Take a walk, take a rest, taste the rest

A couple days ago, for the first time in my life, I met another Doris. She was a lovely old lady, and told me that seeing a younger person named Doris made her feel less ancient. My dad actually named me after Doris Day (who was an actress and singer and now at 90 years old is still an animal rights activist) who was named after Doris Kenyon (a silent screen star). To this day, I am still under the impression that my name is rather grandmotherly – but I am sure, had I lived in the 30s, it would have been a popular name at the time.

On an entirely different topic...I have to thank my friend for introducing me to Kiehl's Olive Fruit Oil shampoo and conditioner. I was having exceptionally dry hair/scalp this winter and this really revitalized my hair and soothed my seemingly inflamed scalp. She also added that it was quite popular with asians, I can see why! So yep, if anyone else is having this problem, I highly suggest you test this line out!

P.s. I'm terrified of walking my dog because of all the coyote sightings in the area behind my house :(. 

graham & spencer sweater
feather necklace from ebay
tart skirt
bag from loveien9
charles albert leopard wedges

Topbox January 2013

For the January Topbox, it was completely Clinique-based. I actually just got it today which is rather late and was again, severely disappointed when I opened it. You know, I'm thinking that instead of hoping I will get an exciting luxury sample, I am probably better off saving my money to buy the exact item I want. But yeah, I do believe I will be cancelling my subscription. No more beauty boxes for me haha.

Out of Clinique's many many products, I was  praying on the off chance I would not be sent skin-related products. As good as their moisture surge cream is, I try my best to avoid Clinique's other skin products as they don't work too horribly well on me. Although I have heard that their chubby sticks are good, I already have way too many lip products.

P. s. I also heavily swatched the eyeshadow duo for your viewing pleasure, mine is in shade "strawberry duo" and I found it rather hard to build an intense colour. But the pink does have a slight golden sheen that is much more apparent in person.

Rinse Off Eye Makeup Solvent
Make it a clean sweep, from lashes to brows. Or use for on-the-spot makeup fixes. Oil-free. Full Size: $25 (125mL)

Clarifying Lotion
Formulated to help lift the world's impurities to create healthier, younger skin. Full Size: $16 (200mL), $27 (400mL)

Colour Surge Eye Shadow Duo
Go-together shades of silky, easy-to-blend colour in a chrome slide compact. Full size: $25 (2.5g). Shade: Strawberry fudge duo

Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector
Comparable to a leading drug ingredient in visibily reducing dark spots by 58% in 12 weeks. Full Size: $63 (30mL), $93 (50mL)

The Artist In Us

I've been having these random rushes of creative drives recently that just needed to be satisfied. I used to divert these creative drives to designing, doodling, sketching, painting, and whatever I could lay my hands on. It's not until recently that I've realized I can use people, a camera, makeup, and clothing to bring out whatever images I saw in my head.

Doris and I wanted to create this look for some time now. Fierce, masculine, but with a hint of femininity. We whipped out our white dress shirts, black blazers, and the rest came together.

I was going through my dad's closet for a bow tie...but all I could find were boring colours, and silly ties with Snoopy or Flintstone print. Therefore, I used a ribbon belt from my shorts as my tie...I guess there's never any boundaries for being creative. For Doris' outfit, the ruffle of her dress shirt totally completes the look!

On the makeup: A general makeup rule is to either only focus on the eyes or the lips. I decided to bend the rules a bit by having the focal point of this look on both the eyes and the lips. Oh, and I also didn't want the look to be too original (with the red lips accompanying the black and white outfit), so I decided to have some white and silver streaks added to our hair. The results came out to be pretty edgy!

 Left: Carmen                                            Right: Doris

Makeup, hair, creative directing: Carmen

Photography and styling: Doris and Carmen

PS: Here's our instagram if any of you wanna take a peek at the randomest things we like to take pictures of:

Doris: dgsf_

Carmen: carmen010491

Have a great week everyone!



Somebody said to me

Most of you are probably already familiar with Alyssa from the Ordinary People's blog. We went to high school together, and yes, I can attest to her being fashionable then too ;). We ended up getting together this past thursday for a shoot. Not only did she wait patiently for us to get ready, it was so comfortable, like we were just hanging out. I have to admit, I had doubts because I am so camera shy, but it was quite fun. Thanks so much for all you've done for us!

Blogging is something I’ve tried a long time ago but never followed through. Never would I think anyone would want to hear or see what I do with my time. I used to write something and then save it as a draft. One of the main reasons being the writing process itself burnt me out of whatever emotion I was carrying so intensely. It was so therapeutic that sometimes I didn’t even save what I wrote as draft. And if I did happen to save, I’d go back, reread and find so many flaws with my logic. Not that I don’t have eye bags now, but during my insomniac state, they were hands down the worst. I had too many thoughts in my head, ideas, emotions, feelings that I couldn’t liberate. I felt consumed and choked. But really, that was just another kind of outlet blogging helped me with.

This blog started out as a creative outlet for Carmen and I (still is), and no matter how you look at it, we are just everyday normal girls that have an interest in fashion and makeup. But…you came here for the pictures, so enough of my rambling. First couple of pictures as well as the last one are some of our favourites edited by Alyssa, you can see the complete shoot here



















On Doris: Cardigan-Sheinside, White tank- Alternative apparel, shorts- Forever 21, Shoes- Jeffrey Campbell Tripoli

On Carmen: Jacket- H&M, shirt- Forever 21, Blouse- thrifted, scarf & bag- Gifted from Asia, Shoes- Jeffrey Campbell Spiked Litas in Mint

Makeup by Carmen

All photos by Alyssa Lau

Happy Birthday to... Me!!!

Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Years, everyone!!! So as Doris has mentioned, I had many relatives over from Asia during the holidays, so sorry for the lack of posts. Anyways, I recieved some pretty cool gifts this year, and a good majority are art tools (AKA makeup)!

I was rushing to work on boxing day, so I didn't really have time to shop around. However, I did come across this Caudalie set from sephora. I just had to snatch it because of the great deal. The set retails at a value of $66, but is sold at Sephora for $38 (as labelled on the box). I got the set for $12 on boxing day. Pretty sweet! I'll be trying this product out for the next few weeks. So far, I've been using it for the past week and I'm loving it. One of my favorite thing about this set is the serum! It comes in a cute bottle with an eye-dropper. Even when you finish with the serum, you can save the bottom for travel usage because of it's portable size. Also, there's nothing but a sweet, natural scent to this set, which is good for me because I'm not exactly a fan of heavily scented skin care products. The set includes from left to right: 

1x Cleansing water (50mL)
1x Vinoperfect Radiance Serum (10mL)
1x Eye and lip cream (7mL)
1x Quenching sorbet-creme (10mL)

My cousin got this Nails Inc. set for me for Xmas. So far, I'm in love with the red. You pretty much need one to two coats for a full coverage glitter look. The rainbow colored glitter (middle) can be used  on any color because the glitters are not too fine. I used the black (left) by itself last week, and it chipped the day after. Maybe it was because I was lazy enough to skip the application of top coat. Oops. I'll give it another try. From left to right:

Disco Lane
Soho Street
Covent Garden Market

This Burberry Complete Eye Palette in Dark Spice No.5 is perfect for me because of my lack of darker neutral shades. The packaging is gorgeous and comes with 3 mini brushes as well. I can pretty much just stare at the colors the entire day. Thanks for the gift, Doris!

The Make Up For Ever flash palette is highly pigmented. I highly recommend this for any artists out there who love creative makeup looks. The colors are creamy, smooth, and a little bit goes a long way. I'll be doing some creative works with this palette, so keep an eye out!

The swatches here just don't do justice on how amazing the colors look in real life! My favorite colors are the gold, turquoise, coral, fushia, and silver. Ok, I'm gonna actually get my lazy butt off my chair and clean my room. I can't even see my carpet. Once again, Happy New Years! Stay healthy and joyous, people! God bless =)

PS: There's actually a few more palettes I recieved from some close friends that I'd like to share. I promise I'll do so next time!