23

Hello. I turned 23 nearly a month ago. For my birthday, some friends got me books and makeup. Mostly makeup. I also got other things (Thanks, friends!), but I'll only be sharing the books and makeup part, since I usually only talk about those two things whenever I make 'haul' posts.

Every Day by David Levithan and Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley, both from Jam. Magonia doesn't have its dust jacket in the picture because I was still reading it when this was taken. Every Day is special because it's Jam's own copy, and I've always associated Levithan with her, probably because the first ever Levithan book I read was How They Met and Other Stories, which Jam had lent me some years ago.

Inglot pigment from Alex! It matches with the liquid eyeliner my grandma coincidentally got me as well.

Said grandma also gave me a couple of her Revlon lippies. She's been an advocate of Revlon for 48965734896 years.

Eyeshadows from Camille! Who finally came to my house last month as well! Miracles do exist!!!!!

Sephora palette from my aunt and her family. Didn't bother swatching because I never really swatch palettes I guess...?

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes!

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In other news, I went back to grandma hair again.

~*~spastic gif time~*~

It's a subtle duo-tone, where one side is grayer than the other. As of this post, my hair color has faded and is less gray now and more ash blonde, I think.

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I have been unwell. I thought I was okay in April, but by the beginning of May I had a complete relapse. I haven't been able to recover since then, and I feel myself continuously falling backwards in a downward spiral. I thought turning 23 would be great, considering how that's also my favorite number (how naive), but so far my days have been obscured by a dark filter that I can't seem to look past.

I don't know what happened to me.

I don't know what to do.

VAS HAPPENING

Some back issues and stuff I've acquired the past few weeks. The bottom row is a bargain I snagged in Baguio, and all four cost less than one i-D back issue from Booksale (and that's saying something, considering the i-D back issue was only 150 pesos). I can never get enough of magazines for dirt cheap.

toilettereads: February 2015

I may have gotten into a bit of a reading slump.

I have a sinking suspicion as to what has caused this, but said cause has not only affected my reading, but a lot of other aspects of my life. The problem has calmed down a bit, but I'm still having a hard time plowing through this struggle. These days, it takes me f o r e v e r to finish just one book, to the point of utter frustration. But I digress.

Uzumaki was my first Junji Ito read, though I have heard of him (and his infamous Tomie) and how great he is. The hype is well-deserved because Uzumaki was amazing. As I mentioned in the video, I am a big scaredy cat; manga, books, and video games are the only mediums I'm capable of ingesting when it comes to the horror genre. However, I've only come across a handful of entries in the print format that have given me the spooks. (Then again, I prolly haven't read enough.) Uzumaki was definitely something that went beyond gruesome and creepy. It made me shudder at times, both because I was getting grossed and creeped out. So, so good. I bow down to Junji Ito.

Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley was something I picked up from Booktube. I've never read the Scott Pilgrim series (though I want to -- I'm just stingy) nor have I seen the film, but I know everybody loves it so I figured something from the same creator would be good. I saw an open copy of Seconds at the bookstore, skimmed through it, felt a tug on my heartstrings, and it was then did I decide I was finally going to get it. The whole second chances theme and wanting do-overs really struck me, and it really made me thinking about a lot of things and the mysteries of the universe, especially at the point I am in my life right now, so I ended up enjoying Seconds much more than I had anticipated.

Plus, it has a pretty sweet cover and dust jacket, so you can't go wrong with that.

Also mentioned in the video was the fact that I got myself an e-reader! One of the books I read with it was I'll Tell You a Secret, Jackalope by Matthew Vandrew. It was more of a short story than anything, and only took me a few minutes to read, but it was definitely something different. It was so... weird and loopy, with slightly similar vibes to Alice in Wonderland, except with werewolf-esque scenarios and a gay couple at a museum.

One of the books I was really looking forward to reading on my e-reader was Valentine's Day of the Undead by Stacey Jay. This is a novella to the Megan Berry series, which I thoroughly enjoyed, so I had a lot of fun delving back into that universe. While it was great getting to meet up with Megan and co., it still wasn't enough to sate my desire for a true conclusion to the saga, especially since this was only a novella. I still want more, but ah well, what can I do...

The Labyrinth was something I acquired from the author himself. I was really drawn to the premise of four, dysfunctional main characters, and how each of them have their own special quirk that involves one of the five senses. My favorite character was definitely Zack, because he's such a cocky piece of wit with the best comebacks. These four main characters eventually find out that they all had a history with one another, having been reincarnated over the years (this isn't a spoiler -- it's totally in the book summary), all while continuously trying to escape their impending doom by the hands of the Guardian (a.k.a. the main antagonist).

Some parts of the book felt a little rushed, especially when the characters find each other, though I do understand it was all part of the 'omg-we-shared-a-past-life-once-upon-a-time' thing. The Guardian's characterization felt a little shaky; he didn't seem very consistent, though I'm not sure if this was intentional in order to show how messed up he is. I felt like the plot could've been just a little bit more developed, but overall it was a pretty interesting read. Thanks again to Dorian Zari for providing me with a digital copy of this!

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In other news, I have several Peter Pan books and I haven't touched any of them. Way to go, Ina.

toilettereads: January 2015

Look! A totally late upload! What else is new?

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk was the very first Palahniuk book I ever saw/took notice of at bookstores way back when. This was sometime in my high school life, and one of the things that really drew me towards it even all those years ago was the very mention of a porn star. (I've probably always been a secret pervy sage.) I finally got around to it, and as I mentioned in my video, it really made me wonder if anyone managed to contract an STD while on set. I mean, this was one woman's goal of having 600 sexual acts caught on film. Surely having that many sexual relations in such a short period of time (the entirety of the whole filming process that takes place in the book is just the span of a day) could lead to something, right? (Spoiler alert: DEATH.)

I liked how this was told in different perspectives -- about three of four, three of which were the perspectives of men who were participating in the whole 600 project. What really blew me away was the plot twist at the end; you think the first plot twist was the climax of the story and the rest of the book was just a matter of tying some loose ends here and there, but lo and behold, there's even a bigger plot twist that totally debunks the former changes everything altogether. I totally didn't see it coming.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove and Other Stories by Karen Russell was something I brought with me on an out of town trip because I wanted a light read on the beach. Thing is, a lot of the short stories in this book were a little twisted -- sometimes kooky -- where the very last story got totally dark and somewhat eerie. That last story used bullying as a central element, and that kind of got me in the gut. There was a sense of cruelty that seemed so unfair yet so real, and anybody who ever got bullied in their lives could probably relate.

Besides the books photographed above, I also wrapped up The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch as part of my reads for January. Between Snuff and Vampires, I began reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (hence my wanting to read something 'light' for the aforementioned beach trip), but as of this post, I have yet to even get halfway into the book. I keep on putting it down and never reading it continuously for some reason. I really hope to finish it before my birthday, at least.

toilettereads: December 2014

ALWAYS LATE 2 DA PARTAY!!!!

More under the cut (spoiler-free, hurray!) for the actual reads of last month.

toilettereads: November 2014

Also, a video showing other books I got in November:

Not that I read a whole lot or anything. I fell sick for the first week of November, and while you might think that such a situation would've been a perfect opportunity to catch up on my reading, whooo boy, lemme tell you, it totally wasn't. This was the kind of sick with a high fever that induced a migraine for two days. It was not cool at all. Nevertheless, I at least still managed to get some reading done.

Deets under the cut, and no spoilers, so it's all safe.

In which there is a video of me showing some recent book acquisitions.

I've never filmed a book haul before -- or any haul, for that matter. The extent of my ~*~hauling~*~ has always just been on this blog, and it typically involved makeup. Somehow I feel just a little more comfortable talking about books than makeup, at least verbally.

Editing this was such a nightmare though. There was just... so much... of my face... I wanted to puke. Seriously, and I think this needs to be said, but YouTubers who make videos of themselves talking or whatever for a living have got some serious self-confidence. Maybe they're just used to it, but I do believe you've got to have at least some degree of self-love to edit videos of yourself without it being extremely uncomfortable. I hardly have any love for myself, but the fact that I managed to put this up in one piece should at least be saying something, right?

I'd also like to reiterate that most of these books were not bought at full price nor were most of them brand new. Out of the pile, about 6 were brand new, one of which still had a small discount. So I think that explains the excessive number of books (and I need not repeat my Battle Royale story, though mentioning it is enough of a perpetuation). Compared to a lot of other booktubers though, this number of books in three months is nothing. I've seen several others who have amassed so much more than this in just ONE MONTH. (In one other person's case, just THREE DAYS. Let that sink in for a moment.)

I dunno about you, but talking about books is really enjoyable. I also feel like book hoarding is a lot more justifiable/a lot less susceptible to judgement than makeup hoarding, because at least books are more... brain-stimulating, so to say. And books have a much longer shelf life, too. Literally, because unlike makeup, books have no expiration date.

#makeuptransformation

LOJK NO

Just another ~*~makeup haul~*~ post.

GURL THANGZ

~*~MAKEUP HAUL TIME~*~

toilettereads: Heartbeat, Heartbreak

I read a lot in February. Or maybe just more than usual, and I have a lot to say about it. More under the cut, which is mostly spoiler-free as I tried to keep deets as vague as possibru.

toilettereads: The comfort of kitchens and cats and other stories

There's something about me that you need to know, and that's the fact that I have hoarding tendencies. PFFT betcha you already knew that, so this is totes old news.

But anyway. Usually, towards the end of the year, I end up hoarding a lot of books, mostly thanks to Christmas money. Except this time, for some ungodly reason, the hoarding has not stopped. It's already February, and my pile of unread books has just grown. I won't disclose just how many, but it's probably enough to last me the year (or over.)

I'm pretty sure I've been hoarding books a lot now because of my long struggle in finding a copy of Battle Royale some time ago. (Long story short: I found a copy of the book, didn't get it because it was damaged, struggled to find another copy for the next 9 months. THEN SUDDENLY THERE'S BEEN AN ABUNDANCE EVER SINCE HUNGER GAMES WEEP.) Something similar happened a while later with Parasite Eve, and while it wasn't as severe, both instances have probably already left me scarred. Ever since then, I always think I might regret not buying a book once it has caught my interest because I may never see it again. So sums up my book hoarding.

That, and there's just something so comforting about being surrounded by books. I've had to make a conscious effort to stop myself from entering book stores now because I am SO BROKE AND I BECOME EVEN BROKER AFTER STEPPING INSIDE A BOOKSTORE. It is horribru.

One of my resolutions is to finish at least two books a month. That number may or may not be pushing it, depending on my own availability (because, for all I know, I may not have as much time for recreational reading as I think I do), but it's a start. Once upon a time I read with so much fervor, but somewhere down the road of high school, that flame flickered and I became lazy for some reason. As much as I want to get back into the groove of reading without any hiccups, I've just become much more distracted over the years, so this resolution is my attempt at focusing more on my stack of books than, say, the internet. (As of this post, I haven't been doing a very good job.)

Honeymoon and Other Stories was a fast read. I don't hold any special feelings for it, but I guess it's a good companion for killing time, like most short story collections. I think I just have a natural inclination towards short stories, as they're an easy read. There wasn't anything special about this book though; I mean, none of the stories particularly struck me with EUREKA or anything I could emotionally invest myself to.

I've always heard of Banana Yoshimoto, and I think I saw a copy of one of her books here once, but I never really tried her out until I found this in Hong Kong from my last trip. Now that I think about it, I hardly ever see any Banana Yoshimoto books here anymore. Kitchen is her first book, and it has a lot of themes of coping with the death of a loved one and seeking comfort in those who share your pain. I wanna try out more Banana Yoshimoto, but the thing is finding another book of hers here is pretty rare.

Is my cat lady showing yet? The Cats of Moon Cottage is about a feline-loving couple and how their older cat adapts to their latest kitten. I was practically crying towards the end of the book because of what happened, and it made me want to give Tofu a really big hug, except he was hiding elsewhere in the house. I sort of cheated with counting this one in the January pile because I started reading it last November, but I didn't take it with me when I went traveling so I only got to finish it last month.

I think sharing what you read to the world is similar to having your iTunes library out in the open: both collections say a lot about you, I guess. I dunno what kind of person my iTunes makes me though as it's mostly Japanese with a side of Korean and just a cup full of English.

Anyway, I dunno, letting people in on what you read feels like you're opening up yourself to a lot of scrutiny. I mean, like music elitists who take a glimpse at your iTunes and sneer at your taste (or in my case, lack thereof) in music, letting people know what you read almost feels like informing them of your intelligence level and reading capabilities. I dunno. I used to read a LOT of chicklit when I was younger, so does that say something about myself? I like children's books; does that make me immature? I have this unhealthy obsession with reading books by Japanese authors/books set in Japan; does that make me a... wait what does that even make me?

Actually, I really don't know where I'm getting at here HAHAHA. I'm taking steps towards trying to make myself more literate (I promise I'm a lot smarter than what my Twitter sounds like); my vocabulary is hardly what one would consider broad, and that makes me disappointed in myself sometimes. Also, whenever I try to go all ~*~srs bznz~*~ in my blog posts, I tend to make a u-turn and go all derpy and sarcastic again. I guess it's just not in my 'blogging personality,' so to say, to be all dramatic-sounding with inspirational words that get your minds all tingly. I guess I'm just more casual when it comes to blogging and stuff, as I've always been over the years. No biggie. I like my 'blogging voice' as it is SHRUG SHRUG TL;DR I HOARD BOOKS AND IMMA SHARE WHAT I'VE BEEN READING LATELY!!!!!

B.A.P Live On Earth Hong Kong 2013

I don't know where to start again. There are so much feels in my heart right now that I don't know where to begin -- okay maybe I'll just start with how I ended up being able to watch LOE in the first place.

When I went to HK last month I already knew about LOE HK, but I didn't think I'd be able to watch because my flight home was a few weeks shy of the concert. But then my mom was pushing me to watch, so at the time it looked like I'd be able to go, but we weren't really sure how often I could do the whole HK-Macau thing so I decided that I prolly wouldn't be able to watch in the end.

And then, a few hours before our flight, my mom and I were being all HUHU I'LL MISS YOU and my mom was like, "Why don't you come back after two weeks huhu" and I was all "r u srs" and it looked like she was. And so I go, "Wait maybe that means I'll be able to see the concert!" and she's all "YOU'RE RIGHT YOU CAN USE THAT AS AN EXCUSE FOR IMMIGRATIONS" (just in case, 'cause you never know with immigrations -- for the record I went through immigrations smoothly without any complication whatsoever) and literally 30 minutes before we had to leave the hotel, I was booked for LOE HK.

That being said, because I booked so late (online ticket selling began in April and I only got to book on the first of June because everything was so tentative), I ended up getting one of the further seats, BUT THAT'S OKAY BECAUSE THE CONCERT WAS SO. MUCH. FUN.

When I got to the concert venue there were already some BABYZ on the ground floor, and when I got to the actual floor where the concert hall was, there were so many BABYZ I could cry. Loljk, but I felt really ~*~at one~*~ with the K-pop community. It made me smile -- really it did -- seeing girls with banners and stickers and whatnot. It was like being at an anime convention, with everyone sharing things to fangirl over, except this was much more concentrated into one fanbase. Geekery at its finest.

It was my first K-pop concert, and I didn't think I'd be able to see B.A.P live so soon, considering I only became a K-pop convert in late April. When I was lined up for the entrance (which was actually not needed because we had booked seats, WHICH IS REALLY CONVENIENT BECAUSE CHAIRS AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT TO GET IN FRONT AND SO LINING UP IS REALLY USELESS???) and just taking everything in, I realized I was really part of this world now. I had always seen K-pop from the outside, and since I never expand my music collection unless I get a recommendation (this was exactly how I ended up getting into the fandom), I never really gave it a shot. Then suddenly just two months down the road of getting into everything, I was already watching a K-pop concert. It's crazy.

Sap aside, I went alone since I don't really have any local friends in HK. It wasn't bad and it wasn't really awkward... lol that's a lie 'cause when am I NOT awkward? It wasn't that awkward or anything, prolly because I've already grown accustomed to not talking to anyone unless required because of the language barrier, so being alone again at another concert felt pretty normal.

The story behind this photo:

Ina: Can I take your picture?

Girl: *takes my phone and hands me her poster thinking I wanted a picture with it*

Ina: Nonono I want a picture OF YOU!

Girl: WHY?!

Ina: Because I think your stickers are funny!

And so she complies. Kamsahamnida, DaeJae shipper.

Even if my seat was towards the back, it was elevated so I could still see clearly. In fact I could see without a problem, much more than my other two concerts, even if I was close to the stage during those two concerts. I guess the only problem I had with my seat was that I wasn't close to the stage, but maybe that's because I'm used to being up front during concerts. There was a screen projecting the concert anyway so s'no biggie.

Besides this concert having seats, which I think is really convenient because we get to sit down while waiting (my legs were dead during the Stars concert), it was airconditioned (but after cheering and jumping around it gets kinda humid anyway) and it started on time. Well, not on the dot, but maybe around 10-15 minutes late? Not bad.

Some girl next to me was by herself too. Her name was Chin Xiao Tung, I believe? I probably got the spelling wrong, but it sounded like that. She admitted her English wasn't very good -- she was at... level 4 English? Idk, but she held up 4 fingers when she was referring to her English skills. I also found out that we had the same bias, and that's always a nice similarity, right? LOL

As the concert hall slowly filled, I noticed there were some people who looked like they were in their 30s or 40s, and I even spotted a little girl and her mom looking for their seats. Ah, love knows no boundaries.

So anyway, B.A.P opened with Warrior, which got everybody standing, and by the time it was Zelo's rap, some girls two rows in front of me were standing on their seats, which prompted me to do the same, and thank goodness I had my stompers on (I think I partially bought them for concert purposes kekeke) because I still got to see the concert really well! Many times I have struggled because of my height...

After Warrior was No Mercy, which got me uber pumped and excited because it's one of my favorite songs!!! I've forgotten the sequence of songs already but some chick behind me started sobbing when I Remember came on, which was early on in the concert. It was pretty awkward with the crying, but in my head I was like, "iz coo iz coo no judgement I'd prolly do the same if they sang It's All Lies/What My Heart Tells Me To Do (I'd prolly just cry in silence tho and not actual wailing)" but they didn't so it didn't happen. I never listened to I Remember much, but I bet if I did (I probably will from now on) I'd end up a sobbing mess like that girl, too.

I thought I would cry though. I mean during the Stars concert, when they performed Your Ex-Lover Is Dead I teared up (I only stopped myself from crying because of my makeup LOL) because it was my favorite song, but when B.A.P started singing Punch I just enjoyed myself way too much to even get my eyes watery. I seriously did try to make myself cry, but I couldn't because everything was way too much fun and Punch is my favorite song and I was just singing (screaming) and jumping along.

I couldn't understand what was being said during the member introductions though, 'cause they were all speaking in Korean and the text was in Chinese, but I went along screaming, "NE!" whenever cued anyway.

Towards the middle of the concert, the screens suddenly showed war scenes and stuff and I was like, "IS POWER NEXT" but then suddenly the screen showed kids at war and stuff (it was awkward because the screams and cheers abruptly fell silent) and there was text saying that we should help them and all that. I think it was nice that B.A.P still thinks of the less fortunate and that they included this in their concert. Then there were gun sounds and I realized it was One Shot that was next, not Power. Ah, the MV that started it all...

THOSE DUETS THOUGH. DAEJAE VOICES JONGLO DANCING BANGHIM SEXINESS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA also Baby Jello looks so grown up now ; ~ ; ("Why are you only 16..." mumbled Ina as her bias' introduction went on.)

Then later on towards the end, Jongup goes, "This is gonna be our last song," which was Goodbye, and I was like WAT srsly 'cause it felt like the concert was a little short, and towards the end of Goodbye my disappointment was growing and I thought ending everything with this would be a little underwhelming so I figured an encore was definitely gonna happen.

And it did, first with Coma then possibly Dancing In The Rain? I can't remember if the latter happened after encore or before it, but anyway I was hoping that B.A.P would at least close with Stop It. They did perform that, though it was the second to the last song. They closed with Crash.

After the concert, I checked back to Twitter again (free wifi in the area, boo-yah!) and Camille thought I'd get rings from the merch stand (pre-concert I tweeted the stuff I got) and I was all RINGS I SEE NO RINGS so I ran back to merch and there weren't any rings but then I noticed they were selling posters and I thought it'd be a shame if I didn't have this in my shrine room so I queued, but suddenly while in line some sound went off in the concert hall, so people were screaming in running back inside. I stayed put 'cause I was much too tired and the line shortened and I was like IDC I BET NOTHING'S REALLY HAPPENING. And nothing did; it was a false alarm just as I thought.

Besides the poster, I also got this tee! The silver parts reflect under strong light, hence the ~*~glow~*~

Oh yeah, and this Matoki thing that I used for the concert. I'm excited to display this in my room.

I also got a bag tag, stickers (on its opposite side is another set in black), and the pouch that contained the shirt. Also while in line for the entrance, some girl was handing out cards for fanclubs (fancafes?) and she gave me a Jongup and BYG one! I actually saw some other groups with different 'business cards', and I secretly wanted to ask for some but was too shy lol.

Overall it was the best fun I have ever had at a concert. I got to sing along to everything (granted, my singing probably sounded like unattractive shrieks of "akjshdskjgl;dsgkhsjkfalfjdg") okay except maybe I Remember, but for the most part it was pretty much everything. I didn't get to sing to everything during the TBS/Stars concert because I didn't familiarize myself with everything, but for B.A.P I pretty much knew all the songs. Maybe that's also because B.A.P only debuted last year?

Still though, this counts as the third concert in my lifetime, and already it was a foreign one. (My third would've been Bloc Party, but it didn't happen because of reasons.) Being alone didn't hinder me from dancing (flailing) and cheering and screaming and jumping around, though I did wonder what it'd be like to watch with Camille. And then I started wondering what fun it would be to see EXO live with Janelle and Beau...

Never in my life have I been able to see a certain group live that I fangirl'd hard over ('fangirl hard' may or may not be synonymous to 'read fanfiction about'); P!ATD and MCR both came to Manila, but I didn't get to see them because of money and schedules, and now they've both disbanded (not entirely for the former, but you get it.) I never got to see FFTL live either and their main vox has already frolicked into dubstepland, and while FOB's having a concert in Manila, my fangirling for them has died down and was never really in par with that of P!ATD and MCR. B.A.P was the first.

I'm just really glad I got to see them huhuhu. Even if I was far away, experiencing their performances live was just so incredible and thrilling and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I didn't bother bringing my camera because I wouldn't be able to fully indulge the concert, but I did take a couple of videos via iPhone. I've already posted one hahaha. My arms and throat are now sore, but I have no regrets.

I woke up today feeling very sad because I realized LOE was over, but when I got home last night I was just bouncing from wall to wall on cloud 9. It's still so surreal and thinking about it still makes me smile.

I don't think I've ever really chronicled it here, but I got into K-pop some time in April, when Camille sent me two music videos of two Korean groups because I asked for some 'hip-hop' recommendations. One of those videos was B.A.P's One Shot, and after identifying this one member that caught my eye ("Who's that cute one with the grapes and who's doing the wormy-wormy thing on the floor?" lol they were actually the same person), I was hooked. It all happened instantaneously and literally overnight, and that same night I was already reading fanfiction HAHAHAHA. With that said, B.A.P was the first Korean group I have ever, truly become a hardcore fan of, and it just feels so right that the first Korean concert I went to was theirs. I am so, so happy.

Not really sure how to close this post, so here is a picture of the boys. ILU B.A.P I HOPE I GET TO SEE YOU GUYS AGAIN AAAAAAA

Collective Makeup Acquisitions

By 'collective' I mean stuff from... late last year. So some of these might be half a year old already. Please note that some of these were gifts; Christmas gifts even. I've been meaning to post some of these but I never got around to, so now I just put them together to make a collective post.

The gloss and MAC (it's fake, so don't go all "woah ~*~MAC~*~" on me kids) lippie were gifts, and the two L.A. Girl lipsticks were from Eastwood's tiangge. They were P150 each, and that's pretty cheap 'cause I saw the exact same tubes at Watsons and the price was hiked to about double the amount.

Aaand a swatch of all four! The gloss is pretty sheer (well, sheer enough for me; it looks weird on the lips on its own) so I like to wear it with another dark lip and just make everything darker and glossy when I feel like it. The MAC faker (I'm sorry if you have issues with buying fake MAC but not everyone can afford that brand MYSELF ESPECIALLY I WANT TO OWN MAC PRODUCTS BUT I CANNOT BRING MYSELF TO SPEND SO MUCH ON IT OKAY) is a nice everyday kind of color. The L.A. Girl lippies are nice and bright and obnoxious and I love it.

NYX eyeshadow bases! I FINALLY HAVE THE JUMBO EYESHADOW PENCIL IN MILK I HAVE BEEN HUNTING THIS DOWN IN FOREVER OKAY OKAY I MEAN

Forever 21 eyeshadow palette that I got as a Christmas gift last year. AAAAH DOESN'T IT LOOK SO PRETTY???

Concealer palette that I got from Terry's mom. It used to be hers, but she tried it out and basically it just burned on her face. Then she gave it to me since I could use it for shoots and whatnot; the note on the palette cover is a reminder of what happened to Terry's mom's face which means a similar effect could happen to Terry should I decide to use it on her for a shoot. Thanks for the reminder, Ted. In any case, these are pretty good concealers! I've actually already hit pan on my shade huhu.

Loose face powder from Nichido. I think it's a bargain because it's cheap but you get a ton of product!

ELF goodies! I don't have that many bronzers (I usually skip any bronzing because I kind of struggle with sculpting my face, but now I've gotten the hang of it!) and ELF's pretty affordable so I thought why not? Also, I've been needing a good face primer and I've heard ELF's is pretty good. I've been really liking it so far. (Later on I compulsively got Maybelline's Baby Face pore eraser and it works just as good and I even heard it was a good dupe for the Benefit primer? Idk. It was compulsive buy because I already had the ELF face primer but the Maybelline one was on sale so it just got to me.)

Lippies from Nichido and Ever Bilena + swatches. I'm sorry for my blotchy hand; I must've been swatching the hell out of stuff the day I photographed this hahaha.

THESE MAKEUP BRUSHES OHMYGOD THEY ARE MAGIC AND SO AFFORDABLE OKAY I MEAN WOW YOU GUYS SHOULD GET THESE They're from Landmark. As in, department store. Go on. Go. Go. Go get 'em. GO.

And then I found out Beauty Bar carried brush guards and then wow. They're not as sturdy as the originals (it can't support your brushes if you're drying them upside down in a cup or smthn) but they do the job and FINALLY I've just been needing brush guards for when I clean my brushes.

Speaking of, I am the WORST at cleaning my brushes. I just find them to be a chore, so my mom got me this brush cleaner from Japonesque. A bit of a splurge, really, considering how pricey the brand is, but the price difference between this and Beauty Bar's wasn't much so my mom went with this one instead.

And then I stocked up on makeup remover wipes because I was running out and these things just make removing your makeup so much easier really.

A beauty blender dupe from Etude House. Isn't the packaging so adorbs? This makes applying face makeup a DREAM.

A silver pigment we got from... James Cooper? Fanny Serrano? One of the two. It's a magical silver and I had never owned any pigments until this one. It's the same silver I was wearing in these pictures.

Goodies that I got in Macau but are actually available in Hong Kong as well. I wasn't really going to get these shades from Maybelline as I wanted the taupe, orange, and emerald ones, but the shades Macau and HK carry are only these two, the blue, purple, silver, and white and I tried these two and actually liked them and since the Philippines does not carry this for some strange reason, my mom pushed me to get them. (Not pictured is the blue shade that we got when we got back to HK because I caved lol.) I'll save you from any swatches because there is enough of that on the worldwideweb.

ALSO GUYS MY FIRST EVER CANMAKE PRODUCT!!! I find Canmake to be really expensive actually, so this is prolly a one-time thing. It's a cream blush that feels like it could go on to a powder finish and it has these pretty gold sparkles. It's a light pink and it's a shade that I don't have yet so yay!

So I was curious about the whole snail face mask fiasco and decided to try it out, along with another face mask for oil control and stuff. These are from Sasa, by the way. I really liked the snail mask so my mom and I went to Bonjour (some of their products are cheaper than Sasa) and stocked up on a couple more.

AND THEN I GOT MY HANDS ON TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL AND DIED AT EVERYTHING. I'm pretty sure the major appeal of this brand is its packaging because wow did they match their packaging to their brand name.

I got this pink multi color paint and it's a nice, bright pink. I swatched it and it looked so good. More than anything I'll be using this on the eyes because I already have several pinks for the lips. It looks like... a small pot of poster paint. So cute.

This lipgloss thing has a stain on one end and a gloss on the other. I saw this on a model on the brand's website and I think it's meant to make your lips kind of jelly-like and I just really liked how it looked. The gloss is pretty thick so it really does look like jelly when applied. *__*

OF COURSE, THESE STUPID LIP CRAYONS. I COULDN'T NOT GET THESE. THEY ARE THE EPITOME OF MY OLD BLOG USERNAME ("crayoneyeliner" -- alright so these aren't eyeliners but they look like crayons and CAN YOU NOT SEE THE CONNECTION?? PLEASE FREAK OUT WITH ME???) AND HOW CAN YOU NOT GET THEM

They're like tinted lip balms so the color payoff is pretty sheer. I think they're sheerer when applied on the lips, especially the pink one. I actually wanted to get the yellow crayon because it's my favorite color, but it hardly had any color payoff. Out of all the shades I think the orange one was the most saturated. Originally the pink one was my mom's, but she ended up not liking how it looked on her (she's used to more opaque pinks lol) so it ended up being mine mwahaha. I have orange lippies here and there, but nothing as subtle as this one. Overall I really like these for everyday, wala lang kind of things.

This eyeshadow is from Forever 21 and it's a duochrome. A FLIPPING DUOCHROME EVERYBODY!!! There is not enough of duochromes in makeup stores I step into, be it in Manila or HK; I think I own about two, but they're really old The Body Shop eyeshadows from my mom that I crushed into pseudo-pigments because they were already busted in the pot. SERIOUSLY THOUGH, DUOCHROME. I love duochromes and I barely have any of them in my life so I kinda freaked out at this also it was dirt cheap and it's actually pretty big and the packaging's pretty swanky too and AAAAHHHH

Seriously, I am obsessed with duochromes. Partially because they are so absent in my life.

One rainy day I was going around Causeway Bay and randomly decided to go into a Maple store. And then I found these colored mascaras by Collection 2000 (the only time I ever hear about this brand is from this one YouTuber and it's only about their concealer; I have never heard about the brand outside of this YT-er) and well I really love colored mascaras okay. There's not enough of them in the market either, though I guess that's understandable since colored eyelashes aren't everyone's kind of party. The liquid liner is this turquoise shade and looks really pretty.

When I got home though, I suddenly realized I had an extra mascara tube (the one that says "LONGER LASH" in the picture.) I was like, "NO I DIDN'T BUY THIS DON'T TELL ME I SPENT MONEY ON SOMETHING I ALREADY HAVE NO NO NO" because it's a dark brown and my Ever Bilena brown mascara's similar. And then I checked my receipt and I wasn't charged for it, but it was on the list of items purchased, so I think they just threw this one in for free? It was the only item without a price sticker on it, so I really do think they gave it for free. Score.

Here's a swatch of all of them. The green mascara's more opaque than the purple one, but both are still pretty saturated. The mascara that came for free is a little darker than my brown EB mascara, but boy does it sure live up to its 'longer lash' claim because one coat of it is enough to lengthen my lashes.

Eyebrow pencil + nude-colored pencil from NYX. The nude one can act as a nude lipliner, and a spot concealer, and a liner for the waterline. My mom and I use it for the waterline, although hers is about a shade up.

AND SO THAT IS ALL. Man when I continue to push blog posts further back they just accumulate into one big post. Whatevs. I am sorry if you come across posts like this one and think that the author is shallow and materialistic; I don't think of it that way at all but there's a possibility that others do. I just... really love makeup okay. =)) I know Terry likes posts like these so at least I know I'm not the only one who enjoys them.