The Art of Making French Macarons

I've been debating if I should make this post, given the plethora of macaron resources available on the web, but thought that, with the countless batches I've made, it wouldn't hurt to add my thoughts, tips, and suggestions that I haven't seen many people talk about. Therefore, this post may skim over the basics of making macarons but I will provide a list of all the posts I've read and found helpful in my journey to making macarons. Please note that I use the French macaron recipe, NOT the Italian version!

Note: I am in NO way an expert at making my macarons (oh how one can dream!) but I have made them enough times and watched enough videos to have learned what does and doesn't work [for me] and what, really, [imo] just doesn't matter. And if you learn anything from reading all this mumbo jumbo, it's that macarons may be finicky, they're very individual-tailored but you can still get away with variation in some places.

1. The Recipe
There are SO many different recipes for macarons and I really don't think it matters which one you use (so long as there are enough reviews saying it works). I've actually written down all the macaron recipes from the big name bloggers and compared their amounts of almond flour, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and egg whites and yes they do vary (some more so than others) but I've tried them all and they've all created normal nice macarons. In general, the egg white amount is constant in recipes with the greatest variation in almond flour to powdered flour ratio. Granulated sugar is always less than powdered sugar and almond flour but I've found that the amount of granulated sugar doesn't make a huge difference to the success of your macarons. Most recipes call for more powdered sugar than almond flour; others call for equal amounts. I personally like the ones that call for an equal amount because I (assume) it means the macarons will be less sweet. If you go for a recipe that has a super high almond flour ratio though, your macarons will end up with a more cakey dense texture rather than the light fluffy one.
The recipe I am currently using is from Indulge with Mimi . I've halved it so that my ingredients are:

• 25 g egg white
• 22.5 g granulated/white sugar (I've lowered this to 20 g and had no issues with my macarons)
• 32.5 g powdered/confectioners' sugar
• 32.5 g almond flour

My scale doesn't go actually measure to the 0.1 g so I guestimate from there and it doesn't make or break my macarons (more evidence to support my hypothesis that macarons may not be as finicky as you think). I have also tried All Recipes recipe which (when divided by 4) called for:

• 25 g egg white
• 12.5 g granulated/white sugar (I usually used 7g actually without issues)
• 50 g powdered/confectioners' sugar
• 22.5 g almond flour 

What you hopefully can tell is that the top recipe calls for more granulated sugar and less powdered sugar. Some amount of the powdered sugar (about 10g) is also added to the amount of almond flour. So here are 2 quite difference recipes that both gave me fine results. Both have given me batches that didn't work out also but I blame other external factors (ie. myself or the humidity).

2) Batch amounts
I highly recommend that you start with small batches of macarons if you are new to making macarons or experimenting with adding flavors (ie cocoa powder, green tea powder, etc). Even I still work in small batches (mostly because my silipat doesn't fit properly on my tray so I can't fill it up completely) because almond flour is quite expensive and I really don't want to be throwing away 60 macaron shells (aka two whole trays) if something went wrong. It is also recommended you only bake one batch of macarons at a time due to incomplete heating if you use two racks of your oven. I think if you're pro enough or know your oven well enough, you can try using two pans at once but I wouldn't advise it if starting out.

3) Macaron Baking Process
The general guidelines for macarons are simple:
1. Sift almond flour and powdered sugar
2. Beat egg whites to soft/medium firm/firm/stiff peaks (I will discuss this in a bit) - at some point of this beating process, you are supposed to add in your granulated sugar. When you do this honestly doesn't matter. Just sometime before it gets to the right peak stiffness (I add it in earlier than later. You can add it in all at once or break up the additions, I don't find that making a difference either but I think splitting it up is better to "not break the meringue").
3.Fold egg whites and almond flour+powdered sugar mixture together (aka MACARONAGE process)
4. Put into piping bag/plastic bag and pipe onto silicon mat or parchment paper
5. Bake at some temperature for some amount of time.

Now if you read this recipe, you might have lots of questions. Aren't macarons supposed to be very finicky? Why is there not one straight guideline on how to make them? Well that's because they are highly specific to the baker! What works for one person will not work for another. So let's slowly take apart this generalized recipe and go over the important and not so important parts.

1. Yes you need to sift your almond flour and powdered sugar. This gets rid of lumps. However, does this need to be the first step? I've decided: no not really. IF (and only if) your almond flour is very fine - usually meaning you didn't grind it up yourself - and you know it will sift through the strainer easily, you can directly sift the powdered sugar and almond flour into your bowl of beaten egg whites. However, because I previously would grind up my own slivered almonds to make almond flour, I know that making your own almond flour means it is a lot harder to sift and therefore takes more time. In those cases, I advise sifting before hand because waiting too long to incorporate your meringue and dry ingredients can cause issues (I have yet to run into those. Fingers crossed, knock on wood!)
2. I'm going to talk about aging your egg whites in the next section because I want to focus on the stiffness of your meringue here. Some recipes/videos call for medium firm peaks, others call for firm, and some call for stiff. I personally tend to err on the side of too stiff rather than too soft, but that's just me. I do this because I read you can beat the air out of the meringue that is stiffer but you can't really "add air" to a meringue that doesn't have enough (ie. one that only has soft or medium peaks). I've seen lots of videos where people use meringues with only medium peaks however and their macarons turned out beautifully though so what does that tell me? That either way is fine! Perhaps one is more reliable than the other (I choose to think that is the stiffer peaks method) but it's up to you to experiment and figure that out.

Credits to Betty Lou Crocker

In this image above, the most right photo is labeled as a "stiff peak." I, however, beg to differ. I believe that is more of a medium firm peak. A true stiff peak (one that I aim for) looks like the photo below (credits to acup4mycake). The "peaks" shouldn't fall over like in the previous photo. Do note that the size of your "glob" of meringue does affect whether or not the peak will stand up or not (aka if you get a bigger glob with a higher peak, it's more likely to fall over because of gravity). However, if in that same meringue batter, you can get a smaller peak that stands straight up, I think you're good to go.


3. Folding your macarons is something you just sort of watch videos to learn how to do and then do your best to imitate. I don't think counting how many folds you do is very helpful because different recipes = different amounts of batter = different amount of folds needed. I suggest watching every macaron folding video out there and choosing which folding technique you like best and working with it. Or just do a combo of them all. There's no one absolute way and as long as you don't OVER fold, you're good. I actually was so scared about over folding that I under-folded my macarons the first time and they came out all bumpy! If you are having issues with hollow macarons by the way, you're probably being like me and simply folding together the egg whites and dry ingredients and you need to actually 'deflate' the batter by smearing it on the bowl. This is kind of scary the first time around because everyone's always saying don't fold too much or else your batter will get runny and here you are just smooshing down this air-filled batter that you worked on so hard to maintain. I'm just going to leave you with one macaronage video that I learned from (you can tell I really like Indulge with Mimi; she has good resources). I basically try and fold under the batter and bring all the dry ingredients to the top and then use my spatula to scrape the edge of my ball of meringue so that some "wetness" from it can touch the dry ingredients. That probably doesn't make sense but I do that over and over and then when it's all combined, I start smearing my batter across the side of the bowl to "deflate" some of the air. Like I said, watch videos!
4. Oven Temperature
Everyone's oven is different. Some people say 285 F, others say 300 F, and some even say 350 F. I started at 305 F and had my macarons totally melt (feet spread outwards - a sign of too high oven temp) so I lowered it to 295 F. This was better but macarons still browned or were hollow if I took them out earlier so I came to 285 F. I have a feeling my oven runs on the hotter side (I don't use an internal oven thermometer but highly suggest you get one to ensure your oven temperature is true to what it says. They're quite cheap anyways ~$6-8). The temperature and timing is something you will have to play around with but I think starting at 300 F might be a good starting point. If your macarons brown or your feet spread outward, lower the temperature by 5-10 degrees next time. If no feet form, you need to increase your temperature. Timing wise can range from 10-20 minutes. I currently work with 16 minutes at 285 F but I put my oven temperature to 295-300 F when preheating and then lower it to 285 F when I put the macarons in. Not sure if this makes a huge difference but I like to think it prevents my oven from reheating due to loss of heat when I open the oven to put in the macarons. This is a good trick to try if your macarons seem to crack even though you are putting the oven at a relatively low temp and doing all other preventative measure (aka smacking them to get rid of air bubbles).

5. Aging Egg Whites?
This apparently is a much discussed topic and more often than not, people say to do this. This is because it does some funky stuff with the egg white proteins which will stabilize your meringue making it firm up and make those nice beautiful peaks. I assume this has something to do with denaturing the proteins and also drying out the egg white so it has less liquid. After consulting the various online macaron gurus, websites, and discussions, I've decided it doesn't matter if you age your egg whites or not but it doesn't hurt to either. I've only come across one recipe that specifically said to use fresh egg whites and I didn't try their recipe because, despite using the french macaron style, they said their macarons didn't need to be set on the counter for one hour. Crazy and I have no idea how that works but they definitely had nice looking macarons! Anyways, if you wish to age your egg whites, you can split the egg yolk and meringue 1-5 days before (after 5 days, your egg whites might go bad) and leave them in a container either in the fridge or counter top. I've never left mine on the counter top for fear something might go wrong with them (I live in America where we put our eggs in the fridge; I do know elsewhere people just leave their eggs out which is crazy to me but apparently is due to differences in the processing of the eggs? Who knows). I've heard that the container should have holes in it (ie. use saran wrap and poke some holes) but I'm not too fussed; like I said, aging your egg whites doesn't make or break your macarons. I've made macarons with aged and non-aged egg whites. If you're worried about your meringue not stabilizing (or you've had issues getting stiff peaks), you need to make sure your bowl is clean (wipe it down with vinegar or lemon juice if it's been used for other cooking adventures involving oil) and try adding a pinch of cream of tartar or salt right when you start beating your egg whites. I do find that my egg whites stiffen up more quickly when they're at room temperature so this IS one thing I recommend. If you're taking a egg right out of the fridge, put it in a cup or bowl of warm-hot water while you go measure out the rest of your ingredients (about 5 minutes). If you've already pre-split your egg white and yolk, just leave it on the counter for 20 minutes (but that usually is too long for me so I just go ahead and use it "cold").
6. Troubleshooting
Last but not least, here are a few things I don't think enough people talk about so I wanted to cover them here:
- Double stacking baking pans
I read about this a few times but didn't think it was a huge deal. I started with only one baking pan and had enough good macarons turning out in each batch to think that one baking pan was good enough (I usually had 2-4 out of 20 macaron shells that cracked). My baking sheets are (I assume) good quality ones also so I didn't think double stacking would help much. Plus who knew what adding a second pan would do to my baking time or temperature? But, when I had two completely failed batches of macarons (cracked shells) without any changes to my recipe or technique (well besides using parchment paper but that's not supposed to affect your macarons!), I decided to give it a go (what else did I have to lose?). The effect was significant and I'm disappointed I didn't start doing this sooner. Before double stacking my pans, my 2-4 cracked macarons were always piped in the same area so I assumed this was a "heat pocket" area of my oven. However, because double stacking baking sheets (aka using two baking pans instead of one) apparently conducts the heat better, this eliminates the issue of heat pockets. And sure enough, my batches since double stacking my pans have all had ZERO cracked macarons! Woohoo! So I am now a converted advocate of double stacking pans.

A batch of my beautiful no crack animal shaped macarons :)

- Wrinkly macaron shells
This happened to me once and I am still puzzled why. I was trying to make bear shaped macarons on parchment paper and it was raining outside (see next trouble shooting point on humidity). As you can see in the photos below, the macaron shell looks wrinkled like a thin sheet of paper (and there are cracks!). If you look carefully, the edges of the macarons (at the feet) are slightly browned meaning I baked them for too long. I've tried troubleshooting what might be the cause for this but it seems the general answer is you either took your macarons out of the oven too quickly or you didn't let a skin form. Now I made sure that a skin was formed on all my macarons before putting them in so unless humidity affects macarons in another way, I don't think it was the rain. However, when I checked my macarons at the 4-5 minute mark (total baking time 16 minutes at 285 F), they were cracking so I opened the door quite a bit before closing it quickly. I think this gust of cold air may have contributed to the macarons crinkling but I can't say for certain. So as you can see, I don't have a good answer for wrinkly macarons either but they don't seem to be a common thing so hopefully you don't find yourself in this dilemma. I'm leaning towards the answer being that my macarons cracked and wrinkled because I didn't tap them enough and that random gust of cold air. Perhaps the humidity made my skin that formed weak but I do recall that when I touched them, I was surprised by how firm they felt. If you have a better answer to why this happened, please leave a comment below!

-Weather/humidity/environment
Apparently this plays a pretty large role in making your macarons. If the area you live in is too wet or humid, the macarons will have a harder time drying, thus making it harder (if not impossible) to form a shell. This can be circumvented by running a range-hood fan (aka the fans above a stove) and/or using a fan on light speed to blow at the macarons gently to dry them. Now I've baked macarons twice in the rain and all my macarons in each batch cracked. However, I was also using parchment paper (vs a silicone mat which I normally use) and not double stacking my pans. I had also checked and there was definitely a skin formed so not 100% sure that the humidity was the factor or if it was something else. I have baked with parchment paper since then WITH double stacked pans in normal weather conditions and had 100% success rate so I'll leave it up to you to decide how large of a role weather plays.
- Overmixed or spread out badder
No one talks about how you can SAVE these but I've found a way (hoozah!). It's not entirely foolproof but works most of the time! If you know your macaron batter is too liquidy, start by piping REALLY tiny circles. They will spread so pipe less than you think is okay (I'd say maybe a dollop the size of a US 25 cent quarter) because even if it's too little, you can add more. Now what if you put too much or your batter just totally spread? Let your macarons sit for about 15 minutes so a thin shell can form. Then take a circular cookie cutter or a small cup with the circumference you desire and place it on your macaron. Wipe away whatever excess macaron batter there is outside of your circle and remove the cutter. You should have a normal sized macaron that will hold its shape. If your batter is still too liquidy and spreads out after you've tried fixing, wait another 15 minutes before repeating. Make sure that you give enough time after fixing a macaron via this method (~15-20 minutes) to form a skin around the edges because even if the tops are dry but you just scraped the sides, the sides wont have a skin and will likely crack or do something weird in the oven when you bake it. This technique also works well if you have a silicone macaron mat that actually has raised circle spots to place your macarons as this acts as a guide.
 
I suggest (if you haven't already) you go check out these pages if you are troubleshooting basic issues These are the web pages I looked at when I first started a few months ago and still look at today when something goes wrong.

• Food Nouveau - covers the basis really well
• ChocoParis - my favorite and probably most comprehensive troubleshooting page; so many people have posted questions and gotten answers so you're bound to find your problem
• Not So Humble Pie (aka Ms. Humble) - great for trouble shooting
• Zumbo - A nice clean cut problem & answer page
• Indulge with Mimi - helpful photos included, not the most complete troubleshooting page however

I know this was a really long post but hopefully you found some answers to any questions or concerns you've had about macarons. Macarons are beautiful little desserts when you get them right but know that they taste good no matter how they look so have a ready line-up of friends to eat your "failed" batches that don't meet the photoshoot cut!

The Best (and cheapest!) Way to Clean Your Makeup Brushes

I'm not going to babble too much and get straight into the post. It's pretty common knowledge that makeup brushes need to be washed - especially face makeup brushes. You don't want bacteria building up and if you're doing makeup on other people, you don't want their face oils and germs on the brush when you use it next right? Same goes with eye brushes although the concern is more that when you use different colors, you'll have residual from the old shade you used and well, that's no good if you've got black shadow mixing with your highlight. So yes it's clear that makeup brushes need to be washed. But using what?!

Store bought cleansing solutions are expensive aren't they? So most people have come to realize that well... olive oil is great at removing makeup from the face and doesn't clog pores. And dish washer soap is supposed to kill 99.999% of bacteria. SO.. if you take the two and mix them together, you should get the perfect makeup cleansing mixture right? CORRECT! I think that's also pretty common knowledge (I think all the Youtube makeup gurus I watch use this solution). It's cheap (well olive oil can be pricey but it's def worth it) and effective. I've used it since I started getting into makeup and have never had any issues. However..the only one problem is really getting out ALL the makeup from some of my denser brushes (ie. the Sigma F80 kabuki brush). Sometimes the foundation really gets stuck in and even after multiple scrubs on my hand, I find there is still residual foundation spots left on the brush. I know other people have had this problem because Sigma designed a tool to help with this: a brush cleaning glove! It has ridges and bumps that are supposed to help you "deep clean" all your brushes quickly and efficiently.

I think it's a cool idea especially if you have a ton of brushes.. However, for someone like me who only needs to wash a few (5-7) brushes every so often, $39 is a pretty steep price. So I discovered my own tool to help me deep clean and it's something I think most people will have! A ginger grater! Now I know what you're thinking (okay well I don't) but does it seem weird? Well a ginger grater also has little small raised bumps to help you grate a ginger into tiny shreds of pieces. It's not too sharp like a knife or a cheese grater, and it's on a flat surface (like the one shown below).

It's definitely improved the cleanliness of my brushes and speed of the whole process so I thought I'd share it with all of you. All you have to do is move your brush up and down or in circular motions and you'll see all the pigment and gunk from your makeup foaming up off your brush. I do this as many times until the soap bubbles are clear or when I rinse the brush under water and wring it out, the liquid drainage is clear.

To dry my brushes, I use a dry and clean dish towel or hair towel and lay it vertically. I roll up one edge so that it creates a raised roll that I can prop my brushes against so that they lay at a downward slant to promote the drainage of water as they dry. This is important to prevent the bristles in your brushes from falling out. In the below photo they're propped upward because I had just dipped them in my oil+detergent mixture. They're currently propped the opposite way since I just finished cleaning them. I like to use a hair towel because they're long enough to roll up and still have extra towel room to cover my brushes when they're drying to prevent dust or random stuff falling on them and dirtying them (if that makes sense)

I hope this post was somewhat useful for you and please give it a go! It might seem weird at first but it's quite effective! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them down below!

Get the [Nail] Look: A Pastel Galaxy

Everyone loves the good old classic galaxy nail, but adding pastel? Well that's a match made in heaven! (Okay maybe not really but you get my enthusiasm). I saw some pastel galaxy nails on Pinterest and just had to recreate them and share them with you! Honestly they're the same technique as a normal galaxy nail, you just need to pick out all your favorite pastel or light colored polishes - they can be shimmer, glitter, or cream. You can also choose only a few colors to create a different effect (maybe a more cool-toned sky or a warmer one or if you want to be fun, choose them all like me! Although I think I ended up with a more cool toned galaxy nail).

Please excuse the messiness/dryness of my cuticles. My hands were super dry the week I did this and a little on the shorter side but as you can tell, the nails still turned out beautifully!

 I used the following nail polishes (listed below) but honestly any light or pastel colors you have will work. I also used one of those cheap makeup sponges that you can get from Ulta or Sephora to stipple on the colors. I first cut the sponge into roughly 0.5 cm by 0.5 cm squares and used a cheap tweezer I got from Hong Kong to hold the sponge pieces to hold the pieces while I stippled color onto my nails. You want to make sure you have a good white base nail polish by the way to avoid any sort of dimpling or weirdness which you can tell sort of happened with mine.. -shrug- Oh well haha.

From left to right:
-L.A. Colors Art Deco Nail Art Lacquer, White
-Pop-Arazzi Nail Polish, Icing On The Cake (cheap nail polish from CVS but any white will do; I'm not sure I would recommend this.. it's not terrible but you need at least two coats and it can be thick..)
-Covergirl Coral Silk
-Orly Spark
-Revlon Minted
-Sally Hansen Breeze Blue
-H&M Beauty Bandit (not sure if this is sold anymore since they appear to have changed their packaging)

I should also mention that when I was finished, I used one of those shimmery top coat add on nail polishes (not really sure how to describe it but its super iridescent)  from Skin Food (a Korean brand). I can't seem to find a photo or name of it online so I'm not sure if it's still available but it's not necessary to get the galaxy effect. You can coat your nails with a fine white glitter nail polish if you have one to save yourself the trouble of having to spot on white 'stars'. I finished my nails with my usual Seche Vite top coat which gave them the perfect gel finish. I used dotting tools from Ebay to draw my stars but a toothpick of bobby pin will work fine.

Disney Princess Series Nail Art: Aladdin (Princess Jasmine)

I'm not sure why but I've never particularly favored Princess Jasmine or the Disney movie Aladdin. Not that I didn't like the movie or anything, but maybe it was just I didn't like the genie so much. I'm really not sure. But the reason I bring this up is that the nail look I did inspired by Princess Jasmine is actually my favorite out of my entire Disney Princess series so far. I didn't come up with this look myself, I got it from Pinterest so don't give me credit but I seriously just LOVE the look! The tips with the gold accent and single rhinestone are just.. ooh too much amazingness. I got so many compliments when I wore this so I hope some of you try to recreate this nail look too :)

 

You can see that I didn't do the lines perfectly on my thumb but it still looks nice nonetheless. The steps I took are outlined and roughly sketched below (I'm trying be more helpful for recreating any of my nail looks haha).

I used the striper brush from LA colors gold nail polish but because that gold is too sheer, I would dip the brush into my more opaque gold polish (I used Butter London's The Full Monty but you can use any brand really) before using it. I used a dotting tool to create the circles and also used it to drag the dots inward to connect them with the other lines (see nail image 5 below). I lastly added a green/turquoise gem in the middle and applied my Seche Vite top coat to make it look like shiny gel nails <3

The nail polishes I used were:
-Barry M Hi Shine Nail Paint in Green Berry
-Butter London's The Full Monty Nail Lacquer
-LA Colors in Gold Glitter

Well I hope this inspired some of you to recreate this look! It looks complicated but it's really not! It does take a bit of time and steadiness but practice makes perfect right? :) Also I think it looks nice that my finger nails were somewhat rectangle rounded shaped instead of the usual oval/circular edge that your nails naturally grow at. Which Disney Princess should I do next? Frozen, Little Mermaid, or Tangled? Or any other princess! Comment down below please! ^__^

Disney Princess Series Nail Art: Sleeping Beauty (Aurora)

In the next installation of my Disney Princess themed nail trend, I decided to do Sleeping Beauty, also known as Aurora. It's weird, the last time I watched it (which was a while ago but I still remember quite clearly), I remember thinking it was a little creepy the way Aurora gets possessed. I mean like it just looked super scary, but as a little kid, I don't remember being scared at all when she was walking to the spindle and pricked herself.. so who knows haha. Maybe I'm just a bigger scaredy cat now ^__^;

Unfortunately the photos I took of these nails aren't the best quality (I blame my phone's poor camera quality) but hopefully you get the gist of the nail look and feel inspired to do a better recreation. I got inspiration from a photo I saw on Pinterest but later added something that makes this look more my own and really adds to the overall look.

I  added strips of gold nail striping tape between the two colors but that was after I had taken photos and I realized it was missing something. The bit of gold definitely tied the entire look together so much better so if you do plan on recreating the look, I highly suggest you use the gold tape (it's super easy to use!) or, if you don't have that, use a gold polish and line the borders. You can see in the below photo the gold a little bit (sorry it's not clear, it's from another photo a friend took where the focus wasn't the nails). Doesn't the extra gold really tie this whole "princess" look together?!

I used the following nail polishes to make this look but remember you can use whatever you have! This looks is great because it only uses two colors. The hardest part is just getting that sort of triangle tip and even if you're not great at doing it, having the gold striping tape really helps to cover up any mistakes and make it LOOK like you had perfect straight lines (:

-Sally Hansen Xtreme Hard as Nails in Fuchsia Power
-Essie in Ballet Slippers
-Seche Vite top coat (the usual)
-Gold striping tape on ebay (as listed above)

Anyways I hope you guys are all enjoying the summer weather (it's so hot where I am!) and these nails are the perfect summer color so if you do recreate this look, please link me or send it over! :)

Introducing the GoVoxBox from Influenster

Hi everyone~! Sorry it's been a while since my last post since I've been so caught up with my exams but summer is almost here so I know I just have to push through this last stretch and then it'll be all over! As my fellow Kpop lovers would say "Fighting~!" haha ^__^ Another thing keeping me going is also knowing that my family and I are going to Yellowstone National Park for a road trip right after my last exam! I'm so excited and actually, my GoVoxBox from Influenster couldn't have come at a more perfect time! I was so excited to receive it and it really has a bunch of products that are just perfect for my family road trip!

As you can see, it contains items perfect for any outdoor activities really! A bag of almonds to snack on, a protein shaker bottle (I'VE ALWAYS WANTED ONE OMGOSH NOW I'M PART OF THE COOL FITNESS CLUB LOL <3), protein shakes to keep me fueled throughout the day, tampons in case of ..well you know haha, and even shoe inserts to make sure I can walk the distance! I was also delighted to see the pumice stone because I walk outside barefoot all the time and my heels are just (okay sorry if this is TMI) caked with dead skin. It's so bad that when my foot itches, I really have to dig my nail into my skin because it's so thick that just scratching the surface doesn't get rid of that itch!

Here is the bag of Blue Diamond Almonds in the Blueberry flavor that I received and I am SO excited to try them out! I haven't actually tried them so I can't give my honest opinion yet and I do actually want to save them for my trip, but let me say, they look delicious! I love Blue Diamond almonds in general, ever since I tried their chocolate flavored almonds - SO good! My boyfriend and I were on the Keto diet which is basically a no/extremely low carb and high fat diet and we were allowed to eat nuts in small amounts. One day, my boyfriend was craving chocolate and of course we couldn't actually eat real chocolate so we came upon the Blue Diamond chocolate almonds and they were amazing!! If you haven't tried them out, I definitely suggest them. They're much healthier than the actual chocolate coated or covered almonds that you normally see since it's just like cocoa powder on the surface of the almonds (sort of like how these blueberry almonds are coated in a blueberry powder) but they taste amazing! So I definitely have high hopes for these blueberry flavored almonds and can't wait to try them out. Almonds are the perfect snack for on the go and they really do keep you full because they're high in healthy fats. These blueberry almonds are extra good because they contain Vitamin E, an antioxidant that you know we all need!

As I mentioned before, I was superr excited to try out the Pedi-Rock from Profoot since my feet are just caked with layers of skin. Unfortunately I was sorely disappointed. I used it in the shower to try and remove the layers of dead skin and while I was using, the Pedi-Rock was like falling apart! I mean black beads just kept fall off of it which was quite alarming. It did work in removing some of my dead skin though but no better than an ordinary pumice stone or file so I don't know if I would recommend this really. Super disappointed that I couldn't love this product but it's not that it doesn't work - it's just nothing special. The shoe inserts on the other hand were quite nice. They are surprisingly comfortable when I put them in my running shoes and walked around for the whole day. I don't know how necessary they really are, but if you're looking for a shoe insert, I'd definitely suggest these!

The Next Step Fit n Full Protein shakes that I received were an unexpected but wonderful surprise. I've been struggling with my weight for the past 2-3 years now and I'm always trying to find healthy snacks, meal plans, or meal supplements. I got three different protein mix flavors which included Swiss Chocolate, Rich Vanilla, and Fresh Berries. So far I've only tried Swiss Chocolate (hey this girl was craving her daily chocolate dose) and it was absolutely delicious! I've always been a bit wary of protein shakes because from what my workout guy friends always say, those usually don't taste the best. I know most fitness girls put protein powder in their smoothies and stuff which I usually do too but with these protein mixes, all I need to do is add water and..shake! Such a perfect invention for me since I always have early morning classes and no time to eat breakfast.

The last thing I received in my GoVoxBox was the Aqua Spa Body Creme. Apparently you could have gotten the Aqua Spa Bath Salts but I'm glad I got the Body Creme because my skin is always so dry so I'm always open to trying new more moisturizing lotions. As you can see in the photo, (ignoring my disgustingly old looking hands) the creme is pretty thick but it absorbs into the skin super quickly. It has a distinct scent to it since it's says it contains lavender and chamomile and I can't put my finger on the exact scent but I want to say it smells like shaving cream.. but I feel like it's a man's shaving cream not like the girl kinds that have the nice paradise scents (if you know what I'm talking about haha). If any of you guys have tried this body creme and know what it smells like, pleasee leave a comment down below because it's bugging me that I can't put my finger on the scent! >:(

Oh and last but not least (because I almost missed it haha so I felt it only appropriate to add it at the very end), there was a coupon for Mueller Greek Yogurt. I've heard of the brand and seen it every so often in Target but never tried it but now with the coupon, there's nothing stopping me haha. I love eating Greek yogurt - plain or with fruit - and it's so good for you and keeps your full for a long time~! My favorites include the Honey Greek yogurt by Sunnyside Farms (the name-brand sold by Save Mart and Lucky supermarkets), Trader Joe's Honey Greek yogurt, and the Dannon Oikos Greek yogurt (all their flavors are deliciouus). Maybe the Mueller Greek yogurts will get added to this list haha. I'll definitely let you guys knows if I end up liking it when I get off my lazy bum and go to the grocery market to buy it haha!

Anyways, hope this post wasn't too rambly or long and if you were thinking about purchasing any of these products, I hope this post was able to help you make your decision in some way ^__^ Have a wonderful Memorial Weekend everyone~!

SK-II Facial Treatment Clear Lotion Review

 

Today I wanted to share my opinion on the SK-II Facial Treatment Clear Lotion because I've been using this skincare product for a bit more than a year now and I have to say, I absolutely love it! I knew it was worth the money in about the first month's use, but I guess I never got around to blogging about it till now. Looking online, I realized there aren't too many reviews for this product so I hope I can add my thoughts to the "pot" and help out some of you deciding whether or not you should spend your money on this toner. 

Price: $60 for 5 oz (update as of 11/26/2014: I went to Sephora's website and apparently they've raised the price to $70!! If you are in Asia or have someone visiting Asia, I would definitely suggest you go ask them to buy it for you as it is about $60 USD or less depending where you go)
What it claims to do: This effective toning lotion with a mix of AHA and Pitera™ exfoliates dead skin cells and impurities. Its clarifying formula prepares the face for the rest of your skincare regimen.

I guess I should start off with the reason why I bought this toner in the first place - I'll admit, it's quite pricey - but if you've been following me on my Youtube channel, you'll know already. My first year of college, I started breaking out like crazy, and for someone like me who had previously rarely got pimples except the occasional one that I would freak out over, it was a pretty big deal. When people say that having acne really hurts your confidence, I understand - it really does. It's strange because you shouldn't have to care so much about your outer appearance but when you just have red dots and bumps all over your face, it's hard not to feel embarrassed or wonder if everyone's staring at them. To this day, I'm not 100% sure why I had that "mid-life skin crisis" but I'm guessing it was a combination of the cafeteria food I was eating (probably a 100% increase in my fat intake since back home, I ate a healthy balanced Chinese meal of rice and vegetables and some meat), the air environment (it is much drier in my college town than in my hometown), and the Missha BB cream (strange that I'd say such a specific item right? But I'll explain!). When I realized my breaks out weren't subsiding, I took action and began eating much healthier (only salads and low-fat foods) because I thought my diet was what was the cause. After about a month or two and no improvement, I was at a loss of what to do. Around that time, it was Christmas break and I went home and even my parents were shocked and a bit distressed at my skin condition. My mom decided to take me out and buy some skincare products to hopefully help my acne and we decided to purchase the SK-II Facial Treatment Clear Lotion. The reason we chose this specific one was because I had seen Raeview (if you haven't heard of her, check out her Youtube videos or her blog - TheRaeviewer - she's writes really great reviews on lots of high end luxury products as well as drugstore makeup products!) talk about her daily skincare routine and she had mentioned using this toner and how well it worked for her. The lady who we purchased the toner from recommended I get the matching Facial Treatment Essence to go with it but I passed (though I did get a sample to try out). I began using the clear lotion that night and within a week, the redness in my pimples had decreased significantly and by two weeks, most of them had cleared away. It took about a month for them to all disappear but within that time, my skin improved so much and it was amazing. 

This toner did wonders for my skin and continues to do so. I would say this toner is just average if it just got rid of my acne, but it's better than that because it actually prevents me from getting any more breakouts. Now I practically NEVER breakout, like even less than I did originally and even if it's "that time of the month", and I'm really not exaggerating!! I really hope I don't suddenly get a pimple tomorrow morning (haha) but I absolutely swear by this toner. Before I got this toner, I used some random "hydrating toner" my mom had given to me by some random unknown brand and I didn't feel like it did anything for my skin. But using the SK-II Clear Lotion, I really can feel a difference. I like to just tip the bottle over two times with half a cotton pad (I like to use the CVS rectangle ones and cut or rip them in half) covering the opening. Because the opening is just a small hole, the toner can't really "spill" out because it'll just drip out. I only need two "tips" of the bottle to soak the cotton pad enough before swiping it all over my face, but I know for my boyfriend, he needs at least 4 so it's really up to you and how much you feel you need to wipe your face down. I like to start from the right side of my face and move downwards getting my jawline down to my neck and avoiding the delicate eye area. I like to concentrate mostly on my nose area because that's where my face oils tends to accumulate. I apply quite a bit of pressure when I'm wiping my face because I like to really make sure I'm wiping away any dirt or oil residue that my cleanser didn't wash off. (If I didn't say this before, I use my Philosophy Purity made Simple cleanser before I use the facial treatment toner). The fun thing is looking at the cotton pad and seeing the dirt or dead skin cells that come off my face haha! 

If I were to say how long this toner would last most people, I'd say maybe about 8 months to a year? I suppose it depends how often you use it because I first started off using it day and night but then as my skin cleared up and I realized I didn't need to use it so often, I started only using it at night. Now, I just use it every other night or even less, it just depends how my skin is looking that week. Because my skin has been doing so well, I've been able to focus more on my acne scars/dark spots and trying to fade them rather than having to fight off pimples and I know it's because of this toner that my skin has been doing so well. The SK-II Facial Treatment Clear Lotion really helps to get rid of any leftover dirt or oil that could clog my pores, and I feel like it helps my skin absorb my other skin care products better. I know the Facial Treatment Essence that you're supposed to use with it would probably also help my skin, but I don't think it's really necessary because of what great results I've gotten with the Clear Lotion alone. While I understand that the price is quite up there, I would definitely suggest this to anyone whether you have extremely severe acne or just moderate to light acne. I think one of the reasons this toner works so well is that it helps balance out your skin so that if you had oily skin before, somehow, it makes your skin produce less oil so that you'll have less oil clogging your pores. I know this is true because for my skin, I previously had combination skin with my T-zone getting quite oily some days, but now, my skin stays nice and healthy and hydrated without getting oily.

Would I repurchase this product? Yes and no. Right now, I haven't even finished my bottle as I have about 1/3 left, but even though I absolutely love this product, I don't think I actually will buy it again once I run out. The reason for this is because I feel like the Clear Lotion has really helped balance out my skin and because my skin is doing so well, I don't see too much of a need for the toner. Basically, the toner has worked so well that I feel like I don't need any toner anymore at all! Of course I know that's not true because toners really help your skin absorb the skincare products you use afterwards much more, but I think I might start experimenting around and try and find a less intense and cheaper alternative that will just keep my skin in balance and in check.

Would I recommend this product? Yes yes and yes! If I haven't drilled it in your head enough, I love this product and think it'll work wonders for anyone's skin. It doesn't just get rid of acne, it prevents it and corrects your skin so that you don't have to worry about it so much. Yes $60 is a lot, but you get a good amount of product and it lasts for quite a while. Plus, it goes against the laws of all business companies in that it works so well that you don't NEED to repurchase it! (Because we all know companies just want us to keep buying their products).


If you want to purchase this toner, you can find it at a local SK-II shop (that's where I picked up mine) or at Sephora - click here! I hope you guys enjoyed this somewhat lengthy review and found it helpful. If you have any questions about my personal experience with this toner, please leave a comment below and I'll answer it ASAP~! :) Hope you all have a lovely day <3

Em Cosmetics Black Friday Unboxing Haul + First Impressions + Makeup Look (Video) + Swatches!

So as most everyone in the beauty/Youtube/makeup world knows, Michelle Phan launched her makeup line called "Em Cosemetics" in this last year and to mine, and many others, surprise, it wasn't exactly an "affordable" line. Not that she said it was going to be or anything but I know I just assumed it wouldn't be too pricey because I thought she'd want to cater towards her general Youtube viewing audience which includes a lot of teenagers and young adults who don't exactly have a ton of money to spend. So when I saw the prices and realized, there was no way I was going to be able to justify spending that much on makeup, I was pretty bummed out because hey, it's Michelle Phan! Her products have to be freaking awesome right?? Then came Black Friday and guess what? There was a sale for $10 off of any $30 purchase, $20 off of any $50 purchase, and $50 off of any $100 purchase~! Woot woot right? So I picked up the Day Life Palette, the great cover up concealer, and a waterliner in Ros Gold for a little less than $70 after the $50 discount and tax. The nice thing is that they offer free shipping on ANY order, no minimum price, andd free returns too (super good for me because unfortunately I'm probably going to be returning at least one thing D: ). Shipping took about a week which was fine since the confirmation email said it'd take 5-7 business days, and the packing was nice with giant bubble wrap and pink wrapping paper on everything *___* I filmed me unboxing the package, my first impressions, and a makeup look testing out the products so check it out the videos: part 1 and part 2!

 Anyways, now that that's out of the way, and I've had some time to try out the products some more and figure out if I really like them or not... let's get started with the nitty gritty review!

The first product I want to talk about is the Day Life Palette. I ended up choosing this palette because I figured it had the most neutrals and wearable shades so I'd get the most use out of it. If you get to watch my first impression video, you'll remember me mentioning that it was definitely a lot "duller" looking than I expected. The colors just didn't seem as bright and vibrant as they had on my computer screen, but I guess that's what makes them good neutrals right? :P When I first tried out the eyeshadows in the palette, I noticed that the shimmery colors were much more softer and pigmented than the matte shades. As I continued to try out the palette, I realized a LOT of the eye shadows aren't very pigmented and they come out super patchy and don't blend out well. When you swatch them, they come out really blotchy and not smooth or dark. If you just swatch with your finger, you'll get a good amount of product on your finger so it looks promising but when you swipe it, poof - half of the color vanishes O_o'  Plus, after I swatched the shadows on my arms (pictures below), I wiped my arms and literally all of them just wiped off... like disappeared which means the lasting power of these shadows isn't that great. It also took me multiple swipes to get the swatches even visible for some of the photos. So if you haven't realized by now, I'm not exactly in love with the palette and I have to say that disappoints me a lot because I wanted to like it! I totally was excited to try them out because they seemed pretty good when Michelle Phan does videos using them and I've seen other reviews so I was really surprised at the "meh" quality of the shadows /: I've already contacted the company for a return label because I realized that honestly, I'm not going to be using the blush or lip colors very often (I don't wear either very often and I don't love using lip colors from a pan anyways.. ) and if the eyeshadows aren't like top notch quality, then I can't justify the $42 cost of this palette that I paid for. I would much rather just purchase the Lorac Pro Palette or the new Naked 3 palette and get better quality/pigmented shadows /: So in the end, I can't recommend the Day Life Palette (perhaps you'll have better luck with another life palette) due to the disappointing quality of the eyeshadows. I've really tried to use this palette and make it work, but the fact that many of the colors go on so patchy and that blending doesn't help at all (either wipes away most of the color or just smears it around more so that it looks even worse).. well I just don't know what to do anymore :(

I have swatches I did from the top two sets in the palette. As you can see, most of them don't look pigmented and I had to swipe them all 3-5 times to get the pigmentation needed for the camera to pick them up.

Photo from the em website. Mine definitely weren't this pigmented

Moving on from the life palette, we have The Great Cover Up concealer! Thankfully, this one matched my expectations in that yes it gives great coverage for my undereye circles and areas of redness. However, from what I had heard from everyone on Youtube and reviews, I think I did expect it to have a bit more coverage because I can still see some scars/pigmentation spots through the concealer so it's not super high coverage but I don't mind that too much. I don't notice any caking throughout the day and it also doesn't break me out so that's good. I do agree with everyone else that a little bit of this product goes a long ways and it blends out nicely. My only real bother is that I got the shade light warm and while it does match my skin tone and shade quite well, I usually prefer my concealers to be a bit lighter than my actual skin because I feel like it gives a more brightening effect (especially for under the eyes). I'm around an NC 30-35 so perhaps next time I will pick up the shade "fair warm" and see if that works out. There are 8 shades of the concealer but there aren't many darker shades (only like 2) so if you have darker skin, you might not be able to find a shade to match your skin. I also know some people complained about not knowing what shade they were after they had removed the concealer from the packaging but I guess Em Cosemetics fixed that because on the back of my concealer, it says "light warm" now although it's in a sort of ugly font like they just stamped it on, but I don't mind too much. Overall, I definitely would recommend this concealer if you're looking for something to cover up most of your blemishes without looking too cakey or fake and if you can get it on sale. The regular $20 is a bit pricey for a concealer, but reasonable when you compare it to other high end brand concealers and the quality is there so if you really can't wait to try it out, I would say to go for it even if there isn't a sale. However, if you really want something crazy high coverage, this isn't that product and I would actually recommend the Kat Von D Lock it foundation or concealer as those are super (not an exaggeration) high coverage but you just have to be careful or else they can look thick/cakey.

The last product I picked up was the Em Cosemetics waterliner in Ros Gold. I included a picture of my swatch above and also the photo from the website to help you get an idea of what it really looks like. Now, I really was excited to try this liner out because I'd heard great things about it (lasting power, waterproof ability, smudge proof, etc) and looking at the swatches from Raeview (another blogger, go check her out~!), they look really amazing! I chose Ros Gold because I thought it was the most unique and it looked really pretty. Unfortunately, when I got the liner, the color turned out to be a lot more orangey-peachy rather than a pink copper color that I'd expect of a rose gold eye liner (why they named it Ros Gold rather than Rose Gold I'm not sure). To make things worse, the moment I opened the liner, half of it fell out because it had broken! I pushed it back in and I think I "smushed" the fallen half back with the other half inside the pencil, but I'm still a little put off by my broken product :( It works fine now and everything, but I'm not sure if I should return or exchange it because hey, a $20 pencil shouldn't start off broken right? Beside that point though, the quality of this liner is superb. It's definitely a good creamy and soft consistency without going overboard (like the Milani Liquify pencil which in my opinion is a bit TOO soft) and it doesn't tug on my eyelids when I use it. It's also great for being on the waterline and lasted all day on my waterline without smearing out. I think this is comparable to the Urban Decay 24/7 liners and with the wide variety of colors, you're bound to find the color you want. So all in all, yes I'm completely satisfied with the quality of the product and would recommend it at SALE price, but I still don't love the color I got (Ros Gold) which is why I'm thinking about exchanging it for another shade (I'm considering the chocolate brown one since I know I'll get a lot of use out of that, but then I feel like it is a bit normal and I already have a TON of brown pencil liners). One thing that I would prefer though is the liners coming in a the standard wooden pencil form rather than a twist up plastic pencil. I understand that in the twist up form, you don't have to sharpen your pencil constantly, but I, personally, just prefer the pencil ones because I think you can get a greater variety of line thicknesses and I just like the feel of them better (does that even make sense? haha) My sister also mentioned that the twisty plastic liners look "cheap" and I can agree with her on that. The biggest downside to these water liners are their price because at $20, they are just a little bit more expensive than Urban Decay ($19) and Make Up For Ever ($19) but I guess it's fair because the quality is comparable to those high end brands and the good thing is that at least Em Cosemetics has good sale deals (ie. their buy one get one free deal for Cyber Monday vs. Urban Decays twice annual only sale of 20% off)

So I hope you guys all enjoyed my little review of the products I got from Em Cosemetics and I hope it helps you make a better more well-informed decision before your make your purchase! I don't know if I just got a bad palette or something because I definitely can't recommend the Day Life Palette, but for the other two products (the Great Cover Up Concealer and the Waterliner), I would give two thumbs up and say they're great quality and worth the hype they get. Hope you all have a lovely day and a wonderful holidays~!