Seven things, and other things

I've been having so much fun reading people's tags and learning about my favorite bloggers in their everyday, normalish lives :) Since I was tagged by the lovely Angie, I decided to compile seven (hopefully interesting) things about myself as well.

1. Severe Thirst - I am a tea addict. I've been known to make 7+ cups a day, in all different flavors and varieties. I've had this habit since I was a Freshman in college 6 years ago. I collect artisan teas and admire all the complicated flavors out there.  My current favorite at the moment is Mighty Leaf's Green Tea Tropical. I enjoy the fruity elements of the tea and the classy silk pouches. Yummy! :)

2. Awkwardness -  I was a total geek in high school. Not necessarily smart, but I had the physique of an awkward teenage girl. I had thick glasses, braces and a huge head of curly, unflattering hair and bad pimply skin. Yikes! Some of my classmates don't even recognize me! LOL

3. Books and such - I'm kind of a book worm. My love for fiction has gone from imagining character plots to reading and writing fan fiction. I have a not so secret love for Twilight fan fiction. I know! It's a teen series but I enjoy it with reckless abandon. I also enjoy lots of other reads and have a deep appreciation for classical literature and enjoy the works of William Blake, Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, John Keats, and so many more.

4. Telling a Story - I collect many vintage dresses by scouring through thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales. I don't really do it online because I just like the feeling of finding it myself somewhere. So far, I have a good bunch that I've restored to like-new condition. It's a nice staple to have in my closet because I love how clothing can not only make a statement, but tell a story.

5. Denim - I just started getting into jeans. I've never cared much for jeans before because I can never find the perfect fit, but it's now intrigued me how you can dress up or down with these causal bottoms. I have a few pairs of skinny jeans that I wear occasionally, but I've gotten into boot cuts and straight leg looks as well. What do you gals recommend?! :) Do tell!

6. Music anyone? My all time favorite band is Iron and Wine. Their music is oddly soothing to me and has helped me write creatively for years and years. Their music really sinks into me and guides my mind to register feelings of love and loss through a song or melody at any given moment. I love the tempo, textures and song writing abilities of Sam Beams (lead singer). His music is strikingly different and draws from ambiguity and mixed feelings. I love! Of course I enjoy the occasional "hit" song :) I'm digging Taylor Swift's music!

7. Hobbies and such - I've been sort of dabbling into making my own lip balms and oils. I'm still in the learning stages but I hope to make something special using nourishing ingredients and oils from all over the world and ultimately creating something that I can be proud of. My readers will be the first to know of my experiences! =D haha

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I recently acquired a new bag! :)

I've always wanted a buttery leather bag! I'm super duper excited I finally have one!! I bought it at Marshalls not too long ago and have been using it non stop since. It's divided into two sections inside and has nice compartments. I didn't take a picture of it inside because I was so excited about the outside. And the color! I love :) It's really soft, but very sturdy!

And some Loreal blushes that I picked up over the weekend. They are CRAZY pigmented! Since I've had a wonderful experience with the Loreal True Match blush, I was really excited these were on sale for $3.00 each at CVS.

L-R and top to bottom, Rustica, Mocha Rose and Mauvelous Mauve.

Aren't they pretty?! This is one swipe. ONE! It's extremely pigmented and really soft. The blush is milled really finely and silky to the touch. I am amazed by it! :) I'm so happy they were on sale! There weren't many left. 

I was afraid these blushes will look too dark on me but they are surprisingly really pretty. I'll have more pics of me wearing it soon. I already took off my makeup =p

Alright everyone... goodnight!

Quckie Post

Hi everyone! Did you all have a fun, food-fulfilling weekend? :) I certainly did, and am ready to get back to my normal routine. In an attempt to cook a large bird, it was not very successful, but it wasn't a total failure. At least this year it was cooked. Fully cooked.

Black Friday is a frenzy like always, and I smartly avoided the craziness like the plague. Over the weekend, I did attempt to get some things. I got some dark brown Guess pumps. They're work friendly I suppose, because they are simple, sleek and really elongating for my short legs :)

Sorry for the bad camera phone pictures, but I couldn't wait! :) I'll have better ones later. I also got have a whole bunch of L'oreal blushes to swatch for you ladies! =D And a new hand bag. More soon. Night! :)

Bare Escentuals Lipglosses, Estee Lauder and Laura Geller

I have been obsessed with lip glosses lately. I'm flashing back to my very first Bonne Bell and Smackers lip glosses... haha. My favorite one used to be Smackers Celestial Strawberry :) I was 15 at the time.

Now, I am obsessing over "adult" lip glosses, which is funny because I've seen 10 year olds with iPhones and Blackberrys =p So the word 'adult' is kind of blurred between shades of gray.

Anyway, Bare Escentuals lipglosses are great :) On my lips, they feel highly moisturizing and soft. The color range is spectacular.

Here is the shade "Cupcake" It's described as a rosy pink.

This is the shade "Cranberry Sorbet". It's a limited edition color so you can't find it at their website anymore.

I really like it.. it's a nice berry color :)

Their lip glosses are great. I was really skeptical because I was not a big fan of their Buxom line. It burned my lips!! Yikes. But their regular glosses are really nice. The feel of them on your lip is nice. It has a light sweet smell... like vanilla bean or coco. It's a little on the stickier side but it lasts much longer than non-sticky glosses. It pairs well under lip balm or by itself :) 

 

Cranberry Sorbet (LE), Cupcake :)

I also like the lip brush too. It's so precise! I used to hate them because I was so used to the other ones, but I'm really liking this. It's thin enough so you can build your lips without messing up and wasting precious gloss...haha :) I bought them both from Ebay!

Another one that I've been LOVING is the Estee Lauder Pure Color in Candy :)

(photo from Esteelauder.com)

I like how the lipstick has light reflectors to create that candy colored lip. It's a gorgeous shade. I think it was a GWP not too long ago? I really love the color. The lipstick doesn't feel thick or lipsticky at all. It has a really nice smell, and is light in terms of texture. Because of that, it's not the most moisturizing lipstick. Balm it!

Oooh and a new gloss that I acquired recently is the Laura Geller City Lights lip gloss! It's a clear sparkly topper gloss that works as a highlight for your lips... to give it that sparkle factor :) I topped off City Lights with the Estee Lauder lipstick to see how it'll look.

Now it looks sparkly like a lip gloss which means I can do this with any matte lipstick I have =p It's a revelation for me.

Sorry for the bad quality of the pictures. The swatches were all done with a camera phone. I guess you can buy any clear sparkly gloss to top off your lipstick but this one has major staying power. It also has a nice lip brush for super precision. This sparkly gloss is like the best thing's that happened to me in the lip dept! :)

Alrighty ladies, I hope you are having a fantastic weekend. I'll to you all soon. And as always, thank you for all your sweet comments in my last entry. I had a great birthday! :)

Birthday weekend, Nars Lipgloss and winnings :)

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I had a wonderful time on the day of my birthday and the weekend. We took the whole weekend, drove up to SF for lunch and then took highway 1 to Half Moon Bay and cruised all the way down to the Santa Cruz. Along the way, we visited lighthouses, castle-like homes, tons of beaches, and little towns :) It was a divine experience. The best thing? It's right in our backyard! I never truly appreciated the beauty of where I lived until venturing out to these spots and really taking in all the breathtaking views of lesser known towns in the bay area. I came back refreshed, and enlightened. More trips like this to come! I really love getaways, especially staycations because they're local and easy to plan out :) In August, I went to wine country to take in all the views and tastes of Napa and Sonoma. Can't wait for the next adventure!

 Sporting the Charlotte Russe coat :) 

Pigeon Point Lighthouse Pescadero, CA

Aren't the waters gorgeous? So yeah.. these are some of the photos that I took. It was totally relaxing! These were all taken on Hwy 1. Very scenic :) 2nd to the last one was taken from my alma mater, UCSC.

Last week was also pretty spectacular because I won Ping's giveaway! Here are the contents:

She sent me an assortment of Bobbi Brown things to try - eyeshadows, lip glosses, mascara, and Elf palettes! Really nice! :) Aw... Thanks Ping.. for your generosity! She is such a sweet gal. Another Bay Area blogger that I met during one of the blogger meet ups! :)

Recently, I did a swap with another beauty blogger. It was my first time swapping stuff, but it was a great experience! :) I got to try Nars Dolce Vita lip gloss... and I must say, what a nice shade!!! :)

It looks a lot lighter than it does in the tube. I really like this shade! :) Below are some photos after a few hours. It lasts quite long, and is highly moisturizing!

Makeup Used:

Mac Studio Sculpt - NC20

Loreal True Match Blush - Sable

Nars Dolce Vita Lipgloss

Black eyeliner & mascara (Maybelline Falsies Mascara)

Okay :) I am calling it a night. I hope you ladies had a pleasant weekend. Enjoy your week! I will be back with more posts! 

Night!

When the Days are Longer

This week is floating by so slowly isn't it?  I just keep telling myself, mind over matter... mind over matter. The weekend will come soon and that will be the answer to everything. Yeah, that's it. Now that the clock's moved back, I enjoy waking up to sunlight but I hate the god awful darkness already at 5pm. It's spooky and I imagine all sorts of deadly scenarios. Not sure why, but I always play a whole scene in my mind and space out for at least 3 mins. It's weird.

Anyway, I wanted to do a super quick review on Mac's Studio Sculpt Foundation. I've been using it on and off for the past year. I ordered backups for it too. Unfortunately, I don't have any proper swatches... I just finished the bottle this morning and am waiting for my backup (so much for backup, heh) to arrive this week. I'm sure everyone and their mothers have an opinion on their foundations. I have a strange infatuation with foundations and BB creams because any look you are going for requires a polished face and a certain type of finish to ultimately achieve that look. I keep on hoarding foundations and BB creams like there is no tomorrow o_o Okay! Review.

I'll start off by saying that this foundation has medium to heavy coverage, and not sheer in any sense. The consistency is extremely thick but very VERY blendable. The blending properties of this cream (literally what it is) is great, although when it oxidizes, it turns slightly darker than the shade it once was in the bottle. Not sure why it does that? Their website says it's a gel based formula, but it doesn't feel gel-like at all. It also gives a tired face a lift because of the silicones in it that plump your face up when it's dull. Overall, I really like this foundation because it does what it's supposed to. It gives instant results and applying it on lightly will prevent you from looking like you are bearing a mask :)

Here is my look in the evening :) Dim lights at home and everything... LOL

I used flash. Notice there is no ghostly sunscreen affect? I layered on Shiseido's SPF 50 face cream before applying the Studio Sculpt. Usually when I wear another foundation, the SPF is really apparent. This foundation tones down that horrendous affect even when you have a high sunscreen underneath.

In the morning and evening!

It lasts all day! No blotting for me whatever. I have nothing but praise for this foundation. It's very comparable to Lioele's Beyond the Solution BB cream (see my reviews here and here) Again, I love creamy foundations. I'm not so much into liquidly ones because I feel they are too runny and get oily fast. =/

Products Used:

MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation - NC20

Loreal True Match blush in Sable 

Maybelline Lipgloss - Hooked on Pink (LOVE THIS!)

Maybelline Colossal Mascara

Palladio eyeliner

I turn 24 tomorrow O_O eek! I have mixed feelings about this because I don't want to age. But it's inevitable so.. =p Have a good night everyone! I appreciate all your feedback in my last post about the Charlotte Russe coats. I, too liked the 2nd one better :) And both are just awesome to wear.

Night!

Charlotte Russe Coats, Peach Petal Gloss, and others :)

Hey everyone!

I recently joined 24 Hour Fitness and I've been working out non-stop. It's not even to go and lose extreme weight because I don't consider myself fat but it's the feeling of empowerment after accomplishing something like running 2 miles in 15 minutes =p Do you gals know what I mean? I started having a better self image of myself within the past two weeks of detoxing my body and just working out to feel strong. I feel like a potato at work since I use my brain and not my body =P

Anyway, remember I mentioned I ordered some coats from Charlotte Russe? It arrived today and I was super excited. I've never really bought a coat before so I wanted to try a few inexpensive ones before I make the big splurge :)

Here's what I ordered! :)

Textured A-Line Wool Coat

It's a little roomy but I love extra room. It's snuggly, but not overly so. It's really soft and doesn't have that coat-like sturdy material that I wish it did, but it's CR =P I expected it to be greyer in person but it's just way dark. The quality is also not too bad for being only $25.  The buttons are a little lame though, but I think I can easily replace them with better ones. Thumbs  up!

That's my cat Bacon in the background sleeping in her cat bed :) 

Close up of the coat. It's actually black and grey-ish but my camera washes it out (of course). =p

Textured Wool Trench Coat

I really liked this one in the stock photo!! I love how it goes all the way to your neck. If they had this in grey, that would be the best but they only had it in one color. LAME! =P I still loved it. It's less textured than the first coat but it's still pretty sturdy.

Sorry for the funny pose. These 10 second timers... so lame! =p

Overall, I really like the two coats. I like them both equally.. can't pick! They were really inexpensive. I got them both for $60 including shipping which is $5.99. I had a $10 off $60 code that I used at the checkout and 9.25% sales tax which made it even at $60. Now, you can even get cash back on eBates. Not too bad? :) Oh! The blush I am wearing is from Prescriptives! It's called Apricot! It's the top left hand corner. I really love the shade. It's amazing!

I finally tried the Revlon's Peach Petal lip gloss. At first I really didn't like it because I wasn't used to pale lips, but then it kind of grew on me when I thought of all those pretty Asian models in the fashion mags =P They always have the prettiest pout, don't you think? :)

It's a nudy pink shade that's on the sheerer side. You can totally build it up but it gets really blotchy. I had to use my finger to smooth out gloss.

Okay ladies. Enjoy the rest of your week! I'll talk to you all soon! :) Goodnight! :)