Review: Secret Key Multiple Cell Night Repair Ampoule

 I know guys, I haven't posted a review in a long, long time.

(whoops I know, sideways)

 What have I been doing? I've been on rotations, trying to get through high-stakes exams (both written and practical), learning medicine (in general), taking care of my family, wedding planning, etc. Lots and lots of stuffs.

Also, on a side note - I feel like I need more and more sleep all the time. When I was in HS, I could stay up a lot and be fine the next day. Same thing in college. Now? I can barely function properly. I need a lot more sleep. Sound like aging? Yup.

Anyway, I want to review a product I got from Memebox. This is a product that is called an ampoule - similar to a serum, that is meant to be put on after essence. This Asian product is a dupe of Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair. I had previously tried Estee Lauder's serum, but unfortunately it is super super expensive ($92 for 1.7 fl oz on Sephora). So therefore, I decided to go with something that also seemed good.

Pros?
- Price ($25 for a bottle, 1.7 fl oz)
- Packaging - similar to Estee Lauder, although there is no pump, at least if you don't touch the tip, it can suction out product pretty cleanly
- Longevity - I've been using this product for several weeks and have barely made a dent in it!
- Makes my skin feel soft, supple and smooth
- Can be used in daytime and nighttime

Cons?
- Hard to find in US - find on Amazon and other 3rd party websites
- Difficult to recycle packaging - glass packaging (for eco-friendly consumers)

Bottom line - I think I'd like to buy this product again. This is a very nice product for a good price, a good size for a serum that seems to work super well. Yay!

 Here's how my skin looks after application. What do you think? Pretty clear? (no makeup on whatsoever)

My diet, exercise, and weight story

Several people have asked me to write a post about this topic. I had waited for a long time for multiple reasons (not having enough time, being super sick, etc) but here is the long-awaited post.

Throughout most of high school I was overweight. As hard as that may seem to be believed (especially for petite Asians such as myself, or at least so-goes the stereotype) it is true. I wasn't allowed to drink coffee (for all of those parents out there - it does NOT stunt growth!) and so to stay up I would eat lots of chocolate. I ate a ton of my brother's Halloween chocolate and it was delicious, but ultimately not good. I was super stressed in school with 7 AP classes, running extracurricular clubs, and everything that I forgot to take care of myself. My parents didn't have time to go to grocery stores to buy homemade/healthy ingredients for lunches, so I had to resort to very unhealthy, greasy school lunches. Also, I didn't have time to exercise, hence the weight gain.

The summer after college, I somehow started not caring about food anymore. I went on a cucumbers-and-milk diet and lost about 15 pounds. I spent the entire summer (apart from a month of vacation) cleaning out my parents' house, and that took a TON of effort and consumed a lot of calories. Yay!

Afterward I entered college. I started exercising a lot, running several 5Ks and getting into breakdancing. I started taking a lot of dance classes and yoga classes, and my health improved quite a bit. I definitely struggled in terms of weight with the unlimited cafeteria options offered by my college, and did gain freshman 15. However, I lost it, and then some more after that.

Thus entered medical school. By this time, I had undergone several surgeries, and after each one of them, the natural lack of appetite and strenuous physical therapy made me both lose a LOT of weight as well as atrophy my muscles. I had lost, from high school till this point, a net of 30 pounds. And believe me - for a person who is 5' 2'', that's a LOT.

I started medical school afterward. I gained back about 10 pounds, but this time it was mostly healthy muscle. I started working out again (when I had time), but this time, instead of dance and running, it was yoga, pilates, Zumba, and the like. A lot better. Now, I exercise about 3-4 times a week, and try my best to watch my diet. Lots of veggies and fruits. Meat only a few times a month. I still do have my weaknesses - the occasional delicious fruity wine, Cheez-its, fancy cheeses, raspberry jams, etc, but for the most part I've gotten a lot better.

I've discovered a lot of tricks along the way. Some of them include:

• Swapping out peanut butter filled with saturated fat with unsaturated almond butter
• Putting frozen fruit in my water (yay fruit and water!)
• No sodas of any sort
• Black coffee
• Tea w/ light brown sugar and goji berries
• Kefir (lots of bacterial cultures) instead of reduced fat milk
• Avoiding mochas and pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks (I go for the skim milk normal latte instead)
• Quiches with lots of veggies
• Making my own kale chips instead of french fries or potato chips
• Making my own spaghetti sauce, filled with chunky vegetables instead of store-bought ones
• Fruit smoothies blended with real fruit, kefir, and frozen non-fat Greek yogurt
• Swapping out ice cream for frozen yogurt
• Etc. 

I still have a long way to go in terms of diet and health (e.g. sleeping more normal hours, not stressing as much) but it's way better than before!

Study time~

Study time by luciaz168 showing how to wear sweat pants

True Religion henley shirt
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Superdry pink hoodie
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Aéropostale sweat pants
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Nike sneaker
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Puma sports watch
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Splendid neon hair accessory
splendid.com

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 Dual Core Processor, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB Storage,...
$110 - isme.com

Review: Naked 3 Palette

During the time around my first board exam, one of the ways I cheered myself on was by buying/trying new things. The epilator, a set of paints, etc were all on board.

I realized that for clinics, I would've liked to have a variety of neutral eyeshadow shades to choose from for daily looks. I wanted to look for high-quality eyeshadows that would stay on for an extended period of time (helped by eye primer, of course). Something affordable would be nice, but at the same time I let myself have a splurge.

I bought the Naked 2 palette awhile ago but I had never used it. I realized that with the cool, taupey shades, my warm skin complexion would just clash and create a calamity of a bad makeup canvas result.

Thus, when I realized the rose-toned hues of Naked 3 came out, I decided to try to get it. How did I finance this? I sold my Naked 2 palette as well as another palette I also had (both brand new).

Thus, I was able to shell out the $52 for it.

By the time I finally accessed UrbanDecay's website, it was already sold out. Unfazed, I waited a few weeks until it went on sale at Sephora. Boom. Bought it.

A few days later, it came in the mail.

Whole package

Taken apart into 3 pieces

The actual eyeshadow box

Sample primers - all 4 kinds from Urban Decay

This is, in total, about a month's worth of primer (at least according to the package)

The beautiful shadows

Some awesome samples that came along

Swatches? Honestly there are tons of swatches online that people can look at. (Click these links for swatches from Temptalia and FrmHeadToToe) What I can tell you about are the shades:

Overall, I really liked the palette. 

Pros:

• Rosey-hued tones: Look nice on my skin
• All of the colors are there for variety
• Packaging. It's very sturdy and is definitely travel-friendly. 
• Full-sized mirror for application help is definitely good on-the-go.
• Super pigmented: just a little bit for a TON of color.
• Brush: the dual-ended crease/shadow brush is definitely not a flimsy sponge applicator but rather the real-deal.

Cons:

• Fall-out: only the shade Dust (second from left) gave me trouble with fall-out. Annoying.

I know price is usually a heavy factor in my reviews but I thought about it, and honestly, the price is not bad.

The entire package cost $52. Subtract that with the $26 brush (for prices on the actual UD brushes click here). $26 left. $26 divided by 12 eyeshadows = $2.17 per eyeshadow. And that's a full-sized eyeshadow. That's comparable to Maybelline eyeshadow single prices. Not bad of a deal at all.

I highly recommend this product for anyone who (1) likes neutral shades, wants a variety, (2) wants to collect UD products, (3) enjoys rose-toned shades, and/or (4) wants to find a good deal for high-end makeup at drugstore prices. Ultimately, I think this was a great purchase and I look forward to lots of good use from this palette for the rest of medical school and beyond. I hope it works and lasts well!

Tag: 50 Facts About Me, Part 3 (Philosophy/randomness edition)

1. People keep on asking me if I want to become a dermatologist after they find out I have this blog. Truthfully, this blog is a hobby. And also, I'm only a 1st year med student; I barely know anything about the world. I have no idea what type of doc I want to truly be. 
2. Some people may be cynical and think I made this blog because I want to be a dermatologist because dermatology can be a very profitable specialty. This is absolutely false. I started this blog during my junior year of college as a hobby; I didn't do this in order for it to look good on my resume. If I become a dermatologist, then it will be awesome. But if I don't, then I'll be very happy anyway. Who knows. I change my mind about my specialty every couple of weeks, starting at the age of... oh, I think perhaps sophomore year of college. In high school I wanted to be a cardiologist. Then neurologist during senior year of high school during graduation. Then pediatrician -> family medicine -> internal medicine -> dermatology -> general surgery (Thank you Grey's Anatomy) -> internal medicine -> pediatrics -> psychiatry -> neurology -> ENT -> pediatrics. Who knows?
3.  I love making Chinese food.
4. Many children have the luxury of parents helping them with their homework during their younger years. For immigrant children like myself, it was very different. I had to learn English on my own, figure out grammar rules, do extra practices, etc. It wasn't till perhaps mid-high school did my English fully feel "good", per se. By that I mean creative enough to get top-notch scores on AP Exams, do critical analyses that truly made sense, be able to formulate things well.
5. I think self-reliance is a very big thing I've prided myself on in many ways. I don't believe in luck; in fact, I don't think I've been lucky per se, many times in my life. What I do know is that I've worked for the things I have and I treasure them very much. I feel very lucky to have been accepted into a Southern Ivy college and a top-notch medical school though.
6. I believe that no matter what one does, there are always struggles in life. As soon as you overcome one obstacle, another rises in your path. There is no clear, smooth path in life.
7. Suffering is a form of penance but it brings one closer to God. It makes you depend on God more and makes you think more about God. And improves your spirituality in ways!
8. I think that often bullying/being bullied is a rite of passage. I definitely was bullied during middle school and those years (in some ways) were terrible. But it also made me appreciate the things and times when I was not bullied. It made me stronger. Who care about things that people say about minutiae? It really doesn't matter. What matters is your reaction to it. You can either be petty and respond in equally acerbic ways or be the bigger person and walk away with your head held high.
9. And speaking of the previous point, I realize that there are some people in this world who are definitely very immature. In high school I was in the math club, and was one of the few girls on the team. Many of the boys were very immature, making crude jokes and laughing off things that, if mentioned during any lecture or discussion in my medical career, could even have been reported to the Deans. I think the boys seriously just needed to grow up. And I think they have.
10. One thing I'm trying to learn better is to forgive. To be the bigger person and remember there is a greater role in this world. That little things pass. Perhaps my surgeries and past plights were the "sticks and stones", but I'm trying not to make "meanie words" get to me. One thing that I realized about bullying is that when you don't respond to bullies, the kick they get from your response - your retaliation - is gone. And from that, they actually get frustrated. In fact, it doesn't even seem fun to bully you anymore.
11. Violence is not the answer. I've seen some things in the hospital (where I work at) that have definitely been quite crazy. Trauma patients. Domestic abuse. Rape. Psychotic breaks. Violence is never the answer. What it does is create a lot of hurt and physical persistent pain that has to be treated. And more people wind up in the hospital at 3 AM when that tired resident is trying to manage 20 other patients at the same time.
12. I think there is quite a degree of romance in studying in places like coffee shops, tea shops, etc. Think of all of the writers who coined their first pieces in these places! Think of the struggling actors and actresses who worked in these places while auditioning for roles before landing their first big hit! And I think about the pharmacy students, optometry students, law students, engineering students, and undergrad (general) students sitting around me... and think... we are all in this together =D

Miscellaneous:

1. I have a feeling that I will probably use the same phone I have right now till I graduate from med school. Seriously, I barely have any $$. And plus, I really like the one I have! Samsung Galaxy S2!
2. 9gag is awesome. IMO.
3. My phone's connection to the computer is currently broken (I can't use the connecting software) so downloading pics is not fun -_-
4. Backaches due to sleeping funny are not fun.
5. I'd like to grow my hair out back to its old 2.5-3 ft (or longer). Truthfully, keeping it this long is quite a bit of work.
6. Things I'd like to go to someday again: the opera, basketball game starring Jeremy Lin, a ballet performance (a formal one)
7. Things I'd like to go to/do for the first time: skydive, kayak on a river, ride on a giant tortoise in the Galapagos Islands, ride on the wings of a Giant Condor (ok, yeah, that'll probably never happen XD)
8. And I just realized... I really need to go to the bathroom... so here's my 50 facts!

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Uh oh time....

Lately, I've been getting extremely extremely congested. I'm not even sure why. I might attribute it to the materials I work with in lab, but I've worked in that lab for 1 year already and it hasn't bothered me. I would attribute it to dust in my room but my room always accumulates dust. I would attribute it to getting sick but I haven't really been getting sick.

What's wrong with me?

I constantly have to blow my nose, and my ENT is messed up. Usually it starts pretty badly during the morning when I wake up but by the time I get outside and go to classes, a few hours later it's better. It's better till night time, when I go do homework and everything. Then and there, I start sneezing and going crazy. Ugh. I have no idea what's going on.

Right now my nose has been scraped so raw that I have to use my body butter at night to moisturize it. My lips have gotten chapped, as usually in the winter, but this year it seems to go beyond layer after layer of moisturizer and Carmex.

And on top of that, I'm breaking out a lot more than I have before, since last semester's finals. And I don't even have finals right now.

I know that as the aspiring doctor, I'm supposed to know or at least try to get to the bottom of things. But right now, I'm at wits' end. So I reach out to all of you and ask: What do you think is wrong? Is it because I'm a second semester senior in university who is tired and stressed, or is it just all in my head?

Please feel free to comment, give suggestions, etc.

Thanks!

<3

Why I haven't been doing NOTD in awhile

Okay guys,

I'm here to fess up. I haven't been doing NOTD entries for awhile. In fact, not for a few months, perhaps. As my friends on this blog, one must know that I absolutely ADORE nail polish. Sure, it smells really bad during application, but afterwards, it looks so pretty. It also feels kinda cool, especially on my toes.

The reason why I haven't been doing them is because of my lab work.

As you guys might know (perhaps or perhaps not), I am a biology major in university right now. As part of my requirements for graduating with a B.S. (Bachelor of Science), I must produce a thesis on my research at the end of this semester. Thus, this means that I have to do a lot of lab work in the field. And this means, of course, that I CANNOT wear nail polish. Or rather, I could, but it would just end up getting chipped the next day in lab. During this past semester (August - December 2011) I have gotten a total of 13 split nails. And they were painful. This doesn't count chipped nails. There are wayyy too many of those to count. And what's worse is that sometimes, my split nails themselves have gotten split. This is where it really sucks.

Thus, guys, Even though you might see in some of my photos that I have taken that I have painted nails, that is because I took the pictures earlier on, and that I reviewed the products later or something. I just took the pictures earlier. I feel that after this semester is over, my nails will need A LOT of TLC, because they have definitely taken a giant beating.

During my Thanksgiving weekend, the bf (more about him later) and I went to the local mall. You know you see those nail shops along the aisles where people walk and stuff between stores? Well, the guys manning the shops came up to me and kept on showing me how crappy my nails were, and how they buffed them and made them all pretty and shiny and everything. Well, not surprisingly, due to lab work, two weeks later, they turned to crap again. Oh well.

So, therefore, it might be awhile until I do my next NOTD, because of the fact that my work simply does not allow me to do so. I guess those are the pains of trying to make a beauty blog and trying to lead a life as a bio student as well.

Anyways, this was just a truthful moment speaking. Let me know if you would like more of these truthful conversations. I feel that I revealed a bit more about myself today in this post than in previous ones where I post reviews and hauls and stuff like that. What do you guys think?

<3