NYX Round lipstick swatch

I got bored so I decided to do some swatches of my NYX round lipsticks in lots of different lighting.. It's kind of sad because I don't really use them that much. I think I use Herades and Frosted Beige most when I first bought them, I like lipgloss more. Oh! I also have Doll, but I forgot to include it here.. so I'll probably include it in a later post. They're all really nice and pigmented, (maybe a little TOO pigmented if that makes any sense.) However, I don't really like the color of Sun Flower.. it looks too orangey on me so I end up looking like an Oompa Loompa.

(click for larger images!)

L-R: Earth Angel, Circe, Sun Flower, Frosted Beige, Rose, Herades

Indoor lighting

bottom to top: Earth Angel, Circe, Sun Flower, Frosted Beige, Rose, Herades

The top two are NYX eye shadow pencils in Mocha (Top) and Lavender.

I actually kind of like the eye shadow pencils, at first I tried using them just as eyeshadows and these creased like no other.. so I just started using them as a base.. it's perfect as a base.

With camera flash

With flash

Indoor lighting

Indoor, direct sunlight.

Nostalgia and Observatory

Not a beauty post at all.. just wanted to share some photos.

I recently went to the Griffith Observatory..

Downtown LA at night.. notice the layer of pollution visible at night.

My failed attempt to capture the moon, city lights, and sunset all in one.

Weight on jupiter!

Downtown LA

It has also been about a year since I studied abroad in Beijing. Yep, I studied Chinese last summer in Beijing, around the time the Olympics were happening. I miss all the people I met and our adventures together. Even though they are back in the states, we are all pretty far apart. Separated by cities and states..

The Great wall

Tian an men
Typical Beijing weather.. hot, humid, muggy

View from my dorm in Beijing.

Random shoes

What I've learned recently...What NOT to do: put Bath and Body Works lotion on face. So I got lazy and didn't want to find my moisturizer when my body lotion was right next to me. I rubbed a bit on my hand and put it on my face and boy... did it burn. Never doing that again!

I bought these wedges not too long ago cause I thought they looked cute. I'm sure you've all seen them before at any place that sells shoes, they're soda. I got them in all black, they're cute but they hurt after a while.. I wore them while shopping one day and I was dying of pain!!

I also bought these rain boots from target for the east coast when it rains since all I have are flip flops, flats, and Vans. I hope the pair I got aren't defective cause I read reviews and some of them fall apart D:! I was originally thinking of getting snow boots, but I think that's just very extreme.. those from the east coast.. do you wear snow boots?! I heard people who live in snowy areas don't really wear snow boots and only touristy ppl do... is that true?

Geo Lens Review: Fresh Brown, Honey Wing, Geo Tri Color Brown

Note: Everyone's eyes are different and will have a different appearance when these lenses are worn. For reference, I have dark brown eyes.

Be prepared for pictures of my scary eyes! D:

Lenses I will be reviewing are circled in the image above

Geo Fresh Brown FC724

Comfort: 7/10

Enlargement: Good

Color: Subtle

Geo Fresh Brown, camera flash lighting

Comfort: So far, this I would rank the comfort level as almost the same as Honey Wing, but more comfortable than Geo Tri color Brown. This is because I hardly get vision blockage from the colors (as it happens in the Geo Tri Color) since the transparency for the pupil (the part where you see out of) is pretty big.

Enlargement: It still enlarges your iris, and it's a good size. Not too big and scary. And not too noticeable.

Color: When I wear this lens, people hardly notice any difference. Unless they really look into your eyes in super bright lights shined directly at your face. I'm kind of disappointed with the color, because it hardly makes a difference in indoor lighting, but it looks a bit lighter in outdoor lighting.

Geo Fresh Brown, indoor natural lighting

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Geo Honey Wing CTS-104

Comfort: 8/10

Enlargement: Good

Color: Light, but still natural

Geo Honey Wing, flash camera lighting

Comfort: I think out of the three lenses I'm reviewing, this one is the best in comfort. It's not as comfortable as my regular lenses, but I can wear these the longest out of the three. I don't get vision blockage from the colors as the transparency for the pupil is pretty large.

Enlargement: It enlarges the iris a good amount, similarly to the Fresh Browns. However, the edge is composed of lines that slant like this /// rather than having a prominent ending point like the Fresh Browns. See pictures for better explanation, lol.

Color: I love love love the color! It's a lot more lighter than Fresh Brown, but it's not super light that it looks unnatural. Indoors when there's no light, its subtle, but still noticeable (in a good way) and in well-lighted areas, my eyes almost look hazel.

Honey wing in case

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Geo Tri Color Brown CM-902

Comfort: 6/10

Enlargement: Little to none

Color: Very light

Geo Tri Color Brown with flash

Comfort: This lens has a small transparent area for the pupil. Indoors, a person's pupil is a lot larger than when outside in the sunlight because it controls how much light is let into the retina. Because of the small space available for vision through the lens, I often experience vision blockage because the color of the contacts block part of the pupil, causing me to see a blur of color on the side of my vision. This is kind of annoying, but outdoors I experience this less.

Enlargement: This doesn't really have much or any enlargement for the iris. I find that it's pretty much a similar size to a standard colored contact lens.

Color: Even though this is "brown" the color does not look brown at all! It's more hazel green with yellow tones and a lot lighter than Honey Wing. In any case, when I wear this, people say I look Hawaiian (I usually have tanned skin, especially in the summer) or Hapa (half-asian).

Geo Tri Color Brown without flash, indoor natural light.. I know, it looks kind of scary, like I'm a lizard-woman! But it's just a bad picture, the lenses look nicer than that :P

Geo Tri Color Brown in case

Circle Lenses.. an overview

Found this very amusing article about circle lenses. Anyway this is a pretty lengthy post about circle lenses. Don't read it if you don't care about circle lenses :) I will be posting reviews of each lens I've tried later!

My background: I have HORRIBLE eyesight. I wore glasses since I was 8 years old until about 14. My eyesight got worst every year in the interval. Around 14, I started wearing regular contact lenses, and that's also when my eyesight started stabilizing. So I guess I've worn regular contact lenses for about 7 years.

Why I decided to buy circle lenses: Honestly, I had no idea what circle lenses were until I did a little more research online. I've always wanted to try color contact lenses, but they were too expensive for me. I was a bit wary about buying contact lenses online from two girls, but I've found from experience and other reviews that the girls at Mesmerized eyes are very reliable and the lenses are authentic. I bought the lenses mostly for the colors, but I guess the added enlargement is a plus too.

Regular contacts vs. Circle Lenses vs. colored contacts: Circle lenses make your iris bigger, therefore making the person appear more "doll-like" because the eyes look bigger. Regular contacts are just clear. Colored contacts are similar to circle lenses in that it might have different colors to enhance the eyes, with the exception of the outer dark ring to make the eyes look bigger.

Buying circle lenses: I honestly do not recommend buying circle lenses if you have not seen the optometrist and had a proper eye exam for contact lenses. I bought the lenses because I knew my prescription for contacts (which is completely different from the prescription for a pair of glasses because the contact lens includes the base curve and diameter of the lens). Even so, I am still in some danger because each contact brand is different, thus might require a different prescription. However, I limit the time I wear circle lenses and hopefully that limits the risk I am taking.

Not to sound all parental and authoritative, but I think the health of your eyes is more important than the beauty of it. It is VERY easy to develop eye infections of the contact is handled or clean improperly, and improper lenses can also damage the eye.

Geo Lens general comfort: This comparison is generalized to all the Geo Lenses I've tried, and compared to my regular contact lens which, to me, is a 10/10. I think this is just me, but I can't wear Geo Lenses for an extended amount of time (in 5 hours it gets uncomfortable, 8 hours is max but by then my eyes are starving for oxygen). I suspect this is probably due to the percentage of water in comparison to my regular lenses. Geo Lenses are 38% water versus my regular lenses are 60% water. More water = more permeable = more oxygen flow. The geo lenses are also thicker, probably because they have an extra layer for color. However, I searched all over for reviews before purchasing and it seems that most people find them even more comfortable then their current lenses, and those who never wore contact lenses before also found them extremely comfortable. But overall, I wouldn't wear geo lenses all day because they are uncomfortable for me. Remember, everyone is different so it might be different for you.

Honest Crap

Thought this would be fun, thanks Ketmany for sharing :)

"You have to tell your readers ten things about you they may not know, but that are true. Then you have to tag ten people with the award. Finally, let all the people you've given the award know they've gotten it (comment their blogs or something). Don't forget to link back to the person who awarded you."

1. I don't wear full-on makeup everyday, the whole shabang (full foundation, etc) comes out only for *special* events like anniversaries, haha. My daily routine usually consists of concealer, powder, mascara. If I have more time and feel like it, I'll do the whole eyeshadow, eyeliner thing. Yeh, I'm pretty lazy and I value sleep a lot more.

2. I HATE drama (who doesn't?), so I try to steer clear from it. Because of my neutral standing among friends, I'm always the one they vent to.. it's interesting to hear both sides, but I never intervene.

3. I used to be a gamer. I started playing video games at a young age (got my first old school nintendo when I was 8) I was pretty much a tomboy and probably still am, even though I don't look it. I don't play games that much anymore, ever since college started and I'm continuing on to graduate school, so no time to play time-consuming games.

4. I've worked part-time, continuously the entire time in college. My parents never let me get a job in high school so when I started college, I also started working. I've had 3 different jobs; all were related to technology/computers in some way. I'm starting graduate school in the fall and due to the heavy course-load, working is not recommended by the department, so it's kind of weird not working.

5. I'm the oldest child.

6. I tend to joke and poke fun at people that respond well to my sarcastic, apathetic humor.

7. I used to be really good at studying ahead and not procrastinating. This was when I first started college. It all went down hill since then. Ironically, my grades have been increasingly better. Maybe my "procrastinating" and "grades" are inversely related? :P

8. I'm more of a listener than a talker (cause I get tired when I talk too long, haha) but I can have rare moments where I won't shut up.

9. I get buyer's remorse reaaaallly easily. In order for me to buy something, I must reallly want it. Sometimes I wait a week or more to see if my desire to buy it is still there before purchasing.

10. Oh yeah, I'm looking for housing in Pittsburgh (shadyside/squirrel hill area) so if you're from around the area and know any good places, let me know! :)

I tag everyone, 'cause everyone should do it!!!

What I have been up to

Me snoozing at UC Merced's library.

It's been an interesting past couple of weeks. I went to northern California to UC Merced because my brother had orientation there. It was different because there wasn't much to do as it's literally in the middle of nowhere. Coming from Los Angeles, it was pretty interesting to see other parts of California, but I feel kind of sorry for my brother :P since I think he's more of a city person.

I was selected to be a potential juror last week. It was also an interesting process, and I was literally this __ close to be a juror. Boy did I get lucky because I was actually called for interrogations, but in the end they didn't want me :) Yay! I guess it was kind of different then my normal routine of waking up and doing nothing for the whole day. I would wake up extremely early (6 am) and go to Starbucks to read. Jury duty didn't start until 8 am, but I had no choice because my mom offered to drop me off before she went to work. Afterwards, I would go shopping because it was right next to a mall in Pasadena.

Me being silly with Biore pore strips some days before graduation... and yes, I'm wearing fobby PJs, haha.

Another haul: Eyeko

Okay, I swear this will be the last "haul" for a while. Since I will be going to grad school (with no funding) and I already have loans from undergrad.. I'm going to have to cut back a lot. It sucks because I was so used to paying for my personal expenses in undergrad since I had a job. Now that I will be unemployed (apparently working and being in the grad school program I'm in will be a big no-no because of how intense it would be), my sources for finances will be mainly loans and extra help from the parental units.

I bought both Eyeko Eye creams: Tinted and original. I waited till there was a sale (I think it was 20%) Original price for each is $8 USD. I entered an ambassador code and got some free gifts! Some face wipes and Beauty Rehab spearmint lip balm. If you plan to purchase something from Eyeko.com, just google for ambassador codes for a free gift!

Swatches of Eyeko's Tinted Eye cream and original eye cream.

All blended in! The brown looks really scary and dark in the tub, but it all blends nicely afterwards.
Ingredient listings.

So I've been using the Eye creams for about 2-3 weeks. I use the original one and mix it with my moisturizer (Clinique dramatically different moisturizer). It gives the skin a nice healthy glow. I haven't used the tinted one too much, but I'm starting to now... I use it near the temples of my cheeks to kind of even out my face. (My forehead is naturally darker than the rest of my face *sadface) But so far I love the regular one! Although the texture gets kind of weird and filmy when I apply it after my sunblock (Neutrogena Dry touch).

Geo Circle Lenses Haul and Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Recently I received my Geo Lens Haul from Mesmerized Eyes (http://mesmerizedeyes.blogspot.com/)! I was new to the batch system worked but it's pretty easy to figure out. You just order, pay and wait for the batch to fill up to 100 orders. Then the girls at Mesmerized Eyes order straight from the Geo Lens company in Korea. Geo Lens ship all the lenses to them and when they receive it, they package it up and ship it out to everyone who ordered. Shipping from the girls was sooo fast, it was about 2 days after they shipped that I received my package. However, the process in waiting for the batch to fill up and getting the order from Korea took some patience :).

Yay the package!!

All neatly bubble wrapped. Each lens came with a free lens case!

I bought 4 lenses, got one free, and bought a Hello Kitty Lens case holder. It was too cute to pass up. (I erased my prescription from the pic above because I'm too embarrassed to reveal how bad my eyes are... trust me, they are bad... I've only met ONE other person with worst eyesight than me in my lifetime.)

Lenses: (Left to right) Geo Tri Color in Brown, Geo Honey wing, Geo Fresh color in gray, Geo Angel Brown, Geo Fresh color in Brown

I will provide more in depth reviews for each lens in upcoming blog posts.

I made some cookie monster cupcakes for a gathering with old friends a while ago! This is not an original idea, I saw this somewhere online. But basically the eyes are marshmallow halves and chocolate chips. Frosting was semi-homemade with cream cheese, whipped topping and food coloring. The cupcakes were made from store box cake mix I had left over, but the chocolate chip cookies were made from scratch. They came out a bit too sweet for my taste (I blame the cake mix) but they sure looked cute!