Sakamoto Maaya, Part 2 of 2: Replica (LE) Commentary

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Hello, hello. Right now I'm not home, and will in fact be out most of the day, but I've taken with me my wonderful laptop and pre-uploaded pictures for two posts. While I'm not sure if I'll be getting to the other one, at least I know that this one will be up shortly and my review of Replica complete.

Sakamoto Maaya's newest single, Replica, was released a week ago and I posted Part 1 - with pictures of and details regarding the limited edition packaging and first press bonus - of a 2-part review this past Sunday. Today I'm ready to get to the heart of my review in Part 2, where I'll be sharing my thoughts on the songs themselves - both the songs of the actual single and the songs from the limited edition mini live album.

Yes, I'll be reviewing all 8 songs.* Brace yourself.

*Don't worry, 2 of them are instrumentals. It'll still be long, just not that long!

Sakamoto Maaya, Part 1 of 2: Replica (LE) + External Bonus (08/20/14)

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It's that time again when I have a new release from Sakamoto Maaya, and I'm both extremely excited and once again anticipating the next one. The never-ending cycle...

Anyway, not even a month ago I wrote this post sharing some information regarding Sakamoto's newest single, Replica. This past Wednesday, 08/20/14, it was released, and my copy ~that I preordered a long, long time ago~ (not really - the end of June) arrived from CDJapan on Friday.

I've thought about it, and even though my last Sakamoto review - Be Mine!/SAVED - was a single post, I've decided to break this one up into two parts. The first - which you're reading right now - is about the limited edition single's packaging and any first press/external bonus(es), and the second will be my actual review of the songs on the single. I'm going to try to get Part 2 up later this week,  but for now let's enjoy some pretty pictures!

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Yield To Love" (LE) [A Novel Romance 2014] + Comparison

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Hi! Recapping on what I said in my last post, today (well, over five hours ago it became yesterday for Japan, but whatever) was the release of Sakamoto Maaya's newest single, and tomorrow is the store launch date for MAC's new collection, A Novel Romance. Last Thursday, the collection launched on MAC's website, and that's when I placed my order for the lipstick I'm reviewing in today's post, "Yield to Love." I'm actually getting one more lipstick from this collection at some point, but I'll talk about that near this post's end.

A Novel Romance features a slew of beauty products, but with regards to lipsticks specifically, a total of six limited edition lipsticks were released with it: "A Novel Romance," "Myself," "Good Kisser," "Hearts Aflame," "Lingering Kiss," and "Yield to Love" (the collection's only MAC-online exclusive). I picked up "Yield to Love" for two reasons: its cremesheen finish and its color which, on some bloggers, appeared to be a brighter, raspberry pink. 

On me, the color is actually not bright nor is it a raspberry pink. In fact, I think "Yield to Love" looks closer to the swatch on MAC's website - which most said was completely inaccurate - when I wear it than it does to swatches done by bloggers. That's an interesting statement to make, considering the fact that the swatch on the MAC website is actually pretty scary (and, in that sense, inaccurate still). 

So, with that being said, I hope that of all things in this post, my pictures are most helpful. 

FOTD: August 16, 2014

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Hello! Here we are nearing the start of another week, again, the never-ending cycle...but on the bright side, we have Sakamoto Maaya's Replica releasing Wednesday, and MAC's newest collection, A Novel Romance, launching in stores the day after that. So there's some change from the norm to be excited for.

Back in present-time, I have another FOTD post to share with you today, using a new eye shadow I received with the rest of my [first] order from Beautylish this past week. Inglot's 26 Shine was originally going to be the star of this look, and this post, but I ended up falling so much in love with every aspect of the finished look that I don't think any one product should get all the credit. Hence why I'm labeling this as a "FOTD" rather than an "EOTD" (face vs. eye for those not familiar).

In this post, I'll be listing the products used, and describing how I got the eye look. I'll also give a few different lip product options that I think may compliment this look (based off my stash of course), because that was the only aspect of the entire look that I wasn't completely set on. Ironically, haha.

Eyes: Milani's Bella Eyes Gel Powder Eyeshadow Swatches (8 Colors)

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Hi everyone. Happy Saturday! Today is the first day that's felt like a true [pleasant] summer day...and I spent it taking and editing the pictures for this post, which almost took forever but not quite. Don't worry, there were reasons I couldn't do much today to begin with. If you can't spend it outside, I guess it's best to be productive indoors, right?

I went back and forth trying to figure out how to introduce this new line of Milani eye shadows to my blog. I originally did a look with three of the colors and decided that I would use that look to create a review post. Then I did another look today using a fourth of the eight colors I own, and I wondered: would this technically have to turn into a review, too? But what about the other shadows used in the same look?

And then, what about the other four shadows from this line?

So, today, I decided to do a picture-heavy post that is not a review, but simply a close-up-and-swatch kind of post. Once I do looks using the shadows and/or review posts, I'll add them here as links for additional information per color. That seems like the best way to go about doing this. At least it seems that way today, haha.

EOTD: August 3, 2014

Hello! Here we are at the midpoint of another week, and I thought I'd share with you an eye look I did this past weekend. It was for the most part improvised, as I only knew that I wanted to use one shadow in particular, but I was fairly content with the finished look. My eye makeup techniques are still lacking but there is (I think) subtle improvement each time I go about doing it. The bulk of my struggles exist in the fact that my eye's crease...well...cuts itself. 

That probably doesn't communicate much. Sorry. 

The eye shadow I knew I wanted to use was "Bewitched" from Prestige's Total Intensity line. This brand - this line from it, specifically - has been getting an influx of attention lately, and what convinced me to pick up "Bewitched" was its duochrome nature. I simply adore duochrome shadows. 

Coming Soon: Sakamoto Maaya's Replica

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Hi everyone! In honor of today being the first of August, I've decided to write a short post to amp up the excitement for Sakamoto Maaya's newest single, Replica, scheduled to release later this month - the 20th, to be exact.

This isn't really news, as most fans have seen information about this single circulating around the internet. The CD itself, both regular and limited editions, has been available for preorder from CDJapan since the end of June, too. I mainly wanted to document the information here on my blog for two reasons.