Ayumi Hamasaki Inspired Smoldering Brown Eye Makeup Tutorial

Hello fellow bloggers.  First off, I know my whole layout looks completely different from the last one.  I've been experimenting with new themes and widgets so it doesn't look completely bland.  So far I like it but I would like to know what you all think about it so please feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post on whether you like the new changes or not. :) Second, I apologize for the V-day tutorial taking so long but I do plan to have it up soon (just been really uninspired and lazy to post it up lol).  While you all are waiting for that tutorial I do have another one in store for you all.  I am pleased to present my Ayumi Hamasaki Smoldering Brown Eye Makeup Tutorial!!!!

I would like to say that I absolutely love Ayumi.  I think she is really gorgeous and I love her voice (my psp has a bunch of her songs ^-^) Anyways I was looking through some photos of her on Lastfm.com and I spotted this photo of her:

After seeing this, I just knew I had to do a tutorial for her makeup.  It's flawless, smokey looking, and gives off a strong sex appeal to it.

Products used for this tutorial:
NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base

Clinique concealer in 05 Medium Beige

bare Minerals foundation powder in Summer Bisque
Smashbox Brow Tech & Cream Eye Liner Palette

Ulta Eyeshadow Kit (light brown, matte tan brown, matte dark brown)
Ulta Eyeliner pencil in Black
Sephora's Eyeliner pencil in White
Ulta Blush in Pale Rose

Smashbox Lash DNA mascara

Victoria Secret's Lipstick in Scrumptious

Ok so as always start off with a clean and moisturized face.  Apply concealer to dark spots, under your eyes, and the corners of your nose and mouth to lessen the appearance of shadows.  Use a powder foundation (or liquid foundation if you don't have it powdered) to set your face.  Don't forget to fill in your eyebrows as they do tend to frame the whole look.

Use a eyeshadow primer so the eyeshadows will last longer and become more pigmented.  Take a creamy light brown color and apply to the inner corners of your eyes.  Now take a tan/nude brown eyeshadow and apply to the center of your eyelids. Blend the two colors to avoid any harsh lines and then take a dark brown eyeshadow and apply to the outer V of your eyes.  Remember to blend afterwards but not too much so the colors tend to look all muddy.  Take a bit of that same dark brown color and apply to 1/3 of your lower lash line and blend it out a bit to create a smoldering effect.

So now take a black eyeliner pencil and line the upper and lower lash lines.

Quick tip: take a Q-tip and carefully blend out the eyeliner pencil a bit for a smokey eye effect.  Curl your lashes and use your favorite mascara to coat your upper and lower lashes. I used Smashbox's Lash DNA mascara to add more length and volume to my lashes.

Another quick tip: For contouring your nose use a dark brown eyeshadow and with a brush, lightly color around the tips of your nose and the corners of your eyes.  For highlighting, use a highlighting pen (or if you don't have one like me use a white eyeliner pencil) and color in the brdge of your nose.  Be sure to blend the colors out to make them more natural looking.
Use a pale pink blush on the apples of your cheek and a light peach/pink lipstick to finish the look.

Note:  If you want the full effect for this look I recommend using light brown contacts.  As you can see in this pic, Ayumi is wearing contacts to intensify this look to another level. For me, I don't tend to ear contacts seeing as I can't afford them :( however I bought my contacts at Olive Ole for $15 for special occasions.  I don't wear them daily but they are useful when trying to draw more attention to my eyes.

Here are the contacts in Luminescent Light Brown.

Before contacts

After contacts

I know the after pics aren't so great but they get better towards the end of this post.  So here is the finishing look:

I got bored once I finished so I did a bit of a photoshoot at my house and then edited my favorite photos afterwards to make them look more professional.

I hope you all have fun trying this look out.  I did post a little poll at the side of my blog post to see what you guys wanted my next tutorial to be. :)  I'm very interested to see what you guys would like to see a tutorial of next.  See you all in my next post!

Belated Valentine's Day Update & Big News!!!!!!

Hello everyone!

First and foremost I am so sorry that I wasn't able to do my Valentine's Day date look in time.  I've been so busy with school and life but no worries 'cause it'll be posted up sometime this weekend so you all can wear it during regular dates and events. :)

Second, I have some pics to show you all from my special Valentine's Day (well actually it turned out to be a weekend date) with my boyfriend. :) hehe Let's start hmmm ok so on Saturday we had breakfast over at a new restaurant near my house called the Broken Egg.

Then we went to the mall and did some shopping for a while until we went to the pet store.  There I saw the cutest Pekinese puppy and I just had to play with her.  She was so cute and fluffy (IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!! lol sorry couldn't help myself) and I just wanted to take her home.  I mean how can you say no to this cute face?

SOOOO CUTE!!!!!

Unfortunately I couldn't take her home and so for the rest of the weekend we just relaxed, cuddled, and played videogames.  Now I know what you're thinking: so where's the best part?  Well after I finished up my classes on Monday I went over to my boyfriend's house and what did I see?  THIS:

He MADE me my own Edible Arrangements not ordered but MADE!!!! :*) It was so uber sweet of him to do this for me.  I almost didn't want to eat it because it was so pretty and special (Almost ;) )

After the cute surprise my boyfriend and I decided to go to Olive Garden for lunch.  We order a trio of appetizers: Fried calamari, fried cheese (aka mozzerella triangles) and stuffed mushrooms (sorry I was so hungry and ate most of the appetizers before taking a pic of them :/ ).

Then I ordered the Seafood Alfredo.  

(I llllllllooooooovvvvvveeeee shrimp and scallops ^_^)

Then after lunch we decided to take a nap for a while.  For dinner his mom made spicy lemon chicken with grilled zucchini and tortellini.  As for dessert, it was Cold Stone ice cream and brownies!!!! haha I got the cheesecake with graham cracker pie crust in a Gotta Have It (cause I gotta have it :P ).  I know I know I'm greedy but I'm a little girl and I'm constantly hungry lol.  Overall I had a great Valentine's Day. :) So what about you guys?  How was your Valentine's Day/Single Awareness Day?  No matter how you celebrated it I hope you all had fun and stay tuned for my next post.  Until next time! :)

UPDATE: Oops!  Almost forgot the big news. :P Well tomorrow is the annual Miss Black & Gold pageant that is held at every regional campus in my state and on my campus the fraternity sponsoring this event, Alpha Phi Alpha, selected five young women to represent their Nu Theta Chapter and as a surprise I was selected to be one of those ladies!!!!! That's right!  I will be in the Miss Black & Gold pageant being held this year tomorrow.  I'm so excited!!!!!  Hopefully I will be able to win this year's crown. :) Wish me luck everyone!!! :D

21 Flavors Date Auction Look

Hello fellow bloggers!  So today I figured I'd talk about the event that I've been prepping for the last few months.  It's called 21 Flavors Date Auction!!!! 21 Flavors Date Auction is basically an auciton that my organization, Asian Pacific American Student Union or APASU for short, holds every year where we "sell" handsome men and beautiful women on stage for a date.  Why are we selling people for money?  Well, the purpose for this auction is to raise money for the American Cancer Society so all in all, it's a good cause.  As for the name 21 Flavors, it represents the many people being bidded off who come from different ethnic backgrounds.

This was APASU's 3rd year for the auction and I was chosen to be a part of the bidline.  So of course in order to make a lot of money, you have to look sexy and win the crowd over.  Since it's close to Valentine's Day, I decided to make my makeup very soft and feminine yet a bit seductive by using pinks and browns which complimented each other perfectly.

Since I'm currently on campus and I don't have my makeup kits, I commute to campus by the way, I'll have to post up the tutorial for another day but have no fear because I'll be sure to post it up just in time for Valentine's Day.  For now, here are some photos of what I wore last night:

The embellishments on the dress made the whole look feel very feminine and sophisticated.

And just a few photos from the date auction:

At the end of the date auction, I only earned $25. :/ Yeah I know lame but at least the money is going towards a good cause.  So after the auction, all of the bidders and their dates went out for an Italian dinner in the dining room of our campus.  Although they ran out of salad and drinks, the dinner was acutally pretty good espeically the dessert: vanilla cream cake. Mmmmmm hahaha :) And of course my date was a gentleman throughout the whole night.  He's the one who's right next to me on my left.

Overall the date auction was a huge success! I'm still a bit worn out from it all but at least I won't have to worry about another major event on campus for a while. :)

Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Rabbit

Good evening everyone!  Happy Chinese New Year! :D Yep that's right.  Today is the celebration of the Chinese New Year and this year happens to be the year of the bunny!!!!!!! ^-^ haha yeah so I thought it would be cool to show you all a few pics of the makeup that I did just for this day.

Yep I didn't want to go overboard with the makeup so i used just three colors: pale white, matte tan, and matte brown eyeshadows.  Since my eyes are already dark brown and big like a bunny's (freaky I know) I didn't need to use false lashes or contacts.

The shirt I'm wearing happens to be my aunt's uniform when she used to work at a Chinese buffet restaurant when I was 5.  She doesn't work there anymore so she gave me her old shirts.  I think they're too cute to be given away.

Here are some photos from the Chinese New Year festival that was held at my university.

My friend Alan was one of the hosts for the night.  It's actually his first time hosting an event on campus.  Let's give it up for Alan everyone! hahaha

I wish you all good luck and prosperity this year. Gong Hay Fat Choi! (Happy New Year in Cantonese) :D

My Daily Skin Regime

Hey everyone!  Ugh the weather sucks today.  It's in the 70's yet it's all cloudy and raining.  Not a good way to start the day. 

Currently on campus waiting for my next class but in the meantime I thought it'd be cool to write a blog about my skin regime.  Right now I've been trying to take care of my skin due to a date auction that is coming up next monday and I'm in the bid line (my skin has been breaking out due to stress from college).  Anyway I've been drinking at least 4-5 glasses a water a day (plus I take a bottle or two of water since I commute from home and I'm on campus most of the day), getting at least 8 hours of sleep, cutting down on food containing sodium (sorry ramen :*( ), and I've been tryinig to get some exercise into my daily routine.  Although water, food intake, and exercise are good for your health and body,  it's good to invest in a good facial cleanser and moisturizer.

For me,  I use Philosophy's Purity Made Simple one-step facial cleanser.

 It's a thick yet very creamy cleanser that washes the impurities off your face and leaves your skin irresistably soft and smooth. It doesn't leave any harsh residues, takes off the makeup off your face and thoroughly hydrates your skin. This product was on my Christmas list last year since I've heard nothing but great remarks on this cleanser and I finally got my hands on it!  ^-^ haha Anyways my skin has always been dry especially when it comes to the winter time but I've been using it for a month now and I can really feel the difference.  It contains no weird fragrance and it doesn't dry out your skin.  Purely refreshing. :)

Another key item in my skin regime is the Clarisonic Mia.

Even though it's the travel size version of the real Clarisonic brush,  I like using the mini one on my face.  I just apply a small amount of my cleanser onto the brush, add a bit of water, and I have the perfect mini spa facial treatment.  It even comes with three mini cleansers (for dry, oily, and sensitive skin) for you to try.  It's a great gift for the holidays and it comes in an assortment of colors to choose from.

I got the light blue one as an early birthday present last year and my sister got the purple one for Christmas.

Lastly, I use the Philosophy Hope in a Jar moisturizer to finish my daily skin regime.

This moisturizer is very creamy, absorbs quickly, and is full of antioxidants to reduce free racial damage.  It's for all skin types and gently exfoliates the skin to give it a rosy, glowing complexion.  This product was acutally on Oprah's Ultimate Favorite Things 2010 (my mom watches the show and actually got me to try this product out).  I absolutely love this moisturizer and lasts for a couple of months (I actually need to get another jar asap haha).

Having a daily skin regime is a great way to keep your skin looking smooth, soft, and young.  A majority of us don't realize how important it is to take care of our skin because we take it for granted at times.   Remember you are never too young or too old to take care of your skin and the sooner you do the better.  Trust me, your skin will thank you for it. :)