The Makeup Box

Mermaid “Glequin” Fish-scale Manicure: Ciate Apples and Custard polish with Blue Acrylic Paint and Aqua Hexagon Glitter

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I love, love, love the look of hexagonal glitter on the nails, and the dramatic “sequin nails” look.

But I especially like the honey-combed look where instead of dunking your entire finger in glitter, you carefully dot each piece of glitter on with a pointed object so it looks like fish scales.

Key to the look is a translucent larger sized glitter. If you choose an opaque glitter the ombre colors beneath won’t show through. If they are too small, you can’t place them on properly. You can find hex glitters from most art stores, but they don’t always stock larger sizes, so you can also search for sets like these on Lightinthebox.com ($6.99 with free international shipping!) or ebay.

WARNING: this nail look takes a LONG time to do…

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400,000 Follower Makeup Giveaway! (4 Sets of Prizes - Open Internationally as usual)

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When the hubby was away in Tokyo for a business trip, I got him to trawl through Japanese drugstores and bring me back some yummy beauty goodies so I could do a 400,000 follower giveaway.

I know these products aren’t always easy to get hold of in many countries, and the price isn’t cheap when you factor in shipping. (One Humming Book palette is SGD25.90 or 1,500JPY from the MJ site before adding shipping fees) so here’s a chance to get hold of some of these for free!

Read on for instructions!

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Water Sprite: Majolica Majorca Little Humming Book II Blue and Gold Doll-Eye Makeup Tutorial

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Here’s a peek into the Little Humming Bird II Eyeshadow Palette, which Shiseido released to celebrate Majolica Majorca’s 10th Year Anniversary as part of its Chapter 37 limited edition collection.

(And yes the melody book is a continuation of what you find in Book I.)

Comparisons with Book I:

• The cream base is a pearlescent tan shade rather than dark matte one so the overall effect you get from the palette will be quite pale and pastel
• Shadows are a translucent pastel aqua-blue and pale gold, but they don’t have the same duochrome effect (like the ones in the 1st palette) if you layer them over a dark base

I also used:

• A dark blue liner (I used KATE gel liner in BU-1)
• A black liquid liner (I used Heroine Make Impact Liquid liner)
• Red Cherry lashes #68
• D.E. lower cluster lashes

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What’s in YOUR Trainca.se? (Introducing a fun new beauty networking site, AND an interview with The Makeup Box!)

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If you haven’t heard of Trainca.se yet, you should get yourself there!

This new site is a social network and a review site all rolled into one, where you can see what all your friends like and dislike, and make recommendations for each other.  And if there is any product that isn’t available yet, you can always hit “Feedback” to suggest the team add it to the site!

You can link up your Facebook account automatically or sign up for a new one here: http://trainca.se

More importantly:

Friend me! I’ll follow right back so that I can see what products you recommend. (Click below.)

My page on Trainca.se: 

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P.S. Trainca.se interviews The Makeup Box

Claire Vo of Trainca.se sent me some questions about my makeup philosophy, the things I enjoy blogging about most, and of course, products I love. Read the full article here!

The Long Cat-Eye: Dramatic Liquid Liner Look for Small or Mono-Lid Eyes (and anyone else)

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This is a very intense black liquid liner look that extends straight out horizontally instead of winging up into the typical cat eye shape.

It’s quite common look among Asian pop stars because it emphasizes and flatters a small or mono-lid eye without having to change its shape unnaturally. Even if you don’t have a mono-lid or hooded eyes, this is a great look for a party or an evening out, and you can either pair it with nude lips and bronzed skin, or go all-out with dark lips as well.

You will need:

• A soft duochrome peachy-gold shadow like MAC Melon or Majolica Majorca BE286 (if you don’t have a duochrome, use a gold)
• A matte brown shadow like Revlon Rich Sable
• A very intense black pencil like Maybelline Master Drama Cream Pencil in Midnight Drama (or a black gel liner)
• A black liquid liner (anything with a fine brush is better for the super-precise edges we want to create here; I used Japanese brand Heroine Make’s Impact Liquid Liner)

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Majolica Majorca Chapter 37: Getting Reunited with a Cult-Favorite Fiber Mascara (in Brown this time!) plus a Pencil that looks like a Swan Feather

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From this month, Shiseido will release a limited edition collection called “Moonlight Virgin” in 2 parts. The first includes a multipurpose “quill pencil” and a brown version of the Lash Expander Edge Meister mascara (with the dual-sided comb tip). Now me and Lash Expander mascara go way back. I used it exclusively for 3-4 years when it was just released across Asia, because it created these long, fine, waterproof doll-lashes. After a 5-year breakup (I’m never monogamous with makeup), I was quite glad to get reacquainted and grabbed the chance to find out 2 things:

• whether the mascara was as good at building length as I remembered
• whether the brown shade would show up (and look alright) with my dark hair and eyes

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