AMW Reviews: Shu Uemura Color Atelier, Nikki's Bridal Palette

Two weeks ago, I attended The launch The Shu Uemura's Coloar Atelier and it's time I show you the "Nikki Palette" I've created.  (Thanks Tara dear for naming our palettes and I am embracing the new name!)

It took me awhile to finally complete the dream palette I was aiming for!  As Shu Uemura's Make-up Artist Roy patiently wait for my choices, he asked me what I was aiming for.  I excitedly told him: "I have my bridal clients in mind."  He liked the idea and told me it's a "selfless" decision.  Thanks Roy!  It's not a selfless decision on my part as I've always wanted the best for my clients!  I've talked to a couple of makeup artists who told me they swore on Shu Uemura Eye Shadows to help them gorgeous looks for blooming brides!

Presenting....

"Nikki's Bridal Palette"

Shu Uemura Color Atelier Palette says ---

One palette.  Infinite looks.

Be the stylist of your own palette. your own palette transforms to meet your every desire by mood, occasion, fashion or style. mix, match, and customize your palette to coordinate your color make-up as you do your wardrobe. with shade selection by Shu Uemura's expert artists you can create infinite looks. explore the joy of mixing and matching with your dream palette!

AMW says ---
Pros

• Packaging is sleek and simple to use, no magnets nor tape needed.

• Each eyeshadow or glow on blusher are packed neatly, hygienic and has a manufacturing stamp!  

• You can choose your own eyeshadow shades, no need to spend on colors you already own or colors you don't use.
• You have the option to go for --- 4 eye shadow shades, 2 eyeshadows and 1 glow on blush or 2 glow on blush.  Your choice. 
• Eye shadow shades are very pigmented and adheres to the lids even without primer.
• Eye shadows are creamy and smooth to apply.
• Eye shadows --- have five different textures to choose from (matte, pearl, iridescent, metallic and glitter)
• Blushes --- available in matte and pearl.  It's nice to have a choice of matte or shimmery blush!
• For make-up artists, it's convenient to own this one sleek palette which you can easily carry around for re-touching.
• The matte glow on blusher I own works not only as blush but as contouring powder as well!

Cons

• Not all shades are in stock due to high demand!  I have chosen approximately 3-4 eye shadow shades that aren't in stock!  
• Since you the one creating your own palette, there's room for accidents!  Like me, I accidentally created a dent on my glow-on blush because of my long nails!
• I wish they have different sizes of quad cases available.  Let's say squarish one?
• Pricey for people who are on the budget.

Overall

This palette is worth every single penny as you get to love all the colors included in the palette as you choose them yourself! 

Tips

• It's difficult to choose from wide range of shades.  Focus on what you are aiming for.  4 eye shadows?  2 Eye shadows and 1 Glow On blusher?  Or 2 Glow On Blushers?
• Choose depending on the looks you have in mind.  Will you be able to use one shade as much as you can?
• Be careful in transferring the eye shadows and glow-on blushers to the palette.  If you accidentally dent it with your fingernails, you can press it again by putting a clean tissue on top of the eyeshadow and gently press with light pressure.
• Be careful not to drop the palette.
• If you are on a budget, you can purchase the eye shadows and blushes on its own without the palette!  Do not throw the plastic that comes with the packaging.  Or you can create your own palette by purchasing inexpensive plastic cases and stick the palette with a double sided tape.

Will I repurchase?
I will definitely repurchase more eyeshadow shades and glow-on blushers!

To whom do I recommend this to?
If you like to bring minimal make-up, this is the best!

Where to purchase and how much?

Quad Case + 1 Glow On + 2 Pressed Eye Shadows (Php3,580/$83.00).  Available at Shu Uemura Boutique and counters nationwide.

 The shades included in this palette ---

Eyeshadows - Dark Brown 861 and Light Beige 813

Glow On Blush - Medium Amber750

You can easily slide off the palette case as shown on photo below

Gently put the colors one by one.  Feels like jigsaw puzzles!

Voila!

You can choose to fill in 4 eye shadows,

2 Glow On Blushes

or 2 eye shadows and 1 Glow On Blush like what I did on mine!

Remember my Net 25's Homepage Guesting last week?  I was asked to create Makeup For Rainy Day and I only have a couple of minutes to finish the make-up of my dear model Erika!  I've decided to bring out the Shu Uemura Color Atelier,  Nikki's Bridal Palette.  

Even by using a tiny amount, the eye shadows Light Beige and Dark Brown showed up on TV Screen! 

The blush works as a contouring powder too!  It gives a nice shape to the model's overall look!

This is definitely a palette I'll be including in my make-up traincase!
I'll try my best not to use this on myself!  :P

If you are creating your own bridal palette, what shades are you going to include?
I'd love to read your combination!

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!

AMW Makeover: Wedding Happiness

Wedding day ---

On this special occasion, every bride wants to look their best and the pressure is on you, as a make-up artist to make her the most beautiful Bride not only on photos but also in person!  You are also tasked to make sure the make-up stays all day even if she perspires or cries! 

Each tiny detail needs to be taken in account for, the Bridal dress, the hairstyle, the color motif, etc... everything has to work well together.  

And the most important of all? The bride HAS to look like herself! 

With all those stress, why do I love this job of mine? There are a lot of reasons and I'll just name a few!

The cute stuff laid out on bed for photographs!  Brides and Grooms are getting more and more creative nowadays....

Let's not forget the gorgeous fresh flowers for the bride and her entourage to hold!

Flowers give me the energy!

I get the chance to get to know my bride as most of them would talk to you and tell you about their wedding jitters.  It feels great to be able to calm them down and share my own wedding jitters, my own funny wedding memories! 

Here's one... I was drove to the wrong church 15 minutes before my wedding!  Thank God I was able to advise the driver to the right church on time!  *laughs*

I am very personal with my clients, I make sure to cover all the concerns they have.  Skin redness?  Zits?  Dry and oily areas? Under eye circles? Brides do share to you their worries and concerns which makes me feel honored because they trust me on the most important day of their lives!

I also get to talk to the family members.  I get surprised at times on how small the world is!  We get to link our common friends!

Even though the chitchat is there, re-touching should always be done before they leave the make-up area after they changed into their gowns.  You also get to help them to make sure their gowns, jewelries and shoes are all worn well!

Best of all,  the simple transformations I can see by bringing the beauty on each client!

I will share to you the make-up looks I've done for the most recent make-up gig.  I want to thank Emily for recommending me to be her bestfriend's make-up artist!

Mother of the Bride

Sister of the Bride

The Groom

 The Bride

 Congratulations to the newlyweds Tim and Mau! 

Hair by: Felicity Son

 

I hope you enjoyed my mini sharing of my thoughts as a make-up artist on wedding days!

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!

Nail Art Tutorial: Girly Polka-Dotty

Dear friends, happy start of the week!  I had a good weekend spent with my family!  I also spent my weekend watching "Accidental Love" on KBS Channel!  Gosh, I know each of us were given 24 hours a day but seems like I'm trying to extend it!  Do you feel the same? :D

Let's talk about my nails, I had my Angry Birds nails for good 2 weeks (due to tight schedule) and my nails are growing uncomfortably long!  What I did was I cleaned my own nails and cut it at a good length!  The length I'm most comfortable is this.... best for someone like me who types a lot!

I was inspired by the girly polka-dot dresses I've seen on MGM Channel! Hahaha I swear I was just channel surfing when I saw some of the gorgeous outfits in black and white screen!

Step 1:

Apply your favorite base coat to prevent nails from yellowing and for the base polish to "adhere" to your nails better.  I am using ZOYA Base Coat.  Applied one coat of Orly Cotton Candy Polish and applied Revlon's Temptress for 2nd coat.  This gives a unique pink shade.

Step 2:

Draw random diagonal lines with L.A. Colors Art Deco in Black then fill it in with The Face Shop's Black polish.  

Step 3:

Using a bright red shade from Paul & Joe 012, used my nail dotting tool or you can opt to use toothpick to create random dots to be applied on the pink portion only.

Step 4:

Create a sparkling border between the black and pink polish with L.A. Art Deco Polish in Silver.

Step 5:

Using a 2 Way Nail Art Pen in white, create dots in between to create "Flowers"!  

Step 6:

With the similar polish used on dots, apply flower bud with a dotting tool.

Step 7:

Making sure everything is completely dry, apply your favorite top coat to protect your nail art.  

You have girly looking nails to look at!  This is ok to be done on both long and short nails!  You can minimize the number of dots or create smaller dots if your nails are short!

If you find the shades too girly for your taste, you can change the color combination, you can try Black and White (which I did on my toe nails) or you can go for color blocking nail polish (yellow and blue, yellow and purple, green and yellow, blue and green etc...)  The choices are endless!

Have a great start of the week! 
Keep safe and do not forget to smile!

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!

Something New: Nivea Express Hydration Body Lotion

Remember the last post where I put a photo of a product packaging and asks you to guess what brand it is?

You guys are smart, most of you guessed the brand right just by the look of its packaging!  Mystery lotion unsolved!

Here's what's on its product description ---

The new ultra-light body lotion with sea minerals contains the innovative Hydra IQ active ingredient that has been developed specifically for the needs of normal to dry skin. It keeps the skin soft and supple, envelops it in the subtle scent of blue lotus and leaves a refreshed feeling.

The one-of-a-kind formula with Hydra IQ makes body care a long-lasting intense experience. It provides a non-stop supply of moisture to the skin – longer than ever before. This is based on the worldwide exclusive Nobel Prize technology, which promotes optimum moisture supply and distribution from within – for over 24 hours.  NIVEA Express Hydration Body Lotion is not only effective for an extra-long time, but is also absorbed by the skin extraordinarily quickly and thus helps repair the eight signs of dry skin: dry, redness, rough, tight, flaky, dull, itchy and peeling.

NIVEA Express Hydration Body Lotion has been developed with dermatologists and skin compatibility is clinically and dermatologically proven.

I've seen these available at all leading department stores, supermarkets and drugstores nationwide!

Available in ---

75ml for Php36.00

125ml for Php65.00

250ml for Php120.00

400ml for Php224.00

Prices aren't bad!  I don't mind trying this out to see if this helps my dry skin!  I will also try the famous powers of the Nivea Creme in its every classic blue tin packaging!  I am using this for my hands!

Have you tried Nivea Express Hydration Body Lotion?
if you did, tell me what to expect!

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!

Weekend Food Tripping at: Midnight Mercato

As I was browsing my food photos, I was surprised I missed out one folder called "Midnight Mercato".  I will include it on this weekend's food tripping post though months has passed since I last visited the food haven!  

As you get off work on a Friday night, you had your fair share of overtime and most of the malls or restaurants are closed.  You are hungry, where to go?  Midnight Mercato is definitely the place to satisfy your late night cravings!  

 

Inspired by the bustling night markets and hawker centers of Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, Midnight Mercato is the weekend late night food bazaar where you can enjoy mouth watering food finds – from home cooked meals to gourmet signature dishes to classic street food re-invented – while listening to live acoustic musical performances. Most importantly, you can enjoy Midnight Mercato in a clean, comfortable and organized setting inside an air-conditioned tent.

Quick tip, stroll one round and check out the food you would want to try and go ahead and purchase the rest for take away!  The main tent isn't air conditioned so if there's a lot of people flocking one area, it gets a bit too hot and humid!  There's another tent though that's air-conditioned so you can choose to stay there to rest. 

Our mission: To try something unique!  If our tummy can't take it, we'll take home the rest!

Hapadog Stand!

Hapadog is actually owned by my grade school friend Karen!  I've met up with her a couple of months ago and she excitedly shared to me this original Japanese Style Hotdogs!  I even gave her a call to advise me which one I should give it a go! 

Kat's Meow

 Bun+Wiener+Japanese Toppings inspired by Katsudon dish!

 Seriously delicious!  Wouldn't mind trying out the rest.

Speaking of Katsudon, I saw some Yakitori sticks!

Another seller sells Japanese/Filipino fusion dish like Beef Gyudon, Chicken Oyakudon and Gulaman!  *lol* That's why I included the word fusion for this table!

 

Mini Taco Stand

Bought 6pcs of this unique bite size tacos in Taco Beef!

Should not be eaten with poise.

1 mini taco, 1 bite!  No more arguments!

Off Beat

Famous for their Krispy Kreme Burger!

We gave this a skip as I love my burgers in bread buns and I love my Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Donuts the way it is! 

 Passed by a couple of hotdogs and sausages stand

A lot more "canteen" food as I would like to call them!
They all look delicious and filling!

Manang's Chicken

I've seen people lining up for the Hot & Spicy variant.

You are missing out on Filipino food experience if you did not try any street food! This is a more hygienic version of street food so feel free to chow!  I see betamax, intestines, pork BBQ and a whole lot more! 

Huge pizzas which reminded me of Sbarro! 

 

What's a scrumptious dish without sweets?  

 

 

 

Oh you should go there with friends and family!  The experience itself is worth it!  Free entrance, live band performance plus awesome food to try!  Give this a try at least once in your lifetime, make that more! :)

Midnight Mercato Operating Hours:
Friday and Saturday from 10:00pm to 3:00am
Mercato Centrale in the morning is still open 7:00am to 2:00pm.
Address: 34th street and 8th avenue (across MC Home Depot)

Have you tried Midnight Mercato or Mercato Centrale?
I'm not a morning person, as much as possible, I'd rather sleep in so I'll settle for Midnight Mercato for now!


Enjoy your food tripping weekend!
Keep smilin'
Stay happy