RuPaul's DragCon NYC 2019

October 15, 2019

This was my third year attending RuPaul’s DragCon and this year I attended on Saturday, September 7th. I know, I know, this is overdue but September was half procrastination month and half trying to get real world stuff done so this is me trying to get all these posts out before I leave for vacation.

To be honest, I don’t know much about RuPaul’s Drag Race. I never got around to watching it. Maybe one day. Add it onto my backlog of shows and movies I need to catch up on. But I’ve always been in love with dramatic makeup, glitter and outrageous outfits and the splash of bright colors everywhere so I imagine it’ll be amazing when I do get around to it. I loved seeing all the different looks at the convention, the queens really go all out. For once, I feel under-dressed being among them, haha!

I mostly go to check out the booths, the makeup, the photo ops and see what everyone attending is wearing. In past years I never have time to stay all day because busy bee. This year was the same. I was there for just a few hours so I pretty much raced through to browse all the booths that caught my eye. If I’m being totally honest, I pretty much go for the Sugarpill booth to swatch and shop all new products and con exclusives and to get to see my inspiration Shrinkle, the founder of Sugarpill every year. I have so much love for that girl. I’m in love with the exclusive holographic tote they had for the convention this year since I’ve been on the hunt for one and this one branding the logo of my favorite makeup company was just perfect. My second favorite brand to visit every time is the Elektra Cosmetics booth for the glitter. Of course I picked up some new colors to add to my increasingly excessive collection at home. They came out with a “pride” rainbow bolt balm and a “spirit” bolt balm, which will go great with my red, white and blue looks. The women behind the Elektra Cosmetics brand is always there to greet me too, which I love. This is why I love indies. They’re so good at customer service and paying extra attention to you and remembering you.

This year I stumbled upon only a few new booths. I didn’t find a lot of different vendors that caught my eye. It was actually a lot of the same old every now and then. A lot were selling a knockoff of the Elektra glitter but in bigger, cheaper looking jars. And for a lot less. And the jars aren’t even airtight compared to Elektra. Not that I wouldn’t want to pay less for glitter, it also worries me that the quality is not there and not safe for use. There was also another booth selling biodegradable loose glitter, which my sister picked up a few jars of. There were quite a few booths with some gorgeous glitter and holographic nail polishes which got me wondering. I really hate going to the salon to get my nails done because I never take the time to make proper appointments, on top of not really wanting to pay to get them done. I want to see if I can learn to do gel manicures myself at home and get my husband to help paint them for me (since I can’t paint my right hand myself). 9 times out of 10, I always pick the same color anyway when I’m at the salon, even though I tell myself I want to try a different color. And that 1 time I do, I always regret it and think to myself I should’ve stuck to my regular picks.

While I do enjoy this con, I don’t know if I’ll be returning next year. The only reason I would attend is to snag Sugarpill exclusives and discounts. I feel like conventions are coming to an end for me. Like I’ve outgrown them. It’s very odd because I feel like I’m entering a new stage of life as I grow into my 30s. I’m finding that I no longer like the things I used to, but I’m not exactly finding new things to fill the void as quickly as the old hobbies leave me. Maybe I just need to slow down in general. Ah, que sera, sera!

10 Year Glow Up

April 14, 2019

Back in the spring of 2008, my mother sent me to the motherland for my first pilgrimage. She also paid for me to have glamour shots done there since it’s dirt cheap to be dolled up like a high class call girl and take modeling photos. I enjoyed the experience and when I posted them on MySpace, a fellow Internet friend introduced me into the world of Model Mayhem. At first I didn’t know what I was doing but I slowly weaved my way through it. I learned the good and bad of the modeling world; the GWCs, the rudely unprofessional and those trying to take advantage of you. I also picked up a lot of lifelong friends along the way and still talk to a few of them to this day. While there were some negative experiences, there were also a lot of good ones. it fed my creativity and I worked to push myself harder and harder with each shoot I dreamed up and styled. When I started cosplaying in 2013, it added more to my ever growing portfolio. I still only do this as a hobby, but I’m really proud of all the photos I’ve created since I started. I was never in this for any monetary aspirations or career ambitions. I simply just wanted to create art.

There’s no denying I’ve done some growing up and glowing up in the past 10 years. My hair is also finally blonde and no longer that disgusting caramel color that everyone kept giving me instead of the perfect bleach blonde I kept asking for because the first 13094832 stylists I went to were too afraid to damage my hair because they just didn’t know what the hell they were doing. I also improved my makeup skills over the years. Can you believe I used to create my cateyes with an eye pencil and swiped it clean with a q-tip and some eyemakeup remover for that clean cut? Gone are those days. Now I can draw it on with a eyeliner brush no problem in a under a minute. I used to rarely wear foundation, just eyeliner and lipstick. Then it slowly grew to eyeshadow and blush and highlighter and the rest is history. I used to do my eye makeup with those little shadow sponges and my fingers because I thought brushes were a challenge to learn. I used to also be afraid to figure out false eyelashes. Gone are those days. Now I have my own makeup station with drawers full of palettes and tools.

My style has changed, and the things I reach for are slightly different but the same. My style, while I have yet to actually pinpoint the exact style, was generally very loud and colorful. I wore bright pops of color, big gawdy look-at-me statement jewelry pieces, and just anything loud. I bought a lot of cheap fast fashion and junk during these years. I didn’t think. I should probably go through my pull-out jewelry drawer in my closet and finally throw out everything. Remember all those funky prints of the VS PINK panties that were 10 for $25? Now I hate them. I’d rather that my lingerie coordinate with each other so I’m just wearing basic solid colors that are easy to buy and match with what I already own. I feel like a big girl now, matching my underwear instead of just wearing some stupid saying over my crotch. In college I used to own 30 pairs of jeans and wear bright ass Converse to class. Now I rarely wear jeans - I own maybe 2 pairs - and own two pairs of sneakers that I rotate between for the gym. I live my entire life in boots year round, in dresses and skirts.

I traded my clunky acrylic necklaces for more delicate, dainty staples. I used to wear a different pair of earrings every day, matching them to my outfit. Now I just wear my Tiffany pearl studs that go with everything. It’s one part lazy, one part growing up, I would say. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because I’ve become more lazy at putting together outfits, but I still do enjoy putting together stuff when I have the time. But not every little piece has to be different. You can have some staple pieces as part of your signature look. But maybe that’s what it is. As I grow up, it’s all honing in and curating my signature look as I progress through this stage in life. I definitely see a change in the photos I used to take 10 years ago, compared to the photos I’ve taken recently. I’m still a pop of color, but not as loud. The color palette has softened and the quality of photos have also progressed. I still wear cheap clothes I’ll admit, with some more expensive pieces thrown in here and there that I’ve invested in but I try to stick to simple solid color pieces that are easy to coordinate and mix and match to create different styles and looks based on what I’m feeling that day. I hate t-shirts, you won’t catch me in them unless I’m at home being comfy or there’s simply nothing else to wear. T-shirts are a waste of money, in my opinion. My clothing choices are basic but I still try to look anything but.

I still haven’t tired of being in front of the camera. I still love it. But in the next 10 years, I do aim to work to learn it for myself and figure out self-photography so I don’t have to worry about scheduling and coordinating shoots anymore. It’s going to be a long, expensive journey but with everything, it takes time, investment and dedication. I should’ve done this years ago but I told myself it was too hard and costly. Now I realize had I put in the time and effort, I probably could’ve done it and afforded like everything else I’ve ever wanted in life. I’ve never taken no for an answer, simply found a different path there. Just like modeling. I’m told I’m too short to be a “real model,” but I still enjoy it and didn’t let it stop me from still doing it as a hobby and creating so many beautiful photos that I now have as part of my portfolio over the years. And in 10 years time, I wonder how different those photos will look compared to these.

Ipsy GenBeauty 2018

October 17, 2018

My sister invited me to last year’s GenBeauty last minute and I had a lot of fun in just a few short hours so of course I was interested in checking it out again this year.

We brunched at Bluebird London at Columbus Circle that morning with a gorgeous view before heading over to the convention. I’m usually only passing by this area quickly so it’s a new location for me to adventure in. There are a lot of nice shops that I would love to take more time to browse one day next time I’m around the area. The service at brunch was good, the waiter was super cute and the food was delicious. The girls even wear Ted Baker dresses as their uniforms, how snazzy! Unfortunately we didn’t make it to their tea service since it’s only served certain days and certain times so I guess we’ll be returning for the gram for that pastry tower. If you’re lucky enough to get a window seat, it’s really something. It actually reminds me a little bit of my time in Paris. Oh, how I miss Paris! I still have yet to find time to blog about that for you guys too.

I basically lived at the Javits for the past 3 weekends it seems. It’s where all the conventions are held due to its abundance of space for vendors and set up of booths and content. The perks of this con is all the free products you swipe at each booth by simply scanning your badge. You learn about new indie brands and their products and get to test them out. You’re not obligated or pressured to buy anything since they bring limited product with them anyway. And the booths that do sell their products, sell at some pretty nice discounts compared to their retail prices. Meanwhile a lot of the free products you get are decently sized, if not full sized! For example, I stopped by the Wen booth because I just wanted to snap a pic on their floral swings but they ended up filling my bag with full sized hair products. I didn’t expect this so that was a pretty nice bonus. It’s really nice to get free products because it's a nice way to test out new products and new brands without having to feel like you wasted your money if it doesn’t turn out a winner. You also get to discover new brands this way that you might end up falling in love with, that you would’ve never heard of otherwise. This con is basically like a Costco buffet, but for makeup. You go from booth to booth just getting samples of new products. Not a bad deal if you ask me. If you like trying new products and learning about new indie brands as they hit the market, this is definitely a con for you. Or even if you don’t, if you love taking cute photos with Instagrammable backgrounds, this con is also the con for you. There were a lot of cute photo opportunities but unfortunately I didn’t get to do them all due to the time constraints and long waits towards the end of the day so I don’t have all the photo ops you could do pictured, but hopefully next year I can attend on a Saturday for full coverage of the event for once.

My sister also eyed the MAC booth and saw they had these shirtless muscle guys chilling in the middle to promote their brand and obviously try to get girls to flock over cause duh, eye candy. Except that’s not what she saw, hahaha. She dared me to go over and flex with them to make them feel small. I can’t resist a challenge so I walked over after we finished with the Wen booth and shut those boys down. They thought I was going to hit them with the hand on hip pose but I had my guns ready to go. They were like “SHEEEET. THIS GIRL DON’T PLAY.” #dead.

Towards the end of the convention at closing time, some booths started giving away a lot of their goods. They started throwing them into the crowds causing hordes of girls to run over and trample each other just to score some freebies. It was crazy. Mayhem ensued. I got hit in the head with makeup, hahaha!

We ended the day with Ichiran ramen and Sweet Gloria honey ice cream even though I’m not at goal yet for my weight loss but I’m still meeting all my targets so far so a little cheat was okay. I had a sample of Ichiran at Japan Fest over the summer and it was delicious so I was looking for an opportunity to try the full bowl of ramen with all its fixings. And it didn’t disappoint. Ichiran was so good I drank all the soup! I stumbled upon Sweet Gloria last week and man I’ve been craving honey ice cream all week so I had to go back. It’s so delicious. It’s a small and simple ice cream shop but so good! All in all, it was a nice weekend and a beautiful day with my girls.