Meet Me at The Effle Tower My Love…..

Mission Possible: The Day of Hope Gala

Mission Possible: The Day of Hope Gala.

I took my Best Friend Cynthia to the Mission Possible: Day of Hope Gala held at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Vancouver.

What is Mission Possible? It is a Christian humanitarian agency that transforms lives by helping those challenged by homelessness and poverty achieve a renewed sense of dignity and purpose through meaningful work.

HOST: Nat & Drew from Virgin Radio Morning Show

A couple of co-workers and I were representing our organization at this event and funny thing was, there was another special event that my organization was a sponsor for, and it was happening that very same night (and I had tickets for that too!): Environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author Paul Hawken was speaking at The Orpheum. Don’t you wish you could be in two places at once?! I did!

Dinner was lovely and the live auction was very……interesting! All that was raised through the evening will be going back into the community and helping those in need. There were a lot of successful bids, for example, they had a bid for a pair of Canucks tickets with a Rogers Arena Box Seat worth $1000 and I believe the bid went up to $8000….pretty good!

Here are some pictures to share with you all:

We aren’t the world’s greatest “washroom” picture taking gals…..I am telling you, it is a talent, the girls that use the washroom lights to their advantage for photo taking!!!

So before entering the dinning hall, we bought our raffle tickets and in return we got these really cool Glowing Star pin…..there is a super funny story that happened after Cynthia and I got our Star pin (I giggle inside when I remember what Cynthia said to the sweet girl that gave us our Glowing Star Pin) but, perhaps I will keep that to myself cause I think Cynthia would prefer it that way haha

I forgot to mention that the Glowing Stars actually change colors….other people got blinking ones….(oh Cynthia! =P )

Dinner Time:

Raw Canvas (Acrylic painting): Our Master Piece as Lambies Birthday Present

I just wanted to share with everyone something really cool and super artsy Cynthia and I did last week. We went to Raw Canvas and painted a bowl of Ramen for our dear friend Lambert who just turned 24 =)

It is such a honor and such a blessing to have a good friend like Lambert. Last week he invited some of us out to his 2nd home, where in his backyard was a Ramen shack he built himself ( of course with some help coming from his brother/cousin/friends).

So this was the porch that extended out from his house. He and his brother basically stringed their backyard with tiny glowing light bulbs—very cool!

I should mention that Lambert and his friends have gone to Japan before, so it was nice that Lambert brought a bit of Japan’s taste to those of us, who haven’t gone yet =)

Is this not talented or what? Everything you see in this picture, he built it himself!

Here comes the BEST PART the Ramen! I honestly don’t think any restaurant in Vancouver downtown would have served their Ramen as esthetically eye catching like this. Lambert told us that the broth takes 15 hours to make cause he used all natural ingredients. I asked if there was any MSG but he said NOPE! He used Sea Kelp as natural MSG and he even told me there was a lot of collagen in the soup due to the Cha Siu/tender Pork cheeks….yes people, I indeed had TWO bowls of soup and now that I think of it, I wish I drank more (darn it!) because I would imagine the broth to be very, very good for your skin And he also made the Ramen noodles himself!

Cynthia and I tried to paint out the bowl of Ramen I had which is shown above.  What do you guys think? Looks pretty darn good to me. At one point, Cynthia and I loved our master piece so much, we weren’t going to give it to Lambert haha jkjk… not really… anyways, Lambert LOVED it and he already has it displaying on his wall inside his room.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAMBIE!

We all had dinner at this wonderful Italian place on Commercial Dr. called Marcello’s Pizzeria—a must dine! Amazing pasta (especially their hand made four of kind cheese Gnocchi- nom nom nom) and hand tossed pizza (baked in a huge oven that is displayed for everyone to see).

HALLOWEEN 2011: ANIME EYE MAKE UP LOOK

This year’s Halloween, my friends and I decided to dress up as a group and some how we decided to dress up as characters from the Japanese anime show called Pokemon ポケモン. It was the best idea ever! We really had lots of fun walking around being the only “Pokemon Crew”. We had some of the main characters such as Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Squirtle, Nurse Joy and Professor Oak.  My BF was suppose to be Brock but unfortunately he wasn’t able to join us for this years Halloween =*( Let’s just say he really missed out on this one =D

So I decided to dress up as Misty because her costume is fairly easy to put together. When I say easy, I mean easy!! Yellow shirt, jean shorts, red suspenders and red shoes. Viola~!

However, I didn’t want to be too simple because everyone else was going full out with their costumes. One of our friends in the Pokemon Crew actually sewed Pikachu and Squirtle’s costume……yes sewed! And I believe it was all from scratch too= uBer creative and talented! And I should mention she sewed her Nurse Joy costume too!

The night we went out to party was Oct 29, 2011 –Saturday. That day I had to work until late afternoon, so right after work, I went straight to the mall to look for a yellow tank top and red suspenders. The red suspenders were a bit harder to find and time was running out so, I quickly purchased two red thick “shiny” ties. I decided I was going to have to use safety pins to pin them in my jean shorts to look like real suspenders =)

As I got home, I decided it was way too cold to wear shorts as I am terribly afraid of the cold =_=” I bailed on the jean shorts but I wore long pants that were light blue jeans. And yes, I did get scolded from my friends for not being as brave as the other girls in the group that wore skirts > brave indeed! But I am REALLY afraid of the cold–NO LIE!

So, as I was looking at myself in the mirror, I thought to myself, “how can I make myself look more like Misty?! The Japanese anime character.” Then I remembered seeing some youtube tutorials, teaching people how to draw/paint on anime eyes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to sit there and learn, so I quickly googled several “anime eye make up” end results to try to mimic.

I was really concerned that the eye make up would melt off or get smudged easily so I tried my best to powder the make up. For example, I used a black eye gel liner to outline the shape of the anime eyes I wanted and after I did that, I went over the gel liner with a black eye shadow to set the make up.

The only colors I used were Black, White, shades of Green/Blue. I tried my best to also “shade” the colors to give off a very 3D effect to the eyes. I wanted to make them look as real as they could be. I am not gonna lie, I definitely scared some people with my eye look and received many compliments/pictures taken. It made me really happy cause I was really concerned about how the whole look came together. If time would have allowed me, or if I didn’t leave it so last minute, I would have definitely practiced first because after I finished my first eye, I was so scared to finish the other eye hahaha what happens if I screw up? That definitely crossed my mind lots of time when I was drawing the outline and filling in the color or shading the colors.

This by far, hands down, has to be my most challenging eye make up look on the spot. I finished this look in less than 1.5 hours (which included me contemplating if I should take the plunge to do the eye look or not and searching up the pictures online). I hope to have more eye make up looks to challenge my creativity because some of the eye make up looks on youtube are just amazing!

Anyways, I finish off this post with some more pictures of our night of partying=)

HEALTHY SKIN FOR LIFE: Dry Brushing Technique

What protects everything inside your body? Your skin.

What protects your Skin? Everything you do or do not do.

Our skin is the largest organ of the body and some of its main functions are:
-to eliminate waste/toxins through sweating
-to protect our most precious internal organs such as our heart that bumps blood
-helps to regulate our body temperature

When I first heard about Dry Skin Brushing 3 years ago, I had no idea what it meant but I assumed it would be similar to the concept of brushing our hair to “stimulate” hair growth and for a healthier scalp>>> So brushing the skin would be the same as stimulating the skin for faster cell turnover??

I actually did not try it until now because 1) I was lazy (not gonna lie^_^) 2) I didn’t understand how it could benefit my skin or how it could impact my overall health 3) beside, wasn’t exfoliating and applying body moisturizer good enough for my skin already? *scratching head

Well, two days ago I took my Mom out to Richmond for a full body massage cause she has been experiencing (for years) pain in her legs. Her massage was for one hour, so I decided to go to Daiso (located inside Arbedeen Mall): an awesome Japanese Toonie Store that is way better and biiger than our North American Dollar Stores).

I wanted to pick up a couple things, first off I wanted to get myself another natural loofa sponge to help with exfoliation. The loofa they sell at Daiso come in various shapes and sizes. According to what they bring in from Japan, the loofa they sell are “natural sea sponges”. The one I got this time has a wooden handle on it, so it’s easier for me to reach my back =)

I than came across a natural bristle brush that made me remember “dry brushing”. I searched online after I bought this and they sell the EXACT same one for so much more, it ranged from $10-45usd….which is a complete rip off. The one I got, I paid $2 and it is made from Japan. I did mention that everything from Daiso is imported from Japan right? =) anyways the best part about this is is that the brush can come off the handle, so you can start brushing from your feet/legs.

Anyways, I already started trying the dry brushing technique and I like it so far (1 week!). I really feel that it awakens my skin before I shower. I basically strip to my birthday suit and stand in the middle of my bath tub and *gently* brush my skin. I brush starting from my heels>legs>upper body and arms and I make sure I brush towards my heart. The reason why I want to brush towards my heart is because I want my blood to return to my heart and help with the lymphatic flow.

Dry bushing is really easy and it helps with the stimulation of blood/lymph flow and its great for exfoliating the skin so that it can help with faster new cell growth. When I was raising my arm to brush towards my heart, I could see flakes of dead skin being exfoliated off–Ewww!

I heard it also helps with preventing and fighting cellulite. You just have to remember to not be rough when you are brushing your skin and I would say no more than 10 minutes should be spent on dry brushing your entire body. After 10 mins, I take a shower =)

My skin is very soft after I use the dry brushing technique and I noticed that my body lotion/moisturizers really sink into my skin =) It’s most likely due to the exfoliating part therefore applying lotion to my body is so much easier now. I should also mention my skin is really glowing from using this technique.

I am going to try to keep this up for as long as I can, perhaps be like this women who has kept it up for 25 years +. Her skin looks AMAZING! I really hope my body and skin will look as healthy as hers. Watch the video if you have time =)

My BBF =)

My best friend and I met in elementary school. I believe the story of how we met went something like this, “Hi, do you want to hear a ghost story? No? But it’s really good and its really scary! You know I am an exceptionally good story teller? Yeah anyways, as I was saying, there once lived a girl who……”.

Ok, maybe that wasn’t the exact scripting of our conversation but according to her, it was along the lines of me telling her something like that- some horrific ghost story “according” to her. Funny thing is, she HATES and I emphasize on the word HATES and despises ghost stories or anything to do with ghost/bad spirits. The only time she has ever watched a horror film, was when I had a birthday party and told everybody not to tell her we were going to watch “Sixth Sense”. Gosh, I can still remember how flushed she looked from being so afraid.

My best friend and I can be complete opposites in personalities; I have had many people tell me that but my response to them would be similar to that of when a women and a man fall in love, “sometimes you do not get to choose but you just fall“. I honestly cannot tell you or pin point exactly when it was in time, place or even the day when we became good friends and than best of friends! For as long as we can both remember, we have been best of friends for 15 years ( + or – some haha). And there is no doubt in my mind that if I get married, I would want her to be my Maid of Honor.

Did I mention she is a registered Nurse?! And that she is single too? Nudge Nudge* to any men reading my blog ^_^

I shall end this post with what I wrote to her in my grad write up. This was published in our annual year book: a ma meilleure amie qui a reussi a me faire decouvrir les bons cotes de moi meme!

Tiffany’s Graduation Photoshoot Makeup Looks

My apologies, I have been completely M.I.A but I have exciting news to share with everyone: my baby sister is graduating from high school next year and I had the honor of doing her make up look for her grad photo shoots’ at Artona (http://www.artonagroup.com).

I did her group photo shoot and her personal grad photo shoot (both different days). I would love to share some of the photos and close up of the make up looks I did for her. I am not a professional make up artist but I hope to one day aspire to become one

MAKE UP FOR GRAD PHOTOS: The Transformation

To prepare her face and make sure her skin is ready for a flawless make up application: I washed and cleansed her face and after cleansing, I did a calming and soothing masque for 10 minutes to calm/reduce the redness in her skin (Eminence Organic Skin Care- Stone Crop). I then washed the masque off and applied the sugar plum revitalizer (also from Eminence) to hydrate and moisturize her face to allow me to have a good clean canvas to work on.

no make up/ untouched photo

I should say, my baby sister has very sensitive and acne prone skin, which by the way, I am trying to help clear up. And she rarely let’s me help her with it cause she is stubborn haha but when I found out my sister wanted me to do her make up, I was ecstatic!

She and I were off to Sephora to find the perfect foundation and we literally spent a full hour at Sephora and YES, she was bored out of her mind! I, on the other hand, was frantically testing all these shades of colors on her, to find the perfect match for her skin color. I wanted to find a foundation that would be light enough to not feel like foundation but it also needed to provide good coverage because she has teenage acne/redness/oily combo skin.

While I was looking/doing swatches of the foundations, I kept asking myself, how should I go about in helping her achieve flawless skin?  That was when I remembered watching Lisa Eldridge youtube video about “Acne Covering Make up”. I took what I learned and what I liked from that tutorial and kept it in the back of my mind. Lisa really focuses on “the skin in between the acne problems” and when I look at my sister’s skin, those are the areas that are gorgeous and smooth. I really wanted to do what Lisa said was important when she worked with clients that have acne prone skin. She talked about recreating and trying to “embellish/mimic” the gorgeous skin in between the acne. I think I learned a lot from that tutorial– Thank you Lisa Eldridge!

Primer: Smashbox Photo Finish                          Left: no make up |                                                Right: bareMinerals Original in Light W15

I applied BareMinerals Foundation (Original) in Light W15 (has SPF 15) to her right side of the face. I wanted to show the comparison of her left side to her right side of her face– there is a big difference: less red, less bumpy and more clear/ smooth looking skin.

Mineral foundations are very light and it did not mask her skin or make it look cakey. My sister does not wear any foundation/concealer. She never tries to hide her blemishes, so the whole process of putting on foundation was very interesting and “awkward” for her. I wanted to get her a product she would be able to use even after the photo shoots were over and grad/prom had past. I think Mineral foundation is suitable for her skin type and would allow her skin to breath better.

Full Face Foundation: bareMinerals Original in Light W15

This is her wearing a full face foundation using the BareMinerals.Her skin literally looks like it is glowing from within and super healthy looking=) I basically mimic the skin in between the acne/problem areas. Gorgeous huh?! And you don’t see any redness at all!

Test Runs–couple days before her actual photo shoot:

w/out lashes and with eyelashes (unglued yet)

For her eyes, I wanted to make them look like they were “glowing”. I know Make up artist and Asian girls (sometimes, if not majority of the time) have trouble applying eye make up. At first, I thought it would be easy because I have Asian eyes and I have found my own way to apply my own eye make up. So when it came time to do her eyes, I struggled a bit and it was difficult because her eye shape is so different from mine. I had to really make sure I did not bring the dark colors/pigments up too much on to her lid or else it looked like she had a bruised eye 0_O.

Eyes completely done =) My favorite look

What do you guys think of this eye look?!? Its from dark to light (lashes to outer lids) with smoldering light green eyeshadow peaking from underneath those beautiful dark chocolate eyes and crazy nice falsies =)

I really tried to focus the colors upward and to really blend! blend! blend the colors on top of the lid to fade out naturally. I wanted to make sure the colors only peeked out from behind her eyelashes. This helps to create that glowly/smoldering eye look. This was by far my favorite eye look on her. And green looks gorgeous on brown eyed girls.

love her beautiful side profile =) I envy her long chin and nice jaw.

She is like a ray of Sunshine! teehee ^_^

So that was the test run but the real eye look she wore on the actual day turned out like this:

I know it’s completely different from the “test run” but I wanted to take a risk even though it was the actual day of the photo shoot and we literally only had 30mins before she had to leave. I really wanted to add back the youthfulness. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the smoldering green was gorgeous but it was almost too mature looking for her and I am not sure why I thought that, at the time but I think I must have gotten scared….. the realization that my baby sister is all grown up…..yes, it scares me haha I can still remember Mamabear and Papabear bring her home wrapped in a pink blanket, ready to show her off to my sisters’ and I <3.

paparazziii attack =P she was in such a hurry that we couldn’t take much photos of the complete look but you can imagine how pretty her dress/make up/ hair was. I did her hair too =)

So that was that, this grad photo shoot was with her group of friends. I really think the youthful and slightly brighter colored eye makeup, gave her a really fun twist yet still allowed her to match the classic styled green dress. When I finished my sister’s make up and took a picture to make sure her make up was all in check…..I teared up a little because I finally realized the beautiful young women she was blossoming into. I know I am so mushy but, I really couldn’t help but get teary eyed and a little achy in my heart cause to me, she is still that little girl I use to give piggy back rides, the little girl that would fall down an scrape her knee and I would be there to wipe her tears and put a bandage on her- telling her everything will be okay. I still can’t believe she is graduating from high school. And I can’t believe I got to do her make up for her—it was so much fun!

SECOND GRAD PHOTO SHOOT (SELF-PORTRAITS)

The next photos are of her personal grad photo shoots which happened a week after the group photo shoot. This time she wore a strapless black dress and requested for a different eye look cause she thought the other one was too bright for a black dress (which is correct! she is learning fast :p). She requested for a smokey eye and if that was her wish and request, I was going to honor that and no go with what I want ^_^ I think she loved this look more so than the one with green emerald color eye look with her green dress.

Silver/Glittery Black Smoked-Out Eye Look

close up and it looks like her lashes are falling off but there not! I swear! camera flash is so strong that it makes the falsie lash line look clear >.<

she’s a swimmer and is super active in sports therefore, she could probably kick my ass in that super toned body of hers =)

And this is her whole outfit look:

she is always all smilez =D

Do you guys see that huge squash in the back? it weighs 50LBS according to my parents because they grew it in our own backyard  =) My parents have a lovely vegetable garden that feeds the entire family and our neighbors, delicious vegetables such as lettuce, Italian zucchinis, Chayote (south American Mexican vegetable), winter melon, baby tomatoes and just a whole bunch of different kinds of vegetables. My sister’s and I are extremely blessed and lucky because my parent’s garden keeps providing love through vegetables. There is so much love and care put into the garden; my sisters and I have fresh organic veggies to eat every single day.

STUNNING!!! =) I love the dress, the hair and of course the make up =) and YES she is really my sister!

This girl is the sweetest girl you will ever meet and I am so proud and honored to be her sister. She, along with my family are by far my greatest blessings. I am not going to lie though, she drives the whole family crazy some times and borrows my stuff without asking (haha ^_^) but when it comes down to the real deal, she always has my back and is always supportive of me. So thank you Mamabear and Papbear for her =)

One last mushy comment I promise, but SISTERS FOREVER =D