I came across Giorgia's great blogpost that discussed Health & Beauty acronyms that most makeup newbies like me are dumbfounded with. Click this icon portal to her lovely page!

I'm sharing this interesting post with everyone since I find it really helpful. And oh, feel free to inform the author if you have other acronyms in your pocket that aren't listed in the roster!

The first beauty blog I've ever read was Nikki's, and ever since that read, I fancied about being a pro with eye makeup. Nikki does an awesome job with her eye tuts. Too awesome that it makes a makeup newbie dream that she can pamper her eyes with a splash of wonderful colors, too!

So I tried prettifying my own peepers using the 4U2 Gemtone Eyeshadow Quad in Moonstone.

I stated that S2 and S3 looked similar on the pan during my previous post, I proved my observation wrong with this EOTD...

And I mentioned, too, that S4 looked horrible, well yes, it did.

Bodyshop crayon concealer in 02 applied all over the lid as a base; also applied on the undereye area

S3 brushed all over the lids using ELF shadow brush

S2 patted on the outer third of the lids using same brush

S1 on the inner corner & inner 2/3 of the lower lashline

Maybelline Vivid & Smooth Eyeliner in Brown (unsharpened, hence it looked kinda awful)

Maybelline Unstoppable Shiny Black Mascara + lash curler

And as a newbie, I FORGOT to highlight!

I thought that it looked to strong for my small eyes. And so I painted my eyelids with less color.

A more 'serene' eye. Oh, and I remembered to highlight! Just had to buff and blend well.

Bodyshop crayon concealer in 02 applied all over the lid as a base; also applied on the undereye area

S1 brushed all over the lids using ELF shadow brush

Bodyshop Argyle Pink below the crease using Nichido sponge tip applicator

Bodyshop Imperial Purple on outer 3rd of the lower lashline using Fanny Serrano eyeliner brush

Bodyshop Dusted Silver on the brow bone down to the area between nose and eye using ELF shadow brush

Bodyshop Dusted Silver on the inner corner of eye and on inner 2/3 of the lower lashline using Fanny Serrano eyeliner brush

The Face Shop's pen eyeliner in Black

Maybelline Unstoppable Shiny Black Mascara + lash curler

Fashion21 brow kit

The tools. Gawd, I forgot how to count! 1-2-4-wth?

1. 4U2 Gemtone Quad (P424/$9)

2. Fashion 21 Brow Kit (P100+/$2)

4. old lash curler I need to replace

5. Bodyshop crayon concealer 02 (P600+/$13)

6. ELF eyeshadow brush (P129/$2... it's just a dollar in the U.S., i know)

7. Nichido's sponge tip applicator (set of, erm, 4? or 5? P36.50/75cents)

8. Fanny Serrano short eyeliner brush (P75/$1.50)

9. The Face Shop pen eyeliner in Black

10. Bodyshop's shimmer+sparkle cubes (P1000+/$20)

I only used ELF's eyeshadow brush for these looks (no blending brush or crease brush or whatever... i can't believe it). It is amateur, but methinks I pulled through just fine.

Once I get to buy the other important eye brushes (I'm thinking of MAC 217 and 239) and some fancy lashes, I think I can live up to creating an Askmewhats eye look I've always wanted.

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Madeleine is giving away a $15 Aromaleigh GC. Ooooh, i love their URFP's! If you want in, jump in with me to join her contest!

Epilogue to my previous post entitled, 'Beauty Tool Hot Seat: Brushes!': The winner of the Bloom Blush Brush is Larrisa Pedrosa. I was flooded with answers! Thank you girls! By the way, the answer is: all are synthetic. :)

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I dropped by Watson's today and bought an eye palette. 4U2 offers a good number of eye shadow pans, including quads and 8-pan palettes.

4U2 Gemtone 4-color Eyeshadow in Moonstone

Watson's, 424php (~$9)

The 4u2 Gemtone Eyeshadow Quad line offers around 12 palettes (I think) in a simple yet catchy packaging. I wanted to buy all palettes, but doing so would be too much... at least for a person who barely knows how to put on eye makeup. So I bought their Moonstone palette.

On the Packaging:

It is decent, it doesn't look cheap. The product is so compact you can throw it in your kikay kit.

Oooooh... looks like a nugget, eh? The Gemtone Quads come in different colors!

Palm-size

Unfortunately, you can tell that packaging is of poor quality once you open the case. There are scratches on the plastic edges and the pans aren't aligned. Call me an OC, but these low-end makeup manufacturers should at least exert effort to take note of the littlest details.

I am clueless about the product's manufacturing date... is it MFG 291107? Nov 29 07? If it is, this is a big 'Oh no!' because I hate getting items that were made ages ago... and 2 years ago is ages ago.

No expiry date; and is this the manufacture date?

Another 'uh-oh' on the packaging is that it doesn't have those tiny holes for depotting. You'll have to use something that can fit the tiny space at the center created by the pans to take them out. Come to think of it, I never saw refills at the counter. However, the SA claimed that refill pans will be on stock soon.

On the shadows:

This Gemtone line is a collection of powdery shadows. Some colors can be chalky (but this specific quad, moonstone, isn't...yay!). The shadows are very pigmented.

Shadows with no name...

I noticed that S2 and S3 looked similar on the pan, while S2 and S4 were hardly distinct from each other when swatched.

swatches under lighting #1

swatches under a different lighting

The only shadows I think I'd use are S1 and S3. S2 is so-so, while S4 is horrible! I'm not sure... but perhaps as I learn more about eye makeup application (and buy the right eye brushes), I'll retract this statement. Who knows?

On the Price:

For 424php, you get pretty eye colors packed in a sleek casing. That's neat!

Overall:

4U2 cosmetics are owned by Belair Cosmetics (USA) and are manufactured in Thailand. It's a shame that 4U2's website isn't working as I love to learn more about them.

I'd love to recommend this, but knowing that Maybelline has eyeshadow quads retailing at ~450php, I might opt to spend on collecting the Maybelline quads over 4U2's.

Test yourself: Can you identify which are synthetic brushes? The 10th person to email me the correct and complete answer wins a Bloom blush brush!

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I've only started using makeup brushes during the second quarter of this year. I bought a couple of 'em without understanding their structure, thus, wasting good money for those that I have no use for.

So before you get those moolah wasted, acquaint yourselves with brushes first.

Brushes are primarily categorized based on the type of bristles. We have:

1. Natural Brushes- made of real animal hair (goat, squirrel, badger, and more!)

(note: there are no brushes made of skunk hair. The term 'skunk' pertains to the black and white appearance of the mixture of hair)

2. Synthetic Brushes- out of man-made fibers like nylon and taklon.

	Natural	Synthetic
Appearance	Bristles are shiny on pics; hair strands hardly seen as single units	Bristles appear to be more defined (like you can see the demarcation of the strands) on pics
Bristle Texture	Very soft; can be easily deformed	Soft and smooth but firm
Usage	Powders/pigments	Liquid/cream
Brush Care	It may be a pain to remove makeup stains	Bristles do not trap the product, easier to remove stains

These are the basics in knowing your brushes a lil bit more. Stay tuned for part two, makeup newbies! We'll talk about face brushes, eye brushes, and great tips on purchasing brushes!