NOTW: Nailene Couture Runway Designs in Platinum

Been in a lil bit of a funk today and decided to do my NOTW with Nailene Couture Runway Designs in the Platinum.

Trendy with a funky french tip. These are a bit thicker than the Nailene So Real Nails but don't feel any different. The set comes with 24 nails in 12 sizes, glue, cuticle stick and nail file. As always with glue-on nails, make sure your nails are clean & filed before applying. I like to wipe down each nail with nail polish remover to take away any natural oils on the nail bed, then let the nails dry.

I wish I had a steady enough hand to create this on my nails! These would be a fun option for going out, not so much for the office since this is pretty trendy. For about $6, you can have those perfect nails for less than what you would pay for at a salon.

Cherry Culture Sale!

Cherry Culture is having a sale! 25% off all eyeshadow! This is a great time to snag something for yourself or start some holiday shopping early. I like NYX & Milani eyeshadows. Hurry! This offer ends tomorrow! :)

Amuse Mineral Blush

I've had this blush for awhile now and it has been sitting in my "To Review" pile. Well, for good reason because there really weren't great qualities. I bought this from www.cherryculture.com, by the way, this isn't even on their site anymore and the other Amuse Mineral cosmetics are on sale. Go figure. The swatch above was after several swipes. I was a bit more tan when I took that photo and it was difficult for the color to show up on my skin. This would be a decent choice for gals with a more fair skintone to give just some light color on the apples of your cheeks. I would choose the darker out of the 2 shades to use as a blush and leave the lighter one to use as a highlighter.

Testing!

An entry done mobily. Still getting used to this, but I foresee more lil mo'blogs in the very near future. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhizzle

Don't you hate LE items?

Image from hyperban on eBay

I DO! My bestie Cat introduced me to Bath & Body Works' Japanese Cherry Blossom Rice Dry Oil Spray and Sake Oil To Cream Body Wash. Damn her for doing so because this was limited edition from Holiday '08. I ended up buying 6 bottles of each during the summer and now I am down to 3 in my stash. Really trying not to use them, but they are WONDERFUL! The Dry Oil Spray was perfect in the summer to lightly moisturize and add fragrance. Right now since I need more moisture, I layer with either the Body Lotion or Triple Moisture Body Cream. The Oil To Cream Body Wash is LUXE. I like working this into my skin with just my hands, but I sometimes use my mesh sponge if I feel like I need to exfoliate, but I feel like the moisturizing properties are going to waste if I do that!

Please Bath & Body Works, bring these items back! I'll be forced to scour eBay & pay close to retail price when the 3 bottles run out. :(

Dear Santa....Part I

Usually around the Holiday there are some great giftsets that I lem. Well, I haven't really found many, but here is a start of what has caught my eye/nose so far!

Image from www.victoriassecret.com
Victoria's Secret Velvet Amber Blackberry Body Lotion $22

Described as:
"Introducing Velvet Amber Blackberry, the latest fragrance from Parfums Intimes, our lingerie-inspired fragrance collection. Velvet Amber Blackberry was designed to evoke the unique sensation of velvet - the plush texture, the rich depth of color, the indulgence. The fragrance adorns skin in the luxurious warmth of amber, lusciously ripe French blackberries and sheer Turkish rose."

I happened to smell this last week and love it! Winter is when I choose more headier scents. Right now I've been slathering on lotions rather than spritzing perfume. Currently I'm using Bath & Body Works' Japanese Cherry Blossom & Twilight Woods.

Image from www.saks.com
La Mer - The Connoisseur Skincare Collection at Saks Fifth $395

Described as:
"A simple daily beauty ritual. All three essentials work in tandem to deliver a soft and healthy, more luminous appearance each day. Fine lines fade from view as a more radiant appearance emerges. This limited-edition collection is the ideal way to experience a daily transformation for a lifetime."

Obssessed with keeping up with my appearance. Trying to be better inside and out & a girl really needs to have some La Mer in her life right? I've read the reviews, heard about what stars swear by this stuff. Come on, I read that Kimora slathers this all over. Fabulosity! I'll accept the age in # form, but I refuse to have a prematurely aging mug.

Oh Santa...see I put something cheap and steep on the wishlist thus far in the beauty category. Now, my Amazon wishlist is another thing. ;) Its actually mostly cooking items - I would <3 a lil Henkels & Calphalon up in the mix too. :)

Hello Kitty Order Freebie

I ordered my iPhone cover today and along with the order came a free 2010 Sanrio Datemate. I got really excited. My gawd, how old am I? Hahaha!

Hello Kitty!

Non beauty related post. I will soon be converting from a BlackBerry to an iPhone. Go figure that I would be working with a company that is competition. So now I'll be getting another phone that is competion. Haha! Well, I'll be getting this to cover it up. ;) I really wish the sanrio.com site was cooperating and would let me complete my order. Arrggh! How is it that my zip code is incorrect when I'm typing the correct+4 zip?

NOTW: Hard Candy Envy

After a couple weeks of having Julep Girls' Night Out For The Cure mani's, I finally did my own manicure at home using the gorgeous Hard Candy nail polish in Envy. Deep & dark, just the way I like my fall shades.


This is money...literally. I applied the following: 1 coat OPI Natural Nail Strengthener, 1 coat Orly Bonder Rubberized Basecoat, 2x coats Hard Candy nail polish in Envy and 1 coat of Orly Nail Lacquer Topcoat. Thick! I really needed to use the nail strengthener because my last 2 manicures didn't have any and I noticed they were peeling when I took the polish off. :\


I filed the nails really short this time and rounded them out since a few nails were peeling. Do you notice anything different? No Odd One Out! I actually forgot to grab another color and got lazy to get up and grab another color. Haha! Change it up for once and I actually have all 10 nails in the same color.

POP Beauty - Hello Gorgeous Palette

I haven't had a chance to use this palette enough, but this did come in handy when I went to LA back in February! It was nice to have just one palette of shadows instead of several individual shadows. I just have so much product that some items end up forgotten. :( I picked this up at Ulta for $20 which was such a great deal.

From www.popbeauty.co.uk -

The best of POP Beauty in a pretty jewelry box! This limited-edition silver croc box contains POP best sellers for eyes, cheeks, and lips. Once the makeup runs out, this magic silver box doubles as a pretty jewelry box.

Over 50 shades and colours that are the "best of" tasters from POP's current products.


The packaging definitely grabbed my attention. Why hello there makeup palette! :)


I like how this palette has a mirror on the lid and it says hello gorgeous right back at you. One gripe is the lid doesn't stay open. What would help is if there was a supporting arm to prop it open.

There are 10 lippies and 2 trios of blush/bronzer on the top lid. I haven't used the lippies, but I did use the blush/bronzer trios. Both are quite light and you need to use a few swipes to achieve some color.


36 shadows and 2 brush/sponge tip applicators on the bottom. Lots of colors! But the shadows don't have quite the intensity that I was hoping for. Priming your lids first with a shadow primer and also a cream eyeshadow stick will help the colors show on your lid.

I think this palette would be great for someone who is relatively new to makeup or someone who likes lighter shades. I brought this palette when I traveled and it held up well. No broken shadows/blushes and no melting. I kept the plastic carton it came in to store and to travel. I do notsee this product offered at Ulta anymore, but you can purchase from POP Beauty's website Hello Gorgeous Palette.

Been M.I.A. & Hello November!

It has been a busy few weeks and have been dealing with a certain situation. Oh how life catches up to you and you have to face the music. I was busy last week with some volunteer opportunities, including a dinner and auction that benefitted the Filipino youth of Seattle. I had a great time and was able to connect with some folks from college that I haven't seen in awhile. Getting to the dinner and auction was another story. Ugghh...the joys of not having a great public transportation system here in WA. On a good front regarding the job hunt, I will be working again with my old team! I'm excited that I've been given a great opportunity to not only start working, but to learn and grow into a role. Please bear with me as I transition from JL gal with plenty of time on her hands to post everyday & gather new product every week, to the working girl with limited time on her hands and no new prod in weeks. I can't believe it either that I haven't bought anything make up related in awhile. o_O

Lemmings! HAI Flat Iron & Turbo Hair Dryer

I have been on the search for the ideal flat iron and hair dryer. Currently, I have a CHI flat iron that I do love, but I am lemming for a larger one with variable heat settings. I am also looking to invest in another hair dryer. One with different settings and that dries my thick hair FAST. My gf introduced me to the following brands and every time we travel, she has both of these in tow and it makes me want 'em even more!
HAI Classic Convertable 1-1/4" Ceramic Styling Iron This is the best flat iron I have tried so far. I do love my CHI, but there are some days when I need a hotter heat setting to get waves or kinks out of my hair! Usually my girl has this on the highest setting which I turn down, but when we were on vacation in humid weather, I actually had heat setting on HIGH. There is no drag with this flat iron and the plates stay smooth. I would recommend this iron for people with varying hair types since you can adjust the amount of heat needed to style your hair.

Turbo Power Twin Turbo 3200 in pink for me! She has a similar dryer from the same brand and this dryer is QUICK. I really hate spending 10-15 minutes drying my hair with a mediocre dryer. I have a Bed Head one that I was hoping would be great, but its aight. :\ This dryer on the other hand can get my hair dry in less than 10 minutes and it isn't extremely hot! It more direct air than heat to dry your hair, saving it from being completely ravaged by heat. The last thing that gals with course hair need is to have it be even bigger after blow drying than it normally is!


Images from amazon.com

BBW: Twilight Woods - Available now!

Image from www.bathandbodyworks.com
During a quick stop at the mall before heading to my parent's, I meadered inside Bath & Body Works and noticed a new scent. The latest scents that have unveiled have left a not so pleasant smell in my nose, but Twilight Woods was something I actually liked! The release date for Twilight Woods was set at 11/2, but they moved the date to 10/23 due to the popularity of the pre-release. I wasn't able to snag any lotions since they didn't have any left, but I did get a 4 oz candle for $5! Today I took advantage of the buy 3, get 2 free promotion and they also have in-store coupons, 1 of which you could use for your purchase today for a free product of up to a $13 value! Score! The other coupons were to use in November and December for discounts off your total purchase.

I picked up 3 lotions each of Twilight Woods and Japanese Cherry Blossom, which work well as Fall/Winter scents for me. Although, I do like using the Japanese Cherry Blossom Dry Oil Spray in the summer. That was LTD and I'm hoping they have it again during the Holiday and during their stock up sales. The 3 types of lotions I picked up were the normal Body Lotion, Limited Edition Silk Radiance Body Lotion and Triple Moisture Body Cream. I also grabbed a 2 oz body lotion for $1 to throw in my purse.

FOTD: BFF/MOH

It has been a busy week for me! My last post was on Thursday and its not like me to go without posting on a daily basis! I've been out of the house. Not with work, but with my Pinay Sa Seattle sistahs! Rehearsals everyday for our 3rd Anniversary Show, Sinilangan, on Friday. I'm proud to be a new member to this organization and I am looking forward to giving back to the community and being a part of making changes in the Filipino community. :)

*yawn* I woke up at 8 AM on a Sunday to help my BFF Myra with her makeup for a wedding where she is the MOH. I didn't get as many pictures because we were on a time crunch.

Products used-

Face:
-Smashbox Photo Finish Light Foundation Primer
-Her own foudation & powder
-Hard Candy Nobody's Perfect Concealer Palette - Fair (Yellow to under the eyes and middle shade concealer.
-NARS Blush in Deep Throat
-MAC Minerlize Skin Finish in Shimpagne (highlighted around eyes and above cheek bones)
-Contoured with Blush/Contour Palette

Eyes:
-UDPP
-MAC Paint Pot in Cashflow in the crease
-MAC Eyeshadow in Glamour Check! in the outer-v & contour
-MAC Pigment in Blonde's Gold on the brow bone
-Highlighted with Bone & Sparkly Champagne shades
-MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack on upper lashline
-MAC Power Kohl Liner in Orpheus on lower lashline
-Eye Noon 1/2 lash SK-HO (got these in Cali in February)
-Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara in Soft Black 2x coats on the top lashes, 1x on bottom
-Anastasia Brunette Brow Powder (used dark powder)

Lips:
-MAC Lipliner in Soar
-NARS Lipgloss in Sex Machine
-MAC Lipglass in Gold Charm on the bow and center of bottom lip

Hamming it up. She was getting frustrated with her hair. Hahah! The joy of bangs not laying right.

Here is the Best Man Brian aka "Dad". Hahaha! First time featured on leileiluvsmakeup.com. :D

NOTW: Tootsies - Victoria

Just a quickie!

Sometimes I don't realize how quick my toenails grow. Gross I know, but during the summer, I'm usually in zorris or opened toed shoes and don't notice that the talons are growing. Well, I noticed last week that my toes hurt after wearing boots all week because they were getting long. :\ Yuck. But, there is a but! I didn't have any chips or gray heel. I did some maintenance at Julep and did the PDQ Pumpkin Spice Pedicure with my fave vernisseur Erica. I wanted to try Victoria which is a shimmery copper. I think I actually like this color on my toes rather than Lucy because it isn't too dark. I think this may become a Fall/Winter regular this season!

Tropez Jewel Dust Quad & INColor Fabuliner in Black

Bargains! Bargains! Bargains!

I will always push both cheap and steep products because everyone should be able to treat themselves in big and small ways. :) One of the best drugstores around is Walgreens because they always have great deals in the cosmetics department. A couple of brands that I have not tried are Tropez & INColor, both which are affordable.
I picked up Tropez's Opposites Attract Eyeshadow Quad in Jewel Dust $3 and INColor's Fabuliner in Black $2 from Walgreens awhile back. For you 206 heads - 23rd & Jackson...by the Promenade in the CD baby!

My partial to purple shadwows...always. I really don't see how these are opposites, but the color combination works and is beautiful!
The top 2 shades are lighter in pigmentation and the bottom 2 are brighter and have a metallic finish. I would use these shades more so in the summer, but this may make it to an upcoming FOTD/EOTD and I could play on the copper shade and deepen it with another shadow to make it more Fall-like.

Ok, this picture trips me out. The perception of the cap in comparison to the pen, makes it look like the cap is floating. Random.

I am not partial to felt liners. I like to wear my liner heavy on the top & sometimes liquid liners can be streaky and not as dark as I would like. This would probably be a good choice if you wear like a fine line close to your lashline. I made a couple of lines and some dots to show what you can achieve with the point on this liner. This would be good for creating designs on the face and/or eye area.

Evolution Of Smooth Lipbalm

I had tried posting this before 12 AM, but blogger was being a pain in the behind. Its late, but here it is!

I had seen this on Tammy's blog and I had to find it. Sure enough, Evolution Of Smooth was at Wal-Greens. 2 for $6
All organic and NOT tested on animals AND paraben free!
My gf snapped this of me. When I busted this out at a gathering people were asking, "What is that? Is that an egg? Is that balut?" Really guys? Why would I have an egg or balut in my purse? Well, my nephew calls it an egg too and he loved it so I gave him the other one. Hahaha! He even pretends to crack it open like an egg. :D

Nicole Nailpolish - Shimmy, Shimmy

A return for me at a store is 95% of the time an exchange rather than a return. Its $ already spent and so I can shop and not feel guilty about it. Haha! Sneaky, sneaky. Well, I had to return a couple of things at Marshall's and ended up leaving with 3 things. But at least they were still less than what I returned. One of my picks was this Nicole nailpoilsh in Shimmy, Shimmy.

I've definitely been in to dark polishes lately, with the exclusion of a few pale shades.


I actually picked this up by accident instead of another color that I was eyeing, which I'll be going back to get! Gorgeous eggplant with tons of microfine shimmer.


I can't wait to use this during a NOTW! I have so many nail products to feature for NOTWs! What colors have you been drawn to this season?

FOTD: PINK!

In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month and tonight's Girlfriends' Night Out For The Cure event at Julep Nail Parlor in Bellevue, I decided to go for an overdose of PINK! Not completely head to toe, but just enough in my standards to be too much. Hahha!

Products used-

Face:
-Garden Natural Balance Foundation in Caramel
-Hard Candy Blush Crush in Living Doll

Eyes:
-UDPP Sin
-Milani Runway Eyes Eyeshadow in Royalty all over lid
-NYX Chrome Eyeshadow in Geisha in the crease
-MAC Pigment in Helium on the brow bone
-MAC Fluidline in Blitz & Glitz on upper lashline
-MAC Power Kohl Liner in Orpheus on lower lashline
-Mattese Elite Lashes in #46 from Ricky in the 305
-Sephora Atomic Volume Mascara 2x coats on the top lashes
-Anastasia Brunette Brow Powder (used light powder) & set with Brow Gel

Lips:
-MAC Hollywood Nights Lipstick
-MAC Dazzleglass in Steppin' Out


During my chair massage, I was in one of those seats where your face rests on a cushion. Well, I'm short and my face was smooshed on the bottom and my new lashes got wrecked! :\ Was it worth it for the massage? YES! Ah well, I'm sure I'll find some replacements or I can just order them from Ricky's Website.
I cut them just a teeny bit on the inner corners to fit my eyes better. The more I look at this pic, I get a lil sad. I think I will give in and order some since these were very light and not too over the top. *le sigh*






Outfit Of The Day (OOTD):

-The fave motorcycle jacket
-Magenta tank tunic from Express; I needed some coverage since I had one too many salty fries for lunch at Spitfire Grill. Hahaha!
-Black stirrup leggings from Wal-Mart Miley Cyrus/Max Azaria line random!
-BCBG Dishys

Hmmm? What should I wear for my 2nd Girls' Night Out For The Cure on 10/28? :p

Recycle Idea: Nail Polish Holder

I love finding 2nd uses for things and its especially better when I can use something that I would normally throw away!

My Orly Bonder was packaged with this plastic insert. Normally I would throw these out, but I found that I could use this as...

a nailpolish holder! This provides the perfect angle to tilt the bottle allowing me to dip the brush into the polish. Usually I'm trying to avoid smearing my polish while holding the bottle at angle. Sometimes I even put the bottle between my knees, but knowing how prone I am to being clumsy, I could see one huge mess happening. Now I can safely do my nails in bed. Not that I would suggest any of you guys do it! Hahaha!