Review: Lioele Auto Eyebrow Pencil

I have been using eyeshadow to fill my eyebrows for years. I've tried pencils once or twice during this period, but I was never able to get a natural look, so I just gave up and went back to shadow.

When I first learned about Lioele's Auto Eyebrow Pencil I was intrigued. I had never seen a pencil shaped like an angle brush before.

The pencil comes in three colours: 01 Natural Brown, 02 Dark Brown, 03 Grey Black. See swatches here. I usually use dark brown eyeshadow, but when I went to Colormix in Hong Kong, none of the stores I went to had a sample of dark brown, so I picked up the Grey Black.

I was a little hesitant when I first picked this up. The colour didn't really show up on my hand, so I wasn't sure if it would be dark enough on my brows. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I used it the first time. The texture is slightly waxy, so it stays on your brows really well.

The angled tip helps to apply the product evenly, and you just use is like a brush. Because of its waxy texture, you don't need additional product to keep your brows in place.

The other end of the pencil is a spooley. You can use it to quickly brush your brows into place. The only comment I have about the spooley is that you have to remember to clean it frequently. It picks up the colour really easily, and you might inadvertently apply some colour on your skin where you don't want colour.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Inexpensive
• Stays on all day

Cons:

• None! I used it once, and never went back to using eyeshadow!

Would I buy it again?
ABSOLUTELY!

What's your favourite brow product?

xoxo
~meesh

Review: Lee Kum Kee - Sauce for Spicy Garlic Eggplant

When I was young, I used to love Western food. Anything that wasn't Asian, I'd love. As I have gotten older, I feel more and more connected with my culture. I can't go a week now without having some sort of Asian cuisine. While I am always trying to learn how to cook Chinese food, it just isn't easy to master.

Luckily, there are many sauce and spice packets on the market now that can replicate the flavours of a dish that was made from scratch. I have tried other brands for Indian cuisine, so when I saw Lee Kum Kee, a trusted Chinese brand, I had to give it a try.

The packet was $0.99, and it's meant to serve 4 people.

In addition to the packet, the recipe on the back requires 2 eggplants, 3 oz of pork, and oil.

I had some okra in the fridge, so I through those in too.

I served the dish with some noodles, it would also go really well with rice.

All in all, I really like this packet. It was easy to cook, and took about 20 minutes to make. It tasted like the spicy eggplant dish I order from Chinese restaurants. I would definitely buy it again, and also try other flavours.

Have you tried these before?

xoxo
~meesh

4 flights to our honeymoon destination!

We waited until October to go on our honeymoon. There was no real reason for this. We just wanted to wait until the weather was more mild. So where did we go you ask? We went to the Maldives, Hong Kong, and Macau!

The Maldives were unbelievable! I would definitely want to visit there again. Here are some of my favourite pictures.

Sunrise view from our villa

Our villa was on the far left

Hanging out on the top deck of our sunset cruise - there was no sunset though  

Beach view

Massive sting ray

800 year old Banyan tree on a local Maldivian island

Rainbow over the Maldives

Ruins of St. Paul's in Macau

Sai Kung in Hong Kong

Review: Etude House Eraser Show Cleansing Serum

As an Asian growing up in Canada, it was always hard for me to learn how to apply makeup to my monolids. I learned by trial and error, and it wasn't until last year, when I realized I can YouTube tutorials for Asians! I can't believe it took me so long to figure this out about YouTube, considering I love social media, and I work in tech....anyway, I digress.

It wasn't long before I discovered tutorials for monolidders like me! Some of my favourite channels are From Head to Toe, Asian Beauty Secrets, xTeener, and StyleSuzi. Besides learning how to do a smoky eye, these bloggers also introduced me to the world of Asian cosmetics! I know, I'm Asian, I should've known about this already.

Anyway, Korean brand, Etude House has exploded over Hong Kong since I was there last year. There are lots of other Korean brands available in Hong Kong, but I found most of my treasures here.

One of the items I bought was the Eraser Show Cleansing Serum.

I was looking for something that would really clean the make up off my face, particularly BB Creams since they tend to clog my pores. This serum is applied to a dry face, so it makes it super easy for me to use before I hop into the shower. It has a thick, creamy consistency, but not oily. While it doesn't get everything off, I find it works better when used with the Clarisonic.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Moisturizing
• Not harsh on the skin
• Inexpensive

Cons:

• Need to use a lot of product
• Doesn't clean everything off the face

Would I buy it again?

• Yes! I've already bought 2 more

Do you have any recommendations on cleansing oil/serums that really gets the skin clean?

xoxo

~meesh

Wedding Photos! Where has the time gone?

I can't believe how fast time flies. We have been married for over three months already! A year ago this week, I was writing about how to make twine flowers!

Our wedding was amazing! Everything went smoothly, and I wouldn't have changed a thing!

Besides help from our families, and our wedding party, we had some great vendors helping us as well.

If you are getting married in the Okanagan, or holding an event there, you MUST contact the lovely team I worked with!

Day-of Coordinator: English Rose Weddings - Laura was amazing! She was so organized, and I barely noticed her on our wedding day. She was in and out, and got everything set up quickly and quietly.

Decor Rentals: Vintage Origami - Yuriko was so great to work with! We met once in person, and chatted over the phone once, and everything was set! I gave Yuriko a budget, and she stayed within it. I didn't even see her on my wedding day! :(

Hair: Tie the Knot Hair Design - Amy was great to work with. We had a trial a few months before to figure out what I wanted, and it turned out what I articulated wasn't what I wanted at all! But Amy was able to create what I truly wanted in the end. Thank goodness for trials!

Make-up: Jenny McKinney - Jenny and Amy work together frequently, so it was great to have a pair that already have chemistry. I actually did my make-up trial the same time I did my hair trial. So it was great seeing Jenny and Amy in action together. Like my hair trial, I didn't end up liking what I thought I liked. But like Amy, Jenny was able to give me my perfect look on my wedding day.

Flowers: Edgy Petals - Arlene was a pleasure to work with! I met with her a year before our wedding and told her what our colours were, the look I was going for, and our budget. I'm not a flower person, but I absolutely loved what Arlene came up with.

Cake: Blue Icing Bakery - Like everyone else, Tiffany was a breeze to work with. We had a tasting, and we were able to quickly decide on a flavour since we both love chocolate. I already knew what style I wanted thanks to Pinterest.

Venue: St. Ann's Parish and Hillside Winery. Both venues were so great to work with. Even though the manager at Hillside changed a few months before our wedding, the transition was so smooth. Hillside was so accommodating, and helpful before and after the wedding. Nothing could be better than the view we had from the winery. We actually love Hillside so much that we are part of their Wine Club. Hillside's Bistro will always be one of our favourite restaurants in Penticton.

Music: Signature Wedding - Mike and Jay are friends of ours, so there was no doubt that we would hire them for our special day. I gave Jay a list of songs I wanted to be played, and that was it! He was able to build a playlist around my core songs, and everyone had a blast!

Photographer: Three Sixty Photo - We did our engagement shoot with Justin back in April. I absolutely love his work! Our wedding pictures did not disappoint! It was so much fun working with Justin and his team. I would definitely go back to him when we want more pictures done. Oh, did I mention it only took two weeks to get our pictures? AND we got over 1000 images on USB without watermarks!

Here are some of my favourite pictures.

I had so much fun at our wedding. I was worried that I would be stressed out about things not working out the way it's supposed to, and whether other people would have fun, particularly my family, but everything was just perfect!

I can't wait to get our video from Signature Wedding so I can relive the day. But, if you ask me if I'd do it again, I'd say HELL NO!!

Props to the companies who love weddings so much that they can help brides as happy as I was, but I would never want to plan another wedding! EVER!

But all in all, Chris and I are so blessed to have so many people who care about us to share in our special day!

xoxo

~meesh

One week to go!

The big day is next Saturday! I can't believe how fast time flies! Our families are starting to arrive, and all the final details are falling into place.

Here are some of the things that will be a part of our special day!

Our "welcome" sign for the ceremony:

I went through a lot of pins before I finally decided on this program.

We also have fans for our guests during the ceremony.

I ordered a 5 pound bag of M&Ms in purple and green, but what arrived was 25 pounds, that's right, TWENTY-FIVE pounds of gold, cream, and pink M&Ms. I called M&Ms and it was easily rectified. My correct order was mailed and received within 5 days.

I also bought jelly beans and sour keys from Costco, and macarons from Gourmand Macaron for our dessert bar.

The aisle cones were initially inspired by this pin. I toyed with the idea of using burlap to make the cones, but after talking to experts at the fabric store, I decided it would be easiest to use paper. The instructions for the cones can be found here.

A few months ago, we made these signs for the reception.

Here are our wedding favours! They are 2 oz. jars of honey from a local beekeeper, Mellifera Bees. We got the jars from Michaels, and the honey is flavoured with cardamom and cloves. We had the stickers printed in China when we made our invitations.

We have over 100 twine flowers ready to go. I'm still not sure what they will be used for, but I trust that my day-of coordinator, and decorator will find some use for them.

I have pictures in their frames ready for the mantle at Hillside. We used some pictures from our childhood, and also a couple from our engagement shoot.

I ordered our burlap table runners from Debbie Jordan on Etsy. They are packed, and labeled.

I always knew that we need a hashtag for our wedding. We decided to go with #mcwedding13. I bought a chalkboard to display our hashtag, and while I was researching creative ways to write on the chalkbard, I came cross this amazing post! So of course I had to use the templates provided!

We have our wedding bands, marriage license, dresses, suits, shoes, accessories, and.....I don't even know!

There are so many other things going on in my head, that I can barely keep track. I just keep looking over my list of things to bring and hope that I won't forget anything.

We bought a lot of our smaller items, like the honey jars, fans, and paper for the aisle cones, from Michaels. That said, NEVER pay full price at Michaels. Download their app, and there are coupons every week. Also, keep an eye out for their flyers, there are always coupons there too. I was able to find most of our frames and chalkboard from HomeSense.

I taught myself Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator so I can save some money on the programs. I designed the whole thing, saved it as a PDF, and sent it to a local printer to print. They came out to $1.50 each, with 10 pages.

How do you keep track of everything for your big day?

xoxo
~meesh