DIY: Silver Star Jar

Hey guys :)

I am the WORST at keeping promises. I know I was supposed to post last week but things have popped up, like getting sick (curse the flu season!) and MOVING!

I'm still in HK but we moved to a slightly bigger place. I've now got my own desk and I desperately need ideas to jazz it up. Right now, it's pretty boring with a few textbooks and a penholder. Blaugh. So here today I have a DIY for you! I've been searching around Instagram for ideas and I came across this tutorial from @loveteenblog (BTW, go follow them/her/him, the account is awesome!):

Coincidentally, my mum brought home this empty glass jar and my head was like, do itttt, DO ITTTTT.

Haha so I did :)

You will need:
1. paint of your choice (colour-wise and type - poster, spray)
2. a glass jar
3. masking tape or label paper
4. tweezers
5. a paintbrush
6. scissors
7. space to paint and newspaper to cover your surface

1. I started with cutting stars from masking tape, then sticking them onto the jar. If you are using label paper, it is essentially the same process. Each star was a different size which I like, but it is totally up to you. Stick them sporadically around. 

2. Coat your jar in paint. Wait at least 5 minutes between each coat. My paint (silver poster paint) wasn't that good so I had to do quite a few.

3. Ensure some quality dry time.

4. Before letting your last coat dry, peel the stars off using tweezers. This is better to do now than after the paint has dried, in case you rip of some paint during the process.

5. You're done!

Don't mind my things in the background :)

Yes, it is that easy! You may want to add a clear coat on top to protect the paint. I absolutely love this DIY; it looks adorable alone or with books. The paint didn't go on as smooth as I thought it would, but it gave the creation a rustic, vintage feel. My sister suggested I put fake flowers in it, which I will probably pick up when I go to Ikea sometime this week. 

Another interpretation of this could be using a shallow cup and putting a LED candle in it. Cute!

Once again, I am SO sorry for the neglect of my blog! Hopefully I won't be as sick/lazy/busy next time to post something for you to see. I want to do more DIYs because they are fun to do and I love sharing ideas with people.

That's all for today. Have a good day/night!

How do you decorate your desk? Comment down below and don't forget to follow Love From Icy on Bloglovin!

Review: Revlon Whimsical

Hey guys :)

If you've seen my post from yesterday, I said I would do a review on the nail polishes I bought.So here I am! I'm going to review Revlon's Whimsical.

Bought in Sasa for $19.90

Whimsical is a baby blue polish with pink and blue hex glitter. The polish itself is sheer, so some may prefer to use this as a layering polish, rather than a colour polish, if you know what I mean.

The consistency of the polish is pretty smooth. The glitter is slightly harder to get onto the nail, but that's typical for glitter nail polishes. It gets easier for the glitter to transfer onto the nail after the first coat. It dries quickly, ten minutes tops.

For this I applied 3 coats of polish and a top coat

One thing that I absolutely love in this polish is that unlike most glitter polishes, the glitter in this one is so fricken easy to remove! A couple swipes of a remover-soaked cotton pad will do the trick.

Overall, I like this polish. The pastel blue is a perfect colour for the coming spring. It's not expensive at all, it's a unique colour, and if you are considering getting this, go for it!

On a totally different note, there has been an issue with my Instagram lately. Whenever I put hashtags on my pictures, the picture doesn't show up the the list of pictures that have the hashtag. So frustrating >:( Any of you guys experiencing/experienced the same thing? If you know how to solve this problem, definitely let me know!

That's it for today. Have a good day/night!

Do you have Instagram? Comment down below and don't forget to follow Love From Icy on Bloglovin!

Revlon Dupes for Deborah Lippman

Hey guys :)

So this week I picked up a couple of Revlon nail polishes. Coincidentally, they happen to be Deborah Lippman dupes! Both of them are shades of blue, and I absolutely love blue polishes.

The first bottle is from Revlon's Parfumerie Scneted Nail Enamel collection. It's a new colour, righteously named Wintermint. The polish is a gorgeous glittery teal with blue and gold microglitter dispersed throughout. It retails in Sasa and Watsons for about HKD$60.

Wintermint is a nearly-identical dupe for DL's Mermaid's Dream. The only differences are that Wintermint contains less glitter, and the price is certainly a lot less!

The second bottle is also by Revlon, called Whimsical. The polish is a sheer baby blue with blue and pink hex glitters. It normally is sold for HKD$25, but recently in Sasa there's a mini sale going on, selling certain Revlon polishes for HKD$19.90. 

The blue isn't showing up that well on camera :(

Whimsical is a dupe for DL's Glitter In the Sky. The differences are the size of the glitter, and again, the price.

I will probably do a polish review for both of them later on as I'm super excited to see how they turn out. 

*UPDATE* Pinterest Money Saving Challenge

This week I'm up to the $3 mark but keep forgetting to put it in the piggy bank. However, I still am continuing the challenge, and look forward to see the $1378 at the end of the year!

That's all for today. Have a good day/night!

What's your favourite Revlon nail polish? Comment down below and don't forget to follow Love From Icy on Bloglovin!

Music I Listen to for Studying

Hey guys :)

I know, I haven't been posting like I said I would :( Have you ever been eaten up by homework? This is certainly not the first time for me. Everyday is literally work, study, shower, repeat.

Speaking of studying, music is something that gets me through it quickly. Lately, I've been discovering new-to-me songs on 8tracks. I joined in October last year when my sister introduced me to it. It's a really cool place where basically people can upload playlists. You can search for certain ' tags' which allow you to find playlists according to your taste. I've been listening to indie rock/pop bands since December to 'explore' different genres. Don't get me wrong, pop music is awesome (um, Demi Lovato and Cher Lloyd? YES.), but it can be repetitive. Also, my guitar teacher has been egging me to listen to songs with more guitar-y stuff in it e.g. solos, techniques.

I have probably searched up the tags ' indie rock'  and 'alternative' more than a hundred times. The songs I find are great for studying, chilling, jamming out, and even getting you to sleep at night. Bands I'm loving right now are the Arctic Monkeys ('Mardy Bum' is definitely my favourite song right now!), The 1975, and Two Door Cinema Club.

Right now's playlist :)

If you haven't used 8tracks, definitely check it out. It really is worth using and downloading on your device (warning: it has to be connected to the internet to be used). Apple users click here and Android users here for details.

That's all for today. Have a good day/night!



Any songs/playlists do you suggest I listen to? Comment down below!

52 Week Money Challenge

Hey guys :)

I'm sorry for not posting for a couple of days :( school has started up again from Christmas break and the dreaded homework monster is bacccckkkkk. From now, I'll probably post a few times a week, rather than post daily like I did for... a few days. Ha. Yeah.

Anyways, if you're a Pinterest lover, you may have seen the 52 Week Money Saving Challenge.

click on it to enlarge!

Basically, the main idea is to start with $1, then the next week you add $2, and so on until you meet the 52 week/year, let's say, requirement. 

I actually genuinely want to attempt to complete this challenge. If you know me, you will probably be reading this thinking, "HAHAHAHAHA... no." I admit, I will most likely not complete this challenge because a. I am a shopoholic, and b. my commitment level to long term things is almost non-existent. 

So far, I am on the $1 stage. Pretty good for even attempting it :D Tomorrow, I will be putting in $2 *cue Beethoven's Symphony No. 5*

Really short post, but that's it for today :) Have a good day/night!

Are you going to do this challenge? Comment down below!

Dude's Bath and Body Works Finds

Hey guys :)

If, like me, you are living in Hong Kong, you may be aware of a little shop called Dude's. They sell products from American brands, such as Bath and Body Works, Sephora, Abercrombie & Fitch, TOMS etc. The cozy little shop is located in Causeway Bay, near Times Square. The full address is:

Pic taken from their Facebook page :)

So I ventured out to Causeway Bay with a friend yesterday to track down the shop. To my surprise, it was quite easy to find as their old shop was in a more remote area. We were extremely excited because a. we both love Bath and Body Works and b. BBW is hard to find in Hong Kong. 

A funny little story: Dude's supposedly opens at 1:00 so my friend and I were walking there. We got into the lift and pressed the button but it wasn't working. I pressed it a few times and it didn't work, so we decided to  go on the floor below and take the stairs. When the doors opened, there was a mannequin dressed in boxing gear, as the floor was, I think, a Thai boxing studio. We both were SO freaked out; my friend even screamed a little! She tried to open the door of the stairs but it was locked. We returned to the ground floor and waited. I had already tried to call the shop but no one seemed to answer. After half an hour, my friend tried the number again and luckily one of the ladies that owned Dude's picked up. She told us Dude's opened at 2:00 and I was like:

if you know where this is from, you are amazing :)

Finally at 2:00, we returned to the building and went up to Dude's. We were so glad the lift button for the floor worked; I have a feeling that the button can be locked because the elevator is basically the door of the shop. Smart ;) Inside, I was all like asdfghjkl; because it was that exciting for me. I know, I'm pretty weird. I immediately raced to the BBW rack and started fawning over the products.

I can't even begin to explain how I felt then. My obsession with BBW is literally crazy and I haven't even been to a store. To my friends and family, I am known to love PocketBac, BBW's little bottles of hand sanitizer in really cool scents. They make be go:

After half an hour of me trying to decide what to get, I eventually bought:

1. a Twisted Peppermint PocketBac

2. a Candy Cane Bliss PocketBac

3. a Twisted Peppermint Fragrance Mist

Twisted Peppermint and Candy Cane Bliss are virtually the same scent, but I have a new-found love for it. It's really sweet and fresh, rightly smelling like peppermint candy canes. A thumbs up on this account! 

We were smelling the 3-wick candles, and I totally love the Buttercream Mint scent (it was a limited edition scent during the Black Friday sale) which smelt like rich minty shortbread. Another favourite out of the selection was a candle with a snow scent (I forgot the name but the colour was a light grey-blue). It seems weird but that candle actually captured the scent of snow, if snow even has a scent. The scent took me back to 2008, when my family and I spent Christmas in Vancouver and I saw snow in real life for the first time. Ahhhh, those totally random moments of nostalgia... 

their cute pink bag 

The products were actually pretty expensive as they were shipped from America. Of course, in actual BBW stores they wouldn't be as expensive, but sadly there isn't a shop in Hong Kong :( Overall, I was quite pleased with my findings! 

That's all for today. Have a good day/night!

Have you ever been to Dude's? Comment down below!

Tag: This or That

Hey guys :)

Today was a pretty uneventful day, so I thought I would do a tag for you guys to get to know me a little better. I know tags are usually for YouTube channels. Before creating this blog, I wanted to start a channel but a. filming and editing is super time consuming, b. I have little to no editing skills, and c. I sound weird on camera. Just an inexperienced teenager over here :)

Makeup
Blush or bronzer: definitely bronzer. For some really strange reason, my face is always pink, and with blusher I'll practically look like a neon pink tomato.
Lip gloss or lipstick: lip gloss
Eye liner or mascara: mascara
Foundation or concealer: concealer
Neutral or colour eye shadow: neutral
Pressed or loose eye shadows: pressed
Brushes or sponges: brushes

Nails:
OPI or China Glaze: OPI
Long or short: short
Acrylic or natural: natural
Brights or darks: a while back I would've preferred brights, but now I actually prefer darker colours like OPI Black Cherry Chutney
Flower or no flower: no flower; I like nail art but I can't do it :/

Body:
Perfume or body splash: body splash
Lotion or body butter: lotion
Body wash or soap: body wash
Lush or other: other

Fashion:
Jeans or sweats: sweats
Long sleeve or short: short
Dresses or skirts: skirts
Stripes or plaid: stripes
Flip flops or sandals: sandals
Scarves or hats: scarves. My recent favourite is my black and white striped infinity scarf from Forever 21 :)
Studs or dangly earrings: studs
Necklaces or bracelets: bracelets. Arm candy during the summer is a must.
Heels or flats: flats
Cowboy boots or riding boots: riding boots
Jacket or hoodie: jacket
Forever 21 or Charlotte Russe: as sad as it is, there isn't a Charlotte Russe in Hong Kong :((( however after looking online, I would still have to choose Forever 21.
Abercrombie or Hollister: ughhh this one's hard. I love the whole chill vibe of Hollister, but Abercrombie's preppy-glam style is just as cute. I'm going to choose in between these too because they are virtually the same brand ;)
Saks 5th or Nordstrom: again, no Saks or Nordstrom in HK so neither...? Choosing both from above cancels this one out.

Hair:
Curly or straight: curly all the way!
Bun or ponytail: bun
bobby pins or butterfly clips: I'm not that into hair clips so I'm sticking to the basics of bobby pins.
Hairspray or gel: hairspray, the literal spray and the awesome 2007 movie with Zac Efron :)
Long or short: long
Light or dark: dark
Side sweep bangs or full bangs: side weep
Up or down: really depends on my mood... lately I've been obsessed with the Elsa braid from this post.

Random:
Rain or shine: shine
Summer or winter: definitely winter. I mean, who doesn't love the 24/7 sweater weather?
Fall or spring: fall
Chocolate or vanilla: I'm a total chocoholic <3
East coast or west coast: ... I live in HK and I've never been to America... :/

Just a few pictures from WeHeartIt to jazz up this post :)

So that's it! Not sure who created this tag, but credits to whoever did. Have a good day/night!



How would you answer? Comment down below!