HAUL | The Lab of Costa Mesa

HAUL | The Lab of Costa Mesa 

If you live in Southern California, you would have to agree that today was a beautiful sunny Saturday. It was the type of Saturday where you wish you could spend it at brunch with your best friends sipping mimosas and giggling about latest gossips and cute guys. Unfortunately, for me, in the United States, the drinking age is 21, and I still have a year before I can legally spend these types of Saturdays. So I did the next best thing, I went shopping! I'm really happy with the things I bought, and even more excited for the great deals I got!

These first three pieces are from a brand called "Velvet Heart"-I got each thing for $10 from a lady who runs the product development firm that creates these clothes for buyers. She basically brings all the left over show room samples to Buffalo Exchange & makes some side money for clothes she otherwise would have just had sitting gathering dust or donated. Being a smart business women, she told me that before she went into Buffalo Exchange, I could take a look at her rack of clothes and pick whatever I'd like for $10 a piece as apose to the say $20-25 Buffalo Exchange would have sold it for! How sick is that? Plus the clothes were actually cute. She made money, I got a good deal, everyone's happy!

Of course, since I was already at The Lab of Costa Mesa, aka "The Anti-Mall" of Orange County, I had to at least go into Urban Outfitters! How could I not? And you want to know what was cool about this decision? I got all of the above for under $15! I don't know why I was so lucky, but I really got a great deal today! On all this stuff! Don't believe me? Check out the next few pictures and be mind blown like I was!

 Yes, you're reading that right, it does say "$4.99" and yes, you're right, that's fucking amazing.

 Okay, so this ones a bit lame... yes it was originally priced for "$9.99" and yes they marked it on sale for "$9.99" and yes I still got it despite the lame-ity of it all, because disregard the false sale, ten bucks for mint jeans are a great deal in my book, when else would I be bold enough to buy colored jeans?

& in case you were wondering why I had cool temporary tattoos in the picture, its because it was actually a 10% off coupon that the manager there gave me for free because she's pretty awesome.

code for online shopping is: WACKSLACKS

get your 10% off now (:

@ http://urbanoutfitters.com

Hope you guys liked this post!

Let me know what your favorite piece from this haul is,

and how you guys would style skinny mint jeans!

with love,

[HAUL] Preppin' for my Bali Trip

Hello Lovely Ladies & Sweet Gents!

Todays post is a "fashion" post, which is great considering I've been lacking those and been going "beauty" post crazy. However, this isn't a very trending post, but its a style I very much love and enjoy, especially being a Cali girl at heart. In a week, I'm going to be vacationing to Bali, Indonesia with my family and I can't wait! After we decided to go and we got everything ready, I realized I did not bring any of my summery clothes to Taiwan because well, its clearly still winter time. And I obviously can't wear my monotone winter wear and leather boots in paradise right? Luckily, my dilema was a an easy solver, the solution: go shopping! & Boy did I not mind :P It was only after I started shopping around the city in Taipei did I realize that its almost impossible to find a descent soCal style flip flop and a pretty bikini. I looked everywhere, and finally found a Roxy, and so I splurged a little... It seems silly to be spending so much money on an American brand, but for Bali, its definitely worth it. I also picked up a few summer essentials i.e. teeshirts and shorts at Zara! Hope you enjoy this haul (: xo

 1. Cowgirl-esque Straw Sun hat This is going to the perfect little accessory to protect my face from the strong sun! I'm so glad I found this one today, because a good reliable straw hat that looks good on is very hard to find, and by good reliable I mean it can't have silly holes around the brim that let in the sun we're trying to hide our beautiful faces from! Of course I'll still make sure to apply lots of SPF!! The sun rays are so strong especially with all the water and sand at the beach reflecting it onto your face. 

2. (50% Off) Red Plaid Shorts These are a bit more wintery then summery but they were on sale so I had to get them. They're so cute, and I feel like I could really still wear them on a grungy-er outfit day!

3. Casual to Dressy Flip Flops I brought no summer shoes, and the shoes here in Taiwan aren't always my style, I like simple, pretty, and casual, but they like more gaudy, "cutesy" and girly shoes. So I had to get these versatile babies! They'll even go well with my flowy blue dress I bought for this trip on a separate shopping trip!

4. Poolside Flip Flops Of course a girl can never have to many shoes, and I can't really wear the ones above on the sand and at the pool side, that'd simply be too wearing on them and a waste, so I got this pair for that very purpose, plus I feel like they match my swim suit and bikini very well! 

5. Floral Bikini with "Bra-like" Back Tie Omg, save the best for last. Even though they say a lot of people just go nude in Bali, that is so not my cup of tea, so I had to get a bikini! This is such an adorable bikini, although I must admit I really ought to lose a few pounds before I rock this baby, but sadly a week is too little time for that, luckily no one will know me in Bali. Anyways, the special part about this swim suit is the straps are like a tank top and the back just ties flat, its not stringy like normal bikinis which means it will stay on better. The only down side to that is it will probably give me a silly tan line! Thank God for fake tan lotion!

1. Tank-shirt I can't really describe this without saying it has a bunch of giberish on it, but hey its an adorable sleeveless tee shirt that goes down to about mid-thigh. Its so comfortable and soft and I felt like its a perfect beach side throw on - cover up thingy.

2. Elephant Tee With HUGE SIDES Basically this is one of those shirts that are wider then it is long and has a side that pretty much connect with the sleeves. I really love elephants, and this is such a cool shirt I had to get it for the Bali trip! And I plan on wearing this or the next shirt when I ride an elephant in Bali.

3. Believe It or Not Elephant Shirt This one is just a normal tee, but I found the colors and the elephant so fitting for Bali, again I LOVE ELEPHANTS.

Thank you so much for reading!

Hope you guys enjoyed seeing what I got!

I feel this shopping trip was definitely justified.

xo, 

shannon marie

:-*

HAUL - LUSH LIP PRODUCTS

I went shopping the other day, well, no, at first I had went to pick up clothes from a previous shopping trip that I had altered, and ended up going shopping. After buying a few things, I got hungry and headed to SOGO (Japanese owned department store) to eat at one of my favorite restaurants. On my way down the escalader I spotted the Lush counter and couldn't resist! (;

 I'm not sure why, its really humid here in Taiwan, yet my lips have been dry and peeling like no other. Its a bit frustrating really. I hate the look of chalky, peeling, shriveled lips. I'm trying to drink lots of water, but for some reason nothing really helps. I put a ton of vasaline on, and in the morning my lips aren't bad, but by mid day, even with the help of chap stick, there still chapped and dried. So I thought I'd try this baby out! 

ABOUT THE PRODUCT

This is a gentle sugar based scrub that specifically targets the lips. Made from all natural ingredients, Lush boasts that you can lick it right off if you wanted. (I however prefer to wash it off with a wet towel) The one I have tastes like sugary mint & chip ice cream, and it is the second to most hydrating. They have one more that's more oil based, but I found that one too messy. It was priced at around $399NT, I'm not sure how much it is in USD (but I paid about $12USD?). 

MY EXPERIENCE THUS FAR

I've used it twice now and I find it to be pretty good. It didn't get rid of ALL the dryness, but then again, I didn't want to scrub to hard. It got rid of the majority of the peeling skin, and that's enough for me. I think that scrubs and exfoliates should be a gradual process, so I'm using it every day until all the peeling is gone, and then after that I'll probably only use it once a week. I'm sure there are better lip scrubs out there, but this one is all natural and it smells and tastes amazing. Plus it does work rather well, and that's enough for me. 

I actually asked the lady if she had any chap stick type products, but apparently my Chinese isn't good enough... she showed me this cute little product instead. Although its not what I was looking for, I ended up liking it a lot so I bought it anyways. 

ABOUT THE PRODUCT/MY EXPERIENCE THUS FAR

This is, like all Lush products, and all natural product. It smells sweet and has a very sheer shimmery tint. Its actually nice because its pretty hydrating and not sticky, yet still maintains a glossy look. In fact come to think of it, when I wore it today and walked to work, I didn't have the whole "wind blowing my hair into my lip gloss" problem! So that's definitely a bonus to the cuteness right? I really do like the color, and find that although a light pink, it wears really well, and is very easy to apply. Its sort of a mouse like substance, and does not require a lot to cover my entire lips. Its priced at around $300NT. (Which is about $9USD). 

xoxo,

Shannon Marie

[BEAUTY HAUL] WATSONS TAIWAN

[BEAUTY HAUL] WATSONS TAIWAN

HELLO LADIES & GENTS, I've been in Taiwan for about two months now, and for those of you familiar with traveling, you'll understand the need to down size, you know, all those restrictions and weight limits blah blah blah. My point is, now my supple of necessary beauty products have dwindled and diminished  and for the past few days I've been using my moms products. Her products are great products, just not right for my age, and so I finally picked up a few things to try out! I've only used these once, so this is a HAUL post, not a review! 

PRODUCTS I GOT

Cutex Nail Polish Remover, Garnier Skin Naturals Aqua Defense Refreshing Hydrating Toner, Garnier Skin Naturals Aqua Defense Non Stop Intensive Hydrating Essence, Nivea Firming Lotion, Loreal Gentle Lip & Eye Make Up Remover, Watsons Exfoliating Body Scrub.

I needed a moisturizer badly! And so I thought I'd try out Garnier's line! Its kind of weird to me since I always think of them as the shampoo brand, but I used the eye roller that's talked about wildly, and I realized they're pretty good. From what I've used so far, I like this product a good amount, I can't say its extraordinary or  holy grail material, but I'll keep using it for sure, and see how I feel about it after a while. 

 Nivea Firming Lotion: I really wanted some lotion, cause I feel like my skin isn't as smooth as they used to be, and I know its because I hadn't lotioned my body in the the whole two months that I've been over seas. Tsk Tsk for sure. This lotion immediately made a difference by the next morning after putting it on. I'm not sure if its actually firming, but hey! The moisture was great!

Watsons Exfoliating Body Scrub: The smell is great, and the exfoliating aspect is pretty good, I'm not that picky of exfoliators so to me as long as it gets some skin off, its good. I do prefer the kind thats not a scrub but exfoliates, however, this one smells amazing and moisturizes me so I'm a fan.

Loreal Lip & Eye Make Up Remover: I saw FashionRocksMySocks talk about this product in her recent video, and I had never really heard or noticed it before, and so when I saw this sitting right there at the front of the store, I had to try it out! Its descent, not my favorite though, I wanted it because Biodermas expensive and I find getting my mascara off wastes a lot of product, and so I thought an oil based remover would be much more money savvy. It gets the job done, and so I'm happy enough. However my favorite is the Up & Up knock off of the Neutrogena one!

Cutex Nail Polish Remover - Moisturizing: So I had to get this one because it spelled moisturizing wrong on the packaging. Unless its one of those multi spelled words??? If so I'm sorry for making fun of you Cutex. Anywhoo, I needed a nail polish remover, and this did the trick I can't say it feels like it was very much moisturizing but at least it got my glitter polish off without a fight. 

Hope you guys enjoyed this quick haul post (:

XO,

Shannon Marie