Transformers: The Skin Food Way

I really like my title for this post. It gives me a naughty and seemingly important feel. Yeah, I'm totally in that mood right now. So as you all may have known, I was invited to the Skin Food Tea Party in Harrods, KLCC last Friday. And if you didn't know, well then...click here and read all about it because it's not everyday you find someone attending special events like these. Not for me anyway. It was actually an open invitation for everyone who had "liked" their Facebook page and were bloggers. However, it was limited to only 10 bloggers and I was one of the lucky bloggers! Maybe now being on Facebook 24/7 isn't that bad an idea. Plus, I got to bring a guest with me...in which I picked out Heather because...well...we're like KLCC buddies. We're ALWAYS going there together. So the form was submitted and my confirmation e-mail was received about a week before the event but the real kicker for me came about 5 days before the event. I was picked to be their make up model for the day!

Just imagine the shock I had when the Skin Food team decided to leave me an e-mail requesting that I send them a photograph of myself to pick...and just imagine...I was sitting an a class that was watching some silent video. Embarrassment overload when I gasped out loud, really. So a big hats off right here for my make up artist of the day, Vivienne (of whom I wish I had gotten her name spelled right...) who did an amazing job in transforming me from an ugly girl into someone so different. Seriously, I had no idea that was me. Of course, being someone who almost never wears any make up, unless you consider foundation powder to be a choice...I am always looking like a "plain Jane" as my mum describes it. But on Friday, I was given a full on transformation!

Before my do. Plain...and even my foundation powder was non existent that day because the team wanted to see how much a transformation I could go through. Pimples! Eye bags! Blackheads! Pores! My nightmares! Yeah...

Here's what Vivienne did for me through out:

 The products all laid out and ready to go!

First, she applies a layer of primer for me. What a primer does is that it smooths out the skin and helps to make the make up last longer. On me, she had picked out the black egg pore primer which was suitable for oily skin which creates a velvety matte texture and conceals all my enlarged pores. I have a terrible T-zone.

The Good Afternoon Peach Green Tea BB Cream and I. Muahaha I have one of these from the goodie bag! Be jealous, readers!

Told you I had a bottle of this! Yay!

Next, she opted for the Good Afternoon Peach Green Tea BB Cream that comes with SPF20 PA++ and applies it evenly on my skin. Again, this variant is suitable for people with oily skin as there are other variants out there such as the Honey Black, Rose Lemon, Apple Cinnamon (SPF36 PA++)  and Berry Berry (SPF35 PA++) for different kinds of skin. What the BB cream does is that it helps to control the oil secretion on my face and it creates a mattifying look. Of course, it also works to even out the complexion and creates a long lasting matte effect. The great thing about the Peach Green Tea BB cream is that it didn't smell bad at all! In fact, I loved how it smelled when Vivienne applied it on me with a triangle sponge. It felt soft and not sticky at all!

Having BB cream applied with a piece of soft and squishy triangular sponge.

Having applied the BB cream, Vivienne then moved on to a concealer in order to take away all the imperfections on my face. I'm shocked she didn't just use the concealer for my whole face. For this, she picked out the Salmon Dark Circle Concealer Cream that comes in a little orange-ish tube to take away my HUGE eye bags and to dab away my pimple scars. (Yeah, I was THAT unlucky to have an outbreak just 2 days prior to the event!) Salmon is a great source of Omega 3 and it is actually one of the MOST crucial things in helping to take away eye bags as well as evens out the dark circles. It's a sad thing I don't eat salmon. Maybe I'll just have to use creams to replace my consumption.

Of course, the next thing that came was the powder. One thing I learned during the make up session was that we should always use a loose powder instead of compact powder because a loose powder contains the sift, hence making it easier to control how much of powder we really want. Also, it is very easy to know if you've applied too much, too little or just enough powder on your face. You don't want to walk out looking like a monster with a white face like in the old Chinese movies. Vivienne had applied a Red Orange Sun Powder with SPF 45 PA+++ which made my skin have a natural orange-ish glow but at the same time having my skin tone quite evened out. I must say, the colour really sticks on well because in just a quick brush here and there, she was done! Really? Plus, she had touched my cheeks just briefly to check on the amount of powder she had used. Great tip. I loved it!

Moving on, Vivienne shaped my eye brows before applying some eye shadow on my eye lids. Because I was given two looks within those few moments, there were two kinds of eye shadow being used. The morning looking me was given the Choco Smoky Eye Palette #2 which is said to contain REAL melted chocolate. I wonder if I could have a lick.  As for the night look, Vivienne picked out the Coffee Creamy Fit Shadow #4 that comes in a set of 4 different colours to help give me that dramatic look. After all, sometimes what men really like is to stare into your beautiful big eyes on nights with starry skies, isn't it? It's probable. As for my eye liner, she used the eggplant eye liner that comes with an anti smudging sharp tip for a more precise line. I loved how smooth the eye liner felt by my eyes. It didn't take her a lot of strokes; unlike my mum's old pencil that took her about 5 minutes worth of rubbing just so it looks "nearly" good. For someone who didn't do a lot of make up, this was good because it meant that things get done in a more simple and faster way.

Make up for the eyes. I was getting the night look done by now. :)

The Eggplant Plumping Volume Mascara was used after that in order to refine my lashes just a bit more and this mascara was good because it fortifies your lashes in addition to adding volume to your lashes. I for one never enjoyed mascara but this wasn't too bad an experience as Vivienne zigzagged her way through the application.

Curling my lashes just before applying mascara. It was funny how she kept asking me, "Am I hurting you? Is this okay?" So careful and concerned!

Next up was a good blush to my cheeks...because everyone likes seeing a pink dab on everyone's face. It gives everyone a cute and healthy complexion, doesn't it? Maybe that's just what my mum thinks...but I loved the blusher they used for me. It was the Apple Can Multi Blusher and the tinge of pink and red worked pretty well on me. It wasn't too heavy but it was still visible. Plus, the design of the blusher in the can looked so cute, I might have stolen it away if there weren't so many people around watching. Hmmm...

Now onto my FAVOURITE product of the whole make up process. The All Over Muffin highlighter and shading powder. I swear, this thing smells SO good I wished Vivienne NEVER stopped applying it on me! I don't know if they crush muffins into it or something but God it smelled so sweet with a tinge of Lord-only-knows-what-smell. With just a light fluff, my face was well contoured and I had a good 3D effect to my face; highlighting my better features and hiding away what shouldn't be seen. Finally, Vivienne finished up with a Vitatok lipstick with a orange-ish colour so that I wouldn't have so much of attention drawn to my lips as I already had quite a look on my eyes. It was good to ensure there's a balance of attention drawn to your face and not heavy on all aspects.

Oh, the one thing I had forgotten to mention was the falsies that I had attached for the night make up look in order to make my eyes look bigger and give me a more dramatic. Truth be told, it was my first time having falsies and they aren't really the most comfortable things around town. I never liked being artificial plus I had lashes that were really just long enough anyway. But of course, it was part of my look for the day and it was...an experience!

Getting falsies attached as close as it could get to my eye lashes. It wasn't exactly Grade A comfort for me!

Can you see the difference between having a false eyelash (right eye) as opposed to not having a false eyelash (left eye)? Picture edited via pizap.com

And there we have it! A step by step, product by product transformation by me for me!

Before my do vs after my do! I'm shocked of myself, really.

(Picture by Merryn Tan of www.submerryn.com)

My awesome make up artist and I! Thanks, Vivienne!

Did you really think I'd live WITHOUT camwhoring?

That's about it. Most of the pictures are by Heather, really. And one by Merryn Tan. (Who happens to be another blogger who had attended the event.) I don't have any pictures that I took by myself except for those camwhore ones because...I was seated on the make up chair the whole time, okay? I feel different now...someone with a bit more self confidence. Yay, Elie! And thanks, Skin Food...for making me become someone SO different even if it was just for one day. It was a great experience! I could do it again...if I was offered the chance. I would gladly volunteer myself...really!