HAIR

I have to start off by saying that I love long hair. I think it just embodies femininity and I just love the glamorous look it can give off. I also love big hair, especially with big luscious waves.

I am pretty lazy about my hair but have gotten a little bit better with it lately. I LOVE watching the youtube tutorials by the gorgeous Imogen as I find them super helpful, and she has this really pleasant voice that's nice to listen to as well.

I have long hair to the middle of my back. Most days, it's just wash and go. But when I feel like styling it, I like to play it up with lots of waves.

I am normally a salon brand snob when it comes to hair care products, but have recently started using drugstore products because I am now a poor student! Unfortunately, this has just reminded me why I am so picky with shampoo and conditioner - d/s brands do NOT work on my hair!

For some background info, I have long Asian hair, medium thickness, medium density, that tends to frizz. I find that I have to use at least twice the amount of product when I use drugstore products, and that I end up with a lot more frizzies. I'm currently using Pantene's s&c meant for long hair, and I am not a fan. The search continues!

I remember having good luck with the L'Oreal Nutri Gloss line (light pink) though, so I'm thinking of trying that out again. I normally have really good luck with Shiseido Tsubaki, Healthy Sexy Hair, and Biolage.

As far as styling products go, I mostly use the ones pictured above. I LOVE hot rollers and I have a Conair set that I use, along with some curling irons from Hot Tools.

The products pictured above are some of my mainstay products. I like to always have a spray mousse, like the one pictured above from Big Sexy Hair. I'm not too picky about which brand I get it from, as I've had good luck with this line, but also with Redken Guts and Tigi's Queen for a Day spray mousse (The TIGI one also smells like grape candy!). I like to use some of this product at the roots before blowdrying. It helps to hold my hair better when I backcomb afterwards.

Next in line is the Tigi superstar blowdry lotion. I honestly haven't seen that much of a change in my hair since using it, but a lot of bloggers say it makes their hair look thicker? So I'm still experimenting with this one. This also kind of smells like grape candy (yum!).

Next is Vavoom by Matrix forming gel. "Gel?" you ask? I know, right? It totally reminds me of those spiky haired boys from junior high, but this is one of the best products ever for holding a curl. My hair HATES to hold a curl. I like to emulsify this product in my palms, mix it with some shine serum, and apply it to ends before curling. It works great! it does make my hair a bit crunchy though.

Next up is Kenra's heat protecting spray. This works like the gel, but it's a spray formula. It helps my hair really hold styles but can make it kinda crunchy. Plus it's supposed to protect my hair from the heat, so I guess that's a good thing.

I then have one of my HGs- Paul Mitchell super skinny serum. This serum is awesome! It makes my hair look sleek and smooth and makes it dry at least 10 minutes faster than when I don't use it. It's pretty pricy though, and I go through it pretty fast, so I just bought a generic version at Sally's. I haven't used it yet, though, so I'll report back once I do.

The next two products are heat protectants (boring, but feel free to ask if you're curious).

The last product is Proclaim's hair oil. One of my favorite things to do for my hair (well, not favorite, bc it's pretty annoying, but favorite because it makes my hair look amazing) is douse my hair in oil, pop a shower cap on, and then sleep with it. The next morning, I wash it out, and ta-da! Gorgeous sleek shiny hair. This oil is ok but it has kind of a sickeningly sweet smell. I think I prefer jojoba oil but that can get kind of pricy. For the price, this is a decent product. I'm going to try regular olive oil in my hair next. :)

And now, here are just some random pics I felt like sharing:

Blast from the past:

Did you guys have an American Girl doll when you were growing up? I begged and pleaded for my parents to buy me this doll when I was in the 6th grade, and they finally gave in. She was my fav American Girl because she was the prettiest. (hehe, vanity at such a young age!) But I just found out that they got rid of her!!! How dare they. She had the best clothes!!!

And one last random pic. My bf's family, my bf, and I are all obsessed with the Showtime tv show "Dexter". So here's a gingerbread cookie my bf made for that show: Not bad huh? But I think he should still stick with his day job. ;)

Guilty Pleasures

So lately, I've been indulging myself a lot and began wondering about guilty pleasures. Everyone has them. For me, they include:

* watching HSN or QVC for over an hour while they sell cosmetics... my fav is Adrien Arpel. I always cringe as she slaps her 80s makeup on the poor models faces. WHY does she never put makeup on their nose??? For the love of god, COVER THEIR NOSE!

* plowing through a tub of ice cream or a chocolate bar (LOVE Godiva, Sees, and Cadbury) by myself

* reading cheesy chick lit (pretty much everything by Jane Green) or cheesy books in general (I'm reading Twilight right now)

* watching Saturday morning cartoons that I'm WAY too old for (what can I say? Ninja Turtles still rock. Although they no longer have that sweet van that shoots pizzas anymore.)

and sometimes they can be as simple as enjoying a really great cup of coffee or tea and indulging in a two hour long phone conversation with a friend, or just zoning out and forgetting about responsibilities for a while. Like they say, it's the little things in life that count.

What are some of your guilty pleasures?

Ten Products I'm Loving Right Now

Here are some products that I'm just loving and using everyday lately:

1. TF bronzer in Chocolate Soleil: my FAV. I don't really use bronzer to look more tan; I just use it for contouring. This product is perfect for that because it's matte and brown with no red tones. It's pretty dark but you can really sheer it out using a fluffy brush and a light application. Plus it smells like coco pebbles and tastes sweet if you get some in your mouth by accident! (makes me want to eat it hehehe). I'm a MAC C3 and it's absolutely perfect on me for contouring.

2. Ardell lashes in #101: I have Asian eyes, and I need a fuller lash to make my eyes look really defined; those spiky lashes don't really work on me. These lashes are perfect and really work for just about any occasion. I do like to wear some longer lashes for a night out, but this lash works for just about anything, so it's a great standby. It's quickly become my new fav.

3. MAC eyeshadow in Naked Lunch: this is PERFECT for everyday on my C3 skintone; it's a great MLidsBB. It is just slightly lighter than my skintone and has a great shimmer that brightens up my eye area.

4. DDF Glycolic 10% Toning Complex: I've been having a lot of problems lately with my skin; it's been breaking out in weird bumps and stuff. This product has really helped to clear up my problems; I've noticed that my skin has become a lot smoother and softer since I've begun using this (it's been about 3 weeks). It smells like crap and kind of tingles when I use this, but it's so worth it!

5. MAC l/l in Subculture: the perfect MLBB. It really helps make y lips look slightly fuller because it's light and lip-colored.

6. Coastal Scents Pink Semi Firm Pointed Crease Brush: this brush is amazing and only $3.95! It's very firm and has a fine point at the end. I can use the wider side of the brush for wider application of eyeshadow, and then I use the pointed side of the brush to line my lower lashline.

7. NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk: This is my favorite pencil for lining my inner lower lashline for that bright-eyed effect. I know a lot of people don't like using a white eyeliner on the lower lashline but I love it because I think it really opens my eyes up. This creamy pencil lasts all day. It's also a good backup eyeshadow base - the white color really brings out all the colors of the eyeshadows I apply over it.

8. NARS blush in Deep Throat: this has been kind of languishing in my collection, but I began wearing it everyday lately. It's the perfect shimmery peach that brings out my cheekbones.

9. Scott Barnes eyeshadow in Lily: So sad that tbe Scott Barnes line is no longer around! This is the PERFECT highlight shade: it's a shimmery creamy off-white that doesn't look too obvious when you use it to highlight. If you can still get your hands on his line, he makes really amazing eyeshadows and blushes.

10. MAC eyeshadow in Mulch: I've been using this eyeshadow absolutely everyday. It's a shimmery bronze with slight red undertones that is great for contouring the eye area. You can use it lightly for a very natural contour, or darker for a smokier look.

20 Questions!

1. Things you cannot leave the house without: keys, cell phone, wallet

2. Favorite brand of makeup: MAC, NARS, Dior

3. Favorite clothing store: Abercrombie, F21, Club Monaco, Guess, J Crew

4. Favorite flower: Orchids, roses, lilies

5. Favorite perfume: changes all the time but currently chanel coco mlle

6. Heels or flats: Heels!

7. Do you make good grades: I find out in a week! squee!

8. Favorite colors: red and pink

9. Do you drink energy drinks: not really. Only when I'm having a vodka red bull.

10. Do you drink juice: rarely. I mainly drink only water and coffee.

11. Do you like swimming: I used to love it but it's been a while!

12. Do you eat fries with a fork? Wat? NO.

13. Favorite moisturizer: for face, right now I'm liking Korres sugar crystal cream and L'Oreal hydrafresh gel-creme. For body, I really like Jergens Skin Firming and TBS Vitamin E body butter.

14. Do you want to get married later on in life: Yes.

15. Do you get mad easily: Yes, but I'm working on controlling it!

16. Are you into ghost hunting: oh hell no. I can't even go to Knott's Scary Farm.

17. Any phobias: I'm scared of heights.

18. Do you bite your nails: Only when I'm super nervous or super bored.

19. Have you ever had a near death experience: I almost drowned when I was little, if that counts?

20. Do you drink coffee: too much of it, probably.

first blog award!

I got my first award today from the gorgeous Chloe! Now I have to say 7 facts about myself and then give the award to 7 other bloggers.

My 7 facts....

1. When I was little, I used to think that monsters would come out of the center of the earth when construction people drilled roads. I would get really worried if they drilled for too long.

2. I can't watch scary movies. They give me nightmares. I'm a big scaredy cat!

3. On a similar note, I get surprised really easily. It's really embarrassing because sometimes I get surprised by the dumbest things, like I'll be waiting for an elevator, and there will be a person inside that I didn't expect, and that will make me jump. *sigh* Lame.

4. I hate the taste of lamb. HATE IT.

5. I love pbj sandwiches. Like, I lived off of them for a month once. YUM.

6. I used to never cry watching movies and now I cry a lot! The first ten minutes of "Up" always get to me. *sniffle*

7. I have the worst immune system EVER. Airborne has been helping me a lot but if there's someone within 10 feet of me that's sick, chances are that I'll get sick too. Like, right now, I think I'm coming down with a cold because my brother's been sick. Boo.

And those are my 7 facts! Now I give the award to my favorite bloggers:

Imogen - imogenfoxylocks.blogspot.com

Desiree - luvgiambattista.blogspot.com

Crystal - makeupbycrystals.blogspot.com

ShopNChomp - shopnchomp.blogspot.com

Diane - orange2la.blogspot.com

Miss P - missp-princess-life.blogspot.com

Lina - www.thebeautylookbook.com

I saw Jessica Alba today!

I was on my way to LA Live to grab some drinks at the Yard House there with some girlfriends when I noticed there was an inordinate amount of traffic in the area. I began seeing a lot of people with Lakers jerseys on, and assumed the traffic was for the game, and started walking to the bar when I turned and saw a GORGEOUS woman in a silver dress... I stared because she looked like a walking goddess and it was JESSICA ALBA. I have a major girlcrush on her and it got MUCH WORSE because she is even HOTTER in person. She is super thin, taller than expected, and has a tiny but hourglass shaped figure with a gorgeous face. I'd say she's around 5'6" because I'm 5'8" and was in 4" heels, and she was just a smidge shorter than I in her giant heels. She looks much taller though, because she's so thin and statuesque.

It turns out the People Choice Awards were going on tonight at the Nokia theater. *shrug* who knew?

I can't seem to get any good pics of her online yet but justjared.com has some.

I've seen a lot of celebs but rarely do I see a celeb that's so hot in person that s/he just makes my jaw drop. Granted, most celebs I see are just out for a day's grocery shopping or whatever and so are not all dolled up like Jessica Alba was today, but still.

Jessica Alba is hot. She has newly motivated me to work out, now.

My bf and I are planning on hitting up Hawaii for my spring break ... I should find a pic of Jessica Alba from tonight and post it on my wall or something for inspiration!

Perfume collection

I decided to do a post on my perfume collection because I'm newly falling in love with smelling nice this year. (hopefully I'll get used to it, because, as you can see, I own a ton of perfume but always forget to wear it!)

This is my collection: (I'm sorry my vanity is so dirty! This is the vanity at my parents' home and I haven't been here in 3 months!)

My collection consists of: VS Dream Angels Heavenly, Comptoir Sud Pacifique vanille abricot, EA True Love (OMG this is so old, I should throw this away), Clinique Happy, EL Pleasures, DKNY DKNY, Lolita Lempicka, CK Euphoria Blossom, Burberry and Burberry Weekend, Gucci II, Ferragamo Incanto Dream, Dior Addict 2, Ralph Lauren Rocks, Chanel Coco Mlle, Amarige by Givenchy, and CK In2U.

Like I mentioned previously, the Chanel Coco Mlle is my fav winter scent and probably my fav scent overall. However, I'm thinking of varying my scents a bit more, because there's just so many gorgeous scents out there and I want to wear more of them!

The fragrances I wear the most often are:

(from L-R: Gucci II, Ferragamo Incanto Dream, Dior Addict 2, RL Rocks, Chanel Coco Mlle, VS heavenly, CSP vanille abricot, and CK In2U.)

I'm thinking of pulling out the Happy and Pleasures and wearing them more for spring, though, since they're also such pretty scents.

I'll go through the ones I wear most often first, since I'm more familiar with them. I love the Gucci II year round because it's a very sweet floral scent - a lot of sweet scents smell too teeny bopperish in my opinion, but this one seems like a more mature sweet scent that's not too sweet.

The Ferragamo Incanto Dream is a young scent that I only like wearing in the spring or summer. It's a fruity floral that's also rather sweet and light. It's too light of a scent for fall or winter for me, but I do love it for warmer weather.

Dior Addict 2 is my fav spring scent. It's also a fruity floral but not as sweet as the Ferragamo, and more floral. It smells more sophisticated and grown-up in my opinion.

Ralph Lauren Rocks is a scent I like more for outdoorsy activities or the summer. It's a very light floral scent but it smells a little too green for my taste. I got it as a gift and it's pleasant enough, and I don't love it, but I don't hate it either.

Chanel Coco Mlle is my fav for winter and fall because it's a heavier scent, and such a gorgeous sophisticated oriental scent that's still not too heavy. I want to get Chanel No. 5 next.

VS Dream Angels Heavenly is more of a powdery scent that I only wear in the winter. It has a pretty strong vanilla base that makes it a gorgeous warm scent perfect for wintertime.

Next is my Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Abricot - this one's a very sweet vanilla scent. It's too sweet for me to wear on its own but I love to layer it with some of my oriental fragrances, and even some of my floral perfumes to deepen them for nighttime.

Another scent that I received as a gift is CK In2U. This is a warm milky scent that I haven't really found a perfect occasion for, but it's a nice pleasant scent that I like for more casual events.

From the other scents in my collection, I don't wear DKNY DKNY, Givenchy Amarige, EA True Love, or CK Euphoria Blossom (they're all gifts that just aren't quite "me").

However, I do like to occasionally wear the rest.

I love Burberry Classic for the fall. It's a gorgeous oriental that kind of reminds me of fall foliage and crisp weather.

Burberry Weekend, which is now discontinued, is a lighter oriental. It's a very pretty scent but I don't wear it very often because it doesn't work with my body chemistry. It starts to smell kind of musty?

Clinique Happy is a fairly well known citrusy scent that really lives up to its name - it really does uplift your mood and make you happy! I like this scent when I need a pick me up.

EL Pleasures is another gorgeous floral scent that I'm rediscovering. It's an amazing sophisticated feminine scent that I like to wear when I feel more girly.

The last one in my collection is Lolita Lempicka, which is a woody oriental with a strong vanilla base. I used to ADORE this scent but it's becoming a little too sweet for my tastes and I just found out that my bf's not a very big fan of this one, so I'm not sure what to do with this one at this point. Maybe it'll grow on him? LOL, we'll see.

I'm hoping to use up at least ONE bottle before I make another fragrance purchase! Other perfumes I'm eyeing are Versace Bright Crystal, Nina by Nina Ricci, Fracas, Chanel No. 5, and Marc Jacobs Perfume. What are your perfume favs? Any you hate?

Winter Vacation

Winter vacation is flying by, as it always does.

I had an amazing Christmas at my bf's family's place in Hamilton, Canada (about an hour outside of Toronto). It was rainy on Christmas day but it snowed on and off during my stay, so it was nice to see the white snow covering everything for winter break (although it wasn't as nice to walk around in the freezing cold!) Here are some pics from my stay there:

the tree:

Gifts to be opened!

the Xmas dinner table setting:

gingerbread peoples we painted (I painted the top 2!):

I got soooo spoiled for Christmas - I received some spending cash, and a great haul:

Some DVDs, books, adorable pink stripy Ralph Lauren pajamas, various accessories, and even a Tiffany's box! My bf got me an Elsa Peretti diamonds by the yard bracelet to match the necklace he got me earlier last year. <3

I've been shopping my butt off all vacation. My only purchases in Canada were the:

Lush tea tree spray toner

L'Oreal Hydrafresh gel-creme for normal-oily skin (d/c in the states)

I really liked this when it used to be out here, so I was super excited to find it again. It's really light and creates a great base for makeup too.

and I also got some SUPER cheap DVDs at Wal Mart in Canada. Did we have this deal in the states this year? Boxing Day in Canada is like Black Friday here so I got these two dvds for only $5 CAD each:

I'm so excited to watch these; I've heard great reviews for both.

And with that, I had to leave Canada. :( I had such an amazing time, I was pretty sad to leave but I did manage to get some Tim Hortons coffee to soften the blow. (It's like their Starbucks or Dunkin... it's a coffeeshop on every corner and it's so good!)

Now I'm back in southern California, and I've been shopping like crazy! I got a bunch of clothes from all the post-holiday sales, and we even hit up the outlets, where I got a skirt suit from Anne Klein and a big haul from J Crew. I was too lazy to take pics of everything but here is the sweater and tank I got from Abercrombie

lol, you can see my toes. It was only $50 for both!

I also picked up some gorgeous lingerie at VS, and this shimmer powder.

Unfortunately, though, this product completely sucks. It's hard to get any product out, and when you get it out, the shimmer just goes everywhere but where you want it to go. It does smell really pretty but the product itself is terrible, so I returned it.

I also managed to score this amazing pair of Michael Kors heels from the Kitson outlet store in Santa Monica. Doesn't it kind of look like the golden pair of Christian Louboutins that I posted about earlier?

They're originally $248 but I got them for only $74!

I also had a little d/s haul at Sally's and Target:

This shampoo and conditioner is a knockoff of Redken, but I don't love it. It's supposed to be their moisturizing line, but it leaves my hair feeling kind of dry. I would not recommend or repurchase this product. It may be because the Redken line itself doesn't work for me either, though, so I'm not ruling out other Sally's generic products yet. The Redken All Soft line actually completely dried my hair out too, so I ended up throwing it out when I had it.

I also had to get the Boots cuticle oil just bc it's sooooo adorable.

Isn't it so cute? It works well but it doesn't smell very good (kind of like nail polish remover). Thankfully, it fades fairly quickly though, so it's not too bad. I wanted to get some Soap and Glory stuff because of the raves from the gorgeous UK bloggers but the Target I went to didn't have any. :(

I'm so excited for 2010! 2009 was fun but I'm ready for another fresh start! I hope you guys are all having a wonderful holiday season!

Current obsessions and loves:

* Earl Grey Tea (I was not normally a big tea drinker, but I'm currently obsessed with having tea with some milk and sugar. LOVE it)

* bobby pins (OMG - WHERE have you been all my life.)

* Chanel Coco Mademoiselle (my longstanding fav but I always fall in love with it all over again over the winter)

Happy New Year!

Resolutions:

1. lose weight (as always) - get healthy! stop eating so much digiorno pizza and the like.

2. be more patient and understanding

3. get good grades!