2012 New Years Resolutions Reflection

It's the end of the year and it's time for me to check if I have completed my New Years Resolutions for 2012. Here is a reminder of what they were:

1. Write a blog post at least once a week.
2. Pay off credit card debt.
3. Finish at least one perfume bottle.
4. Film more make-up tutorials.
5. Get your G2.
6. Make a positive impact on someone’s life.
7. Drink more water. (At least one glass a day)
8. Curse less.
9. Don’t buy beauty products just because it looks pretty. Just get what you need.
10. Finish up at least one make-up product a month. 

The ones I have crossed out are the ones I have completed. I have done a lot better than I did. Part of me wants to half cross out "Drink more water." because I did for the first half of the year but then I just stopped. For those of you who do make New Years Resolutions, how many of them have you completed?

Dry Winter Lips

Does anyone else have those dry chapped lips during the winter time? The dry cold air and the winds can cause our lips to be very dry at time. I always carry lip balm with me in my purse where ever I go. The best lip balms for me are The Body Shop Lip Butters. I do have Carmex but all is does is strip a thin layer of your skin off which I do not like. I have heard Nivea has some really good lip balms as well.

The key to having long lasting hydrating lips is to stay hydrated and to apply lip balm all throughout the day. I apply lip balm before I put on my makeup, throughout the day when needed and before I go to bed.

The worst thing you can do to your dry lips is to lick them. NEVER LICK THEM! It will cause it to be more dry and create a red outline around your lips. You will look like a clown. Trust me, I have seen it on people before and it is not attractive.

They do create lip balm that are tinted. So if you choose to, you can have lip balm that will give your lips some colour as well. I do prefer colourless lip balm so that when I do put it on my lips, it won't cling around the dry flakes on some parts of my lips.

What lip balm do you use?

I Need Your Recommendation!

I need help finding a perfect black liquid eyeliner. Preferably a drugstore brand because I go through black liquid eyeliner like no other. My favourite one of all time is the Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner but it's too expensive to buy. I would like a brush similar to that kind of eyeliner.

I am currently using the L'Oreal Lineur Intense Liquid Black Eyeliner in Carbon Black but I do not like the brush and it smudges on me every once in a while. I need a black liquid eyeliner that does not smudge, has a thin applicator and is from the drugstore. If any of you can recommend me any that would be great! I have tried the liquid eyeliner from Physician's Formula that is very similar to the Stila one but it smudges on me and is not very pigmented. Help me please!

How Would You Feel?

I recently planned an elementary and middle school reunion for my friends and I. I have started planning it since mid-October and had around 10 people reply back to me out of 60 people that were invited.

I am getting this rally uncomfortable feeling that people do not want to see me or see each other. People had two months to figure out if they can make it to the reunion and in the end three people (including myself) can go. I have made updates throughout those two months and still the same number of people have replied.

There are several reasons why someone would not want to come to this reunion:

1. They have made prior plans on the day of the event before I even sent them the invite (which was mid-October).
2. They do not like me.
3. They don't like or want to see other people who were invited to the event.
4. They are not proud of where they are in their lives and don't want other people to know.

I get that people may have their reasons for not coming but any of the responses from 2 to 4 should not be a reason. Most of these people are in their 20s and you would think they would mature by that age. I am going to admit, being in your 20s is not easy at all. It is a crazy time of your life because you are trying to figure out who you are and where you want to be in your life. That is why I thought it would be a great idea to create this event as a way to catch up with people and to network. Networking is the best thing you can do in your life. It can help you with your future career and can benefit both parties. We are a support system and you are not alone if you are having problems in your life. We are all going through it.

I know my elementary and middle school would never hold a reunion for us, so I took the initiative to create this event. Who doesn't want to see how their past friends are doing? Facebook can only tell you so much and it's kind of creepy if you think about it. I'd rather get to know someone in person, especially if I have seen them in the past.

In the end, I have cancelled the event because I didn't want to waste the time of those two guys who agreed to come to this event. I was expecting to have at least 10 people show up but I guess this is not the case. I really do appreciate the two guys that have said yes to coming to the reunion but I honestly did not want to waste their time when they could have been doing something else.

What confuses me about all of this is that I have met these people when I was kid then we have added each other on Facebook a few years later. And now they don't want to see me in person. Why is this? Can someone please explain this to me because this makes no sense at all.

My Reality Check

Can you believe it Christmas season already? It's crazy! Time flies by so fast! So much things have been going on in my personal life recently that I haven't had time to film and upload a video. I have a Halloween Vlog I wanted to post, but YouTube is being difficult for the past few days which is not helping my situation. I figured out why it was being difficult. My file size is too big to upload. It makes no sense because I have uploaded videos that are a lot bigger in size and yet YouTube is giving me difficulty with this one.

This past week I realized where I need to be in this point of my life. I was employed with a company that took away so much time I could have used to do the things I love. Such as my Twitter, YouTube, blog and seeing my family/boyfriend/friends. The hours of the job were not working for me. I have so many things that I wanted to do but can't because I didn't have time. I am glad I realized this because if I didn't, you would not be reading this blog post right now. I am happy about where I am in my life right now and I am glad I made this decision now, rather than later.

I have so many videos to film for you guys! I literally have bags of things I bought over the past few weeks sitting in my room. I don't even have the time to film! Now that I do have more time to do the things I love, you will be seeing videos from me soon. Believe me, I feel so guilty that I have not updated a video in forever! I shall be seeing you soon!

IMATS Toronto 2012 Haul Product Swatches and Close-up Shots

Make Up For Ever Lipstick Swatches

L to R: Rouge Artist Intense 30, 38, 29, 42, Rouge Artist Natural N24

L to R: Rouge Artist Intense 30, 38, 29, 42, Rouge Artist Natural N24

L to R: Rouge Artist Intense 30, 38, 29, 42, Rouge Artist Natural N24

Top to Bottom: Rouge Artist Intense 30, 38, 29, 42, Rouge Artist Natural N24
Without flash

Top to Bottom: Rouge Artist Intense 30, 38, 29, 42, Rouge Artist Natural N24
With flash

Make Up For Ever Lip Gloss Swatches

Top to Bottom: S4, S24, S26, D14, M10 (without flash)

Top to Bottom: S4, S24, S26, D14, M10 (with flash)

Top to Bottom: S4, S24, S26, D14, M10 (with flash)

Top to Bottom: S4, S24, S26, D14, M10 (without flash)

Miscellaneous product close-ups/swatches

IPKN: Artist Wave Auto Make-up

First off before I start off the blog post, I would like to apologize for not writing a blog post in a long time. I know I keep on my making excuses but I literally had no time to relax and breath over the last couple of days. I have been so busy with my full-time job that I have no time to write a blog post. But I am sitting down right now writing this blog post before I have to head out to do another thing. I have a very busy life outside of my internet life and I am still trying to manage my time. I am really hoping to perfect it sometime soon.

When I was at IMATS Toronto 2012 a couple of days ago. I came across this booth that I have never seen at the past IMATS before. It really intrigued me because I have never seen a product like this in Canada before. It's a product from Korea and it hugely popular in the Asian countries. I even say a commercial for it while my grandma was watching Vietnamese television on our satellite. They are trying to break into the Canadian market and I was so happy to help them out! In my IMATS vlog (it will be coming up in the next few days), I will feature a little clip of how their product works. Vibrations are the newest thing in make-up. They are found in mascaras and powder foundations. This product works amazing well with creams. This means it can work on your cream foundations, sunscreen, lotions, tinted moisturizer, BB creams, CC creams. Whatever cream product you can think of; it will work with it. What is does, is that it vibrates the product into your skin so that it gives your skin a flawless airbrushed looking finish. It also helps with buffing the product into your skin without getting your hands messy, worrying about cleaning brushes or figuring out what brush to use on your face.

Because we all know, that can be confusing at times and has lots of trial and error. But this product is pretty straight forward. The amazing thing about this product too is that it is travel friendly. It is small and compact so you can easily stick it into your travel make-up bag without having to sacrifice space. You can purchase this product through their website. All details and pricing are on their website if you are interested in purchasing it. I personally do not own the product but I did try out the product while I was at IMATS Toronto. I plan to buy it in the future once this Christmas season is over because we all know this is the season is spending money on others. We all know it's true and I am not afraid to admit it. I hope you all enjoyed this blog post and I shall be writing to you soon. I miss you!

Please note: All of these opinions are my own. The company is not paying me to write this blog post. I came across them at IMATS Toronto 2012 and I just want to help them out.

You don't appreciate what you have until you lose it.

I know the title of this blog post sounds very dramatic but it is very true for what I am going through right now. For those of you who do follow me on Twitter, you know what I am going to talk about. Exactly one week ago I started getting sick. I went from runny nose to fever, coughing and voice changing in less than three hours. It freaked me out so I made the decision to go home that afternoon. Now it's exactly one week later and I sound like a man. NOT A GOOD THING! I have had instances this week where I had trouble breathing because of the phlegm in my throat. I googled "How to get rid of phlegm" and I found out that soy is the number one food that causes the worst amount of phlegm possible. I DID NOT KNOW THIS! For the past week or so, I have been having soy milk to go with my cereal every morning since it's a quick breakfast. For those of you who don't know, I am lactose intolerant; therefore I cannot have regular milk. I knew that regular milk causes more phlegm so I did not think I had to worry since I was having soy milk. LITTLE DID I KNOW I WAS FEEDING MY PHLEGM THE ENTIRE PAST WEEK! I am so mad at myself for not knowing that! So now I am drinking tons of warm liquids and eating lots of Congee (a special Chinese rice porridge).

Congee

You have no idea how hard it is to not talk. I want to talk so badly but it makes my throat hurt so much! So appreciate the voice that you got right now and use it wisely! I will be writing a blog post about IMATS Toronto 2012 very soon. I have very strong opinions about IMATS Toronto this year. Both good and bad. So watch out for the video and the blog post within the next few days.

My 100th Post and Breaking Dawn Part 2!!!

AHHH! I cannot believe I have finally reached 100 posts!!! YAY!! I am so happy I have had the motivation keep up this blog and I would love to thank all of you for reading it. You have no idea how much it means to me. I have been on YouTube now for almost 4 years (as of March 4, 2013) but my blog has been a little bit less than that. BUT STILL! I cannot believe it has been this long!

Tonight Shawn and I are going to see Breaking Dawn Part 2. I am super excited for it to be all over. I am not a huge Twilight fan but I did enjoy the films. My favourite one of the saga is Breaking Dawn Part 1. I am more about the love between Bella and Edward than the werewolf and vampire drama. I don't really care for it. Twilight also inspired my favourite book Fifty Shades of Grey so I can't just not like it. Are any of you excited to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 this weekend? If you have seen it last night, don't tell me anything!! I plan to pull off my vampy vampire look today at work. I hope people can tell I am excited for tonight....LOL! Have a good weekend everyone!

My look when I went to so see Breaking Dawn Part 1 last year.

P.S. IMATS Toronto is this weekend and I am going on Saturday!! I hope to see some of you there! Come say hi to me if you do see me!

P.S.S. QueenofBlending will be at IMATS Toronto. She will be at the OCC booth. GO CHECK HER OUT! Because I know I will =)

Chipping Glitter Nail Polish

I have a problem with my glitter nail polishes chipping on me really early in my manicure. I use Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat over my nail polish so that is dries faster and to have a thick glossy effect on my nails. It also makes a thick enough layer so you don't feel the glitter grain of the nail polish. However the downside to this amazing top coat is that it makes my glitter nail polish chip of easier! It's so annoying! The polish on my thumb fingers are already chipping they day after I did my nails! I didn't even do the dishes so it makes no sense at all. Do you girls have any tips that I can use? It's really frustrating me!

Nicole By OPI - One Less Lonely Glitter

P.S. Today is National Customer Appreciation Day at Booster Juice. Buy a FULL SIZE Booster Juice and get the SECOND one for 99 CENTS!!! DO IT! I know I am!! 

*NOTE: This store only exists in Canada.*

Portland Day 4 Experience and Haul and BONUS video!!!

Here are some pictures from Day 4!!

Our rental car! Chevy Cruze!

My taco salad and guacamole and chips at King's Burrito

The coffe place where Christian and Ana had coffee. It was originally called Portland's Coffee House

Out King bed at The Heathman Hotel

Meeting E L James at Powell's Books!

OH YEAH!!

The bell boy at The Heathman Hotel before our dinner! Notice my outfit ;)

LIKE A BOSS!

Le Pigeon Restaurant

There is a slightly new menu every week since they use fresh local ingredients!

Lobster Noodle, it was amzing!

Spinach and Eggplant Tarte Tatin.
It's the closest I can get to an Apple Tarte tatin that Ana had....

Cute chocolates!

50 Shades of Gin at The Heathman Restaurant

Voodoo Doughnut!!

So many choices!!!

Doughnut heaven!

How do I do this?

YUMMMMM!

Our purchases!!!