Life's Busy But Cosplay Makes It Better

It's been over a week since I last posted and with work piling up, I doubt I can post any quicker in the future. On a good note, I've been given a permanent position in the current company that I work for, there's also been a slight pay raise, though not much but still a raise's a raise. However, as a permanent staff, expectations are higher and the workload is more intense but I still enjoy my job.

To destress, I've turned to my hobby, Cosplay! Hence, the reason for my lack of updates as I spend most of the weekends doing something related to cosplay or spending time with the bf.

Helped Selicia and Mini during their recent shoot, here's a pic of them getting ready. LOL I can't help but to always be amused at Selicia's insane antics.

During the shoot, this is pretty much the first (and probably only) time I'll ever see Mini all girly and sweet, since she usually cosplays guys thanks to her fantastic jawline. We also "stole" the verandah from about 5 other real wedding couples, all doing shoots on the same day.

After the shoot, Selicia with her funny antics once again and Mini looking so pretty while I look like a hot mess after running up and down all day and no makeup except for loose powder and eyebrow mascara

The whole team, mini, Anthony (the photographer), Kosmo (another assistant), Selicia and me

The amazing power of makeup!! Selicia with just base (darker foundation for the tanned look) on the left and with everything else on the right side. Look how scuplted her cheeks are and how much larger her eyes look with just eyeliner and eyeshadow

Last weekend, there was a rather small event but being rather deprived of attending events and figuring I could meet some friends there, Mini and I decided to cosplay together. We also particiapted in the Cure Walk onstage, though I won't be putting the video here as I feel bit embarassed bout the whole thing >_<"

Selicia coslaying as one of the main characters in the super funny anime, Axion Saga. Mini and I were cosplaying from Penguindrum, we're planning to have a shoot for it soon. The photobomber is a photographer whose name currently eludes me LOL

Camwhore with my amazing partner for the day, Mini always looks so good when she crossdresses

I also finally got to do a shoot of my own, I haven't had a shoot since my Final Fantasy Type-0 versiona dn was itching to do one for awhile now. I'm also planning to do one more solo shoot soon.

I cosplayed the character Q from the series, [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control. My right eye refused to cooperate and kept tearing causing my lower lash to come off and the eyeliner to run quite abit during the shoot but it was still fun.

Here's a pic of Mini and Selicia during the shoot, with "F*ck the rules" poses because they have "money", my prop money to be exact LOL.

If you notice, one person from my cosplay "gang" is missing, sadly Esther's currently away due to her studies and we miss her lots. So to keep her updated we always send pictures and videos of our shoots and events, it's also incredibly fun to rewatch the video whenever I'm feeling down. It helps me to rememebr that I have such lovely friends and a hobyy I really really love.

Makeup review: Daiso Eyeshadow

I had heard great things about Daiso's eyeshadows from my cosplay friends so when my Facebook was going nuts with them spreading the news that a new shipment of eyeshadows had landed in Singapore like wildfire, I knew I had to give it a try.

I decided to give 2 different palettes a try:

The plastic is obviously cheap but it does have some weight to it and hasn't broken so far, the sponge applicator is quite rough so I never use it.

The colours are pearly white, dark brown, gold and grey-black. Judging from the sheen, they really live up to their name of being "Pearl in" eyeshadows. There are no large glitter chunks and the shadows are finely milled making it easy to apply with my makeup brush. I now use this palette for all my makeup needs as the colours are suitable for day and is buildable for night too.

The other palette I got was this purple version, I wanted to see the difference between the two palettes and I needed purple eyeshadow for a character I'm planning to cosplay soon. 

The plastic is alot heavier and sturdier compared to the previous palette but it only has 3 varying shades.  

I haven't actually worn out the eyeshadow yet so this is my first time trying them. The shadows felt rougher then the above palette but the colour was alot more intense as it only required one swipe of eyeshadow to produce the intensity in this picture whereas the other require 2-3 swipes before the colours were obvious on camera. there are large glitter chunks in it, especially the darkest purple shade, so I'm bit worried bout it possibly irritating my eyes if the glitter somehow got in. The white shadow has a purplish tinge to it, so it can double as a highlighter on other parts of the face if applied subtly.

Best part of the purple palette, it has an in-built mirror! There were also 2 sponge applicators that are thicker and softer.

To be honest, I was bit apprehensive bout the shadows because I was wondering just how good could $2 makeup be? However, I was proven wrong! The colours are subtle enough in real life but cameras are able to capture the colours with amazing clarity in pictures, so now I use them all the time for my cosplay makeup. Comparing them to my more expensive brand name eyeshadows, of course in terms of packaging, it loses out, but in terms of quality, it's almost on par and sometimes far exceed the brand name versions.

Basically, if you ever see these eyeshadows on the shelves of your nearest Daiso, just grab them! Trust me, you won't regret it, and even if you do, hey it's just $2.

Personal Outfit (Cloth Shopping & Play Watching)

Was out on Saturday buying cloth for an upcoming cosplay that I'll be debuting during Cosfest. My friend, Kosmo, kindly showed me around Arab street and the Textile Centre as I'm not really familiar with the place, I tend to stick to Chinatown for my cloth buying needs.

Wore this comfy outfit there as I expected and did alot of walking around:

Purple hair tie: Can't remember

Lace dress: Cotton On

Purple Cardigan: Cotton On:

Grimoire Verum-inspired Butterfly print stockings: Taobao

Creepers: Taobao

Badge pin: Katie (forgot to take a closer pic, will do so next time)

Slightly better look at the stocking print. My creepers are insanely comfy, they're now my new fashionable walking shoes 

Carried my new winged backpack, good thing too because it was extremely useful instuffing in my buys, I actually filled it to the brim!

Makeup that day, wore Dollywink No.2 lashes, no lower lashes, Canmake pink cream blush with Candydoll blush over it, highlighter, nose contour and slightly more pink lip colour. Didn't use bronzer though since I noticed most Cult Party girls don't contour much and actually prefer the rounder, more baby-faced look.

My buys for the day were lots of satin, cotton, chiffon, 3 different kinds of lace, 2 different bias tape and one roll of ribbon. Cost me close to $100, my wallet is cyring so bad right now. Anyone wanna guess which character I'm cosing?

Met my mom and sis for dinner, we ate at my favourite Ramen Champion and I had one of my favourite options, the amazing Bario Ramen. So sinful with the rich pork broth but sooooo yummy!!!

After dinner, we window-shopped abit before heading the the Drama Centre to watch:

The Importance of Being Earnest! Play written by one of my favourite writers, Oscar Wilde!!! The original flamboyant dandy and this play clearly reflected his personality and wit so well.

The play was so so good!!!! I was gripping my sides from laughing at nearly every single line and the actors were wonderful in their renditions of the characters. It was so witty and had plenty of satire, I just couldn't help but to laugh aloud. I also have to applaud the director's choice in having an all male cast for this play and none, not even the the "female" characters were cross-dressing during the duration of the play. The cast all wore Victorian-era styled suits in a simple setting with minimal props, but I could still witness the chemistry the actors had together and they were so convincing as lovers. Despite the more modern take on the casting, the use of a string quartet during and in between scenes helped to remind the audience that this was written in an era of classical music and rich excesses. I really applaud the entire cast and crew for such a wonderful show and how it's helped to take a leap forward for the LGBT community.

Personal Outfit (Cloth Shopping & Friends)

Went out with my friends Mini & Esther last Saturday for some cloth shopping and to spend some time with Esther before she heads off to USA for 3 months of study. I'll miss her alot especially when she won't be around for some upcoming cosplay events but I'm looking forward to teaming up with her again for other events.

Used the outing as a chance to wear my new clothes in the style I'm heading to, I think its rather mild but when we accidentally bumped into another cosplay friend, she thought I was heading for a fashion shoot or something.

Shirt: Rinka X Sweet

Skirt: Forever 21

Jacket: Jouetie

Lace trimmed striped socks: Daiso

Creepers: Taobao

Curled my hair and wore my fringe as bangs for the day. Also wore a few other accessories to spice up the outfit.

Circle sunglasses & choker: Taobao

 I'm busy trying to prep stuff for Cosfest and other solo plans, but I'm mostly stressed out over my job confirmation. I've been on probation since entering the company and with it ending, my confirmation is coming up. My manager assures me that I shouldn't really have to worry about it but its still nerve-wrecking to wonder if you're officially in the company or not. I pray everything goes well and if it isn't too much, I also hope I'll get a pay raise, because sometimes I feel I'm being kind of overworked for my pay grade.

Hopefully things go well for the rest of the year. In the mean time, I'm currently addicted to the anime/manga Shingeki no Kyojin, really brlliant and exciting, definitely worth checking out. 

Type 0 Group Shoot Aftermath

Last Sunday was the biggest cosplay shoot I had ever had! We had the entire Final Fantasy Type-0 class (all 14 of us), our Sensei, 8 assistants and 2 photographers, that makes 25 people all showing up for one shoot. It was so massive, we actually decided to charter a private bus, just to get the worry of having to fight for public transport off our mind and it helped greatly espeically when our shoot locations were pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Type-0 class trip!!! Making our way to the shoot locations

Quick camwhore on the way there

Considering how much of an urbanised city Singapore is, it is extremely difficult to find empty plots of land without many skyscrapers or apartment buildings ruining the background. We were literally climbing up steep slopes and trudging through tall grass and weeds, in full costume with our props mind you. Not to mention, the weather was terribly unforgiving that day, but we persevered on and despite the extreme discomfort, we still managed to have plenty of fun throughout the shoot.

Selicia (cosing Machina) as always, ruining the images of bishie characters with her random antics. Here she is with her pants rolled up and trying to flap her top to try and cool herself down, and in the process amusing Mini (cosing as Eight) and Tsubaki (as Trey).

Finally remembered to bring my polaroid camera along with extra polaroids to camwhore with my class and sensei. Yay! Wait! I just realised my class isn't complete!! I forgot to take pictures with Nine argh!!!!

We're all waiting with bated breaths for the photographers to send to us the pictures and for our editing experts to touch them up nicely before releasing the pictures to the world, but in the mean time, here are some crack/omake and behind-the-scenes shots:

Class typ-0, the delinquent version. All of us looking gangsta (or in my case, ultra narcisstic), with our Sensei face palming us

One of the assistants took this shot of us as we were lining up for a back view shot with our flag. Yes, we even have the class flag LOL, talk bout dedication

Quick editing that our King (cosplayed by Rescend) did on the very same day. So this isn't the final result yet, but it already looks so awesome!!

I've changed my office wallpaper to this picture now, and I find it really motivating because it reminds me very much of the fun I had that day.

Considering how amazing our team is, we're planning to continue our Type-0 cosplay by potentially expanding it even further. We're currently discussing other possibilites such as doing the cloaks, or summer version of the school uniform or maybe even a reenactment of the video! Everything is still up in the air so we'll see how it goes. In the mean time, just sit back and wait for the resulting pictures of the shoot to be released soon enough.

Final Fantasy Type-0 (Cinque) Shoot

Finally got round to editing the pictures that were taken of me cosplaying Cinque from the game, Final Fantasy Type-0, during the mini shoot I had last year. Publishing these pictures in anticipation of the shoot I'll be having with my full team on Saturday!! I was actually assisting Esther, Selicia and Mini most of the time as they were cosplaying from the series, Gensomaden Saiyuki.

We had the shoot at an empty field with lots of tall grass, mud, ponds of stagnant water and plenty of mosquitoes ready to feast on our blood. However, the beautiful pictures make up for any discomfort we encountered that day.

Once again everything was taken by the amazing Vaxzone with the Bf's assistance.

Esther was so sweet to help me flip my cape for the wind blown effect

My favourite shot of the lot.

It's not east to pose with a large prop especially when the top is as big as my head! However, the amazingly talented Vaxzone managed to guide me along and took these mond-blowing shots.

Now I can't wait to have a shoot with the rest of my Type-0 team! It's going to be a massive operation with nearly 20 of us trudging around trying to perfect our look but it'll be done! I'll definitely upload pictures once I get them. We are planning to release cosplay cards like a deck of cards since the characters' names are based on it, more details about it will be out soon, but who knows, you may just get my team's cards if you can find us all at events hahaha.

Outfits for Work

I've been enjoying myself and actually thriving in my current job. There's alot of deadlines to meet and work gets piled up on a daily basis but my colleagues have been extremely kind and friendly and help me out all the time. They also like to feed me which you can probably see from my Instagram LOL. My manager has been very encouraging and with a new director coming on board and him saying he'll personally coach me with my marketing, I know the pressure is on but at the same time I'm excited to learn from him.To be honest, I loathed marketing when I was studying it and actually swore I'd never enter that field, but fate's a funny thing I guess.

Office life also seems to suit me well, I like the stability and consistency of the pace of work, and it's nice to be able to sit in my own cubicle and do my own stuff. I'm still getting the hang on long meetings, I tend to get really really sleepy or zone out halfway through them so that needs to be worked on as well as time management.

I use to loathe the idea of dressing up in office attire as it seemed stiff and uncomfortable, but I've managed to find a rough style I like that's comfortable but presentable and it helps sync my mind for work once I put my outfit on.

 

Here are my outfits for the past week and half. I prefer wearing skirts and dresses and try to buy them in materials that don't require ironing, so that's one chore down. They don't cost too much with each dress/blouse/skirt roughly costing between $20-$35. I also mostly toggle between black pumps or ballet flats or a nude pair of pumps.

Makeup for work, just foundation, blush, eyebrow, sweep of a bone eyeshadow, lengthening & thickening mascara, blush, lipstick and gloss. My lipstick has been wiped off here but it tends to be a deeper pink/red as I use my Chanel Legende shade with a pink gloss. Nothing much done to my hair except alittle brushing and running through with a straightening iron. My HR manager likes to stare at me and comment on my blush everytime she comes around my cubicle because she finds my blush cute hahahah.

Jewellry is kept to a minimum, mostly simple necklaces, my Osewaya rings and sometimes a watch (must-have for long meetings to keep track of time). It's not that my ffice frowns upon them, I just don't feel the need to be over-dressed up and too much bulky stuff will get in the way of my typing. I use perfume everyday but stick to 4 scents, Chloe Eau de Parfum, Paul Smith Rose, Kate Spade Twirl and Hugo Boss Femme. Scents that aren't too strong or too sweet.

This week, I was also able to see my article being published in an online magazine. It's promoting one of the courses my company runs. I'm very happy to see it being released, though the layout and clip art weren't done my me, I only contributed the words.

Of course with working life, I come home mentally exhausted most of the time as my brain is working on writing stuff, designing publicity materials and coming up with new ideas to push our courses out to the public. I haven't been able to do much regarding cosplay though I do have a upcoming shoot next week. The weekends fly by too fast and when I've finally recuperated, the week starts all over again. It sucks in a way but at least I am getting decently paid and learning alot with encouraging people. I'm hoping to stay in this job for awhile so good luck to me on the career front.