Have you seen the new Revlon Photoready Eyeshadow Palettes? I think they're created for women who want to play with eyeshadow, but don't really know much about application. The palette is packaged in a way that no one can possibly mistake the placement of each color, and it comes with a gorgeous creamy primer, too. 

That said, if you're a bit more advanced in makeup (as I am) then I don't think this particular line is something you need in your life. Still, there's a lot to be said about the lovely shades in the Revlon Photoready Primer, Shadow + Sparkle Palette in Impressionist (P775)! It caught my eye the minute it arrived in my doorstep.

Whenever I use the Guerlain L'Ecrin 4 Couleurs Eyeshadow (P2,998) I never fail to get compliments. People think I did something new with my skin or wore a new, more flattering blush. They say I look less tired. At first I thought that it's everything else but this palette, but now that I think about it I mostly get those sorts of compliments whenever I have it on.

So why?

Our eyes are the first things that other people look at when they see us. It's the focus of our whole face, the main feature by which our emotional and physical status are read. If your eyes and droopy and tired then your companion will think you're tired; if they are happy and bright, then you will appear to radiate that all over your face.

My theory is that the Guerlain Les Fauves palette is like "blush" for our eyes - it brightens and freshens that particular area with rich hues of coral, copper, and darkened champagne. They are warm and flattering (on me), as you can see here!

If you're very fair then this would be more of a smoky palette on you, but if you're mid to dark Asian like me then this brings out the golden tones of the skin juuuuust right.

A lot of people think it takes me forever to do my face (forever being an hour and a half upwards) but the truth is quite far from that. I don't have time for foolin' around so over the years I've cut down my full face routine to about 30 minutes, 40 tops. Spending 30 minutes can get me a nice, colorful look but an additional 10 could mean a glamorous dark smokey eye. Quick yet polished, they should write that on my gravestone.

So imagine what I could do with just 10 minutes. I'm a quick worker, but I won't take all the credit!There are certain products that help cut down the time I need to be polished and presentable, and one of them is the Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick in Rose Gold (P1,550).

I like v-neck shirts. I love watermelons. I LOVE THIS STUFF. This simplifies my makeup routine immensely! It's a cream eyeshadow that you can just draw on your eyes without needing any brushes. Use your fingers to blend the edges and poof, you're done. Seriously, this is perfect for girls who are intimidated by eyeshadows.

The shimmery pinky gold shade can make your eyes look brighter and more awake in an instant. Aside from using it as a lid wash, you can use this on your waterline and tearduct area to banish the redness that appears from exhaustion. It can make tired eyes look whiter.

I hereby declare the next five days as Bobbi Brown Week at Project Vanity. Seriously, I have quite a few Bobbi products piling up (they're all fantastic) so I want to release the reviews in one themed week. I'll be featuring one Bobbi product everyday for the next five days, so stay tuned for those posts. ;)

To start off the series, here's an FOTD-slash-review of the Bobbi Brown Twilight Night Shimmer Ink. This is unfortunately limited edition from the Desert Twilight collection last year. However, I think that the brand has something similar in the cream eyeshadow line. I'm sure you can also find dupes in other brands if you're on a budget. ;)

Now Twilight Night is actually a gel eyeliner, but the twinkly dusky color is so pretty that it deserves to be used as a cream eyeshadow.

A dark cream base can make eyeshadows really pop up, plus the uber fine shimmer in this particular product adds more dimension and light to the eyes. I dabbed a layer of it on my lids using just my fingers.

Whimsical and ethereal, the new Artdeco Butterfly Dreams Collection is sure to appeal to girls with a soft spot for pastels. There's a beautiful selection of nail polishes and lipsticks that flatter Asian skin, as well as new eye definition products such as a felt tip eyeliner and a volumizing mascara.

Pretty eh? I'll be reviewing a couple of products fully in the future (that blush definitely deserves a whole post of its own), but for now I'll be sharing quick reviews and a look I did using the collection. 

Running out of clever introductions here so I thought I'd get right to the point. :P Today I want to talk about a few Shiseido stuff I received a couple of months ago. They are expensive, true, but if you don't mind then they are definitely worth the splurge. 

When I first saw the Shiseido Luminizing Satin Eye Color Trio in RD299 I thought, boring. Gold, violet, and white? Surely there are more interesting, exciting combinations out there! But I should know that it's not smart to judge an eyeshadow palette by how it looks in the pan. I guess I better show you!

Absolutely lovely, yes?

It feels only yesterday when Majolica Majorca arrived in the Philippines, but did you know that it's been here for two years now? So much kawaii cuteness has been unleashed in that short amount of time! There's always something new to collect every quarter. ;) Now that the Japanese brand is celebrating its 10th year this 2013, expect even more covetable items than usual. 

Majolica Majorca has recently released its Spring Collection for 2013. Named Secret Blink, it's all about giving in to the whispers of your heart, of bold secrets that you can't dare speak of. Majo has always been an incurable romantic when it comes to its collections and that won't be changing anytime soon! Secret Blink features a limited edition rose gold case for the Skin Remaker, a Majoromantica scent, lash conditioner, new mascara, and a collectible palette.

I have three items from the collection, so here are quick reviews and swatches for you!

The Lash Expander was the first item I tried from Majolica Majorca, before the brand arrived here. I loved it because it lengthened my lashes and didn't smudge at all. This 2013, the Lash Expander shall be phased out and replaced with the improved Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Edge Meister (P795).

Bobbi Brown is one of the most underrated brands in the Philippines. The price intimidates most people, I suppose, but in my experience it delivers what you pay for. Each product does exactly what it is meant to do and some, even a little bit more! I don't want to play favorites but out of all the brands in my vanity, Bobbi Brown is one of the names I pick up the most. It's been consistently amazing since Day 1.

A lot of praise, I know, but it's from the very bottom of my heart. If you have a few gs to spare and want something that you will actually finish up, Bobbi Brown is a foolproof choice. :) Anyway! I actually want to talk about Bobbi's February release, which is called the Sparkle & Glow Collection.

Sparkle & Glow is designed to give the skin some much-needed lift and brightness. There's shimmer of course but it's very subtle and fine; just enough to bring light to the skin, but not too much that it looks tacky. I have one of the sparkle eyeshadows so I'll talk about that in a bit! In the meantime here's more information about the individual products in the collection.

I didn't really care for cream eyeshadow before. Why bother when there are excellent powder eyeshadows in any color and finish you can think of? But Lisa Eldridge's tutorial wearing cream eyeshadows plus the Bobbi Brown Shore steered me in the right direction. I realized that this particular formula has something to offer to busy girls who want intense, enhancing, and long lasting color on the eyes with minimum effort.

I love wearing cream eyeshadows when I don't have the time or inclination to fuss on my look. It's easy to blend in primer then wear one color on the lids but it's even quicker to swipe on a cream color! Lazy much? It's a great way to enhance the eyes in just a few seconds! Anyway I recently found out about the MeMeMe Dew Pots (P300-ish at Makeupholics*), a cream eyeshadow that received decent reviews online.

Here's what I think. :)

What I love about the product

• It has good color pay-off. One swipe is enough to shade the eyes, but since I want a super opaque finish I swipe twice. I just use my fingers!
• It's thin, non-sticky texture makes it easy to spread and blend with minimal effort. It doesn't skip or create streaks on the lids.
• It comes in a glass jar with a cap that seals tightly. 
• Affordable!

I've read good things about the L'Oreal Lucent Magique Liquid Foundation (or Lumi Magique in the US) and I'm so happy to announce that it's finally here in Manila! Lucent Magique is all about "light-infusion" or brightening, but without the obvious accompanying shimmer. I immediately used the foundation as soon as I got it, and mark my words, I sniff a new favorite low-cost base! 

The liquid foundation is only P845. Very, very affordable yet it feels so high end. It reminds me of the Lancome Teint Miracle, actually. Same finish but the Lancome I think is more long-lasting.

Another interesting product is the Lucent Magique Concealer Pen. It's only P545 and works much like my favorite Clinique Airbrush Concealer, although the peg is the YSL Touche Eclat.

The first few eyeshadow palettes I had featured explosions of color and shimmer that would make a transvestite proud. I had 120 and 88-color palettes and I loved them! Well, I still love colors and shimmer. But the older I get the more I realize how important it is to have dependable basics to work with. This doesn't just apply to clothes and shoes and bags. It's the exact same thing with makeup.

To create a great eyeshadow look, you need classic neutral shades as your base, contour, and highlight. Think of bright, shiny colors as the accessories in your eye makeup. They grab attention and express your mood as well they should. Neutrals, while meant to work hand in hand with colors, must do so in the background. Unless you're wearing them by themselves, of course.

The Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette (P1,600 at Stuff in Style) is perfect for a simple to smoky eye look on its own. It's also designed to be a sort of building block for creating more complex, colorful looks. These eyeshadows have great color pay-off and super smooth texture (as expected from Urban Decay), which means that they're quite easy to work with.

I like thinking of this palette as a little black dress - that one thing you can wear to practically anything!

I am so late but The Beatles have taken over my life. I wake up to a Beatles song in my head, clean the house with a Beatles song blaring in the background, and at odd moments during the day a Beatles song pops up in my head and I play it there in full as if I were listening to it from another source. I can't explain why this is happening, and why now. But there it is. It's like a massive album-long LSS! 1 to be specific, a collection of their top hits.

Well, I hope this fades away soon. I'm one of those people who can only think when it's relatively silent.

Anyway - a good Monday morning to you! Today I'll be talking about the Bobbi Brown Rich Caviar and Black Pearl Holiday Palettes (P3,200), which were released as part of the brand's holiday collection. I apologize that I'm writing about this only now, when it's sold out almost everywhere except in Mall of Asia! I just wanted a comprehensive post on it so it took me a while to photograph the looks to go with this post.

The 6-color palettes feature gorgeous shades that you will enjoy using until they run out. There's a blending, brow bone, lid, smoky, gradient and glittery color in each palette, colors which you can use in different permutations - sky's the limit!

The holidays have come and gone, but the glittery glamour that accompanies it doesn't have to leave as well. The beauty holiday collections are still on the shelves, so if you want to score some good deals or collector's pieces, you better hurry for one final look at the counters!

The Lancome Holiday Collection is another memorable ensemble for me. The inspiration is Hemingway's "A Movable Feast", where he wrote about his life in Paris. It was the 1920s, a decade remarkable for its smoky opulence and subversive elegance. The Lancome collection imagines Paris dressed in gold, with shiny crystal chandeliers flashing on sequined dresses, as if in a dance of light.

The Ombre Hypnose Mono eyeshadows (P1,395) look fantastic! They feature a mesh/ sequin imprint on the powder, while the top of the compact has coated golden glitter.

How do you feel about face mists? I don't use them all the time but they're nice to have around. Say, you over-applied your foundation or powder and would like to take the thickness down a notch - spray some mist on your face. You want to intensify your eyeshadow or powder liner? Mist your brush before dipping it in the color. You want to moisturize your face in the middle of the day without actually removing all your makeup? Mist up! See I told you it's handy. ;)

Now there's an argument to be made for simply filling up an atomizer spray bottle with water. But I swear it's not the same. Proper face mists - the one you buy off the shelves for a price that sounds ridiculous for what is basically bottled water - is better than a DIY attempt. That's not to say that a DIY mist is not any good, I'm sure it will work fine, but it's not going to be quite as nice as a cosmetic mist.

The MAC Mineralized Charged Water is water infused with diamond powder (supposedly) and a nice citrus tea scent. It delivers a very fine spray to distribute the water evenly all over the face.

I used to not like makeup sets before with products that are in way smaller sizes. I mean, how can I enjoy something when I'm so conscious about finishing it up quickly? And what if I like it, what am I going to do then? But now that I'm older, wiser, and more liquid (lol), I have seen the wisdom of buying sets and smaller sizes. 

Small tubes and bottles are great if you want to carry stuff around. It's not smart to bring full sizes of stuff in your bag because of the heat here - it can spoil/dry up makeup faster. Also, if you're like me who doesn't usually bring big bags, every bit of space is valuable real estate. That's not just applicable to when we're travelling y'know!

Thus, boxed sets like the Benefit She's So Jet Set (P2,100) is perfect if a.) You travel a lot b.) You want mini-sizes of your "Bene-faves" for your daily bag c.) If you have never tried Benefit before and would like to start now. This contains four lovely and pigmented eyeshadows, illuminating powder duo, mini Porefessional, They're Real Mascara, and lip gloss. 

I understand that this is part of Benefit's limited edition holiday sets!

What's your favorite holiday collection so far? There are so many, but it's good to have choices! There's something for everyone whether they're on a budget or cost is no object. :) I did observe a general theme though. Shine, glitter, and bright pops of red are du jour, but I've also been seeing a lot of twinkly purples and violets. This is good news - for me at least! - because I find that color group rather flattering on the Pinay complexion.

This time I want to talk about the Etude House Christmas Miracle Collection. I have photos, swatches, and quick thoughts on each product!

Let's start with the Etude House Mix & Mix Eyes PK001. This is a sleek palette of six sparkly shades in the lilac/ purple color group. There's also one in BR401 Holiday Dream that is on the neutral end of the spectrum. Go for PK001 if you're out for an evening party, while BR401 is better for more reserved occasions.

Hey guys! Good morning. So, let's get down to business. Today I thought I'd swatch one of my prettiest aqua eyeshadows for you. It's called the Shiseido Luminizing Satin Eye Color in GR222, an aqua green iridescent eyeshadow that reflects gold. I know, it sounds awesome!

The color looks like a swimming pool on a hot summer day, with barely any clouds in the blue sky. Ehem. Before I get overly poetic, here's a skin swatch of GR222.

"It only takes a moment for your eyes to meet, and then, your heart knows in a moment you will never be alone again," says that song from Hello, Dolly! It's one of my favorites, something I hum randomly or even wake up to in my head. Does it mean that I believe in love at first sight? Nah, it's way more complicated than that. However I do believe that there's a point when you realize that you would very much like to spend the rest of your life with someone. It only takes a moment.

Aaaand segue to makeup. The Stila In The Moment Palette (P1,800 at Stuff In Style) is inspired by the moments that shape our lives. I love the eyeshadow colors since they're well rounded, plum and purple with gold, bronze, and other supporting colors -  these are always flattering on Asian skin. You can do an quick day look or a heavy smoky eye with these combination of colors. You also get a non-smudging eyeliner in the package.

Here's a quick rundown of the pros and cons of this palette!

What I love about the product

• The eyeshadows are pigmented, smooth, and easy to blend with each other.
• I love the loosely coordinated colors with flashes of rose beige and gold. They're perfect! The dusky colors are quite sophisticated and perfect with morena skin (specifically, although they go with anything). The darker colors can be used as eyeliner, just use a wet lining brush.

Hey folks! I have some new products from Maybelline that I'm excited to finally talk about. I've had them for a few weeks now and, well, color me impressed! It's been a while since I used anything from the brand so I'm surprised by how nice their stuff are now. 

Here are capsule reviews of Maybelline's latest: The Jewels by Colorsensational Lipsticks, Master Liner 24-Hr Cream Pencil, and Eye Studio Lumineyes Eyeshadow.

The Jewels by Colorsensational Lipstick (P399) is a collection of six jewel-toned lip colors in uber creamy, pigmented formulas. They're not waxy and they stay on for a loooong time given that the colors are on the dark, brilliant spectrum. They leave a nice stain too without feeling too drying!

Something about the cooler weather and the season makes me want to wear smoky eyes all the time. I've demonstrated how easy it is to do the look, so there's no excuse for me (and you!) not to wear it whenever I feel like it! Ha. One palette that makes smoky eyes incredibly easy is the Etude House Dolly 3-Step Eyes in Cute Doll (P648). It contains three eyeshadows that combine perfectly to give you the gradient smoky look.

The Cute Doll BR401 palette contains full-sized, super creamy matte eyeshadows in bone white, caramel, and charcoal brown.