target fall beauty box

hi! omg guys, the postman took three freaking days to deliver this to me. tuesday 8am: out for delivery. 9pm: status not updated (it really said this on the tracker). wednesday 8am: out for delivery. 5pm: delivered, at front door----at a time when i was home, and i checked the doorstep and the mailbox..and nothing. thursday ~430pm, apartment office doesn't have it. 5pm: text message from apartment office to pick up packages. seriously, wtf usps.
anyway despite my better judgment, i decided to go ahead and get this box. it was only $5 and it seems to be catered more toward curly haired people. but that's ok because it's still really cheap to try out some new stuff! ~Lin-chan ^.~

1. jane carter revitalizing leave-in conditioner (2oz--mini, ret. $8.99 for 8oz [$2.25]) -- i don't know how i feel about this one.... it's a super liquidy "conditioner" and the scent is very chemical but they tried to cover it up with some kind of floral..? all's i know is that i'm not sure i want my hair smelling like this, and potential migraines.
   repurchase? no
2. curls creme brulee whipped curl cream (2oz--mini, ret. $10.99 for 8oz [$2.75]) -- i'm going to pass this off to a friend. smells like vanilla cake frosting.
    repurchase? nah
3. dove quench absolute cream serum (3.3oz--full size, ret. $5.99) -- this smells really nice, like a light and bearable floral scent. i think i'm going to pass this off to a friend. it says it's for curly, coarse hair--neither of which i have. and it's supposed to help with frizz control, which i already have a few things for that anyway.
   repurchase? nah
4. sheamoisture jamaican black caster oil (3.2oz--mini, ret. $10.99 for 8oz [$4.40]) -- this smells really nice. you can definitely smell the shea butter, and maybe the sweetness is the peppermint?? but it doesn't seem like it....very vanilla-like. i'll have to update you guys on this one later. it essentially says it's good for all hair types, dyed & heat styled.
   repurchase? maybe
5. aquaphor healing ointment (.25oz--mini, ret. $6.99 for 3.5oz [$0.50]) -- i've never used aquaphor before. anyway, as the name suggests, it is an ointment-y consistency. think triple antibiotic ointment (neosporin, for you people who don't know). anyway, it feels like an ointment too??? it has no scent, and it gives the skin a greasy look (not feel)..just like ointments do? i feel like i'm beating the ointment aspect over the head here..........
   repurchase? undecided
6. colgate optic white platinum express white toothpaste in fresh mint (.75oz--mini, ret. $3.99 for 3oz [$1.00]) -- we'll have to see about this. i'm probably not going to notice much of a difference because i've been using crest 3D white pretty much since it's gone to market.
   repurchase? maybe no. i don't like the taste.
7. $3 off $15 coupon
8. 20% off $125 dermstore.com purchase, code: fallbeauty (exp. 10/30/15)

approximate product value: ~$17

yesterday's fotd

hi guys! this month's been blush month---as i'll unofficially begin calling it... in an effort to downsize, each day i've been using a different blush to see if i really like it enough to keep it. and yesterday's selfie sunday came out pretty nice, so i decided to make a fotd post out of it. enjoy. ~Lin-chan ^.~

face

1. hourglass mineral veil primer
2. maybelline fit me matte+poreless foundation in 120 classic ivory
3. maybelline fit me concealer in 10 light
4. it cosmetics bye bye under eye corrector in light
5. rimmel london stay matte powder in translucent
6. too faced chocolate soleil bronzer
7. nyx powder blush in rose garden
8. tarte amazonian clay blush in mirage (as highlight)
9. skindinavia oil control setting spray

eyes/brows

1. anastasia brow wiz in dark brown
2. loreal brow stylist plumper in medium to dark
3. wet n wild fergie take on the day eyeshadow primer
4. doucce cosmetics ultra precision eye liner in 500 black (upper & lower waterlines)
5. urban decay 24/7 liner in underground (lower lash line)
6. rimmel glam'eyes 5 color eyeshadow in brick lane
7. lorac front of the line pro [liquid liner]
8. maybelline the falsies push up drama mascara in blackest black

lips: colourpop lippie stix in cookie

nails: zoya lindsay

3 months! (weeks 12 & 13)

hi guys! we are super close to the 3 month mark, crazy how time flies when....you're [not always] having fun??? long story short, i was starting to go kind of stir crazy with studying all the time and it wasn't until more recently that i've been assigned hands-on stuff, which is cool. anyway, it's a really weird feeling with my job..there's several days where it's like 'yay, perks of the job', and others where i'm like second guessing my life choices or something. i don't know... anyway, i'm going to keep on, keepin on for now. i realistically was planning on being with them until paul graduates at minimum--even prior to starting. but we shall see what happens.
~Lin-chan ^.~

week 12
monday: it was a day where i contemplated life choices and better jobs than this one. somehow i got to the point where i gave myself a migraine halfway through the day and was nauseous the rest of the day. at the very least, i was able to start playing with something they assigned us to practice with.
tuesday: found out that i was not among those chosen to go to houston, which i was pretty excited for. moreso in the fact of having to make arrangements pretty much on the fly. otherwise, not much happened.
wednesday: our morning calls got moved to the afternoon so it was kinda boring all day. in the call we found out that we (the group) could be working on a client project that recently was finalized with our company. so that's kinda exciting. after the call, we got a message that someone else wanted to join our call but couldn't at the time we scheduled, so i took the call at home. bleh! haha. anyway, we shall see what ends up happening.
thursday: we found out that the potential to go to houston has arisen again. apparently they think they'll need more people on this project..
friday: it was a pretty laid back day. after our after lunch walk to the nearby grocery store, my manager came by and was like "free food!" and we're like 'nuuuuu, why didn't you tell us sooner?!' hahah. (refer back to friday of week 10.)

week 13
monday: yay for holidays!
tuesday: another blah day of not doing much.
wednesday: they opened up the street along our building finally (yay the construction's almost done!) so we got to walk along the new area on our way to the grocery store. i'm also excited that we can finally take this path to the mexican (fish tacos) restaurant behind our building. otherwise, i didn't do a whole lot new.
thursday: i got to be the guinea pig during our conference call today. it was a learning experience for me; basically they had me share my screen and they told me what to do...for like 2 hours. so that was kinda neat. just before lunch, i got messaged about those friday professionalism meetings i've mentioned previously--they're mandatory. so she was asking me when i'd be available to take them since i haven't been to any. and i was like, well i've got conference calls 2x a day during both sessions, sooooooo.... and i was like, btw i've never gotten an invite to any of these meetings. so she's like well, i'll make sure you're on the list to send them and please attend as you can. ... otherwise, it was a gloomy, rainy day.
friday: another very gloomy, rainy day. my cohort, S, was the guinea pig today. and in short,

august 2015 empties

it's august empties timeeeeeee! ~Lin-chan ^.~

1. tarte maracuja eye cream
2. lady gaga fame body wash
3. maybelline matte+poreless foundation
4. simple cleansing wipes
5. sonia kashuk eye makeup remover
6. tree hut island mango sugar scrub
7. soap & glory clean on me body wash
8. lady gaga fame perfume -- this rollerball is getting kinda gross, so i've decided to retire it. at the very least, i've got 2 spray bottles as backups.
9. lorac porefection face primer -- this is my second mini of this and i still love it. price-per-ounce-wise, i'm going to start getting these instead of my other holy grail--too faced original primed & poreless primer.
10. urban decay eyeliner in underground -- this is the original travel-size one i got in a set a looong time ago. i've since bought 2 full sizes to put in my weekend bag and backup.
11. aveeno daily moisturizing lotion -- i got this in a 2 pack at sams...needless to say this is bottle #1 and i don't even remember when i started using it..that's how long it lasted me. i typically only use lotion once a week after shaving.
    repurchase? not yet
12. crest 3D white whitestrips 1hr express -- i got this in a recent target beauty box and i mentioned how i've tried these in the past, but it was a reeeallly really long time ago, when they first hit the market...because i grew up privileged in the new dental products market. yay dental hygiene conventions!
1. in my senior year of high school i had my uncle whiten my teeth before i did senior photos, etc. and it was a few months after i got my braces off. and since then, i've been maintaining it with whitening toothpaste..since i'm pretty sure i might have slightly damaged my teeth from overbleaching in high school..........yeah.... (warning: bleaching can cause sensitivity. for sure temporarily, but possibly long-term too.)
2. these took a bit to actually apply because the outer edges didn't want to fully adhere to my teeth. also, i had a little trouble with the lower strip because i have a permanent retainer on the backside of my teeth. they did need a little extra force when pulling them off, it was almost like they were glued on! lol.
3. i definitely will not be purchasing these again because my teeth were super sensitive during and more than 24 hours afterward. and i haven't bleached my teeth or anything since i was in high school..that was about 9 years ago (eep!) and the sensitivity felt exactly the same as when i was overbleaching them with 1hr bleach treatments (during and after this and those treatments).
4. i will say though, with this experience and considering how my teeth felt from using them, if you do shell out the $50/box for this, you'll definitely get results.
   repurchase? no
13. the body shop shower gel in olive -- i go through these way too fast... i really liked the scent of this. it's not quite the same as the body butter though.
    repurchase? undecided
14. mally face primer -- while i really enjoyed using this primer, i wasn't a huge fan of it being in a pot vs a tube. this stuff worked great and has that siliconey slip i like.
    repurchase? nah
15. boscia luminizing black mask mini -- got this as part of sephora's 500 point perk, and after using it like twice, i bought a full size. this little tube lasted me 5-6 masks--which was pretty surprising. i will say that while it's wet, the "fumes" or scent of the mask burns my eyes, even if it's not that close to my eyes. but once it's dry, i'm fine. it does take a while to dry down (like half an hour..) but it feels really refreshing once you pull it off. it does tug at the hairs on your face, but not necessarily pulling them out. so it does sting a little as you pull it off.
    repurchase? already did!
16. sephora triple action cleansing water -- while i do think this product worked pretty well, i don't like the scent it has and i don't feel like it was as effective as biderma.
    repurchase? no
17. soap & glory sugar crush body wash -- this has a great sweet, citrus/limey scent. like a mojito or something. >w< not sure, but i feel like this one was a little runnier (in thickness/consistency) than the clean on me.
    repurchase? maybe
18. tony moly clear skin sheet mask -- the scent was not my cup of tea. like it was some kind of semi-familiar fragrance..but i don't know what. my skin felt pretty good afterward, and it does feel/seem like some of my acne/breakout areas had gone down.
    repurchase? undecided
19. olay fresh outlast cooling white strawberry & mint body wash -- this was a really yum scent. i liked how the mint was balanced with the strawberry. this was a pretty good shower gel, but for the price, i'll probably stick to tone or caress ones.
    repurchase? maybe

[not pictured]

1. dr. bronner's pure castile soap in mild -- maybe this is psychological, but i didn't think that this one worked quite as well as the peppermint. i could be crazy. but at the same time, i also wasn't tired of the scent halfway through the bottle..because it was unscented.
   repurchase? maybe
2. candles by victoria shamrock kisses soap -- a long ways back, i received a sample of this soap and loved it, so at a slightly less long ways back, i bought it, and now i've finally used it. looove this scent!
   repurchase? yes
3. pantene damage detox shampoo -- i got this as part of a winn dixie hygiene deal, i'm still working on the corresponding conditioner....i'm a daily shampoo-er.. anyway, i really liked the scent of this shampoo, it had mint oil in it. and i didn't have any issues with it, no dryness no excessive oiliness.
   repurchase? yes
4. freeman charcoal and black sugar polishing mask -- this mask took a while for me to figure out. if you can actually put it on thickly, that is best. i liked how abrasive it felt (and kinda warm as you scrub if that makes sense)... otherwise, i feel like you'll go through this super fast if you use thick layers. if you use thin layers, it won't really stick to your face. make sure you're by a sink or something while applying...it will fall off.
   repurchase? no

august favorites & product updates

hi guys! it's the end of august!! ahhhhhh! lol. yeah it was a partly hectic month yet again. there was a lot of going back home on weekends and not being able to relax at the apartment....until now. haha. anyway, it's a short one, but here's what i loved this month! ~Lin-chan ^.~

favorites:

1. colourpop ultra matte lip in midi -- between this shade and solow, i really liked this nudy-pink much more. formula-wise it's super interesting. it dries down relatively quickly enough, and lasts a really long time. i would put this on after breakfast and it would last through snacking and drinking to lunch time. after lunch, there might be slight cracking/flaking but it's still nearly intact even after eating lunch. layering for touchups works out very well too.
2. opi nail envy in hawaiian orchid -- i really like using the regular.. original nail envy, and i love how they've finally come out with pigmented ones. if you put too many coats, original nail envy makes your nails start lookin a little dead....but this pink is such a pretty nice and neutral shade!

random favorites: mangas.... in particular, love so life & skip beat --- i've been impatiently following these two for several months now, and OMG i needs closure... and, more recently: L♥DK. >w<
undecided's: makeup eraser -- i'm not sure how i feel about this one. i used it a few times and it works great. but i'm not sure if i'm using too much pressure or what, but i'm losing brow or lash hairs a lot when i use this.

product updates: i'm in the process of returning the bellabeat leaf. despite its gorgeous design and wearability....the functionality wasn't enough for me. outside of the app bugs i mentioned in my initial blog post (they've since been fixed), the pedometer still wasn't perfect. i'm still planning on keeping the app since it does the cycle monitoring---you can manually put in that information, so why not keep it to keep dates in check? but otherwise, i'm going to keep on with the fitbit charge now--and i really like it so far.