Zalando Solved My Little Black Dress Crisis (and it’s Kitty-Approved too)!

In recent years I have been really attracted to bold colors and patterns when it comes to clothes. If you take a look at Belgian street style, you’ll see that a lot of girls really aren’t afraid of colors. They know what suits them best, they know how to throw colors together, and there’s something about it that’s cheerful and statement-making. However, when I was asked to wear a little black dress for the Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire event, I panicked: little black dress? I don’t have one! I was lucky enough to find a good one in time for the occasion, but the experience has taught me that good black dresses, like good black pumps, are something that practically every woman should have in their arsenal. After looking around a little, I found this French Connection Alicia Cocktail Dress on Zalando and ordered it!

Today’s Post is on Makeupandbeautyblog!

Like fitting yourself into a much smaller box, or when Karen from Makeupandbeautyblog asks you to write guest posts!

About a month ago, I received an e-mail from Karen. Not having read the title properly, I assumed it was my friend Karin (ignoring for a second that her name is spelled with an i, not e). The e-mail began normal. She’s planning a short vacation towards the end of April. Sounds good to me. She’s going to Kauai. That’s not an obvious holiday destination for someone who lives in Belgium, but sure why not? And she’s looking for a few talented bloggers to help her take a little time off. Wait WHAT? Who IS the sender of the e-mail? I finally went back to the title and freaked out a little. It’s KAREN, Karen from Makeupandbeautyblog!

Karen kindly gave me some blogging advice (which I have been trying to follow, including introducing more light to where I take photos and more photos per post), and told he she was looking very specifically for how-tos and tutorials, which I have almost never done on Mostly Sunny. I thought and thought and thought… what do I know a tiny little bit about? What part of my experience can I share with others in a more organized way? After many e-mail exchanges, we narrowed the ideas down, and I proudly present you my first guest post on MBB!

Writing this post took almost a whole day. I began by writing the “tips” down, digging things I wanted to show out, and taking first product photos and then demonstration photos. After that, it was the usual process of sifting through photos, labeling them properly, and adjusting mostly brightness. Please bear in mind that I didn’t have my new camera at that point, so it was just my small point-and-shoot. Nevertheless, I am proud of how it turned out!

With no further ado, here is the link to the guest post if you don’t already follow Karen (though I wouldn’t know in what universe is that even possible). Feel free to leave comments here or there to let me know how you like it. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

In life, we must learn from Tango the wise kitty:

(Yup, the poor box in which my flash arrived was flattened in about an hour)

Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx

Quick & Dirty Swatches of L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows in 15 Flashback Silver, 28 Enigmatic Purple, 29 Smoky Green, 30 Ultimate Black + A Random Spring Day

Hey everyone!

How was your day? Are you suffering from the gloomy Monday syndrome or are you coping just fine?

I had a great day today, mostly because I got up early and got a lot of things done. I took many pictures that I need for future posts (some won’t come up till much later since they need to be tested still). There was so much sunlight that I seemed to have drawn some inspiration, and I hope you’ll like the new photos!

I haven’t had time to swatch all the Dior Vernis yet, so today I’m doing a little filler post. I went to the drugstore and saw 4 new L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows, and I did some quick and dirty swatches for you!

These are 15 Flashback Silver (I don’t believe this is new. It’s just that we didn’t get it till now. It is renamed as 222 Infinity Sky in the US), 28 Enigmatic Purple, 29 Smoky Green, and 30 Ultimate Black. I believe the latter three are relatively new, since I can’t find an awful lot of information about them online. My first impression is that these matte ones aren’t AS pigmented or smooth compared to their shimmery counterparts. They’re still very good, but not exactly to the same extent. I had no problem building them up and smoothing the slight chalkiness out though, so maybe it won’t be a big problem when applied on the lids.

Also, since it’s a filler post, I decided to share some random pictures I took today with you.

Behold Muffin and Tango tangled up in a headlock. I think they might have been fighting for the patch of sun, but it could just be Muffin getting bored. I took the pink paper out of the Caudalie tote I got last week because they sometimes play with/sit on it.

This is Tango getting his tum tanned. He eventually flipped over so that he could tan his back lol

Since the weather was fantastic, Dr. D and I went on a walkie in the neighborhood. The cherry blossoms are blooming here! Spring really has come!

Voila, just a little something to keep you entertained until I get the time to swatch/review something properly (I’m aiming at tomorrow though, so it won’t be long). I hope your week is off to a great start!

Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx

PS: What do you guys think about this kind of posts? Would you like to see it from time to time or not at all? Of course I won’t do a filler post twice every week or something, but sometimes when I’m having a good day and I have some random bits and pieces of my life in photos, I would also love to share with you! Let me know in the comment section below whether occasionally you’d be entertained by a post in the same vein or not 🙂

FOTD: What I Wore for Christmas and Beautybay Sale!

Hey everyone!

How was your Christmas? Did you have a good one with a lot of nice presents and food overdose? My Christmas Eve was quiet, but I did see quite some friends over Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so I would like to share the looks I did with you.

First and foremost is my Christmas manicure. I very seldom wear nail polish nowadays, but since D cooked on Christmas Eve and we were going over to some friends’ on Christmas Day, I thought I’d seize the chance. The polish is OPI Merry Midnight. It is from the 2009 Christmas collection, so it is rather difficult to find one now. I only found out about it this summer when I picked this shade for my pedicure back home, and I was lucky enough to find a bottle on Yahoo Auction in Taiwan (it’s the equivalent of EBay in Taiwan because it has been there for much longer). I don’t like to tease you with limited edition or hard-to-find items, so I am not going to write a separate review about it. As you will be able to see in the following picture, the polish is a jelly purple with multi-color shimmer and flakes. The first coat is stunningly uneven, un-sparkling, and uninspiring in general. I remember being so taken aback during my pedicure when the lady put on the first coat. I almost said:” you must have made a mistake! This is NOT the shade I picked out!” But after the second coat things get dramatically better. You do need more skills and experience to work with this nail polish, and I find it difficult to avoid some unevenness altogether (though nothing too concerning). Something else I don’t like so much about it is the fact that it doesn’t last as well on me as a typical OPI nail polish. I’m getting tip wear and some chips after just a couple of days, while normally OPI polishes last 3-4 days with minimal tip wear on me! I do hope OPI will bring the shade back with a better formula.

Now moving on to my Christmas Day makeup. I did a “classic” look with the Naked Palette. I used Sin on the inner half, Buck on the outer half, the lightest shade of NYX Rock and Roll on the inner corner, and smudged my lower lash line out with Gunmetal. I was also testing Tarte Exposed out and was pretty happy with it! On my lips it’s Chanel Rouge Coco Mademoiselle.

For Boxing Day I did something a bit more dramatic. I used my L’Oreal HiP duo in 106 Sculpted. The lighter shade all over my lid, and the darker shade on the outer corner, brought into my crease, and on my lower lash line. On the inner corner is Sin from the Naked Palette, Tarte Exposed on cheek, a bit of Bali Brown to add some dimension to my face, and MAC Sweetie on lips.

I have to report that the darker shade of the duo is really rather hard to blend, and there is some fallout. The fallout isn’t too concerning at all, but the lack of blendability is a pain. The lighter shade doesn’t pull orange on me though, so I’m happy about that. I wore makeup for 11-12 hours that day, and by the end of the day I could see some fading, but it was still OK. Man, you can see the print my glasses leave on my nose SO clearly in this picture (for some reason it is worse on the left side)! I might have to start looking for a decent concealer now.

Also, I’m still looking for a way to take clearer pictures of my FOTD. As what I have told you, we haven’t had a lot of natural light in Belgium, and the flashlight doesn’t always allow colors to be captured on photos as they are. I will work on this issue, but in the meantime I hope you at least get an idea!

Last but not least, Muffin the new kitten wants to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a 2012 with a punch!

She has been with us for a bit more than two weeks now, and she is a total sweetheart! I’ll for sure introduce her properly in the blog soon. She plays go fetch just like what Brownie used to do. Can you believe that?

Lots of Christmas love,

Sunny

Oh, and pssst I almost forgot to tell you about this! Beautybay.com is having a 10% off sale till midnight Wednesday (UK time, so it might be earlier/later depending on where you live. For example, in continental Europe, it would be 1AM on Thursday). I am a registered customer, so I received an e-mail with 15% off. The promotion code is the same though (XMAS), so I guess the system just checks if you are already in it. If you have been lemming for Cargo blushes for example, this would be a great opportunity to get some! What I LOVE about Beautybay is the fact that it doesn’t rip you off. A 25-dollar Cargo blush would cost about 18.60 euros, but the rate does change a little from time to time (or even every day?). Beautybay also carries Too Faced, Urban Decay, Bedhead, Bare Escentuals, and so on. I got some stuff myself, and will show you soon!

Introducing… Brownie the Whiskered Companion Number 2

Brownie came to me in the beginning of 2007, when she was 5 or 6 weeks old. She was found in Hsinchu, a city in Northern Taiwan, abandoned in a carton box (really, why would anyone do something like that?). The lady who rescued her found my friend Amber on the online cat forum, who has a lot of experience bottle-feeding motherless kitties. Since she wasn’t taking care of any at that moment, she agreed to take this one over. It was the beginning of December 2006. The vet said she might have been a week old. Amber decided to make November 25th her birthday, coinciding with the birthday of her oldest cat.

I was having a lot of problems with Tango back at the time. Besides the usual my-battery-is-completely-full-and-I-want-to-do-a-lot-of-crazy-stupid-things kind of kitty problems, Tango was also unfortunately not socialized. He had no idea that he was a cat, nor that he was in fact not one of us. I couldn’t blame him. He couldn’t have known better. Still, it was annoying to have him hunch his back and puff up when we were trying to discourage him from doing something undesirable. He also felt free to bite us when he was upset, and punishing him only made it worse.

I met Amber on the cat forum. She had 4 cats at that point and a lot of experience bottle-feeding motherless ones. She was kind enough to set up “play dates” for Tango so that he could be with other cats. Even after the first play date he was behaving better, knowing that there were lines he shouldn’t cross (that or he got too tired trying to defend himself in an unknown environment). Amber kept encouraging me to get a second one, but the only thing I could think of was: if things go south, I’d be pretty dead. My mother really adored Tango by then, but still. Bringing a second cat home would be a provocation, and if this one turns out to be just like Tango, then it’s double the trouble.

The first time I saw Brownie however, my heart melted. She was motherless just like Tango, but with an experienced human caretaker, she was doing a lot better. She was fluffy, round, well-fed, and happy. She would purr nonstop the second someone picks her up to cuddle her, and she is extremely smart. Even from such an early age you could tell she knew a lot about the world, who not to cross, how to make herself comfortable, but above all, how to love and be loved. That first time I saw her, I had Tango on my lap and I put her next to him. He got so angry that he tried to attack her, but I managed to put my hand over her in time. Well, I would be jealous too, it’s a bit like having a new baby sister in the house, and I knew it would be something I had to work on.

I saw Brownie several times, and every time a voice in my head says: take her home! I made a deal with Amber: I’d take her home for two weeks to see how things went. If it worked out, I’d keep her. If not, I’d take her back and Amber would find her a new owner. I told my mother Amber needed some help with the little one, because one of her cats was sick (which was true). Brownie was so adorable however, my mother never really opposed to me bringing her home.

Tango was almighty angry for 2 days. He didn’t attack his baby sister like what he tried to do the first time he saw her, but he would observe her whatever she was doing, and that stressed her out. Brownie was smart though. She never messed with him, and she spent her time playing and being nice to everyone in the house. She quickly won us over. By the third day, her magic worked on Tango, too. They started sitting next to each other, and Tango started grooming her. So that was that, she stayed. Brownie is about as clingy as a dog, which is most of the time very flattering (though sometimes I also want her to leave me alone for a bit). She follows me around the house very often, getting accidentally stepped on from time to time. She wants to be cuddled all the time, and she likes attention. She is as nice as a companion animal can be, though she is very shy and guests almost never get to see her. The only exception was my boyfriend (I’ll dub him D). The first time he came through the door of where I was living back at the time, Brownie went to greet him. I really wonder if she was smart enough to know who he was and that he would be the boss from now on. Needless to say, she is D’s favorite. Before we moved in together he made this “no cat in the bedroom” rule. Guess who was the first to break that rule with Brownie? He also gives her a copious amount of treat on a daily basis, despite that fact that I keep trying to tell him it’s not necessarily good for her health. Oh well. I guess we still have to work on that.

Brownie came as Tango’s companion, but is now everybody’s favorite sweetheart. She has her quirks, and when she sets her mind on something there is almost nothing you can do to stop her (fortunately that doesn’t happen too often). However, when I look into her big green eyes, I see as much love as it is possible to be contained by her small body, and I feel truly blessed that I decided to take her home, and all the way across the world with me. For all the love you have given, little girl, you deserve a very happy life, and I hope I can at least give you that.