Hip Hop Candy! Hand Sweet Gifts! Product Review

This weeks product review is brought to you by Hip Hop Candy Sweet Gifts! Hip Hop Candy is a store that brings you kawaii life goods all from plushies, to deco style accessories and even hand made soaps, candles, perfumes and more!

Lately, (if you haven't already noticed from my recent hauls) I've been on a whole 'organic vegan product stuff craze' just to try stuff out and I'm a sucker for weird flavors of any kind and am tired of the same old stuff Bath & Body Works shoves in your face. Not to mention my sister broke out using some of their soaps and body washes. I still use their lotions but sparingly. Its a new year. I want a new change. I stumbled on Hip Hop Candy a year ago but didn't really give it much thought to ordering anything from them till recently. I figured, why not?! Besides, they've got a few products that has perked my interest!

Hip Hop Candy is the product of a hobby and art by artist Olivia Bruno, this lovely lady hand packs and hand makes (with love and care!) everything she carries on her store! From the cute packaging to the intriguingly sweet scents. Everything is also made with vegan and cruelty free products! Her website also provides a Frequently Asked Questions Page in terms of the products and whatnot!

But thats not the best part! When you sign up for an account on HHC your automatically enrolled on their Rewards program where in, with each purchase you make you earn HHC points redeemable towards your next purchase! Also  by liking and follow them on Facebook you'll be able to keep up with any new deals, upcoming item releases and more!

Their service is imperceptible, with each inquiry I had, I was able to receive a reply within 24hrs of my inquiry, some even on the same day!  They take careful care on packing the items to ensure freshness and keep things from being damage. I received my first order from HHC within 2-3 business days and most of the items were carefully wrapped in bubble wrap to ensure them from rolling onto each other and getting damaged. And once you get pass the bubble wrap, each item was also shrink wrapped to ensure freshness and to guarantee you're getting all brand spanking new product!

I've rattled enough about their store, you're probably done listening to me about that and are interested to read more about the products aren't you? LOL. Not surprised. Scroll on down below to see what my current haul from HCC is! But before you go!  HHC and Olivia has been more than generous and has given you guys a special code ontop of being part of the rewards program; you guys will receive a 15% off  on your purchase using the code 'DearCandyLove' but don't forget to like and follow their facebook fanpage for bigger and better deals!

My first order from HCC~ OwO

*All images are property of Hip Hop Candy, this is an update review and the notes expressed here are all on my own and does not reflect the views and opinions of HHC.*

 

First up is the Matcha Latte Perfume Roll! I'm pretty much obsessed with anything matcha, its exotic, its earthy, it smells and taste great(preferably sweetened LMAO coz I've tried regular matcha. omg, its more bitter than my soul lol!) 

  The key ingredients in this roll-on perfume are as follows: (taken from HHC) Isopropyl Myristate, Mineral Oil, Fragrance, Styrene-Ethylene/Butylene-Styrene Block Copolymer

the ingredients are also listed on the bottle itself :D 

This is about 7ml, its super cute and compact. Its the size of your average lip balm and fits just about anywhere. But judge it by its teeny tiny packaging. This baby packs a good punch as far as scent goes! I honestly don't know how she did it but I am in awe because they HHC has definitely captured the scent of fresh matcha into a tiny little bottle. Its not overpowering, not too sweet, smells incredibly earthy and relaxing.

If she can make this into a diffuser scent or candle, then best believe I'd probably be hoarding a few of those. One for my desk at work and another for at home! I personally prefer the smell of Matcha versus Lavender as far as aromatherapy goes lol. I'm always up for something new and interesting.

As far as lasting power goes, roll-on perfume lasts a while, I would like to think its due to the fact that when it rolls out and onto the skin it comes out more of an oil thus making it more concentrated and pungent smell (which isn't a bad thing in this case!) I would normally wear this in the morning and I can still smell remnants of it halfway through the day. I'm sure if I paid more attention I can say it might even last you the whole day. But with anything, it does tend to wear out mid way but you can always reapply!

The only thing I could note about this, and I'm not particularly sure if its the packaging or the product being an oil base but I noticed that after rolling it about, you tend to get residue on the cap and around the edges. Not a biggie for me. But just be sure to cap it tightly to avoid the possibility of it spilling.

Toasted Marshmallow Lip Balm

Who doesn't like toasted marshmallows and s'mores? (well, personally, I prefer toasted marshmallows over s'mores. Yeah, I'm one of those crazy people who don't really like chocolate LOL)

Lip Balm: Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Beeswax, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Lipids, Lauryl Laurate, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Flavor.  

 Delicious handmade lip balm containing an array of lip-loving, moisturizing ingredients. Where most commercial lip balms are created from petroleum products, we use natural ingredients like calendula wax, soy lipids, and beeswax. 

I've tried many different lip balms, high end, drug store, freebies from Clinique, body shop's aloe vera balms etc. And with anything, theres always the pros and cons to each product. To be honest, I didn't have high hopes for this lip balm - particularly due to mixed reviews on their website or we're simply taught to think anything flavored is going to remind me of our childhood lip smackers which probably isn't the best lip balm to date lol. But I figured, why not?! Everyone was writing on the website that the balm was great and hydrating and I was itching to try something new that wouldn't leave my lips with a waxy feel and texture or the feeling of wearing a heavy layer of gloss just to get moisture in there (the body shop aloe vera lip balm feels like you're wearing a thick layer of gloss disguised as a hydrating lip balm. But, it IS aloe vera which is known to retain a lot of moisture and thus resulting in that very wet look. Not exactly what the look I'm looking for lol. 

This reminds me of the Burts Bees lip balms but less waxy feeling, this one slides on smoother and less of a drag against your lips (which can be bad for it btw) and you get the enjoyment of tasting and smelling toasted marshmallows! I work in an office where we have the AC and heater running 24/7. No matter how much water I drink I always find my lips to be pretty dry and always having to consistently reach for lip balm, I like that this lip balm locks the moisture in just a little longer and doesnt require me to constantly reach for lip balm. 

As far as smell goes and taste, if you like Vanilla or marshmallow in general. You're definitely going to enjoy this. Its not sickeningly sweet or too vanilla-y which I know some people might now like.  

but if you're feeling particularly bold - you know HHC does have a Pizza flavored balm.

But don't forget to exfoliate your lips once in a while too to really make sure you don't get a flaky effect!

 

Matcha (Green Tea) Latte Soap Bar

Key Ingredients
Propylene Glycol, Sorbitol, Glycerin, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Fragrance, Triethanolamine, Water, Titanium Dioxide

This was one of the products I was most excited to try out among any of the products that HHC carried on their store. For one, I suffer from eczema, two; I love anything Matcha :D and after my sister broke out using soaps from Bath & Body Works, I weened out of using any body washes that contained any fragrances on it at all  since I don't have to battle with body acne either. And with winter well on its way, we have a tendancy  to stay in the hot shower longer which can be bad for our skin as it tends to dry our skin out and for anyone who battles eczema would know, dry skin is your worse enemy.

I did some more research onto this product before I event went ahead and did my purchase and realized that one of the key ingredients on their product is glycerin, which is what gives this soap a more translucent effect and all the good stuff that comes with it! Its what keeps your skin from being irritated since its all natural and has good moisturizing benefits as it helps draw in the moisture and lock it in place. Thus keeping your skin more hydrated and moist feeling. Great for anyone who suffers from eczema (like me!) as it does not irritate your skin. I tested this product for a good week before writing up this review and I can say it didnt break me out at all (when I work out, I tend to sweat. Gross. And for anyone who sweats, you know sweat and dirt can mean clogged pores and with any additional ingredients in most soaps may have a tendency to block your glands causing body acne )': nooo)

All the soaps from HHC are about an average size of 5-6 oz. Which is probably slightly an ounce smaller than your typical soap. It lathers as well as any soap when you use a lufa and leaves a nice earthy matcha smell on you well after you shower.

I'm probably going to take advantage of her reward system to keep coming back for more lol.

 Sweet Macaron Soy Candle

This one is more or less a treat to try lol. I like anything that smells nice and when you have a dog at home and several brothers, you'd be wishing you had something this nice smelly hahaha! 

This is the first time I purchased or even burned a Soy Candle before to be honest, I've heard good things about Soy Candles, mostly they tend to burn longer and last longer and does not release CO2 in the air. And to top it off the wicks are lead-free. Which is great since I notice when I blew out the candle it didn't leave a smelly burnt smell in the air that lingers after blowing out your candle.

First thing I noticed on this is, it smells like I was walking into a macaron shop. (Like the Lette shop in Little Tokyo! YUM!) The smell of almonds and sweet vanilla. Mhmm. Some people might feel its too sweet, but after burning it for a while you get used to it. But if your someone who enjoys sweet bakery scents. This is for you.

I wish HHC would released diffusers lol so I can bring them to work I can't exactly burn candles in an office hahaha! 

 

Overall pretty happy with the quality of all the products HHC carries and would definitely go back to get more from them, they do release new scents and products  every so often. I'm looking forward to seeing what they come out with! And take advantage of those rewards points! ;D

If smelly stuff isn't your thing, HHC does carry cute stationary and accessories to fit your deco kawaii lifestyle.

Hunter x Hunter Shoot

Here you guys go~  the not so anticipated photoshoot set from the Hunter x Hunter shoot we did this past weekend. Whee. I'm not back logged lol.I guess it helps when I knew what sort of shot I wanted to do and the outcome I was trying to achieve.

Sadly we only had Ash and Hannsel again for this shoot (their cosplaying as Hisoka and Kurapika from Hunter x Hunter). We originally anticipated more people would show up but the day before the shoot it started to rain pretty badly but we were optimistic. High risk high reward! LOL And we were definitely rewarded with sun shine and muddy treks LOL! *talk about optimism* 

It was pretty difficult trying to find a good location to shoot H x H since I know we were going for a 'abandoned' building feel or abandoned penitentiary but unfortunately being in Southern California we don't get much of that like the East Coast does. 

It was a little bit of a challenge to find the location but we finally found it and thankfully enough it only took them 4.5 hrs to get ready this time versus the 8hrs it took during ALA lol thats why I didn't really have photos from ALA on their cosplay. Hahaha...eeee.

I know I probably dont talk enough about how I plan shoots / work on shoots and equipment I carry. Personally I have a very humble collection of camera equipment. I rely heavily on natural lighting. When I worked for lifetouch studios I was able to work in a studio style setting with lights and etc. I miss those days but you can't exactly have those on most on-location shoots and I like to take the time to study where I'll be shooting and plan ahead. I didn't have a reflector till recently! All the shots were mostly taken in abandoned 'caves' lol and buildings using a external flash on my camera with a soft box and a handy giant reflector courtesy of my friend Anthony of Bits Photography (you guys should check his stuff out. Book him for con shoots lol coz I personally suck convention shoots unless I know the location ahahaha he is more of a trooper than I am when it comes to that)

This was definitely an interesting experiment on my part as far as bouncing lights, playing with minimal light vs dark. Compositions and sneaking into places that smelled like piss. No. Really.

Thanks to my fwends for coming out and helping carry our stuff and holding the reflector and helping us get to all the high places lol. Literally. I've rambled enough, lets move onto the photos~

This next shot isn't exactly part of the set that I intended to show but lol.

It shows how high up we were to get this shot. I wanted to go further out onto the other

rocks on the back to get a better view/shot. But. I chickened out as me and heights do not get along haha.

On my next post on the behind-the-scenes type thing lol you'll see the view from my eyes

and I know its not that high up for most people lol but omg. no. haha.

Ash is just one of those crazy people who like to jump off airplanes. I did most of my jumping off shit

when I was a kid. And well, I grew up and realized I'm not fearless as I use to as a kid hahaha.

I use to jump off buildings and off tables to the pool xD and etc...that story is for another time lol

You know it was a good weekend when you eat Mint Oreos and Redbull for breakfast Monday morning at work and you're voice is cracking as if you're a preadolescence boy.
I miss karaoke-ing. LOL. I would be one of those sad people who would go to a karaoke bar and rent out a room for myself. LOL.

Updates coming up shwee. And some product reviews thats been sitting on my que lol. And some more photo dumps too.

GG Gatsby Hair Spray

A few days ago I poked my head at Marshalls in search of a collapsible travel hula hoop and also for some cheap deals on good hairspray lol because I can't seem to find Got2B  anymore in most stores in my area /:
and I always usually tend to score some good salon deals at Marshalls/Ross. I use to get all my stuff at the cosmetologist store and get them half off but lol license required.

I posted a instagram photo of some GATSBY hairspray and spazzed. Well, upon further research, its not the gatsby we all know and love....was pretty skeptical at first to even *find* Gatsby in my area o_O and for it to come in a pink bottle and the back instructions were all in English. I just shrugged it off and went on my way. This pink 'gatsby bottle' is actually an American brand hairspray from the Gatsby Salon in New Jersey. Made popular by some tv show called Jerseylicious

The original bottle of Gatsby hairspray that most of you visual kei fans are probably looking for is the original grey bottle which Mitsuwa use to carry. eBay doesn't carry them anymore but you can probably check SASA.com but I wouldn't want to drop$18 on a bottle of hairspray /: unless of course you really really love your hairspray.

girlconomics & more shameless haul

I had meant to post this over the weekend but I got lazy caught up in some things...So here goes another round of "shit I bought but shouldn't have but regardless you're probably going to judge me anyway :D post" but look at me being more productive and blogging more frequently lol but it honestly probably won't be long till I go into hiatus again lol...because eventually you do run out of things to talk about lol. 

BUT DID ANYONE ELSE NOTICE MY NIFTY NEW LAYOUT?! :D ok its totally nothing special, I just saw the image floating around tumblr and it was too cute not to use. And of course, credit is given to the original artist :o (left bottom corner) I might end up changing it later after this weekends shoot but I was getting tired of looking at the old one lol but a new year, a new look.

Museum sadly also didn't happen, photoshoot this coming weekend in Los Angeles. So hopefully the following weekend can hit up both exhibits in one.O w O 

And.... before I go onto the shameless and lazy instagram photo dump, I'm sure people will judge and question where you get all the cash to burn on useless girl shit and whatnot. Mint made a post a while ago discussing the economics of burning cash lol....directed here and to be honest, a lot of the stuff she says there does make sense. And not to mention I'm a grown adult, I have a full time (40-45 hr) work week and I get paid way above minimum wage, I also work freelance projects on the side. I am in debt from school and medical bills but I refuse to let that dictate my life. Sometimes you just gotta spoil yourself once in a while. 

I also make it a point to have a system and a budget on how I spend my stuff, I buy a majority of my stuff via ebay. I'm always looking for deals or flipping the clearance lines and mostly get stuff I need and really weight out the options between need and want. I also waste a good chunk of time debating in my head if a said item is worth paying full price for or if I can make a dub for it for a lot less. And if I can do without it or not.

I also set up a savings plan on my debit card, for each swipe of my card a percentage of that purchase gets taken out of my primary checkings and into my savings as well. So for example, if I bought an item for $10. $12 gets taken out of my checkings, the $2 gets put into my savings. So the more I spend, the more money gets put into my savings account. 

I also have more than 1 checkings account and more than 1 bank account to really help me budget.

Looking at DIY stuff really helps me save a good chunk of change too, and obviously cooking at home is always a much better option to save your money. Now onto the shameless haulll and postage.

This will be probably my last few 'haul' posts for a while since its the end of the season (aside from my taobao posts and the one from hip-hop candy) I've pretty much gotten most of the stuff I needed/wanted to last me a good while from now till the weather warms up and even still I've gathered enough stuff from last season to last me a while as well....

 

Went to get my car oil changed earlier this weekend only to be told two of my tires are balding so I had to go and get those replaced. Boo. I need to go back and get 2 more replaced in a bit. I have a few more mileage on them before I need to replace them. )': you kids better be grateful when your parents give you a car because most likely they'll pay for the maintenance themselves hahaha...and while waiting, I ended up wondering into stores I shouldn't have .___. because the result was; Vertical stripe leggings and skull scarf~ wheee I finally got a skull scarf, this was more or a regret buy because I feel that I could have gotten a better deal online /:

Got a free sampler from Clinique. I have the Tea Tree Pore Refiner too. I haven't really used it much since the weather is still pretty cold. But come on spring! I'm ready for you D8< 

new case for my phone~ currently I go back and forth between the silicone melty ice cream case and a clear plastic one. They dont really lock into the phone but it does cover it all the way around but grabs dirt easily but can be easily cleaned off as well with some alcohol. Wanted something sturdier that would lock into place and I've probably searched online for a good week before settling with this one. Unlike the iphone, the galaxy doesn't get much love in terms of cases. But thats ok, I don't need to horde thousands of them LOL! Normally I would have opted for a cute rilakkuma case but meh, its time for a change so I opted for this cool wood  tribal design OwO

And for the first time in years I went and shopped at Urban Outfitters. I generally avoid that store like a plague because of their over priced hipster items lol but I cannot deny that I managed to score $6 Doc Martens there before (which I later sold on ebay) I got the shirt for a friend, I initally wanted it for myself but then I thought better because I'm sure hipsters would throw their over priced coffees at me lol because I don't smoke but I do own a zippo lighter LOL (for incense and their also handy for burning the tip of your pencil liner to make it smoother and darker. I learned that from someone lol) but yeah, the shirt was for a good deal but what ticked me off was their exuberant shipping prices! The shipping cost me more than half it would have cost of the shirt. $10 for a T-shirt. What. Just get a flat envelope, shove it in there and charge $4.55. Maybe $5-6 to include shipping and handling. But $10 for SHIPPING. Thats insane. Never again Urband Outfitters. Never again.

Lastly, and probably the best buy I did was at LUSH. Also my first product from LUSH. I love that its hand packed and its edible LOL. And The moment I walked into the LUSH shop omg everything smelled so great! A lot of people recognize LUSH for their hand made products, vegan friendly and mostly for their bath bombs. I would have gotten one but I don't have a bath tub and more of a shower person but I can imagine how luxurious it would feel. A lip scrub basically works by exfoliating all those dead flakes on your lips so when you wear your lip stick it doesnt grab onto all those dried up flakes on your lips. Love that this one is bubble gum, edible and it also helps moisturize your lips :D! Normally I would have opted to make my own but this bad boy is only $9 (which isnt bad considering a little definitely goes a long way) 

If you are interested in making your own, heres a links that describes how you can make your own:

Pretty Gossip's DIY Lip Scrub and if you want to try and recreate one that looks and taste like bubble gum, you can use bubble gum flavoring and edible food coloring (the food coloring will stain your lips pink too if you add too much)

Photoshoot adventure this weekend in Glendale OwO I am ready! Lets hope it doesnt rain! Forecast says rain on Sunday. Our shoot is on Saturday. Rain or shine, we're shooting LOL. I think it would be pretty cool to shoot in the rain (but I can imagine it'd be super cold lol Oh well!)

Taobao Ring Review and How To

I'm back with another Taobao agent review and how to OwO in my first Taobao order review thing I used Taobao Spree but for this time around I went ahead and tried a new agent; Taobao Ring.

Was there anything wrong with the first agent I used? Nope, nothing! But I wanted to try out another agent just because. Not to mention Taobao Ring charges 8% fee versus the 10% fee that Taobao Spree does.
I initially wasn't going to switch to a new agent till my friend told me about this agent and I was poking through their website and was intrigued by how their system works and I was sold right away! 

The downside to Taobao Ring is that they only accept USD currency and not Euro, but it looks like in the future they will start to accept it. And to break down how the payment method works - and this is straight from their website

 The first payment includes the total items cost + their domestic shipping fee + our service fee, the second payment is for international shipping. The insurance fee is optional. Clients will pay 5% of all the cost (items cost + domestic shipping fee + our service fee + international shipping fee) if they want their items insured.

For the first payment, the items cost is fixed while the domestic shipping fee ranges from 10 CNY to 15 CNY for the first 1kg, which depends on items' weight and the distance between sellers' location and our warehouse.

For the second payment, we provide many international shipping methods, such as EMS, DHL, airmail etc. EMS is highly recommended for its safe, quick, reliable advantages, and you can enjoy a huge discount up to 40% off.

Honestly, who doesn't like 40% off EMS shipping? Taobao Spree also offered me a good discount on my EMS shipping :3

Honestly, it beats having to type everything out in an excel sheet lol and sending it to your agent. This is an automated form that grabs all the information for you. All you need to do is enter the LINK in the box below and add additional information at the box below it as well. It even converts it from Yuan to US Dollars for you! 

This is just an example screen cap for you

Its also great that it shows you the status on of your item, if its still in pending status (checking if its instock), if its been ordered or if its in transit from the seller to your agents warehouse.

And like most agents, you don't need to pay for your items until they confirmed everything is in instock. And if its not in stock, they will refund you the price of the item.

After you confirmed all the items you want on your order. At the bottom right hand of the page theres a button that says 'confirm order' and it will take you to the page above which gives you the option to select shipping methods. And again it will show you the total of your order. Once your order is confirmed, it will go into 'waiting confirmation' status. You're not required to pay for the order yet. This is where the Taobao Agent will look through your order and then you wait till they send you an email confirming that everything looks good.

Here is my current timeline in terms of the ordering process, as anyone can tell you, using an agent or going through someone else is a lot of back and forth and communication.

Monday [1.14.13] - I put my order into confirmation status. I'm waiting for the agent to email me back or update my queue screen to confirm that everything is available from the sellers.
The agent will go through each of the items you selected, confirm with the sellers the items are available and will then update your status page.

Normally most agents will email you within 24hrs to confirm they got your order and will be processing it. But with Taobao Ring and their handy system it eliminates the need to email back and forth to check on the status of your order. But being the impatient little bugger that I was (seeing as I didn't get an email confirming they even got the order or if I did everything right) I went ahead and emailed them Tuesday [1.15.13] and within minutes of sending my inquiry in, I got a reply saying that they are just backed up on orders and will be processing my order soon. 10 mins later I get another email from them confirming their ready to take my money. 

Being the excited little sucker that I am went ahead and paid for my order right away and got another email confirming my payment has been sent and everything is being set up for purchasing. But keep in mind though, when paying with Paypal, there is another service fee you incur when paying for your item.Where they do charge you about 3% fee (roughly another $2-3 more)
I don't recall having this when I made my purchase with Taobao Spree. But I could be wrong.   Your other payment option is via Western Union, Bank Transfers and etc. I just wanted this over and done with lol and didn't want to have to deal with the hassle of using bank transfer and etc. Since my particular bank also does charge for bank transfers especially international transfers and the same would go with using Western Union.

Give it a few days for your items to be purchased, received and process. Its about a 2-5 business days ordeal and when your items are receive, just check your "order manage" page and it will update itself. They will even include a photo of your items so you can see how they look like / proof its there. (I blocked out some of the items here and the photos but its there.) And from this point, it will prompt you to pay for the 2nd payment - shipping to you. And once again, when paying with paypal you are paying an additional fee. And since I chose EMS, it is a little hefty price for shipping considering they have to weight the items.

Once your items are paid for, your order will go into "shipping" status and give it another 24 hrs for them to process and ship your package and a tracking number will be given to you. Allow about 7-10 business days for the package to arrive (for the most part, usually EMS for me arrives within 5-7 but you just never know)

So far I've had a pretty good experience with Taobao Ring. After having to simply probe them in the beginning to begin my order but once it all got started it was smooth sailing. 

Hopefully this has helped you, happy shopping!

Everyone and their mom has been posting their "Its a New Year so heres my recap of the New Year" posts lately and therefore I'm going to be lame and jump on the bandwagon. Not to mention I barely really do any 'personal' ish blurbs here lately. I feel like I abuse instagram and tumblr for those far too much that I just neglect this until I have something decent to talk about. Blah how pretentious. But it is the New Year and I haven't done anything productive since ALA. Not that ALA was very much productive on my end....godIhateConshootsbooI'mspoiledbyprivatelocationshoots QwQ

So I'm just going to randomly dump stuff in here that I already originally posted on my tumblog uhuhuhu while I wait to prep for a new adventure in the upcoming week...such as! 

 

lol. What?!

The San Diego Museum of Man is running an exhibit on torture instruments used throughout the ages.

They ran this exhibit a few years ago but I couldn't go (boo for being too young then) but I definitely don't want to miss this one! Hopefully I get to go this weekend.

I definitely feel that I take it for granted that I live in San Diego and that we DO have a decent amount of parks and museums to our disposal orz  back when I went to SDHS where the school is literally 2 blocks from the park, we'd use to go alot during one of my block periods. And I use to troll the park and museums when I was in school when I would ditch class :P 

I was complaining to my brother the other day how exhibits and museums are so expensive (The Titanic exhibit ran me almost $20 lol but I managed to use a student discount) but he did brought up a good point, the money goes into helping out the museums and exhibits orz;; so I nut up and shut up and guess I'll be going and trying to support my local museums more and educate myself lol 

Don't you sometimes feel that when you're not doing anything *productive* or education your brain is just simply going to turn into mush? Growing up my parents and grandparents always placed a huge emphasis on learning and that you should take it upon yourself to *learn* something everyday. Or exercise your noggin' and since I wasn't able to sign up for classes this spring, gonna try again for Fall and in the meantime. I signed up for Bartending school. Aww yeah. 

Another instagram post dump~ as my camera is sitting in the back gathering dust only coming out to play when theres a shoot. And even still I am reminded on how old my camera's model is lol.

  That clutch Doctor style bagggg omg. I'm so mad at it, I've posted about it on tumblr and instagram. I wanted it *grabby hands* only coz it opens ontop like a clutch and it *stands* on its own!!!!!!! But wasn't a fan of the handles and the price tag /: It was almost $40? $30? No. Not when I have a taobao order coming in lol. So next time! Pill box! You will be mine eventually!

Bought a handy little soft box for my external flash. One of the problems I encountered with the macross shoot and having to shoot indoors (in the same location as PMX) was poor poor lighting. You can't even illuminate the model properly since it would just be too harsh! And when I was bouncing off my friends light stands, it illuminated areas and created shadows in others )': I am hoping this lightbox would serve me well in preparation for a shoot at the end of the month. My friend also sent me a reflector kit! Finally! Huzzah~

Hopefully when I get back I'll be able to revamp the layout on this page. Its getting pretty old /:
hoping there would be a good turn out at the 'gathering' or the photoshoot. If not, then lol we'll have the whole place to ourselves. I always feel like theres a weaker turn out because a lot of the times people don't have rides and we always tend to pick /far/ away places. But if anything, we're the ones that have to drive pretty far LOL. Yes, the shoot once again is going to be in Los Angeles. Haha. Why do we never shoot in SD?! IDK....

Welcome the new year I also went ahead and tried to experiment with other flavors that I've been wanting to try for so long. ROSE! Inspired by Rose macarons from the macaron shop in Little Tokyo I wanted to recreate some cookies. Lucky for me I live in a very diverse Asian community with a lot of different markets.

Rose water is also a great skin care agent~ I wrote up a new article regarding using tea tree oil and rose water as a skin care. I was going to post it here but I ended up submitting it to my friends E-mag. I'll post up a link and screen cap of it when the article is published OwO;;

I used my regular cookie recipe for moist cookies, I also made another version thats Rose & Matcha. I think I put too much rose flavoring in it since my friend and roomate both commented it tasted like Potpourri.
Yeah, not all of us grew up eating that stuff LOL so we don't automatically assume anything rose or lanvender flavor is potpourri...

I think I want to redo this but more of a short bread type cookie consistency and not a moist cookie and less on the rose extract maybe. I wasn't to eventually make Macarons with it but my next experiment would be is to use a Earl Grey Tea recipe I found and using a few tea bags of Strawberry Rose Green Tea with it.

Can't wait to experiment with it. I'm gonna do this next week before I head to the shoot, since. I don't want to eat it LOL. I just want to bake. Not eat them hahaha. Feeds it to all my friends. I shouldn't be feeding the models before a shoot...

 I'll post up that recipe when I get a chance to try it out. Ideally in my head, the rose and strawberry would just give a light aroma to the cookies and the green tea would give it a nice smooth flavor. Since taste is, what? 60% smell? Stoked to try it out~

Also went to the Body Shop to pick this bad boy up:

Forever sold out but is finally back instock during the damn winter when you're skin needs it less but oh well, come summer I'll be ready! D8< it works great as a primer and keeps you from being shiny. But I don't like that its $18 for only 1oz of product. So I use it sparingly )': and well, thankfully in the winter I dont need it. In fact I need as much moisture as I can get. My skin has gotten to the point that its getting flakey and even my clinique dramatic moisturizer isn't cutting it. I went back to using Honey Yogurt and Oatmeal mask. And its woooorking~ whoo. Beat that winter skin!

After the shoot I need to get me the map pass for COD~