The Big Move

Hi everybody,

People always said that you should address the elephant in the room. Here's mine: I'm moving and this would probably ended up being the big move of the decade.

Without going into too much details, I would not say I didn't see it coming. However, I did my best to avoid this trip but the force was not with me. 2010 was a lousy year to look for job opportunities. Also, the school front did not work out for me, either. Which leaves me in limbo: I can't stay any longer than permitted but I don't want to go. Lousy, I know.

So, for the last few weeks, I have been packing up and sorting things out for donation. It has not been easy on me, seeing things I've accumulated for whatever purposes to be discarded haphazardly. It has not been easy on Belly, either. The fact that I am about to leave does not sink in until a couple of days ago when he spent the night at my neighbor's house tossing and turning. I wish he could go with me and we would be together but it's not possible for a 20+ hour flight.

Yes, I'm coming home to Vietnam where many social networking websites are blocked. This makes me angry: among the many problems in the society, the Vietnamese government has to block Facebook and Twitter. I hope to still get access to Blogger. Otherwise, I would not know what to do with this blog.

I pray this move is going to be temporary. It is going to be the trip I planned for years but never materialized. I also pray that I am coming back to the U.S after this to finish my education once and for all.

The uncertainty makes me nervous. I am one of those who always work on something and thrive toward a higher level. Yet, at this point all I can do is to pack and clean. And I'm exhausted while there are a bazillion and one other things to do!

With all that said, the future of My Makeup Blog is also as fuzzy as mine. Maybe it will be more robust once I get home. Or maybe not. However, I can guarantee that I will do the best I can in my power to keep it going. Since I started blogging here, a lot of better things have happened to me and I'm thankful for it.

That's all for now. I wish you all a good day and I will do my best to blog as often as I can. To Belly's fans: Belly is going to be ok. My neighbor is going to take care of him. She has been caring for him for 4+ years now, even before I met him. He is a sweet kitty and I am going to miss him very much.

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Black Swan FOTD

Hi everyone,

A couple of days ago, the Academy Awards Nominations came out and Black Swan is one of the most nominated movies of the year. Although I haven't watched the movie yet, I love the Black Swan look Natalie Portman had in the movie promotion. Sadly, Black Swan did not get nominated for Best Makeup category. Yet, this is the look that's most replicated around the blogsphere and on YouTube.

Black Swan promotional poster

My look is quite easy to do since I used mostly pencils. Wanna know how I did it? Jump!

The Things I Learned from My Friends and Readers

Hi everyone,

Every weekday, I make an attempt to post something relevant in this blog and hopefully, some of you would enjoy it enough to post comments. Through these comments, I've learned so many things. Some of them ended up changing my life big time. Here are the tips I've received from you, my readers and friends. I hope you'll enjoy!

1. Nubar 2010:

It started with this post where I ranted about my stupidity and failure to bring Hidden Treasure home. Then, a couple of readers jumped in and told me to get Nubar 2010, which is a dupe of Hidden Treasure. Guess what? I did. And now, thanked to you, I can't stop applying Nubar on top of my nail polishes. My latest nail look:

Black nail polish with Nubar 2010.
Gold gleam under natural lighting

and bewitching red sparks under yellow light.

2. Wearing nail polishes:

Until very recently, I didn't wear nail polish. But then, a whole lot of friends (online and offline) started to show off their nails and I began wearing funky colors. Needless to say, I'm not a nail addict but I do have a healthy stash of nail polishes.

3. Taking better care of my skin:

When I started My Makeup Blog, skincare was an afterthought. However, as I went along, I realized the importance of having good skin and began taking care of it. As my blog progresses, a lot of readers express their enthusiasms in reading what I think about certain skincare products. That, my friends, is something money can't buy.

4. RE: mascara and eyelash primer:

You guys are the most wonderful readers ever. And I mean it. When I blogged about Hard Candy eyelash primer, I complained that it felt jumpy on my Voluminous Million Lashes. MissNessa commented that it works a lot better with mascaras with regular wands. I tried and voila, it works, even with the very crappy Sephora mascara sample I got for my birthday.

So, thank you for the tips, tricks, and pointers. I've learned so much from you!

P.S: If you like my blog, please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot!

Belly at Large: Fighting

Hello humans,

Ah, head scratch. The move created by humans to keep kitties under control

My goal for the year is total global domination, baby! In order to do so, I need to branch out and do something other than posing and writing blogs once a week. The mamarazzi, being a starving artist and all, agreed to write comics in exchange of having the honor to rub my belly. Fair trade, I guess.

Anyhoo, those who are interested of my new development can go ahead and cross the jump. The cartoon, which is badly drawn by la mamarazzi, is after the jump. Also, you get directorial comments from moi. See how wonderful I am?

Get Voluminous Hair with Aveda Rosemary Mint Shampoo

Hi everybody,

The cold, harsh winter days of 2011 have made my scalp very itchy. Mind you, I don't have dandruff and this year, I don't have flaky scalp during the wintertime, either. However, the itchiness drives me nuts. Between my regular organic shampoo and Neutrogena Anti-Residue shampoo, my hair is clean. However, they couldn't stave off the itchiness.

Then, I went to get a haircut at Aveda Institute and experienced their famous Rosemary Mint shampoo and conditioner. Twice. It took me the second time and the almost running out of shampoo at home for me to get a bottle of this shampoo. And guess what? This might have been the best shampoo I've tried yet.

Aveda Rosemary Mint shampoo (8.5 fl. oz, $10.50 USD)

 Wanna know why I like it so much? Jump!

Blushes High-Low: Benefit Coralista vs. Rimmel London Autumn Catwalk

Hi everyone,

Belly was such a charmer: after bossing me around for years, he gave me Benefit Coralista blush as a Christmas present. I can't complain: home boy has good taste. Coralista is one of those blushes that gives me a healthy glow without being too bright. However, after being a beauty blogger for almost 2.5 years, a lot of colors have become similar to me. When I did some necessary post-Christmas stash cleaning, I realized I have another blush that is somewhat similar: Rimmel London Autumn Catwalk. $28 vs. $5, which one would come out on top?

Let the High-Low battle begin!

Benefit Coralista blush ($28 USD): "a warm coral-pink powder that warms up your complexion"

It comes with a cute Itahake kabuki brush made of goat hair

Close up at Coralista

 Wanna see what Autumn Catwalk looks like? Jump!

Revlon Fire and Ice Nail Polish and Lipstick Swatches

Hi everyone,

Last week, I wrote a post to tease you about my prize package from Revlon. If it were last year, it would have taken me ages to do the swatch since my Canon Powershot A590 is not that good in capturing colors. The new G12 is a beast: I took very close up pictures of these colors and they came out brilliant! Since I didn't have to do any post-shot color correction, this batch of swatches was done pretty fast. I hope you'll enjoy them!

1. Nail Polishes

(L-R): All Fired Up, Temptress, Demure, Siren
(picture from last week's post with old camera, notice how the red showed up in this picture.)

Thumb: Fire and Ice, 1 coat; pointing finger: Siren; middle finger: Demure; ring finger: Fire and Ice, 2 coats; pinky finger: Temptress
Except for thumb, the rest of the nails were painted with 2 coats. I used Nubar 2010 on top of it.

Without Nubar 2010 top coat. All fingers were painted with 2 coats.

 The nail polishes are easy to paint, albeit Revlon brushes are tiny! The juices are creamy, which remind me of OPI cream formulas. Of the four, Temptress is the thickest. It was hard to spread the second coat. However, the rest of them spread out very nicely. The only downside I encountered was how slow the nail polishes bonded to the quick dry top coat I bought from Sally's. I made a scratch on Siren and when I fixed it by adding more top coat, I ended up messing it up even more!

With one coat, these nail polishes look quite nice and sheer. Two coats and you have more opacity. All Fired Up looks very nice with one coat, as I still can see the texture of my nail. I've been wearing them for almost a week and since my nails are short, I haven't seen any chips at all.

The lipstick swatches are after the jump. So jump!

2010 Beauty Favorites - A Tag

Hi everyone,

Stephanie from Beauty and the Gardens tagged me to do a beauty favorite on products I used in 2010. Her answers are here. Truth be told, 2010 sounded like such a long, long time ago but I also realized that I haven't done a tag in such a long time. So here we go...

1. Which lipstick/ lipgloss did you use most often in 2010?

Gee, this is a hard question! I have a lot of lipsticks but I don't use any one too often. I'd like to rotate my stuff but if I have to choose, the nude/pink ones are my regular. MAC Viva Glam V and VI seems to get more air time than others.

2. What was your favorite eyeshadow this year?

*Scratch head* Really, what kind of question is this? I can't single out one eyeshadow. It's not fair! But if I have to pick, I'd take my Urban Decay Book of Shadows 3 with me anywhere I go (which is a heavier task than I thought!)

3. What product for the complexion (foundation, blush, etc.,) did you use the most?

Formula D foundation (available upon request)

The Ultimate Powder is the tall profile jar on the left

*smile bashfully* Formula D foundation and The Ultimate Powder! I truly can't do makeup without them. Also, The Ultimate Powder has become a favorite among my friends. They duped it "the crack powdah" :D as it has the capacity to blur pores like no other.

More Q&A after the jump. So jump!

Belly at Large: the Perfect Facebook Profile Picture

Hello humans,

First of all, am I handsome or what?

"Look into my eyes, you will see
What you mean to me
Search your heart, search your soul
And when you find me there, you'll search no mo'..."

So yeah, I just quoted Bryan Adams, so what? Can you guess the name of the song? (If not, click here! Yes, I'm giving you an easy way out.) After you're done drooling to the old skool music, let's get back to our main topic of the day, shall we? We need to talk about how to have the perfect profile picture on Facebook.

I know, life is hard. It's hard out there for a cat. Whatever. But a perfect Facebook profile picture can be done. If I had a Facebook account, I would totally use that picture as my profile pix after turning it 90 degrees to the left, of course. I mean, what's wrong with it? I looked gorgeous in the photo!

But again, la mamarazzi is a somewhat decent photographer on a good day. One day, she is going to be the Anne Geddes-slash-Annie Leibovitz of the kitty photography world. But I guess she needs to change her first name to Ann/Anne/Annie first, now that I see the correlation.

Again, I digressed. Let's meet after the jump to discuss about the perfect Facebook profile picture, shall we?

FOTD: Baby, Let's Meet the Queen!

Hi everybody,

It's funny that a lot of things started with a simple idea that snowballed into something bigger. I bought a butterfly hair clip last December in a whim without thinking of what I should do with it. Then, one day I clipped it in my hair and went to hang out with my friends. The friends liked it, although it might have a lot to do with their tolerance of my quirks. Nevertheless, I love the butterfly hair pin but could not manage to incorporate it into a FOTD-worthy post.

Then came Revlon Siren lipstick. I applied this tomato lip color and deeply fell in love. Yes, Siren is bright and orange. It's not for everybody but when I applied it, I was transformed into a more ballsy person who wanted to meet the Queen. Whether the Queen is ready to meet me, I not sure. However, I wish to meet her looking like this:

Baby, Let's Meet the Queen!
Photos shot with my new Canon G12 :)

This is an utterly simple look. Wanna know how I did it? Jump!

Have a Spa Day with Caviahue Thermal Mud and Thermal Water

Hi everyone,

Last year, the kind folks from AcquaEssentials.com contacted and sent me a package of samples to try. After trying the samples, I liked Caviahue Thermal Mud very much and they were kind enough to send me full size containers of Caviahue Thermal Mud and Thermal Water to use and review. For those who are not familiar with AcquaEssentials, this website sells exclusive spa products.

The Caviahue skincare line contains ingredients from Neuquen Province, at the heart of Pantagonia, Argentina. This remote area is considered to be one of the ecological reserves on Earth. The entire region contain a varied and complex thermal activity that results in highly mineralized water and muds. People spend a lot of money to travel to Pantagonia to enjoy their exclusive spas. Now, with the Caviahue Thermal Mud and Water, you can bring the spa to your home.

(L-R): Caviahue Thermal Mud and Thermal Water

Wanna know what I think about these two products? Jump!

Thank you, Revlon!

Hi everyone,

Some time at the end of last year, Revlon hosted a giant giveaway of their "Fire and Ice" collection with 500 winners. With a stroke of luck, I tweeted and a couple of days later, Revlon contacted me for my mailing information. Yay, I won something! Time passed and last week, I received a package that brightened my day. Revlon is so generous to send 4 nail polishes and 4 lipsticks of the whole collection to their winners. The colors are bright and cheerful, which are appropriate to celebrate the new year.

Revlon Fire and Ice nail polish collection
(L-R): All Fired Up, Temptress, Demure, Siren

Revlon Fire and Ice lipsticks
Left: Siren, top: All Fired Up, right: Temptress, bottom: Demure

This collection has something old and something new. All Fired Up and Siren has been around for a while. In fact, All Fired Up was a part of the original "Fire and Ice" collection in 1952! I remember when I was a kind, my mom used to wear an orange lipstick that looked so gorgeous. In retrospect, I think that lipstick was Siren. The matching lipsticks and nail polishes are "Mad Men"-esque to me, which makes me feel very lady-like.

Demure and Temptress are new colors that stand beside the veterans. While they are not as bright, these two colors are equally gorgeous. The lipsticks are in cream texture, which glides like buttah! This texture reminds me that of MAC creamsheen without the sheen. It's between matte and glossy with good staying power. I don't recall any smell at all (but I may be wrong so please don't quote me on this!)

The nail polishes glide smoothly and are quite pigmented. Since I still have Nubar 2010 on my nails, I haven't had a chance to try them out yet. I will post the swatches as soon as I have them. I love the retro packaging. My mom and gradma's old Revlon nail polishes looked like that but with the metal case. It's good to walk down the memory lane once in a while.

Thank you, Revlon for hosting such a wonderful giveaway. I am so glad to have these awesome products!

Disclaimer: I won these products in a giveaway. 'Nuff said!

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New Year, New You: What's Your Skin Type?

Hi everybody,

Lately, I've come to a realization that the focus on my face is not as much about makeup anymore. While it is fun to don up and play with colorful eye shadows, I now understand the value of having good skin. For years, my skin has been misbehaving and I wished to have a website that guided and taught me how to take care of my skin. Last year, I was invited to a webinar hosted by Dr. Leslie Baumann, the first cosmetic dermatologist in the U.S. Thanked to her, I was introduced to Skin Type Solutions, a free website where you can take the famous Baumann skin type test to determine your own skin type.

Front page of Skin Type Solutions

Wanna know why this website is so important? Jump!

Belly at Large: Three Products to Make You Look like a Diva!

Oh hai!
*managed to jump in bed*

Rabbit rabbit! Happy New Year!

La mamarazzi told me not to say Happy New Year anymore because it's the 7th day of the year already but I like the sound of it. The new year always makes me feel good: new year, new food, new bed. Except the bed isn't new. It's not mine, either. But I'm claiming it. Deal with it, Dao, deal with it!

Anyways, la mamarazzi gave me a new year assignment to write about things that make human girls and women look and feel fabulous. I gave her my classic stank eyes. Hello! I'm a cat. What do I know about how the female human species feel?

If you think la mamarazzi is all lovey dovey, you're wrong. Home girl stared me down and said, "Belly, you are smart and beautiful, you can do it!" Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen. And by that, I mean the assignment, not the smart and beautiful part. Because I know I am!

In order to find my own inspiration, I watched Beyonce's "I Am" world tour since she wore a leopard print swim/cat suit. I heart La Beyonce. She is fierce! Then, I ate some kibbles, drank some water, and took a nap. The rest is history.

Wanna know what happened? Jump!

I Can Haz Nubar 2010!

Hi everyone,

A while back, I bitched and moaned complained about my own naivety that lead to me not getting the elusive Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure nail polish from the Traci Reese collection. Some of you mentioned Nubar 2010 as the dupe of Hidden Treasure and it took me a while to obtain this nail polish. Now that I have it, I totally understand the hype behind Hidden Treasure. Nubar 2010 is da bomb!

Nubar 2010 ($7.49 USD on Nubar website but I got it cheaper!)
See how it reflects light? That's the beauty of this type of nail polish, baby!

I layered Nubar 2010 on top of Sinful Colors Rich in Heart, which is a dupe of OPI Midnight in Moscow. Wanna see how they fare out? Jump!

Lengthening Your Lashes with Hard Candy 1,000 Lashes Lash Primer

Hi everyone,

It seems like Hard Candy has made a big-time come back by reinventing itself and distributing its products to mass-market stores such as Wal-mart. Every time I shop there, I have to stop and stare at the Hard Candy display. The packagings are so gorgeous! Among the many products available, I decided to give the 1,000 Lashes lash primer a try. After all, my lashes are not that long and I guess a lash primer would help.

Hard Candy 1,000 Lashes lash primer ($6 at Wal-mart)

The packaging is really cute and sleek. For 6 dollars, I had to give it a try.

Wanna know if Hard Candy 1,000 Lashes lash primer works? Jump!

Get Hip with L'Oreal HiP Color Truth Cream Eyeliner in Eggplant

Hi everybody,

When I started this blog, I went all the way to find a drugstore gel liner that is as good as MAC fluidline. With trials and errors that mostly went unpublished in this blog, I braved up and bought a jar of L'Oreal HiP Color Truth Cream Eyeliner last year. With a coupon and a $5 eyeshadow/liner sale at CVS at that time, I bought this baby for 2 dollars plus tax. Since I already had MAC Blacktrack, I decided to nab Eggplant, a purple cream eyeliner.

L'Oreal HiP Color Truth Cream Eyeliner in Eggplant
The retail price is around $11, I think, but with sales and coupon, you can get it for a lot cheaper.

The packaging is backward: what's facing you in the package is the bottom of the jar.

And here is the top!
You get 4.5g of cream liner compared to 3.0g in fluidline. That's 50% more, people!

 Wanna know if it works? Jump!

New Year, New You: Simplify Your Life, One Brush at a Time

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year! While I don't make new year resolutions anymore, I do have plans and intentions to make 2011 a much better year. Lately, I've come to realize that I am a makeup brush aficionado. Although I don't actively collect them, I do own quite a lot of brushes (evident here.) This has a lot to do with me being a painter in my earlier life but in my defense, what not to love about makeup brushes? They are beautiful and they make you look marvelous.

Then, one day it dawned on me that my life was a lot simpler when I only had like, 3 brushes. I know, I couldn't believe it either but it did exist. While I don't want to get rid of all my brushes (come on, am I insane?!), I do want to simplify my life to a few that I use everyday. If you haven't noticed already. The number of brushes I used in the recent tutorials/FOTDs are a lot less. Needless to say, it is very refreshing and I hope those of you who are brush aficionados will give it a try.

Here are the ones I use the most and can't part without. To put it in a different way: if you want me to get rid of them, you would have to walk over my dead body!

Face Brushes

1. ELF studio duo fiber brush (yes!), 2. StudioTools Dual-Finish brush, 3. MAC 168, 4. Sonia Kashuk synthetic blusher brush, 5. ELF studio powder brush

 The ELF Studio duo fiber brush is a new discovery and I haven't done a write up yet (I promise I will. Soon.) I still can't believe it only costs 3 bucks. This brush is really soft and applies highly pigmented blushes very well. It is definitely a good dual fiber blush brush while the StudioTools one is a much better stippling brush for foundation. MAC 168 is love and there's no way on Earth for you to take that brush off my hands. The Sonia Kashuk brush is more for creme blushes. It blends them like a dream. It also works well as an under-eye concealer brush with mineral concealer. The ELF Studio Powder brush is a must-have. I would not buff my mineral foundation without this brush.

6. Sephora retractable lip brush, 7. No name dual-ended powder/concealer brush, 8. EDM long handled kabuki, 9. Crown Brush giant fan brush

 The retractable lip brush is about 10 years old and I am not kidding. That stuff is just very durable and if you use dark lipstick, a lip brush is a must-have. I prefer this one over MAC lip brush as it is a lot thicker and blends my lipstick better. The dual-ended powder/concealer brush is the only brush I use to apply concealer. I bought it for a dollar and it is really good and compact. I also use it to contour my nose :)

The EDM LHK is in the stash because it is crazy soft and blends my blush, contouring powder, and highlighting powder together well. The big fluffy fan brush is LOVE. If you use highlighting powder, you need it. It makes everything look dewier and more airbrushed but with lack of precision. The dual-fiber brushes will allow you to place highlighter with more precision but sometimes, I realize they make it look too obvious. Also, the big fluffy fan brush is good to apply finishing powder as well.

More brushes after the jump. Jump!

Happy New Year from My Makeup Blog!

From the staff at My Makeup Blog, wishing you all the sweetest things during 2011!

Happy New Year!

What are your goals and new year resolutions? You share yours and we'll share ours :D

Love,

Dao and Belly

xoxo

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