A Pop Of Kawaii Haul with Product Reviews, EOTD

Last week I placed an order with A Pop Of Kawaii, which blogger Nic Nic of bang bang she shoots owns. Check out her blog, it's really interesting and she's a really cute gal. Anyway, this is not my first order from A Pop Of Kawaii. I really like their product line and superb service. I got notification on Thursday night that my order was shipped out and Monday it arrived!

I ordered Revlon BB Cream, which is a Japan release, Canmake Gokunobi mascara, Canmake Loose Cheek and Lunasol Blooming Eyes Purple Gradation, which was actually a sale item. She also included a few GWPs, one of which is a Hello Kitty oil blotting sheets pouch. I love Hello Kitty so I think it's perfect!

I'm in the process of testing the BB cream right now so I'll be posting a review on it later.

Lunasol Blooming Eyes Purple Gradation, Canmake Gokunobi Mascara and EOTD

I primed my eyes with Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion. MAC's Neutral Pink was applied in my contour area and blended up into my brow bone. From the Lunasol palette, I used the light purple in the inner 1/3 of upper eyelid, the darker purple in the middle 1/3 of eyelid and blended well with the light purple. The charcoal color was applied to the outer 1/3 of my eyelid and blended upward into contour area and across creaseline. I deepened the outer corner with the same color in a sidewards "V" shape.  Lined my upper and lower lashline with K-Palette Real Lasting eyeliner and using the charcoal eyeshadow, I went over the eyeliner to soften the line a bit. Curled my eyelashes using Koji #70 eyelash curler and applied Canmake Gokunobi mascara. As a final touch, I applied the Canmake Loose Cheek 06 Mauve Pink onto brow bone as a highlight.

I really like Lunasol Eyeshadows and this one did not disappoint. It is well pigmented and the shadows apply nicely. I've been into using purple eyeshadows lately so this was a nice addition to my collection. I can see using this with my other purple eyeshadows to create a different look.

The mascara is a curling and lengthening mascara with waterproof properties except that it washes off easily with warm water. You can read more info as well as application instructions here, which is on A Pop Of Kawaii's website.

I have really difficult to curl lashes which do not hold a curl unless I apply a mascara base or use waterproof mascara. I don't like to use waterproof mascara because it's more difficult to remove. In today's EOTD, I curled my eyelashes but didn't use a mascara base because I wanted to see if it would hold my curl. While it didn't completely uncurl my eyelashes, it didn't fully hold the curl either. It's still curled but it's what I call a droopy curl. I tried it yesterday without curling my eyelashes to see if it would curl it but it barely curled it. It did wash off very easily and cleanly with warm water and it didn't flake throughout the day. Am I disappointed? No because this is par for the course as far as mascaras and my eyelashes go. I can just use a mascara base and it'll work just fine. I like the fact that I can just wash it off with warm water. For the price, it's a decent mascara.

Canmake Loose Cheek in 06 Mauve Pink

I had purchased this same blush in 01 Baby Pink and I just love it so much! You can read my review on it here. I've been wearing it almost every day since purchasing it. It still comes in the same cute packaging with the sweet little puff. Although you can't see it in the picture, the Baby Pink is more of a light pink while the mauve pink looks more blue-toned, so there's a lavender tone to it. Also, the Baby Pink has gold sparkles in it while the Mauve Pink has silver sparkles. I also think that the Mauve Pink is slightly darker than the Baby Pink. I'm loving both colors.

Look for my review on the Revlon BB Cream which will be coming up in a day or so. Perhaps even later on tonight.

Please be sure to check out A Pop Of Kawaii. Thanks Nic Nic for the great service!

*Kat*

EOTD + Review UD Stardust Eyeshadow

In my last post I wrote about the Sephora Swag Bag promo and in that bag I received a small sample of Urban Decay's Stardust eyeshadow in Retrograde. I mentioned that I would do an EOTD/review soon.

Products used after regular prepping:

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Sin
From Urban Decay NAKED Palette: Virgin, Toasted, Sidecar and Creep
Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadow in Retrograde
Canmake Loose Cheek Powder in 01 Baby Pink
K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner
Talika Lipocils (not pictured)

I primed my lids with UDPP. I'm really, really loving this product--it's great! Virgin on brow bone. I applied toasted in contour area, which is from the crease line to just under brow bone. I also blend it upward onto the brow bone to blend in and soften Virgin and Toasted. Retrograde over entire eyelid, from lashline to just above crease line. Sidecar is applied on inner corners of upper eyelid, approximately 1/3 of inner corner. Creep is applied at outer corners of upper eyelid in sideways "V" shape. K-Palette eyeliner on upper and lower lashlines. Talika Lipocils is applied to my upper eyelashes. I don't normally use mascara so I like to apply the Talika Lipocils since it's an eyelash treatment, which helps to condition my eyelashes and to help remove any stray powders on my lashes. I also used Canmake Loose Cheek Powder on my brow bone area. I often will use either a blush or bronzer on my brow bones as a final touch because I have sort of prominent brow bones. When I use a light highlighter, which is normal for makeup application, I find it accents my brow bone too much and makes my eyelids look like it's really sunken in.

This was actually my 2nd attempt at using Retrograde. I am not sure if it's true for this Stardust line but I found the eyeshadow to be very hard. The NAKED palette eyeshadows are all very soft and pigmented to the point where you can pick up too much color in one swipe, so you need to swipe gently. Not so with the Retrograde.

The first time I used it, no color was applying on. I finally tested it with my finger tip and a gentle swipe produced no color. I finally swirled my finger round and round and quite hard and finally got color in it. I chose a stiffer brush and swirled it in Retrograde and was finally able to get color on my lids. By this time, I forgot that with the NAKED palette I didn't need to load up my brush a whole lot so when I tried applying Creep, my eyelids got totally black! It was awful! I had to redo it that day. I also found that at the end of that day, I had all kinds of sparkles all over my face.

So onto the 2nd day of applying this. I remembered to swipe hard for Retrograde but not the NAKED palette colors. The description of Retrograde, according to the Sephora website, is it's a dark purple with iridescent sparkle. I liked the sound of it. Also, on the little product card that came with Retrograde, it says that Stardust is "a COSMIC explosion of prismatic sparkle against a wash of color. Powerdery bits of glitter (40% more than our sparkly shadows) miraculously feel silky. No fallout, just sexy, twinkling lids." I have to disagree. I experienced a lot of fallout. The end of the day of my first attempt showed my face all sparkly but I gave it the benefit of the doubt since I had to play around with it so much and redo my eyes. However, as you can see in my open eye picture, there are sparkles underneath my eye. There was more sparkles beneath the cutoff of the picture and lots on my cheeks.

It's only been within the last month that I've actually tried anything from Urban Decay, starting with the Eyeshadow Primer Potion and then the NAKED Palette. I was so impressed by both that I was really looking forward to trying Retrograde. It was a big disappointment for me. However, I'm wondering if there is a possibility that the product is different because it's a sampler palette. I should go to Sephora to try out their tester and see if the shadow is softer.

One last thing...I've been reading on various blogs that the NAKED Palette is a regular item but it's just so popular right now so that's why it's sold out. I asked the Sephora MUA about that and she told me that it's a limited edition item, although the items in the palette itself are regular stock items. I'm now confused--so is NAKED Palette a LE or regular stock item?

*Kat*

Sephora V.I.B. Swag Bag Promo

For those who are in Sephora's V.I.B. program, I'm sure that you got your email about their promotion which started today and runs till the 8th. I went over to Sephora about 3 hours after they opened and I was told that the gift bags were running out quickly. I made my purchase, which also earned me double points and was able to get my promo swag bag. I'm really happy with it!

It's a simple black drawstring bag, which in itself isn't anything spectacular. Inside the bag was 7 samples sizes of different products, all of them which would normally "cost" 100 VIB points each. The 7 sample-sized products are: Clarins Multi Active Serum, Smashbox Photo Op Under Eye Brightener, Laura Mercier mini Nude Tinted Moisturizer, Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadow Retrograde, Sephora Collection Atomic Volume Mascara, Dr. Brandt Collagen Booster and Phyto Phytodefrisant . There were also 2 Sephora buttons and a card which says that VIB's Ship It Free in the month of August. It's a one-time use card.

I'm really excited about the Urban Decay eyeshadow since I just bought the NAKED palette and tried UD's eyeshadows for the first time. I like it! The Stardust eyeshadow is a purple colored eyeshadow so it's perfect for me! Clarins Multi Active Serum and Dr. Brandt's Collagen Booster are also on my "gotta try" list. The rest of the items I'll have Mai see if she wants anything and the rest will probably go into our next giveaway bag.

Have a great weekend everyone!

*Kat*

I'm in Extase!

Yup, I'm in Extase! On Saturday I finally caved and purchased the Dior 5 color palette that I had been eyeing for a while. It's the Extase Pink palette.

I had resisted purchasing it because I already have a palette that has pink and purple in it but I love the fact that it also has a silver and gray color in it. Also, the palette that has the pink and purple in it is a LE palette. The LE palettes seem to come with the color in the lower right hand corner as a cream liner, which I usually do not use. The regular line 5 color palettes have all 5 shadows as powder eyeshadows.

Products used for today's EOTD:

Dior Crush Glow

Dior Extase Pink

K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner
Talika Lipocils

From Extase Pink, I used the center color on brow bone for highlight. From Crush Glow, I used the pinky taupe color (bottom left side) in contour area, between creaseline and brow bone. From Extase Pink, the pink color on inner half of upper eyelid, purple on outer half of upper eyelid, the dark gray in outer corner of upper eyelids in "v" shape. Lined eyes with K-Palette eyeliner and brushed eyelashes with Talika Lipocils.

I think that the Extase Pink palette is a very versatile palette--it's probably the most versatile of my Dior palettes. I can think of various combinations to use the different colors and to combine it with other colors from other palettes. I'm really glad that I got it.

*Kat*

6 Week Update--Challenge: Trish McEvoy Lash Enhancer Nighttime Conditioning Treatment + Bonus EOTD

It is now the 6 week mark of this challenge. I have to admit that I failed a couple of nights to apply the treatment because I fell asleep before I could do anything. I will put the series of pictures in order.

Upper Lashes

Lower Lashes

For some reason, it seems like there wasn't any improvement at all. In fact, it looks like it isn't as good as it was 2 weeks ago. I'm not sure if it was my picture taking today or if there definitely is a reversal. I know that I actually accidently cut a little of my top right eyelashes (left side in picture) when I was trying to do additional trimming of the Mezaik. I am currently using a Revlong cuticle scissors. I like it because the blades are short but they are curved. I would like to get one that is straight because I think that will help to avoid accidently cutting eyelashes. It needs to be super sharp though. Any recommendations?  I also tried and used the Kiss Me Heroine Make Long and Curl Mascara, not realizing how difficult it is to remove the mascara. I tried it on Saturday so I'm not sure if I rubbed my eyelashes too much when trying to remove it. Oh well...

With Mascara

This is using the same Estee Lauder mascara and the Shiseido mascara base. (I always use the mascara base to help keep my eyelashes curled.)

I am still quite pleased with the results. I also don't mind as much if I accidently cut my eyelashes now because with the Trish McEvoy treatment, it helps my lashes to grow back faster than if I didn't use it.

Bonus EOTD

On Saturday, Mai and I got together and I got naked...oh wait, NAKED. Urban Decay's Naked Palette, that is. I was really surprised and happy that Sephora at Ala Moana still had palettes avaiable. I had tried to pick one up at Pearlridge Mall on Thursday and I was told that there was a waiting list for it. Mai debated about whether to pick one up too but decided to wait and play with mine first.

The set comes with the eyeshadow palette, a cute sample-sized bottle of Eyeshadow Potion Primer, which I gave to Mai and a double-ended, two-color eyeliner pencil. The casing of the palette is actually cardboard but it's covered in velvet.. The inside cover has a mirror and there are 12 different eyeshadows.

For today's EOTD, I used Virgin on the browbone, Toasted in the contour area, Halfbaked on the inner corner of upper eyelids brushing up to creaseline, Smog from middle of eyelide to outer corners and brushing up to above creaseline and blending into contour area over Toasted. Darkhorse is then used at the outer corners in a "v" shape. I also lightly lined the lower lashline with Darkhorse. K-Palette Real Lasting eyeliner was used on upper and lower lashline and Shiseido Mascara base and Estee Lauder Illusionist Mascara applied over eyelashes curled with Shu Uemura eyelash curler.

This is the first time that I've even tried any Urban Decay eyeshadows. I was surprised by how soft the shadow is. I first applied too much to my brush. The eyeshadows are on the frosty side, which I normally don't use much. With the powders being so soft, I had a lot of fallout but I'm not sure if it's because I had too much on my brush or if it really does have fallout. It doesn't bother me much since I usually do my eye makeup first and then finish up the rest of my face with foundation, etc. I feel that Naked palette is a great purchase. The colors are really nice and neutral but well pigmented. It's a great introduction to the Urban Decay eyeshadow line.

*Kat*

Summer Essentials

As July turned into August, it's been getting hotter and hotter here in Hawaii. Although for most of the public school students, school starts this week and it marks the end of summer vacation, the weather is only starting to heat up.

K from bihada diaries did a blog post on her 10 Summer Essentials a few days ago. I asked her if it was okay for me to do something similar and she gladly said yes. I wanted to keep mine to 10 but ended up with 12. Here's my list:

1. Extra Strength Excedrin

Unfortunately with the heat, along comes headaches and migraines for me. I've been waking up with them, which is not fun.

2. Water, Green Tea and Diet Coke

Those are my essential drinks. It's essential for me to stay hydrated, which also helps to ward off headaches. I know that caffeinated drinks drinks are supposed to be dehydrating but the caffeine helps with controlling the headaches, which is also an ingredient in Excedrin.

3. Fruits

Fruits are cool and refreshing and also help to keep you hydrated. It's also a natural source of sugar which can help to keep your energy up. Here I have pictured mango from my tree but I also like to eat grapes, white peaches, white nectarines and oranges.

4. Sunscreen

Growing up in Hawaii, the beach was often our hangout of choice. It was also the era of the golden-tanned look. Unfortunately, I only got brown/black and not golden tan. I am now paying for it with dreaded freckles and darker skin. It doesn't help that I get dark very easily. Sunscreen is now my best friend.

5. Beauty Masks

I have only recently discovered the wonderful benefits of beauty masks, thanks to beauty blogging. The masks are great for my skin but also feel cooling when applied. With the cooling feel, I have found that it helps to tame a headache. Since the weather has gotten much hotter, I like to put the mask into the refrigerator to make the mask even cooler. It feels wonderful when it's especially humid. I'm hoping that by refrigerating the mask, it doesn't affect the mask effects.

6. Primers

As it gets quite hot, humid and muggy here, primers are good for helping to keep your makeup in place. I just recently discovered how wonderfully great Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer is! It has helped to keep my makeup looking freshly applied, even 15 hours later! I'm still testing out the Urban Decay Complexion Primer and will be doing a review soon.

7. Lip Balms

I use a SPF lipbalm in the morning before applying lipstick and like to use a lipbalm at night to keep my lips conditioned. The SPF lipbalm is especially important for during the day since I do come into contact with the sun's rays, whether directly or indirectly.

8. Spritzing Water Bottle

While this is good for spritzing water on to help cool yourself down, I use this on my hair. My normal hair routine is shampoo, condition and blow dry. I will also flat iron if my hair gets wonky when sleeping and/or if I want a nice sleek look. In the summer nights, it's so hot that I don't like to blow dry my hair. Also, with the humidity and sweating during the day, my hair can frizz. I will often just shampoo and condition my hair and let it dry naturally. This means that my hair looks super awful--like the Wicked Witch of the West--yes, really, that bad! Since I wash my hair at night, I just go to sleep looking like that witch. When I wake up in the morning, I brush my hair out and flat iron my bangs and perhaps the top half of my head if necessary. I then spritz the bottom half of my hair, scrunch it up a little and let it dry. This is the result:

I get nice, natural waves. I don't brush my hair again until I go to bed but if I do need to brush it, then I will need to spritz and scrunch it again. I will do the same thing again the next morning. Since I didn't wash it the night before, the waves on the 2nd day is a little more pronounced.

9. Hair Accessories

I will use a scrunchie, hair clip, hair combs, anything to be able to put my hair up and off of my nape. I do this if it's especially hot and/or if I am doing housework or anything that will make me sweaty. I can't stand getting sweaty! I love bling so a lot of my hair accessories are blingy.

10. Nail Polish

Nicely polished toe nails is great for summer days. It's the time when strappy sandals are being worn so a pedicure is almost a must.

11. Handkerchiefs and Towels

Although it might seem a bit old fashioned, I will carry around a handkerchief to help blot off perspiration on my face when it's hot. I also try to keep a small towel in my car for when I'm driving around to help wipe my neck.

12. Miniature Fan

I keep a miniature electric fan close to my computer so that I can comfortably be online. My fan is on constantly during the hot days and nights.

That's my summer essentials. Thanks K for an awesome blog topic!

*Kat*

Half Year Disappointments

I've been meaning to do this post for a while now but kept on blogging about other things. There really isn't too much since I did an earlier tag post Don't Believe The Hype, which was basically the same thing for me.

This, of course, is my own personal opinion and what is a disappointment for me could be a thumbs up for you.

Hair Products:

Fekkai Shampoo and Conditioner--Technician Color Care

I thought that this would work well on my hair since it's color treated. This was probably the worst of the lot. When I would rinse out my hair, my hair felt really brittle and like straw. I really felt like my hair was a bird nest. Not only that, I really detested the scent. The shampoo was okay since it was sweet and lightly scented but the conditioner was much more strongly scented and it smelt like Passion Orange/Guava and I do not like those fruits. YUCK!

Fekkai Shampoo and Conditioner--Protein Rx Repairative

While this wasn't as bad as the Technician Color Care, the shampoo still made my hair feel like it was straw when rinsing out. The conditioner was okay. The thing that I didn't like was that after I dried my hair, it wasn't silky soft but it felt like I had applied styling products. Also, by the next day, my hair was feeling and looking oily so I would have to wash it. This meant that I was needing to wash my hair everyday.

Shiseido Tsubaki Golden Repair Shampoo

Unfortunately, when I rinse the shampoo out of my hair, it would also feel a bit like straw. I love the conditioner though and the hair mask is wonderful!

Skin Care:

Mandom Barrier Repair Baby Moist Serum and Essence

I'm glad that I didn't purchase the full line of this. I found that when I used this at night, the next morning there was excess oil sitting on my skin, like it wasn't absorbed into the skin. I couldn't read the ingredient list but when I applied the essence, it seemed to me that I could smell alcohol in it. I try to use as little alcohol-based products on my face since it can be quite drying. Not something that aging skin needs.

Neutrogena Ageless Essentials Continuous Hydration Eye Cream

I don't have anything bad to say about this product. I really don't have an opinion on it at all. I didn't feel that it did anything. If I don't think that it's doing something good, I won't purchase it again.

Makeup:

SunPlay Skin Aqua Moisture BB Cream

I really, really wanted to like this product. It felt good on and I thought that it was nicely moisturizing and hydrating. The only thing is that it is way too light for me. I tried to make it work by using a darker foundation color but it still didn't quite work out. It's really unfortunate!

MAC Plush Lash Mascara

This came highly recommended but it absolutely didn't work for me at all. It didn't curl my lashes. Although I was told by the MAC MUA that it wouldn't uncurl my lashes, it did. It also flaked on me.

Shiseido Eyelash Curler

I had read that many bloggers like this eyelash curler but it didn't work for me. Shu Uemura works the best so far. The Shiseido eyelash curler is more curved than the Shu Uemura so it's not a good "fit" for my eyes.

That's my 1st half of 2010 disappointments. Sorry it's almost a month late.

*Kat*