Expo post (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ✧

So I did it, I went to expo this weekend!

Life update, new falsies and Lush haul ☆〜（ゝ。∂）

Hello again, it's been a little while hasn't it? Not too long, though. Today I have some goodies to show you before I ramble a little bit about what's going on with me right now.

I went home Friday night and found these waiting for me:

Eyelashes *u* Two boxes of top lashes and two boxes of bottom lashes! They were just some that I got off of ebay but I was really excited to try them out! Here's a picture of natural looking lashes (for lack of a better description):

Close up you can tell that I'm not super practiced in applying bottom falsies yet >m> but I think they looked okay as part of the final look:

These lashes remind me a lot of the types that Shizuka Takeda wears so I am in love with them (︶▽︶) She's one of my favourite gyaru I love her make-up so much and her face is so super lovely~

And my look from yesterday using the spiky top and bottom lashes (which will bring us nicely onto the next section~!):

Woah~! These ones were totally a pain to apply (I think I started over like five times) bUT I felt rly cute so!! I love lashes with a clear band, they blend in so nicely and you can play around with subtle or dramatic make-up that way. The top lashes are nice too, although they're thick and the band is quite sturdy. I prefer to have a more flexible one because it makes them easier to shape and apply but they were fine and held up for most of the day with only one incident of an unruly inner corner popping off. Besides I just love how these kind of lashes look, so I will definitely still be using them, flexibility aside.

So onto my little story about yesterday. Since expo is fast approaching I decided to go and get some face-care since nobody wants to have grody skin when you're having a weekend full of photos. Since my funds are pretty low I was going to get a few cheaper facemasks from Superdrug and top up my cleanser (my skin's gotten so bad without it, I missed it so much!!) which is Lush's Ultrabland cleanser. It's a really gentle one with beeswax in it which means it makes an awesome make-up remover! After a couple of weeks of using facewipes instead my skin was feeling pretty run down so I was anxious to top it up.

So I went in for that but came back with all of this:

Heehee~ Whenever I go in I like to be able to play the test game. (People complain about this but I love it?? I think in terms of customer service Lush are really great. Besides, if you communicate with them properly they're more than happy to help you find the products that are best for your skin type so I really have no idea what's wrong with that but maybe that's just me...) I got asked what my skintype was and what sort of smells I liked so I got to test a few things for dry and eczema prone skin with really sweet creamy smells! (Mostly honey and vanilla, I smelled totally delicious when I left~!)

My four testers at the bottom there are two shower gels, a moisturiser and a cleanser. Rose Jam is one that I haven't tried out yet, but it smells wonderful. The other shower gel is It's Raining Men which is a really great honey one - I tried it out in store and also in my shower last night and it smells and feels amazing. My skin is so soft! Then I have the cleanser which is Bûche de Noel - one of their Christmas products! I've tried another scrub called Angels on Bare Skin which I liked as something to use on no make-up days or maybe before make-up if my skin was feeling pretty bad but wasn't overall I wasn't particularly swayed but the guy I was talking to said it's similar to that but slightly more buttery so I might like it better. I had it tested on my hand and it still feels really smooth so we'll see how well it works on my face when I get around to testing it. And lastly the moisturiser - Imperialis. To let you in on a little secret, I've tried this one before >u> And I really do like it! At the moment I'm using another Lush moisturiser (Celestial) which has done so much for my dry skin problems but I thought it couldn't hurt to give this one another test run because I do really love the way it feels on my skin (also I like the way it smells which is... well actually a little bit like sunscreen haha, but that's such a nice and happy scent to me, it makes me think of summer and holidays so that's probably why I don't mind it at all.) Whether or not I decide to switch things up will probably depend on how well Imperialis handles my winter skin.

And onto the top three products. Ofc, there's my Ultrabland. And a facemask, The Sacred Truth - this was a freebie *u* This is one that I've used already but it's wonderful for tired skin that needs a moisture boost and a bit of a lift. I think it's especially good for revitalising your skin after you've been sick for a while, too. Anyway, since I'd had the facemask part of my shopping list taken care of, I figured I might as well pick up a little something else to save as a pick-me-up for bad days. I usually get a bathbomb or other bath-goodie but.... there's no baths in halls ;m; So instead I got a little bottle of Snow Fairy which is another seasonal one. I couldn't not gravitate toward it though, it's pink and sparkly and it smells like candy (＾∀＾)♪ I can't wait to give it a go but I'm saving it for when I need a pick me up (although I'll probably be taking it with me to expo since it is perfectly travel sized.)

Ubuubu I rambled a whole lot about my Lush haul, maybe I'll do an in-depth review of the products at some point in the future. But for now I'm going to wrap things up with the serious stuff.

So, everything has gone... a little bit wrong. Well, a lot wrong, really. Everything is super uncertain for me financially right now which sucks since expo is literally around the corner, but everything is still going ahead as planned with a lot of help from Emma (and also her Mom) because she's really great. I'm feeling really stressed out and sad and anxious and guilty about a lot of things though, so it's been really difficult to do much of anything for the past couple of weeks. I have an assignment due just after expo so I will probably be distracting myself with that in the run up to next weekend but I'm worried I won't be able to focus at all. I'm taking things slowly and splitting things up into groups of small tasks and working through that way to try and feel better but it's harder some days than others. I really hope that things will start looking up soon. 

I don't want to end this on a sad note, so I'm uploading an ootd snap from yesterday.

I really love the plaid trend that has been cropping up in gyaru this a/w. I would like more of a big cozy boyfriend fit shirt but I think this outfit worked out okay. Autumn means the return of my knee high boots (｡✧‿✧｡)

Review: Vassen Lenses in Jewel Pink

Ah yes, the review I said I'd do forever ago, it's finally here. I bought a pair of Vassen's jewel pink lenses for my Nanami cosplay and I have to say I'm really happy with them. Apologies in advance for my make-up free skin and tired eyes in these photos, blech.

The cute case that came free courtesy of pinkyparadise.

And the lenses themselves! I really like the shade of pink, I needed something that was light and pretty vibrant and these were one of the best matches I could find. The design isn't something that I would usually go for but once they're on they look really cute in my opinion.

Before:

After:

And a side by side comparison to show enlargement:

Haha, looks ridiculous >u> The colour is strong enough to show up nicely over my natural colour (I was a little worried that pink might blend to look a little more purple over my blue eyes). These lenses are 14.5mm so the enlargement is noticable but not too over the top. As far as comfort goes, these are probably the comfiest pair of circle lenses I've owned to date. (I realise that my eyes might look a little red in these photos but rest assured that's lack of sleep and not irritated eyes!). They feel very soft and thin, so I barely notice them at all. I like my lenses to have a solid and thick limbal ring and this one is quite odd but other than that I don't have many complaints.

The picture at the top is natural lighting, here's one under the light at the mirror by my sink which is pretty harsh:

The colour isn't really super in your face bright so if that's what you're going for then they might not be the lenses for you. But if you want something that looks a little more natural (or at least as natural as can be with pink eyes) then I think they're perfect.

Final rating:

Comfort: 5/5

Colour: 4/5

Design: 3/5

Enlargement: 4/5

As these lenses were primarily bought for cosplay, the comfort factor is a biiig bonus since I'll have them in at a con all day so it's nice to have as little issues as possible. I have used my favourite lenses (Princess Mimi Sesame Grey) for cosplay too and whilst they feel just fine when they're being good, when they're misbehaving it's the worst which definitely sucks when it happens in the middle of a convention.

So that brings me to the end of this little post. I have a lot to talk about since my life sort of all went up in the air today, but I'll make a post about that tomorrow maybe. For now I'm going to leave you with my ootd.

ps did you notice that I cut my hair?? when it's like this it reminds me of miwako from parakiss - i feel suuuuper cute!!

rambling life update

I'm back!! I am all moved in now. Technically I have been in and back at uni for just over a week now. But I spent some time at my girlfriend's so I guess I have been a little bit busy.

Code & make from moving day~ I don't think my face stayed so nice though since there were some tears butttt it was okay in the end. My flatmates seem really nice so that has made me feel a little better. I went to see Emma coz it'd been like a whooole month. But she was really sick so I haven't got any cute couple snaps or anything..... Maybe next time <3 I miss her a whole bunch already.

In other exciting news my lenses have arrived!! They actually arrived before I moved but I haven't had time to write up a review. I will say that I'm really happy with them for now, though. Here's a quick snap of me wearing them with my Nanami wig ^u^ (the lighting is horrible I'm sorry, it was taken in my Mom's bathroom at like 10pm)

I've been thinking a lot about my style lately... Last year I started venturing into gyaru and I started with onee-gyaru because it was easier to ease into it through that style imo. I still really like onee but I want to try some more things!! I think a lot of the pieces I've been picking up lately are more himekaji. But it's so hard for me to pick one style and stick with it..... But then I wonder if I should stick with onee because of my age. Is 21 too old for cute girly styles or what?? At least I'm short with a young looking face...