Rimmel 002 and Kate/MM comparison

*This is a scheduled post*

SWATCH: Rimmel "Smokey Brun 002"

As I described in my last post, this is definitely my "go to" palette. The texture isn't all that great.. I feel like I sort of have to dig in my brush to get enough color for some of the lighter shades (but hey, I'm NC37). The dark brown goes on easily enough, as does the lightest shade. I would describe the colors as (lightest to darkest): A light yellow/gold-ed out white (what I imagine MAC's Ricepaper to look like--though I don't have it for comparison), a beige-champagne, copper and a brownie (food) cool-toned brown. The darkest brown doesn't show up very well in this swatch.. scroll down a little bit to see a better color representation.

Here, I swatched them with my other brow-highlight shades:

Top L-->R: Wet and Wild "Fine Wink", MAC Shroom (go-to brow h-light color), MAC Phloof

Bottom L-->R: Rimmel eyeshadows

You can see that they're all really quite different.. though "Fine Wink" and "Phloof" are sort of similar, except for "Phloof" has more silver shimmer to it and is lighter.. and "Fine Wink" has more traces of pink. These colors really aren't that dark.. I didn't brighten the photo in Photoshop because I wanted to really see the color tone difference that you couldn't normally see if the colors were brighter and more washed-out.

L-->R: Rimmel vs MAC "Handwritten"

As evidenced, "Handwritten" is a much warmer (reddish?) shade of brown than Rimmel (which also contains some silver glitter). Texture-wise, I prefer MAC over Rimmel though if you're on a budget (like me), this palette will be a great addition and it's perfect for every day wear, though you could totally use more of the dark brown to smoke out your look for night time!

KATE vs MAJOLOOK

The darkest blue shade on both are pretty good dupes for each other. The Kate (K1) blue glitter is much more noticeable than the one in the MM (M).. Plus I think the Kate glitter is slightly larger. The Kate blue looks slightly more blackish while the MM looks slightly more grey-toned. I'm not sure why I swatched (K2) which is the second darkest shade in the palette.. but there you go, hahaha. I would loooooove a nail polish that looked like K1!

KATE: There's definitely your blue spectrum in this one palette, and it makes it very easy to grab ONE palette and go, especially with you lucky gals who can use 5 colors in one look and have it ALL show (grumbles a bit about having monolids--not that there's ANYthing wrong with that!). The texture of these shadows is smooth but a little more powdery.. I keep feeling like I would have a bunch of fall out, but I don't. The fact that there's a cream shadow on the rightmost side kind of annoys me, since I don't tend to use cream shadows, but it's not enough to turn me away from using the palette. All of the shadows have some glitter in them.

MM: This has a nice variety of colors that I wouldn't normally think to put together. Fuzkittie made a great "vintage" look using just this palette--definitely one of the main reasons why I bough it in the first place. All of the shadows are shimmery and have this amazing buttery-soft texture to them. The issue I have is whenever I use MM palettes, they seem to fade like crazy on me! Maybe I just need to use a better base or I have super oily lids, who knows; I haven't heard many complaints about that from other people.

OVERALL: Even though I think the Kate palette is slightly more pigmented than the MM one, I find myself reaching for the MM palette more often.. mostly because of the color variety, and the fact that I don't tend to do all-blue EOTD's. I find myself hard-pressed whenever I think about putting EITHER of them up on blogsale though..

lippie swatches

in order, left to right:

TOP ROW:

- MAC "dubonnet" lipstick (my go-to red lippie, recommended by a MUA)

- MAC "cutester" lipstick (bought it myself ^^ recommended by KATIE!)

- MAC "viva glam VI" lipstick (recommended by an MUA for an "everyday" shade)

- MAC "viva glam V" lipgloss (recommended by an MUA for "everyday")

- MAYBELLINE lipgloss "020 pink afterglow"

- MAYBELLINE lipgloss "040 nude lustre"

- ELF "plum pout" lipgloss (plumping lip glaze)

- NYX "natural" lipgloss

- MILANI "703 lipstir" lipgloss

TOP RIGHT CORNER:

- ELF "joy" lipgloss

- ELF "fairy" lipgloss

BOTTOM ROW:

- RIMMEL "410 soft shell pink"

- RIMMEL "415 pink in the afternoon"

- RIMMEL "420 blushed"

- NYX "georgia"

- NYX "ceto"

- NYX "indian pink"

- MAYBELLINE "d110 rosy glow"

- MAYBELLINE "g132 nude blush"

- MAYBELLINE "g80 sweet ginger"

COMPARISON PICS

L to R: MAC VG.V, MILANI lipstir, NYX natural, ELF plumpout.

three are definitely very similar, no? i'd probably recommend buying the MILANI one just because it has the most product and is about half the price of MAC. ELF is OK but the amount you get is actually fairly small. i tend to forget about this one.

L to R: MAYBELLINE g80, MAC VG.VI, RIMMEL 420

the two outside ones are most similar.. but g80 has gold shimmers and is more neutral-toned (even though it doesn't necessarily look like it in the picture). i was recommended VG.VI by a MUA.. and don't really reach for it.. plus it sort of melted :\ and between the other two, it just depends if you want a more neutral shade or slightly pinker shade. 

L to R: MAYBELLINE g132, MAYBELLINE d110, NYX ceto

not very similar after being swatched on the arm. on paper, d110 is pinker, g132 is more brown and ceto is somewhere between the two, with a high frost finish. i think my favorite is d110. both maybellines look more like lipglosses than lipsticks because 1. my lips are pigmented, 2. they're more of a shimmer finish.

L to R: NYX indian pink, RIMMEL 415

not very similar after arm-swatching. indian pink looks more peachy (at least compared to) with gold shimmers while 415 looks like more of a matte color (booooring!). i'd choose indian pink.

L to R: NYX georgia, RIMMEL 410

georgia is more cool tone and 410 is more warm tone. they both have frost finishes. both are very bright colors.. so i wouldn't really wear EITHER very much but i'd recommend 410 over georgia (but that's just my own personal preference). 

hmm.. so yes. i got bored :P didn't feel like doing a FOTD with my helmet hair and tired face. sooo.. hope this sounds as a makeup related post ;) not the best pics, i wasn't exactly TAKING MY TIME.. considered doing lip swatches but.. MEH. haha (: 

yorba rinda

the detailed memory recall of ONE day.. 1/8/09

ho hum. so we decided to stay up all night as opposed to falling asleep and being groggy and possibly not waking up in time to head to the airport.. so.. i tried! i really did. but i couldn't make it. bryant did though apparently.. packed car, said bye to dogs :( said bye to bill. left the house around.. oh i dunno, planned to leave at 5:30 but i don't really know what happened. got to the george washington airport(?).. said goodbye to gina. got curbside baggage checking (apparently you have to pay for checked luggage now, even the first one! from continental. how gay). but the guy helped us out with a no fee. how nice! :) 

btw i was feeling nauseous.. for.. whatever reason. i think my stomach just KNOWS when i'm heading back home via airplane (i got nauseous when i was coming back from japan too). GAY. 

got to our terminal thing, it just started boarding. good timing, eh? got stuck in the back.. good for loading first. i got the aisle seat this time, mwahaha! i made bryant promise that he'd give it to me on the way back 'cause he was being annoying about he "always" has to sit on the aisle.. eh.. i dunno. he's weird ;P 

slept basically the entire flight, which was nice. i was not aware of my nauseousness until we started descending.. and whatever was in my stomach was no longer light. bleh! got over it though 'cause my left ear would NOT pop. booooooo! same thing as when i was coming back from japan. no amount of yawning, swallowing, plugging my nose and puffing my cheeks out, etc would work. finally did but my ear still felt kinda weird :\ 

sucked being the first ones to board 'cause we were the last ones to get off! :(

found luggage super fast.. and then right after, noah called and asked where we were.. and they had JUST passed the terminal. but they came around fast again anyways.

got dropped off in rowland.. SALON SHAG. gogogo! on colima between fullerton and nogales, on the north side. ask for SUNNY CHEN. he's amazing. 

well, more like.. bro+mom were with us.. kat wasn't there yet so we decided to explore the shopping center and it seemed like everything was closed! we were there at.. i dunno.. 10:15am. it was weird. went into TEN REN'S and got some drinks+food for bryant (popcorn chicken). stomach was feeling kinda weird so i probably shouldn't have gotten that yogurt teazer but.. eh. 

called kat to see where she was, she was about 2min away so we walked over to the salon. sat in the chairs and i played her ZOO KEEPER game.. which is like bejeweled except with animals. LOL. way more entertaining. i really get sucked into the game. kat went to go get her hair washed and i kept playing.. then i gave the DS to bryant and went to go bother kat. 

oh yes, i'm going to take the time to say that KAT WAS MORE FEMININELY DRESSED THAN I WAS~ (even with a pretty yellow PURSE!) hahaha. feesh you neechan! ;) tehees. i was wearing jeans, black flats, one of bryant's sweaters underneath one of bryant's fleeces.. LOL. i was up for comfort :) but.. yes.. anyways.. 

got my angled bob again, except WAY better.. he thinned it out and gave it a shape, instead of being so flat and fat. backside is kinda short but it'll grow out. kat got some artsy fartsy thing ;) layered with BLONDE streaks. then i asked sunny if he could help out bryant with some sort of hairstyle so he cut his hair and styled it. it's pretty good looking :) especially after it grows out a little. cut his whole head with scissors before he even TOUCHED it with a buzzer. preeeeetty cool. $45 for me, $35 for bryant. the usual. 

we decided to go get some CUE pics taken ;) hahaha. asianify bryant some. and at the end of it all, he said it wasn't too bad and that it was actually pretty fun. MWAHAHA! success :) hahah. the pics are pretty funny too. then stuck around diamond plaza and decided to get food at life plaza.. DON'T GET FOOD THERE. it was pretty.. ehhh.. i got broccoli beef and i ate all the broccoli but none of the beef, LOL. and bryant's curry beef was greenish and tasteless apparently. i didn't bother to try it. but the drinks were good~

decided to go get some crepes to make up for the not-so-good food (but at least it was cheap).. yuummm! crepe + custard + icecream + strawberries + whipped cream. delicious. fed kat 'cause she was driving.. and if she refused.. i did some ridiculous thing to make her laugh, then she gave in. mwhaha. then it got soggy and so i couldn't feed her :( grrs. oh well. 

went back to my house.. chilled.. talked about.. dogs, people, her physical therapy/therapist.. ambushed bryant 'cause he went upstairs.. talked some more.. opened the packages i got at home (iDivine palettes--2 different ones that i ordered off ebay, bare minerals starter kit from sephora, purse from pacsun, christmas money from my uncle and tshirt from snorgtees that i ended up giving to my brother). watched some videos (TIME WARP--awesome show).. then kat went home.

bryant decided to take a nap.. i forgot what i was doing. ah yes, probably on the phone since i got it during my whole texas trip. 21 messages and 7 voicemails! mostly from blue shield asking about some other information they needed from me. then beth called.. then i called cuzzo.. and finalized plans to see two of my girlies tomorrow :) tehees. and i looked up train tickets.. 

ate dinner--real curry. YUM. i love home goodness!

bryant slept a little more. i cuddled with him to keep him company.

packed up, he took most of the stuff, leaving me with what i needed.. and left for santa barbara :( he had a scheduled photo shoot.. ONE executive portrait out of like.. 10.. from a volunteer thing. grrr! but he let me stay.. and he took all the stuff with him so i wouldn't have to bring stuff with me on the train... how nice :) and he was happy that i was staying 'cause he felt bad for taking me away from home so soon. what a sweetie :)~

so i get to be at home until saturday.. but.. i'm pretty much busy the entire time all the way up til i leave. go figure. 

presents!!

jaaade honey i'm glad you loved your presents!!! :) too bad i didn't take pics of what i gave her.. hmm.. maybe it's still up on the webbie. that hat and a purple scarf :) scarf is no longer up online.. but.. you know. pretty basic. scarf-like. and purple.

here's the TIIIIIIINY picture that they show on the e-mail receipt.. get it? ;P

what i got for bryant's mom.. she looovesss giraffes. BUT THEY'RE OUT OF STOCK?? wtf :( pooheads!! it didn't say out of stock on the webbie!! grrrrr :(

and PART of the present/s i got for my mom :) she's always cold.. so.. why not get her a scarf?

if you want to know where all that magic happened.. WET SEAL baby! i've been completely out of love with that company for the past couple years.. but after going there with stace and majorly hurting my wallet ($80 something? i'm a cheap, broke college kid!).. i found the magic. especially for gift giving :) tehee. 

aaand.. since the rest of you haven't gotten your presents.. i can't post pics. 

man, it's not christmas yet?? boo! :(

the ungifted presents. boo :( and fyi the white present was wrapped in computer paper. i am THAT ghetto. well, i made it a little more difficult to open :) tehee. the BF opened up his present already, on account of him getting his new cam (he bought THAT himself, thank goodness. me, buying a canon 5d mkii??).. plus he was soooo cute. i couldn't resist.

btw-- i LOVE wrapping presents. i HATE using bags! i dunno why. just something about being precise.. and being able to be ANNOYING AS HELL with the inner wrappings but still being able to make it look pretty? yess :) love! don't they look all pretty? i think so. bought the wrapping paper at staples, if you're wondering. 

the COLD WEATHER outfit.. minus the jacket. wearing makeup shown below. i look FLAT here :( wtf? i mean.. i know i'm asian.. but still. at least i don't look chubs :) even though i am. i think i'm a HUGE secret-chubber. i may have built up stomach muscles just from how much i suck in my stomach. you better believe it! definitely starting up crunches again though.. helped a little :) and blahblah.. 

BLUES! +gold. didn't come out nearly as blue as i wanted it to (added too much gold) but i was in a rush to get to class.. so.. meh. deeeeal.

tried a new way to apply but figured.. my eyes are just way too damn single-lidded. oh well. i tried, didn't i? the whole "outer V" thing and all. to no avail! 

USED:

MAC shroom all-over + highlight

NYX atlantic on "outer v".. aka outside of lid :| not really a V

NYX ocean on inner lid

UD baked on middle of lid.

overall.. i think it was pretty :) not perfect but i tried. and i need to remember to use my primer.. 'cause.. 5-6 hours later, the colors are pretty faded. didn't help that i was rubbing my eyes to get the sleepiness out during that damn 100 question test. well. rubbed once then remembered i had eyeshadow on and thought, "damn!". matched my clothes too--whoo. go me. 

MY BB CREAM (mushroom) IS ON THE WAY! sweeet :) thanks phyllis! sort of sad that i won't be here to get it--DARN leaving for christmas!.. but as long as it doesn't get sent back (or stolen!!), i'll be okay. 

on other news.. i freaking love KIMCHI. i do. it's amazing, especially when you're hungry and there's not much to eat.. plus.. it just tastes good. and deters the boyfriend LOL! just kidding.. i mean.. he doesn't like it but it's not a plus :( 

140. new craze

so i decided although clothes are cute.. and VS's jackets are definitely cute.. i don't like wool. and i've been fairly disappointed with my recent online purchases.. so i'm moving over to make-up. weird, huh? it's just fun to put ON make up (eyeshadow, lipstick/lipgloss) and just feel pretty. even if it's not much, it just makes me feel better some days.

of course, make up, as is with everything else, is terribly expensive :( MAC eyeshadows are $14.50 each! yikes. no bueno! :( no bueno, i say! not to mention the other products they have.. they work so nicely.. but are so expensive. :(



but! i browsed anyways :) here's some colors that i like~
(aahh! MAC won't let me link files from them :( boohooo..)

LISTED
- gorgeous gold (even though i already have a gold)
- juxt (blueish.. i think?)
- signed, sealed (purpley)
- carbon (my black sucks!)
- shimmermoss (green)
- lipglass viva glam VI SE




i want to try:
- purples.. because purples are awesome! not to mention the fact that they're IN now :) but i love them regardless of the fact if they're IN or OUT.
- teal.. because.. face it. i just love the color.
- some shade of green? i'm thinking darker tones 'cause light green = no bueno in my experience. unless it's SHINY green. then maybe :)
- adding some color.. or mixing colors together. i had a successful purple+orange+gold+light gold going on the other day.. but.. maybe if they were more vibrant colors. it might be easier and show up better if you have a double lid BUT i will find a way!



found a new way to put on my eyeshadow, seems to work pretty well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEeirtPq0T0

of course my end results don't end up nearly as dramatic as her look.. i stick to browns or just the darker tone or the color that i'm using (light/dark blue, gold/brown, red/brown). i know i have a picture of my eyes SOMEwhere.. i just don't remember where. and i'm sitting at home in yorba with no pictures :( and no calibrated monitor to edit the pics that i DID take.. and still craving pinkberry. boooo..



i still want to find a place to get my eyebrows done. i know regular nail salons do it but i don't know if they do a GREAT job. a GOOD job maybe but eyebrows are precious. believe me, i know. i overplucked a few times, especially when i first started in 8th grade and oh me oh my i had a chola look (no offense). it just did NOT work well for me at all. and now they're all bushy and long.. i need to get them trimmed and i feel like i COULD do it myself but.. i don't trust myself with my eyebrows. much less hair cutting anymore beyond my bangs (which is iffy at times too).



hmm.. what else is on my mind.



GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR IS AMAZING. i hurt my wrist playing it.. but.. it's definitely worth it. well. you know what i mean. not WORTH IT but "worth it". and my wrist feels fine now :) i love the new guitar too.. plus bryant hooked up his electronic drums (yes, he has electronic drums PLUS a regular drum set at home.. and my parents tell me I'M the one that's spoiled??) so that's awesome too. which frees me up to play guitar all the time 'cause he's obsessed with his drums, so no competition there :)

irrrrrrvine tomorrow! i hope i get to see all of the people that i want to see.. saw nikki hosang today and took her out to coffeebean.. then CUZZ and GDAWG and TRACE and BRYAN and RANTE and JIN and KRISTINA BUI and MICHELLE LEW and JENNY MIMURA. i feel like i'm forgetting people too :|

i've been up since 8am.. and.. i'm not even really tired. and i did NOT take a nap. wow. i really should sleep though :( try to regular my sleeping schedule.. no more sleeping at 3-4AM and waking up at 1-3PM.




i feel like i had something more important to post. hm. i g