Borghese makeup brushes at Costco!

I love Costco. And I especially love when they collaborate with makeup companies to sell their products there. This time (and many times before) they released makeup brushes by Borghese. I usually have to wait until the end of the year to get it because they're limited edition during the holidays. But it's the middle of April and I found them in the store while doing my usual weekday Costco runs! And it looks like they're from the Borghese collection, and not a collaboration with Kirkland (Costco's brand)...Yay! I absolutely LOVE them. They are such high quality brushes! Look at the pictures :)

Kabuki Brush - Very dense brush and soft brush head. Picks up powder really evenly.

Angled blush/contouring brush - Probably my favorite of them all! It's dense enough to pick up a lot of product in one sweep. I use it for blushes and bronzers :)

Duo Fiber Stippling Brush - Not sure how it compares to Mac's but this is my first duo fibre brush. 

Round Foundation Brush - Great on the face. Really evens out foundation and creams on the nose areas

Concealer Brush - This one is okay. I have many concealer brushes like this one.

Fluffy Blending Brush - LOVE it. It's perfect for highlighting and blending in colors

Eyeshadow Brush - Brushes evenly right at the lids. I really love this brush as well.

Angled Eye Contour Brush - Haven't used this one yet! 

Angled Brow Brush - Another okay brush. I have many similar to it.

Comes with a magnetic brush roll :) No room for the Kabuki though =/

I really love them so much! They are perfectly sized, perfectly tapered and uberly soft. The brush heads are dense and can pick up makeup better than all my other ones. During Christmas last year, I bought another Borghese set that collaborated with Kirkland but it wasn't as good. Quality wise, this set has been the best so far out of all the years I've seen Borghese brushes from Costco. I was looking on Ebay for different brush sets because my other ones are all old and ratty and I am so glad that I didn't impulsively buy them online *phew* 

Best part? It only cost $23.99! ^_~ Isn't that just ridiculous?! It's probably cheaper than the professional ELF brush rolls. Or around the same price. It is amazing quality for brushes that cost so little :)

If any of you are interested in purchasing this brush set but don't have a Costco membership or don't live near one, I can help you buy it and send it to you. I'll be going back sometime next week and I won't mind picking up more of these. Just shoot me an email if you're interested :) 

Anyway, today was a gorgeous day outside. I woke up early and did my makeup :) I love it when it's all bright outside. It just makes you want to start the day.

I'm wearing Skin Food Aloe BB Cream, Bobbi Brown brown eyeshadow, Loreal Telescopic Mascara, Revlon Baby Pink lipstick, and MAC Dainty blush.

And below is my top! I wore it over a cotton blazer and pants later on.

A Day's Outfit and Revlon's Midnight Blue Polish

Good morning everyone! This past week has been extremely busy for me as I've been planning for holidays and things on top of getting my deadlines in for work! =P I haven't had much time for myself to blog, but I've been catching up on your blogs all week :) 

Here is an outfit I wore sometime last week. I bought the olive colored cardigan because I loved how it looked on Jean from ExtraPetite! Mine is from August Silk that I picked up at Nordstrom Rack not too long ago :) I'm so in lovvvee with olive colors at the moment!!!! And gold shimmers for blushes and lipsticks!

Below: Brown cardigan, same look.

Revlon's Midnight Blue: It's a beautiful deep blue shade. I really like the intensity of the color, but it takes about two or three coats to achieve that opacity.

I'll be back to my makeup forte in my next post :) ie, Loreal Naturale blushes! I've been wearing them all week and I'm loving it! Pictures to come.

I'm going to get a hair consultation today for Yuko hair straightening. If you've never heard about it, it's a Japanese hair straightening technique that really protects hair and leaves it straight for 8-12 months. I've done it once and I loved the results. It made my hair really healthy. Ironic right? How can permanent hair straightening be healthy? For one, it's better than using a hot iron on a weekly basis, and they restore the keratin in your hair to keep it extremely shiny and bouncy. The downside of this is the time it takes! It took me close to 8 hrs last time, and the price! Costing about $500 :( But if you remember my ramble here, you will know why I need this! From that pic, my hair is actually longer now! =p YIKES!!!!!

Anyway, if all goes well, I hope to get it done either today, tomorrow, or next weekend. Talk to you all soon!!!!

Saturday Morning Stuff

Hi everyone :)  I hope you all had a manageable week and ready to start the weekend!! :)

Recently I picked up the Revlon's Peach Petal nail polish and I fell in love with it. Then I saw the Peach Petal lipgloss at Walgreens and it was on clearance... and I had to get it  :) I love the peachy petally shades! LOL I got it for $1.20 or something. Why it was on clearance... no idea. It was sealed of course. I guess they're trying to get rid of their inventory to make room for newer collections?

Isn't it really pretty? I haven't used it yet, but I did swatch it on a clean paper  =p I can tell that it's a really nude shade that will look striking for people with pigmented lips like myself. I just hope it won't look frosty... that's the worst!! I hate the peal of looking like a clubbing style lip whore when it's inadvertently in overshine. Know what I mean? :) That's how I feel about frosty shades. YUCK! Anyway, I can't wait to try this :) High hopes! To be quite honest, I'm not a huge fan of the formula. I feel like the glosses just stay on the surface and never really penetrate and nourish the lips. But that could just be the shades I have since they are significantly older.

Yesterday I went to the Korean part of town (El Camino Rd in San Jose for those who are familiar) :) I had Korean food... YUM! :) In the plaza, they also have the Face Shop where they sell a myriad of Korean skincare and makeup. Tons of cleansers, BB creams, cosmetic stuff. It's a dainty little store that has a lot of their popular items sold in Korea. Not too far outside the plaza, there is another one near the Galleria market... where they sell skincare and stuff.

Have you gals heard of this brand? The SA convinced me to try this since I ran out of my moisturizer. I couldn't find any reviews on it online. She said it's really popular in Korea. Ahh, I don't know :p I'll have to try it... not sure if I can return it. It was a small store anyhow. I'll review it soon enough :)

I recently acquired a Miss Sixty leather jacket. The arms are huge which I don't find flattering. Sometimes I think I can make it work... I haven't found a way yet, haha. I

Bedroom quirks

Awhile ago, I attempted to take a picture of my outfit using my camera in its self counter mode. It's not very good, but since then it's been better than before. One of these days, I will be expert at how you ladies do it :)

Here goes my first attempt:

Please forgive my highly disorganized room =p Shoebox, bags, sombrero... LOL

Hmm... what's the routine here? I have nothing fancy on. Top from F21, skirt from H&M, Bobbi Blu heels.

It was nice, comfortable weekend wear. There's just something about white tees that go well with everything. Except white pants.

I hope that was okay. More to come sometime later :)

bronzy

I feel like I haven't blogged in so long! Work has been nothing short of crazy so when i get home, I'm ready to die!  It makes me happy that I can come home and catch up on everyone's blog while eating everything around me. Any snackers here? =) I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Happy Earth day! I've really learned so much since last yr and have started to truly appreciate nature over the past few yrs since I moved to Nor Cal. As a student, I went to UC Santa Cruz where I've seen some of the most beautiful, lush greenery that Santa Cruz has to offer. And if you know anything about that city, it's that they are one of the greenest towns in the world.

All these images are from the Santa Cruz campus. I spent 2 yrs of my life there and that city is so dear to my heart. At the time when I was there, I didn't really appreciate the beauty and the naturalness of everything that surrounded the campus but now that I'm not there anymore, I realized how much of my perspective has changed from living in suburban Woodland Hills to the quaint little city of Santa Cruz. The commute from San Jose to Santa Cruz is also very scenic. I used to take the bus there everyday (1 hr one way)  and we would cross the Santa Cruz mountains. It was very beautiful.. especially when there was a hint of sunlight. You can really see the difference from all the man made vegetation in the city to the organic soils just outside of it. A better comparison... hmm... think Forks, WA from the movie Twilight! o_o Santa Cruz is much like Forks and even Seattle but a little warmer :)

Anyway, enough of that! Today before work, I was scrambling to get ready. Time flies when you just want to stay home! =P

My sweet friend Jessica passed along the blog award to me :)

Rules of this award:
1. Put the logo on your blog of within your post.
2. Pass the award on to twelve bloggers.
3. Link to the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and the link to the person from whom you received this award. 

  I will put together a bunch of links tomorrow! :) My computer is currently being slow...=/

This is what I wore today!

Excuse my lame attempt to look seductive. I think I just look like mean =p Which I'm not, haha. I'm so lame that I tripped over the last 2 stairs in the parking garage also.

Products Used:

I used the Sephora palette again shown in the first pic. I love how heavily pigmented all the shadows were. Even the light ones that I expected not to look fantastic were great! Pictures still don't do the shadows any justice. They look nicer in real life. Then again, it may be that I applied the makeup on early this morning and now it's very late in the evening.

One thing you see in the 2nd pic might scare you. I have the Monistat anti-chafing cream. LOL. You might also be surprised to hear that I use it as a face primer! I've seen lots and LOTS of recommendations about this being used as a primer and for me it works fantastic. It keeps the oilies at bay and feels JUST like Smashbox's photo finish primer. It's the same consistency and texture. I guess the Smashbox primer can be an anti chafing gel as well.. just a freakishly expensive one!  haha. I've seen lots of reviews from fellow beauty bloggers and decided to try it. It's around $5.99 at Target. It was so funny because right after I paid for the purchase, one of those coupons came out with my receipt and the coupon is good for $2 off any Monistat product! So I can  get another tube for $3.99 or something. It's worth trying because the main ingredient in high end primers have the same ingredient in this :) I don't powder my face all day so I really expect my foundations to work above and I've learned that this "primer" is awesome!!

Other things I used was the Revlon Photo Finish  - LOVE the foundation. It finishes with a very nice, clean look. The little spectacles of light reflectors enhance and evens out skin tone.

Physicians Formula mineral wear bronzer - I've been using this for years and years! I recommend it to a lot of my friends who also like it as well :) There is a lot of product in one little swipe and it blends out beautifully for sun kissed cheeks =D


Lancome Artliner in black - Jenny recently purchased this artliner and was wondering if people like it. I like it, but I'm not crazy about it. Maybe it's because I suck at liquid eyeliners. But I think it's just too watery for me compared to kat Von D's liquid eyeliners. The Lancome one gives off a very nice, clean line which i like for work so you don't have to look too dramatic in the office =p I lined my upper eye lids with it :) I used ELF's eyeliner pencil to line my lower lids.


Maybelline Volum Express Mascara - One of my favorites :) I like the angled brush! It's very buildable and has crazy staying power. It's also a soft mascara so it doesn't make your lashes feel goopy and hard.

Nars in Sunset Strip (the orange-y side)- I really like this gloss. It's retailed at a pretty high price... which is lame. I really don't understand why lip glosses have to be priced so high. Lots of dupes for Nars from what I've seen from ELF, NYX, etc.

Finished it all off with Clinique Perfectly Real powder in shade 110.

Lastly, outfit for tomorrow!

 It's kind of greenish with a lot of floral elements. I love florals! I have a lot of dresses like that.

I really want to go thrifting this weekend. I hear that there is a Savers by my place... I've never been there but it's like a department thrift store! LOL Should be huge with lots of vintage goodies :) If I'm in the mood, then maybe!

Goodnight, all! =) Have a great Friday!

BTW, I just got Twitter a few days ago! I don't really know how to use it or how to talk to people on it =/ Seems like everyone is shouting out to each other? LOL My username is:

pink_lavenders