An update

I am totally in love with these Parasuco jeans:


(click to view full size)


The studs are just perfect, I'm not usually even into studs but the design is just done so well!


(click to view full size)


Unfortunately I couldn't find this pair in the store, it was just the picture of the model that I saw in the store. The salesperson didn't seem to know much about it. First I asked her if they had this pair in the store and she said it was going to be in the Fall collection. However when I searched Parasuco's website, the image shows up on their S/S '09 collection lookbook, meaning it should be out now right? Maybe I'll call their other location to see if they have it.


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Here's a sneak peek at some things I swapped for with Cris @ Diamond Enigma. I'll be reviewing the Korres lipsticks once I get the chance to try them out, and the Bourjois stuff too. She was super sweet and included two samples of her HK pigments which I had requested, and not only that also included Milani Luminous, a longtime lemming of mine. Thank you Cris! :D





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MAC's new Euristocrats collection is out already in MAC stores (not counters). I picked up Costa Chic, a super bright frosty coral. My camera ran out of batteries though so I'll have to take pictures another time. Then again I'm sure most of you have already seen Temptalia's swatches :D

I've also pre-ordered the things I want from the upcoming Graphic Garden collection, apparently it is coming out July 9th @ The Bay in Canada. I chose the cool palette (Graphic Garden), because the colour payoff is much better than the warm one. The cool palette contains veluxe pearl and frost finishes mostly, while the warm palette has a couple of lustres (which have crappy payoff). Also ordered the Sweet Tease Look in a Box because it contains Shell Pearl Beauty Powder, a limited edition item repromote. I can't wait! July will make me broke as MAC Color Craft is coming out on 9th as well, and I already want 2 MSFs and 3 mineralized blushes that are coming out. Originally I had $30+ store credit that I was going to use, but I seem to have lost/misplaced it...:/

H&M lemmings

Stopped by H&M yesterday, and they had their Fashion against Aids collection out! I picked up a couple of things from the collection:









I am considering going back for this piece below...I was in a rush so I didn't have time to try this one but seeing it again on the site makes me want it...





Also, I really wanted to get the dress featured in the ads for Matthew Williamson H&M collection, but did not see it in the store. This is the one:



I'll have to go back next week and see if there are any stores that still have it....but I doubt it. Usually designer collaborations sell out quickly :(


This is another piece from the collection I'm eyeing:



For some reason over the past year I keep going for black and white when it comes to tops! I can't seem to like any other colours at the moment.


By the way, Mayaari is having her second giveaway! You get to pick one of the two prize packs for which you wish to be entered. Its open to anywhere in the world, and the deadline is this Thursday, so hurry! :)

Some Japanese goodies!

Recently I was fortunate enough to have Nic Nic do a CP for me :) She also sent me her Sana concealer to try! Thank you Nic :D

• Sana concealer in Light Yellow
• Lunasol Geminate liner (most expensive liner ever but I got it because it looks so good on Fuz!)
• Kate Super Sharp liner in BK-1
• Esprique Dress On Moist Rouge in RO610 (because of Row's swatches)

So far I've tried only the concealer. The texture is nice, it doesn't crease at all (almost all concealers do that to me), however the coverage tends to be sheer. It reminds me more of a highlighter/eye brightener than a full coverage concealer but I will have to use it a few more times before I can give a proper verdict on it.




I also got some Majolica Majorca goodies in the mail lately courtesy of Paris B. from My Women Stuff! She had a giveaway a couple months ago and I entered completely last minute, within the last hours of the deadline...and somehow I won :) Thank you Paris! :D

• Majolica Majorca eyeshadow in GR185
• Majolica Majorca gloss in PK384
• and a super handy cellphone pouch :)

The eyeshadow is pigmented and easily blendable, I actually find the texture better than the Majolook palette I got this spring. The lipgloss is sticky, but the staying power is good and it has really nice shimmers in it.




Finally, today's outfit:





Black knit top, H&M
Brocade olive gold skirt, Forever 21
Sheer black tights, Life Brand (lol)
Black leather boots, Browns

Layered a denim jacket (pictured) and black wool coat (not pictured) over it before going out.



The skirt is new :) I was waiting impatiently for it to get on the Canadian website since spotting it on the US F21 site. Only thing is it feels a bit tight :/...probably because of the high waisted cut as well.

I haven't worn these boots in ages...the last time I wore them was the previous winter so almost 2 years ago. Mostly because these aren't very comfortable. They feel fine initially but after a couple of hours my feet will hurt depending on how much walking is being done. Then again though I do have problematic feet...I'm getting some custom made orthopaedic inserts soon to help with my foot issues.

The metal stuff around the ankle is actually on a removeable leather piece, so I could remove it to make them look like regular plain leather boots.

Finally I hope everyone in the US had a great Thanksgiving! 3.5 weeks left to Christmas :)

Yet another year older

Some pictures from my birthday a couple of weeks ago:

One of my friends had her birthday the day after mine so our bfs got together and planned the surprise for us.

They booked a karaoke room and went there beforehand to decorate it. My friend and I went there assuming we were just there to hangout and chill for a bit, so we were surprised when we went in and the room was all decorated out :D





They got lots of balloons - helium ones and also blew up lots of regular balloons. We had to remove the decorations before we left, so we had a lot of fun popping the regular ballons before we left, haha. There was bits of balloon spatter all over the walls...fun stuff :P



We should've taken a picture of the room after - it was basically a tiny square room but the guys really changed it up with their efforts :)

After that we did a bunch of things...went for a movie, dinner at a Japanese place before going back to my friends' place to chill.

Me with my cake:



Tiramisu:



My friend had a mango mousse cake:




We split up the helium balloons, these are the ones I took home.



The balloons had really cute weights tied at the bottom to hold them down.




The bf also got me a Fossil watch :)



EOTD from that day using Lunasol's Sheer Contrast Eyes in Lavender Coral:





Sorry no good shots of the makeup that day...I took all these pictures at the end of the day, so my face looked greasy and shiny...not something you wanna see I'm sure.

And my outfit:





I'm all H&M'd out here...

H&M white knit shrug
H&M black knit top with ruched sleeves
F21 satin trim / cotton pleated navy skirt
H&M black tights
B2 brown suede buckle boots
Swarovski starfish pendant necklace

I also curled my hair that day, so it looks more wavy, because I did sorta expect we might go out someplace nice for dinner or something lol so it was worth it, haha.

United Colors of Benetton

I love store catalogues, especially those from clothing or furniture stores. When I was younger I used to pore over the IKEA catalogue and fantasize what I would buy and how I would arrange them in my room, haha :D

Anyway this is just a quick post on some of the things I like from the United Colors of Benetton Fall'08 catalogue. I love their suits but usually their prices are way over my head unless I get them at outlet price. I have splurged before though on a black wool coat from them because it was the absolute perfect length and cut even for my petite size.

Thats another thing too about UCB...their stuff fits me fine for most pieces, unlike Banana Republic where regular sizes are too large unless I go into their petites section.

For some reason I'm attracted to greys and plaid patterns in the catalogue:






I want that pencil skirt desperately...I see some similar pieces on Forever 21's website but they don't have my size...






This pleated skirt looks pretty good on the model, especially with the matching coat:




I love how they got to put blue lipstick on the front cover model :D




And green on the back cover model:




Coming up tomorrow - some reviews on the Clarins stuff and Harajuku Lovers fragrances!

Disillusionment

MAC is getting more and more disappointing these days. I stopped by MAC yesterday and they had the brush sets out for people to look at. Boy was I disappointed. The promo pictures made the bags look really glossy and luxurious, but in real life the bags just looked cheap. The patent leather part looked rather fake and the rest of the bag was just regular, inexpensive-looking nylon.

The brushes themselves too were disappointing. I wanted the Face brush set because I needed a second back up of my 187SE but the brush on display looked rather sparse and of poorer quality than the version I own (which is from Novel Twist collection in '07). People have been saying the brush sets are poor quality, and I never really agreed because I find my Novel Twist brush set quite good. However I guess the quality of the brush sets have just been going down ever since.

So, now I have some extra room in my budget...which is both a good and bad thing. Good...because I can use it for other things or save it (ideally). Bad...because I went into Sephora afterwards and saw the Clarisonic brush in pink and now I'm lemming it.




Nevermind that this costs way more than what I would've spent on the brush set, haha. I had been considering it a couple weeks before and put away the idea, but now I suddenly want it again...partly because I started talking to the store manager (who is incredibly nice btw). She went on and on about how she didn't think the brush was a big deal when she tested it out for 2 weeks, but she really noticed the difference after she stopped using it.

They do have a satisfaction guarantee...so if the brush didn't do anything for me I could return it. I dunno though...the beauty junkie in me wants to try it really badly, but I still feel a bit guilty about making such a big purchase at this time. But then again, I'm the type of person who is willing to spend the money on something if it can really improve my skin to my satisfaction. I figure, after all I'm not getting any younger....and healthy skin is definitely not something that I can get back easily once its too late.

Maybe I'll just get the brush and not open it til I can decide haha. I would actually wanna wait for Sephora's online F&F sale but its one of those items that is restricted to US only (so they will not ship it to Canada).

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I haven't been wearing makeup lately because my chin has been breaking out. Also my skin has been getting red more often than usual lately so for the time being I've switched my skincare routine to just Dove Sensitive Skin Facial Wash, Dove Sensitive Skin Day lotion, and Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Refiner. The Sensitive skin Dove products are fragrance free and claim to be hypoallergenic, non-comedogic, etc etc.

I'm not sure if I like the facial wash yet, but the Day lotion is surprisingly good and doesn't contain any ingredients that I shy away from such as dimethicone. All the other sensitive skin lotions at the drugstore contained dimethicone. Even my bf's lotion (he has eczema so he uses a special lotion) has dimethicone. I tried it and it was way too heavy for me. But the Sensitive skin lotion from Dove might just become a HG for me...its not heavy, and moisturizes well without feeling greasy. It does not contain SPF, but thats fine as I need to use up the Clarins sunscreen I bought recently anyway.

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Here's one of my favourite outfits. Pretty basic items. I could probably accessorize more but I don't have anything else that goes with it. Also, sorry for the bad quality. I'm using the same camera, but the crappy lighting in the hallway makes everything look so low-res. I wish there was space by the window to have a full length mirror.



-G-Star Raw navy blue cotton shirtdress
-Mango metallic bronze leather belt
-B2 brown boots in a suede-like material (could be suede but I don't remember)

I curled my hair that day, surprising because I never do anything with my hair. I didn't want to wear makeup that day to let my skin recover, so I had the extra time :D

Mukomuko dress & Annabelle mascara

Sorry for the lack of posts! There just aren't enough hours in the day it seems to get all the things I want done :S

I got my dress and the tube I bought from Ling at Mukomuko Shop about 2 weeks ago...I know, I'm only posting it now because I'm so behind with my posts! I keep taking pictures of things I want to talk about but end up not blogging about them until much later...Anyway, back to the point, I love the dress! Definitely very wearable and the tube top lining I got because it suits the dress and I can definitely use it with many outfits :)

Taking pictures reminded me I really need to get myself some jewellery! I haven't bought anything of that sort since university, simply because I used to just forget to wear them when rushing off to class. Also being bundled up in winter jackets for half the year in Canada doesn't really help. But anyways, I've realised I need more grown up accessories than what I have now, lol. I'malready eyeing some things off F21 and H&M. Last weekend's planned shopping trip did not happen because I had other things to deal with, so hopefully I'll get the chance to go this weekend.

But anyways, onto pictures of the dress:



Detailing:



Inner top (this is sold separate):




I wore it with the inner white top, white kitten heels and jacquard black/silver Coach purse. A long necklace or a chunky metal bracelet would've been nice if I had them.



Back of the dress. I like lower cut backs :)




On to another topic - I requested a mascara sample from Annabelle Cosmetics a while ago, and they sent me an email saying I can email 6 invitations for samples of their volumelash.com mascara. This is for Canadian addresses only...so any Canadian reader that wants to try this, drop me a line via email, and I'll send you the code. There are only 6 uses so its going to whoever requests it first - also please don't request it if you're not located in Canada otherwise it would go to waste.

I haven't received my sample yet, but from the sound of this other review, the mascara brush design sounds interesting! I'll review it when I get mine.

10% off at Mukomuko Store

FYI,

Mukomuko is having a 10% discount on any 1 item in the store.

Just enter the code 'Blu3' under the 'Additional Comments' when filling up an order form.

Happy shopping, and let me know what you get :D

Review: Mukomuko Store

I haven't felt the usual urge to shop in malls these days. Its mostly because no matter which mall it is, most of them carry the same chain stores, each with similarly bland pieces. Think American Eagle vs Aeropostale, Suzy Shier vs Smart Set, Urban Outfitters vs Urban Planet and you get the idea. I think thats why I enjoy browsing stores in downtown Toronto Queen Street more, the selections there are from less mainstream (but more expensive imo) brands.

There is definitely a whole lot more variety though if you look online. I've noticed Ling's store, Mukomuko for a while now since coming across her personal blog. Recently, she asked me if I would be interested in reviewing her store and I said yes :)

She releases new collections regularly, and always with unique and functional pieces. Take this faux layered piece for example. I'm actually the type that is too lazy to think about layering pieces. I dislike buying say 1 vest, and having to think about what shirt to wear under it. So items like this 3 piece vest-shirt-inner-layer combo is a godsend for me :)




It looks super comfortable to lounge around in as well, which is always something I consider before buying.


I think I love the dresses the most, especially this black and white piece. Its a great alternative to the little black dress, which while classic, feels boring for me.

With this, I like how the sleeves are puffed, giving it a demure yet still girly look. The ribbon around the waist helps define the waist and give it shape. Its definitely something I could wear to a company event, or even a meet-the-parents dinner lol :P




Also, almost black and white dresses I see in stores are strapless or with thin spaghetti straps. I usually get chilly in airconditioned places so I always have to hunt for a separate matching shrug or scarf. But the sleeves on this one will keep my shoulders warm :)

If you are lucky enough to enjoy warmer weather all year around (unlike us poor Canadians lol), definitely check out the floral dress from the latest collection. The flowers and pale teal background make me wish I was vacationing in the Carribean...



There are also numerous layering pieces available, which I find useful because they don't look like the usual bland tank tops I find in regular stores. Instead these pieces have details that make them special, such as:

this ruffled top:





ultra-feminine layering dress:






All in all, I'd say my favourite parts about her store are the dresses, the faux layered combo pieces, and the layering pieces.

The sizes differ depending on the piece you want. Measurements of each piece are provided below the description, so just be sure to have a tape measure handy. As for the prices, I think they are quite reasonable, definitely on par or even cheaper than prices here in North America.

From my experience in dealing with Ling, I've been very satisfied thus far. She responds to questions very quickly. I had questions about the size and material of an item, and each time I emailed her, I received answers within 24 hours.

I can tell she definitely cares about customer satisfaction as well. I was asking her about the added shipping cost of the blue and white floral dress in one of her previous collections, and she also helpfully pointed out that the background of the dress was cream (even though my monitor settings made it look white-ish), just to make sure I would still be okay with it :)

As for payment methods, Mukomuko uses Paypal so any payment is secure. She provides a detailed email with the breakdown as well so that you know exactly how the charges are applied even with the exchange rate.

If you are interested in other reviews of Mukomuko, definitely check out Fuz's and Fei's reviews. I'll also post more once I receive my order :)