Spring Haul

Hello all!

How's your Easter going? I'm doing pretty well myself; I'm making sure I get enough time to relax and work. Holidays are meant for us to catch up after all!

I've got a haul for you today! It's my first ever haul video so excuse me if it's a little rusty. Enjoy!

Bye for now! x

A Day in Causeway Bay

Hey there!

I went out to Causeway Bay and thought I would vlog parts of the day. I hope you enjoy!

See you! x

March Favourites

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February flew past so quickly, it was only yesterday I realised that I had to complete my monthly favourites! I switched to filming my favourites a few months ago, but I thought I would take it back and write a post for you today. Here's everything I've been loving throughout February!

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Crossbody from Forever 21 - I picked this bag up during this month, and it quickly became one of my favourite bags. I don't own any other brown bags so I thought it would be nice to purchase. It's the perfect size; small enough as a cross body, and big enough for all the essentials. The design reminded me a little of a Rebecca Minkoff bag, so maybe that's why I like it so much!
Urbanears headphones - I bought this pair of headphones last month as a birthday present to myself. The colour is a lot like Essie's 'DJ Play That Song' - a nice bright, jammy purple - and the quality is pretty good. They come in handy when I'm studying or editing a video, because they block most unwanted noise out.
Cool Amazon Rain shower gel from Bath and Body Works - After smelling this scent in Dudes, I was hooked. I decided to go for the travel size bottle first to try it out, and I really like it! It smells of coconut and mango, and is very refreshing on the skin. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go back soon and pick up a full size.
'Stand By Your Gun' by George Ezra - This track is sooo addicting; it's been stuck in my head for quite a while now. George Ezra is a pretty amazing artist overall and I love his music!
Ed Sheeran - Ever since going to his concert early this month, I now have a much deeper appreciation for his music and songs. I mentioned 'Photograph' last month and a few others previously, but most of March was 'Drunk' and the rest of '+' on repeat. There was definitely a different vibe on his first album and I quite like it. Praise Ginger Jesus!
Revlon ColourBurst Laquer Balm in 105 Demure - A very pretty pinky peach shade with a hint of shimmer, this balm is my go-to lip product. It's kind of a 'my lips but better' colour, not too in-your-face, and easy to work with. I've found myself reaching for this every time I go out.
Willow Shields on Dancing With the Stars - I find it so cool that there are so many people out there who are younger than me and have achieved amazing things. Willow Shields joined season 20 of DWTS and is so far killing it! She has all the moves down and I'm excited to see how she progresses throughout the season.

How are you all liking the new template? I'm pretty happy with it so far and I hope you are too!



See you! x

Guardians of the Galaxy-Inspired Outfits

Hey guys :)

We are a week into school and I guess you can say I've survived it! This year I've started carrying binders, and let me tell you, binders are hideously annoying. Yes, I understand they are useful but they just take up TOO MUCH ROOM. Everyday is a struggle to see how I can tetris everything into my locker. If you feel the same pain, just know you aren't alone on this one.

Anyways, going back to today's post. Firstly, if you have not watched 'Guardians of the Galaxy' you need to go out right now and grab tickets for the next one playing, because it is honestly one of the best - if not the best - Marvel movies I have ever seen. I would elaborate more on this but you'll see what I have to say in full in my monthly favourites, which so happens to be next week.

The first outfit is inspired by Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord. His outfits have this retro, laid-back vibe, and he is never seen without his trademark red leather jacket or headphones and walkman.

Bag, Boots, Headphones, Skirt, Shirt, Earrings, Jacket

Inspired by

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Next up on the list is Gamora: adopted daughter of Thanos, killer assassin, and gorgeous in green. Her suit consists of all black leather, but we are sadly not living in the Galaxy and full leather is impractical *sad face*

Shirt, Shoes, Pants, Necklace

Maybelline Baby Lips Electro in Berry Bomb and Pink Shock, available at Dudes HK

Kevin Murphy Colour Bug hair chalk, available at iPrivatei Salon

Inspired by

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Lastly, Nebula. Although she's a bad guy, she is a seriously kick-ass bad guy. One of the things I was most inspired by was her makeup, and all the layers to it. Looking from her face makeup, there are a lot of hardware components of which the origins are unknown. Oooh, a mystery!

Skirt, Boots, Bag, Chain Bracelet, Ear Cuff, Cuff Bracelet, Tank

Inspired by

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And I am done! All clothing items and accessories are available in Hong Kong (I made sure of it!), or online on websites that ship to Hong Kong. To check for more info on each piece, click the words below each collage. For some reason my blogger template gives me no option to make the click- through links more visible; now you now that they actually are there. Have fun creating these outfits and you can totally change any component if you don't find the exact one :)

That's all for today and I'll talk to you next week xx

Review: Baby Lips in Grape Vine #20

Hey guys :)

How have you been doing? School is almost out and I am dying for summer. There are so many things I want to do, such as go on more walks, catch up on my reading, and do more DIY posts! Today's post is a review on a Baby Lips lip balm in Grape Vine #20.

Yesterday I went to Dude's. Again :) They had started selling the Baby Lips Dr. Rescue lip balms and I wanted to try them out because I am obsessed with Baby Lips. When I was in Dude's, I was looking through reviews of the Dr. Rescues. Many bloggers discouraged readers to purchase them, because of the smell, weak pigmentation, and cheap packaging. Grape Vine caught my eye and I was SO happy to find it. I have been wanting this particular Baby Lips for a really long time, but Dude's never seemed to have it in stock. Fortunately, there was one more on the shelve so I snapped that up.

Ok, first things first: the packaging. I am in love with it! I am a huge sucker for packaging just because. The bright teal and fuchsia compliment each other well, and the bright colour is perfect for summer. The tube is also really easy to manage, and it is compact enough to slip into a small bag or pocket.

Of course, I didn't only buy it for the packaging! When I first saw Grape Vine, I fell for the colour. For lip colours, I either like really pale pinks (like Cover Girl's Lip Perfection Jumbo Gloss Balm in Ballet Twist) or purple-y pinks. This lip balm fell in the purple-y pinks category; I would describe it as a mauve-y purple.

As you can see on my hand, the pigmentation is quite sheer. It was a lot more sheer than I thought, so that was a little bit disappointing *sad face*. Nonetheless, it would be a good colour for school because it's not too dark or purple, and it gives a flattering sheer wash of colour to my lips. 

Grape Vine is on the right, and next to it is Berry Bomb from the Baby Lips Electro collection. Berry Bomb is my absolute favourite out of all Baby Lips because I love how vibrant it is on my lips. It is definitely my holy grail, go-to lip product.

The lip balm claims to have a moisture-staying power of 8 hours. I'm not entirely sure on this account because I tend to reapply after 2-3 hours. I do like how moisturized my lips feel when I'm wearing it, and it doesn't have that gross, waxy texture many other lip balms have. Another awesome thing is that it smells like grape candy :)

So to sum it all up:

Pros:

• cute packaging
• compact size
• nice feeling on lips
• good texture
• yummy smell

Cons:

• not as pigmented as I had expected

Overall, I like this product. It didn't fully turn out the way I had expected it to be, but I still really like it. If you are looking for a lip product that is moisturizing and isn't too in-your-face, I would recommend Grape Vine!

My Baby Lips collection!

That's all for today, hope you enjoyed today's post. Have a good day/night!

Leave a comment down below and don't forget to follow Love From Icy on Bloglovin or by email!

April 'Smalls' Haul

Hey guys :)

Before I begin, here's an update of the week:
1. My friends have been begging me to watch The Big Bang Theory since forever. I finally gave it a try and now I am in love with it! I would have never thought I would be interested in a show like that, as it revolves around Science, and Science to me is meh. Nonetheless, I highly enjoy the show! Howard's hair is absolute perfection, and I admire Jim Parson's ability to keep a straight face through all the jokes and funny bits. If you haven't picked up the message, GO WATCH IT!

2. I finally changed the strings on my guitar after 5 years (when I bought it). The new strings are wonderfully bouncy, and I can't wait to play more songs.

Anyways, today I have my first haul! During Easter break, many shops came out with new Spring/Summer collections. I went shopping several times and picked up some really cool stuff. A few posts ago I mentioned that I would be doing this haul post; technically yes, but not of everything I purchased. The clothing is really hard to capture on camera as they take up a lot of space, which I don't have at the moment. So, I've decided to do smaller things such as accessories, beauty products etc, as the title suggests.

As a disclaimer, I am in no way bragging about the things I have purchased. This haul is for me to give my opinions on the products, and to tell you about the new things in store so you can go pick them up yourselves!

So going back to the last day of term, I went to the Mannings in Shatin Plaza to see if I could find the new The Amazing Spiderman 2 x Revlon nail polishes I saw online. Unfortunately I couldn't, but I came across their mini OPI stand. On the bottom shelf where minis were displayed, there were pairs of polishes that were on offer for $79. I picked a pair up as OPI is normally sold for $70-$80 per bottle in Hong Kong. The colours are 'A Grape Fit' (mentioned in THIS post) and 'Lights of the Emerald City' from the OPI Oz The Great and Powerful collection. I really like 'A Grape Fit' and 'Lights of the Emerald City' is really unique as a glitter topper.

From H&M I bought this pair of floral plimsolls. The pattern is so fun, and the colours go well together.

From Typo by Cotton On, I first bought a tin of mini floral polaroids. I stuck a few on my wall as decoration to add some colour. 

I also got a blue-lid glass jar. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to use it for, but I know I'll definitely use it!

At the checkout there were little basins filled with bracelets for charity. This one in particular caught my eye; I love how the closure plays a big part in the overall design. Also, the colour is really bright and colourful.

Now on to Forever 21! I picked out several items from their, as they have a really big variety of accessories. First, a flower crown! I have been wanting to make/buy a flower crown for ages. This one is perfect because the flowers aren't too exaggerated, so I don't look too weird. 

I was running low on rings because many of them have started turning pink. I got this really cute silver laurel-esque midi ring, and a pair of gold-toned rings. I'm planning to wear the gold ring with red and blue on my right pinky, a little bit like how Alex Turner wears his Death Ramps ring on his right pinky :)

Next, a pack of crease-less hairties. I love these hairties because they don't crease my hair, and they look great when layering arm candy.

Of course if I went to Causeway Bay, I would have to go to Dude's. I bought a small bottle of Air body mist. It smells like pears and flowers, and it's pretty good.

Now for one of my favourite purchases: Baby Lips Electro! The colours I picked out were "Berry Bomb" and "Pink Shock". I am absolutely in love with them because the colours look really nice on my lips, especially "Berry Bomb". 

Online, I found this really cool iPhone case which I desperately needed as my old one was falling apart. This one is so tumblr-y, with the whole 'rad' thing, the polaroid, the TopShop socks...

The best purchase saved for last: new earphones! I was on a minibus going out and I wanted to listen to some music, and I realized the right side of my earphones were broken. I literally was like NOOOOOOO. So I obviously had to get a new pair. I really liked the Cloud earphones that my friend got for me for my birthday last year, so I bought the exact same pair in a different colour scheme. Before owning those earphones, I wasn't that into in-ear earphones. I'm so glad I got used to them because they are better for my ears than... non-in-ear earphones... if that makes sense.

Phew, finally finished! There's a lot of stuff but I have been collecting these things over a period of 1-2 months. Tomorrow's the first day of term and I am genuinely terrified. Before we get back to school, I can't sleep the night before, and I worry about things that I shouldn't worry about. But I do... Anyone else out there who feels the same? :/ But nonetheless, I wish you good luck for tomorrow, whether you're going back to school, to school, to work etc.

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

Leave a comment down below and don't forget to follow Love From Icy on Bloglovin or by email!

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!