Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Product Review: Sonia Kashuk Eye Makeup Remover

Almost 2 months ago I purchased a bunch of affordable beauty buys and Sonia Kashuk's eye makeup remover was one of them. It's been a product that beauty gurus tend to favor and  I understand why.



I got it at Target for $9.99. The remover claims that it's OK for contact-wearers and those with sensitive skin. The solution appears to be purple liquid on the bottom and white liquid floating on the top. The directions say to "gently shake bottle, then apply small amount to cotton pad. Wipe gently from the inside of the eye to the outer corner to remove regular and waterproof eye makeup. Rinse your eyes with cool water. Leaves a refreshing feeling." When you shake the solution it becomes a milky lilac color.

 I've not done the tip for the refreshing feeling, because after I've wiped my eyes with this solution, I've felt it's so light that I can't feel anything left behind. Typically, I'll wash my face like normal. Which is a double cleanse with facial cleanser. Then I will do three dabs of the remover on a cotton pad then remove my eye makeup. It gets all my eye makeup off with any irritation!

On the rare day I feel like just getting my eye makeup off without going through my whole face routine, it takes at least 2 cotton pads to remove all my eye makeup. Tonight, I wanted to take off my eye makeup before cleansing my face, and it took 3 pads since I was wearing heavy dark eyeshadow, liquid liner, and two coats of mascara. Even though 3 pads seem like a lot to use at one cleansing, it honestly doesn't take much product.

There was 4.75fl oz in the bottle. In 2 months, I still have slightly over half the bottle left. So, I'm quite pleased with the fact that it lasts long.

I'll definitely be purchasing this again and recommend everyone to try it!

--
Here's a peek at my nails this week! I had just the base color Charged Up Cherry by OPI on my ring fingers and turquoise & caicos by Essie on the rest of my nails. I fell asleep when they were wet. I woke up with ugly bed sheet imprints on every single nail, so I applied OPI's shatter polish and added a top coat. Which was actually a strengthener by OPI, Nail Envy. When I'm busy pecking away on my Blackberry I keep thinking how much my thumbs look like they have robin's eggs on them.



Good night!

PS Season 3 of The Tudors SUCKS!!!!!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Does lower case "t" icon mean tumblr?

Lately I'm itching for a new phone. I've had my Blackberry Curve 8900 for awhile now. I just updated all my little apps and whatnot, but I want the cuter white Storm. Or maybe it's the Bold? In any case, I want cute! But I'm also thinking, maybe I actually care about the technology behind my phone... dun dun DUN! I had to text Eric to find out what 3g and 4g meant. Ha. That's how technologically I'm lacking. Perhaps I'll ponder for a MONTH and then make a decision. I think that's a smart idea. Indeed.

Life's pretty good. Although I'm starting to feel like I may come down with a deathly tonsil illness, life still remains good. I'm still happy with work. I'm excited to be taking over as sole manager soon. I'm excited for addition staff, a couple or so whom I've worked with at my old salon. Also excited over getting Bumble and bumble. Excited for the new salon that started construction last week! (Blowout bar salon my boss is opening up in June). Things are just going great.

I have a reviews that I swear I'll get done by the end of this month... make-up remover, foundation, vitamins, and hair products!

I'm going to hop in bed with The Darkside of Camelot. Maybe I'll finish that book one day. Infact! I'm going to be sure to finish it by.... May 18th! Random date that sounds nice in my head.

Good read and good night!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Chicago Trip-- Day 6

Hello, tired as hell!

The original plans of waking up early and heading to the Field Museum then heading for O'hare kind of went out of the window when Bryce and I woke up with only having got 15 minutes of decent sleep. I hate Hotel 71's air conditioning system!!!! Since it was hot out, the a/c seemed to keep at the same temperature. The back of my shirt was literally soaked since the room was so hot. Anywho, so we got our overstuffed bags, checked out and I was honest when they asked how my stay was. It was only ALRIGHT and I hate their air conditioning system. And the noise!

We went to Corner Cafe and ate breakfast. I had a yummy panini  with scrabbled eggs, tiny bacon bits, green onions and avocado. It was quite delicious. Bryce was in a piss-poor mood because he was sleep-deprived, stuck in a busy cafe, and had tons o' baggage. He was a bad boy. Didn't even take off his sunglasses and hat. Ha. We ate at a slow pace, then headed for the Blue Line CLARK/LAKE not STATE/LAKE (I hate googlemaps). We headed to O'hare like 6 hours early. We decided to see if we could catch an earlier flight and luckily we got tickets for the 5pm flight and the $50 fees were waived because our ticket counter lady said she knew that there would be a delay since all the flights were delayed. None of the Houston flights were delayed, but hey... not going to complain. So we went through security, and I managed to beat the system and didn't have to go through the TSA scanner. I walked through the metal detector with all these flight attendants and pilots I let cut ahead of me in line. More like they just said it'd be easier if they all went ahead of me... whatever logic that is.

We went to gate B22, the last gate... waited there for about 2 hours. I went to the ladies room, and walked slowly back to Bryce. He's waving at me to "come here" and he shows me our boarding pass. We're supposed to be at gate B2, we're in aisle 22! So LITERALLY, we're on one end of the airport, and we speed-walk/jog to B2! I kept thinking, "we can tell people we're on The Amazing Race so they'll stay out of our way" we made it to the gate right after 4:30pm, and just had called "aisles 25 and higher" one minute later, we're boarding. Phew!

Slept part of the flight. It's good to be home. I'm not excited about going back to work, but Monica's got to replenish her bank account!

Blurry ass photo of a lamer downtown than Chicago's:

Chicago Trip-- Day 5

I'M SO TIRED AND SLEEPY!!!!

After Bryce and I woke up, he decided to climb the neighboring building and take pictures of our hotel room from the rooftop. That was his favorite adventure of the entire trip. He looked pretty cool doing it too. Even though it was hell waiting in the window for him, because it was 80 fucking degrees!!!!!!!!!!! I hate you, Sun.

For lunch we ate at Gino's East.... DERRICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!! The best freaking pizza I've ever had. The pizza sauce was out of this world deliciousness. Completely worth the 45 minute wait!


Went shopping at the other, bigger, H&M today. Really didn't see anything I liked, except a camel colored dress that I bought yesterday but in teal. So, I got that. I stopped into a cute baby/children's store called "Kooky" and got Tristan a onesie that says something like "Stop Texting And Change Me" hahaha. Cute. In Victoria's Secret I got a couple Cubs tops and a sequined Cubs hat. I got Nicole some shorts, but White Sox, because they only had large left in the Cubs shorts. Anywhoozle...

We caught the bus for the Lincoln Park Zoo, just to get there and realize it was already closed. By this point I was already pissy pants and disgruntled about the whole day. I hated what I was wearing. My hair felt dirty. I felt dirty. It was hot and humid out. So we waited at the bus stop while a bag lady harassed us and ate and drank out of the trashcan.Of course, there were a billion annoying children on the bus to top that shit off.

When we got back to the hotel, we google map'ed crepe places nearby. We walk. They were closed. Then the near by pub was closed. Starbucks was closed. McDonald's was closed. It was so hot and gross out. I think I even at one point stopped and screamed. I was so grumpy!!!! We ended up stopping at Johnny fucking Rockets. Fake Chicago-style hot dog and a runny chocolate malt. Whatevz.

We napped for a second or two. Then went to Emerald Loop, which was SO hot inside and someone had ordered tuna fish or something, so the entire bar/restaurant stunk. While waiting for my hummus wrap to arrive, it began to smell of a public restroom in a train station in Tokyo, so we got our shit to go and left the shitty waitress a shitty tip. I'm in a shitty mood today.

When we got back to the hotel room I took a bath and thought about how little I rested and how much everything was go, go, go and very little relaxation. Tomorrow is our check-out, so we'll have to get our asses out and we have the Field Museum planned, which I'm looking forward to, however it's more walking, walking, walking. Then Tuesday is bright and early for work... Bleh.

I miss Milton.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Chicago Trip-- Day 4

Another day that can be summed up simply: eat, shop, shop, shop eat!

Firstly, I went to Akira, shoe store, that I had seen days before. I got 2 pairs of shoes! One pair which are really cute and interesting by Irregular Choice. The other were Betsey Johnson nude platform pumps with a sexy lace up the back on the heel. Then, we spent over 2 hours at h&m. Fack, should have realized a Saturday would be packed! Got myself 4 belts, 2 tops, a skirt, a dress, a cardigan and Nicole 2 pairs of jeans and a cute top. I still want to check out the other h&m which is the location with many reviews, so I'm hoping it's even grander. I want more!!!! Haha.



Bryce and I then went to Elephant and Castle to grab a bite and drink, nachos and Strongbow. We stopped by American Apparel to find a decent blazer for Bryce, no such luck. And wow... their clothes are uglier than ever right now!

We stopped in Puma and Anthropologie before our actual shopping. I'm actually extremely pleased I didn't find anything I wanted there!

We stopped by 7-11 to get ice cream. I wasn't into mine so Bryce ate at both of ours and has had a tummyache for over 2 hours now. Poor Babizzle Cream.

I ordered a salmon loin from room service because I was craving something savory. Meeeh... I can't help but feel I wasted money. Oh well. C'est la vie.

There was no rain today, and it actually was cool with strong sunlight. I even got a sunburn on the part in my hair! Ha.

I hope there's no rain tomorrow... Zoo and more shopping!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Chicago Trip-- Day 3

It's only slightly past 11pm and I am TIRED!

Basically today consisted of the Shedd Aquarium and eating. We went to Lou Malnati's for lunch and boy did Bryce drop the ball! He ordered a pizza with MUSHROOMS, which we both detest (it took me 10 minutes to pick them out of the one slice I ate) and it had NO SAUCE, which is our favorite part!!!! Luckily, the waitress was so nice that she didn't charge us. The salad was really good. It was lettuce, bacon bits, diced tomatoes, black olives, Gorgonzola cheese and a sweet dressing. I'm not fond of sweet dressings, but Bryce love, love, loved it. So, that was good.

We walked our way to the aquarium  in the misting rain (btw, it started raining yesterday, boo!) and for nearly $60(for us both) it was quite disappointing. No penguins. No dolphins. One otter. And toooons 'o fish. It definitely was packed with a lot of life, in comparison to Moody Gardens in Houston, where things are a little more spread and it seems the tanks are larger for the animals. Maybe I'm mistaken. I thought I had read about awesome rides and some crap. GUUUUESS NOT!



Walked back to the train, ventured back to the hotel. We kind of relaxed for awhile and researched steakhouses around the area, because I was wanting a steak dinner! We booked 7:30pm reservations at Sullivan's which took less than 10 minutes to walk to. After our meal, we certainly weren't walking back. FOOD COMA! Bread, salad, oysters on a half shell, oysters rockefeller, steak (Thai scallops for Bryce), white cheddar au gratin potatoes AND cheesecake (banana foster's bread pudding with ice cream for Bryce) along with two cocktails each. Gaaah.... SO FUCKING DELICIOUS!!!! I figured out there's a Sullivan's in Houston, but oh well. It was worth it. We spent $220!!!! I think that's the most I've ever paid for my own dinner, haha. Tomorrow's Bryce's day to pay for food, and I'm feeeeling CHEAP. :)

We've been lounging in the bed letting our food babies digest and I've been uploading today's photos while he reads Breaking the Spell. Since I've already washed my face I think I may just go ahead and crash. OOOOR... pick at my leftover dinner and dessert... nyum nyum.... Hope it doesn't rain and/or mist tomorrow! Sh-sh-sh-shopping! :D

Chicago Trip-- Day 2

I discovered the one thing I actually like about the hotel room.... the bath/shower. It's fairly big, for a short person, and the shower has a powerful stream which felt great on my back after a day of walking in platforms!

We ventured out fairly late, 1ish, and hit a few art galleries. Eh, so so. There were several to choose from. We didn't have much time because we'd planned on getting to the Museum of Contemporary Art by 2pm. For those of you who were as dumb as Bryce and I: if you try to get on the train and figure out it's going the wrong way, don't leave the station and try to get on the other side of the platform. In Chicago you have to wait 30 minutes to use your card after you've used it (at the same platform). Bryce claimed he knew that, but... whatever! So, we ended up hailing a cab and getting a $4.25 ride to the MCA. I asked the cabbie what people do in our situations. He told us next time ride the train to the next station then get off and get on the proper platform. Duh. How did we not think of that? It's probably because he was being MEAN and we were fighting most of the day.

ANYWAY, MCA was good! Quite impressed! I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did, because I rarely hear people saying "YOU MUST SEE!" I took a lot of photos, especially of the Jim Nutt exhibit, which Bryce was extremely excited to see since he'd just accidentally discovered him.

We hung out in the gift shop for awile, I got a book on street artists, Bryce got a couple criticism books. There were a lot of awesome things to buy, but I was careful not to be fooled into buying a library!

We went for a late lunch at Kamehachi and had deeeelicious sushi and udon. It was perfect since it was so chilly outside. The sushi chef was nice and explained how they were one of the last traditional Japanese restaurants around. It was slow during the time we were there, but I thought it was a good sign that there was a table of Japanese men and a few more tables were filled when we left.

We ventured to the Art Institute, after much bickering and Bryce being an ass. And we pretty much had to rush through the modern, which had a collection of really quirky and interesting photographs using sausage and at-home products and utensils. Then we went to look at water colors and finally the impressionists. I thought the collection was pretty impressive in comparison to Houston's current exhibit. Bryce disagrees. He always does. And he's always wrong.


Speaking of which, we caught a cab in the rain and went to the AMC theatre near our hotel and watched Insidious. Bryce and I disagree on the ending. He's wrong. :) The movie was fairly good. It definitely was scary and made me scream a couple times. The acting and dialogue was pretty subpar, borderline horrible which made it amusing. Wan used some classic horror movie themes which was pretty cool. Go see it, and tell me just the dad or the son and the dad!

We went to Emerald Loop again and shared the curry burger then went back to the hotel. I was dead asleep by 1am.

Today should be exciting........!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Chicago Trip-- Day 1

Packed and ready to go at 8am, Bryce and I headed to Bush Intercontinental Airport to catch a 10:20am flight. We had about a 20 minute wait after everything was all checked in and bodies and baggages were scanned (or 'thoroughly patted down'). As we waited to board our flight a 5 or 6 year old Chicagoan boy declared to everyone he bought a stuffed animal deer for $10. Better yet, that his mother bought it. The same mother who disappeared for 10ish minutes leaving the boy asking where his mom went. I think she felt guilty for trying to leave the boy at an airport since she eventually did return. And just my luck, his seat on the airplane was EXACTLY BEHIND ME! I guess karma got me for suggesting he had a mental retardation or some sort of social disorder. Bryce claimed I kept "eyeballing" him. Whatever. We had a really sweet older woman sitting in our row who talked about how she liked to paint "after the war" Bryce asked which war? "The marriage war" hahaha. Ahh... She kept poking us to have conversation, including Sex and the City 1 and 2, sewing Easter shit, asking if we could see the lake yet, and mistaking the plane's wing for the lake. Hahaha, I love her.

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Bryce kept putting on his ipod so I had to keep getting his attention and repeating myself while we were trying to find our way anywhere and everywhere. He was so annoying!!!! Until he took out his ipod (finally!) I trekked most of the day in my nearly 6 inch Jeffrey Campbell platforms, woooow, the balls of my feet felt that.

 In anycase, found the hotel (Hotel 71) and found out that even though I paid for our room February 15th, I still had to get charged $360 I guess because my card I paid with was a debit instead of credit. WHAT?! But apparently if I don't damage the room or use room service, I get the full $360 back. DUMB!!!! That's my shopping money! FORTUNATELY... minutes after this happened my mother sent me an e-mail letting me know she deposited some spending money in my bank account, because she's a sweet and nice mama! THANK GOODNESS! Also, I was pretty relieved that I had $340 in cash for food, transportation and admission fees. Smart Moni, smart!

The hotel is... meh. I've seen much better. I'm pretty peeved by the ridiculous "deposit" but aside from that the room is so basic. No one helped us up to our room. There's not even a mini-bar in here!!! :( not that I'd waste my money on it, but STILL! The closet is in the bathroom-- weird! The only thing that makes this seem even remotely like a luxury boutique hotel is the damn animal print chaise by our window. Dumb! But our window has a decent view. It's a "city view" which is a view of buildings. I'm not going to hate on it, because the architecture here in Chicago is so brilliant and beautiful.


After bitching about my "deposit" and transferring money over from my savings to my checkings, Bryce and I decided to hit some food! Pizzzzaaaaaaaa! Nyum nyum! We went to Pizano's Pizza and Pasta. We ordered Blue Moons and calamari, which was good. Not too fried. Infact big cuts of squid with light fried batter. However, the serving was so big that by the time our pizza came, I was already feeling the stop point. But of course I couldn't stop. We had a small deep dish "Mark's Special" which was tons of mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and tons of pizza sauce. Delicious, delicious! I'm surprised I didn't enter a food coma.

 We headed to H&M and Urban Outfitters, because I decided I wanted a hat. Found a cute one at Urban, as well as some flats that tie up my ankle by Kimchi Blue. Saw many things at H&M that I plan to splurge on later this week.

We bounded over to Millennium Park, but stopped on the steps of the Art Institute because the balls of my feet were on fire, so I had to switch into my new nun-looking ballet flats. Ahhh... Relief. We took photos of MP. Gorgeous, gorgeous structures! My face and thighs started to get really cold at this point, so I suggested that Bryce and I head to Harris Theatre to get our tickets for "Death and the Powers: The Robots' Opera". We had 30 minutes to kill, so headed to Starbucks and I nearly fell asleep sitting up. Zzzzz...

The Opera... The effects and technology was AMAZING! So innovative, creative and stunning. I was insanely impressed by how much work must have gone into creating the set and the robots. The opera singers... Eh... One was extremely talented, but I don't know, I felt dialogue was really weak and so was a couple of their performances. Oh well, I'd still suggest it to anyone, just for the robots and set!

Headed to the hotel pondered what to do or to eat. Blahdy blah... We eventually ended up at a bar and grill right around the corner called Emerald Loop. Derrrrricious! I had a "Chirish" burger which was a burger with Irish Cheddar (one of my faaaaves) and american bacon, with onions, lettuce, tomato, etc. It was so fabulous! I cut it in half and am already pleased by the thought that I'll be eating that for breakfast. Ha! I think we're going to go back at least one more time while we're here to try something else off the menu, because damn did it look good! Curry burger... Drool!

I'm lying in bed now and am pretty sure I'll be getting a good night's sleep. Zzzzz... Sweet dreams!