Long Overdue Post

Sorry I've been MIA, I haven't much to blog about lately, so here's a big post XD
Yesterday, I went out with a few friends whom I haven't seen since the orientation in September. I haven't been keeping in touch with most of the teachers I've met. I'm not good at talking to people...you know when sometimes you don't click with some and do with others? Well, for these friends, I felt like we knew each other for years. I dunno why we didn't go out before!
One of them took us to a magician's bar that he hangs out at everyweek to practice. We got to see 2 up close and personal magic shows at the bar and it was SOO amazing!!! The best part was the 2 mini shows was 30000won and it included all you can drink alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks! I'm bummed I didn't take any pictures!! If you come to Seoul, I'll definitely let you know where it is.

Today, I went out to do some window shopping/getting some swap items and I happened to find Pepper Lunch. I've actually tried looking for it before and couldn't find it. I've had it in the Hong Kong branch and it was SUPER tasty!!! I don't think I've shown a picture of it, but the picture below is from Hong Kong.
The Pepper Lunch in Korea was really disappointing. Not only was the portion of beef small, but it was dry and lacked the Pepper Lunch herbed butter!!! Seeing this picture makes me drool..

I rarely play around with different looks, so today's look wasn't anything special. I used my T'estimo Grande Shine Eyes #02. It has a really nice icey lavender shade. It doesn't pop out as much as the Lunasol Purple Gradation palette so this is good if you want subtle colors.
I've shown this look a while ago for Lady L's contest, but in that picture, I've added the Coffret D'or Shining Eyeliner. This time I didn't use the Shining Eyeliner and I've used the P&J Eyegloss in 03 as a base.

I looove the P&J cream shadow. It's so smooth and it doesn't crease! Normally, after a few hours this palette would show signs of creasing (even with UDPP), but with the P&J cream shadow used as a base, there was no creasing and little fading.

I blended the gray shade almost halfway up to make this look stand out a bit more, but you don't notice it in the photos...actually the colors just don't appear very well in the pictures.

I think I look like a mess in this picture haha. I was rushing to head out the door cuz I was hungry!

I found a vintage store in Myeong Dong and it takes a lot of patience to go through the clothes. I found this long top with a printed necklace dangly thing and it was only 5000won! I added my glasses necklace as well so it wouldn't look too plain.

Again, Vivi always seems to start selling their issues that are a month ahead. I grabbed June issue because sometimes they sell really quickly.

You can see on the bottom that I got the ring that Miss Mona helped me make! I wanted a cluster ring for a long time already but couldn't seem to find the right one, so I asked Mona if she could make it for me. You're a total genius! I got it in a silver, black and clear Swarovski crystal mix so it'll match with my clothes easier. I love it!!! Thankq again!! =D Visit her store here!

Sorry I didn't take a close up, I'm in a bit of a rush to post this up so I can sleep, it's almost 2am @__@ But take a look here for a close up =)
I took a quick glance at the Vivi magazine and saw these Samantha Thavasa bags and they're so pretty and girly!!

The lovely Ayumi...I'm keeping my eye out for that book! But I really doubt that Korea will have it.. I'm not even too sure what's in it at the moment.

Finally, a different way of using the Maquillage GR366 palette. I prefer the look from the tutorial on the Maquillage website because it looks more summery. I think this would look nice for a night out look.

Mid-Week Boringness

I feel like I have nothing much to bring you this week. I haven't really been buying anything new. I have a budget each week and that's 150000-200000won a week. I already spent a good deal of that money on the Pin Bon Buste, the Detocrush and some other miscellaneous items. So today I bring you something I've been meaning to review for a while already later in the post.

When I first came to Seoul, I was required to do a physical check to get my health insurance and alien registration card. Last week the school nurse told me I had to do another physical check or else I will get fined..WTF... My VP said it was "Korean custom" to do the check every 2 years if I'm a public officer, which I'm sure I'm not. He uses that excuse a lot on me. "Korean custom...Canada custom..traditional.." and more shit of the like.
Long story short, the clinic I went to looked sooo unsanitary. I had to use a used robe for my x-ray, a PAPER cup to pee in. The nurse was holding the needle on the cap with her teeth and she gave me a tiny bruise from the blood test!! I was bleeding a lot after the blood test. The nurse didn't bother to get a new cotton pad, she just folded the one I was holding on my arm and taped it on. Of course I peeled it off and put on one of these suckers I brought with me...


...and they hurt like a mofo when it's time to take it off. Never use these on your arms...
Anyway, on to my outdated reviews of a couple products.
I only own 1 highlighter powder and it's the T'estimo Pure Layer Blush in WT-04 (hmm...same colour code as the Coffret D'or Star Dazzling liner haha). I got this a year ago for about $25CAD.

This is a really purdy loose highlighting powder. It's super silky and spreads like a dream without making you look like you just dunked your face into a bag of glitter. The powder is white but it does not make your face or other body parts look white. Oh how I love. I use this to highlight the apples of my cheeks after applying blush, but I hardly use it because I always forget I have it. I also use this under my eyes and under the brow when I'm only using eyeliner, it gives that extra bit of sparkle when you don't want to overload your eyes with makeup.
The case is plastic and it comes with a brush (the lid isn't made very well, it gets loose easily). The hairs on the brush are soft enough to feel pleasant on your face, it is also very dense so it can pick up the powder easily. The size of the brush is also big enough to quickly highlight the apples or around your eyes in one application.
There is a half sifter and a plastic cover to separate the brush from touching the powder which I think is great at keeping the powder from flying everywhere.
This lasts pretty long, by the end of the day I still notice that little bit of shimmer, although most of it has faded away. If it's a hot humid day, it'll be off in a few hours, especially because I need to blot my face. I swear sometimes I have enough oil on my face to fry an egg in the summer. (I have a sample of the Skinfood Peach Sake serum, and it's really good at reducing the oil, but I'm sure it's doing something bad to my pores as well)
Sadly, this product is not readily available everywhere since T'estimo has been discontinued. On Adam Beauty, only the PK-20 color is left, but I'm sure if you scrounge around you'll be able to pick up this little gem. It's a collectors item because it has been discontinued! Ah! I feel so honored to have it in my hands XD


See the pretty shimmer!? I normally don't use that much on my face haha, I would look quite silly if I did.
Next up on my list, the Mentholatum Sunplay Skincare UV Mild Milk, with SPF 24 (80g).

I can't remember how much I got this for. I went to the Sasa store and grabbed whatever sunscreen I could find because I was going swimming that day, which was a big mistake. This thing isn't waterproof!!!!! My face felt slimy after dunking my head into the water.
The good thing about this sunscreen is it's very light! It's very liquidy, hence the name mild milk. It's great for your face because it does not leave a heavy sticky residue feeling, there's no scent and it absorbs quickly.
I've been a naughty girl. I don't use sunscreen religiously, not until I came to Korea so now I use this prior to putting on my makeup. Well, actually after purchasing BB creams, I've stopped using it because the BB cream has sun protection already. I know I shouldn't be that lazy..but... I am...and I know I'll pay for my lazyness one day.
Ugghh....ok I will use it starting tomorrow..

Remind you of anything??? Milky sunscreen of course!! Can you picture how liquidy it is.

EOTD: Grande Shine Eyes

I got bored so I decided to do an EOTD with one of T'estimo's last palettes released before the brand was killed off. Don't get me wrong, I love the new replacement, Coffret D'or. I feel that most of the items are kind of similar to the T'estimo line with some slight differences.
I've done an EOTD with the Grande Shine Eyes palette in 02, which I purchased off some store on Ebay for $36ish sometime last year.
One of the major factors that caused me to get this was the tutorial that came out with these palettes. I luuurrve it!! (see below)
Just a quick review. The shadows and liner are quite pigmented, except the main shade. The main shade is a sort of lavender blue and it's not as smooth as the other shades and it's also not super pigmented.
The shadows and the liner fade quite easily, even with UDPP. After maybe 4-5 hours or so, I need to do touch up which gets kind of annoying.
The liner shade goes on very pigmented. The eyeliner brush that comes with it just sucks. It doesn't spread the product evenly so I have to go over it with a sponge tip applicator to smooth it out.
All in all, this isn't the best palette because it lacks the staying power, especially since I have oily eyelids, blah! The Coffret D'or 3D Lighting Eyes hold up much better than its predecessor.



What I used:
Sana Concealer
Grande Shine Eyes 02
Coffret D'or Star Dazzling Liner WT04
DejaVu Fiberwig mascara

I did pretty much the exact same thing as the video except the shadow and liner on the bottom. I also lined my eyes with the glitter liner instead of dotting it on.

I must be either really shitty at taking pictures or my eyes are messed up because I can see that crease thing happening there. This isn't makeup that was on for more than 10 minutes. Well as long as it doesn't look like this in person XD
And here's the lovely video! If you look up Kanebo Modern on Youtube, you'll see the other video that creates a more dramatic look. They also use the Grande Shine Eyes palette but I can't remember which one. Enjoy!

I need to find a good eyecream, but at the moment I can only go for cheaper ones, such as Skinfood. Maybe they'll have a good one.

My Natural Makeup Look

I'm sure everyone has their lazy days when they don't feel like playing around with too much makeup. Lately I've been like that so I go for something less dramatic. When I'm feeling lazy and don't want to use any color I go for a natural no makeup look, well my version of natural.
Looking natural is always nice as it matches with everything I wear and I don't have to keep deciding what shadows to match with my outfit. Best part is I don't have to figure out which color e/s should go where etc etc... Here are the things I used for my look.

For my natural makeup look I like to use my Sephora liquid liner in Copper (not shown) and Estee Lauder eyeshadow in Tea Biscuit and Cinnamon. I just sweep the Tea Biscuit on my lids up to my brow bone and use Cinnamon on my lids. These Estee Lauder shadows don't have the best staying power, even with the UDPP, so later in the day I have to do a touch up. They also crease a bit if it's too humid outside.
The MJ Majolook BR742 is also nice for a natural look if I'm in the mood for a bit more shimmer. The highlighter and "trick on" shades have quite some shimmer in them so I don't always use that palette.
Since the browns don't stand out as much, I use my mascara to compensate for the lack of popness. I use my usual Imju DejaVu Fiberwig in black and I will put at least 3 coats on. My friends always comment on how I have "major crazy lashes" with this mascara.
For the rest of my face I just use my usual Shu Uemura Pro Concealer in 5YR, Lavshuca loose powder and my T'estimo blush in PK-18. Sadly, T'estimo has been discontinued and now replace by Coffret D'or. But I think Coffret D'or is better, but their blush selection isn't as nice as T'estimo.
To finish up my look, I use either my Coffret D'or lipstick in BE178 or my Majolica Majorca Rouge Majex in BE205. For this look, I used my MJ lipgloss.