Morena signs off

Hello ladies,

I have decided to sign off from the blog for a while. I didn't want to just disappear off the face of the Internet without saying that. I shall miss all of you. One day I might open the blog again and I do hope all of you would still be around.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mabuhay.morena@gmail.com. I'll be glad to answer you as best as I can.

Until then, stay beautiful ladies. It's been a short, but fantastic, ride.

See ya.

Concealer Brush

Okay, when you've found your perfect concealer, the next stop is finding the right way to apply it. Some people prefer to use their fingers, some prefer sponges. I prefer using concealer brushes. I like the sponges too but I personally think the application is more precise when I use brushes specifically designed for concealers.

So anyway, I have two concealer brushes, Bloom's and Bobbi Brown's.

Bloom concealer brushes are made from taklon, a form of synthetic fiber which is perfect especially if you're using cream concealers. Generally, the best concealer brushes are made from synthetic fiber. I like Bloom's concealer brush because it's soft and it's wide, which helps in spreading the concealer more evenly.

The Bobbi Brown concealer brush has a narrower, more tapered tip, which is fantastic for hard-to-reach-areas. I found though, that it hurt the area under my eyes when I tried to apply it. It's good for depositing just the right amount of concealer, but then I'd have to put the brush aside and use my fingers to spread it around. I use this on problem areas like maybe a pimple or the sides of my nose. I also like that this brush comes with a cap so you can bring it along in your kikay kit and not have it smudge everything in it.

All in all I use my Bloom concealer brush more, because it already does everything. It packs in just the right concealer and I don't have to use my fingers or sponges to spread it evenly. Still, these are two excellent brushes and I would definitely recommend them if you're looking for concealer brushes.

Concealer reviews

Hello ladies! I have missed all of you! Even if I've been such a delinquent, please don't think that my interest in makeup has waned a single bit. If anything, I've become more into makeup and skin care products than ever before. I have to, unless I want eyebags, wrinkles, breakouts and all other stress-related problems to completely take over my life.

Moving on!

The topic for today is CONCEALER.

You all know my obsession with concealer. It really is heaven sent! Well, at least for those like me who really need them.

I've been trying different concealers and so far, here are some good choices.

1. TheBalm Time Balm Concealer
- Tucked away on a little, inconspicuous shelf in Beauty Bar is the Time Balm Concealer of The Balm. It's easy to miss this product, especially as this is surrounded by other big name brands like Smashbox or Red Earth but do go check this out. The Concealer comes in four shades (if you're morena, I suggest you go for Medium). The texture is creamy, although it's less creamy than say, Cinema Secrets or MAC concealers. It's chalkier and not as easy to apply, but don't let that deter you. When you apply it, it stays on forever! Really, I go running with this baby. I can sweat a lot and it still won't rub off.

You don't even have to put on powder over it anymore. Once you put these on dark spots, or dark undereye circles, you're good to go. You can even use it on your legs, to hide unsightly scars or small varicose veins, although if you do that I suggest you top it off with powder to enhance its staying power. It really does the trick of covering dark undereye circles, which is a perennial problem of mine. Plus, if you suddenly find yourself out of powder, you don't have to worry as the color of the concealer blends seamlessly onto your skin.

One last tip: Go to Beauty Bar in Shangri-La, because they actually have testers for this product. Other Beauty Bar branches don't, which is a pity. You have to rely on guesswork, and that really takes the fun out of makeup shopping! Not to mention you risk paying good money for a product you're not sure works well on your skintone.

2. Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage -The Secret Camouflage is one of Laura Mercier's bestsellers so of course I had to check it out. What I like about Secret Camouflage is that one package comes in two colors, so you can blend to get an exact match for your skin tone. I suggest you go for set 04. The consistency is similar to that of Time Balm, in that it's not super creamy, but it spreads out evenly. It really does cover imperfections very well and it didn't cake on me when I used it under my eyes. Staying power is excellent too! No wonder this is such a hit.

3. L'Oreal True Match Super Blendable Concealer
- This nifty little liquid concealer is a particular favorite of mine. It does the job of brightening up dark areas, like undereye circles. The downside maybe is the brush, because you can't really use it as a concealer brush. It's only good for applying the product onto the skin. The brush is too small and too soft to actually blend the product well. What I do is just use my fingers, or those wedged sponges to even out the product.

Actually, on regular days, I can just use this concealer on problem areas, like my eyes, on the sides of my nose and around my lips and top it off with powder. No need to put on foundation because that already brightens up my face to a considerable degree. Then I just fix my brows, dust a little bit of eyeshadow, swipe on my favorite blush, put on lipgloss, curl my lashes, and that's it. I look human again, at the very least.

So here are some more concealers for you to check out. Next up: Concealer Brushes

In Deep Makeup Workshop

In-Deep: A Two-Part Makeup Workshop held last April 19 and 26 was a success! The workshop catered to women from all walks of life, from college students to young professionals and working moms. They all trooped to Richmonde Hotel to learn all about basic and advanced makeup techniques from Ms.Lorelei Tan, professional makeup artist and part-owner of Metro Salon. Of course, we couldn't let the ladies go home without freebies like brush sets and fake eyelashes.

Because of the success of the event and because of request from other ladies, there will be a part two of In Deep, sometime in July. Lorelei has agreed to be the same instructor for the event, which is perfect because we all love her! She's like our big sister. The whole event was more like an informal session where we learned and swapped make up tips and made friends with other makeup enthusiasts. Don't miss the next one!

Here are some pictures from the event.

Lorelei demonstrating on Carla, my partner in this activity

Ta-da!!

The participants, during the hands-on session

I want! Lorelei's train case

One of the demo sessions

Some of the lovely participants

Survey!

Grabbed this little survey from Liz.
These are my favorites or the ones I reach for the most.

My Foundation: Mac Mineralize Satinfinish in NC35, Makeup Forever Mat Velvet Mattifying Foundation

My Mascara: Lancome Definicils Mascara, L'Oreal Double Extension Mascara

My Blush:L'Oreal Blush in Pink Grapefruit, NARS Orgasm, MAC Pinch o Peach, Shu Umeura P Orange 58D

My Eye Shadow: Prestige Eyeshadows and MAC eyeshadows

My Day Cream: Olay Total Effects

My Lipstick: Guerlain KissKiss lipsticks

My Beauty Product Brand: MAC, L'Oreal, Guerlain

My Essential Beauty Product: This is so hard.... um, I'd say moisturizer with SPF because skin care is still the most important thing.

My Favorite Makeup Product: Concealer. Or eyelash curler. I can't decide!

My Perfume: J.Lo Live, Lancome Miracle

My Nails: Essie Wicked and Orly Platinum

My Feet & My Hands: The Face Shop Fragrant Nail Enamel Remover. Smells yummy and does the job well.

Three Products to bring on a deserted island: Lip balm, sunscreen, toothpaste. Or mouthwash. Hehe.

Women I admire for their beauty: Gong Li and Monica Bellucci because they are GORGEOUS. Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls and Jessica Alba because they have the most amazing bodies. Uma Thurma because she has an interesting face: it's beautiful but it's not nakakasawa. Same goes for Gwyneth Paltrow.

Woman with the Best Sense of Style: Tough! I like Gwen Stefani a whole lot though. She can rock absolutely anything. I like Cameron Diaz's style too. It's quirky and classy at the same time.

My Ultimate Dream: To work for the UN.

How Do I Define Womanhood: To paraphrase Muhammad Ali, it's about floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee.

My Favorite Fashion Publication: Vanity Fair, although it's not particularly a fashion magazine

I'm tagging just about anyone who reads this! What are YOUR faves?

Cheap eyeshadow

Once again, hooray for cheap stuff!

Qianyu, a cheap brand that sells eyehsadows for a grand total of P50-70 bucks, is almost as pigmented as other eyeshadows that retail for a higher price. It lasts for a good couple of hours, too, maybe not as long as other expensive brands but good enough given it is uber-cheap. Its sister brands are Aily and Baxi, which are worth checking out too.

You can find it in your friendly neighborhood tiangge.

Here's one I especially like for its colors.



Just trying it out... forgive the unruly brows. I have yet to set a date with Mae, eyebrow shaper extraordinaire of Emphasis Salon.

I used three colors from the palette: the first peach one, the red and the dark brown.

Makeup SOS

My cousin Tish asked me to help her with her makeup for a dinner party. She wanted a no-makeup look ("Makeup na hindi mukhang naka make-up masyado"), an eye makeup that would look natural but would still emphasize her eyes, and an overall look that would match her white and gold outfit.

She's not morena but I'm posting it here anyway because we were both pretty happy with the outcome. She really is the only model I get to practice on so this will have to do.

Here's the finished product: (no flash)



The eye makeup:



With flash:



Makeup/tools used:

1. I evened out her skintone using MAC Mineralize Satinfinish NC30, dabbed on YSL Touche Eclat on her undereyes, then topped everything off with Laura Mercier setting powder.

2. Next I did her eye makeup. I used MAC Prep+Prime in Light to well, prep and prime her eyes. Hehe. Next I brushed gold eyeshadow all over her lids, to match her top. Then I used an olive eyeshadow at the Outer V. I wanted something different from the usual brown/dark brown family so I opted for olive instead. Then I lined her lashline using a dark brown shadow. I used eyeshadows from two different palettes, Red Earth Sunset Glamour Eyeshadow Quad and Guerlain Divinora eyeshadow quad. I added a beige eyeshadow as highlight. I curled her lashes using Fanny Serrano eyelash curler and applied Max Factor Masterpiece Mascara after.

3. I didn't have to do much with her eyebrows because they're groomed perfectly already. I just filled in some areas using Laura Mercier eyebrow pencil.

4. As for blush, we used NARS Orgasm. Using a nice stippling brush, I just dabbed a little on the apples of her cheeks.

5. Lastly, I used my favorite lipliner, Guerlain Lip Pencil in Beige Rose to outline her lips. Then finally I used my favorite golden lipstick to complement her outfit. It's Guerlain KissKiss gloss in 801.

I wanted to use a bronzer but she didn't want to anymore, so we skipped that part.

Anyhow, she was happy and that's the most important thing. I guess that's it for an easy peasy no-makeup look.