Japanese Days and Manga Self

I know that everyone is supposed to be their own self, but there is this Japanese chick inside of me that sometimes wants to come to the surface and be cute. So the best place for that is a Japanese cultural event, right. I was invited in the last August weekend to such an event. I had a lot of fun and tried out everything. In the big conference room there were movies, martial arts presentations, dancing and singing.

This is the makeup I was wearing for the day. I was using just tinted moisturizer by L'Oreal, NYC eyelash curler and the Maybelline Rocket mascara that I totally love. On top of that some 100% pure organic blush that I love. And that was it. Oh, and I bought a set of cute bow hairpins. Two of them resemble my ombred hair I think (you can see those on the table)

I listened to presentations and I also played karuta and ate some sushi. The guy at the sushi counter asked me whether I have ever eaten any sushi...then he looked at my tee and he smiled. I said I did eat... I really became keen on karuta also, so I bought a pack of them and started learning the poems called Hyakunin Isshu. Not that I understand a lot of it, but I can read Hiragana, so that helps a lot! So beware, some posts might come about karuta! I also bought a tatami on which I will be able to play it. So excited!!!

I also danced on one of those dancing video games. Then I got my manga portrait taken. It was a lot of fun! Do you think it resembles me? The portrait was done by Lainess. You can check her DevianArt profile here. I think she is quite talented.

A Dress for a Special Occasion: Wine Tasting

Every lady needs that special dresses for that special occasions. Your best friend gets married, there is a cocktail party to attend, the company organizes a Christmas Party and the list can go on and on. Once you get the invite, you usually realize you have nothing to wear. Even if you have something from last year it might not fit your present style, the trends, season or what not. So then you start running around to look for that special dress that fits you. I know, been there, done that. On the last week before the Christmas Party I usually start running like crazy for the perfect dress and shoes. And I get really exhausted and frustrated. So this year I decided to look around the internet and check what is available, long before it started. This time I am looking for a dress for a wine tasting and I found this website called Dress First. They have lots of dressed and accessories there and a very good filtering system on the left hand side. You can sort by categories and you can also narrow it down to color, price, season and what not. I knew for sure the color, but am not sure about the material and the cut, so I filtered for burgundy. These two dresses are the runners up for me: 

Source: Dress First

Source: Dress First

I chose this color because I think my skin has a warm undertone. I always get compliments if I wear colors like red or burgundy. I also think that burgundy is a really nice fall color that makes me think of wine tasting. I guess I would pick the second dress which is a less dressy one as the wine tasting will be more like an informal event where we will just taste some wines and chitchat with our colleagues. But on the website you can pick from a large range: from absolutely dressy wedding or ball garments and accessories, to simple clean cut cocktail dresses.  

How to Get a Cute Hairdo - With Bangs

In this video, my friend Bella is doing my hair. The before and after are striking. It is damn hard to tame my wild hair. But she managed to do it. As we are good friends, I was at her place. We chatted a lot and we are planning to organize an all girls day, with many ladies. I could do nails, and maybe a bit of makeup she could do hairs. But we still need to find the people who would be interested in that and live in our area. So if you are and you leave in Budapest, please leave me a note!

She also has a blog:

http://www.itsbellatime.blogspot.com/

You can check there loads of transformations and before and after photos. It is amazing how different one can look with a good haircut and some decent makeup. She also does hair extensions and all the such. So if you live in Budapest and want to get your hair done by her, just leave us a comment here or on her blog.

Coco Fashion

Source: www.coco-fashion.com

I am looking at the moment for online shops that have cute Asian fashion and I found a lot of cute stuff on www.coco-fashion.com. I can already picture myself in this cute fluffy pullover fro the winter. AWWW so cute! Paired with some nice black leggings and boots it is a really comfy and cute wear. And it also has that lovely lace detail at the bottom. I was browsing for a lot of other stuff, they even have Rilakkuma sports suits with hoodies. A must have! I put a banner on the left hand side you can click on it to check out their clothes. Will let you know in a subsequent post if I end up ordering something from them. 

Hair Extensions: Yes or No?

Love this youtuber's video about hair extensions. It pretty much makes me want to get some also. What are your experiences with hair extensions? Is it messy to have them and wear them? I would only wear them at parties of occasions. Still need to check the best places where you can get natural looking extensions. If you have any tips just let me know in a comment! I was considering online purchase but you never know if it matches your actual natural hair color. 

Eyeliner Look and Cute Earrings

Beauty and Aikido ©

This is just a random post about an eyeliner look I am trying out and want to perfect until the yearly Christmas Party or company is always organizing. Been through all the possible phases: Eyeliner+nude lips, eyeliner+red lips and now I am at the porcelain doll imitation look which is really appealing eyeliner+nude lips with a dash of red in the middle. I also have my dress already...I think. I won't disclose any pictures of that, yet, so you need to stay tuned until Christmas if interested. I was looking for a little black dress that would put into evidence my neck and shoulders. I pretty much found something, but am not yet sure if it is the one. Might still be looking for other dresses. I also bought some cute and interesting earrings.

Beauty and Aikido ©

Never had one of those magnet earrings. Now I wore them for a couple of hours but they are really painful and the ear cuff is really uncomfy also. Well yeah...I guess I am making too much of a fuss about it, but I hate having uncomfortable clothes or jewelry. But this cute ice-cream earring is much easier to wear.

Beauty and Aikido ©

Stay tuned, because as announced, I will be posting the interview with Sharon Dminguez really soon. Until then go check out the bio she herself has composed for Beauty and Aikido. Also for my daily aikdo training notes, please head to my Tumblr. I have made a habit of putting down some notes after each training and a lot of people really like these notes. Hope you will like them also!

UV Gel French Manicure

As I have already been sharing with you, the only manicure that is shock resistant enough for aikido is gel nail polish. Other nail polishes crack unless you apply them over the gel nails. Then it lasts for my case for over a week with two trainings at least a week. In this video I am showing you how you can do them in a home made manner. However it takes some time to get professional in it. As a comparison I am adding a picture also with my nails done by a pro, versus the nails done by my mum in the video.

Hope it is helpful and that you enjoyed the video.

Here is the picture with gel nails done by a pro. I wanted to film it also, but it was the first time I went to this lady to have my nails done...so maybe I will ask next time ^_^

My Hello Kitty Stuff

A short haul of all the Hello Kitty stuff that I have. Enjoy watching!

Beauty and Aikido ©

Comment here if you are a Hello Kitty fan also and share with us which is your most beloved Hello Kitty item!

Stamping Nail Art- Konad m77

I just wanted to share with you some models I made on my nails

I was using the Konad m77

It is a great set. I combined dark blue nail polish with white 

I got the white polish from e-Bay. It is supposed to be special thicker nail polish for making patterns, but I don't really think it is special at all. Anyway, it was a good way for the seller to market it ^.^ 

I hope it inspired you. I can really relax by doing these patterns on my nails. And I find them really cute and unique, too.

Silver Toe Ring ♬SALE♬

Hi all! Well yeah, even aikidoka wear jewelry!

(◡‿◡❀)

I have been thinking a lot of making an online shop, but until then I need some experience. I am thinking more in jewelry and small gadgets like a ladybird USB key and other kawaii stuff. As a start I am experimenting with a Hungarian auctioning site called Vatera.hu

Here is what we are talking about

Beauty and Aikido ©

If you are in Hungary and interested in my auctions please check out the first one on the following links:

 You can get the ring for starting from just 1 HUF and place a bid (licit) HERE
You can get one of the more than 15 rings for the price of 600 HUF  HERE

Aikattention! Don't forget to take your jewelry off though before stepping on the mat. It might injure either yourself or your partners. Be on the safe side!

925 Ezüst Lábgyűrű

 LÁBGYŰRŰK 

ÚJ! Bontatlan
Cuki kis ezüst lábgyűrűk.

Tökéletes kiegészítő a nyári ruházathoz.

Masszív, jól állítható, hullámos mintázattal.
Ára csupán 600 Ft.

Élvezd a nyarat trendin!

For what do you shop online? Feel free to share in a comment!

Marc Jacobs - Daisy

© Beauty and Aikido

Last night I slept at the Fiumicino Airport in Rome because my flight was delayed. This means I had pretty much time to look around all the shops at the airport. As for about 4 hours there was no gate displayed for my flight I pretty much ran around and got to know the whole airport. In the end this solid perfume necklace was my salvation and comfort among the sweaty and tensed people also waiting to finally get home. But today in the morning my flight landed safely.

This is the package

© Beauty and Aikido

This is what it looks like closed, just to have an idea because on the package you can see it only opened.

© Beauty and Aikido

It was very creative to put the perfume into the medal of a necklace. It can just hang in your neck and have multiple functions. I would always flip it open whenever I got too upset from waiting. If you take a closer look you can observe that the solid perfume also has light discreet shimmer.

© Beauty and Aikido

It comes with a pouch

© Beauty and Aikido

It was the lightness and the freshness of this perfume that caught my attention. I find it perfect for the summer. If I were to choose the liquid version, I would go for the eau de toilette not the eau de parfum. The reason is that when on the skin, it becomes somewhat heavier and more poignant. I don't like wearing perfumes that would put off people the moment I enter a room. As I also fell uncomfortable in such a situation I would not like putting others in it. I consider that one should smell my perfume only accidentally when coming a bit closer or as I pass. Heavy perfumes that fill the room are a big no go for me. I am really happy with this cute solid perfume in a medal. Do you also have similar solid perfumes that you love?

Gel Nails Tutorial- Purple Grape

A quick tutorial of how to make these great 

grape colored

gel nails. 

You need to apply first an UV gel Base coat. Then the two coats of colored nail polish by Crystal Nails. You can do it yourself also. However it is always easier if someone does it for you because you need to take care and be precise. In my case it is always my mother who does the gel nails and we can can chitchat in the mean while.

The positive thing about Gel Nails is that they last much longer than normal nail polishes. They are also shock resistant and do not chop that easily. In my case I type a lot the whole day at work and then do the break-falls on the tatami at aikido, but the gel nails still resist at least one week. Usually I get tired of the color sooner then it starts to chop and I remove them. For the removal technique check out my How to Remove Gel Nails post and video. This removal technique is my most popular video on YouTube.

Cute Pearl Nails

I have recorded how I made some creative cute pearl nails. You can also try it out with pearls that complement the color of the nail polish. I went for a more discreet look here that can be worn in the office also. What I used in the video is a matte pink nail polish from Miss Sporty and pink pearls from the China Market. To make the pearls stick better I used a clear coat from Astor.

Soon I will go crazy with my Konad stamping nail art set, so stay tuned! I am posing new tutorials soon.

Lovely Honey

As spring is approaching, I get into a cutey, lovely, honey mood. In this picture above I am holding a honey cake and have nails inspired by cutepolish. The small bow makes me smile each time I take a look at it. Fun nails can be created so easily and cutepolish has some really nice tutorials. I also created one on UV Nails not long ago. You can see the blog post here.

New acquisition is a band new shimmery nail polish:

 It is a drugstore brand from Rossmann, a well known drugstore in Hungary. I liked the design of the bottle, the net like pattern and flowers on the bottom, that can be easily turned into nail art. Lovely is a Polish brand with a lot of nice colors from mate to shimmery. I chose this shimmery beige nr. 267.

Here is a swatch:

I also discovered in Rossmann that I can now purchase in Hungary also the Essence Pure Skin Range. My absolute fave is the Essence anti-spot intensive night treatment. I first used it in Holland and fell in love with it as it makes your spots fade during the night. I then bought three back-ups that I am still using now. It was somewhat comforting to see that I can now buy it here, too. In addition I also saw from the same range the Essence anti-spot moisturizer that I persevere to use every night. I also am planning an appointment to my cosmetician to have my skin cleaned thoroughly again. It is amazing how much these Essence products can help your skin when it comes to clearing. And they all cost around 3 to 5 €!! For my mixed skin type they work perfectly well. And remember it is all about persevering and not skipping any stage of your skincare routine!

I will keep you updated and will do a You Tube review of the products I use at present.