Guest blog on Beauty By Arielle

Back in November, the lovely Arielle at Beauty By Arielle invited me to guest blog this month. Of course I say yes. Because I love her blog and her positive energy. She features a series of Beauty for the Soul posts that I really enjoy. Curious about what I did as her guest, please click here.

A sneak peak

Beauty Blogazons Weekly Roundup 11/30/2012

I know I know there is certain level of tardiness on my blog lately. My new projects have demanded quite a lot of my energy and time. Last week, the ladies of Beauty Blogazons have some wonderful posts. Enjoy everyone! 

• The Convenient Beauty: Despite its huge price tag, Tom Ford Narcissist Cheek Color has now become The Convenient Beauty's all time favorite blush.
• Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom: Looking for some older Zoyas to covet? Check out the four Destany features!
• Cosmetics Aficionado: Have you heard of Sation nail polish? For Better or Never might make you take notice.
• datyorkLOVES: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 Movie Review & Nails.
• TheFabZilla: Check out TheFabZilla's glittery pick from butter LONDON's holiday lips and tips combo. Yep, it makes a lovely present to your bestie!
• Midnight Manicures: Check out swatches of Zoya's Gilty Pleasures Limited Edition Trio which includes an 18k gold flaky top coat. Enter to win your own Zoya Gilty Pleasures Trio and 5 of Zoya's most popular nail treatments!
• Beauty by Miss L: Are The Body Shop Rainforest Moisture shampoo & conditioner Miss L`s new favorite haircare products?
• Crows’ Feet, Cupcakes, and Cellulite: Crows’ Feet, Cupcakes, and Cellulite profiles a revolutionary new polish that has everything built right in for a complete mani/pedi!
• Makeup Demon: Blue and purple smokey eyes makeup.
• Lola's Secret Beauty Blog: Lola's Secret Beauty Blog is entranced and captivated by the Susan Thompson Cosmetics Limited Edition Holiday Sets- they are simply stunning and infinitely affordable!
• The Beauty Think Tank: The Beauty Think Tank loves Illamasqua, so what happens when she tries out Skin Base Foundation? Only the blog post knows!
• My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog: Laura from My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog shows you the beautiful ghd Pink Cherry Blossom styler!
• Polarbelle: Have you heard of SaFloJo Nail Polish yet? Polarbelle would like to show you a Hidden Gem of a nail polish.
• The Passenger Element: nyx lip haul/swatches.
• Mama Fashionista: TotalBeauty.com's Beautygasm Box has great goodies to keep you looking good from head to toe (literally)! Mama Fashionista shares the details...
• Addicted to OPI-yum: Lovenailpolish wants you to know about the Most Beautiful Blue Nail polish she has ever seen. And she has seen a blue or two!
• Vicerimus : Follow Vicerimus, for she will lead the way to the white rabbit...or, at least, nails inspired by Alice in Wonderland.
• Sincerely Stephanie: Check out this week's Wal-Mart Wednesday for some glitzy glam nails that are perfect for the holidays!
• Beauty Professor: Already a fan of the Tom Ford Traceless Foundation Stick, the Beauty Professor shares swatches of all shades!
• Lipgloss Break: Angela from Lipgloss Break reviews the Clarisonic Mia 2!
• Baking Beauty: Does Maybelline's One By One really give clump free lashes?
• Love At First Site!: A holiday's "unpolished" look, just color and light coverage.

Review: L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Eternal Sunshine

This review was meant to be up shortly after I discovered my two favorite infallible eyeshadows (Liquid Diamond and Bronzed Taupe). But then I thought golden eyeshadows always felt festive to me. So I save Eternal Sunshine ($5.35 for 0.12 oz) for December :D. 

Like most shade of the infallible range, Eternal Sunshine is highly pigmented and fused with fine shimmer. It goes on my eye lids smoothly, blending seamlessly and easily into the skin. The texture is buttery smooth and soft without any fall-outs. An eye primer is needed for the eyeshadow to stay fresh for at least 8 hours.

What I love most is the color. Having brown eyes, I have really tough time to find subtle gold eyeshadows that don't bring out too much yellow in my eyes (and my skin too). Eternal Sunshine is a soft yellow gold that has warm undertone. It's just so chic and elegant. You can wear this color alone. My favorite combo is Burberry Taupe Brown and L'Oreal Eternal Sunshine. I think together they have the balance of warmth and coolness as well as shimmer and matte finishes.

Eternal Sunshine is highly frosted but in a subdued fashion, or in other words, in a high-end fashion. Drugstore brands have evolved remarkably in the past few years. While I love luxury cosmetics brands, L'Oreal (and Boots No 7) creates many wonderful products (their mascaras are my fav too) at competitive quality and price.

I would recommend you guys check it out at Kroger. They have 25% off several brands for a few months now. The price become lower than coupons from Ulta, CVS, Walgreens, Target or Walmart.

Bottom line. Superb! Highly recommended for all skintones. 

Review: Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup

I've been searching a winter foundation for a while now. Burberry Sheer Luminous comes really closed to an ideal foundation for my skin. A plethora of new foundations have recently entered the market and the hypes behind them intrigue me to test them all before settling with Burberry. 

So here is one of them. Urban Decay Naked ($38 for 1 oz) has that lightweight texture that glides on my skin effortlessly and smoothly. It dries in a natural finish that I love. It wears well for at least 4 hours then becomes quite dry on my skin. However, I feel like my skincare routine also contributes to how foundations behave. So I don't want to jump to conclusion that this foundation dries out my skin. It does feel dryer after hour 4 than when first being applied. 

UD Naked comes in 18 shades of two bases. The shades ending in 0.5 has pink undertone while those ending in natural number are yellow-based. Shade 4 is a good match for me if it doesn't turn peachy (surprised much!). So yes, oxidation is still the biggest challenge.

Bottom line. A decent foundation for a decent price. None but the texture impresses me.

Have you tried UD Naked? Does it oxidize on you? What brush do you use with it?

*****A side note on my skin and foundations*****

I have medium yellow undertone (MAC NC 25-30) with some redness on the cheek and dull skin on the chin. My face skin is nearly one shade deeper than the neck. I look for a foundation that match my neck skin to create a seamless transition from face to neck. I don't classify my skin as good but I don't have break out or major skin problems. Loads of foundations turn orangy or muddy on me within one to three hours of wearing. This is the frustration of finding a good foundation for my makeup.  

Four must-have traits of a good foundation for me

1. doesn't turn orange or muddy throughout the day
2. dries in natural finish
3. evens out the color and smoothes the skin (finely milled texture)
4. covers veins, discoloration, redness and minor dark spots

My guilty pleasure - Tom Ford Blushes

Chanel, Dior, Edward Bess, Guerlain, Tarte, and Nars all create great blushes that I love and wear frequently. None, though. None of those brand offers something like Tom Ford's Narcissist that convinces me to possess, not just for testing purposes, the rest of the blush range. None of them can drive me to the mall with a single thought in mind: Get all the permanent blushes as long as they look good on me. I cam home with four (reviews are coming).

New addition (clockwise): Savage, Flush, Ravish, Love Lust

Tom Ford's blushes have  the velvet finish that blends effortlessly seamlessly into the skin. This result is usually achieved far more easily with a cream blush, or well professional hands. They stay fresh for 10 hours on my combination skin until removed. The shimmer are as delicate as the powder itself and in no way cheesy. The quality and the shades of the blushes are so well-thought through that I'm willing to invest $55 per blush. By the way, this is in the range of Dior, Chanel and Guerlain eyeshadow palettes.

Now, I did skip Wicked and Frantic Pink. For different reasons.

Wicked is a cool pink with warm pink shimmer. When used lightly it looks rather similar to Narcissist only less "real" because it doesn't have such red-violet base that Narcissist does. If I didn't have Narcissist, Wicked would be a decent substitute. Since Narcissist is the blush I now use everyday, I just don't see a place for Wicked in my collection.

Frantic Pink is a soft light pink with golden shimmer. It looks beautiful on fair skin. It works more like a highlighter on my medium skin (MAC NC 25-30). Still gorgeous, yet Frantic Pink feels more suitable for young lovely girls, in my opinion. Not that I'm an old married woman but I want a more sophisticated shade. 

My current Tom Ford blush collection (clockwise): Savage, Narcissist, Flush, Ravish, Love Lust

I can't wait for new blushes from Tom Ford. Beside his fragrances, these are my favorite from the brand. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Have you ever gone crazy for a product range from any brand? Love to hear about your guilty pleasure too.