Been a while now

It's been a while now that I posted anything. I went for my 2nd ultrasound which was a pretty quick one since the ultrasound tech just need to get some good pictures of what she missed the last visit. I got more pictures but with the moved, it's currently being stored somewhere. I just had my 26 week appointment yesterday and baby's fine...test came back for down syndrome okay. She's a lot more active lately and I've been experiencing tons of back ache + round ligament pain. Still haven't bought any baby items yet and don't plan to until I'm a bit closer to the due date which is only 3 month away! Hubby still can't believed that this pregnancy is going to so fast and I'm already approaching my 3rd trimester.

After my appointment yesterday, I decided to stop my dollar tree to get my 2 & 3/12 year old balloons since they've been wanting one. I found tons of milani lip products that I just had to buy. About a month before that I bought a few of their nail polish too. Just took some pictures BUT my small camera is not cooperating at all! Well, actually the usb cord that's connected to the computer. It's charging the camera but would not connect to the computer....couldn't read it at all. So I guess we'll just had to wait till I figure a way to upload my pictures onto the laptop. I used the sd slot before but the last time I used it, it was really really slow and ruin tons of my pictures.

18 weeks and found out gender!

I just had my ultrasound today and found out that I'm having a girl! Everything went fine since I got a call from my midwife today but just needed to go back for another ultrasound since they couldn't measure everything (baby kept moving). I was told that baby is fine so I shouldn't worry about a thing.



The ultrasound tech couldn't get a clear shot of baby's face since she kept covering herself. There was another picture where she bend her leg and cover the left side of her face while her right arm cover the other side.

Down below is the picture of baby waving hi. She was moving her fingers looking at us.



These pictures belong to me. I crop the picture since there's some of my personal info on there.

2 new addition to family!

On friday, I did some research on parakeet. I used to have one back in highschool but it die 2 weeks later. I feel really bad, blaming myself that I didn't take good care of it so I haven't own a pet since then. Finally doing more research on parakeet, I decided to get one with the permission of my husband since it'll be living with us. Right when my husband came home from work, I ask him if we could get a parakeet. It took him a while (about 10 min) but he could never say no to me (I'm spoiled rotten by him). This time we decided to get 2 parakeet instead of one.

How we choose our parakeets?
   There were 3 different color parakeets at the time when we went to petco. There were light blues with light blue feather, light blue with dark feather, and green. Just looking at them, everyone of them seem distant from one another. They're not even playing with one another except for 2. These 2 were flying and playing with one another. They were grooming each other. Instead do getting one, we got those 2 to keep each other company that way they're not too lonely. My son wanted a green one but we decided to just get those 2 for now to see how things goes.

The two that we got were 3 months and hand fed. They are still scare of us but a little use to the surrounding since they're eating more often and coming up front staring at us. Our family is HUGE (family of 7) and loud but it doesn't seem to bothered them one bit. I also noticed that they're talking to one another. They would look at one another and start talking (not chirping). It usually happen when we have the T.V. on or I'm watching something on my laptop. If I pause it for a bit, they will know and stop talking. I just can't wait till I can start taming them!

                                              (One with blue nose, the other pink nose)










Another news is that I will be finding out the gender of my baby next month! I'm super excited! I see all these baby clothes and those that are on sales but can't buy any since I don't know the sex of the baby. So far I'm 14 weeks and my nauseous has been getting better. I now have more energy than a few weeks ago. I am still nauseous from time to time which I can only eat certain things but with those medication that my midwife prescribe me, I don't puke everything out anymore. So ladies, if you're nauseous and can barely keep anything down, have your doctor or midwife prescribe you some nauseous medication. They are pricey but worth it. Last but not least, I'm just so lucky for have my husband cooked for the family while I'm in this "condition". I have not been cooking since Jan. nor have been cleaning up the place so it's a mess but now with a bit more energy, usually in the morning, I do clean up till I start to feel like I'm gonna wear out, that's when I stop and rest.

Nyx Cosmetic orders from Hautelook

I order Nyx eyeshadow set from Hautelook.com about 2 months ago. It took about 3 weeks before they were shipped out but overall I was pretty happy about the packaging. A while back I ordered Pixie and the packaging weren't so good. There was only a sheet of bubble wrap that wraps everything together which result of having damage eyeshadow. With Nyx, everything was bubble wrap individually along with extra just as a precaution.


The first one is Waiting for Tonight. My 22 month somehow was very fast and got her hands on it so it's a bit messy but this is the one that I use often compared to the others.

Down below will be close up and swatches of each eyeshadow.

                                                         These are the brow powder.

                                                               Blush and Bronzer

As you can see, I was expecting the blush to the left to be a darker pink but it turns out to be lighter then the one in the center.

Overall, since this one is smaller than the others that I got and have brow powder, I tend to reach out for this one often. The eyeshadow are pretty pigmented except for some but if you compare it with the elf, the quality for nyx eyeshadow is a bit better...it feels creamy although it does have fallouts. The only problem that I experience with this one compare to the other palettes that I got is that it won't close! From what I mean, it does close but does not snap close at all. It's the only thing that bothers me the most which means that if I do carry it around in my purse or makeup bag, I will have to tape it shut.


I will be updating the others that I got which will be the soho glam collection, makeup artist kit, and the spring fling later on when I can edit the pictures since the one above are a bit unorganized. I was going to put each picture side by side but couldn't do it without messing anything up so just left it like that.



2/24/2013

I'm finally able to put up the rest of the pictures that I took although it did took me some time since I'm not feeling so well.



 NYX Soho Glam Collection

 NYX Makeup Artist Kit

I didn't do any swatches but they're pretty pigmented like the ones above and some fallouts.

 NYX Spring Fling

       This one is my least favorite out of the others above. I was expecting the colors to pigmented with a slight pop to it but they're really sheer and barely noticeable when on the eyelids. The only thing that I like out of this has to be the blush. Other than that, it's a waste of money if you're thinking about getting this one.

 

Good news, bad news, swatches

I haven't been good at updating my blog and there's just so much things going on. I have good news for my family but have not update them on anything so far and am going to wait until next week after my appointment. There were bad news a few weeks ago from one of my sister in law. She and her husband was really excited about having another girl to complete their family but things weren't going too good after their ultrasound. I'm not too sure of the condition but basically their baby will be disable if born...she might not be able to talk normally or walk...or even live long enough so they had to make a decision during that week before my sister in law goes too far out into her pregnancy. It was really hard for them to make a decision but they decided to not keep her so that she won't suffer when born. It's really heart breaking since no parents want to go through that and usually when it comes to pregnancy, we all usually expect things to turn out beautifully but sometimes there are things that won't always go right and we have to make a decision for ourselves. This has made me appreciate my family more as I'm very bless to have 5 healthy kids. It's because of what happen to them that I'm quietly laying down low before telling anyone about my good news since I don't want to barge in giving the news after their loss. Aside from this, last month I got 2 good deals on Physician Formula at Sears when I visit my parent. They were on sale for $2.75 so why not get it and try out some? Just too bad that some were out of stock but I was lucky enough to buy the last of what's there.
 

 I don't have the covered for these anymore but the lipstick supposedly have mood boosting stuff in it. The gel liner are water proof and comes in three colors: brown, black, and purple. It goes on smoothly and is smudge proof. Before trying this, from the price, I prefer using Elf gel liner but now after trying it, I'm going to stick to Physicians Formula. The brush that came along with the gel liner isn't that bad at all.

 I think I mention the elf studio matte lip color before but I'm going to post some swatch of it. I'm completely in love with these although I do wish they come in more colors. As for the cream eyeliner, it's only $3 which I used to use often. The only thing that I would complain about is when buying it at the store sometime you get dried up cream liner...as for the lipstick, sometime they're broken without knowing.

As you can see from the swatch above, the right (or the last swatch) cream black cream liner is the elf and the one at the left is the physician formula. Just comparing the two of them together. The texture is different and Physican Formula is definitely more darker than the elf but overall they're still both smudge proof.

Redbox Instant by Verizon

I got into the Bzzcampaign for RedBox Instant By verizon Campaign which I got a code for the beta testing. Even with the code, I still have to enter a credit card number in order to be able to sign up for an account.
To be honest, I heard of Redbox; I do rent movies from time to time there, but have not heard of Redbox Instant before. It's an online streaming site like Netflix. What's different is that you're given 4 credits to rent movies which I'm not sure if it's online or not but will give it a try in a few days but I'm pretty sure it's only online. It's $8 monthly so typically about the same price as Netflix.

Since I just sign up I'm going to compare it to Netflix. The selections of movies are not that much. If you compare it to to Netflix, Netflix have a whole tons of a lot. Maybe there's only a few due to beta testing? I'm not sure, but netflix still have that 1 month free trial for new subscriber. I was expecting more and different movies than Netflix but was pretty much disappointed.

One thing that they could improve on is for subscribers to be able to stream it on ps3 or xbox. I haven't tried the app yet and already seen bad comments and rating about it. Another thing is subtitles! I have kids and usually when I watch movie, it's never peace and quiet! I be lost without subtitles! Since it's only beta testing they could improve on all those stuff and by adding more variety of movies. I know that Netflix have improve a lot since I've seen Korean Drama (I'm a fan of Korean Dramas!) and other asian movies/Indian on there and hopefully Redbox instant will have some there too. Again, I'm not going to have that much of a high expectation and probably will unsubscribe if nothing's improve yet. I don't want to be paying $8 monthly for just a little variety of selections as my kids watch tv everyday and even if it's with the 4 credits.

UPDATED: 1/17/2013

I was finally able to get the Redbox Instant app on my phone (Galaxy S3) and can finally compare it to the Netflix app.

The first thing I had to do was to put in the invitation code. So if you have one, remember to have your invitation code otherwise you won't be able to log in or watch movie. After that, find the login and log in to it. To be able to watch it you'll have to click subscription; there's also 2 other option which is "at kiosk" or "rent/buy". There are category like online that you can choose from. All I have to say is that I wished there were more movies in the subscription to be able to watch.

Okay....so now the quality comparison.

Redbox Instant: Watchable. There's a pause and play button along with volume.

Netflix: Image quality is clean and crisp. There's a pause/play button along with volume and the choice to put subtitle on or not.

I'm not siding with Netflix but their video quality is way way better than Redbox Instant. At this point I'm positively sure that I will be canceling the Redbox Instant subscription. Hopefully if they improved and have more movies, I might subscribe but for now, it'll just be Netflix.


UPDATED: 1/19/2013

I finally had the chance to use 3 out of my 4 credits that I received for subscribing. All I have to say is that I'm really pleased at how easy it is! I choose 3 movies that I wanted to rent for the night and checkout. Instead of paying, just press the button that says "use credits" and slide your credit/debit card in. It has to be the one that's in your Redbox Instant account in order for it to you to use your credits. So...I saved $3.60 and pay nothing! I'm pleased at how fast and easy it is but would wished for there to be more movies and to be able to stream on the xbox or ps3; otherwise I wouldn't complain about anything else.

Makeups Review

Here are some of the product that I recently just got or had it for a while now. These are mainly drugstore/local store cosmetic since I'm not too big on spending $$ on high end makeups.

The first picture on the left is Rimmel London Blush: Tickle Me Pink. I had another one that has 3 different colors but misplaced it somewhere; otherwise it's somewhere mix up in my makeup bag. I got it on sale at Target for $2.88 and thought it wouldn't hurt me to try it out. Anyways, I LOVE this blush! It's a shimmery pink blush that blend in well and can build up if you want it to pop. As for the other one that I misplaced, I love it too. I'll upload the picture once I find it and have time to.

Next one are the ELF little black/brown book? As with any other Elf's eyeshadow, there are fallouts. The pros and cons are mainly the pigmentation. Some are pretty pigmented while others barely pop up. They were $6 each at Target. I got myself the black one but my husband picked up the brown one for me to try out. Let's just say that these weren't worth it to get.

The bottom one I got it for a while now. I usually have shimmery eyeshadow and wanted matte eyeshadow. I happen to walk by the Physican Formula section at Shopko which was 50% off so I decided to buy it just to try it out. So far, I haven't use any except the bottom right. It's just perfect to fill in my eyebrows or just to contour my nose. It's not too light or too dark for me.

These are Milani cosmetic that I got from K-mart (sorry if I misspelled Milani). Since I don't have the bronzer with me, I don't know the name of it. It's a very very shimmery bronzer so if you prefer matte bronzer then I don't suggest this. I think it looks okay on me but don't use it often since it is pretty shimmery. The next one are their purple eyeshadow. I use Girls Luv Pink all over the lid and just put on black eyeliner. It's a very light purple coloyet very shimmery too. The color don't build up if you keep caking it, you'll get a shimmery eyelid. As for Royalty, it's a gorgeous purple eye shadow with a little shimmer. You can definitely build it up compared to the other one.
Last but not least are the 3 baked blush.  Berry Amore is a darker blush, while Dolce Pink is light but shimmery, and Corallina is kind of light. I have asian fair skin so Berry Amore does look a bit dark on my cheek unless I lightly tap my brush and swipe a bit on my hand before applying it on to my cheeks. Dolce Pink isn't pink at all. It's more like a very light pink highlight but if you build it up, your cheek will definitely look like you got a huge highlight. As for Corallina, I've been wanting a coral blush just to see how it is like on me. I guess Coral blush doesn't agree with my face lol. At first I thought it was going to be pretty pigmented like the other two blush but it's very very light. You have to apply a few time to see a flush of color. The other two feels creamy/powdery while Corallina feels really really dried up.

These are WetnWild's new eyeshadow palette. I got mine at Walgreen for $4.99 each. These are gorgeous colors that I definitely recommend getting. There are fallouts but most are really pigmented. The top one are  their matte eyeshadow. All of them are pretty decent except for the blue and purple. You'll have to build it up to see the color but it still doesn't blend nicely in together. As for the bottom one, the purples are pretty light while the dark blue doesn't blend as nicely as I expected. These are definitely great stocking stuffer or presents.

Same as above, this is also WetnWild's new eyeshadow palette.  The colors are also gorgeous. The left side is pretty light but I'm sure it's buildable. The turquoise is a gorgeous color that really eyecatching but the picture I took doesn't do it justice. At first I wasn't too sure about this palette but after swathing and taking pictures of it, I came to love this and can't wait to try it out!













I did the Maybelline Baby Lips Bzzcampaign a while back and LOVE their baby lips. They're really smooth and moisturizing. These are limited edition which I bought two pack; $7.99 each pack that comes with 2.  1 pack have 2 limited edition while the other 2 pack (I only bought 1) have another limited edition color along with another color that's out already. So.......on to what I got. The first one is the Coral crush which is a light coral/orangy color. The color just show on your lips a bit but doesn't pop out enough to see the orange. It has a hint of orangy tangerine smell and your mouth can definitely taste it (I don't mean it taste like it but when you apply it on it have that hint of orangy tangerine taste). The next one is Twinkle. It's a clear color so don't expect to see anything but it smells like peaches or those asian rose hard candies! The last one came with a limited edition color which is Pink Wink and another color that's out already: Peach Kiss. Pink Wink is a light nude pink color. It smells like bubble gum. It smell sooooo good that even my kids would think that they're edible.
The last one was one sale for $4.89. It's Revlon Grow Lucious eyeliner in Expresso. It's a dark brown color that glide on easily. I haven't tried it on all day so can't really say that it's doesn't smudge or anything but will update.

The last thing that I got from Walgreen last week are two profusion palette which were 99 cents each. I just bought it to try it out. You never know when cheap makeups are good. Anyways the first one is pretty okay. They were all pigmented except for black which barely showed and a bit chalky. As for the next one, colors looked gorgeous on the outside BUT very chunky/crumbly when swatch. The fallouts are pretty big and does not glide on easily. So out of the two, I rather buy the first one which is the middle  picture.









***********All products are bought with my own money!!!! Reviews are my own, honest opinion.