Life Update #4 . Life in Instagram Pictures

Sorry I've been away for so long! It was FINALS week, and it's been a stressful and tough month but it's all over now and in celebration, I thought I'd give you a little update on what's been going on. Also, wanted to give you a little heads-up on what to expect on my blog from now 'till the end of the year. Can you even believe it's almost the end of the year?! Yikes.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you some bits of my life. First, it's been 95% of this no doubt:

Of course, I made sure to put on a lovely candle by Diptyque so that I can ease into studying. I took the "study 'till I die" method the last year and came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to study that way. That's why I gave myself more pamper time and relaxing time than before. By pampering, I also mean eating delicious things like:

A delicious well-brewed vanilla cappuccino is an instant wake-me-up! It's my favorite drink, and I get my little heart-drawn coffees from either Starbucks or SweetLeaf :)

And, of course the sweeties that bring a source of jolliness into life. These brownies and blondies are SO GOOD. They are from a company called "Fat Witch", and I highly recommend y'all try it out! I am a brownie mania, and so when I see a company get it right, it makes me happy! I recommend the original Fat Witch Brownie. It always seems to be sold out when I try to get them... That's the only downfall.

 And yes. Eggs Benedict. Delish, delisssh, delicious! Just look at it, won't you? I recommend the one at Cafe Henri for one of the bests I've tried :)

And before I knew it, it was Christmas season. I still haven't got a proper tree up in the living room, but I did put one up in my study room. It's small, and I can't find any fairy lights! Grr. So, it's just there with its bobbles and not much glamor to it, but it'll have to do for now. You can read my blog post from last Christmas season and the tree I decorated here. I also had to take a picture of these alleys/streets that sell freshly cut fraser firs! Goodness, how christmasy they made me feel :)

Oh, and never forget candles for the holiday! Candles are just 100x better in the winter, and 10000x better during the holidays. I've been liking the sweet and cozy kinds, like Bath & Body Works' "Marshmallow Fireside" and their "Winter" scents.

And because I'm a beauty girl, and I love makeup so much, I did make some recent purchases that I'm excited to blog about. Also, if you didn't know, I'm a huge Catbird fan and recently they had a crazy 4-hour flash sale of one of their new ring: Black Onyx Teardrop Ring. 50% off. That's just crazy, and of course I bought and by far, it's actually my favorite ring from all the gzillion rings I've acquired over the past few years. I love it THAT much.

And, yes. I did jump in the crazy for the Naked 3 palette by Urban Decay. They just go home run on these palettes, don't they?

So, that's pretty much my life update. You can follow me on Instagram username: EtherealEllie. I love the feedback I get on Instagram :) Here's me dwindling in peace after the finals were over! #PEACE

And for further exciting news I want to share! *drum roll**********

I am leaving for Europe tomorrow! I am planning to go to London and Paris for two weeks, and I just can't wait. I've been counting down the days, minutes, and seconds for this very day and I can't express just how happy I am to be going to the UK and France. I've been to both countries before, and did stay mainly around the cities, but I just never get tired of them. Nope! I'm also visiting Strasbourg for a day or two. *THRILLED*

I would love it if anyone had recommendations of places to go, things to eat, and whatever! I'm all open to recommendations :) I've been stalking my favorite UK bloggers for places to go eat and visit. If any of my followers are from UK or France, let me know! And I will definitely be picking up GOODIES (as in BEAUTY PRODUCTS) while my stay there. I'm going to try to blog every moment I have in Europe. Look out for nice pictures (and VIDEOS on Youtube) *hopefully*!

Leave a Comment bathandbodyworks, candles, catbird, catbirdnyc, christmas, coffee, england, food, france, holiday, life update, lifestyle, Naked, naked 3, travel, Urban Decay

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NYE NOTD! #GOBSMACKED

Happy NYE everyone! I don't know what part of the world you're all in, but here in NY we still have four hours left before the clock strikes 12 midnight and the year goes from 2012 to 2013. Crazy crazy. Anyway, I wanted something special and sparkly for NYE and I choose "Gobsmacked" from Butter London. It's a really dark gray with small glitters. It was actually quite hard to apply but once I applied about 3 coats, I used the Sally Hansen Insta-dry Top Coat and voila, beautiful!

I hope you all have a GOBSMACKED NYE and an equally and even better 2013! Happy New Years :)

Leave a Comment butter, butter london, gobsmacked, holiday, lifestyle, new years, NOTD, sally hansen

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Argan Oil... LOVE

It's a day before New Year's Eve, two days before 2013. Crazy huh? The way life speeds by you even before you know it. Time is crazy and sometimes we'll want our youth back and all the missed moments and chances, but unfortunately, they won't come back. But what will is a future and more opportunities for a better life. Whatever 2012 has been for all of you out there, remember never to give up and to always believe that everything we've lived through has been to make a better tomorrow!

Whew. Very irrelevant to a beauty blogpost huh? Though unrelated, I cannot pass a chance to mention that undeniable coming of the future. So, I'll stop right here and proceed to introduce to you all (the last review blogpost for 2012) about my love for ARGAN OIL.

I received this mini/travel size Argan oil from NuMe in the November Glossybox. I'm not too keen on hair products but I thought I'd give this a try after a trip to the hair salon and hearing a whole lecture about how important it is to keep my roots healthy, etc., Just as a brief, let me tell you shortly about my haircare. I get my hair chemically straighten about twice a year. It's called a Magic Straight Perm, or some people know it as Japanese Straight Perm. It's about $150-250 depending on where you go and how long your hair is. I've been getting my hair straighten since 7th grade... let's just say more than ten years ago.

Magic Perms are amazing. I have a slightly frizzy curly hair (un-Asian of me, I know). It completely straightens your hair and leaves them looking unbelievable glossy. You can't wash your hair for about 60 hours after the perm. You can't tie your hair back or put your hair behind your ears. This is because it will leave a dent during those two-three days you don't wash your hair. After you wash your hair, I try to be safe and not tie my hair for about a week. Usually though, after 3 days, you're free to do whatever! (You can see a picture of my straightened hair in this post.)

You never have to iron your hair straight or do anything to get them silky straight. They'll always be that way! Wow right? But then here's the downfall. Because it is a really powerful chemical, it leaves your hair pretty damaged. It may not be visible at first sight, but where your hair is finer than other places, you'll see that your hair is damaged and burnt. It also may leave your hair brittle and weak, although it's not visible to anybody on the street.

The hair salon always tells you to give it a lot of treatment at home, condition it, etc., So, I make sure to do that. Thankfully though, I don't have too much trouble with all that. But, it doesn't hurt to get a little boost you know?

This ARGAN OIL is something I've never even heard of before. I've tried Moroccan oil before, and plenty other oils. I've found that Moroccan oil weighs down your hair so much! You always need to make sure that you don't put on too... much. Also, I don't have a problem with that, but my sister says that it makes her break out where the oiled hair touches her skin. That doesn't sound too pleasing. Though silky and glossy your hair becomes, I've always found that the oil sits on the hair rather than enriching the texture of the hair itself.

Now, this babe here is quite unlike that! I use A LOT and rub it from roots and with the reminder, move up and spread it throughout my hair. I like to apply it when it's still wet. And... oh my gosh. All the tangles are GONE and it leaves your hair feeling so soft and silky, glossy throughout the day! What I love is that though it is an oil, it does NOT leave the hair weighed down at all! I have an oily scalp, and this oil doesn't add any problem to my scalp or hair texture at all.

My roots become healthier and my hair overall looks so much healthier, let alone looking great! :) I've used this oil nonstop the last two months and I still have about half left. I'm definitely going to buy the full size. I've been so pleased with argan oil that I've bought my friend some from Josie Maran to try.

If you're looking for a great hair product, do go out and try this! I couldn't say enough good things about this :)

Leave a Comment argan oil, Glossybox, hair, hair oil, haircare, holiday, magic perm, magic straightening, NuMe, perm, straight hair

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Holiday Makeup!

I know I promised a holiday look, but I missed the chance to upload a LOTD post before Christmas. However, we still have New Years don't we? So, I brought in my friend this time to do a very amateurish makeup tutorial. She was brave enough to be in front of a camera with very minimal makeup in the beginning. I certainly couldn't brave that challenge! The tutorial isn't a real tutorial because I skipped a few steps. For example, there is no step for foundation, mascara, and blush.

The reason is because she came with a tinted moisturizer and a bit of blush on her cheeks. Although most of that was gone by the time we filmed this, you can see a bit of makeup still on her face. So, I didn't bother to start with a foundation. I started with the eyes using the Estee Lauder Bronze Sands Palette.  I wanted to make a shiny eye look for the holidays. I used the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in black on her waterline. Then I took a 219 MAC brush and smudged it all along the eyes, then winged it out slightly at the end. For the brows, I used the Perfekt Brow Perfection Gel to just give her already full brows a little bit more shape and definition!

Red Lip Look

Then I went to conceal areas she needed coverage with Stila Perfecting Concealer: under the eyes, forehead, chin, and around the nose. Her skin doesn't have spots or too many blemishes so this was a breeze! Then, it was time for the lips.

Nude Look

I used NARS Honolulu Honey for the first look. I fell in love with the color, seeing how well it worked on the skin and the color payoff! It was really creamy and the nude is just the perfect shade. Make sure, as I was telling my friend, you color in your lips all the way and a little bit out of the lip line. That's because people naturally have a darker lip line than the inside lip color. If you miss out covering that lipline with a nude, then it'll look like you have a dark lipliner on, and... it just wouldn't work!

Then I tried using the MAC Rebel lipstick for the second look. It is rather a dark red/plum. After applying a few coats, I thought she'd look better with a brighter red so I went for the NARS lipgloss in Mexican Rose. Mexican Rose is a beautiful red-pink shade that lasts... FOREVER. If you're looking for a long-lasting lipstick/gloss, this is the one. Anyway, it was just the color I was looking for!


Excuse the horrendous lighting in the room, and the unprofessional editing skills. Still, I hope this was something fun and new for my blog. Hope you enjoyed :)

Leave a Comment Asian, christmas, concealer, eyeliner, holiday, MAC, Nars, perfekt, stila, Urban Decay

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