HAPPY NEW YEAR + suggestion?

2010 here we come!

I reached 241 followers today and I'm so happy. Thank you for reading, commenting, and just hanging out with me. Blogging is more fun because of the friendship and support. I feel blessed to be in this community. I'll sure be more productive next year with blogging, I am just curious of what you think about my blog... and here's my main question: what do you think I should post more? Reviews? Looks? Outfits? Rants?

If you have any suggestion or constructive criticism, speak up! Don't be shy. All I want to do is to maintain a decent blog for fellow makeup junkies to enjoy.

I have also received some tutorial requests recently. I'm sorry I haven't been able to make one. I tried, but then I thought "geez, this might not even be helping!"
So yeah... maybe next year. ;)

Again, I want to say thank you for the feedbacks. Have fun this new year's eve and most importantly, be safe! :)

Coral Red Lips, Photo Tag, and Award-Spreading!

I didn't lie to you when I said that the previous post might be the last post of the year. I really thought I didn't have anything left to blog about but I found some awards I haven't posted and a photo tag I haven't done. Also, today I felt like doing my makeup (which is pretty rare during holidays) and it turned out pretty good so I'm posting. :)



I guess today is my "good eyebrows day". Lol. I was born with very weird eyebrow shape so I have to do my eyebrows every day. I'm very pleased with my Elf studio eyebrow kit. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect when I first bought it but I'm glad I did. It's affordable and most importantly, it works. It might be a bit time consuming as you have to apply two products to achieve best result (the gel and the powder) but it's no biggie. I used to use eyeshadow to fill my eyebrows but it's not as long lasting.

details of my makeup...

I have yet to pull off cool-toned red lipsticks. Somehow I think they make me look too made up. On the other hand, I'm bored with my usual dark-eyes-nude-lips look so I picked up NYX Indian Pink lipstick and went for bold winged eyeliner look instead.

FACE
-nyx concealer in jar in medium
-the all natural face original glow
-everyday minerals semi matte base in olive medium
-everyday minerals blush in nick nack
-elf translucent mattifying powder

EYES
-elf studio eyebrow kit in dark
-thevi matte eyeshadow #250
-CS 88 palette (neutral beige color)
-shimmery buttercream color from NYX Runway Collection palette in Romance for highlight
-Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in zero
-Maybelline Eyestudio liquid eyeliner in black
-Maybelline Volum' Express Turbo Boost mascara
-Elf dramatic eyelash kit

LIPS
-NYX round lipstick in Indian Pink
-Clinique Long Last Glosswear in Fireberry

I Frequently Read Your Blog Award
I feel like a douche that I nearly forgot to post this. I'm so sorry!
Thank you Chynthia for this award. Honestly, I frequently read yours too!

The rules of the award is to tag 10 blogs that you read frequently. I don't know if the following people have already been nominated for this award or not but these are the blogs (out of many other blogs) that I really enjoy reading...

Anastacia's Beauty Diary
My Little Rentata
Practical Vanity
Manju Gone Blog
Voyageur
♥ aTasteofGLAM ♥
Skindeco
Blovet Beauty
*swtexcape*
My Lucid Intervals

One Lovely Blog Award

Thanks Monika for the sincere mention! I just browsed through your blog and I'd love to give this back to you.

rules for recipients:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which you think are fabulous.
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

And this one goes to...
Monika's Corner
Delhi's Beauty Addict
xphoebelinax
Chomfifi
Lil bit of this and that
Hanidee
Gaby's Beauty Blog
Sweet Simple Random Ramblings
If it comes in pink
Blushfully

And I was tagged by Phoebe to do this Photo Tag. Thank you, doll :)
Here are the rules...

1) Open your 1st photo folder.
2) Scroll to the 10th photo.
3) Post the photo and the story behind it.
4) Tag 5 or more people.

I hope I don't sound like an old cat lady, but I love taking pictures of Aslan. I have a bunch of his pictures in almost all my photo folders. Yes, I even am lazy to organize my pictures. This one was taken last June when he was only 6-7 months old. Who wants to scratch that tummy? Lol.

I'm tagging YOU if you have not done this tag already. ;)

MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

Do you have any resolution for next year? I normally don't do this but I seriously need to stop losing my falsies. I have this bad habit of never putting back my falsies in their proper storage. I put them on my vanity table, sometimes I put them beside the laptop as I'm getting online... Ha, it's crazy! I will follow the rule of "PUT YOUR FALSIES WHERE THEY BELONG" from now on because I don't want to lose any of my favorite pairs anymore.

I also need to stop buying fashion/any types of girly magazines. They're pretty pricey and I don't even enjoy reading them. What's wrong with me?

Anyways, for the grand finale of this post, here's a picture of me and Santa (taken yesterday while we were visiting the indoor ice skating rink). Santa wanted to be in this blog so I said "okay, just make sure you get me the Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette next year. Thank you!" Hehe. I'm excited that tomorrow is new years eve, aren't y'all? :D

Fake MAC spotted!

I finally got a chance to pop by and say hi! How's the holiday going? I hope you guys had a blast.

I'm having a good time so far. My mom's here for a week and she's been being funny all day while we were going out shopping together. She's definitely the joker in my family. She says things without thinking first. Sometimes my sister texts me just to pass on my mom's hilarious "quote of the day". Lol.


We went out to several shopping centers in Yogyakarta. One of the most well-known is of course the Malioboro Street (picture is from travelpod.com), where you could buy batik blouses with cheap price tags. I didn't buy them though, I've lived here for 3 years, I've had a lot of them already. But it was fun seeing all the international tourists browsing through the stores eagerly. :)

Anyways,
guess what I spotted on Ramayana's beauty section today!

FAKE MAC BLUSHES, anyone?

I was like, WHOA wait a minute! They sell these in a department store? Cool!!
Do people even buy these??

The blush was priced at Rp 25.000 (approximately US$ 3) if you're curious. I didn't get the chance to investigate them even further 'cause I was in a rush. Please excuse the low quality pictures, I took these with my cellphone camera.

Some random eyeshadow palettes (they're about 2 bucks each)

It was my first time seeing this stuff. Last time I went to Ramayana was last year and as far as I can remember, they didn't have this many beauty products then. I don't know if you can call it a "step up", lol, but yeah... at least it's better than nothing.

My mom bought me these perfumes from Senswell. I've never heard of this brand before and I pretty much didn't care for it. But my mom likes the scent of the white cotton one, so she got two for herself and me. The staying power is not bad at all considering that they were fairly cheap and from what I read on the bottle, these are made in Indonesia. Pretty cool, huh?

Another unfamiliar brand I came across was Beautistyle. I always walk pass their booth every time I go to Matahari Dept. Store but I've never paid attention to their stuff before. I found out that they carry many shades of nail polish so I decided to pick up two of them. The left one is actually a frosty light teal color while the right one is a cool-toned dark red. I painted my toenails with the red one and I liked it. I wouldn't show you my toenails though. That would be too weird, lol.

Nothing too exciting with my makeup looks lately. I've been lazy putting on eyeshadows so here's what I looked like yesterday...



I normally don't use red lipsticks but since I only wore eyeliner and mascara, I decided to get a lil brave and put on this NYX round lipstick in Watermelon.

Well, I guess that's it for today. Ooh and it might be my last post in 2009 so, I'll see you all next year! Happy New Year to all of you!! :D

FOTD, Small Haul, and Outfit :)

So... I know you're supposed to be jolly and all this time of year but I'm a little bit ticked off right now. I cannot go to all the details but one of the things that complete my sucky day is this:


This is Maybelline Moisture Extreme lipstick in Delicious Cherry, supposedly my first dark plummy pink shade lipstick (my yellow lighting makes it look more reddish). I just bought this earlier this evening after seeing Avatar with my boyfriend. I came home only to find my new lipstick has already broken off and all mushy. Normally, you cannot return any cosmetic item you bought. But then I realized I have a cellphone number of one of the Maybelline's senior SA's so I text her right away. I asked if I could get my lipstick replaced and she said yes. I should just bring it to her tomorrow and she'll get it replaced. I should be happy now, right? But I don't like the idea of having to go to the mall again tomorrow. I know the traffic would be terrible and the mall is pretty far from where I live. So yeah... :(

Here's the rest of my small Maybelline haul...


I bought a Studio Mousse Blush in Soft Plum and Eye Studio Liquid Liner in Black. I got 20% discount for both of these and 50% discount for the lipstick. I visited the Revlon booth as well but didn't get anything. I was hoping to find the matte lipsticks in Pink Pout and Mauve it Over but they're all sold out.

Today's makeup look is a bit on the neutral side. I used plummy shade from NYX mysterious brown eyes palette and put a bit of dark brown color on the outer V. I didn't get a chance to take closeup pictures of the eye makeup because my bf rushed me.

face:
NYX concealer in Jar
The All Natural Face "original glow"
Everyday Minerals semi-matte base
NYX cream blush in Tea Rose
NYX mosaic blush in Truth as bronzer
Elf Translucent Mattifying Powder

lips:
Maybelline moisture extreme lipstick in "Natural Nude"

And here's my first outfit of the day...
Please excuse my awkward face & pose because I was (again) in a rush and there were some people across the street staring at me. I wanted to shout at them but my inner beauty told me not to. Lol, kidding.


I know you're supposed to mention what brand of the clothes you're wearing on OOTDs but both of my tops are not branded. The acid washed top is actually a very long shirt (that looks like a dress) so I decided to tucked it in. The jeans is from Ninety Degrees (which you can find in any department store over here, I guess) and the shoes are from Nine West. The bag I'm carrying is my favorite one from Rusty.

That's it! I'm done for today!
Last but not least, I just want to say Happy Holidays to all of you fellow bloggers and my readers. I hope you are all having a blast. A bit of too much info but this new years eve would be my 3rd anniversary with my boyfriend, Ari. I'm impressed that he could stick with me this long despite of my immaturity. Hehe. I love you and I hope you read this :)

NYX Jazz Night Look + Swatches

I finally came up with a look using NYX Runway Collection palette in Jazz Night. I tell you what, the darker colors in the palette are rather hard to blend! It took me a while to finish up the look because of that. And my camera failed to pick up the light purple I put on the inner corner of my eyes. Or maybe the particular color is just not that pigmented. But overall, I like this palette a lot. The colors are very versatile.

face:
-NYX concealer in jar
-The All Natural Face Original Glow
-Maybelline mineral foundation powder
-Elf translucent mattifying powder
-MAC blush in eversun

lips:
-NYX round l/s in power
-Clinique glosswear in cabana crush

brows:
Elf Studio Eyebrow kit

eyes:
-UDPP
-NYX Jazz Night palette (I marked the eyeshadows I used in picture)
-Revlon colorstay liquid liner in black
-Urban Decay 24/7 liner in zero
-Maybelline Volum' Express Turbo Boost Mascara (I took the close up eye makeup BEFORE I'm wearing my falsies just so you can see the eye makeup better)

The thing about this palette that bugs me is that the quality of the eyeshadows are not equal. Some of them are decently pigmented and well-textured. But some are not as pigmented. My favorite color from the first row are the dark blue and silver one. The nude color is a nice, sheen highlight color. All four eyeshadows from the second row got decent texture, except the shimmery white one. Overall, for an 8 bucks palette, I think it's quite worth it. :)


SWATCHES (WITHOUT BASE)
ROW 1 - with flash


ROW 1 - without flash



ROW 2 - with flash
I swatched it from the light purple first.


ROW 2 - without flash

Brief Review on My Everyday Minerals Blushes

Yay for finally getting this post up!
It's been in my draft for the longest of time. I only got three blushes from Everyday Minerals: Snuggle, Summer Stroll, and Nick Nack all in sample jars. I bought them from a spree over creamymilk.com. I was so indecisive when picking my colors. They have quite a wide range of color selection, I'm amazed!

Overall, I like these blushes! But since they're in loose form and are decently pigmented, it's pretty easy to overdo them. I recommend using fiber duo/skunk brush to apply the product on your cheeks. Start off with a very thin layer then build up the color if you feel like it.



SNUGGLE (sheen)
Out of the three blushes, this has easily become my favorite. It's a beautiful peachy pink blush with shimmer. It has a bit more of shimmer than Summer Stroll even though they both fall into the sheen category on the website. This blush is very pigmented so I don't need to apply much. I think even the sample jar will last me a long time!



SUMMER STROLL (sheen)
I guess you can tell that it's a bright peach blush with so little sheen. It's like almost matte to me. I have to say it's a bit too peach for my liking, kinda reminds me of Etude House peach blushes. It's definitely more suitable for fairer skin ladies.



NICK NACK (matte)
It's a matte pale pink blush that I find very lovely when paired with smokey eye makeup. This is the least pigmented one out of three blushes I got.

SWATCHES (natural light)

Sorry for the crappy swatches! So anyway, will I repurchase? Not sure if I will ever get the full size jars but I guess it would not hurt to try out more shades. I'm thinking to get Theme Park and Corner Office next.

What's your favorite EM blush? Mind sharing it with me? :)

My Daily Skincare Routine

Hi there, ladies!
I just went through my monthly facial along with the light therapy and chemical peeling today. My face looks all blotchy right now. I guess I won't be able to do any makeup look for the next several days, but I will still be blogging. I know some of you are waiting for my Dr Jart+ Mineral Mask review, so I'll have that up as soon as possible.

This was actually my fourth chemical peeling and I definitely can see the difference it makes to my skin. I first went last September when my skin was breaking out like crazy. I got cystic acne on my jaws and hairline. Now I've gotten rid of all the acne (only one or two zits pop up occasionally) but there are still red marks and scars left. The dermatologist said that the light therapy will help reduce the redness faster, so I guess I will wait and see if it really is effective for that.

On a brighter note, my skin has been okay these past few weeks. It's not as oily as usual, chin breakout has gone, and my bf said my face looks a lot clearer too. I'm happy that he noticed it because I've been paying more attention to my skincare routine and my sleeping time as well. Trust me on this, getting enough sleep does make a difference.

Anyways,
please note that thoughts I wrote about each product in this post are based on my own personal experience. So please be wise. Once I got a negative comment on my shoutbox just because I wrote a review on a moisturizer that I felt didn't do well on me. Geez, what's up with that? :/

I also need to remind you that most of the products I'm using might not be familiar nor easily accessible for international readers. I bought them from the skincare clinic where I got my facial treatments done. They work well on me, so I keep using them instead of products that are usually available in the market.

MY SKIN STATS

• Oily/Acne prone
• Visible pores around T-zone and cheeks
• Redness and scars on both jaw lines because of the cystic acne breakout I got during my last vacation.
  
• Occasional breakout on chin and hairline.

I want to concentrate on keeping the occasional breakout low and getting rid of the acne scars. About my visible pores, I think I've come to embrace them as something I will always have. It's just a genetic thing to me. So I'm okay with it as long as I got the perfect product to minimize the oiliness of my skin.

MORNING ROUTINE

1. Firstly in the morning, I wash my face with Natasha Skincare's Refreshing Facial Wash Oily Skin Formulation. It's a lightweight and gentle cleanser that doesn't foam much. I've come to a conclusion that gel-type, light cleanser like this works best on me. I tried Mark That's Deep Purifying Gel Cleanser and that also worked very well on me. On the other hand, cream cleansers tend to strip my skin dry, like The Face Shop Acne Solution Foam Cleanser or Pond's daily facial washes . I may got oily skin but from my own experience, I notice that using harsh cleanser will only make it worse.
2. After washing my face, I continue with the toning step. I am currently still using The Body Shop Vitamin E Hydrating Toner. It's a nice, alcohol-free toner that is working fine on me. I don't see any improvement with my skin condition while using this product though, so I might not repurchase it. Another toner that I find working well on me is ROC Purif AC Exfoliation Lotion. Sadly, it's quite pricey for my wallet (about $18 for a 200 ml bottle) and it stings a bit since it contains alcohol.
   
3. When I'm not going to wear any makeup that day or when I'm just gonna stay home, I will put on Bio Oil all over my face. This step has just been added to my routine since a few days ago. I like massaging my face after that with circular motion until the oil is absorbed to the skin. I will wait for about 5 minutes and then continue with putting on my Natasha Skincare's day cream.
   
4. But if that day I will be putting on makeup, I will skip the bio oil and put on Natasha Skincare's Day Cream right after the toning step. I don't really wait until the toner's fully absorbed. I like to put on my day cream when my skin is still hydrated.
   
5. I will wait until the day cream sets in before I put on my sunscreen. I'm currently using Etude House White Aqua Sun Guard SPF 50/PA++.

MAKEUP REMOVAL

1. Depending on how much eye makeup I wore that night, if I were wearing quite a lot of eye makeup I will use Maybelline Make Up Remover to remove my eye makeup. But If I were only wearing eyeliner and mascara, I will use Shills Cleansing Oil to remove them. I use them the same way; I put the product onto cotton pad, then put on the cotton pad to my eyelids. I wait a little before I swipe the makeup gunk gently.
   
2. If I were wearing a lot of makeup, I will use my Natasha Skincare Milk Cleanser first and wipe my face clean with facial tissues. Then I will wash my face with the same facial wash I use in the morning. I will skip the milk cleanser if I were only wearing my mineral veil (finishing powder) that night.

NIGHT ROUTINE

1. I start off by using Natasha Skincare Cleansing Milk if I were wearing foundation that night. I spread the product on my face with my finger, massage it a little, then wipe all the gunk with facial tissues.
   
2. I then wash my face with the same facial wash from Natasha Skincare I use in the morning.
3. I apply The Body Shop Vitamin E Hydrating Toner with cotton pad.
   
4. Then I use my Bio Oil all over my face and massage it with circular motion.
5. I'll wait about 5 minutes before I apply The Face Shop Post Acne Night Time Spot Eraser onto my post-acne marks and scars. I have to admit that I don't think this serum really works. Or maybe it's because I sometimes skip this step on purpose (laziness, what else?). I still try to use it up although I definitely won't repurchase it afterwards.
   
6. I just started using eye cream! I apply The Skin Food Black Raspberry Eye Cream around my eyes. I hate the smell of this product. Yuck. Don't know if it does anything to my eye area.
   
7. I apply my Natasha Skincare Night Cream.
8. The last step is optional but I always apply the Acnes Mentholatum Acne Sealing Jell on my pimple if there were any.

WEEKLY ROUTINE

• This is my third week of using Dr Jart+ Pore-X Mineral Mask and so far, I like it. I use this once-two times a week. I think it works better than my usual deep cleansing mask which is the Garnier Pure one. Detailed review coming up!
• For weekly exfoliating, I use Clinique 7 Day Scrub Cream.
• I also do sheet masks sometimes when I remember to get them from the store. I usually go for Garnier Lightening Tissue Mask. :)
  

Woop woop! I'm done! This is such a long post but I enjoyed doing this. My skincare routine is actually changing from time to time but right now I feel comfortable with this routine. Do let me know if you got any question or share your routine with me if you like. :)

Smokey-ish envy green + NYX Haul

Hello!
How's the weekend so far?
I spent last night watching America's Best Dance Crew with the boyfriend. It was our first time watching this kind of show and surprisingly, we got hooked. We were doing the "awww" and "WTF?" whenever we thought the judges make a wrong decision. Haha. It was fun, especially when my bf started to think that he could imitate the dance moves. The only dance moves he's good at are the Javanese traditional ones. Lol.

Anyways, I created this green look today with some of my Heavenly Naturals pigments. I love all the pigments although now I'm pretty sure I feel more comfortable using pressed eyeshadows. Not that there's anything wrong with loose pigments, I'm just super clumsy if you know what I mean. I tend to spill everything and the result won't be pretty.

I used Hypnotic (applied wet) as a base, topped it off with Panic on all over the lid. And for the crease I used Bashful topped off with a bit of matte black eyeshadow from the 88 palette. Coutour, which is a super pigmented gold color, is used on inner half of the lower lash line.

On the rest of my face I used:
~ NYX Concealer in jar
~ The All Natural Face glow for under eyes area
~ Maybelline mineral foundation powder
~ NYX cream blush in tea rose
~ Elf translucent mattifying powder

On my lips I used my new Rimmel lipstick in Nude Delight. I love it. :)

NYX HAUL!

Oh my, I'm high on colors! I got...
NYX Mysterious Brown Eyes palette, The Runway Collection palettes in Jazz Night and Romance, The Caribbean Collection palette in I Dream of St. Lucia, Glitter Cream Palettes in Eden and Surreal, and a Rouge Cream Blush in Tea Rose.

I plan to do detailed reviews on all the palettes, maybe also to post some swatches and looks using them. So far I think Jazz Night is my favorite. It got everything you need for subtle to dark smokey looks. On the other hand, I'm not too fond of the Carribean Collection one. It's not as pigmented as I thought it would be.

Oh and I have an update about the Elf Eyeshadow C brush I blogged about last time. I changed my opinion on it! The brush is actually quite nice. It's VERY useful for working on smokey looks. I used that brush to swipe on the crease color on the look above. I'd recommend the brush to anyone who loves to wear bold smokey looks. :)

Heavenly Naturals, ELF, and KL goodies!

I received my Heavenly Naturals package along with some KL goodies from a blogger friend Mirna two days ago, but I just had the time to blog now.

So Mirna went to Kuala Lumpur just recently and asked if I wanted to buy anything. I know many cosmetic brands that are not available here in Indonesia but are available in Malaysia, so I was kind of overwhelmed. I didn't know what to get and it was such a short period of time to decide. However, I recalled reading this rave post by Manju about Bio Oil so I figured here comes my chance to try the product. I know I'm such a moron that I didn't get more stuff (like the Elianto cream concealer I've been meaning to try), but I was more than happy when I received this package. Thank you Mirna so so much! *insert virtual hug here* :D

My two bottles of Bio oil & a Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Nude Delight. I know what you think... do I need any more of nude lippies? Well, yes I do. I just can't get enough of them.

About this Bio Oil thing, I was tempted to try it mainly because of my stubborn acne scars. I honestly wish it would help fading them out. I will use this religiously and will update if there's any improvement on my skin condition.

Heavenly Naturals
http://www.heavenlynaturalbeauty.com/

I got myself 15 mineral pigment samples in plastic zip bags and a clear natural lipgloss, all for under $25. Not bad at all considering the super cheap shipping to Indonesia. Rene left me a cute note and added two free pigment samples.


Out of all 15 pigments, Kitten was the first one that caught my attention. It's like looking at Urban Decay 24/7 Bourbon liner in loose pigment form, except that the brown color is slightly darker than Bourbon. I like it a lot. I put this on last night for a quick brown smokey look but I forgot to charge my camera's battery so I couldn't take pics. Oh well, next time. :)


The clear liplgoss has a bit of minty scent to it. If you prefer ligploss that isn't sticky but is able to provide moisture and shine to your lips, try this. It doesn't have the longest staying power as you could have already guessed, but I personally don't mind reapplying. I just love how it feels on my lips. This lipgloss goes straight to my cosmetic pouch to bring with me anywhere I go.

ELF (finally)!!!

These came in the mail yesterday. A lot of stuff I've been wanting were out of stock but I'm quite happy with what I got for now. For some reason I think the studio eye brushes kind of.... suck? Like, the eyeshadow C brush, it doesn't really pick up the color especially with loose eyeshadow form. I think it's best used for wet application. Nonetheless, these brushes are soft and they look sturdy. I like the blending brush a lot. It's simply the right size for my small eye lids.

studio brushes: powder brush, angled foundation brush, contour brush, eyeshadow C brush, small precision brush (I love this one), and small angled brush.

professional brushes: blending eye brush & eyeliner brush.


nail polish in champagne, natural radiance blush in "glow", natural lash kit, dramatic lash kit, translucent mattifying powder, and studio eyebrow kit.

Anyways, cherryculture.com has a 20% discount offer on all items this week and I heard that they do ship to Indonesia now. Hmm... talking about temptation? I wanted to get some cheap eyeshadows (like the one from LA Colors I showed you on my last post) but I think I already got enough eyeshadows to play with for now. Oh and I placed an order on Milani and Too Faced shopping spree a few days ago. I'm excited but I guess they won't arrive until January. Still waiting for my Urban Decay and NYX stuff to arrive as well. Man I've been a bad bad girl. :P