Uptown Visions - Blusher in Bordeaux

I am pleased as a peach with this blush in Bordeaux from Uptown Visions!

Admittedly, I was a little apprehensive at the product value I would be getting for RM4. That was unfounded.

I picked this color which I almost mistook for a dark creme foundation until the light hit it and I realised that it was indeed a blush albeit on the darker side. Do remember that Uptown Visions is targeted at women with olive to dusky and darker skintones on which deeper colors really pop.

For starters, the pan of blush is quite big. It is also very color intense and is a good payoff in terms of value for money.

As you can see from the swatches, it is a deep brownish red and will look great on darker skin. My mistake the first day I used it was to use an angled blush brush to pick up the powder. I ended up with too much color on my cheeks because the product itself is highly pigmented. I am used to wearing lighter pinks and peaches as opposed to such an intense color. However, I decided to perservere and use a fan brush instead the next day. This proved to be better because for one, the color is lighter and it looks more natural on me that way.

This will be really appropriate for evening make-up when you want something that is more intense and will pop in the softer lights. I see this going with gold shadows on the lids and heavier liner as opposed to a day or office make up. I will still work this into my day make up as it lifts my face and gives it a wonderful flushed look. I tend to look sallow when my blusher fades a little at the end of the day because of my yellow undertones and this color helps to counter the yellow-ness.

Another use for a darker blush like this is for shading - this is to create shadows and bring out your cheekbones. One way to use this would be to sweep the blush below the apples of your cheeks, from the hairline near your earlobe towards the corners of your lips very sparingly. Then add a lighter blush on the apples of your cheeks past the lower corners of your eyes towards the hairline. The two colors need to be blended well until the two stripes of color are seamless.

If you have dusky skin, please think of giving Uptown Visions blusher in Bordeaux a go.

Small Uptown Visions Haul

Most of you would know that I spied Uptown Visions which had a very small display in Guardian Pharmacy at KLCC some time ago. I again bumped into this brand at another Guardian store and thought it would be great to try out some of the products so my sisters out there can have a feel of it.

From the picture above you would be forgiven for thinking that I purchased lip and nail colors in black! Tells you how crap my picture taking skills are! Please do forgive.....I have swatches to testify that these are indeed deep reds and purples.

Price wise, these 5 products cost RM 4 each which is as good as giving it away for free in Malaysia! What a haul for next to nothing! From a quality perspective, its another story altogether. Of course, it must be accepted that there would be a little compromise if you are paying so little for a product. The blush and nail color seem to be the items with slightly better quality. I have not tried the lip colors on my lips yet so that remains to be seen.

Overall, there was no luxe feel to the packaging which I can understand. The products themselves have colors which tend towards deeper reds and darker purples which will show up well on darker skin tones. This is wonderful seeing that there are or will be more options for us in the future.

I have taken some swatches and will report back on how they fared.

Eye Spy! Uptown Visions at Guardian Pharmacy KLCC

I spied a new brand of cosmetics called Uptown Visions whilst shopping at KLCC recently. It was a small display with mostly foundations, stick concealers, lipsticks and some nail varnish. They seemed to be reasonably priced too though I was in such a hurry, I did not get details of the prices of each item. The lipsticks are currently 2 for RM8.88 - very auspicious especially during this Chinese New Year period!

However, what interested me was the fact that a lot of the foundations were of darker colors than I was used to seeing! Good news for ladies of darker skin tones! Finally someone is taking notice of this oft forgotten group of women.

It has always been my gripe that most make-up colours here in Malaysia is targeted at the fair skinned. Ladies of more 'exotic' colouring such as myself always find that we need to make do with whatever we can get our hands on because there just isn't anything specifically targeted for our colouring.

I do faintly remember a brand called Jordana which I spied somewhere in the Bukit Bintang area about 10 years ago which carried colours that were targeted for African-American women and I purchased a blusher, I believe. However, I have not seen this brand ever since.

I know because of lack of research, I may be missing the fact that some cosmetic brands have perhaps come up with a range that suits Indian or dusky skintones. Let me know if you have seen it!

We are an ethnic group that is sidelined. What I would like these cosmetic giants to see is that we, like women of other ethnic backgrounds, love looking good and will pay good money to purchase skincare and makeup. I know I will. 

My peeve is being told off that a certain brand does not carry colours that suit Indian skin. I met an SA who had the nerve to tell me that "our brand caters to fair skin only". This is an insult to the brand itself. Hire half baked and ill informed SA's whose only ambition for being where she is, is for the cool uniform and free cosmetics and you have a recipe for disaster!

In an article on beauty brands targeted at ethnic women, "newcomer Uptown Visions, are relying on face powders and foundations, as well as color cosmetics in a range of hues formulated for women of color, to cement a relationship with a wider range of ethnic consumers beyond just African-Americans."

Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3374/is_10_25/ai_108969678/

This is good news for my Indian sisters. I hope to get my hands on some of these products so I may review them for you dear readers.