Friday Funday!: This is Exactly What I Would Do - Happy Halloween!

Yves Saint Laurent Fusion Ink Foundation SPF18 Review and First Impressions

You guys are going to get to see my really pissed off rosacea face today. Don't you feel lucky? Since my cancer diagnosis I haven't used much makeup. At first I spent 6 weeks in the hospital and then another 9 months of treatment. I had no desire to put on makeup. I know that for some, putting on the makeup and doing the little things helps them along with treatment. For me, it just made me tired thinking about it. Also, my eyes were affected by the Leukemia so I was all blurry anyway and looked perfect! 

Now that I'm a few months removed from treatment I've started playing with my makeup again. First my makeup bag was MIA. Korean Tiger mom likes to put things away when no one is using them. This means that you might be able to find it later but probably not. Luckily we found it! Sad to say though that some of the makeup was bad, dried out, or melted (I have no idea how). I've replaced many of my staples, Hourglass Mineral Veil, UrbanDecay Eye Primer, and Make Up Forever Aqua eyeliner in navy blue, but my foundations (Smashbox hydrating powder and Cargo HD) were a lost cause. 

I went on the hunt for a new foundation and as we all know, my face has been crazy lately. I tried a few (I'll post about those later) but I have to talk about the YSL Fusion Ink Foundation. This foundation comes in 16 shades and retails for $60.00. Now let's pause here. I had no intention of spending $60.00 on a foundation. It's pricey and I realize that for most it might be too pricey. However, sometimes you get what you pay for and this is one of those times. 

I was color matched as Ivory which is not the color I would have picked for myself. If you're a little iffy on your color I highly recommend you go into a retailer and get color matched. My original intention was to get color matched at Sephora and then take advantage of Sephora's VIB and VIB Rogue free deluxe sample, but I was so blown away by the product that I purchased it on the spot. 

These are the only products I used - Hourglass Primer (travel size), Shiseido foundation brush, and my YSL Fusion Ink Foundation.

This is a very close-up picture (egads) of my face before I applied the foundation. I applied one layer of foundation by placing the foundation on my hand, and then, using my foundation brush, I picked up the product a little at a time applying all over my face. Remember, a little goes a long way. If I were to compare it to drops I would say about 5 drops of the foundation. Fusion Ink is a wet foundation but it dries to a powder-like finish which is very soft.

And this is after. 

This is a comparison of both the right and left side of my face before and after the foundation application. 

These are very close shots of my face and as you can see the red spots, broken capillaries and rosacea redness are gone. If you notice, I got closer to take the after photos. It also does not look like I have any foundation on. There is no caking or buildup, and it is not holding onto any of the dry patches on my cheeks or emphasizing any wrinkles. It is silky smooth, goes on very easy, and literally vanishes. It really just looks like perfect skin. 

I am just amazed by the Yves Saint Laurent Fusion Ink Foundation. Even with my rosacea and very dry skin it leaves a perfect finish. YSL Fusion Ink foundation is now my all-time favorite foundation and well worth the higher end price tag.

Stop Doing That You Idiot or What You'll Need to Survive a Horror Movie

If you read my previous post about my love of Halloween and horror movies you'll know that I am an expert at this. I know for a face (per-Facebook quizzes) that I would survive not only a horror movie, but a zombie apocalypse. First off don't be this dude. 

When you're this dude you get your eyes torn out of your head and eaten by a demon. 

This is my first tip of survival don't be curious, don't go investigate noises, don't follow weird people into dark alleys or anything else of that nature. Here is my list of things to do in a horror movie: 

1. Don't do anything stupid
2. If you think, even a tiny bit, that what you're about to do might be stupid - see number one

Now lets talk about zombies. The first two rules still apply but now we're faced with other things such as a shortage of food, crazy people, and zombies. 

So, lets assume that you're not one of those doomsday preppers that preserve their children's umbilical chord in wood and herbs (look him up Michael James Patrick Douglas), and you don't have 20 years worth of food stores. I'm going to talk about what I (the horror movie expert - mwhahahaha) would want to survive in my horror movie crate. Why a crate? Because bug-out-bag is so last year.

First there is food and water. This is going to be the hardest thing. I'd want some jerky and SPAM. I like SPAM (it's because I'm Korean we love SPAM). Yes, I know I'm on a Paleo diet and I'm eating clean but we're talking about zombies here. All bets are off!

Do you see how many types they have? I mean...c'mon now PERFECT for the apocalypse. 

For water I'll put some tabs in my crate but seriously I'm going to set up something to collect rain water because who knows how well these tabs work. Unless you have access to some military grade stuff I say get tabs. 

Second thing is a weapon. You would think a gun would be good but they make a lot of noise. A gun with a silencer would be great but what happens when you run out of bullets? What you need is a sword or an axe. Now, while I love Darryl Dixon on The Walking Dead where the hell do you get all those arrows? Seriously, unless you know how to tool your own ammo for a crossbow you'll have the same problem as bullets. 

This my friends would be perfect.

All you would have to do in a pinch is maybe tie the knife to a stick and TADA you have a zombie skewer stick! 

You also need clothes. This stuff can be stolen along the way but I'd like to throw maybe an outfit in my crate. One big thing you will need is shoes. Now I have a wide food so it will probably be hard to scavenge shoes so I'd throw a pair of these in my crate.

I actually own a pair of these. I used them to hike in Arizona (I was fairly active before the cancer) they are water proof, support your ankle, and are very durable. Perfect for those long walks trying to get away from zombies! 

A survival book, a few actually. Some on plants, some on how to build a water processing plant, some on how to cure the zombie plague, whatever they are they could mean the difference between eating the right mushroom or the wrong mushroom. 

I consider the items above essential. Do or die things.Now, here is a list of things that would be awesome to have but the likely hood of having them is slim to none. 

1. Some sort of Solar Powered charging station. This would be for batteries (for flashlights, radios etc) cell phones (why would cell function go down right away?), or anything that could collect and store the power. Even to jump a car which brings me to my next thing. 
2. A car. Electric would be good.
3. A home off the grid running off of solar power. Need I say why this would be amazing? 
4. A fortress on a hill in a mountainous region of the world, that has it's own irrigation system... with a garden (Hey I said they were slim to no chance of getting these things).

And finally you need a good team of people around you. It would get kinda boring taking to your axe after a few months. Plus, what's the point of surviving if you don't have others around? Find friends keep them close watch out for cannibals! 

Thank you to Man Crates, a new company that ships awesome gifts for men in custom wooden crates which inspired this post!

My First Birchbox - Unboxing and Review

For those that don't know Birchbox is a monthly subscription company centered around beauty. For ten dollars a month Birchbox sends you four to five samples (sometimes deluxe samples) of vary products. Since I want to branch out makeup and beauty wise I decided to subscribe. I was not given this box and purchased it with my own money (for those who might be wondering) and even if it was given to me I would still give you my honest impression of the service. 

First let me say that I received a Laggies box. I was disappointing from the get go because I just wanted a regular Birchbox. I did call Birchbox costumer service and while the woman was very pleasant she told me that I had put in a special code when I ordered (I don't remember doing that) and because of that I received this box. She also stated there was nothing they could do about the box (I did say I wanted the regular one). 

So, my review might be a little tarnished by the fact that I did not receive exactly what I wanted. 

First off I am a Rockstar just in case anyone was wondering (carefully placed finger over address). 

This is what my box looked like (see the Laggies?).

Here is what the inside of my box looks like. It's really nice packaging and there of course is a card that explains everything in the box. I know that's what the card is because I have watched a ton of unboxing videos on youtube. Don't judge me, you don't know my life (laugh). 

...and this is what came in my box. 

The first product is Beauty Protector protect and detangle. The full-size price is $21.95 and this is a deluxe sized sample. The info card says it locks in color, protects from heat damage, and adds silkiness. 

My take - It has a pretty strong smell. The base of it is citrus (grapefruit to me) mixed with something medicinal. I don't need this because I don't need a detangler but I will try it to see if it does soften. I'm pretty picky with scents so I'm not sure how this is going to smell once I put it in my hair. It should be interesting. 

The second product is Vasanti Cosmetics BrightenUp! Enymatic Face Rejuvenator. The full-size price is $34.00. The info card says it mimics the effects of microdermabrasion for glowing, smooth skin. 

My take - Well I have no take really (laughing). I didn't open it and will be giving it away. As you know from previous blog posts I have rosacea and am having a bit of a flare at the moment. Since this has little rough beads in it I wont use it on my skin. That's all I need - to make my face worse! 

The next product is TOCCA Crema De Mano in Bianca. The full-size price is $8 - $20. The info card states that it's loaded with essential oils and that this green tea and lemon lotion absorbs in a flash.

My take - This also has a very strong perfume smell. You do get a wiff of the lemon but it has a very flowerly perfume smell that reminds me of an older ladies perfume. I'm not a fan of the smell and I wont be using this product.

This little box had two prodcuct's A ModelCo POWERLASH high impact black mascara full-size $20 and a Sage +Fasten eaude parfum in Onward (roller ball) full-size $50. 

My take - I'm going to have fun with the mascara. I've been out of mascara for awhile and this will last me a good while because I don't wear mascara that much. The perfume I actually like (I bet you didn't see that one coming. I like clean fresh scents and I'm not sure if it's the grapefruit smell but I really appreciate it. It has a sweet undertone but not overly sweet. I really like this product and will use it. 

Overall this box was just OK for me. Like I said before I was disappointed by the fact that it wasn't the regular October box. I had a feeling that the scents were going to be to much for me when I opened the box and got a face full of perfume. The box was worth the $10 simply because I know that if I didn't have rosacea I'd use the Vasante scrub as well. 

If you want to subscribe to Birchbox yourself you can click on the link below (it's my private invite link) or just go to www.birchbox.com (smile).  

https://www.birchbox.com/invite/2whw9

Switching up My Moisturizer (again) for My Angry Red Face

After using my Dermalogic barrier with my Korres moisturizer for a few weeks I realized  the combo made most of my face feel amazing but the actual areas effected by rosacea were becoming dry again and needed more hydration. My Korres moisturizer was almost empty so I went on the hunt for another moisturizer. After much internet research (seriously what did people do before google?) I decided to try some Kiehl's products. 

I happen to live very close to the touristy areas of Florida and while annoying (why do people forget how to drive on vacation?) it's also great because we have a lot of high end stores. Lucky for me we have a Kiehl's storefront at the Mall at Millennia to peruse. So, off I went happily dragging my friend along. There is also a Sephora there and I had to exchange a FRESH lip balm because I don't know how to double check to make sure it's the color I want - killing two birds with one stone! 

We get there and just our luck M.A.C is having an event. If I had not been looking for moisturizer I would have gotten all done up but I was on a mission! At least we were entertained by the men who were in silver body suits dancing on stage to Madonna’s Vogue. No seriously, you have not lived until you see 5 guys gyrating on stage with silver body suits and masks. 

We find the Keihl's (we wandered for a while) and I happily go into the amazing store that looks like an old apothecary. I am greeted by one of the best sales reps I have ever ran across. If you're ever at the Mall at Millennia’s Keihl's store in Orlando look for Stepheny. I cannot express how great she was. She tested my skin (I got's desert dry skin peoples) and then she grabbed a bunch of products for me to look at. 

Since my face was red as all get out, she had me put on Kiehl's Skin Rescuer. We sat and chatted for a few minutes and my friend tells me that my face already looks better. I look in the mirror and it's gone from an angry red to pinkish. I grabbed the bottle of magic and declared it mine like Gollum and his ring. I know I need another moisturizer and while she had a recommendation, Stepheny wanted to make sure it would not irritate my skin. So, instead of saying I should buy something she gave me tons of samples. I was incredibly impressed by this no pressure sales approach. 

I have to say so far so good. The dry patches have not returned (fingers crossed) and the burning sensation I had seems to have lessened a bit. I'll do an update in a couple of weeks to let everyone know how it's going! 

What I Found out About Vitamin D Deficiency MS and Rosacea

I've been doing a lot of research on rosacea lately because I've recently had a really bad flare up. I have to admit that I've been really lax taking care of my rosacea (well...my dry skin, my makeup, my hair...pretty much everything) since my cancer diagnosis. Now that I'm a few months removed from chemo (and am in remission yay) I've slowly started to get back into the swing of things and by things I mean life. For me the chemo stopped me in my tracks. It almost feels like more then a year of my life was lost in daily chemo and cancer. 

It's so nice to be able to get back out there and live a little. The fact that my rosacea reared its ugly head is annoying but also a comforting normal part of life. Not sure if anyone understand that but I'm sharing (laugh). 

As I said, because of my lovely red face, I've been doing a lot of research on natural ways/any way/reason/did I eat to many hot peppers to help or explain my lovely face. For those of you who suffer from MS you may know that many people with MS suffer from a vitamin D deficiency. I am one of those people. I have not read anything that explains to correlation between MS and a vitamin D deficiency but there seems to be something there.

As I read more about rosacea, I came across many references to a vitamin D deficiency in people who have rosacea. WHAT? The hell you say! Well, yes it's true. I find it very interesting that, like MS, they don't know the exact cause of rosacea (same as MS), it's liked to a vitamin D deficiency (like MS), that it's inflammation (like MS), flares up and goes into remission (like MS), and is progressive (like MS). I'm not big on coincidences especially when it comes to health. 

Could the mechanisms of inflammation and then remission be related to a vitamin D deficiency? Could finding the mechanism for action for one help the other? Do the treatments for one (say MS) help the other (rosacea)? 

Things that make you go hm...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I felt a little chill in the air today! This is a big deal for people who live in Florida (9 months of hell heat a few days of winter) and it announced to me loud and clear that Halloween was here! I love Halloween. I'm a huge horror movie fan, and at this time of the year there are horror movies everywhere. My love affair with horror movies started a long time ago. I don't even remember why or when it started to be honest with you. I do remember that as young as 7 I was reading scary books, and watching horror movies. 

I'm not talking about kids horror movies. I'm talking about full on knock down drag out horror movies. My parents may have been a little lax on the whole "Watch what the kid is watching" front. Well...on a few fronts. They're lucky I never burned down the house. I loved burning candle as a child and my parents would give me a lighter and say "Have fun, be careful" and go to bed - I was 6. They trusted me... a lot. 

Being a wee child I couldn't rent movies by myself. My dad and I would go to rent movies and I would tell him what I wanted and he'd get it. This resulted in me watching things like Hellraiser (oh yes) and Dawn of the Dead. I'm not sure what my parents were thinking. I will say that watching violence on TV doesn't make someone a serial killer or bad. I mean seriously, if that were the case I'd be in jail right now. Although...I did like fires as a kid... 

I will admit that Dawn of the Dead instilled an intense fear of zombies in me. One that would haunt me until pretty recently. The Walking Dead house at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights pretty much cured me of that a few years ago. Very much immersion therapy or as I like to call it "Get the fuck over".

This time of the year is like my Christmas. I love the horror movies, the costumes, and the beginning of the cool part of the Florida season. So, if anyone would like to join me for a Halloween party or a horror movie marathon let me know. I promise I wont burn any candles (smile). 

Exercising, Rosacea, and Moisturizer

I have rosacea, which is this lovely "look my face looks and feels on fire" problem that some people have. I have medicine for it and it works out pretty well...usually. I had a flare up this past Saturday. The only thing I can think of that set it off was the fact that after almost two years I walked outside with my friend on our (use to be weekly) 5 mile walk. The great thing is I was able to do it (people cheering) the bad thing is my face was on fire after. Literally. OK, not literally. 

I usually use Korres Oak Night Cream to moisturize my face. I have crazy dry skin and this usually knocks it right out. The rosacea made my skin very dry and patchy this time. It really burned and I started to research moisturizers online. Goggle is amazing - I have no idea what people use to do before the interwebs. 

Fast forward to a few hours later (those youtube video reviews can grab my attention like a sparkly bauble or a squirrel to a dog). There were a lot of reviews and a lot of information. I found a lot of reviews about Dermalogica Barrier Repair. 

This photo is deceptive this is a VERY SMALL tube for $44.00. Yes $44.00 american money. My only consolation as I was buying this was the fact that I could bring it back. That's one of the good things about buying expensive products, they'll take it back. I will not be taking it back. I used it for the first time last night and I cannot explain to all of you how silky smooth my face feels. 

The product itself feels like a silicone based primer and I didn't think it would add very much moister to me but my face felt smooth! The very dry patches were still there  last night but I had high hopes. I was not disappointed. 

This morning the dry patches were gone. Yes, in less then 24 hours the dry patches on my face were all healed. I was shocked. This product really does work. My face did not burn at all today and I can tell that the redness is going away. My only complaint is that this does not have a SPF in it. I'm going to have to buy a separate sunscreen/moisturizer but I think this barrier repair was worth the money I spent on it. Dermalogica has a customer for life!

A Return to Clean Eating

I recently started eating clean again after a long headlong swan dive into eating garbage. This started when I was hospitalized a year and a half ago. My white blood cell count (my immune system) was so low I couldn't eat anything fresh. I couldn't even have fresh flowers in my room. The technical name for this is neutropenic. 

As we all know, hospital food isn't great to begin with. Now that my diet was even more limited by my eating restrictions it was horrendous. I believe I ate eggs for a month straight - horrible, nasty, rubbery, hospital eggs. After I was released I still had months of chemo. This lovely chemo did a few things, killed my cancer (yay) and made meat taste like dog food, Alpo dog food to be exact. How do I know this? Hey, I was a kid and grew up with two German Shepherds, you figure it out (smile). I ate what I could. I craved cucumbers and tomatoes, man I could have eaten a whole field of them, but surprisingly enough, you can't live off of cucumbers and tomatoes. So, I ate a lot of crap. Anything I could stomach really. 

Once my chemo was finished and I was declared in remission (Feb 21 baby!), my ability to taste food slowly started to come back. Now when I say slowly, I mean at a painfully frustrating pace that would test Korean baby Jesus himself. I decided in September that I could try to eat clean again. It wasn't until September that I could stomach meat without thinking of Alpo (laugh).  

I was following the paleo diet before my cancer diagnosis and I'm back to that. I have to tell you I feel so much better. Not only do I just feel better with the clean diet but my blood sugar, which went insane with the chemo, has corrected itself. Needless to say I will eat as clean as I can from now on. 

I've been a bad bad girl...

Wow! I have been gone for a very long time. My life has been pretty interesting since my last post and I'm going going to try (probably miserably) to condense it into a short blog post.

For those that don't know I had a long fight with Leukemia which started in June of 2013 (Acute Promyelocitic Leukemia to be specific). On Feb 21 2014 I was told I was in remission (yay clapping). I foolishly thought I was going to spring back right away and feel amazing. Bwhahahahaha.

I lost most if not all of my muscle tone, my stamina was done, and we won't talk about the needles being jabbed into my eyes monthly. My legs are literally the smallest they have ever been..in my life. It's taken me from Feb till October (right now) to get my stamina up to an acceptable level. Acceptable meaning I don't want to die if I go shopping. Actually, I can actually walk 2 miles now YAY.

It's really interesting to see your muscles growing back. It's actually pretty weird but amazing at the same time.

I'm single after four years. I've only talked about my boyfriend a handful of times on here. It ended abruptly but it's not a bad thing that it's over. Truth be told if I wouldn't have gotten cancer I think it would have been over a while ago.

I've been obsessed with makeup! No, seriously. I'm going to post some makeup blogs in the future. I might even do a little filming for youtube (we'll see). I'm about to do a crazy sephora run because

1. I haven't used makeup in over a year and a lot of it has dried out or gone missing 
2. I have rosacea, which is this lovely immune system reaction (hm and I have MS) that makes your face red (think sunburn) and break out  

So, I'm sorry all but you'll have to listen to me ramble about makeup from time to time. 

And the last topic I'll mention is my MS. My MS is doing really well. I've switched to the 40mg Copaxone injection, which is a three times a week injection. I was not going to switch at first but I decided to give it a try because the three times a week seemed to be a better option then a daily injection while I was dealing with my cancer. So far it's worked very well for me. 

That's my quick update and I'm back to blogging so keep an eye out (smile).