Emily's Anthology - a Malaysian beauty blog: Anastasia Beverly Hills

My Makeup: Stila's Amethyst Sparkle

I haven't been blogging a lot lately, but what I have been doing, is playing with makeup. I'm getting bored of the same old, same old, so I thought I'd start a new blog series chronicling my journey, exploring new makeup looks, textures, and formulas.

I'm starting today with a new eyeshadow - this is something I found as a dupe for MAC's Black Grape pigment, which is sold out almost everywhere. I did manage to get my hands on it though (you probably noticed it on my Instagram page), and I'll show it to you guys in another post.

In the meantime, here's the very simple look I created today - so as not to have anything compete with the brilliance of my purple sparkly eyeshadow :)

I wish I could capture the sparkle of glitter and shimmer better on camera! If you guys have photography tips on how to capture shimmer/glitter makeup, please let me know.

Products used:

Face

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 4.5

CathyCat Super Covercealer in 23

Eyes

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Ebony

ArtDeco Eyeshadow Base

Shu Uemura prêt-a-palette in Pink Hues

Stila Jewel Eyeshadow in Amethyst

theBalm Shady Lady Single Eyeshadow in Just This Once Jamie

Clinique Brush-on Cream Liner in True Black

Lips

Beaute Cosmetics Lip Gloss in Girlie Show

My parents are moving soon and for convenience (since they live closer to the city, where most of the meetings and events I attend are held), they've given me a room there. I've been trying to set up some kind of photography and filming situation so I still get to film my videos and do makeup posts like these whenever I'm there, so today I went shopping for makeup lights.

The lights from IKEA (those ones like you see in movies backstage attached to the mirrors) are beautiful but ridiculously expensive, so I found a replacement set of lights that I think are awesome! I'll show you guys once they're installed, which will probably be a few months from now.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I hope to share more with you soon! x

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, by Emily Quak

Makeup Tutorial: Purple Smoky Valentine's Day Makeup

Valentine's Day is only a couple of days away, so I've rushed the edit and upload of this Valentine's Day makeup tutorial - and this is one that is perfect for a night out with your girlfriends or with your special someone.

Here's the video. I hope you like it! x

Products mentioned:

Kiehl's Ultra Hydrating Cream

The latest offering in moisturiser from Kiehl's, this is an ultra-hydrating moisturiser that is ultra-lightweight in texture. It is the lightest moisturiser that I have ever tried, but it still does feel a tiny bit slick on the skin, so I would recommend it for dry skin types. I like to use it to prep my skin before I use a powder-based foundation, because I find that it helps make my skin a little bit tacky so that it helps the powder stick, and also gives it a more glowy finish.

Rouge Bunny Rouge Seas of Illumination Highlighter

I've been a fan of Rouge Bunny Rouge ever since I spotted the brand on some of my favourite blogs, and finally got a chance to try it without the hefty shipping price tag when I discovered that Luxola carries the brand on their website (free shipping with orders above RM40 in Malaysia). This highlighter is pink-toned with multi-coloured shimmer, and gives the skin a lovely glow. It is pigmented enough that you don't need to 'wet' your skin and ruin the rest of your makeup - only a little bit is more than enough to give your skin a soft, luminous glow.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Express Kit in Brunette

This is my favourite brow product, not because of the texture or formulation of the powder, but because of the brush. Anastasia knows her brows, and this is one of the best brow brushes I have come across by far. It has just the right amount of stiffness to help me shape my brows properly, particularly at the bottom edges.

Sleek Contour Kit in Medium

One of my favourite contour products just because it is easy to use, doesn't have any shimmer in it at all, and is a great match for my skin tone. I don't like contour powders that are too orange, because they don't look natural at all, and this is one of the few drugstore products that gets it right.

Sigma Paris Palette

I am late to the party on this one, I admit, but only because it was so difficult to get my hands on Sigma before this! I know they ship worldwide, but unless you're doing a group order, their shipping increases with each product you add to your cart, and usually once I add a few products to my cart, I end up getting depressed by the shipping cost and close the whole window. This one was another shipment from Luxola, and my gosh it is beautiful! Some of the colours are absolutely amazing, particularly the purples, which is why I chose to use them in this tutorial.

Smashbox Limitless Eyeliner in Onyx

This is a great eyeliner to use when you're doing a smoky eye, because it is quite smudge proof once it sets. Don't use it if you have particularly oily lids or watery eyes, because it isn't 100% smudge proof, but if you're neither, it's a great smoky liner to have.

Lavie Lashes

Lavie is a brand of lashes released by a friend of mine, and I am immensely flattered that she chose to send me a selection of her lashes to trial and show you guys here on the blog and my channel. I am wearing the Lolas, and what I love about her line of lashes is that they are so wearable! They are just right for my eyes, and that is difficult to find because most lashes are too long or too large for my eyes. These fit just right, so I urge anyone of Asian descent to try these if you've been looking for a more natural but still striking look!

Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush in Spicey

I honestly didn't even think to buy this colour - I just knew I wanted a new Watercolour Blush because I have the colour Cherub and absolutely adore it. I only bought this colour because it was so highly recommended online, and when it arrived I was slightly underwhelmed by the brick red colour. But once I applied it, I fell head over heels in love! The colour just lit my entire face up, and brought such a beautiful warmth to my cheeks. I highly recommend this for warm skin tones - you won't regret it!

Too Faced La Creme Color Drenched Lipstick in Nude Beach

Fast becoming one of my favourite lipsticks because of its lovely mauve-y nude colour. It is really flattering against my skin and I love the creamy texture. I wish it was a tiny bit more pigmented, but still love it to death anyway.

1Comments

, by Emily Quak

In Anastasia Beverly Hills, Asian makeup

Makeup Tutorial: Easy Everyday Day to Night Makeup Tutorial

4Comments

, by Emily Quak

In Anastasia Beverly Hills, Bobbi Brown

Makeup Tutorial: Christmas/Party Makeup Look

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, by Emily Quak

In Anastasia Beverly Hills, Chanel

Everyday Makeup Routine (Summer 2012)

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, by Emily Quak

In Anastasia Beverly Hills, Arbonne

Makeup Tutorial: Get the Victoria's Secret Runway Look

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, by Emily Quak

In Anastasia Beverly Hills, ck one

Makeup Tutorial: Orchid Inspired Colorful Makeup

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, by Emily Quak

In Anastasia Beverly Hills, Benefit

Makeup Tutorial: Easy Everyday Makeup for the Winter

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, by Emily Quak

In Anastasia Beverly Hills, Eyebrows

Makeup Face-Off: Skin Food Eyebrow Brush vs. Anastasia Beverly Hills Eyebrow Brush

If you all saw my YouTube tutorial on how to get perfectly shaped eyebrows, you'll know that a key product in creating that gorgeous eyebrow look is a good eyebrow brush. In my video, I mentioned that my favourite brush was the Anastasia Beverly Hills #15 brush - the Angled Cut Eyebrow Brush. It comes in a small convenient size and shapes eyebrows and disperses eyebrow powders like no other brush.

When I like a product this much, it always gets me thinking - 'What in the world am I going to do once it runs out/gets spoilt?'

So began my search for a backup brush. I would have purchased another eyebrow brush from Anastasia Beverly Hills, except if you take into account the shipping costs and the availability of the brand here in Australia, you start to lose hope.

I went on a little Korea cosmetics shopping spree a while back, and if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you would have seen the products I bought. And you would have seen this little gem:

Skin Food is a Korean cosmetics company, and is huge in Asian countries. It has numerous outlets all over Malaysia, and is also the producer of my favourite eyeliner brush. So naturally, when I saw this brush, I had to try it. And for the price, why not?!

So here are my thoughts:

Skin Food Eyebrow Brush

Pros:

Affordable
Disperses eyebrow powder beautifully
Easily available - eBay sellers ship internationally at reasonable shipping rates (usually USD 3)
Great quality - the brush hairs are well fitted into a tight metal casing and the wooden handle is lacquered
Long-lasting - not a single hair has shed from this brush

Cons:

The very tip of the brush is a little thinner than the Anastasia eyebrow brush, so the finish of the eyebrow can be a little bit too polished (this is fixed by running a spoolie through your eyebrow hairs)
Very slightly smaller than the Anastasia brush - not necessarily a bad thing but if you have thick/large eyebrows then it might take you a while to finish your eyebrow

Anastasia Beverly Hills Angled Cut Eyebrow Brush

Pros:

Disperses the product beautifully
Great quality (though the coated pink handle is not as pretty as the Skin Food brush handle)
Brush hairs are placed perfectly so that the dispersion of the product is flawless

Cons:

Not easily available outside the select countries in which Anastasia products are sold
Quite expensive for a tiny eyebrow brush

Overall I'm really pleased to have found such a good dupe for the Anastasia Beverly Hills eyebrow brush, and at such a reasonably price, too. If you love a good polished eyebrow or have unruly or light eyebrows that need a good fix, these eyebrow brushes are the perfect solution. Eyebrow pencils are convenient, but generally look a little more unnatural and drawn-on than powders.

I hope this post helped anyone out there looking for a good eyebrow brush! x