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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Traveling, Pug, Halloween and Korean BBQ

So I had to travel earlier this week for work and my sister's family watched over my pug.  As soon as I whooped out the suitcases she sensed something was not right and she acted all weird.


Like trying to climb into my pantry



Btw, those boxes on the second shelf are Target ziploc bags.  DO NOT BUY.  They are super cheap but it takes forever to line up the zips and properly close them and even then it'll open up later.  Ugh.  This is one of those times when name brand is worth the extra cost.


Having lived in NY recently and having a naturally paranoid and obsessive-compulsive personality, I have become obsessed with bed bugs and live in constant fear of them.  While I have never suffered from them (knock on wood), I know people who have and it seems just horrible.  So when I looked up my hotel and saw one bed bug entry on the registry, I freaked out.  I carefully inspected my room and bed and even sent pictures to an obliging friend who checked it out as well.  But, just to be safe, I kept my suitcase in the bathtub for the first night until I could be sure I didn't wake up with any bites.  



The hotel had great toiletries - Fresh products!  


After realizing I didn't have conditioner I called the front desk for some and they gave me a ton of extra products!  Darn the travel restrictions because I wasn't able to squeeze all of them into my crappy Target quart-sized ziploc bag!  I wasn't a huge fan of the shampoo or lotion but I enjoyed the body wash and pomegranate conditioner.


I am horribly antisocial and after spending the entire day socializing/mingling/networking (ew) I didn't want to have to continue doing that during dinner.  So I ordered room service for most of the days I was there.  Woohoo!


Yes, that's right - I ordered a hamburger and fries AND pork mac n cheese!  I felt a bit ill afterwards from eating so much.  But oddly enough when I returned home and weighed myself I had lost weight!  I guess that means I should stick to a burger and mac n cheese diet haha!


And then I spent the last part of my trip searching frantically for some souvenir gifts for my niece and nephew. They were told by my sister that I would come back with a small gift (thanks for putting the pressure on!) and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere.  Thank goodness for airport stores and overpriced and cheezy souvenirs (and the $1 bin at Target for those cute mini buckets):


When I finally arrived home I sped over to pick up my lil pug.  She was ECSTATIC to see me and made the weirdest noises I've ever heard her make.  She got so excited that she couldn't contain it and took it all out on her little bunny toy, sucking it excessively.




For Halloween my sister had the great idea to make some fun pumpkin cupcakes.  My niece and nephew LOVED it and had a huge sugar rush all day - it ended with my nephew having a meltdown pre-nap and finding my niece rolling on her back, kicking her feet and giggling like crazy.  They're three and tiny so the sugar flows through them real fast.


Then we topped off the night with some Korean BBQ!  We had some kalbi (which was tender and good, but I've had better flavored kalbi at home or in other restaurants) and some spicy pork belly (which was good and tasty but not tender).



Mmm - I still smell of Korean BBQ though and my clothes need a very thorough washing.  

My lil pug is so happy that I'm back home and has taken to staring at me adoringly for long periods of time.  Kind of like my own little stalker.


She gets mad when I try to use my computer and will barge onto my lap to demand my attention.  All while maintaining her crazy stalker stare.




And then when she really can't contain her love and excitement she will crawl on me until she's right at my level and will attack my face with her stinky pug breath and pug kisses.


I'm so happy to be back home with my lil pug but not thrilled at the prospect of going back to work tomorrow - ugh. PS - I am loving my Shiseido Integrate separate and curl mascara and pencil eyeliner lately from Imomoko.  I'll have to write more on it later.

Friday, October 22, 2010

I Love Jewelry and Need a New Tote

I'm not one to post regularly.  I do it in spurts and so tonight is posting night!  


I love jewelry.  Love it so.  And I always want more!  I'm not into cutesey or super trendy jewelry.  I just like whatever strikes me at the time.  I have pretty sensitive skin, so I'm pretty limited in the metals I can wear and limit it to gold or platinum (although on my budget, it's more gold than platinum!).  But lately I've come to love rose gold and somewhat yellow gold.  I used to only wear yellow gold as a teenager but I was forever scarred by my older sisters' teasing that I looked like a rapper with all my yellow gold.  


When I lived in NY, I really loved Lori McLean.  Always great and interesting pieces there that were reasonably priced for what you got.  They have a website that I've shopped off of before and are super good about communication and adjustments.  So I guess I could continue my jewelry shopping even outside NY, but they don't change their selection that often.  Ebay is also a great source if you know what you want.  


This is what I wore today, an antique yellow and white gold and pearl ring and an antique marcasite bracelet.  I love the bracelet but that darn clasp is always opening and falling off.  



I really want something new, but since I moved and switched jobs recently I'm trying to curb my jewelry spending for a bit.  Sigh.  

I'm also in need of a new tote bag.  When I first started working, my friend/coworker made fun of me for the tiny purse I carried to and from work and how I had to use shopping bags to carry work home with me.  So she made me an awesome tote bag that lasted for 4 years of carrying my heavy documents and commuting book.  It's started to rip a bit (although that doesn't stop me from using it) and I'm so sad at the thought of having to retire the bag soon.  :(  I keep trying to convince her to make more bags!  I've gotten a lot of compliments on it from coworkers who were surprised to discover that my friend made it for me.  But lately it's seen better days as it's nearing the end of its shelf life.


Do you see the ripping?  So sad!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Imomoko Haul and Gratuitous Pug Pics

And after my long eyeliners post, look Imomoko haul!  Yippee!  I have a few eyeliners here that I can't wait to try out and some other random things.  I'll post on some of these later on.  


And of course my lil pug squeezed her way into the photo.  She has total ghost/demon eyes here because of the flash.  Ugh look at her nails.  Stupid nails grow so fast and have a long quick.  I tried clipping them myself recently and the end result was massive amounts of hair on me from her nervous shedding (I find it so weird how she sheds when nervous), a lot of paw pulling away, a few clipped jagged nails, and a loooong scratch on my leg.


See the scratch?!  Ugh.  And you can also see my moodadi.


But how can I stay mad at my lil bunny?


I mean, even Frankenstein wants a piece of her.  Look at him wanting her tail.


And she is handy with tools.  And by tools, I mean my niece's and nephew's tool toys for play.  And by handy I mean she chews them up real nicely.



How did this post start off about my Imomoko haul and end on my pug?  I feel like all my trains of thought end with her.  I have become a crazy pug lady.  But at least I will be a crazy pug lady with awesome makeup and fun products.  Oooh yeah.

Eyeliners Review - Past and Present

I have extremely small monlids.  And while it bothered me when I was younger, I never even considered the idea of getting the popular double eyelid surgery.  My mom even offered to pay for it when I graduated from high school - crazy talk!  I didn't even ask for it!  She thought she was being helpful by offering.  Sigh.  I've embraced my monlids and I can't even imagine trying to do eye makeup without them!  One of the upsides to having monlids is I can get away with a ridiculous amount of eyeliner and it totally doesn't look as frightening because as soon as I open up my eye about 1/16th of it is visible.  Not to say I go around wearing scary amounts of eyeliner, but I do make sure I put on enough so when my eyes are open you can see it.

So after that long intro, let me dig into my current eyeliners.  I have tried a wide assortment of them in my search for something that won't budge and won't tug.  I started my teenage years with pencil eyeliners, moved to gel liners in my adult years and this past year I moved to liquid liners.  So here goes...

Below is my current collection of eyeliners.  I don't know why the picture is portrait when I took it in landscape.  Curses to Blogger and their photo attaching!

So top to bottom: Shu Uemura, Sue Devitt, Dior Liquid Eyeliner, Hourglass Trace Eyeliner, Makeup For Ever, Lancome Artliner (Noir and Smoke), my gel liner brushes (Stila and Shu Uemura) and my Stila smudge pots (black and gray).



Below are my Stila smudge pots.  For some reason the black one isn't as soft as the gray and so I end up using the gray one more often.  I was obsessed with these for a few years.  They are waterproof but they do smudge a tiny bit.  Because of my monolids a little bit of it will transfer onto my bottom lid or collect in the outer corners of my eyes.  They are super quick and easy to apply, but you have to clean your brush often which is a pain.


This past year I delved into the world of liquid liners.  After a few shaky starts and wonky uneven eyes, I've gotten used to applying it and can do it pretty quickly.  A few swipes on each upper eyelid and a flick at the end and I'm done!  The downside to these is that they aren't waterproof so if I get anything in my eye I quickly have a long trail of black goo down my cheek.  Also, they're not that great for underye lining (at least for me).


The liquid eyeliners I use the most right now are Noir (black) and Smoke (gray) Lancome Artliners.  The brushes on these are a bit thin and soft so it takes several swipes to get it right and sometimes when drawing a line the soft brush will go awry and I'll end up with a crazy line.  But I can easily wipe those off.




I also bought the Dior liquid liner recently but haven't used it really yet.  I was hoping the tip would be a bit firmer, but it's not.  



I spurned pencil eyeliners based on my teenage years of smudged eyes and constantly having to check for raccoon eyes, but I'm loving these MUFE pencil eyeliners.  I have several colors but the ones I use most are the black and metallic black.  These stay put pretty well and are soft and easy to apply.  I use this to tightline my upper lid and sometimes line my lower lid.  They're not perfect though for lining my lower lid but they're the best pencil liner I've found for that so far.  I have joined the MUFE love bandwagon.



I love many things Shu, but I am not a fan of their pencil eyeliners.  They are waxy and hard so I end up having to press pretty hard and going over the line over and over again.  And they don't show up that well or last!  Plus, the cap ALWAYS comes off in my makeup bag.  I have lost many caps and pencil tips in my purse, which sucks.  So I stopped carrying them with me.


See, can't you practically see how hard the tip is?


I got the Sue Devitt as a free sample, and wow, epic fail.  It goes on super smooth as a great dark black but it  does not stay put at all.  AT ALL.  It's almost like it's an erasable pen or something (Remember those?  Are those still around?  I used to use them all the time when I was in elementary school and junior high.)


Here's the pencil tip - great color, but smudges so much.


And here's the smudger on the other end - meh, hard and nothing great.


I also got this Hourglass liner as a free sample in gray.  I loved the packaging and it has the liner on one end and a smudger on the other end.  The liner looks great and is smooth to apply but doesn't last at all.




And tada, here are swatches of my various liners!  Left to right: Stila smudge pot (gray), Stila smudge pot (black), Lancome Artliner (Smoke), Lancome Artliner (Noir), MAFU, Shu Uemura, Sue Devitt (black), Dior liquid eyeliner, Hourglass


 This is after I rubbed my arm right after I applied.  The Stila smudge pots look great here but truthfully when I wear it at work, by the end of the day I do have some smudges like I said before.  The liquid liners have peeled a bit.  This sometimes happens when I first apply but can be fixed easily.  And then usually afterwards my liner stays put unless my eyes tear up for any reason. MUFE sticks pretty well.  The others have faded a bit.


This is after I wet my arm a bit.  As you can see most of the liners are disappearing.  The eraser bits are from the liquid liner.  But Stila and MUFE still look good!


All of these come off with eye makeup remover.  I use the Shu cleansing oil (pink one) and I just let it sit on my eyes a bit and then rub gently.  The gel and liquid liners are bit tougher to remove usually.


I still haven't found my perfect eyeliner.  I like using liquid because I know it generally won't budge, but since I wear hard contact lenses, if I get something in my eye my eyes water like crazy and then I'm left with all my eyeliner on my cheeks and none on my lids.  I went back to the smudge pots for a while but they do smudge by the end of the day and my contact lenses get more irritated throughout the day (I think little pieces come off my brushes and fall into my eyes when I apply).  MUFE is pretty good but also smudges a bit by the end of the day for me.  So I'm still on the search.  I just recently bought a bunch of eyeliners from a website that sells Asian products and so maybe I'll find one there.  Until then, I've been lining my upper lids with Lancome Artliner and tightlining and bottom lids with MUFE.  


Phew!  This was a long post!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Foiled by a Lil Pug!

I was going to do my eyeliner post but my lil pug stopped me.


She had to go out and she couldn't wait.  Look at her waiting right at the crack of the elevator.


And then when we got back she wouldn't get out of my face.  Back away!


Oh my!  Not that close!


And by the time she passed out it was too late.  Maybe another time.