Chocolate works in mysterious ways.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Fashion, Food & Nosh, Make-Up & Beauty
So on Monday, I finally met Yumi for a pancakes and pasta brunch date - we were both from the same design school but never really knew of each other’s existence till she found me via tea noir and twitter. Coincidentally, we’re both going to be stuck in Melbourne for the next couple of years so I thought- ah what the heck, let’s quit being the cool, mysterious arty design bitchez we already are for a day and get to know each other lol!
Yumi’s half Japanese and prior to our date, she was trudging in the snowy mountains of Fukuoka, bravely battling the high winds to shop for the kitschy cute and weird Japan is known for. She told me she got me a couple of stuff which is incredibly sweet considering we’ve never officially met lol. I mean I could have easily been an unmarried 40 year-old man with a make-up fetish posing as a girl who writes beauty entries to lure other girls in but Yumi fearlessly decided that she was going to meet me despite the odds - you’re fierce, girl, just fierce.
LOL OK JUST SO WE’RE CLEAR: I am NOT a 40 year-old man posing as a girl mmkay. Anyway look at what Yumi got me:
HOLY. MOTHER. OF. OSAKA. When she handed me the bag (isn’t it the cutest plastic bag EVER?) I was like O__O dayumm, that’s like the whole of Japan in there rofl. She got me so many things from food to chocolate lip balm omg, thank you so much sweets!
She got me a bottle of her favourite leave-in hair treatment. I have no idea what brand this is but let me tell you girls, this is the SHIT right here. The treatment has a watery gel-like consistency and has the most amazing scent similar to that of sun-ripened fleshy peaches growing in the valleys of Persia. My life feels a little more complete now that my hair smells like peaches rofl XD Btw I am loving the engrish on the bottle - “Even turns high damaged hair from coloring and perm into moist, manageable, and shiny beautiful hair just by ‘Sa~tto’ applying it” HAHA WHUTTTT.
Yes, yes getting to the food bit now. ROYCE Fruit Bar Chocolate is a Hokkaido-exclusive, you can’t get it anywhere else except Hokkaido. Yumi’s mom received a box of ten from a friend and she gave me a piece to try. I don’t know about you guys but this feels as epic as someone giving birth to 10 beautiful babies and giving one of them away for the greater good. LOL WHERE AM I GETTING ALL THESE RIDICULOUS ANALOGIES FROM?
I have to be honest here: I’ve never been fond of mixing fruit with chocolate so being the skeptic I am, I was really expecting the usual: pieces of fruit stuck in a bar of milk chocolate (mehhh) but what lies beneath the deceiving milky pink packaging is perhaps THE best fruit-based chocolate I have ever tasted.
It’s mainly made of puffy cereal with pieces of mango, banana and assorted berries lodged in between the minute gaps and covered with a light berry-flavoured WHITE CHOCOLATE. You guys have no idea how obsessed I am with white chocolate - I know it’s not really chocolate but who cares.
ROYCE, please accept my sincere apologies, I will never doubt your supreme chocolatey powers for as long as I live. I will tell the stories of your chocolates to my children and they will then pass on these stories to their own children, thereby continuing your chocolate legacy forever. God, I’m so high on sugar right now (I just ate 2 donuts), someone save me before I start rambling incoherently >_>
Milk-flavoured candy + keepsake tin can = happiness. It’s a magic formula!~
WHOO HOO JAPANESE CURRY! And at only 178kcal per serving, how can something so good be….diet-friendly?!! BRB MOVING TO JAPAN NOWS TTYL.
OMG another pack of royal milk tea kit kat!! T__T I’m hiding this one in my room to prevent chocolate thieves, I am not going to let this out of my sight.
Kellogg’s Cocoa Rice Krispies lip balm…I have no words - I’m completely out of adjectives to describe how awesome this is. It smells and tastes like chocolate, I’m awfully tempted to just eat the damn thing.
Yumi hooked me up with a copy of egg magazine which focuses on the gyaru fashion culture in Japan.
Japanese make-up tutorials are epic, they’re really detailed and give you step-by-step instructions on how to recreate a certain look. I think this page shows you how to apply different falsies, so fascinating lol.
Oh and Yumi, here’s proof that I have a cat LOL. He sleeps in the weirdest positions ever. Thank you so much for the Japan-in-a-bag treat lol, I LOVE EVERYTHING and er thanks to your filtering/packing horror stories lol, I’ve started to pack and I totally agree with you when you said..
PACKING IS A BEECH. OMFG YOU GUYS. My pretty glitter-flecked knits…my gold brocade skirt..my houndstooth sweater..my warm cosy layering basics…my sexy forest green dress my mother must never see T__T I think I’m going to have a serious clothing meltdown soon urghhh.
I’m going to take photos of my make-up collection before I start wrapping them up in bubble-wrap, that should be interesting lol. The MAC All Ages, All Races, All Sexes Collection is finally out in Singapore, I bought a couple of things from the collection yesterday so you girls can expect that in my next entry ;D
Tags: food: chocolate, japan, life, nosh: japanese food
green tea is the way to my ♥
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
Remember that rad bunch of Japanese chocolates I got the last time? I’ve been going through each pack of chocolate slowly like a little ant savouring each bite of sugar like it’s his last meal.
I thought it would be a good game plan to make the chocolate last me forever but like how fairy tales don’t entirely exist in real life, this saccharine fantasy I had slowly melted in a pool of nothingness when I discovered one morning that someone or something stole the Royal Milk Tea Kit Kat I had carefully hidden beneath my mother’s bags of preserved fruit (don’t ask) and I was left feeling like a bitter old widow >_>
ANYWAYYYY, I thought I’d share some photos of this green tea chocolate from Meiji since I’m still unwell and not feeling my usual fierce self to blog about anything beauty-related. I’ve been reduced to a sniffing, coughing red-eyed monster wrapped up in blankies ;_;
Oh man, what a beautiful sight. Mini chocolate bars individually wrapped up in gold foil. Look at how they shimmer in the light!
NAKED CHOC BAR! If you haven’t noticed, Meiji changed their brand identity/logo some time back. I think it’s a great improvement from their previous logo, it’s modern with all the cute lil curves and yet it doesn’t take you away from what their brand represents: good everyday chocolate. I should stop now before I bore you guys with more design details lol, I can go on forever if I’m not careful.
Encased in the tiny bar of milk chocolate is a layer of epic green tea filling. Nobody does green tea chocolate better than the Japanese I can tell you that! The slight bitterness of the green tea balances out the sweetness of the milk chocolate perfectly and that is exactly the stuff I dream about you know? perfect green tea chocolate, a cup of turkish apple tea, a good book to read and hot Japanese men throwing themselves on the ground which I tread upon HAHAHA. A girl can dream.
Oh and if you look to your right, I have a new link section just for food blogs I love to read. One of them, pretty pretty yum yum, just celebrated its first blog birthday! I love pretty pretty yum yum, Amy blogs about some of the cutest food items from Japan everrrr and I love it whenever I get to read about some obscure kit kat flavour, I’m such a sucker for kitschy cute things ^_^; You know what Amy? I’m dedicating this Meiji chocolate entry to pretty pretty yum yum! Congratulations on your blog’s one year birthday/anniversary ♥
p.s that’s essie’s Mint Candy Apple on my nails. I’d like to think it’s an appropriate color for this entry lol ;D
Tags: food: chocolate, japan
Love from Tokyo xx
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Make-Up & Beauty
I know, I know. I’ve been blogging so much about Japan lately but trust me I actually have another great excuse this time! Just look at the picture below.
UH HUH YES I DID DID DID!!! Miho sent me a package all the way from Tokyo with the first two items on my Jill Stuart wishlist, thank you so much honey! They are gorgeous, thank you for taking time off from your busy schedule to send me some love from Japan. I hope you’re doing well at your new workplace, enjoy the TWG moroccan mint tea pack I sent you! Keep in touch xoxo
I ran out of my Kose Sekkisei toner so I had Miho get me the Softening Fluid toner from the Jill Stuart skincare line. Noone I know has really checked out the skincare line so I thought it’d be nice to be a guinea pig and test this out on behalf of you pretty ladies out there. I’m saving this one for Melbourne so you can expect a review in 2-3 months or so.
Check out the box the toner comes in, isn’t it so pretty and quaint? Oho, you’ve not seen anything yet.
HOLY MOTHER OF ASDHGDSLADKDFJS! So, so beautiful *_* Look at the little ornate detailing around the cap (even the cap itself is epic donchu think?) This bottle could easily be a prop in an Indiana Jones movie lmao, just scratch off the whole Jill Stuart branding and replace it with some mythical mambo jambo e.g. ELIXIR OF LIFE and you got yourself a blockbuster hit girrrlll.
Aah what is Jill Stuart cosmetics without their eye jellies? I’ve been wanting one of these for the LONGEST time because they have chalked up some stellar reviews on almost every beauty blog I read. It comes in a light dusty pink box like the rest, lovely packaging as usual.
If you’ve not seen what the actual glass packaging looks like, Madonna has kindly answered all your prayers. I must say their attention to detail is phenomenal, I like how it resembles a jewel.
I got the eye jelly in 10 Vintage Deco which is a deep burnished brown with silver shimmer in it. The texture of the eye jelly is quite an enigma actually, I don’t know how best to describe it but I’ll try ;D I guess the texture’s somewhat akin to that of a fluffy, thick souffle. It’s mousse-like in a sense but is quite firm to touch. Just dabbing your fingers on the surface of the eye jelly is enough for a sheer wash of shimmer on the eyes.
It’s definitely pigmented but I won’t go so far as putting it on the same pedestal as MAC paintpots or whatever cream base you can think of. The eye jellies are formulated differently, they’re more shimmery/glossy rather than MAC’s full-on color policy which is a nice change. I am absolutely and utterly in love with my eye jelly and despite its slick “meheheh gonna crease on you in 2 hours tops, bitch!” appearance, it hasn’t creased on me at all despite being out all day in this fricking hot climate!
Miho got me the Shiseido Perfect Whip foam too! It’s from one of their affordable drugstore lines and just by mixing in a few drops of water + a tiny amount of Perfect Whip gives you this super thick foam you use to wash your face with..hence the name Perfect Whip! Aah I can’t wait to try this one out, it’s going to feel luxurious I’m sure ;D
It also comes with a small sample of Perfect Liquid which I believe is a cleansing oil? I’m not entirely sure haha, it could be toner!
FOTD TIME!!!~~
I was out for a bit of fun & shopping in the city today so I had on some light, fast make-up (didn’t want the folks to think I was going out clubbing lol). I just dabbed on some eye jelly (see how glossy it is? love love love!!), brushed in some highlighter on the browbone, did a quick flick trick with my trusty liquid eyeliner, lined my lower lashes with my gold Urban Decay eyeliner and that’s about it lol. I actually think I look demure wtf? For the first time in my life, I actually look almost innocent LOL.
Oh and excuse the tiny bumps on the forehead. URGH those pesky things appeared this morning and I feel like sanding them off my face with a nail file or something. Well at least you all know that I don’t photoshop off imperfections, I’m no Aphrodite/Hera/Persephone/Angelina Jolie - my skin is not perfect.
This side shot is for Catherine. She wanted to see a swatch of my NARS Sin blush so I purposely wore this out today so I could show what it looks like on my skin! I’m not sure if you can see it well because I like wearing my blushes sheer but it’s a nice berry blush! Cat, I think it’ll look really good on you!
Face:
Dr Jart Detox Healing BB cream
Cheeks:
NARS Sin
Eyes:
Jill Stuart Eye Jelly in Vintage Deco
MAC eyeshadow in Shroom as highlight
Majolica Majorca liquid eyeliner (forgot what it’s called)
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Honey
MAC Browset in Girl Boy
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander NEO
Lips:
YSL Rouge Volupte in Tender Peach & MAC lipstick in Mellow Mood
I’m sooooo tired D8 I’ve to catch up on so many blog entries I’ve missed out on since I’ve been out the whole weekend. I know some of you on twitter have asked me to write a weight loss entry and I think I’ll work on that after my last day of work because I have so much to touch on! There is no short-cut to weight loss and I’m definitely not going to slap in a couple of paragraphs and call it a diet guide. I’ll probably have it up before I leave for Melbourne in Feb ;D Hope everyone’s had a great weekend <3
Tags: beauty: jill stuart, beauty: NARS, fotd: neutral, japan, skincare: jill stuart
Nihon ni ikitai! [日本に行きたい!]
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh, Make-Up & Beauty
Yet again I’m put in a spot where I have to spontaneously declare my love for a country I’ve never been to but have heard/read about it so much (all this with a slight tinge of envy) that I have embraced its culture as though it were my own.
Everything about Japan fascinates me, it’s a nation obsessed with attaining perfection in a sense that everything they do is done with careful grace and everyone is well-groomed and dressed to the nines.
You can pick out plenty of fashion styles in Japan, some are so chic (it just stabs me in the heart to think I live in a country where flip-flops and shorts are the norm) while the others look like they were from an entirely different time/planet/dimension/the space between spaces which amazes me sometimes because all of them are so immaculately dressed despite their slightly warped kooky sense of fashion. Now that is just made of epic fashion win.
I have to keep reminding myself that this blog isn’t entirely about my terror-inducing beauty-related spending habits and my knack for playing pretend chef every once a while but also to document the many things I find intriguing from fashion (dude, I’ve not blogged about fashion in the longest time!) to design-related stuff. So today I bring you a couple of photos of Tokyo from one of my favourite photographers on Flickr, Chillhiro.
img credit: chillhiro@Flickr
There is a certain elegance and beauty to his photos which I love and it’s strange because his photo compositions are so simple yet he manages to capture the rare stillness of a fast-paced metropolitan city like Tokyo. If you like what you see, check out Chillhiro’s photostream here for more visual splendor ;D
*cough* k back to my ridiculous spending habits. (What? You can’t expect me to talk about artsy stuff 24/7, can you?) A colleague of mine, Jas, went to Japan over the Christmas holidays so I gave her a shopping list of stuff I was interested in and she came back with a bag full of yummy goodies for me YAY!
Milk tea is my fave drink in the world and Japanese milk tea is the absolute best!!
Chocolates! Meiji Matcha chocolate, Matcha Kit Kat and Royal Milk Tea Kit Kat (MILK TEA KIT KAT O.M.F.G!!!!!) Of course, you can’t leave Japan without buying some oddly-flavoured Kit Kats. They have different seasonal flavours each year, ranging from the brilliant (milk tea Kit Kat, MILK TEA KIT KAT /o/ /o/ /o/) to the downright bizarre lol (ginger ale Kit Kat anyone?) Honestly I won’t be surprised if they came up with a clam chowder flavoured Kit Kat lmao. Only in Japan guys, only in Japan.
BENTO GOODIES ♥ ♥ ♥ I have pretty technicolor soy sauce bottles to fulfill my wild bento fantasies! The flat plastic thingum you see on the far left is actually a sandwich box (no more soggy bread for me whee!) Jas actually got me a two-tier bento box too but er I kinda left it in the office so I couldn’t take a photo of it, sorry.
Bihada Ichizoku masks! I’ve heard so MUCH about these masks, I think the girly manga illustrations on the packaging’s amusing lol. I’ve not tried them yet but when I do, I’ll write a short review.
That’s all for my Japan haul! But I’m not done yet haha, I’ve got some past purchases I’ve not shown you yet so here they are:
VOV masks! I’ve tried almost all of them and I’m pretty happy with their quality. From L to R: Volcanic Ash Wash-off mask, Black Charcoal Peel-off mask and the Apple AHA Peeling Gel mask. I like the Black Charcoal mask the best so far, i think it’s comparable to the KOSE Seikisho Mask White, works the same way and costs a fraction of the price.
Did I mention I’m officially swamped in masks? Yep. I’m up to my neck in sheet mask nirvana. Here’s the queen of all masks, the SK-II facial treatment mask I bought on a whim at Sephora the other day. I’m just waiting for this little pimple on my chin to evacuate off my face before I try this one out; there is no way in heck I’m going to waste an SK-II mask on a stupid clogged pore.
The Body Shop’s Christmas LE Nutmeg & Vanilla body scrub! I got this during their post-Christmas sale when everything was at 40% off! Not that I need another body scrub but…
Doesn’t it look like a yummy smoothie? It’s got honey, nutmeg and ground walnut in it, I used this yesterday and came out of the shower potentially smelling like a French bakery. That. is. just. so. AWESOME. All my life I’ve wanted to smell like freshly-baked croissants and cream-filled crepes and the body scrub leads me one step closer to my dream. God bless Dame Anita Roddick, RIP. (Ok I’m kidding about the wanting to smell of croissants and crepes lol but the scrub really has a lovely scent!)
I think I shuld end this entry now before it gets any longer than it already is and people start throwing rocks at me lol. It’s TGIF! Have a great weekend and I’ll catch you soon ;D
Tags: bodycare: The Body Shop, food: chocolate, japan, skincare: bihada, skincare: SK-II, skincare: VOV
