What's in my NEW makeup bag?

I finally got a new makeup bag the other day, I picked up this cute little one from Pylones. I wanted a new makeup bag for so long, but I had never found a perfect one. This bag caught my eyes while shopping with my friend, and it was pretty cheap so I decided to buy it. Plus, it was the last one!

It looks so pretty inside too! 

And these are the things I carry around. As you can see I don't carry many makeup items as I don't fix makeup outside of my house just because my makeup stays as it is all day. And also I just don't have time to fix my makeup at work. 

Here are the moisturizer and stuff. First of all hand cream is an essential in this colder season. I love my Caudalie Hand and Nail Cream as it moisturizes my hands well without making them sticky and greasy. It also smells really nice, like an orange / grapefruit candy! I also love Pai Skincare Bergamont Lip Balm although I use it as nail cream because my lips get drier when I apply this, just because my lips are pretty sensitive and it happens often. It smells of pure bargamot essential oil which is also amazing. Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment is something I started carrying around recently because my hair gets so dry in daytime and it gets tangled and make a huge hair-ball around my neck! This oil is light but moisturizing, so I just apply a little bit of the oil on my lunch time to prevent tangles. And also to enjoy the smell.  I also carry a small-sized balance me moisture-rich face cream just in case I find dry patches on my face which is embarrassing!

And I carry 6 lip products! That's crazy! Obviously I don't use them all a day, but I just love having choices. I've been wearing Revlon Lip Butter a lot, I think I was wearing it every day last week at work. I just love the colour Peach Parfait so much, and I also love the glossy finish it gives. I don't like Burt's Bees tinted lip balm as much as I did at the beginning because I realized that it looks patchy when my lips are dry which looks very uncool! I like the colour but I only use it when I'm confident about the condition of my lips. 

Here is my essential item, uka nail oil 7:15. I get really upset and sad when I've left it in my room. I usually apply it 5-6 times a day at least, mainly to enjoy the aromatic scent....and of course, to take care of my nails. I also carry at least 2 different flavour of chewing gum.

What's in your makeup bag? Do you carry many items around?

Ruam Ruam Herbal Fresh Soap

Ruam Ruam Herbal Fresh Soap - Lavender 1,575yen

This unique looking soap developed and made in Japan caught my eyes immediately after its launch, although I didn't have a chance to buy it until when a friend of mine gave it to me as a gift. It really does look like a glue stick, I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't told so!

Basically you rub it against the net type of thing (it's called washing net here, you know the one looks like a bath lily for your face!) and foam it with a bit of warm water. I usually hate foaming soap because it's a bother and I just don't feel like my face is washed and completely clean after washing with foam. But it's quite fun to foam this soap because of the relaxing scent first of all, it smells of natural Lavender which is absolutely soothing. And another big reason is that the foam is much thicker and bouncy if that make sense. I'm going to show you what foam looks like!

How exciting it is to create this much foam!

And I only used a tiny bit of the soap, now you can imagine how much of a long-lasting soap it would be. It feels so good on my skin while washing and it doesn't leave that uncomfortable feeling after rinsing my face like it normally does with other soap.

My skin feels really fresh afterwords but it doesn't feel dry at all. It contains 17 herbs to hydrate and smooth out your skin and also to prevent blemishes. There are other scents as well such as Grapefruits, Bargamot Orange, Citrus, Original which is the blend of some different essential oils and Patchouli. I love Lavender the most because the scent is subtle and not too heavy,  and of course it's relaxing.

The only reason why I might not buy it myself once it runs out is that I would like just one cleanser which removes makeup because I'm really lazy :P Other than that, I love this soap! Do you use soap to wash your face? Are you interested in this soap? Let me know!

My nails today / uslu airlines

I've mentioned about this nail polish before so I'm not going to go on and on here again but this nail polish is one of my favourites. The brush is perfect, and the formula is amazing. It shines like a vinyl film is sitting on top.

Also this nail polish smells really nice of fig when it's dry which is another reason why I'm in love with this nail polish. I am not a big fan of the colour as it's too bright for me and especially in winter I don't know what kind of clothes to pair with. Have you tried their nail poolish? Which colour is your favourite?

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation  7.99GBP

As I was running out of my Bourjois healthy mix serum, I considered whether I should repurchase it or try something new. Of course I chose the 2nd option because I'm a beauty junkie. And the one I had been wanting to try out was this product because I heard it was a very good foundation for the price and also it won Cosmopolitan Awards, that must mean something that a lot of people love this product so much.

As it's not sold in Japan, I had to pick a shade online. It was very hard because all the swatches and samples looked different in each photo. I finally picked this shade "True Ivory" because it looked similar to my Bourjois healthy mix serum in Vanilla, that was the only way for me to choose a shade without applying on my skin. This shade is a little bit darker for my skin tone in conclusion but it's better than a foundation that's too light for my skin because that would make me look like Geisha!

Well it looks much darker than my skin in this picture but maybe that's because it's the back of my arm. It's got shimmer in it and I was scared if it would make my whole face glittery. But actually it just gives a nice radiant glow which I really like.

The only thing I don't like about this foundation is the smell. It's got a pretty strong scent which is like a perfume. It's too strong to put on my face, I prefer more subtle scent :( But besides the smell I love the finish it gives and I think the quality of this product is very good for the price! 

Now I'm looking for a good powder to put on top of it, right now I'm using my mineral silk powder but I don't like it much. Please let me know if you know a nice powder :)

Nourish Organic Hand Wash

Nourish Organic Hand Wash - Fresh Fig  $6.594

I got it from Vitacost, the American shopping website where you can get stuff like natural beauty products, supplements and drugstore cosmetics that I've mentioned a few times before. 

This hand wash looks very pretty and it makes me feel excited to wash my hands!  I picked the scent "Fresh Fig" which is the mixture of Apricot and Fig. There are other scents like Lavender Mint, Wild Berries and Almond Vanilla.

The scent is very subtle yet long-lasting. It was a little bit different from my expectation, which is a fresh fruity scent. It's more like an natural smell of plants if that makes sense. I'm not a big fan of the smell but still I like this hand wash because it's got scrub beads in it which exfoliate my hands. It leaves my hands clean and smooth, without drying them out. I would love to try "Almond Vanilla" which I imagine a warm and cozy scent. 

Let me know if you've got a favourite hand wash!

Bourjois healthy mix serum

Bourjois healthy mix serum  10.99GBP

I got this foundation about a year ago as a PR sample. I hadn't heard about this product at that point and I didn't like the fact that it's got silicone in it. But a few months ago I found out that everyone was raving about this product on blogs / youtube, and I thought of trying again to see if it's really good.  And I liked it so much and I gave up on my mineral-foundation-habit. 

I used to use mineral foundation only because it was supposed to be good for my skin, because silicon in liquid foundation could clog my pores and it's not ideal to cover my skin surface with it, then my skin cannot breath. But the downside of mineral foundation is that it doesn't cover anything really and I didn't like that. This foundation is not too heavy, it also gives a natural look and it does actually make my skin look really healthy and glowing.

I have it in shade "Vanilla" which is the perfect colour for my skin tone! At first I thought it looked a little bit dark, but once I spread it all over my face it evens out my skin tone. It covers my pores on my cheek and redness around my nose without concealer. I also like the smell of it, fruity and fresh! I used to use my fingers to apply the foundation but recently I use a brush to do it. I'm not sure if it makes difference but I like it this way just because I don't like my fingers to get dirty :P 

Overall I think it's a very good foundation. It doesn't get cakey at all, and it makes my skin look really healthy and glowing without shimmer. I still don't like the feel of silicone on my skin but I'm getting used to it. More than that I like the look it gives to my skin! I would repurchase this product when it runs out, I'm not going to buy it in Japan because it's 2000yen here, but I would purchase from ASOS, they offer free delivery worldwide and they have all the shades! 

Have you tried this product? Do you have any other favourite from the brand?

I love Liz Earle!

I know there are a lot of fans of Liz Earle already and I don't even have to go on and on about their products in my poor English, but I had to do a blog post about the brand as I'm so obsessed with their products!

As I mentioned in my full review and also in my October favourite post, I am totally in love with Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser. Although I don't use it every day as I don't want to exfoliate too much, whenever I use this product my skin feels incredibly soft and smooth.  I think I've mentioned it too many times already here and there, so I'm going to talk about other products of the brand today!

This is one of the best lotion I've ever used. It smells like granny's makeup dresser which means a sweet and nostalgic scent. I was not a big fan of this smell at the beginning but now I'm used to it and I kind of like it. I put it on the organic cotton pad from The Body Shop, and gently place it on my cheek and press it with my fingers so that the lotion exudes and sinks into the skin. I try not to rub it against my skin because I don't want to exfoliate anymore especially after using the cleanser. So I just place the cotton pad in each area like cheeks, nose, forehead, chin and around my eyes and repeat the process.

It makes my skin very moisturized just by that. It's light and refreshing yet hydrating. I cannot describe how much I love this toner, it's just amazing. The bottle I own is the smallest one and I'm nearly finished (and now I'm trying not to use it up because I want it to be my rescue lotion that I can turn to!) but I'm sure I will repurchase it once I've finished this bottle.

And now this cream is the BEST cream ever! I know I said the same thing abut the toner but I just can't find other ways to describe my feelings towards this product! First of all, I really don't like the smell. At the beginning I couldn't stand the smell, and I even told my husband not to use it when I'm around because the smell was too much for me. It's not an artificial smell that I can't stand, but it's a mixture of herbs and plant extracts I guess, and I just didn't like the smell...for me it smelled fishy although nobody would agree with me! But anyway, my mum says it smells herbal and she liked it, so I guess it's just me so please don't be scared to try it out if you haven't used it and are considering trying, because this cream is just AMAZING.

Once I was convinced that this brand is something by using the cleanser and toner, I forced myself to use this cream at night. I started from just a little bit and once I was used to the smell I increased the amount of cream to apply on my face. Immediately I felt the difference. It was the next morning when I touched my face waking up. It felt much smoother and softer. I looked into a mirror and found that my spots on my forehead which suddenly appeared a few days before were reduced a lot. There was no pore that I could see on my cheek, my skin had never been a better condition in the past few years. 

I've got dry skin but this moisturizer for normal / combination skin hydrates my skin enough which is surprising. The consistency is pretty light but it's moisturizing enough so I even can use it in the morning if I wish. As for the smell I still am not a huge fan of it but I don't hate it. I don't even care about it anymore because I am totally in love with this cream and am satisfied with the result it gives. 

It's a very unique product and I couldn't figure out how to /when to use it at first. But I knew this was a very good product by reading reviews. I used it for the first time in the morning when I had puffy eyes. I didn't have much time but I put it on a cotton pad and placed it on my eye and waited for a few minutes. It didn't make a huge difference but it reduced the redness and puffiness a bit. Actually it was really good considering that I didn't do it properly which is to leave the cotton pads on my eyes for 5-10 minutes. 

For those who have never heard of this product, basically it's lotion to calm your eyes area, it says "A gentle herbal lotion to soothe and refresh tired, puffy eyes and remove light eye makeup. Apply to a cotton wool pad and sweep over eyelids and lashes or place over your eyes and relax for 5-10 minutes. Eyebright is light, non-oily and suitable for contact lens wearers" on the bottle.

I'm not sure if I would repurchase it because I don't get puffy eyes often, but I heard it's really good for sensitive skin and also for those who have allergy. 

I'd love to try out their makeup and bodycare products as well, I have very high expectation as the products I have tried are all very good and effective. Liz Earle is definitely the brand I would turn to when I have a trouble with my skin. Someone should introduce their products (meaning distribute) to Japan because natural / organic beauty brands are very popular here in Japan and also there are not so many products which don't contain too much chemicals yet effective. 

What is your favourite of the brand? Share it with me! :)

Goodies from Australia!

 

I received a lovely package from Australia the other day!! The sender was Mel from thebeautydispensary, who kindly offered to send me some magazines! We exchanged magazines, I sent her a Japanese beauty magazine called "MAQUIA" and tiny gifts and she sent me these Australian mags with a pretty gift!

As you may have noticed I love magazines like LOOK and  Grazia, and I have read the UK ones but have never read the Australian one, so it was very interesting! I haven't read Shop till you drop yet but it looks really nice and I'm sure I'll love it!

This lip gloss made me feel so excited!!! It's from Bath & Body Works which I was obsessed with a few years ago. After I started Aromatherapy I stopped buying their products as they smelt a little bit strong as I was used to essential oils, but recently I'm into sweet scents like vanilla, sugar, almond and maple syrup. So when I saw this lip gloss I was like "B&BW! How could I forget about you?" and got so excited.

 

This one is called "Cozy Autumn Vanilla" which sounds really nice. I like the packaging as well, I like the combination of the purple body and the gold lid.

Here's the swatch. It's a clear-based lip gloss with glitters in it! And you know what, it smells SO good. I love this smell, as the name of it claims it smells of vanilla!! And it tastes like vanilla when I accidentally licked my lips with this lip gloss on.

This is how it looks like on the lips. I wasn't wearing lipstick underneath when I took this photo, but I often apply it on top of my Revlon Lip Butter! Actually I was just thinking of getting a clear lip gloss to pair with my lipsticks, and this one is absolutely perfect :)

Now I want to get some B&BW products, my favourite scent is warm vanilla sugar and I'm thinking of getting shower gel once I've used up the ones I have now...I actually just purchased Caudalie shower gel from lookfantastic, so I shouldn't get another one yet! And it's not fair that B&BW doesn't ship to Japan :( 

Thanks so much Mel, I really hope you like your package too!

October Favoruites

I know it's the middle of November but I made an effort to take photos of my October Favourites, so I'm going to write about them!

Liz Earle Cleanse&Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser  (full review)
I am totally in love with this cleanser. It works, it smells good and it makes my skin so soft and smooth like a baby's. I use this cleanser with the muslin cloth about 3 times a week. It's tempting to use it every day but I try not to because I'm not sure if it's true or not but I have heard that we Asian have thinner skin than other races so we shouldn't exfoliate our skin as much. Also if you exfoliate every day, your skin cells get removed before the skin underneath is strong enough, and that could cause sensitivity. Anyway I love this cleanser so much, and since I started using this product my skin has been in a very good condition.

balance me rose otto Body Cream  (full review)
There's no reason to complain about this product. It moisturizes my skin perfectly, smells so gorgeous and I love the packaging. balance me is definitely one of my favourite beauty brands. The best part of this body cream is that it doesn't make my palms greasy after applying it on my body. I hated and forgot to put moisturizer on my body before I discovered this product, but now I can't wait to put this good-smelling body cream every night before bed.

Caudalie Divine Oil  (full review)
Love love love this oil. Usually I apply this oil on my arms, neck and hair to enjoy the scent. I cannot describe the smell but it's something like a mixture of floral and vanilla type of sweet scent if that makes sense. It's so addictive and I really love this scent in the winter air. The oil is very light and it sinks in very quickly which is perfect for a busy morning because I don't have to wait to put clothes on!

Sunshine Spa Bath & Body Oil (full review) 
I pour a few drops of this bath oil into my bathtub when I feel the need of relaxation. It smells incredible, I don't care the fact that the oil makes the whole bathroom slippery. It smells of lavender, chamomile, bargamot and sandalwood which is truly relaxing. You can use it as a shower oil or body oil if you wish, I strongly recommend this oil if you're having a stressful life!

balance me wonder eye cream (full review) Another balance me product I was loving in October. This eye cream is so light yet moisturizing, so I can use it in the morning as well as night time. It moisturize my skin without making it greasy as it sinks in very quickly. I love the herbal scent too. 

Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment
I haven't done a full review of this product yet, but I will definitely do it very soon. I've been using this for about 3 weeks now and whenever I apply this oil, my hair becomes so silky. I've got fine hair and it gets tangled which is horrible -sometimes I tear my tangled hair accidentally- but this oil prevents tangle and that is amazing! It also smells really nice, like a musky vanilla type of scent which reminds me of some male perfume.

Aveda Eye Color Trio in Sea Grass (full review)
I use this eyeshadow palette every day. I haven't figured out how to use the black colour as I have been into brown eyeshadows rather than black recently. But the other two colours are my daily essentials for sure. The pink one is perfect for the base on my eyelids, it creates the even skin tone which is like a clean canvas! I use the brown colour to contour and sometimes on my eyebrows.

Revlon Color Burst Lip Butter (full review)
I wear Peach Parfait nearly every day to work. It's such a pretty colour, which is not too bright and not too nude. This colour makes my whole face look fresh and healthy!! I am very busy at work and don't have time to look into a mirror and fix my makeup, so I like the fact that I don't need a lip brush and a mirror to apply this lipstick, instead I can just apply it as if it's a lip balm and it looks fine!

Thanks for reading, it became such a long post...sorry! Hope you enjoyed it :)

Caudalie Winter Rescue Duo

Caudalie Winter Rescue Duo 7.20GBP

As I mentioned before, I have really sensitive lips and when I use lip balm which doesn't match my lips, they get chapped hard and start bleeding because of dryness. This lip balm by Caudalie really really nourishes and hydrates my lips and I immediately repurchased when I finished my 1st one. 

This time, I got this Winter Rescue Duo because the lip balm itself costs 4.95 pounds and it's only 2.25 pounds more and has got this miniature hand cream with it! I always wanted to try their hand cream and thought this small one would be ideal to keep in my handbag.

The consistency of this hand cream is perfect. It's not too thick and not too loose, yet doesn't make my hands greasy at all. I use a computer for more than 10 hours a day at work, and having a greasy hand to hold my mouse is the last thing I want. It moisturizes my hands without being heavy which I really like! Apparently it contains the grape extract which is beneficial for your skin, also shea butter and avocado oil moisturize your hands.

I'm not going to go on and on about the lip balm but I really really recommend this to those who's got chapped lips that nothing can repair. Because this one can! I am sure I will repurchase it when I run out of this one.


Over all this little bag of winter rescues is very satisfying. Both hand cream and lip balm are true winter essentials. If you're interested in the lip balm, I recommend this set so that you can enjoy the hand cream as well!


Here's a little thing I want to share, I'm banned from wearing contact lenses because of my allergy (did I have an allergy? really?) and my glasses give me a headache. It makes it really hard to blog because  I cannot see ANYTHING without contact lenses or glasses. Especially looking at the computer screen makes my head pounding so I have to stay away from blogging for about a week or two :( Still I will blog a bit but maybe not every day like I have been.  

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and read my blog, oh and I put the links to all of my pages like Twitter, Instagram and yes I finally made my Facebook page, so have a look if you're interested! :)

Sunshine Spa Organics Bath&Body Oil

Sunshine Spa Rest and Relax Therapeutics Bath and Body Oil  $9.23

I purchased this oil from Vitacost.com when I was looking for a nice bath oil / salt for a relaxing bath time. Sunshine Spa Organics is an American beauty brand which makes the finest quality natural/organic and fair trade bath and body products. 

The product description on Vitacost :
Rest & Relax Therapeutic Bath & Body Oil with Kava Kava and Valerian in our Ayurvedic Blend of Oils. Rest & Relax is Sunshine Spa's ultimate stress reliever.  Infused with the powerful herbal extracts of Kava Kava and Valerian and the essential oil of Lavender, this exclusive spa blend eases the stress and tension of daily life.

I NEED good smelling bath oil or bath salt when I take a bath because to be honest I hate taking a bath. It's hot and humid which makes my magazine wet, and it's hard to breath and simply tiring. But I try to take a bath especially in winter to warm up my body because I have a poor circulation.

This oil smells absolutely fantastic and it encourages me to take a bath. The blend with lavender, chamomile, bargamot and sandalwood smells so comforting and relaxing. It actually contains valerian which is a plant which stinks like hell but is used for treatment of insomnia, and kava kava that loosen your muscles that gets hard by stress. Thankfully I don't smell any hints of valerian which is a good thing, I only smell a fantastic blend of essential oils.

It's in this type of plastic bottle and I just pour about two teaspoon of the oil into the bathtub. It's just a normal oil so it doesn't get dissolved and is just floating at the water level and makes the whole bathroom slippery but I just love the smell so much.

I also use it as a body oil sometimes, I usually prefer body cream but when I want to enjoy the scent I apply a small amount of this oil on my arms and legs. It moisturize my skin well, but to avoid getting all greasy I apply it on my wet skin.

It seems like there were more than 5 different scents of the oil but sadly most of them are discontinued. I'm scared if this particular scent is actually discontinued too. I checked out their official website but it doesn't have any important information and I haven't found out. If you're interested, you can purchase it at Vitacost that I put the link above :)

What's your favourite bath product? Any recommendations?
 

Revlon Color Burst Lip Butter

Revlon Color Burst Lip Butter

I know it's a bit late to talk about this product but I have to because I'm pretty excited to finally get them! I wanted to try sooner because there was a huge hype going on, but it's really expensive in Japan and I didn't want to pay 1500yen for a tinted lip balm. I found a very good deal on eBay and got two different colours for $7-8 each.

 

Peach Parfait is sold in Japan but Tutti Frutti is not so I was excited to try out. I usually don't wear lipstick especially in orange, so it was a challenge for me but I wanted to try because recently I wear brown eyeshadows a lot and thought this colour would go well with brown. 

Peach Parfait is such a lovely colour that matches my skin tone.

I was surprised to see how sheer it actually was because it looked pretty dark. This colour brightens up my face without looking overdone.

Tutti Frutti is a very bright orange colour.

And it's very pigmented though I was expecting a bit more sheer pigmentation. The colour is a little bit too bright and strong for me so I just tap it on my lips instead of applying it fully, to give a hint of orange. 

Overall I really like the product although I made a mistake on picking a colour which matches my skin tone. It's moisturizing and I love how sheer Peach Parfait is! Have you tried this product? Did you like it?

Your favourite beauty apps?

I finally got my iPhone5 the other day. I was using my old mobile which I got about 2-3 years ago but wanted to change over to smart phone. I was waiting for iPhone5 to come out for more than a year and finally I got it! yay! But I'm struggling so hard as I'd never used iPhone properly, just writing an email is a hard work for me now! 

At the same time I've been downloading some beauty apps such as Beautyish, Beauty Genius by marie claire and Fast Beauty by Glamour magazine, but the last two are not up to date at all.

So, I wanted to ask if any of you guys know good beauty apps! Let me know what kind of apps you use to check beauty news on the go!

By the way if you're wondering, the wallpaper of my screen is not something you might think, it's my favourite photo of Miranda Kerr and in this picture it's just showing her butt but actually she is looking really beautiful in this photo! I hope you don't think of me as a weirdo who puts a picture of a butt on my screen!

Anyway tell me which beauty app is your favourite, and maybe none-beauty apps too if you've got anything to recommend! :)

Autumn Beauty Reads!

I love books. My mum told me more than 100 times that when I was little, like at age of 3 or 4, I used to carry a lot of books from my bedroom every morning and demanded her to read them for me. When I was in junior school, I read most of the foreign books (translated into Japanese) in the library. Even now I never go anywhere without a book unless when going to the supermarket near my house.  

I got two books the other day even though I've got many books I haven't read yet but I don't blame myself because whenever I get stressed out I buy books, so I guess I need some time to spend time on myself reading.

1001 Little Beauty Miracles by Esme Floyd

This book was recommended by my favourite beauty blogger Jessica from Jessica Beautician.  She is a beauty therapist herself and has got really convincing opinions toward cosmetics. The cover is different from the one she's got but I made sure it's the same book.

It doesn't have photos or fancy decoration or anything, but it's like a beauty dictionary that you can rely on. It's interesting to read all the tips, I wish the each tip was a bit longer and more detailed though because sometimes I read a tip and am like "Why is it good for my skin? How does it work?" and I have to google it to get the answer. I haven't finished reading this book yet, but it's a good book for those who are new to cosmetics. 

Best in Beauty by Riku Campo

I wanted a book which shows about both skincare and makeup tips. I didn't want an old fashioned one so I went through more than 50 pages on Amazon.co.jp to find an ideal book. Then I finally found this book, which looked pretty interesting.

This book is printed in full colour which is really nice, and very interesting to read. It has many tips and Q&As, I never get bored reading this book.

It's got 300 pages which makes it really thick and heavy, meaning it's impossible to carry it around but it's like a nice treat that I can get when I come back from work. 

I love this type of beauty book and am now interested in Make-up Masterclass and Make-up Secrets by Jemma Kidd (does anyone know the difference between those two books?) because it seems like it's got great makeup tips.

Also I got the beauty issue of Look magazine, FINALLY! Thanks eBay!

Do you have any favourite beauty books? What are you reading this autumn?