Best of 2016

I'm here still sitting on my bed, laptop in front of me, a plate of leftover cookies from NYE on the right, and desperately trying to deny new year's holidays are over. Today marks the third day of 2017, but I feel like a large part of me is still stuck somewhere in 2016. While my memory is still fresh, let's recount the best moments that happened in 2016.

I first created this blog back in 2013 with intent of documenting my stay in Japan and anything related to it. It didn't go as well, sadly, and I only grew passionate of it on the latter half of the year when my Liz Lisa kick was at its highest. I rarely updated it in 2014-2015, but I really want to pick up blogging again since it was something I always love doing. This time, I want to be more 'serious', and with that in mind, I made 'revamping my blog' my personal goal in 2016. This little space in the internet has grown so much, for that, I have all of you, lovely readers to thank!

My journey to Tokyo was documented in these two posts. Sincemy study there, it has been 'another home' for me. It's a city full with people whom I love and very dear memories, so being able to visit again itself is a blessing. Tokyo is an incredibly busy city, while I'm basically not a fan of crowd, the bustle of Tokyo is surprisingly pleasant. It's like 'organized chaos', so many things happening at once but in harmony (I'm sorry I'm not making sense). The sense of freedom that I felt is unchanged even after 2 years, same with the people; my friends are just as lovely - if not lovelier - as always. I have this plan of making Japan Trip an annual thing, but let's see if my budget allows.

I have a creative outlet for my writing somewhere in the internet. While I did write back in 2015, I feel like 2016 gave my writing a more defined style & identity. I discovered that I love writing long narration, I love using simile, I love decorating my sentences with cheesy, flowery words.

As for photography, last year I started investing in photo props and backgrounds. Before, I only used a white blanket and shot in my room, never bothered to learn about composition, and edit different photos with only 1 action. I'm still struggling with composition, but lately, I feel like I'm getting there. I definitely need to work more on it so it comes with 'practiced-ease' instead of 'spur of the moment'. Another thing I need to work on is to define my style. I love stark-bright white background, but lately, I realized it can look overexposed.

By the way, you can see the how my photos grow on my instagram.

While the last quarter of the year I spent largely uninspired, SWC V was definitely the highlight - or dare I say - the BEST thing that happened in the last half of 2016. SHINee is my favorite band, I've been following them since 2009, and they never let me down, not even once. They're 5 talented people, known for high-quality performances, and they certainly live up to their fame. I'd say even that 2 hours and a half watching their concert gave me almost equal pleasure to my 6 days Tokyo Trip. They're that magical!

What were your favorite moments in 2016?

follow me on

Instagram | Bloglovin | Pinterest

The Best Makeup Edit 2016

With the end of the year approaching, posts about yearly favorites are popping here and there. Just like NYE itself, it's a tradition. I use this chance to look back and see what products did I love this year. Though my focus was more on skincare throughout 2016, I got myself some lovely makeup bits that I absolutely adore. Even if my makeup stash is considerably small, to keep things simple, I'm excluding products that I bought last year.

I finally tried Nars for the first time this year, and I'm incredibly smitten. My base favorites are two items from Nars. Their Velvet Matte Skin Tint and Contour Kit have been a firm staple in my routine since July. Both are light-weight and looks like real skin, especially the skin tint. The contour kit can double up as blusher since it has slight rose-tint to it, very handy when I was feeling lazy.

I got another chance to nab some Jill Stuart item this year. While not all of their items are stellar in term of performance, I cannot deny the quality of their best selling item; the blusher. With build-able pigmentation and finely milled shimmer, this blush gives my cheeks a very radiant, flushing cheeks. Their nail polishes are also in top tier quality. They're priced roughly around the same of Essie nail polishes, but with even more elaborate packaging.

For the eye department, I'm sure if you're a regular reader, you would know how inescapably in love I am with Burberry Eye Color, they make great eyeshadow as well as highlighter. Kiko wow-ed me with their highly coveted eyeshadow stick which was my on-the-go eyes for busy morning, they apply and wear like dream.

For my first foray into the world of eyebrows, I trusted Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper, it's a life-saver for brow-noob like me for its effortless application. Mascara is not an obligatory for my everyday makeup so I only picked one from Majolica Majorca this year. MajoMajo lives up to its name for being one of the best drugstore mascara in the market, this one instantly lifts and curl, while lengthening my lashes at the same time.

For lips, Clinique Pop Lips had taken over the last quarter of the year. Not only creamy, this lipstick is incredibly long-lasting and comfortable to wear. Lush Lip Scrubs are one 'blogger-made-me-buy-it' product, and I'm not disappointed! I can see why people love this delicious lip scrub, it thoroughly removes the unflattering flakes from my lips.

What have been your favorite beauty products this 2016?

acceptance over understanding
follow me on

Instagram | Bloglovin | Blingvoyage

May Favorite

It's time for another monthly favorite! I didn't buy any new makeup product this month, so makeup/skincare-wise, I was just religiously staying to my routine up until now because they've given me satsifying result so far! I know I keep saying this, but I swear; my skin has never been better since I'm starting this routine. While I will share about them somewhere around July (oops, long, I know), I will mention one product that I think is the 'culprit' behind this. On to my May Favorite!

Kiehls's Midnight Recovery Concentrate

The infamous cult's favorite and 'the culprit'. I purchased this back early April, two months later, all bumps bid goodbye to my face and the periodic acne is minimized to one! I can understand why people swore by this, this has proven to live up its claim! I still remember when I first asked the tester of this, the SA told me, "Comeback with your healthy skin!", and he was right. I used three drops every night as the final product in my routine, and two months later, it barely show any sign of diminishing. I must say, I'm a firm Kiehl's believer right now, none of their product has disappoint me, and I get the result they promised in a month.

Masami Shouko Eyeshadow Brush

Back when I was just starting to dip my toe into the world of beauty and makeup, all bloggers recommend this brand. Cheap as chips, this brush is the second one I bought from Masami Shouko back in 2012 (the first one was an angled brush). Back then, I still don't know a cent or two about applying eyeshadow but now I'm more (a teeny wee bit) experienced, I finally do this baby justice. I've been exclusively using this brush for my makeup this whole month, useful for depositing color all over the lid, crease color, and blending too. Very handy especially since I went to gym pretty much everyday this May, not exactly having luxury to bring 10913 brushes just for my eye makeup.

Living Proof Style Lab Straight

I shall sing my praise up to the moon. This hair spray helps keeping my wild and unruly hair from being wild and unruly. I bought this back in November but at the time I wasn't using it the right way so my impression of this product fell pretty flat. However, I finally figured that this really works wonder when sprayed on wet/damp hair before blow-drying. I'm about to run out of this one but still considering whether to buy the full size or the travel size again like this one (practicality, anyone??)

Jill Stuart Nail Polish Horoscope Nail in Observant Virgo

O, Jill Stuart and their pretty nail polishes.  I don't have much nail polish but if I have to buy one, I wouldn't want anything that's not Jill Stuart. They usually last about 2-3 days until beginning to chip (but I play around with my nail a lot, so far no polish survive perfectly intact in 2 days), but this one is a though one. Their horoscope nail line is all about mimicking starry sky and constellation, hence the overflowing glitter/shimmer in it. This one is particularly chunky and gritty (very obvious when you paint them), hard to remove but since this stay relatively without bugging and is drop-dead gorgeously pretty, I'm willing to spend 30 minutes scrubbing it off.

Stradivarius Platform Sandals

Stradivarius has officially become my favorite retail store; from t-shirt to formal wear, from wallet to shoes, did I mention 80% of fashion-related items I bought this year is from Stradivarius? While I'm familiar with their clothing, I haven't had a chance to try their footwear (my pickiness level when it comes to footwear is like, 10 times of clothing) until I tried this on the store when I was looking for comfortable yet stylish platform footwear that's great for traveling. This was okay, not exactly my size (I'm 40-41, this is 39), but comfortable enough. Mom decided to buy this for me and I haven't stop wearing this ever since. I like the 'resort' feel that comes with this, and the (surprising) comfort that it gives me make this all the move love-able for me.

Captain America Civil War

Ho boy, no explanation needed. I saw this twice. If only I had time, I'd watch it thrice. Carry on!

Jonghyun The First Album 'She is'

Of course I will mention this, my favorite singer-songwriter (lyricist, composer, novelist, dancer, radio dj, human rights and equality supporter) ever! I don't have any song that I do not like in this album, everything is jam-worthy, so, please don't ask me to pick favorite. I've been hearing that this album is more appreciated in western-music market for its 'modern-sound' (or so they said, I don't know fancy musical words, I'm sorry). As his fans, I sincerely think this album represents 'him and his sound'. Ever since this was released, all I wanna do is hijack gym's music playlist and play this album because, God, will this get everyone pumped. The title track 'She is' is described as electro-funk, addictive chorus and repeating "Oh, she is" that will surely stuck in your head after first listen. I reckon you give it a try even if you don't understand a bit what he's saying (psst, I don't too ;) ).

That has been my May Favorite. What is your favorite things this months?

acceptance over understanding

Instagram | Bloglovin | Blingvoyage

April Favorite

Here we are in another monthly favorite and I will skip the /omg i can't believe this month is over/ paragraph because I'm sure you've read them countless of times on another blog already. So, onto my April favorites!

MAC Lipstick in Brave Red

This lipstick had been sitting gathering dust in the bottom of my Muji drawer ever since I fell in love with dark burgundy lips. But one morning, I accidentally picked this instead of Cosmo (what can I do, MAC lipsticks look the same and I was in a hurry) then I found myself naturally reaching for this. Creamy and bold, this lisptick is also non-drying, more hydrating than Cosmo even.

Burberry Lip Velvet in Oxblood

I mentioned this lipstick on my previous post. My HG lipstick in every means possible, this lipstick just gives me that BAMF factor that ensures my look througout the day. Last through meals and drinks but I like to reapply during the middle of the day after lunch just out of habit.

Laneige Pore BB Cushion in Brown Beige

I used to stay clear from BB Cream because of its greyish undertone but this BB Cushion changed my mind! It doesn't make my skin ashy but looks completely natural. The pore blurring effect and oil control is just as amazing.

Kiehl's Midnight Recover Concentrate

Probably the most expenssive thing I have with me at the moment. I use this everynight before my blemish clearing cream without moisturizer because layering the two is too heavy for my face. Even then, my skin is not dry at all and every morning, my skin looks considerably brighter.

Red Velvet Album The Red and Mini The Velvet

Oh la, la, I did not expect to fall for Red Velvet at all until I heard their newest single 'One of These Nights'. The haunting and mythical quality of the song just drew me in, and before I know it, I've been listening to their 1st full album and humming to 'Dumb Dumb'non-stop. My favorites other than 'OOTN' are; Huff Puff, Oh Boy, Campfire, Time Slip, and First Time. My favorite member?? Of course it's Wendy and her endless derping.

This has been a lovely month so far, I learnt lots of new things (work-wise), and tackled new approach of communication (I'm such a failure when it comes to socializing, trust me). Also, I'm very happy that my blog is gaining followers on bloglovin. Still very little but it feels very good to know that there're people who found what I wrote interesting.

What are your April Favorite?

acceptance over understanding

Instagram | Bloglovin | Blingvoyage

Addicted to Alice

Out of all fairy tale character, Alice from Lewis Carol's infamous Alice in Wonderland is definitely my favorite. My addiction to Alice began around my first year of junior high where I, quiet suddenly, fancy everything Alice related. There's something mysteriously charming about the whole story of Alice in Wonderland, it's curious, carries a little darkness in it but beautiful yet bizarre at the same time.I started collecting Alice-related things and while some of them had been lost together with time, I still keep some along with me.

Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carol; this novel is quiet old already with its yellowing, dog-eared paper sbut I read it time to time when I was stuck or uninspired. It has peculiar smell of old book, and frankly speaking, I love it. They sell this bundled with a limited edition Alice Moleskin notebook but I'm still on the fence whether I should buy it or not. I mean; the notebook is so pretty.

Disney Alice in Wonderland 2014 Planner; this was the only planner I used back in 2014. I bought this at The Plaza, Shinjuku. They got another design in blue with White Rabbit instead of Alice. The inside is really pretty and colorful, I wish I could get another planner like this but alas, none was available in my country. Like other standard Japanese planner, it got subway map at the very back.

Alice Pencil Case; saw this at local book store and I cannot resist. They got two designs; this one and another one in black and red heart (like the card holder) but I got myself this one for the beautiful peachy pink color. Despite its small size, it actually fits a lot of things.

Alice Card Holder; I actually bought two of these, one for me and for my mom. Mom's is in similar design but with red spades on white instead of red heart on red like mine. They got whole series of Alice themed stationery, the last time I checked, they still got it in store. I'm keeping my eyes on the notebooks next.

Beyond Alice Dress Handcream; this birthday gift was mentioned on my February Favorite. Some friend is no stranger to my addiction with Alice. I wear this everyday to make sure my hand is soft enough since I spend a long time inside air conditioned room.

acceptance over understanding

Instagram | Bloglovin | Blingvoyage

February Favorites

I didn't buy anything beauty related this month but here are some of my Februay Favorites;

1. Beyond Alice Dress Handcream; a lovely birthday present from equally lovely Amez. This moisturizing hand cream is full-packed with musky scent, even though I usually avoid it, I actually quiet enjoy this one. It got absorbed to the skin quickly with minimum stickiness.

2. Too Faced Natural Eyes in Push-up; despite the love-hate relationship I have with this palette, I cannot deny the strong love I feel for Push-up. A lovely pinkish bronze with gold shimmer, I cannot stop using this as lid color for a whole month!

3. Kiehls Blemish Control Daily Skin-clearing Treatment; I purchased this back in January and after using it religiously for two months, I can say this actually works! My acne scars usually fade in four months or so, but after using this, in just two months, they're cleared enough that I don't need concealer to hide them.

4. The Body Shop Argan Oil for Body and Hair; my hair rescue. I started using argan oil for my hair since November last year. I used to suffer with serious dry, coarse hair, plus split-ends. This oil helps smoothing them and my hairdresser praised the lack of split-ends!

5. Itoen Powdered Green Tea; I shall shamelessly admit; I bought this back in May 2015. I was clearing my room when I found this stashed at the back of my wardrobe (please don't ask me why), been drinking this ever since.

6. Rude Love by f(x);the amount of time I listened to this while wiggling on my chair in a failed attempt of dancing was uncountable. I especially love Victoria's voice in this one.

acceptance over understanding

Instagram | Bloglovin | Blingvoyage