Affordable Online Shopping

Hi everyone!

I would like to start by saying a huge THANK YOU to all my beautiful readers and your lovely comments on my last post. That was my most popular post yet. Thank you for your sweet comments!!

Since it was Black Friday last week and Cyber Monday this week, I am sure some of you already feel like experts on distinguishing good deals vs. bad deals. LOL! I was introduced to a VERY affordable shop online through a fellow blogger and now I wanted to share it with the rest of you.

I purchased a pretty necklace so far and will be buying more in the future. It's great for jewelry and accessories as well as nail art tools (and lots of other beauty, home related, clothes, etc items!). There is so much more on there so please check it out! If you do, use AURT10 as a discount code to receive 10% off. The website is Born Pretty Store and you can access it from  here and leave me comments about what you think! Here is a photo of my recent purchase:

Have a great rest of the week!

Henna pictures

Hi everyone!

I did henna on my hands twice last month and wanted to show you the patterns. Please feel free to leave comments/opinions on what you think!

The dark photos were taken when the henna was still wet. The end color is usually orangey/brown. The backside of my hand designs look very similar but they are different if you look carefully!

 Thank you for visiting my blog! Have a great rest of the week!

Gratitude

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for the warm and honest words in your comments in my last post. I love getting feedback from my readers! It feels good to know that others are on the same page as me when it comes to friendship.

Today I am writing about gratitude. I got this idea from wanting to express my gratitude to my readers and also because it is Veteran's Day here in the US. I'm not going to preach by saying "count your blessings" or by reminding you that "there are people in worse situations than you" because I admit, that doesn't always help when someone is trying to feel better. It's always easier said than done as some of you may already know. This post is not going to be about how to show gratitude to others; it'll be more about your inner gratitude towards yourself and your own life.

Last week was tough for me emotionally because it was hard to be grateful for what I had in my life. I kept seeing other people's success more than my own. I think the first and best way to deal with those feelings is by letting time calm you down. Sometimes you just need to let your own brain deal with it until it finally gets tired and decides to rest from the topic. Eventually, you forget the problem that was bothering you once because you acquire newer memories and feel more grateful for the new experiences you have.

I hate being competitive but I grew up with a twin and an older sister... all the elders in my family ALWAYS compared us and it is now engraved in my head to always try to do better than others. If you have had similar experiences, try not to let this get in your way and use it as a positive strength just to make yourself better and stop comparing yourself to others. If you set your mind to become better than you were yesterday, you'll notice your focus is more on you than others. With that said, appreciate yourself and more importantly, forgive yourself. If you didn't reach your goal, that's okay. You tried your best and will continue trying until you get there.  If it still isn't working out, try doing something different. This doesn't mean you have to give up. It means that you put your talent towards something where it will be more useful. Doing that will help you get more confidence and peace with your inner self.

Do you have techniques that help you feel better about yourself? Is there a certain way treat yourself and appreciate yourself? Please share ideas if you do!

Be sure to come back and view a couple of more henna photos! Have a great week everyone!

Tokyo Milk French Kiss Lotion

It's like dipping your hands in heaven!

Hi everyone!!

Today I am going to write a quick, short review on a product that I have been in love with since last fall. I am not a huge fan of lotions only because some make my hands feel too greasy and then I touch my *sensitive* skin on my face and it's just not that fun. For me to find a lotion that smells good, doesn't react to my skin, and that is moisturizing was not an easy task. I found this lotion through working at the parent company for 2 weeks and tried out almost 100 of their perfumes, soaps, and lotions... it was pretty exciting to just smell their luxurious products everyday for 2 weeks until I got the opportunity to purchase one. I had a few favorites but ended up buying only their Tokyo Milk French Kiss lotion. 

I'll get to the actual product in a bit because I have to say I adorrrre their packaging. Compared to most other lotions and even perfumes, this product looks extremely luxurious and it's just so beautiful!! If you do buy it, you won't want to throw the box away!! The lotion tube and the box both have the Eiffel Tower on them (which I would love to see in real life someday!) and the box also has a very "royal" like interior with the patterns and crown. Okay now let's talk about the product inside... This lotion not only moisturizes my skin enough to make them soft and not greasy, the smell of the lotion is like heaven! It's extremely girly and if you like flowers or exotic smells, you would love this lotion! Another thing I loved about this lotion is that the smell still stays even after washing my hands. I had no idea that the company was this popular at the time but you can find this product at SO many places in the US and at a bunch of websites online. If not this specific lotion, you'll find a different fragrance that you'll love. Most of their products just look so beautiful from the outside, you'd want them right away! Try it out for yourself and leave comments on what you think!!

If you have favorite lotions or perfumes, write them down in the comments! 

 

Thank you for reading and have a great week! 

Also please keep an eye out, I might be changing my blog name and layout sometime!! I just need to set some time to get myself to do it!! 

*I was not paid to do this review*

Sephora FREE Makeup Classes

Hi everyone!

I apologize for not blogging as often (again). Work has just been getting so crazy. Hopefully this month is easier and I can blog more.

I spent my last 2 Sunday evenings at Sephora learning their secrets and tips on makeup AND trying new products. This is the best thing for beginners because you get to learn these things that took me multiple youtube tutorials to learn. I am not being paid for this review or anything; this is just to share my enthusiasm for what's out there and how useful it can be.

So far I only attended two classes. I wanted to try the highlight and contouring one but before that I went to the Flawless Foundation class. Some of us might think foundation is such a simple thing and that it requires no beauty expert to do but I was shocked to see how you can actually make your face look so flawless without even putting so much on your skin. The class was small so I got my own beauty coach to help me and she found THE PERFECT shade for me. They will test your skin color IQ (I think that's what it's called?) and it'll give you tons and tons of options of different brands and type of coverage to choose from. I saw some girls trying out designer (yes, $60+ foundations are designer to me) but I decided to go with the Sephora brand just so I could buy it later someday if I really liked it. Here's a little secret about this class, you get to obviously do foundation but you ALSO do a little bit of highlighting and contouring!! This might be because the class I went to was small and the one-on-one attention allowed more time for the extra steps but I was really excited about it.

(Sephora's color IQ!)

My second class (which I was really looking forward to) was the highlight and contouring class. This class was bigger and overall I felt like I didn't get the same attention as I did in the first one. This might be because I worked with multiple beauty coaches and didn't really do as much as I did in the first class. This does NOT mean that it wasn't fun or that I didn't learn anything. I think the trick here is to just talk with your beauty coach and let them know what exactly on the face you want to highlight and what you want to "contour" or push back others' attention from. The plus point of working with more than one beauty coach is that you get different feedback from each one. Whether it's how they contour and highlight or their preference over which brushes work better, it's worth your time if you really want to learn from the experts. It's interesting to hear what others think about these products and you get better "reviews" before buying them. Another thing that I loved about these classes was that there is NO pressure for you to buy anything. My first beauty coach even recommended certain brands that you can buy that are affordable and do the trick. I was just really excited that both times I went, I got to use BRAND NEW Sephora brush kits. These are things you normally wouldn't get if you just went for a normal visit so it's definitely worth trying out. The kits are not available for sale but they do sell the brushes individually. I ended up buying different brushes from different stores so I'll be doing a review on them in the near future! One of them was a brand I actually wanted from what I saw online and I REALLY wanted it after my beauty coach recommended I buy it.

So... if you live in a city where Sephora does classes, go ahead and give them a try!! You might try a product you thought you would've never tried otherwise or you might just learn some helpful tips even if you think you already do your makeup perfectly. The best part is that the classes are free!! So is the makeup. If you are unsure of buying the full size product or if you have sensitive skin (like me) you can ask for samples so you can see if the products don't react on your skin. =) It doesn't get better than that!! Leave me comments or questions if you have any.


EDIT: I found out that some YouTube and Instagram celebs do these classes as well (because they work at Sephora)! Yesterday I got to see makeup of one of the celebs!

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Benefit Fakeup Concealer Review

Hi everyone!

I am writing a short review on a new product I just tried this week. I never really used concealers before this year because I had never noticed my under eye circles (even though I'm in my early 20s!) but I really wanted to try this concealer and it has given me great results! I have medium-tanned skin so I got the medium shade.

This was a sample size and I'm sure after this runs out I'll go buy the regular sized one. You can get this free sample from Sephora this month if you are a beauty insider by the way! =)

Here is a list of what I liked about this product:

• It is really to apply and blend. I usually use a make up sponge to blend my "concealers" or "highlighters" if they are in a creamy form but I was able to blend this in just as well with a make up brush. 
• It gave natural-looking light under my eyes making my face looking bright and awake. I love the coverage!
• It definitely is hydrating like it says on the package! 
• This one is just my personal opinion but I LOVE the smell of it! It's not like a perfume or anything but I liked that it smelled like good make up when I applied it to my face.
• It doesn't look caky or feel heavy on the skin. It's pretty light for every day use.
• NOT greasy on my skin even though it is a moisturizer as well.

That's about all I can say about it for now since I've only used it a few times. Feel free to ask me questions about it or just comment if you have used it as well! 

Also, thank you for your responses on my previous post!! I love getting to know my readers! 

Getting to know you and me!

Hi everyone!

I'm so glad I got some love from my followers on this blog so far. I wish I had more time to commit to writing it daily but I work a full time job and it's just not as easy as I thought it would be to blog on a daily basis. To break the ice, I want to get to know some of my readers and give you guys a chance to get to know me! So you can feel free to comment below asking me questions and leave some interesting facts about yourself. This can be about your pets or favorite nail polish color or ANYTHING you want to share.

And... as usual, have a great rest of the week! This is one of the busiest weeks I've ever had at this job so I might be a little late in replying to you all.