NARS collective shopping spree

Hi Everyone!

This will be the first of quite a few "haul" posts.
(I worked quite hard in the past few months and my bday is coming up. ;) )

I finally got my hands on some nars products. Unfortunately, I can't buy them here, but some friends & family got them for me from the States. I am one happy girl.



First, I got the infamous Laguna bronzer. It is my first bronzer and I really like it for contouring. It works well with my NC25 skin tone. I wonder if it will be noticeable in summer when I get darker?




I also decided to get a few eye shadows. I was looking for a cooler taupe and a warmer taupe. After doing some careful research, I picked out Ashes to Ashes and Cairo. Both are very lovely shades and I am sure I will get a lot of use out of them.



ashes to ashes to the left; cairo to the right

I must say that I am a sucker for the packaging. It's uber cute. What I don't like tho is that the rubber case gets dirty quite easily.

I definitely wanna check out Ondine, the Nars Sheer Glow Foundation and Madly blush.

What are your favorite Nars products?

Love,
Maya

Tag - What am I currently reading?

Hey guys!

Wow, a non make-up related post. Yes, I do read. Books, actually. I try to read as frequently as possible, but unfortunately find that I don't read enough.

Thought I'd quickly share what I am currently reading in the form of a tag. Nobody tagged me, I am not even sure if this tag exists yet. Well, now it does.

I tag anyone who wants to do this tag.

Lets get started:

Jonathan Safran Foer - Eating Animals

I love Jonathan Safran Foer's writing style, so it wasn't really a surprise when I picked this book up. This book is about the meat industry and vegetarianism. I have gone through different stages of veganism and vegetarianism since the age of 16 and would ideally like to go back to being a vegetarian. Eating animals is not radical, but it's informative. So far I like it.



His Holiness The Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler - The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World

My b/f recently picked up the sequel to The Art of Happiness which was published some time in the late nineties (if I am not mistaken). It was the first book on Buddhism I read. This was a couple of years back.
The author Howard Cutler is a Psychologist and he interviewed the Dalai Lama intensively on happiness and how to achieve it from a Tibetan Buddhist view point. Both books are geared towards western readers and make it easy to get acquainted with Buddhist ideas and incorporate them into our day to day lives.



and last, but not least:

Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now



This us Eckhart Tolle's first book on being present. I like it so far.

What are you currently reading?

Love,
Maya

My MAC lip products - including swatches

To be honest, I am not a very big lip product person, although I really try to be. I simply hate reapplying lipsticks and find that most lip products wear off too fast and dry out my lips.

Generally speaking, wearing lip products definitely requires some maintenance and I just might be too lazy.

However, I have accrued a few MAC lippies that I love, but rarely wear.




Top to bottom (w/o flash/w flash): pink fish TLC, plum lip pencil, subculture lip pencil, lipsticks: rebel, snob, angel, nude rose, blankety, creme d'nude *


I only own 3 lip glosses from MAC*:


* skin tone on underarm is probably around nc20.



My top 3 products:
1. pink fish tinted lip conditioner
2. ventian lustreglass
3. angel frost lipstick

My least 3 products:
1. underage (sticky)
2. lychee luxe (sticky)
3. snob (too drying and too cool toned for my complexion)
(These three I can only wear with a good lip balm or pink fish.)

Which MAC lip products do you like? Which ones can you recommend? And which ones should we stay away from?

Love,
Maya

Tag - 3 things :)

Hey Guys,
I know it's been forever. There has been so much going on that I was too tired to update my blog.

Saadeh from http://shadowylady.blogspot.com/ tagged me.
And I tag anyone who wishes to do this tag too.

Three names I go by:
1. Maya - also just one

Three jobs I have had:
1. Supervisor in a health food store
2. Helpdesk techie
3. forex operations associate

Three places I have lived:
1. Toronto
2. London (UK)
3. Jerusalem

Three favorite drinks:
1. Coke Zero
2. Rooibos tea
3. Cappucino

Three TV shows I watch:
1. Lost
2. Gossip Girl
3. Vampire Diaries

Three places I have been:
1. Tangier, Morocco
2. NYC, NYC
3. Berlin, Germany

Three places I would like to visit:
1. Mongolia
2. Cuba
3. Australia

Three people who text me regularly:
1. b/f
2. mom
3. a close friend

Three favorite old TV shows:
1. Sex and the City
2. The OC
3. Beverly Hills 90210

Three favorite dishes:
1. Sushi
2. Anything Chinese
3. Apple Goo (yummy apple side dish, baked with oats, brown sugar and cinnamon)

Three makeup/beauty products I cannot live without:
1. MAC Dainty
2. L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara
3. a good Scrub

Three things I'm looking forward to:
1. Going back to Uni
2. The weekend
3. getting all zen