Makeup/Skincare Wishlist~

1 ★ 2 ★ 3 ★ 4 ★ 5 ★ 6 ★ 7 ★ 8 ★ 9 ★ 10 (Angel Food Cake) ★ 11 (Tiramisu) ★ 12

Pretty short blog post, but I'm starting my classes this week so I don't want to fall behind on everything so early haha! Next blog post will be my Colourpop Review!

Until then!

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! ♥

Where I've Been! (+recent purchases & a lil more!) ♥

The past five months have been busy, stressful, but a much needed semester off from school (and unintentionally this blog haha)! This fall I'm going back to university to work on my Bachelor's degree in English and while I'm excited, I'm also very nervous. During the time I was gone though, I got my dream job working part-time in one of my city's public libraries and I plan on continuing work while going to school~! 

As always I'm very active on my Twitter account and if you've kept up with me there, then you know how things have been going or at least some semblance of it :> This break from blogging and school gave me a lot to think about my future, to further enjoy my hobbies (sewing/working on cosplay, reading, eating...), etc. But enough about me, I hope you all have been doing well in my absence! 

I'm planning on adding book reviews to my blog since I'm a serious bookworm, so if you're an avid reader or you want to read more and don't know where to start please look forward to them! I'm very excited to get it started and my book goal before the end of the year is to read 35-40 books and since March I've knocked out 14, so I hope that goal is reached as well!~

Due to financial reasons, I wasn't able to go to a convention like I had planned but I don't regret my decision at all except for all the friends I didn't get to see and meet of course :>. Next year I plan on going to Fanime 2017 with a few friends and I hope to see some people I know from online there also! Anime Expo 2015 was a bit overwhelming to me so I'm not really planning on going next year unless plans change.

Sorry this post is kind of all over the place, but I believe I got the majority of what I wanted to say out of the way so here are my recent purchases (I'm thinking of it as a belated birthday gift to myself because I turned 22 last week!) and a few cute finds!

♥ 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 ♥

♥ Korilakkuma Biscuit iPhone 6/6S/6 Plus (other colors/versions) ♥

♥ eBay False Lashes ♥

I'm super excited for the new makeup and lashes, because I haven't bought myself anything in a while! I might even do a review on my Colourpop order (it's not my first time ordering from them, they're definitely one of my favorite brands!) but I'll definitely put up a poll on my Twitter when the order arrives to see how many people would want it! Finally, here are a few cute things I came across while browsing the internet as I always do! 

Bee & Puppycat Cookbook 

Sparkle Patches 

Hustle Enamel Pin 

Mr. Universe Shirt 

Thanks for reading my blog post! I'm gonna try to figure out which book to start my reviews with, but I think I have something in mind so stay tuned! If you want to keep up me on the daily be sure to follow my Twitter if you'd like! 

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!

Favorite Products to Repurchase! ♡

As the title says this post is all about products that I love to use over and over again! I spend my hard-earned money on various products and sometimes (more often than not actually..) they don't work out for me or they don't work enough! However, the few products that do work out for me I treasure and I just wanted to share that with you all today! So here we go!~ 

I adore the NYX Micro Brow Pencil (Espresso is my color!)! It's meant to be a dupe of the Anastasia Brow Wiz pencil (which I have used before and loved, but it was really pricey :s) and I think it delivers quite well! I've tried their brow pomade (which is also meant to be a dupe of Anastasia's pomade, again which I have used and liked well enough!) but I very much prefer this pencil! It's around $10 and lasts a pretty long while with daily use! I normally get my pencils from Ulta when they're in stock and they usually have a buy 1 get one 50% off promotion going on! I've repurchased this like 4-5 times already so I've used it for a while and I highly recommend this :>!

If there's one thing I love about makeup it's definitely eyeliner! I've gone from kohl pencils (ugh I cringe remembering my dull, round eyeliner ends) in high school to gel pomades (wonderful for a while but I've grown out of these) to felt liquid tip liners! I find with practice you can learn how to use felt tip liners with ease and I recommend the L'oreal Infallible The Super Slim Liquid Eyeliner and Maybelline Eye Studio Master Precise Ink Pen Eyeliner! I don't really have a preference for one over the other but I did find the L'oreal one noticeably darker than the Maybelline! They are very affordable (neither one is over $10) but they aren't water proof! I found them to last a few hours at most, but after that they gave me raccoon eyes (especially when I wore foundation) which I found embarrassing! By my best friend's recommendation I've started using the Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner and it certainly lasts for a long time without drifting (though it's pretty pricey in comparison to these!)

These Epielle face wipes are one of my absolute favorites and range from $1 (for the 30 pack) and $2-2.50 (for the 60 pack). I get them from my local Big Lots and buy them at least 10 at a time when I start running low! I use them to take off all my makeup, before I use my Clarisonic, or if I just feel like my face needs a quick clean! I recommend trying these out if you have a store nearby that carries them, because the prices online....are ridiculous. 

These two items aren't really cheap at all, but I don't mind paying for what works on my skin! I've spoken about both of these products in my Clarisonic Mia review and I definitely recommend them for anyone curious! The Clarisonic Refreshing Gel Cleanser came with my Clarisonic Mia and I love the clean feeling it gives my skin when I use it! The Clinique Moisture Surge Intense Skin Fortifying Hydrator works well for my dry combination skin!! I took the skin quiz on the Clinique site and they recommended this moisturizer for me and I've been using it for months now~ I find that if I use too much my face becomes something like that of an oil spill and if I use too little my face dries up painfully :< and since it's an open jar it's hard to get the amount I need all the time, but I've gotten a bit better at it! The cleanser is $25 and the moisturizer is $39 for the 50 ml jar (which lasts for MONTHS).

I love these eyelashes! I got them originally at the suggestion of a friend on Twitter (thank you Nao, my love!!) and I'm wearing them in the sidebar image on my blog :>! I love the tapered ends on these lashes because when I cut them they can be either for my right or left eye and they're not expensive at all! I have at least 3 back up packs ready for when I run out on the one I'm on now :>!

These lashes were bought on a whim when I wanted to try out more natural, everyday lashes for my small eyes and these 100% fit the bill! They're cheap, fluffy and absolutely wonderful to work with! I loved that the band was clear and thin because it didn't really mess with my sensitive eyes and they looked really adorable on! I would wear these everyday if I had the patience to and I already have 2 back up packs for when I use up the first :>!

I hope you enjoyed this post! I love these products so much I thought sharing them could help someone else out as well! If you have an comments or questions leave the below, my ask.fm, or Twitter! 

playlist about me ☆

"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent."

-Victor Hugo

This post is a new one for me, but a week or two ago I was bored one evening and decided to compile a playlist of songs that I thought could be played to describe myself. If it makes it easier to understand, you know how characters in a game, movie, or show have a song or songs dedicated to them? This is what I wanted to accomplish for myself! 

I hope you enjoy it! My taste in music is a bit varied, but I took care in the way I rearranged the songs so if you can, please listen to them in the order below!~

I've made a playlist that's altogether on 8tracks! The direct link will be here!

If you have any questions feel free to direct them below, to my ask.fm, or ask me on Twitter! 

Did you like any songs or find a new favorite? Let me know below!