Bleach Concept Covers!!!

As I was browsing for Bleach ending and opening themes last night, I came across an album that was released last December called Bleach Concept Covers. It’s an album where the Japanese voice actors sing some of the opening and ending themes from the anime! I nearly had a heart attack from sudden happiness right then and there!

Not surprisingly, some voice actors are wonderful singers. Check out this version of Thank You sung by the voice actors of Hisagi and Tosen. They sound almost identical to the original.

Then there’s this disaster by Aizen and Hinamori.

Aizen is just down. right. creepy. They need to make the song a key higher or something for the poor guy. I feel like he must be gasping for breath after every phrase.

My fav:

Byakuya and Renji!!! ♥

Kawaii iPhone photo app!

I know, I know, I’m not 12 anymore…but who says one has to be little to love fiddling with cute photo effects right? ^.^ You know those Japanese photo booths where you go in and have your photo taken, then you have what seems like endless choices to decorate your photos? Super 可愛い right!!!

If you have an iPhone, check this out: DECOPIC iPhone app. No more trying to sneak into those photo booths for fear of being laughed at (seriously, I do feel rather silly using those photo booths along with high school children)! Just take a photo and use that app to add stamps, glitter, frames, and words to create a photo that looks absolutely 可愛い!

Here’s a sample of me:

Wahahahaha! There are tonnes of other cute things you can add to your photos, just don’t overdo it!

By the way–totally unrelated–what’s up with WordPress’ new look?? It’s so difficult to get to my dashboard from wordpress.com. What happened to the old user-friendly drop down menu? I want that back!!!

A proper review: Bobbi Brown Illuminating Finish Powder Compact Foundation

Back in July, I gave a preliminary review of Bobbi Brown’s Illuminating Finish Powder Compact Foundation. When I wrote that post I’ve only used it for a few days so I can say that I can give a better review of it now.

By the way, I’ve again changed the color of the foundation…this time from Warm Sand to Sand, which is a shade lighter. Thank god for Sephora’s return policy. So many MUAs told me that Sand is too light, but c’mon…it’s NOT too light…it’s a perfect match to my skin! What’s with the fondness with looking tan in the face?? NOT a good look for Asians, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, on to the actual review.

Let me just begin by saying, I really really love this foundation. First of all, the texture is just amazing. It’s light and soft. It goes on very smoothly and looks natural on my face. Even with a couple of layers, it doesn’t look cakey. It doesn’t provide much coverage, so to me it’s more of a finishing layer than an actual foundation, you know? My HG finishing layer used to be Bobbi Brown’s Sheer Finish Pressed Powder (which is awesome), but it’s more, ah, powdery and can become visible on the skin if layered on.

On that note,  I still have to use concealer for blemishes, but that’s fine with me because I don’t like having a thick layer of foundation that completely covers my face anyway. You can get medium coverage if you put on a few layers, and it doesn’t look cakey. However if you want to have heavy coverage, this foundation is not for you.

Another thing I noticed is that with my daily application for close to 2 months now, there’s still a lot left in the pan. Usually my pressed powder would’ve hit pan by this time—yeah I use a lot, hehe. So even though this foundation costs slightly more than the pressed powder, if you factor in how long it lasts, it actually turns out more cost-effective in the long run.

Do I recommend this foundation? You bet!

Mascara Haul from Malaysia

One observation…mascaras are expensive in Malaysia! If you ignore currency conversion, RM50 plus is a huge price to pay for a mascara.

Ever since I read about Majolica Majorca, I’ve been aching to get my hands on one. The Lash Expander Frame Plus, to be specific. I got one at Watson’s at Queensbay Mall. Then, I went into Sasa and surprisingly found dejavu mascaras for sale there. Remember how I had to scout on eBay for dejavu Fiberwig? It was right there, rows of them! Much as I wanted to stock up (Fiberwig is my current HG), I only got the other mascara, Lash Knockout.

I love Majolica Majorca’s packaging…it’s so pretty! I was especially intrigued by the unusual shape of the brush, too. Lash Knockout, on the other hand, looked like a middle-age version of Fiberwig.

So here’s a comparison of the brushes of these 3 mascaras:

Dejavu Fiberwig

Dejavu Lash Knockout

Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus

Based on their descriptions, Lash Knockout is a volumizing mascara, while Lash Expander Frame Plus is supposed to “create an eyeliner effect”. Umm, okay.

Here’s a short summary of my thoughts after using them…

Lash Knockout does add some volume to my skinny lashes, but it tends to clump more than Fiberwig. I guess it’s not a fair comparison since they’re designed to serve different purposes. The texture is pretty much the same–it goes on dry-ish and you can see the fibers clearly on the brush. I like how it’s just as easy to remove as Fiberwig. Warm water, and poof it’s gone! I find that I get the best oomph effect if I use both together.

Lash Expander…now, I have mixed feelings about this one. Texture-wise, my first impression is that it’s very wet–or I should say, watery. It looked gorgeous on my lashes, lengthened and volumized (though it leans more towards lengthening) them, but there are 2 downsides: 1) it stings my eyelids, and 2) it’s hella hard to remove! And I mean seriously difficult to remove! I tried my usual Clinique Rinse-Off Eye-makeup Solvent and it didn’t budge one bit. Then I used Estee Lauder’s Take It Away Total makeup remover, which is supposed to remove waterproof makeup, and it still took me a while to remove it! In the end I think I lost about 3 lashes in the process~ :’( Eyeliner effect? Unfortunately it stings my eyes too much for me to try applying it too close to my eyelids, so…pffft.

So, my verdict is that Fiberwig is still my HG for everyday use, and I will combine it with Lash Knockout for special occasions. I might try Lash Expander on and off to see if it always stings, but for now it’s definitely not my go-to mascara.

Hello Hong Kong!

Due to lame planning, I am now sitting at Hong Kong International Airport, awaiting my flight to Penang, which is scheduled to take off in 7.5 hours. All in all, I will be spending close to 10 hours in this airport. Thank goodness for free wifi and over 25 hours of Bleach anime!

The flight to KL, which I would've been on if I had planned better :p

Happy birthday to me ^.^v

8 more minutes (and counting down as I write this post) and I will be officially 10,220 days old! I never get tired of birthdays! Turning old? Presents and cakes? Bring it on!!! ^.^

Nel, finalized

Nel was super fun to draw! I worked on her over Friday and part of Saturday and finally completed her. This time I used a different type of coloring style on Sketchbook Pro – previously I used paint and blended to mimic watercolor (Hisagi and Shuuhei), then used spray paint (Ulquiorra). This time I used paint and didn’t blend, so it’s typical anime-style drawing.

The finalized sketch looks like what I’ve posted in my previous post so I’ll skip that. I used the elliptical ruler to draw her sword, but everything else was drawn free-hand, so you can see slight trembling here and there. :p Shaky hands, hehe. Wasn’t coffee, I swear. Be glad I’m not your surgeon.

In the process of inking Nel

Here’s the challenge…spot what’s wrong in the screenshot!

… *tick* … *tick* … *tick* …

Check out her hand!

If you didn’t notice it in the first screenshot, I’m sure you can tell in this one. Her hand and sword hilt are mismatched! Her thumb is where the hilt of the sword should be…yikes! Such a big mistake! Can’t imagine how I didn’t notice that in the sketch and while inking! OTZ <– This, by the way, I learned from Sin Yee and Keng Yee…it’s a stick figure of a person bowing low on his knee. Cute, ya?

Sword corrected

Thank goodness for digital art and layers! Since the sword was drawn on a layer on its own, what I did to fix this was to move, scale, and rotate the layer, then do a little damage control afterwards.

So finally, the finished piece:

Nel, completed

Nel, continued

Wasn’t very productive today, but did manage to get Nel’s face done in the sketch. Usually a character’s facial features are the most difficult part for me, so I always kind of dread that. Surprisingly Nel proved to be a good character to draw, her features are soft and relatively easy to capture.

Adding facial features

I’m going to call it a night while feeling pleased with myself. :p

I missed you, Sketchbook Pro

After drawing Uryuu using Manga Studio Debut 4, I realized how much I love Sketchbook Pro. It so versatile and the UI is so uncluttered. The best thing is the smoothness of the lines I draw. Maybe it’s just a rendering problem, but the lines in Manga Studio appear so pixelated! So back to Sketchbook Pro I go for drawing and coloring. I will still use Manga Studio, though, for the stuff that I need such as patterns, speech bubbles and panels.

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve mostly drawn male characters from Bleach. I drew Rukia in my first Bleach drawing, but like all first attempts, it could use lots of improvements. Beng requested that I draw a female character next. One with lots of boobs. That leaves us Matsumoto Rangiku, Inoue Orihime, and Nel Tu…. *drumroll* So…my next project is Nel Tu!

Here’s what I’ve done tonight:

Screenshot of sketch in Sketchbook pro

With that, I’m signing off for the night!

I guess I really like dinosaurs

A year ago (Wow! Has it really been a year already??) I had a vivid dream of being stranded on an island with dinosaurs. Last night I had another dream about dinosaurs, but it was WAY cooler than my previous dream. So in my dream last night…

A world (from another dimension?) of dinosaurs opened up and fearsome dinosaurs overran our world! They destroyed everything in their path, including eating people (doh?). Troops of soldiers were formed to kill the dinosaurs, and I was a soldier in one of the troops that got deployed for a mission. It was like being in the Halo game, or any other first-person shooter game. I remember carrying a huge gun (at one point the gun was purple!) and a light brown backpack that had straps across the chest and stomach. It was so awesome blowing away dinosaurs! There was this one species that was green, shaped like a T-rex, with the size of a Velociraptor. Except, it behaves like a Dilophosaurus…and spits poison from its mouth. Thank you Jurassic Park!

Halfway through our mission, I received word that my village had been overrun by dinosaurs and flash flood. Panicked, I rushed back to my house and found it to be empty. At this point there’s this weird sub-story about my brother being a vampire, but I’ll skip that part because it’s so absurd and unrelated to dinosaurs. So anyway, after our mission, we headed back to camp. Strangely, the camp was situated in the other world…and there were dinosaurs there too! Except those dinosaurs seemed to live along humans in peace. Doesn’t make sense!

The first thing I did when I got back to camp was to search for my family, and turned out they managed to flee the flood in time and were now living at the camp. I took my brother on a tour around the camp, showing him the different dinosaurs. I remember clearly telling him to beware of the green dinosaur which behaved like a Dilophosaurus. Apparently this was a new world and so far we have only encountered a small set of the living creatures in the world, and I felt sure that there were other species out there which we have yet to see. Just as I thought that, someone yelled out and pointed at a tree far away. There was a huge blue bird that looked like a parakeet perched on the tree…I told the guy to stop yelling so that we don’t attract the bird’s attention, but it was too late! The bird flew over to us and landed on me. Doh.

As I fell to the ground on my back, soldiers around me immediately pulled out their guns and aimed at the bird. I held the bird back with my hands and yelled “Stand down! Stand down! Cease fire!”. I guess I was a commander of some sort? Super cool. As I wrestled the bird I was thinking that there had to be benevolent species of creatures in this world, so I didn’t want to rashly shoot the (potentially) innocent animal…

Then…I woke up.

How cool is that?!