Fashion Recap: London Olympics Opening Ceremony

After watching the long-awaited London Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony and one cup of instant coffee, I was bouncing around until 7 AM this morning and woke up after snoozing a mere 4 hours. My fault, my fault yes. But the good thing is FASHION RECAP is here! Four years ago the Beijing Olympics were about the ooh-ahh-fireworks and waiting forever for the USA and Chinese teams to pop up in Parade of Nations but this year my eyes were glued to the tube for what the athletes donned as they strutted the stadium.

The verdict? Mostly disappointing, with the same combination of blazers and pants/knee-length skirts with optional fedora. You would think that these buff and super fit athletes would all look good in anything but that's the common misnomer about fit. The Queen looked super fly in her Union Jack parachute as she played skydiving Bond Girl (okay not really but at first everyone bought it, right?) but her pink sequined getup complete with feathery headband and surly countenance weren't my cup of tea. [Disclaimer: these are my personal opinions on the fashion choices, not on any individual athletes or their countries. Go World!]

These are not the best images since NBC was the only channel allowed to cover in the US, so we make do with blurry snaps from my phone or scrounged from online sources with credits listed. If you missed out, the Opening Ceremony is very British (as an American I simply can't understand some nuances, so basically movies like Trainspotting involve my mouth hanging open in front of the screen for several hours and still not getting it) and quite fun. I'm sure all sorts of clips are available on Youtube and NBC.com. Favourite moments? Mary Poppins army with their light up umbrellas, swing dancing docs and nurses, Olympic Cauldron coming together, and of course, Her Royal Highness.

THE GOOD:

Ralph Lauren for Team USA

(photo credit: entertainista.com)

So what if Ralph Lauren makes his stuff in China? Looks like the USA team of 500-plus-strong walked straight out of a prepster catalog, but lookin' good. I especially enjoy the double breasted blazers that the guys had, which looked good with their little berets and white pants. The womens' white skirts were floppy and unshapely, why not give them trousers too or at least put some pleats in it, RL. And give them fitted double breasted blazers too next time.

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Pandamonium

The Problem with Pandas - by Melissa Gable

I came across this gem while browsing Urban Outfitters today. I like this art so much and want my own 13x13 print to mount, frame, and hang up in my apartment during med school. A girl's got to gotta have a good laugh every now and then to stay sane. Don't judge my whack sense of humour :P This brings a whole new meaning to "Pandaphilia," eh? Yeah I know this is what you expected when you came here for the first time ...

Neuro final in a day. Study study study study! Then done with college :O

Enter my CLAWS Jewelry giveaway for a beautiful handmade designer necklace!

Tuesday Treats: Bubble Football

If you need a good laugh: grown men running around in clear hamster balls, playing soccer. Warning: gut-wrenching, side-grabbing laughter will most likely ensue after watching them bounce around, fall over, and tackle each other bouncily. Coverage starts at 1:30; enjoy this very belated Tuesday Treat and stay tuned for a spring outfit post in the morning!

How to Get Clean & Smooth Underarms: Emjoi Light Caress Epilator Review

Today we're going to talk about armpits [initiating humour]. This review should really be titled "The Real Deal about Epilators (A Comedy)" or "My Fight with 30-something Tweezers." If you're like me and you're absolutely tired of irritated, red bumpy underarms from shaving, epilators might be for you. I also have dark hair, so even after shaving there's this dark patch that's unsightly even from a distance. It prevents me from raising my arms to the sky when wearing tank tops and t-shirts. I've even resorted to trying to tweeze everything out before and lemme tell ya - you get super dizzy super fast looking down and into your armpits for over 2 minutes. There is such a thing as a girl's underarm 5 o'clock shadow and the more I shaved, the more that monster reared its ugly head.

I first thought about getting an epilator maybe half a year ago when I first heard of it. But I kept dragging my feet out of fear of pain and because they're pretty expensive. Over the summer, I deliberated over which one to get, but finally at the beginning of September I bit the bullet and chose the Emjoi Light Caress epilator, corded because I would forget to charge the battery on a cordless one. Honestly, this one-time purchase makes sense because razors constantly need to be replaced and those Venus ones are a mighty price to pay just to be a goddess every time you want to wear a mini skirt.

It sounds like death when you turn it on. I was standing there in the bathroom giving myself a pep talk and having a psychological dilemma. When I finally got the nerve to put the rapidly rotating thingamajig to my underarm ... oh yeah it hurt like hellfire. It's more of a quick and sharp pinch, but I've heard that pulling the skin taut helps reduce the pain and get the hairs more easily. To get everything, you might have to glide the epilator upwards, downwards, side to side and get the couple of stragglers with some tweezers if you're OCD. My plan of attack was to say "oww" out loud every time it pinched to divert my attention and rest every once in a while. But after 7 minutes or so, all was said and done - really freakishly smooth underarms ... this lasted for two weeks plus. When the hair slowly grows back, it will be a lot more sparse and usually thinner and lighter (mine were super soft and almost invisible). Also, you're going to have to grow out your hair for 3-5 days initially, so wear a long-sleeve shirt (won't be so hard since it's winter).

I have to admit ...  I was a pansy/lazy and went back to shaving for a while and of course, all the previous grotteyness came back. Once I tried again, it hurt like hell again. I'm going to man up and keep using this until I'm desensitized, and it's supposed to get a lot better after a few uses. Call me a masochist, but overall, this is one of my most worthwhile beauty-related purchases of the year. Now I can pretty much forget about shaving altogether for weeks at a time. When Christine of Xteeener posted her video, I thought that if a sweet and sensitive girl like her can survive this, so can I!

What it promises/features is to the right: There is a cool little light and you can use speed 1 for upper lip and speed 2 for underarms, legs, bikini area but I haven't tried the latter two.

Cost: $44 on Amazon

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Hello, Marge

Left: JJ as a cereal killer (got de-knifed by security though booo); Right: me as Marge Simpson

You try dancing with this big blue thing on your head for a few hours. Bauhaus had bumpin' music and great costumes, but I'm pretty over-it with overcrowded college parties. Someone grab me a cane and diapers for the elderly. Imagine me with eyes closed, the crazy makeup was for the extra Simpsons cartoon effect. Meanwhile, on actual Halloween night, I am taking Immunology and Biochemistry exams, packing up for my interview tomorrow. For all I know, after tonight I will look as freakish as that above. 

GSTQ

This is what I've been up to, folks. Chugging coffee and being increasingly sick. Will have an outfit post up tonight or tomorrow : ) Until then, work work work work sleep work. You can make one of these signs with this generator.

FOTD: Parisienne Chic + My Beauty Diary Facial Mask

Traditionally, I am not a "red lip" girl. Bright warm colours tend to make me look more sallow and yellow so I usually avoid reds and corals. However, recently with a slight tan at the beach and lighter hair colour, it turns out that the perfect red lip complements a Parisian outfit. I was so excited when I found all my bags full of makeup nice and unmelted from the drive from Oklahoma and the year-long storage. I was so sad without all my lippies and nail polishes and now I have finally been reunited with them :D

This is the brightest red lipstick I have - Lancome Rouge Baroque that I stole from my mom a long time ago. She has such amazing skin - no acne, never dry, never oily, goes with absolutely any shade. I unfortunately only look good in certain shades but I find that over the years I have become more daring, and for me, daring is good. The consistency of Lancome lipsticks is very nice - not too creamy, not too dry, perfect pigmentation.

I dug out a Clinique shadow that I had handy in my rediscovered box - Foxy. It's a nice taupe-silver good for slightly smokey eyes. Complete with eyeliner and a cute beret recycled from my last Parisian chic outfit, I was ready to head out the door for my outfit photos. I have been using Revlon Photo Ready for all my photoshoots lately and it holds up pretty well. However in person, it's not the prettiest -looking foundation and I glitter disgustingly. I will write a review of it soon.

A few hours before the shoot, I did my first facial mask ever. Sweet Nikki sent me a My Beauty Diary facial mask in her love package and I finally let my skin be pampered with some serious TLC. It is the Yogurt one and is slightly soapy to the touch but not in a gross way. I am such a mask nub that when I took it out and unfolded it I wasn't really sure what to do about the plastic thing haha. I just put the unplastic side on and later peeled off the protecting layer, but not before having some fun with photos xD I let the mask soak for about 10 minutes and then peeled it off and washed my face. Afterwards my skin felt a little hard and dried actually but to my delight, I found that my pimples on my forehead had dried yay! I still have to experiment with different masks I guess but this was a fun first time!

I found that the bathroom in my new place is a great makeup photo-taking place. The wall is a nice green colour and if I open the door but don't turn on the light and use flash, it creates a great flash lighting result. Yay! Additionally, there's lots of nice white counterspace for product reviews : ) Lighting is slightly yellow but liveable.

Products used:

Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Ash

Clinique Eyeshadow in Foxy

ELF Studio Creme Eyeliner in Black

ELF Studio Blushing and Bronzing Powder -
blush on apples of cheeks, bronzer along hairline, under jawbone, on cheekbones

Revlon Photo Ready Foundation in 04 Nude

Lancome Lipstick in Rouge Baroque

Geo Angel Violet contact lenses

Flash:

 I'm terribly awesome I wore this bright red lipstick on my teeth for half the day. There was a stain about 2 inches across. When my dad came home he asked if I had eaten something alive HAHA fail xD

Lancome Rouge Baroque swatches (btw uploaded these to Imageshack because Blogger is the WORST at washing out photos!)

Just for comparison, this is what Blogger did to these photos T__T (Update: my bf just told me that these look exactly the same to him. He uses Opera on Windows 7. Will you lovelies tell me if the colours look the same below compared to the above photos and include your browser and computer operating system in a comment? Is it a super vibrant red or just kind of? That would be so sweet of you! ♥ I am using Firefox/Safari on Mac OS)

Bathroom lighting: No matter what hosting site I use, it won't keep the brightness of the lipstick. This is extremely frustrating. Perhaps this is my internet browser's issue? The swatches above are super vibrant as they should be but these photos below are washed out. Any techies/photography aficionados - I would love your help!

Onto the facial mask!

I'm a Jabberwocky! Hahaha I borrowed one of my brother's hats and pranced around like an idiot. It was the hardest 10 minutes ever because I kept laughing every time I tried to say something serious while wearing this mask

So, maybe bright red lips aren't totally out of the question for me. I think that fact that I was wearing a beret made it all appropriate :D Today was a pretty uneventful day - I woke up abysmally late and spent most of my evening moving boxes from the apartment. I did manage to cut up my DIY shorts pretty well and tomorrow I will throw some bleach on it before styling my outfit yay! I can't believe I only have 6 days left in Cali! When I head back to school, my friend and I vowed to dress to strut style because life is too short to melt into the background. This is going to be crazy, but I'm going to finally let my inner fashion geek out to play on campus *fingers crossed* I also wonder, where the heck am I going to take outfit photos outside without gathering a crowd of onlookers? I always get embarrassed when my "irl" friends point out that they've been following my blog :3 "So this is how you spend your time..." Wahhh! Give me courage lovelies to come out of my fashion closet this fall xD

MTV Movie Awards: Popularity Contest Gone Terribly Wrong

Aaaaa so full of Costco pizza :D It was the first time I ever went to Costco so I was pretty excited. I think my favourite purchase was a huge packet of multi-flavoured Hi-Chew candies. If you haven't tried them, you need to get your hands on some!

So last night was the MTV Movie Awards. I normally don't watch these kind of award ceremonies, but my brother wouldn't change the channel so I decided to see what it was all about. I think it was the worst way I could have spent 2 hours of my life. The whole evening was full of staged, random/inappropriate nonsense ... I can't believe people are actually entertained by this.

Without further ado, the list of things that we could have done without:

1) Excessive profanity
Sure, everyone curses - I'm certainly no exception (you should have heard me this morning when my brother sprayed Axe again all over my bedroom), but seriously? The guy who played Carlisle just littered his acceptance speeches with the f word. Was that necessary? Well, that was the entire show. I heard more bleeping than actual words spoken in that 2-hour span.

2) Twilight won everything
Big surprise. Talentless popularity contest, right? I admit, I loved Twilight when it came out as books but by the third novel, it just turned into a spawning ground for squeezing money out of overly-hopeful females. For what it's worth, vampires and werewolves aren't real. As much as I like folklore, in this messed up world of messed up relationships, no girl should ever turn down a real guy for dreams of falling in love with teenage version of Dracula. For what it's worth, my boyfriend treats me much better than Edward or Jacob treats Bella. HAH in your face! See full list of winners here.

3) Asian guy from The Hangover's interpretive dance
Ken Jeong was prancing about in a skin-tight tiger leotard. What an embarrassment.

4) Awkward kisses
Sandra Bullock with Scarlett Johansson? What? I thought they were both ladies. I still don't understand what that was all about and I respect both women as actresses. Worst kiss for the Best Kiss winners: Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. They ran around in circles on stage and kept putting it off, she slapped him at one point, then they finally smashed faces for a split second and called it a day. Oh yeah, I pity them too, their feet were getting tired of walking on stage every 5 seconds to accept another award *rolls eyes*

5) Kristen Stewart
The more I look at her the more I dislike her. Her terribly awkward and rushed acceptance speech kind of spoke, "Oh whatever, another thing to toss in the dumpster. Thanks everyone. I'm nervous and can't act." Also, that Dolce & Gabanna dress she wore didn't flatter her chest at all. I just highly dislike actors and actresses who are popular by luck and not talent. I'll take Will Smith, Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep any day over Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus, Megan Fox, and yes, junior high celebrity crush Orlando Bloom. I'll give it to Taylor Lautner that at least he can do martial arts and act.

6) Katy Perry's outfit
Blue wig, boobs pushed up so sky-high I bet astronauts in orbit could have seen them closely. Yikes. And her song, California Girls, is super catchy but I don't like that the lyrics are insinuating that all California Girls are blonde, slutty, and spend all day humping at the beach. Not classy. Eye makeup isn't bad though.

7) Can you believe that's Tom Cruise?
I don't think it's bad at all, but I'm just impressed actually. Tom Cruise got down in Tropic Thunder garb and danced a number with a sequiny, sparkly JLo.

8) Tom Felton beat out Cristoph Waltz for Best Villain
Booo. Anyone who saw Inglorious Basterds knew how brilliantly Hans Landa conducted villainy. As far as I'm concerned, Draco Malfoy never really did anything right. I didn't like the two people dangling above Tom's head as he tried to give his acceptance speech.

That's it for my rant. If I offended any Twilight fans, know that the power of your love for a fictional vampire (or werewolf) will eventually save the world from nuclear explosions and contain the BP oil leak.

Just so you know, I am planning on watching Twilight: Eclipse in theatres with my boyfriend. Somehow, the awful humour and acting catalyzed the beginning to our "saga." It's an annual tradition : ) I'm just sad it's not released during November, when our anniversary usually is.

FOTD: Vampire with a Suntan

Yay still really sick ... survived a 16-page paper already and a brutal final in this condition, have 2 more short essays and 2 more brutal finals then home free back to San Diego! I am so ready for California sunshine - enough of this Midwest tornado crap T___T ... I was so afraid they would have to relocate us during yesterday's time-sensative Physiology exam because of the 20 bay windows in the room hahaha.

I haven't posted any FOTD's in a while, but I always take pictures : ) This look was to avoid studying my last Anthropology final, I think. I'm glad it made me look my age for once! Unfortunately the smear of purple mascara on my lower lashline makes me look more tired and vampire-ish. That reminds me of the Twilight: Eclipse preview I saw yesterday during Iron Man 2 (which is, by the way, ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS! Go see it especially if you need some relaxation and laughter in your life). It looks somewhat promising ... my boyfriend and I go see it every year because when the first Twilight movie came out, we kind of started falling in love :3 ♥

Products Used:

ELF Studio Concealer Pencil

ELF Studio Complexion Perfection

ELF Studio Cool Bronzer (for contour)

ELF Studio Eyebrow Kit in Dark

ELF E/S Duo Dark Wine Red all over lid, matte black on outer V, ELF Studio Eye Transformer in LIght Pink all over E/S - came out purple!

Sugar Kiss duo mascara in Midnight (purple) on lashes and smeared over lower lashline

ELF Mineral Lipstick in Rosy Tan

Wearing:

Purplish-Blue Sheen Dress, F21

Ash Wing Grey Lenses

I just pulled my hair back halfway. I automatically look 5 years older. Bam.

Why hello there ... I'm headed off to the beach yo. The Cullens are going to Cancun.

Angie Vampire is sadded because she has a TAN. Remarkable how she doesn't burn, eh? ; )

Here's the look with flash

 

He's infinitely cuter than Edward. Go Team Meow Meow!

Hehe I hope I get un-sick very very soon. Time to write about losing face and Imperial China :O What are you doing this weekend? Go see Iron Man 2 and have a blast, lovelies!

PS: Enter Nicol's 500+ follower giveaway : )

OOTD: Oh My Goth!

BOO! Sorry for the uber scary OOTD and makeup, but this blog is all about expression, am I right? :D This all started when my roomie put on some purple eyeshadow to make red lipstick a dark plum for a dress-up day at Assembly. I wish I got to attend such fun meetings all the time, but I usually dress up for the heck of it anyway. A few weeks ago was Tacky Day and I threw together an outfit so tacky, it can't be seen by the public. Last time was 90s Day, so aside from horrendously one-colored tops and pouchy butt-jeans and bad poofy hair, I couldn't think of anything. But the whole dark lips thing got me going on a cascade of goth. Hahahaa enjoy : )

On some of the pictures, I got that interesting washed-out colour background by going to Hue/Saturation and selecting Yellow and making Saturation = 0. That way, all the yellow colours are removed and there's still an eerie pop of bright shower items in the background. That's how I roll xD

Wearing:

Black Lace Cami, F21

Leather Jacket of AWESOMENESS, H&M

Bow Skirt, F21

Black Skinny Jeans, F21

Heels, Pitaya (they're 5 inch heels, I know)

Makeup:

Lots of Physician's Formula Mineral Concealer/Foundation in a shade too light for me

The usual ELF Studio basics

Lots more Anastasia Brow Wiz

ELF Mineral Black E/S

Lips: ELF Studio Creme Eyeliner in Black (hahaha but it worked! It's a weird blueish colour though compared to the eyes)

Contacts: Geo Nudy Brown (look scary like cat eyes especially now, don't they?)

 

I don't support animal abuse, but Fat Hamster was asking for it! Hahaha jk I love this fat baby

Have you ever played crazy dress up while bored? Better yet, did you have any weird phases in middle school? I went though a preppy phase followed by a semi-goth phase. I still have remnants of skulls and other Hot Topic wonderfulness in my jewelry box xD Great times ~

PS: I was at Ohio State University for a conference this weekend. It was awesome! I didn't bring my laptop, so it was almost 3 days without internet. Surprisingly, I found it very relaxing : )