Super Bass FOTD

Hi everyone,

So, I'm a fan of Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass." It's one heck of a catchy song. I found myself singing "boom baloom boom boom baloom boom bass" a lot during the summer. Just check it out:


On top of that, I like how colorful her makeup is in the music video. Take a look at this:

After some careful studies of the pictures, I came to a conclusion that it's an easy look. I can totally do it. And I did, but it came with a sliiightly small problem: the electricity decided to go kaput when I started doing my makeup.

Wow!

Therefore, I did this look mostly in the dark and when I couldn't stand it anymore, I ran outside to get some sunlight. It was quick, only took me half an hour from start to finish, and I wore it out today. I got some compliments on it, too.

Super Bass FOTD
Can you hear the boom baloom boom baloom boom bass?

What I used:

Eyes

Coastal Scents original 88 palette: (top down) second yellow from the second column on the left and (bottom up) 4th pink from the seventh column from the left
Yellow mineral pigment left from my mineral makeup making days

 I really don't know what kind of base and yellow eyeshadow Nicki Minaj's makeup artist used. The pigmentation of her yellow makeup is intense. I layered a white pencil liner as a secondary base before applying the CS matte yellow eyeshadow. No popping. Nothing. It looked dull. So I applied the yellow mineral pigment on top.

Now, this mineral pigment is intense. A little bit goes a long way, you know the drill. But yet, it managed to look like this:

Oh, yellow pigments, where art thou?
Picture taken indoor, hence the green hue that I loath!

 The pink under eye liner was peachy: VS chubby eyeliner in Pink Flash as a base before applying CS pink eyeshadow. At least this one looks decent.

Maybe next time when I do something similar, I'll wet the brush and foil the pigment to have a more intense eye look. Also, I wish I had Pixie Epoxy. It would surely make the yellow pigment pop.

Eyeliner: L'Oreal HiP eyeliner in Black Shock
Mascara: something from Estee Lauder. It's a decent lengthening mascara but the name managed to rub off   :(

Lips

I don't have MAC Pink 4 Friday and I'm sure Nicki Minaj used it in this video. So I applied NYC Blue Rose, blotted it away to almost oblivion, and applied Za Pink Pearl. Tada! Pink 4 Friday lookalike:

Cheeks:

Can't you guess? It's my favorite combo: Rimmel Autumn Catwalk with ELF Gotta Glow!

And now, ze bloop bloop bloop bloopers :)

Believe it or not, I can rap the first verse of "Super Bass" and I'm not that much of a rapper. You should have listened to me rapping "Gangsta's Paradise." It was hilarious! But with this song, I can actually rap quite properly.

Bang in the wind.
Or is this the sign that my rapping career just failed?

Except for the Pink 4 Friday dupe, the rest of this look is "Super Bass" lite. It's like Miller lite: you get the taste with less calories. Or in this case, you get the look but it's more wearable.

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Fitness Report #8

Hi everyone,

It felt like yesterday when I wrote the first Fitness Report. Now, we are at number 8. Two months had passed since my first attempt to Zumba. Time flies when you're having fun, isn't it?

It feels like every time I go to the gym, I learn something new. Last Saturday, I met a new trainer and we prompted to chat. Now, I'm not a chatty kind of person but the trainers in this gym are really nice. Some of them even spend time to get to know me and answer my questions. This trainer asked me about my fitness regimen and I told him I work out 1 hour/day, 5 days a week. He told me in order for me to lose weight, I need to work out a bit longer (1.5 hrs/day, 5 days a week.) He explained to me the type of diet that I should follow (less carb, more fruits, veggies, and lean meat.) Basically, no starvation but exercise a bit longer.

He told me this piece of information that's so crucial I need to share with you:

Remember to stretch.

For the last few weeks, I've had this nagging pain on my right side. Once, it was so severe that another trainer had to pull me out of the stretching machine to manually stretch out my muscles himself. After that, I felt a whole lot better.

According to this trainer, when you exercise, your muscles expand and then coil back together. If you do not stretch, they will remain coiled. In a long run, this will lead to shortening of the muscles, which leads to pain and probably injuries. He advised me to hold the stretches as long as possible and spend more time on stretching than before. The Mayo Clinic has a slideshow of stretches that everyone should follow.

Anyhoo, here is my fitness report on week 8:

• Monday: skip
• Tuesday: Zumba party + weight training for arms and upper body   1hr 05min
• Wednesday: Activate + Flat abs                                                     1 hr
• Thursday: Concert + weight training for arms and upper body         1hr 20min
• Friday: skip
• Saturday: gym with abs training                                                       1hr 05 min
• Sunday: Exhilarate + weight training for arms and upper body          1hr 30 min

Total amount of time: 6 hours!

Woo hoo! I've wanted to exercise 6 hours a week but could not quite make it. I was close to it last week and I believed I could reach this landmark. And it was paid off. I lost 1 kg (2.2lbs) this week, yay! Also, I think coupling cardio exercises with weight training helps. For the last 2-3 weeks, the scale almost did not move. I believe I hit plateau then. Upping my workout helps. Therefore, I am going to keep the same intensity this week and see how it goes.

Last but not least, I wanted to do the Concert and Exhilarate DVDs in the Zumba Exhilarate set for a very long time. I tried the later DVD once but could not move pass the first 5 minutes. It was fast and intense. Now, not only could I do one, I finished two and I could not be any prouder.

Again, thank you for showing me your support. I hope you are exercising with me as well. Believe me, if I can do it, so can you.

Last but not least, have you joined my latest skincare giveaway yet?

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

Cherry Culture 5-Year Anniversary Sale (25% Off!)

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note: Cherry Culture is celebrating their 5-year anniversary by having a 25% off sale on everything they have in store.

If I remember correctly, Cherry Culture doesn't have sales like this as often. So please take advantage of this. Personally, I would stock up on NYX. The most wonderful thing about Cherry Culture is they do ship globally and the shipping cost is not so expensive at all.

Maybe I will join the sales. Maybe I won't. I haven't made up my mind yet. But I know for sure this is a good sale.

Last but not least, have you joined the Specific Beauty skincare giveaway yet?

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

What Have Happened to My Eyelashes?

Hi everyone,

Last night, while I was playing around with my Shu lash curler, I could not believe my eyes of how beautiful my lashes currently are. Back in the days, I used a ton of mascara to coax out the three lashes that were visible. No matter how much I curled them and how many coats of mascara they had, the lashes just refused to show. Bah, humbug, right?

But now, look at these bad boys:

Visible lashes are visible!
No mascara needed, yay!

My lashes are longer, too.

And it feels nice to have longer lashes :)

I wish I knew why my lashes are longer. Perhaps the humidity helps my lashes grow? But I know for sure that I don't curl my lashes that often anymore and I definitely don't use waterproof mascaras. Therefore, the lashes are not being agitated as much. But that's just my theory.

But still, I don't have a full lash line and I can't change that. Genetically, this is how my lashes are going to be and I'm just happier that they look so much longer now.

Also, if you haven't joined Specific Beauty skincare giveaway yet, please click here to join. The winning bundle plus their new Clarifying Acne Wash Treatment Cleanser are nice. Winter is coming, which means more moisturizing power is needed.

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

Good News on a Gloomy Day

Hi everyone,

The past few days have been filled with rain and more rain. I love having rain to cool down the acrid weather in Saigon. But on the other hand, rainy days mean lack of sunlight to take pictures. On top of that, the past few weeks have me running around like a headless chicken. My life has been extremely busy, y'all.

As we all know, I opened another blog a while ago. The thrill of having another blog is always something I can't describe. Thankfully, some of you here show support to Life and Rewrite. It gives me a boost to blog more and I am thankful for that. But today, I had the best lunch break ever! I logged into WordPress and wondered where all the readers had come from. I mean, on a good day, My Makeup Blog has about 1000 page views. And that's a very good day. In less than 24 hours since I posted yesterday's entry, I had about 3,000 page views! My mouth was on the floor.

While I scratched my brain trying to understand where the readers came from, I read the comments and apparently, my review of Anthony Bourdain's "Medium Raw" was featured on WordPress's Freshly Pressed.

I know.

It was uber weird seeing the name of my other blog on WordPress.
It still is!

It's even better than winning the lottery. Never in my life had I imagined that to happen. I have been trying to get My Makeup Blog featured without success but it didn't go anywhere. But this? Maybe I should stop trying.

While this is not an ego boost or anything, I am thankful for it. God knows how my days have been lately. I have to fight for time to blog and despite how tired I am, I need to put those posts up.

So, no FOTD for this week but please join my latest giveaway with skincare products from Specific Beauty. The products are very nice and they kept my skin moisturize during the winter months.

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

Week 7 Fitness Report

Hi everyone!

First of all, a quick announcement: I am having a skincare giveaway with Specific Beauty. If you are a U.S resident, please join it if you haven't done so already! (Clicky, clicky!)

Week 7 was interesting. I have come to realized that my weight loss is less stellar that those of the contestants on "The Biggest Loser." But it's fine. At least I know every gram I shed, I worked my butt off :)

What I did during week 7:

• Monday: break
• Tuesday: Cardio Party                 50 min
• Wednesday: Mix + weight lifting  60 min
• Thursday: Zumba Live                 55 min
• Friday: break
• Saturday: Zumba basic & 20-minute workout, weight 1hr 20 min
• Sunday: gym                                1hr 30 min

Total amount of time sweating things out: 5hrs 50 minutes!

Two good things happened this week:

1. This:

Don't laugh at my keg belly, ok?
It's a work in progress. Six pack abs are not built in one day.

This is a pair of size 10 DKNY jeans. When I went to Cambodia, it was tight, tight, tight. Now, look at the gap between my belly and the button. I can't believe it! I'm doing the traditional weight loss pose with the pair of jeans :D

2. I passed my half-way mark on Monday. That's right, folks: 50 days down, 50 more to go. I can't believe I lasted this long, either. Having a tangible goal helps.

Fitness tip of the week: Don't by shy to ask for help

I'm always this girl who would do things by herself. Sometimes, I get things right. Other times, I'm just stuck with the wrong things I do over and over again until someone is kind enough to point that out to me. Last week, I was using the stretch machine and I learned that my stretches were horribly wrong. Thankfully, a trainer helped me out and now, I know how to stretch my muscles properly.

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

Specific Beauty Skincare Giveaway

Hi everyone,

Recently, a representative of Specific Beauty contacted me with an offer to host a giveaway with their skincare products. Since I used products from Specific Beauty before and received great results from them, I thought it would be a nice opportunity for one of my readers to win such a nice skincare bundle.

Specific Beauty is a skincare brand created by Dr. Heather Woolery-Lloyd, an expert in skincare with specialty in multi-hue skin tones. Her products are designed to use synergistically to improve the skin. Upon using her day and night cremes, I noticed my skin to become more hydrated and clearer. Also, dark spots and marks from previous acne faded away faster.

Specific Beauty is very generous to offer their whole set of regimen plus a Clarifying Wash Acne Treatment Cleanser. The regimen includes:

• Daily Gentle Cleanser - an ultra gentle cleanser designed to maintain and replenish the skins' natural hydration. 
• Exfoliating Cleansing Cloths - dual-sided to carefully exfoliate the skin, while providing a deep clean to remove impurities, all without the need to rinse with water. 
• Daily Hydrating Lotion SPF 30 - daily moisturizer that provides broad spectrum protection against UVA and UVB rays with SPF 30. 
•  Night Treatment Complex - lightweight skin brightening formula that helps improve skin texture while you sleep. 
• Skin Brightening Serum - a special multi-benefit complex of licorice, antioxidants, retinol and niacinimide - to provide the skin with the ultimate brightening benefits.

Also, the Clarifying Wash Acne Treatment Cleanser is a salicylic acid wash gentle enough for daily use, yet tough enough to get into the pores to help reduce acne blemishes. It is a quick and effective acne treatment to prevent breakouts and reduce oil that is paraben free.

The regimen, minus the cleansing cloth 

The new Clarifying Wash Acne Treatment Cleanser

Are you interested? Here are how to enter this giveaway:

• Be my follower via Google Friends Connection: if you already are a follower, you don't have to do it again. This is only fair that everyone who joins this giveaway are followers. If you are not but joined it anyways, your entrance is disqualified.
• Extra credits:

1. Retweet this on your Twitter to earn an extra entry to this giveaway: I joined the Specific Beauty Skincare Giveaway on My Makeup Blog. Have you? http://bit.ly/nWYnmU  
2. Blog about this giveaway to earn another entry. Please provide the links in the appropriate boxes if you choose to do the extra credits.

• Fill in this form: 

This giveaway is opened to U.S residents only. You can join any time from now until 11:59 pm EST (GMT+5) October 2nd, 2011. One entry per person, please. If you are a winner, please reply to my notice within 48 hours. Otherwise, I will choose a replacement winner.

That's all for now. Thank you, Specific Beauty to sponsor this giveaway. Good luck to those who join it!

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

Theatre of the Nameless FOTD

Hi everyone,

Recently, I saw the promotion pictures of Illamasqua's new LE "Theatre of the Nameless" and I told myself, "I have to do this!"

Here are the promo pictures that inspired me to do today's FOTD:

Amazing? Isn't it? I told myself I could do it and after what felt like an eternity, I came up with this:

Theatre of the Nameless FOTD
with bright lipstick and chola-esque liner (aka black eyeliner around the lips!) 

Same look but with nude lips :D

What I used
The pot with a beige lid is the face primer

First of all, if you are ooh-ing and ah-ing about my eyebrows (or lack thereof), don't fret. The MAC concealer was supposed to conceal my eyebrows but it did not because I have dark hair. I tried painted them over with a white eye pencil but that didn't work, either. So, Photoshop that is. The best way to remove hair in photos, haha!

Eyes

This is how my eyebrows look like
I wish my black eyeliner (ELF waterproof) were darker.

Cheeks

• New York Color creme blush as a base
• Rimmel London Autumn Catwalk on top
• ELF Gotta Glow to highlight on top of the cheekbone

I really love this combination. Cheap non-Illamasqua makeup can make me glow, too!

Lips

• Bright version: NYC Blue Rose lipstick with black L'Oreal eye liner as a lip liner
• Nude version: Neutrogena lipstick in Just Whisper with NYX natural liner

This, by far, is the craziest makeup look I've ever done. While I did it, I realized the whole thing is based on something people might fear as a child:

Clown makeup!

I am not kidding. If you look closely at the elements: curved upward lips, overdrawn eyebrows, blocky eye makeup, and bright cheeks? Those are what you see on the face of a clown. I started to call this the "Chic Clown" makeup look after the revelation.

If this makeup came without the outlined eyebrows and chola-esque lip look, I would wear it. To a Halloween party or to the club, maybe. It is not for your daily feast but it's a fun (and laborious) look nevertheless.

Blooper time, with unedited eyebrows :)

I hope this is it. I'm having a headache from this clown makeup look already! 

Romeo, oh Romeo, where art thou?

Last but not least, if I scare you with this FOTD, I sincerely apologize. You don't have to read this if you are scared of clowns.

Oops, too late!

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

Fitness Report #6

Hi everyone,

Last week, I hit an epiphany regarding fitness. Since I did not weigh myself the week before, I just assumed the workout routine as usual (more cardio with a touch of yoga.) Two weeks passed and guess how much weight I lost?

Two hundred freakin' grams!

Yeah, that's right. I lost less than half a pound. In two weeks. It tore me apart. It was not as if I was sitting idly and eating moon cake or anything. And by the way, the Autumn Festival just passed and so far, I have eaten half a moon cake.

I was doing all this and the scale just refused to move. It was a sad, sad day. I came home and felt like I should throw in the towel already. Why bother, right?

But again, that ain't me. I am not a quitter. I am a fighter. I have made a commitment to exercise for 100 days and I am going to stick to it. Scale, this is my warning: move the number down or I'm gonna smash you!

I gave myself some thought about this: why am I exercising? Am I doing it for my own health or for the vanity of seeing the number getting smaller on the scale?

And the answer came to me: I do this for me. And I'm not going to compare myself against anybody, including my old past record. I used to lose 5 lbs a month but that was years ago. I am not that same person anymore but persistence always pays off. One step at a time. Also, I was PMS-ing and that may affect my weight loss.

Here is how week 6 went:

• Monday: Activate                                            40 min
• Tuesday: walking + 30 day shred                     40 min
• Wednesday: yoga+ walking                             1hr 20 min
• Thursday: break
• Friday: yoga conditioning                                 50 min
• Saturday: gym                                                 1 hr
• Sunday: gym                                                    50 min

Total amount of time: 5 hours and 20 minutes.

I actually exercised 6 days a week last week and it was not pretty. It was a bit tiring not to have the second day off. I found myself reaching for yoga to cushion the blow. Regardless of the number of days I exercised, I still felt like I didn't do it enough.

So, this week I am going back to 5-day a week exercising routine. I'm adding weight training to my workouts to see if there is any changes.

Fitness tip of the week:

Whatever you do, don't give up. Just keep pushing until you reach your goals.

Also, Kevin James Bennett has a kick-ass blog about Makeup Myths on Makeup 411. Please come over and read what he has to say. KJ Bennett is an extremely talented makeup artist. And guess what? That blog post is only part 1 :)

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

Hair Smooth as Silk with Sunsilk

Hi everybody,

I grew up with Sunsilk and this brand was the first to introduce me to conditioner. Yeah, back when I was 8 or 9, we just washed our hair with shampoo and that was it. I remember my grandma had a bottle of Sunsilk that she locked in her dresser for years. It was her back-up shampoo that she would use for special occasions. That was how much she treasured it.

Years passed and I was delighted when Sunsilk came to the U.S market. Albeit being the #1 hair care brand in the Asian market, it failed to make a note in the U.S and folded at the end of 2010. I tried it then and the formula was sub-par. So, when I came back to Asia, I made sure to give Sunsilk a try and I was blown away.

The stuff is that good! For years, I wanted to find something that keeps my straight hair healthy without weighing it down. Not so many shampoos in the U.S market can do that since they all contain a lot of humectants and moisturizers, which my hair does not need.

(L-R) Sunsilk Co-Creations shampoo designed by Jamal Hammadi and conditioner designed by Thomas Taw
My apologies to the less stellar photo: it's been raining a lot lately and I had to take the picture indoor . With the green wall, the colors are off. This frustrates me to no end!

Shampoo ingredients
It contains the extract of Gleditsia australis, a plant in Vietnam with pods that can be used as shampoo. For generations, Vietnamese people char the pods and boil with water until it turns black. It is believed to keep the hair black and healthy.

Conditioner ingredients

The "swatch": conditioner on top, shampoo at the bottom

I thought I've seen it all until I saw the black shampoo. Yup, this stuff is black with mica shimmers and it took me a while to get used of the color. While both have floral scents, the conditioner is thicker than the shampoo, which I find to be on the runny side. The shampoo is mild and keeps my hair clean until the second day. I do notice a nice lift on the hair after I wake up. The shampoo itself is moisturizing enough for me and I only use the conditioner once in a while (maybe twice a week tops.)

With that said, the conditioner is actually can be left on for two minutes before washing. It is highly moisturizing, thanks to the dimethicone in the ingredient list. In fact, both of them have dimethicone highly ranked in the lists to give the hair a glossy and smooth feeling.

Since I've used this Sunsilk combo, my hair has been incredibly shiny. It also gets easier for me to comb and style my hair. I expected these products to make my hair look and feel greasy by the second day but that rarely happens, which is a big relief to me.

Price-wise, Sunsilk shampoos are mid-range products in the price list. Since Unilever has a factory in Vietnam, the prices of products made in Vietnam are significantly cheaper. I've tried a few shampoos and conditioners to find Sunsilk as the brand that gives my hair the glossiest and sleekest look.

Although Sunsilk is no longer available in mass-market stores in the U.S, you can still (hopefully) find it in Asian stores. Believe me, the formula is different in Asia and Unilever focuses on different hair types depending on the market. If you have straight hair and want to add shine, Sunsilk may be the answer to you.

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