Hello Liz, first up, thanks for providing us, your readers, so much info on make-up, fashion, etc, etc! Love love LOVE your blog! Anyway, I hope you can help answer my question.

My sister told me that I need to use finishing/setting powder after I put on my make-up so I finally bought one - Laura Mercier translucent setting powder. After a few days into using the product, I noticed that my skin became dry and flaky especially in the cheeks and forehead area. I use a fluffy powder brush to apply it (I even tap the brush to make sure that I don't get too much powder on my face). I was hoping there's an alternative product that I can use to set my make-up as I've never had this problem with my skin before. Is a finishing/setting powder a must or can I skip this part altogether?

I hope to hear from you! - Kaya

Thanks for reading my blog, Kaya! ;) Your flaking and dryness may be an allergic reaction from the product. That is, there might be an ingredient in your new powder that's causing the dryness. It's best to stop using it for now and observe! If you're still using it and the reaction has stopped nonetheless, it could be that your skin was just adjusting to the new product and is a-ok now.

So is it absolutely necessary to use a loose setting powder? Yes, if you're using wet makeup (liquid or cream foundation, BB cream, tinted moisturizer etc.) underneath! The powder helps the wet makeup solidify and settle better, the way sand was used to dry up ink in handwritten letters.

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.

When you're feeling under the weather and your face is reflecting that, one word: blush. A good flattering blush can do wonders for drained and dull skin! Throw in a bright lipstick and no one will ever know how crappy you feel...unless you're the sort of person who enjoys making other people cringe. Not necessarily a bad thing. I don't know.

Anyway, here's my past week in photos! :D

Late lunch at Watami yesterday with my mom

Sac People eco bag. Neat idea! They have tons of other designs I think.

A grandiose room in Fernbrook Gardens

There are many ways to achieve a healthy flush on the cheeks. My favorite product to get that natural glow, however, is cream blush! Cream blushes give a sort of wet finish to the cheeks, and looks like it's coming from the skin instead of sitting on top. They're also quicker to use than powder blushes since they need no more than fingers for a beautiful blended finish.

One of the latest cream blushes to hit the market is Benefit Fine One One (P1,700). This tri-colored blush in stick form gives a wonderful peachy-coral flush on skin with just a couple of swipes. It has Pink Champagne, Sheer Watermelon, and Soft Coral shades in one tube to give the cheeks some "lift, shape, and pop". I quite agree with this. The well-chosen combination of colors and textures does give cheeks a sort of dimensional look, as if they're plumper (not chubby!) and healthier.

I also love how it makes my skin look brighter. Pink Champagne is a pretty good highlighter by itself, reminiscent of my fave Benefit Watt's Up! (read the review for a mini-tutorial on how to apply a cream highlighter). 

Don't you just hate it when you buy shoes in the wrong size? It can be an online order so the blame isn't as heavy. However sometimes you go in a store, fit the pair meticulously, then still end up with something that doesn't wear quite right. That's what happened to me when I bought a pair of black pumps some weeks ago.

Anyway, the solution is those black/ lilac shoe inserts to tighten the fit. I don't like using them though because I always have to cut them to fit my small shoes. Besides, they look so obvious in open sandals! Best solution: the transparent Watsons Foot Ease Gel Cushions. I have a few of these and I thought I'd finally write about it. ;)

This is pretty cheap at less than a hundred bucks if I remember correctly. I love to use them for my loose heels, but aside from that these inserts are intended to cushion our foot pads from the stress of wearing high heels. The gel insert is soft and comfy under the feet.

The first stories I ever read were fairy tales. My mother would always buy these little books for me, books about frog princes and warty witches and hapless goodhearted princesses. I grew up loving fairy tales and oh, what I won't give to be a princess myself! And then I got hold of a copy of Grimms' Fairy Tales when I was seven or eight. That one was a shocker for someone who had Disney stamped on her forehead.

Well, I still love princess stories no matter how sordid or saccharine they may get. :) Anyway today I will be reviewing the Etude House Etoinette Special Kit, the brand's princess-themed collection which was released last December if I'm not mistaken. It was inspired by the baroque extravagance of Marie Antoinette.

The set contains a blush, lipstick, kabuki brush, and mirror, all in pretty pastel pink packaging with elaborate dull gold flounces. It rather treads the fine line between looking classy and looking like a toy, but I'm inclined to think that it was all done tastefully. They bring a special brand of cuteness to any vanity!

The products themselves do not disappoint. Well the kabuki brush could be softer I suppose but otherwise I am loving the lipstick, mirror, and blush. Check out the swatches and how the makeup looks like when worn.

I'm sure bottom lashes are pretty low in your list of priorities when there are evil zits, violent eyebrows, and spiteful scars to fight. Still, a bit of work on those small, maybe invisible hairs on your lower lid can do wonders in opening up your eyes! You will also end up with a sexier, movie star gaze. ;)

I for one have almost non-existent bottom lashes because they seem to always break off all the time. They're sparse enough to begin with, dammit. However, what nature did not gift us, makeup shall conjure!

This tutorial will show you how to fake thicker bottom lashes without using obvious falsies or a straight line there. It's pretty easy to do although you would need a little practice (as with everything really) to get a nice clean finish. Here goes!

Step 1: You will need a long-wearing, preferably water resistant brown eyeliner to draw a combination of small dots and fine hairs on the root of the bottom lashes.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: BB creams have come a long way. No longer are they thick and unwieldy, they're now more comfortable in humid weather, with a more perfecting finish. Well, the shade selection is still limited but if you fall in the fair to medium range then you shouldn't have any trouble.

Now three of the BB creams featured here are too light on me, but that's because I didn't get the chance to choose the right shade. That notwithstanding the formula of these BB creams are amazing! Here's why I highly recommend them. :)

The Fairydrops Candy Bar BB Cream is hands down my favorite BB cream ever. It stays put, matches my skin perfectly (luckily), and has such a flawless, photogenic finish. It's definitely something I would buy when I run out!

A lot of people don't like that this doesn't have SPF - it's unheard of for a BB cream to have no SPF! - but for me that feature is a boon. At least this product can be worn pretty much any time during the 24-hour day. It's not a big hassle for me to just use my preferred SPF moisturizer/base if I am going out in daylight.

Best for: girls with oily skin, who need a photo-ready face base. Light to medium range only (two shades).

If you judge the Kiehl's Orange Flower & Lychee Aromatic Mist (P2,585) by its name alone, you would think it's the usual cheery fruity-floral affair. It's not. It's a sophisticated, aloof fragrance with quite an attitude. If it were a person it would be someone who has travelled extensively, who has seen it all and is no longer very easily impressed. 

Orange Flower & Lychee: An exotic fusion of Orange Flower and Lychee sweetened with a touch of honey and rounded out by Moroccan Rose. Our Orange Flower extract is derived from the Bitter Orange tree - a tree known for producing flowers with an especially distinctive orange scent. This unique scent was combined with a fruity-floral infusion of Lychee, found in the subtropical forests of Southeast Asia.

Nonetheless, Orange Flower & Lychee is a warm fragrance.  You'll find hints of orange flower and lychee but the musky rose and honey sets the tone for this concoction. It has a fiery glow to it, a haze that surrounds the skin all day.

Right! To kick off this week's reviews, here is the popular Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Makeup (P975), a matte cream-liquid foundation hybrid that promises to be long wearing. I'm sure you've read a lot of good things about it already! I won't prolong the suspense, which is why I'll go ahead and say that it's a great foundation for the price.

Here's why.

What I love about the product

• Makes my skin flawless. Scary flawless but not in a bad way. The coverage is medium to heavy and it's even opaque enough to be a concealer.
• The matte, super smooth finish doesn't look flat and fake on skin - as long as you give it some minutes to settle. It looks weird upon initial application but after 15 minutes or so the foundation seems to blend better. It slightly oxidizes. Know this to be true: it looks better the longer you wear it.
• Looks amazing in any lighting - indoor, outdoor, in a studio, with flash. This doesn't have SPF I think so it's great for photo ops.

I've been a little out of it lately when it comes to blogging. I have so many products that I haven't even gotten around to using, invites I haven't fully read, that I have been feeling quite overwhelmed since 2013 started. On top of that the comments section is buzzing with so much useful information and requests! These are good things, I know, but it has become increasingly difficult to track and act on things. 

Solution: better organization and time management. :) Anyway, here are photos from last week. One reason you should follow me on Instagram (hehe): I post mini-reviews/ first impressions of products I have received or currently reviewing. It's a quick way to find out what's new(ish) in beauty!

Got this last Saturday - Fuwari Hair Styling Mists (heat protectants), which are now out in Beauty Bar for only ~P400. It's popular in Japan and a Tricia Gosingtian favorite.

I've had my Bench MasterCard Credit Card for half a year now and it's been great so far. It's my primary card, so I use it to shop for groceries and random luxuries. It's also extremely useful for buying online - not just fashion and beauty items, but apps and website hosting too. I don't know why I held off getting a credit card for so long! 

So yes, the Bench MasterCard is not just for Bench purchases. It's actually a credit card accepted in different stores nationwide, so you can use it practically anywhere - whether you're in the Philippines or abroad. BDO's partnership with Bench simply means that you get special perks and double the points when shopping at Bench/ Suyen brands.

Examples are Charles & Keith, Aldo, Repetto, La Senza, Cotton On and The Face Shop! If you're a discriminating shopper with an eye for style and quality, then you most probably shop from a few if not all of these brands. :) As with all high quality brands, the products are not particularly cheap so it's easier to rake the points in.  For every P200 you get 2 credit card points for Bench/Suyen purchases*. All other purchases outside of Bench/Partner Stores are P200 = P1 credit card point.

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 love various eyebrow enhancers but there are only three that I have been consistently using since I opened them. These are the most reliable ones - the ones that match any look I throw at them, that receive the most compliments. They're also foolproof when it comes to application. Even if my eyebrows look like a hairy hot mess, these three eyebrow heroes make them look neat and polished! All day.

Here goes!

I raved about the Shu Uemura Hard Formula brow pencil in 09 Walnut Brown last July 2011. Wow, it's been that long? I knew this pencil was a keeper but I didn't know it was going to be so literal. I shit you not I'm not even halfway through this one, after a year and a half of continuous abuse.

Before I post my reviews here I usually look for what other people are saying about the product. Sure I already have my own opinions to share, but I don't want to think or feel in a vacuum. It's like reading a movie review with all the spoilers - I just want to know if everyone else liked or disliked what we collectively experienced!I suppose it's always nice to know that someone else felt the same way you did about something.

So I was reading reviews about the Revlon Colorstay Overtime Lengthening Mascara (~P600) before I started writing this post. I was truly surprised that almost everyone seemed to dislike this mascara with a passion. 

The other bloggers (not local ones) are saying that this is super clumpy and flaky. It's is clumpy, true, but only because it dries super fast. The workaround is simply applying it as quickly as possible. I haven't observed any flakiness after using it for two weeks; it could be that I'm using a fresh stock. Only time will tell just how flaky this can get but for now I haven't observed anything out of place.

I like this mascara because of two things: how it lengthens my lashes like whoa and how it never smudges or smears. Swear.

I almost forgot to write this one! The last month of 2012 was a big lump of murky goings-on for me. I wasn't particularly busy, but neither was I especially lucid. Well I'm just happy it's over for January is always an exciting month. :) Here are my top 10 best finds last December!

I'll put the Snoe Poudre Extraordinaire on top because it's something that I always reach out for. I use it almost every time I got out! It makes my skin look smooth, bright and flawless even if I'm just wearing it as is. It has medium coverage, almost like foundation in retrospect. The SPF30 in it is a nice bonus!

The Amazing Cosmetics Amazing Concealer is possibly the most pigmented concealer I have tried to date! That's good for people who need to cover drastic body/face marks, but they ought to be prepared to spend time blending it properly and then smoothing the whole thing over. It's not an everyday concealer for me, truth be told, but it's great when I have an angry red pimple. ;) It's so good covering up that it feels like cheating.

I have developed a taste for handy, pre-meditated makeup sets like the Benefit She's So Jet Set box. It's a nice kit for travelers and low-maintenance girls alike! Those four eyeshadows are pigmented and long-lasting enough without a primer so they're winners in my book.

Lately I feel frustrated just looking at my closet. I bought quite a few things last year but now, it's like I can't even wear them with anything I have! It's either, oh it's too young, too plain, or oh you look way too chunky in it (the last is probably caused by the gratuitous eating ha ha). I am feeling a terrible itch to just do away with most of the things I have in my wardrobe. Hmm, maybe I should do a closet sale soon?

My fashion resolution this year can be summarized in one word: curate. I want to edit out not only my selection of clothes, but the way I purchase them. I realized that I usually go to a store to buy clothes for an event, so I end up with a bunch of flashy things that I would probably never wear after the first (or okay, second) time. They're too striking to wear for a work thing, and to wear them again and again to a different event with the same people - well that just won't do in my line of work.

So instead of buying glam dresses and cheap one-time accent pieces all the time, I have come up with a sensible battle plan. I have made a specific list of all the clothes I feel I need. Before the year ends, I will have all these flattering basics in my closet! Whatever the cost.

Hi Liz! What's the worst beauty product you've ever bought? I'm reading a magazine and I think this may be an interesting topic. Same question for your beautiful readers out there! :) - ManilaJen

Heeey Jen! Nice question. Thought I'd put this up on the front page so everyone can share their stories as well. ;) Anyway...I don't want to slug beauty brands as I work with beauty brands. When I buy or receive something for free, I always make sure to manage my expectations. Some products are worth more than what you pay for, some just exact, some a little less, but nothing so horrible as to be completely useless. So it's been a while since I've tried anything that is so bad, I didn't bother using it at all after the initial face swatch.

First thing that came to mind is this set of e.l.f Primers. The white and "champagne" primer really didn't cut it for me - the white was truly chalk white and with so many big glitters too! Champagne was chunky and odd-looking on my lids. But the worst part really was that when I opened the box, the primers were already ROUGHLY used. The rims were a mess, it's like someone used the items as testers. :/

Perhaps the best thing about Charm is that Sophie is always working on improving her brushes. She's super OC about making them better than the last batch, which means that you can really see the improvement whenever she comes out with something new! For instance, the Retractable Powder and Blush Brushes are considerably softer than her original synthetic collection; the bristles are somehow thinner and finer.

These new brushes are super dense but still pliable enough not to eat all of the makeup you would rather have on your face. I also like the case mechanism - the retracting cover ensures that the bristles won't get mangled whenever you open or close the cap. It closes tightly so you don't have to worry about it floating in your bag and leaving the precious brush head unprotected. ;) Overall, these brushes have really good case to go with the quality of the bristles.

So wait, how do these brushes work to begin with? Here's a quick guide!