Curiously Carmen

Food: Nuba – Mount Pleasant Location

It was Avocado’s birthday, so I told her to pick a restaurant to go to! She suggested Nuba, which sounded good to me! I came here once before three years ago, but to the Gastown location. This visit, we went to the Olympic Village location because it was easier to find parking in this area.

Although I did say above that this was their Olympic Village location, I guess I should clarify and correct myself because this Nuba location isn’t actually in Olympic Village. It is located on the outskirts of Olympic Village, a block away from Earnest and by Main Street.

Walking in, the decor at this location was very geometric, colourful and had sort of a 70s but modern twist to it. I quite enjoyed the decor here and the restaurant was pretty comfortable. Towards the end of our dinner when the sun had set, they dimmed the lights and gave each table a candle!
Garden falafel,$9: The falafel was a blend of chickpeas, fava beans, veggies, and spices. It was quite delicious, flavourful and savoury. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve tried falafel before but I was certainly impressed with this one.

It also came with a refreshing side of hummus, which we put inside the complementary pita bread. The green sauce on the side was also tasty and spicy.
Chicken tawook with hummus, $12: Oh man, this was absolutely delicious! The chicken was incredibly juicy, fragrant and bursting with flavour. There was a nice grilled taste to it as well. Adding the vegan tzatziki sauce on the side and hummus, I would order this again in a heartbeat!

Also, we didn’t even know that the tzatziki sauce was vegan until the waitress told us… we definitely thought it was made out of yogurt or sour cream. How amazing!!!
Chocolate quinoa cake with Earnest cardamom ice cream, $8: I suggested walking over to Earnest Ice Cream afterwards, but Avocado was not feeling it. But, we decided on trying the chocolate quinoa cake which came with a side of cardamom ice cream from Earnest! So, I did get my Earnest fix after all.

The cardamom ice cream was unlike any flavour of ice cream I’ve tried before. It was very unique but I really enjoyed it, and would get a scoop of this next time I go to Earnest! It has a subtle, nutty flavour to it. So yummy.

The chocolate quinoa cake was a bit too dry and crumbly for my liking. It wasn’t moist enough and since the texture was different due to the quinoa.

Overall, we enjoyed our visit and the food was delicious! The only bad thing is that portions are a bit small, which I remembered from last time. So don’t come completely starving!

Yay!

(Also, if you’re wondering/shocked why I had dairy *gasp*, I’ve been trying to incorporate a small amount into my diet to hopefully be able to eat it full on again. For those who are new here and wondering why this is shocking, it’s because I basically cut out all dairy two years ago due to stomach and digestive problems.)

Nuba Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Beauty: What’s In My Makeup Bag?

I have yet to do a makeup bag post because honestly, I don’t keep much in my makeup bag. Compared to other videos or blog posts I’ve seen, my makeup bag is quite minimal. However, I wanted to do a different type of beauty post today so I figured I would talk about it!

These products are in my makeup bag on a daily basis. But if I’m going to a nice event or something, then I would add some touch up products in my bag. I hate carrying many items in my bag so I try to keep it as light as I can!
Hand cream: The hand cream I’m currently using is a Nature Republic one, and was a gift from Korea. It has a nice, light floral scent and is very moisturizing.

Mirror: A tiny mirror is very handy on the go! I have a tiny, two sided bunny mirror that was gifted from Hong Kong.

Advil: You never know when you’ll get a headache… so I just keep some incase.

EmergenC: Honestly, I’m not sure why this is in here LOL. I must have brought it with me one time and forgot to use it. Anyways, now I just ended up keeping the pack in there. It’ll be good to have if I’m feeling a bit sick.

Tweezers: For that ONE pesky hair that suddenly appears from nowhere! Ugh.

Bandaid: For saving your feet from painful blisters! Or cuts in general.
Lip balm: I purchased the Moody Bee lip balm on a whim at work one day, when my lips were super dry and I didn’t have lip balm with me. Surprisingly, it’s been one of the best lip balms I’ve used and I use it daily! It’s also a local brand which is nice.

Lipstick: I used to carry 3+ different lipsticks in my bag, but that was overkill so now I just have my MAC lipstick in ladybug. It’s a nice, classic red that you can’t go wrong with!

Lipgloss: Sometimes I like to just use this Island Girl lipgloss for some shine. I also like to layer this with my MAC lipstick above.
Face cream: Last but not least, I keep a few Fresh face cream samples from Sephora! My skin goes through random dry periods so it’s convenient to have this in my makeup bag.

When listing them out, it seems like quite a few products but it really isn’t. All of the products are very light and compact, which is what I’m looking for when carrying it around on a daily basis.

What’s in your makeup bag?

Food: Mr. Chili Noodle House (Two visits)

When Mr. Chili popped up in the area last year, I was quite excited to try it because I looooove noodles. However, the initial reviews online weren’t that good so my excitement died down. For the past few months, they have been on Groupon so I decided it was time to try it.

I didn’t realize I bought two Groupons for this place on two separate occasions so I went twice… but once was probably enough as it was meh.

I feel like many people don’t know that this place exists. I’ve told my parents, boyfriends, and a few friends about it and they’re all like ??? despite frequenting this area. It’s one of those places that you just pass by without a second glance.

Both Groupons were essentially 50% off the bill. If you’d like to be specific, the first Groupon was $10 for $20 worth of food, while the second Groupon was $20 for $40 worth of food. Again, I don’t remember why I bought two Groupons… must have been really tired the first time and forgot that the Groupon existed…

One thing I’ll give Mr. Chili is their interior design and decor. In fact, I loved their design more than I loved the food.

It’s also very clean and spotless in here (maybe because no one ever comes? LOL ok I’ll stop being so harsh...)

Beef Noodle Soup, $9.50: This beef noodle soup was DEFINITELY not worth $9.50. The soup was very flat and flavourless. It tasted just like salt water. In addition, the brisket was quite tough and flavourless as well.

On the plus, I quite enjoyed the noodles. They had a denser texture to them and were cooked perfectly.

Chicken laksa, $8.95: On the first visit, the boyfriend decided to go with the laksa. It was a way better choice than mine because the laksa actually had flavour to it and was creamy. There was also a good amount of spice. Meanwhile, the chicken was tender.

Now, it’s time for the second visit!

Seafood laksa noodle soup, $8.95: Since the boyfriend’s chicken laksa soup was pretty good during our first visit, he and my mom decided to try the seafood version instead.

When it arrived, they were both pretty disappointed with the amount of “seafood” inside. It came with a measly 3 fish balls cut in half so it looked like more, a small piece of shrimp, dried shrimp flakes, and a mussel (which was very small).

The soup was still flavourful but the value didn’t seem worth it. Better off to get the chicken laksa instead.

Spicy pork intestine noodle soup, $8.50: My dad enjoyed the spicy pork intestine, which I found surprising because he can be very picky sometimes!

Tomato seafood noodle soup, $8.95: I decided to try this since the beef noodle soup was disappointing (see above). This was disappointing as well. The soup was very bland, with only a hint of tomato flavour.

All in all, Mr. Chili was quite meh. Would I recommend coming here without a Groupon (aka paying full price)? Definitely not.

Service was also very, very, very slow. On the second visit, my mom’s seafood laksa came first and she was almost done her bowl before the rest of ours came. In addition, the 2 servers seemed very frazzled, confused, and rushed all the time… but there were only 3 tables??? We think that there was only one kitchen staff because our food came out super slow and one at a time.

Honestly not too sure how this place will survive with how quiet it is. I really wanted to like this place so I had a close noodle joint to go to but there are a lot of better noodle options in the Lower Mainland.

Nay….

Mr.Chili Noodle House Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Beauty: LUSH Sleepy Lotion

Lately, my social media feeds have been filled with the LUSH Sleepy lotion, which many avid users are claiming that it helps them fall asleep instantly and soundly for the entire night. It even got featured on a few non-beauty media outlets as a cure for insomia! As someone who has struggled with sleeping problems and insomnia for over 6 years, I was really curious but also doubtful.

I decided to try a tub and see if it would be the miracle cream that everyone has claimed it would be. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed with its claims.
What it says (Taken from Lush website):

Slather on this gorgeous pale purple lotion, breathe in its sweet, comforting lavender and tonka perfume and you’ll instantly feel at ease. Glycerin, cocoa butter and almond oil work together to moisturize skin and lock in hydration to keep skin soft, supple and comfortable all day or all night long. Say hello to your new nightly ritual! Zzz…
There are two tub sizes, I bought the larger one which was approximately $20. A bit more expensive than the drugstore lotions I use, but hey, if this was to solve my chronic sleeping problems and cure my anxiety, it would be worth it.

Anyways, I agree with everyone that the smell is AMAZING. It smells like lavender with a hint of warm almond and vanilla. Smelling this definitely cheered me up and I found myself applying it apart from bedtime because it smelled that good.

I tried this over a course of a week, and looked forward to applying it because it smelled so good. It didn’t help me fall asleep instantly, or fall into a deep sleep. But, because it smelled so good, so I would inhale deeper. And deep breathing = relaxing and calming.
-Smells very amazing and comforting
-Very hydrating
-Relaxing scent
-Did not make me feel sleepy
-Did not make me fall asleep faster or sleep better
Hmm… Although disappointed that it didn’t improve my sleep, I would still give this a yay because it really does smell wonderful and happy. In the meantime, I will continue to rely on my wind-down sleep routine to help me fall and stay asleep.

Yay??

Beauty: Wunderbrow

For the past year and a half, I have seen sooo many ads on the Wunderbrow. They looked pretty gimicky though. I must admit that they intrigued me, but never enough to purchase it and try for myself.

Since the boyfriend and I are finally going on an (airplane) vacation after four years to Mexico, I decided to look up some waterproof makeup products. That’s when I came across the Wunderbrow again and after watching many test videos, decided to order it off Amazon!

Is it really waterproof and does it live up to its 3 day claim?! Let’s find out!

What it says (Taken from website):

Perfect even the most disobedient of brows with our one-step, long-wear eyebrow gel, WUNDERBROW from WUNDER2! Define, fill and thicken for a more natural brow look that is completely waterproof, smudge-proof, transfer-proof and lasts up to 3 days. Easily brush on the natural looking gel, infused with ‘hair-like’ fibers to fill and sculpt.
As mentioned above, I ordered the Wunderbrow off Amazon and it arrived within 2 days with prime. It comes with a little spoolie too.

Application: All the reviews I watched/read mentioned that the brush tip (pictured above) sucks and is really hard to use. Indeed, I agree with this. You definitely can not use the brush that it comes with. I found it easiest to apply with a stiff angle brush.

The application took a bit longer and was kind of annoying. I found that I constantly had to dip my angled brush in the product and slowly dab it. In particular, the end of my left eyebrow was quite hard to do as the product wouldn’t stick so it became patchy in that one area only. For that area, I just had to dip extra product.

Wear: Here is the most important part! Does it live up to it’s claim of 3 days smudge proof, transfer proof, and waterproof?! The answer is… somewhat. Why somewhat?

I was very surprised when I rubbed my finger over my eyebrows, and literally nothing smudged off or transferred! After a shower, my eyebrows looked the same and after doing the finger rubbing test again, nothing transferred or smudged!

However, it definitely does not last 3 days. I would give it 24 hours at most. I tested this to sleep, and when I woke up, probably 50% of the product is there.

Here are two videos of me doing the smudge and transfer proof test!

In this video, I waited a minute for the product to try beforehand.

Perfectly in tact after a shower!

Here is a photo with me in the morning after washing my face/brushing my teeth etc. My natural eyebrows are a bit lighter, so the pigment is still there but it would need to be defined again.

(I do not recommend sleeping with any sort of makeup on, but when a product claims to last 3 days and be waterproof, it had to be tested.)

Overall, I am quite impressed with the Wunderbrow and will be taking it with me to Mexico! Usually, products that claim to be waterproof aren’t waterproof at all and will smudge… but the Wunderbrow did not fail me.

I haven’t decided if I will be testing out any waterproof eyeliners too, but the Pixi Endlessly Silky Pen really impressed me last month so perhaps I will just bring that.  Let me know if you have any waterproof suggestions!

Yay!

Product purchased by me. Opinions are own.