Bailaoragaditana's Aventuras

Hello, all! I know I've been away for a while - something about flying to the other side of the Atlantic and being set tons of work? I'm pretty well settled back into university life now, so I thought I'd take a bit of time to put together a proper look - since it's a luxury I don't usually have time for! It's pretty conservative for me, and I think fairly wearable for most; I was inspired by the lovely green-and-gold tree outside my window as well as by the Ivy League collection from Bobbi Brown. (Don't mind the hair - freshly showered! Also, it made a *really* weird shadow on my face in the first pic. Ugh.) So, without further ado:

Base: Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream; Garnier Pure Active 24-Hour Moisturizer

Face: Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil (all over, as base and finishing powder); BE foundation in Fair (as foundation and concealer); Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Porcelain (under eyes)

Brows: Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Stila shadow in Wheat all over lid, Bobbi Brown metallic shadow in Bash in the crease, Stila shadow in Starlight on browbone and for blending

Liner: Bobbi Brown gel liner in Forest Shimmer Ink on upper lashline (outer 3/4 only); MAC Kohl Pencil in Rosemary & Thyme on lower lashline

Lashes: BE Buxom Lash mascara (black)

Cheeks: BE blush in Poppy

Lips: Bobbi Brown shimmer lipgloss in Rose Gold

I think it turned out quite well, and it's not something that's going to get me odd looks here (I pulled a Dita face earlier in the week, and the bold red lips got some really strange stares :-( ) And the glasses just pull it together and give it that finishing "Ivy League" touch. (I'm growing quite fond of my glasses, can you tell?) I've missed my fellow beauty junkies, though! I'm going to make more of an effort to get to Sugar and post and comment on things... it's much more fun than my work sometimes! (And speaking of glasses, MissChevious did a beautiful tutorial for glasses-wearers the other day!)

Oh - and - I just want to give a little shout-out to Sophia (aka retail_therapy), who sent me some AWESOME and inspiring makeup p*rn (Sephora Beauty Junkie guides from Singapore) which have been very nice procrastination tools - when I get tired of essays and translations and just want to look at pretty makeups :-p And she sent me a cute little gold eyeshadow which I will have to post pictures of and use in a look... soon, soon! So: thank you Sophia, for being amazing! :-D

Right, that's everything, I think, and now I must venture out into the English rain (typical), and get some work done. Thrilling, right? Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you lovelies soon!

Thursday night was big party time for me. Why? Because it was the BONES season premiere! I got super-addicted to the show last fall (it took like half an episode for obsession to set in!) and then lured my family and friends into loving it, too. So much so that my mother decreed that we would host a dinner party and get even more people hooked on Bones. "It's going to be bigger than the Super Bowl Party!" she proclaimed. And so it was. But I needed a nice face of makeup for the evening, so I took the opportunity to play with my new Bobbi Brown palette. This look uses the cool eyeshadow quad, which I think is quite on trend for Autumn/WInter '09 - the colors are very similar to the MAC Tone: Grey shadow quad, although (astonishingly for Bobbi!) quite a bit more shimmery. The shadows are just ever-so-slightly more blue than they appear in the photos, mainly the eyeliner shade (Navy matte).

Base: Bobbi Brown Vitamin-Enriched Face Base; Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream; MAC Oil-Control Lotion (on t-zone only)

Face: Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Porcelain; Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil (as base layer and finishing powder); Bare Minerals foundation in Fair (as foundation and concealer)

Brows: Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Bobbi Brown Navajo metallic shadow all over lid to browbone, BB metallic shadow in Rockstar on outer half of lid, BB shimmer wash shadow in Gunmetal in crease, BB matte shadow in Navy as liner on upper lashline

Lashes: BE Buxom Lash mascara (black)

Cheeks: BE blush in Lovely (as contour) and Kiss (apples of cheeks)

Lips: Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge for Lips & Cheeks in Blushed Rose

Oooh, and I even did coordinating nails! I was so proud of myself, because I am super nail-inept! I used Boys in the Bottle polish in Mark in the Dark, a dark green/teal/blue shade that matches the Gunmetal shadow almost exactly.

I'm really liking the neutral looks I've been doing lately - my sister was like, "Wow, your makeup looks natural for once!" (thanks a lot, sis!) - but I'm itching to do something crazy and bright in the next few days, so keep your eyes open for that. In the meantime, thanks for reading!

So this morning I was playing with the Bobbi Brown Ivy League Collection for fall (LOVE, by the way - absolutely madly in love with the whole damn thing!), instead of doing my actual work...

This is what resulted:

Base: Bobbi Brown Vitamin-Enriched Face Base (all over); Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream (eye area); MAC Oil Control Lotion (t-zone areas)

Face: MAC Studio Sculpt concealer in NW15 (under eyes); Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish pressed powder in White (under eyes); MUFE Mat Velvet+ foundation in 15 Alabaster; MUFE Hi-Def finishing powder (all over)

Brows: Urban Decay Brow Box in Brown Sugar (darker shade)

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Bobbi Brown Shimmer Wash shadow in Golden Leaf (inner half of lid); BB Metallic shadow in Bash (outer half of lid); BB Matte shadow in Ivy (crease); BB Metallic shadow in Maple Sugar (from Nude palette) as blend/highlight

Liner: Bobbi Brown longwear gel liner in Forest Shimmer Ink (applied with MAC 209 brush)

Lashes: Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara (black)

Cheeks: BB blush in Desert Rose

Lips: MAC lipstick in Lovin' It

With the ultimate Ivy League accessory, for added realness:

I'm starting to get used to my glasses now. It's nice to be able to see things :-p so I'm starting to feel face-naked without them. Also, my sister chopped off about six inches of my hair yesterday (I just wanted a trim, but... she was "evening things out" and it just went badly, gahh!), so my hair is considerably shorter than I usually wear it. It's still long by most standards, but I'm kind of confused by the short swingy-ness of it!

And finally, a pretty picture of a place that I really want to be right now:

Anyone want to guess where this was taken? (People who know me in real life, and therefore know *exactly* where this is, are disqualified from answering.) Bonus points if you can tell me which part of the structure this is...

Anyway, thanks for reading/looking! Hopefully I should have new stuff to share with you soon :-)

You guessed it - I've been up to my old tricks again! I took advantage of the MAC Friends and Family Sale (ages ago, I know!) to stock up on some staples and expand my collection of basics; picked up some things from Bobbi Brown's new nudes collection for fall; and bought a couple of Benefit lipsticks that I have been wanting *forever*. (Or, at least, since I saw Temptalia's review of them ages ago!)

MAC Friends and Family:

- Eye Shadow refill pans in Silver Ring and Parfait Amour

- Eye Kohl in Rosemary & Thyme

- Powder Blush in Plum Foolery

- Pro Palette (15-pan)

- Eye Shader Brush 239

- Mini Shader Brush 228

- Oil Control Lotion

- Cleanse-Off Oil

- Green Gel Cleanser

- Brush Cleanser

- Bulk Wipes

Bobbi Brown:

- Nude Eye Palette

- Rose Bud and Twilight Creamy Lip Colors

(Broom and dustpan not included! :-p You may laugh at my photo-taking abilities...)

Benefit Full-Finish Lipsticks:

- Lady's Choice, No Competition, and Wild Card

I need to get off my lazy bum and put together some looks with this stuff, but somehow I keep getting sidetracked by academic work. Insane, I know. But I'm going to try to do maybe one look a week for the rest of the summer, as a bare minimum, because I have been seriously neglecting this here little blog :-/ Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll see you soon!

As I was browsing my usual makeup blogs on Christmas Eve, I wandered over to the Bobbi Brown site to drool all over the Artist Palette for Lips (again), which is a makeup junkie's dream but which I so cannot justify buying... (yet!)... and while I was there, I stumbled - completely accidentally - upon the Bobbi Brights eye palette, which is maybe even more lust-inducing!

First things first: The palette is little. Like 3.5 x 5 inches. A little bigger than an index card. Each shadow is a little more than 1cm in diameter - smaller than a dime.

Now, down to the nitty-gritty:

Overall: very pigmented, very soft, rich colors. All of them are very true - they definitely show up the same as they look. That said, I don't think that it's great for people who'll do brights a lot - it's better for experimentation. Or travel, which is what I'm going to use it for - so I can take loads of colors with me in very little space. If you're looking to go crazy with bold looks, the Coastal Scents palettes are probably a better deal - you get more colors and more shadow for less money.

Anyway, I'm off to lunch/dinner with a friend - Thai food! - and then a sleepover (a friend is having some issues), but I will update with looks/opinions later in the weekend. Hope this has been somewhat helpful, and thanks for reading!