More postponement

Hola everybody (who still reads this blog anyway :D). So I have received my Geo Lenses and Eyeko stuff!! Unfortunately, I got called to serve as a potential juror (I find out tomorrow if I'm in the case or not.. I think)!! It sucks because I have to miss an online conference with the grad school counselor tomorrow :(, have to wake up way early, and of course not have time to upload photos and devote time for a quality blog!! Sadnessss. I don't really mind serving as a juror because the case is only about a week and I get moneys for showing up since I'm not employed right now (not that much though, $15 for 8 hours..), but its such a hassle.

Studying studying studying

Hi beautiesss, just wanted to do a quick update.

Sadly, I'll be on a hiatus until my last final/graduation (Mid-June). I've been swamped with projects, exams, and presentations so I'll be losing lots of sleep these upcoming two weeks :(. I promise I'll get back on comments and everything when I'm done with school! :)

I'll leave you with this...

..this is how my desk looks like nowadays.. and I'm usually a fairly organized person!

Memorial weekend, NYX Haul

I remembered I ordered stuff from cherry culture during their 50% off NYX sale so I was excited to come home with a package waiting for me. I think I just like ordering stuff online because I like opening packages, :P. Anyway, I didn't order much, just 3 round lipglosses (apricot, mauve, ballerina pink) and 2 eyeshadow cubes (suede, antique gold). Still searching for the perfect golden brown eyeshadow color...

Swatches!

Without Flash

With Flash

On the lips! I felt kinda weird taking these cause they're so zoomed in, you could see my pores and 'stache :P

Swatches on the hand!

During the week, I visited the garden at my school and took some photos. I miss photography.

Me parody-ing studio glamour pic poses.

We saw this weird pot of... what looked like moldy, leaf soup inside a tree trunk? It was pretty interesting...

It took a million attempts to get this picture of the dragon fly. It was on some grass right next to a river and stupid me forget to bring my telephoto lens (super zoom). So I had to bust a national-geographic-photog status. It came out okay, but I really wish I had my other lenses!

So many red-slider turtles, can you find them all? There's probably about twenty altogether (there's some across the stream too!)

I felt so stalkerish taking this pic. I didn't even know she was in the background until after I saw the pic! I swear I was focusing on the lavendery flowers.

I think this was called "Japanese Cherry tree" not sure if it's the same as "Cherry Blossom."

I have two more weeks of classes and I'm done with undergrad! Of course the last few weeks are always packed with work to do.. so back to work for me.. :(

P.S. What are you girls doing this memorial weekend?

YAY SHOES.

My skin's been behaving! Probably because I've been letting my skin breathe. I've also been using Clean and Clear advantage oil-free acne moisturizer (mentioned in a previous post) and I'm almost out. Although I don't use it religiously, its been helping my skin without overdrying it when I have those little breakouts.

The shoes I ordered on Vans.com came! I was looking for some pointy flats that wouldn't wear out or break so easily like the shoes by Soda, and other brands. I used to have this one:

The picture does no justice. I swear it looks a lot better when worn. It's from Roxy and the style is called Twiggy. Although these shoes HURT LIKE HELL when I was breaking them in, leaving wounds mostly behind my ankles, it was soo comfortable in the end. It was quite sad actually. The first time I wore them was at school. For 8+ hours. By the 3rd hour, I already had immense pain and proceeded to the school's mini mart to buy some super thick expensive Puma socks, because those were the thickest ones, and a pack of Band-aids for "sport injuries." I didn't care that I looked like a grandma/fashion disaster for wearing athletic socks with flats, it was that painful.

After a couple months of wearing them every single day, they just gave out. And since then I've been trying to find a replacement. That's when I went to slickdeals.net one fine evening (more like late-night studying for midterms time, excuse to procrastinate) and found that Vans.com was having a 20% off with free shipping. This was around April, but the catch was the items would not ship until the beginning of May. Thinking I would not find anything, lo and behold, I found this:

Vans - Lesley. I wore it for the first time today, and I have a feeling my left foot is bigger than my right foot? For most of the heels/flats/hurty shoes I wear, the pain is ALWAYS on my left foot. Oh well. It's okay so far, it looks pretty though so its worth the pain!

Help me pick shoes for graduation!

Hello ladies, it's been a while since I had a good blog post. I've just been pretty lazy with uploading pics from my camera. (how do you ladies combat laziness to upload photos?! kudos to you). Anyway, collective haul from Coastal Scents, CVS, and a japanese market.

From CS: kabuki, some eyeshadow pans, angled liner, fan brush, and they gave me a free sample of eyeshadow. I've been using the fan brush almost everyday to apply blush, so far I really like it.

From CVS: I've been on the search for the perfect golden/bronze color, that's why I bought the baked collection in Baked Sands. I have the Physician's formula Shimmer Strips for Hazel Eyes (even though I don't have hazel eyes, I just like to colors :P) and I love the fourth color from the bottom. It's kind of in-between bronze and gold, more like a shimmery brown with gold hints. I've used it all up and have yet to find a dupe. I ordered some NYX shadows from cherry culture so hopefully those will be it.
Also bought Physician's formula powder palette in translucent. I'm almost done with a similar one but the shade is actually my skin color. Eyelashes + Maybelline's Full and Soft, Sky high curves, and some makeup/toiletry kit from japanese market! I actually don't really know what the kit is.. it comes with two 5 gram jars, a tiny funnel, a spatula, and two empty bottles for storing liquids? It looks like it's either for makeup/beauty stuff or contact lenses. Help me out here, what do you think it's for?

Also been using Kirkland's Daily Facial Cleansing Towelettes everyday for removing makeup. I went through two packs of these already.

Also got Neutrogena's Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock as I mentioned in a previous blog. I really like it, it doesn't leave the greasy feeling. Yes, I know it's 85 spf which is a lot.. I also saw one that was 100+ spf O_O.

For mother's day, I bought mama some orchids to grow from Trader Joe's.

Oh! I tried pressing my lip sticks and NYX pearl loose shadows with Enkore's tutorial. I guess I didn't press the nude color hard enough because it shattered in my bag!

Baked some cupcakes with red velvet and funfetti cake mix and semi-homemade cream cheese frosting. It was pretty easy to make.

One package cream cheese + 1 cup confectioner's sugar + 1 tub of Cool Whip. Whip cream cheese until soft and creamy, then pour in sugar. After mixing well, fold in Cool whip. It has the right balance of sweetness and flavor from the cream cheese without being overpowering or too sweet.

Lastly, THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF MY LIFE!! Okay, I guess it's not THAT important. But still, which heels should I wear for my graduation? Open-toed strappy or pumps? I'm kinda leaning towards the pumps because it looks a lot formal/classy. But I still don't know!

Oil-absorbing sheets: Clean and Clear, and Toilet Seat Covers?

I've been using Clean and Clear's Morning Burst Oil Absorbing Sheets lately. The difference between the original and "Morning Burst"? Not much, except for the scent. There's a citrus-y scent that's supposed to make you feel more awake (perhaps to remind you of the childhood days or orange juice in the morning?), but that's the only difference.

Back in high school when oil-absorbing sheets were beginning to be used by almost every girl, my friend told me about a very cheap alternative. Sure, these sheets aren't too pricey (ranging from $1-3?) but honestly when you think about it, it's just paper. So what's the cheaper alternative? Well, if you look at my title, you might be slightly disgusted, but please keep an open mind.

Toilet Seat Covers are pretty much thin tissue paper without all the colors and texture. They are thin and absorbent enough to be effectively used as oil-blotting sheets. You're probably disgusted because when I say "Toilet Seat Covers" you might just think of "Toilet Seat." But really, I use these when I'm out of the expensive Clean and Clear ones. They're sanitary (you allow your butt to touch them, you wouldn't want anything unsanitary there right?).

So when I first found out about this, I was of course skeptical and slightly disgusted like you probably are. But I tried it, and it works. I was excited and told my whole family about it, including my dad. So he bought me 3 full packs of toilet seat covers. I only cut up a few sheets into smaller sized ones so I can bring them along.. and I still have 2.75 packs of toilet seat covers left. He gave them to me 5+ years ago. -_-

Toilet Seat covers. they're cheap, and they work.

Neutrogena Dry-Touch

Been lazy with uploading pics from collective haul. Also, busy with school I guess. I bought this recently:So far so good.

Coastal Scents Sale! 15% off

Just in case you didn't know...

Coastal scents is having a sale, 15% off everything! It's only for a short while, the sales ends April 26, 2009 midnight EST!

Although 15% isn't that much, it's still something, and I find that it's quite rare that Coastal Scents have sales that are good towards everything in the store. They usually have specific product sales and specials, so I definitely took advantage of this sale.

Items Ordered
-----------------
Italian Badger Deluxe Fan Brush: 1
Item Total: $3.49

Pink Kabuki Brush: 1
Item Total: $4.99

15 Empty Pans 26mm - same size as MAC (#PP-001): 1
Item Total: $4.95

White Angled liner Brush: 1
Item Total: $2.19

Chisel Angle Fluff Shadow Brush: 1
Item Total: $2.00

Life and Face

I've been away from this blog for a while because of school and life. I'm trying to enjoy my last quarter in college and make sure I enjoy California before I move to the cold in the east for grad school.

Okay, so I've been using some of the ELF stuff I mentioned in the last haul I got. The 'powder brush' is reaaaaaalllly soft. I think I can safely say it's one of the softest brushes I have. (I only own Essence of Beauty, ELF, and Sonia Kashuk ones FYI).

In the last entry I complained that ELF sent me the wrong eyelash curler. I sent them a message and they responded pretty promptly saying that they would send the correct one right away (and didn't mention anything about returning the wrong item even though I asked them about it, so I guess I get to keep that one. It makes sense anyway since it'll probably cost more to ship it back to them.). I received the mini eyelash curler about a couple days after the message (less than a week!). Many beauty bloggers have been saying how ELF's customer service has greatly improved and I totally agree.

p.s. i found this somewhere.. it's cute.

E.L.F. Haul and Mini Reviews

So I've been using Revlon's ColorStay with Softflex foundation recently with my Target Stippler Brush, and I've got to say, it's awesome. The coverage is medium to full, but I get the airbrushed look with the brush and no cakey-ness. I don't use foundation everyday (just whenever I feel like it.. about once or twice a week) but when I wear this foundation, it really feels lightweight and I can hardly tell its there.

I've also been using the Hidden Agenda Concealer by Sonia Kashuk pretty much everyday since I bought it. I have small red marks from acne scars and the olive based color (bottom right) really covers it up well. Previous to this, I used Maybelline's coverstick in Deep Beige and although it was pretty good at concealing, the color didn't really work that well with the redness, so it would take a while to blend and such.

Oh Cetaphil.. how I love thee... I've been using it about every other day (and using St. Ive's Apricot Scrub the other days) and I really love it. Since Cetaphil is soapfree, you don't need to work up a lather, all you do is slather it on your face, rub. and rinse. It makes face cleansing so much easier over the sink because I usually hate doing it with other soapy facial cleansers. Another plus is that you can use it by leaving it on your face and just wiping it off with a towel, leaving a sheen. This relieves my worry about leaving soapy residue on my face as with other cleansers.

Here's the E.L.F. Haul!

83601 -	blushed/bronzed	Qty: 1	$3.00
2201 -	Crystal	Qty: 1	$1.00
1705 -	Eye Lash Curler	Qty: 1	$1.00
81302 -	medium	Qty: 1	$3.00
85006 -	Mini Eyelash Curler	Qty: 1	$3.00
3101 -	Pink Lemonade	Qty: 1	$1.00
84003 -	Powder Brush	Qty: 1	$3.00
2807 -	Watermelon	Qty: 1	$1.00
cstmpalette -	Custom Palette	Qty: 1	$0.00
2567 -	Compact	Qty: 2	$1.00

----------------------------------------------------

Sub Total:	$18.00
Shipping:	$6.95
Tax:	$0.00

Discounts:

----------------------------------------------------

50% off orders up to $15.00!

($7.50)

----------------------------------------------------

Total:

$17.45

Unfortunately, They shipped a wrong item to me. I ordered a mini eyelash curler, but they gave me a regular one instead. I emailed them immediately and they responded the very next day that they would send the correct item out ASAP. I'm still waiting, but it's only been a few days.

The goodies in the bag

I guess I should've flipped these two pics over because they are upside down. They're supposed to be in the order that the swatches are on my hand.

L-R: Lipgloss in watermelon, all over color stick in pink lemonade, blush and bronze duo (supposedly a nars dupe), and the eyebrow kit in medium (wax and powder)
swatches with direct natural light from the window

Oh! I was also tagged by GiLing for the "Kreativ Blogger" award that's been circulating around lately. It's interesting, why is it spelled "Kreativ" is it because it's 'creative'? Yeah, just a random thought. btw, remind me to list a bunch of things I hate about blogger next time.