Collection Les Perles de Chanel

I'm sure I'm not alone in the blogging world when I say that the Chanel spring collection was the one I had been most anticipating (since December, right after the Holiday collections were 'done' for me), largely due to the Ombres de Perlées palette but also because the promo was so fresh and light and lovely.

I have spent more or less the last 2 months on-and-off phoning counters around my city trying to determine when the collection was coming in! I actually ended up purchasing several pieces from the entire collection and it was nicely capped off by a Chanel makeover today (in which I literally had Chanel on from the base up)

Holidays at Holt Renfrew

Is it a sign that I spend too much time (and money) at Holt Renfrew if they send me Christmas cards? I mean not the store in general, but I got Christmas cards (that are designed to look like the HR boxes) from the Shu Uemura and Giorgio Armani cosmetics counters... thankfully the two counters with nice SAs that I like!

In any case the content of this post actually happened a month ago (obviously despite my best intentions I forgot to post... again) and a kind reminder from my dear Old Cow reminded me that I should update... at least so that the few readers of this blog who I don't also stalk on twitter would know I was a live!

Holt Renfrew is almost the only store in the Core (Calgary's downtown shopping district) that decorated for Christmas as a number of parts are still under construction and the Core actually donated its decorating budget to the United Way (which is nice, though I do miss the Christmas trees everywhere)! For the fellow Calgarians, the Core is MUCH MUCH MUCH nicer than it was even 6 months ago - no more exposed piping every metre! There's still a bit of construction but I think the mall looks beautiful and it's now one of my favourite places to be

The gigantic skylight doesn't hurt :)

My holiday trips to Holt Renfrew actually happened over two weeks...

Shiny Pretty Things

You know that feeling when an object sticks in your head, and you tell yourself there's no point in buying it, but it never really leaves your mind? That was the story with me and the Jill Stuart 5th Anniversary box! I've loved since I first saw it last year, but first I didn't really own any jewellery and then couldn't rationalize WHY I needed it. Plus, I had a lovely case from Yume that fit all my earrings nicely... and then I began to read more blogs and my jewellery collection suddenly outgrew my storage space!

I made do, keeping things in their original boxes, but after having an awful day at work a couple of weeks ago, AND with it being my birthday, I decided to give in and order the jewellery box I'd been thinking of on-and-off for more than a year... and I'm SO happy with it! I purchased from Gooddealer and everything was wrapped perfectly - styrofoam and bubble wrap with fragile stickers galore - and a tracking number.

As I wanted to show off my shiny new storage, I thought I should show off the shiny things that now live in it. This post for my dear Old Cow who is the reason my collection expanded so quickly AND why I started to wear necklaces :)

24, New Camera, Mooks

My new camera has a 'soft focus' feature

Yikes, only 3 hours away!! I know I tend to post sporadically, but it went to posting nil after my beloved Sony DSC-T200 camera died :( I couldn't take pictures AND I had no idea what to talk about.

My birthday is tomorrow, and I'd been contemplating a beginner's DSLR anyway, so I bought myself a new camera as an early birthday present and replacement for mine (though I will probably pick up another point-and-shoot since they are more portable, and I am lazy). I picked up an Olympus PEN E-PL1 but I am still mostly using the auto settings... definitely need to find a good beginner's guide to DSLR cameras (suggestions welcome).

In any case, to prove I am alive (and hopefully to kick my butt into posting more), my latest mook purchases (I say 'latest' but one is really old, and the other two were posted about weeks ago by other people.

Green, Purple, and Redemption?

I think that pink and purple look from a few days ago catapulted me back into loving bright eye looks... too bad I'm going back to work tomorrow so I'll be back to my standard work face :P

I've been thinking about doing this look for a while, but hadn't actually picked up any of the colours until I was poked by Yumeko to try it out since she posted it first and then Haru posted a similar version using different products! I find it so interesting to see how different girls interpret looks and tutorials, so of course after her reminder I wanted to try it out
I'm not sure why this turned out more like seafoam green and purple (it's more of a kelly green in person, but I can't catch it on my camera). The green appears a bit darker on my webcam pic so I'll attach that at the end.

Keep reading for products used...

Rose Tinted Glasses

This morning I was lacking inspiration both with what to post about, and how to do my makeup! This happens a lot when I wear a neutral colour like black or white :P. Recently I'd been wearing more neutrals like bronze/gold/brown, but I wanted to break out of my rut - so naturally I turned to twitter for suggestions. The lovely ladies on my feed suggested pink and purple, so off I went! I love this look and am happy I delved back into the bright part of my stash again, but the look also made me think of a predominant theme in my life: the colour pink.


Pink is everywhere in my life, a recurring theme I am always willing to indulge, from clothing, to electronics, to makeup (of course). So I thought I'd use this post to examine the colour's role in my life...

Purple for Love

Maybelline Give Me Gold Eye Studio Quad, MAC Violent Grape Blush Ombre + Shell Beauty Powder on cheeks, GOSH Angel Balm on Lips

First off, Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Lunar New Year to everyone!! This year is the Year of the Tiger (which is what I am... which means I'll be 24 this year... XD) Hopefully everyone's been having a good 2010 so far. Actually made it out to celebrate CNY this year, dim sum with the besties, and otherwise I've been watching the Olympics. GO CANADA GO!!! This next picture has nothing to do with the post but I'm happy at how my avatar turned out so this is who you'll be 'seeing' on twitter until the Olympics are over... or I take another picture I like:

Maybelline Purple Icon Eye Studio Quad, Shu Uemura P Brown 76 Glow-on Blush, Dior Serum de Rouge 510

I love my Team Canada sweater, and my Olympic mittens :D

I digress. Yumeko did a magazine scan post a while ago that talked about lucky signs for each Zodiac colour. My colour was purple, and while I like the colour a lot I'm obviously more partial to pink... but then I checked my Pantone colour of the year at www.colorstrology.com and that was also purple so... maybe it's a sign.

I have been wearing a lot of purple lately, eyeshadow, clothing, etc, but the strangest/newest thing that purple has invaded is my blush collection :)

MAC Violent Grape Blush Ombre, Illamasqua Powder blush in SIN, Illamasqua Powder blush in THRUST

Do those blushes not look terrifying? ;)

Loves at the End of a Decade

Even though I spent most of the month of December at home, I still think my 2009 ended on a high note, as I got to celebrate Christmas with my family, and more importantly, I went back to work! The first two days were harder than I thought they would be (mostly my body was not used to running around for 12 hours so my whole body - not my back - was really sore) but it was awesome to just drop back into the flow of things, even if everyone thought I'd gone on vacation (and then was SUPER nice when they found out I'd hurt my back).

This last year has overall been fantastic :) It was the first year after my dad's recovery from open-heart surgery, my first year as a practicing registered nurse, the first time I'd flown outside North America without my family, and the first year I had my car! It was also the second full year I'd been into make-up :) There are so many hilights this year, more than I can mention, but I can only thank everyone in my life and who I've met for making the year amazing <3.

I can however, give you my December hauls...

Just Can't Get Enough

When I become interested in something, I tend to go into OCD-collector's mode and want everything associated to it that I can get my hands on. This has been a long standing personality trait: when I was in elementary school I had to have every single beanie baby EVER (I grew past that, thankfully), in high school I collected all things CLAMP (I only dabble now, not as obsessed), and in university my interests shifted towards Johnny's Entertainment (it's been like 5 years now and I am still into it... ha.)

The picture above is my Tokidoki collection about 6 months ago. I've loved Tokidoki for a long LONG time, but when the brand first came out I was still in high school and had no money. I kick myself now, as a lot of the bags I've acquired since then were much cheaper and easier to find when they were first released, of course! I find the Tokidoki community is similar to the makeup one in a lot of ways... people help each other find their dream items and it is SUPER competitive to get limited editions items... which is pretty much every single Tokidoki bag ever, since the designs and bag styles change every season!

So what does my collection look like now...?

You and Me, We're Meant to Be

So I have been stuck at home because I pulled my back at work and according to my doctor and physiotherapist, the best thing to do is rest - and be patient. Which would be fine, except the last 2 weeks it has also been SNOWING like mad, so I end up stuck in my house as the roads are too bad to try driving on. I think they said on Friday that there were over 200 accidents reported :S.

In any case, in between resting and physio, I am either on my laptop (the first week laying in my bed as sitting hurt, now at my desk) or playing my DS. I am SO happy I got a DS for my birthday or I think I'd be even more stir-crazy. Anyway, with all this extra time on my hands the inevitable happened... I finally tried out G-Market.

All the blogs I read are horrible influences. XD;

I didn't even want to try going through the makeup section, so instead I thought I'd look for accessories. And after one of Yumeko's posts, I knew I wanted headbands. I placed the order a couple of weeks ago, and it finally arrived!

I ordered from this shop: Glam Girl

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Kat laughed at me the other day when I vehemently denied liking lipstick. I don’t mind it, but I tend not to buy it… I am more in love with glosses and lipstains. Plus I hate having to ‘touch up’ so I rarely remember to bring a lippie along when I DO wear one. In any case, the last six months has basically been my descent into being even girlier than I already was, LOL. Mostly in that I am starting to buy and wear jewellery. Mostly necklaces, since my ears still seem to hate all things not-gold by being loving and giving me ear infections. :P

I’ve bought all my recent necklaces online, and while I whine to Yumeko that blogs are bad for my wallet (they are) I’ve met lovely girls and snagged some lovely pieces while on them. And it will only continue!! I got my lovely necklaces from Worship at the House of Blues just before I went to go watch the Lion King which was fantastic timing :D

I love how she giftwraps everything! And Canada Post didn’t dent the box this time. :P

My two Beaux necklaces and my Little Bit of Black necklace… I am using the box as a temporary jewellery box as I do not have one. XD; I went YEARS only wearing 2 different pairs of earrings.

<3 I’m so happy I bought both Beaux necklaces, the gold and silver goes with all 3 pairs of earrings I own!! Thank you again to Old Cow, these are lovely!

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I know I still have to post about Yokohama but I am waiting on some pictures from Japan before I post… my camera died halfway through the day so I am missing some things. :)