I recently got a pair of the Italian-made Adore Bi-Tone colored contact lenses.  Before purchasing, I looked through a lot of YouTube videos and other blogs and noticed that all the reviews were on lighter eyes.  Even those who said they had “dark eyes” have what I would consider medium brown eyes.  As I’ve mentioned in my other reviews here and here, my eyes are a very, very dark brown and look black unless there’s a light in them.

I decided on the “Yellow” color because 1.) it is the lightest one they have and I think the other colors won’t show up well and 2.) other reviewers mentioned that the yellow actually shows up green on brown eyes.  Though I already have a pair of green contacts, my Soloticas are over a year old now and they’ve always been thick and uncomfortable.

I received my Bi-tones after a couple weeks and they are surprisingly comfortable! They feel like my regular Acuvue 2 contacts that I wear daily for vision correction.  However, I was very disappointed in the color. On my dark eyes, these contacts are barely noticeable.  It makes my nearly black eyes look like a super dark, deep green.  You wouldn’t even notice unless someone pointed it out!  I think these yellow Adore Bi-Tone contact lenses would look great on medium to light brown eyes but on me they were blah.  Though barely noticeable in normal lighting, it does show up nicely in flash photos:

Adore Bi-Tone Yellow on Dark Eyes

That’s me above with my sister who has the same natural eye color I do.  Look how dark her eyes look even with flash!  Mine are the same so it takes a really good color contact for there to be a noticeable difference.  The Adore Bi-Tones aren’t it!

I will try to update this entry later with photos showing what the Adore Bi-Tone contacts look like in different lighting.

A while ago I posted photos of my Solotica Hidrocor Ocre contacts on my black eyes. I had written that I didn’t really like the color, especially when compared to my Hidrocharme Mels. Also, I missed having the limbal ring which covered up any iris overlap.

A couple days ago, I decided to give them another try. I wore them for several hours and the color really grew on me. I like the gray they give off now but I think the iris overlap is noticeable if you look for it. It’s the pale yellow ring around my iris where the edge of the colored part of the contact is bigger than my actual iris. I don’t think it’s a deal breaker but might be of a concern to some.

Here’s an updated picture to help anyone who may be wondering what the Solotica Hidrocor Ocre colored contacts look on dark brown/black eyes.

Solotica Hidrocor Ocre Contacts on Black Asian Eyes

…and other recent purchases that make me happy.

Total Gym

I got a Total Gym Elite from Out of The Closet (a local thrift store) for only $45.  Found out after the fact that I could have bargained it down to $30 because of a missing (and unnecessary) accessory, but oh well, it all goes to charity anyway.  (I also found a $54 large cork memo board there for only $8—I love finding bargains!)

You’ve probably seen the infomercials with Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley.  It’s a piece of exercise equipment that uses your body weight and gravity as resistance.  You can find commercial Total Gym models at some gyms where they are better known as Gravity machines.

Despite the infomercial, the Total Gym won’t give you muscles like Chuck Norris.  You need a lot more resistance than your body weight for that, not to mention a good diet and probably supplement plan.  However, if used correctly, it is great for toning, strength building, flexibility and increasing your endurance.  Since I’m more interested in defining my muscles rather than growing them, the Total Gym is perfect for my needs.  I’ve been using it almost every day now and it’s amazing how many different exercises you can do on it.  Based on my body weight and at the top incline, the max resistance I can get is about 50 lbs using one hand or 25 lbs in each hand (or foot).  Coupled with high reps and about 3 sets, it’s perfect for me to get toned and stronger.  I have been doing many of the same exercises I had been doing at the gym on this one machine now.  Since I’m now working with a flexible cable system instead of a fixed machine, I can feel a lot more muscles firing up to stabilize my form with each rep.  In other words, each rep is harder yet more effective!

I used my Total Gym for lunges and squats yesterday and I can totally feel it in my legs today.  It’s also great for cardio as a rowing machine, and on a lower incline, it’s actually pretty fun.

Latisse

I’ve also had great success with another celebrity-endorsed product, Latisse.  It’s a liquid solution that Brooke Shields has been promoting which promises to grow thicker, longer lashes.  The choice of Brooke Shields is odd to me since she has always had naturally thick lashes and brows.  I was a bit skeptical, but since I was able to get the normally $120 product for just $10, I gave it a go.  Full results are supposed to be seen at Week 16, but here is a photo of my eyelashes at Week 0 (before application) and now, which is Week 10:

Latisse: Before use and then at Week 10

It definitely works!  A word of caution though: it has the potential to permanently turn you eye color brown.  If I didn’t already have dark eyes, I definitely would not risk it.  Also, $10 is cheaper than most tubes of mascara so it was a great value to me but I would not pay full price for this.  It’s a nice little feminine perk, but not worth $120 especially since your lashes will regrow at their normal length once you stop using it.

Food

I love food. I love saving money. I love saving money on food!

Pork spareribs were on sale and a $6 slab has lasted me 4 days! Yum! I never get sick of ribs.

Also, bought a bar of Lindt 70% dark chocolate bar with cherry and chili and it was da bomb! So good, and when eaten in moderation, is good for you with all the antioxidants and flavonoids found in dark chocolate.  I don’t have a problem with moderating my sweets and am satisfied after just one or two squares.  When buying chocolate, the darker the better, and make sure the first ingredient is chocolate not sugar like it is with many mainstream brands.

Alright, that’s it for now.  Can you tell I’m trying to blog more often?

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But it’s not more than most girls have, is it?

A girl can never have enough eye shadows.

I’m a lazy girl. Unless I’m going out to a bar, club or nice restaurant, I very rarely wear makeup.  Some lotion and chapstick is enough for me (though I should be wearing sunscreen).  However, I love the look of well-applied makeup, especially eye makeup.  I have a slight obsession with eye shadows and find myself buying them constantly.  I just love owning a little pot of color; it’s like owning a brilliant jewel with no two brands/shades being alike.

As I mentioned at the end of an earlier post, I jumped on the NXY lot sale and got Lot 3 (now sold out), which consisted of 43 of their great eye shadows.  So now I have 43 new shadows to play with, though I admit I probably have used less than 25% of the shadows I already own.  Despite my fascination with owning eye shadows, I don’t often put them to good use.

I think this is because I am never quite satisfied with how eye shadow looks on me.  Unlike my three younger sisters, I have monolids, also known as single lids or what one would consider typical “Asian eyes.”  Eye shadow is usually applied on the upper eyelid, but that’s pretty pointless for me because you can’t see my upper eyelid when my eyes are opened.  My eyelids disappear underneath my fatty epicanthal fold.  So, if I want to actually wear eye shadow and have the color be visible, I have to apply it higher than my natural eyelid area; I have a lot of visible space between my opened eye and eyebrows.  It’s like a big blank canvas with no guidelines.  I want guidelines dammit! A lot of traditional instructions for applying eyeshadows use your upper eyelid crease and browbone as a guide for where to apply color.  Well, I don’t have an eyelid crease and my browbone is pretty flat, so it’s not easy knowing where exactly to put the color and what “shape” to apply it in.

So many possibilities; with no crease to follow, what does one do?

There are tutorials out there for single lidded Asian girls, but they don’t really work for me.  Even though I’m monolid, my eye shape is rounder and larger than those in the tutorials:

I like how my eyes look here, but want to jazz them up with some color.

Also, a lot of tutorials don’t get very specific about what exactly they’re doing, especially video tutorials.  It’s very easy to take for granted something you yourself already know how to do (guilty!).

Well, I finally found two detailed tutorials that work for me.  One of them actually draws guidelines to help me determine where to shade:

Guidelines for monolid eye shadow

Christine wrote a great tutorial at Asian Beauty Blog, which you can read here.

I followed the steps earlier and was very happy with how it came out.

I also found a detailed video by mulzana on YouTube with a different technique especially good for creating a smokey eye:

So now that I’ve found a couple techniques that work for my eyes, I hope to actually use all the eye shadows I have!  In addition to having quality shadows, I’ve also come to realize that good brushes and a primer are important tools for great eye makeup.  I use Urban Decay’s Primer Potion, a small brush for applying precise color and a larger brush for blending colors.  Black eyeliner and mascara are key too!

I’m also wondering how to achieve the eye looks in the following two pictures.  Any thoughts?

Love this, but thinking maybe you need this exact eye shape for this look?

What a gorgeous, deep smokey eye!

As promised, here’s a picture I just took of my Solotica Hidrocor Ocre colored contact lenses on my nearly black eyes.  They look gray in these photos, but in real life I think they look more brownish-gray.  I asked Tim and he said they look brownish green.  Huh?

I’m still getting used to them… they look kinda cloudy in my opinion.  Not that my vision is cloudy, but the appearance of the contacts itself is.  Hmph.

Solotica Hidrocor Ocre

Solotica Hidrocor Ocre

I made a list of where to buy these Solotica contacts and other contacts on my other entry.

Update February 2010: I put up a better picture of Solotica Hidrocor Ocres here.