ClassPass week #2 complete!

Oh my dearest blog, I haven’t forgotten about you! I’ll be posting a quick update on my ABeauty life a bit, as lackluster as it has been. But for now, it’s time to update things on the wellness front for a little bit too.

Because of my aforementioned work stress, I inadvertently stopped fully taking care of myself. I wasn’t eating right, I wasn’t working out, and my outlook just wasn’t the same. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that a weight had been lifted. Things are much better and I’m feeling close to how I felt before this whole mess began.

My friend was trying to get me to join ClassPass while I was still trying to figure out everything with work. I knew about ClassPass back when it was only $99 but never felt compelled to join because I enjoyed the idea of sticking to a gym/studio. But after belonging to 3 since I started trying to be active in 2014, I started to see the disadvantages. The class offerings were the same and after trying the ones that interested me and worked with my schedule*, I started to plateau. I’d know the Zumba choreographies, the order of Pilates movements. The same muscles are targeted in the barre classes. And treadmills get boring. It all got boring for me.

*And that’s another huge disadvantage: some classes I wanted to take didn’t work with my schedule. Talk about frustrating.

I was initially worried that if I joined ClassPass, I’d be stuck with mat classes and couldn’t keep building my love for the Pilates Reformer. So before I pulled the trigger to join, I looked through my friend’s app and saw the range of places offering apparatus classes, not just reformer! I was sold. I went home and joined and booked two classes.

post-birthday reflections

The past week has been an incredibly relaxing one. All of my work superiors were on vacation which meant I could have a little bit of one too. One where I can reflect on how I feel about the current situation at work.

My biggest hesitation with work, and which is why I want to consider pursuing different things, is that no one ever really asked how I honestly felt about it. It became an assumption that I would take things on in lieu of everyone leaving. They all have moved out of the office and aside from a few happy hours to discuss their respective futures.. no one’s ever actually asked me point blank if it’s something I want to take on. They all took the easy way out by leaving with no contingency plan for anyone after them and I think that’s what more hurtful for me: the lack of professionalism.

I know more of what I don’t want in my life because of this. I can’t change my coworkers or my bosses, but at least I know what kind of environment I’d like to thrive in.

It’s been disturbing my brain more than anything to just think about work and the conversations I need to have upon their return. So I enjoyed the fact that I could have a relatively chill birthday celebration. Many of my friends were traveling so partying with them is postponed until this coming weekend, so I just had a whole bunch of cocktails with new friends. There was no pressure to go all out. I could just relax and do something completely new. It was absolutely refreshing and a great way to start my new year.

This year has started so hectic but I’m really enjoying how it is turning out. Maybe it’s masochistic of me, but I can feel that great and new opportunities are waiting for me in the horizon. I can taste it.

FounderMade Event: Building the Future of Wellness

When I got the news about work that threw me for a loop, I started reassessing what my passion is/could be, what would be an alternative to give me more opportunities to learn. The news meant I would get even more responsibility than I already have, to be spread even more thinly than I have been. I would take on too much, literally serving too many masters at once. It’s not healthy for my work life nor my personal life.

After a good brainstorm + Google session, searching for “health and wellness” and “entrepreneurs” (since I’ve been working with entrepreneurs, I enjoy their company more and enjoy learning from/with them), I stumbled upon FounderMade’s website that featured a Wellness summit, to listen to a panel of successful health and wellness entrepreneurs, to see new companies selling their new idea, and to try a bunch of new products that will most likely gain a significant following in the years to come.

Seeing that site was like the sign I needed. It sounded exactly what I needed to gain some insight into the industry. Maybe even some inspiration. So I bought a VIP ticket so I could get a fun goodie bag while I was there.

The event was yesterday from 10:30am-6pm. My first ever summit kind of event. It was incredibly difficult to network with anyone. There were too many people in general, and they mostly stuck to people they already knew, not very receptive to any newcomers. Or they shuttled away to their own exclusive corner. I felt very out of my element. It wasn’t like I was looking for a job nor did I have a crazy laundry list of questions to ask on the spot, so I guess it’s understandable if I didn’t get much from it in that regard. I just wished there were more friendlier, easily approachable types there, but I think it was geared for entrepreneurs to get ideas anyway. Or for people to reconnect.

At the end of the day, I had a great time learning about companies that have a similar mission of what I want to ultimately pursue. I did realize a lot of the advice they were giving entrepreneurs were things I already knew/practiced at work. But I listened to some inspiring people, got business cards with founders that I hope to speak with, whether it’s to pick their brain, to hopefully shadow someone, or to see how I could possibly help them with their business in any way I can down the road. I definitely had a good time. Only thing that would’ve made it better was if I could’ve met a mentor easily, or able to spread my business card around. But everything that’s worth doing requires baby steps and a little bit of elbow grease. Something’s bound to work out in the end as a result.

Not to mention, my application to Duke’s Integrative Health Coaching Professional Training was approved. I’ll be working towards being a health coach in May! That’ll give me enough time to save up for the program and travel expenses and to reveal my plans at work.

What a crazy January it’s been. Now onto February 🙂

xx Snuffy

the start to my wellness journey

It feels like awhile since I last typed up a post, or even had one scheduled. But it’s mainly in part due to the insanity my mind has been through since New Years.

This year looks like it’s going to be a very, very big transitional one for me. It started with news that threw me off guard, but it really has been a long time coming. Work has been awfully slow. I’ve felt stagnant for awhile, and I’ve been in denial about it for just as long. I embraced this lull because they’re usually so rare. I relished the lack of stress, the fact that an 8 hour workday can be condensed in a few hours. I’ve been enjoying it while it lasted because at least I could have time to focus on myself. But now the runway’s running out and it feels like a giant sign telling me to think about doing something else.

I’ve been reading a lot of career articles from The Muse (if you haven’t heard about them, subscribe now!) even before the new year and found one about what recruiters would think of you based on how many years you’ve spent at a job. It’s been a little more than 3 years for me and what the author found out from others is true: there is no more upward mobility for me. And that it feels like the time for a complete career change.

I’m ready to belong in an industry where I know what I’m doing is for the greater good… I want to see my hard work positively affect people. I want to be able to apply the skills I have and learn more. I’ve always been a person who loves learning and I’m ready to do it in a different industry.

I don’t know how exactly but I want to work in health and wellness, not necessarily as a trainer or a nutritionist. (Maybe I can apply my analytical, quantitative skills a bit while jump-starting my creativity back into shape?) I dabbled into h&w a little bit when I was in college. I had a great time and enjoyed working with people, especially when I was coaching and training new members. My interest in health has been pretty innate; I was born into a medical family so I’m naturally drawn to anything health related. I highly respect the field, but I personally am more interested in preventing fires, not putting them out.

For the past 3 years, I’ve been trying to figure out the best way of being the best I can be. I used it as a time to heal from all my personal life-changing events. I started exercising regularly and found Pilates which I now could never do without. I embrace my body and all its flaws. I got rid of toxic friendships and only surround myself with positivity. I’ve done all the necessary things to be up to snuff. That’s where I got the title of this blog… we spend our whole lives trying to be better: better at work, friendships, relationships, family, health, being ourselves, the list goes on. I focused on Korean/Asian beauty products because I was trying to be better at learning about it and how it would help to achieve my skincare goals. But my original intention for this blog has always been deeper than that.

Which goes back to what I want out of this blog.

So I’m taking this time out from my regular skincare programming to introduce a new topic of my blog: my journey to wellness. These posts will include some random bits of wisdom I’ve learned over the years. They will also track my progress on how I’ll be transitioning out of my job and figuring out if going into this industry is really what I want to do. I don’t know that yet. I don’t know if there’s a place for me in this growing industry, but I haven’t felt this confident and passionate about a something/a life choice in years. I’m genuinely excited about what’s to come, what the future holds, and what I’ll learn along the way.

With that being said, if any health and wellness entrepreneurs stumble upon here, I would absolutely love to learn from you! Give me a shout and I’d love to pick your brain.

Here’s to 2016- may it bring us one step closer to being a better version of ourselves.

xx Snuffy

Review // Peach & Lily in Flushing

I’m ashamed to admit that as a native New Yorker, I’ve never been to Flushing. I live in Manhattan, so planning out a good chunk of time to commute all the way out there was a big reason why I’ve never been. And since learning about KBeauty, I knew I had to remedy this.

Peach & Lily recently opened a brick-and-mortar store in the Macy’s in Flushing. I found out that founder Alicia Yoon was going to be there on-and-off during the holiday season, giving skin consultations, answering questions.. and there’s a skin analysis machine.

I was sold. Out of all the KBeauty stores to check out in Flushing, this had to be my first one. I’ve never bought from P&L so this seemed like a perfect opportunity: I could get my skin analyzed and get something that would work based on the findings all in one visit. I’ve been relying on whatever I’ve researched online.. but now I could have something relatively tailored for my skin!

I was SO excited. However… this required some planning on my part. I wanted to visit on a weekday afternoon so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed with the after-work/weekend rush on the trains and at Macy’s. And I got my golden opportunity yesterday. I was the only one at work and I finished everything I needed to do in the morning. So I took the 7 train to the end of the line.

I made a beeline for Macy’s, bobbed and weaved through the crowds and other beauty kiosks… and there it was. Tucked behind the Kiehl’s section on the first floor… at least I think it was Kiehl’s.. I was too starstrucked and enamored because it looked like this:

so streamlined and pretty!

The space itself was small but all the products were in view, organized by routine order. It was so bright and pretty! And they definitely used the space well. I almost got too lost in the eye candy… but I snapped out of it and asked the associate (her name was Lei) if I could get my skin analyzed. She said I came at a good time (it was 2:30pm) since it wasn’t busy. Definitely my plan to get all my questions answered.. go me.

Review // IOPE Air Cushion XP (N31) + my road to finding it

A story of how I hated foundations.. until I found the IOPE Air Cushion (jump to the review here for the tl;dr my anecdote)

I am a huge believer in not wearing makeup. HUGE. I sincerely love not wearing any. I love having my natural beauty show and I figured if I can look good without makeup, just wait until I actually put some effort.

…yes, I can get pretty cocky.

I think my overall aversion to makeup started with all the teenage experimentation I did with it, particularly with one type in particular: foundations. I hated foundations. Everything I tried felt heavy on my face. I didn’t like that feeling knowing something was on my face. I’d be more conscious if it felt itchy and dry. It became very distracting. So for the longest time, my makeup stash just consisted of eye makeup and concealers- I still needed a way to hide my blemishes.

I’ve finally hit that point that I realized I need to start using a foundation. It just seemed like the ultimate “I need to grow up” beauty task. There will be times when I need to look professional in the future and concealers alone sometimes can’t cut it.

Last year I was on the hunt for something that would be lightweight and put enough cover on my face that it’ll be natural. A decade has gone by since the last time I thought about foundation. There has to be something new out there that matches that.

Then I learned about BB creams. The fact that one thing was the ultimate multi-tasker made it seem like the stars aligned and I found my makeup Prince Charming. I bought a sample of the Smashbox BB cream from Sephora. I don’t know… there’s something that didn’t work for me. It did everything it said it would but I didn’t love it. I thought it was because I used my fingers to apply it to my face, so I bought a dupe BeautyBlender from my local drugstore. Even if the application was more even than before, I still didn’t love it.

First Impressions // Black Friday Soko Glam haul + a rave

I put my order in on Friday. Granted close to 12am because I was on a Thanksgiving buzz. But that isn’t the point. Point is, my package was waiting for me when I got home today! Thanks SG and thank you 2-Day Priority Mail. You’ve changed the lives of consumers everywhere.

I took advantage of the 30% sale they were having and snagged a couple of their 2015 Beauty Award winners. This was actually my first order from them ever but I’ve definitely been eyeing their products for awhile. I almost jumped the gun and bought a couple of things a few weeks ago but then remembered Black Friday is a thing. So I sat tight until now.

how it all began

My skincare journey started only in March of this year (I wasn’t kidding with being a rookie). My routine up until that point was simply wash my face with water, then apply generic drugstore brand moisturizer. Whenever I had breakouts, I had Retin-A on deck. That was it. Surprisingly, my skin cooperated despite my spartan choice. Sure, I would have dry patches in the winter and I’d have hormonal related breakouts… but nothing too disastrous. It was normal to me.

But I had just turned 25 and I, like I’m sure many others out there, found it as a significant milestone. I thought starting now, I’d need to be more proactive with establishing a sturdy foundation of good habits now so it would stick for the rest of my life. Dramatic, I know. But it was the dead of winter; it had the right amount of bleakness to it.

And then I saw this article from Yahoo! Beauty on my computer.

It intrigued me. This company turned 25. I turned 25. But what’s a serum? Oh well, I might as well get that thing since it’s for people like me!