Belated Sephora Haul & Review

I got my Sephora stuff a while ago but didn't get a chance to post up the goodies. I wanted to wait a little till I tried everything first hehe. So I'll be including a mini review of each item for those of you who don't have them (they're pretty popular items too so you might probably already own some of these haha). I got the great idea to put my haul on Polyvore from Fuz! :) It looks so much better than the ugly pictures I took of the products haha

Sephora Haul by beckyw on Polyvore.com

Quick thoughts on each item:

• Rosebud Salve - 4/5 - It's good, it's cheap but it doesn't last on my lips. Compared to others, it is one of the smoothest lip balms I've ever tried. The Jack Black lip balm still tops my list, but I don't like that the Jack Black is so small and it costs 7 bucks.
• Philosophy Purity Cleanser - 5/5 - This feels good for me and cleans off makeup residue well. I have combo skin and my skin doesn't feel tight and rubbery afterwards and it doesn't feel unclean either.
• Nars Orgasm - I tried this in the store before I bought it, I like it, it's a good blush to have and the color works for me. I already dropped this, argh and a very small corner broke off. sadsors.
  
• Benefit 10 - I really like this, it is the perfect tool all in one for me. The highlighter is not too white (Nars Albatross is) and the bronzer is not too deep. I'm not too fond of the weird flower scent though lol
• LORAC Coverup - I like the consistency of this the most, I think I found the type that works for my undereyes. It is kind of yellow (I bought C2) but it does a decent job and doesn't make my dark circles appear gray as feared with laying yellow on top of dark circles for yellow undertones. I do warn that it is oil based - so it might not work out for some ladies. So far, no creases when I set it, so I don't know if its because I set it or because of the way the product is delivered - you don't have to use a lot. Really glad I got this, I use this over MAC now.
• Laura Mercier Setting Powder - I like this for setting concealer and my foundation. It doesn't give the airbrushed feel that I get when I use Dior Forever compact but that's probably because it's translucent. I like it, I like it :)

Have a good weekend!

Decanting Lipbalm Tins & Dior Extras!

Hi guys! I've been set back by some work so I've been neglecting the blogosphere this past week. I think I'm going to get some reading done this week :) I'm back now and I want to share something really cool with you guys - decanting lipbalm tins! I really can't stand dipping my fingers into a tin of lipbalm and I have several pots of lipbalm (sucker for sales much). I first got the idea to decant them from Koren on Youtube, who decanted UPDD onto a clickable lip glaze pen, tutorial here. I don't use UPDD but I thought it was a great idea to depot other stuff like my lip balm tins!

This is the finished product!
I started with the lip glaze pens for my newly acquired Rosebud Salve -
Getting it in the pens was actually very tricky because it was so jelly and viscous :(
Finished product, but I couldn't get a lot of the air bubbles out, argh!Second, I decanted my passionfruit lip balm from Body Shop. I got a bunch of these on sale a while ago when I had the Body Shop card. But I never use them unless I'm at home because I don't like touching it.
This one was a little easier because the balm wasn't so sticky and viscous. It's not sticky in the sense that it feels sticky but it stretches.
Finished product, Simba is curious :)
And even after I decant them, there's still so much left in the tin!
Next, I decanted Body Shop Lip Butter and this Apple lip balm from Spain - but instead of pens, they will be just in lip balm tubes.
This was a LOT easier than the lip glaze pens, because I can use the fact that I can squeeze air in and out to move the lip balm into the tube. It's like a little suction system.
I've made so much progress on this pot, that I was able to get all of it out to be decanted
Clearly, I've never touched this one, that's why there's still so much left after I've decanted it.
And there is a pic again of all four of the finished products -
I got so many of these pens & tubes :D I am so please with them, I'll never be afraid to buy lip balm tins ever!

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Here are some Dior goodies I got from my future mother in law! She buys lots of Dior stuff and she got some extra goodies for me. This is my fave, a soft train case, LOVE IT! It's going to be so useful when I travel :)

The first zipper case is for brushes, I already put mine in hehehe Well I took them out when I got home, but when I was over at their house, I put my brushes in.

Also got this cute notebook, I'm using this as my wedding planning notebook :)
perfume sample

And a little Dior trinket, I guess that tiny, tiny, tiny little gem is a diamond lol. Probably a diamond shard worth about 50 cents. I give them an A for effort. haha

Have a good week!

Recreating Bridal Look, RED Nail Polish & Mini Haul

Happy Monday everyone!

Over the weekend, I tried to recreate the bridal makeup look I learned from a fab YTuber/blogger (www.frmheadtotoe.com). I didn't have a lot of the products she used but I substituted with what I had :) I was really inspired by her look - not only did she actually wear this look for her wedding (street cred! :) but it looks so natural/good for Asian faces/skin tones (that plus she's absolutely gorgeous!). You can check out the tutorial here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNN8lcOZvwM I unabashedly watched this video a few times lol

This is my first attempt - I'm still trying to perfect it so bear with me. I definitely have a lot to work on so I'm excited to practice this again in the near future! I also don't have falsies so I couldn't complete the look either lol I

Anyway, this is the completed look: (and one of my eyes is a little wonk, one of the creases was acting up because of allergies :( I will have to try it again when one of my eyes isn't bigger than the other lol)

W/Flash

Without Flash - as you can sort of tell, the white shadow/browbone area needs a little more blending haha!
What I used / What she used:

• Cover Girl Lash Blast WP, CG Exact Lash WP & Falsies
  
• Revlon Vintage Lace & NYX Matte White, NYX Matte White
  
• BB cream (just as an undereye concealer because I don't have anything better), Graftobian Concealer
• MUFE HD Foundation, Graftobian Foundation
  
• Maybelline Brow, MUFE Brow (not pictured), Anastasia Brow Kit
  
• Lancome some copper shadow in GWP, Copper shadow
• Revlon Colorstay E/L in Brown-Black (I "lined" all over my lid hahaha, that was fun!), Clinique Brush on Cream Liner (both waterproof!)
  
• Wet N Wild Creme Liner Black, Mac Fluidline Blacktrack
• BareMinerals blush Dessert Rose, Everyday Minerals Apple (both matte blushes)
• TooFaced Shadow Insurance, UDPP
• Sephora Lip Liner in Cute Caramel, Lancome Lipstick Rose Defile, Clinique Lipstick Orchid Shimmer, MUFE Gloss Peachy Pink, Maybelline Gloss in Glass Rose
  

I'm pretty sure I used a bunch of other shadows too (from the NYX nuetral palettes) and I think she used some other items, but they weren't the big items so I didn't include them in the list. And I also don't have highlighting/contouring cheek stuff lol I'm a beginner here!


Her look is one version where the lid is darker than the crease - I have seen other bridal looks where it is lid lighter than crease, and I'll try to do those too in the near future to compare. So far, I'm really liking this one! Here is another vid that is really helpful too for bridal makeup - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB8MN9yWwxQ&feature=related The series is called "Makeup Gourmet" - so cute!! I don't know why it doesn't get that much viewership.
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So I've NEVER worn red nail polish before - I usually stick with french colors (light pink family or shimmery ivorys) but I decided that I should have at least a good red polish for fall. I've seen how tacky red could look if it's not in the right shade family. So I did some research before I went to Sally's hehe. I read that for light skin tones, reds that are cool toned look best.
I picked this shade - Long Kiss from China Glaze. I wanted to get an Orly equivalent/dupe but the one or two bottles they had left were tampered with booo. Sheridan picked out this shade, it looks awesome! Sometimes its best to have a fresh eye looking at colors. The pictures don't do the color justice, my hand looks so awkward! lol I could learn a thing or two from Tish about NOTDs she does them so nicely :)


Ooo also, I'm not sure if I really am warm undertoned, I did the blue/green vein test in daylight, and I can't tell if they're blue or green. Some parts look greenish blue, some parts look blue lol! So am I peach undertoned?!
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And look at the goodies I received from Michelle at MyMakeupReviews!!! She is so awesome and generous - this is HER HG! I've never seen this before even though it's made by Abbott, I can't wait to try it, it sounds really promising. Check out her fab blog, I love reading it for the pictures, so clear and her reviews are really thorough!
She also enclosed some extra things for me to try, coool!!!



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And here is my mini haul - it's very mini lol but it includes the nail polish.

Got a bigger bottle of my HG brand shampoo - Ion! Wish they sold pumps too, though I cleaned out my aveeno pump and I'm going to try to see if it fits lol

I couldn't resist buying this dish at Petco :) It's for Nala!!
Have a good week everyone!

CAS & Mitsuwa Food Haul!!!

I love Mitsuwa (the huge Japanese market), but I realized why we stopped going so often - everything costs so much ! lol It seems like we barely bought anything and ended up spending $100+ >.< But it was well worth it though :)

Our lunch - mm!!!!

Sheridan's Konbu (seaweed) Onigiri yum!!!
The Okinawa festival is going on right now so theres lots of Okinawa cultural food items for sale. I got Clam flavored chips (top left), shrimp chips, pizza chips, more shrimp chips, Cod Roe spaghetti sauce (I LOVE this stuff in the Yakitori places), and Okinawa pickles to eat with rice :)

Some special squid looked better than it tasted - they didn't clean this properly (>.<)
Had to make Sheridan pose with this - this bottle design was asking for it lol!! It says, "Gettin' Cool Melon Soda" in a cute aluminum container and a blingy star on the "Gettin' Cool" part hahaha oh those Japanese! This stuff was refreshing, very light and not too sweet, a nice change from the regular Cokes and Pepsi's.

My dinner - Tekka Don, tuna with rice yum!--------------
Update on our pet squirrel, CAS (pronounced Kaz) (who doesn't have rabies yet). He is almost ready to take food from our hands.

aww I wasn't fast enough to get a pic of him snatching it!