Girl, You Pretty, Don't Fret!

Hello fellow interweb friends!

So I should be studying for a chemistry test that I will have in less than an hour and a half, but I thought, what the heck, I had to get this out there because I think it is very important to be supportive of other girls. You probably think this is so hypocritical of me to write this post since all of my posts this week has been about make-up and ways to make myself look better, but that is not the case, I promise! The purpose of this post is to, for lack of better terms, raise awareness/promote girl empowerment/confidence. I know a lot of girls are very uncomfortable to go out and about and show their bare, naked face with no make up because they feel like there is some kind of flaw with their look with out the layers on top of it. We all know and have friends that are like this, and sometimes, we feel the same way, I know I do, but that is not the case! I honestly do think that the less make-up girls wear, the more natural, more down to earth, and pretty they are! I'm not saying that I'm pretty or beautiful or anything of that sort, but if you know me in real life, you know I go out with no make up at all times; maybe on a lucky day, I will have on a little bit of make up but still looking very natural. To show you I am completely comfortable with how I look without make up, I will share with you pictures of me with no make up on, taken today, no filters or editors (besides the app used to put together the collage), and let me tell you, today is probably the worst day to see me without make-up on because I'm overly stressed and haven't slept very much lately, so here goes, hopefully, I won't scare you off with my super weird face!

So this top picture is the better side of me without make-up on! What I mean by better is that I actually have my hair down, not necessarily brushed/combed! This is what my friends and family see everyday (and there are some really good looking guys at my school), even the people at work and all the hottie-patotties going to Disneyland! But in reality, on a super day-to-day basis and for my super close friends on Snapchat, I usually look like the bottom picture with that crazy bun, weird faces all over the place, and completely no make-up at all! Even if I Snapchat the guy I'm crushing on or my best friend, I do not mind looking like the way I am without make-up because at the end of the day, make-up can only make you look pretty for so long. Once you take off that make-up, you should be proud and happy of what you look like because there are people out there who has to live without make-up, who was born with less fortunate features that they cannot control or cover up with make up!

For me, for a while, I was a little pressured to put on some make-up to make myself look more "presentable" because that's what girls around me were doing. It is pretty insane how much girls around you can influence your views about yourself because I remember, this girl I knew said something the lines of, thank goodness for make-up and how easy it is to learn or else some of the girls we know are still going to look just as bad as they did a few years ago. That was when I took a step back and realize, wow, I might be one of those "not so good looking" girls sh was talking about and I got pretty sad and offended, but at the same time, I realized I was only wearing make-up because that's what these girls wanted me to do, not necessarily what I wanted to see myself as. It's true, sometimes, it is to look nice and put on a little something to bring out your favorite features, but it is also just as fine to let your face be in its natural form! 

To me, the main reasons why girls are so dependent on make-up and try so hard to avoid their natural face nowadays is because they were exposed to the idea of looking perfect through make-up way too young in their lives. I know I didn't start wearing make-up until senior year of high school, specifically prom, and didn't really have much make-up knowledge until college. Even now, fours years into college, I still don't know that much about make-up besides the basics! Because girls are exposed early on and they get access to make-up early on, they start using it earlier, which means they become obsessed with this "perfect" face look at a much younger age. Since this tends to happen during their teenage years, when they are most impressionable, they stop noticing their real, natural face, and become too accustomed to their made-up faces, which is why, as they get older, they have to have their layers and layers in order to feel like they are ready to step out of their room! 

Of course, these are only my opinions and I don't mean to come off as "preachy" or anything like that, but I have some amazingly beautiful girlfriends around me who are stuck in that phase where they feel like they need to have their make-up on in order to go out, but to me, when I see them get ready, before all the layers, I think they are just as pretty as when they do put on the make up! From one girl to another, from one person to another, I think it's important that we help empower and appreciate each other for the person that we are without all of the other products out there that supposedly make us look better. I'm a huge believe in the idea of "looking good, feeling good, and doing good," but that does not mean you have to put on five million layers (sorry for the exaggeration but you get my drift) in order to look good! It can start with something as little as wearing your favorite shirt or earrings that can make you feel pretty, without having to put on the layers! If anything, the more make-up you wear, the longer you use make-up, the more discolored and damaged your skin gets, which ultimately, makes you even more dependent, so why not lay off the foundations and concealers and let your own skin, your natural beauty process do its thing and keep you looking natural and beautiful at its own pace! Make-up is like anorexia to your face, so why not do the healthier option of using it in moderation (which is like eating healthy and exercising) to keep yourself looking youthful and beautiful!

I apologize if I offend anyone or sound hypocritical in this post, but I just wanted to share with all you girls out there that you are pretty without all the make-up and concealers! And hopefully, you'll still like to read my posts after this! This does not mean I want to ban make-up, it just means I hope and wish that we all can appreciate our natural looks without feeling the pressure to hide behind layers and layers of stuff, cause that's all it is, stuff that we can live without.

So let's make a little pact to start wearing less and less make up together? And also give compliments to friends we know more often so we can all learn to love ourselves and our natural beauty more?

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Skin Care Necessities

Hello fellow interweb friends!

So being a girl, I have a whole lot of skin issues and body image problems, which is never fun, but thank goodness, there are products out there that an help/improve my problems and issues! First is my face! My main problem is the black heads on my face. I have quite a bit of black heads, which automatically darkens my face and make it look not as bright as it is. My black heads mainly gather around my nose and chin. Those areas not only darken, but it leaves some kind of a shadow on my face, making other areas look darker than what it actually is. I started using Origins "Clear Improvement" charcoal mask. I usually put this on 2-3 times a week, depending how much make-up I wear during the week. The more I wear, the more I'll use the mask just because it does a very good job unclogging my pores and clearing up my skin. 

Usually, after I use this, I will use Origins' "GinZing" moisturizer as well.The GinZing moisturizer has all natural ingredients, just like all other Origins products. The one thing I really appreciate about this one is it does not leave my skin feeling oily or heavy at all! To me, it's like I slathered loads of water on it. My face feels nice and fresh when I put it on after the mask, and when I wake up in the morning, my face just feels nice and smooth! So right now, I'm only using a mini sample pot just because I wasn't sure if my skin will react well to the moisturizer, but now that I know my skin loves it, I will be going back soon to get a full sized one. And of course, who can forget about the lips, definitely not me! So after I put on my moisturizer, I also put a bit of my Dior "Creme De Rose" on and leave it over night. This lip balm, though expensive, really does the job! It leaves my lips feeling soft an smooth all day long! I usually only need to put it on once a day and my lips already feel amazing, so imagine the wonderful results after masking it all night?!?!

Another one of Origins' mask that I thoroughly enjoy is the "Drink Up Intensive Mask." This one, in spring and summer, I will only use once a week just to replenish the moisture in my skin since I am out in the sun a lot and probably use a lot of make up. If you read my previous post, you know I have a bit of oily skin, but still, there are dry spots and after I use a lot of make up during the week, I definitely feel my skin getting a little weird. This mask is perfect to use once a week just to get the nutrients and natural oils back in my skin to replenish it. I use it once a week because I have oilier skin, but for those who have drier skin, I would suggest doing it twice a week. You definitely feel a difference when you wake up in the morning, especially since this is a leave-on mask and you can just wipe it off in the morning when you get ready. Once again, I'm using a small sample pot to try it out on my skin, but I am for sure getting this in a full sized one to use at home but also a travel sized one for when I go to Vietnam. I definitely do not enjoy the gross, dried-out feeling of my skin when I'm sitting on the plane for 18 hours straight, so this shall keep my skin feeling nice and smooth and moist!

So besides bad facial skin, I also have bad body skin! Even though I've never had kids or gain major amounts of weight, I deal with stretch mark problems. It is definitely not the most pleasant problem to deal with, especially since I'm barely 20 something with no kids and all the girls my age are looking nice and smooth in their two-pieced bathing suits! I've learned to embrace my stretch-marks, or my "life-stripes" as I'd like to call them, making it sound ferocious like tiger stripes. Still, I want to minimize the stripes appearance, so I use Palmer's "Tummy Butter" and then also later on lotion specialized for stretch marks. I usually put these one everyday after I shower, but before doing so, I make sure I exfoliate my tummy area well so that all the moisture and cocoa/shea butter and vitamin E can soak in to give me the best results possible! These products aren't like MIRACLE WORKERS, so I'm not expecting all my stripes to go away, but I definitely see improvements. All I can ask for is to lighten my stripes, so I don't feel like a complete fatty next to all these smoothed-skin-skinny girls in the summer! Since I know my body and my issues, you will rarely catch me in a two-pieced bathing suit because of this, but I still enjoy one-piecers that have a little cut-out and what not, so I am definitely appreciating these Palmer products that are making my skin look a little better in my bathing suits!

So of course, it is important to keep your body completely moisturized, so I never miss a day of lotioning my skin after I shower! And hand creme and foot creme are a must too just because no one wants flaky/cracked/dried out hands and feet, especially during the summer time when we're all out and about in our sandals and flip flops!

That's pretty much how I deal with my body issues, still working on the mental issues, but hey, a girl can only do so much at a time right?!?! If you guys have any other suggestions for stretch marks or my "life-stripes" please do share!

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Spring/Summer Make-Up Necessities: The Face

Hello fellow interweb friends!

So summer and spring is here and we all know we love to look good for all occasions, but it is still important to protect your skin while looking good! I thought I'd share with you the items that I use regularly to make sure my skin looks good, stays sun protected, and not get all gross and greasy since I have pretty oily skin during these seasons. 

First off, for spring and summer, it is vital to keep your face protected from the sun and that is why I love this Laura Mercier oil free tinted moisturizer with SPF 20 ($43); my shade is bisque and it's quite versatile and matches well with my skin on its own or with a little bit of bronzer.  I have to use oil free formulas just because my skin gets so oily that I feel like my face is melting off of me. So to prevent my face falling off, I use the Becca primer ($32) before I put on the tinted moisturizer. This is the most mattifying primer that I've used yet and it keeps my face oil-free for like about 6-8 hours, which is a lot more than most primers that claim to be mattifying out there. So I always start with these two after I wash my face. On days when I'm not doing much and just laying around, I'll just use the tinted moisturizer without the primer just because the primer is pretty expensive.

Once I have the primer and tinted moisturizer on, I will lightly go over it with a light layer of the BareMinerals matte powder foundation in "golden medium" just to give my face a little more coverage. I usually do this just to make my face look even more matte since the tinted moisturizer is liquid based, and any liquid on oily/combination skin will still give you a little bit of a shin. Once I have the powder foundation on, I will use either the "glee" All-Over-Face or the "soft matte bronzer 01" from my Estee Lauder Deluxe All-Over-Face Compact. The bronzer will give my face a little more shape, making it less round, since I do have a pretty round face. After I apply bronzer and attempt to contour, I will go over with the BareMineral Original Mineral Veil with SPF 15. The "glee" gives me a litle bit of a rosy glow, whereas the "soft matte bronzer 01" gives me more of a tanned look. I mainly go for the tanner look later in the summer when my skin gets darker and my tinted moisturizer looks a little lighter than my skin; the bronzer will help make my skin match better to my foundation once I get a little bit darker. This little trick has definitely saved me quite a bit of money since I don't have to go out and buy another foundation color just because I got tanner. Like I mentioned early, it is super important to keep your skin protected from the sun this season, so you prevent any skin discoloration from sun damage and of course, protect yourself from skin cancer. To me, the mineral veil not only keeps me matte, but when I brush it on, it softens all the bronzing and powdering, giving a natural, light, airbrushed look and not just a cakey face since I did put on a few layer of things. As for blush, I love the Bobbi Brown "Pale Pink" one and Estee Lauder's "Pink Kiss" from the same compact/palette as the bronzer. The Bobbi Brown blush looks like it would be obnoxiously pink, but it's not that bad. It gives you a very healthy, pinky/rosy look and brightens up your whole face. The Estee Lauder blush will for sure give you a more natural rosy look and this is what I used a lot at first when I started to use make up; as you can see, I've hit pan but still trying to get as much use out of it as I can because I can't seem to find this color anymore!

That was the "facial" foundation/powdering routine that I go through pretty much for all seasons and I tend to use the same products since I'm pretty simple when it comes to make up. The main point I want to share with you is that, especially for spring and summer, you need to have everything and anything with SPF because it is not fun dealing with discolored and damaged skin just because we were all too busy having fun to apply on some sun screen while trying to look pretty!

Of course, the face is not done until you get your eyes popping and a little color on your lips! So for my eyes, I love mascara! Mascara is definitely my holy grail product because it makes your eyes look alert, less tired, and gives you a little bit more spunk! Before I put on any mascara, I like to prime my lashes, just like I do with my face. My favorite lash primer is the Lancome Cils Booster XL. I haven't tried any other lash primers, so I can't compare it to much, but I definitely do not experience any of the lash primer problems like grey lashes or clumping or anything! This is definitely one of the products that I will always keep going back to. Anyways, so if you have read my blog before, you know how much I love my Laura Mercier mascara, but I may have found a new favorite! So for my birthday, I got a sample sized "They're Real" mascara from Benefit. The applicator is a little painful, but once you get the hang of it and not apply it so close to your eyes, it shouldn't be too bad. "They're Real" definitely lives up to all the hype! It for sure separates, elongates, and makes your eyes pop! And something interesting that I've noticed is that, even though Benefit does not claim that it's waterproof, this mascara is definitely water resistant. After I wash my face, I still see that my lashes are nicely curled and elongated, even though I've rubbed off all other make-up on my face.

Usually, before I put on my mascara, only on a day when I'm feeling real fancy and going out to something special or to see someone special, I will put on a little bit of eye shadow. Of course, no one should apply eye shadow without primer, and my favorite primer for that is the Urban Decay "Eyeshadow Potion Primer." This does keep my eyeshadow on nicely without creasing or any of that bad stuff. Since my face is oily, so are my lids, so I definitely need this primer to just make sure I don't look like a crazy panda clown at the end of the day! Sometimes, when I'm lazy, I will only go over my eyes with the "High Brow" from Benefit. Its main use is to highlight the brow bone, but when I'm lazy and just want to add a little color to my eyelids, I will also use it as a shadow. It is like a light powdery pink color, great for highlighting and as a base for other eyeshadow colors to go on. However, when I'm not feeling too lazy, I will actually use eyeshadow. I'm not really good at applying eyeshadow, but I will try anything. I only have one palette and it is the Stila "In the Know" palette. This is my first every eyeshadow palette, and you can definitely tell I don't use much of it since it still looks so fricken new! And as you can tell, I love looking matte and not greasy or shiny, so even my shadows are mainly matte colors. To me, these colors are super versatile. I can have day looks or night looks without being way too out of my comfort zone. My favorite thing about this palette, besides the fact that it's mainly matte, it comes with a cute little quote at the top of the mirror to go with the name/theme of it. At the top, it says "when a woman knows, she knows" from Sarah Lucero. I don't really know who she is, but I think it's so cute to add a little quote to tie together the theme of the palette. Stila has, I believe, two other palettes, and the other two have Sarah Lucero quotes on them too.

So anyways, this is how I usually do my make-up all year long, my routine, you can say. I thought I'd share it with you and share with you products that I use to help protect my skin while still attempting to look pretty. If you're like me and you want a clean, fresh, and natural look without feeling greasy and oily, you should definitely try out these products. I think the two main reasons why I keep my make-up so simple are: (1) I don't know how to apply/wear make up and (2) I already dress in such bright colors that I want to keep my face looking natural. Usually, I will pull a little bit of a color pop in my lips, but that's about it. If you want to see my most favorite lip colors to wear, then here's the post! I like making sure I look airbrush clean, so I love to find products to keep me as matte as possibly because eventually, my skin oils will give my face a more natural dewy look.

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Urban Outfitters Did Me Dirty Again!

Hello fellow interweb friends!

I thought about this very hard and decided to do this as a separate post for you since I didn't want to overwhelm you with my super busy week. So as you can tell by the title, I did a little damage at Urban Outfitters this week. So on Thursday, my mom treated me to a little pampering day for my birthday and we went to get our nails done and then went and shopped a little bit. When we walked by Urban Outfitters, I saw huge signs saying "additional 50% off of all sale items," which is like the best phrase you can show me when I walk by because I am a weak link for a good deal when it comes to clothes. The sign definitely roped me in, and the next thing you know, my arms were filled with stuff to try on! I had so many hangers hanging from my arm that I got red marks andeven a little rash because I carried more than I can handle. 

So I got there, went through all the stuff, and picked up a few little goodies!   

Pretty much, all of these were $5 each, except for the blue and white tank/blouse, which was $10. I also got a white dress that I talked about in my previous post, Dress Obsession, and that dress was also only $10! I scored big time this past week since I spent like less than $50 for everything. The floral pants/leggings are super comfortable and I cannot wait to wear that on the plane on my way to Vietnam. As for the skirts, I just had to get them because they were only $5 each and it's the skater style, just how I like it. If you remember my previous Urban Haul, I bought 2 other skirts of the same style but just different colors, so I obviously have a little obsession with the style. It's the most flattering style for my body, so I just have to get it!

If you want, leave a comment below and I can do a post where I style these pieces and do a post about it!

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Weekly Wrap-Up #5: Birthday Shenanigans

Hello fellow interweb friends!

So for this week, the Weekly Wrap-Up will be a little longer and a tad bit more exciting just because it was my birthday week! It has been such an amazing week and I am so grateful to all of my friends and family that took their time out of their busy lives to celebrate it with me. I am now officially 22, which means I can blame all my bad decisions onto Taylor Swift since she has a song about doing weird things during your 22nd year of life! My birthday was on Wednesday, but since it was smack dabbed in the middle of the week and we all have things to do like work and school, so the celebration ended up being extended all the way to the weekend, which I'm totally not complaining at all because that's just a lot more food and fun with the most amazing people in the world!

Ok, so first thing's first, you cannot have an amazing birthday without an amazing cake! So this here is a cake from Final Touch Bakery, which is a Vietnamese-French "fusion" kind of place. It is vanilla cake with strawberry filling and custard-like spread between the cake layers. It is definitely my favorite kind of cake and so I was super stoked when I found out I got the strawberry cake. The decorations are definitely super amazing! It is just very simple but still detailed and elegant. The decor around the cake is a minty-green color and the flowers were a blushy-nude color. My cousin got the cake for me and she said that she felt it was perfect for me, which I feel like is the theme for my birthday this year!

On the actual night of my birthday, I went to Incahoots, a country club/bar in Fullerton! This was my first time so I felt a little out of place when I couldn't do any of the line dancing moves, but I was ok with that! I had so much fun trying to catch up to everyone's moves that I think I started tripping over myself at one point too. A lot of my friends couldn't come because it was kind of last minute and they all had plans, but these two beauties, Laura and Megan came with me! SO the cool thing about these two is that we met each other at Build-a-Bear, were we work, and got to be pretty darn good friends. Laura and I haven't seen each other in about a year, but we picked up as if we've seen each other almost everyday; I appreciate friendships like that very much just because you know they'll be there for you whenever you need them. Anyways, Incahoots was an interesting experience since it was my first time. I didn't know any of the moves, so I didn't really dance, but since I did know most of the songs, I just sang karaoke all night long. I'd definitely go back again, even if I can't dance whatsoever just because it is such a fun/up-beat place that just makes me feel happy.

Friday was pretty much when the festivities commenced. All my friends came out to Downtown Brea - Birch Street and we had dinner at YardHouse. YardHouse is pretty much one of my favorite restaurants to go to and they have pretty darn good happy hour, so we made it a point to come there before happy hour ended so we can have a little bit of adulthood fun because another one of my friends, Jenna, just turned 21 as well. Side note, this dinner was not just for my birthday; it was a joint birthday bash for me, Jenna, and another one of my friend CC who also turned 22 just like me! SO back to the dinner, we went to YardHouse, and as you can see, Laura was there again! I love this girl; she lives pretty far from where we were, so for her to drive out just to spend a little time with me is super special. Anyways, Friday night was so much fun! We ate, drank, walked around, sniffed candles, and ate some more. We had macaroons and then went to Rite Aid to get some Thrifty ice cream - the best $2 that I've spent in a long time. All I have to say is I have some super amazing and special friends who are always there for me and I am so grateful to have them in my life, and the best party is, I met some of the bestest friends from work and then one of them, I've known since the sixth grade!

Then comes all of the gifts that I got! Let me tell you, I got super spoiled this year because all these gifts are so fricken nice! So first off, it's the Dior Creme de Rose lip balm, which I've already told you about a few posts ago. Then I got a few jewelry pieces and a super cute dress. So here's the thing, when I got my presents, all my friends told me that they felt like these items were just screaming out my name, so they had to get it for me. I was quite flattered and surprised when they said that just because I thought I'm a very confusing person and like pretty much anything, which can make it a little hard to shop for, but apparently, my likes and style is pretty darn distinctive! I was definitely a very spoiled little girl when it comes to gifts this year and I have already used pretty much all of them because I just couldn't help myself! I am one of those super bad people who just wants to open their gifts right away and go crazy over all my gifts; I guess you can say I am very easily excited, but it's fun being excited when you open gifts though. 

So of course, I also splurged on myself a little bit this year and got my self 2 pieces from Baublebar! I got a super good deal on them because I had a $10 coupon from joining and then another $25 off for something else that I can't remember. So I used both of those and got myself these two necklaces and only paid $23 for them! The cool thing about Baublebar is shipping is free and it's tax free, which is a treat just because everything is so highly taxed in California! So I already used the ivory/gold sun-ray necklace because it matches so flippen well with my pink dress that I wore on my birthday! I felt like a super cool princess and super pretty too! I will definitely splurge on Baublebar jewelry once in a while because they are fairly priced and really good quality. Not to mention, the packaging is amazig because you get a velvet pouch to keep it in, making sure it's nicely cushioned and nothing bad, like scratches, happen to it. Then, over the weekend, I bought myself a travel sized Caudalie beauty elixir. It is a setting spray for your make-up, but I also like to use it just to keep my skin nice and moisturized. I mainly got it to use it on the 18-hour plane ride to Vietnam this summer, which I am super excited for - I will definitely be blogging about my trip so you guys get to enjoy the beachy/summery scenery that is there too! 

If you guys like these necklaces, there are even more pretty ones on Baublebar's website too! I will leave you with the link and an invite code if you want to go check them out: https://www.baublebar.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/239903/! Go get yourself something beautiful and there are always amazing deals on Mondays and Fridays!

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Dress Obsession

 Hello fellow interweb friends!

First off, I'd like to apologize for being so lazy lately and haven't posted anything this whole week, but no worries, I already started on a whole bunch of new stuff and will be posting them all throughout this week to make it up to you, so I'm super excited. It will be all things beauty/make-up/skin care goody goody gumdrops, so much that you might even get tired of reading, but you can always come back to finish it too, so do not fret!

So based on the post's title, this one will be all about my all-time obsession with a certain dress style. I guess this style officially has a name now and it's called the "skater dress" style, where it mimics the cut and flow of ice-skater's outfits with the fitted top and flowing bottom half. I have always loved this style because I think it is such a classic and timeless fashion choice, not to mention super flattering. Before, it was a little harder to find this style just because it wasn't "in" yet, and when I did see some dresses of this particular cut, it would only be from expensive brands, and unfortunately, as a college student with a part-time job, I cannot afford super expensive dresses that can cost up to triple digit amounts! So pretty much, now that it's like the "in" trend, every store has this style of dress and most of the time, they are on super sale, so I had to kind of stock up for future uses! These three are my most recent additions and they all cost me less than $20 for each, which is like super duper amazingly fantabulous! I pretty much got three dresses for the price of one, even less than the price of one, actually! And if you don't know by now, I am quite the bargain queen, if I say so myself! I get this kind of high when I get things for really good deals, and if you haven't gotten a chance, you should check out this post and you will understand how obsessed I am with bargain shopping!

Now, onto the dress! This first one is a Bar III dress from Macy's! It is a skater dress, but the bottom does not flare out as much as the other one. The color is black with a white/cream striped detailing, and despite the fact that it's horizontal strips, I think it looks so pretty on! My mom actually got this for me as a little birthday present because she knows how in love I've been with this dress for the longest time. The first time I saw this dress was like maybe 2-3 months ago and I couldn't really afford it at the time since it costs like $70 before tax! Thank goodness my mom has amazing shopping skills and she used a few coupons and certificates and this dress ended up not being that much and now it is another beautiful piece in my closet! I can definitely see myself paring these with wedges, heels, pumps, and maybe even flats! This dress, from the style to the color, is super versatile to style and since it's mainly black, it is easy to pair up with jewelry too! I can dress it up or down, natural or light make up!

The next dress is from Urban Outfit from their brand Kimchi. This dress is half sleeved and with a rounded square neckline. It is very fitting and flattering and the bottom party flares out so nicely. Usually, Kimchi runs a little smaller on me, so I usually wear a size large in their tops, but this dress, I got it in a medium. The dress was marked down for $40, which I was ok buying since it was going to be an additional 50% out at the register, bringing it down to $20, but things got even better when I got out to the register because the actual discounted price before the addition 50% off is $20, so I scored and got it for only $10! So pretty much, this one will probably be more of a fall/night time dress for me because the material is thicker than the Bar III. The creme color definitely makes it super easy to style. When I wear it, I feel super fancy and very classy! The neckline of this dress for sure brings a little "umph" to the dress, especially since I am quite endowed! The square cut is perfect since it can nicely hide my bra straps because it is a huge pet peeve of mine when girls wear dresses or tops with their bra straps hanging out to the side! I don't know why I get so bugged by it, but I just am; I guess I like to look nice and clean and pretty?!?!

And last, but definitely not least, is my most favorite of the three, this Free People dress!!! It is like a crochet pattern and the color is a hot pink/fuchsia color. I love this for the spring and summer, day or night, with a pair of heels, a nice neutral statement necklace, and of course, some heels. So this one is the best fitting one of the three dresses because it is nice and stretchy underneath. This one was my birthday dress. The neckline is a scooped neck and so is the back, so it is just amount of cleavage, not too much decolletage hanging out! As my friends say, I like a little bit of conservation but also a tad bit of reveal, if you know what I mean. So this dress is another one of my bargain item. It's originally $130 and when I got it, with a few coupons, it came down to right around $20. The minute I saw it, I knew I wanted to get it despite the price. It was already in the sale section, so I knew it was already reduced, but to come out paying way less than what I need to, I am definitely a very happy girl. You will see this dress appear again in another post because this was also the one I wore on my birthday dinner.

I hope you will find the style of dress that flatters you most! I know after I found the style that fits me most, I feel so much more confident any where I go just because in the back of my mind, I feel and know that I look good!

And also, for awesome jewelry, please go check out Baublebar! I will leave you with the link and an invitation code if you are interested in buying some super pretty jewelry. And on Monday's and Fridays, they have something called the Premium Buried Bauble and those are discounted pieces that are usually $30-40!

Click on this link to get your own account: https://www.baublebar.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/40308/

Until next time, 

With love,

Uyen

Weekly Wrap-Up #4

Hello fellow interweb friends!

This past week, not much happened since I was just swamped with a whole lot of school stuff, all which are boring, so I'm not going to talk much about it.

Anyways, the best part of my week started on Friday, which is pretty much the end of the week already, but still, it's way too amazing to not mention. On Friday, when I got home from school, I was surprised by a special little birdy friend that I will not name on here just because this person is super special to me and maybe one day I will introduce you to him/her (hehehe, got to keep things interesting). Back to the surprise, this little birdy got me the most indulgent/wonderful/majestic/beautiful gift I've gotten yet and that is the Dior Creme De Rose lip balm/plumper! You might have seen me post this on Instagram last week already, so you know how flippen excited I was when I opened the little black bag. This is one of the few products that I will spoil myself and buy once in a very long time just because it is so expensive, and because of that, I appreciate this gift even more since I know the value of it and I know it definitely made a nice little dent in my friend's wallet since it's just a lip product. So pretty much, my friend knows me way too well and also knew that I recently ran out since I pretty much use it everyday but couldn't get a new one since I'm on a tight budget lately. I won't do a "review" on the Dior Creme De Rose today, but I will definitely put one up soon for you and hopefully get you to go reward yourself with one of these too, or if someone who loves you so so much will go get one to surprise you just like my friend did for me! 

Then on Sunday, it was Mother's Day, so my family went and visited my grandma and had lunch with her. This same weekend was Buddha's birthday celebration; it took place at Mile Square Park close to Fountain Valley area. Since my family is Buddhist, both my grandma and mom really wanted to go to the celebration, so we did around 1 PM after lunch. So we went to the park and met up with some of our relatives and I ran into these two little cuties there! They are my cousin's babies and aren't they just precious??!?!?! I don't get to see them very often, but whenever I do, I just love playing with them! I had so much fun just watching them run around and chew on plastic bottles and chasing after each other that I literally spent 3 hours in the scorching hot heat running after them. Well, the baby girl can't run yet, but her brother was running all over the place! He has so much energy in him that I am like super jealous just because I miss having that much energy and always living it up and playing around! So I hung out with them and looked after them while our parents catch up until like close to 5 o'clock, and let me tell you, this little boy ran around the entire time and I ran after him and I think we covered every single crevice of this section of the park. I tried getting him to come sit with me cause well I don't have the same kind of energy he does (so sad), but he won't so we kept on running around, and eventually, I just started walking cause I couldn't run anymore!

My family and I didn't get home until about 9 o'clock at night and didn't have anything at home to eat since we've been out all day so we decided to go get In-N-Out for dinner. Now this is the first time in a long time that I've had In-N-Out; I was just telling my mom how I was craving it on Saturday and there it was! And also, this is the first time in like MONTHS that I've had animal styled fries too and let me tell you, it tasted so heavenly, I think I died for a second and went to heaven! Hahaha, as you can tell, food makes me real happy!

 Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Spring/Summer Make-Up Necessities: Lips Be Poppin'

Hello interweb friends!

Piggy backing off of my PREVIOUS POST, I thought I'd give you guys a little bit more of my spring/summer must-haves and always-use beauty products. I think this will be a little bit more of a multi-part series just because I have quite a bit of things to share with you! For today, I will be focusing on lip products, all the goody-goody gumdrops that will make your lips look amazing, vibrant, and fresh for the spring and summer time!

So first up is the Clinique Almost Lipstick in the color "Flirty Honey." This one is very sheer and glossy, which makes it a nice everyday wear kind of color. The cool thing about this one, each person will have a different color pay off when they put it on their lips; I think it's one of those pH changing lipstick that creates a unique color for each person who wears it. It barely adds any color, but it definitely adds just enough to keep your face and lips looking fresh and awake since it is quite glossy. Its moisturizing formulation makes it super easy to wear and you don't have to worry about putting on some kind of lip balm or chapstick underneath to prevent cracking. Pretty much, this one is kind of like a long-wear lipstick but just very sheer and individualistic while keeping your lips nice and moist at all times. Also, this line has eight different colors, so you can pretty much have 8 different, individualistic lip colors! Quite honestly, this one can be used all year round, however, I think it just goes so well with every kind of dress or boho-chic outfits that it's a definite must have for the season.

The second one I want to share with you is this one from Lancome from the "Rouge In Love" line in the color 340, "Rose Boudoir." I did do a mini review on this one on my previous haul post, but I will give you a little more in-depth on here since I mainly talked about the formulation last time. So as you can tell from the squatch on my hand, it is super pigmented and slightly glossy. The same color payoff and texture will apply when you have it on your lips. It is super long-lasting, like maybe 6 hours or a little more and you don't have to worry about it drying and cracking whatsoever. What I usually do when I put it on my lips to calm down a little bit is to add a little bit of lipbalm underneath as well as a little bit of clear-to-nude gloss after applying the lipstick. When you wear it, you can decided whether or not you want medium or full coverage just because it is so pigmented, which makes it worth every bit when you buy it! This line actually has fifteen different colors that you can pick from and each color is part of a specific group that identifies the mood/feel that the lipstick creates. The one I have here is 340M, which is part of the "Jolis Matin" which means "pretty morning." This group of colors give off a more vibrant and fresh set of colors. The "Rouge in Love" line has two other color groups and those are "Boudoir Time" (B), which is a more evening-wear line, and "Tonight is My Night" marked by (T), which is more sophisticated and deep set of colors.

Of course, in the midst of all the bright, vibrant colors, we all still need to have a nude color in our bags to keep things cool and calm! This one is Nars "Catfight" from the Semi Matte Lipstick line, which comes in 6 different colors. For this one, it is a nudish mauve color with a hint of gold shimmer, which adds a little bit of golden/bronzy look to your lips. Pretty much, it's very similar to the "Orgasm" lipsticks, just not as pink but more mauve. I decided to do a little nude color in the mix just because sometimes I want to wear bright colors, so this is just a nice balance to pull together my look when I don't want too much color in the face. This lipstick is definite a full coverage one cause its quite pigmented; even though it's nude, with one sweep, you can definitely see it on your lips. The color and feel when you put it on is very rich and creamy even though it's matte and sometimes, matte products can be kind of dry. So anyways, I love this color for pretty much any look and most of the time, I will pair this with a VERY thin layer of gloss after just because I like wearing this with dresses at night time. At night, I think adding a little it of gloss will give it more dimension. But as a day wear lipstick, just add a little bit of lip balm or chapstick underneath just to keep it looking moist; this one, compared to another matte one that I'll share later does dry up a little bit easier, so definitely keep your lips somewhat moist to prevent any kind of cracking.

This next one is actually my very first ever lipstick purchase, the days when I first started wearing make up! It is Benefit's "My Treat from their Silky Finish Lipstick line. So this one is a full-proof lipstick and perfect for starters - making it the best choice for me when I first got it. It is super glossy and moisturizing and quite pigmented. You can definitely see the color with just one swipe, but if you're like me and like a little more color, this lipstick is super buildable and when it dries, there's a little bit of a silky, satiny finish. I'm not quite sure if this specific color is still available, but the line does have over 10 different shades and all are super pretty, vibrant, and fresh, so you can't really go wrong with any specific one; I'm just a huge pink/coral color kind of person, as if you can't tell already! If you're looking for something to use on the daily over summer to add a little color while still keeping your lips moist, this is pretty much the perfect one. The only thing you'll have to do when using this is to pucker around one of your fingers and pull just cause it might get on your teeth easily since it's so moisturizing that it does run a little.

Alrighty, last but definitely not least is this Smashbox "Fuchsia Flash Matte" from the Be Legendary line. The formulation of this one is super creamy even though it's matte. It is also super pigmented, so with one swipe, you can definitely see quite a bit of color on your lips and the color on your lips is pretty true to the color of the stick. This one, at first, I didn't think will be flattering on my skin, but after trying it on I fell in love, so if you see any color that you may be hesitant about, just give it a little trip on your lips and see how it really turns out for you and then decide, nothing is worse than regretting not getting the perfect lip color! So this one is for sure much more matte than the Nars "Catfight" but yet is a lot more creamy. You don't need a balm or chapstick under to keep it from cracking; this may be because of the vitamins C and E, which are important vitamins to keep your skin nice and elastic.  This color is a show-stopper for both day and night, and it's one of those colors that will brighten up your day the minute you put it on just because it is so beautiful and vibrant! If you're not a bright pink/fuchsia/coral person like myself, no need to fret because the Be Legendary line actually has over 20 different shades, from creamy to matte, which means there is one for all of us!

Of course, I love my lipsticks just as they are when I put them on and it is also a habit of mine to put some lip balm or chapstick underneath just because I think it primes your lips just like primer for your eyes or your face, making your make-up look even better. Sometimes, when I feel a little more shiny, then I will use these glosses. As you can tell, they vary from nudes to bright-but-sheer pink. These shades are very complimentary to most lip colors, especially the ones that are more sheer or nude. The one that I use the most is the Victoria's Secret "Blush" gloss, but sadly, it has been disconnected, so this little tube is a treasure in my make-up bag for sure. As for my other most commonly used glosses, it will definitely be the Lancome Juicy Tubes. The "Dreamsicle" is the sheerest of all three and I use this with pretty much everything. It doesn't tone down the water as much as the "Blush" one but definitely adds a nice shine to everything. It looks nice on its own too when you just want to make a quick run out of the house. As for the "Miracle" one, this is a sheer pink gloss with a little bit of gold in it. I love using this with the nuder lipsticks since it does add just enough color to make the lips look natural and not too nude. This one works great with the Lancome "Rosy Boudoir" as well, pretty much any bright color, because it really brings out the bright pigmentation of the lipsticks. One of these three will always be used on my lips as the wrap-up, tie-all finishing touches, especially when I go out at night since it does keep the lip color on a little longer.

 'Tis all for now,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

All Time Favorite Nail Polishes

Hello fellow interweb friends!

How are you guys doing today?!?!?! So first, I'd like to apologize for being a little off track with my blogs lately. I've been super busy with school and finishing up some projects for my internship that I haven't really gotten a chance to post as much as I usually do. But I'm kind of back now, not completely, but for sure, will be posting more from now on!

So for this week, I thought, instead of sticking to Foodie Tues-dee, I thought I'd do something a little more spring/beauty related since the weather has been kind of nice lately. You guys probably already know, based on the title, I will be showing you some of my favorite nail polishes of all time and I think these will be perfect for spring and summer as well. 

For the first set of polishes, I decided to put Essie's "Haute as Hello," "Turquoise & Caicos," and "Case Study" together. "Haute as Hello" is a creamy, vibrant coral color; it may look pastel-like, but when you apply two coats on, it is kind of bright but just perfect. As for "Turqoise & Caicos," just like the first one, is a creamy, vibrant color leaning towards a minty green shade; this color gives you a refreshing, tropical feel, which makes it super perfect for spring and summer. And of course, "Case Study" is a more neutral color but still light enough to use in the spring and summer time; it looks like a cream coffee kind of color, which makes it nice as a base color for designs or as accenting. These three colors, to me, compliment each other very well. You can paint your nails with one color and accent it with another or use the 3 as a combo to do different designs. The "Case Study" kind of pulls together the other colors since it's a more neutral color if you want a more subtle look on your hands. If you want a little bit more of a vibrant look but not obnoxious, then "Haute as Hello" and "Turquois & Caicos" will be perfect since they are both a creamy but yet still slightly bright color.

This next set, a little bit more of my favorite that I constantly go back to, includes: "Beyond Cozy," "Butler Please," and "Chastity." So as you can already see, this trio that I decided to put together is a little more vibrant than the first one, which makes it perfect for me (save the best for last right!?!?!)! The first one, "Beyond Cozy" is from Essie's most recent holiday collection, but I personally use it all year long just because it is so beautiful! it's not necessarily silver or gold but a mix of both, so when you have it on and the light hits it, it looks like a mixed metal color. And then of course, "Butler Please" is the epitome of the perfect cobalt blue! When you put it on, it just looks amazing and goes with every outfit because the color is so versatile; the same goes for "Chastity." My most recent purchase is "Chastity" because I've been looking for the perfect baby/bubblegum-like pink for a very long time. Essie has a new one called "Boom Boom Room" that is very similar to "Chastity" but it's not the same. To me, "Chastity" is the right amount of brightness/lightness that makes it go with all seasons (that made more sense in my head but you know what I mean). I think what I wanted to say is that it's bubblegum pink but not obnoxious, which makes it super easy to use and beautiful and everything amazing!

Overall, Essie makes some amazing nail polishes that are super easy to apply and have great color pay off. Some of them, like "Chastity" and "Case Study," can go on without a top coat just because it shines all by itself. All in all, these 6 are my favorite and I use them all year round, even if it looks like it should only be used for spring and summer! 

That's it for now,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Weekly Wrap-Up #3

Hello fellow interweb friends!

So if you haven't noticed by my posts, April is the month of birthdays for all those around me! My friend, Monique (aka MoMo or MoRo) just turned 21 not too long ago (WOOT WOOT)!!! Since it was on a Monday, I unfortunately couldn't celebrate much with her and our other friends, CC and Shannon - or as we'd like to call it, our "sisterhood of the pants that don't travel" - we decided to go to Taco Tuesday at El Torito! Within our little sisterhood, MoMo is the last one to turn 21 and since CC, Shannon, and I love margaritas and tacos, we thought it was a MUST to take MoMo out on the first Tuesday after her 21st birthday to enjoy the feeling of being carded for a margarita while scarfing down some economized, shrunken tacos! We pigged out on some good ol' tacos and margaritas and just talked about everything in the world since it's been a while since we've all got to hang out together. Especially now that MoMo is legally 21, she can now drink with us, which makes everything that much more fun since it's never fun for everyone else to drink except for some (and trust me, Shannon and I know the pain of not being able to drink while everyone else around does pretty darn well). Anyways, after we had our drinks and tacos, we busted out the cake and cupcakes! So Shannon did a little grocery shopping before meeting up and she went to Stater Bros. for the cupcakes and cake, and well, let me tell you, they tasted pretty darn good! When you think about cakes and cupcakes, you wouldn't think that chain grocery stores would have decently quality ones, but these ones were really nice. The cake was just the right amount of moistness and butteriness. I had the chocolate and got to try my friend's vanilla one and I thought the vanilla one tasted a little bit better but that's because the chocolate was a little too sweet for me, but still, for them being cupcakes from Stater Bros. and are much cheaper than something you'd get at a bakery, I thought the cupcakes were not bad at all!

Then, on Saturday night, I got to work/host a Girl Scout slumber party! The party started at around 11:30pm and lasted until the morning! Now, let me start by saying, wow, these girls are quite the party animals! When I first heard we were doing an overnight party for a bunch of 9-11 year olds, I thought it wouldn't be too bad and they might just knock out pretty early on in the night, well obviously that wasn't the case! Some of them made it a point to stay up all night and they did. In this picture, when I left around 4 in the morning, a bunch of them were still up, somewhat running around, but most were either watching movies or playing Guesstures. Even though the hours of the party was kind of odd, I had so much fun that night at work with the Girl Scout troops. At some point, I felt like I couldn't hang cause I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep but yet these girls are still wide awake! The best part was when I was at the door, these 4 girls did everything to keep me awake and entertained. They were showing me their gymnastic tricks and routines and then 2 broke out into song and started singing and rapping. I was cracking up so bad cause they were singing to Mackelmore's Thrift Shop and one got all up in my face during the rap part, which I thought was just too cute. And then there was also this younger girl, maybe around 5-6 years old and she was just the cutest little "love bug." She went up to all of us and gave us hugs and was just being way too cute. She was one of the ones that took a mini power nap and then was up and running again around 2AM. That night was just too much fun for me, making me appreciate my job even more just because sometimes, I feel like I'm just having fun with these kids and not even really working, which I know cannot be said for a lot of other jobs.
 

Ok, so pretty much I got home after work close to 5AM and at that point, I just couldn't sleep anymore, I'm not sure why, but I just couldn't. Sunday also happened to be Cinco de Mayo and my greatgrandmother's 7th week of passing. Usually, in my culture and religion, when people pass away, we always do a little prayer/commemerence for them every week until their 100th day of passing. The 7th week - the half way mark - is huge, therefore, we went to temple and had a little lunch there. After temple, we went home, changed, I tried going to sleep or taking a little nap but that didn't work, and then we went over to my aunt's house. Even though we say that it was a "Cinco de Mayo" party, but in actuality, it was to celebrate her birthday since hers was on May 2. So at the party, there was just a whole lot of food, beer, and loud people! If you've ever been to one of my family parties, you know we are crazy, especially after a few drinks. So anyways, since I didn't get to sleep much, I decided to eat to compensate for my lack of sleep, which I know makes no sense, but it did for me for some reason. I ate my little heart out cause there was just food everywhere I turned. And well, I had to have a few drinks too just cause they were there! At one point, I even hopped on the barbeque or as I'd like the say, the "bar-beee" and did a little grilling myself! I had so much fun despite the fact that I just wanted to knock out and take a huge snoozers!

That was pretty much my weekend and I think my body really hates me for it right now, hahaha! At the time, everything seemed like a good idea since I was having so much fun, but when school rolls around, that's when all your bad partying decisions creep on you. I am still trying to catch up on my sleep and hopefully not fall asleep during class for the rest of the week since I have tests coming up, but we shall see what comes of that!

Hope you enjoyed this,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen