FOTN - Galapagos

Last night I went to have dinner with a girlfriend. We went Toscana's a wonderful Italian restaurant at Madinat Jumeirah. So delicious! Madinat Jumeirah is one of my favorite places in the city. It's a beautiful hotel, styled like an old Arabian souq. It's a gorgeous place to go on dates as well, because at night all the palm trees are lit up and it's almost like you're sitting under a giant candle!

Anyway..back to the beauty! I decided to go for a slightly sultry, darker look. I didn't want to go full on black, since we were only going out to dinner, so I chose to use my beloved Nars Galapagos shadow. This has been a favorite of mine for years now, it's a beautiful dark bronze with tiny flecks of gold glitter.

Oh, hello there, Random Strand Of Hair In The Middle Of My Face!  

Please excuse the frizz. That is the result of me running out of water during my shower and then having to make up for lost time by blowdrying my hair like a maniac (and yet, still running late!) 

I reacted a little to the foundations we used on the course and my skin had weird dry, peeling patches and so I decided to use my Stila foundation which is creamier than my Mac one. You can still see that my skin looks a little uneven and patchy, but I didn't want to use too much makeup.

Face:

Stila Oil free natural finish foundation - G

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit - Honey

NYX blush - Terracotta

Eyes: 

Urban Decay Primer Potion

NYX shadow - Highlight (all over lid)

Nars shadow - Galapagos (up to crease and lower lashes)

NYX shadow - Ray (crease and inner corners)

MAC Technikohl - Graph black

Maybelline Falsies mascara

Lips:

NYX lipgloss - Natural

So that's my look. I got home last night and tried my new Bioderma makeup remover and my eyes got really irritated. I woke up this morning and my eyes were totally bloodshot (not due to a hangover, I promise!) So I went to see my doctor and as soon as I took off my glasses he was like 'Oh, that's an infection!'. I somehow managed to get another eye infection! Apparently this is different from the one I had last time, and it could be caused by my contacts or the fact that I've started aqua aerobics and have been in the pool a lot lately. Either way, it's very uncomfortable :(

My Very First Award!!!!

I was given my very first award by the gorgeous and super sweet Melanie from Beauty Meets Kawaii !!! Thank you so much for choosing me, Melanie!! I am soo excited!!

I definitely recommend visiting her blog, if you haven't already. Her blog is just adorable and she puts so much work and effort into it. A must view if your a girlie-girl like me! :)

OK, so there are a few rules that came along with this award:

Post about the award and copy the rules

Link to the person who gave you the award

Choose 3-5 blogs you would like to give the award to and link to them as well. Leave a comment ontheir blog to let them know!

Important: The award is for unknown and/or new blogs only!

So here are the blogs I am giving the award to!

Bitten by the Beauty Bug

Blank Canvas

Primed and Pretty

Yours Truly, Pam

Happy-happy Joy-joy

Thanks so much for the award, Melanie!! I'm super excited!!! :D

Make Up Course in Dubai With Jojo Price

This week, I took a two day makeup course at the Dubai Ladies Club. The course was with international makeup artist, Jojo Price. On the first day, we focused on every day makeup and worked on getting a pretty, polished look. The second day covered night time looks, mainly the smokey eye.

I really enjoyed the course, even though I was really nervous as I've been out of the industry for longer than I'd like to admit! Jojo was lovely and full of great tips! I learnt some new techniques and it was great to just get up to date on things. The course would be great for anyone whether you're looking to start out in the industry or learn a few new techniques to use on yourself.

These courses are pretty new, this was on the second one that they have held. They are going to hold some other ones as well, I think a Burlesque makeup course and a Fashion/Catwalk one. The Burlesque one should be really fun! The Ladies Club is hosting a couple of makeup events next month where Jojo will be giving demos as well. You can call the club on 04 3499922 for the exact dates, they should be really fun to check out.

Makeup was provided by Inglot

 International makeup artist, Jojo Price

You can also visit Jojo's website to see some more of her work.

A Few Sephora Sale Impulse Buys

I went to the mall today and decided to pop into Sephora to see if they had anything good.

I am trying to save my money for the upcoming MAC collections (Champale and Peacocky have yet to be released here and I'm really trying to save up for the Wonder Woman collection!) so I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I managed to find three very pretty, super cheap products :)

First up, Cargo Classic Lipgloss in Luxor

This comes with a timestrip. The red dot gets bigger as it gets closer to 9 months of being used (when you should throw it out)

Luxor is a pretty, coraly nude (on me at least!) with tiny flecks of gold shimmer. Perfect for just throwing on in a hurry or wearing every day.

Stila Shadow Pot - Taupe. Stila is being discontinued at our Sephoras so they've been having a sale to get rid of the stock they have. There was a really pretty shadow pot called Honey, but it was too similar to my MAC Beige-ing shade stick, so I chose this. It shows up with a silvery tint on my skin.

Taupe

Sephora Shimmer N06. I saw this by the register and had to get it. It's a very dark shimmer that I thought would look so gorgeous in a smokey eye. I can't wait to try it out! 

Sephora shimmer pot N06. Love this!! PS. I know my nails look hideous, it's manicure night tonight!

And I managed to get all of these for less than 100 dirhams! ($27US or about 15 pounds)

I have a bunch of posts that I need to make up. I want to put up a step-by-step liquid liner guide and I also promised to post some pictures of my Nars Multiples. They're all coming up very soon, I promise! Just been a little unmotivated lately, but I'm getting back into it, promise!!

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

NOTW - MAC Earthly Harmony Zebra Print

My first real attempt at using my Konad plate.

Mac Earthly Harmony + Daiso Black Nail Art Polish + Konad m57 Plate + Sally Hansen Top Coat

Not too bad for my first real attempt! It's kind of messy and you can see little mistakes but I'm OK with it :) I feel so 'on trend' haha I think I'm definitely going to get seriously into nail art this year!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Sephora Middle East Sale!!

Got this lovely little wake-up email today:

Click picture to enlarge

Sephora stores around the Middle East (UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia) will be having up to 50% off on select items from the 16th of January. So start saving your lunch money!

NOTW And Giveaway Winner!

I bought this Love & Beauty nail polish last year from Forever 21 and haven't worn it yet. I bought it because I thought it would be a nice alternative to black polish, still kind of dark and edgy. I haven't had the guts to wear it until I saw this post on My Lucid Bubble, where she wore a similar color and it looked gorgeous.

Essie  base coat + two coats + Daiso Gel top coat

This polish is a pretty smoky green with gold flecks. I tried to get a close up so you can see the gold flecks, it's so pretty and unusual that I actually just stared at my fingernails for a while this morning. I like Forever 21s polishes. They are cheap and have a really fun color range. The only problem is that you never know what the consistency is going to be like until you get it home and try it. Another thing is that they don't label the names on the bottles, sometimes you can check the website, but not all of them are on there.

And finally....

I used random.org to pick out the winner of my first giveaway! And it is...

Yourstrulypam

Congratulations!!!! :)

Thank you to everyone who entered! I had such a great time picking out the prizes and sorting out the giveaway. I am planning another one sometime towards the middle or end of February so keep an eye out for that!

DIY Jeweled Workout Headband

I am finally joining a gym (hurray for New Year's Resolutions!!). Well, actually, I am getting a package at a local fitness center where I can take unlimited classes for the whole month. Since I'm pretty free right now, I'm going to use this to kick start everything and figure out what kind of workout classes I like.

The thing is I'm not a very workout-loving person. I kind of dislike it, but I love the results so I'm going to force myself to do it.

Anyway, I figured that everything is better (and easier) with a little bling! So I took a black stretchy headband and sewed on some jewels.

I figured that if I'm going to get sweaty and make a fool out of myself, I might as well try and look as cute as possible while I do it!

I also started the South Beach Diet a week ago and I've lost 6 pounds so far. It's been difficult and I'm really looking forward to being able to start phase two (where I think I can have fruit and some carbs again!!!) but I'm proud of myself. This is the longest I've been on a proper 'diet' in a very long time. Bikini season, here I come!

I Have 50 Followers!!

Yay!!!! I'm so excited!


Le Tigre - I'm So Excited (one of my favorite bands!)


I remember when I had like 3 followers and even then I was super pleased because it meant that I wasn't just talking to myself haha! So thank you all soo, soooo much for following, reading, leaving comments and basically keeping myself from feeling like a loser who likes to randomly ramble to herself.

My tiny "thank you" giveaway ends tomorrow, so please enter while you can! I have a really cute one coming up for my birthday so look for that sometime in February!

Hope everyone is having/has had a wonderful weekend!

How To Clean Your Nars Products

I love Nars products and I especially love the packaging. But, of course the products get dirty. Especially if you carry yours around in the bottom of your purse (like I do!).

All I used were these Dettol wipes:

Here's what my makeup looked like before:

 Yes, my South Beach Multiple was disgusting. That's the one that gets carried around in my purse. 

And here's what they looked like after:

 So clean! Apart from my fingerprints haha

I used the wipes to gently rub the packaging clean. The South Beach one required a little more scrubbing because it was pretty bad. But I'm happy with the results and my new-ish looking makeup :) I wasn't sure what to use because I didn't want to ruin the finish, but I use the Dettol wipes on pretty much anything so I gave it a go! I think it should work with any cleaning wipes.

NOTW - OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

Base coat + Two coats of polish + Daiso Gel Top Coat

I do love black polish, but I felt like I needed a break because it was every where for so long! I only recently started to wear inky shades again. This one is nice because it's actually a very dark purple. The polish is pretty shiny on it's own, but this new top coat makes it super glossy. 

My Very First (tiny) Giveaway! (CLOSED)

OK, so I mentioned that I wanted to have a little giveaway. I'm kind of throwing this together at the last minute because my mom is going to the states next week, and I wanted to send the prize with her if the winner is in the Americas. If not, don't worry, I'll still try and send everything off next week :)

Here are the prizes that I put together yesterday:

A jeweled hair clip, Liquid Eye liner from Mikyaji, False bottom lashes (Daiso), Glittery false lashes (Daiso), Nail Art Sponge (Daiso)

 Jeweled Barette

 Sabaya Liquid Liner from Mikyaji

 My favorite liquid liner, its SOOO dark and it doesn't smudge at all. It also lasts and lasts until you wash it off! I swatched it next to Mac's Black Track Fluid line so you can see how dark it is (just one swipe) I used my liner for the swatch, you'll get a new one! :)

Nail art Sponge from Daiso. I just thought this was interesting, especially since gradient nails are a big thing right now! 

Lashes for the bottom lashes from Daiso, I thought these would be fun to try out! 

Glittery lashes from Daiso. Seriously cute! I think I'm going to get some for my birthday :)

So there are the prizes. I wanted to get some stuff that might not be available every where else. Daiso is a huge Japanese hypermarket and we have a few of them over here. Mikyaji is a makeup store that has branches all over the Arabian Gulf. Mikyaji means 'my Makeup' in Arabic. It's one of my favorite places to buy eyeliner because, as I'm sure you know, over here we like our liner as dark as possible!

Well, that's my first giveaway! I know it's not much, but it's sort of my way of sharing a little bit of my world and saying thank you for reading my blog!

Rules:

You must be a follower of my blog. Just click the link on the right hand side of the blog that says 'follow'. 

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post with your email address.

2. Post this giveaway on your sidebar or add me to your blog roll for an extra entry. (please make sure to leave a link for me :) ) 

This is a short giveaway, it's going to end on January 10th at 1.00 pm Dubai time (GMT +4) 

Good luck, and once again, thank you SO much for reading!! :)

Global Village Haul and Pictures

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful night and are having an incredible 2011 so far! I found out that I won a mini facial on new year's day so that was a fun start to 2011! :) I had a really good new year's eve as well. Really low key. Went to my girlfriend's house and just hung out and listened to some music (and ate far too much pizza and cheese)

Fireworks!!

Last night, I went with my mom and sister to the Global Village. Now, the thing about Dubai is that we are a very mixed little city. Only 20% of the population are actually from the UAE, the rest are people from all over the world. I'm not going to get into the politics of things, but we have a very large population of foreign labor. 

Anyway, the wonderful thing about this is that there are so many different cultural influences. The Global Village is now in it's 15th year and it's basically a giant market type place that opens up during the winter. It features different pavilions from all over the world and each of them have vendors who sell products from their home countries. It's a great place to pick up one-of-a-kind jewelery and little knick-knacks. 

The Gate. Not really sure why it's been set up like a princess castle, but I'm not complaining :)

 A traditional Yemeni band performing outside their pavilion

Inside the Indian pavilion, one of my favorite ones for bling! 

Now onto my purchases!

I bought this gorgeous ring at the Turkish Pavilion, they had loads and I'm definitely going back for more!

Roll up ballet flats. I have another pair from New Look, but these were too pretty to pass up!

Gorgeous bangles with gold crystals from the Indian pavilion. They had so many colors, it was hard to choose! (Plus, I think they were cheaper than last year, so score!!)

 I do love my hair accessories. I found this hair clip at the Indian pavilion and I loved it so much that I bought an extra one for my giveaway! :) Love the vintage feel.

The Chinese pavilion always has lots of cheap, random stuff...like this 'fauxnad plate!!' I chose this one because of the tiara. hehe

 I'm super into nail glitter at the moment and they were selling these packs of tiny bottles of glitter! So pretty. They also had polish for the plates. The polish and the plate were 1/3 of the price of regular Konad products so I'm going to see how they work out and maybe go back to get more. 

So that's what I've been up to my first week of 2011! I hope you guys have had a wonderful few days.