E.L.F. Mystery bag! - Offer Extended!

I was disappointed that I didn't decide to get ELF's mystery bag last night...but turns out they've extended the offer until Midnight today! This was done early this month on the UK site and I viewed some reviews of the bag and they look pretty good :)

If you purchase $20 on their website  and use the code LEAP you will get a mystery bag with a $20 value, which is a lot of products considering their amazing prices. Also 4 people will get a bag worth $100! Here's to hoping :)

I'll be making my order today, even though I just ordered a haul from them this last weekend!

Quick Announcement - GIVEAWAY!

 Happy Leap Year!

I'm going to write an actual blog entry late tonight (probably on lip products) but I just wanted to let everyone know that once I reach 60 members I'm going to have a great giveaway!

I have a few items already, but I'm thinking the rest is going to come from some of the things in my 6  Beauty Boxes in March. I'll keep reminding you guys but if you see something in the boxes when I review them that you really like, let me know and I may include it for you!

I may buy a few items too, what products would you like? Be specific on types of things (i.e. eyeliner, lotion etc).

Doctor Who Fashion

Alright, I will openly admit that I am one of the biggest nerds you'll meet. I love school, videogames, science, reading, and I most definitely love Science Fiction. I watched all 6 seasons of the new Doctor Who from November to the middle of January (I even watched a few episodes of the Tom Baker older episodes from the 60s). While I love the show, I was starting to feel a little disappointed by some of the episodes, luckily my favorite writer took over for season 5 and 6. Even MORE lucky for me is that Amy Pond (the new cute, Irish, and fashion savvy assistant played by actress Karen Gillan) showed up and will be around for at least another season.


I was shocked at how similar are fashion sense is (or at least her character, I don't know what she dresses like in real life). She wears plaid half the time, chucks, tights, and semi-cowboyish boots. So I decided that I should pick up some of her styles that I hadn't thought of yet, since I fell in love with them when I saw them. Basically the styles I caught a liking to are: wearing a mini skirt in a casual way, wearing tights with my boots (I usually only wore my boots with jeans), and wearing my casual jacket more (I tend to wear my nicer trench coats a lot).

I always kept my mini skirts for going out on the weekends or for looking sexy/classy when I'm out with my boyfriend. However I'm really digging this new look and have tried it out 3-4 times already in different ways. So I decided to share one of my Amy Pond inspired outfits:

 

What I love about this outfit is that I didn't buy anything to achieve the look, I already have all of the items laying around! I just never thought to put them together like this.

• Tights: You can't really see it well in this picture but my tights are grey Chevron patterned. It's actually extremely obvious in person. I got them for $2.11 at the end of December from CharlotteRusse: You can still get them here if your interested
• Boots: ZigiSoho is the brand, and I got them for around $35-40 from DSW a little over a year ago.
• Brown Stretchy Miniskirt: $6.50 at Forever 21. Now I want to buy all the colors since I've found a way to wear them more often!
• Sweatshirt: Gap, I got this 2 years ago when it was on sale for about $20
• Jacket: I found this at Marshalls this summer for $10 on clearance (man I love that place!) and the brand is Sashimi

Do any of you have any fashion role models? And have you recreated their look for yourself? I'm always interested to see what inspires everyone, especially when it comes to fashion!

Stila Sale - Up to 80% Off on HauteLook!

Hey makeup lovers,

HauteLook is a site similar to Ideeli.  Everyday there are different deals, usually fashion and designer products, but also home appliances and makeup.  They give ridiculously good deals that you can't find anywhere else, for this reason the deals are only available for a couple of days.

Today until Friday Haute Look has tons of Stila products for up to 80% off.  They have Foundation at $8, eyeliners from $5-10, Smudepots at $10, lipgloss at $6, concealer sticks at $5 and eyeshadows at $6!  Get it now while you can!   Unfortunately I'm trying to save money right now so let me know if you buy anything and how you like the products :)

Sign up and shop Haute Look here! 

Origins Haul - December 2011

Happy Wednesday everyone! This is a little late, but I wanted to wait until I really got to know these products! I went to Origins during the winter break and decided I wanted to try out their products (since up until then I had only been using their body lotions).

First is the GinZing refreshing eye cream. I absolutely LOVE this eye cream. It reduces my dark circles within 5 minutes.  However, it is only temporary and does not reduce the circles with long term use. I've stopped having to wear concealer under my eyes though when I use this product, since this is actually just a moisturizer.  So if you have dark circles this products will help, depending on the severity you may still need concealer on top though, but not as much. I believe this runs at $29.50 for .5 oz. Quite pricey but you barely need to use any each time so it will last awhile.

The Automagically eye liner in Mulberry is also one of my favorite products.  I use it daily actually, sometimes i'll switch to black eyeliner but this color is so pretty I can use it everyday, with any outfit. It looks almost brown when you first apply, but after about an hour it turns into a metallic like medium shade of purple. I also have to apply 3-4 layers of this to get the color I want. The best part is that it lasts ALL DAY!  Even without a primer! Sometimes it rubs off of my left eye since my bangs touch that eye all day, but even then it still lasts 5 hours. Otherwise it lasts the entire day. This product is $15.00 and comes in numerous colors.


I'm wearing it in this picture but it hasn't "set" yet so it still looks a bit brown.  This picture is more for showing the next product, the Full Story Lush-Lash Mascara.

I'm not a fan of extremely obvious mascara, so I don't tend to coat more than once. I like mascaras that separate, define and lengthen. This mascara is perfect for that! You can still add coats if you wan to make it darker, and even then it doesn't clump much. This is my daily mascara and it'll be hard to fine a product that does a better job for me, but I still love trying out different mascaras! I'm not sure how much this product is, It's $15.00 for a full size. The picture of mine in the product isn't the full-size, it's a sample size I got from them.

Origin's Flower Fusion Lipstick Jasmine Flower has moisturizing flower extracts in it (they have a whole line of these lipsticks). I really like this color, because I wanted something natural looking but nice for going out. I haven't worn it much because I'm still a little uncomfortable wearing lip color to work/class.  But I'm trying to get used to it!  This product is $16.50

Do you own Origins products?  What are you favorites? Do you prefer their skincare or makeup?

Tea Review - Chocolate Chai Rooibos

I'm a huge fan of Rooibos tea. It's a red herbal tea from Africa that has a sweet undertones. When I worked as a barista my coworker said rooibos tastes like "sighing" to her. It's a strange analogy, but when you try you'll know what she means! It's so relaxing and the perfect blend of sweetness that it feels like your whole body sighs!

I personally like my rooibos with a little sugar or honey and soy milk. Sometimes I just add soymilk, and sometimes I only add sugar, it depends on my mood. A few weeks ago I went to Central Market and decided to splurge on a flavored rooibos so that I don't have to put as much sugar in it. I was hoping to find a naturally sweetened kind. I ended up choosing "zhena's gypsy tea's" chocolate chai flavored rooibos. No this isn't chai tea, it's chai in the sense that it's spiced.  It has ginger, chocolate and a few other spices.

I'll be honest. While I can smell the spices and chocolate when I open the tin, I can't taste them at all. I'm not sure if I should use 2 packets the next time but this to me just tastes like regular rooibos, and not as strong. However, at $7.99 per 20 sachets I prefer not to use two at a time. I ended up having to add just as much sugar as my regular generic brand (HEB grocery store brand) rooibos and still getting less of a taste.

Will I finish this can? Yes, it's not bad at all.
Is this better than my generic brand $1.50 per 20 packets? No, if anything this tastes weaker.
Would I buy again? At $7.99 a tin? No, i'll just stick with my regular rooibos.

Hopefully I'll find a good flavored one that reduces the amount of sugar I have to put into it, but until then I'll stick to the generic brand I buy!

Do any of you drink rooibos? How do you make it? What brand do you buy?

The Look Bag (February) Review

So now that I've (almost) tried everything out in my LookBag I'm going to review it!

First, the Suki Soap. While I love the smell of this soap it was a little strange when I used it.  Afterward my skin felt almost sticky...like there was some kind of resistance to water. Almost like it had coated my skin.  However, the stickiness went away once I got out of the shower and it actually moisturized better than any other soap I have. I didn't feel the need to put tons of lotion on (since I have pretty dry skin in the winter). All in all I say it's definitely something I'll continue using till it's used up, but since I'm not a fan of bars of soap I probably won't buy a full sized product.

The KTO eye cream has a strange application. It's extremely liquidy at first, but once I put it on it just would NOT absorb into my skin. Some of it would, but a lot of it just piled into a weird pool of creme that I had to pat off with a tissue. Other than that it moisturized well and it did seem to brighten my dark circles (at least temporarily).  I won't know for sure until I've been using it for a few weeks. The bright side is that it will last me about a month since I barely have to use any at all each time! Overall I think this is a good product, if it actually works then I may invest in a full size bottle.

The Cailyn Eyeliner is AMAZING. I've never had a gel eyeliner and this was so easy to use, the built in brush was great, and it's definitely waterproof and long lasting! I barely had to put any on the brush to cover my whole top lash line. This product alone was worth the $10 the whole bag cost! Especially since it retails at $21.

I've never put on gel eyeliner before so this photo may not do the product justice!

Here's a picture of the eyeliner, I didn't want to put too much on or any on my lower lash line since I'm not going out and just put it on for this picture. I'd rather save it for when I go out of my house haha. I used so little though that I have a feeling this will last me at least a month of everyday wear.

*I'm not affiliated with any of these brands or companies, these reviews are strictly my own personal opinions.

The Look Bag - February 2012

Today I received my first ever subscription beauty box (or in this case, bag) in the mail! I'm extremely excited, especially because it ended up being better than I had expected. So far I'm the only one that I know of that has received slightly different products in their bag. I believe this is because I signed up at the last minute and they probably ran out of the original samples. So they ended up giving me 2 samples from last months box, which is great for me because I REALLY wanted some of the samples from the last box! However, there was one product from this month that I didn't receive that I actually wanted: the Gingerbread Caffeine exfoliating soap by S.S. Soap Co.  I LOVE coffee, I live off of it and I was a Barista for years, and I'm absolutely convinced that caffeine fixes everything :).  I'll probably buy this on the Look Store anyway.

I haven't tried anything out yet, but once I do i'll be giving them separate reviews. I'll post my initials responses to the products though.

 The products came in a pink organza bag which I will probably use for storage or use to gift someone something.

 I put a quarter (if you can tell that's what it is) to show the size of these products.
KTO's Organic Vitality Rose and Cucumber Eye Cream.  The card that came with the package says that it's meant for aiding in micro circulation which reduces dark circles and puffiness.
My Thoughts: I'm REALLY excited about this, I love eye creams and I hate my dark circles. I've also been looking for an all over eye moisturizer so this is great.
Price: $30/1.18 fl Oz.  So the value of my 10ml sample is $8.39 

2.  Also seen in the picture above is the Suki Sensitive Cleansing Bar. A moisturizing cleansing bar made for the body and face and %100 percent natural and vegan.
My Thoughts: I'm pretty excited about this product since it can also be used for the whole body (I'm not much of a face cleanser person since I don't have problem areas there...yet).  It smells great too since it's made with lemongrass!  I can't wait to use this, however I've never actually used a bar soap before so this should be interesting!
Price: $3.96 member price

 3. Cailyn Gel Eyeliner in Black (plus bonus loose shadows to mix with). Long lasting, smudge proof and waterproof gel eyeliner with brush attached.
My Thoughts: This is a full sized product, which is great!  I've been looking for a gel eyeliner so I'm dying to try this out
Price: Retail is $21, for LookBag members it's $16.80.  So my value is $16.80 + the cost of the loose powders.

4/5. Obliphica Hairkop Treatment and Shadow Shields. The hair treatment is a serum for damaged and dry hair.  The shadow shields are used to keep your eye makeup from falling on other parts of your skin (while putting on eyeshadow etc).
My Thoughts: I'm not too crazy about either one of these...to be honest I probably won't use either. Maybe I'll use the hair treatment since I have it, but I don't have dry or damaged hair. I also don't wear eyeshadow so the shields don't do much for me.
Price: $23.96/2.20z Hairkop Treatment.  My Value: $1.09 for 3ml. 
Price: $7.99 for 30 shields. My Value: $0.53 for 2.  

6. Jus D'Amour Perfume. Blend of coco palm, aqualeaf, Tahitian vanilla, and sandalwood.
My Thoughts: I love this scent! It's everything I want out of a perfume.  Unfortunately it's a bit pricey for me...
Price: $35.20 for 1/8oz.  My Gucci perfume cost 51 for 1oz!
I'm not sure how much was in the little vial but I believe it was probably 1ml which would make My Value: around $11.73.  But I'm not quite sure.

So my bag valued at around $43 + the two loose shadows.

So yes, I will be keeping the subscription for at least another month!

If you're interested in the Look Bag you can sign up here: TheLookBag

YesStyle Haul - Jan/Feb 2012

Anyone who knows me well knows i'm obsessed with Korean culture; including the TV dramas and the clothing.  A few years back I found a site called YesStyle.com, a sister site of YesAsia.com where I buy my Korean drama DVDs.  YesStyle sells Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese clothing and is based in Hong Kong.

The variety is AMAZING, you will get lost at this site if you're not careful.  There are thousands of products that range from $10-60 each.  I usually set my settings for $25 and under and find amazing clothes for cheap, yet still good quality. I've been ordering from this site once or twice a year for a few years now, I usually do a huge haul since free shipping starts at $150 (though it's only $10 for shipping otherwise).  Usually I get around 9 or 10 items for $150. The reason I keep going back to the site is because these items are EXTREMELY unique and inexpensive! Every time I wear something I've gotten from YesStyle I always receive a compliment on it!

 So although I know have a closet full of YesStyle clothing, I will just post my January haul this time! I don't normally post pictures of clothing but I find it's extremely when others review their YesStyle hauls since products can sometimes be hit or miss! Also, The prices are strange too, it's kind of like Amazon, they change pretty often.  So keep in eye on the things you want while you're shopping to make sure they didn't go up.  I've had a piece in my cart go up $10 in an hour! I believe this all depends on stock and popularity of the product.

This years haul is mostly blouses because I need clothes I can wear when I go out, as well as at school when I TA courses.

My lighting is pretty bad so I only took pictures of a couple, the rest are pictures taken from the site.

1. Orange Bear - Drape Front Striped Cardigan (My Price: $19.60)
http://www.yesstyle.com/en/info.html/pid.1025681914
This item is actually plus sized, I got a size 40 (the smallest) and it fit like a cardigan should.  Loose but not too loose. 

2. Orange Bear - Set: Asymmetrical Top + Striped Tank Top (My Price: $19.80)
http://www.yesstyle.com/en/info.html/pid.1025681775
Again this was plus-sized, I think this particular brand has all plus sized products. I'm pretty small and the smallest size was a little big, but it's supposed to be a baggy look and I like it.

3. Tokyo Fashion - Ruffle Trim Sleeveless Top (Light Green) (My price: $21.00)  http://www.yesstyle.com/en/info.html/pid.1024667871
I REALLY like this blouse, it's a good quality and comes with the braided belt which I can use for a lot of things.  It's a bit wrinkly but nothing a good ironing can't fix.

4. Tokyo Fashion - Contrast-Trim Pleated Chiffon Top (Light Pink and White) (My Price: $14)
http://www.yesstyle.com/en/info.html/pid.1024778916
I don't really like the material of this one, it feels a little like taffeta, and it puffs out a bit at the bottom which I don't like too much.  I'll probably end up wearing it with a pencil skirt underneath to balance the poof.

5. SOHO Central - Long-Sleeve Lace Top (Beige) (My Price: 22.50)
http://www.yesstyle.com/en/info.html/pid.1025839291
This looked a lot better on the model than it does on me, it's a little big on me but I still like it. It's actually pretty warm surprisingly!

 6. Tokyo Fashion - Sleeveless Cutout Ruffle-Collar Top (Light Pink) (My Price: $15) + Belt from Urban Outfitters ($5)
http://www.yesstyle.com/en/info.html/pid.1024740004
The elastic waist on this falls a little too low (or high depending on what you like) for me.  I definitely have to wear a belt with it, but I don't mind because I love belts!

 7. Tokyo Fashion - Dotted Pleat Skirt (My Price: $19.80)
http://www.yesstyle.com/en/info.html/pid.1023638056
I really like this skirt, it's a little short, so I'll probably have to wear tights with it.

 8. 59th Street - Button-Detail Paneled Satin Pencil Skirt (Black) (My Price: $10)
http://www.yesstyle.com/en/info.html/pid.1024187063
This one is a little big for me in the waist since it's supposed to be high waisted. It fits well if it sits lower but the look just isn't right at that part of my waist. I'll probably have to wear a belt with it, but I still like it.

 9.  59th Street - Box Pleat Skirt (Beige) (My Price: $12.50)
http://www.yesstyle.com/en/info.html/pid.1024467994
I love this skirt! I don't have one in this color.  It's a little girly girl for me...but I knew that before I bought it and wanted to give it a try.

The difficult thing about YesStyle is the sizing, a lot is one size fits all, however there are quite a few that are S-M-L.  However, because the style over there is generally skirt/skinny jeans + a baggier top, the tops tend to really be a one size fit all. 

I've never had an issue with YesStyle, although there is always 1 or 2 items I end up not liking.  A risk we all have with online shopping. However I never send anything back since Hong Kong is pretty far away haha, i'm not sure if they have free return shipping or not since I haven't looked into it.

Usually there are tons of $5 dollar off codes floating around online too!  Hopefully I helped all of you YesStyle shoppers out there, or at least introduced some new shoppers to the site!


I am not affiliated with YesStyle in any way, these opinions are strictly my own.

Love with Food

If anyone out there is a foodie (like me) and wants to try out some great gourmet samples, I found a new monthly subscription service similar to blissmobox and conscious box.

Not only is it the cheapest of the food boxest that i've found ($14/mo), they also donate a meal to help fight hunger. There is a really interesting point system too: every 1000 points goes towards 10 dollars in their store.  You can get points just by joining, linking to your facebook, reviewing/posting recipes, reviewing products, and saying hi to fellow members.  Not a bad deal!

Even better is that they have a coupon for the first box free! So if you're interested in trying it out just put this coupon: FBVIP.  If you don't want to buy a monthly subscription, you can still join the community and get great deals for free! And if you really want to be nice you can go through my referral link (you can either just join for free or decide to purchase a subscription through this link):
http://lovewithfood.com/signup/?ref=2rBXv




I'll be reviewing my first box when I get it in March and I'll let you know what I think!

Gucci Flora EDT

I figured I should review the perfume I bought, since I’ve been wearing it for 2 weeks not almost everyday. When I went to Sephora and tried out as many samples as I wanted (this is the great things about Sephora), I decided I didn’t particularly love any of them but had a slight affinity to Gucci Flora EDT.

 

Now after having worn it for two weeks, through hot and cold weather, and both on my skin, hair, and clothes, i’ve decided that it’s good, but not my favorite.  It has a sweet and citrusy scent, but not too strong in either direction.  So what I ended up smelling at the end of the day is what could be called an orange dreamsicle (oranges and cream).  But not in the disgusting way…more in the light an fresh way.

Oh well! I guess it’s time to start looking for a new perfume.  I really like citrus and fresh scents, any suggestions?  What is your signature scent?