Music Mondays

So guess who watched the Super Bowl? Me. I don't like football, but it was an excuse to pig out with friends. I hope everyone had a good weekend! February has arrived!

Michelletabelle's First Birthday

Today marks the first birthday of this little blog. I'm quite proud of myself for sticking to this for so long, I admit, there were a few times where I wanted to quit. I don't want to write half-assed posts (excuse the grammar), and I don't want to write posts that even I wouldn't want to read.

I don't have many followers, but to the people that do read my ramblings, thank you so much. Whenever a friend tells me they bought a product because of my recommendations, it makes me so, so happy. I hope this blog brought you some smiles. I will try my best this coming year to write better and have some different, and interesting content to share.

Thank you for reading!! <3

Visiting Google

On Monday, Janet invited Alice and I to visit her at work. Google is one of those places that I've always wanted to see, but you can only visit if you know an employee. It reminded me so much of college. All the people sitting around casually in coffee shops or chatting with each other on the grass outside the cafeterias. I'm jealous.

They had a ball pit. I mean what more can you ask for?

Who's seen this driving around?

There was someone behind the wheel, so not really sure if it was self-driving.

Alice and I enjoying some freshly made juice while waiting for Janet.

I want one of these chairs! But where to put it??!

I wish these statues aren't all spread out, but these are much bigger than I thought.

The eyes change color!

Anyone visited Google before? In the Bay Area or other countries??

Music Mondays

January is almost over. I feel like lots of things happened this month, but I'm feeling excited. This Monday, I took a day off and we're going to visit Google! I'll have a blog post about that later this week! Enjoy the music this week! :D

Occasionally, YouTube singers make an original song that I love and this song is so upbeat and catchy!

What is it about British boy bands that I love so much?

Love her voice and her music!

LORAC Nude Skinny Palette

This palette was so difficult to find. I searched every website and was always so close, but it was always sold out. The LORAC Skinny Palette retails for a whopping $15.00 USD. SUCH A GOOD DEAL.  The packaging, as suggested by the name, is very skinny. Perfect for traveling or for touch ups. 

You get seven shades of warm neutrals ranging from pale to dark. It's easy to create a simple daytime look or you can do a smokey eye too. All these colors are good quality shadows, like all LORAC palettes. The wear time for these are at least 7 hours.

The colors don't have names, so I'll try to describe the colors going from left to right.

#1 is a matte, pale, white beige. It's my least favorite color of the bunch, but the color can be used on the brow bone for highlighting.

#2 is a shimmery golden copper. One of the two metallic finishes in this palette. Intensely pigmented, the texture is buttery soft as well.

#3 is a matte, light tan color. Probably the most buildable and blendable color.

#4 is a matte, dark brown. Not a standout color, but the pigment is good. 

#5 is my favorite of them all. An orange, copper with a metallic finish. Amazing color payoff with a soft texture.

#6 is a medium golden brown with a metallic finish. Good pigmentation and easy to blend.

#7 is a dark, burgundy brown. Mostly matte with some sparkles. Color payoff was the worst, but the texture was still super soft.

Has anyone tried this palette yet? :)

*If you're looking to purchase this, try Nordstrom Rack or Zappos.com, which is where I bought mine.

Chop Bar

It is currently Restaurant week! I wish I could try out all the restaurants, but that would be quite expensive. Chop Bar has been on my to try list for a couple years. This rustic feeling gastropub is located near Jack London Square in Oakland. The place isn't very big, super cozy with a nice ambiance. Definitely come here early to beat the rush. My friends and I all got the prix fix menu, which came with an appetizer, main course, dessert, and a glass of wine.  Overall, the food and service was excellent. I can't wait to come back again and try their pig roasts!

check them out on Yelp: Chop Bar

butternut squash, walnut pesto soup

pork confit served with red flint polenta, kale, pork jus

butternut squash risotto

meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes, gravy and brussel sprouts (my favorite dish out of the three)

fruit crisp with vanilla gelato

Music Mondays

My company had it's annual inventory count last week and I had to work a little bit on Sunday too. It's been so crazy at work lately. But music always puts me in a better mood. Here's to Monday.

Such a cute concept for this video and the song is really catchy too.

I love the ending of this video.

Kind of miss listening to EDM, but this song is pretty good.

Music Mondays

The first week of 2015 is over. Time seems to move faster as you get older. I had a couple days this weekend to just relax at home and watch movies and shows. I hope you all have a good Monday!

I was going through my music and found that I had this song, which means I listened to James Bay months ago, but didn't notice. Love the lyrics and his voice.

Ellie Goulding's voice is much more powerful in this song, it's beautiful.

I don't see why so many people are against this music video, people are making it more controversial than it was meant to be. You can feel all the emotions in this song.

Fried Chicken Anyone?

I need to bring my camera out with me more often, it takes the best food pictures. Haven't been posting enough lately and wanted to share a couple snaps with you all. Food is the one thing that I'm always excited about. If I could, I would try out a new restaurant every day, but that's a bit excessive (or is it?).

Brown Sugar Kitchen

Their most famous dish: cornmeal waffles and buttermilk fried chicken with apple cider syrup. Be prepared to wait for this place, especially on the weekend. It was worth it though. The portions were just right and the cornmeal waffles were delicious, chicken was just crispy enough with the right seasonings.

Ramen Parlor

I got the Lobster Pork Ramen per recommendations on Yelp. The wait was crazy at this place. But ramen is so perfect for a cold winter day. This was some of the best ramen I've ever had.

If anyone is ever in the area, definitely try out these two places! I'll try to post more food pictures, I think I like writing lifestyle posts more than makeup ones sometimes. :)

Music Mondays

Did everyone have a good start to the new year? I had another four day weekend, it's going to be brutal at work today. I apologize about the lack of posts, but friends and family have come first lately. Happy Monday and Happy new year! :D

I hope they never break up, that would be so sad. Love this song and this couple!

Very touching video.

I found this artist through Tanya Burr because she always puts him in her favorites video. His voice is very unique.

A Year in Review

It's finally new year's eve! I started this blog February of this year and I'm shocked I've kept up with it for so long. I wanted to sit down and write down some of the more memorable moments of this year. This isn't really about the blog posts, because sometimes I feel like, we care so much about new product launches and swatches and hauls, we kind of forget about real life. I love those bloggers that blog as their job, but we can't all do that. 

This year was my first full year as a working adult. It feels so weird thinking that less than two years ago, my friends and I were still in college. Thinking back, we used to stress out about grades all the time, but now we have to worry about paying back our student loans and thinking of ways to move out of our parents' house.

Beginning of this year I promised myself that I would travel abroad and I did it! I was thinking about traveling alone to Italy to visit a couple friends at first, but Katie and I decided to travel together. We visited Barcelona, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Rome. It was an amazing trip. I love exploring and this was a good break from the boring and tedious job. Remember to treat yourself and take vacations once in a while, even tiny ones. I was so burnt out, I almost quit.

Art exhibit with Fanny!

A little bit of Shanghai in San Francisco. Missed these kids and all the fun we had studying abroad.

Barcelona adventures!

Birthday celebrations with the trio.

Silly photo booth props with Katie! It was a very Merry Christmas with friends.

Birthday wish? Be happy.

What was your favorite moment of 2014? :)

Music Mondays

It's the last music post of 2014! Did you all have a good Christmas? It's been such a relaxing four days, I really don't want to go back to work. Hope everyone has a good week! It's the New Year!

Nicki Minaj gets a lot of criticism, but I was surprised I really liked some of the songs on this album. The song "Grand Piano" is beautiful and so different for her!

 A nice, chill song to listen to.

Demi Lovato's ballads always get to me and this one is no different, it gave me chills.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day with your family and friends and loved ones. I ate SO much this past week, my food baby never goes away! Decided to share some snaps with you all from this week. I love the holiday season. The hot cocoa, Christmas treats, and twinkly lights everywhere you go makes me feel all warm inside. It's also one of the only times of the year that my friends and I get to see each other all together. It gets harder to plan these hangouts as we get older, so I really do treasure the times we get to all chat.

The shopping center near my house really outdid themselves this year with the decorations. The twinkly lights were everywhere!

My little Christmas tree! It's not much, but it's enough!

My old middle and high school friends always get together this time of year and do a little gift exchange. It's not my birthday until this weekend, but they surprised me with a homemade cake. I was literally having the worst day and they made me forget all about it.

Christmas tree decorating followed by milk and cookies, followed by Love Actually of course. Missed hanging out with these girls.

How did you spend your Christmas? I can't believe this year is almost over!

Music Mondays

It's the last Christmas Music Mondays post this year! I hope you guys liked listening to all the songs!
I'm going to take a little break this week, so I'm probably not going to post anything until Friday. Have a Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy your time with family and friends! :D

Look at all these people!

I love Kelly Clarkson's Christmas songs!

Thought this song was perfect for this week, since Christmas is so close!

Christmas & Birthday Wishlist 2014

Sorry about not posting on Wednesday everyone. Does anyone else feel this way? But whenever it's stormy and rainy out, my mood kind of turns gloomy too. It's been raining quite a lot here recently, this combined with working overtime just exhausted me out. But I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. My birthday is December 27th, two days after Christmas, so I thought it'd be a good idea to post what I've been eyeing lately.

ASOS Club L Dress in All Over Sequins  
Christmas and New Years is the perfect time to wear sequined dresses and I've had the hardest time trying to find one. I need to do some shopping ASAP.

ZARA Wool Duffle Coat with Fur Hood  
Saw this coat and it's gorgeous. It's so warm and I love the buckle details. Everyone needs a good Winter coat!

Aerie Blanket Scarf
Plaid scarves are suddenly so popular again! But this one from American Eagle looks so snuggly and soft. Perfect for this cold weather!

Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow 
Charlotte Tilbury has officially landed in America! This is the one product I really want from her makeup line. The rose gold packaging is beautiful too.

NARS Digital World Lip Pencil Coffret
Do I need more lip pencils? No. But I mean, you can never have enough lip products! This is a limited edition holiday set from NARS. I am SO tempted to buy this.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette
Swatched these blushes in a Sephora recently and they are the softest blushes. The marbling looks amazing. They're sheer colors, so you can't really go wrong during application.


What do you want for Christmas?? Hope you all enjoyed reading this post! Remember to stay warm! :D

Music Mondays

Did everyone have a nice weekend? It felt very festive this week, especially with all the holiday parties and Christmas shopping! Enjoy! :D

One of my all time favorite songs. I listen to this all year round.

Pentatonix's Christmas videos are so beautiful.

I really like this cover by Meghan Trainor.

NARS Audacious Lipstick

NARS Audacious Lipsticks retail for a whopping $32.00 USD each.  These are some of my most expensive lipsticks, but they are worth every penny. Creamy and long-lasting, I wish I could own every color. These have a semi-matte finish, and it comes in a huge range of colors. The only con is that these are transferable on contact. Packaging wise, it is so much better than the original matte finish that attracts so much dust and fingerprints. These are made of metal and have a magnetic closure. I noticed they also leave a stain on your lips, at least for the darker colors.

I recommend scrubbing your lips or wear lip balm underneath before applying. These are extremely pigmented, and these full coverage lipsticks do not look attractive with chapped lips.

Has anyone tried these lipsticks? Which one is your favorite color? :)

Left: Charlotte - oxblood burgundy   Right: Rita - Scarlet

TARTE Magical Moments Deluxe Best Sellers Essentials Set

Hello my lovlies! I hate writing blog posts on products that are not carried anymore, but I really wanted to give my opinion on this little set. This was offered by Sephora during their Black Friday sale. I wanted to get my hands on this the most out of all their offerings this year. For only $10, it was a steal. 

Let's talk about the Lights Camera Lashes Mascara. I hate it. The formula was too wet and not volumizing at all. From all the four star reviews on Sephora, I thought I would love it. I always curl my lashes before applying mascara and after one swipe of this mascara, it straightened them all out. WHAT? Anyways, I kept applying a couple more coats, thinking it would at least lengthen or do something, but nope. It felt like I was applying black ink to my already black eyelashes. So glad I got a sample before purchasing the full size. I think this would work well for people that have naturally full and curly eyelashes. I apologize if this is one of your favorites, but it was not for me.

The mini Amazonian Clay blush and LipSurgence Lip Gloss are both in the shade Magic, which is limited edition. However, this pink coral color is very similar to some of Tarte's other shades, such as Blissful and Tipsy, but a bit more pink. The blush is matte and is perfect for that natural flush. The gloss has a bit of sparkle in it, but it's very creamy and has a nice vanilla fragrance to it.

Overall, I liked this set, with the exception of the mascara. I hope some of you were able to get your hands on this, if not, I'm sure Tarte will come out with something similar next year! They have tons of holiday sets out right now, so check those out! Thanks for reading! :D

Music Mondays

I watched the musical Annie with Katie today. It was my first time watching the musical and it was so adorable! It's set during Christmas time, so it put us all into the holiday spirit, even more adorable were the little kiddies sitting next to us. The cutest little boy asked behind me, "is that a real dog?" AHHH. I hope these songs will make your Mondays just a little bit brighter! :D

Kristin Bell. The whole time I was hearing Anna's voice! This song is so sweet, and I love that it's a modern Christmas song!

These girls' voices are all so good!

A classic Christmas song made even better with Sam Smith's beautiful vocals.