Review: Creer Beaute La Rose de Versailles Volume & Separate Mascara and Liquid Eyeliner Set

If this post went through, that means the apocalypse didn't happen and we're still alive :P

I went to my local Tokyo Lifestyle store and saw that they had this set available for an affordable $24.99, considering that these products usually retail for about $15-18 separately! With a 10% coupon in hand, I got this set for around $24.23 since it took out most of the tax and a little more :)

Included in this review I have a swatch comparison between this and other Japanese liquid eyeliners!

Jonas Brothers Concert at the Pantages Theatre 11/29

If you've read my blog since I started, you might know that I'm a big fan of the Jonas Brothers! They got back together this year to do some shows here and there, so my best friend and I went together to their last show in LA for the year. If this were a few years back I would've attended all three of the shows, but alas school had priority since this was my last full semester at school.

My LOTD:

Review: DUO Brush On Striplash Adhesive

Finding a suitable eyelash glue for false eyelashes can be hard to find, especially for beginners and those with sensitive eyes. Typically latex-based eyelash glues can get very messy and hard for beginners to use since it's hard to get the right amount of glue on without making a mess! Japanese eyelash glues such as DUP Eyelashes Fixer EX, Eyemazing Super Fit or Diamond Lash Eyelash Fixer are definitely the best option for anyone to use since they are long wearing and easy to use. However, they can be costly at around $10-15 a tube and get really thick and hard to use after use for awhile (you can see an example here).

What is a good medium between being easy to use, won't get thick within months and is affordable? Duo Strip On Eyelash Adhesive!

A few OOTD from the past few weeks

Hey everyone! Sorry for being MIA the past few weeks, I've had finals that I had to concentrate on. I can also officially say that I have finished taking tests for the rest of my undergrad career, and next semester all I will be doing is a consulting project! It's kinda weird that school has pretty much officially ended for me, but at the same time it's exciting to find out what will be out there for me.

Anyways, here's a few OOTD shots :)
11/27

RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race Finale Party at Micky's

Sorry for not posting in awhile! Finals are coming up very shortly so I will be busy for the most part. I wanted to blog about the RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race Finale Party that I went to on Monday (11/26).

This was my first time at Micky's, since I haven't really hung out in WeHo since I turned 21 lol But I had tons of fun and it was really interesting as it was a huge drag show of epic proportions! The ones I usually go to locally are really small so it was fun seeing all of these big name drag queens including Chad Michaels, Raven, Manila Luzon, Willam, Pandora Boxx, Morgan McMichaels, and Yara Sofia.

My FOTD:

September & October Empties

Happy voting day for my fellow Americans, if you're registered remember to go out and vote!

I've seen a lot of bloggers do posts like these, so I thought I would start as well! I'll show what I have used up, do mini reviews for each item and say whether or not I'll repurchase the item. Ever since I started to do my makeup daily I've been able to go through products more often and I get pretty excited when I finish something LOL

♥ 4 Year Anniversary ♥

I usually feel like a year passes by so quickly, but this year I've felt the opposite! I just want this year to end so I can start working full-time LOL

So yesterday marked the 4th anniversary of being with Tony! We got together on Election Day of 2008, and also excited for tomorrow as it's Election Day again but we get to vote together since he moved in with me a couple of months ago.

We decided to go up to LA for Disney's Soda Fountain and the Stinking Rose.

My FOTD:

My Halloween Costume: Lumpy Space Princess

I haven't really been enthusiastic about doing Halloween costumes in the past couple of years, and usually just wear a kigurumi! However, when I saw the Adventure Time episode "The Creeps", I knew what I was going to do:

So I picked LSP as Duchess Gummybuns! How did it come out?

My HG Highlighter: MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Whisper of Gilt

A lot of people ask me about highlighters, and I have a lot of them. In the picture below is the majority of my collection, but I missed a few (including Benefit Watt's Up! and others that are in palettes):

There is one star in my collection, which is my HG (holy grail) highlighter. I simply feel like I cannot live without it!

♥MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Whisper of Gilt♥

It is limited edition and was released originally in March 2012, but it is being repromoted *right now* in MAC's Holiday 2012 Glamour Daze Collection!

Beauties with medium to dark skin tones, you definitely need this highlighter!

Circle lens review: GEO Mimi XKP-304 (AngelColor Starmish)

I received some new lenses from Eyecandylens.com that I purchased about a month ago, so I thought I would review one of the pairs!

Today I'll be reviewing GEO Mimi XKP-304, otherwise known as AngelColor Starmish Brown. These are produced by Popteen model Mai Hirose and have been getting a lot of praise in Japan!

Beauty Haul from Barneys New York

I have a lot of schoolwork to do, but I thought I'd post about a haul I got over the weekend. My friends from New York came to stay with me over the weekend so I am pretty tired!

Yesterday we went to Barneys New York in Beverly Hills, CA. One of my friends is an associate at the flagship store in NYC so I went on the incentive of using his employee discount. Discount on high-end makeup? I would have to be an idiot to pass that up!

Review: Diamond Lash Little Wink Series in Romance eye and Honey eye

I've had these for awhile now, and I know a lot of people are curious about how these are so I thought I'd review them! The Diamond Lash Little Wink series was released back in February to be more natural looking, similar to the newer Dolly Wink lashes.

Irvine Global Village Festival, 9/29

Last weekend was the Irvine Global Village Festival, which happens once a year where I live! It is set up to bring many cultures together to celebrate it all in one place. To be quite honest, Tony and I just went for food!

FOTD:

Review: tarte Fantastic Foursome 4-Piece Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush Enthusiast Set

Sorry everyone for neglecting to update my blog :( I've had some troubles with negotiating my graduation at school, which is not happening this semester due to some technicalities set in place. I'm pretty upset by this since I worked very hard to get to where I am. but I will continue to work hard and not let it get me down.

But before I get super backlogged with posts, I thought I would post a review and swatches for a set of blushes that came out for the holiday!
The tarte Fantastic Foursome 4-Piece Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush Enthusiast Set (what a mouth full!) contains 4 blushes for $35. The full sized blushes are $25 so these are quite a deal!

OC BBQ Bonanza 8/18

Today is my first day of school, so I wanted to get posts out of the way in the case my semester gets busy!

I talked about my weight loss in a previous entry, so even though I am eating healthier now I will have the occasional pig-out day! This is totally healthy as long as you make it up in workouts, which I did the next day :) Balance is the key. Anyways...

I haven't eaten American-styled BBQ since before my surgery, so my boyfriend and I decided to go to the OC BBQ Bonanza in Fountain Valley, CA. The entrance was free but parking was $5, so we decided to be cheap and park in a neighborhood near the park and walk to the event LOL That was fine anyways because we knew we'd have to walk off the food we ate later on.

Review: DHC Mild Touch Cleansing Oil

Have any of you used cleansing oils before? If you don't know what it is, it's a product that is oil-based and can remove your makeup without having to do additional cleansing to your face.
Hearing all the hype about it, I finally decided to jump on the cleansing oil bandwagon. I wanted to try one that was affordable compared to the Western beauty brands that sell for around $25-50. While shopping at Mitsuwa I found DHC's Mild Touch Cleansing Oil for $14, and this one is touted to be good for people with sensitive skin and is very gentle.

Weight loss

First off, I would like to announce the winner of the Candy Doll Shading Powder Giveaway! Congratulations to Dita from Indonesia!

I have had a lot on my mind recently, with preparing for graduation in December and the weight loss that happened during my Achalasia. I have since recovered from my surgery and am able to eat normally again, but now I have to keep off the weight! I think that has been on my mind the most, and while I want to talk it's hard for me to put it into words.

My weight has always fluctuated through the years. I remember being a size 9 by the time I was in 4th grade and being bullied for being bigger than the rest of the kids (mind you that's also the time I hit puberty). I fluctuated from a size 9 to 15 (30"-35"ish) range since then. I guess you can say I became a clothes hoarder, because I often wouldn't know what size I would be one year to the next and just kept everything I had. I am now at a healthy size 7, which is about a 28" waist.

I recently dug through my old clothes (especially jeans) that don't fit and decided to give them away to charity:

I still haven't gone through everything, but this is just to show the general amount of clothes I needed to get rid of due to the weight loss. It is nice that I've lost the weight, but at the same time I feel like I've lost part of myself. I sometimes feel ashamed that all the time I saved my clothes, and now I can't wear them because they're too big on me! Buying a whole new wardrobe has been a daunting task and a very expensive one. For someone who doesn't work (and not really allowed to - my dad pays for all of my college provided I do my best in school meaning I can't work), I have to rely on the monthly allowance I'm allocated for school and food. My mother has been very understanding and has been helping me through this process, but my father doesn't really understand and that hurts a lot... but what can you do?

It also makes me sad to look back on old pictures of me. Here's a comparison from a photo from 6/2010 and from 8/2012.

I believe I was at my heaviest around 2010-11, being just a bit over 200lbs. I've lost over 60lbs since last year, and want to continue on that path. I want to get to 130lbs, which isn't really that far off.

I started going to the gym this week and plan on being there 5x a week for at least an hour. I really want to get rid of the loose skin that's accumulated on my arms since I do ParaPara and it's preventing me from wearing smaller jackets! If someone knows any good exercises for getting rid of arm flab, shoot me a comment! :)

Other than going to the gym now, here's some other things I've been doing:
- Eating 5 small meals a day. Don't eat to get full, just to be satisfied.
- Make your own food! It's cheaper and you know what's in it.
- Wear heels/wedges everyday! My legs have gotten very toned just by doing that, plus I look really cute in them ;)
- When driving, park your car really far from where you want to be. It helps to get you to walk further and incidentally more exercise, especially if you're wearing heels ;)

I'm not really sure if I'll get any comments on this post or what type of comments I'll get, but anything that can help boost my confidence in this weird time or some exercise advice is very appreciated!

Thank you to everyone that decided to read this post!

Review: Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup in Shade 4.0

Hey everyone! Sorry for not posting for about a month, I've been caught up in my courses at summer school. I wanted to remind everyone that my Candy Doll Shading Powder Giveaway will be ending in 2 days, so please enter it if you haven't already!

I finished my beloved Chanel Perfection Lumiere Foundation that my boyfriend got for me, so I've been on the hunt for a new foundation to try out. I got a sample of Urban Decay's Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup to try so I decided to share my results with everyone. Will it be my new go-to foundation?

My weekend outings~

This weekend I went out to a few malls to work on some projects for my Fashion class this semester. I thought I would share my personal photos from over the weekend! Although not of anything from my projects since that's secret, but maybe in the future I'll share them ;)

Since I have had to buy a completely new wardrobe since my surgery, I have decided to start dressing more like the style seen in Happie Nuts along with retaining the VANQUISH style I've been following for about a year. I absolutely adore Nicole Abe since I first saw her in Ranzuki, so I'm continuing to follow her now! Hope you all will see the inspiration in my outfits from now on.

7/7:
Tony and I were originally planning on going to a new market out in LA but we decided not to. However, he had the idea of going to Fashion Island in Newport Beach, CA instead since it's local and they have great people and dog watching there!

Review: Clinique Redness Solutions Daily Protective Base SPF 15

Like many other people, redness is one of my main skin concerns when it comes to my face. I was out at my local CCO (Cosmetics Company Outlet) and stumbled upon this while looking at Clinique products, so I decided to give it a try! Does it really cover up my skin redness?

Some random June LOTDs

It's already July, and now I have to try to play the catch up game with some outfits and makeup shots when I remembered to do them back in June. The pictures with the mirror were taken at school, some of them might be more simple since it's everyday. I love how the restrooms at my school have full length mirrors, which naturally fits because it's the Fashion and Business building!

6/21

Outfit Details:
Shirt: OBEY
Necklace: OBEY
Shorts: OBEY
Shoes: Yumetenbo - I used these in all of my outfits, they're just too comfortable! LOL

Review: Candy Doll Shading Powder + Giveaway!

Hello everyone! If you follow me on my Tumblr page, you might've seen that I already have blogged a picture about getting the new Candy Doll Shading Powder. I promised a review, and here we go! Stay tuned until the end of the review, where you have the chance to win your own.

IMATS Event Report & Gets

I'm such a bad blogger, I'm so sorry everyone! I've gotten caught up with doing summer school and hanging out with friends from out of town. I wanted to make a post of my re-cap of IMATS Los Angeles from last weekend, and also an announcement about my ParaPara panel at Anime Expo tomorrow!

ParaPara Dancing 101 will be celebrating our 6th year being held at Anime Expo! Here is the information about the panel:
ParaPara Dancing 101 at Anime Expo 2012
Sunday, July 1
3:30pm-5:00pm
Location: WS1 (515B)

Getting that out of the way, here's my pictures and experience at IMATS!

Circle lens review: EOS G-320 Sapphire from mukuCHU

Since I'm still recovering I thought I would be a bit more proactive and decided to do a review of circle lenses I purchased from mukuCHU.

Recovery - OBEY Sample Sale this weekend!

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to let all of you know that my surgery for Achalasia was performed last Thursday (6/7/12). My problem was slightly worse than what was predicted by the doctors originally, but luckily they could still fix it while they were operating on me. Because of this though, I had to stay another day and I returned home on Saturday afternoon and have been at home recovering since then. I am back to eating liquid foods and will be able to return to eating normal food in about 1-1.5 months! I am really happy about my progression so far, I went from being able to barely walk in the hospital to being able to walk around my neighborhood and feel fine.

I am really happy about how I have been able to recover, and I have two reasons for that. The first reason is that summer school starts next Monday, and if I didn't have the surgery at that time I wouldn't be able to go. That would've not only devastated me but also would've made me one super bored girl at home!

The second reason... working the bi-annual OBEY Clothing Sample Sale! I'm always very happy to work these sales, and now even more so since it's only been a month since I've left my OBEY internship. I'll be posting info and flyers below, so feel free to come! I have sample prices but I cannot confirm that these will be the same prices that will be at the sale since they tend to fluctuate at times.

OBEY SAMPLE SALE
Parking Lot Address (yes you must walk, but beware of Irvine Police since they love to ticket. Follow directions on flyer):
17875 Von Karman Ave.
Irvine, CA

OBEY Warehouse Address:
17462 Von Karman Ave.
Irvine, CA


Sample Price List *UNCONFIRMED* - there will be more items and prices might be different, just to give people an idea of what they'll be spending
Mens:
- Tees: $10
- Knits: $15
- Sweats/Shorts: $20
- Pants: $25
- Specialty Fleece/Sweaters: $30
- Jackets: $40

Womens:
- Tubetops/Bandeaus: $5
- Tees: $10
- Knits: $15
- Sweats/Shorts: $20
- Pants: $25
- Specialty Fleece/Sweaters: $25
- Dresses: $25

- Jackets: $40

LOTD 6/2/12

So I've been pretty depressed about my diagnosis of Achalasia recently and waiting for Monday to roll around so I can find out if I'm going to have surgery this upcoming week or not. If I don't have the surgery this week then I will have to wait until August since my schedule is very tight.

However, I got a package from Yumetenbo (DreamV) today that cheered me up! I'm very pleased with the quality of the items that came today, and decided to wear some of the items I received out to the Carlsbad Premium Outlets. The clothes I got fit well since I've dropped a lot of weight so it gave me some confidence :)

Achalasia

For the past year or so, I've been misdiagnosed and mistreated by doctors. I knew I didn't have your normal textbook definition of acid reflux. I have lost close to 60lbs in less than a year, and right now my health is in very bad shape despite eating healthy and staying active. I was hospitalized recently because I was severely dehydrated and couldn't keep food or liquids in my body. When I decided to take a hiatus on my blog, I went to go seek doctors who could find out what I really had.

I was only formally diagnosed with Achalasia last week on 5/22/12. It is a rare condition that only affects 1 in 100,000 people with no known cause and no cure. The symptoms include difficulty in swallowing, regurgitation of undigested food, chest pains, and weight loss. I am peaking at my severity right now, and am on a self-imposed liquid diet because I can barely take that in as it is. So, what's my solution?

I'm scheduling to help alleviate the problem this week and will be undergoing surgery within the next few weeks. Luckily the surgery isn't too invasive and will have a quick recovery time, just in time for me to be able to work at OBEY's Sample Sale and go to summer school.

It's hard to be ambitious and do what I want to do with this holding me back. Before this disease took a strong hold of me, I signed up for summer school because I only had to take a few classes to graduate in December 2012. If you find the right people to treat you and let them know your schedule for the near-future, they'll support you and do what they can to help. I am so grateful for my new doctor in helping to accommodate my needs.

If I had to say one thing good about this disease, I would say is that it helped me get to my weight goal (unfortunately not in a very healthy way) and helped me be able to have more stamina to exercise and learn how to control portions of food and make healthy food.

Mini hiatus, giveaway winner

Hey everyone! Sorry for being an absent blogger. Since finishing up my internship and school I have been resting a lot. However, I have to declare a hiatus because I have some health issues I need to address within the next few weeks. Please feel free to follow me on Tumblr as I'll make some random updates here and there.

For the Jump into Spring! Giveaway, the winner was Jer.

Also here's a last FOTD I have done. This was done for a contest for Urban Decay, and I created a purple and grey smokey eye for it. I didn't win, but it was still fun to do!

Some general updates!

Hey everyone, finals is this upcoming week so soon I'll be free to post more! Just wanted to post about a few things going on in my blog.

The Jump into Spring! Giveaway is still going on until May 4th, so enter that if you still want to.

If you haven't seen, there's now 2 new tabs above for posts on buying items, Diamond Lash Custom Packs and Blog Sale! Definitely feel free to look around for items you want, I have a lot of new or gently used items available for cheap.

The last day of ElecTRONica at Disney California Adventure 4/15

I decided to venture to DCA for ElecTRONica's last night with some friends :) I made a post about ElecTRONica near the time I started blogging, which you can view if you want!

I didn't get too many pictures since it was super crowded, but I did get some.

Diamond Beauty Blush Swatches

I love Diamond Beauty's line of blushes, as Honey Orange is my HG blush! They recently released 3 new shades, and luckily I was able to buy them and swatch them for you all~

The new shades are No. 06 Rose Pink, No. 07 Sweet Peach, and No. 08 Juicy Orange. This post will also include swatches for No. 02 Apricot Pink and No. 03 Honey Orange.

Review: Candy Doll Makeup Base and KATE Mineral BB Gel Cream

It's been awhile since I've done a review on Japanese base makeup, since I've been experimenting a lot with more Western brands (mainly MAC and theBalm) most recently. In my first Tenso order I decided to order the Candy Doll Base from Candy Walker and KATE Mineral BB Gel Cream from Bi-sai.

Easter LOTD

Hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend! I was fortunate enough to have 5 days off of school for Easter vacation, so I have had some time to take pictures and blog a bit. I was testing new makeup products while doing my makeup today, so look for reviews on some of the items soon :D I also decided to change up my outfit and totally do something out of the ordinary for myself~

Circle lens review: G-201 Max Pure Brown from mukuCHU

I had been wanting these lenses since March of last year, but I decided not to get them until a few months ago since I still had plenty of lenses at the time. I fell in love with these when Sayaka Araki formerly of ageha wore them in Oneesan ni natta!!

Note: Review is required but I purchased these lenses.

Jump into Spring! Giveaway

Hey everyone, I'm sorry I haven't been posting so much but I would love to give you all a token of appreciation for sticking by me... a giveaway!

NYX Cosmetics Black Label Lipsticks Comparisons

I think most of my readers know I'm a *HUGE* fan of NYX Cosmetics, and I also have included their products in every single one of my giveaways, which won't change as I'm in the process of gathering items for the next 2 giveaways. Stay tuned for them!

NYX Black Label Lipsticks are almost double the price of their Round Lipsticks ($7.50 vs $4), but are supposed to be a more luxurious lipstick that is rich in pigment and moisturizing. I would definitely compare these lipsticks to MAC's regular line of lipsticks, as these come in a variety of finishes just like the MAC ones.

I wanted to provide swatches and how these lipsticks looked on me, especially Peachy and Chakra since there aren't really any online.

NYX Cosmetics Black Label Lipsticks in BLL 106 Peachy, BLL 118 Chakra, BLL 170 Sweet Prawn, BLL 191 Bling

Shall we continue?

Review: Donki Twinkle Lash D-6 Sexy

Twinkle Lash (or formerly known as Candy Style) are lashes that are created by and sold at Don Quijote (Donki) stores all across Japan. These lashes caused a craze amongst gyaru bloggers and even magazine models including Okarie and Kanako Kawabata, who have both blogged about them!

Recently Donki decided to open up an online store called HelloHello Nation, just for circle lenses and lashes that are sold exclusively at their stores. These lashes are now sold in packs of 5 pairs for 780yen, which is very economical. I have purchased most of the styles so I can review them for all of you!

First I'll start off with my favorite of the bunch, D-6 Sexy.

 The packaging that it comes in.

Tried out drag makeup, ended up like a "gyaru chola"

I've had a busy past couple of weeks with some major assignments due, so I'm sorry for being missing for a bit! In my downtime you can find me watching RuPaul's Drag Race, which if you aren't already watching... do it now! Honestly, not only is the show amazing but I also love to use it for makeup inspiration. So much so, that when I got home from work today I decided to "try" drag makeup for the first time!

It doesn't look bad, but not very drag :(

Leap Day at Disneyland + OC Restaurant Week at TAPS

I have been super busy this last week! While it was my spring break I was needed at OBEY full time because we've been doing a bunch of photoshoots. Although it was a lot of work I did really enjoy myself this week, I got to do the makeup for the female model on Thursday and I styled a bunch of tees today for the male model :D I'm really proud of what I accomplished this week, and hope to keep progressing!

Anyways, besides from work this week I got to do two fun things! Tony and I met up with a bunch of friends at Disneyland on Leap Day (29th) for their special "One More Day" event where they were open for 24 hours. Saying it was crazy busy is an understatement!

MAC Cream Foundations: Studio Tech vs. Full Coverage

Some of my readers know that I have been using MAC's Studio Tech cream foundation since last summer, which I actually bought because I was looking for their Full Coverage Foundation (which is a PRO item only). While I have enjoyed it over the last half year or so and have even re-purchased it when I finished my first compact, I wanted to try the Full Coverage Foundation to see if there was a real difference or not between them.

New Diamond Lash Series: Little Wink Series

This new eyelash series was just put up on sale on Diamond Beauty's online store, and will officially be rolled out in Japan on 2/24. The models for this series features Narumi Nakakita (former PopSister, current Edge Style model), Yumi Higashino (BLENDA model), and Yuki Yamamoto (JELLY model) and is supposed to go for a more natural, eyelash extension look. It reminds me a lot of Dolly Wink's new Otona line!

Circle lens review: E-301 3 Tone Grey (Toric) from mukuCHU

Since some of my lenses have started to expire, I made an order quite awhile ago for new toric lenses to replace the ones I had. Since the E-301 series was finally available at mukuCHU for purchase, I knew I HAD to get these! I have been wearing these consistently for the past month to school.

Note: Review is required but I purchased these lenses.
 

The design of the lenses. If you look closely, you can see that the design doesn't take up the whole lens, so it's actually quite small :(

Valentine's Day Beauty Swap with Krystal

I participated in a beauty swap put together by Kelly of Lipgloss Love Affair for Valentine's Day, and I got paired up with Krystal from Singapore. We are really fortunate to get along really well with each other, and that we both had brands of products that we wanted to get items from :D So here's how our swap went~

 I won't list everything since there is a lot of items, but I'll share a couple behind the cut~

♥ Valentine's Day ♥

Hope all of you with a sweetheart had a great time with them, and if not I hope you still had fun... maybe hanging out with your friends or will enjoy discounted candy tomorrow?! LOL Tony and I decided to go back to Pizza e Vino, where we went for our 3rd Anniversary as well.

LOTD and some new lashes~

I've been using my weekends recently just to sleep in and be lazy at home since I am constantly busy throughout the week, but today Tony and I decided to finally go out! We decided to go to Round 1 since we haven't been in awhile, and while we were up there I went to Takashima and we ate at out beloved Foo Foo Tei <3