It happened again and I couldn’t believe how lucky and fortunate I was! This time I felt so much more prepared as I had a costume I truly felt proud of to show off (I was Xiao Qiao from Dynasty Warriors 6) I was recently interviewed and did a photo shoot for a small article on cosplay for The Summer Age (a Melbourne newspaper). After the interview I did for The Age last time, I didn’t think an opportunity like this would come around again so I was absolutely thrilled when it did.

My article was finally published last Saturday and I wanted to share some scans with my readers, especially those who don’t live in Melbourne and were keen to read the article. Be warned, they misspelt my name Which seems to happen a lot! Always Celine, not Celina~

Click the image above for a much larger version that should be readable

I even got them to mention Fables in the article Which I’m extremely happy about since I’ve found it is pretty hard to get any sort of blog publicity in print (even if it’s only a tiny mention hehe). I will be posting about the behind the scenes shoot for this article next week

Welcome to probably my favourite look in the series thus far, despite missing the mark quite considerably, I’m happy enough to make it a chapter in my book and work on to becoming hopefully better Another reason this look is so special is because it’s officially the first video to hit my “new” YouTube channel! I created the look for a competition, and have decided it would make for a great first video~ I plan on uploading a tutorial version soon so be sure to subscribe for hopefully many more videos in the future!

I only just opened up my video editting tool for the first time two days ago and so everything is still very new to me, and I know there is much room to improve with regard to my video editting skills! So much to learn too! Let me tell you one thing, major props to the big youtubers to make amazingly complexed videos, it is -not- easy at all, very time consuming.

Videos most likely will take an extra long time to make since currently my music is custom made, yes! Special thanks to Surfaced Music for creating the stunning music for my video, such an insanely talented musician~ Since I am a pianist, I fully intend to produce my own music too, of course my music will be pure piano instead XD; I love creating works of art, productions! (This doesn’t mean I am not willing to use other people’s music, please contact me if you are a musician and are interested in collaborating in the future)

I work extra hard to ensure all my content is unique, original, entertaining and creative and I really hope you guys enjoy it all

Be sure to check out Surfaced Music’s website and YouTube channel, where you will be able to find lots more of his original music

Oh and the photos that are blue, was all thanks to simply changing the white balance No fancy image editing~ I liked the blue effect, made me look “cool”. Pun totally intended.

Face
MAC Prep + Prime
NARS Sheer Glow Foundation – Gobi
NARS Powder Bronzer – Laguna
NYX Mosaic Powder – Highlighter
MAC Full Coverage Foundation – White
Revlon PhotoReady Translucent Finisher
Australis Intensif Eye – Out of the Blue

Eyes
NARS Smudge Proof Eye Shadow Base
Savvy by DB – Shimmering Slate
MAC Fluidline Blacktrack
L’Oreal Extra-Volume Collagene – Noir
Shu Uemura Eye Lash Curler
DUO Lash Glue
False Lashes
Blue Circle Lenses

Lips
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer – Beige

Face
Prime your face, and apply a liquid foundation 1-2 shades lighter than your natural skin tone to the upper 3/4 of your face. Contour your face with a soft bronzer and highlight any areas with a matte white powder. Next take a white cream foundation and dab it all over the lower 1/3 of your face, to your temples, down your neck, on the lower 1/4 of your ears and creeping towards your shoulders and chest. Next set everything with a translucent powder.

Take a dark aqua eye shadow and slowly apply it over the white cream foundation. Makes sure to blend blend blend.

Next take a sharp angled brush, and start drawing “cracks” on your face, I googled images of ice cracking to help me along. Then take the same aqua eye shadow and add shadowing to each of the cracks.

Eyes
Prime your lids, then apply shimmering white eye shadow all over the lid, inner corner of your eye and brow bone. Take the aqua colour and work it into your crease and lower lash line. Then take a black eye shadow and work it into the outer corner of your eyes and slightly over your lower lash line.

Next take a black gel liner and line your upper lash line, wing it out. Take a pencil black eyeliner and line your water line. Curl your lashes, apply mascara then apply your false eyelashes.

Make sure to fill in and extend your brows, we want your eyes to be strong and stand out against all the ice.

Lips
Apply concealer over your lips, then dab some of the aqua eye shadow on the center. This should all help dry out your lips, and give you a more deathly look.

Be sure to check back, I’ll be linking my first video here very soon

So if you follow photography in the cosplay scene, or you read the Digital Photography School then you may have heard of my friend Neil Creek~ A talented photographer who I first met many years ago at Manifest (I forget which year).

Neil is honestly one of the hardest working and most passionate people I’ve ever met, we recently did a shoot (I’ll post photos soon!) and to see him in action made me respect his work all the more. He really went all out to ensure the models were comfortable, and was incredibly professional and warm This guy works hard for and deserves every cent he gets, a rare thing today!

So when he asked whether he could feature me on the cover of his second book, how could I say no!?

If you have an invested interest in photography, then I’d recommend checking out both of Neil’s books. Not only are his books informative, but if you need additional support, via email or twitter he is very approachable and always willing to answer anyone’s questions regarding photography!

I know that every time I do have a question, both he and Elias are my go to photographers and I can see the sheer passion for photography each time I talk to them. (How motivating is it to be surrounded with positive and passionate people?) Not only that, but as friends, these two are always encouraging me to pursue new heights Thank you for the constant support <3

Check out Neil's new book at Digital Photography School, I’ve already had a quick read through and it’s a very useful book! They have an early bird special running at the moment where you get 25% off too!

_{I know image has absolutely nothing to do with this post, it’s a photo I took of the candy I’m currently rotting my teeth on, enjoy!}

So occasionally after releasing a review or post, time will pass and I’ll realise that I’ve now either changed my mind or realised somethig new about the product I feel needs to be noted on the original post. I thought it might be useful to bring to your attention the posts I have updated lately, rather than updating them and have them be forgotten completely~

Below are the posts I have updated as of today!

Revlon Grow Lucscious Mascara
The formula did not last as long as I had originally hoped (or as most mascaras do) and so have revisied the review to reflect this disappointing fact.

Deluxe Manicure? Really?
At the time I didn’t want to name the salon, and really I have no idea why. If I’m willing to rave and name, then why shouldn’t I be able to rant and name too? So I’ve added the name of the salon, hopefully that will help others in the future.

Essie Art of Spring 2010 Nail Swatches
Added swatch for Tart Deco, now the collection is complete!

Savvy by DB Luxury Liner
Updated with a more accurate swatch image, and added Glitzy Gold.

That’s it for now, probably in another 6 months to a year I may have to create another one Hope that helps!

Currently I am on the hunt for the perfect eyeliner, something that is compact, easy to apply, feels gentle on my eye lid and gives me an intense black precise line. Unfortunately I am still searching, but I thought I’d do a quick review / comparison of two NYX liners I managed to trial

First up is the NYX Felt Tip Liner, which is essentially a pen liner. Take the lid off and go.

Second is the NYX Liquid Eye Liner, which comes with a thin small brush that you dip into a tube of the product.

I’ve decided to do a point form comparison, else this post would become way too wordy.

• Liquid Eye Liner gives a much more intense pigmented black line than the Felt Tip Liner.
• Felt Tip Liner dries much faster than the Liquid Eye Liner.
• The Felt Tip Liner’s tip is very sharp and hard, with almost no “give”, which means whilst it can give a lovely precise line and is easy to control it can actually be physically painful to apply .
• The Liquid Eye Liner’s tip is much more gentle to the eye, though can be more difficult to control than the Felt Tip Liner.Not as makeup “beginner” friendly.

Next on my NYX eye liners to try probably will be the fat and skinny liners, has anyone else tried them before?

A while back I posted about my love for the OPI Mini Polishes (that photo brings back memories especially since I only own like 2-3 of those bottles now, gave the rest away!) and how awesome the concept of mini nail polish bottles are, just because how many of us finish up an entire bottle of nail polish? Very few, so it makes sense, especially for more “branded” nail polishes to purchase smaller bottles.

Proud to let you guys know that ORLY is doing the exact same thing! (I think Essie is too but I haven’t been able to get my hands on any). I decided to grab a few bottles for myself and show you some swatches!

Normal sized bottles give you 15ml, the miniatures are 5.3ml.

Gumdrop

A peppermint green creme, very opaque, this is 3 coats without a top coat.

Lemonage

A light almost fluro lemon yellow creme, it really does pop on the skin! It’s certainly a fun, less than conservative colour, not sure it’d be a colour I frequent though! 3 coats, no top coat.

Pink Lemonage

Okay, this is a colour I could frequent. It’s a semi-transparent pink with lovely micro shimmers scattered throughout the formula. Pictured here is 3 coats, but I think I actually prefer it with 2. 1 coat would look amazing on any other pink polishes, it has that “jelly” look to it. Right now I’m really loving the jelly look in nail polishes.

These polishes sell for $7.95AU at most chemists, or you can buy them online.

This look was taken / inspired from Ke$ha’s “We R Who We R” music video. When I saw the blue (my favourite colour), the glitter and how “hard edge” the look was, it instantly landed on my list of looks to do. It is a bit of a “tired” look, I really struggled to make myself appear awake, I swear I’m not sleepy in these photos!

Also the look is intentionally “dirty”, it is Ke$ha after all

Unfortunately the blue glitter I used was not the correct shade Can’t believe how hard it is to find a solid saturated blue eye glitter, luckily after a bit of digging I found some NYX cream glitters that were least blue~ Hope you enjoy the look!

Face
MAC Prep + Prime
Maybelline Super Stay Makeup 24hrs Nude *
Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder – Light
Rimmel Natural Bronzer – Sun Bronze

Cheeks
Canmake Highlighter – 01
NYX Eye Shadow – Brown
Rimmel Quad Eye Shadow – Smokey Noir

Eyes
MAC Paint Pot – Painterly
Lime Crime Pixie Dust – Shoe Addict
BH Cosmetics 120 Colors Palette – 1st Edition
Milani Crystal Eyez – Delightfully Dazzling
Red Earth Glitter – Silver
NYX Glitter Cream Palette – Ocean Breeze
Maybelline Falsies – Very Black
Shu Uemura Eye Lash Curler
False Lashes

_{Products marked with a * were sent to me.}

Face
Prime your face, apply liquid foundation 1-2 shades darker than your current shade and then set with a bronzer.

Cheeks
Add additional bronzer to your cheeks, then lightly pat on some black eye shadow. Smudge it out with your fingers, we want a dirty look here. Dust on some shimmering white highlighter to your cheek bones. Contour and highlight your nose.

Eyes
Prime your eyes, then pat on some blue pigment, bring into your crease and then wing out almost all the way to your hair line. Apply some to your lower lash line too. Take a light blue eye shadow and soften the edges of the pigment. Take a black shadow and apply to the outer corner of your eyes. Line your upper lash line with a black gel liner.

Take some silver glitter and apply to the inner corner of your eyes, then apply a blue glitter under your eyes as seen in the photos.

Curl your lashes, add mascara and then apply your false lashes.

Fill in and extend your brows with a black eye shadow. Dust a tiny bit of blue eye shadow to your brows.

Lips
Apply any lip balm to prevent your lips from becoming too dry. Then apply the blue pigment all over the lips, followed by a blue glitter and silver glitter.

Pros:

• Highly pigmented
• Comes with a mirror
• Powder glides on effortlessly
• Comes with a brush

Cons:

• Packaging can make it difficult to finish product
• Packaging is slightly bulky

Price: $28US / $48AU

Rating:

Where: Benefit Cosmetics and Myer.

This is probably one of Benefit’s most pigmented pink blushes, which would explain why I was so keen to try it out upon its release.

Bella Bamba is highly pigmented, all you need is to tap the tip of your brush into the pan to give you a rosy flush. This means two things, it’s a buildable colour and a little goes a long way. It’s a deep pink colour, that kinda reminds me of a NARS Deep Throat? I don’t personally have Deep Throat so I can’t be sure

The box for Bella is different from the traditional powder boxes from Benefit, in that you can’t remove the lid completely and it comes with a mirror too.

Generally speaking, I love and hate the packaging for Benefit blushes. It’s very cute, and has space for a brush, but having the product sit so deep in the pan makes it hard to access the remainder of the product as you are running out.

Overall, give this blush a shot, or at least test it in person! The colour isn’t overly unique (what pink really is at this point?) and I’d imagine many beauty bloggers probably already a colour similar to it, but it’s certainly a quality product worth a go

Eyes are my favourite facial feature overall! And according to most other beauty bloggers, seems to be the focal area when people are doing tutorials or FOTDs! So here are some of my favourite ways to achieve even bigger brighter looking eyes!

1) Line the upper lash line with a dark eyeliner
Why? Helps makes the lash line appear larger.

2) Line the waterline with a peach or white eyeliner
Why? From a glance, it makes the whites of your eyes seem to extend a bit more and softens the edge of your eyes.

3) Curl your lashes and wear mascara
Why? It helps open up your eyes, literally making your eyes appear bigger.

4) Wear false lashes.
Why? Same as number 3, only to a greater extent!

5) Wear a medium to dark eye shadow to the crease.
Why? Gives off the illusion of larger eye sockets as well as larger eyelids.

6) Add light shimmering eye shadows to the inner corner of your eyes.
Why? Brings in more light to the eyes, makes them appear larger and brighter.

7) Add a light eye shadow to the brow bone.
Why? Helps create shadows, depth and definition to the eyes.

Let me know if you have any more tips! I’ve found the 7 above to work best for me whilst working through my Book of Fables series~

FYI, because I was asked recently, I don’t wear brown contact lenses in any Book of Fables, my eyes are naturally light brown. I know, I’m the reject asian :/

Pros:

• No smudging
• Long easy to use wand

Cons:

• Neither volumising nor lengthening
• Contaminated brush
• Chemical smell

Price: $4.75AU

Rating:

Where: K-Mart and The Reject Shop.

I’ve been keen to get my hands on some BYS products ever since I learnt it was an Australian brand, and after discovering Savvy by DB I thought this could be another great discovery waiting to happen. And it looks like it may need to wait a while longer because I don’t have many positives to give the mascara.

This is their Extreme Volume and Lengthening Mascara in Black, and it didn’t deliver at all in terms of volume nor length. Just judging from my swatch photo, the mascara really didn’t do anything except clump my natural lashes together to simulate definition, which means it actually doesn’t provide any real definition at all.

One of the things that seriously grossed me out was how contaminated the formula seemed to be, as you can see below the brush was just coated in random fluff. I had to clean the brush a few times before I dared swatch this mascara.

A positive is that this mascara doesn’t smudge at all, it lasted an entire day without coming off. But honestly, there are plenty of other mascara that won’t smudge and at least gives some volume and length.

Overall, skip this mascara. I know the price may be tempting, but it will only be a waste of money.