Model's Own Raspberry Crush

I love this bright raspberry color of nail polish! It's not red, it's not pink, it's perfectly raspberry - something in between. The formula is very smooth and opaque in two coats with a lovely cream finish. I just love this for spring and especially for summer when I want to go for a punch of color on my nails. Model's Own is a UK drugstore brand, but is available for order on their website  (rather high shipping costs, I ordered mine during a sale) and some limited shades also also available from Asos.

What's on your nails right now? Share in comments. :)

We all had to start somewhere...

I got a kick out of these old makeup pictures I found from 2006, when I initially began to do my FOTD (Face of the Day) posts on Specktra. It's sort of funny to look back to see where you came from and how one's skills have improved over time. Here's some of my "favorite" horrendous looks.

Trying to do a pin-up look with very uneven eyeliner.

I don't even know what this was...it was at this point I entirely wrote off purple eyeshadow! Now I love it.

Really odd color placement and combination - well at least I was branching out!

WAT!

Haha! I hope you got a kick out of this as much as I did. Just remember, no master has ever fallen out of the sky - you learn the most by experimenting and making mistakes. Take pictures of your looks, you'll look back on them someday and laugh like I did. :)

Arabian Nights Makeup

Please do not re-distribute, alter or re-host any of my content including pictures

without prior permission from myself. Copyright © 2011

This is a look that I have had in mind for a few days now - I wanted to do a modern spin on the Arab makeup style and incorporate some color without it being overbearing. I used cool toned brown and gray shades on the top lid, and teal on the bottom to create an interesting mix of neutrals and colors. The dramatic winged liner is off-set with white for contrast. Since the eyes are the dominant part of this look, I went for a natural shade on the lips, although you could combine this with a bright lip as well if you want to go for extra drama.

Face

Lancome Teint Idole, Neutrogena Healthy Skin, Barry M Natural Dazzle bronzer, MAC Stereo Rose, MAC Shimpagne,

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion, MAC Greasepaint Stick Slick Black, Catrice eyeshadows in Gray's Philosophy 270, Go Charlie Brown 80, I am a Coal Girl 260, It's a Girl 240 and Petrol Keeps Me Running, Rimmel Jungle Green eyeliner, Catrice gel eyeliner in black, Sugarpill eyeshadow in Bulletproof, La Femme cake eyeliner in White, Maybelline kohl pencil in white, Essence Multiaction mascara, Lancome Maquicomplet concealer in Ivoire, Red Cherry lashes Nr. 203

Lips

Revlon Colorburst lipstick in Blush, Revlon lipgloss in Peach Petal

Nails
Catrice - Mona Lisa is Staring Back

Watch the tutorial on Youtube

World Cities: Moscow

I'm back to making videos after a break (I got really sick for about a week and lost my voice, then I just got really busy and my mom visited for a few days.) This look is part of my World City Looks series, this time inspired by Moscow. At first I wanted to do something colorful inspired by the Red Square, but the more I thought about it, the more I was intrigued by the concept of long and cold Russian winter nights, stomping through the snow, fur hats and Dr. Zhivago. I decided to go for an intense, smoldering navy blue eye, and to not make it look gothic, paired it with juicy looking stained lips and in-from-the-cold cheeks.

Face
Neutrogena Healthy Skin in Natural Ivory foundation, Lancome Blush Subtil in Highlighting Rose, Clarins Instant Light Complexion Perfector, Estee Lauder Shimmering face powder in Light Snow

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion, MAC Greasepaint stick in Slick Black, Lancome Ombre Absolu in Black Blue, Ben Nye Toast, Lancome Kohl pencil Gris Bleu, P2 Open Your Eyes eye brightener, NYX Aloha, MAX Factor False Lash Effect mascara

Lips
Nars Lip Lacquer in Diablo, MAC Lipglass in clear

Nailpolish
Anny - Wicked

Click here to watch the video tutorial on Youtube!

Weightloss Update: 10kg (22 pounds) lost

Today is a bit of a personal blog entry for me regarding my weightloss journey. Since about the second week in January 2011 I made a big change to my overall diet and also began regular exercise. I was more determined than ever to make a change in my life and get back into shape, improve my overall health, and fit back into my old clothes again.

About a week ago I reached my first goal: 10kg lost (22 pounds)! I've also lost about 3 dress sizes since then. I was so happy when I finally brought up my suitcase from the basement of clothes I used to wear 5 years ago in Montreal when I was going to university - especially my "skinny jeans" from Guess that I love.

I filmed this video right after trying on all my old clothes, and I was just overwhelmed with emotions. Hopefully this is inspirational and helpful for someone else out there who is on their own weightloss journey. Remember the best reason to start losing weight is because you want to do it for yourself, not to impress other people, to be attractive to others, or because of peer pressure.

I think for me the time was right because I was happy with pretty much all other aspects of my life: My career is going amazingly well, I have great people and friends in my life, I feel successful and confident. The only thing I wasn't happy with is the excess weight I was carrying around, not feeling good in my clothes, and just feeling so out of shape physically. I gave myself a big kick in the butt and said to myself, it's now or never!

I wanted to share this little update with you all. I still haven't reached my ultimate goal, but I feel great and I know I'm on the right track. My next step is doing strength and resistance training, so this week I want to go out and buy some weights for my arms, and an exercise mat to start doing floor exercises to start toning. I'm actually looking forward to that!! Never thought I'd say that. I don't love exercising, but I can't wait to have a beach-ready body for holidays in September to Sardinia, Italy.

Check out my video, I hope it can inspire and motivate someone else! Never give up on yourself, don't settle if you're unhappy with the way you look, it's never too late to start making a change.

Link to my video on Youtube

I filmed a few other videos on what I have done, how I eat, what kinds of meals I prepare, etc. If you missed those and are interested click here.

Christian Dior Spring Summer 2011 Makeup + $200 Sephora giveaway

 

This look was inspired by the Christian Dior Spring/Summer 2011 runway show makeup. I loved how bright and colorful the images looked, but also how simple they were. The best part is that I used all drugstore makeup products to achieve the look (except for one.) Here's the inspiration picture I used:

Check out my video below on how I achieved this look! It's really easy actually...

Face
Revlon Colorstay foundation in Ivory, Neutrogena Healthy Skin foundation in Natural Ivory, MAC MSF in Stereo Rose

Eyes
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, Catrice Don't Drink and Dive e/s, Catrice black gel eyeliner, Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara, Catrice Go Charlie Brown e/s, Max Factor kohl pencil in Natural Glaze

Lips
NYX Femme lipstick, Revlon Colorburst lipgloss in Papaya

Nailpolish
Barry M - 119 Baby Pink

Win a $200 Goodie Bag from Sephora!

This video is also a collaboration with the The Frugalicious Show on Youtube , a great channel focused on tips and tricks on how to save money in daily life, also how to save on beauty products. Pretty perfect in this economy, huh?

They are doing a giveaway on their channel right now for $200 worth of department store makeup from Sephora.com, handpicked by myself of course! Here's what you can win:

Nars Blush in Deep Throat
Sephora Deluxe Fragrance Sampler for her (bestselling perfumes)
Urban Decay Book of Shadows
Sephora Give Me Some Lip Sampler (bestselling lip products)
Sephora by OPI Polish in Metro Chic
Sephora by OPI Polish in Read My Palm

You must be subscribed to BOTH our channels to participate. The contest is open worldwide, you must favorite their video and leave a comment on their giveaway video on Youtube to be entered (commenting on this blog entry does not work.) A winner will be drawn at random by the Frugalicious Show. The contest ends on April 20, 2011. Make sure to check out their video below to enter! The winner will be announced on the Frugalicious channel only.

My video tutorial on Youtube
TheFrugaliciousShow giveaway

Defined Natural Loose Waves Hair Tutorial

This hair style is so simple, elegant yet still laid-back that takes me about 10-15 minutes to accomplish - tops! I've worn my hair like this in a few videos now and I always got a lot of compliments from my viewers, and people asking me how I did my hair. It's so easy that I almost felt silly making a tutorial about it, but since I had many requests, I thought why not? I personally love hair styles that look effortless, especially when they are so quick and simple to do!

All you will need is a 1", 1 1/2" or a 2" barrel curling wand. I've tried it with different sizes, and the 2" one looks a lot looser but also quite nice. For this I used my 1" Enzo Milano, but you can also use a regular curling iron with the clip, and just ignore the clip and wind your hair around the whole barrel. For finishing product I used the KMS Head Wetter Shine and Define Spray. It's a very light gel-texture hair pomade that adds a lot of shine without making the hair crunchy or heavy.

Nailpolish I'm wearing: Illamasqua "Load"
Lipstick: MAC Impassioned

Link to the video on Youtube here

Illamasqua Toxic Nature Spring/Summer 2011 Collection

Today I've got some product swatches and pictures from the new Illamasqua collection - Toxic Nature. The promo images really caught my eye, looking almost plastic and doll like. Amazingly, this is all makeup, not digital wizardry! I am always stunned by the work of Alex Box. (As an aside, I've purchased and reviewed her makeup book here on my Youtube channel if you're interested to see more of her work.)

 

The collection includes cream pigments, lipsticks, lipglosses, a liquid eyeliner and nail polishes. I'll give you the liberty of checking out the whole collection, prices and what's coming out on the Illamasqua website here.

Here are some pictures and my first impressions of some of the products.

Above you see Atomic Lipstick, Torture Sheer Lipgloss, and Glister Precision Ink. My favorite of these three is definitely Atomic - this color is just stunning! An intense fuchsia cool pink with an ever so subtle blue pearl. This is so flattering for your teeth because it makes them look whiter! I'll definitely be rocking this color in the summer. Torture is a nice orange lipgloss leaning ever so slightly to the coral side, another great summer color. As a bonus, this lipgloss has a pleasant, fruity sweet taste.

From this set, I was not so impressed with the color choice of Glister Precision Ink. As I've demonstrated in a previous post here, the Precision Inks are amazingly long-lasting liquid eyeliners with a felt tip, so the staying power is great. But the color just didn't entice me - somehow I doubt I'm going to reach for this product as much. It just doesn't scream "summer" to me. I would have loved to see a purple, or a teal, or something like that.

 Illamasqua Cream Pigments (left to right)

Back row: Delerium, Hollow, Emerge

Front Row: Dab, Mould

These cream pigments remind me a little of the Makeup Forever Flash Palette, if you are familiar with that. They are water-resistant and have a matte finish, and can be used for for various things: blush, lipstain, eyeshadows, or even contouring. They are creamy but not overly so to the point of being slick and moving all over the place, which I think is a great improvement than some of the Liquid Metals I have tried from Illamasqua. I absolutely love these for using below eyeshadows, but I still apply something like Urban Decay Primer Potion underneath. I am really looking forward to using these more in the future, so far I have used Dab and Hollow the most, but am very anxious to combine Mould with an intense dark eye makeup. The colors are all quite wearable, whereas similar products from Kryolan or Makeup Forever are more bright and bold.

Left to Right: Hollow, Emerge, Delerium, Dab, Mould

All in all I think this is a very versatile collection. There are a few bright and intense pieces, and also some more subtle and neutral shades to cater to a variety of tastes. I also think it's great that some of the more neutral shades can definitely be worn into fall and winter as well - not that you can't wear bright pink lipstick in the winter too!

What do you think of this collection? Has anything peaked your interest?


Items were sent to me for review by Illamasqua.

Drag Showgirl Makeup: Las Vegas World Cities series

Can I say that this is my favorite of the World Cities looks I've done without sounding like I'm tooting my own horn? VEGAS BABY!!! Think showgirls and drag performers, that's what inspired this look. Drag makeup can be seen as an over-exaggeration of feminine makeup. Many drag performers go even further with the contouring than I've done here, and cover their natural eyebrows and pencil them in even higher to give more lid space for the makeup. I decided not to cover my brows here, but it's an option of what you could do.

Face
Neutrogena Healthy Skin foundation in Natural Ivory mixed with Revlon Colorstay foundation in Ivory, Lancome Maquicomplet concealer in Ivoire, MAC Studio Fix powder

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion, MAC eyeshadows in Soft Brown, Print, Sugarpill Bulletproof e/s, Ben Nye Cherry Red e/s, Urban Decay Virgin e/s, Benefit High Beam, MAC Silver Dusk powder, NYX White e/s, Catrice black gel eyeliner, Bella Pierre ColorStay, Cinema Secrets glitter in Ruby Slippers, generic red cosmetic glitter from ebay, Red Cherry Lashes Nr. 203, Maybelline white kohl pencil

Brows
MAC Brows in Spiked, Sugarpill Bulletproof e/s

Cheeks & Contouring
Barry M Natural Dazzle bronzer, Estee Lauder Shimmering Face Powder in Light Snow, MAC Silver Dusk powder, Ben Nye DR-12 Pink Blush

Lips
MAC Velvetella lipliner, Nivea Bedtime Plum lipstick, MAC Red lipstick, MAC Myth lipstick

Wig is from ebay
Nails are from my previous Cherry Blossom nail tutorial (link here)

Click here if you want to see the other World Cities makeup looks I've done!
And click here if you want to see the tutorial straight on Youtube.

Spring Cherry Blossom Nails

Spring is in the air and when I think of spring, I think of trees and flowers blossoming - one of those being cherry trees! When I lived in Vancouver, the area around where I lived had lots of cherry trees planted in the streets, and I have vivid memories biking around and having a "rain shower" of blossoms falling down with a bit of wind. So pretty!

Anyway, here's my cherry blossom inspired nail design. You can vary the background color with anything you like, but I think the turquoise-blue-green color goes really well and reminds me of a sky background.

Nailpolish used:
Essie Mint Candy Apple (blue)
Essence Fatal (black)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White (white)
Essie Van D'Go (pink)

Link to the video tutorial on Youtube

A Special message...

At times like these with the devastating events in Japan, it seems so trivial to focus on things like makeup. Many of us live far away from the disaster, but please think of the thousands of people whose lives will be affected for years to come. Those of us who live in comfort and safety cannot fathom what the Japanese people must be going through right now. If you could make even a small donation, or a generous one, to the Japanese Red Cross Society, that would be a wonderful thing to do. Even if you just donate a small amount, what you would otherwise spend on an eyeshadow or a lipstick!

I donated through the Google Crisis Response website to the Japanese Red Cross:
http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

While it's all well and good to donate to your local chapter of the Red Cross, sending your donations to the Japanese Red Cross will have the most direct impact for tsunami relief efforts, as they are bearing the brunt of the disaster response.

Army Green Nails courtesy of H&M

I'm really loving this nailpolish color by H&M called "Hunt Me Down", a very fitting name indeed. My local H&M doesn't carry the accessories and cosmetics, but recently I was in a bigger city with a huge H&M and I finally had a chance to check out the polishes. I was pleasantly surprised at the color variety, especially with the more unique colors that are available. I bought this one and one other one to try out (a sparkly blue shade) because I have color dupes for most of the others, but I couldn't resist this army green. The polish is on the thicker side, meaning it's opaque in one coat, but I applied a second coat just for a smoother more perfect finish. It's a nice dirty grey-green shade without leaning to the brown-olive side.

Do you have any nailpolishes from H&M? What do you think of them?

Revlon Lipsticks and Glosses

Today I've got some swatches for you of some Revlon lip products that I tried out. First up we have the Colorburst Lipsticks, which I believe originally were launched last year in a variety of colors. Switzerland has a rather small selection of available colors, but I think in North America there are many more shades available. They go on smooth, creamy and feel comfortable on the lips. My favorites are the brighter shades, I'm not 100% sold on the nude shades.

Above left to right: Soft Nude, True Red, Fuchsia, Blush

 Above left to right: Fuchsia, True Red, Blush, Soft Nude

Above left to right (swatched on paper): Soft Nude, True Red, Fuchsia, Blush

Next up I have the Colorburst Lipglosses for you, which are sparkly glosses that come in a long square tube, again in lots of colors. Some have compared these to MAC Dazzleglasses but I don't think that comparison is all together accurate as the shimmer and sparkle in these glosses are sort of one-dimensional and not as multi-colored as the MAC Dazzleglasses. My favorite from these is probably Strawberry, which would be a great summer shade. They are overall very shimmery and sparkly, so if you prefer a cream finish, I would skip these.

Bottom left to right: Strawberry, Papaya, Sunset Beach, Hot Pink, Crystal Lilac, Pink Ice, Gold Dust

Lastly I have a few of the Revlon Lipglosses to swatch for you. These are a regular cream finish without any sparkles or shimmer to them, and are quite well-pigmented. These would be great on their own, or layered over lipsticks. I really love all three of these shades!

Bottom, left to right: Coral Reef, Peach Petal, Pink Pop

My main gripe with all these lip products from Revlon is the taste and smell of their products. They just don't have a nice smell or flavor, they sort of remind me of old-ladyish perfume mixed with a sickly sweet scent. Revlon products are very pricey in Switzerland, comparable to MAC prices, and for that price, I just wish their lip products tasted better. The lipsticks are passable, but the glosses taste like flavored plastic.

Still, the quality of the lipsticks and some of the glosses (especially the more colorful ones) are pretty good, and I can't wait to wear some of these colors especially for spring and summer.