Makeup look #4: Pulling off with red lips

I purchased a bright red lipstick back in May and never really tried it until today.  I never thought I could wear red lipstick because I used to borrow one of my mom's bright lipsticks and it never looked good on me.  I find bright red lips always accentuate my dark circles and just didn't look good on me.  So I googled the best way to pull off with red lips and most sites or blogs say that neutral makeup is the best way to wear red lipstick.  So here it is.

First, I want to achieve a porcelain-like skin tone.  So after moisturizing my face, I applied on Shiseido's SPF50 sunscreen.  Then I applied Smashbox primer to prep for my concealer.
Instead of wearing my Amazing concealer, I tried out my new MAC NW20 Select Cover-up to hide my dark circles and any redness on my face.   

After blending my concealer, I used my MAC natural skinfinish to set my concealer.

I didn't put on any eyeshadows, but I did line my upper eyelid with a greater cat eye than I usual cat eye routine.

Then to finalize the eye makeup, I curled my lashes and mascaraed it.

And to finish off the look, I took my never-used super red lipstick by Shiseido in P13 and carefully lined it within my lips.  I don't have a bright red lip liner that matches my P13, so my look may seem a little off.  At different angles, the dark circles are still visible but it doesn't look like I have panda eyes. =\

Final look:

Makeup look #3: Smokin' Purple

A smokin' purple look.  Pretty easy to replicate or even add a little of your own touch to it.  I'd say this is good for those of you who work at retail clothing store or going out on a night with friends.  It's not quite the daytime look to go out and run some errands.

I've already moisturized, sunscreened and primed my face.  Oh and I've applied concealer as well.  Then used MAC pressed powder to set it.

As a primer base, I applied MAC Artifact paint pot just on the eye lid.

Then taking a light purple-gray color, I applied it on my inner two-thirds of my eye.

On the outer one-third of my eye, I dipped one drop of eyedrop with my shadow brush and then dipped it in a dark/deep red colour (I used MAC pigment in Royal Flush).

Then I applied a little bit of MAC pigment in Violet and blended it out.

I took an angle brush, dipped it in eyedrops, then dipped it in MAC Violet pigment to line my lower lash line.

I took a black shadow by NARS and slightly covered my outer V and blended it out.

I lined my upper eye with a slight cat eye-look with a black pencil eyeliner. 

 

I finished it off by curling my eyelash with Shu Uemura eyelash curler and mascara-ed it.

Final look:

I used a nude matte Honeylove lipstick by MAC since so much attention is drawn to my eyes already.

TomTom GO630

This is totally not beauty related.  My dad and I went to Wal-Mart today to get a GPS navigation system.  We used to have one but never really got around using it.  It was huge and never received reception in our van.  I'm so happy that we FINALLY got a new one.  For the past few months, I've been driving around the Toronto - NorthYork area.  And I'm not too familiar with that area so using the traditional way, I had to pull out that old, ripping apart map which was extremely inconvenient for me to read as I'm driving alone. =| I'm just lucky I was never pulled over.  But anyways, I'm charging my TomTom right now so I'll be able to use it tomorrow.  Being silly me, I'll probably just drive around my neighbourhood just to test it out. LOL!

The best part of this purchase is it cost only $118 + tax.  Well you might be thinking, I could be spending this money on more makeup.  But frankly, in the long run, this purchase will totally be worth it - well that's if you have a license and can drive.  Ontario, Canada now has this law that you must not be driving and talking on the phone or text message - because it's obviously dangerous.  So another great thing about this GPS is the fact that it has a Bluetooth.  =) So yes, I'm not going to get brain cancer from Bluetooth earpieces !

I'm the kind of person that loves technology gadgets that make life easier - i.e. Iphones.  I'm planning on getting one soon.  Most people in the city now has a smart phone.  Who doesn't? Well that would be me.

Gift cards

On my birthday - Sep 10, my friend and her sister got me birthday gifts from Aritzia and Sephora, respectively.  My friend got me a TNA gym bag, but I returned it for a gift card since I find the gym bag was pretty heavy.  Plus, there wasn't anything I found to be nice at the store.  So I've decided to wait for the next season's new arrivals.

As for the Sephora gift card, I'm waiting for Sephora's 10% sale.  I think it's 10% sale, or was it 15%? But I remember they had a sale during last year's September and this year's January - which was the time when I got my Clarisonic =) .  I'm not craving for anything from Sephora right now.  Neither is there anything I necessarily need.  Hmm... Any recommendations? Anything I should give it a try?
I'm considering of getting something from Benefit, since I've never tried their products.  But I don't know what to try.  =\

Title change

Yeah, so I've decided to give my title a change - just for the sake of easy to remember.  Well, hopefully it is easy to remember for most of us. =)

Makeup look #2: Natural-looking

This is a natural look using just one simple dark-coloured eyeshadow and no foundation, just concealer.  A perfect look if you don't feel like putting a lot of makeup on your face.  It's light coverage.  It's convenient and efficient makeup look that you can apply and rush out the doors.

First, I applied a oil-free moisturizer and sun screen.  Then applied a small amount (less than dime-sized) of Smashbox PhotoFinish Primer.  And because I don't use foundation, I used my Amazing Concealer to cover my dark circles and the redness around my nose.  And with my MAC Natural Skinfinish pressed powder, I dust a bit on my face.

Today, I primed my eyelids with Urban Decay Primer Potion and applied a dark gray eye shadow, MAC Apres-Ski.

 

I've basically dabbed my blending brush into the eye shadow and starting from the outer corner of my eye and slowly blended inwards. 

Then using my Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes black eyeliner and my liner brush, I lined my upper eyelid with a cat eye.

I used my Shu Uemura eyelash curler to curl my eyelashes.

This is optional whether you want to use mascara or not.  But today, I used Maybelline's waterproof mascara.

For a final touch, I applied a pinkish nude lipgloss by Smashbox in Pixel.  And here is my final look.

There is nothing dramatic going on at the eyes.  Everything looks natural.  You're not going for perfect-looking skin.  I tend not to fill in my eyebrows, I don't feel the need.  Besides occasional touch-ups at the eyebrows, I like leaving them alone.

Lightning and Thunder

Photo credit: google.ca

I was just woken up by a very loud thunder and now having trouble falling back asleep.  It's actually pretty scary.  Maybe I'm just imagining it but when it thundered, I felt a little shake.  Seems like God is really angry with us. =\

Weird, as I'm typing this in my dark room, I see the lightning flashing outside my window.  Weird.  It's like my window is my computer monitor, blinking at me.

Review: Bobbi Brown Cleansing Oil

I bought this Bobbi Brown cleansing oil from the MAC warehouse sale.  This is the first time I've used cleansing oil to remove my makeup and I find that it works really well.  I've read some reviews that compared the MAC cleansing oil with the Bobbi Brown cleansing oil.  Some say that their effectiveness are about the same.  But I bought the Bobbi Brown over the MAC because the BB one had more product.  Anyways, I've used it like 5x so far and it leaves my face feeling really soft.  How do you use it? Well I take 2-3 pumps on my palm, lightly rub it all over my face for a good 20 seconds or so then rinse it off with water.  Once the oil comes into contact with water, it changes into a milky white solution - an interesting transformation.
The packaging box states this product wipes off non-waterproof makeup.  I use waterproof mascara and I find it may take a few more seconds to wipe off non-waterproof mascara but it works.  I haven't experienced any irritating problems.

Product: Bobbi Brown Cleansing Oil
Rating: 4.5 / 5

Pros:
- Effectively cleans off makeup easily
- Leaves skin soft
- Doesn't leave skin with greasy feeling or even during the application
- Doesn't break me out

Cons:
- Not time-efficient when it comes to rubbing off waterproof makeup

Urban Decay Primer Potion depotted

Last time I used my UDPP, I noticed I wasn't getting much out of the bottle.  So I decided to depot it after watching a Youtube tutorial on how to depot your UDPP.  And shown below is the picture of what I got out of my UDPP bottle.  I'm just amazed.

Canadapost printed shipping labels via Paypal

Ok, so 2 days ago, I sold something to a girl in Malaysia and she gifted her payment to me.  After that whole incident with the rude CanadaPost woman, I decided to find a way to print a shipping label from home.  PP has this link with CanadaPost such that you have to send someone an invoice, receive the payment, and THEN print a shipping label.  PP users were never provided the service to be able to print a shipping label directly from PP.  =(  But luckily, I figured it out.

This is for those of you who use PayPal and hold their blog sales and want to skip the PayPal fees.  Just log into your PP account in one browser or tab, open a new tab and enter in this website: https://www.paypal.com/ca/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now and you should be able to create and print a shipping label.  I just played around with the web address and figured this out.  =) Now I don't have to stop by the PO and deal with the rude woman, I can just drop my packages off and give her the dirty glare.

Note: this works for CanadaPost postal service.  I have no idea if it works or how it works for US postal service.

Pissed off day #2

Ugh!  I'm USUALLY not b*tchy whatsoever.  I mean to strangers, I'm quiet and polite.  But today or rather just minutes ago, I was at the post office dropping off 3 packages to get them shipped off internationally.  I pre-paid for 2 already and just need to pay for one of them.  So I see this cranky, old, past middle-aged woman who I saw working yesterday at the post office, she was impolite and rude yesterday but worst today.  I was shipping a package to Malaysia and my buyer just gave me her full address in which I don't even know what part of the address is the city and what's the street name, so I thought.. Well ok, I'll just pay for the postage at the post office.  I was expecting some sort of slip I have to write on and stick it on the package to ship it off, but apparently I don't.  Well I'm only experienced with pre-paid shipping, so I'll just blame myself for my ignorance.  So I was holding a piece of line paper with the printed address on there.  This piece of paper was uncut A4 paper - since I wasn't expecting to stick it on.  I told her I needed to pay for the one package I have left and I need it shipped off to Malaysia.  She saw that there was no label on there and took my sheet and she gives me this attitude and said to me (in these exact words) "Well you're lucky there's no line behind you".  Her tone of voice just disgusted me.  Then she starts cutting the address out and sticking it on the package.  So whatever, I'm forgiving, I just ignored that part - for most people, I think they would have slapped her face and left.  Anyways, I asked her to send the unpaid package as a Light Packet.  But did she do it? No.  Why? I have no idea, because I have measured the exact measurements of the package to be able to ship it off as a Light Packet (the cheapest method of international shipping).  She just blew me off with a "No, it has to be a Small Packet."  So then I was just pissed off at this point, I just walked off with my package.  Now I just wish I've asked to see her superior.  I mean with this sort of customer service, I think she deserves to be fired.  Especially in this disastrous economy.  This is NOT the first time I've dealt with her and EVERY TIME, she's been this rude.  Sometimes, some people just need to learn their lesson the hard way.  I seriously hate dealing with rude people, especially when THEY are the ones providing service and are getting paid to do their job.

Today is just NOT my day!

Ok, can things go anymore wrong today? So I sold this old Hello Kitty camera, that I had for the longest time, on eBay.  This lady from a city within Ontario bid and won.  I waited a little more than 24 hours and she finally paid.  She paid at a time that was nearly 5PM -- the time the mailman comes by the PO to pick up the mail.  So I had to hurried, packed it up, checked on PayPal to see if the address was confirmed, printed the Shipping Label and drove over to Shoppers Drug Mart to drop off the package.  Everything sounds great right? Well then, I came home and find a message from her that tells me to ship it to another place.  Umm... I'm like WTF??!? For one, I was panicking at that moment - don't ask me why, it's not even my fault.  And two, she's telling me to ship her package to an address that wasn't confirmed by PayPal so how am I insured that the package will hand at her door or whether she'll be honest that the package arrives in her hands? Apparently that address on her PayPal records is where she used to work and it's out of her way to drive there.  Umm, is that my problem? Is it not HER problem that she didn't change her addy? So then she threatens to file a dispute with me.  Well, I don't really see what I've done wrong.  So she tells me she's had things mailed to her current addy that is NOT confirmed through PayPal and/or eBay.  Then again, how am I suppose to verify that? So yeah, she seemed pretty shady.  Like what if I DID ship it to the unconfirmed addy and she files a dispute against me anyways? And if my "kindness" to help her out will get myself in trouble, is it worth it?  Hell no, I'm not going to risk that. 

MAC warehouse sale haul

Here's my haul from the MAC warehouse sale.  And yes, this here seems very little, but everything came up to be $251.99 (tax included).  Unfortunately, I bought an extra pigment in Tan.  I forgot I had that already.  So if you're reading my blog and want a MAC pigment in the colour Tan, leave me a comment below. (SOLD)  =)  Anyways, I bought two tubes of MAC Skin Refining Zone Treatment and being so careless, I didn't check if there was any product in the tube. When I got back home, I was looking through the stuff I bought and yes, one of the tubes was COMPLETELY empty! Ugh!!! And yes, I feel like shaaat now.  Especially when they have a no exchange / refund policy.

This was my haul from Friday, Sep 10th.  And luckily, a friend of a friend had extra tickets for the Sunday MAC warehouse sale and so I asked her for 2 tickets to go with my mom.  And seriously, no wonder so many people line up on the first days of the MAC warehouse sales.  I went back on the Sunday and they didn't stock up on their products.  Or even if they did, they had a very limited amount stocked up.  There were hardly anything good left at the Sunday sale.

September 10th + MAC warehouse sale =)

Guess what's so special about today? =) It's my birthday!!! Yes, I'm officially 22.  Well, technically, it's passed my birthday as I'm writing this.  But I celebrated most of my birthday - during the morning + afternoon - at the mac warehouse sale.  I woke up at 7:30AM, got there to line up at 9:10 AM and actually got in by 10:10 AM.  I tried my hardest not to spend so much this time.  =| But I've sadly spent $ 30 more than last time.  But I'm all stocked up for the rest of this year and until next June or September 2010.  I have so much pigments and eye shadows right now that will last me for a long time.   I'll put up pictures of my haul tomorrow - since I'm too tired right now =\ .

Decently priced clothing, bags, shoes, and accessories

So a few days ago, I was browsing on the internet and found this website: ASOS Online Fashion Store .  It's a store that sells pretty decently priced clothing, handbags, shoes and accessories for the nice styles they carry.  So I definitely recommend the site.

I was going through the site and saw this leather big bag and the more I look at it, the more I'm loving it.  I've been longing for a leather bag and finally found one.  Hopefully, it's nice, soft leather *crossing my fingers*.  But whatev, I'm still going to love it.

Photo credit: asos.com

Photo credit: asos.com

This bag was going on sale for $ 64.03 USD, and I think I grabbed the last one because the site doesn't have it anymore.  But they have a tan colored one.  I think the tan one looks nicer, but they're selling it at original price, $ 126.38 USD. 

Photo credit: asos.com

Also, the good thing about this online store is the shipping cost.  They have a flat shipping rate at $ 6 USD to ship their items to Canada or FREE shipping to USA, and it includes a tracking number.

Happy shopping or online browsing! =)

MAC warehouse sale coming up and...

So I went out this morning to meet up a lady to get a MAC warehouse sale ticket.  =)  And I'm officially going next Friday - the first day the sale is going on, Sept 10th.  I'm probably going to be there extra early just to be in the first group to get in.  Hopefully I'm not going to over spend =\ .