4 Thai beauty and fashion brands to check out

First of all, happy 2016!  May it be filled with your accomplishments, whether big or small!

So... my last post was a complete lie *sheepish grin* I apologize!  I cannot guarantee a regular posting schedule, but I really do want to keep up blogging because I enjoy it.  Hopefully it'll be a bit more often than the radio silence between September and now (I am aiming for at least one post every month - that's somewhat achievable, right?).  I am significantly more active on Instagram, so do check me out there :)

Now that I'm back home in Thailand for a bit (yay!), I decided to highlight some Thai brands that might be worth checking out if you're ever in this neck of the woods!

What's in my carry-on? Summer 2015 edition

Ready to roll (literally hehehe...)!

I am totally nosey (no shame), and love when bloggers/vloggers do a "What's in/on my [noun]?" series. I've always wanted to do one myself, so I figured that with my upcoming month-long trip, I'd do a What's in my carry on? for you!

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I also hope that you find this helpful and sort of inspirational, because it's not everyday you see bloggers/vloggers talk about the things they bring in their carry-on for a 2+ [summer] week trip! Once I get to the US, I'm shipping my bags to my final destination to save money on baggage costs and time spent waiting for my bags otherwise, so I'll be primarily be living out of my carry-on for a month. I've been planning how to pack this carry on for months (me? A compulsive planner? What are you talking about...), so hopefully I have most of my bases covered!

This post will be broken up into the following sections:

1. Liquids (in the 1L clear plastic bag)
2. Skincare + other toiletries
3. Makeup
4. Clothes
5. Other items

Guide: Asian Beauty shopping in Thailand

This post was supposed to go up earlier, but 80% of my post failed to properly save when I wrote it over the weekend.

You might have seen this on my Instagram | Source

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Nonetheless, I finally found the motivation to finish it up, so here it is! The guide to Asian Beauty (AB) shopping in Thailand :)

First of all, I am by no means an expert, but having spent the past two years back in Thailand since undergrad hunting down Asian branded skincare and makeup, I feel like I have a better knowledge of where to go to test, swatch, and browse for AB items. This list is by not comprehensive by any means, but I hope you find this helpful if you ever have the chance to visit Bangkok!

In this guide, I'll be mentioning Korean/Taiwanese/Japanese beauty brands, but also some Thai brands you might be interested in trying and buying.

I want to preface this guide saying that nearly all the brands listed here are quite marked up in Thailand. I suppose that is to be expected since all these items are imports, but just keep that in mind when shopping around here. It might be in your best interest to simply swatch items at the physical counters, and then buy it later online.

With that said, let's get to it!

Review: CLIO Waterproof Brush Liner vs. KATE Super Sharp Liner

You know, sometimes I think life would be infinitely better if I just stayed optimistically disappointed about everything. That way, things would only be able to look up from there, you know?

And on that optimistic note, here I go on my review comparing two liquid eyeliners: CLIO Waterproof Brush Liner and KATE Super Sharp Liner.

There has been a lot of love and buzz on these two liners - particularly CLIO - but do they live up to the hype? The surprising, and mildly disappointing results, after the break!

Review: Fairydrops Volume Burst Waterproof Mascara

Friends, I may have discovered my holy grail mascara. This may just knock off the oft-raved about, very well-loved Kiss Me Heroine Long & Curl Mascara from its #1 status on my lashes.

Fairydrops Volume Burst Waterproof Mascara | Source

I am truly in love with the Fairydrops Volume Burst Waterproof Mascara. It ticks off everything I want in a mascara, and then some. Before, I never asked for too much out of my mascaras. I just wanted something that 1) held a curl, and 2) really lengthened my short Asian lashes. It wasn't until I used this Fairydrops mascara that my eyes were opened (pun completely intended) to the wonder of having a curl-holding, lengthening, and volumizing mascara on these unimpressive lashes.