Going Gaga for Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga is in a league of her own when it comes to extreme fashion and stage spectacles. 

So what better way to dress up for a rockstar birthday party then to dress up as Lady Gaga!

Given a couple of days to work on my outfit I chose to replicate her crystal origami dress (with minor changes to my colour choice - black dress & silver crystals) to fit the rockstar theme.

 

 Material needed:
- Thick cardboard

- Cardboard cutter
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun with hot glue sticks
- Spray paint / normal paint & paintbrush
- Black material
- Safety pins
- Short black puffy dress

- Black gloves

A warning that although the outfit looks quite simple, it is time consuming when tracing, cutting, gluing and painting each crystal. It took about 3 nights to make the crystals and an extra night to put everything together. 

To make the crystals, there is a tutorial on youtube by MrBryanKlein who shows you how to make the template, and how to put them together (Make sure 3 different sized templates are created). 

There are two parts to his tutorial which you can view: Part 1 and Part 2

I painted each of my crystals using Matisse Iridescent Medium 24. It is a silver shimmer paint which i purchased from an arts & craft store called Riot. 

Stick each crystals together using a glue gun so it becomes one block of origami stuck together and pin them onto a piece of black material. These origami's can add a bit of weight to the dress so make 2 or so blocks of origami's before pinning the black material onto your black puffy dress.

Below is the finishing product. I forgot to wear my black gloves so don't forget yours too! 

Good luck on your Lady GaGa outfit!

Conceal it the Napoleon way

There are many concealer products out on the shelf that guarantee good coverage of your blemishes, but it can sometimes get overwhelming by the different forms these products come in. These include:

• Sticks, pots, and tubes
• Different shades of skin-toned colours
• Textures such as liquids, creams and solids 

Each of these forms are to be used according to your preference and skin type. While the most common type of concealers are skin-toned concealers, they are often not sufficient on their own at hiding imperfections.

Using colour concealers are the best way to hide your flaws as it counteracts particular blemishes on your face.

So what do i recommend?

The Napoleon Perdis Pro Palette - Correct & Conceal concealer comes in three shades in the one palette allowing you to blend to create your own perfect shade. They are nice and creamy, and cover pigmentation easily. Each shade can be worn alone or blended together to combat redness, dark circles, and discoloration. 

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Concealer: Napoleon Perdis Pro Palette - Correct & Conceal

Colours: Green, Lilac and Orange

Weight: 8.5g

Cost: $55 

The colour palette comes in Green, Lilac and Orange to be used for different purposes to contrast with particular type of blemishes.

MIXING

Orange & Green: Counteracts red patches on the skin caused by pimples, broken veins, or rosacea

  Orange & Lilac: Counteracts dark circles around the eyes

While you mix the two colours, I suggest using more of the green and lilac for the above mixes. Although the colours cover the blemish with a funny green or lilac, do not worry. These colours will be blended in with normal skin-toned concealer for a softer finish.

Use a soft flat brush to apply the mixed colour concealer. It will enable you to place the concealer precisely where it is required. 

As I have mentioned above, you still need to use your normal skin-toned concealer on top of the colour-correctors to blend the colours to your natural skin tone and hide the imperfections for good.

I use the MAC Studio Finish Concealer in 'NC30'  over the top of my Napoleon concealer.

For a palette that is only 8.5g you do pay quite a bit for it, but I can tell you that it is definitely worth your money. A small amount is only needed to cover a lot so the palette should last quite some time. It is the best concealer I have ever used and I highly recommend you purchase it.

 

Note that concealers are only meant to hide small blemishes or unevenness in the skin and not to cover up major skin flaws. This makeup must be applied in a very directional manner otherwise it might highlight the area rather than concealing it.

To finish off your makeup routine, apply foundation over your colour-corrector to complete the look.

Unfortunately the Napoleon website only stocks the 3 shades of the skin-toned colours. It seems you may only be able to purchase them at the Napoleon outlet. A quick search on ebay currently shows no results listed so i'm actually surprised by its limited exposure and marketing. I only found out about this colour-corrector concealer just a week ago from a friend who uses Napoleon products at work. 

But all i can say is, locate your nearest Napoleon outlet and get your hands on this product and see the results for yourself!

Maintaining the colour

Have you ever experienced your hair becoming an unwanted brassy or orange tone?

Too many times have I had that same trouble and it was only until a few months ago that I started to research ways to maintain my colour and combat colour fading.

  

So how can you combat this problem?

1. Install a good shower filter 

The water we use to wash our hair include particular minerals such as iron that affect our hair. Installing a shower filter will remove the iron from the water and prevent your hair from turning an orange or rusty colour.

How iron effects hair:

- Iron leaves the hair feeling dry, brittle and weighted down 

- Iron can cause dark hair to tint darker and blonde hair to turn orange 

- Iron can block perms and colour from properly processing

2. Shampoo and rinse with cooler water temperatures 

Just think of the strands of your hair as your skin. When you wash your face with warm water, the pores of your skin will open; whilst with cold water, the pores of your skin will close. 

Iron from the water is most likely to settle into the cuticles of your hair when it is open with hot or warm water. By washing your hair in cooler temperatures, the cuticles are less likely to open which will minimise how much iron will settle into the hair

3. Use pigmented shampoos

Purple/Silver shampoo will help maintain your hair colour for a longer period of time. The two i've used include-

- De Lorenzo Silver Shampoo: It did little to my hair so I was quite disappointed in the product. Not something I would purchase for my type of hair.

- Matrix So Silver Shampoo: It is a purple shampoo that I've been using 2-3 times a week and it works wonders! Just lather it up on damp hair and leave it in for a few minutes. If you have fine hair, leave it in for 5 minutes. For thicker hair, leave it in for 10-15 minutes. Once the time is up, wash it out with cool water.

Result

I've had ash hair for over two months now and so far I've been able to maintain my highlights thanks to Matrix So Silver. I love it! The only downside to this product is the sulfate in the ingredients as it gives an unfortunate drying effect to your hair.

Here's what my hair looks like -

As you can see, my hair is quite dry and brittle as i have only been using my deep conditioner once a week as an intensive treatment. Not such a good idea with the state my hair is in. In that case, regular use is needed if you want strong, healthy and beautiful hair. I recommend Redkin Heavy Cream as it is great at untangling hairs and you can definitely feel how conditioning it is to your hair when you wash it out. To use, comb the product through your hair with a wide tooth comb and leave it in for up to 15 min for extremely dry hair. 

Follow the above suggestions and you should be able to see a difference to your hair colour. It worked for me!

Wicked - The Broadway Musical - Australia

Wicked has landed in Perth and I was lucky enough to grab tickets to its preview night last Sunday 19th June.  This was my first ever musical and it was absolutely amazing! I loved everything about Wicked; the performance, the songs, the costumes and the story!

Wicked, the musical began its run on Broadway in 2003. Wicked gives you a peek at Oz long before Dorothy dropped in providing fans with an alternative view of characters from the famous Wizard of Oz stories. It has had a successful run on Broadway and productions of the show began in cities all over the world. 

 Wicked is loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'. So I did a bit of research and it seems that the book differs in that its storyline is dark, political and sexual whilst the musical is lighter, bubblier and more child-friendly.

[taken from Wikipedia] 

Wicked tells the story of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and her relationship with Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (otherwise known as Glinda the Good Witch of the South in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). The two women struggle through their opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, their reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government, and ultimately, Elphaba's public fall from grace. The plot begins before and continues after Dorothy's arrival from Kansas, and includes several references to the events depicted in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

The Australian cast include:

Glinda (Good Witch of the South) - Lucy Durack

Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West) - Jemma Rix

The Wizard (of Oz) - Bert Newton (His understudy, Rodney Dobson who also plays an Animal Professor replaced Bert on opening night due to illness)

Fiyero (The Prince) - David Harris

Madame Morrible (Sorceress and Headmistress) - Maggie Kirkpatrick

Doctor Dillamond (Animal Professor) - Rodney Dobson

Nessarose (Elphaba's younger sister) - Elisa Colla

Boq - James D Smith

For more information on Wicked the musical, check out their website here and if that tickles your fancy, book your tickets here.


Wicked has just released additional tickets in Perth from 9-21 August so I plan to watch it for the second time. Tickets are from $138 for an 'A Reserve' seating but i suggest the $159 for an 'Emerald Reserve' seating for the best view. Trust me, it's totally worth it!

GEO Princess Mimi - Sesame Gray Review

My GEO Mimi Sesame Grey Lens arrived in the mail last Wednesday.


I purchased the lens from ModeBarbie for $18.99 inc. postage. This was the cheapest I've seen around and it was their first promotion running since opening their store.

 Below is Tsubasa Masuwaka modelling the lens.

Here is what it looks like on my eyes. My camera is currently not working so I used my iPhone instead. Forgive the lighting! 
  

I was also wearing Dollywink's upper lashes, Dolly Sweet No.1 which I purchased from Sasa. Tsubasa Masuwaka also models these as seen below.

 
GEO Princess Mimi - Sesame Gray Review

Colour/Design: 3.5/5
The colour and design is quite similar to GEO Angel in terms of the black ring. Although the colour looks quite vibrant on Tsubasa, it was slightly darker on my mine. I haven't worn them during the day so its hard to determine if the colour would show obviously as on Tsubasa. My eyes are originally dark brown, so that could factor into why Seasame Gray does not reflect what's been modeled in the picture.


Comfort: 4/5
I usually get dry eyes after 3 hours but these lenses didn't cause much trouble. I wore them out last night and the lenses felt comfortable and I would sometimes forget i was actually wearing them.  



Enlargement: 5/5
15mm is no doubt enlarging and definitely gives you the dolly eyes if you want to go for that look.

 
Overall: 4/5
Love it! Something I'll be wearing more often when I'm out at night so order one in for yourself!

GEO Princess Mimi aka Bambi lens

Lately i've noticed a huge popularity in GEO's Princess Mimi aka Bambi lens so i thought i'd jump on the bandwagon and purchase this latest design. This series comes in 4 colours and the design looks quite similar to GEO's Angel series in that they have the black limbal ring but the diameter of the Mimi series is bigger.

Diameter: 15mm

Duration: Yearly lenses

Prescription: Available in 0.00 ~ -6.00

Colours: Chocolate Brown, Apple Green, Sesame Gray and Almond

 Chocolate Brown

Apple Green

Sesame Gray

I just ordered my Sesame Gray lens from ModeBarbie and am currently waiting for it to arrive in the post. When it arrives, i'll do a short post on it. Sesame Gray looks amazing on Tsubasa but because the diameter is larger than most contact lenses, i'm afraid it'll appear quite bug-eyed on me. Fingers crossed this does not happen!

Anyway, ModeBarbie is an online store based in Australia and officially opened on May 20 2011. It currently sells a few Japanese Gyaru inspired items so I look forward to when more items become publicly available =)