Makeup Review: Kanebo Kate Powder Foundation in BR-C

I've been on the hunt for a good powder foundation to use for normal school days ever since my old SK-II foundation ran out. I was actually deciding between this foundation and Majolica Majorca's powder foundation, but this one had a ton of favourable reviews online so naturally I gravitated towards it.

Firstly, I bought it in the shade BR-C, which is a brightening powder and the only one that is contained within a white packaging. The other shades are packaged in black and seem a tad darker in shades. The compact. It's made of super reflective plastic that is a total dust and fingerprint magnet! Within a few uses, it was covered in scratches and smudged fingerprints and such, so if you're picky about appearances, then its better if you find an alternate compact.

I've already used quite abit of it, so pardon the dirty sponge. I'd forgotten to take a pic when it was still nice and clean. The powder is very fine, and the coverage ranges from fine to medium and covers minor blemishes. It also contains SPF20

After full makeup, the effect without flash is a luminous, light finish that I love. I can also fake perfect skin with it haha!

With flash, you can see that it has a slight sheen to it and is generally quite smooth in application with no patchiness. BUT!!! This effect came about only after I had changed my makeup base to Majolica Majorca's Skin Lingerie Pore cover which I had reviewed before.

Me after a long day in school and then going out to sing karaoke with some friends, so pardon the tired look. I also used a peach instead of pink blush for a more au naturel look.

The foundation on the whole is a decent product however, it has caused me to change my makeup quite abit. Firstly, I was using Kate's Mineral base (which I keep forgetting to review about) and being from the same brand, I naturally assumed it would work together just fine. I was so wrong!! This foundation doesn't work to give a matte finish and if you apply a mattifying base, it'll just go all patchy and wrong and look horrendous. So I had to switch to a base with less oil control in order for it to work fine. The good thing is that if you prefer the luminous, dewy look., this foundation is just what you need.

However, a few warnings to take note! When I applied this foundation, I was really shocked at how pale and white I looked and it wasn't fair, it was literally white! But after applying my other makeup such as mascara and blush, the shade looked just fine. I'm also glad I got it a shade lighter because the foundation does have a tendency to oxidise since it doesn't control oil very well, so do get a shade lighter then your usual if you have oily skin. It also doesn't work as well with my favourite Candydoll loose powder, but with Kate's own loose powder, it works just fine and keeps the powder in place and minimizes smudging. I also have problem contouring my nose now because I use a waxy concealer and a brown eyeliner to darken the sides of my nose, but whenever I use that method now, the powder slides and creates terrible smudges that are super difficult to fix, so I have to use my bronzer instead.

So in summary:

Coverage: 7/10 (average coverage, but it does leave a sheer, luminous finish. So its good for faking perfect skin)

Texture: 9/10 (super finely milled powder, that go on smoothly and need minimal blending)

Oil control: 3/10 (Do not depend on it for oil control! Use blotters and bring along some loose powder to touch up instead)

Price: 6/10 (More pricey compared to average drugstore products. I remember the foundation costing $38 and that's not including the compact case, which I can't remember the price)

I'm getting used to using the foundation now, though it was initially incredibly frustrating to figure out how to make the best of it. I had to change quite abit of my makeup products and routine to accomodate it. So do remember, when done right, the effect is amazing but if not applied with the right products, it can go horribly wrong.

I'm still on the fence if I should continue using the product or try out my other option which is the Majolica Majorca powder foundation. I'll probably continue using it out of habit more then anything else, but I'll see how when this initial pact finishes.

World Runway Premiere (Fashionquake Aid 2011) Event

I managed to snag myself some tickets for the World Runway Premiere (Fashionquake Aid 2011) event, so I dragged along my friends, Josephine, Jeremy and Cockroach (that's her nickname, she's a major fan of Gazette). I was pretty starting to get pretty ill (still haven't fully recovered) but even my illness wouldn't stop me from attending such a major fashion event!

A slight background of the event, unlike its famous big sister, the Tokyo Girls' Collection (TGC), WRP is NOT a fashion event for brands to showcase their latest collections. Rather, it's a fashion tournament involving teams consisting of stylists, wardrobe assistants and makeup artists/hairstylists from 8 countries who compete to style their models according to the theme, which was "street-chic".

The teams came from Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, USA and Singapore. They had to shop for their collection from local shops and had to keep within a strict budget (I think it was bout $500 per model).

Onto pictures! Though I apologise for them being so blurry, with my camera out of order, I had to depend on my crappy iphone pics, though jeremy did help me by taking some pictures too! So the less blurry pics are his. Do click on the pics for a bigger view, that way you can see the outfit and makeup details alittle better. >.<

If by chance anyone does take the pictures for whatever purpose (tumblr etc.) Please, link it back to this blog, I took an insanely long time editting the pics, joining them together and choosing the best of the many crappy ones I had. Thanks!

Most pictures are from the large screen because we were seated insanely near the side of the stage. It was fun because we were the "cheerleaders" and they gave us flags to wave about. The stage was like 2 "Y" joined together, and the entire team were judged on a few categories (styling, makeup, hair, walking, uniqueness, team presentation & creative vision) with the total score making up the final score. Only 4 teams were selected for the second round, and then the winner was chosen.

USA played with textures greatly. They layered alot and their models were often adorned with heavy jewellry that almost resembled medieval chains. Makeup consisted of intense contouring with blush and highlighting being overly emphasised coupled with dark eyes.

Italy focused more on strong colours and bold makeup. I loved the reddish leopard dress in the third picture, it was accesorized with a chunky gold belt that appeared to be made from thread spools or bangles, super creative! The model on the far right picture had feather earrings or hair acccesories, which is very on trend right now.

I felt that Russia failed totally in meeting the "street-chic" theme. Their look was soft and muted with a colour palette consisting of nudes and whites. It was very different and no doubt, stood out in its own way, but like I said, personally it failed to meet the theme. But I cannot deny that I loved their makeup so much! The models had soft, glowing porcelain skin with the barest of blush and liner to give it that ethereal, forest nypmh look. Their hair and makeup were accesorized with flowers, and I think gardening foam.

Brazil, was in no doubt the most fun of the lot! The models sashayed down the runway decked in colourful, blinged out clothes and waved and danced about. I certainly felt like I was attending an actual TGC with the models' fun antics. They even came down at the last moment carrying the Brazil national flag, a definite showstopper! Makeup was fun with lost of glitter shadows and eyeliner and fun pops of colours everywhere be it the lips, blush or just the amazing clothes.

From here on, the following countries were the ones that made it to the second round. The other countries that failed to make it assisted the other countries during the 20 minute interval that they were given to get the models to change into their new outfits and to freshen their makeup.

Honestly, when I first saw Singapore's collection, I thought they were the Japan team. The 2 pictures from the right came from their first collection, and the third picture is their second round collection. The models were decked out in alot of neon colours, Hello Kitty and hoodies with cat ears on them, the whole thing was alittle too "kawaii" for me. The second collection had little relation to the first collection other then having the same makeup and bright colours. Most of them were decked in cheongsam-inspired dresses that had the most garish prints on them, I seriously thought the outfits were more suited for getai singers (performers who sing, dance and perform comedic acts during the Hungry ghost festival, to entertain both the living & the dead who had returned) then a styling tournament

France on the otherhand, played it bit too safe in my opinion. Their outfits were fun no doubt, but in a more Friday office dress down getup kindda way but they were bang on trend with high-waisted shorts, polka dot patterns and vintage style dresses with waists being cinched in with a wide belt. Their makeup was obviously a nod to geishas with super pale skin and painted red lips and perfectly coiffed dark hair.

Japan reminded me alot of the dramatic antics of a John Galliano show. Models had their hair decked out with interesting headgears that seemed to be made of coloured netting and flowers and other random knick-knacks, all placed atop the models' perfectly pulled back hair in the most precarious manner. Models sashayed down the runway waving huge umbrellas and fans, looking sombre with their pale skin, kohl-rimmed eyes and stark black lips. Clothes were heavily layered, or in some cases, like the 2nd picture from the right, heavily adorned with amazing details and all of them had at least one material on them, somewhere, that had some kind of Japanese print on it, be it floral or Japanese cranes.

UK was the eventual winner (and my personal favourite!). It was a dead giveaway that the styling team was heavily influenced if not, paying homage to the late Alexander Mcqueen. Models had dewy skins, with the appearance of just a touch of makeup, nude lips and then heavily emphasised brows, with extra feathers and glitter foil attached to their brows. Clothes too covered the bare minimum, but had great amounts of detailing on them, with lots of metallic accents on them or a mixing of textures. They looked so futuristic and awe-inspiring, no photo does them complete justice, I am now deeply obssessed at finding out where the styling team got their outfits from, because I totally want the whole collection!!

At the end of the tournament, all the models and styling teams came onstage to await the results. UK walked away with a total score of 79, and became the first winner of the World Runway Premiere event.

The event was great fun, but alittle messy. Models were still practising their walks when my friends and I were let in, but then again, we were the "cheerleaders" so we were allowed in alittle earlier then others to get us to rehearse our flag-waving and cheering. Once, due to a technological malfunction, the timing went off-schedule and our host, Utt, had to come out and buy alittle time by interacting with the audience.

I was also really upset when I noticed about a 1/4 of the people attending the event were more interested in the Korean performing artist, se7en, then the actual event. They waved glowsticks aorund and suddenly the whole audience was so alive with fangirls screaming away when he performed. They promptly left, the moment his performance was over without even having the courtesy to wait alittle while more for the tournament results.

But no matter, as a trial for what's to become a major fashion festival for the next 5 years, it was done superbly and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to attend this event. Cross my fingers and hope that I'll be just as lucky next year!!

Momoeri's New Lash Line: Jewel Eyelashes

Just a fairly quick post before I'm off to bed!!

Momoeri sells a fair amount of cosmetics and such so it isn't surprising that she'll have her own line of lashes really. If I remember correctly, this would be her second lash line though I can't say if her lash lines are permanent or on a limited basis, though my guess would be that its released for a limited time only since I don't see much publicity for lashes and news about them disappears pretty fast.

Her new lash line is named Jewel Eyelashes, which I think is fairly suitable with her blinged out lifestyle where majority of her stationary and other items have to be decked out in jewels one way or another.

The line consists of 2 top lashes and 2 bottom lashes, a decent variety I think

Top Lashes:
Type 001: Elegant & Gorgeous
(this one seems bit too similar in pattern to Dollywink's lashes)
Type 002: Elegant & Natural
(I don't like that the hairs seem to be all wiry looking and stuff, but I guess it will blend in with your natural lashes when applied, which is the type of lookthis lash is trying to achieve)

Bottom Lashes:
Type 003: Feminine & Glamorous
(Longer then most typical lower lashes, I'm quite interested in these actually, considering they are longer then usual but not tufts of hair stuck together, hence a more natural but still obvious look)
Type 004: Feminine & Simple
(Again this reminds me of Dollywink's version, but there seems to be more tufts of hair on the entire lashline as compared to Dollywink's)

From the available information, lash glue is not included in the pack and I'm uncertain if the hairs used are natural or plastic hairs. Judging from the designs, I honestly do not feel inspired by them at all. The designs are fairly simple and quite common in my opinion.

The lashes will only be released on the 22nd of September and are going for 1260yen (tax included) which at the current exchange rate equals USD16.40/SGD20.35 without shipping. A reasonable and common price for most lash lines in Japan I guess. They can be purchased (currently reservations only) online via the Momoery Rakuten shop: http://moeryshop.jp/item/5076.html

if not, it'll be avaliable in Don Quixote (Donki) stores from early October.

Okay, I'm off to bed now. I gotta wake up early to celebrate my sis's birthday before heading down to the amazing World Runway Fashionquake 2011 event. I managed to snag 2 different tickets, one was to be part of the cheerleading team and the other was a pair of general seating tickets. Of course, I naturally gravitated towards the cheerleading tickets since its always more fun to be part of a major event so I gave away my other tickets to a friend. I'll try to take pictures of the event but I'm not sure how its gonna pan out so hopefully I'll mamange to snag some good shots. Oooh!! Super excited now!!!

Contact Lens Review: Barbie Tri Blend brown

My life has become extraordinarily boring lately, hence the lack of updates. All that happens to me lately is going to school and back, meeting buyers for my cosplay costumes and some of my old Japanese gyaru magazines, meeting the bf and staying at home doing housework and schoolwork.

So in order to keep this blog updated and prevent it from stagnating, I decided to try and catch up with my reviews. Espeically when I've been using plenty of new products lately but always forget to take pictures for a review, however, as fate would have it, my camera decided it was time to fizz out and die on me. I'll try to continue my reviews using my mom's super old camera, but no promises as I need to figure out the functions and try to take nice pictures with it. In the meantime, here's a review that I managed to take pics of just before my camera died.

I'm reviewing Barbie tri Blend Brown lenses. I got them to replace my old adult brown lense that had started to irritate my eyes, I had been using them for more then 6 months anyway, so I guess it was a hint that I oughta change it anyway. Again, these lenses are super simple lenses that I had purchased for the pupose of using them for school and days when I don't wanna wear much makeup.

The poster for Barbie Tri Blend Brown. It claims to be 14.5mm but its more of 14mm in my opinon and its manufactored by the same company that produces Candy Magic king lenses.

One lens in, one lens out. Minimal enlarging as you can see.

Both lenses in with no flash indoors. They look like very natural lenses.

Both lenses in and with direct flash. The design is very minimal and blends in seamlessly with my dark eye colour, a super plain pair of lense that you really shouldn't expect much from it. No way will it be good enough for the super enlarged look for gyaru makeup.

In terms of comfort, the lens is definitely very comfortable, with little need for me to apply eyedrops even after spending a whole day in an air-conditioned classroom. Its super natural looking due to the smaller diameter and it not having the typical black iris-enlarging black ring.

I've been using the lens for many many months now so maybe its bout time for me to change it its starting to get blurry after a couple hours of wear, but it could also be my eyes acting up as lately my lids have become abit sore for no apparent reason. I'll be seeing a doctor soon if my eyes don't get any better after switching lenses and throwing out my old makeup.

But overall, its a fantastic pair of lens for a natural look and I really recommend it.

Personal Outfit 70 (Sis's Birthday Gift)

Went out for abit the day before to get my sister's birthday present and to spend some time with the bf. I haven't dressed up for quite awhile so I thought I would treat myself by dolling up but since I haven't gotten some new clothes in awhile, I had to throw on a rough outfit with what I had on hand.

Outfit:

Pussy bow shirt: Osmose

Tiered floral skirt: Nichii

Belt: Taobao

Over knee socks: Cosmode

Nude loafers: itti & otto

Hair bow: Salvation army

Bag: Mety Darmali

My hair has kindda faded out to a light honey/caramel blonde which I love alot, I personally think it looks alot better then before! Did a simple plait hairdo and added a slight wave to the ends of my hair that day. Nothing fancy.

The bag is by an incredible designer who named the brand after herself. Most of her pieces tend to be one-off designs and every single piece is sewn and beaded by hand, my mom and I fell in love with her incredible works of art and have since amassed a collection of her whimsical bags. It's hard to capture the beauty of her bags in a picture but you can admire more of her other works at: www.metydarmali.com

The bag in full detail, her signature is the 'I "heart" Me' beading, she has it on all her bags and for her larger, rectangular bags, there's always one side that has ribbon threaded through in a corset-style.

After sifting through my wardrobe, I've realised that my mom and I (my mom mostly) have collected a ton of bags that are all crazily fun and unique and sadly, they've been shut away for quite awhile. I plan to dig them out and start putting them to use, and considering makeup and clothes are rather toned down lately in gyaru fashion, perhaps its time these beautiful bags get their chance in the spotlight.

I'll definitely show more of them in time to come!

Kagura & Kamui (Gintama) Shoot

After the horrible results of the Sheryl Nome shoot, I'm so relieved that the results from this shoot was alot better. Which is pretty funny since it was shot within 3 hours, at an outdoor location and with the weather threatening to pour on us that day.

We shot at Japanese Gardens and initially we were worried bout the crowd there but luckily for us, there were rumbles of thunder that I guess scared off the people but it remained sunny enough for us to shoot. We also got our trusted photographer, Kenneth to shoot for us, and out of the people I've worked with so far, he's definitely one of my favourite photographers to work with.

My face looks bit funny here, but I think its more of the angling

Love love love this shot, though the bridge was kindda steep. Kenneth saw the potential in this shot when we were walking to the bridge, I had run further ahead of the rest of the group and was attempting to scale this bridge when he shouted at me to stand still before taking a quick snap. The result is pretty nice as you can see.

A more "action" shot, it took abit of effort to pose in a ultra mini skirt and high heeled boots and a stiff obi limiting my positioning on soft grass. But the result is worth it!

I think Esther looks ultra cool here, so bishie!! (>w<)b

Kamui: "Kagura, that dango..."

Kagura: "No way!"

I've already retired my Kagura costume. It was definitely a fun costume but I don't like re-using the same costume too many times, and I definitely don't have enough space in my room to keep costumes for the purpose of preserving memories. It'll be going to another loving home pretty soon!

Digressing to another topic, Esther's new school term is gonna start soon so any previous plans we've made are thus put on hold and subjected to the amount of free time Esther has from now on. Its bit sad because we do have quite a few plans together but this is something totally out of our hands so I'll probably start working on a few other solo plans I've put on hold. I'm trying to recruit at least one guy for a particular series but nothing concrete so far, though I have been recruited for a group cosplay!

I'll be cosplaying Nanami Haruka from the series Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% (super long title I know =.=), and best part is, hehehehe.. I'll be getting a "harem"! The anime is the typical shoujo style of story with one girl and a bunch of guys who all eventually somehow develop a crush on her and start vying for her affections. My friend has managed to recruit all but one guy, so we're just proceeding with the plans and hopefully it'll not be just for a shoot but for an event as well. So crossing my fingers!

Sheryl Nome (Macross Frontier) Shoot

I had planned this shoot some time back and it was because I greatly admired a particular CD cover of Sheryl Nome. The shoot was supposed to revolve around the artistically done Universal Bunny CD cover (not costume!!) and I later decided to try doing the Pink Monsoon cover at the same time. But to be honest, I'm thoroughly disappointed with it. I had initially planned for Steph to be my photographer for it because of the level of nudity involved but due her busy schedule, I decided to get another female photographer instead.

In the end, I had like 300+ snaps taken after an entire day in a photoshoot studio but barely any were good enough for my standard. The photographer had also initially sent me some samples as ideas so I figured why not and she agreed to help me do all the editting and stuff. In the end after waiting nearly half a month for the shots, she dumped the 300+ shots onto me and one measly editted pic. I was screaming mad when I saw the result because I had spent quite abit of money paying for the time in the studio, spent a whole day trying to get good shots, spent bout 2 weeks dieting for the shoot and all I got one was so-called nice pic.

This pic was influenced from the Pink Monsoon CD cover. Steph kindly helped me to do editing for it and I tweaked it abit more when she sent me her photoshopped version.

This was the edited pic that the other photogrpaher sent to me. I'm still not totaly happy with it but with Steph and Esther busy with their own stuffs, I don't really wanna bug them to help me do editing since they are doing it out of kindness.

I've asked Steph for a possible reshoot and she's agreed but considering how busy she is with her bf and work and stuff, it doesn't look like we'll be doing it anytime soon. I also need to get ready my costume for the AFA (Anime Festival Asia) event in November, so my guess is I'll be extremely lucky if I can get the reshoot done by this year.

So much for getting a nice photo, and to think I thought that this would be the first and last time I would do such a revealing shoot, I was totally entranced by the design of the CD cover but the results are far from it... haiz....