Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well and enjoying the
holidays, yeah? Ok.

With the thickness of this foundation, I apply very little of it and still get very full coverage.
Well today’s post is a foundation review for the FlawlessIvy HD Water-proof, 24-hour Matte, Oil-free foundation (such a long name lol).
Flawless Ivy is a Nigerian makeup brand that launched this
year and they’ve grown quite popular among beauty/makeup enthusiasts for their
wide range of product offerings, decent quality and very affordable pricing.
The brand has products from foundation, powders, eye shadows,
and many others.
Fast forward to the Christmas Makeup Fair earlier in this
month, I decided to give them a shot, so I purchased their HD matte foundation.
I had seen a few reviews and videos of this foundation around, plus it sells for less than N3,000 (around $8) so I was okay with trying it.
- First thing to note is that the foundation comes in a
plastic bottle with a pump and an opaque cap, which is very good. Liquid
foundations that come without a cap or applicator should be banned by now.I had seen a few reviews and videos of this foundation around, plus it sells for less than N3,000 (around $8) so I was okay with trying it.
- Second thing is the consistency. This foundation is
thick guys. Thick but not sticky.
Application is easy and quite even but the product dries
quickly so I advise applying it in bits and blending very fast, until all areas
of your face are covered, instead of the more common way of putting bits of
foundation all over your face and then blending.

- Shade and undertone is warm but not red which is a big plus!
I got mine in the shade ‘Honey’, which is the best match I’ve ever gotten from
a foundation.
Overtone and undertone correct, with no changes overtime time and oxidation. Nice!
- Coverage: I personally avoid full coverage foundations
because of my skin. I have huge pores that get clogged easily, plus a lot of
texture, so heavy products are a no for me.Overtone and undertone correct, with no changes overtime time and oxidation. Nice!
With the thickness of this foundation, I apply very little of it and still get very full coverage.
- Long wear: It lasts all day for me and doesn’t move, which
is great.
Only problem with this foundation is that I get some breaking
around my mouth and nose after wearing it for a long time.
Washing it off is
also a struggle! It is indeed waterproof so you have to put in some good effort
to get it off your skin, so that’s not so great for me.
Overall it’s such a great product. One of the best from our
Nigerian makeup brands, in fact, so check them out on their website and on
Instagram too. That is, after you’ve followed me..
That's it! See you in my next post!
Happy holidays again! This is a quick post that I thought to share with you because it’s Christmas eve and there are parties and gatherings to get to, not to mention, it’s Christmas tomorrow, and the New Year shenanigans in the next few days, so there’s more to do.
As I mentioned in my last post, makeup is a key part of dressing up for the holidays but please DON’T NEGLECT WHAT COMES BEFORE.
Skin care and lip care and other hygiene matters. Please take care of these things 😊
Skin care and lip care and other hygiene matters. Please take care of these things 😊
Which brings me to this post. I’m sharing a quick but effective D.I.Y natural exfoliating and moisturizing lip scrub that I've been using for a long time to keep my kissers good and clear.
What you need:
-Sugar
-Olive oil or coconut oil
-Honey
Directions:
-Mix all three ingredients in
a container.
-Gently scrub lips with mixture.
-Wait for 10 to 20 mins and then rinse off.
-Follow up with a lip balm.
-Gently scrub lips with mixture.
-Wait for 10 to 20 mins and then rinse off.
-Follow up with a lip balm.
That’s it! Easy peasy. This scrub will INSTANTLY leave your lips soft, smooth, moisturized and scale-free, ready for whatever lip products you might want to wear for the holiday festivities.
If you’re in Nigeria or any other geographies with harsher weather conditions around this season, you need this even more.
Also, a video tutorial is on my YouTube channel, please go watch, like, leave a comment and subscribe!
Also, a video tutorial is on my YouTube channel, please go watch, like, leave a comment and subscribe!
Stay cool!
Happy holidays everyone!
Yes it’s been a minute, I know, but I have a very good
explanation for the absence. It’s been a whirlwind, let me tell you, but I choose
to remain thankful, especially in this season of love, Jesus and celebrations.
Now, with celebrations come need for dressing up, and
dressing up in this season requires a little bit of jazz to fit. You need to
get overly fancy but this is definitely not the time to be crusty and basic.
Enter this look I created and shot for y’all.

Simple Christmas/holiday Glam, this makeup look
is perfect for any level of decembering you have planned. The best part is that
it requires just a few makeup products and little steps, which is all I’m about
here..
Another good part is that I recorded and uploaded a
tutorial for the look on my YouTube, so go watch, leave a comment, like, subscribe
to my channel (Please guys!) and feel free to recreate!
In the meantime, here’s a closer look -

I really like this look. It is a little heavier than i would wear ordinarily but it's the season for extra, so yassss!
Product details -
Face: Flawless Ivy Matte HD Foundation| Glams compact powder|Revolution Concealer
Lips: Jordana Cosmetics 'Cherry Cobler' Matte Liquid Lipstick|Zaron cosmetics 'Vivid' Lip pencil
Eyes: Revolution Reloaded Iconic Palette|random silver eye shadow.
Hello! Today’s post is a pepper-hot makeup tutorial that was
inspired by the Fenty Beauty’s Moroccan Spice eye-shadow palette.
I don’t own the palette (yet) but I am, like most regular folks, a little overwhelmed by the tons of makeup products being launched every other month now.
From eye-shadows to lip products and even foundation ranges, it’s a lot even for me, and I like makeup *sigh*.
I don’t own the palette (yet) but I am, like most regular folks, a little overwhelmed by the tons of makeup products being launched every other month now.
From eye-shadows to lip products and even foundation ranges, it’s a lot even for me, and I like makeup *sigh*.
Anyway, I think a lot of the colors in majority of the new
releases are available in existing products and if you look into your stash,
you might be able to create almost any look you want, without parting with a Kobe (or USD/GBP) for the new stuff.
Now I’m not against patronizing our fave brands but there’s
nothing wrong with sitting out some new launches if you already have the shades
being presented.
The Fenty Beauty Moroccan Spice eye-shadow palette got a lot
of buzz when it was launched and it also got mixed reviews. Not on the
formulation (Rihanna and her team have that on lock-down, I’ve heard), but on the
shades.
The options, especially when it’s named after a famous,
tropical, ‘spicy’, rich in history, color and spirit place such as Morocco,
were underwhelming to most people, including myself.
Coincidentally, I have quite a few of the colors in the
palette already, so I went apainting and came up with this look 😊
I really like this look. The gold/orange tones flatter my complexion and that green along my bottom lashes make for a great accent. I also went ham with the highlight & contour because this look is supposed to packed a punch, right?
That's it for this post, i hope you like it.
Also, I’ll be doing this popular-makeup-products-inspired
look often, so, stay tuned.
Halos!
So stripes are such an essential and versatile print to use
in creating dimensions to any plain wardrobe or outfit. They also aid in
creating different silhouettes on the body; vertical, horizontal or diagonal
stripes and lines would help direct or draw the eyes towards or away from
certain areas of the wearer’s body, make them seem either slimmer, taller,
shorter, etc.Wearing stripes from top to bottom, such as with this 2-piece outfit here can be a good way to elongate the lines of the body, not to mention how easy separates are when in comes to mixing and matching with other pieces.
Personally, I even prefer stripes to say, polka dots,
particularly for my heavier body type and shape.
This 2-piece outfit came in a combination of some elements
that I like; stripes, culottes (who would have thunk it! Me? Loving culottes? Hashtag,
shook!) and a crop length top, which I seem to be getting obsessed with lately,
belly fat notwithstanding.Speaking of bellies, fashion experts say that you should have zero belly fat and abs of steel to wear crop tops. I am here to tell you that no, anyone can wear crop tops if they know how to style them properly and if they wish to!
One neat trick if you have i-love-my-carbs
belly like i do, is to wear your bottoms higher than your belly button,
so the area you have showing is just below your breast bone. Anyone can
get away with crop tops this way.
Another trick is to master the art of sucking-in.
Yes,
holding in your breath while simultaneously drawing in your belly for
extended periods of time, without actually dying is an art. So is posing
at certain angles to show off your belly/body in certain light. Just
ask IG models. And bloggers 😁.
Anyway, I got this striped, crop top and culottes 2-piece from a new, yet-to-launch, local brand (Mi-ni. Coming
soon, watch out for them!) and I love it!
Can't wait to pair the separate pieces with other items i already own.

Can't wait to pair the separate pieces with other items i already own.

Take care!
While we wait for my next style post, I wanted to share this review of The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution with you guys.
I got the exfoliator about four months ago, as part for the
giveaway prize I won from Cassie Dave x Beauty Frenzy and have been using it at
least once every week since then. (I briefly mentioned it in my Oily/Acne prone skin regimenpost, see it here). It’s been roughly sixteen weeks now and I feel I can now share
my experience and opinion about the product.
A quick recap about my skin/issues: Oily, acne prone, large pores and hyper-pigmentation. A scary cocktail of bad skin factors L
Another quick dive into what this product is about:- It is an acid.
- Active ingredients are AHA at 30% and BHA at 2%.
- AHA (Alpha Hydroxy Acids) are a group of natural (and synthetic) acids normally found in foods. Acids such as lactic acid, citric acid, glycolic acid, malic acids, etc., make up AHAs. On the skin, these acids work to peel off/exfoliate the dead cells off the top layer of the skin, while refining and promoting softer, healthier and smoother new skin cells. These mostly work on the surface of the skin.
- BHA (Beta Hydroxy Acid) is also known as salicylic acid. This acid penetrates deep beneath the skin’s surface and into the pores to unclog it, clear our excess sebum, kill bacteria and reduce blemishes.
Now to the review -
To use, you are to spread the product with your fingertips evenly across clean, dry skin and leaving it on for no more than ten minutes, after which you rinse off with water. I usually allow my face to cool down for about thirty minutes, and then I apply my toner to help bring back balance to my skin.
As the frequency of use was not indicated anywhere on the
product, I researched and went the safe route of once a week. Looking at my
results and my skin’s history of being hard to affect, I think I would have
gotten better results using it more than once a week.
After these months of use, even though my blemishes have significantly
reduced and I’ve had much less acne, it didn’t do as much as my Bioderma White Objective exfoliating cleanser in terms of smoothening my skin and unclogging my pores.
My experience has been a little underwhelming, but I’m sure I
will have better results with a different combo/formulation, so I will be
trying out a couple other solutions from The Ordinary range.
From my research, the Ascorbic Acid 8% + Alpha Arbutin 2%
and the Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% are good options for my particular skin
issues, so I look forward to trying those out.
Have you tried this brand/product? Please share your experience
in the comments!

As far as makeup is concerned, I can do without a lot of the
fancy stuff, except for powder (because, oily skin) and eyeliner. Sometimes,
it’s darn right magical how my face transforms from one thing to another with
just a swipe of eyeliner. Black eyeliner specifically.
It’s to me what a pair of false lashes are to MUAs and
makeup enthusiasts nowadays. My face just looks incomplete, semi-unconscious
and somewhat sickly without eyeliner. Even the trick with dusting eyeshadow
along your lower lash-line doesn’t do much for me.
It’s the black kohl or nothing.
It’s the black kohl or nothing.
As an OG in this eyeliner game, I have used all the various
kinds of eyeliner, across several brands: gel, pencil, powder and liquid. These
ones pictured here are what i currently use, either two at a time or
interchangeably.
Zaron Cosmetics Gel Liner 'Jazz'| Absolute Gel Eye Liner Pencil| Kiss Beauty Liquid Liner
This graphic, a-little-bit-smoked-out, cat-eye look is
a fave of mine that I paired with clean skin and nude lips, leaving the eyes to
do all the talking.
It’s edgy, high-fashion (an editorial & runway regular)
and super easy to do.
Use a pencil or gel liner first, extending it to a long
cat-eye flick at the ends. Immediately follow the same line with a black eyeshadow,
lightly smudging it along with a small brush, until it fades out at the end. Finis.
With this look, I applied the liner thicker and longer than my
day-to-day version so that it can stand out better.
My go-to tips and tricks for intense eyeliner that stays put forever (trust me, these work):
- For occasions or nights out where I want more definition, staying power and no smudging, I apply a gel or pencil liner first, then go on top of it with the liquid liner, sealing and locking it in. Neat and efficient, this trick.
- For liquid liners, I don’t go for the expensive, higher-end brands, as they generally have the same results if applied with the same applicator (stick or brush). Plus, they come in small pots and you run through them quickly if you’re a daily user like I am. So unless you’re rich, go for the more affordable options. I personally buy mine from the regular open market vendors for less than N1,000. Way less.
- If wearing liquid liner, have your mascara out and in hand. There’re nothing worse than your liquid liner coating and drying on your lashes before you apply mascara. It then becomes a pain for the mascara wand to separate your lashes properly and you end up with clumps. I usually apply my liner on one top lash-line, immediately followed by mascara. I repeat the process on the other eye, then I do the bottom lash-lines in the same order. It seems like stress but that’s the best way to get a flawless liquid liner and mascara application.
- Taking eyeliners off can be a pain, depending on the type you use. Gel liners are the hardest to come off so I usually wash with soap/cleanser as usual, next, I rub some oil on the residue and then wipe with some cotton wool/tissue paper/wipes. This takes the liner off completely. No need to rub your eyes raw and dislodge your poor eyelashes.
- If you have watery eyes, it’s best to go with liquid liners and just along the top lash line. Any other thing would just bleed and smudge.
- Speaking of bleeding and smudging, gel liners and the afore-recommended liquid liners do much better than pencils and powders. A small trick I do is to ‘conceal and set’ the lash-line and ends of the eyes with some (normal) powder or neutral eyeshadow before applying the eyeliner, so that it holds better.
Those are some of the best tips that I’ve used for years and
I hope they might be of some help to someone.
What is your favorite eyeliner type? And what are the tips
you use in wearing it? Please share in the comments!
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