Exploring Coffee Shops: Blue Bottle

Not all coffee shops are created equal, naturally so. I had a fine time hanging out with Megan at Blue Bottle at the Mint Plaza in San Francisco when she lived here. The Mint Plaza location is the only Blue Bottle cafe that serves a full food menu. These photos are from back in April but I still wanted to share the post. I’m pretty much obsessed with Blue Bottle Coffee now, so much so, I scoped out another Blue Bottle location closer to me in Palo Alto. The staff were incredibly sweet with us, and told us a couple of their favourite (and popular) drinks to order.

It was completely packed when we went in there and it’s a small coffee shop to begin with, but we had an awesome time chatting about makeup, and life in general. I miss my bud!

Onto the photos :)

Nancy-Megan

Nancy-ordering-at-Bluebottl

Blue-Bottle-3-Africans

Nancy-with-iced-coffee

Ice-at-BlueBottle

Busy-Blue-Bottle-staff

Blue-Bottle-iced

Blue-Bottle

Nancy-Megan-BlueBottle

Blue-Bottle-coffee

Tiny-cafe-at-Blue-Bottle

Blue-Bottle-Mint-Plaza

Blue-Bottle-New-Orleans

Blue Bottle Coffee
Mint Plaza Cafe
66 Mint Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94103

Continue Reading

Preventing anti-aging on neck & chest

B’ys it’s only a matter of time and we’re in our older years and then we notice a few changes in our skin, our neck, even our hands. I’m noticing tiny little moles that probably will turn into age spots on the back of my hands. Even I’m aging! It happens. It’s life. Gotta get over it.

You may notice some people have a wrinkle-free face, but their neck is a little more noticeable with the wrinkles and excess skin. This is mainly due to the fact that people forget to take care of their neck and décolletée area when doing their morning/evening routine with the face.

Those fancy and expensive jars of neck cream to lift and tighten the skin? If that was really the case, wouldn’t everyone know about that particular product and be the worlds best seller? Think about it. But do you need a different product for that particular area?

In one simple word: No! 

Most of the time those creams are simply about moisturizing the skin rather than anti-aging.

What can you do to prevent those signs of aging on those areas? In simple terms, keep up your regular skin care regime and don’t forget SPF. Bring those creams and lotions down to your neck and chest area too. When applying neck cream, always use an upwards motion when applying product. Don’t ask me why, but I guess it makes sense in the fact that you don’t want to drag the wrinkles down to the floor, you want to help lift. Right?

The 2 retinol products I recommend: RoC ($15 USD from Amazon) and Philosophy Help Me ($49 USD from philosophy’s website)

RoC RetinolPhilosophy Help MeNotice how the two products are not in a jar? Jar-like packing is a huge no-no as it allows in the light and air, which breaks down the retinol ingredient.

Retinol is a fantastic anti-aging product to help with aging, brown spots, clogged pores and even acne. But if you want to start using that product you’re going to have to do your own research. Bear in mind that retinol can be potent depending on the percentage that is in your creams, thus your skin might react and become dry or peel a little. Don’t panic. It’s completely normal temporary side effect, and you may just have to back off on how often you apply it. Retinol products are primarily meant to be applied during the night, so it gets a full nights worth to act on the skin since your skin will be sensitive to UV rays. Pile on that SPF in the morning!

To take the benefits away from using a product with retinol in it, you have to use a range of ingredients, and don’t simply just use a retinol on your skin. Keep doing what you’re doing for skin care and add in a product that has retinol, too.

Is retinol the best and only ingredient out there for anti-aging? No, of course not. But this is the product I like, and recommend in conjunction with applying an SPF to protect your skin.

Please note, I’m not here to sell you on anything, I’m here to inform you! None of the links above are affiliated and none of the brands know I’m talking about them.

Hope you learned something today! And if you have any questions, please ask them in the comment section below :)

Continue Reading

VLOG: Trip to Santa Cruz in a 2015 Toyota Camry XSE

Toyota-headerWhile I’m not an advanced car reviewer by any stretch of the imagination, I can still provide some feedback on what I think of the vehicle itself.

I have to admit, the Toyota Prius I had in May wasn’t my favourite car to drive. Something about it made me a bit uneasy, whether it be the structure of the car itself or not feeling comfortable driving a new-to-me car. But there was something about it. However, hopping into the drivers seat of the Camry XSE was a completely different ball game. My husband assured me that he thinks I prefer driving in larger cars, as I grew up with my family driving boat-sized vehicles. That’s not to say that the Camry is huge by any means, it’s just larger and more in charge. Haha!

Onwards and upwards.

Toyota-with-dogThe week I had the Camry simply flew by, and I was a little disappointed to hand it back over to Toyota. But we did have a bit of fun with it for the week while we could. In fact, I ended up taking Alfie on a mini road trip down to Santa Cruz for the day, and filmed a full days adventure.

Yes, this is the video that wouldn’t save properly — I can thank my husband working his magic skills in getting this to work and upload to YouTube for me, finally! I’d love for you to watch it, I know it’s a super long video but I think it turned out awesome (can I pat myself on the back for that one?).

2015-Toyota-CamryYou may notice that the Toyota’s have changed in the last few years, I feel like this model in particular has adopted the front face of their more luxury brand, Lexus. A far cry from a boring family car. This Camry is definitely large and in charge, especially has some give to ‘er getting up to 110 clicks on the highway (65mph for the American folk). Toyota has added some interest to the Camry, the body is redesigned in the 2015 version. It has ultra-suede and sport seats, it’s not your typical camry. I mean, it’s a pretty good looking mid-sized sedan, and it feels like a sportier car.

The layout of the front seats to the dashboard on the Camry XSE was much easier and comfortable for me than others. Digital display in the odometer where it gives you navigation, and temperature readings. You can see that the car itself has a sport mode where you can use the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel to act as if you’re using a manual transmission. Another thing about the Camry is that it has blind spot monitoring system to notify the driver if there is a car in their blind spot. A feature I had come to really enjoy.

Toyota-Camry-steering-wheel

Camry-speedotometer

Toyota-Camry-dash

Toyota-Camry-XSE Camry-insideI’m not sure if all cars are doing this or not but both the Prius and the Camry had smart key-less entry which means you can keep the key fob in your pocket and unlock the drivers side door with your hand. The other doors stays locked until you unlock them on the drivers side. Thumbs up to the Toyota Camry XSE! I’m impressed.

Beach-DayIf you’re looking for more information regarding the Toyota Camry XSE check out their website.

Disclaimer: The 2015 Toyota Camry XSE was loaned to me for a week to review. All opinions are my own.

Continue Reading