Sunday, March 8, 2015

I'm baaaack!

Hey guys! It's been such a long, long time since I've blogged. So much has happened in the past, I'm not sure how many years. I've read some of my super old posts and remembered why I started a blog. It was the time when I was just getting into makeup! I discovered a whole world of makeup and beauty and blogs and tutorials on YouTube. I've grown so much from being someone fascinated by makeup to starting a blog, to making YouTube tutorials to being a Freelance Makeup Artist to now, being a part of the MAC family. I've loved every moment of this journey and want to go back to my roots of blogging like the good old days. So here I am! I actually thought of deleting my old posts but nah, I'm glad they are still there for me to read. One day I can show my kids lol.

Anyhoo, I'll keep this post short and sweet but I will definitely be blogging here more. If anyone is on Instagram, you can follow me there @il0vemac with a zero. Stay tuned for some fotds and product reviews. It feels good to be back. 😊


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Read More...

Monday, February 8, 2010

New Year, New Blog =)

muartistrybylj.blogspot.com

This is the rest of the post
Read More...

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Update

Hey lovelies. ;) I just had to check in because I started feelin so bad about my blog always being neglected. I just wanted to thank you all for reading my blog and I sincerely apologize if you always check my blog only to see that I haven't updated. Again. And again. And again. I have been a little busy this past week Mostly working on finding myself a job.


My daughter started Kindergarten last week Wednesday. I was so excited for it. I think I was more excited than she was LOL. I don't know about you guys but I know that I was so excited about going to school. My fave part about it especially was going school supply shopping with my parents hehe. Here's a pic of her holding a little welcome certificate when she came home from school on her first day.



So apparently I wasn't feeling Star Flash as much as I initially did before it launched. Since I don't have a job yet and I don't want to keep asking my hubsie to support my bad habit, I decided that I was going to get me some Star Flash by B2M. When I actually went in to see them I was just disappointed with the dupe-ability factor. Since I have pretty much all of the dupes that Vanessa mentioned in her swatch/haul post I had to pass. Also being that there are so many more collections to come. I think I was the most disappointed with Talent Pool. I was thinking it was going to be a different kind of light shimmery blue but it just didn't wow me. :( As far as the Lustre Twins, I do not own any of the pro long wear and I intend to keep it that way since I'm not too fond of those 8-hour lipstick/glosses. I think I felt that way from the first time I ever tried one which was the Covergirl outlast. I didn't like how it felt as though I was painting my lips with a colored sharpie. Oh MAC, I still love you but please make more effort into trying to please me. LOL.

The job hunt is still on for me. I've sent out my resumes to several places already. Still waitin for call backs/emails. While waiting for respones I'm trying to figure out how my schedule will fit in with Abi going to school and my parents taking care of my son for a few days out of the week. I'm really eager to start working again. I feel bad for my hubsie since he's been holding down the fort and paying for bills and buying my "feminine necessities" LOL.

I'm sure you've all heard about the new Back 2 MAC policy change from Enkore. Because of this, I'm positive now that I will not be depotting my shadows. Even though I know it would save me so much space. I just think that paying for pans from stars makeup haven is too much of a hassle. and i'd have to glue the pans in all of my pots. I just don't have time for that lol. You must be thinking that I should have all the time in the world because I'm not currently working but trust me, my son does a VERY good job at keeping me occupied. He never seems to want to be alone. He's got 6 teeth already! And I'm almost positive he'll start walking very soon. He turns 1 on the 20th of this month. My lil baby no longer feels like a baby in my arms. He feels like a little boy. :( lol.

Well that's it for now. Just wanted to thank you all again for reading my blog even though I'm horrible at updating. But I hope you are all fine and well. Til next time my lovelies. ;)
Read More...

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Out of all the things I could be addicted to, why MAC?

I can't believe there are so many collections that MAC is coming out with this fall/holiday. It's absolutely ridiculous. Starflash is coming out in less than a week and from seeing swatches from Nessa, Christine, and Specktra, I'm seriously lemming all 12 of them. Even though most of them look dupe-able, the fact that it's a new finish is very attractive lol. From what I've read from fellow beauty bloggers, including Pursebuzz, the eyeshadows are silky smooth. Perhaps better than the veluxe pearls? If so, that would make them much harder to pass up since the veluxe pearls are my absolute fave. What are your thoughts on this collection?





On my for sure list are: Talent Pool, Top Hat, Sunset B., Mink and Sable, Smoke and Diamonds, Lotusland, and Dreammaker (i <3 highlight colors).

It seems that Dazzleglass will be making a comeback along with some new shades. How exciting! That will be the perfect time for me to get my hands on Sugarrimmed, which I didn't get when they first came out. As far as Cult of Cherry, the quads aren't exactly to die for and it doesn't help that each of them has at least one repromote. If I had to choose one I would definitely go with the Spiced Chocolate quad.



I'm not too excited about the Manish Arora collaberation. The palette is practically filled with permanent shadows. I'm not too crazy about the packaging either. But of course my thoughts may change if I see them in person. We all know how MAC can do that to us. lol.





Read More...

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Home Sweet Home, Vacation Pics & Hauls

Aloha everyone! ;) Although I miss my sisters (surprisingly LOL) I am glad to be back home on the islands.

We arrived yesterday and I was never more exhausted in my life. It wouldn't have been so tiring if we hadn't forgotten my son's stroller AND backpack carrier. :( I have no idea how that happened. I guess since it was a little chaotic on the early morning that we left, I didn't realize that we forgot it until 10 minutes after leaving my sister's house. There was no way we were turning around or else I would have definitely missed my flight. As stressful as it was, I had to carry my son the whole time while carring my big ass purse (with my whole house inside btw), my son's diaper bag, and pulling my hand carry. I swear I've never felt more muscles in my arms. lol. I was so relieved to see my mom and dad after getting all of our baggage. Thank god we were sitting next to a really nice girl who used to live in Hawaii for 25 years but now resides in Atlanta (home of the infamous RenRen). We chatted it up and she was even nice enough to hold my son while I went to use the bathroom and a second time to take my daughter to the bathroom. Her and her bf were so sweet they even helped us with our baggage. I couldn't have thanked them enough. ;)


I really enoyed my vacation. Can't believe it went by so fast. I wish I could have done more while I was in California (i.e. meet some of my fellow beauty bloggers lol) No worries Jaclyn, next time for sure! ;) I didn't even get a chance to hit up a CCO. :( There was just so much to do and so little time. The main thing was that the kids had a great time - CCO or not lol. Disneyland was so much fun. Most of the pics are of the kids and I barely took any pics because it was so damn hot so you won't see me in any of these pics lol.















I didn't do much makeup shopping which explains my big online MAC haul. I just picked up some essence of beauty brushes since we don't have CVS here (sucks!). When we went to the mall Crabtree & Evelyn was having a sale and they had a $5.00 rack. I wanted to try out the intensive eye treatment (for puffiness and dark circles) in comparison to MAC's fast response eye cream. (I'll do a review later) and since I have dry chapped lips I got 2 of their overnight lip repair (a godsend!!) They were definitely bargains since the lip repair was originally $17 and the eye treatment was originally $30. I saved $62! Gotta love sales. ;) The rest of my moolah went to food and clothes. Here are my hauls.





















Didn't do swatches, I know you've all seen them. My goodness, MAC is really gonna break the bank with all their collections coming out this Fall. Crazy as hell. Now that I'm back home I can finally start applying for jobs. I didn't want to start applying before I went on my vacation because I'm sure no one would hire me if I told them that I was going to be out of town for almost a month. I hope I find the right one. I know it won't be easy but I'm capable.

I hope you all are doing well. I've missed you guys since I was so MIA yet again. Please bare with me while I slowly get up to date with my commenting on your blogs. ;)

I'm starving so the hubsie and I are off to Sizzler. Yay! I missed that place while I was gone. Even Boston's clam chowder did not compare to theirs. LOL. Have a beautiful day everyone. ;)


Read More...

Friday, July 18, 2008

I'll be back home in 4 days

I'm sorry I didn't post at all during my vacation. I've just been relaxing and enjoying Boston. I know you are all tired of the whole MIA speech so I'll skip all that. But I do hope you all are fine and well. But I promise I'll be back to regular blogging when I get back to Hawaii.

So this weekend will be my last out here so we're going to make the best of it. We had lobsters for dinner two nights in a row. Yum! lol. A couple of nights ago my sister took us out to eat sushi (my fave!) and we're going to another sushi place tomorrow night. Can't wait. :) I believe we're going to the aquarium tomorrow as well. That should be fun. We also went on the Boston Duck Tours. We had the best tour guide. Unfortunately I don't have any pics to share because my sister was the paparazzi as I was too lazy to take any pics. But I'll try to get some up here in my next post. But all in all I've been enjoying myself and trying to make the most out of our time here since I'm not sure when we'll be able to visit again.

We have gone shopping but I've bought mostly clothes. My only makeup-related haul was at CVS for essence of beauty brushes. Since we don't have CVS in hawaii. I also snagged the colossal mascara for 2.99 with my sister's CVS extra bucks card. that's gotta be the cheapest mascara i've ever bought. There are outlet malls here but no CCOs. :( we never had any time to go when I was at my other sister's house in California. next time, next time lol. Since I haven't bought any makeup I couldn't resist with electro flash and sonic chic from MAC. So I did a major haul online. I ordered on Tuesday morning and my hubsie told me last night that it already came in the mail. Talk about fast shipping. I should've just had them ship it here if that was the case lol. From seeing swatches on specktra and youtube, I pretty much had an idea of what I wanted so I got 5 MES duos and 5 of the blushes since I am in love with blush. Seriously I am so into blush it's not even funny. I just love how it's the cherry on top of the sundae, completing any look with a flush of color. I also had to snag a backup of Parrot e/s since it's on their goodbye list for soon-to-be discontinued items. But anyway, I'll do that haul post when I get back for sure.

492...on my google reader. lol. time to catch up! Read More...

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

cali bound in 6 hours

so the time has come. my flight leaves at 7am and i am so exhausted and tired already from packing and not getting enough sleep last night. but i'm excited. my sis got disneyland tickets so we'll be meeting mickey on thursday. ;)

i'm almost done packing lol. didn't pack that much makeup, just the essentials. which equals to 2 travel sized and 2 regular sized makeup bags. brought a few of my neutral palettes and of course the manly palette so i can still do some looks for yall lol. right now it's about 12:45am and we'll be heading out to the airport in about 3 hours. we've got a 3-hour stopover in san francisco. that should be fun. lol.

my hubsie teared when we said our goodbyes this afternoon. he's afraid jr. won't remember him when we get back lol. and to make it worse, mariah carey's bye bye song was playing LOL. i told him that i saved my blog link under his favorites on his login on our computer, so he can read about what i'm up to since i don't blog on myspace, just put up pics. and he knows how much of a broke ass i am right now so he gave me a "vacation donation". lol. thank you honey! you're the best. miss you already. ;)

just wanted to sign off from hawaii. my next post will be in cali. nitey nite everyone ;) Read More...

Monday, June 23, 2008

1st Product Review: Benefit Lemon Aid


Product: Benefit Lemon Aid Color Correcting Eyelid Primer
Product Description: A miracle-working soft-yellow correcting cream that instantly hides redness and discoloration on your eyelids making them look fresh and young with or without makeup. In a snap, eyes look refreshed, frisky, and ready for fun.
Price/Weight: $18/2.7g/0.09oz
Where to buy: Sephora
Packaging:
Quality:
Overall:

Why I purchased it: Lately I haven't been too happy with my Urban Decay Primer Potion. I have a couple of light freckles/beauty marks on my left eyelid and I also have some slight discoloration on my eyes where the skin is a tad bit darker from the rest of my face. Just like my undereye circles except on my eye. I noticed that the UDPP is great as a base but doesn't do well with evening out the discoloration/redness on my eyes. I've read many wonderful reviews on this product and debstan1 from YouTube also uses this primer for her tutorials using her 120 palette. The colors come out amazingly vibrant. I just had to try it for myself.

Pros: I love the packaging. Actually, I like most of benefit's packaging. It comes in a small round sleek black compact with a mirror. Great for girls on the go. This primer also doubles as a concealer and I'm all about multi-use, 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 products (less baggage in your purse). It did very well in concealing the redness & discoloration. I could definitely use this as a concealer. As far as being a primer, it worked great! The pics actually don't do any justice as they were much more vibrant.

Cons:: The price is a bit steep. A couple bucks more than the UDPP but I'm very happy because it did exactly what I wanted it to do.

Overall Opinion: Great product if you're looking for a double duty primer. I would definitely buy this again since I'm sure it will last me a while.

*click to enlarge*
Read More...

Sunday, June 22, 2008

120 color eyeshadow palette

EDIT: If you woud like to purchase this palette, I bought it from chic-gallery on ebay. here is the link: http://stores.ebay.com/Chic-Gallery-eStore I'm sorry I didn't put it up earlier, I just thought this was old news since everyone knows about the Coastal Scents palette. Enjoy! ;)

Yay! I'm so happy it came. I thought it wasn't going to get here before I left for my vacation. It took about a week to arrive from Hong Kong, I bought it on ebay for $27.98 which included the shipping. It was bubble wrapped very very well so I didn't get any broken eyeshadows. :)

I know many of you have seen this palette before. It's just like the Coastal Scents palette. I wanted to get this instead because it has 32 more eyeshadows lol. It came with 2 lil freebies. A travel sized brush set and some cute flower nail stickers. Now I really have to give myself a new paint job. :) I'm very pleased with this palette. There is a mix of everything from mattes to frosts and satins and shimmers. Very beautiful colors and excellent color payoff. I didn't like the sticker that was on the upper right hand corner so I peeled it off very easily. It didn't leave any sticky residue so it's all good. I wanted this palette to do my youtube tutorials because I could never figure out what colors to use when I looked at all my MAC eyeshadows. lol. But with this palette, all I gotta do is bust it out and look at it and I'm bound to come up with something. The eyeshadows are very small, about the size of a dime but I'm sure they'll last for quite a while.














Can't wait to do some looks with this. :)

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Read More...