Lovely Glass Art!

My friend Elle and I went to Third Degree Glass Factory last night and we saw some amazing glass!

   

This is us from last night, Elle on left, and me on right. :) Click the Read More to see photos and stufff! :D

So cool! :D I wanted to buy ALL of the glass. Like so bad. But I ended up only getting one small vase for $40! It was expensive. ;___; but probably still a good deal considering how long it takes to make some of this stuff. I used to blow glass too, and it is definitely a labor of love for some people. Can be tedious when you are first learning. You mess up a lot, get frustrated, and start over! Paper weights are fairly easy to make depending on what kind. I made this paperweight at Third Degree during one of their classes last year, and I love it. It's so gorgeous, and I am glad I took this photo in natural light so you can see how beautiful it is. I am so bad at photography, and this was taken with an iPhone so yeah...not too bad for an iPhone. I need to start using my Canon Rebel more!


Reminds me of Materia from Final Fantasy.... or maybe the Life Stream. ;) *NERDALERT*

Longing to Cosplay...

Oh god, I hate the new blogger editor thing. UGGGH It's so bad! I want to send blogger my complaints! :( It's so confusing to use and just...ugh. Awful. Anyone else having issues? Or am I just bad at dealing with changes? LOL! Anyhoo...the real reason for my post is to share my new favorite cosplay site! http://www.kamuicosplay.com/ I totally love it!

And I love the photoshop effects her boyfriend added too. Pretty nifty! Really brings the whole outfit to life. It's the female barbarian from Diablo III btw. I've been playing a lot of Guild Wars 2 lately and I positively adore the costume designs. I really want to start making armor but I have no idea where to start. It's an expensive hobby too. ;___; and I am kinda broke at the moment, but that will change soon, when I sell more items on eBay or thrift shops. I have too much stuff...time to consolidate lol.

Review: Sana Pore Putty

A while back, I saw this on Mitsu's blog, and I really wanted to try it for myself. She said it was the best purchase she had made on that trip to Japan. Wow. That's some big talkin'! ;) So I decided to try it for myself as there was a seller who had it on eBay for about $20 total including shipping. Steep price. But oh well, worth a shot, right?

It arrived in this cute envelope! Taiwan has such cute mailing envelopes. :D


Seller wrapped it pretty well.


Here's mine, unbagged.


The back.


The compact. Reminds me of Sailor Moon a little. ;)


The back. Made in Japan.


This is what it looks like when you open it up.


The pad comes out like so.


The formula.


Closer up image.


Here it is worn, on my skin. I didn't really like the way it looked, sadly. Hope you can still tell by the image, I was trying to get some natural light in my bathroom. :/


Cost: $20.40 from seller meilleurbeauty on eBay.

Pros:
- Long lasting, waterproof.
- Excellent packaging design, comes with a mirror.
- Cute packaging.

Cons:
- Too yellow for my skintone. :(
- Does not give full coverage, unless you apply it over a face primer and blend blend blend blend!!
- Expensive, can only buy it on eBay.


Overall, no, I would not buy this again at all. :( I think it would better suit my friend with yellow-er tones in her skin so I might see if she wants to try a swatch.

PIERCING!

Ooooh yeah. I finally did it. I went and had it done on Saturday night with my friend, Jax! She had her tongue pierced and I got my industrial.

OH I was SO SCARED. So very scared. And yet, it wasn't that bad at all!

I felt a pinching feeling and then a little bit of burning sensation...and then it just burned a little bit and ached a little bit too. And then just aching.

But yay! I am so happy. It looks sooo cool and I love it. :D I realize I probably sound like a 15 year old right now but dammit I DON'T CARE! xD

The bar seems short but it has to be like that due to swelling, I think, and healing.

It doesn't even ache anymore and I had it done Saturday. It's Tuesday today.

I had it done at my favorite piercing studio called Cheap TRX. I hiiighly recommend them if you are in the St. Louis area. Stan is my piercer and I only want him to do my piercings from now on, because he is so nice and made me feel comfortable...also he does a great job. He has been piercing for over 25 yrs! That's 2 years longer than I've been alive! >___<;;

So yes...I love it. And I am not even worried about having it at work because I can just cover it with my hair if I really need to, but no one seems to mind it because it's a an ear piercing, I guess!

I hope that someday piercings can become more accepted in the workplace, and same with hair dye!

My friend, Laura, inspired me to get this done. She is a P.T. student (basically similar program to med student) at my former school, and she had hers done in a freakin' mall in Chile. And it healed beautifully. She said it was "painful" but I don't think it is painful at all. But maybe I have a high pain tolerance? LOL.

So yes. If you want this piercing, don't be scared! Get it done! :)

Review: Liz Lisa Lip Gloss

So a month or two ago, my little sister went to Japan with one of her classmates to visit and sightsee. On her trip, she was so sweet to stop into a Liz Lisa store to buy some makeup for me! She bought me a set of eyelashes, as well as a tube of their new gloss. Well, I think in general their cosmetics are new, but I think the lashes came out before the gloss...I could be mistaken though! >_<;



There are 5 glosses you can choose from. Mine is a dusty pink color and it's somewhat opaque but not the most opaque gloss I've ever worn in my life...I am sure there are some brands out there that are more like lipstick in a tube than gloss! The swatch definitely makes it look opaque when worn, though, but it doesn't seem that way on my lips. Maybe my skin isn't pale enough to show that though?



Click below to see the review and more photos/swatches/worn pics! :D



Here is the back of the box, if anyone is curious:

Interesting that it is Made in Japan...


The tube is freakin' beyond adorable! I LOVE the rose on top although I worry it may break off in my bag! >___<;;


Here is the wand.


Here is the swatch of it on my hand....notice what I mean about opacity? It's a lovely color too!

Annnd here it is worn, before and after. (Oops, my teeth got in the photos...well, that's okay, because I just had them cleaned by the dentist yesterday, and now they're all sparkly and stuff, right?!) xD


Photo on the LEFT is BEFORE. And the photo on the RIGHT is AFTER. See the difference? I really love this gloss because it's definitely thick but not too sticky, and it's a nice shade that would go well with a variety of skin tones. You can use less to make it less strong of a color. I used 3 coats in this pic! Oddly enough it does not have a scent which I found unusual because Asian makeup tends to be scented 90% of the time from my experience....or maybe it's just a Korean thing? Or a BB Cream thing? I mean, hell, even the face primer I bought from Tony Moly was scented! >_<;;


Overall, I would probably only buy this again if they came out with more colors or I could see swatches. Not many people have swatched Liz Lisa make up yet online, which makes me sad, because I am sooo curious about the quality. The price is fairly steep, though. I think my sister paid like $35 for this, and that or more for the lashes. I did pay her back though :P so it wasn't a free gift or anything! I don't think the eyelashes were really worth it unless if you have smaller/tiny natural lashes and you want a boost... I prefer HUGE lashes like some of the Diamond Lash you can get on eBay, so I definitely would NOT get these again. I didn't pick them out, though, she did, so maybe I'd like a different style of Liz Lisa lashes better than these...hmmm.

I will have to do a worn photo of the lashes sometime soon. I already tried them on though, I just wasn't floored or anything.

So in short....

PROS:
- Great "naked" color
- SUPER cute packaging!!
- Gyaru "brand" name #burandowhore (not *necessarily* a pro, though!)
- Unscented (if you are scent-sitive, ha!)
- Only mildly sticky
- Spreads easily
- Long lasting!

CONS:
- EXPENSIVE! At current exchange rate ~$30/35 US!
- Tube is kind of big, so not super 'portable'
- Can't layer too much or else it gets gunky.
- I guess unscented can be a con if you prefer scented or sweet gloss!
- Only comes in 5 colors right now, all of which are similar, so kind of limited
- Can only buy it in Japan! Maybe they will start to pop up on eBay soon, but who knows. (Or you can use a shopping service!)
- For the same or similar price, you could get way higher quality make-up in the US. :(


...yeah. I love it but at the same time it's not really worth the price unless you just want to say you own Liz Lisa lip gloss, desu~!!! ;) Or if you want to achieve the hime-kei "nude" lips you see on so many models, it's great for that technique and it seems to last a long time.

PS: I am VERY curious to hear what you think about the gloss, so please leave a comment. I want to hear your opinions. :D Also I am also VERY curious about their blush and eyeshadows...are they worth the price? Do you have swatches you can share with me? :D

Brief Review: Kevin Murphy Color Bug

So yeah...HAIR CHALK. Such a cool concept. I have been wanting pink hair lately ever since my friend, Yuka, dyed hers pink!! I love the way it looks...I USED to have dyed pink hair but now that I am out of college and work in the "real world" I can't dye it! :( I thought about dying it anyway and wearing a wig to work every day but I can't imagine wearing a wig for an 8 hour work day plus I spend lots of time in a machine shop so it might get dirty...ew! What to do?! So that's why hair chalk sounds like a good idea to me...well, unless you're (a.) wearing light clothing, or (b.) going out in the rain without an umbrella.... heh, yeah. Read below for more info!



I only tried pink so far but now I want to try orange and purple as well. I got mine from abhair.com, and I think they have a Coupon Code if you want 20% off your first order, it's first20, I think.
EDIT: NVM, that code doesn't work for me....damn. And I even made a separate account too, lol.


Here's me wearing the color bug on the bottom part of my hair. I curled it a little after putting on the color bug because I was afraid of messing up my curls by putting on the chalk... but I later learned from the video below that you are SUPPOSED to style your hair BEFORE you apply color bug...oops! Also I brushed my hair after applying the stuff and I didn't use enough product before applying, so I had TONS of fallout. It was ....very messy. I had to scrub my sink free of pink, and my brush was coated in pink powder! >_<;; I didn't include any pics of me trying to apply it because it was so messy!!

I wish I had watched this video before I started applying this stuff, ha!



DEFINITELY helps to watch the video. I didn't apply very much product. But he makes sense when he talks about the similarities between this and applying makeup...primer, sealer....etc. The product was a little difficult to apply and there was tons of fallout. It even stained my white dress a little (yes I know, but it's an old dress that I was okay with messing up, haha) but I suspect it will wash out considering it's water soluble and all.

Here's another video of color bug being applied: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8a1Bhq6Q-Y&feature=related

It explains a little more than the official vid in my opinion.

But now my next question is...wtf do you when it rains? D: It would suck if you were wearing a light colored dress or top and then you put in the color bug product and then you went out into the rain and it washed out all your hair color plus stained your garment... hmmm. I think it still has some kinks to work out. Or maybe just apply it when it's not going to rain?? Hmmm ...

Chanel Makeup!

So my boyfriend's parents are in town for the holiday weekend (Monday is Labor Day--no work, yay!) and his mom brought me a surprise! She works at a Chanel counter and since she knows I am a make-up addict, she brought me some gifts! YAY. :D Last time she gave me some lipglosses, which I know I forgot to review. X___x; and this time she brought an eyeshadow quad, nail polish, and a lipstick. I am so pumped to try these! The eyeshadows looked kind of mono-color at first glance, but after applying them to my skin, I can tell they are more multi-faceted than I realized.


Three boxes. Chanel is not really known for cute packaging, I suppose, but the products don't need it! They speak for themselves.

Click below to read more and see more pics.




Here is everything unboxed. Wow! That lipstick is really red. I am thinking this will be great for pin-up. :D


So red!

The nailpolish is a mixture of purple-y grey and it's shimmery!

Very on trend right now. It actually looks more greyish black when applied. I guess it depends on the lighting.


Eyeshadow in the case. 4 lovely colors!


With the plastic sheet removed. (No flash!)

Here is a swatch with NO flash:


And here is another photo of the eyeshadow, but with a flash.



Here's a swatch with the flash:


Overall, I really love these colors. At first they looked somewhat plain but after putting them on my hand for a swatch I can see how pretty they are. I can't wait to try these on my eyes and try the lipstick and nail polish on as well. Weee! So excited. I need to review the glosses sometime too.

I was a little surprised that they weren't more pigmented...my first time using a Chanel eye product, but maybe I just need to use a brush. I guess I am used to the super intense stuff I've bought online from indie brands.