Swatch: Orly Galaxy Girl

12:02:00 PM mandy 17 Comments

I was so excited when I saw this at my local CVS. Many people have said that this is a close dupe of MAC's Formidable! I do not own that one because I felt it was too expensive at the time and when I saw comparisons I thought that I'd just get this instead when I find it. I believe this came out even before MAC's Disney collection so my CVS is very very slow at release out new products like this. Thankfully I discovered this early because I went back a week or so later and didn't see that many polishes in the collection, Cosmic FX.

Excuse my terrible cuticles. I'm too afraid to push them myself =X




Base Coat + One Layer of polish
Take with flash and under artificial lighting


Base Coat + 2 Layers of polish + Top Coat
Take with flash and under artificial lighting


Base Coat + 2 Layers of polish + Top Coat
Take with flash and under artificial lighting


Base Coat + 2 Layers of polish + Top Coat
Take with no flash and under artificial lighting
The colors are pretty true to how it is in real life. I was a little disappointed that it came out to look more like a dark red/blood/wine color because I really liked the purple duo-chrome shade it was in the bottle. But it is very pretty none-the-less. This polish is definitely on the sheer side and requires 2 thick coats or 3 medium coats otherwise you'll have a lot of streakiness like the first picture has. I don't remember how long this particular nail polish lasted on me because I wore this about a month ago =X I'll update on this detail when I wear Galaxy Girl again.

First Step Forward

7:05:00 PM mandy 4 Comments

I'm always interested in BB Creams. In fact, they are the main reason why I became so interested in makeup and beauty. But I have yet to find THE one for me (mainly because of my different colored face and neck shades..) They always sounded so perfect and the product that seemed most reasonable to enter the makeup world with no? All in one product that claims to do almost everything?


I was going through my Dashboard a couple of hours ago and saw Dr.Jart+ but didn't pay much attention to the blog name. When I got to the page I realized that it was Sephora's blog...I was shocked and excited. Is BB Cream finally making its way into the American market? I know Missha has their American ONLINE store and a specially made shade for darker skin, there is always eBay etc to buy BB Creams, and big companies like MAC/Bobbi Brown/Dior/etc have made BB Creams but were Asia exclusives..but for a store in American to distribute BB Cream is definitely a first (at least for me). The prices seem about the same as what I've seen online if not maybe even cheaper? But the price is definitely up there when compared to brands like Skinfood/Etude House/etc. As of right now Sephora only carries 2 products from the company and these are the only BB Creams (I wonder if they'll have a separate BB Cream category from now on if they decide to bring more BB Creams under their wings..)



The only thing that I see a noticeable difference that I see is that Sephora/Dr. Jart calls these Beauty Balms rather than Blemish Balms. IDK Maybe they're the same just chose to market it differently? The packaging looks very similar to the Blemish Balms that they already have out (such as the ones seen at eBay and Sasa).

Disclaimer: I am definitely not affiliated with/paid by either Dr.Jart+ or Sephora. I just thought it was interesting to find and wanted to share. Links are just normal links..no money received whatsoever. Feel free to click :]

Target Goodies

12:34:00 PM mandy 0 Comments

I signed up for this in I think February? And forgot all about it until Nouveau Cheap posted about it. I honestly thought Target forgot or couldn't send enough for everyone until I saw this in my room when I came home (about a month ago). It isn't much but I'm excited to try the products out :D



My package came opened? Hence the rubber band. But nothing inside was touched...Maybe my neighbor who also has the same name as me opened it by accident?




The bag is really nice! I love the colors although if I saw this at Target and was looking for a makeup bag it probably wouldn't be the first thing I'd consider lol








Another lip balm...! Geez I think I have enough to last me for years xD
I haven't tried this yet but did take a sniff at it. If I'm correct there is mint in there and that is one product that I really prefer my lip products to NOT have...Maybe it'll be a good enough product for me to not mind. I don't know yet...

Did anyone else sign up and get their target sample bag yet?

Love Package from BEAUTIFUL CANVAS

10:03:00 AM mandy 2 Comments

No..I didn't win another giveaway. This is a different love package.

About a month ago, I emailed a blogger than I followed, BEAUTIFUL CANVAS (do check out her blog! Most of her reviews are short and to the point. Great for those days where you still want your blog fix but don't necessarily have the time and patience to read long reviews lol) and asked if she would be interested in swapping an item that I saw she was selling on her blog sale. I wasn't expecting much since I was just a stranger but she replied a while later and said she'd love to. So I thought why not since our products don't work well for us..maybe it would work better for the other person.

Keep in mind, I have never swapped anything before so this was a lovely new experience. My package to her did get there a lot later than expected which caused a lot of worrying but it did reach its destination, YAY! ^__^








The main point of the whole swap was this foundation. I bought it in shade Yellow Ocher 01 and I thought that it would work for my face pretty well but, of course, my neck is at least 2-3 shades darker and is so stubborn and won't lose its tan so I couldn't possibly wear it. When I saw that she had Natural Ocher 02 I asked her on a whim. I haven't tried it yet but hopefully, it'll be dark enough to match my neck. If not let's hope I can lighten my neck shade so I can still give this product much love :P

Birthday Presents!!~

12:58:00 PM mandy 10 Comments

Another year older! And I am of legal age :]
But it doesn't feel much different LOL *Sigh*

My birthday (both Gregorian calendar and lunar calendar..what a coincidence) was actually last month. I only officially celebrated one with my family though because all my friends' have very busy lives (unlike me..which reminds me I need to find a job ASAP before college). But no fret we did celebrate and I had a great time :] Most of my friends aren't the giving presents type as we decide to just hang out instead. But Bestfriend is of course Bestfriend and we've always given presents to each other (at least as far as I can remember we have). This year was a bit more special since our interests have expanded a lot since we've both delved further in the beauty world (me more-so than her), so there were more options for present choices. When she gave me the bag with these two wrapped boxes I was 99% sure what they were. And I loved them, even more, when I did open it :D You'll see why!

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First..I went ahead to Sephora and got my birthday present/product. I must say I'd choose this over last year's choice any day..I haven't used it yet but it sounds delicious!


From Bestfriend:



So cute!! :D

Hehe my card has been purple every single year. Not that I'm complaining..purple is my favorite color! I wonder if she's going to run out of purple cards to give me LOL Of course, it had a lovely message inside but that's a bit too personal for blog sharing :X




TADAAA! My Beauty Diary MASKS!!
Bird's Nest and the LE/SE Alice in Wonderland themed set
I already have the Bird's Nest but really do like it so, of course, I do not mind having another one :]


So cute right?!


Could anyone translate? I can't read Chinese =X



I think all the masks that come in this set are new, correct me if I'm wrong. I also have never seen these being sold in its own individual box nor have I heard of them (other than on Blair's blog). I'm excited to try them all, especially the Arbutin Whitening and Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing Masks.

March 2011 Collective Haul

11:38:00 AM mandy 7 Comments

This month..well technically last month since it's already April...I tried really hard to not buy as much as I usually do. And I guess to some extent I did control myself. But instead of buying skin care and makeup products, I ended up buying quite a lot of nail polishes =X Mostly because a lot of them were highly sought after and I felt I MUST have them. Anyone else has this *ahem* problem? >__> I tend to buy a lot of things because of this..hehe But in reality when I added up my spendings for this month, compared to January and February I spend considerably less. Hopefully, now that I have a lot of polishes that have been on my wishlist and am trying to spend less makeup and skincare-wise I'll continue to purchase less monthly? *crosses my fingers*

Onto my haulage for March! :D


Daisan Mekuru Cotton
I actually bought this in February and somehow forgot to include it with that post so here it is! I've seen a video of a Japanese woman (forgot her name..) that used something similar for a DIY mask and thought it was rather interesting so when I saw that the beauty stores in Chinatown carry these, I got a bit over excited and purchased a box to try. I haven't used them yet but do plan to use it with my Hada Labo SHA Lotion :] When I do I'll try to post about it.




OPI Last Friday Night & OPI Teenage Dream
AHH! The glittery gems of the month! :D I actually purchased these from necessary★nails. I actually know her in real life (not boasting..lol). I really wanted to try these because they looked very pretty despite how sheer everyone said they were. I have only tried Last Friday Night and must say it is pretty BUT you'll definitely need to pair it up with a base color. Like most glitters, it is a pain in the butt to take off. These were also the first around retail/full priced OPIs that I've purchased in a VERY long time. I tend to get my polishes from nail supply stores for a fraction of the price =X



Essie Matte About You
Best friend and I got this particular one together. I've been wanting to try a matte topcoat/polish for soo long but never really looked for them because a lot of stores didn't seem to sell them. I did find it once at a store called Ricky's but it was overpriced IMO. When Best friend told me that a drugstore (Walgreens..or Rite-aid..I don't remember) by our school had this I was determined to get it. However.....I tried it a few times and I gotta say I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. Bummer. It looked nice but I think it looks a bit strange on me. Makes my hand look more mature (if that makes any sense lol).




Steve Madden Oxford Flats in Cognac
My first DSW purchase! That place is shoe heaven. ^__^ I would love to thank my best friend (hehe shopping buddy) for giving me her discount!! I've wanted these for a really long time (and another pair of oxford flats also by steve madden) but felt it was too expensive. Since the DSW I went to didn't have the size in the color that I wanted in the other style I got these instead. They are so pretty! But a bit painful to walk in right now because the heel area is a bit too stiff since it is very new..hopefully nothing a good break-in can't fix :D



Victoria Secret Smooth FX Lip Scrub & Balm
After hearing Fuzkittie praises on this product and since I was running low on my Lush lip scrub, I decided to purchase this. I know and you probably all know from my past hauls that I definitely do not need another lip balm but another one doesn't hurt? Right? ^^; I haven't tried this yet because I want to finish my Lush lip scrub first (which I don't particularly like..sad to say). But judging by the look of its consistency, I MIGHT like this lip scrub much better. Has anyone else tried this product?



Revlon Perplex & Orly Galaxy Girl
More polishes! *looks away in shame* I couldn't help myself. I found Revlon Perplex out of sheer coincidence at my local CVS and couldn't pass the chance up. And!! It was BOGO 50%...I know, those are just ways to get people to buy more than what they really need but I'm a sucker for those kinds of things. I haven't tried Perplex yet but it looks very pretty! On the other hand, I did try out Galaxy Girl because I found that I love applying polishes that look similar (with lots of fine shimmers but not huge glitter chunks). It wasn't what I imagined it to be but it's very nice. I will be posting swatches for this soon actually! Haven't done that in a while now have I? :P

Oh another item that I purchased partially because of "It's LE! I MUST HAVE IT!" syndrome and partially because I LOVE this particular group (one of many actually lol but that's another story that I may or may not talk about lol) is...UNIQLO's ... Big Bang ... Gray Hoodie. ^__^ I'm very thankful for living in a city where there is a Uniqlo store. And thanks to Best friend, again, for alerting me that this collection was being sold here...I went ahead and purchased this (as did best friend). By the time we got there, it had already been close to a week since it was first shelved and sold so not too many sizes were available (since it a men's line). But who cares? IMO I love hoodies & I've always wanted a high collar/scuba neck (not sure its exact name) styled hoodie. I love Big Bang. I don't mind wearing "made with a male in mind" hoodie :D Maybe it's just me? H
I'm sorry that I don't have a picture for this one because I don't like to model clothes (too self-conscious :X) and I forgot to take a picture of it when it was all new. Maybe in the future? If you guys are curious..please make use of Google Images, it'll be your best friend! :P

Alright, enough of my fangirl moment...

Overall it wasn't that bad..right? :]
What kind of things did you purchase last month..if any?

More Empties! - MAR `11

7:45:00 PM mandy 5 Comments

I'm proud to say that I was able to finish more than 3 products this month. (It should have really been only 2 because one of the products I left a little behind so I could see if I would miss using the product for a while lol.) Although the other two products, however, lasted me quite some time so I'm very happy to be able to finally finish them. This means that I could try new products! Yay ^__^

I will post reviews on these, hopefully within the month. I've had them drafted for a long time but never got around to turning them into posts =X

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This lasted me close to a year. But let's be fair...I did use this only at night time for about half a year because at the time that I got this the weather was warm and this moisturizer was pretty thick. Then late fall and throughout a majority if not all of winter I used this day and night. It worked very well at keeping my skin moisturized throughout the day but I didn't really see much changes on my pores or spots. Maybe it's because it's targeted towards adult acne? So I will not be repurchasing this but it was a great product nonetheless.


This was one of those I don't love it but I don't hate it products. It was nice and refreshing and I felt that it did clean some left over residue sometimes after I cleansed, but I didn't particularly notice any significant changes towards my pores and acne like it is targeted to. However, like I said for the emulsion, it might be because this line is for adult acne but I don't quote me on that because I'm not sure how different teenage and adult acne are. This lasted me almost a year and I used this both day and night. But only 2 shakes/drops each time which I found was just enough for my face. I will probably not repurchase this either since there are so many other products to try out.


I must say I really liked this product. It kept my skin moisturized and made it feel soft when I used it. But when I had a really parched(?) nose from having the sniffles for a period of time and rubbing it constantly with tissues it did almost nothing for it. So this would probably work a lot better for me personally during the summer and when I do not have allergies. I most likely won't be repurchasing this even though it was a pretty good product.

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See a lot more progress than last month! :P But these products were already towards its end in February so I do not know if I'll be able to finish anything next month lol

Did anyone else finish products this month?
Have you tried any of these products?