NYX Black Label Lipsticks!

After reading reviews about NYX's Black Label Lipstick, I was on a mission to try them. I'm already a huge fan of their circle lipsticks and have quite a few in my collection. But these black label ones are amazing, far better than the circle ones! Why? Because they are highly moisturizing, almost balm like. I got them from trusty Cherry Culture in four shades - Acapulco, Nude, Beige and India for $6.00 each.

I only swatched two of the four colors because I haven't opened the other ones yet! =p

Nude and Acapulco are gorgeous GORGEOUS colors. I am in love with them! LOVE. I also like the faint grape smell as well. Reminds me of my childhood lip balms!

Acapulco is a vibrant pink with some purple tones. Slightly more pink, but depends on your natural lip color.
Nude is light beige with milky pink and peach tones.
Both have shimmer in it.

Acapulco

Acapulco again!

Nude

Nude again :) Sorry if you see little hairs... I haven't trimmed my beard yet, LOL :)

I use lip balm underneath and a little bit of clear lip gloss on top which is why the lipstick is lighter on my lips than on the swatch. I also use my ring finger to "blot" it, or to smooth it out since the color goes on a little streaky. I do this with all my lipsticks though, maybe out of habit. Makes life easier :)

I cannot wait to try India and Beige now! Now now now. Will show you guys swatches of it soon! 

Thoughts on the Black Label line? What colors do you recommend?  

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.

Non-makeup Post about Random Stuffs :)

How are you all doing this evening? I'm piling up some reviews I'm dying to do and preparing for some visitors this weekend. Heading to Napa! Yay! So far I've cleaned my apartment pretty thoroughly. I cannot wait! The essence of wine country has really drawn me in since the first time I went (my experience here) :)

Here are some random pics from my cell phone... =p

Inside one of my local CVS's. I knew they have a Beauty 360 on their website, but in store too?!! :) I was too shy to go inside because there was no one in there o_o But it's like a Sephora.

A ramen house I went to called Orengi in San Jose :) So SO good! Soft boiled eggs are my weakness especially gooey orange ones! This is the Tonkotsu Ramen, their signature.

A book I just read. It's one of those theory books about humans really being zombies and stuff... =p Quite interesting. I enjoy me some eclectic.

My new 16 oz cup I use at work. 

More later! Time for bed. Goodnight all!

Two week cleansing cycle DONE!

Hey all! Remember my post about the body cleansing regimen here? I finally wrapped it up this past Thursday and I am pleased to say how very happy I am not having to pop a large combination of pills for a long while! LOL =p

In two weeks' time, I ingested 175 vitamins. Jesus freaking Christ, right? I know, I am thinking the same thing! It was a struggle to have to take them after breakfast and after dinner. Alternately, the box also says you can take them all at night... that would be 24 pills at once.

So how was it? Well, if you read my post about it, you would know that this is my 2nd experience within the span of 2 or so years. This cleanse cleans out your colon, detoxes you from all the toxins on a day to day basis, and helps balance out your system overall.

Week 1 was 12 pills each day, 4 in the morning and 8 in the evening. I didn't feel anything drastic happening to my body except needing to pee a lot since I also drank a ton of water to wash the pills down. The water was definitely good for my skin and I felt really good mid week because I was well hydrated and didn't eat as much (probably due to all the water). I'm not an expert pill popper (lol) so I had a lot of water. I know some people can just take a gulp of water and be done with everything but these were kinda big and some of them had powder inside. Just last week one of the pills got stuck in my throat and I was trying to wash it down with water and juice and the casing ended up dissolving and when I coughed, all the gross powder inside was in my mouth. Totally gagging moment but I ended up taking care of it with elegance (downed more juice).

Week 2 was a lot easier. I started to get the hang of the regimen and went to the bathroom regularly. I know when you see the word laxatives, you freak out because you know what it does. The good thing about this is that the laxatives are not active and they do not make you run to the bathroom at all. Everything was calm and there were no surprises. Toward the end of my cleanse, I noticed how much more "awake" i was. I didn't need to have coffee everyday and my energy level at the gym increased. I usually run 2 miles on the treadmill or elliptical but I noticed myself finishing 3-3.5 miles in a 35 minute run. There is no caffeine in this cleanse and I think my energy is due to the toxins being removed from my body.

Overall, I really recommend this cleanse. If you can overlook the crazy amount of pills to ingest, it's a good way to start a diet or clean out your system. I'm not sure how regularly a cleanse should be done but from the comments in my original post, some people cleanse every month. I'd be too afraid that my body would be dependent on it! =p And I really hate taking pills! At most maybe quarterly (every 3 months) to "start fresh" =p

I bought mine at Whole Foods for $12.99. I saw a similar one at Trader Joe's for the same price and there are various ones at vitamin stores (GNC, Vitamin World) and online.

Flickr vs. Blogger

Flickr (above) 

and Blogger (below)

The difference is crazy!! Can you believe it? Flickr uploads my photos in true to camera quality while Blogger makes my photos look really bad. Wow. Have you guys noticed this before?!? Every time I blog, I'm always thinking to myself, I swear my photos don't look THAT bad on my computer! -_- I'm switching over to Flickr now just for that fact. I hate that my pictures are getting dulled down :( Boo. I'm testing Photobucket as well. Thanks for all your tweets! ^_~ I looked into different photo hosting sites and it makes a big difference.

One of my many blogging lessons learned! =p

Here is more pictures of my haircut!