EOTD Sephora's "Kiss from..."

Kat did her eye makeup today using the Sephora "Kiss From...07" eyeshadow palette that she purchased yesterday.

Using 2nd shadow, rich gold shimmer, from the bottom she brushed on from crease to browbone.
Using the next color above, rich copper shimmer, she brushed from lashline to just above crease.
Using the top color, rich bronze shimmer, she brushed the inner corner of her eye to above crease in a "v" shape. Also did the outer corner of her eye in the same manner. Blending and lightly meeting above the crease line.
Using the lightest color, soft gold shimmer, she highlighted the brow bone and very, very lightly brushed over entire eye area to highlight and soften the colors.
Using rich gold shimmer again, she dots the center of her eyelid above the crease to brighten and make the eye area seem to pop a bit.
Used Bobbi Brown black gel eyeliner for top lid at lashline.
Used MUFE Aqua Eyes eyeliner pencil in OL (black) to waterline the outer 1/3 of the eye.

Kat really liked this eyeshadow palette. Although not a "brown" person, she thinks that this worked out well. She especially liked the Rich Copper shimmer. She used to use a color very similar to this a long time ago but it got discontinued. It's taken this long to find a comparable color.

Today's Sephora Trip--mini haul and Temptu test

Kat went to Sephora today to pick up MUFE's Mist & Fix. This is her mini haul: MUFE's Mist & Fix and Aqua Liner, Sephora brand eye shadow set and a replacement clarisonic brush.

The Mist & Fix was available only in the regular size bottle, although Kat wanted to get the travel sized one. She has heard good things about Mist & Fix--it's supposed to make your makeup waterproof and long wearing, plus it helps to moisturize your skin. She will do a product review on this after she uses it.

Most of Kat's eyeshadows are MAC but this Sephora brand set caught her eye. When younger, she couldn't wear brown eyeshadows because the color just wouldn't look good on her. Whether her skintone has changed or if she knows what shades of brown to use, she has noticed that she can wear browns now--as long as they have red undertones in it. This set reminded her of the Lunasol set that interested her but at half the price so she picked it up to try it out.

As a Beauty Insider member, she earns a point for every dollar that she spends. She picked up this wonderful Tart set, which has deluxe samples of some of their best selling items. Included is: Vitamin infused lipglass, lifted natural eye primer, clean slate face primer. emphasEYES HD inner rim eye pencil and 3 different mascaras. This was a 500 point perk gift. (*sigh*, just goes to show you exactly how much she spends there. This wasn't her 1st 500 point gift and she has also received quite a few 100 point gifts.) She may decide to do a giveaway using some of these items. But then again, it may be difficult to do with only 1 follower. LOL!

So, Kat is getting ready to walk out of the store when the MUA asks if she's seen the Temptu Airbrush Foundation. Kat heard about it but never got to see it actually in use so she sat down and got her face done. WOW! It's really great! Foundation was put on and then a bronzer was used. Didn't do the blush but the bronzer was used in place of the blush. The foundation was a little dark, plus the use of the bronzer made her face darker. However, Kat's face looked really dewy and smooth! It really did a good job of covering her dark spots even though there was no concealer used. MUA could have layered it on more if she wanted to since the foundation is buildable. The best part is complexion remains smooth. All foundations, even the moisturizing ones, makes Kat's fine lines show up and thus it makes her appear to have really dry skin.

Then the MUA used a highlighter and even highlighted Kat's eyes over her eye makeup. This really helped to highlight the eye area and actually softened and kind of blended the eyeshadows. It turned out really nice.

Kat really wanted to test out the wearability and longevity of this foundation. Unfortunately, today's weather was not the usual Hawaii weather. It is extremely windy and unusually cool and not as humid. Kat decided to simulate it.

The Good:
Kitchen floor was scrubbed by hand.
Whole first level of the house was vacuumed.
Exercised by running in place for 5 minutes.

The Bad:
Arms hurt.
Back hurts.
Legs hurt.
Didn't break a sweat.
Didn't even glisten!

The result is that Kat couldn't test how it would hold up in humid conditions. However after 8 hours of abnormal (see "The Good" above) and normal activity, at 10:30 p.m. before removing her makeup, she noticed that it still looked as if she had just put the makeup on. Skin still looked dewy and the fines lines were still not noticeable. Will have to seriously consider getting this item.

Some follow ups

When Kat posted her 3 week Miracle Worker update, she didn't add pictures to it. She found a picture that she took just before starting to use the Miracle Worker.

                                                                       Start

                                                                       3 Weeks

She tried to take the 3 week picture with her face and lighting conditions the same as when she took the before picture. Unfortunately, the coloring doesn't quite come out the same. For some reason the 3 week picture has yellow tones in it and her face isn't quite that yellow. However, you can still see the difference in her skintone. The coloring seems to have evened out. Something that she did notice is that in the "start" picture, you can see freckles on her nose whereas in the "3 week" picture, they do seem to have disappeared. The big, ugly brown spot (which is from a whole bunch of freckles growing and combining or is the aftereffect of a pimple from a long time ago) still is there the same as ever. Not sure if it has lightened a bit or not.

The other day she posted about the updo hairstyle and showed what the extensions looked like. You can read the post here: http://maikatoshaberi.blogspot.com/2010/03/updo-hairstyle.html

She used the non-highlighted one yesterday. It has shorter wires in it with the hair strands just a little longer than the hightlighted one so it is good to use as a simple cascade. Kat put up her hair on the side of her head into a ponytail. She also did a quick, messy curling/waving of her hair. She used her flat iron to do it instead of a curling iron, only because she was too lazy to pull out her curling iron.

Going from under the ponytail, push the comb in and twirl each end of the hair extension around the top and bring it down alongside the ponytail. She added 3 swarovski mini hair clips at the top of her head to kind of clip some of the hair strands into place so that the teeth of the comb won't show. Very quck and simple.

Updo Hairstyle

On Sunday Kat wrote about buying the wavy hair extensions in which you can do a nice updo hairstyle. This is what it looks like.

Tonight Kat went to the Cherry Blossom Festival Pageant so she decided to use the extension to do the updo.

This is what her hair usually looks like:

First you need to make a simple bun with your hair.

Kat used the shorter piece that has the highlights in it. Stick the comb into your hair from the bottom part of the bun. Twist the wires around each side of the bun to form a nice updo bun.

Accessorize using hair accessories. Kat used the swarovski hair accessories that she bought from the the same vendor, Soho Style.

Here is a view of the top of the head.

Here is a view from the side.

What do you think?

Miracle Worker Week 3

Kat is now completing week 3 of using Miracle Worker by Philosophy.
The only change that she has noticed as of today is that skin tone has evened out. She also thinks that it has lost some of the dullness and is brighter. Nothing noticeable as far as the lightening of dark spots on her face though (maybe that's a lost cause). Her hands are also at status quo. However it really is so nice compared to before she started using Miracle Worker.

Stay tuned for another update next week.

Amore Pacific Moisture Bound Skin Energy Hydration Delivery System Review

After work, Kat went to Sephora to see if they had restocked on Amore Pacific's Moisture Bound Skin Energy Hydration Delivery System (wow, what a long name!). It was in stock so she spritzed some on her face and purchased a bottle.

This is supposed to refresh your face, provide moisture and can set your makeup. You can use it before and/or after putting on your makeup.

Kat liked the feel of it BUT could not stand the scent of it. It is pleasant enough at first but the scent just lingers and lingers and after an hour, it was really annoying. The fragrance in products usually tend to disappear after a while but this one didn't. What a disappointment! Kat ended up having to wash her face and redo her makeup. She went back to Sephora this evening to return the bottle that she bought and exchanged it with Caudalie's Eau de Beaute Beauty Elixer

Kat's Daily Routine

Morning:

Note: Kat is a Noevir consultant so all skincare products is Noevir unless otherwise noted.


Wash face with face cleanser from 99 line
Face Lotion (505 line)
Albion Exage White Shooting Spots
Moisturizer (105 line)
Protecting Skin Cream
Raysela Face Protection UV
Eye cream
Shiseido Maquillage Moisture Cream Foundation
Time Balm concealer
Shiseido Maquillage Moisture Finish Powdery Foundation
Covergirl Eyebrow Pencil
Bare Minerals Eyebrow Powder
MAC and Shiseido Maquillage Eyeshadow Base
Duo Eyelash Glue
MAC and Shiseido Maquillage Eyeshadows
MUFE Aqua Eyes Eyeliner
Bobbi Brown Eyeliner Gel
Talika Eyelash Lipocils
MAC Blush
Shiseido Maquillage Glossy Perfect Lip Rouge
Set with Caudalie Eau De Beaute Beauty Elixer


Night:


Remove makeup with Neutrogena Makeup Remover cleansing towelettes
Deep Cleansing Massage Gel
Wash face with face cleanser using Clarisonic Brush
Face Lotion
L’Occitane Fabulous Serum
Philosophy Miracle Worker
Moisturizer
Protecting Skin Cream
Eye cream
Time Balm concealer
Shiseido Maquillage Eyeshadow Base
Duo Eyelash Glue


The Albion Exage White Shooting Spots is supposed to lighten the dark spots on your skin. Kat has been using it for a long time and it hasn’t worked. Will definitely not buy it again.


Why the Duo Eyelash Glue? Kat has the typical asian mono lid so she uses the glue to create the fold or double lid. She has noticed that using the Shiseido Maquillage eyeshadow base helps to create the fold without it being obvious. She has tried a Japanese brand of eyelid glue but it didn’t work.


Kat will soon run out of the Caudalie Beauty Elixer and wants to try the Amore Pacific Moisture Bound Skin Energy Hydration Delivery System. Sephora has just started to carry the Amore Pacific line in stores but ran out very quickly. Hopefully it gets replenished soon. Otherwise, she will have to pick it up at Neiman Marcus.

Girl's Night Out

Mai and Kat got together again on Saturday night. This time they headed to Ala Moana Shopping Center.



Mai bought L’Occitane’s Fabulous Serum, which Kat has been using. It is a serum which has shea butter in it and is quite inexpensive as far as serums go. It is ideal for dry and dehydrated skin and is supposed to repair prior damage and protect the skin in the future.


They then headed over to the Soho kiosk, another one of their favorite “fun” stores. Soho sells wonderful, high quality hair extensions and swarovski hair jewelry and accessories. It is definitely not an inexpensive store but definitely fun. The sales clerks are awesome and so friendly. Once you buy a hair piece, you can go back at any time and they will show you how to style your hair using that piece. Mai and Kat have acquired (won’t say how) some hair extension pieces. Kat has been slowly acquiring hair accessories since she really loves the “bling”. This night Mai bought her first hair clip, a beautiful jeweled starfish clip. Kat had been wanting a crystal flower headband and got that. She also bought the long wavy updo extention with wired hair combs. You can see their products at their website: http://www.sohostyle.com/


Kat’s friend who lives in Japan has taken a little trip this weekend to Kouchi (she thinks). Kat had heard that sakura would bloom early this year so she asked him if the sakura had started blooming and if he’s seen any. He said that the sakura have already started to bloom in Kouchi. Here is a picture that he sent:

No Frizz Review

Kat has spent the past couple of weeks using the Living Proof Straight Making No Frizz Styling Spray and tried the Full Thickening Cream once.

These are two products that Kat does not give a thumbs up to. The No Frizz Styling Spray doesn't help to reduce the frizzies in her hair. Worse yet, it doesn't smell very pleasant and it actually stiffens her hair and makes it feel coarse. That's the one thing about using styling products in her hair, she doesn't like it if it feels like there's something there.  The Thickening Cream didn't seem to work either but then again, she was told that she needed to use it for some time before noticing a difference.

From the reviews she's read, there are many people who are pleased with the products but the major complaint is the price factor--it's quite expensive. Kat is glad that she bought the little travel-size bottles to try.

Kanebo Coffret D'or Beauty Essence Sample Trial

Kat has received received some samples with her orders from Ichibankao. She usually puts them on the side, not really trying anything. Since this blog has been started, she has decided to test the samples. Unfortunately, she can’t remember where she has put most of the sample.

Today Kanebo’s Coffret D’or Beauty Essence samples were tried.

Oh look, it’s Shibasaki Kou, an actress and singer in Japan. Kat loved her in the drama, “Orange Days”. She recommends this drama to anyone who is interested in watching a Japanese drama.



Beauty Essence Pact (sample received is OC-C)

On the Kanebo website it says, “A single sweep creates tightly-fitting, long-lasting effect. Keeps the skin beautiful with almost non visible pores. For skin with an elegant sparkle filled with moisture that seems to come from within. Experience a fine finish with noticeable translucency.”

Beauty Essence Color Veil (sample received is Coral Pink)

Again, on the Kanebo website it says, “A single sweep creates tightly-fitting, long-lasting effect. Keeps the skin beautiful with almost non visible pores. For glossy, beautifully toned skin with excellent color and texture. Light Control Base maximizes translucency and brightness.” Coral Pink will cover dullness while the Clear Green covers redness.

Beauty Essence Pact is a two-way powder foundation. Compared to the Maquillage Powdery Foundation that Kat has started using, it is quite translucent. The feel of this foundation is really nice and silky. Kat believes that is formulated with a much finer powder than the Maquillage. True to what is advertised, it really seems that your pores are not visible.

Kat tried using it dry and it makes the complexion look nice but Kat likes a heavier coverage than it provides. She tried it wet and didn’t like it at all. It looks really powdery on. She then used her Maquillage Cream Foundation and finished using the Beauty Essence Pact. OMG! It’s awesome! Complexion looks smoother and brighter.

Kat’s thoughts: It is best used as a finishing powder. Feels nice and silky and doesn’t seem to dry out the skin but seems to lock moisture in. She would love to buy this and use it but since she just got the Maquillage foundations, she will have to wait. She is interested in trying out the Beauty Essence Gel Foundation together with the Beauty Essence Pact.

BTW, she didn’t try the Beauty Essence Color Veil yet.

Maquillage Order Received

Kat got her Maquillage order from Ichibankao yesterday. It was the Moisture Finish Powdery UV Foundation in OC10 and the Glossy Perfect Lip Rouge in RD318. Kat likes using powder foundation in one shade ligher for slight highlighting under her eyes , just above the cheekbones. She’ll also use it to touch up her nose and forehead during the day, if necessary.

The Glossy Perfect Lip Rouge RD318 is as she thought, just slightly darker than the RS396. Both colors are perfect. The RS396 is a bit lighter. The colors are on the sheerer side so lips are colored in with lip pencil first.

Starting from the top is RS396 without lip pencil, then with lip pencil underneath. The 3rd color swatch is RD318 without lip pencil and the last one is with lip pencil underneath. If you look carefully, the RS396 is more pink while the RD318 is definitely more red.

Ichibankao also sent a couple of sample items to try out with this order and as well as with previous orders. Kat will test them out and will blog about it at a later time.

Fun and 2nd Week Update on Miracle Worker by Philosophy

Sooo on Saturday evening, Mai and Kat was able to get together and play.



First Mai was able to try the different make up products that Kat has blogged about. Then dinner down at the mall at their favorite teppanyaki place. They spent time browsing around and playing with some things in Sephora but amazingly walked out of there WITHOUT buying anything. In fact, they walked out of the mall having purchased only dinner. What an amazing feat! They then headed back to Kat’s place where they baked peanut butter cookies with Reeses peanut butter cups. They used both dark and milk chocolate. The cookies are very easy to make and taste so yummy. The only person who did not like them was Kat’s youngest son, who doesn’t like peanut butter. What a strange kid! What kid doesn’t like peanut butter?!

Now for the two-week review on Miracle Worker by Philosophy, consensus is that it is doing some wonderful things. Kat bought it wanting to lighten her freckles and so far that doesn’t seem to have happened but her skin is definitely looking much smoother and refined. Mai noticed it most on Kat’s hands. Kat has never had young, nice looking hands. Her hands have always been dry even with lots of moisturizing and lotions. She has to admit that using Miracle Worker has done miracles on her hands. They are definitely looking nicer. Even without any lotion on, it looks like it’s moisturized.

Unfortunately, there is no before picture. Kat will continue using it and will update again.

Palty Hair Color

Kat had heard a lot about Palty Hair Color for a long time and most of it was positive. Just as she was about to purchase it online from Ichibankao, she found it at her local Don Quixote store.

The first box she bought a few months ago was Bitter Capuccino. Wow! The color was quite a bit darker than she wanted but after a few weeks and several hair washings, the color lightened to a nice color. This time she decided to try a lighter color, and bought Almond Chocolat and the coloring came out perfect!

Kat really likes this hair color brand. After you're done coloring your hair, when you rinse out the colorant, your hair feels really soft and nicely conditioned. Even when shampooing your hair, it still feels that way. With American brands (Revlon, Clairol, Feria, etc.) when shampooing your hair, your hair feels really strange, kind of plastic-y. Kat will use this inbetween going to hairdresser to get hair professionally done.

Shiseido Maquillage

A couple of months ago, Kat's son's girlfriend sent her a limited edition spring eyeshadow set and a Glossy Perfect Rouge, which is a lipstick. She was so excited because she had been wanting to try Maquillage products for a long time but we don't think that it's available in the U.S. It's definitely not available in Hawaii.

The eyeshadow feels really wonderful and there's a hint of prism glitter in it. However, the colors are way too light for Kat's taste. Kat found that she really likes the base shadow (will explain the reason another time). As for the lipstick, OMG! It's awesome! Kat really like it! It's moist and really feels great on the lips.

Kat then decided to go ahead and place an order with her favorite online store from Japan, Ichibankao. (See link at the right side of this blog.)  She ordered the Autumn 2009 release of Maquillage Moisture Cream Foundation, Maquillage Moisture Finish Powdery UV Foundation and the other limited edition eyeshadow palette (again the color being very light). Both of these are in OC20. Kat loves this foundation! She's still not sure of the color and will be ordering the powder foundation in OC10 but otherwise, she thinks that she has finally found "the perfect"  foundation.

This foundation gives really good coverage, without feeling heavy. It is also long wearing, which Kat really needs. Kat often puts on her makeup at around 6:00 a.m. and will not remove it until midnight. She will touch up with the powder foundation once, sometimes twice depending on how humid it is. It does make my skin feel like it's getting the moisture it needs and it hasn't clogged up the pores. Kat did a test today using both the Maquillage foundation and her old foundation, one on each half of the face. Took a picture but you can't see anything so won't bother uploading it. However, one thing that really impressed Kat is that the Maquillage side looks healthier. It looks uplifted, while the old foundation side looks like it's kind of being dragged down. Kat thinks that her fine lines and pores show up a lilttle more with the old foundation but there isn't that much significance. Maquillage foundation also feels much nicer on the face.

Mai, Kat totally recommend this. The next time we get together to play, you will need to try this foundation. Yeah, it's a bit pricey but so worth it.

*A side note: With Kat's old foundation, you could really see her fine lines and pores, which made her think that the old foundation was kind of drying to her skin. However, today it wasn't that noticeable. Kat's thinking that perhaps it's that Miracle Worker that has helped.

**If you've been wanting to try Japanese brands of makeup and skin care but don't know where to go, Kat highly recommends Ichibankao (link on the right of the blog). Kelly is really nice and just awesome.

Miracle Worker by Philosophy

Kat has been looking for something that will help to make her awful freckles disappear. There's one especially big one that became that way when a bunch of smaller freckles grew larger and merged into one ugly spot. Kat's tried a bunch of different products including an expensive one by Ivo Pitanguy. Sephora recommended Miracle Worker Miraculous Anti-Aging Retinoid Pads and Solution. This is something that came out relatively recently. According to Sephora, these are the things that it is supposed to do:

After one week:     Noticeable results in smoothness and clarity
After four weeks:   Visible reduced discoloration and dullness
After eight weeks: Significant improvements in appearance of pores and wrinkles

The Sephora salesperson said that she had heard comments from people that this significantly lightened their dark spots after having used it continuously for 8 weeks. It wasn't cheap, $70.00 but a lot cheaper than the Ivo Pitanguy product used. It will be well worth it if it works. Will keep you updated.

Recent Sephora Purchase

Kat recently went shopping at our favorite grownup candy store, Sephora! Bought Time Balm Anti Wrinkle Concealer,  trial sizes of Full Thickening Cream and Frizz Styling Spray and Miracle Worker by Philosophy.

Time Balm Anti Wrinkle Concealer is supposed to be something that can be used both day and night. It is used as a concealer during the day over eye cream and shouldn't cause any caking. Used at night, it fights visible signs of aging while you sleep. It's supposed to help minimize the appearance of dark circles under the eye, moisturize and prevent fine lines. It also conditions and brightens the skin. It is easiest to use it with your fingertips instead of the goofy little sponge inclulded.

This will be used by Kat at night only. Although you can't see it very well, Kat has taken before and after pictures. However, Kat can tell the difference. Although she doesn't have prominent dark circles, it has helped to minimize it as well as making the bags under the eye less puffy. It looks very natural too. She wakes up looking refreshed even when not getting enough sleep. Mai, Kat likes this so far.

Before

After

Note: This was available only at the Ala Moana Sephora. Pearlridge didn't have it.
           Color used was Medium

Next review will be the Miracle Worker.

Hina Matsuri

Today is March 3rd and it is Girls' Day. Happy Girls' Day to everyone!


Japanese Tradition, Hina Matsuri

We have 5 seasonal festivals a year. They began about 1000 years ago .These are special events where people celebrate the changing of the season and pray for happiness & good luck to God.


I read in a book that in ancient Japan, people would go into a field or mountain to gather herbs and pray to God. These herbs would purify their bodies. There was also the belief that dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits. This ancient Japanese custom is known as Hina-Nagashi or also known as Nagashibina. Straw hina dolls are put in a boat which will float down a river to the sea, taking troubles and bad spirits with them.


Now, the custom for March 3rd is a festival for girls. The current belief is that the dolls will bring happiness and protect girls from evil spirits. The dolls are displayed in a room where you can pray to God on behalf of little girls for happiness, prosperity, and to ensure they grow up healthy and beautiful. Usually these ceremonial dolls are passed down from generation to generation.


Another custom is to display peach blossoms. which is an auspicious tree. In ancient times it was believed that the fruit would give one ageless youth and longevity. Peach blossoms are a very important decoration of this festival since nowadays, it symbolizes a happy marriage. The blossoms signify feminine traits of tranquility, composure and gentility.


I think this is simple but pretty festival that I hope will continue on for many generations.


Note: Thank you to my friend, Noriko Mishima, for allowing me to post this here. This is part of her business website. Her family has a beautiful flower shop in Japan. The name of the shop is Nos Enfants HANAYOSHI. The link is listed in the recommend URL box. Once you click on that link, at the bottom, there's another link to click on and that will take you to see all the beautiful designs they have.