So I made a Bonnet

As the title entails, I made a bonnet to match with lolita outfits and dresses (yay) This will be a slightly artsy post so feel free to just scroll through the pictures if you're not interested in how to make one.

Final Product:

Materials used:
- Glue gun
- A bunch of fake decorative flowers (which I bought from Daiso. I used approximately 4 stems? so $8CAD+tax)
- A straw hat (purchased from Michael's Art Supplies for $3.99 ... or $4.99 I can't remember)
- Scissors (a pair that can cut through wire)
- A long piece of wide ribbon (which I also bought from Michael's. It was in the clearance for $6)

Optional:
- piece of patterned cloth (big enough to fit the circumference of your straw hat)

So before you run off and buy any old straw hat, I am going to give you a piece of advice. Get a straw hat with a brim that folds downwards. Nothing looks more awkward than a bonnet that folds backwards.

The scissors that you use have to be strong enough to cut through wire because a lot of the decorative flowers actually have wire supporting the stems. I didn't know this either but I'm lucky I didn't ruin my pair of tiny scissors

Step 1: Cut your straw hat into a "bonnet" shape
        So I have prepared a photo to show you guys what I mean by this. (I just went on google and stole a picture of a straw hat from hattimetrading.com fyi) I drew a dotted line to indicate how I cut my hat. This step is quite approximate. I don't have exact measurements because I just did it roughly (plus, I'm sure not everyone will be using the same size hat either)

Step 2: Cut the flowers off from the stems
        Get your scissors and flowers ready. Cut each flower off as close to the receptacle as possible (for those unfamiliar with flower anatomy terms, this is the little thing that connects the actual flower part to the stem)
I think this part is the trickiest because a lot of these flowers will have wire holding it together and once you cut that, the flower might start coming apart. Just watch out for that and if it really does, just take your glue gun and put a dab of glue to seal the flower together

Step 2.5 (OPTIONAL): Measure + Cut + Glue your patterned cloth
        This step I'm sure you can leave out, but take a patterned piece of cloth and vaguely measure out the top of the brim of the straw hat (the top of the brim = the side that you won't be gluing flowers all over) You'll notice that the shape of this piece of cloth will look somewhat like a rainbow. Don't worry if you traced the shape a bit bigger, because we can just fold the cloth over to the other side and glue it together.
(Sorry if this step sounds kind of messy and wordy  but I didn't think of blogging how to make my bonnet until after I finished so I didn't take any process pictures)

* Do you see the "rainbow" shape that I'm talking about? *

Step 3: Go batshit crazy with your hot glue gun
        Really. Just take your glue gun, get a bunch of flowers, and the glue them on the UNDERSIDE of the brim of the hat, not the top. However, I guess doing both the top and bottom together would work as well.... I haven't really seen any bonnets like that yet so have fun experimenting. Be careful not to burn yourself  (I have multiple times already ._. )

So mine looks like this closeup. Just spread the flowers any way you like to and make it look good. 

Step 4: Gluing your ribbon
        Take your ribbon and cut a very long piece out, I made mine extra long because I wanted the bow to be big after I tie it under my chin. It's literally about 8 feet long (98 inches) LOOL. Don't worry about it though if yours is shorter. Just make sure you can tie it under your chin. (Ribbon might not be necessary either now that I think about it. If you plan on clipping the bonnet to your hair, ribbon will not be needed. It sure looks cuter with a ribbon though)

Refer to the picture in Step 2.5 to see where to glue the ribbon (along the side of the hat touching the brim)

So that is how to make a bonnet in a nutshell. A big part of lolita fashion is experimentation and trying out new things. I really didn't follow any tutorial on how to make a bonnet. The only thing that I really took from anywhere was that I saw someone used a straw hat as the template and I thought using one would be much easier than making one completely from scratch. Everything else was entirely based on what I thought would look good.

What might I mean by experimentation? Well for one, you don't even have to use flowers. I see a lot of people that just use plain lace and it turns out really nice as well. I was actually planning on doing it that way as well but I can't really find cheap lace anywhere and to me, it seems really difficult to glue lace on a hat. To make a bonnet EVEN simpler, just use that same patterned fabric and completely wrap your straw hat in it. Add the ribbon and then bam: you're done the bonnet.

This has been one very long post and I may have missed out some important information so feel free to comment and ask me anything that might not be clear

~nyappy

Foundation Reviews Part II

Time for the second part of my foundation reviews! Maybe I'm just too picky but I swear, it's so hard to find a foundation that I like ... I'm planning on trying out the Revlon Colourstay next. Tell me if you've tried it before. I've heard SOME good stuff about it

4. Cyber Colors HD Plus Gel Foundation - 04. Honey

So once again, I got this one at SaSa in Hong Kong (you could have probably gotten it at Watsons or Bonjour as well though) And I think that this is by far the best foundation I have ever used. Unfortunately, I ran out quite a long time ago and the last time I went back to Hong Kong, they stopped making my shade which is 04.Honey. The only two shades they have now are 02.Beige and 01.Ivory which is kind of disappointing (for those, darker skinned asians like myself)

I rate this product: 10/10
Pros:
- Isn't oily
- Easy application
- Good coverage
- Blends well with other foundations
- Isn't cakey
- SPF26 (what a random number lol)

Cons:
- I wish they made this in bigger bottles? I don't really have anything bad to say about this product haha

5. Maybelline Fit - 225

I got this foundation at a Shoppers Drug Mart for $9.99 (I think) around last year.

 I rate this product: 7/10
Pros:
- Smooth finish
- SPF18
- Blends well with other foundations

Cons:
- It's a bit too heavy for my liking. I'd only wear this if I was mixing it with a BB Cream or if I was going out somewhere nice for dinner haha
- I hate the bottle design... this is the type where you just kind of dump it out on the back of your hand and apply. It is VERY easy to accidentally pour too much/too little
- Smells weird and chemical-ey
- Slides off easily (If you read part one, you'll know what I mean because I mentioned this about another foundation as well)

6. Make Up Forever HD Foundation - #127

I don't actually know if the shade is 127 but I looked on the bottom of the bottle and that is what it said.
Anyway, a lot of you might not like me for saying this but I really do NOT like this foundation... I was really disappointed and honestly felt kind of gyped. This was the most expensive foundation I've ever purchased ($47 at Sephora), I've only used it once, and the sales associate led me into buying the wrong shade too (so professional, eh?)

 I rate this product: 3/10
Pros:
- I like the design of the bottle and the pump is very convenient

Cons:
- Very watery
- Terrible coverage: Fyi for people with scars and are trying to hide them, don't use this foundation. It'll like situate on each and every scar and make it stand out like crazy
- Has zero lasting effect. This foundation starts to look kind of gross after about 3 hours of wearing it
- Very pricey for the quality that you're getting

It's weird because I feel that reviews of this foundation are very 50/50. Half of the population either really likes it or really hates it. As much as I tried to like this foundation, I couldn't really bring myself to use it (plus, I think I have to wait until I get a lot more tan until I use this since it was too dark when I bought it. Also, the sales associate probably overestimated how yellow my skin was because this thing makes me look SO orange)

7. Maybelline Dream Nude Airfoam - Sun Beige

So before I review this product, let me just say I bought this foundation with really low standards. The whole foam thing seems kind of like a gimmick to me but I caved and ended up buying it. I also got this foundation at Shoppers Drug Mart and had one of the beauty department sales associates help me figure out which shade to buy (there were no testers or anything so I just took the girl's word for it. Bad choice)

I rate this product: 3/10
Pros:
- The foam is fun to spray out? hahaha

Cons:
- Terrible coverage
- Accentuates scars/blemishes
- Hard to control how much comes out of the nozzle

I honestly think that this is a pretty cool idea. You don't see foam foundations every day but I hope they fix the consistency of the foundation next time. I'll definitely give it a try if they come out with another one.

So this concludes my foundation reviews. Let me know your thoughts on any of these products, if you agree/disagree and I will post again soon :)

~nyappy

Foundation Reviews: Part I

Hey everyone, thought I'd blog about a bunch of foundations/BB creams that I haven't yet had a chance to blog about.

1. Napoleon Perdis NP Set Memory Foundation - Set 2 (Light)

So on Valentines day this year, I didn't have a special someone to share the day with so I went shopping down south with my dad (in Seattle haha)

So I'm wandering around the makeup aisles in Target and as always, I'm a sucker for nice (simple-looking) packaging so I come across this little section of a brand I've never heard of: NP. I knew I was already on the lookout for a new gel/liquid foundation so I saw this "tinted moisturizer" and I thought it would be good. There was also no price but I was pretty much like "meh, how expensive can something get in Target?". LOL bad choice. It was like $28.99CAD or something like that. Sooo ridiculously expensive for drugstore foundation but I bought it anyway.

I haven't seen a lot of reviews of this product online (maybe its fairly new?) But from those that I have read, people were quite upset at the fact that there isn't very much coverage. I am actually ok with that. It already says "tinted moisturizer" on the back so I didn't expect that much coverage anyway.

I would rate this product 7/10
Pros:
- It's good for every day use,
- Doesn't look cakey
- Suitable for most skin types
- Its unscented
- Isn't very oily (that is if you don't slather it on)

Cons:
- Quite the hefty price for a drugstore "tinted moisturizer" (not even a foundation)
- The application gets very, very messy.
- Doesn't stick to your face very well? Is that how you would phrase it? I'll explain myself a bit here. I'm the type of person to always rest my chin or rest my head on my hand. Yeah. This foundation comes off and all over my hands very easily. More so than any other foundation I have used.

Conclusion: Don't buy this product if you're looking for a foundation with good coverage. This one doesn't build very well and will look oily if you try to. Buy this product if you want a natural-looking foundation for every day use.


2. Kanebo Media Liquid Foundation (OC-E1)


So I got this product the time I went back to Hong Kong before last summer and I haven't really used it all that much. Sorry, I don't remember the price but similar to most products I get in Hong Kong, it was from SaSa. Just imagine that it was less than $20CAD.

Overall, I would give this product: 7/10
Pros:
- Unscented
- Easy to apply (brush/hands/sponge)
- SPF 30 (I would still recommend using sunscreen before this if you'll be out in the sun for a long time though)
- Easy to blend/mix with other foundations


- Pretty cheap for the quality that you're getting
- Good coverage

Cons:
-  Looks a bit cakey (really, this is the only reason why I scored the product so low)
- Very yellow-toned (I'm Chinese and it's still too yellow for me haha)


3. Dream Girls Blemish Balm


I know I've talked about this product before but Its time for an official review of it. I started using this product about 2-3 years ago and I'm on my 4th bottle already (I think I need to open up a new one tomorrow morning actually) I use this product pretty much every day and I dunno, it works out pretty well for me.

I rate this product: 9/10
Pros:
- Perfect for lazy people (like myself). You just apply it like you would with any moisturizer
- Blends very well
- SPF 30
- Works every day 
- Isn't too oily
- Cheap (I get it for $19.99CAD at some random Asian cosmetics store)

Cons:
- Minimal coverage
- Has a slight grey-toned base (Lots of people complain about BB Creams being too grey)
- Doesn't mix very well with your skin's oil... (It's 8pm, I put this on in the morning at around 9am and it's starting to look kind of gross)

Anyway, it has been a long post and I'm only halfway done with foundations. I'll find some time to do it soon and I'll post again later

~nyappy