Best Foundation for Oily Skin - Revlon Colorstay, Covergirl Stay Fabulous, MAC Pro Longwear, L'Oreal Pro-Matte

I have been using MAC Pro Longwear liquid foundation for the past 5 years. It had been the only liquid foundation I had ever tried that could keep my oily face looking good all day. Recently, I moved to a more humid state and have been having trouble staying matte throughout the workday. I did some research and decided to give 3 drugstore foundations a go since they have had such great reviews from other oily gals:

1. Revlon Colorstay for Oily Skin (Golden Caramel)

2. Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous (Classic Tan)

3. MAC Pro Longwear (NC37)

4. L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte (Caramel Beige)

Finding the right shade was a challenge. What I usually do is take my MAC Pro Longwear foundation to the drugstore and hold it up to the bottles to try and find a close match. MAC NC37 is a perfect match for me. As you can see below, shades vary but most of them still look good on the skin after contour, highlight and setting powder.

I will be judging the overall performance of the four foundations by looking at these categories:

1. Coverage

2. Ability to blend

3. Hours of wear (oil control)

I will be using the Prep + Prime Skin Visage by MAC to prime my face and the Studio Fix Powder by MAC in C4 to set. I will not be judging the products based on their price points, but for reference here are the prices for all three drugstore items at Target:

Revlon Colorstay: $9.99; Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous: $8.59; L'Oreal Pro-Matte: $10.59;

MAC Pro Longwear retails for: $34.00

Revlon Colorstay Review:
Coverage: Medium - Full
Ability to Blend: Excellent - had no issues although the formula feels thick it blended very nicely
Hours of Wear: Of all the foundations, this had the best staying power. Stayed oil-free for 7 hours. An amazing product. Also, this color is a dead match for NC37 in MAC. I looked online and they suggested other colors but this was the best match.

Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous:
Coverage: Medium - Full
Ability to Blend: Good - a little bit watery formula which made it apply a bit streaky.
Hours of Wear: 5 hours before the oil began to show through. I think this would be better for normal skin types.

MAC Pro Longwear:
Coverage: Medium - Full
Ability to Blend: A little thicker than the other foundations but still blends out well enough.
Hours of Wear: 5 hours shine-free. A great foundation for oily skin but Revlon Colorstay is slightly better.

L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte:
Coverage: Light-Medium
Ability to Blend: This blends beautifully and works well with a kabuki style brush or a beauty blender.
Hours of Wear:4 hours shine-free. Although this is better than a normal foundation, for oily skin it really isn't the best.

Lilly Lashes Review - Mykonos Mink Lashes 2015

After seeing gorgeous photos of the ladies on Instagram sporting their Lilly Ghalichi Glam Lashes, I had to buy a pair. I was recently in my friend's wedding and thought it would be the perfect occasion. I ordered the Lashes and they arrived 2 days after they were shipped. Amazing customer service. But I would expect nothing less from our girl Lilly Ghalichi. I ordered the style Mykonos which are from the Mink line. I wasn't sure if they would be different from say Ardell lashes or Kiss brand lashes. They are superior in every way. The lashes themselves are so luxurious, packaging included.

Everything including the fast shipping, gorgeous packaging and lashes was five stars. Highly recommend!!!

PURCHASE HERE!

UpBra Honest Review 2015

It is very rare that I have a bad experience purchasing items online. Since I work 60+ hours a week, I actually do almost all of my shopping online. As you can see in most of my posts, I like to purchase items from Louis Vuitton and other brands who have excellent customer service. I didn't know that UpBra had such horrible customer service. They actually blocked me on instagram for asking about my order and they NEVER SENT ME MY BRA! I have never written a bad review on this blog until now. I felt that their bad character should be exploited.

When I heard about the UpBra on Youtube, I wanted to give it a try. I ordered it on July 26th. I received an e-mail on the 28th:

Hi,
Thank you so much for your purchase of our Upbra bra.

I just wanted to update you on your order and let you know that there is a slight production delay and we will not be getting your size in stock the date in which we had mentioned previously. We have been informed that we will be getting your size back in stock by August 03, 2015 due to the delays.

Again, we have do not charge unless we ship, and your order has not been charged yet. If you need to cancel your order for any reason, please let me know. The size you ordered is one of the most popular and has been selling out so quickly. We are doing our very best to get them back in stock as soon as we can.

As soon as your order is back in stock, we will go ahead and process your order and send you a shipment confirmation with the tracking number. If you wish to be contacted by phone prior to the order being shipped out, please let us know as well. Otherwise, your order will automatically be processed and shipped.

Again, we are sincerely sorry about the delay. Please let me know if there is anything else that I can assist you with.

Sincerely,
Jasmine with Upbra Customer Care
Coolware Co Inc
P.O. Box 670, Citrus Heights, CA 95611
service@upbra.net

I had ordered this item specifically for wedding events I had coming up. So I was not happy to hear this, especially because when purchased the item was in stock. My response:

Hi Jasmine,

Thank you for letting me know. I ordered this bra for an event I have on the evening of August 7th. When do you think I would receive the bra? If it would be significantly delayed, I may want to cancel.

Best Regards,
Monica

We went back and forth and eventually a very rude customer service representative named Amanda began ignoring all of my e-mails. When I raised it to them on their instagram they actually blocked me. See below Amanda's rude e-mails:

Hi Monica,

Thank you for your message.

I see you ordered three days ago. Most orders have had to wait months, your order wait time is much shorter. I also notice you already have a coupon code applied to your order. We only allow one discount per order.

We are open Monday through Friday from 9:00AM to 4:30PM Pacific Time.

If there is anything else I can assist with, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Amanda
Upbra Customer Care
Coolware Co Inc
P.O. Box 670, Citrus Heights, CA 95611
service@upbra.net
www.upbra.com

My response:

I think you misunderstood my previous e-mail. I was asking for a promotional code for future orders. I don't think there will be any now that I realize the customer service is so bad. I also don't think it's reasonable to wait months for a bra that was said to arrive in two weeks.

Best,
Monica

The last e-mail I ever received from UpBra (I NEVER RECEIVED MY ORDER AND THEY PERMANENTLY BLOCKED MY E-MAIL. I HAVE SINCE SENT THEM SEVERAL E-MAILS AND ALL HAVE BEEN IGNORED!) I was horrified by their rude customer service.

Hi Monica,

As stated below, your order is estimated to be in stock on August 3rd. That's in 5 days, not months.

We do not have any discounts, but there are coupon codes floating around on Youtube.

I am sorry you are unhappy with the wait time. If you would like me to cancel your order please let me know.

Sincerely,

Amanda
Upbra Customer Care
Coolware Co Inc
P.O. Box 670, Citrus Heights, CA 95611
service@upbra.net
www.upbra.com

Dazzle Me Lens Contacts Review

In my last post I hauled my goodies from Bangkok. I purchased 6 pairs on contacts from Platinum Fashion Mall's "Dazzle Me Lens" store. I absolutely love the lenses. I purchased 3 blue, 2 gray and 1 green. Photos are below:

QUEEN BLUE

HIMALAYAN BLUE

JEWEL 4TONE BLUE

PUFFY GREEN

COROCO GRAY

LILLY GRAY

Not only are the lenses comfortable but the lady at the shop was very nice. Here is the Dazzle Me Lens shop address:
Room 441, Oxford 2, 2nd floor, Platinum Fashion Mall, Bangkok, Thailand 10400

Bangkok, Thailand Haul 2015

If you read my previous post you know that I recently visited Bangkok, Thailand. Here is a breakdown of the different malls I visited and which I preferred.

1. Siam Paragon: My favorite mall that we visited. This is a more high end mall that has 10 floors. Amazing food court with reasonable prices.
2. Platinum Fashion Mall: Didn't find any clothing here, but LOVED buying colored contact lenses here.
3. Terminal 21: Cute place to go, has a lot of different stores (not ones you would normally find in the US) and has themed floors (San Francisco, Istanbul, etc.) Wasn't my favorite for shopping but was definitely worth checking out.
4. Central World: Probably the best place to do actual shopping. Great restaurants (AKA, Nobu Shabu, Harijuku Crepes) and standard stores like ZARA, Forever 21, etc. Note that prices for those stores you can find in the US are might more expensive when you do the conversion.

This is what I ended up buying - two tanks for Chatuchak weekend market, 2 beauty masks and a maybelline powder from Boots, several cute little trinkets (Totoro mostly) and 6 colored contact lenses from DazzleMe Lens in Platinum Fashion Mall.

I will be doing a separate post on the colored contacts I purchased from Dazzle Me Lens!

My First Time in Bangkok, Thailand - Tips & Advice

My boyfriend and I have been dying to visit southeast Asia and finally made it to Bangkok Thailand. We were there for 10 days in the end of August. I thought I would share my first impressions and some tips that could potentially help you if you are traveling there in the near future. I will put up more posts with shopping hauls - shopping in Bangkok is amazing.

When we arrived we took a taxi to our hotel - big mistake! I cannot stress enough - avoid taxis / cabs at all costs. The drivers are crooked and they try to scam you. Generally they will not even use a meter but we were "lucky" ours did. He then took the longest and most traffic-filled route to our hotel. We were staying in Sukhumvit and it costs us 525 baht (should have been around 400). There is a 75 baht toll you will pay - just give the driver the money and he should give you your change. Our driver gave us our change less 50 baht which is the airport fee (that is accurate). At the end of our ride it was around 450 on the meter. He asked for 500 (again trying to trick us into paying the 50 baht airport charge). We said we already paid that and let him off with just 450 on top of the 75 and 50 for toll and airport fee. This was our last time and only time we used a taxi in Bangkok. I refused to pay these crooked people any more money. Which leads me to my next point - BTS (train system in bangkok).

Although the streets are very smelly and quite dirty, the BTS is amazing. Trains moving constantly, cheap rates and air conditioned transportation. We were staying close to the Nana station and most places we went to were between 15 and 30 baht for one-way. You can also get a day pass for 140 baht but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are traveling quite a bit that day. It does get busy at times (see photos below) but there are arrows and signs in English that help you navigate your way around the BTS stations. Lines do form and it gets a bit crowded during rush hour (~5pm).

Choosing a place to stay was a challenge considering there are so many options and Bangkok is such a large city. We decided on Adelphi Suites which is on Soi 8 in Sukhumvit. It is extremely close to the Nana BTS Station (1 minute walk literally down the road). It was rated well on Expedia and it was classified as 4 stars. It was horrible! Do not stay there... Bugs in the bed, horrible breakfast and smelly rooms. Coming from Las Vegas, when you say 4 stars I am thinking it will be pretty nice. We stayed in the "Executive Suite" and the room was horrible. Stay at the Sheraton in Sukhumvit or the InterContinental. Those places looked really great. See below photos:

Our favorite thing about Bangkok was the people. The Thai people are so kind and sweet to foreigners. You really feel welcome there and everyone speaks English! There are so many signs and directions in English that navigating the somewhat intimidating Bangkok went really well. We have a wonderful time in Bangkok and my haul posts will be up shortly! xoxo

My Favorite Red Lipsticks for Brown Skin

Finding good red lipsticks for my skin tone has been a challenge. I just wanted to share some of my personal favorites. Four are drugstore and one is MAC.

From left to right: Revlon Black Cherry, Wet n Wild Stoplight Red, Wet n Wild Cherry Picking, Revlon Cherries in the Snow, MAC Diva

A brief description of each:
1. Revlon Black Cherry: deep burgundy color that is perfect for fall or a formal evening out. Not a true red - but in the red family and looks beautiful on tan skin. Purchase HERE!
2. Wet n Wild Stoplight Red: The PERFECT classic red lip for tan skin. Best part - I paid around $2 for this! Purchase HERE!
3. Wet n Wild Cherry Picking: This is a gorgeous red with a HINT of pink. Gorgeous and affordable. Purchase HERE!
4. Revlon Cherries in the Snow: Almost an exact DUPE for the Wet n Wild Cherry Picking but this formula is MUCH BETTER. Cherry Picking is very drying whereas this one is a bit more shiny and is super moisturizing. If I had to choose one, Cherries in the Snow for sure. Purchase HERE!
5. MAC Diva: The best Bond-Girl gorgeous deep deep red. This is a little bit drying but it looks so chic and formal, I absolutely love it. Purchase HERE!

See below Cherries in the Snow vs. Cherry Picking - total dupe!