new Blogger Feature, Pages

One of the many differences between Wordpress and Blogger is the ability to add PAGES to your blog. What exactly are pages? Have you ever wanted to link to certain info on your blog, such as a Blog Sale, FAQ, wishlist or About Me page? Now you can! Basically you're adding a menu system to your blog.

Warning: this new feature may only be available to those using Blogger Draft. http://draft.blogger.com/ Try logging in from there.

Previously savvy bloggers had to create a new POST, type in the information, and link the post to their header by editing the HTML. There were some drawbacks about this. 1) the POST was still time stamped, and 2) it showed up in the archives.

Now, how do you create your own page?

Right here under the Posting tab is the new blogger feature I'm talking about. Click that! It's just like creating a blog post.

Now type some info temporarily and give it a Title.
Click Publish, and you'll be given 3 options on where to publish the LINK to the page.
1) Placing it in the sidebar - this will add a gadget to your sidebar and list your new pages. You must remember to go to the layout section and rearrange this if you choose it.
2) Placing it in the header- this will work only if you have a default layout (not some customs). Just try it to see or not. It will add it to the top of your header. (Scroll to the bottom for how to use this new feature with custom layouts.)
3) No link yet - for custom layout bloggers. It won't post the link anywhere. you'll need to view the page, copy the link, and paste it by editing the html layout you have. The blog I have here- that's what I did.

There is a new PAGES widget where you can organize you new pages and where they show up.

Here's an example of what I did when following the instructions for adding this feature for custom layouts. If you notice, the menu pages were added below my custom menu and attached to the top of my main blogger. I do not like this, so I went with option 3. http://stephlayouttester.blogspot.com/

If you want to know the difference between the old method of linking posts and this new pages- check out my menu bar. The link "blog sale" is using the old method in my second paragraph. The link "blog sale new page" is using the new feature and option 3. I will leave both links up for a little to demonstrate the difference.

Go HERE for blogger's explanation of it.

Sorry if this post is not cohesive and confusing. I just wanted to try to share this new feature with you.

EOTD with Natural Smokes

A quick Eye of the Day

Laura Mercier Lid Primer- good enough
Maybelline Stylish Smokes (Natural)- Love the colors but the so called lid color is not very pigmented
L'oreal Lineur Intense in Black Mica - just bought this. I'm liking it so far.
Physician's Formula Mineral Mascara - crap
Angel Grey lenses - love

Not sure about the new lighting. It's indirect lighting and you can see my flaws too well, lol. You can also see the reflection in my eye!

L'oreal Lineur Intense in Black Mica
I just bought it this weekend. I've wanted to try liquid liners again after failing to make sharp wings with cream liners. Plus they tend to smudge. I knew I wanted to get one with a felt tip so I ended up with this. Also, I always see this recommended on blogs and videos, so it should be some sort of good right?

Dry Shampoo Showdown

Do you wash your hair everyday? I do. If I don't my hair ends up being so greasy. Growing up I heard from people that washing your hair every day is bad for it. Really? I always thought this was strange, because who wants to sport an extra greasy look. I know there were some guys in school who probably never washed their hair. Gross! Well if you have a dry scalp then you're lucky I guess!

What is Dry Shampoo? It's a product (mist or powder) you work into your hair to absorb the oil. Actually baby powder (a talc) works just fine too!

First a look at both of the Dry Shampoos I've tried. Why do I need it? Some days I just get lazy, okay?

Ojon Rub-Out Dry Cleanser, 4.5 oz, $24

From Sephora
A dry cleanser that revives, refreshes, and recharges hair and scalp without water.

Ojon® Rub-Out™ Dry Cleanser instantly "erases" impurities, toxins, excess oil, and product build-up. It increases hair volume at the root while treating the hair and scalp. Ideal between washings, as a hair pick-me-up, when you're in a rush, or when you overuse a styling product. The Dry Cleanser leaves hair cleansed, light, luminous, and healthy -looking.

My thoughts:
This product actually works really, really well! It gives my unwashed hair a little lift and gets rid of the excess oil. I'm not sure about it "erasing" the product build up. I used this a really long time ago so I can't remember exactly if you could feel this in your hair or not. If you can, it's very, very light.
The bad:
The smell! It smells like an old grandma. Really it smells like this viet dessert from my childhood. I forgot the name of it, but it was sticky and had lotus seed paste I think? Gosh, most people will HATE this smell! I did. The other bad thing is that it gets clogged up easily. Just browse the reviews on sephora and you'll see all the people complaining about it. It wasn't so bad for me because I just bought the travel sized one. It clogged up near the end of it's use- so I was okay with that.

T3 Refresh Volumizing Dry Shampoo, 3.3 oz, $25, $20 sale in-store

From Sephora
A volumizing dry shampoo that cleans hair without water and adds volume and texture.

This waterless spray cleans hair without water—absorbing oil and eliminating odor while adding instant lift and volume. Available in three color tones: blonde, brunette, and auburn, Refresh blends in seamlessly with natural hair color without the powdery residue and is totally healthy for hair with its Vitamin B6 formulation. The perfected aerosol design allows a precise and even application without the mess.

My thoughts:
I feel like what's coming out of this can is very different from what was coming out of the Ojon dry cleanser. The Ojon was more misty, and this was more like hairspray! For me it took more sprays of this stuff to eliminate the oil than it did with the Ojon. The first time I used it I think I used too much because my I could feel it in my hair. The second time I used less, but I could still feel it in my hair. It really reminded me of hairspray because it smells like it too. The best thing about this is the smell, and that's just not good enough for a dry shampoo product.
The bad:
It leaves residue in your hair that you can feel. You get less product for the same price as Ojon. This may get clogged up too. I haven't used it long enough.

The winner? T3! Purely because the smell of Ojon makes it so unusable. Ojon wins hands down on formula, but the T3 still works so it wins. I got a full sized can of the Ojon as a gift, and I exchanged it for the T3 last week. I will continue to use it when I need it, but I won't be purchasing either of these in the future.

Alternatives? Baby powder! I sprinkle it into my hand and then rub that into my roots. Make sure to brush it through with a comb. The scary thing about baby powder is you may miss some and have white powder in your hair.

Also, I heard there's one by bumble and bumble that may work too. I haven't tried it nor do I know the proper name of it.

So, do you wash your hair everyday?

More mail love

A lot of mail love from the fab Stephanie of Beauty Is Not Caused, It Is. If you have not been to her blog, you must go and show her some love! I think she may be my #1 Jewelry fan, and I love her right back! <3

The cutest lip gloss ever! Complete with a girly bow on top!
NYX Mega Shine gloss in Cream Soda and NYX Goddess of the Night in French Kiss
Non-sticky and very pretty!

NYX trio with Orange, Golden Orange, and Peach. Thanks for adding to my trio addiction!
To depot or not? I have a 12-pan MAC palette because I was obsessed with depotting and organizing, but sometimes I miss the convenience of a little palette. I do have the 4-pan ones that I fill up with coordinating shadows, but most of the time I only use three! So I kind of defeat my original plan of depotting them all! Depotting gets addicting, once you start you can't stop!

Palladio Rice paper, oil-absorbing tissues - to keep my oily face in check from my bad diet of late. I haven't tried this brand before! oooh!

Maybelline Stylish Smokes in Natural Smokes!! Finally I have my chubby fingers on this baby! Thanks Steph!! <3 I will try your looks with this, YEAH!

So many goodies for me to play with! Thank you!! I never thought I'd make friends with so many wonderful people on blogger! Love my handful of readers! <3

Oh yeah, I updated my blog sale earlier this week with drugstore items. CLICK HERE or the TAB at the top of the page. Most items are NEW.

Mail Love from Megan

Gotta post some stuff so I can bury the food posts. I don't want Megan to run out in the middle of the night on a hunt for spring rolls!

Megan sent me this package after I surprised her with Christmas gifts in our swap. She really wanted the HiP gunmetal duo, and I wanted to try some fancy korean lashes, so that's what we swapped! Thank you! The Darkness lashes look so nice! Not too scary, lol.

Gotta be the cutest Hello Kitty stickers I've ever seen!

Flirt eyeshadows from Kohls! They're pretty good eyeshadows especially when you have Kohl's Cash to spend! They're not the most pigmented on their own, but they have really pretty colors! It's great over any eyeshadow base. I think they're generally better than some drugstore brands for sure. The packaging has got to be the worst ever though, it's hard to figure out how to open it the first time. I ended up depotting my other ones. The shadow pans are very magnetic so they'll stick to any magnet-backed palette.

Limoncello (on my wishlist! I have a weird thing for lime shadows. I'm all satisfied now!)

Moonstone (like some of my usernames. it's my birthstone.)

Lime Light (pretty and iridescent)

swatched on base from L to R: Limoncello, Moonstone, Lime Light

Thank you Megan! <3

I'm so behind on all my posts. I've got more mail posts and tags to do, then I can do reviews!

Pretty Smoky Eyes from Korres

Eveyone's gotta love the gift sets because you feel like you're getting a good deal. Most of the time you are! Sephora sent me this email today (and all of you too) about the Korres Smoky Eyes Collection. It looks so nice so I clicked in.

It's $39.50 and you get:
- 0.27 Fl. Oz Abyssinia Mascara Black
- 4 0.06 Oz Full Size Eyeshadows in Plum 77S, Dark Gray 54S, Grey Brown 18S & White
- 0.04 oz 10S Eyeliner Pencil Black 1S
- 0.20 Fl. Oz Cherry Oil Lipgloss Beige Pink 32

From what I can tell, everything is full sized!

After checking out the set I noticed the Korres eyeshadow singles were marked down to $7 from $16!

Anybody tried these? It looks like most of the good colors are OOS though. Ok, so the universe doesn't want me to have it. yay, I can save money.

Eating out at home

On Sunday I went to the Temple again for the 100 days memorial of my grandma (dad's side). It was a different temple this time (in a trailer). I was mostly distracted by my nephews playing around, but it's not like I can understand what is being said anyway. It's a nice change from church every week. I noticed there was bowing every time somebody hit the gong. Is that how it goes?

That night the fam had a goodbye dinner with Grandpa (mom's side). None of it was home-cooked, but it was still good!

Seafood Chow Mein

Fried Tofu

Shrimp Noodle Spring Rolls

Rice Soup

Spicy Honey Wings (so random...)

Yay, the winner of my last surprise giveaway is Megan!! I wrote the four entries down and drew one out. E-mail me by the end of Monday. :) Viva la Juicy is yours.

Cooking: Dofu Agar Agar Jello

Some of you were curious about this Asian jello I made, so I took some photos this time. This brand is different from what I made last week. It required milk and last week's did not. Also, it says Dofu which sounds like Tofu, which can explain why it's mushier than last week's jello.

Mix the packet of powder with the amount of water it tells you to and bring to a boil.

The top part will turn white. Turn off the heat. Measure out the milk.

Stir in the milk and mix well.

Mixed and ready to scoop.

I used this brownie silicone mold and some Japanese egg shapers.

The rest was just poured into a cake pan. I didn't have any more molds. Let it cool to room temperature so you can move it to the fridge without it splashing everywhere.

Chill it in the fridge until it's set. Pop out the jellies or use a toothpick to remove them. These ended up more mushy than I thought they would be. You can hardly pick them up without it breaking. I won't be buying this brand anymore.

I think this is what I made last time. Only, this box says add milk too! I know last week I didn't add milk because I didn't have any and that's why I made it. But this box does not say Dofu, so that's promising. See how there is kind of a fruit cocktail mixed with the gelatin? The gelatin should be hard enough so that it can be cut and mixed up with other things, not mush to pieces. The edges are sharp in the photo on the box. If you look at the first box, the pieces look softer. I think everything came out like it should've in the end.

Agar Agar is derived from seaweed, but it does not taste like seaweed. It's just a natural gelatin unlike American jello.

Random---
What my parents think is romantic: Dying each others gray hair!
When I popped in tonight I didn't see anyone... Then they both came out of the bathroom with dye still in their hair and plastic on their shoulders. What a weird image. So that's what they do when I'm not around...

Quick Look: Book of Shadows II

Maggie of THE POLKA-DOTTED APPLE had a giveaway, and I won, omg! I'm never this lucky...

The holy book of shadows! I still can't believe I have it! Thanks Maggie for having an insanely awesome giveaway! It comes with 16 eyeshadows, 2 eyeliners, and a mini UDDP. I really, really have to do EOTDs now! no excuses!

LOOK at the shades! The first three rows are right up my alley. I love neutrals shiny or not. The last row contains more daring shadows that I would use on special occasions. I have never tried urban decay before, but I do have this little 4 palette one that I am saving. I like the texture of these shadows more than my NYX.

Book of secrets! Gotta love the peacock designs.

PRETTY cover! These are sold out in stores, so you'll have to look elsewhere to find it. I took a look at the new Alice in Wonderland palette, and I like this one better! This palette has 8 LE shades, and the Alice one has no new shades. I would hold out for the book of shadows III if you missed out on this one.

Silly, but I LOVE that container for mineral powder! It's been on my list of things I NEED (vs want). Glad I finally have one- a cute one too! I need it to mix up all my mineral samples from EDM. The lippies look real cute, but I haven't tried them yet. I like to keep things unused cause when I'm sad or bored I'll go and open something new.

Cinnamoroll is too cute! She put these stickers ALL over the box! :)

I was at CVS and saw these on display. This is one of my current favorites. Sometimes I think it's too sweet smelling, but overall I like it. I got one for me and one for...

another secret giveaway. It's not exactly secret- just not in the title, haha. You will get one tiny bottle of Viva La Juicy perfume + extra goodies. Rules: 1. comment "I smell pretty" 2. Answer: Who is your favorite singer/band? 3. This giveaway will end 1/8/2010 midnight cst. 4. US residents only since it's perfume. 5. Check back on a future post to see who won. It is your duty to e-mail me if you won. Prize claiming rules revealed in future post. You do not need to be a follower. When I ship this, I will unbox it for easy shipping!

Happy New Year

First FOTD for the year (5 minute look)

Had dinner with my grandpa at my Aunt's today. Me in my glasses! Just a plain look for dinner.

Maybelline DREAM LIQUID Mousse Foundation in Natural Beige Medium 2.5- the coverage is good, and the shade matches really well! I just don't like how it still feels "wet" right after you put it on. It's like floating on my face or something. When I apply powder with a kabuki the brush will just stir the foundation on my face instead of glide over it with setting powder. I have to wait too long for it to "dry." It could also be breaking me out, I dunno.

24.7 Skin Care Mineral Highlighting Bronzer Palette- can't be seen, but I used it earlier today. I do LOVE this stuff though. It looks like the shimmer bricks.

Julu Jewelry Island Citrus Earrings

smashbox Waterproof Shadow Liner in Bronze- like it but it may be dried out now...

MUFE Aqua Eyes liner in Dark Grey 21L- great staying powder, no smudges! Great alternative to black.

Définicils High Definition Mascara in Black- it's okay, not too picky about mascara. my lashes are wonky and curve toward my nose on one eye.

Maybelline Volume XL Seduction Lip Plumper in 605 (Seductively Nude)- I like the glossy shine it adds and how it plumps my lips by getting rid of the lines. I was in dire need of chapstick before putting this on, but I don't even need it now! It also gives you a little tingle like most plumpers do. Very smooth! I love this stuff!

Some people may not like the twisty lip glosses, but this one does not have a brush. You don't have to wait and keep twisting for the gloss to come up. It's plastic with 6 holes that the gloss comes out of. Favorite drugstore gloss so far!
Note: I don't rate this based on the plumping effect, mainly just smoothness or stickiness and the look you get on your lips. I don't believe anything will really plump the lips.

Happy New Year everyone! 2010 woo hoo!

Silly question, will you be saying twenty-ten or two thousand ten? Currently I'm saying two thousand ten.

Tortured by Avatar and EOTD

Today I finally went to see Avatar with my good friend from highschool. We tried to see it on Tuesday, but they were sold out so we bought tickets for the next day same time. For some reason I thought it only took 30 minutes to get there to the IMAX theater. Boy was I wrong. On Thursday there was traffic at 1pm for I dunno what, so we arrived at the theater at about 2:15? and the movie started at 1:50pm... oops! We were just like, well, we'll finally see MOST of the movie this time. So of course there were NO seats! We ended up in the second row from the front after climbing over people to get there. I've never sat that close before. I usually try to avoid sitting in the front at all costs, but I was just like "whatever" this time since we were so late! Once I was with my brother and sister and they ended up sitting in the front, and I just sat by myself somewhere else. I'd hate to do that with friends, but with family I guess I can just be rude! hehe.

Gross Alert:
So yes, sitting in the front... I had nausea for most of the movie. I almost threw up 3 times. You know when your mouth starts watering it means you are going to throw up. The third time my mouth watered it was dripping out of my mouth, omg so gross. To clarify it was only water or saliva. No actual upchuck. I didn't even eat anything yet. I also felt some pressure coming up like if I let loose there would be spew to the guy in front of me. Instead of getting up I'd rather just sit there in silent pain. I'm just weird like that. There were times I felt normal so I just tried to enjoy it while I could. I either had my eyes closed or stared at the bottom third of the screen. I kept wondering when the movie was gonna end. :(

PLUS, my nose is flat which made the 3-d glasses uncomfortable! I specifically put in my contacts so the glasses could fit better (in my thinking), but I think now it would've been better to wear my glasses so the 3-d ones would have something to sit on.

Why do they bother having those torture chairs at all? Why was I the only one getting sick?

Despite all the torture and what I could see, the movie was still good! hahaha. And my friend bought me a drink afterward, that helped! I wouldn't mind seeing it again in a non-3d way from the back row. err.. maybe i'll just go see The Nine!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!
Mine was pretty low key this year. That's good anyway due to my headache from earlier! I ended up snacking on kettle corn, and tortillas chips with a chili-creamcheese-cheddar dip while watching Message in a Bottle. My dad REALLY wanted to watch it with us. It was good, but sad! :( He loves sad songs and sad movies.

Here's a look I did sitting in front of the computer watching this tutorial by another Stephanie!

My first Eye Of The Day?
About Face Shadow Magnet
L'oreal Platinum Duo
I didn't have any light blues so I used Indigo from Ulta.
Origins Sun Tan eyeshadow
Mac Shroom eyeshadow
Lancome Definicils HD Mascara
MUFE black liner
Angel Grey lenses