My Top 10 Beauty Favorites of 2013!

Hello again dears,

I decided to just do a quick list of some of my beauty favorites. I've been using some these for over a year.

These are my top 10 but their numerical order has no significance:

 

1. It's a 10 - This is a 10-in-1 hair product that is basically a leave-in conditioner. I love this product because it acts as both a conditioner and heat protector, as I use it before blow-drying. It's a little expensive, I believe I paid about $20 when I bought it from a salon.

2. Suave Moroccan oil - Even though this was only about $4, I really love this product. It is perfect for smoothing out frizz, smells lovely, and absorbs fast! I usually use this one after I've blow-dried, and I will concentrate it on my ends to prevent splitting, and mid-shaft. The remainder that stays on my hands, I just rub in until my skin has absorbed it, works nicely as a hand moisturizer!

3. Purpose face cleanser - This is a hypoallergenic product I've been using for years, for my skin allergies. It foams up very well, leaves no scent or residue, It's about $7.

 

4,5&6. Shea Moisture- Although these are three products, I'm just going to comment that overall, this line is awesome. It's paraben free, smells lovely, and moisturizes great! However, I have found that the Bubble Bath&Body wash olive &green tea (the green one) moisturizes much better than the Calming milk body wash. The body butter lotion in the center smells so nice and keeps you moisturized all day long!

 

 7. Alba Botanica Hawaiian Oil Free Moisturizer -  This is my favorite find of the year. I came accross this while searching hypoallergenic face creams online. Previously I used the Purpose moisturizer but I was getting tired of the consistency and smell (SPF smell) that it has. I found this product at Ulta for about $18 but it does sell at Target too, for $21. I have been using it all year, twice a day, and it's still not empty!

It is a very light, milky cream that absorbs quickly and makes you feel refreshed!

 

8. Lioele Dollish Vel Vita BB Creme - I bought this to try it out, it was on sale and I've never used a Korean BB creme before. I love this product, it is so light but provides coverage ALL day long! It comes out light green but the particles match your skin right away once you distribute it over your face. I love that it does come in the green tint because it helps cancel out my natural redness.

 

9. Urban Decay Naked 2 - I use this palette whenever I do my makeup, the shades are so well pigmented and they stay put all day. They're also really versatile, you can do a lot of different looks with it! I just hope that when the Naked 4 comes out, if it ever does, that it contains one near-white shade. The light shades in this palette just blend in with my skin, and don't show at all since I'm quite pale.

 

10. Last but not least - Revlon Precision Lash Adhesive. This one was about $5, I bought it because it had great reviews and was latex free. I previously used a brush on Ardell glue but it was total crap, This one goes on white, then turns blue and then clear, you don't have to wait long, in fact I blew on it once and applied the lash right away and that was all it took. It held the lashes on just fine, all day long!

And that's it, these are my top 10, hope you enjoyed and maybe found some new products you'd like to try out!

♥

Woodfield Mall Spoils!

Hi Dudes and Dollies!

Today my honey and I went to Woodfiedl Mall in Shaumburg because a trip to the Sanrio store was long overdue, and I wanted to stop by the A&F store!

Here are my spoils!

 

At A&F there was a 50% off sale, and although I've never bought anything from the store before, I thought I'd grab one of the soft sherpa hoodies as they were now $50 instead $100. Besides that, I got a pair of cozy sweatpants and a thick long sleeved shirt. Sure, you could get some of these things at Aeropostale for much cheaper, but I haven't seen this quality of shirt and sweaters there, so IMO it was worth it.

 

At my favorite Woodfield store, Sanrio, I picked up these adorable notepads (die cut, 3 different style sheets in each pad) and on the right there is a very small alarm clock! It's a real alarm clock! It was way too adorable to pass up. They had some really cute gift sets too.

My favorite character is My Melody ^__^

Last but not least we stopped at Forever Yogurt for some dessert! It was really hot in the mall (as usual) so this was a delicious cool down.

Should you need to do last minute holiday shopping (which apparently everyone except us was doing) I'd recommend you to go in the evening, about 7ish or later (they're open til midnight for the holidays!) because when we got there, about 4:30ish, it was awfully crowded in the parking lot. It was absolutely ridiculous.

Inside it was quite packed and everyone had to bring their 10 babies of course....thankfully they were mostly at the stores with the cheaper stuff so we didn't have to wait in any huge lines.

Anyway, that's all for now; in my next post I'll be going over my favorite beauty products of 2013!

Ciao♥

Nexus 5 Update and LG Optimus F6 mini review!

Hey everyone!

It was quite early for me to have reviewed the Nexus 5 so here's a bit of a follow up~
First of all, I love the battery life on this phone. My battery is currently at 30%, it is currently 8:45pm, and I unplugged it from being fully charged at about 9:30am. So that's pretty good, and I do use it often throughout the day (more like I use it all day, lol).

I also really do like the camera because it produced colors true to real life. The images are clear too, and there is no lag time regarding the camera app at all.

The biggest winner for me though, is the processor. This phone is FAST! it is absolutely perfect for a multitasker like myself.

I repeat, though, this phone requires a microSIM card. However, T-mobile can actually cut your standard SIM for you...which I didn't even know so I ended up paying for a new SIM that I didn't need, blah.

So if you are looking for a phone with fast processing and good battery life, I would really recommend this one. It is a bit expensive but consider that it is in fact cheaper than the new iPhones and it is cheaper than the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One.

I mentioned in my previous post that the service sucks with LTE on, but it turns out it's because voice is on the LTE wavelength too, so depending on your location in the house and distance from a tower.....service signal may suck. However, it seems the LG Optimus F6 does NOT have this issue.

Today my dad bought the LG Optimus F6 at the T-Mobile store. Last night it was priced at $268 but today it is $288. It's as if they knew we wanted to purchase it!
Either way that it not too bad a price, but remember that the Nexus 4, which is much more superior in nearly every aspect except battery life and screen glass, was sold for only $199 at the 16gb storage capacity.
However, as you all know this phone sold out fast and buying off Ebay is not something we wanted to do since returns may be impossible or a hassle.

That being said, I did not get to play around with it too much but here's my first impression of this LG device.

The battery is wonderful, it is superior to the Nexus 5. The device seems to have no lag, and even thought the processor is only 1.2 Ghz, it's actually alright. I think the biggest issue, so to speak, is that it has a very mediocre camera. It's indoor photos, even under daylight bulbs, are fuzzy. It's ok for taking facebook photos or something like that though. But even my HTC Sensation's camera was better.

However, UNLIKE THE NEXUS 5, the Optimus F6 camera has the full settings options. First of all, the Nexus 5 stock camera app has no setting for changing the ISO or turning off the shutter sound. Seriously.

What I like about the Optimus F6 is that it is super custimizable. You can edit all the shortcuts on the pull down menu, obviously on your home screens, and you can also edit the camera settings shown on screen.
This is a huge plus because with the Nexus, you have to go into the settings to switch to front-facing camera, or to a sub settings menu to change exposure, etc. It's a lot easier to work with the Optimus.

If you are looking for a phone to use mainly for internetting and texting/talking, I think this phone is excellent. It's thin, it's light, and has many customization options. I'd say the biggest plus for this phone is its battery.

It came out to over $300 with the tax, though, so it is a bit pricey. However, like I said, if you need a phone that lasts long and has good in-call sound, and if you don't intend to bulk it up with silly apps, this is a good phone for you!

I'd also like to put in a note for you Blackberry users who wish to switch to Android, if you are on the T-Mobile network, you must call them to have your data switched to "Android data". Blackberry phones get their own Blackberry data plan, and your data will NOT work (you'll keep getting redirected to Web2Go) until you have them manually switch it to Android Data. This will not change your rate unless you agree to it, and will not change your data cap unless you agree to it. It cannot be done by changing device settings. The reps cannot do it for you unless you already have the same cap/rate plan that is currently available for purchase, or unless you wish to upgrade to a different data plan. They will submit it for review and tell you it can take up to 72 hours for them to text you back with an update. I called around 1:30pm on Sunday, and they already had it fixed about 9am today.

Hope that helped and good luck with your new-phone search!♥

Dun dun dundUUUUUN!! THE NEXUS 5 IS HERE!!!

Hello dolls and derps!

Today I'd like to share my excitement with you over the super new Nexus 5!!
No, I am not going to post any photos or videos as I intended to because there are many, very good reviews and unboxing vids up on YouTube, in HD, that you can take a look at (in your free time, most are 10mins+!).

I'd just like to make a few key points that I have noticed thus far, you may or may not like these features.

• No Navigation app. Maps is the new version and NO you CANNOT install 6.14 without rooting/toolkit. (There is one readily available right here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2525026). I recommend the Waze app, it's super cute and has so many settings--next best thing to 6.14 maps. (Thanks to my boo for installing the app for me!)
• No zoom on wallpaper. On my previous phone I did have a custom rom but it was ICS based, and you know how it lets you position over any image, zoom in or out, to how you want the wallpaper to fit? NOT HERE. You can choose what part of the wallpaper you want, but you cannot crop it or zoom.
• No messaging app. The default SMS app is Hangouts.
• Notification light color can be changed! I don't think there is an option to do so in the phone settings, but if you download GO SMS Pro, you can set a color for individuals or as default, AND adjust the blink rate! The Nexus 5 is not the only phone with this feature, but it's pretty cool!
• Camera settings take more taps to reach. If you're like me and like to easily switch between front camera and back camera, or to quickly change exposure/white balance, then you will find the camera app slightly annoying. You have to go into settings to change from front to back, etc. Furthermore, whatever camera you left it on last is the camera that will activate when you open the app again.
• Pretty decent sound! I am satisfied with both the speaker and the handset sound. Both are crisp and clear. However, you will find, as with most speakers, that if you listen to music witht he volume ALL the way up on speaker, it will sound a bit distorted.
• Battery life. The battery is quite an upgrade from my previous phone (HTC Sensation 4G). I did not have to charge it even once at work.It charges pretty quickly! 
• Home screens. Can be added only by long pressing apps from your app drawer and dragging them to the screen all the way to the right that is partially showing.
• "OK Google!" is probably one of my favorite features--it's actually not a new feature, HTC phones have had it before, just simple voice commands, but Google Now looks so much cooler AND it talks back to you!
• Service issues. Now this may just be because my carrier is T-Mobile, but if yours is too, keep in mind the following:
  I always have at least 3 bars in my room. Since I got this phone I have 1-2 bars if the WiFi is on, and LTE is on. If I turn off both LTE and WiFi I will have 3-4 bars and 3G/3G+. The LTE is pretty fast but I didn't have time to run a speed test because I hit my data cap for the month.
• MicroSIM. If you have T-Mobile and have a regular SIM card, you can toss it right out and go buy a MicroSIM because that's the only thing that'll fit! On the website it costs $10 but in store it costs $20 + a free pair of Skullcandy earphones in a color of your choice (of course, I got pink!).
• Great for multitasking! As someone who switches from the internet browser to SMS to camera, or anything else quite frequently, it was pretty frustrating with my Sensation because of the constant lag and crashing. So far, the Nexus 5 is FAST and runs very smoothly.
• Display. The screen is very sharp and vibrant, it is 1080p! All colors and text are sharp and vibrant, and admittedly it is easier for me to see/more relaxing on my eyes (I wear glasses).

Overall, I am quite pleased with the phone, I ordered it off the Google Play Store last Saturday and received it the day before yesterday. For anyone curious, YES, you must pay tax when you buy from Google! My total with tax and 1-day shipping was $456. Tax was almost 10%, and next day shipping was $19. The phone is selling for $450+tax at T-Mobile so....you might as well just buy it online.

So I've only had a chance to play with the phone for a couple of days and perhaps this post is a bit too soon, but I thought I'd give you guys a heads-up to some of the pros and cons I've experienced. If you'd like a full, hands-on review, definitely search on YouTube, there are even reviews on the camera quality. It's not the best camera but it is much better than my Sensation's. Way better. Pictues are crisp and clear and the white balance sensor is very good too.

Anyway that's all for now! If you have any questions feel free to comment or send me a message!

Cheers~