I had been a black liquid eyeliner type of girl for more than 10 years. I had never liked pencil eyeliners as they would smudge -or that's what I thought. This year, none-black eyeliners are on trend in Japan. Paired with berry toned lips, a brown eyeliner crates a sophisticated look. I started collecting autumnal eyeliners a couple of months ago, and here I'm sharing my favourites.
From top: Sweet Salon W Eyeliner (eyeshadow end), Sweet Salon W Eyeliner (eyeliner end), Visee Color Impact Gel Liner, Dodo Liquid Eyeliner, Dolly Wink Eyeliner Sweet Salon W Eyeliner has two ends, one with a brown liquid eyeliner which is a tad too weak in terms of pigmentation by itself, and another end with a shimmery gorgeous eyeshadow which looks so pretty on top of the eyeliner. You don't even need any eyeshadow as long as you have this eyeliner as it's easy to create a neutral look with it.
Dolly Wink Eyeliner in Dark Brown is my current favourite for sure, the brush is so thin which makes it super easy to draw both very thin lines (as shown in the photo above) and dramatic winged lines. The shade is perfect for those who don't like orangy brown as it's deeper and darker.
This eyeliner was the first product I had ever tried from the Korean brand, dodo. The eyeliner is in metallic copper that again, doesn't look orangy at all and suits my eye colour. The brush isn't thin enough to my liking but the colour is amazing. I like applying a nude eyeshadow as a base, and use this metallic eyeliner to add a little bit of a twist.
Last but not least, Visee Color Impact Gel Liner in PU100 is my first ever pencil eyeliner that I love. It glides on so smoothly and makes it easy to draw a straight line. You only have like 5 seconds to smudge before it sets, but the great thing is that it never moves once it's set. It never transfers to my eyelid, or the bottom part of my eye. The shade PU is a gorgeous burgundy shade that goes well with brown eyeshadow. The limited shades are coming out soon in the end of November, which I'm so looking forward to getting my hands on.
I am into brown mascaras too which go well with these eyeliners. I would like to explore more coloured eyeliners, as they are fun and different. To me black eyeliners are kind of boring right now and when I wear them, I feel like I'm put too much makeup on. Now I would love to try some coloured gel liners too!
In the book I'm currently reading, Pretty Honest from Sali Hughes, there is a line that says "I feel sad and frustrated by how many woman have been convinced they must avoid oil to prevent oiliness" followed by another line "I am entirely understanding about why oil-free moisturisers are a more comfortable, matte and practical make-up base by day, but I would still advocate a light facial oil at night". I have dry skin during winter, and it becomes more like combination skin in spring and summer. Which makes it hard for me to fully understand what it's like to have oily skin all year round, but I believe what Sali is saying is true. A good facial oil helps your skin a lot. Today I'm going to share my favourite face oils for different purposes.
For an intensive hydration treatment..... Suki Balancing Facial Oil $32.95
This amazing oil specially made for oily to combo skin is from an American brand called Suki. I have used their brilliant face scrub before and since then I fully trust their products. I got this oil from Vitacost.com (I put the link above), and I am so glad I did. According to the website, what this oil does is this : "Non-clogging sebum equalizing complex™ - jojoba, borage & hazelnut – matches skin's own complex chemistry balancing designed specifically to deeply deliver perfect hydration for overall harmony" I apply it on my face after cleansing it, and massage for a minute or so. Then I place a hot towel on my face and relax until the towel gets cold. Once it's cold, I heat it up again, then do the same until I feel that the oil is fully absorbed into my skin. The blend of lavender and chamomile essential oils helps to relax as well.
Once the oil has sunk in completely, I apply lotion and moisturiser as usual. My skin feels like a baby's butt whenever I do this, this is definitely my favourite way to pamper my skin.
For cleansing..... Badger Organic Beauty Balm Damascus Rose $13.59 I was inspired to use this balm as a cleansing balm when I read a blog post by Alix from I COVET THEE. In this post HERE, she is introducing this balm from Neal's Yard as a cleansing balm. But this is sold as a mositurising balm that you use after moisturiser.
So I thought, using a balm as a cleansing balm could be pretty good, and I was right. It's very moisturising and surprisingly it does remove makeup too. But one thing you need to be careful is to make sure to use a muslin cloth to remove, otherwise it repels water. I'm not a big fan of a muslin cloth, but I have no choice but to use it when I cleanse my face with this balm.
The scent is divine, a blend of lavender, rose and chamomile which is pretty soothing and relaxing.
As a serum..... Terracuore Damask Rose Dew Oil 6,696yen If you haven't tried anything from this Japanese brand Terracuore, you are missing out. Although I'm not a big fan of organic beauty products, their products are amazing I have to admit. And the weird thing is, their products never broke me out. They have an organic farm in Italy and develop the products in Japan. Their damask rose cleansing milk has been very popular and I am a big fan of it too.
This oil is tiny and pretty pricey but trust me, it's worth it. I use it before or after moisturiser as a serum, depending on my skin condition....or let's say, my mood. It smells absolutely brilliant, it smells like a rose bouquet without being overpowering. I am not a big fan of rose -scented beauty products, as I often find them smelling too strong and feminine, but this one is just beautiful.
I apply one drop of it on my entire face and leave it as it is until next morning. I admit it doesn't sink in immediately and it does go on my pillow a little bit, but it's not sticky or greasy at all. On the next morning, my pores look smaller and my skin looks plumped. Sometimes I feel that it works better than the expensive serum that I'm using.
Facial oil is definitely effective, and I cannot live without them. I strongly recommend you to try the hot towel treatment with a good facial oil if you are not used to it, because it doesn't leave the oily feel on the skin at all yet it definitely hydrates the skin. What's your favourite facial oil?
It was a short but pretty hot summer we had in Japan this year. I am so sad that it's autumn now and it definitely is getting colder day by day. I hate winter, I just hate everything about winter, and I'm getting so depressed as writing this thinking about winter...BUT I am excited about autumn / winter makeup. I'm all about coral cheeks and coral lips in summer, but I tend to gravitate towards darker lips in colder seasons like everyone else.
The problem is, I don't look good with dark or bright lips although I'm dying to wear rosy or berry toned lips. And I came up with this idea to mix the lipsticks I own already to create new shades rather than to look for the perfect autumnal shade.
This is how it looks when both of them are on the lips. They are both matte formula, which creates this beautiful velvet kind of texture which is perfect for autumn.
REVLON Lip Butter / Berrｙ Smoothie×Maybelline Baby Lips / Peach Kiss It's been ages since I stopped wearing Lip Butter although I was pretty obsessed with it when it came out. There is no particular reason why I stopped wearing it, but now I remember how pretty it looked on my lips! Having said that, it's still too bright on its own. So I applied Peach Kiss from Maybelline on top, and voi-la!
It has the right amount of pinkness but not too bright. Baby Lips give a little bit of shine and I kind of like that.
Estee Lauder Pure Colour Envy Shine / Surreal Sun × LUNASOL Full Glamour Liquid Lips/ 03 This combo is what I've been loving since summer. Surreal Sun is a very bright orange that I cannot wear on its own. I dab Surreal Sun on my lips and blend with my finger, then add LUNASOL lip gloss on top. This shade 03 is no longer available apparently, but it's such a useful shade added on top of any kind of shades. I love how it feels on the lips.
I LOVE this shade!! I don't know what to do when I run out of this lip gloss, as it looks totally different when the lip gloss isn't added on top. This lip shade makes the whole look more sophisticated, and goes really well with autumnal eye makeup.
Bourjois Effet 3D MAX Lipgloss / #68 × CANMAKE Stay on Balm Rouge / 04 This lip gloss from Bourjois is awesome. It smells awful like rose petals burnt with vinyl or something like that...which is pretty gross. But how gorgeous it looks is unbelievable. It has this rosy undertone to it, which makes my lips look beautiful. It has glitter particles which might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. I paired it with CANMAKE Stay on Balm Rouge in 04, which is a very natural beige.
Browny beige with a hint of rose is such a perfect shade for the colder season. And the glitters make it suitable for the holiday season as well! It's so much fun paring lipsticks and lipglosses because sometimes it creates a completely different shade. And I can save money by not purchasing a bunch of new lipsticks!
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