Building on the award-winning “Coke Side of Life” campaign, The Coca-Cola Company today invites the billions of people around the world who love to pause and refresh themselves with a Coke to “Open Happiness” and continue to enjoy one of life’s simple pleasures. That is the central message for “Open Happiness” — Coca-Cola’s new global integrated marketing campaign.

Well, I guess it’s not so “new” anymore.

Several countries created renditions of the song, but this Thai version is my favorite. Loved how they incorporated classical Thai instruments and made it such feel good song!

Link: Coca-Cola

My Beauty Diary provides a wide selection of masks to suit different skin texture needs in different seasons.

Cute packaging!

I bought two boxes of My Beauty Diary’s 7 Top Sellers: Brightening & Hydrating Masks at $8.99 each. GREAT deal if you’ve tried buying this online, and you don’t even have to pay shipping!

This limited-edition sampler of 7 top sellers is PERFECT for trying or travel … Try for yourself or give to someone you care. Each flavour has natural ingredients that promote radiantly clear, beautifully bright, and impeccably hydrated smooth skin. A great way to try the very best!

Apparently, it’s a USA limited edition package. The “flavors” in this box include:

• Black Pearl
• Aloe
• Q10
• Natto
• Red Wine
• Bird’s Nest
• Pearl Powder

I’ve arranged them according to that order below:

Hmm ... so many options!

This brand is super popular in East Asia, and I’m so glad I finally got the chance to get my hands on a box! If you’re already a fan of My Beauty Diary, 99 Ranch Market has a great range of other boxes available at decent prices.

Out of the 7, I had no idea which one to try first, so I let my boyfriend randomly choose. He pulled out the Black Pearl mask, and I used it last night before I went to bed. Loved it! My skin felt awesome afterwards. Definitely better quality than the other masks I’ve tried! Can’t wait to use the other ones.

Yay for new stuff in time for the New Year!

Link: My Beauty Diary

Okay, so yes, pictures:

So many smiling faces! Nothing better than spending the holidays with family and friends. These are actually photos from our Christmas Eve party (which happened to be a celebration for my cousin’s birthday as well) and opening presents on Christmas Day.

I had a wonderful X-mas this year. My favorite present was from my mom: she gave me her heart diamond ring! I love diamonds (they happen to be my birthstone too) but they’re so expensive! When I went on an Alaskan cruise in September, to my surprise, all the ports were filled with jewelry stores. I really wanted to buy something with diamonds, but my mom was suspicious of the low prices, so I ended up with nothing. She must have remembered!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas too!

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Pretty nom noms!

I always bake huge batches of sugar cookies at least twice a year: for Valentine’s and Christmas. Although I use the exact same recipe every time (which I hope is tasty, lol), I try to spice things up by making the cookies look different each year. That, of course, is easily done with the use of various cookie cutters and food coloring/sprinkles.

Last year, I went with a Christmas tree theme, and I think everything came out quite well! When the time came to prepare for this year’s cookies, snowflakes just seemed like a really fun project. I’ve never really done any piping decorations with icing before, so this would have given me a great opportunity to try. I even chose a blue color scheme, going against my traditional choices of red, green and white.

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This is actually a small portion of what was made ...

Well, ultimately, I had to rush my batch of cookies, and it turns out that my first BIG mixture of icing was too runny. I didn’t realize it until it was too late — I already bottled all the icing and there was no way I could add more powdered sugar to thicken it up. It was getting late, and I was too tired to remake the icing, so I just winged it: no piping, just an even layer with sprinkles on top.

It was 2 a.m. by the time I was out of icing, and I had work early the next morning. I still had a ton of cookies left to finish, but I had to save ‘em for the next day. No worries, though! I eventually did get everything done.

The snowflakes were pretty big, so I could only fit a small amount of them in the bags and tins. I didn’t even get to try them before I gave them out, haha. However, my friends said that they were yummy. I hope they’re not just saying that to be nice!

I really wish I could have drawn pretty snowflakes this year, and I probably should have taken a picture of a cookie before I packaged them all. Ah, well. Next time! Oh, and here’s a cute photo bomb by my cat, Yuna:

Perhaps she wanted a bite?

Wow, she makes the cookies look tiny! Anyhow, I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. The countdown to Christmas continues!

This is for those OG UDers – Name 10 of the 19 Urban Decay Eyeshadow shades from our first launch in Fall 1997. Two randomly selected UDers with the right answers will each win a COMPLETE set of all current Urban Decay Eyeshadows.

By the time I saw this post, it was already up for almost half a day, so I was worried that I might have been too late to enter. I took a stab at it anyway, and although I was a bit hopeful, I knew the chances were low, so I didn’t think too much of it.

The contest received an overwhelming 1,062 entries before UD announced the highly anticipated official results:

Our TWO amazing OG UDers who will receive a complete set of available Eyeshadows are Elizabeth Adams Soriano and Ammy Sriyunyongwat! Of the 1000+ responses only about 20 of you had the right answers.. We promise to be sweeter with the next question.. Ladies, please email Facebook@UrbanDecay.com

I felt like my eyes popped out of my sockets when I read that post! Oh gawd, what? Me? Win a contest? NO WAY! I am totally unlucky when it comes to random contests, but it looks like I can’t say that any longer!

So here’s a glimpse of what UD heaven looks like:

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Finally, I'm not dreaming!

An amazing sight, isn’t it? I’ll admit it — I am truly one-hell-of-a-lucky gal. I think I used up my life’s worth of luck on this one. Here’s another view without those middle shadows in the way:

I think my heart just stopped beating ...

I counted around 60 total, including some new shades like Aquarius, Dashiki and Free Love!

Thank you so much to Urban Decay for making my Christmas especially sweet! For a chance to win awesome loot like this and get updates of new products, please follow Urban Decay on Facebook! If I can win, you have a chance too!

Link: Urban Decay on Facebook

I was wondering why the MV practically idolized LeBron James and I found out the track was produced for his documentary, More Than a Game.

I’ve heard that a lot of items are going to be only $2, so I can’t wait! (UPDATE: Actually, EVERYTHING will be $2! Ahhh!) A word of advice: BE QUICK! Once the sale goes live, stuff tends to run out fast, especially awesome deals like these! The order might take a while (2-3 weeks) to get to your doorstep, but it’s so worth it.

Link: Hautelook

I’ve known of philosophy for a long time, but I’ve never been interested in trying it out. I think the overly simple packaging always threw me off. Yet, I always wondered why the brand had such a cult following. It wasn’t until recently that I had this severe longing for better skin, so the name came to mind. I did some quick reading, and philosophy had some really glowing reviews. Plus there was a 30% off sale and free shipping. Gah, too tempting!

So, I ordered the joy of great skin set to test the waters. As a value set, it already had a discounted value, so the extra 30% off was a great deal. I consider it an early X-mas gift to myself.

let joy show on your face. share the joy of great skin this season with our best-selling skin care for radiantly clear, beautifully bright and impeccably smooth skin.

Pretty box! And samples.

The two samples are eye hope advanced anti-aging eye cream and miracle worker anti-aging moisturizer. I have a bag full of samples that I’ve collected for a while — I need to try them all out soon before the bag bursts at the seams!

So the set includes:

1. microdelivery micro-massage exfoliating wash 8 oz.
2. purity made simple one-step facial cleanser 8 oz.
3. hope in a jar original formula moisturizer for all skin types 2 oz.
4. hope in a tube eye and lip firming cream .5 oz.
5. microdelivery peel vitamin c/peptide crystals 1 oz. with activating gel 1 oz.

I’ve had this set for about a week. I haven’t completely replaced my old skincare routine with it just yet, but WOW, I am SO impressed with the results so far.

purity made simple smells wonderful. I’ve been using it as an afternoon cleanser to get rid of my makeup, and it seems to do a much better job than my Neutrogena Face Wash. Then, I follow up with the microdelivery micro-massage exfoliating wash. I haven’t used my St. Ives Apricot Scrub since, and I really don’t need to. My face has never been so squeaky clean! I only use the Neutrogena cleanser in the mornings now, since it’s more of a light cleansing.

I’ve replaced my Johnson’s & Johnson’s Baby Milk Cream as my night moisturizer with hope in a jar. This cream is just amazing. Some people think the smell is too funky, but it doesn’t bother me at all. The whipped texture is fabulous, and the best part is: I’ve been waking up to awesome skin! I can totally see a difference — my face looks so much better in the morning now. Simply incredible.

I’ve only used the peel once, and I think I put too little on my face, so no drastic improvement from that yet. It wasn’t too harsh for my sensitive skin, so that’s a plus. And the hope in a tube has been working pretty well too.

One thing I have to add: I normally only buy products that are made for oily skin, so this is the first time that I’ve bought something that was for “all skin types.” I’ve always been afraid to try because I thought that it would make my skin too greasy. Thankfully, this philosophy set hasn’t transformed my face into an oil slick. Moreover, I’ve also been having a horrid breakouts this season, and this set is really helping my skin heal. And it’s only been a week!

All in all, this was a great buy. I’d recommend this for anyone that wants to try out the brand. I’m now officially a philosophy fan!

Link: philosophy

Out of all the other stores I bought from, my shipment from e.l.f. was the cheapest. Initially, I just wanted to check out their brushes, since I didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for quality ones. Then I discovered that they had an incredible 55% off site-wide sale. Before you know it, I had a cart full of stuff — everything was just so cheap that it was hard to resist.

For around $30, shipping included, I think I did pretty well:

1. Studio 11 Piece Brush Collection
2. Studio Concealer Pencil & Brush in Light
3. Studio Cool Bronzer
4. Studio High Definition Powder
5. Mineral Booster in Sheer
6. Mineral Blemish Kit
7. All Over Cover Stick in Light Beige

Since I’ve opened the box, the only thing I’ve tried so far is the Mineral Blemish Kit. However, I’ve only started using it last night, so it’s hard to tell how effective it is. The brush collection (complete with case!) was such a steal. The original retail price was $30, but I got it for less than half. Score!

I was interested in the Mineral Booster, which is a translucent loose powder, because I was running out of my Bare Escentuals Matte Foundation. Then I saw the High Definition Powder and got curious — I heard it was a worthy dupe of MUFE‘s, and at that price, it wouldn’t hurt my wallet to try it out!

All the concealers were thrown in because I was running out as well. I’m currently using Laura Mercier’s Undercover Pot, which was part of the Oil Free Flawless Face Kit, and sometimes Lancome‘s Photogenic concealer in Camee, which is discontinued, sadly.

Now, the bronzer is something I’ve never played with before. I actually got this to experiment with contouring and highlighting. I was drooling over Smashbox’s Step-By-Step Contour Kit for the longest time, but I just couldn’t get myself to buy it, even when they had a Friends and Family 30% off sale during Black Friday. So e.l.f. it is.

So that concludes my Black Friday haul for this year! Love, love, love e-shopping!

Tattoo is one of his earlier singles. It’s actually a sad love song, but it’s so soft and beautiful! *swoon*