Happy New Year!!

I have a ton of posts that I have written up but haven't posted, my new years resolution will be to consistently blog more!

2013 was a fantastic year for me, I have had such an amazing time. With spending the holidays with new friends I made in Japan, to going around Southeast Asia with a close friend of mine, then coming home and readjusting to my mundane life, and finally finishing school and preparing to start a new adventure. There are so many things I want to say about what I have been through this year, but it would be way too long to post.

All in all 2013 was a great year, and here is to another amazing year!

Forever 21 Haul

A couple of weeks ago, Forever21 Canada had a 30% off sale items sale. 

I was totally eyeing the sale section online, but having no money and to get free shipping you have to spend over $60, I didn't want to pull the trigger to buy a couple of items. But once I got an email that there was an extra 30% off sale items, I just had to order what I was eyeing, and a bit extra. 

The dirty box that my order came in

I didn't take a picture the clothes I ordered. All I got was a pair of athletic shorts, a emerald green v-neck shirt, and a blue dress (the blue dress and shorts were items I wanted the most).

My favourite purchases were the bags. On the left is this giant white duffel bag. It is HUGE! I decided to buy it because it was cheap (as was ALL the items in this haul) and it can fit so much! If I needed it for a impromptu trip somewhere, I can fit everything and anything in this bag!

On the right, the blue bag was labeled as a "camera shoulder bag". I was excited for a smaller bag to carry around my compact DSLR camera, but once I received the bag I realized it can only fit a point and shoot digital camera. Irregardless of the fact that my camera won't fit, love this bag. I have been using it daily ever since I got it! It fits my small wallet, coin purse, and my the front pocket fits my cellphone. It is great quality, and I am so happy that I decided to buy this!

Lastly, I decided to haul some accessories and nail polish. I bought some sunglasses because my parents wanted some, they were around $4 each so I bought two pairs, one for myself, and the other for my mom (although I am giving her some of my older pairs since they have recently discovered the importance of sunglasses). I bought two nail polishes because they were 70 cents each, and I wanted to try the formula. I have tried them but I don't know I feel about them just yet, a future review will come.

Lastly I bought some hair clips! My hair has been so plain lately that I really wanted to add something to make it pop!

If you can tell, I have been into the turquoise, blue/green colours. I haven't had a chance to wear the hair clips yet, but I love them, and can't wait to wear them once school starts. 

That will be my last haul for a while! I have to get a new laptop because my old one is slowing me down and heating up extremely fast. On top of that I am buying a coffee machine for my family (although it'll mainly be me using it, hahaha), and starting to save up for a (proper) DSLR. 

Next post might just be a life update post! That or a makeup review. 

I'm actually looking forward to going back to school, I'm entering my final year of university so a (majority) of my courses are ones I actually want to take. After taking a year off learning Japanese, I realized that I want to go back to classes with a little more... substance. 

Although I am sure I will regret that sentence within a week of school starting, but right now I'm happy to be doing something with my life, instead of my lazying around home and going to my part time job. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the last of their summer! :) 

Mascara Reviews! Maybelline Turbo Volume Express, Canmake Gokubuto, Kiss Me Heroine Long and Curl

While I was in Hong Kong during April, I stopped by Sasa to pick up some mascara since I had to look "dolled up" for an party with my friend. My previous mascara I threw out, since I didn't think I needed to wear makeup at all during my travel (all I had was concealer). 

In Hong Kong, I picked up a lot of face masks, skincare, and the two mascaras that I will blog about here.

Please keep in mind that all the mascaras I use are waterproof. They are the only type that will hold my curl.  

The first thing I picked up was Canmake's Gokubuto mascara. 

I only chose this because I heard that Canmake makes really good cheap makeup products. While I, unfortunately, didn't pick up any other makeup items by Canmake, I decided to choose this because mascara is VERY important to Japanese girls. 

My opinion: I didn't like it at all. Doesn't hold a curl and it smudges. The product gunks up on the brush so defining my lashes made it difficult, I had to clean the wand with a paper towel several times. Even after I cleaned it, the product quickly began to stick to the wand.

The only way I continued to use this by layering it over waterproof mascaras. 

When I realized that the Gokubuto mascara was horrendous, I went back to Sasa and bought the Kiss Me Heroine, Long & Curl mascara. I've heard fabulous things about the Kiss Me series, and I was not disappointed! 

My Opinion: Holds a curl, does not smudge, defines my lashes, it was amazing!

The wand is great, the product barely gets on the wand, and it's super flexible making it easy to reach the upper and lower lashes. 

I recommend this, and if I was to ever get a Japanese mascara again, it would be from the Kiss Me series! :)

After I came back from my Asia adventure, I returned to using my Maybelline Turbo Volume mascara. I love trying all the Maybelline mascaras because they are amazing. After my previous mascara post where I tried the Maybelline Colossal mascara, I wanted to try all of the Maybelline mascaras!

My opinion: As expected! Maybelline makes fantastic waterproof mascaras. Defined my lashes, kept a curl, and it didn't smudge! The wand is very simplistic, but it was still extremely easy to reach all of my upper and lower lashes. 

If I was to choose though, the colossal is my favourite Maybelline mascara though. This one isn't bad, but the colossal made my lashes look much better. I would still recommend this though. 

Right now I am on my second tube of the Kiss Me Heroine, Long & Curl mascara. It is amazing, I wish I had yet ANOTHER tube of it. 

Next on my mascara posts is the sample tube of Benefit's They're Real! I have also been using a non-waterproof version of L'oreal's lashblast volume. Basically, I don't like it. It does add a lot of volume to my lashes, but it doesn't hold my curl. Probably because it isn't waterproof. :( 

What mascaras does everyone like? I would love some recommendations! Right now I have more Maybelline mascaras to get through since I bought some during a sale at Shoppers.