My skincare shopping list: Summer 2015 edition

Note: I couldn't get the formatting to play well in this post, so I apologize for the slightly less noticeable headers and whatnot :(

I've been on a no-skincare buy since early June in preparation for my move halfway across the world. It was a bit hard at first, because I love browsing for skincare in store and online, but at least 1) I didn't impose a no-makeup buy as well (though I may have to soon...), and 2) I had some new COSRX items and sheet masks from a mini-haul in late May to play and test to tide me over.

One of the strategies I used (which I will go into more detail later in another post) was using a spreadsheet where I list items I would want to buy after my no-buy ended.

I tend to list all the things that I come across that seem marginally interesting, which has ballooned to nearly 60 items, as you can see below:

I have a lot of wants okay

However, when I have time, I actually end up curating my Lust Have It! list pretty heavily by doing research on the brand, prices, ingredients, available sellers, and etc. I also take a good hard look at what I actually need, and what items will best serve that purpose.

As you may or may not have noticed from a previous post, I am a compulsive planner. Spreadsheets tend to facilitate that itch while controlling my spending habits. 

From a sizeable list of 60+ items, I have whittled it down to nine items that I plan on buying once I settle in to my new home (three of which are repurchases, two of which are unsurprisingly sunscreen, while one is the face oil). So really, I'm most likely going to buy six new items (seven if I can find a sleeping pack fit for fall/winter! My Too Cool For School Pumpkin Sleeping Pack may not be moisturizing enough for my dehydrated skin...)

Without further ado, here are the items that I am most likely going to buy by late August/early September (in order of use in a skincare routine)!

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

An update & hiatus

By the time this post goes live, I will be sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to the US of A! The day is finally here when I get to not only travel to visit family and friends for a month, but also begin my journey to grad school!

How calm and composed I am at the thought of my upcoming reunions and new beginnings (I am essentially all of these corgis combined)

I'll be traveling leisurely about the US for the next month before settling into my new midwest home for the next two years. As such, posts will be a bit fewer and farther in-between (I have 2-3 scheduled from now until September. There's one for next Tuesday, so stay tuned!). I'll try to keep up with Fun Fact Fridays, but no guarantees ! I'll be spending a week each in four different cities, so I might try to do FFF updates with pictures from my wanderings, shenanigans, and discoveries instead of web articles and posts. I'll definitely be Instagramming my journeys and happenings, so be sure to follow me @howdoithai!

If you're in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, and/or Seattle and see a super confused Asian girl with hair that looks like it's possessed by lions roaming about, there is a slightly higher than usual chance that it's me.

This is how I look, but just a bit more Asian | Source

Also, if you have any suggestions for what to do in any of the aforementioned cities, let me know, especially for LA and Seattle! So excited to see old friends and explore new places :)

Things will be back to normal(ish) by September. It'll be even more exciting then, because I will be settling somewhere new, and my no-skincare buy will be over! I'll have new goodies and pretties to test, and hopefully I will be able to keep up with this blog while I go through grad school!

Hope you're having a great day, and I'll see you on the blogosphere/Instagram-sphere soon!

Fun Fact Friday #3

Hello! Welcome to this week's Fun Fact Friday!

IZ FRIDAY (I may or may not have been inspired by one of the articles this week...)

I'm playing catch up with some older articles that have been opened on my browser for ages, hence the reason for the more dated articles for this week's FFF. Hope you enjoy them nonetheless :)

This week's instalment includes:

• Why is there so much hate for the word 'moist'?
• The transgender glass ceiling in Thailand
• Why some people are always late (and the types of people who are)
• The quest for the perfect pad thai

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!