Hair Dye for Black Hair

Palty Hair Dye - Milk Tea Brown

Having black hair can be a really big pain when it comes to hair dyeing. I wasn't willing to go through the process of bleaching and dy-ing it on top of that.. So I did a lot of research in discovering a possible alternative by dyeing at home. Considering it costs around $80-$100 to get your hair dyed in the salon.. I wasn't willing to dish out that much just to change the color of my hair that will just grow out of that color in a couple of weeks. I came upon this Japanese hair dye called Palty  and fortunately I lived near a chinese mall that had basically any beauty products you wanted to find that were from Asia. I didn't know about Amazon before I purchased it, so I went searching for nearby Asian stores. The lowest price I found it at was at the chinese mall for $15. I've dyed my hair a lot in the past and NEVER once was I fully satisfied with the results.. the color just never showed! So like everyone online said, the Palty hair dye would show up better if left on for a longer time of period. So i decided to leave it on for a hour or so. My hair turned out orangey, but was expected because it's hard to get black hair tot urn into a natural brown unless it's been bleached. Nonetheless, I love the results and have received compliments at school on it. My hair actually felt less damaged after dyeing it with Palty.. oddly lol. Fortunately it doesn't look as orange when you're indoor..but if you're just tired of having black hair (like me), any lighter hair shade would definitely give you enough change in look. And I mean.. if you look at a lot of the Asian celebrities' hair, many of them have orange-toned hair =P. For the price, this product gives you salon quality results.. but be sure to prepare for commitment with an orange-brown tone if you're willing to test this product out! 

 Before (very discolored from all the failed drugstore attempts)

After

With Flash

Without Flash

Emjoi Soft Caress Epilator Review

Hands down, this product was life changing. Like all of you probably are, I was one of those that watched all those youtube videos reviewing on this product and hearing about how amazing it was but never having the guts to try it out due to the pain of tweezing. I've never liked tweezing or waxing.. they were just TOO painful for me.. but then again tweezing the eyebrows do get painless overtime. Us girls know how annoying it gets when you have to shave almost every couple of days because hairs just sprout like no other. I've always felt uncomfortable wearing sleeveless shirts because that feeling of not having all that hair off and gone just felt so nerve-wracking to even risk missing. Anyways, let's get to this review. There were many versions of this Emjoi epilator but after researching, I figured the Soft Caress that can go both corded and cordless was the best bet since you can bring it on vacation charged up or have it plugged in at home. Now.. I have to warn you that the first time I used this was probably a very very very bad experience. Everything I hoped wasn't going to happen.. happened. So I used it after a shower so my pores were opened.. but even so.. it was SOOO PAINFUL. I remember hearing someone saying they couldn't handle the pain and just took it one step at a time. I took that advice into use and completed my underarms in 3 days by doing a bit at a time. I literally felt like passing out after my first experience with this epilator.. my underarm was burning and my virgin hairs left their hair roots bleeding. Yes I know.. this is very disturbing.. but it was the truth as I never tweezed or waxed my underarms. If you want to know how it feels, just tweeze a hair out to see if you can handle it.. then again the epilator pulls a lot out at once, meaning the pain will pass by quickly instead of tugging each one out at a time. After the 3 days of use.. I took a week break and came back to get rid of the ones that didn't go during the first experience. To my surprise.. it didn't hurt that much anymore! I was shocked because I literally had tears the first time I used it. I guess sometimes beauty just comes with pain lol. I've been using this product for a little less than a month and it's honestly been the best month ever not having to worry about my underarms! The hairs are growing out EXTREMELY slow (A plus!), and the hairs are so much less noticeable when they do grow out. I'm extremely happy with this experience and I'm glad I went through with the pain! A really good tip is epilate while you're watching something on tv.. I feel there's less pain when you're not looking straight at it while it works away. And using this on shorter hairs instead of growing it out is actually less painful. It use to feel like pulling the hairs out to my skin but now it just feels like a tiny tickle to my skin. What I love the most is I'm able to wear sleeveless shirts any day without worrying about raising my arm to get something! Girls.. invest in one of these when you're able to and throw away all those razors and shaving cream, because they'll be history and you'll never touch them ever again! Truly one of the best products I've ever used having it take away all those razor burn pain.

I bought mine from Amazon and that's the cheapest price I've found it at. I didn't check ebay but it doesn't hurt to search around for the best price. Worth every penny and will NEVER go back to shaving! The shipping came faster than expected, highly recommend buying it from there. Check out the reviews on there if you're still in doubt.


Update: I haven't used my epilator for about a month now.. and my underarm still looked like I just epilated yesterday! very impressed with the results! I've never felt so carefree about the thoughts of shaving ever before. A+

NYX Blushes: Cafe and Mocha

Having to be on the paler side of the asian skin tone, I never really had color in my face and a lot of bronzers I've bought always turn out orange on my face and most of the blushes I thought would just give me a light glow actually never ended up showing up on my face! So I decided to take a risk and go for bolder colors that would actually show up. I do not own a lot of mac products and the main reason to that is because NYX products provide such a quality of makeup that could easily overpower top branded makeup out there. The pigmentation of NYX products are just so superb that sometimes I feel it's so underrated because of the brands that are already in the market.. ESPECIALLY in Canada. Finding NYX products in Canada is a pain and even if you do find them.. they are sold at really high prices. I've bought NYX products online before from the U.S. and have noticed the great price difference between buying the products from U.S. and Canada.. even shipping the products from U.S. to Canada was way cheaper than buying the products here. Enough with the rambling, so recently I decided to splurge and purchase 2 blushes; 'Mocha' and 'Cafe'.. I was aiming at finding Taupe and Angel but they didn't have those 2 colors, so I decided to get 2 colors which were around the same color range and a bit more daring. Something I learned from watching tutorials were that blushes which look really pigmented from the pan isn't really so IN YOUR FACE when you apply them with a light hand.

Cafe , Mocha

Cafe , Mocha (without flash)

Cafe , Mocha (with flash)

Rating: 10/10

- NYX pigmentation just never fail to impress me.. ONE light dab in the blush provides a whole LOT of color (a litte goes a longgg way), and the smooth texture of the blushes are a plus!

- Mocha is a great blush tone that gives your cheeks a light flush of raspberry tint that really blends well to the paleness of my skin with a light application

- Cafe is a sort of light taupe color with a small tint of purple and gray. It really adds dimensions to your face when used for contouring.

Maybelline Sensational Lipstick: Born with it

So after having a bad experience with Pink Please.. well not totally hating on it.. but I was expecting a lighter shade of pink. I couldn't just let go of Maybelline Sensational Lipsticks.. so I gave it one last chance with the shade "Born with it".. and thankfully this time I found the shade I was looking for! Pink Please would have looked better on someone with naturally light colored lips.. but for people who have red lips to begin with, 'born with it' will make your lips to a settled neutral pink color.




Rating: 10/10

Maybelline's Pink Please VS Mac's Way to Love

Now.. a lot of people see the resemblance between Maybelline's pink please and Mac's way to love and since I had both of them I thought I would put them to the test myself.

Pink Please, Way To Love

Review: I won't exactly call them dupes.. more like sisters. They have the same family tint of pink but not the same shade. The difference in colors show more in pictures with no flash. The effect of them are very similar though. Mac's 'way to love' appears sheer and you should NOT expect it show up on your lips the way it appears in it's packaging unless you have pale lips to begin with. If you have pigmented lips, I would recommend getting Pink Please as it has better pigmentation yet not look extremely pink on your lips. As shown in the pics,Pink Please has a darker shade than Way to Love. I must admit they both look similar on the lips as they don't show up much on my pigmented lips unless you layer it on. But I honestly like pink please more because it just seems more moisturizing and it's more noticeable on my lips than way to love.

Rating (Pink Please) - 9

Rating (Way to Love) - 7

- these lipsticks would look good if you want punch of pink that does not over power nor take away from your natural lip color.

Favorite Summer Nail Color

China Glaze - Agent Lavendar
- One coat gives off the effect of 3-4 coats! It's opacity is simply amazing.
- China glaze is an amazing nail polish brand that can't be missed! Try them if you haven't yet because they are really affordable for their quality.

 

Crest Whitestrips - Pro Effects

After hearing such good reviews on youtube about the Crest Whitestrips.. I thought it would be the greatest time to test them out since they were on sale the same week I was getting my braces removed after 2 dreadful years. To be honest, I never really smiled with my teeth much in pictures before I got braces.. I just never felt confident about my teeth ever since I was a little child. Ever since my grade 3 school picture, all my school pictures of me had my lips glued shut. But ever since I used the Crest Whitestrips.. I've been smiling nonstop in pictures and in person. Okay well.. maybe because my teeth finally look align for once in my life but the Crest Whitestrips has really boosted up the appearance of my teeth and the brightness of my smile. Here's the proof:

Day 1 (1st use): The day I got my braces removed. I did 2 uses, 1 hour (3o mins each)

Day 2 and Day 3 almost looks the same but trust me! It got slightly whiter.. It's just I rather not upload the larger size of the picture to avoid having my teeth right up next to your face =P I kind of slacked and did 1 use (30 min) each day.

Day 4 (1 use): I think I might stop using the whitestrips now.. My teeth looks really white in pictures and I don't want to make them TOO white.

Review: These whitestrips are not as easy to use as it sounds. I've heard many reviews of slipping, foaming, and sensitivity (which I was most scared of). Thankfully my teeth didn't turn sensitive on me after using this, however, it was completely hard to keep my lower teeth's strip on my teeth as it repetitively slipped off. I have heard the Advanced Seal version didn't slip as much but Pro Effects was of a higher quality in whitening, so I rather sit there without moving my mouth in any way for 30 minutes to avoid any slipping. The foaming was a bit disgusting.. but was expected. As you remove the whitestrips, the gel leaves this really gross sticky residue.. sorta makes it feel like you're trying to remove gum from your teeth. But no worries, after peeling off the strips, just rinse with water thoroughly and it'll all go away. Simple. Not completely time consuming. Most of all.. it whitened my teeth dramatically (definitely saw difference after the first day).

Rating: 10/10

Stila Bronzing Powder - Shade 01

If you're looking for a bronzer that would definitely show but not overpower your face and looks natural, this bronzer would definitely look gorgeous on you. This bronzer gives a really nice color to your face if you have light skin tone and this has really good pigmentation (a little goes a long way). The texture feels extremely smooth to the touch, leaving your skin feel smooth as well.

What's really good is it has spf 15, which not many bronzers out there have.
However, if you want to use this for contour, it may not be the best color.

Overall, not a MUST have as there's probably a drugstore dupe (NYC) out there somewhere, but the pigmentation and natural look has won me over.

Rating: 8/10

For Audrey

For too long I've been hearing people talk about this nail polish. Yes.. it's the one and only China Glaze's "For Audrey". (The color in the picture doesn't really justify it's true color.. it's less pale and more bold in real life) I've been wanting this nail polish since.. FOREVER and finally had the chance to try it out. It was waiting on the shelf patiently for me to finally find it and purchase it! I live in Canada.. so this nail polish was a pain in the behind to find. The color is amazing in the container and I must say that it's offly similar to Tiffany & Co.'s boxes.. basically identical! It's just a very pretty color. However, once I applied it on my fingers.. although it was really pigmented and looked like it's true color with one coat.. maybe I'm not use to bright colors but it didn't exactly fit .. "me". Has anyone felt that this color just wasn't their color? I mean.. I'll probably love this color as time passes as my obsession with blue will probably kick in.. but for my initial thought.. it just seems a bit off when trying to find an outfit to match this color without making it look TOO bold.. like I mean.. a white tee would look good with them but it's summer ! i need to wear colors ! the colors just clashes with my nails. Well I guess it's a love and hate relationship with this product for now.. =P

Update: so it's been 20 days or so.. and I've grown to really like this color. Although at times it may not match your outfit colors.. it's not that apparent and i mean.. who really cares right? The color on its own is really too beautiful to dislike. And i know.. you must be asking.. "why on earth do you still have this nail polish on even after 20 days?!".. well that's because it's still rather in a "okay" condition.. okay well.. maybe i was just too lazy to go through the whole removing and re-applying process. The staying power of these nail polishes are just superb.. although it grew away from the nail base and had my nails cut.. it hasn't chipped!.. well maybe just a bit ^.^