Bird of Paradise

Summer calls for bright colours, and I couldn't ignore this canary yellow dress from Zara during their spring sale. I was originally looking for a bright yellow skirt, but this has satisfied all my needs for the colour.

Seattle-Vancouver Travel Diary

Road trip! Warning, picture heavy.

 My family and I decided to take out bi-yearly trip to Vancouver and Seattle a few weeks ago... namely because somebody needed to go and get a visa (I'm leaving in two weeks guys!).  Anyways, as per any road trip, lots of food was eaten, lots of selfies taken, and more food eaten. PS, you should go all the way to the bottom for cute otter pics. I may have not taken any other pictures in Vancouver, otters are distracting.

Rose

I've mentioned before my love for blush tones this year, and these pants were instantly on my wishlist after I saw them on Chriselle Lim a few weeks ago. Luckily, they were on sale on Amazon, in my size (sort of), and my mom had a gift card she wasn't going to use any time soon (seriously, she took two years to use the last Amazon gift card she had). As I'm headed to Korea in a few weeks, I took advantage of asking for an early Christmas gift, and I had a nice little present waiting on my doorstep when I got back from Vancouver last week.

Boardwalk

Hello from Vancouver! Just some quick photos of the Vancouver Waterfront. I'll have a photo diary of my Seattle/Vancouver trip in a few days. Be prepared for a lot of pictures of jellyfish. (Because apparently that's really all I take photos of at the Vancouver Aquarium. Those, and otters.) I'm currently trying to pick and choose which photos to include in the next post. Apparently I took too many photos of animals, and not enough of anything else.

Romping Around

And back to posting outfits! As most of my friends know, I may have a slight obsessions with all things one-piece. Rompers, jumpsuits (okay, I don't actually own a jumpsuit, but only because I haven't one with the perfect fit yet and I'm too nervous to buy online), overalls... You name it, and chances are I'm lusting over it. 

Mizon Hyaluronic Acid 100 Ampoule Review

As someone who constantly deals with dehydrated skin, I'm always on the lookout for good hydrating serums to add to my routine, especially ones that aren't going to break the bank (seriously, a very basic hyaluronic serum is at least $20/oz Cad). This is probably why I started to get into Asian cosmetics when I was 18 – everything was more reasonably priced, and they just seemed to work better.

The Mizon Hyaluronic Acid 100 Ampoule is a no frills serum. It only claims to provide lightweight, yet lasting hydration, and it performs quite well at that. Because of how sensitive my skin was at the time I purchased it (acne, over-exfoliation, rashy and eczema patches), I was looking for some key ingredients including ceramides (healing) and hyaluronic acid (hydrating).

Notable Ingredients

Hyaluronic Acid: This atttracts and maintains water in the skin. It can hold up to 1000 times its weight in water, making it a great ingredient for dehydrated and dry skin.

Copper Tripeptide-1: Increases collagen and elastin production and promotes skin regeneration

Cholesteral: Helps to restore and maintain the skin's barrier, maintaining normal skin function.

Ceramide 3: Helps to restore and maintain the skin's barrier.

Beta Glucan: Has anti-oxidant, wound healing and moisturizing properties.

Adenosine: An anti-aging ingredient that promotes collagen and elastin production, as well as having anti-inflammatory properties.

Full ingredients list here.

Performance

I bought this to provide extra hydration for my poor dehydrated skin around the same time as the Hada Labo Perfect Gel (it came in the mail about a week later). It too has hyaluronic acid and ceramides to help with my dehydrated skin, as well as anti-aging and healing properties to help with my acne and acne scarring. Mizon is known for providing quality products that are full of plant extracts (these often provide anti-inflammatory, brightening, and antioxidant properties), for a cheap price. I've actually used a few other products from them that I never got around to reviewing (namely their snail lines).

This particular serum is just a basic hydrating serum. It doesn't make any other claims, and for that, it performs its job well. Combined with the Hada Labo Perfect Gel, I almost had enough hydration to last a full day (assuming I was at home and not dealing with air conditioning). It's very lightweight and silky, absorbing easily. Seriously, my skin just drank this up and sighed happily, like it just had a sip of a well-made cup of tea. Like the Perfect Gel, I feel like this helped my skin to better retain moisture so that I wouldn't get that uncomfortable tight feeling, or overly oily (both signs of dehydrated skin) quite so soon in the day.

This isn't the best at "long lasting hydration" like it claims (okay it doesn't claim to be the best, but I've used better). Mind you, for half the price, I can't really complain either. It lasted about two months with twice a day usage (three quarters of a dropper each time).

For the price, I don't think you can get a better hydrating serum, especially if you're not in Korea. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I'm always looking to try something new.

Pros

Cheap, unless you buy it from Urban Outfitters. I got mine for about $12/oz Cad with free shipping on Roseroseshop.com

Does what it claims

Not only hydrates, but as anti-aging ingredients as well (long-term benefits as well as short term!)

Cons

You'll need to wait in the mail for it (if you want it immediately, it's available at select Urban Outfitters stores for a very marked up price)

Hada Labo Perfect Gel Review

Hey guys, I'm back! It's been a nice hiatus, wrought with multiple skin rashes, acne, and allergies galore. But I look normal again, so here I am! So I've decided to write my first post about skincare (or maybe the first couple). A lot of you who know me in person know I'm the biggest geek about skincare, and it seems to have gotten worse (or better, if you like me rambling on about ingredients) after my latest little bought of skin mishaps. I've gotten a lot pickier with my skincare after having some sort of allergic reaction in March and April. I had a rash all over my hands and arms, as well as around my mouth. It took weeks to heal and multiple visits to the dermatologist, and it still likes to pop up now and again. For the record, I'm just super sensitive to alcohol in my skincare and prone to over-exfoliation.

Since my newfound love of ingredients lists and the beauty bloggers who post them, I've decided to follow suit in my reviews as well.