Review: Empties (Summer & Fall 2014)

Hi guys!

It's been quite a while since my last post. I was really busy and my winter break started not long ago so here I am with some time to blog. I have some empties to share and most of these products were already mentioned in my previous posts so I will link them below the picture if you want to check them out in detail :)

Firstly, I have finished using up the Sana Moisturizing Milky Lotion Emulsion. I really enjoyed using this and my mom has already repurchased this while she was in Japan. (I will write about my Japan Haul soon).

Click here for Sana Moisturizing Milky Lotion Emulsion review

Another product that I have finished using is the Philosophy Pink Frosted Animal Cracker Shower Gel. I bought this two summers ago but I never got around to using it. When I finally started using it, it lasted me quite a long time since it's a pretty big bottle. I also really liked this scent because it is really sweet. Overall, I think this is a nice product but I would keep trying out new shower gels.

Another empty that I would like to share is the DHC Deep Cleansing Oil. This is a really popular product in Japan which my mom bought back a while ago. I really wished that the product came in a bigger bottle because I actually finished using it up really quickly. Once again, my mom brought back another bottle of this from Japan and it was indeed a much bigger bottle. 

The next empty is my all-time favorite mascara. This is the Heroine Make Kiss Me Mascara. This mascara holds a curl so well, does not flake, and provides really beautiful volume and length. I highly recommend this. 

I apologize that the following pictures are taken by my iPhone. I did not have my camera with me when I took these pictures. 

The Not Your Mother's Beach Babe Texturizing Conditioner was a product I purchased in the US. It took me faster than I expected to finish using up this product and honestly, this conditioner was not as good as I thought it would be. It was too "liquidy" and not thick enough. Furthermore, I felt that it did not provide enough nutrients for my hair because my hair still felt really dry after using this. It also does not give me wavy hair that I desired and I don't really think that this is "texturizing" because my hair was still stick straight and boring after using this. Thus, I won't be repurchasing this in future.

I have also finished using up the Bath and Body Works Sea Island Cotton Gentle Foaming Hand Soap. I really liked the texture of the hand soap, however, the smell was slightly too fresh for me. I don't know why but it reminded me of detergent. I do really enjoy the other scents that I have such as Meyer Lemon and Warm Vanilla Sugar. 

The last product that I would like to share is the Innisfree Green Tea Pure Body Lotion. I have written a review about this previously and I will link it down below. I would also like to add that after using this for some time, I feel that this lotion is a little too "liquidy" and it ran out really fast after using it everyday. I probably will not be repurchasing this in future simply because there are lotions out there that will last me a longer time. 

Click here for Innisfree Green Tea Lotion review

That is all I have for now!

Thank you so much for being patient with me. I know that I was really inactive but I will always try to blog whenever I can. Thanks for reading! :)

Review: Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour Foundation

Hi guys!

I know it has been ages since I wrote a post and I apologize because I have been really busy.

So a while back, I went to the US and I managed to pick up some beauty products that I wanted to try out. Foundations are really important in my makeup routine so I bought some of those. In case you didn't know, drugstore foundations typically do not have a tester, so you have to eyeball the tube/glass and try to get the right shade. 

Or you could be sneaky like me and look for a container that's already opened and try out the color on your hand. I'm sure a lot of people do that.

Anyway, I was at Ulta and I picked up the Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour Foundation. I've heard a lot about Rimmel on Youtube, but I didn't have high hopes of getting the right shade of foundation since my skin is fairly light but not light enough for many shades. It's like right in the middle between the lightest and second lightest shade or the second and third lightest shade depending on the brand. I picked up a foundation anyway since it was only $6.99. 

I'm actually pretty satisfied with this foundation! The color match is not that bad for my skin; It's just slightly more orange than yellow and slightly darker than my skin. At first I thought this would be just another foundation that I would leave at the back of my drawer but sometimes, when I don't feel the need to use a really pricey foundation, this would be a good choice.

Please excuse my naked face and my hair. I was having a real bad hair day.

As you can see, I have really bad undereye circles. I think I have mentioned this before but my undereye circles have always been there since I was young. I suspect that I just have a lot of blood vessels in that area so no matter how much I sleep, it never gets better.

The foundation comes in a plastic tube. I didn't expect a very pretty packaging anyway since it's only $6.99. However, it is quite easy to carry around. This is in the shade 102 Warm Ivory.

It is quite liquidy which is good because some foundations that are thicker than this tend to make my face super cakey. As you can see, this is a yellow undertoned foundation, but when you apply it, it is slightly more orange. My lighting in the bathroom might have made it seem a little more yellow. This is something that you'd want to take note of when viewing these photos. 

I like applying liquid foundations with a stippling brush.

I then go over slightly smaller areas with a smaller dense brush. This is the expert face brush by Real Techniques. 

And I'm pretty much done!

The foundation did a really good job at covering my undereye circles, considering how dark they were before. The blemishes on my face were also covered pretty nicely. This foundation is definitely a medium to full coverage foundation. I think if you were slightly darker than me and have an orange undertone, this foundation might be your best friend.

I also noticed that there seemed to be a sweet scent to the foundation. To me, it was really subtle and I didn't care much for it, but if you are someone that really dislikes putting a scented product on your face, then you might want to keep that in mind when buying this foundation.

Under natural lighting.

That is it for now! Again, I am trying my best to find time to blog but I apologize in advance if I am really inactive here.

Thank you so much for reading :)

DIY: Framed Lipstick Kiss Art

Hi guys!

Some time ago, I posted a photo on Instagram which was my very own DIY lipstick kiss art! I am really happy about how this turned out because it actually isn't as easy as it seems. It took me three tries to finally get it to look like how I wanted it to. 

So, I'm going to show you how I made this because it seems like some of my friends really liked this!

Cut out a piece of construction paper which is of the same size of your photo frame.

Drawing guidelines REALLY helped me with this. The reason I failed the first two times was because I thought that I would get the kiss at the right place but it was either too far apart or not aligned properly. 

Innisfree Color Glow Lipstick - No. 5 Plum Burgundy

Click here for my review.

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter - 080 Strawberry Shortcake

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick - 440 Cherries In The Snow

*This lipstick is red but somehow it turned out really pink on paper.

MAC Cremesheen Lipstick - A92 Crème D'Nude

Wet 'n' Wild Mega Last Lipstick - 967 Dollhouse Pink

Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balm - 225 Sultry

NYX Extra Creamy Round Lipstick - LSS595 Strawberry Milk

Tonymoly Kiss Lover Lip Master - 1 First Kiss

*This turned out more red than I expected.

Click here for my review.

The actual color in the lipstick will turn out different on paper so you should definitely test it out on a separate sheet of paper first before deciding to use it. I tried to vary the colors as much as possible.

I hope you found this interesting and thanks for reading! :)

Improving Myself

Hi guys!

A lot has been happening recently and I really had no time to blog a lot. But I feel that this is gonna be a very important blog post because I want to reflect on myself so that I can become a better person. I treat this blog as a space not only for fashion/beauty but where I can write my thoughts too when I don't feel like talking to anyone in particular. I know this sounds cheesy but I believe that every once in a while, we all need to do a deep self-evaluation about our lives no matter how busy we are. So here goes my list on some things I feel like I want to get better at. This post is gonna be really really deep just saying :)

1) Eye-contact

I don't know why, but I find it EXTREMELY difficult to keep eye contact with someone when they are talking to me, especially with guys. My eyes just subconsciously flicker away after a few seconds. I'm not sure if I'm shy or awkward, but I feel like this is something I really need to work on. It's like I look away because I'm afraid that they will see the flaws on my face, on me. However, eyes really convey a lot of emotion and I want to be able to look into someone else's eyes too so that I can feel more human and connect with them.

Btw, I'm sorry if the way I write is philosophically deep. I'm just pouring out all my inner thoughts so yeah just bare with me. My views are kinda interesting too ok. 

2) Being aggressive

I don't mean being violent, I'm saying that I want to be more confident of myself and express my views more courageously. Sometimes, I feel like I'm afraid to hurt people, because I know that it doesn't feel good to get hurt by others. But not expressing my views honestly and fearlessly will just end up backfiring and I will be the one who is losing out on what I have to say. Being aggressive doesn't mean that you are being hurtful, you are just expressing bare facts. I don't want to keep backing down to others' opinions and giving in to their way of thinking, because I have my own mind too and I don't want people to keep speaking for me from now on. 

3) To care more, but only for the right people

Society easily influences us. Ever since I moved to Shanghai, I feel like I don't feel love here. The local people are extremely impatient, they glare at you, and you don't expect them to show any acts of kindness towards you. Honestly, I have lost faith in 90% of the Chinese society. I don't want to become as heartless as them because no one likes heartless people and I keep this mental note to myself that I will always spread love to others whenever possible. HOWEVER, I'm not going to be too nice because nice people often give the impression that others can easily take advantage of them. Frankly, moving to Shanghai has helped me figure out who my true friends are or at least who are not my friends anymore. I can confidently say that almost 80% of the people in my old school in Singapore might have known me, talked to me, or hung out with me, but right now, I'm still not even confident enough to say that I have 5 people I consider as friends. I cared too much about people who didn't care about me. Feeling as if I am taken for granted, I learnt a lesson. I know I sound extremely mean and I don't seem like someone who spreads love, but if you think about this, I'm sure it has happened to you to some extent before. You treat others the way you want to be treated, and if you don't care about me, then I honestly don't see why I should dedicate so much effort caring about you. I promise myself that I will take the effort to start caring, to reach out a helping hand and put a smile on others' faces first. But afterwards, if only one party is trying to spread love to the other, it just doesn't work.

4) Think smarter

Yes, I know, I want to think smarter. A lot of people think that my grades are really good but I'm honestly not that smart. I just study a lot. Most of the information that goes into my brain leaves my brain after a year. Somehow I'm doing something wrong and I need to find out what that is. And also, ever since I went to Stanford for a summer camp and interacted with some really intelligent people, it motivated me to learn like them. They are always participating, thinking, and trying to understand why something works the way it does and I think that's what I want to work on instead of just listening to the teacher and going, "Oh okay sure". 

5) Believing that someone right is out there, but I just haven't met him yet

I seriously wished that some of my old crushes dated me. But unfortunately, nothing ever happened. Sometimes, I get really frustrated at myself and wonder, "What am I doing wrong" or "Why don't they like me". Other times, I get really angry at them and go like, "Yo I'm a really sassy and intelligent and funny girl do you not get it you should date me". Sometimes, even my mom thinks that there must be at least one guy who is interested in me but "Hahaha no mom, no guys like me" is always my answer to her. I'm not trying to boast that I'm girlfriend material and everyone should date me but I always feel as if I'm NEVER good enough for any of my previous crushes. I start losing hope in myself and then sometimes I start losing hope in guys. But I know that I must never think that way. Just because 50 guys do not appreciate you for who you are, doesn't mean that there won't be a guy out there waiting to appreciate you. I want to stop being negative about certain guys and just wait for the right one to come by. 

Yeah and that will be all I have. I tried stating my opinion as clearly as I could. Thanks for reading this long post! :)

Music I've Been Loving! (August 2014)

Hi guys!

I apologize for being so inactive. Junior year is really busy for me and I don't have much time to spare on social media. So, I'm gonna jump right in and tell you songs I've been listening to a lot this month!

1) Don't Stop - 5 Seconds of Summer

2) Bartender - Lady Antebellum

3) Turn Down For What - DJ Snake & Lil Jon

4) Maps - Maroon 5

5) Habits - Tove Lo

6) Partition - Beyonce

7) Problem - Ariana Grande Feat. Iggy Azalea

8) Die In Your Arms Cover (Justin Bieber) - Ariana Grande

9) Crazy Beautiful - Andy Grammer

10) Violin - Amos Lee

11) We Both Know - Colbie Caillat Feat. Gavin DeGraw

12) Moonshine - Sara Haze

13) Boom Clap - Charli XCX

14) Miss Firestarter - Midnight Red

15) Fancy - Iggy Azalea Feat. Charli XCX (This is my song)

I hope you check these songs out if you need new music in your playlist. Thank you for reading!

Ootd: Back To School Outfit! (13 August 2014)

Hi guys!

It's been a long time since I did an Ootd. I posted this on my instagram too so check my Instagram out at: itsjennyzhu.

Gray tank top with pocket - Old Navy
Plaid skirt - Hollister

This is my back to school outfit and it seriously looks so simple but it still looks good at the same time! I got quite a few compliments so I hope that this gives you some inspiration if you're going back to school soon!

Thank you for reading :)

Mac Prep + Prime Powder Overspill and How I Dealt With It

Hi guys!

So one day, when I wanted to use my Mac Prep and Prime Transparent Loose Finishing Powder, I had a heart attack. I found out that the majority of my powder spilled out. It was probably because I brought it to Vietnam with me and the container was rolling all over the place. It's really depressing.

Well but I can't just sit there and cry. It was impossible to dip a sponge or a brush in and continue to use the powder because the powder would just get everywhere and I'm wasting even more of it. So I took an unused pepper shaker and used a tiny spoon to transfer the powder to the shaker. I know this pepper shaker is slightly too big but I couldn't just ignore the problem because it was bothering me so badly. If you're facing a similar problem with your loose powder falling out, a better way would be to use a sifter jar like this which you can probably get at Sephora:

You could also use any tiny spoon like a medicine spoon or a coffee spoon too, but I probably won't put those spoons back into my mouth even after washing them.

I hope this helped if you are dealing with a similar situation! Thank you for reading :)

Singapore Beauty Haul 2014

Hi guys!

When my dad visited Singapore, he kindly helped me pick up some things. I actually got these quite a while back in June but I never got to blog about them. I will do a quick review on them right here if I have used them. 

I ran out of facial cleanser so I decided to try out the Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash. I don't have perfect skin and I get pimples every now and then, and I have major breakouts when I have a lot of stress from school. I already have some acne scarring so I'm hoping that this will really help to stop acne from forming. I have started using this already and I really like this formula. You only need a tiny amount and it turns into a lot of foam. It's also unscented and it does not dry out my face like some other facial cleansers do. 

I also got the Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hour Eyeshadow in 15 Audacious Asphalt. My dad actually got the wrong color; I wanted Silver Strike but I guess I could work with this. I have not used it on my eyes yet since I don't really use eyeshadow on a daily basis and this is a darker color so I would only use it when I have to go out at night or something. 

I got another tube of the Nivea Essential Care Lip Balm. This is my all time favorite lip balm so far. I feel like I talk about this all the time and I definitely recommend this!

I decided to try out the Mac Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder. It is a loose powder and I have started using this but I feel like it makes my face look a little cakey... I'm guessing that it's probably because I apply too much when I use a powder brush and I am looking for new ways to apply my powder. I will get back to you guys when I try out different methods. The good thing about this is that it is transparent so I don't have to worry if my skin color changes throughout the seasons, not that it changes much though.

The last thing that I got is the Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia EDP. I have been wanting this perfume for a really, really long time. I absolutely love this perfume and it's my new favorite summer fragrance. It feels super clean and fresh and a little citrusy. I'm really picky with scents and I'm someone who prefers fresh scents over sweet and fruity scents for the summer and this is why I love this so much.

I hope you found this helpful and thank you for reading :)