DAZE

It's been a damn decade and I still don't know her name...

I first heard of DAZE back in 10 years ago, precisely in 1999. I went to my favourite CD "shop" (it was very very tiny weeny, with a few hundred cassettes and Cd's. The shop owner is a damn good friend of my damn good cousin's so he's my friend too, though I can't say he's a "good friend", it's only because... because I didn't really visit him as often as he would like to, and by doing this, I disappointed him a lot. He didn't treat me as an ordinary customer but more like a sibling brother) on a casual weekend and bought a few cassettes (mind you, CDs were quite rare in China yet...) and the friendly shop owner gave me a cassette of DAZE as a gift, hence how I got to know them.

DAZE, a Euro Dance brand from Denmark, that type of brand that you often hear on EuroSong festival, though I didn't know how to categorize them back then, cause it's so different from Enya, Death Metal and classics, from all the genres that I knew of. And it's so cheery.

The cassette I got of them is Superhero. The cover was flashy enough: The lead vocal, a sexy attractive assertive young woman dressed in stark red Chinese cheongsam, with dyed stark blue hair, each single hair pointing to a different direction, how fancy...! And her companions, a bald guy with a sick smile, and an attractive black haired guy posing like a dark wizard, two rays of laser lights from his two hands.



Haha...!

There're 10 songs in total, each has a strong character, and the rhythms, oh my god oh my lord they sounded so fresh and new to my ears and I thought I was in love... There's no lyric insert so I had no idea what they're singing about, could be anything, of course, I even tried hard to figure it out as an English listening exercise, didn't work. I loved it so much that I listened to it everyday over and over again for a good 2 years, even more so than my beloved Enya. I lent the cassette to my friends and they loved it too and made copies of it. :-D

Glad to hear that my taste to music was appreciated. :-)

How happy I was, if only for discovering this lovely brand, back in ten years ago, a decade...

Back to a few weeks ago in the very chilly winter of 2009, I accidently found it on youtube, with official videos and lyrics. I recognized the familiar rhythms immediately...! Their videos are so fancy, only a pity that the vocal looks much older (time flies! Especially for beautiful women...!), but her style didn't change a single bit, I see the stark blue hair again with exaggerated facial expression, what a relief. Wat een opluchting hoor!

And for the first time, I got to understand their lyrics... Once again the word:"Fancy"...! It's both fun and imaginative, though others might think they're just some meaningless blablabla, but to me, it's much more than that, it brings me directly back to ten years ago when I was a young and fresh high school student who was considered to be a bit weird by her classmates. Even if not for this, DAZE is simply a cool brand hands down.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I always wonder what her name is, must be very unique and exotic to me cause she's from a country that's almost unknown to me, and she's that lovely and sexy, she surely deserves it...

:-)

(The End)

Twilight Saga

Seems every teenage girl is absolutely buzzing about the Twilight Saga New Moon.

I've watched Twilight last year on the premier day in Belgium with a friend who is a huge vampire related stories fan, I liked the movie back then, but now no more, thinking it's just a third class love story with super exciting computer effects (and some girls don't even like the computer effects), but at least, it's a sensation.

This year I don't bother to spend €9 on a movie ticket cause First, I'm financially tight. Second, I don't like love story in general, not to mention the storyline is poor and way too exaggerated.

But here the topic is not about the movie but the sensation it made and one of the related industries ---- Cosmetics.

I wouldn't think Twilight Saga has something to do with cosmetics, but somebody did and BAF! There's a makeup line...!

http://twilightbeauty.com/

Had a quick glance and got disappointed though I haven't even tried any of their product so far. The price is higher than that of MAC and they only have a very small range of products. They don't even have a foundation...!!! Very unprofessional...!

Needless to say, I don't wanna buy anything from them, they only have a web shop that only ships within USA.

P.S. Essence released their Limited Edition for November and it's another proof that Twilight has made a huge and successful sensation.

Guerlain Météorites #3 Beige Chic

A very expensive and luxurious face powder, I shall say, as an opening line.

I already own it for a while and used it a few times. I have to say, I'm rather disappointed in it... -_-

Normally I'm a low-end girl in relation to cosmetics and would never buy something so expensive... But sometimes we adore the vintage packaging, or the special smell that arises our memories from our childhood, or just the brand name, or our hormone works in a weird way, or... nothing, cause we just feel like buying something expensive and expect miracles. Well, I bought it cause I happened to have a gift card from my boyfriend as a birthday gift and I wanted to buy something special with it, to "treat myself", so after a long and tiresome research, I finally settled up with this one.

Guerlain Météorites #3 Beige Chic, 33g, RRP €47.6

Many Guerlain starters would choose #1 but I've already had it and didn't have pleasant experience with it, and initially I didn't want to buy this #3 either, but due to the good reviews on MUA I decided to give it a try... (sigh...) A very big mistake...!

It's in a very beautiful and stunning box, inspired by Marie Antoinette (by the way, she was not French but Austrian)'s jewelery box, truly vintage and elegant...!

The balls are of different sizes and colours: white pearl, yellow, light pink, beige and light brown. Impressive.

I still remember how I opened the box at home with trembling fingers, and how I sniffed at the familiar violet fragrance, so much for my excited heart and senses, yet the delight disappeared as soon as I tried it on my face...

It formed a fine cast on my face, almost translucent and with fine shimmer (I want a matte face powder, not a shimmery one!), I had the feeling that it did nothing except for brightening up my face a little bit, if I think it did much more than that, then it must have been self-suggestion. How sad.

Now I'm stuck here, I don't know what to do with it, I can't simply throw it away, I can't give it away as a gift (it being second hand), I don't wanna use it anymore... I might just put it on the dressing table, letting it remind me how stupid I was to buy something as a "blood rush to head". I'll be more careful with cosmetics and avoid of buying something for the name which I usually regret later. :-(

PROs: Beautiful box.

CONs: Very expensive. Heavily scented. Doesn't control oil.

Verdict: 3 out of 10, won't buy again.

A Bit Of Everything

1. Vaseline works actually no less than any lipbalm, if not better, it's sheer and moisturizing, and super cheap too, but not easy to apply cause it doesn't include any applicator so you have to use your finger which is not hygienic. So I still have to stick to my Labello Repair. :-P

2. Lovelace is actually a wonderful blush! I tried it only with skunk brush and it seems not very pigmented but today I tried it again with a regular blush brush and the result is amazing...! Love it! :-D

3. I always thought my skintone was warm, but today, an expert told me, that I'm actually cool toned. O_o

4. Yesterday evening, I wrote the very first poem ever in my life, inspired by Linneke who always encourages me to write something (oh and I still must finish my Reine for her!), and it's in Dutch! Ok, it's a very simple poem, cause people told me poems don't have to be complicated and, basically, even a ten-year-old can write a poem (though I doubt it would be in gibberish! Hahaha!).

The most famous Belgian poet would probably be Paul van Ostaijen, he died young at age 32. He wrote a very bizarre poem that I totally don't understand.



I followed the format of "Ruitgedicht": with a total line of 9 and total words of 25. My poem probably sounds gibberish too, but I'm still proud of it. Below is my poem:

Ik

heb gelopen

door het bos

waar ik je zocht

maar ik had geen idee

waar je zou zijn

moe was ik

slaap gevallen

stillte...

Chicane - Already There

My sincere apologies to Chicane, for torturing his masterpiece Already There, it's not my intention though. I simply love it so much that I have to remake it, though it's a total failure, cause it sounds so pale and lost the "forest fog" atmosphere, but it's not completely my fault, I can't find the right instruments to weave the magical atmosphere... -_-

I only re-made the first half of Already There which is the part I love the most from the original version. A chilly cold, melancholious piece.

The general work took me only 1 afternoon, what's difficult was the re-arranging and finishing work, cause the rhythm beat is difficult to get it exactly the same as it is in the original.

Because it's in MIDI format so the quality is not stable, which means, the output quality depends on your hardware therefore it might vary from computer to computer. -_-

Click here for the original version.

Click here for my version.

Silk Naturals Eyeshadows & Blushes review

Eyeshadows: Since they had a "Gift With Purchase over $30" action and because my order was above $30 so I chose "Storm Cloud" as the free gift, and surprisingly got two extra's from them: Sapphire and Cyprus Sand. Sapphire was the colour that I wanted but eventually chose Storm Cloud, whereas Cyprus Sand is not in their shop at all so I was lucky, and the jar is also a bit smaller. :-P The regular size is around 2g in a 5g jar with sifter. $4. A very big advantage about them is, they don't create a mess when being applied.

Cyprus Sand: is pale gray with fine shimmer and a hint of khaki. I'm not an eyeshadow maniac and I only wear "classic" and "neutral" colours so I'm not sure I would reach it that often, nonetheless I'm very grateful to Silk Naturals. :-)



Storm Cloud: is metallic gray with pale blue undertone (due to the reflection you can only see the blue undertone though), it's a very beautiful colour and versatile too. I guess I'll try to create a "Smokey Look" with it (I actually have never tried Smokey Look nor any other looks yet, I only use one eye colour each time so it's an challenging for me to combine the two colours, it shouldn't be that difficult though).



Sapphire: Very pretty! SN describes it as navy blue which I agree. It's a rich dark midnight blue with shimmer, under certain light you can also detect the beautiful purple sheen. You can create tons of possibility with it, use it wet or dry, wear it along or with other colours, the choice is in the palm of your hand. :-D



Blushes: SN blushes are around 3.5g in a 10g jar, enough to last 2-3 months. The prices vary from $6.5 to $6.75, very reasonable. Like many mineral makeup companies, they categorize their blushes with skintones (cool, warm), finish (shimmer, matte) and textures (powder, cream). Two things they have in common: 1st, they all apply like a dream. 2nd, most of them have sort of an "in between" shade, or appear another colour under reflection (for instance, Nuance looks differently on the two photos, and I think the last one represents Nuance better)...! Compare my swatches with the official ones, you'll be surprised...!

Apple: is shimmery pink (on the dark side) with just a hint of plum tone (in the photo you only see red, but it really IS a pink blush), since almost all the blushes in loose powder form are very pigmented so Apple might suit darker skinned girls, which means I must be very careful not to overdo it.



Climax: SN claims that it's a clone of NARS Orgasm blush. I've never used Orgasm (nor am I going to get it) so I can't compare the two. Climax is a lovely light pale pink with shimmer (in the picture it looks matte though). It will suit cool toned girls better than warm toned.



Embrace: it looks like EDM Plum Dust, though Embrace is lighter. It's matte. I'm not sure if I'll like it, cause it looks too dark and is absolutely not my natural flush colour...! But again, one can never know how it performs before one tries it out oneself, so I still have hope for it, because for the shades I tried so far, I like all of them...! :-D



Foxxy: I almost don't see any difference between Foxxy and Climax, except, maybe, that Climax is on the pink side whereas Foxxy has a hint of plum, it looks very metallic and transparent and crystal-like. I haven't tried it yet on my cheeks and am not sure it'll show up.



Lovelace: A clone of apparently overrated NARS Deep Throat (vulgar name...!). I had NARS Deep Throat and swapped it away, it was okay but nothing special. I was just curious to see how this Lovelace would perform on my cheeks. It gives me a very youthful look, as if I were 5 years younger. ^_^



Nuance: Seeing it for the first time at swatch online, I thought it's a clone of Pout Blossom Belle (a rightly rated and highly sought-after tangerine shade with plenty of shimmer, very unique and flattering on almost all skintone, especially warm skintones. I'm honored to have this shade...!), at least it appears so on the official swatch, hence why I bought it, but when I look at it in the jar, it doesn't look like Blossom Belle, cause it's not that tangerine shade but light pink, but the magical thing is, when applied lightly on my cheeks, it's half pink half tangerine depending on the light, very very pretty. It absolutely deserves 5 stars! I'll definitely buy it again...! It's also the one I love the best among the 7 blushes.



Stardust: in the jar it's a bright cotton candy pink, very girly, with shimmer, but that's very deceptive. It's just as unpredictable as its name: it actually isn't that girly, it's a cold pink (reminds me of MAC's Dame). I always imagine it would suit well on a young noble girl wandering in the garden, with beautiful dress and that cold stare of her blue eyes, with just a hint of Stardust on her pale cheeks (suits cool toned girls better than warm toned ones, so in another word, it won't suit me but I just had to buy it cause it's stunning!). Dazzling! :-P



And last but not least, a photo of all these blushes as a "Perfect Ending" of this post entry. :-D One word of advise though: if you're interested in a certain shade, don't trust the swatches too much, simply read reviews and buy it...! :-D



Voilà, what do you think of them? Let Fan know! :-D

Silk Naturals Haul

Yesterday I got my first order from Silk Naturals and it was a big one, containing 2 foundation kits, 7 blushers and 3 eyeshadows (two of which are extras from SN company, so they're for free! YAY!). Sorry Izar, no lippies, cause I already decided to collect (almost) all their blushers and lippies, so this order is for blushers and next time will be for lippies. ^_^

So far I only tried the foundation (I finally managed to mix my foundation and it took me 1 hour...!), which is very good (maybe I should use it at least for a week to write an objective review but I can't wait...!). Later I'll write reviews about their blushers and eyeshadows, and today is for foundation.

I bought twice the kit Medium Coverage with Ebony as darker shade, not knowing if it would be suitable to my skintone, but I thought it should be ok, I normally always go for the very light shades with whichever brands cause most of the mineral foundations tend to oxidants on me, don't know why. -_- And SN foundation doesn't make an exception so I mixed an extra amount of white base in it. I didn't bother to remember how many scoops white base and darker shade, I just follow my intuition and it normally works.

The kit contains a bag of white Ivory base (1 table spoon), a bag of Ebony powder (1 table spoon), a tiny measuring scoop, an empty jar with sifter, a sample of Perfecting Powder and an instruction of how to's, tips, tricks etc.

COVERAGE: nice, but not perfect, it covers actually not so well as EDM Intensive formula (maybe I should get the Heavy Coverage kit), but it's also less chalky too. :-) It doesn't feel like "silk" on my skin at all as SN claims, simply a mineral foundation and I used the Perfecting powder in order to control oil but seems it didn't help much, at least I noticed no difference. :-S

FINISH: Matte finish with almost non detective shimmer. No dry patches or flakes (primer and/or moisturizer is needed). YAY!

ALLERGY/IRRITATION: None.

PRICE: $11.95 Very affordable.

Verdict: 9 out of 10, will definitely buy again! I might place an order around Christmas, hopefully they'll have promotion by then. :-P



These little blushers are absolutely impressive...! Swatches will be for next time. :-P



The same as blushers, these eyeshadows are for next time. :-P



PS By the way, I got my order in 6 days (weekend included) all the way from USA to Belgium which is amazing...! And what makes me happier is that the Belgian Custom House didn't open it and ask for a tax. :-P