.Amani

.Amani
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Pre-Lent nomming



Two weeks ago I went with my loli bbys Chris, Laura, and Rune for some noms before Chris started Lent and before Laura left off to Katsucon for the weekend~ I was still recovering from bronchitis, but I felt well enough to eat (being me, of course, nothing can make me turn down food  )

We went to Gyu-kaku near Times Square--




Pork belly, yakishabu, kalbi chuck on the grill~


Some of my meat, along with some garlic rice which is really good~

And then I found out they recently added taiyaki with ice cream to their dessert menu... and I had to get it. Had to.


My poor fishy, after being warmed on the grill~


My outfit for the day~





Michi in NYC~

During the week of my birthday my gyaru mommy Michi came to town from California ; w;!!!

I was so excited. Michi was one of the main western gyaru I looked up to when I first started the style~
I know she used to be in some of the older gyaru circles from before I got into the style, and then she was a part of Diamond which was one of the biggest, most active gyaru circles in the USA.

Anyways I followed her since Myspace and Ricoche days... that's how long LOL

I had to work all the days she was here, but I made sure that I had to meet her at some point! Even if it meant being exhausted from work. Which is what happened xD I brought some spare clothes to slip into from my work uniform, did my makeup and hair (which was a wonder to watch for my co-workers LOL) and then met her in Times Square~

She is so gorgeous in real life ; w;  

I showed her and her boyfriend around 34th street mostly, and took them to places like Midtown Comics, the Herald Sq Victoria's Secret and Uniqlo and stuff. They shopped around in Uniqlo and we had pretty cool discussions when we strolled around Midtown.


After that we were gonna go to Izakaya Riki to eat.. to find out it was all booked up ; A; and then the nearby  Gyu-kaku had some sort of technical issues that knocked out half the store or something... it was really bad. So then we roamed until we found this one Japanese spot within the area. It was called Nippon? I think? It was pretty expensive! But we had a good time.

I wish I took pictures of the inside, which looked very business-like. You can tell a lot of business people went there, as well as the older Japanese crowd. The waitresses were older Japanese women and they were dressed in kimono. While we were looking at the menu to feel the place out, we found that Michael Jackson was a visitor there when he was still alive~ that was pretty cool o:

Their menu was totally strange to me... a lot of the things I did not recognize. I'm so used to my Japanese places that cooks a lot of fried food and stuff, but this place was more proper I guess. More high-scale.


My tempura platter...


and chicken teriyaki as my main dish.

That chicken teriyaki... I could not.
It was so soft. Like heavenly-kind of soft. I had to be careful and chew because I knew if I had been my usual piggish self, I probably would've inhaled everything and choked xD But it was so delicious. I was never really fond of chicken plates at some restaurants because the texture would vary, but they made this teriyaki dish so well...

If I have money to splurge on in the future I'd definitely be back to this place! My gosh @ w@


Michi also had a little gift bag for me ; w; for meeting up with her.
I had so many feels~ I wish I had something for her! ; o; 


Everything is all pink and black... just how I like it ; w;  




She gave me fingerless gloves~ I need to find out the material because it is so soft. I'm glad I have something cute to wear if I ever have my nails done again~ :3


a cute little pouch!



and an lash case ; A;

Michi and her bby invited me to stay with them if I'm ever in California... I will certainly take up that offer one day! Hopefully soon~ so we can go out to eat and take tons of purikura together and crap. ahhhhhh and so I can meet Valentine and hang with all my other cali friends too ; w; like my loli sister Misa

There's something about meeting people you looked up to. whether it's style, or professional, or what have you.. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to meet Michi. It reminded me of when I met Xiao for the first time. 

I wonder how some people feel when they meet me in person for the first time...?  
(Probably intimidated as hell. lolololo)

My 23rd Birthday!

My birthday this year was pretty quiet compared to last year. Because of clashing schedules and not as much cash on me, I couldn't hang out with people like that, so I saved up just enough to go out with some of my lovelies that I barely see. Most notably my friend Ashley who now lives in Tokyo.

Originally we were supposed to hang out the night before my birthday, but apparently derpiness ensued, along with a very jacked up train system that left me waiting for hours just for no one to show up. I was pretty aggravated over it, but as always, it was the MTA's fault-- and we ended up meeting another day.

Of course that didn't stop me from camwhoring when I got home.



Mmmmmm yiiiiiiiss.  



Derpy posing. This was my outfit for the night. 
Onepiece - Yumetenbo; tights, belts, shoes, bracelets and everything else is offbrand 


And then I slipped into this hot pink dress that ended up... kind of being a splurge item... I gave into temptation while I was at F21.



 That cutout. unf


Makeup detail. I applied them a bit wrong but they weren't too bad.
Bottom lashes were my fairy lashes, with the small ends of my Diamond Princess lash at the very ends.

The morning of my birthday I woke up to find that Omi made me a heart-shaped carrot cake..



And it was all for myself, if my morning facial expressions didn't say enough.


My morning chunk. This is exactly why I'm fat.

My actual birthday I didn't do much. I slept in for the day, and then I went to visit my family at my mom's house for a while, talked with my sister, before I left for church.

The next evening however was when I -finally- met back up with Ashley and Rio
we went to Hakata Tonton, where I had shabushabu for the first time 


The pot as it was warming up


MEEEEEAT


We ordered edamame, and avocado tofu, which was surprisingly good. I was never really a fan of tofu before but I guess my tastes are changing around


I also ordered some okonomiyaki which was a must for me-- their okonomi was REALLY good, but I was kind of surprised with the serving. I'm so used to the huge pancakes that every other place serves, that I was kind of disappointed by this smaller, square meatloaf-looking thing they gave me. It was really good though, it packed a lot of flavor.

At some point I started browsing Ash's purikura book... and took pictures xD


her and her Japanese bff Yuminyan ; w;


More puri of her and Shiena and Love Gals~  ♥ one day I'll be there too~
She also gave me her extras ; o; which I will fill up my little book with



After we were done with food, we went next door to the West Village Big Gay Ice Cream Shop, which was MUCH roomier than their first store in the East Village.


Their cute cartoon unicorn mascot~




lol fabulously-dressed MLP statuettes occupying shelf spots on the wall~


While they were touching up makeup and whatnot, I got myself a peanut butter chocolate shake~ which was good as always, a bit less rich than it used to be, and no more strawberry jelly shot :c oh well

From then on we roamed... went to St. Mark's, got Ashley's tongue pierced, and then roamed our way right back until we headed to the trains home. It was really good seeing Ashley again since it's been two years. I wish I was able to hang out with her more, but hopefully we'll be able to catch up when I finally get myself to Tokyo.  

January Purchases--

I did a bit of birthday shopping throughout the month of January~ Luckily a lot of it were just sale items that I snatched up really quickly xD

But first some of my things from Guyana~


I managed to get this bracelet for myself while I was in Georgetown--
I've always wanted shell jewelry like this, but for whatever reason here in NYC, people want to sell them for 8 dollars or so... and I'm extremely cheap when it comes to accessories :x
So I was pleasantly surprised when I managed to snag this for what would've been 3-4 USD~ it's very pretty, even though it does that weird 'rusting' (? I don't know what this is called) that some shells do when they turn blueish or green.


These I got for my sister. My sister found that her father's side of the family was Guyanese when she started connecting with relatives on facebook-- so now she embraces that nationality. I wanted to get something for her since I was there, but I didn't want to get her the typical "flag" jewelry or anything obviously touristy... but then the jewelry itself (where I went, at least) were very afrocentric which isn't really my sister's style.. so I got these. When I go back I'll probably try and get something better for her.


Some of what's left of my Guyanese cash~
don't be fooled, this money is literally worthless, haha.
200 Guyanese dollars = 1 USD
So here you have like $5.60 worth, LOL
We carried maybe 50-60 USD worth for food down there, though, and we barely used any of our money. 
The hotel we stayed at had complimentary breakfast, and their dinners were no more than 3-5 dollars. And then when we were staying at a pastor's place, we were being fed there so we barely had to use our money, really.

I can't wait to go back~ I'll probably end up bringing about $100 worth so I can do some real shopping haha


But yes... back to my birthday purchases.
One of the stores in Downtown Brooklyn were having a sale and so I got these for a good price...


The original price for this 2-iron set was 19.99, I got it for 9.99. It gets very hot and it doesn't have a dial like my old one, so I really only use this for my own hair and my human hair stuff. I still have my old iron but I'll probably end up replacing it once I find a new iron with a dial on it.


The place had their Outre extensions on sale 25% off... so I spent like 16 dollars I think on this hair. 18 inch wefts. The only bad thing was that the hair was kind of reddish for a #2-- but I managed to make it blend well with the 24-26" human hair extensions I did have, so I just used it to help fill those extensions out.



February Ageha like I usually get~ 
Getting really tired of the free makeup bags though. How many makeup bags do they figure their readers need???
They should start putting hair accessories or more lashes as free gifts... or something


Some more dollar books I got from Book-Off. I kind of regret these since they're kind of old and the fashions in there are kind of tacky.


FAIRY LASHES. The "Shiny Lash".
I was so excited to get these, I got them off of ebay. I really wanted to try them out because they were my favorite lashes that Sakurina and some of the other Ageha models wore, and it made them look soo pretty.
However when I got them I realized they were actually top lashes. wtf?
I looked back on the official website and it said "top lashes-- but can be used as bottoms as well" and I was like whaaaaaat

I'm usually very iffy about using top lashes as bottom lashes... the lashes have a different curve than if they were made to be bottoms.. so trying to work with these were really weird and kind of frustrating at first. The whole band didn't want to sit on my face right, without bending itself out of place really weird. Finally I cut up a pair and figured out a way to wear them a way that I like. I really enjoy them! I'll probably do an actual lash post at some point soon.



Ruby Kisses' HD Gel Eyeliner-- the best manmade item ever. My korean eyeliner finally had given out in December and I needed a new liner fast, and Ruby Kisses proved to be absolutely perfect.
The gel glides on so easily-- maybe a bit too easy....
While it seems really moist and slick, once it sets it's very hard to remove! It doesn't smudge once it sets, it doesn't melt, none of that mess. It lasts for so long, and it stays jet black. I love it so much. I'm never going back to bigger brand liners again. Beauty store brands are becoming my BFFs.



Now this is the little birthday gift you'll get from Sephora this time around, if you're a Beauty Insider. I didn't get my gift from last year because a year or two before because I just couldn't get along to it-- but this year I ended up going and getting my item, and they gave me these little mini-sized mascara and highlighter by Benefit.

And let me tell you, this stuff is so good. The mascara's nice, it makes my lashes look nice and full. Maybe not so much to the point that Makeup Forever would, but this still does nicely.


The highlighter though? Another best friend of mine. Before, I used to highlight my face with an old nude eyeshadow that I used, and it would do it's job, and highlight my nose area a bit and stuff-- but with this? my nose contouring and my eye area looks so much brighter. It's nice and sheer, doesn't apply heavy, and it'll work for different skin tones. Contouring will never be the same for me again.

If you're a Beauty Insider-- definitely get this item. Just do it. My God.

I'll probably come up with a beauty favorites video soon~ since my camera and the lighting in my room seem to have an issue really cooperating, I'm gonna probably compensate by talking about some of my most-used items~
Monday, February 25, 2013

Victoria's Secret Semi-Annual gets (Jan 2013)


I got myself a little haul as always during VS's semi-annual~
It was a bit difficult for me this time around because of my trip to Guyana which basically depleted my cashflow for a few weeks. But with VS being evil and coming out with not just one, but ~3~ holiday Bombshell fragrances? I had to do swipe stuff up quick.


If you don't know me like that, Bombshell has always been my favorite fragrance from Victoria's Secret-- so whenever they come out with a special Bombshell fragrance I feel obligated to buy it.



The holiday fragrances were "Bombshell Diamond", "Bombshell Platnium", and "Bombshell Sparkle". The boxes were designed in a way to be like Christmas ornaments..



Aren't they beautiful? ; u;

It was more difficult to find Diamonds when the sale started... 
I'm assuming that it was the most popular of the three, not only because of the fragrance, but the design of the perfume bottle as well. It has a 'choker' with cascading stones that looks really sexy.
Sparkle is completely covered in pink glitter, while Platinum is covered in silver glitter with silver chrome stripes.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the matching lotions and body spray with these.. but I'll live, haha



And then I succumbed to PINK stuff.... a sports bra and these hot pink sequined shorts.
I was never really one for PINK, but when I looked at VSX and saw that their stuff either wasn't in my correct size or wasn't flattering me that well, and that the prices weren't all that low, I decided to look in the PINK section and I snatched these up.
The sequined shorts were the last pair in my size.. I had to. pink, flashy, and on sale? yep.
The sports bra was more to just go with it. I was never one for sports bras but my God, I love this bra so much now haha. The only thing is that the material is not all that breathable I guess, but I'm forever wearing it around the house and stuff.



And then as far as cosmetics, I didn't go all out. I honestly didn't really like the tones of the lipstick they had, and I wasn't really bent on getting their bigger seasonal makeup palette or anything like that, so I settled on these two.
The bronzer does a pretty good job, it leaves me with a pretty nice glow without being too much. My other bronzer from VS is a bit darker and I mainly use it for contouring, so this is my bronzer when I want to just dust all over my face and body. They had the bigger version of it, but I decided against it because I was kind of tight on money at that moment.

And then there's the "Diamonds After Dark" duo shadow in "Jewel Thief"...



I mainly wanted to get this because I barely have any cooler colors~ so I was like hey, it's silver & blue~ The shadows are very soft, which may be a plus or a negative for some~ I did try doing a makeup look with it that came out okay, but I think I need a better primer or cream shadow underneath for these shadows. I think I'll also try to look into some actual glitter as well to go along with this.

So I didn't get -too- crazy on the sales... but now VS is coming back with their 'Secret Reward' cards again, so I'll probably be going nuts with that in the coming weeks @ w@
Thursday, February 21, 2013

My Eye-Makeup Routine~


Finally came along to doing one of those eye-make 'before-and-afters'. I always try to do video makeup runthroughs, but it seems my camera and the types of lighting that appear in my room throughout the day isn't all that good :/ like the detail doesn't really show as well... or maybe it's just my skin complexion...

In any case, I want to try and get a video done one day, it might take a new camera, or God knows what time of day, but it'll be done one day! xD

A lot of my makeup nowadays is pretty much gyaru or gyaru-inspired-- I started learning about makeup because of my interest in gyaru, and now it's hard for me to break away from the circle lenses, perfect eyelining and huge lashes! So no matter what I wear, when I do my face I have this unnatural look of perfection... it's pretty interesting to see some people's reactions, really xD

Anyways~


The circle lenses are the Vassen Diamond 3-tones. Like I knew I would, I grew attached to them. Also excuse the last image-- glue was still sort of drying in that one!

You can't really see my eyeshadow very well in my images.. but you can see a slight shadow that is in and above my crease-- I use a dark brown shadow to create an exaggerated shadow to help accentuate the dolly look of the finished product. Overall I keep my eye-shadow pretty natural-colored-- neutrals, browns, gold or bronze-toned...

I tend to use two liners when I line my eye--

1) a pencil liner from "Kiss New York", some random brand I found in the local beauty store. Before that I used to use Urban Decay's black liner. I usually use pencil liners for waterlining, and as a base for the second layer of liner, as well as touch-ups.
2) "Ruby Kisses" HD Gel Liner in 'rich black'. Ruby Kisses is another generic brand from the local beauty store, but their quality is so good and this liner is BEAUTIFUL. When you apply it, it slides right on, it's actually pretty slippery, almost! It feels very fluid when you put it on but once it dries it's nearly impossible to budge without breaking it down with something oil-based. I have no issues with my liner melting off my face or smudging once it's dry, especially when I double-layer like I do.

Lashes are also a combination of different pieces~ I do the usual 'frankenlash' trend of combining different parts of different lashes to get unique results and a "longer" band~ I don't usually coat my lashes with mascara... my lashes are naturally long and curled, so any sort of mascara will sometimes do more bad than good when it comes to my real lashes and my falsies coming together.

This is the top lash I currently use (excuse whatever makeup excess that's on it--). It's a combination of Diamond Lash's "Angel Eye" halves (1 lash, halved) and a more full but natural lash I had bought from Taobao a while ago. Angel Eye being in the inner corner of the eye (the left in this photo), and the taobao lash towards the outer corner. This helps give me the appearance of really long lashes. I favor the look of really long and full lashes over the usual droopy eye look a lot of people tend to copy. This works best for my face.

The bottom lashes that I used in the look above were Diamond Lash "Nudy Eye" lashes, with the smaller pieces of their "Princess Eye" in the outer corners. I usually don't put too many lashes on the bottom, but what I did this time around looked really fluttery and princessy~ if only the camera from the NHK recording picked it up ; o;

Just something I wanted to share. ♥

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