Art Time: Dawn Reviews Mori Notes Pursebook

Hello loves!

I have featured a few of my drawings a few times before. The visual arts have played a significant role in my life and I grew up creating drawings and paintings in different mediums. Art is a big passion of mine, a hell of a lot more than makeup or blogging to be honest. Now that I am writing this post, I'm surprised that I have not tried blogging my thoughts on art exhibits that I've visited, not even my experiences on different art materials.

But one day, a fellow blogger, Jirbie of Couch Wasabi, messaged me if I was willing to try  a certain notebook where I can draw some of my sketches and paintings. We follow each other on Instagram so she might have seen some of my works. I felt touched that she was willing to refer me to this certain brand. It really boosted my confidence when it comes to my creativity. 

A few days later, I received another message from Mitzi, the person behind this unique brand called Mori Notes. She asked if I was interested to use their product and then asked for my shipping details. She was so nice throughout the exchange and I was just so excited to know what item I was gonna get. I was too shy to ask her which exactly of their products will I be receiving. I just knew that I will be able to apply my skills on them so it's gotta be a paper product.

To learn more about Mori Notes, I visited their website and social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) to get an idea of what this brand is all about. They offer various products such as notebooks, pouches, bags, decors, and what seems to be their bestselling item—the "pursebooks." It's a hybrid of a notebook and a purse, which is like a GENIUS idea because as someone who brings a small sketchpad wherever I go, it would have made my life easier if it already came with a purse where I can store my art materials.

And how lucky was I when I opened my package from the brand and saw this pretty thing:

Small Rants and Frustrations

Hey guys!

I would like to take a break from blogging about beauty and makeup for today. I just want to vent some frustrations for now. This is not actually a big problem. Not at all. I'm just uninspired and I feel tired and I just want to rant. Haha! I'm sorry but I think sharing my thoughts could help me feel better. :P

My first frustration—my blog. Before, I tried my best to publish a post daily. I still do... Well, I try to... I'm just too tired lately... well, for the past year actually. I still love makeup and I still love sharing my beauty discoveries, but blogging is just time consuming. And balancing that with grad school, a full-time job, and I guess my social life can be a difficult challenge. And this is supposed to be a blog by "sisters" but my friend Liz, who is supposed to be the half of the Peachy Pink Sisters will take her boards on Med School so she hardly has time to even think of makeup and skincare. So yeah, I'm all alone in this for now (but even before, Liz barely writes posts. Sorry, friend :P). 

I don't get to go to blog events anymore and when I receive products to review, I feel bad that I don't blog about them as soon as I would have wanted. :( I'll try to get back my blogging mojo but for now, expect that I'll only publish 2-4 posts a week. :(

My second concern is that the next semester in grad school will start in a couple of weeks. YIKES! I don't want my vacation to be over yet! It's only been two months and most of that was spent by me hating the heat of the summer! Haha! After two weeks, I'll barely get sleep again and I'll be off doing the requirements. But even though every semester is a torture, I really want to finish it and get my MA degree. I love learning and I love the visual arts and I'm sure that by the end of all this, I won't regret anything. I just hate that I'm still in the middle of it and trying to survive. :P

Third, my art. *Sigh* I miss doing artworks. I just don't get to do them for fun anymore. Creating visuals became a task for me for work and for school. Before, drawing was my stress reliever, but recently, I just get stressed thinking about what to do.

Before, I just grab a pencil or a pen and sit on a table and create these in a couple of hours...

Even when I was in college, I had fun in doing almost all our plates! I didn't even get stressed when I made my thesis!

But now, I'm sad and frustrated that I am not getting better. I don't think I am improving at all in my craft. I rarely want to draw or paint. I thought traveling to New York and visiting the MET, Guggenheim and MoMa can get me hyped up, but oh boy... the only major artworks I've done a year after were requirements for grad school and maybe a couple for my work in the academic publishing...

 A piece of clay is already major for me because I didn't produce much this year.

Although I did have an idea here, the details are half-assed because of the limited time I had in making this. I did this in one night.

Some of the artworks I need in grad school I even do at work just so I can have time to sleep at home. 

This one is probably the latest that I took seriously and this will be used for a book cover (so yeah, it's for work). I did this in May. Yeah, two months have passed. No work since (I did make a colored pencil portrait but that turned out ugly for me so no, I don't consider it a finished work).

So just to sum it up, I'm sad that I think of my passion as something that stresses me out and not like before that makes me happy with all the butterfly feels inside. When I check my Facebook and see my friends sharing their works, I wonder, where did all my passion to create things went? *Sigh*

What stressed me out most is that recently, I was included in a newly formed group of illustrators. I was actually one of the few people hand-picked by a former professor. This should have been amazing news for me and I should be very happy and proud... I am. I really am. And I was very excited. But when we were tasked to bring our works to present to the other members, I have nothing to show that I will be 100% proud of. The works above are the stuff I brought with me (minus the clay, that's all distorted now). These are old works and they do not show what I am NOW as an illustrator/artist. I know I could do better, but I do not have proof. I didn't produce any. I don't know why. Am I just lazy? Do I think I'm better that what I really am? Is this a quarter life crisis thing? Well, I am 25 now... Haha! Whatever this thing is... I wish I can change and find that "me" who loves to draw and paint again. :/

This is becoming a really depressing post. Sorry. But yeah, that ends my rants. :P If you read the whole thing, thanks for listening/reading. :)

And don't worry, I'll resume all the beauty related posts soon! :)

Anyway, do you currently have some frustrations as well or am I all alone in this? Haha! Just share them away and let them out! Or if you have suggestions on how to keep being inspired, comment them below! I badly need those right now! :D

Cheers,

DAWN 

May 2015 Haul

Hello loves!

Great news! I'm now relaxed and worry-free because my semester in Grad school just finished and I get to have sleep again! Yaaaay! UST changed their school year schedule so our sem just ended and the next one will start in August so I have two months of "me time."

I also was able to focus on my job. I design books and recently, I painted this for one of our soon-to-be-published books:

This is just a design proposal though. It has to be approved by my boss and the author. This is just one of the two designs that I submitted.

I also bought a few items! The sale from different brands were crazy these past few days! I just couldn't resist! Here are the stuff I bought:

Red Fioni flats from Payless.

This was on sale and I bought this for only Php 486.50.

The Body Shop English Dawn Body Mist

The product was on sale (around 40-50%) and I was able to buy it for only Php 597.00. I just love this scent and my name is on it! Haha!

Of course I have to drop by Daiso! They always have something interesting new in the store...

And look! There are egg sponges available for only Php 88.00! Yay! They are not as soft as Beauty Blenders and they are quite wide in diameter but they still work great! I first encountered this while I was blog hopping and found a couple of bloggers who bought these sponges as well.

And I also bought these cotton buds and a fragrance deo, both for Php 88.00.

Then I bought this Magic Pore Balm from Too Cool for School. It was in its regular price of Php 715.00, BUT I got a freebie! A lipgloss that's worth Php 500+! Wow, right? I like the nude shade too! This promo was only available in their new Glorietta branch until last Sunday and only 20 people were able to avail this. 

Zen Zest Room Fragrance in Uplifting and Calming

I was able to grab these before the sale was over. It will be phased out soon too. Got this for Php 100.00, original price was Php 250.00.

During the Soundbites event, we were able to obtain a Robinsons GC worth 1k and I used the GCs to buy makeup! The Revlon products were on 50% off, Got the CC Cream for only Php 397.50, the Lip balm for Php 287.50. The Maybelline White Superfresh wasn't on sale but I want to try it out because many were saying that it works great. :D

Finally, my favorite purchase for the month is this very elegant sketchpad that I discovered in Bibliarch, Glorietta. It's a bit pricey at Php 585.00 but I think it's totally worth it! The paper is great and the way it is binded is strong. I really love this and can't wait to draw something on it. :D

And those were my purchases for the month of May! Which one is your favorite?

Cheers,

DAWN

BRB: Busy Doing Artworks

Hey guys!

I'll be taking a break from my beauty reviews for the rest of the week. I have a major painting and a presentation in Graduate School that I have to work on.

For now, I will leave you with some of my recent works. I hope you guys like them! :)

 This one was done with colored pencils.

This one is acrylic on canvas.

Do let me know what you think of them and wish me luck on my presentation on Friday! :D

Cheers,

DAWN

NOTD : First Time with Black Nails

Hey lovelies!

It's been a while since I posted an NOTD of my own. I usually just used nail polishes that I have blogged before and I've been very lazy to do any nail art.

But just recently, as I was browsing at Watsons, I realized that I haven't worn any black polishes before... well, I did use some black ones on some nail arts before to create some of the details but... I think those weren't even nail polishes but acrylic paints. Lol

So I bought this pretty little thing from Essence...

Essence Nail Colour 3 in Ticket to the Show

I also used a nail art polish in white on some of my nails.

I was trying to create some roses on the ones with white polish but obviously I failed. I didn't use any reference and the brush was hard for me to control. Oh well. I just say their abstract when people ask me what the prints are. :P

I used the dark shade on all the nails and applied the other shade (those with gold glitters) on selected nails.

I took this photo after 4 days of wearing the polishes so some are already starting to chip off. 

I can't say that what I did is really pretty but it's quite wearable. It still looks feminine. The reason I'm not attracted to black polish is that it looks so... sad. I mean I like black... most of my clothes are black because it is so classy and it makes me look 5 pounds lighter. Haha! But plain black nails are just not so attractive for me. They make my nails look smaller and it reminds me too much of themes like heavy rock, emos and the like (I'm not saying I'm against those or anything, it's just that I am not into any of those), so I tried to mix things up a bit so that my NOTD would sync with what I like. :)

And I guess that's all for this NOTD post. I'll just share with you this watercolor painting I did just because I was bored one night.

I did use some colored pencils in some areas like the guy's coat because I got lazy to get my watercolor again. Haha! 

And by the way, any of you watched the series finale of How I Met Your Mother? Thoughts? Would definitely want to hear them because Liz and I are fans of the show. :D

Cheers,

DAWN

I Miss Doing Artworks :(

 Hi loves!

This is a non-beauty-nor-fashion related post.

I just wanted to share with you a frustration of mine for the past few days.

If you've been a follower of mine for a while now, you've probably seen some posts that stated that I just graduated last March. The few weeks after that was great since I caught up with the much awaited sleep I lacked during thesis days and I also got to hang out with friends that I haven't seen in ages. I was also relieved from doing plates that I usually work on every day during college days. Which meant that I really stayed away from sketching, painting and even doodling!

A month has passed and I still haven't done any artwork. Most of my classmates have been applying for work and yet my resume hasn't even been updated since the time I was applying for OJT during summer of 2011. And to be honest, it has only been recently that I started to apply.

So what did I really do during the past months after graduation? I really don't know. Mostly just being a bum I guess. I do freelance works here and there, help at household chores, watched series and of course, I work on the blog as well!

I had a lot of time in my hands yet I haven't really been productive. I still haven't started dieting which I promised to do so way back last summer. Haha! 

And the weirdest thing is that I barely do any of my artsy fartsy stuff (well, probably just the makeup experiments). I usually finish one within a week and post it on Facebook but I only get to do it like once a month now. Some aren't even finished!

Here are the few works I've done for the past 5 months:

 Done last May with pencil on drawing paper. It's not even finish and I do not intend to edit it anymore. I actually think it looks good as it is. He's hot, isn't he? :P

 Also did this last May. It's a charcoal portrait of my cousin. :)

A quick sketch done last July.

 A sketch of my bro while he was studying. I was really bored and have nothing in mind to do so I took my drawing pad and started sketching him. Took me less than 2 hours to finish this. Did this early in August.

 And my latest artwork, done last August too. It's a quick sketch of Eric Northman from TrueBlood. I have a huge crush on Alexander Skarsgard because of the series. The sketch is done with a white charcoal on black paper.

So yeah... for the past 6 months, I've only done 5. They are all in 9"x12" size only and only took me 30 minutes to a couple of hours to do. Not something I'd consider a major project.

And I didn't do any paintings at all! 

I did try to get a canvas and my painting tools so I can start one but I didn't have anything in mind to paint. I just don't get the inspiration anymore...

I guess there's just not enough stuff happening in my life right now to gain inspiration from.

So for now I try to "inspire" myself with watching documentaries about my favorite artists and about art history. I've also bought some art books that can help stir my passion for the arts more. And I guess I should have to get out more and draw something out of the things around me that isn't inside the house. LOL

I've also been going to job interviews and I am very hopeful that I get to work soon. But if I do, I am sure I won't get to work on an artwork for a while again. :|

But if there's a will, there's a way, right?

 So anyway, at least through this blog I get to share something I'm also passionate about - makeup! Haha! But still, my art is still my number one passion and I'm currently seeking the drive to work on something... it's probably just lost somewhere and waiting for me to find it. Any idea where to look?

Cheers!

DAWN

 

Peachy Pink Sisters has a Facebook Page now!

Hey lovelies!

The Peachy Pink Sisters blog finally has a Facebook Page!

I wasn't really planning on making one because I was busy with school and too lazy to manage another page but now that my thesis is done and we are nearing 500 readers, why not make one, right?

 I hope you can visit it and like the page!

 We will be posting here more updates about me and Liz and our other shenanigans. hahaha. :P

 I only made the page today so it's still kinda empty.

 So visit it and Like Like Like!

I also posted a like button at the left sidebar of the blog too! :)

In an unrelated note...

So this week, I've been obsessing with BigBang's new song, Bad Boy.

*BigBang's songs are the only Korean songs I listen to... and a few 2ne1 too. :P

Here's a link of the video. :P

 KevJumba even tweeted about this. TeeHee. :P

And since I'm talking about BigBang, I'll be posting my first attempt on drawing my crush from the said group, TOP! ♥

I hope I did justice to his hotness. Haha! Anyway, I did this in a few hours.

And here are more pencil drawings I've done recently. All of these were done in less than 2 hours while I wait for some people. Haha. :P

So that's about it!

Hope you like my little drawings. And like our Facebook Page! Haha!

Cheers,

DAWN

Of Fake Chinky Eyes and Full Red Lips and My New Journal

 Good day, Ladies!

As promised, I made an FOTD about how I wore my Chinita EOTD with red lips.

If you haven't seen the post yet, it's about lining your eyes in a way that it would look elongated and less round.

 This picture was taken early in the morning before school which started at 7am.

Still sleepy.

 Makeup Used:

Etude House Dr. Oil Solution Anti-Shine Dual Primer

 Guerlain Parure Pearly White Fluid Foundation in 03

In2it Oil Control 2-way foundation in warm beige

 Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer

Etude House Drawing Eye Brow in Brown 

Etude House Color My Brows in 3

Urban Decay Book of Shadows III UDNYC

Ever Bilena Eye Liner Pencil in Brown

Ever Bilena Liquid Eyeliner in Black 

Shu Uemura Lash Curler

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Wine With Everything

Pop Beauty Cheeky Cake in Beach Beauti

 

 

I do love what makeup can do to my face. At least it makes me feel that I still look human. I do look like a walking zombie without it.

That's what my eyes look like now without the makeup!! Those dark circles and those puffy eye bags... and look at those red veins showing all over the white areas of my eyes! EEEK!

I've been so stressed with all the things I do for my thesis. I barely have sleep, my eyes are all red  and my body is always sore. Not to mention the large amount of money I've spent getting my illustrated book printed, getting my collaterals made so I have my prototypes and also getting my ads printed as well.

 To get some stress off, I bought a cute sketch pad. 

Drawing is my passion. It makes me feel relaxed when I have the chance to pour my creativity on a paper. ♥

 I also personalized it. It was only a big pink sketch book when I bought it. I was fine with it at first but I was annoyed because it tends to get dirty quickly. So I covered it with cute flower patterned paper! :P

And for my first sketch -- a self portrait! Haha! 

Still vain as always!

I also put some quotations that I find helpful to myself during the time I was doing a sketch.

And it just made me realize that I should make that sketchpad a 'visual' journal. I sketch and put certain words or sayings that mean a lot to me. 

I've already done another sketch and it's regarding my thesis. Can't post it yet though. I haven't uploaded anything about my thesis just yet!

Cheers,

DAWN

What's In Your Kikay Bag?

As a woman obsessed with makeup, I always carry with me a cosmetic bag or as most Kikay girls call it, Kikay Kit!

I'll be sharing you what my cosmetic bag has inside.

I don't often change what's inside of my it. I put those makeup that usually looks good whatever look I'm sporting during that day. I'm only at school most of the time anyway so I don't need to bring a lot. :P

This is my Kikay Kit.

Yes, it's very jammed up like a pack of sardines in my small purse. Haha!

My bag is actually a freebie from Majolica Majorca. ♥

So what's inside it?

Oil Control Sheets

because I have super oily skin. :P

Majolica Majorca Pressed Pore Cover Powder

Very good for retouching! It takes care of the shininess of your face and it's translucent!

Of course, some tissue!

Hand Sanitizer

I love this one but I have no idea what brand it is. I'm about 90% sure that the smell is Sweet Pea.

My mom gets a lot of these from Med Reps. :P

The Body Shop Roseflower Blush

E.L.F. Corrective concealer

Not really a fan of the coverage, but it saves the day when something goes wrong with my makeup (like when it rains or so).

Cranberry Joy Lip Balm

A Synthetic Powder Brush

I sometimes use it as a blush brush too! :P

MAC Eyeliner Pencil in Bountiful Brown and a Wet N Wild Eye liner pencil in Black

And a San San Lipstick in Pink Pout!

Although I ALWAYS bring the lippie I used for the look, I always have this one with me because it just looks good on me when something goes wrong such as when my eyeshadow gets smudged big time! Haha!

And that's about it!

I just toss in the lippie I originally used and also the perfume in my bag. If I will be gone too long, there'll be a travel size toothbrush and mouthwash and the like inside too. :P

Anyway, MORE SHARING!

I just painted this last weekend.

It's Acrylic on Canvas.

My thesis has been taking all my time and my hands were itching to paint. 

So I did! I gave myself a few hours to do what I want to do for quite a while now.

So after 3 hours I finished that painting. I'm so relieved that I did. I'm getting kind of sick with my thesis always on my side. Haha. :P

So what's in your kikay kit? How do you like my painting?

Anything interesting you did last weekend?

Cheers,

DAWN