My Hello Kitty x Sailor Moon Bumper Magnet (Squeee!)

Press Sample

I recently bought a new (used) car, it's nothing fancy just a Honda CR-V. I am enjoying it though, after years of my old crappy Nissan Pathfinder... from the 90s O_O Yes, my car was older than some of you... and not in a cool classic type of way.

Anyway, I wanted to jazz up the CR-V a little bit so I searched and searched and searched for anything Sailor Moon related... and came up with a big fat nothing. What to do in this situation? Why, make your own of course! Now, because it's so rare to find ANYTHING Sailor Moon, I thought I'd do a Hello Kitty x Sailor Moon mash up so that any other accessories could be Hello Kitty and still match.

I decided to use Build A Sign, the same website that I made my business cards with, since they had so generously sent me a $25 credit. I really like the quality of my business cards, so I thought the car decals would turn out nicely as well. Using their bumper sticker maker, I uploaded a design I made in Photoshop and made a bumper magnet which I can easily remove and use again if I want to. I love the idea of bumper magnets, because it means you don't have to lose your beloved sticker if you decide to switch cars.

Hello Kitty as Sailor Moon! How cute is this! The text is the title from Sailor Moon and says "Bishoujo Senshi (Pretty Soldier) Sailor Moon".

The magnet is quite flexible but feels like sturdy, good quality material. The Hello Kitty is a little smaller than I thought it would be, but that's my user error rather than a printing issue. I think it came out really cool and I am loving the pink background colour too! They have a variety of background colours, text and clipart images you can use, or you can create your own images and upload them. I also made a regular bumper sticker for my friend Desiree and it is a really nice quality vinyl sticker, feels well made and the printing is flawless.

I used their text and heart clipart and just uploaded the picture of Naru (from Love Hina!). It turned out really nice, but I think I should have used a higher res picture of Naru, as when I enlarged it there was some very slight pixelation.. again, user error and not a printing issue. I just didn't use a big enough image. You can only see it from up close though, so it still looks great. Desiree loves it! One of her favourite animes is Love Hina :)

From the Build A Sign website:

• Stickers starting from $2
• FREE SHIPPING on all bumper stickers
• Standard 3”x10” size or fun 4”x4” square stickers
• No-peel 4mil UV & water resistant vinyl

The more you buy, the bigger the discount - if you buy 1000 they're only $0.60c each! Anyone need 1000 bumper stickers? They also have a lot of pre-made designs that you can personalise, in case you're not feeling very creative and don't want to start completely from scratch.

I am definitely going to be ordering more stickers, especially since they're so cheap and have free shipping. The magnetic ones are a bit more expensive, since they're... you know, magnetic. They start at $11.88 and you also get discounts the more you buy. If you buy 5 they're $6.21 each :) Great for gifts! My sister-in-law is car crazy, so I might get her some for Christmas. Then she can switch them up whenever she feels like it, or whenever she sells her car and gets a new one (which happens quite frequently lol).

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Photo Diary: Las Vegas Pt 2. *PIC HEAVY*

Welcome to part 2 of our Vegas Vacation...

The other most important thing on a trip... FOOD.

I really wanted to go to a buffet while we were there, since Vegas is pretty famous for buffets. The one I'd heard a lot about is the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar's Palace. It was damn pricey, so we went early for lunch instead of dinner, the good thing was we didn't have to wait to be seated. We sampled sushi, roast duck, prime rib, pasta, fried chicken, chili, rice paper cold rolls, pizza, steamed dumplings, banana leaf wrapped sticky rice and more.. all in little individual sized servings.

Mmmmm pasta...

POND'S Luminous Finish BB+ Cream in Light and Medium: Swatches and Review.

Press Sample

The BB Cream craze is still going strong, with more and more brands bringing out their own versions. I still maintain that all Western BB creams are basically tinted moisturisers, or tinted primers, so I was expecting this one to be the same. I received the POND'S Luminous Finish BB+ Cream in both Light and Medium (yes, only two shades ._. ) and immediately knew that my pick would be Medium; well, it would have to be, since there's no way I could pull off Light. This is one of the things I don't really like about Western BB Creams, they continue to put out mostly lighter shades, even though there is a huge market for darker-skinned consumers. I can understand it in Asia, since the people buying makeup are primarily lighter skinned, but in the US??? Come on now. Anyway, if you're of a lighter complexion, read on and see how the POND'S BB Cream fared...

POND'S Luminous Finish BB+ Cream Light and Medium.

The consistency is smooth and blendable, more like a moisturiser than a liquid foundation. As you can see, there is quite a difference between the Light and Medium shades, but as the BB Cream is on the sheerer side, it could probably work for a variety of tones in between. It's lightly scented and the smell goes away after application. One thing I really like is that this BB Cream has SPF 15 sunscreen, which I feel a lot of the other Western BB Creams missed. It's not a super high SPF factor, but it's there.

POND'S Luminous Finish BB+ Cream in Medium on my face.

POND'S Luminous Finish BB+ Cream in Medium close up.

So in the end, the POND'S Luminous Finish BB+ Cream is typical of a Western BB Cream... in that it's basically a perfecting tinted moisturiser, with light to medium coverage depending on how much you put on. I tend to use less, so it gives me lighter coverage. I would say it's one of the better Western BB Creams, as it gives a really nice glow and evens out skintone well, while still looking natural. I sometimes mix it with my Missha BB Cream if I want a bit more coverage and it blends beautifully.

If you're in the market for a tone perfecting, natural looking tinted moisturiser this is a really nice one. I am enjoying using it especially on hot days, as it doesn't feel heavy or thick on my skin. Unfortunately it only comes in two shades, so for you darker-skinned ladies it's a miss.

Photo Diary: Las Vegas Pt 1 *PIC HEAVY*

So Summer comes around and it was time for a family vacation. In fact, some family fun away from the humdrum of our regular routine was desperately needed! So where does one go when in need of some family R&R?......

Las Vegas!

I know what you're thinking... Vegas? For a family vacation? Are you crazy? No, but really, I don't gamble, my drinking days are well behind me and all I'm really interested in is sightseeing and eating. So sightsee and eat were what we did....

We drove there, since it's only 4 hours. I've never seen the American 'desert' before, so this was a new experience... definitely a far cry from our red desert in the Australian Outback!

Check out that scenery!

This is going to be a long one, with LOTS of photos, so click through to read more :)