Hello Pretty Bird! - A beauty and not-so-glamorous lifestyle blog: August 2014

27 August, 2014

The post you've all been waiting for: My review of the ONE DIRECTION Up All Night Makeup Collection

Press Sample

I'm sure you've all been wondering lately "Man, when is R. going to write about One Direction's makeup or fragrance line?" Well, your today's your lucky day. I got my hands on the One Direction "Up All Night" makeup tin (one of the three kits from the LE "The Looks" collection featuring 1D by Markwins), and I'll be sharing all my super-relevant old lady opinions about it below.


Background info:
The Looks Collection comprises three keepsake tins inspired by One Direction™s globe-conquering albums, Up All Night, Take Me Home and the latest chart topper, Midnight Memories. Each tin comes complete with everything you need to show off your personality. Are you a rock n roll girl, a fun party girl or the girl next door? We have just the right collection for you and illustrations to help show you just how to get your perfect look. All your beauty essentials are housed in a LIMITED EDITION collectable keepsake tin with removable sleeve, complete with ONE DIRECTION doodle stencils to decorate your keepsake tin and make it uniquely your own!

Weekly Poll: What's in YOUR bag?

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Are you back to school by now? (If you're an adult with a boring 9-5 job do you wish you were still in school right now?)


This week's question was inspired by other bloggers. Hi, other bloggers. I've seen a lot of "What's in my handbag?" type posts/videos, which I think are fun to read, mostly because I'm ridiculously nosy. I probably won't ever do one of those tags myself though because the real contents of my bag is probably something like 90% crumpled paper and used tissues (allergies, yo.) Perhaps there are others of you like me out there. Which brings me to my question ....

What beauty/personal care items do you always keep in your purse or backpack?

Makeup comes and goes from my cesspool of a bag, but these things usually remain:
  • Lip balm: Dry lips make me crazy. Nuff said.
  • Hand cream: See above, except replace lips with hands.
  • Tissues: My body consists mainly of allergic reactions to things you can inhale. That, and you do not want to be using a public restroom only to discover there's no toilet paper.
  • Sunscreen: I get crispy easily. This is where all those tiny beauty box samples of SPF come in handy.
  • Hand sanitizer: Never go into a public restroom in NYC without it.

Throw in a lipstick and you're ready for ANYTHING. Even the bathroom at Penn Station.

26 August, 2014

Review: TonyMoly Changing U Magic Foot Peeling Shoes

Affiliate Links Bought It

I don't know why, but it seems like foot peeling treatments are all the rage at the moment. Are people's feet suddenly way more disgusting and calloused than before? In any case, I've had these Tony Moly Changing U Magic Foot Peeling Shoes (phew, what a mouthful) in my pile-o-things to try for ages and finally got around to using them last month. Want to know if they worked? And maybe see some gross pictures of my feet? Keep reading!

Tony Moly TonyMoly Changing U Magic Foot Peeling Shoes

Note: I'm serious about the gross foot pictures. Don't say I didn't warn you.

22 August, 2014

Indie Friday: Glamour Doll Eyes Paper Runway Collection

Press Sample

Happy Friday, everybody! Today I have some pics and swatches to share with you of some indie eyeshadows that I think are absolutely lovely: The Glamour Doll Eyes Paper Runway collection.

Glamour Doll Eyes Paper Runway Collection GDE

20 August, 2014

Weekly Poll: Electronic Fashionista

Happy Wednesday, everybody! And if you're a student or a parent, happy back-to-school time! (Groan. Cheer?)


Speaking of back-to-school, I was browsing some back-to-school sales online and that got me thinking about online shopping. And thinking of online shopping got me wondering about online clothing shopping. (Sort of related to the original topic, right?) So here's my question:

Do you prefer shopping for clothing in a traditional retail store or online? Why?

I used to love poking around in clothing stores for hours and hours, especially places like TJ Maxx where there are often numerous clearance treasures to be discovered. Nowadays I find that I rarely have the patience, so I do end up buying a lot of things on the internet, even knowing that there may be fit issues and I'll have to return them (though luckily, that doesn't seem to happen too often). Online shopping could never replace a visit to a good thrift store though. So many special things waiting to be discovered there. I wish there were better thrift stores around here.

How about you? Do you enjoy shopping for pajamas in your pajamas or the more "traditional" way?

19 August, 2014

L'Oréal Paris Visible Lift Blur Foundation (and That One Time I Had A Tan)

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It's still summer, despite my wishes that it would suddenly become fall. And stay fall. Autumn weather is nice. But since it's still summer, I remain gung-ho about trying out lightweight foundations that contain SPF. I like my sunblock mind you, but anything extra that help prevent my face from getting sun-fried is good, in my book. Today I'll be talking about my experience with the new L'Oréal Paris Visible Lift Blur Foundation, which has SPF 18 (in the form of Octinoxate, if anyone's curious.)

L'Oréal Paris Visible Lift Blur Foundation

18 August, 2014

Review: Paula's Choice RESIST Skin Revealing Body Lotion with 10% AHA

Affiliate Links Bought It

I've been on a "test all the AHA body lotions" kick lately. Someday I may do a detailed comparison if I have time, but I'll give you a big fat spoiler right now: Paula's Choice RESIST Skin Revealing Body Lotion with 10% AHA has been the most effective and least annoying to use for me of the bunch so far. Effective how, you may be wondering? Well keep on reading and I'll give you the whole scoop.

Paula's Choice RESIST Skin Revealing Body Lotion with 10% AHA tube

17 August, 2014

Fork It: A Quest for the Tiniest Microwave Oven

Affiliate Links Bought It

I was always one of those people who was adamant that they didn't need a microwave oven. "You can reheat things on the stove or eat them cold!" I'd proudly say. Maybe this is just a sign of getting older, but lately I'm just not patient enough for that sort of thing. Also, I've been eating a lot of crappy food recently (ramen 4 life) because I don't have the patience to watch a solid frozen block of homemade soup from my freezer slowly dissolve in a saucepan. So I decided to suck it up and finally join Microwave Nation. Problem though—this is the only available counter space in our place:


This little nook is about 12" wide and typically occupied by an electric kettle, small toaster, and 90% empty bottle of Canadian Club that's been there since last June. (Sorry, I'm not a total drunkard.) All important things, but they're small enough to be moved elsewhere. Problem is, this little counter is a few inches too narrow to fit even the smallest of standard microwaves—ahhh! What's a gal to do? Getting a small rolling cart to keep it on is also an option, but it would have to be very small so as not to block off access to everything else in the kitchen. (Apartment life, yo.) So with that in mind I went on a quest for the tiniest microwave I could find—behold my fascinating results below!

15 August, 2014

Indie Friday: How I store my perfume samples

Bought It

Happy Friday, everybody! This post is for all the perfume sample hoarders out there. I don't know about you, but I feel like it's hard to come up with a perfect way to store perfume sample vials. I saw this post on Lipstick & Libraries a while back about keeping samples in a 38/357 Cal ammo case, which is an AWESOME idea—if you're storing mainly standard-sized sample vials. But of course I seem to enjoy sellers who enjoy oddly-sized vials (like Darling Clandestine), so a lot of my treasures won't fit in a box of that size. I'm also sort of cheap frugal, so I decided to repurpose some storage boxes I already had into The Perfume Zone instead.


Want to see what I did? Keep reading ....

13 August, 2014

Weekly Poll: Let's Get Social

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Is your week driving your crazy so far or has it been smooth sailing? Oh, life.


This week's question is for those of you who spend a lot of time on the internet. Which I'm guessing is most of you, seeing how this is an internet blog and whatnot.

What's your favorite social media network at the moment and why? How about your least favorite?

I think my favorite right now is Instagram (Shameless self-promotion: Follow me!) I follow a variety of accounts, and some of them are really creative, which is AWESOME. I also see some people using it as sort of a way to microblog: Writing short reviews, beauty techniques, etc. Very cool.

My least favorite at the moment probably won't surprise anyone: Facebook. (Here's a less enthusiastic follow me.) As a blogger it's annoying that they only serve up my posts to about 1/10th of my followers on average, and as a personal user I find the way the "News Feed" a lot more confusing than it used to be. Stop being selective about which of my friends' baby pictures you're willing to show me, FB.

How about you? What are your social media loves and pet peeves?

08 August, 2014

Indie Friday: A review of Silk Naturals 8% AHA Toner

Bought It

There are a lot of things I love about indie beauty products, but one of the biggest pluses is that they tend to be extremely affordable. Case in point: Silk Naturals' 8% AHA Toner, which is humbly priced at $8.95 for 4 oz/120ml. I've done a lot of searching for AHA products on the internet over the past few months, and this is probably the cheapest AHA toner I've come across, so I decided to give it a whirl. I've been using it regularly for 2+ months now so it's about time I wrote a review, eh?

Silk Naturals 8% AHA Toner

07 August, 2014

PocketDerm: One month in

Affiliate Links Bought It

At the end of June I wrote about how I was starting acne treatment with PocketDerm, so since a few weeks have passed I thought this would be a good time to write about how it's going. The short version? Not bad. Want me to be more specific? Keep reading.


Review: Hey! Pinkgo Girl Sheet Masks

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Calling all sheet mask fans! This post is for you. I don't review sheet masks as often as I used to because honestly a lot of them are very similar, but the ones I'm writing about today are actually pretty unique. Hooray!

Hey! Pinkgo Girl Sheet Masks on Amazon

The mask brand du jour is Hey! Pinkgo Girl, which launched in Taiwan last year. They make eight different types of masks, and four of them are available through an official distributor on Amazon in the USA. With Prime shipping, no less. I like things that are easy to purchase in my home country. Anyway, I'll be reviewing the four Amazon-able mask varieties today. I've also seen this brand name translated as "Apple Girl", just FYI.

06 August, 2014

Recent ShopLately Jewelry Finds + Insider Program Free Trial

Affiliate Links Press Samples

I don't know how many of you reading follow me on Instagram, but I've been sharing some of my favorite fun and "quirky" pieces of jewelry there recently, photo-of-the-day style. So if you're into that sort of thing you should follow me there! And speaking of fun and quirky jewelry, want to see some of my latest ShopLately accessory finds?


Weekly Poll: Life's A Picnic

Happy Wednesday everybody! Have you been working hard or hardly working? (I wouldn't blame you if it's the latter.)


This week's question was inspired by my own real-life experience attending a picnic this past weekend:

You're invited to a picnic and asked to bring food to share. What do you bring?

Since I was attending my own recent picnic as an out-of-town guest I didn't exactly have time to prepare an elaborate feast, so I brought chips and hummus and pico de gallo. Could be worse. Normally I would make pasta salad or something like that. Others brought things like bread and cheese, quinoa with veggies, and fruit. Mmm, fruit.

How about you? What do you like to snack on whilst lounging outdoors?