From Adrie

Fab Fives and Luscious Lips - from Adrie

2011-08-09T06:07:00.000-07:00

So much for my 365 lip colours. But that's okay, I still have lots to share. This summer I wore minimal make up with sheer to moderately coloured lips. Here are a few of the lip colours I always tend to grab when I'm going out or even when I'm on the go.

1. MAC "Sandy B" Lipstick

2. MAC Fanfare Lipstick

3. NARS Orgasm Lipgloss

4. NYX Beige Megashine lipgloss.

5. MAC Pink Lemonade Lipglass

*Sigh* Summer is over, now time to rotate to the Fall Faves. As much as I am going to miss the warm summer nights, I love autumn.

From Adrie

Glitter and Grace - from Adrie

2011-08-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Oh goodness, I have just been artistically reinspired but I have a fascination with a new medium: Nail polish. This is going to be trouble.

I have a thing, maybe a problem, and some might even say I have a disease with make up. Despite my enormous collection/kit, I have been feeling a bit uninspired. To accomodate myself to this uncivilized heat, I've limited myself to the "dewy" look. Tinted moisturizer instead of foundation, bronzer with blush, and gloss instead of heavy lipstick. Boring, I know but its quite liberating.

To find relief in my own down time and space, I've really started to appreciate the comfort of manicure/pedicures. I think their pretty sexy. Not just the end product of how your nails look, but the whole experience of it. It's such a nice treat.

My friend and I came up with this idea: I have to attribute some of the inspiration from Cupcakes and Cashmere upon seeing some of her nails.

Nail polish is making a fierce come back.

{Innocence by China Glaze, and Black by Finger paints with Black glitter...in case you can't see the texture.}

Glitter in the presence of Grace, I'll say.

Until next time,

From Adrie

Royal Blooz and the Bitches Brew - from Adrie

2011-08-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

Describe a colour when you think of Fall/Autumn. If that resembles warmth, golden hues, red-browns...well unless you are talking about the ritual falling of leaves in Toronto, Canada, I don't like it.

For me, I have always liked the blue and grey tones. Nothing beats a grey smokey eyes and a subtle blue-tone pink lip. Gotta be careful with the pink lip, you don't want to look like a jersey whore now...ah I kid.

Anyway, I have noticed on various beauty blogs and I have noticed that a lot of the Fall/Winter 2011 trends are leaning towards the blue tones again, just like 2009. Yes I remember when, why? Because I bought a MAC eyeshadow palette called "Grey" back in 2009.

I'm so excited to see what else is coming and how many more blue things I can add to my vanity and wardrobe. Here is what I have so far:

Dress

Cornflower Blue Dress from Theory

Vintage navy blue dress

Bridesmaids dress from Henkaa in royal blue

Everyday

Dark blue Levi skinny jeans

Navy Blue Cardigan from Zara

Navy blue Deep V-Neck T from American Apparel

Beauty

"Grey" Quad from Backstage F/W 2009 for the perfect smokey eye with the blue to tease.

MAC "Blooz" Eye Kohl. One of my first MAC purchases, if you can't tell.

Midnight blue nail polish in "Russian Navy" by OPI

Extras

Scarf imported from India

Necklace to wear with a black tube dress.

Semi-precious Lapis pendant

Vintage head piece with lace.

I did a bit of research on the hues of blues and I stumbled upon a colour called "Duke Blue" associated with Duke University. When I read that, the first thing I thought of was their basketball team. Well I know where I am going if the lockout prevents me from going to Boston.

Until next time,

From Adrie

Summer Love -from Adrie

2011-07-25T07:34:00.001-07:00

Excuse me for my absence! So much for keeping myself accountable. I know, its outrageous.

For the first time in a couple of weeks, the uncivilized humid weather has been relieved by some rain. There is something peaceful about it when you are enjoying it in your room in darkness and in silence. Until you can't wake up and get out of bed because its so dark.

With summer almost coming to an end and looking back at some of the things that always inspire me, I wanted to share a few of my summer favourites this year.

1. Torrentes White wine - Torrentes is a grape from Argentina. Give me a bottle, and I'll drink it like water.

2. NARS 'Orgasm' - the blush, lip gloss, the multiple, and illuminator. I was seduced by Francois Nars

3. Chapeaus - from stingy fedoras to the wide brim - they make anyone look fierce.

4. Re-reading Life and Times of Michael K. Atonement ruined my summer last year - that was on me.

5. Dallas Mavericks :D - Miami winning would have ruined my summer this year - and that would not be on me. Don't worry, friends I still dream of Rondo and Ray....don't get me started.

I really want to write a postcolonial essay on Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks and the Wretched of the Earth and compare it to LeBron James defection to Miami. I know I'm a bit dramatic but his actions are just as distasteful. Watch out for that! Now if I can only remember where I put my precious Fanon books and now I need a laptop.

Till next time

From Adrie

Why Watching Sports with Robin is the Best Thing EVER

2011-06-05T07:47:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!

At home on a beautiful Sunday morning watching the Tennis French Open finals with my family. So far I am so amazed at how fierce Rafael Nadal is. It has always been exciting to hear about the Nadal vs. Federer rivalry, but I have to say that this is the first time I have seen the two of them play during a final round. And WOW it is quite exciting to watch.

It is 11:00am and it is hectic in my living room. I'm watching the game with my family, and other than myself, my youngest brother Robin is really into the game. A game my brother would typically have little or no interest in. In fact, he's not really a sports fan. Moreover, I am always the one dragging him out with me to bars to watch the NBA playoffs.

As grateful as I am for my brother dropping what he is doing (mostly playing video games, watching youtube videos, and reading reddit) to accompany in the mostly sausage-fest bars in my neighbourhood, at times I have paid a hefty price for his company. Still to this day, even in the privacy of our own home, he does not spare me from any humiliation. But, this is why watching sports with Robin is the best thing ever.

Here are some great moments:

1: 2011 NBA Playoffs New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics Game 3

The Celtics are winning by about 20 points by the 3rd quarter. For an instance, the camera flashes to Kevin Garnett.

Me: That's Kevin Garnett
Robin: Hey doesn't he play for the Leafs?
Me: Giving him a perplexed look, the one where I try to raise an eyebrow kind of confusion
Robin: I mean no, the Raptors?
Me: well he's wearing Boston Celtics jersey so Boston. But I think you mean Chris Bosh

I'm pretty sure this conversation was heard by others and at the time I thought FML. But now that I look back, my brother's innocent sense of sports-ignorance is actually really funny and I can appreciate his sense of witty attitude towards the game. I would more accurately describe it as an oblivion to sports. Because lets face it, he will never be a well-informed sports fan just like me and everyone else. Once again, this is why watching sports with Robin is the best thing EVER.

2: 2011 NBA playoffs L.A. Lakers vs. New Orleans Hornets Game 4

Every time Kobe had possession of the ball or when the camera focused on Kobe

Robin: "Hey it's KOBE O'BRYAN"

yes Kobe O'BRYAN. He deliberately said this out loud, shamelessly. It was quite entertaining, yet so embarrassing.

3: 2011 French Open Championship Finals: Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer.

Upon watching the first set where Nadal has won five games in a row to win the first set 7-5, here are some of the outlandish comments my brother has made with respect to the game.

"NADAL IS MAKING A FOOL OUT OF FEDERER" - following the five games Nadal has won.

"Federer is Nadal's puppet" - not sure what that means

"Nadal is playing mind games with Federer." - just shortly after Nadal stopped Federer's short comeback momentum.

He only became a Nadal fan this morning. I think the five games has a lot to do with it. But this soon to be short-lived fanaticism toward Nadal is just part of it, probably the most mild of it, I would say. *sigh* It's too controversial to speak of that here. Even for reddit

He inquired about Pete Sampras, who won 14 grand slams, but no French Open and then he said the following:

R: Colour blind people can't see red and green. The clay is pretty red and the tennis ball is a bright green. That is why Pete Sampras never won a French Open.

Dad:(passively), Yeah, he's blind

R: YES my deduction skills worked

Dad: haha I have no idea what Sampras' vision is like

R: Well if he is colour blind, everyone owes me a beer!

My brother is one of those reddit-witty misfits. He does not claim to be some sort of expert on opthamological health or claim to know exactly what the implications are for one who is colour blind, other than the the belief that those who are colour blind can't see red and green. This is why he believes that, if in fact Pete Sampras was colour blind this would have adversely affected his game in all of the French Opens he has competed in and consequently has failed to yield the coveted trophy. While all of this is going down, I am just LOL'ing. There were tears rolling down my face. Here I am writing this an hour later and I am still laughing about it.

I don't know. I'm just sayin'. It's really hard to to tell what goes on his head sometimes, but that's okay. I cherish the spontaneity and the complete eccentric randomness. That's what makes him quite the character and I can appreciate that.

I hope you enjoyed it my little sports blurb this week. I hope to watch Game 3 of the NBA finals. Fingers crossed for Dallas! Dirk was so extraordinary in Game 2, so I look forward to their home game tonight.

From Adrie

Lipsticks and Sports

2011-05-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I know I have been consistently inconsistent with my blog posts, but over the past few months I have experienced a series of drastic changes. Not that I'm trying to excuse myself, but while I have been neglecting my blog, I had some time to reconsider how to express some of my "creative" interests. So I'm back and re-inspired.

You might be puzzled by the change that I have made to the title of my blog. Well somewhere along the line I have been recently inspired to undergo quite an ambitious project: 365 lipsticks/gloss combinations. One different lip per day. I know, its quite the undertaking, but if anyone can take a picture a day, why can't I....of myself or my lips? lol it sounds so narcissistic.

I have also recently, well over the past year or so, have come to a liking of sports, more of a borderline obsession with NBA. Three years ago it started with NBA and watching my fave team, Boston Celtics win a championship, and since then I have slowly come to appreciate other sports and the art/essence of it as well as the competitive aspect of it. I do have to say, the competition part still invokes a lot of anxiety that is a little too much to handle at times, but I'm working on it!! I hope you find my comments about my sports post insightful, and I hope everyone can appreciate my comments coming from someone as eccentric as myself. Ron Artest is someone who I look up to with that regard, well....no, kind of, sometimes - ah you know what, that will be for another blog post that will take considerable time and thought. Yeah, I'm that intense!

I am intending not to limit it to just basketball. I do enjoy watching other sports, but it is a slow and working progress. It takes a lot of patience, not my patience, but the guys who I am constantly asking questions to about the rules and plays of certain games, and sometimes in certain fights for UFC or boxing. To those men I have given endless headaches to with this regard and have prevented them from enjoying a game/match: I just want you to know that I appreciate putting up with me. :D

I know the combination is random, but I believe it can be unique and that I can make it work, especially now that I commit to such a crazy endeavor! Also with the NBA playoffs at its most intense, I think this will motivate me to go and fight my fear of competition anxiety and go watch most of the games until the finals are over! Yes my competition anxiety is so bad I honestly think that me watching a game is bad luck for the team I'm cheering for...or that could mean I'm cheering for the teams that are not so good.

I do want to make it clear that I have imposed conditions to my "365 lip colours" and they are as follows:

1. Each colour will be distinct from the other, although it may not look that way, but the combination will.

2. I will use as little as one lip product, whether it is a single lipstick, gloss, or liner, because by adding a liner or gloss may change or alter the look. There are some exceptions. For instance: I will not wear a red lipstick without an identical liner one day, and then wear it with the identical liner on another day and say that they are "different" from one another. However, if it alters the lipstick with the liner on, I will add it to my "list"

3. Just to make it clear because I know everyone knows how much I like lipstick, I don't own 365 different individual colours. The whole point of this is to be creative with what I have to blend and combine things I would never otherwise do. So let's see how far I do.

That being said, I am not sure if I will be able to post everyday, but as much as I can. I would like to "feature" a look or a lip extensively among several looks that I hope to post at once.

Anyway till next time.

From Adrie

Meet Lavender, My New Found Love.

2010-11-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I would like everyone to meet someone, rather something, special to me: Lavender Shortbread, that's right LAVENDER. I discovered that two of some of my favourite things could be combined and create such goodness! It was very random how I came across this recipe, but man I was super excited.

It was also perfect timing because I was meeting up with some friends for some downtime, after a pretty rough night the night before! So I decided to bring a simple, yet delightful treat!!

Well this is pretty exciting! I thought I'd keep it short and simple, because there is nothing else to say, other than how superduperfabulous this shortbread was. I got the recipe from here

Hope you enjoyed it.

From Adrie

The Devil Made Me Do It!

2010-11-14T16:44:00.000-08:00

Hello! I know it's been more than two weeks since Halloween but I thought it was better late than never to post about my halloween look. I'm going to keep it short and simple today.

So this year I was the devil, not just any devil, I was trying to be the vintage devil. Unfortunately there are no full decent full body photos, but I was wearing a red skirt as a tube dress and wrapped with a black sash, so hence the vintage devil with the make up done accordingly. I was inspired by Dita's look, with the porcelain fair face and bright red lipstick. I'll break down what I wore that day:

(All MAC unless stated otherwise)

Face: C3 Face and Body Foundation mixed with Frozen White pigment (apparently it's what Dita does to achieve the fair skin look)

Cheeks: Taupe Powder blush for contour and Pink Swoon Sheertone Powderblush

Eyes:

Base - Painterly paint pot

Lid - Vanilla eye shadow

Crease - Patina eye shadow

Highlight - Vanilla eye shadow

Brows: Lingering brow pencil

Lash: Haute and Naughty

Upper lash line: Blacktrack fluid line

Lower lash line: Nothing.

Lips:

Ruby Woo lipstick and Cherry lip pencil (filled in whole lip)

Dim lip erase in and around the lip and NC20 concealer around the lip to accentuate the red lips.

Tools:

168 Contour angled brush

227 eye shadow brush

224 eye shadow blending brush

109 round contour brush (used for blush)

Since this is a pretty simple look I'm not going to elaborate on the look. I used very little on the eyes, but I do have to comment on the following.

Frozen white and face and body foundation...omg amazing! Face and Body foundation is just amazing! I don't know why I have waited this long to try it, and mixing it with pigments is golden! I used Frozen White, which is a white frost with blue duochrome. Believe me, it's sexy and mixing it with foundation will give you that really fair skin look without it looking like you obviously put on foundation that was three swatches lighter. It was subtle and glamourous! I would definitely try it with Vanilla pigment or Naked pigment if you want that glow! Well there is a nice tip for ya. If you have loose shadow and sheer, but buildable foundation, try and experiment and see how it turns out for you!

Till next time,

From Adrie

As promised

2010-01-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is an exfoliant recipe:

1/3 cup of Sweet Almond Oil
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
2 drops of Lavender (for calming) or Lemongrass Essential oil
A drop of Vanilla extract (optional).

Remember to mix it thoroughly....and voila! You can always substitute the sugar and essential oils for finely diced and chopped ginger. Just becareful around the eye area.

Guess where I found this recipe? The Metro Newspaper! I found it by chance as I never read this paper.

If you want to substitute any of the essential oils make sure that the one you want to substitute for is safe for the face/skin. If you look up aromatherapy on google I'm sure you will be able to find it in no time.

Remember, exfoliating is nice, but the nice result you get after every treatment can easily diminish if you do it everyday. So limit your exfoliating to once a week. Your skin will thank you.

You can always go all out by having a bath with bath salts or an essential oil blend following or prior to the exfoliation. So now go relax and enjoy.

It's hard to post pictures when you're at work.

2010-01-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, I am trying to get over the last half an hour of my day. I'm really antsy because I left my house at 6:00am to go running at the AC. Anyhow I've become restless and decided I post something. But I don't have anything on make-up, yet. Hopefully later on tonight.

But I do have something else on my mind. Books. Postcolonial novels. After having a conversation with my cousins about how they hated taking English courses I was thinking about some of the postcolonial novels I read in class. Then I was thinking about some of the best books I read in 2009. Here is a preliminary list (no particular order):

1. Black Skin White Masks - Frantz Fanon

2. Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee

3. Life and Times of Michael K. - J.M. Coetzee.

Okay I know two of the three are written by the same writer, but they were damn good. I keep going back and forth choosing which one I like better, but I can't! I was reading Michael K on the streetcar on my way to work, and as this nice gentleman was getting off (I'm sure he was my age when he read it) he said, "You have good taste in books." Let me tell you that made my whole week! I don't even know if anyone has ever told me that I had good taste in books! And you know what, Michael K was good and so was Disgrace. What I love about Coetzee is that his narrative is so simple and so subtle, but his subtlety is what makes his narrative/story so powerful. I think that is one of his talents. He's also just so fascinating and mysterious, let alone being considerably handsome at 70 years old! Hahaha!

When I feel like it, I might talk about either books more. I would go into Fanon, but seriously you are going to wish I never started. I'm kind of snobby about Fanon because I'd rather talk about him with people who really appreciate him over tea :D

Here are some other books that I enjoyed and that I really recommend:

1. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

2. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje

3. Amsterdam - Ian McEwan

I would be open to recommendations, but don't get offended if I don't read it right away. I am currently trying to read 4 books (all 400pg plus, of course) all at once. Talk to me in a month. Hopefully I will have more time.

I did it!!!

2010-01-16T04:06:00.001-08:00

Good morning, I can't sleep although it is still so early, on a SATURDAY! But I have good news to report: I ran the whole 5k without stopping in less than 40 minutes. It felt really nice. The good thing about the track at the athletic centre is that there is air conditioning so I felt some resistance while running. If not, I think everyone would just suffocate from each other's BO hahahaha.

I think I can attribute my success to two things:

1. Goal setting. Before I went to the gym I wrote down what I wanted to accomplish in the gym and stuck by it. It really made things coherent and when I jotted it down, I committed to it. In addition to the run I did some lunges and worked on toning my triceps as they have been long forgotten. I also ended it with some yoga when I got home to stretch everything out.

2. Breathing through my nose. I used to have a bad habit of breathing through my mouth. I am not sure if why exactly it is not as beneficial as breathing through your nose but it made a HUGE difference.

Anyway until next time :D

Trying to keep fit

2010-01-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

After such a lazy week, I have decided to end it off by going for a run. I just got my membership at the Athletic Centre and since I had to pay for it (for a discounted price) I have promised myself that I will not let it go to waste. It works out perfectly too because the membership expires the day we are moving in to the condo! Although I have been working on other cardio, I haven't ran in 4 months, I hope I don't embarass myself, but maybe that will just motivate me to keep at it and get stronger. Ahhh wish me luck!

The Trials and Tribulations of the Amazing Race

2009-11-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

Last night was very stressful.

One of my favourite teams of all time was eliminated on last night's "The Amazing Race" Even Phil (the coolest guy ever) was sad about their elimination.

Oh the Harlem Globetrotters, I still have hope for the "All Stars" version.

But seriously, Franz Kafka, how did they not get the connection. None of them made references to Kafka, just lucky guesses!

-A.

Book Club, anyone?

2009-11-27T07:49:00.000-08:00

So time and time again I have tried to form a book club, and of course to no avail. So I am going to use this blog as a forum for the books I read and hopefully I can inspire others to do the same by reading the same book...so that we can talk about it!! There is nothing I love more than talking about books, and the amazing race past and present seasons

I cannot believe I started a BLOG!

2009-11-19T09:28:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody!

Welcome and thank you for reading my blog! I never really saw a need to start one because I had nothing to talk about but now I have something worth sharing.

Well as many of you know one of my passions is MAC and crafting my own beauty products, like making my face exfoliant, aromatherapy blends for relaxation. I've started to become interested in alternative foods and trying to eat healthier (I have a long ways to go) so I might blog about that too and will share some exciting recipes I probably will come across.

But because I can only talk about make-up and make-up for so long and for so much, I'm sure I will talk about other things that I am passionate about and that may actually be of interest. Anyway this is sooo exciting!

Now where to start?? =P