The Vivid Lens for Your Eyes (Day 2)!

6/5/2010 Day 2 in Taipei 
Weather: Ominous sky - cloudy n' rain


I have couple tasks requested from friends in USA.... and since my little girls still wake me up around 5 AM in the morning, I probably can fulfill their shopping list by the first week!


As I said, I tried to be persistently phlegmatic about things that didn't catch my attention at the first place, and in this case, it is the vivid colors of lenses and enlarged-cornea lenses.  ....But curiosity kills the CAT, I bought myself a couple colors of lens as well. (I think I have tried those like 10 years ago but oh well,....... ) ^^


This is daily disposal purple lens which I think extremely flattered my eyes and hair color!!

upper eye: Georgio Armani black eyeliner

Lower eye: JK (Jemma kidd)  03 pin up eye liner (bought at Target)

mascara: Maybelline pulse perfection black w/ automatic vibrating 

I didn't apply fancy eyeliner nor pearl simmers to highlight the corner of my eyes but the result is lovely already!!

This is daily disposal in Brown and I have yet to tried it on! 






Burberry black dress
lilith purple gingham apron/cover-up
Polka Dot puffed quarter sleeves sweater 
Anne Valerie Hash taupe brogues
Givenchy Tinhan hobo w/ studs
(Pardon the mess of my room......)


Tomorrow I should head out to take real pictures.


Have a good Day. 
xoxo Rachel

The Arrival Day of Taipei (Day 1)!

6/3/2010 
Departure from SFO at 1:35 AM

The exciting moment before both of Abby and Ilona knocked themselves out!!!

I am surprised that my face didn't turn out sticky and smudge; Instead, the air is fresher and temperature is cooler after the rain of last week. I can wear my J Brand twill jeans all day along and not sweat in it!!^^

Arrival at Taipei 6:10 AM

I never had jet leg, not even when I was a flight attendant. We have an old saying: Work at sunrise and sleep at sunset!! Which simply means let our body follows the nature of yin yang.  

What's great about living at tropical countries...your skin will never have a dull moment!! ...the moist up in the air!! ^^

I left two girls to my Dad and paid a visit on Eslite Bookstore alone! Yes, it feels great to be alone, to be single (not literally) and to be able to sip a cup of coffee in a city where I grow up once again!!        

They are cute book covers. 



Now, no one would know what I am reading at! ^^

1. Top:

• Free People spagaitti straps cam. in pink flower prints
• J Crew cardigan w/ silk pockets

2. Bottom: J Brand twill cropped jeans

3. Shose: Sam Edelman gladiator flat sandal

4. Accessory: PS1 yellow / lilith vinyl shopping bag

You don't think I'd be gone for long the first day at Taipei. Only 2 hrs. recharge of myself, I am back to my girls!!

It rains a little but that doesn't affect our mood of walking around the city!


Love in Taipei!!
xoxo Rachel

Gorgeous Summer Lip Gloss and Wedding Shoes

Hello, hello!  I just got back from my latest wedding dress fitting and thought I would give you an update on how it all went.  My dress is all ready to go but I just have one more fitting on 3rd July to make sure it's perfect.  I find myself falling more in love with the dress every time I see it.  It's amazing.  My mum took along my wedding shoes today so I could see them with the dress and I couldn't remember if I had shown you guys what they look like.  They're a kind of champagne colour, the perfect heel height, slightly darker than my dress with the obligatory glitzy edge! You know me, I have serious magpie tendencies!...

For some reason, my dress makes me look really tall, it must be something about the floor length dresses that create that effect (hey, I ain't complaining!).  I was happy to see that I won't have to do too much more work to be in the best shape for my wedding.  The panic started because I originally thought I was going to go for a lace up design at the back but when the dress was being made, the seamstress phoned to say that the dress would really suit a zip and buttons more because it created cleaner lines with the style of the dress.  The shop has measured me for a lace up so they make the dress a bit smaller so everything is nipped in.  However, since I switched to a zip, when I got the dress, it turned out to be VERY snug i.e. I could hardly breathe when it was done up!  I had a bit of a blub after that fitting because I felt a bit crappy.  The I pulled myself together and got on with toning my body up at the gym.  The last time I got a fitting I had chubby bits under my arms and 'back fat' as it's so fondly known.  The snug fit of the dress just accentuated that...not pretty.  I swore to myself that I would start a plan at the gym to tone my upper body and it has definitely made a huge difference.  The dress looked so much better on me this time so I only have some fine tuning to do.  My mum is taking her Power Plate over for me to borrow until the wedding.  After seeing how amazing her figure looks now after only a couple of months of using it, I wanted in on the action! So I am going to use it every day for 10 mins in the morning and 10 minutes at night (same thing my mum does).  I will keep you guys updated on whether it makes a difference.  I will still be going to the gym and doing cardio etc but this is just an extra thing to make sure I look my best on my wedding day (and the honeymoon!).

I also wanted to share a couple of amazing lipglosses with you guys, they are both gorgeous colours for summer.  The first is Jemma Kidd Makeup School Hi Shine Silk Touch Lipgloss in Petal - a milky peach shade.  When I first saw this, I though of Holly from The Yummy Mummy's Beauty Blog because I know how much she loves peach lipglosses...well, Holly, you would absolutely adore this product.  It's such a brightening colour that looks so fresh and summery.  I can imagine it would look great on any skintone because it's such a soft, flattering colour.  If you are scared to wear bright corals that are in at the mo, then peach is a great alternative.  You could also wear it over a coral lippy to tone it down a bit for the daytime.  I LOVE this lipgloss, the formula is great and doesn't have the sticky feel.  I am wearing it today with slightly golden skin, pale gold eyeshadow and brown flicked eyeliner and I really love that combination.  The second gloss I am obsessing over is Estee Lauder's High Gloss in Honey...a perfect name for this shade.  This gloss looks incredible over any nude lipstick! It's got slight shimmer to it but it's so fine that it just shows up on your lips as a shiny effect.  I like to wear it over Estee Lauder's Pure Colour Lipstick in Vanilla Truffle (my all time favourite nude) or YSL Rouge Volupte in no.1 Nude Beige.  It's a gorgeous gloss for any kind of sunkissed, bronzey look...like the Charlize Theron look from my previous post.  The best thing is you get loads of gloss for your money...15ml!

That's all for today but I will be posting something on Monday to update you on how I got on with the wedding makeup trials (hopefully with piccies!)

Have a brilliant weekend everyone :)

Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Niece Casia!!!

Uncle Nick Says "Feliz Cumpleaños"!!!
Uncle Nick: Nick Verreos with his niece Casia Kennedy

Today, my gorgeous--and very fashionable (of course)--niece turned TEN years old! (Gosh I'm getting OLD!!!). So I wanted to embarrass her by posting a very public Happy Birthday to Casia Maria Kennedy right here on my blog. She was born ten years ago in Mexico City (yep, she's an "unofficial" Chilanga!) but now lives in San Antonio--along with her Mommy (my sister Rita) and her brother Alain.Casia's Barbie: Nick Verreos holds his winning "My Scene Project Runway" Barbie

I am her Godfather--which for me, means that when I grow old, she has to take care of me (wink wink!) and if you guys are Project Runway Season 2 fans, you'll remember when I won the My Scene Barbie Challenge I "dedicated it" to her and said that when my niece watches the show (and this particular episode), I will now be her FAVORITE UNCLE!!
Happy Birthday Casia!

Ramble

I'm getting to like these ramble posts! It's just a great chance to get all my weekly thoughts out on one post...and it's very cathartic!

1) SATC 2 - I went to see this last night with my friends and we did the whole cocktails thing beforehand although that resulted in me having a splitting headache by the end of the film...I think that's because it was pitch black and my eyes got strained.  I won't say too much about the film as I know not everyone has had a chance to see it yet.  What I will say is that I don't think it deserved to be slammed by the critics.  I think if you take it for what it is (which is an extended episode of the show) then you will enjoy it.  It's silly at times, but enjoyable silliness.  I am a huge fan of the show and I wasn't disappointed by this film, there were loads of really funny bits.  I now have a huge crush on the older man in the film, the Danish guy that crashes over the sand dunes in a jeep...I don't normally go for the older guys but he is a fox! ...sigh.  I don't think it's as good as the first one which was more of an emotinal rollercoaster but it still had the SATC magic.  So my advice is, go see it...don't listen to th critics, I mean it's not supposed to be profound like Schindler's List...it's a fun film to be enjoyed when you're tiddly on Cosmopolitans!

2) The weather is finally looking up again in Aberdeen, the sun is actually out and it's warm outside! The above pic was taken in a park in Aberdeen...I know, hard to believe!  This phenomenon has been apparent for the last couple of days and long may it continue! The only downside to the lovely weather is that it's really warm at night time so I haven't been sleeping that well...waking up all sweaty is never pleasant. (some people are never happy!ha ha).  I am hoping to head out to my parent's place for a BBQ on Sunday...ahh bliss!

3) Two shows that I'm OBSESSED with at the moment are The Wire (of which I have acquired the full boxset) and The Pacific.  The last show I really got into was The Sopranos, what is it with HBO? They have the best shows! I have really been enjoying The Pacific...I used to love Band of Brothers so when I heard this was made by the same people, I knew I had to watch it.  I love the way they integrate the real soldiers at the start of each episode to remind you that this stuff all happened, it's not fiction.  To be honest I wasn't aware that alot of this stuff went on in Pacific, not to that extent anyway, but I think that was the whole point of the series, to highlight the great number of soldiers who lost their lives in these battles.  It's very emotional to watch and I often find myself close to tears.  It's good to remind yourself of how lucky you are to have had such a sheltered life.

4) I really need to get back in the swing of my exercise program at the gym.  Because it's so warm outside, the gym is sweltering at the moment! There was actually a point on the cross trainer yesterday when I was finding it hard to breathe because I was so hot.  It's so hard to get motivated when it's so sunny outside!  I have also been struggling a little bit with the Slim Fast thing in the past couple of days.  For ages, I had been sticking to the 2 shakes and a main meal but I have cheated for the past two days and only had one shake, a big snack then dinner.  I think I just need to be a bit more strict on myself and get myself back on track to lose the weight before the wedding.  I still have about 7lbs to go before I reach my target for the big day.  I have about 8 and a half weeks so it's more than do-able if I buckle down.  Overall, I'm more interested in being toned than losing weight.