Happy Holidays!

This is my full article for December 2010's Amara Philly Magazine. Sorry, I should have put this up a long time ago before Christmas day...but I was lazy. :P It was cut down in the magazine, because there's so much content, haha! But I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Hey everyone, long time no see! I hope you’re all doing well! It’s been a busy ending to the 2010 year for me, but I always look forward to the Winter season. I happen to celebrate Christmas, so the Holiday season is all about Christmas trees, glittery decorations, baked goods, and caroling for me. Pretty Christmas colors are especially inspiring to me, such as candy apple reds, emerald and pine greens, gold and silver.

Since I have a lot of creative freedom with my articles, I decided to do something a little different this time. Instead of makeup, I thought I’d dabble in some nail art. I love painting my nails all kinds of rainbow colors, and using nail polish is just another easy, yet temporary way to spice up your look. So, I decided to incorporate some Christmas-y colors on my nails, using red, white, gold and silver to make a glittery stripe design.

I am by no means a nail technician, so please excuse the messy cuticles and uneven stripes! I usually try to clean it up after everything is finished and dried. To me, art is all about expressing yourself in a fun way that makes you happy. Doing art on your nails is pretty creative and unexpected, something people appreciate. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Plus, if you don’t like your designs, you can always take nail polish remover and cotton balls to it and start over again!

 (From Left to Right: “Star Spangled” by Orly nail lacquer, “White” by L.A. Colors Art Deco nail art lacquer, “Gold” by Love & Beauty by Forever 21, “Silver” by Love & Beauty by Forever 21, and “Silver White Glitter” by L.A. Colors Art Deco nail art lacquer)

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do at first, and I ended up using all of these nail polishes. But you don’t have to use the same colors or brands. Nail art polishes have a built-in brush that is long and thin, which is convenient and perfect for doing artistic details. You always have the option of using a nail or art detail brush, and dipping it in regular nail polishes too.  I found the Love & Beauty and L.A. Colors Art Deco nail art polishes at Forever 21, for a couple bucks each. But I’ve seen nail art polishes like these at places like Hot Topic and online at www.cherryculture.com.

 I started off with a glittery red base, using “Star Spangled” by Orly.

 Next, I used the white L.A. Colors Art Deco nail art lacquer to make a diagonal stripe in the middle of my nails.

 Taking the gold nail art polish, I made a gold diagonal stripe on either side of the white diagonal stripe. (Yeah, I know, I’m messy, lol. I’ll clean it up with Q-tips and remover later.)

 I honestly didn’t like the way the white stripe looked, so this is where I tried to “fix” my design by outlining the white stripe in silver. It was okay, but I still wasn’t completely happy…

 Glitter fixes everything, so I put a stripe of glitter over the white stripe. Unfortunately, cameras are notoriously terrible at capturing glitter, so I find it better looking and more multidimensional in person.

I hope you guys like it! Well, even if you don’t like my design, or don’t wish to use that much nail polish (it only takes a bit longer to dry than normal coats of nail polish, seriously!), I hope you are inspired to try some nail art! Just get creative, you may end up with a design you really like that gets everyone’s attention. Thanks for reading! Happy holidays to all of you, and happy new year! 

Smoky Butterfly Blue and Yellow

Fall semester classes and finals have been over and done with since last week, so that means...winter break is here! It also means I have a lot of time on my hands, and I was a little bored today (lol). It's just a smoked out blue, with a touch of yellow. Don't mind the ear buds, I was listening to my Ipod when I was camwhoring, haha. Thanks for looking! Hope everyone's enjoying the holiday season with loved ones!

• I used all matte eyeshadows. The light yellow, bright blue and navy are from my Coastal Scents Creative Me #1 palette. I also used a NYX eyeshadow in Black for the outer V. 
• Lipgloss is a Wet N Wild Mega Slicks lipgloss in 569A Candy Apple. I like these lipglosses because they're cheap, easy to find (drugstores, Walmart, etc.), and not thick or sticky. 
• Falsies are NYX Fabulous Lashes, #120 (they're long and spiky, but I dunno if I like them that much since I prefer volume to length...).
• Eyeliner is Sephora Collection Flashy Liner in Deep Black. 
• I'm starting to get the winter skin (read: lost my summer tan!), so my foundation is a mix of Revlon Colorstay in Golden Caramel and Lancome's Bienfait Multi-Vital Teinte in Sand (a tinted moisturizer).

Amara Magazine

I'd like to share something I'm involved with, called Amara Magazine: Philly's Cambodian American Magazine. Amara Magazine is a free online magazine, written and run by Asian-Americans living in the city of Philadelphia, or Greater Philly area. All of the contributors, including myself, have many interests, and we would like to share our Asian-American culture and lifestyle straight out of the City of Brotherly & Sisterly Love: Philadelphia! We write about Food, Culture, Lifestyle, Beauty, Fashion, Restaurants, Events, Music, and everything you could think of.

Amara was a dream that came into creation by way of my friend, Sarun Chan. He, and many of the contributors, are either students or alumni from Penn State University, or personal friends who shared a passion for Asian-American culture; the combination of our ancestor's traditions and American life. Also, many of us were also involved in a multicultural student organization at Penn State, called the Khmer Students Society. Khmer means Cambodian, and I'm proud to say I'm a Cambodian-American, who loves sharing my experiences of Cambodian and South East Asian culture mixed with American culture. 

Please, check out Amara magazine: Philly's Cambodian American Magazine! You can find our first 3 issues here (http://amaraphilly.angelfire.com/magazine.html) and the 4th issue here (http://issuu.com/amaramagazine/docs/amara_magazine_vol_one_issue_four). Plus, our 5th issue launches on December 5th! Fill your happy glass and let's get personal.

Inspired by the film, Burlesque

I am a huge Christina Aguilera fan, and have been dying to see her and Cher in the new film, Burlesque! I was watching one of the music videos that Christina had on her Youtube channel, the song is called, "I'm a Good Girl," and just loved her stage makeup. It consists of tons of pink shimmer and glitter, and daringly bold lashes! So I decided to do my own version to see how it would turn out.

I'm pleased with the results, although I didn't have similar false lashes for the bottom lash line. Obviously, I don't look like Christina Aguilera, and my eye shape is completely different from hers. So I just did my own thing (especially on the bottom, since I didn't have the lashes). I'm sorry I don't have a picture (you'll have to find the music video or go watch the film!). I'm not sure what products her makeup artist used, but I do believe I read somewhere that her gray and pink eyeshadow is by NARS.

  I honestly just happened to have a short bob wig from doing skits with my friends!

I only added the fake beauty mark (with eyeliner) under the eye because Christina Aguilera had one. Out of all the many beauty marks I have on my face and body, there isn't one below my eye, lol.

I used pink glitter over my eyeshadow but the camera didn't pick it up in most pictures.

                                                               "What? I am a good girl!"

                                              No wig. Naturally, I have wavy, waist length hair.

Products:
Kryolan Ultra Foundation in DO
Ulta Blush in Afterglow
Wet N Wild Eye Pencil in Dark Brown (to fill in eyebrows)
Coastal Scents 88 Shimmer Palette (dark gray in crease, pink on lid)
NYX Candy Glitter Liner in Hot Candy (on top of pink shadow)
L'Oreal HIP Color Truth Cream Liner in Black on top lashline
Mally Beauty Metallic Magic eyeliner in Lavender Chrome on bottom lashline
Sephora Flashy Liner in Deep Black on bottom lashline below Lavender Chrome
NYX Fabulous Lashes #123 top lashes, #104 bottom lashes
Bare Escentuals lip gloss in Brilliance (I think any rose pink lip color would do)

First Blog Post!

Welcome everyone! This is my first blog, and I must confess that I'm not very good at making websites or flyers, doing Photoshop, and all those kind of things. Well, maybe once I get into blogging, I'll change my background and get artsy with the template design, making it better. I guess everyone's gotta start somewhere!

But I'm so in awe of the many makeup gurus who have done all the blogging and Youtube videos before me, putting a lot of effort, passion and artistic ability into what they're doing. I was pretty much inspired, and wanted a blog space to do my own thing, my own way. Here, I'd love to talk about anything, it doesn't have to be strictly beauty related, and I'd like to put up whatever pictures I want, and chat with people who appreciate the same things I do. So hopefully you like what you see, and if you want to leave some comments, or friendly advice, I'd love that! Have a beautiful day! ~ Darlina