Best of 2012

Hi guys!

Here's my top products from the year 2012. Can you guys believe this year is officially over? We 
didn't die!!!!!!!!!!! Lololol, guess the Mayans just got bored of making the calender.


Here's a video for you guys :) Do you guys enjoy videos more or posts more???? I personally like writing posts more (I'm a poor public speaker XD and editing videos take forever) but I always feel bad never really having anything up for my Youtube subscribers -_-a


 Anyway-- here's the product list. What were your favorite products/things/TV shows/food/whatever from 2012? ^_^ There are actually a couple more products that I love this year that I kind of forgot to include, but it's okay I think I will do a January fav if I have enough products to talk about.

Products mentioned: (links are provided to give you ideas where you can purchase the products, however you don't have to purchase from these sellers. Make sure you compare prices and check seller's ratings!)

1. IPSA Face Color Palette (in #201) you can buy it here (although I don't know why #201 is so much more expensive than the others)
2. YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat foundation (in B40) you can buy it here
3. Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer you can buy it here
4. Canmake Shading Powder in 01 you can buy it here
5. Aerosol Facial Spray (Evian) you can buy it here
6. Lancome Blanc Miracle Natural Brightening Creator (in BO-01) you can buy it here
7. Lancome Teint Miracle Natural Light Creator Bare Skin Perfection Compact Foundation you can buy it here
8. Korres Lip Butters (in Guava, Mango and Wild Rose) you can buy it here
9. MAC Ravishing in cremesheen finish you can buy it here
10. Revlon Color Burst Lip Butters (in Tutti Frutti, Sweet Tart, Candy Apple, Red Velvet, Berry Smoothie) you can buy it at Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreen's... etc
11.  Etude House Lovely Cookie Blusher in #2 Strawberry Choux you can buy it here
12. Too Faced Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue you can buy it here
13. Essie Nail Polish in #412 Head Mistress you can buy it here or at any drugstore
14. Origins Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask you can buy it here or at Macy's
15. D.U.P Eyelash Fixer EX you can buy it here (mine's a limited edition that's why it's in a pink bottle)
16. Face roller (just go search on eBay)
17. Hair Doughnut/Hairstyling Ring you can buy it at an H&M store

Whew!

That's all I have for now. Hope you guys enjoyed my list ^_^
If you have any recommendation, please feel free to share! (on your blog or comment) I've always loved seeing yearly favorites ^_~

Happy New Year guys!!!!!

Gucci Guilty Inspired Makeup + New hair!

Hi Guys!

First of all...

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope all of you are having a fantastic time and enjoying the holidays :) I've seriously been doing nothing but slacking on my ass lolol. Sorry for the lack of update! Just haven't really felt like blogging :P (I always only want to blog/procrastinate when I'm busy with school XD)

Anyway! Today I have a makeup look for you guys =P

(Yes I got a haircut! and highlights, lol!)

I have a video for you guys if you're interested (:


Products used:
1. bareMinerals Prime Time eyelid primer
2. Urban Decay NAKED 2 Palette "Pistol"
3. Urban Decay NAKED 2 Palette "Suspect"
4. Urban Decay NAKED 2 Palette "Snakebite"
5. Urban Decay NAKED Palette "Smog"
6. Urban Decay NAKED Palette "Darkhorse"
7. Milani Eye Tech Liquid Eyeliner (upper lash line)
8. MAC Liquidlast eyeliner in "Point Black" (for lining the eyes)
9. Urban Decay NAKED 2 Palette "Black Out"
10. Anastasia Brow Powder Duo in Medium Ash/Medium Brown
11. Majolica Majorca Lash Bone Black Fiber in Mascara Primer
12. Majolica Majorca Lash Enamel Glamour Volume On
13. Eyeko Lengthening Skinny Mini Brush Mascara (for lower lashes)
14. La Prairie Anti-Aging Foundation in 300 (sample)
15. Aveda Mineral Loose Powder
16. Stila Convertible Color Bronzing Duo in Marigold (Discontinued?)
17. Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in Angelic (champagne highlight)
18. Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in 040 Red Velvet


Here's the picture of the ad campaign that I was inspired by:

Obviously I look nothing like the model T^T (and my lower lashes are non-existent XD)  Gosh she's so freaking gorgeous. But the idea is the neutral, bronze-y smokey eye with berry lips. Anyway this is just an inspired look; I adjusted the eye makeup to my own taste cuz I know I can't do a lot of eye shadow along the entire length of my lower lash line because it will just close my eyes down.


LOL it looks so off cuz I'm not tanned... orz...






I look pure evil here, but whatevs XD I do have this little Gucci Guilty sample perfume. I adore this perfume ^_^





















I know I'm so creative with posing -____- lol...





Hmmm by now you guys probably have seen enough of my face, but unfortunately there's gonna be more XD Because now I want to change the subject to my new hair XD

So as you all can see I got bangs, AGAIN -___- My hair just got so heavy that I couldn't stand how flat it is. Really missed having layers badly.

Before. I actually went roughly 6 months without bangs, which probably happened never before XD I did good I did good XD


After. This was after I got home from the salon. My iPhone wouldn't pick up the colors lol.


It was my first time getting my hair done in Maryland so I kind of didn't know where to go T_T
(When I was in Colorado I always go to Toni &Guy located at the Park Meadow's Mall.... I recommend Bria and J Lyn ^_^ but they are quite expensive... $50-$60+ depending on who you get).

After looking up reviews and stuff I decided I didn't want to spend too much on my haircut... -_-a so I settled for Studio 1612. My hairdresser was Laura (she did my haircut as well as color) if anyone is interested :P

This the picture I brought with me to the salon. The general idea of the haircut I want is super choppy layers (surprise surprise), more chunky around the face like shown in the picture below. Although I did ask my hairdresser not to razor off the bottom layers of my hair cuz I really don't have that much hair to begin with and I'd really rather keep them XD

Feel free to click the image to enlarge. Image credit goes to Google ^_^

Originally I went in wanting blonde highlights, something like this

Yes the punk hairstyles always have a special place in my heart. I love it XD

I lost count of how many times I got refused by my hairdresser to bleach my hair -____- she told me because my hair is so dark, if I want to bleach it I have to do it over a year so my hair wouldn't break (plus if I do it in one day it's most likely going to turn out orange rather than ash blonde). But she said even if I did do it over a year it's still likely my hair would fall out because it'd be so damaged. She told me she was speaking from personal experience because she has dark brown hair and she's still trying to grow out her hair from all the breakage from bleaching her hair. And my hair is even darker than hers so they'd need to bleach it even more...

So yeah, blond hair is probably never gonna happen on me. T_T

This is another picture I brought with me (image credit also goes to Google)

So my hairdresser ended up deciding to do some caramel highlights throughout my hair. I also asked for a few panels/strands of red hair on the bottom layer.



The caramel highlights turned out nicely, but unfortunately the red highlights not so much T_T You can only kind of see the red at the ends of my hair. So weird cuz throughout half of my undergrad years I always dyed my hair red and it always took the color quite well... for some reason it refused to turn red this time around XD





My hair looks even blacker now with the highlights


Lol it looks so light under this lighting








Most of the highlights are "hidden," so when my hair grows out it'd be less awkward :D



Also have some pics of my hair under yellow lighting

Lol this was when I was still playing with the makeup for this post



So for Studio 1612, the haircut is $35+, partial highlight is $85+, so I should've at least spent $120 on this haircut+ hair color but Laura only ended up charging me $110. I didn't realize at that time but I suspect she knocked $10 off because the red didn't show up??? @_@

Hehe my friends say I look older with this new hair color now ^_^ I think so too. I was just mistaken as a high school student earlier this month -_-

That's all I have guys! I put my hands together for you if you endured all my self portraits. Ahahaha.

Happy holidays everyone ^_^

<3 Frances

Mini Black Friday Hauling-- Francesca's, Sephora, Etude House and Bath & Body Works

Hi guys!


This is gonna be brief because finals are starting next week, but I wanted to share this post since it's kind of semi time-sensitive ;p Don't want to be posting this after Christmas XD Really didn't buy much because I just didn't really find anything. Did you guys find any great steals? I was at the Urban Outfitters for about two hours browsing/waiting in line for the fitting room... and in the end did not like anything at all T_T (This was my first time participating in Black Friday by the way... so not doing it again XD)

So here are the things I purchased:

1. Francesca's Naughty Monkey Risk It Suede Boot (40% off all footwear still going on the website!)


If you're interested in this pair of boots, check here :)

I like how chunky it is on the bottom :) This particular pair of boots is very weighty/heavy. I'm still getting used to it. The suede part is very soft (I believe it's real suede), but the shoe part is kind of stiff/hard. I think I just need to break them in.


2. Bath & Body Works

Just picked these up because I really needed some shower gel LOL. The deals at Bath & Body Works wasn't amazing to be honest. I'm currently using the honey vanilla dream one and I'm in love with it O_O Smells soooo good >_<

3. Etude House Precious Mineral BBdation Special Kit

Okay so in my previous post I said I wasn't about to purchase this because I don't need another foundation. Well I still don't but I couldn't resist it when I saw that prettyandcute.com was having 30% off on all products. I thought this is probably as cheap as it could get, so I decided to pick it up. Comes with a free sample and a hair Velcro. LOL I'm gonna put that on my blog sale as a free gift cuz it's just too girly I'm not gonna use it.


I have to say I haven't been so excited about a makeup item in a while... was waiting so impatiently for this to arrive. Only tried this out once but have to say I'm not so sure about this O_O Will have to test it out more. If I really don't care for it then this will go on my blog sale. My shade is W13 and it's perfect.

I realized I forgot to include my Sephora purchase XD so here goes!

4. Ole Henriksen 3 Little Wonders Mini

This was part of the Sephora's $10 Wonders. Ever since trying out a free sample from Ole Henriksen earlier this year I've been quite interested in their skincare products, and I thought what a great price to try out some of their skincare!

So far only tried the Truth Serum, and I do notice it brightens my face quite nicely; my complexion is always more even and brighter the next day. To be honest I didn't look that closely when I purchased these... so I didn't see that it contains "potent vitamin C complex" in the truth serum. I was like what?! That cannot be true. Because any Vitamin C products should be stored in a brown bottle to block out sunlight to prevent the vitamin C from oxidizing, so why is this product not in a brown bottle?!?!?!??? I really question the legitimacy of this so-called Vitamin C product. Any thoughts?

That's all I have! Hope you guys enjoyed this post. I will have more reviews and stuff up later as soon as I'm done with school =) Good luck to anyone who's in school! I feel you! lol


<3 Frances

Massive Haul+ Sigma Black Friday Free Shipping Code

Hi there guys!



Before I go on to show my massive haul, just wanted to let you guys know that Sigma is having their Black Friday free shipping event from 11/22-11/23! So this is a good chance for you to get your Sigma products without having to pay the ridiculous shipping! (their shipping used to be much cheaper and reasonable  =T) Last Thanksgiving I wanted to buy the "Dry n' Shape" but I didn't manage to because the volume of the website was so high that I couldn't even access the website =_= At the moment this is really the only Sigma product that interests me. But I probably won't get it this year because I've spent so much already.




Oh and before I start I just want to update you guys that I returned my Clarisonic. I updated my thoughts on the Clarisonic/Lancome set on my Sephora haul post in red font, so if you're interested in seeing my thoughts, please click here to check it out :)

Okay now onto my massive haul! I really should have waited till tomorrow to write this post so I can get sunlight for my pictures, but I was so excited about some of these products that I cannot wait to share with you guys XD


1. Tarte Fantastic Foursome 4-piece Amazonian clay 12-hour blush enthusiast set

The highlight of my purchase XD Oh gawd I can't tell you guys how EXCITED I was when I saw these were (are) still available in store. And even better cuz I actually got to see the products in person before I purchase them. This set comes with a highlighter, two blushes and a shimmery bronzer. The blushes are gorgeous and matte. The color of the bronzer is gorgeous but I wonder if the shimmers are gonna accentuate my pores. The highlighter is a champagne color (which leans kind of yellow); it's pretty but I'm not too crazy about it. We'll see.

Even though I didn't manage to purchase this with 20% off, I thought $35 is such a good value for these mini blushes that I wasn't sad to pay full price for this set at all.

2. Milani Liquid Eye eyeliner and Eye Tech liquid eyeliner

Been wanting to try the Liquid Eye although I don't have high expectations. But I do use pencil eyeliners to do more smokey looks sometimes so I decided it's okay to buy one. As for the liquid eyeliner, got it to line my upper lash line since the current one I have sucks and is running out super fast.

3. Revlon Matte lipstick in "Really Red," Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick (creme finish) in "Fire & Ice" and Maybelline SuperStay 14hr lipstick in "Ravishing Rouge."

Got these after watching Lisa Eldridge's red lipstick guide video. So far I've worn Ravishing Rouge and Fire & Ice out and gotten compliments both times =D And actually got asked what I was wearing when I was wearing Ravishing Rouge lol. Gotta say so far loving all Lisa Eldridge's recommendations! And the texture of these lipsticks are really good. Very impressed.

4. Evian facial spray

I finished my Avene facial spray a long time ago and I miss my aerosol facial sprays, so I decided to get these =) I actually prefer aerosol sprays than regular spritzers =P

5. Bumble and bumble Super Rich Conditioner

Kind of just picked this up while I was waiting in line in Sephora... I've heard quite a lot about this brand but never tried their products so I thought I'd give it a try. Actually now I think about it... this is expensive for such a small bottle O_O damn impulsive shopping. This better be good. LOL.
*Update: I'm almost done with the bottle. I like it but not enough for me to actually splurge on the full size bottle (really really expensive!) The texture of this conditioner is very silky and I did notice my hair feels very silky when I rinse my hair out. However once my hair is dried and everything my hair doesn't feel any different than if  I'd just use any other conditioners. 

6. Eyeko Skinny brush mascara and liquid eyeliner travel-sized duo

Heard so much about Eyeko! Didn't know Sephora carries Eyeko. Pretty excited to see how the mascara works out. As for the eyeliner, will use it to line my upper lash line as well XD


Just thought it's pretty cool the size of the products are exactly the same as the picture XD

7. MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre, and Matte lipstick in "Russian Red"

I decided to pick up the paint pot since for some reason my bareMineral eyelid primer hasn't been working as well as it used to. Maybe it's because my eyelids are used to it since I'm on my second tube. I had in mind "Soft Ochre," "Barestudy" or "Painterly." I decided on Soft Ochre because it's yellow toned. Painterly leans more pink and flesh toned. And Barestudy is actually shimmery. I thought Soft Ochre would work best with my skin tone although painterly wouldn't be bad either (I didn't want any shimmers in my primer).



Also picked up another red lipstick in "Russian Red." Again recommended by Lisa Eldridge XD Was gonna pick up Ruby Woo too but it was sold out so I'll just have to order that online (MAC has free shipping with any purchase until the end of December now did you guys know?)

8. Up & Up makeup remover cleansing towelettes

Haha so random. I don't use makeup wipes to take my makeup off cuz I found that really dries my skin out. Bought this mainly for when I'm swatching makeup and stuff.

9. Sonia Kashuk Hidden Agenda Concealer Palette in 07

I was at Target for the longest time debating if I should get this or not lol. You guys all know that I don't really use concealers because I still haven't found a concealer that doesn't settle in my fine lines underneath my eyes and make them look dry and cakey. Well this still really doesn't do it for me for my under-eye... but I gotta say I'm quite impressed with its staying power O_O for cream concealers, the staying power is quite remarkable. I used it around my nose and it actually didn't melt off or slip and slide. So for that I was pretty impressed. And the shades are pretty good. It's really creamy as well (much much creamier than Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage).

10. Lush Bath Bombs and Bath Melts and Aqua Marina cleanser

I forgot what the names are except the yellow round one is something about Honey... LOL. The one that looks like a gift box is supposed to turn your bath water into a deep forest green! How cool is that XD I'm giving this to a friend though cuz she has a freaking jacuzzi in her house and she never uses it. I've tried out some Lush products in the past and honestly wasn't really impressed with any of them. I thought Lush is really overrated... but before I write it off for good I just wanted to try the bath bombs and bath melts XD Really want to enjoy a hot and bubbly bath since I've been sitting and studying so much that my body has been so stiff and aching -_- need to start working out again too that might also help.


Got a sample of Aqua Marina (Seaweed and calamine cleanser for sensitive faces) while I was there. Why not XD


Looks a bit gross lol we'll see how it works.
* Update: . IT's EXTREMELY fragranted, as in after I washed it off I can smell it on my face. But it goes away after I continue with my skincare. The fragrances initially really put me off... I wish it wasn't so fragranted, since LUSH is supposed to use "fresh, organic fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics," I was hoping it would just smell very natural, instead of smelling like artificial fragrance (but then again what did I expect all LUSH products kind of smell like that). Anyway it took me a few days to get past the fragrance, but I do enjoy it =) It doesn't really lather up, but it cleanses well and the oils it contains does make my face soft and supple to touch after. It's also one of the few "moisturizing" cleansers that cleanses well (I generally try to stay away from moisturizing cleansers cuz they tend to not clean as well/hence leading to breakouts, and leave my face feeling like there's something sitting on it...). This cleanses my face well while making my face feel moisturized and soft. So I do recommend this to those who are looking for a moisturizing cleanser! I will consider purchasing the product but I want to go through my current cleansers first XD 

That's all folks! Thanks for taking time off your day to stop by my blog =D Now I'm gonna try out that bath bomb XD *excited dance*

Laters ^_^


<3 Frances