Update Time!

Hello ladies!!  Sorry with the lack of updates recently, I have been so busy!!  I officially moved out of my sh*tty apartment and into my boyfriend's place.  I am soo glad to be out of that place, it is seriously one of the WORST apartments I have ever lived in.  It was damp all the time, and worst of all MOLDY.  As I was cleaning and packing my things I threw away clothes and shoes in my closet and drawers that were moldy, it was sooo disgusting! Even my guitar case had mold on it, but good thing it didn't get to my guitar.  Right after I moved to my boyfriend's place I did laundry...and washed ALL of my clothes, it took me like 3 days to finish all the laundry but it was worth it! Everything smells and feels so fresh and clean now.  

Anyway, I haven't blogged about the SF meet up yet! Haha it feels so long ago, but it took place during my finals so I didn't have time to update.  It was a lot of fun!! Finally got to meet Fuz in person, she is like a goddess, so tall and elegant!  Even wearing my highest heels I was still so short haha. 

Met lots of lovely readers and bloggers, and Mihoko of Mihoko Shop! Turns out we go to the same school and if I ever order anything I can just pick it up from her haha, and turns out Lulu and I are neighbors! Excuse me, were neighbors.  We lived literally right next door to each other, what a small world.  

Picture time!

This was taken BEFORE I started drinking.  I had some sort of champagne cocktail, wasn't very good.  For some reason when I drink I become very red, very pale, and very swollen at the same time.  I definitely have the glow T_T

Everyone with their shot of Kamikaze, which is Fuz's favorite drink.  It was quite delicious, but tasted more like a fruity cocktail than a shot.

The Mandarin speaking ladies haha!  L to R: Me, Fuz, Sarah (a reader), and Mihoko of Mihoko Shop. 

Gawd my dress was so awfully wrinkly.

Paparazzi shot of J Doll and Fuz!

Everyone outside for a group picture. :)  Some people had to leave early though.  

My eyes for the night~

A smoky plum look.  I believe I used MAC Blackground Paint Pot, Urban Decay Last Call eyeshadow, MAC Nocturnelle and MAC Clair de Lune eyeshadow.

I was actually really happy with how this look turned out, perhaps I will do a tutorial...

Olivia and Fuz were very generous and gave everyone gifts!

From Olivia:

Those snacks were SO yumm I need to get some more of them!  The Victoria's Secret balm is amazing, I've been using it everyday! It's my new favorite.  Thank you Olivia!

From Fuz~

I've always wanted to try the Boscia Blotting linens! And the Korres gloss is super cute, and Jonathan Product straightening balm I haven't tried yet but looks very interesting! Thank you Fuz. 

Oh and for my nails I wore one of the OPI polishes that Angie gave me, called Pompeii Purple.  A gorgeous hot pink with duotone purple.

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I haven't been wearing much makeup recently because I haven't had time!! Moving sucks and drains so much of your time and energy.  The worst part is having to clean the apartment :(  Buttt I spent a little extra time putting on more makeup the day before I moved, but kept it very natural and minimal~

Can't remember what I used really... By the way, picture taken with my boyfriend's new Fujifilm camera.  So jealous!! He got a newest version of the camera that I broke as a birthday present from his sister.  Now that we're living together, I think I'm going to use his camera for taking pictures :P

My hair has been looking quite drab lately as well, I need to get a trim! It's getting pretty long and shapeless.  

And I've finally finished my Boscia skincare stuff!

It's kind of funny that I finished both of these at the same time.  I really really loved these products, my skin absolutely loved them, especially the Recharging Night Cream, seriously amazing stuff!  Thank you for all of your suggestions on a new eye cream! I have already bought a replacement eye cream, which I will save for another post :) 

As for a new night cream I've been using the Garnier Aqua Defense cream that I bought from China, it is an Asian exclusive I believe.  It's actually not bad for a drugstore prouduct! But definitely not as good as the Boscia one, maybe I will just repurchase it.   

Whew that was a long post, had to catch up from my weeks of absence!  I just flew back home yesterday, going to be home for 2 weeks before I have to fly back to start my internship.  2 weeks to relax before I start working some crazy hours!  I'm going to take lots of pics of my doggie :)

Quick Update

Hi guys, I have been neglecting my blogging duties for a reason! Just finished with my final exams, sigh so stressful but it's finally over.  I have just been relaxing at home, sleeping IN and fulfilling all the jewelry orders I got right before finals.  

And now I have to start packing everything so that I can move out of my apartment!  Going to be crashing with the boyfriend for the summer because the lease for my new apartment starts in September.  I have about 2 weeks to relax and get settled in before I start working in June.  T_T so I am going to be busy for the next week again, packing, moving, all those good things.  Sigh, haven't had time to do makeup let alone buy any new things! But I foresee some big hauling in the near future :P 

In the meantime, I am dangerously running low of my eye cream for nighttime!! I've been using the Boscia Enlivening Amino-AG Treatment and it's really good but I wanna try something new, any suggestions?? It has to be super duper moisturizing but does not give me millia.  Please suggest some new eye creams for me!  No more than $50 please haha I am on a student budget. 

I am pimping out the new interesting update on my jewelry blog haha

~audrie makes jewelry~

Giveaway Winner!

Here are the people that entered.  52 in total:

1. Beauty Snap

2. Miss Wiggle

3. Diane

4. Dianna

5. mzkrystall

6. leslielovesmakeup

7. Lulu

8. Nic Nic

9. Catherine

10. cleung341

11. k*

12. blu3

13. Lily

14. Jane

15. Cris

16. Izumi

17. AbcGrrrL

18. Anastacia

19. Jess

20. Yumeko

21. sindylicious

22. MiuMiu

23. theotherworldly

24. adin_22

25. sooji

26. Yin

27. Danitza

28. fuzkittie

29. Pop Champagne

30. Tamara

31. M

32. Linda

33. JL

34. Zilly

35. Citrine

36. Justine

37. Fran

38. Anesse

39. Blair

40. IchigoBunnie

41. Tee

42. Sassy Jadore

43. Caroline

44. May

45. Shuu

46. Amy

47. Harri W.

48. Huai-Ann

49. smilecusiluvu

50. angie519

51. Muffy

52. Soapaholic

And the winner is...

#9. Catherine!!!

Thank you all for participating in my very first giveaway!! I loved reading all of your suggestions and I am going to check out some of the lip balms that were mentioned! Lots of people raved about The Body Shop lip balms and Rosebud Salve, I actually have tried both of those before and I really like the Body Shop ones! Maybe I will go and give Rosebud Salve another try...hahah. 

I hope to have more giveaways in the future!

Catherine please email me with your mailing address :)  alltheprettyshimmers@gmail.com

My Top 5 Favorite Eyeshadows, Camera, new Necklace

I am taking a break from studying to blog! haha.  

If you haven't already done so, please JOIN MY MINI GIVEAWAY!!  It ends 12:00AM May 15th so get your entries in!  

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I am going to start a new category of posts called My Top 5's.  Basically, showing you what are my top 5 favorite products from different categories!  Today's category is Eyeshadows.  

I can categorize my eyeshadows as either MAC, or non-MAC, haha.  Even though I am not really that into MAC, most of my eyeshadows are still from them because I think they are very great quality for the price, and has a huuuge color selection with tons of unique shades.  Plus, I love how I can customize my own palettes.  

So here are my Top 5 Favorite MAC Eyeshadows:

Clockwise from the top: Woodwinked, Satin Taupe, Sumptuous Olive, Femme-Fi, and Copperplate. 

You know how much I love Femme-Fi, there is already a very big dip in it and I expect to hit pan anyday now!  I've had Satin Taupe for a long time, maybe 2 years? I hope to one day hit pan on that as well haha.  As you can tell I love my boring neutral colors, I reach for these colors when I don't want to think about what to wear, they're safe and they never fail me!  Sometimes all I do is swipe one of the darker colors on the lid, highlight with Femme-Fi, put some liner and mascara and I'm good to go.  

Swatches:

L to R: Copperplate, Woodwinked, Satin Taupe, Sumptuous Olive, Femme-Fi

Now I want to share my Top 5 Non-MAC Eyeshadows:

NARS Cordura duo (of course), Stila mousse shadow pot in Amber, and from L to R in front: Milani Java Bean, Urban Decay Mildew, Urban Decay Last Call.

The Stila mousse shadow pots are so amazing, I have another one in Smoke which is a pretty silvery blue color.  Too bad they are discontinued :(  I'm not one to chase discontinued stuff and hoard them like crazy so I'm not THAT sad, because there are always newer and better products coming out! :P  The UD shadows are so incredibly pigmented, they'are almost *creamy*, especially Last Call, one of the most pigmented and beautiful shadows I own, I should really use it more often!  As for the Milani Java Bean, it's incredibly pigmented for its price ($3!!) and definitely the best drugstore eyeshadow ever, very comparable to MAC.  In fact, if you didn't tell me I wouldn't even know that it was a drugstore shadow, it's that good.  

Swatches:

L to R: Milani Java Bean, UD Last Call, UD Mildew, Stila Amber mousse shadow pot, NARS Cordura duo.

Speaking of which, the NARS Corduro tutorial and the How to Trim Your Bangs tutorial are coming after I finish my exams! :D

That was fun picking my Top 5's, I think I will do lippies next!!

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Thank you all for your sympathies about my broken camera!! I'm still really sad, and right now I am using my boyfriend's big chunky Canon 40D with L 24 - 70mm lens and 580EX II flash. It is SO HEAVY my gawd.  But the pictures sure come out niiicee, I suck at focusing though so some pictures may be blurry :( Very noob of me.   I really want the Panasonic Lumix LX3 as a replacement for my broken one.  DROOOOOOL.  

It also comes in silver, which Xiaxue has! But I like it in black, because it looks vintage-y haha.   It's sold out everywhere though T_T

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I made a new necklace!!! 

No I did not make this while studying for finals, it was made before finals week so technically I still have been a diligent student! Besides checking on my blogs once in a while...haha.  

Added another piece to the Wrapped collection~

The Rainbow Tree Necklace

Click to see more pictures! 

Mini Giveaway!!

Hi everyone, my classes for this semester are officially over!  Time to start studying for finals... T_T.  So I won't be updating very much this week and the next because I will be cramming like crazy for finals haha.  Sooo before I disappear for a week or two I wanted to do a fun little giveaway, my FIRST giveaway!  

You all know that I am a huge lip balm lover, so I wanted to give away some of my favorite lip balms ever for you to try.  This giveaway is open to EVERYONE around the world, and the rules are very simple, all you have to do are the following:

-Be a follower of my blog

-Leave me a comment on this post (no Anonymous please) telling me what your favorite lip balm is and why.  (I would love to try new lip balms so I wanna hear suggestions!) 

Winner will be chosen randomly.  Giveaway ends May 15th at 12AM Pacific Time, and winner will be announced later that day. :) 

Goodies (all brand new & sealed of course):

Nivea A Kiss of Shine lip balm/gloss

Rachel Perry Lip Lover in Raspberry-Cherry

Oiseau lip balm in Sweetheart 

And don't be surprised if I include some extras!

I did reviews of all of these in this post.  

Have fun!

Broken Camera, Friendship award, New Jewelry

omg...OMG.  

I was in the middle of filming my "How to trim your bangs" tutorial, and my camera FELL on the floor, the zoomed out lens was completely skewed to one side so I freaked out and tried to bend it back...uhh BAD IDEA.  I heard something crack inside and a little piece of plastic fell out!! Ahhh I broke my camera!!  I don't even know if it is fixable at all, I can't use it that's all I know... :(  I am so sad because this is a special camera, it was my very first Christmas present that my boyfriend gave me 3 years ago....sigh.  

For the meantime I borrowed one of his compact cameras but it really sucks!  My Fujifilm cam was soo awesome, they no longer make this model and if you were to buy it online it is being sold for twice the amount of the original price!! I can't believe I broke my favorite camera!!  I guess I will have to make do with this crappy camera in the meantime... T_T

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Thank you Fuz, Jess, Akisa, Nic Nic,  Ning Star, and Mayaari for giving me the Friendship Award!

   The rules are:

1. Take your award here.
2. Put the logo on your post.
3. Link the person who awarded you.
4. Nominate at least 7 other bloggers.
5. Add the links of those bloggers on yours.
6. Leave a message for your nominees.

I am gonna tag EVERYONE on my blog list...haha.

Alienman
Aileen
Akisa

Alyssa
Anastacia

Angie

Arashi

Askmewhats
Beauty Snap
Bihada Diaries

Birkin Bag Beauty
Blair
BUNNiE
Caroline
Catherine

Chi

Chiara
Christiana
Citrine
Dan Dan Noodle

Diane
Diamond Enigma

Dreamer Dreamer
Eki
Eri

Fuzkittie
gingerbee

Ichigobunnie
Jamilla
KT

Ladystarr
Leslie
Loveshara

Mona

Mayaari

miemiemie
Not all Sugar and Spice
May 

Miu Miu

Nic Nic
Ning Star

Jess

Rae

Connie
Sarah
Smiles

Stephy
Sormui

Tao

Vivi
Yinmei
Yumeko

Umm I think I got everyone...omg never doing that again haha. 

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New jewelry is up on my blog! 

Click click 

Modern Red Earrings

And repromoting my Organic Matter necklace, as modeled by my lovely roommate!

Sephora Haul, eki love kawaii Order, NOTD

Yesterday was not a pleasant day at all. The boyfriend's birthday present was supposed to arrive yesterday via Fedex, and I missed the package so I had to go in person to pick it up. Well long story short I was running late and got lost on my way there, and by the time I found the location they had already closed...argh!! I was so upset and also PMSing that I was screaming and yelling at my boyfriend on the phone even though it really had nothing to do with him...hahah. :P

To cheer myself up I stopped by Sephora since it was really close to the Fedex office. I only picked up one thing, got the Benefit Girls Night In pack~

I've been wanting this for a while!! Finally decided to get it...it was a really good deal, only $38 for tons of stuff!

It came with 2 creaseless cream shadows, 1 lipstick, 1 brush, and some magnets.

Full Finish lipstick in Lady's Choice. The color is so pretty, a soft pinky nude color. The texture is really true to its name: FULL finish. It's super creamy and very very opaque, one swipe pretty much completely covers up my natural lipcolor! Definitely the most pigmented lipstick I have. It's a little different for me because I usually go for sheer and glossy lipsticks.

Creaseless Cream shadow in Birthday Suit, very pretty neutral champagne color!

Creaseless cream shadow in Skinny Jeans. This is so pretty, like a taupe color, very similar to MAC Sweet Sienna pigment.

The eyeshadow brush it came with. I think you're supposed to apply the eyeshadows with this, but I prefer to apply cream shadows with my fingers, they blend more easily that way. I'm going to use this as a concealer brush.

Finally, some completely useless magnets...haha why do they even bother to include these?! So pointless.

Some swatches. Sorry for the blurriness!! My camera was having a really hard time focusing on the swatches for some reason.

I can't wait to use these!

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I ordered some cute hair accessories from the lovely Eki, and I received my package today!  

ahh such pretty wrappings.

GASP!! I totally do NOT remember ordering so many...she included 2 extra bows!! Plus some yummy strawberry candy and Skin Food samples. Thank you so much Eki~

I got a pair of the super cute mini bows in black and pink. These are so adorable, she does such a perfect job with the bows!

Also got a big flower hair clip, I love the little pearls inside!  

Also got the cute pink flower clip on the bottom, and she threw in an extra flower clip! yay!!

Another extra bow she threw in!! I LOVE this one, the double layers, the heart, everything! I haven't seen these 2 extra designs on her blog yet, so maybe she will be offering them in the future?  

Please check out her kawaii hair accessories here, they are just too cute for words.  

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Finally, I tried out one of the OPI polishes that Angie got me, this one is called Argenteeny Pinkini.  Heheh the name is so cute. 

Such a soft, feminine pink!  Makes me feel very girly :)

Love Package from Angie, Reddish Bronze FOTD

This morning, while I was still in bed, the doorbell rang and when I went to answer it, the mail man dropped off a huuge package!!

I was really excited and ripped it open immediately while I was still half awake haha.  It's from the coolest blogger ever...Angie!!  

She totally packed it full of goodies!

TONS of Silk Whitia and My Beauty Diary masks! I have always wanted to try these because everyone raves about them.  

Desert Essence lip balm, it's her favorite! I'm really excited to try it, I love lip balms as you all know...

More lipbalms!  She gave me a Perfumeria Gal lip balm in Red Currant, love this cute packaging!  

Now I can add to my mini little collection of these haha.  Don't they look so cute next to each other?

A sample of Yu-Be cream, she uses this on her lashes so I'm excited to try this, I want longer and fuller lashes!!

the CUTEST little Dior palette!

It's in Beige Massai I believe.  So cute and it comes with its own mirror!! This would be great for traveling.

Sugar Shellac gloss.  I forgot the name but it is this very pretty baby pink color, totally up my alley because I am really into baby pinks right now~

It smells very delicious, like coconut cream pie! mmmMMm. 

She also included some OPI's!!

omg I am so in love with these colors, they are perfect for the upcoming warmer months!  More OPI's to add to my growing little collection~

Maybe one day I will have as large of an OPI collection as Angie hahah.  

THANK YOU Angie for your lovely package, it really made my day. *hearts*

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Sooo today I decided to do a reddish bronze look.  It was supposed to be like a copper color, but it came out a lot more muted than I wanted.  

What I used:

I used MAC Blackground paint pot as a base, then dabbed on some Milani Flare (I think?) on the lid, a reddish copper color, blended some MAC Carbon to make it more smoky and highlighted with MAC Vanilla pressed pigment.  

On my cheeks I used NARS Lovejoy blush.  I had forgotten about this one! It's a great blush/bronzer, I usually only use this one product and it works as both a blush and a bronzer.  

On my lips I used Vincent Longo Baby Balm lipstick in Soft Saturn and topped with my fav. Dior gloss in #627, this color goes perfectly with the Lovejoy blush. 

Haha, like I smelled something bad.  thizz face. 

I am much happier with my bangs today!! No humid weather = happy bangs :D  I am going to do a tutorial on how to trim your own bangs! It's very simple and easy.