Some of my fave items at the moment and an update on me

Hi everyone...if there's anyone out there still following me. I'm so sorry for being MIA for so long. I've had a lot on my plate in the last little while and I've been terrible at time-management (lame I know.) Let's see...Back in May I started at new job at a boutique called Queens in Vancouver doing nail art, started a new tumblr blog just for said nail art, I started working for an agency, Nobasura, as a manicurist, while trying to take a few clients from home, managing playdates for the kids and just trying to keep up with the housework and meals. Oh and not being a zombie when my husband tries to carry a conversation with me. Whew. Just listing this makes me tired. Plus I wasn't inspired with my makeup anymore. Anyway, enough of the pity party, the point of this update is to let you all know that I've missed blogging and I wanna try to make more time for it! I've got a list of post ideas and I'm hoping to be able to manage my time to be able to get them out there for you guys :)

So, maybe I haven't been inspired to do anything special with my makeup but that doesn't mean that I haven't been wearing any. That would just be ridiculous. I wanted to show you guys some of my fave products at the moment that I use everyday:

So I've been loving, all from MAC: Face and Body foundation in C4, Mineralized Blush in Superdupernatural, Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium Dark, Pro Longwear concealer in NC35, Fast Response Eye Cream. Also Shu Uemura's Hard Pencil in Seal Brown and Maybelline Lash Stiletto waterproof mascara in black.

I use all but one of these products everyday, but that doesn't mean I love that one product any less. Here's a little rundown on why I love each of these products...By the way, this might be long. Just a warning.

MAC Face and Body foundation: I kept hearing about this product from everyone in the beauty world. With this foundation it seems like either you love it or hate it. I happen to love it. I used to always buy full coverage foundations in an attempt to cover up my spider veins and my hyperpigmentation, which happen to look like freckles on steroids on my cheekbones. But very recently I've realized that for the most part, my skin is pretty good and I really just have pigmentation issues on my cheeks. And when I buy full coverage foundations it seems so difficult to find a foundation that really perfectly matches my skintone. Plus it is just way too much coverage for the rest of my face when it doesn’t need it. So I bought this foundation to basically give me sheer coverage and I depend on my concealer to do the real coverup work. I basically use it to give my face a uniform looking colour. Some women can get away with a little bit of concealer but because I have such a large part of my face to conceal (from upper cheekbones down to my jawbone, pretty much) and with layering the concealer to get the coverage I need it just looks fake on that part of my face. With the face and body foundation, it has quite a bit of slip to its consistencey so it seems to work with my heavy duty concealer to look more like my skin. It lasts all day on me, it has a nice dewy effect if I don't use powder but looks great with powder on top, too. And it feels nice on my dry skin. Plus you get a ton of product. And most likely because of how sheer it is, it matches really well with my colouring. I think in a month's time or so I may need to go to a C3...but I can actually go back and forth between the 2 colours now so I think that's a testament to how well these foundations can blend into your skintone. Love this foundation and glad I found it cuz heavens know I've been looking.

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer: This concealer lasts all day (duh, pro longwear) and I like that it looks like skin. I can layer it to get the coverage I want but it doesn't get cakey looking if applied correctly. I'm sick of using thick creams to get the coverage I need. The way I like to apply this product is with my Illamasaqua highlighter brush. I'll put a small amount on the back of my hand, dip the brush in the product and then I'll buff it into the area I need coverage. Then I'll wait a minute for the product to set and then I'll get more product on the tip of my brush and I'll stipple it onto where I need more coverage. Dabbing until it is all blended out. Now obviously this is not going to work for those of you who only need to spot correct. I would suggest using a blending brush like the MAC 224 for this.

MAC Mineralized Skinfinish: This is the only powder that my skin is liking these days. For whatever reason we had a falling out this summer when I would apply it and it would just turn a bit pinkish on me, which I attribute to the oiliness of my skin and all the spf in my moisturizers, but it seems my skin has neutralized and we're friends again. It's the only powder that doesn't make my skin seem dry and powdery. I think that winter is wreaking havoc on my skin and this powder gives more of a skin-like finish (again, duh...Mineralized Skinfinish) instead of a matte look which can make a dry skinned gal look yucky. I use a big flat top kabuki and use it like a stamp. I "stamp" the brush onto the powder a few times and then I "stamp" it onto my face only on the areas that have been concealed. Then if there are places that have excess shine I'll take whatever is left on the brush and lightly sweep it onto those areas.

MAC Mineralize Blush in Superdupernatural: I've had this blush for a long time now. I kind of forgot about it and then while cleaning out my makeup stash, I came across it and remembered how much I loved it. It's a natural looking colour on my tan skin, but I think it's a colour that would work on most people. You can definitely build it up if you need more colour or wear a light layer of it for a less dramatic look or if you have fair colouring. It's got shimmer to it, but nothing that makes you look like you have chunks of glitter all over your face. More like a built in highlighter. That's how it looks on me anyway. And it seems to work with whatever colours I'm wearing on my face that day. Doesn't seem to clash with anything.

MAC's Fast Response Eye Cream: Now this is the item I don't use everyday, but I love it all the same. I suffer from allergies to...well, pretty much everything. I suffer from hayfever in the spring, in the fall when all the leaves fall and start to mold I get my allergies, I'm allergic to animals, I'm allergic to lots of fruit...so much so that once when I was cutting up an apricot for my daughter to eat and some of the juice flew up into my eyes, they swelled up like baseballs. No joke. And what do I do when I get allergies and my eyes are swollen and grody? I use this product. Now obviously I'm talking the skin around my eyes not my actual eyeballs okay? So if I wake up and my eyes look all crazy, I wash my face with ice cold water, apply this stuff on my lids and under my eyes (in these moments, I use more than I would normally use for an everyday eye cream) and then I make myself a coffee and then continue on with my makeup routine. By the time I get to applying my eye makeup, most if not all of my puffiness has subsided. I've been using this stuff for a long time now. You have a fight with your man and you're crying your eyes out before bedtime? Slather this stuff on your eyes before you go to sleep and you'll thank me in the morning. Trust.

Shu Uemura Hard Pencil: This thing is like magic. I remember checking it out at the Shu Uemura counter at Holt Renfrew and I was trying to swatch it on my hand like a mad woman. Nothing. Not a line, no colour whatsoever. The makeup artist sensing my distress came over and told me that it doesn't work on your hand. It has to mix with the natural oils on your brows. wtf. Serious? What is this hocus pocus you speak of? But me being the curious little cat I am had to buy it. I think it was something like $30...something like that anyway. Ridiculous for a brow pencil, but the price of it intrigued me more. It MUST be good I thought. So she grabbed me a pencil in my colour and took me to the counter, then proceeded to tell me that I can bring it back anytime to be sharpened because there's a specific shape it comes in. Don't know if you can see in my pic above, but it is wide and slanted from one angle, but turn it on it's side and it's thin. I thought this is too much trouble for nice brows, but at this point I was invested. So I paid for it and ran straight for the store's bathroom. Had to try it. And you know, she was right. Totally worked on the brow, not the hand. And it's a hard pencil so it doesn't get smushy. You can't really overdraw your brows with it and it looks really, really natural. I mean, I don't really ever use my Bobbi Brown boar hair brow brush anymore and that's saying a lot. It was my HG item for brows and it has been completely replaced along with any of my fave brow powders for this expensive, hard to sharpen, only available at one makeup counter in the entire province (that I know of) pencil. I love it with a passion. And I would pay double for it. I love it that much.

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Waterproof: This is the mascara with the weird, uneven looking brush that is supposed to lengthen. I don't know if all the Lash Stiletto wands are like this now but I swear the ones I used to get weren't like this. Anyway, I like this one. It really does grab at the lashes and makes them seem longer. But that's not really the reason I like this mascara. I mean, I don't think they make my lashes look shiny or tapered. I like this mascara because I have shit straight asian lashes that don't like to stay curled. I'll curl them and they look great. Perfect curl. Then I'll add mascara and most mascaras make them go limp like they've just found out their dog died. But not this mascara. This one keeps my lashes just as curled as before I added mascara if that makes sense. I'm sure it will for those of you out there who have this problem too. Other mascaras that work for me are the orange covergirl one. You know the one...I can't remember what's it's called. Lashblast I think. And Dior Show, but apparently it contains perfumes in the formula which caused my eyeballs swell up to baseballs (yes, another thing I'm allergic to...whip out the eye cream! STAT!) I go back and forth between this and the orange Lashblast, but I've been buying this one more for whatever reason.
Okay that was a ridiculously long post for someone with admitted time management skills. Where did I find the time to type all this out?? Haha, do any of you out there use these products? Do you guys love them, like them or hate them?

Anyway, hopefully I can keep up with the blogging cuz I’ve missed all you guys and I’ve missed the makeup too! But bear with me, I'm trying to get the hang of this again. Even taking pictures of those product seemed more difficult than I remember. Oh dear...