Aftermath of Christmas

Hi everyone, I hoped you all had a lovely time during christmas! Personally, it wasn't that fun for me, if you followed me on Twitter, you would get an idea why. I'm sorry if I ruined anyone's festive mood with my ranting on Twitter, but it was my only accessible outlet to vent my frustrations.

Anyway, once again, I've got a backlog of posts. I've been running around like mad without a break over the past week and only today, was I finally able to sit down at home and do whatever I fancied for the day. I'll try to post them as fast as I can, but with many other things planned ahead that I wish to accomplish before my new school trimester robs me of time, I can't promise how fast those posts will be up. So bear with my slow posts, gomen nasai!!

Anyway, some Chrsitmas pics:

Thankfully my dad decided to order food this year instead of attempting to cook everything himself and forcing me to help him. It sucks when out of the entire family, only my dad and I are able to cook without poisoning anyone and my dad holds onto the reins tightly in the kitchen whilst continuously barking orders at me. The bf helped by buying this amazingly scrumptious fruit tart. Crunchy, buttery tart shell, with cream piled high atop a smooth custard base and then topped with an assortment of berries that gave a sharp edge to the creaminess of the tart, followed by crisp, puffed rice cereal and the whole thing was held together with a mixture of gelatin and syrup giving it a sweet, stickiness. My mouth is wtaering right now at the thought of it.

My gifts, except for Chibito, who steadfastedly refused to be in the photo and attempted to bite my finger off in protest. The books are from my Dad and the 2 Tintin DVDs are from my sister (yes, I'm a big fan of Tintin!), the necklace and earrings are from a cosplay friend, but I guess she failed to notice(as many others do) to notice that I actually lack pierced ears, haha! But they're lovely gifts all the same! My mom also gave me an "IOU" for a hair-colouring session at a salon, but it isn't pictured here.

I'm actually nearly finishing the Inheritance book, I've only got about a 1/4 left to go before the end. I'm quite sad to see the series end as its the last series that I've read since the first novel was released. I've seen Harry Potter end, then it was the Alex Rider series, and now the Inheritance Cycle. I hate that its a reminder that I'm of a certain age now but I guess I could alwasy devote myself to reading classics next. Perhaps I'll tackle Haruki Murakami's works, I haven't read any of his works since Norwegian Wood, as the novel left a deep impression on me that no book ever has and I wish to refuse to let that feeling go. But at the same time, his latest work, 1Q84, is calling out to me, so I guess I have to leave that shell soon enough.

LOL, I just realised how from a relatively happy beginning of this post, its started to become rather serious as I started spewing the torrents of emotions about the various books I have read. I guess it's rather obvious how books will always have a special place in my heart.

Merry Christmas!

Happy holiday wishes everybody! Hope you're making merry and having lots of fun!

End-Of-Year (EOY) Event 2011

Today was a rather dreary day for me. My family had initially planned to go to Universal Studios today, but the weather decided to unleash its fury upon us and it rained the whole day. I barely saw the sun peeking through the ominous looking sky, which resulted in me feeling, cold, wet and thoroughly unhappy and in a foul mood for the rest of the day.

It didn't help when I was dressed in a shirt and denim cut-offs, having intended to have fun in the sun but ended up in the confines of a freezing cold mall with only a thin cardigan that my sis had wisely told me to bring along, "just in case". We ended up watching Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The movie was pretty good but my teeth were chattering from the icy cold blasts of air conditioning in the cinema. But, I'll stop digressing from the intended blog post today and shall attempt to cheer myself up with the fun pictures I took at EOY.

I cosplayed Nanami Haruka from the series Uta Prince as was accompanied by my friends, Esther and Tsukiya who cosplayed Shou and Shouko. The event felt more like a gathering of friends but it was fun nontheless.

Shouko on the left and Shou on the right. They are actually the same character, however, Shou winded up being dressed as a girl in an episode, and was dubbed Shouko hahaha!

My other friends, the other 2 girls are cosplaying Gundam Seed characters and the guy is Kenneth, one of my favourite photographers!

Esther gave me the palmtop tiger from the anime Toradora! as a Chirstmas pressie. I know it isn't a good picture, but I'll upload better pics of him next time. We've nicknamed him Chibito and as you can see, he's holding my wallet hostage to force me to feed him.

Bonus picture:

Shou and Shouko dancing for Nanami who is sitting like a boss LOL!!

I'll upload better pictures next time, once Kenneth hands me the higher resolutions photos. Persoanlly, its pretty easy to cosplay Nanami, since personally I find she doesn't have much of a presence, even in the anime. Plus with her gentle personality, it's hard to go wrong and all I have to do is to be more feminine, softer and gentler then normal.

However, the costume was pretty hot as it's the winter school uniform, so I was actually wearing a white collared shirt buttoned all the way to the neck, a plaid dress and a blazer and pantyhose. The thick layers also don't help that much in pictures as I look fat in certain angles. But oh well, this costume would probably be my go-to costume when I have nothing planned as it's pretty easy to maintain.

Korean Press-on Cheek & Eyemake Set

I first read about this amazing Cheek & Eyemake press-on makeup set from this blog: http://yuk-lui.blogspot.com and was so amazed and by it that I just had to blog about it.

I'm sure you've all heard about instant eyesadows before, it seems that Avon & L'oreal have produced their own versions of it. However, the Grandma of press on eyeshadow was called eye majic and was featured ages ago in Oprah Winfrey's show. Well in case you haven't or if you need a refresher, it looked like this:

It was simply 2 sponge applicators on a tray with the eyeshadow nicely stuck on it. All you had to do was position it nicely on your eyelid and then press it down for a couple of seconds and presto! nicely done eyeshadow! I remember using it back when my local Sasa sold it and my mom went nuts and bought lots of it for her "lazy" days. It was kindda pricey though, so I stopped purchasing it after awhile and it slowly disappeared off the shelves.

I remember thinking to myself, "if only it could be used more then once, what a great way to apply shadow for lazy people or people learning to apply makeup for the first time!" Well, it seems that a korean brand, Chosungah Luna, had the same ideas and have produced their own version that is reusable AND it pushes the boundaries further by including a highlighter and blush version too!

This is how the set is supposed to look like. It comes with 2 shadows, a blush and highlighter combination and 3 sponge applicators.

The different sponge applicators for each of the shadows

The 2 options that are available so far. I'm liking the shadows for both sets so far but I'm not quite sure about the blush and highlighter combination. I especially like how they offer one neutral eyeshadow and one heavier style.

It seems fairly easy to use, just dip the sponge applicator on the shadow, making sure to press down on both sides to pick up the shadow evenly, and then I guess you'll just press it onto your eyelid.

I'm loving this idea alot and am seriously considering asking my friend who's visitng Korea next month, to try and get a palette for me to try it out. However, the main thing that is holding me back is the cheek print. I always figured that the application of blush and highlighter was a rather personal thing, as you had to learn what was best for contouring your face since no face is ever alike and different bone structures requires different areas of focus.

However, it is tempting me alot as I'm trying to imagine the possibilities of it cutting down the time spent on my eye makeup and no longer having to fret at finding the different shadows to mix around and fiddling with a makeup brush when I am trying to rush out the door.

Oh well, I have bout a week or 2 to decide if I wanna bug my friend to find it in Korea for me. If I do get it, you can be sure to expect a review of it!

Personal Outfit 75 (Day of Gluttony)

It's been nearly a month since I last went out and about in town just to window shop and explore abit. Thanks to school, at times, I feel like I'm slowly becoming a hikikomori but at least I have some plans to go out and have fun during my short holiday despite the fact that I'm quite broke from buying presents for Christmas and stuff I need for my new cosplays next year.

Last week, the bf and I went out for a day of window shopping and we ate at my favourite ramen shop, Tampopo. I love the shop's amazing smooth, silky pork broth and the bf loves eating their kurobuta (black pig) dishes especially the tonkatsu. If you didn't know, kurobuta is kindda like the pork version of wagyu beef. It isn't as expensive as wagyu but definitely a notch above regular pork in the flavour department.

My ramen, with kurobuta cha shu and the pork broth that I love so much. Sorry bout the mess, I had greedily started digging into it before thinking bout taking any pictures ;P

The bf's tonkatsu with vinegared radish, it was soo good! The panko breading wasn't too thick and the pork was marbled with fat that melted so deliciously in my mouth. The miso soup was also really nice, it tatsed more like home-cooked miso broth with an assortment of veggies thrown in and left to simmer for quite awhile.

I took the opportunity to dress up abit, and wore this kindda rokku(??) style outfit.

Beanie: Maison Gilfy

Spectacle frames: random shop in Far East Plaza

Top: Taobao

Denim skirt: Victoria Beckham for True Religion

Shoes: Gal Star

Bag: Taobao

Grr, the shadow from my specs makes me look like I have a unibrow, grr...

Makeup for the day:

Base:

Heroine make BB cream

SANA Pore Putty Concealer

RMK Cream Foundation

Majolica Majorca Skin Remaker powder foundation

Candydoll Mineral pearl loose powder

Eyes:

Canmake Eyebrow pencil in 03
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Majolica Majorca Eye shaow Customize in WT963 & BR665
Dior 5 colour palette in Night Dust
Kiss Me Heroine Make Long & Curl Mascara

Kiss Me Heroine Make Smooth Liquid liner

Dolly wink No.2 Sweet Girly (Upper Lash)

Canmake lower lash No. 13

Cheek:

Candydoll Strawberry Pink

Majolica Majorca Shadow Customize WT 963 (Highlighter)

Sasa Bahama Mama bronzer

Lips:

nil (I hadn't reapplied my lipstick when I was camwhoring)

Lens:

Bambi/Princess Mimi Sesame Grey

I've been rather deprived of cosplay lately, so I'm really happy that I'll be doing a shoot with my friends soon! We'll be doing Uta Prince so I'll be taking alot of shots my with harem of gorgeous "guys" ahahhaah! I might also be assisting a friend's shoot at a later date, it'll be fun to see him acting out as his character.

I'll also be attending this year's End-Of-Year (EOY) cosplay event, as I'm too broke to be able to attend the event in Malaysia. So if you're gonna be at EOY, do say hi if you see me, I promise I won't bite, I'm just really forgetful of people's faces!

Makeup Review: Majorlica Majorca Powder Foundation

Sorry guys!!! I know its been ages since I updated, but I had to finish a school assignment, then a exam came fairly quickly after that. However, now that they're done I'm finally able to get back to blogging!

Today's review is a product I've come to love very much, it's Majolica Majorca's Skin Remaker 2-way compact foundation. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking for now:

The powder and the case in their packaging. I bought it in shade B010 but there are 3 other varying shades.

After sliding the powder into the case. Also, for hygiene and wear and tear reasons, a sponge is included with the powder, so you can always change it once you finish the powder.

The beautiful gold case. I've heard that ZA powders fit perfectly into it, so if you want a pretty case, you can always opt for this! I find the quality of this case better then Kate's as it has more weight to it and with the decorations over the top, scratches won't be as obvious on it.

Majolica's case also has this nifty spring locking system to secure the powder firmly in place. To remove, just push it forward and upwards and the powder clicks free. You also need not deal with a sticky mess unlike most other brands that still depend on a sticky adhesive to secure the powder.

Pardon the weird wonky eye, this picture was taken in the food court of a mall with quite harsh fluorescent white lighting, but my skin looks pretty nice. I also used Majolica Majorca's primer under the foundation, and as compared to my last review bout it, the product seems to have improved alot. I no longer get a weird chalky finish and a dry powdery texture from it. It's almost like a lighter form of BB cream now.

Okay, I'm digressing, but basically this foundation is fabulous, it's finely milled and has a soft, silky finish. Its also incredibly easy to apply so I can apply it on-the-go if I'm late for an appointment without creating a crazy mess.

In summary:

Coverage: 8/10 (Medium coverage for me, but it could be because I use the primer beforehand. I have read of cases where people claim the powder didn't work for them and emphasises their pores, so use a primer! For heavier coverage, wet the sponge before application)

Texture: 10/10 (To me, it blends like a dream, I can apply it without bothering to look at a mirror and it's just fine. The powder is silky soft and finely-milled but some have claimed that it has a silicone-like texture so be wary of that if you're against or have a reaction to silicone)

Oil Control: 7/10 (The powder hardly oxidises through the day, which is a first for me! It mixes with my facial oil to produce a soft, glowy look on my face, so I no longer need to touch up or bring along blotters)

Price: 7/10 (The case costs $12.90 and the powder refill costs $29.50 and it has lasted me for bout a month and half before hitting the pan. It's certainly alot cheaper then my Kate foundation)

However, I must warn my readers and especially western gals out there. Most of the shades are yellow-toned, so if you're really fair, you will have a sickly appearance after applying the foundation. It seems that there is a lighter shade then the one I'm currently using called OC10, so I'm planning to try it out after I finish this current palette.

Final Camwhore pic hehe....

Base:

-Majolica Majorca Skin Lingerie makeup base

-Majolica Majorca Skin Remaker powder foundation

-SANA Pore Putty concealer

-Candydoll Mineral Loose powder in Pearl Crystal

Eyes:

-Canmake Eyebrow Pencil in 03 light brown

-Kate Eyebrow mascara in LB-2

-Urban Decay Primer Potion

-Majolica Majorca Eye Shadow Customize in WT963 & BR 665

-Dior 5 colour Eye Shadow Palette in Night Dust

-Kiss Me Heroine Make Mascara in Long & Curl

-Kiss Me Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Liner

-Dollywink No.2 Sweet Girly (Upper lash)

-Dollywink No.5 Real Nude (Lower lash)

Cheek:

-Candydoll Strawberry Pink

-Majolica Majorca Eye Shadow Customize in WT963 (highlighter)

-Sasa Bahama Mama bronzer

Lips:

-Maybelline Baby Lips lipbalm in Smoothing Cherry

-Ann Sui rouge jar in 01

-Majolica Majorca Rouge Majex in PK-313

Lens:

-Bambi/Princess Mimi Sesame grey

As you can see from the list, Majolica Majorca has slowly been invading my makeup box. I won't deny that they have fabulous products for a fair price, so I might end up purchasing more Majolica Majorca products in the future.