The Shopping Diaries: Bath & Body Works, PINK, Sephora, Longs

Hello all!

I went on a little shopping spree at Ala Moana where I met my friend Sam for the day. I was having a really tough week and continued to struggle afterwards, but I was really happy and grateful that I got to spend time with my dear friend.

I had some birthday coupons to spend since my birthday was on the 14th! Even though it can be kind of irritating when you continuously get a whole bunch of emails from stores that you give your address to, I think it's still worth it to get the birthday incentives :). Now onto the haul!

Lakeside, Autumn Bay, Black Pepper Bergamot, Sandalwood Citrus: I didn't get any coupons from B&BW, but I was initially interested in their 2 for $15 mason jar candles that I saw in my email. I asked one of the storepersons about it and he had no bloody idea what I was talking about, so I just shrugged it off thinking that I may have been mistaken. It turns out I was correct because as I was walking outside of the store, I saw a big sign advertising that sale. Anyways, I think I came out with the better deal hehe. When B&BW had their 2 for $22 3-wick candle sale a while ago, I had considered purchasing Lakeside, but I felt that I had a candle that was already similar to the scent. I decided to get it this time around because all their previous season 3-wick candles were 50% off. I really love the slight musk with a hint of citrus scent. It turns out that I really like candles that have either a musky or clean scent to it, which is why I picked out these three minis: Autumn Bay, Black Pepper Bergamot, and Sandalwood Citrus. These three minis are from the new batch of candles for Fall. If I'm able to burn through a good bunch of the candles that I already have, I will definitely get these in the bigger size!

Fresh & Clean Body Scrub: Victoria Secret sent me a $10 coupon to use on anything and I decided on this body scrub since I was interested in getting underwear. It was originally $18 but in the end I paid $8 plus tax. I actually didn't recognize the scent until I smelled it. The reason being is that the last time I got the lotion form, it was still in its old packaging and this was the first time I saw it like this. Instead of getting the lotion, I decided to try the scrub. It smells like how it is named so I really enjoy it!

Meet for Drinks, Metro Chic, Dance Til Fawn: Sephora was having a 3 for $10 sale on their O.P.I nail polishes. I was hoping to get an undercoat as well since I barely had any left, but they were out of any base or top coats. I had come in with a list of polishes that I was interested in getting, but they literally had only one of the colors that I wanted, which was Metro Chic. But I'm still happy with the two other colors that I got. I think these colors will transition nicely into fall and continue to be a nice fall staple. Meet for Drinks is a deep, shimmery maroon color that I'm absolutely in love with. I have a red shimmery polish that I got from VS during their annual sale, but I really prefer this shade due to the sultriness of the red. Metro Chic is a pretty taupey color with a purple undertone, which I'm totally in love with. Lastly is Dance Til Fawn which is much truer to a taupe shade. I love my taupes hehe!

Perfect Truth CC Creme Sample & Birthday Pack: I received a sample of Ole Henriksen's Perefect Truth CC Creme and I must say, for a Western BB cream, it's not bad! The coverage is still on the light side and it's not as great as my Korean BB creams, but it's still pretty good. I tried it and thought it did a good job of covering some of my acne blemishes albeit going over some of the spots again with my Korean BB cream. Would I purchase this? No, but it's quite good for those who prefer Western BB creams.

I love Benefit's they're Real mascara and I was really happy to have a mini version to carry around. Then I got the mini Watts up! highlighter. I think highlighters go really nicely with fairer-skinned girls, but with my skin tone, you can't really tell I applied it on lol. I'm still fair but I do have some coloring. Perhaps I'm not applying it on very well?

Green Tea Cleansing Tissues & Multi-Care Base+Top Coat: I was in the market for a new make-up cleansing wipe and my friend suggested epielle's Green Tea Cleansing Tissues. So far, I really like it and it gets off A LOT of make-up and it leaves my skin feeling nice and soft. I still go over it with my Clarisonic afterwards, but I'm hoping that with both products it'll improve my skin. Also, my friend pointed out this multi-care base and top coat from Revlon so I'm excited to try it.

Sorry for getting lazy with my posting hehe. I have so much material in draft form, but I'm slowly getting my motivation back, so hopefully I can get out my next posts every other day. So stay tuned for the next episode!

Thanks for reading!
-LAUREN

July Favorites 2013

Hey all! I've decided to do a different format of monthly favorites. I don't really change up my make-up products, which to me is the basis of monthly posts. So instead I'm using a format that Youtuber cutiepiemarzia uses and I chose questions that I could easily answer. So here they are!

1. Did you read any books?
I haven't been really reading any books for a while! I'm trying to read City of Bones (Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare.

I bought the book when I was in Vegas this past April because I had seen the preview and thought that the movie looked pretty cool. But the more I see the preview, I start to get a Twilight vibe from it, which is no good for me lol. I absolutely hate Twilight, both literally and cinematically (yeah I know that isn't a word :P). But like with Twilight, I'll give the first movie a chance, but seriously it better be 100x better than Twilight >:(

2. Did you watch any movies?
Yes! I watched Despicable Me 2 and The Wolverine. Despicable Me 2 was super adorable, just as I expected. I'm super happy they're making a Minions movie XD. I also really enjoyed The Wolverine. I don't read X-Men comics and I'm really not familiar with the whole series in general, but I thought the story that they chose was fantastic. Hugh Jackman's body is delicious and can I just say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!! at the cut scene at the end?!?!?

3. Which foods did you eat and love?
To be honest, my choice of food doesn't really change because I always tend to eat the same things. I suppose my favorite of the month was my Rolled Quesadilla from Cactus in Kailua. I uploaded a pic in my Monthly Gram post for July so I won't upload it here so that I'm not repetitive.

4. Which songs did you like?
I'm probably going to be so mainstream with my song choices but I don't really care :P. I genuinely liked both songs when I first heard them. It's Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke feat. Pharrell & T.I, Get Lucky by Daft Punk feat. Pharrell, and Treasure by Bruno Mars. I think what I like about all three songs are the melodies. I'm loving the throwback feels of the 80's, which seems to be in all three. I feel the whole eletronica, don't-really-need-talent-to-sing type of songs are getting old for me, so to hear something that pulls influences from earlier decades has become refreshing to me.

Blurred Lines

Get Lucky

Treasure

5. Which products did you like?
I've been really liking my mini benetint that I received as part of a 500 point perk from Sephora. I just put three little streaks on each cheek and blend it in to create this natural blushy tint. I also love that it has a nice rose scent to it. I think it lasts pretty well all day! I would definitely get the regular size of this once I run out of this mini.

6. What did you learn?
I learned that you can't go back to school just to get a minor even though you've successfully majored in something earlier. I was just bummed because I wanted to go back to school to get a minor in Fashion Merchandising, but unfortunately it's not possible. But after some research, I found an online program for an Associate's degree in Fashion Merchandising through SNHU. I'm a bit wary about doing a degree fully online, but I'm gamed to do it. Plus, I can transfer a lot of my credits so that I don't have to take as long. I just gotta make sure I can get an internship in fashion merchandising and then it's all ships go!

Thanks for reading!
-LAUREN

April Favorites 2013

Hey all! It's been a while since I've posted. I just got back from a week long vacation in Vegas with my dad. I must say that I did a lot of shopping AGAIN and I'll be posting clothing hauls for each store! The weather was bearable, but it did get hotter and hotter as the days went on, but because of the dry heat, it wasn't that bad. Actually, I heard that Hawaii was quite humid that week. It was still humid when I got back though hehe.

Anyways, I thought I'd try out a new segment on my blog of monthly favorites that range from beauty and fashion to music and random other things. I know that this is a popular tag done by a lot of beauty gurus on YouTube, but because I don't post videos, I thought I'd give it a go on here. So lets begin!

Beauty

they're Real! by benefit: I must say that I was never really loyal to any mascara, let alone any beauty brand, but I must say that benefit produces really good beauty products. I came across this product by watching my favorite beauty gurus and I just had to try it. I think this is one of the best mascaras I've ever tried. My eyelashes are thin and straight, so it's hard for me to make them pop. This mascara definitely lengthens and thickens without clumping due to the unique structure of the brush. It's suppose to give the impression of fake lashes, and while it doesn't wholly achieve that on my lashes, it does a great better deal than all the mascaras I've tried. For $23 at Sephora, I would definitely repurchase again!

Hibiscus Tinted Lip Balm by Burt's Bees: I've been in love with fresh's lip treatments, but one stick is $20~+ and I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much. Luckily, when I was at Walmart, I happen to come across Burt's Bees products and saw that they had an array of tinted lip balms for $7. I figured why not try one and went with the hibiscus version. Needless to say, I absolutely love this. I wore this everyday when I was Vegas to not only give my lips color, but to keep them moist. Definitely would repurchase again and try new shades!

Molly Coddled by butter London: Once again, I wanted to try a nail color from the Sweetie collection by butter London due to the positive raves from beauty gurus. The one that I wanted was called Fiver, which is a mint green shade (I ended up buying it online from Nordstrom), but they didn't have it at my Macy's. So I went with this pretty lilac shade. At first, I wasn't used to the color, but I quickly fell in love. The formula for the product is fantastic. If applied correctly, you can get away with just one coat, which is true but I suck at application and need a second coat to cover my mistakes :P. Also, the formula is fast drying, which I was amazed at since I thought the polish was on the thicker side. For $15, although pricey, the quality is worth it.

Fashion

Muscle T-Shirts: I'm absolutely in love with this trend. I feel like the popularity of muscle tees stem from Brandy Melville, an Italian-based brand with a very casual-boho vibe. I should also include that I'm loving everything Brandy at the moment! Wearing these type of tees requires a bralette of some sort, which I'm okay with showing. Whenever I wear this sort of top, I feel so care-free and cool. I get this "whatever" vibe lol! I'll definitely be wearing these throughout the summer as well.

Music

Stay by Rihanna: I'm not a major fan of Rihanna and her music, but something about this song just makes me keep on hitting repeat and I never get tired of listening to it on the radio. It's rare that I like EVERYTHING about songs, but honestly I love the lyrics, composition, vocals, and even the music video. I was super happy to have found the sheet music at Sam Ash in Vegas and I've been playing it multiple times a day!

Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men: I think this song is super catchy and totally the type of music that I'm listening today. If you're not familiar with the band, they're a 6-piece band from Iceland. Although I'm not totally familiar with the band, I've heard snippets and I'm probably going to order their album. I really love the vocals and composition of the song. One person who commented on YouTube said that this song is about a girl who is expressing her feelings of her parents going through a divorce or something like that. I think that's a great juxtaposition with that against such an upbeat tempo.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading! I'll try to get these out every month if possible. I really do enjoy blogging and sharing my thoughts with all of you!

Thanks for reading!

-LAUREN