy to do - I just used a makeup sponge to apply the layers of polish and voila!

And I got my Cherry Culture goodies I bought during the NYX sale today. I haven't forgotten about my original CC haul, don't worry. After exams, I'll pull out all my NYX treasures and swatch and review them all as promised :)

First exam tomorrow :S

jenni&ying xo

summer flutter opi 2010 summer collection

Hey girls,

Just wanted to show you the latest OPI collection out now. It's not so summery here, but I love the look of these bright colours (especially the blue one!)

From left to right, we have: "Flower to Flower" - a hot pink, "Flit a Bit" - bright orange, "Wing It" - a shimmery fuchsia and "Catch Me in Your Net" - a shimmery teal.

I don't think it is available in stores in Australia right now, but you can pick these babies up for a really good price on ebay (visit beautyzone2007)!


love,

jenni&ying xo

purple comparison

Afternoon!

After seeing Ying's post, i decided to pull out my purple OPI "Do You Lilac It?" and try it on to compare. Purple honestly hasn't been one of my favourite colours but every now and then, I get purple fever. So here is my swatch (2 coats, base & top):

This photo shows up quite light, but it is a lot deeper/darker than OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender and less pink. It has a very creamy consistency and if you aren't careful with you application, it can tend to streak. I'd recommend waiting a few minutes between each coat to avoid this.

It's not a colour I enjoy wearing all the time as I'm more of a pink person and so I prefer LLL > DYLI. Let me know which one you like better!

Exams are coming very soon so apologies if Ying and I are MIA in the coming weeks.

jenni&ying xo