Early May Haul

Now that exams are done and I'm back home in Toronto, it means that I have time to hit up the malls and go shopping. 

Since I'm currently in the middle of redecorating my bedroom at home, my mom and I decided to go to Homesense and I picked up these two white frilly (?) plates. Since my old jewellery chest was getting a little old, I decided to make myself a tiered stand to display my jewellery. 

Next I stopped by Zara home and picked up these two cups which I assume were originally meant to be rinsing cups...but hey, they matched my vanity and I needed a makeup brush holder and it did the job. 

While at the mall, it was inevitable for me to stop by Sephora. Since I've finally finished my old concealer (which I've had for over 3 years...yuck) I decided to give the NARS creamy concealer a try and I also picked up Oscar Blandi's dry shampoo since I've just finished up my Batiste one. I also popped into Kiehl's to purchase their oil-free toner. 

I decided to also pick up a keyboard cover from Pmall. Since I always eat or drink water while I'm using my laptop and crumbs always end up in-between my keys...I thought it was time I bought one of these.

I've got to say, my post exam residual anxiety has been very effectively cured by nothing other than shopping. 

Yours Truly, 

Janice 

The Bag Lady

 So I guess it's been a while since I've posted... a whole month and a half actually. Schools just been super busy recently and finding jobs for the summer was also a priority which means I had no time for blogging. But I'm back.. for now (: 

One of my roommates has already finished all her exams (super jealous) and returned to Toronto today so this morning, my roommates and I decided to go for brunch as our last outing of the year. We chose this retro style breakfast restaurant called The Bag Lady. 

All the decor and the dinnerware was really unique giving the place an extra cute touch. 

I ordered a breakfast burrito and a vanilla milkshake, both of which I highly recommend. 

The restaurant also sold some small gift items like homemade soap and greeting cards. 

If you're ever in the London, Ontario area, this is definitely a restaurant you should try. 

Yours truly, 

Janice 

February Favourites

February always goes by the fastest, especially since university students have reading week. But, I did come across a couple of products that I really started loving this month.

RapidLash - I know I've only been using this for about a week, but I swear I feel like it's working already :$... I've been using this on my eyebrows and my eyelashes and i feel like some of my 'bald spots' on my eyebrows are filled in more and my lashes feel a lot fuller and look so much nicer whenever I put mascara on. It's either the rapidlash or I'm just doing everything right in applying my makeup... 

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark - I got this as part of OPI's 'take ten' mini set which my best friend got for me for Christmas. This colour applies so nicely and is completely streak-free and opaque after 2 coats. I just think this colour looks so classy and chic for some reason... 

Rimmel Kohl Kajal in 003 Brown - I've always been a liquid eyeliner type of girl. But I tried using this one day to do my cat-eye and it worked so well! This has been my go to eyeliner every day since. 

Revlon Colourstay Shadowlinks in Cocoa - I've been using this as a eyebrow powder and the shade just works so well for me and I think it looks really natural. I have never used it as an eyeshadow though, so I can't really say much about that...

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream - I purchased this years ago and only brought it out again this past week because my cuticles were soo dry. I totally forgot how well this works in moisturizing my fingertips! 

Rimmel Apocalips in Nova - I really like how smooth this lip lacquer applies and I like that it covers up dry parts of my lips so nicely without me needing to exfoliate my lips first. I don't usually go for bright-ish colours but I really do like this one! 

Essie Stroke of Brilliance - My newest nail polish purchase and it's so pretty! Looks so nice layered over other colours as well. 

Victoria Secret Juniper Berry & Watery Freesia Body Lotion - I absolutely love this scent. I just keep it in my bathroom and apply it every night after I shower. It's not the best best moisturizer but it does it's job. 

Johnson's No More Tangles  - I had stopped using this for a while but when I repurchased this a couple weeks ago, I now remember how good this stuff is! I use it all the time to sort out the stubborn knots that always form in my hair. 

Yours Truly, Janice 

RapidLash First Impression

 I am one of the unfortunate ones who were born with short, straight eyelashes. My boyfriend often makes fun of me since his lashes are even longer than mine... 

I purchased my RapidLash from Costco for about $43 before tax (online at Costco it costs $53.99 for some reason...) which is quite a bit cheaper than at Shoppers Drug Mart which sells it for $59.99 before tax. 

So far, I think the application of the product itself is quite easy. With a very fine tipped brush, it's easy to apply the product right at the roots of my eyelashes. I personally apply this at night right before I go to sleep however, I find that it stings my eyes a little and makes my eyes feel more tired. 

Anyways, I really hope this product works! Thanks for reading!

Yours Truly, Janice

Saturday Nails

Happy Saturday everyone! I had been eyeing up this gorgeous sparkly purplish-blue colour from Essie for the longest time and last weekend I finally bit the bullet and purchased it! While I own many sparkly colours, I always feel that they make me seem childish. However paired with this milky while colour (Essie's "limo-scene") I feel like this combination actually looks quite pretty! 

Yours Truly, Janice 

Whats in my bag?

I hope everyone has been having an amazing week! University students in the SouthWestern Region of Ontario currently have reading week... This week has been super busy with reading ahead for school, preparing for upcoming midterms and while trying to meet up with old high school friends who all have schedules like family doctors right now...

Anywho, after posting an OOTD with my Valentino Rockstud purse, I decided that I should do a quick whats in my bag. 

So here it is, this is what I carry around with me every day!

1. My black iPhone 4 - I guess this doesn't really count as 'in my bag' as I usually just hold it in my hand or keep it in the pocket of my jacket, but whatever.. it's with me every day

2. Headphones - I'm one of the lucky one's whose iPhone headphones still haven't broken yet! 

3. Crabtree & Evelyn Evelyn Rose Handcream - Smells amazing! 

4. Agenda - This one is from J. Crew. The silver is amazing since I can find it easily in my bags. 

5. Keys! - the J keychain is a very old one from Coach which I got when I was probably in grade 7 or something... 

6. Camera - I didn't use to carry this around, but now that I have a blog, I feel obligated to... I use the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX7 

7. Prada Saffiano Leather Wallet - got this maybe 3 years ago and it's just as beautiful as it was in the beginning 

8. Western pen - because I go to Western University! 

9. Laneige blotting paper roll - because I have oily skin  

10. Burts Bees - to keep my lips silky soft

11. Lipstick of the day - today was the Japanese Brand Kate lipstick in BE-1 (a really pretty pinky-nude)

I hope you all have an amazing Friday tomorrow and thanks for reading! 

Yours Truly, Janice 

Monday Haul

These past two weeks has been very very hectic with midterms and reports. But now I'm back in  Toronto for reading week and did a little bit of de-stress shopping and decided to do a little haul.

1. Striped Gap sweater - best bargain ever reduced from $60 to $20! 

2. H&M denim shirt - ... nothing much to say about this, just needed a new denim shirt

3. Forever 21 Maxi Dress - imo looks really really similar to the $60 one they sell at Aritzia but this one was only $21! 

3. Rimmel Apocalips in Nova - I really wanted to try these for the longest time and I finally bought it! But this colour is quite different from what it looks like in the packaging...which I should've known... but for some reason I thought it would look exactly like the packaging. This isn't a shade I would usually go for, but I guess it's a good change? 

4. Maybelline Great Lash clear mascara - I love using this as a brow gel, love love love 

5. Rimmel Scandal Eyes Kohl Kajal in Brown - I love the Kohl Kajal eyeliners and I just wanted a softer colour which I could use instead of black so yeah...

6. Johnson & Johnson no more tangles - I love this stuff. My hair is always always in tangles and this stuff makes my hair detangle like no other. And I really like the smell... Either way, I was running out of my last one and so I just needed to repurchase it. 

Thanks for reading! 

Yours truly, Janice 

OOTD: February 2, 2014

 When I go shopping, I like to dress comfortably and light so that I wouldn't get too warm walking in the mall. Today, the highlight of my outfit would be my new layered sweater from Phillip Lim. My mom had recently visited Hong Kong and one of her friends had very generously given this shirt to her. Since this isn't really the type of shirt my mom would wear, she gave it to me instead. This asymmetrical sweater is longer at the back and has an inner layer that feels really cool and comfortable against your skin. The geometrical sleeve of this sweater also makes it really unique!

I paired this sweater with my mom's Cheap Monday dark wash skinny jeans. Since I had to pack light for the weekend, I hadn't packed a pair of proper fitting dark wash jeans and needed to borrow my mother's instead. Seeing these jeans on me, my mom decided I should keep them instead since she rarely wears them herself. For accessories, I wore my silver Michael Kors watch with a dainty silver bracelet and bangle. I finished off my outfit with a pair of black ridding boots from Anne Klein. 

My purse of the day is this Black Valentino Rockstud Medium Shopper Tote. This was my first time using this purse, and I've got to say.. it's quite a heavy one! 

Tomorrow will be a long car day as I will be heading back into uni :(. But at least I had the chance to relax and truly enjoy my weekend back at home. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too! 

Yours Truly, Janice 

Green Grotto Tea Room

Today, one of my roommates and I met up with a friend who was visiting from Beijing. Originally, we were planning to grab a bubble tea from Serissa but instead, we decided to try out this Taiwanese cafe called the Green Grotto Tea Room. Even though it was only my first time visiting this cafe, I've have to say that I really liked it! The cafe wasn't very big so it was really cozy and all their snacks were reasonably priced. The whole cafe had a tree like theme to it which I thought was pretty cute. I ordered my favourite drink a milk green tea with tapioca (which had different sizes tapioca balls, not something I usually see in my bubble tea) and my friends ordered a rose green tea and a apple carrot juice. We also shared a peach yogurt ice thing which was suprisingly really good. 

We also shared a couple of snacks including this sesame pancake, Taiwanese style sausages and a matcha green tea brick toast. I would definitely recommend the brick toast and the pancake... while the sausage, well it's not really my type of snack so I didn't really like it that much personally. 

Overall, the Green Grotto Tea Room was a really cute place to catch up with a friend who I haven't seen in a year. 

Thanks for reading! 

Yours Truly, Janice 

Happy Chinese New Year!

In my family, it's a tradition to go out for dim sum on Chinese New Year. 

This morning, my parents and I battled out the waiting lines at a nearby dim sum restaurant. 

In the evening, we went over to my grandmother's house for dinner. Since I'm often out of town for university, it's always nice to be able to gather with my extended family to eat a nice dinner and catch up. Whenever my grandma knows that I'm home from uni, she always makes sure to make my favourite dishes too!

For the children, receiving red pockets are always a nice addition to Chinese New Year! 

But, Chinese New Year is never complete without this tasty desserts. 年糕, which directly translates to 'year cake', is basically a cake prepared with glutinous rice and fried with egg... while that description doesn't make it sound very appealing, trust me, it is. 

 Besides all the Chinese New Year festivities, I did end up going shopping for a bit today since I rarely get a chance to go to the mall back in uni. I might be putting together a haul sometime later this week since I anticipate I might end up spending some of my red pocket money this weekend... heh...anyhow...

我祝您們新年快樂，身體健康，心想事成，馬年大吉！

(I wish you all a happy new year, good health, may all your wishes come true, and I wish you luck in the year of the horse!) 

Yours truly, Janice

Meet Toki

Today was sort of a boring-type of day. I guess the most exciting part of my day is that I'm HOME now! The bus ride was not the greatest though. See, I have this issue where when I know I won't have access to a bathroom, I will constantly feel like I have to go pee. It's definitely a psychological thing. 

So now that I'm home, I guess I should introduce you to my crazy pet dog, Toki. Her name actually means rabbit or something in Korean but it sounds cute in English, in my opinion. 

Toki is a mix of Pekingese and Lhasa Apso. No one seems to ever understand what I'm saying when I say that so, here's a little visual. 

The first one is a Lhasa Apso and the second, a Pekingese. Put them together, and you get Toki! 

She usually isn't very friendly to me... Toki was originally my aunt's dog, but she was going to give her away, and I couldn't let that happen. So I brought Toki home ... without my mom's approval. I was kinda in trouble for a while after that. Little did I know that she's secretly evil. I can't even count the types she's angrily snapped at me for taking her stuff and I swear, she purposely does that to me only. Never to my parents. She know's I have the least authority in the house :(

But whenever I come home from uni, Toki is much more friendly and needy, which is always a nice change. Once I walk through the door, she would lean against my legs and wait for me to pet her. Her cuteness makes up for the times that she bullies me I guess...

It's time for me to sleep again, goodnight everyone!

Yours Truly, Janice 

Casual Tuesday

Finally, my busiest and most stressful day of the week is over.. And only 2 more days until I get to go home to Toronto, sleep in my comfy bed, play with my grumpy pup and celebrate Chinese New Year with my family! Since starting my blog, I haven't really posted anything so I decided a little outfit of the day seemed like a good idea.. 

Today, I paired my white Babaton Bowie tank top with a green over-sized jacket type thing I thrifted from Value Village last year (I sewed on a draw cord at the waist to give it the 'parka' type look). I paired that with a pair of acid wash jeans which I bought from zipia.net a couple years back. For accessories, I went with my Tiffany twist knot earrings, Michael Kors watch and a simple bracelet from American Eagle.

This was my version of casual and comfy (: anyways time for me to get to bed...

Thanks for reading!

Yours truly, Janice

The First

Starting a blog has always seemed like a scary concept to me. I thought that putting my life and opinions on the internet for everyone to read would make me vulnerable. However, after becoming a dedicated reader of Wendyslookbook's blogs for the past year, I decided that sharing one's opinion should not be a fearful experience, rather it should be a creative and fun one!

My name is Janice and my interests include cooking, watching television, crafting and shopping.This blog will be a place for me to reflect on my daily adventures and share my newest obsessions. I hope that my blog will be able to inspire other's the way the Wendy's has inspired me.

xx

Yours Truly, Janice