At this point in my beauty blogging 'career', it's rare to come across something that drastically alters the way I view myself and my appearance, and the way I look at beauty. But what I'm about to share with you did just that, and completely changed my face!


Lien Davies is eyebrow guru extraordinaire turned ebook author, and 'How to Create Your Ultimate Brow Shape At Home' is her genius first ebook offering, teaching normal people like you and me how to create and shape your eyebrows to perfection all in the comfort of your own home.

If you're anything like me, you're probably wary of so-called 'professionals' out there at various beauty salons and outlets, who claim to be experienced in the field, only to pluck your eyebrows down to mini, stick-thin disasters on your face.
Or some of you out there may be walking around thinking you've got the perfect eyebrow shape already, and that you don't need any more help where your eyebrows are concerned.

What a lot of people don't know is that eyebrows can make or break a look, and I'm here to show you exactly how. Exhibit one - a comparison picture of my eyebrows before and after I shaped them using Lien's ebook:


Not convinced? Let's try again...

All pictures were taken from my Instagram account. These pictures show that even with minimal skill (I know nothing about eyebrow shaping), you may still achieve much better eyebrows than you currently have. My 'before' pictures looked overly harsh, and quite frankly, a little bit evil, whereas my 'after' pictures show a much younger, more soft look.

Lien's ebook contains simple, easy to follow instructions, and is fully illustrated (and very beautifully so, I might add) so you'll know exactly what you need to do, and how. It is a very easy read, and extremely informative.

If you're interested in getting a copy of this amazing ebook, Lien's website is www.ultimatebrowshape.com. This is $25 (or $15 if you're a fan of their Facebook page) that you will be glad you spent!

So instead of listing my favourites each month, I thought I'd do a new kind of video, titled (rather un-originally) "Trial and Error", in which I list products that I've received and purchased each month (or every other month) and giving you my honest opinions on which products I liked and which I didn't, and telling you why. I really hope that you find these videos helpful, and thank you so much for watching!


Products mentioned:

muk spa Argan Oil Repair Shampoo & Conditioner
muk spa Argan Oil Treatment
muk Style Stick
Uriage Nourishing and Cleansing Cream
Uriage Gentle Total Exfoliant (review here)
How to Get Your Ultimate Brow Shape at Home by Lien Davies (http://ultimatebrowshape.com/)
Clarins BB Skin Perfecting Cream
Benefit The Porefessional
Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay in Place Concealer
Koji Dollywink Liquid Eyeliner
Daniel Sandler Long Lasting Waterproof Eyeliner (available at feelunique.com)

I hope you enjoy the video. Happy Friday, everyone! xx

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.

Hi everyone! I'm sorry I haven't been updating much! We've had a string of visitors here at the apartment - first my parents and then the lovely Jen from MyFunnyValentine.

So today I am finally forcing myself to sit down and blog, and share with you my thoughts on both these amazing brow products - the Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Express Kit in Brunette, and the SAX Perfect Brow Shaping Kit.


Packaging
Both products come in hard cardboard-like packaging. The Anastasia kit feels a little more luxe because of the croc-skin embossing, but both hold up well during travel.

Product
Both products come with two brow powders, a brow wax, and a highlight colour for your brow bone. They also come with a brush and stencils.

They also both include instructions showing you how to fill in your brows.


Anastasia comes with a better brow brush (one of my HG brow brushes) and more stencils. Their brow powders lean on the ashy side, so they match cool-toned hair like mine very well.


SAX comes with a tweezer, which is perfect when you're on-the-go. Their brush is dual-ended, but performance-wise I prefer the Anastasia brush. They have pretty good stencils as well, and their brow powders are much larger than the Anastasia brow powders. These brow powders lean on the warm side, so they match auburn hair and dyed Asian hair (which almost always has a reddish/orangey warmth to it), and any warm brown hair type.

Performance
The powders from both brands last very long and give you a nice, finished look. I don't see a difference in terms of the quality of both the powders from these brands, so I think it boils down to whether you have warm or cool-toned hair, or if you're aiming for travel-friendliness (in which case I would recommend the SAX kit).

If you plan on using the SAX eyebrow brush, then your look will be a lot more natural, whereas the Anastasia brush provides an extremely done, polished finish. If you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the Anastasia brow brush, fret not! I have an extremely similar brow brush to share with you, and it retails for only $4.99 (excluding postage). Look out for a post on this soon!


Availability
This really depends on where you are. If you're in Malaysia, you're likely to have a lot of friends in Australia who could easily pick up a SAX Perfect Brow Shaping Kit for you and post it to you.
If you're in the US or the UK, Anastasia products are readily available.
If you're in Australia, SAX is available at most pharmacies.
At other parts of the world, you're more likely to find an online store that ships Anastasia products internationally.

Price
The SAX Perfect Brow shaping Kit beats the Anastasia Beauty Express Kit flat here. The Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Express Kit retails for a cool USD 39.50, and the SAX Perfect Brow Shaping Kit retails for AUD 14.95.

These products were provided for review and consideration in accordance with this site's Disclosure Policy.

Hi guys! I finally have my eyebrow tutorial to share with you - it took a really long time to edit and upload, so sorry! It is also a bit longer than I expected because I was rambling a little, but I hope what I put in the video helps you guys :)

If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments and I will get to them as soon as I can. Here's the video!



Products mentioned:

Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Express Kit in Brunette
SAX Perfect Brow Shaping Kit
Tweezerman 2012 Fashion Color Slant Tweezer in Geranium


A few things that I didn't mention in the video:

My favourite way to do my eyebrows is with a brush and eyebrow powder, but on days when I need to be quick, I have a couple of eyebrow pencils that I really love.

For eyebrow pencils, I look for pencils that aren't too creamy, but creamy enough to draw straight, strong lines to outline by brows before I fill them in. Here are a few of my favourite pencils:

Shu Uemura H9 Eyebrow Pencil in Seal Brown
Kanebo KATE Lasting Eyebrow W in BR-3 (purchased in Malaysia, but you can buy them online on eBay)

I am not a big fan of felt pens, because they don't define my eyebrows as strongly as I would like, but if you want to just fill in some areas or like a light brow, then the felt pens would be the perfect option for you. Unfortunately, because I don't use these products, I don't have any recommendations, but I heard the brow pen from Suqqu (a Japanese brand of cosmetics) is amazing.

I hope you guys found this video helpful, thanks so much for watching! I would also really appreciate it if you could 'Like' and share this post with your friends ♥

The kit comes in a gorgeous faux-snakeskin case with magnetic closure. Inside, you find a treasure chest of products, including a brow wax, two brow shades, and two eyeshadow colours. You'll also find helpful tips and instructions for use, which is great for people who aren't familiar with brow-grooming.


The two eyeshadow colours, one shimmery and one matte, are perfect for accentuating and highlighting where you need it. I use the shimmery eyeshadow underneath my brows and in the inner corners of my eyes, and the matte one I use in the crease as a subtle contour.

You also get an angled brow brush, which picks up and delivers the product beautifully. I usually throw away brushes that I get in palettes and kits such as this one, but I find that this brush works better than any other eyebrow brush I have.



Adding to the awesomeness of this kit are the eyebrow stencils - in a plethora of different shapes to suit everyone's preferences. These are made of a rubbery material, so they bend easily, which helps when you're trying to get the stencil to stay put so you can apply the eyebrow powder. I had stencils made of other material that just refuse to stay put or bend, so I always get eyebrow powder where I'm not supposed to have eyebrow powder.

The kit retails for USD 39.50 here, and I think it would make an amazing addition to your beauty wardrobe, or the perfect Christmas gift to a beauty-lover.

Here are some pictures of my brows, done using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Express for Brows and Eyes. These were taken after a slightly drizzly morning and a hot, sweltering afternoon out, so I can vouch for the lasting power on these eyebrow powders as well!




This product was provided for review and consideration in accordance with this site's Disclosure Policy.

These products were released by Bloom cosmetics on 3 October 2011 as part of the Belle de Jour Colour Collection, and I think you should all run out and buy them before they are sold out!

Eye Brow Duo

This is, in my opinion, the absolute star of the collection. Okay, I didn't try everything, but eyebrows are a really big issue for me. I have extremely sparse eyebrows that don't look like anything, so I always, always need an eyebrow pencil with me.

My eyebrow hairs also grow really long, which means that a lot of the time, they're quite out of shape and difficult to draw in. What's great about the Eye Brow Duo is that the pencil is angled, and is more or less the perfect length, so that I can draw the perfect width and shape it really easily. It reminds me a lot of the Shu Uemura eyebrow pencils, because of the angle and width of the pencil. It has a one-up on Shu Uemura though, because it retains its shape without me having to bring it in to sharpen at the store.
It's not exactly similar to the Shu pencil though - the texture of this pencil is a lot waxier, so the overall effect is lighter brows (think Pixiwoo) instead of the dark, defined eyebrows (think Megan Fox).


Eye Crayon


This eye crayon is beautiful. I love all things Taupe, and this is no exception.



The formula is smooth and pigmented and looks lovely, but be warned, you will need to layer this product if you want to get it to look anything like the original colour. This crayon fades really easily with just minimal blending. It works beautifully as a base upon which to layer other eyeshadows, but on its own, it needs to be re-layered and blended a couple of times before the colour and intensity start to show.

As far as staying power goes, this crayon is actually good! I always think that when something is more a creamy than powdery texture, that it isn't going to last and will crease all over and melt off my face. I was pleasantly surprised today when I applied only this crayon to my lid, and came back to find everything intact!

Both products come double-ended. The Eye Brow Duo has an eyebrow gel (did nothing to hold my crazy brows in place) and the Eye Crayon has a little brush at the end (wipes the product clean off instead of blending it out). I'm not a fan of both of the 'other ends' but I really like the actual products.

The Eye Brow Duo retails for AUD 25 at Bloom stockists, and the Eye Crayon retails for AUD 25.

This product was provided for review and consideration in accordance with this site's Disclosure Policy.

I actually wanted to post a tutorial for everyone today, and take some pictures for my Chanel Pro Lumiere foundation review, but my sister took the camera to uni today :(

So I thought I'd do something a little more fun today - I have always wanted to do that old school, red lip, hair-in-a-bun type glam makeup, but never got a chance to do it until today.

Vivi magazine is a Japanese fashion and beauty magazine, and it's pretty well known in the Asian community. Even non-Japanese read it (figuratively speaking) for its bang-on fashion advice and detailed step-by-step makeup instructions.

One thing I've always noticed when I come across scans of Vivi magazine (or any other Japanese/Korean magazine, for that matter) is the model's makeup.


Japanese/Korean smoky eyes aren't smoky eyes in the conventional sense, and I was very interested in trying to replicate this strange-looking smoky eye. I think the main difference between the Asian and Western smoky eye is the fact that the eyeshadow is taken far beyond the crease and lashline, on both the top and bottom lids. The eyeshadow is always black-brown instead of black-grey-silver, and a little bit of the brown is extended toward the inner end of the eyebrow as a sort of contour.

I also think that this is a great interpretation of the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen bronze smoky eye. I'm not sure which one of the sisters loves this eyeshadow style, but she's always seen wearing this bronze eye that's smoky but not too strong.

Anyway, I had quite a bit of fun doing this FOTD, because I Photoshopped my hair! I think I did a pretty good job replicating that ash-blond-green hue that most Asian dye-jobs end up taking, because bleaching black hair almost never goes well (lol).

Mind you, my Photoshop skills are nonexistent, so don't expect really natural, amazing looking hair.

I came across a picture of Beyonce looking very pretty in a Google search, so I clicked on it, and it turned out to be a screenshot of her video 'Why Don't You Love Me'. I loved the drama and feel of the look, so I decided to copy it and make a little tutorial, just in case anyone wanted to try this look as well.


I tried to dial down the drama as much as I could to make it more wearable, but you can only go so far before your make up ends up having nothing to do with the inspiration photo at all, lol.

So here's my take, and I hope you guys like it! Now, I don't claim to look like Beyonce or say that my make up is a perfect reproduction of hers. This is just me translating the look and having fun  :)


If you want to get the look, here's what you'll need to do:

Create a strong eyebrow by using an eyebrow pencil and an eyebrow stencil. You can purchase these stencils online - eBay has particularly cheap stencils and a wide variety of shapes to choose from.

Apply a layer of cream eyeshadow onto the lid underneath the crease, and in the inner corner of your eye.

Sweep an ash grey colour on top of the cream eyeshadow. Also draw the inner corner of your eye, and extend the eyeshadow a little beyond the outer corner, in an upwards motion.

Using a liquid or gel eyeliner, first mark out the shape that you want your eyeliner to take. For this look, extend the eyeliner further than your natural eye shape in the inner corners and make a point. At the outer corner, exaggerate the wing. Lift it higher than usual, and thicken the eyeliner as you reach the outer part of the eye.
Then, fill in your eyeliner. If you want, you can set your eyeliner by patting black eyeshadow on top of it.

Using a pencil brush or an eyeliner brush, draw a line of dark grey eyeshadow in your crease. At the outer corner of your eye, draw the eyeshadow so that it is slightly above your eyeliner, but following the shape of the wing.
Blend the eyeshadow line with a tapered blending brush. Make sure there are no harsh lines, but don't blend too much because you want a prominent line.

Go over your ash grey eyeshadow once again to make it more defined, then apply eyeshadow around the point that you made with the eyeliner on the inner corner of your eye, and then onto your bottom lashline.
Using an eyeliner brush, apply a dark grey eyeshadow onto your bottom lashline.

Apply blush and nude lipstick.
The blush is meant to be a very slightly warm neutral colour. If you're tan, try a more peachy pink blush. If you're fair, rosy pink would be better suited to this look.


Here are some pictures of the final look:


Wishing you guys an awesome week (and that the time between now and the weekend flies by)!

The key to creating this look without creating too harsh an eyebrow is to use eyebrow powder instead of eyebrow pencil.

For people with dark hair, choose a powder that is one shade lighter than your hair colour. Anything too dark and harsh will make you look very mannish.
For people with lighter hair - choose a shade or two darker than your hair colour.

This store sells beautiful, affordable eyebrow powders, with a large range of colours to choose from.

To create the perfect eyebrow each time, use an eyebrow stencil.
Here's a listing for a set of eyebrow stencils with a beautiful arch.

Here's another little tip:

The stencils will help you upkeep your eyebrows as well, and save you a trip to the beautician. When your eyebrows need a tweeze, fill in the stencil with a white pencil instead of your usual eyebrow powder. Then, just tweeze the hairs that aren't covered by the white powder. Voila, perfectly kept eyebrows!