FOTD: (Boring) Green Smoky Look

I tried out something new yesterday. I wore my MAC MSF Natural over my Hanskin BB cream. It worked marvelously. The MSF neutralizes the greyish tone of the BB cream thus making my face looked less ghostly.

This Hanskin BB cream is the last one in my stash, actually, and I'm planning to use it up. I'm saying goodbye to BB creams, most of them don't suit my skintone. But if I have to choose, I'd pick Skin79 hot pink as my favorite just because it gives me lovely dewy finish and has better oil control than the other ones I tried.

Anyways, my skin has been behaving really well these past few months. I don't change any products in my skincare regimen but I did rotate them. I'm back on using The Body Shop Vitamin E moisturizer now. Since the night cream is too thick for me, I use the day moisturizer at night instead. I have a few things I want to talk about regarding skin care but I think I'm going to make a separate post for that.

It's been raining and super gloomy these days. I took these pics in my room (which has yellow lighting) with flash. I think the flash washes out the color a little bit but it's only a basic smokey green look I love to wear when I feel less inspired and need to rush on doing my makeup. Haha.


What I used:
- Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer
- Hanskin Premium BB Cream
- MAC MSF Natural
- MAC Sunbasque blush

- ELF studio eyebrow kit
- UDPP
- NYX jumbo pencil in Milk
- Dark seafoam green (?) from CS 88 matte palette
- MAC Dark Soul pigment
- Too Faced shadow in Erotic & Heaven
- NYX nude pearl pigment
- Urban Decay 24-7 Liner in Zero

- Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Nude Lustre



After applying my lipbalm, I dabbed a thin layer of concealer on my lips and wore my Revlon Nude Lustre lipgloss on top. I love this gloss so much. I'm glad that it's readily available in where I live. I don't have to worry about repurchasing.

This week I got a 3-day weekend. Woohoo! Gotta start planning on what to do. :D

Review: L'oreal Elseve Nutri Gloss Light Shampoo & Conditioner

Hello!
So a few weeks ago I was sent L'oreal Elseve Nutri Gloss Light Caring Shampoo & Conditioner to try out. I've been using both the shampoo and conditioner for 3 weeks now and so I decided it's finally time to write my opinion about the products. Before I proceed, I have to stress once again that I got the products for free but I am not paid to do this review. This review is based solely on what I experienced. There's actually a dateline on which I was asked to publish this review but I personally asked them to give me at least 2 weeks to try out the products and they said yes. So, I want to say thank you to Linda from L'oreal for the understanding.

Honestly, my first experience with L'oreal shampoo was not a fruitful one. Back in January I picked up L'oreal Elseve Smooth Intense Ultra Rich Care Shampoo and it was a disaster for me. My scalp got really itchy after only a few washes and it weighed my hair down. So I stopped using it and forgot about it since.

What made me agree to give another shot for L'oreal is the fact that the representative first asked about my hair "stats" before sending the products out. She asked me to do a questionnaire to determine which shampoo she would send me to try out. I thought, "Hmm this could work! Maybe I picked the wrong shampoo for my hair/scalp type, so let's do it!"

I was worry at first if she's going to send me the Smooth Intense one but when I saw that the packaging was pink instead of orange, I was utterly relieved. Haha.

Apparently, Smooth Intense didn't work for me because I have normal hair instead of "dry & frizzy" like what the shampoo is targeted for (Duh! Fifi, be more diligent in picking up products!). The main problem about my hair is that sometimes my scalp gets oily too fast especially when I'm outside a lot. Seriously, when the weather gets hotter, I will end up with greasy hair which is so uncool unless you're Megan Fox. :p

This is what the Smooth Intense shampoo looks like (the one that didn't work for me):

And this is what the Nutri Gloss Light shampoo and conditioner look like:


What it says on the back of the packaging:

Does your hair turn greasy quickly: becoming dull and flat - losing its shine and energy?

To revive your hair's attraction, the L'Oreal Laboratories have developed ELSEVE NUTRI-GLOSS Light, with Pearl* Protein + Citrus.

New: Light Technology
The active elements concentrated in Pearl Protein* give hair brilliant shine and resistance of precious pearls. Pearl Protein* is combined with citrus, known for its purifying properties. Together, the formula delivers a dual action: It frees the hair of deposits, whilst smoothing and cleansing the fibre so it accumulates less impurities. It gives balanced nutrition from root to tip, without overloading the hair.

Results: Mirror Shine, Cashmere Touch... Even Lighter! Purified instantly, your hair feels light and clean. Nourished and smoothed, the surface of the hair captures and better reflects the light.

* Derivative from Pearl Protein

At first, I have to say that I loveee the smell of the shampoo! It's so fresh and a bit citrus-y. When I wash my hair at night with this shampoo, the next day my hair will still smell divine.

The shampoo itself lathers really well and is very easy to rinse. I like how it leaves my hair feeling light and clean after washing. My hair doesn't get greasy as fast anymore and so I now wash my hair once every 2 days instead of everyday like I used to. Trust me, with humidity level as high as in Indonesia, I can't survive 3 days without shampooing my hair.

I don't have any problem with shine as my hair already looks healthy to begin with so I don't know if my hair looks shiner or something like that. Lol. But I think this shampoo does live up to its promise cleansing-wise. Also, I experience no itchy scalp whatsoever after trying it out for a week, thus I keep using the shampoo. Usually, when a shampoo doesn't work on me, I will feel itchiness on my scalp within the first week of using it.

I heard that some people find this shampoo too drying but I don't experience the same thing as upon washing my hair with the shampoo, I always use the conditioner. My hair feels silky smooth afterward, so I really recommend getting the conditioner as well if you use this shampoo.

All in all, I'd say both the shampoo and conditioner are great products for the price. You can find them in any supermarket or drugstore. The shampoo is now priced at Rp 19.900 (harga ritel yang direkomendasikan) or about US$2 for 180ml. I would definitely repurchase after I run out of mine!

*PS: If you're an Indonesian reader and you'd like to do the questionnaire I did for determining my hair type, you can go to L'oreal Elseve website or simply click here. Learn more about your hair type before you choose your haircare products. :)

Awards & Fun Tags :)

Let's do some tags!

I love reading tag posts from my favorite bloggers. It's always fun to learn more about the people behind the blogs. And since I got plenty of time in my hands now, I'm going to do several tags altogether.

First off, an award I got from Latinminx79. Thank you, girl! :D


And another one I received recently from Ariel.

The next two awards & tags are from Karen. Thank you Karen for tagging me! :)

Stylish Blogger Award + 5 Random Facts About Me

I think I've done the "Random Facts About Me" tags before. But here it goes...

1. Sometimes my stupid friends call me "Phil" (sounds like "Pill" in English) which is short for "Upil". Indonesian readers would already be laughing now, I'm sure. Lol. Upil means booger in English. It's not because I like to pick my nose or anything, it's just the wordplay my friends do using my real name.

2. I used to like Pokemon. Seriously, who didn't? Pikachu is the cutest thing ever.


3. I don't eat pizza. It's the one thing I always refuse to eat. Funny, huh? I don't know why, really. I don't detest the food itself, I might just don't like the idea of it. (Does that even make sense?)

4. I'm the middle child of 3, which means I get pick on a lot by my parents for not being as "insert any nice adjective here" as my siblings. Haha! *sobs*

5. I wish I had a music talent. I really do. A guy friend who used to like me in high school let me play the bass guitar in his band for a school gig and I sucked BIG TIME. I think that's why I am easily attracted to bands with female bassists now. I mean, it's not as easy as it looks, people!

Cherry on Top Award + 3 Things I Love About Myself

RULES:

• Thank the person who gave me the award (Thanks Karen!!)
  

• Copy the award and post it on your blog

• List three things you love about yourself

• Post a picture you love (eg: a person you adore etc)*

• Tag 5 people

Hmmm, 3 things I love about me, huh?

1. I like the fact that I can write/speak in English. LOL. Seriously, maybe because right now as I'm writing this I think to myself, "wow without this ability I wouldn't be able to make such great blogger friends from all over the world!"

How awesome considering I've never been abroad before and English is not my mother language.

2. My hair! I love that it's shiny, long, and healthy now. :)
I used to hate my hair and in elementary school kids used to make fun of me because of my boyish haircut. Kids can be VERY mean sometimes.

3. My ability to build warm and fruitful relationships with people. I may not have 2495705708 friends (in real life nor in facebook, ha!) but the ones who REALLY are close to me know that I'll always be there for them.

*a picture I love is right there on the side bar ---->
My boyfie and our cat Aslan. hehe ;)

Random Tags from Kalmo (Cambo Soup) & Ndoodles (Make Up Theory)

1. What is your favorite movie?
I have a lot! But the latest one I can remember is World's Greatest Dad. I think it's one of the most underrated movies in 2009. I love dark comedies!

2. What is your favorite book?
I have a lot of favorite books as well, but I'm currently reading Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World.

3. What was your worst beauty buy?
My worst beauty buy would be the glitter palettes from NYX. I don't know why I bought them, the glitters refused to stick on my eyelids and I just gave up with them. :P

4. Do you think you're high-maintenance?
At some point, yes.

5. Can you dance well?
I dance pretty well! I actually love dancing. :)

6. Do you like Louis Vuitton?
I do! I love their designs, most of them are timeless. I don't have any of their bags though. Lol. Maybe one day. ;)

7. Do you wear sunscreen everyday?
I don't. I know it's bad, but sometimes I skip sunscreen when I already have SPF foundation on.

8. What are your favorite websites besides blogger?
Recently I've been on Last.fm and politikana.com (an Indonesian political website) a lot.

9. Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, or neither?
Angelina Jolie has awesome tattoos! Lol.

10. What is your dream job?
I'd love to be a script writer doing funny shows. I love the idea of working together with funny and smart people in one table, brainstorming ideas and all. I like satire and there are a lot of social problems here in Indonesia that can be made into really funny shows, in my opinion. Do you guys know Mindy Kaling from The Office? I think I want her job. Not only does she get to write for the show, she also gets to do this with B.J. Novak:

No need to explain more, I guess. Lol.

1. What is the song you listened to the most?
Right now, it's Sigur Rós' Samskeyti (it's a gorgeous instrumental song, you guys should definitely check it out).

2. What is one quirky thing that you do that makes you YOU?
I don't know if it's quirky but I name stuff. I call my scooter "Barbara".

3. Facial hair? YES or NO?
YES. But not too much. (see B.J. Novak's picture above for reference, ha!)

4. Favorite superhero (male, female, James Bond...)
Rorschach from Watchmen.


5. Favorite quote.
"What's wrong with you?!!" - a friend (which is always followed by me laughing my ass off because of the way she says it)

6. What important lesson did you learn in the past year?
That it's okay to freak out once in a while but your next step is always the most important.

7. What cravings do you get most often?
Chips and tamarind juice.

8. Would you like to be rich and famous (actor, singer) or just rich (CEO of a company)?
Just rich!

9. Which super power would you choose: ability to fly or to read minds?
Fly, indeed. I don't want to read people's minds, that would be terrifying. Also, if I'm able to fly, I can go anywhere in the world!

10. Are you left handed or right handed?
Right.


For the Stylish Blogger & Cherry on Top awards I'm tagging these bloggers:

1. Liloo and Co
2. Hana
3. Nat
4. Silhouette Screams
5. Kalmo
6. Ndoodles
7. Ariel

I hope they get the time to do these tags because I'd love to read their answers! Lol. Have fun!

Small Revlon Haul and Random Ramblings

Today Aslan and I said goodbye to Paris (or The Little One) for she has already taken to a new home. I hope she will always be happy with her new human!

Meanwhile, Aslan seems to be very cool about it and now he's back on being "king of the house" again. He really likes to boss around and tell me to do things ("pet me!" or "put more kibbles in my bowl!") but one thing he's not too fond of is having to take pictures with me!

I like how Aslan's head looks so fluffy here, lol

bye bye Paris, thank you for staying with us :D

I'm fully aware that it's not myspace but I did a little camwhoring last night and I like how this particular picture turns out...

Eye makeup close-ups...

What I used:
-UDPP
-NYX jumbo eye pencil in pacific (lid, along the lower lashline)
- The All Natural Face blueberry e/s (all over the lid)
- Urban Decay e/s in Ecstasy (crease)
-Urban Decay e/s in AC/DC (outer V)
-Urban Decay e/s in Sellout (inner corner)
-Too Faced e/s in Velvet Revolver (above the crease)
-Too Faced e/s in Heaven (highlight)
-Revlon colorstay liquid liner in Black
-Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero
-Maybelline Volum' Express Mascara
-Trendy Fashion Lashes TEY-026

On my face & lips:
-Everyday Minerals bisque color corrector
-Everyday Minerals semi matte base in Olive Medium
-ELF translucent mattifying powder
-NYX rouge cream blush in Tea Rose
-Everyday Minerals blush in Nick Nack
-Maybelline moisture extreme lipstick in Natural Nude

To all of you my fellow Indonesian beauty junkies, I am happy to report that finally, Revlon is having a discount right now. I'm not kidding you. I can't remember the last time they did this... oh wait, they never did. And well, it's not really a big discount either, 20% off on purchases over Rp 200.000. But hey, it's better than nothing. Plus, they have added more stuff now. There are some new lipsticks (from the ColorStay line and something else... I can't remember the name but they have gold packaging, can anyone tell me what line they're from?). I also saw some new shades of the Super Lustrous lipgloss, new stocks of Colorstay Blemish Concealer (I've never seen them at the counters before), and a new line of mascara. In my opinion, they are worth checking out, especially the concealer because, for once, they actually offer darker shades! They should do the same with the foundations; widen the shade choices since we're not all "beige" here. Duh. :P

Here comes my mini haul...


I got:
- ColorStay Blemish Concealer in Medium (640)
- ColorStay lipstick in Creamy Coral (245)
- Super Lustrous lipgloss in Nude Lustre (040)


Also got two pair of lashes from "Trendy"? I'm not sure where these lashes are from but there's a Japanese writing on the box so maybe it's Japanese. Lol. Great quality of lashes though. They cost me around 3 bucks each at the mall. The first pair looks natural and very school/work-appropriate too.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Nude Lustre

First thing I noticed when I apply this gloss on my lips is that it's creamy but not too sticky, smooth application (seriously), and the fact that there's no strong smell like the Mineral Lipglaze has. It's exactly what I want from a gloss! The color Nude Lustre is, well, a bit sheer but I believe there are more pigmented shades available in the range. I'm also still not sure about the lasting power. I think it might be better than my NYX megashine lipglosses though. I think Megashine is better pigmentation-wise, but not application-wise. I feel like Megashine tends to move a lot on the lips and accentuate my lip lines.

I want to get more shades of this gloss but the other shades are too shimmery for my liking. For some reason I like cream finish glosses (like MAC's cremesheen). Maybe because sometimes when the color of shimmery gloss fades, the glitter stays on the lips making my lips look "meh".

Revlon ColorStay lipstick in Creamy Coral

It looks so cute when I swatched it at the counter but when I went home and tried it again on my lips I was like, "OH NOES. TOO BRIGHT!"

Haha, I'm such a klutz.

swatches!

This is my first coral lipstick, though, everything else in my stash is either nude, pink, or peach. I think it would look fine paired with natural eye makeup and when I want a little bit more drama on the lips department.

Revlon ColorStay Blemish Concealer in Medium

First impression: cool stuff! It has a rating of 3.7 on MUA so that's why I got it. It gives me enough coverage for my silly tiny blemishes and hides the redness, but it's kind of hard to blend. I will be trying it out more before I make further judgment about it. :)

Anyways.
I have a question for my American blogger friends/readers: hypothetically, if I were to go to the US for a brief vacation, would you suggest me going to the east coast or west coast? I don't want to jinx it but I've always wanted to go to the US. I am partial to east coast (NYC!) but my sister voted for California already. What do you say? I'm open for any cool recommendations you guys have! Even if I'm not going this year, I can always refer to your recommendations later when I finally get the opportunity to go.

Thank you so much for reading my blog and commenting!

Cool Giveaways! Check Them Out!

These are held by some of my favorite bloggers so I just have to enter. :)

Sara's 1st Blog Anniversary Giveaway

(click here to enter)

Ceecile's 1st Blog Anniversary Giveaway featuring Eye Rockz

(click here to enter)

Connie's Triple Giveaway

(click here to enter)

One Fine Day :)

I am so exhausted now but I just have to post this up!

Today I went to my boyfriend's graduation ceremony. I'm so happy for him. He's a nuclear engineer now and yes I'm totally bragging. LOL :P

One of my best high school friends was also graduating but I didn't take a picture with her! Stupid me! I couldn't think straight as it was such a hot day, I was sweating like a pig and I think I was dehydrated too! :P

My boyfriend is actually very shy to make appearance on this blog but I begged him to let me post at least one picture.

I didn't get the chance to photograph my makeup but I gotta say, my Too Faced Natural Eye Palette was the hero of the day. I woke up pretty late (I had to be there before 7:30 AM) so I didn't have time to do a more intricate look. I just wore a soft smokey look with a bit of bronze on the lid. I saw girls flooding the beauty salon to get their makeup done and I'm glad that I could do my own makeup for my boyfriend's big day.

This week has been a blast for me so far, I hope you're enjoying your week too! :D

*PS: Oh! And for those of you who were asking how Robin Hood was, I think it was great and I definitely had a good time. At first I was like "damn this is boring" but it gets better towards the middle and end. :)

Not Going "To the Beach" This Summer!

I have at last decided; I'm not going to get anything from MAC To the Beach collection. First of all, I won't say anything bad about the collection whatsoever because it actually IS a nice collection in my opinion. I've never felt THIS excited about any of MAC's collections before. From the face, eyes, to the lip products, there's at least one thing I'd love to own. From the face department, I had my eyes on Hipness blush and Weekend cream bronzer. Lipsticks; I would love to pick up Beachbound and Lazy Day. Eyes; both of the kohls grabbed my attention as well as the Sweet & Punchy eyeshadow. But here's the truth: I can't afford getting them all! I tried scratching some of these products off of my wishlist, but they keep haunting me. Is this healthy at all? I don't think so.

Bottom point is: I hate feeling like this. It's such an uneasy feeling to know that they are all limited edition products and that once they're out of stock, I wouldn't have another chance to get my hands on them (unless they get repromote). This makes me feel so powerless, and I don't like that. For God's sake, it's only cosmetics! I kept thinking about it; will I feel so devastated if I miss this collection? I remember that I was so enthusiastic too about some of MAC's cremesheen lipglasses from the Too Fabulous collection and after I really did pass on them, I didn't feel that bad at all. I actually felt pretty liberated and life goes on.

I think sometimes we just have to take a step back and inhale. I feel like this pressure cosmetic companies put on us by releasing limited edition stuff is getting a bit cruel. Especially now that I've heard some rumors that the eyeshadow I'm eyeing on is not that pigmented and that the kohls don't last long, I can't help but to think twice before actually purchasing them. I mean, they put such a high price tag in the first place, I shouldn't have to be this worried about the quality of the products. But that's the fact; I am worried. So here I am, saying goodbye to MAC To the Beach.

I still have a few things from the permanent line that I'd love to get though. From now on, I'm going to prioritize getting them one by one before caring about any of MAC collections. I think that sounds pretty good. Besides, with limited edition products, I would hate it if I fall in love with one thing but when I finally finish it up, I could never repurchase it.

Well, that was my two cents about limited edition releases. I'm not against them, but I just don't like the idea of buying them out of pressure or fear. That's not fun at all. If you are more fortunate than me to get an opportunity to test the products in person before buying them, I'm happy for you. Therefore you don't have to go through what I'm going through now, lol. But for us girls who don't have the privilege, do think twice and be wise with your hard-earned money. That's all I'm saying.

Have a great week, everyone!

Review: Urban Decay 24/7 Lip Pencil in Ozone

When I was still a makeup newbie (not that I'm a pro now, lol, but I think I'm much better than - say - 1 and a half years ago when I first started), I thought primers are a luxury and not at all a necessity. Well, I have outgrown that. Now I think primers are actually very important. It makes a great deal of difference when I use primer under my foundation and when I don't. With primer, my foundation glides on better and stays put longer. How can I say no to that?

Funnily enough, when it comes to primers, Urban Decay seems to be THE brand for me. I've never planned it to be like that but out of all primers I've tried, so far only Urban Decay's that works for me. I am in love with both Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer (for face) and the famous Urban Decay Primer Potion (for eyes). Now I'm taking this primer fixation to another level; introducing my new favorite lip primer...

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Lip Pencil in Ozone

Ozone is simply a clear lip pencil. It won't even cancel out your lip color (if you have pigmented lips), but it works great as a lip primer. Usually, without primer, my lipstick would only last for approximately 2-3 hours. After eating, 90% of the lipstick would be gone gone gone. With this as primer, my lipstick would last at least 2 times longer. Yesterday, after lunch, I noticed that I still have about 60% lipstick on, which made me happy because then I didn't have to worry about getting to the restroom as fast as I could to reapply my lipstick. I look dead pale without lipstick!

Another great thing this product does is that it makes lipstick glides on better and applies more evenly. If you like wearing bold lip colors, this would be great as well. Just apply it outside your lip line before you apply your lipstick. That will prevent your lipstick from feathering and yes, it really works.

Unfortunately, there's always a downside. I find that this product wouldn't last very long if used daily. I have to sharpen the pencil every 2 times of use. Maybe I have huge lips, LOL, but I'm not kidding! I have to slather my lips with it to make it work.

Finally, would I repurchase it?

Well, I just found out that MAC has the same kind of product called Prep+Prime Lip Primer, which contains more product AND is cheaper. So, I might try the MAC one before deciding whether or not I should repurchase this. I do enjoy this product so much, though. I'm clearly a lippie gal and this product completes my life.

In case you're wondering, MAC Prep+Prime Lip Primer is $14.50 (1.7g) and 24/7 Glide on Pencil by Urban Decay is $17 (1.2g).

Pet Update: So, I ended up calling her Paris...

Remember my last Kitten for Adoption post? Well, finally someone is interested to adopt The Little One! I'm so happy even though it's not finalized yet. I hope things will go well and that The Little One will be happy in her new home.

And you know what's funny? The Little One is actually NOT a male kitten. Why yes, it turns out that she's actually a princess. :D

What's even more funnier is that before my boyfriend and I realized this, we had already chosen a name for "him". We called "him" Boris because in my opinion, he looks Russian (boyfriend argues, "How the hell does a cat look Russian?"). I tried Tchaikovsky, but my boyfriend thinks people will have a hard time spelling his name (good point). I also tried Dylan after Bob Dylan (LOL) but then people wouldn't be able to pronounce it correctly and I'd get annoyed. That's why Boris was perfect. It's easy to spell and to pronounce for Indonesian people. Also, it's very memorable and we love the look people give us when people ask about "his" name (yes, that WTF look).

I do like naming cats with unusual foreign names. It makes them special because people here usually name cats with something stupid or meaningless like Bulbul or Kupluk or whatever. Aslan, for example, is very well known in our vet's clinic. Everyone in that clinic knows him because of his unique name and his laid-back attitude. That clinic is populated with cats and dogs in a daily basis but the vet always remembers Aslan each time we visit.

I picked the name Aslan after Aslan the Great Lion from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - which is one of my favorite children books. :)

Do I look laid-back enough?

So, I sort of want the same thing for Boris. But now that we've found out she's actually female, we changed her name into something more suitable; Paris. It still rhymes with Boris and it's still as memorable!

beautiful kitty :)

not her best angle, but it still looks funny

What Paris likes:
- plastic bags to hide in
- my hair, she likes to chew on it
- chasing Aslan's tail
- climbing to my vanity table every time I do my makeup (sounds cute, but it's actually pretty annoying)
- more activity involving me and Aslan getting annoyed
- sitting on my lap (or any human's lap) and purr away to sleep :)

She likes picking on Aslan - A LOT.

Today I let them play outside for a while. Took this pic with my cellphone.

This is when you all go, "Awww." :)

A few days ago I went to the pet shop to get Aslan groomed. Here is one of the dogs that lives there. He's freaking HUGE. His head is definitely bigger than mine. I've always been afraid of huge dogs (caused by traumatic experiences when I was little), but I wasn't scared of him because he's actually very friendly... or less "active". Lol. He sleeps like that ALL. THE. TIME.


Anyways. I'm going to see Robin Hood tonight, which I hope will be a blast. We rarely get good movies here on the theaters. In the last couple of months I've only been to the movie 2 times. And this I consider as rare, my friends go to the movies so much more often than me. They'd watch anything, which is cool, but not for me. I can't stand bad movies, especially in theaters. I'm not a movie snob per say, I'd watch anything on DVD, but not in theaters.

The last time I went was last week. I saw How to Train Your Dragon, which I enjoyed. The dragon was called Toothless and he reminded me a lot of Aslan. Lol. Maybe it's the golden yellow eyes. Well, I don't want to spoil it for everyone but it really was good. There were a bunch of kids in the theater, I thought they'd make too much noises but I was wrong! The only person who annoyed the hell out of me while watching the movie was the guy behind me. He'd laugh on ANYTHING, and he laughs like a madman. He'd even laugh right after he read the subtitles while the actual line hasn't been spoken yet. Is that normal? I dislike rude people on movie theaters. The ones who keep TEXTING throughout the movie (the light from their cellphones is so distracting), the ones who keep TALKING and GUESSING what the next scene will be... geez, what's wrong with you people? I hope tonight I would have better luck not to get seat next to people like these. Fingers crossed!

Hair Up or Hair Down?

The weather was exceptionally good yesterday so I went out and took the camera with me. After taking the outfit picture outside, I told my boyfriend to wait for me while I put my hair up because I was getting sweaty. When I was finally ready to go, he was like, "Why don't you do that to your hair more often? It looks good."

So I ran back to my room and took more pictures.

Boyfriend rolled his eyes because he had to wait some more. Lol. But hey, if he thinks I did a great job with the hair, I guess I would be doing a great disservice to my blog if I don't document it.


I rarely wear my hair up because somehow I think I look funny with ponytails (especially from sideways). :P

If you have dark skin, don't worry to go for pale/light pink blushes. I used to think they wouldn't look right for my NC37 skin but if you choose the right shade, they can actually work! They pair well with smokey eye makeup and nude lips. I was wearing the lightest pink blush from my Coastal Scents 26 combo palette (see swatches here) and I love how it seemed to complete the whole look. Also, I think the blush sort of makes the super huge pores on the hollows of my cheeks disappear.

I got asked by my friend who just started using Everyday Minerals about skin undertones and I was like, "hmm... actually, just look at your pictures!"

Lol. What a stupid answer.

But seriously, I guess in the following pictures you can clearly see how I have olive undertones? I'm definitely not cool and I'm not THAT warm either. When I was still an avid user of EDM foundations, their warm shades never match me right; they're always too yellow for me. So I stared at my pictures and thought, "GEE, I'M AN OLIVE!"

And yep, Olive Medium is my perfect EDM foundation match. :D

I didn't have the time to take proper close up eye pictures but it was not at all a complicated look. It's funny how MAC Teal pigment shows up turquoise blue here.

What I used:

FACE
urban decay pore perfecting primer
every day minerals semi matte base
light pink blush from coastal scents 26 combo palette
ELF translucent mattifying powder (someone asked on my formspring about this, I think you should just skip it. I'm just using it up for finishing and touch-ups , I don't actually like this product!)

EYES
UDPP (primer)
MAC Teal pigment
Coastal Scents 88 matte palette (some of the purples - dark on outer V, lighter purple on the crease, blended upwards)
Too Faced shadow in Heaven (highlight)
Stila smudge pot in black
Maybelline Volum' Express mascara
Elise fake lashes

LIPS
Urban Decay 24/7 lip pencil in Ozone
NYX Rea
MAC Prrr lipglass

How's your weekend coming up so far?

FOTD: Natural with Smoked Out Green Liner

Well, this didn't came out exactly like what I wanted it to be, but it doesn't look too bad either so I'm posting it up. Today I went for neutral brown shades on the eyes completed with olive green eyeliner. I don't have any colorful eyeliners in my stash, so I just put some green shadow on top of my black eyeliner. I blended it out a little using slanted eyeliner brush to get sort of a smoky effect.

I didn't go out wearing this outfit though. It was still chilly outside so I changed to something a little warmer.

FACE
MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15
NYX Rouge Cream Blush in Tea Rose
Too Faced Pink Leopard bronzer
Too Faced Sun Bunny bronzer
ELF Translucent Mattifying Powder

EYES
UDPP (primer)
Thevi matte shadow #250 (all over base color)
Coastal Scents 26 Palette (some dark browns to contour - meh, taking forever to blend)
Too Faced shadow in Heaven (browbone highlight)
NYX ultra pearl mania in Nude Pearl (inner corner of the eyes)
Stila Smudge Pot in Black
L'oreal HiP Duo shadow in Lively (green shade on top of the liner and along the lower lashline)
Maybelline Volum' Express mascara
Elise fake lashes

LIPS
Urban Decay 24/7 lip pencil in Ozone
MAC Fanfare (just a liiiiittle bit of this)
NYX Summerlove

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Rant: Indonesian Bloggers, Pressures, and MAC To the Beach?

Hello! I'm not feeling well these past two days, been coughing a lot. I've got sick 2 times in the last 2 weeks, which sucks because I usually don't get sick this easily. I think the weather has a lot to do with it. It's been raining constantly for the last 4-5 days and people around me starting to get sick too.

Last night I was in Femaledaily forum and I found this thread discussing about Indonesian beauty bloggers. I am happy that my fellow Indonesian beauty blogger Chelle brought it up (check out her blog!), because I too think this topic is quite interesting. Chelle's main concern as the thread starter was about the fact that there are not so many Indonesian beauty bloggers around. This is quite surprising considering how populated the Makeup-Addict sub-forum is in Femaledaily, according to her.

Speaking about Indonesian beauty bloggers, I actually know some of them. There's Nanzy from Shizzlenizzle, Jilly from Kireimakeup, Onik from Onik's Photoblog, and some others. There are a lot of newcomers as well. I think it's great to see more Indonesian beauty bloggers taking part in the community. If you are a new Indonesian beauty blogger, I hope you continue blogging. I've encountered new Indonesian bloggers who stopped blogging because maybe they think no one is reading their posts. Well, everyone has to start somewhere. Don't worry if you got no followers yet or anything like that. I think the first thing you need to do is just to make sure that you're blogging out of passion. I'm sure there will be people who's going to appreciate your effort. And you can't please everyone, so don't get all emo if there's people who might not like your blog.

Moreover, there are two things that I've been willing to talk about as a beauty blogger. First, I have been asked a couple of times if I will ever get into Youtube. The answer is; for now, no I don't think I will. I have my reasons, one of them being "OH GOD WHAT IF PEOPLE I KNOW FIND ME ON YOUTUBE AND THEN THEY START A WHOLE UNNECESSARY DISCUSSION ABOUT IT WHEN I'M AROUND?" Lol. So yeah. But I do think Youtube is a whole different world than the blogosphere, so I hope you respect my choice of not going on videos... yet.

I've also been asked this question about my content, 'Fifi, why don't you blog about local products?'.

Well, that is not entirely true as I've blogged about local products before. I did blog about Vivelle bathing scrub, Elise fake lashes, some Oriflame items (Oriflame is not Indonesian per say, but their products are easily available for local readers), and many others. As far as I appreciate any suggestions my readers have for me, I have to stress one thing; that we (beauty bloggers) are not paid to do this. We choose what we want to blog about. I will blog about Indonesian products IF I happen to get the chance to try them. There are a lot of good Indonesian products out there, but it's not like just because I'm Indonesian, I'm solely the spokesperson of these products, right?

There's this comment on the thread I talked about earlier, saying something like:
"It's too bad that there are not many reviews on Indonesian products on the internet. It would be nice to have them. Why don't Indonesian beauty bloggers blog about local products? They should be showing off our local products. There are a lot of good Indonesian products out there (while mentioning the brands), but you (beauty blogger) are not giving them enough publicity while you have international followers and readers. "

I was like, hmm, okay, I'm sure you have good intention. But the truth is, I think that comment was unfair for us beauty bloggers. The person might not be talking about me specifically but I feel like so because I happen to have International readers. Two things I need to address here:

1. Again, speaking as a beauty blogger, I am NOT paid to do this. No one funds me. So there's no way one can tell me WHAT TO BLOG ABOUT or WHAT TO REVIEW ON. Even if I have international readers, should I blog about stuff I'm not interested in just so these products could get some publicity? I am not saying that I'm not fond of Indonesian products. As a matter of fact, there are some really good Indonesian products out there. But what I'm saying is, you can't dictate me, as an Indonesian beauty blogger, to review a particular product. And the fact that you're not even a blogger makes it sound even more pretentious because you don't know how much effort a beauty blogger puts on doing a single review.

2. We (Indonesian beauty bloggers) are not the ones responsible for the lack of publicity Indonesian products get in the internet-based media. In this case, I think cosmetic companies should be more active as well. Up until now, I've been contacted by quite a lot of international reps asking to sponsor reviews but there has been only ONE local company rep did the same. Why should blame the beauty bloggers then? We don't have all the money in the world to just try out different products in the market and then review it on our blogs, however cheap those products may be. You don't pay us to do that, so don't complain on us if you don't see what you want to see in OUR blogs.

I think when you criticize someone or some people for what they do, you should consider a lot of aspects first. I'm not saying this to single out a person, but to remind all readers of beauty bloggers not to put too much pressure on us, the bloggers. Then again, we're only doing this out of love and passion, at least I know I am. ;)

Okay, boring rant is over, let's move on to the more exciting stuff.
MAC TO THE BEACH, PEOPLE!


Anyone else excited? I am eyeing on some items but hesitating to get them because of, you know, the price tag. Especially that I am in Indonesia, I have to pay extra $$$ for shipping and to compensate the person who's going to get the stuff for me. I am not usually this excited about MAC collections but bronzers, green/blue shades of eye products, and peachy nude lip products are my biggest weakness. How the hell MAC managed to incorporate all of them in one collection? I am SO screwed this time!

What do you plan to get from this collection? And what do you think about the packaging? I have to be honest that I'm not much into the packaging. Bright orange is not necessarily my favorite color. Lol. But I can tolerate the olive green one for the eyeshadows. Lol. Can't you tell how excited I am? :D