Saturday, October 10, 2015

The Face Shop + Kiko Milano Haul!

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've made a post because college has started and life has gotten busier. But I'm really excited to show you some purchases that I recently made! The Face Shop, a Korean skincare brand, opened up in the town neighboring mine so I made a visit yesterday and got quite a few nice things. The mall near my house also opened a new huge section filled with brand new skincare, make up, and clothing stores. So let's get this haul going~ 


These first couple of products were actually a complimentary gift from the store! My total for my purchase came out to be enough money to receive four free items and these face masks were a part of the options, so of course I chose them. I've heard many good reviews about The Face Shop's face masks, the main one being that they use natural ingredients that smell pleasant and act effectively. 


The first mask is a natural shea butter face mask that will firm and supplement your skin with the magical moisturizing and anti-aging properties of shea butter. 


The second mask I received is a real nature mask in blueberry. This mask will help moisturize skin as well, but it will also soften it! Both these masks help keep the skin nice, dewey, and taut.


 I actually bought another pair of masks that aren't pictured because I used them, but I also purchased a couple of dragon character masks! I mainly got them as a cute activity that my boyfriend and I could do, but the character masks also made my skin feel incredibly dewey and moisturized. So if you want to have add a little fun in your skin care routine, I definitely recommend purchasing some! Next time I'm getting the tiger masks~



The biggest purchase (imo lol) I made at The Face Shop was the Pomegranate and Collagen Volume Lifting Essence. I knew that I wanted to get something for my daily skincare routine that would help make my skin look poreless and tight. I wasn't sure what to buy though, but luckily the shop woman was very helpful in guiding me through the steps of Korean skincare. She told me that essence is an essential addition to the layering routine and I after I told her my skin type, she recommended me some products, and my favorite was this! The Pomegranate and Collagen essence has a light, but fruity smell to it and I'm currently applying it both day and night. It'll help with tightening my pores and face even more with that natural fruity collagen~ 


As you can see from the swatch, the product goes on really smoothly. It's not too creamy or heavy and the smell isn't strong either. It goes on the skin really easily and I'm really excited to see how my face looks after a few weeks of using it! 


At the end of the purchase, the shop woman gave me even MORE free items, these times little samples of their other products! The three on the top are a part of their White Seed line. She gave me a set of toner, essence, and lotion and should be applied in that order. The White Seed line adds an extra effect of whitening with each product. I've heard generally positive opinions, so we'll see how it goes when I use them! 

The second sample I was given is the Chia Seed sebum control moisture cream. It contains 0% oil, so the product should help minimize the level of oiliness on the face. In daily routine, this cream should be applied last, right after the lotion. I've heard super good reviews on this product as well and I'm hoping that it'll help decrease oil in my trouble areas! 


Lastly, my purchase from the new mall in my area. I visited a new store called Kiko Milano that has had positive reviews on their products. I was in the market for a long lasting lipstick that wouldn't come off from drinking water or kissing my boyfriend. One of the make-up concierges recommended me the Matte Muse Lipstick that I bought in # 02! 


The lipstick goes on pretty thick and after drying up leaves a matte look. 


I adore the color and after wearing it out for a couple days, I have to say, I'm really impressed! After the lipstick dried, it was hard to get off. It wouldn't rub off no matter how many times I kissed my hand and the swatch I made this morning still hasn't come off! The color is sweet and subtle, which is perfect and overall I'm pleased with this product. I'll definitely be visiting Kiko again. 

Thanks for reading!



Sunday, July 5, 2015

Anime Expo 2015 Haul!


This year, after about five years of yearning, I finally, finally, FINALLY got the chance to be able to go to Anime Expo this year! I never got to go before because of money, rides, etc. I had a good time and picked up some very cute things while I was there.


My first, and probably favorite, item was a print of Kuranosuke from my favorite anime, Princess Jellyfish. Princess Jellyfish, or Kuragehime, has gotten me through many tough times in my life and is my go-to feel good anime. I knew that I wanted to get a print of something from the anime there, and this Kuranosuke print was perfect! I bought it almost immediately for $7. It's colors are so sweet and wonderful to look at. I'm very excited to put this up on my wall. I didn't get to pick up the artist's business card, so if someone knows who drew this, please let me know so I can thank/credit them!


My next item are these super cute stickers I bought from an artist whose tumblr user is ghostspaces! All of her products were so lovely to look at. She had shirts, a zine, and these stickers for sale. All of her items were in colors that match my style, so I HAD to buy something. Her stickers were 3 for $5 and I'm very happy with the ones I got! I especially love the Moomin one lol. I'm not sure where I'll put these yet, but I'm really happy I have them. 


And finally, I got this super adorable bow from a lil booth that sold bows and shoe pins! I bought it for $4, a pretty good price in my opinion. My favorite part about it is the fabric and the way the little star patterns shimmer when you wear it. I'm definitely going to be wearing this bow quite often! The shop owner was a super cute and sweet lady with the most adorable voice. She was cosplaying as Bee from Bee and Puppycat and was just a sweetheart to me. Her name is muffu and she's an aspiring voice actress! Check out her youtube and other links to her profiles should be in her youtube too! 

I didn't take that many pictures with cosplayers because I was too shy to go up to any of them unfortunately ;; but i did take a few pictures at some cute booths~ 



So happy I got to see the Rilakkuma room! 



Anime Expo was such a fun time and I hope I can go again next year!!! I saw so many awesome cosplays and different types of merchandise, everything about the expo was just so fun. I can't wait to go back with my friends and maybe even make new ones while I'm there! If you see me at AX 2016, be sure to say hi!



Saturday, July 4, 2015

Animal Crossing Hard Candies - 2nd Edition!

Happy Fourth of July! I wanted to make a quick post about a purchase I made a couple days ago before I forgot! I have been such a big fan of the Animal Crossing games for almost 10 years now, so I was super excited when I saw these candies were for sale at my local Marukai! These sweets are the 2nd edition of a previously released set of Animal Crossing: New Leaf hard candies from 2014. I'm excited that another set has come out!
The packaging is exceptionally cute, using Isabelle and other charactersfrom New Leaf as the main design influence. My Japanese is pretty rough, but I think the bag says that there are 4 fun flavors to choose from! The flavors are the native fruits from the game, depicted in their "perfect" form. There's also one set of stickers in each package to collect! 
The back of the packaging shows the nutrient info and another sample sticker set. There are 23 candies in each package. 


The individual packaging of the hard candies are so adorable! Each one has a different village character on it, including some of the main characters. They all say, "what's today's lucky seal?!" Or something of that matter. My favorite was Reese! The candies themselves weren't amazing, but they were nice and fruity. My favorite flavor personally would have to be the peach!
Aaaaand these are the stickers that I got! I'm a super big fan of Animal Crossing so I was very happy with the stickers and would have been fine with any design. I'm not sure where I'll put these, but I'm very happy I have them! 
Overall rating: 9/10
Price: $3
Source: Marukai Market
If you live in a city with a Marukai, I highly recommend checking it out to see if they have any more candies in stock. I'm sure this product is a limited time offer, so get them soon! Especially if you're a collector!

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Magic Kingdom 2015


This post is the second of four posts about my trips to the Walt Disney World parks. This time, it's all about my trip to the Magic Kingdom, Disney World's biggest and most famous park! If you live in California, Magic Kingdom is the Florida counterpart to Anaheim's Disneyland. It has all the same lands as it: Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, and Adventureland. I had the pleasure of experiencing the park in its entirety!



 Outfit Rundown
Minnie ears: Tokyo Disney Sea
Polka Dot Dress: Shimamura (in Japan) 
Sandals: Birkenstocks

This outfit was inspired by Minnie Mouse 




The centerpiece of the Magic Kingdom was the beautiful Cinderella's castle. It's definitely bigger than the Sleeping Beauty castle, and there was also a platform where performances by Disney characters would be held every few hours. As you can tell, there were quite a bit of people at the park, so it was difficult to get a good shot. 



The first land that we hit up was Frontierland! This land had Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain almost right next to each other, so the area was very densely packed. We rode Splash Mountain as our first ride to cool off in the beginning of the day! We had our card programmed with Fast Passes for both of these rides, so we were able to get on quickly. I noticed that towards midday, the wait times for these rides became ridiculously long, over 90 minutes for each! 



We went to Tomorrowland next and the first attraction we went to was a show-type that they don't have in California called "Stitch's Great Escape." The attendees are basically being "recruited" by the intergalactic police in Lilo & Stitch, when they capture Stitch and he..well... Escapes! It's a whole lot of fun to experience and I wish they had this attraction in Disneyland. 




The Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom was much more spacious than the one in Disneyland. There were more rides, stores, and the design truly made it as if we were in a futuristic society. I adored all the details in the architecture that created an atmosphere of elegance and technology. 





Another show that was Disney World-Tomorrowland exclusive was Monsters Inc's Laugh Floor. The attraction takes place after the events of the Monsters Inc movie, where laughter is needed now to supply power. We were put in a room modeled after a comedy club and monsters on the screen would come out and tell jokes to make the audience laugh. They use the same technology as the Turtle Talk with Crush attraction, so the show was charmingly interactive as well. I enjoyed it quite a bit!




When we went into Fantasyland, one of my main goals was to get a picture with at least one Disney princess. Luckily, my favorite princess, Cinderella, along with Rapunzel, was in the Fairy Tale Princess Hall! (I could have that name wrong) There were two lines, one for Ana and Elsa and the other for Rapunzel and Cinderella. Luckily the line I went into was much shorter, so I got to see them after waiting about half an hour. The interior of the hall was beautiful! The portraits on the wall had all the Disney Princesses and there was a gorgeous replica of Cinderella's glass slipper. 



Rapunzel was such a sweetheart! She acted super bubbly and we had a conversation about my ears and how she wanted to make some for Pascal. She was always smiling so I felt really comfortable despite how awkward I was. 




I absolutely lost it when I met Cinderella. She was my favorite princess as a child, so you can imagine how excited I was! She acted very elegant and was kind as well. I told her how I've loved her for a long time and she invited to me a ball. So sweet! 





The Fantasyland in Florida was very beautiful and recently gone through renovations, perhaps a couple or few years back. All the buildings were polished, well detailed, and very elegant-looking. I felt like I was walking through a dream! 




We watched another show called Mickey's Philharmagic, which was a 4-D show that presented and celebrated the wonderful music used in Disney films throughout the years. It followed Donald, who had secretly used Mickey's sorcerer hat and was trying to get it back as he stumbled through different movie universes. The movies in the show were The Little Mermaid, Lion King, and Aladdin, to name a few. A very charming show to watch!




Another one of the new parts of Fantasyland was The Little Mermaid ride, which had been reconstructed to feature the castle from the movie and the shore where Ariel had washed upon! I was in absolute awe with all the detail and effort that they put into recreating the world from the movie. 

The Magic Kingdom was a wonderful park to visit! It was basically a bigger, more detailed and renovated version of Disneyland, so of course I enjoyed it quite a bit. There were, however, a lot more people in the Magic Kingdom than at Disneyland so the wait times were not pleasant. I still recommend going there if you ever have the chance. All of the attractions are wonderful amounts of fun!