Lippie Loves: Travel Makeup Edition

Hello!

Welcome back to another installment of my travel makeup series, lipstick edition! If you're curious what makeup I brought with me, you can check it out here, here, here and here. 

Looking back on my previous posts, I realize the amount of makeup I bring with me is overly excessive, but honestly I thought when I was packing that it was "sufficient". I was away for more than 2 weeks so I wanted to have options with me. hehe

You're probably wondering why I would do a dedicated post on lipsticks, but I gotta tell you, I love lipsticks. Love them too bits. I like mixing it up. Mixing lipsticks to get a custom shade, gradient lips, bold in-your-face lips, I love them all. So I brought a mixture of lippies with me. 

I originally brought only 3 lippies with me, but I found that I had another 2 stashed away in my touch-up bag. Then I bought another one when I was on a day trip to Santiago. 

I believe that in any trip it's a good idea to bring one nude, one pink and one red. My current favorite at the moment is MAC Matte Lipstick in Kinda Sexy

This lipstick is such a flattering nude. It looks deep on the swatch but it applies a bit lighter on the lips. Once on the lips, it instantly brightens your face, the perfect lippie for everyday or for smokey looks. I'm not sure how much this lipstick costs, but I believe around Php 900 - Php1200 (don't quote me). 

The second lippie is a liquid lipstick. This is one of the lipsticks I have in my small touch-up kit I bring around with me on the daily. It's the NYX Liquid Lingerie in Exotic

Top: NYX Liquid Lingerie
Bottom: Maybelline Lip Gradient

This liquid lip is very comfortable however it doesn't really last that long on me. But it's soooo pretty. Once applied on me, it's a rich dark dusky rose. I love it but I don't think I'll buy another one of these.... maybe. 

Up next I have NARS Schiap. 

I bought this when Rustan's Cebu had a sale. I got this for Php 1,500. I was looking for a bright poppy pink. This pink is definitely in your face pink. I'm still playing around it but I like applying it on the center of my lip and fading it outwards. If applied correctly, this shades makes my eyes sparkle. 

The next lippie is a recent buy, I bought this when we went on a roadtrip to Santiago. The Maybelline counter had this on sale and I've been super curious about this line. 

I bought the Maybelline Lip Gradiation in Pink2. 

This lipstick is feather-light. You don't really feel it on your lips and has a bit of staining effect. This is perfect for that gradiated effect and also full on. It has more red in it in than Nars Schiap. 

The last 2 lippies are both reds, and reds are my favorite shades of lipsticks. I may have a bit of a problem. 

The first red I have is Nars Jungle Red. 

I got this when I gifted a Sephora Favorites set. Sidenote: those sets are amazing value. If you have the opportunity to buy one, I say go for it. This red lipstick is a bright red. I don't really use it full on. I just dab it on my lips to give it a more blotted look. This lipstick has permanent residency in my handbag. 

The final lipstick I have is MAC Matte Lipstick in Russian Red. This is my favorite red lipstick. It is a dark red but I love it. It looks like one of those fifties red that you see on old Hollywood starlets. I love wearing this on dates and nights out.

Finally here are swatches of all the lippies I brought with me. 

I hope this helps. I'll see you next time for the final installment of my travel makeup. 

Travel Makeup: Drugstore Edition

Hey there! 

I'm back with another installment of my travel makeup series, this time I'm going to show you the drugstore makeup that I brought with me. Mind you, some of these I am still testing out, so I haven't yet fully formed an opinion on them. 

First up, let's start with base makeup. I have the Catrice Prime and Fine Smoothing Refiner

I got this at Watson's and I can't tell you how much it was because I'm not sure TBH. I swear I'll try to be better and put prices in later posts. I believe it was around the Php 300 to Php 350 range. I got this because I heard that this was a dupe for the tarte Clean Slate Primer. Now I haven't tried the tarte one yet but I was suckered into the whole dupe concept and bought this on a whim. I don't have concrete thoughts about this primer yet as I just started using it on this trip. So far, I haven't seen much of a difference, makeup-wise. I'll keep you updated.

Next up, let's take a look at the L.A. Girl Pro Conceal in the shade Light Ivory.

This baby retails for around Php 300 in Watsons however if you are a savvy shopper, you can buy it for much MUCH cheaper at an online seller for around Php 190 - Php 250. I've been through tubes of this stuff when I first started getting into makeup and I have another back up at home. This concealer is very nice, it's full coverage without looking cakey. I brought this with me because I'm trying to finish it up and it works great as an undereye concealer.


Next up is City Color Be Matte Blush in the shade Dragonfruit

This bright blush looks scary at first but if you use a LIGHT hand, emphasis on LIGHT, it can look amazing. It'll give you a rosy flush as if you are super healthy. I love these types of shades if I want a youthful look. This retails for around Php 300(?). I bought this a while back and can't really remember how much I bought this for. I'm loving this blush, it's super blendable and also easy to work with.

If I wanted to carve out my cheeks and maybe minimize the double chin that's starting to appear from eating too much chocolate, I brought the Catrice Prime and Fine Professional Contouring Palette in 010 Ashy Radiance.

I also got this fairly recently and this retails for Php 499 in Watson's. I don't know what prompted me to buy this, I thought I need to bring a contour shade for my travels but it slipped my mind that I had the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette at home. However, this little palette is pretty good. It has very cool undertone which is what you want in a contour powder and is very easy to work with. The highlight part is just ok for me. It is VERY subtle, too subtle since most days, I like to have my glow on.

Moving on to eyes, for eye primer, I brought the Essence I 💗 Stage Eyeshadow Base.

This retails for around Php 200. I got this at Watson's around the same time as the Catrice products. I needed an everyday eye primer because I was running out of my Wet n Wild eye primer. So far, this works pretty well. I manages to keep my eyeshadow vibrant all day.


For eyeliner, I brought the In2it Waterproof Gel Liner in GP02 Dark Brown

Again, this is another product I used to love when I first started out in makeup. I can't remember how much this is since this was my back-up. This liner is very decent, it glides on smoothly and lasts all daw, however make sure to either set this with coordinating eyeshadow or smudge this out because if you have oily eyelids like me, this will smudge like you wouldn't believe.

Finally, the bane of my makeup routine, mascara. I brought the Essence The False Lashes Mascara

I will just say I don't hate this mascara, I just hate applying mascara in general. My eyelashes are really long BUT they are stick straight and can't hold a curl, no matter what I do. I am still on the quest for the perfect mascara, one that will hold a curl and won't allow my lashes to droop down after a couple of hours. My friend Hollie recommended that I use waterproof mascara however those are a b*tch to get off and plus they damage your lashes in the long run. Rant over.

Going back to this mascara, it's not bad, it makes my lashes nice and volumized. However by midday, my lashes are looking a little sad and droopy. Oh well, the hunt continues.

That's it, my drugstore makeup that I brought with me this time around. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time.

Blushing with Becca: Becca Blushed with Light Palette

Hey there! 

This is another installment of my travel makeup series. I've done 2 previous ones here and here. 

In true Kym fashion, I'm not going in sequence with my reviews. In my opinion, if you're going on long trips, it's great to bring palettes for variety. I love having variety in my makeup bag, it's probably why I have a collection that's slightly going out of control. I personally like to mix it up with my looks plus I like to have a blush that complements whatever eye look I'm going for that day. 

                                       

I bought the Becca Blushed with Light palette a while back at Sephora.ph for Php 1,265. If I recall, this was on sale and is already sold out. I've been eyeing this palette for a while and finally, late late at night, I finally bought it after staring at the picture for a good 30 minutes. The reason I initially didn't want to buy it was because I haven't heard much about this palette from my favorite makeup gurus. I rarely buy anything unless 3 or 4 of my trusted gurus confirm that something is good. After doing much research, I made up my mind to buy it because it seemed like it was a good deal. The palette contains one luminous blush in Snapdragon, and 2 mineral blushes in Songbird and Wisteria. 

left to right: Wisteria, Songbird, and Snapdragon

Swatches from left to right: Wisteria, Songbird, and Snapdragon

Becca blushes generally have great reviews and I figured this was a good way to test out the formula. I also found that the pan sizes are close to the full sizes, so all around a good deal. 

This blush palette is one of my ride or die palettes. I'm so sad this is limited edition. I brought this palette on my trip to Japan last January. Staying power was fabulous, it lasted on my all day, and this was with cold wind blasting in my face a good part of the day. The blushes are pigmented but still blendable. As long as you use a light hand, you'll never end up with clown face. Snapdragon has a shimmer throughout but makes your cheeks rosy like you're super healthy even though you barely go out in the sun. Songbird is my go to blush when I'm sporting a warmer look. Then Wisteria, oh Wisteria.... this blush is my favorite, it gives such a natural flush on my cheeks, it's subtle but still gives a bit of color. 

There you have it, my verbose and glowing review of the Becca Blushed with Light palette. Stay tuned for the rest of my travel makeup series. 

Rosy Palette? Thoughts on the Lorac Unzipped Palette

Hey there!

I'm currently doing a series on the makeup I brought with me on my 2 week vacation. I've already posted the first one here. You would think I would stick with base makeup but no, I'm a rebel and decided to write about an eyeshadow palette because why the heck not?

So, I'm reviewing the Lorac Unzipped Palette.

The Unzipped Palette is a 10 shadow palette with a mixture of shimmers and mattes. I've wanted a rosy palette for a while but I was torn between Naked 3 and the Unzipped. I finally chose the Unzipped after a glowing review from my friend Hollie, who will be forever be known as my makeup enabler.

Lorac, unfortunately, is unavailable in the Philippines. I got mine from my ever supportive mother who got it from the Ulta 21 days of beauty at half price for $21, original price was at $42, which I think is a pretty sweet deal.

My palette looks pretty new because I like to keep my palettes as pristine as possible, that's way it still has the plastic cover for the mirror. I've had it for a few months now and I've fully integrated it in my palette rotation.

left to right: Undercover, Unbelievable, Unattainable, Unconditional, Unabridged

Left to right: Undiscovered, Unreal, Uncensored, Unbroken, Untamed

So, what are my thoughts? I absolutely love this palette! The shimmers are stunning and can give a foiled effect to the lid and the mattes are super blendable. I swear, the shadows are soooo good! They blend so well, it sometimes feels like they blend themselves. There is some powdery kickback with this palette so be warned but with a bit of practice, this palette is quickly becoming my favorite everyday palette.

Travel Makeup Series

Hi stranger, 

Welcome back! So, I'm currently out of town for a couple of weeks and I was thinking of doing a series on the makeup I brought with me, ie reviews, swatches, and maybe and a FOTD thrown in there for good measure. 

I recently posted the picture below on Instagram and I wanted to go in-depth on each item because I have a lot of thoughts on each. I already made a post on the Laura Mercier concealer here. If this picture looks familiar, it might be because it's my banner. 😁

Sidenote: This isn't all the makeup I brought with me, I couldn't fit all of them in this shot. 😅

Hope you'll enjoy this new series! Till next time! 

Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Review

Hello stranger, 

Welcome back! I haven't posted in a while since I was suffering from a bad case of lazy-itis. However I'm back! And I'm back with a review of a concealer. I bought the Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in SC-5. For your reference, I'm an NC25 in MAC foundation shades, so I would say I have a light- medium complexion with yellow to neutral undertones. 

Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in SC5

I bought this concealer because I was suffering from  hyper-pigmentation caused by mini pimples and I needed a full coverage concealer. I bought mine at Rustan's for around Php 1800. I can't remember the exact price to be honest but for reference, the list price at lauramercier.com is $35. The decision to buy this concealer was heavily influenced by my makeup goddess, Lisa Eldridge. I am a heavy believer of her philosophy of doing spot concealing and she featured this concealer in one of her videos. I've been going back and forth if I should buy this or not but I finally bit the bullet when my blogger friend, Hollie from Random Beauty by Hollie, convinced me to get it. 

The concealer has 2 shades which you can custom blend to perfectly match your skin. It's a poured formula and it has a drier consistency compared to liquid concealers.  Right off the bat, I'll tell you right now, I wouldn't advise to use this concealer under your eyes. The formula is too dry especially if you have dry under eyes like me. This concealer will emphasize fine lines. I primarily got this to conceal tiny spots to create a more flawless base, which this concealer does perfectly. I love it for that purpose and that purpose alone. Since it has 2 tones, I can mix and match to create a perfect tone whichever part of my face I needed to conceal. 

The lighter shade matches my skin tone perfectly however I mix in some of the darker shade to kind of color correct if the spot is still reddish. I notice that it tends to cancel out the redness and creates a more flawless finish. 

In conclusion, I say this concealer is pretty good for spot concealing. However if you just need a concealer that's for under the eyes, I would give this a pass and maybe get a more hydrating one. I hope you like this review and find it helpful. I'll talk to you all next time. 

High End Haul! (IT Cosmetics, Sephora, Zalora, etc...)

Hello friends, so I know I've been MIA for a while now but I've been travelling, A LOT so I haven't had a lot of time to blog BUT I'm here now so all is well. I'm here with a haul and it's a big one. This haul is an accumulation of all the stuff I had bought and also stuff I was gifted for the last couple of weeks. Now, because I was travelling I got to come home to this: 

It's like Christmas came early! 

 I'll do this in order of when I got them. First up, goodies from Singapore. My boyfriend went to Singapore for vacation and while he was there, he bought me a few things from Sephora. Now a lot of things I wanted were either sold out or were online only which sucked TBH. Otherwise, he bought me a few things that I've always wanted to try out. So he got me the IT Cosmetics Your Skin but Better CC Cream, I've already tried this one and I really like this CC cream, but these are just initial thoughts, he also got me the IT Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Palette and the Nars Velvet Lip Glide in Le Palace

Left to right: It Cosmetics Your Skin but Better CC Cream, IT Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Palette and Nars Velvet Lip Glide in Le Palace

After he had gotten back from SG, I was set to visit him, and at the end of the trip, his mom showered me with a few gift. She gifted with a 3 piece Victoria Secret makeup set and some Crabtree and Evelyn hand lotions and soap. 

Victoria Secret Beauty Bag Trio

Crabtree and Evelyn 

Now I was gone for a while so a lot of my online purchases really accumulated and I have to tell you, storing all of them was a bit of a struggle. 

Suesh 15-color magnetic palette

I bought the Suesh 15-color magnetic palette (PHP 855) from BeautyMNL, this was the first time I had purchased from them and I gotta tell you, it was pretty painless. The real struggle was depotting some of my eyeshadows. 

Top left: Caudalie French Beauty Secret Solution Set; Top Right: Caudalie Vinoperfect Radiance Serum

Sephora.ph recently started stocking Caudalie products, as a promotion they were offering a free sample of Vinoperfect Radiance Serum for any Caudalie order. Now you might not know this, but I'm a sucker for free samples, so I decided to buy the Caudalie French Beauty Secret Solution Set (PHP 1,502) since the set allows me to try different Caudalie products plus a few travel sized skincare. I got a couple of samples (pitiful sizes TBH) along with my order. 

Althea Box: Get Ready with Me

I'm a sucker for skincare, and I've always wanted to try the Whamisa toner, and when I saw this box in Althea, I quickly snatched it up because it has a few items in it that I've been eyeing but have been too lazy to commit to buying full price. I'll be honest and say that I already gave the lip tint to a friend since I never really wear lip tints. 

Beautycosmetics brushes

I had recently bought a set of Beautycosmetics brushes and fell hardcore in love. I impulse bought these as soon as I saw they were available on IG. Sorry not sorry

Florenzo PU Leather Backpack with Chain (PHP 959.20)

Florenzo Chain Sling Bag (PHP 959.20)

Last couple of items are from Zalora. Now you know I've been travelling, and I realized wearing a backpack is awesome! It doesn't put strain on one shoulder and frees up your hands, so now I always travel with a backpack, a stylish one. And maybe I might have impulse bought these 2 when I saw they were on sale at the time. 

So there you have it, out in the open. The proof of my shopaholic nature. Don't judge me! I'll write blogposts on these items as soon as I have tried them out fully. Until then, see y'all later.