MAC Sumo Sale: 25% Off All Products!

Oh MAC, why are you so tempting?! I’ve missed all the previous F&F sales, but this time the internet is abuzz with the upcoming Sumo sale on June 16-18! During these 3 days, MAC is offering 25% off all its products (excluding Viva Glam) and I’m muy excited! I’ve been itching to pick up some MAC staples and this is awesome timing!!! In my bag so far:

-Fix+ + Rose (the addition of rose is such a great idea)
-194 Concealer Brush
-150 Powder Brush
-187 Stippling Brush (love it so much that I need another one!)
-Pro Palette Quad x4 Eyeshadow
-Bronze, Ricepaper, Era, and Satin Taupe pro palette refills
-Uniform Technakohl Liner (a must-have in my daily routine)

I want morreee!

Enter code: SUMO at checkout for 25% off and free shipping! Enjoy.

Wokai: Growing Microfinance in China

We forget easily that the $50 on foundation, $100 on clothes, $300 on sunglasses, and etcetra is money that not many people have the luxury of spending. Especially as women in corporate America, we forget even more easily that we are lucky to have opportunities which do not exist in other countries.

One of our good friends is currently working overseas with Wokai, a non-profit organization focused on providing microloans to poor entrepreneurs in China. I was amazed to see how little money (compared to how much we spend on a regular basis) these people need in order to better enrich their lives and provide for their families. As such, please read below for more information regarding this great cause!

What is Wokai?

Wokai delivers an internet microfinance platform that allows individuals to provide Chinese microentrepreneurs with loan capital. Our organization acts as an intermediary in this process, transferring funds from contributors abroad to microentrepreneurs in China through our field partners.

Who does Wokai support?

A typical Wokai microentrepeneur is a female rural inhabitant, living on less than $1/day. Her microfinance loan, ranging from $150-$300 dollars, provides her with the capital to start a small business. Her business varies by location, raising sheep in a rural grassland or operating a small fruit stand in a city center.

With her income, she accumulates savings, which allows her to allocate money towards long-term investments like education and health. By the end of her loan cycle, she has experienced increased financial independence, bolstered self-confidence, and a strengthened sense of community.

Learn more and contribute today at http://www.wokai.org.

This blog post is part of Zemanta’s “Blogging For a Cause” campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

Zemanta will be giving away $6000 (split) to the five charities who get blogged about the most before June 6. Please help us reblog and spread the word about Wokai!

Eye Awakening Discovery

Trips back to Berkeley and the SF Bay Area always make for some great weekends: I love the people, places, food, and weather (most of the time). I’ve only been back twice since moving to LA and it never fails to surprise me that after having lived there for 4 years, there’s still so much I’ve never seen/done before!

On my most recent trip, I didn’t just discover some fantastic new food places, but also a girl’s most needed accessory: pink eyeliner! Like many, I’ve heard countless tips about lining the bottom waterline with white eyeliner as an eye-popping trick (a la Tyra Banks). However, being darker toned, my little Asian eyes have never really been able to pull off the look the way it’s meant to be done. While getting ready for a night out with the girls, I noticed this cute little pencil in my friend’s make-up pile. It was perfect! The shu uemura brand has always caught my attention for its vibrant coloring, so I’m not surprised that the Spring Mode Drawing Pencil in Me Pink is another one of their fabulous concoctions.

After scouring multiple Nordstroms for the pencil, I finally picked up this much need addition to my make-up collection! The pencil is creamy and smooth, perfect for a quick and easy application without the worry of eye irritation. The pink hue also has the perfect hint of glimmer in it. No, not glitter, but glimmer and shine. This is a great feature that sets it apart from Benefit’s best-selling Eye Bright, which is matte and thus doesn’t show up as much when I wear it. I love that I can stick to lightly lining my waterline for daytime wear and then upping the oomph factor by drawing the inner corners of my eyes for a night out!

Summer Sandals

Summer’s pretty much here and with the beautiful change in weather, every girl needs a cute, comfy pair of sandals! Now that I am no longer a scrubby college student at Cal, it’s probably time to trade in my beloved Rainbow flip-flops for something a little dressier to pair with my summer outfits (hello dresses and skirts in bright colors!). Unfortunately, despite all the choices that are out there, finding a pair I’ve liked has been more of a difficult task than I expected.

Finally, thanks to some help from a co-worker, I picked up a perfect pair from Urban Outfitters! 

   

The Ecote Braided Leather Sandals are exactly what I’ve been looking for: simple, cute, comfy, and will go with any outfit. I’ve been wearing them for a week now and love that they are so lightweight and soft. The sandals come in five colors (all very cute and wearable) and are only $28! They may not be the dressiest or trendiest pair of sandals, but I’m loving how easy they are to slip on for weekend and nighttime outings.

These sandals also appear to be a huge favorite of The Hills’ girls. Lauren Conrad has been spotted out and about in black and cognac versions while her BFF, Lo Bosworth, was recently seen with the ivory Ecotes while donning a cute summer dress:

(photo credit to Pacific Coast News)

Cinco de Mayo, Chanel-Style

Every now and then, a genius marketing campaign hits you when you least expect it.  Like on a holiday that people celebrate merrily with tacos, margaritas, and cacarachas (or if you were at work like me, you read about other eople’s  festivities on Twitter… sigh).  Today, Cinco de Mayo for those of you who missed it, Chanel partnered with Saks Fifth Avenue to promote and honor its signature perfume, Chanel No. 5.

Large Chanel flags decorated and lined the side of building, window displays boasted scenes with both size bottles of the fragrance, and whimsical street signs re-dubbed sections of the avenue as “Avenue Chanel No. 5″.  Along with the eye candy, Chanel gave away free deluxe samples of the scent, and also unveiled its just-for-Chanel short film, Train de Nuit, starring Amelie actress Audrey Tautou (love!)

(photo credit to Racked)

I’m impressed by this fling of creativity – come on, it’s PERFECT: Saks Fifth, on Fifth Avenue + Chanel No. 5 + May 5th. I love when things just work, and this idea and partnership meshed beautifully on so many levels. I also applaud the use of different medium in the execution: the visual displays both above and at ground level, the commercial teasers that got people wondering about what Chanel had up its sleeve, and the samples of the perfume to link the scent with the experience of the day.

More about the perfume, it was purposefully created to be made up of synthetic notes, that is, unnatural scents as opposed to its floral counterparts. This is the reason why upon first encounters, many would describe it as on the strong and heavier side. The rich composition includes ylang ylang, jasmine, vanilla, patchouli, and iris.

I don’t personally use the perfume – I prefer lighter scents for now, but appreciate the timelessness of the fragrance, an extention of the classic yet modern appeal of the brand itself. Well done, Chanel, excelente.

Wet ‘N Wild Kohl Brow Liner

One of my friends has a tendency of asking people for secrets–I personally don’t know how to keep secrets, so I have never had anything exciting to share. Once, I blurted out, “I only have half an eyebrow”. As unexciting a secret as that may be, inheriting the short, stubby eyebrows of my father has always been something I’ve been upset about. Pluck and shape as I might, they will never be the beautiful arches I dream of. As such, I’ve tried a bevy of eyebrow pencils and powders and have dealt with all the woes that they bring: too dark, too fake, smudging and fading.

Don’t you love when you finally find a solution to your problems and it’s not only cheap, but works? That rarely happens… but miraculously, such a solution apparently exists for my eyebrow troubles! This comes in the form of Wet ‘N Wild Kohl Brow Liner in Taupe… and for only $0.99!! I stumbled across this wonder product thanks to Aubrey. She mentioned that not only is the color natural, but the pencil has wax in it so that there is no need for setting after applying! I picked up two of these at Rite Aid and have been in love  ever since. The taupe color looks super light in person, so I was a little hesitant about whether or not it would work on me, but it adds the perfect amount of color! With just a few swipes, my brows are ready to go each morning and don’t budge. I love that I’m able to get such a soft, natural look with such little effort and that after being out 12 hours a day, my brows are still just as they were in the morning.

It is hard to believe that something so simple could be so great, but I am definitely going to stock up on these so that I will never run out.

When Your Eyes Say It

To be honest, my first year of working has been tough on me. It’s not that I wasn’t expecting all of this, but as superficial as it may sound, I just don’t feel pretty at work. Ever. The lack of Vitamin D (as too many of us working girls suffer from), sleep, and water definitely has not helped the situation any. I’m sure everyone has those days when you just don’t feel 100%, but what happens when your eyes constantly say it?

I have never been the concealer-wearing kind of girl, never really believing I needed it (why do I need more layers under there when I’m already wearing foundation?). Well, unfortunately my sunken eyes have become too much to ignore. I realized that I desperately need it and that it was finally time to find a good one.

After playing around with a few choices that included Laura Mercier, Stila, The Balm (which is apparently one of the best selling), and others, I finally settled on The Eraser from Tarte. It comes in 10 different colors and is priced at $19. This has turned out to be the perfect choice! First of all, it’s packed with natural ingredients (and free of sulfates and chemicals). One of the highlights of the ingredients list is actually arnica flower, which is supposed to lighten dark circles. Vitamin E also helps decrease inflammation (great for puffy eyes or zits)! It comes in a clicky-pen packaging which is convenient and easy to use. It bothered me the first few times that NOTHING would come out after a million clicks, but now that I’ve been regularly using it, it hasn’t been a problem anymore. I’ve found that most concealers are too heavy and dry for me to use, but the consistency of The Eraser is amazing and so easy to layer. I swipe it under my eyes, the sides of my nose, and problem spots every morning and can instantly see a difference. I can’t believe I ever lived without this!!!

I never wanted to use concealer–it’s definitely added in that extra step I’m sometimes too impatient to go through in the mornings. However, the pay-off is well worth the effort. My eyes look brighter, less depressed, and the effects play off to the rest of my face. This product has helped me take my first small step towards combatting those workday wounds.

Fresh Espace Review

Last Saturday, I took a trip down to the beautiful South Coast Plaza with my two best friends and had an AH-mazing time. Not only is the mall as gorgeous and wallet-emptying as I imagined (never have I wanted to buy, buy, buy as much as I did there), but we were pampered with refreshing facials at the Fresh store as part of Spa Week.

Fresh is a fun and “refreshing” beauty line and I was super excited to try out their (pricey) products! I loved the clean, simple feel of the store. It reminds me a lot of Kiehl’s actually, but with a fun touch of girliness.  Unfortunately, since this was a retail location, there wasn’t too much of a “spa” feel to the process. For our facials, we were set-up in a small room partitioned in the back. Although a little cramped, it was clean and relaxing. It was a little odd to be able to hear the hustle and bustle of the store outside the door, but the soothing products and facial immediately put me at ease. I was given the Purify and Control facial for my problematic skin. Unlike other facials I’ve had, this didn’t mean extractions! Instead, my facialist, Maria cleansed my skin with the Soy Cleanser mixed with a bit of Umbrian Clay Mask. After I was set with the Umbrian Clay Mask for 5 minutes before she topped it off with the Rose Face Mask for additional hydration and calming. It was fun to see how all the products could work well alone and even better together! The best part was that everything smelled amazing. I wanted to take all the products home with me, but I resisted and stuck to just the clay mask. My girl friends both agreed that the Sugar Lip Treatment is the top must have, but I had to skip on it for now as my lip balm & gloss collection is getting embarrassingly too large! It is next on my list though!

Overall, the Fresh girls were sweet and fun to spend the day with and were great about not pushing us to buy products. Aside from these great products, however, the overall facial experience was pretty basic compared to others I’ve had. My favorite part was the luxurious feather brush with which Maria used to apply the treatments, but I’m convinced that the $125 price tag is more for the products than the experience (no hydrating gloves for my dry hands?). Since Fresh offers store credit equal to the amount of their facial services, it’s hard to resist the deal. However, I’m sad to say that a week later, I don’t feel like I have that “glow” that I usually get after my facials. For my lovely friends with better skin than me, this was a great choice for them! We walked out of the store happy and content and wanting to buy the entire store. If Fresh opens up a real spa one day, I will be sure to be one of their most devoted patrons!

For now I will religiously use the Umbrian Clay Mask and hope for the best.