*REVIEW* Innisfree skinny microcara

Previously, I have posted a post on using inter dental wand to apply mascara on the lower lashes due to the pricy lower lash mascara. But recently I have discovered the Innisfree skinny microcara. The wand it self if 2.5 mm wide, a fantastic wand if you have minimal lashes.

During the summer of 2014 I have asked my parents to pick up one for me when they were in Hong Kong.

Here are my thoughts...

Price:

$85HKD, which is about $12-$15CAD

Colour Selection:

It comes in 2 colour black and brown.

Waterproof:

The one I got was not waterproof, but they do have a waterproof version that I've yet to try

Pros:

• Super tiny wand, 2.5mm
• able to coat hard to reach lashes
• lengthen lashes

Cons:

• A bit of fall out
• Does not provide much volume, though it does not claim to do that.

Will I purchase this again?

Probably not this version since the fall out wasn't pretty, but I am hoping the waterproof version of this mascara will do the trick

Cream soup UDON - super fast and delicious meal

I have always used cream soup as a sauce for pasta, but that kind of got boring. Recently my friends suggested that I mix the cream soup with UDON! I've tried it and it was delicious!

This is a super simple recipe for a delicious dinner/lunch for 4. You can change up the ingredients you add to this dish all you want, so be creative :)

All you will need is:

1. A can of cream of broccoli/mushroom (you can substitute with any cream soup you like)
   
   
2. 4 Korean/Japanese udon. Note that Korean/Japanese udon have more of a chewy texture. You can find these in the frozen section of an Asian super market
   
   
3. 3/4 can of milk/cream/water (use the can from the cream soup to help you measure)
4. 1 can of tuna (optional). You can substitute with anything you like :)

Instructions:

1. Cook the 4 udons in boiling water. Let the water simmer for a few minutes until the udons softens.
2. Drain the udons and set aside (you may want to keep it in a bit of hot/warm water as it can become a bit starchy and sticky)
3. In a separate pot, pour in your can of cream soup and add the milk/cream/water. If the additional ingredient(s) that you want to add requires cooking then you may add it to the soup to let it cook, or you can cook it on the side as you prefer. Stir occasionally.
4. Prepare the udons on separate plates, and pour the hot steaming soup on top of each dish. Mix and serve

*REVIEW* Etude House Dear Darling Tint

Lip tints are my favourite. They give your lips a natural tint of colour without looking like you've tried. I have always been using the Benefit Lip Tint (I own the bene-tint, posie-tint and chacha-tint; cha cha-tint is my favourite), but they could be quite expensive $36 CAD per bottle at Sephora.

Korean cosmetic has a wide variety and brands of lip tints, and they are also A LOT cheaper than benefit. One brand I decided to try out is Etude House, I've bought 2 shade of their Dear Darling Tint:

#1 Berry Red - $3.78 USD

#2 Real Red - $3.78 USD

I love the colours, but I had a tough time getting the product to tint my entire lip evenly. For some reason there are certain part of my lips that doesn't get tinted at all no matter the amount I've applied. For example the majority of my upper lip doesn't get tinted at all, except for the inner part. In the end I could only use this product for a gradient lip look with a concealer to blur out the lines.

Texture:

Jelly like texture with a doe foot applicator

Hydration:

Not drying (I did use a lip balm as a base)

Tinting power:

Beautiful colour, but my lips wouldn't tint evenly - not sure if this is only my issue

Staying power:

I expected to have a strong staying power, but I did have to reapply after eating and drinking, and the colours do fade with time.

You can pick up this tint here at www.ibuybeauti.com

Top 1 Seafood Restaurant

Top 1 is a Chinese restaurant that specializes in seafood. It is located at 165 East Beaver Creek Rd , Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada in a very ghetto plaza. I have been to the restaurant twice already and the food is so freak-en delicious! The first time, I went with a group of 6 and we got a combo intended for 6 people, there was so much food that we had to pack to full boxes. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to take picture that time.

The most memorable food was the deep fried oyster in sweet pepper sauce, deep fried fish fillet in the sweet pepper sauce, 'May Geck' stir fried lobster, and the pickled veggie with fish in broth.

There sweet pepper sauce is so delicious, it really goes well with everything fried. It sweet like honey with a nice kick of black pepper. The black pepper isn't over powering or spicy :).

The second time I went, I remembered to take some photo, my family and I ordered a combo for 4, see pictures and description below.

The combo starts with a pumpkin, corn and snow pea tip soup. The colour of this soup is so beautiful and the snow pea tip are not over cooked. I nice healthy way to start the meal. This soup is truly delicious

Next up, came the fried fish fillet with the sweet peppery sauce. Did I mention how delicious this dish is. OMG I can't even explain how good this sweet peppery sauce is. The batter on the fish is light and crispy, the fish is not over cooked and not oily at all.

Next was one of their signature dishes 'drunken ribs' (sorry about the blurry picture, I just couldn't wait). I personally like the fried fish fillet in sweet peppery sauce more. This is sort of like sweet and sour pork, but it is not sour. Also it is pork ribs so there will be bones in this dish. I felt there was too much batter on the ribs, I didn't know if I was eating batter or meat.

Sake Stir Fried Lobster. At first glance I thought it was lobster in cream sauce (do to the colour of the sauce) which is kind of weird (you don't see cream sauce in Chinese restaurant much). Bur it wasn't cream, it was sake! The taste of the sake when very well with the lobster, it brought out the 'seafood' taste (not fishy taste). This dish is very rich and flavourful, it is best to taste a few bite as it can feel pretty heavy especially when you have so many food in front of you.

And finally we have the veggie and mushroom stir-fried rice. The rice was nice and not oily. I just wished they would've served this earlier in the meal, and some of the previous dishes has some strong rich flavouring. Having the rice earlier on can help balance out those flavours.

Finally we end with a Mango milk pudding. A cute little dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth. This dessert is not overly sweet, the mango sauce at the top really does help refresh your taste bud after all those flavourful food.

Side note: I've been there for lunch as well. There wasn't anything special regarding their lunch menu (avg Chinese food). This is definitely one of those restaurant that you go for dinner and order big seafood combos.

How I highlight my aegyo sal using the Etude House Play 101 in #5

This past Christmas I've discovered a new product for highlighting my aegyo sal (inner corner, lower eye lid). The Etude House Play101 Pencil in #5

The Etude House Play101 pencil comes in 50 different shade and finishes. It is a multi purpose make-up product. You can use it as a shadow, liner, lipstick, blush, concealer and much more.

I've recently discover #5 a light beige colour with a glitter finish.  I simply put this product on my inner corner, and my eyes are instantly brighter. It is fast and convenient .

From the picture below you can see how beautiful and subtle the play101 in #5 is. I've used it on my lower lid focusing on my inner corner. When this product catches the light, it is soooo beautiful

Price:

$6 USD - which is a steal for such a beautiful product

Long Lasting:

I wear this product at least 8 hrs a day and it does not fade. Note* I only use this on my inner corner

Packaging:

This is a twist up liner. There is a built in sharpener at the end so you can sharpen the tip for a precise line.

You can purchase this product on www.ibuybeauti.com or by clicking here

Picture credit goes to www.ibuybeauti.com

Sense Modern Japanese Restaurant

Sense is a Modern Japanese Restaurant in the First Markham Place plaza. Food ranges from kushiyaki, pasta to ramen. I like to think of it as a fusion restaurant that includes a bit of western cooking style into Japanese cuisine.

My friends and I have ordered a few item off their dinner menu,

Wasabi Tako - $4 CAD

This is chopped octopus with wasabi and seaweed (served raw). You scope a few spoons of the wasabi tako onto the sheet of seaweed and wrap it up. The initial/top texture is a bit slimy but when you bite into the octopus it is actually crispy/crunchy. The Wasabi flavour covers any fishy taste and gives it a nice kick. - Definitely will order again, a relatively large portion for the price.

Grilled marinated pork belly skewer -$3CAD

The grill pork belly was delicious! Even thought it is pork belly it didn't feel too fatty or oily at all. I think the way they grill the pork belly melted and drained all the fat away

48 hour sous vide beef ribs - $23CAD

This is one of the signature dishes at the restaurant, it is cooked for 48hours. The texture of the beef is like Chinese braised beef brisket, but the flavour is similar to a beef jerky. This wasn't one of my favourite dish, but I don't hate it.

Truffle crusted black cod on creamy leek puree and yuzu soya sauce - $17CAD

This dish was delicious, the cod was cooked just right and the truffle crust gave it amazing flavours. The down side of this dish was that the portion was very small. If you've only ordered this for dinner, then you probably would have to look for dessert later. I felt the dish was lacking some carbs, for example a side of mash potato would be nice.

Truffle tagliatelie - $19CAD

Pasta with a truffle cream sauce. I did not try this dish it looks delicious, but seem kind of expensive.

Pork broth ramen with pork belly and pouched egg - $11CAD

This was the most disappointing. The pork belly was cooked nicely but there was nothing special about the broth or the noodles.

You can find out more about the restaurant at http://senseizakaya.com/

*REVIEW* LUNA Water Essence FounPact

Back in late 2014 I was watching a YouTube video from get it beauty that featured the Luna Water Essence Foundpact and I immediately wanted to get it. It seem like a promising item that will hydrate your skin, provide spf coverage, anti-wrinkle, whitening, and provide a dewy Korean celebrity like look. You can checkout the get it beauty video below.

I immediately hopped on www.ibuybeauti.com to see if it is available and made a purchase. The cost of the product was $30 USD for the Luna water essence foundpact + refill. So basically you get 2 times the product because of the refill.

So here are my thoughts:

Hydrating:

Even thought one of the selling point of this product is that it contains 60% moisture essence my skin still felt kind of dry after a 8hrs day in the office. When first applied I did feel a cooling sensation and some moisturising essence (or you could say it felt a little wet), but that sensation quickly went away after an hour of application. Near the 1pm~2pm mark my skin started to feel a bit tight, and by the end of an 8hrs day I just wanted to go home to take off my makeup. A few factor that could contribute to this could be:

• Canada's winter is super dry
• I work in an office with heated/re-filtered air 8hrs a day 
• I have combination skin - oily on the tzone but dry and sensitive on the cheek

Luna has recently came out with an updated version Luna Water Essence FounPact EX with 70% Enriched essence

Coverage:

Coverage wise this product provides a light to medium coverage. It is certainly build-able, but if you have hyper-pigmentation like I do, then you will need to slap on some concealer

Colour Selection:

Colour selection wise, this product only comes in one shade *sad face*. I am a Nars - Fiji and a M.A.C. NC30 (NC30 is a bit dark on me) and the one and only colour this foundpact comes in is light on my skin. I would need to blend down my neck, otherwise I'll just have a white face.

The new/updated  Luna Water Essence FounPact EX  has 2 colour select Light Beige and Natural Beige. The Natural Beige is a new darker shade added.

SPF Coverage:

This product provides a SPF35 PA++

Sensitivity to the skin:

When my rosacea is flaring, I don't like to use this product, since something in it make my skin itch (I stick with my Nars sheer glow). But when my skin is happy, it does not hate this product.

Picture credit goes to www.ibuybeauti.com

*Coming Soon* FOOD

Coming Soon...