Sparkled Beauty

Saturday morning marked this huge benchmark in my blogging "career" lol - Sparkled Beauty has reached 1,000 readers! :)

You know the number is not my motivation to blog, but reaching this milestone means I have your constant support to thank. So, thank YOU, all of you, for being here sharing my little hobby that is beauty blogging.

Gotta admit, there were times that I was discouraged to go on, seeing the number of readers did not grow, and the amount of comments was down to almost non existence. I have some wonderful friends to thank for setting my thoughts straight through those setbacks (you know who you are!).

So here I am, 4+ years later, deep to my knees in makeup and nail polish and still can't stop telling you about them :) Blogging is time consuming and requires lots of support but it is emotionally rewarding and acts as a relaxing outlet for me. Some of my friends do not understand why I need more than a handful of lipsticks or nail polish, but you guys do, right?

As moving day is approaching and I am nowhere near being done packing, I'll have to delay this celebration until I settle down a bit :) But again, thank you so much, my lovely readers!

The weekend has gone by so fast, I can't believe it. Good thing today is a holiday, or I'd be falling asleep at work. No kidding :)

My baby turned 7 on Saturday. Like any mother in this planet would tell you, they grow up too fast. It just felt like yesterday when I met her the first time when she said hello to the world. It wasn't an easy journey but she and I made it. She turns out ok, if I can say so myself, lol.

This is Squirt with her favorite kind of birthday cake: Dairy Queen ice cream log with chocolate icing. I know, chocolate overload, but she's a chocoholic and it was her day, so we went with it.

The celebration was at a store where kids (and adults) could come in to make their own sock monkey. The store has sock monkey kits with everything you need to make a monkey (from the socks - pieces of the body and legs, arms, tail, ears, eyes and mouth piece, to stuffing, needle and thread that is colour coordinated with the sock pattern), and the staff is there to help you to make it happen.

This is the "artist" in the process, lol. She actually sewed the pieces together herself. I was so proud. The lady did all the start and finish steps - to make sure the thread doesn't come loose on the monkey, but left the rest for the kids. They were proud of themselves too, sewing their monkeys. They (both boys and girls) told me sewing was fun, lol.

Like you saw, Squirt picked a pink sock pattern, no surprise :) We didn't stuff the sock too tightly, so the monkey turned out to be a little slim, just like her owner. She was sitting next to the window where the sunlight shone through, which explains the shadow on one side - like a pro effect, lol.

Here the girls showing off their monkeys. We didn't have enough time to finish the monkey's mouth (the little pink piece left on the table), so we brought it home to sew on later. The finish product doesn't look too bad, does it?

The boxes you see behind the girls are the kits, with a piece of sock hanging off the top to show the pattern. Extras include clothes and hair piece that you can buy for your monkey. The kids were happy with the monkeys themselves though, no extras needed.

I was really happy with this birthday party idea. I was happy to find the store for my little princess having a great time. Now the kids have something to show off, and the monkey is personal to them, not bad of a gift. I never made a sock monkey myself, so I actually had fun there too, lol. Win win situation :)

P.S.: It was intense 4.5 hours of Lost + 1 hour on Jimmy Kimel last night, lol. It was long but entertained, and like lots of people, the bf and I were left interpreting many things ourselves. I knew they won't answer many questions, so I wasn't disappointed. How about you?

I spent the whole day yesterday relaxing with my best friend and celebrating her birthday. It did take a while for all the exciment and feelings about IMATS to die down a bit (funny but true), so I prefered a slow day :-)

It has been so long since I did any shopping with a girl friend, for some girl stuff. You have no idea how wonderful it is to have a girl friend to shop with. I was so happy going in a store with my friend, chatting about what to buy. My friend got some good stuff with special birthday discount and she also got Squirt some stuff (for birthday and Christmas all together, lol). And I got to eat some good food: green tea and lychee frozen yogurt, Chinese congee for lunch, All-you-can-eat Sushi for dinner. I was so stuffed.

I'm flying to Asia to visit my family this morning, and as you might imagine, it takes a while to get there with air time and transit time and then settle down, so there will be some scheduled post popping up on the blog until I have a real time post for you all.

This picture I took at a beach resort we went to to last time we were home. It was at sun set, very peaceful and quiet. Maybe we could go somewhere like that again this time.

Hope you enjoy my IMATS posts in the last little while, as it has been kinda a big deal for me. Hope it was helpful in some way for some of you. I was so excited yesterday when Koren gave me (and my blog) a shout out on twitter, all thanks to IMATS. It was a valuable experience for me as a beauty blogger.

I received a nomination for this Kreativ Blogger award from Jenn at Everything Makeup and Fashion Related. I was so stoked, lol. Thanks so much, Jenn.

To accept the award do the following:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreative Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

I'll attempt a few things that might be slightly interesting about myself, lol:

1. I wore no eye makeup almost all my life until last summer, and now it's all I buy. I see my eye lids as a blank canvas and I could paint them the way I want (still need practice!). It isn't always the case with my face or lips.

2. I have no girlfriend around here who is into makeup to go shopping with. Squirt becomes my shopping pal for everything. She sometimes does have an opinion about colours that I should pick :-) I also drive my bf nuts for asking him to help me pick an item at the store that would look good on me.

3. My family lives way too far away from me and Squirt. There's always a bit of a void in my heart that needs to be filled with family love. I'm gonna get to see them in November, can't wait. I dread the long flights though.

4. I give everyone a hard time trying to pronounce my last name (blame my parents, lol). It was never a problem where I come from, lol. At least my first name is easy.

5. I got my license 2-3 years ago but never drive. I'm terrified of getting into an accident of some sort and hurting Squirt. Wish they built a skytrain system here, I could ride it everywhere.

6. Lots of people guess my age wrong (i.e. I look younger than I really am) which is a huge plus. Hate facing the age question, but it'll come as I can't fool them much longer when fine lines show up :-)

7. I love reading beauty blogs more than fashion magazines. I need to read more books though. In the last few years, I read more children's books (with Squirt) than books for myself. Good thing she can and loves to read now :-)

I nominate:
- Cheryl at Cheryl's Beauty Blog
- Le Midget at Dirt on the Rocks
- Jade at Enamored Enamel
- Crystal S. at Makeup by CrystalS
- Suzi at Suzi Style
- R. at Nouveau Cheap
- Millie at Glitter Millie

Cheers!

In the last 2 days, twitter has exploded with tweets all over the world about the passing of MJ and SF. If you are a twitter-er, you would probably know what I mean. News travel extremely fast on twitter and I was just stunned by both news the moment I saw the tweets (before official news were released in the media). Many bloggers have since written tributes and memories, and pictures of the 2 stars and wished them RIP. Some even took a hiatus to mourne, as they are big fans of the stars. I wouldn't bore you with more writing on this, but it was a sad day for me too, and I wanted to shout it out.

Another hot topic on twitter among bloggers was the article written by Total Beauty's CEO regarding the relationship between bloggers and companies who are looking for product reviewers. It sensitively touched blogging ethics and the pride in blogging of many bloggers, and their dignity too. Robyn at Purely Cosmetics has one of the best written post about the issue - Blogger Product Review Uproar, and the follow-up TotalBeauty Saga Continues. Total Beauty, in trying to promote their new incentive, has failed to support bloggers that have been supporting it. I'm not with Total Beauty, as I'm new to blogging, but I do have an opinion in what it said in the article.

Note: I will not link Total Beauty on this post, as I refuse to give it traffic. Please google if you want to know about the website. The article of the CEO is linked in Robyn's post, so you have all you need in that post. She also linked other bloggers' posts for the same matter, so indulge yourself with more fun reading, if you wish to, to understand bloggers a little more and know where they came from. The second post has the video response of the CEO after the huge reaction of blogging world to his article.

This reminds me of one of the most important things about blogging. You put your heart (and opinions) out there when you write on your personal blog, and you have readers who appreciate it. Although, the question that always gets asked was whether the bloggers received any compensation to put in good words for certain products that they review. I have to tell you, for about a year reading tons and tons of beauty blogs, I have seen cases where one product received mixed reviews by different bloggers. There's so much into what works (or doesn't work) for you, as we, as individuals, are so different in every way. Also, bloggers don't always receive products to review for free. I guess if you have a great blog and large base of followers, companies will start looking for you. But me, with a one-month old blog, and 8 followers (thanks guys, love you), I review what I bought and loved (or didn't love). And I won't lie about it.

So feel free to stick with me for more honest reviews and fun hauls. Thanks for stopping by.

Hi and welcome! You found me! This is my little place to show the world how much love I have for anything sparkly and beautiful, hence the name of the blog.

I love beauty products in general, but since I started out with makeup with eyeshadows (MAC and mineral pigments), I naturally love them the most.

As age progresses, I learn to love skin care and facial cleansing products, on top of the makeup and nail polish I feature along on the blog.

You probably can't guess, I started my makeup journey quite late, when I was in my early 30's. I have no idea where my youth went without makeup. The good thing is I am totally committed now.

It has been a fun ride. I learn quite fast, and build my skills and stash along the way. I am inspired by many beauty blogs and thrive to improve mine to keep up with my thoughts, hauls, great deals around town and all that stuff. It is lovely to have my own place!

A little bit about us. Squirt and I live in Halifax, a small city on the East coast of Canada. Yes, it is cold here and we do get lots of snow (as Canada is always known of to lots of people). Our summer weather lasts about 3 months and people go crazy with it. Except for the weather, I like it here.

It would be more exciting though, if there are more like-minded ladies around here to talk makeup with. Hope this blog helps me get to know more people, and maybe make some friends.

I "debuted" my blog the same day my little Squirt turned 6 so we can have double birthday celebration each year from now on. To my readers, come in and share the love and fun of beauty. Thank you so much for reading!

For a little humour, check out Caroline Hirons' The best things about being in your 40's, which I find a lot to be true :)