Minis

I'm such a sucker for miniature products. Doesn't everything look way cuter though?

The Morning After

J has a huge sweet tooth and has been, for the longest time, dying to try out this small little donuterie tucked away in Chinatown. I’ve always been hesitant to go because it’s in a rather sketchy area… but oh the things I do for my boyfriend. I have to say I was right though! We got hustled by this guy trying to convince us to give him $10 for the $1.25 worth of change he had. Scary! I seem to have this affinity with hobos… I have been intentionally frightened by one, body slamed by another.. and the list goes on. And yet every year I still try to convince J to go out giving goody bags to them with me for Christmas. Ohwell.

Anyways, I’ve never been quite the donut fan (Krispy Kreme is the only exception!) but I have say these are relatively good! A little doughier than Krispy Kreme but nice rich flavours all around. We started with half a dozen the night before and well.. here’s what was left the morning after. We like tasting a bit of everything at one shot ;)

Autumn on a whim;

Vancouver weather is quite unpredictable. But you can pretty much trust for it to rain throughout Autumn/Winter. And that means on most days, you don’t really want to get out of bed because you’re greeted by overcast skies, gloomy, cold, miserable weather. For a short few days, Vancouver decided to treat us with the beauty of autumn on a whim. I don’t know any other city that can be raining non-stop for 4 days and then reappear the next with such warm sunny tones. Conflicted I guess? But these little surprises are soo cherished especially during this time of the year. Everyone gets cheerier whenever we get a break from the rain! Vancouver is such a beautiful city when the sun comes out.

On the outfit I’m wearing: J has put me on a really strict-no-more-shopping ban, so I’ve been forced to try and mix things up, revisiting pieces that I didn’t take as much notice of in the past. Kind of depressing not being able to shop and being deprived of my usual form of instant gratification. On the bright side, I’m kind of proud this entire outfit (minus the shoes+bag) costs less than $100 in total. Pretty good for a pair of shorts, tights, a top, coat and sunglasses right?

And because this is a new blog, I thought it'd be nice to have a face to match it with. Tada - this is what J and I look like. 

Brunch & Comfort Food

A little overdue, but we recently had a (much needed) long weekend here in Canada. Work life is quite different from University life. Am I weird to miss going to classes...doing assignments and taking exams? I've always seen myself as booksmart so school has always been within my comfort zone. Things are so much more complicated now that grades are practically nothing! 

But back to work life - now that I have been inducted into the whole "wake-up-at-7am-everyday" adult life, the long weekend meant sleeping in. Waking at 1pm feels sooo good. We spent the weekend catching up on house chores and simply.. taking it slow. Brunch obviously made it straight into that category!

I grew up eating just eggs and rice (nicknamed: eggy rice) as a kid, so it's comfort food for me alright! And just in case, you were thinking those were some odd brain-like items; it's not! It's siu mai, which is essentially a kind of steamed pork dumpings. Gosh, I need more days like these. The weekend cannot come any sooner.

Work Life

If I’ve seemed relatively quiet in the last few weeks, it’s because I’ve started working a 5 day/9-5pm schedule. Oh, how much I miss the flexibility I had as a student… There’s no such thing as skipping classes work anymore! 

Work has been quite amazing so far though. I work in such a beautiful part of Vancouver where I have half an ocean view from the office. My area is also filled with quirky stores that I’ve yet to fully explore! There’s this one coffee shop that is so wonderfully rustic and is right down my alley with the earthy/woody ambience. I don’t even drink coffee and yet I head back to this place evert week to get inspired. 

We also get to play with nerf guns at work! Pretty awesome. And on a random note, a seagull decided to visit me at work the other day. It kept inching closer to me as I snapped pictures of it and it was tilting its head as if it was examining me!  J thought it super cute while I almost got a heart attack when it suddenly started peaking at the window! Perks of sitting by the window.

On that note, I'm more determined than ever to start blogging once again. Can't wait to meet new people, make new friends and discover other blogs. Say hello, leave a comment and I'll check out your blog!

Make Up Review

I’ve always dreamed of starting a beauty blog because that’s really what I love buying/playing with the most. It’s a borderline bad hoarding habit of mine.. I just can’t help buying new products to test out! I don’t think I will ever start a pure beauty blog though. I’m not the most adventurous with makeup (I like to stick to the natural look) so I probably won't be a very interesting beauty blogger but since this blog is a mix of all my favourite parts of blogging (fashion, beauty, food, life), it gives me a perfect excuse to throw in some beauty reviews here and there!  

These are some products I've bought over the last month so I've had some time to test them out on different occasions. 

Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer: I bought this because of all the hype surrounding it (loads of great reviews) but it doesn’t quite measure up to my expectations. It is mostly what it claims; lightweight, sheer coverage and does even out skin tones quite nicely if your skin pretty good to start with. What killed it for me though, is how poorly it reacts to water. I'm a little bit of a clean freak in the sense that I brush my teeth about 3-4 times a day so my mouth/chin comes into contact with water quite a bit. This tends to run a little, and turns into a tinted milky-coloured residue. Not really water resistant. 

Overall it’s a great natural finish if all you want is to even out your skin tone a little but don't expect it to cover up any distinct blemishes/marks.

Now both the Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil & Make Up For Ever Aqua Shadow work as jumbo eyeliners for me. I've read that you can actually use them all over the lid (like eyeshadows), but it's a tad too strong (great colour payoff!) for my liking to do that. These are unbelievably creamy and smooth which makes application so easy. I find that lining my eyes with these brightens my eyes instantly. I personally prefer Make Up For Ever's a tiny bit more but both are definitely great buys in my book! Nyx also has a cheaper alternative for 1/3 the price but find that it creases easily and is much harder to apply. So I say spend the money instead.

Let me know what your experiences are with these products if you've tried them before or do try them! Help me kickstart this blog by sharing what you think :)