Free 10-day supply of Bare Escentuals (choose one of six shades)and a free mini kabuki brush. Valid with any online order, or in freestanding Sephora stores (no purchase required)
- Oscar Blandi Seta Silk Polishing Cream – 0.169 fl oz
- Phyto Phytocitrus Restructuring Mask – Colour Treated Hair – 0.5 fl oz
- Rene Furturer OKARA Protect Colour Protective Radiance Shampoo – 0.5 fl oz
- Spring ring closure
- Slim barrel closure
- Lobster claw closure
Microsoft is going to put in a “privacy mode” in their next version of IE (version eight?) Currently, they have made patent applications for two things: “Cleartracks” and “Inprivate”. Publicly, they are saying:
“Users may wish to turn on the privacy mode if they are planning a surprise party, buying presents or researching a medical condition and do not want others users of the same computer to find out.“
However, we know the truth. If I may be so rash as to translate this excerpt for you?
“The men of Microsoft wish to have a button that they can click when they don’t want their wives to know what they are searching for. Fat, old, middle-aged men are creating a market for privacy with all their porn surfing!“
That’s right, kids. I am excited that Firefox is working for one of these, as well (the other biggie, Safari, already has theirs… it’s all that damn Mac awesomeness.) Why? If my internet blocks out things so no one knows what I’m doing…no one in my family can possibly know about theNotice. It’s fabulous!
The Gilt Groupe currently has the most gorgeous sale ever on. It’s Badgley Mischka Platinum, and drop-dead-gorgeous $600 dresses are flying off the internet racks for $200. If you have that kinda money lying around for a dress (for now, I’m just ogling them,) go to the sale now. And, if you need an invitation, just leave your email in the comments and I’ll send one to you.
Seriously, people. I do not joke about my clothes. Fucking. Gorgeous.
Oh, and hey: if you’re on a budget like me, why not take a look at this Forever21 dress?
30% off at Urban Decay, but only until the 28th! Now is the time for you all to stock up on their infamous Primer Potion – I really should get around to trying that…
(lyrics in title: Holly Brook’s Like Blood Like Honey)
Product in question? Clinique‘s infamous Black Honey! It’s an “Almost Lipstick”, which many liken to MAC’s Slimshines (I prefer the Clinique lippies, myself – they go on glossier, and more like a balm)
Though this product looks dark in the tube, it is anything but when you use it. The dark purple turns into a wash of delicate red plum shades: I darkened up the photo below to show you the shade, but it looks much glossier than this in real life. 
Texture: Smooth, smoother than any lipstick I’ve ever tried. It feels like a very sheer gloss, but it’s easier to apply (I prefer sticks to tubes and pots). It has the same weight as a light coat of Vaseline once on your lips, but has more shine payoff for the weight.
Colour: I find that what it really does is “amp up” my own lip colour, and it effectively minimizes the orange tones I so hate in my lips (not very visible in the photos to follow). This colour is not enough to conceal my scars, which I like – it tints your lips but still lets them shine through.
Scent: This is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to lip products. I can’t stand the waxy smell of them, but I also abhor the sickly sweet scents some companies use to cover up the waxy smell… well, Clinique seems like the perfect company for me! These lippies have no scent at all, and I really do mean this. You know how even a plain lip balm has a light, distinctive scent in the tube? This has nothing!!! Zero! Zilch! Nada! *cheers ensue*
Of course, I can’t leave you with this rave review without giving you photos… (Actually, I would leave you photoless in the school year, but I have all August to do whatever I wish, so here they are!)
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Above: My lips, on their own. This is my lips when they’re their “fortunate” shade… they tend to be more pale and orangey than this, actually.
Below: Black Honey!!
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Friday’s post was about L’Oreal’s Voluminous liquid/felt liner. I promised you photos, and here they are!!
For comparison, here is a naked eye, much to my shame! This means nothing at all; no concealer, liner, mascara, anything. My eyelashes aren’t even curled!! It’s just my eye, and a bit of moisturizer, probably. 
I left my face free of any other product for this comparison. Blotchiness? Check! Straight lashes? Check! Dark circles? Check!
Here are two photos of the liner on. It’s tightlined on the top lashline, and wings out a bit at the edge. This results in fuller-looking lashes, as it “fills in” the base gaps. The thin wing is a natural take on a dramatic look, and it serves to make your lashes look fuller and more curled.
A view from the bottom:
A view from the top. Remember, these lashes are just as straight as they were in the first photo! 
Lastly… for a bit more drama, go over the line another time. Extend it a bit and arch a little more. Curl lashes and go over them with your favorite glossy mascara (I’m lazy and have super-sensitive eyes, so I just touch them up with a bit of Vaseline to help hold curl and give a glossy finish).
Make sure you have no clumps in your mascara, none at all – this polished look would just look wrong with spidery, clumping lashes. And if you must choose between volume and length, I’d go for length – once again, it just seems to go better with this look.
Add this to give a polished effect to your eye makeup, or on it’s own like me – just conceal around the entire eye, making sure the veins on your lid are hidden as well as red spots and under eye circles. (Which, for the record, I have not done in the following photo – I’ll remind you again, I don’t have anything but liner and Vaseline on!)
Lastly, don’t hesitate to take a q-tip (or, preferably, a pointed swab) and clean up the edges. Hand a little unsteady at first? Don’t worry, just dip a q-tip in makeup remover, (or baby oil, which I used) clean up the line slowly, and dab the oiliness off with the dry end of the swab.
You’re good to go!
A free sample of one of the following with any Sephora Beauty Insider purchase (you just have to be one, not have a certain amount in your Beauty Bank)
Product: L’Oreal Voluminous eye liner
What makes it special: An angled felt tip; a lot of people complain about this but I happen to love it. You can achieve thick or thin lines with this (see below) – it makes tightlining super-easy and would make thick black lines easy as well! It’s seriously just like drawing on eyeliner with a marker – doesn’t get much simpler. I love doing tiny dots in my upper lash line, which fills in the spaces of my sparse Asian eyelashes and makes them look a little more voluminous :P
Smell and smoothness: No scent, goes on smoothly. A more popular pen like this is LineExact, a Covergirl product. Anyhow; most people have a problem with that because after ten uses or so, the line doesn’t come out as well and the felt tip seems to rub off the product – no problems like that with this! However, I do sometimes wish the tip was… I don’t know, more product-y? I would like more to come out when I just touch it to my eye area – a bit more like a liquid liner, I suppose, and less like a marker?
Removal: Getting this off is easy with baby oil (my makeup removing weapon of choice!). Just saturate a Q-Tip with baby oil and sweep away your liner!
The verdict: Love! It’s a great way to forge into non-pencil liners, easier to use and much more forgiving than your usual liquid. I’ve never tried it on my waterline, but it has fine stay from what I’ve found so far!!
Monday: what it looks like on!!
I found the cutest rings while cleaning my room the other day. If you want to add the trio to a necklace order, please let me know!! They’re a bit tight on my middle finger and a smidgen loose on my ring fingers, so I can’t wear them anymore :(
Also… if you’re about to order a necklace and you want a specific clasp, you must tell me! (If you don’t, I’ll just pick whichever one I think is most appropriate for the necklace style)
Here are your options!:
Also, please note that unless you tell me otherwise, I try to remember to put the piece that requires the most fumbling on the right. So if you’re a lefty, mention it!
So my first necklace was shipped to Suzie (blah.suzie) a while back. I can’t show you photos of this (though eventually, one of us will probably put up photos) because it’s going to be a surprise.
I can, however, show you what she sent me in return!! I told her to send whatever – it was the first one, so all I really wanted to do was get it out there, in hopes that someone else would love it enough to get one (one of my other friends liked it, and is now going to swap me for a tube of Fiberwing when she gets back from HK… and yes, I will post a photo review of that!)
So: what was it?
Why, you say, that looks like a magazine! And it is: She sent me an Australian copy of my favourite mag, InStyle!! It was completely unexpected and also completely perfect – I mean, it’s not like you can just run out and pick up one of these at the local bookstore! 
And, unbeknownst to her, it features one of my favourite celebrities as well – Anne Hathaway. She’s been looking so great recently, and seems like a nice, real person (not just one that acts nice for the tabloids)
Thanks again, Suzie :) I can’t wait to show you guys the necklace, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise for her!! It’s very unusual, in terms of what key necklaces usually look like, but I absolutely adore it, and I hope she does too!