Have you ever walked out of a restaurant and realized your clothes smell like the food your just ate?  It happens to me all the time considering I eat out at a lot of Asian restaurants (where a lot of frying goes on).

The other day I went to a Korean BBQ Buffet (mMmMm) and it was delicious. I stuffed myself silly with Kalbi Kalbi Kabliii. After leaving, my coat and clothes definitely smelled like Korean BBQ. >_<  BUT… good thing I have this stuff:

CLEAN Fresh Laundry Clothing & Linen Fragrance

I bought it at Marshalls for just $4.99
(retails for $22-$32 online)

I really like this product, but I probably would not buy this product for anything more than $5. Drugstore linen freshners (Febreeze, Lysol, etc.) work well, too.

This linen fragrance is very strong; one spray is definitely enough. After the initial spray, the fragrance is super heavy — but it fades in a few hours. After spraying this all over my coat, it didn’t smell like Korean BBQ anymore. I love the smell of fresh laundry, and that is exactly what it smells like! This is a great product to help eliminate odor and hold you over until you can get your coats/clothes to a dry cleaner.

I love good finds from Marshalls!

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable holiday :]  Now, it’s back to work and reality. Let’s face the new year and start it off the right way by making some resolutions!

Resolutions are great because it allows you to set goals and strive to achieve them. Don’t just mentally make resolutions; instead, write them down or type them up. It’s too easy to push aside and “forget” about mental resolutions. Also, I challenge you to not only write/type your resolutions, but elaborate and be specific. For example, instead of “Losing weight”, try “Lose 5 lbs. a month until I hit X pounds”.

So let me share with you all my beauty and health resolutions of 2011:

1. Clean makeup brushes at least every other week
   
   Your skin will thank you if you keep makeup brushes clean. Think about how much bacteria is transferred to your brushes each time it touches your skin. Plus, bacteria multiply exponentially. Yuck! It’s recommended to wash your brushes once every 1-2 weeks. Brushes used for liquid makeup should probably be cleaned each day. Minimize those breakouts!
   
   
2. Throw away old makeup
   
   I have a hard time throwing things away because I don’t like wasting. But just like food, there are expiration dates with makeup products. Bacteria grows pretty easily on makeup, and you don’t want to transfer it to your skin because it’ll cause breakouts.
   Here is a quick guideline:
   • mascara: 3-6 months
   • dry products such as pencil liner, blush, bronzer, powder: 2 years
   • cream products: 6 months
   • foundation: 1 year
   • lipstick: 1-2 years

   It will take some time for me to adjust to these guidelines. I’ll try my best…
   

3. Use an eye cream daily
   
   I’ve been using random eye creams (samples I’ve received here and there) whenever I remember. I need to purchase a good eye cream and use it daily. This will help prevent fine lines and wrinkles in the future.  Are there any good eye creams you can recommend? I’d greatly appreciate it :]
   




4. Drink more water
   
   I hope to drink at least 2.5 L of water each day. That amounts to ~5 standard bottled waters per day. Drinking an adequate amount of water allows your body to flush out toxins and impurities. If I keep up with this resolution, it’ll hopefully lead to less breakouts!




5. Eat out less
   
   I love eating out! Philadelphia has so many great places to eat! But the majority of restaurant food is unhealthy: low fiber content, minimal veggies, and high in sodium & saturated fat.
   I will limit going out to eat to 4 meals per week. I know that’s still a lot, but I’ve been eating out SO often for the past 4 years. Baby steps! I must make practical resolutions. I know it’s best if I said I will only eat out 0-2 meals per week but I know that is just not possible with my schedule.




6. Eat more vegetables
   I need to be eating at least 2.5 cups per day. To find out how much you should be consuming, check out the MyPyramid chart here.
   
   
7. Limit my sugar intake
   Avoid beverages with high sugar content. High fructose corn syrup is a big no-no, too! I am going to try to limit my beverages to water, tea, and occasionally coffee.
   
   
8. Exercise at least 3 times a week
   
   I used to go to the gym at 4-5 times a week; but I haven’t worked out at all for the last month. Shame on me! It will be hard for me to start up again until Feb (that’s when I’ll have gym access again). Running outside is difficult right now because of the weather (snow).
   
   




9. Maintain a healthy sleep schedule
   When you get enough sleep, you not only look younger and healthier, but you feel a whole lot better.
   I love to sleep. If I don’t get enough sleep — I cannot think, I cannot function. Hopefully, this will not be hard for me because work requires me to follow a specific schedule.




10. Quality over quantity
    I love shopping and buying things. But this year, I will buy less stuff and things of higher quality. For example, instead of buying 10 cheap shirts from Forever21 that may rip or get distorted in the wash, I will buy 1 or 2 shirts of better quality.  This will be a veryyyy big adjustment for me, so we’ll see how it goes.

Sorry for the text-heavy blog post. I hope you all have a great 2011!

What are some of your top resolutions for 2011?

…and more..

Who else loves saving $ on designer brands? I have to admit, I’m happy when I save money on anything. So very *asian* of me, I know.  But hey! Not only am I another poor college student who will soon have to face loans… but I attended a university for a 6 year program, so I will definitely have a lot of loans to take care of.  I try to save money when I can, but I still enjoy buying nice stuff : ] I hope I can share some tips with you as I discover great deals.

I’m sure many of you have heard of or been to stores such as Marshalls, TJMaxx, and AJ Wright.  I believe these stores are all owned by the same company.  Basically these stores sell designer and brand name clothing, accessories, health & beauty products, and more for discounted prices.  They also carry non-designer brands for very affordable prices.  They are able to offer such discounted prices because a lot of their items are from previous seasons’ collections; but honestly, not many people are going to call you out on it or even notice that it was last season.

I have never been to AJ Wright, but I love love love Marshalls and TJMaxx. I can never walk out of the store without buying anything O_o.

Here is a list of some of the great items I’ve consistently seen/bought at the stores:

• socks – They have discounted prices for brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, and more. I usually get a 3 pack for $6 when retail prices are $10+.  I buy all my socks from either here or Costco.
• bras - Okay, they don’t have victoria’s secret bras here, but they have many other great brands. I always look for Calvin Klein bras because those are my favorite. Usually a CK bra is $10-$15. CK bras retail for $40+.  This is probably the best place to buy sports bras. They always have New Balance, Nike, Adidas, Under Armour and other brands for ~$7-$15 per bra.
• activewear – I like to buy my workout pants from here. They have great selections from Adidas. I have also bought Under Armour tops (long and short sleeved) from here for $5!!! What a steal! They retail for $30+.  I also get a lot of my Yankees fan-wear from here ; ]
• workout stuff – yoga mats, dumbbells, exercise balls. I got my sit-up mat (super cushy) for $12.
• fragrances – I’ve seen fragrance brands such as Vera Wang, Paris Hilton, Clinique, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Polo offered at extremely discounted prices. While at stores like sephora 1 oz may be $40+, the prices here are usually over 50% off.
• healthy/beauty I’ve seen Philosophy, Shiseido, The Body Shop, Clinique, and many other high end brands.

They also have clothing, shoes, household items, sheets, electronics, purses, wallets, belts, toys… basically anything you can think of. I can go on and on about the cool things I’ve seen there, but I’m sure no one wants to read about it. You just have to check out the stores yourself (if you haven’t already!).  It’s not being cheap, it’s smart shopping!

I went to Marshalls today and bought 2 pairs of sunglasses:
Michael Kors $19.99  and  Calvin Klein $16.99

I’ll share some photos here:

These sunglasses retail for a lot more! I found the Michael Kors sunglasses sold online for $83 at this site. So I’d say $20 is a pretty good deal!  I couldn’t find the CK ones online, but I found a similar pair here that is being sold for $46.  Dang! I’d prefer spending less than $30 on my sunglasses since I have a tendency to lose them… or sit on them. =

That’s it!  Where do you go to buy your designer items? Leave a comment and share your secrets

This is an awesome giveaway that Jessicalee422 is doing for the holiday.  She has a blog giveaway (click here!) as well as a youtube giveaway (click here!).  Check out her blog & youtube — she has some very helpful tips/videos!

The prizes are shown below (this photo is from her blog):

Check it out, enter, and you may be getting some niice prizes for the holiday season!

Welcome to my blog, everyone! Allow me to introduce myself and my blog. My name is Lisa and I’m currently a pharmacy student anticipating graduation in 2011 (woohoo!). When I’m not hanging out with my books and being a nerd, I enjoy a wide range of unrelated activities including but certainly not limited to: trying new makeup products, exploring different eateries, working out, knitting, and shopping. I have a separate blog for knitting, so you can check it out if you’re interested.

A little foresight as to what to expect from my future posts:

• makeup product reviews
• great deals I come across (i.e. coupon codes/sales)
• hauls (makeup, clothes, or whatever else I pick up; I might just have a shopping problem O_o)
• workout tips that work for me personally
• food pictures! (I eat out way too often; I need to pick up cooking)
• just a whole lot of randomness

I love to take pictures, so most of my blog posts will (hopefully) be very photo-heavy!
That’s all I have for now; stay tuned!