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| Rimmel London Pure Natural Powder Foundation |
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Rimmel Pure Natural Powder Foundation
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Japan Haul
Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler Duo Set (¥1900)
Saw this at the duty-free at Narita Airport, so I got it. They sold an individual one for ¥1000, so I might as well buy the duo set and save ¥100. It comes out to roughly $12 for one. Good buy! When you open it, each comes in an individual box too.
Rohto Lycee Eyedrops(8mL) (¥498)
Heard a lot about this and decided to get it to give it a try. It's for inflammation of the eyes that causes redness. I tried it the other night and it was pretty good. My first reaction was literally, "Is it suppose to sting like this?" But then it started to have a cool sensation, which is one of the desired effects. It's like mint for your eyes. The solution is pink, but don't let that scare you.
Biore UV Perfect Milk SPF 50+ PA++ (¥598)
I first tried this product a few years ago when my sister brought one back from Japan. I have been hooked ever since. The formula is, like the product says, milky. It's not sticky at all and it goes on so smoothly. I love it.
Forever 21 and Daiso False Lashes (¥180 & ¥105)
They sell falsies at Forever 21 in the US, but they don't have a lot to choose from. At this Forever 21 in Shibuya, they had a whole wall of false lashes and many to choose from. I don't usually wear fake lashes. I usually only wear them on nice occasions where it calls to be dressed up. False lashes are HUGE in Japan. A lot of the younger generations of Japanese girls are wearing them and they sell them everywhere! The quality of the lashes are not bad at all. They are synthetic hairs, which I prefer over real human hair. I just can't seem to handle the fact of putting other people's hair anywhere near my eyes. (>_<") Daiso is actually a ¥100 store in Japan (aka a dollar store). They had a large selection to choose from as well (pretty sure there were at least 13 styles). They have cross-type, straight-type, natural types, as well as dramatic types. They are synthetic as well. You can purchase them separately like I did, or you can get an entire box of 10 pairs for ¥1050. I picked up some pretty dramatic ones (for me, they are dramatic). As you can see, I picked up No. 1 and No.4. I also really liked No. 3, but they did not have them anymore when I went back to the store a few days later! I guess it was a popular one. The set in the green box was a free gift from taking sticker pictures.
Shiseido Perfect Oil and Perfect Whip
Got these two on sale! Haven't tried the cleansing oil yet. I like the Perfect Whip cleanser because it leaves my skin feeling soft. (I have dry skin.) The first time I used it, I used a pea-sized amount and to my surprise, it foamed up so much! When using this product, you only need a little dab of it. Use it as you would any cleanser.
Rimmel London Pure Natural Powder Foundation in OC1 (¥1400)
This is Rimmel's newest product in Japan. It first caught my eye because I saw the display of a baby and I got curious. So I went to try the tester and I was so surprised as to how soft this foundation is. On the box, it says it's mineral clay and made with rosemary, marigold, and olive. It is also SPF 25. In Japan, they don't have a lot of different shades in foundations, but this is the lightest shade. It's a little too yellow for me, but it blends well and is super soft (like a baby's bum)! They sold the compact for this separately, for around 600yen, but I didn't get it.
Canmake Products
This is my first time getting Canmake products. I have heard great things about this brand. Going clockwise starting from the top, I got 2 Melty Nude Lipsticks in 04 Peach Beige and 03 Baby Pink, Four Shiny Eyes palette in 05 Bitter Coffee , Cream Cheek in 05 Sweet Apricot and 08 Marshmallow Pink, Powder Cheek in PW23 Peach Pink, Gradation Wink in 02 Chocolate Millefeuille, and ShimmerJelly Eyes in 04 Frozen Melon. At first look, I didn't like any of the eyeshadows because I thought they were too shimmery and glittery (most of the eyeshadows in Japan are all shimmery and glittery--literally could not find any matte ones at all). I like shimmery, but the ones in Japan were more glittery than shimmery. The ones I purchased were the ones that were not so bad. The cream eyeshadow works well and is very blendable. The lippies are really creamy and they are the perfect nude colors!
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| 04 Peach Beige |
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| 03 Baby Pink |
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| Top: Peach Beige, Bottom: Baby Pink |
Shiseido Majolica Majorca
Got 2 Lash Expanders because I heard very very good reviews on them. Their palettes did not attract me at all. They were too shimmery and I did not like the color combos much. I just got 2 individual shadows in WT920 and BR784. WH920 is a shimmery white color with a little peach undertone. BR784 is a brown color with gold shimmer.
K-Palette 24hr Eyeliner/ 1 Day Tattoo
This is a liquid pen eyeliner and I bought it because it was supposedly the number 1 eyeliner in Japan. This one I got came with free eyelashes. So I experimented with it on my hand. I drew a line on the back of my hand and I just let it be. Through all the hand washings and showers, this eyeliner lasted approximately 2 days! I was even trying to scratch it off on day 2. It seriously lasts a long time.
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| Visee Glam Shade Eyes BR-2 |
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| Visee Glam Shade Eyes GY-6 |
Visee Eyeshadow palettes
These were on sale for a little over 1000yen. They usually cost over 1800yen, so I saw it as a pretty good deal for a palette. BR-2 is a shimmery brown/neutral palette. GY-6 is a neutral, grayish palette. The middle color is actually more taupe-ish than it looks in the picture (in the picture, it looks like silver). Eyeshadow colors were nice, they had a blue palette that I really liked, but I didn't get it because I didn't want to waste money on a palette than I wouldn't use often. =T
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
My Trip to Japan (2011)
In the beginning of March, my sister and I went to Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka). We went for about 11 days (we had to extend a day because we were stuck in Japan because there was limited transportation to the airport due to the earthquake). For the most part, the trip was fun. Definitely did a lot of walking, sight-seeing, shopping, and eating.
My first impression on Japan wasn't so good because the people at the airport were giving us a hard time because we did not write down where we were staying in Japan. My sister was studying in Tokyo, so we were going to stay with her; however, we did not have her address on us. The lady at the immigration desk was being a total b*tch and being super anal. So we just put down a random hotel address from a brochure and went to a different person. That took us around 10 minutes. So when we finally got through, we went to go find our luggage and we could not find it! Then we found out that pick-up was finished! So we were running around looking for our luggages and found it at the information desk. So my trip definitely did not start well. Afterwards, my sisters and I had to take 1+ hour subway ride back to her place. My sister's place was tiny, but it fit all 3 of us.
Temples and shrines (Tokyo and Kyoto) - Cannot name all the temples and shrines I went to because there were so many. For the most part, they all look pretty similar but they are all unique to itself. Kyoto is famous for their temples and shrines because they had so many of them. At temples and shrines, you can always spot women wearing kimonos. There were many of them and they became an attraction because all the tourists were asking to take pictures with them.
Tokyo Disney Sea (my sister said this park was better than Tokyo Disneyland) - Fun day! We went on Tuesday thinking there won't be as much people since it was a work AND school day, but there were still a lot of people. One thing I like about the amusement parks in Japan is that they are all full of YOUNG people. Everyone at DisneySea were all younger people--high school students and young adults. I don't think I saw one old person at the park that day. There were a lot of young families (parents in their 20s and their babies). There was an amazing performance in the afternoon and fireworks at 8:30pm. Yes, we were at Disney the entire day just to wait for the fireworks at night. In my opinion, the fireworks were not that spectacular--the ones at the ballpark near my house was better. (>_<") The rides were very tame--no huge rollercoasters and for the most part, very children-friendly. I really enjoyed my time there (until I got grumpy from walking all day).
Ueno Zoo - They had elephants, tigers, lions, rhinos, and giraffes! (The zoos in NYC didn't even have those!)
Harajuku & Shibuya - People-seeing and shopping, but I didn't see many Harajuku girls, which is kind of disappointing. Shibuya is a shopping haven, we went to a mall called Shibuya 109 and there were soooooo many pretty/kawaii girls there! I think they call it the himegyaru trend. They all had loads of makeup, fake eyelashes, very short skirts, heels, and all of them had blonde/brown hair. They all basically looked like dolls, but not all of them are pretty.
Ikebekuro and Sunshine City - A huge mall and shopping district as well. The mall is so big, you can spend the whole day there. I went shopping there twice. They have nice shops and also a section of the mall is a mini-mall itself. It had small shops that sold accessories, bags, and clothes. Ikebekuro also has a lot of restaurants and arcades! We went to about 4 arcades there and played UFO catchers. Spent so much money there, but it was worth it when we got the big toys. =D
Osaka Aquarium - A huge aquarium with lots of fish. It was basic one giant fish tank in the center and you start from the top and walk around it. There were also different tanks on the side. There were a lot of fish and penguins. The glass of the aquarium tank is apparently 30cm thick (~12 inches). Pretty impressive. They had an exhibit of clownfish and jellyfish too. It was nice.
Castles - Went to a few Japanese castles--one in Osaka and the other in Kyoto. Nijo Castle was really traditional--they had the nightingale floors that squeak when you walk on them. Osaka Castle was more grand on the outside and was more modern--they turned it into a museum.
Plum Grove - Plum blossom trees were just starting to bloom for the season. Would have been a lot nicer if we went a few weeks later when the blossoms are in full bloom.
Sushi - We went to eat sushi several times, mostly conveyor belt sushi (we went 3 times). They were all very delicious. I went to this one place in Osaka and I was just eating my sushi. I got this dish that I thought was tuna because the meat was pink (it was reddish and it had skin on it). It was seared on the skin. So I had no idea what this fish was and I ate it....turned out it was whale! (T^T) That night when I found out, I wanted to throw up. The next day, we went to the fish market in the morning to get fresh sushi. (Yes, sushi for breakfast.)
Japan Earthquake - At around 2-3pm on our second day in Kyoto, we were eating lunch when we felt the earthquake. At first, it felt like I was dizzy (as if I was tipsy). So I was like, "Is the room spinning, or is it just me?" So I looked at the ceiling lights and they were swirling around. It lasted for a good few minutes. My sisters and I thought it was the trains because we were eating at a restaurant at the station. Then a few hours later, my sister's host mom sent texts to us asking if we were okay and we were so confused! So that night, we found out there was a huge 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan! We called our parents at once to tell them we were okay. It was scary watching the news that night because they said the earthquake did a lot of damage in Tokyo as well. We were worried we would go back to my sister's apartment to a mess. We took the bullet train back to Tokyo the next day and when we got there, the room was okay. My sister's roommate was there at the apartment when it happened and she said it was really scary. Transit was affected and we heard that a lot of people had to walk home from their work places. It was almost like Sept.11 and the major blackout in NYC a few years ago. On Sunday, we went out and it was crazyyy. The people were trying to act all normal amongst the chaos--going to work as usual. But it was hard to carry on with all the news abut radiation, aftershocks, and rolling blackouts. Food at convenience stores and supermarkets were quickly running out. People were stocking up on foods and water. The government was issuing warnings and such. Everyone seemed fine on the outside, but inside, we were all panicking. Japanese people are so strong. They never appear worried and show too much negative emotions. The time I was in Tokyo after the earthquake, we felt some aftershocks, mostly in the morning. There were several really strong ones. It felt like a large truck crashed into the building. I cannot describe the feeling of being in an earthquake, it felt scary, eerie, and it definitely sent chills down my spine. It was fear. Every morning I felt the aftershock, I could not go back to sleep. The day my sister and I were suppose to leave Japan was the first day of the rolling power outages, several essential subway lines were down and we had no way of going to Narita. The airport buses were not running either. As a result, we had to reschedule our flight to the following day and try to go to the airport as early as possible. So we went to the airport at 6AM. Thankfully, we got there fine. Now, back in America.
My first impression on Japan wasn't so good because the people at the airport were giving us a hard time because we did not write down where we were staying in Japan. My sister was studying in Tokyo, so we were going to stay with her; however, we did not have her address on us. The lady at the immigration desk was being a total b*tch and being super anal. So we just put down a random hotel address from a brochure and went to a different person. That took us around 10 minutes. So when we finally got through, we went to go find our luggage and we could not find it! Then we found out that pick-up was finished! So we were running around looking for our luggages and found it at the information desk. So my trip definitely did not start well. Afterwards, my sisters and I had to take 1+ hour subway ride back to her place. My sister's place was tiny, but it fit all 3 of us.
Temples and shrines (Tokyo and Kyoto) - Cannot name all the temples and shrines I went to because there were so many. For the most part, they all look pretty similar but they are all unique to itself. Kyoto is famous for their temples and shrines because they had so many of them. At temples and shrines, you can always spot women wearing kimonos. There were many of them and they became an attraction because all the tourists were asking to take pictures with them.
Ueno Zoo - They had elephants, tigers, lions, rhinos, and giraffes! (The zoos in NYC didn't even have those!)
Harajuku & Shibuya - People-seeing and shopping, but I didn't see many Harajuku girls, which is kind of disappointing. Shibuya is a shopping haven, we went to a mall called Shibuya 109 and there were soooooo many pretty/kawaii girls there! I think they call it the himegyaru trend. They all had loads of makeup, fake eyelashes, very short skirts, heels, and all of them had blonde/brown hair. They all basically looked like dolls, but not all of them are pretty.
Ikebekuro and Sunshine City - A huge mall and shopping district as well. The mall is so big, you can spend the whole day there. I went shopping there twice. They have nice shops and also a section of the mall is a mini-mall itself. It had small shops that sold accessories, bags, and clothes. Ikebekuro also has a lot of restaurants and arcades! We went to about 4 arcades there and played UFO catchers. Spent so much money there, but it was worth it when we got the big toys. =D
Osaka Aquarium - A huge aquarium with lots of fish. It was basic one giant fish tank in the center and you start from the top and walk around it. There were also different tanks on the side. There were a lot of fish and penguins. The glass of the aquarium tank is apparently 30cm thick (~12 inches). Pretty impressive. They had an exhibit of clownfish and jellyfish too. It was nice.
Castles - Went to a few Japanese castles--one in Osaka and the other in Kyoto. Nijo Castle was really traditional--they had the nightingale floors that squeak when you walk on them. Osaka Castle was more grand on the outside and was more modern--they turned it into a museum.
Plum Grove - Plum blossom trees were just starting to bloom for the season. Would have been a lot nicer if we went a few weeks later when the blossoms are in full bloom.
Sushi - We went to eat sushi several times, mostly conveyor belt sushi (we went 3 times). They were all very delicious. I went to this one place in Osaka and I was just eating my sushi. I got this dish that I thought was tuna because the meat was pink (it was reddish and it had skin on it). It was seared on the skin. So I had no idea what this fish was and I ate it....turned out it was whale! (T^T) That night when I found out, I wanted to throw up. The next day, we went to the fish market in the morning to get fresh sushi. (Yes, sushi for breakfast.)
Japan Earthquake - At around 2-3pm on our second day in Kyoto, we were eating lunch when we felt the earthquake. At first, it felt like I was dizzy (as if I was tipsy). So I was like, "Is the room spinning, or is it just me?" So I looked at the ceiling lights and they were swirling around. It lasted for a good few minutes. My sisters and I thought it was the trains because we were eating at a restaurant at the station. Then a few hours later, my sister's host mom sent texts to us asking if we were okay and we were so confused! So that night, we found out there was a huge 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan! We called our parents at once to tell them we were okay. It was scary watching the news that night because they said the earthquake did a lot of damage in Tokyo as well. We were worried we would go back to my sister's apartment to a mess. We took the bullet train back to Tokyo the next day and when we got there, the room was okay. My sister's roommate was there at the apartment when it happened and she said it was really scary. Transit was affected and we heard that a lot of people had to walk home from their work places. It was almost like Sept.11 and the major blackout in NYC a few years ago. On Sunday, we went out and it was crazyyy. The people were trying to act all normal amongst the chaos--going to work as usual. But it was hard to carry on with all the news abut radiation, aftershocks, and rolling blackouts. Food at convenience stores and supermarkets were quickly running out. People were stocking up on foods and water. The government was issuing warnings and such. Everyone seemed fine on the outside, but inside, we were all panicking. Japanese people are so strong. They never appear worried and show too much negative emotions. The time I was in Tokyo after the earthquake, we felt some aftershocks, mostly in the morning. There were several really strong ones. It felt like a large truck crashed into the building. I cannot describe the feeling of being in an earthquake, it felt scary, eerie, and it definitely sent chills down my spine. It was fear. Every morning I felt the aftershock, I could not go back to sleep. The day my sister and I were suppose to leave Japan was the first day of the rolling power outages, several essential subway lines were down and we had no way of going to Narita. The airport buses were not running either. As a result, we had to reschedule our flight to the following day and try to go to the airport as early as possible. So we went to the airport at 6AM. Thankfully, we got there fine. Now, back in America.
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