Tag: Would you rather....

I've seen this on quite a few youtube channels and blogs, so I figured I would give it a go.

1.Would you rather go out with messy hair and nice makeup or nice hair and no makeup?
I have actually done both of these things!! I know, bad beauty blogger! If I had to choose though I suppose I would go with nice makeup and messy hair, the messy look is kinda in at all times right?

2.Would you rather shave your eyebrows or have your eyelashes fall out?
For me, this is a no-brainer. While I would look awful with no eyebrows, I could easily draw them in till they grew back. I'm not a huge fan of fake eyelashes so it would suck to have no lashes.


3.Would you rather be forced to only shop at MAC or Sephora for the rest of your life?
I would rather shop at Sephora, while its no MAC they have various brands to try out. I imagine if I only had MAC I would get bored. Variety is the spice of life, isn't it?


4.Would you rather wear lipgloss/lipliner look or 80's perm?
I actually had the misery of the 80's perm, my lovely mother had my hair cut really short and permed it....such bad memories. So I think I would choose the lipgloss/lipliner look.


5.Would you rather leave the house with an obvious foundation line or overdone blush?
Both of these can easily be taken care of, but for me I would go the route of overdone blush before nasty foundation lines.


6.Would you rather wear mc hammer pants or biker shorts in public?
I am a bit self-conscious of my lower half so I think I would rock the hammer pants, bike shorts would just show-off what I am already trying to hide.


7.Would you rather have a bad orangey spray tan or really weird tan lines that cant be covered?
I definitely don't want to look like an oompa loompa, so I would deal with the weird tan lines.


8.Would you rather have a bad haircut or bad hair color?
You can always dye your hair again, but hair takes a while to grow back. So I would pick the bad dye job.



9.Would you rather have YOUTUBE or TWITTER taken away forever?
As much as twitter has introduced me to the beauty community and new friends in it, I love youtube for not only just beauty videos but tons of other fun stuff. So you can have twitter.


10.Would you rather give up using makeup brushes or mascara?
I actually just really got into using brushes, I used to use the applicators they came with or my fingers. So if I had to I would forgo the brushes and keep my mascara.

I tag anyone who hasn't done this one already! Hope you all have a lovely day!

Japan: HATO bus tours

This past Wednesday marked my the start of my final week of summer vacation, its funny how fast a month can go by! Starting next Wednesday I go back to work and get to give my students their midterm tests, sounds like fun right? ;) So before I have to go back to waking up at 5:30am I figured it would be nice to do something I haven't done in my 5 years of living in Japan; a HATO bus tour. For those of you not living in Japan or not familiar with HATO bus, its the most famous domestic bus tour service in the Tokyo/Kanto area though I hear they now have a few tours in Osaka. The tour that my friends and I went on included 60 minutes of walking around Asakusa, a 2 hours houseboat ride down the Tokyo river including lunch, and Tokyo Tower. I had been to Asakusa and Tokyo Tower before, but it was nice to hear new things about them from a tour guide and practice my Japanese. I think the most interesting part of the tour was the houseboat ride and lunch, there were so many great views of Tokyo from the river.

Here are a few of my pictures from my tour.


Our group in front of our bus in Asakusa.

With our omikuji (fortunes slips), can you guess who didn't get 吉(kichi = good fortune)?


The Tokyo Sky Tree, which is currently under construction. Its the tallest structure in Tokyo now. Will be open to the public in Spring 2012.


On the roof of the boat in front of Odaiba, the big building in the middle is Fuji TV.


Tokyo Tower, this used to be the tallest till they started building the Sky Tree.


Have any of you taken a HATO bus tour before? Where are some places in Tokyo/Japan that you would tour if you had a chance?

TNOTW: Del Sol Reckless

This weeks toes is a case of me shopping my nail polish collection in an effort to save money and rediscover my old favorites. I bought this polish about 6 years ago while I was shopping with my friend in Seaport Village. We had discovered this store that had all sorts of items that changed colors in the sun and being a child of the 80s and 90s this only made me feel nostalgic. does anyone else remember those Hypercolor t-shirts? I had a pink one!

So here are this weeks nails, indoors or under artificial light they look like this silver/white color:





But outside in the sun they change to this pretty pink color:










Ahh the fun of interactive nails! You can check out the rest of the Del Sol polishes here.

Fashion: F21 find!

This month I have been on a bit of a spending cut back in an effort to save for various other things, however this past weekend I met up with my shopping partner in crime in our favorite spot; Ginza. Among the shops in Ginza that I enjoy checking out there is a F21, which I prefer much better than the one in Harajuku. To try and keep to my minimal spending I have told myself that I cannot buy anymore clothing for summer and then I came across this shirt. While I generally am not a super girly girl, I really liked the design and its simplicity. It will make a nice transition into fall piece and was a steal at just 1500yen!

I can't wait to start adding a few new pieces to my fall wardrobe, sadly fall wont start here in Japan till about October!

Makeup: Urban Decay Naked Palette

After seeing many many many blog posts and youtube videos on this I knew it was something I really wanted, so thanks to ulta.com and my lovely mother in California, I present to you the Urban Decay Naked Palette. This is actually my first urban decay makeup so I am pretty excited to try it out. This palette contains 12 shades in all, many of which are neutrals which are my favorites to use. In addition to the eye shadows I also get to try out the urban decay primer potion (UDPP) and the 24/7 liners. I am really curious to know firsthand how the UDPP compares to the Two-Faced Shadow Insurance (TFSI) that I currently use. It seems as though there are two main groups, those who think they are basically the same product and aren't different at all and others who think UDPP or TFSI is better than the other. I won't include swatches here as mine never turn out that good, but you can check really nice ones out here on temptalia.com.

I look forward to posting some fun FOTD posts using this palette!

Has anyone else tried this or other urban decay products, I am interested to hear what everyone thinks!

Blogger Love : Gigi's Gone Shopping

I follow many various beauty and fashion blogs, among them is one called Gigi's gone shopping. On her blog she goings to store like Gap, J.Crew, Anne Taylor Loft, H&M, Target, etc and does fitting room reviews. In addition she posts about great deals and sales that can be found at the various stores. Despite living in Japan, I really like her site. She often tries things on that I probably wouldn't have given a second glance at and inspires me to step outside of my usual box. About a month ago she held a scarf giveaway each day for 5 days and I was lucky enough to win the last one! Its from H&M and goes great with my wardrobe! if you don't already read her blog, you should definitely check it out. You can visit it, by clicking here.

Makeup : EOS lip balm

I am sure many of you have seen this product being used by countless bloggers and youtube gurus, so like many I was curious to see what all of the hype was about. I was doing some shopping on target.com and decided to add one in my order just for kicks. Only instead of getting just one, I got four! They only had a 4 pack of them, it included 3 of the smooth spheres in summer fruit, honeysuckle, and sweet mint and one of the smooth sticks in vanilla bean. Needless to say I am set with lip balm for a while! So far I have only used the summer fruit smooth sphere. Its a nice lip balm and of course it smells (and tastes) great and has very unique packaging, however the actual product is just like any other lip balm I have tried. This doesn't mean I don't like it, I just found that the actual lip balm matches up to most others I have tried.

Has anyone else tried this brand? What are your thoughts? Do you have a favorite lip balm? I would love to know.

Skincare : The Body Shop Seaweed line

A few weeks ago while I was out shopping I popped into my local Body Shop. I have been on the hunt of a mattifying lotion to try out and finally found one there. In addition to finding one to try for a little bit more money I could try the toner and facial wash in the line. This is my review on these three items in the Body Shop Seaweed line.

Seaweed Mattifying Moisture Lotion SPF 15
As I mentioned before, this was the item I really was looking forward to trying. The summer this year in Yokohama has been really unbearable causing my combination/oily face to be even more oilier. After reading about mattifiying lotions online I thought perhaps it might help to balance the oil on my face. I have been using this for about two weeks now and and still not sure if I love it or hate it. When I first apply it my skin seems to sweat more, which is kinda annoying but after some time the extra moisture goes away. I have noticed that when I use it my makeup lasts longer before it feels as though its melting off my face. I suppose the real test of this product will be once the humidity dies down here sometime next month after then I can decide if this is worth a repurchase.

Seaweed facial cleanser and toner
All of the products in this line are designed for combination to oily skin which is a plus for me. After washing and toning with these two my skin feels very fresh, clean, and the oiliness is definitely kept under control. At this point I am considering purchasing the full size bottles of each once these 60ml ones are gone.

What kind of products do you use on your skin?

TNOTW: Color club Neon Purple (last weeks)

For as long as I can remember my favorite color has been purple. As I got older I started to notice other colors like green, pink, and blue but I refused to make blue my new favorite color because it was my mother's. This was of course during my "I don't want to be like my mom" phase, I think all girls have one. I of course like all of those colors now, but I always find myself going back to purple. In older Europe it was the color of royalty and nobility. My boyfriend tells me that here in Japan the color purple represents desire, the lack of something, or being unsatisfied. Needless to say he doesn't like that I like purple even though I don't think of the color as he does.

Anyway lets get on to the toes! In the bottle this color is much more vibrant than on the toes. After the 2-3 coats needed to make it opaque, it lost all of its "neon" look. Its still a very nice purple color, just far from the neon in the bottle. I tried looking on the Color Club site for this color and it didn't exist, which makes me think it was made for Japan/asia only. The closest I could find was Ultra Violet.

TAGGED! by SHaGLAM!

Hi everyone! And welcome to my new readers! :) This past week was obon here in Japan so I have been pretty busy, but I have lots of posts lined up for this coming week though so till I can post them, I will post this TAG post instead!

TAG post


I was tagged by ShaGLAM to do this post. I thought this was a fun idea, so I hope you enjoy!


What's your favourite makeup look?
My favorite makeup look is a bronzed goddess look, which probably explains why I like neutral eye shadows.


Do you have a beauty vice?
My vice is probably just buying more products when I have a lot already!


What part of your body do you love?
My favorite part is my eyes, thats a part right? I once read a quote that said "the eyes are the windows to your soul", I believe there is some truth to this.



Who is your beauty icon?
It may seem rather cliche, but I really love Sarah Jessica Parker. She has practical yet nice taste.
I also like Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon, Eliza Dushku, Evangeline Lilly.



What beauty product makes you feel instantly good?
My clarisonic always makes me feel good and clean!



How do you look after your skin?
I wash my face, use Vitamin C serum in the mornings with sunscreen and in the evenings I wash and use ROC deep anti-wrinkle serum. Its never too early to start combating wrinkles!



What is your signature scent?
I am currently looking for a new high-end scent, but for low-end I love both Berry Kiss and Love Spell by VS.



What is your haircare secrets?
I am probably not the best one to ask on this as my hair is currently damaged, but I like to use products with Argon oil in them. Recently I started using Khiel's shampoo and conditioners and they have been working wonders. Sometime this week I will finally get a Brazilian Keratin treatment and should have nice relaxed hair for a while.


How do you pamper yourself?
I take nice long baths and use my foot massage machine.


Beauty pet peeve?
I don't have many but I suppose its seeing super young girls wearing tons of make-up.
I am talking about girls in jr high, when you are that young you dont need makeup to look good.



Desert Island Must haves?
Definitely sunscreen, mascara, and shampoo!


Do you have any beauty philosophy?
I think you have to be beautiful and happy on the inside in order to be beautiful on the outside.
No amount of makeup can hide an ugly soul.

I tag any of my readers to do this too! Let me know if you do!

The Versatile Blogger Award

The Versatile Blogger Award

I was recently awarded this by the PoorCollegeStudent at
MAQUILAGEM MASSTIGE If you haven't already, you should check out her blog!




The rules of this award are:

1. Share 7 things about yourself.
2. Pass the award onto a few bloggers who you have recently discovered.
3. Let these blogs know that you have awarded them the Versatile Blogging Award

7 Things

1. I studied Economics in college, but teach English for a living.

2. I am currently living out one of my biggest dreams in life, which was to live and work in Japan. Though now I am ready to move on to my next dream....which I am still trying to figure out.

3. Everyone in Japan thinks I am only 25 years old, but I am in fact much older.

4. My favorite color is purple, though most people think its pink.

5. I have a tattoo of a tribal sun on my lower back that I got when I was in university. I often forget its there (as I cannot see it) but I am always reminded of it when I want to go swimming or to hot spring here in Japan, because I have to hide it.

6. I have seen every episode of FRIENDS, multiple times.

7. While I like Japan, but I really miss California!

I nominate:
1. SheGLAM - very beautiful blogger who has wonderful FOTD posts!!

and anyone else who wants to participate!

Makeup: MAC In the Groove Haul

As many beauty bloggers have done before me and as many will do it after me, here are the few items I picked up from Mac's newest collection: In the Groove (well not so new to the rest of the world, but new to Japan 8/5). As I don't like paying the almost triple the price of MAC here in Japan I ordered mine through the MAC website in the US and had my mother ship them to me. She rocks! (though I am pretty sure she doesn't read this blog!) This collection was a HUGE one, which I had at first not really shown much interest in. That is until on twitter the UK bloggers were talking about items they enjoyed, etc. I only picked up three items from this collection as I wasn't too sure I would like the mineralize products and I didn't want to go broke.



First up is the infamous Stereo Rose, the ladies on twitter in the US were going crazy ordering this and calculating when it would be available for sale on the web, etc. I guess this is one case where the time difference was in my favor, I got to place my order before they sold out. My thoughts, it definitely is a beautiful and unique color however I am not sure I would apply this all over my face. It is definitely a nice blush though. Would it have been worth getting up a like 3am in California to buy online? Probably not, but I am glad I have it.



Next I purchased the e/s trio Soften the Mood. I generally like more neutral colors that I can add a pop of color to, so this trio really caught my eye. I have worn this one a few times now and have gotten complements each time. The brown colors really make my blue eyes pop and that hint of the soft blue adds a nice touch.



And the final item I picked up was the Jazzed lipstick. I had to wait on this one till the release in Japan to know if I would like it. I have been burned with shades that I just order online without trying first, so I visited MAC in Yokohama to try this one out. When I was there I also asked the girl to help me find a good nude that doesn't make me look dead. We actually found out that Creme de nude works for me, though since I can buy it all the time or have it shipped to Japan I didn't buy it.

Did you get In the Groove?

Hey Baby whats your..............blood type?

I think every culture has its own way of trying to explain personalities, in the west we have horoscopes, in China they look at your horoscope based on the calendar year that you were born in according to the chinese calendar, and so on. Here in Japan they have both of those as well as one more interesting way to explain your personality, that is by your blood type. Now you maybe thinking to yourself, "Do I even know my blood type?!" A few years ago (before moving to Japan) I asked my mom what mine was just so that if anything ever happened to me here I would know. However here in Japan it seems like everyone knows their own blood type without having to ask their parents! It's even so popular here that a daily morning show has a segment that predicts how your day will be based on your blood type.

So what are the characteristics of each of the 4 blood types? Here they are broken down a bit by type:
(all information thanks to wikipedia)

People who are type A, are said to be:
+ conservative, introverted, reserved, patient, and punctual. They are basically perfectionists.
- obsessive, stubborn, too self conscious and uptight.

People who are type B, are said to be:
+ creative, passionate, animal loving, optimistic, flexible and individualistic.
- forgetful, often change their minds or ideas, irresponsible, and selfish or self-centered.

People who are type AB, are said to be:
+ cool, controlled, logical, rational, introverted and empathic.
- aloof, critical, are easily stressed and unforgiving.

People who are type O, are said to be:
+ ambitious, athletic, self-confident and are natural leaders.
- arrogant, vain, often don't think things through, insensitive, and ruthless.


I am honestly not sure if I believe mine, but its fun to read about something new. So can you guess what my blood type is? Do you think your blood type matches you?