part deux

weekend cont'd...

Saturday night I chilled at my sister's house.

mango mojitos w/my sister's homegrown mint leaves

butternut squash raviolis, herb salad

aren't the pastas pretty?

And then after playing with the doggies, we did our nails :)

I saw this youtube tutorial, and told my sister to do her nails that way (pink base, silver glitter tip, red glitter heart):

I used Revlon Tropical Temptation for my toes, and some flower stickers

Sunday was even hotter than Saturday in the bay area, so decided to take my mommy down to San Jose for some 85 degree weather, and CRAWFISHESSSSSS! (or is it crayfish? are they the same thing??)

My sister.. always so stylish :)

Charlotte Russe top and F21 short shorts.

Nine West shoes.

Tory Burch bag.

My mommy is stylish too!

Laundry by Shelli Segal dress.

Coach purse

So I didn't recognize my mom's dress, and I usually know when my mom buys something new. So, as we're waiting for crawfish, I asked my mom where she got the dress. And she replied, "Gilt". And I was like WHOA gilt like GILT GROUPE? LOL. Apparently my sister was thinking the same, b/c she was like, "Gilt, like Gilt Groupe?" It's funny b/c my friends and I always check that site, but I didn't think my mom was on there! Good deal.

I had wanted to wear one of my Puella dresses (website under construction, but you can find Puella pieces at shopstyle http://www.shopstyle.com/browse/Puella). This is one of my FAV dresses b/c the material and cut are sooo nice... and it's a SoCal brand so when I wear it reminds me of when my sister used to live in the beach town and I would visit...

BUT stupid stupid me put it in the dryer.. and since there's stretch in the dress I thought it wouldn't shrink! BUT IT DID >.<>

Sooo.. wore this instead.

Wet Seal dress.

Target kids sandals (size 3 fits like women's size 5!) ~ only $10!!!

My turn to wear the earrings! (Changed finding to clip-on)

And I love yellow gold.. decided to layer a couple necklaces.

Loving my new Swarovski baroque pendant hanging on a gold leaf bail :))

And now for your listening pleasure..

Recently discovered Yiruma from sweet Caroline (http://thesweetreverie.blogspot.com/), and found some of his sheet music on the web.

No critics, assholes! LOL. Seriously though, it's my second time sight-reading the damn thing, so no critics!

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why hello, sunshine

My weekend is starting off beautifully!

Saturday morning, I woke up to bright sunshine :) So bright, in fact, that I couldn't sleep in as I had originally planned. My sister came over with her two lil doggies ~ a toy poodle, and a teddy bear pup (1/2 bichon, 1/2 shih tzu), and we walked them around the 'hood.

OOTD

J. Crew sweater, Ralph Lauren kids skinny zip (sz 12) jeans, Nine West shoes, Gucci shades

The RL jeans are ON SALE at Bloomie's right now originally $95, they are now $12 (http://www1.bloomingdales.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=480287&CategoryID=10143),

They fall down without a belt... but I hate wearing belts :\ Oh well, saggy butt :(

I LOVE the back pockets, and the side zippers

Thanks again to PetiteAsianGirl (www.extrapetite.com) for alerting us to the Bloomie's sale, and kids size 12 jeans!!!!!

My sister wore a stylish flowery romper (from boutique), and Tory Burch purse.

She's wearing these earrings, which were $3.80 from Forever 21 :)

And I'm wearing this ring that she got me, also from Forever 21 :)

It matches this bracelet that I bought in Japantown recently, during the blog meetup outing :)

I love how gold jewelry can perk up an outfit. Excuse the wrinkled sweater.. I HATE ironing!

And lastly, I've been craving Italian ever since my return from Boston. I miss the margherita pizza from Bertucci's, and just Italian food in general there. San Francisco doesn't have good Italian food. So, I've been making my own:

Caprese salad.

Fresh mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, EVOO, balsalmic vinegar

Pasta.

Penne, fresh garlic, fresh basil, EVOO, balsalmic vinegar, red chili flakes

No Rest for the Wicked -Teaser Trailer

Written and directed by my cousin. Please support by clicking the "Like" button on youtube if you enjoy the trailer :)

"No Rest for the Wicked is a peek into a world of love on the run. Isaac and Kat rob, steal, and kill their way across the country while evading the police and other criminals alike. Their only loyalty is to each other, and their only friend is a black snub-nose pistol. They never intend to kill, but if you get in their way, they will shoot. to. kill."

It will be a 40 min movie short.

making the case for makeup, a rant

Before reading this post, please watch the following video:

Those who know me, know that I rant quite often. I get pissed really easily, and have no patience. I will say that 95% of the time I'm given a reason to be annoyed... especially at work. ugh. UGH! Haha, but anyways, when something annoys me I get really worked up about it and I feel the need to tell everyone how I feel.

So. Lately, I feel that I've been seeing a lot of attacks on women who are "fake". Fake because they wear makeup, false lashes, colored contacts. Excuse me? Really? Take a look at these photos:

You all recognize our First Lady, yes?

Or, perhaps you're more familiar with this photo:

Now tell me how many people you've heard call her "fake"? And let me tell you, she is wearing loads more makeup than I do, and I wear false lashes and colored contacts on occasion.

If what you mean by fake is non-neutral toned makeup, then just say so. Because there is NOTHING natural about that magazine cover.

Men who say that they like natural looking girls who wear zero makeup ~ WATCH THAT YOUTUBE VIDEO UP THERE. How did you like the natural look of Pam? Charlize? Selma? (Ok, let's leave Goldie out of this... she's "mature" haha, so she's allowed to have skin like that! Plus I loooooove her so no bad mouthing!) Yea they look pretty sexy don't they with the wrinkly saggy blemished skin and bags under the eyes and undefined eyes. Albeit those are not their best expressions in the non-makeup photos, but you can still see major skin and eye differences.

Here's another example I saw today (http://absolutelyfobulous.com/2010/05/24/makeup-magic-freaks-a-lot-of-guys-out/):

So, guys, that freaks you out huh? But, imagine a world with no makeup. You wouldn't think so many women were hot I bet. In fact, let's not stop there. Let's stop shaving, wearing well-fitted clothing... let's just stop caring about personal appearance altogether. The second a woman neglects to do something, like shave, she gets criticized for it. But you know what? Shaving is unnatural! Yes, it is! You think Gilette was around since earth's creation? Think again. High heels are pretty unnatural too. Let's get rid of those. Oh not to mention the flat irons, curling irons. I mean, who doesn't love an unshaven, frizzy haired girl in crocs eh? You with me???

From my personal experience, when I've gone the natural route, people ask me if I'm sick, tired, stressed. It's because my eyes are really small, slanted, and kinda close together. What am I supposed to say to them? No? It's because I'm not wearing makeup, but thanks for telling me I look sick when I'm trying to be au naturale? I'm sorry that my eyes don't open up any bigger, geez. When I do wear makeup, I never get questions like that.

I just think a lot of people are really clueless as to what they mean when they say fake. There are plenty of people who apply LOADS of makeup, just to achieve the natural look, and to try to hide from you that they're doing the natural look! There are youtube tutorials on the natural look for goodness sake, that require more products than I own! I think what they really mean is obvious makeup, versus subtle. Think the workers at the MAC counter hahaha. A good example that Ping brought up today for natural is the Bobbi Brown makeup look. You wear their makeup in a way so that it looks like you're not wearing makeup (how ironic hahaha). It's great to create an elegant, clean, neutral, and polished look.

For many women, makeup gives them confidence. How do you think Mrs. Obama would've felt to appear on the cover of a magazine with the 1st photo I put up? Hmmm? Confidence is beautiful. It's a strength. As you can see from my previous blog posts, I am a strong believer in makeup and all the unnatural goodies! I feel 10x prettier when I have false lashes on. Hey, is it my fault God skipped Korea and Japan when he decided who should get the long lashes? And if it gives me confidence, well then power to me, and fudge all of y'all who try to bring down us makeup wearing women!!!! Why don't you take that energy, and put it towards helping the hungry and sick people in the world, ok?

my fashionable friend :)

Hi guys ~ I want to share with you all one of my gf's blog!

http://allaboutfashionstuff.blogspot.com/

She just made her first post yesterday :) She is my most fashionable friend! She mixes a lot of high end designer with low end like F21. I don't know how I would categorize her style, but people often think she's from LA, which is a good thing! And, she's so thin and petite she can wear anything!

Go check out her blog :) More fashionable stuff coming very soooooon!

*ahem* I also want to let it be known that I pushed her to start a blog! So later down the road when she blows up, y'all will know who is responsible ;) thx

nyx lipstick swatches.wmv

Happy Friday y'all!

So the other day this song I like popped into my head, and I just had to listen to it on youtube! Only problem is I don't know the title or artist, but I know it's a current song on a top radio station.

So I g-chat my gf and ask her, "Hey do you know this song.. the lyrics are, 'I've waited, I've waited'" ... Me: "And there's another line that goes 'I've waited all my life'" .... (realizing that I'm being super vague and unhelpful) As I'm trying to google these lyrics, both of us are struggling to figure it out, and all the while the song is blaring in my head. I'm coming up with search results of Ryan Cabrera's song "True", which is totally NOT the song. And there are thousands of songs out there with lyrics like "I've waited all my life" haha.. go figure.

And then FINALLY, I'm like, "OMG! It's the song from The City! I can find it!" It's the Kevin Rudolph song with a bunch of ghetto rappers (ew).

Turns out he's singing, "I've made it" and not "Ive waited". LOL.

Anyways, moving on.

The title of this post is not a lie!

Here's a 1-2 min video on my NYX lipsticks. I always find it helpful when I'm googling images of lip colors to see it on the lips (obviously), and also against the rest of the face so that I'll know which shades go well with which skin tone.

My lips are pretty pigmented red... I didn't use any lip concealers ~ all l/s were applied straight onto my lips. Also show the l/s on a white paper towel LOL. Well I didn't want to swatch them on my arm!

In order:

[starting with round l/s]

*Circe (good to combine w/another l/s)

*Orange Soda (love!)

*Pumpkin Pie (hmm.. it's mehhh)

*Summer Love (loooove it! Thanks to my sister for recommending)

*Harmonica (hmmm..having trouble thinking of when this l/s would be appropriate...)

*Strawberry Milk (cheaper alternative to Heiress. Very nice milky finish)

[black label l/s]

*Heiress (REALLY easy to apply. It's practically foolproof! Feels similar to MAC Gaga)

*India (fav l/s. It's like milky pinky peachy)

hair color - HELP!

Please help me ladies!! I'm going to put this up to a vote by whoever comments (whether it be 1 vote or 10!)

I'm either going to dye my hair ~

Ash (takes out the red/orange in Asian hair):

or Milk Tea:

I know the milk tea looks really light.. but I can leave bleach in my hair for 1 hour and it will barely make a dent in the color.... soo yea...

Here's a color chart if anyone's interested:

So please tell me which you think is better!

Thaaaaaanks :D

when you're feeling down .

So, lately I've seen some tweets and blog posts about people who know people who are going through hard times.

During tough times, it's so hard to think about anything other than yourself, and how you'll get through the situation. It seems like no one else in the world can possibly understand what you're going through. You feel alone, miserable, frustrated, angry, hurt, and as if things can't possibly get better.

And during not so tough times, you wonder "Why can't I have all these things?", or "I wish I looked more like her."

But you know what? It will pass. And, you should try to put things in perspective.

We've all gone through terrible breakups, deaths, accidents... and do you remember how you felt at the time? Now, think about where you are today. Doesn't that incident seem so far away? Yet, you can remember the emotions you felt at the time. Today, you are stronger than you were back then. Because hopefully you learned a lesson. You learned acceptance. Or you learned forgiveness.

And, I really don't mean to put anyone down, but it really helps to put things in perspective to people in worse situations.

Ask yourself these questions:

~Do you have access to clean drinking water?

~Do you have access to food and meals?

~Do you live free from fear that your own government will come to hurt you, rape you, kill you, maim you, take your children?

~Do you have more then $0.85 in your wallet?

~Is there at least one friend or family member who loves you?

~Are you able to work in a safe environment that pays fair wages?

~Are you able to browse the web with no restrictions and make blog posts about anything you want?

If you answered yes to any or all of the above, then you, my friend, are in a wonderful place. Millions of people would give THEIR LIFE to trade places with you. Please don't ever forget this, and don't take this lightly.

(And YES believe it - these are questions that MILLIONS of our fellow human beings CANNOT answer yes to!)

If you don't believe me, read here and here

and here

.

Please please ~ my intention with this post was not to make anyone depressed, or feel guilty. I think it's just good to always be aware, and to keep things in perspective. And to remember just how blessed we are with the things we have and the people in our lives.

p.s. yes, my blog is random.

Haul ~ Revlon Nail Polishes (BOGO right now!)

Don't normally do haul posts... but thought I'd throw this one in :)

I don't get manicures cuz I'm too cheap, and I normally don't paint my nails.. but lately I've been wanting to sport some pretty pink nails. My sister recommended Essie, but because there are so many Walgreens near my work I always browse and I saw that Revlon was having a BOGO on the nail polishes! So I got 4 for $10:

2 coats applied:

Verdict: I like them all!! Like I really really like 'em! The Sheer Petal is the hardest to apply evenly, and works best as a top coat. The peach is nice is you want a whiter, matte color, and the pink chiffon is nice if you want a glossy pinky color. The Sheer Petal layered on top of the Pink Chiffon makes for the perfect nail in my opinion. Tropical Temptation is SOOO easy to apply, and glides on so smoothly. And you only need a teeeeny tiny bit of polish, so the bottle will last you forever. I plan to use it on my toenails and not my hands, but for swatching purposes I put it on my hand. As for staying power ~ don't ask me. I've had expensive brands like OPI and Essie come off in a matter of days because I'm really hard on my nails (doing dishes, filing at work, clumsiness...)

Peach Petal closeup:

Sheer Petal closeup:

Pink Chiffon closeup:

Tropical Temptation closeup:

.camwhore.camwhore.camwhore.camwhore.camwhore.camwhore.camwhore.camwhore.

NYX Harmonica.

It's super frosty. Don't wear it during the daytime. You'll look like a tramp.

geo nudy blue lens

I decided to do a picture and video post while I'm out here in Boston for the Geo nudy blue lens I posted about last week. Here are some still images, followed by the video. (note~ all photos are completely unedited, except the pic of my grey dress haha... I brightened it a ton).

I think I forgot to mention astigmatism in my video.... so basically I have astigmatism, and I have to wear hard rigid gas permeable lens. They keep the curvature of my eye... or something like that. If I wear soft lens, my astigmatism will worsen (my eyes have improved from wearing hard lens.. they are better today than they were 10 years ago). However, my astigmatism is on the mild side, so I do NOT need to wear toric lens. I'm not sure how astigmatism is measured, but if you have it and are interested in wearing circle lens, definitely consult your eye doctor first!! I called my eye doctor and that's how I found out.

My new camera records HD video, so you can watch in HD! I'm not sure what that means haha.. but it sounds good! Uhm and I was sitting on a medicine ball so I may "bounce" a bit at times ahahaha..

I got the lens from http://k-circlelens.net/ :)

This is the dress I'm wearing in the video, from Wet Seal (was on sale for like $15!!). It has bows and peepholes in the back :) I have on St. Tropez on my body, and lots of bronzer on my face so I wouldn't stand out in my usual blinding pastiness. Girls in Boston are extremely tan!!! Well, everyone except the MIT kids.. they're all super pasty :\

Here are images of the lipsticks that I mention in the video, pictured on my lips. Will add pics for Baby Pink later....

NYX Strawberry Milk - indoors

NYX Strawberry Milk - outdoors, and 2 layers applied

NYX Orange Soda - outdoors

This last lipstick is Revlon "Radiant Ruby", gifted to me from the sweet Michelle (http://xbeyondmex.blogspot.com/). Thank you for the love package ~ I adored everything!

Coincidentally, I'd been curious about wearing a red lipstick, so I was very excited to try it on. I love it, it makes me feel like snow white!!

And in outdoor lighting:

I think this is my least wordy post to date. Will write more when I return to SF!