Face of The Moment: Rough Draft

Continuing with the theme of "Good Lord, what did Meimei do to her hair THIS TIME?":

I want to like this picture. Really, I do. But I just can't abide the sad state of all that hair: the stray strands, the haphazardly pinned bangs. And did I mention that my foundation does NOT look like it's been properly blended here? Good gravy. Let us not even discuss all that sweat and humidity threatening to melt off my face here.

Had the hair and makeup deities actually been in a more collaborative mood that morning, the end result would have looked a little more like this:


God bless those folks from Taaz - this may have been a rough job, but at least it's not like I've attacked my own photo with a digital Sharpie a la Perez Hilton.

Anyhoodles, this look is actually my own personal homage to Alexander Wang's collaboration with Shiseido, and I'm still working on getting that look right. So, instead of telling you exactly what I used here, I'll recommend a few products that I'm familiar with... which you, too, can use to create the desired effect.

- Foundation: L'Oreal Bare Minerale Pressed Powder in Sun Beige. Here it looks like I attacked my face with a powder puff - and sometimes, when I really do need to do my face in this humidity, I put mineral powder on a puff first before buffing with a kabuki brush later - but I've found since then that oil-blotting sheets (like the ones from Clean and Clear) would've been better allies against all that sweat, regardless of the foundation used.

- Blush: Here I used Everyday Minerals blush in Salon Fun along with a little Maybelline Mineral Power pressed powder in Tan for contouring, but any mineral blush can work here - you want glowy, but not disco-ball-y.

(Which reminds me: Check out this post from Manila beauty blogger Beauty Coach on Maybelline mineral blushes, which are available here under the Clear Smooth Minerals line. Yay mineral blush!)

- Primers: Eyelids get MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly; lips get Alba Botanica Hawaiian Passionfruit Nectar SPF 8 lip balm.

- Mascara: Maybelline Colossal Volum'Express in Glam Black

- Eyeliner: Jordana pencil in black (very basic, and any other black one will do)

- Eyeshadows: Well, this is going to be tricky, so be patient with me. All I used here are a combination of neutral-y powders: a pale beige shimmer, a tan or peach for contour, a bronze for the lid and a plummy shade for the outer lid. Since I have scads of those shades at hand, to the point where they all blend together, you can seek them out at any line... or you can start with the recommendations below:

• Shiseido: Maquillage Alexander Wang quad in BR364 (pictured here)
• MAC: Eyeshadow X 4 in Notoriety (from the Makeup Art Cosmetics/ Richard Philips collection)
• Benefit: Big Beautiful Eyes, available in the Philippines through Tamera Online
  
• Stila: Wheat, Barefoot Contessa, and Twig - and, since the peach shade I used here (Icon) has been discontinued in the US, feel free to substitute the light brown Champara instead

- Brows: Equally tricky, since I was using a pencil for this one. So I'll go ahead and recommend ELF's Eyebrow Kit in Dark, which should be available locally at PCX stores.

- Lips: The liner here is Rose Brown from NYX; if you can't find it, I'd recommend MAC's Cremestick in Sublime Culture or Revlon Colorstay in Nude. And the lipgloss used here is Clinique Long Last Glosswear in Mystic.

Result: polished and pretty - and not to mention, versatile too.