Tarte - Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara Review

If there is one makeup item I cannot live without, it is, without a doubt, a tube of mascara or rather, tubes of mascara. There are different types of mascara formulas, ranging from the very wet to the very dry. I haven't explored mascara as much, as I've never had a preference.  When I made my little Sephora haul in November, my Tarte kit came with a mini mascara that I didn't opened until my most recent trip to LA.

Needless to say, I am in LOVE with it! The formula is on the drier side, which many of my bloggie friends swear by because it doesn't weigh down the lashes.

Tarte describes this mascara has a "push up bra" of mascaras - meaning, it lifts, volumizes, lengthens and curls. 

I would describe my lashes as short, sparse and minimal. So I appreciate any volumizing properties that mascaras have. 

The wand is thin and prickly to get the most stubborn of lashes. The formula reminds me very much of the Lancome Hypnose Doll Mascara (see review here!) and the Benefit Bad Gal Lash, which I love.

I'm really liking it a lot. I think this mascara really holds the curl well and since it's lightweight it also dries fast so I haven't had issues with smudging. 

It does a fantastic job in holding the curl and it volumizes fairly nice. It lengthens a lot though so I am thoroughly impressed with that alone. I also like that it's non-waterproof so it washes off very easily. 

Overall, I am very satisfied with this mascara! It does retail for a steep $19.00 for a full size and that's quite expensive for me to splurge. I am going to keep this mascara in mind the next time I need to purchase but it would be awesome to find a dupe.

Do you have any recommendations for mascaras with drier formulas? It can be drugstore or high end. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts! :)

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I'm Back!

Helloooooo everyone! I am back from my mini-vacay to LA! I had a ton of fun from Thurs all the way through Tuesday! During those few days, we went to Disneyland, Universal Studios, visited some museums, Griffith Observatory, shopping at the Grove, Santa Monica, Venice, Hollywood... pretty much every touristy thing you can think of, we did! It's funny seeing it from a tourist point of view though because I grew up in Socal and lived very close to all these prime hot spots but never really frequented them that much or even at all. The friends from Taiwan were especially fascinated by everything from the food to the culture and it was cool seeing it from their eyes for the first time.

If anyone watches Jimmy Kimmel, I was on the Feb. 12th show! LOL And yes, that is ice!

And I met Michael Yo, the E! News correspondent and one of the regulars on the Chelsea Lately show-

He was super friendly! 

i have a million more pictures but I haven't actually organized them yet so do expect some "fashion" posts LOL. I tried my best to organize outfits for the nice spring-like weather in LA. And some of the makeup and travel necessities that i brought along with me.

I hope your week is coming along great! See you all in the blogs and in the comments! ^___^

Review: Weleda Rosemary Hair Oil

I've got another post about hair oil! I've been testing out different hair oils, and serums to see which works best for me. Ones that are packed with 'cones or au naturale ones made with oils from plants. I've spent embarrassing amounts of dough on hair products in the past because I have crazy hair. It is naturally super curly, hard to work with type of hair. I always manage to run my hair through a flat iron to get "ready" for the day - as in not looking crazy. I have a calm demeanor but why my hair is frantically curly is beyond me. Everyone in my immediate family within 2 generations have pin straight hair.

So anyway, enough about that. I tweeted about this hair oil I found on clearance at Target a few months ago from a brand called Weleda. It is their Rosemary Hair Oil from around $15.00 to a mere $4.34. I did some research while at the store, and saw that Weleda has been around since 1928 and has offices worldwide but their head office is in Switzerland.

This hair oil is really concentrated and has a very distinct scent of rosemary and lavender (which I love!). I use a small dime sized amount and rub it between my palms to warm up the oil and then run it through my hair after towel drying my hair. The scent is really calming and soothing, and the actual hair oil is not heavy at all. I've only used small amounts around the mid to ends of my hair. I either leave it as-is or i blow dry my hair. When my hair is dry, I could feel that my hair has softened significantly from the oil compared to using nothing. There is less frizz, less static and best of all, it makes styling the hair much faster.

Honestly, I really love this oil. It's housed in a beautiful glass jar, with about 1.7 ounces of product which can last forever if you use a bit at a time.

These are the key ingredients used in this oil -
Arachis Hypogaea (Peanut) Oil, Trifolium Pratense (Clover) Flower Extract, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Arctium Lappa (Burdock Root) Root Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Limonene*, Linalool*, Geraniol*, Coumarin*.

If you click on each ingredient, it will take you to their site where you'll see how each oil is extracted and some interesting info on it. Aside from the researchy stuff, I very much enjoy using this oil and it's left me wondering why Target had it on clearance in the first place! Possible repackaging maybe, or re-formulation? 

On the side, I've also been using Paul Mitchell's Skinny Serum, Kerastase Ultime serum, and various other "high end" brands. So far I've been getting the same hair results with the Weleda oil as I do with those. However, the Weleda one is a bit more oily since it is made of pure oils compared to the silicones added in the other products. I suppose it is all about preference! :)

What do you guys think of hair oils? Necessary for daily use or is it more of a "treatment" every once in awhile?


On a side note, I will be out this entire week starting tomorrow. Will be celebrating CNY at all the touristy spots from Socal, including the theme parks! LOL. We have some friends flying in from Taiwan that have never been in the US before so what better way to show them than driving down the coast from the Bay Area to LA?

Hope you are all having a great week so far! See you all in the blogs! ^____________^

Purple Eye Shadow

Happy Friday everyone!

I had an incredibly busy week at work but it all feels worth it in the end when you accomplish things you wanted to and have the weekend to look forward to.

I wanted to make a short post on an eye look I did this week. Many of you have commented and said purple eyeshadows is really complimentary to dark brown eyes. So instead of my usual bronze, I tried a sweep of purple. It's such a romantic color I think, both in warmth and shade.

Natural Light

Flash from Camera

Sidecar from the original UD Naked Palette

Easy eye look. Low maintenance - my kinda style! LOL

Do you like/love plummy purple eyeshadows?

Have a fantastic weekend everyone! Enjoy the Superbowl festivities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!