Sephora: temptress in disguise

I've noticed that quite a few of my previous posts are about things I've purchased at Sephora either with the Friends & Family sale, VIB sale or this following one: VIB gift card. Craziness.
Aside being amazing by carrying so many different brands, they have an exceptional return policy and quite a few sales and freebies. Does not help my addiction at all. This is awful.

However, I ended up purchasing more things *sigh*
I got a $20 coupon from Sephora by email ($20 off $50), and I got seduced by the good deal, so I gave in and purchased a Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush (in Blissful) and YSL Rouge Volupté Lipstick (in Peach Passion).

The blush packaging is super slick and tiny, which seems like a rip for a $25 blush, but from what I saw when I swatched it, it's incredibly pigmented, so I don't expect to run through this that quickly:

The design is nice, but I assume I will flatten it out quickly enough:

See what I mean about pigmentation? Blissful has a somewhat peachy side to it, which I was excited about, since I don't have any peachy blushes yet. So pretty:

Have I mentioned that I am addicted to YSL? Their packaging is to die for, even the shiny outside box :3 shiny~

And just look at the lipstick packaging itself >.< Definitely feels anything but cheap and makes me feel like a real lady:

There's a good amount of product in there as well, just a few dabs will get full coverage on the lips, therefore I expect this to last forever:

The color actually makes me think that I may have subconsciously picked two peachy items on purpose, which I hadn't. MAGIC. Not really, but hey~

I've been wearing the YSL lipstick for a few hours at this point and it's super creamy. I did end up eating and transferring the lipstick to my fork, but I am not going to judge it harshly just yet. I'm not used to such creamy lipsticks, so it will take a bit to get used to.

As for blush, the swatch is still on my hand, even though I tried to rub it off a bit. I am not wearing any makeup aside from that, so I will wait to judge the blush when I decide to make myself up and be all pretty <3

Photo of the moment

You know what I've been doing lately? Being a total slacker. Damn, after my job finished, I've been sleeping in, walking the dog, watching Law & Order SVU and just being a lazy bum. Mostly.

I did, however find some new inspirations for blogging and such and for artsy stuff. I guess it's a good thing. Although, I kind of miss having something to do every day - maybe I should go back to school and learn something new and awesome? Gosh, what would I learn :o

Meanwhile, let me show you what I've been up to...

First off, there was a night where I could not sleep and I though "hm...I should do makeup before I go to bed..." and for some reason that sounded like a good idea. So I decided to do Black Swan makeup. Why? Because that move was slightly terrifying. Just slightly. Oh, and be forwarned: this is an iSight photo, so it's shit quality, but makeup is okay :3

Then later on, when my hair was getting all washed out blonde again (ew), I had it tinted to a Sunrise Red. I love it! And it reminded me of Jessica Rabbit's hair, so I decided to go for it and just...you know...go all out on this. Plus, I was doing a semi-collaboration thing with a friend of mine for hooker makeup - this kind of qualifies, no?

Oh, the fun times...OH! Would you like to see my lunch? I was terribly hungry and craving sushi, so I tagged along with my mother to a shopping center with a Nijiya market and ended up getting a pre-packaged sushi lunch...that I put on a plate, made a side rice and miso soup and some delicious green tea:

Man...so delicious (plus, the wasabi cleared up my sinuses)~

As a side note, I will start a new thing on this blog. I will post "photo of the moment" type of thing, because I realize that most of the time, I am just too lazy to log into blogger and hence never write anything anymore. This will force me to take a shot at my creative side (and possibly learn some photography while I am at it...) and possibly even write something worthwhile~ Now, as a preview, here's something I decided to do a Photo of the Moment on:

MELON BREAD. I love melon bread so much :DDD

Oh! I wonder if it would interest anyone if I made a hair poof cheat tutorial. Or I guess - how to make a hair rat type of thing...hmm...I have extensions that I am not using, so I may do that soon - keep an eye out~

Sephora F&F Sale Haul

Sure, it is the most sad and depressing 'haul' ever, but I did not need much, so here goes necessity buy! Yay me!

Since my MAC Fluidline is kind of icky right now (it's not dry, but it takes a few times going over the line for it to show up dark), I decided not to re-purchase that when I am out, but go with another brand. I read up on a few gel liners and heard that Bobbi Brown one is good, plus I've seen it plenty in tutorials. Additionally - 20% off purchase is as good time as any to get it, right?

My other purchase was YSL Matt & Radiant Pressed Powder (Poudre Compacte Radiance), since I don't like super high coverage powders and my Revlon is being very cakey recently. Reading up on this, I came to a conclusion that it would be a good match for me, as it is pretty translucent, but good at mattifying. Let's see, shall we?

Boxes are always pretty, no? Although I get frustrated when boxes are shiny and show fingerprints. Boo. But hey - it's not like I am keeping these, ya?

So far, the liner looks good. I still have to test it out, but I don't want to do it before I run out of the Fluidline:

See how pretty the compact is? It also comes in a velvety pouch with 'YSL' printed on it. It's nice to keep the compact not scratched in the purse.

The pouch also comes with a compartment that stores a little powder puff. When I was reading reviews, I came across a few that were complaining that the compact did not have a puff inside, so either they did not know about this little pouch, or YSL started including these. They are pretty nifty.

The puff is kind of cheapo, but honestly, I change these often for sanitary reasons, so it's not like I need a pricy one, right? RIGHT?

The compact has a good size mirror and it's pretty light and fancy. I kind of love it right now. I am hoping to use it when I next do my makeup, so we'll see how it goes. Pretty, pretty, pretty >.<

Here's an imprint of the YSL logo on the powder. Wonder how long it will take me to flatten it :3

See, I told you the haul was tiny. My name is Alina and I have an addiction. Pfft.

San Francisco Adventure

Yesterday was amazing for quite a few reasons and I am quite sure I will remember this day for a while. Would you like me to share why? Yeah, well, even if you don't, here goes:

Thursday night, I was on Facebook and noticed someone posted that MAC Lightscapade was already sold out on Nordstrom, MACcostmetics and everywhere else and that it's on backorder and blah-blah-blah. I didn't even know they were re-releasing Lightscapade, as I have not been following their releases for a while because of work. But Lightscapade is so cool and pretty! So I went off to Nordstrom's website and they had an option to see if any stores around still had it in stock. So I enter my zip code, and Stanford shopping center has one! So I put it on hold, pay for it and hope that it really is there.

Next morning, I receive a call that they are waiting for me to pick it up at any time! So before going off to San Francisco to hang out with a friend of mine, I stopped by Nordstrom and picked it up *excited*

The veining on it is great. I love it - it's nice and shiny:



So like I mentioned before, I was on my way to meet a friend in San Francisco (someone I worked with, but after we quit, I hadn't seen since). We decided to meet up in Japantown, because both of us are in love with cute and awesome things. Also, we have not been in J-town for quite a while, so YAY! First thing we did after eating lunch is PikaPika fun times. We ended up picking a glitter-background machine and it was super cute:



Of course, after we got hungry again, we went off to Sophie's Crepes and got some delicious dessert! I got the kiwi and Nutella and my friend got strawberry and Nutella. Both were so delish! I wish ice cream did not make my teeth hurt so much, otherwise I would also add ice cream!



That's Tina, taking photo of our PikaPika photos (yo dawg, I heard you like photos...) to post on FB.



you know, I haven't really ever gotten the hang of taking photos of myself with my arm stretched out (as in...I constantly get a wrong angle and end up cutting off someone's head...), but Tina has gotten it down to a science, so here's the two of us :3



This is taken at the New People building. It's pretty neat, I've never been and it's quite a clean building, I love it. This sign made me happy. If you don't know why, this meme may help you understand my crazy.



Another big reason for going to San Francisco today was my appointment at Asako's Nail Art House for a CalGel nail art set. I've been contemplating going to get my nails done by her, but since it is in SF and you need an appointment quite a while in advance, I decided that I will just compile a lot of things into one day whenever I end up going.

For a while now, I've been taking care of my nails, mostly as an experiment on a few products and trying to get them all stronger and longer. Judge for yourself:



And this is where trouble comes in. The Nail Art House is in the same place as Baby The Stars Shine Bright. I've semi-purposefully avoided visiting it, because I knew that just a touch of the clothes would make me want them. I was right. Sort of.

I saw it. A JSK (Jumper-Skirt) from the Night Fairy Fantasia collection. In a beautiful 'Cloudy Sky' color (brown x ivory). It was on a rack near the entrance, away from rest of the frilly things and next to a mannequin dressed in a teal dress.

It was beautiful, it was perfect, not too frilly, quite classy, and $295. GACK!
Okay, breathe. It's fine. You don't need it. Not like you wear that stuff anyway...right?

Wrong. I put it on hold, as I was going to come back in a few hours to get my nails done, so I was going to think about it.

After taking my time to think about it and weighing pros and cons, I ended up buying it. I'll pay off the credit card eventually *sigh*

Another great thing about the shopping experience is that the shop girl was super nice. She's not only knowledgeable in the product, but also passionate about the brand. If we did have the same sort of thing here as they do in Japan (where the shop girls for such big brands are somewhat of idols), I am sure she'd be great at it! We got to gossip and talk about the brand, other Lolita brands and just random chit-chat. Yay for making friends! She also has a blog, so check it out if you'd like~

I love the way she packaged everything, too. Reminds me of being back in Japan.
The classy black shopping bag, with a beautifully printed logo, and a little tie to keep the bag closed up together:



I had a choice: whether I wanted a black or a white tie. I chose the black one, because it matches the bag so well. Could totally use this baby on jewelry. So much love~



Half-open bag, with beautifully wrapped dress in tissue paper. Dark blue, matching the theme of the line. Meticulously wrapped:



A few small things tucked in carefully in the tissue paper folds. Business card, Alice and the Pirates sticker, and a frequent buyer-type thing card.



My photo of the dress did not turn out as beautiful as I wanted it to, because of the light, so I took this one of the BtSSB website. A total beauty *squee* It really makes me think of Steampunk things. Well, kind of. I realize that Steampunk is not anywhere close to this, but the colors make me happy just looking at it.



This is the dress, carefully unpackaged, but still folded up. I really did not want to un-fold it. It looks so nice that I want to preserve it forever. *freak*



See why I did not use my photo to show off the full glory of the dress? My photo is not nearly as amazing as the official one. But still - I want to take a photo of it before I actually wear it.



And this is the back. The laces on the back are nice, too. Although I may need someone at all times to lace up the back. So much detailing.



This is the lace front. That's probably the biggest frilly part on this, which is quite a little amount compared to rest of the dresses. It makes me happy - kind of classy, no?



The bow is removable, so I can make it as frilly or un-frilly as I want. The shop girl suggested that I can use it as a head bow when not using it on the dress front. That's pretty sneaky!



The ties on the back are connected to the sides with plastic stars:



Bottom detailing. Looks like ivory roses. Very subtle!



Small amount of gold trim makes the dress magical, which goes with the Peter Pan theme and the little Tinker Bells on the print.



Even after thinking about it for a long time after the purchase, I really don't regret it. I am glad I did not spontaneously purchase it as soon as I saw it. I definitely needed the few hours to process it, but I do not regret the purchase. I will need to make a petticoat for it, though. And a blouse. And some accessories. I am thinking it will become my project - make/coordinate at least five full outfits with this, which will make for a fun and creative spending of my time!

Okay, enough about the dress. After my nail appointment, I rushed over to a friend's house for a party in honor of two of our other friends' birthdays. Although party was fun and remember-worthy, it's not something I am going to talk about ;p *tease*

And here ends my long and picture-heavy post
Until next time,
Frowne

Gelish Products

Have you ever heard of Gelish? It's a Gel Polish (as the name suggests) and is described as "Gelish performs like a gel applies like a polish" product. I first tried this when I went to a salon to get my nails done and the lady used this instead of regular polish. Now, I've heard of gel polishes before, but what makes this one special is that it comes in a nail polish bottle and applies as such. This is something that I am really in love with, because as much as I love gel, it is a bit tricky to work with (for me) on my dominant hand. Not as much practice as I'd like (that's what she said...), anyway.

After experiencing the application of this product, I decided to get it myself (I ended up paying around $40 for the application, which was WHOA!) and do it myself. CHEAP-STYLE. At the time, it was not available in stores, so I got mine from a seller on Amazon. I ended up paying about $15-ish a bottle (including shipping), which is pretty decent. All you need to start is the foundation gel, top coat and your choice of color (I picked MIDNIGHT CALLER), but you can also get the other recommended products: Ph bond, Artificial Nail remover and Nail Surface Cleaner to help you get the best out of the system.

The biggest downside (and expense) would be the UV lamp. I've seen lots of people (mostly on YT) get the cheap-o 9watt ones from eBay for cheap, but the truth is 9watt ones are not enough. You definitely want a 36watt lamp, otherwise you will be cooking your nails for a long time. Gelish also recommends an LED lamp instead of a UV (it takes less time to cure), but mentions that UV is a good substitute. The better ones can be around $100, so make sure you are dedicated to this before you commit.

The point of this entry is that Sally's Beauty Supply now carries Gelish products! Given, they are the itty-bitty size at an outrageous price, but if you are desperate (or just want to test them out), it's a good way to go. Today, I noted that the mini polish sizes were $14-something and they had quite a few colors. The reason I am even mentioning this, however, is that they have a 2-for-$10 deal on the mini Artificial Nail Remover and the Nail Surface Cleanser. That's $5/bottle (4oz) and it's the cheapest around. If you are interested in those, go ahead and jump on the deal while it lasts, but I suggest getting the Gelish polishes online.


Photo time!

My initial Gelish haul. Includes base gel polish, top coat polish and my choice of color polish:

As I mentioned earlier, I picked MIDNIGHT CALLER, because it seems like a classic shade that would never get old...to me, at least...

These babies are 4OZ each, which is a good trial size. I hear that the artificial nail remover works better than acetone, so I am definitely into trying that out!

And this is my collection so far. I am not going to expand it for a while, because they are kind of pricey, but possibly in the future.

That would be it for today!

Have you used gel polishes before? Did you like them? Are you planning to try them out?

Frowne

Take a day!

Spent the whole day running around stores *exhausted…*

First off, spent most of late last night looking up Remy hair extensions and the best places to get them (came down to either Hello Gorgeous, Head Kandy, or Foxy Locks in order from highest likeliness to lowest) [side note - if you guys have any recommendations, I would love to hear them!] and where to get the best triple barrel iron.

Sadly, finding a good quality triple barrel in US is hard. When doing my research, the best reviews were given to the BaByliss Pro, but unfortunately no stores carry it in the states and online stores either have ridiculous shipping charges or only provide you with a UK plug. Balls.

Then there was Hot Tools and some equivalent brands, for which I would have to spend around $50. To be perfectly honest, I do not mind shelling out even that or more for a great one. However, $50 for a mediocre one is a bit…blah. So I browsed…and browsed…and browsed…and watched some reviews and YouTube tutorials to get a better idea how each one performs. Then I came across the idea that I should just go for the cheap-o Revlon Jumbo one (since other brands don't seem to carry HUGE ones, just regular size) and keep looking for a good quality one that is of a regular size. I may be able to get my hands on a BaByliss one eventually, or at least one of a similar quality.

After I did some more research, I found out that I can get a Revlon Jumbo 3-Barrel one at Ulta. I've never been to Ulta in my life, and I've always wanted to, but the closest one to me happens to be in a shopping center I never visit. So now I had an excuse! And a $3.50 off $10 purchase, which sweetened the deal. I walked in and they had i! It was the last one, plus they had an open one on display. Considering how huge and bulky looking it is (I was kind of scared at first when I saw it on YouTube), it's not that heavy. Awesome! So I ended up getting that and getting my butt outta there before I spend any more money. I was on a mission!

My mission was to go to Sephora (at another location) and return the Lancome brow pencil I had purchased and get the Illamasqua foundation. The brow pencil was OKAY, but not $24.50 okay. I was hoping the lightest shade would make my brows defined, but not as dark, yet all it did was darken them…it was not as blond as I expected. Oh, well. But I do need a winter foundation! In summer I used a BB cream (because it's so hot and icky, I do not like wearing full foundation in summer), but now that fall and winter are approaching, I decided to go with something that has a little more coverage. MAC breaks me out like a mofo, MUFE is okay, but still breaks me out a bit and covers 'meh,' so I decided to go drastically different and try out Illamasqua. I've never tried their products before, but what intrigued me is that many reviews say that it is super high coverage and you can even use it as a concealer. Huh…does that mean that I have to take less things with me when I go somewhere with my makeup? Sold. And you can mix this with a moisturizer of your choice to make it a little less dense. It's like pigment…for your face. If that makes any sense at all, of course…

Right before work, I ended up buying lots of food at the food court, so I'd have lunch and dinner all set ^_^
Splurged on a Cinnabon as well (Caramel Pecan!), now I feel like a fatty, but it was so worth it~


Now time for photos, because they are probably more interesting and explanatory than my talking anyway ^_~

Look at how huge the Revlon Jumbo 3-barrel is! It's pretty intense. But it's not as heavy as it looks, so it's pretty okay...we'll see how it turns out.



Yay for Illamasqua and MUFE stuffs! Have not tried any of them yet, really, so we'll see how those go. I have very high hopes for the foundation *excited*



The Sephora lady matched my skin to the shade 135. It was the lightest one there, but from what I read, there are also super white shades and white with some pink. Kind of intense!



Stopped by Forever 21, mostly for accessories. I really did not want to stick around for long, but I do dig the cheap jewelry. Found this awesome ring (in my size, too!) and this simple yet "cool" necklace. The ring was about $5, the necklace was $6 I think. How do you guys like 'em?



On my way out, a poster outside of Bath and Body Works seduced me. It was the 3-wick candles 2/$20. Usually they are $19.95/each, and I love them, so hey, I thought. MUST. My signature scent is the Japanese Cherry Blossom, that's what I have as a scent in my room and that's the only candle from B&BW that I ever get. Best part? There were only two of the Japanese Cherry Blossom ones left and both of them were nice, so I got the last ones! So much love!



That's all for today
Frowne