Kathy Truong

What an amazing week it was. I’ve been so swamped with work, school, papers, midterms and trying to balance everything out. It was so nice to take a day off from it all and spent Valentine’s Day with a special someone.

On Valentine’s Day, someone surprised me with breakfast in bed, surprised me with a huge balloon and edible arrangement at work, a cute Italian dinner, a beautiful rose, a movie, and a sweet kiss. It was my first and the best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had. I gave him a gift as well, a nice watch from Forever 21’s men section, lots of lollipops so he doesn’t get sleepy on the way home from work and a huge chocolate heart. It was such a cute night.

The edible arrangement was so delicious! And the cute little Italian place was Gales in Pasadena and it was so intimate and everyone basically knew each other.

In advance, I apologize for the blurry quality, I left my camera somewhere… anyways.. Time to post a blog about my recent favorite beauty products! Winter weather in California is so unpredictable. It can be rainy and gloomy one day and sunny and warm the next day. So my skin has either been breaking out and oily, or super dry and pale… gotta love California weather. For nice, warm days, I use blotting sheets and less eyeliner. For super gloomy, chilly days, I wear a lot of moisturizer, winged eyeliner and cream blush.

My favorite cream blush was a gift from my friend Tiffanie. She gave me two cream blush sticks from Clinique and I’ve been using them so much that the label got worn off and I have no idea what the names of these cream blushes are. However, one is a peachy pink matte cream blush while the other one is a pinky shimmery cream blush. On long days at school, when my makeup and skin get a bit dry, pale and start to wear off, I like to keep these cream blush sticks in my purse and touch up during break time. They are amazing! The one I use most is the peachy pink matte cream blush.

My next few favorite beauty products are my tinted moisturizers from Laura Mercier and Sonia Kashuk. I have to say that the Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer is the best tinted moisturizer ever! I’m not even joking. It has the most coverage I have seen in a tinted moisturizer and it still moisturizes and has SPF. The only downside of this tinted moisturizer is the dam price. I always buy the travel size bottle of Laura Mercier for $20 because the full size is $42 and I cannot justify buying a $42 tinted moisturizer, even though it’s worth every penny. The second tinted moisturizer is from Sonia Kashuk and it is a bit more sheer in coverage and it has this certain smell, smells like a lipstick to me, but it’s works just fine. On lazy days when I don’t want to get made up, I just use a tinted moisturizer, some concealer and set it with some powder and light eye makeup and I’m good to go. My favorite concealer is the Olay & Covergirl concealer. It’s so creamy and thick enough for great coverage but yet thin enough for the under eye area. My next favorite product is the E.L.F. blush and bronzer duo. I would have never guessed it would be so pigmented for only a $3 product, but it is works wonders. I want to pick up the highlight and bronzer duo now, but I can’t seem to find it. Speaking of E.L.F. products, I just discovered their $1 eyelash curler and let me just say.. $1 miracle.

My last favorite product is the John Freida frizz-ease, my hair doesn’t frizz, so I mainly just use it for the heat protectant.  I love how it makes my hair feels so much softer after blow drying it.

My last two products aren’t favorites, but they are worth talking about. I just got on the dry shampoo rave and bought one from Suave and Tresemme. The Tresemme one was about $5 and the Suave was $3, and the Suave dry shampoo works much better than the Tresemme one. It absorbs more oil and it’s cheaper. However, these dry shampoos aren’t my favorite because I guess dry shampoo isn’t my cup of tea and it doesn’t do much for my hair, but it does give good volume for styling.

Here is an outfit picture from the week. A Cotton On black blazer ($34) over my leaf motif tank top from Wet Seal ($5), skinny jeans from Forever 21 with black combat boots from Gossip ($13), a knitted teal scarf that I made and my hair tied up in a bun.

I can’t wait for Valentine’s Day!

The first blog post of February. The beginning of February has been so amazing so far. I finally got me a Valentine, a sweetheart too. Anyways, I’ve been loving this floral leaf motif tank top that I posted in my last post. I love it so much that I wore it twice this week.

Here are two outfit pictures from Monday and today.

Monday- My leaf motif tank top from Wet Seal, with a gray infinity scarf from Cotton, a purple cardigan from I think Forever 21 and my lovely gold watch from a little boutique called Francesa.

Today- My leaf motif tank top with my black military blazer from Forever 21 with gold buttons and my gray boots.

I’ve been wearing my black combat boots so many times that I decided to change it up with my gray boots.

After work this morning, I went to Target to get a Revlon pink truffle lip butter that I lost right after I bought it.. so sad. Target was so packed! I guess it was because it is the day before the Superbowl, but for me, it was because there was a clearance sale in the makeup section! You better believe that I had fun by myself in that clearance section.

I bought this bright Peacock Teal single eyeshadow from Rimmel, and this is my first Rimmel product added to my collection. There were other bright colors on sale like a purple, gold and some neutrals, but I decided to get a teal because I don’t have a teal eyeshadow in my collection. It was only $1.32!

Then my second Rimmel product was this adorable hot pink magenta nail polish. I couldn’t decide between a metallic royal blue, a real true purple and this hot magenta, but I had to make a choice. This was only $1.98 and the color is called Cherry Fashion 360.

The next thing I bought was this CoverGirl LashExact mascara which was only $3. I have the LashBlast, the LashLength and the LashVolume and I love them, but all waterproof of course.

The last thing I bought was the John Frieda frizz-ease heat protectant and frizz control spray. I don’t do much with my hair and I don’t need frizz control because my hair is straight and won’t hold a curl, but I wanted to try a heat protectant for my hair because I blow dry it every single day and straighten my bangs.

I feel like I haven’t gone shopping for clothes in months. The last time I bought clothes was when I went Christmas shopping for friends and family. Anyways, it was really nice relaxing on my Sunday off at the mall with my little sister. Here are some things that I bought.

These combat boots are from weeks ago but for some reason I forgot to blog about them. It’s from a store called Gossip in Pasadena and they were 75% off! Only $13! I wear them everyday.

Now on to today’s haul. My first stop was Wet Seal and I went through their $5 racks and saw this really adorable tube top and a sheer floral motif tank top.

Then I swung over to Cotton On for this cute black blazer for $35.

Then I had to visit Sephora. I had a 10% coupon when I bought my Clinque moisturizer and I wanted to buy a little something from Sephora. So I was debating between the eyeshadow single Kitten from Stila because I am about to hit pan in my palette, or a perfume from Versace Bright Crystal. I have never bought a perfume for myself before because I hate fragrances, but I have been getting samples for Versace Bright Crystal and I’ve been wearing it. I could only afford the little roll on tube of perfume and with my 10% off it came out to be about $19. I love this fragrance, I’ve been wanting to get it for a really long time.

Also, when I was at Sephora, I was playing around with the Naked 2 palette and from pictures and reviews I’ve seen online, I thought the colors were much cooler than the original Naked palette. However, when I had it in my hands right in front of me, the colors actually seemed warmer than the original Naked palette. I bought my original Naked palette a few weeks ago and I’m in love with it. I was actually debating on the original Naked or the Naked 2, and now I think I will be saving up for the Naked 2 palette as well.

I also went grocery shopping at Target and I was recommended this Nivea creme and it works wonders! It looks and feel like cream cheese which is so freaken odd but it’s so moisturizing without being greasy.

And here is an outfit picture from a random day from the week.

And a really cute dim sum date with someone special.

Happy Chinese/Vietnamese/Lunar New Year to all who celebrate it! I spent Sunday night eating, giving out and receiving money, and of course gambling with my family. Since my parents are here, I decided to give out red envelopes to the cousins who are younger than me. I just hope my parents are having fun celebrating the New Year over in Vietnam.

Anyways, I have a quick buy and review for a product. It’s the makeup sponge from Sonia Kashuk. I was originally going to buy the little pink Beauty Blenders eggs but they were no where to be found except for MakeupGeek.com and it was $19 for one or $23 for two. So I went to Target and grabbed a Sonia Kashuk one for $10. A blender sponge is mainly used for putting on foundation but I use it for blending my makeup after everything is on so that it won’t look so caky and to make my makeup look more natural. Also, the sponge is great for reducing makeup, like if you have too much blush on, you can just dab the sponge on and it will remove some blush. Anyways, I bought it and I decided that I don’t really use it often, but it is a great tool to have. I have to try putting on foundation with this sponge and see how that turns out.

On another note, I was going through some makeup tutorials on Youtube and found an amazing, simple makeup tutorial that I tried out today from Marlena of MakeupGeek. It’s so pretty and simple to do! I used my Naked Palette from Urban Decay with an E.L.F. cream eyeliner for the waterline and Loreal Voluminous Million lashes mascara.

I went to work today and I decorated my classroom for Valentine’s Day with my kids. I had them make hearts with their names on it and some tissue paper puff art. Some of the parents even gave me red envelopes which I am so thankful for!

There is so much love going on this week. I appreciate my life and the people in my life so much especially my family, friends and kids. My kids are so amazing that I’ve bought them some Valentine’s Day goodies.. ssshhh. My sisters are even more amazing because my parents have been in Vietnam so it’s just us three sisters and I’m the only one that can drive and the only one that works. I came home today from work and found that my younger sister bought my favorite meal, a loco moco from Shakas, and my older sister cooked me a big feast of salmon, mashed potatoes&gravy, corn and delicious vegan cake! How did I get to become so lucky.. I’m so thankful.

Anyways, here are some things I picked up this week.

Since it’s winter, my skin has been getting really flaky and dry and I’ve been looking everywhere for a great moisturizer, but all the ones that I have tried make my skin really oily or they don’t moisturizer enough. The one that I always use is the Proactiv green tea moisturizer because it’s for acne but it’s not moisturizing enough, then I tried the Purely Deep Moisturizing lotion from Bare Essentials and that was too oily. Then I found a sample size of the Clinique 3 Step moisturizing lotion and I love it! So I ran to Sephora between classes and bought it. It was only $24 for the full size bottle which is way cheaper than the tiny “full size” of the Proactiv green tea moisturizer.

I also went to Target today with my sisters for a quick grocery shop and makeup for me. I have an obsession.

I wanted to try the E.L.F. eyelid primer because it’s just a dollar.

The Neutraguena healthy skin foundation was on sale and I’ve never tried it before, I have the Skin Clearing foundation but I really wanted to try this one.

I also took a stroll in the dollar section and bought a BATMAN bucket to hold all my makeup brushes. It’s cute!

And finally, a random picture of swatches I did of my makeup. I was bored and played, organized and rearranged my makeup collection which is getting bigger and bigger.

Work, sleep, work, sleep. That’s my routine for the winter. I hate winter, I don’t feel as productive because it is so cold. Anyways, I had a wonderful dinner at Kabuki with my two sisters, an expensive dinner. We went to get desserts after and I treated myself to Sephora. I finally gave in and bought the Urban Decay Naked Palette Original. I’ve been wanting it for so long but couldn’t really justify getting it because it is $48. BUT I GAVE IN! And I don’t regret it! I also bought an angled eyeliner brush from Sonia Kashuk at Target.

I’ve been using a lot of cream eyeliner and liquid liner for a winged look.

Here is the Naked Palette fresh out of the package.

Here are the colors.

The Stila palette that I have, that was $39, is similar to the Naked Palette. The Stila palette is also neutral and is gold based. I think that Stila’s eyeshadow KITTEN is similar to Urban Decay’s SIN, Stila’s BARE is similar to VIRGIN, Stila’s NIGHT SKY is a little more blue based than GUNMETAL, but what is mostly similar is Stila’s champagne and Urban Decay’s HALF BAKED. I love these two palettes.

Some random pictures.

I made pasta with chicken apple sausages.. really good by the way, don’t let the name fool you.

Some leftovers from Norms.

And supporting my friend through anything and everything!

The forest green infinity scarf that I first made, I decided to give that to my grandma. However, I bought the samey yarn so I will be making another one. But here is the finished teal one. And I finished making the green blue plaid men shirt, but it needs buttons and buttonholes.

I finally hit pan on my Stila palette…

Really really sad news….

I got the most awful news at work today. One of my kids, who I had in my class earlier in the year, is being put into fostercare. Her and her older sister were under their aunt’s custody because their parents didn’t want them and I guess the aunt didn’t know how to handle them and now they can’t come to the afterschool program anymore. I was tearing up when I heard this because those two girls loved being at the afterschool program because they were just learning how to socialize again, make friends, and finally grow and be in a normal environment after their parents left. Even though the youngest one wasn’t in my class for long, I felt like I was the only one that she trusted talking to. She would never let her real class tutor know what was bothering her, but she would always tell me. I feel so helpless and I miss them a lot and hope the best for them.

First day of school! First day of school!

So since I’ve been branching out on my makeup collection, I decided to try different looks for school. I bought these cream eyeliners from E.L.F. and liquid liners so I’ve been dying to try some winged eyes or cat eyes and I did today for school. I used my STILA Dream in Full Color palette for a purple eye to bring out my brown eyes and I used the E.L.F. cream eyeliner in black for the winged look and I like it.I definitely think this is a look I will try again.

I took a quick visit to Sally’s Beauty Supplies today and bought the Palladio eye ink to try out because the E.L.F. cream eyeliner isn’t waterproof. I swatched it on my hand and let it dry and it doesn’t smudge and it is definitely waterproof. I will be wearing this to the beach!

Speaking of the beach, I wanted to try different brands of waterproof creme eyeshadows so I bought a palette from Revlon and Maybelline. I bought both neutral palettes and swatched it on the back of my hand, and after letting it dry, they are definitely both waterproof, but not smudgeproof. I believe the Revlon creme eyeshadows are better than the Maybelline. The Revlon palette is in 710 Not Just Nude and the Maybelline is in 25 Neutral.

Makeup gurus have been raving about the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters as well so I gave in and bought one in the color Peach parfait 25, a peachy pink color, and I freaken love it! It’s moisturizing but so pigmented. It has a sweet smell to it and also some shimmer.

In fashion news, an old classmate from high school hit me up and asked me to design her beach wedding dress! I’m so excited. We’re going for a simple, lightweight dress and here is what I came up with so far as a first sketch.

A very chilly day it was. I start school soon and I’m going to be hungry, faded and so bored with the long schedule. Anyways, after work this morning, I went with my mommy to Target, CVS and Costco to buy random things. I’ve been buying a lot of makeup products that have been reviewed by makeup gurus on Youtube and I’ve been trying them and I have not yet been disappointed.

So here are a few things that I bought.

The first one was this E.L.F. blush and bronzer duo. The blush on camera looks like a light pink, but it’s actually a peachy pink. I tried this as soon as I got home because I wanted to touch up my makeup and I didn’t expect it to be so pigmented but it works really well.

The second thing I bought was something I already had but in another color. I loved the E.L.F. cream eyeliner in plum purple so much that I had to buy the black one.

I also wanted to try the E.L.F. waterproof eyeliner pen because I don’t have any liquid liners at all and I want to try out winged liners. I swatched this on my hand and it doesn’t smudge, but I wouldn’t say that it is waterproof.

Something that I have been wanting to buy because every makeup guru on Youtube has this and really recommends this. It’s the Loreal voluminous mascara. I got this from CVS and they are having special sales on all makeup products.

I also was recommended the Covergirl & Olay concealer. I did try this after I got home and I absolutely love it! It’s so creamy, blends great and covers really well.

Something that I bought awhile ago and have been using quite often are my new eyeshadow brushes. I freaken love the MAC 217 fluffy blending brush! Even though it’s expensive as hell, I love how well it blends out my harsh lines on my lids. I swear it saves me so much time on blending because I would always use my other stiff dome brush for blending and it would never blend out the way I want it to. Another brush I have been using a lot as well is an E.L.F. blending brush. I love using this brush to apply a wash of color as a base after I put on my eyeshadow primer and also to blend out harsh lines.  Great, great brushes.