~ ♥ Himegyaru/Marie Antoinette Hair Tutorial ♥ ~

Alright, both videos are up, happy styling! :D

Mini-rant - Dirty brushes etc.

I hate it when I see people using dirty brushes, grubby sponges, and especially blunt eyeliner or lipliner pencils in their makeup tutorials. You are trying to set a good example or at least inspire other people to use makeup in a better and more creative way, why do you present yourself in such an untidy manner? Even if you don't clean your brushes immediately before the tutorial, at least brush them a few times on clean tissue paper to remove whatever shadow or powder that is left on the brush. Sponges are supposed to be used slightly moist anyway, so there is no excuse in not using a pre-cleaned sponge. Most importantly, sharpening your pencils keep them hygienic and easy to use! You don't want something that is covered in bacteria anywhere near your eyes, do you?

Himegyaru Makeup Tutorial Video!

After slaving away at Ulead VideoStudio for 2+ hours, I finally finished the Himegyaru makeup tutorial video and got it up on Youtube!



The hair video will be posted as soon as it is done :D

Contest entry - Cosplay time!

Here is my entry for Eki's cosplay contest. I am cosplaying Mana from Malice Mizer, a Japanese rock guitarist. He (yes, this is a guy) is famous for popularizing the Gothic Lolita look, and has his own brand of clothing that he models himself.

Inspiration photo (actually my outfit is a replica of this look):

More photos:

Item used:

- Pale foundation
- White powder
- Black, blue and white eyeshadow
- Black and blue pencil eyeliner
- Black liquid eyeliner
- Grey eyebrow pencil
- Blue creme color (as lipstick)
- Black mascara
- Two pairs of false eyelashes

Wish me luck! :)

Black x White x Red Himegyaru (Tutorial Preview)

Here is my take on the "Himegyaru" Japanese fashion look, with my own twist thrown in. What is Himegyaru you ask?

Himegyaru is a very famous style, especially known in Tokyo/Harajuku. The girls are dressing up like a princess: Their hair is baggy at the top, curled at the bottom and mostly dyed blonde or brown. Ribbons are not only adorning their hair but their dresses, too- Himegyaru’s are famous for their expensive, velvet and cute clothes which are embroidered with laces and pearls. But the jewellery and accessories are only bought at famous brand stores (e.g. Liz Lisa), cell phones and cameras are overdone decorated and high heels plus dresses should fit the figure perfectly- those are the musts for being a real Himegyaru.
~from Nihon Watch

Basically, this is like a grown-up version of playing princess when you were a little girl, except with biiig hair and lots of cute and expensive dresses and accessories! All the poof and curls are my own hair by the way (except the bangs).

Some of you might think this makeup looks a bit freaky, and I agree too; I am actually channelling Shirosaki Himeka, a popular Himegyaru-style model and Ayumi Hamasaki lookalike. She always draws her lower eyeliner far away from her eyes and use dramatic false lashes to get the doll-like look.

Since I really hate how I look in pink, I did a black, white and red interpretation of the Himegyaru look instead. It seriously need more bows and frills though! XD


Want to learn how to do this look (makeup and hair)? Stay tuned for the video tutorial!

Fuchsia Lizard

This is a rock-bitch/kabuki-inspired look done with some loose eyeshadow that I have neglected for quite some time. I was going to do a tutorial for this look, but I kept forgetting to take pictures of the steps. :p

Have a nice closeup of the eye design:

I would wear this look to go clubbing or a rock concert, since it is quite eye-catching and dramatic. Need to work on my blend-fu though.

Creepy-smug smile lolz

Inspired by xppinkx, I decided to throw together an outfit and took some pics. My tummy need some serious toning. =___=

I applied thehe ring of clear and purple crystal on the camera myself!
The fur jacket is actually forest-green in person, but somehow it looks blue in every single photo, no matter the lighting.

Love my cheapass purple jeans (HK$69) and belt (HK$40)

Why hallo thar underboob

Brown and Black Eyeshadow Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to do this versatile brown-based eyeshadow look, using three colors. You can pair it with a bright lip like I did above for a glamorous look, or use a softer lip color like nude (see below for an example) or pink for daytime wear.

You will need:
- Matte black eyeshadow
- Shimmery brown eyeshadow
- A highlight eyeshadow in off-white or beige
- Black eyeliner pencil
- Mascara
- Brow color

Tools:
- Two small-ish eyeshadow brush
- One larger brush for applying the highlight
- One blending brush

Apply the matte black eyeshadow to the outer half of your eyelids, stopping a bit outside the outer corner of your eye.

Bring the black shadow down along your lower lashline, to the middle of your eye.

Apply the shimmery brown eyeshadow to the inner half of your eyelid, and blend the two colors together at the middle.

Put brown eyeshadow along the hollow of your socket, above both the brown and black eyeshadow that you just applied.

Using the blending brush, soften and blend out the brown overarching shadow that you just applied. This will prevent you from looking like a panda :D

Line your upper lashline with black eyeliner; if you like, you can also line your top waterline.

Apply the highlight eyeshadow to the inner corner of your eyes, and also blend it lightly along the bottom of your eyes and on your browbone as highlight. Curl your lashes and apply mascara.

Define your brows if needed, and you're done! It's very easy, isn't it?

Here I am wearing MAC Blankety lipstick, which tones down the makeup so it is suitable for everyday wear.

Compare this two pics and you can see how a bright lipstick can turn the look from day to night. Hope you like this tutorial! :)

FOTD (Sort of)

My makeup for the day is kind of too light to show up on camera, but I am wearing a light brown Lavshuca eyeshadow, Majolica Majorca mascara, MAC "Summer Rose" beauty powder as blush, and Lancome Juicy Tube in Strawberry (I think) on my lips.

I also put my hair in pseudo-retro twists :)

My sister gave me this top because she bought it on impulse but hated the color afterwards. My necklace is a tiny cupcake!

Lipstick Spectrum? XD

From the left: Freckletone, Blankety, Angel, A Rose Romance (all from MAC)

Hmm...seems that my lipstick spectrum is shifting from beige to pink XD

Mini-rant - Asian "Fake Crease" eye makeup

I have double eyelids (a crease or fold on the lids) naturally since I was about 6, and while double eyelids are aesthetically more pleasing to me, the "typical" Asian eyes with single eyelids/monolids can look very cute or elegant. Now, I have nothing against eyelid glue or tape at all, but I just hate hate HATE it when people, usually non-asian makeup artists, try to create a fake "crease" on models with monolids using eyeshadow and/or eyeliner, like this:

This is a milder example, but at the moment I cannot find a better pic via Google. It just looks so unnatural and ugly to me, I don't understand why people do that. What do you guys think? Is this "trying to be white/caucasian"?

EDIT: I realized that I might be a bit hypocritical here, since I do draw on a fake crease for my Mana cosplay makeup, but that's character-specific so it doesn't really count.

"Sultry Purple" Mini-tutorial + Product Review

Finally, I found time to do another tutorial! This purple-based look is inspired by songstresses from the glamourous past, but softened so it is still wearable without looking trashy. It is also my opportunity to show off my newly acquired Japanese cosmetics:

Kiss Me Active Girl Deep Black waterproof eyeliner, and Lavshuca Gradation Color Eyes palette in PU-1. I am very pleased with these two products so far! The liner glides on smoothly without clumps, and the thickness/pointy-ness of the line is easy to control. The eyeshadow is highly pigmented, blends easily, the purples are not too blue or red (I am very anal about purple cosmetics :p), and not overly sparkly that glitter flies everywhere when I use a brush.

From the top left:
- Highlight/sparkle color in very pale violet (cyan star)
- Silver-white shimmer shadow (white star)
- Lavender shimmer shadow (fuschia star)
- Purple liner shadow with slight glimmer (red star)

Here is what I did for this look (color code same as above):

- Lavender shadow (fuschia lines) on the whole eyelid except the outer V
- Purple shadow (red lines) on the outer V (along crease and lashline) and blended outwards to a point, as well as outer half of lower lash line (red dotted lines)
- Light application of purple shadow to the crease near the nose (red line)
- White shadow on browbone (white lines) and inner half of lower lash line (white dotted lines)
- Highlight color dabbed onto highest point of eyeball, on the inner C of the eyes near the nose, and on cheekbone (cyan lines)
- Black eyeliner along upper lash line, extended and winged slightly upwards at the outer corners, and on the inner corners of the eyes for added depth
- False Half-lashes on outer half of upper lashline to further extend the eyes outwards and upwards

Here is what the result should look like:


This look gives a lot of depth to your eyes, and looks best when you glance slightly downwards with your eyes half-closed, kind of bedroom-eye-ish. Here is a photo with my eyes opened all the way, and you can tell that it just doesn't looks as good =____=

Here are a few photos demostrating what I was talking about regarding the downcast-eye angle:

I am wearing Everyday Minerals Intensive Foundation in Fairly Light, no-brand grey brow pencil, MAC "Summer Rose" Beauty Powder on my cheeks, and a mixture of fuschia and purple lipgloss from Bourjois and Shu Uemura on my lips.

Hope you liked the mini-tutorial, and I will definitely try to take step-by-step photos next time.