MIA

I have been MIA for the past few months. I have been crazy busy with work and life in general. Off to new adventures and all that jazz.

I am still collecting makeup like mad. I am waiting for my OCC lip tars, Urban Decay Vice Palette, and Eye Kandy glitters to arrive in the mail. Comment if you guys want a review/haul post on those.

Recently I have been figuring out how to do my makeup a little differently on my monolid eyes using bolder colors. Usually I stick to neutral colors because not much can be done on my unusual eye shape that is flattering. However, I have been going outside of my "comfort" zone and using bolder colors, false lashes (Dollywink and Red Cherry brands), and my circle lenses. Normally I post all of these pictures on Instagram because it is more convenient for me to snap photos with my phone.

Well, until next time!

Urban Decay...MAC...Shiseido

Naked Palette by Urban Decay

A few months ago, I gave in and purchased the "Naked" Palette from Urban Decay. I want to say this this was right before "Naked 2" came out. This is now my favorite "go to" palette for everyday looks. I have two palettes from MAC full of neutral colors. This palette is slowly starting to take the place of my MAC ones. I just really love the colors! To me, Urban Decay shadows have a decent pigmentation and they are very easy to blend!

I have been using this palette for a while, but I have a light touch with eyeshadows, so it looks brand new in this picture...








 Now, image my shock when all the makeup gurus on Youtube started announcing the arrival of "Naked 2!" So, of course I had to go buy one! I believe I had one of those V.I.B. discounts and I used that to buy it.

Naked 2 Palette by Urban Decay

I really love the packaging on the #2 version! It's a metal type of packaging and the lid locks in place. I can see this palette traveling very well.











The colors may look the same in the pictures, but I assure you they are different. I love that this palette has a matte black color.                     

I'm not going to swatch the Urban Decay palettes...There are  plenty of other blogs, videos, whatever with detailed swatches. Maybe when I have more followers and traffic on my blog I'll start doing more detailed reviews.

Next are my most recent purchases. I believe these were bought two weeks ago...

I started off at Macy's to go to the Shiseido makeup counter. My local Sephora store doesn't sell Shiseido anymore, so I have to go to Macy's. I normally buy the same old mascara from Shiseido, which is the Lasting Lift Mascara. I was really disappointed to find out that they discontinued my mascara! What am I supposed to do now?!? It took years of research to find the perfect one!

My perfect mascara is one that takes my Japanese eyelashes (which are straight and hard to curl) and keeps the curl the whole day (10 hours max). Lasting Lift was the only one who could do that. Oh well, it was bound to happen soon or later... The lady at the makeup counter told me about these two...

Top: Nourishing Mascara Base   Bottom: Perfect Mascara Full Definition

I have been testing these out for the past two weeks. I tried the mascara with the base and then without. It holds the curl longer with the base. However, I do have to curl my lashes one more time after application (which I never had to do with my old mascara). I wish it would hold longer without the base because the two mascaras together costs me over $50!

After my trip to Macy's I headed to the MAC store! For those of you who don't know, I don't shop at the MAC counter at Macy's because they don't accept the Pro Discount. I have a MAC Pro card, so I have to shop at a freestanding store for the 40% off.

I picked up a few new eyeshadows and new foundation (featured in yesterday's post). I really wanted soft brown and velour, so I picked those up. I noticed the Pro Longwear shadows, so I decided to try those. I haven't tested them out yet, so I'm not sure what to expect from them.

MAC Pro Longwear Hot Paprika

MAC Pro Longwear Sweet Satisfaction

MAC Extra Dimension Dark Dare

Left to Right: Hot Paprika, Sweet Satisfaction, Dark Dare

I really love the design on the Extra Dimensions eyeshadows. I wish I picked up the blue one, it probably will be sold out by the time I go back.


After the MAC store, I went to Don Quixote for some NYX glitter liners. I noticed that Fashionista804 on Youtube uses them a lot. I picked up the colors that I thought would look good with future makeup looks. I am really loving them!

Left to Right: Jade Green, Hot Candy, French Champagne, Gold, Disco Ball, Lavender, Disco Queen

Left to Right: Jade Green, Hot Candy, French Champagne, Gold, Disco Ball, Lavender, Disco Queen

I like to place these over an eyeshadow color. I really love this as a colorful liner on the inner third of my bottom lash line. This is a fun way to add an eyeliner color to my eyes. I normally never use any other color except for black, but I will explain that in more detail in a later post. These glitter eyeliners stay put all day as well. I had them on for 12 hours one day, I even took a nap wearing it, and it didn't budge! I really love these!

Well, that's all for some of the new products I recently bought. My other purchases include new circle lenses. I am now up to four pairs of those!

I know I don't get much traffic on my site, but for those who do take time to read this blog....let me know what you want to read about. I really don't know what else to post here except for what I buy. I can post different makeup looks.

I have monolids, so it is hard to do makeup on my eyes. To make it even worse, I have a partial double eyelid on one eye which makes it even harder! I usually have to adjust my makeup so that you can't tell which one is the double one. If anyone wants tips on how to do that kind of makeup, I can see what I can write up!

New Foundation Love!

I recently decided to change up my foundation. I have used bare minerals for the past six years and loved it. However, I now work at a photo studio and it made me want more photo-ready makeup. I haven't really taken pictures of myself in years, so I didn't need a heavy foundation. Since for some odd reason pictures are being taken of me randomly and unexpectedly, I need to be prepared!

So, my new love is Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream in medium as a primer base with MAC Matchmaster 3.0 foundation over it. Topped off with the new Careblend Powder in medium (no picture of that..sorry). I am also loving circle lenses! They really do make your eyes bigger!

Here is a picture of me with the new foundation on and circle lenses (GEO angel lenses in the color brown). My eyes definitely look freakishly large, but I like it! hahaha!!

I'm leaving for a business trip to the mainland next week. Every time I leave the island, I feel I need to do my nails. So, I went to one of my favorite "walk-in" salons, L'Amour Nails and had my nails done. They are gel nails, but no artificial tips. I am all into the different colors on nails, but I rather stick to two colors and I only want my ring finger a bold color. My husband figured it out, he said "because that's where the bling is.." Exactly! My "bling" is on my ring fingers, so I'm gonna enhance them!

Bye Bye Shu Uemura!

So, I just found out from Temptalia.com that Shu Uemura will be leaving the US. They haven't set a date yet, but once they leave, you can only buy the products online. How sad is that! I have been using the eyelash curler for eight years and now I can only buy it online? I replace my curler about 2-3 times a year and it's already $19 a pop. I don't think I want to add shipping into the equation...

I don't really want to become too dependent on something that will eventually become too expensive to obtain, so I think I'll start looking for a good dupe. I mean, they still have it at Sephora so I could go and buy out the whole store to stock up, but what about when I run out of that? I think it'll be better to just find something else...

I remember before I found out about Shu Uemura curlers, I used to use Shiseido. I thought Shiseido had the best curler until my makeup instructor told me about Shu Uemura. So, I think I'll buy one of those and try it out to see if it works just as good. The plus side is that Shiseido sells replacement pads for the curler (they used to be like $9 for 2, I think). So, that will actually end up being cheaper in the long run...

Oh well, I'm going to go buy a Shiseido curler on Thursday, so I'll let you all know how it works out with that one. ^_^

40 Beauty Questions...

I see girls doing this on Youtube and I thought it would be fun to do this in "blog" form! (^-^)/

SKINCARE
-How many times do you wash your face daily?
I only wash my face once a day (yes, I know...I'm lazy...)

-What skin type do you have? (dry,oily,combo)
I have very oily skin

-What is your current facial wash?
I use the MAC Lightful face wash

-Do you exfoliate?
Yes, I use this Angel-something facial cleanser from LUSH that acts like a gentle exfoliater

-What brand do you use?
LUSH ^-^

-What moisturizer do you use?
I use the MAC Lightful moisturizer (I only recently started using moisturizer because I'm getting old and I want nice skin as I age...)

-Do you have freckles?
No, but I have a lot of beauty spots on my face. I do have choke freckles on my arms though...

-Do you use eye cream?
Yes, I use the All About Eyes from Clinique and it works really well! It doesn't leave this oily residue on your eyes

-Do you or did you have acne prone skin?
Yup, I have very acne prone skin, it flares up once in a while

-Did you ever have to use Pro-activ?
No, I was considering it, but it wasn't really readily available in my teens when I had super bad acne. I use Clean & Clear and it works well for me. My husband used ProActiv and it failed miserably for him. Now, Accutane worked wonders for his skin

MAKE-UP

-What foundation do you use?
I use Bare Minerals Matte Foundation in Light and I recently just started using the new Mineralized Foundation (the cream one) from MAC in NC37. I use that one when I want heavier coverage and I set it with my Bare Minerals. If I just want a light coverage I just use Bare Minerals. I highly recommend the Matte formula over the original one.

-How about concealer?
I don't really use concealer. If I do I use a basic one from Shiseido

-Do you know your undertone color?
I am actually a yellow undertone. Most makeup artists think I'm pink undertone because my skin actually has a pink tinge to it. However, my asian blood really pulls and makes my undertone yellow. If you try to put something pink based on my skin, it will look like Kabuki makeup. I cannot stress enough how important knowing your undertone is (it makes a huge difference when picking foundations)

-What do you think of fake eyelashes?
I love fake eyelashes!......on somebody else of course! Fake eyelashes for some reason look horrible and drag-ish on my eyes...

-Did you know that you are suppose to change your mascara every 3 months?
Yes, but I try to stretch mine out for 4 months because it costs close to $30.

-What brand of mascara do you use?
I use Shiseido Lasting Lift Mascara. After years of trial and error this is the only mascara that makes my stick straight, down-turned lashes stay curled all day long. Literally, the curl doesn't not come out! Other mascaras that worked pretty well were Benefit Bad Gal and Buxom, but even these did not work as good as the Shiseido does.

-Sephora or MAC?
I love MAC, but I also love Sephora....tough decision, you cannot beat MAC's quality in products, but Sephora has so many different brands to choose from!

-Do you have a MAC Pro-card?
Yes, I do!

-What makeup tools do you use in make up application?
I cannot stress the importance of good brushes, I also love Shu Uemura eyelash curler (the Shiseido is a good dupe), I also like to use disposable makeup sponge wedges and q-tips.

-Do you use make-up base/primer for the eyes?
Yes, I like to use Soft Ochre or Painterly paint pots from MAC as a base

-For the face?
I start off with MAC Lightful Serum, then I follow with the MAC Skin Refined Zone and Dr. Brandt's Pores No More

-What is your favorite eyeshadow (color or shade)?
I love anything brown

-Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner?
I actually use MAC engraved powerpoint pencil followed by Fluidline in blacktrack. That combination makes an incredibly black finish that does not budge.

-How often do you poke your eyes with an eyeliner pencil?
I've never poked my eyes before...

-What do you think of pigment eyeshadows?
I love pigments! I am slowly making a collection of pigments because I love them so much!

-Do you use mineral makeup?
Yes, I use for my foundation (see above) and I love the MAC mineralized blushes and MSF's

-What is your favorite lipstick?
I don't really have a favorite because I like to layer, but my all time go to would have to be MAC Viva Glam V

-How about lipgloss?
I also don't have a favorite for this one, but I really like MAC Lip Gelees (any of them)

-What is your favorite blush to use?
Nars Orgasm

-Do you buy your makeup on ebay?
No, I don't trust vendors on ebay

-Do you like drugstore makeup?
When I was in high school I used to love drugstore makeup, but now I don't really like it. My MAC comes out to almost the same price as drugstore, so I rather buy that....

-Do you go to CCO's? (cosmetic company outlets)
I really want to, but there's no CCO in Hawaii....boo...

-Did you ever consider taking make-up classes?
Yes, and I did! I graduated with two certificates

-Are you clumsy in putting on makeup?
Surprisingly no, but I'm clumsy with everything else in life

-Name a makeup crime that you hate?
I really don't like it when things aren't well blended; I also don't like when the foundation is too light for the skin; I don't think some girls should wear thick, full, false eyelashes for every day use; I have more pet peeves, but I don't want to list them all....

-Do you like colorful shades of makeup (lipstick,eyeshadow) or neutral ones?
I prefer neutral shades on myself, but I love colorful shades! I just can't really pull it off...

-Which celebrity always has great make up?
Carrie Underwood (is that her name?) actually always looks stunning, I also think Kim Kardashian has great makeup looks

-If you could leave the house using just ONE make up item,what would you use?
My eyeliner

-Could you ever leave the house without any makeup on?
Oh yeah I always do when I'm feeling lazy, however, I look awful!

-Do you think you look good even without any makeup on?
No, but I do get compliments on how nice my skin is (which I don't really agree with). One time a MAC artist thought I was wearing foundation (which I wasn't). I guess because I see myself everyday I can see all my imperfections. I hate my eyes, they look downturned, have no double eyelids, and are too small....

-In your opinion, what is the BEST makeup line?
MAC

-What do you think of Makeup??
I love makeup, it can not only transform you but it will bring out and enhance your natural beauty. I love the look on people's faces after they have their makeup done. It makes you feel like a different person, pulls up your self esteem, and gives you unbelievable confidence. Makeup is an art form, which I don't think most people realize that...