Blog Post: Hair Chronology

Blog Post
HAIR CHRONOLOGY

par Mademoiselle Haras

27 janvier 2013

I have always had a thing for dramatic changes when it comes to my appearance. There has never once been an ID (eg school, drivers, passport, etc) that looked the same. In fact, every ID I own looks completely different from each, other picture wise! A lot of the changes however, come from my hair style.

I tend to give myself (interesting) hair cuts often when I'm bored (I am so sorry to my hair stylist) so I can go from long hair in one day to short the next. For me, I'm always thinking, how can I completely change my outer appearance?

Thus, I was wondering what my hair timeline, or chronology looked like. And, well, here it is:

I personally think I'm not suited for long hair, but then again, I never did anything with it. I'm planning on growing out my hair this year and style it often so hopefully it won't look as bad as it did in 12-15. Personally I like my hair cut and color in 5 since I really loved having short hair. It was a care free look for sure.

Otherwise that's my random post of the day. Here comes the start of a new week!

Blog Post/Review: Addiction... to Online Shopping! Reviews Included

Blog Post/Review
ADDICTION... TO ONLINE SHOPPING! REVIEWS INCLUDED
par Mademoiselle Haras

27 janvier 2013

One of my longest lasting memories from childhood is the first time I used a credit card to purchase something online (was a Runescape membership, just saying!). I was around the age of 8 years and played Runescape with my childhood friends when I got serious into the game and needed a membership. Quite odd for a child of 8 years to ask their parents, but I did anyways. Thus my first online purchase of many began from thereon forth!

When it comes to online shopping I'm obsessed, which I admit wholeheartedly. Just on the 19th of this month I purchased items from Amazon.com and from a website I found through a friend (hh-candy.com for those who are wondering but be warned, everything looks adorable). If anything is worse than my addiction to online shopping, it's my obsession with waiting for the packages in the mail. Every hour I would check my phone for texts and e-mails to track my packages and see where they were. My happiest moment with this entire process is seeing the delivery trucks coming around the corner! After this, I let myself repeat the process again (I set up a general rule for myself to not buy items while they were shipping to space out my shopping sprees online).

It's fairly funny to my neighbors because they are constantly used to seeing delivery trucks coming over to my house which we joke about often. However, that does not mean I'm completely wild! Of course years of doing this has obviously taught me how to control myself from impulsive buys by setting limits on how much I buy (price wise limits). However, like my Wacom accessories purchase, I can get a little (ahem, just a bit over) uncontrolled. Makeup is a huge area where I have weaknesses and I tend to go on wild USD $50-300 purchases on average (Sephora and TheFaceShop ♥). Until I finally learn to completely curb my addiction, expect to see many posts about my various purchases!

So two days ago, I received in the mail from Amazon my purchases of Palty hair dye in Milk Tea Brown and Wonder Eyelid Tape! I have a waiting list of items to buy on Amazon that I made so I don't go on impulsive buying crazes, which I highly recommend doing for those who also have similar shopping addictions. I was kind of surprised by the quality of the packaging this time around because the Palty hair dye boxes were crushed a bit and dented (but the products themselves were okay). Otherwise, they made it to me safely!

Here are the reviews otherwise:

Palty Hair Dye in Milk Tea Brown
 ★★★★★

I highly recommend Palty for Asian hair when it comes to dramatically lightening hair. I first began dyeing my hair with Palty since I was of 14 years. My mother uses American hair dyes (to this day even). However her hair through the years has become damaged, salon or at home. Because of that I researched into Asian hair dyes and found Palty. I have never looked back since then (I highly recommend people always research products to make sure that the product will suit them).

A few warnings with Palty however! If you have virgin hair (hair that has never been dyed prior), you will need to bleach your hair BEFORE if you want exact results! Otherwise it'll be more of a reddish brown the first time. Palty is known for not giving exact results of hair color in regards to the advertisements. Hair color after dyeing tends to be darker than the colors advertised (unless you get the blonde hair dyes, then that is a completely different result and often it will look exactly the same) so if you're hoping to get lighter results, buy a shade lighter than you usually would.

Also, it takes a good week for your new hair color to really lighten up. My newly dyed hair seems to always be darker at first then lighten over the week by itself. Finally, Palty dyes do contain bleach (due to Asian hairs being naturally thicker in size so bleach is necessary) so if you are trying to avoid harsh chemicals or want to go more natural, I do not recommend this! From my experiences, Palty has never damaged my hair and my hair actually seems to be softer sometimes (the conditioner it comes with is great).

In the pictures you can see my hair with natural lighting indoors and indoor lighting before dyeing and after. I will add in pictures of my hair again in a week or so to show how much it changes during a week! Hopefully the pictures will be self explanatory about Palty. Any questions, do feel free to comment or e-mail me!

Price: USD $8-14 on Amazon (some prices include shipping, others do not)

BEFORE

The last time I dyed my hair was back in November so I have some roots to cover up!

Sorry about my creepy eyes/fatigued face, I've had only 5 hours of sleep in the past 3 days! My hair looks a lot darker for some reason in this picture, but my hair to the human eye has brown highlights and is a dark brown overall. I think it was just my camera since my webcam showed my hair a lot lighter but to keep everything easy to compare, I won't change cameras.

AFTER

Sorry about the lighting this time in the picture. However you can see that my hair is dyed very evenly with highlighting! This picture was taken the morning of waking up so the colors still seem a little dark for now (It's been two days since I've dyed it and my hair is already lighter than this which says a lot)

This picture isn't exactly a great example of my hair. Taken the morning after dyeing, although it appears that my hair is not dyed to the left side of the picture it's only due to the lighting that it appears that way. My hair is completely and evenly dyed. It's my phone camera that makes the coloring appear this way. My hair color today is already lighter than this so do not worry!

THREE WEEKS LATER

Three weeks later, the picture doesn't look that different from the after photo... yet.

You can immediately tell that my hair is a much lighter  than before. In other photos I almost look blond, however I am sticking to the way I took my photos prior.

D.U.P Wonder Eyelid Tape Extra - 120pcs

★★★★☆

I think I may have fallen in love... with this tape! Since I was younger, my left eye has always been smaller than my right eye due to the shape of my eyelids. My right eye has a defined double eyelid while my left eye can vary from a single lid to a single and a half lid (and sometimes there's an extra random crease) depending on over/lack of sleeping, eating habits, etc. I have always been self conscious about it while makeup free so I was determined to find a product meant for me!

I purchased the Extra strength version of the tape (there are mild strength ones also) because I tend to have long work/school days. With my dry skin, the tape lasted from 07:00-22:00 (that was with me taking it off at 22:00!!) and did not budge. The tape is wonderful, not only because it's strong, but because it is transparent unlike other tapes. Nobody noticed I had the tape on unless I looked down while checking customers out (which could easily be covered with makeup, I did not wear makeup due to my skin breaking out in dry spots due to the harsh change in weather, we reached 0 degrees Fahrenheit!) or if I closed my eyes.

Only thing I dislike about this product is the price. The product itself is USD $14 but if you pay shipping with it (like I did), the price climbs up to USD $19.46 (the equivalent of slightly over 16 cents per tape). If you do not pay shipping however (lucky you!), it's just a small 11-12 cents. However, once you learn to get the tape onto your skin properly, the product should last for a good one-two months (depending on your skin type/if you reapply during the day). For me it should last two-three months because I'm only using it on one eye.

Pictures will be added once my dry skin calms down (we were having a slightly warm winter until recently).

Price: USD $14 on Amazon

Electronic Product Review: Wacom Accessories for Intuos5 Medium Tablet

Electronic Product Review

WACOM ACCESSORIES

par Mademoiselle Haras

17 janvier 2013

★★☆☆☆

Warning: Note to new readers, please go to my About Me page to see more information about my computer specs and note that I review all items on a Macbook Pro for all of my reviews unless stated otherwise. My review for a product may not fit your personal computer specs so please always make sure your computer specs are above the requirements of the product before buying them. Thank you.

Today I will be reviewing the Classic Pen, Wireless Accessory Kit, and the Intuos Medium Carrying Case from Wacom. My overall review of the three products are in the following video, however this post will have the fine details and go in-depth for each product. Thank you!

Classic Pen

★★☆☆☆

As the website states, this pen has the exact same features as the grip pen but only lighter and without the rubberized grip for a slimmer figure. From the first moment I picked up the pen, I felt like I had picked up a feather. It is extremely light and comfortable to use for hours on end. I love using the pen because it is easy to wrap my fingers around it. As usual, it came with a pen stand and the nibs that Wacom provides as replacements or specialized nibs. Unfortunately there are a few issues with the pen. The pen has a slight lag to it that I especially notice when I first begin using it after turning on my tablet, but it does go away after it settles down. I have also noticed that the pen's pressure sensitivity is not on par with the Grip Pen. I am having issues with the pressure sensitivity when trying to draw as an example: eye lashes. I personally draw the lashes thicker at the base and lightly wing them out. However, I literally cannot wing out my lines at all and they refuse to be anything but blunt lines. I cannot finish coloring with this pen due to the pen lacking any sensitivity and only producing blunt lines/brushes. I am having to use opacity levels at 5-20% to attempt layering on color and they still come out blunt in color. Overall use I will continue to use this pen. However I do plan on re-buying the Grip Pen in the future due to these issues that I have stated. For just drawing and sketching, it will do its work just fine. Coloring wise due to the pressure sensitivity issues, it is just near impossible. Unfortunately with this pen, as much as I love the lightness and shape of it, it just simply does not outweigh the negative issues. Price: USD $69.95 directly from Wacom

My current work in progress all done on the Classic Pen. I had separate layers for the eyelashes and these are the lower lashes (I can't even look at the upper lashes, no matter how many times I draw them, they end up as horror lashes). You can also see immediately I had issues with my blush. I had shaped the face and colored in shadows on the sides of the face, but even on extremely low opacity, it was just impossible to not cover it up.

Wireless Accessory Kit

★★★☆☆

I can tell you immediately that if you have an Intuos5 medium tablet, it does not last the advertised 9  hours of use. I have at 100% battery, a good 2-5 hours of use (for working nonstop and taking no breaks). It takes around 6 hours for my tablet to charge from a 20% battery to 100%. It seems I cannot use my tablet further than under 20-30% because it just randomly shuts down. I keep checking the status of the battery and it always happens around 30%. It will turn back on, however, by the time you get right back into working with it, it turns back off and refuses to turn on again after.

I do enjoy using the wireless over the cord. I bought the wireless kit due to the USB on the tablet refusing to charge through the cord unless the cord is dangling down by gravity. While working there are no issues and it works nicely so I will continue using it for the no hassle process that comes with cords.

If it would last longer than 2-5 hours of use at a time, I would definitely be giving it a higher review. However, with the way it is working currently (and that the power button is sensitive to any push), I do have to down grade heavily on the score. I recommend this for those who are using the tablet as a hobby. If you are working professionally in graphic drawing I do not recommend using this for long periods of time (because frankly, you honestly can't).

Price: USD $39.95 directly from Wacom

Intuos Medium Carrying Case

★☆☆☆☆

When I first opened it, I cannot express the disappointment I felt when I saw it aesthetically. It does not look like the pictures on Wacom's website and instead has a cheap look to it. On the picture from Wacom, it looks like the side part is leather and real which made it look professional. However in real life it is more of a plastic like, fake leather. The Intuos that is imprinted does not look pleasing and is hard to notice unlike the picture.

In the inside it is covered with a soft lining with two pockets and a loop for your pen. Although I trust that it can protect my tablet if I put it into a backpack, I do not trust putting my pen into the loop. It is a soft case so I shouldn't complain since these are obvious issues, but it being the only option I had for a case, it was such a disappointment.

In the future, I plan to make a safer and sturdier, personalized case for myself (and I will make a how-to for it also). I also am going to make a hard case for my pen to put in for travel use, so wait for that in the future!

Price: USD $29.95 directly from Wacom

This is the product picture from Wacom directly. If you watch the video, you can see dramatic changes in how it looks in real life compared to this photo. It really is a disappointment.

Beauty Product Review: Arsainte Eco-Therapy Extreme Moisture Line

Beauty Product Review

ARSAINTE ECO-THERAPY EXTREME-MOISTURE LINE

par Mademoiselle Haras

17 janvier 2013

★★★★☆

Warning: Note to new readers, please go to my About Me page to see more information about my skin care concerns and note that I have sensitive dry skin. My review for a product may not fit your skin type so please always test products before buying them. Thank you.

Today I will be reviewing four products from the Arsainte Eco-Therapy Extreme-Moisture skin care line: cleanser, tonic with essential, daily moisturizer, and organic cotton mask sheet. Pictures of the products are at the end of the post for reference.

The Arsainte Eco-Therapy Extreme-Moisture line is made for sensitive dry skin. Right on the box and on the products, you can see "Natural Origin Ingredients 88.1%" proudly stated. On the packaging they advertise that it is a "7 Free Formula," free of paraben, pigments, alcohol, benzophenone, animal ingredients, and no additives in the mineral oil (on the box it is all in Korean, I translated it for those who cannot read Korean). It is dermatologist tested, a bonus, but in my opinion the best part is that it respects the environment (the packaging is even printed with soy ink). Instead of water, they use  bamboo extract completely as a substitute!

I purchased the items in Chicago's TheFaceShop, a Korean beauty shop (think of Sephora). For years I suffered with terrible dry skin no matter the products I have tried using due to my sensitive skin breaking out to even the most 'sensitive skin' products found in American stores. It was by chance that I decided to go into the shop and it was there that I found the Arsainte line. I am writing this review after 6 months of using the products.

Cleanser

★☆☆☆☆

I did not like this product because it overly stripped my face of any oils that I had to begin with. It is in a squeeze tube and it is in the form of a foam cleanser. For those who do not know, foam cleansers are meant for oily skin so I was surprised that they would make a foam cleanser for this cliche of customers who purchase these items. Nevertheless I bought it to my dismay (the only awful item in the product line).

The foam goes on nicely onto the skin but the moment water hits the face for cleaning, if you even try to touch your face, your fingers cannot glide on your face whatsoever. Even if you splash your face to wash it off, I have found that the foam won't wash out of areas such as the eye area and other spots unless you touch your face with your hands to rinse it off. It is not a pleasant action.

I do not recommend this product because it completely strips your face of any oils that you had to begin with and all you're left with is uncomfortable, dry, tight skin.

Price: USD $24 (Chicago), Unable to find item online

Tonic with Essential

★★★★☆

I prefer to use this product in lieu of the cleanser because it works well that way. I apply this twice on my face before moisturizer with a cotton pad. It helps get rid of unnecessary oils and things off of your face to ensure you have a clean surface to massage in the moisturizer. It refreshens my face when I put it on and it feels lightly hydrated.

I recommend this product to go along with the moisturizer instead of buying the cleanser. I never forget to use the tonic with the moisturizer and my skin has stayed clear of dry patches/dry skin in months  even through the winter thus far.

Price: USD $24, 14900 won in Korea/online

Daily Moisturizer

★★★★★

I highly recommend this product for several reasons: it has saved my skin, it keeps it moisturized the entire day, it has gotten rid of my dry patches completely, and the product lasts a long time. When I first began using the product, I was disappointed it would not work because the patches remained. However, one must remember that as American's, we are more impatient and tend to want everything to work "immediately" but that is not the case with skin. New skin on your face comes in cycles of every 2-3 weeks thus you need to use this continuously for at least 2 weeks minimum. I noticed after two weeks of using this when I had dry patches, that most of or all of my patches had disappeared and did not need constant moisturizing throughout the day. 

It is very hygienic because of the pump (that even comes with a little cap for extra hygiene). My bottle of the product has lasted me nearly 5 months and I feel it would have lasted longer if I didn't use the product on my neck also. Two pumps go a very long way, and you might find yourself only needing 1 1/2 pumps of it even. Considering I purchased this for 253% of the price (with tax) that I would in Korea, this is definitely helpful in price!

Price: USD $24 (Chicago), 10900 won in Korea/online

Organic Cotton Sheet Mask

★★★★☆

I would give this a 5 star if it were not for the texture of the greasy residue. I do take in the fact that it is for extreme moisture which I love. However I personally do not like the texture that it leaves on the top of the skin. However it is because of that layer that it protects your skin from harm/drying.

During the first two weeks of beginning the products, I used this mask twice a week and it was heaven on my skin. It has a cooling effect on the skin, drawing heat away from your face. Using it for 15-20 minutes, I'd take the mask off and then just massage in the rest of the product from the mask onto my face for a good 3 minutes. Finish with moisturizer and you are sealed. I use the mask every 2-4 weeks now when my skin is beginning to feel dry and it seals your skin to prevent it from drying further for a good few hours.

Long term affects that I have noticed with this product is that not only does it help extremely moisture the skin, my skin is looking brighter and looks lighter from months prior to beginning use of it. It pleases me because during my era of dry skin, my face was dull but the mask helped my skin become healthy, bright, and lighter!

Price: USD $6.50, 2000 won in Korea/online

Tonic with Essentials

Daily Moisturizer

Organic Cotton Mask Sheet

Receipt from TheFaceShop in Chicago. Prices are heavily inflated.

Blog Post: Welcome

Blog Post

WELCOME

par Mademoiselle Haras

16 janvier 2013

Thank you for checking out my blog! On this blog you will find multiple reviews for various products, programs, music, and games. I will also be blogging various things along with opinionated writings that I hope will inspire you to do the same and reach out to others.

My first attempts at blogging began from a young age. My first several blogs were badly written or just unprofessional in general. Since then I have grown and matured into who I am now. I will be writing most of my blog in formal writing except for my personal blog posts.

Hopefully with this you can understand me a little better. Do feel free to comment on my blog! I love comments and suggestions to help improve my writings so please watch me grow from here on. Thank you!