2009 was a good year. Any time one’s health is good, and that of one’s family and friends, it is a good year. Then throw in a few good times, a lotta good perfumes, some good books and movies, and it becomes a very good year indeed.

It’s always nice to put some thought into those things we love.

Best Perfumery Trends in 2009:
It has to be oud, which is everywhere, suddenly for us in the west, but always a presence in the east. I am not located in a place easy for access to many of these, so I’m personally limited in knowledge to the ones I’ve sampled.

Kilian Pure Oud

First, perfumes.
As for perfumes, remember I’m in the back of beyond as far as easily sniffing some of the lines, so if you have a favorite or are a favorite, if I have samples, I’ll be glad to add my voice.

Best expensive niche:
Andy Tauer Une Rose Chyprée: A wearable rose, with vintage aspects, not quite dirty.
Anything by Ormonde Jayne or Andy Tauer or Ayala Moriel or Neil Morris or…

Best less expensive niche
Anything by Sonoma Scent.

Best in fragrances more easily found, some niche:
Kilian Back to Black
Kilian Pure Oud
Guerlain exclusives, take your pick. I like a number of them, including Moscow, Double Vanilla, 68, Chypre Fatale, La Petite Robe Noire…then there’s also Mon Precieux Nectar…I buy from Guerlain @ Palazzo in Las Vegas, ask for Claire. Call (702) 732-7008 or email: GuerlainPalazzo.STORE@lvmhuspc.com. Be sure to tell him that you heard it from me. (I saw them recently on a trip more locally, but the sales agent blew the sale with me. That’ll teach her, LOL!)

Serge Lutens, take your pick.
Prada, the original, and L’eau Ambree.
Chanel exclusives — I like Coromandel.

Best surprising fragrances
Le Jardin Retrouvé should be more fully known. I was glad to get a chance to review them.

Best inexpensive fragrances
Make Me Smooth
Bathed and Infused

Skin care that really works:
These are not new for 2009, but they still are going strong, and more importantly, work.

Best Moderate to expensive
Arbonne products RE9 or FC5; RE9 for the body is terrific.
Estee Lauder New Perfectionist CP+
La Prairie Cellular Anti-wrinkle Firming Serum; Cellular Hydrating is good too.

Best inexpensive skincare
Avon Ultimate Gold or Anew Alternative Intensive Age Treatment

Best cosmetic trends 2009
Minerals, everywhere. Some much better than others in texture and look.

Best color products, Not Mineral
High end
Chanel

Less expensive
Arbonne
Aromaleigh
Maybelline
NYX

Best lip gloss
MAC dazzlers comes in first
Beaute
Arbonne
Chanel

Best mineral niche
Aromaleigh or Fyrinnae

Best new product
Kindle 2 International — would be made better if it incorporated the ease of reading library ebooks, if our library had any. Please send us a free wireless download to add this in order to be competitive with Sony’s ereader. (Elena, you will really enjoy yours! Congrats on receiving it as a gift this Christmas.)

The best things in life are still free
You can find a gazillion free ebooks to read on your Kindle or other ebook reader before you even consider buying any ebooks.

Don’t forget to take time to view sunrises or sunsets or enjoy seeing bodies of water, free to all if we but take the time.

Internet friendships that become RL friendships. This is an amazing time we live in, when we can be instantly connected to friends around the world. You know who you are! I regularly keep in touch with friends in Europe and China, as well as at home from coast to coast. Not to mention checking in on blogs and yahoogroups I love that originate anywhere.

The qualities of hope, inspiration, gratitude, happiness, safety…

Don’t forget prayer…

What are your favorites?

I’m sure I left something out…
If I think of anything amazing, I will add it as the day goes on…

Have a good one!

Karin
www.savvythinker.com

Check out the other particpants:

http://mossyloomings.blogspot.com

http://1000fragrances.blogspot.com/

http://ayalasmellyblog.blogspot.com/

http://bittergracenotes.blogspot.com/

http://qwendy.typepad.com/shoescakeperfume/

http://www.eiderdownpress.com/Perfume_Journal.html

http://www.scenthive.com

http://olfactarama.blogspot.com/

http://journal.illuminatedperfume.com/

http://arosebeyondthethames.blogspot.com/

http://thenonblonde.blogspot.com/

http://underthecupola.blogspot.com/

and http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.com/

http://sonomascent.wordpress.com/

http://alliam-aredhead.blogspot.com/

http://scelfleah.blogspot.com/

http://ismellthereforeiam.blogspot.com

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I just realized that I’ve never done a formal review of Aromaleigh shadows, though if you follow my blog, you know I like to wear them.

I’ve never met an AL shadow that I didn’t like, and most of them I truly love. I found AL through mention at another list I’m on. After seeing several highly complimentary mentions, and going to the website several times, I took the plunge to order a few samples. The rest is history.

What I like most
What I particularly like about AL shadows is their radiancy and brightness — even the darker colors — which sounds like an oxymoron. The dark colors have life to them. They aren’t drab.

I find for my own eye, I like the luminosity of AL shadows. It is more flattering on an older eye than mattes, though AL has some beautiful lit-with-light mattes right now. I haven’t tried any of them. I do have a set of AL Carolina mattes.

The different collections are beautiful. The difference in appearance, the luminosity, can be similar, yet unique to the particular collection. The descriptions on the website are very accurate.

Easy to apply
They are very easy to apply. They go on smooth, last all day, and the colors are amazing.

Compared to other brandsI have bought several other brands of mineral shadows.
Bare Escentuals
Bare Escentuals were the first minerals I found and tried. They are easy to find. At the time, I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to work with loose pigments, but I’ve found I like it even better than working with pressed shadows. The technique is a bit different, but not much. The key is to know how much to pick up on your brush.

I like BE shadows a lot, and I have many. I reach more for AL right now. BE might be your Cadillac, and AL is the Lexus or Jag. AL is more edgy.
Fyrinnae
Fyrinnae requires a different technique of application. You must dab the pigments, not sweep them, though you can do some blending by sweeping after the color is on. If I worked with them more, I’d probably reach for them more.

Fyrinnae, to me, is more cutting edge as far as some colors than AL. I reach for AL more. I haven’t tried to work with both together, though I might try that this week.

Meow
Nice colors; easy to apply. I like what I’ve chosen very much. The colors are different from AL and just as nice.

Mary Kay
Mary Kay minerals are pressed (except for this last Holiday batch which came in a wand applicator.) The regular line colors are pretty. They are easy to use. I wasn’t too crazy about the Holiday line. I much prefer the array and look of AL to the MK Holiday colors.

Other brands
Well, I have a few miscellaneous shadows around that don’t bear mentioning.

I also haven’t decided if I will try any other brands, because I’m not sure I see a point. OTOH, there are a lot, lot, lot of Indie companies out there.

AL sales
AL has weekly sales. That’s a good time to pick up full sizes of any samples that you want a full size of. During the sales, the samples are discounted too, so it’s a very good time to try out several samples or colors you might not think you could wear. Because, most likely you will find you can wear them beautifully.

Karin

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Since there are a bazillion different mineral eye shadow companies abounding, how do you choose which brands you will investigate to wear, if you wear mineral eye shadows?

Repackaging
I understand there are companies that only repackage. I’d prefer not to buy those, and I don’t think I have, but I wouldn’t mind if I had made an informed choice to do so. That’s what’s behind Mineral Makeup Mutiny.

Companies I wear:
Aromaleigh
As anyone knows who has been reading my blog, I love Aromaleigh (which I found via a perfume site.) AL is really cutting edge in my book.
Meow
I also like Meow. The colors are lovely, including the blushes.
Fyrinnae
Fyrinnae is lovely, but different in application techniques. Also cutting edge.
Bare Escentuals
Additionally, I like and own many Bare Escentuals shadows and facial colors. BE may not be quite as cutting edge as AL, but they have some beautiful sets.
Mary Kay
Most of MK’s minerals are pressed, which have their place. All of the above companies’ minerals are loose. I don’t consider MK minerals to be cutting edge. They are better than average, but they are more mainstream. Their 2009 Fall/Xmas shadows come in a wand and are loose, but I didn’t care for the look when I tried them, albeit I did not have my proper brushes with me.

Outside of these companies, are there others which are not on my radar screen?
Do you find that you can wear some brands, but others you are sensitive to?

Why do you love them?

Are there any you’d like to see me work with?

Karin

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It’s been a while since I used any of my Fyrinnae samples, so they were calling to me yesterday.

Fyrinnae is highly pigmented and quite gorgeous, but more difficult to apply. The technique is: dab, do not sweep.

Well, of course, there’s only so much dabbing you can do! And when you are used to sweeping, it’s not easy to retrain yourself!

Base: Nude Frost, then BE Queen Phyllis
Lids: Javan Rhino (Bright, light teal)
Outer Corners: DragonMagic Arcane Magic (Deep green with sparkles)
Dry lined: Biker Chic (Deep teal, shot thru with sparkles)

Full face:

My daughter thought the color was gorgeous, and she saw how hard I had to work to get both eyes even.

Still, the look is worth it.

Do have Fyrinnae shadows?

Karin
www.savvythinker.com

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I wore these shadow colors yesterday, because I was wearing a wonderful lime green skirt with amethyst accents. I liked it so well, I wanted to wear the colors again, and since I didn’t take pictures yesterday, I thought I’d show you the idea today. It’s wonderful the number of looks and combinations you can get from several colors of shadows.

Eyes: Arbonne shadows
Base: Nude Frost
Lids: Lime in new shape
Inner corners: light pink (ballet)
Lined top and lower: Clarins Midnight Flash pencil
Drylined top and lower: Arbonne medium amethyst color
Mascara top: Arbonne, 2 in 1; Tarte lower
Brows: La Prairie pencil
Concealer: YSL eclat
Nose: MAC concealer

Primer: Guerlain meteorites
Foundation: Clinique Even Better in Fair — this is a tad dark on me, but when finished it looks fine — I like the formula a lot.
Rouge: Chanel stick under my sparkly mix powder
Blush over powder: Arbonne Promise
Highlight: Arbonne very light pink
Bronzer: Guerlain meteorites powder #3 (this is not a bronzer but it works as a bronzer on me)

Lips:
First, Fyrinnae Visual Kei alone, then this picture was taken after some of it was gone — over the top I put SCA Hyaluronic — it was pretty together!

What do you think?
Do you like to wear lime greens?

To buy Arbonne from Bookgirl, just ask.

Karin

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I decided to challenge myself to a 5 min makeup this morning.

Usually the hardest thing for me is deciding what direction I’d like to go in. I like to take my time and play some.

Once I do my makeup, it’s rare for me to give it much thought the rest of the day. I might change lipsticks, but the rest stays pretty well the way I did it.

Yesterday I thought I liked the colors so well that I wanted to do it again today, but change the liner to dark vs. any purple. So I lined with MAC blackgraph top tight lined and bottom in the water line. I added MAC earthline to the bottom under the blackgraph.

I thought this was just as nice. My T is a darker pink.

Cheeks over my sparkly mix: Beaute cheek and lip stain

Lips:
Revlon Play up Pink gloss + Beaute Paramour gloss 1/2 and 1/2

It was a lot of fun to just whip it on. I can easily do it in 5 mins if I don’t have to make any decisions.

I like this new eye shape. Today I swept some Chanel from the purple quad up the inner corners.

How long does it take you to do your makeup?

Karin

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New shape of eyes again! This was a super easy, simple summer look! Only one color of shadow. I just love the way this turned out. Could it be that one color will be enough with most brands with this shape??

Remember Fyrinnae has gorgeous, gorgeous colors, but they are applied differently — they are patted, not whisked over the eye like most shadows. I wondered if I would have forgotten how to do this, but it went on very easily. I just adored the color, and with my top especially! I almost think this could be one of my natural looks, even though it is definitely purple. There is some gray to it, and if I used all black or gray pencils, I believe it would look less purple. Anyway, it’s a great color with my eye color.

By the time I’ve posted this, the shadow color has creased some. I’m not sure why, so I’ll have to use Nude Frost as my base next time.

Primer: MAC Luna
Shadow + drylined bottom: Fyrinnae Artic Fox
Highlight inner corners: Lancome Hollogramme Micro Pailettes, sparkly now discontinued
Tightlined top: MAC graphblack
Wet lined lower: Venomous gel liner
Mascara: Arbonne, 2 step
Brows: Anastasia Brow Tint Pen (light) + Brow Wand (Caramel)
Concealer: YSL Touch Eclat

Primer: Laura Mercier
Foundation: Chanel, discontinued
Rouge under my sparkly mix of powder: Chanel stick

Lips:
NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil Pink Nude + SCA Hyaluronic Lip Plumping Pen — this pen has almost exactly the same look and color as the NYX pencil, it’s not clear — anyway, I loved the look this morning. Now I have a dark shade on just because I wanted to try it, so if I get a chance, I’ll do a Take 2 photo later.

I hope you’re having a good day!

To buy Arbonne from Bookgirl, if you don’t have a representative, just ask.

Karin

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Life in the fast lane with end of year school projects (for the mom!) and etc. are putting me behind in posting my FOTDs. It helps to have lovely makeup to make you feel and look your best!

Eyes: I really loved these colors together. They made me happy!
They are both beautiful on their own.
Base: Nude Frost
Crease: Fyrinnae Kitten in Heels
Lids: Fyrinnae Faerie Glamour
Tight lined top and wet lined lower: Venomous gel liner — a pretty purple – using back end of brush
Mascara: top Lancome Oscillation; lower: Guerlain LE2 (lower lash side only)
Brows: Merle Norman powder
Concealer: Mary Kay #2

Primer: MUFE
Foundation: Chanel, discontinued
Rouge under powder: Maybelline Rose Petal mousse blush
Powder: my sparkly mix, then Guerlain meteorites as bronzer
Blush over powder: Lancome Petticoat Pink cream

Lips: Fyrinnae Glitter Kittiez rimmed with Beauté Allure

Do you have any of these colors?
They are some of my favorites.

Karin

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I changed the technique a bit here.

Lollipop-pop on both lips.
This color looks like a warm pink in the tube, but on, it is a blue pink which I usually love. However, my T is salmon colored today and so my lips needed to be more salmon.

Type A Applied over the top of both lips and blended well. I used the back end of a brush, not the applicator (I don’t want to mix colors on the applicators.) I also wanted to blend fast, but not have it in a lip brush.

Here it is full face, plus you can see how well it matched my T.

My take:
I thought the color was very pretty.

I like Fyrinnae’s colors. They are interesting and different.

Today both colors had little flecks of more solids. This is not to be unexpected. I just used the back end of a brush to blend them in well.

How about you?
Do you have any of their colors? What are your faves?

Karin

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All the colors are the same as yesterday, except new lippie color. I placed the eye colors in different places, to try them in another way.

I also used La Prairie sunscreen to see how sheer it would make the rest of the makeup through the day.

Eyes:
Crease: Burnt Roses
Inner Corner and under eyes: Strawberry Despair
Outer Corner: Persephone

Black Cherry gel liner: this time I wetlined it on the lower lid using the back end of a brush. I think someone shared that Melissa did this. It works a lot better than a brush! I used this technique on the top too to add the line and smudge at the same time. On the top I also used Ulta’s small eye liner brush.

Again, I used Nude Frost as a base and I didn’t use my sparkly mix. And as often when I leave off the mix, the crease color grabbed on one eye, then I had to tone it down. I toned it down both with a damp brush, then with the sparkly mix on the top edge.

It looks softer in RL than these pictures show. I’d prefer the crease softer, but the same color, as I’ve used it before. I like the other colors placed like this too. I like seeing the spark of Strawberry Despair in the inner corners.

Karin

• FOTD Lancome + Fyrinnae eyes + Too Faced Lips Busy day today! I came across a quote tonight by Aaron de Mey, the new Lancome creative director: "Surprise is everything I’m about. My objective in life is to create surprise." I thought that was...
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Change of pace today! Back to reds, but new ones I’ve never used before. We’ll see if I get any drift/slide today. Sometimes red bothers my lids, esp when it slides.

Sometimes I wonder whether it would be easier to have no choices. It takes me longer to think about what I’d like to do than actually doing it. But last night I thought: Gothic Lolita shadows! Fyrinnae lips! so that made it easier today.

Eyes: All AL, except where noted
Base: Nude Frost, no sparkly mix after
Crease: Strawberry Despair, GL — wow! this is really pretty — I think I originally bought it because it looked so great on Tanya in a theme week at AL, but I’m not sure I ever wore it before — AL describes it

Strawberry Despair: Muted strawberry red pearl with copper sparks. Despair was never so yummy!

Outer Corners and lower drylined: Burnt Roses , GL — one of my all time fave colors, just a super color

Burnt Roses : Rich chocolatey cherry frost with tiny deep green sparks. Just plain luscious.

Inner Corners:Persephone, Luster — first time I wore this too, very gorgeous color!

Persephone: Lush bordeaux with a cocoa lowlight and rose highlight.

Brows: Chanel pencil
Mascara: Guerlain, top; Tarte, lower
Concealer: Dior skinflash and around inner corners of eyes

I couldn’t figure out what to use for liner or if I should stop where I was, then I remembered I had Black Cherry gel liner. It helps to have the right brush. Since I tried it last, I bought a small slanted eyeliner brush at Ulta. There’s no identifier on it to tell you which one. I intentionally tried to smudge it out the way a pencil looks vs. having a hard edged line. Smudging just looks better on me at this stage of life. Anyway, it was perfect, and I loved it, and I might try to use my gel liners more now that I actually like the look of one of them. I did it very lightly along the waterline and tight lined both the top and lower, smudging it.

Sunscreen: Neutragena, not the La Prairie to see if my makeup is less sheer
Primer: Revlon Vital Radiance, cool, discontinued
Foundation: Chanel, discontinued, trying to use this one up
Rouge: Chanel, stick, discontinued
Powder, my sparkly mix, then Signature Club A Hyaluronic
Blush: Lancome Petticoat Pink, along my cheekbones
Lips: Fyrinnae Visual Kei Lip Luster — my labels are getting all funky — are your? — such a pretty color!

Isn’t this pretty!

What do you think?

Karin

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Sorry that I’m late getting this posted! Yesterday was a busy day!

Eyes: Fyrinnae Fujiro in crease; Optimism on lid Gorgeous colors!
I wanted to try Fyrinnae again before I forgot how to apply it (pat, not swipe.) (Make sure brush has no black left in it, which I remembered to check.) (I have brushes dedicated to light or dark colors, so I don’t have to worry about getting a dark shade mixed in with a light one.) You can see they are not exact matches. It drives me nuts trying to get them even. I finally gave up. I figured, no one looks at my eyes that closely, as I am blinking vs. letting someone really look at them. LOL!

Lined top and lower: Jordana waterproof Luna Lavender
Mascara: EL MagnaScopic Blue on top; Tarte on lower lashes (black)
Brows: La Prairie pencil
Concealer: Dior Skinflash

Foundation: Chanel, discontinued
Rouge, under powder: NARS Riviera stick
Powder: my sparkly mix, topped with BE Mineral Veil as bronzer
Blush: MAC Dollymix
Lips: MAC Funtabulous, rimmed with Milani Crystal gloss

What do you think?

Karin

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Busy day today! I came across a quote tonight by Aaron de Mey, the new Lancome creative director:

“Surprise is everything I’m about. My objective in life is to create surprise.”

I thought that was great! I think it’s how I operate. I always look to the new when it come to makeup. I hope you can see how much fun I have with it! If you can’t have fun with makeup, when can you have fun! And at least you can’t say I’m boring!

The surprise for me is that I can wear reds on my eyes. I wanted to try this color ever since I saw it on someone else online. And while I think of reds as more of a fall look, the surprise is that I can carry them off at any time. And I likely will.

I received a great compliment tonight — and trust me, I don’t look as good as I did when I took these pictures fresh in the morning, because the shadow has gone into the crease a bit. And I had no lipstick on, although I’ve tried about 4 different color combos, all great, but I didn’t take any pictures. A SA told me I looked young, my skin was great, how old was I anyway? (I hope she comes to my blog.)

I had fun with these eyes. Book Girl’s first words were, “I love that copper on your eyes.”

These pictures really shows the copper:

Eyes: all Fyrinnae except where noted
Base: Nude Frost
Crease and outer lids: Dark Magik, deep coppery red
Inner lids: Forbidden lover, golden purply red
Lower line: Optimism, bright light purple with silver
Lined lower: MK purple pencil — I really wanted to use my Clarins, but refrained — I can’t get it any more!
Brows: MK pencil
Mascara: Too Faced, bright blue, hard brush to use

Loved the lippie:
Too Faced: Trust Fund Baby on whole lip + Fire, to rim with

Finished look:

Primer: AL (because it is a mineral line)
Foundation: Lancome mineral 20 + 30 as bronzer (10 is really my color)
Topped with: my sparkly mix
Blush: Lancome Rose Sable

What do you think?
Karin

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I said yesterday that I wanted to go to the Lancome counter and see if I could apply the mineral foundation and have it turn out well. I didn’t want to go sans all makeup, so I did my eyes with some of the new colors in my Fyrinnae haul.

Don’t laugh! I look like death warmed over. I hoped that the final product would be balanced. You’ve seen me now with practically no eye makeup (the Beauté post) and now with no foundation. Trust me, you likely will not see me minus both!

I’m still playing with the Fyrinnae eye colors to get the technique down pat (pun intended — you pat these, not swipe them) — and if you can’t have fun with makeup, why bother! I have a place on my eyes that always needs a touch more color. When I did it today, tapping in the brush, unknown to me, what was left on the brush was basically black, not the blue or green — yikes! I won’t make that mistake again. Before I did that and after, I used a damp brush to soften the top edges.

Fyrinnae Created Lippie: Ryunome + Visual Kei, lightly

Eyes, all Fyrinnae, unless noted
Base: Too Faced
Lid, lightly: Nijiro, light beige
Outer corners: Fujiro, bright blue, applying it lightly, it looks semi-matte, not bright and glistening, as I expected — but looking at these pictures, the color no longer looks matte at all
Inner corners: Dark Fantasy, deep green — free sample with order — this shows up well in a picture toward the bottom
Dry lined lower: Javan Rhino, bright light turquoise
Tightlined upper: Avon cosmic brown pencil
Mascara: Too Faced bright blue, first time I used it, the brush felt awkward

Then I went to the Lancome counter and applied the mineral foundation myself, with a little coaching. The technique is the same as for BE. The SA told me that you can use any translucent powder, but we used the mineral as she did yesterday.

I didn’t do anything else, except apply Groupie lighter than she did yesterday. We used the same blush, which has a touch of apricot in it. I forgot the color again, but I know where it is in the tester unit. [Update: Sheer Amarose]I didn’t touch my eyes again. Amazing how it all goes together, once it’s finished! I can’t remember a time when I did my complete eyes first — it’s really strange looking at it that way instead of knowing how it will complete the rest of the face.

I think Nude Frost offers a better base. You can see it has drifted a bit. OTOH, I applied eye cream over the Too Faced base, then more base, as I wanted to use the cream on my upper lids too.

My take:
I think the foundation is terrific! It was easy to apply. In the future, I need more on my outer face. The SA told me to apply from the outer lower face into the middle so there would be less foundation in the middle. I wanted a sheer look, but with coverage.

The brush is a dream.

What do you think?

Karin

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I got my Fyrinnae haul yesterday and I wanted to try out Ryunome, a bright blue, which I bought to blue down other colors.

Using my usual technique of one color on one lip and one on the other and smooshing them together:

Ryunome + Visual Kei (this was the brightest ‘orange’ I had)

I was afraid to do it too strongly until I figured if it would work. Next time, I’ll really do it strong, and I’ll add a second picture.

I think it turned out really well, soft and pretty.

Here’s Visual Kei alone, strongly:
It’s a teensy more apricot looking in RL than it shows up in the pictures.

Karin

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