fall favorites

hi guys! as promised, i'm slowly chugging through making posts! i actually spent all of tuesday with a migraine, which sucked, but guess who finally started feeling better like 3 hours ago??? lol. so here's some of my recent favorite things. ~Lindsay ^.~

happy belly yogurt trail mix -- i mentioned getting these amazon snacks like free or something with an order a while back. this mix is soo good! super balanced as far as amount of each thing.
lemonheads candy -- one of my coworkers had random candy in a bucket on her desk, and i kept eating all the lemonheads... then i ended up buying a tooon from amazon because no store anywhere near here carries them ever anymore.
mac velvet teddy -- i've been using this lipstick almost non-stop. it's such a great shade!

mac velvet teddy

louisiana shirt -- remember how last time i was like sam's club. Sam's Club. SAM'S CLUB. well this shirt was $10 at sam's. this is a small, but it's oversized and didn't shrink very much in the wash. i don't really go for oversized shirts (and didn't bother to hold it up to myself when buying....), but i do like the cut and that it's loose and flowy.
fan pulls -- suuuper random, i know. but aren't they adorbz and functional at the same time?! this set was $4 at walmart and also came in a bronze version.

june hauls - beauty and planner

hi guys! so this post turned out a bit different than i normally do.. i prewrote bits and bobs here and there and kept adding to it, and this one became more of me talking naturally than me listing the things, which was what i was sort of doing. so let me know if this format is better. i usually prefer reading posts that get to the point of things, but this was a nice change. ~Lin-chan ^.~

so our anniversary was last month and teh paul got me some goodies. namely the sky organics bath bomb set (which you can get on amazon), story of seasons: trio of towns (woookit teh kyoot capybara!), and a dishwasher basket for chopsticks!
i also got this month's target boxes, because yall know how fast i've been going through these razor handles recently! i have no idea how i keep breaking them, but it feels like i'm breaking handles faster than i'm replacing the cartridges! ~.~ and teh paul was interested in the men's one this time.

got some colourpop birthday 'sale' goodies. got the gemini by night palette, pinky promise, and the limited: birthday cake super shock shadow.

i also placed a sephora order because free nars orgasm lipstick? heck yes. the thing that's interesting though is that this tarte paaarty blush looks different and is in a lighter color packaging than the sephora birthday freebie. swatching them on my arm though, they're pretty close but not exactly the same. i'll have to start using this to see what it's like. and i added a marc jacobs velvet noir mascara for 100 points.

golden gate bridge, the hidden hills, manhattan coffee run, moscow sunrise, pinky promise (all swatched without primer),
birthday cake, orgasm lipstick, paaarty blush (new, old)

nars orgasm lipstick

picked up a few things at the walmarts. got another concealer and brow gel, as per usual. i saw that they had these soo ae lip masks, so i wanted to give them a try. and they're carrying those nail polish bottle holder things, which i've been kinda wanting, for like $2-3! annnd kiss salon color nails are ok, but i prefer the gel fantasy or impress kind, but out of the designs available, i liked these.

mac was having a 25% off coupon, and i've been wanting these since i saw a particular instagram post of theirs... anyway, so i got an extra dimension eye shadow in smoky mauve and an eyeshadow pan in blackberry, and i picked their false lashes extreme black mascara as a sample.

top: smoky mauve, bottom: blackberry -- swatched without primer

went and renewed my sally's card and if you don't know, they usually give you an up to $8 gift of your choice (ion extreme moisture creme) with your $5/year membership. then a few days later, i got a $5 off my next purchase coupon.. and they were having 20% off macadamia natural oil..so i had to get another one of their hair masks!
i also placed an order with sigma because their loose glitters and shimmers were on sale and zeal is absolutely gorgeous. i'm kind of disappointed with astral and stellar compared to swatches i saw online. i swatched them dry for the photo, but i also put them over primer and didn't see much of a difference (zeal was even better!). but i'll try them a bit more and see what happens. by the way, my swatch of zeal below isn't true to color. zeal's like a blue-brown duochrome, and my swatch came out kinda orangy looking. ain't nobody got time to re-swatch!
T and i went to sephora on a quest. or rather, i was on a mission and she agreed to come along. i really wanted to try the new becca highlighters, and i picked up opal flashes jade because it's friggen gorgeous.
sephora is doing some app only specials (like one-day-only pre-sale thingies) and this it superhero mascara and brow power bundle (full sizes) was a must at $24. two-fer! now i have 3 spare brow powers! muhahaha! i also got the urban decay optical illusion primer with a code.
lastly from sephora, they supposedly sent out a $10 or 15 off $50 coupon to VIBs for two days only. LOL i didn't get one, and i somehow managed to find a code floating about the internets. (if you aren't already, you should follow trendmood1 on instagram!) anyway, i got something for the sis in law, and the viseart petit pro palette, which T and i were pretty impressed with when we saw it in the store.
and finally, ulta had their 20% off almost everything coupon again. so i got a couple usual clinique skincare things which i didn't bother photographing, and i had to get another hoola lite. yall, i don't understand how i hit so much pan so fast on the first one. i got it in march! three months?!

zeal, stellar, astral, opal flashes jade, viseart petit pro palette (all swatched without primer)
(man, this photo doesn't capture the prettiness that is zeal and opal flashes jade...)

planner stuffs -- here's the link to my etsy list of purchased planner stuff
got my one of my two PBC sale orders in the mail from thecoffeemonsterzco. for the second, it's been over a month since she mailed it, but i haven't seen my oncemorewithlove order yet.

stickeriffic participated in monthly planner madness, so i got some of her goodies too! got a couple cactus sheets and washi, clear stickers, unicorn boxes, and llamas!

wonton in a million collabed with once more with love to make this super adorable bundle!

createdbydanielle1 had these gorgeous weekday stickers and i couldn't pass on her sudoku stickers! love!!!
planner studio made a bundle that i couldn't pass up, and i ordered a few other sheets as well

june 2015 favorites

hi guys! i've got my june favorites for ya! i didn't have any regrets this month, but some food meh's. lol. and i shopped my stash and rediscovered a few things that i still love! ~Lin-chan ^.~

favorites:

1. colourpop cosmetics kathleenlights set -- these four go so freakin well together, it's gorgeous. yall know i'm a neutrals fan, and this is perfect!
2. lancome artliner liquid liner in noir -- this came in the sephora favorites glitz & glam set. this was actually one of the items i really wanted to try when i decided to order the set. if i remember right, my mom used to consistently use this a long time ago, and now i see why. it's really awesome. i love the elongated and flexible felt tip that it has. it also stays nice and black all day.
3. becca shimmering skin perfector pressed in opal -- i got this in the sephora bronzed something-or-rather set in may, and i've been practically using this non-stop. it's so gorgeous!
4. urban decay afterglow blush in rapture -- this is such a pretty blush! it's subtle yet a nice plummy shade.
5. anastasia beverly hills tamanna palette -- [see #6 below] i never actually used this palette until recently. i really love sangria and china rose. so pretty!
6. i shopped my stash this month and attempted to use each of my palettes (as demonstrated in my first week at work post), since i've been slacking lately. and i re-fell in love with (in no particular order):
1. urban decay naked2 basics palette
2. urban decay naked 3 palette
3. be a bombshell cosmetics quad in bora bora
4. too faced natural eyes palette
5. mac bao bao wan jewels veluxe pearlfusion shadow palette
6. maybelline master drama chromatics eye pencil in turn on the teal
7. kevyn aucoin shadow duo in sugared peach & rust brown
8. benefit rockateur blush

random favorites: there's a lot this time!

1. song: skrillex kill everybody -- this should have been included in my favorites a long time ago... paul burned this onto my "car cd" like a year ago, and it's one of my favorites on there (aside from ff5 chainsaw). you should go have a listen. not to sound like a completely terrible person, but it's like my anthem and "because dey got people in the world, [and i'm] glad i ain't one of 'em!" --- lol, that's a reference that only people i went to high school with would understand.
1. another song that's great is knife party internet friends. it's got some language, but it's so funny because of people and the social media age. i love it.
2. target: c9 champion concealer sports bras -- [buy all the colors!] they were having a sale on this brand earlier this month, so i picked up a few. these are super comfortable, no removable cups (which is awesome for washing them!) and they have built in petal-pasties..so maybe that's the "concealer" aspect of them? anyway, i really like these a lot.

1. snacks!! these are a few of my all time favorite snacks, plus a few new ones.. (all of these were purchased either at my local asian grocery or world market)
1. kasugai roasted green peas -- these are like popcorn..ya can't stop eating them. they also come in wasabi flavor, but i'm not for spicy.
2. licorice melon seeds -- these are like sunflower seeds..but not. the shells are a lot tougher than sunflowers, so you'd typically use your back teeth with these. they're pretty salty and by the time i realize it, i eat so many that my lips are burning from the saltiness. haha.
3. green tea pocky -- i've loved green tea pocky, and i recently discovered the midi variety, which is a shorter, thicker "pretzel" stick and they put a thick coating of the chocolate flavoring on the outside. super good!
4. white chocolate tolberone -- my family's a huge fan of these, and i was super excited when i found out they made a white chocolate version a few months ago, really yums.
5. perugina baci white -- these are white chocolate covered hazelnut ganache plus a whole hazelnut. so yums. i found these at world market a few months ago, on the same trip that i found the white tolberone. for quite some time now, i've been buying my dad perugina bars and baci and i always wanted to try it..well now i can! and yes, i'm completely ignoring the fact that the ingredients list says chocolate milk. i don't care, it's teh yums.
6. c howard's violet mints -- aka, soap candy. apparently out of my entire family (both sides), my paternal great grandmother and i are the only ones that like these things..because everyone else thinks these taste like soap. and rightfully so, but i always liked them. when i was little, my great grandmother would pick up a few extra packs for me whenever she went to the drugstore, and i would practically eat the entire pack as soon as she gave them to me.
1. i'm the same with wintergreen tic-tacs. idk, so good, must eat all.
7. not pictured because they were hiding in the grocery bag: haw flakes -- i've always loved haw flakes. throughout elementary and middle school, i would pack my lunch myself, and i'd throw in a couple packs. i would always share them with my adventurous friends, but most of them never liked them. i never understood why. they're flat disks of sweetness, maybe like a dried puree? ....apparently they're made with chinese hawthorn berries.
1. on a sidenote: all of my friends growing up became obsessed with white rabbit candy. those are super addictive too. and yes, you eat the paper--no, not the individual wrapper, but the sugar paper wrapped around the candy.

product updates:

1. i bought more furikake! i got ebi (shrimp) and shiso (beefsteak plant leaf) flavors. i think the ebi is good, but still has a slightly fishy taste to it. like, i still like the salmon one more. and the shiso is interesting..i'm not really sure how to describe it. it's a very earthy taste. for a little while, i was trying to grow a beefsteak (type of tomato) plant, and this smells similar to the plant. but this also has a slight tanginess to it, that's hard to describe. i feel like i've had the flavor somewhere else before, but i can't totally place it. it almost tastes like dim sum sticky rice? like the flavor that the lotus or banana leaves give the sticky rice?? ...does this make any sense whatsoever..? probably not. haha, but that's the best i think i can do.

april 2015 favorites, a fail, & an update

iiiiiiiiiiiitsssssss april favorites timeeeeeeeeee! it's another neglect responsibilities and wear sweatpants monday! with all that severe weather and tornado watches/warnings this morning, i ended up not going to work, and school canceled anyway. i've been home studying pretty much the whole day because i have a final tomorrow that's worth 40%. like seriously. ~.~ and the power went out for like four hours.... studyin by candlelight! (see my latest two instagram photos in my sidebar widget) anyway, the more extensive life update is at the bottom of this post. ~Lin-chan ^.~

ps, did yall see that ridiculous video of the train that blew off the huey p?! holy crap man! and secondly, who the hell goes to canes at 1030 in the morning to take said video?? (click for the article & video)

favorites:

right: wearing colourpop cookie, wisp, birthday suit

nars rikugien, benefit posiebalm, colourpop cookie

mac bao bao wan palette; colourpop birthday suit, wisp

1. mac bao bao wan jewels veluxe pearlfusion shadow palette -- this is such a pretteh and sparkletastic palette! i love using the top shade as my brow and inner corner highlights, the second as an all-over shade, the fourth as my crease, then the third patted over the lid, and sometimes but not so much the fifth one as a lower lash liner.
2. nars satin lip pencil in rikugien -- as i mentioned somewhere else before, i wanted this pencil a long time ago and never got around to buying it. i loved the formula of the other two nars lip pencils that i had previously and i was definitely excited when this shade was included in this year's birthday present!
3. burt's bees herbal blemish stick -- this is an inexpensive salicylic acid alternative, made from 100% (or close to it) natural ingredients. i've been using this nearly everyday since i got it in early march and i've been liking it. it's a lot cheaper than the clinique spot healing gel i've been using (and you know how much i love ◔_◔ the new formula compared to the old--bleh!). the only real complaint about this one is that it's a rollerball and sometimes there's too much liquid on the ball when i go to apply it and it starts dripping down my face....and for people with a lower pain tolerance--this stuff burns a bit.
4. benefit posiebalm -- i'm not sure why, but i've been using this guy every morning recently. when i first got it, i wasn't a super huge fan because it has a rosy scent and the staining power is minimal or non-existent. but, it's a nice flush of pink for my more natural days.
5. colourpop 
1. blush in birthday suit -- this is a very natural pinky rose shade with a hint of gold glitter. yall know i'm not huge into cream blush, but this one's pretteh good. it has the same texture as their eyeshadows.
2. highlight in wisp -- this is such a pretty highlight. i think it would work great as a shadow topper too. it comes off as a really pretty sheer gold shimmer.
3. lippie stix in cookie -- this might be my new perfect nude type shade. or maybe orangy-nude. i really do like it!

random favorites:

top: triple chocolate, chocolate peanut butter cup; bottom left: double chocolate mint,
upper middle: peanut butter chip, white chocolate macadamia, lower: snickerdoodle, oatmeal raisin

lol, can we talk about this color palette i've got going here? but seriously, i basically live in blue, black, and gray.

1. salmon furikake rice seasoning -- so in february's meh's section, i mentioned how i got the bonito furikake and it was super fishy. i've been wanting to try the salmon one out and i finally bought it earlier this month when i went to the korean store. soooo much better! it's a lot more subtle but still has a nice salmon taste.
2. insomnia cookies -- so we just got one of these out by northgate..and it's derricious. if you have one near you, definitely check them out because it's so good, and warm, and mmmmm! a word to the wise, do not get their sugar cookie. it's weird and not sugar cookie-like---if that makes any sense at all. their snickerdoodle is a more accurate ..depiction? additionally, if you do have delivery, expect to not see them for a while and not so warm cookies. from placing the order to receiving my first delivery, it was one hour--and i ordered before 530PM, like before most peoples' dinnertime. go and wait in line, it's worth it!
3. work clothes! how lame am i now? i recently bought a crapton of work clothes from the limited because they had some awesome deals going on. so i bought several pairs of pants and tops. i also got a few new tops from marshalls/tj maxx. then, i bought several pairs of shoes from payless because sales and coupons too... the comfortplus by predictions shoes are super comfy, i had two pairs prior and needed more (karmen, marge). and i got some dexflex flats (bianca) and wedges (daylight).
1. mil's handiness/sewing skillz -- back in high school, my mother didn't let me take home ec, which i genuinely wanted to take. but anyway..it's ok kinda, because my mil is nice and hems all my pants for me..because i'm shorter than short..[pants] by like one inch. sadface.

mehs:

1. koh gen do pure cotton -- i bought these from sephora to try out, mostly because i wanted to check out alternatives to cotton rounds. i've tried out several brands of cotton rounds and my favorite is still the sephora ones--but they're not always available, so i go for whatever's in the drugstore. anyway these are ok. i used them for eye makeup remover (i cut one pad in half to use for both eyes) and it worked great. using these with micellar water or toner, they're not so great. they generally hold up, but they pill up a bit when i use them on my face. i also tried applying toner or cleansing water to them and splitting the layers apart, but that didn't really change much either. after these are gone, i'm planning on trying out the shiseido ones next--and they're more cost effective.

regrets: i didn't actually have any this month. wut!

1. can we call this one? i painted my nails with the intention of a notd redoux post and it was late at night and i didn't get to take any photos. then my topcoat ended up bubbling by the next morning... so it was more like a fail on my part. i'll try doing it again sometime soon, i promise.

update:

1. recently, i've had the stuck in a rut feeling. it's the end of semester crunch and graduation and all of the things. here's a mini checklist:
1. send out my graduation announcements
2. graduation
3. pay off the student loan
4. pack up this apartment since we're planning on moving to a larger unit (in the same complex)
5. pack up at my room at my mom's because my "storage unit" is no longer available for free starting in july
6. starting my new job...except that they haven't figured out my start date yet...... the new building is almost finished, so they're moving in anytime now basically. and mass confusion involved with all that. so i'll start sometime before the end of summer! who knows when!
7. teh paul has another europe trip/conference to go present at this summer. and i'll be at home because i'll be working.
2. teh paul's got his own work stuff that he's been trying to figure out.. contractually, his fellowship doesn't allow him to get outside income because it's basically like a salary (gettin' paid to study, ain't that the life!). so he's thinking about not taking his final year of the fellowship, and take an internship with one of the instructors who has a consulting firm for the summer. then, for the fall and spring, he'll be a GA or TA or whatever the hell. same difference. the reasoning is that he doesn't have much teaching experience, and the consulting firm is good real-world practical experience. and at the moment, he's leaning more toward working at this company rather than pursuing academia for now at least. there's too much uncertainty with him becoming a professor: a high chance of not getting tenure, and the 100% certainty that we would have to move out of state. likewise, if he keeps his fellowship, nothing will really change aside from him maybe taking on guest lecturing for his professor and maybe TA/GA for a lab or something. he still has no idea which he wants to do... ~.~
1. and then we've got the added stress of, "well if i'm going to intern this summer, i'm not going to want to drive my old car all the way out there." well you ain't driving mine! so we might be car shopping here very soon. the original plan was for him to get a new car at the end of the year for sales and that's when new mazda3's are released--which is on his list. [sidenote, i just remembered: when i got my car, his was next to mine in the photo i posted, and someone said "yeah, paul's car got soul too!" ..i have a kia soul.]

march hauls

 

it's the end of the month, and that means it's march hauls time! woohoo! as mentioned in my birthday post, i bought a few other things with the money and gift cards i received. i gots a lotta goodies and pretties! ~Lin-chan ^.~

body shop: they were having a crazy ridiculous deal, buy three get three free, free shipping, and a free hand cream when you spend $50. uhh, hello. yes. i got a few olive scented products and some tea tree oil products.

z palette: used my birthday coupon on 2 xl palettes

bath and body works: travel shower gel in wild madagascar vanilla (freebie with a coupon!)
beautylish: bioderma micellar water duo, parian spirit set

sam's club: 3pk simple cleansing wipes
sally's: acetone, mystic divine nourishing oil treatment
ulta: essence silky touch blush in adorable, body shop shower gels in peach and grapefruit, ulta birthday eyeshadow palette in indie

indie palette (swatched over elf essential eye primer), adorable

nyx cosmetics: prismatic eyeshadows in bedroom eyes, golden peach, liquid gold; powder blushes in mocha and rose garden, high voltage lipstick in tiara, and wicked lippy in power. somehow their lip pencil in earth tone ended up in my box (freebie?)..but it looks really brown for me, so i'll probably pass it off.

golden peach, liquid gold, bedroom eyes (all swatched dry); rose garden, mocha

power -- totally would have rocked this in middle or high school

tiara -- this shade photographs really nicely, but in real life it's a lot pinker on me, closer to my arm swatch

sephora: bite beauty march 2015 limited lab release lipstick (chilly pepper), sephora collection solid brush cleaner, mufe artist shadows in ME612, S556, I628 (three of the four in the 50 shades give into me set, the fourth is I514--which i already bought), koh gen do pure cotton (to try it out), redeemed points for marc jacobs beauty highliner gel eye crayon in blacquer

ME612, S556, I628 (swatched dry); blacquer

bite march lipstick - chilly pepper: full color, this is sooo me, lemme tell ya.. i think i prefer it sheered out.

makeup geek: soft dome brush, pointed crease brush, shadow pans in: pretentious, barcelona beach, beaches and cream

beaches and cream, barcelona beach, pretentious (all swatched dry)

bbb: (press on nails) broadway impress in shimmer, fing'rs prints in on the dot

1. i've been reluctant to try the fing'rs ones because when you buy them, they only have the small nails on top, which makes it seem like it's for kids. but the larger nails (thumbs, etc) are on a sheet below. also, since this set has the little heart charms, it comes with additional adhesive strips for them. these nails have the adhesive already applied to them, without a backing, and you just press them on and go. see my impressions/review here.
2. unfortunately, i bought this set of broadway impress nails like two days before i heard about the recent controversy -- stealing blogger nail art designs without consent and selling them in press-on form. fortunately, a nude glitter is not owned by anyone... 

ulta: simple skincare cleansing wipes 2 pack, ulta illuminating powder in pink diamond, eyeshadow in sandstone, cotton rounds, freebie ulta bag-o goodies, and dr. teal's foaming bath in eucalyptus spearmint

• i was actually trying to buy a hairdryer and i threw in all this stuff to get to $50 and free shipping...but that was a fail and it was out of stock. at the very least, they charged me just for these items and still gave me free shipping. but sadface that their site doesn't always reflect unavailable products.

sandstone (swatched dry), pink diamond

mac cosmetics: bao bao wan jewels veluxe pearlfusion shadow palette

[swatched over elf essential eye primer]

ulta: lorac pro to go palette & freebie mini porefection face primer, philosophy microdelivery exfoliating wash, freeman beauty sweet tea and lemon peel away clay mask, nyx hd blushes in intuition and hamptons
cvs: almay clear complexion concealer (unpackaged), loreal infallible eye crayon in always aqua

always aqua, hamptons, intuition

pro to go: pearl, chai, mink, shell, cafe, black

pro to go: coral, pink, bronze