Halloween Make-Up Tutorial

So Halloween is just around the corner and a perfect opportunity to play with make-up! I wrote an article for Yatta! magazine about last month's Portsmouth lolita meet and creepy doll tutorial. The magazine is brilliant this issue with lots of halloween-related content, and a delicious cookie recipe by Kitty Bonkers!
Click here for the online magazine! ^^

Kawaii Goods review *lots of pictures*

On the 18th September I placed an order with a friend , Kiri, for 2 Fuzzy deco bear hat lucky packs, we saw it advertised on the facebook lolita english sale. Including shipping the total price was $81 (£53). Shortly after paying I received an email from them asking since I bought 2 hats did I want one in pink and the other in white so I messaged Kiri and we decided to have both in white. It was nice of them to ask though! The estimated shipping time was 10 days but they kept sending me emails about the status of my order which for 2 days it was still being processed, then 3 days after paying they sent me an email asking for my address :S After the dilly dallying they finally sent off my order on the 24th and on the 1st October I received my package!

Battered but secure envelope and the lucky packs in one plastic bag

LP1 and LP2

Kiri wanted the first one and I wanted the 2nd one, everybody's happy! :D

Lucky Pack 1

A few close ups of the bows and accessories, this one included a black fabric purse, white netted bow, yellow rabbit ring, Milk charm and a cameo bunny necklace. Everything was stuck down with hot glue, this pack went to Kiri :) 

Lucky Pack 2
My pack! Mine came with a blue fabric purse, cute fabric bow, a mint swirly dessert ring, chocolate lolly phone charm and a blue bunny pill necklace. Both hats also come with their own individual bow clip!

This was my first order placed with Kawaii Goods and I thought that £26 for the Bear hat Lucky pack was pretty decent, I think the bear hat made up for the other items's value, it's really soft and cosy, though because the ears are so big the hat tends to topple off your head if you move too quickly. The fabric bows are also really soft and well made! I was happy with my purchase and everything was indeed kawaii.

2nd Order

And because I was so pleased with my first order I decided to place a second order with them, this time through their etsy on the 11th October. After aww-ing and hngg-ing at all their items I settled on the Fuzzy Shooting Star, Dreamy heart star and another lucky pack (The Deco 2-way Bow pack) The total price incl shipping was $32 (£21) and this time I didn't get bombarded with emails, in fact I only got one message on my etsy account telling me they had shipped it shortly after I had paid. The package arrived on the 18th Oct and this was what I found :)

Pretty tape covering an old envelope

3 bows, my clips (love them so much) 2 rings (though one broke during shipping) lolly clip and a pony fabric piece :S

Bow Lucky pack
These are really cute and again really soft! The fabrics seemed to be chosen at random and have quite a bed-timey feel about them, like pyjama material/bed sheets? They're all very well sewn too and made from nice thick quality materials. The only fault I can find though is the Minnie Mouse bow, one side is bigger than the other and one corner seems to flip outwards, no matter how much I keep it held back it refuses to stay right :( But hey, it's called a lucky pack for a reason right? 

I was also quite sad that the ring had broken, I say ring but it's actually a badge minus the pin back....which makes it quite uncomfortable to wear. The rest of the pack is lovely though and very cute as random as it may be (pony fabric??) I can't wait to decorate my bags and outfits with these!  

Like my first order, everything is stuck down with hot glue and there were quite a lot of stringy glue everywhere. My favourite are the clips though, they are adorable! The stars and heart is made of plastic so it's quite sturdy. The pink chain on the shooting star clip is also quite unsual, it looks like rope but when you touch it it's solid, I can't think of what to call it, but the differences in chains is really nice touch. All the rings are adjustable too which is fantastic since I have thin fingers, even a size S is too big for me.

Overall I am pleased with my purchases but I'd wait a while before buying more from them. I can't wait til it's properly Winter, although it's been cold lately it's not been cold enough for me to wear my hat! Also need to sort out my wardrobe and make room for more pastel colours as I feel I need to wear something cute with those bows and clips, maybe it's time I invested in some Fair Kei outfits?


My Verdict:

♥ Communication: 9/10   1st order, too much unwanted mail, I don't need 4 emails telling me my order is processing and then asking me to confirm 2 identical address's, I felt like they were sending emails to stall the shipment period.

♥ Shipping and packaging: 10/10   They arrived a lot quicker than estimated and packaging was secure

♥ Quality: 9/10    Everything lived up to the store name, bows are a bit repetitive though

♥ Value for money: 10/10    You definitely get what you paid for (and possibly more!) it's all a matter of opinion but I am super pleased with what I received

It's all in the eyes *simple makeup tutorial*

Recently I found myself listening more and more to 2NE1 and despite the fact I'm not a huge fan of Kpop I found myself surprisingly drawn to this particular girl band. So far my favourite girl would have to be Minzy. Maybe because she has the sexiest eyes ever? I blame this song:

I tried and failed to do Minzy's eye make-up and instead this is what I came up with. Originally, I was going to go to my University's Student Union for a rock night but my friend phoned me up at 11:30pm and told me not to bother going, the que was insane and I wouldn't be able to get in *sigh* Luckily I was only down my road when she phoned me so that saved me 20mins of walking to disappointment.

Before: Bare face, uneven skin tone, eye bags, baby hair, invisible eyebrows, yummy... 

After: Thank god for make-up and fringes <3 

(clicky clicky)

For my hair I just took the sides and did 2 braids then tied them together at the back. 

My plan for the night might have failed but the night was not wasted! ^^
Hope you like the tutorial! <3

Lolita craft exchange!

In August I joined a lolita craft exchange group on facebook, about 30 of us attended and one by one we were paired up. My craft partner was Sam and she specializes in making deco sweet accessories, when I saw her stuff I was so worried I wouldn't be able to produce anything to match her talent!

Examples of her work

We introduced each other, and since the craft exchange was hosted on facebook we only managed to communicate via online (though hopefully I will be able to meet her one day) and we described what each of us wanted/what our interests were. After exchanging a few messages we went to work on our craft items, she was going to make me a headress for my then-new Mother Goose and I was going to paint her a picture incorporating her favourite print- Midsummer Night's Sky. I painted this jsk-

By October we managed to finish each other's items (although we kind of missed the deadline- 18th Sept, oops!) and sent each other proof photos. I couldn't have had a better craft buddy, the headdress she had made from scratch for me was so beautiful! Whilst we were waiting to receive our things in the post I was fretting whether she would love my painting as much as I loved her headdress, but luckily she loved it! This is what I received and much to my surprise she threw in a few adorable bonus's!

And my painting! I used glitter and silver pen on some parts, which my camera failed to pick up, unfortunately the frame smashed upon arriving at her house cos the postman failed to understand what "Fragile" meant and bunged it through the door ¬_¬

 

Click for enlargement

All in all the exchange was a huge success, Sam is such a wonderful girl with great talent and attention to detail and the crafts made by the other loli's were also very nice. I had a great time painting since uni disapproves of the anime/manga style I felt like I could finally let go and enjoy myself painting my biggest passion. Just wanted to thank those who made the exchange possible and of course, my biggest thanks go to Sam <3

Hope there will be another one in the coming months!

Southampton Lolita meet!

Yesterday I attended another local loli meet!

I originally wanted to wear my Starry Sky of Mother Goose jsk but my shoes didn't arrive in time so on the morning of the meet I decided to wear my Vampire Requiem replica co-ord but due to always getting blisters on my feet walking around in heels I wore my boot instead, and a lot of walking we did! Tiring day but utterly worth it! On with the day-

We were meant to meet up at Southampton station for 12pm but my boyfriend and I was late due to missing our train (so sorry about that girls!) so by the time we were all together it was about 1pm-ish.

When we finally arrived at the Tudor House we were greeted by many compliments from both visitors and the people who worked there, most frequent question being "What's the occassion?" most said phrase "You all look so beautiful!" We managed to get a big discount due to us being a group of 10 people, normal admission price would be £4-5 but we all got in for £2 something each! After we paid we were led into the "banquet hall" which was more of a banquet room, the lights were dimmed and projections were playing on the wall whilst the "spirits" talked about the house and basic history of Southampton. (Joe, my boyfriend pointed out one of the voices sounded like Voldemort) when the "spirit's" left the curtain was drawn back so we took the opportunity to take photos.

We wandered around the place for a while and found the courtyard and a genuine cannon, an old man gave us the brief history of the cannon which we found out it's the only one left out of 12 that was commissioned by Henry the 8th to protect England from being invaded by the Spanish. It was rather interesting :)

(I'm so sorry my head eating bow is blocking Becca's face ;__; ) 

Next to the courtyard was the supposed Garden which was more of a lawn, since we came pretty late in the year nothing was in bloom but we found a pretty canopy and a mini cannon ornament, I was too small to get on the big one but I managed to conquer this one instead and added my own additions to it albeit quite badly. And since the weather was beautiful we took advantage of our boy's and had couple shots.

Left to right: Joe and me, Kyra and Dom, Christian and Kiri, Bobby and Rosanna

Middle: Monika and Becca

We were all starving by the time we left the house and after a quick vote we decided to go for chinese food! 7 of us had Dim Sum and the other 3 had a buffet, the food was so yummy! Back when I lived at home my parents would take us here every month or so.

Total price came to £65.17 so £6.50 each was totally worth it!

We regret nothing.

Of course, every city trip must include a shopping trip :D We walked around West Quays and since it was a Saturday the place was pretty packed, we got a few odd stares but nothing horrible, the pros weighed out the cons that day, lots of seniors came over just to tell us we looked lovely which brightened up our already bright day!

 

Inside West Quay and right- H&M after rummaging through the kids section and awwwwing at everything

West Quay closes at 7pm on a weekend which meant the end of another fun & frilly day as we all said our goodbyes and trotted our own way home. I can only hope my 5th meet will be as wonderful as this one, I've met 4 of the girls before but Monika was a fresh face and a beautiful one at that in fact as loli's go these are my favourite and the prettiest girls I've ever met, inside and out <3

Bonus pictures of my make up and the days' purchase: BTSSB Alice Chess babydoll I bought off Kyra, Gloomy Bear wallet/purse and pretty frame that arrived in the post the other day and accessories from H&M; Hello Kitty headband, black bow bracelet and mini pink "fox" tail (been dying to get one ever since I can remember!)

Non marked photos were taken by Monika, thanks sweetie! <3 Click photos for bigger image

Sorry for the long post!

GEO Nudy Pink *Circle Lenses*

(This review is about a year old, but nothing's changed since)    


Bought from http://www.facebook.com/fotdlooks.shop

So I woke up this morning and after waiting for 2 days (order placed on Sunday) I was over the moon to find a little parcel on my door mat. After waiting months for some prescribed GEO lenses that I ordered in August I got a little bit desperate and bought a pair of plano(non-prescription) lenses from the wonderful Samantha who runs the online-store :} 

These were £14 including p+p which are awesome as some lenses charge £20 and no p+p! This pair came with a free lens case! :D  

In soak again for 6+ hours

 No Flash

With Flash

As for the appearance of these lenses, it’s not so crazy from a far distance but close up they are amazing! :D As I have deep brown eyes the colour is a dark pink and not extremely vibrant, it blends wonderfully with my dark eyes and doesn’t make your eyes POP like some lenses do, which is fine by me. The 'halo' is also quite noticeable especially in natural daylight, but I think it looks pretty cool that way!

Overall I’d definitely recommend FOTDLOOKS to anyone who lives in the UK :D As I ordered plano lenses the delivery was quick, these lenses are genuine, you can check the authenticity code at http://www.fw1860.com/en/ and they are so comfortable to wear! And much easier to put in and take out than my normal everyday contacts. I love them and can’t wait to receive my others that I bought :}

♥ Shipping+Packaging: 10/10

♥ Enlargement: 10/10 

♥ Comfort: 10/10

♥ Value for money: 10/10

GEO Angel Green *Circle Lens*

Ever since I started wearing contacts in 2009 I got bored of my plain ones and wanted a change, then I discovered circle lenses! I did lots of research on the internet about the pros and cons, different types available and trusted sellers. Finally I settled on Pinky Paradise after reading lots of good reviews.

I bought these prescribed to -2.50 on the 6th October 2010 and they arrived on the 14th! So super quick delivery for a company that’s overseas and ships prescribed lenses! These costed £18.68 including p+p and came with these free super cute lens cases!

Soak for 6+ hours

  No Flash

With Flash

As you can see in daylight they’re quite a bright but natural colour and just a tad bit brighter with flash. I have had some dude ask me whether they were my natural eye colour or not, which for an asian person like myself, would be kinda cool to have an eye colour other than brown. So I guess it’s natural enough, although the guy was pretty drunk so I don’t know if that counts? As for the comfort factor I don’t know if it’s because they’re prescribed or not but my eyes do feel a little irritated after 4-5 hours but 6+ hours later they feel fine, I guess I just have weird eyes ^^

So my verdict? The shipping was uber fast, I’d buy from them again if I was in a hurry, and they do sell 100% genuine lenses. The lenses themselves do enlarge your eyes and with the outer black rim it really makes your eyes pop, and sometimes they feel a little uncomfortable but nothing a few rubs won't sort out. But these aren't the largest pair I own.

♥ Shipping+Packaging: 10/10

♥ Enlargement: 9/10 

♥ Comfort: 7/10

♥ Value for money: 9/10