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. :)