To celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Dior Vernis and artist Holton Rower’s solo show at Hole Gallery in NYC, a special showing was held earlier this month where Holton made use of Dior Vernis bottles to help create the shape of the pour.

For those not familiar with Holton Rower, he is an artist who specialises in pour art – where he creates breathtaking pour paintings by pouring paint onto flat or 3-D surfaces to create visual – and oftentimes psychedelic masterpiece. And he’s not cheap either – Justin Beiber apparently bought a piece for USD60,000.

Apparently, about 5,000 unique colours were used for this piece – whether or not the five selected Dior Vernis shades were used, I am not sure – but I can tell you that the five Dior colours that were “included” in the art work were Red Royalty #999, Nirvana #704, Psychedelic Orange #545, Gris Montaigne #707 and Flapper Pink #453.

I think for an artist to work pour art, it takes a whole lotta creative imagination, because whole you can perhaps visualise it, you won’t be able to tell how it’s going to turn out in the end, you’re literally going with the flow!

Words really can’t describe this – so see what I mean and watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEwYMUaqX3Q

A good blush colour can work wonders and knock ten years off, because apparently, that rosy flush “recaptures the essence of youth.” In a study carried out at the University of St Andrews, rosy cheeks were perceived as healthier, younger and more attractive – thanks to healthy blood vessels. And apparently, our blood vessels were also affected by levels of sex hormones, which diminish with age.

Isn’t that just depressing?

Which is why the most important thing about blush (apart from the right colour) is location, location, location!

It’s all about adding colour to the apples of your cheeks to get a youthful flush, and there’s no need to be afraid to take the colour quite high and towards the nose. A make-up artist I know even takes the colour down towards the jaw to mimic a flush. Very romantic, I tell you.

The trick to this is to use a nice, sheer formula, and I’ve got just the one for you – Hervana by Benefit. 

The latest addition to Benefit’s Box O’ Powders, Hervana is described as a “soft orchid blossom flush”, though I’d be really grateful if anyone can describe that that really means!

Hervana comes in a pinwheel design of four shades – Lucky Shell (pale beige), Divine Peach (a warm shimmery peach), Heavenly Rose (soft rosy peach) and Berry Delight (a deep pinky-plum) – and also has a slanted brush which I don’t use. I’ve tried swatching them individually, but gave up – it was just too much of a bother because the sections were too small.

But mix and give them a swirl with your brush, and you get a pretty warm peach-pink, though on my cheeks, it’s more a coral/peach flush. Then there’s also a slight shimmer which contributes to the soft glow.

What I’ve also started doing is to use Lucky Shell and Divine Peach on the eyes – and it works out like a dream when you want to go for a natural look.

Now the bit that bothered me about Hervana was that I really needed to work my brush to get the colours to come out. The featured look had LOADS of Hervana, I kid you not – almost three layers of it! Still, this will mean good things if you’re looking to keep the look natural as you’re able to really exercise control over the colour.

Like most Benefit cheek powders, I think this one’s a keeper. Try it.

Worked Hervana with Guerlain’s 4-Colour Eyeshadow in Écrin and Estée Lauder’s Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick in Rose Tea.

Contrary to what plenty of girls out there believe, there are many ways to work red lips. I’ve been guilty lately of just working the black mascara/strong brow/red lip combo, even though I know I can do make a difference with some light chocolate eyeshadow. Feel like working a fiercer look? Pair scarlet lips with heavy smoky eyes – just like Tom Ford’s women. 

But to me, red lips belong with the perfectly winged eye.

And that presents another set of problems – finding the perfect liquid liner to create the perfect line. Of course, I have my favourites, like Maybelline’s Gel Eyeliner and the Liquid Eyeliner by Shiseido The Makeup, but I’ve kind of put them aside because Maybelline’s HyperSharp Liner absolutely rocks! 

This isn’t a new product. The liner was launched last year, and I’m already on to my third one – does that give you an idea of how much I love this? 

What it offers: The nib is amazing, and has a nice firmness to it to offer precision control, and is of a good size to draw on fine, clean lines. You will need to press down a bit as you draw to get something thicker. The formulation is really, really good too. It doesn’t take too long to dry, and even if it doesn’t get black enough the first round, that’s easily sorted because it dries out quickly for multiple layers – and two is generally enough.

So okay, the packaging isn’t much to shout about – I’m not into the gold bits, which I think makes it look a little tacky, but hell, at RM23.90 screw all that – go forth and buy!  

P/S: For those of you who have been giving me words of encouragement – big hugs and thank you. Yes, I am kinda back, and hope to get Red Luscious Lips up and running again. I’ve got too many products to catch up on, and too many backlogged reviews to (maybe) post – so bear with me. It’s going to take a little time, but I hope to slowly rediscover my love for writing about all things beauty-related. And I’m also pretty rusty – all those writing news releases and speeches have taken their toll on me. So thanks for never giving up!

Facetime, Skype … isn’t it great to be able to actually see the people we’re talking to, all thanks to video chatting? But I don’t know about you, I’ve had many instances where I really, really wanted to speak to that someone, only to think twice because I look just horrible on web cameras!   

But there are ways to avoid that, and here’s how:

Get the right light on: Overhead light or a window can cause your facial features to cast sharp shadows. Too much direct lighting – like your computer screen in the dark – can make you look shiny. Instead, use indirect lights to illuminate the whole face.

Wear blue: Apparently the camera has a hard time focusing on extreme colours. So instead of white or bright colours, try a mellow shade of blue.

Source: Allure Magazine, May 2012.

Love … the hydrating, super-light, almost gel-like formula, full coverage and rich colour. While it does look like a dull shade of brick, on the lips is where the colour really comes alive. It’s supposed to contain moisturising emollients, but still somehow wasn’t enough for me – lip balm prior to application was still a must.  

The packaging is rather clever, the lipstick has a magnetic closure so that the cap will always click and align with the bottom half the same way. It’s heavy, it’s classy – and I love the Burberry checks. This is what a luxury lipstick should be. I say apply with your fingers for a more natural finish – swipe with your index finger and kinda push the colour onto your lips.

Wear it … with rosy cheeks.

RM96 at Burberry beauty counters.