Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Victorian Disco Tutorial: Destroying the Death Star

Hello fellow Nerds and Girls.
I am super excited to share this look with you! I had so much fun doing it, but mostly, I had the most fun trying to link all the colors together to form a little explanation of my look. I used three colors from the Victorian Disco In A Galaxy Far, Far Down The Street: Death Star, R2, and The Force, Use It.

It was coincidental, but I thought about how Luke Skywalker, aided by R2-D2, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan, destroyed the Death Star. He uses The Force (hence The Force, Use It) and manages to hit the 2 meter long exhaust port in order to completely destroy the Death Star in Episode IV.


Young Punk Is Being Repromoted!

Guess what? MAC is bringing back the mineralized eyeshadows from their Style Black collection into their permanent line (only for at least 6 months though) ! This includes my favorite eyeshadow, Young Punk! I know many of you guys love Young Punk, so now is your chance to get your hands on it.

You can see swatches and more information on Temptalia

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

FOTD: One Lonely Shadow

I know so many people who find it tedious to apply more than one eyeshadow. Sometimes other women I know ask me how many colors I had to use to create an eye look. Sometimes it is only two, but sometimes it can be up to five or six different colors. So, for all of you who don't like using so many colors and prefer to stay with one or two eyeshadows, I came up with this simple look that only required one eyeshadow.

Some Tips: If you want to be a "one eyeshadow" type of girl, then I recommend that you:

-look for an eyeshadow that has dimension. This can include duo or multi chrome eyeshadows or eyeshadows with shimmer. This will make the color more visually interesting and therefore makes a one-color look much more appealing.
-Try to vary the intensity of the eyeshadow. What I mean is to add a sheer wash on color on the lid, and then make it more intense on the crease or outer V to give the illusion that you used two different colors. You will see what I mean when I show you pictures of my look.


Monday, February 27, 2012

Nail Polish Haul: Revlon, OPI, Julep, and Sinful Colors

Well hello there!
I am often reminded by my friends that I have a problem. I have a major obsession with nail polishes. I have way too many, but I just cannot resist a pretty little bottle of polish. I was doing pretty good in buying less polishes these past couple of months. I haven't purchased an OPI polish since the Pirates of the Caribbean collection back in late spring of last year! It has been a long time. I am a huge OPI fan, but none of the collections they released appealed to me. I have been really into Zoya these past months, so that also accounted for me not buying OPI. But I have been so tempted to buy some OPI polishes! So I gave in and went on a polish buying spree!
Lets go from least expensive to the most expensive~:

1. Sinful Colors Nail Art Polish in 'Time Off' ($1.79)
This is just a simply black nail art polish. I want to try some nail art and this was $1.79 at Rite Aid. Pretty good deal! I only just tried it very quickly and it seems to work well.

2. Revlon Polishes in 'Whimsical', 'Tangerine', and 'Fashionista' ($4.99 each, but BOGO 50% off)
I FINALLY was able to find Whimsical! I was so happy I snatched a second bottle to giveaway to you guys (more info on that later). I don't think I ever mentioned this, but in December I had purchased the DL 'Glitter in the Air' polish. I liked it, but it wasn't worth the $18 so I returned it. I am happy that Revlon made a dupe. I think this Revlon one is actually better than the DL one.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Swatches + Review: Victorian Disco Comestics [Misc. Colors]

Although the majority of my Victorian Disco purchase was from the from Star Wars themed collection, I also purchased three colors from other collections. Here is a quick swatches as well as a review for each color.
Check my previous post for more information.


Price and Availability
You can purchase these from the Victorian Disco store on Etsy. 
Full Size: $4.50
5 Mini Jars: $9
5 Full Size: $20.25
Shipping: $2 
 
 
Swatches

 -From the Rococo Roller Rink collection I purchased 'Revolutionary Ball'
This is a blackened base with teal shimmers. When applied wet, it is simply stunning!
-From the Sailor Scouts collection I purchased 'Luna.'
Luna is a blackened green base with tons of olive and golden shimmers. And come on, can you resist a Sailor Moon themed eyeshadow? I always liked Luna! I don't know how the color applies to her, but it is beautiful none the less!
-From the Beauty 4 Brains collection I purchased 'Bile Boomer.'
This is similar to Revolutionary Ball, but instead of being teal/blue shimmers, this one has vibrant forest green shimmers.

Review
I was surprised by how good these looked side by side! All three are very pigmented and look fabulous! The only "con" I have for this is for Revolutionary Ball. I don't know why but when I apply this one, I get fall out. It is weird because I don't get fall out with the other two. I just have to be a little more careful when applying Revolutionary Ball. Other than that, I really have no complains! I love all three colors. My favorite of the three...oh that is difficult! I think I would have to say Boomer Bile though. Perhaps because I don't have a color exactly like it.

Verdict
If you love indie makeup, I would recommend you check out this brand. Besides Fyrinnae and Shiro Cosmetics, these are one of the better indie eyeshadows I have tried. I already made a second order of a two more items, so I can definitely say I am really liking Victorian Disco Cosmetics!

Rating: 9.5/10
Would I recommend? Yes!
Would I repurchase from Victorian Disco? Definitely!


Shiro Cosmetics The Tributes Collection Available Now

Being a huge fan of Shiro Cosmetics makeup, I have to quickly announce to you that the new collection based on the Hunger Games is available for purchase. I love The Hunger Games so undoubtedly, I will be purchasing colors for this collection!

Image from the Shiro Cosmetics website
I am SO excited! Not only for this collection but for the China Glaze one as well. And of course, for the movie! 

You buy the colors HERE and check some awesome swatches HERE.


May the odds be ever in your favor!

Friday, February 24, 2012

Swatches + Review: Victorian Disco Galaxy Down the Street Collection

A Star Wars collection. Epic. I am just going to say it now: I love it! I have been waiting for someone to do a Star Wars themed eyeshadow collection and finally it happened! I don't have the entire collection,but I will review what I did purchase.


Price and Availability
You can purchase these from the Victorian Disco store on Etsy. 
Full Size: $4.50
5 Mini Jars: $9
5 Full Size: $20.25
Shipping: $2
The total for a purchase of 10 colors (some of the other colors are not included in this post), plus two samples, shipping, and a 10% coupon was $26.86. Pretty good deal. 

Shipping Time and Packaging
I received my order withing 5 days. For an indie brand, that is really fast! The packaging of the order was also really cute. Everything came in satchel with tissue paper, a business card, and two free sample baggies. 

Satchel 

  The Full Size packaging has a sticker on the jar. I LOVE it!!! It is beyond cute =3 I mean how can I not love it? I am a huge Star Wars geek!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Wet N Wild Tutorial: The Light at the End of the Tunnel

If you haven't yet, please enter my current Giveaway HERE

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Hello ^_^ How are you today?
 
Here is my second look using the Wet N Wild 'Greed' Palette (You can see the first look HERE). While I was creating this look, I was listening to the song called "The Light That Blinds" by Shadows Fall and it sort of just went with this look. This has a sort of "light at the end of a tunnel" effect. It is mostly a shroud of black, but in the center, behold the awesome, shiny light! This is very nostalgic for me. When I was in high school, I was very goth/emo and I used to wear black eyeshadow ALL the time. 


Monday, February 20, 2012

Day to NightTutorial: Dark Greed



Hello Dear Reader!

As promised here is an eye look using the Wet n Wild 'Greed' Palette. I will have a second look in a couple of days, but for the time being, I hope you will like this look. I will also show you how to transform the look into a sultry night time look with one simple step. ;)

Day Time Look
 (you can always make it a little less dark and skip out on the lashes to make it more day appropriate)





Night Time Look


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

My Highlighter Stash


Hello~ ♥

I love seeing how people use their highlighters and what different highlighters they use. Everyone has their own preferences and methods to applying highlighters. I have both liquid and powder highlighters, but I tend to use them differently. Here are the highlighters I have, and what I use each different one for.

Liquid Highlighters
For the most part, I like to use liquid highlighters in my foundation. I will add a drop or two of a liquid highlighter into my foundation to make it more luminous. If I forget to do that, then I might get a drop of a liquid highlighter and dab it on my cheeks with my fingers.

MAC Pink Rebel and Sun Rush Lustre Drops
These MAC Lustre Drops work best for me when I add them into my foundation. I don't really like using them over my foundation because I feel that they look too obvious on my skin tone.

Vocaloid Anyone?

I am positively a huge geek. I love Star Wars, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Star Trek (to some extent), all types of video games, and Anime. I also an avid music listener. For some time I have been obsessed with Vocaloid. If you have never heard of Vocaloids, you are missing out big time. Vocaloid is a singing synthesizer of sorts, a program that sings whatever you want it to sing. The voices that are produced were assigned names and an anime avatar. The most well-know of the vocaloids is Hatsune Miku (you have probably seen her somewhere before); she is everywhere!!
There are several vocaloids, many which were made by fans as well. My favorites are Megurine Luka, Kagamine Rin and Len, and Kamui Gakupo. I like Hatsune Miku, but sometimes her voice can be too high pitched for my liking!
Luka

Rin and Len

Gakupo
 I love listening to their songs on youtube. There are some really amazing songs!
I know a lot of people think it is stupid to listen to songs sung by a program, but the songs are really good! Much better than most songs from modern artists. Here are some of my favorites ^_^

Kagamine Rin & Len: Black Vow
Megurine Luka: Witch Hunt
Megurine Luka: The Tailor Shop on Enbizaka
Kamui Gakupo: The Madness of Duke Venomania

There a lot more that I like, but these are just some :)
Lately, I have been thinking of cosplaying one of the Vocaloids ^_^ I mostly want to cosplay Luka, but I might also cosplay Miku.

I hope you enjoy some randomness!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

FOTD: Simple Valentine

From the Dark Side of Beauty, I wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!


Hope you all had a  great day! Mine was alright. I hung out with some friends, went to class, and I am currently procrastinating doing my homework like any other day. I am not in a relationship so of course this day, although cheery and fun, is usually not the best days for us who are single.


I was feeling very lazy to do my makeup, so instead I did something extremely simple.
This is as simple as eye makeup can get for me: thin eyeliner and mascara. To give my face more color, I also applied a lip stain.

Products Used
-Lioele Skin79 BB cream
-NYX Blush in 'Peach'
-Tokidoki lip stain balm in  'Skeletrina' 
-Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner
-Artistry mascara


 Haha, you can see that the swatches of the Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner are still on my hand. One shower and many hand-washes later and it is still there :O



As you can see, the look is very simple. The lips are bright, but very low maintenance since I am wearing a lip stain. The only thing I had to do all day was to apply lip balm to make sure my lips weren't chapped.


Mini Haul: Dolly Wink


Hello~ Just a super small haul~
You might have noticed that I love the Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner. I have had my first one for about 6-8 months, and it is just barely done. Because I didn't want to be without it, I ordered a new one ^_^
I also ordered the Dolly Wink pencil eyeliner since I didn't have a black eyeliner.







You can find the liquid liner from $15-$20. I thought it was pricey at first, but it has lasted me such a long time and I use it everyday. Plus other liquid liners aren't much cheaper!
I already know I love the liquid liner, but I will see how the pencil liner holds up~

And I wish you all a Happy Valentine's day ♥

Sunday, February 12, 2012

10 minute Cosplay + KKCenterhk Wig

Today I was doing all my homework (I had a lot!) when a friend from school texted me. Like me, she is a huge anime lover and has a lot of friends who also love anime. She asked me if I wanted to go to a sort of Cosplay party. Truth be told, although I love Cosplay, I have never cosplayed myself. But I told her I would go and just do a Gothic Lolita inspired look. That is when I remembered I had a wig! I was sent a wig by KKCenterk, but I had not worn it. There was one huge problem though: she told me she would pick me up at my house in 15 minutes. I freaked out and immediately changed, did my makeup, and attempted to put the wig on. I wish I had had more time to make my  makeshift cosplay outfit a little better. But oh well, perhaps next time.

Firstly my outfit. I just wore a black dress that reminds me of Gothic Lolita dresses. I wore stockings and heels but I took this picture before I had them on.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Tutorial: CUICU Symphony Stereo

As promised, here is a look I created using the CUICU Symphony Stereo 3 No.C3312-12 I received from KKCenterhk.

This is the finished look:


KKCenterhk Review: CUICU Symphony Stereo 3 No.C3312-12

Hello dolls ♥

If you read my blog frequently, you should know that I LOVE purple. Purple is my favorite color and anything and everything purple catches my eye. When KKCenterhk asked me to review an eyeshadow trio, I immediately choose the purple trio. This trio is from the brand CUICU (it seems to be a Koren brand).

Price and Availability
$5.58 on the KKCenterhk website.
Fairly inexpensive for a trio.

Packaging
It comes in a small, sturdy, plastic container with one sponge tip applicator. It can be a little difficult to open. Not the best container, but it works.

Swatches + Review: Wet n Wild 'Greed' Palette

I am very late on this review. I have owned this palette for a while. I heard that the 6 pan palettes are being discontinued this year, so if you don't already own this, I highly suggest you pick some up before they are gone! I already have three of them, and I am content to have those (although I might get a backup).

Greed is a palette consisting of three mattes and three shimmers.


Friday, February 10, 2012

The Legend of Zelda Series: Midna (Imp Form)

Yay, another Zelda look ♥
This is my second Midna look, inspired by the stubborn and sarcastic imp version. Midna looks and acts very childish in her cursed state, so I wanted to do something a little more fun. I choose to use orange (for her hair),black (she has a lot of black), and a pale green color (I wanted it to be more blue to represent her skin tone, but oh well).

Inspiration photo:



Thursday, February 9, 2012

Haul + First Impression: Zoya and Maybelline Color Tattoos

It has been a while since my last haul post (or maybe it's just me)! I have stuck to my makeup ban pretty well and have only occasionally purchased something. For the past half year or so, Zoya has really impressed me. And recently two new collections were released. I had to pick up a couple of colors :) I also picked up two more of the Maybelline Color Tattoo shadows (I was buying some for Suzanne and I couldn't help myself).

1. Zoya Fleck Effects
These were released in January and I had patiently waited until they were in stores. I buy mine at my Uni's bookstore (very odd, but convenient for me). They just came in this week so I hurridly went to pick some up. I didn't buy all three, but I ended up with Chloe and Maisie. I was 100% sure I was going to buy Chloe, and I ended up getting Maisie on a whim. I LOVE both~ I am very surprised to be loving Maisie. Both colors look amazing over dark purple! The formula is fabulous: they are not thick and dry pretty fast.
 Chloe is a sheer pinky-coral base with gold, red, orange, and green flakes.
 Maisie is a sheer blue base with with green and blue flakes.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

OOTD: Date Night and Betsy Johnson

Hello~ Sorry for my absence! I have a small dilemma at the moment with my memory card. I haven't been able to take pictures D:<
But I do have this outfit I wore last weekend to a date-ish kind of thing. I am not going to lie, I just kind of threw the outfit together at random. It was cold outside, but I wanted to wear something a little different.
I am NOT that fashionable, so excuse my lack of fashion advise.



Sunday, February 5, 2012

FOTD: Spiced Chocolate

Here is another Valentine's day inspired look. I think this is different than most Valentine's Day looks, but it would work for those of you who don't like pinks or purples. I was inspired by the fact that chocolate is very popular for Valentine's Day and I also wanted to incorporate some red undertones (I really dislike straight up pink eye makeup for Valentine's, for some reason). I can definitely see myself wear this for a night time look, a date perhaps? (Ironically I wore this tonight for a date. Completely non-intentionally).



Saturday, February 4, 2012

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Hello lovelies~

Once in a while, I like to share a small anecdote from my life. Yesterday, I saw a young woman who I had in my Japanese course last quarter and it reminded me of an incident that occurred while I was in that class. I never shared what happened, because I wasn't sure what to think of it at the time. But now that I can reflect on the experience, I want to share it with you all.

     This was about 6 weeks into my last quarter, about four weeks before my winter vacation. I was taking Japanese at the time, and I had the class every morning at 9 a.m. One day (it was a Wednesday) I was talking to a few classmates after class, when a girl whom I barely knew (the girl who I mentioned in the beginning) came up to me. She asked me if she could speak to me in private. I was puzzled, because I did not know her and had never even spoken to her before. But none the less, I agreed. I said good-bye to my friends and I walked with her to a secluded area of the building.
     She turns around and right away starts bawling and tells me, "I know it's you, slut. I know you are the one who is having sex with my boyfriend." You can imagine I was surprised and confused. Being called a slut by some random person was something that has never happened to me. I was calm though as told her, "I think you have me mistaken for someone else. I have no idea what you are talking about." She then stopped sobbing, and contorted her face and she started yelling at me. "Don't play stupid with me. We both know you are the one who is whoring around with him. All I want from you is to apologize to me and to admit that what you did was wrong." I honestly did not know what to say to her, so again I remained calm and told her, "Look, I seriously don't know who you are nor do I know who your boyfriend is. I don't "whore" around. I think you should settle down and really think about what you are saying. You don't know me, so how can you accuse me?" She just kept looking at me, angry. I asked her if she was okay, and then left to my next class.
     The next morning, I went to my Japanese class like usual. I noticed the girl was glaring at me the entire class. I just shrugged it off. If she didn't believe me then that was her problem. During that quarter, there was a Japanese exchange student and tutor with whom I was especially close to. He became a really good friend of mine and I often hung out with him. After class I occasionally went to see him at the tutoring room to either get help with homework or just to talk to him. After that morning's class, I decided to go and see him. While I was walking to the building, I noticed the girl was following me. I ignored her and went on my way. When I got to the tutoring room I was getting help from my tutor, and I eventually realized that the girl was standing in the hallway and she was just staring at me. She unnerved me so I decided to get up and close the door. When I was done, I left the room and went to my next class. She was still outside when I left but she didn't follow me.
Later that day, I got a text from my tutor. He asked me if he wanted to hang out, to which I agreed. We were just talking when he mentioned something. He said that the day before, after I had left the tutoring room, another girl had entered. He said that she asked him if we were in a relationship and if he liked me. He thought it was odd, so he just replied that we were only friends. I am not sure what else happened, since I wasn't there. But according to him, she pretty much tried to rape him xD Hahaha. In order words, she came on to him and offered to have sex with him. He, being a shy and honest guy, was really freaked out. He said no to her. He then told me that she became angry and shouted at him "why do you all like her better?!" She then left. After he told me this, I told him that the same girl thought I was sleeping with her boyfriend.
    The next day I was resolved to talk to her. I couldn't believe she has accosted my friend. Before I could say anything to her though, she said to me "You win" and then left. I eventually managed to talk to her again, and she apologized to me. She told me that her boyfriend of 3 years had dumped her for someone else. And she was so angry she had to take it out on someone else. She said the girl who her boyfriend dumped her for looked like me, so she decided to take it out on me. I felt sorry for her so I told her it was okay.
    My friend, trying to be funny, told me I should have said to her "Now I have them both! Bwahaha!" That would have been funny, but really fucked up as well.

So that is my story of mistaken identity. Now I realize that sometimes, people like to blame others instead of coming to terms with the reality of their situation. Has anyone else had a similar experience?


Thursday, February 2, 2012

Review: Artistry Sheer Coverage Lip Glosses

Artistry is a brand I have spoke of before. It is an exclusive brand to the company Amway. My mother loves and swears by this makeup brand, so naturally I have been exposed to the brand.

In my opinion, Artistry is a brand that is targeted towards business women, mature women, women who don't like wearing much makeup, and women who prefer the "natural" look. I am not a part of any of these categories, so I have mixed feelings about many of the products I have tried from this brand. One of my favorite products from the brand, though, are their lip glosses. I did not purchase the two I own, but they were a gift from my mom. I own the colors Pink Shell and Raspberry Sparkle, the other three are my moms.

Pink Shell  /  Plum Glaze  /  Precious Pink  /  Raspberry Sparkle  /  Pink Ice


Pink Shell: This is a gorgeous pink-coral shade. It has tiiiny sparkles but is mostly a cream formula
Plum Glaze: a deep berry with pretty dark pink sparkles
Precious Pink: A sheer pink with iridescent pink sparkles!
Raspberry Sparkle: A hot raspberry pink with fuschia sparkles
Pink Ice: A very sheer pink with minimal opal sparkles

Product Review
For the most part these are a sheer lip color. Most of them offers subtle color that is great for occasions when you don't want an opaque lip color. My favorite thing about these is that they are not sticky and they are moisturizing on the lips. The lip gloss lasts about 3-4 hours on my lips which for me is fairly decent. My favorite color is Pink Shell because it is the most opaque and the only creamy textured one. It is a very brightening and flattering color. The one I dislike the most is Pink Ice because it is so sheer it is basically just a clear gloss on my lips.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Pink Shell Rating 10/10
Pink Ice Rating 4/10


Unfortunately, these are only available through Amway or an Amway IBO. But I just wanted to make a quick review in case you ever have the opportunity to try these out.