long time no fotd...*updated*

*update* Chiara got it right, I used ELF brightening eye quad in Silver lining :D

And thank you for the wonderful comments guys, I always appreciate the encouragement :)


I tried to copy Yuri Ebihara's look from the commercial I last posted, but didn't really turn out too well, the eyeshadow just doesn't look as dewy, and of course i look nothing like her lol. I probably should've used more blue and less purple too.

So just a regular purple-blue fotd it is then:















Just for fun, leave a guess on what brand of eyeshadow I used here :)

(Hint 1: no japanese products were used
Hint 2: no expensive brands...its an inexpensive brand)

Shiseido Maquillage Spring '07 CM

I love Shiseido makeup commercials. Especially when they feature Misaki Ito and Yuri Ebihara

This one's from Spring 2007 with Yuri Ebihara:

I love how her eyeshadow looks so glossy:

Remember that Maquillage lipstick I got my bf to get from Japan ?

Its supposed to be the one in the above ad, but too bad it doesn't look that pink on me because its a sheer lipstick and my lips are too red naturally :S

I love how clean and subtle her makeup is.

the illusionist

Its been a pretty busy week! I've been slow to post and reply to comments lately - am sorry about that :( I think I'm caught up now, but if I missed anything feel free to leave me a comment on this post :)

I also added a small 'Upcoming / by request' list on the sidebar to remind me of items that have been requested by readers / fellow bloggers :) so if you want something that isn't there to be reviewed, drop me a comment anytime.

***

I went to see David Copperfield's show last night at The Sony Centre:

David Copperfield
March 28, 2008 - March 30, 2008
An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion



"David Copperfield has been hailed by audiences and critics alike as the greatest illusionist of our time. In addition to decades of network television events, worldwide tours, and “Dreams and Nightmares,” the critically acclaimed Broadway show that set box-office records, he has been featured on the covers of Forbes, Architectural Digest and Esquire and is the thirteenth highest paid entertainer in the world. "

He has a pretty intense gaze doesn't he? I find it a bit freaky how his skin is pale white and his eyes are a bit bloodshot - makes him look a bit undead :P For some reason, I always thought he was a lot older but after seeing him in person he looks quite young actually. I think because I only remember pictures of him in outdatedhairstyles like these lol:



Anyway, the show was quite interesting. I'm still trying to figure out some of 'em, especially the last few. In one, he made a whole car materialize under a sheet. Before he started, there were audience members invited onstage and he told them to walk around the stage and there was nothing there besides some pillars that reach up to your waist. Then 2 audience members were told to crouch and hug two of the pillars in front. A silver sheet was laid over the pillars and when the sheet was removed again, there was a shiny blue car underneath....And of course he got in the car, started it and turned the wheels just to show us it was indeed a real car.

Another interesting one was the lottery trick. Early in the trick he produced a locked box that supposedly contained a series of 6 numbers and an audio casette of him reading the numbers. Then he threw several frisbees into the audience, whoever caught them was picked to select 2 numbers at random between 1-40. And what made it entertaining was the people were asked some rather personal questions as well. He asked the first guy if he was wearing boxers or briefs, and lol you could see how mortified the guy was. And then he asked, "What colour are the boxers?". "Black."

The second guy, after he picked his 2 numbers was asked by DC, "When was the last time....you got busy?" LOL we were all laughing and the poor man had an embarassed grin on his face. DC:"Hours, days, weeks, months...?" He took awhile to answer: "2 days." DC: "Was it with a partner?" Second guy:"......."

When the box was finally opened the paper inside contained all 6 numbers that were picked by those 3 audience members! and whats weirder is that it contained the same personal info about them too - that one was wearing black boxers, and another person got busy 2 days ago. The tape in the box was a recording of DC saying the exact same numbers and information. Weird...

But I think the one that impressed me the most was the last trick. Nine audience members were brought up onstage, told to sit on a metal platform and a sheet was placed over the frame of the platform. You knew they were still there because he handed then flashlights to shine on the sheet. After a few minutes of this, he pulled off the sheet and there was NO ONE on the platform!...no idea how he did this because right up to the last second you could see the flashlights still waving around on the platform.

I was disappointed that the show was so short -it was 1.5 hrs but I guess I expected more. Good thing I didn't actually have to pay for the tickets :) And, I know it sounds corny, but I was so ready to see one of those typical stunts with a tiger in a cage or something :P lol oh well.

my 5 biggest beauty crimes

Got tagged by Violet Honeybee, Ichigobunnie, and Chyix2 to admit to 5 beauty crimes...

1. Skipping concealer

I skip undereye concealer frequently because i just haven't found one that won't go crepey on me no matter how much I moisturize :(

2. Not getting enough sleep

I don't get enough sleep for the past 2 years i've been working and its starting to show on my face/hair :( I get a lot more blackheads and less even skintone now, and my hair is thinning ... My fault partly though, I could go to bed early but I'm such a night owl.

3. Neglecting hair / clothing

I tend to spend too much time on the actual makeup application when i'm getting ready and not have enough time to do my hair, or pick an appropriate outfit :S Sometimes i'll have really nice makeup but messy/flat hair, or a more dramatic look but wearing clothes that are too casual.

4. Rubbing my eyes too much!

Don't know why but my eyes itch often at night and i'm too lazy then to get up and wash them out with water so I end up rubbing them. But I've been cutting down on that and just using a fingertip to gently scratch the eyelid instead.

I noticed a few lines have been developing since I started wearing contacts - is it because of holding my eyelid open to insert the contacts? or was it always there but I only noticed now because I started scrutinizing my eyes more since wearing contacts/makeup...?

5. Rushing out the door without fixing eyelash glue...

I don't wear falsies unless I have time but when I do, I still take too long to do my makeup. So sometimes I end up stepping out the door even though the glue on the falsies hasn't quite been concealed yet :S Which makes me super self conscious about it and defeats the purpose of putting them on...



Ok I tag...

theChas
experiments in makeup
girl meets makeup
grayburn
mayaari


:) nite~

eye candy

i burnt myself while making dinner today :( was careless and accidentally reached over the rice cooker steam vent to get something , and the steam hit a spot on the inside of my arm. Now its all red and angry, sigh. my bf put some polysporin on it but said from the look of it, its probably gonna get worse :(

but anyway, these are some drugstore products I picked up here and there in the past month. As you can see I really do need this 2 month ban i'm on :)


some skin and hair stuff:

• Boots No. 7 Botanicals Ultimate Eye Lift gel (because of the Muse's review...)
• Garnier Fructis Anti-split ends serum (because Vanessa uses it and she has gorgeous hair...*jealous*)
• Burt's Bees More Moisture Raspberry and Brazil Nut shampoo

Makeup of course:

• Almay Play up the brown in Purple Amethyst (they changed the brush! i hope this works better than their old brush which clumped bad!)
• Maybelline Mousse eyeshadows in Lilac Cloud and Turquoise Dream (so expensive! they were CDN$9 each...)

I also got NYC translucent powder (not pictured) for prepping when using shadows that tend to give me fallout like the Japanese ones and my mineral makeup. But now I really want to try those Shadow Shields I saw on the Muse's blog. Those look so much more convenient. Wonder if they're sold in Canada yet? Maybe I'll be cheap and try making some myself lol :)

oh and somehow for the Maybelline mousse shadows, i got similar colours as the Shiseido hydro-powders:





But of course the Shiseido ones are more pigmented. The Maybelline ones are quite sheer. I think all 4 would be perfect for doing this look though:





The look on this model supposedly uses Revlon's new loose powder eyeshadows, but I wouldn't bother getting those as they cost so much in Canada $15, plus I don't like loose eyeshadows that much.


Also, my bf got these from HK as he stopped there enroute to Japan, but didn't give them to me until now.









i'm not sure how that makeup remover is going to be effective since it seems water based...? i think i'll be paranoid it isn't cleaning my face enough.

some incentives

another motivation for me to stop overspending:





i've wanted a place of my own for some time now, in fact i used to be a huge saver all my life, until the beginning of 2007. Then somehow I just started spending more and more and being less reserved about treating myself to things. Its like a stress reliever for me - whenever I feel down or stressed I think about what I could possibly buy and the stress vanishes magically, haha. But I find that checking out places like Ikea and looking at floorplans seems to be helping me get back my motivation to save.

It probably won't be apparent until the next 2 weeks because I did order a bunch of stuff last week that has yet to arrive....lol. :) but no more from now!


Another floorplan, a 1 bedroom + den:





P.S. Its now 12.41am and I have to wake up at 6am tomorrow for work....I am so screwed. Every morning I swear I'm going to go to bed at 10pm and every night that never happens :(

burnt out

I don't know what to post about....other than that I've been spending too freely on makeup as can be seen from all those 'haul' posts :S

On Sunday, I added a 'day counter' to my igoogle homepage, to keep track of how long I could last without buying any sort of makeup. Today, I was up to 3 days since my last makeup purchase...until after work, when I stopped by Shoppers Drug Mart while my bf was at the doctors. Somehow I ended up purchasing Burt's Bee's lipbalm, and one of those Maybelline Cool Effect liners, in Snow Bunny because they were on sale! So....my day counter is now back to ZERO :(

I also got tons of Easter chocolate since they were half priced :D - a lot of Cadbury mini eggs, and some Ferrero Rocher for the bf. I prefer Lindt myself but the Easter Lindt products seemed pretty boring and not worth my money.

Note that I'm so cheap, I didn't bother getting any Easter chocolate because I knew they would be half off this week lol :P At least that makes up for my makeup purchases right? ;)

I've decided take some measures to cut down my spending though. My goal is to not buy any makeup for the next two months starting this week.

That means no purchases from drugstores, Sephora, or online websites. Also no purchases from MAC. Although I might have to make an exception for the Heatherette nail polish if I do get it...If it wasn't LE I would've been able to put it off for sure :( Stupid LE...

I find my problem is that I get a rush from buying stuff for myself - whether its makeup, skincare, clothing, shoes, purses, whatever....it usually ends up being makeup because makeup is easy to select and easy to find. I can easily find swatches and reviews of whatever I like.

With clothing, shoes, purses, I'm very picky. I have to see it in person and try it on, so no online impulse buys for me. At the same time, the clothing stores in Toronto are very repetitive and boring. There aren't any stores I like anymore. Some think of clothing as a better investment, but I personally don't agree except for classic items like work clothing (pantsuits, shirts, etc). Otherwise, things go out of fashion quite fast. Also, no one would wear the same sweater everyday or even twice a week, while you could sport the same e/s colours everyday and no one would notice.

Clothing is often more pricey anyway, lets not even get on the subject of shoes and purses....so makeup is a cheaper high for me :P But I do know its getting a bit out of hand, hence my goal to stay off it for 2 months at least to see how it goes.

Also planning to sell/give away some of the stuff I never use...I took out a bunch of stuff already from my traincase but there isn't much hi-end stuff - I just can't part with those yet :(

the she space samples

sorry about my MIA-ness...I haven't been very good at replying to comments lately, I know :( Will try to catch up tomorrow.

here's my haul of samples from the she space:




they look like paint samples don't they? :D

and for the life of me I have no idea where I put them after making these swatches :( i've looked everywhere. they got misplaced somehow...somewhere at my bf's apartment :S


eyeshadow swatches done dry:

i threw in some random swatches from NYX and MAC just for colour comparisons - but they do look quite different though.

Initial thoughts on Coastal Scents

I got my Leap Year haul from Coastal Scents last week....which arrived in my mailbox ripped open :(



At first I thought someone had opened it on purpose to see if there were any valuables inside. But then I noticed there was no customs declaration on the package, so most likely it was Canadian customs that opened it. So thanks a lot, Coastal Scents for your incompetence :S I was lucky nothing was missing from the package, because customs didn't even tape it back up, freaking retards.


In any case this is what I picked up:







Closeup of the brush heads:






Brief rundown:

1. Eyeliner brush is now wonky due to inadequate packaging -.- I'll wash it and see if that'll help put it back to shape.




2. Angled eye brush is a bit stiffer than I was expecting...not something I'd recommend to anyone.

3. Face cleansing brush is okay. Nothing to rave about, the bristles are supple, but the tips are a bit scratchy. Also I don't like how there are 2-4 'mutant' bristles that are a lot longer than the rest....

4. Powder dispensing brush I've yet to try, will update when I do.

5. Duo fibre brush - very soft. Bled a little during washing, a few hairs shed. After drying the brush head was very fluffy.

So far I've only used this for blush and it works great but the brush head is too fluffy :( so it spreads blush over a larger area than I would like :( Also, because its so soft I don't find I have much control over the application as with my other skunk brushes. We'll see how it does with mineral foundation.

6. Italian Badger brush - very soft and dense. No bleeding during washing, no shedding either. Like the duo fibre, it becomes fluffier after washing and drying.

I was afraid it'd have some funky bleeding problems after reading Ilurvemakeup's experience with hers, but mine was ok in the first wash. It does have the smell people describe as "wet dog" smell, but honestly, if I hadn't heard that term I wouldn't have thought of the smell that way. To me it smells more like lacquer and brushes, haha I don't know how to describe it. But fortunately for me I don't get bothered by it. We'll see how it does after some more washes and uses.

Review: Majolica Majorca palette and others

A few people were interested in the Majolook palette from Majolica Majorca I acquired courtesy of my bf, so I did a FOTD using it with Silk Naturals Sassy blush and Coffret d'or lipstick/gloss combo.





Some swatches first so you get an idea how they (sorta) really look:

Majolica Majorca Majolook GR741:





Colours swatched clockwise:

My shade descriptions from L-R:

Highlighting shade - Light blue-green shade with silvery shimmer

Main colour - Teal green shade with silvery shimmer

"Trick on powder" - champagne-gold shimmer, has an iridescent look to it

Liner - Dark green-black shade with minimal shimmer


The colours were sheerer than MAC but still pretty decent. I know that Japanese makeup is known more for being sheer and shimmery so that was to be expected.

In this case, I noticed that the Majolook is less shimmery (and less fallout) than the previous palette I reviewed (T'estimo Frame Impact Eyes). Definitely a lot easier to work with despite the cheaper price tag. I didn't have to do any cleanup afterwards at all ! There is some fallout after a few hours, but it was so little I only noticed because I was closely checking for it. Its not something others will notice on your face.

Texture was nice - soft and blendable. A review I read on MUA on Majolook palettes described them as "buttery", and I would have to agree that is the perfect word to describe them.



Coffret d'or Combient Rouge 06 Peach Blossom:






Description:

Sheer peach-apricot lipstick
Sheer pink gloss with fine gold shimmer

I love the colours A LOT. Too bad the natural pigmentation of my lips kills the softness of the colour. I was lazy to use concealer, plus I knew it wouldn't work that well...usually concealer doesn't help much because it rubs off when I apply lipstick on top. But I still like how it looks on my lips, it makes them a more peachy pink red rather than just red.



Silk Naturals Sassy blush as from my previous post:





I had to pack on A LOT of product to get it to show up. Its probably because I'm too used to dealing with Everyday Minerals super pigmented blushes. I usually pick up the absolute minimum amount I can with EM, but this time I kept on picking up product and it still barely showed up!

Still a really pretty, soft colour though. I think its lack of pigmentation would still make it a suitable blush for people that tend to have a heavy hand with blush.


FOTD:

Eyes:





I did the eyes according to the instructions on the box:

Blush:

MAC Emote was also used to contour....




Lips:

Just remember my lips are really pigmented naturally so it won't look so red on most people...




Overall:

Ok, can't see too much here because I didn't bring the shadow up too much AND my right eye was having its monolid day lol....sorry I don't have a better pic :S

But you get the idea that all 3 products are very wearable, right? :)

Silk Naturals haul, swatches, and comparison with Everyday Minerals

I took advantage of Silk Naturals' Leap Year sample sale about 2 weeks ago.

What I ordered:

Samples of:

• Love Lure perfecting powder
• Sassy matte blush
• Flirt matte blush
• Sheer Perfecting powder (I still have some left but figured I could use an extra one to carry around)
• Some empty sifter jars

Also ordered their Ultimate dual ended eye brush, but that was out of stock so it was shipped later separately, still haven't received it yet.

Haul:



Love the organza bags they always pack your order in :)

Also make note of that card in the background - 'friend' is the coupon code for 5% off :)


As part of the Leap year event they also included a sample of Sizzle eyeshadow and Breathless lipgloss.



I noticed something though...the sample sizes this time around weren't as generous as my previous order....not sure how much I really saved on that sale :S Oh well, I still like the chance to try out different products anyway.


Blush and powder swatches:

I noticed some possible similarities between the colours and some Everyday Minerals' blushes I own, so I swatched both for comparison.

Also included a swatch of Dait Bait perfecting powder to compare with Love Lure, as Love Lure is meant to be yellow toned while Dait Bait is pink toned.




In the pot:



Something I noticed while swatching, is that the blushes from Silk Naturals are nowhere as pigmented as the ones from Everyday Minerals.



Sample eyeshadow swatch compared with EM's Pressed Olive eyeshadow:





I have to say, I much prefer SN's Sizzle over EM's Pressed Olive. Sizzle is a true duochrome, where you can see a slightly different colour at different angles. Pressed Olive is just a straight blue-green colour with lots of golden shimmer.