Etude House Play 101 Pencils: Review + Tutorials

Hey guys! As promised I'm back with another review, accompanied by two tutorials for two different looks you can create with the new Etude House Play 101 Pencils.

These little guys  were kindly given to me at the wonderful people from Etude House to try so here's the low-down how these hold up against the Philippine eat, how they wear and about all the colors sent to me!

Packaging
So one pretty awesome thing about these liners is that they're twist up! No need for any makeup pencil sharpeners and if you want a sharp point, it comes with an attachment at the bottom which is actually a tip-sharpener. Convenient!

One thing I'm not too fond of however is the fact that they're all black, mostly because it's so easy to get dirty. But other than that, this is some pretty good packaging, and for organization purposes it's really convenient as well, since the pencils are color-coded at their bottom, and have the number labels in big, bold, artsy-fartsy print.

Colors and Wear

Let's start off with the two lip colors, shall we?

#21 is a bright, warm-toned and straightforward red, perfect for you classic red lip. It has a glossy finish which unlike the other pencils that are meant to be used for eyeshadows, means that they're prone to movement the first few minutes you apply them. After that first five minutes though, this is great for lining the lips because the color stays put like crazy! Be careful about staining though. As with almost all reds, this leaves a significant stain, but nothing that can't be dealt with with makeup remover and warm water.

#25 is more of a bright fuchsia color that has a cooler tone to it. It's on the same vein of a lot of lip-stains out there and is perfect if you want to achieve that Korean gradient-lip look. 

On to the more glittery and shimmery colors

#35 is a glittery midnight blue that's perfect for that extra pop if you want to line eye your eyes. This is ridiculously smudge proof, so I wouldn't recommend it for a smokey eye, but for some extra lining art or some nice colorful sleek liner, this is definitely what you need.

#4 is that perfect tear-drop shimmer color that can be used as a highligher for on your cupid's bow, in the inner corner of your eyes and some cute looking aegyo-sals. It's also pretty forgiving  when it comes to blending so you can use it as a shimmery base or over some eyeshadow if you want to add some sparkle to your already applied eye shadow.

The next two colors are creamy ant matte and are perfect to use as eyeshadow bases, or even on their own.

#18 is a pale lavender that's very flattering on fairer skin tones. You could probably get away with this as a blush, but it looks best on the eyes where it gives a nice matte finish on its own or as eye shadow base.

#30 is a red-violet aubergine color It has a matte to creamy finish and can be used as a deep blush or mauve eye shadow for more subtle but daring looks.

Here are the swatches of each color. They're truly a diverse bunch with different finishes and uses! Aren't they ridiculously pretty?

Longevity
So I left out the lip colors from this test because, as I mentioned before, their texture and consistency make them really smudgy and they really aren't meant for the eyes anyway.

Here I tested (from left to right) #35, #30, #18 and #4 for water resistance and smudge resistance.

As you can see, #35 and #30 are virtually budge-proof, even after rubbing them with water. #35 exhibits some glittery displacement, but the color still stays intact. #18 loses some color when smudged, but since it's a light color, it's pretty forgiving. That also allows it to be more blendable for use as base eye shadow or as an eyeshadow on its own. #4  is a bit all over the place, but because it's usually only used as a highlight or to accentuate corners that catch light, that's not too much of a big deal.

All in all, these bad boys are pretty tough and wear all day (from experience) on my non-oily lids.

In action
So as promised, I created two looks  using these awesome versatile liners. One girly, classic look inspired by a vintage rose and one rocker party chic look inspired by a midnight mosh pit. Check out how good these eyeliners work in action in the videos below!




So, which look do you like better? do you have any ideas on how else to use these awesome Play 101 liners by Etude House? Leave me your thoughts in the comments below!

Have fun, and play Etude! Ada, signing out.
Follow me!
Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Google + | Bloglovin

EarWorm: SISTAR Loving U

Short music post on SISTAR's newly released MV for Loving U. I love songs and music videos like this where a band or a girl or boy group is just having fun and enjoying with random dance sequences spliced in. It's setting and feel is quite reminiscent of Buono's Take it Easy MV, except this one has a much higher production value, more mature and scantily clad girls and awesome Hawaiian surf scenes. I like the fact that despite the fact that the girls are technically doing work whilst filming for this music video, their company essentially gave them some time off to just enjoy themselves whilst doing so. The girls deserve it. 


Can we just take a moment and appreciate Hyorin's awesome Hello Kitty Glasses? I have a pair of those too. Haha.

Give the song a quick listen and maybe even a few minutes off to view - I'm sure the boys won't mind because as SISTAR has become so aptly known for (1) (2) (3), their dances are quite - let's just say alluring. Haha.

Ada, signing out.

Mixtape Mondays: Feel-Good Music (Pt.2)

Welcome to another Mixtape Monday. If you missed the last one, you can find it here.

In this week's playlist, we continue where we left off, and thus I present you with Part Two of the Feel-Good Music playlist. While last week's playlist concentrated on songs and music we all listen to on a particularly good day of awesomeness, moments of celebration and pure bliss, in this week's playlist we mellow down and chill, concentrating on the feel-good music we all need to listen to when we're not feeling particularly great and need a little picker-upper. That or the songs we listen to to feel a bit better about ourselves and all the crap that happens around us. Let's call this set of songs

Inspirational.

To skip the banter and go directly to this week's playlist, click here.


The songs (and their accompanying videos) in this playlist range from vaguely inspiration to downright life-changing (at least in my opinion) and while these songs might not be everybody's cup of tea, this post will be a little self-indulgent as these are songs that hold special significance to me as a person and the truth is, I can't help but smile (or break into tears of pure unadulterated well-being) when I hear this songs. Let's face it, I'm pretty sure it's these types of songs we all listen to when we need to get our crap together. A fair word of caution though, this will be the first playlist where some of the songs aren't actually in English, but sometimes, it's just the music that matters, and while these songs

Let's ease our way in with one of my more recent finds. Well, not exactly. I've been following this guy's escapades for years - a fair testimony to how Youtube Video savvy I was back when I was a child. This song, Trip the Light by Matt Harding and Alicia Lemke was one specially made for Matt's latest video of travel escapades all around the world. For this reason I suggest you guys actually watch the video while listening to the song. It doubles the epicness and thus doubles the inspiration. Hell yeah.

Matt's other epic and viral travel escapades date way back to 2003 and 2004, and were first released publicly in his 2005 video - the landmark of his viral fame - where he dances awkwardly in different world landmarks, cities and wonders, the majesty of which greatly outweigh his lack of actual dance prowess. I was caught in the middle between this song and video and his earlier 2008 video which was equally as inspiring. But because the lyrics of the song that accompanied that one were adapted from a Gitanjali Poem I chose to stick to this one. This song is inspiring in two ways in a few ways. The lyrics (written by Matt himself) are monumentally moving and the composition work is exceptional. Accompanied by the fact that this man's travels were spurred by a dream and purpose, and we have the makings of a tear-jerking movie right there. I mean really, doesn't the song just make you so emotional!?!? Okay, maybe that's just me. But I'm pretty sure half of you wish you could live the life Matt has. I would probably give an arm and leg to travel to that many places, but then I probably wouldn't be able to dance as well without my limbs.

Traveling dancing man aside, the next song is more mainstream friendly. We Believe by Good Charlotte is one of the songs that is more empowering than inspirational, and while it doesn't exactly start off with the happiest of themes, it holds the promise of inspiration through the chorus of the song.

While Good Charlotte did turn into a pile of crap (debatable at best) a little after the release of this song, I do value the message and for some reason, with all the crap that happens around us, this song just manages to instill within me a little hope. Call me an optimist, a dreamer or whatever the heck you want, I like this song, end of story.

With that train of thought in mind, I doubt any inspirational playlist would be complete with one of the most cliche but well-loved songs ever. John Lennon's Imagine has to be one of the landmark songs that have shaped a generation of dreamers and free-thinkers, and while at this point, it might not be the most original choices for this playlist, I'll go on and include because I might be hanged if I don't.

This song has enjoyed numerous covers, a whole lot of pop culture references and tons of media exposure, and I'm pretty sure it's one of those go-to songs at Karaoke Bars right up next to songs from Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and of course, Frank Sinatra's never dying 'My Way'. Of course, a lot, if not all of those songs are so darn depressing that it hurts to mention them in this playlist. So let's move along now shall we?

One particularly life-changing song on my part was brought to me by my love for Japanese Culture. Some of you who may know me know that this song was one that shaped my life as a teen and if I had the courage to include this song in my earlier So Being a Kid Sucks Mixtape Monday, it would have been one of the first songs there. Angela Aki's  Haikei ~ Jugo no Kimi e (Letter: Greetings to a 15 Year Old) is definitely a life-changer for me.

In most cases I'd only post one copy of the song, but just in case one of these videos gets taken down, I'm posting both. The first is a choral rendition of her song with English Subtitles so you guys get the full gist of it and the second is the official music video. Both versions have their moments, and while I prefer the audio atmosphere of the choral version, the official music video tells so much more with its actors, actresses and portrayal of characters. If you guys are wondering why these are in such bad quality, blame Japanese Copyright Laws. Sucks, but yeah. That aside, this song would have done so well in my previously mentioned playlist, but I'm sharing it with you guys now in the hopes that somehow it'll help in some way. I know that a lot of my readers are still pretty young and this song'll probably help you through a lot of rough times. No sarcasm or snarky comments on this one, just the truth yo.

Leaving the past behind, I now move on to one of my favorite bands, Our Lady Peace and their song (which is one of my favorites as well) Innocent.

Okay, so I understand this video isn't a youtube video but I had difficulty finding the original MV on youtube, and that is one of the more important aspects of this song aside from its striking lyrics. Don't worry, I've still added a picture-vid of the song to the Youtube playlist so you can expect to still here it there. That aside, this  song, like the previous songs, holds somewhat of a sentimental value to it for me. Again, its theme isn't the happiest of themes but like Good Charlotte's We believe, it holds the prospect of a better future and the company of numerous others who have it worse than you do. In fact, this song owns Good Charlotte by a landslide, hands down and its video is definitely worth a watch.

I feel like ending this playlist off with the most meaningful song I've discovered in my lifetime, albeit mostly by accident and at the last place I'd expect to pick up something inspirational from - a video game. This song, Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin and the Soweto Gospel Choir is a song I stumbled upon whilst playing the historical turn-based strategy game, Civilization IV.

While the song in itself is inherently Christian in nature, having derived its lyrics from the Swahili translation of the Lord's Prayer, it is much more than a religious spiel, it's like a symbol of humanity. The song itself is breathtaking and there were times whilst booting up Civ IV for a quick campaign where I would just spend minutes or hours listening to this song at the startup menu of the game.

From its humble beginnings as the title song of Civ IV, Baba Yetu has won not on,e but two Game Audio Network Guild awards and was even nominated for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, where it won Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), effectively being the first video game piece to ever receive a nomination and also the first to ever win. In short, this song is just that awesome and that relevant. It's so relevant that the Dubai Fountain even based an entire show (which is AMAZING btw) on it.

There are no ends as to how awesome this song is.

In all honesty, I'm not one to get so overly emotional over a water works show. I mean, it's just water being propelled at speeds unimaginable to heights almost unreachable. But this song makes it seem so amazing.

Am I done fangirling yet? Yeah, I'm done fangirling now.

That just about wraps up this week's Mixtape Monday. If there are any songs you guys deem fit for this playlist, leave a comment below. I'd love to hear about you guys' awesome taste in music.


To view this week's full Mixtape Monday on playlist mode, feel free to visit my YouTube page or go directly to the playlist here.

Stay tuned for more Mixtape Mondays and comment below for next week's theme suggestions!

I can't even -

Obligatory pointless post of the week. Enjoy the hot topless men and wannabe artsy filming (yes, black and white makes everything look artsy.)

The Hottest Abercrombie & Fitch Guys indeed.

*drool*

I WON A SIGNED CD.

Okay, so I've actually been away from the city for the past  couple of days and the only reason I've been able to post was because I pre-wrote my blogposts and scheduled them for release haha. I actually planned on making the most of my vacation but I ended up working on my blog and networking anyway.

BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT OF THIS POST.

The point of this post is to FANGIRL FLAIL that

I JUST WON A SIGNED COPY OF SISTAR'S LATEST CD. 

I was literally jumping around my room like a rabid fangirl when I found out (click the screenie for the actual announcement):

A short pause for EPIC KEYBOARD SMASHING.

rs;ohnva;erjbgflakerjgbfareijgbva;inja;.kgfbaeiljgbvfalejfbalkrgvjbalkrvjbalekjbvgalkerjgvbarelkjgbaelkaekljgfba;ekjg/\fvba;kjvbarekjvbgarkvjba;vglabohgvirevbiarbvaligebvalivbaei;vbalevbaelviubaviuabdvlaibvaiufvbadvljbavlaifvbaevikbardlBADELAFIUAEHFAILKFEHAFaAVBA;IREVBALIJBFVALUBVALIVBAQakdjvbaekrgbvakjervbaelroinarieuvbalirgvajrbgval.

The contest was hosted by Simon and Martina, the makers of Kpop Music Mondays and owners of eatyourkimich.com when they were invited by Google to the Google Kpop Concert as VIPs as well as to interview them for their channel on youtube.

Basically, they bought CDs of some of the Kpop acts that were in the concert so that when they interviewed them, they could have them signed for giveaways to their youtube subscribers, twitter followers, etc. You can watch/read the details here.

So anyway, I commented on basically all their videos and entered on youtube, facebook and twitter. I've participated so many contests and giveaways and never won so I wasn't expecting anything. But lo and behold, I won.


For all of you who don't know who SISTAR is, or don't really care much for Kpop, just let me have these few seconds of unadulterated bliss.

I'm just reveling at how fortunate I was this summer. In addition to staying in the same hotel on the same floor as Hey!Say!JUMP, ABC-Z and Noon Boyz when I went to the HSJ First Asia Tour in Hong Kong, actually seeing them face to face and being able to talk to them, this summer has come to a happy ending with my winning this CD!

Just think, I get to OWN A CD WITH SISTAR'S GERMS ON IT. *Hurrrrh, drool*

In addition to that, this summer, I've accomplished a lot. I've lost the weight that I've wanted to lose, I've started writing and drawing again, plus I've got this blog back on track after a good two years of it being inactive. Hopefully, this trend of productivity carries on to the new semester.

So tomorrow, classes resume I go back to being  a full-time student, but I still can't help but feel like this summer has been one of my BIGGEST SUCCESS STORIES.

I am a happy fangirl.

Ada xoxoxo

Toy Story of the VideoGame Generation

Short post, a quickie actually. Just wanted to share another Disney Movie worth seeing, Wreck-it Ralph.

So essentially I have a slew of new movies to watch out for:

The Dictator
ParaNorman
Brave
Perks of Being a Wallflower
All the Marvel Movies coming up
And a whole lot more I seriously can't remember right now. Whoo, awesomeness.

Can you guys say...

MOST AWESOME VIDEO EVER?

Ryan Higa.

Chester See.

Kevin Wu.

Asians.

Famous Asians.

Masi Oka.

Justin Lin.

Wayne Brady.

Jessica Alba.

Harry Shum Jr.

WWE Wrestling

Wong Fu Productions.

Bananas.

Explosions.

Clowns with Guns.

Missiles.

Girls Eating Bananas.

The End of the World.

You Offend Me, You Offend My Family.

OMGWTFBBQ

Can you guys believe it's been almost exactly two years since I've posted? Time flies especially when you're having fun swamped with formal reports, school requirements, organization activities, fangirl distraction, delegation duties and fanfiction updates. Not to say I wasn't having fun along the way. Learning about Molecular Biology and Biotechnology and having your ass beaten by college life is fun in its own nerdy and mind-blowing way.

Yes, the past two years have aged me well. OMG, I'm aging!? But for some reason I haven't grown past my immaturity.

Crap, I'd almost forgotten how hard it actually was to make blogposts haha. I always lose my train of thought.

Since it's been so long, it would almost be a sin for me not to update you guys on what's happened to me since the last time I'd posted. If I'm not mistaken, the last time I posted, it had to do with a little spring cleaning and how I'd organized my desk? What better way to show the evolution of the being that is Ada than by showing you guys how drastically things have changed since then? Haha.

Remember my desk? It used to look so neat back then, but piles of homework, notes, xerox copies  and basically, COLLEGE, can do that you you. This is actually quite neat compared to how it usually is during hellweek or any other day of the week when school's in session, which by the way, is only two weeks from now. Is it wrong to say I'm actually excited? It's hard to think that just two years ago I was a freshman going to college haha.

I remember posting up pictures of how much makeup and nail products I had, and it's safe to say that the amount has doubled, since that time haha. I actually don't use it that much, but I've basically become my Institute's resident makeup artist so it's handy when there are programs and contests to be won ;)

I've also collected quite a few bracelets and charms from my escapades in other countries hence the sparkly little things hanging around my desk.

I think my desk says a lot about me. I'm artsy? I guess. There's a huge bottle of glue in there somewhere, plus paper on my desk from my latest sketching. OMG Ada, you're sketching again? Yes I am. Call the press. Plus the books on the right are all Japanese language books - I'm teaching myself the language. HOORAH! Too bad I hadn't learnt it well enough in time for the HSJ concert I attended just a week ago. OMGWTFBBQ you attended a Hey!Say!JUMP concert!?!?!? You lucky little effer. Yes, I did. And if you're familiar with the happenings in the fandom you'd know I was the fangirl who found herself on the same floor in the same hotel as Hikaru, ABC-Z and Noon Boys, but that post is private at my LJ. ;)

I also remember showing you a picture of my bookshelf, which shamefully had a few books I'd rather not mention here. But NOW, tada! Hahaha. The entire top shelf is filled with my textbooks from college and high school and I've managed to cram all my other books unceremoniously into the second tier. The third tier is where I keep my manga, anime CD and drama collection now. You can't see it, but I also happen to have an entire cabinet full of JE merchandise which I am now selling here. Fun, huh?

My wardrobe's also changed since then, but I don't think I should go into detail lest I bore you all to death.

With everything that's changed, I'm relieved to say that there are a few things that still remain the same about me.

I'm still a hardcore fan of Johnny's and Associates, even despite the fact that since the last time I posted. Yamashita Shoon has quit, Morimoto Ryutaro's been kicked out of HSJ, Yamapi and Ryo have resigned from NEWS, because amidst all this, Kis-My-FT2 finally debuted, I finally fulfilled my dream of attending a JE concert and I've found myself a fan of yet another group, SEXY ZONE. (I'm not a pedo-noona, I just think they're cute in a 'I want my son to look exactly like that' way.)

But in addition to that, I've also been fangirling KPop groups. You guys wouldn't know but I've been such a fangirl that I even auditioned for a DJ spot in MNET's Kpop show, Hello!Pop.





Oh god, my hair looks fugly in that vid. That was nearly a year ago, I have bangs now so rest assured I don't look like I have a comb-over of hair on my forehead. That aside, I didn't make the cut for the show. Apparently I needed a working visa to be able to go to the audition in LA, but I did get featured in their international segment on their 8th episode :))




Haha, that was embarrassing to film to say the least, but it was a fun experience. I realize I was damn fat in the video :)) I'm so glad I've lost even just a little bit of weight over the pst year >_>

In addition to still being a fangirl, I am also still using the same exact phone and same exact case that I used two years ago. I know, wtf. You know what's even more wtf? I haven't updated my iOS since then either. Ahahaha. I always get teased about it, but I find it such a hassle to update when I've already jailbroken my phone and don't feel the need to do it anyway. 

You know another thing that hasn't changed? My height. LOL.

I'm still five feet tall, but I've happened to get past that by cheating it with heels. Something that has grown however is my hair, as you've probably noticed from my vids. It reaches my tailbone now and I actually really like it that way. I might keep it like that for a long time haha. I think it makes me look unique ;)

So by now, whatever readers I have left are probably wondering why I even bothered to start blogging again after all this time. I don't know, I just feel like it, and I've been following the blogs of a few Singaporean bloggers and it seems like a fun thing to do. Who knows, this might go somewhere some day.

Now all I have to do is keep myself motivated to write. I'm actually betting that I won't be able to keep the blogging up past this first sem of my third year, but hell, I'm going to try.

I've run out of things to say. Here, have a blurry camwhoring pic of me.