Glow by Lady E

Tools of the trade:

I have a lot of brushes that I use everyday and for makeup gigs but if I were to choose just 5, here are my must-haves. First is my Sigma E70 or Medium Angled Shading Brush. I use this for contouring eye shadow and of course, applying eye shadow at an angle in my outer V. I also use this for contouring my nose. It’s a very versatile brush. Next is my Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow brush. This is one of my favorite brushes as it picks up the right amount of eye shadow every time and it glides on smoothly on my lids. I cannot live without my Bobbi Brown Eye Brow brush. I use powder eye shadow to fix my brows and this is the best brush I’ve used so far. I will be devastated if I lose this or when this breaks. I don’t think I can buy it individually. Next is my Bobbi Brown Foundation brush. I was actually thinking twice if I should include this in my must-have list but I thought about it and yeah, it should be there. In the absence of sponges, this is a good substitute. I use this to app...

Tools of the trade: Stila Palette, assorted brushes, Urban Decay Shadow Pencil in Deliquent, NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk, ELF Concealer/Highlighter Duo, ELF Primer

This is the ELF Cover Everything Concealer: It’s very affordable for less than Php150 plus I got this on sale at 20% off. There’s nothing special about this concealer. It works but I have to re-apply every now and then. For that price, you can’t expect much right? But for everyday use, this is a good concealer. I just don’t like the clay smell so I stopped using it. I used to put this in my makeup kit so I can have a midday touchup. I apply a combination of Benefit Boi-ing 1 and 2 at home then use this ELF concealer for touchups. This concealer also does not react too much to my acidic skin so that’s a plus for me. This is a good budget concealer to have in your stash. Oh, I also noticed that there are a lot of Filipinas that are not familiar with concealers. We carry a lot of concealers in Hyphen and in the store, a lot of customers ask me what the concealer sticks are for. I explain to them how it’s used and then they exclaim, “so that’s how actresses hide their eye bags...

This is still a continuation of the reviews of my ELF Haul. I have been intrigued by this product from the very first time I saw it. I just didn’t purchase right away because I have a love-hate relationship with ELF products. It was on sale at only Php224.80 so I finally got one. Some of the reviews I read did not like the concealer as they said it didn’t do a good job of hiding their dark circles. I don’t have dark under eyes so this product works for me. I love the fact that it’s light and doesn’t make that area look too cakey. I love that it’s in liquid form. I think liquid concealers are great especially for my under eye area as I can easily blend it. I make sure to wipe the applicator first before inserting it back into the tube to keep it clean. As for the highlighter, if you are looking for a cheap, everyday highlighter, I would recommend this. It does what it says on the box. It brightens the area where you apply it. I think I’m not used to liquid highlighters (exc...

What’s your favorite primer? Mine is Too Faced. Urban Decay comes second. I don’t like UD that much because the product dries up. It does not matter if it comes in the potion bottle or the tube. They dry up pretty quickly whereas the Too Faced primers last a long time without drying up. I have a lot of primers on stock but I was curious about the ELF Eyelid Primer. I thought I can use this for my budget clients. I got this on sale at Landmark for only Php116.80. If you need an everyday cheap primer, I recommend this. It’s a great product! I was even surprised by how well it performed. Some of the eyeshadows crease but I think that’s because I applied the shadows too soon. Let this dry first before applying. Or maybe it depends on the brand. The staying power is comparable to my UD and Too Faced primers but don’t expect the color to be that radiant by the end of the day. If you want your makeup to go from day to night then I suggest that you layer it and blend thoroughly...

Landmark had a cosmetics sale last month and I took advantage of it. I got some ELF products that I’ve been wanting to try. This is one of them. This costs around Php250 but I got it when it was 10% off. This is good value for your money even if it’s not on sale. The powder is supposedly translucent but it makes my undereyes too white. At first I was worried that with my acidic skin, this will turn out to be useless. Turns out, my acidic skin won’t affect it all. The trick is to apply just the right amount of powder, pat it and blend it. I also use this on other areas of my face to make my concealer last longer. I think if you put too much and you get your photo taken, the whites will really show so have a light hand when applying. Also, experiment with different concealers as some concealers when used with this product seeped into my fine lines and after a few hours, the lines were really visible so you have to do a bit of trial and error. This works best with my Benef...

I finally had the time to photograph a swatch of this liquid lipstick: As you can see, it’s too sheer, too nude for me. It’s like I’m just wearing clear gloss so yes, I’m not a big fan of this shade. I like the Strawberry shade better which I blogged about several days ago. Thankfully I got this on sale for only Php119. I now use this as gloss over some of my lipsticks. It’s also included in my October Cosmetics Set. hope I can finish at least one product. *Fingers crossed*

As mentioned in my previous post,  I will be grouping my cosmetics monthly so that I will be able to use all of them. If you only knew how much cosmetics I have! I really want to use and finish them all. So I hope I can have good results with this experiment. Here are my October Cosmetics: I know it looks chaotic but don’t worry! I grouped them and took individual photos. Let’s start with the face: I seriously need to finish my Laura Mercier cream foundation (Bamboo Beige). It’s hanging by a thread and I think I only have 3 uses left for this tube. Next is the Palgantong Powder in Pearl Beige. I haven’t used this yet although I have used it on my clients. Let’s see if it can at least live with my acidic face for a couple of hours. This Benefit That Gal primer is also hanging by a thread so I better finish it fast. Next is Benefit High Beam and ELF HD Undereye Setting Powder (to be blogged soon). Lastly, the Benefit Confessions of a Concealaholic kit. This is another produc...

A few posts back, I featured a haul I did during the ELF sale at Landmark. Here’s the Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Strawberry: I love this! I know there are a lot of negative reviews about this product but I am totally loving it. It's cheap (I only got it for Php119) and it has a clicking mechanism too! = ) The color payoff is nice and it lasts for a considerable amount of time. I think the secret to make it last is to have a good lip base. I used Carmex (review ni in the archives)  before swiping this. I’ll try to use this with my Etude House lip primer to see if it will work. I also like the applicator. It’s not harsh on my lips and delivers the right amount of product every time. I wipe it with tissue after application to clean it. I do that for my lip gloss applicators also. I have another one but this shade is my favorite. It has a bit of minty flavor which is not overwhelming. Just from the looks of it, you can already deduce that it’s sticky. When it’s a bit ...