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.

Green eyeshadow

Yey my first ever EOTD and semi-tutorial!

Since it's Chinese New Year, I thought I'd experiment with the color green, since green can stand for good luck and more fortune. (Besides, the color green really pops out on morena skin tones).

Now, for the EOTD and semi-tutorial. This is really very basic eye makeup, as in anyone can do it.

1. Prep your eyes with eye primer. If you have oily lids, eye primers work wonders. They make colors pop out and they make your eyeshadow stay on longer. I use MAC Prep+Prime in Medium. I've been wanting to try Artdeco eye primer but they're always out of stock. Urban Decay Primer Potion, supposedly the king of eye primers, is unfortunately unavailable here in the Philippines. If you don't have eye primer, you can always use your concealer and just top it off with loose powder.

2. Brush light green eyeshadow all over the lids.

3. Take a darker shade of green and brush on the outer corners of the eye. So the effect is like lightest green from the inner corners until it becomes dark green at the outside. Blend blend blend. You can always layer it on depending on your taste.

4. Line your upper lashline with black eyeliner.

5. Take the light green eyeshadow and line your lower lash line, starting from the inner corner to the middle. Then take the dark green eyeshadow and line your lower lash line from the middle to the outer corner. I didn't have eyeliner in green colors so I just made do with the eyeshadows themselves.

6. Curl your lashes, apply two coats of mascara.

7. Don't forget to fix your brows and apply concealer if you need to.

There you go! Your simple Chinese New Year EOTD. Happy New Year everyone! I wish you all a happy and prosperous year ahead!

Makeup used:
MAC Prep+Prime in Medium
Lancome Color Focus in Enchanted April (light green)
Shu Uemura Pressed Eyeshadow in Olive (dark green)
Avon Glimmersticks eyeliner in Blackest Black
L'Oreal Volume Shocking Mascara

Palettes

I love eyeshadow palettes. They're so pretty to look at and they make my life so much easier. I admit, I'm not yet one hundred percent super confident with eye makeup application. When I see other people's eye makeup photos, I'm really blown away. Haha seriously. The way some people blend colors together just looks so seamless and effortless. Sheer genius.

Because I'm still in the stage of perfecting eye makeup application, (I'm still a makeup newbie) I've found that eyeshadow palettes have become my refuge, my salbabida in this bottomless sea of eyeshadows. Most palettes are designed in such a way that the colors go together, so mixing and matching colors is a breeze.

Here's a shot of my eyeshadow palette collection:

L-R first row: The Body Shop Smoky Grey Eyecolor Trio, Chanel Quadra Eyeshadow in Fascination, Red Earth Cote D'Azure in Sunset Glamour, Estee Lauder Pure Color Eyeshadow

L-R second row: Lancome Color Focus, Lancome Color Focus Duo,Prestige Eyeshadow Palette in Earthling and Red Earth Glamorous Affair palette in Mystic Seduction

L-R third row: Artdeco Beauty Box Magnum for Eyeshadows/Blushers
Guerlain Divinora Radiant Colour Palette in Touche de Bronze

Well, I know it's a tiny collection but I love every one of these babies. I saved up for them and got them over the whole year I think. The newest member of the family is the Red Earth Glamorous Affair Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow Palette in Mystic Seduction. I think it's from the fall/winter collection 2007 of Red Earth. I've been wanting to get another Red Earth palette ever since I got the Cote D' Azure Sunset Glamour one. Red Earth eyeshadows work well on me and they last long. Plus, the packaging is beautiful!!! It even has instructions on the side, so what more can I ask for? This was the first thing I bought after the holidays were over and I could finally spend on myself again. I played with it as soon as I got home. I didn't actually follow what was on the palette hehe. Oh well. So hey, I still get to experiment. There are so many different ways of applying the colors in any palette anyway.

Speaking of the holidays, I know Christmas is over, but still, I'm going to cross my fingers and I'm sending out vibes to the universe in the hopes of letting me have the following:

1. Lunasol Geminate Eye Palettes

2. Awake Limited Edition Stardom Reflective Eye Quads

3. Testimo Grande Shine Eyes Eyeshadow Palettes

4. MAC Royal Assets from the Antiquitease Collection

5. Chanel 4 Fleurs de Chanel and 2008 Aurora Blues Accent Spring Collection