Hey guys! Today I wanted to share my February Favorites. This month I had a couple of favorite new blush and lip products as well as a new regular foundation. Easy, go-to products we the name of the game for this past month since I did so much traveling, but I'm thankful because it gives me a chance to distill my product choices and know what I really love. Check out the video below!

Today's Mani Monday is a Halloween nail art look that I've always wanted to do: Candy Corn! I've honestly never been a fan of eating candy corn but I love their iconic shape and color. Since I've grown out and filed my nails to a more pointed shape, I thought it would be the perfect look to spend the last few days before Halloween.

It's the beginning of April which means that it's time for another round-up of last month's favorite beauty products. Included this time are a couple of newly discovered face-enhancing base makeup products that I'm obsessed with and also a few reeeeaaally favorite nail products that you may remember from Manicure Mondays recently! Check it out below!

 

Hey guys! For today's manicure I wanted to share with you a polish that was a totally unexpected love for me. It all started a few weeks ago when I was preparing for my panel at Kcon. They had asked me to share a quick tutorial so I thought an ombre nail how-to would be fairly easy and informative. Unfortunately the tutorial was scrapped but fortunately for me, my ombre mani for the day started with this newly discovered Lioele Lavender polish.

I couldn't wait too long to apply it again, just so I could show you how awesome this shade is!

Hey everyone! It's time for another round of monthly favorite beauty products. The list this month is short and sweet with a few really great standbys to transition into fall weather. I've been on a fall kick lately! How about you?

Check out the video below!

Hey guys! March is upon us again and it's time to share my monthly favorites from the past 4 weeks. This month, I found a new favorite lip product and rediscovered a few older items that I used nearly everyday!

Check out the video and product list below...

Whoo, April has gotten off the a super busy start! I can't believe how quickly this year is going by, seriously. I can barely even catch my breath. *wipes brow* I can't complain because I am a firm believer that it is better to be too busy than not busy enough.

I realized that I've tried quite a few new things recently so as promised, here is my very first Hits & Misses video, for the month of March.


I realize that I didn't do a very good review of the Cargo powder because I literally didn't realize I had been using the wrong shade until I had started recording (oops, switched the packaging). I had been fully prepared to be all "oh hecks no" but I've been testing out 20 lately and it's been surprisingly good. I'll keep testing it more, so maybe it will make an encore appearance in my next Hits & Misses vid. ;)

Also, I'm not sure why I never realized I had such... interesting recording ticks. Does anyone else do that? I mean, I always had my "ummm"s and "so..." and "like" but seriously, duck face and lip smacking? *face palm*

LOL!

Anyway, I'm leaving for a little half-week vacay so I've got to go pack for my flight in the morning but I hope you enjoyed watching! I'll definitely try to make this a monthly thing as much as possible. I've already started a metal list of what will be included on the next one. ^_^

Just for kicks, tell me in the comments if you have a "tick" when you speak publicly or while recording yourself. Please tell me. Just so I don't feel like I'm the only one. XD

I know a lot of people were getting confused on how to use the older codes. Many were saying they weren't working and I really wanted to remedy that. I'm also sure that a lot of people already had the Lioele Princess mirror or foundation brush as well, so I wanted to have a more versatile code that everyone would be able to easily use over and over again, with no minimum. Thankfully, Janie was a sweetheart and was willing to provide a brand new code!


And just for the record, TRUST that my personal rule of thumb with reviews is if I dislike a product, I just don't review it. I absolutely do not review everything I receive from every company so I hope that it can put a bit of faith in my reviews. I'd rather tell you about stuff that I like than waste my breath reviewing tons of products I hate. Spread positivity! Word.

If it helps your decision-making feel free to browse my previous reviews of Lioele items here.

Please let me know in the comments if there is anything in particular from Pretty & Cute that you would specifically like to see reviewed and I'll see what I can do to serve you. <3

I feel like this skincare post has been the most requested one out of anything I could possibly post about, even if I posted just pics of puppies and squirrels. And we all know how popular the last squirrel post was. Oh yeah, super mega popular.


Products mentioned:

Re-10 Wash (sodium sulfacetamide 10%)
Eucerin Everyday Protection Face Lotion SPF 30
Duac Topical Gel (clindamycin 1% & benzoyl peroxide 5%)
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair
Lioele Active Therapy Ampoule
Olay Regenerist Night Recovery Cream
Vanicream Moisturizing Skin Cream
StriVectin-SD Eye Cream
Differin Gel (adapalene gel .3%)



Sadly, no cute squirrel shots this time, just my 'ole mug. Apparently people think my skin is pretty nice although I pretty much always have one or two breakouts at any given time. Despite my being baffled at this contradiction, my excuse is that I have fairly good skin texture. This comes from a combination of good hydration, sunscreen, and proper exfoliation which could be either from a physical scrub or something like the Clarisonic, or it could be from a chemical like a retinoid (like Differin) which is what I use.

I really believe there's no magic to achieving your ideal skin, but it is really important to exfoliate, moisturize, and protect your skin. As I mentioned in the video, everyone needs moisturizer. Some people may say that they don't but I promise you, every single lady I've applied makeup on (even teens and women in their early 20's) who don't wear moisturizer, I can tell. Your skin may not feel dry but there will be wrinkles appearing on the forehead and around the eyes. Those wrinkles form through a combination of inadequate hydration and sun damage.

Thankfully, there are really inexpensive products that work well like my HG Eucerin Everyday Protection which is oil-free so it won't break me out. It also already contains spf 30 so it protects against the evils of wrinkles and hyperpigmentation.


Post-acne dark spots or what some people call "scars" are actually exacerbated by exposure to the sun so if you are someone who has battled hyperpigmentation and wonders why it takes so long to go away, consider that you may be able to avoid it getting as dark in the first place with this 1 small step! I won't completely prevent the spots but they do seem to not get as dark and they fade faster as well.

Sometimes it's really the simple things that work the best: products that don't have too much extra junk in them, sticking with a consistent routine, and living a healthy life in general. It's hard to see if something really works for you if you use it less than a month or on and off, and also hard if you aren't getting enough sleep or water.

Enough of my little rant, here is my daily regimen:

Morning

• Wash face with Re-10
• Moisturize with Eucerin Everyday Protection
• Apply Duac (pea-sized) in trouble areas

Evening

• Wash face with Re-10
• Maybe apply a serum (Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair or Lioele Active Therapy Ampoule)
• Apply StriVectin Eye Cream if I feel like being awesome
• Moisturize with Vanicream
• Apply Differin all over (half-pea sized, dotted on face then spread in)

Woohoo! More Lioele to share with you guys. As last time, Janie from www.prettyandcute.com sent these to me for review and once again, I freakin' love it!

The video sums everything up better than I can do right now, so here it is:

I apologize for chopping it up pretty badly with a lot of edits but I was having a mind-blitz and was rambling on and on a lot. :3

The headings for each item is a direct link to the product on Pretty and Cute so you can find it easily.

Blooming Sebum Catch Pact

I'll be honest, pearlized pink just kills me. Yes, I'm talking about YOU Sebum Catch Pact! I know it's childish but it's really cute, isn't it? The packaging... I just stare at it sometimes because the pink pearl glows depending on the angle the light hits it. The smell could be less powdery but it does its job and I like the hygienic cover flap.


Essential Donut Glow Stick in Milky Pink

This one is LOVE. I've been keeping it in my purse because it's a failproof color. Really cute pink that flatters yellow undertones nicely since it's not too blue-based, plus it feels like lipbalm on.


Artist Auto Eyebrow in 03 Gray Black

Since this video was recorded I've fallen even more in love with this. It's my go-to daily brow filler since I don't need to mess with any brushes and the color is so perfect for me and not too heavy.


Blooming Shimmer Pearl Base in Pink


Don't forget that the promotion code lovelioele is working at prettyandcute.com to get 10% off your order of Lioele items, and orders over $75 have free shipping within the US. Just write in the comments box which color you'd like when you check out.

I'm looooooving my new Hot Pink Lioele Princess Mirror!! I think I even like it better than the Baby Pink. More sexy-cute.


Hope this review is helpful if you want to purchase Lioele products. To see my past reviews on Lioele click here.

Let me know if you have any product questions in the comments. Also let me know if there is a specific Lioele product you'd like me to review in the future. :)

Disclaimer: I was sent these products from Pretty and Cute for review. All my reviews are, as always, my 100% honest opinion.

Today I have another lens that was graciously sponsored by Pinky Paradise. As I mentioned in my Twitter (follow me here) I thought they were really cute and exciting! The reason? They are PINK! :D

As you probably already know I am a huge fan of anything pink, cute, princessy, etc, etc so I jumped all over this review. And let me tell you, I'm not disappointed.

Here is the lens and animal case. I had a pink bear in the video, but I wanted to show this elephant too cause it's super cute. ^^


You can see the pattern of the actual lenses here and as you can see, the color printed on the lens itself is a pale, salmon pink with a bit of a rippled sunburst pattern fading into a black limbal ring.


Here are close-ups of the lens in dimmer and more direct indoor light. In dimmer light, it blends nicely into my natural brown iris color and in the brighter light, the pale pinky-lavender shade really pops. I'm almost certain the pink color would be even brighter in natural light but it was late when I tried these out after work. ;)


And how it looks on my face


All in all, I really really love these lenses! Even with the first wear, they were very comfortable to me and I wore them for around 4 hours with no problems. I have pretty sensitive eyes and often feel discomfort with lenses after as little as an hour but these didn't dry my eyes out and didn't make me dizzy either. Even plano lenses can be slightly... I don't want to say blurry, but a little wonky sometimes but these didn't have that problem. The only issue I had was since they were 14.5mm, the actual lens is quite large and I had troubles getting it into my left eye at first. Once it was on, it felt pretty good and didn't slide around my eyeball like some lenses do.

Now, you'll have to forgive me because I got a little snap happy since these lenses are so cute! I'm just loving how they come out in pictures. They are probably one of the most flattering lenses in my collection! Barely purple-toned but not unnaturally so like my Adult Violets. More like a softer and cuter lens that I could wear on any ordinary day. So with no further ado, onward commencing with le pic spam!

Smile with teeth, since it seems to always be requested.


I know I look like I'm 12 here. Better that than looking old, M I RITE??


Obligatory Asian Victory sign! -_-V


I did want to mention that I'm wearing Skin 79 Super BB Triple Functions (Hot Pink) bb cream that I also received from Pinky Paradise which so far I'm loving! Really makes skin look smooth and flawless. Will do a review once I test it out for a while longer.


I also used Lioele Blooming Pearl Shimmer Base (pink) from Pretty and Cute which I failed at swatching on my hand here but I think you can pick up on the slight glow in my complexion in these pics. I'll review this also once I've tested it out a bit longer! (Just realized I'm doing an Asian "punch in the face" pose as per Asian Poses. You guys should visit this site. It's hilarious!)


These were my attempts at looking really fobby


Nomming on a red bean paste bun? J/K it's really a cell charm from my friend Janie who runs Pretty and Cute. ;) You guys should visit and follow her personal blog here!


Ok, I'm sure you're all very sick of my face now so I'll just leave you with one last Myspace-angled shot. XD


I LOVE THESE LENSES!!! :D

<3