Le Métier de Beauté Splendid Frost

I learned this past weekend that the tiring bit about moving lies more in unpacking than the actual shifting of things. I'm beginning to realize that I have way too much stuff but they're good stuff so I'm reluctant to throw them out, and the result is a sort of despair at all these nice but useless things I have piled up around me. 

But I know if I don't start getting rid of things my apartment would be just one step away from an episode of Hoarders, so I'm in the midst of taking photos for a blog sale. I have plenty of very gently used makeup waiting for new homes.

In the meantime, here's a quick peek at my all time favorite Le Métier de Beauté eye kaleidoscope. I talk about Splendid Frost very often but I've never featured it here. I'm quite aware that a lot of you might hate me after this, because this is absolutely sold out everywhere. But pretty makeup is pretty makeup, and though it's from a couple of years ago, it still deserves to be seen.

The colors from top to bottom are a taupe, a matte gray, a light pink, and a shimmering midnight blue. When combined, it's a soft smokey eye that works for any occasion imaginable. I've worn it to work, school, photo shoots, dates, interviews, and most recently, my graduation. (Also, it is a testament to the stellar pigmentation of Le Métier de Beauté eye shadows that my most-used eye kit still looks barely touched.)

Lips: Guerlain Porto Ercole

I've been asked if I could recommend dupes from the permanent line to recreate the kit, but sadly I couldn't think of anything similar. I also forgot what I wore on my cheeks, which is unfortunate because I'm kind of obsessed with it.

Makeup You Want But Cannot Have: Lancome Erika F

This hello is accompanied by a bashful wave. I know I haven't been on my regular posting schedule, but I will be soon! My holiday's almost over. I'll be flying for the next few days and back to the States on the 15th. I have the most exciting semester ahead of me, and though my heart (and my body heat) does not want to leave home, I really can't wait to get back into the grind.

Today's feature is the infamous Lancome Erika F, a shimmery green-gray eyeshadow that has reached cult status among beauty bloggers and makeup users alike. It is unfortunately a Euro/Asia exclusive, and I thank my lucky stars that I chanced upon it during my transit in Rome.

The way some bloggers describe this, it might as well be a candy-making unicorn leaping above a rainbow. And well, it really is. The swatch is pretty but no one prepared me for how it will look on the eyes. The pictures below do not do it justice. You know how certain types of books always has a heroine with a glimmer in her eyes (which doesn't make sense in real life)? Well, this is that mysterious abstract glimmer on the eyelids, and a multi-dimensional one at that.

I've been wearing it alone on my lid as I find that the color stands well on its own. On occasion, I might add a deeper shade in the crease, but I actually prefer it by itself. 

They're not kidding about Erika F. I'd tell you to run out and get it but I know most of my readers are from the US and don't have access to it. Luckily, I have a way for you to get your hands on a piece of this magic, but more on that tomorrow (yes, I'm dangling that carrot).

Several readers have asked what's on my lips and I'm abashed to say (ah, laziness showing through) it's actually the same lip from the most recent Lipstick Bandits post.

P.S.: Messy Wands is now on Facebook! It's not a robust page by any means yet, but it'll be a better medium for me to share links (especially those with pictures) compared to Twitter. I hope to see you there!

Makeup You Want But Cannot Have: Dior 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in Blue Ribbons #214

I didn't know this palette existed till a chance browse. I was urging my mother to try a new lipstick formula and I brought her to the Dior counter in a bid to hook her on to Rouge Dior, which was where I met the most insulting SA I've ever encountered in my life. I almost missed out on purchasing this palette because I loathed the idea that she would receive a commission for such rude manners.

But makeup prevails, especially since according to Joeyspace, Dior Blue Ribbons is an Asia exclusive.

I've been on a frosty eyeshadow kick lately. Anything with a good amount of shimmer or sheen I'll gobble up in a jiffy. Dior quints are some of my favorite eyeshadow palettes around, and Blue Ribbons doesn't make me change my stance. I think Dior has been on an amazing run lately (though, what does everyone think about the Spring Collection? The more I see it the less I want it, for some reason).

I'm not sure why the blue shadow looks more green to my eye in the pictures below. Maybe it mixed with my yellow skin and turned green? Or maybe I layered it over the peach and placed some of the black over it? Oh I don't remember. But I know it's pretty!

When I muster up some energy for some eye shots - yes, I do live like a fat slug when I'm back home - there will be more of Makeup You Want But Cannot(?) Have on Messy Wands. I haven't decided if it is glee or trepidation that accompanies my writing these posts (what if you hurl carrots at me for showing you things that are impossible to get?), but they'll (the posts, pray not the carrots) come either way.

Makeup You Want But Cannot Have: Yojiya Red

We interrupt the long hiatus with a short bout of Makeup You Want But Cannot Have, a series made of the unabashedly gleeful smirks of the few within the beauty community who managed to get their hands on coveted-but-impossible-to-get products and lived to snap pictures and tell the tale to yearning readers who cannot but bemoan the existence of such discontinued magnificence (Pink Sith, I'm looking at you). And since that last sentence was far too long I think it's time to quit the words and show you said rare item.

On my family trip to Japan last year, we stopped by Kyoto for a couple of days and my ambivalent-towards-makeup sister insisted on bringing me to this shop called Yojiya that apparently makes oil-blotting papers! and cute mirrors! and did she mention their makeup was what the geishas of yore used when preparing their elaborately painted faces? 

I didn't really need persuading in the first place, but that last morsel of information was the tipping point from excitement to feverish frenzy. When we spotted the modest little shop I insisted on staying in it for over an hour. I wasn't about to leave till I played with everything.

My mother was with me at the time so I forced restraint when it came time to purchase. I only managed to procure a blush brush, some blotting papers, and a brick red lipstick, the latter of which is featured here. 

One glide was all it took to achieve opacity. It's smooth but not slippery, moisturizing, and (dare I claim?) universally flattering. This lipstick flew off shelves when I was at the store. It astounds me that even my mother (who frowns at me on the regular for wearing "so much" makeup) and my sister (remember the ambivalence?) snatched one each for themselves.

In its defense, the lipstick is not a discontinued product so it is possible to still obtain it. However, Yojiya is only available in Kyoto and select airports in Japan. Needless to say, I am devastated that I let rationality and my mother's pleasure limit me in my purchase. Next time I'll leave them both at a (comfortable) teahouse so I can fulfill my beauty junkie duties to the fullest extent.