Blog Sale stuff

Crazy news- I'll be moving to LA soon. Part of me is ridiculously excited and the other part is dying of anxiety thinking about parallel parking and parking structures LOL. My new car really isn't that much bigger than the old one, but somehow I've convinced myself that it's impossible to park.

To make my move a bit easier, I'm going to be blog sale-ing a ton of stuff :) All prices as listed or OBO
Prices INCLUDE shipping to the contiguous US. No international orders please. Extra $1.50 for insurance (but I've never had a package get lost yet *knocks on wood*

First come, first served. Please send emails to mszjackiechu@yahoo.com with the subject BLOG SALE. In the email, leave your paypal and i'll send the bill over!

Please note: I will send out packages on WEDNESDAY. I need to get my car window fixed ;_; so won't have time to run to the post office until I drop my car off. Thanks for the understanding!

Free people cream colored sweater dress
Worn twice
Front is boatneck, back is a deep V. Fits more between A XS/S
Size XS
$25

Shiseido White Lucent Anti-Dark Circles Eye Cream

New in Box 

$37 (Retails for $55)

Jill Stuart Blush Compact
Comes with an attached goat hair travel brush with rhinestone detail
Swatched maybe 1-2 times
$35

MAC lipstick in Pervette

$9

Rock & Republic blush in "Call Me"

Swatched 1 or 2 times, like new 

$80 (Others are selling for $120-160)

Chanel Cinema nail color - New in Box

Cinema is the middle color in this photo, very true to real life

Photo from Beautezine (was too lazy to take a photo haha)

$22

Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer

Used about 10times...not a fan personally. No box

Color: Nude

$17

Brand new sand grey Havaianas

Size 6

Run a little big, more like a 7

$19 (MSRP is 32)

Rock Republic jeans in "Roth"

Size 24

Purchased at a sample sale (before the sell out) and only worn 2x

$25

White Joe Jeans - New with tags

Size 25

Provocateur petite slim bootcut fit

$45

J Brand Audrey Jean Leggings

Size 25 black - New with tags

$47

Stella & Jamie Romper

size x-small

brand new with tags

$35 (MSRP is $120+)

Runs a bit big, you should be more of a size 2 than a 0

Elizabeth & James 
Boyfriend Blazer
Size 0 New without tags
One of Kim K's faves...not sure if thats a good or bad thing ;]
$68

(MSRP is $300+)

Random Things I'm Loving

Helllooo everyone :) Since I can't always film I thought it'd be fun to share some new things I got recently that I've been really in to! For those of you guys who watch my videos...I just bought a new light so I'm super excited to get it and hopefully I won't have to whine about the light anymore. Anyway on to my fave products! ^_______^

This chunky bib necklace has the most BEAUTIFUL texture...best of all its pretty inexpensive and ranges from $8-$10 depending on the day. (Yesstyle adjusts their prices according to the exchange rate). I did get a pair of earrings from this company and was totally unimpressed, but this necklace has made multiple appearances throughout the past few weeks. It's perfect to dress up a plain top :) 

You can buy this on Yesstyle

Hammered Spike Necklace 

Also loving this necklace as well. I tried to adjust the brightness and contrast since this photo was taken with really low lighting so it's sort of blurry sorry! Their stock photo on the website is much better and more clear. They have an all gold version but I think the alternating spikes of gold and rose gold look much more interesting :)

You can buy this here on DailyLook 

Essie's In the Cab-ana nail polish

No lie, traditionally speaking I'm a total ESSIE POLISH HATER. Hate the brush, formula etc. But my friend needed me to paint this on her on our way to Vegas and I have to admit- I was blown away by the pigmentation and how beautiful this color was. Its just about 90% opaque with one application, and its a real head turner. I always get compliments when I wear this! Two thumbs way way up.

Bath and Body Work "Scent Portables" Car Fresheners
Random fact: I love a good smelling car! It just makes them seem so clean and for some reason I like driving at night better with one in. Bath and Body Works makes some of my favorite ones :) "Island margarita" is the best scent in my opinion, as a lot of the other scents they have are either cotton/linen inspired or they smell food-like. I like to eat cupcakes, but I don't like to smell them! I prefer clean, fruity scents. I'm always on the prowl for an effective but economical air freshener for my car. I feel like most of them go out so quickly or they don't smell very good. But these little bad boys tend to last quite awhile...a few months in the hot SoCal summer sun. Pretty impressive! And only $3.50 a pod (they have a buy three, get one free deal). Way better than the Asian ones I used to buy which were not only pricey, but didn't seem to last very long.

In college I used to always buy these ones. My favorite was the white peach (pictured here). They smell AMAZING but they'd dry up so quickly! That and they're kind of a pain in the butt to find. I'd even poke through the tin foil with a push pin vs. tearing off the tin foil to try and get the scent to last longer but I could never get more than a few weeks out of it.

You do have to have one of these cases but most of them are pretty inexpensive. I don't recommend hanging them upside down though as one LEAKED on my leather seat. I literally flipped out, but I've had enough of them to know that was probably a faulty one but just in case, now I bought a new case and clip it to the dash rather than upside down on my visor.

So that's all! If you haven't seen it yet I also uploaded a video today (I'm on a roll) which you can check out below :D


 I know the setting isn't quite perfected yet...but I always appreciate everyone's seemingly endless patience with me! I promise the new lights will make everything a bit easier :)

-Jackie

Why I'm Not Mad about the "Asian Girlz" Video

A screenshot from the "Asian Girlz" video...which needs no introduction.

Before you go and hate me, hear me out first.

As an Asian American woman, I was first alerted to this video because it got a big rise out of the Asian American Greek system. People were legitimately p*ssed. To be honest the only time I remember being legitimately offended was post creamy-yellow thighs, the "slanted eyes" part, I distinctly remember thinking "HEY!". But soon after, I didn't really think they we're being serious. It was so over the top and unrealistic, it was more satirical than anything.  On top of that, if you catch the part at the end about Arcadia, Tasty Garden etc. these aren't things that someone who didn't have ties within the Asian community would be familiar with. This makes even more sense now learning they have a tattoo studio set up in Arcadia. If you're not familiar with Arcadia, Alhambra etc they're a part of 626. When you go there its like going back in time, and the stores with Asian signs far outnumber the Starbucks and Targets. I didn't, and still don't think anyone that savvy was being really serious. Do I understand people being offended? Is it sexist and racist? Sure. But I'm not really offended. Because I honestly took it as a joke. Maybe a poorly thought out one (I could have seen this coming), but not even a ill-intent one.

Personally, I felt like a lot of the men were even more upset than the women. Which is ironic because a good amount of Youtube videos Asian guys make have sexy Asian girls in them. Here's a truth 90% (made up statistic) of Asian guys I know are legitimately bothered when other races marry or date Asian girls- especially the ones who are a "catch". I have friends that have said they'd never date an Asian girl if she ever dated outside of Asians. Hell, we even have socioeconomic hierarchies within the Asian community itself.  It was interesting to me to see the uproar of anger stirred in my own male acquaintances and that they felt compelled to come to the plight of us poor, hapless Asian women.

These are the same men, btw, who all "like" sexy Asian girl fan pages on Facebook and share Melanie Iglesias flip books the second a new one gets released. How ironic that they're upset at a video, with these Caucasian guys "objectifying" their women and "sisters" when they do the same thing all the time- albeit maybe not like this. As a culture we like to shame our women in to being compliant, which a lot of times means marrying a "good" Asian boy (btw, some of the sweetest and most loving guys I know are Caucasion men married to my Asian friends).  This reminds me of the "small penis" phobia. Timothy de la ghetto once commented on this, the Asian man's fear of the "small penis" stereotype. You can watch that video here, to this day it still makes me laugh. In it he says, "this idea of a small penis joke is like our kryptonite", and I think the same goes to other races objectifying and dating "their" women.

Levy Tran- probably most well known for her import model career and of course, tattoos.

That being said, I'm not disappointed in Levy Tran either. If anything I'm bemused by how many messages I have seen from Asian men saying they've "lost all respect" for her for "taking Asian women back 50 years".

I think it was a business move for her. Why would you be in this video unless you're 1. Getting paid well and/or 2. It'd be good publicity. She's also a part of Guy Code, and pretty big in the import scene so she's no stranger to being popular for being sexy. I'm pretty sure she dances regularly as a go go dancer in similar style outfits, and now that she's done so in a video being the sexual object for *gasp* Caucasion men suddenly this is a problem. She's capitalized for years on her body and being sexy, this isn't anything new. And I think that's fine, because you know what? I think we also need more sexy Asian girls that own their bodies and sexuality. And I appreciate that she doesn't feel the need to conform to today's limiting ideas of Asian beauty. But if you want to find a girl who "lifts Asian women" from the catapults of "being objectified", you probably shouldn't be looking towards an import model. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the import model scene, but it normally consists of girls (overwhelmingly Asian) scantily clad spread eagled over a car. I never understood that part personally.

Don't believe me? Here's a screen shot of what you'd get if you searched, "import models".

But its not just a problem with Asian women.

Now to me, this isn't an Asian problem either, it's a female problem. Men are rewarded for being successful, women are rewarded for being beautiful. Don't believe me? How many "sexy" girls can you think of? How many can you think of that became famous for actually bringing something to the table? Not so many. Here's an example: as many of you know, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg married a Chinese-American (Cantonese woop woop!) woman. This girl is a brilliant, a ivy league grad and UCSF educated doctor. You know what made headlines when they got married? How small her ring was, and how cheap it was. Like a Harvard-educated UCSF med school grad really needs a man to buy her something nice. And when you Google her name, "ugly" pops up as a prompted query because its so frequently searched. Despicable. It's sad to me that such an accomplished woman was brought down to that level by the media, of needing to be validated by a big ring and a pompous wedding.

But I'd be lying if I said I didn't follow some sexy girls myself (I used to be a big Steph Ly fan), and I will be the first one to admit this is especially ironic coming from someone who makes videos on Youtube talking about things like skin care and makeup. If you want a really inspiring woman to follow, I highly recommend Clara Shih.

But here is the real issue at hand-

If we can't celebrate female success within our own community, how can we expect other races to do the same?

To be fair, a handful of my female friends are sincerely offended, and I think they have the right to be and I respect how they feel. But I thought this was a good opportunity to bring the hypocrisy of the whole thing to light. How many of us, within the Asian community celebrate women for their achievements? How many of these angry and upset people have a lengthy list of successful Asian women in their head? Who didn't become popular as a result of their appearance? Watching all the anger surrounding this video reminds me of Alexandra Wallace 2.0.

Asians (especially in social media) like to start these cyber witch hunts of people who offend us, but it fails to 1) actually bring any of us closer together 2) actually change or alter any negative stereotypes people may legitimately have. Instead everyone wastes their time and effort on people who legitimately DGAF (Alexandra Wallace) or people who (to me) were clearly not being serious. Personally I think these online witch hunts are more akin to cyber bullying than they are a championship of the Asian race. Respect is earned, not given. Being mean, angry and sometimes even violent doesn't make anyone take you any more seriously.

Break the mold with your actions and love, not with anger and malice.

Just my 2 cents.

Feel free to (respectfully) disagree below, I know I can't speak for everyone. 

Disclaimer: I've seen some psychiatrists saying this kind of stuff encourages things like violence towards Asian women, and as someone who has been repeatedly grabbed and groped at a lot of her life, I humbly disagree. They say the same thing about video game consumption, and if you look at the stats, countries with the highest video game consumption are actually, the safest. I don't think this video had ill intent and its not like they're pretending to hurt / are actually being violent with her, but again, that's only my opinion.

So were you guys upset? Or did you take it as a joke? I'd love to know.

Review: Lioele Nail Color #38 + Swatch

So in the stock photo it actually looks like this ( those liars haha):

Lioele #38 

But I assure you that my photo is actually the much more accurate depiction. Imagine my surprise when I was expecting a bright aquamarine Tiffanys-esque color...and received this instead. So Lioele Nail Color #38 is more of a muted, mint green. Keep this in mind while I do my review. This is the first Lioele polish I have ever tried!

Smell: Oh. My. Lordy. This is the STINKIEST polish I have ever opened in my life. Its so acrid that it actually made my nose hairs hurt while I was painting my fingers. If you ever had those blow up plastic ballons as a kid- this is what it smelled like. The kind where you put the liquid plastic on a straw, blow in to it and it inflates in to a ball that stays around for awhile. So. Terrible. 

Price: As with most Lioele products, pretty affordable.  But significantly more pricey than OPI or Essie. $9.70

Application: At one coat it looked almost sheer, it definitely didn't seem very promising. After two coats it was pretty much perfect. No problems to the visibile eye unless you're right next to it

Wear: Eh. Small chips by day 2 bad chips by day 4. This is pretty average for me btw, I'm kind of hard on my hands. 

Brush: I think the applicator is important to mention since I can be pretty picky with applicators. Im not a fan of the Essie-style brush, but found this to be very OPI like. A thick brush that is easily maneuverable 

Buy again? Not if they smell like this. I just reopened it about 5 minutes ago and my head is still reeling from the stench. However Sylvia (Beautycakez) said hers smells amazing...so maybe its just like Russian Roulette...you'll never know what you get.

If you're interested, I got mine from Yesstyle...but I know theres other distributors out there. I wouldn't worry too much about fakes :) 

Car Shopping!

I HATE CAR SHOPPING. It was literally the worst and most stressful thing I ever had to do. Particularly because I was on a time crunch and my old car had become incredibly unreliable and borderline dangerous. A lot of you guys have been asking me for tips since you're in the car market, so I'll show you what I was considering / my thoughts.

So I wanted a car that was:

• Japanese or Korean (Euros...are headaches.)
• Low mileage- wanted to buy slightly used, cars are one of the worst assets for depreciation
• Preferably leather but could do without
• RELIABLE. This is big
• Could take 24,000 miles a year- which is what I've been driving lately
• Was reasonably priced. I've been saving a lot towards retirement lately and pushing as much to the principal of my school loan so I didn't want something I would heavily finance

So these were the cars I considered:

Volkswagen Jetta

New body style

Pros: 

• The new ones are SO CUTE. Such a clean body that I think will age well (I don't like the last body model but I like the ones from early 2000s). 
• German (only for drivability factor...I drive so much! But I love how responsive German cars are and how they feel
• German paint also tends to age better, which is part of why they look better for longer 

Cons:

• German (unreliable) haha
• Cousins Jetta went out at 80k with perfect maintenance... WHACK. They should be embarrassed. Theyre suckers too so they always brought it to the dealer 
• Last body model had electrical problems and there were numerous reports of cars stalling on the freeway. Just turning off...on a FREEWAY. INCREDIBLY dangerous
• Cheap looking dash/steering wheel that doesn't match the body
• Base doesn't come with air conditioning. Yes. You read that right. A new car with no air, pass.

Honda Civic

(any of the past two body styles)

Pros: 

• Hondas have a reliable history 
• More stylish than comparable cars like a Corolla 
• Great gas mileage (highway is in mid 30s)
• The new ones come standard with a rearview back up camera in the dash

Cons:

• Feels SO light to me, when I brake it feels like a toy. Doesn't have great "feel" to it
• Hondas have fallen off the "Best Cars" list for awhile due to reliability issues with their newer models

Hyundai Elantra Coupe

(2012 and on)

Pros:

• Really sporty look for an entry level car
• Amazing gas mileage 38 MPG! Win
• AMAZING turn radius...try it! You'll be amazed. Crank the wheel as far is it will go and it just turns in the tightest little ball
• Drives heavier than a civic (more like a German but still very light) fairly responsive

Cons:

• The door panels look cheap on the inside, especially the window buttons. A weird thing to notice I know but stare at them and you'll see what I mean
• Has a great powertrain warranty BUT still haven't stood the test of time like Honda/Corolla so you'd be taking a leap of faith
• Don't like the space ship looking dash

2008 TSX

This is the only year I considered since it would be the 'newest'

I'm not very fond of the 2009+ tail lights...weird I know

Pros:

• Reliable entry-level luxury car
• Has the same background as Honda, cheap oil changes, tranny flushes etc.
• Leather, comes stock with HIDs

Cons:

• Would be hard to find without a lot of miles
• Would also be hard to find the color I wanted (black or white)
• Braking power/ brakes SUCK. Absolutely suck
• Doesn't have a whole lot of power to the engine
• (Something I've learned while owning it) the gas mileage is pretty bad for a Japanese car, I'm filling up just as often as I did with a much older German. So sad -_-'

So I ended up getting the TSX...even though it wasn't the color I wanted. I found one with JUST over 40k which is a little high but not so high that it would be something I had to worry about.

Here are my tips for car shopping:

1. Go with a guy. I hate to be sexist, but they will always try to run you around for an idiot if you go by yourself. Also I'm really uncomfortable with bartering, and apparently they thought I was a dumb*** because they all tried to sell it to me for sticker price (you must be joking) but I didn't have the balls to speak up so that's also my fault. 
2. Know what the car is really worth so you have some leverage
3. Put as MUCH down as you possibly can...I had to put a lot aside for tax season so I only put down 5k but if you're a first time car buyer (as I was) with no co-sign your finance rate will be horrible- even with good credit. Talk to a local credit union to see what kind of rate they would finance you for so you have some leverage

and last but not least...
BUY YOUR CAR IN 626. This doesn't help you if you live far away (unless you have some large Asian population nearby) but 626 is the area code and psuedonym for a predominantly Asian populated area of Los Angeles. It includes cities like: Alhambra, West Covina, Pasadena, Monterey Park etc. 

You will literally save thousands if you buy your car here. They will beat any offer you can get anywhere else. 1) because they care more about volume than profit 2) they deal with Asian people all the time and they won't sell a car if they won't move on prices LOL. Even if you have to drive 2 hours or so I think its worth it for how much you'll save.  Literally no one else will even come close to the deal you can get here. 

Hello from my new car :D Did you guys buy a car recently...what did you get? Dying to know :)! Haha

Why I Hate Fad Diets

Do Detox Diets Work? You Tell Me.

I hate fad diets. Hate them all. Which one? In my opinion, whether you're juicing, doing the "master cleanse", or the cabbage soup diet its all the same.

Here's what usually makes up a fad diet:

• Lasts 2-7 days
• Usually made up of a few hundred calories
• Usually lets you have some fruit or veggies

And this is why I hate them.

1) There is NO detox here: I can imagine there is a spiritual aspect to things like juicing etc- I can admit that. When the whole world was gasping at Adriana Lima's pre-Victoria's Secret show diet I agreed it was extreme but I  understood. Modeling, her body, thats her job. If she looked like everyone else wouldn't we all be Victoria's Secret models?

But I hate when people call these things "cleanses" saying its "detoxifying" their body. According to WebMD and MayoClinic, researchers at Harvard Institute and registered dietitians  they don't work. And you will never find a professional (outside of a extremist group of eaters) that say they do. So I just  wish people would call a spade a spade- its not detoxifyng anything. Stop kidding yourself. You want to detox? Don't go to happy hour every other day after work. Boom. Problem solved.

Your body doesn't need to detox. That's what your kidney and livers are for- and they do a great job at what they do.  Fad diets havent proven to remove toxins from your body.

probably didn't get like this by juicing :P

2) People are kidding themselves. The truth is, the majority of my friends who try fad diets aren't in great shape. Why? Because they do things like fad diets all the time. They haven't accepted the fact that eating well is something you have to implement every single day (or at least 80% of the time).

That being said I always try to stress that it is perfectly OKAY to have "cheat" meals. But you can't eat badly 7 days of the week, every single week, crash diet a weekend before your Vegas trip and expect to look amazing. You know what really happens when you do that? You lose a few pounds (on a scale), still feel bloated, look the same and and then blow up with sodium and water weight the second you have a normal meal. And now you're especially cranky because you were trying to kill your calorie intake. Its a viscous cycle.

Now I agree- juicing is a great way to get vitamins in. But your body can only handle so many vitamins in a day- the rest leaves your body via urine. So if people were to add it as a supplement to their meals? Nothing wrong with that. But I don't like how its become the new "quick fix" that I'm sure will just be replaced by something else in the near future.

You want to look great all the time, then be mindful of what you eat most of the time. I love food- there's no denying it. The fatty stuff, tacos, noodles etc. So its not like I don't like food. But this is I how I think of it- I only go out to eat 3-4 times a week on the weekends. If the food isn't great (and if I made it it won't be LOL) then I'd rather just eat clean. Whats the point of being bloated and tired for some mediocre mac and cheese?

So that's just my two cents. I can understand the spiritual aspect of it for some people- feeling connected to your body and owning it is a wonderful thing. But no more of this "detox" nonsense please. Let's just call a spade a spade, and that is all :)

PS. I'll be uploading a video today about my favorite pasta substitutes for my fellow carb lovers :D Stay tuned!

Bye guys!

All about HOT YOGA :)

So a lot of you have asked me a ton of questions about hot yoga...I'm such a big fan so I wanted to answer all of your questions both on my blog and in this video:


So the main questions.

Is Bikram the same thing as hot yoga?
Bikram is a type of hot yoga- it's a series of 26 postures, no music, 105 degree heat and high humidity over 90 minutes. The classes are the same everywhere and there are rules to be aware of: scheduled water breaks, leaving early is discouraged (even if you're feeling sick) some people may describe Bikram as being militant- but I think it ultimately comes down to preference. Many people ONLY do Bikram and do it their entire life!

PROS of Hot Yoga:

• Your skin will look amaaaazzzing
• Lean, long muscle. But you can get this from regular yoga and pilates
• I (personally) think hot yoga is good for type A personalities that may have a harder time concentrating in vinyasa type of classes
• Therapeutic...and all that good stuff

CONS of Hot Yoga:

• Its expensive, expect to pay $100/month but more in the $130-150 range in a larger city
• You may have scheduling conflicts 

Can Bikram/ Hot yoga help me lose weight?

I have heard stories of people losing 30, 40 or even 50+ pounds with hot yoga. However in my experience, most people I know will never get shredded/super lean off of just yoga. The people I know who have had amazing bodies off of just yoga were people who were already naturally fairly slender and just needed to tone up or lose a few vanity pounds. However I do think yoga makes you more mindful of what you eat- which will of course help you shed weight. However the caloric burn cant compare to a brutal gym session/running. Ive heard people say hot yoga can burn 800+ calories a class...I really think 300-400 is much more accurate. The elevated heat makes your heart pump + burn more calories but 800 is definitely an exaggeration. 

What to wear to a hot yoga class: 

Girls: For bottoms I'd recommend shorts or crops, on the top I like to wear a sports tank top but lots of girls wear only sports bras and thats fine too :)! (If you're brave! ahaha).

Guys: usually shirtless with board shorts or short shorts

Things to know before class:

1. Be well hydrated (drink a TON of water) and no big meals 2 hours before
2. Arrive to your first class 10-15 mins early, never go in late
3. Don't set your mat directly in front of other's mat, manners :)! Make sure to stagger so everyone can see themselves in the mirror

My new Nikes, where to buy athletic shoes for less and why toning shoes are ridiculous

My offending "ugly boy shoe" asics :'[ haha

"Wow babe, those are really, really ugly" 

This post kind of started with a conversation I had with my boyfriend the other day. When we originally started dating over 18 months ago, one thing we both really found common ground on was our love of fitness. Ever since the first time we worked out together I always remembered his comment whenever I looked at my shoes. That and the "those are like little boy shoes" comment that followed. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my asics. Honestly they're the best runner shoes and nothing feels quite like them. But it blew my mind that a man who is incredibly minimalistic and indifferent about worldly goods would comment on something like my shoes being ugly. That being said these little champs served me well for over 5.5 years now. You can't see in the photo but they're starting to get holes so I decided for a bit of an aesthetic upgrade. I chose the black (a little more expensive, paid 130 at the time) since I was doing a lot of outdoors stuff and I didn't want the traditional white colored shoes to get ruined.

PROS of asics shoes:

• Long lasting
• Amazing on the arch of the foot
• Different styles focus on different running habits- it really feels tailored to you. I'd try on as MANY styles as you can until you find one that fits just right

CONS:

• "Ugly"- even by men's standards apparently *roll eyes*
• Very expensive- around $100/pair but I noticed they came out with a more economical version in the 50s range! Can't say much for how the more affordable line works though)

We we're both shopping around and first stepped in to Dick's Sporting Goods...never been in here in my life but it reminded me of a bigger, brighter and slightly more pretentious Big 5 Sporting Good store- which by the way is where I bought my infamous pink pepper spray.

Anyway so we eventually decided to hop skip over to the Famous Footwear next door- now let me tell you this place is SO neat. They had tons of Nikes for men and women, as well as a lot of heels and boots. I also noticed quite a few of the women's footwear was made by Franco Sarto- impressive considering thats mostly a Nordstrom and Department Store brand. I didn't exactly like a lot of the sandals and heels but did notice a few classics among the crowd. The color selection for women was admittedly a bit limited for athletic shoes so I asked the sales associate where I could get the baby blue version on display but was told it was a child's size. I must have looked pretty disappointed because he asked me my size (6) and told me I'd have no problem finding them in that size. I was blown away, most my friends who squeak by with children's sizes have 3.5-4 size feet. I think i'm pretty solidly in the adult sizes but according to the kind folks on Twitter apparently anyone even up to a women's 7.5 can wear children's shoes. I purchased these in a size 5Y.

I settled on these baby blue babies! Lunarglide's are the children's version of the Nike Lunarflys- which is PERFECT because that was the shoe I had been eyeing inside of Dick's. The price was right under $52 before tax, $51.99 I believe. They're an all around running shoe, but can also be used during weight training. They only had two children's options available so thats something to think about as well- but the adult women's shoes were a good 20 bucks cheaper than at Dicks. But of course, Dicks had a much larger selection.

Another place I think you should check out if you're interested in getting asics on sale is Nordstrom Rack- I see a ton of random ones there all the time now. They're really a fantastic runner shoe if you're in to running. I like how these Nikes feel but I've worn the same running shoes for so long that its taking me awhile to form an opinion on them. It definitely feels different when I run- but I can't tell if thats a good or bad different yet.

Anyway while I was running around the store I noticed a somewhat elderly woman trying on those infamous Skechers Shape Ups shoes.  I followed these pretty closely because I thought they were fascinating (read: dumb) but they seemed to be SO embraced by the weight loss community. I almost wanted to warn her- they won't help you lose weight. Save your money- in fact the company is facing a flurry of lawsuits one by the FTC and one mass tort (which you can read about here) but I won't delve in to that. They charged something like $100+ a pair too, ridiculous! Honestly now, I love the Kardashian sister's fashion sense and perfect extensions but after endorsing a company like Quik Trim I would never buy their products outside of their nail polish collections. Besides-in Kim's endless paparazzi photos she's always wearing Nikes. There will definitely be no shortage of fad diets or funny weight loss products. I remember once for kicks and giggles I tried on a friends weight loss belt which starts with smearing a strange sonogram like jelly over your stomach and then turning it on -those little electrical zaps HURT. Of course it doesn't work but it just blows me away how much money is spent on pills and fantastical devices devices each year- but yet America's battle with obesity is one they're constantly losing. There's just no short cuts with weight loss. People will search for the right pill, the right equipment, the perfect answer but there's just no substitute for a healthy diet and exercise.

One thing I read lately was "Sometimes, you just have to go and the motivation will eventually come". That's true- there's countless days I'm tired, feeling lazy and really don't want to go to the gym. I'm sighing on the mat stretching and dragging my feet to the machine but once I get a bit of sweat going then im 110% in. Sometimes you won't be motivated right away, and that's okay because getting yourself there is half the battle. Once I'm there, I just think about how hot ripped abs are and that gives me the energy to push through running when I'm tired. That and sexy songs. Like this music video: has both sexy lyrics and sexy girls (indifferent about the beat though). Very NSFW by the way. ahaha 

So think of whatever makes you feel sexy (or vindictive, that always works for me too) and just embrace it. Even if its a cute new pair of sneakers or a sexy music video.

love,
Jackie

Beautiful nail polish haul

Hi Guys :)

So one of my beauty new years resolutions was to stop being scared of things being ugly- what does that mean? As you guys know i've always been timid of trying bright colors or funky accessories and thats mostly because everytime I have in the past, I always thought it looked ugly on me and so I wouldn't try again for a few years. However lately I kind of realized that in order to find anything really special I'd have to be willing to take risks that I wont like something and thats all part of the learning process and it happens to everyone. Worst comes to worst I can blog sale it right?

PS. Some of these are some fall/winter stragglers. Im sure you guys can tell which ones :)

Orly- Ancient Jade

A rich, milky mint green. 5 days NO significant chips. Ridiculous staying power

Orly's solid gold a matte bronzey gold 

Amazing staying power for a matte polish- 4 days no chips! Very expensive looking too- the gold has a lot of depth

 OPI- Do you Lilac it?

Beautiful creamy light lilac - one of my absolute favorite polishes of all time!

OPI- I don't give a rotterdam

It looks nice from far away and sometimes in photos, but in person its very flat and dull. Some of the people on instagram mentioned this as well

 OPI- Meet me on the star ferry

Looks nice in photos but in person is a metallic plum that doesn't really excite me. Not bad but easily overlooked

Chanel- May

Bright bubblegum pink :) Very cute but admittedly not too special. Still a favorite for me though

Basically a large haul of all the polishes I've been trying lately! I have a newfound love and respect for Orly polishes- they can really take a beating. I won't go in to depth here so if you're interested in my thoughts please watch my video!

Random things I'm really liking

So yay! Finally came back from Norcal but am super exhausted. We drove since it was a holiday and figured it'd be some good bonding time. But let me tell you, driving for 17 hours in 2 days is no fun! I'm fairly tired still but I still wanted to share some of the random things I've been liking lately before I put up a "real post". I like random blog posts anyway :)

Trader Joe's Chinese Chicken Salad $3.99

GAH, This is so effing good. However I stopped buying them for awhile because if I wanted to eat something that was 650 calories, I wouldn't be eating a salad. I tried the low fat one and its just not as good since the dressing is so artificial tasting, so for awhile I started just halving the dressing since that alone is 300(!) calories. I'm not in to calorie counting but come on...so I thought of a better solution.

Look! 300 calories. JUST FOR DRESSING. So I thought...this is a sesame oil dressing. A lot of oils have 100 cals or so per tbsp. (which is why I avoid cooking with oil as much as I can) so I figured...why not just scrape off the oil? So I carefully scrape off the majority of the oil and boom. Much lower calorically and even without the majority of the oil there's more than enough dressing for the rest of the salad!

 So. Much. Oil.

You can also omit the wonton chips (but I eat them separately because I love fried wonton skin!) and you bring it all down to 350ish anyway :) Without sacrificing any of the taste! Its so amazingly good. The dressing is just so perfectly tart and I love that the salad has whole snow peas, bean sprouts and cabbage to give it a nice crunch.  It really is one of my favorite asian style salads. I take out the water chestnut though since im not a big fan, unless its chopped up in my lettuce wraps! If you don't know what water chestnut is its the little white hard disk you'll find inside. Its kind of like a sweeter crunchier daikon? :x

Spiritual Gangster Magic Carpet hot yoga towels

Here's another admittedly sort of random thing I've been liking- Spiritual Gangster's Magic Carpet yoga towels. As a lot of you already know I've been very in to hot yoga lately, and I don't like sweating all over my mat so I always use a towel for class. These don't have any plastic nubs on it- instead the microfiber is SUPER dense and short, which is what helps it stay in place. Its very heavy weight and sits down nicely on the mat. The only complaint I have is that these are a bit too big for a standard yoga mat, maybe 1 inch or so longer across each border.

It doesn't really bother me now but if I did yoga in a carpeted (aka smelly yellowed sweaty old carpet) studio then I wouldn't want any part of the towel touching the floor. I refuse to pay 40-45 bucks just for a towel so I actually found these at Marshalls! Another place i've started really liking lately. They have SO many knick knacks, most of the time you won't find anything but when you do it's a steal. They were only $16 compared to the MSRP of $55-58. 

So that is all :) Norcal foodie post soon! Hope you guys had a wonderful new year and I'll be announcing the giveaway winner to this video very shortly!

love,
Jackie

Dupe for Butter London's Teddy Girl

So I was prancing around in Target today because I was traveling and forgot to bring an eyeliner. That's my one thing I can't do without- no eyeliner and there is NO WAY you are dragging my butt outside the house. Because I can't hide in a room all day I headed over to Target to get my favorite drugstore liner- Milani's Infinite liner in 'everlast'. Heavily armed with oversized shades I was glancing at all the drugstore polishes when I found this on the shelves:

Last night I painted my nails in Butter London's Teddy Girl. It's one of my favorite pinks! But if you look...its pretty much a perfect dupe. I'll probably need to buy it later to know for sure but here's another bloggers picture of Covergirl's Outlast Stay Brilliant polish in 'Pink-finity'

I found this picture via a Google search on justporciuncula's blog. Doesn't it make you excited for the day I can give you photos like this? So if her photo is the true color then this polish is a bit more cool toned and pinky, a la Essie's French Affair. But apparently its a great 1 coat formula. I actually hate Butter London's formula AND brush. Its skinny and goopy, a lot like Essie's. Its just easier for me to use a wider brush such as Chanel or OPI.

But I thought it was interesting that inside the bottle it looks practically the same. But lighting can play a HUGE factor in to how something looks on camera so perhaps it truly is closer to BL's Teddy Girl.  I was hesitant to buy it because its $4.99 which is hitting the OPI range and expensive for a Covergirl polish in my opinion. However if the formula really is nicer then I suppose it'd be worth it. She said 6 days no chips (which means 2 in my world hah!) and I've noticed many companies are now imitating the Chanel bottle. So has ELF if you've checked out their newer stuff. So I thought i'd share just for the curious to know :) I'll probably buy a bottle soon as my Teddy Girl is quickly drying up -____- never buying a BL polish again. Even though they have some great colors.

Take care!

Love,
Jackie

OH HAI! New Camera soon...so more blogging?

Hi guys.

So I know. Yell. Scream at me. I am a freaking terrible blogger and I apologize for it. However...because I recently (or not so recently) surpassed the 100,000 subscriber mark this may soon change. Apparently this means I get free stuff from Youtube. YAY! Free stuff. My Chinese side rejoices.

Okay so not so free. I get a $500 gift card to an electronics shop which is better than nothing right? Although I'm tempted to buy myself tablet or a new PC, I think it is best to heed your cries and finally buy a DSLR. So this is the DSLR I'm getting- it's a Canon Rebel T3i. From my understanding most of the Youtubers have this these days. The footage is really high quality, even in low lighting which will be nice for the CRAZY amount of rain SoCal has been having. It's been raining for 4-5 days at a time, really unusual but at least we won't have all those ridiculous drought warnings and water shortages again. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to see around the bulky casing...but we'll see! Haha

So what does this mean for you? Hopefully more frequent blog posts, more frequent and higher quality videos. I think that honestly, when I first started Youtube everyone shared my video quality. Most people started off with the 1. something megapixel camera built in to their laptops. But I think where my video quality didn't bug me before where it bugs me now. So thank you guys for all your patience, I see your point and will try very hard to make sure my videos are easy to watch :) I'm also going to try to make a DIY light box so I can take some more high quality product photos to go with these new reviews! It doesn't look very hard...but I'm not always the best at DIY so we'll see LOL.

So what has been going on with me?

I'm sorry I've been so quiet. I know I've always gone so in and out of Youtube but I never wanted to identify myself as just being a Youtube personality. At $5,000 dollars a quarter on my education I couldn't focus on something that as many of you know would be transient. There are times I think about what "could have been" but I am honestly happy with the size i'm at now social media wise and really can't ask for more. I've been incredibly blessed and I'm also really happy with where I am now, so I can't say that I regret anything I've done either.

Life after school

So the economy in the United States has been difficult, as many of you may know. But thankfully I was blessed to receive a few job offers right out of school. I almost didn't believe all the news stories about high unemployment, underemployment and lost jobs but as I was applying for jobs thats kind of when it hit me. There would be 2-300 applications per position, minimum. CRAZY. I think I'm fortunate though in that as of yet, I haven't had any friends be unable to find employment. For the most part all of us also got in to the fields that we wanted, so there's a lot to be thankful for. So that has been my life: work, hot yoga, gym and more work. I tried to figure out where Youtube and my blog would fit in this as I don't work a job thats repetitive, so sometimes I need to bring things home. But I realized it was one of those take-your-own-advice times and that I needed to make time for it. So I have been setting time aside every week :) And hopefully the blog will save me on the days the sun isn't having it.

So I tried to decide, what is reasonable?

I would LIKE to have: A video every 4 days and a blog weekly

But I will...probably only be able to do a video a week and post whenever I do something interesting (which is almost never ;D) haha but I figure once I have a sweet light box and camera I can also do shorter posts here. 

This is probably the only thing that's exciting that has happened in the past few months. It was my birthday and now I'm 23, yay? We decided to have dinner at George's at the Cove in La Jolla, CA as it used to be a favorite of mine. The quality has definitely gone down...and despite the fact that we waited an hour for food I found it to be just okay. I was really sad but apparently where George's now fails to impress Eddie V's right next door now picks up. It still has the same spectacular view of La Jolla Cove though. 

This view. So serene. We had to wait by the bar as they opened the dinner area. It directly overlooks the cove so you can drink your martini as the winds from the beach gently brush against your face. Seeing everyone relax after work (or a vigorous shopping spree) was so therapeutic- definitely reminds you of the good life. It was nice to slow things down for awhile.

 I have to say this was the first year I felt *old*. I almost PANICKED. I just want so much more for myself. I think women are serial planners, we try to set dates and ages for everything we want in our lives. But everyone keeps telling me that I'm still young so I try to believe them. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have this panging voice in the back of my head that's silently freaking out every day.

So now I must ask my NorCal readers. I'll be visiting the Bay area soon- we have a ton of friends there and wanted to spend time with them before the year is over. So you have to tell me, what do I need to eat?! We'll be in the Union Square, Chinatown and Financial district area a lot so anything in those areas that's a must try please let me know!

And I have to finish this blog with some cuteness. Meet Cece! She's a two year old pom. I've known her since she fit in the palm of my hand! I hadn't seen my friends in awhile and a few of them came down from San Francisco for the weekend. As we were getting ready to go out she kept hopping in my bag and wouldn't get out -_- Not sure why. But she's cute anyway so its okay

Also here's my latest video if you haven't seen it. I decided to show my foundation routine :x Which I really like and I think gives great coverage while looking pretty natural both in real life and on camera. Enjoy!

love,

Jackie