Back-to-School Look #1: Comfy Casual

Hello fellow interweb friends!

As you all may already know, I've been working on putting a look-book together for the sake of back-to-school season. I'm a lazy dresser and I dress more for comfort, so I use as little pieces and as light of pieces as possible whenever I get dress. The thing about back-to-school season in southern California is the weather is still pretty warm outside, can possibly go up to the hundreds, which means if you're not dress for comfort and the heat, you are going to be miserable for eight hours straight or however long you are in school for. Here are some of my outfit ideas for you guys, and I think my style is pretty straight forward and simple, so you can wear the similar styles whether you are in high school or college or even if you want some ideas for everyday kind of thing. 

So, for this look-book schizznizz, I thought I'd post a look a day kind of thing instead of bombarding you guys with like 47895810973492 different looks at once, not that my closet will allow me to do that many combinations! Below is look number 1, consisting of a white tank top from H&M, a light almost brownish/nudish jacket from Bar III at Macy's, a floral embroidered/textured skirt from Urban Outfitters, and some sandals with gold details from Vince Camuto. To finish off the look without making it look too much and keeping it as casual as possible, I layered it with a "Love" necklace I got at Tilly's with a rose pendant necklace that I got at Forever 21 about a year ago. 

This look is perfect for any day of the week, both spring, summer, and even a little bit of fall. It is somewhat girly, surprise surprise, I can be girly as well, but still not too girly to the point where you feel like you want to vomit pink!

Hope you guys enjoy this look! I will post up another one soon, but for now, have fun playing dress up. Just remember, be cute, be fabulous, but most importantly, be comfortable!

Until next time,

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

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