I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and a happy holiday season! This year has been so much fun, especially because this was the first Christmas with my husband. 6 months of marriage has flown by so fast, it's unbelievable. I feel so blessed that we have our health and happiness this year, not to mention our loving friends and families.

I have a lot of things to post soon that have been piling up including a review for J. Lynne cosmetics, a tutorial on applying false eyelashes, photos of a few new holographic nailpolish I bought, and TONS of FOTDs that I need to organize. Before I do that though, I just wanted to share my look for Christmas this year. :)

I actually did this look for Christmas eve, but I think it's wonderfully Christmassy.



I just did a pinky-brown eyeshadow look with the revlon colorstay quad in copper spice with NYX cherry on the inner half of the lid.



Here was my outfit. Sheer white turtleneck sweater with a red sweater over it, vintage red belt, the cream scarf I wear practically everyday, and my lovely birthday boots!



They are the VANELi Ninon boots in Tmoro suede. I'm a little obsessed with the spat detailing on the side. Gotta love oversized buttons.



This was our Christmas tree. Are those Halloween ornaments still hanging on it?



Anyway, I wish you all a very happy holiday and God bless. I am so thankful for everyone who reads the blog, and especially those who stick up for me (you know who you are!) There is nothing better than receiving the love and support that I do from you guys. ;)

It's almost Christmas and surely plenty of you have been going to holiday parties. Here is a look I did for a recent Christmas party I went to. To get into the spirit, I used some of my new olive green shades of shadows that I've been raving about. What can I say, they are gorgeous and look especially great on brown eyes! How can I resist?

Just to show you a comparison of colors, I swatched a few of my olive and green shades of NYX shadows, and also the green color from the L.A. Colors shadow set in Mesmerize.



Aren't they all so pretty? I love green shadows, but I am really loving Mermaid Green and Herb for the season. Herb is the darker, creamier cousin of Luster. While the L.A. Colors shade is a fair dupe of Mermaid Green, it doesn't get the gorgeous green sheen Mermaid Green has. I've heard that Mermaid green is a good dupe of MAC Humid too. And I'm really looking forward to springtime when I can wear Lime Juice more often. It's such a unique color! It's in the same color family as Kiwi, and they go very well together.

It's been a while since I've done a proper tutorial so here is one on how to get holiday olive eyes.


Tools Needed:
- UDPP (Urban Decay Primer Potion)
- NYX Mermaid Green
- NYX Luster
- NYX Vanilla Sky (golden highlighter)
- Revlon Colorstay quad in Nude Elements (white highlighter)
- MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (black cream eyeliner)
- Shiseido Eyelash curler
- Covergirl Waterproof Lash Exact Mascara

**NOTE: for those of you new to my blog, I use eyelid tapes in my tutorials. That is NOT skin, just tape to create a "double eyelid" look. You can find out more about it under "Labels" on the bar to the right. Please keep comments conscientious and relevant to the post. Thanks!

First, start off with a clean base of UDPP. Apply Mermaid Green to the lid in an almond shape like this.



Next, apply Luster across the mid-lid.



Apply Vanilla Sky or any golden highlighter under the brow. Then, take the black cream liner and line your upper lash line and outer half of the lower lash line.



Add a touch of white highlighter to your inner tear ducts. Curl lashes and apply mascara. This is the finished look!





Sorry about how red my eyes were there. It had been a long day! Anyway, I also wanted to show you a new gold nailpolish I got a couple days ago. The color is Rimmel 606 Dazzle, a lighter golden color with gold glitter. It seems like metallics were the trend this winter and I'm not a huge fan of pewter hues so this works for me. I'm going to try to keep this color until Christmas!

Here is the result after two coats and a topcoat.



And just because it matches the color scheme of the rest of the post, here is my food from my birthday dinner on Sunday night. Yay Japanese food! In the photo you can see udon noodles, tempura, and my favorite green tea ice cream. Yummy! I must say though, I feel a bit older now that I am officially 24, in my mid-twenties.


Is it just me or did my ice cream suddenly look like a crocodile? I didn't even notice him sneaking up on me, so I had to take a picture.



There I go again, playing with my food like a good little adult. :P Haha. Anyway, hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season! Merry Christmas everyone!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to do a little post on my recent goings-on. I've been busily working and trying to keep warm in this ridiculously cold weather we've been having lately. Did a TON of online shopping... Black Friday and Cyber Monday are so evil yet so wonderful. Maybe I will do a post on all my recent purchases soon. Speaking of which, I'd like to get some feedback on what things you guys would like to see posts on. Should I post more about fashion? More swatches? Hair? Please let me know about any tutorials you'd like to see, and I'll add a list of requests to the side bar to keep track.

I love the holidays and the colors we get the prerogative to wear during this season. I haven't busted out the bright red China Glaze "Red Curl Grl" nailpolish I got at the same time I bought China Glaze "For Audrey" so I decided to see what it would look like.

I did two thin coats, then a Sally Hansen Quick-Dri Topcoat and it really came out nice and smooth. I just love how China Glaze polishes go on so smoothly and perfectly.




Red Curl Grl is a very warm, ruby red with fine red glitters in it. It's definitely a brighter red than I've used in holidays past but I think it's a fun color and perfect for toes all year round!

I did find that the polish started chipping after 3 days but I was doing a lot of hand-work and moving heavy stacks of magazines around. Or, it could be the top coat. I'm not sure yet. I'll have to test the top coat out more and see.

I'm also considering adding a forum to the site. Is a community like that something you guys would be interested in? I think it would be a lot of fun to share our product swatches and discussions in one.

Here's some questions I have for you:
-What would you like to see more of on the blog?
-What products do you want swatches or reviews of?
-What do you think of a forum being added to the site?
-What is on your Christmas wishlist this year?

Anyway, I'm going to go out and maybe look for a new nailpolish and something cute to wear for my birthday tomorrow. :D Have a great weekend!

My fantastic older sister sent me a huge NYX haul from cherry culture for my upcoming birthday on the 14th. I think she got me more than I asked for... Yay for lovely sisters! :D


From L to R:
NYX Girls Special Glitter Nail Polish in 229 and 251
NYX Eyeshadow Trio in Team Spirit
NYX Mosaic Powder Blush in Paradise
NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Pots and Pans, Oyster, and Cottage Cheese
Free Cherry Culture lip gloss
NYX Single Eyeshadows in:
-lime juice
-Algae
-Mermaid Green
-Space
-Morocco
-Cherry
-Hot Pink (matte)
-Plum
-Golden Dune
-Herb
NYX Round Lipstick in Circe


Here are the shadows with flash:



Swatches were taken with NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Cottage Cheese as a base, without and with flash. Aren't plum and morocco gorgeous with flash?



Mosaic blush in Paradise and Jumbo eyeshadow pencils in cottage cheese, oyster, and pots and pans. These all have more sheen than the photo shows, and Paradise is redder.



Team Spirit Eyeshadow trio without and with base. I love these colors!



I really love some of the colors I got this time, especially the eyeshadows. There are some great shades for the holidays like plum and mermaid green. Lime juice is this amazing acid yellow-green color that I wore as a highlighter today on a green look, which turned out really cool. Morocco is also a surprise as it looks blue in the pot but turns a beautiful, indigo purple when swatched.

All were smooth and highly pigmented as usual, although Golden Dune was a bit crumbly with its shimmer. Luster in my last haul was similarly crumbly and Herb is the smoother and more pigmented cousin of Luster. They look almost the same in the pot but SO different in real life. I'll have to do comparison swatches of my olives, browns, and greens soon.

Anyway, just wanted to leave you all with my salute. This is the real Jen! Wonky eyebrows and all. ;)

I must be wayyyy behind the curve on this one, but I found out today from a Women's Wear Daily fashion newspaper (gotta love work) that MAC will be collaborating with Hello Kitty to come out with a makeup collection. I am SO excited! I love makeup, I love hello kitty... What could be better than a cute collection full of pink makeup!?!?

The collection will be coming out February 12, 2009 in stores and February 10 online for the US market. There are two collections with the theme including a low-end Hello Kitty Colour Collection and the high-end Hello Kitty Kouture.



As cute as it is I don't think I'll be buying the $35 black vinyl Hello Kitty, but I am definitely wanting to check out the lip glasses ($14) and tinted lip conditioners (14.50). And the pink blush looks pretty gorgeous too.

As the group president of Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. John Demsey said, "[Hello Kitty] may not have a mouth, but she’s going to sell a lot of lipstick."

More power to her! The waiting list for the collection goes online at maccosmetics.com on Jan. 7th. Will you be in line?

Hey guys! First, I just wanted to say thank you SO MUCH for all of your advice and well-wishes since last time. My symptoms have finally stopped and I am now just trying to get my energy back to 100%. At least I am well enough to eat Thanksgiving dinner. Yay! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Now, I know a lot of you probably don't read all of my comments but an Anonymous commenter posted this link asking if it was my myspace: "faker Mina's Myspace"

Obviously my name is NOT Mina, I am not a 21-year old Vietnamese-mix who is 5'11"!!! Not to mention, if it were me, why would I crop off my own watermarks? Looks like I'm going to have to be more careful with the watermarking. Sorry about this guys, but I really am against stealing of identities. If you have a myspace, report those pics as being unauthorized use. :( And "Mina" since you are obviously a reader of this site, please remove pics you have up that aren't yours. It's not nice to steal. Thank you to the Anonymous tipper who let me know about this.

Anyway, getting back to business, I've bought a few products recently that I wanted to share. First, on a trip to Marshalls I happened upon a few high-end products including the Anastasia Brows in Bloom palette and a Lancome Juicy Tubes Smoothie lipgloss.


You can still find the brow set at Sephora.com here selling for $28, but the one I bought was marked down at customer service to $8 since the brush was missing. I have tons of brushes anyway, so I was super, super excited. I must say, I love this product. It comes with a gold highlighter, a creamy wax to keep hairs in place, and two brow shades. I got the palette in Brunette which is perfect for Asians.



The Juicy Tubes smoothie is a bit more opaque than the traditional juicy tubes, but has the same consistency. The color I bought was called "Energizing Melon" which is a hot ruby pink with a bit of gold tinge to it.





You can see in the swatch how the iridescence changes the color in different lights. I love it! I can't at all wear orangey lips, but this is definitely a flattering color on me. I'm sure I'll use it for a look soon. I think I'm just falling in love with hot pink lip glosses. :P

Oh, and before anyone asks, the nail polish I'm wearing is NYX in Wild that I got from my last NYX haul. I love the color of this medium purple-fuscia. In certain lights there is a slight hint of blue iridescence too. The tips are a Sephora by OPI color my friend had. It was a very dark wine color but I'm not sure of the name.



Hope you guys are having a great holiday season! I'm off to get ready for my big family (and I mean I have a HUGE extended family) Thanksgiving feast. :)

Sorry to say it, but I've been sick as a dog lately. I know I mentioned it in my last post but it honestly only went downhill since then. I've only been able to sleep through the night for the first time last night since about a week and a half ago. I got a nasty fever and cough that I'd been fighting for a while but then I got a stomach virus on top of that which is all sorts of NO FUN. I've missed so much work, and the worst thing is being sick at home alone! But at least my hubby comes home in the evening and my parents live close by. Don't know what I'd do without them.

Since I've had the need to limit my computer time (and tv and any screens that zap away precious energy), I did find time yesterday to do my nails. I apologize for the wrinkly hands, but all that frequent handwashing is just not doing them so well lately. For the insane amount of Gatorade and herbal tea I've been drinking it astounds me how dry my skin has been.




Anyway, it's nothing too complicated. Just a basic french with a stripe of silver glitter under the white, rainbow glitter on the upper half of each nail, jewels on the ring fingers, and a clear topcoat.

Something about pretty nails just makes me feel better. When the rest of you feels less than beautiful, at least there is something pretty that you can easily look at right at your fingertips! hmm...

When I pop in next I will be checking comments, so please give me your best remedies for sickness recovery and also maybe some nail looks I should try. I saw some wicked ones on that soompi nail thread that are amazing. I wish I could get those crazy Japanese 3D gel nails with all the bows and embellishments on them! Who's with me?!

I've been sick lately so I'm not going to go into a full tutorial, but I just wanted to share a FOTD (from before I was sick) using my new NYX shadow in Hot Orange that I got from my recent haul.

I've always been very hesitant to try orange anything because of my yellow skintone, but I was pleasantly surprised with this color. It's a little out of my comfort zone to have bought but thank goodness for my love of trying new things! I absolutely love it. It looks more of a brighter neutral... like browns or coppers with a pop. Not to mention, the color is highly pigmented and has the perfect amount of gold pearl to it.




Since I had a strong shimmery eye, I went with a simple and clean-look for the rest of the face. Sunlight concealer from Everyday Minerals under eyes and on the tops of cheeks, pink blush, and nude gloss.

Ok, I'm off to bed early with my heating pad and "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell.

I did a photoshoot for a car calendar (not trashy~!) a few weeks ago and got to pose with a very sexy red '01 Corvette. Trust me, it's not my normal thing but it was way more fun than I thought it would be! Lots of pretty cars, pretty ladies, and the weather was nice. :) To match, I did a purple smokey makeup look that was rather dramatic, but still very feminine at the same time. Very va va voom with big false lashes and curled hair. I love dressing up and this was no exception!

The makeup was basically my purple smokey look but a bit more exaggerated and with these huge Smashbox falsies. I think they were so heavy it gave me sleepy-looking eyes. No wait, I mean sultry. ;)




Main tools:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Smashbox Lashes
NYX black, purple, and opal shadows
MAC fluidline in blacktrack
MAC 3D lipglass
Everyday Minerals blush in Apple


And here are some behind-the-scenes pics from the shoot:


"I'm smiling big because I'm pretending that it's mine"


"When I point here everyone start singing Prince"


"Ze hair! Ze does what ze wants!"


"What's going on here?" :P



Special thanks to Amanda Ford for her sweet energy and photography, and Norman Mah for his sexy, sexy cars and these photos. :)

If anyone wants a calendar (with very gorgeous girls posing for the other months included of course) let me know and I will find out about the price and info of when they will come out. And I gotta post my obligatory question: What is your dream car?

Hello everyone! I hope those of you who dressed up for Halloween had a blast last night. One of the few years where Halloween actually landed on a decent day of the week!

For the bruised eye, I basically stuck to using the 77 color palette because there are so many colors to choose from. I started with a burgundy color, then purple, yellow, green, and charcoal. I think the trick to doing this type of realistic makeup is to use matte shadows, not shimmer. Shimmer reflects light and looks too fake. If you can get a good burgundy, mustard yellow, and deep purple you can make it look pretty cool. I added MAC fluidline to that eye to blend into the dark shadows and a touch more shadow on top to blend the eyeliner in. The mascara I had on that side was what I had remaining from the day, which I left on. I added a lip stain to my lips and a bit of gloss.

And this is what I came up with:




It was a decent job for using just powder eyeshadows instead of any cream makeup, but UDPP works wonders as always. Here's a few more photos of my costume and silliness. FYI, the center of the belt was a spinner. It was so excellent! I got it from the boy's toy section at Target.

I'm so tough



That's right, I like to dance!


I WILL BUST YOU UP!


Tell me about your Halloween costumes and what you did to celebrate! I want to know what shenanigans you crazy people got into. ;)