So Not Cool

So, after a week of running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I finally got a cold. Although it sounds like I am asking for it, I am not. I hate being sick, it makes me feel needy. And since I don't have anybody around to act out, I am going to manifest my neediness online.

I wish I could say I felt a cold coming. In retrospect, I might. It was a strange feeling as I came home from the library on Saturday. It was as if all the energy drained out of my body. As I collapsed into my bed, I also felt a little bit depressed. I blamed it on something else, a phone call that didn't go well.

Sunday morning came. I woke up and felt the whole room swirling around me. "Oh boy," I thought, "I'm having a cold." Then I ran to the bathroom to puke. Nothing but a little bit of liquid came out. My stomach was empty. I am really having this cold. And you know what the funny thing is? I actually felt cold. It was like little shivers running up and down my body.

I had enough energy left to boil me some water, grate some ginger, and made a ginger tea. I found some cold medicine, took two pills as instructed with the hot ginger tea, and passed out. When I woke up again, the woozy feeling was not there anymore but it felt like I have rocks on my brain.

So no, this is not cool. Not cool at all. I conjured enough energy to go grocery shopping because there's nothing worse than being starved when having a cold. Besides, my ginger supply was running low.

Now, I'm sweating bucket as I'm typing this. My head still hurts. I hate having a cold. But again, I don't get sick that often. But still, I hate it.

Here's a cold remedy for those who might need it. As my mom always says, have some ginger and lemon available. You may never know when you'll need it. Jump and learn more.

Chanel no. 5: I Get It Now

Family legend has it, my maternal grandfather was a Chanel no. 5 man. To be honest, I don't remember much about my grandfather since he passed away when I was so young. However, I recalled he was quite stylist and he smelled pretty good. My grandfather was tall, dark, handsome, and skinny. And he smoked, a lot. I did not know what kind of perfume he wore but it smelled interesting. Probably the tobacco smoke added some character to it.

Later on, as I grew up, my mom told me the secret: Grandpa wore Chanel no. 5! Now, that came as a shocker to me. As we all know, Chanel no. 5 is the famous perfume for women. And how come he smelled so fabulous with it? I remember it was quite dark and smoky on him. An interesting mix, yet somehow it felt comfortable, too. I guess my grandfather did not overdo his perfume and the tobacco smoke just deepened the scent. I kept that information deep in my mind and at the time, I did not know what to do with it.

Time passed, I became a beauty blogger. Yet, I was not convinced of the power of Chanel. Of course, Chanel makeup is more than fabulous. I want them but for now, I know for sure I can't afford them. Once in a while, I would cruise the Chanel counter and randomly sprayed some perfume like a fan girl. After doing it for a while, one day I realized I smelled pretty fabulous with Chanel Coco Mademoiselle. Like seriously, that day I smelled bitch-ass fabulous. I got a ton of comments on the way home. People wanted to know what I wore. Right then and there, I wanted to bust out my wallet and buy the smallest size possible of the Coco Mademoiselle.

Belly at Large: Cute Overload

Hello home people!

Belly's back! Last week I decided to share with you a picture of moi reminiscing my cat food modeling day. If you haven't seen it yet, click here. Recently, la mamarazzi loves to stroke my head and says, "You're so cute, Belly. Why are you so cute? Cute, cute, cute!"

Eh? What are you talking about, woman? Me: cute? Did you forget my claws of death? May I demonstrate it to you again? But then, she scratched my sweet spot and I started rolling around, purring. Such a manipulative woman.

But as I watched her editing my photos, I realized she was right. And Dao, stop being so gleeful already. This is the only time I admit that so don't hope for another chance, ok?

Here are the proofs of my overtly cuteness:

Dao called this "Portrait of a Playboy Kitty". Whatever!

In my defense, I was in deep thought. This is me channeling George Clooney in "Good Night and Good Luck", yo!

More pictures after the jump. You know what to do.

Neutral Eyes FOTD

Hello there,

Recently, I was a bit trigger-happy as E.L.F made its way to Target for the back to school season. There are four new palettes available, 3 eye and 1 lip palettes. And guess what? They sell like hot cakes! The inner collector in me decided to swoop in and collected all 3 of the eye palettes for $15 plus tax. Can you believe it? That's 50 cents more expensive than a MAC eyeshadow and I got 36 eye shadows instead. For those who are looking for a review, I will put them up next week. Today, I am just going to do a show and tell with the ELF BeautyBook in Neutral Eye Edition.

Neutral Eyes FOTD

Want to know how to create this look? Jump!

Sinful Colors Nail Polish in Vacation Time: Say Ahhh!

Hi everyone,

Did you follow my tweets from last week? Did you? Well, if you did not, you probably missed out one huge opportunity to score some awesome nail polishes from Sinful Colors. Inside last week's ad, Walgreens put a 99 cent coupon for one Sinful Colors (SC) nail polish, which usually runs at $1.99. Of course, they had to put a limit into it as you could only get 3 at a time.

This time around, I picked 3 nail polishes: 2 for me and 1 for a friend. In the past, I blogged about SC and I was very happy about my "I Miss You" nail polish (post here.) However, most colors from this line are sparkly, which are easy to use but a pain to remove. Vacation Time, on the other hand, is just smooth and creamy.

Sinful Colors nail polish in Vacation Time

Wanna know what I think about this nail polish? Jump!

Prizes Sent!

Hi everybody,

First of all, I have a confession: I messed up in the post order. The ELF eyelid primer post was supposed to be for today but an overzealous internet elf decided to give it a boost. Hence, it was posted a day earlier, which gave me an interesting predicament of what to do today.

So, I am just going to give everyone an update regarding your prize status: I sent them out today!

Three packages for three winners, each weights almost 3 lbs!

 I haven't shipped anything overseas for a while and this giveaway really burned a big hole in my pocket. Since when has shipping become so expensive? And domestic shipping is not that cheap, either. What's going on with the U.S Postal Services lately?

So winners, please watch out for your packages. They should arrive shorty, and by "shortly" I mean from a week to a month. Shipping overseas are notoriously unreliable and after they are out of my hand, I have no way to track them.

By the way, this picture here is just to show off:

My reusable Target bag.

Remember this post? Well, the Target people sent me a $1 off coupon for me to purchase a reusable bag $1.49 and up. I picked this foldable bag and paid 49 cents and some change for it. It is really roomy and had enough space for those 3 packages. Neat, huh? Every time you use a red Target bag when you shop, you get a 5 cent discount. It is not a lot of incentive to buy the bag but to me, I guess I already got my money back :)

That's all for now, folks! Stay cool, ok?

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

Back to School with E.L.F: the Eyelid Primer

Hellur,

Recently, I found out the famously cheap E.L.F has graced the shelves of Target once again. "Halleluyer," I said, "Let them have awesomely cheap makeup!" Since when I became a fan of ELF, I don't quite remember. All I know is the stuff I ordered online as well as bought at Target are quite reliable. And did I say cheap?

The ELF stuff at Target just flies off the shelf like crazy. I wanted to get another eyeshadow brush but alas, none found. As I was about to walk out of the store with tail between my feet (figuratively), I saw a few of the Eyelid Primers hanging on the wall. Since I didn't get the Mineral Eyeshadow Primer in my last order, I decided to give this one a chance. It's only a dollar and I figured out if it sucked, I would not really miss it.

ELF Eyelid Primer ($1)

My Makeup Blog's Second Birthday Giveaway Winners

Hello there,

Finally, the day has come when I am ready to announce the winners of My Makeup Blog's Second Birthday Giveaway. I know, I know, it's better late than never. Thank you everybody for participating in this giveaway. A lot of you retweeted and posted this giveaway on your blogs to spread the word. I really appreciate it!

As usual, I conjured the magic of random selection via Random.org to pick winners. This time around, it was a bit complicated as there are 3 packages available. Added retweets and reposts into it, this took me a bit longer to put things together. I am very thankful for Google Docs as it let me import data in Excel so I can sort and add data. It really made my life easier, I digress.

Want to know if you are one of the three winners? Jump!

Belly at Large: Old Habit Dies Hard

Howdy,

As you may know, I am in semi-retirement when it comes to modeling. Back in the day, I was the Cindy Crawford of cat food commercial. Being a model requires a lot of things and catching snakes is not one of them. Needless to say, I don't miss those days when I had to be a size double-zero kitty model. My body doesn't work that way, y'all. I prefer to be a voluptuous divo.

But alas, old habit dies hard. While the mamarazzi is no Patrick Demarchelier, she still managed to coax a pose or two out or moi. Lookie here:

This is my cat food commercial pose #19. Ah, the good old days!

It Girl FOTD

Hellur,

Recently, I've come to a realization that my life is getting weirder and weirder since I became a beauty blogger. I cannot just step out of the house like a normal person with no makeup. It feels naked. I have to put something on, preferably something that makes me look like a drag queen, and parade around town. My concept of "neutral makeup" is the smokey eyes with neutral-looking colors!

This is my effort to look toned down and less drag queen-ish for a day. Needless to say, I failed. The look is quite nice and simple but I felt naked. So I put a pair of false eyelashes on! You see what I mean now?

Anyways, let us go on with the show:

It Girl FOTD

This is officially my first look with my new hair. It feels really strange. Now that I have short hair, playing up my eyes is the way to go. All products used in this post are Formula D Minerals', unless otherwise noted.

Stuff I used:

Eyes: ELF eyelid primer, Formula D Minerals eyeshadows in It Girl, Serenity, Kaleidoscope, and Daisy, Wet n Wild Idol Eyes shadow stick in Pixie, ELF waterproof eyeliner, CoverGirl LashBlast fusion

Face: The Ultimate Powder, mineral foundation, Radiance blush, MAC Studio Sculpt concealer NW20

Lips: Rimmel London lipstick in Vintage and Victoria's Secret lipgloss in Blushed

Brushes: ELF Studio powder brush, crease brush, ELF Professional blending brush and eyeshadow brush

My Favorite Pair of Earrings from Julu Jewelry

Hi everybody,

Back in late March, I placed an order at Julu Jewelry. It is an online jewelry shop ran by my girl Stephanie. She's been a reader of my blog and a supporter of Formula D Minerals. After seeing a sneak peak of her rose studs on Twitter, I knew I had to order me a pair. They are just undeniably cute! When they became available, I immediately placed an order and look at what I got:

The pair of earrings in the box with candies (bonus items). Stephanie also included a pair of Shisem lashes and a bail for my Swavrovski pendant. Gee, Stephanie, you make me feel so special!

The box was wrapped by a Tiffany blue bow. This is my attempt to redo the bow. Steph made a perfect bow. How did you do that, Steph?

Wanna see my favorite pair of earrings? I bet you do! Jump, ok?

Marie Louise Moistraiser alpha-VC Moisturizing Toner: the Toner for Grown-Ups

Hi everybody,

Quite a lot of you requested more skincare reviews during the last giveaway. No, I haven't forgot about it yet. I didn't realize how complex it is not have so many elements involved in the giveaway where there are 3 prizes to hand out. But don't fret, I will announce the result soon. Don't unsubscribe your email and leave me here with Belly, ok? He's mad at me as we speak.

With all that said, today's post is all about toner. In the past, I promoted the use of toner to get nice skin. With all that said, I didn't use toners that often because I don't want to waste a piece of totally nice cotton pad every time I apply toner to my skin. Also, the toners sold in American drugstores are made of water, alcohol, and a bit of witch hazel. They feel like water, they evaporate like water, yet they don't cost the same as water. Sometimes I felt like it's a waste of money on top of waste of cotton pads. Yup, I'm stingy like that.

Recently, a publicist from Marie Louise skincare contacted me again. This is the second time I write a review on one of their products (the first time is here.) I was very excited to try this Moistraiser alpha-VC moisturizing toner out as Japanese toners are not the same as Western toners.

Marie Louise Moistraiser alpha-VC moisturizing toner ($81 USD, $56 USD for the month of August)

My E.L.F Haul

Hi everybody,

Last month, E.L.F had a 60% off site-wide sale. It was around my birthday and so tempting that I had to prepare. The night before the event, I actually placed stuff in the shopping cart ahead of time. Knowing ELF, things can get a bit out of control once the sale hit.

Usually, ELF has sales all the time: 50% off here, 20% off there, free shipping here, gift with purchase there. But 60% site-wide sale is rare, especially a lot of their items are $1. I added a whole bunch of stuff to the shopping cart after doing some serious research online. The total was $16 USD and I also got free shipping.

My loot

Belly at Large: Nicknames

Yo, home boys and girls!

The Belly of love is here. Did you miss me?

Woa, woa, woa! You're not supposed to see that! I'm just trying to squeeze in a post while doing some grooming on the side.

I guess I'm not such a multi-tasker after all. Oh well! By the way, that's not totally my fault. The mamarazzi turned on her laptop and played "Touch My Body." It's a set-up, yo! She put me in an awkward situation like Angelina Jolie in "Salt." So don't blame me, blame her. I'm a cat, what else am I supposed to do but touch my body with my tongue? FYI, it's called grooming.

Ok, enough with part 1 of the rant. La mamarazzi has been good. She decided to improve my quality of life by leaving me the heck alone and giving me yummy cat food. It's Surfin' and Turfin' from Friskies, just in case my fellow felines read my blog and wonder why I look so gorgeous.

However, the downside is the mamarazzi gave me a ton of nicknames. I know she's creative and all but a new nickname a day? Girl, pleezzze!

So far, she's called me:

• Belly (duh!)
• Bell-Bell: it's kind of like Brit-Brit but for cat. Tolerable.
• Kitty
• Piu-Piu: it's a Vietnamese nickname for cats. I think that's how her dad (aka il grandpaparazzi) called the cats in Vietnam. Cute but tolerable.
• Meo: Vietnamese for cats. I'm multilingual, yo!
• Home-kitty: restricted usage only to la mamarazzi. Other people dare to call me so will meet my claws of dead.
• El Gato Supremo: 'nuff said
• Belri neko-san: it's how Japanese people call me. The madness!
• Raccoon: this is a degraded term to call me. I hate raccoons. They make me sick!
• Bobcat: did she try to insult me? I know I'm big boned and all but bobcat? Seriously?
• Coo-ger

What the snake is a "coo-ger"? Do I look like a coo-ger? I could not figure out what the mamarazzi talked about until I realized girlfriend has gone Southern. You see, in the South, people speaks kinda strange. They pronounce sugar "soo-ger". So with some reverse translation, I realized she just called me a cougar.

Cougar, you think?

But I like it. There's something about cougars that's so sexy. That's why they call older women cougars, I guess. So I winked at her. She can call me a cougar anytime.

My cougar pose :p

In conclusion, I'm still a cat but when I grow up, I want to be a cougar. Heck, if I were a female, I would probably be a cougar by now. Instead, I'm stuck with the mamarazzi and her makeup. Please support her store, yo. The more sales she makes, the better cat food I get. Yup, it's that simple!

Love, peace, and tuna fish,
Mr. Belly (aka Coo-ger!)

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

Cut the Crease Drama-a-Rama FOTD

Hi everyone,

For those who are monolids, you know the cut the crease technique is next to impossible to perform. Of course, you can fake the crease but doing so only results in something that well, looks fake. For the past year or so, looks that emphasizes on the crease are all over the runway. Even the Spring Sephora cover had a cut a crease number. Needless to say, it is so unfair for monolids.

But guess what? All those changed because I finally found a way to cut my creases that actually looks believable. It is dramatic and really bring the emphasize on los ojos (the eyes in Spanish, people!)

Cut the Crease look

A disclaimer: this look was done a while ago when my hair was about 12 inches longer. But I guess you already noticed that.

Be Clean with CLEAN Anti-Bacterial Moisturizing Hand Cream

Hi everybody,

Recently*, I got a chance to try out CLEAN's newest product: the Anti-bacterial moisturizing hand cream. It arrived at the right time as my BFF and I made our way to Tennessee. The road trip involved 8 hours of butt-numbing drive each way and as money conscious people, we packed food and ate in the car. Also, the acrid temperature of summer really sucked the moisture out of my skin. This product was a life-saver. Not only does it have anti-bacterial property, it also moisturizes my hands pretty well. On top of that, the tube is small enough for me to tuck in my bag. Swell, huh?

CLEAN anti-bacterial moisturizing hand cream ($10 at Sephora)

NYC Blushable Creme Sticks are so Blushful!

Hi everybody,

Ok, I thought I just made up a word. "Blushful" is in the dictionary, yo! I'm not Sarah Palin, ok. What does "repudiate" mean, by the way?

With or without my digression, recently I've been very much into cream (or creme) blushes. During my most recent trip, I had a chance to pick up two limited edition creme blushes from NYC. Yes, I had to get far far away from home to find something decent. the local CVS stores don't even carry NYC blushable creme blushes, let alone the LEs. It's a sad, sad place to live, you see.

NYC Blushable Creme Blush. (L-R): Pink Flash, Wild Berry

I'm fascinated with these guys: they are so pigmented, blendable, and super compact. They reminded me of the old Max Factor foundation sticks but with better design and without the weird smell. Also, I just love the fact that the colors of the tubes are the actual colors of the blushes. No guess work requires.

Pink Flash and Wild Berry

Did you see what I mean? The color of the blush looks exactly like the color of the tube. This makes shopping a lot more easier.

New Hrrrrr

Hi everybody,

I'm backkkkkkkkkkk! (Not sure for how long, though)

So yeah, the hand finally healed. It took 2 weeks of not aggravating my right hand and taking lots of glucosamine pills. I finished the rest of my Osteo Bi-Flex pills and bought a new bottle of Glucosamine+MSM from Sam's Club. The new one apparently works a lot better than the old one since it has higher concentration of MSM.

Yup, I'm still taking glucosamine. The pile of paper in the background is the first draft of what's becoming a novel. Apparently, I didn't do a lot of writing either, ever since my hand gave me a hard time.

Thank you, everybody for wishing me a speedy recovery. It used to take me less time to get over this kind of pain but now I'm getting older. It's a wake up call for me to take care of myself better.

Now, please take one good look at this picture of moi:

Yes, take a look at it, guys!

Why? Because I did the most insane thing last weekend. It's a suicide move for me if I still want to blog as a beauty blogger.

What did you do, you may ask?

Well, I went to Aveda to get my hair cut off. Twelve inches of hair off my back. Yes, it's a foot-long of hair, yo! And now, look at me:

I look like a boy. With a tan!

Why did I cut my hair? The truth is, I always wanted to donate my hair but every time I went to get a haircut, I always ended up with something really short. I started growing my hair out in 2007, after 4 years of having really short hair (shorter than what I have now.) It could have been a lot longer had I not involved myself in 2 freak hair cutting accidents. In both cases, my hair was simply cut in a horrendous manner that required me to grow out a lot more and then get the length cut off to look decent. I lost about 6 inches of length combined.

So, the hair is on its way to Locks of Love to make into wigs for children with long-term medical hair loss. Even if I don't look so good with short hair, the thought of helping others cheers me up. Also, the donated hair is a tribute to my friend who recently passed away. It was painful for her to go through chemo, to see clumps of hair falling apart. Hair can always grow back, people can't. I hope my hair will be a part of somebody's life.

Note about the tan:

 It's been so hot in Florida for the past week. It's so hot that I now have the tendency to add the adjective "bloody" before the adjective "hot". It is skin-shearing hot, people! As much as I try not to be outdoor, I still manage to get a tan. That's how ridiculously not it is. Now, my skin color is around NC35, which probably is the darkest I've ever got.

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