coco

I started…

After my friend told me she uses coconut oil as a moisturizer, I got a tub from Costco and started using it all over at night after my shower. The great thing about coconut oil is that it comes in a solid form so it doesn’t drip everywhere as you apply it. I normally slather it on and put my pjs on right after because I don’t have the patience to wait 10 minutes before it fully absorbs into my skin. It doesn’t get my pjs all icky though. Once it absorbs, it’s not greasy at all. It smells great and it’s perfect for dry winter skin.

Under the eyes??…

I recently ran out of eye cream and looked over and saw my jar of coconut oil sitting on my counter top and thought, why not? I took a very small amount and warmed it on my finger tips and applied it around my eye area, up to my temples. I waited until the next day to see if it would clog up any pores, but nope, it worked great!

As an eye makeup remover…

At the same time as running out of eye cream, I ran out of my shu cleansing oil – not a good day lol. I normally use the shu uemura Fresh (pink) cleansing oil for my eyes only to remove the eye makeup. So far, I haven’t found any other product that takes off my waterproof liner as well as the pink C/O does. I tight line my eyes, so the product becomes really hard to remove. I try to avoid any unnecessary rubbing of my eyes because I’m scared of wrinkles; The pink C/O works sooo well. I’ve tried the regular shu C/O, but it doesn’t remove as well as the pink.

Anyways, so because I ran out, I thought why not try coconut oil. So I did the same as with C/O and massaged the coconut oil onto my eyes without wetting my face or hands. Then, I used water and massaged my eye area and followed by washing my face following my regular routine. The eye makeup come off, not as clean as with the C/O, but it works and it’s all natural!

On the lips..

It works great as an all natural lip balm! I do this occasionally when my lips are super duper chapped.

All over the face?..

After applying all of my body, I tried patting the remainder of the coconut oil on my hands onto my face. This didn’t work so well for me because it clogged my pores :(. If you have acne prone skin, I wouldn’t suggest doing this.

Tips…

  • When storing coconut oil, do not store anywhere close to heat i.e. I stored mine in the cupboard under my washroom sink, but the vent is close by so it ended up melting it. When the melted coconut oil solidifies again, it’s no longer as soft and frothy as before. It becomes hard like a stick of cold butter and requires your body heat to melt it as you apply.
  • When using as an eye cream, apply a very very small amount.
  • As a lip balm, you can buy little travel cosmetic containers from the dollar store and scoop some coconut oil into it so that you can carry it around and re-apply during the day.

It’s great all-natural alternative to all those products that contain parabens. Of course some cosmetic products work much better, but going natural from time to time is always a good idea to give your body some time to detox. After all, skin is the largest organ of the human body.


meet jenny, the easy-going and sweet as pie bride that was referred to me by my hairstylist danny mak from prowave hair salon:

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she showed me an image of a makeup look that she liked where the bride had eye makeup with the inner corners brightly highlighted and fluffy lashes creating a wide doe-eyed look. since my bride has slightly monolid eyes i used deep brown matte eyeshadow to create shape on the upper lid and used a matte amber blusher to contour her eyes to give an illusion of depth. i then stacked a half set of lashes in the centre of the full set in order to create a rounder shape.

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congratulations jenny!!

 

this is the genuinely sweet bride that put her complete trust in me for her makeup. she normally wears no makeup at all and was so open to trying whatever i had to suggest. originally, she had sent to me an image of korean inspired glowing skin makeup, but for her engagement shoot, since she was wearing a black textured dress and loves to wear her light grey colour contacts, i suggested a more smoky look to better contour her colour contacts. she was so open to trying the makeup. and for the day of her wedding, we went for the more natural look, focusing on highlights, contouring and glowing skin.
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in the evening, we darkened the makeup every so slightly to accommodate for the dimmer lighting:

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congratulations to this lovely bride! it was such a pleasure getting to know her!

i had so much fun doing makeup for this bubbly and energetic bride! she is by far the most fun-loving bride that i’ve had the opportunity to do makeup for! her entire bridal party was so fun and open to having COLOUR for their eyes.

the bride told me that she wanted dramatic eyes with lots, i mean LOTS of lashes! so to create this very smokey yet romantic dolly-eyed look, we doubled up the lashes and lined the lower lash line and waterline with deep brown gel liner to bring out her light brown eyes.

the makeup process was captured so well with my favorite wedding photographer, Leon Chai.

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this sweet bride requested natural and soft makeup for her wedding at berkeley field house in toronto. rounded eyes and rosy cheeks suited perfectly this bubbly and cute lady! she doesn’t normally wear a lot of makeup, so keeping it natural for the daytime close up beauty shots worked best.

in the evening, just before the ceremony, we doubled up the lashes, deepened the contours and lined the waterline of her eyes to enhance the look for photography that would now be taken from more of a distance.

it was such a pleasure doing makeup for this sweet bride! Congrats!

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 photography by Johnny Lam Photography

this stylish bride knew exactly what she wanted for her special day. she chose two contrasting looks for day and night. the first look was a “no makeup” makeup look: clean contoured skin with natural eyes and lips. the second look for the evening was a posh look: smokey eyes with a set and a half of falsies, and slightly ombré lips. she looked awesome with both looks! 14 15 12
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13 1 5 7 10     9 11 6   congratulations to lovely couple!

this beautiful couple was of full of positive energy from the day that i met them for the bride’s makeup trial. the groom had his camera ready at the trial, snapping photos of the bride in different lighting and different angles; It was the cutest thing and the first time i’ve seen such an enthusiastically involved groom!

the doctor’s house was such a quaint venue for this couple. such a warm, small-town feel. it reminded me of the gilmore girls! the location was surrounded by bloomed flowers and white picked fences. it’s no wonder the bride chose a soft and romantic makeup look. we did a soft pink and grey smoky eye and make it slightly more dramatic in the evening with a second set of lashes and slightly darker tones.

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 photos by geehae jeong photography

click here to view a same day edit by uproductions

 

 

 

it’s been a while since i’ve updated my blog! there are several beautiful weddings that i’ve been so pleased to be a part of that i’d like to feature. my good friend and go-to model for photoshoots, janice wu, got married at fantasy farm in toronto. she chose a beautiful vintage dress, vintage bird cage veil and lovely red pumps for her special day. i just knew that we had to pair her choices with a cherry red lip and lengthy false lashes to complete her vintage look. she was just stunning to say the least.

 

 
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congrats to my fave lady! xoxo

 

this post is slightly late, but better late than never! nothing better than to end of 2013 with a fun beauty and fashion shoot with photographer mark darren and toronto fashion designer monica mei of aime luxury. with a request for gold makeup, i did a glittered in gold makeup look on swedish beauty megan mane.

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monica’s pieces are so stylishly sophisticated with such lovely textures. i love how she mixes delicate silky fabricates with more structured ones – not an easy task!

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her new collection inspired by turkish travel is so beautiful!Megan-3

 

that’s it for now! happy 2014!

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about the collection…

this year, shu uemura has collaborated with japanese pop, animé and otaku artist, takashi murakami, for their 2013 holiday collection. murakami is known for his “superflat” style which uses classical japanese painting techniques to create pop art.

his upcoming artwork is called 6 heart princesses (6HP), which is an animation film that will be aired as a TV series next year. the premise of the series is 6 regular girls transform into 6 good princesses who fight against 1 evil princess. the transformation is reminiscent of sailor moon!

the shu uemura holiday collection consists of one of the good princesses (pink princess) and the evil princess (black princess). the theme for the collection is “dual beauty” which suggests that every woman has two sides: naughty and nice. the two palettes, pink and black, allows us to express both natures.

how to use the colours…

pink princess palette 

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the pink palette contains 7 warm eyeshadows and one powder glow on blusher. the darker brown shade is typically used for the lash line and contouring. the reddish brown is used for the centre of the lid whereas the orange shade is used to blend out the reddish brown to create a flawless gradation. but of course those are just general guidelines on how to use them, you can use the however you’d like!

the iridescent white and yellow shadows are used for highlighting (the brow bone, the inner corners of the eyes) and the iridescent pink shades can be used to highlight the centre of the lids or used to soften edges of the brown shades for nice gradations.

swatches…

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black princess palette 

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this palette is perfect for creating colourful smoky eyes, which is the trend for this holiday season. it’s easier to create a smoky eye using the new gel liner to start (lining the eyes), then using the black shadow along the lash line blending upwards. following the liner, use either the dark violet or gold shadows on the centre of the lid, blending into the black shadow.

the green shade can be used to soften the black shadow edges to create gradation and the silver or the iridescent lavender can be used as accent highlights to the inner corners of the eyes are the bottom lash line.

swatches…

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review of the palettes…

the texture of the eyeshadows are phenomenal. they are similar to the velvety shadows in the karl for shu palettes – extremely smooth and intense colour payoff. the difference that i noticed is that these shadows feel almost creamy to the touch; when applied, it feels like cream but has a powder finish. it’s like the cream and cheek stain of this collection.

the shadow are, however, very delicate. so be careful when transporting the palette because i find that the shadows can break apart if not handled with care. the black shadow of my black princess palette cracked on route to me in the post.. so sad! but there are, of course, ways to repair broken eye shadows using alcohol. i’ll be fixing my palette!

the new s curler…

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this is the new generation s curler by shu uemura. it’s designed so that you can curl sections of lashes at a time. this curler is ideal for smaller eyes which may be harder when using the original lash curler since not all of the lashes seem to get curled.

personally, i’ve never had a problem with the original curler, but i love this new one when . i like to clamp my real lashes to the falsies using this curler so that they merge together – avoiding the horrible 2 set of lashes look!

this new curler is far improved from the the original mini curler by shu uemura because it doesn’t have the side bars which got in the way of curling before. i was so happy when shu came out with this curler! i was using another korean brand mini curler before this, but the padding is nothing compared to shu uemura’s!

 

new pencil gel liner…

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this is the ultimate liner for me. i had always been using the shu uemura painting liner (a gel liner that dries completely waterproof, even when i use it on my waterline; no smudging). the only thing that i found tedious was having to clean my brush every time i applied liner. with the new gel liner, i can get that gel finish without the brush.

the finish is smooth and it’s soft so it’s easy to apply when tight lining eyes.

 

cream and cheek stain…

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so when i first got this, i was thinking that my lips would look like i just ate a popsicle or a lollipop because that’s what tends to happen whenever i try a lip stain. but the finish of this stain is different. it comes out of the tube creamy but as you smooth it out, it becomes velvety and soft.

the colour is more like what i’d expect from a lipstick as opposed to a lollipop! personally i love this because it’s super easy to take out with me for my cheeks and lips. it’s great for those lazy or busy days (which i’ve had many lately) where i can just add some colour to my face so that i look less tired without having to do the whole works with my eyes.

 

the nail polishes…

DSC_0635the collection features 2 nail duos: pink and glitter & purple and gold. i have the purple and gold one which is a nice change from the typical red nails for the holidays! the shades can be used alone since the gold polish has a thicker consistency compared to previous glitter polishes by shu.

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i used 2 coats for the purple polish; it goes on smooth without streaks. for the gold polish, i just used one shade as embellishment.

i’ll be doing some makeup looks soon!