Some bookshelf cleaning, and Happy 2013!

Whew, time flies so fast, it’s already 2013! Okay, maybe not that fast, but I haven’t blogged in 2 months – loads of school work, and of course, Christmas Break! I was too busy doing nothing blog-worthy. Heh. I guess it’s way too late, but happy 2013! We made it through 12-21-2012! The Mayans probably just ran out of paper or whatever they were using to write their calendars on. XD

2012 was a good year for me, but still not that good. For one, I didn’t reach my goal of reading 50 books, I was 2 books short. K So I lowered my reading challenge goal this year to 35, and I promise I won’t change it anymore! (I changed several times last year: from 25 to 30 to 35 to 40 to 45 and then to 50 – which I didn’t reach! Ack! Blame’s on me. )

My sister and I decided to “reorganize” our books to start the year off with good reading vibes. We realized we had too much books and not much space left on the bookshelf! So we pledged not to buy books this year. Is that even possible? Ha. I don’t know how long it’ll last, but we’ll try. Haha.

So, back to our books. Here’s a peek of our soon-to-be “library” (Note: we added a carpet after shelving the books for a more homey appearance. Yay! :D )

You see, we buy way more books than we could read. So I guess the pledge should work, by reading books that we already own first. (But how about the new books I want to read? =( )

Buuuut- As I was skipping through my news feed in Facebook, I saw Fully Booked’s New Year Giveaway, which looked like this:

Aaaand who could resist the temptation of an H.G Wells classic, and leather bound at that!

I got a crazy idea, which is of course, to join. It would be my pleasure to take photos of our classic books. And it’d be a bonus if we win!

Here’s the photo I submitted.

                (And in case you were wondering, we did win. HURRAAAAAHH!!! I’ll get back to you on that soon ;) )

12 for 2012: An obligatory 12-12-12 post

So the year's almost over! Sadly there's a truckload of exams and papers coming up. :-|

But I have to make an obligatory 12-12-12 post, because, well it's the last repetitive date we'll ever see! In this century at least.

I wanted to do something special today, but I don't have enough time. Anyway, here's an interesting article about 12 notable twelves.

I should've posted this at exactly 12:12 pm. Sigh. Off to school! :D

First Review: Hard Candy Mini Must Haves in First Flush (with Swatches)

Today I'm going to review something that has been with me for a few months but I never really got the chance to use it yet. But, as this is going to be my first review I decided to try the products first. :) This is called the Hard Candy Mini Must Haves in First Flush.

Hard Candy is a drugstore brand in the U.S, but I'm not sure if it has a branch here. :) The Mini Must Haves is a collection of favorite Hard Candy products in one box. :) It comes in 4 collections, First Flush, Naturally Naughty, Glamazon Glow and Bad Girl next Door.

I got mine in First Flush. Here it is! :D

This collection contains the ff: (L-R) Baked Crush Blush Crush (kinda like a tongue twister right? :p), Plumping Serum volumizing lip gloss, Sheer Envy face Primer, Glow All the Way face and body luminizer.

Baked Crush Blush Crush in Living Doll. "Give your cheeks an all-over warmth and glow with Blush Crush in Living Doll."

Actually the size is pretty big for a sample/mini in my opinion. For a mini blush that weighs 5 grams, that's not pretty bad, right? When I first touched this, it seems kinda hard, but maybe that can be treated as a good thing because there's no fall off or something? I think you won't need highlighter on your cheeks anymore because this has some shimmer in it and it is light pink (like a natural flush) though it looks dark on the pan. It gives off a pretty natural pink color though it can be built up to create a more rosy look. 

 Glow All the Way face and body luminizer. "A pearly luminizing highlighter that illuminates all skin tones. Infused with 24 karat gold!"

I am not really sure if I could use this a lot because because it is too shimmery to use on the face. But I guess this would work wonders on the arms, legs and decolletage. It would make you glow all the way. :D

 Plumping Serum volumizing lip gloss. "For a perfectly plump pout and outrageous shine apply Plumping Serum in Uptown Girl."

This gloss has a slight tingling sensation and subtle vanilla scent which I love. However, I did not feel any plumping effect on my lips and it is a little too sticky for my taste.

Sheer Envy face Primer. "Improves foundation application while minimizing imperfections. Makeup lasts longer!" 

This is actually my favorite item in the collection. It is lightweight and NOT sticky at all. :D It's almost the same texture as my Revlon Beyond Natural Smoothing Primer, but I guess Revlon is a little oilier(?) than this, though it disappears on the skin afterwards.

 Gosh forgive me for this, this is my first attempt in doing swatches hahaha!

Note to self: Must learn how to do a proper swatch next time. :D

Overall, I love the Sheer Envy Primer and the Baked blush more than the other two items. :D

This kit is a great buy if you want to sample Hard Candy's best sellers first before buying the full size. I would also like to try the Naturally Naughty and Glamazon Glow kits next time. :D

Cherries on top: 4/5 

Til my next post. Mwah! :D

12 for 2012: Lee Min Ho Global Benchsetter Fun Meet

Ahh, yes. It's almost December, but 2012 sure is ending with a BANG!

It's so hard to blog decently when the fangirl in me wants to squeal, so I'm going to apologize in advance. Most of the few photos I took were blurred. XD

So yesterday, I skipped two classes (kids, do not  do this. Haha) because I was going to meet my future husband (lol), Korean superstar Lee Min Ho (이민호) at the Bench/ Global Benchsetter Fun Meet at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. And it's going to be my second post for my 12 for 2012!


Lee Min Ho shot to superstardom when he starred as Gu Jun Pyo in the hit drama Boys Over Flowers, and Lee Yoon-Sung in City Hunter. His latest drama Faith has also recently ended (and will air on local channel ABS-CBN soon).

He is the newest endorser of the global clothing brand Bench. Good job, Bench! :D You made thousands of girls happy. XD


From school I arrived in Gateway at around 2:00 PM and met my sister (who just came from an exam for her job application, by the way). We got our ID's at the red gate and we were ready! I think when you're excitedly waiting for something, time flies REALLY FAST. Or not.

My sister and the Tech man XD

Waiting waiting waiting~

jam-packed Smart Araneta Coliseum

I don't go to concerts often, so this is the most crowded I've seen of Smart Araneta Coliseum. Seriously, how this guy could make thousands of ladies all around the country wait for him like this, I think I know why.  Haha

The gates opened at around 5:00 pm, but the show didn't start at around 7, and there were front acts by local performers dancing to the tunes of the Wonder Girls, Super Junior, 2NE1, and of course, PSY!

 Lee Min Ho came out of the stage soon after, and BOOM! Goodbye ovaries. Haha. Everyone was screaming and squealing in unison you couldn't really distinguish one from the other.

Cameras up!

Seriously, he is one of the few guys who will look cool in that outfit.

We waited hours for this smile.

The fun meet lasted for about an hour, and I was too busy watching his every move (Hey, time is precious!) so I wasn't able to take more decent photos.

That smile. <3

Standing and waiting was all worth it. We'll miss you, Min Ho-oppa! Come back again for another fan meet, okay? :D

Note: Courtesy of Bench/, Lee Min Ho will have mall tours on Sunday, November 18,2012.

Lee Min Ho Mall Tours: November 18, 2012 @ 3pm SM North EDSA Skydome, 5pm Glorietta New Activity Center, G/F, and 6pm SM Mall of Asia Music Hall G/F. (from Bench (Facebook page)

First Ebay Auction/Bidding and First Haul

Hi! Today I will show you my first ever (mini) haul. I am not sure if it can be classified as a haul though. :D We're still new at these kind of things. This package arrived last week but I never got the chance to post it until now.  Everything came in a bubble wrap to keep the products intact. As you can see I already opened the two Ecotools brush sets, I was that excited! :D

Ecotools 6 Piece brush Set and Ecotools 5 Piece Brush Set: I would love to use this soon. :)

I got this all on ebay.ph. It was my first time to participate in an online bidding/auction. I have to say it's quite addicting especially when you get (or win) an item for a much lesser price. Haha! :D Since we wanted to learn the basics about makeup, I decided to look for makeup brushes to start the learning process. I have read a lot of great reviews about Ecotools and I've always loved organic and natural products, so I decided to bid on these 2 brush sets. :)

Etude House Sleeping Pack: for someone like me who loves to sleep, I think this would be a great item. Maybe I'll make a review of this soon. :D

Liole Water Drop BB Cream: I'm quite excited to try this out because my skin is now getting dry because of the temperature change. Review soon. :)

I've already tried a sample of Liole's Beyond the Solution, I did not get an allergy or anything, plus it is not sticky or heavy so I got this in a slightly bigger size for my sister. :)

Skinfood Omija Whitening Tea Toner and Omija Whitening Emulsion: I may not be able to use this anytime soon because my skin is a bit dry, but when it normalizes I'll give this a shot and hopefully make a review of it soon.

Skinfood Vita Tok Water Pact in Light Beige: I've recently tried this once and I was a little surprised because I didn't know that it was creamy. But I think it is said to be better with dry skin. I did not get any allergic reaction with this so I guess I'll keep using this and see what happens.

Hope I could make a product review soon. :D

12 for 2012: 49 Days

As my sister and I are new to this blogging world, we had to come up of things to blog about, and she said, "Just blog those things that interest you." And so I will. I love Asian dramas and I love reading, so I guess those should be the topics of my blog posts.

As we all know, watching Asian Dramas and reading can take up a lot of your time, and I mean a lot. When I read, I read. When I watch, I watch. Which leaves no time for acads (school). Hahaha.  And since my sister doesn't really watch Asian dramas I can only watch it when she's not around...or if she's in an enough good mood to allow me to watch it while she's there. XD

Since 2012 is almost over I decided to name the next 12 of my blog posts as 12 for 2012. They could be Asian dramas, movies, books, or anything that caught my eye this year. 

Let's begin with my first on 12 for 2012: 49 Days!

Cast:

Lee Yo-won as Song Yi Kyung/Shin Ji Min

Nam Gyu-Ri as Shin Ji Hyun

Jo Hyeon-jae as Han Kang

Bae Su-bin as Kang Min Ho

Jung Il Woo as Scheduler/Song Yi Soo

Seo Ji-hye as Shin In Jung

This 2011 South Korean drama is about a woman, Shin Ji-Hyun, who could get a second chance in life if she gets three droplets of tears from pure love, within 49 days. Guided by the Scheduler ( a modern-day reaper) on her quest to get the three droplets of tears, she finds out that her perfect life isn't so perfect after all.

Unexpectedly, I had so much feelings for this drama. I've been avoiding dramas that have a sad plot (after bawling my eyes out years ago with Lovers in Paris), because, well, I don't like to be sad. 49 Days was classified as a fantasy drama (with it touching the afterlife and sorts) so I never expected it to bring in a ton of emotions. It's so heartbreaking it's awesome. You know what's going to happen, but you watch it and cry anyway.

No, I won't be giving away spoilers, but my favorite character (yes, I have favorites in almost every drama I watch) is Scheduler (portrayed by Jung Il-Woo). I won't say why just yet. Just watch it. You'll find out why soon enough.  :P

Sample Korean Cosmetics and Skincare Products

Two weeks ago, my sister had chickenpox. Now it has healed, however it left some marks on her skin. This led us to search for ways  to "hide" some marks left on her face after it has healed. We knew that in time the said marks would eventually disappear, but for now, since she wanted immediate results, we searched for BB creams  that can give her some coverage and at the same time help heal her skin.

There's a catch though, some BB creams can be quite pricey and we're not ready to spend a lot of money on full sizes which might not work on our skin. So we searched online for samples and trial packs and tried different brands and types of BB creams. I am now developing this certain "fondness" for online shopping. Hehe. :D

Here are the samples/minis/trial packs that we got:

Liole Triple the Solution BB cream (what a cute packaging! ;D)

 I'm not really sure what this is. We searched the net and it said it's a highlighter.:D

A full sized Missha BB cream can cost a lot, thankfully we can try it first in this size.

Etude House Moistfull BB cream, Soothing Gel, Soothing Cream and Essential Massage. I'm quite excited to try this out because my skin gets dry when the weather or temperature changes. :D

 Etude House Precious Mineral BB Cream

Etude House Fresh Cherry Tint

Skinfood Mushroom Multi Care BB Cream and Aloe Sun B Cream

Skinfood GoldKiwi Emulsion and Peach Sake Pore Serum

We're really excited to try this out since we had to find a good BB cream/moisturizer first before exploring into the colorful world of makeup. 

Hopefully I can make my first product review soon. I don't know how to make one yet. Till my next post! :D