NYX Natural Eye Palette

 Hey guys! I picked up a NYX eye palette in 'Natural'. I actually have no eyeshadow palette in my makeup collection (like I said before, I hardly ever wear shadow). This was an impulsive buy because I was intrigued by the easily wearable colors and I tend to be attracted to NYX products.

As you can see, all the colors are matte, everyday colors except for the second from the left, which is a light golden shimmer.

The pigmentation of these shadows were slightly disappointing. I expected them to be softer and have more color payoff but most of them were pretty chalky, particularly the shimmery one. This is unfortunate since these shadows are really nice natural colors.

This palette is alright and I don't exactly regret the $8 I spent, but I'm sure there are better options for the same or less amount of money. 

Have you tried this palette? What are your thoughts? 

My Thoughts on "The Fault in Our Stars"

Nowadays, I'm not usually moved by films. I think I've gotten my fair share of movies that have moved me in some way and it gets increasingly difficult for the next film to beat the preceding one.

But you have got to be living under a rock if you have somehow evaded the ubiquitous buzz regarding "The Fault in Our Stars". I never read the renowned novel and had relatively low expectations except for the fact that I would cry my heart out after this. And I did.

This movie was a serious tearjerker. I have never bawled my eyes out as much as I did during this movie. Not from The Notebook, Titanic, Schindler's List, Forrest Gump, Up, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, etc. No. TFIOS was seriously the biggest bitch of bitches for my tear ducts. I hated it. No, what am I saying? I loved every second of this masterpiece.

This wasn't some cheesy, tragic, sugarcoated, unrealistic love story. It was raw and portrayed life and cancer in such an insightful, real way. Life is not some grandeur, YOLO adventure; sometimes, you're slapped with cancer and you cannot control your fate no matter how much you want to.

I fell in love with the love story between Gus and Hazel, portrayed excellently by Ansel Elgort Shailene Woodley, and the theme of TFIOS. As promised, I cried for the whole second half of the movie. The theater workers standing near the exit definitely got some entertainment watching all the audience members exit with smeared mascara, bloodshot, watery eyes.

This film was so artfully done and had a profound effect on me. I am beyond lucky to say I have never been directly touched by someone with cancer (although I've had distant family members succumb to the disease) but I know a majority of people have. This film was beautiful and tackled on the serious subject of the disease in such a different way. Sure, there was the typical melancholy tone but John Green and Josh Boone did it in such a light-hearted, unsentimental way, it ironically emphasized the gravity of cancer. TFIOS undoubtedly touched many hearts and has cracked my top 5 movies.

If you do watch this brilliant film, I highly suggest bringing tissues with you. There won't be a dry eye in the audience by the end of this tearjerker. 

“Men at sometime were masters of their fates. / The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings”

Okay? Okay.

NOTD: Sally Hansen Triple Shine in "Sparkling Water"

Hey guys! I feel like I have not posted a Nail of the Day in a very long time (then again, I was on a blogging hiatus for some time). I recently received this Sally Hansen Triple Shine polish in "Sparkling Water" as a gift. I never owned a polish from this line before and the bottle made the polish look like this enticing dark aqua blue with a sparkling sheen. It definitely looked like my cup of tea.

I ended up using my Ciaté nail polish in 'yule rules' on my ring finger just to add a subtle extra sparkle. 

I used two coats of "Sparkling Water".

The formula for this polish is quite thick, something I wasn't too used to after religiously using Essie nail polishes. It was still quite easy to work with and I liked the flattened brush. 

The polish thankfully didn't come off as some over the top, tacky, sparkling extravaganza. Although it does give off some reflective sheen, it is quite subtle, which is why I felt an accent nail would be okay. The beauty of this polish is not completely revealed until it is viewed under the sun. The beautiful aqua shimmer of the polish reminds me of some enchanting sea in some far away mystical land. It is stunning. Overall, I'm quite happy with this polish.

I apologize for the mediocre photos but I used my iTouch to take these photos because I was too lazy to take out my camera.

What's your favorite nail polish line?

May Favorites

*Drumroll please*. My first ever monthly 'favorites'! I do not know why it took me this long to actually compile a bunch of my favorite things of the month. I guess I felt that I did not discover anything new or important enough to share with the world. Luckily, I stumbled upon quite a few new and awesome things in the lovely month of May!

TV SHOW:
"The Office"

I'm really late on "The Office" train but every summer I choose a show to watch to pass time (more like waste time). "The Office" has always been a show I've wanted to watch and after watching a few episodes, I got hooked. My television addiction kicked in once again and I already flew through the first two seasons in just a few days. Every episode has me cracking up and the ingenuity of the writers never fail to impress me.

BEAUTY:
Maybelline's Falsies Big Eye Mascara

Photo courtesy here.

I picked up this mascara on a whim at Target and I do not regret it. It is now one of my favorite mascaras. It makes my lashes extremely long and holds my curl. I must concede that the lower lash wand doesn't seem to make that much of a difference and I don't really see the purpose of it but it is nevertheless a great mascara. I chose the waterproof version of this mascara and it doesn't smudge on my eyes at the end of the day. Yay.

*UPDATE*
I freaking love this mascara. I actually see more of an effect on my lower lashes now. It really does separate each individual lash and lengthens and volumizes like crazy. It holds my curl and I've never seen a greater effect from a mascara than this one. This has definitely cracked my top 5 mascaras. 

SNACK:
Green tea KitKats

Wait what? Say that again? Green tea kitkats? 

Though overpriced, green tea kitkats is basically what the name suggests. Kitkats with a green tea flavored chocolate coating. It has a stranger more powdery (?) texture than the normal kitkat. I absolutely adore this candy. Even if it does not seem that appealing to you, I highly recommend giving a chance to this interesting twist on the classic candy. I tend to find this in asian supermarkets; it can be quite pricey but this is something you have to try at least once in your life. 

What are your favorites of this month?

Maybelline 24 Hour Color Tattoo Eyeshadows

I went to Target ages ago and bought a few beauty products--namely eyeshadow. This was quite a change since I never ever wear eyeshadow but I decided to just go for it.

I purchased the Maybelline 24 Hour Color Tattoo eyeshadows in 'Bold Gold' and 'Bad to the Bronze'. I know this product was hyped up a year ago but it's never too late right?

I chose gel eyeshadow since I figured it'd be easier and quicker to apply with a swipe of a finger and it seemed like it would last long on my sweaty eyelids (gross).

Left: Bad to the Bronze; Right: Bold Gold

The pigmentation of these eyeshadows is amazing. One swipe of the finger gives you an opaque amount of color. The sheen of these two particular colors are also amazing. They offer a nice shimmer/shine yet straying from a tacky glittery shadow. Although I did not wear the shadow for 24 hours to verify if the product's name stands true, I did wear it for quite a bit, around ten hours, and the shadow seemed to have stay put. Application was simple; I just used my finger!

All in all, I would definitely recommend these. 

Have you tried the Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadows?

Mayday

May is upon us. May: the month of my day of birth, AP testing, and the end of another school year.

I rarely put my feelings out there on the Internet because I'm a private person and highly doubt that anybody in the world gives a crap what I have to think. However, I just felt like I needed to let this out so here it goes.

After conquering four AP tests this week and doing tragically on each of them, I'm officially burned out.

I really expected to feel better than I actually am. That's not to say I don't feel free because I do feel like I just unshackled four handcuffs that were locked so tightly on my wrists that they left marks that will remain there for the rest of my life.

But I do feel a slight regret (one of the worst feelings in the world) for not studying enough for the tests. I worked too hard this school year to get a poor score on these stinking exams because I was too lazy to pick up a prep book for any of the subjects. In my defense, I did try cramming chemistry two days before the exam but that was really it when it came to AP studying. In addition, I was juggling extracurriculars and prepping for the SAT simultaneously. It all just became too much but it's still no excuse and I have nobody to blame but myself. 

----

Then I started to deeply ponder about my future. 

I've always carved my own path since I was a little girl. I take pleasure in spontaneity but I can never leave my life unplanned. Things just don't pan out for me that way. I've always known what I'm going to do with my life, how many kids I'm going to have, and the plan B's for all of my plan A's. I don't like change because I don't adapt well to it. I'm afraid of change.

I always knew I would get into the medical field, whether that was influenced by my incessant devotion to "Grey's Anatomy" (though not so much this season) or my parents' careers in the healthcare field. Even if I did change from wanting to be a pediatrician, a surgeon, and an optometrist, I always thought healthcare was meant for me. 

Yet lately I've questioned everything I have ever planned for myself. While volunteering at a hospital, I met a doctor who told me that to become a doctor, I must feel like God is calling for me to do this. Do I really want to help others? Do I really have enough passion to drive me through eight years of expensive schooling (assuming I make it into medical school with the cutthroat programs) and another four years of a low-pay, workaholic lifestyle during residency? I'm not too sure anymore.

The image of my future has now shattered before me and I feel like my ten year-old self lost in a sea of strangers in some crowded marketplace in a foreign part of the world. I had painted my whole future for 17 years and now it's gone. 

I feel blind everyday as my dreams and ambition slowly slip away from me. I have no idea what I truly want to do in life. Some impractical part of me wants to lead a vagabond lifestyle or open up a bakery (I really do love baking although my most impressive concoctions have come from a box) while another part of me searches for a more practical career to pay the bills.

----

I know I'm being overly dramatic and absurd especially since I will probably be ten times worse emotionally in exactly a year from now, so close to graduation and embarking on the next chapter of my life. But these thoughts I have typed up for the world to see have failed to evade me and it was about time I let them out. 

I always felt old but after I turned 17, the gravity of how soon things are going to wind down just fell on me. My last year of high school is imminent (and those goddamn college applications) and in one year I'll be an adult, free from parental control and into the gloomy world of taxes, jury duty, and whatever the hell adults do. It's something I've dreaded for the past five years and I'm scared shitless.

Maybe I'm just crazy from this sleep-deprived month and beyond stressful week and tomorrow, I will wake up with my life together again. 

P.S. I applaud you if you made it through all that rambling. 

How I Met Your Mother Finale Reaction and RANT *SPOILERS*

All HIMYM fans have been waiting for this moment forever: the epic moment of how Ted met the mother.

Let's just say I have never been so emotionally distraught from a TV episode in my whole life (other than the Friends finale). I was first elated, then disappointed, then annoyed, and then outraged.

Now the amount of speculation that revolved around the finale has been apparent for a while, such as the whole mother-is-dead thing, which I totally bought and rightfully so when the finale revealed that the mother was indeed dead (hence, Ted's use of past tense in almost everything he says).

I would have assumed, however, that the writers would change it up to throw off fans from this theory. They didn't.

This was unfortunate since I was incredibly sad when they did show the mother got ill and died, confirming everyone's fears.

However, this did not even come close to what outraged me the most from the episode. 

Perhaps the biggest offense of the episode was the writers' decision to divorce Barney and Robin after three years of marriage. When they announced their divorce, I kept on hoping that this was all some sick joke and that they would end up together. There was no way, Barney and Robin, who I've shipped since the season they got together, who the writers have developed so much, would throw away their marriage like that. What the HIMYM writers spend a whole season on was thrown away within the first 30 minutes of the episode.

But it was obvious from all the signs that Ted and Robin were better matched. Yet there was something about Barney and Robin that meshed, that made me a fan of them and a majority of the fan base a fan of them. The writers developed Barney into a man who has changed for the better, for the woman that he loved, for the woman he burned the playbook for, for the woman he would end his sleazy lifestyle for. And by divorcing them two and allowing Barney to make a new playbook and go back to his sleazy lifestyle...the writers threw away nine years of character development.

It is not just Barney that the writers tarnished, but Robin as well. They made her seem like the coldest bitch around when she yelled at Lilly and never wanting to hang out  with the gang. The gang even started mocking her, calling her the yeti, as if she was some alien. This really angered me because the twist was just so unbelievable.

Probably the only thing I actually liked from this episode was Barney becoming a father. I teared up. Although I hoped #31 would be Nora or Quinn (after Robin, of course), I'm slightly happy that he had a lovechild with an unimportant woman, especially since he's always wanted to become a dad, something that Robin could not give him. 

Is somebody cutting onions around here?

Nevertheless, the double plot twist at the end when Ted's kids tell him to ask out Aunt Robin confirmed my worst fear. Not only was it such a stretch, the way it was done was so stupid. Ted ran to Robin's apartment with her gazillions of dogs and when she opens the window, she sees old Ted holding up the blue french horn from season one. The episode ends.

Yeah, I get it, it's the exact same scene from season one except 20-30 years later. Cute. 

No. Not cute at all. Barf. Worst way to end ten years of a show ever.

Barney and Robin were meant to be! Robin wasn't supposed to turn into the cold bitch that she did near the end and Barney was supposed to give up his slutty ways to be with her. They worked and the writers ruined everything.

The overall tone of the episode digressed from the usual light tone of the show. It was way too somber (I mean I get it's the series finale but it was just too different to work).  The characters  also morphed into characters that were so unlike from what the actual characters are that the plot became unbelievable. 

I'm still suffering from shock and will probably be emotionally distraught for the rest of the week. 

If only

What did you think of the finale?

I finally watched "Frozen"

Wow, it's been around five months since my last blog post and I really have no excuses. Life just gets busy and blogging gets put on the back burner. Anyways, I recently watched "Frozen," the animated film that has taken the world by storm. So I'm going to write on my thoughts about it...teaser: Just like everybody else, I freaking loved it.

Now, I'm not a huge animation lover. The only animated films I like is Toy Story, Shrek, an Up. Everything else does not really interest me, especially princess-type movies...or so I thought.

As a disclaimer for any upcoming critiques, it is impossible to avoid hearing my peers at school hum or belt out lyrics from the several songs in the movie, whether it be the adorable "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" or the powerful "Let it Go". Some people also inadvertently spoiled the plot twists in the movie and anybody who knows me, knows I absolutely hate spoilers. It takes away a film's element of surprise which detracts from the movie as a whole. The music was also not as effective or moving on me as it could have been since I already knew most of the songs from my fellow peers. This and the spoilers made my viewing slightly less positive. Regardless, it was still an adorable movie that captured my heart with its adorable characters and catchy soundtrack.

I'm not going to summarize the plot here since I feel like you can search that up anywhere online and I do not feel like wasting time doing so. However, there really is not too much plot to the story, which was disappointing. Again, perhaps the plot twists had a more profound effect on other viewers but not me since people who spoiled it for me (I won't hold a grudge though....urgh). 

The graphics were truly amazing and I could not get over how gorgeous Anna and Elsa were. I hear all the time that boys think Elsa is "hot" and girls are jealous of Elsa. I rolled my eyes at those comments. But when I watched the movie, I completely understood. When Elsa began singing "Let it Go", I couldn't help but feel....jealous. Jealous. of. pixels. Talk about self-esteem issues. Anna was also cute in her quirky, clumsy way that mimics my own mannerisms. If I were in elementary school, I would definitely dress up as either of the sisters on Halloween.

What I found interesting was Disney's take on the overplayed "love conquers all" aspect. Walking into the theater, I knew I was going to expect some super cheesy ending where everybody lives happily ever after. Well, in a way, *spoiler alert* that did happen. However, it is usually some prince that saves everyone (true love's kiss blah blah). It was a really interesting twist to see that the 'true love' in Frozen was familial love, the sisterly bond/love between Anna and Elsa. It was refreshing and was a far less cheesier approach. Bravo, Disney.

Of course, being a romantic comedy junkie, I cannot not comment on the 'prince' character(s) of the movie. Now, the moment Kristoff walked into that cabin in the mountains covered in Eskimo-esque attire, I immediately knew I would love him. There was something mysterious and cold on the outside but I knew there was a soft, gentle guy on the inside, much more genuine than Hans (*eyeroll*). He was the perfect match for Anna and I couldn't help but feel jealous of her. Not to sound like a teenage girl or anything, but he was just so cute.

Last but not least, the cute little snowman named Olaf captured my heart. His cute "summer" song and his light yet deep quips ("Some people are worth melting for") made him so much more lovable. He and the reindeer were just as great of stars as Anna and Elsa.

Considering I'm not a fan of animation or really songs in movies, Frozen still managed to successfully captivate me. Not only that, when I came home, I immediately listened to the whole soundtrack, humming along to the great songs. I highly recommend watching it no matter what your age is.