OOTD: casual fall interview outfit

I recently had an interview for a part time job, and thought it'd be great to share what I wore.  I think interview attire is tricky...  Mine was a casual interview, so I didn't have to wear a suit or anything.  If you're wondering what to wear to your interview, just don't think too hard.  :)

plain black cardigan from Gap
color block shirt from Ann Taylor
black dress pants from Ann Taylor
shoes are Clark's Wallabees

Black Friday Haul 2014!

I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving and had fun shopping too!  Of course I had to go shopping.  How could I have not... 

So first, I went by Ulta around 8PM on Thursday and got some mini OPI nail polish sets in pink and purple, Benefit's one hot bamba full size blush and lip gloss set, and Ulta's matte lip crayons.  The OPI nail polish sets were 6$ each, Benefit set was 18$, and the Ulta lip crayons were just 1$!  All of these I bought to gift to friends! For myself, I purchased two Sexy Hair's root pumps.  I've never tried these before, but hopefully, these will give some volume to my super ridiculously flat hair.

Then went to the mall and did more damage to my dear wallet at Sephora and various other stores.  At Sephora, I got more sets!  The sets are always such good deals... These companies are making me get them... I got the Tocca hand cream and roller ball set; it comes with two different scents and they smell so so so so great!  I also got the Nest roller ball set, and these also smell amazing.  I definitely had to get the Buxom mascara and eyeliner set because it was just a really good deal.  Smashbox mini lipstick duo is why I originally went to Sephora; the colors are beautiful as you will see below.  The Elizabeth&James Nirvana black and white roller balls were not part of the Black Friday deals, but I've been wanting to try them so I decided to get them.  They really do smell amazing!

At The Body Shop, I purchased two powders, just stocking up.  Then I also got two different serums; one is the Nutriganics smoothing serum and the other is the pomegranate firming serum.  I got these four for 44$.  Last year, it was four products for 40$, but they raised their Black Friday deal prices this year. Aww, but still not too bad!

Oh yes yes yes! I finally finally found a new wallet for myself! I've been looking for one for quite a while now.  I loved the polka dot one so much that I also got it in a pretty blue pattern too.  These look small in the pictures, but they're bigger than my hand, so not too little and not too big.  These are Fossil brand.  

Hope you also found great deals on Black Friday if you went shopping!

-sylvia! <3

Haul: Ulta & Victoria's Secret

Surprise!  Another haul at you!  I just went by Ulta and Victoria's Secret today; I didn't buy much, but I wanted to share what I got.  I went to Ulta because I got a 20% off coupon in the mail.  These 20% off coupons are awesome because you're allowed to use it on anything (except few brands, such as Lancome and Clinique).

At Ulta:

I got this Batiste dry shampoo in rich & elegant paisley.  I've tried dry shampoos before, but not Batiste.  I only hear good reviews about Batiste dry shampoos, so I'm excited to try it out.  I picked this one because I think it smells pretty good.  I would've gotten the dark brown colored one if it was in stock.  Maybe if I like this one, I'll give the other scents a give too.

Okay, these puffs are necessary for powder application on the go.  They feel soft!  I prefer using puffs to touch up throughout the day because it makes me more matte.  And after blotting, some of the face makeup rubs off, so the puff will help give more coverage.  

 

My sister uses this Mario Badescu Silver Powder and she says it really works, so of course I had to get it myself to try it.  It's supposed to help remove blackheads and excess oils.  The tub is a pretty generous size and it's filled with fine white powder.  I'm excited to try this one!

At Victoria's Secret:

I don't know why, but I decided to walk into Victoria's Secret...  I was just wondering around sniffing all the different scented stuff they have there, and had to get these.  The two bigger bottles are body sprays and the smaller one, I believe, is a perfume.  I could only find two scents I liked, which were hello darling and endless love,but there's a deal where you can get 3 for 25$.  The body sprays and the little perfume are 14$ at regular price.  Hello darling smells so good!!!  If you've never smelled this one before, you should.  It smells sweet and just so good!  Endless love is another that I really like.  It smells like Herbal Essences shampoo and I love the smell of Herbal Essences shampoo (the amazingly scented shampoo that comes in the pink bottle, if you know what I'm talking about).  And the pure seduction perfume, I just bought because I couldn't find a third scent that I liked better.  This one smells good, but I just don't like it as much as the other two.  

Hope you enjoyed!

-sylvia! <3

Haul: Skincare & Makeup

Here goes my most recent collective haul...

Here's an overview of all the things I got!  I got new foundations, lip balm, serum, and moisturizing oil.

I've been into mineral foundations recently, so I bought two different ones.  This is the Bare Minerals Original foundation with spf15.  I got it in the color W10 golden fair and I'm in between MAC NC15 & NC20.  I don't know if I like this or not so far...  It kind of sort of makes me look a bit cakey sometimes...  Hmm hmm...  But I've only worn this couple times, so I'll give it some more time.

This one is The Body Shop's Extra Virgin Minerals foundation in the color 102 natural ivory.  I got the lightest shade, but it's not that light.  If you're lighter than I am, then forget about this one.  But oh my goodness!  The formula is awesome!!!  It looks great on the skin and wears for a pretty long time.  :)  The only bad thing about it is the color.  It's a bit too pink for my Asian skin tone boo hoo, but it's still wearable.  And hey, this is on sale on thebodyshop.com for only 5$!!! 

I'm so happy Lush finally is here at my local mall!!!  I've been waiting for soooo long!  I bought Lush's Colour Supplement Multi-Purpose Base Colour in light yellow.  I got this to use it as concealer because I just ran out.  I've used this once and so far so good.

I also ran out of lip balm, so I decided to get Lush's Lip Service.  Few hours after putting this on, my lips felt so much more smooth.  I think I'm going to enjoy this one!  Oh, this thing smells great too.

I've been using Josie Maran argan oil and was running out, so I started looking on Amazon to find an alternative.  Wow, I feel like I was running out of everything at once.  Anyway, I just wanted to try a different brand of argan oil, so I picked out Elsa&Sama moroccan argan oil.  I chose this one only because it was cheap...  It was only about 8$ for 1oz, which is way cheaper than Josie Maran.  It smells a lot different than Josie Maran, but hopefully, it's as good.  I've been hearing so many good things about vitamin c serums, so I decided to give Poppy Austin a try.  It smells citricy, but it smells a little weird...  I don't know what other vitamin c serums smell like, so I can't compare.  I haven't tried these two yet.  They better not break my skin out!

-sylvia! <3

Yellow and green flower nails

Here is a picture of my cute floral nails!  I think they're super cute and extremely easy to do.  I didn't draw these flowers, these are just nail stickers.  The forest green base nail color is OPI's uh oh roll down the window.  I got a lot of compliments on these nails.  :)

-sylvia! <3

Summer Collective Beauty Haul

It's summer time!  For some reason, this summer, I haven't been into beauty products.  Instead, I'm obsessed with clothes!  Anyway, on to the haul...

I've already started using most of them, so I can give a mini review of each one.  

First of all, I am loving the e.l.f. lash curler so much.  It's no longer $1.  They raised the price to$1.08 at Target, but I think it's still just a dollar on the e.l.f. website.  The reason why I like this so much is because the curler is pretty flat and it works better for my Asian eyes better than other curlers.  

The NYX radiant finishing powder in brighten  is very pretty on the skin.  It gives a nice settle glow, which is what I prefer rather than sparkly glitter.  I've been wanting to buy this same exact thing from Bobbi Brown until I found this one!  I just got this the other day at Ulta for 40% off and with a 20% off coupon for $4.31!

The Milani multitasker face powder in 02 light medium is from Walmart for only $6.  For its price, it's an amazing powder!  I especially love how yellow the color is.  I only ended up buying this because of how yellow the color was, but I ended up really liking it.  There's a pretty floral and lace detail on the powder itself, but you can't see it in my picture below because I have already started using it.  

I think I found a new favorite face sunscreen!  I've been using the Shiseido one for about 2 years, but finally decided to try a new one.  I was scared to try a new sunscreen because some of them break me out.  This La Roche-Posay spf60 face sunscreen doesn't break me out, doesn't leave a white film, and is not greasy.  It's $30 at Ulta for 1.7 fl oz.  

Maybelline's waterproof great lash mascara in brownish black is just classic.  This brings back the memories from middle school.  I like this mascara, but I don't love it to the point where this is the only mascara I ever want to use, but but but I still recommend it!  Give it a try if you haven't!

Oh my goodness!!  The NYX butter lip balm is something I would highly recommend to people who want to wear color, but don't want to accentuate those dry flaky lips.  It has high pigmentation, at least more than I was expecting.  I got it in the color ladyfingers and it's a nice everyday lip color.

At the Victoria's Secret's semi annual sale, I purchased another one of these sweet pout intense color gloss in the color raspberry chic.  This definitely doesn't last long.  It only stays on the lips for about an hour or two, but it's still a beautiful color and consistency.  It's not sticky like their regular lip glosses.  I hate their regular tube lip glosses because they're so sticky and some of them smell bad too.  This sweet pout intense color gloss is super pigmented too.

This Physician's formula oh so radiant powder with spf20 in translucent is also from Ulta for 40% off and with 20% off coupon for $6.71.  I wiped off the glitter layer on top before using it because I don't like glitter highlighters.  Once I wiped off the glitter layer, the powder isn't glittery at all.  I think it gives a nice satin finish.  I've only worn this once for about an hour, so I don't know exactly how it wears overtime.  But, so far so good!  Btw, the brush is horrible!  I tried using it, but it sheds like crazy!

Okay, I saved the most exciting product for last!  It is the Illumask!!!  I haven't started using it yet, but I'm absolutely thrilled to try it out!  It's supposed to help reduce acne and prevent from getting acne with blue and red lights.  How cool is that?!  I will definitely do a review on this.  In the box, it comes with the plastic mask, controller with batteries, and a instruction booklet.  The mask looks really cool! Hoping for better skin with this $30 light therapy mask.  >:)

ttyl!

-sylvia!<3

My Nails Today...

OH NO!  I haven't posted anything in weeks.  I haven't been wearing nail polish (about 4 weeks) because I've noticed that my nails were getting weak.  I have very strong, healthy nails; but because I've been wearing nail polish for the past 4 years without giving my nails a single day of break, they were starting to get weaker and weaker.  Anyway, my nails are all healthy and strong again!  AHHHHH I'm so excited to be wearing nail polish again!!!  I've been looking through my bright colored nail polishes this morning, and I'm thinking super bright neon green color for next week!  Maybe maybe not :P  I'm going to give my nails another week of break, and I will be back with my weekly nail color post this weekend! :)

-sylvia!<3

I Lilac You Nails!

As you saw from my haul from yesterday, I got new nail colors!!!  I absolutely ABSOLUTELY fell in love with this lilac color at the drugstore!  Maybe this is love at first sight!  I just had to bring it home with me.  I was little afraid that this wouldn't be pigmented because I've never tried these polishes before (except for base coat).  But when I applied it, it was so pigmented and creamy!  I think the color is so amazingly beautiful!  This is my new favorite light purple color.  I highly highly highly recommend this color if you're looking for a good lilac.  This is such a pretty light purple with blue undertone; it's a cool tone lilac.

I'm seriously considering wearing this again next week.  I love this color so much!  I haven't liked a nail color this much in such a long time.  I applied some glitter at the tips of my nails.  It has blue and purple glitters.
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure- I Lilac You
Sinfulcolors Professional- Frenzy

-sylvia! <3

Walgreens haul

On to the haul!
I went lip product crazy!  I always get the same kind of colors, usually hot pink.  But, I'm proud to say that I went out of the box and bought a nude!  I haven't worn a nude lip color in years.  There was a time when I was only wearing nudes, but currently, I'm addicted to hot pink!

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure- Sweet Talker & I Lilac You
Rimmel Show Off lip laquer- Luna & Apocoliptic
Wet n WIld Megaslicks Balm Stain- Nudist Colony & Lady and the Vamp
Wet n Wild Megalast Liquid Lip Color- Back to the Fuchsia

I've been wanting to try the Rimmel Show Off lip laquers for so long!  They're also known as the Apocalips. The coral color is beautiful and of course, I had to get the hot pink one.  I haven't worn these out yet, so I don't know the lasting power or how they wear.  I love balm stains so much!!  I'm constantly buying other brands of balm stains to replace the Revlon balm stains because the Revlon ones dry my lips out.  I was sad when I didn't see a hot pink color!!!  And the Wet n Wild megalast liquid lip color seems super long lasting because when I swatched it on my hand, it was hard to remove.  Lastly, of course I couldn't leave the drugstore without getting some nail polishes!
-sylvia! <3

Unexpected purple nails

I'm about to redo my nails even though I just did them today.  It's all because the purple color ended up looking super dark!  I wasn't expecting this color to be so dark.  This is a new color; I've never tried this polish before.  But, I guess I should'be known better because it looks quite dark in the bottle too.  It's a pretty color, but I think I'm going to redo my nails with a lighter purple or pink because it's Valentine's day soon!!

This is Sally Hansen's triple shine in vanity flare.  If I do end up redoing my nails, I'll update this post or something.
-sylvia! <3

Crackle red polka dot nails

Hello Hello to all of you who love polka dots!  For some reason, I couldn't find my plain white polish, so I had to use my white crackle polish.  It turned out super unique!  I think it looks pretty cool!

The burnt red color is Essie's spinning again and the Sally Hansen's crackle overcoat is in snow blast.  I hope you all give this one a try.  Super easy and super cool :)
-sylvia! <3

Nude glitter tip nails

I wanted to wear colors that are more simple and business appropriate this week because I have some meetings to go to throughout the week.  I think this will pass as a cute, and also appropriate for those who work at a business setting and want to wear sparkling glitters.

 I have used Sally Hansen's maximum growth nourishing nail color.  It doesn't have a color name on the bottle, so I have no clue what it's called.  Maybe this is the only color they have! I don't know...
The glitter polish is the Sally Hansen's triple shine in dream sequins.  It's a very pretty and settle glitter polish that consists of orange-ish rose gold colored glitters.

Super simple, cute, and easy to achieve!
-sylvia! <3

DIY glitter jewelry/ make up dish!

This DIY of glitter jewelry or make up dish is super easy!  I've been seeing this DIY all over the internet, so I decided to give it a shot.  It will definitely spice up your vanity, bathroom, or where ever you wish to place them.  They look fantastic anywhere!  I picked gold glitter for mine, but you can choose any color glitter for yours.

Materials: Elmer's liquid school glue
Mod Podge sealer
glitter of your choice
anything you want to put glitter on (plain dishes, glass bottles, etc)

Direction:
1. put a layer of Elmer's liquid school glue on the areas where you want to add glitter. I used a 1inch paint brush to make it easier and to make it even.
2. pour glitter over the areas you have put the glue on.
3. put more glue on to get the areas you didn't get the first time around.
4. apply a thin coat of mod podge over the glittered areas.
5. let this all dry, then reapply a layer of mid podge to prevent the glitters from getting everywhere.
Super easy, huh?  You should give it a try!

 I put my body sprays and perfumes on one and some of my face make up on the other, but these dishes would look fantastic as a jewelry dish.  Oh, by the way, the dishes I used are from Goodwill for 50cents :)

This is part of my bedside table.  I decided to use a Starbuck's coffee glass bottle as a flower vase.  You can spice up any cute glass bottle to use as a vase.
I hope you all give this a try!
-sylvia! <3

Current nail base & top coat

Today, I'm going to share what I kind of nail products I use.  I don't think I've ever shared what I've been using as my base and top coat.
I actually like the base coat I'm currently using.  It's the Sally Hansen's complete salon manicure smooth and strong base coat.  It works pretty well; my nails feel pretty healthy.  My nails don't chip or anything, so I can't tell you if it helps prevent chipping.  Before this one, I was using the OPI base coat and I didn't like that one as much because it didn't make my nails smooth.  It basically didn't do anything for my nails.
For top coat, I am using candy coating from Urban Outfitters in lemon drop.  I bought this couple months back because I thought it was cool.  It's scented!!  It smells like lemon, like the name of the polish.  The scent lingers on your nails for about a day and sometimes, faint scent of lemon stays on the second day.  It does make your nails look pretty shiny.  I would not repurchase this product again because it claims that it dries clear, but it actually does not.  It leaves a slight yellow tint, which I hate!  The yellow tint changes the tone of the nail colors that I wear.  I'm going to finish using this because I don't want to waste it; I can't wait to finish using this stuff up.
The last step when I color my nails is to put on the dry kwik by Sally Hansen.  This thing really works!  The amount of time it takes to dry significantly reduces when I put this on.  I highly recommend this oil.  After you put this on and after your nail color dries, you can rub this into your cuticles.  I would definitely repurchase this one!

-sylvia! <3

Dusty rose nails & rich bown with pearl rhinestone nails

Oh my!  It has been so so long since the last time I've blogged.  I have been so busy and tired from all of the holiday festivities and shopping.  Hehe...  I am finally back at my apartment and in school.  How sad the fun holidays are over.. :(  Now, I'm just looking forward to spring break!!
I have my nails to show from today and few weeks before.  I forgot to take pictures for all of the other weeks.  I promise I'll be posting weekly again :)

This one is the one I just painted; it's the color I will be wearing this week.  It is called am I making myself Claire? by nicole by OPI from the Modern Family collection.  It's such a pretty mauve rose or dusty rose color indoors, but outside, it looks more like a dusty lavender.  I'm so bad at describing colors...  I apologize.  It's a fun color to give a try if you're tired of the typical nude colors.  

This one, I wore few weeks back.  The rich brown with green undertone is called a-taupe the space needle from OPI.  I placed four light blue pearl stones on my ring fingers.
-sylvia! <3