weekend haul + post midterm rehab

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
- Lao Tzu

midterms have been over for a few days now and i've been taking the time to catch up on some

i'm really glad that that's over!

on saturday i had some retail therapy, i wasn't planning on buying much but i got a bunch of stuff ^^


left to right - Dermatouch m.e.d. exfolation, marcelle skin care set, maybelline pulse perfection mascara, giovanni shower gel, and philosophy wish upon a snowflake

left to right -seche recondition perfect nail, nyx magic wand concealer, essie nail polish

i've heard that their (seche's) top/base coat is really good but i couldn't find it so i got this one, its called a nail treatment but it really just like clear nail polish... i like it so far
i also bought some clothes (inclyding a cute black dress!) and some stuff for school

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and a lot of snacks + food. above is a "coconut cake" (but there wasn't a lot of coconut) from t&t's bakery. its chinese new year, we need to celebrate (:

best news i've heard all week

joseph gordon levitt is said to joining the cast of The Dark Knight Rises, the sequel to the Dark knight. YEEEESSS !!!! i am so psyched!


here's jgl on the cover of vanity fair, beside andrew garfiend and mila kunis

The Dark Knight Rises = kind of lame title but with JGL and tom hardy I'm really excited to see their performances and Christopher Nolan's story. I can't believe that they aren't giving Nolan a nod as best director in the Oscar Nominations! Ah, well we know he'll win one for sure in the future, his movies are incredible.
yesterday i saw tangled with some friends, it was awesome!


  its a really good movie, cheesy, but in a sweet sort of way and the graphics are amazing. it had really funny moments and lots cute romance scenes!

we laughed so hard at this!
guys that use their eyebrows are so cute (:

i've made the photos smaller recently, i usually work on my laptop so the pictures seemed medium in size but i logged onto my computer the other day and wham the photos were huge! i hope its easier to load my page now ^^

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maybelline dream mousse concealer

shade: porcelain ivory (light 0-1)
overall rating: 6/10
i got this last month, the drugstore in my area said this was being discontinued (i guess they'll be replacing it with the new Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse line) and i heard good stuff about it so i thought i'd give it a try. I've only used it a few times and you can see that i've made a huge dent in it already! i've been afraid to use it because it disappears so quickly! the jar seems big enough but the layer of product in it is quite thin. I also don't use it often because its a bit too dark for me, this was the lightest shade my drugstore carried (they only had 6 shades but the website shows 16 shades), on the maybelline website it shows a shade before this one , light ivory (0) but it doesn't look really look lighter but has a brighter tone. it looks like the shades with even numbers are for warm skin tones and the odd numbers are for cool skin tones.

the consistency of the product is really soft, it picks up in lumps and you can see some of the air bubbles from being whipped(i've been applying this with my finger)and it spreads smoothly and feels kind of creamy but dry. It starts to get cakey as you try to build coverage, it drys matte so too much makes it look very powdery and it accentuated lines under my eye i didn't even know i had. As for blemishes it covers redness ok but it sort of bunches up around the zit and makes it look more apparent. Also, jar packaging isn't very sanitary so i would recommend this to go around break outs because it would probably just add more bacteria. so far this is my impression of it. its definitely not an HG for me, there's no spf and its not light enough to brighten up my under eyes but i'm still glad i tried it out.

year of the bunny

on another note, it's chinese new years today!

its the year of the rabbit this year, my parents are both rabbits and are turning 48.

people that are born in the year of the rabbit are thought to be calm, gentle, thoughtful and persistent.
(erm, calm and gentle, my parents? no way. but persistent? my mom? definitely)

famous rabbits

Albert Einstein, Leon Trotsky, Frank Sinatra, Pope Benedict XVI, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt (he's the same age as my parents!),Johnny Depp and David Beckham.

happy chinese new year everyone ~  eat lots! 

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Prestige my blackest lashes mascara + layout change!

i've changed the layout again! thoughts? i'm using the new template style so i can use the widgets but still a bunch of stuff isn't working, boooo! still getting the quirks fixed. i might change back to classic template again...
my midterms are all finished and i am so glad that that's over. it went ok i guess? i still procrastinate too much ;(

anyways...



Prestige my blackest lashes mascara - is a volumizing mascara i got a while back, like a year ago (see how i procrastinate?), that i've already tossed because its passed its expiry date. (mascara shelf life = 3-6 months, depending on how often you use it). this is a mascara that i've liked, it really gives super volume. a lot of people say l'oreal voluminous gives really big, fat lashes but i think this one gives more volume (i was actually disappointed with l'oreal voluminous, its a HG for a lot of people but it was nothing special for me). understandably, because lashes get big and heavy, it doesn't hold a curl well. an hour after putting this on, it didn't look like i curled my lashes at all. clumping is minimal, sometimes it can get clumpy though and it does tend to flake. after a day of wearing this i do start to see some black dots under my eye area and so i wore it less often. overall i'd rate this a B

well that's what i can remember about this product, let me know if there's anything else you want to know that i might have missed! 

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jane and the body shop blush review

i switched back the the old layout ~ it was just getting too cluttered for my taste.
i had my first midterm today ... i think it went ok, 5 more to go!
i should be studying ... but i'm not, teehee ;)




Jane Be Pure Mineral Blush in 03 Rose Silk
I really like this blush so far and I bought it about a month ago. Its a medium beige-ish pink color that looks very natural. I was really surprised while looking at drugstore blushes, they all had such strong brown undertones, but I guess that's so that it looks natural? I'm not sure because Make Up Forever, Shiseido and a lot of asian cosmetic brands make blushes that don't have brown undertones. But, this  is a really pretty light pink blush that isn't too bright, give it one pat with a big brush and it goes on sheer or you can easily build up colour. It has a very small hint of shimmer but it isn't noticeable once you apply it. I'd prefer it if it didn't have the quilted design because then the brush picks up an uneven amount and you have to spend more time blending.


i only found this out a week ago but there's a bottom compartment with a brush and mirror! the brush sucks, its has really thick bristles and its too small anyways but the mirror could be helpful. Overall, this is a thumbs up





The Body Shop Kiss of Colour Cheek Blush in 01 Vibrant Rose
first off, the shade is true to its name, this is a bright pink colour with shimmer, no brown undertones, that is very pigmented. the sponge is really soft and i would like this but its very hard to make this blush look natural. you have to try to dot a very small amount on your cheeks or dab a bit on your finger and spread it on your cheeks. i've tried blending it with a brush but it didn't budge and trying to blend it wiht my fingers still couldn't spread it around enough. when i do use this now i apply it under foundation to tone it down and help spread it out.


The body shop one is better for the look in the left (a pop of color) and the Jane blush is better for the look in the right.
hope that helps!

and now back to midterms T___________T

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TRESemme fresh start dry shampoo

i was really excited when i heard drugstores started carrying dry shampoos and that some were by tresemme because i thought that would mean they'd be good. i tried a tresemme shampoo a few years ago and i thought it was alright but i heard positive things about their mousse and other styling products so i expected this would work really well. people in the states have had this for over but i think that we got this in canada recently.

its not that it's terrible but i was disappointing by it. you shake the bottle, hold it 8-12 inches from your hair (about the bottle's length away), leave it as is for 1-2 minutes and then brush it out. When you spray it, it comes on white and for the 1-2 minutes your hair is covered in what looks like white spray paint. I heard that you could use baby powder or corn starch as a sort of "dry shampoo" to absorb oil and give a fresher look but i thought it'd make my black hair look gray and i didn't want my head to smell like baby powder. i did try it once though and this dry shampoo sort of resembles that method, only instead of powder its little white particles (or beads/dots? i'm not sure what to call them. the bottle says its"Formula with Mineral Clay soaks up excess oil and impurities to leave hair looking refreshed.") doing the job and you just spray it on like hairspray.

they say it "Contains Citrus Extracts to neutralize odor and enhance clean feeling." but really it only smells a hint of citrus and mostly has a very strong chemical smell, that does not smell fresh or good. i'd take baby powder over this smell any day. the smell is really strong and hard to get rid of.

it doesn't do much in terms of volume, it says "Volumizes oily/straight hair that becomes limp in between shampoos, giving hair added body and bounce." but its not true. it barely adds any volume, its just makes hair look less oily. after you brush it out the white dots disappear and your hair looks a lot duller but does look fresher than before because it took away the greasy shine. if you have colored hair, they say this will help you because you wont have to wash your hair as often but it'll make your hair color look so much less vibrant

i use this occasionally to freshen up and as sparingly as possible when i do, because i really can't stand that smell, i don't think it makes up for skipping a hair wash, well at least it doesn't for me, my hair gets really oily and it would take a lot of this product to get it fully clean-looking.

bottom line: its not bad to use for a quick and easy way freshen up, but it's not great to use it for more than that, especially for us dark haired people where the white cast it leaves is the most distinct.

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