My April MAC Haul !!

My Wishlist

This is the list that I will use to keep track of all the makeup items that I really really want to get. But this list is about 3 weeks outdated because I've done some MAC shopping over the past weekend!! Is that an "ALRIGHT!!" or "EEKSS" I don't know! But I'm happy, and that's all it matters right?

1) A rolling makeup Traincase!!! YES, a must- I'm dying to get a cute, girly one. Laff away, but that's how I am! I was thinking of a pink or the ones with a nice brand...like LV? LOL...jk..I can't even afford a LV handbag! I'm saving the greens for more MAC and makeup. Back to earth, ok so far, I only found pink. So I'm still truly debating!!! If anyone stumbles onto a cute one, please DO share!!!
As of today: I currently have one that I've recently purchased. And it's not a regular makeup traincase. It got wheels alright, but I've taken a spin with it. I don't want to give off the details since I'm planning that one of these days, I'll do a video of it! It does exactly what I like or at least for now!

2) I'll start with the primers, most of which are highly regarded by my MA idols, Pursebuzz and Enkore:
a) cream color base LUNA = $16.50
b) Bare Canvas MAC paint = $16.50
c) MAC Stilife Paint = $16.50
d) Smashbox Photo Finish - very nice for photography purposes!
e) Prep + Prime MAC = $22-$26.50
f) Prep + Prime Lash MAC = $13.50
g) Prep + Prime Eye = $16
g) Lip erasure MAC - neutralize color of lips esp for dark lips and give it more of a flesh tone.
Damage: ? woahh

3) For the eyes: Pigments/eyeshadows/highlighters:
a) Vanilla Pigment = $19.50
b) Lumene Eyeshadow base
c) Shilaq by Benefit
d) MAC Naked Lunch = $14
e) Blanc Type = $14
f) Naked Pigment=$19.50
g) Nylon = $14
h) Shroom = $14
i) for oily lids: Lumene eyeshadow base
j) List to be continued...MAC MAC MAC
Damage: ? woahh

4) Fix+ = $15 and its uses are (thanks Enkore!!)
a) sets makeup after everything has been applied
b) as refresher - imagining it would be great for the brides
c) Moisturizing Toner
d) as Mixing medium
Damage: not bad

5) For the face: Contouring - If you're a model, you know how popular cheekbones are. But if you don't have one then Contouring is the way to go. Believe it or not Tyra Banks mentioned in one of her talkshows that she didn't have cheekbones, she said it's the contour that makes it look like she does...Now that's ART!!!
a) Sculpt / Accentuate dual
b) Nose contour - contour darker shade on the sides of the nose and a lighter
shade on top
c) Bronzer - gives that 'sunkist' look for the winter time = $20
d) Skin Finish Natural - good for males, has no shimmer = $24.50
e) Emote blush = $17.50
f) List to be continued...
Damage: not bad

Here comes the Brushes...Until I have a full wallet to get myself a set of MAC brushes, these will do for me...highly recommended set for on the budget. I'm dying to get my hands on a complete set of MAC brushes though, so, I just have to be patient and hope that someone will hear my prayers and mail it to my home as a surprise gift :P

6) Brushes- Enkore did a wonderful job at comparing MAC brushes with one of the top painter's brushes Loew Cornell (LC). So per Enkore, if you asked a makeup artist what brush brand is good, they would say MAC, while if you asked a painter then Loew Cornell is one big brand:
a) MAC 150 => LC XXL
b) MAC 129 => L-round
c) MAC 136, 134 => LC Maxine 1"
d) MAC 239 => LC 3/8"
e) MAC 208 angled => LC 1/8" angled
f) MAC 266 => LC 1/4"
g) MAC 269 => LC 3/8"
h) MAC 194 => LC Filbert #8
i) MAC 228 => LC 1/4" maxine mop
j) MAC 190 => LC 1" Filbert
K) MAC 242 => LC 1/2" Filbert

I can't leave this blog naked without a picture. It feels like Christmas time! I was one excited little girl. Before I opened and depotted them, I took several pictures as soon as I got home - like 10pm? I should have waited for the daytime to take these but I don't care I had to put them in my palettes ! So here is my April MAC collection:


As of now, these have been transferred to its MAC palettes so, YAYA, they're
sitting comfortably in their shadow/blush palettes.

Sephora Sun Safety Kit

Ok, so Allure package is really sold out. But if you missed it, Sephora is having a kit as well, check it out, for $25 Sephora Sun Safety Kit

The only thing is, the Sephora kit contain SAMPLES size, versus Allure which actually are full sized products. I hope this would help with some disappointments!

(from Sephora's site: 100 percent of the net profits (that's $21.55 from every kit sold!) will benefit The Skin Cancer Foundation. Sephora will make a total donation of up to $430,000.00 before 12/31/08. Supplies of the kit are limited and will be available from April through June 2008 or while supplies last.) I'm sure this will make you feel better!

Awesome Allure beauty box 2008

I just wanted to share with you what makes me happy right now:

A friend of mine passed me this awesome deal (Thanks Jin!) that is from the May issue of Allure magazine. The Beauty Box starts 4/22 12:01 PM EST. After two hours of trying to beat this rush traffic to place the order, we finally got through! I got my share and I wanted to post this up asap, but it's too late now because as soon as I placed my ONE order, my friend told me they're out of stock now. So, sorry!!! Guess those that missed out, just have to wait for next year's beauty box!! And we do hear that a lot of these are actually FULL SIZE products. So, this might be the best deal I have ordered so far!!! I can't wait till the package arrives and I'll let you know how good of the deal actually was! http://www.allure.com/magazine/2008/04/beautybox
From one of the forums, someone has the breakdown of all the products and its price. Can't believe I actually got my hands onto one of them. Super exciting! For your information, delivery of this beauty box is 4-6 weeks!!!

From May issue of Allure:

To order the Play Safe in the Sun Beauty Box, visit http://allure.com/go/beautybox08 starting April 22 at 12:01 P.M EST

This exclusive offer, a $255 value, is yours for $29.99 and includes 17 beauty must-haves from some of your favorite brands:

*Anastasia Brow Highlighting Pencil in Matte Buff $21
*AVEENO Continuous Protection Sunblock Lotion SPF 45 $8.99
*BIOLAGE scalptherapie Cooling Mint Shampoo $13
*Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub $6.29
*BLUE LIZARD Austrialian Sunscreen Daily Moisturizer Face SPF 30+ (probably a sample)
*Coolibar Quality Sun Protection – UPF 50+ Reversible Cotton Hat $30
*Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Anti-Sun-Damage Daily Moisture Lotion SPF 28 $11.69
*jane iredale – The Skin Care Makeup Powder-Me SPF $44
*Jergens natural glow express Body Moisturizer $7.49
*Lancaster 365 Cellular Elixir $95
*Neutrogena Mineral Sheers Powder Foundation $11.99
*Neutrogena MoisturShine Lip Smoother $6.99
*NIA 24 Niacin Powered Skin Therapy Introductory Regimen Kit for Moderate to Severe Skin Damage $?
* Physicians Formula Organic wear 100% Natural Origin Bronzer $14
*Redken Color Extend Total Recharge $16
*Sephora UV Exposure Indicator Card
*Skin Effects Sun Effects Continuous Spray SPF 45 Active Sunscreen $10.39


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05/09/2008: Hey guys, I got this box last night!!! I took pictures and will put it up soon so you all can see the actual product size. So it actually only took 2 1/2 weeks for me. So if you're waiting for it...expect it coming soon!!
05/18/2008: Sorry I took a white to upload the pictures from my small sony camera. But, here are the pictures:
Opening this box is like opening presents at Christmas time.



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My Ao Dai, 1st style

I have learned that Visiting Vietnam during Tet New Year can have its positives and negatives. Positives can be the festivals, the lion dances, the temples filled with visitors etc. But since I love fashion, and being a girl that I am, I love customizing my outfits and traditional dresses called Ao Dai, so it wasn't such good timing for me. The reason is due to the tailor's practice of closing their shops and stopped providing services for a good one to two weeks to celebrate Tet, so I wasn't in for a treat! It's cultural that everybody prepares to celebrate Tet by wearing new outfits, the concept of tossing away the old, and bringing on the new. So, even before Tet, I wasn't able to compete with the lines to get anything made since there were tons of people ahead of me. So I had to wait until they re-opened their business to get some dresses made. So, after I had gone shopping for the fabrics, I sat down and drew out designs, and did my homework. In Binh Duong, there is a very famous tailor so my sister-in-law/TT's sister, took me to her. I presented the 7 fabric pieces and 7 designs I had in mind and asked her to have them done asap. The designs I presented were not ordinary designs for Ao Dai, so she was in for a surprise! I definitely modernized the ao dai into my taste and personality! She was able to make 3 ready for me before I left Vietnam, and the rest would be done in time for my other relatives to bring over for me, which was one week after.

Those that know me, I've been forever in love with wearing ao dai, so I will share with you a few of what I'm proud to say "my-style-of-fashion", but here is the first one, my personal favorite. It really calls out my name!! And that's what I LOVE about it!








I'll have more Ao dai coming up...I'm in the process of making my own jewelry to go with the others so, yayy!!

Until then, I want to share with you these. While I was busy taking my early evening nap, yes, early evening nap- meaning from 4ish to like 9pm :P When I came up to the computer, I found these: I couldn't believe my eyes, adorable bbgirl, She didn't need me there to know what to do in front of the camera...she really does know how to do it herself! Check out the different umbrellas in these frames.









can't get enough...




Love Love Love!

Now, if you weren't able to see this...
Check out me and my twin:

See any similarity? wahhahha...LOVE! Check us back later for more pics...

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April's Girls-Night Out

For the month of April, the girls decided to have dinner at our place, so while busy being the host and running around in the kitchen, here are some random pictures captured either by myself or our TT:

Our entree, 8-seafood stew and mussels in diced tomato sauce, made by our new graduate from the French Culinary School. By the way, if you need a personal chef for your gatherings, events, you know who to reserve! Chef Jane:



Someone winking at the photographer? lol!



Nhan homemade this gelatin, it's organic! Can you tell bgirl is totally digging it:

A quick group shot even though we were missing a couple of ladies who had to leave early:


Anytime you ladies want to have dinner at our place, you're more than welcome to! I love not having to cook dinner for the night but most importantly, I love to eat GOOD FOOD! Thanks Jane for putting together our dinner! TT asked if can we do this more often!

Been missing... I know

I guess you probably can figure that out that I've haven't been BLOGGING! ehehe. Well, truth is, I'm catching up with my jewelry and beads making on the weekends and too tired on the weeknights to do any blogging. So just wanted to let you know that. But I do have a lot to blog about, so hang in there. What's coming up:
1-Some images from my girls night out at our place
2-I would never leave Vietnam without making customized traditional dresses called Ao Dai!! That's so not me. But you'll see, they're not too traditional, I put down the designs and had the tailor made them the way I like it.
3-Photos and more photos...

So hang on...

Ao Dai Fashion Show cont.

Hey guys, I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer, so, I did not do any post-processing whatsoever. Here are my selective shots of TT's captures for the fashion show. The two Picasa albums will contain all of the happenings on the runway.

Ao Dai collection









The 2nd collection:












How about these:





He got me!!!


Here are the Picasa Albums, Enjoy !!!




P.S. A note from me to those that are curious! If you are reaching this page, obviously you had searched the web for Calvin Hiep's collection. And if you had search for it, then I knew that you are hoping to find something about his collection. I'm proud to post these to spread the words about successful Vietnamese designers that made it in the US and that we had the privilege to have captured one of his shows. So if this isn't what you are looking for, then please feel free to leave my blog. This is definitely not the blog you should be in. These pictures are for those who are searching for CH's for inspiration! I welcome you! Please feel free to leave a comment! I love you, those that are supporting the spread of successes, both the art of fashion and the art of photography!
His dream is to have his designs be incorporated into an outfit that would be worn by Hollywood superstars, to such events as the Oscars. I have all the CONFIDENCE that his dream will come true after watching Dvd Paris By Night 84 In Atlanta Âm Nhạc Và Thời Trang!! I truly admire his work! You can't imagine how many times I've watched that video over and over. So Calvin, I wish you lots of success!!
Those that want to see some more of him, check this out: Click here Lanie Nguyen show clothing designer Calvin Hiep

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Ao dai fashion show

Happy April's Fool everyone!!!
Nah, but I wasn't tripping when I said Calvin Hiep...
So...IT IS Calvin Hiep folks:::::

Calvin Hiep, the infamous designer especially known worldwide for his ao dai collection, was invited to our metro area!!! I truly really love all of his collection that he had done for Paris By Night for the Vietnamese language Entertainment which is distributed throughout North America, Europe and Autralia.

There's also something special that night, I was behind the camera shooting too!! Yes, I had decided to be a part of the fun by capturing these beautiful models. I'm going to share "some" of what I have. The following photos you can say straight from my camera, minor post-processing, so here you have it. (I didn't do any touchups on the models' faces either, with the beautiful makeup, I thought they looked flawless, unless you want to justify it differently). I wanted you to see these right away!! I still have to put together TT's capture, which I won't go through the post-processing either. So be around for the next post which will have more up-close-n-personal photos of the models. I'm sure this will be a ride...Until then, I hope you all enjoy:



Tanya, The AWESOME (can't emphasize that enough) hairstylist that has years years of experience. I'm sure you'll hear this name more and more often especially for this kind of events:


Nha Yen, the makeup artist




Strike a pose:


This model was peeking out the window to see the happenings outside, I gotcha:


A few on stage for your enjoying pleasure:
This is my personal FAVORITE!!



The 2nd part of the show: I captured this backstage as one of the models practices her stage act


The 3rd part of the show, HOT HOT:


Here is Calvin sending his thanks to the audience:


That's all for now folks, stay tuned for more...
More of his collection on this blog: click here to continue

P.S. A note from me to those that are curious! If you are reaching this page, obviously you had searched the web for Calvin Hiep's collection. And if you had search for it, then I knew that you are hoping to find something about his collection. I'm proud to post these to spread the words about successful Vietnamese designers that made it in the US and that we had the privilege to have captured one of his shows. So if this isn't what you are looking for, then please feel free to leave my blog. This is definitely not the blog you should be in. These pictures are for those who are searching for CH's for inspiration! I welcome you! Please feel free to leave a comment! I love you, those that are supporting the spread of successes, both the art of fashion and the art of photography!
His dream is to have his designs be incorporated into an outfit that would be worn by Hollywood superstars, to such events as the Oscars. I have all the CONFIDENCE that his dream will come true after watching Dvd Paris By Night 84 In Atlanta Âm Nhạc Và Thời Trang!! I truly admire his work! You can't imagine how many times I've watched that video over and over. So Calvin, I wish you lots of success!!

Those that want to see some more of him, check this out: Click here Lanie Nguyen show clothing designer Calvin Hiep

To go back to our blog for pictures, click here