Thursday, March 31, 2011

Review: Guerlain G Rouge Lipstick 'Gemma'

Guerlain lipsticks are among the most flashy lipsticks I have ever seen. I was curious about them so I decided to purchase one. I have had this for a couple of months, but I use it sparingly.

Price
$46. Expensive :/

Packaging
The packaging is very heavy, and reflective. It comes with a mirror on the inside, and the design is a little complicated. Not your average lipstick tube, that is for sure.



Product
The lipstick is smooth and the color pay off is great. The only problems I have with the formula is that it tends to shift around easily. Because of that, it is easy for it to bleed outside the lip line. It reminds me a lot of the YSL rouge volupte, but slightly better; it doesn't move around as much as the YSL.
'Gemma' is a mauve-rose with golden shimmer. The dimension of color is much better than most lipsticks. The golden sheen makes it much more unique of a color. The gold is also very subtle so it is still very wearable.
This lasts on my lips for about 3 hours.

Swatches



Overall

Although I like this lipstick, I do not think I will be purchasing any more. They are expensive, and honestly I have bought lipsticks that are better formulated for much cheaper.
I think these lipstick are mostly about the packaging.

Thank you all for reading ^_^

~Yami<3

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Review: Chanel Rouge Coco 'Mademoiselle' Lipstick

Hi guys, I am doing another lipstick review.  Keeping the same trend, I am going to a review a high end lipstick. This is my one and only Chanel lipstick, and one of my few Chanel products. I really love the Chanel brand, but it is expensive so I have to be very selective. I bought this on a whim; it was the only color that stood out to me when the Rouge Coco line was released. Now, there are a couple other more wearable colors, but I don't think I am going to purchase any of those anytime soon.
Price
$32. Expensive, but not as expensive as other higher end brands. Not only are you paying for the brand, but your are paying for the quality of the packaging and the product.
Packaging
Chanel packaging is renown. Its is simple and chic.The lipstick is pretty heavy, it has a good amount of weight to it. I like the fact that it is heavy, it makes it seem very luxurious.
Beautiful, right?
The top of the tube with the Chanel logo
Tube with the cap removed
Product
This lipstick has a really nice formula. It is moisturizing enough and doesn't feel dry on my lips.
It has a satin finish. It lasts about 3-4 hours on my lips. This has been a very popular color. 'Mademoiselle' was probably the most popular color from this line. It's a neutral rosy brown [More rose than brown]. I love this lipstick for formal occasions, such as interviews, or formal dinners, even church. It is a great neutral color that will make you look very sophisticated. I think it goes best when paired with a neutral eye.




Swatches

The swatch is coming out slightly darker and more rose colored than on my lips. But it is going to look different on everyone.

Overall
If you are looking for a nice, sophisticated color and are willing to spend $32, then I recommend that you check this out. I personally love this, but everyone's tastes are different. This is my go to lipstick for formal situations and so far it has worked great.

Thank you so much for reading! If you have any comments, questions, or critiques, then please comment below :] I accept any constructive criticism.

*Remeber, everything shown has been purchased by me, unless otherwise stated.

~Yami<3

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Review: Tom Ford Lipsticks

Salutations fellow makeup lovers!
Before I get to the review, I wanted to quickly state that as of yesterday I started school, and I might be really busy in the next few weeks. My second year in college is coming to an end, and I need to finish my lower division classes for my major.Therefore I need to take a lot of units now so that I will be done with those classes by the end of this school year. I apologize beforehand if I don't post as much, or if my post are shorter than usual. Also, I should be getting my new camera in the next couple of days, so yay!
Okay now for the review...

Tom Ford lipsticks. When they came out, they sold out incredibly fast. It took me about three months after they sold out to get two of their lipsticks from Neiman Marcus. This is, as a matter of fact, the most expensive lipstick I have ever purchased. At $45, it was not an impulse purchase; I thought about buying this for a while. I decided to get them because I did not own many high end products, I still don' own that many. I usually stick to MAC, or cheaper brands from Sephora so this was a little out of my comfort zone.

The two I own are 'Blushed Nude' and 'Pink Dusk.' My favorite is 'Pink Dusk' and the color reminds me a lot of MAC 'Angel' lipstick, only a tad bit darker.

The Packaging
I would be lying if I said that my decision to buy this lipstick was not somewhat influenced by the beauty of the lipstick tube. It is one of the prettiest lipstick tubes I have ever seen. It is so sophisticated, classy yet modern. This definitely challenges Chanel and YSL packaging.
The box the lipstick come in. It got dirty, hehe.

White lacquered tube.
Very sleek.
The top of the tube has 'Tom Ford' engraved.
With the cap removed
Product
The lipstick itself is amazing. Smooth, creamy, opaque, hydrating. It is what I wish the YSL rouge volupte was. Don't get me wrong, I love the Rouge Voluptes, but they have tendency to be drying, and  bleed outside the lip line. These are like a better version of the YSL lippies. The only problem is the color selection. It is very limited, and I really hope they extend their color line. Lasting power is about 4-5 hours on me.
[Left to Right]: Blushed Nude, Pink Dusk



See how the one on the left has 'TF' engraved on the top?

Swatches
Top is 'Blushed Nude'
Bottom is 'Pink Dusk'

Overall
I really love these lipsticks. If it was not for the price, I would buy every shade in the line. But the $45 price tag is really intimidating. If you are a huge fan of high end cosmetics, you must check these out. I know Neiman Marcus sells them, and I think Saks does too.
Thanks for reading! And thanks to all of you who follow my blog, I really appreciate it~

~Yami<3

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Haul: HauteLook, Swaps, and random puchases

Spring break is a time of indulgence. And I have definitely over indulged during this spring break. A lot. I have bought many things lately; an after affect of final exams most likely [Right...I will keep telling myself that]. I am sure I am not the only one who uses shopping as a way to release stress :D

I have a couple things I want to show you guys, and hopefully I can review all of these soon.
I still have Fyrinnae shadows to swatch and review, those will come in due time. I also have a pretty huge nail polish haul as well. [See, I have been over indulging!]

First, I have two Crown Brush brushes from a Haute Look event.
[L to R]: C405, C404
C404 - Small Duo Fiber Blender Brush: This was $6.50 on Haute Look, retails for $10.43 on their website.
It is a small duo fiber brush that I like to use for cream blush or for highlighters. You can also use it for foundation, if you are patient enough. I have not yet noticed shedding, and I am really liking the brushes. I am not sure how this compares to the MAC 188, but they seem to be similar.

C405 - Contour Blush Brush: This was $6.99 on Haute Look, retails for $11.26 on their website.
This is an angled blush brush. It is great for blush or for contouring. I mostly use it for contouring.

I got both of these to get rid of my desire for the MAC equivalent of these brushes. Although MAC brushes are great, they are expensive. I cannot justify spending $40 for one brush at the moment. Besides, I already have other brushes and there really is no need for me to buy a $40 brush. But these are affordable and good quality, so why not?
You can see that I had just used them xD
Next are two items that I recently got from swaps. I have already shown one in a previous post and the other I have not yet shown.
[L to R]: MAC 'She Who Dares' and MAC 'Azalea Blossom'

MAC 'She Who Dares'
MAC 'She Who Dares': Mineralized eyeshadow from the Venomous Villains collection. Most of it is a blue color, and the other is a green color. I really like this, and I really wanted it when the collection came out. But I thought I should save my money, so I did not buy it. But I began to want it badly, so I ended up swapping for it on Makeup Alley. I traded it for something I had received for free, so in a way I got this for free. Swapping is a really awesome thing. You can get rid of something you don't use, and get something you really want.


MAC 'Azalea Blossom' Ombre
MAC 'Azalea Blossom' Ombre: I have wanted this blush sooooo badly. It has been haunting me for a while now. I was originally planning to buy this when it was released in the Color Forcast collection, but it was sold out by the time I went to get it. I was lucky enough to find someone who wanted to swap this. I am so delighted to finally have this. I absolutely love it! It is so perfect for me. It is a gradient of pink and a light purple. I do not know why, but I love the idea of a purple blush. If you mix the two colors together, you get a mauve-pink shade.  But the purple on its own does come up purple on the cheeks.If blended out slightly, it actually looks quite nice. As you can see from the picture, the purple only takes up about 1/3 of the entire pan.



Next, I have a very exciting bunch of nail polishes. One of them, the most exciting one by far, was also a swap. Guess which on I am talking about from this next picture:
Well you might not be able to tell...
But naming them from left to right might give you the answer!
OPI 'Shim-Merry Chic', OPI 'The One That Got Away', Clarins '230', Hard Candy 'Sky'.
Well? How about now? Yes, the famed Clarins 230, AKA Unicorn Pee. This is most likely the most wanted nail polish ever! I am currently experimenting with it, and once I am content, I will review it. It is definitely most disappointing that it is a discontinued color :(

OPI 'Shim-Merry Chic' is a limited edition color from a holiday collection. I bought this on eBay for about $8. This is a very interesting color. A bronzey shade that contains green and orange flakes. Very unique!

Next, I ended getting OPI 'The One That Got Away' which is from the Katy Perry collection. I already have the rest of the colors, and it caught my attention in a local beauty store. I just went for it and bought it.

Hard Candy 'Sky' is a most peculiar sky blue. I don't usually like sky blue nail polishes, but this is a very pale color, and it has a beautiful bright blue shimmer and sheen. By far the prettiest sky blue nail polish I have seen. At $4, I can't really complain either. Bought at my local Walmart.

If you want to see a review on any of these, please be sure to comment below. Thanks for reading!

~Yami<3

Saturday, March 26, 2011

EOTD: Eyes of March #5 [03/25/2011]

Last night, I had a blast at a party that my friends and I had. We have been having a lot of fun during our spring break, so it only seemed right to throw a small party to mark the ending of this week. Since it was a party, why not do a darker makeup look? The pictures are kind of bad, since I took them at night. But I will shown you anyways ^_^ Here is the look: A smokey look~
Can you see the multi colored shimmer?

What Products I used:
~Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy [Review on this 'HERE']
~Fyrinnae 'Pumpkinfire' eyeshadow [Black base with multi colored shimmer, prominent orange shimmer]
~Fyrinnae 'Crimson Ghost' eyeshadow [A white with a reflect of red]
~Urban Decay 24/7 liner in 'Zero'
~CoverGirl Lash Blash Fusion Mascara

How to achieve this look: Simple!
~Apply 'Pumpkinfire' on the lid and on the lower lash line
~Apply 'Crimson Ghost' on the crease, blending out the lid color
~You can also put 'Crimson Ghost' on the inner corner of the eye
~Apply eye liner on the water line and on the upper lash line
~Apply mascara

Voila! You are done. Very simple, right?

Thank you all for reading, and thanks to all of those who comment! You are all very sweet :D

~Yami<3

Friday, March 25, 2011

I Love ラーメン!!

Ramen. When you heard this word, images of instant soup and poor college students swarm your brain. As a college student myself, I know that many of my classmates survive on cheap ramen bowls and cups. I personally adore ramen bowls, not so much the cups ones though.

Being a lover of Japanese food, I guess it is not a big surprise for me to love ramen. But I always wanted really ramen. I craved and dreamed about the day it would be consumed by me. And lucky for me, there is this great ramen shop in Sacramento, CA, which is about a 15 minute drive from my house. Even more lucky for me that my brother and his friend also love ramen.  This small place is called しゅうき[Shouki], and it is the tiniest restaurant ever. It is so cute, it looks like a house. It is so small, but it gets a lt of customers, so recently they opened a new location in Sacramento. I have waited an hour for a bowl of this ramen. It is the closest thing you will get to ramen from Japan.

They serve many types of ramen, as well as Curry Ramen [which is delicious]. They also serve sushi, and they have vegetarian and vegan ramen as well. If you guys live around the Sacramento area, seriously, go to this place! The price for a bowl varies from $6-$11, depending on how big you want the bowl, and if you want extras.  Here are some pictures of different times I have gone:
 This is the Shoyu Ramen, a soy based ramen with pork and extra green onions.
It also has a Naruto [the pink swirly thing].
 You can see the difference in size. The one on the left is a small, and the one one the right is a large, They are both Shoyu.
 The one in the front is a large Soy milk based ramen. That might sound odd, but it is really good. It does not taste like soy milk at all. It has pork, and wheat noddles [You can choose between regular or wheat noddles].
The one next to that is mine. It is a regular Tan Tan Men, which is a soy based ramen that is spicy. I love this one. It is delicious. Then the one next to mine is my friend's. He also had a Tan Tan Men.

This one is a Shio. It is a sea salt based ramen and it has sesame seeds. This one has a very light and almost sea food taste. Very yummy. Then my brother got a Japanese dark beer. It has a very strong taste.
I really recommend this place. I go here at least once every one or two weeks. I love it <3
I will continue to take pictures every time I go.
I hope you enjoyed the delicious ramen ^_^

~Yami<3