Red Lips for the Holiday Season

Now that the holiday season is approaching, Christmas parties are becoming more frequent! I'm so ready for all the food, the dressing up, and the socializing! That's why red lip colors are my staple for the winter months. Here are my choice red lip products that instantly adds drama to my makeup and put me in a festive mode.

Left to right:
Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Red Velvet
Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick No. 10
PeriPera Peri's Tint
Benefit Benetint
Estée Lauder Lip Defining Pencil 04 Apple Cordial
La Suffren Matte Lipliner 418L
L'oreal Paris 8HR Le Gloss in Rebel Red
Coastal Scents Smacks in O'Scarlet
NYX Sheer Gloss in Cherry

Have a great holiday season!

Dorm Room Tour

Hey y'all!

I know, I know... I haven't been posting a lot, and yes, school work is my excuse.

But here is my room tour! I have been planning to film a room tour for a while, but never got around to doing it. Since it was Thanksgiving (btw, did you have a good Thanksgiving?), I finally filmed it!

Hope you enjoy a tour of my bedroom. It's not much, I'm messy, but I didn't want to pretend that I keep it clean and tidy all the time.

If you have any questions or request, shoot me a message or comment!

Muah!
Amanda

Half-day tour: Cheung Chau

Where: Cheung Chau
When: Aug 20, 2013

Right before I boarded the plane back to SF, I decided to go on a half-day tour of Cheung Chau with my friend spontaneously. Yes, crazy, I know. I've never been to Cheung Chau and it was an amazing experience.

If you do not know what Cheung Chau is, it is an outlying island in Hong Kong. It takes 1 hour to get there from Central if you take the regular ferry, or ~30min if you take the fast ferry.

As I've never been to Cheung Chau, my friend acted as my guide of the day. Cheung Chau is not big at all, but it is famous for its food and boutiques. Since it was still very early when we arrived, a lot of the shops were not open or was opening, so we walked around the island 2-3 times the whole day! It was hot as hell, but it was also very fun.

First, we found a Hong Kong style restaurant and ordered 牛膩酥, a kind of fried sweet dough that you eat with congee. And we each got a cup of soy milk. That was a great breakfast. We sat outside under tents with fans to cool down. It was so nice sitting there, eating such typical Chinese food by the sea.

Then we walk around a little, and stopped at a fishball shop. They have all kinds of balls: beef balls, fishballs, cuttlefish balls, lobster balls... (that just sounded really wrong...) We ordered a skewer of different kinds. They immediately fry it and hand it to you. BEST FISHBALLS I've ever had. I've noticed that a lot of fishballs in regular markets don't taste like fishballs at all. So when I had this, it was heaven.

Of course we also had to get Cheung Chau's famous large fishballs. They're golf ball sized, dipped in different kinds of sauces. We had the curry and BBQ sauce fishballs. The curry is so spicy! I'm not a person who can eat very spicy though I like medium spice. But these got us crying and our lips numb. The BBQ sauce was great too. Again, the fishballs in Cheung Chau are the best.

 

After the hot and spicy curry fishball, we went to get shaved ice to cool down. We ordered mango, guava, and passion fruit. Like any shaved ice, it's the best when you eat it under horribly hot weather. The juices they used were a little too sweet, but it was still delicious.

There is a restaurant that sells 豬仔包, a kind of hard bread roll. We got the bun with tomato and cheese on top. It kind of tastes like pizza margherita, different from how I normally get it which is with butter and condensed milk. It was good!

We the passed by a booth that sold icicles and ordered the milk tea one. They really just freeze milk tea to make icicles. I love Hong Kong style milk teas. So milk tea in icicle form under the hot sun is just paradise. I might make it myself when I have time. Perfect for summer!

Finally, we just had to get the mango mochi. I've never had such good mango mochi in my life! I hate 椰絲 coconut bits, but this is just coated with flour. The mochi itself is humungous, and inside, a huge piece of mango! Normally, glutinous mango rice cakes just have a small piece of mango and puree, but this is real mango every single bite. Heaven!

They also had really cute boutiques selling clothes and accessories for very inexpensive prices. I got a pair of earrings and some pants myself.

How did we have the appetite to eat so much? I don't even know. We just tell ourselves that we burn all the calories we ate by walking under the blazing sun all day. I ate so much, but the food is so good. I would totally just go to eat fishballs and rice cakes. Unfortunately I had a plane to catch so I couldn't stay till night, or else the seafood there is also another famous attraction of Cheung Chau. As someone who loves seafood, I need to go again when I can to try it out!

If you've never been to Cheung Chau, I highly recommend going! It is really nice to go to the outlying islands with family or friends for a day trip. Get some fresh air, experience a day of good food and traditional Hong Kong streets!

xoxo

Just Another Dance Movie?

Recently, I went with a friend to watch "The Way We Dance", a Hong Kong produced dance movie. As a dancer, I can never resist the temptation to go watch dance movies. I. Freaking. Love. Them.

However, when it came to this particular movie, I was a little skeptical. I didn't expect much from it, and thought it would not be comparable to all the famous Step Up movies, Footloose etc. I went into the movie theatre thinking I should support Hong Kong produced movies, and that they need any support they can get.

I was pleasantly surprised by how good the movie was! Not only was the dancing better than I thought it would be, but the humorous parts got me laughing real hard. The acting was great, the message brought to the audience is clear and touching.

Watch the trailer

or visit their Facebook page for more info!

I highly recommend this movie if you are a dancer like more, if you just want a good laugh, or if you want to support Hong Kong produced movies!!!

xoxo

Etude House: I just couldn't resist...

In my last post, I talked about my shopping craze at Etude House and how I needed to limit myself and not step foot into the store the rest of summer. Guess what I did. Yep, I caved.

I have heard amazing things about the Wonder Pore Whipping Foaming Cleanser and the brush that works well with it. So I finally bought them in a whim. Because I spent more than HKD200, they gave me a sample of the Baking Powder Pore Cleansing Foam, and an Etude House pen.

If you have tried these products, tell me what you think! And I will have a review of them in the future.

xoxo

Monthly Favourites: July 2013

It's been a while since I made a monthly favourites video! Watch the video below to see what I've been loving this July :)

What are some of your favourites this month?

Haul: Etude House & Bioderma

Back in Hong Kong, of course I'm shopping for things that I can't find in the States. So when I saw Etude House and Bioderma products, I obviously had to check them out.

Watch the following video to see what I bought!

Tell me what products you would like a review of!

Have a great summer!

Holy grail item: Etude House nail polish remover

If you have been watching my recent YouTube videos, you would know that I have been obsessed with my Etude House nail polish remover recently.

I never thought that nail polish removers can vary so much until I tried this one. I did not buy mine myself, but a friend of mine bought it as a souvenir from Taiwan. Now that they opened a store in Hong Kong, we all know that's where I'm going to shop while I'm back.

Recently, I've been more and more into Asian beauty products. They match my skin tone better. It's funny how I was jealous of everyone in America who gets all the western brands of makeup, and now I appreciate Asian products more and more now that I'm not always in Asia.

Now back to the product itself. I have the regular nail polish remover from Etude House.

It's in a normal pink bottle. Nothing special. The first time I used it, I didn't expect much. However, it instantly took off my thick coated nail polish, and even my friend's glitter nail polish. If you are a nail polish person like myself, you would know that while glitter nail polish is gorgeous, it is a pain in the butt to take off. Hence this:

Anyways, this remover does the job easily. It does smell like any other nail polish remover would, and not healthy to sniff, but its effectiveness trumps everything.

It only costs HKD $15 and Removes nail polish with no other. I highly recommend everyone to try it out, it's worth the $15. 

Brand: Etude House

Product name: Nail Polish Remover

Price: HKD 15

Where to get it: Etude House stores

Rating: 4.5/5

If you have ever tried this nail polish, or anything from Etude House, leave a comment below! I've been shopping there lately while I still can in Hong Kong :P

xoxo

Washington DC

Date: 30 June - 9 July, 2013

This has been a summer full of travelling! Before I headed back to Hong Kong, I attended a medical forum in DC. Such a nerd. I know.

I was both excited and nervous about the program. Since I'm a passive and quite person, I was worried about making friends and being the dumbest person around crazy smart people. But I enjoyed myself a lot during those 10 days and made friends around the States, even around the world.

Lets not talk about the boring academics itself. We were allowed to walk around the DC area and Georgetown over the weekend. I visited the Smithsonians, national monuments and had fun just hanging out with my friends.

My favourite museum was the Museum of Natural History. As someone who loves animals, it was very fun to look at the different species represented in the museum. The funny thing is, since I just went to Kenya, every East African animal I see there is like déjà vu to me. "Oh. Saw that I'm the wild", "yep, that too. Oh and that...". The hope diamond was in itself a huge hype. People gather around just to take the perfect picture of it. The pictures can never represent the real beauty of it though.

Georgetown cupcake is DA BOMB. It might be because I was just recovering from being sick for at least a week, the cupcake I had was like heaven on earth. I got lava fudge, peanut butter fudge, and red velvet cupcakes. As I said, I should not be eating cupcakes when all I'm supposed to eat was plain white bread, so I gave the latter two away. The lava fudge though. Oh god. If you ever go to Georgetown, go get a cupcake from them. It was well worth the 20min I waited in line for them (there are way less people in the mornings FYI).

Through the forum, I learnt a lot and made a lot of good friends. I highly recommend joining a programme on something you really love. Go to dancing camp, go on service trips... Anything you want to do. Spend summer wisely, have fun, and use it as an excuse to travel!

Hope y'all are enjoying your summers!
Amanda

Kenya Trip

Date: 12-28 June, 2013

I can finally check Africa off my bucket list. To anyone who enjoys travelling as much as I do, I strongly recommend at least going to Africa once, and probably fall in love with the place like I did.

I decided to travel to Kenya with my school. It was an opportunity that I could not pass up. We stayed at Daraja Academy for 1 week, then we were on two safaris for the rest of the trip. There is so much I can talk about: the people, the landscape, the wildlife. I didn't know what I was expecting when I first signed up for the trip, but it was an adventure I will never forget.

Daraja Academy

Daraja Academy is an all-girls, boarding secondary school in Kenya "for girls with exceptional leadership skills, strong scores, and no financial means to continue their education past primary school". The girls, who come from all over Kenya and represent ~30 tribes, receive a full 4-year scholarship at the school.

My high school has been involved with the development of Daraja Academy for quite some years already. I have helped with fundraisers, but wasn't very committed to the cause. All this has changed since the trip. I can talk forever about my stay at Daraja, so here goes.

As a quite and shy person, I was overwhelmed by the girls attacking us with hugs. We arrived late, well past their lights out time (the school can only afford 4 hours of electricity every day), but they stayed up to welcome us. I was kind of freaked out by it, but it just shows how happy they were that we visited.

Throughout the week, we shadowed the girls, we tutored them, we did volunteer work around the campus, played many games, and went on field trips with them. But nothing beats the friendships we made during our stay. The girls are so open about themselves, and they are so genuine. Listening to their stories, I'm thankful that I'm so fortunate, but I also felt ashamed. The things they consider as luxuries, I take for granted (electricity, education, food, clean water, AC/heater...) since I grew up having so much more compared to most of them. However, this by no means make them any less happy or smart. They are wicked smart, and will definitely achieve their hopes and dreams

I have enjoyed every little bit of my stay at Daraja, and leaving was bittersweet. I will never forget the place, and I hope another opportunity will come by so they can come to me or I can go visit them again.

Connect with Daraja:
Official page | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter


Safari

After Daraja, the safari was a whole new world. As it is meant for tourists, the hotels were exceptional. It is both amazing and sad to see such a huge difference in the areas merely separated by fences. There are the hotels inside the national parks, then there are the villages outside the parks. The people with the money who spend thousands of dollars to see wild animals, and the people who run after tourists' buses just to try to earn a little bit by selling cheap products.

Lake Nakuru and Maasai Mara was another week of the trip. They are two very different habitats, so it was nice to be able to go to both and see the diversity in animals. My favourites were of course the big cats. I loved watching the lions and the cheetahs. Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to see leopards (another excuse to go again!). Giraffes, wildebeasts, dik diks, zebras... There are too many animals to name!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I greatly recommend travelling to Africa, both to actually experience (not only to know) the culture difference, and also to see animals in wildlife. Put "going to Africa" in your bucket list!

Nakupenda sana (I love you so much)!
Amanda

Two New Jewelry Designs!

Hey everyone!

Ok, here are my two new designs! I really like them! I'm currently obsessed with braided friendship bracelets!

This is a pink, yellow, orange, braided wrap bracelet :)

I love wrapped bracelet because they just, I guess, wrap around your wrist nicely.

It has texture and look like you paired a bunch of different bracelets together.

The charms are a ballerina, a heart, and an Eiffel Tower.

They match nice with the colors, and charms add interest instead of just a plain bracelet.

This is a very nautical inspired braided bracelet.

It has a white strand, a navy strand and gold chain braided together.

It's perfect for spring because the nautical trend is very in this season.

Not a lot of people put chains into braids, but I think it really adds texture and interest to it!

So I hope you enjoy these handmade jewelry posts. I love arts and craft and you can customize it to become your own!

Don't forget to subscribe to my beauty channel for more fashion tips!

xoxo,

Amanda