Travel Diaries 001: VEGAS [ OCT 2015 ] !! ♥

My goal this year was to travel more often and I definitely did my fair share, over the span of 5 months, I went to like 3 different states. That doesn't sound like much but I usually only travel once a year.. I just thought I'd share with you my experience in Las Vegas, Nevada from this past week! ♥

[ WARNING!! This is going to be a long post, but it has a lot of pictures so you guys can scroll through and look at the pictures if you want! ]

I've been planning this trip for about 5 months with a few friends of mine because we wanted to see Big Bang for their North American 'MADE Tour' this year! I missed Big Bang back in 2012 when they did their 'Alive Tour' and I regretted it ever since, so I couldn't miss out this time around.

At this time, I just got back from seeing Epik High in Los Angeles in May & Big Bang announced their North American Tour so instead of going to LA again, I decided that I wanted to see them in Vegas! I've been to Vegas before, but this was my first time going as a LEGAL adult!! So I was wanting to go to turn upppppppp but I didn't get to do much of that.. Oh well! It was still fun nonetheless.

We stayed at the Palazzo hotel on the Strip and it was right next to the Venetian so we did some sight seeing ((you know, typical tourist-y type stuff )). It was absolutely beautiful! It was like something out of a movie, hella romantic if you ask me. It was a a perfect day to spend with awesome people! Now I'm about to spam pictures of some of the food we had so wipe yourself off because I can already see you drooling hehe. 

DRANKS DRANKS DRANKS DRANKS!!!! Everyone I know told me to get a Fat Tuesday while I was there, I guess this is close enough.. I don't like drinking while I'm walking about in public. So I stuck to something small. Gin & Juice from Evening Call was freakin' bomb. It wasn't strong at all and it just tastes like an Icee. So if you don't know me personally, I really love bubble tea and if I could drink it all day, I probably would but I'd be broke.. Literally I had boba 3 times out of the 4 days I was there. Kung Fu Tea, Crazy Crepes, and Tea Station were all the places I went to and they were all A+++!

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As you can see, I took a lot of pictures of the food we had while we were there and man, I'm already missing how good we ate over there... So enjoy the beautiful food porn pictures I took !

SHAKE SHACK @ NYNY Hotel

K-BBQ @ Honey Pig                                                         Miso Ramen @ Izakaya Go

Seafood platter @ RM Seafood                                                     Spider/Crunchy roll @ Izakya Go

Shinobi Nut & Mangozilla @ Kuma Snow Cream                         Seasame balls (DIM SUM) & Harbor Palace

My wallet is sad because I spent all my money on the food... and all the clothes I bought. I didn't take pictures of all the stuff I got but trust me, I got a lot of stuff. I posted most of my shopping trips on snapchat and stuff so I don't have that many pictures so please bare with me.

[ THIS NEXT SECTION IS FOR THE BIG BANG CONCERT, IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED YOU CAN STOP HERE! IF YOU WANNA SEE BIG BANG, CLICK READ MORE!! ♥ ]

Drugstore Lip Products! ♥

What's up everyone?? I'm back with another beauty related post today and I wanted to make it clear that I'm definitely not an expert or anything like that, but I just really like to talk about stuff like this.. As of late, I've been so obsessed with lip products lately and I kinda did a mini haul of some stuff I got while I was at the store. So please check it out!! :)

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This right here is all of the stuff that I got, I mean it's not much but it's way more than what I usually buy in one round (( I know, surprising..)) So all these products are going to be reviewed since I have given all of these products a good amount of time to give you my honest opinion!

Maybelline's SuperStay 14HR Lipstick is the first thing I bought and man, I gotta say that this stuff is seriously so MATTE. The color is the 055 'Keep Me Coral" and the reason why I wanted to go for this color was that it wasn't as orange as the other corals and it has a nude vibe to it which I was really digging at the time. When it's on my lips it comes out more reddish with specks of gold in it.. which it kinda strange to me, but I really enjoy this with my natural lip color! Like I said before, it is VERY matte so if you don't like crackly lips then I suggest using a lip balm or a clear lip liner to tame the beast. Seriously, no joke. It's so freakin' matte. It doesn't last very long even though the name is SuperStay 14HR lipstick.. but what can I expect? You get what you pay for !~ So it's only nice when I am on the go and need to make my lips look alive, but it's not bad in its own right.

My rating: 3/5

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From previous experience, I really enjoy the Maybelline Baby Lips series so I just had to pick this up. Maybelline Baby Lips Moisturizing Gloss is an obvious name for this product... 060 'Berry Chic' is the color I got and it's a bright red/pink color but since it is a gloss, it has a sheen and shiny finish. I usually tend to stay away from glosses because shiny finishes mean sticky texture and I dislike that feeling on my lips. Although it is a tad sticky, it's not as sticky as other glosses and it has the best smell that makes up for it!! The smell is enticing and I don't know if I'm the only one that tastes lip gloss, but I "accidentally" did.. I'm not sure if it was the smell that made me think it tastes good, but it tastes good. Anyway, this product overall does moisturize your lips, but it doesn't last very long. I think of this product as a "your lips but better" kind of thing.

My rating: 4/5

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This right here has to be my favorite product out of this haul and it's the Maybelline Lip Studio Color Blur!! 020 'Orange Ya Glad' is the perfect red orange color ((leaning more towards orange/coral)) and it applies on matte, but it clings on for so long. I just wish there were more color variations in this collection, but it's still a pretty wide spectrum of colors. This definitely has to be one of the most long lasting drugstore lip products I've tried and I don't even need to line my lips or anything! It's dual ended and I'll explain the purpose of both sides ((even though, it's pretty obvious..)). The lip stick itself acts as a lip stain but looks/feels like a lipstick, which is why I like it so much. The gradient/ombre lip look is very popular in Asia and I think it's starting to branch into the US because they made a product like this. Typically, one would use concealer on their lips to wash out the pigment of their lips. Personally, it looks way too pale for me so I really just like focusing the color in the center and blending it outwards.

But, with this product you can smudge out the other end! There is a rubber tip that can spread the color evenly. I haven't used the rubber smudge thingy yet, because I like rubbing it out with my finger and I didn't want to get the tip dirty. It fans out so beautifully and I swear I am so obsessed with this look right now. Although it looks pink in the lighting of the picture, I can assure you that the color comes out really red/orange. My boyfriend said I look like I just finished eating hot cheetos hahaha. I would recommend this 100% !!

My rating: 5/5

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Lastly, this is the Maybelline ColorSensational Lipstick. The color and the look/texture of the lipstick itself is phenomenal, which was the main reason why I bought this product. 525 'Peachy Scene' is exactly what it sounds like, a peachy toned lip color. The color is so nice, but once I applied it on my lips, I really really hated it. For me, it just sat on the surface of my lips and it did not look flattering at all. I only tolerated it when I lined my lips with a pink lip liner.. The way it sits it just coats all the lines of my lips and I was really disappointed with this product. SADFACE... I really wanted a peachy pink color, but I guess it's not meant to be.. THE SWATCH LOOKS SO DAMN NICE THOUGH.


My rating: 1/5

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Here's a swatch of all colors in the order I reviewed them in (( from left to right )). I really tend to gravitate twoards pink/coral colors. Once fall really hits, I'll probably invest in some dark wine/maroon colors. I wonder if the wine color would look nice as a gradient lip. It doesn't really matter I guess because I'll still do it regardless #vampy.


 So that's all for this mini haul/review I did for these lip products! For the most part, I really liked these but as you can see, there were definitely some hits and misses.

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Stay tuned for my next post! Thank you so much for dropping by and don't forget to comment & ask questions on any of my social medias! See you guys in the next one! :)

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My Current Skin Care Routine! ♥

Hello everyone! It has definitely been a really long time since my last post and I am extremely sorry about that, but I've been in a rut with what to post and how I want it to turn out. Personally, I feel that I should update when I feel completely driven and inspired and not just pumping out posts for the heck of it.. I've deleted all my old posts to start with a fresh, clean slate. I eventually will make youtube videos, but I really wanna get into the flow of things by just posting content! If you guys like my posts, I'll probably expand into making videos :)

 So without further ado, here's my current skin care routine!

(( BEWARE!! This post is pretty lengthy, but I really wanted to explain my routine as detailed as I could so everyone can get an idea of how well these products worked for me, so you guys can see if it works for you! So if you read the entire thing, know that I love you and appreciate you very much (°◡°♡) ))

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Here are all the products I use and you're probably thinking if I really use all these products.. and yes, I do! Don't worry, I'll break down the steps I take so you can see how I use these because I think some of these are strictly situation based. Over the years, it's all been trail and error and I've been trying out so many different products this year. I've been getting so many compliments on my skin lately and I just wanted to share my routine with everyone!

---------------------------♥ STEP 1: CLEANSE ♥-------------------------

As you can see here, I have two different cleansers. I have normal to dry skin ((**which is strange for an Asian, since most have oily/combo skin, I'll explain why this is relevant later)) so I need exfoliation so it buffs away all the dry patches and reduces the appearance of acne scars and hyper-pigmentation. The reason why I have two is because I like to switch out between a deep scrub and a gentle one. These are gentle enough for me to use everyday but I recommend the St.Ives Green Tea Scrub for people who have more sensitive skin because it is more gentle than the St.Ives Apricot Scrub. The apricot one has more exfoliants compared to the green tea one. In the picture I did a swatch to show you what the product looks like. It'll last me about 1-2 months, depending on how generous I feel like putting on my face since I use it so often.

 Treating my skin is definitely something I look forward to on a daily basis. It wakes me up in the morning even when I just wanna spend all day in bed... or it refreshes me before I go to bed at night. These have seriously made my skin so much better and I hardly stray away from these cleansers because they are that great!

 ---------------------------♥STEP 2: TONE♥--------------------------

After I wash my face, I'll typically tone my face with a toner. This is Lush's Eau Roma Water Spray Toner. I'm really lazy when it comes to using toners due to the fact that I don't really see too much of a difference so it's nice that it comes in a spray bottle like this! It's supposed to balance out the pH levels in your skin.. but I can't measure my own pH??????????/? Although I don't see a difference when using this product, I don't like to skip it just because it is a very important step into getting your skin prepped before moisturizing and whatnot.

  I usually use this for is a refresher throughout the day when my face gets hot.. In the summer, I did get oily during the day so I would blot my face to get the excess oil off and then sprayed this on!! It's super cooling and refreshing and it's so nice because it doesn't move my makeup around or anything. So it's definitely quite the pick me up during the summer time!

---------------------------♥STEP 3: MOISTURIZE♥----------------------

This has to be my favorite just because it's so satisfying to have my dry skin absorb all the moisture. This is definitely what makes my skin look so good because it brings life back into my skin! There are a lot of moisturizers here, but like I said they are all situational so I'll explain them here.

So I'm going to explain these products in the order you see them ((left to right)).

1) Nature Republic's Aloe Vera Soothing Gel: A friend gave this to me because she has oily skin and it didn't too well for her and I needed a new moisturizer so she gave me this one! ((Thank you Lina!)) Anyway, this stuff is super light weight and not creamy and thick like other moisturizers. Honestly, I really hate cream moisturizers just because it feels like thick, sticky lotion on my face and I don't want my face to be weighed down.  It's made of 92% aloe vera so it's very hydrating and it soothes skin irritation due to the sun or dryness you might have. It absorbs very quickly but the only downside is that it dries equally as fast.. So I have to put on my makeup quickly or else my makeup doesn't sit right.

2) Danielle Laroche Dead Sea Wonders Soothing Face Serum: That is a long name... So I bought this looking for a new moisturizer to replace the Nature Republic one because it's running low and I found this gem at Ross so I picked it up for a bargain! Since this is the most recent product out of the collection, I've just only been using it for a short while and I'm in love with it! On the box, it says it's enriched with argan oil and omega 3,6,&9 so I was expecting an oil based formula, but it came in a pump and it looks like a lotion. Like I said earlier, I hate cream based ones but this one is very light weight and it applies very smoothly. It contains essences from the Dead Sea, which is the purest ocean that contains pH restoring properties. I'm not sure how legit that is.. but I've seen it in a lot of skin care products. It rejuvenates and nourishes the skin while the oils protect and maintain skin hydration. This stuff works so well for me by keeping my skin hydrated ALL DAY LONG. I'm very happy with this purchase :)

3) Daiso Japan Hyaluronic Acid Gel Mask Sleeping Pack: This is one of those products that you use when you've had a long day.. It's an overnight mask that you rinse off in the morning when you wake up! It hydrates your skin overnight while you're sleeping so you don't really have to worry about it. It has a gel-like consistency that cools as it's drying on your face. After it's dry, it literally feels like there's nothing on your face. Just don't forget to wash it off in the morning. This can definitely be used every day but I think it's pretty special because I bought it at Daiso in Los Angeles a couple months ago and I don't have a Daiso where I live, so I'm preserving as much as I can!! So if you have a Daiso in your area, I'm jealous of you..  

Please excuse the different colors of the pictures.. The lighting decided to change and I tried to edit it but this is as close as I could get so please forgive me. 

---------------------------♥STEP 4: MAINTENANCE♥------------------

So my skin is far from perfect and I have a lot of days where my skin just goes completely haywire so these products really save me when I need it. These two items here are treatment items that I only use occasionally because they're kinda hardcore. (( THESE ARE OPTIONAL ))

1) Daiso Japan Natural Charcoal Peel Off Mask: There's a craze about this stuff in Japan and Korea where they use these charcoal peels to get rid of black heads on your nose, just like a pore strip. The difference is that it applies like a gel! So when it dries, that's when you know it's ready to be peeled off and that takes about 10-15 minutes or so. Make sure you don't leave it on longer than that because this stuff is super potent and it can really cling onto your skin.. Trust me on that one. It isn't supposed to be used more than 2 times a week just because of how harsh it can be. Supposedly, you can use this as a full face mask as well but I haven't tried it yet because it is quite messy to put on.. That's the only thing that I can say about this product that I didn't like. On the other hand, it works really well! Am I the only one who spends 10-15 minutes inspecting it to see all the nasty stuff that was on  my nose??? It's oddly really satisfying to look at. I'm not weird. Maybe. 

2) Neutrogena Naturals Acne Spot Treatment: It's in a very small bottle so a little goes a long way with this stuff. It's a spot treatment with a lotion feel to it. Once applied to the blemish, it dries and turns into this crusty looking spot on your face. I like to leave it on overnight for it to work at its maximum potential. I mean no one's gonna see me with my gremlin looking face and white spots so it doesn't really matter :) :) :) If any of you use the toothpaste trick for your big red pimples, think of this as a gentle alternative. Obviously it costs more than toothpaste, but there isn't that searing pain of an agitated pimple with minty freshness.

**Using Asian products on my skin is a tad bit difficult because most Asians have oily/combo skin. I really enjoy using Asian products because they are very light, and not heavily scented. I'll be investing into some more products soon just because we're transitioning into fall and my skin will likely get even more dry.. It's definitely not cute. 

That's it for my skin care routine! Personally, I don't think it's anything too crazy, it has all the basic steps you need to take care of your skin. Honestly, I'm very passionate about skin care and I do tons of research about it on my free time (( -cough- loser )) It's just so interesting how everything works and I really enjoy it. 

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I wanted to thank you guys for reading this post and I'm really excited to blog more! I have a lot of ideas that keep sprouting from my brain hehe so please be on the look out for those. Thank you for waiting for this post to come up, but I hope you guys think it's worth it. Please comment or let me know on social media about what you think/any questions you might have! For those of you who have blogspots, be sure to link me your blog below so I can check it out as well! I need more blogs to read so please enlighten me with yours. 

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