Revlon: Perplex

YAY!! I've been looking for Revlon's Perplex for a while now, but at pretty much all the CVS stores that I came across were all out. But finally one day when I was shopping with my sister, I was a whole display of  these polishes so I snatched it up right away. 

ignore my thumb nail!

So here I have Revlon: Perplex and on my accent nail I have Essie: It's Genius. I think these two colors work well with each other! 

I've been wanting to do more nail art on my nails than just a different color on my accent nail, but I haven't found the time to do them, which makes me a bit sad. But we will see, if I find the time, I will definitely try to do something creative..if I can even think of anything haha.

<3

Essie: Chubby Cheeks

I've been eyeing Essie's chubby cheeks for a really long time, and decided to finally pick it up one day since there was a sale at Ulta. I'm actually a bit disappointed in the color. I thought it would be more of a dirty orange-y color, and in a way it is, but I guess the color just turned out to be different than what I thought it was going to be. I will probably try to pick it up and try it again sometime later on in life, but right now, I'm a bit disappointed. 

AND, I picked a random nail color for my accent nail. Here on my nails are: Essie: Chubby Cheeks, and FingerPaint: It's an Original. haha oh gosh, I really didn't like this mani. I ended up changing it the next day. But here it is!

<3

Birthday Love & NOTD

YAY!! Today is my birthday!! I'm so grateful for all the wonderful friends and family in my life who wished me happy birthday and to my housemates to surprised me at midnight to say happy birthday to me :) 

So yesterday, I decided that I wanted my nails to look nice and sophisticated during my birthday so I chose a nice awesome red, China Glaze Ruby Pumps. This was the first time wearing this polish so I did two coats of Ruby Pumps over E.L.F: Light Red just for a base color.

This picture makes me smile :) My friends are so sweet, they got these for me! One of my house mates, Kevin got me the Chibi Totoro. SOO CUTE!! One of my other house mates, Rebecca, got the picture frame and filled it with the words seen, and some on the back. Another one of my house mates, Jack, made the card with the hamster! So cute, and he wrote a message with his awesome witty humor. And not pictured here, but my OTHER roommate came in right after I uploaded the picture and gave me a pen and a gorgeous notepad. I mights take a picture later and show you since I know there are a couple presents I will be getting later. Last, but not least here, my friend came over today to wish me happy birthday and we ended up going to lunch. She really wanted a cookie, and was nice enough to buy one for me for my bday! I forgot to take the wax off when taking this picture, but it is..HUGEEE! Don't believe me? 

This cookie is bigger than my head. HAHA. I haven't eaten it yet, cuz I'm full from other foods right now, but it looks like it can satisfy me for a really long time! :) 

Honestly, I didn't do too much today, which is fine by me. Nice and relaxing!

So, I hope your day was swell!
lots of <3

Giveaway Winnings and Early Birthday Gift!

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Today was straight up relaxing (except for the homework and readings I had to do). But I got some packages in the mail which I'm super excited to share with you guys!

The Nail Experiment  did a giveaway last month and I was shocked to find that I won the giveaway! Thank you! Here is what she sent me:

Sally Hansen: Moisturizing Creme, Kiss Red Nail Art Pen, Phytomer neutralizing cream, Philosophy Peppermint Bark Shower Gel, Nail art Stencils, and Atopalm Intensive Moisturizing Cream (not pictured). Thank you so much for this!!

packaging

inside packaging

So, I usually don't get birthday gifts from my parents, but this year, my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday (January 20 ;D ) and I sent her a wishlist of things that I wanted. The Clara Sonic Mia was something I've been wanting since I have problematic and I thought this would help me clear up my skin. My mom ordered it and sent it to me. Definitely very excited to use this!! 

What's on your (birthday) wishlist?? 

Hope you guys have a good one!!

<3

Project 52: Week 3!

So, I'm just a tiny bit late uploading these pictures, but I promise I took them yesterday, which makes it valid. haha.

before/after baking the coffee cake

So yesterday was just a really nice day. I didn't do too much the first half of the day, but my house mates and I watched Dexter. Such a good show! And later on in the evening, my house mates along with some good friends from another apartment nearby went to eat at a burger restaurant. We downtown and walked around, and when we came back, we made some delicious coffee cake. While we waited for the cake to bake, we played mario party. haha Such an awesome game :) 

This is my delicious plate of coffee cake and cookie dough ice cream! Oh heaven on my plate!

Hopefully this week, I'll have more time to take pictures and post!

<3

Christmas is Back!

So, I changed my nails quite a few times over winter break and didn't post them up because I knew I wouldn't be able to change them as often when I got back to school and I wanted to still be able to post kind of consistently. I should have definitely posted this a LONG time ago, but hey, better late than never right?
I did this manicure on Christmas day after I did both my mom and sister's manicure.

Nail polish used:

O.P.I: Passion, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear: Disco Ball, Ulta: Social Lite, Boundless Colors: Gold Rush, and  China Glaze: Jolly Holly. 

Really enjoyed this mani while it lasted!

<3

My First Award!! Stylish Blogger Award!

A couple days ago I found out I was tagged from the amazingly talented Silence is Loud. Honestly made my day, not to mention how honored I feel! Thank you so much!! First award EVER. hehe.

So these are the rules to the award:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

Okay, So I thought it would be a simple task of typing 7 random facts, but being me where I get really into everything, each thing turned into a 100 paragraph story. So here is what I'm am going to do so that people won't die reading my 7 facts. I'll put my "main" fact on this post, and later on, I'll just go ahead and post a fact in more detailed if anyone is interested.  :) I hope you guys do though, I love getting to know others and this would be a great way of getting to know a bit about me!

So here are my 7 things! :
1. Music is a huge part of my life.
2. I am more of an artsy person more than smarts. hehe
3. Foods. I pretty much love lots of food that most people don't like and don't like foods that most people  love.
4. I've never been to a concert in my life.
5. I love kids.
6. I love animals. And here is the kicker, ready: I'm allergic to all shedding animals. haha.
7. I know this sounds clique, but I want to change someone's life or make a difference in the world.

Now here are the 15 bloggers I tag! :
1.Nails Beautiqued
2.Persistently Polished
3.Cel's Deconails
4.Toes That Twinkle
5.Aurora's Nails
6.Chloe's Nails
7.The Lacquerista
8.Deez Nailz
9.Parokeets
10.Necessary Nails
11.Nailasaurus
12. Confessions of a Polishaholic
13. Katrina's Nail Blog
14. Nails by Asami
15. Emerald Sparkled
16. YOU. the reader. Yes. I love meeting people and getting to know people. If you did one, link it below! :)

Thank you again for tagging me and I hope you guys look forward to my long paragraphs explaining why I chose each fact. hehe.
<3Carissa

Haul!

hello!

who doesn't love a haul? hehe. I actually bought these things a while ago before I left to come to school. Not lots of makeup, but still lots of skin care/hair care and things. And by the way, I thought I would go full out and buy everything new. So none of these things are repurchases of things I've liked in the past.

So, I got Rimmels Moisture Renew: Rose Blush. Honestly, I think the packaging is tacky. I would honestly feel weird taking it out and applying it in front of people (not to offend anyone). I really like the sleek look of Mac's lipstick (although I don't own anything). BUT, I do think that it is pretty moisturizing and the color is pretty nice as well. 

Yes to Carrots: C Through the Night (night cream)

Eucerin Smoothing Essential Lotion 

Botanics Triple Action Day Moisture Cream (day cream)

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle: I've heard so much about that definitely really wanted to try this!

Up&Up: Eye Makeup Remover: I have the Neutrogena makeup remover and it is really the one make up remover that I have used that doesn't sting my eyes since my eyes (and face) are extremely sensitive. Since this Up&Up makeup remover is suppose to be comparable to the Neutrogena, I thought I would give it a try!

Up&Up Body Wash: I wanted to get a body exfoliator, and I think this is a good start since it won't be too harsh on my skin. 

St. Ives Apricot Scrub:  Heard way too many good things about this so I had to go try it for myself!

Clean & Clear: Deep Action Cream Cleanser: I'm not sure why I picked it up to be honest. I don't remember seeing any reviews about this, but decided to try it for myself.

I haven't used everything I've boughten, and the things I've used, I don't think I've used it long enough to give an accurate review on it, so I'll use these products for a bit longer and do that sometime later. 

Have you guys used anything here? Or even recommend products?? I love exploring new products (especially if they are on the cheaper end). 

Hope you guys are doing well! 

<3CarissaKuo

Swatches and Comparison pt4

More swatches! :D Here we go!: 

FLASH!

Essie vs. Essie

(From L to R): Essie Peach Daiquiri, Essie Cute as a Button, Peach Daiquiri, Cute as a Button

this is 2 coats of each.

My camera doesn't like me. For some reason, It doesn't like to capture the colors true colors. *sigh. I need to play around to see if I can adjust the camera setting to see if the colors will capture better.

But in the mean time, these pictures will have to do. Hope you guys won't hate me haha. The non flash pictures are defintely too orange. These two colors are both pink. Peach Daiquiri is more a vibrant pink compared to Cute as a Button, which is a softer pink. In the picture with the flash, the flash soften the colors up a bit as well, I think it is more vibrant. 

I hope you guys are doing well! <3

Project 52: Week 2!

Hey, so it is Week 2 or this Project 52, and I'm already struggling. How sad is that? I say...VERY. Okay, it's not that I'm struggling really, but it's just difficult for me to force my self out and take pictures. 

Serenity

So today, I just took a picture of my friend. I was thinking of taking a picture of my awesome view outside my apartment, but I thought this turned out nicer. I know the quality is REALLY bad, but I totally forgot to switch the ISO down. I hope that next week's picture will be way more awesome, but I am proud that I haven't failed..yet. hehe.

Hope you guys are awesome!

<3Carissa

Nail Polish Haul!

Sorry for not posting new things in a while, but there were some tragedies near Christmas time (worst time of year to have tragedies too!) so I haven't been able really in the mood to post things. And now that shock is finally starting to die down, another one gets blown in my face today. HA. Life just doesn't stop surprising you huh? ANYWAYS, here we go with the haul!

YAY! Who doesn't like nail polishes? haha I can't seem to stop buying nail polish...not that I don't want to. hehe. So I wasn't really planning on buying nail polishes for this haul, but funny story: 

I'm pretty much the only person in my immediate family that likes nail polish. When I go home, I always ask my mom and my sister (when she is back home) to do their nails, but they always refuse! (what?! i know right?) On Christmas night, I asked them to do their nails again, and my sister was looking through my collection when she saw my swatch of Nubar 2010 over Black, and she totally fell in love with the look of the rustiness and wanted me to instantly do the manicure on her. So the next day when we were on our way home, she asked where I go and buy nail polishes. We went to the stores and she picked out a couple polishes. I think she wanted the same Nubar 2010 polish, but I bought that online. And obviously, when I was around all the glorious nail polish, I wanted to buy some as well!

So here are the polishes I purchased! :

haulage!

L to R: Revlon Perplex, Revlon Star, OPI Russian Navy (matte), Ulta Jaded, Ulta Devious, Essie Tart Deco, Essie Going Incognito, Essie It's Genius, Sally Hansen Mint Sprint.

I like this picture way more, but I realized later when looking through photos that I had forgotten to put one more up and that is......

to the very right: China Glaze Ruby Pumps!

I have already done a couple manis with some of the polishes that I have planned to post up in the near future. Some are definitely new favorites, and some are honestly a bit disappointing to me. And you will see that they are. 

Do you guys have some of the colors I bought? If so, let me know which and if you like it or not!

Hope you guys are doing well!

<3CarissaKuo

Swatches and Comparison pt3

More swatches! Aren't you impressed that I'm keeping this up? haha :D I'm so proud of myself!

FLASH!

Essie vs. Ulta

(L to R): Essie Tart Deco, Ulta Peach Parfait, Tart Deco, Peach Parfait

3 coats of each here.

UGH, I hate how the camera distorts the color sometimes. This is one of them. If I put the camera on flash, the colors look too pink and if the camera isn't on flash, the color is too orange. BLAH. I think the actual color is the blend between the two pictures between flash and no flash. 

Anyways, as you can see, the colors are very similar. Tart Deco is just a tiny bit more pink and Peach Parfait is more..well, peachy. I think Ulta makes a lot of nice dupes of colors. Although its not my favorite polish, it is definitely not bad, especially for the price and all the sales that they have. I love sales! :) haha 

Hope you guys are all doing well! <3

Swatches and Comparison pt2

So most of the comparisons that I am doing is with nail polishes from the haul post I did a while back. 

Essence vs. Ulta

(From right to left): Essence No more Drama, Ulta Vintage Violet, No More Drama, Vintage Violet

This is 2 coats of each.

I am definitely eyeing the Essence polish more, although I love both. I'm not the biggest pink fan and the Ulta polish has a pink tint to it, but it's still gorgeous! This is also my first essence polish, and I am definitely not disappointed! Application was pretty smooth and the color is awesome! :)

Hope you guys are having a good one! <3

Project 52!

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!! WOHOO! I can't believe it's already 2011! 2010 definitely passed by pretty fast!

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! :) I hope you have an amazing birthday!

Now, What's Project 52? It's actually suppose to be project 365, where you take a picture everyday for a whole year. I REALLY want to make this work, so I'm going to start of a bit easier and lighter for me this year by doing AT LEAST one picture a week. Of course, more than a once a week would be awesome, but I want to make sure that I upload at least a picture a week!
Now, erm, This is suppose to be taking a picture once a week, BUT if I'm really not able to take a picture that week (since I do want school to come first) then I will allow myself to upload a picture I've taken and edited previous to that week.
I think these guidelines are more for myself, but that is definitely needed otherwise I know I will make excuses up. haha. Anyways, I hope you guys will support me in this difficult challenge. I'm hoping that I can achieve this project without a problem, I might continue next year with project 365. yes? haha
If you're wondering, I'm actually doing this project because I use to be a pretty intense photographer, but after the pressure was taken off taking pictures once class ended, I just kind of let my knowledge of photography and techniques learned go. So, I'm hoping that I can either get back into photography, or learn something from my experiences. Anyone want to join me?! :D

ps. I will probably use this project to make a diary for myself, describing my day, week, etc. I love memories through pictures and I think its great to write stuff down for me to go back and read and remember memories in the future. Make sense?

So here is the first picture: Project 52: Week1!

Jellyfish!

I went to the Monterey Aquarium a few days ago with my family, and took LOTS of pictures. Here is one of them. I absolutely love jelly fishes. They are so elegant, flow beautifully, just everything about them scream gorgeous to me. 

Today, of course is New Years Day!! I'm not going to be posting pictures from last night ahaha, but I must say it was probably the best night ever. NOT because of what people might think might have happened (hehe), but because this is the first year I've EVER gone out for New Years. Previous to this year, I would go to church (which is nothing wrong with that), but still not the same as spending it with awesome friends! :) 

I hope you guys had an amazing New Years! Can't wait for awesomeness to happen this year. And with me luck with this project!!

<3CarissaKuo