My (Current) Favorite Perfumes!

What can I say, I really like to smell nice. I only really started wearing perfumes 3 years ago, but like every other teenage girl, I wore a lot of body spray. My family doesn't like strong scents and so I didn't really wear a lot of stronger fragrances while at home. 

Since going to college, I would treat myself to a perfume and wouldn't buy another one until the previous one ran out. In the picture above, I already finished DKNY's Be Delicious Eau de Parfum and I'm one spritz away from finishing Dolce & Gabbana's Light Blue Eau de Toilette. During Sephora's latest 3x Points for Fragrances special, I got Ralph Lauren's Ralph Eau de Toilette. 

Review & Swatches: Maybelline Volum' Express The Rocket Waterproof Mascara in Very Black

Maybelline Volum' Express The Rocket Waterproof Mascara in Very Black claims to give "explosive, beautiful lashes." It has a big plastic applicator that slightly tapers at the end. 

The Rocket Mascara has replaced LashBlast Volume as my favorite mascara! It gives me a cleaner yet still voluminous look. The added length is also very nice. I can build up the product too without it getting clumpy. I don't know why, but it also doesn't leave marks on my lids during application. 

Manicure Monday: Ciaté Paint Post in Skinny Dip & OPI Nail Envy

Ciaté has been featured a lot recently on my Manicure Monday's, but it really is just a coincidence! I got another Ciaté polish recently in my April 2014 Glossybox and the color is called Skinny Dip. It is a beautiful super metallic / foil yellow-orange color. The formula is thin, but is so opaque that I only needed about 2 coats to have complete coverage. You can also apply the layers on immediately because the thinness allowed the polish to dry very quickly. 

My base coat was different this week because I used OPI's Nail Envy. I had glitter polishes on for the past few weeks and glitter removal took a slight toll on my nails. I wanted to wear Skinny Dip immediately and so I used a strengthening base to help me out. I find that Nail Envy makes my nails grow a bit faster than normal and so I don't use it that often. I like my nails to be short and I don't really like to cut my nails more than once a week. 

Both of these polishes are amazing and now I'm really tempted to get more normal Ciaté polishes.

What is on your nails this week?

Review & Swatches: Smashbox Photo Finish Color Correcting Foundation Primer in Color Adjust (Green)

Smashbox Photo Finish Color Correcting Foundation Primer in Color Adjust (green) claims to reduce the appearance of redness and blotchy skintones while smoothing over fine lines. I bought this when the travel sizes were $10, but the Smashbox website now has it listed for $15.  

Manicure Monday: Revlon Parfumerie Nail Enamel in Apricot Nectar and Sephora Formula X Nail Cherry Blossom Top Coat

For this week's Manicure Monday, I wore Revlon Parfumerie Nail Enamel in Apricot Nectar and Sephora Formula X Cherry Blossom Top Coat. Even though the Sephora polish is a top coat, I did use another top coat to smooth over the glitter. 

Apricot Nectar is a peachy apricot color. The color in the bottle is so pretty and perfect for spring. What you see is also the color that you'll get on your nails. Unfortunately, it doesn't apply as well as the other Parfumerie polish I have. Apricot Nectar applies unevenly and I had to apply 3 coats to look okay. I suggest waiting for each layer to dry before applying more. The smell is a nice in-between of floral and fruity, but it doesn't smell like apricots to me. The top coats cover the smell though. I know this mini-review sounds bad, but this polish is still nice to me. The normal nail polish isn't there and it has a nice base color for something else. 

After weeks at looking at the Cherry Blossom Top Coat on Sephora's website, I finally got it! The glitters are different sizes but the best part are the cherry blossom ones. They're matte and are all a soft pale pink. It's hard getting the cherry blossom glitters out, but they look nicer if the nail isn't covered with them. I find that if I dip into the bottle too much to fish out the cherry blossoms, it gets a bit thicker and harder to get out. I would go by layers and if there are multiple blossoms in a particular dip, I would place them on my other nails. When my nails were almost dried, it also helps to push the glitters down so that they would fit the curvature of the nails better. 

What's on your nails this week?

Hao Are You? #3 // I'm meeeelting

I'm meeelting! (Cue the Wicked Witch's voice) This week has been 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit and it's only going to get worse as summer comes. I'm so happy that my rent includes AC because my roommates and I have been blasting it non-stop. Some of my friends keep wanting to go to my apartment too so that they could use the AC. 

Now, let's start with the questions!

What have you been up to?

If you didn't know, I have a tumblr and I've been doing #100happydays, which you can find out more about here. The pictures above are from that "challenge." I'm mostly motivated to do it so that I could get the photobook at the end, but I also wanted to start documenting my days. Even though I'm only halfway done, it's been fun looking back on what I've done. I started to get back into baking, but it's hard trying to try out a lot of different recipes since I don't want to make too many things at one time.  School is going pretty well and I'm not as stressed out anymore because I got a research assistant position.

What are you looking forward to?

I've been waking up around 5:40AM 2-3 times a week for the past 3 weeks and Monday will be the last day this school quarter that I have to do it. I'm so happy that that will be done soon. There's about 3 more weeks of school and I can't wait for my week break. I'm taking summer classes and so I won't have a lot of time to go back to visit my friends and family. 

What product have you been loving?

Since it's so hot, I've been really relying on sun screen. I recently bought Lancome's Bienfait UV 50+ Sunscreen during Sephora's Chic Week sale. It's oil-free and very thin and so it's great under makeup. It's hard for me to put on 1/4 a teaspoon of sun screen on because all of my other sunscreen is way too thick. I've also been using Clinique's Acne Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel twice a day for the past two-ish months. It's not a miracle worker, but it is working. It has1% salicylic acid and salicylic acid tends to work better on my skin than benzoyl peroxide. I would put a thin layer all over my face and if I have a huge pimple, I would use it as a spot treatment too since the directions suggest using it both ways. As you guys know, I do not have the clearest skin and so the combo of these products are working well for me. One prevents / treats acne and the other prevents the scars from getting darker or worse. 

The products are slightly blended out on the bottom image

How was your week? 

ps. I'm also thinking about splitting up the life update portion and the product portion to be different blog posts. I try to keep these posts more concise, but if there were two posts, I would include more products. What do you guys think about that?

Palette Praise: NYX Nude on Nude

One of my close friends got me the NYX Nude on Nude Palette a year ago and it's definitely a good nude palette for beginners and the more advanced. There are 20 eyeshadows and 10 lip colors. The eyeshadow formulas include mattes, metallics, satin, and shimmers. There are double ended tools to use with the shadows and lip products on the bottom layer and there's a wide mirror on the lid. 

The lip colors are lipsticks and lip glosses, but I tend to not use them. I don't like potted versions of lip products so I just tend to ignore them. They are good for mixing though with the included lip brushes to create a custom color to match any eye look you create with the shadows. 

FOTD & OOTD- May 13, 2014 // Back to Basics

These pictures were taken after all of my classes, but at least you can see how my makeup held up! I used to wear red lips and winged liner every day until it became my signature look that everyone identified me with. I've started adding some more simple touches to have a complete look. There's a touch of eye shadow, defined brows, and contour. I did set with a powder, but as you can see, my skin has that dewy look. My acne scars are slowly getting better and as much as they still make me sad, I am feeling more comfortable having pictures of my face like this online. 

For my outfit, I layered 2 tank tops with black shorts. My high school friend recently created a clothing line with her boyfriend called Gravity LA and that's where I got the white top. It's super soft and a bit flowy. It's a crop top, but it hits about an inch or two over the top of my shorts - which is the perfect length for me. A lot of tops are too long and so my proportions always look off. The arm holes are pretty big/low and that's why I paired it with a black cami underneath. It would also look really cute with a bandeau. Both the cami and shorts are from Forever 21. My shoes aren't shown, but they're maroon ballet flats that I got from Target to match with my lips. The Picture on the right was edited a bit to brighten up the colors. My skin looks more tan than it is in the outfit picture,

The weather was super hot today and so I just wanted something laid back while also looking made up. My style is pretty simple and so I like to include simple graphics and even statement lips to add something into my look. The only jewelry I normally wear are rings and I am wearing one in this outfit. It has 3 interlocking silver rings and I bought it from a Vendor Fair at my school. 

Products Used -

• Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer Color Correcting Adjust (Green)
• Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonia Clay Finishing Powder (underneath the CC Cream)
• It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream SPF 50+ (review here)
• Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light
• theBalm Bahama Mama Bronzer
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Wet 'n' Wild Comfort Zone Palette (rose gold shade)
• Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eye Pen to line the lids & Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner (review here) for the wing
• Maybelline Volum' Express The Rocket Waterproof Mascara in Very Black
• Dior Diorshow Maximizer Lash Pluming Serum (review here)
• NYX Charcoal Brown for brows
• Stila Long Wear Lip Liner in Passionate
• MAC Viva Glam I Lipstick (review here)

- Gravity LA isn't sponsoring me or anything to mention it. They're really nice and good people and I wanted to give a shout out to them and their brand. 

- The Wet 'n' Wild Palette and MAC Lipstick were given to me as gifts

What are your FOTD and OOTD?

Manicure Monday: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color in Lacey Lilac & Ciaté Paint Pot in Monte Carlo

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color in Lacy Lilac is a beautiful cream lilac (light pastel purple) color that only needs 1-2 coats. 1 coat is often enough, but some fingers might need a little more depending on how it was applied. The formula is thicker than a normal polish, but it's not goopy. 

Where to buy: Ulta, Amazon, Target, etc. 

Ciaté Paint Pot in Monte Carlo is a glitter polish with bar, micro, and hexagonal glitters. The colors include pinky-red, blue, and silver. Like the other Ciaté polish I talked about here, it can be built up to be opaque. For the manicure above, I only used one coat. The formula is a bit thinner than The Hamptoms.

Where to buy: Amazon, Sephora, Ciaté

Even after a week of wear, my nails still looked really nice. There were some chipping, but they were very minor. They were barely noticeable unless you stared at my nails up close. I used my normal base and top coat, too. 

What are you wearing on your nails this week?

Review & Swatches: Dior Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum

Dior Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum contains 10 mL / 0.33 fl. oz. and retails for $28.50. Dior claims that this lash serum can be applied day and night to be more resilient, protected, and revitalized. It is an all in one product to not only make the lashes look great after application, but also with long time use. 

Makeup Look: Hyosung of Secret's Solo Debut Liner Look

I love looking at makeup looks form KPOP stars. I feel like they're more translatable to my eyes and they like to emphasis the same things I do. Hyosung is an amazing singer and she's having her solo debut soon.

The look I was inspired by was the one on the right. It's such a beautiful, but somewhat wearable, purpley-blue elongated liner look. The drama of the smokey eye is paired up with a very fun color. Her hair is such a pretty color too. From the photo, it looks like a red purple and her brows are colored in a similar way too. 

Review & Swatches: MAC Lipstick in Plumful

MAC Lipstick in Plumful is describe as a "blossoming rose-plum" and has a lustre finish. Plumful is more pigmented than some other lustre lipsticks I've tried, but the shine is still there. It's a more wearable alternative to purples because of the rose-y undertones. The signature vanilla scent is also present in this lipstick.

Review & Swatches: Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Beso

Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Beso is a true red matte lipstick. The claims include being full coverage with intense moisture that won't transfer or bleed. Stila also claims that this lipstick will stay in place for at least 6 hours of continuous wear. The full size product includes 0.10 ounces of product, but I have a mini size that was included in a holiday set. There's a slight warm vanilla scent that is very similar to MAC Lipsticks.