Posts Tagged MUFE
Holiday Color Pairings
Posted by Latoya in a-england, Black, Bobbi Brown, Chanel, Essie, Eyeshadow, Glitter, Gold, Green, Holiday, Illamasqua, Lips, MAC, Make Up For Ever, Make-up, Metallic, Nail Polish, Red, Sephora Brand, Sparitual on December 12, 2012
When I start to think about it, it’s not really a surprise to me that I love makeup. When I was a kid, I use to spend hours pairing my crayons together in color combinations I thought looked good together (which was also a great indication of my obsessive tendencies toward organization, but that’s a whole OTHER topic in itself!). While I don’t feel societal pressures to follow trends in shades (woohoo, Emerald for 2013!), nor feel like I ‘should’ wear darker colors in winter and brighter colors in summer, I choose to follow these paths often because it just makes sense to me. I love the idea of changing the shades I wear according to seasons – heck, I even do it with the change in weather! Rain means somber shades of grey or blue; sun means warm tones of gold, or brights like aqua and orange; and snow equals icy silvers and cool pinks and purples. Its just how I roll, ya’ll!
As it’s the holidays, of course I imagined an array of festive shades to represent the season, and since the work was already done, I thought I’d share them with you! On the weekend for the first time I matched my lips to my tips, and it was a lot of fun. I’m not entirely sure I’d do the same with eyeshadow, but the colors below all complimented a polish I own so well I figured what the heck. I hope you enjoy!
Bobbi Brown Chrome Eye Shadow in Pewter; Chanel Le Vernis in 529 Graphite
Chanel Graphite; Bobbi Brown Pewter
Both of these silvers are so much more than plain ol’ silver. They both veer into a warmer tone rather than stark icy shades, which means they’re quite wearable for all skin tones. Pewter is currently unavailable as this was an LE shade, but at times Bobbi Brown brings it back in palettes and such, so keep your eyes peeled! Graphite has had a ton of reincarnations over the past year since it was released (though I don’t believe it’s LE anyway) – the best being Sally Hansen’s Shoot the Moon which was just featured on All Lacquered Up.
Essie Limited Addiction; Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural in #46
Essie Limited Addiction; MUFE #46
MUFE’s #46 Rouge Artist lippie was the red shade I wore on the weekend to compliment my red manicure (done with China Glaze Ruby Pumps). I ADORE this lipstick; it is by far my favorite red that I own. It’s more of a true red I think, and looks so darn good on! The moistness of the lipstick keeps it looking so juicy and festive without being overwhelming in the least. It feels amazing on and I just can’t get enough! The only downside is that it’s only available at MUFE Pro stores and kiosks, but well worth the effort.
Essie Limited Addiction was, unfortunately, limited edition, but there are a billion reds out there I’m sure that are similar – just a bit deeper than your typical shade and neither warm nor cool.
MAC Jealousy Wakes; a-England Saint George
a-England Saint George; MAC Jealousy Wakes
Hot DAMN Saint George is beautiful! I don’t wear this polish nearly as much as I should, mainly because when I bought it last year, I wore it about three times in a few weeks – obsessed, I was! I’m wearing this to my work Christmas party this week and I’m super excited! Its one of the few greenish hues I own, and one of the few of that color palette I like. In truth it’s more teal than green but whatever – evergreen, shall we say? I LOVE IT and all it’s prismatic shimmer.
Jealousy Wakes is also another shade I rarely wear, probably because I don’t wear color in my shadows nearly as much as I used to, but I still enjoy it from time to time when I do pull it out. I dislike the texture of the shadow immensely – it’s so stiff and rough! – but it IS a lovely shade.
Sephora Brand She Sparkles; SpaRitual Aurum
SpaRitual Aurum; Sephora Brand She Sparkles
Oooh, sparkly indeed! Though Aurum is sort of a crap color on me – probably on most people, it’s so damn blingy I’m going to HAVE to pull it out for the holidays! Look at that sparkle! It’s a bit more greenish-gold than the orange-y gold of She Sparkles, but they both shimmer prettily together, don’t you think? I wore She Sparkles like crazy the last holiday season (when I purchased it), but haven’t given it much love since. I’ll surely be pulling it out again this month!
MAC Dark Soul Pigment; Illamasqua Creator
Illamasqua Creator; MAC Dark Soul
Though I’m not a huge lover of black nail polish, Creator has won me over with its glittery goodness, and looks both elegant and edgy at the same time. It compliments Dark Soul so perfectly! I could totally see rocking these two shades together, it’s like they were made for each other. I rarely wear Dark Soul for sort of obvious reasons (its a shimmery charcoal shadow – the rockstar look doesn’t exactly work at the office), but I’m trying to find ways to implement it more when I can. It’s definitely a perfect shadow for the holidays!
It was fun making these pairings and a huge throwback to my formative years 
It’s also scary to see that I happen to have enough polish and makeup that I can actually make pairings that coordinate so well… ~shrugs~ I’m a collector, what can I say?
Have you gotten into the matching trend? Would you be willing to try it, or do you avoid it at all costs? What colors say ‘holiday’ to you?
Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Shadows in 8E and 32E: Review and Swatches
I really wanted to come up with a good title for these shadows, because 8E has been rocking my socks off in particular the entire week, and deserves a ‘hallelujah’ or something!! But, alas, my brain is slow today and I got nothin’. Forgive me, my friends 
Monday I was home sick, feeling run down and just plain tired from all the excitement and hubbub of my birthday and the upcoming move. There I was, all vegged out like a sloth, when around 10am the doorbell buzzed (more like screeched – its goddamn AWFUL), and to my delight was 2 (out of 12 shades) of the new Make Up For Ever Aqua Shadows ($23CAD) for me to play with!! Even better, one of the shades was the main one I was lemming HARD – 8E, described as a ‘matte green,’ though SO much more – it’s a rich, deep teal that is just beyond gorgeous. The other shade, 32E, which is described as ‘pearly white‘ (which is bang-on), isn’t so much my scene, but I can make it work.
Designed to be long-lasting and easy to use, I got busy right away snapping pics and trying them out, not only because of my major love for the teal shade, but also because I had read such a drab review regarding the application and wear from Christine at Temptalia, and I was determined to discover otherwise. So, this review is going to be much more in depth than my usual ones, as I tested this out two days in a row for wear, and really took note of how these worked and how to make them work. First, however, swatches:
As I noted, 8E is a beautiful teal shade that is jewel-toned and more my speed than most other teals, which tend to be either a) shimmery (and therefore quite in-your-face), or b) medium-to-light in shade, which makes them, again, far too obvious, bordering on gaudy for my skintone, depending on how I wear it. As 8E is matte, it’s so much more wearable too, which I love. 32E, on the other hand, is very shimmery, and because it’s a pearly white (almost stark white with just a touch of warmth to it), it’s very contrasting on my skin, and not in a flattering way, so I have to be careful how I wear it. Likely it will be relegated as an inner eye highlight for the most part, which is how I wore it for the first of my looks below and which worked quite well.
Waa! Mad scientist hair!
All photos above with flash
Above shots in natural light
So, in the look above, I wore 8E as a shadow – I applied it via the pencil itself to my lid and then blended with a finger – and used 32E in the inner corners of my eyes. I will concede that these pencils are difficult to apply and blend, as they are sort of an odd combo of waxy and dry, so I had to take the time to make this look good. However, I wore this for 8 hours (sans primer, and with a 2 hour nap in between!) and these did not fade or crease AT ALL (contrary to Christine’s review), which I attribute to the tough-as-nails formula (which is a combination of waxes, oils and polymers which create a long-lasting, crease- and smudge-proof color) . Worn as a shadow, it might not be your quick look-on-the-go solution, but honestly, the shade itself was such a standout, and the wear was so good, that I don’t mind the drawback of the application. Note that after my nap, it did smudge slightly under my eye, but obviously most people don’t nap with a full-face of makeup on regularly, so you’re probably safe 
And I have more proof of that below, in my next look with 8E:
With flash
iPhone pic, sorry for poor quality!
In this look, I just wore 8E as a liner, applied directly to the lash lines and smudged a bit with my finger. This was as easy to do as any other pencil liner would be, and lasted 13 hours sans primer and without fading or traveling (no naps that day!). I like both looks and would wear either depending on the situation – if I had more time I’d go with the full shadow as I prefer to wear this glorious shade at its full impact if I can. But as a liner its still pretty lovely and I like that I have the versatility to switch between the two.
I honestly want to wear this shade every single day, which is pretty huge for me as I get bored almost the instant I’ve worn something once. It just brought out the color of my eyes so well and complimented my skintone better than almost any other shade I’ve tried. If you don’t mind working with it a bit, I REALLY think you should check these out – in my opinion, 8E is THE shade to own, but they have a ton of others that are much more neutral, and a few key shades like navy and black that would look excellent as well. So hop to it!!
Have you checked out these Aqua Shadows yet? What’s your favorite long-wearing eyeshadow?
*Products were provided by the PR company/brand for my unbiased consideration.
Review: Make Up For Ever HD Microfinish Blush in #12 First Kiss
Posted by Latoya in Blush, Make Up For Ever, Make-up, Sephora on February 10, 2012
I don’t know when it happened, or why (though I have my suspicions), but somehow over the past year I have become developed a serious passion for blush – probably one of the only makeup areas that used to leave me cold. Where eyeshadow used to be my ‘thing,’ blush has swiftly replaced it as the new ‘must buy’ purchase. I am trying to curb this impulse before it gets too crazy – I’ve seen how that turns out and it’s not a pretty sight (well…it IS technically…very pretty indeed…but you know what I mean!). I’m determined to make my most recent blush purchase, Make Up For Ever’s HD Microfinish Blush in #12 First Kiss, tide me over for a couple months anyway. My goal is to be able to keep my blush purchasing to one per every three months. Though, I made that decision last week, and then broke it in about three days, so you can see how well that worked out! I really want to try Buxom’s new True Hue blush, as well as one of the Tarte Amazonian Clay blushes, and I’m not sure I can hold out that long. We’ll see.
MUFE’s HD Microfinish blushes are designed with both mattifying and light-reflecting powders to create a soft focus effect while still creating a radiant look to the skin, and are supposed to be longwearing. First Kiss is labelled as a ‘bright apricot,’ and I think that’s pretty near the mark. Initially when I was swatching colors at Sephora, First Kiss scared the bejesus out of me – what came out seemed so bright and intense that I couldn’t imagine anyone wearing it! However, once I blended it in, it left the prettiest coral-orange glow behind, I had to have it.
Sunlight
Natural light
I thought perhaps it would be a bit tricky to apply, as it’s a creamy liquid formulation that comes out via a pump, but once I got the hang of using the pump and dispensing the right amount (you only need very little), everything else was a breeze. I put a small dot of product on the back of my hand, then dipped my MAC #130 brush into it and swirled it around my cheekbones to diffuse the color. It doesn’t take long to blend, and it doesn’t set too quickly so that you’re left with streaks. It’s really very, very easy to use! The wear on First Kiss throughout an entire work day was quite good, only the slightest fading. In the photos below, I’m wearing MUFE’s HD Foundation in #155 underneath First Kiss (all shots are in natural light).
Another one of my ‘beach’ faces
For fun, I thought I’d swatch First Kiss, NARS Torrid, and MAC Early Morning side by side to compare the shades. As I’ve noted before, these types of colors seem to look best on my skintone. I actually think that I prefer First Kiss and Early Morning over Torrid now – they just impart the perfect healthy glow on my skin, whereas I sometimes find Torrid a bit TOO much. It’s definitely better on me with a tan, that’s for sure. On the cheek, they’re all fairly similar, but in swatches you can see the differences quite clearly:
Sunlight (left to right: First Kiss, First Kiss blended, NARS Torrid, MAC Early Morning)
Natural light
I’m so pleased with MUFE’s HD Blush that I’ve been eyeing a few more shades I’d like to add to my collection. It’s ease of use and color selection and formula make it a total win in my books! It’s perfect for all seasons and all occasions.
Have you tried Make Up For Ever’s HD Blush? What blushes do you think I absolutely MUST try??
Wild & Chic Best of Make Up For Ever Kit, Part Two: Smoky Lash Mascara
Posted by Latoya in Make Up For Ever, Make-up, Mascara, Sephora on November 17, 2011
Mascara has got to be one of the most frustrating beauty products – I’m sure many of us spend more time looking for the perfect mascara than most other cosmetics. Its the easiest way to beautify the face, I think – it opens up the eye, which is often our best feature, and makes us look more awake and youthful. Personally, it’s not my end-all, be-all; I love when it’s effective but I have bigger fish to fry (concealer, anyone?). Nonetheless, I am constantly on the look-out for a newer, better version – so join me in checking out the mascara Make Up For Ever offers up in their Wild & Chic Best Of Kit: Smoky Lash ($24CDN).
The back of the product notes that the color is ‘Extra Black’ and that the mascara provides ‘volume, length, and curl.’
My initial thoughts were tentative at best – the brush looks kinda wonky, which had me wondering just how this mascara would apply – would it be haphazard, and make my lashes go every-which-way? The description on Sephora notes that the brush is ‘tough and dense,’ which allows the wand to ‘penetrate into the roots of the lash to ensure the lash is completely coated with mascara.’ Uh, okey dokey!
Thankfully, any fears I had were unfounded. Here’s what I did find: while not terribly dramatic, this mascara does give nice length to the lashes (which always seems like a funny claim to me, because – you’re coating your lashes with product, don’t they ALL lengthen?), and I do notice an increase in volume – as in, it looks like it catches every lash I have to that it looks like I have more than usual. It sort of makes them look feathery, which I haven’t had in a mascara much. I think I like it!
Again, sadly, I cannot report on it’s curling power, as my lashes are just so darn curly as it is, that the effect is totally lost on me. I read the description after wearing it a few times, and I think the brush does get into the base of the lashes well, as it’s not too flexible – though not so rough that it jabs at your lash line (I hate that!!). It is nice and black – no charcoal formula here (which I also hate) – and wears all day without flaking. It wasn’t too hard to remove; your regular cleanser that you normally would use does the trick.
My overall opinion of this mascara is a good one – it’s more of a basic mascara than anything ground-breaking, but sometimes its nice to have a mascara without a ton of bells and whistles and tricks to using it. Certainly if you’re interested in purchasing it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
*This product was provided to me for consideration by the brand/PR company.
Upcoming Event: MAKE UP FOR EVER Smoky Eye Event at Sephora
Posted by Latoya in Events, Make Up For Ever, Make-up, Sephora on August 22, 2011
Good day everyone! I just received a media alert from MAKE UP FOR EVER about an event coming up this weekend at Sephora stores across Canada (that includes our new store here in Hali!) – the Smoky Eye Event, on August 26th, 27th, and 28th. This event is focused on the launch of the new Smoky Couleur Collection for Fall 2011 (all products out this month).
The collection is described as “eye make up essentials inspired by the rich, jewel tone fabrics seen on the Fall 2011 runways,” and is a “vibrant new take on an all-time classic,” the smoky eye. It provides “a number of different ways to wear the eye catching look and adapt it to every mood, occasion and outfit.”
Check out details and pics of the collection below!
The Smoky Couleur collection includes a limited edition Smoky Eye Shadow Palette, four new shades of dramatic Smoky Lash mascara and three new ultra-creamy Khol Pencils — all in an array of bold, yet wearable colors.
NEW LIMITED EDITION SMOKY PALETTE
This customized, collector’s palette features eight MAKE UP FOR EVER Eye Shadows that can be used to create five different smoky looks in brown, blue, purple, green and classic black. Expert application instructions, as well as a mirror and two individual applicators, are included to help consumers achieve a professional smoky eye at home.
MAKE UP FOR EVER’S highly pigmented pressed shadows contain nylon powder for intense, lasting color and are easily blended and shaded. The palette includes:
• Eye Shadow #04 – matte black
• Eye Shadow #79 – deep plum shimmer
• Eye Shadow #81 – metallic navy blue
• Eye Shadow #80 – iridescent peacock green
• Eye Shadow #122 – metallic copper
• Eye Shadow #127 – metallic taupe
• Eye Shadow #126 – iridescent yellow beige
• Eye Shadow #07 – white shimmer
Retail value: $50
NEW SMOKY LASH COULEUR
The ultimate mascara for volume, length and curl is now available in four new hues. Boasting the same lash boosting formula and unique elastomer fiber brush as the original best seller, Smoky Lash Couleur delivers a dramatic faux lash effect in seconds. Each new shade is extremely concentrated with brown, green, blue and plum pigments so the mascara instantly coats the lashes with intense color.
• Smoky Lash #3 – deep brown
• Smoky Lash #4 – green
• Smoky Lash #5 – dark blue
• Smoky Lash #6 – plum
Retail value: $24.00 / each
KHOL PENCIL
These soft, creamy pencils have an extremely blendable texture and are now available in pearly deep blue (#8K), matte mocha brown (#9K) and pearly black purple (#10K). Khol Pencils can be used to line the eyes for a more intense, striking look, and can easily be smudged for the perfect smoky eye. Additionally, the soft texture makes them ideal for rimming the inner eye. Apply above and/or below the lash line and blend to create a pigment-rich smoky eye.
• Kohl Pencil #4K – intense pearly green
• NEW Kohl Pencil #8K– pearly deep blue
• NEW Kohl Pencil #9K– matte mocha brown
• NEW Kohl Pencil #10K– pearly black purple
Retail value: $19.00 / each
No RSVP is necessary to participate in the event, just stop by any Sephora store across Canada to enjoy a free touch-up with a MAKE UP FOR EVER expert! In addition, you’ll receive a complimentary, limited edition MAKE UP FOR EVER carry-all tote with a purchase of two or more MAKE UP FOREVER products.
I’ve always wanted to try some of the eyeshadows from MAKE UP FOR EVER so this might be a great opportunity to do so. The Kohl Pencils also look fantastic! I love jewel tones
Be sure and let me know if you stop by Sephora this weekend to check out the event. If anyone does and is brave enough, send me a snapshot of the look you got! I’d love to see what look you get – Christine from Temptalia had a makeover at MAKE UP FOR EVER recently, and it was amazing!!
Enjoy the rest of your Monday everyone!
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