Travel Log - Olvera Street (Downtown Los Angeles, CA)

Today my mom and I went to Chinatown and drove by one of many infamous places here in Los Angeles, California, Olvera Street, and decided to stop and walk around.

Here's comes a little history for you guys to know more about this place. Olvera Street is actually the oldest part of Downtown Los Angeles, California that was founded by a group of Spanish settlers and is now part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument. Besides having recognition for displaying 27 historic houses there's also a Mexican marketplace that surrounds Olvera Street.

Colorful and unique accessories from the Mexican marketplace unravels the quaintness of Mexican culture!

My favorite are the sweet stands from the marketplace. Prices ranges from 15¢ to a few dollars. I love the fact that everything is more fresh compared to the ones sold in the stores. You guys have to try out the strawberry balls from these stands as it's my absolute favorite. Speaking of it, I really want one now!!!

If you guys are planning to eat something here at Olvera Street then I would recommend you guys to try out  Cielito Lindo as it was one of the most popular eatery with a lot of people in line. This shop got a 4 out of 5 stars of Yelp. Best part of this little shop is that all food prices include tax!

Menu with pricing as of 12/31/2011

Easily Creating Gradient Effects For Nail

Hi, long time no see! Today I'm going to teach you guys how to create a gradient effect for your nails easily at home. After six easy steps the transition of colors will be very similar to ones done at a salon with a nail air bush spray gun. Have fun and experiment with different colors!

Woot! Savior for My Clogged Pores (Sexy Look Black head Pore Cleanser Set)

Have you guys ever been bothered by clogged pores on your nose especially if they are midway popping out but actually stuck there?! Well, I have this problem and it's been bother me as my clogged pores looks like tiny black dots underneath my skin. I know my situation is a lot better then this girl I know that uses a pair of tweezers to pluck out her blackheads. Yes, I know it sounds gross but she does it almost everyday and if she skips a day her pores look so clogged that you can actually see black/white heads emerging out of her skin.

I used to use a pore extracting tool every 1-2 weeks to clean out my clogged pores, but the only problem I have is that the black heads would reappear after 2-3 days. At times it would even irritate and dry out my skin as I was pressing down too hard. I've also tried using Loreal's pore strips but it doesn't really work for me as the adhesiveness is NOT sticky enough and it'll only remove 20% of my black heads. Therefore, after seeking for a instant pore removal product for a long time I finally ran across Sexylook's  3 steps pore cleaning product. I am totally in love with this product right now! It cleans out like 70-80% of my black heads plus my black heads don't come back for at least 1 week. I guess the key to this product is the step two pink color peeling mask as it's so strong that it'll even remove your facial hair and takes a lot of strength to peel it off. Overall, I would buy this product again as it really works on me and its pretty cheap at $20 for 3 bottles of products that I'm sure you can use over 20 -30 times. Good luck with this product if you guys are planning to try it out and hopefully you guys will have the same results as I do!

For those of you guys that do not read Chinese, I translated the instructions and you can see it in the picture. 

Here's a close up of my nose after using this product. It's a little red as the adhesiveness on this mask was very strong and it's quite painful to pull it off because you can also feel your facial hair coming off too.

14 Days of Living with Gamila's Secret

I have some good news for you guys! I think this Gamila Secret is real as its really different from other soaps I’ve used in the pass as it’s lather is very gooey like how it feels when you get glue stick on your fingers and you can see tiny little stings forming as you are trying pull your fingers away.  It’s hard to describe so you really have to try it for yourself in order to understand my feelings. I actually love the smell of this product when I’m using it as it infuses a strong scent of herbs into the air. This soap claims to be made from 100% natural ingredients, totally free of synthetic substances such as preservatives, dye, emulsifiers, waxes and pore-clogging mineral oils but upon first usage I notice that this bar actually lather up upon contact with water so it makes me wonder if they have added glycerin as part of their cleaning agent. Hopefully Gamila did not add glycerin and the lathering was part of the mysterious 15 herbs not described in the ingredients list. My skin did feel very clean and soft after leaving the lather on for 30 minutes then washing it off. So far, I do like this bar of soap but I think I’ll have to use it a bit longer to decide if this block of soap was really worth purchasing for $20.


After using this soap for around 14 consecutive days I do feel like my skin is a lot smoother. Basically I just replace my regular body soap and use this instead and my skin looks very moisturized and clean. I used to have very rough elbows and scaly legs but the condition really improved and it almost seems like I have lotion myself every time after I shower. Eventually, I began using this soap on my face because I've heard that it'll make you break out but luckily that didn't happen to me. Although the soap didn't make a big difference on my face as it really didn't have any problem to begin with, but I did find something else great about it and that's cleanly removing makeup off my face. Overall, I love this product as it's one of the best soap I've ever used and I'll definitely buy it again!

A taste of Gamila's Secret

Recently I’ve read about a beauty item called Gamila’s Secret from Israel that’s suppose to clean and heal skin conditions to renew and allow the deepest layer of skin to reach the outer surface within 28 days of daily usage. At first I was very reluctant to purchase this tiny bar of soap as it was for $20 but I changed my mind when I found out that this soap was made from cooking olive oil, Shea butter, grape seed oil, sweet almond oil, laurel oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, and fifteen different secret local herbs for more than 40 hours until it condenses then left to air dry for 6 months. Although the ingredients listed are very common in a lot of organic soap sold at my local beauty stores but I think by making the other 15 herbal ingredients a mystery really captivated my attention and lured me into giving their products a try. Another reason why I decided to buy this product was because it was labeled to help skin conditions and my skin gets extra sensitive during the summer time so it’ll be nice if can help improve it.

Well, I actually ordered the original scented Gamila’s Secret off of Ebay as this product is actually not being sold in the United States. My package was shipped from a seller directly from Israel where this product was made and took about 3 weeks to arrive.  Upon receiving my package I was quite disappointed as the soap is a lot smaller than that I expected at a size of around 2”W x 2”L x 1.5”H. In addition, the soap was packaged in a cheap looking plastic foldable box and cannot be compared to the big deluxe looking packaging for the Gamila Secret sold in Europe. The first thought that ran into my mind was “Did I buy a counterfeit item?” but after moments of calming myself down I rather choose to believe that this item is real and has a different packaging as its commonly sold in Israel. Alright, I admit I’m still not sure if it’s authentic but by looking at it it looks real and smells like it’s made from combining lots of herbs together. Although my block of soap does look a little smaller than the one I saw from Gamila’s advertising videos but I’m still giving this block of $20 thing a try.

Honestly, I was just being frugal and didn’t want to buy from the one and only person who was selling a European version of Gamila Secret online because it cost about $30 which is ten whole dollar more for the same product. Apparently, I convinced myself that buying from someone from the land of origin for this item is the best bet as it’s nice to help people from a less developed country plus $20 is already really expensive so I really cannot convince myself to fork out $10 more dollars to buy a block of soap. I think if I do purchase another one I would buy from a seller with a European packaging instead to compare the difference. Alright now, I’ve decided to give my Gamila Secret a try today and hopefully by me crossing my fingers and praying at the same time, my block of soap will be authentic and cleanse and detox my skin  . I’ll keep you guys posted on what happens!