Kim K -the good

There are some days when Kim Kardashian's makeup artist comes to his senses and she manages to look absolutely adorable, classy, clean, elegant, glamorous, whatever you wish you choose. These are my favorite Kim K makeup styles:

Original hair do, beautiful eyes, nice smoky shadow

Glam!

Summer makeup

'30's makeup

Finally-a fuchsia lip

THE smoky eye

Images from google, Kimkardashian.celebuzz.com/blog.

L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes mascara review

Tried twice so far, two days in a row. That's usually enough for me to deliberate on a mascara; if any significant changes appear i'll update this review accordingly.

What made me get this product was the hype surrounding the wand-several reviewers and blogs compared it to Chanel Inimitable or Diorshow Iconic. I personally believe the comparison is not far fetched at all:

L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes

L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes

Diorshow Iconic mascara-image from makeupandbeautyblog.com

The brushes are fairly similar except for the fact that Dior's bristles are shorter and a little zigzagged.

The L'Oreal Million Lashes has a fairly creamy texture but it is a little liquid, like all L'Oreal mascaras. With a bit of air exposure it gets perfectly creamy and then follows its natural drying cycle (unfortunately). I don't know if it takes a short while to get dried in the tube or if it lasts a long time; i was mostly interested in the effect.

The first couple of application it can be watery, as i said, so careful with brushing your lashes beforehand and curling them; you have to have a very light hand because it tends to accumulate- not to clump, but get thick on the lashes. If you brush them once the mascara is tacky, then wait for it to get 80% dry and apply a second coat, the problem is solved. I am surprised by this mascara because i never expected it to be so easy to work with.

It gives much more definition and separation than anything L'Oreal  i have tried before and paradoxically enough, it isn't as clumping as i would have expected. The color is a real dramatic black which gives a sort of  'vinyl' kind of finish to the lashes, making them really stand out. It isn't porny-black as many other 'dramatic black' mascaras, which is a plus for me (i hate blue-black mascaras, they give an overdone and synthetic appearance).

The brush is soft yet resistant enough to be maneuvered accordingly, it catches all the tiny lashes as well as the longer one and coats them evenly; you can feel it working its way through the lashes, the bristles massaging the roots of the hairs. I wouldn't say it's a tricky wand you must be careful with as many reviewers suggest, claiming they poked their eyeballs more than once; it's a large brush with 'spikes' therefore the usual attention must be paid as with everything that comes in contact with the eyes or the surrounding area. The brush is easy to work with because of the 'aerodynamic' shape and even if the product accumulation on the top and the base of the wand looks a bit scary, it's just the usual little product top that will eventually get creamy as the mascara gets exposed to oxygen. 

This is what one coat looks like:

And two coats:

 It tends to go a bit thick on the lashes as you can see, so careful with that. The best thing to do is apply it in thin coats and wait a little in between applications or carefully brush the lashes afterwards; separating them won't solve the 'problem' because they don't stick together but have too much product on.

Therefore...: I am about to say 'i want to repurchase this product today, get a back up in case they discontinue it overnight'. It is a very good mascara that delivers a lot of volume but isn't that strong in the lengthening department- Lash Architect is still my nr. 1 for that purpose. It holds the curl of the lashes and doesn't weigh them down, it doesn't smudge and doesn't smell/look funky after a certain number of hours. I definitely recommend this for everyone, especially those who have long but thin lashes. However, remember to be patient with this mascara, at least in the beginning, and cut it some slack for the first two-three applications. It looks good, you only need a coat or two and you get truly dramatic lashes without having to fight with the wand and your lashes or scoop inside the tube fifty times.

Brow Talk

This is gonna be a quick'n'sharp one- most eyebrow tutorials advocate filling your eyebrows in by 'drawing' two lines (made of short strokes or not), one under the eyebrow and the other above/on its upper border, and then gently filling it in. I seriously disagree with that...it can make you look like this:

...or this:

or this:

or this:

Even Kim Kardashian's makeup artist screwed up this time:

As you can see, if you overdraw your upper brow border it's gonna look fake and 'drawn on', not filled in. If you are doing this with a pencil, more reason to be attentive- pencils are notorious for creating obvious lines and looking unnatural. The best choice is to use a brow powder for the first half of the brow and the arch, and then gently fill it in underneath/on top of the lower half with the pencil of your choice; if you see any line or feel like it's too much you can easily blend out the 'mistake' with a q-tip and use a bit of translucent powder (no color, thus no orangey or flesh-toned brows, and lighter consistency) to correct the marks and then you can continue with your routine. 

Kim K's brows are usually beautiful and carefully filled in, no obvious lines whatsoever and a natural shade that complements both her skintone and hair color:

Therefore the lined brows must have been the product of over-zealousness combined with a soft pencil that was just left there and not blended in properly. You might not tell if you're used to getting your eyebrows made up/dyed in a much darker color or they're thick enough, but trust me, it IS very visible. I've noticed the 'two lines' eyebrow style in some of my favorite makeup artists, not to mention the plethora of YouTube 'gurus'. It's just wrong, and unnatural, and distasteful!

I'm no model for brows but i just thought i could exemplify what i'm talking about with some pics...post-makeup, that is:

The lighting is rubbish, however you can see the eyebrows don't look unnatural; i can still see that they're filled in, which is something yourself shouldn't be able to do in the first place, for a good job to pass the test. Nevertheless, i'm waaayyy over the Groucho brows phase. If you are not sure about what's going on with your eyebrows try tilting your head and check them in the mirror:

As you can see, from this position, any line is visible- even my uber discreet brow powder is quite there. You should not see any definite line at the root of the hairs-that's the clown 'drawing' that makes everybody look ridiculous and your eyebrows, obviously filled in. Therefore: Blend, blend, blend.

Today's makeup and rambling

Obviously, in absence of anything really interesting to do today, after i finished all i had to do i went shopping for clothes...and got makeup as well. Nothing fancy, just drugstore products i am a bit excited about.

First off, i renewed my L'Oreal Lash Architect supply (the old one was getting a bit tired) and i also got the Million Lashes one, just to see what's the rave about. 

Another item i got is an Olay cleanser that i most certainly will like- i've already tried their eye makeup remover and all their products are so nicely scented. Next- a Nivea foundation and a bright coral lipstick. Finally found!

The foundation story is as follows: two days ago when i went shopping for the Rimmel goodies, i wasn't wearing any makeup and felt a bit embarrassed inside the store because people were 'staring' at me (they weren't, it's just my paranoia). I picked up the first foundation tester (Nivea Beauty Lift) and slammed it on, then a bit of mascara and that was it, i instantly felt better. When i got home my skin looked surprisingly well- i don't know if it was the humidity in the air, since it was raining, or the fact that i had no primer on (though it's supposed to be otherwise), or that i just slapped it on, no careful stippling/blending (though again, isn't THAT the correct way of dealing with foundation?), i have no idea, but it looked so nice. No pores, no blotches, my skin was positively glowing. 

Checked out some Makeupalley reviews and they all mentioned this effect; the foundation has quite a high score for a Nivea product (most people dislike their products, i don't understand why, but well...) and two or three reviewers actually compare it to Make Up For Ever's HD foundation. I haven't tried that and i would have certainly not purchased this foundation if i hadn't worn it for several hours and loved the effect. Picking up a shade was quite a trip because i hate wearing foundations that are as light as my skin (i know...i shouldn't) because they're just too pale and i like to 'cheat' a shade or two. I picked 060 Amber which isn't the darkest but neither the lightest. I'm really curious/anxious to see what this foundation will behave like on the long(er) run.

The lipstick is exactly what i was looking for. The pictures i uploaded as the depiction of my HG coral lips are obviously retouched and the lighting is way different than the one in my house; it doesn't look as pale as the photos but anything in that family probably wouldn't have complemented my skintone. The lipstick is from a brand named BeYu that produce their cosmetics in Germany (i don't know if it's German); it borders on drugstore/higher end (they have some more expensive items as well). This product is Star Lipstick in nr. 05. 

It's quite similar to Rimmel's Coral in Gold sans the golden frosty finish which i don't like that much, thus a plus. It's also lighter and has that Old Hollywood, late 1940's romantic touch; whenever i see a bright coral lipstick i can't help to think of Katharine Hepburn, Chinese silk and geishas.

Now about the face of the day- especially the Lumene mascara. 

The lashes look a bit spidery because i applied too much, however i am beginning to think this mascara is a real find.

First off, i have half a coat of Max Factor Masterpiece underneath the Lumene one, i couldn't imagine not wearing that one, ever (it's a sort of a 'primer' to me). The Lumene one is thinner than your usual drugstore mascaras (Maybelline, L'Oreal i mean) and creamier. It looks quite thin at a superficial glance and i was a bit worried it might clump the lashes together as Volume Collagen from L'Oreal did- it didn't. 

The brush is huge but it works- it's very soft or at least softer than anything else with that type of brush (even Diorshow..) therefore you can press as hard as you like if you feel like you need it-to prevent clumps from forming. It just glides, setting itself on the lashes and coating the tips with a fine, creamy layer of mascara. It looks a bit 'wet' until it dries, which is quite fast so no worries about that.

It leaves the lashes soft and most important of all, if you're not satisfied with the volume, or you want a true false lash effect, you can apply a thicker mascara on top of this one because it won't clump. The Lumene is similar to Isadora's in this respect- it 'softens' any previous mascara layers and does give a dramatic effect if you insist (uppercase example), but there's no spider effect as it would be with other mascaras.