Adorable Easter package (and a mini Clinique review)!

Hey there honey bears!

So as some of you know I'm in University in Illinois away from my home in Texas, so sometimes my family will send me care packages.  Recently, I received a care package for Easter!  Easter stuff is always in pastel colors and is super cute, so I thought I'd do an unboxing here so y'all can see everything!

Let's go!

Here's the box!  It was bigger than I expected!

And here's what's inside!  All neatly packed and so colorful!

Let's dive in!

Mac and cheese!  This is my favorite boxed mac and cheese, no other brand can compare to it!  Annie's is a brand that provides organic meals on the go, and I love all of their products that I've tried so far, and this is one I keep coming back to.  Just one problem...it's five dollars a box up here in Illinois!!  For some reason it isn't as expensive back in Texas, so my mom was kind enough to send up two boxes.  Another fun fact about Annie's, their mascot is a bunny!  Too cute!

Next is this colorful candy that my mom bought at Central Market!  For those of you who aren't from Texas and don't know what Central Market is, it's a grocery store chain that specializes in Organic foods, and they always have some interesting things you wouldn't be able to find in a regular supermarket.  Just a warning though--some of their products can get pricey!

The name of the candy on the wrapper is in Chinese (I have no clue whether it's Mandarin or Cantonese, sorry!), but the bulk foods label has it romanized for you!

Candies mingling together!  The orange ones are orange flavored, and the blue ones are blueberry flavored!  I hadn't tried blueberry candy before these, and I have to say it's delicious!  These candies have a very light fruit flavor and are nice and chewy.  They're also wrapped in rice paper so they don't stick to the wrapper.  I'll have to get these again once I get back to Austin, because they're super addicting!

That's it for food items from mom, and I love all of them!  Next, moving onto things from my grandmother!

GIANT BUNNY PEEP.  Oh god these things are so super sweet my mouth hurts just from looking at them!  Sugar covered sugar. XDD  But he's cute, isn't he?  I'll probably make an Instagram video of me sticking this in the microwave to see how big it gets. 8D

Here we have your standard chick peeps but they have chocolate bottoms!  Makes me think of them sitting in a little nest they made in the dirt, which makes them even more cute!  I'm not sure if I'll like the taste but we'll see!  I'm pretty sure my grandmother got me multiple peeps because she remembers how much I loved them as a child.  I'd put them on a paper plate in the microwave and watch how big they'd get then twirl them around a fork once they were taken out. XD  I was a strange child...I did actually eat them though!

A Reese's peanut butter egg!  These are so delicious! Actually I already ate it... I love how it's so soft and just melts in your mouth.  For some reason I always think Reese's taste better during Easter...

Can't think of Easter in the States without Cadbury creme eggs!  I know Cadbury is a British confectionery so there's probably creme eggs in the UK, but I wonder how many other countries have them too.  Do they have them in your country?  Let me know in a comment below!

I'm saving it for as long as I can because creme eggs are delicious and I want to savor it!

Thanks Grandmother for all of the treats!

Next up, we have a Clinique bag!

Mom went to Clinique recently to get a refill for her moisturizer, and they give out these free giftbags a lot with them, so mom sent the extras to me!  Mom swears by Clinique, and I don't remember her using moisturizers from any other company in my lifetime, so of course like my mother I love their products.

What a pretty bag!  It's so bright and makes me think of Springtime!  I think I may use this on my trip to Germany this Summer!  I can keep all of my make up and such inside of it to keep it safe. ^^  Now let's see what's inside!

A baby foundation!  Perfect!  And thankfully it matches my skin tone!  I'm definitely taking this on my Germany trip.  It even has SPF protection which I always like having in my foundation.  I did a swatch of it on the back of my hand and it had a nice consistency, not too heavy for Summer I think.  Now I just have to find a tiny container to store my setting powder in!

Pink nail polish!  I always love playing with nail polish, and this is a darker shade of pink than any other shade I have, so this will be fun to try.

*Hallelujah Chorus plays*  Y'all.  This moisturizer.  This is the moisturizer that I come back to when all seems lost.  And it's travel sized!  Wahoo!  Mom uses this as her day moisturizer I think since at night she uses one of their anti-aging formulas, but I like to use this at nighttime since it's heavier than the moisturizer I use during the day, and it doesn't have SPF.  But you don't need SPF when you're asleep so it's all good! 

The bag also came with a "lash doubling mascara."  More mascara is always a good thing since it's a product I use constantly.  I haven't tried this kind yet, but I'm sure it will work just fine.

Here we have a make up remover.  I'm really not wild about these kinds of make up removers, never have been.  I think the last time I used one of these was in middle school.  I've taken to using a make up wipe, then cleansing my face with olive oil before my regular cleanser to take make up off, and the olive oil really does a deep clean and gets everything out, so I won't be needing this.  I do have a friend who likes these though, so I'll just give it to her!  Don't want to waste any of these products!

Clinique lipsticks are THE BEST.  The formula for these lipsticks is so creamy and smooth, and the color is wonderful.  Other lipsticks tend to dry out my lips, but I've never had that problem with a Clinique lipstick.  Raspberry Glace happens to be one of my favorite shades!  I remember being a little down when I ran out last, and never got around to picking up another tube.  I didn't think mom would remember I liked it so much!

There were a lot of products in that little bag, and it was fun to go through!  I know the review of them was rushed since this is an unboxing, but I'll do a review that's more in depth once I purchase another Clinique product.

Lastly, here's a bag from my lovely aunt Suzie!  I can always tell when a gift is from aunt Suzie because she's all about presentation!  I think I might have gotten my cute addiction from her. XD  Every holiday she has little gift bags for mom and I, and they're always put together with great thought and attention to detail.

Here's the bag her things came in!  Isn't it darling?  I like how it mimics an Easter basket without being too bulky.  Let's see what's inside!

The first thing in the bag peeking out of the top was this crazy adorable bunny loofah!  And in pink!  I actually used the loofah last night in the shower and it did a great job!  I have sensitive skin so I usually shy away from loofahs since they feel scratchy and irritate my skin, but this didn't do that at all.  It was soft but had just enough texture to help exfoliate and work the suds of my bodywash into my skin to make it soft and smooth.

The next thing in the bag was this tea infuser!  The infuser itself is simple, but hanging from the chain is a little teapot!  Take a closer look:

Not gonna lie, I squealed.  It's just too cute!  I'm a tea freak, so this is something I'll use a lot.  I'll make sure to post a picture of it on Instagram when I do use it.

The last thing in the bag were these Hello Kitty red velvet cupcake treats!  Too cute!  Love the packaging, and the little image of the red velvet cupcake on the side.  I'm curious to try these!  I tried these in another flavor, birthday cake I think, a few months ago, and didn't particularly care for them, but maybe red velvet will be a different story.  I hope so!

Going through the package was such fun, and I hope you had fun going through it with me!  I'll do my best to eat all of the sweets in small increments, and keep my toothbrush and mouthwash handy! XD  I'll be sure to post pictures of the products I use on my Instagram (marthamarvelous), and I'll have another Easter themed post up for you in the next couple of weeks!  Thank you so much to my mom, my grandmother, and my aunt Suzie for sending me this lovely package of goodies!  it made me so happy and I appreciate it very much!

What are your favorite Easter treats?

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next post!

xoxo

Martha

Maid Cafe Adventures: All-Con 2014

Hey there honey bears!

As promised, here's the skinny on all things ALL-CON!

Well, all things MAID at All-Con.

As some of you know, my maid cafe dance group, the Kira Kira Maids, performs at All-Con Dallas every year, and this year was All-Con's 10th anniversary!  It was very exciting to be back again this year for our fourth All-Con!  At this four day convention, we had three concerts and had a merch table full of lovely decoden stuff!

Maid Kaya reporting for duty!  Ready to seize the day in PINK!

Before the first concert on Thursday, we got to the hotel, checked in, and set up our merch table!

These lovely deco goodies were all made by maid Ponnchi!  She's so incredibly talented, and we had some good sales during the convention!  There's an online shop in the works, so stay tuned!

The concert on Thursday was at 2, so after set up, the ladies performing in the show did some rehearsing, then ran onstage!

Credit for this photo goes to Daniel Brennan.

We even had our magical girl wands with us!  I always have a lot of fun singing and dancing with the maids, and this time I felt supercharged!  Each concert was better than the last, and I must say we ended our shows at the con with a bang on Saturday night!  If you'd like to see a little of what our show was like, check out this concert digest I put together for the maids' YouTube Channel!

After the show on Thursday, we stayed at the merch table for a while then went out for dinner...after that we pretty much crashed since it was a very busy day and a long drive up to Dallas!

Saturday we didn't have a concert until 9pm, so I ran around to do some networking and go to a few panels after my shift at the table.  But first--

I found Scooby Doo and Daphne!  I see a lot of Mystery Inc. cosplayers, but rarely Scooby!  He was too cute!  And as you can see, I wore my seifuku during the day!  It's super comfy, and Hazel wore her seifuku with me.

TIME FOR SEIFUKU SELFIES!

I will probably snag more seifukus in the future...I have an addiction since I wear it all the time!

But what's that on my bow?

                                       

A KIRA KIRA ENTERTAINMENT BUTTON!

Featuring the Kira Kira Maids on the front!!

For their 10th anniversary, All-Con made buttons of the convention themes over the years, along with various acts and vendors who have come to the con over the years--and the maids were picked to be one of them!  I didn't even know this until Todd (the wonderful con chair) came over and handed me one.  He told me that there were 200 of these babies circulating around the con for trading and collecting!!!  I was seriously speechless, and so grateful!

I had so much fun going to panels and making new friends that I didn't get too much shopping done (which is probably a good thing for my wallet), but I did pick up a few things!  Here's what I bought:

So this lovely little brooch was made by the folks at Punk'dWorks!  They make jewelry out of clock gears!  It's all got a steampunk theme, but this caught my eye because of the pastel cameo...of a skeleton lady!  Cool, huh?  I've always admired steampunk from afar but I didn't think I could pull it off.  Starting in small doses with pieces like this is good, and I've already worn this a few times since buying it!  

The man at the booth was nice (and very stylish in his Steampunk garb), although he did make some stereotypical comments about girls which made Natsume and I roll our eyes...but that's why Kira Kira Entertainment and the maids go to cons!  To educate and promote cute and feminine culture!  If I see him again, I'll be sure to have a chat with him.  I'd also like to meet his wife next time around, as she does the actual piecing together of the jewelry while he finds and gathers up all of the clock gears.  

My next purchase was this manhwa!  I thought it was a manga at first, but by looking closer I saw that it was drawn and written in Korea, therefore it is classified as a manhwa!  I fell in love with the art style on the cover, and that was the only reason I bought it really.  It's just so beautiful!  Look at those big, sparkly eyes!  And luckily, it was half off!  ...so I bought the first four volumes.  XD  I finished reading the first volume, and it's super interesting!  I'll do a review of it in my next post!

The last piece at All-Con was actually bought for me by Natsume!  She's such a sweetheart, and a good friend of mine as well as a maid in the group.  She knew I loved rose quartz, and so she found a booth selling necklaces made with various crystals and bought me one with rose quartz in it!  It's tied on a simple black cord, and I'm actually wearing it right now!  It's good for those simple days, and it gives off good energy!  I'll make sure to include it in an outfit post in the future. 

A huge highlight from this All-Con, and one of the most important for me, was making new friends and reconnecting with old ones!  The ladies of the Disney Princess panel came to two of our shows and rocked out with us, and we had a lot of fun at their panel too!  We had a whole bunch of shenanigans later Saturday night with them, but y'all wouldn't want to read about those, right? ;)  But here's a photo of us at dinner before things got too crazy:

As you can see (kind of), I'm wearing my Pinkly Ever After dress!  Maid Rose has on a red maid uniform, Maid Hazel is in pink sweet lolita, Butler Akakiba in casual wear with a fedora, and Rosebud the Maid as Sailor Jupiter!  You can also see Artemis (she was Ursula in the Disney panel!) but she had her back to the camera...I don't think she likes cameras much. x3

I hope this post was enjoyable, and hopefully those of y'all in the area can come to All-Con next year!  It's the maids' favorite con of the year, and we'd love to see you there!

If you want to see more photos of our concerts, you can go to our Facebook Page!

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

xoxo

Maid Kaya ;)