Ahh, books and brushes- two of my favorite things! It's funny because right when I got my birthday money, National Bookstore held a book sale where everything was down to almost 70% off- and this ain't the MIBF yet! Anyway, here are the books I was able to buy and an added bonus: my first Beauty Cosmetics purchase!

Let's start with the brushes, shall we? I've read and heard good reviews about Beauty Cosmetics brushes from local bloggers and Youtubers so I guess you could say that they're on my "To Try" list. Thankfully, Beauty Cosmetics brushes is available in a boutique in Robinson's Galleria which is perfect because it's quite near from where I live. They have a lot of individual brushes and they also have sets. I decided to try their eye brushes, namely the tapered blending brush, angled shadow brush, and eyeshadow brush. The tapered blending brush seems like a very affordable dupe for the MAC 217 so I can't wait to try it out. I can't wait to try it so much that I bought two! :)) I got the angled brush so I can easily *crossing fingers* do an outer v on my small lids. The eyeshadow brush I got was pretty dense, a little bit stiff, and not at all flat. It actually reminds me of the Real Techniques shading brush. I know I won't be using it on my lids though; I'll use it to blend!

For the books, I got the September issue of Preview (I love the finish of the cover!), City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare, Variant by Robison Wells, and Shards & Ashes by Melissa Marr, Kelly Armstrong, and more. I really can't wait to read these books along with my another unread ones. Also, I watched The Maze Runner this afternoon and I loved it! Seriously you guys, go watch it. I've heard negative things from people who've read the books but I'm not of those so I can say that I really enjoyed the movie. Because of that, I decided to buy the Maze Runner boxed set because I really want to know what happens next!

So yeah, there's my haul. It's been a while since I splurged on books and it feels goooood. Someone stop me from going to the bookstore again!!

Happy Sunday, y'all! Got some smokey eyes for you today! It's another "unplanned" look and something I just wanted to try. My main shadow is a bronze-y shimmery shadow and I wanted to incorporate a shade that'll spice it up. All I know was that I wanted the second shadow to be on the center if the lid and when I did that it resulted to a "sandwich". A sandwich is when you have a shadow (usually a dark one) on the inner and outer corners of your lid and a light shadow in the middle. It's something I find difficult to perfect on my small eyes and limited lid space so I cheat by making a dark shadow my lid color then just patting a light shadow in the middle of my lid. As usual, I balance my shadow-heavy upper lid by applying a dark shadow on my outer lower lid. 

Products Used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Urban Decay shadows in Buck + Naked (crease)

Urban Decay shadow in Barlust (lid)

Urban Decay shadow in Toasted (middle of the lid)

MAC Shadow in Jaan (brow bone highlight)

Urban Decay shadow in Backdoor (outer third of the lower lashline)

Maybelline Gel Liner in Black

Maybelline Volum' Express Hypercurl Cat Eyes

This look is another favorite of mine. It's simple and easy to do yet it looks quirky and cool at the same time. I've always liked colored mascaras but because of my very dark lashes, they don't show up that much. Thus, this look is my take on the colored lashes trend. It's not blue or pink or green but it's freaking stark white. It was really fun to do and I didn't have to buy a tube of colored mascara. All I did was take a spoolie and rub white eye pencil on the bristles. Tada! DIY colored mascara at its finest. I like that I can do this with other colored pencils in my kit. There's one catch though: it won't set. I used a really creamy pencil and every now and then, I'd get white smears on my lashline and on my lid. I guess if you have an intense colored pencil that sets immediately then maybe it can set but I'd give it 1-2 hours max.

One last advice: use a disposable spoolie. I used a proper spoolie brush and, I kid you not, the product is a bitch to remove. It took me 3 washes to get most of it out but there's still some product on the bristles. I'll try to wash it again and hopefully I can get it squeaky clean. Wish me luck!

Products Used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Urban Decay shadow in Freestyle (lid wash)

Urban Decay shadow in Naked 2 (crease)

Sleek shadow in Noir

Sleek shadow in Nougat (brow bone highlight)

NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk (lashes)

Catrice Made to Stay Highlighter Pen in In the Mood for Nude (waterline)

If you already haven't guessed from this post's title, this look is inspired by Rita Ora's look in the music video of Black Widow. Rita's look was a really bold winged liner and a dark lower lashline. I have to say, having a small lid was a struggle! Creating the winged liner wasn't the problem. The problem was the product transferring to my crease! Can't really do much about it since I can't just look down all day, can I? But anyway, I love this look and I'm really considering doing a thick liner now because I find it so cool. Have to build up some courage for that though!

A little tip for doing a bold cat eye? Create the outline first. I sketched mine with a sheer black shadow before retracing it with a gel liner. It just makes things easier, trust me. You can also use a liquid liner instead of gel if you prefer. I don't recommend using a black shadow for the liner mainly because the chances of product transferring on the crease are high. For the lower lashline, I used a creamy black pencil, one that doesn't set immediately and smudged it with a black shadow. I opted for the soft, smudged look instead of a harshly drawn black line. Other things I added to the look was a strip of outer lashes and some glued-on studs. I don't know but I just felt that the studs made the look edgier and kind of reminded me of Lisbeth Salander. If I were to wear this look, I would definitely leave the lower lashline bare and fill my waterline with a nude liner to open up my eyes. And yes, I'll gladly wear the studs. :)

Products Used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Urban Decay shadow in Freestyle (lid wash)

MAC shadow in Carbon (for sketching the outline of the wing)

MAC Fluildine in Blacktrack

MAC Eye Kohl in Smolder (lower lashline, smudged)

Sleek shadow in Noir (lower lashline)

Prestige Eyeliner in Deepest Black (waterline and upper waterline)

Maybelline Volum' Express Hypercurl Cat Eyes

Sasatinnie Falsies in 08 Fantasy (cut in half, placed on outer lashline)

This is the 11th look already? Where did the time go?? Well I hope I'm not boring all of you with my EOTDs. I'm definitely getting used to posting looks everyday and I find doing the EOTDs so much fun. Hopefully I'd be able to post more after this 14/15-day series. We'll see!

Today's look is very cool-toned. And no, it wasn't my intention to do a cool-toned look. :)) The realization hit when I was editing the photos. I was like, "Man, this is too......cool!" You've got your silvers and pinks, not a hint of warm-tone on the lids. I guess I kind of knew something was a bit different because I really wanted to add a little bit of brown on my lower lashline to balance the coolness going on on my lid. I've two shades of silver and two shades of pink, dam right I needed some warmth on my lower lashline, haha!

Products Used:

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

The Body Shop Eye Definer in Shimmering Steel (lid, smudged)

essence shadow in Irresistible (lid, on top of Shimmering Steel)

Too Faced blush in Cocoa Rose (base crease)

NYX unnamed pink shadow (on top of Cocoa Rose)

Urban Decay shadow in Gunmetal (outer third of the lid)

Urban Decay shadow in Sin (brow bone highlight; not included in swatch)

Urban Decay shadows in Naked + Buck (lower lashline; not included in swatch)

MAC Blacktrack Fluidline

Coastal Scents Gel Line in Wicked (first third of the wing liner near the inner corner)

Catrice Cosmetics Made to Stay Highlighter Pen

Maybelline Volum' Express Hypercurl Cat Eyes

I am so excited to share this look because it's probably one of my favorites of this week's batch of looks. It started with just the idea of a "stacked liner" (you know, those layered liners with two different colors) but then changed completely when I was already doing it. I used a classic combo, green and gold, then just incorporated other colors to tie everything together. I absolutely love the green shadow I used and it looks so great on the lower lashline! This is a pretty simple look you can wear as is or you can tone it down by not wearing anything on the lower lashline and waterline. I should do more of the stacked liners more often, haha!

Products Used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Too Faced shadow in Nice Stems! (lid; lower lashline)

Urban Decay shadow in Buck (crease)

MAC Gel Liner in Blacktrack 

Urban Decay shadow in Half Baked (mixed with MAC Fix+, layered above Blacktrack)

Urban Decay shadow in Kinky (brow bone highlight)

Prestige eyeliner in Deepest Black

Maybelline Volum' Express Hypercurl Cat Eyes

Sasatinnie Falsies in 08 Fantasy

Playing with a couple of colors again, colors that I thought wouldn't go well together. I've always liked my lid shadow I just didn't know how to use it or incorporate it in a look. But hurrah, I finally used it!

Here's a little BTS story: When I was done with applying it on my lid, I got confused. What's my crease color? Brown? Taupe? Color? What's neeext?? Looking at it one more time, the color reminded me of some EOTD looks I saw in Pinterest and in beauty blogs. The color is quite mermaid-y and I remember gurus paired it with a pink crease. Pink crease? Pssh, too common. *scans palette* AHA! This one! Who thought a light purple crease is a really good pink crease substitute?

Products Used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX Jumbo Pencil in Cottage Cheese (lid, smudged)

NYX unnamed blue-green shadow (lid)

NYX unnamed light purple shadow (crease)

Cosmoprof Brown shadow (crease base)

Urban Decay shadow in Foxy (brow bone highlight)

Too Faced shadow in Cut the Cake (inner corner highlight)

Urban Decay shadow in Backdoor (lower lashline)

Urban Decay shadow in Crave (not included in swatch photo; wing)

Nichido Eye Pencil in Medium Brown (outer third of the lower lashline smudged by Backdoor)

Maybelline Volum' Express Hypercurl Cat Eyes

Late food post again about a place that serves really good Indian food.

We're back to my comfort zone: neutrals. I don't know about you but it seems like my looks are more polished and cohesive when I use neutrals. I guess it's because I know nothing goes wrong with neutrals, and blending isn't a big issue. Yep, I'm a neutral girl all the way.

I've kept everything brown-based in this look. One of the items I don't get to use a lot is my Color Tattoo pot in Bad to the Bronze. I keep forgetting how lovely this is. The first look I did using Bad to the Bronze was a smokey one, and a darker look too but that's because I layered a shimmery dark reddish brown shadow on top of BttB. Now, I decided to go lighter, putting a light shadow on top to make everything more everyday appropriate. Hmm, I wonder what's the next shadow I can layer on top of BttB...

Products Used:

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze (lid; smudged)

Urban Decay shadow in Naked 2 (crease, transition color)

Urban Decay shadow in Buck (crease, blended on top of Naked 2; lower lashline)

The Body Shop Eye Lustre Pearl in 03 Lustrous Pink (patted on the center of the lid)

Urban Decay shadow in W.O.S. (brow bone highlight)

Nichido Eye Pencil in Medium Brown (outer third of lower lashline, smudged with Buck; waterline)

Maybelline Gel Liner in Brown

Maybelline Volum' Express Hypercurl Cat Eyes Mascara

Seventh look! Every now and then I love doing looks that are somehow out of the box. I'm not the most creative person out there but makeup helps me come up with looks that are different. I like creating these types of looks because it takes me out of my comfort zone and I feel like I have no rules to obey. Swedish makeup artist Linda Hallberg inspires me the most with avant-garde looks. She's AMAZING. She blends everything effortlessly and her looks are so creative and mind-blowing. Even her everyday makeup is perfection! So every time I do an avant-garde look, I have her creations in mind.

I decided to play with brows today because I like coloring my brows a lot. :)) It helps to have a nicely shaped pair of brows because it makes everything polished and nice. Last time, I created a look with red brows so now I've got blue brows! I wanted to use my blue mascara but I don't want to use it on my lashes because I know it won't show up, thanks to my black lashes. Thankfully, it worked on my lashes. I kept everything colorless except for my inner corner and lower lashes. So. Whatcha think? 

Products Used:

NYX unnamed dark navy shadow (brow)

The Body Shop Super Volume Mascara in 03 (brow; lower lashes)

Unnamed shimmer palette blue shadows (combined; inner corner)

Urban Decay shadow in Kinky (brow bone highlight)

Urban Decay shadow in Freestyle (lid)

OH look- color! If you weren't a fan of yesterday's dark look, maybe this will appeal to you more. I decided to go do a mash-up of a smokey eye and a somewhat pastel-y look. Initially, I just wanted a blue eye but I got too heavy handed with the darkest color so I decided to go all the way and smoke it out. Again, dark, smokey looks aren't my forte and I'm still in the process of figuring it all out. I really like how this look turned out because blue is such a good color to work with and it really popped in this look. Also, looking at the photos, I noticed a gap on my inner corner and yes, I should've at least put an inner corner highlight. Whoopsies!

Products Used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX Pigment in Bayou (mixed with MAC Fix+; inner third of the lid)

Kat Von D shadow in Speed Blue (middle lid)

Too Faced shadow in Smolder (outer third of the lid; crease; outer third of lower lashline)

Urban Decay shadow in W.O.S. (brow bone highlight)

Prestige eyeliner in Deepest Black

Maybelline Volum' Express Hypercurl Cat Eyes

Sasatinnie Falsies in 08 Fantasy (cut in half, applied to outer third of the upper lashline)