Gal Retreat 2010

Last weekend I attended a Gal Retreat hosted by Bulaklak Tribe~

I met the fabulous BT members Shawna, Shannon, Justin, and Emily.

On Saturday night Eden, Yi, and I met up with everyone at Webster Hall for some clubbing.  We danced, and unfortunately since I'm underage I couldn't drink (just a few more months to go!).

I was disappointed with the club, I won't be going back there.  It was way overpriced, the music was really just blah, and the crowd sucked.  I have never in my life seen so many obnoxious men.

But I still had a really good time with everyone!

On Sunday I met with Eden, Shawna, Shannon, and Amber in Flushing.  We went into some of the shops and then of course took some purikura!

It was so nice meeting more gals!  BT, I hope you all enjoyed New York!  Let's all hang out again sometime~

This was a really nice end to a great summer...it went by so fast, I can't believe that my classes start tomorrow!

Maybelline Mascara Trio

I've been experimenting with mascara lately~

I wanna tell you about three awesome, affordable mascaras by Maybelline!

Lash Stiletto Mascara

This has been my favorite mascara for a year now.  It's a great mascara all-around.  It creates such super long, perfectly spiky lashes.  There's no weird clumping, each lash gets placed in exactly the right spot.  It's missing some curl & volume, but this is hands down my favorite mascara for everyday use. 

Volum' Express Turbo Boost Mascara

  This mascara is great for volume!  It gives the look of really thick, lush lashes.  It's perfect for coating bottom lashes, too.  It creates some length, and the lash placement is really nice.  There's no curl at all though.

 Great Lash Blackest Black Mascara
(Curved Brush)

 This mascara creates a nice lift & curl.  There is some length but it doesn't give you much volume, or the nice lash placement that I was talking about with the other two.

Since all three of these mascaras specialize in different things, they can be used together to create an awesome look!

Step One.  Apply Lash Stiletto, for length.

Step Two.  Apply Volum' Express Turbo Boost, for volume.

Step Three.  Apply Great Lash Blackest Black, for lift & curl.

*optional - use a lash curler tool before or after applying mascara for some extra sky-high curl!

 

And voila, such fabulous lashes! 

Golf!

I went to the driving range at Spring Rock Golf Center in New Hyde Park with Mike the other day

300 yards covered in golf balls!

Mike says my stance is completely wrong, which is probably why most of the time I can't even hit the ball...but I feel stupid either way!

My hands started to hurt, look at them bright red with pain!  So I wussed out.

The real pro - he was consistently hitting 250 yards!

Golf isn't really my thing...unless it's mini-golf!

Natsu Matsuri & Sleepover Fun

     This weekend I went with Eden to the summer festival at Mitsuwa Marketplace in New Jersey. 
     It was quite a journey getting there...a bus, a train, and then another bus but it was totally worth it!  There was so much to see, do, and eat~  There were lots of people dressed up for the occasion...kids & adults in yukata, and we saw some lolitas too!  It was fun to people-watch.
     The first thing we did was get some food, we were starving!  I had some gyoza dumplings and a delicious mango bubble tea.
     We checked out all of the shops and picked up some Japanese snacks at the supermarket.  It was hard to choose, everything is packaged so cute & nice!
     I really enjoy Mitsuwa's summer festivals.  I went last year, and I'd like to go again next year.  If you're into Japanese culture, it's a fun event to attend.  Even if you miss out on it, Mitsuwa is a nice place to visit whenever.  It has its own shuttle bus that leaves from Port Authority Terminal in Manhattan, so it's pretty easy & convenient to get to.  There's a restaurant & a food court with lots of options, and it's located right on the scenic Hudson River.  It'd be a nice place to go on a date~

 

See some photos from our visit at Eden's blog!

     
     After the festival we headed back to Eden's place for a sleepover with Izzie, Jean, and Ain.  There was wine and lots of yummy snacks.  Silliness ensued...we played "Never Have I Ever...", went on Chatroulette, played some Wii games, and took some hilarious photos on Eden's Macbook~

 This is the creepiest thing ever...

I had such a great weekend, I love my friends!

A Quick Shopping Trip

I decided to hit the mall today for a quick little shopping trip~

I had a discount for $20 off any $20 purchase at Express, so I went there first.  I found this and thought it was really cute.  It's actually a pair of shorts, but it looks like a miniskirt!  Love it~

It was marked $40 but ended up being on sale for $20.  So...I got it completely free!  I didn't have to pay tax or anything.  How awesome is that?

I went all over the mall looking for a cute pair of western boots but I couldn't find any that were reasonably priced, so I switched gears and searched for some nice summer sandals instead.

Since I saved money at Express, I decided to splurge a little on these sandals from Spring.

I can't wait to wear my new stuff tomorrow at Mitsuwa's Natsu Matsuri~

Naturally

A while ago I was feeling really depressed about the amount of makeup it takes for me to look pretty & feel good about myself.

So I wanted to try a more natural look, using less makeup.

Using the following products I came up with my new, natural everyday look.  Don't mind my super flat hair~

Eyes:
Lancome Smooth Hold Eyeshadow in Positive
Lancome Smooth Hold Eyeshadow in Floralesque
NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Strawberry Milk
Avon Professional Kohl Eyeliner in Black
Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara in Very Black
Maybelline Volum' Express Turbo Boost Mascara in Very Black
 
Face:
NYX Concealer Stick in Porcelene 
Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream in #21
Bare Minerals Mineral Veil
NARS Blush in Super Orgasm

Lips:
Too Faced Lipstick in Free Love
NARS Lip Gloss in Greek Holiday

I love the combination of Lancome's Positive (matte, almost the color of my skin) and Floralesque (warm, shimmery peach-pink) eyeshadows.  With the addition of NYX's Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil in Strawberry Milk along my upper lash line & in the corners, it's a really nice summery look!

What I really like about Lancome's eyeshadow is that the color stays put all day with no creasing!  I don't even have to use primer, so they're really quick & easy to apply.

I've gotten a lot more confident since I started this new routine.  It felt really good to get compliments from people about how they like the way I look with less makeup.  Sometimes on my really lazy days where all I've got going is work, I've been leaving the house with only some BB cream, blush, and lip gloss.  Why not?

L'Oreal Paris Eye Makeup Remover

When my favorite L'Oreal Paris eye makeup remover (green) was out of stock, I grabbed the other one (blue) thinking that it was virtually the same product.

Boy, was I WRONG.

The blue one is the worst eye makeup remover I have ever used!

Let's start with why I like the green:

GREEN:

It's not oily at all.

It doesn't leave my skin feeling dry.

It removes my makeup with practically no effort.

It claims to condition eyelashes, and it really does.  My eyelashes feel soft, and they don't fall out when I'm washing off my makeup.

I used to get lots of sties on my eyelids, as soon as I started using this makeup remover they disappeared and they haven't come back!

And now onto why the blue sucks:

BLUE:

Takes tons of rubbing & scrubbing to get my makeup off, causing my skin to get really irritated.  Even after all that, there's STILL makeup residue.

It claims to "refresh eyes" when in fact it BURNS my eyes!  What kind of eye makeup remover does that???  I might as well be using regular soap!

I just don't understand how these products can be from the same brand, have the same packaging, and still be on completely different ends of the spectrum.  How can an eye makeup remover be so incredibly bad?

Maybe the blue one I bought was faulty, I don't know.  I'm steering clear of it from now on, and sticking with my green! 

A Friend Date

Yesterday I hung out with my friend Brittany in Flushing~

We haven't hung out in years!  We've been telling each other for a very long time that "we should hang out".

So now we finally did, it was really fun!

We went to Sunway for chicken lo mein & bubble tea.  I had a coffee flavored bubble tea, it was so yums!

We sat in Sunway talking for so long that we totally lost track of time, but we made it to Toto's just before they closed to take some purikura~

Thanks for hanging out with me, Brittany~ let's do it again soon!

Purikura with Mike

Mike took me out on a date last night~

Usually on date nights I can get him to agree to anything, so I got him to take some purikura with me!

He's leaving on vacation for a week tomorrow, I'm going to miss him so very much!