Sparkled Beauty

A few weeks ago, Make Up For Ever was in town for blogger meetups at our local Sephora and I was lucky enough to be included. I hardly expected brands coming here ever, so it was really exciting to have an opportunity to learn more about this awesome brand.

Interesting to know that Make Up For Ever is younger than me lol. The brand was created by Dany Sanz in 1984 out of a boutique in Paris. She was a painter/ sculptor, and coined the term "paintings in motion" when referring to makeup.

The brand now presents in over 52 countries, is well known of their Aqua line (waterproof) and HD line (to cater the High Definition film industry).

They even have a Make Up For Ever Academy, established in 2002. I wish to go there one day, there would be so much to learn. A blogger's dream!

This is the HD Complexion Starter kit (retails $89, values $122) that I was offered to try, with my personally matched foundation shade.

3 simple steps to a HD finish:
- Prep: HD Microperfecting primer #0 - light weight, oil free, with Silica Micro beads to refract light, veil imperfection. It acts as a moisturizer too.

- Cover: HD Invisible Cover foundation (26 shades to choose from, my shade is 123) - medium to full coverage, oil free. Also has Silica Micro beads.

- Finish: HD Microfinish powder and kabuki brush. The powder is talc and paraben free, translucent when applied, with spherical micro-particles of Mineral Silica powder. The brush has nylon fibers - soft but firm, works well with the powder.

And talking about Make Up For Ever, you can't miss their fabulous lip products.

Here I have:
- Rouge Artist Natural lipstick in N45
- Rouge Artist Intense lipstick in 40
- Aqua Waterproof Lip liner in 17C, and
- HD Microperfecting primer in #6 - personally selected for my skin condition, to even out and lighten skin tone, an extra to add to the HD kit above. It smells great, like a skin care product.

Closeup on the lip products, as they are more fun to look at.

- Rouge Artist Natural lipstick in N45 on the left - the shade is darker IRL
- Rouge Artist Intense lipstick in 40 on the right, and
- Aqua Waterproof Lip liner in 17C on top.

I fell in love with the orange pair (40 and 17C) the moment I swatched them. This summer will be all about bright lips for me :)

Swatches, in the same order as mentioned above, with flash.

N45 is from the Rouge Artist Natural line, so it is more sheer and moisturizing, a deep red leaning toward mauve.

40 is from the Rouge Artist Intense line, and it is intense indeed. Isn't it the colour of the year, especially when paired with 17C?

Swatches with no flash, still intense, if you ask me. Stay tuned for a FOTD post to see how the products look on me.

It was a really fun getting to play around with the brand's favorites, and bonus points that they care about us bloggers. Thought I couldn't love the brand more, but I do now :) Totally worth lining up for 3 hours for (IMATS LA, 2010, if you recall).

New product alert: the new Aqua Shadow line is coming soon this month, retails $23 each. They will be like harder Aqua creams in a pencil form.

12 shades:
- Matte finish: Black, Brown, Taupe Grey, Navy Blue and Green
- Pearly finish: Taupe, Copper, Pink, Peach, Beige, Pink Beige and White.

Looks like we'll have darker matte shades, which is a wonderful thing. The pearl ones though seem to be all in the beige/ pink family. There's definitely room for brighter colours, you know, for summer.

Also for Aqua creams, we'll see new shades: #18 (pictured), 23, 24 and 25, launched in June for Canada.

I'm excited about #18 as it's the Aqua cream version of the famous #92 eyeshadow, woo hoo!

Hope you all have a great day. I'm so glad it is a short work week.