For the love of tea & Chinese fashion

I do love tea, not just milk tea, but also plain old normal tea. It's healthier than milk tea because 1) no sugar is added, 2) there's no milk, 3) no boba--even though boba gives an amazing, tasteful texture. However, tea is usually an acquired taste. It is often times a little bitter and unique in taste. Green tea, Oolong tea, and Puer tea, and rose tea are some of my favorites.

Today's tea is not very Chinese-y though. I just recently found a recipe for Cinnamon-Apple tea:

This tea is actually a little sweet because of the apples~ The little cinnamon flavor is great as well! Additionally, it's healthy! Apples have a water-soluble vitamin (C & B6) that can enter through the water, so hooray! 

If you would like the recipe, check it out here: Love, Fenni.

She's my twin~ hehe <3

Anyways, I wanted to talk about Chinese fashion today. Chinese fashion is nowhere comparable in popularity to that of Japanese and Korean fashions. Chinese fashion doesn't really have a distinct style, and what is popular right now is Japanese, Korean, and other international styles.

Even so, fashion in China has been and still is growing a great deal. They're beginning to separate themselves from others to create their own brands and names. I'm very excited to see what's in store for Chinese fashion~

Today, I wanted to introduce this e-store on a Chinese sort of Ebay/Amazon called Taobao. The shop name is Hello Miffy~ It's super cute and the model is adorable as well~

I love the simplicity of the outfits and how comfy they all seem to be. I'd wear these going to and from classes, and it'd be very comfy to wear just sitting around in class or at home doing homework~

This post's question: What's your favorite drink? If you like tea, which type?

Asian brands: Jouetie

I am truly in love fashion and all the unique pieces that come from around the world. These designers are so creative. I love any brand that is able to put together something chic yet comfortable seeming. Personally, I (sadly) can't stand wearing something beautiful yet uncomfortable. If the fits not right, or if the fabric's too rough, that piece regrettably ends up somewhere in the back of my closet.

Someday I hope to be as creative as these designers, but for now, I will be sharing some of my favorite brands from South East Asia.

Jouetie (Japan)

What I love about this piece is the simplicity. The outfit seems soft and comfortable; it flows well  over the model's body and will do well to hide extra arm and stomach fat (not that she has any, haha).  I adore loose outfits because they aren't restricting to wear when sitting done for hours in class.

I usually don't like completely matching outfits, but the model pulls it off really nicely. I love how the end of the sleeves and sweater are cuffed with a thick black band that sets a distinction between the top and the bottom. Furthermore, the boots look amazing with the black plaid.

You might not really be able to tell from here, but the sweater is a thick, fuzzy one. This type of sweater is perfect for the cold weather, and right now, I really wish I had one like that. I love the pairing of a simple white/beige top and black shoes with a patterned bottom. The little pop of pattern/color makes a simple outfit more unique!

Lookbook/concept photos

I hope you enjoy these type of post!

My question for this post is: What's your favorite clothing style?

DIY mini-notebooks ~~ sweet and useful

Today I'm going to share with you what I made recently (with the generous instruction of my church sister)! It's a great and fun project! It does require a lot of work however, but it is definitely very rewarding since you can show it off and use it! Hehe.

Hopefully everyone's having a great week!

 

I'm using this journal for my quiet times (Bible study/reading)! I love how everything looks more artistic. Haha. :)

My question for you is this: What's your favorite thing that you've made?

Review: EOS Summer Fruit

I know EOS lip balms were all the craze a while back (a long while back I mean, haha), but I still wanted to do a review on it. Personally, I bought the item because my friends had them and the lip balms themselves were super cute looking. The packaging is so unique and fun. I had great hopes for this lip balm; I thought, amazing! A combo of cute and effective~

eek, the picture looked a lot nicer on my phone D: I guess I shouldn't just email pictures to myself. haha

This is what they claim:

-95% organic

-100% natural

-paraben and petrolatum free

-vitamin E

-shea butter

-jojoba oil

-long lasting moisture

Random Ingredients Facts

I'm really glad that this lip balm is 100% natural; that's surely a good sign~ From the ingredients list, the first item is Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, aka olive oil. Olive oil (and many other natural oils) are good for keeping skin (and lips) moisturized and soft. 

Paraben is an ingredient used as fragrance or as a preservative. There has been some minor concerns that this ingredient is a endocrine (or hormone) disruptor. Other than that, paraben hasn't been found to be toxic to humans. Either way, good thing it's not in this lip balm!

Jojoba oil is chemically similar to the oil that our own skin produces; it contains vitamins E and B and some other minerals as well. Like olive oil, it's good for keeping our skin and lips moisturized and feeling smooth. 

Shea butter, like many of these other ingredients, help keep the skin moisturized. It also has healing properties, protects from UV rays, and contains vitamins A and E, which have anti-inflammatory and soothing properties.

Disclaimer: In my opinion, all these ingredients seem pretty nice, but I am in no aspect an expert on them! I'm just reading up on the ingredients and presenting it to y'all~ Hope you guys find it interesting though!

Personal Opinion

The EOS lip balm really does a good job of keeping my lips from getting chapped. This is great because recently my lips have been horrendously dry; it kept on cracking and peeling (and even bleeding sometimes... D:). How gross. Sorry for the description. 

However, this lip balm didn't quite meet my expectations. I thought it'd be amazing because so many people had it, but it's just normal. I mean, EOS is great in that it's organic, but the actual feeling of the balm on my lips is just normal. After a couple hours, my lips feel a little waxy, and personally, that's not the best feeling to have. Maybe it just means that I need to reapply though.

The packaging is amazing on the other hand. I just realized how to use it. At first, I just applied the lip balm to my lips one side at a time (top, then bottom), but that application process was very annoying and uncomfortable. However, when I apply the balm all at once, it becomes and fun and easy! haha. Sadly, that method won't last forever...

Pros:

+fun/easy to use

+wide variety of flavors

+smells great

+all natural/mostly organic

+keeps lips from drying out

Cons:

-a bit pricey ($3.49 + additional tax)

Final verdict: EOS does what it's supposed to do, but that's about it. The summer fruit flavor is really nice, but it's quite expensive for a lip balm. I can get ones just as good for cheaper. I probably won't repurchase. However, if you're up to try it, there's nothing really bad about the lip balm itself. It's a fun experience. :)

NiftyThrifty is definitely chic and thrifty!

Hi all~ I want to share with y'all a e-store called NiftyThrifty (and I am in no way sponsored or anything in that like). It has super cute items that fit in any closet: whether you're hipster, boho, sophisticated, or preppy, you're bound to find something! Vintage is really popular on this store, so if you're a vintage addict like me, you'll be happy--I hope! :)

BTW they have some really nice nice discounts as of now --> 80% OFF the current price! That's like amazing, and this is why I totally love the store! Their discounts make things totally much more affordable (they already have some pretty good deals).

 

They have super cute packaging as you can see! Look at how cute they packed my belt! haha They even put so much effort into my little belt~ I've also purchased some extremely cute purses as well. Actually quite a few (three to be exact). The quality is really nice; however, be sure to NiftyThrifty's "condition"section on the item page though. Sometimes, not all the products are in perfect/great quality. Buyer beware :)

You can totally find some pretty nice brands on NiftyThrifty if you stock their pages: for example, Alice & Olivia, Gucci, Miu Miu, Tommy Hilfiger, etc.

If you want to register, I'd really appreciate it if you use my referral link~ hehe. Sorry guys~ Just to make a disclaimer: I didn't write this post just because I wanted to share the link. I really hope that you'll be able to enjoy the site/clothes and get some great deal at the same time!!! <3

http://www.niftythrifty.com/user/share/cb1b11b806-80575

Thanks and much love!

On a side note, I finally gave in and bought EOS. I'm super excited to try it, especially since my lips have gotten super dry and cracky D: Hope it lives up to it's rep!

Cafe & Macarons

The delicious sensation of ice-cream-filled-macarons...ahhhh~ aren't the colors appealing as well? The pink and green is raspberry and green tea; the brown and brown is chocolate and coffee (for all those coffee addicts out there!); the purple and white is blueberry/lavender and vanilla--personally, my fave. 

I'd have to say, the first one you can taste both the ice cream and the macaron, but the other two are harder to taste the macarons. The ice cream over-powers a bit. Even so, I like the blueberry/lavender and vanilla combo the best!

What are your favorite treats? hehe. I'm so addicted to sweets~

Shopping makes me feel confident?

What do y'all think? For me, I love shopping. It's fun. It's glamorous. It's the cool thing for a young woman to do...I feel confident walking down the path of fashionable stores! Haha. I know it must be strange to hear this, but I finally walked into the ever sexy and chic Victoria's Secret. And yesterday, there were amazing sales: $15 bras! Can I say wow? I bought four...I feel like a real lady now! Haha. >__>

It's really easy to get caught up with shopping--with buying and buying--during sale seasons. It makes me feel good that I can afford the costs, that I can pay for my own clothing. I remember the days when my parents bought everything, and they still do buy me a lot of cloths--which I feel really fortunate about! However, it feels different to buy my own things: to have a job, earn (minimal wage D:) money, and have the power to purchase! What a confidence booster! By the way, I'm not saying it's embarrassing or degrading for my parents to buy what I what. In fact, in that aspect, I might be super spoiled! But don't worry, I'm not selfish in asking for a lot, rather only what I need :)

However, I hope not to get caught up wth shopping and buying. I don't want to be selfish, and sometimes it can be really easy to do so. Gotta keep my sanity!

Am I going food-photo-loco?

I love taking pictures of the food and the places I eat. It makes my meals more memorable and my food take better?

This is my first time trying (some of my parents', hahaha) Korean beer. It's a very interesting flavor. I can't compare to American or Chinese beer, however, since I haven't really tasted those before. This just makes a nice picture, so I took the picture~

By the way, I hope everyone is having a great New Year! I surely am. Remember how early I posted about what I wanted to do during winter break? Sadly, most of those weren't accomplished... I was really busy with friends and family friends coming over to visit, and this last couple of days I got sick! This is the first time, I've ever (almost literally) slept the entire day! New record!

Sadly, that doesn't excuse my laziness. I know for sure that I had some extra time on hand. However, I just didn't take it. I spent of my time surfing the net and watching movies. cry. I'm a lazy-bum.