Memorable days - Asian Beauty, Fashion and Lifestyle Blog

Seriously, when you look at most of the mascara TV commercials. Do you really think that the mascara will create that extra volume? Do you really think that the mascara will create that extra length? I don't... I only think that the wand of the mascara looks cool lol, but I never bought a mascara after watching a TV commercial, because I know I will be disappointed afterwards. Most of the time you won't get the same effect like in the TV commercials, so don't get fooled by it!


Have you ever purchased a mascara after watching a mascara ad?
I'm really getting tired of the mascara ads now-a-days, because the models in the commercials are usually wearing fake eyelashes, extensions or it's just photoshopped. (I don't say that all mascara ads are fake, just many of them.) It's all misleading and exaggerated, just like this one:

A short blogpost today. In this blogpost I'm going to show you my NOTD ^^ and I call it the Vintage Roses Nail Art. This is not a tutorial since it's quite similar to the Summer roses nail art that I did before. I just used the same method like the previous time to create the roses. However, this time I used a light pink and white nail polish. The color combination makes it a bit vintage style :), don't you think?

Many people were leaving comments on my nail art blogposts saying: "I need to wait till my nails are longer to create the design.." However, I don't think it's always needed. Many nail designs can be created on short nails as well ^^, just like this one, just try it out ^___^.  Leave a comment below to let me know what you think about this design ♥.

I bought many false eyelashes while I was in Shanghai, but I didn't have the time to review them. I only wear false eyelashes when I feel like it, so I don't wear them every day. There was a time that I wore it every day though, I was even addicted to wear them at first, but I'm too lazy for it now and I prefer to wear it on a special occasion more than on a regular day :). Today I'm going to review the #1088 false eyelashes of the brand Three Trees. It's a popular brand in Shanghai, you can buy it everywhere for 10 yuan (€1.-) per box. They come in a box of 10 pairs, not expensive at all right? I'm sure that it's also available on Ebay, so you can check there if you're interested. See picture below, (Yes, finally a camwhore picture lol, haven't done that for a while) I'm wearing the #1088 false eyelashes in this picture:
They always come in 10 pairs with 10 of the same eyelashes. You can see two different eye lashes in the box, but I just gave 5 pairs to my sister and added 5 pairs of #112 eyelashes into the box. I'm only going to review the #1088 eyelashes in this blogpost, so don't get confused ^___^. The box of the eyelashes looks like this, very simple:
See picture below for a close up. The eyelashes are made of soft plastic and you can definitely see that it's plastic when I blink. I actually don't like the material and they are extremely long as well. Thankfully it doesn't look that long when I have them on and that's probably because of my monolids hehe ^^. Besides, they are bendable which makes it easier to apply and to remove as well. I love how they look on me, it totally made my eyes prominent and brighter. Unfortunately it felt heavy when I had the eyelashes on and very uncomfortable =(, so I wouldn't purchase these eyelashes again.

My question to you:

Have you tried fake eyelashes before?

Sigma Beauty has launched a new line including eyeshadow palettes! The eyeshadow palettes are called FLARE, DARE and BARE. I'm very curious how pigmented these palettes are ^___^. The packaging sure makes me think of the great palettes from Urban Decay haha. Which one is your favorite? 
Picture from beautezine.com

Remember my London Haul? I bought a few Barry M nail polishes while I was there. I reviewed two of their nail polishes a while ago, click here for the previous Barry M blogpost. Today I'm going to review two nail polishes of Barry M again. The green one has become my favorite nail polish ♥.
Instant nail effect, White #316
It's a crackling nail polish. It dries very fast and it cracks within a second. Also this crackling nail polish has a matte finish.

Nail paints, Mint green #304
Like I said before, it has become my favorite nail polish ^o^. I'm loving this mint green color, it is perfect for the summer! This nail polish isn't sheer, so a second coat wasn't even needed ^^ it already had a pretty finish after I applied the first coat. It didn't chip that easily compared to the Barry M Peach Melba #318 which is good.

Shake the nail polishes
Don't forget to shake the nail polishes before you apply it. While you shake it you will see & hear two silver balls in the bottle. These silver balls will mix the color better and faster, so don't remove them!

Ingredients of the crackling nail polish

Brushes
The brush of the mint green nail polish is more thin than the one from the white crackling nail polish. I prefer the brush of the crackling nail polish more because it's easier to apply. However, the mint green nail polish wasn't streaky so I'm happy with the outcome.

Price & Where to buy?
The instant nail effect white is £3,99 and the Mint green nail polish is £2,99. The retail prices are all the same at the drugstores in London. However, I bought the Mint green for £2.- because there was a buy 2 for £4.- deal back then. These nail polishes are also sold at Topshop, Boots and at their website: http://www.barrym.com. People in The Netherlands can also find these at the webshop, Alice & jo's havesentials.

Swatch
This is the swatch of the Barry M Nail Paint Mint Green #304. Ain't it pretty ^^? I only applied one coat in these pictures.
Lets make it crack!
It looks awesome together with the white crackling nail polish ^^! The cracks are looking different on every nail. I applied a thin, medium and thick layer of nail polish on every nail to watch the different effects. As you can see on the picture: the thinner you apply the crackling polish the more cracks you will have and the smaller the cracks will be! I usually apply a top coat after I applied a crackling nail polish but I didn't do it this time, because I wanted to see how long it would last. It stayed for 4 days or so, after the fourth day it started to chip, so always apply a top coat after it!
My opinion
I highly recommend both nail polishes ^^! The white crackle nail polish dries extremely fast and it gives you a pretty matte finish. The mint green nail polish is perfect for the summer! The only downside of the mint green polish is the thin brush, but it wasn't streaky, so I'm happy with the outcome of it.

Do you remember the past collaborations with H&M? Matthew Williamson, Victor&Rolf, Jimmy Choo, Lanvin and Sonia Rykiel. H&M's next guest designer will be Donatella Versace, the world famous Italian designer. The collection designed by Versace, which is said to take a look back at the Italian brand’s designer heritage, will launch in 300 H&M stores worldwide with an Autumn 2011 collection. I'm excited to see this collection ^^, the logo looks very classy!
According to the release:

• The womenswear collection will be dominated by dresses that fit right in with the spirit of the season, featuring studded leather and colourful prints, with accessories including high heels and costume jewellery.
• The men’s collection will focus on sharp tailoring, including the perfect tuxedo, as well as belts and jewellery for men too.
• For the first time in a designer collaboration at H&M the collection will consist of some homeware pieces, including cushions and a bedspread.

I noticed that I haven't done any tag posts for a while, so I decided to do one today :). This time I got tagged by sweet Melody and it's called 10 things I like tag ^__^. The rules: you need to name 10 things that you like and tag 10 people when you're finished. It wasn't hard to think of 10 things though since I love a lot of things hehehe ^=^! I'm going to name them in no particular order, here we go:

1. Nail art
As y'll know I love to do nail art. It's fun to combine nail polishes, create some new designs and it's also fun to share my creations with you girls ^___^. In the picture below you can see one of my creations which I call the Snow Fairy Nail art. Would you like to see more of my creations? Click on Nail art to see more.

Can you still remember that I joined the Sigma incentive program? If you can't remember it anymore, you can go to my previous blogpost where you can find more information about it. In that blogpost I also explained that you're able to apply for a FREE Sigma brush with just a few clicks ^___^ SO AWESOME!! Because I joined that program, Sigma Beauty had send me a Sigma brush to review. It's the F80 – Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki. This is my very first Sigma brush, I've been using it for a month now and I'm very satisfied with it.
Description
The F80 Sigma brush is from their Synthetic brush line for high definition, flawless makeup application. The F80 Flat Top Kabuki brush is perfect for applying and blending liquid, cream, and powder products onto the skin, without absorption into the fibers of the brush. The flat surface allows perfect buffing with flawless results. Synthetic Sigmax HD filament.



Price
The price of this brush is $16 and can be purchased at sigmabeauty.com. Believe me the price for this brush is totally worth it!

Packaging & Shipping time
It took around a month until I received it. I was really surprised how well the packaging was. I expected the brush in an envelope because of the size, but it came into a small white box with bubble wrap in it. The item came in a red pouch and there were a few things inside it: The F80 Sigma brush of course, a small card dedicated to me, a small book with the description of their Synthetic Brush Line and a small book about the affiliate program. 
Small card dedicated to me

F80 - Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki
This is how the brush looks like (see pictures below). The look of this brush is very professional, the name of the brush is printed on the handle and it also comes with a brush protector/cover. The large silver ferrule ensures that the bristles are tightly in place. Also the brush has a white flat top, hence the name. The bristles of this brush are extremely soft and it's very gentle on my skin. I can just see and feel that it's a high quality brush, the handle is even great to work with. I TOTALLY LOVE IT ♥!


Testing
In the description it says that this brush has more purposes. This brush can be used for applying and blending liquid, cream AND powder products. I tested it out with my Missha M Perfect Cover BB cream #23 that I'm using every day. In the picture below you can see how the brush looks like when it's unused and used. As you can see, the bristles are still separate when it's used, it won't stick to eachother.
Flawless
I applied 5 dots of BB cream on my face and blended it out with the brush. This brush is absolutely PERFECT for liquid foundation =D! No streaky marks were visible, it was nicely blended and it gave me a flawless looking skin. I even used a little pressure while using the brush, even then, all the bristles stayed intact. Most brushes would shed but this one didn't at all! I applied a bit of BB cream on my hand and blended it with the F80 Flat top kabuki to show you the effect (see picture below). It's looking flawless right ^___^?!

Washed the brush
I washed the brush after I used it and all the bristles were still there, surprisingly not even one came off! Another good thing about this brush is that it came with a brush cover. After I washed the brush, I slipped the cover on so that the bristles could dry and remain in that shape. It's a good way of protecting the brush from dust before the next use ;).

Pro
♥ The bristles are VERY soft and gentle on the skin.
♥ No bristles came off while washing the brush
♥ The look of the brush is very professional
♥ Can be used for liquid, cream and powder products (multi-purpose).
♥ It gives a flawless looking skin after blending
♥ It comes with a brush cover/protector

Cons
♥ The dense brush hairs prevents it to dry quickly after washing
♥ The liquid foundation won't easily come off, it's harder to wash it clean than regular brushes

I haven't used it to apply powder products, so I can't judge about that. However, I highly recommend this brush: F90 Flat top synthetic kabuki to anyone who is looking for a liquid foundation brush. It really will give you a flawless skin ^__^! I'm extremely happy that I received this brush and I will continue to use it until it will fall apart lol xD. Would you like to have this flat top kabuki as well? You can purchase it online at SigmaBeauty.com. GET 10% OFF BY USING THE DISCOUNT CODE: ALL2011!

I love Japan and I love the fashion there since it's so crazy & different from here ^__^. I usually visit a few websites to check out the street snaps. This time I saw some awesome street snaps at the website Tokyofashion.com. I wanted to post a few of the street snaps here. Would you ever wear something crazy when you're in Japan? I would xD! That's probably the only place where people won't look weird at you when you're wearing some crazy outfit!

This is my favorite picture out of the bunch ^^. She's looking so cute in her sailor shirt =D! Her whole outfit matches!
I really wouldn't dare to go outside like this in The Netherlands hahah.. However, her rabbit bag is quite cute, there is even a carrot in her pocket ='D!!!
As we all know, we can do lots of things with a scarf. This girl created a bow with it ^^ which matches really well with her whole outfit.
This one really caught my eye because of her shoes xD!! I would wear this at home but not outside haha. Somehow it looks cool on her and her outfit matches well.
I think this is a care bears inspired outfit. Care bears seems to be very HOT this year. I saw many t-shirts with care bears on it while I was in London o__O". If you look closer to her neck area, you will see a head of a doll >.<" EEK, so scary!
Source: tokyofashion.com

This is probably my easiest nail art tutorial that I have done so far xD. In this blogpost I'm going to teach you how to put some cute flowers on your nails :). Keep on reading if you're interested.

What do you need?
You will need a white and a pink nail polish (The colors are optional), a toothpick, a topcoat and 1 or 2 dotting pens. I'm going to use the blue dotting pen this time, you can also use 2 dotting pens for this tutorial (the green and the blue one).


Step 1: I created something similar to this nail art tutorial: Christmas party nail art. I just changed the red nail polish into a white one ;). The white version was actually my NOTD for my sis' wedding :D. Looks ok right?!
Step 2: Use your blue dotting pencil and put 4 white dots on your nails. Don't have to let this dry.
Step 3: Use your green dotting pencil and put 4 pink dots on top of the white dots. Let this dry for 1 second.

Step 4: Use a toothpick and draw a line starting from the middle of every dot. It should look like that (see picture below).
Step 5: When the flower is dry, you can apply a white dot in the middle or you can put a small pearl at the middle of every flower. Make sure to put a little bit of top coat or glue at the middle of the flower before applying the pearls.

This wheel is sponsored by Born Pretty Store. There are many many pearls in one wheel and this is really my favorite wheel that I have! The pearls are so pretty ^^ and there are a lot of different sizes in it. I'm definitely going to use this wheel more often in my tutorials. People often use these for Gyaru nails :D. Would you like to purchase this wheel as well? Go to this link: Born Pretty Store Pearls Wheel.
Step 6: Apply a top coat and you're done ;).

I hope you liked this easy nail art tutorial. Like I said, it's probably the easiest tutorial that I have done :P.

Everybody knows the brand Dove... Dove recently has a new shower cream in the market, which is called the Dove Deeply Nourishing Body Wash. Have you tried it out yet?

Description
What is the Dove Difference? Nourishment. Only Dove Body Wash has Nutrium Moisture TM - our unique blend of moisturizers enriched with skin-natural lipids that can absorb completely to nourish deep down while you shower. Deeply nourishing. Clean rinsing. Always beautiful. For best results use ever day.
Source: Dove.co.uk

My body is often very dry since I don't use body cream/butter that often "Yes I'm lazy and I often forget it", so this might be a great solution for my dry skin :). Do you have a dry skin as well and would you like to try this product out..? I have great news for you then ;) you're now able to get a free sample of this body wash on their website. Only people in Belgium & The Netherlands are able to request this sample. I requested a sample to try it out and this is how it looks like:
Packaging
It came with a nice packaging ^___^ and it was a sample with 55 ml product. At the back of the packaging there was a sticker with the ingredients on it.



Does it really nourish the body?
Yes it really does ^^ I've tried this for a week and my body doesn't feel dry anymore and no spots are visible. This is definitely a great product for my dry skin, lol it's great for people who are too lazy to apply body butter after showering. Besides, if you like the Dove scent, you definitely need to try this body wash out :).

FREE SAMPLE
Inhabitants in The Netherlands can request a sample here: http://nl.dove.com/nl/douchecreme/participate. People who are living in Belgium can request it here: http://be.dove.com/nl/showergel/participate. It took a month till it arrived at my place, so don't expect a fast delivery.

A few months ago I bought this New York Color individual eyes palette. It's an all-in-one compact with everything you need for a complete eye look: a primer, illuminator, applicator and 4 eye shadows. They have four colors that are specially coordinated to intensify and enhance your eye color. This palette that I bought is to enhance blue eyes. I didn't notice the packaging while I bought it lol and I don't have blue eyes at all xD. My eyes are dark brown, but hey who cares xD I'm going to use the palette anyways. I think that it will work well with a variety of eye colors and skin tones :).

Price
Many questions were raised about the price at my previous NYC product review: "Is it really that cheap or are some fake?" Remember.... New York Color (NYC) is a budget brand so their whole line isn't expensive. This palette was only €4,99 for 0.33 oz. at a Dutch drugstore (Kruidvat). The prices of all products are also mentioned on their website, check it out if you're curious: http://www.newyorkcolor.com/ .

Packaging
It has a simple & handy packaging. At the back of the palette you will see a description and a small image of how to use the palette on the eyes. I think it's a good idea to do so, it will give you a view of how to use the palette. You don't have to follow the example of course.

Colors
As you can see on the pictures, there is a bit shimmer at the 2 crease/contour eyeshadows. The pigmentation of all eye shadows are surprisingly good. I didn't use the primer in this swatch picture, but while i used it on my eyes i could see that the colors are more visible with the primer on. The primer is quite oily & creamy so it didn't last long on my oily eyelids. The illuminator is a bit shimmery, you won't need a lot of it otherwise it will glow too much.
My opinion
Overall it's a great palette ^^ especially for the price. I won't use this primer though since it's not suitable for my oily lids, but the pigmentation is great and it looks good with my dark brown eyes. Therefore, I recommend this palette to you girls :).

Read my previous NYC product review : http://www.memorable-days.net/2011/05/review-nyc-color-wheel-mosaic-face.html

You probably noticed that I didn't blog that often last week.... Well, I have a good reason for that heheh.. My sis got married a few days ago ^__^ *hurray* and we all had to prepare for it so I didn't have the time to blog. I was also very tired after the wedding.. I really needed two days to recover hahah.. I'm probably getting old lar.. I will post some photos of the wedding when I received the pictures ;). Anyways, There is a new blogpost today ^^ enjoy ~

As some of you might know, I love to watch the videos of Youtuber, BeautyQQ. I shared a few beauty video's from BeautyQQ on my blog before. All of her videos just makes me smile because she's always so happy and crazy, it's such an awesome person ^___^. Today, she uploaded a video called Creative Beauty. It's a video with a lot of beauty tips. She mentions many things that you would never think of, such as making your own nail polish, lip gloss, covering your grey hair with mascara ?! lol.. She speaks Chinese in this video, but there are English subtitles, so you're all able to understand it. Check her video out:

I'm not going to talk about beauty or fashion stuff today. It's time to talk about something else ^^. I'm going to the movies today and it's a horror movie which is called Insidious. Lots and lots of people are saying that it's a very scary movie >.<". Well I've seen a bunch of scary movies in my life and The Grudge, Japanese version is probably the scariest movie I've ever seen. I actually wanted to put a picture of The Grudge in this blogpost LOL, but I thought that it was way too scary hahaha.. I probably wouldn't dare to visit my own blog again xD. I'm just going to put this stupid and funny picture instead xD. I typed the word: "grudge" at Google and I already got goosebumps while looking at the pictures =p yeah i know i'm such a pussy. When I was little I was scared of the movies Chucky and IT. I'm still scared of dolls and clowns >.<" btw omg~ so creepy.. Imagine that you will wake up with a scary doll next to you... AAAAH~!!

Well, tell me :

A few weeks ago I bought a bunch of new nail polishes, including this one. It's a nail polish from Essence which is called "Where is the party?". This is actually my first duochrome nail polish :D and I'm very excited to try it out! Check out the swatches below.
Description
The new versions of the color & go nail polishes cover your nails in the brightest colors of the spring season and really get you in the mood for a deluxe styling session! Ranging from pastel to bright to holographic – with these new colors, you’re sure to be super trendy! And thanks to the fast-drying formula and the flat brush, all it takes is one stroke of the brush per nail and your hands and feet are ready to hit the town!
Source: http://www.essence.eu/

Price
This nail polish costs €1,29 at a Dutch drugstore, Kruidvat. It's from the budget brand Essence. It's such a small bottle: 0.16 fl. oz/5ml.

Brush & Packaging
The brush is easy to work with, but as you can see at the pictures below, it IS a bit streaky. This nail polish does have a great coverage, but one coat isn't enough, two coats are needed to get a good finish ^^. The drying time isn't what you will call 'quick', as the bottle and the description says, but just average. (Not too long, not too fast.)
Swatch
This is a swatch of the nail polish in sunlight. It's so cool that it looks so purple in the sun. Look at the next picture and you will see that it's green/purplish in the shadows. Quite cool huh? I think I will get addicted to duochrome nail polishes :D! HAHA Have you tried duochrome or holographic nail polishes before?

Haven't done a sheet mask review for a while ^^". The previous my beauty diary review was the peruvian sunflower sheet mask. Today I'm going to review the Southern France Apricot mask. This mask is suitable for normal skin. It is especially recommended for dry skin and combination skin that tends towards dryness. Yes it should be a very suitable mask for me~!!
Description
My Beauty Diary Southern France Apricot Mask softens, smooths and highly moisturizes the skin. Apricot extract from southern France provides excellent moisturizing effect. It quenches the thirst of skin, leaving dry skin keenly comfortable. The skin surface will be inscrutably velvety to the touch. Added with extracts of highly moisturizing grain, such as oat, job's tears and hydrolyzed rice protein, it gives more in-depth nourishing and nursing effect to dry skin. The stratum corneum is fully soaked in moisturizing ingredients. It maintains skin’s suppleness, elasticity, fairness and clearness.

Packaging
The packaging is orange and the words at the back are silver. It has a few apricots on the box and on the packaging. It just looks simple & neat :), nothing to complain about.

The scent and structure
Once I opened the packaging I could directly smell a light & sweet apricot scent ^o^. Whoaa~ it smelled good, it's the scent that I expected! The mask itself is thin and it has heaps of serum on it. I think it's the my beauty diary mask with the most essence =3! The essence wasn't dripping but there was a lot of serum in the packaging, so I applied the leftovers on my whole neck. This can be positive but also negative. Some people like a lot of essence and some don't. I'm one the people who likes heaps of serum :).

Where to buy?
People in Holland & Belgium can buy it at my webshop: Peachies.

Ingredients
Water, glycerine, butylene glycol, propylene glycol, prunis armeniaca (apricot) fruit extract, avena sativa (oat) kernel extract, coix lacryma-jabi (job's tears)seed, triethanolamine, polysorbate 20, methyl paraben, hyaluronic acid, xanthan gum, sodium pca, citric acid, algae extract, centella asiatica extract, hydrolyzed rice protein, sorbitol, aloe barbadensis gel, gentiana lutea root extract, malva sylvestris (mallow) extract, saccharum officinarum (sugar cane) extract, acer saccharum (sugar maple) extract, citrus anrantium dulcis (orange) fruit extract, citrus medica limonum (lemon) peel extract, styrene acrylates copolymer, dimethylsilanol hyaluonate, carbomer, polyglutamic acid, sodium hydroxide, fragrance.

How to use
Clean your face and pat it dry. Throw away the plastic sheet. Unfold the sheet mask and put it on your face for 20-30 minutes. When it's time to pull the sheet mask off, you gently massage the excess tonic on your face & neck and wait till everything is absorbed. It probably will feel a bit sticky at the beginning, but just let it absorb.

My opinion
It does do what it says: it moisturizes, softens, smoothens the skin. The fit of the mask was good for my face =). A few things that I really liked about this mask were the nice, sweet apricot scent and the light cooling effect. It felt fresh and cool when I had the mask on. This mask is definitely good for people with a normal to dry, combination dry & dry to dehydrated skin. Sooooo yes, this mask is recommended!

Read my previous My Beauty diary sheet mask reviews here: http://www.memorable-days.net/search/label/My%20beauty%20diary%20sheet%20masks