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.

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.

[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.

 

 

 

[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.

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.

[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!