Window Lass

Remember my fun MAC Morning? Well, that afternoon, I had a few shots taken by my friend Andy and here are some of the pictures

Click for a larger version and up-close sight on the face. Andy's style is very candid and unique, and he captures each frame and creates a story with his shots. He's also a very good videographer and he documents everyday life and our shoots with video. When I asked him what software he uses to edit, he smiles and tells me it's Windows Movie Maker and not high-end software, yet his works are at par with international pegs.

I love how natural the mood is - natural light, natural mood, free, and living instead of pose-y. He tells me his favorite set consists of a good source of natural light, a bed, and a window. Simple but high impact.

Photo credits:

• Model: Bambi de la Cruz
• Photographer: Andrian Jutba
• Makeup: Jarwin Manosa of MAC

My Red Eyeshadow Tutorial

Red eyeshadow is rare on makeup counters and personal makeup kits. For one thing, red on the eyes is quite tricky to wear, its presence usually on high fashion shoots and shows. It can make the eyes look puffy if not worn properly and with a very strong color such as red, it might be a challenge to wear too. Heck on the lips quite many have a hard time wearing it, what more on the eyes?

With that in mind, I came up with a tutorial on how to wear red eyeshadow without looking too weird. I came up with an easy technique of doing smoky red eyes. Of course, makeup like this is too strong to wear on the office, so wear this on gimmick nights, parties, or days when you feel like wearing red on your eyes (and I'm not talking about conjunctivitis, okay?).

First of all, since the color red could accentuate redness and uneven tones on the skin, it's best to make a clean canvas. After prepping the skin, apply foundation and concealer. Set everything with powder.

I opted to include blush first so I chose a peach-pink mineral blush on the apples of my cheeks for a natural and warm glow (Elegant Minerals in Peaches and Cream)

Frame the eyes with a strong pair of brows. I'm using here Shu Uemura eyebrow gel in Seal Brown, which gives a natural but strong definition. I like the ashy brown color since it fits most Asian tones.Now here's the eye makeup. First, I prepped the eye with an eye color base for the eyeshadow to have something to hold on to. Some girls prefer wetting the brushes but I really prefer applying the eyeshadow dry or at least with a primer or creme shadow base. The wet technique can contaminate the makeup with the moisture (moisture breeds bacteria) so invest on a good eyeshadow primer or base, as this will save your makeup from wet application contamination. I used here Laura Mercier eye basics in eye bright.

For the eyes, I dabbed my eyeshadow brush (stiff bristles deposit more color) on my matte red eyeshadow and applied this at the center of my lid (A). For the contour, I dabbed a coppery bronze eyeshadow on the crease area (B) as shown. As the colors look imperfect and clumsy, the solution for this is to blend the colors real well so they end up looking seamless (C). Highlight the brow with a warm gold color and don't forget to blend. I didn't highlight the inner corners of my eyes as they could accentuate my wide-set eyes. (products: MAC Cabared Red, Dreammaker, and Glamour Check! eyeshadows).

Finally, for more definition, I lined and tightlined her eyes with soft black pencil and smudged it to get it in between the lashes. Black eyeshadow with shimmer was used to set the pencil to prevent travelling (products: MAC Eye Kohl in Feline and eyeshadow in Mont Black) of eyeshadow.

For flirty fringes, curl lashes and apply mascara.

Strong and bold eyes like this go with a nude and natural lip so I kept my lips moist by applying Lip Conditioner in Popster. At the end, the eyes should look like this:

So that's my own way of wearing red eyeshadow on eyes.

Rustans Cosmetics Workshops for This Week

Here's the schedule for the Cosmetics Workshop here at Rustans. These workshops are held at the ground floor of Rustan's Makati Department Store, at the former Origins counter from 4:00 pm to 6:00 p.m. unless otherwise specified

Monday September 7, 2009
Lip Service
Laura Mercier

Tuesday September 8, 2009
Inner Strength. Outer Beauty
Imedeen

Wednesday September 9, 2009
Introducing Machiavelli
Machiavelli

Thursday September 10, 2009
Meet & Greet with Super Restorative Line
Clarins

Friday September 11, 2009
The Intelligent Investment In Your Future Skin
Dermatologica

Saturday September 12, 2009
Beautiful Skin Solutions
Estee Lauder
2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Sunday September 13, 2009
Relax and Rejuvenate with the Institut Touch
Clarins
2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Monday September 14, 2009
Brain Beauty Connection
N.V. Perricone

These workshops are free. There are special discounts given to participants who join the workshops. See You!

The Eyes Have It: MAC Love That Look Swatches

Eyes take the focus with MAC's newest collection: Love That Look, which hit counters with 12 pots of highly pigmented starflash eyeshadows and 3 pearlglide liners an eye makeup fanatic would love to collect. :)

Mix-and-match these twelve and there are around 479,001,600 possible eye looks to do with these shadows alone if you mix-and-match them. Now on to the swatches:

L-R are the cool colors and browns. Fashion, Smoke and Diamonds, Style Snob, and Glamour Check. Smoke and Diamonds make an excellent base for a smoky eye with Fashion to highlight. I personally use Glamour Check as a contour color. There's both shine, depth, and warmth of color to brighten and shape the eye. Style Snob I see as a lid color and this would look well for a shiny-eyed bride.

First Row: Unbasic White, Grand Entrance, Ego, and Fashion Groupie.

Unbasic White, when applied sparingly makes an excellent base color and highlight color. Warmer alternative could be Grand entrance since it's got a hint of peach beige, and this could neutralize the blue discolorations on the lids. Pink and Violets would love Ego and Fashion Groupie for girly-girly eyes.

Second Row: Dreammaker, Rated R, One-Off, and Strike A Pose.

Dreammaker's frosty gold color can also be used as a highlight color and complementary to the greens Rated R and One-Off. I like how pigmented Rated R is and One Off's "true-green" color, which go together for a green eye reminiscent of Poison Ivy. Dreammaker can also be used as a base color and then use Glamour Check as a contour for a warm, sculpted that takes less than 10 minutes to do. For a warm blue smoky eye, Strike A Pose could be used as a lid color then contoured with a black shade.

Pearlglide liners were practically creamy and glided like butter on my eyes hence no more tugging. Color payoff was really good with a bonus of glitter and sparkle. For those prone to smudgies and oilies, I highly recommend setting your pearlglides with powder and brushing a bit of Blot Powder or Mineralize Skinfinish to prevent ugly smudgies.

Top to Bottom: Black Russian (Black with glitter), Molasses (Brown with Glitter) and Fly-By-Blu (which is, uhm... Blue!).

Colors like these, with the eye intensity go well with a neutral lip and glowing cheeks so a sheer blush or mineralize blush in a warm, neutral color with complimentary lips complete the look. Of course, a well-groomed pair of eyebrows and flirty mascara are musts for the perfect eye.

Gothic Shoot With Angel

I had a shoot last week where I purely modelled for my friend. This is one shoot I like coz it was fun, fast, and fab.

Makeup artist for this shoot is Angel Manhilot. Angel and I met as we both have been working as guest makeup artists for MAC. Of course our favorite brand is what she used. :) The first outfit was like a rocker outfit where I used liquid leggings, a corset, and a leopard bra.

The second layout was a humongous black ballgown and Angel changed my lips to a striking blood-red hue and let my hair loose and messy.

This has got to be the most favorite shot of that series... It's definitely creepy.

The height of my hair had to be combed down well and since it was held in place by Aqua-Net, I needed 2 packets of conditioner to get it out. Which reminds me, with thatmuch product and teasing to my hair, my hair should get treated already. This was one shoot where I had to do super toning exercises. to get into shape and fit in the corset.

Photo credits:
Hair and makeup: Angel Manhilot
Photos: Bien Gutierrez
Location: Red Digital Studios

Makeupbybambi at Work: Behind-the-Scenes of Victor's Shoot

Hey there! I guess by now you've made your way to my renamed site, as I have announced the name change ages ago.

I'm still alive and kicking and still in the process of blogging. I woke up today feeling really groggy and heavy, like I turned to lead overnight. Anyway, I did the necessary adjustments in my blog so it still stays the same.

As I've said I'll be adding more features, here's one: Behind-the-Scenes footage of my recent shoot with once again, Victor. Here's Victor and me after the shoot. I stayed throughout all the layouts and helped him remove his makeup since the layers were quite heavy.




The shoot started at around 3 pm and we finished at around 7 PM. It sure was a lot of fun with such a fantastic group of people. The clothes were uttmost fabulous. Again, Dennis's famous
white hoodie makes a comeback. After that, since Apy and Dennis had work to do, Andy, Victor, and I had dinner and coffee at Greenbelt, just to detox and talk.

This is really what goes behind-the-scenes at work... it sure can be fun!

The Dollface Cosmetics 1st Anniversary Exclusive Sale

Dollface cosmetics has been my supply base for very affordable makeup supplies. For makeup enthusiasts and would-be makeup artists who want lots of makeup without breaking the bank, this is one place for you. Check out their eyeshadow and blush palettes, brush sets, concealer sets, and lipstick sets with all colors of the rainbow for high fashion and avante-garde looks.

Anyone up for the sale? then let's go go go!