Strawberry & Cream

This is not exactly a makeup post :-P This month some of my favourite music makers have come out with new albums: Phoenix, "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"; Paolo Nutini, "Sunny Side Up" and Moby, "Wait for Me". Check them out!

I've been on a diet for a couple of weeks, and am determined to change the way I eat: cutting carbs and meat down to a minimum. Not exactly a meat lover to begin with, cutting meat hasn't made a a real difference, but I'd have fish or chicken once in a while. As to carbs, well, that takes some will power!

To reward myself though, I got the new Haagen-Dazs fruit collection, lol. The ice-cream girl chatted me up in the freezer aisle (yes, you're allowed to laugh) and asked where I was from (why do I still get that question every day?!) so she sold me on the little cups of goodness.

While I wait for the ice-cream to soften up, a friend who came back from a trip in Paris brought me some goodies: a cherry blossom box from L'Occitane and a Make Up For Ever eye shadow I asked for, in shade 111.

This is really how dark the colour is. I'm using this as blush, with the lightest possible application. I think this is a unique colour!The cherry blossom kit has a shower & bath gel, pearl lotion and a solid perfume. The scent is quite candy-like :-P

A few more weeks till a brand new home and Seattle. Courage and faith, Cheryl, courage and faith.

Coming Soon

Hi everybody! Thanks for all the response regarding "hitting pan", lol... I never thought it would be an interesting topic, but turned out it was. I will update again in a few days, and respond to your comments.

Hitting Pan

Having a pretty small skincare and makeup collection, "hitting pan" is a common event for me. Here I'll show you a few things that I'm slowly running out, and my thoughts about them.

So here we have: Annemarie Borlind hand balm, Make Up For Ever HD powder, Shu Uemura White Recovery EX emulsion, NARS Masai lipstick, M.A.C. Blanc Type eyeshadow, and R.O.C. chapstick.

Let's talk about the skincare items first.

Annemarie Borlind: best hand product I've ever tried! The light scent and emollient texture make this a pleasure to apply at the office and on the go. A must in my handbag, it keeps my hands moisturised and soft.

Shu Uemura: this was purchased in Tokyo, but it was a waste of money because I feel that my DIY masks do a better job of brightening my skin.

R.O.C. : there's just a 1cm left of it, lol. A decent chapstick with no paraffin. It's rich enough to last a few hours. But I will not re-purchase, because Jess and Anna sent me other chapsticks to try! :-)

On to the make up items.

Make Up For Ever: I've been using the HD powder for 15 months, and it looks like I'm finally running out.

Basically I apply a layer of this after my (greasy) sunscreen, then apply powder or liquid foundation. To me, this is an invisible powder that just provides a smooth canvas to work on, and is great against humidity. But will I re-purchase? I'm not sure... I am more eager to try out mineral finishing powder.

NARS: this sheer lipstick is now tragically categorised as a "vintage" item because NARS will not make any more of this.

Described as a "rose quartz" on their website, I will simply say this is a very cool-toned berry shade, great for anyone who doesn't like red but desire a bit of drama. It has the sheerness of a gloss, and the elegance of a lipstick. One swipe gives you a hint of colour, two will enhance absolutely any look.

M.A.C.: though I've hit pan on this Blanc Type eyeshadow, I'm a long way from finishing this product. This is a pinkish beige, perfect for fair skin types. I usually apply this all over my lids and go over it with Nylon (a golden beige). A great "colour" for someone who never has time to apply eye makeup.

Easy Does It

Hi everyone, thank you for all the kind comments left this past week! I'm working on being stronger and more positive :-) Apparently I get depressed easily when I'm tired. Do I make sense at all?! :-D

I realized I've never done a post on fashion. Let me just say right off the bat that I don't know anything about fashion. I used to follow fashion news more closely, but now I just pick up Vogue Paris once in a while. Also,

I am not a big shopper. Unless I find something I absolutely love, I will not buy it.

With that said though, I thought I'd just share a few of my favourite things in the wardrobe!

A jersey wine red top with cushioned, pleated shouldersWhy not get purple too, since I like the shape so much? It just kind of hangs off my shoulders.

When I come across something a bit fancier, I try to pick it up. You never know when you might need something nice. I got this silver dress at an independent boutique here. It comes with a bow that you can clip anywhere on the dress.

This night gowny dress has twisted shoulder straps and a gathered bodice, creating an illusion of curves! lol...

Why not a high-waisted skirt with a bow? I just match this with a black tank top and flats.

A pin-stripe shorts with high waist, a good change from all the low-waisted stuff.

Another orangey item, this is a skirt with a couple of box pleats near the waistline so when you walk, it opens up like a little balloon, very floaty :-)

Cotton jersey is one of my favourite materials, because it means no ironing. (Wait, have I ever used an iron in my life?!) The deep V overlaps at the bosum and the short kimono sleeves make this a bit more interesting.

Another purple item because I love this color :-) Indian cotton saves my life in summer, and the Empire waist makes it look like I actually have curves on top...

A little black dress in a synthetic material means you can throw it into the washing machine and it will dry in 10 minutes.

I really like a loose, assymetric silhouette. Again cotton jersey keeps me cool and elegant at the same time.

A bat-wing knit top that's long enough as an above-the-knee dress. Neutral colours are easy to dress up or down. I'm so tired of black!

Grey jersey on the bias. Tie just above the waist in front and the kimono sleeves make you feel like a little urban butterfly :-)

Down and Out

 I'm extremely depressed so I don't think I'll be able to blog this week... Hope you all are doing well.

Get a Haircut, Get a New Job

OK, not exactly, but tonight I got out of work at a decent hour and decided my hair really needed a trim. I'm not sure why, but it's been looking kind of dull. Even my hairdresser asked what the heck happened to my hair.

Anyway it was just a trim. I had him re-do my fringe. I think when I visit Seattle in August, I'll have my Japanese stylist over there do a more dramatic cut...

The lighting is not very good, nor is this Canon model fit for timed shooting, but you get the idea.

Don't mind the makeup either because this is taken 12 hours after application. Well, at least the NARS Angelicka blush stayed put! I used a mix of white and lilac eyeshadow to highlight the top of my cheeks.

Jamilla asked if I got my "vacay" shopping list. I sure do! I just got started a week ago:

M.A.C. blush: Mocha (matte), Breath of Plum (satin?), Vanilla or Pink Opal pigment

NARS: Sin

Jane Iredale: mascara (back-up), anything from this brand

Anything else I must get?? :-)

Still?

I hope everyone had a decent Monday! It's hard to believe (or maybe not), but my brand new, un-used Guerlain Parure Aqua liquid foundation (shade 03) and KenzoKi face recharger (still sealed in original packaging), which I've been trying to get rid of, are still in my vanity drawer. Please drop me a line if you're interested in purchasing or swapping!

Lemon, Yogurt and...

Hi I hope everyone had a good week. We actually had a three-day week in Italy, which meant I had to work double the amount to get things done for the week!

Anyway, after a stressful day, one of my favourite things to do is a do-it-yourself mask. Besides the yogurt-papaya-honey one, I also like to use fresh lemon (we even get lemons from the Amalfi Coast here) and whole yogurt.
Wow, Amalfi Coast lemons are so big, bigger than the yogurt cup! :-) I've been doing this kind of all-natural masks for a few months and my freckles seemed to have lightened up a bit, even in this spring/summer season.

Here's what you can do: squeeze a teaspoon full of lemon juice into a little bowl and add a heaping soupspoonful of whole yogurt and mix. You need quite a lot of yogurt just so the mixture won't drip :-) You will feel a slightly stingy sensation, hang in there for 10 mins and rinse with cool water. Done!

After this treatment, your skin probably won't need a moisturizer for a couple of hours, thanks to the yogurt which is very nourishing. The next morning, you will wake up with plump and butter-soft skin!


This one below is for Jess, particuarly. Because when I thought, "Hmm, does Austria have any skincare brands?" I drew a blank, but lo and behold, two unopened products are sitting in my vanity. It's Susanne Kaufmann, an all-natural, laboratory brand.

I have yet to try these out, but the ingredients look really promising and this seems like a very serious brand of skincare.

Yesterday I had nothing better to do (love my Saturdays!) so I picked up a couple of curious items:

Another nail polish by NOUBA. This one has randomly-sized orange and lime green glitter in a clear coat. The colour and glitters are pretty subtle so I like it. Full-on colours like green and blue really turn me off because they look so ghastly!

Has anyone tried Make Up For Ever's lipglosses? How do you like them?

I personally am not a fan of lipglosses because I don't like the feeling of having something sticky on my lips. BUT this one by Kiko Make Up Milano caught my attention.

The matte black packaging imitates M.A.C., but the clear gloss has a pretty purple and pink iridescence to it. So I'm willing to give it a try.

Looks pretty promising here!

Kiko Make Up Milano is another local brand here. Things are dirt cheap, which means the quality is probably crap also! The colour range is decent, but the eyeshadows and blushes don't even stay put when I just swatched it on the back of my hand.

In any case, this 4-euro gloss is purely something to play with. And I won't even feel guilty if I end up throwing it away, lol...