Review: Royal and Langnickel Brushes

Hello again!

I haven't posted for quite a while because I was moving and now I've been working, so nothing exciting has really happened.  However, I figured I should update since I haven't for a while.  I'm going to review the Royal and Langnickel brushes that I got at IMATS.

I ended up buying this brush set because they were at the front of the hall, and after walking around a bit, I kind of wished that I had waited, since there were other really good deals.  I wont be so hasty next time. 

I purchased this set:

I chose it because of the color (I love pink) and and because the brushes were very soft when I felt them.  It was on sale at IMATS for $25 so it was a very good deal for a full set of brushes.

All my other brushes are MAC so that's what I'm comparing them against. 

I do really like the powder brush because it's very large and soft.  I liked that one better than the MAC powder brush.

But of course, everyone knows that eye brushes are some of the most important when doing makeup. 

Unfortunately, these brushes do not pick up as much product as the MAC brushes;  I think this may have to do with the fact that the MAC ones are stiffer, while these are fluffier and softer.  They did have less fallout when using them, but I'm pretty sure this is just because it's picking up less product.  I honestly prefer my MAC eye brushes over the Royal ones. 

All in all, I would say that these are good for travel or if you don't wear a lot of makeup.  I am using them with my MAC brushes, which is working alright.  If I were to recommend a brand to someone, I think I'd stick with MAC, even though it's much more expensive.  But the quality makes it worth the money. 

Los Angeles IMATS

Today myself, Mama Cass and Mie of No Beauty Limits attended IMATS Los Angeles.  For those who aren't familiar, IMATS stands for the International Makeup Artist's Trade Show.  There are shows in several countries every year, including in New York and Los Angeles.  This was my first time attending and I am so glad that I was able to go.

We got up at the crack of dawn so that we could arrive early to get in line.  The doors opened at 8:30 and we arrived at 7:30... there was already a line!

Outside the convention center

Outfit shot for the day.
Top: DreamV
Skirt, bracelet: Forever 21
Tights: Star Couture
Sweater: Tralala
Bag, Necklace, Ring: Angelic Pretty
Pom Pom, Bow: Handmade
Shoes: American Eagle

Makeup shot

At around 8:15 they let us in for registration, and then we waited to be let into the hall.

Rush to get in the hall!

Every year the most popular brands are MAC and Makeup Forever.  We had a plan, and hit those booths first to avoid lines.  Fortunately this worked out well as we had the rest of the day to browse. 

There were some models walking around in very elaborate makeup.  Here's an owl person, it was quite creepy in real life!

This model was getting her makeup done all day.  When we came around towards the end of the day, she looked like this:

It was pretty amazing!

While walking around, we went to Anastasia Beauty, where I got my eyebrows done:

While it looked nice, I felt like it was a bit too angular and long.  They did have nice products though.

After looking around the Exhibitors Hall for quite a while, we went to a few panels.  The first was for Beauty So Clean.

Since the founder's birthday was today, they gave out cupcakes!  They were really delicious!

Due to my talent for remembering random facts, I won a brush cleaner.  I will review once I use it!

The next panel was the PurseBuzz panel.  She taught about doing summer makeup looks.  Unfortunately due to my seat I couldn't get too great of a picture.  She was really cute though, I loved her dress!  And she had some great tips and answered a lot of questions.

After her panel we returned to the Exhibit Hall.  This guy covered in glitter was at the MAC booth.

Some more awesome Special Effects makeup at the Crown Brushes booth.

The Inglot booth.  This brand has been taking the beauty world by storm, and were pretty crowded the whole time.  Because it was so crowded, I didn't get to get a good look at the eyeshadows, which is what is most popular from them.  However, I did get a loose powder (I had originally planned to get one from MAC, but they didn't bring any).  I will review once I get a chance to use it!

And... the haul!

Items that I purchased:
Inglot loose powder, Smashbox Primer, Royal Brushes set, MAC eyeshadows, MAC brush cleaner, Makeup Forever HD Foundation, Model in a Bottle fix spray, DUO eyelash glue

Freebies/Prizes:
Crown Brushes Brush Cleaner, Beauty So Clean Brush Cleaner, Bow from PurseBuzz, Stila Lipgloss (from PurseBuzz), Too Faced Primer, Napoleon Lipgloss, Crown Brushes eyeshadows, Model in a Bottle eye makeup remover, Crown Brushes powder brush, Crown Brushes lip liner

All in all, I am so glad that I went to this show!  It was amazing to see all the different products that are available, as well as the amazing makeup that people can do.  I do wish I had made time to see the Student Competition, since that would probably have been really interesting, but there was always something new to see in the Exhibit Hall! 

I will definitely be attending next year, and expect some reviews once I get to using the items I got!

Wig Review: Gothic and Lolita Wigs/Cosplay Wig USA

I figured I would do another review for everyone. 

Gothic and Lolita Wigs/Cosplay Wig USA is a company that has two separate lines: one aimed at cosplay, and one aimed at lolita.  However, I'm pretty sure they all come from the same supplier and are the same fibre.  I have 2 wigs from them, one from the cosplay line and one from the lolita line. 

The first wig I bought was the Rangiku Matsumoto wig from their cosplay line.  I bought it because I liked the color (I bought it at a convention, so I didn't even know it was a cosplay wig until later). 

Here it is worn.

For the most part, I like this wig a lot.  It's a nice color and it's comfortable.  However, I have 2 issues with it:
-It sheds a lot.  I always brush out my wigs after wear, and I always have a lot of fibres that have come loose when I brush it.  I'm not sure if this has to do with the type of fibres or how they are wefted, but it does shed a lot.
-One of the things that is advertised on the website is that the wigs have "high temperature fibre".  In my experience, this means you can use up to 400 degree F on it, so I decided to straighten the wig using my flat iron.  I used it on a low setting, and it melted.  Fortunately, I started at the back and bottom, so it didn't affect the wig when worn.  But it did irritate me.  I later found out that you can only use 180 degrees F on their wigs.  Personally, I don't consider this to be "high temperature", so I felt a bit misled by this claim. 

The other wig that I own is the Classic Lolita Wavy Wig. 

Now, I love this wig.  I bought it after seeing my roommate's, and loving it.  It's comfortable, cute, and doesn't tangle.  I haven't had to do any restyling on it or anything after wearing it a few times.  I'm considering buying this wig in other colors as well, because I really love it.

It was listed as light brown on the website, when to me it looks blonde.  It looks slightly darker on the website, although I'd still call it blonde there.

As for customer service, I e-mailed them after the melting incident on the red wig, and I never got a response.  This is the only time that I've contacted them, so I can't say that they have very good customer service. 

Overall, the wigs are nice, but the customer service and such is somewhat lacking.  This wouldn't deter me from buying wigs from them in future, but only if I'm sure of what it looks like and it didn't need any styling. 

For the wigs, I would rate them 4/5.  As for customer service, I'd rate it 2.5/5.  They are very friendly and helpful in person at conventions, but they are not very good when it comes to online service and what they put on the website.

Wig Review: Arda Wigs

Today I'll be doing a product review of Arda Wigs, a wig company in the US.  They market themselves as a Cosplay wig company, but from what I've seen, their wigs would be great for regular wear/lolita as well.

I first heard about them at Anime Expo last year, where they had a booth.  However, I didn't need any cosplay wigs until I was looking for a wig for Rapunzel, at which time I started looking into cosplay wigs again.  However, at that time they did not carry a super long wig, so I ended up getting my wigs elsewhere.  But I was still itching to try out one of their wigs.

My chance came when I got a commission for a Chibi Usa wig.  I used their part wig (called Chibi haha!)

I also used 2 of their ponytail falls for the wig.

Let me just say that this wig had ALOT of hair.  When I cut the hair to stub the pigtails, I had a box full of hair.  The fibres were very nice and styled easily.  I ended up with the wig looking like this:

It is my first odango wig so I'm thrilled with how it turned out (ignore Dr. House creeping on the TV in the background haha!)

After such a good experience with this wig, I decided to order my new Rapunzel wig from them.  I ordered the Delilah, which is 60 inches long:

This wig also is super thick.  In fact, this wig by itself is almost, if not, as thick as the double wig I made for my first Rapunzel wig.  Another good aspect is that the fibres are heat resistant;  they mean it.  I used my straightener on a setting between 300-400 degrees F and there was no kinking or anything.  While this wig is a pain, any 5 foot long wig will be, and it's much less of a pain than the other 5 foot wigs I've used.  I'd take a picture, but the wig isn't styled yet.  It's definitely worth the price though.

My only real problem is that they have their own color chart, which makes it difficult to match wigs that I already own or know the coloring of.  However, this is more a personal thing than anything that they did.  On the other hand, it does provide for unique colors that are great for cosplay.

As for customer service, they are fabulous!  I e-mailed them about color and I got a prompt response that answered my question and included pictures to help me decide.  They also contacted me when one of the items I ordered was out of stock and asked what I would like to do (wait until it arrives to ship, or ship what is available now).  I have been very impressed with all interactions with them.  

I definitely recommend Arda for your cosplay wig needs.  They are my new go-to store.  I'd rate them a 5/5 in both product and customer service.

TRON Legacy!

Tonight Disney treated TRON fans to a big surprise!  They had a surprise free screening.  The way they did it was that an e-mail was sent out to members of a website (www.flynnlives.com) and by word of mouth, and it was first come, first served.  My roommate heard about it and we decided to go to Downtown Disney to see if we could get in.  Fortunately we made it just in time and were some of the last people to get in!

The movie is a sequel to the original TRON film, but can also stand alone (I have never seen the original movie). 

The movie is about Sam Flynn, who goes to find his father who has been missing for 20 years.  In the process, he gets transported to the Grid, a world within a computer.  That's all I'll say about the plot since I don't want to spoil anything.  

I thought the movie was awesome!  The visuals were really well done; the movie takes place mostly within a computer, so the world is completely different.  I'm sure a lot of it was filmed in greenscreen, but the actors worked well within it and fit in.  The costumes were also really cool; they used actual LED wire in the suits, so it actually turns out that they could only film max 12 minutes at a time before the suit ran out of power and they had to change the battery!  I had originally thought that they did the lighting through CG, but the suits actually lit up.

The acting was really good as well.  The standout in my opinion was Olivia Wilde, who played Quorra.  I won't say much about it since it's an important plot point, but she plays her role really well.  Michael Sheen was also very good in his portrayal or enigmatic club owner Castor.

 One of the most exciting things to fans was the fact that Daft Punk composed the soundtrack.  As a fan of soundtracks in general (I listen to movie scores all the time) I was interested to see what they would come up with.  And I was really impressed.  I had heard the soundtrack before seeing the film and liked it, and I have to say that the music really works well with the action of the film. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this film and I recommend that anyone who enjoys action and science fiction see it!  It comes to theatres on Friday in the US, and you can check for other countries. 

Disneyland and such~

I went to Disneyland again last week!  Can you tell it's one of my favorite things to do?

My outfit for the day~
Jacket, Skirt- Tralala
Leggings- Forever 21
Boots- Secret Shop
Bow- Disney
Necklace- Selfmade with Angelic Pretty Charm

I went to see Rapunzel and Flynn.  It was a different set this time, and they weren't as cute as the other ones.

Not too many pictures because it was really cold!

I also saw Tangled this week.  I really loved it a lot.  I was excited for it because it stars Mandy Moore as Rapunzel.  She's my idol whom I've been a fan of for many years.

Here's a picture of when I met her at the "Because I Said So" Premier.  I waited 6 hours in the rain, and you can see my poster that I made, which said "Mandy, You're my Idol, We <3 You!"  It was an incredibly special moment because she came right over to me, gave me a hug and thanked me for making her such a sweet sign! You can't really tell here, but I was crying!  She was so sweet!

Anyway, the movie was great!  Besides Mandy's great voice acting (everyone's voice acting was great actually), the animation was beautiful and really well done!  At times I was thinking that it almost looked like real people!  The story was also super cute and heartwarming, and I laughed and cried.  I definitely recommend this movie if you haven't seen it yet!

In fact, I loved the movie so much that I am planning on cosplaying Rapunzel for my next costume!

I hope everyone is doing well and that those of you who celebrate Hannukah are having a good one!