New Year Blue

To make this boring rant entry somewhat justifiable (is that a word?),
I'm currently sitting in a half empty office with a severe cold, my nose
is so stuffed, I feel like I need an inhaler to breathe. And the snot is
just flowing endlessly, very tempted to stuff a tampon in my left
nostril, but I'll save my coworkers the horror. Anyways, readers, I'm
bored, so here I am feel like shit, trying to finish my performance
review, and all I can think about is a big bowl of hot soup with
scallions and cilantro, not that I can taste it, but it's the thought of
having my favorite veggie send shivers up and down my spine.
<<nye.JPG>>
New Year's Eve came and went. I didn't have any specific plan. And
coming down with a cold seemed like a good enough excuse to not feel
guilty of missing all those NYE parties. I went to a coworker's apt at
Time Square, just me and her (hi yijung! I know you are reading this!),
rocked our sweats, cooked Korean food, ate our hearts out, popped 2
bottles of champagne, watched Sex and the City Season 5, bitched about
how unrealistic SITC is according to the real NYC single gals lives
(i.e. us two), passed out on the couch, ate some junk food, looked at
the crowded at time square (she said it's 3 times less people than
previous years, I think that's a better recession indicator than
whatever Bloomberg tells ya), did a 2008 recap, bitched about how bad of
a year it was for both of us, complained about boys, thought about what
if we will ever be happy again, thought about jumping out the window,
but quickly dismissed that idea as the window was too small to squeeze
us through, at 11:45, realized the ball was dropping soon (somehow the
ball dropping sentence sends a dirty grin on my face), quickly washed
dishes and cleaned up (have on idea why it was necessary to wash all
those dishes at 11:52), boiled some more ginger tea (to heal cold for
the both of us), grabbed the second bottle of champagne out of the
fridge at 11:58, quickly unsealed it, held on to the bottle, stood in
front of the TV, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!!! To find the champagne still had the
iron wire on it, quickly undid that, and POP. YAY! 2009!!! We hugged and
congratulated each other for still being alive. Sat down, waited for a
miracle to happen, like 2 handsome Asian bankers were to show up at the
door and ask us for the hands of marriage, that didn't happen. Popped in
the second season of SITC, finally went to sleep at around 2am.
<<nye2.JPG>>

I personally think NYE is the most pointless overrated holiday ever.
It's not to celebrate any idea or story or theme, it's just to celebrate
something that happens so naturally, like the damn clock is ticking. You
do all those preparation, getting all worked up, put on your 2009
glasses, wait outside in the cold, and then when it is 12:00, 1/1/2009,
NOTHING HAPPENS! It's like we are all waiting for a miracle to happen at
the moment the clock ticks to 12:00. Like a freaking rainbow colored
unicorn is supposed to fly across the sky doing a back flip at 12:00.
What's the point of watching a damn electronic disco ball electronically
move to the bottom of a pole at the exact moment the year passes? Why
can't it be more festive? Shoot a few rounds of AK47 in the sky and
scream "the year is over!"? Ok, maybe firearms are a little on the
unsafe side, but how about fireworks? Isn't that more festive than a
freaking glistening disco ball?

All this NYE deal is just so we can put 2008 behind us. For most of us,
it was a bad year - people in school, be glad you are still in school.
2009 sounded so hopeful, I couldn't wait to get over with 2008. But
would the change in 1 digit on our calendar change anything at all?
Don't we still need to work to make those changes? I believe changes
must be brought up on yourself by yourself. By celebrating the bad year
has ended doesn't change shit around here.

Oh, and another thing - New Year's Resolution. C'mon people, if you
couldn't do it in June, why would you think you could do it in January?
I think the start of the year should be full of hibernation and gift
returning runs to the mall. Why would you want to work out when it's 30
degrees out and your fat is covered under thick down jackets? Who's
gonna see it? You want to work out, start in April or something, getting
ready for the itty bitty bikini season, not freaking knitted sweater
season. I go an extra mile to give up shaving too. Don't start with the
ewww, you know you do it too. Winter fur to keep your warm. =)

Anyways, enough blues, I should be more optimistic about this year. I
mean, I've had every bad thing happen to me in 2008, you can't get any
worse than this. I must say though, I did have a great summer in 2008. I
had someone to go to the pool with, someone to go hiking with, someone
to have bbq with. But 2009 is year where I will learn how to go to the
pool on my own, go hiking on my own, and have a bbq on my own (that
sounds pathetic, but oh wells).

In 2009, I don't expect any career advancements, big bonus or a white
knight in a shiny armor. I just want to be ok with myself. Be content
with myself by myself. Be happy with myself by myself. Whether life
throws me another curve ball down the road, I just want to be ok to
think even though I didn't hit a homerun, I'm still in the game.

So ladies, here is to 2009 - a year where you can make changes to
anything you do. And be OK with yourself by yourself. =)

Signing off - a very congested cuttibebe

Chanel, how I have missed you...

As promised ladies, Chanel, in all its glory.. tada!

The Mystic eye shadow quad is my first made in US one, it's the square one. Apparently, the ones in Asia are round and the ones in US is square, I never knew that, I thought they were different quads. They are actually all the same color, same name, just different shape. I took it out to compare to my round Chanel quads, I personally think there is a difference in texture. Can someone help me to confirm it?
Anyways, the colors were a little different than I thought. I thought the top left brown is more purple judging from the promo images, but they are actually dark cool brown, not exactly what I thought it would be. The bronze and the dove grey is a little bit harder in texture, but the deep brown and the pink is very soft.
I'm actually thinking about returning this quad. The color scheme looked nicer on promo images, but not so much when swatched. I'm not into browns, I like cooler dark tones, like purple, dark gunmetal grey, brown is just too warm IMO.


The lip colors in this collection were either very sheer beige or dark rosey red. But this glossimer really caught my eyes when the SA put on my lips, it's so MLBB color. It's called Rosewood. The texture of glossimer is not something I'm crazy about, but it's great on color payoff, not so much in the shine department, I feel like I need to put another clear gloss over it.


And I got the Teint Innocence compact in Beige. I was thinking about getting the Dual Perfection, but the SA suggested Teint Innocence. When I tried them on side by side on my face, the TI were much superior in pore and discoloration coverage. Also, I struggle with dry patches showing my face when I put on foundation. For some reason, my skin's been getting much drier and I have little flakes on my cheeks, grrrrooooossss...


The compact is pretty thick. It can not be easily stored in my makeup bag. The sponge it came with felt a little hard, I think I need to wash it before using. The design of this compact is pretty cool, you can pop out the foundation and sponge compartment, and just buy the refill, not a lot of western brands offer that.
I haven't tried this foundation on for lasting power yet, I will do a separate review.

Santa came to town and I got me Chanel-ed

Hey girls, hope y'all had a wonderful X'mas with your family and loved ones. I went to Boston for the weekend and caught up with some friends and much missed pho (NY pho just don't cut it for me no more). I got a $100 Saks giftcard as one of the x'mas present and I spent the next day! Talk about no self-control.

Chanel Spring 2009 collection is out on counter already and it's one of the only spring collections that caught my eyes. Usually I stir away from those pastel light too-girly girl color theme of the spring/summer collections. But the Gypsy inspired color theme is so unique, it immediately flared up my makeup binge. I tried most of the colors out in this collection, but I think the only things worth getting is the e/s quad (of course), the Rosewood Glossimer, and make the purple nail polish. I'm kind of on the fence about the nail polish, I have about 8 bottles of Chanel nail polishes and they are no doubt one of the most high quality nail polishes out there. But for $20 a pop? I'm not so sure the color is THAT special. I'm sure I can find something similar at OPI. So I decided to skip on that.

Also, I got the Teint Innocent company foundation - I'm on a huge foundation binge. I used to stick to mineral only, but late I've been trying out a lot of comopact foundations. Will definitely do review and swatches tomorrow. I'm cleaning up my condo for the New Year! One of my resolution for the new year is to decorate my condo. I think it was on my list last year too, but yea, never got to it. LOL.

2008 has been some what of a bittersweet year for me. Gone through a lot, but survived at last. That's a whole other entry, haha, talk about what a year!

So what's everyone's NYE plan? I'm going to my friend/coworker's condo on 42nd and 9th. She's running a "no where to go on NYE" shelter. lol. nah.. It's just in nyc, you always end up at some huge party, paying $100 for open bar, but can never get a drink, b/c the bar is packed, and cant leave, b/c you paid for entry already and everywhere else is full. Or... you get to invited to house parties hold by couples, yea... not exactly what I had in mind for NYE. So I'm going to support her shelter and pop a few champanes, drink out hearts out and watch people get stupid on the street. I heard it's gonna be mad cold on NYE, I would NOT want to be out in TIME SQUARE if i were you.

alright ladies, reviews to come soon. I miss y'all. =)

Review: Lunasol Noble Shade Eyes in Deep Variation and Cheek Color Reddish Pink 02

Oh Lunasol, how I love thee elegant packaging and the chrome and brushed bronze compact.

Cheek Color Reddish Pink 02
It looks less orange in pan, but still with a very strong red tone. It is a little too warm for my liking, I think it'd look great on paler skin for a cute pop of flushed cheeks. My skin tone is too much on the medium yellow side for this blush. However, the texture of this blush is very soft and silky, definitely worth the price tag. The color on right are meant for highlighting, or you can mix the 3 together. I'm not a big fan of pink highlighters as gold goes with my skin tone much better. It is my first Lunasol blush and I simply adore it regardless of the color choice.


Noble Shade Eyes in Deep Variation
Lunasol's red themed fall collection was very different from all other Japanese marques. Usually red/pink shades are too warm for Asian skin tone, but they took a chance, and I must say, they made red wearable for Asians. I'm a sucker for purple eyeshadows. So I was immediately drawn to the Deep Variation.
The color on the bottom left is very shimmery/glittery. It's also on the cream side, but it's hard to have it adhere to the eyelid (or am I using it wrong?) I think it's best used on the tear duct to highlight, but not on brow bones, as I think it's way too glittery.The diagram was printed on the inside of the case, clever! All shades are very silky, no fall outs, but no strong color pay off either. It's meant to give eyes definition, as you can see from my FOTD, you can barely tell where I put which shade, but you can see a gradual definitation of my eyes. The bronze/brown showed up much more than the purple. I will do another FOTD with the purple shade as focal point next time.


I did the FOTD exactly as the diagram except for the glittery white shade, I was just trying the 3 colored shades. I used the P&J Eye Gloss in Lillac to highlight the brow bones and as a base. It works well together. The eye lining gun metal grey is very soft, which I think is not dark enough to enhance my eyes. I should use a eyeliner pencil first, then go over it with the darkest shade.


Please excuse the overly bronzed face. I used a wrong shade of foundation and had to darken it by using bronzer, which by the way turned out very badly. I looked so muddy by the end of the night, oh the horror. My base makeup skills is definitely not up to par and need more practice. No more testing foundation on my FOTD nights!

Likey my eskimo vest? lol. It has the soft fur and it's my winter going out outfit stable.

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Wendy said...
hey babe, can you do a fotd tutorial on your profile picture? for some reason i feel like it looks totally different from your other pictures, unless it's just the lighting?yuck, work sounds horrible. whats with all the belittling?!?!? i hate pompous jackholes.ah sorry, im rambling. i just finished my anatomy final with only 3 hrs of sleep. -__-update sooon!<3

Wendy - This profile picture is from 3 years ago. I used a Hard Candy palette in lillac and purple shade (I wasn't kidding about the purple fetish). The lighting was very dimmed when i took the picture and it was taken from a camera phone. Remember back in the days, when webcam picture was all the galore? Yea... low resolution pictures and dimmed lighting makes you look almost airbrushed. that's the ghetto photoshop I guess, lol. I will definitely try to recreate the look again - believe it or not, I still have the same false lashes!

Anonymous said...
hi - what color shade did you get for the blush?

Anon - The P&J facecolor is #10. The brick red one I have is #12, which is a newer collection I think. #10 is permanent I think.

here it goes - a real update

I bought these like 2 months ago! Paul & Joe called me to inform me their winter collection is here, go check it out. So I ended up with 2 new Eye Gloss N and a Cheek Color. With $100 purchase, I got gifted a makeup box and a note book. I might bring the makeup box to work to store my ever growing lotions and potions.

The cheek color is a very everyday shade. I wanted something I can throw on in the morning when i'm half asleep. I ended up with a peachy pink gold shade. Not so innovative and daring as the last one I bought, which was a brick red, but this is useful. I love that their cheek colors are so smooth and subtle with shimmers.

The Eye Gloss N are revamped formulas. I don't have the old ones so I can't compare. But from using these for the past month, I can honestly say, it's one of the best eye shadow base I've used. I got the light lillac and brown/taupe color. I think the brown/taupe is very unique shade, usually eye shadow base are just that.. base colors, gold, silver, light colors in general. But this brown/taupe is great for the crease area where you want more shade.

one thing abougt this Eye Gloss though - it dries FAST. so you really need to work fast. one eye at the time. but when it dries, it STAYS for hours. this is NEVER creased on me. 5 hours of sweaty clubs, yup, stayed on.

I highly suggest the Eye Gloss if you want a nice eye shadow base.

Sorry ladies for the lame review. I'm still sorting through photos and my hearts aren't really on shopping/makeup/dressing up... it's just this holiday season... I don't know feeling extra sluggish. Work's been CRAZY. b/c apparently Brits are dictators. No offense to all the Britz out there, but damn man, this company is just so over the top with the rankings, it's annoying to be pointed out that you are just a tiny little ant every single day.

My company blocked comments and editting for bloggers. So I can't do any blogging related work at work - I could still read them through my readers though. it's like seriously cutting into my only hobbie! geeezzzz.. what else do they want to take away from me~!!!

Sorry for all the rant.. I mentioned that I got some Suqqu stuff while in London. I will be reviewing that soon. I still need to review my Lunasol Noble Shades, which is like old news now.

Ok ladies, hope this was somewhat satisfying.... I miss you all!

Omg, by the way, one of my dear reader/friend sent me a surprise package with masks!!! I had no idea!!! I'm soo flattered!! this is my first time receiving packages. I need to take pictures to show you guys! I'm so excited.. she totally made my day! Love you Millie~!!!

Back with pictures

India

London

Hi ladies! I really miss blogging! It seems like I'm all left out of the blogging world since I left for the business trip. It's getting really busy at work. Not that I want to bad mouth the new company, but man, I have never seen a company so disorganized.

I'm planning my holiday season now - first of all, I'm not buying anybody presents, given the economy the way it is, also my own financial situation, I don't even have enough for myself. So thank god no xmas shopping!

No matter how much I dread the holiday season, it's coming and the snow's falling. The world won't stop turning just because I became single. So what does a single girl do? She plans her holiday parties! It sounds bad - but I'm starting to contact my friends now and checking in on what everyone's been up to. My plans of baking my first turkey and buying my first xmas tree is out the window, so bring out the vodka and let's party!

Also, I plan to see all those pathetic holiday movies. It sounds strange, but I really want the whole "meeting the parents awkard family reunion" episode in my life. Maybe b/c I'm so far away from my family, I want to experience the drama and the awkardness, isn't that what makes the holiday merry?

Life is never what you expected - just last month I was researching for recipes for baking a turkey for him and my family, and now I'm making turkey sandwich for myself. How fucking pathetic is that? Surprisingly to me, everyone says I seem fine dealing with it. Like how should I act? Like I'm devasted? Depressed? I don't have a choice in this - I had to break up with him because he ruined my credit and owes me a shit load of money. If there was 1 reason I should stay with him, I probably would have. It was probably less painful only because I had no choice, so I just deal with it.

Who knows, maybe I will need some intensive session with my shrink once I get some money into my account. hahah.

anyways ladies, i hope you enjoy the pictures!!! good night. =)

hi blogging world

i'm back from india and london safe and sound. i escaped the mummbai bombing by a week. thank you for the warm wishes and sincere concerns. i am a-ok. tada~!

i have so much to share with y'all. but i'm currently getting over a cold and a broken heart.

i'm single for the first time in 3 yrs - it's a bittersweet feeling. more on that later.

india was ok - i went to see the taj mahal. =) picturesss...

london was horrible - for those who think london is the greatest city in the world, please come visit nyc, you'll see what i mean. maybe i just went during a bad time, but my god, the weather, the food, the people, if i had to think of ONE thing that was good about london, probably just that i finally bought SUQQU at selfridge. hahaha.. make up!

i miss you girls. i'm still trying to catch up to the 1000+ post in my reader. it's insane how much has happened during the time i was gone! can't believe all the crazy sales out there! my god, things are practically free! so tempting.. but i must save money and i am determined. i even came up with a plan to shop within my own stash of makeup, to keep myself entertained. lol. so pathetic right? sigh..

anyways, i just took some nyquil and i'm getting sleepy. by the way, i can't update at work b/c they blocked it! argh... sorry for the slow updates.. will definitely make up for it later.

good night my pretties... <3