Monthly Archives

March 2016

Beauty

Snail Power

Yup, you read that title right.  I’m reviewing something that has snail extract and I have to tell you… I freaking LOVE IT!  It’s the Mizon Multi Function Formula All In One Snail Repair Cream.  It’s made in Korea and ever since I saw this Korean “mom” who had the best skin I have ever seen in my entire life, I have been slightly obsessed with figuring out what Koreans use to have such beautiful skin!

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*Do you see the difference in my left and right hand?  My left hand has that matte, hydrated look while my right is dry dry dry…

The cream is more in between a serum and a cream.  It’s a bit slimy feeling, which is weird only because the word “snail” is in it.  I have been using it for the last month and I really love it!  After application my skin isn’t shiny and is almost matte.  Then I put on my normal night cream and off to bed I go.  If you have really oily skin, you can skip your night cream.  The product suggests that you put it on after washing your face morning and night.  Sometimes I don’t like to put too much on my face in the morning because I don’t want it to interfere with my foundation.

I feel like my pores are shrinking a bit and my skin just looks better.  My skintone is definitely more even. Here’s a true (TMI) story – so the other night I had a small pimple on my face that popped on its own. Gross, I know.  Well, I expected there to be a scab the next day but nope.  It was already healed over.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t completely healed.  It was still red but there wasn’t that dried scab that happens sometimes when you have an open wound on our face.

I have already gotten compliments on my skin from my friends asking me what I have been using.  Even me, who is my biggest critic has to admit – my skin looks pretty damn good right now and it’s because of this snail cream.  I already bought a new one just so that I have the backup when I run out.

Final thoughts:  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  It’s weird that there’s snail mucus extract but you know what, you’ll quickly get over it.  If you are ever going to listen to me on ONE thing on this blog – it’s this stuff.  Seriously, try this stuff out.   5/5  

Price: $14.09 | Amazon.com (You can buy it at Target, but for some reason it’s $38.00 and from what I can tell, both products are the same)

Style

Maxi Monday

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Spring is here and that means maxi dresses and lots of color!   It also means twirling and swirling when taking photos.

I got this maxi dress to wear to my birthday last year.  I love how it can be dressed up or dressed down.  I typically like to wear it with some flat sandals but the only problem is that the dress is a bit long on me – which makes it perfect for my wedges.  Being fairly tall, it’s hard to find maxi dresses that are at a length to my liking.  I like to have my maxi’s graze the floor which I know is gross but I just like the look of it.  Oh for the sake of fashion….

I had to go to a 60th birthday party this weekend and I wasn’t quite sure if I was supposed to be dressed up or casual, so I picked something in between.  I wore this maxi dress with a black leather jacket and some heels.  How did I do?  Well, let’s just say I probably should have picked something that was a bit more “party” but it’s okay.  However, wearing this dress with a fun necklace and some wedges makes it perfect for Easter Sunday!  Yes, I did wear this dress all weekend.  Don’t act like you haven’t done that before….No judging allowed here.

Also, I’m watching “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday” on Netflix.  Figured I would relive my childhood tonight.  How did Pee-wee Herman not age AND why didn’t I know that Joe Manganiello was in this movie?!?!

Outfit details:  Dress: Anthropologie | Jacket: H&M (similar) | Shoes: Stuart Weitzman | Handbag: Michael Kors | Necklace: Nordstrom | Sunglasses: Bobbi Brown | Bracelet: David Yurman | Watch: Michael Kors 

Lifestyle

Hosting Sites – Why I Chose SiteGround

I have had this website for almost 3 months and when I first started, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  I spoke to quite a few people who already had blogs or websites to see which hosting service I should go with.  If you go online and just google “best web hosting service” you’re going to get a ton of articles.  I must have read through most of them for about 4 days and I still could not decide who to go with.

One of my coworkers told me that she had BlueHost and she thought they were pretty good and cheap.  I googled them and found that WordPress recommended them as well as a few other blogs that I read.  It was strange that their ratings weren’t very good but I figured, why not?  It’s cheap!  Well, you definitely get what you pay for.  First of all, my site kept going down.  Almost every other day and especially on the weekends, I would get email notices that my site was down…and then that it was back up. Then, I started having issues where things wouldn’t work on my website, so I called their Tech Support.  The wait was almost always over 30 minutes.  They were generally very friendly but the weird thing was that a lot of the time, the Tech Support person had to “google” or flat out said “I don’t know” when I asked a question.  I found out that BlueHost hires anyone for Tech Support without experience and will teach you the basics – which explains the “I don’t know” I kept getting.

Then came the kicker … I was given advice from a Tech Support person to upgrade to a better plan and that if I was unsatisfied within 30 days, I could go back to my original cheap plan AND get the additional money back that I paid to upgrade.  Well, I didn’t notice any difference in the website.  It still went down multiple times.  Towards the end of my 30 days,  I called to cancel. Long story short, they wouldn’t do it.  They basically told me that everything the Tech Support guy said about getting my money back and going back to my original plan was false and there was nothing they could do about it.  Even though, their employee gave me false information that should have been recorded (since all phone calls are recorded as per the message I hear when I wait to speak to someone) they were not willing to fully refund me.  So I left them and found myself a better hosting site.

If you have read this far, then good for you!  It’s going to get better!

For a few dollars more a month, I have had the BEST experience in the 2 weeks that I have been with SiteGround.  I was recommended to them by another co-worker, did my research and found that they have great ratings!  The wait time to speak to someone on the phone or through the online chat has been less then 2 minutes. Everyone I have spoken to was incredibly knowledgable and they actually sound like they know what they’re talking about. Working at The Big Fancy for over 10 years, my customer service bar is pretty high.  I know I am pretty hard to please, but their customer service is amazing!   Now, transferring my site over to this hosting service was THE biggest pain in the behind, but SiteGround was as helpful as possible and I am GLAD it is OVER!  Amazingly, my site has NOT gone down in the past 2 weeks *knock on wood*.

So, since this post is already longer than I would like it to be, I’m going to tell you … if you are thinking of starting a blog or website and want to go with a hosting service, go with SiteGround.  Seriously, you get what you pay for and I had to learn the hard way.  Dealing with incompetent people is not a fun thing and neither is losing money on something that I shouldn’t have.

Web Hosting

Beauty

Stila Aqua Glow Perfecting Primer

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*With one swipe*

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*Blended into my hand*

I first heard about this Stila Aqua Glow Perfecting Primer on a very popular YouTube/Instagram/SnapChap account.  She stated that she used it and loved it so of course, I felt that I needed to try it.  I have grown up using Stila, so they always hold a special place in my heart and like I mentioned in my Finished February post – I LOVE the liquid eye liner.

Unfortunately, that was not the case for this primer.  I have been on the hunt for a good one and I think I may have found one that works with my skin but I am still testing it out.  I do have combination/oily skin so that could be why this particular Stila product did not work for me.  It comes in a stick form and it feels great when you put it on.  It has that cooling effect when applying it.  However, after about an hour my nose was as oily as can be.  I feel like if I am going to make that extra effort to put on a primer, it should last me a few hours.  I tried using this on multiple occasions just to make sure.

Final thoughts:  This could be best for normal/dry skin but for me it just simply did not cut it.  1 point for the packaging, 1 point for the cooling effect and 1 point because it’s Stila and I love the brand.  3/5 

Price: $28.00 | Amazon.com

Beauty Style

Chambray & Ruby

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I never thought I could wear red lipstick until I found MAC’s Ruby Woo.  It’s literally the most perfect red for an Asian skin tone. I give it a 5/5 even though this isn’t a beauty review.  It had rained the night before so I thought this would be the perfect time to wear my favorite red Madewell scarf with some red lipstick.  Boy was I wrong … it was sunny without a cloud in the sky so I had to ditch the scarf halfway through because I was sweating like crazy!

Chambrays.are.the.BEST.period.  They’re the best neutral color to throw on and add some accessories to (besides my favorite black of course!).  When I was dating a guy once, I was meeting up with him for dinner and as he walked through the door he was wearing HEAD TO TOE DENIM.  I almost died.  Okay, maybe it wasn’t ALL denim but he was wearing jeans and a jean jacket.  It was not a good look.  So when I thought that I was going to wear basically all denim (to those who think chambray IS denim), I just had the words “Canadian Tuxedo” in my head.  haha

Outfit details:  Shirt: J. Crew | Jeans: Rag&Bone | Handbag: Rebecca Minkoff | Boots: Sam Edelman | Sunglasses: Ray-Ban | Watch: Michael Kors | Bracelet: David Yurman | Lipstick: MAC