The Hungry Asian

Hello Kitty by OPI Swatches and Review Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 19:59:00 +0000

Released in January, the much anticipated Hello Kitty by OPI collection has arrived! I have to break this up into 2 posts so stay tuned for the other half. I am missing a color called Say Hello Kitty! Special Edition because that comes in a limited edition kit with Swarvoski crystals. Any of you guys get that kit? I bet those crystals are so cute aaah!

Kitty White 3 coats, no topcoat. If you apply 1 coat you can see the flecks of small glitter that sparkle pink and green. By the time you apply a third coat your nails look mostly pearly white.

Showered by Petals 3 coats no topcoat. The formula for this color was very thin, which surprised me but I think I liked it better than a thick goopy white. Unfortunately that did not mean it was not streaky, because it was. Even after 3 coats I could still see little bits of my nail peeking through.

Let's Be Friends! 3 coats no topcoat. A pale baby pink creme, this one was streaky and thin as well.

Small + Cute = ♥ 3 coats, no topcoat. A cool-toned light pink creme, thin but getting less streaky. Applying a thicker third coat helps.

Spoken from the Heart 3 coats, no topcoat. Dark pink crelly, this applied perfectly in 2 thin coats.

5 Apples Tall 2 coats no topcoat. Candy apple red crelly applied perfectly in 2 coats. Love this color and formula!

The creme colors are so thin that they pooled at my cuticles. Can't remember the last time I had to do cleanup on swatches, but I had to for the pink and white creme. My tip for those shades: apply 2 thin coats and a thicker third coat, making sure to wait a couple of minutes between coats so you don't drag. Spoken from the Heart and 5 Apples tall had the perfect consistency and very opaque.

Part 2 will be up soon, thanks for reading!

Sent by OPI for review.

Irresistible Me Silky Touch Hair Extensions Photos and Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 20:02:00 +0000

I have never worn hair extensions before so when Irresistible Me contacted me I was pretty excited to try them out. I lost quite a bit of hair from the crown area and near my hairline from postpartum hairloss. I was losing huge clumps everyday! This is the main reason why I cut my hair short. Not that I lose less hair or anything, it's just easier to deal with the fallen hair and also less tangles.

I chose the color Natural Black from the Silky Touch line, which is a warm toned black and it matches my hair well. My natural hair is still a tad warmer. One other nice thing about chopping off my hair is I was finally able to cut off the last of my color treated ends so now it is all my natural hair color.

I picked the 20 inch extensions and 200 grams. It comes with 10 pieces. 1 x 4-clip weft, 2 x 3-clip wefts, 5 x 2-clip wefts and 2 x 1-clip wefts. The package was shipped to me very quickly and came in a sturdy box.

Inside is a large ziplock type bag that has 2 pockets, the small side on the right has a single 2 clip weft and 3 spare clips. The larger side on the left holds the rest of the hair extensions. They give you the 1 weft so you can take it out and make sure it matches your hair color and to make sure you like it. If it doesn't you can send it all back and exchange it for the right shade.

I have naturally curly hair but the curls on my right side of my head look different than my left side so I thought it would be too hard to blend so I straightened it. If you missed it you can check out how I cut my hair here.

The back before starting. I grew SO many grey hairs during my pregnancy! It's everywhere, ugh.

I tied up most of my hair and left a small section at the bottom. This is where the big 4 clip weft will go.

There is a dent in there from the rubber band that was on it. I didn't do anything to the extensions before starting except to brush them out.

I then parted my hair slightly above the first weft and put in another 3 clip weft.

Then I parted my hair near the crown and added a 2 clip weft. I don't really know what I'm doing here just adding hair as I go up. The first thing I'm noticing about now is how weird these clips feel on my head. They don't hurt they just feel heavy. Later I get used the feeling and it goes away.

Now the sides. I parted above my ear and added a 2 clip weft. Then I parted above that and added a 1 clip weft. Since I have less hair on this side due to part that was enough I thought.

I don't have photos of the other side but I did the same thing except I added an extra 2 clip weft. I think I needed to clip in the extensions a little closer to my face, it's really not blending that well.

The back all finished. I don't have layers so it looks pretty blunt. Might need to clip in the last hair higher up my crown.

Dylan break!

I flat ironed the back a bit. My son kept me running back and forth so I didn't spend as much time flat ironing but I think it helped.

My solution? Half up-do! Looks pretty good now.

Unless you were inspecting me closely you couldn't tell I have extensions in. I think if I were to wear them in the future I would take the time to curl my hair and the extensions. It would just blend a lot better I think. I was looking more for length not volume so I think I didn't need to wear all 10 wefts either.

One notable thing about these extensions is that they have a smell. Like a musty cigarette smell. I asked Irresistible Me about it and was told that some people notice a smell, some don't. I am very sensitive to scents so not surprised it bothered me. Washing the extensions take care of the smell problem. So if you're like me you may want to wash them before using them for the first time.

So I washed them to see how the hair felt and smelled after. I used Kirkland brand shampoo and conditioner. After I patted them gently with a towel and just draped them over my shower rod to dry.

The hair was soft and silky and smell free! It got a bit wavy but nothing a flat iron or curling iron won't fix. So yeah, I recommend washing these before use.

Pros:

Easy to clip in
Easy exchange policy in case of damage or the hair not matching your color or meeting your expectations
Gives instant volume and length

Cons:

Has an unpleasant odor, requires washing first
Lots of fallout (my bathroom floor and sink had a lot of hair that came out)

Where to get them: Irresistible Me

Price: For the Silky Touch 20 inches I have shown you here is priced at $189. 14 inches and 100 grams starts at $79. The more hair you add, the higher the price.

Sent by Irresistible Me for review.

Calvin and Hobbes Nursery Mural

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 19:39:00 +0000

This was the state of our spare bedroom, which I used as my personal nail/filming/photo room. I'm a slob I know!

To be fair, it was getting cluttered because I was putting baby stuff in here. Yeah, that's it!

I consolidated all of my polish into 1 tall Alex unit (emptied the other one and put it in my sons closet) and the rest of my things went into the short Alex. We then rented a projector from a local camera store and my mother in law printed a transparency of the Cavin and Hobbes we were interested in.

We grabbed pencils and started tracing the image on the wall.

We custom mixed all the paint colors, and for the tree trunk and leaves we went to Lowe's and purchased pint sized colors.

I had a hard time sleeping at night so I would wander in at odd hours and paint here and there.

Double checking with the projector to see if we missed anything.

We took elements of different photos and painted it how we wanted.

Late nights.

Progress!

Belle was such a sweetheart, she always came in and watched and kept us company. I miss her so much.

Finished! It took us 7 straight days to complete and we loved every second of it. Dylan will gaze at the wall while he is in his crib, I hope he likes this mural when he is older. Maybe someday we will paint another one of his choice!

Gave myself a haircut!

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 08:38:00 +0000

I love my hair long, but I am losing tons of hair from postpartum hairloss and my son also loves my hair. As in swatting, grabbing and yanking on it. I was aiming for a long bob but when I made my first cut I did it too short so it's a couple inches shorter than I had hoped. My hair grows really fast so that's okay!

I bought some cheap hair shears from Amazon and just chopped it off. I sectioned my hair on the sides separately so I could cut them at an angle. The back section I cut right beneath the bottom hair tie.

It was really hard to trim up the back in a straight line, in fact it is still slightly longer on my right side but I rarely wear my hair down and straight so I gave up trying to fix it. I also used thinning shears to thin out the back a bit. If I didn't my hair would not lie flat in the back.

Seeing this in the sink gave me that what have I done feeling.

This is the first time I cut my hair from home with actual hair shears. It made a huge difference! No more making multiple jagged cuts trying to go through my thick hair. Definitely recommend buying a pair. I got some cheap ones for about $12.

I like how I can put my curl cream in after my shower and I don't have to worry about styling my hair. If I want it to look super nice I blow dry it straight and then curl it with a flat iron for more even looking curls. It's still long enough to wear in a pony if I'm in a hurry.

Do you cut or trim your own hair?

Meet The Little Hungry Asian!

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 21:18:00 +0000

This is Dylan and he is 4 months old today. Has it been that long since I last posted? His newborn months went by in a haze for me since I caught a cold at the hospital and spent several weeks sick in bed and nursing him.

Now he loves to smile and giggle, and one of his favorite things is he loves to look up your nostrils while you talk to him! If he sees those nostrils he will let loose the most adorable giggles! He makes me so very happy. Before I start gushing too much, let's get to the pics shall we? Warning: lots of baby pictures!!

His car ride home.

All 1 week old.

2 weeks I think.

1 month!

Love his cowlick!

He started smiling at 5 weeks or so.

Sick Mommy.

Hanging out with Grandma.

After bathtime sleep.

He loves his mobile in his crib.

Off on a nice stroller ride to see great grandma.

His smile melts my heart!

Tummy time.

14 weeks.

At 10 weeks old he said "I love you"! I caught it on camera

Thanks for looking!

Slightly belated 6 Year Bloggiversary and life updates. Super long post and picture heavy!

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Tue, 19 May 2015 23:20:00 +0000

Hi guys, long time no see. Last month was my 6 year blog anniversary, can you believe it?!

So my biggest news is that I am having a baby! In fact, today is my due date but baby is nowhere in sight. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen the Calvin and Hobbes mural we painted in the nursery.

I might make a separate post about the mural. It took us a week to paint and we had such a blast doing it. I need to take pictures of the rest of the room now that it is all set up, maybe in that other post.

I look and feel like a whale, so been resting at home for the past month or so. I went into nesting mode around then so at least the house is tidy and organized! I don't have any pictures of me recently. I had been taking weekly photos but stopped around 32ish weeks. I didn't take any for almost a month after that. Which I will get into next. Well here's a few to show kind of the beginning middle and end (sort of).

Probably around 15ish weeks.

20 something I'm sure.

Somewhere in the 30s. Once I organize my cell phone pictures I will show you the week by week progress!

-----------

On April 7th, we had to make the extremely difficult decision to let our beloved little Belle go. She had not been acting well so a couple weeks prior we took her to the vet for a check up. She got a full exam with xrays and it just showed that she was getting old. She had a really bad back and leg joint problems which is pretty common for Corgis.

So we went home and gave her pain medication to help make her more comfortable. But then shortly after that her health declined really fast. She lost all her appetite, she couldn't get up if she was lying on the floor, she couldn't move her legs or do anything. We took her back and they discovered a really large mass in her abdomen. It was a really aggressive cancer that took less than 2 weeks to grow that big (wasn't in her xrays from the last trip). She was suffering and her quality of life had diminished. It was unfair not to let her go. It was the hardest thing we've ever had to do.

She was my best friend for almost 15 years. She always slept on my legs at night, even if she had been sleeping and I came to bed. When she couldn't get on the bed anymore she slept on the floor right next to me every single night, even on her last night. That week we just cried a lot. Typing this out is taking me hours since I have to break to stop crying.

So yeah we have been so heartbroken this past month and a half that I haven't done any work on polish. In fact I have a new collection that's about 70% ready that came to a screeching halt. I still have not continued work on it. I feel so guilty but I can't bring myself to finish it right now. I could go on and on about Belle but I will spare you the reading.

Painting the mural just before she got really sick.

Once we gave the doggies access to the nursery she liked to watched me paint.

Watching paint dry is hard work, naptime!

I just recently started painting my nails again. I chopped off my long oval nails in preparation for baby, don't wanna poke his eyes out! Oh yeah I forgot to tell you we are having a boy. I'm sure you could have guessed by the mural.

My due date manicure is OPI Jinx with a stamp. I forgot what the plates are called, they're one of those big rectangular plates that has like 20 patterns on it. I got them last year I think when I saw Lacey from Lace and Lacquers post something about them.

We also broke my ring light painting the mural so my pictures aren't quite the same. Been using the flash so they're kinda blah. Guess it's back to using good old sunlight.

Our other Corgi, Jasmine is such a little troublemaker. She saw a skunk one night and charged at it barking. Well you can guess what happened! This was a few months ago and her head still smells vaguely of skunk. She was sprayed right in between the eyes too, poor thing. That was a one-time experience that I hope I never have to go through again lol.

She had to get her teeth cleaned so here we are on the way there. Happy face.

This is right after we got home. I think they gave her too much because she stayed doped up ALL day. Never had our dogs groggy for so long before. It gave her really sad droopy eyes.

Super clean teeth and happy! Poor Jazzy, she misses her big sister. She hasn't been the same since. A couple of times we watched a video of Belley and Jasmine got excited and ran around the house looking for her. Totally broke my heart. I hope she likes the baby and makes him her new buddy.

So what else? Oh yeah, FOOD! I been eating a lot of it that's for sure. Too bad I haven't been taking pictures.

The only pictures I could find is my cast iron pizza experiments. Was it good? Oh yeah.

Pepperoni and pineapple. Don't judge!

This one has roasted jalapenos on it as well.

Here they are out of the oven.

The aftermath.

Do you guys get the Fortune Cookie Soapbox? I thought the summer box soap was soo pretty! Terrible picture here but it looks like galaxy nails hah.

So I also missed Hungry Asian Nail Polish 4th anniversary! If I can ever finish my collection I will do a giveaway for sure. Thanks for your continued support over the years, it means so much to me. I love you guys.

Since I did title this a bloggiversary post, I will end with pictures from this month each year for the past 6 years. I won't leave any out, so if it's not beauty related, oops!

May 2014:

A Spider roll, yay!

Jazzy loves her treats.

Looks like Belle does too and she forgot to put her rump down.

May 2013:

I thought I didn't take pictures in May '13, but I found 1 folder with these hah. This is albacore tataki.

For my review on Not Your Mothers curl cream. That WAS my hg curl cream but I recently found a new one that blows it out of the water, ooh I should review it right? It's Deva Curl btw from Sephora.

May 2012: So apparently in 2012, I took a ton of pictures.

I also must have had a belated bloggivesary that year because this is a giveaway pic lol.

Our poor little Peanut had leg surgery to remove some tumor. Her paw was the size of a small baseball mitt after it was funny but not funny.

Oh hey I remember this, Rite Aid shopping!

This is I'm All Ears by OPI, iirc there was a Minnie Mouse or Mickey Mouse collection no? Oh gosh those were my nails? How I miss you.

We were shown the house we live in now by our realtor.

So when I said I wouldn't leave any pics out, I lied. There is like 100 house ones.

May 2011:

Oh hey, remember when crackle was a thing?

I'm thin!

You guys know I love umeboshi and anything plums. Here I am picking my ume from the tree getting ready to make my own umeboshi and umeshu (plum wine).

Oh hey I made an Absolutely Alice dupe!

Ochazuke, which is rice and and usually tea poured over it with toppings. My toppings here was salmon and a pickled plum. Pretty common toppings, oh and seaweed.

So you're thinking, oh wait are those stars at daytime? Is this a long exposure shot? No. This is an allergy nightmare. That's white fluffy things from trees floating in the air. Just look at it.

Maybe from cottonwood trees? I dunno, but there was a huge row of trees near our property that made it snow every summer.

I'm 99% sure this is a one-of-a-kind I made for my friend Allie.

Incoco nail strips.

They just didn't work for me.

Did I really make such awful labels back then? Sorry guys.

I used to do custom orders!

You cannot make this stuff up. Look at Belle, wearing Belle panties.

I promise we weren't torturing her, she needed them for something. I think it may have been to stop her from licking herself.

What do you when daddy puts underwear on you? Sulk away to your room.

May 2010: To think I said I took a lot of pics in 2012, no no no. Oh and also we went back so far in time that my camera is now a super crappy one. Like 5 megapixels crappy.

Why did I keep this picture?

Oh that glorious day I found the holographic black version of My Private Jet by OPI in a clearance bin for less than $5.

Hey I made this!

Failed nail art for sure.

Jazzy wants you to throw her toy.

My favorite CC shade, Pure Energy.

Happy puppy.

My favorite OPI ever, Malaga Wine. Hope they still make this.

Remember these?

I need to recreate this!

Oh Eyeko polish, do they still make nail polish?

Before I knew about curl creams I used to either flat iron my hair curly, or pin them up with bobby pins and blow dry to keep the frizz away.

This is the bobby pin method.

Well that's all for now, if you have made it this far, thank you! Now to wait impatiently for labor because we want to meet our little man.

Holiday Doggie Treats

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 13:03:00 +0000

Every year we bake the pups pumpkin peanut butter cookies. They get so excited! Jasmine has some crazy face going on.

Couple of my manis from earlier in the week.

I haven't worn this in 3 or 4 years, forgot how glowy it is!

Hope you guys have a wonderful holiday and see you in 2015!

OPI 2014 Designer Series Swatches

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 11:37:00 +0000

Here are swatches of this year's latest from the Designer Series by OPI. 2 colors that are semi-matte, inspired by precious stones.

Tourmaline 3 coats with top coat.

Titanium 3 coats with top coat.

These had a nice easy to work with formula, dried quickly and if you look at the macro pictures they really have a nice multi colored sparkle. I can see myself wearing Titanium a lot! If you skip the top coat to go for the matte finish it is not overly gritty. I personally prefer the shiny top coat finish.

Thanks for looking!

Sent to me for review.

Cyber Monday Sale and New Holiday Colors!

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Sun, 30 Nov 2014 22:53:00 +0000

Hi guys! I have 3 new holiday colors that are going up for sale in my shop on Cyber Monday. My favorite is Puttin' On The Glitz layered over Holly Jolly, I can't stop wearing this manicure the pictures do not do it any justice. I looks like a decorated tree! Well anyway here are the swatches.

Puttin' On The Glitz. 2 coats and then 1 coat layered over Holly Jolly.

Holly Jolly is a forest green shimmer with tiny red glitter. 2 coats.

Peppermint Crush has different sized red and white matte hex and some white bar glitter with iridescent blue. 2 coats and 1 coat over Holly Jolly.

Both the glitters are meant to be 1 coat layering top coats, they look really great over dark or bright colors!

Finally, the sale! This coupon code is good only on Monday, happy shopping!

Goodies From Pasadena Mall

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 08:47:00 +0000

On Sunday we had 3 hours to kill so we went to a mall down the street from our hotel.

These were $1.99, they are my new favorite earrings! I wear them almost everyday.

A bunch of random cute accessories from Icing. Our local Icing is very tiny and we had now idea they sell purses and stuff!

I love the honey body butter!

My last Lemony Flutter went rancid so had to replace that and the scrub is really nice. When I went into the Lush store I got the new Valentines stuff demo'd on me it felt so nice!

I really wanted to try the Dolly Wink tube mascara but they only had brown. Such sadness! I settled for Fiberwig. I do like the tiny applicator tube, it makes applying my lower lashes very nice.

Some cell phone pics of just stuff.

At the swarvoski store I thought the guy with the bomb head was so cute.

I always wanted to try this lol.

This was actually a Christmas gift. Thanks Allie!

You know me and my stationary.

Got the wallet and checked out at the Sanrio store. During checkout I noticed there was a matching tote really up high on a shelf. I asked how much it was and was told $64. We left and I just kept thinking about that tote. I said it's fine I'll buy it online! So I checked online with my phone and the website had it for $80! Plus shipping. So after we finished looking at the other stores I went back and got it. It was the last one! Oh and we had a $5 off card from our first purchase lol so anyway saved $20.

The end!

Hungry Asian Monthly Giveaway for February

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:12:00 +0000

I'm on top of things for this month! I saw these when I was out shopping and thought they would make a perfect prize gift so I got them.

One winner, both polishes pictured above, brand new. Anyone can enter and giveaway ends 2/28.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Not sponsored.

Influenster Violet VoxBox Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 22:56:00 +0000

Here are all the products in my latest box from Influenster.

Sally Hansen Tripe Shine nail color in Red Snapper. 2 coats. This is a bit of a sheer warm-toned red. Definitely can see nail line at 2 coats, but it wasn't TOO noticeable.

Very nice formula, horrible brush. At first glance I thought the brush looked nice because I personally like flat brushes. Then when I applied my first coat I realized the brush is very stiff and very thick. Luckily the formula was nice and smooth so it made up for it.

SoyJoy in Cranberry flavor. I didn't take a photo with the wrapper on but you can see it in the first big photo. The bar is a bit dry, but chewy at the same time.

To me it almost had a creamy flavor and it is not too sweet. You can really taste the tangy dried cranberries. The texture of the bar itself is very smooth and doesn't leave bits in your mouth, well except for the cranberries but I guess I mean more like no bits of oats and stuff. I liked this!

This is a headband and it does not stay on my head, much less hold my hair back. The elastic isn't very strong at all. I bought a $4 super absorbent and elastic headband from Amazon for my Insanity workouts and that is way better than this.

If you wanted to wear a head band just for an accessory this would probably work. I personally think the design and fabric texture is a bit bleh for that tho.

This kept rolling so I used my polish to keep it there. Love their curl cream so I was excited to give this a go!

This is end of 2nd day hair. I don't get too greasy, but greasy enough to need dry shampoo sometimes.

Don't mind my auto white balance messing up my hair color. This photo shows best how it absorbed the oil in my roots. You just spray your roots and brush or massage it in with your fingers.

It sprays white at first but disappears once you work it in. The smell just okay to me, but it is not unpleasant.

Verdict? Love it! This is easy to get at US drugstores, affordable and it works. I like that it sprays as well. This dry shampoo doesn't beat my HG from Lush, but it is pretty close. One more reason to like Not Your Mother's products.

Dead sea mud mask by Montagne Jeunesse.

So the instructions say to apply to a clean face and leave it on for 10-15 mins. Then lightly rinse your face with water and pat dry.

Freshly washed face.

Scary mask face! The mask is soaked with the mud already. It is very cooling on my face.

I left it on about 15 minutes. The mud can be messy, as you can see it got into my hairline as I was placing it on my face. It dries hard so make sure you rub it off right away if it gets into your hair.

The fragrance was very strong for me. At first I thought it was pleasant, but as time went on I started to realize it smelled like a man's fragrance. Kind of musky. After rinsing the mask off I can still smell it hours later.

As far as the mask itself, I think it was very refreshing and my skin felt nice afterwards. I don't think I would try it again because of the scent and the way it lingered afterwards.

All the products shown were sent to me by Influenster for review.

January 2014 My Cotton Bunny Unboxing Video

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:10:00 +0000

Got my box just the other day so thought I would do another quick unboxing video!

January Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 09:17:00 +0000

Hi everyone! As promised here is my monthly giveaway. I am really late for this month I hope you can forgive me!

The prize is both the Valentine's Day glitter top coats, open to everyone.

Good luck if you enter, love ya guys!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Goodies From IMATS LA 2014 (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:45:00 +0000

The longest line that we stood in besides checking out of Lime Crime was the Sugarpill line. Even though the lines were long we always met the nicest people in front or behind us to chat with. Everyone I met that day was super nice!

I didn't get much.

Their box is so cute aaaah.

The only thing I got from Sugarpill lol. Kitten Parade.

Their bag.

This works really well! I put some in a small spray bottle and one spritz the brush is clean!

Some NYX shadows. I also got a palette set thing I didn't take a picture of.

The gloss tube is a matte lip stain, it is super intense. Will show swatches soon.

My single polish purchase!

The bag!

Finally brushes from Morphe. These were such a steal, the smaller brushes were $3-4 or less and the larger brushes were $9 or so.

Makeup and Nail Makeover (IMATS part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 23:20:00 +0000

We got up super early in the morning the day of IMATS and I got my makeup done by Cortney. She used to be a MAC makeup artist and she is AMAZING! Cortney you come back and do my makeup everyday.

The night before we went out to a delicious steakhouse and then we came back to our hotel and I did Cortney's nails with the new Gwen Stefani OPI nail art kit.

The kit contents. There is also a small tube of super glue that is in here, I forgot it at the hotel.

2 coats of Over and Over A-Gwen with the golden embellishments that came with the kit. She got compliments the next day, success!

The next day I woke up at 6:20 AM and took a shower and applied moisturizer.

This is in Cortney's hotel bathroom, she also did her mom's eye makeup.

I didn't get any photos of her doing my makeup.

Here I am after. She applied my own foundation and pressed powder, and used her eyeshadow/blush. She gave me a subtle warm toned smokey eye. I LOVED IT!

Thank you Cortney!

OPI products sent for review.

IMATS LA 2014 Photos and Stuff! (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 22:28:00 +0000

I am back from Pasadena and had a complete blast! I think I am going to break this up in 3 posts, the meat of the content will be in this one. Mostly just random photos I was able to take while we attended the show on Saturday Jan. 18th.

The other posts will be the goodies I brought home, and meeting Kandee Johnson! She needs her own post!

Check-in desk. We were supposed to leave at 8 am to get there by 8:30 (that's when the show opened) but I made us late because I got my makeup done by sister-in-law. Turned out ok though!

Cortney (my beautiful sister-in-law) and I when we first came in.

These look so cool!

Didn't realize these were blurry, ugh! Not much nail polish at the show unfortunately. I didn't get any China Glaze, I totally regret it lol.

Lime Crime had some colors but by the time it was our turn in line there were only 3 polish colors left. I did buy one :)

Now these pics have random people and the special makeup.

There were demos going on all day.

She wanted to give us makeovers!

She was on the stilts all day!

Colorful wigs!

I wanted her to turn around but oh well. Cute outfit.

They looked like they just shared a funny joke.

I took her picture early in the morning and I got an after shot later in the afternoon.

Check her out with her top half done!

So we waited in Sugarpill line for quite a while. MAC, Sugarpill, Lime Crime had insane lines!

This guy had red contacts, I missed my photo op when he was posing a split second before this lol.

She was so adorable. She rang us up!

Sugarpill choices.

Aaaahh!

Our last stop for the day was the Cinema Secrets booth so that I could get their brush cleaner. Well this girl was working there and wanted a photo taken with Cortney because they are hair twins! She was super sweet and gorgeous. I got in a pic with them but I don't have the photo lol. Her name is Rachel (http://instagram.com/facesbyrachie).

This guy was a zombie and I wanted him to look at me but he was really doin the whole zombie walk and I couldn't get his face.

We finally made it to the Lime Crime booth and this girl was so adorable!

Thank you for looking!

Lucido-L Creamy Milk Hair Color Cafe Chiffon Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:00:00 +0000

So to start, if you follow my blog you know that I colored my hair twice to go red. It was just too much for me, it fades so quickly and you have to touch up more often plus it is so messy. I decided to give up on it and go back to brown.

I had super greasy hair that day so I didn't take pictures while my hair was still red but I used a product called Color Oops! I got it from Amazon (that's where the link takes you). I just followed the box directions and it stripped my hair of all red. In fact after my hair was a pretty nice neutral brown color, probably from the hi-lift stuff.

This is a pic from when I first colored it, just to show how red it was. It had faded quite a bit but the red was very noticeable.

This is right after stripped the red from my hair. My hair was super dry from it so I kept it in bun.

My roots were of course showing.

The next day I used this hair dye.

This is different than the last Lucido dye I used, it is a cream instead of bubbles. I thought the cream was much easier to apply. I didn't realize how long my hair had gotten, I barely had enough to saturate all of my hair. Now I am in the buy 2 boxes zone!

After roots.

It isn't as uneven as it photographed here, the lighting ruined the top half of my hair. I need to stop using my overhead incandescent lights, it puts a warm hue towards the top of my head.

Once I styled my hair I figured I needed a trim so I cut it and gave myself a V cut. I took about 3/4 inches off.

See, it's the lights! I came pretty close to box color, only because my previous coloring had lifted a few shades. Very likely you will not achieve this color on virgin dark hair.

Pros:

Super easy to apply into hair
Can get from Amazon
Not overly damaging. Used this the day after stripping previous hair color and it was fine

Cons:

Expensive for just 1 box of dye, around $14

Back to no maintenance brown, woohoo!

Purchased with my money.

3 New Colors Available Now

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 09:32:00 +0000

Hey guys! So I have a few new colors that are available now in my Etsy shop.

Smitten 1 coat alone. Hearts in all the photographs shown are applied with a manicure stick. Buy here.

Smitten 1 coat over black. Buy here.

Lovey Dovey 1 coat alone. Buy here.

Lovey Dovey 1 coat over black. Buy here.

Fancy Pants 3 coats alone. This is my fun glittery take on the color of the year, Radiant Orchid. It has all different sizes of pink, purple, red and blue glitters. FULL | MINI

Fancy Pants 1 coat over black. FULL | MINI

I will not be selling minis of the Valentine's Collection so I am also selling them in a duo set for $16.50 ($2 savings)! HERE

I have application instructions for the heart glitter top coats in each individual listing. My next collection will be Spring 2014, woohoo!

Anyone going to IMATS? I will be there this Saturday.

OPI Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 Swatches and Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 16:00:00 +0000

Another collaboration with Mariah Carey, this time an 18-piece collection for holiday 2013. This collection has a variety of finishes along with 6 liquid sand shades. Check out the swatches below!

My Favorite Ornament 3 coats. Fine champagne glitter.

In My Santa Suit 2 coats. Frosty red.

Cute Little Vixen 2 coats. Shimmery and frosty reddish violet. This one leaves brushstrokes so apply with care.

Ski Slope Sweetie 3 coats. Very pretty pearly top coat that shimmers gold.

1 coat of Ski Slope Sweetie over All Sparkly and Gold.

Wonderous Star 3 coats. Opi describes it as gold-flecked but to me the gold is so light it looks silvery. I think this would be better layered and make an interesting accent nail.

Underneath The Mistletoe 3 coats. Described as candy-apple red, my bottle looks very raspberry red. No matter how I photographed it. This has fine red and pink glitter. Slightly thicker formula than the rest of the collection but still easy to work with.

All Sparkly And Gold 3 coats. Fine gold with some silver glitter. The base is interesting it is slightly darkened. If you wear this alone with 3 coats you don't really notice the base, but if you layer it over a lighter shade you may see it.

All I want for Christmas 3 coats. This looks like a true red in certain lighting but in dimmer lighting I noticed it looked very dark.

Visions of Love 3 coats. You may be able to wear 2 coats but I needed a third because my ridges were showing.

Sleigh Ride For Two 2 coats. OPI describes this as "dark hot chocolate". I just don't see it. It looks burgundy to me. Maybe, just maybe in dimmer lighting it could pass for dark hot chocolate.

I Snow You Love Me 1 coat over Sleigh Ride For Two. The glitter is heavy so a good shaking will help with the fishing process. Even with shaking I was only getting 1 or 2 at most on my brush. I would instead of trying to brush on the glitter, to take the a toothpick or cuticle stick and placing the glitter where you want it. This also prevents bubbles from dabbing so much with the brush.

So much base, so little glitter.

Warm Me Up 3 coats. Frosty brown.

Kiss Me At Midnight 2 coats. Personally not a fan of this color blue, especially textured.

With top coat.

Silent Stars Go By 3 coats. Pale blush pink. Love this one.

With top coat.

It's Frosty Outside 3 coats. Foily looking silver with silver hex glitter. Can't find the top coat photo, oops.

Emotions 1 coat. I just wanted to show what this glitter looked like.

3 coats. Textured black with different sized black hex glitter. After 3 coats you really can't see much of anything but the texture. This is nothing like Funky Chunky by Deborah Lippmann in terms of the texture but similar in a way because it's kind of out there.

This is 1 coat of Seche Vite, applied generously. Clearly this one should be worn textured or not at all.

Baby Please Come Home 3 coats. Pale purple.

With top coat.

Make Him Mine 3 coats. This reminds me of rose gold jewelry.

With top coat.

With the exception of Kiss Me At Midnight and Emotions for the, I loved all of the other 4 textured shades. The Liquid Sand colors always are such a breeze to apply and dry quickly.

For the rest of the collection, my favorites were Wonderous Star and My Favorite Ornament. I really wanted to like I Snow You Love Me because I thought the glitter is really pretty but there just wasn't enough of it in my bottle.

These are available for $9.00 wherever OPI is sold.

Sent to me for review.

Bye bye 2013!

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 02:18:00 +0000

I am wearing Happy Blue Year tonight, going to maybe eat a burger and have a drink or two.

So yeah I ended up taking out the red in my hair and I just recolored it brown again. Boy what a mess that was. I will post pics and review later.

So getting some furniture soon and we had to move Mortal Kombat into my nail room lol. So thats what you see behind me.

Here's to a new year, and please stay safe! Love you guys!

Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 07:17:00 +0000

Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas! I am wearing 3 coats of Sleigh Bells Bling.

I plan eating a lot of naughty food, what about you guys?

Giveaway Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 22:53:00 +0000

Hi guys! I'm late in picking the winners, but here they are! I have emailed them so hopefully I hear back soon. Thank you all for entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feature in Nail It! Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 22:07:00 +0000

Hey guys! I was asked if I would like to be in a web feature for Nail It! Magazine, um yes? Check it out HERE.

I decided to come up with a fun layering manicure for the feature. I call it O Tannen Bomb. Hah!

This is 3 coats of Evergreen, 1 coat of Sleigh Bells Bling, and 1 coat of Mumbling over that. The photo does not do this any justice. It sparkles like crazy! This is going to be my holiday mani for sure!

The nail polish community is truly a wonderful group of people. I can't believe how lucky I am. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! I love you guys!

Palty Strawberry Jam and Loreal HiColor Intense Red Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kae) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 00:57:00 +0000

The last time I colored my hair was August 3rd! My dark roots were very obvious so I wanted to try a different brand of Japanese box dye since I had such good luck with my last one.

Palty Strawberry Jam. Normally I go back to black in the autumn, but in a spur of the moment decision I thought it would be fun to try red!

Before. I had my hair in a high bun all day and just took it down, very mess. Not enough lighting also made my hair look black here. Used flash in the rest of the photo to show the brown from my last coloring.

Before roots.

Before with hair mustache.

After Palty. I had my hair up but honestly this dye was so crap that I did not even bother to mess with my hair.

After roots. You can still see some of my roots are darker. I also had a ton of uneven spots all over, even though I had saturated all of my hair. Very disappointing. I braided my hair to hide the streaky patches, it was embarrassing!

The Palty dye was hard to apply because you mixed it in a cup with a little paddle that had holes in it. I forgot to take pics. I also left it in for 45 minutes and it burned my scalp. As you can see it looks nothing like the box color, or even very red at all. It just looked like I lightened my hair with a hint of pink.

The conditioner packet that came with it was very tiny, and I didn't have enough to put into my hair. It also smelled bad!

Well anyways, not very happy with the Palty dye. Although I can't say if it is this bad for the other colors, but I definitely recommend staying away from Strawberry Jam if you have thick dark stubborn hair like mine.

Pros:

Can bubbles be a pro? It foamed in the cup and it was fun to stir...

Cons:

Hard to apply. Especially at the bottom of the cup it is hard to get the rest out.
Damaging
Practically zero color payoff
Uneven coverage

Now onto the Loreal color!

Shade in Intense Red. I mixed this according to the box instructions (2.5 oz developer and your color creme). I have 40 and a 20 developer so I mixed equal parts in. I thought the 40 was too much but 20 not enough.

Loreal HiColor Intense Red After.

This is 3 days after coloring. I washed my hair on the day I took these photos. I still had red running down the drain.

Covered up my greys!

I wanted more of a cherry red so I am not completely happy with the color but it will do for now. This is very magenta looking.

Pros:

Vibrant color
Covers greys
Works on dark hair (box does say for dark hair!)
Easy to get (Sally Beauty)
Easy to use
Didn't need to bleach beforehand

Cons:

Very smelly (even after washing my hair on day 3 it still reeks of the dye)
Messy! Red! Everywhere!

My Palty dye job was so embarrassing I only waited 6 days before going ahead with the Loreal Hi-Lift. I did wash my hair really well mid-week to try to get some of the dye out, then waited 3 days to let my natural oils come back.

I had to renew my Sally's card this month so I will go back in January and spend my $5 credit on a more cherry red color. Suggestions?

Thanks to Katherine (@ManicureAddict), Ashlee (@anvelasquez1207) and April (@_aprilmaybe_) for your suggestions!

Have you ever had a hair coloring fiasco? Would you go fiery red? Thanks for reading!

Purchased with my money.