Finally got a twitter account. Eugh. I have strongly mixed feelings.

Ahhh~! I actually found decent starter kits from Laneige! And did some impulse shopping .__. But both kits that I found had an array of useful products that I wanted to try out a little - so I consider it a good buy for only $27.

Laneige Basic Step Trial Kit (for oily to combination skin)

• Power Essential Skin Refiner Light (15ml) - acts as a toner to remove dead skin cells and eliminates impurities from pores. Helps brighten and refine rough skin from excess sebum and oiliness (score!). Use after cleansing.
• Balancing Emulsion Light (15ml) - controls excess sebum and balances moisture. Use after cleansing and toner.
• Water Bank Essence (10ml) - provides 24hr moisture and forms barrier to keep skin from drying. Use after cleansing, toner, and emulsion.
• Water Bank Gel Cream (10ml) - rehydrating moisturizer. Said to be used 1-2 a week.

Basically, I’m kind of looking forward to how “light” this would feel. I know I’m putting a lot of expectation on this brand… and considering how my luck with skin care products is not so good I’m trying my best to not expect a lot. But I can’t really help it :] I’ve read and seen reviews from youtubers with oily skin who have said that these product are really gentle on the skin. I always have problems with there being a lot of residue from products or being too rough that they leave rashes - I just hope this brand sheds some light.

Laneige Aritaum Travel Kit (for all skin)

• Multi-Cleanser (30ml) - (AWESOME!) 4-in-1 removes makeup, sunscreen, exfoliates, and cleanses the skin.
• Water Sleeping Pack (20ml) - special face care leave-on mask right before bed for rehydrating tired and dull skin.
• Multiberry Yogurt Repair Pack (20ml) - high concentration multiberry yogurt extract that nourishes skin and leaves it supple. Recommended to use 1-2 times a week.

(Both kits were bought @ beautykat.com)

My Tea Rou(tea)ne

I’ve noticed that quite a number (not all however) of Americans don’t necessarily have an affinity towards tea. It’s kind of overshadowed by the more popular coffee choice that normally people go for. Coming from my cultural background, tea has always been a pretty common part of my life. No, I did not drink it out of a traditional самовар (samovar) daily. In fact, I use a french press! A nifty little device invented for preparing coffee. The procedure is simple.

For those who wonder how to prepare tea with loose leaves instead of a tea bag - I just put in the favoured amount into the french press and add boiling water. I let the leaves soak in the water before pressing them down to the bottom, thus sifting the leaves away from the tea.

After moving to the US, I realized that the variety of tea in this country is… “alright”. Now, I’m not trying to hate on the tea products here - I actually found a couple brands that I absolutely adore. In addition to, I have also acquired a liking towards green tea and more recently, white tea. Black Tea (or as the Chinese refer to as “red tea”) has been my earliest exposure to tea in general. I have drank so much bitter black tea from a young age that my taste for bitter foods has almost completely deteriorated! D: That’s right - most bitter foods taste bland to me nowadays. Even Pu-Erh Tea is only slightly bitter to me. Maybe that’s why I have slowly begun to find interest in green and white tea for their flavour difference…

Being an avid tea lover - (though by no means an expert!) - I have developed my own Tea Routeane when indulging in my favourite beverage. In the morning I like to begin with a generous cup of green tea. Green tea does not have the same amount of caffeine that black tea or coffee contains. For some that may not be a big enough of a boost to start the day, but I tend to have something to eat for breakfast to help me wake up.

Vitamin C can help you beat fatigue!

Towards the middle of the day as I get done with the majority of my classes (3-ish is my last course usually) I drive back home before swim practice to have a quick meal and some black tea. Since it has a little more caffeine than green tea, I like to keep that sort in the middle of my day to help me get through until nightfall. And by the time I get back home from practice around 10-ish if there are no club meetings (gosh, colleges just love to have their club meetings at 9 PM!), I pop in some white tea leaves to make my final cup of goodness. Though white tea still has a little caffeine in it, I am pretty much wiped out to have it affect my body.

Why do I love having white tea right before bed the most? Research has shown that white tea helps keep skin young and healthy! Right as I do my skin cleansing prep before going to sleep, it’s nice to know that my little cup of tea is also helping me fight my ongoing battle with wrinkles (I apparently frown a lot ;__; ).

White tea also helps prevent skin cancer… I don’t know how much of that is true but no research has proven that it helps generate skin cancer though!

And that is my personal Tea Routeane :] How about you? Do you have any interesting tea routines?

Covergirl Flipstick transforms into DIY Lipbalm

So a while ago I went out to try the Covergirl Flipstick because I’ve been hearing so many positive reviews on it. The first flipstick that I bought was “Snap” - a very earthy, natural colour choice that I usually wear for any occasion because it looks great with my (usually) beige attire :] I was so happy with the product. The stick itself is quite thin and having very thin lips myself, it was super easy to apply without crossing over onto the skin (oops, I tend to do that sometimes). Here is a Google Image link to see the colour:

Afterwards, I decided to head out and buy another colour set - one more radiant than my usual choice. The one I chose was “Smooch”. It has a bit darker brown on one end and a slightly reddish-pink other end. I thought it was a good start to brighten up my usual tone of lip colour. But after trying it out a couple times, I noticed that it just didn’t look very appealing with my skin tone (my pale white-ness ;_; ). The brown was too dark for me and the reddish-pink suddenly looked almost orange from far away (as I’ve been told). It was quite odd and disappointing - they really do look quite cute up close until I actually put them on, that is.

But today I found a couple DIY lipbalm tutorials on youtube to transform unwanted lipstick or eyeshadow into sheer lipbalm. How cool is that? :D And then I decided that I must try this interesting project. From all of the videos that I watched, the ingredients are as follows:

• petroleum jelly (Vaseline is a good brand)
• unwanted lipstick/eyeshadow
• am empty bead container (can be obtained at crafts stores)
• spoon, knife, etc

Now, I was a little skeptical about the petroleum jelly. Who wouldn’t with the word “petroleum” in the name? But after some research on the net, I found out that petroleum jelly is really good for your skin to moisturize and replenish. It is also used in lipbalms (ding ding ding) and has an entire list of other health beneficial uses! What an interesting little jelly, right? And because I have a Michaels gift card to my expense, I will hop-to tomorrow to get some empty bean containers and try out this exciting, new project! ;D

For anyone interested in seeing the visual tutorial, here is a video from cuteone026. She has one of the best tutorials that I’ve seen on this subject, in my opinion. Enjoy!