Blogging 101: Lighting For Good Photos

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be showing you how I light my photos! I'm not sure why I didn't post this before I showed you how to edit the photos, but it's here now! ^.^

One of my favorite things in the world are Light Tents! I don't always have a lot of time to take photos during the day (since it's usually reserved for taking photos of my face, school, work or adult business) so having a light tent that I can light up at night to take photos of packaging or manicures is pretty much essential. I bought my Light Tent from TradeMe for about $20NZD.

The light tent folds up into a little circle so you can bring it anywhere you want. I find it incredibly irritating that the light tent is actually raised off the floor, I have to prop up the tent with a ream of paper so that when I put things inside the tent they don't slide into the center of the tent. I also blu-tack a A3 sheet of plain white paper into the tent so that I have an endless background.

I have two random lights that I use to light the tent, both have white lights in them. I don't have fancy lights because I have neither the room for them or the money to buy them.

Place whatever you're going to photograph in the tent and take a photo of it. You get an awesome no background look, and you can also change the background colour (black makes things look awesome) or you can have cutesy patterns!

I thought I'd also show you where I take photos of my face! To get the best photos you want to be by the biggest light source, which 99% of the time is going to be a window with natural light, unless your house is stupid like mine where you only get good light between 3-5pm. Useless. I made do with bright white lights in my face.

Aaaaand that's kind of about it! It's not super fancy, mostly because I'm a student that can't afford much and am confined to one small room to do all of my activities. 

I hope this helped some Princesses! I'm running out of Blogging 101 topics, so if you have any requests leave them below! ^.^

First Impression: NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about my First Impressions of the NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Terre Neuve! I picked up a little tester pot of this product from Mecca Cosmetica in Auckland when I was looking for primers for my NARS Sheer Glow.  

What Is It?

"Your skin – almost bare, but better. This advanced, oil-free formula provides a translucent veil of color and sun protection while helping to reduce the appearance of hyperpigmentation and dark spots in just four weeks. Infused with lush, naturally derived botanicals and ingredients to immediately help thirsty skin feel hydrated. Kopara from French Polynesia and mineral rich seawater revive and re-mineralize skin for a softer, smoother, and brighter natural glow. Skin is transported.

• Advanced sun protection
• Hydrates and helps reduce the appearance of hyperpigmentation and dark spots for a brighter natural glow
• Oil-free. Dermatologist tested. Non-comedogenic. Synthetic fragrance free.

Consumer Testing Results:

• 84% felt their skin was more radiant and luminous
• 81% felt the product smoothed out the surface of their skin
• 81% felt the product gave them immediate hydration" (1)

It has a regular moisturizer consistency, not too thick and not too thin! It's quite pale, but is marketed as a pink toned product (Lightest with neutral pink undertone) but it seems relatively neutral/yellow to me. I probably wouldn't recommend this colour to cool toned Princesses.

This looks like an amazing match on camera, but in real life it's just a touch too dark. I would still wear it for my lazy face though, because in real life your face doesn't match your neck perfectly!

This Tinted Moisturizer has beautiful sheer coverage, and covers my redness, pores and minor scarring really well! I do agree with the claims that it looks like your skin but better, and that it also made my skin feel really lovely. I'm really interested in the claim that it reduces scarring and hyper-pigmentation after four weeks of use, but since I only have a little pot I don't have four weeks worth of product to test that claim.

Would I Purchase This?

I really love this product, but at $66NZD it's quite pricey! There's also another colour called Finland that I want to have a look at since it's meant to be Lightest with Neutral Yellow undertones, but I think it's a really great product, that does what it claims (so far anyway) so I may be purchasing it at a later and better financed date!

I hope you Princesses enjoyed this review! If you get the chance to sample this product, go for it, because it is one beautiful thing! ^.^

Review: Missha CC BB Cream

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be reviewing Missha's CC BB Cream in Flawless Complexion and Pure Complexion! I bought 10 of each of these colours in sample size from RoseRoseShop because I wasn't quite ready to commit to $68 for each colour from the NZ store. I mean seriously, $68NZD?? That's a lot. I could buy 1 and 3/4  MAC lipsticks for that amount of money.

These CC BB Creams are super confusing to everyone, what's the difference between the CC and BB section of this product? I'm actually not sure to be honest, so lets just think about this like a CC Cream I guess.

There are two colours of this CC Cream, Flawless Complexion (Beige) and Pure Complexion (White). The White has little beads inside that burst and match your skin (supposedly).

 Photos from Missha NZ

I looked at the photos of the packaging and though, yes I want that, it looks great! Then I read SkinandTonics review and saw that the packaging was as wide as a soup can! Nobody has room for that!

I did two sets of swatches, one on my pale skin, and one on my sisters tanned skin for comparison, since they are supposed to match your skin!

If you look closely at the last swatch you can see a slight colour difference between the two CC Creams. The Beige/Flawless CC Cream is slightly pinker in tone than the White/Pure CC Cream which is slightly more yellow/orange. Both are too dark for me.

You can see the colour difference a little more on my sisters skin, the Beige/Flawless is pinker and darker than the White/Pure. Both of these are too pale for my sister. If you would like to see these CC's compared to other CC Creams, you can check them out here!

Pure Complexion

I found the Pure Complexion a little too dark for my skin (I'm NC5-10 for reference) but passable for my summer "tan" skin. It has a really lovely texture and is smooth and easy to apply with fingers or buffing brushes. It has a dewy finish similar to most CC Creams, and covers pores and redness, but not scars or deeper darker imperfections.

Flawless Complexion

I moderately enjoyed the Flawless CC Cream. Lets start of with the fact that it's too dark for me and too pink. Other than those negative facts, this CC Cream is actually quite pleasant! It has a lovely medium coverage that covers my pores, redness, scars and has a soft matte/ish finish. I can almost get away without powdering this CC, but if I don't it turns into a greasy mess after 3 hours. Apart from it being too dark and too pink, I actually quite like it!

I also put on some eyeshadow for once and I quite like it.

Things I Love

- Both are not too sheer, have enough coverage

- They both smell really nice, a little like sunscreen

- Great sun protection (SPF43 PA+++)

- Moisturizing

Things I Don't Love

-  Only two colours, neither or which match

- Do NOT last 12 hours

Final Thoughts

I feel very conflicted between these two CC BB Creams, which generally means that I will purchase neither of them full size! I prefer the colour of the White/Pure CC Cream, but I prefer coverage and finish of the Beige/Flawless CC Cream! I think these would be great products for people with very normal, moderately fair skin. I'm also all for supporting NZ stores, but this product is seriously more than twice the price in NZ that it is online, so possibly look at purchasing online.

I hope this review was helpful for you Princesses! ^.^ What's your favorite CC Cream?

Manicure Monday: Matte Velvet

Hello Princesses!

Today I have a lovely and slightly classy manicure, featuring my new favorite product, OPI's Matte Top Coat. I've never had the urge to mattify my manicures until I picked up this top coat to fill the gaping matte polish gap I have in my collection. After my first matte manicure it was hard to stop myself from mattifying everything! Matte glitter? Yes please!!

I used China Glaze's Velvet Bow for the base colour, and topped it off with OPI's Matte Top Coat. I used Born Pretty Store's little gold beads to complete the little half moon feature. It was quite difficult to get the beads on because the matte top coat dries fast. For a couple of fingers I stuck the beads down using a regular top coat and matte coated over the top. Can you tell which technique is on which nail?

What do you Princesses think of Matte manicures?