Askmewhats

Happy Start of the week and start of 2012! How was your New Year's Eve and New Years' Day? Mine was spent with the "Ohanas" *laughs* Mr. AMW and myself are starting to call both our families "The Ohanas" to those who knows Stitch from Lilo & Stitch..."Ohana means...Family!"

I just have to share to you what I realized over the year end, "Welcome 2012 Countdown", I used to think my parents are grandparents were a boring bunch when I run up and down the stairs asking for more fireworks and "Wa Tu Si" and couldn't understand how they could just stay at home, watch movies and just ignore the great fireworks outside! Would you believe...I am THAT mature to do the same? I stayed at home most of the time enjoying glorious food and enjoyed the good line up of HBO movies! Come on guys, you have to tell me if you're the same! I'm not alone on this right? :D

To start off 2012, I did an AMW Version to face the bright year with bright-looking face! :)

I do think the lipstick itself is bright enough :P

AMW Diagram

Prior to eyeshadow application, you can choose your preferred base, in my case, since my lids aren't oily, I used The Body Shop Special Edition Kajal Eyeliner in Evergreen. Application shouldn't be perfect, use your fingers or brush to blend before you proceed with step 1.

Step 1:

I took out Beauty Pro Cosmetics' Crazy Colour Palette and applied "matte green" shadeon top of the base. This came out matte green just like on pan.

Step 2:

To add up the holiday sparkle, I took out my The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes from The Colour Spring 2010 collection and applied the metallic aqua green on top of the matte green to give a bit of dimension. Use a pencil brush and apply the similar color on the lower lash line.

Step 3:

From the same TBS Shimmer Cubes collection, use the sparkly peachy shade an apply on the brow bone area. This is okay if you're off to create a "sparkly" eye makeup! For regular days, use matte eyeshadow. Fill free to add this shade on the inner corner of your eyes for sparkles!

Step 4:

Instead of using a pencil liner, I wanted to create a "smoked out" eyeliner look (meaning, you won't see any harsh line). I used a matte black eyeshadow from The Beauty Pro's Crazy Colour Palette . This technique is best for small eyes as it gives an illusion of a bigger, rounder eye shape.

I added a bit of liner near the upper lash line to define the shape of my eyes. I used my favorire K-Palette 24h Real Lasting Eyeliner WP in black.

Curled my lashes and applied Bobbi Brown Everything Mascara in Black. Using SANA Styling W Brow, I filled the gaps with the pencil liner portion and lightened my brows with the light brow gel.

Sparkly eyes ready for 2012!

And here's what I used for the rest of my face!

For the Face:

Revlon Age Defying Foundation in Medium Beige (25)

L'Oreal White Perfect Pearl in Golden Ivory

For the Cheeks:

Shu Uemura Blush in Pink 30

For the Lips:

Etude House #2 Hot Pink

Etude House Wannabe Last Touch Gloss

Wearing bright colored lips can really lift your whole face, so once in awhile, step out of the comfort zone, we only live once :)

Have a great start of the year! Please stay positive as it worked for me and I hope it works for most of you too! :)

Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

My friends are coming up with wonderful products in the market and I am so happy for them! Sophie has her Charm brushes, now Jheng has her Beauty Pro Cosmetics!

A lot of you may wonder: "Will Nikki give a bad review since these products are made by her friends?" My answer is: "Of course!" There's no point in lying about my reviews just because they are my friends, the more I give them my thoughts and feedback because they are my friends!

Going back, Jheng, one of those I look up to for her seamless blending skills, came up with 2 gorgeous palettes that non-professional and even professional makeup artists would appreciate! I can't wait for more palettes or make up she'll come up with but for now, I've played with 2 of her gorgeous palettes and I'm ready to share my thoughts for buyers or soon-to-be buyers out there!

Various looks will be created using this palette in my upcoming AMW Versions! :)

Sweet and Smoky Palette

Crazy Colour Palette

Beauty Pro Cosmetics says --- (as taken from Digital Traincase)

Sweet and Smoky Palette

Sweet and Smoky Palette consist of dainty, feminine shades, and neutrals. Create beautiful and breathtakingly fresh day looks with the light shades included in this palette, and create stunning, smoky looks with the darker ones. You will never go wrong with this palette with the beautiful, classic shades it offers! It has never been this easy to take your daytime look to night time look!

Crazy Colour Palette

Crazy Colour Palette dares you to step out of your comfort zone and embrace the world of vivid, striking colors! Create fun, colorful eyes with this palette, and brighten up your whole day in the process! This palette screams young, fun, and bold! Dare to wear the shades in the Crazy Colour Palette and boost your self esteem into a higher level!

15 eye shadows per palette.

AMW says ---

Pros

The palette is actually not like the regular ones you see. It's not made of plastic, it's actually made of strong, covered cardboard.

Not bulky at all! Thickness as compared to an iPhone 3GS. Sorry, this is the only gadget I am sure everyone knows the size. *lol*

Sweet and Smoky Palette: all the shades are useful! I can totally imagine Jheng thinking about her MAC Neutral Palette and chose shades that are needed for both day time and night time. Most neutral palettes I own can create...well..only Neutral looks, with this palette, I can carry just one palette and create "no makeup look" at the same time can do a quick smoky eye makeup on anyone who requested for it.
Crazy Colour Palette: I wish I own this palette years ago when I was studying at Basement Academy. It will save me a whole lot of money as I ended up purchasing bright colored cream eye shadows underneath because most of the bright colored eye shadows I own aren't pigmented enough. For this palette, you get what you see! They all come true to the colors as seen on pan.
I actually like the 2 tiny magnets which makes it easy to close the palette without much effort.

Eye shadows are very easy to blend.
No weird scent.
Inexpensive. For Php1,800 (15 colors), each eye shadow pan costs only Php120.00 (approx $2.30).

Cons

Since these shadows are true-to-life pigmented and creamy, a natural bristled brush can easily grab a lot of pigments at one swipe (especially the matte ones), so fall outs will be expected during application.

Overall
I am very happy with both palettes and I've actually road tested them on myself on a regular basis plus I used them on some of my clients and I'm happy with the result.

Some of the eye shadow shades (especially those from Crazy Colour Palette) reminded me so much of Makeup Forever eye shadows (#92 for Purple, #75 Pink, #15 Matte Peachy Shade #160 Reddish brown, #91 Green, #159 Blue and a whole lot more) . The Sweet and Smoky Palette on the other hand reminded me so much of the shades that MAC offers (Crystal Avalance, Nylon, Romp, Amber Lights, Carbon, etc..)

**note from AMW: Shadow dupes are just my own opinions and observations.

Tips

Very important to prep your lids with an eyelid primer prior to eye shadow application! Imagine how much a regular eye shadow crease on you, imagine a super pigmented eye shadow creasing on you --- NOT GOOD!
If you are opting for bright colored eye shadow looks, do your foundation last.
Do not wipe off fallouts with your fingers, instead, use a big fluffy brush to remove fallouts.
OC-mode. Each palette includes a clear plastic film, instead of throwing these away, here's what I do to keep the palette from getting dirty.

Cut a small sized double-sided tape

Tape the plastic on all 4 sides

This will keep the cover from getting really dirty!

Will I repurchase?
Not these 2 as they will last me for a long time! I hope Beauty Pro Cosmetics will create more!

To whom do I recommend this to?

Sweet and Smoky Palette is best for everyone who's into eye makeup and likes to create both neutral and smoky looks for daytime and nighttime.

Crazy Colour Palette on the other hand is not for the faint-hearted! Either people are used to seeing you in loud colored eye shadows or you are a professional makeup artist doing a lot of colorful looks for shoots or magazines! Oh, makeup students who are on a budget studying makeup and will be doing Avant Garde looks will appreciate this palette!

Where to purchase and how much?

At Digital Traincase for Php1,800 (approx $40.90) / palette Free Shipping. Digital Traincase will also join various bazaars so you can see them in person.

November 26-30 at the St. James The Great Christmas Bazaar

(9am-9pm, Ayala Alabang Village)