Valentine's Day and Baia The Italian

Happy (one month late) Valentine's Day everyone!
I've been waiting to share my Valentine's day experience with everyone (:! So very behind on posts x)!

 Just a little something I was prepared, a little surprise after he drove me home! I started baking and making the goodies one week in advance to allow time for errors :P . I made Chocolate dipped marshmallows pops, crystal rock candy, vanilla melting moments(biscuits) and some random vanilla cookies. Everything wrapped and decorated with purple and white. Ron keeps opening them, looking, then closing them but he hasn't tasted it yet >: . Boooo! Doom on you! Doom on you! He better like it! >:)

chocolate dipped marshmallow pops are ready to go!

rock candy is growing, day 2

 Crystal Rock Candy

 This turned out better than I expected. Even though these sugar crystals had to be chiselled out of the jars because the crystals grew onto the jars too.

Box of wrapped goodies for Ronald McDonald Weasley!

This year was my turn to decide on a place to eat, so I quickly settled with Baia on Darling Harbour. I reckon it's a great place to hold a special dinner, for that special someone ;) because of the marvellous night/sunset view of the harbour and also Baia's great food is worth the note. 

Ron was surprised. He thought I'd simply go for a dessert store instead -.- . We were offered the chance to sit outside and feel the cool evening breeze, or to dine inside where's it's cosy and dim lit. Of course I had to go with the more intimate seats inside.

We seriously did not know what to pick because everything on the menu was soo tasty and by then (7:00pm) we were starving our butts off! So I ended up with Pappardelle al Granchio (Pasta with Arctic Crab). This was my second time having this dish! I love it because of the yummy sauce, it's a rich tomato with spicy chilli in it. When I first saw the two flavours I thought.. chilli and tomato? No go. But then I decided to have a try. It ACTUALLY tasted good, if you're a chilli lover, you will love this dish!

While Ron chose the Lasagna alla Paesana (traditional lasagna), which tasted alright like lasagnas from other Italian stores.

Happy Ron!

 Gift/card exchanging time! 

Happy me!

I was astonished when I saw what he got me :D. "Aww you shouldn't have!" While the little tien inside my head was screaming "YESSSS!!! My one and only, first Bobbi Brown thing!"

Bobbi Brown Bellini palette
(with mirror(top rectangle))

What gorgeous neutral colours! I lurrrvveee it!

Pretty pink lip glosses!

Fine One One by Benefit

All in one, Blush, cheek toner, cheek highlighter
(can be used as a lip stain)

both items were boxed in this cute box :3

 I will not use either of these products! They are soo precious to me! ): Too precious! I will furnish it in my mini make up gallery at home.

Simple coloured eyeliner trick!

Remember those times when you wanted to go with a new look for the day... then you eventually just stuck to the usual brown/nude eyeshadows, or pale colour palettes. Well I only recently started to glam up more with very bright eye make-up. I usually always wear a soft mocha brown eyeshadow to work or the mall. However, I find that it's a bit bland for the beautiful, big city! So I use blue/turquoise eyeliners for eyeshadows and it goes on quite smoothly. The look is inspired by the colours of a peacock (yes, that does sound a bit strange), but I really love the way "kingfisher" blues complement green tones!

I randomly started to use these eyeliners because I never really used blue eye-anything, I just steered clear of any blue on my eyes because I was under the misconception that Asian eyes don't look good with blue :/ . I guess I never really played around with different styles and shading in the blue range. 

Well.. here is the look:

what do you think? 

I hope my eye didn't scare you, it certainly gave me a shock lol!

 (Unfortunately these photos were taken with my terrible phone camera, sorry for the bad quality!)  

I used:

BYS Kohl eyeliner in Ocean Green, Jordana Kajal Kohl eyeliner in  Turquoise

Ocean Green (top), Turquoise (bottom)

BYS Animal Instincts Palette in greens
(the bottom left colour only)

Steps: 1. Using the beautiful Ocean Green, shade from near the tear ducts to two thirds across the eye lid. 

 2. Then using the bright turquoise liner, colour in the rest of the one third of the lid whilst forming a small wing at the end. (If you are single lidded, then shade close to the waterline  but wide enough so the colours are visible.)

3. Using a pale, light green, shimmery eyeshadow pat onto the eyelid near the tear duct and softly blend out across one third of the lid. Also taking your Ocean green eyeliner, lightly rim the bottom of the eye towards the turquoise wing (blend it in a bit if you think the two shades look awkwardly different).

4. Put a little bit of that shimmery eyeshadow beneath the brow to emphasise it, then finish off with your usual black gel eyeliner/black eyeliner, mascara and eyebrow shadows. Tip: do not line your eyes too thick with  the black liners or else the colours won't be visible. If after you wing your eyes with eyeliner and you feel that the line does not match with the turquoise wing, then extend the turquoise out so that it is visible on top of the black eyeliner. In the photos, I only used a light mascara, but feel free to go crazy with it if you wish.

You might wonder why none of the blending actually occurs on the crease of the eye... well this look is supposed to be vibrant but still a bit light. So that you can wear this out casually to the shops or movies..etc. The higher up you extend your colour, the more this will look a bit drag queen style. That is because the bright eyeliners are very pigmented and one swipe will produce a lustrous intense colour that is why I teamed it with a very pale shimmery colour to balance. 

I hope you guys have fun trying this simple look, let me know how it goes! (: 

Of lip balms and eyeshadows

I only just noticed a new Tonymoly store in Market City (near esprit). They had a 40% off sale yesterday! I grabbed this really adorable "Petite Bunny Gloss Bar" in #1 juicy strawberry shade. I absolutely love lip products, especially when it comes to cute container designs.

petite bunny gloss bar

While I was still wandering around the store, I grabbed a bb cream that is supposed to do a great job at moisturising my face (I'll see about that).

luminous goddess aura BB cream

 I really liked the colour and packaging of this bb bottle, but that wasn't the reason why I chose it haha. The bottle descriptions say that is will: 1)moisturise (like all bb creams); 2) maximise the skin's radiance; 3) cover blemishes (main reason hwy I wanted this); 4) firm /smooth the skin. This product blends well with my skin tone and it is light when mixed with a small portion of my own daily moisturiser.

Anyways, I've been wanting to do a little comparison between different lipbalms, that I find have similar characteristics. Lately, the only lippy sticks I've been into are the lip butters or they partly contain balmy features. I have chosen to review these three in particular because they moisturise better than other lip balm/sticks and give your lips a soft velvety touch.
1) The before mentioned "petite bunny gloss bar" in "juice strawberry".

 

 The colour is quite light, it gives the lips a peachy glow that is noticeable. This stick is ideal for wearing to school or uni, if you wanted a light jelly-like colour. I quite like this gloss bar because it glides on smoothly and is quite lustrous, but not to a point where it starts to look oily. Did I mention that this stick has a light fruity scent? I rate this an 8/10.    

 2)Revlon "Colour Burst Lip Butter" in Sugar Frosting.

(second colour on arm)

The lip butter colour I chose was a bit too light for my liking. However, the most natural, if you did not want a big difference to your lip shade. This stick was by far the smoothest one out of the three. It looks quite nice as an outer coat to your matte lipstick. Or if worn alone it adds shine and a bit of sparkles to your lips. I would personally choose this lip butter for everyday use. It also has a nice sweet smell. The only downside is that the cover extends quite far down the tube, so it is a bit of a struggle to try to get the lid off. I'd rate this a 9/10 (if only I had chosen a slightly brighter colour).

3) Revlon "Just Bitten Kissable Balm" in "Darling Cherie" This lip balm is gives the boldest colour, relative the other balms. A gentle smear on the lips and there is a noticeable difference compared to your lip colour. The blunt end also makes the application quick and easy. The colour is not very lustrous, it is closer to a matte lipstick than the others. This balm is ideal for standing out a bit, but not as out there as bright pinks/reds.   I am not too fond of the minty smell though. I would rate this a 7/10.

Now for eyeshadows!
I have a small collection of neutral/copper palettes from a range of brands just because I really like brown hues on my eyes. In order from left to right: Face of Australia, Maybelline, Revlon and Rimmel.

1) Face of Australia-bronze palette: The colours were slightly intense, a tiny bit went a long way so it was slightly harder to blend. The powder did not come off this palette easily, I had to brush quite hard to get a little bit of it on the brush.I prefer if the colours were separated by walls, rather than having to be cautious not to dab into a different pigment every time I went for a different colour. I could only use small brushes for this palette. I didn't really like this one because all the brown colours have a red-ish undertone and there wasn't a clear distinction between the browns. This one has an inbuilt mirror on the back side. 5/10

Bronze Palette

2) Maybelline-Chai Latte (Modern Metallics): This one had instructions on the back showing you where to put the colours. This one is quite easy to use with four simple steps: base, lid, crease and liner. The base powder (i.e. the lightest shade) did not really show on my eyes. It might be because of my skin tone, it was actually quite hard to put some powder onto the brush. The rest of the colours worked fine. The end result was quite bronze and isn't something you would wear everyday if you were going for the more subtle look. This palette is ideal for outings at night or for parties I reckon. I would use this palette either without the bronze or  without the dark liner. 6/10

Chai Latte

3)Revlon-Coffee Bean (Colorstay 12 hour eye shadow): Coffee Bean colours are great for everyday wear! I really like how natural these colours are, especially the top two and bottom matte colours. The powder loosely clings to the palette, so I didn't have to brush hard it. It is really easy to blend and it looks great on my eyes. However, the top two colours are indistinguishable, I sometimes used the shadows from the second shade onwards because the top base colour made no difference. This powder did last quite long, I didn't have to reapp so that is good. I rate this an 8/10, quite satisfied with this one (:.

Coffee Bean

4) Rimmel-Smokey Brun (Glam' Eyes): I saved my favourite til last! I use this one daily because the colours are very nice! There are instructions on the back and they are quite simple too. Firstly, the colour on the left is really lovely it is a light, icy mocha colour that suits any eye colour as a base shadow ( I reckon). It works really well with the taupe opposite it. I did not have to brush hard onto the palette to transfer the powder, however, I had to brush the colours a few times over the eyes until the colour was apparent. Even though this one is the most lustrous palette, the light shades make it wearable for everyday work. I like how the brush provided had different sized brushes on each end so I don't have to fish around for one. Although you would have to reapply this on a hot day or after 4 hours. 7/10 (yes my favourite one is not the best quality one boohoo).

Smokey Brun

So that is all for today folks! ^ ^