Christmas 2012

Hey everybody!

I've had a lovely day with my family opening presents, eating food, and enjoying each others' company. It's really fun seeing cousins and other relatives after being away for most of the year. One of my family traditions is to open presents at midnight, and Christmas Eve is just as important as Christmas Day. The downtown area is all lit up this time of year, so I took some pictures by the lovely lights.

Obviously, I'm very rebellious in nature.

I hope you all have had an amazing Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Boxing Day Eve)!
Love you all!
Lucero

chiffon black and white button up - Forever 21 | pleather shorts - Forever 21 | tights - American Eagle Outfitters | black oxford shoes - Aldo

Elizabeth Taylor Makeup

Hey everybody!

I was recently inspired by the recent Liz and Dick movie highlighting Elizabeth Taylor's whirlwind romance with Richard Burton. I decided to recreate one of Taylor's iconic movie roles, Cleopatra. I kept the eyes blue and bold, but wore nude lips to balance out the color. I think this look is perfect for the winter time, because the light blue eyes and nude lips make it icy and Snow Queen-like. 

This is the reference photo I went off of. 

I'd have liked to keep my bangs down, but they were not having it!

Here's a close up of the eyes.

Click the video to see my tutorial!

 I hope you enjoyed! 
<3 Lucero 

Products used: Makeup Forever Flash Palette, white color
Urban Decay's Naked 2 Palette, shades Tease and Blackout
Stila's Make an Impression in Moscow Palette, blue shadow
ELF Black Cream Eyeliner
Sumita Brow Powder
Benefit They're Real Mascara
Inglot Blush #67
Mac Viva Glam Gaga II lipstick
Yves Saint Laurent Gold Gloss in Golden Peach

Food Rave: Ladurée Macarons

Hey everybody! One of my recent food obsessions from this past year has been macarons! They're these little French meringue-based confections. They come in a wide assortment of colors and flavors, and are sweet and delicious. The shells are crunchy (think communion bread), while the inside is chewy or jam-like. Macarons are a favorite little splurge of mine, since the tricky baking process makes them pretty expensive. I purchased macarons from Ladurée, a famous pastry shop based in France. Since the macarons are so pretty, naturally I took lots of photos.  

Left to right, the flavors are cherry, pistachio, coffee, raspberry, vanilla, chocolate, hazelnut, and rose petal. 

The macarons did not disappoint, and I'll certainly go back to Ladurée for a rare treat. :) 

<3 Lucero 

Song of the Day: Wish List by Neon Trees 

Review: Benefit's They're Real Mascara

Hey everybody!

I recently picked up a tube of Benefit's They're Real Mascara (retails for $23), which I've wanted to try out since its launch. I'm a big fan of the Bad Gal Lash mascara, and was hoping this would live up to my expectations. Overall, this mascara is fabulous and I give it a 10 out of 10.

Grading system:
2 out of 2 points for wand and application
2 out of 2 points for effect and definition
2 out of 2 points for longevity
2 out of 2 points for removal
2 out of 2 points for packaging

Wand and application: as you can see from the following picture, the wand is large and has rubber bristles. This is my favorite type of wand, since it's great for separating lashes. The Bad Gal Lash is a bit different, and has a more feathery, but still large, wand. However, this wand might not appeal to everybody since it's more of a matter of opinion.

Effect and definition: The mascara formula is on the thicker side, and not watery by any means. It provided a lot of thickness and length without clumping up on me. It separated and coated the lashes beautifully.

My lashes prior to mascara, no curl.

 Longevity: So far, I've had no problems with flaking or dryness throughout the day. However, I do expect the drier formula to flake on me in several weeks time like the Bad Gal Lash did. It's an unfortunate part of having a thicker mascara formula. It's not a huge problem for me, though, since I try to throw out my old mascaras every few months anyways.

The left eye has mascara and is curled

 Removal: I had no problem removing this mascara with my regular eye makeup remover. I didn't expect any problems from a non-waterproof formula.

Both sets of lashes have mascara and are curled

 Packaging: I enjoy the silvery packaging, which luckily isn't prone to fingerprint marks. It's not unusually shaped or sized, which makes it easy to travel with. No problems here.

I love how it separates the lashes!

I hope you enjoyed! Until next time,
<3 Lucero

Global Village Adventure

Hey everybody! My parents and I recently went on a nightly excursion to Global Village here in Dubai. It's a shopping, entertainment, and leisure center that has pavilions from different countries. Each pavilion has food and other items native to that country. We spent close to 4 hours walking around to the different venues. I found it very amusing "going" to different parts of the world ("hey, want to walk to India?") The weather was in our favor, and made for a very lovely night. 

I got Afghanistan and Vietnam all in one photo! Haha!

I love the bright colors! Sari I'm not sari. 

A man in Afghanistan was hard at work weaving a carpet. 

Africa was my favorite venue! [ignore the fact that Africa is a continent and not a country.]

Tunisia reminded me a lot of Greek architecture. So cute!

So many shoes in India!

This is by far my favorite picture of the night. These are lanterns from Turkey. 

China was filled with everything sold at the other venues. Haha!

Global Village also had carousels and other fun rides. 

The night's loot! Africa surprised me, it had the coolest jewelry. 

I hope you enjoyed! Until next time,

<3 Lucero 

Thanksgiving 2012

Hey everybody! I hope everybody's had a great Thanksgiving! I sure did; I have a lot to be thankful for. I have wonderful friends and family, a lovely home, and a cool gig with sparknotes.com. My family and I had an unorthodox Thanksgiving dinner. We headed to Mall of the Emirates for burgers and frozen yogurt! It was absolutely delicious, and one of my favorite Thanksgiving dinners to date. Funnily enough, some of the shops were having major sales, despite Black Friday being an American sort of thing. I got started on my Christmas shopping and got some gifts. Later, we headed to a showing of the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. It was fabulous, and a must see for any lovers of action films! 

Shake Shack never fails!! 

Yum! Pinkberry hit the spot!

I'm thankful that at least my brother might be tall! His fashion statement was "Thanksgiving Football".

 I hope you all enjoyed!
<3 Lucero 

Burgundy Bows

Hey everybody! Today's outfit is very girly and autumnal. The focal point is the adorable burgundy bow printed dress. It has a lovely scoopneck collar, and a sheer panel at the top. I also really like the fitted, structured shape. I added on dark accessories for both contrast and warmth. I finally found the perfect pair of footed tights, which I think go amazingly well with the dress and the flats! On a side note, doesn't the entire outfit feel very Zooey Deschannel-ish? I also did my makeup to compliment the color of the dress. You can see a full tutorial here. 

 I hope you enjoyed! Until next time,
<3 Lucero

the lovely burgundy dress - Forever 21 | opaque black footed tights - American Eagle Outfitters | cute black bow band - Forever 21 | black cardigan - Target | goldish necklace - gift from Mexico 

Song of the Day: Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club 

Trick-or-Treat & Blogtober Finale

Hey everybody! I hope you all are having a fabulous Halloween! I had a wonderful time trick-or-treating with my little brother, Isaiah. We went all around our neighborhood, which really got into the Halloween spirit! Most of the houses we went to were intricately decorated with ghouls and pumpkins and spiders and other great, scary things. My brother went as a pirate, which featured an amazingly long weave. I went as a dark-princess sort of thing, since I found a really cool purple mask that went with my black dress. 

We spent around 45 minutes going house to house and enjoying the cool Dubai night air. Well, I enjoyed the cool night. Halfway through our trip, my brother started complaining about his hot plastic weave! Haha! We came home with an impressive bags of loot- one house gave us each a full Twix bar! Then we settled in for the night with pizza, popcorn, and my favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus. Today's been absolutely fabulous! :) 

Arr! Show me yer booty!

So. Much. Candy. 

Today isn't just a modern day celebration of All Hallow's Eve; today is the end of Blogtober! I hope you've enjoyed this month as much as I have! I can't wait to do it again next year. :) 
<3 Lucero 

Song of the Day: Thriller by Michael Jackson 

October 2012 Birchbox

Hey everybody! Today I received my October birchbox, and the theme was transformations. So, this box contains samples focused on jazzing up your everyday routine. 

The first sample is a Harvey Prince fragrance, in the scent Eau Flirt. Normally, I'm not too fond of fragrance samples since they usually smell grandmotherly. However, I really like this perfume since it contains citrus and jasmine notes for an all around fresh and fruity scent. But that's not the best part! It claims to be clinically proven to attract men. See, this saves a lot of time for me. Instead of making a milkshake to bring all the boys to my yard, this scent can apparently do that for me. How nice!

The next product is the Mox Botanicals Pomegranate & Fig Lip Butter. I'm a huge lip balm junkie, and I hope that this lives up to my beloved EOS lip balm! It seems to have the same thick consistency, and smells wonderful! Even though I'm not a huge fan of the potted packaging, I'm willing to give this a shot. 

Next we have the City Sunscreen Serum by Supergoop! I'm not entirely sure why it's called a "city sunscreen", but I'm really interested in a serum form of sunscreen. I'm hoping it doesn't leave a white cast, since high-SPF sunscreens have a tendency to do that. 

I'm super excited for this sample! I've heard only great things about theBalm Cosmetics, and I've been itching to try some of their products for months now. The Mary-Lou Manizer in particular has had great reviews, and I can't wait to try it! From what I've swatched of it, the highlighter seems very creamy and leaves a nice sheen, not obnoxious chunks of glitter. I also adore the fabulous packaging! 

Last, we have the lifestyle extra with is the LUNA Protein Chocolate Peanut Butter bar. I've also heard great things about LUNA, and have wondered about it for quite a while now. I love energy and protein bars for breakfast or snacks on the go. The last food extra I was sent in my birchbox was the KIND bar, which I fell in love with! As a result, I have high hopes for this bar. 

Here's an overview of my box. This box was a bit lighter than usual, but I'm excited for a majority of the samples in here. I definitely prefer quality over quantity! 

I hope you enjoyed! 
<3 Lucero 

Song of the Day: Little Things by One Direction