My aunt, who used to be an air stewardess, once told me that during her training, she was told that one of the most important features of your face are your eyebrows. And how true she is, for the shape of the eyebrows can either open your eyes, or make them droop further. Incidentally, she was the first person to pluck and shape my brows for my college prom night, as Mum still thought that I should only start shaping my brows when I started working! 

Well-plucked eyebrows can make you appear more groomed. Many women (me included) have their eyebrows tweezed professionally. I’d highly recommend you have a professional do the first *ahem* “damage” on your brows first to give it a shape which suits your face, and then all you have to do is to pluck where the hairs grow in.

I would discourage you to do it yourself at the very first go as you’d most likely be unsure how much to pluck, and you might be left with too-thin brows, or *gasp*, uneven brows. Believe it or not, pencil-thin brows do not suit everyone. Thicker brows suit my face as it’s not what you’d call, erm, delicate.

I prefer plucking to shaving as the hairs take longer to grow, plus I’m not left with unsightly stubble.

Here are a few tips on how to tweeze and maintain your eyebrows (when you’ve already gotten a “blueprint” of your brows, of course):

• The biggest mistake people make is to tweeze too much. Avoid over-plucking as it can take months for brows to grow back.
• Here’s a simple trick to remember: The space between your brows should be equal to, or a little wider than, your eyes. To find where your brow should go, take a long eyeshadow brush or pencil and hold it parallel to the side of your nose. Where the brush meets your brow is where your brow should begin.
• To find the end of your brow, extend the brush diagonally from your nostril, following the outside edge of your eye toward the brow. Where the inside edge of the brush hits is where your brow should end.
• The best brows have a slight arch. To find yours, hold the brush parallel to the outside edge of the colored part of your eye (the iris). Where the brush meets the brow is where the highest part of your brow should be.
• Cleanse your skin.

• It might be a bit painful if you’re not used to having your brows plucked. I’d normally rub some astrigent (on facial cotton) on the brow area just before plucking. You can also numb the area by rubbing a bit of ice (wrapped in a handkerchief) around the area if you like.
• Make sure that you are near a window with light pouring in or under a bright light with a good mirror.
• Pluck the hairs in the direction they grow. Do not grab too many hairs at a time (I tried that during one of my lazy days. I ended up with a red bump on my brow which got infected. Ugh).
• Stop every few hairs to step back and look at the job you’re doing. If you overpluck, STOP! Do not pluck more to try to “even out the shape”. You can always add colour back to the bald area with an eyebrow pencil.
• If you use a pencil to fill in sparse brows, apply with short, feathered strokes from the inside of the brow out. Then carefully rub brows with a brush or your fingertips to soften the effect.
• Do invest in a good tweezer and eyebrow brush. I always like to give my brows a good brush to avoid it looking unkempt (especially when the hairs in the brows have grown).
• The ideal time for brow-shaping is the week after your period begins.

Remember that your eyebrows play an important role on your face, by brightening the eyes. Do keep them regularly groomed.

Source: Beauty.About.com

There’s been a lot of hoo-hah about blog marketing going on, and tadah, I’ve jumped onto the bandwagon as well.

I’ve heard of PayPerPost a long time ago (I actually signed up my personal blog for it, but in the end I never did go for it, as I wanted to keep it ad-free), but never did get on with the program until now. I thought, hey, it’s about time, eh?

I actually submitted this site to PPP a month ago, but for some reason, it kept getting rejected. It was only a few weeks later that I realised, man, it totally slipped my mind that their mandatory 90 days weren’t up yet *slap forehead*.

Anyways, I do hope I get some good opportunities there (I’ve seen a few). Still, I shall have to remind myself to be really patient as my blog’s still very new, and my PR’s still very low. No worries, I have faith in my site, as I love writing about my passion, and if I don’t get paid all that much, that’s not even a problem; my readers will always come first.

Hmm, what shall I do with my earnings? I don’t have anything in mind just yet, but you never know, an extra bit of pocket money never hurts. I definitely need the extra to feed my beauty habit. Plus, it’d be good for me next year, when I love to Melbourne for good and will most likely be jobless for a few months. Definitely need the bit of moolah then.

So if you haven’t signed up for it, what are you waiting for? Like I said, an extra bit of pocket money is always a good thing. Especially when there’s always that bag (or shoes, or makeup, or skincare product, or … man, our list of WANTS is never going to end, is it?) that you’ve always been wanting to get.

I bought Stila’s Rouge Pots Cheek Mousse (#05 Freesia) on a whim during the August sales at StrawberryNET. And might I say, I definitely did NOT regret it. 

Description:

Revolutionary air-whipped formula
Glides on sheer, blends like a breeze
Instantly dries & gives long wear
Leaves cheeks blossoming with color
Ultra light glass pot is easy to carry around

Maybelline’s Dream Blush Mousse is similar to this, but I’d have to say that I like Stila’s cheek mousse a lot better than Maybelline’s. First of all, it’s a lot drier; i.e. it doesn’t feel wet at all on my cheeks. It dried instantly on my cheeks, and blended very well into my loose powder.

I’d admit I took a bit of a gamble when purchasing the cheek mousse online, as I didn’t really know what Freesia was like. On the website, it looked a like an orange-brown, but when the mousse arrived, it was brown! My first thought was uh-oh, I bought the wrong colour. But when I tried it on, it gave me a very lovely bronzy glow (applied sparingly, of course). I’m now using it to work everyday 🙂

As with all cheek mousse, I’d recommend gently dabbing the colour (do not scrape) from the pot to the back of the hand, blend it a little, and then apply onto the cheeks. This way, you can control the amount of blush you apply on your cheeks, and to avoid looking like a doll.

Stila’s Rouge Pots Cheek Mousse (#05 Freesia 4g/0.14oz) was purchased at StrawberryNET for RM35 (this price is available during the August sales. Normal price would probably be double the amount).

What I like about it: Cute pot, portable, glides on well, dries instantly when applied.

What I did not like about it: Nothing really (I might actually get another pot of a different colour :p)