Overdue Japan Haul!

I know I've been back for a while, but after getting comments and tweets about interest in Japan and their make-up, I decided to do a video on my "repurchase list" that I always do when I'm back, and also show you some bits that I picked up for the first time. Hopefully this will help for those of you who love East Asian skincare, make-up or for those of you who are hoping to visit in the future :)

If you are interested in looking at websites that sell Japanese make-up, I found a post/list on Musings of a Muse that may help you out. Be warned - make-up is a totally different thing in Japan, and a lot of products wont be the consistency or have the effect that you may be used to if you are accustomed to Western make-up - it's all part of the fun really! :) If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer - but I'm not that knowledgeable on Japanese make-up either :P

I'm still yet to try the big brands like RMK, Addiction, Cle de Peau, Shiseido and Paul & Joe - but they are just so bloody expensive :P I'm a pretty hardcore drugstore girl when I'm back in Japan ;P

Have you tried any Japanese cosmetics/skincare?

Which is your favourite? :)

<3yu

Haul: Back From Kyoto :)

Before I start my post, I just wanted to say thank you to all my readers - I've reached 1,000 while I was away, and it was the best thing EVER to come home to! :) My blog means so much to me, and to know people want to hear what I have to say means the world! So thanks to every single one of you :)

So I got back yesterday from my 5 day holiday with my mom to Kyoto & Nara. They are located in Western Japan (Kansai), and are also the two previous capitals before Tokyo - and as usual, I picked up some local beauty goodies :) (I would say exclusive but these lot have branched out quite a bit - however their reputation as a Kyoto brand is still very much alive!)

This time the products are from a brand called Yojiya that started in Kyoto in 1904. They are famous for their blotting papers (pictured above) that initially became very popular amongst 'maiko's (apprentice 'geisha's) in the 20's, but today they're probably the best known blotting sheets in the country! These were originally made from the paper that is left behind when stamping gold-leaf onto art and other fancy things, and have been developed/improved since then :)

The brand has loads of make-up items too, but I decided to purchase the 2nd and 3rd most popular products: the mini-sized handcream made from silkworm.. stuffs? (left) and the full-sized lip balm made with 'yuzu' (right), which is a type of citrus.

I've only tried the lipbalm as of yet, but it smells LUSH and does a really good job as far as I can tell :) Not the cheapest of brands, but these two weren't too bad - the two tub set was about £10 and the blotting sheets for one booklet of 20 sheets is about £3. But what kind of a beauty blogger would I be if I didn't think illogically at times? :P

Here are some of my favourite shots of Kyoto and Nara :)

Arashi-yama station

Fushimi-Inari: torii gates built as gifts to the gods by those who want their wishes to come true :)

 Inside Tenryuuji - those signs telling people not to roll around was definitely aimed at me.. how tempting does it look?!

Gardens of Tenryuuji

Nanzenji 

Todaiji Entrance in Nara - with lots of wild deer :P 

Being bullied by a deer into giving her some food lol. 

 Toji Pagoda (and a pretty white bird.. very picturesque/cliche :P)

A very Kyoto-ey lunch! :)

Some goodies I picked up while I was there - I know, the hippo is probably the most pointless thing I've bought in years but she was too cute to not get! :P

Most of my mom's side of the family is from this area of Japan and to be honest - I have no idea why anyone would pick to live in Tokyo over Kansai - to me, it's much more chilled out and interesting!

Also, the peaceful elegance of old Japan never ceases to impress me. I only wish I knew more about Buddhism and Japanese history so I could really understand the significance of the temples, the statues, the national treasures and the buildings that I saw!

I know those were a lot of pictures of travelling for a beauty blog but I couldn't help myself! :P

And thanks again for helping me reach 1,000 readers! :)

<3yu

"Back to Japan": Cheeks

The second part of my "Back to Japan" series will be blushers and bronzers. I think in terms of make-up, they are one of my favourite things to play with, alongside foundation and powders :)

I borrowed my mom's camera which I got her for her 60th birthday present - is the quality noticeably different? It's 14.1 Megapixels, where my usual one is like 6.5 Megapixels! I haven't tested out the video quality but if it's good, I might pick one up for myself! What do you think?

Again for blusher/bronzer, I went for a wide range of colours as well as different finishes for bronzers. As you can see from the picture above, loads of different brands so I don't get bored while I'm away from the rest of my goodies! (Although it's obviously not enough to keep me from lusting after so many..)

Bronzers

L: CANMAKE Shading Powder in 02

(A matte bronzer for sharp contouring - haven't used yet :P)

C: Rimmel Sunshimmer Bronzer in Medium Matte

(A really soft pearly bronzer, great for everyday soft contouring - use EVERY day! Hoping to replace with NARS Casino - yay, nay?)

R: CANMAKE Bronzing Foundation in 02

(Great for when I get ridiculously pale foundation samples, just to dust it over. Otherwise it brings out the yellow undertones in my skin way too much if I use it as a contour - therefore my choice of NARS Casino over Laguna!)

L to R: CANMAKE Foundation 02, CANMAKE Shading Powder 02, Rimmel Medium Matte.

Blushers

L: NIVEA Stay Real Blush in Shades of Rose

(Was a candidate for a natural blush for my graduation - haven't worn yet!)

C: Melliesh Blush in Burnt Orange

(Good to have to warm up blushers or to use alone)

R: Illamasqua Cream Blush in Rude

(No need for a brush/good summer colour = no way I was leaving it behind :))

L: NARS Luster

(My blush lover since I got it - been wearing it almost everyday! Lovely natural sun tan peach :))

C: NARS Orgasm

(My favourite pink blusher, had to come with!)

R: NARS Torrid

(Was my go to blush until Luster - atm wondering if it's a bit too clowny for my tan.)

L to R: Melliesh, Illamasqua, Nivea (darker shade), Nivea (lighter shade), NARS Luster, NARS Torrid, NARS Orgasm

So there you go! :) That's what I brought back with me, and I probably could've done without the Nivea or the Melliesh blush, and maybe even the CANMAKE stuff - but that may change as my skin is getting lighter again!

What have your go-to blusher/bronzer been recently? :)

<3yu

"Back to Japan": Lips

With the limited amount of make up I have here with me in Tokyo, I decided to do a series to show you guys things that I've brought back with me :) I didn't wanna do it all at once because, let's face it, I didn't bring THAT little so I thought it best to do it in categories! Hopefully it'll trigger some review requests or post ideas - if you have  any please let me know!

Anyway I decided to kick it off with lips - I didn't include lipbalms, but here are the lippies and lipglosses that have made the trip back with me :)

Lipsticks

Left to Right:

* Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Nude Delight 700

(for my everyday beige nude)

* 17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Beehive

(for my everyday, glossy pink nude)

* GSpot Cosmetics Matte Lipstick in Lustrus

(not actually sure why this came with..)

* MAC Amplified Lipstick in Warm Me Up (LE)
(MLBB colour, was a candidate for graduation lipstick)

* MAC Matte Lipstick in Please Me

(bright but dusky pink!)

* MAC Amplified Lipstick in Vegas Volt

(for the brave summer day cravings of reddish coral)

(Rimmel Nude Delight; 17 Beehive; GSpot Lustrus; MAC Warm Me Up; MAC Please Me; MAC Vegas Volt)


Summery colours? Meh, some of them. But I tried to choose on the basis of "what if" - what if I feel like wearing this, what if I start wanting this - so I tried to cover the spectrum in shades. I just wish I had something like MAC's Ever Hip or TopShop's Ooh La La - a pinky peach/peachy pink - anyone have suggestions? :P

I would've done the same in finishes, but I usually love pigmented lips, and 17 Beehive is the only glossy one I have - I'd love more tbh, so please let me know if you have any suggestions for that as well! :)

Lipglosses

Left to Right

* The Body Shop Love Gloss in 17

(it goes with anything and it's also gorgeous alone!)

* Jemma Kidd Hi-Shine Silk Touch Lipgloss in 15 Coral

(just in case I didn't feel like Vegas Volt ;) )

(The Body Shop 17; Jemma Kidd 15 Coral)

To be honest I haven't worn either of the lipglosses.. no idea why! Sometimes I think glosses look too wet, and I suppose in this humidity (it was 91% the other night!) I'm trying to keep my body to look as dried and unmoist as possible! :P

On that gross note, what have your lipstick/lipgloss picks been recently? :)

<3yu

July Favourites :)

What a month it's been! I've spent so much on make up this month, that it's only expected that I have a favourites crammed with raving and freaking out to myself about the lovely products I've found this month - so very excited for you guys to see! :) It's a bit different from past months where I'm showing you guys products that I've had for a while and loved particularly that month - it's more like a ravefest of new goodies :) Enjoy!

And as for some blogs I've loved this month.. (and the first one I finally found the link to thanks to Charlotte - who's also listed below!) :)

Beauty Mouth

Getting Cheeky

Charlotte's Obsessions

Vanity is an Addiction

Hope you all had a lovely July! Here are some snaps of the lovely Stratford-upon-Avon and the Cotswolds areas that I took while travelling :)

See you in August :)

<3yu

What I Took To Malta: Beach/Pool Make-Up!

I'm back! Hello to the new followers, and a big I-missed-you hug to the old! Malta was absolutely gorgeous and the perfect wind-down from 3 years of uni. Ben and I also found out that we have graduated with a 2:1 on our degrees - so it was a great week in general!

Today I'll show you what I brought to Malta - hopefully you can take away what I think is great to have for a beach holiday, in case some of you are off on one soon! We had a 15kg limit so a lot of the stuff were compact :)

Before that, I'll show you some snaps of our week there :) We stayed at the Radisson Blu on Golden Bay, courtesy of Ben's aunt for his 21st - we were there with Gary Neville!

Mokka Bar - We always had after dinner drinks here :)

Our kitchen/dining room/living room - I KNOW! We had a suite! :D

TV in bathtub - very convenient for the Wimbledon season! :)

Golden Bay

The pool

The Malta busses - 54p to the capital! :O

Streets of Valetta

 Ben & I at the Grand Harbour

Honestly, I am struggling a bit with a lack of foundation/powder/concealer to match my skin! I also got my nails done, which was fun - OPI Glitzerland is very pretty! On days where we weren't by the pool or the beach, we went to other places like St. Julian's and Mdina - I think my favourite was Valetta - it is absolutely gorgeous!

On to the make-up!

I bought myself a brand new make-up bag for this holiday, and it's this baby from Glitzy Glam. It is so much fun to come up with your own bag, and it's absolutely massive! You can see more in my June Favourites video :) Anyway, this is great for if you're going anywhere for over a week. It also fitted my brushes, moisturizer, and my mini-shower stuff too.

I brought loads of make-up, but the ones I used were things that gave me the most natural and beachy look - here are the kinds of things I'd recommend to someone who is off on a sunny holiday :)

- NIVEA Stay Real Blush in Shades of Rose

This is a great summer shade because it's like a really tanned pink, so it's very natural and goes with the golden glow of a tan! :) Anything else felt too unnatural and unbeach-like because it was too much of a pop of colour.

- CANMAKE Gokubuto Mascara

Waterproof mascara is a must - this one is also natural, in that it separates and lengthens so it was good for a natural beachy look.

- MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque

I only wore this in the evening, just to add some colour on my eyes - it's a bright gold with a salmon duochrome, which again compliments a tan, and you don't need a brush!

- UNE SkinGlow Pencil in G04

I didn't really use this too much - it got too light as my tan grew! But it's still a great summer-time product that opens up your eyes and no worries about the black eyeliner melting :)

- Lipice Suncare SPF25

Somehow a lipstick seemed too unnatural, and I felt like with such a dark tan, a natural lip was best. So I used this lipbalm with SPF the most, and the lemon-scent is gorgeous! :)

- MAC Moisture Tint in Medium Dark SPF15

While the Bourjois Healthymix was light and natural enough for a beachy feel, I didn't need a lot of coverage because of the tan and my blemishes were going away with the healthy amount of sun! The SPF was a good reassurance too :)

For the bath essentials, I brought mini-things of my favourite body wash and cleanser - the Bodyshop Grapefruit Shower Gel and the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish. I also brought the BodyShop Grapefruit Body Butter, which helped a lot with dried out sunkissed skin!

The biggest difference from my usual routine was my shampoo and conditioner - the LUSH Godiva Shampoo/Conditioner Bar. I picked this because 1) it smells amazing and 2) it's a 2-in-1. It is far from the best haircare, and I felt my hair wasn't in the best condition, but it's definitely a good product for holiday :)

So there you go! I had an amazing time, and I'd definitely want to go back to see more of the country some time. The atmosphere, the architecture, the culture - everything was lovely! And I hope you got some good tips for products or what kinda stuff you might wanna bring to your holiday :)

Who else is off on holiday?
What are your beach holiday must-haves? :)

<3yu

Berlin! & Haul :)

I missed you guys!

If you were with me on my birthday, you know that my lovely boyfriend treated me to a few days in Berlin last week - it was AMAZING. I fell in love with the city and the people, and the history has always intrigued me - I did a class on the Cold War, a class on human rights, and I'm doing a degree in human rights so you can imagine how ecstatic and nerdy I was while I was there! :)

Brandenburg Gate

 Schloss Charlottenberg

Inside of the German History Museum - for H :P

 Jewish Memorial

Me & the Ampelmann (Stoplight man!) :)

 Guess what I found in the German History Museum! :P

Nom nom piggy choc. 

The Sony Center

Perving on Cold War historic icons..?

One of the messages on the Berlin Wall.

We also went to the Reichstag, the cathedral, the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche church, the German History Museum, the Topography of Terror museum, Checkpoint Charlie, a huge chocolate shop and so much more :)

To make it relevant to this blog, I'll pop up a video on my city-break make-up bag as well as post some pictures of the mini-haul I did while I was there - I skipped on Duty Free and went straight for the Germany-exclusive goodies! :)

These goodies are from the Niveahaus, which is pretty much a big store full of Nivea goodies that only exist in Berlin, Hamburg and Dubai. I love Nivea as a skincare brand, so went for some face products! :)

Ideal Finish Foundation in 04 Sand

Stay Real Blush in Shades of Rose

Pure&Natural Colours Powder in 07 Caramel

I also got the classic tin lotion, and they gave me the bag, sample deodorant and sun gel as a gift!

Another stop we made was KaDeWe, which is the biggest department store in Europe, and I stopped by the ArtDeco stand which was recommended to me by my friend. I skipped straight to the palette-making section, as I love customizing anything - and ArtDeco has space for blushers too!

This is the palette I made. As you can see, BIG mirror that I used for my whole face. Here is what I put in:

Blush in 19 - Peach, satin finish.

Eyeshadow in 208 - Plummy, brown, frost finish.

Eyeshadow in 45 - Dirty forest green, frost finish.

Eyeshadow in 391 - Aqua blush, shimmery finish.

Sorry for the poor pictures - I was just too anxious to make a post, even if it was getting dark ;P

I also got 2 things in Manchester before we left for Berlin - but I'm sure you will hear about them in the future! :) They are the UNE Skin Glow Eyeliner Pencil and a MAC lipstick in Vegas Volt, which I am wearing here:

I had an absolutely AMAZING time, and just wanna pop in a big soppy thank you to my boyfriend for taking me there and introducing me to a great city (and letting me browse make up!) - even if he does overcompensate when I ask him to smile in pics.. ;)

Anyone else been to Berlin? :)

<3yu