LA Live

Took Ry's cousin on an LA Tour. Hopefully these convince you to come on over the the west siiiideee.

my second home, aka: the century park towers.
star sightings include: ashton kutcher and colin ferrel.

hollywood & highland, where people dress up for tips, but the lazy ones just wear stupid halloween masks.
we saw two exact spidermans right next to each other, who do we choose from?!

where the stars shop and where i cry over the price of a pair of socks: rodeo drive
driving towards the staples center: home of the lakers! w00t.

amoeba music store: where the cool kids buy music, but i still buy my music from target (or limewire, jk)

dodgertown: "this is my town" - yoda says it best.

Pretty in Pink

As I mentioned, I'm really into lip colors now...especially since I figured out the whole "balancing your face"-thing.

Since CVS was having a buy-one-get-one-free on Revlon lipsticks, I was able to snag #457: Wild Orchid during my last trip. It's a blend of bright fuschia and lavender, definitely fun for the summer!

[steph note: the above picture has a really high contrast, so it's not a true representation of the lip color]

And of course, OUTTAKES!
my "drunken-trying to be sexy FAIL-slightly high-unexcusable crazy bangs" look.
yes that is my laundry basket behind me, don't you judge me!

zooming FAIL.

Have a great weekend!!!

Deja Vu

So I'm pretty sure I've already done a blue look before, sorry for being redundant. :(

But this time I actually used concealer on my lips for the "nude" look. I'm not sure if I look like I'm an extra from Dawn of the Dead or not...lol.
I used a mixture of Cover Girl's Queen Collection Eyeshadow Quad in Blue Notes with MAC's Carbon. That's all!

OH! And a new feature on my blog...

OUTTAKES!

this angle really shows the lighting of my nostril
workin' it! LOL

Friday I'm in Love

So glad it's Friday!! I know you are too.

No new look today, but I did go out for a very good friend's birthday last night, and have pictures I just had to share. Mainly because I have the funniest expressions:

Who? What? Where? Why? Makes no sense.

And just in case you wanted to know how the make-up is done, it's super simple:

- Use a dark brown shadow over the crease of your upper eyelids
- Liquid liner with winged tips
- Curl lashes & mascara both upper & lower lashes
- Apply false eyelashes
- Line lower waterline with white pencil
- Apply blush to the apples of your cheeks (using MAC Coppertone)
- Apply lipstick, as seen in the previous post
Have a great weekend!!!

My Lips' Like Sugar

I'm now obsessed with lip color, love rockin' the reds and now that fall is (not) coming around the corner, I hear plum and berries are back!

Here's a quick tutorial on long-lasting lip color, without having to buy...long-lasting lip color:

Prep by gently exfoliating your lips (I just gently run my toothbrush over my lips as I brush my teeth) and apply chapstick or lipbalm while you're prepping your make-up. I then slightly blot the chapstick before applying lipstick so that the doesn't slide off.

Step 1: Apply concealer to your lips - it allows the color to stay more "true" from the tube and it also adheres a little better to your lips
Step 2: Line your lips with a nude liner. I'm using Victoria's Secret in Nude Plum, but I'd also recommend Spice by MAC.
Step 3: Use a lipbrush to apply the first coat of lipstick. I'm using Sephora's lipbrush and Black Cherry by Revlon...which by the way, is Buy One Get One Free at CVS right now!
Step 4: Blot with tissue
Step 5: Reapply, directly from the tube, and touch up your lipliner, if necessary.
Final look:
Steph Note: If you're not used to wearing any lip color, I'd recommend doing your lips before you apply any eye make-up, simply to avoid looking like you're wearing too much make-up. Also apply blush after lips, but before your eyes.

GOOD LUCK!

P.S. Sorry I keep changing the pictures, I didn't like how the originals turned out! Hey, it keeps you comin' back. Lol jk.

Color Me Yours

Alright, I *hope* I've got this down. Utilizing Smugmug is great in the sense that my pictures are clear and I can make 'em huge, but whatta pain if the settings aren't right.

For our friend's bachelorette party, my friend & I took a route less-traveled and instead of strippers, whipped cream, being "woo-girls," and losing our panties to a douche with a curly mop for hair wearing ripped jeans and flip flops, we decided to spend quality time at the beach with mimosas, homemade brunch, Color Me Mine, and Gyu Kaku.

Huntington Beach:

we kept it classy with plastic penis straws while drinking our mimosas

We then went to Color Me Mine where we each painted 1/3 of a plate so we had matching commemorative plates. Be forewarned - if you plan on going CMM, it can definitely suck the time out of you...we spent over FOUR hours there.

shannon (the bride-to-be), nikki
in case you were wondering: ryan's cut-up shirt, bikini by penguin, hot topic belt, hollister jeans

Gyu Kaku is a Japanese restaurant with grills in the middle of each table where you bbq your own meat, similar to Korean bbq. DELISH. Not to mention $1 beers.
And of course, it wouldn't be a bachelorette party without...
Inappropriate cupcakes are the best. Strawberry cheesecake cupcakes, by yours truly.

(Hopefully I didn't just get you fired)

TMNT

Kudos if you know what that stands for! Turtle power!

Quick blog post, because it's Friday and I wanna get out of here! (But I like my outfit, so I wanna post it, ha).

target skirt & shirt, heels from shoe dazzle, f21 belt and necklace

can anybody tell me what's going on with my hair in the above pic? it's like a rat decided to make a home on top of my head.

What I wore for a few meetings today. Shoes are great right? Can you believe they're from ShoeDazzle?! Loves it.

Have a fabulous weekend you guys!

p.s. no japanese hair 'dos because that might look weird for meetings...but will resume this weekend & next week!

Black Cat, Nine Lives, Short Days, Long Nights

Everybody sing it with me! "Living on the edge not afraid to dieeee"

You know what happens when you run out of clothes? You steal your boyfriend's clothes. His button-downs don't really fit me, but desperate times call for desperate matters.

zara men shirt, black leggings and red belt from style xpress

Rye bread's sister loves Japanese magazines and while they're somewhat expensive (around $12+ per magazine), they are full of great pictures and style. (They can be bought at Mitsuwa, a Japanese market/food court). Japan's style is kinda weird because they're ahead of OUR style, but they are heavily influenced by American culture...but that makes it a great combination of looks that I would never think of, but actually CAN buy. Okay, some things are WAY out there, but for the most part, they're all really cute, everyday looks.

So one of the magazines had a spread on hairdos, so you know I had to try me mine. This is a twist on the half-bouffant by also twisting half of your bottom portion to the side:

It's really simple, all you need are a few bobbypins, a teasing comb, and some hairspray.
- Tease the crown of your hair at the roots and pull them together (like you were doing a half-ponytail), secure with a few pins
- Take half of the bottom portion of your hair and twist it inwards to about the center of your neck and secure with pins

That's it!
And you can't mention Japanese pictures without...
Stay tuned for more Japanese hairstyles...inspired by Americans...but that are ahead of America's time...huh? Exactly.


P.S. FINALLY did what my sister has been telling me to do and uploaded my images on smugmug...which = BIGGER PICTURES + BETTER QUALITY. w00t!

Stand & Deliver

Last weekend was amazing - not only did both Rye Bread's sister AND my sister come in from out of town, but I went to the most awesomest show there was (yes, awesomest IS a word, thank you very much)...NO DOUBT. So to know me is to know my LOVE for No Doubt. As in, I've been a fan for 10+ years, been to most of their concerts (in town, of course), and am somewhat obsessed with Gwen. Not obsessed like I know her birthday and favorite color, just obsessed with her style and just coolness in general. She's so cool! WHY?! HOW?! Why can't I be just 1/10oth of her coolness???

And now, I share some photos:

l.a.m.b. sneakers, no doubt shirt (from a 2001 concert)
my ridiculously overpriced souvenir ND hoodie...had to have it!

the sounds, am a new fan & will totally rock this outfit when i go out next. watch for it!


paramore killed it

no doubt was nothing short of amazing

After seeing Gwen's awesome hair, I am now obsessed with it and have been practicing it for the past few days.

All you need:
- 3 rubberbands (hair ties)
- A few bobbypins
- Hairspray / hair product

Steps:
- Separate your hair in 3 sections: bangs, top crown, and bottom layer
- Take the top crown of your hair and haphazrdly tie it in a knot/bun - leave ends sticking out, but making sure your sides are tight
- Repeat with bottom layer
- Take bangs and twist them upwards and pin with two bobbypins

That's it! Great for getting your bangs and hair out of your face, but much better than a boring ponytail! P.S. I tamed this down for work - I usually knot my bangs as well, but figured my boss would give me a major side-eye...lol.

I also tried something new with my liner after scrutinizing a picture of Gwen from their program. I lined my bottom inner corners with liner about halfway. The result: a slightly different look that made my eyes actually look bigger:

Next time I'm definitely going to try to rock the red lips, but with the crazy 'do and red lips might be too much for work. =)