Shiny Stuff
I got lotsa stuff today! Not got as in gifts, but got as in, um, I ordered stuff and they all came at the same time. XD;
Okay, so first! There was a corset I ordered. (Lingerie-type, not fancy-clothes-type.) It's a plain ivory white, strong fabric, not fancy-lacy, and I figured it'd be good under costumes. Tried it on, it's... decent? Not as great as I expected, but not bad. The cups are a bit weirdly bent from the shipping, but I'm trying to get those rounded out, so should be good after that. The bottom of the back rides up a bit, but it does have... what's it called. Garters? The things that hold up stockings. I finally realized they do more than hold up the stockings; they also hold down the corset. So, considering most costumes with corsets would have stockings anyway (...okay, the Natalia one I was mainly thinking of doesn't XD;), I figured I'll fix the bust and wear it with stockings, and it'll be good.
And then I got my stuff from Shiro Cosmetics, which sai_salamander told me about. I haven't tried them yet, but the customer service was excellent! They went way beyond what they needed to. The shipping time was a bit long, but, eh, it was really cheap, plus I'm international. And it wasn't long long, anyway. I think it took... uh... *checks* about a month. So, slightly slow, but again, international, and cheap, so it's not bad.
The packaging was adorable! XD I mean, they were mailed in a bubble wrap envelope, and I just expected a few cans of eyeshadow, but they were wrapped in a cutecute bag with hearts and stuff, and a pineapple sticker. And candy! :D Er, I mean, they weren't wrapped with candy. There was candy in the package too. XD
And then on the inside, they were cutecute too, and I discovered they've also included two free samples! :D Not sure if you can read it from the picture, but they're "Girl on Fire" and "Baker's Boy". XD I did order a lot of coppery and beigey colours, so I dunno if they picked these two because they were similar to what I bought, so they thought I might like them, or if it's because they're the main characters. XD In any case, they look beautiful! Definitely to my taste.
Anyway, everything is sealed nicely, with an extra thingie inside the caps to keep them properly sealed up. I'll try them tomorrow and see how they work. But they should be good, from everything I've seen. :D If that goes as well as everything else, I'll pretty much just buy exclusively from them in the future, I think. Sure, it takes a month to get here, but that'd probably be the only downside. They've beautiful colours, a huge selection, cheap prices, and SO MUCH GEEKERY. (I will love the day someone visits my makeup collection thinking I am a girlygirl and discovers bottles and bottles of pokeballs and triforces.)
So next! I also got stuff from AmiAmi, a Japanese hobby-stuff shop Jami discovered a short while back, when he was looking for FF TCG. I ordered the starter packs for Chapter IV (I... I totally have the starter packs for all the previous ones ;_;), and also Type-0. Um, I mean, the Japanese version of Type-0, the game, not the trading cards. XD
So, cards first! I don't remember if I mentioned them before. I think vaguely, a while ago. Anyway, the rules are somewhat similar to Magic: The Gathering, but simpler. I learned FF TCG first because Jami wanted to play it with me. XD Later, I got curious and got a starter deck for MTG, and discovered the rules were pretty much the same, except MTG came first, so FF TCG basically stole them. >.>;; That's okay. The cards are... decent? They didn't make any new pictures, though. D: But they're still pretty. If anyone's interested, BTW, Jami has very detailed info on them here, along with translations of all the cards and rules.
Each chapter has... well, cards from a variety of FF games, but usually mainly one or two, and chapter IV here is mainly FF9 and Type-0. And I discovered. That my colour choices for my makeup minigame a while back on ff_land is fairly close to what Kuja actually wears, in close-up. Totally did not know. XD (Also. "Woah, that's a pretty princess. Looks kinda familiar--...ohwait, it's Kuja." XD So pretty.)
So yes! Type-0! In Japanese! Because I am insane, apparently. Augh. XD; I can't understand anything.
I started it up, fiddled around with the settings in confusion, and discovered you can basically continue your Zeroshiki game, if you've gotten it. From any point you saved. As Jami explained, you'd keep your summer uniforms, growth egg, and levels, if you do, but I thought they'd just start you off at the start again, but... nope. They start you wherever you left off in Zeroshiki. So, since I probably messed up a whole lot of stuff already and had no idea what was going on, I decided to restart my game, first in Zeroshiki, and then continuing in Type-0 at the first save point after the intro chapter.
I'm kind of wondering if anyone would be interested in a Type-0 as told by Ari? Like maybe Breyzy and/or Yin? *shot* It'd be filled with spoilers, flailing, and guesswork! XD (But it's okay. Jami will probably correct me. The guesswork, I mean. Not so much the flailing.)
Edit: Okay, tried some of the Shiro makeup. It's quite nice! The jars were packed full, to the point where I couldn't even shake anything out. XD Right now, I basically have to swirl a brush around to hopefully pick up some on the ends of the bristles. I'm sure it'll be easier once I use up some. Anyway, full is good!
Quality-wise, I find it's a little more sheer than some of the expensive brands, but I think it might be because (a) I was too lazy to use a primer, (b) I didn't pick up as much on the brush, and (c) I used softer colours today anyway. It looks nice and smooth, though, and blends pretty well.
The only actual-downside is there's a lot of fallout from glitter. I found sparklies all over my cheeks and even nose. XD; But that's to be expected, since glitter falls out anyway, especially without primer. The problem with this is just about everything they have is glittery. So they're not really for people who like more matte stuff.
Okay, so first! There was a corset I ordered. (Lingerie-type, not fancy-clothes-type.) It's a plain ivory white, strong fabric, not fancy-lacy, and I figured it'd be good under costumes. Tried it on, it's... decent? Not as great as I expected, but not bad. The cups are a bit weirdly bent from the shipping, but I'm trying to get those rounded out, so should be good after that. The bottom of the back rides up a bit, but it does have... what's it called. Garters? The things that hold up stockings. I finally realized they do more than hold up the stockings; they also hold down the corset. So, considering most costumes with corsets would have stockings anyway (...okay, the Natalia one I was mainly thinking of doesn't XD;), I figured I'll fix the bust and wear it with stockings, and it'll be good.
And then I got my stuff from Shiro Cosmetics, which sai_salamander told me about. I haven't tried them yet, but the customer service was excellent! They went way beyond what they needed to. The shipping time was a bit long, but, eh, it was really cheap, plus I'm international. And it wasn't long long, anyway. I think it took... uh... *checks* about a month. So, slightly slow, but again, international, and cheap, so it's not bad.
The packaging was adorable! XD I mean, they were mailed in a bubble wrap envelope, and I just expected a few cans of eyeshadow, but they were wrapped in a cutecute bag with hearts and stuff, and a pineapple sticker. And candy! :D Er, I mean, they weren't wrapped with candy. There was candy in the package too. XD
And then on the inside, they were cutecute too, and I discovered they've also included two free samples! :D Not sure if you can read it from the picture, but they're "Girl on Fire" and "Baker's Boy". XD I did order a lot of coppery and beigey colours, so I dunno if they picked these two because they were similar to what I bought, so they thought I might like them, or if it's because they're the main characters. XD In any case, they look beautiful! Definitely to my taste.
Anyway, everything is sealed nicely, with an extra thingie inside the caps to keep them properly sealed up. I'll try them tomorrow and see how they work. But they should be good, from everything I've seen. :D If that goes as well as everything else, I'll pretty much just buy exclusively from them in the future, I think. Sure, it takes a month to get here, but that'd probably be the only downside. They've beautiful colours, a huge selection, cheap prices, and SO MUCH GEEKERY. (I will love the day someone visits my makeup collection thinking I am a girlygirl and discovers bottles and bottles of pokeballs and triforces.)
So next! I also got stuff from AmiAmi, a Japanese hobby-stuff shop Jami discovered a short while back, when he was looking for FF TCG. I ordered the starter packs for Chapter IV (I... I totally have the starter packs for all the previous ones ;_;), and also Type-0. Um, I mean, the Japanese version of Type-0, the game, not the trading cards. XD
So, cards first! I don't remember if I mentioned them before. I think vaguely, a while ago. Anyway, the rules are somewhat similar to Magic: The Gathering, but simpler. I learned FF TCG first because Jami wanted to play it with me. XD Later, I got curious and got a starter deck for MTG, and discovered the rules were pretty much the same, except MTG came first, so FF TCG basically stole them. >.>;; That's okay. The cards are... decent? They didn't make any new pictures, though. D: But they're still pretty. If anyone's interested, BTW, Jami has very detailed info on them here, along with translations of all the cards and rules.
Each chapter has... well, cards from a variety of FF games, but usually mainly one or two, and chapter IV here is mainly FF9 and Type-0. And I discovered. That my colour choices for my makeup minigame a while back on ff_land is fairly close to what Kuja actually wears, in close-up. Totally did not know. XD (Also. "Woah, that's a pretty princess. Looks kinda familiar--...ohwait, it's Kuja." XD So pretty.)
So yes! Type-0! In Japanese! Because I am insane, apparently. Augh. XD; I can't understand anything.
I started it up, fiddled around with the settings in confusion, and discovered you can basically continue your Zeroshiki game, if you've gotten it. From any point you saved. As Jami explained, you'd keep your summer uniforms, growth egg, and levels, if you do, but I thought they'd just start you off at the start again, but... nope. They start you wherever you left off in Zeroshiki. So, since I probably messed up a whole lot of stuff already and had no idea what was going on, I decided to restart my game, first in Zeroshiki, and then continuing in Type-0 at the first save point after the intro chapter.
I'm kind of wondering if anyone would be interested in a Type-0 as told by Ari? Like maybe Breyzy and/or Yin? *shot* It'd be filled with spoilers, flailing, and guesswork! XD (But it's okay. Jami will probably correct me. The guesswork, I mean. Not so much the flailing.)
Edit: Okay, tried some of the Shiro makeup. It's quite nice! The jars were packed full, to the point where I couldn't even shake anything out. XD Right now, I basically have to swirl a brush around to hopefully pick up some on the ends of the bristles. I'm sure it'll be easier once I use up some. Anyway, full is good!
Quality-wise, I find it's a little more sheer than some of the expensive brands, but I think it might be because (a) I was too lazy to use a primer, (b) I didn't pick up as much on the brush, and (c) I used softer colours today anyway. It looks nice and smooth, though, and blends pretty well.
The only actual-downside is there's a lot of fallout from glitter. I found sparklies all over my cheeks and even nose. XD; But that's to be expected, since glitter falls out anyway, especially without primer. The problem with this is just about everything they have is glittery. So they're not really for people who like more matte stuff.