Bling Eyes FOTD

Hi everyone,

I've wanted to put rhinestones around my eyes since forever. Yet, every time I tried it, the rhinestones did not seem to stick. I gave up but the dream did not die. Last week, I went to the cosmetic shop near my house just to browse and saw some flat-back rhinestones used to decorate nails. I bought a small pack, went home and gleefully glued a couple of them on the area underneath my lower lash line. To my surprise, the rhinestones held up really well, which prompted me to do a look and bling up my eyes!

Here is the result:

The makeup is the same as I did here, except I changed the lip color from bright pink to nude. I have to credit my success to the new eyelash glue that I bought recently. The wand makes applying glue to the rhinestones feel like a dream. Before, I had to dip each teeny tiny rhinestone into a puddle of glue, resulted in oversoaked rhinestones that failed to stick to my skin.

Full-frontal look
I was sweaty around the lips :P 

Detailed look of the eye
3 rhinestones on top, 4 at the bottom
Faux liner at the bottom to make it look like I have some bottom lashes :D

 Without the rhinestones, it's a very wearable and polished day-time look. The rhinestones just add more pizzazz to the whole getup, I guess.

Now that I can glue stuff to my face, I am very happy.

See? Happy!

With this new opportunity, I am going to incorporate more rhinestones to my makeup. A little bit of eyelash glue, a tweezer, and some rhinestones go a loooong way! Just make sure you are not allergic to the latex in your eyelash glue. If you do, just get a latex-free glue and it will solve your problem. (How to tell if you are allergic to latex: your skin will itch if you wear latex gloves or latex glue on your falsies!)

This is kind of a K-Pop look, don't you think? I love how clean and chic it is! While the rhinestones took forever to apply, it was all about the skin. I may do a how-to video on that in the near future. Just let me know if you want one.

With love,
Dao xoxo



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Channeling My Inner Diva (or How I Forgot Halloween!)

Hi everyone,

The other day, I drove around and noticed some costume sales. It took me a couple of red lights to realize Halloween is at the end of this month and I have done diddly squat to prepare for it. To think about it, I have been busier than ever. The only time I was this busy was when I wrote that thesis to push myself out of grad school. But even with that, I did remember about Halloween.

But I'm not complaining. More things for me to do mean more money coming in at the end of the year. It also means people trust me enough to give me things to do. Just to remember not so long ago I was bouncing from one interview to another without landing anything gives me a shudder.

In my head, I was planning to do a Halloween look with some rhinestones gluing onto my face. But as I said, my timing was wrong and I ended up being supremely divalicous to myself. And please don't ask me how I did my makeup. I had no clue! This is a mix of Mariah Carey's hair in Honey, Katy Perry with her bright lips, and some K-Pop star eye makeup. I only had sunscreen and some powder on my face that day, btw :)

I did some mild facial and nose contouring. For the eyes, there was a mix of browns and purple blended out really well before I applied false eyelashes. I highlighted the inner corner of my eyes and the lower lash line with a champagne eye shadow. This is a highlighting trick Korean pop stars use on their eyes. It totally works as my eyes look huge!

If I used a primer and liquid foundation that day, it would probably ended up looking more K-Pop than this. But I do consider this a trial run in case I decide to do a real Korean pop star makeup look one day :)

Huge eyes at every angle, wow!

Close-up on the eye
This is probably the most unhelpful close-up picture ever.
Everything is so nice and muted that you can hardly see anything!

What I did on the eyes:

• Applied a light brown cream eye shadow as a base on the eyelids, MAC Bare Canvas (light pink champagne-ish color) underneath the brows to highlight
• Smudged out a soft liner near the lash line to darken it
• All the eye shadows I used have some sort of shimmers in them. I applied an inky purple eye shadow from the outer corner into 2/3 or the eye, then applied dark brown on the crease, blended out with a light brown color until they all look nice and natural and shimmery
• Highlighted underneath the brow bone with a shimmery champagne color, then applied the same color to the inner corner of the eyes and to the lower lash line. Don't be afraid if you can see a really pale line on your lower lashes. It's supposed to look like so!
• Mascara-ed up, line your eyes, and applied falsies.

Lips: bright pink lipsticks à la Katy Perry :)

Hair: curled up and tied to the side.

Then, you can totally sass people and demand things to be done your way. Yup, the divalicious act is good for a Halloween night!

Happy Halloween, y'all!

Dao xoxo

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I'm not Me FOTD

Hi everybody,

A couple of days ago, I decided to play with my makeup. I used various techniques on my face, including cut the crease, contour-highlight, anime eyes, and multi-hue blushes. After I popped on a pair of falsies, I stepped back to admire my work and Oh Em Gee, I did not look like my old self at all!

This look was truly for my own entertainment and nothing more. I know my face was darker than my neck and all but I was pushing to the extreme in contouring. And guess what? Darker contouring colors, while look as harsh as hell in real life, look great in pictures.

By the way, I didn't even bother applying foundation. Just a little bit of powder on my bare skin before that crap load of contouring colors on my face, that's all!

And so it began: contour, highlight, tons of blushes
Still looked like myself, kinda :)

The LOL-wuutt! face
Changed the angle and holy macaroni! Even bigger eyes!

Btw, if you want to check how well you did your contour and highlights, just convert your pictures to black and white. If you don't see any sharp lines and/or obviousness that point toward you doing a harsh job on your face then congratulations, job well done!

I did mine and...

Surprise, surprise!
This picture even looks even better than the first one!

This is the in-your-face kinda angle
Not flattering but I have to say, I barely recognize my own face in this picture!

Tired-beauty-blogger-is-tired pose
You can see all the contouring work I did here
The neck is the color of what my face is supposed to be, underneath all of them contouring colors

Here is a list of products I used, in case you're curious:

1. Eyes: MAC Ochre Style, Rich Flesh; Stila Kitten; Pupa Milano Luminys Duo #2; Ardell Brow Powder in Chocolate Brown
2. Contour and highlight: Ardell Brow Powder in Chocolate Brown and ELF Studio blush in Gotta Glow
3. Blushes: Benefits Coralista, Sephora blush in Mojave, Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blend blush in Fresh 20, Lacome Blush Papier Nacre in 04 Pain d'epice, Pupa Luminys blush #4
4. Lips: MAC Pure Rose mixed with 2B Cosmetics lipstick in Sweet Cherry
5. Lashes: Shisem Mild and Smooth Touch

With a lot of makeup and a bunch of techniques thrown in, you can look not like yourself for a moment. This, by far, is the most extreme I've done on my face in term of makeup. I really pushed the boundaries here and I have to admit, I like the result.

So, what do you think? Do you want me to break down the techniques I used here in another post? Just let me know and I'll make it happen :)

With love,
Dao xoxo

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A Really, Really Red Lipstick Look

Oh, hello there!

It's me, Dao, and I'm posing with my gangster V signs around the eyes :)

It's been a while since I posted a makeup look. The last one was exactly half a year ago. Please forgive me! Yesterday, I was watching the season finale of Desperate Housewives and I thought to myself, "Why don't I do a FOTD?" It just happened that my aunt got me an awesome red lipstick and I wanted to give it a try. I have a bunch of red lipsticks but this one is incredible! I may have to do a review on it some day.

So, how do I look?

Stuff I used, minus 3 brushes
Surprisingly, I didn't use a lot of things here. The red lipstick really brought things together

Eyes:

• Primer: MAC Bare Study
• Eyelids: since both colors I used are discontinued, you need a dirty gold pigment and a bronzy gold pigment. Layer the first one on top of the later one using an eye shadow brush. Do not blend!
• Crease: with a blending brush, apply matte medium brown eye shadow on the crease, then blend it up with a light yellow brown eye shadow. I used MAC Rich Flesh and Ochre Style, both are LE and discontinued (yikes!)
• Lower lash line: line with the bronzy gold one
• Liner: MAC Blacktrack on both upper and lower lashes

Face:

• Primer: Mentholatum Acnes Oil Solution
• Foundation: Yves Rocher Couleurs Nature Comfort Cream Foundation in Rosé 400 Tent Mat
• Finishing Power: Maybelline Clear Smooth BB Silk in Nude Beige (#2)
• Concealer: MAC Studio Sculpt NW20
• Bronzer: Physician's Formula
• Blush: Neutrogena Healthy Skin blush (discontinued, I think T_T. It's a really nice blush.)
• Lips: 2B lipstick in Sweet Cherry (#12)
• Lashes: Shisem. I was too lazy to put on mascara!

Nope, I didn't photoshop myself to look pale. My skin has been so light lately, thanks to all the Japanese skincare products I have been using (Hada Labo face wash and Marie Louise moisturizer/lotion.) Seriously, they are incredible! On top of that, the Yves Rocher foundation makes my skin look nice even when I used a thin layer with a damp sponge. Believe me, I didn't look that ghostly in real life but the foundation has SPF that made my skin look about 2 shades lighter. I should have pumped myself up with more bronzer. Well, we always have next time.

Also, here is one important discovery: if you are a beauty blogger who doesn't have long, luscious lashes, wear some falsies already! Because of my own laziness, I found out not only it took less time to apply false eyelashes, my eyes also look more open this way, too! So from now on, if I post a look, Imma wear some falsies. Call me vain but having a full set of lashes make a huge difference.

Last but not least, here is my very gangster Asian pose:

Kiss kiss!

Bye y'all!
Dao xoxo


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Makeup Trial, Part 2: Nailed It!

Hi everyone,

Here's a sneak peak at what I was working on for the upcoming wedding that I'm attending tomorrow. It's a Marilyn Monroe-slash-Kim Kardashian inspired look. It's very dramatic in real life but looks more demure on camera.

Please pardon my hair, I was just playing around and did not intend to fix my hair to my liking

Close-up at the eye
I just love this nude smokey look. Very romantic.
P.S: them lashes are mine, well, partially, of course!

I did a bang up job with the foundation. It was an afterthought since I only intended to do my eye makeup. Anyways, I'll probably end up using this foundation since it looks so good on film. In real life is another picture, though. One more thing: no more contouring for Dao. Did you see how my face is darker than my neck. That's not because of the foundation. It's because I wanted to make my face look slimmer by contouring with a darker foundation only to realize that my face is slimmer than it used to be.

Since I'm happy with the result, I'll probably go with this look. If I have a change of heart, I'll go with red lips since this look is versatile for both pale and bold lip colors.

I would appreciate if you have any feedback for this look. Also, if you want a tutorial, please let me know. Last but not least, the first makeup trial can be found here.

Take care,
Dao xoxo

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Super Bass FOTD

Hi everyone,

So, I'm a fan of Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass." It's one heck of a catchy song. I found myself singing "boom baloom boom boom baloom boom bass" a lot during the summer. Just check it out:


On top of that, I like how colorful her makeup is in the music video. Take a look at this:

After some careful studies of the pictures, I came to a conclusion that it's an easy look. I can totally do it. And I did, but it came with a sliiightly small problem: the electricity decided to go kaput when I started doing my makeup.

Wow!

Therefore, I did this look mostly in the dark and when I couldn't stand it anymore, I ran outside to get some sunlight. It was quick, only took me half an hour from start to finish, and I wore it out today. I got some compliments on it, too.

Super Bass FOTD
Can you hear the boom baloom boom baloom boom bass?

What I used:

Eyes

Coastal Scents original 88 palette: (top down) second yellow from the second column on the left and (bottom up) 4th pink from the seventh column from the left
Yellow mineral pigment left from my mineral makeup making days

 I really don't know what kind of base and yellow eyeshadow Nicki Minaj's makeup artist used. The pigmentation of her yellow makeup is intense. I layered a white pencil liner as a secondary base before applying the CS matte yellow eyeshadow. No popping. Nothing. It looked dull. So I applied the yellow mineral pigment on top.

Now, this mineral pigment is intense. A little bit goes a long way, you know the drill. But yet, it managed to look like this:

Oh, yellow pigments, where art thou?
Picture taken indoor, hence the green hue that I loath!

 The pink under eye liner was peachy: VS chubby eyeliner in Pink Flash as a base before applying CS pink eyeshadow. At least this one looks decent.

Maybe next time when I do something similar, I'll wet the brush and foil the pigment to have a more intense eye look. Also, I wish I had Pixie Epoxy. It would surely make the yellow pigment pop.

Eyeliner: L'Oreal HiP eyeliner in Black Shock
Mascara: something from Estee Lauder. It's a decent lengthening mascara but the name managed to rub off   :(

Lips

I don't have MAC Pink 4 Friday and I'm sure Nicki Minaj used it in this video. So I applied NYC Blue Rose, blotted it away to almost oblivion, and applied Za Pink Pearl. Tada! Pink 4 Friday lookalike:

Cheeks:

Can't you guess? It's my favorite combo: Rimmel Autumn Catwalk with ELF Gotta Glow!

And now, ze bloop bloop bloop bloopers :)

Believe it or not, I can rap the first verse of "Super Bass" and I'm not that much of a rapper. You should have listened to me rapping "Gangsta's Paradise." It was hilarious! But with this song, I can actually rap quite properly.

Bang in the wind.
Or is this the sign that my rapping career just failed?

Except for the Pink 4 Friday dupe, the rest of this look is "Super Bass" lite. It's like Miller lite: you get the taste with less calories. Or in this case, you get the look but it's more wearable.

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Theatre of the Nameless FOTD

Hi everyone,

Recently, I saw the promotion pictures of Illamasqua's new LE "Theatre of the Nameless" and I told myself, "I have to do this!"

Here are the promo pictures that inspired me to do today's FOTD:

Amazing? Isn't it? I told myself I could do it and after what felt like an eternity, I came up with this:

Theatre of the Nameless FOTD
with bright lipstick and chola-esque liner (aka black eyeliner around the lips!) 

Same look but with nude lips :D

What I used
The pot with a beige lid is the face primer

First of all, if you are ooh-ing and ah-ing about my eyebrows (or lack thereof), don't fret. The MAC concealer was supposed to conceal my eyebrows but it did not because I have dark hair. I tried painted them over with a white eye pencil but that didn't work, either. So, Photoshop that is. The best way to remove hair in photos, haha!

Eyes

This is how my eyebrows look like
I wish my black eyeliner (ELF waterproof) were darker.

Cheeks

• New York Color creme blush as a base
• Rimmel London Autumn Catwalk on top
• ELF Gotta Glow to highlight on top of the cheekbone

I really love this combination. Cheap non-Illamasqua makeup can make me glow, too!

Lips

• Bright version: NYC Blue Rose lipstick with black L'Oreal eye liner as a lip liner
• Nude version: Neutrogena lipstick in Just Whisper with NYX natural liner

This, by far, is the craziest makeup look I've ever done. While I did it, I realized the whole thing is based on something people might fear as a child:

Clown makeup!

I am not kidding. If you look closely at the elements: curved upward lips, overdrawn eyebrows, blocky eye makeup, and bright cheeks? Those are what you see on the face of a clown. I started to call this the "Chic Clown" makeup look after the revelation.

If this makeup came without the outlined eyebrows and chola-esque lip look, I would wear it. To a Halloween party or to the club, maybe. It is not for your daily feast but it's a fun (and laborious) look nevertheless.

Blooper time, with unedited eyebrows :)

I hope this is it. I'm having a headache from this clown makeup look already! 

Romeo, oh Romeo, where art thou?

Last but not least, if I scare you with this FOTD, I sincerely apologize. You don't have to read this if you are scared of clowns.

Oops, too late!

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Pop o' Gold FOTD

Hi everyone,

Believe it or not, I am attracted to gold eye shadows. As much as I've tried for years to make gold look good, it just makes me look like an alien. Or a gilded tin man. But I don't give up on gold, I just try harder. Today's FOTD, I used a dirty gold eyeshadow to accent my lazy cut the crease neutral look and the result was quite interesting. Neutral but quite attention catching, I guess.

Pop o' Gold FOTD

The eye makeup I did was quite similar to that of Cut the Crease Drama-o-Rama FOTD. I even used the same NYX Champagne and Caviar palette :D However, I am not reinventing the wheel. Not at all.

What I used

 Eyes

Now you see neutrals

Now you don't :)
Please forgive my spazzy indoor lightning. This picture doesn't do the eye makeup any justice.

The steps and colors are similar to the Cut the Crease Drama-o-Rama FOTD but I used less dark colors and added a pop of gold (light color on L'Oreal Gilded duo) on the eyelid

Lips

If you noticed the two lipsticks in the "What I used" picture, your bet would be something was up. Another two-toned lip look? Nope. It's ombre, baby!

Ombre lips: darker on the inside, lighter on the outside

This picture, taken indoor, showcases the ombre lip look better
I used Za Pink Pearl on the outside and NYC Blue Rose on the inside.

Face

 What I did:

• Primed the face with Rhoto Acnes Oil Control before applying L'Oreal True Match foundation with E.L.F Studio powder brush. Result: flawless skin!
• Applied Neutrogena Health Skin blend before contouring and highlighting with Physician's Formula bronzer and ELF Gotta Glow blush.
• Contoured and highlighted my nose with Ardell brow powder (because it's dark enough) and ELF Gotta Glow blush.

By the way, as always, all the pictures in this post are not Photoshopped.  I do look like this with makeup on. Without makeup is another question ;)

And now, the part y'all looking for: the bloopers! This week's FOTD has more bloopers than usual because yours truly was so messed up with the pictures. My lost is your gain, so enjoy!

What's up with the face?
The sun, the sun. It is so shiny! 

My attempt at Blue Steel.
Or was it Tiger Mom pose #22?!

Contractual obligatory peace sign pose.
Taylor Lautner has his six pack abs, I have my peace sign, haha!

That's all for today, folks! I hope you enjoy the FOTD.

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