Monday, April 30, 2012

Tips Memulai Beauty Blog

Hi bloggers! 

Semoga kalian ga bosen dengan tips-tips sok tau dari saya. Tips kali ini tentang memulai beauty blog. Semakin ke sini, saya liat semakin banyak yang mau memulai beauty blog. Apalagi kalau menilai dari jumlah member di komunitas Indonesian Beauty Bloggers yang semakin hari makin bertambah. Artikel ini sebenernya udah lama mau saya selesaikan setelah sekian lama duduk manis di draft blog saya. Kebetulan IBB Jakarta baru aja ngadain gathering dan di acara itu Stella dan Mada ngajak saya untuk sedikit sharing tentang dunia blogging. Setelah itu, saya baru inget kalau saya ada artikel nganggur menunggu untuk diselesaikan. Jadi yah sekalian artikelnya saya kembangin, siapa tau bisa membantu buat temen-temen blogger yang baru mulai blogging.

Hobi makeup tidak sama dengan hobi menulis tentang makeup
Oke, maaf kalau poin pertamanya sudah terdengar harsh begini. Tapi sebaiknya dari awal saya kasih tau batasan antara hobi makeup dan hobi ngeblog tentang makeup. Banyak orang yang hobi dandan dan koleksi makeup. Yang membedakan mereka dengan blogger adalah hobi menulis. Kalau kamu tergiur untuk memulai beauty blog, tanya dulu sama diri sendiri: apa saya suka menulis? Di tahap awal ga perlu pinter nulis dulu karena seiring dengan kita sering nulis, lama-lama akan lihai bermain kata-kata. Tapi dari awal harus ada minat dulu untuk menulis.  Karena yang namanya nge-blog tentunya ga akan jauh-jauh dari hal tulis-menulis.

Pilih-pilih nama blog
Jangan anggap remeh pentingnya memilih nama blog. Ini yang akan jadi identitas kamu, jadi pilihlah baik-baik. Sebaiknya cari nama yang mudah diingat dan dilafalkan. Awalnya, saya sempat terpikir untuk membuat beauty blog dengan menggunakan nama saya. Tapi setelah dipikir-pikir, untuk booking pesawat saja saya sampai njelimet mengeja nama saya, apalagi kalau saya pakai untuk nama blog? Bisa-bisa orang nyasar tiap mau berkunjung. Menggunakan nama yang simpel itu membantu sekali. Dan sebaiknya hindari penulisan gaya alay yang membingungkan dengan mencampuradukan huruf dan angka. Tujuan kita adalah mencari nama blog, bukan bikin password. Bisa juga memilih nama yang berhubungan dengan isi blog, sehingga orang yang mengakses blog kita sedikitnya punya bayangan mengenai isi blog yang dikunjungi.

Jujur aja, untuk poin ini saya angkat jempol buat komunitas IBB. Saya sampai kagum koq bisa mereka kepikir untuk bikin nama blog yang unik dan imut-imut. Saya sendiri bukan orang yang kreatif dan cenderung praktis. Kebetulan hobi saya yang lain adalah dengerin musik dan saya suka musik jazz. Jadi bisa ditebak, nama allthatmakeup diambil dari lagu All That Jazz. That is, in case you're wondering.


I have a blog. Now what?

Saat kamu sudah punya blog, inget-inget bahwa dalam ngeblog ada dua tahap yang mesti dilewatin. Yang pertama, fokus dari dalam dulu yaitu dengan membangun konten blog. Setelah itu, kalau kamu merasa konten blog kamu sudah cukup bermanfaat untuk dikunjungi, barulah mulai sebar 'undangan'. Ga mungkin kan kita fokus ngundang orang dulu, tapi waktu pembaca dateng kita ga punya apa-apa untuk disajikan? Jadi jangan sampe tahapannya kebalik ya.

Membangun konten blog.
  • Cari kekuatan kita yang bisa dijadikan ciri khas
Kalau mau ngomongin tentang 'kosmetik', tentunya topiknya luas sekali. Saran saya, mulailah dari koleksi kita sendiri. Dan seiring dengan berjalannya waktu, kenali kekuatan kita. Menurut saya, pembahasan beauty blog secara garis besar dibagi jadi dua, review dan tutorial/FOTD. Saya sendiri, waktu mau memulai beauty blog sebenernya pengen lebih fokus ke tutorial. Makanya saya sampe punya youtube channel segala. Tapi makin sering nulis, saya sadar bahwa kekuatan saya justru di kemampuan saya mendeskripsikan produk dan bermain kata-kata. Dari situ saya membangun blog saya untuk lebih fokus ke review produk. Dan itu bukan sesuatu yang saya sadari dalam sehari dua hari ngeblog. Wajar koq kalau di tahap-tahap awal kita masih mencari-cari kemana arahnya blog kita. Kalau kita tetep pada konsep awal, itu bagus jadi dari awal kita udah punya target pembaca yang tetap. Tapi kalau di tengah jalan baru ketemu ‘feel’-nya dan akhirnya kita berubah haluan juga ga masalah. Pokoqnya menulislah dengan nyaman.

Dalam komunitas IBB, kita perhatiin beberapa blogger senior yang udah lama ngeblog punya ciri khas masing. Misalnya PutriKansil dan Ichil yang fokus ke tutorial/FOTD. Atau Priscilla dan Ai Ni & Eve yang fokus ke review produk. Bahkan kita bisa memilih topik yang lebih spesifik seperti Mada Foe yang ngeblog khusus untuk review produk kosmetik dengan harga terjangkau. Atau Stephanie yang mereview produk dari sudut ingredientsnya. Nah, luas banget kan? Apalagi dengan menjamurnya beauty bloggers sekarang, punya ciri khas tersendiri itu membantu banget untuk menarik pembaca ke blog kamu!

  • Bahasa apa yang digunakan?
Tujuan dari menulis di blog adalah menyampaikan informasi. Untuk itu penting banget menggunakan bahasa yang kita kuasai. Saya ngerti kalau beberapa bloggers memilih bahasa Inggris untuk ngeblog dengan tujuan meningkatkan traffic. Saya sendiri pun bertujuan begitu, selain untuk melatih bahasa Inggris saya. Tapi jangan anggap remeh kekuatan dari bahasa kita sendiri. Pasarnya Indonesia ini luas koq. Liat aja blognya Hanna. Bahkan Elrica yang udah sampai Singapore pun masih ngeblog dengan bahasa Indonesia. Dan traffic mereka pun tinggi! Jadi jangan takut kekurangan pembaca karena menulis dengan bahasa Indonesia.

Kalau pun kita kekeuh mau menulis dengan bahasa asing, jangan lupa konsekuensinya adalah kita harus mau terus belajar dan meningkatkan kemampuan kita. Apalagi bahasa Inggris yang salah penempatan huruf s aja bisa bikin arti kalimat jadi beda.

Pada akhirnya sih, mau menggunakan bahasa apa itu kembali ke bloggernya masing-masing. Asal kita bisa pastiin kalau pesan yang mau kita sampaikan bisa sampai dengan tepat ke pembaca.

Promosi blog
Setelah kita merasa kita sudah cukup membangun isi blog kita, tentunya kita pengen apa yang udah kita tulis ini dibaca orang dong? Dari sini kita mulai promosiin blog kita. Saat ini udah banyak platform yang bisa kita pakai untuk memperkenalkan blog. Salah satunya kita bisa gabung di Hellocotton atau Bloglovin. Apalagi sekarang era-nya Facebook dan Twitter, kita bisa mempost hasil tulisan kita di kedua soc-med tersebut supaya orang lebih sadar dengan keberadaan blog kita. Kalau kita ikut forum kecantikan, secara pasarnya pas banget, kita bisa sertakan URL blog kita di signature, seperti yang saya lakukan di forum Femaledaily. Bisa juga dengan meninggalkan komen di blog lain. Intinya bergaul lah seluas mungkin dan tinggalkan alamat blog kita.

Walaupun ada banyak cara yang bisa kita pakai untuk memperkenalkan blog kita, tapi disini saya amat sangat sarankan untuk jangan pernah menghina hasil karya tulisan kita sendiri dengan berkunjung ke blog orang lain untuk “follow for follow”. Selain bisa menyinggung si empunya blog, kita pun terkesan desperate. Percaya sama hasil tulisan kita sendiri dan percaya sama diri kita sendiri. Kalau memang blog kita bagus dan berkualitas, otomatis orang pasti dateng dan ngikutin blog kita. Lagipula, follower yang tercantum di blog itu ga menjamin kualitas suatu blog. Blog yang bagus memang punya banyak follower. Tapi blog yang punya banyak follower belum tentu bagus.  

Selain itu follower yang datang tanpa diminta-minta itu bisa digunakan untuk mengukur sejauh mana jangkauan blog kita. Tapi untuk hasil yang lebih tepat, saya sarankan untuk menambahkan fasilitas blog counter supaya kita bisa menilai jumlah dan pasar pembaca blog kita. Kebetulan fasilitas ini sudah disediakan oleh blogger.com. Sedangkan saya sendiri, untuk menambah informasi seputar traffic blog saya, menggunakan Statcounter.

Konsistensi
Nah, ini dia bagian yang saya sendiri masih harus tingkatkan. Sebisa mungkin jangan sampe blog kita ditelantarkan dalam jangka waktu panjang, tanpa postingan (ngomong sama diri sendiri). Ya memang yang namanya blog tetep aja dianggap hobi sampingan (setidaknya buat saya) dan saya ga mau sibuk ngeblog sampai kesibukan utama saya terlantar. Yang mahasiswa tetep mesti utamain kuliah. Yang karyawan tetep aja mesti utamain kerja. Tapi sebisa mungkin blog tetep di-update. Atau segera update blog setelah kita menghilang utuk periode waktu tertentu.


Karena bikin postingan (yang niat) untuk beauty blog itu rempong, biasanya proses ambil foto produk, editing dan tulis menulis saya cicil. Misalnya, supaya praktis, begitu beli barang biasanya langsung saya foto walaupun saya sendiri ga tau kapan saya akan posting. Yang penting saya sudah punya foto barangnya dalam keadaan masih mulus. Selanjutnya saya tinggal edit saat ada waktu luang dan sediakan waktu untuk menulis artikel.


Sekian tips dari saya. Maaf ya kalau tips dari saya makin lama makin panjang. Buat saya ngeblog itu adalah suatu proses dan saya belajar dari pengalaman (dan kesalahan) saya selama blogging. Kalau kalian punya saran dan kritik yang relevan buat blog saya, dengan senang hati lho saya terima.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Blogger Appreciation Award Tag


Confession: I've never done any Blogger Award before.

As much as I truly appreciate the gesture and the awards, let's face it, the tasks is sometimes too complicated. By the way, saying I received an 'award' sounds awkwardly overstate in my head, as if I'm doing something big here. I'm just gonna call it a tag. Ahaha... However this tag caught my attention because there aren't many questions and the questions are blogging-related. That's a topic I always like.

So thank you Stephanie, Monica and Felicia for tagging me. Don't forget to drop by at their blogs as well.


1. Thank The person who have you the award with their blog link on your post.
2. Answer the following 4 questions.
3. Award the blogger appreciation award as many readers/commenters/followers as you'd like.
4. Let the blogger know you've just awarded them (by leaving a comment/email/tweet/etc).


The Questions:
1. How long have you been blogging?
2. What are 1-2 reasons why you started blogging?
3. What types of blog do you like to follow/read?
4. What is 1 thing you would like to improve on as a blogger/on your blog?

How long have you been blogging? 
 I’ve been blogging in my beauty blog for three years now. But I’ve been blogging in general since 2008. 


What are 1-2 reasons why you started blogging?
It all started with a series of diary when I was in sixth grade. I guess I must admit that I like pouring everything that’s going on in my mind into an essay. I always have opinions about everything but I’m not an outspoken person. That’s when a pen and a piece of paper become handy. Or I should say now, a keyboard and a blog page.

I used to blog about my life and my ideas about everything. And then I realized, nothing in my life is interesting enough that would attract people to come and read my blog. However, beauty blog and video were very ‘in’ back then. And I was just started doing makeup. That’s when it hits me: I’ll just write beauty articles!

Anyway, if you’re interested, here’s the link to my old blog.


What types of blog do you like to follow/read?
Until now I only follow beauty blogs.

What is 1 thing you would like to improve on as a blogger/on your blog?
There are many things I need to improve. First of all would be the design of my blog. I love blogging but I am not a hi-tech person. I hate dealing with complicated codes in my website. So as you can see, the result is a super simple and forgettable layout. Ugh!

Another thing is to write carefully in the right manner. I wish I could be more attentive. I am not a patient person so I tend to just speedily write and then publish the article without proof-reading it. And the result is, most of a time, a piece of article loaded with typos. And I *always* find them after I published my piece.

Last thing I could think of right now that needs improvement would be how to write grammatically appropriate.

-- 00 --

Okay, that was fun. After all, digging up stories behind someone's blog is always fun, yeah? I know this tag has been going around and everybody has done it but I would like to know the about my sister's blog at peachysweetness and my friend, Hanny, at thestoryofbipolarcoffeejunkie.

[Review] Kiko Origami Face Palette

 

This might sound really late, but I've been into Kiko products a lot lately. If you're probably not familiar with this brand, for all I know, this is an Italian brand. And that's the extension of my knowledge about the brand, so far. Nothing more. My aunt's been traveling a lot and gave me some Kiko products for me to try. Kiko Origami Face Palette no. 04 (Hot Pink Contour) is one of the many products she gave me. I looked up at the website and apparently this is part of their limited edition Summer collection, Blooming Origami. I'm not sure how long this collection would be available. But I tried to provide this review as soon as I could and hopefully you'd still have time to get your hands on the collection.

Origami Face Palette caught my attention at first sight. The packaging is sleek and clean looking. The velvet pouch gives an extra luxurious feel. Reminds me of products from Dior or Chanel. It also comes with a huge mirror which makes it handy for touch up during the day. 


Inside is this five colored face powder / blush with satin and shimmery finish, arranged beautifully in a way that mimics origami. The colors inside, based on my own definition, are warm deep brown, pale chalky pink, deep hot pink, shimmery bronze and taupe. I assume, multi-colored face palette usually means you get contour color, along with blush and highlight / face powder. Or you could just swirl all the colors at once and treat it as a blush. I swatched all the colors and I must say the only two colors that show up easily on my skintone are the deep brown and the deep hot pink which isn't a surprise considering those are the only two colors that have the most pigmentation out of the five. The shimmery bronze doesn't deliver much color but gives a shimmery finish to the blush in general. And I have no idea why are the pale pink and taupe colors even included in this palette as they, in my opinion, contribute nothing. I don't see how the colors would work when applied individually, so I just swirl them all together and apply it just as blush.



The texture of the product, quoted from the website, is "brand-new texture, the result of an advanced extrusion-baked powder technique." God knows what does extrusion-baked mean but I'm impressed with the texture and the finish of this blush (let's just call this a blush from now on, because that's what I use it for). The color doesn't easily show up on my skin, so I have to layer it. But it is worth the effort. About three layers of this will do. The texture is really soft and blends well on my skin. It has this 'transparent' finish that gives the 'glowing-from-within- effect and looks very natural on me. That's not something I usually get from powder blush. The blush last on me about 8 hours until I had to remove my makeup. Although it's kind hard to notice when did it start to fade since the color itself are pretty sheer. 

So I'm just gonna gather all my thoughts into conclusion now (I'm trying to cut the length of my reviews and all my entries in general. Started to think that I ramble too much. Let me know what do you think, though). Origami Face Palette as a face palette with multi-colored shades might be a great idea but doesn't really live up to the claim, which is to "enhance cheeks and cheekbones and sculpt the complexion." As a blush, though, I really like it. It does take effort to make the color show up, but it's worth it. Then again, it might show up a lot easier if your skintone is lighter than mine. 

Here's how the color shows up on me as blush. As you can see the color is pretty sheer but it's noticeably there. 


Kiko Origami Face Palette is available in 4 different colors. Palette number 1 is specifically a color correcting powder while the rest are face palettes like this one that can be used for blush and whatnot. Luckily my parents is currently on vacation in Europe so I asked them to get me palette no. 02, which is Tangerine Tan. I can't wait to see how it turns out on me.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

[Review] YSL Rouge Pur Couture Vernis À Lèvres Glossy Stain




I’m back with another lip product review. I rarely do review for lip products. In general, I think most of them, whether drugstore and high end, deliver pretty much the same performance. I mean we’re talking about lipstick and lipgloss. In the middle of the day, they will fade. And I don’t want to end up with a bunch of reviews saying just about the same thing. However, if I ever decided to write a review about lip products, there must be something special about it.

Enter my current favorite, Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture Vernis À Lèvres Glossy Stain. Wow that’s mouthful! The product just launched in Indonesia recently and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, given the reviews it received around blogosphere. I have two of those, which are #6 (Camel Croisiere) and #9 (Rouge Laque).


In my eyes, #9 is an intense warm red. The usual shade of red that I’d easily fall for. While #6 is a reddish orange.

Based on the information on YSL’s website, they describe this as a mix between gloss ad stain. It gives ‘the texture and shine of a gloss with the long-wear of a stain’. Lip products these days, they’re hybrid of everything, it’s kinda hard to draw a firm definition. However, YSL described this as stain, then lip stain it is.

Speaking about the packaging, I think it’s ‘blah’ looking. I mean come one, if they could come up with luxurious packaging like Rouge Volupte, why can’t they do the same with this one? It’s a plain black square with gold lid. There’s a window on the tube so you can see how much product you have left inside. However, I love the applicator. It’s wide and has pointy tip. Perfect for fast and precise application.


The texture is watery the way lip stain usually is. It glides easily on the lips and delivers medium coverage, more than the coverage lip gloss usually gives. You can wear it in layers too. I usually apply one layer, wait until it dries and sets on the lips, and then add another layer for more opacity. Or wear it like lip gloss and just apply it at the center of the lips. I still have to get used to the scent that this product has. It’s this sort of fruity slash chemical kind of scent which I don’t really prefer. It doesn’t linger, thankfully, but I could do without it.

I went to this Beauty Workshop held by YSL when they were introducing this lip stain and the recently launched Forever Youth Liberator.  There I was told that this lip stain is absolutely transfer-free which I think is an overrated statement. After it sets, it does transfer a little but the majority of the pigments stay on the lips. After meal, I found the lip stain in the inner past of my lips fades while the rest stays vibrant. I really appreciate that, but wearing vibrant lip color with fading shade in the inner part would look ridiculous so I always touch up after meal. However, without meal – and maybe, smooching – the color does last long. Even after the gloss disappeared, it leaves stain that gives enough color on the lips. Now the long lasting part might scared people thinking it would be drying. And I’m so glad that I get to tell you that this product feels really comfortable as long as I have it on my lips, it doesn’t feel drying at all. Excellent!

Despite some mundane flaws, like the packaging and the weird scent, overall I’m crazy about this product. Even for a moment I had this idea to throw away all my lip gloss and replace it with YSL Vernis à Lèvres Glossy Stain. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. And here’s one thing that really irritates me, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but up until now I still couldn’t find an MLBB shade in the collection. The color runs more opaque than it shows in the little window, which is the case with #6. And thanks to the harsh lighting at the mall, I thought the shade would look tame but I left the mall and realized that it is more intense than I thought it would be. If you happen to know any nude-ish / MLBB shade in this collection please recommend me. Because it’s getting embarrassing to visit the counter back and forth, just to convince myself that I couldn’t find what I’m looking for.

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Vernis à Lèvres Glossy Stain available at YSL counters and retails for IDR 285k.


 

 


 


Sunday, April 22, 2012

[Review] Real Techniques Blush Brush



Say hello to another addition to my Real Techniques brushes, this time is the Blush Brush.

After I ditched the uber-scratchy MAC 129, I was in the hunt for a decent blush brush. Considering I was in Real Techniques hysteria back then (Still is, actually. My other brush has just arrived. Yeay!), I decided to order the blush brush from this line. At a glance, Real Techniques Blush Brush is not the usual blush brush you usually see in the market. I mean, when was the last time you see an egg-shaped blush brush? 

Yeah, as weird as it sounds, it literally is a fluffy egg-shaped blush brush, with long bristles and tapered side. Like every Real Techniques, the bristles is made of cruelty free taklon bristles. The bristles feels really really really soft. Did I mention that it feels really soft? My previous Real Techniques brushes are all dense so they aren’t really described as soft when touched my skin. Now with this blush brush, I can really feel how soft it is, especially with MAC 129 as my previous brush.


Now, soft bristles is not always handy for some brushes. The bristles of this brush is longer than usual blush brush so it sways easily and the fact that it’s really soft made me a little bit worry that the brush won’t be able to pick up and transfer enough pigments on my cheeks. However, I was worrying over nothing. All my blushes show up fine. The egg-shape might be something that needs to take a while to get the hang of. However, once you get used to it, this brush blends effortlessly. I usually use swirling motion to pack on more pigments. Or just the tapered side to tame more pigmented blushes. 


Note that, just because a brush is named after one task, does not mean it’s the only thing the brush could do. Other than blush, this fluffy brush is also handy for dusting powder when I don’t want a lot of powder on my skin (which is all the time). Sam claims this brush could also be used for contouring, which I disagree. Contouring requires high precision, however the brush is too wide and fluffy so it won’t apply product accurately. I’d rather go with my Real Techniques Contour Brush from the Core Collection for that (after all, it’s in the name). On the other hand, I also use this brush to apply my bronzer since you don’t have to be really precise when applying bronzer. The tip of the brush is perfect for creating the E3 shape. 

The brush comes with pink aluminum handle and I've explained about Real Techniques color code in my previous entry. I love that it's ergonomically comfortable and lightweight. 


In a nutshell, once again Real Techniques impressed me with their product. The brush retails for $8.99 and I paid IDR 120k plus shipping for this brush. The price makes this brush even more perfect, in my opinion. Sam just added three new brushes to the line, and they are Setting brush, Fine Line brush and Expert Face brush. My latest purchase is Expert Face brush and I so can't wait to try it. Check this page out for complete Real Techniques collection.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Reminiscing: Indonesian Beauty Bloggers


  Hai hai!

Postingan kali ini bukan mengenai makeup, walaupun masih berhubungan dengan komunitas beauty. Kali ini saya cuma mau curhat dan bernostalgia aja sih.. *aih!* Kebetulan lagi ngobrol-ngobrol sama temen-temen bloggers, jadi pengen cerita disini.

Kalau diperhatikan, blog saya sekarang ketambahan logo cantik di pojok kanan atas, hasil karya Carryn, yang kalau di klik akan membawa kamu ke komunitas Indonesian Beauty Bloggers di Facebook yang isinya, terakhir saya cek, ada sekitar 200 lebih blogger Indonesia. Ngeliat ramainya grup IBB, sampai sekarang saya masih susah mencerna kenyataan bahwa grup itu berawal dari Blackberry Messenger dengan anggota hanya 7 orang saja. Iya, 7. Saya, Stella, Hanna, Franky, Nisa, Priscilla dan Putri. Hasil ngobrol ngalor ngidul, curhat sana sini, tiba-tiba tercetus ide untuk bikin grup Facebook dan logo Indonesian Beauty Bloggers.

Kalau sebagian besar teman-teman saya, seperti Stella, Nisa, Hanna dan Priscilla, berterimakasih sama Ponds karena mereka pertama kali ketemu di blogger event yang diadain oleh Ponds, saya mesti berterimakasih sama Make Up Forever yang udah bikin bloggers event, sehingga saya bisa ketemu sama teman-teman beauty bloggers. Bener-bener ga nyangka kalau kita sekarang sering hang out bareng dan bisa saling nyambung satu sama lain, padahal itu awalnya cuma saling kenal dari internet. Jujur aja, saya ini orangnya canggung dan cenderung pasif kalau berada di antara orang-orang yang saya ga kenal. Tapi saya inget di acara MUFE, saya excited banget ngeliat wajah-wajah familiar dari blog-blog yang sering saya kunjungin, sampai saya memberanikan diri untuk kenalan kesana kemari. Sampai sekarang pun, kalau kita lagi ngobrol-ngobrol, kata-kata “ga nyangka yaa..” itu masih sering banget tercetus oleh siapapun diantara kita.

Karena yang 7 orang itu berinisiatif untuk memulai komunitas, otomatis mereka juga yang  mesti bertanggung jawab mengatur grup. Karena itu kita ngebentuk staff IBB dengan Stella Lee yang ditunjuk sebagai ketua secara dia yang paling aktif di internet. Selain itu, kita pun ketambahan anggota yang membantu kita jadi staff IBB seperti Mada, Carnellin, Ichil dan Carryn. Dan jujur aja, saya harus bilang, kita ga salah pilih orang untuk jadi staff. Dear beauty bloggers, I just wanna say, rest assure because you are in good hands! Nama-nama staff ini udah dicantumin di grup IBB, tapi untuk perkenalan resminya saya serahin ke ibu ketua saat gathering nanti. Oh yes, there’s going to be a gathering!

Pada intinya, saya berhutang banyak sama blog saya sendiri. Dari sekian manfaat yang saya dapat, bisa ketemu dengan teman-teman dengan hobi yang sama itu bener-bener priceless! Akhirnya ketemu juga komunitas yang ga nganggep saya culun karena saya punya blog atau nganggep saya kecentilan karena saya hobi dandan. Temen-temen ini juga yang sering ngingetin tiap kali saya mulai jarang posting di blog, terutama ibu ketua.. LOL. Setelah dapet sekian banyak manfaat dari blog, my way to pay it back tentunya dengan rajin posting ya..

Seperti judulnya, postingan ini hanya sekedar nostalgia dan sharing aja. Kalau diperhatikan, secara komunitas IBB udah berkembang pesat dan ramai dengan berbagai bloggers dari berbagai kota, ketemu temen-temen baru yang nyambung itu bukannya tidak mungkin. Laporan terakhir, beauty bloggers di Jogja udah ngadain gathering yang seru banget. Laporannya bisa dibaca di sini. Untuk gathering Jakarta rencananya akan diadain tanggal 28 Mei di Coffee Cabin, Kuningan. Kalau bisa dateng, jangan lupa daftar ya!


Jakarta based Indonesian beauty bloggers.
taken from IBB group.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

[Review] MAC Kissable Lip Color in So Vain


If you're wondering why am I doing this review now while the collection had launched months ago and everything has sold out now, well, MAC Shop MAC Cook MAC just recently launched in Jakarta (here, we call it just Shop MAC). Not every MAC limited edition available here so I decided to went ahead and ordered the product before the collection launched here. My order has arrived long before Shop MAC launched in Indonesia. Which I think is kind of unfair for Indonesian customers, having to wait so long. 

 The packaging is the usual lipgloss-type of packaging, only with slimmer and taller tube. It comes with a doe-foot applicator. The packaging of limited edition collection always excites me. I love it when MAC does different design for their limited edition, like their Wonder Woman or Give Me Liberty London. In this collection, the carton box comes in a colorful color with polkadot motive, but unfortunately it was just an insert. Inside is just the usual boring black packaging *sigh*.


Anyhoo, Shop MAC collection is now available in every MAC counters in Jakarta. The only product that caught my interest in this collection is the Kissable Lip Colour which is repromoted from Peacocky collection. In general, it's a hybrid between lipstick and lipgloss. I always fall for liquid lipstick, so it's not hard to see why this product appeals to me.

Out of all available colors, So Vain is the only color that really attracts my attention. In my eyes, the color appears as soft peach with a hint of coral. It reminds me a lot of MAC Kinda Sexy, in different finish, of course, since Kinda Sexy is a matte. So Vain is an MLBB type of color that is easy to pull off and suitable for daily lip color.

The consistency is soft and creamy. The product distributes easily and gives a smooth and even finish. Remember that NO lip products will appear smooth on chapped lips, so never forget to remove dead skin before applying lip products. However, with no lip problem, I experienced no streaking and it doesn’t settle into my fine lines. The finishing reminds me a lot of luster finish, with less glossy appearance. It gives light to medium coverage and enough to covers my dark lips. It wears comfortably on my lips without feeling dry at all.

In my opinion, the only flaw I found would be the staying power. The color fades in about less than three hours with me just watching movie while having drink. Don’t expect anything after meal because the color just significantly wiped off with nothing left. I think lipstick and lipgloss in general can do better than that, even after meal. I don’t usually complain about my lipstick fading, especially after meal, but this one literally disappears. So that’s something to consider because that means you’ll need to re-apply more often and you’ll use more product. 



This Saturday, MAC and JOY magazine are throwing a launching event of Shop MAC collection at MAC counter in Grand Indonesia with Stella Lee as the host. You are very much welcome to attend and check out the collection yourself!

Monday, April 16, 2012

How I Take Care of My Atopic Skin


So, here’s a gross fact about me. I have a condition called atopy. A little bit about atopy, it’s an irregular type of hypersensitivity reaction that inherited genetically. There are four diseases that categorized as atopy and they are asthma, rhinitis, dermatitis and urticaria. They could be inherited in the same or different form. For example, my dad has asthma but it’s inherited to me in a form of dermatitis atopic.

Having an atopic condition means on daily basis I have a very very uncomfortable dry skin. And it’s very sensitive too. If I had contact with allergens (Which until now still remains a mystery. I should do series of rather expensive skin test to find out, which I still refuse to do until now), even stress and PMS, I’d come up with dermatitis as a skin reaction (or you can also call it eczema).

Having a dry sensitive skin condition means I have to avoid irritants as much as I can and pay more attention on picking the right products for my daily skin care routine. So these are the products in my routine that I can always count on. Since these are basic products that I have to purchase regularly, I stick with products that are affordable and easy to find.

Shower cream and handwash
Living with sensitive dry skin means say bye bye to harsh soap and shower gel. Always go with body wash that contains moisturizer. After I was diagnosed with atopic skin, I changed my soap to baby body wash and I stuck with it for years. It worked like a charm but I’m sure all mommies out there know that baby stuff is expensive. I used Johnson & Johnson’s Milk Bath. One bottle of 500ml milk bath lasted for just a week and a half on me, as it doesn’t lather as much (which is the point of a milk bath at the first place). As it is probably enough for tiny babies, unfortunately I am a lot larger than a baby. A bottle cost around IDR 20k, so imagine how much money I have to spend on body wash each month. I tried The Body Shop as well but as much as I love the Brazil Nut Shower Cream, a bottle of 250ml cost IDR 75k which is an even more ridiculous spending.

Thank God I found a line of affordable shower cream that sold in a large bottle at supermarket.  These days I use Leivy Double Moisturizing Shower Cream. Leivy shower cream comes in a different variety. I stuck with their Double Moisturizing Shower Cream although I occasionally try other variants. One huge bottle contains 1100ml cost only IDR 55k and lasts for a good one and a half month on me.


Hand wash is another thing I have to take care of, as hands is the body part that we wash the most. My current favorite is Palmolive Liquid Hand Wash in Milk and Olive. Also love the fact that it smells amazing.


Please keep in mind that showering and rubbing body or hand wash means stripping the fat layer on the superficial part of the skin that works to retain water and lock it in to work as natural “moisturizer” factor for our skin. So if you have dry skin, please limit the amount of showering and don’t spend too much time in the shower. Also avoid hot water and shower with water in body temperature instead. Despite the steam all over you mirror in the bathroom, hot water causes dry skin even more.
 


Body lotion and Hand Cream

To soak the skin in lotion is another way to treat dry skin. People with dry skin naturally has limited amount of moisture factor. Lotion works to help seal in the water and also increase the moisturizing effect. When it comes to body lotion, I always go with Nivea products. I’ve been using the lotion since I was in junior high school as the lotions work all the time for me. It gives the most moisturizing effect out of all lotions I could find in supermarket. And if I wear it regularly, my skin still feels moist even when I forget to apply the lotion for a day or two.


Another product that I'm just starting to use is hand cream. I didn’t realize how important it is until just recently. I tried L’occitane hand cream once and fell in love with it immediately. Unfortunately it was too expensive to purchase regularly. I was looking around at Watson and found their hand cream. The cream works great on keeping my hands moisturized and, in conjunction with my hand wash, it also has olive scent.

If you’re wondering why do I have to use different lotion for my hand, as I said previously, people tend to wash their hands even more than the rest of the body. Hand cream is usually thicker and more moisturized than body lotion. But I love the consistency so much, I usually wear it all the way to my elbow.



 One thing I was taught when I was in dermatology department is to apply lotion immediately after shower, preferably between one to three minutes. At this time, water still absorbed in skin layers so the lotion works to seal in the water so it would work to moisturize the skin. It’d be useless to apply lotion after all the water has evaporated.

Anyway, those are all the products that work for my dry skin. When I was in dermatology department and asked to pick a topic for my paperwork, I went with Dermatitis Atopic right away simply because that’s the topic I could easily relate to. I decided to share this because as strange as the term might sound, skin atopy is actually not a rare case. So I hope you find this article helpful.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

When I Don't Play With My Makeup..

... I sing. Say hello to my other hobby.

When I received the announcement that I've passed my co-ass, I celebrated it by visiting a recording studio I've always wanted to visit instant recording. No reason at all, actually. Just for fun. For one time I want to sing songs that I love with the right key. It was my second visit there, though. The first time was years ago with my sister. But we picked stupid songs that I'm not even gonna tell you, I eventually lost the file.

The studio called Wanna-b studio. You've probably heard about it if you lived around South Jakarta. It's located at Jl. Ahmad Dahlan. The basic idea of instant recording is, you pick songs that you want, sing it in a studio while the staff records your voice. Then the staff burn it into a cd that you get to take home. There are two options, IDR 180k for 4 songs or IDR 200k for 5 songs + 1 main course (there's a cafe there). You also get to practice in between songs. Anyway, there is also a professional studio with better equipments for people who wants to record a demo or whatever. It's a lot more expensive, obviously.

I picked 4 songs for my session. As much as I wanted to add just IDR20k to get one more song and a free main course, I thought singing 4 songs continuously (plus practice in between) would be tiring. So I picked I Love The Way You Love Me by Boyzone; Everything by Michael Buble; Flying Without Wings by Westlife; and When You Say Nothing at All by Ronan Keating. All male singers so it was kinda hard to adjust the base key, especially I Love The Way You Love Me. Thankfully the staff who assisted me that day was so patient.

Since this is just an instant recording, the process is super simple and the voice wasn't edited. Which means, mistakes could easily spotted. My voice was kind of shaky and un-pitched at some parts. But whatever. I sing just for fun.


Out of the results, Everything and When You Say Nothing at All are my favorites.So I embedded those two here. I recorded these two videos at home, edited it and added the songs. By the way, beware of constant hair-touching throughout the videos. I uploaded the video on my Facebook and my friend told me that me constantly fixing my hair is annoying. LoL! I've warned you!


My Cover of Ronan Keating's When You Say Nothing at All



My Cover of Michael Buble's Everything


I hope those voices don't do any damage to your ears.



No copyright infringements intended
Entertainment purpose only

[Review] Graftobian High-Definition Creme Foundation



Hi guys!
I’m back with a foundation review. This is actually a super long overdue review. I purchased this foundation about a year ago, back when I was still in Semarang. Of course it was none other but Wayne Goss who introduced this kind of ‘stage makeup’ and I’m always weak when it comes to foundation so I decided to give this a try.

Packaging
Graftobian is an affordable brand with quality products that you can find online. That explains the super simple packaging. Fancy packaging requires more $$ and seems like Graftobian focus more on the quality of the content. The cream foundation comes in a simple pot with transparent screw lid. Not only budget friendly, but I think the compact packaging is convenient for professional makeup artist who will have a lot of this pots in their makeup traincase. It doesn’t take up so much space. If there was one thing I could fix from the packaging, it would be the screw lid. I prefer a snap shut lid. I think it’s a lot less messy, also smaller chance to lose it, especially when work with more than one pots.


Product performance
Texture
The texture of this foundation is buttery soft. It glides easily on the skin and a little bit goes a long way so it takes just a smallest amount of this, and seriously you don’t want to over apply. Because of the super soft consistency, applying too much products makes this foundation slides around and hard to evens out. So I always start small. If you use just the right amount of products, the application is really easy. I can even easily apply this using my paddle brush whereas other foundations tend to be streaky when applied with such brush. Still, it’s necessary to set this foundation with powder.

Coverage/ Finishing/ Longevity
Depends on brushes (or sponge), this foundation gives medium to full coverage. I find using dense brush with flat surface gives minimum coverage while paddle brush and sponge give fuller coverage. This even covers my pores very well even with no primer underneath. The finishing is somewhere between matte and glowy. No reviews describe this as matte but I just don’t think this foundation is glowy enough. I prefer my foundation to be glowier (Not a word, everyone. I made that up). And I found applying this foundation with damped sponge gives me the kind of finishing that I want. As usual, theatrical foundation is not meant to be long lasting, though this foundation gives the usual four to five hours performance before it turns oily on my t-zone. Very much acceptable for me. 

Below is a picture of me wearing this foundation using buffing brush. As you can see, my blemishes on the cheeks still peeking through. You can find other FOTDs of me wearing this foundation on some of my latest FOTD entries.


Color selection
Graftobian offers a wide range of color selections with three different undertones which are cool, warm and neutral. Still, finding shades online could be challenging. The amount the shades available are overwhelming as well. Back when I was about to order this foundation, there weren’t many reviews about this foundation on the internet so it’s kinda hard to find information about which shade that matches me.

Now this is the reason why I never used this foundation until just recently. First of all, I ordered the shade in yellow undertone. Unfortunately, it’s not warm enough for me. It looks a little bit red. Second of all, the shade I ordered, “Desert Sand’ is too dark on my skin back then. I’m about one or two shades darker than my usual shade so this foundation matches me at the moment. Gonna need to order lighter shade, though, once my skin back to its usual shade. About the reddish undertone, I usually set this foundation with my Ben Nye Banana Visage Poudre to tone down the red a little bit, but it still kinda bugs me (Not as bad as Guerlain Parure Gold, though)


HD-ness
As always, I don’t feel eligible enough to say about an HD-ness of a foundation due to my lack encounter with any HD tools so this is just my experience around cameras when I’m wearing this foundation. I think the most notable time of testing the performance of this foundation in front of camera is when I was at the launching of Revlon Lip Butter, since it was a bloggers event. There were many bloggers and each of them has different types of camera. Not to mention, the interview with O Channel.

Well, I was browsing through my friends’ entries about the event and thankfully all the pictures turned out great, including the one on television. My face looked flawless and the foundation appeared natural on my skin, which is the key to HD foundation. More than just covering the flaws, it supposed to look natural and not-masky at all. And this foundation gives those qualities. Other things to note are I found no unnecessary shine or white cast.

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To sum up, I am very much pleased with this foundation. I prefer light coverage on daily basis so to me this is the kind of foundation I use for special occasion. It could do better in packaging and the undertone but overall this foundation meets my expectations.

I ordered mine from camerareadycosmetics. Back then I had to pay IDR 220k because I had to pay for the shipping fee as well. The website gives free shipping for order more than $60 and my online seller is so nice that she now opens pre-order regularly to be able to collect orders until it reach quota. So next time I can pay less than my first purchase. But even with the shipping fee added, this foundation still considered affordable.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

[Review] theBalm Meet Matt(e)


Hi everyone!

I’m sorry for being MIA for so long. Let me fill you in with some updates. I have finally reached the end of my co-ass (or internship, you might say). Yay! There will still be another test on May, held by government. And if I passed the test, I will officially be a doctor. But at least, the hardest part is now over.

Anyhoo, have you Meet Matt(e)?
Give it up to theBalm for their weird (or funny?) product names with pun intended. The palette, as you can see, has picture of a guy in front of it. I assume he is Matt. It’s kinda funny that when I tried to take pictures of the product, the camera kept focusing on that guy in the cover. The packaging is a sleek, compact carton board with magnetic shut that reminds me a lot of some stila palettes. Inside there are nine eyeshadow and a dual ended tiny eyeshadow brush. The name of the individual eyeshadows is another pun. There are nine different Matts in various races, like Matt Chung, Matt Batali or Matt McDonald. Yeah, I think it’s kinda ridiculous if I posted an FOTD entry and listed Matt Smith, Matt Gallagher and Matt Ramirez as products used. Oh well.. Not that I’m against it, it just feels kinda weird, that’s all.



 However, I sing a totally different tune when it comes to the quality of these eyeshadows. I wasn’t so surprised with the intense pigmentation as theBalm eyeshadows are famous for that. The colors show up so easily but you can adjust it if you want less pigmentation, say when you apply colors on the crease. Awesome! It’s the smooth consistency that amazed me. I really didn’t expect it from a matte eyeshadow. I always a little bit permissive when it comes to matte eyeshadow. For all I know, matte eyeshadow tends to apply a little bit chalky and powdery but I found none of those problems with this palette. Make sure you tap the excess products before applying the eyeshadow, and you’re safe from eyeshadow fall out on application. Double awesomeness!

The color selection is great as well. I love how most of these eyeshadows have neutral undertone so it works for everyone. It even has two highlight colors, Matt Smith as warm beige-based highlight and Matt Chung as pink based highlight. Matt Gallagher and Matt Patel are my two most favorite crease colors. While the other colors are great to darkened the outer corner of the eye.

Of course, the dream when buying a makeup palette would be to have one palette that covers all the colors you need from base, crease, highlight to definition. But as you can see all colors in this palette are mostly dark colors. Now except for the browns, the colors in the palette don’t really coordinate with each other. Matt Ramirez, Matt McDonald and Matt Batali are great for definition color, especially when you go smoky. Matt Patel, Matt Gallagher, Matt Horowitz and Matt Schilling are great for crease. I rarely apply medium to dark eyeshadow on my lid, but if you like, Matt Schilling and Mat Horowitz could be your options. But in my opinion, with nine eyeshadows available, there is not enough color gradation to play with. Now this is not a problem with me because the reason I bought this palette at the first place is to get many matte colors in one palette at once. I already have enough eyeshadows in various colors and finishing, other than matte. And I hope this palette will complete my eyeshadow collection. Still, I don’t think this is the kind of palette that can be used alone. If you are still building your makeup collection, I’d suggest to postpone purchasing this palette and collect other palettes that have more colors combination and different finishing first. But if you have enough shimmery/glittery/satiny eyeshadows in your collection, then this palette would be a great addition.
  

theBalm Meet Matt(e) retails for $34.50 and is available at theBalm website. I purchased mine via my online seller while theBalm was having Friends and Family Sale.