Reviews and Other Stuff

FabFitFun Autumn + Winter 2020 Hits & Misses

December 28, 2020 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello! Here’s a long overdue post that I was going to share a couple of months ago, but for some reason, I forgot to talk about these interesting boxes from FabFitFun. My Autumn box had been sitting for a while, and my Winter box arrived late. Still, I’m very excited to show you what I got from the previous season’s box and this current season’s goodies.

Autumn 2020 Box – This box is really pretty, complete with maple leaf design and I like some of the contents.

Hit:

Foxybae Curling Wand – I like this classic curling wand. The color of the barrel is cute and it heats up quite well. However, you may need to wear gloves or be very careful in using this, so as to avoid burns.
Volition Beauty Celery Green Cream – This clean gel-like lightweight facial moisturizer is a perfect daily cream for those with oily skin. I like the fresh green scent a lot.
Masontops Glass Water Bottle with Neoprene in Turquoise – I’m all for glass water bottles like this one. It’s so easy to clean and it’s large enough to store water for working out.
The Beauty Crop Glow Milk in Blind Date – I didn’t expect much from this highlighter. I thought the color would be a lot darker on me, but I was surprised at how creamy and how good the product felt on my skin. This highlighter blends well and doesn’t change the complexion. The glow is subtle yet very natural and very pretty.

Miss:

Stone Candles Room Spray in Santal Noir – I’m not quite satisfied with this room spray. It’s supposed to be a santal scent, but it doesn’t register much. Sleek packaging though.
NCLA So Rich Cuticle Oil – I like the spice and pine scent, but it feels like any other cuticle oils out there.
Voesh New York Pedicure in a Box Duo – If you have time for a complete foot spa, then you’re going to love this step-by-step foot scrub, soak, mask, and foot moisturizer. The box can provide two sessions of relaxing foot spa experience. However, the 4-step process seems a little tedious for me.
Jenny Bird Leana Pendant – nice design but the quality doesn’t look good once you look closely.

Winter 2020 – This box took a long time to ship and also took forever to arrive. I was really surprised at how the box looks. It’s nothing like the other FFF boxes I’ve received before. This Winter’s box looks so different and ordinary. Also, the products are not as interesting as in the previous boxes.

Hit:

Summer & Rose Cozy Robe – This robe is probably my most favorite item from this box. The fabric feels very cozy, very soft, and very warm, and has a hoodie attached. I’ve been using this robe a lot lately as I do my daily reads.
Lily Pulitzer Ceramic Mugs – This set of two very cute coastal mugs are my faves from this box as well. I love how colorful the design is, and I look forward to my morning hot chocolates because of these mugs.
Brandt POREDERMABRASION – This product allows you to do light microexfoliation on a daily basis. It’s not harsh on the skin and it takes off dead skin cells gently.
Beautaniq Guardian Angel Revitalising Eye Gels – These cute gel masks are perfect for overnight undereye hydration. I haven’t seen any results from these, but at least my undereyes don’t look like the Sahara desert, lol.
Voir Haircare Rhythm of the Rain Hair Masque & Scalp Detox – A watermelon-scented balmy hair mask that is perfect for those with Winter-dry strands. I love this a lot and I will use this regularly.

Miss:

B-Low The Belt Croc Card Case – I don’t like this at all. The quality doesn’t look good. There are better card cases out there.
Kind Thins Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt Bar – This tastes ok. I don’t know why this was in my box though, I could have just purchased this at my local grocery store.
Daily Concept Daily Facial Dry Brush – I don’t think I’ll be brushing my face with this, but I’ve been using this for my nails, and my nails look well-buffed.
Aesthetica Liquid Eyeliner – Such a stiff and easy to erase eyeliner.

Those are goodies I got from last season and this season’s FabFitFun box. Overall, I have mixed feelings about them. I like some of the stuff, but I’m not quite crazy about the rest. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth continuing my subscription to this box or not. Perhaps I will, or perhaps I will not. We’ll see.

Have you received your FFF box already? How did you feel about the products? PM me.

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How To Make Christmas Tree Cupcakes

December 25, 2020 / FOOD STUFF / 0 comments

Merry snowy Christmas everybody! It’s gloomy, cold, and frosty where I am, but the spirit of Christmas is alive despite what’s going on with the world right now. I hope you’re all having a good time with your loved ones and are staying well this holiday season. As for me, I’m taking some time to rest and chill. I’ve been doing some cooking and baking lately and, in this post, I’m showing you how I made my own version of Christmas tree cupcakes.

You can call this a lazy guide Christmas cupcake recipe because this is quick, delicious, and practical to make. You can even substitute the cupcake for a brownie or muffin mix. Excited to know how? Keep on reading.

INGREDIENTS

Philadelphia whipping cream cheese (3 x 8 oz tub)
Cupcake/muffin/brownie mix (1 box. I like the Ghirardelli ones)
Confectioner’s sugar
Granulated sugar
Gel food coloring in green

MATERIALS

Mixing bowls
Cupcake/muffin liners
Whisk or electric handheld mixer
Non-stick muffin pan
Ice cream sugar cones
Butter knife
Icing tips (round and star-shaped tips)
Pastry bag
Strainer (optional)

PROCEDURE

Cupcake/Muffin/Brownie

Line muffin pan with cupcake/muffin liners. Prepare the mixture by following the box’s instructions for baking preparation and overall baking time. Once done, let the pastries cool down. Set-aside.

FROSTINGS

Green

In a mixing bowl, mix two 8 oz tubs of Philadelphia whipping cream cheese along with 2/4 cups of granulated sugar. Add green food color. Make it dark, like the color of pine trees. Set aside 1/3 of it in a separate bowl (to be used later to cover the sugar cones). Place the rest inside a pastry bag with the star-shaped icing tip

Plain

In another mixing bowl, mix one 8 oz tub of Philadelphia whipping cream cheese along with 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Do not add any food color. Place this inside a pastry bag with the round icing tip.

Christmas Tree

Cover one sugar cone with green cream cheese mixture using a butter knife.

Pipe in a circular motion the plain frosting around the top portion of the cupcake/muffin. This will be the base of the Christmas tree.

Place the green sugar cone on top of the plain frosting.

With the green frosting, start piping to simulate the pine leaves all over the sugar cone. (This is the most tedious part, but well worth it).

With a small strainer or by using your fingers, throw in some confectioner’s sugar, to simulate the look of snow on pine trees. 

Easy peasy! This recipe can create 4-5 Christmas cupcakes which are so fun to do with your families. The finished product is so cute that you will not want to eat them. Also, your fingers will turn green either while making them or by eating them (you’ve been warned, lol).

Have a very Merry Christmas everybody!

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Chanel Rouge Allure Ink + Rouge Allure Ink Fusion Favorite Shades

December 14, 2020 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hi all! Here’s a post I’ve been meaning to share months ago, but, I was so busy that I forgot about sharing them. Now that I have some time, I’m sharing with you my favorite shades of the Chanel Rouge Allure Ink lip color line.

I love these lipsticks so much and I use them a lot, especially Pre-Covid. Chanel, initially had the Rouge Allure Ink line only, which is their version of matte lipstick. However, some of the shades had questionable formulations due to being quite streaky upon application. I never really actually experienced that and had been very happy with the line. Last year, I was in Singapore and I found myself wandering at a Chanel beauty counter. I saw that they launched an improved version of the Rouge Allure Ink line, which is called Rouge Allure Ink Fusion. I was so excited because the formula is exactly what I wanted in a matte lip color – lightweight, pigmented, non-sticky, no strong scent, and totally wearable.

Curious to see what my favorites shades are from these Chanel matte liquid lipstick lines?

Read below.

Rouge Allure Ink: Creamy, velvety, and with a flat brush applicator

154 Expérimenté – deep brick red
224 Harmonie – medium mauve, my favorite shade
150 Luxuriant – deep red-orange coral

Rouge Allure Ink Fusion: Similar formula to Nars’ Powermatte which is very fluid. Sets easily, very lightweight, doesn’t try the lips. Applicator is somewhat pointy.

804 Mauvy Nude – nude mauve, works well for any skin tone. I wear this a lot.
806 Pink Brown – muted pinkish/rosy brown. This shade is so beautiful and one of my favorites as well.

Other shades not mentioned here is the beautiful Rouge Allure Ink Fall-Winter shade, called Melancholia (swatched HERE) and Ambiguïté (released this year), which is a brownish-red tone.

The Chanel Rouge Allure Ink, especially the Rouge Allure Ink Fusion, are refinements of what used to be the matte liquid lipsticks we’ve known (drying, sticky, uncomfortable). These are my top favorites when it comes to matte liquid lipsticks because these are truly reliable and will make you look fabulous on any occasion.

Are you a big fan of these too?

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