NYC East Village Nail Polish: Mermaid to Order What?

Hi everyone,

For those who’ve known me from my blog, I love blue very much. In fact, about 1/3 of my eyeshadow stash consists of various shades of blue. I have so many of them to quench my thirst of aqua colors. But using blue nail polish? Oh my Chanel, I’ve gotta try!

While summer is almost really over, the urge to wear bright color on my toes remains. Since OPI launched Mermaid to Order, a shimmery deep green blue nail polish, I always wanted it. But there’s a catch: it’s a nine-dollar bottle of nail polish! Then I realized it looks very familiar to something I saw at the drugstore. It turned out NYC, the super-affordable drugstore brand, launched a collection called "In a New York Color Minute" about a month or so before Sephora launched Mermaid in the Shades. The new and reformulated NYC nail polishes are free of DBP, toluene and added aldehydes at $1.99 a pop! Of course, I got West Village first and after lovin' it so much, I decided to get more.

East Village nail polish

(That’s Jen A kissing Drew Barrymore in the background)

East meets West

(L-R) NYC East Village and West Village nail polishes

East Village is a very good lookin’ sister of Mermaid to Order, after the Pinkberry district where Chace Crawford and his Gossip Girl co-star Ed Westwick used to live. It took me two CVS and a Target stores to finally get my hands on East Village. In a New York Color Minute polishes sold fast, and this particular shade flew off the shelf like hot cakes. And I don’t blame it: this color is gorgeous! It’s a sheer shade of blue green nail polish with shimmers. Sounds familiar? I think so, too!

Test card: I painted one coat each of East Village and West Village by themselves, then layer them together in the middle

East Village looks like a paler sister of Mermaid to Order but when I mix a coat of it with a coat of West Village, a darker shade of blue-green that I described here, Mermaid to Order can be really jealous. The mixed shade is stunning and complex. On top of that, I spent less than four dollars for two bottles of nail polishes! Life is good, I tell ya!

More colors!

On my nails (L-R): Greenwich Village (hot pink), Soho (light pink, suitable for weddings), East Village, Little Italy (patent white, notice the smudge I made before the polish dried), and Grand Central Station (clear polish)

These nail polishes really last and once dry, they do not chip easily. However, it takes longer for them to dry, as they are free of toluene.

That's all for today, folks! The weather is really nice in my neck of the woods and since the sky is still sunny, I'll stretch my days of wearing bright colored toe nails as much as I can. What do you think about the new NYC nail polishes? Give me your comments, ok?



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How to Dry Your Makeup Brushes

Hi ladies (and gents),

As we all know, I am kind of a makeup brush geek. Although I have 30+ brushes in my possession, I always have the urge to buy one more. Once in a while, depending on how frequent I wear makeup, I line all the dirty brushes and wash 'em (details can be found here and here.) Regardless of the way I wash the brushes, there is only one way to dry them:

I let the heads hang out on the ledge of a block to dry instead of placing them flat on top of a piece of cloth. This way ensures them to dry properly without having any moulds growing within the dense bristles. If you haven't dried your brushes this way, I urge you to convert for the sake of your skin's health.

You can use some blocks like I did or just let them hang over the edge of your counter top. This way, the air circulation is better and there is no water to back up to the ferrule either. I notice my brushes to dry faster, as a result.

That's all for today. It's a short one but right now I need to heal my hand.




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A Time to Have Incredible Eyebrows

Hi everyone,

Happy Monday! Today, I need to post very short and quick as my right hand is killing me. Although I've been through this before, I still do not fully understand the importance of my body. Abusing my right hand too much in the form of writing and using the computer has never been a good thing. Last weekend, I spent most of my time relaxing and putting my hand away so I did not have to use it. Now, I feel a bit better but it is still hurting me!

Anyways, after so many years of learning to groom my own eyebrows, I came to a conclusion that I'm not so good at it. My eyes and face are not very symmetric and as a result, my eyebrows look like two different animals. I can go to the salon to get them groomed but most times I came out with really thin eyebrows. After reading so many books about makeup and beauty, I now can groom my own brows with confidence. But that's going to be another post for another day, as I can't type a detailed post today (or anytime soon!)

The one discovery that makes my life a whole lot easier is the eyebrow powder/wax combo. In these pictures, I used E.L.F Studio eyebrow kit and it is very easy to use. I'll do a review/tutorial in the future, don't worry!

I didn't have any foundation on, just eye liners, mascara, and brow powder

Boo!

Close-up of the bangin' eyebrows

They almost look symmetrical!

See my lashes?

I used the wand of L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion and the juice of L'Oreal Extra Volume Collagen mascaras. I like the volume and length from this combination.

For those who wonders what I used on my eyes, this is what I did:

• I lined my upper lashes with a liquid eyeliner, then applied several coats of mascaras. After that, I lined my lower lashes with Wet n Wild eyeliner in Turquoise. I also highlighted the area underneath my brow bone with a chubby white liner.

 These days, I barely have time to apply makeup anymore. Also, the humidity is so high that I feel everything will just slide off my face the moment I step outside. And on top of that, to make life more "interesting", my face has been giving me a hard time with all the zits and scars.

But don't feel so bad for me, I have bangin' eyebrows all by myself!



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L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion Mascara: Good Idea but...

Hi everybody,

I have to admit that I was really happy to get a nice scoop from a product that has not launched yet in the U.S (thanks to Chris and Co.) This time around, I got an opportunity to try L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara before it is released in October. Why I am so lucky, I don't know :)

Beside the magnanimous success of L'Oreal Volumious, Telescopic does not look like such a shiny beacon. However, those who enjoy lengthening mascaras often suggest Telescopic as one of the best. As long as I can remember, I always wanted to try Telescopic but whenever I got to the supermarket, I bought Voluminous instead! Therefore, I was more than delighted to try the not-yet-released in the U.S Telescopic Explosion.

Let's explore this mascara together, shall we?

A closer look at the label

The wand :)

As I mentioned in the above picture, the plastic wand that Telescopic Explosion has is exactly the same as the famous Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes that lots of people have been raving about. However, the cost for the new Telescopic is going to be a lot cheaper: around 10 dollars compared to 28 bucks the Givenchy costs.

And the crucial question is whether the Telescopic Explosion is a good dupe of Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes. We are going to find out after the jump!

For those who have not seen my bare naked lashes before, here are some pictures to give you an idea:
(Pictures are clickable!)




Sorry for the crooked pictures, basically I have the typical straight and sparse Asian lashes. Now let's see what my new mascara can do for me!

After first coat of mascara

As you can see, the lashes looked longer and since I did not curl them, they remained stick straight.

After second coat of mascara

The length improved dramatically but I started to see some clumping. After trials and errors, I came to the conclusion that wiping the wand does help but to a certain extend only.

And after the third coat of mascara

Major length and major clumps! I should have stopped while I was ahead. But look at the length! My lashes had never looked like that before! While I am happy with the length and the staying power of this new mascara, I realize it has a lot of rooms for improvement. Since it is a lengthening mascara, it does not offer any volume whatsoever. For those who do not have such lush and full lashes like me, this mascara does emphasize the lack of volume. Also, the formula is tricky to work with and if you choose to use this mascara, make sure you have tissues and lash comb nearby. It's a clump magnet!

However, I am not going to let this mascara go to waste. The wand is so fabulous that it coats every single lash and I am going to try it with Voluminous to see if there is any difference. Gio also has a review of this mascara earlier in the week and I am surprised that Europeans have to pay a lot more for their mascaras!

That's all for this week, folks! I hope you'll have a wonderful weekend.

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MAC Style Black Tickles My Fancy

Hello there, gorgeous!

It's been a while since a MAC limited edition release makes me feel so inspired. In fact, since the Hello Kitty LE, I did not buy anything limited edition from MAC (but I did take advantage of the SUMO sale and got me some awesome birthday presents!) Therefore, I was more than delighted to see the release photo of MAC Style Black in my inbox. This collection was released with the right timing: this fall, makeup is all about dark, vampy lips and smoked out eyes to the extreme.

MAC Style Black promo picture

Since I really dig the eye look, I took some time to explore this collection online and came to a conclusion that MAC is heading into the right direction. Not only the face charts are better explained, they also include a video of Nadine Luke doing a black lip and eye look on a model! Needless to say, I feel like Christmas coming early.

While some of the looks have the theatrical flair, others are surprisingly wearable. Also, I believe you don't need to wear black lipstick and lip gloss if that's not your thing. Dark burgundy lip colors would be nice substitutes and are more wearable, too.

So far, here are the two looks I want to experiment:

MAC Blue Flame face chart

This look is basically a smokey eyed look with an azure liner at the bottom lash line. I think I have some colors that are similar to the ones in the face chart. You may see me do my own version of Blue Flame one day :)

MAC Blackfire face chart

I really love Blackfire as the eyes are similar to Kevyn Aucoin's look that I did before. This time around, I'll find a softer black liner and go to town with it!

Click here to view the Nadine Luke tutorial. It's awesome!

So, dear readers, what do you think about Style Black? Do black lipstick and gloss tickle your fancy? I'd love to hear your comments.

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Crack on My Rye Bread

Hi everyone,

If you have noticed the content of my blog this week, you may wonder what's happening to me. Truth be told, I'm super busy lately and like Leonard in "The Big Bang Theory" said, "I can't catch a break!" Today is Wednesday and if I can get over this week (and that includes Saturday and Sunday), I would be fine. There is a deadline I need to catch and if I don't ... uh oh! So, I have to do my best to stay afloat *breath in, breath out*

Today's post is about my reading materials. As I blog, I also read other people's blogs as well. If you have noticed, I follow quite a lot of blogs lately. In fact, if you follow me, I will sure follow you (and your blog) right back! There's nothing more entertaining than discovering some new and awesomely fresh talents in the blogsphere.

I don't know where I heard/read the term "crack on my rye bread" but I usually reserve it for websites and blogs I frequently stalk visit. And here are the top 5:

1. Makeup and Beauty Blog:

If you haven't found out about this blog yet, don't walk- run over to Karen's site right now! Girlfriend is fierce and has a ton of reviews/updates on makeup. It was because of her site that I blogged here. Also, her cat Tabs is so cute!

2. Cheeserland

You probably already know about this site because I wrote about Cheesie during Hair Week. I like her style and absolutely love her hair tutorials. She makes it look easy and doable, especially for people who have two left hands like moi!

3. Beautiful with Brains

The wonderful thing about having a blog is to develop friendship with other bloggers. Surprisingly, Gio and I have very similar taste in makeup! Her reviews are straightforward and informative. Also, she frequently has posts about cosmetics ingredients that I find educating.


4. Jack and Hill

This blog is something I found via Google (ha!) The entries are short, informative, and have dashes of humor. I find them to be utterly honest and I even discovered some of my favorite items from Jack and Hill. However, this blog does not get updated very often, which is a let down. So, usually I wait one or two weeks to check for any new posts.

5. The Beauty Brains

I'm obsessed with this blog! It's like "MythBusters" for makeup and beauty products. The writers of "The Beauty Brains" are working in the beauty industry and they are very knowledgeable about this subject matter. Like "Jack and Hill", the posts are short, informative, and humorous. However, the Brains is updated on weekdays.

How about you? What are your favorite beauty blogs, beside mine, of course? I'd love to know more about your reading materials, so please comment, ok?




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Test Jump Break

Testing Jump Break function to see if it works :)

Yes, this is one of the bizarre posts but for those who are using Blogger platform to blog, this post may help you. As you already know, I use a third party customize template for this blog that has the hack included to install a jump link so my entries can look shorter. For those who use Wordpress, you don't have to worry about this problem as Wordpress has that within itself. However, for Blogger users, we have to be creative.

But not anymore, my fellow Blogger users! Finally, after 10 years of its existence, Blogger includes a jump link function to its new editor. For those who has third party customize templates like me, you need to do a bit of extra work to get this. The good thing about this is your old span id code is not going to be affected.

Want to know how? Click here! Blogger Buster explains it very well. She even shows you how to customize your jump link as well.

And to see if it works with me, click the link below. Do it, do it now :)


See! It works!

I hope this helps your blogs as well.




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My New Pink Lipstick: Rimmel London Lipstick in Pink Champagne

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Although I have a lot of pink lipsticks, I still can't help but get another one to fill my stash. The latest pink lippie I go is from Rimmel London called "Pink Champagne". Since the name is fun and the shade is cute, I brought it home during a sale event.

Rimmel London Lasting Finish Intense Wear Lipstick in Pink Champagne

...at a slightly different angle and lightning

Lip Swatch

The one thing I like about this lipstick is the texture: it is creamy and not quite drying as I thought. The texture and pigmentation of this lipstick reminds me of MAC Creamsheen lipstick. Although I don't like the fruity smell that Rimmel lipsticks have, I don't find it so offensive. In fact, it goes away quickly after I apply to my lips.

I love the Rimmel logo on the cap, it looks so regal!

While I slowly make a comeback to lipsticks, I find Rimmel London lippies to be affordable and reliable. Between the Walgreens and CVS in my 'hood, I can comfortably get them during the promotions so I don't have to break the bank over some lipsticks.

How about you? What do you think about Rimmel London lipsticks? Comment, ok?



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