The social media-made-famous beauty brand, Glossier, just made us millennial women all very, very happy by opening up two showrooms in San Francisco and New York City. Because the pop-up shop in San Francisco will only be around until April 15th or so, my friend and I rushed to the store a few days ago after work to try on all of the products in person, and to check out the cafe that Glossier converted into a pink makeup and skincare paradise.

Glossier took over Rhea's Cafe, a place famous for their Chicken Katsu sandwich and other Asian-inspired deli items like the Korean Barbecue sub. As you can see they converted the bar area into a full makeup try-on station, complete with a set of mirrors and a set of plates on the counter containing Glossier products for customers to try on. 

There were also some freebie Jolly Ranchers scattered around the tables, completing the nostalgic bar aesthetic.

I spent a lot of my time at the above counter, which contained all the different lip products (what a surprise) and all the different shades of their new product: Lidstar—a glowy liquid eyeshadow. I had already purchased the Generation G in "Crush" and did a review on it here. I realized after swatching several different shades of the Generation G that the color pay off for these varies throughout the line. Here's the face I ended up with after trying on a few products:

Eyes: Lidstar duo (shade "moon" in the middle, "cub" on the sides)

Lips: Generation G in "Zip" with lip gloss on top

Cheeks: Haloscope highlighter in "Quartz"

I'm not really an eyeshadow person, but I loved how easy the Lidstar was to apply, and how natural it looked on my lids. You can easily apply and blend out the 2 different shades with your fingertips. The range of shades are also super pretty and perfect if you're just starting out with eyeshadow like me. These light, pastel colors are great for spring and create a romantic, innocent look.

I can't tell what exactly my friend is wearing in this photo, but I remembered that she was trying out the Generation G in "Jam", and the Boy Brow—from this photo alone, it looks like black was her shade.

The cafe actually served food during the pop-up event earlier on in the day—so it was a fried chicken and lipstick kind of situation. By the time we arrived in the evening, the cafe was only serving drinks at the bar. That was probably for the best, actually. Trying on makeup and eating a fried chicken sandwich are both lovely activities—but better done individually.

It's always refreshing when brands that solely sell online and do their product marketing through social media create pop-up shops. Especially makeup brands: the step of testing out products to see how they look on you is crucial. I also loved how they scattered the same items throughout the store, so that even if someone else was trying on a product you were eyeing, you could simply just go to another stand and find the same product.

Everlane also recently opened up a shop in the Mission recently!

So what did I end up purchasing? I got the Lidstar duo in "Moon", a translucent white, and "Cub", a peachy dusty pink. Because I'm quite picky when it comes to skincare, and because I haven't done a lot of research on Glossier skincare yet, I was a little hesitant to try any of the skincare that was displayed. However, I did end up purchasing their Invisible Shield Sunscreen, which upon trying, felt really lightweight—which is uncommon for most sunscreens.

Check out the Facebook Event, if you're interested in paying a visit yourself!

♥ Cindy

Goodbye pancakes and bacon: move aside and make room for a tastier and healthier alternative: Traditional Japanese Breakfast! I recently visited a brunch spot in San Francisco called Bon, Nene that served this kind of breakfast set, and felt myself feeling quite salty at the end after spending $18 + tax and not feeling very full. So a few weeks ago I headed over to Nijiya market in Japantown to pick up some ingredients to make my own Japanese Breakfast for two (definitely under $18). Shout out to my teammate Emma for eating my creations :)

Otherwise known as 朝食 —choushoku—or 朝ご飯 —asagohan—a traditional Japanese breakfast consists of a variety of fresh ingredients that contribute to a colorful spread (looks like I still remember a bit of Kanji from HS Japanese!). A set will usually contain Miso soup, steamed rice, some kind of grilled fish (yakizakana), rolled egg omelette (tamagoyaki), and more adventurous items like natto (fermented soybeans) and umeboshi (a kind of pickled plum).

Despite the health benefits of natto, I'm not a big fan and so I left it out of the meal. I also replaced the rather sour umeboshi with some sautéed zucchini and enoki mushrooms to fulfill vegetable portion of meal.

My Japanese breakfast consisted of (from left to right, top to bottom):  Miso soup, sautéed zucchini and enoki mushrooms, oven-baked salmon, onigiri, and tamagoyaki. These were all fairly easy to make, and I'll try to summarize the recipes to the best of my ability. Do note that I rarely measure ingredients when I'm cooking (as opposed to when I'm baking), so please season everything according to your own taste buds!

Oven-baked Salmon

To make the salmon, lay the filets skin side up on a sheet of parchment paper over a baking tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper put inside a 350˚F (177˚C) oven for around 20-25 minutes, depending on how well-done you'd like it to be. Because I like my salmon a little more rare, I usually will turn off the oven around the 15 minute mark and leave the salmon in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. After taking it out of the oven, I served it with 2-3 pieces of shiso leaf underneath.

Because I love salmon sashimi so much, and because salmon has enough flavor to stand on its own, I try not to do too much when I'm seasoning it. Salt and pepper (and a little bit of olive oil if you're feeling fancy) is totally sufficient to season a fresh piece of salmon.

Tamagoyaki

It's quite difficult to explain how tamagoyaki achieves its shape in words, so I'll link you to this video which taught me how to make it (if you love this YouTube channel as much as I do, let's talk). It helps if you have a square pan, but the overall shape is still totally achievable with a circular pan. Your rolls will just end up looking a bit uneven on the sides like mine. My egg mixture included 4 eggs, scallions, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of sugar.

Onigiri

Next up on the menu is onigiri, or rice balls that contain a variety of fillings such as salmon or umeboshi. I unfortunately didn't put too much effort into making these since the triangular ones are quite difficult to shape. To simplify the process a bit, I rolled my onigiri into circles and coated them with furikake. I used two kinds of furikake: one containing bits of umeboshi seasoning and a plain one consisting of seaweed and sesame seeds.

To make these, start off by cooking a cup of sushi rice. Set aside to cool after it's cooked to risk burning your hands. Separate into two portions and mix in the furikake seasoning into each portion. To shape the onigiri, wet your hands and sprinkle on some salt to prevent the rice from sticking to your palms. Roll them into spheres and you're done!

Miso Soup

To make the miso soup, I brought 3 cups of water to a boil and stirred in 2 tablespoons of dashi miso. Add sliced tofu, seaweed, and chopped scallions at the very end. I learned this bit from my mom: if you're cooking any kind of soup with vegetables, always put them in at the very end for them to retain their green color and freshness.

I learned how to make miso soup from this video, which I suggest watching before you attempt it. It suggests that you use dashi as the soup base, which is also quite simple to make by boiling  water with bonito flakes and then straining them out of the broth.

Though Bon, Nene didn't impress me very much, another option for Japanese breakfast I actually enjoyed was at a place called Casava. If you don't want to wander too far into the Richmond district, a great option closer to downtown is Samovar Tea Lounge, which serves a lot of healthy breakfast items with their wide selection of teas. Or... you can try making this at home like I did! Most of the recipes are simple enough and have a low chance of failure ;)

♥ Cindy

I was super stoked when one of my favorite YouTubers and Style influencers, Jenn Im, launched her own line of clothing called Eggie last year. It's so exciting to see an Asian woman like myself become a style icon on YouTube, especially considering Asians are still a rare sight to see in media (we are showing up more and more these days though!). I was also ecstatic to be able to purchase items of clothing on the Eggie website knowing exactly how they'll look on me since they weren't photographed on a 5'10" model. 

This dress in particular is from Eggie's 2017 Holiday collection. There were so many dresses in this collection that I fell in love with but I felt that this one was the most stunning. It's named the "Miss Honey" dress after the super sweet and nurturing teacher from Matilda. 

Apparel: Checkered Dress (Eggie, "Miss Honey Dress") | Sheer black top (Styleaddict, "Sabrina Top") | Black suede Mary Jane Pumps (Sigerson Morrison, "Kairos Heel") | Black backpack (Everlane, "The Modern Zip Backpack - Large") 

After walking around the Mission District for a while, Evelyn and I saw a man trimming flowers from his tree. He offered us a few branches of the yellow flowers—Acasia flowers I think they were called—which worked to brighten up a monochromatic outfit filled with grays and blacks.

Several dresses from Eggie's holiday collection caught my eye, but I decided to purchase the Miss Honey dress mostly for its versatility. This dress is completely work appropriate yet has the potential for a night out or special event, depending on how you style it. If you want to show a little leg, you can undo some buttons on the side of the dress. If you're looking for a little more warmth, this is a great dress to layer on top of a tight turtleneck.

Underneath the dress, I opted for a sheer black top with a simple pattern to play up the texture of the outfit—dressing it up but still keeping warm (I'm kidding about the warm part, to be honest). Also, can we give this dress extra brownie points simply for its pockets? For a girl who's always reaching for her phone, pockets are a great practical addition to any article of clothing.

Makeup: Lips (Pony Effect Blossom Lipstick in #02 - Spring Romance) | Brows (Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Dark Brown) | Eyeliner (Clio Kill Black Waterproof Pen Liner) | Under-eye Concealer (Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Custard)

Accessories: Rings (Forever 21)  | Black backpack (Everlane, "The Modern Zip Backpack - Large") 

A big thank you to Pinterest for the lovely backpack, as well as the colorful alley a few blocks away from Valencia Street in the Mission for acting as a beautiful backdrop for this photoshoot. Oh, and the nice man who gave us the flowers :)

Don't hesitate to hit that Pin button if you liked the outfit :-) Feel free to follow this board for my style-related posts, or if you're feeling more adventurous, you can just follow me entirely on Pinterest.

Photos: Evelyn Obamos

♥ Cindy

Starting in March and moving forward, I’ll be sharing a playlist of 10-15 songs that I obsessed over in the previous month. A post like this will go up the first Monday of every month, and will include a list of curated songs in (what I think is) a tasteful order, and a little blurb to tell y’all what’s to love for each of them :)

I make it an obligation to discover songs on a daily basis—whether they are newly-picked from a fresh week's Discover Weekly, or a throwback I resurrected into one of my more recent playlists. So here's my attempt to show some appreciation for these favorite songs, and also share this wonderful music with you!

I’ll try to curate a wide variety of songs—including more contemporary jazz/R&B, acoustic picks, and even some of my favorite Classical and K-pop tunes. 

2.

February's picks coincidentally include a lot of spin-off covers of old pop songs (The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel). I've also been obsessed lately with the timbre of the acoustic guitar, so it's not a surprise that there's lots of amazing, skillful guitar-playing in this playlist. I may or may not be using these songs as a reference to how I’ll want my guitar-playing to sound (hopefully someday). What a stretch goal.

listen

YESTERDAY

Scary Pockets, India Carney

A funky spin-off of a Beatles classic, this cover features the strong vocals of India Carney—previously a member of the UCLA Scattertones a cappella group and a contestant in The Voice. The group Scary Pockets can turn literally any pop song into a funky remix. Their rhythm section keeps everything pretty simple and sparse—but tasteful—and makes me groove out to their tunes shamelessly at my desk every time I listen to them at work.

---

낮과 밤 Day and Night

(Instrumental)

TAEMIN

Strings on strings on strings!!! I purposely listen to instrumental version of the song to hear the combination of the nylon string guitar, steel string guitar, and cello (sorry, Taemin). The “crunchiness” of the two guitars layered on top of the cello creates a lovely texture—especially when the steel guitar is doing crazy soloing while the cello is holding out notes in the background. Ugh, just so, so good.

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Mané

Toco

Toco is a Florence based Brazilian born singer-songwriter. People usually refer to his creations as Nu-Brazilian or contemporary Bossa Nova/Samba. This is one of my favorites from him since it's one of  his more upbeat tunes. Rhythm section is on fire, beautiful vocal harmonies are at work in the latter half, and horn parts are on point as well... what's not to love?

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Dance

offonoff

Here we have another K-pop addition. I make a stank-face for literally the entire 3 minutes and 39 seconds. This song is not only upbeat but also conveys a sultry vibe. I seriously can’t get enough of it. I’m in love with the funky fills that the guitar plays during the vocally-sparse parts. The melody is insanely simple, and the fills that the guitar plays are also very simple (singable and memorable, which is great for instrumental fills)... but it doesn’t feel too repetitive because the groove changes every 8 bars or so. There's a nice rap part to break up the song into sections too. Also kudos to the easy-to-follow English lyrics that actually make sense (rare for a K-pop song these days): “Killing me softly, why do I feel so lonely, let me love you baby, you are so lovely”

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Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini

Op. 43: Variation 18

Sergei Rachmaninoff

The rhapsody in its entirety is based on Niccolo Paganini’s famously (almost impossibly) difficult Caprice No. 24 for solo violin. The theme, although pretty straightforward, has been transformed into different variations, all showcasing different, rather difficult techniques on the violin (including one of the most famous uses of left hand pizzicato!). You can barely hear the original in the 18th variation of Rachmaninoff rhapsody, but if you inspect it more technically, you’ll be completely mind-blown at how it was constructed. Rachmaninoff basically took the melody, turned it from minor to major, and then inverted it to create a flowery theme that gives off a completely different vibe from the original melody.

Also I love how dramatic the orchestra sound in this. UGH the feels.

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Misty Morning

Lawrence

This is really just a simple, feel-good song that I play to cheer myself up, or to speed up my walk to work in the mornings. It’s funny because the melody and instrumentation make the song sound quite peaceful and happy, but the lyrics are rather sad if you listen closely. The piano fills that proceed the staccato vocal parts in the verses are also very, very tasty.

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Overjoyed

Victory

This Stevie Wonder cover brings back a lot of memories from school since I previously performed the song in my jazz ensemble class. I’ve come to the conclusion that most Stevie Wonder songs have a colorful harmonic structure, and this song is no exception. Lots of modulations and complexities are complimented by a warm voice and very simple acoustic guitar-playing in the background.

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Sweet Life

Frank Ocean

From listening to Frank Ocean’s more popular songs, I wouldn’t have expected him to put together a song like this. The melody is very jazzy and not easily-singable or memorable for the average listener. I really appreciate how this song gradually grows with its technique of layering instruments and phrases. It starts off in the verses with a sparse instrumentation—just vocals, bass, and a rather repetitive electric piano melody in the background that holds everything together. Then drums are added gradually, along with another piano that’s more responsible for chords. Horns come in during the chorus to fill out the chords with long notes as Frank Ocean belts out higher notes. Verse 2 and Chorus 2 are basically the same, except background vocals are used to fill in the space created by the staccato-y piano, vocal, and bass combo. The song ends with the rhythm section just jamming out together, which kind of reminds me of one of my songs, Dear Anna (not to advertise my own music or anything, but why not since you're on my blog anyways :P)

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One Day

Nikki Yanofsky, Jacob Collier

Vocals, vocals, vocals!!! These two just have the most buttery of voices... and in this song, their voices just melt together in the most pleasantly unhealthy way when they harmonize. The simplicity of the instrumentation (female voice + male voice + piano) makes up for the fact that the melodies and harmonies are not simple at all. Just in 4 bars alone, they go into several different keys and make me feel uneasy one second and then happy/at ease the next. You can also hear the piano playing some pretty complicated things behind the two singers if you listen carefully. I guess this level of musical genius can only be achieved if you’re Jacob Collier.

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La belle dame sans regrets

Emile-Claire Barlow

Another buttery voice—perfect for jazz. I listen to this one mostly for the scatting she does with the piano. How can she sing something so complicated and be so in tune and in time? I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard it, honestly. And she's doing it live in Japan. What a beast.

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Isn’t she lovely

Biréli Lagrène, Sylvain Luc

Just listening to this one makes my fingers hurt. Biréli Lagrène and Sylvain Luc are two crazy guitarists that compliment each other amazingly—trading off the responsibilities of both the tight rhythms and insane soloing. Their cover of this Stevie Wonder classic is not as crazy as some of their other covers. Their version of “So What” is even crazier in terms of them doing things that I’d never heard before or thought was possible on guitar.

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New York State of Mind

MAX, Phony Ppl

A spin-off cover of a classic Billy Joel tune, this song barely reveals what it's supposed to cover when it first starts out. The eerie-sounding piano paired with the heavy drums work well to juxtapose the melody which is very recognizable and singable. The different theme definitely sets it apart as a unique cover amongst the probably hundreds out there for this song.

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Autumn Leaves

Eva Cassidy

You must be thinking: “this song has lyrics?” Why yes! Eva Cassidy’s cover of this jazz standard is very simple but insanely beautiful with her amazing live vocals. Getting rid of the swing and stripping it down to only vocals and acoustic guitar gives the song so much more emotion and lifts away the reputation it has for being just an old jazz standard.

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Best Part

(feat. H.E.R.)

Daniel Caesar

Thanks to my friend at work for introducing me to Daniel Caesar last year! I don’t think he’s come out with a song that I don’t like yet. His melodies are just so heart-wrenching and the sadness in his voice always makes me question whether he’s happily singing about the person he’s in love with, or if he’s actually really upset. Anyways this song features the lovely vocals of H.E.R. which pairs with Daniel Caesar’s own soft vocals beautifully.

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Don’t Know Why

(Live in NYC)

Norah Jones

Another throwback to college days when I sang this as a solo in my a cappella group... except a cappella will never do this song justice because Norah Jones’ piano skills and her band create a vibe that’s quite difficult to emulate. I love this live version because it’s slightly more upbeat than the original and the vocals do a little more work in terms of changing up the melody in this classic early 2000s jazz-inspired pop song.

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Annnd that's a wrap! I got a little too excited writing this. Hope you'll give this playlist a listen and be able to enjoy these songs just as much as I did! Which ones did you enjoy the most? Do you have a favorite song or set of songs you've been obsessed with lately? Let me know in the comments!

♥ Cindy

These Cuban pastries were actually inspired by a visit to Saltroot Café (thanks to my friends Ren and Greg for the delicious recommendation!). Saltroot Café is a small, hole in the wall bakery in Outer Richmond serving guava-filled Brazilian Cheese Breads—also known as Pão de queijo in Portuguese. It was my first time having guava in a dessert, and to my surprise it was such a delicious compliment to the cheese inside the bread that I immediately wanted to get up and buy a few more. Unfortunately it was such a popular flavor that the bakery had sold out for the day (it was only 12:00PM at this point). Ever since then, I've been crazily craving guava, which is definitely a unique craving...

To my sadness, guava-filled desserts are not very common in San Francisco, so Plan B was to try to get my hands on some guava jam and to make my own. After searching a plethora of grocery stores—Safeway, Trader Joes, World Market, even the wallet-abusing Whole Foods, I wasn't able to find guava jam or guava paste anywhere. So I had to resort to good-old Amazon to purchase this can of guava paste (which looks very foreign and like it doesn't belong on any counter of any American grocery store).

The Brazilian Cheese Breads turned out to be quite difficult to master, so I opted for an easier option: Guava Pastries (also known as Pastelitos de Guayaba in Spanish), which luckily required only 5 ingredients: store-brought puff-pastry, cream cheese, guava paste, sugar, and egg.

I incorporated a tiny bit of sugar into my cream cheese to sweeten the mixture a little—but beware that guava-flavored jams/jellies are also very sweet themselves, so make sure to leave the work of sweetening the pastry to them and not the cream cheese.

Cut up each sheet of puff pastry into 9 pieces and spread some cream cheese and some chopped guava paste on the bottom layer. Brush an egg around the corners to seal the top layer, and then make slits to ensure that pastry has a nice puff. Finish off with a nice layer of egg wash.

I like to add a bit of a pattern around the edges with a fork and to ensure that they're completely sealed. Then pop those in a 400˚F (200˚C) oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and enjoy! -Staples Easy Button Voice- That was easy, right?

Super Easy Guava Pastries

Ingredients

• 2 sheets of puff pastry, frozen *
• 7 oz (around 200 g) of guava paste **
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp sugar
• 7 oz (around 200 g) of cream cheese

Takes 30 min, Makes 9.

* I used store-brought, since watching how pastry is made/judged on the Great British Baking Show has frightened me too much to even bother
** I used a little less than a regular-size box

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400˚F (200˚C).


2. Take out the puff pastry out of the freezer. It's important that the puff pastry stays cold, since the colder it is, the more it will puff up in the oven.


3. Slice both sheets of the frozen puff pastry into 9 equal squares. I found that doing this while the pastry is still cold was easier and made for more even pieces. Roll out each of the squares into larger squares.


4. Thoroughly mix the sugar into the cream cheese with either a hand mixer—or if you want more of a bicep workout, you can just use a regular whisk like me. :)
 

5. Slice up the guava paste into small pieces (Mine were around 1'"x 1/2" and half a cm in thickness). Then spread a small amount of cream cheese in the center of each bottom layer square of the puff pastry. Top with two pieces of guava paste.


6. Beat an egg and brush the outside edges of each bottom layer pastry square.


7. Cover each bottom layer (now filled with cream cheese and guava paste) with the top layer pastry. Press together to ensure that they are well-sealed (you can also use a fork like I did to create a pattern around the edges and to seal them together more tightly). Make 3 small slits on the top to allow the pastry to puff up easily.


8. Finish them off with brushing the beaten egg on top of each pastry.


9. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and allow them them to bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown

These were the perfect treat for one the most horrendously-windy and cold weekends in San Francisco. I sat at home eating these and felt like I was on a beach in Miami :-) If you have some left over, make sure to pop them in the microwave for around 15 seconds before eating (and be careful of the hot guava filling!).

♥ Cindy

Born in 93, I can't say that I'm an expert on 90s culture or fashion because for most of the decade I was too young recognize or comprehend the trends that were thriving around me. I can say though, that this 90s revival in the 2010s has introduced a lot of colorful turtlenecks and mom jeans into my closet, and a variety of brown and burgundy lipsticks into my makeup drawer. So for this post I dug up a few items that I think represented the 90s the best and attempted to recreate a look that a high school student in the 90s may have rocked walking back from school.

I definitely did not dress like this in high school. Neither was I creative enough to even consider assembling an outfit like this one (or confident enough to actually wear it). I guess it all comes down to the fact that now, I stare at Pinterest way too much at work... -sigh-

Apparel: Velvet Mock Neck Tee in Burnished Rust (Madewell) | Petite Double Breasted Checkered Blazer (ASOS, similar one here) | Button-up Denim Skirt (Topshop) | Knee-high socks (H&M) | White Jelly Heels (American Apparel)

Makeup: Lips (Labiotte Wine Lip Tint in Shiraz Red) | Brows (Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Dark Brown) | Eyeliner (Son & Park True Black Pen Liner) | Under-eye Concealer (Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Custard) 

Location: Jeff and I explored a quiet street in San Francisco's North Beach area, just far away enough from the Coit Tower to avoid the tourists. Before sunset, we managed to get some shots of cool shadows peeking through trees scattered across the victorian-style homes which dominated this area. 

Photos: Jeffery Wang

♥ Cindy