Nail Art Tutorial : "Space Aged Purples"

Ohh it's been some time since I last posted my nail art tutorial! I am excited to do nail art as much as I can but as most "nail art" enthusiast out there, it gets to be frustrating at times to think of designs! I know a lot of you think that doing your own nails is hard...trust me ...IF I can Do it, you gals definitely can!!!!

You know why?

I'm not good at drawings!
I have shaky hands
I can NEVER draw a straight line...
And I always do everything IMPERFECT!
So to you gals out there who wanted to try this, I would say GO AHEAD!
You'll be surprised at how good it all comes out! :D
Or if it isn't nice, it can still make you happy!

Ok, let me cut the speech short LOL
I've chosen another color, I call this the SPACE Age Purple because it isn't the usual purple that's too dark, but it isn't too light either, it is very "Teenage-y"!

Step 1:

I've used Caress Nail Polish in Purple!
They came out with all the cool colors like hot pink, orange, greens and purples!
I applied 3 coat of this, YES 3 coat to show up the color!

Step 2:

Do a French tip. Feel free to choose any color that you think would work well on purples. I've chosen white. You can try pinks, greens etc...

It'll look like this!
If you look closer, the French Tip ain't perfect.
Again, WHO CARES? :D

Step 3:

Using a light pink nail art pen, create dots irregularly or uniformly, whatever you want. I've drawn a design on the photo for reference.

Step 4:

I always wanted the thumb nail to be a bit different. Aside from the dots on Step 3 above, I've added a big flower, again using needle to extend the flower to create a more natural petal. Then put "irregular sized" dots all over the nail.

Step 5:

I've always wanted the "bud" to pop, I've used a yellow art pen and formed a big dot.

Step 6:

Continue creating colors by dotting the yellow pen on the space between the pink dots

Step 7:

Since we're all about colors, I added another dark green dots on more spaces between the pink dots!

Step 8:

Check back your hands and see what's missing. I wanted to add more sparkle to my nail art, so using the Art Deco Sparkly Silver polish (Thanks Aly) on top of the white french tip

Step 9:

Wait for a couple of minutes for the nail art to dry, top it with a clear nail polish to protect your nail art design.

Introducing...
Space Age Purples!

Have you been painting your own nails lately???
Give it a try! :D
I know some did and they loved the resuilts! :D

Shanghai Trip Part 2

Hey gals!!! Thanks for enjoying my Shanghai Trip stories :) As promised, here's more stories and photos!!!! Well you'll definitely see a lot of food here! Street food to be particular as Shanghai is full of yummy and weird food at the same time! :D

A lot of you asked about Stinky Tofu, lol For those who don't know, Stinky Tofu or "Chou Doufu" are fermented tofu, it's called Stinky but for Chinese, it doesn't mean negative, it connotes Fragrance...and it's like the fruit durian, it stinks but it tastes yummy (according to Stinky Tofu lovers lol)

For those who wondered how it tastes like, Keith the hubby did taste it and he said it doesn't taste bad, and he's still alive and kicking! Meaning, it's clean and there's no report on sickness or death! LOL now I'm talking nonsense.

Let me continue my Shanghai Trip! :D

As I said, my dad had a hard time walking far so we tend to sit as much as we can. We enjoyed sitting her for some great music from a bar :D

And here's Keith having fun being a "King Kong" lol

We went to YuYuan, it's a place where you see a lot of stalls selling Chinese souvenirs Love love love the lights and architecture!




See how lovely it is? We walked so far to reach this place But worth it! Dad didn't come with us, for health reasons



Some lanterns and stalls selling t-shirts, mobile phone charms, etc...



And when you're in China, you have to be good with haggling! I haggled so hard that I became friends with the seller! LOL She's ready for her own pose! :P
Remember: Whatever price they give, start haggling as low as 30% of the given amount ;) trust me, it works!



I've seen this Cartoon everywhere in Shanghai!
This is their icon for the Shanghai Expo 2010!



And of course, with such lovely place, it's the best time to pose with my lovey! Night time at the Shanghai Times Square!



Now Now, let's go to our favorite posts...
The food posts! I have stuffed myself the whole trip!
I won't even start with the meals (That would be another post)

Food on Sticks from Convenience Store! They have it on stick with Chinese characters written on it to know what you're eating :D

They have it on Spicy Sauce, Curry Sauce and Regular Sauce! Plus...Chinese Sausages Yum!



And let's go to the Food Fair I've seen!
I am lucky to have seen this food fair as I was told it doesn't happen everyday!

Some meat on the stick! LOL Doesn't look like BBQ Pork to me!

And here's a stall selling dried stuffs!
Dried beef, Dried pork, Dried Fish and Squid!
I did tasted a lot of these and bought a couple !



The yummy meat balls!
Keith's favorite! He had 2 orders of this!

Here's what you get for an order!

And here's a closer look!
Fish ball with meat inside YUM
Definitely freshly made!



A weird meat bun with straw!
I haven't tried this, I am so full!
Too bad I didn't have the chance to try this!

Samurai Balls!
Another Favorite!

Took a shot of this guy hitting on this pastry!
Not sure what he is making!
But looks like he needed energy to do this!

Seafood popsicle!

Since we were still in Shanghai AFTER the Chinese Holidays! Lesser crowd and people for the last day! This famous Fried Dumpling was jampacked a couple of days ago! I got so intrigued I have to try them!

I'm Glad I Did!

A bit oily but it's freshly made!
Very delicious!
You have to be careful in biting them though as there's so much sauce inside the bun!



What's a lovely way to end the trip?
We had a lovelyl walk around the area!
The weather on the last day was a bit gloomy and cool!
I'm definitely going to miss Shanghai and my Bro!

Watch out for more food adventure in Shanghai!
Definitely a city worth checking out!

Askmewhats Makeover : Bridal Look

Two brides-to-be wanted a very subtle bridal look for their wedding! Armed with clear skin and simplicity in mind, I've done a very subtle bridal look that enhances their natural beauty!

Note: No falsies are attached
With only a couple of minutes to spare, Pam wanted a very simple look that hides her bags, and brighten up her eyes.

Pam has a naturally good and healthy skin. I've concentrated on balancing her skin tone and making her eyes brighter and bigger.

Products Used ---

Face

• Paul & Joe Cream Foundation
• Paul & Joe Powder Foundation No. 3
• NYX Concealer in a Jar Beige
• Maybelline Blush in Rose

Eyes

• Lancome e/s in Silver
• Lancome e/s in White
• Paul & Joe Eyeliner in Black
• Paul & Joe eyebrow pencil no. 2
• Fasio Mascara in Black

Lips

• Kiehl's No. 1 Lipbalm
• NYX Round Lipstick in Tea Rose
• Clinique Lip Gloss

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Liza on the other hand has concern on make-up. She had her make-up done in the past but she's ended up with bad allergies. I've been careful with her make-up and checked on her once in awhile if she feels any irritation or itchiness. Thank God there isn't any!

Liza also has naturally healthy skin and finding the right MMU Foundation shade for her isn't bad. I've mixed a couple of my Everyday Minerals Foundation to match her skintone. I mixed Golden Light and Fairly Neutral Light together. For her eyes, I didn't go overboard as I would like her to use falsies to enhance her eyes rather than strong eye make-up (sorry no falsies here)

Products Used ---

Face

• Everyday Minerals in Golden Light and Fairly Neutral Light (3/4 Golden Light, 1/4 Fairly Neutral Light)
• Paul & Joe Powder Foundation no. 3
• NYX Concealer in a Jar Medium
• Thevi e/s in Pink as Blush

Eyes

• Thevi triple split e/s
• Maybelline Eyeliner in Black
• Paul & Joe Curly Mascara in Black

Lips

• Kiehl's No. 1 Lip balm
• NYX Round Lipstick in Christie
• Clinique Lip Plumper

I love doing makeover!
Makes me happy to see people happy with results!
Thanks to everyone for enjoying my Shanghai Trip posts,
I will be writing more with more photos...
hang in there pretties!

I'm Back with Photo Stories to Tell! :D

Hey pretty gals! I'm finally back!!!! I know I confused some of you who thought I arrived because of my scheduled posts and I've been checking my blog once in awhile at my brother's place! Thanks for all the well wishes for my happy travel. It was really a fun trip and I had a wonderful time with Keith and my family.

This won't story telling as I don't want to bore all of you, but I'll include some photos to show you what fun I had!!! I didn't shop much on make-up or beauty stuffs as you gals know, everything "imported" in China is more expensive. I've had a blast trying out their food though and enjoying the wonderful colder season of 19-24 degrees. Winter time is almost near in China! But since I got there during their Public Holidays, boy is the large city CROWDED!!!! To see is to believe, I"ll show you with some photos ...so read on :D

Here's the wonderful fully-furnished apartment my brother rented for a week for us to stay. Sorry we had everything laid out the moment we arrived, LOL the OC-ness in me wanted to hang all my clothes!

We traveled a lot by bus, subway, taxi and of course...on foot! Everywhere in China, you have to walk. I'm traveling with my mom and dad and they're not getting any younger, so we always started out with adventures of taking the subway and bus then always end up night time taking the cab.

Here's a photo of me and my brother Nap (who's living in Shanghai) buying subway tickets. People DO line up but they tend to take a peek on what you're doing LOL Privacy is nothing I guess!

After a couple of blocks from the subway station, there's a famous street food area selling different delicacies. Trust me, it's not only crowded but I can smell the "STINKY TOFU" :( :( :(

Dumplings, Bread, Squid, Stinky Tofu, Egg Tarts, you name it, they got it all in this street!
And people are lining up to get to the Stinky Tofu (I can still smell it at the moment I'm typing this lol)



That's me paying for my "Japanese Samurai Balls" and Egg Tarts
Eldest Bro Stephen is lining up for HIS stinky tofu! lol



This is a milder version of an Original Stinky Tofu
Hubby and Bro tried it, I just can't :( No matter how much I love tofu




And here's a yummy egg tart!
The best egg tart I've tried in Shanghai is from Lilian Cake Bakeshop!

We walked the whole afternoon, then did a couple of stopovers, (meaning eating, drinking coffee) because my dad is having a hard time walking far. We're quite lucky we were able to take a cab to the People's Square then to The Bund area.

I've never seen a lot of people in my life and I've never been pushed around like that :( :( :( But the site was worth it though!

Here's to show how crowded this place is and it's already 9pm. We stayed in this area around an hour!

A closer look of the Oriental Pearl Tower



Opposite side is The Bund
I love the lights
Shanghai is definitely a city of lights!



We love playing around and I'm always game! I'm NOT near the garbage can! LOL

Such a nice city with lovely architecture!
Shanghai is a mixture of OLD and Modern China!

With Mom and Dad
Stephen (eldest bro) and Mr. & Mrs. Askmewhats :P

There's so many buildings and sites!
I kept on looking for the building where Tom Cruise jumped for Mission Impossible
and it's near the JinMao Tower

At Shanghai Times Square
It looks almost the same as HK Times Square but 2-3 times bigger!

In the middle is Nap (my Architect bro who's living in Shanghai)

I'll update more as soon as I have more energy to resize the photos! :)
I missed everyone!
Have a great day!!!!

Askmewhats Reviews: Stila Lip Glaze in Raspberry

Everyone's been raving about the Stila Lip Glaze and I just don't get it... I mean, a lot of other brands have been selling lip glosses, lip glazes, lip plumpers, lip shines...in variety of colors, textures, shapes and sizes! What's the difference with this?

Until I got my hands on this baby, courtesy of the lovely B! I know what people are raving about!

** Stila Lip Glaze in Raspberry (high gloss fuschia)

Stila Lip Glaze Says ---

Want lips that get all the attention they deserve? Turn on the shine and you'll be turning heads with Stila's most popular lip gloss. Choose from an array of delectable shades that add a splash of color and fabulously matching flavors and scents in one easy click of the famous pen. Cosmetics experts agree-this top seller is an essential addition to any beauty bag.

Askmewhats Says ---

Pros

• tastes yummy!
• it is a bit stickier than MAC lip glass, but I am ok with this (Kiss test from Hubby results to --- "yes, it's a bit sticky")
  
• I love the click / dial lipgloss
• the shine lessen after several drinks but the color stays on my lips
  

Cons

• the click sounds cool, but it takes forever for the gloss to come out. (I've checked that a couple of people have problems with this click pen thing, as if you clicked too much, product will overflow). So far, I don't have problem with this YET
• not available in the Philippines!
  

Overall

What I love about the Stila Lip Glaze in Raspberry is that it looks good on almost everyone I've tried this on. I've brought this pen to the office and tried on to my colleagues and everyone looks good on this, but it doesn't look universal. I think this gloss blends well with the natural lip color thus giving out different looks on different individuals!

Tips

• click once or twice with your pen upside down for the product to easily come out
  
• apply thinly one coat before you re-apply the 2nd coat to keep product from being wasted, there are some days that one coat is enough
  
• I know this is OC of me, but I always wipe the brush tip with paper towel before I close the cap
  

Will I repurchase?

I WISH!

And before I go... Let me show you some visuals!

Thanks B for giving me the opportunity to try this gloss!
I love this and this is in my make-up bag since I got it!
I heart you!