.Amani
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
January Purchases--
I did a bit of birthday shopping throughout the month of January~ Luckily a lot of it were just sale items that I snatched up really quickly xD
But first some of my things from Guyana~
I managed to get this bracelet for myself while I was in Georgetown--
I've always wanted shell jewelry like this, but for whatever reason here in NYC, people want to sell them for 8 dollars or so... and I'm extremely cheap when it comes to accessories :x
So I was pleasantly surprised when I managed to snag this for what would've been 3-4 USD~ it's very pretty, even though it does that weird 'rusting' (? I don't know what this is called) that some shells do when they turn blueish or green.
These I got for my sister. My sister found that her father's side of the family was Guyanese when she started connecting with relatives on facebook-- so now she embraces that nationality. I wanted to get something for her since I was there, but I didn't want to get her the typical "flag" jewelry or anything obviously touristy... but then the jewelry itself (where I went, at least) were very afrocentric which isn't really my sister's style.. so I got these. When I go back I'll probably try and get something better for her.
Some of what's left of my Guyanese cash~
don't be fooled, this money is literally worthless, haha.
200 Guyanese dollars = 1 USD
So here you have like $5.60 worth, LOL
We carried maybe 50-60 USD worth for food down there, though, and we barely used any of our money.
The hotel we stayed at had complimentary breakfast, and their dinners were no more than 3-5 dollars. And then when we were staying at a pastor's place, we were being fed there so we barely had to use our money, really.
I can't wait to go back~ I'll probably end up bringing about $100 worth so I can do some real shopping haha
But yes... back to my birthday purchases.
One of the stores in Downtown Brooklyn were having a sale and so I got these for a good price...
The original price for this 2-iron set was 19.99, I got it for 9.99. It gets very hot and it doesn't have a dial like my old one, so I really only use this for my own hair and my human hair stuff. I still have my old iron but I'll probably end up replacing it once I find a new iron with a dial on it.
The place had their Outre extensions on sale 25% off... so I spent like 16 dollars I think on this hair. 18 inch wefts. The only bad thing was that the hair was kind of reddish for a #2-- but I managed to make it blend well with the 24-26" human hair extensions I did have, so I just used it to help fill those extensions out.
February Ageha like I usually get~
Getting really tired of the free makeup bags though. How many makeup bags do they figure their readers need???
They should start putting hair accessories or more lashes as free gifts... or something
Some more dollar books I got from Book-Off. I kind of regret these since they're kind of old and the fashions in there are kind of tacky.
FAIRY LASHES. The "Shiny Lash".
I was so excited to get these, I got them off of ebay. I really wanted to try them out because they were my favorite lashes that Sakurina and some of the other Ageha models wore, and it made them look soo pretty.
However when I got them I realized they were actually top lashes. wtf?
I looked back on the official website and it said "top lashes-- but can be used as bottoms as well" and I was like whaaaaaat
I'm usually very iffy about using top lashes as bottom lashes... the lashes have a different curve than if they were made to be bottoms.. so trying to work with these were really weird and kind of frustrating at first. The whole band didn't want to sit on my face right, without bending itself out of place really weird. Finally I cut up a pair and figured out a way to wear them a way that I like. I really enjoy them! I'll probably do an actual lash post at some point soon.
Ruby Kisses' HD Gel Eyeliner-- the best manmade item ever. My korean eyeliner finally had given out in December and I needed a new liner fast, and Ruby Kisses proved to be absolutely perfect.
The gel glides on so easily-- maybe a bit too easy....
While it seems really moist and slick, once it sets it's very hard to remove! It doesn't smudge once it sets, it doesn't melt, none of that mess. It lasts for so long, and it stays jet black. I love it so much. I'm never going back to bigger brand liners again. Beauty store brands are becoming my BFFs.
Now this is the little birthday gift you'll get from Sephora this time around, if you're a Beauty Insider. I didn't get my gift from last year because a year or two before because I just couldn't get along to it-- but this year I ended up going and getting my item, and they gave me these little mini-sized mascara and highlighter by Benefit.
And let me tell you, this stuff is so good. The mascara's nice, it makes my lashes look nice and full. Maybe not so much to the point that Makeup Forever would, but this still does nicely.
If you're a Beauty Insider-- definitely get this item. Just do it. My God.
I'll probably come up with a beauty favorites video soon~ since my camera and the lighting in my room seem to have an issue really cooperating, I'm gonna probably compensate by talking about some of my most-used items~
Monday, February 25, 2013
Victoria's Secret Semi-Annual gets (Jan 2013)
I got myself a little haul as always during VS's semi-annual~
It was a bit difficult for me this time around because of my trip to Guyana which basically depleted my cashflow for a few weeks. But with VS being evil and coming out with not just one, but ~3~ holiday Bombshell fragrances? I had to do swipe stuff up quick.
If you don't know me like that, Bombshell has always been my favorite fragrance from Victoria's Secret-- so whenever they come out with a special Bombshell fragrance I feel obligated to buy it.
The holiday fragrances were "Bombshell Diamond", "Bombshell Platnium", and "Bombshell Sparkle". The boxes were designed in a way to be like Christmas ornaments..
Aren't they beautiful? ; u;
It was more difficult to find Diamonds when the sale started...
I'm assuming that it was the most popular of the three, not only because of the fragrance, but the design of the perfume bottle as well. It has a 'choker' with cascading stones that looks really sexy.
Sparkle is completely covered in pink glitter, while Platinum is covered in silver glitter with silver chrome stripes.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the matching lotions and body spray with these.. but I'll live, haha
And then I succumbed to PINK stuff.... a sports bra and these hot pink sequined shorts.
I was never really one for PINK, but when I looked at VSX and saw that their stuff either wasn't in my correct size or wasn't flattering me that well, and that the prices weren't all that low, I decided to look in the PINK section and I snatched these up.
The sequined shorts were the last pair in my size.. I had to. pink, flashy, and on sale? yep.
The sports bra was more to just go with it. I was never one for sports bras but my God, I love this bra so much now haha. The only thing is that the material is not all that breathable I guess, but I'm forever wearing it around the house and stuff.
And then as far as cosmetics, I didn't go all out. I honestly didn't really like the tones of the lipstick they had, and I wasn't really bent on getting their bigger seasonal makeup palette or anything like that, so I settled on these two.
The bronzer does a pretty good job, it leaves me with a pretty nice glow without being too much. My other bronzer from VS is a bit darker and I mainly use it for contouring, so this is my bronzer when I want to just dust all over my face and body. They had the bigger version of it, but I decided against it because I was kind of tight on money at that moment.
And then there's the "Diamonds After Dark" duo shadow in "Jewel Thief"...
I mainly wanted to get this because I barely have any cooler colors~ so I was like hey, it's silver & blue~ The shadows are very soft, which may be a plus or a negative for some~ I did try doing a makeup look with it that came out okay, but I think I need a better primer or cream shadow underneath for these shadows. I think I'll also try to look into some actual glitter as well to go along with this.
So I didn't get -too- crazy on the sales... but now VS is coming back with their 'Secret Reward' cards again, so I'll probably be going nuts with that in the coming weeks @ w@
Thursday, February 21, 2013
My Eye-Makeup Routine~
Finally came along to doing one of those eye-make 'before-and-afters'. I always try to do video makeup runthroughs, but it seems my camera and the types of lighting that appear in my room throughout the day isn't all that good :/ like the detail doesn't really show as well... or maybe it's just my skin complexion...
In any case, I want to try and get a video done one day, it might take a new camera, or God knows what time of day, but it'll be done one day! xD
A lot of my makeup nowadays is pretty much gyaru or gyaru-inspired-- I started learning about makeup because of my interest in gyaru, and now it's hard for me to break away from the circle lenses, perfect eyelining and huge lashes! So no matter what I wear, when I do my face I have this unnatural look of perfection... it's pretty interesting to see some people's reactions, really xD
Anyways~
The circle lenses are the Vassen Diamond 3-tones. Like I knew I would, I grew attached to them. Also excuse the last image-- glue was still sort of drying in that one!
You can't really see my eyeshadow very well in my images.. but you can see a slight shadow that is in and above my crease-- I use a dark brown shadow to create an exaggerated shadow to help accentuate the dolly look of the finished product. Overall I keep my eye-shadow pretty natural-colored-- neutrals, browns, gold or bronze-toned...
I tend to use two liners when I line my eye--
1) a pencil liner from "Kiss New York", some random brand I found in the local beauty store. Before that I used to use Urban Decay's black liner. I usually use pencil liners for waterlining, and as a base for the second layer of liner, as well as touch-ups.
2) "Ruby Kisses" HD Gel Liner in 'rich black'. Ruby Kisses is another generic brand from the local beauty store, but their quality is so good and this liner is BEAUTIFUL. When you apply it, it slides right on, it's actually pretty slippery, almost! It feels very fluid when you put it on but once it dries it's nearly impossible to budge without breaking it down with something oil-based. I have no issues with my liner melting off my face or smudging once it's dry, especially when I double-layer like I do.
Lashes are also a combination of different pieces~ I do the usual 'frankenlash' trend of combining different parts of different lashes to get unique results and a "longer" band~ I don't usually coat my lashes with mascara... my lashes are naturally long and curled, so any sort of mascara will sometimes do more bad than good when it comes to my real lashes and my falsies coming together.
This is the top lash I currently use (excuse whatever makeup excess that's on it--). It's a combination of Diamond Lash's "Angel Eye" halves (1 lash, halved) and a more full but natural lash I had bought from Taobao a while ago. Angel Eye being in the inner corner of the eye (the left in this photo), and the taobao lash towards the outer corner. This helps give me the appearance of really long lashes. I favor the look of really long and full lashes over the usual droopy eye look a lot of people tend to copy. This works best for my face.The bottom lashes that I used in the look above were Diamond Lash "Nudy Eye" lashes, with the smaller pieces of their "Princess Eye" in the outer corners. I usually don't put too many lashes on the bottom, but what I did this time around looked really fluttery and princessy~ if only the camera from the NHK recording picked it up ; o;
Just something I wanted to share. ♥
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