Using My Stash--August 2013

While I normally do this post every other month, I just had to do one this month as it is all makeup products, something which is difficult for me to use up.

Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro 002 Primer. This primer has been working out really well for me this summer. I love this new formulation. The older, tinted formulation did not work well for me at all. I've already purchased and am using a new tube.

Maquillage Moisture Finish Powdery UV Foundation. I don't use this as a foundation but as a finishing powder. This is the 2nd pan that I've used as I had bought 2 at the same time several years ago. I believe that this was a fall/winter release so I am hoping it gets released again as I liked it.

Canmake Cheek & Cheek 06. This was a LE color from a year or two ago. It was a great color and product to use. I find that Canmake blushes appeal to me and they are reasonably priced in Japan.

Covergirl Clump Crusher by Lashblast mascara. This is by far my favorite mascara. I have bought several back ups of it. Here's my review.

K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner 24h WP. I can't live without this eyeliner! I always love the LE packaging as it usually is pink. The new one that I opened up to replace this one is in the regular black tubing. I'm still getting used to looking for the black tube instead of pink when I want to use my eyeliner.

Discards:

While it's wasteful to have to throw away products, some items just can't be helped. I normally like to try to "recycle" products by either giving it away or selling it but items that can't be safely sanitized has to be discarded.

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner Pens. I had read great reviews on this eyeliner and loved the fact that it came in different colors other than black and brown. Unfortunately, this isn't for me. I find that the application isn't as smooth as K-Palette. Although it's supposedly waterproof, I find that it smudges and color transfers on me very easily. While I fully line my upper eyelid, I line only the outer end of lower lashline. By half a day, my eyes look like a raccoon because of color has transferred to under my eyes and it's not a pretty sight. I have only used each of the colors once or twice but since they are felt tip pens, I don't think that these can be safely sanitized so they will have to be dumped. How unfortunate!

*KatI

Spring/Sakura Inspired FOTD w/Product Review

Spring is slowly coming around and brings with it all of those pretty pastel colors. I tend to gravitate towards spring eye makeup collections because of the pretty colors but have to keep reminding myself that I can't use them because they are too pale for me.

Sakura has come early this year in Japan and from last week Tokyo was already in full bloom. I love sakura and it was either last year or the year before that I did sakura inspired look. I have decided to do a new sakura inspired spring look.

When you thnk of sakura, one normally thinks of white, pink and brown colors. If you look carefully at a sakura tree in bloom, you will notice that there aren't any leaves. The leaves come out after the flowers fall off.

Products used (some are not shown):

Urban Decay Primer Potion--Original**
MAC Eyeshadows--Vanilla* and Samoa Silk**
Addiction Eyeshadow--Mystic Mirage (Gift from Justine)
Sephora Prisma Chrome Eyeshadow--Gold Reflection
Quo All About Eyes Eyeshadow Palette--Bronze (I think that's the color. Gift from Winnie)
Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Eyeshadow--23
Urban Decay Eyeshadow--Kush (from BOS III)
K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner--Deep Brown

Covergirl Lashlast Clump Crusher Mascara--Black
Canmake Shading Powder--01**
Chanel Sculpting Veil Powder--Notorious** (Gift from Vicky)
Lise Watier Blush--Pink Power (gift from Justine)
Urban Decay Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Color--Love Child

I also used Boujois 123 Perfect Foundation, Sue Devitt Bermuda Triangle Concealer, Make Up For Ever Full Cover Extreme Camouflage Cream in #8, NARS Orgasm blush and Sephora Eyeshadow in Sun Kissed, which has been discontinued--so sad! I use these all to finish my face and if you haven't yet, you can read my concealing method here.

This may seem like a lot of products but it really isn't. The items with a pink asterisk are items that I use on a daily basis. For the eyeshadows in palettes, I marked the ones that I used for this look with a red asterisk.

As is standard preparation for my eyes, I prime my eyelids with primer potion. I then use Samoa Silk in the socket of my eyelid and bring it out to on top of the outer half of the brow/socket bone. My bone is very prominent and it makes my eyes look sunken in, plus with age, it seems to have sunken in even more. Using the orange-toned color helps to lighten the darker area on the inner eye socket. (This is the same concept with concealing.) Because the brow/socket bone is so prominent, I like to use matte eyeshadow to very thinly highlight just under the eyebrows. I usually use Vanilla.

I then applied Mystic Mirage from inner corner of eyelid to just about 3/4 of the way towards the outer eyelid, and bringing it gently upwards towards where Samoa Silk is applied. The outer 1/4 of the eyelid is where Bronze is applied sweeping it inward to blend into Mystic Mirage. I also pull it upward into Samoa Silk and going on top of the outer brow bone. Gold Reflection is lightly applied where Bronze and Mystic Mirage meet to blend the two colors in. Sometimes you do see a hint of yellow in the center of a flower, depending on the variety. I'm not sure if this applies to sakura too. Although this look is sakura inspired, it is also a spring look so I wanted to incorporate a little bit of additional color. I then lightly applied GA ETK #23 very lightly over the entire eyeld. This softens everything a bit but the main reason why I used it is because it is an iridescent eyeshadow with very fine iridescent flecks. Sakura season is a very special time of the year and its beauty and glory are quite magical. I wanted to have the wash of iridescent specks to create that magical feel. K--Palette eyeliner is applied to entire upper lash line and flicked up at the end a bit. The outer half of the lower lash line is lined also. I then apply Bronze over the eyeliner of the lower lash line and deepen the outer "V"  with Bronze, softening the flicked up line. Kush is applied to the lower lash line at mid eye, just to give it a slight pop of color. Again, green isn't part of sakura but it is a color associated with spring and new growth of plant life. Clump Crusher mascara is applied to my lashes.

My cheeks are contoured using Canmake Shading Powder 01 and I also bring the color up to the temples and forehead. Notorious is applied in in darkened hollow of my cheek, close by the ear. I also very lightly apply it from my jaw bone down towards the chin. I think that I have a sharp jaw bone so this helps to soften it as well as give the illusion of narrowing my face. Pink Power had to be used in this FOTD because of the sakura theme that the design has. Thank you Justine for this beautiful blush and for Mystic Mirage!

Lips were colored using Love Child, which gives it just the right hint of color. I think it's a perfect spring color.

As most readers are aware, I am not a brown eyeshadow person. Browns tend to wash me out or make me look tired. I am also not a big fan of wearing neutral or pale looks. Again, it's because I look washed out. Warm tones are definitely not good on me, although I love how others can make warm tones and neutrals work for them. It took me a long while to use the Quo palette because it was a beige and brown color palette. Also, there is a very pretty embossed design on it and it was just too pretty to use. After looking at the palette more and more, I began to think that it looked more cool toned than warm toned, which is why I decided to give it a go. I was very surprised that I liked the way the two shadows looked on me. The shadows themselves are very nice, not overly pigmented but are nice and soft. They are not chalky at all. With Bronze, the darker color, you can't over do apply the color, which is nice. I even liked that it was a more muted look that worked on me. I still prefer to have the outer corners of my eyes darker but feel that I can comfortably use this for a day time look without looking washed out or like I'm not wearing any makeup. Thank you Winnie!

Chanel Notorious was something that looked so interesting to me when it came out. I was curious to try it but hesitated purchasing it. I joined the Blogger Secret Santa exchange again this year and put this out onto my wish list. Vicky was my Secret Santa and she sent it to me! I was excited to try it and yet was a bit hesitant to see how a gray-colored powder could work as a contouring powder. Normally we use browns so gray seemed to be a bit harsh. If applied correctly, it works great! You really need a light hand. When you think about it, the recessed parts of your face actually look more gray/black than brown--at least on me it is. Thank you Vicky!

Mascara is one thing that I have trouble finding that will work well for me. I have poker straight lashes that are difficult to keep curled, unless I use waterproof mascara. Clump Crusher is water resistant so it comes off easily with a gentle makeup remover and washing with warm water. The formulation is on the drier side, which works better for me. The amazing thing is that this mascara WILL curl my lashes without using an eyelash curler first. I used a light application here and it gave my eyelashes a natural curl look. If I apply more mascara and really press the wand into my lashes, it will curl it even more and giving me a more dramatic look, which I don't care for much anyway. The other great thing about this mascara, it doesn't flake! I can wear it for 12 hours or longer and not have it flake. Definitely my favorite mascara!

I decided to (12 hours later) darken the eye up a bit to make it more "evening out" appropriate. I decided to pull out Urban Decay Smoked Palette, which I have had for a while but not used.

I decided to use Barlust, which is a medium brown color. I applied it to the outer corners of the eye to deepen the color a bit and added it to the outer 1/4 of lower lashline.

I'm not sure if it's the right brown for me yet. I have to play with it more. I've read varying reviews on what people think the color is--Temptalia calls it a reddish brown while others have said it's a golden brown, neutral brown, etc. If it comes out more reddish brown on me, then it'll definitely not work. It was already late when I did this and only artificial lighting so I will have to test it out again during the day time.

This was a long post. Thanks for reading through it all!

*Kat*

P.S. Happy Easter!

P.P.S. There are still items available in the blog sale

L'Oreal Lash Serum--7th Week and Holiday EOTD

I'm back with another L'Oreal Lash Serum progress report. I've been showing weekly progress pictures every other week or so with 2 to 3 weeks pictures. I must say that at this point, it doesn't seem as much more has happened or perhaps will even happen so I don't think that I'll post each week's picture unless you'd like to continue seeing it.

This is week 7, again with no makeup and with makeup.

Again, I must say that I've been very impressed by this serum and will continue to use it.

I had a couple of Christmas parties to attend in the same night and I wasn't sure if we would try to make both. I decided to do a green and gold holiday EOTD and finally wear some mascara with my newly grown lashes.

Products used:

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion: Eden (not shown)
Urban Decay Eyeshadows: Blitz, Junkie (Vice Palette), Kush, Loaded (BOS III Palette)
K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner
NARS Pencil Eyeliner
Canmake Agebuto Mascara
Maybelline The Colassal Volume Express Mascara
Sephora Collection Glitter Eyeliner and Mascara: Gold

As usual, I primed my eyelids with primer potion.Blitz is applied to the inner 1/3 of eyelid, Kush to the middle 1/3 of eyelid and blended in sweeping back and forth motion into and just above the crease, sweeping out towards the end of the outer corner. I did not sweep it completely to the inner corner. Junkie is applied to the outer 1/3 of eyelid and blended into Kush. K-Palette is applied to upper lash line and outer corner of lower lash line. It's basically just dotted there to connect the uppler lash line lining to the lower lash line. Loaded is used to line the lower lash line, blending the dotted outer corner and fading the lining towards the middle of the eye. Loaded is also used to the outer "V" of upper eyelid to add a bit more depth. I curled my eyelashes--for the first time since I started using the lash serum--and applied a light coating of Agebuto mascara. It is a waterproof mascara and I need to use waterproof mascaras to hold the curl if I wanted it to be as I curled it. I then applied a couple of coatings of The Colossal Volume mascara to the upper lashes and lightly to the lower lashes. I usually don't like to apply mascara to my lower lashes because it makes me look like I have black eyes. Having been using the lash serum, it has really enhanced my lower lashes as well and applying mascara gave it an even more extreme look so to soften it I used a brush to angle it towards the outer corner. I then applied NARS pencil eyeliner to upper waterline.

As a last step to add a bit more glitz to my eyes, I applied gold glitter eyeliner to 1/4 of the lower inner lash line. Unfortunately you can't really see it in the picture. The product that I used for this is Sephora Collection Glitter Eyeliner and Mascara. The SA at Sephora was wearing it and it looked really nice. I was concerned about the glitters being that close to the eye and she said that she hadn't experienced any migrating of the glitter into the eye so I decided to pick it up in gold and in silver.

The tip of it is like a regular eyeliner brush and after that there is the mascara brush. It actually takes quite a few swipes to get the glitter onto your eyelashes but after I tried it, I decided that I like using it as just an eyeliner. Unfortunately, there was a LE mini set of this in just eyeliners and that probably would have been a better purchase for me since I ended up deciding that I will not use it on my lashes.

Swatch so that you can see what it looks like:

I like the way it gives a litte bit of sparkle to your eye. I had a lot of women friends who loved it. It was only the hubs who, at the end of the night, asked if that's glitter or tears!

I initially really liked Loaded but I'm noticing more and more that there's actually a brown undertone to it. It's very similar to MAC Club, at least in pictures. I need to find a true Deep Emerald green eyeshadow as I love the color. Any suggestions?

*Kat*

Evening Out FOTD

Last night I had a business dinner to go to and so I felt that I needed to dress up a bit even though the restaurant that we went to doesn't have a high class environment.

Products used:

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill 20, 21 and 23
Addiction Eyeshadow Mystic Mirage
K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner
NARS Larger Than Life Long Wear Eyeliner
Shiseido Mascara Base
Canmake Agebuto Mascara
Sephora Full Action Extreme Effect Mascara
Clarins Skin Illusion Natural Radiance Foundation 109
Canmake Cheek & Cheek Blush 06 (LE)
Urban Decay Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Color Love Child

I did an explanation of the Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill EOTD in my post here. The only difference is that I added Mystic Mirage to the outer brow bone area and used NARS eyeliner on water line of upper eyelid. I curled my lashes and used Shiseido mascara base which helps to hold my curl. I applied Agebuto mascara, which is a waterproof mascara and that also helps hold my curl. I then applied the Sephora mascara because I like the effect that it gives as it really seems to darken the lashes and make it fuller. I'm sorry but I forgot to separate my lashes before taking the picture!

The foundation that I used tonight was Clarins Skin Illusion Natural Radiance Foundation in 109. This foundation gives a nice finish and while it's rather natural looking, it also gives good, long-lasting coverage. Since my eyes were made up darker than normal, I decided to go with light cheeks and lips. I'm really loving the Canmake Cheek & Cheek blush in 06. Too bad it's an LE shade. Lips were done using Urban Decay pencil gloss in Love Child.

I love how this Canmake Blush gives a nice pink flush to the cheeks. It's nicely pigmented so you can apply too much--yes, I've done it! Please take note of my beautiful handmade earrings from Fushigi Shop. I wore these thinking that it's the perfect time to wear it. Please do check out this wonderful store with enticing jewelry pieces. Yasumi is away on vacation right now but she will soon be returning and coming up with more beautiful and unique creations.

I must say that when I purchased the Eyes to Kill eyeshadows, I was hesitant on #23 (the opalescence white shadow). I'm so glad that I bought it because it has to be my favorite of the 3 colors that I purchased.

*Kat*

Japan Makeup Haul

I'm back from my Japan trip! I'm so sorry for not writing regularly but prior to my Japan trip, it was craziness! We left on Easter Sunday on a 6:15 p.m.flight but the hours leading up to it was packed! Since it was the Easter weekend, it was quite busy at work. To top it off, tax returns were going to be due while we were gone so I had to make sure it was all done and ready. The night before, my son told me that he did more research and found out that the rail pass that I decided not to get was going to be a way better value than we thought so after I spent a morning at work on Sunday, I ran to the Japan Travel Bureau to purchase the rail passes. I didn't get home until 1:30 and we needed to leave to go to the airport by 3:30. I still had to shower, wash and dry my hair and pack all of my last minute things. It was a huge rush!  I think that I got maybe 4 hours of sleep Friday night, 2 hours of sleep on Saturday night. Sunday night, which turned into Monday night when we arrived in Japan, I got no sleep at all, which is normal for me the first night away from my own bed.

Our trip was jam packed with all kinds of sight seeing activities planned by our son and his family and his in-laws. The result was that we didn't have much time for shopping. I still did manage to a little bit of hauling and today I'm going to show you my makeup haul.

From Daiso, which is a 100 yen store.

A box of face masks and a couple of packets of Hello Kitty face masks.

I was so excited when I saw these mirrors. I had exactly the same one in black for years. About a month ago, Hime chan reached up onto the counter when I was putting on my makeup and accidently pulled down my mirror. It fell to the ground and broke. I tried looking for a replacement but could only find round ones. I bought one and didn't like it. I ended up buying the light pink and dark pink at Daiso.

I also bought the blush palette there. For only 100 yen, it is a good quality blush and highlighter. I ended up using it the whole duration of my trip. It's actually the first time that I like the highlighter that comes with the blush.

Everything there comes out to 105 yen, when you include the tax. I really wish that I had more time to browse in there.

For the next two pictures, the items were purchased in Donki and Kawachi.

I bought backups of my favorite eyeliner--K-Palette and Mezaik Stretch Double Eyelid Fiber.

Biore Makeup Remover Sheets in Pink container. Justine of Sakura Lovely told me these were her favorite. I have to admit, they are really good although I find the sheets to be a bit too small so I end up using two each time. I also bought a backup of Canmake Shading Powder and a new blush from Canmake, which I haven't even opened to test yet.

The one "high-end" makeup purchase was done at Tokyo Station in Daimaru. I went to the floor which had all the cosmetics and found the Addiction counter!

I finally decided to purchase a single eyeshadow. I'm so happy that I bought it to try. Unlike most Japanese eyeshadows, this one is well pigmented, although it's not as soft and silky as Urban Decay. I also loved their color selection, which was quite a nice array of colors. I'm probably going to want to get  a few more. The next time I'm actually at an Addiction counter, I'd like to test out their foundations.

So that's my makeup haul. As I mentioned at the beginning, it's not very much but I'm really happy with what I got.

*Kat*

NARS Hanamichi EOTD Take 2

In the previous post, I did a FOTD using the NARS Hanamichi palette. I wasn't quite pleased with how the eye makeup came out and I did mention a couple of ideas that I had on how to change it up a bit. I decided to try it out again today using my own suggestions and I am much more pleased with the way the look came out.

Products used:

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Eden
NARS Hanamichi Palette
MAC Orb
Urban Decay Half Baked
K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner
Canmake Agebuto Mascara

I started the EOTD off the same way using the 3 colors from Hanamichi and MAC Orb. I then went over the gold color with Half Baked, which helped to lighten and brighten the inner eyelid area. I also used the gold color to soften the harsh lines of the black color and also added and blended it in the crease contour area and above on just the outer half of my eye. I lined my upper lash line and outer corner of the lower lash line with K-Palette. Using the black shadow I lightly went over the eyeliner on the lower lash line and then using the gold I applied it to the middle of eye of the lower lash line. I then went over the gold with the off-white highlighter color. I applied Agebuto mascara to my eyelashes that I curled.

The rest of my face was done the same way, with me using the red color as my blush. I also used the off-white color to highlight the upper cheekbones. NARS Mitzi was used on my lips again.

I think that by using Half Baked, which is a brighter gold color, it did help to make the inner eye area look--well, brighter. There was some pop to it, whereas using the gold from Hanamichi didn't seem to do much for me. I also let the red color show up more prominently, as well as the black. Overall it was a darker eye look from the previous post but I felt that it gave my eyes a little more definition, which I liked much better.

*Kat*

Purchase Review, FOTD Featuring NARS

There are a couple of products that I'll be showcasing in today's review. I was able to get my hands on the LE Hanamichi palette a couple of weeks ago at a great deal thanks to Lulu of Luluchinadoll. She posted on twitter that we could get a really great deal of $80.00 worth of product from NARS for only $40.00. It was a great opportunity to purchase the Hanamichi palette that I had debated about getting but not wanting to pay the $65.00 price tag. I ended up getting a lipstick to fully use the $80.00 credit.

Unfortunately for us who live in Hawaii, there are some companies that will charge an additional shipping fee to ship it to Hawaii even though across the continental U.S. it is free.Quite understandable in that they are using FedEx to ground ship the products and there is no way that you can ground ship to Hawaii. One of the downfalls to living in Paradise.There are even some companies who will ship via USPS who will charge Hawaii residents higher fees. That I cannot tolerate and will not purchase from those companies at all. Seriously, shipping via USPS costs the same if they were shipping something to Hawaii as it does to ship to their next door neighbor. Fortunately, the shipping fee was quite reasonable.

The lipstick that I picked up is in the color Mitzi, a sheer strawberry pink with shimmer.

I'm sure that most of you have seen the various pictures of the Hanamichi palette and packaging. It comes in a fabric pouch and has the wisteria-wrapped kabuki eye brush in the middle. I have to admit that I haven't opened up the brush and looked at it. I normally don't use the included applicators but I will probably try this one out later.

The palette itself was pretty in the pictures that I had seen online but is absolutely gorgeous seen in person. I got to see it in person when I went to Neiman Marcus a few weeks ago.

After I saw it, it made me want it even more which is why I feel so lucky to have gotten this deal.

Normally I usually only do EOTD but this time I'm doing a FOTD.

Products used:

Missha BB Boomer Primer
Lioele Dollish Veil Vita BB Cream
Sue Devitt Concealer
NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Punjab
Canmake Shading Powder 01
Cle de Peau Translucent Loose Powder
NARS Hanamichi Palette
MAC Orb eyeshadow
K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner
Fairy Drops Mascara
Guerlain Meteorite Pearls--Perles D'or & Teint Rose 01
NARS Lipstick in Mitzi

I started off with the primers and then did my eyes. Using Hanamichi, the gold is applied on the inner corner of my eyes and blended upward and outward in the crease area. The red color is applied in the mid eyelid to the creaseline. The black color is applied to the outer corner of the eyelid and blended inward to soften any harsh lines. I also used Canmake Shading Powder in the outer corner of the eye, just above where the black eyeshadow was applied to soften the black shadow and contour the eye a bit. I applied Orb to the browbone area.

I felt the gold color was a bit dull so I used the off-white highlighter shadow to try to brighten the gold and also over the red to soften it a bit. I don't feel that the red color is an extremely harsh color, nor did it make my eyelids look like it was red and sore but I do like it when I can have all of the colors nicely blended. Unfortunately, the effect that I was going for didn't quite happen.

I then cleaned up any possible fallout of eyeshadow on my undereye area with a q-tip and applied the concealer. Then NARS Punjab foundation was applied. This was a sample that I had asked for when I went to Sephora. It was recommended to me by Jamilla of Makeup For Professional Women. Although I had mentioned that I really like Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation, I had to try this foundation out. I'm glad that I did. It's a nice foundation although it's a bit yellow on me. One great thing though is that this yellow is a brightening yellow. Most yellows make me look dull and sallow but Punjab doesn't. As I've started to do recently, I use Canmake Shading Powder 01 on the outer edges of my face to contour and to darken it a bit to match my neckline better. Lightly applied Cle de Peau powder over entire face.

Now I go back to my eyes to finish up. I lined my upper lashline and outer corner of lower lashline with K-Palette. I went over K-Palette with the black shadow and applied the gold color to the mid lower lashline. I didn't curl my lashes but did apply Fairy Drops mascara.

For my cheeks, I had read somewhere--I think that it was twitter and Sheila mentioned it--that she had read a blog that mentioned how they used the red color in Hanamichi as a blush. I decided to be adventurous and do so too. Using a duo-fiber brush, I tried to lightly pickup the color and apply it to my cheeks. It's definitely a bolder cheek look for me to use, especially during the day time so I then picked up some of the off-white highlighter color to go over the red. It didn't quite tone it down as much as I liked so I used Guerlain Meteorite Pearls in Perles D'or over it. I then realized that my face was a bit too yellow for my preference so I used Gerlain Meteorite Pearls in Teint Rose 01 on my forehead to add a touch of pink/rosiness to tone down the yellow.

Next I applied NARS Mitzi on my lips. Since the description is that it's a sheer strawberry pink color with shimmer, I thought it would be a brighter shade of pink. Unfortunately, it's an almost perfect match to my lip color, which is not what I was really going for when I bought the lipstick. I don't like to use nude shades on my lips as it makes me look really washed out so this color is what I would call my nude color. It worked out well with this stronger eye and cheek color.

The Hanamichi palette is so gorgeous to look at. The only really pigmented color is the black, which is a matte black. The red is pigmented enough but not so highly pigmented that you can easily over do the color application. The disappointment for me was the gold color. It is a dull gold and it doesn't show up well on my eyelids. It kind of just blends in with my coloring. Using the off-white highlighting color didn't really help to brighten up the gold and red so I think that if you want to add more brighteness to these two colors, perhaps a nice brighter gold like Urban Decay's Half-Baked or a nice shimmery silver can be applied over the two colors as a wash of color to lightly brighten it up. I think that I'll try using Half-Baked the next time I use Hanamichi. Overall, I'm really glad that I have this palette in my collection. It's definitely more of a collectors item than practical but it will not be one that will sit completely unused. I will be using it from time to time.

The holiday season is upon us. I hope that everyone will be enjoying it, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

*Kat*

Happy Birthday Wishes and Early Birthday Celebration Adventure

October 26 is a special day as several beautiful women were born on this day. I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to @Mona26 (Make Me Blushhh), @vanityfashionis (Vanity-Fashionista) and @Belle_Kels (I only know of her from Twitter). These women are wonderful and sweet women and I'm proud to be able to be a birthday partner with them. Happy Birthday to you all and I hope that this day is a very special one for you, filled with love, laughter and happiness--not just on this day but every day. I wish you many more Happy Birthdays to come.

This past Saturday, Mai and I spent the afternoon and evening out as she wanted to celebrate my birthday. It was a few days early but doing it on this actual day would have been difficult and she's tied up this upcoming weekend. As part of my present, she scheduled a manicure/pedicure session at Trina Beauty. I have had manicures done before as I used to use acrylic nails but I've never had a pedicure done. This place was so busy! I was amazed at how many people were there, not just customers but workers too. There must have been at least 10 chairs for pedicures. I didn't think that I would enjoy getting a pedicure but I really did. They clean up your foot and do a massage all the way up to your calves. My feet and toes have never been happier! My finger nails got done in the same color and I got a design put on my ring fingers.

Remember the post when we did our Thrift Store Shopping Challenge? I mentioned that Mai and I bought additional items that were not part of the challenge. Here is one of the t-tops that she purchased:

Here is the CK jeans and t-top that I purchased:

We then went to my house to get ready to go out for dinner. We wore the dresses that we purchased when we did the shopping challenge. It was for this purpose that we did the challenge.

Mai's dress:

My dress:

I added the cardigan shrug from my own closet.

We went to Champa Thai to eat thai food. It's our favorite place! We had mee krob, spring rolls, panang chicken curry and beef ginger thai.

It was the first time that we tried the beef ginger thai. It was delicious but too similar to panang curry. We normally order chicken satay but wanted to try something different.

For my EOTD, I went with colors similar to that in my dress.

Products used:

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Eden
Urban Decayeyeshadow Junkshow (from 15th Anniversary Palette)
MAC Violet pigment (that I pressed), Sorcery and Print
K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner
Canmake Agebuto Mascara

It actually came out a little bolder than it shows up in the picture.

I had a great early birthday celebration with Mai. Thank you, my dear friend, for always being there for me and for all of the times that we share, both the good and the bad.

*Kat*