.Amani

.Amani
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Sunday, July 28, 2013

BFF's graduation~ + Omi's birthday

At the end of May my best friend Muffy graduated from Queens College, and she wanted me to be there for her ceremony.




Told her to pose and then she gave me this. Ok fine e___e

We met on the very first day of High School and since then we've been pretty much inseparable. She's been through a lot in her lifetime, including having a child during the first year or so of college. Despite the odds, she was able to work fulltime, and do school full-time and FINISH with her SECOND bachelor's degree. Even though I told her to chill and take a break from school for a while, she's now looking at graduate schools e_e before she drives herself crazy.

But she's very inspirational.. I need her motivation and her strength.



Her daughter Jasmine ♥ Who's exactly like her in looks (except being milky skinned hah) and in personality. Her little twin.


Since her ceremony was really early in the morning I had ended up staying the night before~ when it was time to get up everyone else came over-- her father, her baby's father, her two other close friends, and all of us including her daughter, her sister and her mom went out to the ceremony.



My makeup. "Au naturale" since the weather was ridiculously hot that day and I had no time e-e




The crowd of family and friends, the graduates in the distance. By this time pretty much everyone left except myself, baby's father and then her friend Kita because it was pretty much heat-stroke weather.



The graduate

After that we all headed back towards the city~ me and Muffy split from the other two who had to work, to go to Gyukaku for celebratory lunch.



Sup, hat hair


She had herself one of the lunch specials, meanwhile I got my usual yakishabu + kalbi chuck, and the both of us got some nice cocktail drinks as well - u-


I also had this "Salmon vegetable bulgogi". Or the name was close to that. It was goooood



The waiter was also nice enough to give her some free ice cream with chocolate~



~~~~~

The day or so after was also my oma's 81st birthday. We don't really do anything for her birthday since my grandparents are generally to themselves and stuff, plus her legs are really bad so she can't really travel outside the home.

Not too long ago I found a photo from when she was young...



My great-grandmother (me and my siblings actually called her "Oma"), my Omi, and then the little angel is my Tante Ursula... (who's the complete opposite in personality but I woooon't get into that, hah)
This was when she was still in Germany around World War II.. I think it was a while after it. Don't ask me where she's from... it was a village near Stuttgart... everytime she says the name my mind explodes and don't know how to even begin to spell it xD Seriously my brain farts and it translates it to something between 'weiner' and 'hamburger'. If only Omi bothered to teach me German as a kid... xD



This is her now... lol excuse her snaggletooth xD

I really appreciate my grandmother, even though at times especially now she's at that age where she can't hear well or she's a bit derpy.. it's kind of annoying at times xD But she was one of the main people in my life who raised me. I always enjoy her stories about her past and coming to America, dealing with having an interracial relationship in both worlds. And of course all her salats, pfaankuchen, and other food = u= yis

I need to cherish time with her more, and learn everything she knows while I still have time with her.. ♥
Saturday, July 27, 2013

#unfriendlypoclolitas Picnic


As you might have guessed by now, June has been a very busy month for me...

One weekend I planned a picnic with a couple of my lolita friends as a little 'getaway' day. It was very much needed after recent events that were back to back to back every weekend.

We joked and dubbed that day as #unfriendlyPOClolitas because out of the couple of friends that showed, it was 4 black lolitas and one Asian.yeah... we're stupid like that.
Of course I was dumb and forgot my camera, so most of these photos were stolen from the other girls.





Me fixing myself...

Not sure if there ever was a picture shot buttt we had some assorted sandwiches~ scones~ onigiri~ fruit salad~ Marie cookies~ soda and also a lovely spiked fruit punch that Nicole made LOL

Some photos from the night before~



We spent the lovely afternoon watching people nearly crash into each other on the Lake, a marriage proposal on the water, and a bunch of newlywed couples passing by and taking wedding photos.. as people talked about bad anime and Animal Crossing and Monster Hunter



Lexie and Rune



Nicole with Rune and her lolface


#unfriendlyblacklolitas
#youcanttwerkwithus


A friend of Aria's boyfriend who came by and chilled for a while


Nicole, Rune, Aria, myself, and Lexie


It was a really chill day.. that I ended with a macaron shake. From Central Park we had made our way down to Columbus Circle, all the way down to 42nd. As we talked about the struggle and people touching Rune's hair xD





Mhmmmmm ♥

AnimeNext 2013



Earlier in June I attended AnimeNext for the first time. AnimeNext has always been one of those small-scale conventions that for years I've heard stories about it being subpar (besides the friends that hang out there), but this year I gave it a bit of a chance since Baby, the Stars Shine Bright was going to be a special guest, with fashion show and all. Most of all, Akinori Isobe was going to be there, which RARELY happens, which made it a little more interesting than when the brand usually visits places like Otakon or AKon, etc. It really makes me wonder why he would come to these disorganized events versus the actual huge cons that BABY goes to time and time again xD


Thursday, July 25, 2013

Lolita Boating ~ 6/1/2013



For the summer Lolita Day this year my friend Petrina of Lolita and the City planned a lolita boat party aboard the Shearwater, a vintage schooner owned by Manhattan by Sail. For about 2 hours or so we sailed out into New York Harbor, catching some rays and serious breeze. It was about 90F that day, so pulling out into the waters was a great relief for everyone.



As we boarded... I got there right on time. Meanwhile Petrina and people were laughing about if I were to miss the boat...e___e because I tend to be late to everything. (Trust and believe I'll be there right on time for anything I dropped serious dough on = =)



Now for random-ordered photos..

Friday, July 19, 2013

~Lazy Summer Giveaway~

Hahaha, you've been waiting for this post, haven't you? ;3 I bet you have, mhmmm~

Here I am finally announcing my Lazy Summer giveaway. 'Lazy' partially being I was supposed to have my giveaway last month... that didn't happen... = w= Now here it is, with summer being almost halfway gone~

Anyways! This giveaway is going to last a month starting tonight (July 20th) to August 20th 2013. Since I'll likely be in Guyana for majority of this period, I want to make sure I give myself enough time to not only promote it before I leave, but also give a bit of time to recover when I return.


Enough rambling! Here's what you can win this time around~



1 WINNER will receive:
- a pair of korilakkuma shorts
- a pair of EOS G-204 lenses in gray
- a pair of white lacy socks
- 小悪魔Ageha x Ank Rouge jewelry holder/pouch
- Victoria's Secret Cheek Love blush in 'Fresh Love'
- Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush lip gloss in 'Life's a Peach'
- a hard ribbon hairtie from Daiso
- Victoria's Secret Self-Tanning Tinted Lotion, and other assorted beauty samples


I really loveloveLOVE these shorts I had gotten from Taobao (they're not official San-X merch). They first popped up on my Tumblr dashboard and I immediately went "YES". I didn't care if they'd fit or not (being Asian sized) and I bought a pair of My Melody ones and Korilakkuma ones. Me and my friends jokingly call them 'twerk shorts' because well... that's exactly how they look on me. I've been wearing these all summer long so far, as I lay on my bed in nothing but nice cool A/C breeze...

That being said, these are a good example of 'one-size' clothing~ Whether you're super tiny, or thick and curvy like me, you'll fit into these babies. For personal reference, my hips are about 40-41 inches and these are nice and fitted, not tight at all where it matters. So yeah~ I got another new pair that needs a booty to grip too so hopefully you'll win this xD (I also have a pair of Rilakkuma ones but I'm gonna wait for another giveaway for that.)


The VS Cheek Love blush is also another favorite item of mine that I use regularly. The 'Fresh Love' blush helps give soft coral-colored cheeks and I just so managed to grab another since they were on clearance. So if you're the lucky winner you get to enjoy my favorite goodies, along with circle lenses and all the other prizes as well~



Time to start entering!



a Rafflecopter giveaway
GOOD LUCK



 ♥

EOS Max Pure Grey lens review

I've been uploading really slow lately. The pressure is on for Guyana and I'm barely managing to get by... to distract myself from my frustrations I'm making a little break to get into the recent events of the last month or so xD

A little while ago I had posted my review for these lenses up to my Youtube channel. Now for the detailed blog report~





I had gotten these lenses through Kiwiberry1-collection last summer for my Michiko to Hatchin cosplay. If you've been following me since then, you probably remember my rant against whatever lens store I had a problem with before.. xD

Unfortunately these didn't make it on time for my cosplay at Otakon but hopefully they'll last until NYCC, if I decide to attempt Michiko again with my friend.


Anyways, the reason why I chose these lenses was because of the err.. "paradoxical boldness". The design itself is a very subtle kind of grey, and it sort of 'melts' away towards the center. At the same time, it does have the dark ring that gives most circle lenses that 'pop', but even then, the tone of the greys make it look 'well-blended'.



  I found these to be perfect to try and portray Michiko Malandro, who have these really doe-like eyes that sometimes make her look somewhat innocent and naive, and at other times sultry and full of her sassy personality.




An old photo from last December. You can definitely see the similarity, not only in design, but capturing the actual personality of the character, depending on the style of eyemake.

More recent photos.





In case you're wondering about my lash game that day~ 
My usual Angel Diamond lash (inner-center) paired with some other generic lash, but then the bottoms are half of the 'Shiny Eye' Fairy Lash (center) with halves of LOLdisintegrating 'Princess' Diamond lashes. I customed the Princess lash to look a certain way since they were literally falling apart on me.


Shot in a darker setting.


Design-wise, I give a 10/10. They met my expectations 100% according to what I was looking for above~

Enlargement-wise, I also give a 10/10. FYI these are a 14.5mm size, and with the design it doesn't have a super-enlarging effect. For those who would like to wear this with no makeup, these will look really good and won't make you look freakishly soulless.

As far as Comfort though, I'd give an 8/10. In the beginning I had issues with these sitting well in my eye, mainly feelings of dryness and discomfort. Eventually I guess whatever caused that finally got soaked off, but once in a while I get issues of discomfort with these. I'd say rather than the general 8 hours or so, these usually last maybe 5-6 hours before I need to grab some saline.


You see I'm trying to finally catch up on all my posts~ I have another review or two on the way and then I should be posting my next giveaway today or tomorrow so stay tuned!





Monday, July 1, 2013

Bloglovin'!







Just a reminder to follow me on Bloglovin'! Google Reader is getting the axe today, if it haven't already..


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