Beginning  March 2008, this will be where you can get a glimpse into my daily life, thoughts, some sneak previews of work... la di da. The usual goes: Be polite when commenting, and please don't steal/misuse/abuse any images featured on this blog. Copyrighted intellectual property and all that.... ^__^

If you've added me to your friends list, please post a comment on this entry introducing yourself & how you found me/my blog.

My former blog is here: the-egomaniac.blogspot.com
My portfolio can be seen here: www.fayeyong.com

Cheers!
Fae

As I'm drawing the room of a little girl, I was thinking I should put a little more thought into the decor, to make it less like a sterile "model" room, and somehing more age appropriate maybe. This is what came out....



Can you spot the guest cameos? XD

Went cycling from one end of town to the other to view 2 different properties. Nearly died in the heat. Go away sunshine, I do not like you! >_<

Fingers crossed that the agents will call back saying YES 1 cat is okay. >_<

Am tired now, like totally wiped out. But have COMIC pages to doooo... ;____;

Today I've had quite possibly the worst battered sausage and chips in my life. Never have I had such pale, tasteless chips and rubbery battered sausage. Mind you I only got the sausage after seeing what their Southern Fried Chicken was like.... as pale and as uncrispy as any Chinese steamed white chicken you'd see.

>_< It's like they dumped the chips/sausage in long enough just to heat it up. FOR SHAME.

Today I happened to be in Knightsbridge, and so decided to pop into this place called Harvey Nichols (which koalapuff was spuffing about).

SALE. 50% off, 70% off..... words designed to tweak that hidden switch in a rational female's mind and turn her into a mindless shopping machine. 

So yes, I bought 2 Stila Lip Glaze Sticks and 1 Stila tinted moisturiser. Never bought this brand before (there were many many many other Burando makeup/skincare on sale, but I managed to hold on to a little of my sanity)... but decided to give Stila a go based on reviews I've seen online. 3 pretty high end brands for £20.... so it's not too bad.

My current resolution is to STOP buying any more makeup/skincare products. Aiming to downsize what I currently have to a manageable level. I do not want to become one of those women with a truckload of makeup. I admire their dedication to the craft, but it's not for me. XD

Random note: I LOVE the UK. WHY? Only in the UK do you see poncy royal guards in shiny armour prancing on beasty glossy black horses down a London main thoroughfare whilst holding up traffic. =D 

 As the end of our rental lease draws closer, I find myself once again an unwilling participant in The (not so) Amazing House Hunting Race.

It's a bloody battle to the death to find houses we can afford, that accept wyldflowa 's Bunny the cat, aren't located out in the sticks of Cambridgeshire and are not total dumps. Once we've narrowed down that list it's the flurry of calling agents up, trying to out-book viewings against other rental hopefuls and trying not to howl in despair when told that a rather promising looking property we've been eyeing up is no longer available as its now "under application".

*insert your most creative choice of cuss words here*.

I stand at the stove, patiently listening to the sound of eggs popping and crackling in the pan. Looking outside the window, I see the Mothership (aka what I like to call those huge, mean looking grey rainclouds) hovering low in the sky, blocking out most of the sunlight.

( Nostalgia under the cut... )

I keep tripping and knocking things over lately, or accidentally not closing my door properly, resulting in wind slamming it shut.

Poor wyldflowa must feel like she's living with a  blind hippopotamus rather than a graceful adult woman. XD

In the process of drawing fehed 's comic, I came to several conclusions about my working method.

For this project, I decided to take the plunge and pencil things traditionally, after seing the my much respected seniors and peers do it. And whilst I love the feeling of being able to see my drawings in a physical book on the spot, I find I much much MUCH prefer doing things digitally than traditionally. First of all all the eraser-poo drives me insane, it creates such a mess. Secondly I love the clean accuraccy I get with digital pencilling. Thirdly I rediscovered a long-buried dislike of scanning, cleaning up my scans, and tweaking/aligning my pencils to line up with my templates.

Mind me, I'm not saying that traditional is worse than digital, or vice versa. Rather I've just proved to myself that I'm very much a digital-type person. I admire people like fuuringo , lilrivkah , sonia_leong  who can do things traditionally, and do it well. However it's just not for me. My OCD is such that I get anxious and fretful when I'm  not drawing everythign exactly to spec, down to the last milimeter. That, and my lack of practice with traditional media and inability to draw a right angle (even with a T-ruler XD) to save my life means I spend a lot of  time being subconsciously stressed by the "mess". I waste so much more time tweaking and cleaning up my traditional pencils, it's just not worth the hassle.

I know a lot of artists who wish they had tonemonkeys, or in times of dire trouble, ink-monkeys.... me? I'd rather have a gopher monkey. The kind who does all the boring work of scanning things in (waiting for the bloody scanner to move its arse XD), cleaning them up, importing them into Manga Studio/ Photoshop and aligning them to the template.... etc etc etc.

Now off I go to do more boring importing of files. :(

Something that I've been thinking of doing for a long long time, in hopes that it helps someone out there. XD

Note: I'm of Oriental/ Far Eastern/ Chinese descent (whichever term you prefer), and have the "Oriental Problem" of having no eye contour, mid-length lashes (I'm quite lucky!) that don't curl much, fleshy upper and lower eyelids, and combination skin. This results in my lashes always rubbing/touching my bottom lid (despite heavy duty curling) whenever I blink, laugh, smile .... Panda eyes no good, you get me?


Mascara's I've used over the past year, images taken from GOOGLE!

1. Blinc Kiss Me mascara
Pros:

• NO Smudging, no flaking. At all. Even after a long day, skin getting oily, sweating, laughing till my eyes crinkle up.
• Easy removal, comes off cleanly in 'tubes' of mascara. No residual mascara smudges that need to be cleaned up.
• Water resistant. Splashing water and crying only occasionally results in one strand of mascara falling off, which can easily be flicked off.
• Lovely formula that doesn't clump.

Cons:

• Doesn't hold curls very well, make sure you curl your lashes REAL good. Maybe even after mascara application if you're desperate.
• More of a natural-defining mascara, doesn't really give you fantastic drama fat lashes, lengthens a little. If you have no lashes to begin with, this is not really for you.
• A bit drying on lashes if used daily.
• Rather expensive for a mascara ( about £15 + I think)

Conclusion:
This is still my favourite everyday no-muss, no-fuss mascara. Definitely a will-repurchase item. Lasts me LONG LONG TIME! Very sad that it's running out now.. (after a good year!)

2. M.A.C Pro Longlash
Pros:

• Quite cheap for a "high end" brand. (£10)

Cons:

• Smudges like mad (the saleslady lied to me?). Flakes. Get this one if you want the panda eye look.
• Runs at the smallest sign of water (wyldflowa cried whilst wearing this after I gave her my practically new one). SHAMEFUL!
• Doesn't do much for length, at all.
• So-so at holding curls.
• A bit clumpy. FAIL.

Conclusion:
For the benefit of the doubt, maybe this works fabulously for caucasians/blacks/ anyone not of oriental descent. For me, it was an epic disappointment for a mascara. Worst I've ever used. I'd definitely recommend MAC eyeshadows, but not the mascaras. Just to add, a chinese makeup guru on Youtube too has stated that whilst she loves MAC eyeshadows/pigments, their mascaras are a bit of a flop. So it's not just me. XD

3. Max Factor Masterpiece WATERPROOF mascara
** After many years of resisting buying waterproof mascaras (because I heard they dry out lashes, and are a bitch to remove), I finally caved and went for this one.

Pros:

• Beautiful formula. Lengthens, lifts, gives decent volume (it's more of a defining, naturally long type mascara).
• Easy application, the magical brush is the perfect size and gives lovely lashes with no clumping.
• This could easily have been my favourite mascara.... except....

Cons:

• Smudges. NO KIDDING. My skin isn't even THAT oily. I used this a couple of times in the hopes that I was wrong, but no. SMUDGES.
• Pain in the ass to remove. That's waterproof mascara for you. Doesn't help that the way my eyes are, cleaning my lashes normally would just result in the mascara getting trapped under my lashes, smearing all over my lower lid.

Conclusion:
Highly disappointing that even being waterproof it smudges. Max Factor obviously missed the memo that says "Waterproof mascara should NOT smudge. Never. EVER!" Why do you think women put up with the pain of using waterproof mascara (super pain-in-the-ass to remove)? It's because it's supposed to not flake/smudge. It's a big big shame because I really liked how it applied and looked.... This would probably be fabulous for non-oriental eyes.... but sadly not for me.

4. Chanel Exceptionnel de Chanel mascara
** I NEVER buy 'designer' makeup, except I was getting desperate, and this came highly recommended by koalapuff .

Pros:

• Lovely length, nice lift, nice volume. I've seen it work WONDERS on making koalapuff's short stubby Asian lashes look long and curly. XD
• Very very very black.
• Doesn't smudge (usually), not too hard to remove.

Cons:

• The price. You can have a decent meal at Teri-aki's for this mascara. (£20)
• Smudges just a little after a long day, or if my skin got a bit oilier than usual, and/or if I blink/ smile too much (where my lashes rub against lower lid). Not too noticeable though.
• Fat-ass brush that is probably more suited to blacks/caucasians who have physically bigger eyes?
• Big-brush and the complicated twisting application method a bit hard to get used to.
• Very very thick goopy formula.... but maybe that's why it's so good?
• Long, fancy frenchy-sounding names that makes it hard to remember. j/k XD

Conclusion:

As previously mentioned Chinese youtube makeup guru once said, if you pay THAT much for a mascara, you expect it to do EVERYTHING. Like make your natural lashes look like falsies, clean your house, do your laundry etc etc.... While I like this mascara, I think its a bit disappointing that (for the price I paid) it smudges a little, still! Also, it's super expensive. So while I like it very much, I'm not sure I'll repurchase, unless I get a fabulously high-paying job that lets me buy designer crap willy-nilly. ;D But while I have it now, I shall enjoy it muchly!

=====================
So that's the end of my long vanity-blabbering for today. I may do more when the mood strikes me. X3 I hope this helps anyone of you out there who are mascara-hunting.