Chanel Les Beiges healthy glow sheer powder poudre belle mine naturelle

Chanel's powder foundation is famous for its sheer coverage and natural looking, this powder is no exception.

(photo courtesy: www.chanel.com)

The shades of this powder seems to be too dark and pink. N10 is too pink for my skin so I picked N20. Though it looks dark, and it swatches darker than my skin tone, it's not really pigmented when I use kabuki brush to apply on my face.

I do not agree with Chanel who claims it can be a powder foundation. No it cannot be working as foundation at all. But it can be a good touch up powder for my sunscreen. This powder has a very classy Chanel scent which I like--though I prefer makeup to be fragrance.

All in all, it is a very expensive sunscreen powder to me. It retails at $60 CAD plux tax. It can be a good pressed powder to set makeup. I do not think it can be used as a powder foundation.

Make your own double wear and colorstay with drugstore foundations-Rimmel lasting finish foundation & Revlon photo ready & The body shop extra virgin mineral foundation

Though both of them (double wear and color stay)  are great foundation and very popular among youtubers, they just have too many cons that I dislike.

My ideal  foundation should be offering great coverage with great staying power, it should also have decent spf and not too matte finish. I know it's not possible to find a foundation like this. So I try to do my own mix and match. 

I first pick up Rimmel 25 hour foundation in 100 ivory. It's a really long wearing foundation with great coverage yet not matte finish. The foundation is packed in a tube which makes it easy to apply and portable. It's also very sanitary. The only downside is that it has no spf in it and the ingredients seems to be too complicated.   (photo courtesy http://ca-en.rimmellondon.com)

The second one I pick is Revlon photoready foundation spf 20. The active ingredients are titanium oxide and zinc oxide which are very effective in sun protection and also safe.  The shade I have is ivory, which is lighter than my nc 20 skin. This foundation has medium buildable coverage. It leaves your skin dewy and glowy. Also it comes with a pump! 

(photo courtesy: http://www.revlon.ca/)

The third one is The Body Shop extra virgin mineral liquid foundation. The Body Shop is not a drugstore brand, however it can be cheaper than drugstore foundations here in Canada. Since most of the drugstore foundations are over $14 CAD plus tax. I get this foundation when TBS has 3 for 10 promotion. The shade I use is golden ivory. But it's too dark and yellow for me. 

(photo courtesy: http://www.thebodyshop.ca)

I mix Rimmel: Revlon: TBS=1:1:1 and apply them on my face with my fingers. I found it give the best coverage. The three mixture gives full coverage and stay on very long. It does not transfer at all  to the end of the day. It does not make face look flat and matte, it gives a satin finish. It makes your skin look flawless and youthful. You also get perfect shade for your skin and some sun protection! 

I love this DIY and will try different combination with foundations! 

The cons of Estee lauder double wear or Revlon colorstay --how to improve and make your own

Estee lauder double wear and Revlon colorstay liquid are famous for their long staying power and great coverage. However these two foundations are not so appealing to me.

Firstly, I dislike their package without pump. I do not why, estee lauder is such a high end cosmetic company and a jar of 30ml liquid foundation costs $42 CAD plus tax, and they cannot even offer a pump for the most famous double wear? Revlon is also a high end drugstore liquid foundation which costs $16,99 CAD or sometimes 19,99 at shoppers, also offers no pump for its foundation.

Secondly, though the coverage is great, the finish is too matte. Don't get me wrong, I like matte finish foundation. But there are so many good powder foundation offers totally matte finish with great coverage (you guys know how many powder foundations I have tried), why should I spend so much time pouring the liquid out from a jar to make everything messy and  blending the foundation and set with loose powder? With powder foundation I just apply it and stipple it into my skin in a minutes and everything is done! They also look flawless on my skin and they are extreme long wear! No with the same effect, I do not want to spend extra time for that!

Third, there's no good spf in the liquid both liquid foundations. I know in the US revlon colorstay has spf 15 for dry skin and spf 6 for oily skin, but there's no spf for Canadians. Also, the double wear has only spf 10 on it. To me spf 10 means there's no sun protection at all because you can get minimal protection from sun by wearing spf 15. I just went to EL counter last week and found the newer version has no spf at all! Some people may say that spf leaves white cast on the flash photo, but personally I dislike flash photo so it is not a big problem for me.

Fourth, they seem to me too dry for my skin. I don't know why, but it seems that good powder foundations can even offer some moisture on the skin. They will not even sit on the fine lines under eyes. I have one old version el double wear, it really offers good coverage. But it seem to be too dry for me. It accentuate my fine line under eye which I dislike at all.

I know how people love el and revlon foundations, but they are just not for me. Therefore I decided to make my own "better version of double wear and colorstay", please read the next article.

Cle de peau brightening powder foundation vs Clinique Almost Powder makeup review

(photo courtesy: http://www.cledepeau-beaute.com&Thebay.com)

I love to try different types of powder foundations. I always look for powder foundations with spf (higher than spf15) and good coverage. To me, good powder foundations can offer better coverage than any other liquid and cream foundations. I also use powder foundations as part of my sun protection.

I do not use primer. Sometimes I do, if a primer has contains good spf. Otherwise I use only sunscreen with powder foundation as my base makeup.

The sunscreen I used yesterday was the brightening enhancer base by Cle de peau. There's no spf on the packaging. But looking through the ingredients list, titanium dioxide is on the third of the list. I know some Japanese- made sunscreen products do not list the sunscreen drug facts like Canadian's products do. I suppose it's because of the law to enforce companies to do that here. The sales lady told me the brightening enhancer base has spf 35.

The CdP brightening enhancer base has thin consistency. It's like lots of Japanese made sunscreen texture. The color is light yellow undertone (it's around loreal true match's w1 to w2 shade) with some tiny tiny sparkle that we can never detect. It contains very light smell. I personally prefer cosmetics to be no scent, but because it's so light and so nice, so I do not mind.

I would not suggest anyone to use this base as a sunscreen. Since you need to put certain amount of the sunscreen to make it effective. When I put a tea spoon amount of this brightening enhancer base on, I feel it's too pale. It's remind me the older CdP's blue tube base, which also creates lots of white case on the face. You'd better to use it like a make up base to bright up the face.

However, if you have the same make up routine like me--sunscreen and powder foundation, you can still use this brightening enhancer base as your sunscreen. Since this white case does not show anymore after you put a powder on.

The shade I choose for new CdP brightening powder foundation was BF 20. It's a light yellow undertone shade. I compared this BF20 with my another older CdP powder foundation O10, the shade BF20 is surprisingly lighter than O10.

For your reference, I am around MAC NC 20.

I applied CdP brightening powder foundation on my right side of my face and Clinique almost powder makeup in light on my left side of my face. The two shade look no difference on my face.

The best brush to apply for powder foundation is The Body Shop Extra Virgin Minerals kabuki brush. It not only offers even and great coverage, but also speed up my makeup time.

A good powder foundation with a TBS kabuki brush, my makeup look very polished, as if I have spent a long time on the process (from primer, to liquid foundation, to concealer and to powder)--which I don't.

The coverage of both foundations on my face were great. They are medium to full coverage to me. I also use them to cover my dark circles and they conceal pretty well.

The finish is not matte nor glowy dewy. It's more like a satin finish on the face.

The staying power was really good. I am do not touch them up after 6 hours of wearing them both on my face.

The CdP brightening powder foundation did not perform anything special to me. I cannot tell any difference between this powder foundation and the Clinique one. Maybe I will be finding something new after I finish this powder foundation.

So far I do not recommend people to spend so much money on a powder foundation. The CdP powder foundation is $95 CAD plus tax for 11g, while the Clinique one is $31 CAD plus tax for 10g. Three times more expensive, but does not perform 3 times better so far.

The CdP brightening enhancer base is $65 CAD plus tax for 30 ml.  It's too expensive to be a sunscreen and for being a makeup base, it's a good but not a superb product.

How to sing? - Can you feel it? The naked king.

From the first day I study music, I have been hearing saying like this from everywhere (from professional to amateur musicians) --Expressing yourself in music is more important than singing (or playing) with right technique.

Well, that is partially true. Yes, no one would like to hear a machine singing or playing the piano. However, do you know how to express yourself in music?

We always hear the comments from some people saying that some performers are full of emotion and passion in their performing, they make people cry in this way.

Well, wake up!

Can you really tell a person singing with all heart or expressing the mood? I bet you not.

You can not feel it because very few musicians do it during their concerts.

You cannot hear it. You are just trying to squeeze tears out of your eyes because you feel you have to and other people say that this musician is full of emotions.....

Isn't that familiar with the story you and I have read from our very young age?

'The Emperor's New Clothes' !

Yes, people could not see anything on the emperor but they still pretended they did because they did not want to be called fool. Everyone kept pretending how much they appreciate their king's new fashion, until one kid, pointed out the truth, 'The king is naked! ' .

No! you cannot feel the expression in music. There's nothing wrong with your ear and your feeling. It's because those so- called 'musicians' do not know anything about music but create another level of noise. Somehow they are so famous because the media say so, therefore audience should be admiring them and people pretend they understand everything the so called musicians express.

But actually they do not express anything. They show you only weired facial expressions and monkey dances, which is accompanied by another level of noise.

Forever 21 lace peter pan collar shirt X Forever 21 winter shorts

The top is a mint color self-tie blouse with lace peter pan collar and the bottom is the winter short with shimmers, which is basically a winter short. I wear them at this time of the year because it's not too warm nor cold.

You can see the detail of this blouse. The collar is super cute that you do not need necklace on it. I wear size small.

The detail of the tie knot on the bottom of the shirt.

The details of the shorts. I wear size xs.

This is how they look on me.

How to sing? - The first step

When you get a new song as your assignment, try to do the following steps.

1. Try to sight read by hum all the notes there with the right rhythm.

This is the most important step to develop sight reading skills and you teach your ear and brain how to produce the right pitch with your voice.

One of the most important things for singer is to sing the right notes. Unfortunately many singers fail to do so, even some of the most famous ones.

Without singing right notes,  hitting the right pitch, it does not make sense to learn singing.

2. Sing the notes with solfege and letter name.

Solfege works as guide for your right pitch. Never skip this step. If you do not know any solfege, well......better not to call yourself singer.

Letter name is very important for students in North America to pass the exams. (C, D, E, F, G , A, B)

3. Sing and Clap

Sing the right note with solfege and clap the right rhythm.  Believe me, it is the most difficult part for students, but it's the best way to test yourself if you understand what are written on the sheets.

One of the most essential things in music is to sing(play) the notes at the right time with right rhythm. Rhythm is the heart of the music. If your heart stop beating you are dead, so do your music. Music is life, is art, is everything.

Do everything with metronomes. Starting with lower speed, and gradually speed up.

Remember, this is ONLY the very first step in your learning process!