Reader Questions:

This week has been insanely busy. I am preparing my company to go to NY for a show (luckily we are on rotation so I am not going this year), so it's been busy at work trying to get everything finalized; so sorry there was no post today...it might be like that this week until I am caught up with everything. Sleep has also been lacking from my life, I run on 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night which of course isn't good, even though my body is used to it. I want to start getting back into the habit of going to bed around 10 or at least 11 at night, but it's hard! It feels like there aren't enough hours in the day for me and lately it's been taking a toll. I haven't had time to do anything other than eat, take a shower, blog, work, and repeat the process. LOL

Anyway I received a lot of reader questions from recent posts so here they are!

Q: What brand is that dazzle dust? (The post with the UK palette)
A: It's by a makeup brand called Collection 2000. I have tried searching online for more information about this brand, but hardly to any avail. They do have other products such as nailpolishes, and eyeshadows, and these are sold in the UK in Super Drugs stores (equivalent to a Duane Reade, Walgreens, CVS, etc). Seems like a product that is very hard to find for those of you such as myself who reside OUTSIDE the UK.

Q: Where is that palette from?
A: Again I did not buy this palette, it was given to me by a friend, therefore I do not know where she particularly bought it, but based on my UK friends, it is available at Super Drugs.

Q: Does Ly-Na Pearl Cream whiten your skin?
A: I personally have not noticed it whiten my skin, it also does not have hydroquinone which is a lightening agent, so I do not know if it factually lightens the skin. The ingredients in Ly-Na are: stearic acid, cetanol, lanolin, glyceryl, monostereate, isopropyl, myristate, sulfur, perfume, ion exchange, potassium hydroxide, and pearl powder.

Q: Where can I get Ly-Na in Malaysia?
A: Ly-Na is even hard to find in the US, so I don't know where exactly in Malaysia you can find it, I have suggested Asian markets or beauty stores in my Ly-Na post so you can call around and see if there is any place near you that sell it.

Q: What are the basic steps in your makeup routine?
A: In order:

1. Cleanse my face
2. Apply moisturizer, let it dry, then apply face primer
3. I then apply my eyeshadow base, and eye makeup, mascara, and eyeliner (sometimes I will put foundation BEFORE my eye makeup)
4. Apply my mineral foundation using MAC 180 brush
5. Eyebrows
6. Contour my cheeks with either "Emote" blush (MAC) or "Sculpt" powder (MAC PRO)
7. Apply Blush on the apples of my cheeks (highlighter optional)
8. Lipstick/Lipgloss/Chapstick


Q: I love your haircolor do you get it colored or do you color it yourself?
A: I get my hair colored from my friend who is a licensed cosmetologist, he is fabulous with cut and color! I usually do a dark chocolate brown since I look weird with hair color lighter than that shade, so I tend to stay in the medium to dark brown range.

Q: Suggestions to do a "Marie Antoinette" costume?
A: Pick a light powder, almost white, blend on your face and neck, apply a brown mascara, keep the eyes simple, and create thicker squared eyebrows using a light or medium brown powder, top off with a nice deep plum/raspberry or deep rose lipcolor. MAC "Romancin'" lipstick from "Adoring Carmine" is perfect!

Q: Ly-Na Pearl Cream contains mercury?
A: I have not found any reports that had this, a reader said it was discontinued, but FDA regulations here in the US will not allow a product to be sold with such a chemical without being approved. Therefore I found no evidence personally to withstand that claim, as there is also no mention of it on the box or ingredients.