Beauty(InsideOut) Giveaway numero uno!

Giveaway closes: FEB 28, 2011 @ 11:59pm EST. Winner will be announced in March Giveaway video.
Prize for this month: Original Urban Decay Naked palette with the double-ended pencil.

Rules
1.) Subscribe to Habitat for Humanity YT Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/HabitatFo...
2.) If under 18, please ask your parents permission since you will need to use a credit or debit card to donate. everything is in USD. No international debit cards.
3.) Donate at least $5.00 USD to FirstGiving page here http://bit.ly/fj33gB. Open WORLDWIDE so long that you have made a donation.

Donating Directions
1.) Go to the FirstGiving page I've set up: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser...
2.) Enter a donation amount of $5+ USD. Please to consider covering the small fee as well (it's only .77 for a $10 donation).
3.) In Display name enter your YouTube username EXACTLY.
4.) Enter credit card info.
5.) Done :)

Please do consider donating to Love146 (ending sex slavery & human trafficking) via Missglamorazzi's channel.
Missglamorazzi: http://www.youtube.com/user/missglamo...
Missglamorazzi's Juicy Couture Giveaways (Supports Love146): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqdWSl...

Donating directly to Habitat: http://www.habitat.org/support
Charity Navigator Rating: Excellent, http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3789

Hi peeps :D It's Friday (thank goodness ahah)!  I've planning this for quite awhile so I am happy that it is finally up ^_^   so if you have time please check the video out ;) In a nutshell, I'll be giving away some of my favorite beauty products to one of the peeps who donated to Habitat for Humanity every month till the end of June 2011.   For this month, the prize is the original UD Naked palette (the one with the double ended pencil) + China Glaze Re-fresh Mint and Zoya Gaia polish.   Unfortunately, the UD palette did come with two little fingerprint smudges (a la the Sephora/UD controversy tho it looks like Sephora has been deleting angry comments -_-), but as you can see in the video, the smudges are very small.  

I plan on hosting these monthly giveaways for nonprofits indefinitely, it's just a nice way to mix charity work + sharing some of my favorite goods ;)   And I am also squeaking together another "non-donating" giveaway and I'll have it up soon :)  But yeah, in the meantime, look into volunteering at your area's local Habitat!  If you don't want to work outdoors, you can volunteer at Habitat Re-stores too, they are basically Habitat-owned shops where they sell refurbished sinks, cabinets (basically Home Depot stuff) for very low prices.

Or if you're a college student and can't volunteer regularly, consider joining a Global Village team!  You do have to pay out of pocket (plane fare + team fee ($100-200 covers food, group expenses) + spending money), but it's not bad considering room & board is free, you get to travel to a lot non-touristy areas, and be in a safe group environment.  The most expensive thing is the plane ticket, honestly.  You can fundraise and ask for donations; I ended up only paying only ~$1500 of the $3000 it cost to go to Zambia (and that covered EVERYTHING including some of the most gorgeous 6ftx6ft paintings I bought from a local artisan) and all I had to do was go around to my dad's friends with a donation letter ^^;;   Africa is the most "expensive" of overseas destinations, if you're on a budget, South America is significantly cheaper.   The GV application process is fairly simple, but a lot depends on the team leaders.  There is a mini-interview when you apply for a team but it's really just so YOU get to know what kind of person the team leader is :}   If you have any questions about Global Village, just let me know.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Surprise Giveaway Winner + Browncoats Unite!

Remember the surprise giveaway from a few days back? Well, the answer is....

FIREFLY and Serenity, the movie based on the TV series!

And the winner of the giveaway is Stephanie of Julu Jewelry!  She was the first comment to get it right - actually the first comment on the page xD  It's kind of funny cuz I won her giveaway a few weeks ago ^^ So we pretty much...traded giveaways?  Also props to Elisaaa and Kalmo for getting it right too :) 

I feel like the prize is kind of meager since I decided to do it so spur-of-the-moment (sorry Stephanie :( ).  I was literally typing "goram" and thought..."hmmm...giveaway time."  But my next giveaway will be better since I will actually be planning it out ^_^! 

Hmmm...I'm not sure how much of a sci-fi demographic I have but I can never resist a moment to introduce people to my favorite TV series ever!   Firefly is about one of the most quotable TV series ever and my favorite episodes are prolly "Our Dear Mrs. Reynolds" and "Trash."  It's a mere 14 episodes long so you can watch all of it in a sweet seven hours :D I always watch Firefly when I need a break from the histrionics of K-dramas ;) Anyway, I raved enough in the video so I'll just leave it at that xD

P.S. To Kalmo: I don't watch WGM though my friend religiously sends me all the Khuntoria clips xD And just in case you missed it... ahah YES I am a huge Firefly fan and I have seen Battlestar Galactica~  Didn't watch the the last 2 seasons though >< It got a little slow and I couldn't find all the episodes ^^;;

Christmas Kpop, Pudding Choco Rolls & Surprise Giveaway~!

This will be kind of a random post. JYP Nation released "This Christmas" yesterday.  It puts me in a real Christmas mood! And I've never seen so many cute scarves, hats and mittens all at once xD!!

A couple things strike me as really funny/cool about this MV:
1.) I don't care what people say about JYP (Jin-Young Park, CEO of JYP Entertainment), I think he's cool. He dances like nobody's business and even if he does have terrible taste in pants, I really respect how close he is to his singers (I heard he's a micro-manager before debuts but come on, he ought to be - he is CEO after all).  Also he's an entertainer himself and a good one at that so I feel like has a lot more to offer his trainees other CEOs that tend to be just businessmen *cough*leesooman*cough* ;)  But whatevs, to each their own. But then how many other CEOs do you see frolicking with their trainees ^_^?

2.) I think it's so funny how obvious it is only the *ahem* "good" singers are singing and dubbing over the weaker singers.  Not hatin' but it just seemed really obvious in this MV.

3.) Who thought the insanely gratuitous Nickhun rap at the end was SUCH fangirl service?! I loved it of course - that boy does know how to be charming *swoon*

4.) Since JYP is a fluent English speaker himself, the MV on the official JYP channel was subbed.  Now if only the other entertainment companies would to that :\  I'm sure some fan out there would do them all for free...

5.) Anyone catch the in-joke at 1:22?  JYP is holding out a piece of dduk (rice cake) to the camera.  Dduk is JYP's favorite snack and 2PM made JYP's dduk-fetish infamous with stories of how JYP would yell  criticisms at them after they'd been practicing for hours while he's sitting in a chair eating dduk - and he would never offer them any xD  So, JYP offering the camera dduk is a pretty funny tongue-in-cheek poke at his own behavior ;)

6.) So...there's SM Town, YG Family, and now JYP Nation.  Huh. What's next Cube Country?

Remember these? Yeahhh, saw another flavor at Hanaro Mart this weekend - Choco Roll in Pudding flavor.  And according to the pictures on the box pudding = flan + a chocolate truffle? This came with seven individually packaged rolls.

Since they are so sweet, each roll is enough to satisfy a (normal person's) sweet tooth.  For me, it takes 2-3 rolls till I feel a little sugar rush coming on.  All in all, very nice sized dessert snacks.

This baby is significantly sweeter than the Taro flavored ones.  MUCH sweeter.  The outside is a generous layer of milk chocolate over a layer of crunchy cookie then a very sweet pudding-flavored filling.  The pudding taste is nice enough (though sweet) but the texture of the filling is the same as the Taro rolls.  As in kind of....it's a really indescribable texture but it reminds of me of baked sweet potatoes.  Overall, this thing is really good but way too sweet. I prefer the Taro one, plus Taro's filling is prettier with little purple flecks in it :)

I'm in a FILMING MOOD these days so I'm hoping I crank out a lot o' videos this weekend. Namely that goram concealer video that's been moldering on my harddrive.  And now because I am a mite unpredictable and completely off my nut...surprise giveaway time!

The first person to post the name of the AWESOME TV show I'm referencing in the above paragraph gets a surprise :D!! And no, I'm not tell you what it is till I announce the winner ;)

Siwing's Giveaway + Smashbox Sale + Weekend Ramblings

One winner will get:

♥ Bath & Body Works Country Apple Lotion

♥ EOS Lip Balm in Honeysuckle Honeydew

♥ Hello Kitty mini notebook

♥ Hello Kitty Necklace

♥ Lancome Fatale 3d Comb-Mascara in Black

♥ Urban Decay Deluxe Eyeshadow in Sting

Hi peeps :) The first thing I wanted to mention today is Siwing's 1st Giveaway ~ She's giving away a lot of nice things and she has quite a few ways to enter so :) check it out.   It ends Nov 5.

Fyi, B&BW Country Apple has always been my favorite scent; it was my first BB&W purchase actually way~ back in 1999?  Gosh, I feel old.... but the scent always evokes a lot of memories for me.  It's a wonderful aroma of sweet autumn.

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Also there's going to be a Smashbox Cosmetics sale tomorrow on HauteLook.  You can make an account on the main website or if you're feeling generous here's a referral link.  You never know what will show up ^_~ so if you be curious, check it out :D It starts at 8AM PT. 

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A Mini Movie Review/Rant

Also I just got back from watching Ajusshi (아저씨) or as it's titled for American theaters, A Man From Nowhere.  It stars the perpetually hot Wonbin (I swear this man never ages) as Taesik and child actress Kim Sae Ron as Somi.   It's very Leon the Professional/Man on Fire-esque, you know, the whole retired ex-CIA agent who breaks out his badass fighting skills to save a child.

While the story itself is pretty typical, I have to say the cinematography just blew me out of the water.   There's this one shot when Wonbin is falling backwards and lands on the nets they string over golf courses to keep golf balls within the putting course....the slo-mo capture of him falling with the rain just took my breath away. The music was above par and that combined with Wonbin's top notch acting skills (and looks) and gorgeous shots resulted in a very enjoyable experience.  It's a very good film but it's weakness is the unoriginality of the plot.  But let's be honest, we don't see action films to think too much xD   The movie has some very nice, gritty fight scenes (I think they were paying homage to Old Boy with Wonbin's interlude with the ax...or is that just me?) and they make a big effort to show how dark and dirty the criminal underworld can be.

Like I said, the cinematography is truly exquisite - it's the kind of movie I could watch on mute ;)    Also, despite the weak storyline, I would proudly recommend this movie to anyone looking to dip their toes into K-movies.  It's not the best thing to come out of Korea but it definitely ain't too shabby either.  It's being shown in a lot of movie theaters in CA and even in the Northern Virginia area (to my surprise) so it's definitely worth a watch.  Watch the American-release trailer below with subs :)

Warning: Rant ahead.

That said I have a bloody bone to pick with the dude who approved the showing of A Man From Nowhere in an American movie theater without subtitles!  I watched this movie at Fairfax Corner 14: Cinema de Lux, located in the Washington Metro area.  While there are a lot of Koreans in the area it's still predominately non-Korean; also the theater is not one to show a lot of arthouse/indie/foreign films.  In fact their audience is more teens/families because it's located in Fairfax Corner, a place with restaurants/shops/etc - basically an upscale weekend hangout place.   Recently, however, Fairfax Corner has been picking up a remarkable number of foreign films (for reasons I'll state below) and being that FC is a very reputable, up-scale theater it's a great opportunity for these foreign films to be seen by a typical American audiences.

With this in mind, I just can't believe they would show a foreign film without a subtitle and NOT EVEN ADVERTISE THAT FACT.    I am all for the showing of great foreign films but to show a Korean film in a heavily non-Korean area without subtitles is just befuddles me in its sheer stupidity.  They are literally just chasing all potential Korean cinema fans away!  Would someone who paid $12 to see a film ever go back to see a foreign film at this theater again after sitting through two hours without a single subtitle in sight?

Not to mention this film has been out in Korea for months and showing in American theaters since September - there is no excuse for not having subtitles by now.   Even more embittering is that CJ Entertainment (made the film) is a huge multi-million dollar film company in Korea, it just beggers the imagination why they wouldn't pay someone to write up some subtitles - for Chrissake there are hundreds of fan-written subtitles online already! This is an action film that had the money to pull top paid actors and directors to make it and yet they couldn't part with a single dollar for subs?  Which brings me to my next complaint - why the freak did they not state anywhere in the theater that this film does not have subtitles?!   It should have said somewhere that this film does not have subs, especially with an innocuous American title, any curious non-Korean speaker could've just wandered in for fun and then have to sit through two hours totally confused if they didn't want to 'waste' a ticket.

I like this film, I like the actors in it, I think it's well-made and that American audiences could enjoy it a lot actually.   And that just pisses me off even more that Korea fumbled a chance to show American audiences what they're made of due to simple laziness.  To add salt to the wound, it's a Korean American that selects the films to be shown at Fairfax Corner.   You'd think as a KAm that has lived in Northern VA for years and has made a name for himself as having impeccable taste in films would be a little more in touch with theater goers in America and make sure it's being subbed.

In his defense, he has slowly been bringing in a lot of quality foreign films into Fairfax Corner and he brings them in really fast in impeccable quality.  Up till now K-films (actually almost all foreign films except the few huge Chinese flicks like Hero etc) were only shown at downtrodden, old theaters several months (sometimes years) after their release in Korea.   Since he's bi-lingual Korean films have particularly benefited since he can directly negotiate with Korean film companies to bring in popular movies.  Needless to say, the fact that a well-made K-flick is being shown at a very nice theater in a very nice area (if you see the place, you'd know what I mean) is a golden opportunity to access mainstream fans....and in my eyes, this kind of carelessness is inexcusable. 

I'm sure there are people that are really interested in foreign films won't let a one time negative movie experience stop them for coming for more - in fact they may enjoy the movie even without subs.   Some may even argue that it's better to show a foreign film without subs than not show it at all.  But professionalism demands that foreign films that want to gain respect and viewers in America must deliver not just a good movie but well-written subtitles so that the audience can grasp as many nuances as possible.   The Korean movie industry is dying to get their foot in the door in America...yet they don't even seem to be giving it their 100%.   Given I am sure in other theaters in other parts of America, there are subtitles being shown with A Man From Nowhere. I am sure there are many people who have become interested in Korean films after watching it.  But right here, in this little slice of Virginia, Korean films just went a step backwards.

Or maybe not. Not many people can resist this :)

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Anyway, enough ranting :P  To end this post on a happy (though not many things can make me happier than a shirtless Wonbin xD) note, I give you....

Dunno why my feet look so...duck-ish here.

Yes, it has little ears :)!   Buuuuttt that's not the best part ;) Check out the bottom of the socks....

On the left, "100% Honest the Panda" - the Engrish makes it even better :D  On the right, it it says ggorangnae or "stinky."  If I want to be classy, I'd say I love the attention to detail but honestly, I straight up just like the cheek of putting the word "stinky" on a pair of socks :) 

Have a great Monday everyone!

Merry Christmas Giveaway---times up!

Have you ever had an "I must have it" moment with something? That is absolutely how I feel about this hair accessory!

I have to rave about this. Lily-Pie Designs is one of my FAVORITES out there! Her products are the absolute highest quality and you have never seen anything SO darling in a little girls hair!

Until tomorrow at 5:00pm MST, you have a chance to win one of your very own set of butterfly clips. They are pink with brown and white circles...an absolute MUST HAVE for your stocking!

Leave me a comment and then head on over to http://lilypiedesigns.com/ to find the perfect accessory for your sweetie pie this Christmas!

Oh, and the hair do?

Part the hair into three sections. I start at the ear and go across the head to the other ear.

Pull the top section into a ponytail on one side and the bottom one into a ponytail on the same side.

Pull both into the middle section and secure with an elastic. I pulled the hair into a messy bun.

Top off with some darling butterfly clips that are too cute for words!

How about a Trash Tie giveaway! It's over!

When I first started blogging almost three years ago, I ran across an amazing designer named Heather Bailey. I have lurked on her blog for ages. I downloaded her free pattern for headbands (although being lazy, I have yet to make them). I look to her for design trends and decorating ideas. In essence, I have been stalking her.

Then one day she cam out with these amazing little products called Trash Ties.

What a novel idea! It is a patented wire encased in satin. And they work so well. My kids love it when I use them because there is no cutting elastics out of their hair, they don't pull their hair, and who doesn't love saying "Trash-a-Ties"...the name my girls have so lovingly bestowed upon them.

I have taken some time to get to know my Trash Ties before I gushed about them on here. I am twisting them in and out of my daughters hair like a pro. Anytime I go to do a twisty style, they beg for them rather than my original way of doing things. If that isn't a testament to them, I don't know what is.

And these only get better with time. We have used them so much that the ends are starting to look like little puffs. SO CUTE!

So, in honor of my VERY FAVORITE NEW HAIR STUFF, I am having a little giveaway. One lucky reader and stylist will receive a 25" trash tie in gold. All you have to do is leave a little comment for me and you have to go and check out Heather's Trash Tie site to see the incredible things you can do with these.

Remember, you may only enter once and on Wednesday, July 2nd at 5:00, the contest will be over and the winner will be announced on Independence Day.

ETA: IF you already have Trash Ties, or to see MORE options...Visit THIS link.