Bleeding Wallet AKA Skin Care Haul

as promised, my major skin care haul! I don't want to talk about how much I spent, because currently I am still not feeling guilty, because I don't know the total amount of this haul. And I want to be in denial (haha). The following post is pic heavy, not much explanation because I haven't tried all of them yet.

Starting with imomoko,com

The 3 boxes in the back are DHC's original cleansing oil, my pink one is half gone already, so decided to order some more. They were cheaper if I buy in bulk, so I got the 3 for $65 set. The small tube is the previously mentioned DHC acne spot treatment (I love this stuff), it also works for my brother (who has pretty bad acne problem). I also got him the face milk (lotion) from the same DHC line, he's been using it for a week now (I think), he didn't give me any reports yet..hahaha


This was something I got cuz of the crazy looking reviews (unfortunately they are all in Chinese, so I won't bother posting the links). I have pretty thick skin on the bottom of my feet for years. We've tried everything, including going to the doctors to get it frozen and cut off, it just continues to grow and grow and grow. And then few years back I tried this foot bath thing that is suppose to help the feet stop sweating and hence not as stinky, BIG mistake. I should have known nothing good can come from China products. It basically started peeling my entire feet, and I ended up with really thick skin on my heel too (didn't use to have that). I kind of gave up on my feet, now and then I'd use those foot stone thingys to try to remove the rough layer of the skin, but it;s still pretty thick. So after reading all the amazing reviews, I decided to give this a try.


The pictures on the back of the box look pretty amazing (and gross at the same time). I am hoping it works, other wise it's a lot of money for nothing (it's $18.99). I just tried this thing on couple days ago, the review and instruction says nothing will happen until the 3 day, so I am waiting for a miracle!


These are products my friends bought. The Queen's magazine, and 2 peeling gels, I also got the Legere one (purple box). And Ethan Ruan is sooooooo hot!!!!


These are the samples I got. The 2 green packets are the DHC oil cleanser, I am not sure why they gave me this when I ordered 3 bottles of it...obviously I like it, so I gave it to one of my friend that hasn't tried it yet. The pink tube is a hand cream, I have yet to try. And the white tube is another Legere  bb cream that I asked a sample for, I have yet to try it yet.


few more shots of Ethan..damn he's so cuttee XD

and I love this picture of him! Wish I would have been able to open the wrapping and look inside, god damn it why is he taken! lol


So as mentioned previously, I also got a Legere peeling gel. This was also one product that i saw amazing reviews for, and decided to get it.


The packaging is unimpressive, but for skin care I generally don't care much for the packaging as long as the product works


List of ingredients


It's a jelly consistency, but when rubbed, it kinda melts and turns into a watery consistency, the smell is not very pleasant, but it's bearable
 



Even though the bottle says facial peeling gel, on the side of the box it actually says you can also use it on your knee, elbow, feet and other parts of the body. So I tried it on my knee, you can see the little white stuff coming off, suppose that's the dead skin cell being removed, my knee did feel smoother and less grey after I used it. But it is very drying, so you'll have to put on lotion right away.

next is the HaulteLook order

It's all Biotherm stuff. These are about half the price of how much they are sold at counters. This is my part of the order, the Age Fitness 2 line, of course! This set was $38, normally the cream would cost $62. I thought I bought the night cream, but turns out the cream was the day cream (hence the white cap). But I don't think it will matter, since Biotherm day cream doesn't have SPF anyways. The bottle is body lotion, and the tube is shower gel


This is the consistency of the shower gel. It's fairly watery, and has a citrus smell

After foaming it up, it's still pretty watery, I am not sure how I like the smell of it though.


Consistency of the lotion, again watery and citrus smell. I don't like the smell of the lotion for sure, normally I like citrus smells, but this is a bit too strong for my liking


The other part of the order is this set of Skin Vivo. This is for my mom. The day and night set came to 68 dollars, which is the normal price for ONE cream. I also saw this set at the counter, and they were selling it for 98 dollars. I gave my mom a sample of this when I got it as a gift with purchase, and she really liked it, so I got her the set.

And up next, the sasa.com order.

Beauty DIY is a brand from this skin care guru in Taiwan. Since the Kiehl's calendula toner, I've been looking everywhere to find a replacement, so far I only found the PRE chrysanthemum, which doesn't work as well as the calendula toner, and I am not totally happy about the smell (and it also stings my eyes a bit). So when I saw this on sasa I had to get it, it was $12 for 140ml, still not cheap, but definitely cheaper than Kiehl's $52 for 250ml


The mouth has a cap to prevent leaking. I like the bottle it's very much my style haha


Ingredient list
I just used this last night with a sheet mask, my redness and irritation from the extraction of my whiteheads went down a lot! The smell also is exactly the same as Kiehl's, except it doesnt have the flower bits in it, but I don't really care for the bits haha.


The other 2 items, one is hair treatment oil from Beauty DIY again, and the other is the strawberry yogurt mask from Laneige, which I heard good things about.


I know I said I don't really care for packaging when it comes to skin care, but nice packaging is always a plus! This strawberry yogurt mask's packaging is very pink and cute.


There's bits in the product makes it look like strawberry seeds, it also does indeed smell like strawberry yogurt,..haha I haven't tried this, but will do up a blog once I try it.


And this hair oil treatment was reviewed by Fuzkittie, and she made me want it!! My hair has been having crazy split ends (if I can take pictures next time I find some split ends I will), and it's been really dry and fuzzy at the ends, so I thought I'd try this out.


The bottle only shows one way of using the product: few drops of the oil and rub in the ends of the hair with tip of finger after shampoo


But the box shows other ways of using it.
1. After shampoo, rub a few drops in the ends of the hair, where split end shows with tip of finger
2. use as hair oil treatment, prior to shampooing, rub about 5ml of oil all over hair and wrap up with shower cap or plastic wrap, leave for 10 to 15 mins than wash off with shampoo
3. add a few drops in to shampoo and use as normal
4. add a few drops into conditioner and use as normal


you get the oil out with a pipette like thing, that's attached to the head of the bottle, it's very well made I must say. And this bottle wasn't too pricy either.



Sasa also included some cotton pads for free. I don't use cotton pads, so I am giving it to my friend.


This is what she ordered from the same order. So she's got the hair oil treatment and the strawberry yogurt mask like me. And she also got a Laneige hydrating emulsion thing.

Lastly...on this very long post...my order from ebay, just one item.

Skin 79 bb cream. I got this because a friend told me she really like it, and it had less discolouration compared to the Legere one I use (she also tried it). The Legere one has a reddish undertone, and shows up wayy too white on my face, the coverage is fair, but it also feels fairly thick, especially now that it's summer. So I've been looking for a thinner bb cream, and my friend suggested this brand. I also saw this brand on from head to toe, as well as the Taiwanese beauty show (Queen), and it looked good. I am disappointed though. It's very grey in colour, and though it's thinner so it doesn't make my face pale white, but the grey colour makes the darker areas on my face (i.e. under eye circle and around the mouth) look darker and greyish. It looks fine under yellow light, but under white light I look almost ashy. I tried it with a pink make up base I have, and it only helped slightly, I will have to figure out a way to better use this bb cream or I will have to throw it out. Maybe I can try mixing it with the Legere...I will do some experimenting for sure. The skin 79 bb cream does not have a lot of coverage, I don't know about the other benefits as I haven't tried it enough yet. But I suspect I will have to be trying other brands of BB cream again...


Well! that's it for now, until next time, live well and shop LOTS! :)

Belated Birthday Celebration

First, I would like to say... I hate blogspot's photo uploads/posting...

That being said, on goes with the blog!

I know I've been blogging mainly about beauty stuff (and some shoes), but you'll all learn soon that I have a very broad spectrum of interests, and amongst them, food is one of them. Although I rarely go out to eat cause the cost is just too high. On this rare occasion though (my birthday), we (we as in, brother, cousin, cousin's wife, and friend of theirs, plus me) decided to head to a Korean restaurant (cuz I haven't had Korean in forever, and have been craving it for a while now).

Originally, we were heading some where else (there were two other choices), but because of Father's day (I think) both restaurants were booked up. I did some google-ing and came up with this restaurant. There were only 3 reviews, but all positive (one of them said the food was like granny's home made food), so I though why the hell not, give it a try. So I called them, expecting that it will also be fully booked, and I will have to run down the google list until I find another one. But they were not! When I called, a guy answered in Korean, with a very long phrase that I can never repeat. I spoke to them in English (obviously, I ain't Korean). The guy spoke in Korglish, which I thought was a very good sign.

A word of warning, most of the pictures were taken after we've had some of the food, because I am not very good at remembering to take pictures before the food is touched (haha). Also the following pictures may induce uncontrollable drooling. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

We parked our car in the back of the restaurant, as soon as we opened the car door, the BBQ meat smell came at us like a boxer's punch, it smellllllled sooooooo gooooood.

The name of the restaurant is funny to me for some reason, I would never have guessed it was a Korean restaurant (aside from the Korean BBQ in front of it), but I suppose that's the same for many many MANY Chinese restaurants (something something Garden).

The service of this restaurant was actually pretty decent, the server took the time to talk to us, introduced some foods that we could try when we asked them, and did not look annoyed when we called for him, but we had not fully decided what we wanted (which was our bad). The food came quickly (probably cuz most of it was raw), and they even helped us put the first few pieces on the hot plate. They were also very quick to change the hot plate when it got black from the cooking. The owner (or I think the owner) would walk around and service the tables, she had limited English, but was very nice.

If anyone is interested:
5599 Kingsway in Burnaby
604-431-0208


The main store sign was actually in Korean, I have no idea what it says, but I am ganna guess it says Potter's Garden (lol)


One thing special about this restaurant, they have a call bell, so you press the button, and servers will come and ask you what you need, which eliminates the need for the servers to come and ask you while you have food in your mouth (which ALWAYS happens, I think they are trained to wait for your mouth to be full). The piece of paper (with green grass on it) in the top right corner of the picture is also something I've never seen. It's a cover slip for the spoon. The spoons are regular Korean style spoon (I don't know if they are, but I see them at all the Korean restaurants, so I assumed LOL) and they are reusable. I assume after they wash it, they put it into those slip covers so they can remain clean.


Here are all the small dishes that all Korean restaurant gives out for free. I love the sweet potato, but others said the juice didn't get soaked in enough. The seaweed and bean sprouts were ok, nothing too special. The kimchi was sooo goooooood, it was spicy, but a good spicy, haven't had such spicy kimchi in a while. 


The mandatory, meat smoking on metal plate shot. We ordered a combo for 5 to 6 people, and then ordered 3 other side dishes, we were FULL, and we had left overs. I didn't take a picture of all the raw food, and I actually am not sure what they are, cuz I didn't make the decision haha. But all the meat was marinated sooo well, they gave us a plate of sauce to add flavour I guess, but I didn't use it for the meat at all.


We did a side order of a bibimbap. Here's a picture of it, mixed, because I forgot to take a picture of it's unmixed form, it looks yummier in it's unmixed form, but the look does not change the taste. This was my favourite item, and that says a lot, since I am not a big fan of rice. I love the rice that gets cooked till crispy (the one against the walls of the bowl). The bibimbap also came with a small bowl of soup, which I did not take picture of, but it was very good nonetheless. It was just a simple broth with nothing in it, I think it's to wash away the flavours that's already in your mouth so you can enjoy the bibimbap more. It was sweet and not overpowering, best soup I've had at a Korean restaurant

For those of you who don't know what bibimbap is, it's basically, rice with veggies and a raw egg in a hot stone bowl. You squeez a lot of hot sauce on it (Korean hot sauce not white people hot sauce) and mix it all together and eat. It's one of my stables when I go to a Korean restaurant.

Here's a picture of what it suppose to look like unmixed, from Wiki

Obviously this was not in a stone bowl, but the best ones comes in a stone bowl, it changes the taste completely, don't be fooled!!


This is another side dish that we ordered, that I do not know the name of, it was a recommendation from the server. It is SUPER spicy. The red stuff is actually pork belly, you eat it with the chopped up sauce soaked green onion on the side. It's not bad, but it was really spicy. I would say I am a pretty big spice eater, but this I could only eat a few at a time.


Here's a picture of japchae, this was part of the combo, no one touched this, cuz we were all too full. It became my lunch (eating it while typing this blog). I'd imagine the microwave changed the taste of this, so I won't comment on the taste of this.


Another stable of mine is the seafood pancake, this one was also part of the combo, it was really good, though a bit small. It had the mandatory crispy outside, a ton of seafood (you can actually see the shrimps!), and the inside is soft and chewy *drool*

I can eat seafood pancakes all day long! This and bibimbap are my favourite Korean food


This is a side order that my brother ordered. It is very weird tasting...It's basically just boiled beef tendon. It was very very bland, this was the only item on the table that I had to use the provided sauce for.


This was a plate of meat that they took into the kitchen to cook for us. Yes you heard it right, they served it raw, someone (I think the owner) came out and saw all the food piled on our table and said, in very bad English, "I cook for you inside?" and she took it away, we did not see it till we were almost finished with everything. We thought they had forgotten. When it came out it was steamy hot, I think they were checking to see if we were almost finished to cook and bring out the plate.

It tastes different than the plate that we grilled ourselves (there were 2 plates of this), probably because they were able to stir fry it with the sauce, but we weren't able to do that (cuz the metal plate was not wok shaped). The sauce has a hint of sugar, and the meat was very tender, this was also good. I kept eating it, and then complaining about how full I was (then continued to stick my chopstick in it).

There were a few more items that were part of the combo that I did not take pictures of. 1 small bowl of hot pot, which I did not even eat because it was too far away from my reach. And 1 basket of 5 dumplings that was not very impressive, it tasted like it was uncooked (or maybe we were suppose to cook it?)

And the bill came to...

yes I know it looks very pricey, but to be honest most Korean restaurants are pretty pricey. I honestly think we would have been fine without the weird beef tendon dish ($19.95) and the red hot pork with green onion thing ($24.99), which would have made our total $99.86, with 15% tips and 5% tax, the total will come to $119.83, divided by 5 people that's about $24 per person, which is acceptable. Instead we paid around $175 including tax and tips, which came to $35 per person, a little higher than I would like to pay for restaurant food.


And what's a birthday without cake! This I had at the office with some co-workers/friends though.

Mixed fruit cake from The Boss. A little heavy on the whipped cream, and some of the fruits were very soury, but good nontheless. YUM!

And so start the 27th year of my life.

Preview of up coming post

Not really a preview, more of a pre-post, because I still don't have any pictures.

My next post will be on my haul of skin care from sasa.com, imomoko.com, HauteLook, and a BB cream from ebay (skin 79). It's quite a big haul, I am feeling guilty with such major spending, but I figure it's my birth month, I'll categorize it as my birthday present to myself (Haha). I have really been on a rampage with shopping. Aside from the skin care haul, I also got some jeans and tops, and sooo very tempted by shoes (I *heart* shoessssss).

These Christian Diors (but in black) have been on my mind for a while now...if only the price is more affordable. I saw them at Holt Renfew on sale for $500....oh Christian Dior! WHYYY must you taunt me soooo???

Dang...


Anyways! that's it for now. Awaiting my orders to arrive :)

Top Ten make-up/skin care items I *heart*

I have been unusually keen with blog posting recently. As you can also see I have been mucking around with background templates and what not. I am not really liking blogspot's templates and the fact that I cannot change the background, but I guess I'll get use to it soon enough. On to the topic at hand!

After digging through my mountains of make up and skin care products, I came up with this list of my top ten favs! The list is just personal opinions, so don't get all offended if you hate one of the items I have (lol)

Tenth Place - Too Faced retractable kabuki brush

 In tenth place it's my Too Faced Retractable Kabuki Brush. I have to admit I ordered the brush because I loved the packaging. It was on the expensive side ($33 CND), but totally worth it! The bristles are soooo soft and cruelty free! It can be used for everything (loose/pressed powder, blush, and bronzer). When I travel out or have to stay over night somewhere this is the only brush I bring (to keep my bags lighter). I don't really use it on normal days though, simply because the bristles are so packed and full it's pretty hard to clean, and I think we all know by now that I am super lazy!

Ninth Place - NYX Eyeshadows

I was too lazy to retake pictures, so these are taken with the jumbo pencils, but I only *heart* their eyeshadows. These are freaking cheap!($6.99 regular price, and I always buy them on sale) The colour pay off is great, and the texture is similar to MAC, but at half the price. Mind you the colour section kind of suck in Canada, and the colours are not as unique as MAC, but it's good enough for me. There's not particular colour that I am in love with, all of the colours looks great!

Eighth Place - My Beauty Diary, Apple Mask

Again, lazy to take new pictures, I am referring to the green box at the back, please ignore all the other products lol. So on the box it claims to be able to shrink pore size and moisturize the skin. Of all the My Diary masks I have used this is by far my favourite. I love the smell, the moisturizing effects are pretty noticeable, and I have also noted the size of my pores. Now I don't know if that's something psychological but I do think my pores have gotten smaller.

Seventh Place - Clarins Waterproof Eyeliner


Once this thing dries, it does not budge AT ALL! The colour shows up great, the only thing not so great is the price ($24CND). I can't really bare to buy another one just because of the price.

Sixth Place - Clinique Bronzer in Sunkissed


This is the second bronzer that I actually purchased on my own. Usually I just use the ones I get in gift with purchases. The first bronzer I ever got was NARS in Laguna, it was very dark, and I always felt that I was in drag after using it (lol). This bronzer does not give off too much colour, but give a sunkissed look to my face. It helps darken my BB cream (the one I mentioned in my previous post) and allows for more of a natural look (instead of stalk white)

Fifth Place - NARS Single Eyeshadow in Night Breed


I know I have already talked about an eyeshadow, but this one deserves its own place. This is my first dark eyeshadow, and the reason why I started buying all my darker shade shadows. It's currently the only shadow I have hit pan on. I normally use it for lining the eye, on occasions I would use it as a lid shadow, just look how sparkly it is!!! It's well with it's $26 dollar price tag.  

Fourth Place - Kiss Me Long and Curl Mascara


I love Love LOVE this mascara. It lengthens, volumizes, AND helps my curls stay in tack! The only thing I don't love Love LOVE about this mascara, is how HARD it is to remove. This was not one of my go to mascaras when I first got it. Although I loved the effect it had, but it was just too much of a pain to remove.

Third Place - Biotherm Age Fitness Night Cream

Please cut out the concealer on the right side (again lazy to retake pictures XD). After trying out a TON of different night creams (I've tried at lest 8 different department store brands, and countless drugstore brands), Biotherm was the only one that worked for me. The smell is strong for some people, but it's fine for me, I dislike Lancome more. After i started using this cream I always wake up with wonderfully smooth skin, what's even better is that I only need a small amount for the whole face. The jar can last me one year! It is a bit on the pricy side at $62 CND, and is the most I have ever paid for a night cream, but for me, it's well worth the price.

Second Place - NARS Blush

I don't think this warrants an explanation, from my blush-holism post everyone should know I LOOOOOOVEEEEEE NARS blushes. My current favourite one is the newly owned Mata Hari, a very pretty and girly pink. The colour pay of is great, and it's not overly expensive. I sooo want to collect them all (it's my pokemon lol)

Finally~~~ *drum rolls please!* In First Place ~DHC Cleansing Oil

Even though I just started using this, I am IN LOVE. It amazing that I can put it on greasy and with one splash of water the greasy feeling is GONE! And it seriously removes EVERYTHING, including my love/hate Kiss Me Mascara. I just CANNOT live without this thing ever again!


And here are some runner ups that didn't make it to the top ten, but I still *heart* them a lot, just a little less than the top ten (lol)

1. MAC Eyeshadows

As I have mentioned before, NYX shadows are very very similar to MAC in texture and colour pay off. MAC has more unique colour that look differently in different angles or different lighting. The only reason this didn't make it on to the list is it's price. Mind you MAC shadows, at $17.50CND a pop is pretty low for department store brand, but nothing compared to NYX's $6.99 with constant sales.

2. My Beauty Diary, Red Wine Mask

This is also a lazy picture, the red one on the very left is the one I am pointing out. The mask is suppose to moisturize and whiten. I can visibly see my face one shade lighter after I remove it. The only thing I didn't love about this mask was the smell. It kind of smells like grape juice that has been left out on the counter for a few hours.

3. Make-up Forever Aqua Liner


This is a tie with the Clarins eyeliner, but I didn't pick it because of the packaging. Clarins just looks so much more high end. Although I have more of the Make-up Forever liner (3).

4. Ardell Faux Lashes #124

Lastly is an item that I no longer own (had to throw it away). These particular pair are sooo natural looking, but it still has enough exaggeration to give a not overly done dramatic affect. I would like to buy a few more pairs of it, but I am scared that it'll give me rashes on my eyelid again (I had an allergic reaction to faux lashes, but not the Ardell brand).