FOTD: Gyaru inspired makeup

Hi y'all!
In my last show recommentdations post, I mentioned I started watching an anime called Gal to kyouryuu and I've been loving it! So I thought it'd be fun to try Kaede's makeup look.

She's a gyaru girl but at the same time, her makeup is not super extra. I actually think it's kinda cute. Lots of glitter and lots of highlighter. I can't remember the last time I wore this much makeup. Haha.

She also has a nice tan~

I kinda feel the highlight of this look is definitely the eyes. With metallic colors, glitter and super long lashes. I didn't have falsies so I applied like 4 coats of mascara.

As for eyeshadows, I went for bronze and brown shades, as well as white glitter on the lower lid.

I don't think my eyes ever looked this big before.

I also used more peachy shades for blush and highlighter as an attempt to get a tanner look.

Lips were a mix of a sligthly pearlish crayon and a bit of a glossy lipgloss. Long time no glossy lips.

Here are all the products I used to create this look:

☆ Wet n Wild MegaGlo Highlighter Illuminatrice "Crystal High"
☆ Mary Kay At Play Matte Liquid Makeup "Very light"
☆ L.O.C.K. Color Lock n' Tap Cushion Blush "2 Bronze Rose"
☆ Mary Kay foundation primer sunscreen SPF 15
☆ Bissú Eyebrow Pencil "Lechero"
☆ Mary Kay Volumizing Brow Tint "brunette"
☆ Camaleon Magic Colourstick
☆ L'oreal Miss Manga Mascara "Black 373"
☆ Essence Wood you love me? Duo eye pencil "02 my tree love"
☆ Essence Be kissed by the moon eye and face palette "03"
☆ Miniso Three Color Eyeshadow "Brown"
☆ Mary Kay liquid eyeliner "black"
☆ Jafra Royal Luxury lipgloss "Regal Blush"
☆ Lime Crime Prep & Prime Makeup Setting Spray

And, there you have it. My attempt to create a gyaru look. I actually liked it~ maybe I could try to wear it more often.

Bye bye~ ♡

🎂 Quarantine birthday + pressies!

On June 3rd I celebrated another birthday, and even tho it was a very different one because of the lockdown situation we're in, it was a fun and special day.

Since it was a Wednesday, I had a lot of work to do. We were juggling between work and celebration, haha, but it was also really nice to recieve sweet messages from my students and coworkers.
At home I was very spoiled by my mom and sister from the moment I woke up with special food, pressies and everything sakura/princess themed.

Even the meat was flower shaped. I took the pic before
adding the other ingredients to my burger. 

I also recieved surprises delivered to my house from friends and I got to see one of my besties for a couple of minutes because she and her hubby stopped by real quick to congratulate me and leave a pressie. I was so happy to see her after all this time. We kept our distance and wore masks all the time, of course. But it makes such a big difference to see someone in person even for a little while.

Once again I want to thank everyone who took the time to send me a message, a pressie, a virtual hug and good wishes. You all made my day a special one despite the lockdown.

Let's move on to the pressies, shall we? They are in no particular order and I kinda separated them by types.

First one is of course, the cake. It was a gorgeous choco mint, sakura cake from Chez Moi Reposteria. As some of you know, choco mint is one of my favorite combinations ever.

It was way too pretty, I felt bad for having to eat it but,
can't say no to cake!

Next are the beauty related goodies.
The Elegant Touch nails are one of my favorites, the sakura & matcha hand cream  smells so good and, I'm really looking forward to try the Burt's Bees products since I've heard many great things about them. And those Physicians Formula eyedshadows are super pretty to look at!

UPDATE: I've been using the B.B chapstic and... I LOVE IT!

Then we have yummies! Because I could eat candy instead of real food if it wasn't bad for the health. Haha.

Stationery! Inside the HK notebook, there's a sweet letter from my friend. ♡

I also recieved some earrings. I actually wore the pink hearts on my birthday and they look so pretty!

The husbando! 😍

And, some clothes. The first outfit was the outfit of the birthday.

super wrinkled skirt. Oopsie!

So, that is that for this b-day post. Even tho I'm not the happiest about being a year older, I think I have my priotrities (a bit) more stright now, I'm more aware of the things I want and don't want, as well as the things I need to change. I also know that a nice glass of sake at the end of a long and tough day can always make me feel better. LOL.
A year older means... a little bit wiser. Haha.

Quarantine birthday will be a b-day to remember.

What I've been watching lately 2020: Lockdown edition

Hello sweets!
Since some of us are still on lockwdown and I haven't been able to share "monthly favorties" because I haven't tried new things lately, I thought this kind of post would be appropriate to say goodbye to May.
Shows reccomendations! You know what to expect: Kdrama and anime. No horror or true crime this time tho.
I'm still not done with some of these shows but I've been enjoying them a lot, that's why I wanted to incude them here.

As usual, most of my plots and descriptios come from other sites such s Netflix and wikipedia.

I'm going to start with Anime because we only have one on the list:

☆ Gal to Kyouryuu (Gal and Dino):

"One day, Kaede, a gyaru, picks up a dinosaur and begins living with it. The short comedy depicts their daily lives together as the dinosaur consumes human food, watches TV, and enjoys fashionable things. Thus begins the story of a gal and a dinosaur cohabiting that transcends time."
(Source: MAL News)

This one was a recommendation from the bestie. It is a super short ongoing anime with only 12 episodes. I'm on episode 7.  It shows the life of Kaede, a gyaru girl, and her new roommate, Dino. The style of this show reminds me of Pop team epic because of all the styles combined on each episode. Some people might find it weird but I really, really liked it. Hopefully they'll come up with new episodes soon.

Moving on to Kdrama, I've watched some of them with my mom. She's now into kdrama too. Hehe.

☆ All about my mom:

"Jin-ae (Eugene) works hard to make money only to end up spending it on her family, and her mother San-ok shows so much affection towards her first son only. Jin-ae then meets Kang Hoon-jae (Lee Sang-Woo), who coincidentally is the son of her boss who she admires, and marries him. While experiencing difficult times with her mother-in-law, Jin-ae begins to understand her own mother for the first time." (Source: Wikipedia)

You've read about this drama before. This is one of the longest dramas we've watched so far with 54 episodes. I was mostly excited to watch it because of Jo Bo Ah but we ended up loving most of the other characters too.

This drama is an emotional roller coaster with some comedy too. It made me want to cry a couple of times.

And after All about my mom we wanted to find another drama that would catch us as much so we started...

☆ Love and marriage:

"Cha Gi-young is a popular news anchorwoman who has a rivalry with Jo Eun-cha, an anchor at a competing station. After a tryst with a colleague, she falls pregnant and decides to raise the child as a single mother."

Even tho this one is not one of my all time favorite dramas, it was good and slightly different from what I usually choose. You can find it on Netflix.

This next 2 dramas are the ones I'm still currently watching:

☆ Fix you:

"Soul Mechanic" follows psychiatrists as they try to cure people of their emotional wounds.
Lee Shi-Joon (Shin Ha-Kyun) is a psychiatrist at a hospital. He is passionate about his work and helping his patients. Han Woo-Joo (Jung So-Min) is a rising star as a musical actress. She is honest and has integrity. She loves her work as a musical actress."

This drama, aka Soul mechanic, is still ongoing and of course, I'm watching it because of Jung So Min but I'm really liking it. I like how versatile she is playing completely different charaters on each drama she's in.

☆ Crashlandig on you:

"Crash Landing on You tells the story of two star crossed lovers, Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin), a South Korean heiress, and Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin), a member of the North Korean elite and a Captain in the North Korean Special Police Force. One day while Yoon Se-ri goes for a short paragliding ride in Seoul, South Korea, a sudden tornado knocks her out and blows her off course. She awakens to find her paraglider had crashed into a tree in a forest in the DMZ in North Korea (an area forbidden for South Koreans). She then meets Ri Jeong-hyeok and falls into his arms when descending from the tree. Ri Jeong-hyeok eventually gives Yoon Se-ri shelter, and develops plans to secretly help her return to South Korea. Over time, they fall in love, despite the divide and dispute between their respective countries." 

This drama has 16 episodes and aired earlier this year. I didn't think I'd love it this much but it has two things I love: Korean men + military. Jeong-Hyeok's relationship with Se-Ri kinda reminds me of Sousuke and Kaname (full metal panic) in an adult, korean version. I just love Jeong-Hyeok.

Next are non-asian shows. Hehe.

☆ Sweet Magnolias:

"Lifelong friends lift each other up as they juggle relationships, family and careers in the small Southern town of Serenity."

I rarely watch American shows lately. My mom suggested this one and we ended up loving it! It just recently premiered on May 19th and we already finished season 1. At first I thought it'd be the "typical" love story but, it is much more than that! It's the story of 3 life long best friends and their lives, families, struggles and how they face all that together. There's drama, comedy and some romance. But it's defo worth watching.
Can't wait for season 2.

And there you have some of the shows I've been watching this quarantine. Feel free t give me some show suggestions too and let me know if you end up watching some of these.
xx
♡

Daiso Hatomugi Face Masks

Everytime I watch Daiso / daiso haul videos, I know it'd be a place for me to go crazy with my shopping. Especially because I've heard so many good reviews about their products which are, surprisingly good, for a cheap price.

If you don't know what Daiso is, it is a Japanese 100¥ store kind of thing where you can find pretty much anything you need or didn't know you needed... hehehe.

Sadly, I didn't go to Daiso. But I did get the chance to try their hatomugi face masks. The package I got came with 5 sheet masks in a resealable bag. The 5 of them in one bag! (yeah, it's the first time I see something like this). I think it's really cool, especially for those who travel.

To be honest, I've never heard of hatomugi before buying these facemasks and I had no idea what it was so, I did my research, haha.
Hatomugi are job's tears, which still, I wasn't familar with. Long story short, it is kind of an Asian grass/grain that is tear shaped. Hence the name.
I might be wrong tho... 

Apparenty, these masks are great for skin hydration and reducing inflammation. They don't really have a scent, and if they do, it's very, very subtle. They all come nicely folded and super soaked in the product, which is not sticky and absorbs quickly.
Something I also liked is the fact that they are not super big! 

leather face Mon!

I've tried different kinds of sheet masks, from really cheap ones to better quality ones and I can say that even tho these are not the best ones ever, they do the job leaving my sking looking and feeling hydrated and glowy.

I'm super curious to try other beauty products from Daiso in the future. For now, I'll defo buy these again if I get the chance.

Cherry-red nails

I can't remember the last time I wrote about nail polishes... they used to be my favorite posts years ago.
For some reason my nails love the quarantine, they have been looking great lately, they are long and surprisingly stronger than usual so I thought it'd be a good time for a nail polish post.

On my nails is the MINISO Beautiful Color Nail Polish Fashion Expert in "Cherry-red". It is not new in my collection, my friend Ceci gave it to me a year ago, I think.

It is a vibrant, dark, coral-ish color perfect for spring - summer time. And I do admit the durability of this one is pretty good. I don't have many nail polishes from Miniso so I can't really compare.

I really hope my nails stay this way for a long time, hehe. It's nice to have long, pretty natural nails for a change.

Quarantine: Expectations VS Reality

I'm sure most of you, if not all, can relate to this: When this whole quarantine & lockdown situation started, we all planned to have the most productive time at home in our lives. At least I know I did.  I wanted to re-decorate my room, start working out every day, read a book, film lots of videos, do some intense cleaning around the house and work. Yeah, I kinda did some of those things for the first 3 or 4 weeks but... now I'm not all that motivated all the time.

I've been talking with my one of my best friends about this a lot lately and, we all have this idea that we have to be productive all the time during this pandemic time which is... not always true. I read somewhere, we are living a situation tht changed our lives, not because we wanted to but, because we had to. And even tho yeah, we have to adjust to our new routines, it's ok if it's not perfectly productive all the time.

There are days where I feel like I want to do it all and feel inspired by seeing what others post on social media but, reality is my 2 teaching jobs are busier now more than ever because I no longer have an schedule, and the amount of paperwork increased. I have to be available all day and it is stressful. I'm exhausted at the end of the day and I just can't be bothered to work out because snacks and sake sound a lot better.
I'm not complaining, I am extremely lucky to be able to work from home and make money. Plus it keeps me busy enough to avoid negative thoughts.

My point is, it's ok! It's ok to have very busy and productive days (or part of them), but it's also ok to spend a day or 2 in bed, watching netflix. A clean house helps to feel better but, nothing will happen if you don't do the dishes once. Cuz I think, pushing ourselves to do things and always be the best version of ourselves during this time, can be more stressful than knowing it's fine to feel a little down every now and then (which I also think is perfectly normal). We're not used to live this way, speding all of our time home.
Of course it is a good time to spend some time with the fmily and stuff but its also healthy to have some me time if needed.

I've seen many people studing something new, cooking and focusing on things they were not able to do before the quarantine and it's great! I just feel like not all of us are able to do that or have the energy to. Don't get me wrong, it is a good time to try new hobbies or dedicate more time to the ones you already had and maybe didn't have enough time to but, take it easy.

There's always something good in the bad, or at least I like to think so, during this quarantine I've been able to practice my cooking, focus a little more on this blog, take better care of my pets, sleep more and appreciate the simple things I used to do a lot more.
I feel like some of us are also reconnecting with people and finding other ways to keep in touch with our loved ones. Before this quarantine, I used to hate the idea of having video calls because I felt awkward (yeah, but I don't feel awkward talking to a camera all by myself... I'm weird like that) and now, video calls are part of my everyday and, I really enjoy having video calls with my friends cuz, I miss them way too much.

I'm pretty sure our lives won't be the same after this experience and we'll have to adjust to the new "normal" once this thing is over but hopefully we'll learn from it and appreciate all the good things we have and that we probably took for granted before this.

Don't forget to always be kind to yourself. ♡ See you next time~!

FOTD: 2 looks using the Sailor Moon x ColourPop eyeshadows

Hey there dollies!
I barely wear makeup these days but I thought it'd be fun to play with it a little and create 2 different looks using some these eyeshadows.
My makeup is never too dramatic, I try to keep things light and pretty, hehe. I tried to choose the shades I wouldn't normally go for, whch are mostly bright pink, yellow and orange. I'll list the rest of the products I used for each look.

If you want to read more about this palette, click here! There's a separate post dedicated to it with swatches and all that fun stuff.

Look #1

This first look is pretty natural even tho I used some bright colors on the eyes. That's why I wanted to keep the rest of it kinda neutral.

For the eyes I used "Justice" as a base and "Love" on the outer corner of the eye. And I applied some "Silver Miracle" to the lower eyelid to add a pop of shimmer. 

I have to say I love the shimmers in this palette.

Sadly, my camera barely catches the shimmers. 

Here are the other products I used along with the eyeshadows:

☆ Miniso Mini Pony Shell Makeup Base #02 Pink

☆ Mary Kay At Play Matte Liquid Makeup "Very light"

☆ Bissú Eyebrow Pencil "Lechero"

☆ Essence Velvet Matt Lipstick #23

☆ MAC Powder Blush "Flower"

☆ L'oreal Miss Manga Mascara "Black 373"

☆ Avon Super Definition Liquid Eyeliner "Black"

☆ Wet n Wild MegaGlo Highlighter Illuminatrice "Crystal High"

☆ Lime Crime Prep & Prime Makeup Setting Spray

Look #2

Even tho this look and the first one look pretty similar, the shades I used are completely different. I applied "Moon Castle" as a base, "Tuxedo Rose" on the outer corner to give it a pop of color and "Mare Serenitatis" in the lower eyelid.

Here are the other products I used along with the eyeshadows:

☆ MAC Studio Match Master Foundation SPF15 "NC25"

☆ Essence I ♡ Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara

☆ L.O.C.K. Color Lock n' Tap Cushion Blush "1 Coral Pink"

☆ Revlon Photo ready Rose Glow Primer

☆ Maybelline Colorsensational lipstick "875 Vivid Rose"

☆ NYX Eyebrow pencil "EP01 Light brown"

☆ Mary Kay liquid eyeliner "black"

☆ Wet n Wild MegaGlo Highlighter Illuminatrice "Crystal High"

☆ Lime Crime Prep & Prime Makeup Setting Spray

I've tried the other colors before because I do feel comfortable wearing gold and purple on my eyes. Let me know if you'd like to see some looks with those too.