MAC Grand Duo: Light over Dark

I have always been a bit odd in selecting most things in life. I am not your run-of-the-mill kind of girl. I am not commending it, just mentioning it prior to explaining why I chose to buy 'Light over Dark' from the MAC Grand Duo Collection. I swatched in the store here in Oman and thought it looked like a really pretty ripened peachy/apricoty color. I brought it home and saw it that it was actually a true brick shimmery red (the blush side) and reddish peach(highlighter side). You have to go soooooo easy on this blush as a swipe too much and you may end up looking like you were bruised bad. Hmm...So here is how it looks swiped on my fingers (excuse the preposterous flash killing the color).

Here it is swatched on my hand (in flash)

Here it is swatched on my hand (without flash)


Overall, its a really, really pretty blush but its better for folks who are more caramely (NC42 up) in shade. Sometimes I wish I was tanner to wear some of the more prettier, darker blushes. Nonetheless, even on people with darker tones need to apply this with a light hand to avoid looking hurt. I use my MAC 188 for this as it does a better job of diffusing the blush. Using this with my regular Eco-tools fluffly blush brush is an absolutle No No. It piles it up like brick powder on my cheeks. I still think I love it and will find more ways to wear it. I can see this as a pretty blush for attending desi weddings and stuff. It looks very festive and is great for pictures.

Some neutral eyeshadow and blush collection

I am already having an inkling that I won't be able to keep up this blog, but I will post like every now and then. And more than anything else, this will be like a personal beauty diary for me, that I might look back at some day and giggle. So here I present to you all my blushes (till date) and some of my neutral eyeshadows. I will have another post with my bright eyeshadows.
So hold your breath, *drumroll*, I only have 11 MAC Eyeshadows in total. Here's one quad with four neutral (for me at least) eyeshadows.

Here are swatches with flash and without flash:


I must mention here, that with all the exposure to the sun, my hands have gotten darkest ever since I came here, my hands are about NC40 now. So on to the eyeshadows, I like to use Satin Taupe for smokey eye looks. It works equally well on the lid and in the crease. Using it with a black matte eyeshadow (in outer v) is enough to do a look. Woodwinked is a beautiful golden brown color that is beautiful as a lid color, its good for those desi weddings and other events. Brule is a pale ivory shade that I like to use as an all-over wash of color on my lid for days I want to keep it low key (which is pretty much everyday for work). Swiss Chocolate is a mid-tone brown that I like to use as a crease color. It's really nice but is a little too reddish for my taste and I wish I had gotten MAC Saddle or MAC Brown Script instead as those are more true browns. I use Swiss Chocolate with Brule and then apply some MAC Blacktrack fluidline to my lashline and I'm out the door.

Moving on, here are my blushes:

Here are swatches on my hand:

NYX Terracotta is a really pretty peachy shade that works as a blush and highlighter in one. It doesn't have big chunks of glitter and goes on very smooth and is quite pigmented but the staying power isn't as good as MAC blushes. The next is MAC Peaches which is really nice for NC30's and up. It is a sheertone so has almost no shimmer. It gives that really nice flushed look and looks natural, if you have yellow and golden undertones. Next is a cult favorite, Milani Luminous, this one is like a NARS Orgasm dupe, but much, much less pigmented. I have to go over it 3-4 times to get desired amount of color on my face. But the color is beautiful pinky peach gold. The next is L'oreal Glam Bronze is Enchanted Sunrise, this is a glitterbomb! I bought this at discount at some store, don't remember. It's like a medium peachy brown but goes on a little chalky. Better for cooler skintones looking to add some warmth. Lastly, Cover Girl Blush in Rose Silk. This too is supposed to be a cult favorite, but this one is truly for cooler skin tones as it is flecked with silver shimmer, which appears ashy and unnatural on my skin. I love the smell though, typical Cover Girl product smell.

Moving on, here are my Everyday Minerals blushes. I got all of these in the various sample kits I ordered.

Here are swatches on my hand:

So these blushes are still full, sitting sad in their jars as I rarely use them. Why? Its too time-consuming to apply loose blush. Especially, getting an even application in a short amount of time. Moving on, the everyday bronzer is a nice, matte bronzer, but would require a lot of care for application otherwise you can appear dirty looking. The next, New Car Smell, I don't know why I got this. This is not for me as its chalky, glittery, ashy for my skin tone. The next, Corner Office, now this I like! Its a beautiful cherry red with some pinkish red shimmer, it's sooo pretty, I just rediscovered it today and fell in love with it. The last one, Sandy Bottom, I bought this in hopes of a highlighter, but its too muddy to be a highlighter due to all the olive-ish, brown going on in it. It might serve use as an eyeshadow.

Foundation and Concealer Rundown

So I thought doing a small rundown of what types of foundations and concealers I use for different purposes. I discovered Everyday Minerals through a dear friend Tilo, back in 2007...but I didn't buy it until mid 2008. At first, I bought the sample kit (which is free because you only pay for shipping which is like $3). So anyway, ever since, for daily wear, I have been using Everyday Minerals foundations and concealers. The shades I use are : 2 parts golden medium and 1 part buttered tan. Works for me!


The Buttered tan is a tad lighter than my skin but golden medium is just perfect, here are swatches (my hands are only a tad bit darker than my face).


For the concealer, I did something reallyyyy novel :-). I had a like sooo many of the mini concealers in the sample jars for a while and thought of making them more user friendly, so I took them all (I can't remember names but roughly: sunlight powder, peach corrector, multi-tasking concealer, etc.) along with one portion of golden medium and mixed them up with eucerin face cream. Only like a drop of it, to make a thick paste. I have been using it for a while, and I really like it, for low coverage and everyday use.
The 'mash-up' concealer I made, is below, its not really all that great...the consistency isnt as buttery as MAC's studio sculpt concealer, but anywways heres a picture lol. I needed to find a use for all the EM concealer lying around and it doesn cover my undereye circles and blemishes.



Now onto, the going-out, party time, foundations and concealers. I rarely use liquid foundations and I rarely use foundations because its too much work and luckily my skin isn't that unfortunate that I always need to wear camera-ready makeup lol. Anyways, for those special occassions, I use Makeup Forever's HD Foundation in shade 127 with Posh's Foundation Brush. I moisten the brush with Evian Brumisateur Mineral Water Spray and then apply to moisturized face (primer is optional).



Swatch on my hand (I promise my hand and my face are the same shade almost!)


Mixes in like a dream and matches perfectly!


I like MAC's studio sculpt concealer in NW30 but it's gotten a tad dark for me for some reason. Makes my eyes look a little sallow, so maybe NW 25 would have been better because I read here that MAC's Studio Sculpt line runs a bit darker than the regular Studio Fix & Finishes.


Umm to set everything, I recently bought MAC's Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus. I swatched it kind of heavy so looks ashy but trust me, its perfect for NC35 and NC37 skin shades! I also use this sometimes when I am going out the door and don't have time for full-on foundation.


So that was a mini-foundation and concealer rundown of mine. I don't have a great camera so excuse the picture qualities =).

Welcome to my beauty blog!

Hello world,

I finally gave in and decided to start my own makeup and beauty blog! By initiating this blog, by no means am I claiming that I am the messiah of makeup and beauty. I think it's always nice when women (and men) share stories about their beauty and makeup escapades. Particularly, it's quite challenging to find women of color sharing product swatches and reviews online, which helps a lot while online or in-store shopping. I am a total review whore. Thanks to fabulous beauties like Xinarox and Indian Makeup Diva, Marlena, RenRen, Nessa, Pursebuzz and many many more.... who have played a big role in my makeup and beauty products choices. There are many, many more and I will add them all to my blogroll. Why did I choose the title 'Bangladeshi Chick Loves Makeup'? Mainly because there are so many of my homegirls who are relatively clueless about makeup and me being one of them, I am still discovering and learning and this will be like my journal of 'discovery' lol. Okay, thats enough of an intro chatter. I will try to be as regular as possible and hope you guys find this blog interesting and useful :)