Happy Holidays are Over (No review)

Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and look forward to the new year. This Christmas was pretty good and while it's not about the presents, I did get some awesome things. The things that I'm most happy to see are these.

The white blue box is a Merdiem emulsion that I want to try out, a bottle of this Daeng Gi Meori shampoo that I absolutely love and a Coach Poppy perfume. The best thing in this picture is the Love Box filled with Korean goodies in back. Its chock filled with delicious cookies and snacks that I've never tried before. Squeeee.

On a random note, here are the top five products that I hope to see again in the new year.

 L to R: Midnight Mambo (my most complimented nail polish), Bare Escentuals Sealent ( I've converted my half monolided sister into a believer), the UDPP (no explanation needed), and the Korres lip balm (its the longest lasting but has its flaws).

I once again reorganized my stash of makeup, but there were some casualties.

 Noooo. this was the best highlighter in my collection. Gosh darn. This is why I don't clean. That and I can't seem to find anything after I've cleaned up.

Once again, I have no cohesion in my post. I've also decided to make some rasmalai and I'll be sure to tell you how that goes. Going to use http://www.spicytasty.com/indian-sweets/rasmalai for the recipe.Besides, I have a Bengali and Goan friend that I'll be serving to, so I'll let you know about what they say.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips in Groove

During the CVS beauty sale, I picked up a bunch of these Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips. Usually retailing around $10, got these for $3. This isn't my first foray into the nail sticker business, however, this has to be one of the worst. 

As you see on the package, it tells me that with proper preparation, this lasts up to ten days. It's been three days since the. Tell me if you think that it has lived up to its c;aim. Comes with a mini nail file along with a cuticle stick. As the directions instructed, I buffed and cleaned my nails to ensure proper stickage. Now the strips were for people with a tinier nail bed because I had trouble finding the right sized one even with 15 strips. Now unless you are ambidextrous, it is extremely difficult to find the proper point to place these in the middle where it has to over lap your nails on both sides. I tried doing my pinky, but angrily started to rip the nail sticker into tiny pieces after several futile efforts. Now after my sister observed my angry gnomish temper tantrum, she offered to help.

 See my left hand? The suckers are very hard to rip properly. The sticker over lapped onto my cuticles, and it didn't rip cleanly off. It left a jagged edge that threatened to rip the whole sticker off my nails if touched. So after that threat, I just had to live with the sticker on my cuticles. Now here is the other thing, if the sticker hangs out because your nails aren't long enough, they tell you to use he gentle side of the file to take off the excess. Do you know what that leaves you with? No nail on the tip and outer rim of your nails. Let me tell you a secret. Do you now the trick to keeping your manicure for a long time without having it chip  from the base? Painting the rim of your nails. Without that extra sealant, the nails are prone to chipping and since this is impossible to fold under my nails without leaving the I think I have gunk under my nails feeling; I was unable to keep this polish from chipping ever after one day.

 SEE WHAT HAPPENS!

Now my sister became a pro after doing the right hand, and the left came out nicely. Geez, I have a whole stack of these to go through. The non drying part is really convenient, but the time it took to apply these is similar to painting your nails and applying a fast dry top coat, provided that you didn't apply a think coat of polish. Unless you have a bored sister like mine that took mercy upon my pitiful, stocky frame, I really don't recommend this unless you are doing the fancy designed ones. Those take forever to do and only then are these worth it.

Totally unrelated story. Do you know that I got myself the gift that keeps on giving? My sister wanted a espresso machine but guess what? She doesn't drink a lot of coffee but guess who does? So for her gift, I ended up getting her a espresso machine but who will reap the reward of delicious extra espressos? Little ol' moi. Unbeknownst to her, I will drink all of that foamy coffee goodness without the labor. BWAHAAA. Next stop world domination. Happy Holidays.

Maui Vacation

I'm back from my vacation and I'm finally getting back into the normal groove of things. My sleep patterns are a bit messed up, but being back just reminds me of how nasty NYC weather is. We're actually having a pretty warm winter here so far, but coming from a  place that had high 80 temps, it makes me shiver. The vacation was great, especially the scenery and the just too perfect weather but the one thing that really stood about about Maui was the warm hospitality. I've never met rude people on the island, nothing but smiles and a warm conversation. Even the tourists and vacationers picked up on the aloha spirit and were polite. I guess it's since everyone's on vacation or because of something in the air. 

Here are a few pictures that I took.

 This happens to be one of the views from the condo we were staying at. We didn't get ocean view but there was a beach right outside the property that we tried to use everyday.

 Driving around the South of Maui had us seeing a lot of brown patches. My dad was like "I thought it was supposed to be green all around. What 's going to happen when it becomes winter?" Lol. Find anything funny in that statement? Let me know if you get it.

 This was part of the hiking route next to the beach near the condo.

 Forgot to turn this picture, but this is a shot of the Banyan Tree in Lahaina. It was got huge and incredibly interesting to look at. Ended up buying some delicious smelling salt rocks. I'm going to put some of it in my closet, so that my clothes could smell nice. We started to wander around the historic trail and see at all of the local shops. My sister ended up buying shaved ice and began eating that everyday for dessert.

 When I say that the surrounding ares are gorgeous, I truly mean that here. This here is an unphotoshopped picture of the sunset.. Can you see that bits of orange and pink in the sky? We used to just sit on the beach and watch the sunset before heading out to dinner.

 The sunrise at Haleakala Mountain is also pretty but getting there was a pain in the ass. Woke up two hours before sunrise and couldn't see a darn thing when driving up the mountain. Luckily we ended up getting a great warm spot looking out the window of the gift shop. It was too darn cold to be outside, looking at the the sunrise.

 Afterwards, we stopped by the Komoda Bakery for some goods. Had the delicious glazed doughnuts. Honestly, I didn't like the cream puff because I prefer a whipped cream filling but everyone else really enjoyed the custard in this one better.

 Then we went to go see the black sand beach. Noting much to do there because the water was too choppy for swimming. I wore my bathing suit underneath and was really looking forward to the swim. But nope, no swimming.

 During the trip home from the Black and beach, we stopped at a tiny shack that had a huge farm in the back. We were able to look around and see how they grew their own produce and buy some of what they sold. My dad finally got this coconut drink while we picked up a bunch of other fruit as well as this still in the shell Macadamia nut. It was so nutty good. My mother managed to charm some random stranger  and ended up getting free bananas. My sister and I was like, dad why were you sitting in the car when mom's chatting up a random stranger? My dad told that what's the worst thing that could happen? I guess it doesn't matter after 30 years of marriage. The stranger ended up giving him a empty coconut but the bananas that he gave my mother were good.

 There were lots more pictures, but I'm unwilling to share. It has a lot of my ugliness in it. I gained about 10lbs. Been working out extra hard. If there was one thing that I didn't like about Maui, is the roads. I understand that you want to preserve the beauty of nature, but the Road to Hana was so dangerous and curvy. I was so scared during the ride. We thought that we avoid the curves by going back and taking the other road, but that road was dangerous, unpaved and took longer. Argh so much motion sickness. But saw so much cattle.

Btw, can you guess how much makeup I used? After bringing a bulging bag with our makeup and palettes, I ended up putting nothing. Not a damn slick of gloss. Got really laid back and lazy. Who was I going to look pretty for?

P.S.

HAPPY 30TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

Quimica Alemana Esmalte Endurecedor de Unas

*Update below

My animal claws have been breaking at the corners lately and I am pissed. I had to glue them to keep them from breaking any further and my nails look like a mess. I'm currently in the process of growing them out and would like them to have a particular shape. The only thing that has kept my nails from falling apart when I did a horrible stint with UV nails is this.  

 Quimica Alemana Esmalte Endurecedor de Unas is what I got from my mom and this is the best nail hardener ever. I got this written in a different language, but all I know is that this helped return my animal claws to its former glory from being soft, babyish, and vulnerable. Now know that I can go back to cutting and torturing people with my nails.

Most of it is written in a different language and I managed to get the ingredients in English but the shot of it is horrible. Had a bit** of a time focusing this.

Is it wrong that one of the ingredients is formaldehyde? Anyway this is my second bottle of this stuff and it's the only nail hardener that truly works on me. I don't use anything else, and it looks like a shiny top coat so I don't put on any other nail polishes. The only weird thing is the side effects. Now this is where it gets strange. My mother told me that if I start to get nightmares, it's because of this. I don't know what in the world would cause it to give me nightmares as a side effect, but luckily, this didn't happen to me. However, it has happened to several people that have tried it. Creepy.

*I heard that some people were using this daily. No. *slap* Use a light coat and apply once every week or every other week. Once your nails become hard, stop usage until you feel your nails getting weak again. This is not an everyday application. I should have been more precise with my review and I apologize. *

My diet for my vacation has been failing miserably. This is what I eat as a snack. Hershey pie and Midnight Moon goat cheese. Addictive.

Nature Republic Whitening Collagen Mask review

I've heard of Nature Republic but it's a brand that I've never tried before. I know that the Korean singer Rain used to endorse it, but after that I know nothing. I usually just end up using Missha, Face Shop, Innisfree along with Etude House, but rarely do I use any other. However, I may need to change my mind. I've used this once and I love it. Mys sister used one pack each and my gosh, I wish that this was easier to find. I've only seen it in G market but not this exact one. I've never tried G market but I'm sorely tempted to try it now. 

 The mask comes in a JYJ endorsed packaging and these boys look too good and pretty. Too pretty that they threaten my femininity... as well as a small part of my inner dormant masculinity. Either way, this mask is shaped like any other, with a creepy cutout moth, nose and eye holes; it seems to match my face pretty well. I was a bit worried because most Koreans boast about having a small face and thought that my unusually large head wouldn't fit, but no problems. After washing your face leave it on for 10-15 min before removing and patting the leftover serum onto your face.

The smell is pleasant, and not very overpowering. It smells like ...fresh cosmetics. Can't describe it but it smells like a cosmetic counter. Not offensive, but I loved the smell. The serum is not runny and didn't let my mask slide all over. The serum absorbed fairly well, and I felt pretty moisturized so I didn't apply a lotion or anything afterwards. My sister, who has dry skin didn't complain nor apply moisturizer afterwards, so I believe that this pack works well for the entire spectrum of the oily and dry skin line. My overall skin looks so much brighter and clearer the next day without being oily. The weird thing is that it didn't do anything for my acne scars, so my acne scars look redder because my skin looks brighter. Does that make sense? I think that this would be perfect for when my skin is blemish free and would love to keep this as a usual routine thing.

One more thing that I have been using like Crazy is this Meyer's Room Freshener spray. Bought it at a Korean market for ~$4 and it's been so useful. I hate it when I cook something delicious in the morning and come back later the smell of what I had cooked still lingers. Especially if it was something stanky but delicious. So I spray this all over and the smell disappears and all I'm left with is the smell of Geraniums. It works so well.

For instance, my mother manged to spill fish sauce all over the kitchen floor, and while I was cleaning it up, I almost vomited with the bile coming up to my neck. After spritzing some of this, the smell was masked so well, that I didn't have any problems cleaning up. Unlike Febreeze, this stuff gets rid of the odor instead of mixing in with it and forming a hybrid of laundry + bacon scent. Don't I sound like an ad? Lol but I'm putting this out there just in case someone might find need of it.

One of my most hated smells is the odor of reconstituted mushrooms, especially fried with garlic and onions. Gives me an awful headache. I hate the smell of it cooking but love the taste. Weird huh.

Packing for Traveling

When looking at which makeup to bring traveling, I always have these three things in mind. Disposable, versatile and necessary. I try to bring not only makeup but also clothes that fit into these three categories. I don't want to worry about losing something that I can't replace nor do I want to bog myself down with extra items that I'm not going to use. I've always been the type to pack months worth of clothing for a week long trip but I've managed to outgrow the habit. Last time I went on a trip to Maine, I managed not to wear a lick of makeup and I have a feeling that this time won't be much different.

 I am packing the elf neutral Beauty Encyclopedia, Co Bigelow lipgloss, Smashbox Luminizing Lotion, Burt Bee's eye cream, Benefit's concealer, Stila Convertible in lilium, Benefit's Lemonaide and my Etude House Powder. Fairly basic and the only items that I'd regret losing is the Etude House powder and the Stila color.

I swatched from L to R: Etude House Powder, Lemonaide, Lilium, Luminizor and the concealer. 

This is the beauty palette. A good mix of neutrals. I'm not the type to wear really bright makeup, so this is perfect. If I need anything else I know that my sister will pack the rest. She tends to go crazy with the lip stains. Crazy.

I'll only be gone for the week and I promised myself to take a lot of pictures. I took a good amount of pictures for all my other trip but never put them up because I feel uncomfortable putting up our faces, so it'll mostly be scenery and food. Plus, this blog really isn't that big, so I shouldn't really worry. I also have samples from Nature's Republic that I got from my mom's friend who went to Korea. We asked for nothing but she brought us face masks and samples. My sister ended up with the masks and I with the samples. Ass end of the deal. Rather than rebelling and getting an ass whooping, am very excited to try the brand, because I've never tried it before. Don't know if I can comfortably do reviews since they are sample sizes and I won't be able to try them out long. Oh well, I've done reviews based on worse.

Body Shop's Tea Tree Line

I bitch and moan about my skin constantly and today is no different. The new lotion is keeping my face the same texture, meaning no dry patches but it still hasn't done much for the acne problem nor do I expect it to. It never billed itself as one so I won't dislike it because of that. So, I use other products to help with the acne. I posted a review a while back on the Body Shop's Tea Tree toner, and like a dog with its tail between its legs, I am back. Along with it is the Tea Tree Gel and the Face mask. I wanted to get everything since it was a but 2 get 1 free sale but I don't need an another lotion or face wash. I have about 4 face washes that I rotate on. 

 The toner is a bit different with some thing setting on the bottom but still seems to work the same. So unless there is a big change, no need for a review.

The gel stick is something new and just in time to greet it was a massive, red and tender to the touch zit in between my eyebrows.Yeah, I get zits in the weirdest places along with the typical places. Lucky me. I've used this three times, and with each swipe after my nightly skincare routine,  my zit seems to have gone down. Not saying that it's a miracle cure to have instantaneous results, but it does seem to work and decreased the size of my pimple.

 But the problem is the applicator; while I make sure to apply on a clean face, I worry that I'm contaminating the bottle because of the applicator. I don't know why, but the some of the zit-be-goners are some of the horribly packaged products I own. Look at the elf's zit stick and tell me that the roller ball is sanitary.

Last product in the bunch was the face mask. I used it just once so no full review yet. But for that one time, my face tingled like crazy. I liked it.

I've also applied lemon juice to my acne scars because I heard that the juice would lighten it, so I'm testing that out. All of this cost about $30, so it better make my skin acne free. LOL, such unrealistic dreams.

As many of you know Thanksgiving is coming up and like the previous years, I was going to chronicle my culinary disasters, but the family has been making a big push for a store bought meal. What is the world coming to when they reject free homemade food and labor, especially on thanksgiving? So this year I may not be able to post the food. I'll try to blackmail and weasel out a yes but it's going to require a lot of begging, tears and a hefty swallowing of bitter pride.

Has anyone gone crazy at the Sephora Sale?

Honestly, I held myself back by unnecessarily violent force. I was tempted by a couple of pretty baubbles but felt that othing was really worth getting. I really didn't need anymore eyeshadow (Urban Decay Rollergirl and Nars duos excluded), lip products or any other makeup. What I did spend on was a bit of skin. My face has been crazy with the change in weather and the tea tree oil isn't helping. I'm oily on the T zone and dry everywhere else. I also started to break out horribly on the cheeks and chin. Nothing short of a miracle is going to save me now. 

I got the First Aid beauty cream to apply to my face. The name itself drew me in and I need some first aid for my face. Used this for the first time today and it looks pretty good.  My skin tends to be a real diva and if it doesn't like it, it will let you know overnight. No real dry spots and no new pimples, so far so good.

Feels light and has a siliconeish feel because Dimethicone is one of the ingredients but it states that it has no parabens or harsh chemicals. Meh. I'll use it and see if I see a difference.

If this doesn't work, I can always use this as a hand lotion so I really have nothing to lose here.

Don't ever follow my skincare routine. I am a creature of whimsical change and will try out new products without a care. Just thought that I'd warn you incase you complain about all of the different products I use. I also got a Murad eye cream that seems promising

UPDATE: This product did not work and broke the heck out of my skin. It's now a decent hand moisturizer but doesn't compare to my HG Kose Urea hand cream.

Not a review

I do quite a bit of ranting and nonsensical writing on this blog and guess what. It's not going to stop. Muwahahahaha

WARNING: NOTHING IN THIS POST CONTAINS ANYTHING TO DO WITH MAKEUP.

I guess I'm really feeling the fall weather because I am constantly cold and my body aches so much. I've revently woken up on the wrong side of bed, and I couldn't move my neck to the right. I had to completely turn my body if I wanted to answer someone. After a night's rest I felt better but still not 100%. My parents completely rely on this method called cupping. Sounds like a awkward, unwanted groping of the chest area, but ..can't explain it. Google it. So I'm the master cupper in the house, but when I get aches, who the hell do I turn to? Myself. Don't trust anyone in this household with my precious self. I realized that I am not even remotely flexible and almost gave myself neck cramps trying to do this. 

The side effects are bruises covering my neck and shoulder, but well worth it. It looks painful, and it is... but the results are fabulous. I can move better and besides, I don't wear revealing clothes anyway. Just turtle neck it up and it'll disappear.

Felt a bit bad about nothing cosmetics, so once again, I present to you a piss poor review. Burberry's The Beat is my fall scent and there are no ways to describe the scent. It's listed as a floral, but I don't smell a trace of floral in there. A quintessential floral is something like Marc Jacob's Daisy, but this isn't. It's a lighter musky without the heavy incense like smell, and I can't describe it to something I've already smelled before. If someone can match this scent to something, then please let me know.

Not everyone is a fan because while I bathe in this, my sister, who happens to be a floral freak, hates this stuff. Tells me it reminds her of the department shopping mall floor where all the perfumes get sprayed one too many times, and nauseates her. Lies! I recommend you sniff before trying.

My Favorite Lipsticks

This is going to be a quick post on showing you my favorite lipstick. Oddly enough they're all from Revlon. I apologize for not going over the details. Here, let me offer you free puppies and cookies. What? You want more? Geez, I'll throw in a rainbow riding unicorn. Someone's going to be exercising their imagination to the max. Anything else?

The colors are Sparking Cider, Apricot Fantasy, Mauve it over, and Smooth Nude. All of these colors are extremely wearable anytime of the day

.

All of these colors are super creamy and pretty popular so there is no need to really explain and go into detail.

Sparking Cider looks lighter on person and has a bit of shimmer. Nothing too noticeable and it happens to be my favorite one out of this bunch.

Apricot Fantasy is a easier to wear version of the Estee Lauder lipstick I reviewed.

Mauve it Over. It's looking quite busted, but this is the "my lip but better" color.

Smooth Nude is not to be confused with Nude attitude. This is much creamier and less drying. It does a decent job of hiding my lip color so that I can apply gloss with a smooth base.

See, quick reviews are easier...for me. Hope you enjoyed this review while you're eating a cookie, petting your puppy and riding over a rainbow on top of a unicorn. Multitasking at its finest.

Lagoon and Eny from Wet n Wild

I recently heard rumblings of a Humid dupe called Envy. I haven't mentioned this before, but Humid is one of my favorite colors to ever exist, but I don't have a chance to wear it often. So when I heard of a dupe, I oh so desperately needed to get this. There was a bogo 50% off so, I had to get this Deep Truth look a like called Lagoon as well.

I haven't used the two colors yet, so this is more of a comparison rather than a review.

 Lagoon Envy

Envy Lagoon

Humid Deep Truth

 Clearly there is a difference between those two and I was a bit disappointed with the color, but personally I find Deep Truth harder to work with and it blends horribly for me.

The Mermaid Green is a Humid dupe that I bought from Nyx, but are you impressed? Mermaid Green and Humid are a bit different in person, but it looks as if Envy and Humid are a match. If you looked at these from far away, you couldn't tell them apart. I love Wet n Wild and hope they come out with more lovely dupes like this.

Fooled Again

Curse you to the darkest pits of hell! Whoever created the night gold colors from Nars has made the worst shadows that I have ever had. Maybe I'm just not talented enough to use them to their fullest potential, but your base clientele can't all be makeup aficionados, some have to be fumbling dolts like myself.

Sephora currently has two single eyeshadows for $8 each called Night Sun and California. Night Sun is the gold and California is the bronze. I first saw this and quickly put this in the cart, secretly hoping that no one else knew about this, but after seeing Night Sun, you can damn well keep your over priced gold turd!

Previously I made a begrudging semi good review on Silent Night eyeshadow, that I had to learn to love. When I got the package today and compared the two...

Can you tell the difference? The one on top is Night Sun, which is a bit yellower and the lower is Silent Night.

Both has piss poor pigmentation and an incredible amount of fallout of gold flecks. The Night Sun is a bit better because it has gold shimmer falling out instead of the chunks that I'm used to, so thanks for that. I am done with you Nars when it comes to gold shadows. You hear that? DONE

California is the color you might want to try out because it is purty. However, it seemed like a color that I already have in my hoarder's cave of makeup.

It's a nice reddish, rusty, coppery color that is smooth and satiny without being too shimmery. But I have about three different colors that look similar to it, so I don't know if it is necessary...

On the left is California and on the right is the copper color from the Nyx trio. Similar, but the Nyx color seems to be bit more shiny and shimmery. I like that the Nars is a bit muted down. The color isn't so unusual that I have to have it, nor is it everyday worthy so I'm stuck in limbo. It's an extremely sad day in loling town when the samples of perfume excite me more than the actual paid order.

Sorry for posting one right after another, you know I'm a hard to get kind of girl, but I don't know if they'll be sold out. Come and get your polished piece of **** and California eyeshadows while you can.

Quick comparison on Fix and Mist

This is going to be an extra short comparison and barley a review on Makeup Forever and Elf's Mist and Fix along with the Evian Facial Spray. I use the Mist and Fix not only to set my makeup, but to get settle all of the powder on my face. It's a bad habit of mine to over powder but I can't help it. It's like an animal instinct to apply powder to apply it to every crevice of m face. It comes from being overly oily and I swear I'll break that along with a million other bad habits...

Yes i'm blatantly lying to right now but at least I'm telling the truth now. Anyhoo, The prices vary with Makeup Forever (8-27) and Elf's(3) Mist and Fix along with the Evian(11 for 2) Facial Spray.
In the end, the Evian is a refresher not a setter, and doesn't market itself as one, because it didn't set my makeup for a long time. It did get rid of the powdery look and the aerosol spray was nice but if you read the ingredient list, it looks like nothing but water. The main ingredients for the other two are also water but the others actually prevent the makeup from slipping off. The other two work fairly the same and I couldn't find a difference with the performance and it didn't break me out. However, the pump with the Makeup Forever felt like droplets rather than a mist, so I prefer the Elf one just for that one point. Otherwise, I would recommend either one if you have a problem with your makeup lasting.

I know I should have gone into details, but I would have ended up with a research paper and nobody, not even professors relish reading papers. If you do, then I'm sorry for disappointing you and I'll try to fix that bad habit.

My First Eyeshadow

With every change of the season I tend to look through my stash and remind myself what I shades I can do without and which ones I obsessively need. I've decided to slap my hand away from neutrals and look for a variety of colors, although I really don't need anything much. While I was rotating my colors, I found this gem stashed in a box in the back of my drawer. I don't remember the name and the sicker has fallen out, so I can't tell you. It's the first piece of makeup that I have ever purchased.

I started wearing makeup in the second year of college, when I had to go to a friend's wedding and I wanted to look different. I knew nothing about makeup and just grabbed the cheapest thing there, which happened to be this neutral palette from Wet N' Wild along with their foundation. The foundation smelled nasty and I never used it but I just slapped this on and went. Now that I look back, I should have never left the house looking so terrible. No primer, unblended and weird placement of shadows were some of the crimes I committed. Do you want to know what the worst part was? Nobody told me and took me to the corner to tell me that I looked bad, not even the family. Geez.

These colors are what I would wear and I've decided to wear it more often. It is a tad bit too shimmery, but it is uber pigmented and soft. I remember it lasting quite a long time on me as well so I'm excited to find this.

It's a nice mix of colors of soft wearable colors and now that I know better not to apply the dark color up to my brow bone, I think I could make myself look less of a hot mess.
I found a ton of old palettes that I forgot I had and now trying to work them into my usual face routine. Is it wrong that I got a little too giddy?