Brow Powder + Swatches

Just swatches of a good eyebrow product. Fanny Serrano's eyebrow powder! I do like this although some people find it powdery. I dont have problems with it though, except for the 2 shades on the left being too dark (its darker in person) but I have seen some with lighter shades, so perhaps the new ones have lighter shades than the one I have.

First 2 are shades on the righ side of compact, last 2 are the shades
on the left side of the compact. Shades look a bit lighter in photos than in acutal.

Most of the time I use the first 2 shades swatched (the shades on the right side of the compact) I find the other 2 are too dark and barely use them. I wish they would come out with single pot shades or just the 2. But it comes handy when you do makeup since you never know which one you'll need. I really like it because the shades have a hint of gray to it, pure brown shades on eyebrows look really fake. And its very pigmented. Ive had this for almost 6 months now although im running a bit low on the 2 ligher shades.


Would I repurchase this? I would, but i'll probably go and try a different eyebrow powder after running out. In any case, its affordable so I can just go and get it when I get dissapointed with whatever product I will try after this ( around 400 PhP).


Another great product from a local cosmetic brand! Now I wish they would reformulate their powders and make them unscented haha. Anyhoo, have a great weekend everyone! :)

How to: Eyebrows

In my opinion, the hardest part in doing makeup is the eyebrows. Ive encountered different kinds of eyebrows: over plucked, shaved in half, bushy, brows with patchy no hair areas (my very own hah), etc. We read it all the time, that when we do our brows, we should follow the natural shape. That works sometimes when your own brows has a nice shape. But you sometimes have to go in and change the shape of the brows either by plucking/shaving or filling them in.

The main points of the eyebrows are: the starting point, the arch and the end point. This one you see in all those magazine and books where you measure by aligning a straight object (eg. a brush) along the side of your nose to the corners of your eye (end point), side of your nose along your eye (arch), side of the bridge of your nose towards your forehead (Starting point). Im sure its quite hard to imagine so here's an image from my portfolio of pretty Miel. You can use these lines as guideline when shaping your brows or when your drawing them on.

1: Starting point, 2: Arch and 3: End Point

As for filling in your brows, there are a lot of products in the market now. There are brow powders, pencils and even creams. Ive tried pencils and powders and I currently use a powder. I like that it gives you more control and isn't too overpowering unlike some of the pencils ive tried. The only decent brow pencil ive liked so far is M.A.C's brow pencil in lingering because you can slowly build the color and it doesnt look too fake.


I like to start filling in my brows in the middle and work my way to the end point where it should be the darkest. My own brows dont have an arch from the several times ive had people shave my eyebrows when they do my makeup (ugh. never ever again). I make sure that the arch on both sides are the same before I move on to the starting point. The starting point should be squar-ish in shape and a tad bit lighter then the middle part and end part of the eyebrow. I sometimes struggle with this because my eyebrows really need to be drawn on. So what I do is I draw the entire eyebrow shape and go back to the starting point and lighten it a bit with a qtip. Another good way to lighten it is by using M.A.C's brow set.

M.A.C. Browset in Girlboy, Beguile and Mink

Swatches (Girl boy, Beguile and Mink) w/ flash



Swatches (Girl boy, Beguile and Mink) w/o flash

My eyebrows: quickly filled it in with an eyebrow powder

Left: Beguile; Right: Girl Boy
I dont normally apply it over my entire eyebrow but I
did in the picture to give you a better idea of what it would look like.

My favorite is Girl boy which looks orange brown on the swatch but when applied looks like light brown. Beguile looks more like Golden brown but darker. I first purchased Mink because it was dark and thought I needed to swipe it all over my brows haha.

I really love the browsets from M.A.C. As nicely shaped eyebrows help frame the face, sometimes lighter eyebrows helps to make the face looks softer. And the browsets do that. If youre afriad of bleaching your eyebrows or want to see what you look like with lighter eyebrows, trying the browset is a good start!


A few more tips ive picked up that might be useful:
- An angular face (eg. square shaped) should have more of a rounded shaped eyebrows, while a person with a round face should make her eyebrows a bit more angular or a bit more arched.
- If youre a brunette your eyebrow color should be at lease 1-2 shades lighter. If you have
red or blonde hair, your eyebrows should be at least 1-2 shades darker


Hope this helps!The best way to get it right is to practice, practice, practice. I am no expert at this, its still a hit and miss for me sometimes and I even still struggle with my own, given that my eyebrow hair are so scarce hahaha.


Would love to hear from anyone who does her brows differently! hehe Ive yet to
try the cream one from MUFE as it is out of stock at the moment but ill let you guys know as soon as I get my hands on it. Oh and btw, if youre in the Philippines the Girl boy browset has been out of stock since March, hopefully they'll have it by next month. =)

Artistic Makeup 3rd Class: Prime/No Makeup Look

Hey everyone! Valentines is just around the corner! I see everyone doing valentines looks and I unfortunately cant do one, because my face is freaking swelled up like a chipmunk! How very timely eh? hahaha Went to the dentist a few days ago and he told me I needed a root canal (yeek!) I didnt want my face to swell so I had it done and surprise surprise I look like Manny Pacquiao LOL ugh I hate it.


Im posting about last weeks class since classes this week are cancelled AGAIN. We were supposed to have 3 classes this week to make way for our OJT for U.P's Live Aids 2010: CIRCUSMARYOSEP! on the 19th, 20th and the 21st. But LCI cancelled our classes every night for each of the day (I wish they just cancelled the whole week's scheduled classes and told us about it earlier) because of some aircon maintenance issue. blahh.


But anyway, last week we had a class and our very first evaluation! We needed to do the prepping, the base and the eyebrows. We had 2 weeks to practice since the week before our class, LCI cancelled the scheduled class. I said I would, but I procrastinated and then forgot haha. I wanted a challenge, so I brought in my friend Betty La Fea to model....

Kidding! haha This is my friend Michie, she dressed up as Betty La Fea for Halloween. She doesnt have crazy bushy eyebrows, the opposite actually. She has fine eyebrow hair and it isnt groomed. So I thought it would be nice to practice on someone who didnt have nice eyebrows. And boy was I right, it was a challenge! haha

Forgot to take a before picture so I stole a picture of her on her facebook profile LOL with very little makeup on. Michie is naturally pretty and wears very little makeup so I thought it would be fun to put makeup on her and fix her brows. Our topic for the day (Prime/No Makeup Look) was perfect for her too since I cant imagine her going through all the trouble of having any more than 2 colors of eyeshadows to blend herself haha.

With foundation and concealer on




After grooming her eyebrows and tweaking it for a couple of times I finally got
it to look more even and to frame her face better =) Dont mind the white spots
on her cheeks I was concealing some blemishes and was too
excited to take a picture haha.



In class we are taught step by step. Here she is with just half of the face done.
We were given 15 minutes to do the other side of the face and then we
were evaluated again (yes, 2 evaluations in one meeting!)







All done! I love how the prime look turned out on her, very simple, pretty and polished.



After evaluation we were asked to choose accessories from the Fashion Accessory making
class to have our models wear. They were going to be photographed
by students from the Photography class.



Posing. Yee! Model! haha =)

The Final look! =)
Seriously happy with how it turned out. She looks so fresh and pretty
I had to crop myself out of this picture because I wasnt LOL

What I used on Michie:
- Mix of RCMA Shinto III and VOV #3 for foundation
- M.A.C Charcoal Brown for her eyebrows
- Cinema Secrets kit #2 concealer
- RCMA Invisible Setting Powder
- Fanny Serrano Powder in Chino
- Coastal Scents Blush Palette (Middle pure pink color)
- Stila Kajal eyeliner in onyx for the upper lashline (not a good idea to use on someone with small eyes - kept smudging on the lower waterline and undereye area)
- M.A.C. Fibrerich Mascara
- M.A.C. Femme Fi (Lid), M.A.C. Cork (Crease), M.A.C. Vanilla (Highlight)
- Fanny Serrano Lipstick in Coco Copper

Happy Valentines Everyone!