3 new videos uploaded on YouTube

Wassup everyone, hope you're all doing well!

This will be a short blog entry sharing my recent three new uploads on YouTube.

First one is a song cover of GLIDE originally by Niki feat. vocaloid Lily. I covered bits and pieces of this song before but then after seeing friend's covers on the song and asking me to join the "bandwagon", I thought might as well since I know the song. 
So yeah! Please check that out :

Please also check out my friend's cover of GLIDE as well which really motivated and inspired me to cover the song :) 

http://www.youtube.com/user/xLattox

http://www.youtube.com/user/9BITPOTATO

Second video is just me playing an online game called League of Legends also known as LoL and yeah just my first attempt at the role known as jungling. And to show how much of a derp I am when I play games haha! Warning - heavy screaming at 4.11 and 5.10

Lastly, another short song cover I covered today. Actually I discovered the song today and did a test and thought the test was alright so just had to post it up on my channel. The song is called World Wide Love by 砂粒 feat GUMI Whisper. I only discovered 砂粒 today and I just simply love their songs because it just matches the genres I like; if you really like songs with beats then you may like their work. 

Please check out their YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/sntb11

That's it for this post, until then stay well & take care!

Cosplay Test: Genderbend Rei Ayanami from EVANGELION

Yo! Hope you're all doing well :)

A couple of days ago my friend Kenny linked me to an image set on tumblr on genderbenders of Evangelion female characters and I just had a moment to myself because the art was SUPER nice and so I definitely had to like and reblog it. And also added that I am definitely cosplaying it whether it was for photoshoot or convention- I'm cosplaying it. :D

Here is the tumblr link : http://dannchu.tumblr.com/post/46931074468/cosplaying-it-enough-said

And here are the images (sorry I don't know who the artist is but credits to you and thanks for the amazing work) :

Originally I wanted to do Asuka Langley Soryu (orange hair with red suit) BUT I think my friend Kenny wanted to do it instead which was fine with me because I know he's an Asuka fan and he would definitely suit the image heaps better than I would. SO I decided to do Rei Ayanami (blue hair with red eyes) which was great :)

I realised something with the male version of Rei Ayanami art is that he looks awfully familiar and then it triggered me that he looks like Aki Ayamatsu from the Yaoi manga/OVA "Sensitive Pornograph". =_=;;;; 

Here is the comparison pic:

But yeah anyway~ back on topic to cosplay test, I did a cosplay test with the male Rei Ayanami with what I had which was great because I had a light blue wig, red contact lenses and bandages.

So this is the result of my cosplay test :

I think the cosplay test was alright. I'm quite happy with the result. I didn't wear foundation hence my blemishes still showing through but yeah. 

Surprisingly the makeup took WAY longer than expected with a total of 1-1.15hours! The main reason it took so long was because I couldn't do the crease makeup correctly without looking so exaggerative and also I wanted to experiment with using false lashes on male character cosplays. Especially since in the artwork, the artist exaggerated the lashes quite abit so it took me a while to achieve some visible lashes since I've never worn false lashes when cosplaying male characters before.

Here is a close up of the makeup:

• Contact lenses : "Vassen Dolly Plus" or "Dolly+" in Red
• Eyebrows : 88 Eyeshadow palette from Ebay
• Crease makeup : Combination of brown and taupe colors in the 88 Eyeshadow palette and K-palette 24 hour 1 day tattoo liquid eyeliner in Jetblack
• Eyeliner : Maybelline Stiletto Liquid Eyeliner in Jetblack
• Bottom false lashes : "キュート (cute) eye" by Diamond Lash 
• Contouring & Highlighting (nose and cheeks) : "Nose Shadow" dual contour powder from DAISO

That pretty much sums this blog post. I'll definitely like to reattempt this again since it was fun.

Please let me know what you think :)

Until then stay well, take care!

Received Ordered Package from Cosmetic-Love

Yo! Hope you're all doing well!

So I received a package yesterday from Cosmetic-love.com consisting of the skincare products I ordered online. The package two exactly two weeks to arrive, and what can I say- everything was great.

Before I get into what I ordered and review abit of the service, thought I'd share a little of Cosmetic-love.com :) 

Please note that I am NOT sponsored by them, I just thought I'd give a little review and share where I order my products from and hopefully you receive the same service I do.

So Cosmetic-love.com is a online shopping website based in Korea which sells a wide range of Korean cosmetic products from various Korean brands susch as Skinfood, Laneige, The Face Shop, Missha, Etude House, Skin79 etc. They obtain their products directly from the retail shop and/or manufacturer so it is guaranteed that the products are genuine; and I even searched up the code and checked on packaging etc online for certain products I bought (such as BB cream). 

I knew Cosmetic-love.com through their Ebay store since I ordered something from them a while ago and their service was really good; dealing with and solving the issues I had really well and fast. Upon receiving the last message, they shared their newly opened website and since then I order my korean branded skincare from Cosmetic-love.com . The service is great as usual, and also standard shipping is free on all products which is great :D 

From Korean to Sydney, Australia it took 14days exactly for the package to come to me as stated in their FAQs page and as stated in the shipping notification messages. Their packaging is great, each product is individually wrapped with vast amount of bubble wrap, along with adding some of the foam paddings to keep the package steady. Also, every order contains a free sample of a korean product for you to try in which I thought was a super great idea because I actually do want to buy some of the products that are samples haha. Another thing to add is that their prices on the products are quite decent and cheap also compared to the more popular sites like sasa.com.

Anyway their new website which was just remade is great and easy to utilise, heaps faster and more organised this time and has way less bugs compared to their old website. There's only one bug on the site is the link on the bottom of the page where it says "Powered by Cosmetic-Love" which linked me to a virus =_= but luckily my antivirus instantly detected it and removed it. I suggest everyone to NOT click it.

So yeah! Enough of that, TIME TO OPEN THE PACKAGE!

Once you open the package you have your products heavy wrapped in bubblewrap, surrounded with foam paddings and you have your free samples as follow:

Here I received three (3) free samples because I ordered 3 products from them. Received a "black charcoal nose pack" by NESURA, "Cherry Blossom Fresh Cleansing Oil" by Missha, and the "Super Aqua Visible Deep Cleanser" by Missha.

Ordered a 3-piece sample set of the "Intense Care Dual Effect Sleeping Pack" by TONYMOLY which is apparently great for wrinkle treatment due to the adenosine ingredient, and also brightens the complexions due to arbutin. This 3-piece sample set costed $3.90AUD.

I actually bought this for my mom as a present for her birthday because she ran out of skincare and her birthday was in March so I thought I'd treat her something special even though I don't have money but yeah. 

LETS JUST SAY, when I first unwrapped the bubble wrap for these- I had a 5 second moment of silence because I was just so speechless of the packaging of these samples. And then I just burst into laughter and just kept "oh my goodness"-ing. BECAUSE THEY JUST LOOK LIKE CONDOM PACKETS. THEY DO RIGHT?! I even showed my mom it and my mom was just laughing and saying that it really does and just missing the ring. Sooo funny. But yeah I won't be reviewing this product so much because It's for my mom BUT I will make an entry on whether these products are effective or not.

The second thing I got for her is the "Gold Caviar Collagen Serum" by Skin Food. This costed $29.49AUD for 45mL and can I just say that the packaging is amazing. It is literally a glazed glass bottle with a gold plastic cap with a nice charm on top. The bottle is a pump which is super hygenic and expected for serums. This serum is known for wrinkle treatments; infused with gold pigments, caviar and collagen which fills in the fine lines and wrinkles, tightening and firming the skin- leaving the skin to have a more tighter and brighter complexion. This product comes both in a serum and a cream, so depending on your skin type- you may choose either to have this product in a serum or a cream. I bought my mom a serum as a serum penetrates deep into the skin and repairs fromt under the skin going out. Whereas a cream repairs the outter layer of the skin first.

I actually tried this cream before I left the house for dinner, I definitely would not wear this out because I found it somewhat sticky and oily throughout the night. Which is expected of a serum but yeah, I think it's best as a skin treatment used at home. When dispensing the product, there was literally gold pigments in it which dissolved upon application which gave the skin a somewhat brighter complexion and surprisingly not shimmery. I did feel my skin slightly tingling which shows you can feel the tightening process actually happening. At the end of the night when the stickiness wore off abit, my skin was definitely more firm and so soft when I touched it. 

Let's hope there's results for my mom :)

Last item is actually for me haha! I ran out of BB cream and so I restocked and this time I bought the "VIP Gold super BB cream" by Skin79. I've actually used this BB cream before and I absolutely LOVE it because It suited my skin type really well. But I changed and tried another BB cream called the "Triple Function BB cream" also by Skin79 which ran out hence restocked and yeah, It was good but not the best compared to this one because I felt the other one gave me a slight white cast and made my skin feel abit sticky.

This BB cream however is wonders for me because it does retain moisture into my skin, everytime I wash off the BB cream- my skin does not feel dry or oily which is super good because I don't break out. It has SPF 25 PA++ which is a quite decent amount of sunscreen since Australia sun is just harsh, though I do prefer it if they had a stronger sunscreen but that would just give me a white cast in photos. When first applied, it's slightly lightly than my skin, but when oxidised after 5-10minutes it matches my skintone perfectly and evens out my skintone as well.

So yeah, good BB cream for me. I do recomment this.

And yeah, that's the end of this post :D
Until then, stay well & take care!

Outfit of the day (OOTD) 2~

Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well. 

Had a couple of things to do today which included hanging out with my friend so thought I'd share my outfit of the day. 

So this is what I wore:

(Sorry for awkward picture)

• Head - Wore a slouch beanie that I made myself using an old shirt. You can view this DIY via http://dannchu.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/diy-slouch-beanie-with-old-clothes.html . Thought the faded black color went well with my pantss

• Eyes - My usual thick framed prescribed glasses which I always wear. Goes well with almost every outfit, giving a more nerdy preppy look.

• Top : The base shirt is a nice horizontal green and navy pinstriped shirt bought at G.U store in Ikebukuro on my Japan trip. Layered the base shirt with an asymmetrical beige vest which I made myself which I might make a DIY for it one day. The vest is lightweight yet thick enough to cover and give some warmth and comfort. The ruffles on the front actually bunches up and layers quite thick around through the neck so it kind of acts as a scarf. Thought this would go well with the base and give it more an earthy feel with the green. Tied all the pieces together with a thin mint-green scarf tied into a circle scarf. Top is warm, comfortable, suitable for the cool weather without overdoing it. Added a leather bracelet bought in Hong Kong which also gave an extra earthy neutral feel to it.

• Bottoms : Black slim fitted pants bought at G.U store in Ikebukuro in Japan also. Lightweight with a slight touch of denim, so almost faux denim; allowing the legs to be comfortable and kept warm. Rolled the cuffs of the pants abit just to tie and give the whole look more of the preppy look. Completed this look with some brown leather suede shoes.

And yeah that's the end of this OOTD post. Sorry that it's short >_<; I'll try go back to the old style of posting OOTD.

Until then, stay well & take care!

First visit to "Taste of Shanghai" restaurant

Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well!

On good Friday (29th March 2013), I was with a friend of mine having a mini photoshoot and after the shoot we decided to go grab something to eat. So my friend suggested this restaurant called "Taste Of Shanghai" and have some dumplings and chinese food. I've heard of the name since there's one restaurant in Ashfield, World Square CBD, and Eastwood; but I've actually never tried it so we decided to go there.

We headed to the Eastwood restaurant since we thought we could avoid traffic and possible queues at the restaurant. Got to Eastwood at around 5.30pm and we see that there was a massive queue.

Found parking and headed to the restaurant to get a ticket for two to queue up which was approximately a 30-40 minute wait (it was hella crowded with people). 

We actually had to remind them about our ticket number which the service lady said she called out our number three times, but we clearly heard her saying "73, 73, 74, 74, 74, 75, 75, 75, 76 -ticket 76 gets their table-" .. we were number 72, but we told her that we were waiting just at the counter and didn't hear her ever calling out 72; nicely enough she gave us the next free table immediately so that was good.

Ordered straight away once we got our table since we already looked at the menu while waiting and decided on what to get, two dumplings and a main/side.

Here are the food we got:

no.005 Shanghai Xiao Long Bao

First thing that came out was the steamed soup dumpling shanghai style consisting a filling of pork and ginger with succulent juice contained within eat dumpling. For 8 dumplings it costed $8.80AUD which I thought was alright since I know other places that does steamed soup dumplings and cost heaps more.

These dumplings were steamed to perfection and you can definitely tell the pastry and the dumplings itself is fresh and handmade. The pastry was still moist, not dry and was still able to hold all the contents within the wrapper even when lifted (often cases the wrapper rips when lifted which causes the soup to leak out). The fillings inside was super hot and seasoned with balance flavors of pork and ginger. The only downer is that some of the fats used to make the soup did not dissolve, leaving it to just be a clump of fat. Overall fantastic.

no. 010 Pan Seared Pork Dumplings

 Second that came out was pan fried pork dumplings which costed $9.80AUD for 8 pieces. Now when they came out I thought they would be just like your typical gyoza HOWEVER these are quite different. The pastry is puffy and slightly more thicker and the filling actually contains soup like the soup dumplings above! This was the first time I've ever had pan fried dumplings where it contained soup and it tasted great. Once again the filling is like the steamed dumpling with balanced flavors of pork and ginger with lovely soup. This time however, there was no clumps of fat undissolved so it was really pleasant to eat. Be warned though, this dumpling is really filling because the pastry is more thicker and more puffier. Despite saying that about the pastry- it is still enjoyable to eat as the pastry isn't tough or chewy.

Pan seared Pork Dumplings as above, can see the soup pouring out and the thicker pastry.

No. 606 - Peking Style Shredded Pork with Pancake

Our final dish for the night was the peking style shredded pork with pancakes to serve which costed $16.80AUD with an extra $3.00AUD for pancakes. This dish is to be eaten rolled up with the pancake containing the shredded pork and the cucumber inside. Was quite enjoyable to eat since the flavors were really there and the leeks stir fried together really tied the flavors together. The cucumber wasn't so fresh, seemed like it was exposed to heat for too long so it kinda was semi-steamed? My friend and I thought that the dish just had too much sauce and was abit on the salty side so just slightly difficult to consume without the pancake. I would still recommend this dish since it's delicious and easy/fun to eat, pretty sure on a less crowded day then it'll be more enjoyable than what I had.
 I've had this dish before at Noodle King at Chinatown on Sussex St and when compared to Taste of Shanghai, I would say that the one at Noodle King is better ONLY because the flavors are more subtle and more balanced with the saltiness and the sweetness. 

My friend bought their Seafood Stir Fried Noodle no. 1306 to take-away for her parents and we were quite disappointed how it game out since it just looked like simple noodles with sauce and a couple of prawns. Not really so much of "seafood", more like combination since we saw beef pieces in it too.

One thing I took notice around me is that alot of people ordered "no. 006 Pan-Fry Pork Buns with Sesame" which seems to be one of their popular dishes. We were just too full to order it so maybe next time I'll go try it out.

I would say the service in general was quite good, considering the place was super crowded, they actually handled themselves and the customers quite well. Was fast and speedy, food came out quickly, calling for service was fast, tables and dishes was cleared fast etc. Only downer was the lack of communication between customer and the service people since they didn't really understand english. But overall quite good.

Well that's my trip to "Taste of Shanghai" restaurant in Eastwood and I definitely did enjoy it and will definitely visit again in the future. Would definitely take my parents here to try out.

For more information on "Taste of Shanghai" please check out their website at : http://www.tasteofshanghai.com.au

Until then, stay well & take care!

Mom's Birthday + Casual Androgynous Photoshoot

Good evening everyone, hope you're all doing well!

Been a while and I know I'm already slacking off with blogging BUT I will try my best to keep things updated :)

Today (27th March 2013) is my mom's 54th birthday so 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! 
Wish you all the best and thank you for everything!
Sorry for always being such a pain in the arse LOL!

Because it was her birthday- I wanted to make a mini celebration with some cake BUT because I don't have the money to buy her the usual family favorite cake (Coffee Pecan Torte from The Cheesecake Shop), I decided to bake her one this morning similarly to the family's favorite.

Here is the outcome of the cake I made for my mom's birthday :

It's a hazelnut & almond sponge cake with coffee cream decorated with chocolate coated hazelnuts and surrounded with crushed hazelnut & almond.

The cake is actually small since the batter I made for the sponge was only enough for one small cake pan .___.;

Tried to imitate the store's cake with the chocolate decoration on top, not bad in my opinion ;D .. kinda messy but I think it works.

Everyone in the house enjoyed the cake and was actually surprised I made it. It's been such a long time I've baked cakes, stopped baking a while ago due to my skin outbreak which caused me to stop baking and eating sweets.

Only problem with the cake is the cream, kinda didn't whip it enough so the cream is a little runny. Oh and I added WAY too much coffee that it's abit on the bitter side.

But overall I think it was good :)

For those who want the recipe to the cake, I used the same sponge cake recipe as Kumigar from Youtube did for her Pistachio sponge cake with peach cream:

Please check it out :3 The sponge is more on the dense side BUT you will love it because its quite fluffy despite it being dense. I just replaced the pistachio nuts with hazelnuts & almonds.

For the coffee cream, I just added some instant coffee to thickened cream and whipped them together whilst adding sugar to liking.

Once again, Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you were able to feel all my love and heart I put into the cake, thank you so much for everything and your present shall come soon (bought some skincare for her online).

DIY : Slouch beanie with old clothes

How's it going everyone, hope you're all doing well!

Here is another DIY making a slouch beanie using old unwanted clothes. 

Slouch beanies have been really popular for a while now since it is such a simple versatile piece that can be worn in almost all weathers whilst adding a nice touch of style for your head. They're like your average beanies however is more elongated and hangs or bags towards the back hence the "slouch". The slouch beanie is definitely popular amongst korean fashion and along skater/punk fashion.

Now I know there are ALOT of tutorials for this DIY but I just thought I'd make one for my blog. And also simply because whilst I make some for myself, might as well share on how to make these slouch beanies.

So lets get started! Here are some things you'll need:

→ Unwanted clothes or any kind of stretchy fabric. NOTE : the fabric should somewhat be stretchy so it can fit and wrap around your head

→ A beanie for template (optional)

→ Scissors

→ Sewing machine OR Thread and Needle

1. Lay your fabric or unwanted clothes down onto a flat surface and smooth out and bumps/creases.

Here I'm using an old singlet that has been quite worned out and stretched.

2. If you have a beanie, place it down in the bottom centre of the fabric where there the edges are hemmed/overlocked. Use this as a template and mark out how big and long you want your slouch beanie to be. The longer the beanie, the longer the slouch. If the slouch is too long, it'll look like an elf hat.

If you don't have a beanie, just mark out how big and long you want your slouch beanie to be along the bottom centre of the fabric where the edges are hemmed/overlocked.

The reason why you want to ues the bottom hemmed/overlocked edges is because it just saves you time to hem the ends, especially when their type of hemming allows the fabric to stretch without loosening up the thread.

 To make the cutting process more easier, you can fold the fabric in half lengthwise.

3. Cut our your marked fabric and you should end up with a beanie pattern that is slightly longer than a usual beanie.

4. Place your fabric inside out so the correct sides face each other and start hemming around the endes of the beanie (red ziggzagg in the picture below), REMEMBER NOT TO SEW UP THE ALREADY HEMMED EDGES/OPENING OF THE HAT.

5. Turn your hat inside out and you should end up with a slouch beanie. Try on the beanie and style accordingly. Adjust by cutting and sewing if necessary.

And there you go, you're own slouch beanie :D

Sorry for the low quality pictures. Hope you enjoy this tutorial!

Until then, stay well & take care!