Book Review: milk and honey ♥

♥ Author: Rupi Kaur

♥ Pages: 204 

♥ Synopsis (from Goodreads): milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is about the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose, deals with a different pain, heals a different heartache. milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look. 

♥ Personal Thoughts: To begin, you should know I'm not a huge poetry fan. Aside from the poems I was assigned to read in high school (see: forced) I never really felt the need to immerse myself in poetry when I could read a novel and have just as great a time as poetry buffs. milk and honey really changed my perspective on poetry as a whole. From the first page, I was completed enraptured with Kaur's story-telling with subjects varying from the difficult relationship she has with her father to the, in my eyes, mutual pitying relationship she has with her mother, sexual assault, and finally with her lost love. I wasn't prepared for how close to home the majority of her poems hit me, so I did take a tiny break between the ones that were the most heartfelt for me. I loved how the chapters were broken into four parts because it really makes it easy to jump back to a part that you really want to read again. I could read this a thousand times and still find myself in a poem.  If you are easily agitated by mentions of sexual assault or sexual references, it might be best for you to skip over this book. This book helped me look inside myself again and actually think about past personal matters that I pushed back to forget and made me realize that I deserve the best. 

Here's a sneak peek of a some poems inside!

I wholeheartedly give this book a 5/5! It's relatable, heart-wrenching at times, but it really gives you a feeling of content when you finish reading it. This book helped me look inside myself again and actually think about past personal matters that I pushed back to forget and made me realize that I deserve more than I believe I do. My only issue with this book (which isn't about the book per say, just about myself in regards to the book) is that I can't fully relate to the final chapter because I haven't healed and I don't know when it's going to happen, but I do know that if it does I'll r-read the last chapter with all the hope in the world. All in all this gif does a pretty good job of showing how I feel when I read this book! 

I hope you liked this review! I'm very excited for all the book reviews coming! It'll include manga as well :> IF you have any questions or comments leave them below and I'll reply as soon as I can! ♥

Unboxing/Review of the Sailor Moon x ma chére cosette? collaboration! ♡

This blog post is just a short unboxing and review of the bracelet set collaborated between Sailor Moon and ma chére cosette?! (the question mark seems to be part of the brand so just go with it haha!)

I first heard of the collaboration back in December on the Sailor Moon Collectibles website! There were 10 sets total (one for each senshi) and while they all were beautiful, Sailor Moon's caught my eye the most. Sailor Moon is truly my favorite senshi of all ten (Pluto coming in second) and her bracelet had two of my favorite things centered around it: the color pink and moons! Here's a photo of all the bracelets, each having a bow with their signature colors and a planetary symbol to represent them!

They ran for about ¥4800 (¥5182 including Japan tax) which is roughly $45 on Super Groupies! When I saw the price I was really ecstatic because I was expecting it to be much more expensive. After my initial freak out of excitement, I realized that to purchase the item I'd need a shopping service! I've made Taobao orders before (ordering from a Chinese only website with a middleman to ship to me), but I haven't done any kind of shopping on Japanese websites! Luckily, thanks to the suggestions of a friend (thank you Hee-chan!!) I was able to find one and buy the bracelet successfully! 

The shopping service I used was FromJapan and everything was pretty self-explanatory and really easy to understand! I placed a "request" for them to preorder my item, and within 2 hours they emailed me back asking for the money to pay for it and their fees~! After I paid and my order was secure I was to wait until my item arrived at their warehouse (release date was scheduled in March 2016) to pay for shipping to me! 

The entire process was smooth and quick and I'm already planning on using FJ again for exclusive orders! So I definitely recommend them, but let's get on with the review!

The box that housed the bracelet was super pretty and was shaped like a book! As soon as you open it there's a little note on the left side!

The bracelet set itself is even more gorgeous in person. The crystals are so sparkly it's breathtaking to see in the sunlight and the removable charms really tie the bracelet together! 

The bracelet can stretch from 160-220 mm (6.2-8.6 inches) and I thought that was pretty generous, but to me it seems a bit smaller than what it says. I don't have any issues in this regard because my wrists are really tiny! The bracelet itself isn't as fragile as it looks, thankfully, and it doesn't feel cheap. 

I'm planning on wearing this day-to-day so I feel more secure about it not possibly breaking! ♥

I don't regret this purchase at all and I'm so happy that I finally have it in my hands (or on my wrist in this case...), it really fits in with my wardrobe, is a subtle nod to my love of Sailor Moon herself and the series, and is just all around a beautiful piece to have. If they ever re-release I want to get Pluto and Jupiter's bracelets as well! 

Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar Review ♡

Today's blog post is going to be my personal review on the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette from Too Faced! It was purchased with my own hard-earned cash and I wasn't sponsored or sent free items in any way! These are my own personal opinions!

(Ignore the mixtures in my palette haha, I've been putting it to good use!)

 Let's get started!

First off, the packaging is super cute! It's one of the first things that caught my eye and the colors were very pretty in the packaging! Since it was my first major eyeshadow palette I wanted to get something that had colors that'd be pretty neutral and easy to match with a myriad of my outfits! (Which are mainly whites, creams, pinks, etc.) The original Chocolate Bar palette was a suggestion from many, but looking at the colors and how they showed up on my brown skin stopped me from wanting it. I found that the semi-sweet palette was a better choice for those of us with darker complexions because of the warmer colors ♥ 

(Both of these were applied without eyeshadow primer! Personally, I think that to get the true color of your eyeshadow a primer is a must!) 

Without primer some of the colors still had a pretty ok color payoff, but most looked chalky, a bit faded, and pretty harsh. They didn't really blend out too well, either!

Below the eyeshadow was applied with an eyeshadow primer! (Too Faced's Eye Shadow Insurance)

With a good eyeshadow primer  the colors of the eyeshadow came off darker and more rich in color with I loved, blending was also so much easier because it went on so creamy. The golds and browns in this palette looked just as beautiful in the palette on my skin!

 

Price: At $49 the price point is pretty steep and it's not the most affordable eyeshadow palette! I personally found the colors to fit extremely well for the purpose I originally bought it for (everyday) and I've had it for a couple of months with plenty of product left! 

Colors/Formula: The majority of the colors were total hits on my skin tone with primer. Without it, it didn't show up that well, but it did at least show up. The only colors I didn't really like were Pink Sugar (the shimmery pink), Coconut Creme (matte cream), and  Blueberry Swirl (the random dark blue shade they tossed in). Both didn't have the best color payoff with or without primer and Pink Sugar was gritty and hard to apply and blend while Blueberry Swirl was totally chalky! I was pretty disappointed about Pink Sugar because I love pink, but it was honestly just glitter rather than the beautiful pink shade in the palette, it also fell off my eyelids after application, so staying power sucked :c! The rest of the colors aside from that were amazing, being creamy with great color payoff! My personal favorites of the palette are: Peanut Butter (#1 favorite truly), Bon Bon, Caramel, Butter Pecan, and Truffled!! ♥

Overall: My personal score for this palette is a 8.9/10! I think it's a super great choice for people of all skintones, but especially for people with browner complexions! The original Chocolate Bar palette would be ok, but honestly I'm probably never going to buy it. (I tried the colors at an Ulta tester and the colors didn't look good on me at all.) This is also a great beginner palette and as a beginner myself I definitely recommend getting it. If the price point is a bit too steep for you, you should check out Makeup Revolution's dupe for this palette (which is a fraction of TF's price for extremely similar colors)! As much as I like this palette I'm pretty sure when I'm done with it I'll be giving MU's a try just to see if it's really as amazing as some are saying.

My next few blog posts are currently in the works! There'll also be a review on Too Faced's most recent palette, Chocolate Bonbons! Leave any questions/comments below they're always appreciated!

Shop Spotlight: Storedogdog.net ♡

Disclaimer: I was not sponsored to make this review, all opinions are my own and everything I mentioned was paid for by my own hard-earned money! 

I haven't written a shop spotlight in so long, but I decided to write one about one of my favorite online shops, Store Dog Dog! It's a Chinese based online store that sells different types of clothing that caters to a lot of different styles! They have free shipping and the prices are really affordable and they also have a discount code ("DOGDOG" gets you 10% off of your order over $20!). 

To date, I've made 3 orders with them and I've been extremely pleased with each order and the arrival time! This post will show-off some of their products in store and also I'll show off the order I've made with them recently because it arrived today!~ So on with the post!! ♥

Some of my favorite products from them are down below and if I'm not mistaken nothing is over $30, so like I said Store Dog Dog is really affordable! 

Many of this shop's products are from Taobao, which is a basically a Chinese eBay! Click here to look at all my posts about Taobao (how to order from there, my hauls, etc.) The pricing is very similar if not just a few dollars more than ordering from Taobao itself which is why I love Store Dog Dog so much! Most resellers hike up prices like crazy just because they know a lot of people don't know how to shop directly from their supplier! A shop known for this practice is Inu-Inu, who I've never shopped from and never will. You can find more information about Inu-Inu and their malpractices here, but I'm not going into details on my blog. I just really don't recommend them at all. 

This was my recent order! I decided to splurge a little bit for myself this time ♥

Placed Order: September 19th, 2015

Shipped: September 21st, 2015 (Monday)

Delivered: September 26th, 2015 (Saturday)

This was the fastest I'd ever received an order from Dog Dog, but on average I usually get my package a week and a half after it's shipped! You get your items extremely fast and it's free! (They have DHL for a lot extra, but this standard shipping was amazing!)

I got this holographic iPhone 6 case (they also have 5 & 6+ cases like this!) because I'm planning on upgrading to that within the next two weeks! I expected it to be a hard case, but it was a thick plastic one that bends, while the "holographic" part was just a shiny cardboard placed in a clear case! I like it well enough and it was only $6.95 so I'm happy! 

I've been waiting a long time to order this crop top because I never really knew what else to order with it! I'm really glad I ordered it this time because it fits me well and the heart stays together for the most part! The material is a thick cotton that stretches a lot, but the neckline is kinda tight! Not tight enough to choke me, but if it was a size smaller I would've died probably (lol just kidding, but seriously it's kinda tight). The only strange thing about the top was that there was a faint yellow-ish stain all around the heart cut-out, but I'm almost positive that it's like that because it was burned to cut out the heart shape or the edges were burned so there wouldn't be any frays or loose ends :> It's barely noticeable and the top was about $9.95 so I'm really happy overall with this!

I've ordered a tennis skirt from Dog Dog previously (the pink plaid one) and I made sure to pay attention to the size chart that's provided! I went with the size that was closest to my waist size (size up if you're between like I did!!) and it fit me perfectly ♥ Of course, being folded caused it to be a bit wrinkly, but that's nothing an iron can't fix!~ I'm unsure if the sizes of the skirt are really consistent with all of them, but they're close. This skirt fit me a teeny bit large even though it was the same size as the other skirt I got, both were $12.95 each!

The skirt I was waiting for Dog Dog to put on their site was this one! They uploaded the lavender option a week before this, but I saw it on Taobao and knew they'd upload the pink eventually and they did! ♥

This was a "ONE SIZE" skirt, but the waistband is very stretchy! The size chart says it can fit up to 32 in waists!! I found the color to be really similar to what was shown on the website, a peachy pink color! 

The heart cutouts were very neat, and there was a short slip underneath! I'm about 5'2.5 and it hit me around mid-thigh and it was a really consistent length all around for me (which usually doesn't happen for skirts on me!)! I adore this skirt, the quality is amazing, and the material was a thick, soft cotton. It was only about $17.95 and I can't wait to wear it out, I'm even planning on picking up the lavender version my next order! 

I really recommend you check out Store Dog Dog (and don't forget to use the code "DOGDOG" for 10% off your orders over $20!!), they work really hard to make people happy with their orders, have fast shipping, and wonderful products! 

I was not sponsored or anything similar to make this review, I bought everything with my own money!!~

Thank you for reading ♥ 

Depop 

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Clarisonic Mia Review ♡

Hi there darlings! I'm finally writing up this review that was requested a few months ago!! I'll just dive right in, so here we go! 

What I'm reviewing today is the Clarisonic Mia! It's a facial cleansing system that supposedly cleanses 6 times better than normal hand washing! I decided to splurge and buy it back in May after reading one of my friends, Karina, bought and reviewed her own!! (She started a new blog recently, so follow her and look out for her posts!~) She spoke very highly of it, so I was pretty excited to get mine! I went to Ulta and picked up the light pink one you see above! 

This is the simplest model of the Clarisonic Mia line and runs about $99! It comes with the Mia, a starter brush head, a charger, and a 1 oz bottle of facial cleanser! You don't have to use the cleanser it comes with, but I did because I wanted to try something new. However, if you already have a favorite cleanser you should be able to use it with the Mia fine. ♥

Pictured above is the full size bottle (6 oz) of the cleanser that it comes with! It usually runs about $25 per bottle, but I didn't run out of the 1 oz bottle for about a month and a half with daily use! I really like this cleanser which is why I purchased the full size after running out :> (I used coupons and rewards points at Ulta of course haha!) It claims to "relieves and protects oily and congested skin" and I'd definitely have to agree with the the relieving of congested skin claim!! 

My skin type is dry/combination (one of the worst types to have I heard...I'm normal on my cheeks, oily on my T-Zone (nose), and dry between my brows, above my brows, under my nose, and on my chin!) and this cleanser does a good job of sucking away any oiliness from my T-Zone, while being gentle on my dry parts! Personally, however, if I wait too long to apply my moisturizer after cleansing with this my face minus my cheeks get really flaky and dry because it strips the moisture so much :< 
I do very much love this cleanser, I wear face makeup very frequently (whether it's just blush or a full on face including medium/heavy foundation) and after wiping off as much as I can with a makeup wipe then using this, it's like a breath of fresh air. I feel as if my pores are completely clear of any makeup and it's a really good thing because it causes less breakouts! 

One of the other things you get with the Mia like I mentioned before, are the brush heads! They usually run about $27 and up depending on the brush head and they have 2-packs that are usually $44! Ulta sometimes runs promotions where you can buy one and get the next for 50%, but I've only seen it once (last week!). Originally, my Mia came with the "Sensitive" brush head (which claims to be for all skin types!!), but after a while I found it way too abrasive on my skin :< so when it was time to replace it (you're supposed to replace your brush heads every 3 months!) I opted to get the "Delicate" brush head which is supposed to be a bit softer compared to the "Sensitive" and for extra-sensitive skin! 

I found the "Delicate" to be a better match for me, because while it is softer than the "Sensitive" brush head, it still cleanses deeply and makes me face feel clean after use! I highly recommend the "Delicate" brush head if you try out the "Sensitive"! 

Simply put, the charger for the Mia is a magnetic little circle that connects to the bottom handle! When the Mia needs to charge, it vibrates once after you finish using it! When you connect it to the handle it vibrates once and gives off a tiny light to show it's charging! When it's done it vibrates twice and you're good to go! ♥ I've found that with daily use I only need to charge after a week to a week and a half, which is really good in my opinion. 

Either once or twice a day (morning/night), over the sink, or in the shower, I use my Clarisonic Mia after wiping my entire face down with my makeup wipes! (I get them in bulk for about $1 per pack, but looking online I don't really see them for a comparable price :<)

I'd really suggest you wipe down your face down with a makeup remover wipe, especially if you're wearing makeup, before you use the Mia! If you don't I don't think it serves your best interests because the cleanser would have to work twice as hard to remove the dirt and makeup from your face! After I finish wiping my face and cleansing I apply my moisturizer, Clinique Moisture Surge Intense Skin Fortifying Hydrator! The Mia claims that with use, moisturizers sink in your skin better! With my first use, my moisturizer melted so fast into my skin that I couldn't believe it. 

All in all, I'd really recommend splurging on the Clarisonic Mia if you can! After a few months of use my skin has gotten brighter and smoother and my makeup goes on much better than before! 

Sorry for all the rambles, but I'm happy I finally completed this review! I don't do a lot of skincare/makeup reviews, so I wasn't sure how this would go! 

Thank you for reading ♥ 

Depop 

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Rilakkuma Laptop Bag Review ♡

Hello! Today's blog post is gonna be a review on this Rilakkuma laptop case that I've purchased~! I've had this laptop case in my eBay watch list for months before I found it again and decided to purchase it! Luckily, after a quick search on Amazon I found the same one and got it in 2 days! (I would've had to wait 2 weeks if I had ordered it from eBay.)

I used it all last week when I was going to and from classes at my college! And I'd have to say that I really love this bag! 

It has one front compartment for miscellaneous items and one main compartment for your laptop! Inside the main compartment there are 2 smaller pockets on the side of the bag, which I didn't know would be there. The bag itself felt a little thin, which kinda worried me, but after giving it a test run my worries faded away! There weren't any loose strings or seams and the zippers don't jam or catch onto itself! 

The dimensions of the bag that I've seen for the bag have been: 15.5 in x 12 in x 5 in! (Also most of the descriptions say suitable for laptops from 8"-15"!) I have a white 13-inch Macbook that I use as an everyday and school computer, so I was pretty certain my laptop would fit in the bag without any issues and it did! 

With my Macbook seated at the very bottom of the bag you can see the extra amount of space left over! It isn't much at all, maybe about an inch and a half, but I can say with some certainty that it could fit laptops up to 15" (slimmer ones more than bulky ones especially). 

I used the front compartment to house my charging cable for my Macbook and it fits very nicely inside. 

All in all, I would definitely recommend this laptop bag to people with laptops 15" or smaller! (Especially smaller!) The seams didn't rip at all or even pull much with my Macbook, mouse, charging cable, iPad, and school planner inside the bag! I wouldn't recommend this if you laptop is heavy because it'd just be a catalyst for shoulder pain in the future and a ripped laptop bag. 

You can buy your own laptop bag here on Amazon! 

I give this bag a 9/10! 

Thank you so much for reading! I have a few more review blog posts on the way, so stay tuned and stuff! ♥

Depop 

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