October/Recent Favorites

I haven't done a favorites posts in a while and since october just ended I thought it would be a good time for it! Since I haven't posted my faves for a little bit, I will also include a couple things that I have been loving for longer than just the last month. This time, I have a ton of non beauty favorites also :)

 Let's start with the beauty favorites for this month!

Beauty Favorites

Za Energy Mist : This is an hydrating spray for your face. I got this while in Thailand a couple months back. I like spraying this over makeup for a fresh less powdery look.

Glysomed Hand Cream : this hand cream leaves a fantastic feeling behind. My hands feel softer than with any other creams I have used before.

Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Liner (Blackest Black) : Great easy to work with and affordable gel liner from the drugstore. I like to use it with an angled brush, for a nice defined line.

Milani Liquif'Eye Metallic Eye Liner Pencil (Black) : The creamiest liner I have ever tried. It doesn't tug at your eye while applying and is incredibly black. The staying power is impressive also considering how soft this pencil is. I actually like this better than the Urban Decay Pencils and they are a lot cheaper.

Wet n Wild Shadows : my favorites palettes at the moment are
- Silent teatment (I love the taupe lid color at the bottom best)
- Comfort Zone (I love every shade in this palette, but I would say my least favorite is the yellowish browbone color because it's not that pigmented and chalky)
- Walking on Eggshells (again I love every color of the palette)


Wet n Wild : these don't have a name, but as you can tell it's a deep shimmery red and a redish pink glitter.

Revlon Iced Spice : Love this orangey beige frosted color. It looks quite neutral on and very wearable.

Sally Hansen Greige Gardens : I love the applicator of these Sally Hansen polishes. Since I have large nail beds, it's perfect for an easy application for me. I've been wearing this color non stop lately. It's understated, but chic and looks polished.

Essie Shine of the times : Beautiful flaky (glass flecks) top coat over just about anything. The main colors that stand out are red, orange and green. Perfect for fall.

 Za Powder Foundation : love how finely milled this powder foundation is. It makes my skin soft, poreless and perfected. I have read that it can be worn either dry or wet, but I like the finish and the texture I get from using it dry over a BB Cream. The coverage is quite good considering it's a powder foundation too.

Maybelline Mineral Power Concealer : this isn't the first time I have included this concealer into my favorites. I still love and use it all the time and it's perfect for my under eyes.

NYX Round Lipstick in B52 : perfect my lips but better color. I have never tried a lipstick more moisturising than this one. I absolutely love it and I'm really glad I was able to find these in Quebec City.

Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm : I love this lip balm so much, I am almost out of it. Not only does it have the perfect consistency, but it also leaves my lips moisturised even after it's gone.

Maybelline Clear Smooth BB Cream : Got this in Thailand in a 7-11 store (of all places lol), I like to use this to even out my skin tone when I don't want anything heavy on my face. The coverage is just what I need and it feels like I have nothing but moisturiser on.

 Random Favorites

Favorite movie

The Nightmare Before Christmas - I love watching this movie around this time of year. It's the perfect combination of Halloween and Christmas, my two favorite holidays!

Favorite TV Shows

Old favorites : New Girl, The big Bang Theory, True Blood, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, Lost

New favorites : Walking Dead, The Game of Thrones

Food Favorites

Lately, I've been into anything soup. I love rice and chicken or chicken noodle soup. I also love homemade ramen (especially the spicy kind) with seaweed strips and an hard boiled egg. I've also been loving japanese food this last month. I love sushi (as always), miso ramen and takoyaki. YUM ♥


Favorite Book

The Celestra Series [Addison Moore] : I've discovered this series this summer on Amazon while trying to find a couple books to bring with me on vacation. I am in love with these books. It's a romance fantasy series  about a young girl named Skyla. In the books she learns that she is an angel from a faction that is threatened by others for the power of their blood. Anyway, I don't want to give away too many details about the story, but it's really captivating. I believe there is 7 books (about 200 pages each) in the series. I'm currently reading the fifth and I can't stop reading. Anyway I recommend it if you like fantasy books like me!

Probably the most random thing in this favorites post : my chair cushion! I love this for lounging in bed, whether I'm reading or doing school work. It's super comfy, plush and cozy. ♥

Next random favorite for this month is my new phone the Samsung Galaxy SIII! I am so excited about this, I have been wanting a phone of my own for a while now.  I was waiting because I knew I didn't actually need one that much, but  I finally caved in! So far I love this phone. It's incredibly light and the screen is huge! The camera on there is great too, a definite bonus in my book. Do you like my Mario themed wall paper? I think it's adorable :D

 I chose this cover to protect my phone. I got this at Best Buy for around 30$. There wasn't that many different designs to chose from, so I'm glad I found one that I like. I might get more cases and switch them out according to my mood! I love the rhinestones and the transparency of this case and I love that it doesn't make my phone any bulkier.

 Since I just got a phone, I thought I would also mention the apps that I have been loving this month! I'd also love it if you guys could share your favorite apps for android, I'm always on the hunt for new games, photo editing apps, etc.

Right now my faves are :

PicsArt : this app is the best photo editor I have found so far. It has countless options and filters and there is even bokeh effects on there. [Free]

PVM (Pumpkins Vs Monsters) : Fun little game that is a cross between bejeweled and Plants Vs Zombies. Really entertaining and quite addictive in my opinion. [Free]

Anything from Kairosoft : here we have Beastie Bay and Pocket Clothier, but I have almost every single game of their series on my Ipod (I played non stop while I was in Thailand this summer). Their games are mostly management games except for Beastie Bay, which I think is new. Beastie Bay is a mix between pokemon and an exploration game. Anyway, I'm a total fan of all their games. I have finished around 10 of their games. [Light version : Free, Full version : ~5$]

 And these are some of my favorite fall accessories. The bracelets are all from Thailand and the Heart Necklace is from Forever 21.

 Another gadget I have been obsessed with lately is my Kindle. I have been reading like crazy for the past few weeks.

Here is a couple other random favorites of mine for this season :

Winnie the Pooh Blanket : this blanket is super cute and soft! I'm always wrapped into it whenever I'm lounging around the apartment. I just love snuggling into a blanket when it gets colder outside, so this is a definite favorite this time of year.

Bath and Body Works Three Wicks Candles : My three favorite scents at the moment : White Barn n1 Nutmeg and Spices, Pumpkin Cupcake and Pumpkin Caramel Latte

Thick Wool socks : Love these because the are cozy, but also a little feminine with the pink trim :)

Excel Mints : I bought two dozen packs of those at Costco the last time I went. I'm really addicted. They're regular mints, but they taste just like Excel gum which is my favorite. They have most of the Excel gum flavors in mint form (these Winterfresh ones are my favorites though).

Purse : I finally found a purse that I like! I have been looking for a nice medium brown, soft (fake) leather purse forever now. I'm quite specific with the purse designs that I like and I simply couldn't find anything that I was ready to fork out money for. I finally found this one in a small boutique in Montreal and I fell in love with the details on it. It was only 40$ and I'm really pleased with it.

And that's all! Phew, this was a super long favorite post! Hope you enjoyed this! Let me know your favorites for this season in the comments, I'd love to discover new things!

Samsung PL121 camera thoughts and Review

Now that I have owned this camera for a while, I think I have experimented with it enough so that I can review it properly. Obviously, I'm not very knowledgable about photography in itself, so this review won't be very technical. I will mostly be telling you about my impression on the camera's image quality in different circumstances, ease of use, design, etc.

Anyway I hope it helps some of you that might be thinking about getting this camera :)

I can say both great and not so good things about this camera, so let's begin!

I'll start with the good :

Front Display : The front display is great. I love it just as much as I though I would. It's very practical for self portraits and for pictures of me and friends when everyone wants to be in the picture! It's also a nice option if you are filming yourself up close (the screen is not that big, so if you are not close to the camera it will be useless because you won't be able to see anything) because you can see straight away what it looks like while you are filming.

Design : In terms on design, I think the camera is the perfect size. It very lightweight, just like any point and shoot should be in my opinion. That way, you can bring it around with no problems. The screen at the back is also quite big, another important feature in my opinion.

Picture Quality : As far as the actual shooting with this camera, the picture quality is very nice, the different mods are easy to use, just like any function in the camera really. The colors when taking pictures with the PL121 are also very vibrant (in comparison to other cameras I've had in the past) a definite bonus!

Camera modes : The modes are quite useful for what I do, so I enjoy them. I like the beauty shot (which makes your skin look smoother) and the image highlight (for closeups of products), the most. Another great one is dawn, which we used a lot while traveling during time when there was a lot of sun and it would wash out the colors in the picture.

Program mode : It let's you control of a wide variety of shooting options, is very easy to understand and use. I love that you can choose a macro mode for closeups and that it is possible to specify the type of lighting in which you are shooting. I won't details all the options, but even I, with absolutely no knowledge about photography, was able to understand most options and use them to make my pictures a little better.

Price : Another obvious plus with this camera is the price, it's very affordable. Right now, where I live it retails at 140$ CAD which is a very reasonable price for a good quality point and shoot. Since newer, better models are always coming out in the camera industry, it's easy to see why you can feel like your camera is outdated quite quickly. Because of that, I think it's a better choice, if you are not getting pro equipment, to go with something not too expensive since most likely the price of what you purchase will drop quite a bit in the few months following, and you will be able to get better quality at the same price. Anyway that how I see it and that's why I'm glad I chose a camera that isn't too expensive :D

The not so good:

I don't have a lot of complaints about this camera, but there a couple things that need to be mentionned.

Video mode : First, the video quality, while HD, is not great. It's quite grainy and the colors are a bit dull when filming. It cannot withstand poor lighting conditions whatsoever. In other words, it's not great for making high quality videos, it's fine for little clips, but nothing fancy.

Low Light Shooting : Second, in low light, you have got to be absolutely still to take a picture without flash, which means you have to use a tripod. I'm pretty sure it's normal since I've had this issue at different degrees with every camera I've owned, but it's quite restrictive in terms of party pictures, dawn, sunset, etc.

Missing Options : Third, again for night shooting, the camera's Night Portrait mode often doesn't cut it for me. I like to use Program mode to set the aperture, shutter speed and ISO values myself to get the best results possible. However, with this camera, you don't have access to all of these values. You can change the ISO and Shutter Speed, but you cannot modify the Aperture value which is a bummer.

Shiny Finish : Last, and this is probably the issue which is the most unimportant the shiny finish. While I love the looks of the shiny exterior and the front screen that appears within it, it does get a little bit dirty in comparison to matte finish models. You can always see finger marks on my camera which makes it more dull and old looking. Not very difficult to fix, but I'm not about to start wipping my camera everytime I use it to make it shiny XD Now I'm complainning about this, but it's quite minimal marking in comparison to a black or darker color since mine is pink, so it's not that bad.

My overall thoughts :

If you are looking to make lots of videos or shoot a lot in low lighting conditions, this camera would not be the best choice for you. However if you are looking for a point and shoot that is easy to use, that gives decent image quality and offer a couple cool functionnalities, then I would definitely recommend it. I enjoy this camera and I carry it around all the time!

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