Thursday, 16 December 2010

H&M Promotional Posters


I'm sure all of you who shop at H&M have already spotted the new posters they have up for this season. They all consist of a couple of the same race posing together. My favourite was the one with the two oriental girls. No I'm not choosing them because I am oriental myself, I just thought that the picture represented oriental beauty very well.
One model carries the typically known oriental features, namely her almond shaped eyes with ssok ssang a pul eyelids and oval face shape. The other has features that most people wouldn't associate with orientals but they certianly exist, she has large eyes and a 'tall' nose.
These two women are Sun Fei Fei and Du Juan. Their elegance and poise in the picture actually had me rather mesmerised, their make up was clean and fresh, enhancing their features without it being too heavy. So I thought I'd give my break down on their make up.

First, Du Juan.
This is the model in the red dress
Make sure your skin is perfectly even and smooth, then draw a thin line of liquid liner with a small wing on the upper lid. Keep eyebrows thick, natural and defined, fill them in with a dark matte colour if needed. Add some orange blush at the outer part of the face underneath the cheekbones, finish with some berry red lipstick with just a hint of shine.

Next, Sun Fei Fei.
Also ensure skin is smooth and flawless, apply blusher to the same place as stated for Du Juan and make sure eyebrows are thick, natural and softly defined too. For the eyes, add some smokey grey eyeshadow to the lid only, then line with black matte shadow and create a small wing. For the lips, apply a dark pinky red colour, but keep the colour more matte.

Add some red nail polidh and there you have it.
Their looks are just so simple and easy to achieve.
The contrast between milky white skin, dark dark hair and dark red lips just screams sophisticaton and elegance to me.

Have a lovely Christmas!
^^
Amber
x

Monday, 8 November 2010

BB Cream Application

BB cream is becoming more and more popular, with its multitude of benefits it isn't difficult to see why.
However some people may have realised that they're not receiving the promised effects of their BB cream, stopping them from achieving the flawless, glowing effect often found on Korean celebrities.
This post is just a translation of a rather useful video I found about applying BB Cream, it's all in Cantonese so I thought I'd help out those for those who don't speak the language.

Find the video HERE

I have summarised the general methods of applying BB cream here, if you would like the rest of what Will Or said translated, just drop me a comment :)

Basic BB cream Application
1) Apply an eye cream/serum to reduce puffiness.
2) Apply a primer with oil-controlling properties.
3) Spray a fine mist of 'moisturising water'. I'm not sure what else to call it, Shu Uemura and RMK have their own versions of this water. Evian and Avene also have a water mist spray.
4) Squeeze a small amount of BB cream onto the back of your hand. Apply with a sponge on forehead, nose, cheeks and chin and spread the BB cream evenly across your skin from the middle of the face outwards.
5) Using fingers or a sponge, apply more BB cream to under eye area.
6) Press skin with fingers so BB cream adheres better to skin.
7) Apply a light dusting of loose powder, use extra on the t-zone if needed.

More Advanced BB cream Application
For the Korean celebrity look!
*Prep skin as stated above before applying BB cream*
1) Apply a BB cream with highlighting properties to the forehead, cheeks, nose bridge and chin with a sponge.
2) Apply BB cream to remaining bare areas of face.
3) Use concealer to hide dark circles and apply loose powder.
4) Contour jawline and cheekbones.
5) Add eye make up, blush and lip colour.

Hope this was helpful!
Amber
x

Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Magical Honey

Here's my second post on natural skincare, this time I'm concentrating on
HONEY

http://www.yogsandesh.org/articles/131/1/Benefits-of-Honey-in-Ayurveda/Page1.html

Honey has been used for centuries for its benefits to skin and body, the most well known honey remedy for skin is probably the milk and honey mixture used by Cleopatra herself during bath time.

Honey contains a multitude of nutrional benefits, it carries vitamin B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid along with calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc (<--the spot healer). When eaten in moderate amounts, (no more than about 10 teaspoons a day and don't consume for prolonged periods at any one time), honey can help clear cholesterol and other fatty deposits in our body. Its low GI value also means you won't have sudden energy crashes after eating honey. Don't forget it can also help soothe a sore throat! Honey's antioxidant content and anti-microbial functions (helps to kill and prevent growth of bacteria, fungi etc) means it can help to soothe your skin after a day in the sun, prevent premature aging of the skin and help prevent skin infections. Honey is also a humectant, meaning it absorbs and retains water, so can help keep skin moisturised and soft when applied to the skin. Due to its healing benefits and zinc content, honey can be applied to burns and wounds to help with the healing process and keep scarring to a minimum. Using a honey cleanser or mask regularly can therefore help with acne prone skin. I've rambled on for quite a bit there, so here are some honey recipes you can try out.

A moisturising and healing mask/scrub
2 tablespoons of honey
2 teaspoons of milk
Mix together and apply to face and neck, leave for 10 minutes and rinse.
You can also apply this to elbows and knees, or anywhere else that needs some honey goodness.
To make a scrub, add a teaspoon of ground almonds to the mixture above and apply as stated, but use circular motions to exfoliate the skin when removing the mask.

A soothing and moistursing bath
Could it be any simpler?
Add 5 to 6 tablespoons of honey to your bath water and relax.

Hair mask
2:1 ratio of honey to olive oil
Mix well and apply to hair before shampooing and leave for a minimum of 10 minutes. Wrap a towel around your hair for increased benefits.
This is especially good for damaged and dry hair.

Cleanser
1 tablespoon honey
1teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
Mix together and use to cleanse face and neck in circular motions.
Rinse off and moisturise skin if needed.

That's the end of my post, hope it was informative!
^^

Amber
x

Wednesday, 11 August 2010

Azure Love Affair

Popteen Magazine contains LOTS of blue based eye make up styles this month.
I'm not really a fan of it to be honest, my oriental skin has a rather difficult time pulling off blue eyeshadows. Perhaps blue just clashes with the yellow undertones of my skin, or my dark eyes and dark hair just doesn't want to work with the blue?

Here's some pictures of some of the looks
For the model at the top of the page, although the blue adds a lovely pop of colour, i preferred her before picture much more.
The girl on the left only has a light wash of pastel blue which is easier to pull off and looks fresh and innocent, but a bad choice of lashes in my opinion.
I think the model on the right can pull off the blue look best, probably because her hair and eyes aren't dark. This is a rather lovely smokey blue evening look.

However on this page, many of the looks don't work.
Top left, the lashes are too much and the blue on the outer corner needs a little more blending.
Top right, just too much blue, a little drag queen-ish.
Bottom right, the shadow is too pale and the contacts are so bright that they scare me a little.
BUT
Bottom left, I LOVE her look!
Her look just uses blue liquid liner and falsies, simple, clean, fresh and fun.

For the look to work best, I've written down my two cents on it.
1) Wear subtle blue contact lenses. Blue lids and blue eyes seem to work best.
2) For a simple daytime look, blend a medium blue pastel shade on the lids and finish with a little tightlining and mascara/falsies.
3) For a brighter, quirkier look, apply a winged line of bright blue eyeliner along the top lashline as shown above. GOSH and No7 do very pigmented, longlasting liners in these shades, but you will need industrial strength eye make up remover ^^"
4) Highlighting the corner of your eyes will help make the blue look more balanced.
5) Never wear a bright lip with blue shadow, especially bright pink, unless it's Halloween and you're going as Barbie. The models have it spot on by wearing a nude or nude pink lip.

As much as I didn't like this trend, I will be trying out the blue winged liner.
Will you be trying out these looks?

Amber
x

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Magical Yoghurt

Just like every other girl, taking care of my skin is one of my top priorities.
Here on this blog I will start a series of posts about natural ways to take care of your precious skin.
Sometimes even the most expensive products don't work as well as random ingredients you can find in your kitchen, and at the very least you can ensure foodie ingredients won't do any hidden damage to your skin.

Today's post is about
YOGHURT.http://www.arlafoodsingredients.com/applications/general/fermented-dairy-products/

A delicious, calcium rich food that also contains lots of zinc (helps heal wounds and make new cells!), lots of B-vitamins (helps release energy from food) and protein (the biological building block).

There are so many varieties of yoghurt in supermarkets, which do we choose?
Well to eat, I suggest eating probiotic and prebiotic yoghurts
(these help improve your digestive system), fruity yoghurt,or perhaps just plain yoghurt
(no added sugar or flavourings, even better!).
Obviously choose lower fat versions but stay away from those that claim
to have 0% fat as they just have a lot of sugar to flavour them,
which doesn't do your body many favours anyway.
For your skin, I say always go for plain yoghurt so you
don't apply any additives or added sugar to your skin.

So what does yoghurt do for your skin?
Well it has a multitude of benefits.
Yoghurt contains lactic acid which helps to exfoliate your skin without the need of harsh scrubs.
Its zinc content will help to heal spots.
Yoghurt will also help make your pores appear smaller, so overall a smoother, more glowly complexion!
Its creamy consistency won't dry out your skin either, so don't be afraid to try yoghurt if you have dry skin.

Yoghurt is very simple to use, you can either slather some onto your cleansed face every night, leave for about 5 minutes then wash off, or why not try a yoghurt mask?
Throw in some fruit (adds plenty more benefits for your skin), a little honey (is GREAT for skin, a post on this later), perhaps some oats, and maybe some lemon juice!
Apply to your face for 15 minutes then wash off and apply moisturiser.
Smooth, healthy skin without spending a fortune
:)

I hope this post helps and begins to show just how great cupboard essentials can be.

Amber
x

Thursday, 22 July 2010

DollyPearl

Ahh welcome to my blog
^__^
I've been a silent reader of beauty blogs for quite some time now, and have decided to join the other beauty bloggers.
So just a small introduction about myself,
Amber Pearl Fei is my alias, alter ego or whatever you want to call it.
I live in Britain, am 21 and no longer a student.
I love all things beautiful, be it make up, skincare, fashion, music, food, the heart.
Pearls and finding perfection are my addictions,
my boyfriend is my love,
to travel is my dream,
emotions and desserts are my weakness,
but nothing is my nemesis.

Amber
x