Hey Everyone!

This is the only time I get to wear bad make-up and get away with it. I have to admit it and I’m sorry if I sound mean but there are times when I just wanna help a gal out. Either in the MRT, mall or even on the street, sometimes I just wonder what’s going on in their heads when they put on their make-up this morning. Being a make-up artist, it’s really hard not to look. Here are my top 5 make-up pet peeves (peeves are things that really annoy you) and how to fix them! They’re common make-up mistakes that everyone makes! Not like you gotta fix them for me, but let’s just say you gotta help yourself.

1. The Reverse Panda Eye

This is probably the most common. You’re doing your make-up and you didn’t sleep much last night so you’re layering on that concealer under the eye. In the mirror it looks pretty good but trust me girl, it’s deceiving. You think it brightens your look up but when the camera snaps and flash goes off, you look like what I call – the “Reverse Panda”.

It’s not a good look. You look like you have headlights under your eyes and it’s just plain distracting. But, here are a few tips to help you out. If you have heavy and dark under-eye circles it is totally understandable why you want the coverage. Instead, make sure you opt for a concealer with no SPF and no reflective properties. Anything that is a concealer and highlighter in one or a “radiant” concealer is an absolute no. Instead go for something that’s just a liquid concealer. However, if you have no under eye circles like me, and want to highlight – then, just dab three dots underneath your eye and in short dabbing motions, blend the concealer out! Just to clear things up, your under eye concealer should be the same color (not lighter) as your foundation/face.

2. Round Blush-a-Holic

I don’t know how this trend made it here, but it did. The round circle blush shape is making waves with it’s Japanese fans but truth be told, we don’t all look like Japanese dolls. I’ve seen this on girls on the train, going shopping, at the movies. And I hate to be mean, but I really think you look like Krusty the Clown’s wife. I mean look at me! I didn’t even do up myself that bad to show you. I usually see these girls with bright red or orange circles on their cheeks. I just wanna go up there, ask for their permission of course, and blend it out. Trust me, they’re not doing cosplay either.

Blush can do so much for you and it’s not just about looking fresher and more alive. It can help slim you down too. For the most natural flush, work the blush slightly from the top of your cheekbones down to your cheeks. Make sure you add a little at a time till you get the perfect flush and you can see that the blush looks much better and more complete!

3.  The Ashy Foundation 

One of my friends is super fair, but really wants to be tan so much so, she’s in “foundation shade denial”. She refuses to get a foundation that is her shade and usually goes for the shade 2 or 3 shades darker. Then, she bronzes up her entire body. Although looking tan isn’t the problem here in Singapore, I still think we have a similar problem. A lot of the more tan models I do always ask me to apply something lighter so they look lighter on camera. That’s not a problem since it’s on camera but walking around, you do look a little funny. The reason why you look ashy, dull or gray is because your foundation either is too light a shade for you or you’re walking around with the wrong undertone.

And it’s not your fault either. The BB Cream craze here is…crazy! They only provide one or two shades and all of them are for light skin tones. Even walking to your local Watsons and Guardian, most of the make-up brands even major ones supply only foundation shades for light skin tones. It kinda makes me a little mad. Find something that is your skin tone. But, it could be the fact that the actual foundation is gray! There are so many bb creams out there with a gray undertone. You squeeze it out on your palm and it’s obviously gray! Do you check this or no, because it’s gray. I show you ze difference. Gray vs. Yellow – BOTH are bb creams. I’m not going to name any names but you can see the difference for yourself.

4. Top Heavy Lashes

That picture makes me wanna go “heheheheh”. Lol. You can see how dramatically smaller my eyes have gotten and this is everywhere. I mean false lashes can do every Asian great things, including myself. They do open up the eyes. However! You must get lashes that suit your eye-shape. Sometimes people think that all false lashes are created equal but no, they come in different shapes and sizes for a reason! Getting super full lashes does not equate to getting super big eyes. In fact, it equates to smaller eyes if your eyes can’t carry them well.

So how do you pick a good lash. Granted the “good lash” isn’t the best lash I have but it will do. You can see the “good lash” has varying lengths, cris crosses, has more space between the lash and is layered. This is for sure going to look a little lighter on your eyes than the “bad lash”. Of course if you have really large eyes you can turn the “bad lash” into a “good lash”, but this lash is going to just flatten and squash your eye. It’s a straight cut which isn’t natural. It’s just thick. It’s like I can just grab the thing as one piece of hula skirt and take it off.

As you can see, the “good lash” makes such a gigantic difference. Even though the “good lash” isn’t as thick as the “bad lash”, it’s able to open my eyes even bigger than they originally were without lashes and that’s exactly what you want!

So I really hope you found this useful! Hope I don’t see any of you girls sporting the above anymore or I haven’t done ma job properly!

Shop at my online store – http://www.roseanne.sg

Love,
Roseanne

Hey Everyone!

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. I was requested by some lovely viewers to do this tag video. Basically, you’re supposed to put on you make-up without glancing even once at the mirror. Although it seemed like an almost impossible feat, I decided to go ahead and do it anyway! By the way, excuse my lazy dress sense today. It’s Saturday and I just wanted to chill and make a video and it was cold. Hehe.

I’ve done my own make-up everyday now for at least three years so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. I managed to go through foundation in a breeze and only really expected trouble with the lips and eye-liner. But after the whole look was done, I was really quite impressed with myself (in the most modest way possible). Few scars from the battle, just a mark on my fore-head, uneven liner, uneven lips, uneven brows. Okay, maybe more than a few scars.

What I did notice was that I was much more precise with the right side of my face. The eye-liner was done better, the lips done “properly” and my eye-brows weren’t a blurry mess. I guess that means that maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’m right-handed!

Hope you enjoyed this tag ;) and thank you to sheriberrix for requesting this video! If you have any video requests at all, let me know in the comments section below!

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Love,

Roseanne

Hey Everyone,

Today I thought I might write an opinion piece. I haven’t done one of these in a long time. Now, I’m going to warn you first that with opinion pieces, they’re unplanned and messy unlike most of my posts. There are no pictures, it’s just what I have to say about the topic at hand. Opinion pieces flow out of me and I’m not going to bother correcting and structuring it. We’ll see where we end up.

When people come up to me and ask me what I blog about or what my passion is and I reply with the answer cosmetics or makeup, sometimes depending on the person, I get too much of a shrug or a raised eye-brow. When I asked people on twitter the remarks they get, @Miss_Flossy replied that “Someone once assumed I was dumb because I wear makeup.” Well hey, I get that too.

You see, although I know that this does not apply to everyone, many seem to think that make-up or wearing make-up is fake. Albeit that yes, you are adding something to your face to enhance your beauty and that yes, it can sometimes become an addiction. Once you start to wear makeup, you can’t really stop. Well, for me at least. It is a rare occasion when I will walk out the door with a bare face. You kind of become accostomed to it and you kind of become comfortable under that shield of powder and foundation, that wonderful feeling of confidence in yourself that you know you look good because you have your “face” on. Maybe it’s the media. Maybe it’s the fact that all the popular girls on TV wear makeup and all the “real” girls tormented by these popular girls wearing makeup, don’t. Maybe it’s common instinct to defend the real girls and I’m not saying that wearing makeup is a necessity but maybe it’s that inner calling of a once tortured inner self that scorns makeup wearers alike. Whatever it is, most people who declare that makeup is fake often say that we don’t celebrate ”true” beauty.

But I guess the point today to address is well, what is “true” beauty? True beauty is internal. You could be Miss Universe but if you are rotten inside, mean, insiduous and horrible, and have slept with married men to get to where you are, I would never ever call you a beautiful person. Thus, whether someone is truly beautiful should be based on our values, kindness and mannerisms rather than our external apperance. I think that makeup helps us bring out our confidence, feelings of empowerment and control which ultimately aids to nurture our inner beauty. It helps to fix ourselves.

Makeup should only act to enhance your appearance, not mask it either. Just like speech and art and poetry, makeup is a form of self expression. Each and everyone of us have different personalities and different styles. Just like clothes which can also enhance and alter our appearance, makeup does the same. Why isn’t wearing clothes fake? Why is makeup more fake than clothes? They both do the same thing. They express styles and it is ultimately and addition to your apperance. We may feel that clothing is necessary and makeup is not. Maybe that’s why.  Like @Got_takoyaki, some also argue thatmakeup is an art form. The faces are the canvases and the makeup becomes the paint. War paint. Performance paint. Whatever paint, makeup is art. It is again a form of self-expression.

I reckon there’s a deeper meaning to it though. Makeup might make us look better, but the reason why we do it is because it makes us feel better.@peachykeen_15 says that makeup helps her to be the best version of herself and that she wouldn’t be happy half doing anything in life, why stop at the way she presents herself. @Adeline_er says that makeup is used to enhance her natural features and hence isn’t fake as she hasn’t altered anything on her original face.

I think however that ultimately, it all boils down to personal choice. When you look into the mirror and see yourself, do you believe that you’re beautiful? Well, imagine this. If you are undergoing cancer treatment, if you have been bullied again and again at school perhaps for the appearance of your skin, if you are facing ill treatment in the office because of how you look and you look at yourself in the mirror, it’s not going to be 100% there that you think that you’re hot. Most often than not, you don’t. You start hating yourself. You wish you were someone else. I think that no matter how many times people tell you that you’re beautiful, you will only think that you are beautiful if you yourself believes it. It’s the same with all the theories of life.

But say that that cancer patient looks to her side table, grabs a brush and her favourite blush, the sweetest pink. Say she does. Say she careful opens up the package and takes the brush, sweeps it tentatively side to side and then looks into the mirror and in small strokes, applies the blush slowly, almost savoring the moment. When she is done, she looks into the mirror, turns her head side to side and smiles. She smiles. She hasn’t smiled in so long. She smiles because she feels better about herself. She feels more confident. She feels powerful. She feels beautiful. Let’s say she feels like she can take on the world. Would you come to her and point at her and laugh, “Haha, you’re fake now!” – I didn’t think so. Isn’t all that matters is if that a person is happy, that that person does what he or she wants to do, that makeup itself becomes a factor of personal choice rather than a factor of others. If putting that blush on makes her happy, so much happier, then let her put that blush on.

A lot of people ask me why I ever started makeup or why I ever started blogging about beauty. I really was quite the nerd in High School. No silly person would have ever guessed, not even myself, that I would blog about beauty. I mean I always had that desire to be hot like all the popular girls but I wasn’t like them. They weren’t very nice anyway. All I really put on was an eye-liner and I would look into the mirror and tell myself, “Well, Roseanne, this is as good as it gets.” With a side smirk and a blank stare into the mirror and a comb through of my hair, I walked out of my room, ready to face the day no matter what people thought. I didn’t have time for myself. I barely cared about what I wanted or even how I looked. I had too many things to do and often those things were for other people.

And then my heart broke. It broke into I remember telling my friend how it feels to be heartbroken. It feels like your heart is made of glass and it’s dropped from the top of the empire state building and crashes onto the pavement and the wounds feel like they’ve been swirled around in the desert and salted. Pain. You know, you hear and you see it in the movies. You see people get sad and heartbroken but you really only know when you’ve had it yourself and it’s a pain that you can’t just stop. It’s a pain that you ultimately have to rise up, defeat and learn from. I did.  It’s something you have to do yourself, alone. I had never felt so alone in my life. Looking back, it feels like you’ve climbed mountains and crossed rivers and re-built buildings you never though you’d have to. I have to say that makeup to me was an integral part of the healing process. I started to wear makeup to school and in the morning I would wear makeup for myself. It was “me” time. It was the 10 to 15 minutes at the start of my day that would make me feel important again. Because when you break up with someone, you feel lost. You don’t know who you are anymore but makeup helped me feel powerful, in control and pretty. I felt pretty. I didn’t feel useless and pitiful, I felt pretty. That really helped me.

Makeup isn’t fake. It isn’t about short, slutty skirts, mean cheerleaders, homewreckers or sell outs.  I believe that sometimes we come to conclusions thinking we know both sides of the story but I don’t think we always do. It’s like thinking a toy does something when it actually does a bunch of other things that we didn’t know it did. Likewise makeup yes, if applied wrongly can be disastrous, but if applied correctly, can serve to empower women and that is something that I’ll always believe in.

What do you think?

Love, Roseanne

Hey Everyone,

Let’s be real. You could look like Miss Universe on the outside but if you’re like the wicked witch of the west on the inside, I don’t believe you can ever be truly beautiful. Whether it’s something simple like opening the door for the next person behind you or a strong charismatic glow, inner beauty I think takes many forms. In fact, it’s something I don’t mind sharing either. So here are my top 10 characteristics of a truly beautiful woman – a woman who encapsulates a kind, powerful and strong heart. Truth be told, I believe sometimes inner beauty is all you need.

1. Loves and Respects Herself

A woman who loves herself is admirable. I don’t mean a woman who stares into every reflective surface, but someone who respects herself to know what is right from wrong. If you love yourself, you’ll know what’s right for you and you’ll be able to stay away from what you know is wrong. A woman who loves herself is a woman who respects her body not to induce self harm, a woman who respects her heart not to fall for nonsense and a woman who respects her soul to seek enriching and valuable experiences.

2. Confident, but not cocky

They say confidence is the most important accessory  a woman can wear. True. With confidence, you glow and feel like you can take on the world. Whatever challenges that come your way, you’ll be able to hit outta the ball park and  you strut walkways like runways. In fact, I think that wearing confidence is more attractive than wearing any beauty product. A confident woman is able to light an inner glow that is contagious in a room of insecurities.

3. Generous Heart

Have a big enough heart to be generous. I’m not talking about money either. Have the heart to love unconditionally, to care for a stranger or many, and to share experiences when needed. Have the heart to teach someone something new, to help someone grow as a person, to sacrifice your time for a person who needs it more. Sometimes people say they’re generous just because they’re giving a few hundred dollars to a local charity. I think generosity means much more than that, much more than a number, I think it means a self-less willingness to give and to service humankind.

4. Supportive and Inspirational

I reckon that you can be real, there’s nothing wrong in stating the truth but I think one should be considerate in knowing when to be supportive and when to be critical. I think if you know that something means a lot to a person, you should support them in any way you can. Be the voice that helps them realize that possibilities are endless and that giving up and failure is always a choice. But it’s not only in another’s endeavours that you should be supportive for, you should be supportive enough to advise them right from wrong too.

5. Considerate and Kind

These characteristics are a given. In fact, they’re probably one of the first things you think of when you think of inner beauty. Someone who takes into account how others are feeling and puts themselves in their shoes is truly kind and considerate. Whether it’s taking out your wallet as a gesture at the end of a date, or being careful about how your words might make someone else feel, kindness is certainly not surrounding yourself with furry forrest friends, but really putting yourself in another’s shoes.

6. Genuine and Real

Be real, especially when it comes to realising that no one is perfect. I think that being yourself is better than trying to be someone you’re not or trying to be someone you know you should be. Perhaps you can’t be all of this, maybe it’s not your nature to do so, then take it as light hearted advice to steer or guide your actions but you shouldn’t feel pressured to become it. Being real and true to yourself and celebrating your individuality is better than being someone you’re not. Period. Also saying you’re the bomb when you don’t practice what you preach is not being genuine. I think a woman should be modest but not self-deprecating.

7. Loyal to Friends and Lovers

Loyalty to me is so important. I hear stories of people cheating on their partners and it breaks my heart. It’s not only love though, because you should be loyal to your friends as well. That means standing up for them when someone is bashing them up, sticking to your values and morals and being genuine enough not to backstab your way through life because we all know what goes around, comes around.

8. Honest and True

No one likes a perpetual liar. To be honest and truthful and not being afraid of the consequences of telling the truth is a beautiful thing. Honesty in endeavours makes a good result worthwhile. It means you earned it. Honesty in life frees the heart of guilt and living an honest life will make you happier. There is nothing wrong in admitting your wrong-doings because it helps you learn and that’s what life is for.

9. Visionary and Intelligent

A woman isn’t only beautiful because of how she looks, she’s beautiful because she has a good head on her shoulders. Intelligence, brains and wit add substance to her beauty. She’s well-cultured, knowledgeable about the world around her, and most of all does not act stupid when she’s not. This isn’t about getting Einstein’s IQ, it’s about being curious about the world and seeking knowledge to know more about your surroundings. Knowledge makes a powerful, engaging and interesting woman. You’re a cultured conversationalist. You don’t want to talk to a woman who stares blankly at you dumbly no matter how pretty she is.

10. Passionate and Strong

A beautiful woman is passionate about something, has a dream or a goal in life and will do the work to make it happen. She’s strong to admit that there is a challenge ahead of her but her passion is strong enough to overcome it. A beautiful woman is also ambitious, strong, and well focused. She wants to get somewhere in life and I think that’s important.

So those are my top 10 characteristics of a truly beautiful woman!

I asked some of you on Facebook and here’s what you said!

My current motto: Never give up, live the dream, live your best life!

What do you think makes a truly beautiful woman? Comment down below!

Love,

Roseanne

Hey Everyone,

If you’re up with the times, you’re probably aware of the controversey surrounding the MAC Rodarte Collection and the people in Juarez. Because I took some time to understand the situation, thought you might like this informative post of why exactly this isn’t so cool.

Thanks to theSPNation’s video, I totally understand the situation:

Rodarte is a fashion label by Kate and Laura Mulleavy feauturing avant garde fashion with lots of chiffon, a bit mysterious and dark and something I would assume that MAC would be attracted to. Their partnership is no surprise.

The MAC Rodarte Collection was inspired by ‘a roadtrip’ taken by the sisters in Mexico from El Paso to Marfa, Juarez and parts of Texas and with product names such as Ghostown, Sleepless, Sleepwalker (representing prostitution), badlands, Factory (where workers are making basically 2 dollars an hour) and finally Juarez, it is basically insulting the people in Mexico especially those in Juarez where there is currently a death toll of 6,000 and where murder and rape unfortunately run rampant. The fact is, MAC had intentions to make profits from this collection while insulting the people in Mexico and emphasising the demise of woman in Juarez.

From Temptalia:

Although MAC  & Rodarte could have taken a total left turn, they didn’t. It’s their make-up, they could have refused to take inspiration from Juarez. But, theydidn’t.

Personally, this is insensitive. I may not be Mexican, but I am human. How can they make a collection based on rape, evil and drug killings? Let’s make a collection about the HOLOCAUST, we can call products: Man-slaughter, Rape, Gas Chambers. Yea, good idea. NOT. They might just be product names but the fact that it is inspired by that roadtrip and the fact that you want money from it is really inappropriate. Emphasising the rape and violence of women isn’t ever cool especially because I would say most of their customers, fans and clients are women. They really should have been more sensitive in shedding light on Rodarte and should have intiated the charity aspect from the start. It’s MAC’s makeup, their decision to be like I love RODARTE, let’s make some makeup out of their road trip instead of their fashion!

Even the model is ghostly, emaciated, and dead.

Reminds me of the blood that these woman have shed:

It was funny because in the beggining apology, they chose to donate only PART of the proceeds to the women in Juarez, honestly can’t believe that they could think $100,000 will fix it…

They have since changed their initiatives.

Source: http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2010/07/mac_creates_charity_initiative.htm

MAC and Rodarte, you need to stop making collections every month and start watching the news.

xx Roseanne