Celina, based in Melbourne Australia is an aspiring artist. With a passion for expressing herself through makeup, beauty, fashion, cosplay & photography, she believes in living life as creatively as possible.
Check out of my gaming blog called SuzakuNU, outside of beauty and cosplay, I live and breathe IT and gaming :)
I’m going to apologise upfront and say this is a bit of a fluff post, I feel like most of my posts are very proper and professional, with high quality photos. Then there are these more rambly personal posts with phone photos that I really love writing but thought who really wants to read them.
Well I figured that’s what blogs are for right? I do own several other blogs, but I’m honestly not that great at maintaining them safe for the occasional emotional outburst. I do have a larger number of readers here, and thought perhaps you guys wouldn’t mind more personal posts? But if you absolutely hate it feel free to tell me so, I promise I won’t be offended
Enough of that, on to what I originally wanted post about. I reviewed the Elizabeth Arden Lip Balm ages ago and I finally hit “pan” on it.
But what I realised is that even if you hit “pan” on tube products, there is still a good amount of product within the tube that you can’t access normally. So what did I do? I got a metal stick and basically dug up all the remaining product and placed it within the lid of my Dr Feel Good sample compact. Why? So I could use every last drop of this.
Which let’s face it, is really quiet bizarre because I already have about 10+ other perfectly good lip balms I need to work through. Did I really need to go through the additional effort to use every last bit? No, but it’s strangely rewarding. I can’t quite explain it, but seeing the tube empty through and through gives me a great sense of satisfaction! Like I’m really getting value of money… even though I probably waste 3 times the amount on products I’ll never use… *deep sigh*
I never said I was a logical person
I’m going to end this post with a highly flattering photo of myself. I was just about to head out to dinner and wanted something subtle and very natural.
I love sarcasm in text, I always manage to keep a straight face No, this is the result of my face after experimenting with new Book of Fables chapters. I always test drive the more complicated designs on my face, then transfer the design in my sketch book. Would you be interested in seeing a few previous chapters from my sketch book? It’s interesting to see how the chapters develop from blueprint, to sketch book to test run to final chapter. It’s a lot of work, but I love it so~~
I better end this post before I ramble on, which I really could do if left loose Bye~
When I go on a swatching spree I tend to go through these like candy! You can read my review here.
John Freda Full Repair – Shampoo
This came with another shampoo and conditioner as a freebie with a magazine, it’s okay. I didn’t notice any big differences to my hair, I’d say average to above average.
Clinique Liquid Facial Soap
Not really a fan of this, this is yet another sample that probably came as part of a gift set. It’s not my favourite cleanser because it makes my skin feel… greasy? And I don’t think it does a good job at removing all my makeup.
You probably saw these in my September Empties, as you can tell, I love these wipes and they love me… err I mean, I go through these fast!
The Body Shop Vitamin E Night Cream
My second tub of this, I can’t say it does much for my skin besides what a basic moisturiser should do. But I love the feel and smell of it, very soothing Comfort cream? That’s probably why I’ve gone through this twice now.
Hello lover~~~ I need to apologise up front with the sheer amount of neutral palettes I seem to be working my way through. I must be going through some phase, it’s quite disturbing. That said, I’m stilling going to tell you what I think of this palette. Chanel’s Eyeshadow Quad in Prelude, what an elegant name!
Prelude predominately contains neutral matte shades, which means it is likely to appeal to almost everyone, especially those who work in a more conservative corporate environment or with boring tastes, aka me.
The pigmentation was, for Chanel, impressive. Most of the Chanel palettes I’ve been through always give just a sheer wash of colour with a bunch of shimmer, this is a step up. It’s certainly not at the level of say Inglot, but honestly I wouldn’t want something as pigmented as Inglot shadows to use in the morning. Those types of shadows take a great deal of concentration and precision to make sure you don’t over apply, both traits I lack in the morning (and let’s face it, most of the time)
At least with this palette it gives me greater control and gradation aka idiot proof.
As you can see with the swatches above and the demo below, the colours are safe, neutral and highly work appropriate. Absolutely one of my new favourite palettes to use in the mornings, and admittedly it adds a touch of class to my usual morning routine…. I’m aware of how shallow that sounds, but I am the writer of a makeup blog so…
I’m going to yet again be a terrible blogger and say I have no idea how much this palette goes for in Australia, I purchased it whilst in HK (or the US, I can’t remember now, this is what you get for over-hauling :/) (you’re seeing my haul in trickles, I don’t yet have the courage to show you everything I bought in one shot). It’s a lovely neutral palette for those of you with the cash, but obviously if that is something you’re strapped for there are many cheaper alternatives in the market.
Summer officially begins this week, so I figured I’d kick it off by featuring OPI’s Summer 2011 collection called Nice Stem. This collection features four pink shades with a range of finishes. Minus the one with chunky glitter I’d say this range is very wearable for the more girly girls (or guys!) at work
All swatches are two coats, no top coat.
Be a Dahlia Won’t You
A fuchsia shade infused with gold shimmer, certainly one of the more “common” shades around, nothing overly unique about it.
Come to Poppy
Coral fuchsia shade with micro shimmers, I really love how smooth the finish for this polish is. It feels very elegant and clean… or maybe that’s my polish job /shot
I Lily Love You
A jelly light pink with chunky hologram glitter, the first photo is the polish on its own and the second photo is it layered over Come to Poppy. I’m not sure why it has this cracked effected in the second photo, really strange. I much prefer this on it’s own.
Play the Peonies
A soft light pink pearl like shade, it reminds me of polish a bride may wear to her wedding. So light, fresh and regal.
A little over a week ago the lovely people at Oscar Oscar Salons invited the MBBE girls for a special morning event! I remember this so well because the event started at 8:30am on a Sunday. I remember waking up at 8am to rush to the event, and literally gasping for air when I arrived because I ran all the way from the car park to the salon. Still, it was a fantastic event, any time to just sit back and chill out with the MBBE ladies always guarantees a good time! So let’s get on to the photos~ (which btw were tall taken with my phone!)
Thank goodness Oscar Oscar were thinking ahead and provided an array of drinks and food for us! Of course most of us skipped breakfast racing to get to the event in time, so I quickly devoured as much food as I could… you know, whilst still trying to remain a lady…. *cough*
I’m surprised at how much effort went into the food, really blown away by the presentation
Starting off the event with two models and the infamous Jack Chan, Master Stylist!
The finished look, a sleek side ponytail with an end curl, a popular look on the runway:)
Next up, all the girls got their hair done! This is Lilpil and her Barbarella hair! It was massively voluminous! :O
Sooo jealous of how healthy looking Ling‘s hair is, and the curls man! Amazing :O
Val‘s hair mid-way curl, I’m very jealous of her super straight hair My hair naturally can’t decide what it wants, so it always sits in the ugly middle.
Oooh, Tina enjoying her massage… like REALLY enjoying it ;D
Finally me and my hair stylist all done up! Just my hair, not my face X-x; I was too sleepy to put on makeup that morning *blasphemy*
Look Sefie! I’m reviewing a used product!!! *end in joke*
Whilst in Hong Kong I ran out of my usual toner and so during lunch headed down to Lane Crawford to find myself a new one (did I mention how I loved being able to just walk into a departmental store and feel like I was getting value for money!?)
Anyways, I came across this product, thought I’d give it a go and have officially fallen in love! I know it is suppose to be a cleanser, but it feels like a toner to me because you’re suppose to leave it on the skin, so I’ve tagged it as a light cleanser because it doesn’t actually do a great job at say removing makeup.
How I use this is I make sure to first take a makeup remover to my face, then cleanse it with a foam cleanser, THEN I apply 3 pumps of this to a cotton pad and apply to my face. It does a fantastic job at removing every little last trace of makeup my remover and cleanser missed And it leaves my skin feeling prepped for serum!
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find an exact match of this in Australia, I THINK Lancome’s Galateis Douceur Gentle Cleansing Fluid may be the same thing only under a different name? The packaging looks exactly the same, but having never purchased this from Australia I can’t say for sure Either way if you get a chance to try this, highly recommend it! It’s a staple in my skin care routine now
I am more than certain that anyone who has followed my blog for even a few months has seen photos of this costume. If it wasn’t obvious enough, this costume was a true labour of love, it took me about 1.5 to 2 weeks straight to make, the skirt had to be re-done about 5 times to get the proper cut as it appears more as a “wrap” dress. Much of the detail was painted on by hand, had I more time I would have rather embroidered everything, but whacha gonna do? The fans took a few days to get the painting right, just everything about it is true love from me.
I really wanted to do a video dedicated to this costume one more time before I officially put it into retirement. This costume is probably one of my favourites, it’s been through a lot! Helped me win my first competition, has appeared in The Age and has been shot many times 2012 will certainly bring an array of new costumes ;D And I hope this time to document the making of each one with my video camera
Much love and thanks goes to Asham for agreeing to appear in my video with me, I would really have loved to film her makeup application for a tutorial as she is highly skilled at cross play makeup (and area I’m still training myself in). Who knows? Maybe one day she’ll agree when we have time ;D Of course Asham made every aspect of her costume
MAC Prep + Prime – Base Visage Skin
Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation – 51
Face of Australia Loose Powder – Outback Translucent *
Bourjiois Neutral Trio
Urban Decay Primer Potion – Original
Benefit They’re Real Mascara – Black *
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil – Zero
MAC Fluidline – Blacktrack
Savvy by DB Luxury Liner – Shimmering Slate
e.l.f Eyebrow Kit – Dark
NYX Powder Blush – Natural
Face of Australia Pressed Powder – Bronze *
NYX Mosaic Powder – Highlighter
Maybelline Color Sensational – Pink Please
No issues with the formula nor quality of this palette, it was amazing Didn’t have any problems with the pigmentation either unlike the last palette. This palette is versatile enough to create an everyday neutral eye to a brown smokey eye.
I wish I did a better job at the eye makeup application, I was a bit generous with the shimmer and it kinda got everywhere. Still, application was trouble free and I really enjoy using this palette
If you’re interested, you can find this palette at Adam Beauty
A couple of weekends ago was the second Melbourne Beauty Bloggers Event If you can remember I was luckily enough to be invited to the first MBBE event back in 2010. Well, it has become an annual event and so thanks to the fantastic efforts of Val from Ponikuta it happened again! All photos that are not watermarked by me were taken by Brandon Cook!
The event was kindly hosted and catered by Miss Fox, sound familiar? That’s the same place I was shellac-ed at a couple of months ago! It was a lovely intimate event, just a selection of other beauty bloggers attended (most were from the previous year so I knew plenty of girls there) which made it easy to mingle and have decent conversations I much prefer more intimate gatherings!
Miss Fox were kind enough to offer mini manicures and hand massages, I unfortunately didn’t indulge as I wanted to keep my hands free for cupcake consumption. Yes, it’s called priorities people!
Me with Akisa and Maddy. Maddy just had a child not too long ago and she has a killer figure! I have no idea how she managed that~ And Akisa, ahhh I could stare at her skin all day, she is absolutely amazing
Me with Kate Morris, the founder of Adore Beauty gave us a motivation speech on start ups and blogging! She really was such an inspirational lady to listen to
Val ran a bit of a trivia arm for this event, man the questions were hard!! All questions were beauty related and I seriously took a guess to virtually all of them, and yet somehow I placed second and won this little Guinot gift pack Kimmi won first prize and Emma won third It was a really fun little twist to the event!
We also got to see Jacie‘s award from Beauty Directory for Star Beauty Write (Online) of the Year! So proud of this girl She’s not only representing beauty bloggers, but making MBBE so proud!
Also if you haven’t heard, Jacie has started up her own online store and was kind enough to gift each of us with a nail file from her store, so naturally that was the first thing everyone opened up to see It was adorable!
Group photo! Sorry it’s so small that you can hardly see anyone’s face But if you’re familiar with the MBBE girls you should be fine, I’m in the very top left hand corner
After the event we all headed down to dinner, many thanks to Tina for booking the place My two table buddies Shizuka and Jess (my HT!!), and not photographed here was Emily who was sitting to my left (every time I see her I die a little from jealousy cause she’s so pretty :_: )
All in all it was a lovely event I had a great time and can’t wait for MBBE 2012! Special thanks once again to Val for being the heart and soul behind MBBE You did a great job girl, thanks so much!
Many moons ago, back when I shot the “Glow” Book of Fables chapter, my dearest friend Sefie was at the same shoot, prepping herself for what would turn out to be a truly epic photo shoot.
Both Sefie and I are active gamers and Starcraft 2 is one of the many games we’ve spent faar too much time playing. Sefie decided to cosplay Kerrigan, Queen of Blades and the Zerg.
The thing about Sefie is that she is actually a “cookie” blogger, but her cosplay and makeup abilities supersede even some professionals in the industry She’s truly a multi-talented individual!
I had originally planned to make this is makeup tutorial, but discovered I didn’t have enough footage for that, so instead I will present with you videos and photos shot by the talented Neil Creek
All makeup, wig and styling done by Sefie, she can cook, she can sew and she does makeup! All the photos and video (except for the credits video which was shot by SurfacedStudio) was shot by Neil Creek.
Both Sefie and Neil make a dynamite team and I think the photos and videos clearly show this. I know we are all looking forward to doing future shoots together (just a matter of finding time )
Celina, based in Melbourne Australia is an aspiring artist. With a passion for expressing herself through makeup, beauty, fashion, cosplay & photography, she believes in living life as creatively as possible.
My hair naturally can’t decide what it wants, so it always sits in the ugly middle. 
