Around Moscow : First time skating experience.

I can't believe there's few more days to 2016. I have to sit back and look back my at my 2015 goals, wishlist and to-do list and look back at what I have achieved.

By the way, I ticked off one of my wishlist of 2015 which is go skating in Gorky Park. 

It is my first experience skating, so I did not take many pictures at all on the ice because I was too busy focus on balancing on the ice. 

Definitely not easy, the first time trying to skate. 

I managed to complete the whole rink though. Ofcourse with some falls.
Who doesn't fall on the first time on ice.

Around Moscow : Christmas markets.

Merry Christmas. I hope everyone is having a great Christmas.
I have also ended my semester. I can't believe how fast time has passed by and now I have finished one of the semesters of my final year. I am so glad that my semester ended on Christmas day because it means I could celebrate Christmas without any worries.

This year Moscow has been on top of their game with the Christmas decorations and Christmas markets. The city is absolutely stunning.
There are many Christmas decoration spots this time around but so far, I have managed only a few spots. It is impossible to visit so many locations in the short span of time.
I have only picked out the popular spots to visit.

The first location I have visited is the popular Manezhskaya Square right infront of Red Square.

The big bauble at the square which you could actually get into to snap photos.

In the bauble.
The light keeps changing, making quite difficult to get a good picture.

The Christmas in Manezhskaya Square. In the center of Moscow.

There are many kiosk for the Christmas market with great selection of gifts and foods.

I picked up some items from the kiosks.
The baubles offered in the market were some of the prettiest baubles, I have ever seen.

These are what I got from the Christmas market.

The bauble is for myself but the candle is a gift to someone special.

I love the design on the bauble. It reminds me of a beautiful snow village in the mountains on Christmas.

I also how the bauble came into two shades. A transparent part and metallic blue part.

A tiny ice rink at the square.

We walked towards GUM. There was a little Christmas market and ice rink infront of GUM.
There's many beautiful decorations in the market too.

Here's the snowman and I.

The Christmas lights in Nikolskaya Street.

FOTD : trying out the Nivea Men Post-shave balm

After watching Nikkietutorial's video on using the Nivea Men Post-shave balm as a primer and had good impressions about it. I thought I did give it a try since it is not a very expensive and I could give it away if it does not work for me.

This is close look on my skin with the Nivea Men Post-shave Balm as a primer. For foundation, I used the Rimmel True Match Foundation. 

To conceal my dark circles, I applied the Maybelline Dream Lumi concealer and to set everything, the MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural. 

I can see a difference with my skin by using the post-shave balm as a primer. The post-shave balm has a slightly tacky finish, I can feel that it really grabbed on every product I applied on my skin. It also felt easier and smoother to blend my products, creating a beautiful seamless finish.

For my bronzer, I applied the darker shade from the Flormar Teracotta Powder in Dual Gold. Highlighter is the Essence Monoeyeshadow in Apricotta. Look how well this eyeshadow photographs as a highlighter. My blush is the Daiso blush in pink.

My eyeshadow is from the Catrice Absolute Nude Palette. Eyeliner is the Maybelline Master Precise Eyeliner in Black.
Mascara is the Maybelline Big Eyes Mascara for both my top and bottom lashes.

For my eyebrows I am using my favourite eyebrow combo. It is the Maybelline Brow Satin and Kiss Me Eyebrow mascara. This combination of products are pretty easy to use and they make my brows look good.

For my lips, I am using the Catrice Glossy Lip Glow.

It is a basic colour changing lipgloss, I find it very versatile. It is one of those lip colour that you can just throw on like that if you can't decide what lip product you wanna use.

I had my makeup for about half a day. I found that my base stayed on really well, no fading of the foundation, bronzer, blush and highlight. Everything was hold on tightly on the skin and everything melted into the skin nicely.
I am really impressed with this primer. Instant like. It's so amazing.

This is how my makeup looks after a day out. Besides the obvious faded lipgloss, everything is still like freshly applied.

A closer look of my skin, you could still see that the highlighter and bronzer is still there.

Rostelecom Cup : Figure Skating Grand Prix Experience.

I have been to Rostelecom Cup for three years in a row eversince I found love in figure skating. Since it is my last year being in Moscow, I took every chance to attend this competition.

Even buying the tickets on the morning it was released. Ofcourse I did not get the seats in the front row because broke student issue and my ultimate favourite is not here but I think my seats are great enough for the price. 

The line up for Rostelecom Cup is not very interesting for me since most of favourites are not assigned to this grand prix with the exception of Javier Fernandez, Weaver/Poje. 

So, this time around, the competition is held in Luzhniki Small Arena. It has been held there eversince Megasport stadium is closed for renovation. 

I only went for 2 days, the second day which is the free skating and exhibition gala. 

Didn't go for the first day because I have class.  

The small arena because the start of the free skating. 

Fans hanging banners to support their favourite skaters. 

Judges and technical specialist corner. 

With Tatiana Tarasova and Grishin on top, doing live commentary. 

The event starts with the Ice Dance Free Dance 

Weaver/Poje taking the ice. 

They put out a really lovely and magical free skate and managed to grab the gold and secure their place to the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona.
If you haven't check them out you could search their short dance and free dance programme on youtube with commentaries.

I really enjoyed their performance and to add on they are such a beautiful pair to look at.

Takahiko Kozuka

On to some stalkerish moments.
From my sitting spot, it is very easy for me to look to the skater's , coach's or staff's reserved places. It was just below my deck and there's one across my deck.

This is  Canada's Nam Nguyen and Brian Orser at their seats during the Ladies'.

The final flight of ladies taking on the warm up.

Day 3, Exhibition Gala.

Medal Ceremony.

Ice dance podium.

Men's podium.

Ladies' podium

Overall it has been a good event. It has its fair share of disasters and great moments. 

Travel Diary in UK : Eating out Edinburgh : Golden Grill Cafe

In the bustling streets of West End, lies a small little cafe. There's nothing sort of unique interior that will attracts you into the cafe, it is very simple and clean. But what seems familiar to us, is that they serve homely meals, comfort food.

I happened to cross this cafe while searching for a breakfast stop. What attracted us was the fact they serve English Breakfast and Sandwiches, something we have been craving during our UK trip.

We ordered sandwiches instead since we felt like eating sandwiches, we needed carbs to keep us going since we traveled all the way from London the night before and arrived Edinburgh in the morning, pushing our luggages to the hostel. We were tired and hungry.

The sandwiches here are nothing of the ordinary. They are just very homely prepared sandwiches. Fresh from the kitchen.

I like how they have a variety of sauces prepared in sachets on the table. There were the clasic mayonnaise and mustard, apple Sauce, tartar sauce and HP sauce. I love the apple sauce.

Service was fast and great. The staff tries their best to make every experience a good one.
I wanted panini but it was on the lunch menu and it was still breakfast time. The staff nicely accepted my order and made it a special for me.

My panini is served. It is cheese and ham panini.
Every melted cheese taste like heaven in the mouth. Such comfort food./

Overall, I recommend this little cafe to get some comfort food if you do stop by Edinburgh.

FOTD : The Red Lip

A classic red lipstick can never go wrong. With just a swipe, it can make a look.

This time I decided to go for a red lip look to match my outfit at the same time put my red lipstick to use since I seldom touch reds, I am more a pink and nude girl. 

Let's start with the base, for my base I am using the Etude House Face Conditioning Cream and my foundation is the Dr. G BB Cream.
To conceal my undereye circles, I am using the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch. To finish and set my whole look, I am using the MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural.

My eye makeup is really simple, I want the lips to pop out, not my eyes. I used my Catrice Absolute Nude Palette. Eyeliner is the Maybelline Master Precise.
Mascara is the Maybelline Big Eyes Mascara.

My collection is quite limited in Moscow so, you will keep seeing me repeating products. 95% of my makeup is actually at home.

Highlight is the Essence mono eyeshadow in Apricotta. I have been enjoying using this eyeshadow as a highlighter. It has been giving me a beautiful glow.
Blush is the Daiso blush in pink and bronzer is the bronze shade from the Flormar Terracotta Powder in Dual Gold.

My lips, I am using the L'oreal Infalliable Mega Gloss in Forgive my Sin. It is a matte finish.

Haul : Catrice and Essence

When I was checking the catalogue of the beauty store I usually visit, I saw that they had brought in some new releases of Catrice and there are some from the collection that I want to try.
The items I have picked up are lipliners and a mono eyeshadow from Essence and liquid lipsticks and lip glow from Catrice.

I bought these Essence lipliners for backups. These lipliners are probably my favourite drugstore lipliners and I use them to death especially these two shades.
I realize they had revamped their packaging instead of a matching shade lid, it used to be a silver lid. Formula wise, I haven't seen any difference with the old versions.

I picked up the shades Satin Mauve and Wish Me A Rose.
These two shades are my favourite lipliner shades of all time, they work very well on its own or under lipsticks/lipglosses.

Catrice Glossy Lip Glow

This is a new product from Catrice. It is one of those colour changing lip gloss that depends on the pH of your skin. It creates the perfect custom pink hue on the lips depending on your skin's chesmitry. It is one of those products that you can't go wrong with.
This brings back all the nostalgic memories of the good old days mood changing lipsticks.

With liquid lipsticks being the trend of the makeup world, every brand is pushing out the version of liquid lipstick.
There are currently two types of liquid lipstick available in the market. One is the lipstick, lipgloss, lipbalm hybrid ala Dior Addict Fluid Sticks and the other is the dry to matte finish type which is really popular in beauty world right now.
Catrice's version follows the former. You can already see it by the packaging, there is similarities in the packaging style.

The shade I picked up is Meet you at the Bar-bie.
It is a baby pink.
Catrice released 12 shades with various of reds, nudes and pinks for this line, out of the 12 shades, we only got about six shades available here in Moscow.

Essence eyeshadow in Apricot

This is a basic champagne eyeshadow. I bought to use it as an eyelid base colour and also a highlight.

Rimmel haul : foundations and mascara

The beauty store had an offer on selected products on Rimmel.
I had waited long enough for the Rimmel Long Lasting Finish 25 Hours Foundation to go on offer. They always have True Match on offer eventhough that is one of my favourite drugstore foundation, I had enough bottles of it.
I paid a really affordable price for the foundations and also the mascara I picked up along with it. The mascara was on offer too. I got two bottles of foundation because I am a hoarder like that.

Rimmel Wonder'Fill Mascara with Argan Oil.

I can't remember liking any Rimmel mascara. The last mascara from Rimmel I've tried is the Sexy Curves. I am on the fence with that mascara.
This time, I am giving Rimmel's mascara another chance. The whole infused with Argan oil attracted me and so happened, this mascara was on sale. So I purchased it to try it out. Hopefully I will have better experiences with this mascara.

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hours in 103 True Ivory

My shade for this foundation is the same as the True Match. I have good experiences with Rimmel foundations so I wanted to try more foundations from Rimmel. I have tried the True Match and Wake Me Up and I love them both. Did not try the Stay Matte because I am just not a fan of matte finishes in my foundation.
Hopefully this foundation lives up to my expectations as the likes of True Match and Wake me Up. 

Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving weekend. What a weekend to cultivate fat cells with endless gatherings.

I celebrated thanksgiving with my roommates on Sunday instead of on the actual day since it was a Friday and we had our own activities. I had a thanksgiving gathering with my groupmates on Friday evening.

Our menu.
It is a homely meal with baked chicken, mushroom soup, mini burger, coleslaw, apple pie, cupcakes, wine and smarties.

We did not opt for the traditional turkey since it is very hard and expensive to get a whole Turkey over here. So baked chicken will do for this dinner.
We stuffed our chicken with potatoes, brocolli, cauliflower and red onions.

I made mini burger and apple pie but it is not that delicious. It is my first time making them.
I believe practice makes perfect. I will make better apple pies soon.

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and also, an awesome weekend. 

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
I hope it has been a great thanksgiving for everyone with lots of food and great quality time with family and friends.

Along with Thanksgiving is the awesome and wonderful Black Friday Sales. I always anticipate for Black Friday because there's tons of great deals.
Being a makeup junkie, Black Friday sales is always too good to be true and I always rely on services to get myself a dose of Black Friday from the US.

This year, in Moscow, Black Friday sales is big and there's a lot of great deals through out the weekend. One I have to mention is L'toile , a beauty chain in Russia. There are having 50% off storewide. Time to grab lots of high end makeup and perfume.
I am eyeing on NARS and Dolce and Gabbana from that particular store.

Fashion brands such as Bershka, Stradivarius, Forever 21, Pull and Bear are having 20 -25 % storewide too. There's nothing I fancy from these stores this time so I am just going to skip it.

Many online shops are joining the Black Friday sale bandwagon too. This link will lead you to the sales (applicable for those in Russia only)

Back to the USA, are there brands that has got you so interested with their deals.
Well, I have many but I am not going to get all of them. I do not have that much of money to splurge.

These are the list of websites I want to get from.

One of the brands that I am interested in is Ofra Cosmetics. They are having a 50% off deal until Cyber Monday Nov 30th.
Ofra prices are quite up there but they often have coupon codes lying around. This time with 50% off, you get maximum savings. I am interested to try their liquid lipstick since there's quite a number of good reviews on their formula.

Dose of Colors is another brand that tickled my fancy. The liquid lipsticks usually retails for a whooping USD18. With 20% off I get a little savings from it.
Also, they released a matte lipstick trio for this season. You are interested in the trio, go grab it with 20% off.

Gerard Cosmetics, I guess everybody has heard about this brand. Almost every youtuber talks about it. Their lipglosses, lipsticks, hydra matte liquid lipsticks are really much a very hyped up product.
I have been wanting to try their products for the longest time because of their range of unique colours in the collection. I just never got to placing an order, everyone I just get so close to placing an order the I changed my mind and get other items.
This time I am really firmed with my decision on ordering an item from GC and taking advantage of their 48% off storewide deal. They also have added several new shades to their liquid lipsticks and lipsticks. Great time to grab those now.

BH Cosmetics has a really good deal for Black Friday too with up to 75% off storewide. Carli Byble, one of favourite youtuber, she is just gorgeous collaborated with BH Cosmetics for a eyeshadow and highlight palette. This palette has been out of stock for the longest time and now it's back in stock with 38% off. What a great time to get and try Carli's palette. Also, they have released their own range of liquid lipsticks. Exciting stuffs!

These are the brands that really caught my attention.

Honorable mentions (List of shops I wanted to get but I don't have enough money to splurge)

Morphe cosmetics is having a 20% off storewide.

Coastal Scents up to 55% off storewide

LaSplash all lipsticks and eyelashes only for USD10. I recommend their liquid lipsticks, those are some amazing stuffs.

Happy Shopping everyone. 

FOTD : Diwali Celebration

This is the look I sported during a Diwali celebration with my friends. I love this makeup so much, I find it so gorgeous that I thought it would be a shame if I don't share this look.

The base of this look is neutral colours with a punch of glow. I would call it the nude glow look.

For my base, I applied the Etude House Face Conditioning Cream. Well, this is the only base I have with me right now, it's not too bad. It is moisturizing, so it packs in the hydration for the skin for a nice smooth canvas.
This time I thought of switching up my foundation a little, instead of using my so loved Rimmel True Match Foundation, I opted for the Dr. G BB Cream. Upon first application this BB Cream can appear grey tone on my NC15 - NC20 skin, not flattering at all but somehow after 10 minutes or so it seems to have adapted to my skintone and blends into my skin perfectly. Even so, if you are not in the NC15 - NC20 range I will not recommend this BB cream, it will appear too ashy on darker skintones and I don't think it will adapt to your skintone and leave a white cast or those lighter than a NC15, it might appear dark. Not the best but it is one of the better BB creams I have ever used. The texture is smoother, creamy, very blendable and coverage is really high, I need less than a pea size for my whole face.
Powder, I am using my favourite MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural.

To cover them dark circles, I applied the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer. This stuff is magic for concealing those dark circles, not to mention, it is a drugstore product thus making it affordable.

For my eyeshadow, I used the Catrice Absolute Nude Palette. I used the 2nd, 4th and 5th shade from this palette to create this eye look. The 2nd shade is applied all over my eyelid as a base. The 4th shade is a shimmery bronzy shade that I blended all over my crease to deepen it a little and also give the 'glow'. The 5th shade is applied at my outer V to give my eyes some depth and definition.
I tightlined and line my upper lid thinly with the Maybelline Master Precise eyeliner.

Mascara, I applied the L'oreal Volummissime x4 Mascara for both my upper and lower lashes.

Eyebrows are the Maybelline Brow Satin and Kiss Me Brow Mascara.

Now to my highlighter. Can you see how pretty is this highlight. It is so shimmery and frosty. I just like my highlight strong.
This is actually no highlighter product, I applied the Essence Mono Eyeshadow in Apricotta as a highlight and it works so great, like an expensive highlighter just for 1/8 of the price. So, you don't need to have a highlighting product in order to highlight. You can always search for a champagne, shimmery or frosty eyeshadow to double as a highlighter.

My blush this time is the Essence Me & My Ice Cream Cream blush and Bronzer, is the The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Gel.

Something about the lips. I lined my lips with my oh so favourite Essence Lip Liner in Satin Mauve and applied the Me Now Lipgloss in #18. This shade of the USD1 Ebay lipgloss is known to be a dupe for the Limecrime Cashmere.
For its price, don't expect this lipgloss or matte liquid lipstick as I like to call it to perform wonders. It has the greatest pigmentation and applies non-streaky but the formula is quite bad. It is really tacky, it does not dry down at all. Even so, the shade is gorgeous.
To make my lips have a little more something, I applied the 1st shade from my Catrice Absolute Nude Palette to the little of my lips.