Where's Your Jacket?

                     

I'm a Hawai'i girl, but I can't tell you how much I love love love the cold weather. I fell in love with it when I experienced my first Winter in Stuttgart, Germany. I can't explain the feeling I had when I noticed the cold rain turning into hardened drops of slush falling on my head, then after a minute of wonder looking at the sky, finding those slushy chunks (I could make into shaved ice with some strawberry li hing mui syrup... Mm mm), transform into light fluffy ice crystals - suddenly descending in slow motion, lightly landing on my face of discovery and excitement. If I close my eyes I can be transported back to that moment reliving every sensation. I marvel at the work of God when I think of that LIFE experience.

Thus my love for winter wear was born. I can be in Summer Hot Hawai'i or anywhere in the world and I will always have a winter jacket close by just in case. (I can hear my Filipino mother in my head right now asking, "where's your jacket?") You have to be Filipino to understand. Hah! 

When the sun sets in Wai'anae - the Westside of Oahu, where I was raised, the nippy salty breeze takes over and I get to wear my fury friend again.😊 #syntheticfur #btw #winterweardontcare

My Human Barbie Doll

Hello Lovelies,

Today was very special because my baby cousin, Ci came over. Remember the girl I wrote about in my second blog, with the Angelina Jolie lips? Well, this is her. 

Ci is my baby cousin but in my reality, she's my baby sister. We've been through childhood together... lipsyncs to Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover" was one of our fave activities, sleepovers, family dramas, holidays, boyfriends, banquets, food cravings, proms, break-ups, manfriends, weddings (MOH's), babies (my labor and pushing for 4 hours! "Wake up, Ci! Here comes another contraction! Hold my leg!" TMI? lol!), etc, etc, etc...

One of my favorite things I used to do when we were kids was put make-up on Ci - my human Barbie. Yes, I'm obsessed with Barbie! I think I stopped playing with her when I was 14. But that's a story for another time... 

When Ci came over our house in Waianae Valley, I would always experiment with her looks. I'd put make-up on her, do her hair, then take pictures of my masterpiece. 

I was her make-up artist and hair dresser from her very first Waianae Intermediate banquet to her wedding day! I'm so honored. 

So, here I was thinking about what my next look will be for this week's blog and I come across this pic...

All these trailers are airing about the Boy Next Door starring J.Lo and I saw this one interview with her looking amazing.

I loved it!

As I was prepping to do this look for myself, I get a text from Ci: On my way. 

She came over and I asked her to come join me while I do this J.Lo look. As I was putting on my foundation, I looked at Ci and I lit up like I did when we were kids. "My human Barbie!" I was like, "forget about me, let's do your make-up for your party tonight!"

She agreed to it like always. (My ever submissive beauty specimen... mwah ah ah ah ah! "Let's see what we can do with you now, my precious...")

She already had a base on so I decided I would contour her face with foundation.

I used Cover FX foundation to Contour: 

Highlight: 2 shades lighter on her center forehead, nose bridge, under her eyes and chin.

Contour: 2 shades darker to sculpt her face. I lined the hollows of her cheeks, side of her forehead, temples and jawline.

Then I blended it all together with my fingers and a foundation brush. 

Concealer: Bare Mineral's Well Rested

Eyebrows: Anastasia's Brow Wiz in Dark Brown and clear gel.

I just followed the natural direction of her brows and defined her arch a bit.

Eyes: I used a white frosty shadow all over the lid, then a white matte shadow to tone down the shimmer. I used Urban Decay Naked's beige color over the whole lid again, then the taupe shadow to define the crease of the lid. 

Eyeliner: The Face Shop liquid Eyeliner on the top. I used light short strokes to create a clean winged look. For the bottom lash line, I used a small angled brush and applied MAC's Cork to give a hint of definition. It also is great to use shadow instead of eyeliner for those with oily skin.

Mascara: Butterfly Effects by Loreal

Bronzer: BB bronzer by Physician's Formula

Blush: Mary Kay's Spice

Lips: Sephora's lipliner in Red and MAC's Russian Red lipstick. I added just a touch of concealer to the center of her lips to make the lips pop!

Highlighting powder: I used a hint of Dior highlighting powder above her brows, her cheeks, bridge of her nose, above her upper lip and chin.

To finish: I did a light sweep of Rimmel's Stay Matte all over her face to set the look.

Voilà! Bongga!

I bet you Ci would snag the boy next door, if there was a boy who lived next door to her. Actually, she did catch the boy next to her work desk with her smokin' hot looks and her wonderful everything.

Since I didn't do the look for myself, I decided to do a nude look and focus on my lashes. I did a messy hairdo with pulled back bangs away from my face...

Sexy Sleeves: Here I just wore a comfortable red cotton dress with beautiful lace-capped sleeves. I got it from Ross!

Ci, Thank you for being the best real life Barbie doll a girl could ask for! I am so blessed to have you in my life. Together, we'll always be young. #SGFL

With aloha, SS

VIP Aloha Friday!

Happy Aloha Friday!!!

I woke up this morning feeling like I was on top of the world! It's funny because my daughter went to bed late... around 11 p.m. and then she woke up at 4 a.m.! Still, I felt an enormous amount of gratitude for life and God and all things possible! Maybe it's all the endorphins flowing through me because I finally organized our room. Everything is in its right place...clothes, accessories, make-up, etc... I love to label things so you could say I got too excited and went label crazy... hehe! 

As I was winding down last night after the princessa went to bed, I looked up some make-up ideas on my IG. I came across über beauty Adriana Lima's pictures and I noticed all these Victoria's Secret models look so natural and stunning. I decided to research their make-up artist and I saw a common style with all the goddess' make-up. It's very natural, soft, and glowing. 

Here I attempted to create a similar look...

Today's Make-up Inspiration: Adriana Lima

To get a flawless look, I used all Loreal products:

Age Perfect Day Lotion

Moisture Blur

Lumi Foundation in W3 - 2 pumps only. Use very little!

Concealer: For my designer eyebags, I used Hourglass and Bare Mineral's Well Rested

Eyes: Rihanna's Phresh Out Deluxe Pearl Fusion Shadow by MAC - a gift from Julius from last xmas? my birthday? wait... hmm...

hehe! Thanks Juju! This mama memory loss has got me trippin'!

I used the darker color at the outer corner of the lid and used the gold color in the inner corner of my lid. 

I used the lightest color right on the brow bone and at the inner corners of my eyes. Then I used a Taupe color in the crease of my lid to blend all the colors together. 

Liner: I used a black liquid liner for the top of the lash line and used a shimmery brown shadow to define the lower lash line. 

Mascara: Loreal's Butterfly Effects in Black. I love this Mascara! Apply to top and bottom lashes. 

Brows: I lightly defined my eyebrows with Anastasia's Brow Wiz in Dark Brown and clear brow gel.

Contour: Nars Paloma - A gift for my 3rd Annual 33rd Birthday from my sistah, E! Anastasia's contour kit was out of stock at the time so she got me this aaaand it works just as great!

Blush: Mary Kay in Sunny Spice

Highlight: Dior's Shimmer Powder in Amber Diamond. I just added a bit to my cheekbones, nose bridge and above the brows. 

Lips: nude lipliner and Covergirl's Darling

No face powder today to give a natural dewy look.

Hair: Used my Instyler to get healthy, shiny looking locks. 

Voilà! 

(did I do ok? lol)

Sexy Sleeves V.I.P.

Today, I  decided to wear my VIP t-shirt from Express (a gift from my sweet redhead voice student, Kristi) and my Levi's jeans with a belt. I threw on a grey camouflage open Cardi to cover my arms and it came out "perfs." I put on some black wedge platforms and I was ready to go! So simple but effective!

My darlings, if you have a very hectic schedule with work or children or both (like me), making time to look your best is a game changer in how you approach the day. I must admit, it takes more time and effort, but it really does make one feel like a

 Very. Important. Person. 

"Wake-up...

Say a prayer...

and Hustle" with your Sexy Sleeves! 

~Russell Simmons (I added the last part=)

With aloha, SS

"Bangarang" New Year!!!

bangarang : The ultimate in excellence. Better than cool, rad or awesome. Saved for very special occasions. Word first used in the movie "Hook".

Happy New Year lovelies! I hope you all had an amazing 2014 and wish you the most fulfilling 2015! 

As I woke to 2015, I suddenly had the urge and vision to have #bangs . I looked up a few looks and decided to go with the very popular fringe bangs. Or some call it "long bangs straight cut." I did a 20 minute research, and voilá! 

Now that my hair is back to dark(compliments of @beautybywinn), I absolutely love how this new do contrasts against my light Mocha skin. #Kayumangi

Thanks to google, youtube and pinterest, I was able to do it myself with fabulous salon results and saved me a lot of $$$! 

Here's the tutorial that helped me the most:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECkWlCUtJhs

Note: I bought a quality grade scissors from Longs/CVS. Unlike the instructor's super duper steel enhanced, X-men, fancy pantsy hair cutterer, mine did the job just fine.  

This look is inspired by my favorite feel good tv show, New Girl. Now when I look at my hair, I'll think of something hilarious on the show. Laughter heals the soul. 

Now this is what I call starting the New Year with a BANG! :-D

With aloha,
SS


p.s. Comment below if you feel inspired or feel free to tag me to your bangin' results IG: #looksexysleevesgirl