StrawberryNET Cosmetics Mini Haul + Review

♫ Sam Tsui - Explosion Medly

(As per usual, click on photos for larger image. ^^)


This post is like super overdue, but what the heck. First of all, I apologize for the lack of updates lately. I haven't had much time or energy to blog over the past week, what with falling sick, my cousin's wedding and assignments. So, back to the topic, I recently bought some items from StrawberryNET with the Groupons I purchased a couple of weeks ago.

I had heard about and visited the website a few times before, but didn't buy anything; online window shopping, if you will. :) So when I saw the offer on Groupon, I quickly grabbed the chance to get some nice items. There were some hiccups with the ordering/purchasing process, but it was solved in the end and I got my items all safe and sound (as you can see from the first photo).

3 separate boxes carefully packaged to prevent damage to the items.
I was really impressed by their packaging,. The parcels were all nicely tied with ribbon on the outside, and the box was stuffed with styrofoam packing peanuts to protect the items inside. With the exception of the lip gloss, the other two items were carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and holographic paper. It felt like I was opening presents on my birthday or Christmas, lol.


Now on to the items!
Top: Dolce & Gabbana Lip Gloss in #60 Nude (unboxed)
Middle: Givenchy Shadow Show eye shadow in #03 Stylish Grey (unboxed)
Bottom: Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Personnel lipstick in #19 Brun Chic

These aren't exactly the newest products, but they were from brands I normally couldn't afford to buy from the departmental store counters, and I really wanted to try them out. Yes, I plead guilty to being a brand whore most of the time sometimes.


Dolce & Gabbana Lip Gloss in #60 Nude

The first item is a sheer, shimmery lip gloss from Dolce & Gabbana. Totally love the simple yet elegant design of the tube. Even though the colour stated is Nude, in reality it has a pinkish sheen to it. The lip gloss is a subtle pink shade with pink, gold and purple microglitter in it. Its consistency is a bit on the thick side, so I normally layer it over lip balm or lipstick. This is my current favourite lip gloss.


Givenchy Shadow Show eye shadow in #03 Stylish Grey
Left: heavy swatch; right: light sweep with applicator.
Next up is the Givenchy Shadow Show mono eyeshadow in Stylish Grey. The casing for this tiny pan is so pretty; it has the signature Givenchy logo on top of a holographic grey background. The eye shadow colour itself is an almost-matte grey with superfine holographic shimmer, which is not noticeable unless you look closely. The texture is very smooth, and you can build up the colour from light to dark, perfect for subtle and intense smokey eye makeup. I've been using this on its own and also with the UD 15th anniversary palette for the past couple of weeks. Definitely a keeper, this one. ♥


Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Personnel in #19 Brun Chic

Last but not least is this YSL lipstick in Brun Chic. Yup, it's brown. A slightly red-toned brown, but still brown nonetheless. The colour doesn't really suit me, as my lips are quite pigmented and the colour doesn't show up when I apply it. Maybe it will look better if I use some lip concealer under this first. Not as creamy as I expected, and needs quite a few swipes to build up some colour. A hit-and-miss for now, but I'll see what I can do with it.

I ♥ these two! :D

Okay, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the review(s)! :)

Review: Daiso Rose Jewelry Lip

Phew, it seems like a while since I've posted anything. Been down with a bad cough the past week, and now that it has receded, I feel a flu coming to take its place thanks to the erratically cold weather. >_<

Anyway, I was at the mall on Saturday to buy some essentials, and dropped by Daiso to see if there was anything new. The first thing that caught my attention was this display of super cute rose design lip glosses, which immediately reminded me of those from Anna Sui. There were 5 colours (I think) available, but I was attracted by two of them. Couldn't decide which colour to pick, so I grabbed both. :P

Soft Scarlet and Happy Pink
I figured I could choose later at home, and leave the other one for my swap. :) Well, the one I chose to open for myself is the Soft Scarlet. It's a slightly darker pink compared to the Happy Pink

Cannot resist. It's pink, rose, and bling all in one!
Opened up, it looks like this.
(Click image to enlarge)
The side with the rose design is actually the bottom of the lip gloss pot. When you take it out from the packaging, there's a transparent cover over the top, which you replace with the jewel cover. It's slightly larger than a 50sen coin, so carrying it around won't be too much hassle. The only problem is, it can get quite messy if you apply the lip gloss on with your fingers. The instructions suggest you apply it using a lip brush.

Jewel on one side, rose on the other. ♥
For the swatch, I just used my finger to swipe a bit of the product onto the back of my hand.


The texture of the lip gloss is smooth and not at all sticky. It is a sheer red gloss with gold shimmer, so I would suggest applying this over a lipstick, unless you're going for a subtle lip colour. :)

This Rose Lip Jewelry was purchased at Daiso 1Utama (New Wing). Besides scarlet and pink, it also comes in red, orange and nude.

✓ Pros: Cheap, cute design, comes in a variety of colours, texture is smooth and non-sticky.
✗ Cons: Sheer, not for those who dislike shimmery/glittery glosses, messy to apply with fingers, not very long lasting.

五月天 《追梦3DNA》 Special Screening @ GSC MAXX

♫ 不知道 不明了 不想要 为什么 我的心
    明明是想靠近 却孤单到黎明
    不知道 不明了 不想要 为什么 我的心
    那爱情的绮丽 总是在孤单里
    再把我的最好的爱给你……   ♪

(Photo credits to 中国娱乐网)

I'm sure many of you who are familiar with Chinese music, especially those born in the 80's  and 90's, would know this song, or at least its melody. 《温柔》 is one of Mayday 五月天's earlier works, and is also one of their most famous and memorable songs.

I have been a fan of Mayday since 2003, when I bought their 《时光机》 album, and I've never looked back. Their songs have become a major part in the soundtrack of my life. :)

《五月天 追梦3DNA电影》
Anyway, I managed to get 2 tickets to the special screening of Mayday's 3D movie, titled 《五月天 追梦3DNA电影》, at GSC MAXX in Berjaya Times Square last Sunday (11 September). The movie opens in cinemas worldwide on 16 September 2011, so we were one of the first ones to watch it! I had originally planned to watch this with a friend who is also a huge fan of Mayday, but she won't be back till this coming weekend :( so I asked my bro to accompany me to the premier screening.

*Must resist temptation to rip down and take home*
When we arrived at GSC MAXX (it's the old IMAX theater on the 10th floor of BTS), the 988 DJs were already halfway through giving out movie merchandise, so I quickly went to collect my tickets from the GSC booth and then joined in the fun. :P

988 DJs
The host announced that they were going to give out THREE autographed movie posters, so a whole bunch of us were eagerly waiting. Before that, however, they gave out some plastic folders to a few lucky fans. After that was the big one. The host gave the 3 guest DJs one poster each, and they would turn around with their backs to the crowd and throw it for us to grab. I was standing pretty near the front and missed the first two, but the third and last one...

...fell right into my hands! ♥ Autographed poster by all 5 members!

The top of the poster was slightly crumpled due to the bunch of people who were grabbing it at the same time, but it's not a big deal. I mean, it's a huge autographed poster with the signatures of all 5 Mayday members! Even my bro was like 'Whoa, nice!'. :D

Merchandise booth.
There was a merchandise booth there selling t-shirts and document folders, as well as a pre-order list for their movie soundtrack. The t-shirts cost RM80 and the folder was RM20. Kinda tempted to get the folder, but at RM20, I figured it was pretty expensive (plus I already had the priceless autographed poster in my hands muahahahahaha *evil laugh*).

The movie was scheduled to start at 11 a.m., so everybody started lining up to get into the cinema about 15 minutes before.

Our seats - K28 and K29.

Everybody was handed a pair of 3D glasses and a glow-in-the-dark stick when entering the cinema hall, to make it seem more like a concert. When the lights were dimmed, it really did look like we were inside an indoor stadium for a private concert. How cool is that!

Very high tech-looking 3D glasses.
Bro and I got purple ones.
Atmosphere was pretty much like a real concert.
The movie lasted about 1 hour 30 minutes. It's basically a Mayday concert on film in 3D, with 3 different stories concerning different people slotted in between. The 3 stories revolve around Mayday and their Shanghai concert, and in the end the 3 stories intersect with each other. The last story was really touching. T_T I had fun singing along, and the guy sitting next to me was also singing along with 阿信 and the rest, haha!

It was a great experience to watch this 3D concert-movie, and it was all the more enjoyable and memorable for me because it is Mayday's first 3D movie. If you're a Mayday fan or like their songs, then go for it! It's much cheaper than going to an actual concert, lol. Nevertheless, I'll still be saving up for tickets to their next concert here in Malaysia.

Before I go, one last picture of me with the 988 DJ host. :)

That's the sign for Mayday 五月天! ♥

Getting Lucky on Facebook?

♫ 五月天 - 知足


I guess you could say that I've been pretty lucky this year on Facebook. I like to think it's a mixture of luck, crazy typing speed and mad refreshing skills. Not to mention a non-laggy connection most of the time. XD

Let me see.....

The first one was from Colour Culture, where I won a OPI hamper worth RM237 from their weekly random pick.

Then I managed to win an invite to the Charles Worthington launch party and got myself a goodie bag with RM100 worth of CW products.

In June, I posted on the picture provided by La Senza Malaysia every day in an attempt to win myself one of the RM50 shopping vouchers, and I got it! I was super duper happy, because I could finally get myself some of their gorgeous lingerie. ;)

End of June, I was bored and browsing Facebook when I saw CloveTWO holding a contest to win either Jennifer Lopez or Lady Gaga's album, so I decided to join in. Many refreshes and a comment saying "Lady Gaga!" later, I grabbed myself a copy of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way". :)

July came around not long after, bringing with it my rekindled Harry Potter mania. I knew I just had to get tickets to watch the final movie, so I kept my eyes and ears peeled for any contests that would let me win tickets. I was lucky; OneFM was having a 'comment and win' contest giving away 4 tickets to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, so I put my F5-mashing skills to the test.

I also got two tickets for any movie from a Coca-Cola contest around the same time, so I got to watch HP:DH twice in cinemas. :D

August was an uneventful month, but September has gotten off to a good start for me, because I got two winning notifications on the same day! ♥ This Thursday, in fact, but I was kinda busy doing an assignment and didn't get the news until Friday.

First was the LaSenza RM100 voucher giveaway...
Wheeeeee~!! ♥

...and then invites to the special screening for Mayday's 3DNA movie at GSC Maxx.

I get to watch it like 1 week before it's out in cinemas, and in 3D! Now this is a really big deal for me, because I've been a major fan of Mayday 五月天 since 2003, and this will be the first time I'm watching a 3D concert/movie in a cinema instead of a stadium. 

Okay, I think it's time to sleep now, because the screening is (later) this morning! I haven't been to the cinema in Times Square since IMAX moved out, so it'll be interesting to see how the place is like now.

Till then, good night (or morning) peeps! ^^

Highlight of the Day

♫ Pitbull ft. Ne-to & Nayer - Give Me Everything

Today, I finally went and did something that I've been wanting to do for a very, very long time. And that is....

...highlight my hair!

The last time I dyed all my hair dark brown was early last year, if I remember correctly, so now it's back to its original deep black colour (with dark brown tips). I decided it was time to take the plunge and go for a highlight instead, since there was an offer by Nikel Hair Studio on Groupon a couple of months back. Ruth also wanted to try highlights, so I bought 2 vouchers.

Photo taken 1 week before highlight.
This is what my hair (colour) looked like before today. A bit brown at the tips, leftover from my previous dye job. I know the ends are like super dry; every salon I went to for trimming commented on the same thing. T_T

 (photo credits to Nikel Hair Academy)
So anyway, we'd made our reservations for this morning, so I think we were the first customers for the day. I had my heart set on red highlights, while Ruth opted for light brown ones. The choices included in the voucher were pretty limited, so I topped up RM50 for more streaks and a brighter red colour, which needed prior bleaching.

Waiting for the bleach to work its magic. ~_~
What was supposed to be a relatively short dyeing process turned out to be longer than expected because of my stubbornly dark black hair (as usual -_-"). The first round of bleach wasn't really absorbed into the hair, so they had to use a 'steamer' kind of thing the second time around to make sure it was bleached lighter in order for the red highlight colour to show up properly. After that, the red dye was applied to the bleached strands and 'steamed' again, lol.

Red highlights taken in daylight.
Under artificial lighting.
I must say, I thought the strips it would be more... concentrated (?) into visible streaks instead of being sort of distributed around to sort of cover my black hair underneath. Nevertheless, the red colour is very close to what I wanted, so I am quite satisfied. ^^

My Precious......

♫ 五月天 - OAOA


......Urban Decay 15 Year Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection!

Finally got my hands on this much-raved limited edition eyeshadow collection from Urban Decay! It's my first ever product from UD (forgive me, primer potion, but this is limited edition; I'll buy you and Naked later) and I think it's a great first purchase. ;)

Still unopened, tee hee!
The box is very solid + heavy because it's made from gunmetal(?) and has some seriously reflective issues going on. That does make it a fingerprint magnet, as most of the reviews point out, and makes it pretty hard to photograph. It features a faceted purple jewel “UD” on the cover, which is a statement all by itself. The engraved filigree pattern on the box cover's side is just so awesomely pretty, and the purple velvet box is super plush! You can remove the eyeshadow plate when you've finished up all the eyeshadows (I can't even imagine that) and use the velvet box as a jewelry/trinket box.

That's all from me today. I won't be doing any swatches or reviews on this, as there are way more and better blogs out there who've already done it. :) If you're interested in how the eyeshadows look, I recommend Temptalia's post (it's split into 2 parts, so you know it's gonna be in-depth).