Adventure 3 - part 1

 Last December, I went to China for two weeks in the city of Quanzhou in Fujian. It's a camp sort of layout, where everyone under 23 can go to a city of their choice with all expenses paid, bar the air fees.
I've been to about three of these so far, the third being the one I went to last year.
Since its supposed to be an educational trip ("You're here to learn! Not shop and play around," said the moody camp guide), we spent a lot of it in a classroom, studying a range of subjects: learning chinese, music, calligraphy, kung fu and chinese chess. Chinese class was by far the most boring, the cafeteria food at school was always the same and the food wasn't that good to begin with.

Oh and we all had to wear yellow jackets, so that we were easily seen, just in case one of us wandered off I guess.

We had the occasional day of touring in between. We went to a temple and visited some museums and galleries. The temple was quite nice, but it was pretty boring, but I did take this photo (spot the creeper).

Afterwards, we went to a museum and a gallery. I didn't take any photos of the museum, but the gallery was quite interesting.

Super seedy Buddha (I joked to my friends that it was his 'Come to Bed' face)

More days of studying and then finally, time to tour! We went to Xiamen for a day where we had to sit through very long presentation about opportunities at Xiamen university. Then we went for a very short shopping trip - all the shopping trips were always limited to an hour or two, making it very hard to shop and we ended up catching a taxi at night to go do our own shopping. After lunch, we went to an island. I'd tell you the name, but I didn't pay attention when they were telling us. It was basically a  tourist shopping district, filled with little shops and pretty, overpriced goods.

One particularly colourful store. I couldn't get a better photo as a shop assistant told me photos weren't allowed.

The view as we drove along the river/ocean/sea - a body of water.

The next day, we visited some earth houses with are supposedly infamous and about 200 years old. They're basically their own little forts and back in the olden days, the villagers could sustain themselves purely on the things inside the fort without having to go outside, which was handy for sieges.

An 'Earth House'

Villages near the earth houses

Part 2 coming soon.

The smock dress: day to night

I searched far and wide for a smock dress, it hasn't really caught on in the local stores, the ones on Asos didn't really appeal to me and the ones that did were far too expensive. So when I finally found a smock dress on sale at Factorie last week, I was ecstatic. It was $10 and the material wasn't the general flimsy material that you'd normally get from Factorie, it was quite decent.

Day

Smock dress - Factorie

Shoes - Valleygirl

Necklace - H&M

Lips - Bourjois Lipstick in 04

Night

 Smock dress - Factorie

Shoes - Valleygirl

Necklace - Lovisa

Lips - Rimmel Apocalips in Across the Universe
(A lot darker than it appears in the closeups)

I planned this to be an easy and quick switch from day to night, all you have to do chuck a statement necklace and bold lipstick in your bag, but if I could bring more/ had more time to change up my look, I'd change my shoes to some nice boots or some heels and whack on some eyeshadow and winged liner. Once again I do apologise for my lack of foundation and barely there makeup; I don't wear makeup on a regular basis and I normally do these photos in the morning since I have a few hours to myself before my family members come home, so it's always quite rushed. I promise I can actually do makeup and I'll post up a look soon :)

Dupe for Topshop shoes

If you're like me and have been watching Sammi from Beautycrush's latest videos, then you would have seen her gush about her really cute shoes from Topshop that she loves. If you live in Australia, I've found a dupe for them being sold in Valleygirl as I was wondering around yesterday.

So here are the Topshop ones:

 

And here are the ones I got from Valleygirl for $24.95:

Pretty darn' similiar. The Topshop ones are leather, whereas the Valleygirl ones aren't, making your feet sweat a bit. I haven't worn them long enough to wear them in, so if and when I do, I'll let you guys know :) They do look really nice though, perfect to pair with a dress.

Model Co Fat Lash Mascara

I recently received the Model Co Fat Lash Mascara in the January Bellabox. Bellabox made it seem like the most amazing thing around. Knowing it wasn't waterproof, I knew it probably wasn't going to have an effect on my lashes, but maybe it could be usable on bottom lashes.
 

The wand reminds of me the Benefit They're Real mascara wand with the bristles at the tip of the brush, which I've always wanted to try. The brush is very thick though, it would possibly work with fuller, longer lashes, but for my sparse, short lashes, its really hard to get into the roots and I end up getting mascara all around my eye. It's a no from me, but who knows, it might work wonderfully on people with longer lashes.

New Look Chewy Chelsea Boots Review

I'm a bit of a youtube addict, so when ThePersianbabe and Sianshutterbug raved about their new New Look boots, I knew I had to get them. They're officially called the 'New Look Chewy Black Heavy Profile Chelsea Boots' and Asos was having a 20% off full price items discount,  so it was the perfect time. When I got them, they were just continuously out of stock, but luckily Asos (bless them) also repeatedly restocked the boots, thought it did take a few days every time. As the discount was ending that night, I desperately refreshed every half an hour, waiting for my size to be available. It generally does work, as people like to add items to their bag, but sometimes don't actually go through with the purchase.

So here they are:

These boots are super comfy, but the sizing does run quite large, which means my boots are loose. Even though I added an insole and wore thick socks, they still feel a size too large, which I'm really cut about since these boots are so comfy, the faux leather is so nice and the heel of the boot really wraps around the back of your heel (well it would for me if they weren't too big). I'm considering getting them returned but the boots are again out of stock and no amount of refreshing is getting me the size I need. If you're considering getting these boots, get them! But definitely remember size down.

January Bellabox 2014

Its Bellabox time! Or what I like to call 'Useless stuff I don't need'. As usual it is nicely wrapped and packaged, and as usual, I probably won't end up using half the stuff given.

Let's begin!

So because I actually received this a week ago and its just sitting in my room, past me got annoyed with the information card and chucked it somewhere and now present me can't find it, when means now I have to type everything out (the horror).

So, here goes:
Model Co Fat Lash Volumising Mascara
Wotnot Facial Wipes
Palmolive Ayurituel Shower Gel
Coconut Revolution Body Cream
Avène Hydrance Optimale Rich Hydrating Cream
Avène Soothing Moisture Mask
Yes to Carrots C Me Shine Lip Gloss in Playful Nude

I always get a bit excited about shampoo and body wash samples cause they're perfect for travelling, so I'm pretty happy about the shower gel sample.
The Yes to Carrots C Me Shine Lip Gloss in Playful Nude is a bit disappointing, its slightly minty and has that sort of old lip gloss taste that I find off putting. I guess it does nude my lips out a bit, but it really just looks like I put Vaseline on my lips.

I haven't really tried out the rest, except for the mascara (next post), so I don't really have anything to say about them.

Lazy days

Easy way to dress up a simple outfit - bold lipstick and boots.

Lips - Lord and Berry Lipstick Crayon in Fire, Shirt - Free People, Skirt - Ally Fashion, Boots - Dr. Martens