The status quo...

As many people who read this blog know, I am living in Japan. On Friday afternoon an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude rocked the north-eastern part of this country (Miyagi prefecture) and Tsunamis have hit in various places along the eastern coast as well. My family, friends and I are all accounted for and safe. We are fortunate to live in Tokyo or to the south. The next few weeks and months are going to be hard for this island country. At the moment the aftershocks have lessened and what we all look for information about is regarding the Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, but predictions claim we may not be in the clear yet.

Thank you to everyone for their mail, twitter and FB messages. I know I for one really want to help those who have been directly effected by this horrible disaster. If you are curious about doing the same, please check out this website for how you can help.

I will try to update and write more when I can, but at this point my motivation for writing about makeup and fashion is pretty low.

Super Mario bathtime?

On one of my recent trips to Lush I picked up this Magic Mushroom (木の子ちゃん: kinokochan here in Japan) bubble bar, admittedly purely base on the fact that it looked like the super power mushroom from Super Mario Brothers. Which is a video game that I remember fondly from my childhood.

Here is what the Lush USA website has to say about it:
Magic Mushroom has two distinct scents. In the red cap, there's the nostalgic fragrance of our Yummy Yummy Yummy shower gel (sniff); and in the white bit, we've used our signature creamy vanilla scent. Together, it blends to give you bubbles that smell like a bowl of fresh strawberries covered in cream. There won't be mushroom for anyone else in your life - or bath - when you've got one.

I broke this up and took 3 baths with it, since I believe it is too much to take just one with. I really enjoyed the scent, bubbles and the smoothness left on my skin after the bath. I would purchase this again in the future, but I am more likely to try something new before then.

The Writings on the Wall..of My Blog...(tag)

The Writings on the Wall..of My Blog...(Tag)
Kat of Mai-Kat Oshaberi tagged me a while ago to do this tag.

This tag looks at what your handwriting looks like. I actually like my handwriting, but it really depends on the day as to whether or not it looks good or not. If I am lazy or tired it doesn't look as nice. In addition I have found that the pen/pencil choice is also key in making it looks good.

Here is what you need to do for the tag:
On a piece of paper write the answers to the following things down:

1. What's your name/your blogger name?

2. What's your blog's name/URL?

3. Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
(Do you know that you use every single letter of the alphabet by writing this sentence?)

4. Favorite quote?

5. Your Favorite song?

6. Your favorite band/singers?

7. Anything else you want to say?

8. Tag three to five other people.



This was fun! I encourage you even if not tagged to try it out!

I tag: Winnie, Laura, and Nic Nic.

On a side note, I am sorry for the severe lack of posts recently. I am in the middle of moving all of my belongings that I don't need to the USA and those that I do to a new apartment in Japan, the final days at my job, and I have been sick. Things are starting to settle down a bit so I hope to post more, and will definitely finish all of my 30 for 30 posts (I did finish btw).

I hope are you are all having a great week!

Mascara: Fiberwig Tiny Sniper

After reading about the Clinique lower lash mascara on Kat's blog and watching the recent Pixiwoo video on it, I became very curious about lower lash mascara myself. Although instead of hunting it down at the Clinique counter here in Japan and possibly paying a fortune for it, I found an alternative by Fiberwig caller the Tiny Sniper. The name alone was worth the purchase, just imagine you are fishing in your makeup bag for this item and you friend asks "What are you looking for?" to which you get to reply "oh, just my tiny sniper".

Lets first look at the brush, like the name suggests it is tiny. I actually found this to be rather nice, it allows you to really get all of your lashes, even the hard to reach ones.


Now lets take a look at the results, for reference, lets first look at my eye without any mascara on.


And then with the Tiny Sniper macara, which I also applied to my upper lashes.


Overall I like the effect it has, I generally don't use mascara on my lower lashes, but now that I own this I may do it more often. I am also now curious about the other Fiberwig mascaras, I have a few friends that love them so I may have to try a couple of them out.

And now for something a little different....

...a Face of the Day! I know I rarely write posts like this, because I find my camera to be complete rubbish for taking face shots. Yesterday I tried a new combination of colors and really liked the way it turned out so I thought I would share it with you.

For this eye (which I know maybe hard to see) I used:
MAC Femme Fi: as a highlight
MAC Prance: all over the lid and crease
MAC Tweet Me: all over the lid
Urban Decay Toasted : in the outer corner
Urban Decay 24/7 liner in whiskey
Fiberwig Tiny Sniper mascara

And here is the overall look:

Face:
Revlon brown pencil
MAC NC20 concealer
Missha BB cream #21
NARS Orgasm blush
Smiths Rosebud salve for lips

Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday/Sunday! I had a great dinner at a wonderful garlic restaurant called Original Jo's last night. I loved every bite of it, but unfortunately everything I have eaten so for today has also tasted of garlic!

More of my 30 for 30 backlog coming soon!

More surprise messages...

in my bathtub! The Winter weather here in Japan, much like the rest of the world I suppose, keeps fighting Spring for dominance. Because of this, it means I get to keep trying out various bath bombs from Lush. I will be the first to admit I would like some warmer weather, but I do love a good bath as well.



I recently tried Blueberry Bath Bomb, which is oddly known as the 恋の導火線(Fuse of Love) here in Japan.
Here is what the Lush USA website has to say about it:
The frisky scent of blackcurrants will tug at the corners of your mouth, pulling them towards your ears. Bergamot relieves tension and frankincense will wrap itself around you like a cozy blanket. All your cares will dissolve into a warming purple haze.

My intention when I bought this, was to try one of the bath bombs I hadn't previously used before. I was successful in that mission, in addition the purple color was also a deciding factor. When used it creates lovely purple water and leaves a little surprise in your tub for you!

What are my thoughts? Aside from the purple color, I really liked this bath bomb, it had a very relaxing scent and was calming after a long day of giving tests and sitting in cold hallways at school.

As I mentioned in my last Lush review, that the Frog left a little message. Well because I liked it so much I bought another one for Valentine's day and I managed to fish out the paper before it got too wet. Here is the note it leaves behind for you. The paper still smells like the bath bomb! :)

Days 9,10, 11 : 30 for 30

I hope you can all forgive me for my lack of posts recently. I plan to make up for it though and will play catch up with my posts from now.

sweater: Uniqlo, pants: AE, shoes: Steve Madden

Day 9:
Today was just another day at school. The weather which had been getting warmer took a sudden turn for the worst and got very cold, because of this instead of wearing a skirt with this sweater like I had planned to, I wore pants. As much as this outfit lacked originality, it kept me warm and I think that in this weather is more important.

cardigan: Gap, shirt: Zara, cami: uniqlo, pants: AE, shoes: Steve Madden, necklace: small boutique in Shinagawa station

Day 10:
The cold weather continued and even brought a little snow to my neck of the woods. Looking at this outfit, I suppose I really can't wait for spring to come.

cardigan : Macy's, shirt: Gap, jeans : Old Navy, shoes: Vans, cami: uniqlo, necklace: Glass of Venice

Day 11:
Today I was able to do the whole 90 minutes Bikram yoga and not feel ill that morning, I consider that to be a great accomplishment. After yoga I showered and got ready to head out to a birthday party for my friend's daughter. She just turned one and she is oh so cute. it was a fun and relaxed day considering it was snowing quite heavily!