Updated prices!

Hey guys, I’m clearing out some of my new and pre-loved beauty items. As some of you know, I’ve been having a rough time with chronic pain and that’s where pretty much all of my disposable income has been going these days. So anyway, blog sale because I’m broke. :)

Rules:
1. All sales final.
2. Shipping within the US and to Canada is between $3-6, I’ll quote you.
3. I will ship internationally, but please ask me for a shipping quote first.
4. Payment required within 24hrs or the item goes back up.
5. Paypal only.
6. Email me at hi@strawberrymochi.com with the email title “Blogsale: __________”

Sale:

Paul & Joe Beaute Lipstick S 001, used 1x, $8 $10
SOLD Tokidoki Donutella, used 2x, $4
MAC Hello Kitty Cute-ster, usage as shown, $4 $5
SOLD Dior Catwalk Mauve gwp, used 1x, $2

SOLD Nubar G284 Sparkle Meadow, new
SOLD Laura Mercier Gold, used 1x
SOLD Essie Love, Beverley Hills, used 1x
Sally Hansen 15 DVD, used 1x
Sally Hansen 10 LCD, used 1x

$3 each $5 each

Thanks for looking. :)

vintage silk kimono, black tank top, red obi-style belt and black skinny cargo pants from H&M, shoes from Payless, necklace from Taiwan, earrings, rings, bracelets and watch from Anthropologie, American Eagle, Express, Nordstrom Rack, Aldo, walkonthemoon @ etsy, Skagen, and random vendors at fairs

For the makeup I wanted to keep in line with the tough but feminine idea. I did an asymmetrical, fire-y gold and red smokey eye complete with false lashes, but balanced with strong black brows and bright red lips. I wanted to keep the look pretty, but at the same time I wanted it to make a slightly cartoonish statement and come across obviously as costume makeup.

Face: Dr. Brandt Pores No More, NARS Sheer Matte in Stromboli, MAC Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel, MUFE Full Cover Concealer 6, silica spheres; Cheeks: MAC Merrily, Improvise; Lips: Laura Mercier Cranberry; Eyes: Shu Uemura P Beige, Kat von D Lucifer, MAC Melon, Reflects Gold Glitter, Brash, Cranberry, Shu Uemura gold, UD 24/7 Underground, HIP Gold Charge, K-palette 24 hr eyeliner, Shu Uemura Soft Cross lashes, Kiss Me Heroine Make Long & Curl and Volume & Curl mascaras

I had a lot of fun with this look! It was pretty simple to put together, and not too hard to wear. :) I also had a pretty good photoshoot, I think, considering it was perhaps my 4th or 5th time using self-timer to shoot an outfit. Here are a lot more pictures, including better ones of the makeup (in sunlight and in shade), and a cool pic I got when the self-timer went off while I was still trying to balance my camera on the planter edge.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! :D

Hi everyone! The illustrious Yasumi at Worship at the House of Blues recently had the brilliant idea of doing a Seven Deadly Sins challenge for Halloween. I was the last sin, Lust. Here’s my take:

I actually had quite a bit of trouble coming up with a good FOTD for this look… I think in a lot of peoples’ minds Lust is one of the easier sins to personify in a face, but I also found it one of the more boring ones. In the end I went with traditional and did a dark smokey eye and red lips. Have to say – pretty proud of myself for getting the lashes on though!

Face: Dr. Brandt Pores No More, NARS Sheer Matte in Stromboli, MAC Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel; Cheeks: NARS Exhibit A, MAC Improvise; Lips: Laura Mercier Cranberry; Eyes: Shu Uemura P Beige, Bobbi Brown Velvet Plum, Espresso, Guerlain cream colored shadow, HIP Gold Charge, UD 24/7 Underground, K-palette 24 hr eyeliner, Ardell lashes, Kiss Me Heroine Make mascara, Anastasia Brow Powder Duo in Medium Brown;

See the other 6 Sins:
Yasumi @ Worship at the House of Blues – Wrath
Yumeko @ Bittenbefore – Pride
Justine @ Sakura Lovely – Envy
Jian @ Pinkfish Tart – Gluttony
Vicky – Sloth

Thank you to Yasumi for organizing this challenge! :)

faux leather jacket by People’s Liberation; t shirt by GAP; cargo skinnies by H&M; Ahnu Lucia shoes; watch by Skagen; bracelet by Express; necklace by Amy Ensign; rings from the vendor fair at UCSD; crossbody bag by Vieta

Sorry the pictures are a little overexposed. I’m still having a really hard time getting my camera to focus on the self-timer shots. I really like this combination of motorcycle jacket and skinny black pants, and it’s casual enough that I’ve worn it to school and for going out a couple of times. I’m a graduate student in biophysics, and I already stand out enough as it is, haha. I’m thinking this will be more or less what I wear to the Outside Lands music festival this weekend.

For this second outfit, I decided to glam and girlify it up a bit! I’m not entirely sure where I’d ever wear this, other than just for fun on days when I don’t have lab. I do love it though. =)

blazer by H&M; t shirt by GAP; black pumps by Payless;

bracelets by Express, American Eagle, Anthropologie; druzy ring by walkonthemoon@etsy; necklace from Greece

I actually have never worn this second outfit out yet – I snagged this blazer from H&M for $10 a few weeks ago! I was so, so close to buying the grey one too, but really, how many lace blazers with a giant bow closure do you really need? I usually don’t buy clothes without having a pretty good idea of how it’ll fit in with the clothes I already have, but for $10 I brought this baby home without really worrying about it. I’ve been bouncing ideas around in my head for a little while now, and I’m really happy with how this outfit turned out! Hopefully I’ll think of more ways to wear it too. =)

For both of these outfits, I chose to wear Bvlgari Black as my sotd (scent of the day). It’s technically marketed as a men’s fragrance, but it’s a spicy black tea and vanilla with just a little edge of rubber. I like it because I think it’s a feminine fragrance with a masculine edge to it, kind of like black skinny cargo pants, or a blush pink lace blazer with a tailored fit. Sexy without trying too hard. =)

For my FOTD I just decided that it was a good day to pull out my hot pinks. I haven’t worn X-Rated or PK369 in quite a while, but I love them everytime I do. There’s something magical about a hot pink blush and lipstick. =)

Face: NARS Sheer Matte Stromboli, MAC Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel; Eyes: Bobbi Brown Bronze Palette Amber, Espresso, UD 24/7 Bourbon, HIP Gold Charge; Cheeks: R&R X-Rated; Lips: shu uemura pk369

Hope you guys enjoyed this post! I really hope I have time (and some sunlight!) to take pictures for and write up some makeup posts soon. I’ve really missed blogging. :)

Face: NARS Sheer Matte Stromboli, MAC Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel, Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Bronzing Duo; Eyes: Bobbi Brown Bronze Palette Olive, Espresso, Amber, WnW Comfort Zone green, UD 24/7 Stash, HIP Gold Charge; Cheeks: NARS Exhibit A, MAC Improvise; Lips: Laura Mercier Clementine

I’m also wearing shadows from Bobbi Brown’s Bronze palette, from the fall Tortoiseshell collection. Hopefully I can do a post on that soon – it’s freaking gorgeous and I’ve been using it practically every day since I got it. Olive doesn’t have the most amazing texture as far as BB shadows go, but it’s stunning. I’m also wearing Laura Mercier’s Clementine, which is one of her new(er) gel lip colors. It’s so pretty, and for having such a sheer, lightweight gel texture, it actually is very buildable to a full red lip and it wears down and stains beautifully, so it’s very versatile. It’s also pretty much the same color as NARS Matte Velvet Lip Pencil in Red Square (which is what I had put on at the NARS event, and bought, but may have to exchange because it absolutely murders my lips and does not stain well…).

And … I’ve been thinking about doing outfit of the day photos for well over a year now… but have never had anyone to photograph me. I went to a blogger book signing a few weeks ago though, and figured I might as well give the self-timer a try. And dude, it is really freaking hard!! These are the only good shots I got… and they’re really not that good in terms of actually showing the outfit. I think I need a tripod. Or I don’t know, a real photographer, hahaha. We’ll see.

coat by Jolt, from Nordstrom; tights and scarf from H&M; old sweater from American Eagle; bracelets from Anthropologie, American Eagle, Edition by Banana Republic; rings from Aldo and walkonthemoon@esty; shoes by Born; bag, which you can’t really see, by Melie Bianco

I’m positively in love with this Jolt cape that I bought during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. It’s not quite cold enough to be wearing it out yet, but I’m sure I’ll get a lot of use out of it once fall really starts. I’ve also been obsessed with stacked bracelets – this is quite a new thing for me since I’m generally quite insecure about how thin my wrists are (my bones just happen to be very close-set apparently), but it’s really a lot of fun. And statement rings, thanks to Ilyana – I actually think that was my gateway drug into the bracelets lol.

Anyway, hope you all are doing well, and hopefully I’ll have another post up soon. I have quite the backlog to cover!

1. Be more zen!
   Over winter break, I got stranded at Chicago Midway airport. I didn’t let it get to me because there was nothing I could do about the situation. And I felt awesome! I napped better in the airport and on the planes and I didn’t get sick like I normally do traveling. I think not stressing out made a huge difference. Now, if I could only apply this to other areas of my life!
2. Sleep more!
   I say this every year, but it’s worth being said. =)
3. Cook more!
   I love cooking and cooking for others, and eating out makes me sick (literally)… so clearly I should seek out more opportunities to cook! Plus, I just got a slow cooker and my BFF sent me a pizza stone for Christmas! (Or as she says, not a late Christmas gift but an early MLK Jr. Day gift. =P)
4. Exercise!
   Ok, this one I didn’t do so well with last year haha, but I am seriously going to put in more of an effort this year. I’m taking up swing dancing, and I’m hoping I’ll have enough friends to go with me to help me stick to it! Chasing after shuttles and buses doesn’t really count as exercise!
5. Prioritize my health.
   This has been a hard lesson to learn, but I’ve definitely realized the value of taking time out for self-maintenance. I can’t do everything 100% and sometimes I can’t even do everything to any percentage, but that’s ok. Doing my best means figuring in a buffer for my own health, because if I don’t, then I can’t do anything well.
6. Three Beautiful Things & other exercises in mindfulness.
   I started writing down three things I was thankful for everyday and I think it really did improve my mood. What really struck me about the exercise was how hard it was for me to choose only 3 things I was thankful for in a day and it reminds me how lucky I really am. I’d like to start doing that again. I also learned this awesome de-stressing breathing exercise at a seminar earlier last quarter and it REALLY WORKS! I just wish I could remember to do it more often when I’m actually stressing out!
7. Use more, buy less.
   I will be posting my stash inventory for 2010 soon. I didn’t really stick to this resolution last year, I’d really like to be better at it this year.
8. Read more.
   I started reading again over break, I’d love to keep this up!
9. Write more.
   Same as last year: In addition to writing more, and writing better for this blog, I would really like to pick up my letter-writing again. I wrote a lot of letters to penpals and friends across the country and across the world earlier in my undergraduate career and I definitely miss it.

And of course, I’d like to thank everyone for your kind comments and support and friendship in the last year. I wouldn’t blog if it weren’t something immensely rewarding to me, and I’m so thankful that I’ve found such a warm and supportive community to be a part of. Here’s to a wonderful 2011! :D :D :D

Holiday presents, stash inventory, best of 2010 and NOTDs coming up soon, so stay tuned! :D

So here’s my order. The big cleansing oil, the mini rose depsea water and the mini gloss were GWP for orders over $65 while the little cleansing oil was my deluxe sample. I have to say, I’m all around a bit peeved at Shu Uemura, because the week after I ordered they had the shu uemura x aya takano GWP pouch offer which I REALLY wanted and thought we weren’t going to get in the US!! T_T;

Shu Uemura x Aya Takano Bowwow! Magic Queen Palette + GWP

Now it seems like I’m gonna have to eBay for it or something. I have to admit the GWP I got was pretty nice. The gloss is pretty much clear with small silver sparkles and it smells and feels nice. I love the mini rose depsea water and while I don’t use the cleansing oil I know someone who loves it. :D Then I got my order and I was even more annoyed at Shu Uemura. My whole order was thrown in a box with two sheets of tissue paper (not even wrapped) and I could hear everything bumping around when I picked it up. Happily nothing got broken but the backside of the palette’s box got pretty beat up. I was especially annoyed because I collect limited edition packaging. I guess I should just be happy that the front side of the box with the illustration wasn’t damaged. ;_;

Shu Uemura x Aya Takano Holiday ’10 Bowwow! Magic Queen palette box

I’m not going to lie – my purchase was definitely fueled by my love for the packaging. I really adore Shu Uemura’s Holiday collaborations and I think I’m going to be collecting at least one piece a year for a very long time. Though I really loved the art this year, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the most of the pieces. (I dunno, I’m not really a lipstain/potted gloss person and I don’t use gel/cream blush.) I bought the Bowwow! Magic Queen palette because the colors looked more wearable, even though I thought the illustrations for the Reindeer Kiss palette looked cuter, but I’m actually surprised at how much I like the Bowwow! Magic Queen! The illustration on the box is really nice in person and I LOVE the image on the compact. Super cute! ♥

Bowwow! Magic Queen palette	Back of palette

I’m also really happy to report that Bowwow! Magic Queen is a beautiful palette of wearable colors! I didn’t get either palette from last year (even though I really desperately wanted the Planet Cat compact) since I just couldn’t see myself wearing those colors (individually or together). Bowwow! Magic Queen is much more conservative in terms of color choices, but they’re gorgeous and great for the holidays. The compact is mirrored, and it comes with a double sided sponge-tip applicator and a double-ended brush with a side for liner and the other side looks like a regular-sized eye blending brush but I assume it’s meant for the blush.

Inside the palette

Here are swatches. The blush is a matte, neutral light pink with tiny gold sparkles. It’s light, and on the sheer side, but it has that beautiful lit-from-within quality I love about Shu Uemura blushes. I personally feel it’s a little bit heavy on the gold sparkles for everyday, but it’s also lovely as a highlighter on top of other blushes. (Then again, the sparkles are REALLY small, and hard to pick out individually unless you’re looking for them, and the barista on campus told me my cheeks looked beautifully glowy the last time I wore it alone.) The three eyeshadows are all metallic, gold, taupe and bronze (the palette calls them B1, B2 and B3). They’re all highly pigmented and creamy. I swatched all the powder shades with my finger on bare skin and the swatches don’t do these colors justice. They’re much prettier when applied with a brush. While you can wear the eyeshadow colors together, I’ve found that they’re actually really excellent as accent colors. I’ve been using them to compliment the Bobbi Brown Day-to-Night Warm Eye palette a lot recently. Last, there are two cream shadow/liner colors, a pearly pale gold and a matte forest green. I haven’t actually tried these yet because I’ve heard terrible things about their staying power, but the gold is really pretty and looks like it’d be a beautiful cream highlighter.

Swatches (L-R): Blush B6, Eyeshadows: gold B1, taupe B2, bronze B3, Liners: gold B5, green B4.

And here’s my FOTD. I apologize for being washed out – it’s been cloudy a lot recently and so I just decided to go with this picture since it’s supposed to rain the next three days lol. I’m wearing the gold and bronze eyeshadows from the palette along with the blush. As you can see, the blush is actually really cute! For the eyes, I’m wearing Bobbi Brown Velvet Bronze all over the lid with Espresso in the outer corner. Then, I put B3 in the center of my lid and blended B1 into it from the inner corner. I also used B1 as my tearduct highlight and I lined the bottom outer corner of my eyes with BB Velvet Bronze. On my lips I’m wearing a thin layer of Shu Uemura Pink Venus, from last year’s holiday collection. I think it’s a pretty, casual holiday look. =)

Face: Shu Uemura Face Architect 964 + 754, MUFE Full Coverage Concealer 6, Murad Acne Treatment Concealer Medium; Cheeks: Shu Uemura Bowwow! Magic Queen B6; Eyes: Shu Uemura Bowwow! Magic Queen B1 & B3, Bobbi Brown Velvet Bronze & Espresso, HIP Gold Charge, UD 24/7 Bourbon; Lips: Shu Uemura Pink Venus;

I’ve also really liked wearing the B2 shade in the center of my lid over taupe eyeshadows like BB Burnt Sugar, and I wear B3 over BB Velvet Bronze without the gold for bronzier looks too (great with bronze/peach blush and Shu Jupiter Brown).

All-in-all I really love this palette and I’m really happy I decided to buy it. The only things that annoy me are how easily the compact holds fingerprints (but this is very common) and getting powder into the cream products, but it’s only really an issue for the gold cream to get blush in it, and if I pull my blush brush the other direction or pat, it’s not too bad. =)

What did you guys think of the Shu Uemura x Aya Takano collection? Who put out your favorite Holiday collection this year? And what was your favorite holiday collection of all time? (I think my favorite collection of all time still has to be Shu’s collab with Tsumori Chisato for Holiday ’09. :D)

Face: MUFE F&B 34, Shu FA 964; Eyes: P&J Murmur, Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, Parental Advisory, Shinigami, KvD Lucifer, Rad Purple, Joe Fresh liquid liner, UD 24/7 Zero, HIP Chrome Violet Volt; Cheeks: NARS Sin; Lips: Laura Mercier Black Orchid;

Anyway, I’ve got a ton to share with you guys but I’ll be away at a departmental retreat Monday and Tuesday, so hopefully I’ll be back later next week with a bunch of posts and my October favorites. Hope everyone had a pleasant and safe Halloween this year! :D :D :D

My mom and brother arrived on Thursday evening and met up with me on Friday after my last final for the Bioengineering Department’s Graduation Celebration.

My mom, me and my brother at the BENG Graduation Celebration	Me & my mom

I actually opted not to walk in my college’s commencement because I figured it’d be more fun for my family to go to the Birch Aquarium instead, but my mom insisted I borrow a friend’s cap and gown to take pictures in, LOL.

In front of The Bear in the Engineering Courtyard	Me & my mom in front of CalIT2

And we also took some pictures of me in my graduation dress (the same one I wore for my birthday).

SO & I after the JSOE Ring Ceremony

Saturday was the Engineering School’s Ring Ceremony.

My mom and brother were only here for about 3.5 days, but we tried to make the most of it! We went to the San Diego Zoo, which is one of my favorite places in SoCal.

And we went to a couple beaches as well. I don’t get to see my family often, so it was really nice that they could make it out for such a special event in my life. ♥

In case anyone’s interested, I’m wearing Shu P Beige, MAC Magnetic Fields, and UD Underground, R&R X-Rated, and LM Azalea in the pictures of me in the dress and cap & gown. In all the other pictures I’m wearing MAC Melon, Museum Bronze, Blonde’s Gold, UD Bourbon and Shu P Peach 45 and LM Peach Sorbet.

Me, J & T at my apt.

We met up at my place first to play with makeup and nail polish, as is our pre-concert/dance tradition. T and I actually went out to lunch first, poor J got stuck at work and had to meet us about an hour late.

T‘s probably the least girly of the three of us so J and I always do her makeup. It’s kind of become a tradition by now haha, and I hope she does actually enjoy getting dolled up lol. I don’t have any pictures of nail polish, but T chose China Glaze Ruby Pumps for her fingers and Sinful Daddy’s Girl for her toes. For her eyes, she picked out Fyrinnae Parental Advisory from my collection and I put the rest together.

T, eye & face makeup by me, liner by J. Eyes: Kat von D Galeano, Rad Purple, Lucifer (Beethoven), Fyrinnae Parental Advisory, HIP Chrome Violet Volt, Urban Decay Zero, Shiseido Perfect Mascara; Cheeks: Hard Candy Living Doll, Laura Mercier Gilded Garden; Lips: Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited in PK 369;

I chose to do a dramatic purple smoky eye paired with a soft pink cheek and toned down MLBB lips. Can you believe T‘s only wearing that bright shu lipstick sheerly? She has such perfect lips! & of course, I can’t and have never been able to do top liner, so I defer to J who is the queen of winged black liner. She always does such a perfect job! T was so funny, she kept on commenting that her eyes looked so big she was freaked out by them LMAO! :D

J‘s quickly becoming an expert at eyeshadow! I was unfortunately between doing my own makeup and T‘s while she did hers so I didn’t get to see what she used except that she borrowed my Kat von D Beethoven palette.

J did her own makeup. Eyes: Kat von D Beethoven palette; Lips: clear lip gloss;

She did a really pretty blue smoky eye and kept the rest of the face light and fresh. I totally want to know what blush she used now teeheehee. We sadly didn’t get a chance to do J‘s nails since we were pressed for time (and actually we ended up missing the only part of the concert we really wanted to see…) but hopefully we’ll have another girl’s night in soon. =)

& I did mine. Eyes: MAC Mutiny, HIP Showy duo teal, Fyrinnae Polar Bear, HIP Chrome Gold, Prestige WP Surf; Cheeks: Shu Uemura Lolly Cherry, Laura Mercier Gilded Garden; Lips: Chanel Egerie;

I opted to go with a bright teal and gold eye with coral pink cheeks and lips, almost exactly like a recent FOTD. It came out a little different though, I think because I didn’t layer 5 blushes LOL.

Anyway, like I alluded to earlier, the only part of the concert we were really interested in seeing was Michelle Branch, but we just barely missed her performance. Unfortunately neither J or I had gotten wristbands for the concert (they ran out at 3pm … wtf???) and so we used SO and his friends’ to get in, but by the time we managed to she was already leaving the stage. So we just kind of milled around for about two hours and watched a couple dance performances before we got too bored and too cold and left for a girls’ night out.

At the festival.

But we have pictures to prove we were there. =) I’m still sorting through Junkyard Derby pictures. That post will probably come later this week. =)