DreamWorld/MAC Pigment Hauls and A Pink Look

My DreamWorld haul finally arrived yesterday. I'm super stoked about it. I got all pigment samples from the following "worlds": Summer of Danger, Atlantis, and Mother Earth, Father Sky. The Summer of Danger collection is limited edition, so I grabbed samples of the pigments because they really looked pretty on the site. The colors did not disappoint in real life. I can't wait to try them out.


There are also some blushes from the said worlds in this pic.

I also got a full size jar of Peach creme topping (finishing powder) in the clay/silica formula. I am amazed that Ellie of DreamWorld has totally revamped the concept of "finishing powder". Before, finishing powder was just mineral veil, or some other name for a translucent setting powder. When DreamWorld came, not only did finishing powders come in different translucent colors to choose from with yummy-sounding names (Banana Creme, anyone? How about Raspberry creme, Iced creme, Whipped creme, Butter creme, Butterscotch, Peanut Butter creme? Or Maybe Whipped Strawberries?), but the products also come in different formulas to suit any skin type. Do you have dry, sensitive, mature skin? Choose the creme toppings in the silk formula. Have acne-prone, oily skin? Choose the clay and silica or clay/no silica formula to soak up the excess oil. Ellie is also creating a formula for those with dry skin but cannot tolerate silk powder. The choices are just endless!! There are also primers (called "underlings" in DreamWorld) that come in different formulas to suit different skin types, because every skin is different.


My creme topping samples in different colors and formulas, and my Peach creme full-size jar in the clay/silica formula


I also got most of the glo worms in sample baggies. Can't wait to try these, especially the Honey Glo (the glo counterpart of Butter creme) and Quartz Glo (the counterpart of Raspberry creme topping).


Included in my DreamWorld haul were my full size Ra's Chariot eyeshadow (a beautiful gold/cream color with undertones of green), and my free (well, almost free; paid a penny for it) lippie in Adventure.


I got these wonderful pigments in a swap with a nice lady from MUA. I especially loved the MAC Vanilla pigment (very versatile product - can be used anywhere to highlight, or as an eyeshadow) and the Butterfly eyeshadow from Bare Escentuals. It's a lovely butter-colored, silky smooth eyeshadow that can be used as a highlight or blender color to blend out harsh eyeshadow colors on the lid.


These swatches were applied wet, but I swear, Vanilla looks much better applied dry with a base.





Finally, here is a pink look featuring MAC products and Dayna's Mineral Glow in Violet Vesper. I've been receiving requests for me to feature the Lustre Twins on my lips as well, so here you go.


Simple, quickly applied eye look using MAC mineralize eyeshadow duo in Pink Split




For the cheeks, I used LaurEss matte blush in Persuasion, topped with Dayna's Minerals glow in Violet Vesper. For my lips, I used MAC Lustre Twins in Custom Rose/Pink Virtue.

Looks Using LaurEss, Fyrinnae and Dayna's Minerals

Here are a couple of daytime looks from mineral makeup companies I enjoy using. First up is LaurEss. I think my perfect summer shade is a mix of 75-25 mix of Pure Yellow and Soft Yellow. I think I finally have a match! Although in person, this mix is still a tad too dark especially under natural light. In pictures, though, it seems like a great match.


I am using LaurEss mineral foundation in the ratio aforementioned, DreamWorld creme topping in Butterscotch (clay and silica formula), Dermablend Quick Fix undereye concealer in Ivory, Bare Escentuals Well Rested. I am wearing my MAC mineralize blush in LoveJoy (love it!), MAC 3 Pink Lips lip palette, and MAC Comet Blue dazzleglass.

On to the eyes. I am re-discovering my old Fyrinnae shadows, and I am still very impressed by how pigmented they are. I also tried blending it dry (I used to apply it foiled), and I was amazed at how good it blended with the other shadows. Now if only Fyrinnae's turn-around-time for processing orders isn't that ridiculous. Who knows, I might still order one of these days especially since I don't need to get my hands on them immediately anyway.


This looks a lot brighter in person. I used MAC Beige-ing shadestick as base, MAC Summer Neutral shadow on lid and inner lower lashline, Fyrinnae Irish Moss on crease and outer V and outer lower lashline, MAC Club shadow to contour the crease, MAC Modest Tone shadow above crease, MAC Sunday Best shadow to highlight, MAC kohl power pencil in Jealousy to line, MAC Graphblack technakohl liner to tightline and waterline.

I also tried some of Dayna's Minerals shadows, and I was sooo impressed with the beautiful colors and awesome texture. She sent me free samples of these, and I am really planning to order full sizes. They really look pretty and they look polished and professional when worn in the office.




I am wearing MAC Beige-ing shadestick as base, Dayna's Minerals eyeshadows in Showin' Some Skin foiled on lid and inner lower lashline, Empress' New Clothes foiled on mid-lid blending into Showin' Some Skin, and Winey foiled on outer lid and crease and on outer lower lashline. I used MAC shadow in Femme-Fi to highlight, Graphic Brown fluidline, and Brownborder Technakohl to tightline and on waterline.

Looks Using MAC Sonic Chic and Electroflash, and Dayna's Glows

Here are a couple of looks using the new products from MAC Sonic Chic and Electroflash collections. To recap my previous entry, the pigmentation of the new mineralize eyeshadows is a lot better than the previous releases. I didn't have a hard time achieving the vividness I wanted, and the slip is really velvety and smooth. I used Sonic Chic blush in Gleeful which is one of my favorite mineralize blushes.

I also used my new Minimalist Foundations from LaurEss. I love, love them! I used I think a 50-50 mix of Pure Yellow and Soft Yellow. I used a miniscule amount, a little less than what I would usually use. I thought LaurEss' Original formula was actually the same as Minimalist, but to my eye, I think Minimalist is a tad heavier in coverage, so when I first used it using the same amount I would use with Original, it came off a bit too heavy. I lessened the amount of minerals and I am pleased with the result.









Eyes (all MAC unless otherwise specified):
Beige-ing shadestick as base
Lucky Jade shadestick on lid and lower lashline
Fresh Green Mix mineralize eyeshadow (mono lime green color) on lid and inner lower lashline
Fresh Green Mix mineralize eyeshadow (marblelized green colors) on crease
NYX single eyeshadow in Antique Bronze on outer V and crease and outer lower lashline
Ether mineralize eyeshadow on crease
Overgrown eyeshadow above crease to blend with crease colors
Solar White to highlight
Blacktrack fluidline to line
Graphblack technakohl to tightline and waterline

Face:
Camellia Rose V.2 skin smoothing primer
LaurEss Minimalist mineral foundation in Soft Yellow and Pure Yellow (50-50 mix)
Dermablend QuickFix stick concealer in Ivory
Dayna's undereye concealer in Rested
DreamWorld creme topping in Butterscotch (clay and silica formula)
MAC mineralize blush in Gleeful

Lips:
MAC Whirl lipliner
MAC Ultra Madame lipstick
MAC Cosmic Blue dazzleglass

By the way, last Friday, I received a bunch of beautiful samples from Dayna's Minerals. I already have generous samples of her pretty glows, but she wanted me to at least try the rest for me to have an informed decision when I place an order. That was really very nice of her. Apart from her glows, I also received samples of her eyeshadows, some blushes and foundations. By the way, when I went to MAC and this really HOT male MA (think a young Billy Idol wearing a muscle shirt with the platinum blonde spiked hair and thick guy-liner) applied the New View highlighter side on my cheekbone, he asked what illuminizer I was using because it went so well with the skinfinish. I was wearing Dayna's glow in Golden Zephyr.





I am loving the glows. Here is a look featuring one. Also, in this second look, I used the peachy color in the Love Connection mineralize duo as my lid color. It is a pretty neutral eye look and I love the simplicity of it. I also used several of the Neo Sci-Fi shadows in this look.







Eyes (all MAC unless otherwise specified):
Soft Ochre paint pot as base
Love Connection mineralize eyeshadow (pale beige) on lid
Time & Space eyeshadow on crease and outer V
Magnetic Fields eyeshadow to contour crease
Evening Aura eyeshadow above crease to blend with crease colors, and to highlight
Graphic Brown fluidline to line
Brownborder technakohl to tightline and waterline

Face:
Camellia Rose V.2 skin smoothing primer
Adorned With Grace Minerals foundation in Y3 and Y2 (60-40 mix)
Silk Naturals Date Bait silk finishing powder
Dermablend QuickFix stick concealer in Ivory
Dayna's undereye concealer in Rested
LaurEss matte blush in Blissful
Dayna's Minerals glow in Golden Zephyr

Lips:
MAC Whirl lipliner
MAC Fleshpot lipstick
MAC Pink Grapefruit lipglass

Craftstore Random Buys and My LaurEss Sale Loot

I've had a few buys from my neighborhood Michael's (craft store) that I truly love. I use bead storage systems to store some of my mineral makeup, and I like browsing the bead section of Michael's to get my grubby hands on some nifty containers that I can use for my minerals. On another note, I also buy most of my home decoratiing stuff here, and most of my little boy's art supplies. We love Michael's! Here are some of what I got.


Here are some stackable jars (30g jars) that hold some of Dayna's Glows and her Rested undereye concealer that I transfered from baggies. These are labeled #1-4, when her Glows didn't have individual names yet. I really love these. I place it next to my tray of mineral foundations so I'd remember to apply them in the mornings.


It's a tin jewelry bead box that is very travel friendly as it comes in its own tin case. It's perfect for placing mineral pigments for travel.


Here's another bead storage system but with bigger containers for storing larger batches of foundation. It can also double as a MAC pigment jar.


As always, I wandered off to the painting supplies section and I was so happy when I found a few Loew Cornell Maxine's Mop brushes still on the shelf. These suckers have been out-of-stock for so long now, and I've gone to at least three Michael's stores, and every one of the branches had no stock of these. Probably thanks to the wonderful Koren of EnKoreMakeup, who has been telling us the virtues of buying these amazing brushes. I have shown these Loew Cornell brushes alongside with the MAC 239, and see how similar they are? They are both made of goat's hair that is perfect for application of lid color. The big difference is the price. The 239 is $24.50 each while the Maxine's Mop is only 5 or 6 bucks each. How neat is that? No wonder these are flying off the shelves!

I also went to next door store ULTA and got a few NYX eyeshadows. Before I became a MAC eyeshadow 'ho, I was a NYX addict. I had like 12 of the trios until I gave or swapped everything away. Now I realized there are some soft colors I needed that MAC doesn't have or I can't have because they are limited edition, so I got some NYX trios again (I used to have that Pinks trio too). I also got some lovely green/antique green eyeshadow singles that are pretty unique colors.












My LaurEss Loot



I was so surprised when I got my LaurEss sale loot yesterday. I mean, hello, it was just shipped the other day and I chose First Class shipping! I really appreciate Lauren of LaurEss for giving us U.S. residents the option of choosing First Class shipping for less than two dollars! There are only a few mineral makeup companies that offer First Class shipping, and LaurEss has the cheapest shipping fee I've found so far. In some mineral makeup sites, they charge between $5.50 to $7 per package. I don't need to get my package right away if the difference between Priority and First Class is only 2-3 days. But even with First Class shipping, I received my package amazingly quick.


My beautiful full sizes of Minimalist foundation. I am keeping my fingers crossed that one of these is my exact shade.


Lauren was so nice to give some Ethereal Samples in Soft and Pure Yellow and a gorgeous green shadow sample (bottom row).


My pretty matte blush samples. I chose mattes because I would be using them underneath my glows, illuminizers or MAC MSFs.

I can't wait to try these out!

LaurEss Soft Yellow and Valerie Beauty Shadows

I had a little dilemma with LaurEss because after hearing all the raves about the Minimalist formula of the foundation, I really wanted to try it but I only know my shade in the Original. Lauren (the owner) and I have been e-mailing back and forth and she told me that if I have a match with Elemental, then I should stick to it because the Elemental shades are dead-on matches of their Minimalist counterpart. That was the problem, though: I have not nailed my shades in Elemental, although I know my Original formula shades (are all these making your head spin by now?). So I asked Lauren for the color/shade conversion chart that was posted up on her website a few months ago when people were still trying to convert their shades from the Original to the Elemental. She immediately sent me these charts and I was very grateful because I thought I had narrowed down my choices to two shades. Check them out: Shade Conversion Chart and Color Progression Chart. My choices for the Minimalist colors would be Soft Yellow or Pure Yellow. As I was cleaning my makeup stash, though, I was surprised to find a sample of Soft Yellow in the Elemental formula. I wore it for this look and I can say that my shade is most probably a mix of Soft Yellow and Pure Yellow in both the Elemental and the Minimalist, mainly because I feel that Soft Yellow is a tad too light, while Pure Yellow may be a bit dark.

Since I was wearing khaki that day, I decided to wear Valerie Beauty mineral shadow in Classy, a pretty khaki color that is a gorgeous neutral shadow as well.









Eyes:
MAC Beige-ing shadestick as base on lid
Valerie Beauty shadow in Classy foiled on lid and inner corners
Valerie Beauty shadow in Fall foiled on outer lid
Valerie Beauty shadow in Bell Bottom applied on crease and outer V
MAC eyeshadows in Ricepaper and Nylon to highlight
MAC fluidline in Graphic Brown

Face:
Camellia Rose skin smoothing primer
LaurEss Elemental mineral foundation in Soft Yellow
Physician's Formula mineral concealer
Bare Minerals mineral veil
Lumiere mineral blush in Au Naturale

Lips:
Almay lipliner in Bronze
MAC Slimshine lipstick in Scant

Lastly, just want to share a cute little project hubby did for me. I asked him if he can do something so my damp brushes that I'd just washed can stand upside down while drying, and this is what he came up with:

Milani Runway Eyes and She Space Pigments

Here are a couple of looks featuring my Milani Runway Eyes Wet/Dry eyeshadows and Quad 5 of The She Space. I am a little disappointed with Rockin' Egyptian from that particular quad because I didn't think it was pigmented enough even though I applied it foiled. I should have used All That Buzz instead from She Space's Drama Queen collection because the one is pigmented with a capital P. I just mentally filed that observation away and will use All That Buzz next time (a vivid pure gold color). The other colors in that quad, namely Down and Dirty and One Dark Night, were pretty pigmented especially when foiled, and they pretty much met my standard for vivid, pigmented eyeshadows.

In my She Space look, I used Lumiere's Cashmere foundation in a mix of Medium Golden and Light-Medium Golden. I am more inclined to use Medium Golden straight when summer really unleashes its full force here in a few weeks. I love how Lumiere's Cashmere gives off a really soft glow on the face, very much like MAC's mineralized loose foundation but in a purer mineral formula.







Eyes:
MAC Beige-ing shadestick as base on lid and lower lashline
The She Space pigment in Rockin' Egyptian foiled on lid and inner corners
The She Space pigment in Down and Dirty foiled on outer lid
The She Space pigment in One Dark Night applied on crease and outer V
The She Space pigment in Touched By the Truth to highlight
MAC fluidline in Nightfish

Face:
Camellia Rose skin smoothing primer
Lumiere Cashmere mineral foundation in mix of Medium Golden and Light-Medium Golden
Physician's Formula mineral concealer
Joppa Simple Radiance finishing silk in Medium
Cory mineral blush in Bronze Haze

Lips:
Rimmel lipliner in Epic
MAC lipstick in Brave
MAC lipglass in Nymphette

In a previous entry on Milani Runway Eyes shadows, I was raving about how great the color pay-off is especially when foiled. I tried a neutral eye look featuring a few of these shadows and I am really loving how pigmented and long-lasting they are. For $5 (more or less) a pop, I believe these are a steal and Milani truly is one of the better drugstore cosmetic brands I've tried.

I used my favorite LaurEss mineral foundation, a mix of Creamy Yellow and Radiant Gold (original formula), and I think I might have mixed a bit too much of Radiant Gold because my face looks too light in the pics. Since summer is fast approaching, I feel I can truly wear Creamy Yellow straight. I love the Original formula of LaurEss because it really gives a very smooth, even finish and the slip is incredible. LaurEss' Original formula I believe is identical to the new Minimalist formula, which I prefer over the Elemental formula because of the better coverage and staying power. I still have five full-size pots of the Original formula, that's why I skipped getting Minimalist foundation during LaurEss' recent sale.









Eyes:
MAC Beige-ing shadestick as base on lid and lower lashline
Milani Runway Eyes Wet/Dry shadow in Beach Sand foiled on lid
Milani Runway Eyes Wet/Dry shadow in Bronze Doll foiled on outer lid
Milani Runway Eyes Wet/Dry shadow in Coffee Shop on crease and outer V
Milani Runway Eyes Wet/Dry shadow in Black Out to contour crease
Milani Runway Eyes Wet/Dry shadow in Beach Sand to highlight, inner lower lashline and inner corners
MAC fluidline in Nightfish

Face:
Camellia Rose skin smoothing primer
LaurEss mineral foundation (original formula) in Creamy Yellow and Radiant Gold
Physician's Formula mineral concealer
Joppa Simple Radiance finishing silk in Medium
Cory mineral blush in Amused

Lips:
Rimmel lipliner in Epic
MAC lipstick in Brave
MAC lipglass in Nymphette

An Easy Pink Look

I love to use MAC shadows as opposed to minerals when I'm running late. They are very user-friendly, don't spill, blend easily, glide like a dream, and almost fool-proof. That's not to say that I don't like minerals. Minerals are okay as long as you are used to your mineral eyeshadow brand's slip, pigmentation, color pay-off, and texture. If you are not, or if you are trying out a new brand, it is better not to use them for the first time when you're in a hurry to avoid disaster. I usually use my most trusted minerals when I don't have the luxury of time - Valerie Beauty, Lumiere, She Space, and I usually foil the lid color for maximum vibrancy. However, if I am REALLY pressed for time, MAC is the way to go for the above-mentioned reasons. I also love that whatever I do, as long as I use my trusted Beige-ing shadestick underneath, my MAC shadows stay vibrant, crease-free, and gorgeous all day long.

This particular look was done in a hurry, and I don't know exactly what I used, but I will attempt to enumerate them (all MAC unless otherwise noted). I used Beige-ing shadestick as base, Baby Petals from Heatherette Trio 2 to highlight, Gateaux on tearducts and inner corners, Swish on inner to mid-lid, Nocturnelle on outer V, Cassette from Heatherette Trio 2 on crease, Indelible gel liner in Tanzanite to line, MAC and Rimmel mascaras.

Also, one of my favorite mineral brands, LaurEss, is having a sale. Take a peek at their fabulous products and even more fabulous prices. I love LaurEss because it never fails to give the illusion of smooth, perfect-looking skin. It has one of the best finishes of mineral foundation that I've tried, and whenever I want to look polished, LaurEss never fails to save the day. I was a fan of their Original formula foundation but it has been discontinued (what is it with cosmetic companies discontinuing your favorite products?). They launched the Elemental formula which is supposed to be a sheerer, softer-focus and less matte version of the Original formula, but I found it a little bit too sheer for my taste. Now, Lauren, bless her heart, has created a new formula that is as close to the Original as can possibly be - the new Minimalist. I compared the ingredients and they are just about the same, and I love the fact that they are having a sale to herald the comeback of the formula that I've loved. I am glad the Minimalist is here, because I know that it is just about the same in terms of finish, staying power and coverage as the Original formula. In this look I am wearing the Original formula in a 50-50 mix of Radiant Gold and Pure Gold.









Face:
Camellia Rose skin smoothing primer
LaurEss Original formula mineral foundation in Radiang Gold and Pure Gold
Mary Kay undereye concealer in Ivory topped with
Bare Escentuals Well Rested
Bare Escentuals mineral veil
Valerie Beauty Starlet Glow bronzer/illuminizer on cheeks

Lips:
Rimmel lipliner in Epic
MAC lipstick in Rubia
MAC lipglass in Nico Now

In a previous entry, I tried out Blusche full coverage mineral foundation #1. Here is a look featuring Foundation #2. These are just in the testing stages and are not yet available to the public. They will most probably have these available for sale in a couple of months.