february 2016: sephora play!

hi guys! today, i got february's sephora play box! (theme: now & later) sadly, i've tried half of the items in here already. but hey i have some to give to my friends so they can try, so not too bad! ~Lin-chan ^.~

n9, plumberry pop, noir intense

n9

plumberry pop

1. bare minerals pop of passion lip-oil balm in plumberry pop (.03oz--mini, $16 for .11oz [$4.36]) -- i did not expect to be wowed by this product. but i am. omg. the color is full on, and the "melt-in moisture" claim sure feels about right! this is called a "lip-oil balm" and i think that's about accurate. it does have the oily slickness of an oil, but it still feels moisturising, and it felt surprisingly melty as i was applying it----all of these observations were made before me reading the box by the way. i'm thoroughly impressed by this and am interested in trying one closer to my natural lip color!
   repurchase? maybe
2. makeup forever rouge artist natural lipstick in n9 (.05oz--mini, ret. $20 for .12oz [$8.33]) -- i can't tell you how many samples of this lipstick i've gotten and given away. i've kept the very first one that i've used (and it's still good), but i kind of feel like this is a repeat item as far as deluxe sample (and birthday) offerings. don't get me wrong, this is a very nice formula and color, but i kind of was hoping for something new. this one will get passed along.
   repurchase? nah
3. bumble and bumble pret-a-powder (.5oz--mini, ret. $12) -- yay a new dry shampoo to try out! the only issue i have is its light floral scent, but it's not super overpowering, so it should be interesting. haven't tried dry shampoo in this format before.
   repurchase? dunno
4. tarte lights camera lashes mascara (.1oz--mini, ret. $24 for .24oz [$10]) -- i've tried a sample of this in the past and thought it was ok. not a super huge fan. will pass this along.
   repurchase? nah
5. lancome drama liqui-pencil long wear eyeliner in noir intense (.018oz--mini, ret. $23 for .042oz [$9.86]) -- this is my third one of these. shortly after these released, i used a code on a sephora order and got a mini. and i thought it was only ok and didn't really take much effort into giving it a better chance. so i passed it along. then in like a sephora favorites box or something i got a full size. i've kept it but haven't really used it much either--which i really should, hahaha. anyway, the point is i'll pass this one along too to another friend to try out. this is a super black, nice and creamy liner. and from videos, i've seen that it's super amazing once it dries and sets--it doesn't budge, at all.
   repurchase? maybe
6. tom ford black orchid (sample, ret. $80 for 1oz) -- i'm not going to bother trying to explain this scent. alls i know is i don't like it. if smells could be called dark...this is it. a dark sensual(?) scent.
   repurchase? no
7. 'coupon' for an extra 50 points on the next in-store purchase

approximate product value: ~$45

february target beauty box

hi guys! i was able to get my hands on the february target box! yay~! ~Lin-chan ^.~

1. soapbox coconut oil shampoo (2oz--mini, ret. $5.99 for 16oz [$0.75]) -- this smells awful. you'd think that two products with the same scent should smell the same...they don't. this smells super artificial and almost banana-y..??? that's so weird.
   repurchase? no
2. soapbox coconut oil conditioner (2oz--mini, ret. $5.99 for 16oz [$0.75]) -- this is very reminiscent of white rain coconut hair products, something my parents would use when i was little. can't wait to try it!
   repurchase? maybe
3. ecotools mini shower pouf (ret. $1.97) -- yay! a new pouf!
    repurchase? maybe
4. mayfair soap foundry body cream in sea lily jasmine (ret. $8.99 for 5.5oz) -- this is similar in feel to loccitane hand creams, maybe slightly thinner. the scent is really nice, slightly fruity (maybe the sea lily?) and i really like it.
   repurchase? maybe
5. skinfix lip repair balm (ret. $4.99 for .35oz) -- this is one of those thin, slippy, oily balms. not my favorite, but still usable. doesn't absorb super fast, but still doesn't feel balmy on the lips.
   repurchase? nah
6. loreal advanced hairstyle boost it texture spray (ret. $3.99 for 4.2oz) -- has a pretty decent scent. it is chemically, but not super offensive. this more or less sounds like a volumizing spray moreso than texture, but it goes in the roots too, so maybe? are they the same? haha. i'll try it out though.
   repurchase? dunno
7. vera wang embrace green tea & pear blossom perfume (sample, ret. $29.99 for 1oz) -- i'm not sure this is really me. i do like it, but it's a little on the floral side, which i'm not a huge fan of.
   repurchase? nah
8. inococo nail polish applique in second nature (ret. $4.99) -- can't wait to try these out!
   repurchase? maybe
9. derma e hydrating night cream (.5oz--mini, ret. $25.99 for 2oz [$6.50]) -- this has a very nice scent, it's a relatively thick cream but feels like it'll be very moisturizing.
   repurchase? probably not.
10. laneige bb cushion sample card (ret. $34 for .5oz) -- can i get another... again...? really?
     repurchase? no
11. $3 off $15 coupon

approximate product value: ~$28

our second blue apron box!

hi guys! last week came and went and i didn't get around to posting this up here......sorry! anyway, this box was actually really good, better than expectations! and we can't wait to make these again! ~Lin-chan ^.~

for those interested, i added the meals we received into my recipes folder.
links to previous hello fresh posts (first, second), and previous blue apron post

dinner 1: steak tacos & mole verde
preparation: i made this. this was pretty simple to make and the instructions were pretty straightforward.
thoughts: this was teh amazingz. we are making this again. pretty sad that the avocado they gave us was not ripe at all when we got the box (probably could have used a few more days), but we already had some and it worked out.

dinner 2: meyer lemon-glazed catfish
preparation: i made this. i think the only issue i had with this was that i didn't pay as close attention while making the lemon syrup stuff and a lot of the liquid evaporated and we lost some! not sure why the instructions said to put flour on one side of the fish...i put it on both without reading it apparently, but it still turned out great!!
thoughts: this was really great too, and we're definitely making this again as well. only real complaint about this one is that i didn't shred the collards enough to mix as nicely with the freekeh (the rice stuffs). otherwise, it was really nice and light and the lemons and syrup were amazing!

dinner 3: spicy orange chicken wings
preparation: teh paul made this. the instructions were stupid but some of the sauce on the wings burned in the oven. it didn't tell you to lower the heat in the oven and sauce at 475 burns pretty fast, faster than 6-8 minutes!!
thoughts: aside from the charred bits, it was really good. the shiitake rice was kinda meh, but the chicken was pretty tasty.

our first blue apron box!

hi guys! we just finished our first blue apron box and it was pretty good! it was on groupon at some point (might still be) and we decided to give it a try to compare it to hello fresh, which we really enjoyed. so, onto the food! ~Lin-chan ^.~

for those interested, i added the meals we received into my recipes folder.
links to previous hello fresh posts (first, second)

sorry that i didn't get photos of the box..i was out of town and teh hubz had to condense to put this in the fridge. basically the box has a huge lined bag with two giant ice packs and a piece of cardboard to separate the meat from the other ingredients.

dinner 1: shrimp & pineapple fried rice
preparation: i made this. some of the steps were kind of annoying because it says to take a peeler to the lime...when realistically you want to zest the lime. please say that first and not two sentences later! so i peeled it with a peeler, then had to cut it into smaller strips because i didn't use my zester. >.> otherwise, no complaints outside of the ones mentioned in the overall thoughts section below.
thoughts: first, the fried rice called for 2 tsp of lime zest, it was very zesty! i wish that i didn't cook the rice for as long or with as much water..or something, it was wetter and stickier than i like. otherwise, i enjoyed it.

dinner 2: italian beef grinders
preparation: teh paul made this. see overall thoughts below.
thoughts: i'm not sure if i wasn't a huge fan of the bread because it was refrigerated (a bit stiff)..or that it was so huge that it was difficult to take a bite. not to mention that you basically have to split the bun in half in order to stuff it..... i thought this one was ok. i liked the steak fries, but teh paul didn't put enough salt on them. the cheese sauce stuff was interesting. i kind of wish it were more liquidy and melty than a semi-solid blob. the meat was seasoned only by the mushrooms and onions that were cooked in the pan before and with it, so it was very boring and plain-beefy. it was ok.

dinner 3: chicken & sage biscuit pot pie
preparation: teh paul made this. see overall thoughts below.
thoughts: this was more or less like a chicken and dumplings..except it was biscuits and you put them on top instead of the bottom...... the "filling" was actually really good. think deconstructed chicken pot-pie. yumz. this is the only one of the three we are considering making again, if we can figure out how to make the chicken demi glace ourselves, and locate some creme fraiche.


overall thoughts:
we enjoyed all of the meals, but there were things that will need some tweaking if we make them again. one of the issues we had with the recipes in this box was that you had to do multiple things, while others are cooking...but by the way we're not listing this on the step you're on. it's on the next one. i didn't have as much of a problem with this...because you're kind of supposed to read ahead anyway, but teh paul was getting kind of annoyed when he made some of the meals.
cancellation: we did attempt to cancel this before they charged us for the second box, but since i didn't create the blue apron account, i wasn't familiar with how it worked and assumed teh paul suspended the next week's box....he didn't and i hit the cancel button before he told me that we could postpone it........... so a second box arrived yesterday and i will post about its contents next week.

comparison to hello fresh:

1. the ingredients were kind of tossed into this bag and not sorted by recipe (aside from the "knick knack" baggies). the hello fresh had everything for each meal but the meats neatly arranged into their own boxes.
2. the quantity of food/leftovers was a lot more with blue apron. we ate maybe 1/2 of the pot pie that night, and i was full about 2/3 of the way through both the fried rice and beef grinder.
3. blue apron is a bit cheaper at $60 for the 3 meals for 2 (at regular price), and hello fresh is regularly $69.
4. aside from skipping weeks, you can't choose what meals you will receive from blue apron. hello fresh lets you pick 3 from 5 choices (with the omnivore box).
5. the recipe cards are kinda dinky. with blue apron, they give you..basically glossy card stock. and because i have a messy husband and occasionally sticky counters....these cards either got stuff on them or they stuck to the counter and were miserable to peel off afterward. and they didn't keep very well, they kind of warp (if wet, like normal paper) or bits of paper got stuck to my counter where it was sticky......... >.>
1. hello fresh had all of recipes printed onto a nice, heavier paper and then 'bound' (glued) together, like a booklet.
2. reprinting nice looking recipe cards from blue apron was a no-go, as you can see in my recipes folder, linked above. hello fresh let you download an exact copy of the recipe cards in pdf form.

first business trip! chicago-land!

hi guys!! i finally had some time to get this post together! last week, i went to chicago to go visit my client's office and meet with other people who are on our team. and it was a pretty awesome trip! it was great getting away, and exploring a little bit of downtown chi-town with several of my coworkers! ~Lin-chan ^.~

sunday: i got to the airport way too early, but luckily ran into someone from our office who helped me out a bit. then we got onto our flight which was super small. considering that it was a direct flight, it accommodated maybe 50-60 people. anyway, because the winter snowstorm thingy brewing along the east coast, i was able to change flights to this one from one that had a layover in charlotte. to make things even better, the booking agent was able to get me probably what was the last remaining seat on the plane, in first class. not only that, but this flight was cheaper than my original route, so my client is saving some money somehow. anyway, the flight was pretty interesting, considering it was my first time in first class. thankfully i was sitting by myself (my seat, the aisle, two seats) but it was also kind of lonely, considering that my coworkers had to sit elsewhere in the plane. [generally speaking, if there weren't crazy weather conditions, we are supposed to be in economy seats.] anyway, they took my coat and hung it up, gave me snacks and drinks in ceramic dishes and a glass, and they gave me dinner (see below). wut. we didn't get to our hotel until about 945, checked in and threw our bags into the room, and ran to join two others at a nearby pizza place. i was full from the flight, but i got to try a tiny bit. then it wasn't until about midnight that i finally got to settle down and go to sleep.

monday: got up barely early enough to get ready and head down for breakfast. but it worked out, since most people didn't make it into the client's office until 9, so we had plenty of time. it was really interesting walking to the building. we finally got a taste for the foot and vehicular traffic in the area...aka a lot and a lot of taxis with presumably precision driving skills because it felt like so many accidents could have happened all around us..but didn't. working in the morning was pretty slow, a lot of learning how to use our credentials to log into the various systems (after finally getting them), and spent the whole day setting up our computers with the various necessary software files. for lunch, we went to the french market and it was really neat. it's like a food booth area plus grocery. it was insane, i don'think we have anything comparable to it....maybe the market place thingy near our office, but on a much wider scale. i was pretty overwhelmed in there, so i went ahead and got a reuben from one of the sandwich shops. after work, we took taxis out to a local restaurant since it was raining. it had a really long wait, so we went to a japanese bbq place instead. and omg it was an awesome experience. granted, you cook your own food--if you go that route--but it was a lot of fun. i ordered shiitake, lamb sirloin, and garlic shrimp. it was freaking awesome and super yums. for dessert, i wanted to try dorayaki but they said they were out, so i settled for just green tea ice cream. afterward, we walked the 30 minutes back to our hotel, since it got nicer out and stopped at a target along the way. i'm actually really surprised how things are in this city, like places are deceivingly large inside, while appearing small from outside. there was a cvs near the french market that seemed more like a convenience store, but if you went further into it, it was a full-sized store. not only that, but i'm so used to there being malls, and not a gazillion [mall] stores within several blocks of each other, on the first floors of a lot of office buildings. 

tuesday: we spent more time working on getting our computers set up. unfortunately, there were some complications and we didn't completely finish. lunch was pretty good. we went to the french market again and i got beef and meatball pho. it was pretty good, but not as good as what we can get back home. for dinner, we went out to a local bar and grill type restaurant. i got a really freaking good hard cider, as well as their whitefish, which came with an arugula and bell pepper salad, crispy fries, and asparagus on some sort of butter sauce. it was super great until i got the bill. i tend to forget how much drinks cost at restaurants. ouch!

wednesday: still haven't finished getting my computer up to speed. we took photos to get badges for their office, which hopefully came out ok. haha! otherwise, we went to the french market again and i got a lobster roll...YUM! and we went to a german restaurant for dinner, which was freaking amazing. it kind of sucked because i'm not a beer person, which i think it might have been better-----but it was my first time having german food. i got sauerbraten and it was awesome. it was a sweet and sour sauce (not what you'd typically think, unlike asian sweet and sour sauce) on beef with asparagus, green beans, carrots, and mashed potatoes.

thursday: more computer/environment setup. we went to the french market for lunch and i got a ham and cheese on a baguette. it was funny because i choose that food stall because their pastrami smelled really good.....but idk what happened.... >.> after work, we went to a bar and i got a lamb burger and another hard cider that was teh yums!

friday: was a pretty short day. we went to work, finished getting our systems set up (finally!) and played around with it to see if we found any issues. we finally got badges for the office too! so when whenever we go visit again, we can get into the office without any issues! for lunch, we went to the french market one last time, and i got a beef bento box. around 3, we left the office and headed back to the airport. and i finally got back home by about 2, and slept til noon. ^_^

updates at work this week... we had more training...yay~! o_o then, we were able to get our own room in the office for our project/client! so that's kind of cool. however, i don't like how it's on a different floor from my desk.. oh well. not sure what's going on next week, since our project hasn't fully taken off yet. also part two of this week's training is next week in our office, but it's kind of unclear whether i'm taking it or not, or if the people who took this training months ago are the only ones who can attend. it's kind of dumb but they're saying it's a budget issue..it's only february guys... just saying. but whatever, i know they've got a plan for us and i'll leave it to their judgment!

BONUS!
here's a few items that didn't make it into my pre-scheduled empties post! i brought these along since chicago has like zero moisture in the air...(no louisiana humidity!) so i needed to bring along a few moisturizing things. so i finished off a mini of soap & glory's the righteous butter--which i love! and i used two sheet masks from tony moly: avocado & aloe. i enjoyed both of them and my skin definitely felt better after using them. also, i appreciated how they weren't heavily scented and were pleasant to use.

here's a few things i picked up in chi-town: ritter sport! i've never had these before. i got two of the white chocolate with hazelnuts, and one with cornflakes...? it's in german, so give me a break! haha!