Frustration of the APO shipping

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Hello everyone,

To those who don't know what APO means, it's an American military PO box type of address, costs exactly the same as shipping in USA, and treated as domestic. It allows me to have 2 addressed, one American and one British and experience the best of both worlds I guess. I can shop for British brands in Boots and order American brands and get them delivered to me as if I still lived in USA.

But it comes with a big BUT. Some companies and/or sellers simply do not ship to APO, for whatever reasons. I am not sure as to what they are, and honestly I don't care. I want the products, and lots of places ship APO, so why can't those few? I believe they are all facing the same chances of lost or damaged packages, and many add disclaimers that it might take a lot longer for mail to arrive at APO. Whatever is what I say.

I can't shop Sephora and HauteLook because of that reason. Because of that, I missed out on getting some serious NYX bargains at HauterLook few days ago. I also can't order something from Sephora, something I can only get there at this time as it's sold out everywhere else I look! Normally I could order and get it shipped to my mom, but I can't even do that because the APO option is simply not included in the State option in billing. So I'm SOL however I look at it :(  It is extremely frustrating and even unfair, but sadly I can do nothing about it.

Some of you might ask why do I keep trying to shop on American websites, and that's because I still get paid in $$. Going shopping in British economy is not that much fun for me once the conversion comes into play. Instead of enjoying myself, I have to constantly think how much it will cost me in $$ and do I really want it for that much.

~ Lyuba

Wishing for snow and OOTD

Hello everyone,

I'm still sick and miserable and as a result I don't want to do anything other than lay in bed and sleep. :( Even putting makeup on in the morning is a chore, and if I didn't promise myself to look pretty every day, I'm not so sure I would be even bothering with it. But being me, I have to use the brightest prettiest color everyday, hoping it will lighten up my mood and help me recover faster. What? You didn't know that good mood has healing properties? ;P

Another thing that I'm not-so-quietly wishing for is MORE snow. It seems like Suffolk always misses out on snow when just an hour up north (Norwich) they are covered in it. All we get is few flurries, maybe mini blizzard for a whole 2 minutes... if we're lucky an inch. Yes, snow is annoying to drive it and I will be the first one to say I can't drive in it, but I still want some SNOW! I haven't seen it in almost 10 years now, and I miss snow a lot (that time I went to Michigan for 2 days in winter doesn't count). My friend in Sheffield is making snow men on her balcony, I want to do it too! On the bright side, maybe we still will get some with the way things started out.

Last weekend I went to local Christmas Fair in Bury St. Edmunds and the  moment we got there it started snowing like crazy! I was in Lyuba heaven. :) Suddenly it felt so festive and Christmasy. I got myself some mulled wine (my favorite European thing) and walked around with the hugest grin ever. Sadly the greatness didn't last that long, after we got done with the fair it stopped snowing and the sun came out and all the snow melted lol.

 I got this cape from Jane Norman maybe a week earlier. I was in Norwich with my husband, we walked in to Castle Mall and Jane Norman was having 25% sale on EVERYTHING in the store. I took a look and it was love from the first sight. Hat is from Debenhams, sweater/cardigan  and leggings are from TJMaxx (mom works there and she always sends me clothes and she has an AMAZING taste, 99% of what she sends not only fit me, but also become my favorite), sweater-dress is from shop in Lille, France and boots are from JCPenny I think. Gloves are also from TJMaxx, got them years ago in Florida but never worn them there. Gloves are sold all over the place in FL in 'winter', but do we really need them? I only bought these because they were so cute and I had to have them. Who knew I would be going to England shortly after?

All I want for Christmas...

Hello everyone, 

My Christmas wish list can go forever and ever, but there are still things that I want more than others. Right now I'm especially obsession over these items, and desperately hoping that someone will get them for me!

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Urban Decay Naked Palette
At first when I read all the reviews about it, I wasn't that impressed. But then I saw it in person, and swatched it on my hand, and it was love from the first sight! I would have bought it right there, but I've already bought Book of Shadows III and Benefit's Her Name Was Glowla and I really didn't need to spent more money :( As it stands right now, Naked Palette is sold out pretty much everywhere I looked (except Ebay for outrageous prices) so I don't even know if I will ever get it.

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BaByliss Root Boost
I really don't even know if this will do anything for my hair since it's so short, but I don't care, I WANT it. :) I'm a little reluctant however, because what if it's not dual voltage? I will eventually go back to US, and if it's not dual voltage then I will not be able to use it there without a transformer (a major pain in the behind in general, not including significantly cutting the life of appliance and more usage of electricity). 

Irregular Choice Shoes
Oh the greatness of Irregular Choice! This is another instance of love at first sight. I've been telling my husband that he is free to give me these shoes any time he wants to, with reason and without any reason :)  They are so funky and unusual and unique, and make me feel so pretty while I'm wearing their shoes. I wore GAGA boots in October to Hyper Japan and I had lots of people commenting on them.

Dare to Wear Challenge - Tribal Mermaid anyone?

Hello everyone,

Few days ago I saw that FunnyFace Beauty extended the deadline for her latest Dare to Wear Challenge, which is not only fun but also for a good cause. Seeing as I have only been following her for a short time, I had no idea she was doing those challenges so the extension benefited me a lot :) For this challenge, she is inviting you to create a look inspired by African tribal images/makeup. Me being myself, I took a look at inspiration pictures she provided, googled some more images, even saved them, but at the end I didn't even look at any of them before starting my look. And of course the colors are not exactly what I would associate with African tribal colors.... Figures.

 This morning I woke up nice and early, and because my husband is away and I don't have to cook the turkey, I had lots of time in the morning to play with makeup. Perfect time to do something crazy right?

I started out with my usual primer/foundation/concealer routine, nothing special about that. Then I picked out the colors I would use. A while back I bought some Aromaleigh eye shadows in their closing out sale (big tear here), but they just sat unused so I decided to give them some lovings.

These colors were talking to me... begging to be used.. and while applying my makeup I kept thinking that I look like some kind of tribal mermaid with her war paint on. Tribal Mermaid it is then!

 I wish I didn't drew the pink line on my forehead... I will know for the next time. This is my first ever time doing anything this crazy by the way.

 My pathetic attempt at a battle cry. :)

 Love this picture! I call it Tribal Mermaid zombie.

 Sorry about lipstick on my teeth :( I didn't notice it until editing photos, and I'm not that skilled with Photoshop to take care of it. But check out my pout! Considering my lips are not the fullest of the bunch, I loved how gloss made them look.

Face:

• GOSH  Velvet Touch primer
• GOSH Natural Touch foundation in 34 Vanilla
• COLLECTION 2000 Illuminating Touch Light diffusing concealer in 2 Natural
• RIMMEL London Stay Matte pressed powder in Transparent  to set the foundation
• AROMALEIGH Gothic Lolita in Aqua Nightmare overall, blended in some places with Cobalt and Watermelon (not sure what collection)
• AROMALEIGH Watermelon and Rocks! Sonic Eyes Hitormiss for the lines
• BOURJOIS Shimmering Shine liquid eye shadow in 35 Gris Platine for the dots

Eyes:

•  E.L.F. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer as a base
• AROMALEIGH Gothic Lolita in Aqua Nightmare on the lid, with Watermelon on the brow bone 
• COLLECTION 2000 Extreme 24 hour felt tip liner in Teal for the eyeliner and brows - told you I would use it again today. And let me also tell you how much fun I had trying to remove it! But to be fair, I knew exactly that it would stain, and I wasn't going to use it on my brows..... until it was the perfect color. 
• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk on waterline
• EYELURE Naturalites Intense eyelashes

Lips: 

• AROMALEIGH Watermelon mixed with  Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss

I think there are still couple days to get your entries in! So come on, it's fun and for a good cause!

~ Lyuba

November favorites

Although November is not over yet, these are the items I keep using over and over again. And I am pretty sure that I will keep using them until the end of this month.

• Sleek STORM palette - my very first Sleek palette that I got after reading all the reviews of Sleek makeup. I love this palette, especially two pink shades. They are my favorite, and I find myself reaching for them almost on autopilot. 
• NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Auburn/Red - I only received it a couple of days ago, but I don't know how I lived without it before! I was a little intimidated by the powder, but turned out that applying powder to eye brows in not as hard as I thought. 
• No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara in brown - it's all about the brush I'm telling you! 
• Ecotools blush brush - although I use it for powder. Can you believe that this poor little brush sat unused for almost 2 years? Shame on me!
• COLLECTION 2000 Illuminating Touch Light diffusing concealer in 2 Natural - that stuff just rules! I brought it with me to US for vacation, and ended up using it on my friend for her cosplay. Look at her skin tone, now look at mine, works wonders for both!  And she normally suffers from serious case of black under her eyes, but do you see it in the picture? I ended up giving it to her and just buying myself another once I got back to UK. 
• Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss in 09 Currant - I got it as a sample in one of the magazines, and I bought the magazine just for the sample lol. I don't haven any Clinique glosses but I really wanted to try one, so I figured why not? Been using it almost every day since. 
• COLLECTION 2000 Extreme 24 hour felt tip liner in Teal - every since I swatched those in Boots, I wanted the Teal one. Now I have it and I've been wearing it 2 days straight and I think tomorrow will be another Teal day.

What are your favorites for November?