Brown and Blue with Pink Look + My Yosemite Trip!

This is the makeup I wore when I left last Friday for my weekend Yosemite trip. Since it was snowing there, I got new matching North Face fleece pants and jacket in blue (they are super comfy!). I used the same MAC Holiday Palette from my Easy Brown Look (Devoted Poppy: 6 Classic Eyes) — this palette is great for creating all sorts of looks on the go. If you don’t have this palette, you might be able to find it at your local CCO (Cosmetics Company Outlet) or you can just use similar colors.

EYES
- Too Faced Shadow Insurance (entire lid)
- MAC Devoted Poppy: 6 Classic Eyes Holiday Palette E/S in “Sweet Eyes” (highlight)
- MAC Devoted Poppy: 6 Classic Eyes Holiday Palette E/S in “Fall Deeply” (this is the blue color on the lower lid — it’s very similar to Milani “Blue Ice” E/S)
- MAC Devoted Poppy: 6 Classic Eyes Holiday Palette E/S in “Amourously” (apply on crease with a fluffy brush to make blending easier)
- MAC Devoted Poppy: 6 Classic Eyes Holiday Palette E/S in “In Awe” (outer V — blend towards outer and middle crease)
- Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in “Black Ink” (upper lash line)
- MAC Eye Kohl in “Smolder” (lower waterline)

CHEEKS
- MAC Powder Blush in “Harmony” (contour)
- MAC Powder Blush in “Well Dressed” (apples of cheeks)

LIPS
- MAC L/S in “Please Me”

On my way to Yosemite, I ate lunch at Sonic in Tracy, CA (the fast food restaurant that I always see in commercials but are hard to find nearby). Here’s a better view of my fleece outfit — I’m also eating tater tots!

I rented a cabin with my boyfriend and 5 of our friends. We came up with a delicious menu a week before our trip, and we each took care of cooking meals for everyone. I cooked Friday dinner and Sunday lunch:

We went snow shoeing during the day, hot tubbing at night (our cabin had an indoor jacuzzi and 2 outdoor hot tubs), and played several hours of video games (New Super Mario Bros, Boom Blox Bash Party, Smarty Pants, and Just Dance — all great multi-player games!).

I’m the one on the left wearing a cream-colored scarf.

We also made time for snowball fights, sliding down a snow hill, and making snowmen. I’m usually not a big fan of the cold, but the snow was beautiful and great company definitely made me forget that it was freezing!

Fashion Friday: Episode 4

I bought this black and white “dress” from Forever 21 for $19.80:

The tag says “dress”, but I think the top part is a little see-through and the bottom is too thin to wear by itself. However, I like how it looks with a tank top and leggings underneath. The leggings actually have silver rivets down each leg, and it matches the silver and black rhinestones that detail the leaf print. I purchased the leggings (American Rag) at Macy’s for about $20 (but it turned out cheaper than that since I used a coupon).

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and weekend! I’m heading to a cabin in Yosemite with some friends. Unfortunately I won’t have Internet there, but I’ll be working on answering requests I’ve received from my lovely readers that I hope to have up by next week.

Galileo Thermometer!

Galileo Galilei was a famous Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist who (among many other things) invented and improved several instruments that made measurements more accurate. I have always admired Galileo’s work, because he has contributed so much to the advancements of telescopes, microscopes, balances, compasses, and thermometers.

I bought my boyfriend this Galileo Thermometer for Valentine’s Day, because he mentioned a while back that he always wanted one as a kid (he’s a nerd too):

This thermometer is 24″ tall, and it’s based on Galileo’s discovery that a liquid’s buoyancy decreases as its temperature increases. This sealed glass cylinder contains 11 multi-colored floating spheres, each having different weights that rise and fall at different temperatures. The current temperature is indicated by the tag attached to the lowest of the floating spheres. When I took these pictures, the current temperature was 70 degrees and the sphere representing 68 degrees was floating downwards:

I think Galileo thermometers are beautiful, interesting to look at, and an accurate way of measuring indoor ambient temperature. This particular thermometer has a range of 62 to 82 degrees, with each sphere separated by 2 degrees. I bought the biggest one I could find, but there are smaller ones (that have less spheres and a smaller temperature range). Another good fact is that if this thermometer does happen to fall and break, the liquid in the cylinder is free of CF2 gasses, almost inflammable, and non-poisonous.

My Valentine’s Day 2010 Recap

Hi! I hope everyone had a great weekend! I wanted to share with you how my Valentine’s Day went, what I wore, where I ate, and all that fun stuff. A couple days ago, I purchased MAC Pigment in “Kelly Green” (Pro item), so I tried it for the first time on Valentine’s Day. I decided to do a smokey green eye shadow look with red lips to match the rose-print tunic I wrote about in a previous Fashion Friday post. I ended up wearing a red skirt that has a peek-a-boo black petticoat underneath ($19.80 from Forever 21) to make the tunic look like it was part of a one-piece dress. To top it off, I wore a lacy black single-button jacket that I also got at Forever 21 a couple months ago.

Here’s what I used and how I did my makeup (listed in order):

EYES
- MAC Paint Pot in “Soft Ochre” (entire lid)
- MAC Pro Pigment in “Kelly Green” (applied wet on lower lid using a sponge applicator and MAC Pro Water Base Mixing Medium)
- MAC E/S in “Espresso” (on crease area, above Kelly Green)
- MAC E/S in “Era” (blend lightly onto inner corner and blend just above crease color)
- MAC E/S in “Ricepaper” (highlight; apply with fluffy brush like MAC 224)
- MAC E/S in “Humid” (outer V and contour — I like using MAC 217 to apply color to this area; also apply on outer to center lower lash line)
- MAC E/S in “Swimming” (inner to center lower lash line)
- Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in “Black Ink” (upper lash line)
- MAC Eye Kohl in “Smolder” (lower waterline)
- Lancome Oscillating Mascara

CHEEKS
- MAC Powder Blush in “Harmony” (contour)
- MAC Pro Beauty Powder / Loose in “Sunspill” (lightly on apples of cheeks)

LIPS
- MAC Lip Pencil in Cherry (outline lips first and then fill the rest in with this pencil)
- MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick in “Red She Said” (apply on lips, blot lips with a tissue, and then apply it again to make it last longer)

I also used Model in a Bottle to set all of my makeup, since I wanted to make sure my makeup still looks nice and fresh when I went to dinner. It is a matte setting spray for your face, so not only will it hold your eye shadow but also your foundation, blush, and mascara too! When you finish applying your makeup, hold the bottle about 6 inches away from your face, close your eyes, and spray about 2 to 3 times. Keep your eyes closed for about 20 seconds to let it dry. By the time I’m ready to wash my face and go to sleep, my makeup looks just as good as when I put it on in the morning. I was looking for this product for quite some time, and I happened to find it at a beauty supply store called Naime’s in North Hollywood when I was working on my professional makeup certification. Luckily they sell it on Amazon.com now!

My boyfriend took me to a French restaurant in San Francisco called Jardiniere. French food is definitely one of my favorites!

They had a special Valentine’s Day menu that night, and the dessert was really cute (the chocolate on the plate is an arrow, the cookies on the sides are shaped like hearts, and there are two rose petals covered with sugar on top):

As for my Valentine’s Day gift, I got some new MAC brushes (that I had on a wish list haha) and a new Canon PowerShot camera!

I’ve been using a Canon PowerShot SD850 IS for a couple years now, and I’ve been wanting to upgrade it to one that can take even better macro pictures for all my makeup-related photos. Canon PowerShot S90 IS is a great camera for taking pictures up close — it even has manual macro mode!

Here are some pictures I took with my new camera (the one on the right is using the color accent mode — you can focus on one color and it grays out the rest!):

Looking forward to taking more pictures to share with you all!

Valentine’s Day Nails

This is how I painted my nails for Valentine’s Day:

First, I painted my nails with light pink polish. After my nails were dry, I used a white Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen to outline the tips (click here to read my review of these pens). I used white nail polish to go over the outline, and then I put a top coat with clear nail polish over the entire nail. For the Valentine’s Day touch, I painted stems on my thumb nails and applied heart and pearl nail decorations to create a rose design. I really like adding rhinestones to my nails, especially sparkly Swarovski crystals that I usually get at Michael’s for around $4 for 30 crystals. I’ll write a separate how-to post on applying crystals to your nails.

Happy Valentine’s Day!