My First Sasa Haul

I made my first purchase on Sasa.com a while back when I became a little obsessed with using masks.  My Beauty Diary Masks were something I have been curious about for the longest time, so I looked around to see if  which site offered the best prices.  Between ebay, amazon, and sasa, Sasa had the best prices.  They are based in China, and offer free international shipping on purchases of $75 USD or more.

The site itself is easy enough to navigate.  It's checking out that gives me a bit of grief.  Every time I tried to change the recipient country from China to USA, the site would automatically change it back to China.  I also could have sworn I had chosen standard shipping, but apparently my order was due for expedited shipping and its additional $8 charge.  It was such a lovely surprise when a representative personally contacted me saying that they had noticed my address wasn't based in China, and that I had opted for expedited shipping (>:O!).  My order was put on hold for the mean time until I confirmed everything.  I promptly sent back an email asking for standard shipping and to confirm my address.  My order confirmation came a few days later, and my package was shipped one week afterwards, and arrived about 4 days after it was sent.  Not too bad for an international order.

I purchased a box of cooling masks, cherry blossom masks, strawberry yogurt masks, aloe masks, red wine masks, and earl grey tea macaroon masks.  I needed $0.60 more for free shipping so I also purchased a eyelash case.  The fake lipstick was a free gift.  I thought it was real until it arrived :'(.

Unfortunately, all the descriptions for the masks are in Chinese, and my Chinese is too crappy to be able to understand all of it.  Either way, I'm excited to use them, and give my dry, patchy skin a treat.

Have you guys ever used any of these before?  What types of masks do you like to use?

FOTD: Everlasting

I love love love Cover Girl Lip Perfection lipsticks!  They are so long wearing and I don't have to touch them up too much.  They will stain your lips but I can look over that.

Everlasting is one that I did not have a huge problem with when it comes to staining.  But then again, I only wore it for about 6 hours.  Here is a look I wore last Wednesday:

I only have two pictures because I decided to take them before I ran out the door :(

Eyes: 
-UDPP
-Inglot eyeshadows in 399P, 451P, 434P
-Stila eyeshadows in Kitten and Black Cat
-UD 24/7 Liner in Perversion
-Inglot AMC Gel Liner in 77
-L'oreal Waterproof Carbon Black Mascara

Face:
-Laura Mercier Hydrating Face Primer
-Smashbox Healthy FX Foundation in Light 3
-Cover FX Setting Powder in Light
-NARS Laguna Bronzer
-Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Amusing
-Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Ivory
-MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC20

Lips:
-Cover Girl Lip Perfection Lipstick in Everlasting
-Jordana lip liner in Plush Plum

China Glaze Haul from Sally's

The problem with putting myself on a makeup buying ban is that I start finding reasons to buy other things.  So I end up doing damage either way.

For example, I bought quite a few nail polishes yesterday.  I know I'm late to the party but I decided to finally pick up a few polishes from The Hunger Games collection by China Glaze.  Needless to say, there weren't many left in the display at Sally's Beauty Supply.  The ones I REALLY wanted (Smoke and Ashes and Stone Cold) weren't there.  The girl there was in the process of unpacking boxes and she told me that she had a shipment of China Glaze in the back, but it doesn't necessarily mean there were some from the collection.  She said I should call back within an hour but I decided to just stick around for an hour while she worked on the boxes and served customers.  Turns out there weren't any more, but I did come home with these.

From the Hunger Games Collection:

Fast Track, Electrify, Luxe and Lush

 Crackle Polish/Prism Collection

Oxidized Aqua, Haute Metal, Full Spectrum

 Magnetic Polish:

Pull Me Close, Instant Chemistry

For the month of April, China Glaze Polishes are buy 2 get 1 free.  Sally's also has a bunch of Crackle nail polishes for $1.99 each, but those aren't included in the promotion.

Also....I purchased 4 more polishes from the Hunger Games Collection online because I wanted them that bad ><.

My poor wallet.  Does this count as sticking with my makeup buying ban?  I'm not sure anymore.

UK/USA Swap Anyone?

Hey everyone!

So ever since I saw the release of the By 3 Blush Trios from Sleek, I knew I had to have them.  I was just about to place an order for them on the Sleek website (despite my makeup buying ban, I know I know) but I figured it would be more fun to do a swap.  If anybody from the UK is interested in getting some items from the states, let me know!  If I don't get any response in about a week or so, I'll probably go ahead and buy the blush palettes.

Thankies :D!

My First Photoshoot! Feedback?

Hello lovelies~

Sorry it's been so long since I've last posted.  I don't know if I've mentioned this already but I had final projects and midterms so I've been busy busy busy.  I still have some midterms to come, actually, so my posting will still be limited.

Even so, I has the pleasure of working with some friends on a photoshoot today!  I found out recently that one of my high school friends, her boyfriend, and his friends have really gotten into photography, so I asked if I could do hair and makeup for their photoshoots.

I'm not going to lie--I know I'm jumping the gun but I wanted to do it anyway.  I've been wanting to do a photo shoot for the longest time so that I would have something for my portfolio.  I am far from happy from the pictures I take of myself, and my portfolio can't consist of pictures of mainly myself anyway.  Today's session was a real struggle.  I have a lot of trouble doing makeup on eye shapes unlike my own, ESPECIALLY monolids and hooded lids.  I'll continue my list of struggles after the pictures so you guys get a sense of what I'm talking about.

I mooched these off my friend's facebook album so the quality could definitely be better.  But they still beat my camera!

Photos by Andrew Chin.

Last, but not least, my favorite of all the shots.

Challenges:

-I wanted to keep her face looking fresh so I used very little bronzer and just some blush.  Alicia's face still ended up looking a little pasty.

-I ended up going too heavy on the eyeliner.  Either that or I'm really not used to seeing her with makeup on.

-Her makeup kept transferring under her eye!  I don't know why!  All the products I used on her are products that I use on myself and I have no issues with but her makeup kept smudging!  She doesn't have oily skin either.  Perhaps it was just the shape of her eye?

-The rain.  It was raining pretty hard the day of the shoot.  You can see that the hair looks fine in the indoor shots, but has deflated quite a bit in the outside shots.

-I tried putting some false lashes on the poor girl and ended up getting glue all over her eye makeup.  Alicia, her boyfriend, and Andrew have more patience than the gods to stand working with me.

-Hot rollers.  I used hot rollers in her hair so I could focus more on the makeup.  Even with voluminizing spray and hair spray, the hair deflated pretty fast.  Suggestions?

Despite the challenges, of course there were some highlights :)

Highlights:

-EXPERIENCE.  Wow, this made everything worthwhile.  I was able to better access my own makeup application and hairstyling skills.  Needless to say, I need tons more practice but these guys are willing to keep working with me!

-Alicia, my friend and lovely model, loved the hair and makeup.  She has never had that much prepping done to her before so it was a great experience for her to feel like a superstar.  I'm a bit more nitpicky but I'm glad she was happy.

-Seeing the beautiful pictures.  My jaw dropped when I saw the rainy day shots.

Okidoke, folks.  That's all for today.  Between now and the next photoshoot, I'm going to have to kidnap some new faces and force makeup on them.  Bwahahahhaha!

A Deranged Leprechaun

I'm in one of those phases where I want to keep pushing out makeup looks with a bit of an edge.  Something bright, something bold, something that's lots of fun to put on and wear.  And of course I had to wear it to work while my boss was on vacation for fear she would send me home and make myself more presentable.

Most of these taken after work so excuse the greasy face and faded eyeliner from the waterline =(  I did reapply my lips though!

Here's what it looked like without the gold.

Eyes:

-UDPP

-NYX JEP in Slate

-Sugarpill loose shadows in Tipsy (lid) and Stella (upper and lower lashline, darknening outer corner)

-Inglot eyeshadow in 418P (blended in the crease and lower lashline) and DS 463 (blended over 418P into browbone)

-Too Faced eyeshadow in Silk Teddy (extra brow highlight and inner corner highlight)

-Stila Smudgepot in Kitten (base for inner corner highlight)

-Milani Liquifeye pencil eyeliner in Black

-L'oreal Waterproof Carbon Black Mascara

Face:

-Laura Mercier Hydrating Primer

-Smashbox Healthy FX Foundation in Light 3

-Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Ivory

-MAC Studio Finish Concealer NC20

-Cover FX Setting Powder in Light

-NARS Laguna Bronzer

-NARS Blush in Deep Throat

Lips:

-Buxon lipgloss

-Sugarpill loose eyeshadow in Goldilux

-L'oreal HIP Chrome Pencil in Gold Charge

I was pleasantly surprised how my alternative to using a gold lipstick (which I don't own) went with a loose eyeshadow and some lipgloss.  I first applied a very sticky, long lasting lipgloss, then used alternating patting and smudging motions with my finger to spread the eyeshadow, and then went back in with a gold eyeliner to give definition to the lips.  Surprisingly, this lasted me my entire 6 hour shift at work with minimal fading and a bit of settling into the lines on my lips.  The Sugarpill loose shadows are very finely milled, but I could feel some of it going into my mouth and settling under my tongue and in the back of my throat.  It isn't too bad, but feels like I breathed in some dust with my mouth.

In any case, I have midterms and projects coming up so I may not be doing any fun stuff like this for a while.  I hope you guys all had a fun and safe St. Patrick's Day.  I'd love to see what you guys came up with for St. Patrick's Day too!  

FOTD: Royal Hysterics

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!  Unfortunately this won't be a relevant FOTD.  That will come hopefully tomorrow :)

I had the luxury of time last night, in which I did not have to rush to get my makeup ready for work.  Of course I had to reach for my Sugarpill loose eyeshadows.  I have appreciated these more after I bought them because I really have nothing else like these babies in my collection.

Now you guys also have a glimpse of my newly shortened lengths.  I'm not completely happy with my hair, but at the same time I don't know what to do with it.  I wanted something more edgy.  Thoughts?

Face: 

-Laura Mercier Hydrating Primer

-Aveeno Tinted Moisturizer in Medium

-Cover FX Setting Powder in Light

-MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC20

-NARS Laguna Bronzer

-NARS blush in Deep Throat

Eyes:

-UDPP

-MicaBella Eye Primer

-Sugarpill Loose Eyeshadow in Royal Sugar (lid), Hysteric (lower lashline), Tiara (Inner corner highlight and inner crease), and Stella (upper lashline)

-Lancome eyeshadow in After Dusk

-Too Faced eyeshadow in Silk Teddy

-UD 24/7 Liner in Perversion

-L'oreal Voluminous Waterproof Carbon Black Mascara

Lips:

-Buxom lipgloss

Now it's time to do another makeup look for work!  Green eyeshadow, here I come!