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!

Hard Candy Cosmetics @ Wal-Mart

Love/Hate relationship with Wal-Mart, but I HAD to pick up a few items from the "new" Hard Candy line. I'm late to the game since I haven't paid too much attention to drugstore make up releases as I usually do. Doing a bit of Google research, I caught the buzz from a few postings that Hard Candy was going out of business. If you check out the Hard Candy Website, it states that it is Under Construction. No news about what happened, but Wal-Mart has been trying to appeal to buyers who prefer higher end products. They got rid of the Mary Kate & Ashley Makeup line. Kinda glad I picked up what I wanted from that brand. I even have a couple of shadows I still need to review or give away. Hmmm? ;)

Well, Hard Candy's prices range from $5 to $10 and there is something for most gals. I picked up the following:

Just Nails Nail Color in Envy $5 - Sparkly deep green polish. I can't wait to use this during a NOTW post!

Blush Crush Baked Blush in Living Doll $7 - Reminds me of MAC's Dollymix blush which I don't have, but now I have a good dupe! It is a bright pink with some gold veining. Sheer & pretty. You definitely have to build the color if you want more intensity.

Painted Lady Lipcolor in Starlet $6 - I was hoping this was going to be a more burgundy color, but it is more berry. Why can't lippies be true to color from the tube to my lips? Still a good Fall color and I love the smooth texture of this lipstick.

Nobody's Perfect Concealer Palette in Fair $8 - I'm not one for concealer all the time, but this is a great palette that included 3 shades of concealer as well as 3 correctors! Great to have in my kit for when I have gigs and to use for myself. :)



Living Doll Blush - a clean, bright pink with hints of gold. I needed to not buy a peachy shade of blush but guess what blush I immediately picked up? Yup, the peachy one.

Nobody's Perfect Concealer Palette. I probably won't use that brush that is included. Nice to have handy, but the bristles are too long and soft. I would use a shorter, stiffer bristled brush, then blend with a cosmetic sponge.

Swatches of the blush, lipstick and palette.

Starlet on the lips.

I noticed that I never smile in my lip pictures. So here you go. Probably one of the only times you will see my smile and up close. LoL!

Envy is money. I don't think I have ever owned a deep green polish, but here is one that I like!

4 products for $26? Not too bad! There were tons of other products but most of them didn't appeal to me as much. They were either things that were in shades that I already have or they have too much glitter! My club kid/cheer days are over and the only time I would need anything with chunky glitter would be for Halloween or during other cosplay. ;) We'll see if I pick up anything else from this line. Hopefully they have seasonal promos with some different products.

Julep's Girls' Night Out For The Cure + NOTW

Some of you remember my post about Julep's Girlfriends' Night Out For The Cure at the Bellevue location right? Well, last night was the event and I had a wonderful time! :) I got mostly pics of items, rather than the event because #1 I didn't want to bother patrons and #2 I didn't feel like asking to take pics. Eeeps...embarrassed.

Ready to go! My look lately has been LOTS of black with some color. In honor of the evening, I went with a healthy dose of PINK along with my basic black leggings and favorite leather biker jacket. Funny tidbit about the jacket - this is from 6 years ago & it is an XS. My gf Gi snagged one and I had to have one. Well, this was the LAST one and only $50. So I can barely zip it shut around the girls, so if it's cold, I throw a scarf around my neck. Hahaha! Oh the things we do for fashion! It is one of the best items I've invested in since it is buttery soft leather. Sorry...no pleather jackets for me. Anyway....

Here is the spread of food & drink that they provided. I tried, 1 OF EVERYTHING. And I went back for 2nds. :p I also allowed myself to indulge in 2 glasses of wine.
Desserts and snacks - they had TROPHY cupcakes! Nom, nom, nom! I ate before I got my treatments done. I wanted to make sure I had my fill before the food was all gone!

For my 2 treatments, I chose to have a polish change and chair massage. Polish change first, then on to my 20 minute chair massage after waiting for a moment. I was so relaxed during the massage, but like all massage, MORE is better! :) I had the chance to talk to the Parlor manager Monique who told me that DT Seattle's event was packed & they even ran out of food and wine! They learned from that incident and made sure there was plenty for Bellevue's festivities. She also told me that they are having a DJ at the U-district event. Cool!

They had information on breast health & some nail polishes on display. Funny thing about that bowl of nail polish, we THINK they were free. At least I hope they were! Some other ladies were grabbing them, so I did too! I met a cute gal named Jacqueline who worked at Lululemon in Bellevue Square. We chopped it up while I was waiting for my turn at the chair massage & I wish I got a picture of her awesome track jacket! It was HOT PINK. Loves! I didn't get a chance to say bye to her, but I'll be visiting her at Lululemon to get one of those jackets!

Nails did! Susan + Holly as the odd one out. :) The gal who did my last mani Erica was working the event, so of course I had to have her do my nails again! We got caught up and I told her that I would be scheduling my future nail visits with her. She is such a sweetheart!

Swag Bag!
The bags included a full size bottle of their Refresh Lotion, Declor skincare samples, candies, supplements and tons of coupons from shops & businesses offering discounts on services.

There's even a coupon for 50% eyelash extensions at Julep! If any of you ladies in WA want this coupon, let me know and I will mail it to you! This is good until 12/31/09.

I really hope I didn't 5 finger these. I saw some other gals picking them up, so I did the same. And you know how freaking Rollolazo I am, I had to grab more than 1. I'm going to give my Mommy Penelope and my Sissy Kelly.

Swatches: Holly, Kelly, Penelope, Mandy

My gf Lani had asked for me to join her on the last Girlfriends Night Out For The Cure on 10/28 at their U-district location, so I'm going to go again! I managed to convince my bff Myra to come along too. All for the cure and what a great way to get friends together for some much needed pampering. ;) Next week's event is at the Gig Harbor location, so if any of you southenders are interested, check out Julep's Website to buy tickets!

TAG: WHO, WHAT and/or WHEN did you get started with makeup & blogging?

Vanessa from Van's Makeup Ride tagged all her beauty blogger babes with this question:

WHO, WHAT and/or WHEN did you get started with makeup & blogging?


Who got me started with makeup & when?

Like most little girls, I was fascinated with my Mommy's makeup and would get my sneaky little hands on it when she wasn't home. Biggest snoopiest kid around and I got my behind beat many, many times for being too nosey. Hahah! My Mom has used some of the same products for a number of years. Memorably, Revlon's Rachel Lovepat powder. Oh Mommy, how the color doesn't match your skintone, but it has been a staple in her makeup kit for years. One memorable makeup moment when I was younger was my fondness for this apple Mary Kay lipgloss. I would apply this on my lips and lick it right off. Nothing has changed about that since I am prone to licking yummy gloss right off my smacker! One day she found me sitting on the bathroom vanity looking at myself while applying the gloss. Well, she actually caught me licking it off the wand! Yeah, I got in BIG trouble for that. My Aunties would give me hand me down make up or we would manage to find stuff to play with at my Grandma's house when we slept over. My Sister gave me some of her make up, but I remember my first REAL purchase of make up was when I was 12 years old at Bartell Drugs in West Seattle. Wet 'n Wild cosmetics! I was going to be in a pageant that summer and thought it was the BEST excuse to buy it and start practicing how to apply make up. This was when my love for purple shadow began and it never ended. :) Over the next few years, I still stuck to the drugstore brands of make up. My first MAC purchase wasn't until my Freshman year of college, but after that first inital buy, I was hooked. Now I am a full on cosmetics junkie with way too much in my collection! Every corner in my room has something cosmetic related. It is ridonkulous. Want vs. Need...that I can never fully apply to this addiction.

This is an old pic and doesn't represent half of the collection. This was what I just had out at the time. smh

How did I get started beauty blogging?

I have a few other blogs that I update, but not as frequently as this one. I have found that writing in my journal has been therapeutic for me or as I call "Pen & Paper Therapy." I started beauty blogging in 2008 on my Xanga site that included hauls & lems for shoes and clothes, but decided that I would create a site exclusively dedicated to my love for makeup. I also wanted to kick start some kind of freelance career and get my name and work out there for reference. My first beauty post was 020808 on Xanga and my first post on leileiluvsmakeup.com was 082008. With a few breaks here and there, I've now comitted to trying to have a new post everyday. Big or small, at least something for my readers and lurkers. :)