Postcards From Germany

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Postcards From Germany

I went to Germany for the first in the end of May, visiting the college town of Heidelberg, the super charming, fairy-tale town of Rothenberg ob der Tauber, a quick afternoon on the Romantic Road down to Schwangau, and then ending in Munich. I wasn't sure what to expect from Germany, and a few very minor language barrier issues and my awful pronunciation of käse aside, Germany proved to be pretty incredible although not without a few frustrations with some rental car woes (always check if there's a deposit hold when using a debit card and always take photo and video of where you parked when you return the car). But that aside, me and my best friend saw and experienced some awesome things.

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ColourPop Pressed Powder Shadows

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ColourPop Pressed Powder Shadows

I love me some ColourPop, with their super affordable range and quality cosmetics. I've loved their Super Shock shadow formula that's like squishy meets powder, but sometimes you just want a standard pressed shadow. And ColourPop delivered with a range of pressed shadows that I can only assume will keep growing.

I picked up 7 of them, 3 singles in a custom kit (Secrets, Take a Break, Labyrinth) and 1 curated palette called Blow Me Away. How do these eye shadows stack up? Keep on reading! 

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Current Morning Skincare Faves

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Current Morning Skincare Faves

The weather here in the Bay Area has gone from rainy and a bit cold to the ever ubiquitous sunny overnight, and as we traverse more into Spring and the air is beginning to dry more so is my face. I don't have dry skin per se, more combo leaning midway, but enough where as I've entered my 30s I've learned to appreciate the need to treat dehydrated skin more and more. 

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Skincare 101: Easy Steps To Better Skin

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Skincare 101: Easy Steps To Better Skin

Is there anything more vexing as trying to attain perfect, flawless skin? Okay, maybe running out of coffee. That is up there in the realm of things being "the worst." But here's the thing I feel compelled to get out of the way off the bat- perfect and flawless skin that looks literally like porcelain is more the work of Photoshop than beauty products, and it's a standard that is nigh non-existent in reality. Nothing in a bottle will actually turn back time, despite how clever or catchy marketing is.

What you can attain, however, is improving what you have to work to a more reasonable standard, ie- giving dull skin more glow, finding ways to tackle acne, improving hydration, etc.

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KL Polish

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KL Polish

If you hang around the YouTube beauty community, you probably have heard the name Kathleen Lights. Kathleen is one of the most popular beauty gurus currently on the site, charming viewers with her bubbly nature, adorable dogs, and candid chats about her life and anxiety issues. I personally think she's great and has had a great track record curating collections and colors in her brand collaborations. And as things seem to go lately with the big name YouTubers, Kathleen launched her own brand in recent months, a nail polish brand called KL Polish.

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Monterey Bay Aquarium In 4 Pictures

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Monterey Bay Aquarium In 4 Pictures

Lately life has been so busy that it's felt a bit like struggling to keep my head above water. So when feels like they're drowning with the everyday pressures of life, what better way to destress than take a plunge under the sea? I don't know about you, but it's hard to be completely full of despair in the face of otters being cute and adorable. 

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New Year, Crummy Health

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Happy New Year, everyone!

Now that the dumpster fire that was 2016 is over, let's hope 2017 is the redemption arc year. Anyway, I've been pretty quiet here because I travelled back east for the holidays where I promptly got sick on Christmas Eve and have been since. I may possibly have pneumonia at this point, but worry not, going to doctor later today. Oh, and I also was recently diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, which explains the past 20 years of insomnia issues I've had. :/

Anyway, given my health decided to kick off the new year with a sad trombone, I'm going to take some more down time and a blog break to get better and also think about the creative direction for Roaming Holiday going into 2017.

It's clear I really need to work on my blog photography, and I think I need to re-evaluate content as a whole as well and figure out more ways to have unique, engaging content that doesn't feel bog standard and generic. 

So I suppose my resolutions, in the immediate, get my health in order and do some creative content soul-searching.

I hope you're all doing well and have a lot of great things planned this year! What resolutions have you made for 2017? Let's talk in the comments!

L'Oreal Infallible The Super Slim Liquid Eyeliner

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L'Oreal Infallible The Super Slim Liquid Eyeliner

What's the skinny on the L'Oreal Infallible Super Slim Liquid Eyeliner?

In the ongoing quest for perfect liquid eyeliner pen I move along to L'Oreal, who previous let me down with the awful Matte-matic eyeliner pencil. While that one sucked, I do love the Silkissime eyeliners and the Infallible gel eyeliner pencil that's super super pitch dark deep as pitch black. I was originally looking for their dupe of Lancome's Art Liner (since L'Oreal owns Lancome and YSL it's easy to find L'Oreal versions of a few things from each brand) but couldn't find it, and this one ended up catching my eye instead.

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Pixi Lash Line Ink Liquid Eyeliner Pen

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Pixi Lash Line Ink Liquid Eyeliner Pen

So far, I really like Pixi as a brand and wish I hadn't overlooked them all these years. Pixi H20 Skin Tint is amazing, their Endless Silky Eyeliners are awesome, a lot of their Skin Treats lines are faves so I was coasting on high hopes for the Lash Line Ink Liquid Eyeliner pen to be the stuff of liquid liner pen dreams.

Alas, you can't always get what you want.

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MAC Cosmetics Soft Ochre Paint Pot

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MAC Cosmetics Soft Ochre Paint Pot

Most Youtubers I watch seem to have one thing in common- a massive love for using MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot as an eyeshadow base. NikkieTutorials and Sharon Farrell in particular are two big fans who come to mind, and after not totally getting the ardent affection for it I decided to pick it up and try it for myself.

I understand now why it's so beloved.

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The Ordinary (Is Extraordinary)

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The Ordinary (Is Extraordinary)

The Ordinary, one the the skincare labels under the DECIUM umbrella, certainly has the beauty world talking over how it's disrupting the skincare market with quality ingredients at super affordable prices. A good retinol for shy of $10? Vitamin C for $5.80? Cold pressed rosehip oil at a price that doesn't press your wallet hard? Is it too good to be true?

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Disneyland Festival of Holidays

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Disneyland Festival of Holidays

Disneyland's first Festival of Holidays is well underway and appearing at California Adventure through January 8th. As a fan of Epcot Food & Wine at Disney World, I wanted to see how these holiday booth small plate offerings compared to the ones at International Showcase.

There are 14 booths featured in the festival, all with different holiday-themed foods and some featuring special cocktails and wines. They're laid out over one stretch of walkway just past the entrance of California Adventure as you walk towards the direction of Paradise Pier. And don't worry, a big sign for the event will make sure you know where it is.

So is this new offering a success? Well.....yes and no. Disneyland has some things they need to tweak if they want to do future holiday festivals like this. But first, the food.

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Nuxe Paris Cleansing Milk With Rose Petals

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Nuxe Paris Cleansing Milk With Rose Petals

Nuxe Paris Cleansing Milk with Rose Petals is a cleanser meant for normal to dry sensitive skin that might react poorly to harsher soaps and needs a gentler hand in getting clean without being too squeaky clean and stripping the natural oils of your face. Does everything come up roses with this cleanser?

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Pixi H2O Skin Tint

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Pixi H2O Skin Tint

In my last post about brands like Glossier and Milk, I mentioned that there were more affordable skin tint options out there that were also vegan and/or cruelty-free, and one such tint is the Pixi H20 Skin Tint. Luckily, this one is easily found at Target if you're feeling the need for instant gratification and not waiting for online shipping.

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Be One Of The "Cool Kids" With Glossier & Milk? Okay Then....

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Be One Of The "Cool Kids" With Glossier & Milk? Okay Then....

Are you a busy girl on the go ready to get out there and DO ALL THE THINGS! and can't be bothered sitting around putting on makeup? Well good news for you; NYC-based artsy powerhouse Milk is here to save the day...with their range of high-end makeup that, in their own words, is "for the girl on the go who spends less time getting done up, more time getting stuff done."

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A Quick Update And A Question

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Hi everyone, just wanted to leave a quick update. I was out of town last week in Hawaii for a work conference for my day job, in pretty much the same part of Waikiki I was at two years ago featured in my Hawaii post from last year. While on the trip, I received the sad news that a family member had passed away. So, suffice to say, it's been a pretty rocky week on top of a pretty rocky month, and I need a few more days to decompress from everything. 

And that leads me to my question: what type of content would you like to see relating to travel, beauty, or lifestyle? I admit, I'm running into some writer's block as content goes and would love some input. 

What would you like to see here? Let me know in the comments, and thanks!