What’s in My Travel Makeup Bag

Hello! I have been MIA in this blog and I apologize. I am currently staying with my sister “helping” her move out of her apartment. Excited for my sister since she’ll be graduating this year…crossing fingers she will also have a job soon enough. I also came to see her earlier since my friend was getting married in the same week. It was amazing to kill two birds with one stone on this trip. They are a beautiful couple and I hope God will bless their marriage until they come into His Kingdom. During the wedding and reception, it was wonderful to catch up with old friends I haven’t seen in two years since I’ve graduated. It was a very wonderful weekeend…the more I stay here the more I’d like to come back to ATL someday.

As I mentioned through the title of this blog…I wanted to talk about what makeup I brought to this trip. I enjoy these types of videos as well because you can see a person’s essential makeup stash. Plus doing this blog will help me remember every time I go to a trip what exactly I need to bring without worrying about if I forgot anything.

So first the all the bag that I use is an old Benefit bag I received through one of their combination makeup sets. I enjoy this bag because I can see what all is in there. Plus the bag is sturdy yet lightweight so it’s great for travel.

Starting from the left I have my Shu Uemura eyelash curler…which is the only eye lash curler I have used so far that can get almost all of my eyelash hair and curl them.

Next is the Mac Tendertone lip balm in Tread Gently. This lip balm has an SPF 12 and this particular tendertone gives the most beautiful shimmer to the lips. I don’t like to use this as a lip balm since it actually makes my lips peel but I love to use this in combination with the Mac lipglass in Pink Lemonade.

Below is the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs I absolutely love this as a primer/base under my eyeshadows or as a wash of color on my lids by itself. If I’m going to an amusement park or somewhere where I know I’ll be out sweating I love to put on an eyelid primer and this color tattoo and then my eyeliner. This guarantees that my eye makeup will be locked in place all day.

I have my Maybelline instant age rewind eraser dark circles treatment concealer in #30 medium. I realized for me personally that I prefer to use this product by taking the top off and using my fingers to dab the product under my eyes. The sponge for my concealer broke so for the longest time I disliked using this concealer because the sponge wouldn’t deposit enough product onto my eyes. Or it seemed that the sponge would absorb more of the product and not enough would actually apply onto my skin. When I used my fingers I loved how it naturally conceals my dark circles and brightens the area around my cheeks and under my eyes.

Beside it I have the Revlon photoready concealer in light medium. I usually use the color light medium or medium. I love this concealer to cover acne spots or other spots around my face. This blends in with my natural skin color without any brightening (which may look unnatural on acne spots). The consistency is very creamy and a matte finish…which makes this concealer blend seamlessly onto my skin. Plus this concealer doesn’t break me out. LOVE. I would be mortified if they discontinued this product.

I have my Wet n Wild Fergie eyelid primer. This is product is amazing. It didn’t cost me very much AND when comparing this product with a high end eye primer this one makes the eyeshadows last just as long with more intensity. I do find though that it seems this primer makes it a little more difficult to blend eyeshadows since the consistency of it becomes tacky after applying it onto the lids. I need to do an eye primer comparison blog someday. But overall I do enjoy this eye primer.

My MAC lipglass in Pink Lemonade. So far I’ve tried this one and Mac’s lipglass in Lust and they are the only two lipglosses that actually improve the condition of my lips after application. And since I have myriads of lip products that disappointed me (as you’ve read previously in my Lippies I wouldn’t Repurchase blog), I find these lipglasses to be AMAZING. I can’t wait to purchase more colors because I absolutely love Pink Lemonade. This shade goes with pretty much anything I wear and it’s a great warm pink to wear year long. Though it can be a little sticky, the finish is creamy and the color lasts as long as 4-5 hours by itself which I find to be the longest wearing lipgloss I own. I love applying this and adding Tread Gently tendertone to the center of the lips. The moisturizing factor of this lipglass helps prevent peeling that usually occurs when I wear Tread Gently by itself or with a lipstick.

I have a tweezer and a NYX pencil sharpener. All essential tools.

I then have my Fresh lip balm in the original. As I’ve mentioned in my Empties blog post I do enjoy this lip balm for more of a day time moisture.

I have my blush/eyeshadow in the Khloe Kardazzle palette. Since I already dedicated a blog post on it I won’t go into detail. I’ll just say…I LOVE this stuff and I’m incredibly sad that they discontinued this palette so quickly.

Next I have the Benefit high beam highlighter which is my favorite liquid highlighter. Sometimes my makeup can apply too matte initially especially after I powder so I like to put this highlight down the nose and on the top of my cheeks. If I run out of this highlight I most likely will purchase the full size.

My Clinique eyebrow brow shaper in #05 Charcoaled. This brow powder fills in my brows quite naturally so I do really enjoy it. I realized the best way to apply this powder is using the angled eyebrow brush given. Initially you may have to rub the product vigorously with your brush, but after that initial use the powder will be much easier to grab with your brush.

I have my Maybelline matte setting powder. I ended up bringing this along because this is the easiest powder to travel with; it has sturdy packaging plus it’s not a loose powder. If I was at home this isn’t the first powder I reach for but it is great for travel.

Next is my Nivea lip butter in Vanilla and Macademia Kiss. I know I raved about this lip butter at first but somehow this doesn’t work as well for me. I have no idea why…and I’m sad :(. I still brought it along because I usually need at least two or three lip balms/chapsticks since my lips are usually not in the greatest condition even without any lipstick, etc.

My Covergirl lash blast mascara. This mascara I didn’t enjoy as much when I first opened but after about a month I realized this mascara worked much better for me. It isn’t the easiest mascara to take off but I do enjoy it since it does hold my curl all day without smudging. I do enjoy my higher end mascaras (for more volume, length, and black intensity) but I think this is a great drugstore mascara. I think it’s the only mascara I’ve used so far that doesn’t smudge on me.

The two pencil eyeliners I’m bringing are Nyx slide on pencil in Jet Black. This is the only pencil eyeliner that doesn’t smudge on me (refer to my Eyeliners I wouldn’t Repurchase blog)…which is already an A+ in my grading system of eyeliners. Plus the color is really jet black. Pencil eyeliner doesn’t allow me to have the sharpest cat eye but it’s so much easier to apply than liquid eyeliners so I decided to bring this one along. This Nyx pencil is my everyday staple and I will forever continue to repurchase it.

Next is the Jordana metal rocks eyeliner in #02 Paradise Blue. I thought to bring this along because it matches the dress I will be wearing to a wedding on the same trip. It’s a gorgeous electric light blue (swatch on the Walgreens Haul blog I did earlier) which is great to apply on the lower lashline. The Jordana eyeliners are amazing at NOT smudging on my eyes. Plus this eyeliner is retractable, and all Jordana products are super cheap. A+!!

Last is my Benefit POREfessional face primer. This face primer is amazing at minimizing pores and allowing your foundation to apply on your face smoothly seamlessly hiding blemishes and bumps on your face. The face primer is also good at keeping your foundation in place all day. I do enjoy this size of this deluxe sample for traveling but when I run out I definitely will repurchase this product.

Hope this mini- review of products was helpful and I hope this post will help you remember what makeup to pack for your next trip! I may do a blog post on my trip here in Atlanta.

P.S. I didn’t include my foundation here in my makeup bag because I usually place those in my liquids ziploc bag. But I brought my Covergirl outlast foundation (LOVE!) in medium beige and my Aveeno tinted moisturizer in Medium (LOVE!). You guys already know I love these two so I won’t say more ;).

Skincare Routine

After my friend Cat saw my blog she asked, “You should talk more about the stuff you love!” So here I am fulfilling her request. I guess I’ve been blogging more about things I dislike because I’m tossing them at the moment…so here’s a change and today’s favorites will be my favorite skincare routine! Though skincare regimen needs to be customized to your skin type, preferences, etc. …I hope that these products can help you find your perfect skincare routine! Finding this routine has helped my skin immensely! In high school/ college I really had atrocious acne because 1) I didn’t know how to balance out my skin. It’s important to keep your skin clean but also keep them nice and hydrated so that you don’t over irritate your skin causing more acne 2) I made poor eating/ drinking choices (which I will talk about in detail later) and 3) stress/hormones/etc. Number three types of acne I unfortunately do still experience but some of these products really help with acne and scars.

Top left corner: 1) Shiseido Skincare Cleansing Massage Brush: love to use this product every other day to exfoliate my skin. The brush really helps with small pimples/bumps you have on your face, exfoliation (so brightens up your face and makes it look more youthful), and is perfect for deep cleaning. I use this product in combination with 2) Neutrogena Clear Pore cleanser/ mask. This product is amazing…I realize years after using several face products that I’m allergic to salicylic acid and it actually break me out more. However, this product contain benzoyl peroxide which is more effective for my own skin. You need to be careful not to put this product too near your eyes cus they will burn (and somehow I often have this problem…). Overall the best face wash for me from the drugstore. I use both of these products at night. The brush every other night and the cleanser every night.

Top right corner: 1) Aveeno smart essentials night moisture infusion: This product like I mentioned in the empties blog post, is the best moisturizing facial cream that doesn’t break me out! And I’ve tried expensive products from Kiehls and Origins and they all break me out. So yay for Aveeno! 2) Korres wild rose and vitamin C Advanced Brightening Sleeping Facial: though it’s a hefty price (48 dollars) this mask is amazing at brightening your skin, clearing fresh blemishes, and overall improving your skin complexion. My skin looks and feels amazing when I wake up in the morning.This facial isn’t necessarily moisturizing however, so sometimes I do have to add moisturizer on top of this product. There’s a tightening/tingling feel that occurs for about the first five minutes when you put this on. I would definitely repurchase this despite the big price tag…I also want to try the moisturizer version of this product however because it’s only 35 dollars. These two products I apply right before I go to bed every night.

Bottom left hand corner: Toners! I have never really us ed toners in my life until recently, and only now do I realize how nice they can be to your skincare routine! In the wintertime when I’m not too oily, I can get away but just applying Tea Tree Toner from Lush all over my face and then applying tinted moisturizer. The toner is great at mattifying my skin and I think helps prevent future breakouts. 2) The Boots Expert Sensitive Gentle Refreshing Toner is great at just what it says…calming my skin when it feels irritated and sensitive. I use this after I wash my face with the Neutrogena face wash and it really calms my face from any harshness from it. None of these toners however are great at removing makeup but I don’t use these for that purpose anyway.

Bottom right hand corner: 1) Aveeno tinted moisturizer: as I have mentioned in my empties blog I love this stuff…especially in the winter. I realize at the moment I’m too oily to use this in the summer for at the winter it is the perfect moisture I need to keep my face looking luminous. The moisturizer does improve my skin tone it smooths out any unevenness on my skin with light coverage. Love! 2) During the summer I’ve been using Aveeno’s positively radiant daily moisturizer (SPF 15) to block the Texas sun and to protect my skin since I do use a face wash with benzoyl peroxide. Since my skin has been pretty good recently I usually can get away with just using this moisturizer and lightly powdering my face with either a powder foundation (Benefit’s Hello Flawless) or a setting powder just to mattify my face. I also use this product under my current favorite foundation (Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous foundation in medium beige) for added moisture and SPF in the summer.

Oh and I almost forgot! Personally, I break out more if I drink caffeinated products so I quit drinking coffee…at least for now D:. Caffeine has other bad side effects for my body which I can’t figure out at the moment but basically I am convinced that staying away from coffee has helped my skin alot. Also eating healthy Korean food with vegetables and fruits also helped my overall weight/acne/lethargy I felt in college. Yay to healthy choices in eating.

Lippies I Will Not Repurchase

Today’s Texas weather is a little bit scary I’m not gonna lie…I was waiting inside my car reading my Bible when I could even feel powerful gusts of wind shaking my car. It was fearful praying to God to calm the storm and protect me. Thank you God for I am home safe. My prayers go out to the people in Oklahoma…

So a weather like this allows me to do only one thing: stay at home. Which is fine because now I get to blog. I’ve been going through my beauty stash since I will be moving soon and I don’t my home to be cluttered with things left behind that I never use.

Let’s just say I’ve decided I will never purchase another Revlon lip product. ALL of these lip products make my lips peel. Some Revlon lustrous lipstick formulas are more unbearable than others. Let’s just take Revlon lustrous lipstick Cherry in the Snow as an example:

BEAUTIFul color right? And a beautiful name for the lipstick color. This particular cherry red brightens up my complexion too so I absolutely love it…BUT the lipstick makes my lips peel like no other! Even under lip balm. And if I put a lipgloss over it, the lipstick may not feel uncomfortable when I wear it but the day after my lips start peeling AND it makes me break out. Call me crazy but I’m pretty sure it’s the lipstick. So I will probably keep this color just in hopes to find a similar lipstick in MAC that has similar color payoff (so just for swatching purposes). Anyone know a shade for this color in MAC stores? I love MAC lipsticks and lipglasses…which I will go into detail in another blog post…

Anyways back to the other Revlon lip products. I had high hopes for the Revlon lip butters since everyone raves about them (about the color payoff and hydrating feel of these lippies). However, I find that the ones I’ve tried (I think I’ve tried more than the four above) all make my lips peel. My favorite color is Peach Parfait and when I use it over a lipgloss…the color looks wonderful and it doesn’t make my lips peel. BUT what’s the point of buying a lip butter if you need to use two different lip products for it to be hydrating? I think I may have bought more but I probably lost them cus I didn’t care for them. I have above: Sweet Tart, Peach Parfait, Red Velvet, and Candy Apple.

Another Revlon lip product I’m disappointed with are the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains. These “balm” stains are not hydrating for me at all and thus make my lips peel. Plus they’re not quite as staining as one may anticipate…especially the lighter colors.

Revlon colorburst lipstick in 020 Baby Pink. Pros: I don’t find that the lip product is too drying, it’s a pretty light pink color with a frosty finish Con: You gotta make sure your lips are smooth because the may settle/cling to lines and areas where your lips are peeled. So all in all, I think I will continue to use this product but I may look into other lip product brands before I purchase this one again. Another note: I usually need to apply it at least twice to build up the color on my lips

Revlon Color Stay Ultimate Suede lipstick in 020 Front Row: I got this as a gift and was afraid to use it when I saw that many reviews talked about how drying these formulas were. So when I heard that even a majority of people find this too drying… I wanted to stay far away from it as possible. But since I did receive one as a gift, I decided to give it try. So yes after awhile these lipsticks aren’t comfortable to wear cus they’re drying. It is fixable with a lipgloss. However, this color is similar to the color burst lipstick in Baby Pink with the same problem of accentuating dry areas. Plus it’s such a frosty pink that in certain lightings the lip color isn’t flattering on my skintone. Overall: I would definitely not repurchase this and go for the colorburst lipstick in baby pink if you’re going for the same color, finish but want something a little more hydrating and easy to use.

So no matter how tempting the Revlon lip stands look I really don’t wanna buy any more because even now I estimate I wasted 90-100 bucks on lippies that I will never use. Such sadness

Other lip products I won’t be repurchasing:

Eos lip balms; I don’t understand the hype about these because they don’t hydrate my lips at all. In theory these are nice since they use organic ingredients I believe.

Estee Lauder’s pure color long lasting lipstick in Sunstone and Nectarine: First of all, these aren’t long lasting. The lipstick formula is hydrating…but it feels rather slippery on the lips. Plus the lipstick has a strong fruity/floral scent. Honestly I don’t reach for lip products that have a strong plasticky makeup scent or with strong scents in general. So though I don’t think these lip products are particularly bad I personally would not repurchase these. I think I got these lip products as a gift with purchase anyway.

Wet n Wild Silk Finish lipsticks in 520E (bright red) and 521A (fuschia red). These have the same reaction on my lips as the Revlon lipstick in Cherry in the Snow. They make my lips peel so badly! And the effect of it lasts two or three days. Plus the lipstick has that cheap makeup taste/smell. It’s too bad since I read that these lipsticks have less lead than other leading brands such as Maybelline. Plus they’re only a dollar. Too too bad

Maybelline baby soft lips in Fruit Punch: Yep same dealio make my lips peel. Too bad since I do love the sheer color payoff and the smell of it…tastes just like Fruit Punch or something. Put yes definitely does not make my lips like soft baby lips.

Burt’s Bees Nourishing Lip balm: Smells/tastes awful to me. And I wish I have a lip balm that has the ability to heal my lips within a day…and this usually does not. (I have yet to find a holy grail lip balm). All in all, I will try to use it up but I don’t think I’ll repurchase.

Swatch L to R: Estee Lauder (EL) lipstick in Sunstone, EL lipstick in Nectarine, Wet n Wild lipstick in 520E and 521A, Maybelline baby lips in Fruit Punch.

I do these blogs in hopes that someone else will not waste their money like I did…but honestly I think I have exceptionally sensitive lips…so I guess this blog post is mostly for those of you who know that your lips are usually dry and are quite sensitive to most lip products. Thanks for stopping by!

Randoms and food adventure!

Today I was was craving something Italian…without the calories so I decided to make this:

 

Essentially it’s the toppings of a bruschetta without the bread. But here’s the recipe:

1) Preheat the oven to 350

2) Slice the tomatoes into thickness desired (if you want juicier then bigger obviously)

3) Spray some extra virgin olive oil on a cookie sheet/pan? and individually place the tomatoes

4) Sprinkle fresh finely chopped garlic, Italian seasoning, kosher salt, pepper, and sugar into each tomato. I would say sprinkle the sugar a bit generously because the tomato will have a slight acidity once they roast in the oven. The rest of the seasonings put as much as desired.

5) Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. The last three or four minutes add shredded mozarella cheese.

6) Take out of the oven and garnish with chopped black olives.

These tomatoes surprisingly filled me up without the bread! I did put a quite a bit of cheese in it though so maybe that’s why.

After brunch for dinner I met up with a friend for some Indian food! Samosa chat! I need to remember the name so I can get it next time lolol

 

Click on the photos to see the food enlarged. It looks epic. This tasted like Indian spiced chili with samosa drenched in it. So filling and savory. The beans are chickpeas and the samosa inside is filled potatoes…so very good for vegetarians! If I could eat stuff like this every day I wouldn’t mind being vegetarian seriously. The dish is spicy even though it’s the non-spicy version….my stomach is feeling a little queasy but Indian food is so worth it when you’re eating it. TT.TT oh my love-hate relationship with Indian food…

Random little chick I saw at an outside mall:

It was so tiny and cute. The chick chirped when I first petted it and the mother was chirping frantically above. But after awhile when it realized I wasn’t gonna eat it…the bird just basked in the sun and occasionally opened its eyes when I touched it. I wouldn’t recommend touching little chicks but hey I couldn’t resist :D.

 

Update from last post: That glitter punk purple eyeliner or whatever from Jordana was awful! The eyeliner did stay on all day without smudging but the glitter particles didn’t easily come off my eyes when using my eye makeup remover. And to make matters worse I think the glitters went inside my eye cus when I tried to remove the eyeliner it stung! I’m afraid to retry and see if it was really the eyeliner….so save your money even if it’s a dollar! I may go and return the eyeliner if I find my receipt.

Walgreens Haul

After reading about the clearances that are going on in the beauty section of Walgreens…I had to get some of the stuff especially since the ones I did buy all got pretty good ratings.

Left to Right: Jordana Glitter Rock retractable eyeliner pencil in punk rock purple, jordana metal rocks metallic retractable eyeliner in Purple Prism, Jordana metal rocks in Paradise Blue, Maybelline Eyestudio in caffeine rush, Covergirl and Olay simply ageless eye corrector (NOT the concealer).

The eyeliners were each on sale at my walgreens for 1.99 (when normally 2 dollars and something), the maybelline for 5-6 dollars (when they’re usually 10 bucks), and the Covergirl for 6-7 dollars (when they’re normally 11-12 bucks). They were basically around half off. I heard they’re on clearance because they might get discontinued?

Left to right: Purple prism, paradise blue, and punk rock purple

It seemed fitting to buy these eyeliners since I just recently did a post on eyeliners I wouldn’t repurchase. Most of them I threw away because I have no use for them, and I’ll be moving soon somewhere else so I’ve got to purge my beauty stash. I’m always on a hunt for eyeliners that will stay on my oily lids all day…so I thought I would give these a shot. Plus they’re only 1-2 bucks! So cheap!

(My eyeliner is usually not the same thickness since each of them have different folds to them). I tried on the Punk Glitter Purple today, and unfortunately I am not absolutely in love with it. The glitter particles are big…and I’m afraid to get too close to my lashline with this one since I don’t want the glitter to get into my eye. They do give a pretty sparkle…and so far they don’t sting my eyes. I’ll update you guys on that though. The other two aren’t glittery so hopefully those will be even better.

Next the maybelline eyeshadows. I haven’t tried this one yet but here are the swatches. I put a primer underneath, and the right one is with flash. As you can see they’re metallic and the far left shade is quite glittery. So far so good the swatches are beautiful and the colors seem pretty similar to Urban Decay’s Naked 2 Palette. When I looked at reviews, everyone said good things about it so let’s see!

Lastly the covergirl and olay concealer: These concealers are okay but I’m not in love with them. The color…though it’s supposed to be a universal correcting shade…is a bit light for my skintone. Do not use fingers with this products because it will not apply evenly and it’ll look cakey. Use a brush to smooth it out. The finish is a very powdery consistency…so people with mature skin may find this concealer to accentuate any wrinkles. Even the small wrinkles I have under my eyes look a bit accentuated. And because of the powdery finish my under eyes…if not properly moisturized looks dry and aged. I may continue to still use it and see if there’s a best way to apply these…but even then I still prefer my Maybelline undereye concealer by far.

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT: I am fasting youtube!!!! Or maybe I am forever going to delete my account I’m not sure. But either way today’s day one! I find that I have a large amount of time in my hands. Yay for more time! Let’s see what all I’ll do today.

Randoms:

-I made lunch for my grandparents today by reheating pasta I got from Carino’s but I added just a bit of my own touch to it. I first fried garlic with olive oil and then put whole peeled tomato chunks with juice. After stirring I added some kosher salt and a touch of white wine. Lastly, I added the pasta with some additional mozerella cheese. Yum!

-FINALLY found the name of the song I liked…but when I actually listened to the explicit lyrics…I was like…WHHAAAAA. My gosh this song is so derogatory to women. I’m sad cus I think Drake’s voice is sexy…but his song lyrics are not :(.

It’s called Love me by Lil Wayne featuring Drake and Future? I don’t even wanna post a link cus the video makes me so sad

DREAMS

I’ve been getting pretty weird nightmares this past week. It all started when I had a terrible nightmare of gargantuan tarantula-looking spiders…all colorful and deadly…crawling up my arms. Everybody was saying “Gosh Jean you’re such a wuss…haha she’s scared of spiders.” No one was even slightly disturbed by my high pitch screaming.

The next day I had a dream that one of the youtube guru’s I watch (yes…you know I’m pretty much watching way too many youtube videos) was having a conflict with her husband (BenjimanTV) and she ended up divorcing him. At the same time I met the guy a couple of times and we decided to marry! But all the while I was still talking to Harry. And then after I married Ben I was like…”The hell am I thinking?? Why did I marry him??” I had a long conversation with my sister wondering if I should pull a Kim Kardashian and divorce the guy without even being married to him for a day. But I was like “Oh no I don’t want to have that divorce on my papers!!” It was terrible…in the dream I truly felt what it feels like to have cold feet at a wedding. The feelings and everything in this one was so real…

Last night I dreamt that I was still working in the lab (for some odd reason)…and my boss didn’t give me any pay for the extra time I worked. I was like WTF?? waking up but just as I opened my eyes I had to remind myself…No Jean you quit your job a month ago you’re okay you’ve been paid. Such an odd dream.

Yesterday I decided to use up my groupon deal for Johnny Carino’s ($10 for a 20 dollar meal) for lunch. I would have brought somebody..but usually if I suggest them to drive all the way to Rockwall they say ooh that’s too far. Heck it’s even far for me I didn’t even know how far it was until I bought the coupon. So unfortunately without the groupon I most likely won’t visit a Johnny Carino’s. I got a pretty sweet deal going there during lunch time. Everything in their lunch special is 9.99 including a sweet tea or beverage, bread, and soup! So I got two pasta dishes for $10 bucks! 🙂 They have a certain selection of pastas from their dinner menu and the one I tried was 1) Grilled Chicken Bowtie Festival and 2) Spicy Shrimp and Chicken

Honestly I was pretty stuffed eating the soup and bread that I didn’t even take more than a few bites of my pasta. The soup was  a pretty hefty size.

So 100 points for Groupon this deal really made my day yesterday! 🙂 As for Carino’s I think the soup was good…a bit cheesy and a bit salty…but most Americans would probably think it was great. The pasta was good…the texture of the chicken didn’t really feel like real chicken…more like Tyson’s grilled chicken taste? So I wasn’t quite fond of it though the chicken was tender. But the pasta was cooked just perfectly…it wasn’t too al dente or overcooked. The pasta needed some good squirts of Tabasco or Kimchi for my personal taste haha…a bit heavy for my Asian-Am palette.

Fail day

Tried to film something twice today but I totally failed to do anything right. My hair didn’t curl the way I wanted it to…my eyeliner came out horrendous. Ugh. Speaking of eyeliners I wanted to talk about

*Products: Eyeliner I won’t Repurchase*

Physician’s Formula: Most of their eyeliner products irritate my eyes 😦 I wish they didn’t irritate me eyes because otherwise these eyeliners do not smudge

Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Eyeliner Trio Universal Looks Collection

These are the three skinny pencils you see in the picture above labeled “Physician’s Formula”

Cons: 1) Irritates my eyes! They burn  2) The blackest color isn’t black enough for my taste

Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner

Those are the three blocks you see stacked on top of each other in the picture.

Cons: Irritates my eyes!

Inglot Eyeliner Gel matte 77 in Black

This eyeliner is the one on the circular pot above

Cons: 1) Too creamy that if I mess up it smears everywhere! 2) Takes a long time to set so it smudges on me instantly

Pro: 1) it’s matte finish 2) I’ve heard other people say this stay on all day for them…when I apply it on top of a nonsmudgeable eyeliner like a liquid eyeliner or my NYX slide on pencil, then the Inglot eyeliner sets and does stay on.

Milani Liquifeye Pencil Eyeliner in 01 Black

Cons: Smudges!! I look like a raccoon at the end of the day

Pro: 1) A really nice jet black 2) Creamy

Mac Eye Kohl in Smolder 

1) Irritates me eyes!

I haven’t used this enough times to know what other pros and cons it has…couldn’t stand the burning sensation 😦

Estee Lauder Double Wear Zero-Smudge Liquid Eyeliner

Oops I took the picture of the mascara instead of the eyeliner but basically it has the same gold top and navy blue tube.

Cons: 1) Sets too quickly! This eyeliner sets too quickly that if you mess up you might have to just erase all together because it will not come off otherwise! 2) Since it’s so resistant to coming off I thought it would be good to use it outside or in the water…but no it flakes off in contact with water and rigorous outdoor activities

L’Oreal Carbon Black Lineur Intense in Brush Tip form

I have a love, hate relationship with this thing. It’s the tube with the gold top and black tube. I love this brush applicator to apply over fake eyelashes. And if I need a thick jet black eyeliner look this is also good. BUT

Cons: 1) Hard to apply; I end up making the line too thick and the brush tip makes it difficult to make that gradual cat eye 2) Flakes off a bit at the end of the day…makes you look like you have pepper on tops of your cheeks. It stay on better if you put on a primer or base such as the Maybelline color tattoo. This eyeliner I may or may not repurchase…but this is the eyeliner that messed up my look today 😦

Also…

Today was a crazy eventful day! My friend Jiye got engaged!! It’s my sister’s and Jiye’s birthday! And finally I’m finally finished with my stats course! I said if I get an A in this course I’ll reward myself with some Mac Cosmetics…haha I know how sad am I.

 

Trip to New York City

Had an amazing time with college friends in New York City last month. I know this reflection was way over due but I just couldn’t get myself to write it all down as if it were all in the past :(. We still Kakaotalk and keep in touch but I hope we’ll get to meet again next year.

We ate at places like Jappadog, La Laduree macaron, Ippudon, Kitchenette, and Scarpetta which is a restaurant owned by Scott Conant…a judge on Chopped. We spent Friday gathering everyone together and then signed ourselves up for Ippudon ramen. While waiting we walked around New York City and went shopping to places like E.L.F. cosmetics (I didn’t know they had an actual store) and Duane Reed. When the ramen came out it was absolutely amazing. I loved mine the best because it was spicy with miso base. I sometimes shy away from ramen because the broth tastes too much like pork. However, the spiciness and the miso broth helped take away that usual thick meaty taste. We then went to a sweet bakery/restaurant called Spot Dessert Bar. The one I ordered via the waitress’s recommendation was absolutely amazing.  It was called Golden Toast…which was a honey buttered (slightly fried) toast (I would say the bread was a lot like the Korean milk bread) with condensed milk and strawberries. Sounds quite simple right? But the flavor and taste was absolutely decadent. Apparently My says it the dessert is a spin on Cantonese/Vietnamese desserts. After that we took a trek to Times Square…which is my FAVORITE place to go to in NYC. I love the bright lights, the Broadway shows, shops…all of it! We then decided to rest our legs for a bit at a Russian bar we just found on the spot. The shots literally tasted like alcohol with mouthwash. I do not recommend that place…though it got strangely okay reviews on yelp. Ugh…worst drinks I’ve ever tasted. After that I think we were pretty pooped out so we went back to the hotel and slept.

Next day we were on our course to Smorgasburg…a festival of sorts in which different restaurants around NYC gather and let you sample their dishes. Before we went though everyone was craving some coffee so we went to Blue Bottle Coffee…a coffee joint that serves drip coffee and those coffees with fancy designs on it. I didn’t drink any because I usually have a really bad reaction against caffeine but the others seems to enjoy it (I’m sure Mel you would enjoy it too). At Smorgasburg we took a beautiful picture of NYC skyline and tried a hodge podge of things. I honestly have to say I enjoy my Texas State Fair better than this Smorgasburg (sorry! :P) but they did have some interesting dishes. I tried one of those hippie restaurants that use vegetables and Indian influenced recipes. Then I also got this baked macaroni dish from the Milk Truck cus I thought…hey if there’s a long line it must be good. Alas the macaroni was so-so. Overall I felt the food was not amazing compared to how much I had to pay for the samples. But then again everything in NYC is expensive…

Next we went to the Metropolitan museum and mostly the girls were relishing the moment to rest our tired legs from waiting in those ungodly long lines at Smorgasburg. My favorite part of the Museum was Monet’s exhibition, especially this painting

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/67.241

called Garden at Sainte-Adresse

It looks much much better in real life. Basically I love pastel bright colors and Impressionistic paintings so I especially enjoyed the 19th century art section.

After bit of resting inside the museum we went to go wait in another line at Laduree Macaron store. My and cat HAD to have macarons…The cost for them is extravagant; 6 macarons in a box for 21 dollars! D:. I personally liked the macarons I’ve tried in LA but they were still good. After munching on macarons, we went to walk around Central Park. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and it was a nice break from the busy streets of NYC. There’s an especially interesting chair called the Whispering Chair at the park where you can whisper to the people far across from you without anyone else knowing what you’re whispering about. It’s a strange chair to explain…you just gotta go and try it. I’m sure it has to do with Physics…how sound reflects around a smooth curved surface, etc.

Doing all that walking made us extremely hungry so we went to eat Halal guys and sit inside Rockfeller center. HALAL GUYS WERE AMAZING. They were 6 bucks (SO CHEAP) and…SO GOOD with such LARGE portions. Can’t…even…explain. Just try. I was so stuffed after that but we also decided to go to Vu drink bar on top of a building near K-town. There we saw a nice view of the Empire State building and had deceptively sweet mixed drinks. I felt fine after taking sips but then we went to a karaoke for two hours and had two pitcher (smallish one) of lychee soju. That soju was so deceptively sweet and good! I was totally loose and a bit drunk after that and I apparently did some crazy things under the influence (speaking in a British accent, hugging everyone and saying I love you, etc.). So bad…so bad. Link to Halal guys:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/53rd-and-6th-halal-cart-new-york

Last day we went to Andrew’s church but since his church was near Columbia we stopped by the coffee/breakfast place inside their school. Man those Columbian students have it good…sadly better than the Jazzmine cafe we had at Emory >.<. The church was surprisingly moderately conservative. I think Andrew does attend a rather nice church…would love to join if I were in NYC. After that we visited a brunch place called Kitchenette which was all right.The cookies we bought at Levain Bakery were much tastier. The cookies are the size of biscuits and they are filled with soft gooey chocolate chips. So so good. After that we parted TT.TT. Links to bakery:

http://www.levainbakery.com

I then spent some time with my aunt’s family by going inside Chelsea’s market and had their fresh oyster bar. Their oysters and raw clams were absolutely tasty with not much of a briny taste to them. We then went to Scarpetta which is the restaurant owned by one of the Chopped judges. I instantly knew it was him when I saw his photo cus I do watch Food Network alot when given the opportunity haaha. I had an instant Food Network Geek Freaking Out moment. Unfortunately the food was OK for the price. My favorite dish there was spaghetti. The pasta seemed well cooked and handmade and the sauce was so creamy and tasty. However, to my ignorant palette most spaghettis taste pretty much the same to me…so overall I wouldn’t highly recommend this restaurant.

My aunt’s family and I then visited the High Line but didn’t have much time to walk around cus the weather got so cold! I then went to stay with my aunt until I left for home the next day.

I had SUCH A FUN TIME AND I MISS IT ALREADY. I’m glad I took this time to quit working so I can have a bit of fun before going to med school. In two weeks I’m also leaving to Atlanta and El Paso…it will be pretty crazy. I’m going from Dallas to ATL, ATL to El Paso, and EL Paso back to Dallas. The ticket costs 571 dollars O.O. I’ll have to take lots of pictures of all the restaurants I miss in ATL…I will fo sho update you :).

Craziness

Yesterday was a crazy fiasco. After I took my grandma to the hospital I went straightaway to the library to finish up my statistics homework. Then TEN bajillion people had called me but I had my phone on vibrate. When I checked my phone later my aunt was calling me and told me that my grandparents had gotten into an accident. I was like WHAT!? pretty loudly in the library which is pretty bad D:. She also told me she was locked out of her apartment because my grandpa had locked the extra lock in her door. So I came rushing home to find my grandparents were perfectly fine…the front part of their car was scratched by some teenager who didn’t know how to drive. Anyways my mom and my aunt also came rushing home being like what the heck happened?? why didn’t you or grandpa pick up your phone?? etc. We ended the whole day eating a delicious meal but still goodness the series of events that happened yesterday was quite frightening. Hopefully my grandma will be in God’s protection for her surgery tomorrow.

Today is a rainy day and though I should be studying for my stats final this coming Monday…I woke up inspired to do another makeup look using Kourtney’s Kardazzle palette. I actually tried to film this on my computer but I think I’m a terrible person when it comes to filming unless I practice what I’m going to say. So here I am just making a good ol’ blog post about it.

 

The blush and eyeshadow I used were all from the Kardazzle palette. I must say… I really enjoy it.

 

Matte shades: Matte cream white, matte soft pink, matte light brown, matte mauvy pink

Bottom: sparkly gold, sparkly champagne pink, sparkly mauvy brown with pinky-purply sheen, sparkly bronzy brown

 

Con: flimsy packaging (wouldn’t recommend traveling with this unless you put a rubber band on it because the bottom shelf of this palette opens really easily), and matte shades (especially the lighter shades) don’t show up as well as the sparkly shades.

Pro: pigmented and long wearing blushes, flattering highlight shade for my skin tone, and absolutely LOVE the sparkly eyeshadow shades in the bottom. I get tired of seeing metallicy sparkly shadows in the drugstore. I find that too shimmery or metallicy shades don’t suit my oily complexion. However, these sparkly shadows are not too chunky and give my lids a nice soft sparkle. Thus I would say I would even prefer these colors over the Naked colors because I find several of the shades in the Naked palettes have a metallic finish.  I would say the sparkly champagne pinky shade above is very similar to the Naked eyeshadow color in Sin.  This shadow shade is my absolute favorite. The rest of the sparkly colors I wouldn’t say are dupes of Naked shadows from Urban Decay. The shades are all unique and very pretty. They blend well, and on my eyes the shadows last all day with a primer

 

On my eyes: Wet n wild fergie eyeshadow primer, Maybelline bad to the bronze cream eyeshadow as a base, matte pink and white as highlight, sparkly gold in inner third of my eyes, sparkly brown on my outer V, sparkly champagne on the center of my lids. Kardazzle peachy-pink blush on my cheeks, and Kardazzle highlight on my nose and tops of my cheeks.

Unfortunately the last time I checked online or at my local Ulta I couldn’t find this palette. If you can still find it, grab it!