The perfectly aligned February is finally over. Despite it being my birth month, February has never been one of my favourite months. Too many events, the weather is horrid, and just generally a very stressful month. The temperature dipped to extreme lows this month thus making the air even more dry and frigid than before. To be honest, this is pretty common for a Canadian winter so it didn't phase me much.

Due to the extreme cold, I tried to stay home most days catching up on my animanga. I did have some days where I went out to meet up with friends, relatives, and also for lunar new year. My make up and skincare routines stayed mostly the same this month so you may not see as many skincare favourites as last month. It's actually mainly eye make up this month.

Cosmetic Favourites

1) Innisfree Mineral Single Shadow #40 Girly Ribbon

If you've read the haul post with this item in it, you would know that this was not one of my initial favourites. However, after using it more frequently, I've come to like this soft dark neutral colour. It really matched the mood this month. As you will see in the swatch a little bit lower in the post, this colour is not very pigmented and it does fade a bit sometimes. Despite all that, it gave me a very nice mauve base that was a little bit more smokey than natural but still not too exaggerated. It became one of my go-to shades for the rest of winter.

2) Annabelle Eye Shadow #118 Golden Shine

February is the month which Lunar New Year often occurs, and what is auspicious for this event? Definitely, gold. For me and my Chinese relatives, red and gold become the staple colours during those couple of days. The occasion basically called for gold eye shadow. This gold eye shadow isn't sparkly, but it is shimmery. It is also not overly exaggerated but gave my eyes the perfect gold sheen.

3) the Saem Eco Soul Shine Jelly Shadow #02 Sexy Plum

I felt that red eye shadow might have been too much even for a special event so I went for something less bright but still gives some colour to the eyes. This shadow rose well to the occasion to give my eyes a good amount of red and sparkle. It is quite pigmented and is pretty long lasting. It is a "jelly" type shadow thus it feels similar to an ink pad and applies similar to cream shadows but not as cakey. It was really perfect this February.

Swatch for the three above shadows.

4) Nature Republic Real Nature Rose Ampoule

This ampoule was something I received at the end of January, replacing my Innisfree Green Tea Serum. So far I've been pretty impressed with this product, it has been keeping my skin quite hydrated and smooth. I do also notice my skin looking a little bit brighter and the rose scent in the product is very lovely so I would say this is a favourite this month. I haven't had any problems with it in the month that I've been using it other than somewhat disliking the dropper.

5) Lush Rose Jam Bubbleroon

Unfortunately, there won't be a photo of this product since I've gone and kind of cut it up not thinking much about it. You will see a glimpse of it in an upcoming review though so there's that. It basically looks like a large pink whoopie pie (or I think it's supposed to look like a macaron). Being a first time user of Lush products, I was pleasantly surprised by this bubbleroon (bubble bar). I don't want to say too much about it since I'm also talking about it in the next review so I'll just say this; it made my skin feel so smooth and it smelled so nice. Having a pink bath is also dream come true.

Media Favourites

1. Kang Seung Yoon - 맘도둑 (Stealer)


This was my February jam. I had this on repeat for a while because of, well, everything about this song. I'm still not quite over it, it's such a lovely, soothing song. Somewhat different from his new sophisticated WINNER image, Kang Seungyoon is super adorable in his solo videos. Although I spent my Valentine's day celebrating anything but, this song gives you the sweet lovey dovey feeling that makes you feel bubbly. If ever you need a sweet little pick me up song, I'd definitely recommend this one. (His Wild and Young single is also really good, more upbeat rock-pop type music. It Rains, his other single, is a more low tempo, relaxing song if you're more into that. Seungyoon's voice is just so refreshing to listen to.)

2. 京騒戯画 (Kyousougiga)


As I wrote in the intro, I finally had the time to go through my unfinished animanga list. Kyousogiga was one of the shows I anticipated since they released the very first ONA in 2011. At first everyone thought it was going to be a one over but I guess it attracted enough attention to garner more development. I was originally attracted to the fact that it was heavily inspired by Alice in Wonderland and by the colourful animation. As the story became more developed in the 2012 five episode back-story ONA, I got more and more interested in the characters and their stories. Finally, with the ten full episodes in 2013, the story was deliciously complete.

This show is a little hard to summarize and describe depending on which part of the series you are watching. There are themes that I think could be openly interpreted but I also feel that this was ultimately a story about some very deep messages. Definitely, you cannot judge this series by the colourful and cute animations. The story of the original ONA is not what it seems. There are stories later of love, selfishness, discovery, and other existential themes. It's definitely something one needs to experience oneself, I cannot recommend this enough. The finale is also quite satisfying, it closes the story quite well which is always an important thing for a good show. More details, here.

3. 暗殺教室 (Assassination Classroom)

This was something I randomly picked up, I saw it on the front page since it was newly updated and thought I'd give it a try. To be honest, I thought I would drop it after the first couple of chapters. I was sorely mistaken. This is an absolute gem despite the premise sounding utterly ridiculous. While usually not a fan of these shounen type manga, I actually got sucked right into it. It does have the typical "teacher helping and inspiring students to excel in life" kind of story, what keeps me going is the big mystery of Korosensei. While the story moves slowly, it gives itself a kind of deadline as well. Although I suspect that "deadline" may become the true climax of the story. For a story to keep my attention as well as this one is doing takes quite some power. It also recently got an anime adaptation, so I started watching that too. The show itself is very colourful and fun so far. If you're interested in a not very spoilery summary, click here.

4. Adult Wednesday Addams (YouTube Series)


If you grew up like I did, then you must've watched The Addams Family some time in your childhood. My family and I loved that show, although strange they let me watch it as a child with all the macabre themes subtly inserted in that show. I remember mainly watching The New Addams Family since it was the one airing on TV at the time and the 1991 movie. As if it were #tbt, I find this little gem while wandering through the internet. It's so nice to see an adaptation of a grown-up Wednesday, it's like we've grown up together. I'm not throwing this up here for nostalgia (though a big part of it) but this mini-series also throws you some modern issues and how to deal with it Wednesday's way. Nonetheless, I look forward to continue watching this mini-series as it is witty and just plain good to watch.

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How was your February? Hopefully the cold and snow didn't get you too good, it was a frosty February. I tried to keep it short, I noticed that I tend to write too much when I'm not even trying to write a review. Let's keep marching on this March!

Just a short* haul post since I got some things in the mail today. This time around, I bought mostly eye products including; eye cream, eye shadow, pencils, and remover. Trying to increase my eye product collection.

First off, the haul from Etude House! This time around, I got two more Play 101 Pencils (#50, #53 [holiday edition]), the Darling (Snail Healing) Cream, Moistfull Super Collagen Eye Concentrate, Lip&Eye Remover, and their My Beauty Tool Eye-Blending Brush (#311).

I'm a little disappointed because Etude House just recently started their Play 101 Pencils event in which you can get a free tin case with your purchase of  4 or more Play 101 Pencils. I already bought 7 of them, the colours tend to be more on the natural side so far so if I do plan on getting more I would have to get the more bright and vibrant colours or duplicates (even though I haven't even finished mine). I still wish they just came out with a set of them out right because I can't resist so I might end up having all of them in the end (except for the holiday special ones which I found were too glittery).

Snail has been all the rage with Korean Skincare for a while, good for regenerating skin tissue and fading scars or the like. I've heard decent things about the Etude House Darling Cream so I thought it'd be worth a try considering the price. I believe this is a new version because it now contains phenoxethanol which the previous version supposedly did not. It seems the new version does have a slight change in other ingredients as well according to the ingredients list on the site. (For reference: Old Version vs. New Version)

Nothing really to note about the other products that I got. Everything else was bought as back up really, just in case I run out of anything. Eye products tend to run out the quickest for me.

Next up is my small haul from Koreadepart, an online Korean department store. I actually shop quite often on their site because they carry many different brands and update rather quickly when new products come out. I didn't get too much this time and just a few things that were on sale and I wanted to try out; Nature Republic Real Nature Rose Ampoule, TheFaceShop Overgirl Edge Stick Eyes (PK101), and the too cool for school Dinoplatz Concealer. Every order gets a variety of samples from a good mix of brands as well, which is always a bonus. Shipping fees do tend to be a little bit more on the high side so sometimes it feels like it just fills in for the discounts you get.

While there are plenty of TheFaceShop stores in Toronto, I opted to buy the product online simply because many of the stores did not have stock of the newer products. I believe I've only seen new products at the original location inside Pacific Mall, however, I don't frequent there enough to just go and buy one item. Another pink shimmer eye product to my collection.

I also got my very first too cool for school product this time! I originally ordered the UFO Multi-Box as well but it was no longer in stock (now listed as discontinued) so I had to get it refunded which was disappointing. I've always really liked their packaging style so it'll be interesting to try some of their products!

The Rose Ampoule isn't my first Nature Republic product, my first was the world renown Aloe Vera Soothing Gel which was just fine. I never found it too special or amazing, it does what it says but the texture it leaves is sometimes not to my liking. I'm excited to try the ampoule though, ampoules are supposed to be the most concentrated product so it should have more results. The smell of the ampoule is definitely the smell of roses and the texture is a lot less watery than I expected.

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*This post became nothing of "short". I should start working on my January Empties post soon.