My foundation / contour routine from special occasions

Hi y'all! Today I wanna show you guys my foundation, contour/ highlight routine for special occasions. 

I don't normally do this everyday because it's a long process. And it takes up a lot of time. I don't have that much to spend since I just had a baby 6 months ago and she's literally like a koala bear always wanted with mommy. Not that I complain, I love it actually. But this is how I do my makeup when I do have time. 

Let me warn you, my skin color is hideously pale. And I didn't really made my eye look good since we're focusing on the foundation highlight and contour.

You guys know the step, wash, moisturize prep and prime your skin. And this is what I look like after that. 

I did my brows already coz I look like an alien if I don't. Lol. Next step is foundation. Any foundation you guys have. And then we do all the contouring and highlighting. I used a dark foundation stick from Sonia Kashuk. And for highlight I used the maybeline age rewind concealer in pale light. 

Contouring: my forehead, sides of my nose, top of my lip, hollows of my cheeks, eyelid, jaw line, sides of my chin. 

Highlight: nose, forehead, triangle shape under my eye, top of my lips, chin, under the contour on my cheeks. 

Then we blend everything using my beauty blender. I blended the highlight first then the contour and here's what it looks like half face blended half not.

I like to use cream blush as a base for my blush too here I used makeup forever hd cream blush. 

The I blended it with my elf stippling brush which you can get from target for $3 

I set everything with a translucent powder, add more powder bronzer, blush, highlight, did my eyes, no lashes. And put on some lipsticks and here's the finish look. 

 

Products I used.

Bronzer: Mac matte bronzer

Highlight: Becca moonstone 

Blush: Mac well dressed 

Eyeshadow: tarte

Eyebrows: anastasia brow whiz in soft brown

Mascara: maybeline pumped 

Lip liner : essence rose

Lipstick: milani nude cream

Lipgloss: nyx butter gold in eclair

Setting spray: urban decay all nighter

I hope you guys like it! Xoxo 

P.s excuse my background this was just a spur of the moment blog!👅👅

Bite beauty high pigment lip pencil holiday set

Wow! I know weird intro in a blog. But this is literally my first reaction when I saw and swatched these bite beauty high pigmented lip pencil holiday set. First off let's talk about the price. $25.00 and you get 4 deluxe sample of their lip pencil  0.05oz or 1.48g each. 

The container it's stored in is as big as the altoids tin can and has a huge mirror on it that I really like. The packaging of this set is perfect for the holidays. It's not cheap looking and something that you can use to store other stuff too. 

The colors of the lip pencils are perfect for the holiday season. I have a feeling that I'll be grabbing these lippies for the next few months. These lippies really live up to its name high pigmented because they really are. 

Here are the swatches 

From left to right: pomegranate is a rich red color. Winterberry if I'm not mistaken is a limited edition color especially made for this set which is obviously a berry color. Sable is also another limited edition that is a pinky nude, perfect for any skin color. Last but not the least is the infamous rhubarb- the Kylie Jenner lip color. It's described as the rose color. 

This set is a great way to try on the bite beauty products. for the price and quality of these products I think it's worth it. The only downside is, they don't sell this set online anymore. Sorry ladies. I feel sorry for myself too. I should have bought a back up and gifts for my sisters in law. But the good thing is, you can buy the full siE of pomegranate and rhubarb. And I'm telling you guys, it's worth it. You won't regret buying it.

Til next time. Xoxo.

Skin care routine

Today I am blogging about my skin care routine. Now, this might sound like I'm boasting but really I'm not. I had my ups and downs with my skin too but nothing too drastic. I've never had a facial in my life. Ever. I'll have pimples but not a big one. I'll have the most 2 in a month and then it'll be gone in a week.  

During my teenage years (ugh! It hurts to say that! Lol.) I've never really had a problem. I don't even use any skin care product. I just wash my face with water that's it. Mainly because I don't really wear any makeup at all during those years. Not even a lip balm. I started wearing makeup at the age of 21. I know I'm a late bloomer. I remember when I was working in an airline as a cabin crew, I always get scolded for not wearing any makeup. Sometimes what I would do is wear a tinted lip balm during check in time and then wipe it off once I get inside the plane. That's how much I hated makeup. 

Then I moved to an international airline and lived abroad. My tropical loving skin was not use to the blazing summer and unpredictably cold weather of the middle heat. It was extremely hot during the summer and extremely cold during the winter. Plus being in other countries you'll never know what climate they have. That's when I started having a couple of blemishes here and there. 

Aside from the weather, like I said I was a late bloomer, that's when I also started going out staying up till wee hours. Drinking. And smoking. Hey I was raised by a conservative parents so I can't really do any of that back home. If I go out, you'll see my big brothers following me around. Lol. 

When I was working all the people I worked with are smoking. Not kidding their mouths were like chimneys. I always smell their second hand smoke. Plus the depression of being away from my family. It got me and I started smoking too. That's also the time I decided to start taking care of my skin.

I started with Nivea anti aging skin moisturizer since I was smoking. Toner, cleanser everything to keep my skin flawless. Now I skipped the toner. Just facial wash, an anti aging serum (coz I'm 30 already), an eye cream and a hydrating moisturizer coz my skin is so dry. 

These are the products I use.

First of, a start by washing my face morning and night with my simple moisturizing facial wash. I like this because it has vitamins in it, a skin loving ingredients and fragrance and dye free. I've been using this for a year now, so far so good. I never got a single blemish on my skin. 

After washing my face, of course I have to dry it and then apply my caudalie serum. It's an anti wrinkle defense serum which we all know we should be using once we hit our late twenties. Gotta look young for the hubby right? This was given to me by my sister in law who's working at sephora. This was her gratis and since she's young like 24. And pregnant, she can't use this. I've been using this for a week now and I don't know if it's just my imagination or if this stuff really works but my skin feels tight and my pores, though I never really had big pores, it looks like I have applied a skin primer or the porefessional from benefit. Not kidding!

I have a crazy eye bag and dark circles and dry skin under my eye. It's like hereditary. I was born with a bag. Lol. But this stuff really works. This was retailed for $27 and I like it, it really keeps my bags hydrated. Oh you guys know what I mean.

 

Last but not the least, my Mac studio moisture cream. I had a sample back then of another Mac moisturizer and it was the studio complete, that's what I really wanted to buy but stupid moi, I got this instead which turns out to be good too, keeps my skin hydrated. No more flaky, super dry skin. I can finally apply my makeup without cringing. 

Well, that's all of my skin care routine. Very affordable, no crazy expensive equipment. I think the number one reason why I don't get any blemishes anymore is that I stopped smoking and drinking and I'm not a bird anymore. I drink lots and lots of water now. 

Share your skin care routine. Post it on ig! Xoxo

Laura Mercier customized portfolio vs. Sonia Kashuk carry all cosmetic bag

I was watching this you tuber Kathleen light. She did a video about her what's on my travel makeup bag thingie. And she was talking about her Laura Mercier portfolio bag. Once I saw it I was like, I need that since we always travel mostly every month to Houston Texas. I was literally obsessing over it, I was crying over it to my husband and begging him to buy it for me which didn't work of course. Why? Because of its price tag. $98.00 omg! So I ask him if I could have it for Christmas and he said yes. I was relieved.

Few weeks ago, I was at target just window shopping 😜😜, when I came across this Sonia Kashuk carry all makeup bag. And it almost looks exactly the same as the Laura Mercier portfolio. So I did some comparison to it. 

Here's a photo of the Laura Mercier portfolio.

And here's a picture of the Sonia Kashuk carry all bag.

I put some of my makeup on the Sonia Kashuk one so you guys can see how much makeup I can store on it. Behind the it cosmetics palette is my chocolate bar palette too. But here's the complete comparison detail of the two. 

Laura Mercier: 

Price: $98.00

Size: 11.5 x 9.5 x 3.0

Pattern: hard cover python pattern 

Inside: 4 magnetic removable mesh bags

           Double sided pocketed brush bag 

Sonia Kashuk: 

Price: $24.99

Size: 10.0 x 8.5 x 2.5

Pattern: polyester block print pattern

Inside: a built in compartment 

           2 velcroed removable bag

           Brush holder

As you can see the L.M one is bigger and looks more sturdier since the cover is hard and the pattern for me looks more sophisticated. It's is just a couple of inches bigger than the S.N. But if you think about it, the SK one is actually worth the price. It's a fraction of the price of the LM and it stores a lot of makeup too as you can see in the pictures. 

All in all I think the Sonia Kashuk is a good buy. I would recommend it to all who's thinking of buying the Laura Mercier or anyone looking for an alternative coz let's face it not everyone wanted to spend $100 for a makeup bag. 

Til next blog. Xoxo.

Tarte holiday collection ( blush )

Where I live, there is no sephora. I know! Whatever your thinking, that's what I'm thinking too. That I live in the middle of nowhere. But few months ago, they just opened an ulta store. I was there the other day to exchange a makeup I just got and I can't really decide which one to exchange it with. They haven't restocked anything in the store. But they have the storage out. 

I was there first thing the morning. I was browsing and just looking then I spotted the tarte blush holiday  collection. I was like you know what I only have one tarte blush and I've been meaning to buy some but I was putting it off coz I think I have too much blushes already. So got the blush collection. 

Can I just say I love the packaging. They are a bit smaller than the regular blush but this will last me forever.  Plus 4 blushes for $35? That is a great deal. 

Here are the colors of the blushes. I love most of them is matte. And the colors are perfect for fall. 

I didn't really do a good job swatching it coz I didn't want to pack it on. I wanna see the color pay of with one swipe. And it's pretty good. These colors are just right for me. Same formula just smaller size. 

All in all I think this is a great buy. I think I'll still buy a few more colors from the regular line. Xoxo.

Urban decay vice 3

I never owned any vice palette from urban decay. Recently they came out with the third vice palette and this really caught my eye. I'm not really into colorful and shimmery eyeshadows like what they had on the last two palette. This palette have mattes, satin, and shimmer. Vice 3 is just right up on my alley. It has transition colors nice jewel tone very appropriate for fall colors. It has a total of 20 very pigmented eyeshadows that I like. But just like any other makeup artist/ addict I always use a primer before I put on eyeshadows to help the colors pop oh more. 

The packaging is very nice and very sturdy. I think it's slimmer than the last two palette which is a plus coz I hate bulky palettes. And it also includes a pouch and a double sided brush. 

I love that all vice palette have this huge mirror. As you can see all the colors are kinda dark and neutral eventhough they have the green, pink and teal. They are still in the neutral side. In my opinion these colors are perfect for girls with brown/ hazel eyes. I swatched it for you guys but I had to do it row by row vertically. 

First row: truth- great all over and highlight color. Undone, downfall, and dtf are my go to crease/ transition color if I use this palette only 

2nd row: dragon, freeze, heroine and brokedown 

3rd row: vanity, lucky, reign, and bobby dazzle

4th row: alien, alchemy, bondage, and sonic

5th row: last sin, angel, defy, revolver. 

These are gorgeous colors. I love them all but out of the 20 my faves are brokedown, lucky, alchemy, bondage, sonic and angel. I know I always gravitate in these colors now a days especially that fall is here. But I just can't help it! 

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this mini review. Check out and follow me on Instagram @unrestrained_beauty . Xoxo!

Anastasia Beverly Hills collab palette with Tamanna

This year anastasia came out with quite a few collaboration palettes with some of the, I wouldn't say famous but well known instagrammers. Few months back it was amrezy, then Maya Mia and now Tamanna of @dressyourface. 

I was not really sold with the first two palettes although I am now regretting not getting it especially the Maya Mia palette. I have watched and read a lot of review about the first two saying that they have a lot of similar colors. On pictures it certainly looks like it but I don't wanna bash it just based on what I've watched or read. So I'm keeping my mouth shut. 

I just turned big 30 last week and having sisters in law is the best. One of them work at sephora and she got me the new anastasia Beverly hill palette collab with Tamanna. At first I was like ehh it looks ok. But boy oh boy I was wrong. Once I've seen the makeup on day light I immediately thought of what look I can come up with with that palette. I have so many ideas I wish I could show it to you guys ASAP. 

Tamanna Roashan or dressyourface as everybody knows her is a celebrity and bridal makeup artist. She is also an international beauty educator. She has been doing this job for more than 12 years. You can follow her on instagram, Twitter and Facebook all under in one name. 

As I was trying it on I was thinking to myself, this would really look good on women with medium-tan skin color. The turquoise, the cranberry, copper, bronze and gold color will pop out on them. But you know what who cares. If you're really into makeup you'll know how to work it whether your fair, light, medium or dark. Am I right ladies and gents? 

I provided a picture for you guys of the palette, swatches of it and one look that I did when I first wore it. And yes I tried it on right away when I got it. I'm that excited!  

The packaging is just like any other anastasia palette, it is made out of card board sturdy enough to keep the eyeshadows safe for traveling. The packaging design is awesome! Very Mediterranean. Though I'm not sure if she's Mediterranean or Asian. None the less I love the design. 

Here's the swatches of the palette. All the colors are gorgeous but my favorites (with an s meaning plural-a lot) are Bengal, sangria, china rose and gilded. This palette is so perfect for fall. It has your neutrals and some jewel tones that's not like in your face so bright. It's bright but very wearable. They are all creamy and super easy to blend. 

Fresh is a nice all over and highlight color as well as blush. Venezia is a nice jewel tone perfect for the pop of color. Gilded is like a bronze pewter kind that I like to put all over and then blend it with Bengal a medium brown color. And the rest well you guys can check it out by buying it while it's still out. 

Here's the first look I've created with it. Btw they have some looks card included with the palette but I didn't really need it coz it doesn't look good with my eye. As you can see I have small eyes and kinda have a mono lid. 

To get this look I prime my eyes with Mac soft ochre then dust the color fresh all over the lid. Then I used Bengal as my transition color. I left the inner corner put to 1/4 of my eye, added shinna rose all ove the rest of my lid the on top sangria 3/4 of the outer part. Btw I spayed a little of fix+ on my brush to make the colors pop out. I added chocolate on the outer crease and the noir on the outer v to make it more intense. And lastly Venezia on the inner corner of my eyes. On my lover lash line I smudge Venezia and sangria on it. Lined my eyes was with inglot #77 eyeliner and used kiss eyelashes. And mascara and voila! We are done. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this blog and a mini tutorial. Xoxo

Maybelline matte lipsticks

Maybelline did it again! I am loving their new matte lipsticks! I've been hunting these babies since they came out but unfortunately I still don't have all of them. One of the reason is me living in the middle of nowhere, where all the drugstores are late in putting out new products. The city where I live in have 4 walgreens and 4cvs, and guess what? They don't have it yet. I'm like " you guys are killing me!" 

I went to THE ONLY target here and I finally found it! But then again, everyone who lives here only use drugstore products. I'm joking. I don't know. But there were only 4 colors left. 

Here are the swatches 

From left to right : nude embrace, mesmerizing magenta, ravishing rose, and faint for fushia. 

Here are my thoughts on these products: although they say it's a matte finish, they are very creamy and they glide when you put it in once it's in your lips, it's not drying it actually feels satiny ( if that's even a word) they don't accentuate the dry spots on my lips. But then again I always exfoliate my lips before I put on any lip products. 

The color selections are awesome, well the ones I've got. I am still on the hunt for the rest of colors. They are right up on my alley. Nude embrace is almost like a dupe for velvet teddy by Mac, this is a good buy if your into the 90's makeup trend. Mesmerizing magenta is like a red with purple on it. So if your into bold colors this fall this is not a bad choice. Ravishing rose is my favorite. Line your lips with spice lip liner by milani then this on top, and you get the Kylie Jenner lips I love it so much and I've been rocking this lip combo for days! And the last one I got Is faint for fuchsia, which is like a dupe for candy yum yum. 

All in all this is a good buy. Especially if you buy it at a drug store where sometimes they have like a bogo50% off. I usually buy my drugstore products at cvs coz they give extra cash back then I pay in multiple transaction and use my ecb to lower my out of pocket. And then top it off with a coupon. Or Walmart and target they sell this for $5.99. Couple of months back Walmart have a peelie of $2.00 off on all maybelline products. I used that to buy these four. 

I will return if I ever get my hands on the rest of the colors. See you guys! Xoxo

Collaboration review

Everybody knows my Instagram beauty account. Hopefully. And I met this iger her user name is jamlena. We talked about doing a collaboration. We were to pick 3 of our favorite items and we review it. She'll review what I picked and I'll review hers. 

So she picked a foundation from Clinique, revlon sweet tart lip butter, Mac cranberry, and a mascara from maybeline. Unfortunately, I am allergic to clinique foundations. Last time I bought it and tried it, I had a nasty reaction to it and it's not even a breakout. It looks like I have hives. Lol. 

The second item was revlon lip butter in sweet tarte, and I love this lippy. They are seriously my favorite that I had to buy the whole collection. Well, some of it were swiped by my sister already. These lippies are like what they're called very buttery, and moisturizing, for me atleast. This particular color is very ice. Not my favorite but I still like it. Here's the lippy and the swatch. 

The third choice was Mac cranberry. Well, I don't have this color coz I'm not really a fan of dark plummy red color. But as a blogger, I did my research. Although I didn't buy it one, because there's no Mac where I live and second because I don't want to order it online just to buy one eyeshadow. But I looked at the swatch online and found a swatched at another bloggers blog named temptalia (you guys should really check out her blog) and she have a swatch and a dupe to go with it. 

This is her swatches and dupes. So you guys who's thinking of buying this eyeshadow can have other choices. 

So this is the end of this topic. I hope you guys liked it. Til the next blog.xoxo

Bobbi brown shimmer bricks

This makeup brand was introduced to me by a friend when we were working as a flight attendant in Bahrain. She was using the gel liner and during that time I wasn't really into makeup. But when I saw her using this I was like, hey that looks really good. She tried it on me and I immediately fell in love with the product. So when I got my first paycheck I went straight to the mall and bought the gel liner. 

Now I'm still a fan of  Bobbi brown. And lately I've been into her shimmerbricks. These are awesome products you can use as a highlight or a blush. I have collected five of these slowly. They are $44 each which I think is worth the price. The packaging is black and very elegant. Ever since Bobbi came out with the shimmer bricks, a lot of brands high end or drug store made one too but I think nothing will compare with the quality of pigmentation, texture and color of Bobbi browns shimmer brick. 

Here's my collection and swatches. See you guys on my next blog. Xoxo.

Clinique cheek pop blushes.

Ok so I know, this post is so late already. Like I said I just had a baby and I don't have time to blog because I was so busy doing DIYs for little bear. 

Anyway, this past few weeks I have been loving these blushes from Clinique. Everybody was raving about this one, the packaging is cute, the product itself is excellent. So I gave in and ordered it online. I ordered 2 at first the cherry pop and plum pop after I received it and played with it, of course I had to buy the other two.

I am not joking when I say this is by far the best product from Clinique that I've ever tried. Usually their products break me out but this was awesome. Here are the blushes and the swatches. 

They are permanent products of Clinique. If you don't have this, you need to get your hands on this because it's a life changer. They give you this flushed look which is what I like during spring/ summer. It's sheer but buildable. I personally like to build it up and let the color of the blush show since I'm always wearing bronzer. (Pale me) it looks so good and it goes so smooth. 

I highly recommend this stuff. Let's all get popped! Xoxo.

June 2014 favorites

Time is flying by so fast! It's half a year already and soon all my favorite holidays will be here. But let's not jump ahead and enjoy our summer! It just started anyway! So let's start. 

 

Foundation- I have been loving 2 foundations. One from the drugstore and one high end. From the drugstore, I love the l'oreal true match lumi. And the high end one is the Mac mineralize moisture with SPF 15 foundation. I have dry skin and both does a good job keeping my skin hydrated and make it look a little Dewey which is my thing winter OR summer.

Bronzer- my ever so favorite hoola bronzer from benefit. I hit pan on this already, that's how good it is.

Mascara- I used two mascaras one for the top and one for the bottom lashes. For the top, since I am a vib holder at sephora, I always get a travel size of benefits they're real mascara. I think I have 4 or 5 of these, and I love it. Once I ran out of it I will sure buy a full size. For the bottom lashes, I am loving the Clinique bottom lashes mascara. They're really made for it and it coats my bottom lashes perfectly without smearing or touching my skin. 

Eyebrows- it takes a little bit of work using this but... But it's the perfect color for my eyebrows. It's waterproof and wouldn't budge which is very important to me. 

Concealer- I have a lot of concealer, usually I always gravitate to my Mac prolong wear concealer but this month, maybeline age rewind won me over. Perfect for the under eye, and brightens up the face. In-love!

Eyes- I don't know why not a lot of people are raving about this palette. This is ahhmazzing! They are all matte perfect for me since I love matte shadows. They have colors that's good for blending and to darken the crease. Here's the swatches of the shadow.

If you follow me on Instagram, you will know  that I've been raving about the hourglass ambient lighting blush. They are so soft and creamy. I will have a blog all about the hourglass blushes and highlighters. So, one of my favorite YouTube guru is Jaclyn hill. She did a video something about favorite blushes for summer and she mentioned style, margin and sun basque by Mac. And of course I had to buy most of all the stuff that she raves about. But out of the three, I have been loving style. It's peach with shimmer and it doesn't look too much on my fair skin. Lastly is Mac mineralized skin finish in global glow. Perfect bronze highlighter.

And the last three favorites for this month is three lip products. The first one is revlon primrose. This for me is the perfect pink for summer. Now if I don't feel like wearing a lipstick, you will sure see me wearing a butter gloss from NYX in vanilla cream pie. Lastly, my monthly favorites won't be complete without a lippie from Mac. This month, it's vegas volt. It has just the right amount of orange on it. Great for day time or even night time. 

So, this is all my favorites for the month of June. Share me your favorites too. Xoxo.