Sunday, August 28, 2011

[Animal Welfare][Personal] Kitteh Photo of teh Week.



This is my kitty #1, Chunyi (NOT "Chun-li." :P). He's your typical snooty, grumpy, I-love-you-when-you-feed-me-and-give-me-belly-rubs cat. Otherwise, he will sleep and generally ignore my existence. But I SO love heeeeeem. <3 His snootiness is what makes his personality unique among my other cats that love and demand attention. O_O Chunyi contorts in such a manner when he demands belly rubs, STAT.

I'll feature more of my kitties in the following weeks. Don't worry, I don't have a CRAZY WHOLE LOT of kitties. xD

In other news, the only grammatically wrong phrases I accept are in LOLspeak. AHAHA~




Have a hopefully not-so-stormy week ahead, folks! ^_^;

Monday, August 22, 2011

[Geek] Dolling Up My Amazon Kindle

It took some time--about a couple of years in the making--for me to finally give in to the paperless technology of an E-book reader. I've always been a lover of paperbacks and would frequent bookstores and book bargain bins in ze days of mah youth (was that so long ago? :P I still do now, though, but not as much). Also, I'm one of those weirdos who get high on that new book smell. Ah yes. Anyway, when my sister and her husband once again offered to get me an Amazon Kindle for a joint birthday-Christmas present, it was an offer I can no longer refuse. :o

I may review the Kindle on one of my future posts, but now, I just would like to talk about how I sort of customized an otherwise very plain-looking E-book reader cover case, plus with some lovely tidbits in the Kindle itself. So you see, the Kindle with the leather case on looks like this:


Looks so corporate...

And yea, I'm also one of those geeks who name their gadgets. So upon beholding the plain black visage of my new Kindle (I got it last March), I decided to name it "Svenny." Why? He's (yes, it's a "he" now) named after "Sven" from the original Voltron series--the black pilot who flies the Blue Lion. ANYWAY. Ahem ahem.

Svenny dahlin', you're spiffy and all, but for a girl like me, you look... a little TOO spiffy. Maybe my dad would like your clean plainness, but not me. Awww... So what do I do?

I gave Svenny some gems. Ohohoho~

Missing a few jewels but nothing I can't fix ^^;


It's quite minimalist, but I didn't want to turn Svenny into a disco ball. O_O

I've also just recently learned that one can customize the screensavers. :D The Kindle has some "built-in" screensavers in it, once it's fresh from being purchased from Amazon. They were pretty cool at first, but the novelty soon wore off, and I wanted more than just these images to grace my Kindle screen every time I turn my Kindle off from reading:

                                   


After a while, they'll start looking pretty freaky. O_o And then, fellow geek Rocky, one of the few among my friends who own a Kindle, revealed to me the um... way of allowing images of your choice into the Kindle to make awesome screensavers. This procedure may hold the throats of the overly conscientious, but as the linked article mentioned, Amazon sort of gave the public the permission for screensaver customization.

Afterwards, I went screensaver-making trigger-happy. Here are some of the screensavers I made (very simple to do, as long as you gather chosen photos/artwork and make sure it's for personal use only):

Angel Warrior

Claudia from Interview With A Vampire


Eowyn from LOTR


Fingolfin and Morgoth, Tolkien artwork by John Howe


Dragon with Butterfly Wings


ThunderCats logo--BUT OF COURSE! ^_^



Galadriel



The only downside is that the images should be converted to black and white or "grayscaled," since the latest Kindle so far isn't colored yet, but I heard they're releasing a colored one soon.

This is how a customized screensaver would look like in the Kindle:




Note that these artwork aren't mine, and that I've pilfered borrowed these from the Interwebz, so credit goes to their respective artists. I LOVE FANTASY ARTWORK. I will work on my skillz. :)

Do you any of you guys and girls have a Kindle? Loved it lately? Customized it lately? ^_^



Lurve,

Thursday, August 18, 2011

[Beauty] My Top 10 Favorite Beauty Products - TAG

Alrighty, then! I'm taking the liberty of posting girly grooming stuff in my blog, coz if ya'll look at the right-hand sidebar, you'd notice a box thing containing the topics which I've categorized my blog in. Apart from gushing over ThunderCats, I have a life I gush over other things too! :D

This tag has been going around the posts of beauty bloggers--and local beauty bloggers to boot--as far as I know. Marge/hathor2 of kikaytrekkie sort of tagged me in this one. ^_^0 So now, I present to you, my Top 10 favorite beauty stuff! *sparkle sparkle* (Note that these are in no particular order. Top 10 are top 10, wherever they are in this list.)




1.) T. N. Dickinson's Witch Hazel Astringent for Face & Body.




THIS STUFF is close to a miracle product! In days of yore, Witch Hazel astringents/concoctions have been a staple in medicine cabinets because of their anti-flammatory properties and is used for minor relief on cuts, burns, itchiness... And I've tested it plenty times on my cuts! I've a number of cats in my household, and it's part of a cat person's life to get a memento or two from a feline friend's claws on a regular basis. I place this stuff on my cut with a cotton ball, and the wound seems to instantly stop bleeding! *hallelujah...* This is really great stuff. You can get the huge bottles in Healthy Options for a fairly good price.

As for a beauty product, well, I use this to cleanse and tone my face every now and then. Keeps my face clear of blemishes, and while I *do* get a pimple or two during that happy time of the month, this stuff eases the pimple's swelling. Definitely something to store in your medicine cabinets and dresser tables.



2.) The Body Shop Camomile Gentle Eye Make-up Remover.





I came across a short review of this while watching Youtube videos, particularly in beautycrush's channel where she then enumerates her May Favorites. I've been on a search for an effective yet gentle make-up remover which would get rid of waterproof mascaras from me lashes. Those darn things do stay put all day, but they're definitely a pain to take off! I've tried a number of brands of make-up removers but either they sting the eyes, don't take eye make-up off easily, or both. Needless to say, while TBS's eye make-up remover is a tad pricier, IT WORKS. It's nearly as gentle as water but it does the job well (look, ma, no mascara residue and panda eyes the next day!) 'Nuff said. :)


3.) The Face Shop Clean Face White Intensive Blemish Clear Patch. (these products have long names, ya?)




This be my go-to product whenever I feel the bump of an unwanted visitor emerge on my face. It's a clear patch in the shape of a small circle, and while it's relatively invisible when it's adhered to the skin, it can be noticeable when light reflects off its plastic-y surface. That is why it's ideal to use overnight. These patches work as soon as overnight, and as long as four days, but using these keeps me from popping my pimples which is a huge no-no for me (unless direly needed, but I rarely pop my zits, ewk). The swelling eases until it's all dried up, and if you've the discipline to keep patching up your zits nightly, it would seem that the pimples weren't even there. ^o^


4.) Human Heart Nature Shampoo/Body Wash & Conditioner. 




Local products, ahoy! ^_^ Well, these are two products, but I consider these two a package deal. Cheating much on the "Top TEN" bit? :P Anyway, Human Heart Nature makes a slew of good quality products, and their shampoos and conditioners are SO worth a try! I particularly like the "strengthening" variant since it helps with my hair gone brittle ever since I bleached it to dye it a good shade of bright red. These are all-in-one products, as per my experience: it reduces hair fall, it keeps a scaly scalp at bay, and it's made of all-natural ingredients! Plus, I think Human Heart Nature runs this advocacy of protecting the jobs of our local farmers who help grow the ingredients for the line's natural and organic stuff. So many points of win for this stuff! :D

5.) The Face Shop Plus +1 Dual Lip Care Kit.





My lips get flaky a whole lot. At first, I didn't see the need for a "commercial" lip scrub, since one can just use sugar and water or honey to dab onto the lips and exfoliate it. Well, that can work a little bit, but not as good as TFS's lip scrub. It's got a scrub AND a balm, but the scrub alone is a keeper! I use the scrub twice a week and the balm every night to maintain the smoothness of my lips. Will definitely repurchase once I run out. ^^;

6.) L'egere While Multi BB Cream.





Yea, yea, I'm one of them beauty bloggers/bloggers who'd contribute to the growing fanbase of this product. :P Like hathor2, we both first heard of this BB cream through fuzkittie in Youtube, and both of us purchased it as well in wehaveit43's Multiply site since it isn't available locally. It's on the pricier side, but one tube would last a good year even if used frequently. This BB cream provides light to medium coverage and gives my face a nice, ELVISH glow (I'm a sucker for that xD). It doesn't control oilies well enough, though, but nothing like a good setting powder to remedy that. :)



7.) ELF (eyes lips face) Plumping Lip Glaze. 





Collecting this bunch for a couple of years, and I've got more which I've used up already and aren't in the photo. While this isn't marketed as a moisturizing lip product, it moisturizes my lips pretty well! It's nice and minty and the gloss side gives a good wash of color. As for plumping... not so much, but that's no problem for me; ELF is still relatively cheap even with the price jacked up here, and for the benefits this stuff gives even without the plumping effect, it's really nothing to complain about. ^_^;

8.) The Face Shop Illuminating Cushion Blusher in 01 Pink.




Methinks this blush is underrated and under-appreciated! It does "illuminate" my face since it serves as a highlighting blush, with the glow-y flush of color still visible on my cheeks. It's got a puff which you can actually use (some prefer brushes), and it's useful to dab the color on the cheeks without going overboard. Again, it's one of them make-up things which contribute to giving me that Elvish glow... also akin to a flush the cheeks get when in very cold weather. Ahaha...



9.) Etude House Fresh Cherry Tint.





I've watched some videos in Youtube of Korean make-up artists using this stuff on their clients. It's that awesome. :P And it IS what is days, FRESH CHERRY TINT. It soothes with a smidgen of a cooling effect on the lips, it's cherry-flavored, and it gives lips a dainty dose of color. Like the no make-up make-up look? Try this on for size. ^_^



10.) Skin Food Rice Shimmer Powder. 








I only use this on special occasions like parties, night-time seminar things, and uh... cosplay, so the only jar I got is still quite full and will still last me a long time. Purchasing Skin Food locally would cost you a pretty penny since the prices are ridiculously jacked up, so I order my Korean cosmetics from Kkochipida's Multiply site.  The shimmer on this powder is fine and rather subtle, so no worries on getting big glitters in your eyes when applying it to your face. :P The shimmer particles reflect flash photography light in a flattering way, hence my use of it on occasions where I know a lot of picture-taking would be involved. Harhar. 


Well, those are my 10 (in a half? Eleven? LOLz.) beauty products, most of them tried and tested loooong enough to make studied conclusions (yes, 'tis a scientific procedure. :P). Heed, though, that I have NOT been paid to do these short reviews and I purchased this stuff with mah own monies. These are my honest opinions blahblahblah... you know how the drill goes, ladies. xD We just wanna help our fellow damsels distressing on good stuff to try and keep. :)


'Til next beauty blog post! ^_^


Lurve,




P.S. I tag anyone who'd like to do this tag, too. :) The rules (supposedly! :P) are:

1.) Link back to the person who tagged you.
2.) List your 10 favorite skin care/beauty products.
3.) Pass to 10 other Bloggers (I'm still finding my way around the blog-o-sphere, so yea, I tag anyone ^^;;;)



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