Pink and Undecided

Event Report : BloBar X Lilo MUA Instant Beauty

Hello hello ^^...

If you follow me on Instagram (it's @mgirl83, btw) then you'd know that i've been sharing about this event quite frequently over there last week, BloBarXLiloMUA Instant Beauty!

With Merrie (one of the owners of BloBar) and Cynthian (you should know her by now, rite!)

Blobar isa hot, hip and trendy hair salon which first started in Jakarta and finally opened a branch in Surabaya (Ruko GWalk F/1, Lantai 2, Citraland, Surabaya), i think it's quite recent-just this year probably. I've heard about Blobar for quite sometime before, especially because they are very well-known for doing bright, colorful hairs (unicorn hair? It's definitely one of their specialties) and you know how fond i am of colorful hairs.

I personally think BloBar's aesthetic is very close to my own style and preference so i was quite excited when i was invited to their Instant Beauty event as one of their hosts (special thanks to Cynthian for hooking a girl up :p).

They had 9 hosts but i only met Cynthian (ofc i met her, we picked her up in her house specifically because i still refuse to go to events alone *LOL*) because the Instant Beauty event was held for 3 days and the other hosts came at Friday and Saturday while we opted to go on the very last day, Sunday.

We were running late (oops) because i didn't anticipate the traffic to be so bad on a Sunday noon (usually it's very quiet) and BloBar is located on the other side of the town, super far away from our place (well, for Surabaya standard anyway).

BloBar is located on the second floor of a shophouse, it's not very large but decorated in a girly, simple style that makes me feel instantly at home *LOL*.

Since the place is quite small, they can accept probably 7 persons max at one go, it's wise to book an appointment if you want to go there

I'm not sure what the inner room is used for on a daily basis, but for this event it was transformed into a beauty room.

Where you can play with two of their sponsors' products, Emina and MakeOver at this room, you can also purchase their products if you see anything you like or get a free touch up here as well as getting consultation from Lilo on how to choose falsies that suits you and she would also help to apply them on if you want

LOVE the mirror, Cyn kept on voicing her desire to take one home *LOL*

Btw, all of the pictures in this blog post is taken by Chandi Photography and some with my Oppo (yep, didn't even bother bringing my camera *LOL*). You can definitely see which one is which coz all the artistic, super clear and sharp ones are Chandi's while the fugly and messy ones were mine *LOL*. Full credits to Chandi, go check out his Instagram page if you are interested in hiring him for your events.

Er. You can see how flat chested i am in this pic T.T

Spotted : Goodie bag from Emina. You get to choose between Emina (which consists of travel sized skincare kit) and MakeOver (eyeliner). By the time we got there, they pretty much ran out of the MakeOver ones because well, people prefers makeup ofc. I have 4 MakeOver eyeliners already so i didn't mind getting Emina's goodie bag

Emina's latest product, lip matte cream! I fell in love with the brown one and will be making a purchase soon

MakeOver also has lip cream (that costs twice as much as Emina's, but it is bigger sized), i heard they have like 8 or 9 shades in thing range but sadly there were only three testers available for us to swatch

Heavenly Blush is also one of their sponsors, i think we're supposed to be getting some in our goodie bag (some of the bloggers got them) but there was a lot of mix up and confusion, Cyn and i didn't get any in our goodie bags *LOL*. I wonder if the goodie bag was not pre-packed? Coz they seem to be forgetting a lot of things *LOL*

Swatches of Emina Lip Creams

And those three are MakeOver's

BloBar was kind enough to let me invite my fellow Surabaya Beauty Bloggers members to attend the event too, quite a few of them did come but since the space and hair stylists are all very limited, we got all different schedules. I did met a few of them (shout out to Tiff, Iin and Redha!) and took pics with them ^^.

Tiff was the first to arrive and we took this cute pic ^^

Then i got my hair washed and styled

You can choose between curly/straight/braided hair style, but my stylist immediately pushed me for a curl *LOL*. I mean, i did want a curl, but it'd be cute to have a little braid too somewhere. I didn't want to be fussy tho and i wasn't going anywhere afterwards anyway so i said okay...

I look absolutely bloody mental in some candid pics that Chandi took, but sometimes i look quite subdued like this pic here *LOL*

Cyn got a cute braid that i think really suits her well

Err. Yeah. I always laugh like a maniac in real life

Although most of the pictures in this blog is more of this type. It's all a facade, i tell ya..

Tiff looking very excited

The styling result. It's definitely time to trim my stupid bangs again... Btw, i love my hair curled, i just don't have the patience to curl them meself (or go to the salon)

My God i look stumpy, short n stout next to uber willowy Cyn. FYI, i am not skinny by any mean (dammit i'm not even slim *LOL*), but i look more normal when i am alone/take pics with similarly built people. Cyn is just... Uber slim, one of the skinniest people i know so....

Love this pic. I really want to learn photoshop to erase that double chin tho

More pic with Merrie, thank you for having us ^^

Thank you Tiff and Redha for coming!

Although i didn't get to meet my other fellow bloggers, i want to thank them all for coming and supporting me as one of the hosts so i am putting their pictures here :

Regina, Yessica and Anggi. Regina and Anggi (and Iin) are our newest addition to the community, in case you're wondering why you've never seen them before

Gadis and Limas

For some reasons i cannot find Nessya's pics in BloBar's album (she told me there was a celebgram busy taking pics and totally occupied the cameraman *LOL*), this is the only one i could and she is a blur background T.T

Devita

Arlinda

Thank you Redha and Iin who purposefully came early so they could meet me ^^, kiss kiss! ....Then there's Jess *LOL*

What's inside the goodie bag. There are also a lot of vouchers and a magazine tho. The thing that i am most excited about is definitely the falsies since i am warming up to falsies now

Thank you BloBar for having us, despite minor details (and how Cyn ended up with severe allergic reaction, super swollen eyes and all *LOL*)-we had lots of fun having a girly date while pampering ourselves.

Til next time!

Merrie helped me took this pic. I think Chandi took fantastic pics, but ladies always know other ladies' angles better *LOL*

#Pink

6:22:00 PM
4 Comments

Eye Stories 11 : L.A. Girl 10 Color Eye Palette in shade Nightlife (SPONSORED)

beauty

Hey y'all!!!

I can't believe in almost four whole years of blogging and countless product reviews that i wrote, i have never reviewed an eyeshadow before. If you ask me why, i also don't know the answer! I certainly love eyeshadows and i do wear eyeshadows quite often (at least whenever i go to events and parties lah :p. Definitely not nearly as much as i love lippies), i am not an expert whatsoever though-please keep that in mind. I don't own Naked palettes or anything from that class and my standard in giving an eyeshadow a rate is probably a lot different from other bloggers' due to my not-so-mainstream taste :p..

Before i yap even more nonsense, i should probably show you which eyeshadow palette i am going to review today (although the title has obviously gave it away) :

L.A. Girl 10 Color Eye Palette in shade Nightlife

This palette was kindly sent to me by Kutekmurah.com , if you're looking for affordable makeups with various available brands to ~~go crazy for~~ choose from-then this online shop is the place to go. I personally believe they have one of the best prices in the current local market for most of the stuffs.

Now, about L.A. Girl, it's a US drugstore brand that's been gaining more and more popularity in Indonesia because of their vast choices of products (often being dupes for more high end brands) and their super affordable prices. Ofc, once it arrives in Indonesia it's nowhere near as cheap as the original price in America, but if you choose the store you're purchasing it from wisely, you can get a good deal. Again, i strongly recommend kutekmurah, not because they sent me products but because it's true. I've been their loyal customer for a long long time before they started sending me products.

One of the most interesting (for me) products that L.A Girl has (other than their crazy selection of lippies) is their eyeshadow palettes. They have quite a few different ones and they always have wide shade ranges too.

10 Color Eye Palette is obviously a palette that consists of 10 shades and i got the shade Nightlife :

L.A. Girl 10 Color Eye Palette in shade Nightlife, which has gold-ish, bronze shades selection as well as purples

This palette, which is sold for IDR 80.000 in Kutekmurah, is quite small. It is 11.5cm in length, not even as long as my outstretched palm. In pictures they might look long and massive, but it is not. It's very compact and lightweight since the casing's material is made of thin plastic. Packaging wise, it is not very impressive *LOL*, it does feel quite flimsy and i am afraid it'd shatter if you ever drop it-so be gentle and careful!

It has a clear plastic "window" at the front of the palette so you can see the shades you got inside, that's nice especially if you have a few of these-you do not need to remember the names or open the lid just to identify which palette you are holding. I personally don't find the packaging all that interesting or particularly appealing, but i the eyeshadows peeking from inside is a different story altogether!

You can find information on ingredients at the back. And yes, it is made in China-just like most of your cosmetics, even the much more expensive ones

It comes with a dual ended, long-ish sponge tip applicator that i don't really use haha. I prefer to use my finger if i really want to pack the color up, and brushes for normal application and blending. Each shade is quite tiny, definitely smaller than most eyeshadow palettes squares that i have, they are approximately 1x3 cm each

I think the color selection in this palette is a bit odd, almost a total opposite from one end to another, but that's not necessarily a bad thing for me since that means you can come up with various different looks with one palette. An everyday, subtle look to a much bolder, colorful one

I gotta be honest with you, when i saw the eyeshadow i thought it's going to be hard to get a color payoff. I think seeing the pictures you can already see that the eyeshadows looks like it has quite a gritty texture, but it's actually more pigmented than i thought it's going to be. It's not super pigmented, or whatever, however for most colors, you do not need to swipe too hard to get the color. You do need to work harder for the lighter shades (like the super pale gold and pale shimmery gold), but it is to be expected.

Although the surface does feel quite gritty and hard when you swipe your finger of them, it doesn't translate to the application. When i apply them on my skin, it feels smooth and light, no gritty texture whatsoever.

It is quite obvious that this is not a matte palette, all of the eyeshadows has shimmer in it. You might be worried about chunky glitters, but that's not an issue here-they are very shimmery and reflective, but not uber glittery or whatever.

The lighter colors are quite powdery (in the photos you can see some gold powders at the applicator container) but the bolder shades aren't. Even so, i do not find a lot of fall off at all when i use them, not even from the lightest shades. I never had any need to swipe off any eyeshadows from my face with this palette.

Let's see the swatches, shall we!

The golden section. The bronze (second from left) is the most pigmented, only needs two swipes for vibrant, bold color. The gold and the orange are also quite pigmented while the pale golden and yellow are the weakest in pigmentation

The purples, which are a lot more pigmented (all shades are all as pigmented as the bronze color other than the blue-ish purple, second from right)

If you're a Korean/Japanese makeup style lover like me, you don't wear a lot of super loud shades, and super pigmented colors scares you-then you're definitely going to love this palette. All the shades, even the most pigmented ones, are quite subtle and soft-in the best possible way. Each shade of this palette can be worn individually, like when you just want a hint of color on your lid-and you can just swipe a shade and go out looking cute (this is impossible with matte, bold colors. Well, impossible for me, not necessarily for everybody ahahaha).

If you're very into Western style makeup with loads of contouring and always use 5 different shades on your eyes for depth and definition, then i don't think you're gonna like this palette. I'm not saying that you won't get a use out of it, but you'd definitely not going to be able to use only this palette and be satisfied with the result. It can be used to complement other palettes, but not on its own.

I tried using as much different shades from this palette as possible and created this soft but colorful eye look :

I used the orange, purple, and blue-ish purple on the lid, pink in the inner corner and pale yellow on my brow bone

You can see up close and personal how soft the shades are (and i was being quite liberal with the application)

I thought the two sides of the palette color selection didn't make sense, but after i used about 7 shades from both sides, they actually work together nicely

Like i mentioned earlier, i also like to wear one shade only on days when i am too lazy to put too much effort on my eyes. I brought this eyeshadow palette to my short escape to Singapore and i wore them everyday (except the last two days when i was too tired to even put them on). I would only wear one shade that compliment my outfit's color everyday. In this pic i was wearing the bronze shade, which is very warm and pretty-super autumnal and it looks super lovely paired with a dark lips

But most of the time, i use two to three shades for a simple look. Here i am using the pink (one of the most pigmented shade) all over my lid, purple on my crease and pale gold on my brow bone

This shade is definitely quite versatile and i love playing with the shades, i love palettes which i can create endless looks with!

There are 10 options for this eye palette (how appropriate) and they all have the prettiest shades (i admit i am a sucker for rainbow colors, so if you're a strictly basic color lover then you might not share my enthusiasm) ever!

I'm drooling all over Colorsurge, Prism, Delighted and Afterhours!

I think this is a decent, nice palette-especially if you love light, shimmery shades like me. For 80k, i believe it's more than worth the price.

I would recommend this palette for people who are after affordable palettes with vast range of color choices and don't mind shimmers. I would not recommend this palette for shimmer phobes *LOL*, people who are looking for matte eyeshadows and wants very bold pigmentation.

Would i purchase this palette with my own money? YES. In fact i will be buying more shades, didn't i already listed four shades that i have the strong urge to own :P?

Don't forget to check out kutekmurah.com if you're interested in this palette, i'm not sure you can find other shops that offers such a good price for it. Just be warned, you might end up with a lot more than you initially planned once you start browsing >.<.

I hope you enjoy my very first eyeshadow review, coz i have another one coming up real soon!

#Pink

10:27:00 PM
5 Comments

Japan Trip 2016 Part 8 : Kawagoe

travel

Hey guys!!!

Yes yes yes, i'm trying to speed up my Japan Trip posts again, it's gearing towards the end of the trip, i am positive i can finish it before we go back to Japan! Ganbatte me!!!

It's Day 5 and officially the Kawaii Beauty Tour has ended, DisneySea was the last destination as a group and some of the tour members were leaving that day. Stella gave us three options, one is to go back to Indonesia on the fifth day, then there's also two more options with extensions-we naturally picked the one with the longest extension (only by two days, sadly). Stella had kindly showed me a few options of towns that we can explore nearby Tokyo (which are close enough for a day trip) and we decided to go to this old town called Kawagoe!

I LOVE this pic of me in the middle of the deserted Candy Lane in Kawagoe, Japan

So, Kawagoe is not very far away from bustling Tokyo, according to the website it is about 30 minutes from Ikebukuro. Well, we started our journey from Kamata, which is quite a distance away from Ikebukuro already so our journey took longer than that. It can't remember the exact time, but it's probably... an hour in total? Or maybe 1.5 hours because we did get a bit confused when we tried to find the right line and stuffs, Japan train system in really no joke okay...

Anyway, we didn't really know anything much about Kawagoe and what to expect (other than the fact that it's an old, Edo era town) so we just winged it. Turned out we should've gone earlier in the day because the stores and basically any activities in Kawagoe ends pretty early, the last bus back to the main station was at 6 or something. We had a very tiring day the day before so we decided to sleep in and had a very late start of the day which means we arrived in Kawagoe pretty late and we only had a very short time there, i have no regret going there because it is such a beautiful, quiet but super charming town and we LOVE it there (probably more than how much i love Tokyo because essentially i am an explorer and i prefer to explore places than shop when i'm overseas) but if i can give any advise for future visitors, if you have a late start of your day, cancel your plan to go to Kawagoe and visit some other day when you can go earlier.

The train to Kawagoe is thankfully very quiet so we didn't have to stand for 45 minutes or whatever.

Not a sight you would see in trains that go around Tokyo

See how they can sit so comfortably

Heelloo there

It's almost 10 months since that day so i can't remember the details obviously, but i think i was a but upset with hunny because he was yapping about how the journey to Kawagoe would be very long, but when i asked him where he prefers to go instead, he couldn't/wouldn't answer. I HATE that. People who complains about something but has no better solution or suggestions, that really gets my blood boils. Definitely one of the things that we argue about the most, coz he is definitely quite a complainer and i cannot stand that -____-.

Kawagoe station. Now this is what we sees in Japanese movies when the setting is in smaller towns/suburbs for sure!

That's the line that we took to and fro, Tobu Tojo line

As soon as we got off the train, these dudes were attracted to this ramen shop -___-

It's one of those super cramped ramen shops where there's no seats

And you have to eat standing up

Japanese portions are very big (wonder how they stay so slim *most of them. Japanese are human too, i see a lot of bigger Japanese too*, probably because they walk so much) i very rarely order my own meal while we were there, we prefer to split our food so we can try out more stuffs along the way hahaha. This is a clear souped ramen, it was pretty good but honestly all ramens pale in comparison to this ramen we had nearby our hotel. I am convinced that it's the best ramen in the world WTF, i will tell you all about it in another blog post

Tourist information center. Apparently to go to the old town, we have to take a bus and the bus only leaves at certain times of the day. We just barely missed the bus -___- so we had to wait quite a while (i think it was 30 minutes or so), wasting even more time

Thankfully there are quite a lot of stores at the station, there's even a Matsumoto Kiyoshi just round the corner!

And i found a store selling uber cute makeups and accessories, that's where i bought my Sailormoon nonsenses *LOL*, i loveeee Sailor Moon you know

When it was almost the time for the bus to arrive, we headed out

Yup, that's the bus stop

You can buy one way tickets or you can buy these bus pass that you can use for unlimited time during the day (which is much cheaper)

Wefie first!

It's a very old skool type of bus (i will have the pic of the bus from the front later on this blog post) which we're lucky to get because there are only a few of them (the other buses are the usual modern buses). Otw to the Old Town, we passed by a few castles-again i am super sad that we did not have time to hop off and explore T.T

Here we are! Sooo pretty, and very different from bustling Tokyo!

Is that... Old skool water pump...?

Found a museum. If only we had more time, i'd love to go in

Meanwhile i'll just take a pic outside *LOL*

A peek into what you can see inside

I always find this kind of mask disturbing -___-

This one also a little bit hehe

Instead of heading straight to the famous Candy Lane, we kept on being distracted by the numerous stores selling Kawagoe specialties snacks and souvenirs lining the main street.

There's something about these souvenir shops in Japan, the feeling is just different @__@

FYI, Kawagoe is very famous for sweet potatoes as well as their castles, that's why you can find a lot of stores selling sweet potato based snacks

Like this

And this!

Hunny is in his element when foods are concerned, i just borrow them for photo taking purposes *LOL*

Since it's during the week (apparently Kawagoe gets a lot busier on weekends, as expected from a touristy destination), lots of the stores are closed/closing early

Hunny keeps on stopping to buy various snacks

Here he is getting a mitarashi dango from this very kind-faced uncle

While Silv and i crossed the street

See how all the buildings are preserved to look like how they did during olden days

Toki no Kane-the symbol of Kawagoe

There's a Japanese uncle who didn't speak a word of English but he was trying very hard to show us the right angle to get best shot of the tower!

Sadly it was under renovation T.T we couldn't even get a peek

Fans of green tea, rejoice

I, on the other hand, cannot stand the taste of matcha >.<

So i prefer to taste the sweet potato ice cream! Might sounds crazy, but it doesn't taste weird at all, it's actually VERY YUM!

The ice cream uncle is hilarious, he kept on telling us that his ice cream is the best in the world :D

Finally we resume our search for the Candy lane. And we ran across a girl screaming and crying at a couple whom we assume were her parents. It was intense

Wah, so vintage!

Seriously how beautiful is this place, i can roam around the whole day here and not get bored

Apparently Kawagoe is also famous for eel so we found a lot of restaurants that specializes in eels as well

I think this is a restaurant, we just took a pic here coz it's so photogenic *LOL*

Then we got surprised when we saw these kois huddled up together and being totally still like statues

None of them moved, it was really strange for us. Obviously fishes move nonstop in tropical countries during the day hehe

More touristy pics :p

Finally reached the Penny Candy Lane and... Most of the stores are already closed -___-

It was very quiet too already

And we get to take pictures without too many photobombers at the back ahaha

We strolled the street hoping to find a store that still opens

And we found one!

Those super long sticks are indeed, candies. We're not crazy enough to buy it tho

Seriously very vintage looking and feeling candy store with the kindest obasan! They sold old style, vintage candies and i gotta be honest with you-i don't really like them *LOL*. I am not a fan of candies in the first place, but old style candies just tastes like... sugar?

We did buy quite a few to bring back to Indonesia as souvenirs (to give away)

Then it was already time to head back to the bus stop or risk missing the last bus back to the train station

Found another, more modern but with a very strong "kampong" feeling candy store on the way back

We kinda went a bit crazy here, so many selections and unique Japanese candies, we bought a ton for Little O

A random giant frog statue

Emo style pic in the middle of Kawagoe haha. God, four layer of winter clothes bulk me up like crazy

A free candy from the kind obasan, what is that? A girl's face???

Kawagoers are fond of their gigantic animal statues i think :p

And here's a pic of the old bus i promised earlier

That marks the end of this post! We left Kawagoe (with a heavy heart. I really want to go back there and come much earlier so we can actually do stuffs) and went back to busy Tokyo. Spent the rest of the evening at Ikebukuro where we tried out the famous Ichiran ramen-decided to write it in a separate post because Kawagoe deserves its own blog post :D.

Until next time and have a nice weekend guys!

#Pink