Hello SHiquers and welcome back to Nerdy Shique Universe! August is ending and you know what that means! It’s time for bi-monthly faves for July and August! It feels like I ididn’t have many favorites but let’s see what I liked!

Fave Find at the AFO Vendor’s Room: Tiger and Bunny Messenger Bag! Well, AFO was this month and it was fast and not only that was glad that I had some fun in the mix. I was happy to find this in the dealer room and it was my fave find there which is my Tiger and Bunny messenger bag that I was looking for since Metro last year. I know why didn’t I get it during Metro? Because I didn’t want to spend all my money all at once on two bags since I got my Soul Eater one. I know it sounded hypocritical due to how I got two bags this year but was glad to finally find this one and it does show off my comic book side with the comic pages on it.

Fave Snack I Bought: Strawberry Cheesecake KitKats! I was happy to get my paws on these since I contacted the Japanese Snacks guy about them after Omni and he got them for me while at home in Japan. I am a major fan of cheesecake and decided to look into the cheesecake flavors of KitKats after knowing that they exist and well the green tea flavor was overwhelming for me and decided to ask about getting some. When Gondras and I arrived in the dealer room, Snacks Guy was waiting and he fulfilled my request! They taste amazing! They taste like the strawberry cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory but with wafers instead of the crust! Snacks Guy did tell me that due to the heat in Japan that there is not many chocolates being produced but will have more by the time of Holiday Matsuri which I am crossing my fingers on press, if not, will have to go and retrieve chocolate from him. I have been on a major chocolate binge lately, even got a bag of the fun size Butterfingers and finally tried Arrow all thanks to the Ethnic Food aisle in my nearby grocery store. I will be looking forward and seeing if Snacks Guy can get more KitKats or, since they are Winter only, Melty Kiss. I will see what happens!

Awesome Birthday Present: Gruninja Amibo! As you guys know that I turned thirty this month and well Gondras wasn’t there to celebrate with me and he decided to surprise me with a gift this year and great that we were in the dealer room at AFO and saw something that Snacks Guy was selling among the toy items and that was the Gruninja Amibo! He knew I would love that thing since Froaky was myt starter in Y and was even excited that he was in Smash Brothers. I may be getting the Amibo reader for my 3DS since it’s coming out September from what I remember. I did hug Gondras for it because it was the most awesome surprise!

Fave Voice Actor Moment: Todd Habercorn Remembering Us from MegaCon 2012! One reason that drew me back to AFO was the guest list and was happy that Todd Habercorn came to AFO this year. When we met up with him, I did dress as Lucy for Friday and finally got the guild mark on my hand for it. When it was our turn, Gondras did the talking and mentioned the MegaCon thing and he did remember how he talked to me as Death the Kid about Fairy Tail being awesome and was glad he remembered. I pretty much said, “This what happened since then!” And he smiled and was happy about it, I even told him about how Fairy Tail is one of my all time fave anime series which made him happier. Yeah, I know I shouldn’t have judged it on one episode a long time ago, now I love it! At least he doesn’t know about my major collection of Happy plushies!

Beauty Faves!

Smashbox Cosmetics: Try It Kit and Mini Full Exposure Pallet! Now onto the beauty items that I love! First, some things from Smashbox Cosmetics! I started getting into this company more and more due to getting the sample size of their Phot Finish Face Primer and loved it and was glad that Ipsy offered the Try It Kit ten bucks less than it was and thought I would try more items as I go before I decide and be like, “What the hey?” I really like the Try It Kit a lot and it includes the face primer, the eye primer, a sample size of one of their mascaras, and one of the Photo Op Shadow Trios and it was good to sample them. I liked the shadow trio because not only it was very pigmented but the packaging is very unique! Knowing Smashbox has photo-themed products in their brand and this is pretty much a camera-lense package and you slide out the shadows like you’re changing lenses. It is pretty easy to navigate since you’re going in a triangle form with this, which your darkest is the base of the triangle when you flip it out, then you go to your crease shade which is to the right and then brow bone shade to the left, I go counter-clockwise since it is easier that way. I may get a full-size of one of the others because they have so many to choose from and easy to put on as well. The mascara, nice size for a trial one and it is the Full Exposure one by the way, is nice and curls my lashes pretty well. Not sure if I want to get it full-size in the future but it is a nice little option. While the primers, both the Photo Finish 24 Hour Eye Primer and the Photo-Finish Face primer, the problems I had were that it felt like they didn’t have enough product even with the eye primer. I notice how some Ipsters have problems with some of the lip glosses they receive in their bags that they don’t get a lot, like last October whre the Star Looks lip glosses were in the bag and some of them were half a tube and I did notice that. Now looking back on it, my Mica Eye primer I received looked like half a pot of it was missing that it was hard to get out while the gel liner from BoxyCharm was full. With the Photo Finish Eye Primer, it felt like there was a tiny size dent made to the tube and not much came out when I used it. I literally only used it three times and it was out! I was happy that I still had my Urban Decay primer tubes on me during AFO when it ran out that morning I did my ice trainer cosplay. I don’t get why I felt that some was not in there, I even noticed when I first got it in the set that I thought it wasn’t a big deal, usually you don’t go through a small size of a eye primer in three uses and I only used tiny drops. While the face primer, not sure what happened but my face felt a little itchy when I used it and some tiny zits appeared. The sample I got in my bag didn’t do that to me but the one in the kit did! When I was done with the sample size again I was glad I got back to my Rimmel face primer I use now and not sure if I should risk getting the full-size of the Smashbox Face Primer since I did love it and it was great for my skin but not sure why my face was itchy when I got my second try at the sample. I know, confusing!

Next, the Smashbox Mini Full-Exposure pallet! I got this with my Birthday Perks coupon which was $10 off anything and since I was on a Smashbox kick I was looking at some of the other shadows they had. I did debate on the Photo Op shadow trios because I was liking them a lot until I saw the Mini Full Exposure which really got me curious! I know they have a mini version of the Double Exposure but I wasn’t really interested in it when I first heard about the pallet despite how it claims to transform with water into different shades and some of the shades don’t appeal as much as the original since I can do smoky eyes with it. I decided why not go for the mini version of the original to try out and see how I feel and I really like it and it’s easy to to pick out shadows from both rows to get a good look out of it. Plus, it has browns, greys, and even a black I can use to have a nighttime look or just doing an everyday smoky eye. The actual Full Exposure may be on my things-to-buy list because the mini one just made me happy! Smashbox, you have gotten a…”Paw-Print of Approval” from me!

ELF Blush Quad! Now onto a drugstore product that really got me reaching for it everytime I apply my make up! That is the ELF Blush Quad and I believe I have the light skin one due to how it was hard knowing which one was which from not saying on the box! These blushes are very pigmented and easy to put on, one warning is that there is a lot of fall out with these so tapping is a must! I can’t seem to not get away from this pallet since it is in my make up kit all the time and it’s nice to choose from which shade you want to wear on a regular basis. This is $6 and you can find it on the website and at Target.

Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation Primer and Lip Liner in East End Snob! I have two items from Rimmel and first is the Stay Matte Foundation Primer! I heard good things about this face primer since a lot of YouTubers talked about it and decided to see what it does and see about not breaking me out. Good news is that it goes on cool and doesn’t make me so itchy like the Ulta one but I do have a tiny bit of itch and I need to be careful in not scratching. I do admit I rarely wear make up at home so I think that is why my face is not used to prolong wear in make up as it did. I do like this and it is more affordable than the Ulta one I used to use a lot. I may check out ELF’s since I heard their skin care items are made with salisilic acid and I did pick up the eye primer to try out. Rimmel does make good products and this one is nice, I wish the packaging is not the same as the Stay Matte BB creams since they look alike and hard to not confuse them with each other due to how they are right next to each other in the CVS displays.

Next is one of the retractable lip liners! I know, “Whoa! You’re using lip liners now!?” Yes, but with lip stains and lipsticks so they won’t slip and slide all over. I heard about this through JAM Beauty or Jessica Braun now on YouTube and decided to check out the shade East End Snob. It also seems to be a fave among other people because Kathleen Lights even mentioned this one. It is retractable which makes it easier than sharpening all the time, which with the pencils I tend to use a lot and have to sharpen when the lead is tiny and the retractable is easier due to how you don’t have to sharpen all the time. I do have to say be careful with the amount of pressure you apply with this because it it can break easily like with retractable eye liners. I will definitely be repurchasing this and trying out other lipliners, even from Ipsy and BoxyCharm which I started enjoying trying new ones out!

ELF Forgot-To Mention: Daily Brush Cleaner! Forgot to mention that I also have another ELF fave and that is their Daily Brush Cleaner! I found this at Target while looking for the eye primer and the kabuki brush and decided to pick it up. This makes brush cleaning easier than before! I used to clean my brushes with the hand soaps from Bath and Body Works but it made all the brushes feel gunky, especially my ELF foundation brush which I had to toss a few weeks back. The spray is easy to use which you just spray your bristles and wipe them off with a towel or rag and let the brush dry, which I do that mostly with my foundation brush, and it does save time than waiting for your brushes to dry from a water soak! I know they have the brush shampoo but with all my running to appointments and not wearing make up while at home, I don’t have the time to use the shampoo but it is an option to get and it’s the same price as the spray which is $3 and the Daily Cleanser does work as well as the higher end brush cleaners you find at Michael’s, which I hear people use that one, and at Sally Beauty. You can also find it at Target and I did re=purchase it through their website, which I will be doing a haul post here.

Fave Song: “Breaking Free” by Mechanism! Next is a song favorite and it’s by another local band and they are known as Mechanism. I never heard of them til last weekend, which I went to a concert at the House of Blues with Traverser, Breaking Theory, Kill the Sound, and these guys. They are operatic metal, which is pretty interesting to me since the band goes from opera to metal in their music and one song in particular I do like is called “Breaking Free,” which is a duet between the female lead and one of her guys and it is a soft sounding ballad and then goes all metal with growling and screaming. You do hear the lead singer doing her opera notes here and there on the album.

Fave Make Up Bag: Both Ipsy June and August Bags! I never mention fave make up bags until now because a lot of them are from Ipsy or Lancome, even Ulta whenever they do their beauty sample make up bag at certain times in the year. Starting to miss those Ulta, better start doing them for the stores again. The bags that caught my love this month are the ones for June and August because of how they are designed and also really love using them, well starting to use the August one. The June one was not a fave for most Ipsters which is weird since the theme was “Swim Into Beuaty” and it reflected that theme by make it with swimsuit material almost and put Ipsy all over as the print. I liked how soft it was and it was pretty big to carry a lot of things, which I tend to, especially lip balm because I sometimes lose them at home or on the go, even at Gondras’ place. I do have to cary less in the August one because it takes on a pencil case design like the February bag, March, and July bags but it looks a tad bit bigger in my opinion due to the material that they use, which it is a bit plastic on the outside like the October one last year and it takes on a hound’s tooth pattern and soft on the inside. I hope September’s bag looks as nice as either of them and can’t wait what they will be sending, which someone has gotten a sneak peek e-mail talking about shadows and a glame glow product. Let’s see what the Glam Room reveals!

Well, that is it for this month’s stuff! Next will be an ELF haul which recently I got the Ship for Free code and took advantage of it due to how there are new moisture lipsticks that came out. Can’t wait for its arrival! Til next time!