Play! by Sephora: September

Woo another snazzy month of Play! Subscribing to talk about :)

wearing all of this month's box goodies (even post-hair treatment)

This month's theme was 'Anything But Ordinary' (featuring a lipstick themed bag), and I would say this one was a pretty solid win.

 I'm also definitely still in love with these little descriptor pamphlets which are always a treat and totally helpful and bring me so much joy to look through.  

Ok, i'm definitely way happier this month for a few reasons- 1) i was finally able to RSVP for the Play date at my closest Sephora–Something i literally haven't been able to do since i started getting the boxes–so I'm super stoked about that. 2) there was another Atelier Cologne which while i would of course prefer to try a new brand, I'm borderline obsessed with these fragrances and the packaging even the testers come in. 3) EVERYTHING but one small item is totally new to me, and that one thing is actually something i love. Woohoo! Complete success. So let's dive in!

Sephora Collection Rouge Shine Lipstick in Love Spell:

Lipstick IS MY JAM so getting another lipstick in a box is awesome. But ok, Make Up For Ever has totally ruined me for regular lipsticks because this does in no way stack up to the Artist Rouge collection. I also really don't love the color as this is basically a basic baby pink–like Barbie status– and i'm a bit too fair for that. The texture is fine, there are just better out there, and the flavor/scent is a nice fruity one that really isn't overbearing or offensive, it's super shiny without any sparkle, and I'm basically a child with my lipstick, so this doesn't really do it for me. But in all fairness Sephora brand always puts out a solid product and this is no exception. I'd probably be more into it if i liked the color, but this seems like something you could wear even with chapped lips and feel nice about it, as it doesn't seem thick and opaque, more sheer and soft.
0/1

Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper:



I Love KVD products, I really do. I am not the biggest fan of like 'pen' or 'marker' eyeliners though, so while i've heard a million great thing about this, I never tried it out, so it was super to have it in this month's box. Now, I've tried Stila's marker (which everyone raves about), UD's new Perversion pen (which is actually amazing), and now this, so I feel like I can compare them; Stila's formula is really nice, it goes on smooth and dark–i don't love the applicator and it did wear off of my oily lids pretty easily; UD's new Perversion Fine Point Pen is SO DARK, the pigmentation is to die for, and the longevity is fierce–it's totally waterproof and holds up really well if you don't rub your eyes; KVD's brush however has no equal- the fact it's a brush instead of a felt tip is stupid awesome and goes on so smooth and crisp omg. The Only drawback with KVD is it's just not dark enough. The black is so light and not as opaque as i prefer, but this applicator brush is fantastic and i got The Best lines with it.
1/2 because the brush is too good, and i think in other colors this would be a lot of fun.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Gel:



This is the one item I'd already tried before and actually use on the daily. It's a great product that works amazingly well with absolutely no residue, no flaking, and a totally non-crispy lovely finish. This is THE clear setting brow gel to own/use, so while it's not a new item for me, it's not a negative.
2/3 – i'm giving it a point cuz it's a great product, not due to excitement.

Atelier Cologne Collection Azul-Sud Magnolia:



This gets two pictures cuz i love it.
Sephora is continuing to REALLY impress me with these fragrance samples...this is the second one I've gotten in a box from this brand and i am JUST AS IN LOVE with it as the first! At this point i actually don't know which scent i need to go buy and permanently add to my arsenal of perfume. It's so light yet has a really lovely presence, they're just killing it with these unisex scents. Also, I really can't get enough of the little description cards that accompany the samples, they completely evoke some beautiful feeling and just give a whole story behind the fragrance that is so compelling i want to wear it constantly.
3/4

Ole Henriksen Sheer Transformation:



This moisturizer might even be better than the Lancome gel from last month under makeup. I seriously had such flawless coverage that lasted ALL day with absolutely no flaking or separation, nor oiliness i usually get midday! It absorbed into my skin quickly, made it smooth and soft to the touch without any feeling of greasiness, so was great before even applying any foundation. This is an incredible product, so while i am pretty set in my ways for my current moisturizer, this might have replaced all of my foundation priming needs.
4/5

Living Proof Perfect Hair Night Cap Overnight Perfector:



I have used Living Proof in the past, and while i've had ok results, i just haven't really found a standout product that just really does it for me from them. This product definitely delivered what it promised on the quick absorption and pillow-safety–my hair felt dry immediately after application and my pillow couldn't tell the difference. But after using it, i can say my hair was a bit softer, although frizzier, and my normal detangled that i use didn't work at all while i was trying to dry my hair, which has pretty much never happened before, so i would have to say this had an impact. I don't know that this is best for curly-haired people because of the frizziness and tangling i experienced, so this is something i definitely won't go back for.
4/6

I'm really happy this box gave me a lot more hope for boxes to come, as I have a great time trying new things, and it's always fun to find gems you never would have given a chance before! can't wait for next month, especially since it's my favorite month! WOOHOOOOOOOO

AX 2 0 1 6!

So i know it's been s few weeks and i'm just now getting to this, but largely cuz Anime Expo was basically overwhelming, i've been crazy busy with other cosplays (and pokemon go let'sbereal), and I still haven't seen or gotten back most of the group cosplay pix, so I was really holding off. But anyway, might as well just get into it.

This was the first con we went to where we got full 4-day passes (wow) and we couldn't even hang for all 4 days. like holy shit, there were SO MANY people and SO MANY things to do. we went to only one panel, and that was seriously the calmest aspect of the weekend, but overall everything was way too long of lines, or completely full, so we mostly walked around.

Almost all of the cons we've been to have been at the LA Convention Center, so we feel like we know the lay of the land pretty well at this point, but i will say this seemed to be one of the more disorganized cons. No one who worked there had any information, it took us almost an hour to even find where to pick up our badges, paths to get form one end to the other were constantly blocked with no notice because apparently if there's a line no one can go near it. but there also weren't any ropes or anything marking lines, so it was kind of crazy. And my friend was DJing Friday night for a 21+ event that we wanted to go to, but it was held in such a small location, we stood in line for an hour before we decided it wasn't going to happen- they were at capacity within 30 mins of the event starting. So definitely they could have used some better planing.
But overall, what an experience!

So, Day 1:

Boyfriend and I cosplayed as Sins- he as Ban, the Fox sin of Greed from Seven Deadly Sins (a super great Netflix original anime) and I went as Lust from Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (cuz who even cares about the regular version *emo hair flip*). We'd been working on these outfits for a while, and while they mostly came together, my shoes were WAY too painful, it was hot as balls for what we were wearing, and my wig was a mess very quickly. So we planned to regroup and fix everything by the next day, as there were meetups for our chosen animes on Sunday, but that didn't really happen.... We walked around the main hall most of the day, with tons of people taking pix of boyfriend and his mega-sweet cosplaly, we met up with my friend who was cosplaying the Great Fairy from Zelda, and mostly just walked around doing pictures (I was boyfriend's bag bitch) and looking at all the goodies and booths. We didn't even make it to the artist alley. But we took a breather, went and changed and had dinner with our friends before coming back to try to go to my other friend's DJ gig, but that definitely didn't work out. So then wound up drinking our sorrows and sore feet away across the street, vowing the next day would work out better.

For my Lust, I used InstaMold (off Amazon) to create the claws, bought opera-length gloves and a regular length to make the claws work, sewed on/hot glued all the red strips, made the circles, velcro-d a corset to this dress, got this rad ouroborus temp tattoo from BadWolf Cosplay on Etsy, and worked on the wig a bit. also got purple contacts, so i'll redo this cosplay at another time to really make it look good.

Derek's Ban jacket was by Black Milk, pants from Amazon, and wig from EpicCosplay wigs. I styled his wig, and he stitched all the buttons on the pants and jacket. His tattoo was also from some Japanese site, but placement of it with the jacket it rubbed off a lot :(

Day 2:
We did not get our shit together. No cosplays, didn't leave the house til 2, basically completely bailed on everything, and were walking around like hungover zombies who defintiely didn't drink enough for this shit. We made it through the artist alley (which was literally hell--i think it was hotter in there than outside) just to hit up one booth i wanted to catch in particular, and mostly hung out with my friend while people clamored to take pix of her. We called it a day semi-early intending to really get our cosplays together, but mostly just collapsed at home.

Day 3:
Started off promising. we got up and started getting ready, intending to make our outfits Top Notch, but it went rapidly downhill as it turns out we don't really know how to use Ben Nye scar shit or liquid latex, i got frustrated/angry trying to put scars on boyfriend, decided contacts weren't going to work with all that shit on my fingers, so eventually threw our hands up, gave up, and decided to nail our cosplays for monday. Fuck all that noise. Our friends came over and we had an epic cosplay night of getting our lives together for our red group cosplay the next day. Lots of alcohol was consumed and it was a success.

progress shot of bf

Day 4:

I like to think we nailed this one. We got up early since it was the short day at the con, got ready, looked fab, had a starbucks trip, the boy forgot his pass so went back for that, and then we were on our way! this group thing looked rad and i can't wait to see the rest of the pix we took as they're not all up online yet, but overall we had a fantastic time and looked amazing. I would love to do another group cosplay, just cuz it was awesome having an army of us looking so damn cool.

I painted both of our jackets (boyfriend's came out way better), bought two adorable pins from Hot Topic, found these rad rose patches from JoAnn, got this yellow tartan set from Deandri, both wigs from EpicCosplay but I styled the long-ass one for me, and the pièce de résistance- these fucking rad temp tattoos from Seventh Skin on Etsy. I feel like Etsy finds were pretty much the MVPs of our cosplays. These were so much fun to put together and we put a ton of work into distressing the jean material. I could barely walk after this second round of heels, but it was totally worth it. I only have pix from Gil Photography right now, but will add as I see them. 

Will def do Anime Expo in the future, cuz I had so much fun despite how intense it was. Next up is Nerd Con in Escondido then Anime California, followed by LBCC and Comikaze. Whew, it's going to be a lot hahaha, i hope I'm up for it.... ;)

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