"The Flawless Face"

B and I got ourselves made up at the Laura Mercier counter event at Holts today. It was alright -- I called in earlier and asked whether I could have an earlier appointment as I had to be at Renfrew at 6:30 (our appt was at 5:30) to go for dinner w/ my g-rents, but the lady assured me it'd only be half an hour (even though someone told B it'd be 1 hour before!) So I thought I was safe... until 6:30 rolled along and my dad called, wondering where I was. I was still at Holts! AIya.

Anyway, the lady who did my makeup didn't seem as experienced as the others (though she gave off a confident air when I first met her) - they had special makeup artists come in just for the event. I sat in those high, white stools in the aisles of Holt's cosmetics section. First, the lady took off whatever makeup I was wearing (just a light sweep of MAC Studiofix + mascara), and explained what was in each of the products. They had emu oil in something... and I was like "what?! Emu? Like the ANIMAL?"

Yes. Emu, the animal. Then she applied a primer and then mixed their illuminator formula with a tinted moisturizer in "nude". Then she mixed some concealer and dabbed it around the corner of my nose (I believe it's called "secret camouflage" and "secret concealer")... and mixed some other creamy base to lighten up my undereye area. She also put a cream base on my eyelids and showed me that it would make the eyeshadow colour richer. Neat-0. The foundation and concealer weren't heavy, but I could feel it when I touched my face. Thennnn where it went all wrong. She asked me what sort of eye I'd like, and I said, after glancing at the eyeshadow palette, that I wanted a smokey eye in their green colour, St. Germain (which, the lady kept on saying "St. German"...) just like the one the gorgeous lady who did B's makeup had on. Buuut it didn't turn out very well... it was uneven unfortunately and it was so dark it looked like I got punched in both eyes (seems like a trend among smokey-eyed-wanting asians..... sometimes it makes me want single eyelids just so I can pull this look off better!) and it wasn't the jewel green I had envisioned. So, my lady got B's lady to fix it. My lady didn't understand why some parts of my eyelid grabbed onto colour more than others lol so B's lady asked if I drank alcohol (LOL) 'cause apparently alcohol does that to skin... no idea. Butchea, B's lady did a quick job, but it looked pretty good - very simple 'cause, being Asian, I don't have much eyelid to work with. Oh yea - the head lady came by and told my lady to give me tight-line (which is lining the root of my lashes, giving the illusion of thicker lashes) and then thick eyeliner in caviar.. and told me never to leave the house without blush (yay - I love love love blush!) I think she could/should have darkened my eyeliner (I'm used to thick thick dark eyeliner) but it would make my look a lot harsher. A dab of blush and a wash of Lilac "stickgloss" lipgloss later, I was done. I thought the lipgloss was the best part -- very smooth and smells gooood, but at $30, I'll have to think about it. Packaging is pretty ok xept their concealers are in the same tube as their lipglosses so I found that to be confusing... especially since some ppl like nude-coloured lipglosses...

For the sake of amusement, I've quickly compiled a bunch of sel-ca pics post-Laura Mercier.
And since I had the camera out, I took a picture of my BCBG 'famous' sandals!! Love them, so comfy. I just need an occassion to wear them now haha

That scar is still healing.. aiya it's been over a year and it's still not completely gone.

OH! And I tried that $2 Charcoal Facial mask from Daiso the other day!
It's so interesting -- you slather it evenly on your face and then wait 10-15 minutes for it to dry completely. It's completely black and smells good! Only thing is that it took a bit of scrubbing to get off my hands after applying - I didn't know that it was peel-off mask. I thought I would have to wash it off with water... so I was a little uh-oh... my face will be in pain if I have to scrub as hard as my hands. It was an amazing experience taking it off!! The whole thing came off as one sheet -- it was a lot like stripping the first layer of your skin. On my nose, it acted like a biore nose strip and you could see the porcupine-like white heads. Gross but effective! My face was so soft afterwards 'cause I think it takes all the dead skin away when you peel. It's been 2 days and I still haven't gotten any zits so I believe it works? I saw this on Soompi - mixed reviews, but thought I'd give it a try. It's made in Korea. I only covered the bottom half of my face with it - there's a lot left. I think I can do another 5 facials at least. Will buy again once I'm done.

Must read. Busy busy busy weekend! Quiz on Monday and 1st draft of project due Wednesday!