contessa chocolate review & false lash preview

I know I've been a little AWOL this past week, and I had had all these plans to post up these various food and outing reviews from last week, when a friend was visiting. Blame the lazy-crazy spiral of the unemployed. :X But yes, it's been a bit of one of those "lost weeks". . .

Last week though, from Sunday Sept. 23 to Wednesday Sept. 26, I hosted my advisor from South Korea. He helped me out a lot while I was doing my Fulbright research project, inviting me into his popular music class, getting me tickets to festivals/tapings and taking me along to indie shows aroung Hongdae; aside from it being nice to see him, I really wanted to help him out and return the favor a little. Luckily my parents weren't opposed to a visitor, and he was able to stay with us after his conference in Irvine.

So you can expect a little Umami Burger review coming up, as well as a snapshot view of the music shops in Echo Park we checked out. But for now, I only have two mini treats for you:

Contessa Chocolate Collection Review

Someone gifted us with this pretty little box of chocolate truffles from Contessa, a small chocolatier located in Pasadena. When I opened the little company card to read the description inside, I saw the words "dark chocolate," no mention of any other concentrations, and was pretty instantly convinced this was my kind of box of chocolates.

Luckily the box came with two of each kind. Otherwise this would have quickly become a house of chocolate truffle contention.

From left to right: Lavender, Rose, Liquor?, Salted Caramel

All of them were good (what else would you expect from crafted dark chocolate?). The flavors in the flowery truffles were definitely present, a little strong but not at all unpleasant. It was enough to make the perfumey flavors stand out from the chocolate, but not overpowering. 

I couldn't place the flavor of the one rolled in crushed nuts. I thought there might be a light touch of alcohol in it. Mostly, I noticed that it was really smooth and buttery, with a hint of a bright note.

My favorite, though, was the salted caramel! That was kind of a surprise, because I'm usually not much of a caramel fan at all. I generally find it too sickly sweet and dislike the way it cleaves to my molars. But this caramel wasn't hard but viscous, and its sweetness was tempered by the salted flavor as well as the depth of the dark chocolate. Together, it all made for an addictive little bite. (So you can imagine my dismay when I woke up the next morning to find the other one gone! T_T)

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False Lash Preview

I wrote a few weeks ago about my tester lashes from model21 and my subsequent jubilation. It took me a little while to get to them though, mainly because I didn't have any eyelash glue! I had asked a coworker previously what lash adhesive she used and/or recommended, and she told me about the brand, Duo. She also recommended buying from Sephora, because they offer the 0.5 oz size at ~$8 (most other places only carry the 0.25 oz size, which is already around $6).

After calling to make sure they had it in stock, I finally got to Sephora last Friday and bought my tube of Duo eyelash glue! I got it in black, which is the box with red and white packaging.

And thennn . . . I tried putting on false lashes for the first time! BE WARNED - that eyelash glue comes out like water! I thought it would have that Elmer's consistency, but this stuff is fluid. So basically, the first time I aimed to spread a little adhesive on the rim of my false lashes, I ended up with blurps of gray matter all over my fingers.

Had to trim off bits at the ends
to fit my eyes! Left me with
a couple of nice flutters.

For my first time, I tried on the
Model21 lashes in 63, probably
the most natural style out of
the ones provided in the
sampler box.

After that though, it was pretty easy! A lot easier than I had feared, actually. Having gotten control of the glue tube, I spread a little along the edge of the lashes, waited a couple of seconds, then stuck my face really close to the mirror and stuck that sucker on my lid! 

(I took a tip from Jen @frmheadtotoe, who has said that you don't really have to wait for the glue to get all tacky.)

Right side success!!! I felt pretty victorious. I was anticipating a lot more difficulty. And then I got to the left side. I have since learned that I'm much better at applying on the right side compared to the left. Suffice it to say, this being the first time, the left side came out a little wonky. Luckily the unevenness wasn't too obvious and I could still go out in public.

  

Honestly, it was a fun experience, but I did feel a little silly and dubious trying on false lashes for the first time. So my expressions kind of fell along this range:

Mostly just this face though. Hello, left-side wonk.

That's it for now! Since trying them on for the first time last Friday, I also tried layering lashes (wearing two pairs at the same time, another tip thanks to Jen) the next day, and just yesterday I finally got to trying on all the different pairs and taking pictures just for the review. That way whoever's interested can get an idea of what each pair looks like on its own, especially on Asian eyes. Look out for that some time next week! Oh! I also bought my DIY ombre hair supplies a couple of days ago, so I may be documenting that this weekend as well.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend :) I plan on attending a Korean baby's 돌잔치 / doljanchi party and checking out the Pasadena Antiquarian Book & Paper Fair on Saturday. What are your first-weekend-of-October plans?