sEpia memory

Review: Donki Twinkle Lash D-6 Sexy

2012-03-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Once you open up the boxes, you'll see the lashes come in individual packs. That makes it easy to share them!

As you can see the lashes are really glamorous styled, similar to lashes like Diamond Lash Glamorous Eye or Jewerich No. 2. However, I think these lashes are the closest in similarity to Eyemazing 001.

You can see they are pretty much identical! However, I find that the Twinkle Lash Sexy is curled much more than Eyemazing 001.

My eye (without lashes):

Makeup details:
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown, theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer (highlight)
- Eyeshadows: theBalm Nude'tude Palette in Selfish (lid), Sophisticated (crease and lower lid), and Stand-offish (inner crease highlight)
- Eyeliners: Momoeri Long Beam Liquid Liner, NYX Slide On Liner in Black
- Mascara: NYX Doll Eye Mascara in Long Lash

With Twinkle Lash Sexy on:

You can see that the lashes are very curled, very long, and very voluminous!

Paired with bottom lashes (I used Twinkle Lash Raccoon, which I'll review at a later time):

Pros:
- Affordable! 780yen for 5 pairs comes out to 156yen per pair, the original Candy Style lashes were 198yen a pair.
- Amazing curl on them already, so you don't need to curl them yourself and risk ruining them.
- Comparable to more expensive eyelashes like Eyemazing 001 (1,260yen for 3 pairs) or Jewerich No. 02 (980yen for 2 pairs).
- Sturdy, so they will last you a very long time.

Cons:
- Stiff lashes, so they might be hard for beginners to use.
- Very shiny, but a given considering how cheap they are.
- The lash band is very short in length, so these lashes might fall short on those with longer eye shapes.
- Hard to get outside of Japan, unless using a shopping service or having someone in Japan buy them for you.

Overall:
I really like these lashes! They work well for my eye shape and fit my eyes perfectly. I love how curled and long the lashes are, and even though they're stiff I think it's a pro as well since that means you can maximize the amount of wears for a pair of lashes. Definitely recommend these lashes to girls who are into more dramatic looks.

Where to buy?
- Donki stores nationwide in Japan, 780yen
- Donki's Hello Hello Nation through a shopping service (I recommend Japan to Door, since they can process COD orders)

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

2012-03-16T18:35:00.001-07:00

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 :(

So here it is:

A more gyaru shot, with some nice ducky lips lolol

Makeup details:
- Primer: theBalm timeBalm Face Primer, MAC Fix+
- Foundation: MAC Studio Tech in NW30
- Highlighters: Cover FX Total Coverage Cream Foundation SPF 30 in C40, NYX Liquid Highlighter, theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer
- Contour: NYX Liquid Contour
- Powder: Sonia Kashuk Brightening Powder
- Blush: Tarte for True Blood Natural Cheek Stain

- Eyebrow concealer: NYX HD Concealer Wand in Beige (need more coverage to hide my real eyebrows better lol)
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe)
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection in Half Truth (base), Omen (lid), Ace (crease and lower lid), and UD Stardust in Diamond Dog (crease)
- Eyeliner: NYX Slide-On Pencil in Jet Black, Eyemazing Cosmeline Gel Liner
- Mascara: theBalm Cheater! Mascara
Eyelashes:
- Upper custom lashes: Hello Kitty Beauty Eyelashes in No. 5 Pacchiri Glamorous Eye, M.O.D.E.L. 21 Eyelashes in No. 18 (2 pairs)
Bottom lashes: Nature is lovely in S-2

- Lip concealer: Rimmel Lip Concealer in 001
- Lipcolor: NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil in Chaos

So what I know what to do for next time... make my eyeshadow more intense, eyebrows thinner and to not be afraid of contouring and highlighting more!

Leap Day at Disneyland + OC Restaurant Week at TAPS

2012-03-02T21:56:00.000-08:00

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!

Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Redness Correction: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub
- Concealer: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer Wand in Beige (under eyes) and Glow (blemishes)
- Foundation: MAC Full Coverage Foundation in NW30
- Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
- Contour (face): Fyrinnae Cosmetics Matte Bronzer in Medium
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: MAC Cremeblend Blush in Optimistic Orange

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: tarte for True Blood Palette in Telepath (lid), V (crease and lower lash line), and Dawn (brow highlight)
- Eyeliner: Momoeri Long Beam Eyeliner, NYX Slide-On Pencil in Jet Black
- Mascara: Youngblood Mascara in Onyx
- Eyelashes: Jewerich No. 2 (top) and Jewerich No. 3 (bottom)

Lips:
- Lipbalm: Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine
- Lipcolor: Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Color in Lovechild + MAC Kissable Lipcolour in Exxx-hibitionist

Here's a very bad and very yellow outfit picture... I was planning on taking a full outfit shot at the park but it was too chaotic to do so :x

Outfit details:
- Shirt: 3rd By Vanquish
- Shorts: Wet Seal
- Necklace: OBEY
- Tights: Kireiplaza

And a few pictures of the chaos...

People trying to get into the Toy Story Parking Lot off of Harbor. We were stuck in this traffic for about an hour and a half... I live 10 minutes away from Disneyland!!

The mass of people waiting to get into the park while it was at full capacity. We were pretty fortunate to have only had to wait around an hour to get in.
It was fun to hang out with friends and be at the park late at night, but the drunk people really ruined the experience! :( I saw a bunch of empty alcohol bottles in the parking lots and saw people bringing in water bottles full of vodka and tequila. This drunk guy also joined our group for Jungle Cruise and was trying to hit on me and my friend Bree... despite my Tony saying both of us were taken and us holding each other!! He was extra obnoxious (from being drunk of course) and creepy because at times I could feel him breathing down my neck. EWW!!
But overall, it was a fun day but it was also very tiring as well. We left my house around 9:30, got boba and food and were on our way at around 9:50, parked at 11:40 and got into the park at around 1am. We stayed until around 5:30am, but were dead tired and didn't have a fun time waking up for work LOL

Tony and I also had dinner for Orange County Restaurant Week at TAPS Fishhouse and Brewery in Brea, CA on Tuesday! TAPS has been on my radar to try for a very long time, so we jumped at the chance to get a 3 course meal for $30/person.

Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Redness Correction: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub
- Concealer: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer Wand in Beige (under eyes) and Glow (blemishes)
- Foundation: Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream in Light
- Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
- Contour (face): Fyrinnae Cosmetics Matte Bronzer in Medium
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: Diamond Blush in Honey Orange

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: Urban Decay Naked2 Palette in Suspect (lid), Snakebite (crease and lower lash line), and Verve (brow highlight)
- Eyeliner: Momoeri Long Beam Eyeliner, NYX Slide-On Pencil in Jet Black
- Mascara: Youngblood Mascara in Onyx
- Eyelashes: Fairylash in Drop eye (top) and Fairylash in Sexy eye (bottom)

Lips:
- Lipbalm: Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine
- Lipstick: MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2
- Lipgloss: MAC Surf Baby Lipglass in Strange Potion

We took pictures of the food as usual, I *love* the Food setting on my SLR! I'm glad the pictures turned out especially because the lighting inside the restaurant was actually quite dark.

Appetizers:

I got the Short Rib Poutine, which is french fries, cheese curds, short rib meat and gravy topped with a fried egg. I spent a lot of time in Montreal when I was a kid, so I know what a good poutine is. This isn't quite authentic, but tasted really good!

Baked Brie Waldorf Salad. From what I tasted (not a lot, Tony ate it too fast!!) it was really light and refreshing. The fried present on the side included baked apples and brie cheese.

Entrees:

This is the Free Range Chicken Pot Pie, and I was shocked that they also gave me a side of fried chicken on it as well! I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish it so I ate about half of the pot pie and a small piece of the chicken.

Tony got the Crispy Slow Braised Porkchetta, which is pork loin wrapped with pork belly! Very decadent, but also very tender.

Dessert:

The Good Night Breakfast is a play on dessert and breakfast. It includes a flourless chocolate mousse cake, chocolate bowl filled with fresh berries and coco puffs along with a side of chocolate almond milk. I was only able to eat the chocolate cake before getting full, so Tony benefited from the rest of my dessert.

He also got to have the French Smackaroons, which is sorbet stuffed into macaroon shells. He didn't leave anything left from these!

Overall the service and food was excellent, I have no complaints about it at all. Our server was delightful, even though we ordered from the "cheap menu". I definitely want to eat here again when I have the money to do so!

MAC Cream Foundations: Studio Tech vs. Full Coverage

2012-02-27T15:47:00.001-08:00

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.

The first difference you'll notice is in the packaging. Studio Tech comes in a compact similar to Studio Fix, which comes with a mirror, pan of foundation and another compartment with a sponge. Personally I never use the sponge or mirror, so it's kind of unnecessary and bulky. Full Coverage Foundation comes in a big compact without the extras.

I was a bit alarmed when I turned them around, just to show a comparison of the back.

Studio Tech only contains 10g of product and Full Coverage has 28g of product. They cost the same price! So now I definitely know that Studio Tech is definitely a rip off in comparison.

The compacts opened. You can't really tell the difference in texture from here, but this is just to show the difference in pan size.

I decided to swatch both of them on a piece of paper if it was possible to see a difference.

The shade is the same (thank god, I would probably be mad if it weren't), but you can see a bit of difference in the texture. Studio Tech applies a bit uneven and blotchy while Full Coverage applies evenly.

So now for the face comparisons! I started my face off with MAC Prep + Prime Skin along with MAC Fix+ to prime my face.
Here you can see my bare face:

You can see that I have skin issues including some dark spots, under eye bags and redness.

For applying this foundation, I used a MAC 130 brush (duo fiber brush with a small head) that was sprayed with MAC Fix+. Using Fix+ is helpful when using cream foundations because it makes it apply more evenly and hydrates the cream. These pictures will be a bit bigger so you can click on them and see the imperfections better. Remember to set cream foundations with a powder as well!

First up is Full Coverage:

As you can see, it covers up my skin perfections incredibly well! You can't see my redness or dark spots, my under eye circles aren't showing up too much and it covers up most of my pores. I also really like how it looks nice and airbrushed on my face!

Studio Tech:

This application is just of when using the brush. I feel like it can be kind of cakey, streaky, and blotchy in spots without touching it up.

I touched the foundation up with my hands to blend it better. As you can see it looks MUCH better than the picture without the touch up. It does a fairly good job of covering my imperfections but I feel that the Full Coverage covers more.

So now that you've seen the pictures, I'll do a pros and cons for each of them.
Full Coverage
Pros:
- Lives up to the claim of being full coverage! Concealer is unnecessary to use.
- Doesn't feel too heavy on the skin.
- Applies evenly, no touch ups needed through out the day.
- Don't need to use a lot of product to cover the whole face.
- Same price as Studio Tech but comes with more product.

Cons:
- Only available at MAC Pro Stores or online at very inflated prices.
- Might be too drying for dry skin types.
- Thick formula, so might not be good for every day use.
- Is a bit hard to wash off due to the thick formula.

Studio Tech
Pros:
- Coverage is buildable! Starts as a medium coverage that can be built up to full coverage.
- Don't need to use concealer if you build up the coverage.
- Nice creamy texture, doesn't feel heavy.
- Easy to apply, good for everyday use.

Cons:
- Pricey considering the amount you get.
- Streaky application without touch ups and can be cakey if built up too much.
- Need to use more product depending on the coverage you want.
- Touch ups are needed sometimes.

Overall
Both are great cream foundations, but you need to pick it on your personal preferences. Studio Tech is a good foundation for everyday use and beginners. Full Coverage really lives up to the promises, but can be hard to use for beginners or for everyday use. Definitely a must use for those that have really bad skin problems.

Where to buy
Studio Tech: Available at all MAC stores and counters worldwide or online, $30.
Full Coverage: Available only at MAC PRO stores worldwide, $30. It's possible to find it online, but the prices are highly inflated.

New Diamond Lash Series: Little Wink Series

2012-02-22T23:27:00.001-08:00

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!

Wink eye:

Airy eye:

Secret eye:

Romance eye:

Muse eye (accent):

Honey eye (bottom):

Personally I'm not a huge fan of natural looking lashes (except when at work and school presentations), but I think these will be REALLY popular with people as I see the new Dolly Wink series is selling out quickly. What do you think?

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

2012-02-21T20:40:00.001-08:00

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 :(

Since these are similar in design to the Gothic 3Tone series, I decided to compare them side by side:

The E-301 is much smaller at 14.00mm and the pupil ring is slightly darker, but for the most part other than that they're very similar.

All of these photos were taken with natural lighting:

One eye in, one eye without. You can see that there is a very slight enlargement, but not very significant.

Both eyes in, without makeup.

Both eyes in, with makeup.

I decided to go for a more natural makeup look since these lenses are also very natural. Sorry if it looks messy, but I was in a rush because I had to commute to school!

Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Redness Correction: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub
- Concealer: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer Wand in Glow (blemishes)
- Foundation: Candy Doll Liquid Foundation in No. 03
- Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
- Contour (face): Fyrinnae Cosmetics Matte Bronzer in Medium
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: Benefit Cosmetics Hervana

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow in Tough as Taupe (base), L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Bronzed Taupe (lid) and Amber Rush (lid)
- Eyeliner: Momoeri Long Beam Eyeliner, NYX Slide-On Pencil in Jet Black, Smashbox Jet Set Waterproof Eyeliner in Dark Brown (lower lash line)
- Mascara: Maybelline Illegal Lengths Fiber Extensions Mascara layered with NYX Doll Eye Mascara in Long Lash
- Eyelashes: Mizukitty's Sweet Ribbon Series for Eyemazing in No. 301

Lips:
L'Oreal Colour Riche Lip Balm in Caring Coral

Review:
Pros:
- Very natural looking
- Comfortable for being toric lenses
- Great clarity of vision
- Custom made to order

Cons:
- Not very large enlargement
- Might be too natural for my own taste
- Need eye drops on hand once it starts to dry out (around the 6 hour mark for me)
- Expensive, long wait time to receive them (took 2-3 months)

Overall:
They are 14.00mm lenses with very little enlargement and natural design that are definitely best suited for everyday wear. Coming from a toric lens wearer, these are probably the best lenses I have gotten clarity-wise (even better than my clear prescription ones!). I often had a hard time with lenses going out of focus easily and not being able to drive at night, but with these I don't have any of that! I can drive at any time of the day and they don't go out of focus. You should always apply eye drops when you initially put them in, since the lenses are a bit thick. Comfort-wise, they're fine but start to get dry after about 6 hours. Nothing that eye drops can't help! If you are looking for a natural looking lens, go for these! If not, I would recommend EOS Flower for a more enlargement and a nice design.

Want your own pair? Get them at mukuCHU for $46!

Valentine's Day Beauty Swap with Krystal

2012-02-18T16:39:00.001-08:00

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~
Krystal was really excited to get me this KATE eyeshadow palette, which I was super happy to receive! It featured 3 different shimmer/pearl eyeshadows for a smokey eyeshadow look fit for brown eyes, along with eyebrow powders that I can use for my eyebrows and nose contouring.

Opened up, so you can see the shades :D

Another amazing surprise I got was a Maybelline Japan exclusive Volum' Express Hypercurl Mascara featuring Hello Kitty and zebra print! This is a well-loved mascara by Japanese gyaru :) I'm really pleased with it because it reminds me a lot of a Bourjois mascara I used to love a very long time ago.

Closeup on the Hello Kitty details ♥

She also sent a lot of different samples, including some BB creams and some high-end skincare ones as well!

I'm really excited to try the Maybelline BB cream!

Here's also a Tonymoly Liptint that she sent, and you can see that she really secured the packaging very well!

Overall I was very pleased with this experience, because not only did I get some beauty items I normally wouldn't be able to receive, I made a new friend out of it! Thank you to Krystal for the items and Kelly for matching us up!

Also just FYI, if you live somewhere in Asia, Australia or the UK, I would love to do swaps with you! Just drop me a line and we'll discuss :)

♥ Valentine's Day ♥

2012-02-14T22:28:00.000-08:00

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.

FOTD, also I love how my hair came out :D

Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Redness Correction: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub
- Concealer: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer Wand in Beige (under eyes) and Glow (blemishes)
- Foundation: Chanel Perfection Lumiere in 40 Beige
- Powder: Diamond Puff Dolly Face
- Contour (face): Fyrinnae Cosmetics Matte Bronzer in Medium
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: Diamond Blush Apricot Pink

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: Urban Decay Naked2 in Suspect (base), YDK (lid), Busted (crease and lower lash line) and Verve (brow highlight)
- Eyeliner: Momoeri Long Beam Eyeliner, NYX Slide-On Pencil in Jet Black
- Mascara: NYX Doll Lash Mascara in Long Lash
- Eyelashes: Diamond Lash Glamorous Eye + Cats Eye (top) and Jewerich No. 3 (bottom)

Lips:
- Lipbalm: Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine
- Lipcolor: NYX Black Label Lipstick in Chakra

OOTD, I'm happy I can wear this dress now since I lost weight! It used to be too tight but now it's normal fitting... maybe even a bit big.

Crappy bathroom shot, but you can see how I re-organized my makeup!

Some more pictures from outside the restaurant, I'm learning how to pose better since I work with models at work... but I still have more work to do!

Outfit details:
Cardigan: Rose Fan Fan
Dress: Yumetenbo
Necklace: OBEY
Tights: Kirei Plaza
Boots: Steve Madden

and of course, the food!

An appetizer that was compliments of the chef for Valentine's Day :D It was simple but delicious.

Bruschetta, which was also really yummy! Their dough baked in their wood fired ovens is AMAZING.

My pizza, which was the Quattro Formaggio.

Tony's pizza, which was the special for Valentine's Day!

and to end the night, my beloved chocolate cannoli ♥

I hope you all enjoyed your Valentines! and if not, better luck next year?

LOTD and some new lashes~

2012-02-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

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

FOTD:

Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Redness Correction: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub
- Concealer: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer Wand in Beige (under eyes) and Glow (blemishes)
- Foundation: Chanel Perfection Lumiere in 40 Beige
- Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
- Contour (face): Fyrinnae Cosmetics Matte Bronzer in Medium
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: MAC Cremeblend Blush in Restores Dazzle!

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: Buxom Stay-There Eyeshadow in Mutt (base), Fyrinnae Cosmetics Knickers in a Twist (lid), Buxom Stay-There Eyeshadow in Pug (crease and lower lash line), and theBalm Shady Lady Eyeshadow in Luscious Lani (brow highlight)
- Eyeliner: Momoeri Long Beam Eyeliner, NYX Slide-On Pencil in Jet Black, Sana Super Quick Shadowliner EX (lower lash line)
- Mascara: NYX Pin Up Tease Mascara
- Eyelashes: Fairy Lash Koakuma eye (top) and Fairy Lash Sexy eye (bottom)

Lips:
- Lipbalm: Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine
- Lipcolor: MAC Kissable Lipcolour in Flaunting It
- Lipgloss: MAC Lipglass in Tour de Fabulous

Closeup on my eye:

OOTD, which was super casual! I haven't bought any new clothes in awhile since I have been losing a lot of weight, but I think it's almost time to get new bottoms and tops :)

Shirt: Minnie Muse for Forever 21
Cardigan: Forever 21
Shorts: Wet Seal
Boots (not pictured): Steve Madden

Another camwhore picture for good measure! I took this while in a moving car so the VR lens for my Nikon really works ;D

Since we were super hungry, we went to eat at Foo Foo Tei! I got my usual Nanchatte Tonkotsu ramen~

and of course an order of their famous gyoza! The way you get it like this is to steam it in ramen broth instead of water.

and of course, what I got at Takashima:

Eye Love Matsuge in Chihuahua eye

Eye Love Matsuge in Alpaca eye

DECOLOG Sweet

Update to my gyaru fake eyelashes guide!

2012-02-10T17:18:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd let everyone know that I updated my very popular post! I re-did all of the images and updated the information to be more up-to-date. :)

http://dtan0914.blogspot.com/2011/01/beginners-guide-to-gal-style-false.html

SHOP MAC Collection Pre-release Event at MAC Pro in Costa Mesa, CA

2012-02-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

I got invited to the pre-release event for MAC's SHOP MAC Collection at the MAC Pro store in South Coast Plaza! So my best friend Alice and I decided to go there for free cocktails and hors d'oeuvres while shopping for the collection 2 weeks in advance!

Picture heavy post ahead!

FOTD (I need to cut my bangs...):

Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Redness Correction: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub
- Foundation: MAC Studio Tech in NW30
- Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
- Contour (face): Fyrinnae Cosmetics Matte Bronzer in Medium
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: MAC Mineralize Blush in Early Morning

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: Maybelline 24HR Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze (base), Fyrinnae Cosmetics Te Amo (lid) and Snow Leopard (crease), and Urban Decay Vanilla (brow highlight)
- Eyeliner: MSH Love Liner, NYX Slide-On Pencil in Jet Black
- Mascara: NYX Doll Lash Mascara in Long Lash
- Eyelashes: Jewerich No. 2 (top) and Decorative Eyelash PLAYGIRL in Play Cool No. 3

Lips:
- Lipbalm: Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch
- Lipstick: MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2
- Lipgloss: MAC Lipglass in Lust

This is where we were in line when we first got there! So many people ahead of us ;_;

We're inching closer to the beginning of the line!

Finally inside and at the front of the store! Cute waiter waiting with cocktails on his tray and makeup artists dying to try new products on the customers! One of them read my mind and tried the orange blush on me, how did they know?!

Inside of the store, showing how chaotic it was!

Outside of the store, and you can see there's still a lot of girls trying to get inside the event!

Another shot of the outside. The invitation had a coupon and you could get one of the items on the display. I got the bag!

Here's my bag, invitation and haul!

My items un-boxed: Cremeblend Blush in Optimistic Orange and Restores Dazzle!, Kissable Lipcolours in Woo Me and Flaunting It. The blushes are very pigmented so it's best to stipple it in. I love the Kissable Lipcolours because they're similar to the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams but with a different finish and the signature vanilla scent that MAC loves so much!

A note that came with the blush, in case anyone else gets it.

Fyrinnae Eyeshadow Swatches ♥

2012-02-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

I mentioned getting a haul from Fyrinnae Cosmetics in a recent post, so I thought I would swatch the eyeshadows I got since it never hurts to post about them :)

The eyeshadows I swatched are in the following order: Snow Leopard, Knickers in a Twist, Platinum, Shinigami, Newcastle, Immortality, Fyre & Ice, and Te Amo. I applied these with a wet eyeshadow brush, no primer or Pixie Epoxy. They are also swatched on my NW30 skin.

With flash:

With natural lighting:

So as you can see, these eyeshadows apply very well and are quite vibrant without the use of eye shadow primer. I'm really quite happy with all of them, with maybe the exception of Platinum but I haven't tried to wear it out yet.

All of these are available at the Fyrinnae website for around $5-6 for full sized jars and $2 for sample sized jars. These are a great value for how pigmented, pretty, and unique they are ♥ Please check them out and support them!

10 Facts you might not know about me

2012-01-30T12:34:00.000-08:00

I tend to like doing these types of posts at least once a year, because I can look back on them and see how I've changed through the years! I hope that you might all learn something new about me :)

The most recent picture of me. The lighting wasn't very good so most of my makeup is washed out :(

1. I spend a lot of my money on makeup, sometimes compromising eating for it! This is a bad habit that me and my best friend Alice have picked up in the last 6 months or so.
Example conversation:
Me: "I'm hungry, I'm going to eat a sandwich!"
Alice: "Wait... but that sandwich costs the same amount as a NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream!!"
Me: "I guess you're right, I'll go buy the NYX SMLC..."
Don't worry though, if I don't eat out I can usually find something to eat in the fridge at home 99% of the time.

2. My weight ballooned past 200lbs in 2011. I am lucky enough to have lost around 40lbs now, so I'm back at how much I weighed in 2007 and am dropping a couple of pant sizes. I don't want to buy anymore non-Japanese clothes until I get to a more steady weight.

3. I've been dancing ParaPara for over 10 years, it's currently my 11th year! If you want to learn more ParaPara dances, feel free to visit my circle's page: Disco NRG

4. It took me 5 years to complete high school. My grades took a nose dive in my junior (3rd year) of high school due to personal issues. I had to do my senior year AND fix my bad grades from my 3rd year in order to get into a 4 year university out of high school. I could've taken the GED but I didn't want to be stuck in community college.

5. This video totally speaks to me!

6. I have always enjoyed traveling. My parents are both world travelers, as my dad works overseas and my mom used to go on a lot of international business trips. I started flying by myself at the tender age of 6, going to Canada quite often as I have family there. My dad also worked and lived in Japan for 2 years, so I grew up there from the ages of 7-9.

7. I am planning on graduating early from university. I'm going for 3 1/2 years!

8. I bought a new camera recently which is my current baby, the Nikon D5100!

9. I am a teenybopper forever! It started with New Kids on the Block to The Moffatts and now up to the Jonas Brothers. Everyone in between those groups are also included ;)

10. I'm a total foodie. I am always searching for the newest restaurant and food trends, and I read local food blogs daily to find out the newest information. My favorite local food blog is Stick a Fork in it.

Closing this post, I'll post a medley I found on YouTube of some songs I've been really into recently.

Makeup hauls galore!

2012-01-25T16:25:00.000-08:00

With extra money from Christmas and Lunar New Year, I was able to order LOTS of makeup recently! I don't have swatches for these since there is a lot, but if you want to see anything feel free to comment and request it :)

This first haul is from NYX Cosmetics. Most of my readers know that I love them a lot, and the best part of this haul was that this was free! I participated in one of their giveaways during their recent "12 Days of Giveaways" promotion on Facebook and received this.

What I got:

Doll Eye Mascara in Long Lash (I own this already, and recommend this to girls who need more length and want an affordable Fiber mascara), Jumbo Eye Pencils in Pacific and Milk, Powder Blush in Silky Rose, NYX Eyeshadow Base in Skin Tone, Eye/Eyebrow Pencil in Black, Lip Liner Pencil in Natural, Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Natural and Trio Eye Shadow in Ultra Chic.

Next was an order from Barney's New York. The first item was the NARS Make Your Mind: Express Yourself Lips set.

It was released in conjunction with François Nars' book of the same title. It is kind of like a "best" of set containing 4 lip best sellers: Roman Holiday Lipstick, Dolce Vita Velvet Matte Lip Pencil, Bangkok Pure Matte Lipstick and Orgasm Lipgloss. This set was a deal at $65, considering the value of this box is almost $100!

The second item was the Barneys New York Gaga's Workshop Limited edition Hourglass Lipgloss Trio. It also came with a limited edition shopping bag as well! Hourglass is really expensive usually, so getting any Hourglass makeup on sale is a good deal to me!

A closeup of the lipglosses. They're sheer with lots of glitter in them! Swatched on my hand, they're not super sticky which is always a good thing.

My next order was with Fyrinnae Cosmetics, who I have wanted to order from for months because Nancy of The Dark Side of Beauty features their eyeshadows quite often. They're a small indie cosmetics company that makes all of their products with vegan ingredients. They recently re-opened their store after being closed for about a month, so I took the chance to buy a bunch of sample sized jars of their eyeshadows and a few full sized products as well.

What I bought: Matte Bronzer Medium (full size), Pixie Epoxy (full size), Sample sized eyeshadows in Knickers in a Twist, Platinum, Snow Leopard, Te Amo, Fyre & Ice, Newcastle, Immortality, Captivate, Sample sized blushes in Captivate and Temptation and I received a free sample of Shinigami as well!

The jars flipped over, so you can see how they look! Aren't they such pretty colors?!

The last order was from Ulta online. I ordered online because I mainly wanted the Maybelline Color Tattoo shadows, but most of them were sold out in-store. Luckily it worked out, because they had a $15 off of $75 coupon and a ton of "buy one get one" offers and I got the NYX HD Grinding Blush practically for free, which is great considering they cost around $16!

Ulta Professional Eyebrow brush, Ulta Professional Eyeshadow Crease brush, Ulta Professional Divine Lashes Conditioning Serum, Ulta Professional Brush Cleaner, No. 7 Quick Thinking 4 in 1 Wipes, Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadows in Bold Gold, Audacious Asphalt, Pomegranate Punk, and Bad to the Bronze, NYX HD Grinding Blush in Menage a Trois, NYX Mood Lipgloss and NYX Pencil Sharpener.

That sure took a long time to get out, but it's better to get it out now than never... The thought of letting them stack up even more is frightening!

Happy Lunar New Year! + Giveaway winner

2012-01-23T22:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Lunar New Year to everyone who celebrates it! I had a wonderful lunch with my dad's side of the family yesterday and today for lunch with my mom's family. We ate traditional Vietnamese food and made wishes for the elders!

But since my giveaway ended today, I'm sure you're all wondering who won!

the winner is...

Dilia! Coincidentally, she's also friends with the winner of the 1st Year Giveaway, Nenacho!

If you're interested in learning TechPara routines, feel free to visit her on her YouTube channel. Dilia and her boyfriend Kevin are both great paralists ♥

Gyaru improvement meme + 2012 New Years Resolutions

2012-01-19T16:27:00.000-08:00

I'm almost at 500 followers, so thank you so much for that everyone! I have been working and going to school the last 2 weeks, but so far adjusting to having both hasn't been too bad. I'm really excited for OBEY's Spring 2012 line to come out, which will be within the next few weeks! Since I get to work with these clothes everyday I know how gorgeous they are :)

I decided to do a photo comparison of how I changed/improved during 2011:

I definitely really love my looks from September up until now, since I've been researching and practicing more to refine my makeup skills :D

Also this is definitely super late, but better late than never!
2012 Resolutions:
- Continue to eat healthy and lose more weight.
- Do my hair more frequently.
- Keep up with ParaPara routines.
- Be the best intern I can be at Obey Clothing.
- Continue to study hard and graduate by the end of the year.

Current Obsession: Making... soup?!

2012-01-10T23:53:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I started school this week so I might not post frequent, but I thought I would share about my current obsession right now. I have fell in love with cooking soups. Why?
- They're simple to make.
- You can make it for lots of people or have lots of leftovers.
- You know what you're putting into it versus the ones you buy in a can or box.
- You can make it as healthy (or not) as you want!
- People will appreciate it as a heartwarming gesture!

I have been making a lot of it since it's the season to get sick, and my boyfriend and I have been doing a lot of sleeping in bed because of it! However, there are lots of health benefits to eating soups as well. I believe that making soups has helped me lose weight, along with cutting out sodas out of my life. I've lost 35lbs in half a year, with 15lbs in just the span of a month!

So instead of something like makeup, I thought I would share recipes!

Chicken soup with matzo balls

What you need:
- Big pot and lid
- 3 hours

Ingredients:
Chicken stock/soup (if you strain everything you get a stock, if you keep everything it's a soup!)
- Chicken. I usually go for a whole young chicken or half of a regular chicken. Helpful hint: most supermarkets discount these around after 5pm, so most times I can get a whole young chicken for less than $4!
- Water (to cover everything in the pot)
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3-4 stalks of celery
- 3-4 carrots
- 1 head of garlic
- 5-10 sprigs of fresh thyme (you can substitute for dried)
- Parsley (as much as you want, you can use either fresh or dried)
- Salt and pepper to taste

Matzo balls are optional, but I recommend them! You can buy them at your local grocery store and follow the directions on the box. Other options for carbs are pasta or rice. You can also opt out of adding carbs and then it'll be a light and healthy meal!

Directions:
- Cut up your chicken, remove the gizzards and innards. Rinse the chicken as well.
- Dice the veggies and mince the garlic.
- Put the chicken, veggies, thyme, parsley and some salt and pepper in your pot and cover everything with water.
- Turn your burner on high, and cover the pot with a lid. Let it start cooking for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, drop the heat down to medium/medium low and let it simmer for the rest of the 2 hours and 30 minutes of cooking time. Keep the lid on. Periodically stir the soup and skim the fat.
- 30 minutes before finishing, take out the chicken bones, chicken skin and thyme sprigs. Shred the chicken by using 2 pairs of tongs and tearing at it. Taste your soup at this point and decide how much more seasoning you want.
- It's finished after the last 30 minutes of cooking! Add your carbs first to the bowl and then pour the soup on top of it.

This next soup I'm featuring is one that I made today, Winter Minestrone, based off of the recipe by Giada de Laurentis. I made some modifications to the recipe depending on what I had available. I will italicize what I changed.

Winter Minestrone

What you need:
- Pot
- 1 hour

Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 celery stalks, chopped
- 3 ounces thinly sliced pancetta, coarsely chopped
- 4 tablespoons of garlic, minced (we like our garlic!)
- 1 pound Swiss chard, stems trimmed, leaves coarsely chopped
- 1 russet potato, peeled and cubed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
- 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 (15-ounce) can Northwestern white beans, drained and rinsed, divided
- Chicken stock (from the chicken soup recipe above, strained), divided
- 1 (1-ounce) Parmesan rind
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Optional:
- Freshly grated Parmesan (since you're buying Parmesan anyways, don't waste it ;D)

Directions:
- Prepare all of your veggies, since this will take the most time to do!
- Heat the burner on medium and put oil in the pot. Once heated, add the celery, carrots, onion, garlic and pancetta. Cook until the onions are transparent, which is around the 10 minute mark.
- Add in the swiss chard and potato and cook for another 2 minutes. Giada suggests adding your seasoning here, but you can wait until you're almost done cooking.
- Put in your canned tomatoes (with liquid) and thyme into the pot. Cook for 10 minutes.
- Open your can of beans and strain it. You will split them up into 3/4 and 1/4. Take 3/4 of the beans and add a bit of your chicken stock to a food processor and puree them. This step will give the soup a creamy texture.
- After the 10 minutes of cooking, add in the pureed bean mixture, enough stock for your soup and the Parmesan rind. Let it cook for 15 minutes and stir occasionally.
- Add in the rest of the beans and parsley at the end of the 15 minutes, and let it cook through. This will be about 2 minutes.
- Remove the sprigs of thyme and the Parmesan rind (if you want). Taste it and add more seasoning.

Everybody happy in the pot!

Do any of you make soup as well? Got any recipes to share? Or maybe you'll get into the art of soup making as well ;)?

Haultastic day along with getting my hair done!

2012-01-07T22:37:00.000-08:00

I was long overdue for a hair color and cut, so I booked an appointment today with my beloved Jennifer at Ulta in Tustin, CA! But I started and ended the day with some lovely hauls from mukuCHU, Ulta, MAC and Urban Decay.

First thing this morning was the package of circle lenses I ordered from mukuCHU! I ordered these back in November and got my toric lenses for my astigmatism since I know my current pairs are due to expire anytime soon.

The designs that I got! I got toric lenses in E-301 3 Tone Grey, Adult Grey (my everyday lenses) and normal lenses in Max Pure Brown. I plan to use the latter for a Sayaka Araki tutorial I want to do in the future!

So like I said, I was way overdue to get my color, I haven't gotten my hair done since my birthday back in September! So I got my annual haircut and a redo of my color done today.

The results! As usual I love my color, which I've been keeping since September 2008. I really love how it looks :D ♥
Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Foundation: MAC Studio Tech in NW30
- Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: Benefit Cosmetics Hervana

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: - Eyeshadows: Urban Decay Naked Palette in Sidecar (base), Toasted (lid) and Hustle (crease and bottom lid)
- Eyeliner: NYX Slide-On Pencil in Jet Black
- Mascara: NYX Le Chick Flick Waterproof Mascara
- Eyelashes: Mizukitty's Sweet Ribbon Series for Eyemazing in No. 301 (top) and Diamond Lash Natural eye (bottom)

Lips:
- Lipgloss: MAC Kissable Lipcolour in So Vain

So while I was at Ulta, I decided to get some items since I was there and had a coupon for double points!

NYX was buy one get one 50% off, so I grabbed another NYX Slide on pencil (which has become my new favorite eyeliner) with some blotting paper since I always keep some everywhere with me, a Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolor in Follow Me on Glitter and Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait.

After finishing up at Ulta I decided to head to South Coast Plaza to go to MAC, since I had a gift certificate and they had a couple of new collections come out as well!

I got the Mineralize Blush in Early Morning, and 2 Lipglasses. I wanted to get the Flamingo Lipstick from the Iris Apfel collection, but they were sold out :(

The 2 shades of Lipglass that I got! You can find swatches for them on Temptalia :)

I went to Macy's MAC counter after the MAC Pro store to try to find the lipstick that was sold out, but I found the Iris Apfel collection is a MAC store exclusive collection :( But I wandered around and found the Urban Decay "The Revolution" eyelash curler that is impossible to find!

It's open on both sides, meaning that it's wonderful for curling fake eyelashes with! I'm very excited to try them on fake lashes that I think aren't quite curled enough :)

Favorite Makeup Products of 2011

2012-01-06T18:13:00.000-08:00

I finally had time to sit down and do a post about my favorite makeup products and finds from 2011!

Favorite Face Primers:

Sephora Perfection Primer, $18, discontinued
Sephora, why did you have to be so stupid and discontinue this?! I went through 2 tubes of this stuff before it was discontinued and replaced with the less-than-stellar Anti-shine primer. Mistake! What I enjoyed about it was that it had iridescent pearl in the primer and it was smooth and gave me a glow. It was also very affordable at $18.

MAC Prep + Prime Skin, $28
This is my current HG primer, and I have gone through a bottle of this so far. This is great for people who have dry, normal and combination skin. It's moisturizing and has ingredients that help reduce redness. There are shimmers in this as well which I really like, but some people might not be keen on it.

Favorite Redness Corrector:

Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub, $24
I went out and got this when I saw one of my favorite YouTube makeup gurus, sethakins7, using this for redness correction in his review of Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation (which just happens to be my current HG foundation as well). Sure you look like a zombie when applied, but it all goes away when you blend it with your foundation! This method works for people with a lot of face redness.

Favorite Foundation:

Chanel Perfection Lumiere Foundation, $55
My current HG foundation! It makes my face look airbrushed and flawless. The only cons about this foundation is it sticks onto skin flakes (so make sure you have a good facial scrub and moisturizer) and that it is expensive. I received this as a present from my boyfriend, but feel free to go to your local Chanel counter and ask for samples! The samples I received lasted me at least a whole week :)

Favorite Highlighter:

Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!, $30
This might have to be one of my favorite products ever! Before I got this highlighter I would have to use the NYX Liquid Highlight and Diamond Blush Gold Jewelry highlighter together to get the same effect this gives me. What else I love about this is that it comes in a cute tube and has no mess to it. This is a golden shimmery highlighter, so it would be great for people with medium-dark toned skin. Those with more fair skin should get a highlighter that is more pink or white based.

Favorite Blushes:

Diamond Blush in Apricot Pink, 1050yen
I love the Diamond Beauty line of blushes, as their blush in Honey Orange is probably my forever HG blush in the world (but I got that in 2010 so it doesn't count on this list!) This shade is wonderful for the winter and gives me a pretty flush.

Tarte for True Blood Natural Cheek Stain, $30
I have problems finding blushes that don't get lost in my NW30 skin, but this one was beautiful on me! It's a pretty red with golden glitter in it. This was a great summer blush and is still wonderful as a glamorous blush.

Favorite Eyeshadow Primer:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance, $18
I still love Urban Decay's Primer Potion, but the older bottles would always crack and dry up on me, so my money would go down the drain! I wanted to try Too Faced's primer since my best friend Alice is a huge fan, so I bought it when it was a 2 for 1 deal at Ulta. I have seen myself grabbing this one over the Urban Decay for the past few months.

Favorite Eyeshadow (single):

Urban Decay Deluxe Eyeshadow in Underground, $18
I fell in love with this eyeshadow after swatching it at Sephora. I bought this through Urban Decay's Friends & Family sale and use it almost daily on my whole lid. UD describes it as a "medium fawn" color so it's great for daily use and dramatic looks as well.

Favorite Eyeshadow Palettes:

Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection, $55, discontinued
I also grabbed this during the UD Friends & Family sale, which is good because it sold out shortly after the fact! I originally opted to get the Book Of Shadows IV instead of this, but at the insistence of Alice once again, she convinced me to get this. I'm using this a lot and it has a great mix of neutrals and bold colors.

Urban Decay Naked Palette, $48
I was very fortunate to get this for FREE at Ulta, because I had accumulated enough points to get $100 off my purchase. I still love this palette and waiting patiently for Naked2 to arrive at Ulta in late January-early February.

Favorite Eyeliner:

NYX Slide On Pencil in Jet Black, $8
After I finished up my Eyemazing Cosmeline Eyeliner and breaking my Clinique Quickliner, I totally freaked out and bought 3 eyeliners using my second $100 off purchase at Ulta. Needless to say, this was the only one I needed! I used to hate pencils you had to sharpen and always went for retractable eyeliners, but this pencil made me a believer. It is waterproof and goes on smooth, just like a gel eyeliner! They're just like the Urban Decay 24/7 Liners, just without the large price tag.

Favorite Eyelashes:

Jewerich in No. 02 and No. 03, 930yen
I picked these as my favorite lashes for 2011 because they were the ones I wore the most. I have been through 4 packs of Jewerich No. 03 since they're delicate, but they look really good with my eye makeup. Jewerich No. 02 is on the other side of the spectrum, where I used 1 pair for the span of 6 months! Both are very dramatic and good quality. They aren't the easiest lashes to work with though, so beginners should be wary.

Favorite Lip Products:

Tarte LipSurgence Holiday 2011 Set, $29, discontinued
These babies retail for $24 EACH, so getting 5 of them for $29 was a steal! I managed to get a set through QVC, since they were sold out everywhere else. They are infused with mint and a lot of moisturizing properties, so they stain your lips with a beautiful color while keeping your lips moisturized. All of the colors are lovely and great not just for the holidays.

MAC Viva Glam Lipsticks, $14.50
I have come really late into the game for these lipsticks, but they come in beautiful colors and go for a great cause. I love how these lipsticks feel on my lips, and they last for a good amount of time (4+ hours). I am hoping to eventually get the whole collection.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream, $6
These are probably my favorite lip products of the year! I discovered these through NYX's 12th Anniversary sale, which I was fortunate to be able to order from. Tokyo is my perfect pinky nude shade, and these lasts for hours! I also love the fact that they smell like cupcake frosting, and they are kiss-proof!

Favorite Eyelash glue:

Eyemazing Super Fit, 900yen
This is similar to the D-UP Eyelash Fixer, but I prefer this glue. This glue only requires 5-10 seconds of drying for application, so you can put your lashes on almost instantaneously! It also comes with a pair of free Eyemazing lashes, so the value for these is through the roof! The only con is that the glue does get goopy over time, and might be hard to apply on lashes after awhile. I'm on my second tube of this right now and have a backup waiting for me.

Favorite Makeup Brush:

MAC #130, $42
Yes this makeup brush is pricey and small for a foundation brush, but I absolutely swear by it now! Whether it's a liquid, cream or powder foundation, you can use this brush to apply it! With it being a smaller head on the brush, you have more powder to control the airbrushed look on your face and is easy to use. It does generally take more time to apply foundation with this brush, but it's worth it.

Favorite Makeup Removers:

Nuance Salma Hayek Cucumber & Rosewater Dual Phase Makeup Remover, $8
I generally find most makeup removers to be really oily and sit on my skin weird, but this one isn't oily and is actually moisturizing as well! This is probably my best drugstore buy of the year.

Josie Maran Bear Naked Wipes, $12
These wipes are really pricey for only having 30 wipes per pack, but a portion of the proceeds go to a cause I'm very fond of. These wipes are actually also very good on their own, as I only have to use one wipe to get rid of most of my makeup and it leaves a light grapefruit scent to your face after use. I have gone through 2 packs of these and bought 2 more during Sephora's Friends & Family sale.

Have any of you tried these products or want to try them? What were your favorite beauty finds of 2011?

My secret project was a....

2012-01-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

Full lengthed ParaPara video! There's 9 songs on it and the routines are from Joy and AXOS, which makes them unofficial routines but nonetheless they're still fun to learn and dance :)

Please feel free to comment, but most of all, learn the routines!

Also because a lot of people asked about it already, here's where my clothes come from:
Tops: Vanquish, OBEY, Lamb and Flag
Shorts/Skirt: Yumetenbo
Tights: Kireiplaza (but these are available from KKCenterHK as well)
Boots: Steve Madden

Celebrating New Years in Las Vegas

2012-01-02T23:37:00.000-08:00

Remember to join my current giveaway!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years!

I go to Las Vegas a lot, mainly to visit my friend Jim, who some of you might recognize from the circle lens review for EOS Adult Grey. We did some secret stuff that won't be announced for a bit, but we also got to have some fun as well! I haven't been to Las Vegas during NYE since I've turned 21, so now I can do everything without restrictions! This post will definitely be photo heavy.

Alcoholic slushie bar at Luxor, where I stayed for the weekend. Tony, Jim and I all got drinks there for NYE :)

I tried to play some slot machines, since my mom gave me some money to try them! It's not my first time playing but that day I lost $60 :(

Tony is a sneaky paparazzi and took pictures of me while I was putting my makeup on LOL I liked the mirror a lot in the room!

A bad closeup of what my makeup looked like on NYE

Jim and I on the escalators on the way to the Excalibur hotel. We had to go there in order to go outside for the NYE festivities.

We made it just before the fireworks started!

More fireworks!

There was a lot of trash in Vegas from the festivities, including this mess of confetti on the way back to the Luxor.

On New Years Day we decided to eat at Dom DeMarco's Pizzeria in West Las Vegas. It's the sister restaurant of DiFara Pizza in Brooklyn, NY, where I got to eat at over the summer. Jim and I also did our secret project☆

We got 2 large pies for the 3 of us! It fed us for both lunch and dinner so it was definitely worth getting both :)

Despite all of that pizza, we also got a cannoli to share! It was really delicious as well.

We went back to Jim's house where I got ready for the "secret project", and I love the lighting in his room!

Outfit details:
- Top: Vanquish
- Tank (underneath): Jennifer Lopez
- Shorts: Yumetenbo
- Tights: Kireiplaza
- Boots: Torrid (I switched these out for my Steve Madden boots later)

Really awesome lighting for my makeup shots! I wish I could replace the ugly lighting in my house for this LOL

Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Redness Correction: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub
- Foundation: Chanel Perfection Lumiere in 40 Beige
- Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
- Contour (face): NYX Liquid Makeup Contour
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: Diamond Blush in Apricot Pink

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Stila Prime Pot
- Eyeshadows: - Eyeshadows: Urban Decay Deluxe Eyeshadow in Underground (base), Buxom Stay-There Eyeshadow in Pug (lid), Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection in Ace (crease and bottom lid), Chase (above the crease) and Vanilla (brow highlight)
- Eyeliner: Dolly Wink Liquid Liner, NYX Slide-On Pencil in Jet Black
- Mascara: Benefit Cosmetics BAD gal Mascara
- Eyelashes: Diamond Lash Glamorous eye + Cats eye (top) and Sakurina Fairylash in Sexy eye (bottom)

Lips:
- Lipstick: MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2
- Lipgloss: MAC Lipglass in Lust

Closeup of my eye makeup

After Jim and I finished our project, we got back to the Luxor very late (around 4am) and Tony and I decided to play a bit of slots.

My very sleepy self being happy about my winnings! How much did I win?

$182! So not only did I win back the $60 that I lost, but I made more money from it :D

A shot of the hillside on the way back home.

sEpia memory's New Years 2012 Giveaway CLOSED

2011-12-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

As promised, here's a giveaway for the New Years!

Prizes:
- 2 Too Faced Shadow Insurance samples
- NYX Cosmetics Round Lipstick in Circe
- Sakurina's Fairy Lash in Bright Eye
- Josie Maran Argan Illuminator
- Decorative Eyelash Case

Closeup on prizes:

Swatches of the illuminator and lipstick:

Rules:
- You must be a follower on my blog via GFC.
- Open worldwide, so feel free to enter!
- Fill out the entry form. Please do not send the form more than once, if you need to change your entry please comment in this post.
- Previous giveaway winners are allowed to enter this giveaway.

Additional entries will be given out for posting on your blog or on the sidebar (+1), posting a comment on my YouTube vlog, re-blogging on Tumblr (+1) and mentioning on Twitter (+1), for a total of 5 entries possible.
YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMXOeaHiKKc
Tumblr link: http://dtan0914.tumblr.com/post/14943316125/use-this-post-to-re-blog-if-youre-entering-the
Twitter: Enter @dtan0914's New Years 2012 Giveaway here: http://tinyurl.com/d3yck8f

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>
Deadline: January 23rd, 2012 12:00PM PST

Day after Christmas at Disneyland! + Sephora buys

2011-12-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

Tony and I went to Disneyland yesterday since our friends Joel and Amanda came from out of town and wanted to go before they went home! It was apparently so crowded that they had to deny entrance to people for periods of time, since the park was at full capacity.
Tony brought the SLR so he took pictures, and I wanted to share!

Catching me off guard! We had to wait for Joel and Amanda outside since at that point they didn't allow anyone inside the park.

Outfit details:
Sweater: OBEY
Top: Lamb & Flag, this shirt was featured on The 2011 Vice Guide to Gift Giving!
Necklace: OBEY
Sunglasses: Forever 21
Shorts: Wet Seal
Tights: Kohl's
Boots: Torrid

Ducky face while eating lunch at Jazz Kitchen Express.

Scary!

We went on the monorail to get into the park, since the main entrance was really long and we were close-by.

We were fortunate to be at the front of the line, so we asked to be in the front cabin with the driver and got it! We got the nicest views :)

Matterhorn view from the monorail.

View of Tomorrowland from the monorail. There were so many people!

Cute reindeer sleeping <3

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! I have to work tomorrow for my internship but that's not too bad. I also thought my readers would like to know that Sephora has an extra 20% off sale merchandise on their website, I took advantage of this with the money I received from Christmas!
This is what I got:

Tarte for True Blood™ Limited-Edition Palette

I had been eying this since the summer! I have the Tarte for True Blood Cheek Stain which I absolutely love, so I wanted to get this really badly, especially because of all the extras (including the EmphasEYES liner, which is sold out in my area). It was put on sale and went out of stock quickly, so I thought I would never get it again but Sephora did indeed get more so I snatched it up when I saw it :D

Tokidoki Pittura Brush Set: 24 Karat Edition

Tomo and I have been talking about Tokidoki brushes lately and she suggested I get this set, so when I saw it on sale I had to snatch it up! I really enjoy their blush brush that I have from them so I'm excited to receive this. Even though I am trying to switch all my brushes to MAC in the future, I don't think it'd hurt to have others as well!

Buxom Stay-There Eyeshadow Palette

I received Buxom's Stay There Eyeshadow in Pug in the Sephora Favorites Glitz & Glam set (which I really recommend, it's on sale for $29 now!) and really liked it, so I decided to get this set as well. The formula is easy to work with, soft and lasts long. Also, how cute are the color names?!

Benefit Cosmetics Hervana

This wasn't on sale, but it's available online before stores receive this in January. I love the idea of mixing all of the colors to create one, plus I am becoming a big Benefit fan! I especially love their highlighters (Watt's Up is my current HG highlighter) and their creaseless cream eyeshadows.

Merry Christmas! + First vlog

2011-12-24T22:52:00.000-08:00

Hello to all of my lovelies! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! I spent Christmas Eve with my dad's family, and decided to create my first vlog:

It's nothing special for now, but it'll do! I also spent a lot of time making gyoza as well.

I hope to vlog more frequently, but we'll see how I do with school and work. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

LOTD 12/22/11

2011-12-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

Since I remembered to do a LOTD today, I wanted to post it all for you! :) Please excuse my chin, it's that time of the month so it's bound to have breakouts T_T I don't photoshop my pictures so what you see is what you get!

FOTD:

Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Redness Correction: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub
- Foundation: Chanel Perfection Lumiere in 40 Beige
- Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
- Contour (face): NYX Liquid Makeup Contour
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: Diamond Blush in Apricot Pink

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: Urban Decay Naked Palette in Sidecar (base), Smog (lid), Darkhorse (crease and under eyelid), Sin (inner corner highlight) and Virgin (brow highlight)
- Eyeliner: Dolly Wink Liquid Liner, Clinique Quickliner for Eyes in Really Black
- Mascara: Majolica Majorca Lash Enamel Glamour Volume On
- Eyelashes: Decorative Eyelash PLAYGIRL in Play Sexy #1 (top), Decorative Eyelash PLAYGIRL in Play Sexy #5 (bottom)

Lips:
- Lipstick: Tarte LipSurgence Natural Lip Tint in Swank

OOTD

Outfit details:
Jacket: OBEY
Top: Vanquish
Shorts: Wet Seal
Tights: Simply Vera Wang
Necklace: OBEY

I would like this picture more if it weren't blurry :(

Closeup on my necklace! I really like it a lot, OBEY always has really nice jewelry.

Speaking about OBEY, I started my internship for them yesterday! So far I'm helping out with photoshoots for their online store and catalogs, so I get to work with the models *_* It's a lot of meticulous work but so far I think I'm learning a lot and so happy to be part of the team. Everyone is so nice there!

Quick update and some announcements!

2011-12-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

I'm starting my internship today at OBEY Clothing, so I hope it goes well! I also worked at the sample sale over the weekend, but it was very busy and chaotic so I didn't get to take any pictures of myself. I looked great though, believe me!! :) Being that busy also helped me learn the art of putting on lashes in the car, which is definitely a good skill to have if you're busy LOL Obey posted a great blog post with pictures of the sale, so if you want to see if go here.
☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥
I see that people are still trying to enter the giveaway, but it ended over a month ago so stop trying please!! T_T
The 1st place winner was Nenacho and the 2nd place winner was Emmie!
A new giveaway will be coming shortly, so please wait for it :)
☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥☆★♥
Another announcement is that I got a webcam... so I will possibly start vlogging very soon! A lot of the entries for my giveaway asked for tutorials, which I will definitely accommodate and would love to do! I've only done one tutorial before, so hopefully with having the new webcam I'll be able to give you guys more :)

Rune Boutique World Debut Party 12/10/11

2011-12-11T01:36:00.000-08:00

Hi to all of my readers, new and old! I appreciate you guys bearing with me as I'm about to finish school for the semester. I will also be starting my internship at OBEY Clothing very soon as well, but I hope I will have enough time to blog for all of you lovelies ^^

I was able to take some time off to go to the Rune Boutique World Debut Party, especially to see Kyary!

First off, my FOTD~ You guys can also see that I did my hair! It was the first time using a curling iron wand, which was quite an experience LOL I will stick to my normal barrel curling irons ^^;;

Makeup details:
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Redness Correction: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub
- Foundation: Chanel Perfection Lumiere in 40 Beige
- Powder: Clinique Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Stay Honey
- Contour (face): NYX Liquid Makeup Contour
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: Diamond Blush in Honey Orange

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: Urban Decay Deluxe Eyeshadow in Underground (base), Buxom Stay-There Eyeshadow in Pug (lid), Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection in Ace (crease and bottom lid) and Vanilla (brow highlight)
- Eyeliner: Dolly Wink Liquid Liner, Eyemazing Cosmeline Pencil Liner
- Mascara: Benefit Cosmetics BAD gal Mascara
- Eyelashes: Eyemazing Harajuku Doll Series No. 503 (top) - of course I was going to wear Kyary lashes at her event!, Jewerich No. 3 (bottom)

Lips:
- Lipstick: MAC Viva Glam VI

I took some photos at the event as well. Tony and I got there much later than anticipated due to his car being stuck in the shop, but it was better in the long run because we made it at the same time as our friends! Sorry that some of the photos are blurry, my camera didn't want to cooperate with me :(

Some items in the Rune Boutique~

and of course the reason why almost everyone was there, to see Kyary!

and the last photo of the night! My gyaru imouto-chan Nicole and I taking a picture in front of one of the displays on the wall :) Also in case anyone noticed, I'm a bit skinnier since I've gone down about 15-20lbs since the summer!
Outfit breakdown:
- Trenchcoat: Yumetenbo
- Sweater: OBEY
- Skirt/Shorts: Yumetenbo
- Tights: No brand
- Boots: Steve Madden

Also thanks to Abbie for spotting me! It was great meeting you for the first time, but sorry it was very short! Hope everyone else who went to the event had fun as well~

(Advertisement) toddland warehouse sale 12/2-3 in Newport Beach, CA

2011-11-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry for me just disappearing! Right now I'm at the last few weeks of school and need to concentrate on maintaining my grades! I hope to blog more once I'm on break~

Important announcement: The giveaway winner has not answered my e-mails regarding her win, so I will be choosing a new winner soon.

But anyways there's another toddland sale happening this weekend, so please come if you are in the area!

♥ 3 Year Anniversary ♥

2011-11-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

Remember to join my giveaway! It is going on until November 11th! ONLY 2 MORE DAYS!!

Last Friday was my boyfriend Tony and I's 3rd anniversary together as a couple! I'm really happy to have found the right guy for me, and have a relationship where almost everything is mutual and so loving. I hope for many years to come with him!

But first off, I have to brag about the present he got for me!

I recently renewed my magazine subscription of allure magazine, and 2 samples of this foundation came in a print ad featured last month. I tried the foundation in shade 60 Beige but it was a tad bit dark, so my best friend and I got shade matched at the Chanel counter. Luckily during the month of October they were giving complimentary samples of this line of foundation after getting your free consultation! I am actually still using my samples (I got 3 packets and put them in a container), and I still have about 2 applications that I haven't used yet.

A great review of this foundation can be found on RAEview, definitely check it out if you're interested in this foundation!

In case you're wondering what I got for his present, I ordered him Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for 360! Got to indulge him in his nerdiness if he lets me be a makeup nerd :)

Here's my FOTD, you might recognize it from my post about the DollyEye G 307 Gothic 3 Tones Turquoise lenses.

We made reservations at Pizza e Vino, a very nice pizza restaurant in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. But before we got to the restaurant I decided to stop by Ulta and pick up Urban Decay eyeshadows in X and Lounge. I was very happy to see Angie (salon manager), who used to work at my local Ulta! I have known her for years and was really happy to catch up with her and talk about beauty products. We were actually talking for so long that we were almost late for our reservation! So I had to cut it short with her, but I'm sure I'll be back soon to talk with her :)

We were seated immediately since we had a reservation. They set us up at the counter, so it made it more special since we could see all the pizzas and food being made directly in front of us!

Garlic bread. It's actually more like pizza dough with a bunch of raw garlic on it. It was very good but not very good for kissing breath!

Tony's pizza, which was a red sauce based pizza with sausage and red pepper flakes. I can't really eat too much spicy food anymore due to my acid problems, so he had to finish this off himself!

My pizza, which was a traditional Margherita pizza. It was soo good!

To finish off our lovely dinner, we got handmade cannolis! I got mine in chocolate, it was very decadent!

Pizza e Vino is a great restaurant to go to for a date night. Make reservations if you're planning to go on a weekend dinner night, since they are usually full and run out of food quickly! If you're in OC you should definitely make the trip over with your loved one. Lovely service and amazing food!

and my outfit, since I actually remembered to take a picture of it LOL
Trenchcoat: Yumetenbo
Top: Vanquish
Skirt: Charlotte Russe
Boots: Torrid
Purse: Yumetenbo

Circle lens review: DollyEye G 307 Gothic 3 Tones in Turquoise (sponsored by Lens Village)

2011-11-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

Remember to join my giveaway! It is going on until November 11th!

It's been a year since I started wearing circle lenses, so I knew it was time to start getting new lenses as my current ones start expiring. I have been keeping an eye out on these lenses for an extremely long time, since I liked the idea of turquoise colored lenses! Lens Village kindly decided to sponsor me, so I picked these lenses to review.

DollyEye Gothic 3tones Turquoise
Power Available : 0.00 to -10.00
Life Span : 1 Year
Diameter : 14.5mm
Origin : Korea

Up close of the lens taken with flash. I think the color is so lovely, but the outer ring isn't quite as bold as I'm used to!

Here's me wearing them in one eye. You can see that the enlargement is significant but not too unnatural at the same time.

Wearing them in both eyes. I love that the pupil hole is on the smaller side, so you can't see my natural eye color! It makes it look a lot more natural.

Wearing both lenses with full makeup. I love that I can use these lenses with heavy makeup and then if I wanted to, I can wear it with very light makeup.

Here's my full FOTD. You can see that in the light the color of the lenses are quite striking and very pretty!
Face:
- Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Skin
- Foundation: Chanel Perfection Lumiere in 40 Beige
- Powder: Clinique Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Stay Honey
- Contour (face): NYX Liquid Makeup Contour
- Contour (nose): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Ash)
- Highlight: Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up!
- Blush: Diamond Blush in Honey Orange

Eyes:
- Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash (Taupe), Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Eyeshadows: Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV [Midnight Cowgirl (brow highlight), Lost (lid), Midnight Rodeo, Bust, Missionary (crease), Sin (inner corner and highlight)]
- Eyeliner: Momoeri Long Beam Liquid Liner, Eyemazing Cosmeline Pencil Liner
- Mascara: Majolica Majorca Lash Enamel Glamour Volume On
- Eyelashes: Diamond Lash Glamorous eye (top), Jewerich No. 3 (bottom)

Lips:
- SEPHORA COLLECTION Lush Flush Lip & Cheek Stain in 02 Pinot

Review:
Pros:
- Beautiful, unique color.
- Natural looking but at the same time can be dramatic.
- Pupil hole is small in comparison to other lenses, so your real eye color won't be noticeable.
- Super comfortable, the first lenses I've worn in awhile where I don't need to use eye drops to re-wet them!
- Very prompt communication with Lens Village, and a quick shipping receiving time.

Cons:
- Outer ring isn't bold.
- Doesn't come in my prescription. I'm -1.00 and -0.50 but they only make lenses in .25 steps starting from -1.25 :( So I'm wearing these in plano but they haven't really had a bad effect on me.

Overall:
These lenses are a beautiful and unique color for lenses, since there aren't that many that come in turquoise. They look very natural, but can also enhance very dramatic looks as well. They are very comfortable, some of the first lenses in awhile where I don't need to use eye drops in order to wear them! I only wish that they would come in my prescription, but otherwise everything else was great. Lens Village really cares about quick responses and good communication!

You want these lenses? Get them at Lens Village!
With lots of deals on an incredibly large selection, you don't want to pass them up!

New Decorative Eyelash Series: PLAYGIRL featuring Emi Suzuki

2011-11-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

Remember to join my giveaway! It is going on until November 11th!

Decorative Eyelash is created by SHO-BI, who also creates a line that you might have heard of... Diamond Lash! I believe that Decorative Eyelash came out first and was filled with lots of simple lashes. Like their Diamond Lash cousins, they come with 5 pairs in a pack and retail for 1050yen.

SHO-BI decided to create a new series for Decorative Eyelash called PLAYGIRL, featuring Seventeen and PINKY magazine model Emi Suzuki. These lashes are more suited for a gyaru lifestyle, but are also made so they're not exclusive to the style. There's 12 new styles of lashes all together.

PLAY CUTE
Made for people who are new to eyelashes. They give you a very natural look.

These remind me a lot of Diamond Lash's Dolly eye from the First series.

These are very similar to Diamond Lash's Fairy eye, but with the volume centered in the middle instead of the corner.

Kind of similar to Diamond Lash's Beauty eye, but it looks like they're a bit shorter.

A cute lower lash that is similar to Diamond Lash's Model eye, except the segments are bigger. This way it makes it easier for people to wear them!

PLAY COOL
These are to make your eyes look sharp and cool, with a mix of straight and accented volume.

These might look similar to Diamond Lash's Glamorous eye, but I think it actually looks more like Eyemazing No. 001! They are much shorter than Glamorous eye, since it still needs to be wearable for more casual users.

Decorative Eyelash makes great accent lashes (my best friend who's not gyaru LOVES them), and they don't disappoint with this new one.

A cute lower eyelash that's supposed to mimic the look of people who are half-Japanese and half-Western.

PLAY SEXY
For those who are more advanced users of eyelashes. These will make your eyes look very sexy!

This eyelash seems to be one of the most unique ones to this line. I love the fullness of it but the concentrate volume as well near the center.

A longer and more full version of Diamond Lash's Dolly eye.

A eyelash that would look great with circle lenses and sultry brown eye makeup!

A lower eyelash that has a mix of bold and full strands. While it's supposed to be natural it is also bold!

Reminds me of a more full version of Diamond Lash's Baby eye mixed with Princess eye.

These lashes come with 5 pairs per pack for 1050yen. They are currently only available at Sony Plaza, Loft and Rosemary stores in Japan. Hopefully they'll be available online soon, I want them very badly! I definitely want to try all of the lower lashes!

NYX at Nordstrom, review of NYX Cream Shadows

2011-11-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Remember to join my giveaway! It is going on until November 11th!

Nordstrom is a high-end department store in the US, so I was surprised when NYX made a post saying they were going to be stocked at one of my local ones! To be honest I was very hesitant and didn't believe it, so I went to their Juniors department and found a makeup display. One side was stila, the other side was Too Faced. On the sides of the main display is where you'll find NYX, Pop Beauty and Sula.

The associate at the store said they only just got this entire makeup display in very recently, so they don't have a lot. I could tell they were very new, because you could even tell that some of the testers haven't been used yet! It was nice to see a makeup display so pristine.
Unfortunately they don't have too much NYX yet, since they're testing how it sells at this store. Luckily they did have a brand new NYX product that's not even on their website yet: Cream Shadow.
There were only a few shades available, probably about 6 total. There were 4 neutrals, a blue color and a purple. I picked up 3 of the neutrals thinking they would be available online, but they aren't so I'm going to go back soon to pick up the rest! They're only $5 each!

My beauties♥

The shade that doesn't have a sticker on the bottom is CRS05 (found on the bar code).

The cream shadows come with a wand applicator, similar to a lipgloss.

Swatches! Top to bottom: CRS10, CRS05, CRS01. CRS01 and CRS05 remind me of Benefit's Moonbeam and Highbeam. So those would definitely be a great alternative to those highlighters if you're pinching for pennies!

These cream shadows are highly pigmented, these swatches have no primer! While these shadows take awhile to dry, I think it's a good thing because you can mix shades together to make a new color! You can see the swatches on the side, I mixed 2 shades together for each one and think they're also very pretty :)
If you don't want to apply directly onto your lids with the wand applicator, I recommend swatching first on your hand and then use your fingers to apply it.

Pros:
- Highly pigmented!
- Shades are really pretty. I love the shimmer of them!
- Great value at $5 each.
- Amazing staying power. I washed my hands and it stayed on, without primer!

Cons:
- Takes awhile to dry (but can be a pro if you know how to use it effectively!)
- A bit difficult to apply with the wand.
- Not a lot of shades available.
- Not widely available. Only can get them at select Nordstrom stores.

400 followers!

2011-11-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

Not a real post, but I just wanted to say a very sincere thank you to my followers! When I first started I was excited just to have a few followers, but now that it's over 400 followers it's hard to believe.

Remember to join my giveaway that's currently going on until 11/11! I have a mini giveaway that's going to be coming up right after that~

I have been reading the comments that everyone that has entered submitted. I appreciate everything you have all said to me, and will take note about what to post more of in the future :)

Review: Decolog Who's Rich Eyelashes

2011-10-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Remember to join my giveaway! It is going on until November 11th!

I bought these recently while I was up in LA a few weeks ago, which you can see in this post. Sara Mari also has done a review of them recently as well. I usually don't like lashes that are this style (very "furry", to look more natural and full), but I don't know what made me get them. But they were definitely worth a try!

A bit of a closeup on them. They're furry all throughout the lashes, but more defined on the second half of them to give a bit more of a dolly look.

The lash try outside of the packaging. I don't like the tray at all because the lashes are so long and the tray is so small that the packaging hits the tray and squishes the lashes if you aren't careful.

As you can see, I wasn't careful about it and damaged 2 of the lashes. Hopefully I can salvage them in the future but it's really disappointing!

My eye without lashes. Like in the last eyelash review, I'm wearing the new NYX Cream shadows!

Top lashes on, as you can see, they're very full and long!

With top and bottom lashes on. The bottom lashes are Eyemazing No. 202 dupes. I think it's definitely important to balance these lashes out with bottom lashes, or else they look too heavy.

Here's a look I did with these lashes in a previous post. As you can see, these lashes are wonderful if you're doing heavy makeup! Not very good for those who like more neutral/natural makeup.

Overall:
These lashes are very soft and flexible, meaning they can adjust to anyone's eyes. They are very long, so they should be able to fit most eyes. Like the "Rich" title they have, they are very rich and full of volume and are heavy. They don't look good on their own, but can be paired wonderfully with some heavy/smokey eye makeup. They are an extremely good value and are made by Ginza Cosmetics Labo, who also make the Eyemazing brand. They retail at 1260yen/pack with 5 pairs of lashes.

Where to buy this?
Pinky Paradise
Shoppingholics
La Primavera

Review: Eyemazing No. 002 Eyelashes

2011-10-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

Remember to join my giveaway! It is going on until November 11th!

I'm a big fan of Jun Komori and her Eyemazing line, so I thought it would be appropriate to do a review! I am kind of ashamed actually I haven't tried these earlier, since Eyemazing No. 003 were one of my first pairs of lashes!

Here's a closer look at the lashes. They're supposed to be more of a Western style, which is why they're more full. If you want to complete her look, use Eyemazing No. 002 and Eyemazing No. 202 while wearing Max Pure Brown lenses.

Here's an easy way to get the lashes out of the pan: Gently bend the edge of the pan like shown and then take out the lashes starting at the end of the lash spine.

My eye without lashes. I'm using the brand new Cream Shadows by NYX, which are new for the fall. They're not available yet online, but I'll give you more info on where to buy them in the US in an upcoming post!

My eye with the lashes on, no bottom lashes. You can see how big they open my eyes already!

My eye with bottom lashes applied, which are a dupe for Eyemazing No. 202 (I ran out and would rather buy the dupe!)

Overall:
The length on these lashes are perfect for me, so they're suitable for small eyes. People with bigger eyes might have issues with the length. I love that these already have a good curl on them, because I find most Eyemazing lashes are lacking in that department. Although they are quite shiny and look super fake in the pan compared to other Eyemazing styles, they don't affect the look when worn. Price-wise I think it's good, they retail for 1260yen/pack that comes with 3 pairs. I can see these getting a lot of wears in a pair, so I definitely think they're a good value!

Where to buy this?
PinkyParadise
Shoppingholics
iMomoko
La Primavera (ships overseas)
Ichibankao

Halloween haunt FOTD makeup (10/14+21) and Sephora gets!

2011-10-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

Remember to join my giveaway! It is going on until November 11th!

I'm sorry I haven't been doing a lot again, I lost my camera charger and was running on very low battery! But luckily I found it now so I can take pictures for reviews and tutorials in the future. :)

The last 2 weeks I went to Halloween haunts, one at Knott's Berry Farm and the other at Universal Studios per usual yearly tradition for me :) I met Tony while going with a group of friends to the Halloween Haunt at Knott's 3 years ago, and they helped us become really close and eventually got together. So they really do mean a lot to me for that sentimental value :') Since my battery was low on my camera I just took FOTD shots for the most part.

I did my eye makeup a lot different, since I wanted to be a bit more sultry for night time.

10/14 - Knott's

I tried out my new Decolog Rich eyelash that I got at Cosmeland from my last post. I like them a lot more that I thought I would, I'll definitely do a proper review of these in the future. My face primer, eyeshadow and blush were from dodo cosmetics and my lipstick was NYX Round Lipstick in Peach, which were items I got from my last post as well. It was definitely a day to test new items!

Before Tony and I left we decided to grab dinner at my old high school, since they had a food truck fundraiser there. I really wish I could eat more from food trucks more since I found out I can't really eat fast food anymore (I'm sensitive and throw up :x, but I guess it's for the better). I spend all my money on makeup now so there goes my food budget LOL

I opted for Dos Chinos's Hollywood Chicken papas (fries). Their Hollywood Chicken is a Thai yellow curry, really yummy! Tony got the stoner burrito (secret menu item) and this one girl next to us was eying his burrito the whole time he was eating it lol

The Lime Truck was there as well, which is still my favorite truck! It's hard to get their food now though since they won The Great Food Truck Race, they have crazy lines/mobs like this. T_T Although I am very happy that Daniel is succeeding very well, keep up the amazing work!

So I guess some helpful hints if you want to be not scared at a Halloween haunt: don't cling on tight to your partner/friends, don't wear something outlandish or just look scared in general. I bought this amazing jacket from Forever 21 the week before, it's all sequins *_*

...and because of it many of the actors came up to me because of how shiny I was! haha But it was fine though since I'm not usually scared at the Knott's Halloween Haunt (Universal though is a different story...)

10/21 - Universal

I have been wearing a lot of neutrals as of recent so I wanted to add some color into my makeup. I decided on making full use of my Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV by using shadows in Cobra (lid), Baked (crease), Hijack (crease) and a bit of Gunmetal (dusting on the lid plus on my bottom lid). I also used the liner and mascara that came with the palette, but I didn't like them as much as my usual products (either Dolly Wink, Momoeri or MSH Love Liner and Majolica Majorca Lash Enamel Glamor Volume On). I also used Eyemazing No. 002 on top (Diamond Lash Baby eye on bottom), which I want to do a review on in the future as well. I love love love them and wish I had tried them before LOL I'm also wearing Benefit's new Watt's Up highlighter, which I love a lot so far :)

If you live in Southern California or the Orlando, FL area, I definitely recommend that you HAVE to go to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. Since they have the film rights to most of the famous horror movies, they always have the best mazes, production values and actors. They really love what they do and you'll be terrified there. It's expensive but worth it!

10/22
I went shopping with Alice (the bff) as per usual. Although I made an order online with Sephora for their Friends & Family Sale 2011 (definitely do this if you're in the US), Alice wanted to get some skincare items and to get the special weekend-only 100 point philosophy gift. I picked up Benefit's Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in Busy Signal and Tokidoki's Siberia Blush Brush, and got the 500 point gift of a Tarte sampler set. It came with their ReCreate Primer, Smooth Operator illuminating serum (highlighter), multiplEYE primer and mascara, Mineral bronzer and 24.7 Lip sheer. I really like the bronzer so far, it has a pretty shimmer and blends pretty flawlessly into my skin.

The samples of the Chanel foundation I actually got at Nordstrom, but I thought I would put it in this picture since it's makeup as well. If you want to treat yourself to a really expensive and luxurious foundation, the Perfection Lumiere foundation is AMAZING. I got a sample from one of my issues of allure but wanted to get shade matched since the one I had was just a tad bit too dark. Alice and I both went to get shade matched for foundation, and the makeup artist flawlessly applied the foundation and our faces looked airbrushed!
I'm very excited to get the full bottle in the future (Tony is buying it for my 3rd year anniversary present), but for now I'm milking out the free samples they're giving out through the month of October. It's a month long campaign at Chanel makeup counters, just get shade matched by one of their makeup artists and come home with samples to make sure you want to commit to buying it! They're a hefty investment at $55/bottle, so definitely sample it out.

Shopping excursion on my day off in LA

2011-10-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

Remember to join my giveaway! It is going on until November 11th!

I had a rare day off yesterday and today due to it being semester break, so Tony and I decided to take the day off and go shopping in LA! Although LA isn't too far from me, it just takes a lot of time to go up there because of parking, shopping and traffic.

This post will be very pic heavy.

It was super hot that day, so I decided to go a bit lighter/more natural on my makeup.

We went up to Little Tokyo first, since I wanted to go to the Marukai Kawaii store. We ate first though, I wanted to go to Chin-Ma-Ya but we ended up at Orochon Ramen instead since Chin-Ma-Ya was closed to prep for dinner. :( Orochon is famous for their spicy ramen, which is on a scale of 1-7 (lowest being most spicy and highest being non-spicy) and an additional 2 specials, which are off the scale spicy! They have been featured for the Wall of Bravery, where you'd have to finish a Special #2 bowl in 30 minutes. I wasn't going to do that!

Tony got regular #2 with shoyu broth and added menma to it. He said it was super spicy, I did not try any LOL

I got #5 Osae with miso broth, added chashu, egg and corn. This was too spicy for me (it's supposed to be mild) and I felt silly! lol

So I went to the Marukai Kawaii store, and they have changed the arrangement a bit!

Diamond Lash section along with Melliesh eyelid tape. There's a shortage of Glamorous eye apparently in SoCal!

Dolly Wink along with Mori Girl, a discount brand of lashes.

A shot of the makeup corner from the other side of the store.

While walking back to the car, I saw this cool OBEY clothing window. I'm doing my internship there next semester and work their warehouse sales!

We then drove to San Gabriel, to go to Takashima. Here's the address for the store:
220 W Valley Blvd
Ste 108
San Gabriel, CA 91776

I was excited when I saw the Diamond Lash promo pictures, but there was 0 Diamond Lash brand ANYTHING in the store! Such false advertisement! But I did enjoy their selection of Barbie and dodo cosmetics. The dodo cosmetics especially were a good surprise, they were marked down a lot and I got amazing deals on them. I remember them from Donki stores in Japan and I know some models use their products as well, so for $2.95 for eyeshadows I am definitely going to get them!
Lemme give you guys a huge rant about this store. They have an online store that showed they had new the newer Diamond Lash trays along with the limited edition Diamond Beauty Cream series, and the site said the items would be located at the San Gabriel store. So of course I went there looking for those items along with Jewerich lashes, since I'm running low on them.
I asked the associates working there if they had any... THEY HAD NO CLUE WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT! When I asked about Jewerich lashes (mind you, they still had a Jewerich eyelash glue on sale), they had no idea what Jewerich was and asked if I meant Diamond Lash instead... of course I know what I'm talking about, it's obvious you don't know what you're talking about!! They said the summer series stuff would be coming in "soon", I asked how soon and they said "I don't know"... Seriously? After looking around the store more I picked up some things and had to wait for the associates to finish up a conversation they were having with each other for them to acknowledge that I was there!
I have encountered really rude service before, but this was near the top of my list of worst experiences. It's unfortunate they have some good stuff there (like Candy Doll and Melliesh items... which were practically almost all gone at that point).

Afterwords you can imagine how pissed I was, so I went to somewhere I knew would be great: Cosmeland!
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures there, since I was chatting with the associate. She was really fun and knew what she was talking about, and I was very impressed with her knowledge! I told her about how I went to the Takashima in San Gabriel and she knew what I was talking about, she said they have a reputation for being really rude and exclusive for Chinese customers. :( Which is unfortunate because they have GREAT products and should really make it available for other people. Cosmeland has taken a great business route and put themselves in a very busy shopping mall near stores like Forever 21, so they market themselves for everyone, not just one segment of people.
They have the whole line of Eyemazing Lashes and Decolog lashes for $18 each pack, which is incredibly reasonable since it's instant gratification.
Cosmeland's address:
1600 S Azusa Ave
#246
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

I went back to Takashima in Rowland Heights after Cosmeland since they were down the road. I went there previously last week after a friends birthday party. It was super crowded at that time so I wanted to go again when there weren't so many people oogling Dolly Wink lashes -_-
Address:
18463 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Here's there very pretty display of Eyemazing and D-UP lashes! You can also see that they have Luminous Change there as well, including No. 5 which I reviewed in a previous post :)
The one associate that was working here last night was much better than all of the associates at the San Gabriel store COMBINED! She held onto my stuff while I was looking for more items and was generally very helpful. The associate at Cosmeland said that this store is a lot more relaxed than the SG one, which I definitely agree with!

Now here's what you guys probably all want to see, my gets!

Decolog eyelashes in Rich, Eyemazing Super Fit (glue), Eyemazing #503 (Cat eye), NYX Round Lipsticks in Peach, Sunflower and Tea, Dodo eyeshadow (2 of them), Pearl makeup base and Fun Fun cheek in Pearl Orange.

Here's swatches for the NYX lipsticks :)

Review: Luminous Change No. 05 Eyelashes

2011-10-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

Remember to join my giveaway! It is going on until November 11th!

I am so backed up on reviews due to school commitments, but I have some time now to post a review! I am reviewing Luminous Change Eyelash in No. 5, which I bought hoping it would be a dupe for Jewerich No. 2. Some people used keywords on my blog hoping it was a dupe for Diamond Lash Glamorous eye. So is it?

Here's a direct comparison between some similar lashes. You can see that the straight strips aren't quite as wide as the others, but it has a similar length to Eyemazing No. 001.

This is me without any lashes, just my eye makeup.

Eyebrows: NYX Eyebrow Palette and Diamond Eyebrow Concealer in Chocolate Brown
Eyeshadows: Urban Decay's Midnight Cowgirl (brow highlight), Lost (base and bottom eyelid), Sin (crease) from the Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV and Estee Lauder's Double Wear Stay-In-Place ShadowCreme in Cafe au Lait (base).
Liners: Dolly Wink Liquid Liner on top and Sana Quick Shadowliner EX on bottom.

With only the top lashes:

With both the top lashes and bottom lashes (Luminous Change No. 09):

Overall I don't think it's a real dupe for anything, but the lash itself is still very pretty! The length is perfect, you don't have to cut any excess off or tuck the excess in corners. The curl on it is really nice and they're fairly comfortable. I think they can be glamorous but also still natural enough for normal everyday wear.

These retail for 1,155yen for 5 pairs.

Where to buy this?
La Primavera (ships overseas):
Pretty Point

I've been racking my brain for months. What is a GFC name? I've even googled it but I keep getting stuff like 'Global Financial Crisis ' or 'Gorilla Football Collective'.. Lol

2011-10-01T17:44:00.001-07:00

Google Friend Connect! It's your ID you use when you subscribe/follow different blogs on blogger :)

Ask me anything

sEpia memory's 1st Year Anniversary Giveaway CLOSED

2011-10-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to say I've been blogging for pretty close to a year already, so I would love to give thanks to all of my readers for the past year! To show my appreciation I would love to offer up this giveaway, which contains prizes for 2 winners!
Disclaimer: None of these products were sponsored, they were all paid by me.

1st Prize:
- EGOIST bag from Edge Style magazine
- Gazen ParaPara!! presents Galpara CD
- Diamond Lash Ladies Glamorous Series in Angel eye
- Dolly Wink Eyeshadow in 01 Brown
- Sephora Smoothing Primer
- IPKN Blossom Moisture Kit 4 Sample

Closeups on items:

Dolly Wink Eyeshadow in 01 Brown and Diamond Lash Ladies Glamorous Series in Angel eye

IPKN Blossom Moisture Kit 4 Sample and Sephora Smoothing Primer

Gazen ParaPara!! presents Galpara, a nonstop ParaPara CD that was produced by 9LoveJ. Includes very popular ParaPara songs including Ai no Tokyo Call, Tsunami Comes, Funky Funlover and Black UFO. This CD has Eurobeat, Hyper Techno and Dance Pop on it. For the full tracklist, click here.

Let's not forget, there's a prize for second place as well :D
2nd Prize:
- $15 worth of makeup from nyxcosmetics.com of your choice!
The winner of this prize will be contacted once chosen. They will then send me their choices of products to pick, up to $15 in value.

Rules:
- You must be a follower on my blog via GFC.
- Open worldwide, so feel free to enter!
- Fill out the entry form. Please do not send the form more than once, if you need to change your entry please comment in this post.
- Previous giveaway winners are allowed to enter this giveaway.

Additional entries will be given out for posting on your blog or on the sidebar (+1), re-blogging on Tumblr (+1) and mentioning on Twitter (+1), for a total of 4 entries possible.
Tumblr link: http://dtan0914.tumblr.com/post/10880893353/sepia-memorys-1st-year-anniversary-giveaway
Twitter: Enter @dtan0914's 1st Year Anniversary Giveaway here: http://tinyurl.com/4xwgsmy

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Deadline: November 11th, 2011 11:11AM PST (see the trend? haha)

Joe Jonas 9/21/11 & Demi Lovato 9/23/11

2011-09-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

I had a busy week with not only school, but I went to 2 general admission concerts pretty much back-to-back! It was intense but it was tons of fun, especially since I could enjoy all of this with my best friend in the world ♥

9/21/11
The Joe Jonas show was a big deal, because I had actually won meet & greet for it! I was really excited, especially when they allowed me to bring one guest. So I took my best friend, even though I felt bad because my friend Billy also came with us!
So Alice and I got to the venue at 3:30 and luckily the line wasn't too long. Our M&G e-mail said to pick up our wristbands "after 3", but it was really unorganized in regards to that so it was really unfortunate. After a bit of waiting Billy came and we hung out for a bit :) Around 5pm we decided to go wait in the front for our M&G wristbands. That wait went past 6... which is over 3 hours after the original time! We did eventually get our passes, and got to meet him :)

But before our picture with him, some camwhore pictures since we both looked pretty cute lol

Doing a duckface since Alice was trying to "learn" how to do it. I can do them on command!

A two-shot of us :) This one is okay, but Alice needs to improve on her camwhore skills!

I took this shot of us, definitely a much better angle 8D I love our makeup with the contrast in this picture!

Finally our meet & greet picture!!

It was taken on the roof of the Fox Theater, which is an awesome place. I actually went to a show on the roof of the venue previously so I recognized it. Alice and I both got to cop some feels of Joe's back, very sexy ;) lolol

Some pictures:

Here's the music video for Joe's single "See No More":

9/23/11
I was really excited for Demi's show, since I haven't seen her since the Camp Rock 2 Tour! That's the same tour that she left during the international leg due to her emotional issues, which is when she went to rehab. I love this girl so much, so I will continue to support her 100%!
Unfortunately we (Alice & I) left a little bit late, so we were cut off from early entrance line by 10 people!! Sooooo pissed about that. On top of that security refused to let us sit down in line, so we were standing from 4pm-10pm without any breaks... They said it was a "fire hazard", which made no sense because we were blocked off on the side of the building and not in anyone's way. We found out as we got in that it didn't even matter that much because they actually had separate pit tickets from general admission. I've gone to my fair share of Demi shows (seen her a total of 13 times now), and this was probably the furthest I've been from her. I was kind of unamused, but I guess I'm pretty spoiled when it comes to seeing her.
Since I mentioned I've gone to my fair share of Demi/Disney-related shows, let me tell you. This has been the BITCHIEST crowd I've ever come across! Girls were claiming I was making their friend uncomfortable and "hitting" her, bitch please! You don't go to a general admission DISNEY show for comfort, room or space! Those bitches later kept stepping on my feet and hitting me, what a bunch of hypocrites. :'( If you are the girls that told me off and are reading this, please kindly go fuck off!! Although I do have to give kudos to the girl that was in front of me, she was worried Alice and I weren't going to be able to see! She moved with her friend a bit to the side after a song so the rest of the night Alice and I were able to watch the show :D Many thanks to her!

Other than that, Demi put on a great show! It was crazy that she put in so much work for only 2 shows (the other one was last week in NYC). She had a whole stage set up with dancers and still played guitar and piano, with little bits of a stage play/Broadway feel to it as well. I was not disappointed with her performance at all, and she looked so happy being on stage again. During her song "Skyscraper" a bunch of fans from the pit put up signs of encouragement for Demi, and she started crying after she was done because she was overwhelmed with the love that was given to her. :D

Pictures!

She got really close to us at the end of the night, I don't think I used zoom for this picture. Unfortunately we got pushed and I felt like I was butt-raping a bunch of people :'(

I'll leave you all with Demi's music video for "Skyscraper":

22nd birthday~

2011-09-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

It was my 22nd birthday on the 14th, where I celebrated my birthday at Memphis Cafe! I got my hair done earlier that day after school so I could look my best☆

Outfit:
Top: Vanquish
Skirt: Forever 21
Shoes: Delyle

Here's some makeup pictures of me, the lighting in my house is pretty terrible at night so sorry if they look bad.

For my eyes I used SMH's In a bind and MAC's Knight Divine and NYX's Black Label Lipstick in Chakra on my lips for a more glamorous look. Somewhat inspired by Nicole Abe's look in this post.

I forgot to take pictures of most of my food since it's really dark at Memphis Cafe, but we all ordered a bunch of small appetizers since they were $5 each! Such a good deal for great quality food. I personally had an order of mussels and clams and shared a flatbread with my boyfriend.

I did remember to take a picture of the dessert we shared though, a chocolate and banana bread pudding! It was super delicious~

Yesterday I met up with my boyfriend to have Grill 'Em All, since they made a rare appearance in OC at the OC Fairgrounds.
Do you guys know who Master Roshi from DBZ is?

Well I found the IRL Master Roshi eating from food trucks!! He may actually have hair on his head but other than that he is pretty much 100% uncanny!

Later that night my friends and I decided to go back to Memphis Cafe LOL They have really good late night deals on Wednesdays and Thursdays so this will most likely become a normal hangout for us to go to.

The Thursday deal was 50% off of their famous buttermilk fried chicken, which usually costs $17.50! It came with the chicken, mustard greens and mashed potatoes. I ate pretty much that whole plate and would've licked it too if I could...

Next week is going to be busy, because I'm going to LA 3 days in a row (Wednesday-Friday)! I have to catch up on eyelash orders but please know that I haven't forgotten about them!!

The past week~

2011-09-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

I've started school up again and officially in Business school! So I will definitely be busy through out the next year or so, but I'll do my best to keep blogging.

Last weekend I babysat and house sat in the South Bay (LA) for one of my dearest friends, Bree! She had to go out of town for a wedding so Tony (bf) and I babysat her lovely corgi named Belle :D We've been visiting them a lot for the past month or so because Belle is hard to get warmed up to, but eventually she was comfortable enough with us to show us love ^^

Belle's mommy gave us a new toy to give her, a hedgehog with a witch hat! She loved it and wanted to hide it from us :D

Trying to get a picture of my makeup that day, but it was really sunny outside so you can only see shadows! I went to Mitsuwa and Marukai to try to meet up with Abbie, but it didn't work out in the end because of time constraints. So sorry about that! Next time, bb :)

Belle and Tony playing on Bree's parents bed. She made us play and be lazy with her there :)

Belle with a funny face! She decided to sleep with us on the last night and I woke up to this next to me LOL Tony took this picture while I was sleeping still. That's my hand next to her lol

On Tuesday my bff Alice and I went up to Hollywood. She had tickets for Jimmy Kimmel since she wanted to see Elijah Wood.
Alice was worried about my outfit that day (originally wearing a t-shirt with rhinestone studded shorts lol) not being appropriate for Jimmy Kimmel, so we went to Forever 21 before trying to go to the show.

This is an outfit I picked out reluctantly, but it actually looked pretty good so I bought it! Luckily it was very cheap :D

Wearing the original shirt I was wearing with the skirt. I thought they looked good together too~

After leaving Forever 21 she checked her e-mail and saw that very last minute (1pm to be exact) they changed the scheduling and Elijah's appearance was canceled. She was very mopey about it so we decided to get ice cream at the Disney Soda Fountain!

My soda float with my Mickey Mouse shaped waffles. They're very yummy! She got an ice cream sundae.

We did more retail therapy at Sephora, where I picked up a couple of things. The store was huge but a lot of the popular items were sold out since it's a tourist destination (off of Hollywood/Highland). I felt bad for the associates since they were bored because it was a Tuesday, but we had fun talking to them!
We also stopped by in the MAC store, since Alice wanted to get their eyeshadow in Satin Taupe. Unfortunately it was sold out :(

Deciding on where to eat for dinner, I decided on Grill 'Em All since they were going to be in Echo Park that day. Echo Park is on the way home and not too far from where we were~

I believe this is the original truck (they have 2). They were parked in front of Walgreens and had no line! I was really happy about that because they usually have a 1+ hour line whenever they come down to OC. I got my usual Molly Hatchet with added onions and they told me I was crazy for wanting to wait in the long OC lines when they are in my area lol

Whenever I'm not doing homework and at my bf's place I repackage underwear for the company that he works for, toddland. I actually kind of think it's fun! These are going to be going to Urban Outfitters stores so maybe you'll see my repackaging skills there in the near future.

So, here's some of my recent gets from the last week or so!

From Sephora: Philosophy Beauty Insider Vanilla Birthday Cake bath gel, DUO Eyelash glue (because my other tubes started to separate, ewwww), Sephora Mineral Foundation in Tan 36 and Sephora Ultra Vinyl Lip Pencil in Sweet Beige.
From Ulta: OPI Nail Polish in It's My Year, Seche Vite Top Coat and Too Faced Shadow Insurance. I hope Shadow Insurance is really good, because my bottles of Urban Decay Primer Potion keep chipping at the bottom and dry out! If it's good I won't have to buy another bottle of UDPP~

If you have an Ulta store by you, be sure to visit them this month for their 21 Days of Beauty events! I got my Shadow Insurance for 50% at $9, which is an amazing deal. They have a special beauty deal of the day and I will be hitting them up for their Philosophy Purity Wipes deal tomorrow (9/12) and their free Urban Decay Marshmallow Body Powder deal on 9/17, where I plan on buying my Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV. I can't believe I'll be at Ulta 3x this week, since I'm getting my hair done for my birthday there on Wednesday as well!

Last are my gets from MAC, which is their eyeshadows in Knight Divine and Steamy. I don't have any colors really like them so I'm glad I can add them to my collection~

Photo dump from July

2011-08-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

I took a lot of pictures in July that I meant to share here, so here goes!

My friend Jim (ZYX) came to visit for a week because of the ParaPara panel we held at AX. His aunt lives in SGV now so we went up there to meet with them and go to Round 1 for purikura. We also ate at Yukino-ya Ramen as usual!

We took these after the 4th of July weekend, which was terrible in Newport Beach. Hence why we said "Fuck Newport" lol

There was a brand new Forever 21 that opened at one of my local malls, South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA. It shares space with Sears but is separate from it, with entrances inside and outside the mall.

The layout of the store reminded me of a floor in Shibuya 109, with each sub-brand getting their own space!

A view of some clothing racks with cosmetics and accessories in the center.

Clothing racks in the middle of the store and you can see how sub-brands and different styles of clothes are in their own spaces.

A view of some of the shoe displays along with another view of the store.

Sometime in the month I decided to go on a GNO (Girls Night Out) with my friends to LA's Little Tokyo. We wanted to go to Manekineko in the Japanese Village Plaza for their NYX goods, but we wandered off to Weller Court for food and saw this...

Marukai (a Japanese supermarket here) opened a store called "Marukai Kawaii". It's filled with Hello Kitty items, stationary, etc and...

Dolly Wink and Diamond Lash with a huge NYX Cosmetics display! They had most of the items that Manekineko didn't have, including the HD line and Tango bronzers. They also had a line of budget eyelashes called "Mori Girl", which I've been wanting to try for a very long time.

For dinner we decided to eat at Chin-Ma-Ya of Tokyo, a ramen shop with fairly good reviews. They specialize in Tantanmen but have other types of ramen as well.

My ramen, which is a tantanmen ramen without the spicy kick and added chashu and corn :)

My gets from that day! D-UP and Mori Girl lashes, NYX Liquid Foundation, NYX HD Foundation, NYX HD Primer, NYX Mosaic Blush in Highlighter, an assortment of NYX Round Lipsticks, NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in London, Skinfood Cream Blush in No 3 and a set of fake nails from Forever 21. Haven't gotten to use them yet~ Unfortunately that day I also got a parking ticket for being partially over a red line ;_;

While during the week I usually eat pretty well (I've changed my eating habits and have lost about 10lbs!), but on the weekend I'll splurge a bit ;) This was from one weekend at the Fullerton High School Fundraiser and Munchathon.

Lobster and shrimp grinder sandwich from SlapFish. Very good deal for $5!

The line for Grill 'Em All, which will forever be long! Totally worth it though.

More of the crowds at the food truck meetup.

Getting closer to Grill 'Em All!

My burger from Grill 'Em All, the Molly Hatchet! It came with a patty, fennel sausage gravy, bacon, maple syrup and I added onions.

The next day was Munchathon, which I won a pair of tickets for from Saturday Night Foodies. Many thanks to them again :)

LudoTruck, which I must always hit up when it's in my area! Chef Ludo was on Top Chef Masters.

Grilled Corn from The Lime Truck!

Chicken balls, coleslaw and bearnaise sauce from LudoTruck.

Chunk-n-Chip's moolan rouge, which is red velvet cookies with white chocolate chip ice cream!

The Lime Truck has 2 different trucks, this one is the "sheriff" one and I found out why lol

Lastly, here's a picture of the mess I made at my bf's bathroom and what I had to pack for my NY trip!

NYC Trip recap!

2011-08-21T02:07:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't been blogging too much I've realized I have never done a re-cap post for my NYC trip! I went for the yearly Disco NRG meet where we usually film a ParaPara DVD series called "Vintage Story" (you can watch the previous 2 videos here along with a lot of other videos). I didn't actually take a lot of pictures myself so I just stole them from my friends☆

For this trip I rode Business Class and First Class because my dad had enough mileage for me to do so, so it only cost $55 for me (which was tax/fees). I had lots of leg room and was able to check in a suitcase, which is nice because I have tons of makeup and needed to pack my train case!

My menu for my flight! Everything was really yummy! I got the chicken for my main course and it was cooked wonderfully.

My flight into JFK was mostly painless, but getting into JFK was a nightmare! My flight was scheduled to arrive an hour ahead of schedule, but of course JFK had no room for us so we were basically stuck in the air for 2 hours. Not only that, when we finally landed we were stuck on the runway for about half an hour before they had a gate open for us. To add insult to injury, when we finally got to the gate the jetway (the walkway from the plane into the airport) BROKE! Which added an extra 30-45 minutes to our time being stuck in the plane. It was a nightmare and finally made my way out about an hour and a half after scheduled arrival time.
My friends Jason and Steve were there waiting for me, so we drove back to Jason's house in Brooklyn and managed to get lost a bunch of times. We had 3 hours to spare before my boyfriend was to arrive in JFK and had to get back to wait for Alex to arrive at Jason's house. When Alex finally arrived (he is a silly Canadian that didn't know how what train to take, so he came late-ish) we went out to find places to eat. Steve originally wanted to take us to Spumoni Gardens but we couldn't due to Alex coming in late :( So we ate at a crappy Chinese take-out place by Jason's house. Afterwards we went to pick up Tony at the airport and went out for some midnight munchies~

We went to White Castle, since they don't have any restaurants on the West Coast. It was $18 for the crave case we got, so we each got 2 sliders each (split by 5 people). It came with pickles and ketchup which I absolutely detest, but luckily it was easy to take them off so I got to enjoy them still :) Definitely worth a try, haha!

The next day (Saturday) we went out everywhere in the city, since Alex only could stay for the weekend. That meant crunch time!

The only picture I got of myself for the whole trip LOL I was wearing Diamond Lash Celeb eye and Luminous Change #9 for eyelashes.

We went out to a famous pizzeria by Jason's house, Di Fara Pizza. Last year we tried to go to this place 3-4x to no avail, since they were either closed or they ran out of pies. We got lucky this time and managed to snag one!

The plain pie that we got. I really enjoyed it a lot, even though it was very costly at $28 for it! I'm really excited for Di Fara to come out to Las Vegas very soon, since it's a lot closer to me and I go there pretty often.

Afterwards we headed out to the city to go shopping! Mainly for Alex and Jason, since they wanted to go shopping at TopShop and Uniqlo.

Tony and I on the train ♥

After shopping we decided to have an impromptu ParaPara dance circle. We were dancing to ParaPara Hyper Best.

A picture that Tony got of me dancing ParaPara. I didn't want my purse on the dirty sidewalk!

For dinner we went to eat on St. Marks street, since we wanted to eat at Kenka. That didn't work out since it was a Saturday night with a 45 minute-1 hour wait! We decided on Baoguette Cafe instead, which initially I was protesting because the Vietnamese inside of me was disgusted at the expensive prices. But it's NYC, so I can't really complain since the rent is as high as the quality of their ingredients. Everyone mostly got banh mi sandwiches, but it was really hot outside and I knew that I had to get bu'n instead. It was pretty good but I'm pretty biased and think that my mom's is best! Well, second best because the best is in the little town in Vietnam where the dish was created (which I got to have, sooo yummy).

We walked to Union Square and decided to hang out around there and go to Whole Foods to use the restroom. My flip flops also proceeded to break, so I went to Forever 21 to see if they had the same ones and they had absolutely no sandals in the store! In the middle of summer, how stupid can you get not to carry any?! Luckily American Eagle Outfitters was close by and since they're from California I was 100% sure they had flip flops. And they did!

Jason was really intent on dancing ParaPara in Union Square, so we did a little bit of dancing.

A creepy picture of me dancing since I look like a ghost!

We got tired of doing it really quickly so Jason wanted to take us to a bar. So we walked to The Boiler Room, which is the bar he has been frequenting. It's a gay bar that's really chill compared to the ones I go to back in WeHo, but unfortunately we had to hide my boyfriend in the corner the whole night. It didn't help he was wearing the toddland montana tee, which has a huge rainbow on it! There was a music player there as well, so we put some Kylie Minogue and Madonna on the playlist with a couple of other random songs. We had to leave at 2-3am since Steve had to go to work the next morning~

Myself and my bois (Steve, Jason, Alex and Connor) waiting for the train. It was reallllllllyyyyyy hot down in the train station.

The next day (Sunday) we went to Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Alexander McQueen exhibit. Jason recently became a member of the museum, so he was able to get all of us a front of the line pass. Which was good because it was the last week of the exhibit and had a 2-3 hour wait in line... no thank you. It was probably the first time I really felt claustrophobic in any place! I was getting really angry because there was too many people and I rushed myself through the exhibit just to get away from the crowds ;_; It was a shame because there was a lot of beautiful pieces in what was being shown off.

I can't count how many times we went to Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts for fuel since it was so hot! I thought this was the best butchering of my name lol

We decided on eating dinner in East Village at Gemma at The Bowery Hotel. As usual, we went there on the recommendation of Jason! Online the restaurant has mixed reviews, but when we went we had pretty good service. The only thing that was kind of questionable was the price of my Bellini, which was $12.

I had the special of the day, which was a lobster ravioli with a heirloom tomato sauce. It was very good and they definitely packed in the lobster very well!

Monday was the last full day Alex was going to be in town, so Alex and Jason decided to film ParaPara videos at Jason's apartment (we've stayed at his family's house for the stay). Originally we tried to go to Next Level Arcade for Tony, since he wanted to play Street Fighter and Jason was curious as well. To our luck we ended up going on the only day they decided to close! So we took the bus back to Jason's apartment and ordered some yummy Chinese food for delivery.

A view of the street from the roof of Jason's apartment complex.

The backdrop for the video.

Behind the scenes of the guys filming! I was the director.

Ending pose for Cowboy/Mr. Moog. Feel free to view the videos that were filmed that day on the DiscoNRG facebook page!

Tuesday we dropped off Alex at the bus and met up with our friend Kelly, who might just be the new DiscoNRG "intern" lol

We went to Kinokuniya, where I picked up Edge Style and Ranzuki. They also had a cafe/bakery in there, which they definitely do not have over by where I live! I had a disappointing bowl of gyuudon that was really dry. I'm more of a fan of the wetter versions like Yoshinoya.

Some of the baked goods they had at Kinokuniya.

We headed to Koreatown to try out a new crepe place that said it had Harajuku styled crepes called Crepe Monster. It's fairly new and was situated in a Korean food court.

On our way there. You can tell it's definitely Koreatown because of the big Jesus billboard and the Korean signs!

The food court that Crepe Monster is in was very modern and clean, and had different levels for different types of food. I originally wasn't going to get a crepe since I was still full from Kinokuniya but decided to get one in the end because they ended up being pretty small.

After eating our crepes. I love how my lashes look in this picture!

Here's a funny picture of me.

We finally went down to Chinatown to get circle lenses! I believe there was 3 stores that carried them inside Elizabeth Center, mostly GEO lenses. Jason decided to buy this pair of contacts from Barbie eye while I got GEO Honey Wing, since I fell in love with them seeing Jelly's Remi Sakamoto wearing them in her Diamond Beauty ads. One of the stores with circle lenses was closed that day, so we wanted to come back.

A picture of me, Kelly, Jason and Steve inside Elizabeth Center. I'm showing Jason how to take care of his lenses I believe~

Kelly had to leave us to get the train back to CT afterwards. We decided to try to go back to Kenka and finally made it in this time! We ate a lot of yummy food and got cotton candy to finish off the meal :)

Wednesday was Tony and I's last full day in NY so we decided to go to Book Off and do a few other things.
Book Off had some CDs we wanted so we bought them. They also had almost all of 2011's issues of Men's Knuckle as well, which is hard to find here in the US. I called my ParaPara partner Jim/ZYX up and got him the January, February, March, May, June and August issues.

This is one of the CD's I got! I thought it was funny because it's released by ZYX records and called "Let's ParaPara" lolol The songs on there are actually TechPara~

We went to Nintendo World as well, where I got gifts for friends there.

I got this Mijumaru for myself, though! I refuse to acknowledge his English name.

We headed back to Chinatown for Elizabeth Center, to go to the circle lens store that was closed the day before. It was good we headed back, because that store actually carried prescription strengths! I picked up GEO World Series Gray and Ash Wing for Jim and Steve got Nudy Blue. I wanted to get prescription lenses but unfortunately the store owner had a policy where you had to buy the pair in the same strength (ie -2.25 and -2.25) without mixing and matching. That's no good for me since my eyes are different!

We went to Cha Chan Tang to eat, since I wanted to go to a HK Style cafe. It's new with modern decor and affordable prices.

Tony's best impression of Tsubasa.

While the food and drinks at this restaurant was really good, the service really sucked! It took forever for someone to take our order and they got my food order wrong, and the server tried to blame it on me! I pretty much yelled at him since it was obviously his fault he got it wrong, and it took probably 30 minutes for them to redo my food.

The food that I actually ordered, Baked pork chop with tomato sauce on rice. Unfortunately everyone else was done with their food by the time I received it!

Thursday we had to go back home, and Tony's flight was 4 hours before mine ;_; After we dropped him off we realized that it would be too costly for us to go back into the city, so we actually waited at the airport the rest of the extra time. We did pretty much nothing for an hour (since I got there too early to check-in), and Jason and Steve left me when it was time to go.

To make use of my time, I decided to go into the First Class lounge. They had a lot of snacks, drinks and finger food to munch on while I got to use free internet! I decided on the healthy route for the most part and mostly munched on fruits and nuts.

My set up at one of the tables inside the first class lounge!

My bags in front of me on my flight back home. This flight sucked since it was after dinner and they didn't serve a full meal. I was unfortunate to not get the pasta meal on my plane and ended up getting the fruit and cheese platter! I was really pissed off, but I got to watch Thor and Catfish on my flight so it made the rest of the flight bearable.

FOTD using a bunch of new makeup products!

2011-08-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of weeks I've gotten a lot of new things, mostly makeup and lashes. I'll post what I used in my FOTD that's new and do mini-reviews for each item! I'm also wearing my new lenses, Geo Honey Wing. They were purchased for $25 at Elizabeth Center in New York's Chinatown.

Another face shot. You can see my highlighting so much in this picture LOL

Closeup on my eye:

The new products that I used in this FOTD:

Top: Sephora Smoothing Primer, MAC Studio Tech in NW30, Sephora Mineral Loose Powder Foundation in Tan #45, NARS Yachiyo Brush and Luminous Change Eyelash #8
Middle: Tarte for True Blood Natural Cheek Stain in Glamour Me, Benefit Stay Don't Stray, KATE Gradical Eyes in GY-1, Eyemazing Cosmeline Gel Liner and MAC #209 Eyeliner brush
Bottom: Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash, MAC Lipglass in Lust and Lumious Change Eyelash #9

Short reviews
Sephora Smoothing Primer: A green primer for redness correcting that is also enriched with aloe vera. It is indeed very smooth and goes on very easy, not slick like some other primers do on me! It's also very small and portable, but still sleek being in a glass bottle. Great for people with dry skin since it is a bit hydrating.
Price: $5 (clearance)

Mac Studio Tech in NW30: This is the foundation shade that I was matched with at the MAC store. It's a cream foundation, so it's best to apply it with a sponge but using your fingers is okay as well. The coverage is very buildable without becoming cakey, so it can definitely be medium-full coverage if you apply it well. What I did was apply it overall with a sponge and then used my fingers and applied it to areas that needed extra coverage. No need for concealer!
Price: $29.50

Sephora Mineral Loose Powder Foundation in Tan #45: It was good that I bought this, because the MAC makeup artist suggested that I set my foundation with a darker powder to even it out to my skintone. This did the job! I haven't tried this on it's own yet, will definitely do so on a lazy day.
Price: $3 (clearance)

Nars Yachiyo Brush: This brush is really wispy but can still pick up a ton of product! I usually use this for powder but I know makeup artists also use it for blush. I love the way it applies powder, but I don't think it's worth the price tag. If you can find a deal on it I would definitely get it.
Price: $50

Luminous Change Eyelash in #08: Former egg model and current Edge Style gyarumama Rumiringo's line of eyelashes. This is supposed to be a dupe for lashes like Dolly Wink No. 2 and Diamond Lash Celeb eye, but I was disappointed in these! I don't like the length of them, you can barely see the lashes in the inner corner and they look really natural on me. But I am one for glamorous type of lashes, so if you're more into natural looking lashes they would be for you.
Price: 1,155yen

Tarte for True Blood Natural Cheek Stain in Glamour Me: I have been searching for a blush that looks good on me that isn't orange. This one suited me well when I tried it in store and it didn't fail me when I brought it home! These tarte cheek stains are buildable in color and can suit anyone~ They can also be used for your lips as well. Lovely red color with hints of glitter and a very pleasant scent. I applied it directly to my cheeks and blended it upwards.
Price: $30

Benefit Stay Don't Stray: This is supposed to be a concealer and primer all in one, but I found it very wet for a primer. One swipe on my eyelid was actually enough for both eyelids and little dots blended in were good for my bottom lid. It's a nude color that would be suitable to use as a concealer for girls with fair-medium skintones. Definitely recommend it for how far it will take you and for loose pigments.
Price: $26 (I received a free sample)

KATE Gradical Eyes in GY-1: I bought this at Daigar Beauty Store next to Elizabeth Center in New York's Chinatown. They have a lovely array of Japanese, Korean and Chinese cosmetics and beauty goods with very knowledgeable staff. They also have the best prices for My Beauty Diary masks I've seen in the US, $19 for the Alice in Wonderland Limited Edition 17 pack of masks! But anyways back to the review... I picked up this palette because while the colors are on the neutral side, they also have a hint of purple in the colors as well. This palette contains 3 eyeshadow colors, a highlight color and a primer... all in one! It even comes with a double-ended eyeshadow brush, with a nice quality brush on one end and a sponge tip applicator on the other end. It's very portable and you have everything all in this tiny case! The primer could be better, but the eyeshadow colors are excellent and the highlight is also very pretty and can be used on your face as well.
Price: 1,200yen, but I paid $22 at Daigar Beauty Store. Available at YesStyle for $20.

Eyemazing Cosmeline Gel Liner: This gel liner is produced by PopSister and Edge Style model Jun Komori (who happens to be my favorite gyaru model) and Ginza Cosmetic Labo. It's a very smooth eyeliner that has a lot of lasting power, but it is comparable to the Maybelline gel liner. I would recommend the Maybelline liner over this one because it's cheaper, includes an eyeliner brush and contains the same amount of product.
Price: 1,890yen

MAC #209 Eyeliner brush: A great eyeliner brush that goes perfect with gel liners. Don't know how much more I can say about that...
Price: $18

Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash: I have very stubborn Asian eyelashes that won't keep a curl. I have only found one mascara that will keep a curl without having to re-do it (Majolica Majorca's Enamel Glamour Volume On). This unfortunately didn't keep my original curl intact, but it did make my lashes look more full and was easy to re-curl once it had dried.
Price: $19

MAC Lipglass in Lust: I have been searching for a matte lipgloss without shimmers and found my match. However, it applied more sheer than I thought. Definitely should've applied a lipstick underneath it! It is sticky but so far has had a lot of lasting power, even through drinking!
Price: $14.50

Lumious Change Eyelash #9: A bottom eyelash that really is lovely! The design is great and looks good on my eyes. The only thing I don't like is that they're a bit delicate. But with 5 pairs in a pack I should be fine!
Price: 1,155yen

Makeup gets from MAC, Sephora and Target

2011-08-16T23:00:00.000-07:00

I have become addicted to GossMakeupArtist's YouTube page, and he raves about using cream foundation all the time so I decided to get some for a change~ After doing some research online I wanted to get MAC's Studio Tech and decided to go out to the MAC store to get foundation matched! My best friend and I headed over to South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA to go on a makeup binge and be makeup nerds.

Apparently my skintone is pretty unique according to all of the associated at the MAC store, because I have a warm skintone with olive undertones. It made matching pretty hard but we decided on NW30 to be my foundation match to be set with a slightly darker powder (Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark was recommended, which I might buy at another time). I also picked up a lipglass in Lust because it was a very pretty matte color, which is definitely hard to get my hands on! I have a lot of shimmery lipglosses.

My gets from Sephora, MAC and Target:

Top: Flora by Gucci perfume sample, MAC Studio Tech in NW30, Sephora VIB Hatbox present
Bottom: Korres Lip balm set, MAC Lipglass in Lust, Tarte for True Blood Cheek Stain in Glamor Me and Sonia Kashuk Brightening Powder.

The contents of the Sephora VIB Hatbox present, which had different variations. The one my best friend got had a Dr. Jart BB cream sample which I didn't get, mine came with a Tokidoki perfume sample instead.

Top: The Brazilian Peel, Phytolisse serum
Middle: Philosophy Miracle Worker Anti-aging moisturizer, NARS Pro-Prime, Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash, Benefit Stay Don't Stray
Bottom: Stila Tinted Moisturizer, Tokidoki Perfume

From all of my gets I'm super excited to try out the Tarte cheek stain, since it's a different color of blush other than orange! Definitely a miracle I could find something a different color that would suite me, and I've been getting back into True Blood again so it warms my heart a bit more ♥ I'm also really excited for the NARS primer as well, since I'm always on the lookout for the best primers :D

Also, I hope everyone can check out my Tumblr page! I update it mostly with photo posts, and it is a lot easier for me to update more frequently :)

NYX Cosmetics deal: Get $30 worth of goods for $15 (US Only)

2011-08-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry everyone for the lack of posts! Since returning from NYC I've been a little burnt out and now planning for going back to school next week. I need to make the most of my vacation while it lasts, as I'm trying to finish 2 years of school in 1 1/2 years so I need to kick it into overdrive.

But anyways, I thought I'd give a heads up to ladies who are addicted to NYX makeup or want to try it, while doing some good at the same time! I'm a pretty big NYX addict since their makeup is affordable and great quality.

You can buy $30 worth of makeup on their official website for only $15, through their SocialGoodies offer. $3 of each $15 spent will be donated to charities picked by SocialGoodies. Please note that it ends in a little less than 3 days, so buy your vouchers as soon as you can ;)

Tumblr

2011-07-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

I finally caved in, so please add my Tumblr if you please :D

http://dtan0914.tumblr.com/

I will be going home tonight and heading out to NYC on Friday, so hopefully I can make a few posts there or before I leave~

Thursday at San Diego Comic Con

2011-07-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

Comic Con tickets are hard to come by, but luckily my boyfriend's brother was able to get me a ticket for one day (Thursday). Hopefully next year I'll get a 4 day pass, but we'll see!

I only had a few objectives, which were the following:
- Get the KidRobot figure for Mysterion (South Park) and a couple of the Street Fighter figures for my boyfriend.
- Go to the Pee Wee Herman, Street Fighter x Tekken and Penn & Teller panels.

I have a couple of pictures from when I went, but not too much since they're mostly on the SLR... which was left by my boyfriend in his mom's car! But I'll start with a picture of a burned down trailer on the way to the convention (on Pacific Coast Highway).

Tony and I were trying to go to the Pee Wee Herman panel so we went early and got the Twilight panel instead FML!! Definitely was not interested in that...

Pee Wee Herman! We managed to move up really close (we behind the first section with press), although I had tons of people photobombing because we were by the Q&A line.

Pee Wee again! It was so great to see him in person.

When we were getting off the shuttle I noticed the South Park balloons in the air, but was totally amazed that they actually had a set up to depict the actual town!

The school bus with the South Park characters on the side, super cool!

Welcome to South Park!

There were a lot of people there since there was a lot to do. If you checked in on foursquare you were given a free South Park shirt (which I got) and a bag of cheesy poofs (which I didn't get, ran out by the time I went). There was an art exhibit, photo ops, face painting and avatar generators that I also didn't do as well. But I did get free snowcones, which helped in the heat!

We went behind the South Park village to go to the food trucks in town, which we have little to no knowledge on (since we're big in the OC/LA food truck scene). We decided on Devilicious, who's going to be on the next season of Food Network's "The Great Food Truck Race" along with our local truck, The Lime Truck.

Tony got the BBBLT, which was greasy and delicious, which I'm sure is what it was supposed to be. The bacon had a really yummy taste and the fried egg complemented it very well.

My butter poached lobster grilled cheese. It was small but also on the filling size, definitely really tasty!

I wish I had more photos to share, especially of the Sprint IGN Gaming Lounge that was also set up outside! There was a charging station and lounge chairs which was exactly what I had needed, since my phone was about to die before we got there.
We went there after we weren't allowed into the Street Fighter x Tekken panel (was already full with a standby line to get in, eek). Tony and I played Ultimate Marvel v Capcom 3 together and because he went easy on me I actually won him a t-shirt that included the new characters for the game. :D It was really fun and if you're curious, my team was Magneto, Amaterasu and Deadpool. Tony got to play Street Fighter x Tekken but they ran out of the tshirts for the winners, which is unfortunate because they were really cool :'(
When the Street Fighter x Tekken panel got out, Ono and Harada (the producers) came out to do some challenges for people. They picked people to represent Street Fighter and Tekken in a sumo wrestling relay contest, and the winning team would get to punish the losing team in the way they wanted. Harada's (Tekken) team won, so he got to pie Ono in the face which was really amusing.

After leaving the IGN Lounge we went off to another free event, the CNET bar where they were giving out free drinks and food. I got a glass of wine and we got the perfect table situated near the kitchen doors for when food would come out. We were only supposed to get one free drink, but a waiter dropped off another glass of wine for me and then we got a coke as well. Since they were only passing out hors d'oeuvres and I downed my glasses fast I got drunk ^^;; So we left to find a Starbucks and get coffee to counteract the alcohol effects.

Luckily there was one at the hotel where the next panel we had to go to was, so I got a drink and a lemon bar to nibble on to get rid of my drunkenness (which did work). Afterwards we went to see the panel for Penn & Teller, who are famous magicians that perform in Las Vegas. My mom got us tickets to see their magic show live for our anniversary last year, so it means a lot to us! They were at the con to show footage of their new show that will be on the Discovery Channel, Penn & Teller: Tell A Lie. Definitely was fun to see them again in person, Teller even decided to talk during the panel ;)

After the panel we met up with Tony's mom and called it quits for the day. Left the house at 6:30am and made it back around 12am :/ Super long day!

What is an "American face"? - Ranzuki 8/11

2011-07-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

I was flipping through my newest issue of Ranzuki and found this interesting article that included face shading for different sized heads. This article features Natsumi Saito and she shows how she tries to achieve an "American face". From shading her face to make it look small, shading her nose, doing her eye makeup/lenses and even massaging her face to make it appear smaller. Definitely a must read/see for people who are having a hard time with knowing how to contour their face!

What Natsumi's idea of an "American face" includes:
- Eyes and Eyebrows are close together
- Eye color is anything but black
- Eyes are big
- Nose is thin and high
- Face is small

Step 1 is making her face smaller by contouring her face with the products that she uses (MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Natural Dark) and recommends Canmake Shading Powder in Honey Rusk Brown. My favorite contour product is NYX's Liquid Contour that is applied on with a foundation brush.

Step 2 is about contouring your nose. In the red diagram she shows an additional tip for girls with big noses and how to make it smaller. She uses Diamond Beauty's Nose Makeup palette, but I personally just recommend using eyebrow powder and highlighter. Saves you money!
Step 3 focuses on how to do eye makeup using neutral tones that will make your eyes pop! She also highlights under her eyes as well to enhance it.
Step 4 is changing your eye color with the use of circle lenses. She likes the Bambi series in Chocolate Brown and Almond, but she's wearing Ash Wing for this tutorial.
Step 5 is on using lashes to enhance your eyes, and filling your eyebrows to match your hair and make it close to your eye. She recommends not making an arch with your eyebrows.

Here are some additional tips that Natsumi recommends to get an 'American face'.
- She likes to dye her eyebrows to match her hair color, but also recommends using eyebrow mascara to get the same result.
- She emphasizes the power of beauty goods, including face rollers and clips to make your face smaller. She also always uses eye tape as well (but doesn't need to apply to you if you have a double eyelid).
- She believes in the power of doing massage to make her face smaller. You can watch her videos on Ranzuki's official YouTube page.

Skin Food's first US Store - Irvine, CA

2011-07-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

Being a fan of Asian cosmetics, the brand Skinfood isn't news to me. However, it is news that they decided to open up their first US store in Irvine, CA, which is where I live! It is located at Irvine Spectrum next to Charlotte Russe. I took sneaky pictures of the store with my BlackBerry PlayBook, since my camera battery decided to die that day.

The store is brightly lit and is pretty cleaned and organized. Their brand concept is deriving minerals and nutrients from natural food products and "feeding" it to your skin! This brand is no stranger to the Asian population around me, but it seemed like all types of people were pretty interested in this brand when I visited. Since they're still a new brand here, the store employees give out samples of their most popular products to customers.

Their storefront.

Inside with some of their blushes and eye shadows. I love the apple shaped blush tins!

Part of their wall of face/collagen masks. They are a bit pricey for $4/mask.

The majority of the inside of their store (taken from a far corner). It is a bit small but enough for their first store in the US!

What I got:

A sample of their famous Rice Mask Wash Off and a Cream blush.

The cream blush that I got in a really pretty orange/coral color! I am a sucker for orange blushes☆

I think that currently right now the most disappointing thing about the store is the lack of BB creams, which they are famous for! I guess a lot of people ask about it though, since they even have a sign at the cashier saying "BB Creams coming soon". The employees said that they were waiting very anxiously for them as well and corporate said they'll arrive sometime in August. I will definitely come back to try some!
Another thing is there is a huge inconsistency in pricing. Here's a few examples of what I saw:
- My tiny Cream Blush cost $9 while the Apple shaped tin of powder blush was $18.
- Loose powders was $13.50 (totally affordable for how much you get) but their baked powder tins were $27-29.
- Their skin products were around the $10-20 range which isn't too horrible.
- The majority of the makeup tools/accessories were extremely cheap, in the <$10 range. However, they had a very small makeup brush travel kit (only 4 brushes) for $55! Not worth it!

Other than these things though, I think they definitely have a future here in the US for high end skin products. They picked a good place to open up their first store, since there's a big wealthy Asian population in the surrounding Irvine area. Hopefully once they get all of the kinks fixed and actually have BB creams to sell, they will be successful!

Have any of you tried Skinfood products before? Anyone in the area been to the store or want to go? Thoughts on them expanding outside their core Asian market?

NKOTBSB - 7/1 & 7/6

2011-07-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

I try not to make it a secret that I'm a teenybopper, so when I found out New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys were doing a collaboration tour together it was like a dream come true! I was fortunate enough to go to their 2 concerts in my area with my wonderful best friend in the world :)

Here's a video of them performing their single "Don't Turn Out The Lights" together on Dancing With The Stars to get acquainted with them ;)

7/1 - Los Angeles @ Staples Center

Here's my FOTD, which I did 7 hours before the show! Alice and I were worried that there was going to be a lot of traffic but we actually got up there in just about an hour...

So to kill some time there we went into Anime Expo for a little bit (since I had to pick up my badge for the next day anyways) and Alice was totally terrified of all the cosplayers and furries x_x But fortunately we ran into a close friend from high school that we haven't seen in awhile! It was great to see her, especially since we haven't been able to since we had a falling out with one of her close friends that prevented us from seeing her.
We also had food from LudoTruck and Bappul, which were really yummy! I've had the pleasure of eating from Ludo before at the OC Foodie Fest last year, and it was no different in terms of quality and taste. His chicken balls are really yummy~ Bappul sells kimbap for an extremely affordable price, and definitely recommend their Beef Katsu kimbap roll :)
Another weird thing we came upon were a bunch of skaters (they claimed that the area is famous for skaters). One of them came and talked to us and he probably looked like he was 16 years old but asked us why Asians don't date/have sex with Mexicans... lol He tried to get into our pants despite my protests of having a bf, so we decided to ditch him and pretend we were looking for my cousin. Which we ended up actually doing, since she wanted to get some lashes from me! She also attended the NKOTBSB concert as well, but had much better seats than us!

Here's a picture of me and Alice together inside the venue. Our makeup still looks pretty good for it being on for 7+ hours, the wonders of primer and makeup setting spray!

The venue usher that was in front of us for the whole show was a total bitch! People would ask her if she could take pictures of their groups and she flat out said no!! and then after the show we were waiting for my cousin and she told us to get out. Stupid bitter lady >:O

The opening acts were Ashlyne Huff and Jordin Sparks, whom we both saw last year since we saw Jordin Sparks during her Battlefield tour. We were both really proud to see Jordin since she's one of our favorite singers, and bb girl has lost a lot of weight! Here's a video of her performing "I Am Woman", which you can buy on iTunes of course ;)

Here's the opening video for their shows, which starts off with them singing NKOTB's Single and BSB's The One.

Some pictures, the rest are on my Flickr:

Lucky girls who got to go on stage for "I'll Never Break Your Heart".

Should be a crime to be this ridiculously good looking at 41!

Kevin Richardson (former member of BSB) came to the show as a surprise! It was so great to be able to see him singing with the group even though he left 5 years ago.

Everyone on stage.

The end of the show/encore.

7/6 - Anaheim @ Honda Center
After experiencing the first show, we both decided last minute to attend the show in OC (which is closer for us anyways lol).
Because this show was close to my house we had more time to get ready and guess what? I did my hair! lol

I haven't done it in a really long time so please excuse how boring looking it is. Need to start practicing again~

You can see how hot it was outside (around 90-100F range) by how oily my face is lol

I picked our seats strategically because based on the show in LA I saw that members of the groups would go into certain sections. I picked correctly because we got Jordan & Jon (NKOTB) and Nick, Howie, and AJ (BSB) in our sections! The girl that Nick picked for "I'll Never Break Your Heart" was 2 rows ahead of us! She was so lucky :'(
The only complaint about my seats was that there was a family in the front row of my section with 2 boys (one around 8 and one around 15 who was super tall), their mom and the grandma. I thought the mom was super selfish because she made her family suffer and they clearly didn't want to be there! Those seats could've gone to people that really cared about being their *coughuscough*
I brought 2 cameras this time because my Cybershot died on me at the LA show, so I wanted to make sure I could get everything! So as usual, they're on my Flickr split up into albums from my Lumix and Cybershot.

NKOTBSB on stage during the opening.

NKOTB on the sub-stage being lifted up!

Nick Carter! He's always been my favorite BSB member, ever since I was 5 years old.

Jordan Knight's pucker face is one of my favorites lol He's been my fave NKOTB member since I was 3/4 years old.

All of the guys on the stage during the encore.

I'll leave all of you with some recent music videos~
Backstreet Boys - Bigger (filmed in Tokyo!)

New Kids on the Block - Summertime

What's in my makeup bag!

2011-07-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

I always wanted to do one of these posts, so I finally got down to it and took pictures of what I normally use everyday (although some products depend on what mood I'm in). I don't have a proper makeup case (most of my other makeup is in a shoebox right now lol) but this will do~

Jonas Brothers VIP bag from their 2010 Summer tour and a Pokemon pencil case :3

Primer/Setter:

- Sephora Anti-Shine Primer
- Sephora Perfection Primer (my favorite of the bunch)
- NYX Studio Perfect Photo-Loving Primer
- Urban Decay by Skindinavia All Nighter Spray
- Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Base:

- Sephora Perfecting Cover Foundation in tan
- Canmake Essence in Foundation in Natural Ochre
- Candy Doll Liquid Foundation in #03
- Diamond Puff in Dolly Face
- NYX Concealer Jar in Glow
- Napolean Perdis Boudoir Mist Foundation Spray in Look 3 (not pictured)

Highlight/Contour/Blush

- NYX Liquid Highlight
- NYX Liquid Contour
- Diamond Blush in Honey Orange
- Diamond Blush in Gold Jewelry (highlight)
- NYX Powder Blush in Cinnamon
- Candy Doll Blush in Marshmallow Purple (highlight)
- Eyemazing Cosmeline Cheek Color in Miracle Orange
- Eyemazing Cosmeline Cheek Color in Shell Pink
- Eyemazing Cosmeline Cheek Color in Lavender

Eyeshadows:

- NYX Powder Eyebrow Set (I also use this for nose contouring)
- Diamond Beauty Eyebrow concealer in Chocolate Brown
- Eyemazing Cosmeline Gel Liner
- Eyemazing Cosmeline Pencil Liner
- Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Flawless Definition Mascara
- Dolly Wink Liquid Liner in Deep Black
- Sana Quick Shadow Liner EX
- Eyemazing Super Fit (my favorite eyelash glue at the moment!)
- NYX 10 Color Eyeshadow Palette in Bohemian Rhapsody
- Urban Decay Naked Palette
- A bunch of different eyelash cases (mainly featuring Diamond Lash and Jewerich brands)

Lips:

I don't have a lot of lip stuff mainly because my boyfriend refuses to kiss me for the most part if I wear any! But these items are the ones that he approves of me wearing. lol
- Eyemazing Cosmeline Lipgloss in Peachy Beige
- Rimmel Lip Concealer
- NYX Black Label Lipstick in Peachy
- NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Tokyo
- NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Stockholm

Tools:

- d.i.a fold out mirror from egg
- handheld mirror
- Green Tea cleansing wipes
- Kamipita (I use it to move my hair out of the way when I'm putting makeup on)
- D-UP eyelid tape
- Ulta Professionals Blush Brush
- Sephora Professional Platinum Airbrush Foundation brush in #55
- Urban Decay Shadow brush
- Sephora Foundation brush (for contouring)
- No brand powder brush
- Palty eyeliner brush
- NYX Eyelash curler (the best I've used, and I've had Shu Uemura and Sephora ones!)

Long time no post! AX ParaPara Panel recap☆

2011-07-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, I wanted to entertain Jim (who did the male circle lens review below) while he was here so I didn't want to spend too much time blogging!

A couple of notes:
- My summer giveaway ended on 6/30 with the winner being Wen, so congrats to her! The next giveaway will be coming up around October/November. :) I have one of the prizes already and it is different than the usual prizes~

- I would love to do a FAQ post in the future, so if you want to ask me questions please drop them off at my formspring page. Feel free to send them anonymously if you don't want your name on here. :)

- ParaPara fans, the Disco NRG site will be up and running soon! We are moving hosts and are currently setting it up right now. Keep up to date with us by checking our Twitter and Facebook pages.

- I will be heading to NYC from 7/29-8/4. I go every year so it's no different, mainly to film an upcoming Disco NRG DVD! If anyone wants to meet up I will try to see if I can make time for it. Or if anyone wants to give me some store recommendations please do so as well!

ParaPara Dancing 101 Panel Recap:
For anyone that came to my panel, thank you very much for coming! I know a couple of girls came up to me after the panel saying they knew me from everyday_gyaru and my blog but don't comment... so get to it! lol

I could only find one video from the panel, but if you know anyone who went that has one PLEASE tell them to upload it!! In case you're wondering, the song is "I Won't Fall Apart" by Jager, which you can buy on iTunes.

Some pictures from the panel. Thanks to my bf and Fernando's friend Nick for taking the pictures for us :D
We got a great crowd despite the panel being at the same time as the Miku Hatsune concert, and I appreciate everyone that came! After doing this panel for 5 years can get tiring, but the enthusiasm of the crowd definitely showed me why I am still doing this.

Panel group: Steve, me, Alex (on stage), Tony (<3), Jim and Fernando. We were having a discussion before the panel to figure out how we were going to organize the stuff we planned.

Us on the stage introducing ourselves. NHK Japan came to film our panel and were really surprised we were teaching ParaPara.

Blurry but cool pose of us dancing the song.

Lovely Japanese reporters filming during the panel.

At the end of the panel we joined the audience in a dance circle to dance the song we taught along with Night Of Fire, since they requested it. lol

Male circle lens review: EOS Adult Series Grey from mukuCHU (Guest review)

2011-07-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

Today I have a guest review from my good friend Jim, who is from my circle Disco NRG and we're ParaPara partners. I have previously done a review for the toric version of these, and recommended this for him since he wanted something very natural looking. These lenses are from mukuCHU and require a review, but were purchased by me.

One eye in, one eye out.

Both eyes in.

Both eyes in, direct sunlight.

Another full face picture. In case you're wondering, his top is from Varosh.

His review:
The Adult Grey lenses were really comfortable. Dom had the lenses sit in solution overnight to help them soften up and after the initial day of trying them on, it was just like wearing my everyday pair of soft lenses in terms of comfort. There's no constant shifting around or loss of focus while they're on. The clarity of the lenses was just as good as my prescription pair, too. They'll only start getting dry after about 10-12 hours of wear (at which point you should re-wet or take them off!).

I didn't want lenses that made my eyes look larger than they already were. I think AG did a good job leaving my eyes' irises the same size. There's a good balance between the amount of color in them and the size of the pupils. They did give my pupils a slightly larger appearance but not so much where it was unnatural or distracting to look at - only enough to compensate for the color.

These lenses were for free for me since they were given as a birthday present but normally they cost ~$25 before shipping. Dom told me that they should last anywhere between 6-12 months depending on how frequently they're used. If you own multiple pairs as well as everyday pairs of lenses they'll definitely last closer to the 12 months side.

I've only been wearing these lenses on and off for a few days now but I can't find many things wrong with them. If I had to nitpick, I'd say they are closer to blue-grey than actual grey, especially in direct sunlight. It's just slightly different from what I imagined grey being at first, but I got used to it and will probably have days where I want this effect as opposed to darker grey.

Overall, I recommend these to anyone that want to add a pale grey blue to their collection / image. They're natural looking and not nearly as dramatic as other lenses out there. If that's what you're after, don't overlook this pair!

Want your own pair? Get them from mukuCHU!

Circle lens review: EOS Adult Series Blue from Shoppingholics.com

2011-06-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to say that Shoppingholics.com decided to sponsor me and sent me a pair of Adult Series in Blue. As I already own Adult Grey, I knew that I was going to love these :D
I was sponsored for these lenses, so it's required to review it. However, it didn't in any way shape or form affect the integrity of this review.

As usual, Shoppingholics sends their packages flawlessly and safe so that your packages won't be damaged. Since I'm sure many of you have seen how they do this, I won't bore you with those pictures.

Shoppingholics recommends soaking your lenses for a minimum of 8 hours before use, but I did mine for 24 hours just to be on the safe side.

The lenses inside the case. They're a very pale blue.

The Adult Blue (bottom) compared with Adult Grey (top). I always thought the Adult Grey was more blue than anything, but having Adult Blue now proved me wrong! lol

One eye in, one eye out. You can see that these lenses has very minimal enlargement. They are very natural!

Adult Blue in one eye, Adult Grey in the other. You can see the difference in colors, and that Adult Blue is a vibrant blue while Adult Grey is a grey with blue tones.

Adult Blue lenses in both eyes, without makeup.

Adult Blue lenses in both eyes, with makeup.

Review:
- EOS is my favorite maker of lenses, so I knew I was going to love these! Especially since I have Adult Grey already.
- These are thinner than my Adult Grey, but probably due to the latter being toric lenses. Being thinner means it's lighter and I can barely feel them!
- Very natural enlargement and look, good for wearing everyday.
- These are only 14mm, so they are easy to put in and go in effortlessly.

Overall:
- Great lens for beginners due to its 14mm size.
- Appealing to those who only want colored lenses with little enlargement.
- Very comfortable, can wear pretty much all day without any irritation.
- Available in a variety of colors.

Shoppingholics has wonderful customer service and is incredibly prompt with comments or questions. The detail they put into each package shows how much they care for their customers, and their personal touches make it extremely unique. Their shipping quote time was very close to the actual arrival date as well, so I definitely trust them! I'd like to thank them again for letting me have this opportunity to do this review for them!

Want to buy your own? They are $20.90 at Shoppingholics!

I will leave you guys with some full face shots:

A few announcements for this week! (Anime Expo-related)

2011-06-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

For people that don't know, I have hosted the ParaPara panel at Anime Expo with the same group since 2007! This year is no different, we will be hosting our ParaPara Dancing 101 panel/workshop as usual.

Here is the date/time/location information:
ParaPara Dancing 101
Date: 2011-07-02
Time: 19:30:00
Room: WS 1 (LACC)
Duration: 01:50:00

After the panel, be sure to go to Tune in Tokyo's event at Club Nokia as well~ Here's the flyer for it:

They guaranteed to play at least a tiny bit of Eurobeat, but we'll see :) Hope to see some of you there!

Also make sure to join my giveaway if you haven't yet, there's only a few more days left to enter!