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!

With a blink of an eye, January is already over and we're already into the second month of 2015. January has been somewhat of a rough month for me with dealing with post-holiday season issues and overall work issues. All that aside though, I've been slowly making changes in my life to make sure my health and happiness come first so that the stress monster can't eat me alive.

In terms of my skin condition during January, I wouldn't say that it was at its best. I got a terrible reaction from trying something once and I'm still recovering from the awful breakout I got from it. It was really disappointing because my skin was actually getting somewhat better before that happened.

Either way, on to the first favourites of the year! Since this is the very first favourites post on my blog, I'm going to be trying out a couple of formats throughout these, I hope you guys will bare with me. Also, sorry for all the different lighting in my photos, my phone adjusted to the product colours as well.

Cosmetic Favourites

1) Innisfree Ampoule Intense Cushion
I bought this right before the harsh winter season set in because I really enjoyed using the Etude House Precious Mineral Any Cushion. At the time, the Etude Cushion was doing fine for me but I could feel the weather starting to dry out my skin a lot more so I wanted to try something that was more moisturizing. Especially since the lighting at work was extremely bright and harsh, I needed something with a lot more hydrating properties than the one I had.

At first, I debated on whether I should get the Innisfree Water Glow or the Long Stay cushion as those were the ones that were really popular. But then, as if they heard my pleas, they came out with the new winter cushion we know now as the Ampoule Intense Cushion. I wasn't sure about getting it because I have combination skin and I thought maybe the WG version would be enough but thankfully I got the AI version instead at the end.

Since I have received this cushion in the mail, I used it all the time. I loved the light texture, the scent seems herbal, and it definitely keeps my skin feeling moist even through the harshest and coldest winds. The colour applies lighter than most but settles pretty close to my skin colour, and the coverage is light/medium. Despite that, it did not accentuate or create any flakiness that I might have had and the staying power is not bad. This is definitely a cushion that I am going to purchase a refill for!

2) Innisfree Eco Science White-C Sleeping Pack
This was a product that I got in a haul... recently? I mentioned that it contained tangerine peels, mint, and shea butter as the main ingredients. This pack makes my skin feel really nice, and because of the mint, it also has a cooling effect. The cooling effect is really nice for winter since we always have the heat on overnight. The shea butter keeps my skin moist and soft as well. In terms of brightening, I don't notice too much of it as of yet, but it feels really nice for winter.

3) Etude House skin malgem Deep Moist Toner
I have been using this toner for some time now and only just recently finished one bottle. While it took me so long to use this toner, I must say that I really like this toner. It is a hypoallergenic product and it has a very subtle floral scent to it that is very relaxing. It's a more watery-gel type toner thus a lot more moisturizing toner compared to the others in the same line (such as the fresh, smoother, moist, etc). I started using this around the middle of summer, only at night since I also had the mist toner from TFS (read here).

It's been a toner that's been serving me well as a first step for moisturizing and just as a good base for trying new things. This is actually an overall favourite, it keeps my skin feeling mostly stable throughout the seasons and because it doesn't react to my skin, it's good to have so my skin doesn't feel too overworked from using too many new things at once. Since the summers here are still really dry, I can actually use this through all seasons and not have too many problems.

4) TheFaceShop Calming Seed Cream
As I said at the beginning, my skin started having a reaction from something I actually did at work. From recommendations from my friends, apparently the Calming Seed Cream from TheFaceShop is really good for, well, calming down the skin from reactions or allergies. I got a couple of samples to try it out for a couple of days.

It certainly did calm down my skin quite a bit. The bumps and redness would decrease the next day so it definitely isn't bad. The cream texture is very smooth and applies really coolly onto the skin even on top of your usual skincare. So, I'm adding this to my favourites for the month because it progressively helped my reaction calm down quite well. In terms of moisturizing or anything else, I can't say there was much else.

5) Revlon Nail Enamel #933 Chameleon
You guys may not know but I love nail polishes. I don't know if I'll ever do a full review on one though so for now you'll only see them in the favourites posts. This colour, at first I wasn't sure about but, I really loved it for the month. The gold was just festive enough for the new year but not so bright gold that it would be too much. Overall, Revlon nail polishes are really nice in terms of finish and application. I much prefer flat brushes compared to the round brush that Revlon has for their polishes, but the colour and pigmentation I can't complain too much.

Media Favourites

1) Jonghyun - 데자-부 (Déjà-Boo) (feat. Zion.T)


Let me just say that, I have been waiting for a Jonghyun solo ever since SM started pushing out solo projects like Henry's. With Jonghyun writing and composing songs from the beginning and more frequently as we hit the Misconceptions/Everybody era, this was going to be inevitable. His entire album is really his style, I really love it because it's his. He made it his. I definitely like Deja-Boo and Love Belt a bit better than Crazy (Guilty Pleasure) but this entire album is just so lovely. I knew I would like his album. It was opposite when Taemin came out with Ace. I wasn't sure what to think about it at first and Danger wasn't really my style (it's just really catchy though) but I came to like the rest of his album a lot. So, it goes to say, I'm really proud of them and SHINee in general for their music!

2) Lizzy - 쉬운 여자 아니에요 (Not an Easy Girl)


I'm not a big fan of After School to be completely honest, in terms of music style. I followed Orange Caramel more because I liked the more upbeat and fun title songs. When Lizzy came out with her solo, I wasn't anticipating too much, especially with the trot genre. However, I enjoyed it immensely and can't stop playing this song. The video is also really well done with the editing and her make-up.

3) ユリ熊嵐 (Yurikuma Arashi)


Last on the list is Yurikuma Arashi, an anime directed by the infamous Ikuhara Kunihiko (better known for the older Sailor Moon anime, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and the more recent Mawaru Penguindrum). Like many other Ikuhara anime, Yurikuma has a lot of symbolism and hidden themes behind the relatively cute or frilly appearance. I've been excited about this show since the teaser Penguinbear website that came up shortly after Peguindrum ended and it hasn't disappointed in the four episodes out so far.

How have you guys spent the first month into a new year?