These are a Few of My Favorite Things - September 2010 Edition

Since there is one more day until October, and my Thursday is booked (if I had any free time this Thursday, I'd be watching Vampire Diaries and going to peruse MAC's VV collection instead of blogging), it's now or never for getting this month's favorites in! Aside from the perfume, I'm sure most of you are savvy enough to have heard of or tried the rest. But you haven't heard my opinion of them, and that, dear readers, counts for something I hope! I'll break everything down, starting clockwise from bottom left:

1. Murad Clean Scene Gaga for Glow
This is some part of Sephora's skin care challenge promotion they are running. I honestly know nothing about that, I just really needed a new exfoliator since my MAC Volcanic Ash is nearly gone. I've unfortunately had large pores since age 14, and have been fooled by the conventional wisdom that the bigger the pore, the bigger the exfoliating granule needed. Not so! Large exfoliating beads only end up cutting me. That's why I love this exfoliator, the beads are fine and effective! And don't get me started on the scent...it's a heavenly candy store in the form of a facial scrub. Seriously, some people get off smelling glue, you may find me gently rocking back and forth in a corner smelling the fruity, saccharine scent of this great product.

2. Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse
Never would I have thought that a drugstore foundation would be my holy grail. Especially from a brand that doesn't exactly have blockbuster products (and no, you insidious green and pink mascara tube, do not count). As I mentioned previously, I have large pores, which leads to large oil problems. Within a typical day I blot myself 5 times or more. Since I've started using this foundation, I've noticed I only need to blot twice! This isn't completely a match made in makeup heaven though, because this line is seriously lacking in shade selection. 00 is too light for me, 01 is too pink, and the shade I'm currently using, 02, reads slightly orange. So no "Goldilocks" just right shade yet.

3. Two Faced Shadow Insurance
Yes, I know mentioning this is the equivelent of saying I just discovered a great new makeup brand named MAC! But hear me out - I included it, because not only does it work amazingly well, it also challenges yet another tightly held convention by the community - namely, that Urban Decay Primer Potion is best for oily lids and Too Faced Shadow Insurance for dry. Well, if you've been reading this post in its entirety, you know by now that I have icky, oily skin. And guess what? UDPP does nada for me! TFSS on the other hand has a success rate of 98%. A normal weekday has me at work for a full day plus 3 hours of school, and with TFSS, my eyeshadow truly does stay put all day.

4. Tokyo Milk fragrance in Kabuki



I discovered this at a local independent beauty shop near my work that was selling them for 25% off. They only had a few choices, but I was immediately attracted to this because I've been a bit of a Japanophile since I was a teen. The main components of this fragrance are sugared grapefruit, lychee and sweet jasmine. What else can I say? It smells like it sounds (though I'm not sure how Kabuki fits with the theme - I've actually seen a Kabuki play and it was one of the most boring, uncomfortable experiences ever), and I'm not one to get into top and bottom notes. Because it is a relatively cheap perfume, it's alcohol based and fades within a few hours. Someone told me that they sell these at Anthropologies, and they also have a website. I'm thinking of trying a new one out, but maybe after the major MAC collections - unfortunately my money is already spoken for!

Illamasqua Art of Darkness Haul

When I saw the above image from Illamasqua's fall line, I was in awe! It spoke to me more than any other makeup brand's fall advertising campaign, because it really tapped into the fantasy aspect of cosmetics. I want to stack some gold rings and bracelets with exotic motifs, chomp into a pomegranate and cast my eyes in shades of bronze and gold. To see the full line and all the gorgeous images, visit the illamasqua site. You will be floored ten times more by the main picture.

I wasn't able to find any of this line on any website in the US, but they had almost all of it at my local Sephora (save for the blue lipstick), where I went to haul my little heart out today. Here are the 3 pieces I picked up:

(From left to right: Alluvium Pure Pigment, Alchemy Precision Ink and Hermetic Intense Lipgloss) If I wasn't already sold on this line before, the scarabs on this package put it over the top! They lend such a cool, ancient Egyptian feel. In fact, they immediately brought to mind my favorite character from my favorite Sci-Fi film, who just as easily could have been a model in this campaign:Jaye Davidson from the original Stargate movie.
Back to the original topic, here are some up close shots of what I purchased:

I'm going to try this pigment in the crease with some gold on the lid I think.
The lipgloss is a pretty brown-red color, and very deep, but your lips need to be exfoliated in order for it to go on smoothly. On the up side, it is not obnoxiously sticky.

The liner is a bright gold glitter, and is fairly user friendly to apply.

Here is my lame attempt at swatching them:
That's it for now, happy hump day!

Lack of Updates, Lack of Sleep

I never meant to let this blog go without an update for a whole week or more, but I've been a pretty busy beaver lately. My classes began, and they are ridiculously fun! I feel energized when I have something scholastic to do after work. The only thing I wish is that I was working part time and going to school full time, not the other way around.

For lack of something better to write about, here is a list of things I am excited about:

1. Getting my hair done finally. My hair is naturally light brown, but I've been dying it red since I was 15. Red is an extremely obnoxious hair color because it washes out the quickest, and fades to a sickly orange within a month.

2. Sephora's F&F sale that is rumored to be the end of October. I've already begun drafting my list. So far it's all Benefit surprisingly. I'm thinking of hauling -
*The Porefessional
*Lipstick in Lady's Choice (This is hands down the best every day lippie)
*Crescent Row fragrance in Ready to Rock Rita

3. My upcoming trip to Las Vegas in October. I'll be visiting my mom, and seeing a show, most likely Phantom of the Opera since I haven't seen it in ages.

That's all I can think of for now. I'll have a small favorites list I'm going to post tomorrow most likely.

A Pretty Purple Labor Day Weekend

Happy belated Labor Day to the Americans out there! If you're like me, your blessed three day weekend is now over and you're back to the drudgery of the office. My Labor Day weekend was not too exciting, but still satisfying - I hung out & went shopping with the boyfriend, who needed new work clothes (I adore clothes shopping for boys - if I could redo my life, I would enroll in fashion design and focus on menswear!), polished off a Phillipa Gregory novel (they are one of my many guilty pleasures), and hauled and primped a bit.

During the shopping sojourn with the boyfriend I just mentioned, I managed to pull him into an Ulta for some browsing. It was the last place in Orange County I hadn't yet checked for an Urban Decay Naked palette, and of course they didn't have it. Due to that disappointment, and the fact I had to stand in the check-out line anyway (my boyfriend wanted some hair gel but was too embarrassed to buy it himself), I just needed to pick up something for moi. I had already hauled to death these past two months, so when I saw the purple Ulta Untamed palette for $14.99, I figured it was the perfect cheap thrill: As you can maybe read on the label, it contains 9 eye shadows, lip colors (which I probably won't use since I never use palette lip stuff), and 4 blushes. I have never bought Ulta brand makeup before, but have heard it is much better quality than Sephora's brand name products. Here are some close-ups of what is inside:
Some of them even remind me of some Urban Decay shadows from my Alice palette. (Let me know if you're interested in any of the color names).
And here is the rest of it once it folds out:
It remains yet to be seen if I'll actually use the blushes either, but I think $14.99 for 9 shadows is still a good deal.
And to round up my purple themed weekend, I put on my new Zoya nailpolish in Mimi:
That's it for now! I'm hoping to try out some EOTD's soon, but I need to wait until I get my wonky looking eyebrows shaped!

2nd Matryoshka Themed Purchase of the Month

The sad part is that I actually had already bought another more functional planner the week before, but I saw this baby at Barnes and Noble and it had to be mine! (The other sad part is that this will probably be 50% in another 4 months).

There is an exciting part though, which is:


Yay for school starting! You might find this a rather odd declaration, but I seriously love being a student. I received my MA in Museum Studies a few years prior, and I miss that time in my life terribly. Sure I'll probably complain about homework in the ensuing months, but deep down I'm really enjoying myself. If I had Paris Hilton's bank account, I wouldn't use it to party around the globe, but to spend my life pursuing completely random and useless degrees in Sanskrit or Buddhist Art.

Anyway, this time around I'm taking classes for a certificate program at a local university. Not as exciting as another MA, but it's a whole lot cheaper!