[Review] Sleek Oh So Special Palette

After reading so many raved reviews about Sleek palettes, I decided to give this brand a try. I wasn't sure which palette I wanted to try first. I was browsing through Sleek website and decided to get their recently launched Oh So Special palette.

The palette comes with 12 eyeshadows consist of 7 mattes and 5 shimmers. The colors in this palette are mostly neutrals shade. Some leans towards warm but I can see this colors still suitable for cool skin tone as well, especially dark colors.

Packaging is a simple sleek black palette with a wearable mirror since it's pretty huge and also comes with a dual ended sponge applicator. I think the palette is quite convenient. Doesn't take up so much space so it will be great for traveling as well. Inside there's a plastic insert with the name of each eyeshadow written on it. My fisrt impression was, why do they have to put the names on the insert? I tend to loose all plastic inserts from all of my palettes. If I lost this one then I won't be able to tell the names of these eyeshadows anymore. Wouldn't be convenient, especially if I'm doing tutorial. But never mind, it's just a beauty blogger rant. Might not be something to sweat about unless you really care about the names of your make up stuff.

Top row: Bow - Organza - Ribbon - Gift Basket - Glitz - CelebrateBottom row: Pamper - Gateau - The Mail - Boxed - Wrapped Up - Noir

Here's the swatch of the eyeshadow. They are all swatched on my arm with no base.

L-R: Bow (matte) - Organza - Ribbon (matte) - Gift Basket - Glitz - Celebrate

L-R: Pamper (matte) - Gateau - The Mail (matte) - Boxed (matte) - Wrapped Up (matte) - Noir (matte)

Here's my thought on the individual eyeshadow. I'm not gonna go through each and every one of it, though.
Ribbon: This color is actually one color that lured me into buying this palette. I didn't own any peach eyeshadow like this before so I thought it will be a great addition to my collection. Unfortunately this color is the biggest disappointment in this palette. The texture is chalky and impossible to blend. I tried applying it wet, dry, with primer, without primer and end up with same uneven finish.

Pamper: This is another color that's pretty similar to Ribbon which is a lighter peach. It turns out a lot better in terms of quality. But the color is not special enough. It's also a bit pale to show up on me. So it's not working either.

Gateau: Another disappointment. It looks like a pretty lilac with gold flecks in the pan. But once applied, the lilac is nowhere to be seen. I end up with just gold shimmer. I can still wear it as highlight on my browbone or inner corner but still, it doesn't look that special anymore.

The Mail: I can't really say if this color disappoint me. It's just that I thought this color would be a great crease color but apparently this color doesn't show up in my skin, even with primer. I guess this would be great on lighter skintone. In the pan, this color kind of reminds me of MAC Cork, but I was wrong as Cork is noticeably darker than The Mail.

L-R: The Mail - MAC Cork - Boxed

Noir: This shade is amazing. I've never encountered such super rich matte black eyeshadow and this one really satisfied me. I also love wearing it to set my eyeliner.

Other colors, especially dark ones are great. They are very pigmented, buttery smooth and I notice very minimal amount of fall out. Exactly the kind of quality I expected from ALL the colors in this palette

All in all, I'm kinda disappointed that some of the interesting shades in this palette don't work. I usually wear light colors on the lid and darker color on the outer corner. But with most of the lid colors in this palette don't work for me, all I left with are just small selection of colors I can wear to create just another smokey look which makes this palette not oh-so-special anymore.

This might be another nice addition for my make up, just for the sake of trying a new brand. Thankfully I can still use more than half of the eyeshadows in this palette. But if you're pretty new to makeup and just started building your makeup collection, I'd say save your money and buy a better quality palette.

Make Up Tips from David Arbid

Hey guys.

After a previous fun post, let's move on to a bit more serious topic. In this post I’m going to share with you what I got from Meet & Greet with David Arbid. You might find this post kinda boring since there'll be too many writings and not much pictures, which is totally the opposite of my other entries.

Honestly, I’ve never heard about David Arbid before. Little did I know, he is actually the international brand ambassador for Make Up Forever HD line. His job includes traveling from one country to another, presenting about MUFE HD line, tutoring make up artists or common people who are interested about make up, which includes bloggers. He works together with Dany Sanz, founder of Make Up Forever. If you are familiar with MUFE products and their HD line, I’m sure you have heard about their no-retouch campaign. David Arbid is actually one of the make up artists who worked for the advertorial. If you go to mufepro, which is Make Up Forever official youtube channel, there’s this video of David doing an interview about HD products. So that’s pretty much how big of a make up artist he is.

You see the red haired girl with a cheetah next to her? David did her make up.

The line itself has been around since 2008. In my opinion this event mostly is to share more information about makes up basics, in general. And also to learn more about their HD line.

The event started with Ina Balasong, Make Up Forever General Manager, welcome us. She was very glad to see how enthusiast the bloggers are. There are two events that were held on the day. The earlier session is for media and the later is for bloggers. I think bloggers here represent common people, who are not professional make up artist nor poeple who works in beauty industry, and later going to write and share stories about the products just because they like or dislike it.

First, David Arbid told us a little bit about the background of this line. Make up for cinema has come a long way, from those days where television can only provide black and white, where make up doesn't really play a big role, to higher and higher pixels cameras that accentuate all the flaws on your face and even unnatural make up. MUFE HD line was designed to deliver flawless looking skin and yet still look natural. Even now, camera is pretty much everywhere. Almost everybody has pocket camera and, not to mention, smart phones. People can take pictures anytime, anywhere. So HD line works not only for high definition camera, but also pocket camera and smart phones so you can look good anytime.

The are 3 steps.

• Step one is hydration and smoothing the skin. This is where you prime the complexion using elixir and primer. You can use both or just one of those.
• Step two is to add coverage for your face using foundation and concealer.
• Step three is finishing step using blush and mineral powder.

Step One.

While working on the model, David used a regular foundation brush and a mixing palette. He started by applying elixir on the model's face.

He uses the brush the apply elixir that works as base for your make up and also moisturize your skin. It provides long lasting hydration to the skin, about 520% after 15 minutes and helps reduce the appearance of wrinkles on your face. You can keep the elixir in the fridge.

Step Two

The foundation works for any skin type. This oil-free foundation gives you a medium coverage with natural glowy finish. Again, he applied the foundation with the foundation brush. He told us to apply your foundation all the way to the neck to make your foundation looks well blended. Now, here's how he does it kinda differently. Well, at least different than how I usually apply my foundation. David applied a little product along the jaw and the neck and then, using his palm, he gently blend the foundation on the neck area.

David really emphasized the fact that foundation only works to cover. Which means, you have to have a good base and that is healthy skin. Make sure you take good care of your skin properly on daily basis to get the best result from your make up. Remember that foundation is not skincare. It's something you wear to accentuate what you already have, not something that will magically change you. Apparently this is an important point even David actually told us, "Please write this down on your blog" and that's what I'm doing. lol.

Concealer is applied after foundation. I know there are mixed opinion about whether you should apply your concealer before or after your foundation. But here's the logic, when you apply your foundation first, you can see areas that will need more coverage or not. If, with your foundation, you can already cover your under eye area, there's no need to apply concealer there. Therefore, you'll use less product on the face.

Another way to use the concealer, other than to conceal the imperfection, is to use it as a highlighter. That is, if you prefer a matte highlighter. Or if you want a shimmery finish, you can use their recently launched HD Uplight.

Step Three

HD blush has a matte finish. It works not only for your cheeks, but it's also safe to be worn on your lips as well as on the eyes.

This blush looks very natural and rather foolproof, it's almost impossible for you to fail wearing this blush. But, if you think your blush it too pigmented on your cheeks, all you have to do is dab a thin layer of foundation on top of the blush. If you think the blush is too matte and tacky, you can mix it with primer. And if you want shimmery finish, you can also mix it with Uplight.

The powder is what you use to set the whole make up. HD powder is a finely milled silica based powder that comes in one universal translucent shade to match all skin tones. Using MUFE kabuki brush is highly recommended to apply the powder.

David did mention ab0ut pictures of celebrity that came out few time ago. I'm sure you've seen pictures of Eva Longoria and Nicole Kidman with white cast all over their face. Well, that's the result when you don't use the powder properly.

Once the powder set on your face, remember to always sweep the excess powder from your face so you won't end up with white cast.

While the make over is in progress, the whole process was being recorded using video camera and being aired directly to an HD television, so we can see the result in real life as well is on TV. Honestly, in real life, I didn't really see the difference on the model's face, considering she has a flawless complexion already. But on TV I can see how glowy her skin looks. Really gorgeous.

Okay, I think that's all that I want to share with you about some tips from David Arbid. Excuse the super long post. Hope that would be helpful for you.

Anyway, here's what I got from the goody bag. Really can't wait to give them a try and I'll report back in this blog.

MUFE Blogger Event Meet & Greet with David Arbid (Picture Heavy!!!)

Today Make Up Forever is having an event, which is a meet and greet with their international make up artist, David Arbid who is currently visiting Indonesia. They sent out an invitation about a week ago, stating that this is an event for beauty bloggers and I'm allowed to bring friends to the event.

I was really really excited. I have received some invitations from Makeup Forever before, but sadly the timing was never right. Imagine how happy I was when I received the invitation, knowing that this time I can actually attend the event. It's ecstatic!

The event was held at Diagonale Lounge, Plaza Senayan. Apparently, the whole place was booked for the event. So we had the place, just for us to have fun. Since I was allowed to bring friends so I asked my friend, Hanny, to come with me.

Pardon me because this is my very first time attending a meet and greet as a blogger so I was kinda unprepared. The only thing I have in my mind is to carry my camera without remembering how a blocknote and a frickin' pen would be essential! Oh God. I had to borrow a pen from the waiter and also asked him if he has a piece of paper. Speaking about rookie. Ugh!


Thankfully I had Hanny with me. I asked her to help me write down what David Arbid said, while I was busy taking pictures. She also helped me taking pictures with other fellow bloggers. So nice of her. I also asked my sis to come, unfortunately she was unavailable due to her hectic work schedule.

When we arrived at the lounge, the place was decorated with some MUFE products on display and also makeup station.


Ina Balasong, General Manager of Make Up For Ever Indonesia, is giving a small talk before the demo started.

David Arbid and the model before makeover.
Products used during make up demo.

Taking pictures with David Arbid. It was David's idea to pose as if he is doing make over on us. So we are sitting on the chair, with him next to us holding a brush. Everyone was doing the same pose, until Hanny stepped in. She really cracks me up sometimes.

Stella and Priscilla doing an interview for their blog.

My very first time meeting the bloggers. Imagine being surrounded with people who has the same passion as you. It was a blast. And they are so nice too! So glad to meet you, ladies.


Make Up Forever team with David Arbid. Thank you so much for the opportunity. More event like this, please?

Beauty bloggers with David Arbid. We definitely love this guy!
The bloggers from left to right: Priscilla, Desy, Nisa, Stella, Hanna, Susi, Me and Franky

Goody bag!

That was a real great experience to have a meet and greet held by a brand as big as Make Up Forever. And in my opinion, really is a great way to support local beauty bloggers as well as introducing their products to common people. After all, we bloggers, are not expert or whatever. We are just a bunch of people with passion and interest for make up.

So, thank you Make Up Forever Indonesia for holding this event and the adorable David Arbid for the time tutoring us, sharing tips, tricks as well as experience about make up. I'm gonna post David Arbid's tips and advice about make up in separate post. Because otherwise this is going to be a very long post. For other bloggers who wants to have the pictures without the watermark, please leave me a message and give me your e-mail address so I can contact you.

And a special shout out to our fellow blogger in Jogjakarta, Fifi. We are all agree that this event would be much more exciting if you were here. So, next time maybe?

Kontes "Vote Me" Trend Warna Sariayu 2011

Sariayu, one of Indonesian make up brands, is currently holding a contest to create a makeup look based on their recently launched makeup collection called Exotic Indonesia.

A little bit about the collection, basically this collection is based on Indonesian traditional musical instruments. I have no idea what do people call these instruments in other countries, so I'll just show you the pictures and you name it. Here they are.

Left to right: Kecapi, Serunai, Sitar and Rebana

Each and every instrument represents different cultures in Indonesia, therefore this collection has four different themes.

Petikan Sitar Collection with 'Sensual Glaze' look

Alun Serunai Collection with 'Natural Spicy' look

Dendang Rebana collection with 'Romantic Dessert' look

Denting Kecapi collection with 'Oriental Misty' look

With these four interesting themes, to enter the contest, all you have to do is to create a make up look based on your own interpretation of one of the themes (but, then again, this contest is not limited to just one entry). Which, in my opinion, is a super fun idea!

I literally tried each and every themes before finally settled for one. Can you guess which one is it?


If you guessed PETIKAN SITAR, then you are so right. I mean, who am I kidding, I will always be the girl with earthy tones look. It's too bad the shimmer is a bit washed out in pictures. It's more shimmery in real life.


Now, this is where I'm gonna need your help. If you like the look that I created, do vote for me. Simply go to this page, sign in via your Facebook or twitter account and vote 5 stars.


This contest opens from June 10th to July 22nd 2011 so there's still time for you to enter. Simply go to http://trendwarna.sariayu.com/contest/ and upload your photo. You can even submit more than just one photos. They have some serious prizes too, like iPad, iPod Touch, Blackberry Gemini 8520 and merchandises from Sariayu. Even 5 lucky voters will get merchandise too.

So, what are you waiting for? Submit your creation now and good luck.

Pictures of Sariayu products and advertorial are taken from http://trendwarna.sariayu.com/

Half an Hour at Kota Tua

There was this one day public holiday last week, so me and my little sister got really excited. We were planning what it is that we're going to do on that one particular day. I came up with this idea to go around Jakarta to some of the tourist spots we’ve never visited. National monument is actually the one I had on top of my head. And there are some museums near the monument that I thought we can visit too. And we also decided to add Kota Tua to the list of places we’re planning to visit.

Unfortunately, one day before holiday, I caught this stupid flu so our plan changed a bit. Well, a lot. Not only we woke up late, we also spent too much time in front of television watching E!. Oh, well.. So, say goodbye to National Monuments and the museums, we decided to go just to Kota Tua.

from Indonesia Travel Guide
“Kota Tua, Jakarta (Jakarta Old Town, also known as Old Jakarta or Old Batavia) is an area of Dutch colonization inheritance which was well-known as Batavia in the 17th century. At Kota Tua area you can see old buildings with architecture style influenced by the Dutch or European architecture style, Chinese and even some of them with combination of Dutch and Chinese architecture. Some of the old buildings at Kota Tua area occupied as museums by the governor of DKI Jakarta. Kota Tua is one of a very interesting place or area to visit when you travel to Jakarta since it’s a center of historical tourism object in Jakarta.”

This is one of the favorite spots for bride-and-groom-to-be to take prewedding pictures, especially if you’re going for that vintage romantic theme. Although, in my opinion, it’s getting really common to take pictures in this very spot, it’s getting boring and everyone end up with same pictures. Still, I intended to snap as much pictures as I could.

And apparently, about half of Jakartans had the same idea.

Yes, the place was really crowded. I mean, I expected the place to be crowded but I didn’t expect it to be this crazy jam-packed. Oh, how naïve were we. And I was pretty clueless about what to do there, other than snacking and shopping. There are quite large selections of food stall. And some booths selling anything from sunglasses, shirts, shoes to stuffed animals. It was kinda hard to snap pictures without poeple crossing into frame.

There are two museums in this area, Museum Wayang and Museum Bank Indonesia but those are closed on Sunday and public holiday (which got me into thinking, when people will ever visit museums if the museums are closed on days where family usually hang out together?). Kota Tua area is rather big, so you can rent a bike here. But since it was really crowded, riding bike would be pointless. So this totally explains the title of this post. With the heat from sun and the crowd and my flu getting worse, we only stayed for about half an hour at Kota Tua.

Some of the things you can do at Kota Tua, riding bike

Some of the bicycles for rent

Tried to catch the vintage feel from Kota Tua. Failed, apparently.

Here's my makeup on that day.

Products used:
Face
MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation
NARS Loose Powder
La Tulipe Blush no.09

Eyes
UDPP
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Slate
La Tulipe eyeshadow quad no. 03 & 14
NYX Liquid Crystal Liner in Crystal Silver
MUFE Aqua Eyes in 0L
Maybelline Volum' Express Cat Eye Mascara
Revlon Colorstay Eyebrow Pencil

Lips
MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2 Lipglass

Anyway, I know it's getting boring to read only posts about FOTD lately. The thing is, I really want to do a video tutorials but my camera is really acting up nowadays, I don't understand why. It's getting better lately, that I'm able to take pictures again. But I'm not really sure if I can use it to record videos. Hopefully this will over soon.