Everyday Simple Look

I'm a work-at-home mom so I don't really wear makeup on a daily basis. However, there are times when I do have to step out of the house for some errands and sadly, the absolutely bare-faced look doesn't work so well for me. (Ha!) The fact that I need at least five products to look natural is a running joke I share with my teenaged cousins. All I say is that in a few more years, they would too get to where I am and when that time comes I'll be laughing and gloating *insert evil laugh*

For those of you in the same 30-something boat, here's a shot of the products I use for my everyday simple look

So we have a pressed powder by Garnier,, NYX Above and Beyond Concealer, Maybelline Collosal mascara, MAC Pink Swoon, Benefit Girl Meets Pearl, and Avon Simply Pretty lip balm. The three tools you see there are the Ellana angled kabuki brush, the ELF stippling brush and a cute animal print powder puff I bought from Suesh.

So here are my thoughts on this daily go-tos:
Garnier pressed powder - it's pressed so it's easy to use, no mess. I like applying it with the Suesh animal print puff rather than use the standard powder puff that it came with, because that one doesn't hold up to weekly washing. As a plus, this powder has SPF 15, not really enough to rely on for good sun protection but better than nothing, I guess.

NYX concealer - Since I've been following a fairly decent skincare regimen complimented with my Clarisonic, my skin is the best it has ever been! I can now get away with no foundation, just concealer for the undereyes and around the nose where redness is.

Maybelline Collosal mascara - I know that Maybelline created the Magnum version for Asian lashes but Collosal works better for me because I have a slight natural curl and decent volume. I would say that this is my HG but then again, I haven't really used that many mascaras so I don't know if there is something better. My only rant is that the Collosal version is not that easy to find locally.

MAC Pink Swoon blush - I just prefer pink blush over peach and MAC blushes are fairly decent. Pink Swoon is matte, so no glitters and all the better for everyday.

Benefit Girl Meets Pearl highlighter - I bought this because of AskMeWhats and I love it! I stock up on the deluxe sizes whenever I find them just because they are more travel-friendly and less fussy than the original packaging.

Avon Simply Pretty lip balm - I try to wear lip balm when I'm not wearing lipstick and I guess it works because I have smooth lips.

Ellana Angled kabuki brush for buffing in powder and ELF stippling brush for the blush. These are pretty much the brushes that I always leave out on my vanity and when I'm not doing eye makeup or contouring, I don't need anything else.

How about you, what products do you use everyday? Do share!

Reader Question: Can I use a stippling brush with loose mineral foundation?

First of all, I would really like to thank you lovely readers, who for some reason or another, happen to land in my blog. I am not the best when it comes to blog promotion and networking and despite spending several hours a day bloghopping through my favorite beauty sites, I just somehow don't find the time to reach out as much as I want.
So anyhow, in my review for Ellana loose mineral foundation fellow blogger Dinna left this comment:

Hi, have you tried applying your Ellana foundation with a stippling brush? French Vanilla is also my recent purchase and I've been thinking of buying a stippling brush for mineral makeup application, but I've been dilly-dallying about buying the brush 'cause most YouTube vids and blogs I've come across with mostly use the stippling brush for liquid or cream foundation. Can you share me your thoughts? Thanks! Your blog and reviews are really nice, btw. :)

Dinna


I actually started replying to this comment and what I intended to be just a few sentences turned into a few paragraphs before I realized that I may as well create a new post about it. That way, I can give a more comprehensive answer.

So in response to the lovely Dinna's question, here goes:


Hi, Dinna! Thanks for the compliment. So the deal with stippling brushes is that the duofiber has thinner bristles at the tip, which lets you apply products lightly. You can actually use stippling brushes for powders too, especially when your intention is to avoid using too much-- for example, when you don't want to go overboard with applying a very pigmented blush or bronzer. This YouTube gurus love using it with liquids and creams-- liquids and creams tend to have heavy formulations and a stippling brush is perfect for applying just a thin layer so you get an airbrush finish (well, depending on how good your technique is).

Now with mineral foundation, you really have to pack it on in order to get the coverage and a stippling brush is not the best tool for that, unless you are going for a barely-there look.I do use a stippling brush with my Ellana foundation, but only if I'm already wearing a full-coverage BB cream underneath. That's because I only need to use a little powder to mattify since I'm getting the coverage from another product. Using the stippling brush actually helps me avoid caking. When I use a stippling brush with French vanilla, I get very minimal coverage-- yung parang biglaang retouch ng face powder ang peg, if you know what I mean. You won't be able to build the product up enough for the foundation to do its intended job. Flat top brushes are still my best bet for mineral foundation.

A stippling brush is still a great investment anyway. You are bound to get a lot of uses, so if you have the budget one of these days, get one too, even if it's just an inexpensive one from elf (only P250, if I'm not mistaken).

Hope this helps, Dinna! Feel free to drop by anytime.

Your die-hard flat top brush fan,
The Kikay Mom

I won an Avon bra!

First of all, forgive the seemingly overacting excitement. It's just that I never win anything. Or if I do, somehow the Universe conspires to prevent me from claiming my prize. You wouldn't believe how many times I held an "almost' winning raffle ticket in my sad, sweaty, frustrated hands. It often happens that the winning number is just one count off from my number.
Then, just a few minutes ago, I receive this:

When the maid handed it to me, I was surprised because I knew that the packages that I was expecting from online shopping have already arrived yesterday. When I opened it and saw what was inside, I knew that I had won Avon Philippines' contest where they give away an amazing 35 bras DAILY until the end of January. This is to celebrate their 35 years in business.
It was so easy to join too-- just have five friends like their page (lucky for me, I already have five friends who like their page anyway, so no more need to invite anyone else to do so), then fill out the info sheet so that they will know your bra size and the address where they can ship your prize in the event that you should win. And I have to say, I was impressed by their promptness. I belatedly checked the winner's list and just saw now that my name was drawn as a winner for January 18-- which was just yesterday.
The cool part? They did not even need to notify me that I won. The first thing I knew about it was when the prize arrived at my door.
I wonder if this is a portent of things to come... Is the tide of my luck finally changing??? LOL
Why not try your luck too?

P.S: This is by no means a sponsored post or an advertorial. I'm just a happy gal who felt the need to blog about this because I really and truly just never have any luck with raffles and draws  :)

Oh, and good morning to you too! Off to fit my new Avon bra,
The Kikay Mom

NOTW: Orly Snowcone

About fifteen years ago, baby blue nail polish was so cool. Of course, being the rebel that I am, I refused to wear it then. It's not that I didn't like the color-- I just didn't want to be like everybody else.

Of course, these swatches of Orly Snowcone do show that I do love baby blue nails.

Lush Holiday 2012 Haul at 50% Off

Are you a fellow Lushie? If so, then you may already know that Lush is holding their annual post-holiday sale. The sale includes only those limited edition goodies which they roll out towards the end of the year, so year-round bestsellers like the It's Raining Men shower gel and Karma soap is sadly still selling at full retail prices. On the other hand, their yearly holiday collection does include some awesome products like the Snow Fairy shower gel (my fave!) and the Snowcake soap, among others.

Last December, I have been very good and only bought one 250g bottle of the Snow Fairy, telling myself that I will pick up the rest of my wishlist when it goes on sale. And as a reward, I got to save myself quite a few pesos. Let me share with you my small haul:

The Snowcake soap just came in two blocks. Since this is a rather creamy bar, using individual smaller slices helps it last longer compared to wetting the entire chunk. You can have it sliced like that at the store, but I enjoy doing it myself because it's like cutting butter  :)

I got the 500g bottle of Snow Fairy shower gel (the biggest size), a pot of Popcorn lip scrub, and two chunks of Snowcake soap. I actually called ahead and reserved two bottles of Snow Fairy but upon checking the labels and seeing that the entire batch of Snow Fairies expire by Feb 2013, I only bought one. The regular prices versus the discount is as follows:

Snow Fairy shower gel: P945.00 at 50% = P472.50
Snowcake soap, 185g: P453.25 at 50% = P227
Popcorn Lip Scrub 25g: P495.00 at 50% off = P247.50

The total bill should have cost P1,893.25, but because of the sale I only paid P946.63 after taxes. Yay! That's like getting the lip scrub and the solid soap for free.

This chunk weighs a little under 100 grams.

The Lush sale runs from January 10 to 31. The salespeople at Lush Trinoma are always lovely, and they would gladly answer inquiries or even reserve certain items for you if you call them at 9153016. They also have other branches at SM The Block, Shangri-la, Megamall, etc. They will soon open in Robinson's Magnolia too, so watch out for that.

I wish I could link you to the Lush Philippines website or Facebook page but sadly, both seem to have been neglected for quite some time now. You can head on over to Lush.com to see the list of products for reference. Local Lush stores also carry complimentary printed copies of The Lush Times, which contain their complete products and prices list.