Round Angled Foundation Brush: Shiseido versus Missha

From their websites, these two brushes look exactly the same except for the price tag.  The Missha one is priced at $17 while the Shiseido is at $30.  However, the Missha website does have the shipping cost of $8.99, which brings the total to $25.98 and only worth it if you want to buy something else from Missha like their highly rated BB creams.  However, Missha does have free shipping for orders over $40.  As for the buying the Shiseido brush, Sephora's free shipping doesn't kick in until over $50 while for Macy's it is over $99. The Shiseido website itself provides free shipping for orders above $50.  So it all depends on what else are you going to buy.

I bought the Missha one first because I wanted to get my free bb cream for my birthday.  I didn't buy the Shiseido brush until just recently when Sephora had their special 15% off.  Hence that's why I have the packaging for the Shiseido brush and not the Missha Brush.  However, the Missha Brush does come in a similar plastic packaging.

According to their respective websites:
Missha: brush: 14~18mm / body: 105mm
Shiseido: 4.5" Long (roughly 114.3mm)

Even though these are the website measurements I still feel like the Missha one is a tad bit longer.

(Yeah, I didn't have a ruler on hand but I did have a measuring tape.  I figured I'd use the cm side considering the measurements were already in metric.  So either the website is completely wrong or my measuring tape is but the brushes look to be around 120mm)

As for the actual brush head, the Missha brush is definitely flatter and has a steeper angle than the Shiseido one.  From the top it looks like the brush heads are the same size.

The Missha directions for applying and tips to clean is located directly on the website.  However, Shiseido only has their directions and brush care on their UK site and not the US site.  On the other hand, the US site does have videos for beauty tips.

Products Mentioned:
Shiseido US: http://www.shiseido.com/foundation-brush/0729238108165,en_US,pd.html&cgid=makeup-face-tools#!
Shiseido UK: http://www.shiseido.co.uk/#/makeup/shiseido-the-makeup/face/perfect-foundation-brush
- Also available at Sephora and Macy's
Missha: http://www.misshaus.com/ctrl.php?page=mainProductDetail&p_code=MSMS1281&ctg=AFA

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain - Spring 2013

Presenting the Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture Vernis À Lèvres Glossy Stain  - Spring 2013 Collection (aka YSL Glossy Stain Spring 2013).  The name is quite a mouthful and I do know it's little late but it's still technically Spring.  No.27 Pêche Cerra-Colla is actually my first YSL Glossy Stain purchase, and I didn't get No.29 Nose Fourreau until recently.  These are only 2 of the 4 for the spring collection.  The others include No.28 Grenat Acrylique and No.30 Mauve Fusain.  However, Sephora only carries No.27 and No.29 for the spring collection but you can get No.28 and No.30 at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and YSL Beauty.  

Doe Shaped Applicator

Swatch:

Links:
YSL Beauty: http://www.yslbeautyus.com/Rouge-Pur-Couture-Vernis-a-Levres-Glossy-Stain/1020YSL,default,pd.html
Sephora: http://www.sephora.com/product/productDetail.jsp?keyword=ysl%20glossy%20stain&skuId=1480771&productId=P304003&_requestid=139190
Nordstrom: http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/yves-saint-laurent-spring-2013-collection-rouge-pur-couture-glossy-stain/3480982?origin=category
Neiman Marcus: http://www.neimanmarcus.com/p/Yves-Saint-Laurent-Glossy-Stain-Eyes-Lips/prod155960046_cat43680746__/?icid=&searchType=EndecaDrivenCat&rte=%252Fcategory.jsp%253FitemId%253Dcat43680746%2526pageSize%253D30%2526No%253D0%2526refinements%253D&eItemId=prod155960046&cmCat=product

Stila Depotted

The Stila kaleidoscope palette is my first palette depotting adventure.  I was definitely not very good at it but for the first time, I didn't think I did too badly.  I did cracked the middle pink shadow (Star) and created dents on every other eye shadow besides the dark liner shadow (Spiral).  The layout is the exact same as the other Stila 5-shadow travel palettes, which are currently on sale at Sephora and Stila (I'll link it below).  

Unfortunately these pans were not magnetic and so for the pans to stay in the Z-palette I had to put on the magnetic stickers.  The circle stickers that came with the palette were actually too big (26mm) and I ended up buying the squares ones (12.7mm x 15.7 mm) from Z-palette.  It is $6 for 30 pieces of the square ones while it is $5 for 30 pieces of the circle ones (20 pieces came with my Dome Palette purchase)

Swatch

Here's a swatch of the colors. This was done outside in the sunlight.  The colors from top to bottom are: 

Spiral: dark purple shadow with purple sparkles

Dance: matte mauve beige shadow

Star: light frosty pink shadow

Shine: frosty lavender shadow

Twirl: mauve beige shimmer shadow

Geranium: bright pink cream blush or lip color

Star is really hard to see in the photo, I actually had to layer it 3 times for it to even vaguely show up in the photo. I also had to layer Shine and Twirl a bit too. 

Product Links:

Sephora website: http://www.sephora.com/brand/brandStore.jsp?searchTerm=stila&brandId=3865&_requestid=3806577#!searchTerm=stila&brandId=3865&pageSize=60&defaultPageSize=60&sortBy=-1&defaultSortBy=-1&node=1050049&ref[]=900006

Stila website: http://www.stilacosmetics.com/category/makeup/phased+out+favorites.do?nType=2
Z-palette Square Metal Stickers: http://zpalette.com/makeup-z-palette/mac-makeup-square-metal-stickers.html
Z-palette Round Metal Stickers: http://zpalette.com/makeup-z-palette/mac-cosmetics-round-metal-stickers.html

Ombre Green Mani

Products Used
(from thumb to pinky)
Orly Viridian Vinyl: satin teal color from Plastix Collection
Orly Bailamos: shimmery teal teal from Viva Summer Collection
OPI Fly: teal cream color from Nicki Minaj Collection
Orly Ancient Jade: soft jade green cream color from Precious Collection
Orly Jealous, Much?: pale mint green color from Romance Collection

Seattle: Fran's Chocolate

So I was back in Seattle again and my friend recommended me to check out Fran's Chocolate.  I love chocolate so I obviously had to go.  Of course the fact that my friend is a major foodie also convinced me (if she say's it good, it has to be good).  I went to one in Downtown Seattle by the Four Season Hotel.  The place was very upscale even more so than a Godiva Chocolate boutique.  Price wise it was $1.25 a piece or was it $1.50 a piece, which I think is around the price of Godiva truffles.  They also gave out a dark chocolate sample.  It might have been the Fran's Blend Dark Chocolate Thins.  The sales associates were very nice and helpful.  The packaging was also cute and you get to pick any ribbon color.  I picked up 4 pieces but was convinced to take 5 by the sales associate.

Now if I remember correctly, from left to right I picked up:
Bittersweet Truffle
Hazelnut Crunch Truffle
Smoked Salt Caramels
Single Malt Whiskey Truffle
Raspberry Truffle

Product Links:

Fran's Chocolate: https://www.franschocolates.com/store/home.php
Fran's Blend Thins: https://www.franschocolates.com/store/home.php?cat=2311