Solo Korea Trip DAY 0 – The Beginning

A quick long time no see!

I’ve promised you guys (and myself) that I will write series of my last year’s Korea solo trip which I will separate into several posts.

Since I went there for 8 days 7 nights, Maybe I will try to cover this within 8-10 posts to make this one a relaxed travel posts series. I will try to remember every single thing that I’ve experienced. However, since it was my last year’s August trip, I’m not sure if I can cover every single details of my trip. But hopefully this will be as fun and as informative as we would like it to be!

So excited for my first flight with Korean Air.

First thing first, here’s my itinerary for 8 days in Korea which covers Seoul and Busan:

1. N Seoul Tower, Myeongdong
2. Gyeongbokgung Palace, ate at Tosokchon Samgyetang, Samcheongdong, Bukchon Hanok Village, Changdeokgung Palace, Insadong
3. Garden of Morning Calm, Le Petite France, Nami Island, Dongdaemun
4. Off to Busan, Haedong Yonggung Temple, Haeundae Beach
5. Taejeongdae, Gamcheon Cultural Village, Gwangalli Beach
6. Centum City, back to Seoul - Hongdae
7. Karosukil, Sinsa-dong, Myeongdong (again!)
8.  Stroll around Ehwa University and go back home

I went with this itinerary after consulting with a friend that have lived in Seoul once; he said that 8 days 7 night only in Seoul will be very boring (And I found that it was sooo true) so I decided to include Busan on my travel itinerary. However please note that my main purpose for going to Seoul was to shop (those makeup price though… so cheap af) that’s why I’ve made several repeat visits to shopping areas to write off my shopping list. So if you won’t be shopping that much in Korea, within 8 days maybe you can go to other places beside Seoul and Busan too!

At the end of the post I will try to make lists of my expense; I hope you’ll get the image of how I spend my days in Korea for one week back then.

I remember that my first day were spent transporting myself from Narita to Incheon with morning flight, and went to my Airbnb house around Jongno. 

Incheon, yeay!

I spent quite some time in the airport, getting my pre-booked wifi-egg and trying to figure out how to buy subway card, get confused, and finally decided to just bought anything that the convenience store sells.

I read from the internet somewhere that I can get a train card with special packages for tourist, went to search for that card and it seems nobody knows about that one, finally I decided to get just the standard one in a convenience store inside the airport. Its just like this:

Me not getting the special card was kind of tolerable, since I realize that transport by train in Seoul was much cheaper than in Japan! I will try to write the details in the last post later!

So, after a long day figuring which way is which (which is the hardest part of every trip), and put my stuff at my room (it was 3 p.m at that time), I’ve decided to peek on Myeongdong, the famous shopping area; and nearby that, N Seoul Tower, since I thought the time will be just right to see beautiful sceneries on the top of the tower.

Before that, I managed to take photos of my Airbnb house! 

I picked the Korean traditional house style for the sake of the experience, and it was a great one indeed! The hosts were so kind too, and they have 2 fat cats (I didn’t take photos of them though). It was not as big as I expected it would be however it was just right for a solo short stay.

Glad with my room, I went off directly to see how my shopping spree area would be!

However just let me write the rest of my day one in Korea on the next post since this one is already too long imo…

Please click links below to see which day you want to browse! (Will update the link one by one with every new post that I’ve uploaded)

See you on the next posts!

My First Post Back in JA-KAR-TA

I remember every time I try to update my blog, the first thing that popped on my mind was about how I should consider writing more regularly, as I knew deep within that I’ll be updating my blog with longer and longer span between each post. I tried to promise myself but somehow updating a blog is as difficult as tidying up my life!

Such a long time since my last post on my blog. Reviewed it again and the last post that I uploaded was early of July last year! OMG. It has been 7 months ago and so much have been happening on the last 7 month, definitely. Several significant events happened on that period that I can share were:

1. Finally fully resign from my company in Japan and managed to pass all of those good-bye parties safe and sound (it was quite tiring for an introvert like me), while I
2. Manage to clear out my moving process from Japan to Indonesia too. It was such an exhausting process as so many steps have to be done such as selling stuffs, clearing my bank account, unregistering my utilities, packing and sending boxes, make reports on ward office, and everything else even I still couldn’t believe I passed all of those stuff alone.
3. While in the meantime before I went back Jakarta, I managed to travel to Seoul for around 10 days alone,
4. And checking my list for visiting Hokkaido too, alone!! And then I finally
5. Move back for good to Jakarta and adapt quite well; still hate the traffic jam though,
6. Manage to settle my tiny nail business, well, even though so far open for close families and friends,
7. Manage to get a job here in Jakarta; which I’m not sure yet whether it’s the one that I want to do for the rest of my career, but  it gave me a good chance to learn and grow,, and finally,
8. Passed 2016 safe and sound (since my hectic period on moving and resignation stuff, all I want to do at that time do is only get to pass 2016 peacefully in my apartment balcony back home in Jakarta, and it came true naturally. Hahaha.

I have to admit 2016 was not my best year and it was the most exhausting year of my life hands down, however I’m very grateful for it. It was exhausting, but it was fulfilling. I knew how far my limit is, and I learn to be grateful and feel content of what I already have.

However, adapting back to Jakarta’s lifestyle is no joke.

At first it was so nice, all of the friends and family, no more lonely times, everyone was there for you, and it’s like happily ever after. It’s like everything that I ever wanted when I’m in Japan came true in a flash.  However there will always be times when I’m missing what I had in Japan that I miss the most: the freedom of doing everything alone; the way I want, anytime.

I miss my freedom to do everything alone. I miss traveling alone. It was so easy to go just everywhere on my off day. I can go museums alone, go aquarium alone, exhibitions alone. I can go out of town alone, came back late alone, or maybe drink with one best friend until late, and it was safe for me to go back home very late. I miss all of that.

In Jakarta?? Nahhh. When I went out with my friends even just a little bit late, everyone as in my family will tell me to go home asap. I knew they are worried about my safety and I realize that too, since Jakarta’s safety is quite bad, but sometimes it provoke my annoyance, however on the other hand I can’t complain much about that. IT WAS SO HARD FOR ME TO HAVE MY OWN TIME HERE.

Actually the longing of freedom was so bad until at one point I realize that there will be no end to what I want unless I feel content about it. When you had freedom, you want a connection to people around you. When you got people protecting you, you miss your freedom. I went to Japan, but I wanted to go back to Jakarta, but when I’m in Jakarta, I really wanted to go back Japan. There will be no end of this unless I can sit down, try to pause a while and stop thinking about moving forward.

Sometimes I feel that that maaaybe what I really need was only a looong holiday for me from all of the accumulated stress in Japan? But I’m already here anyway. And I believe everything happen for a reason too.

What I can and have to do right now is just to live, enjoy the presence, and be content of what I have. I knew I’m still adapting, but I believe I can make it somehow, and everything will be better onward.

And I have to catch up with some friends that I haven’t met too for several years... (I’m running away from socializing too long already!)

To perk things up a little bit, maybe I will post about my trip to Korea and Hokkaido last time… For the sake of lighting up my travel spirit and routine blog post too!!

See you on my next post!!

Viva Character Nails!

I love love love character nails! However it was not a secret that I kinda hate to make them as it usually requires detail and comparability to what kind of character are you drawing. One slight miss (eyes too big, nose too small, et cetera) will ruin the whole balance and you're done for.

I've tried to practice my character nail art several times, some turn out quite good, some were ok.. some were a total mess hahaha. Well, I guess practice makes perfect?

So here I am showing you guys several of the characters that I've been trying to make (and worth to be posted) in the span of 3 years. Most of them were gel polish however I've tried to experiment with acrylic paint too in some of the designs. 

Nighmare before Christmas Series, and Sasaki from Tokyo Ghoul which once I'm obsessed with. On the very right was the super failure Daenerys from Game of Thrones. I think I should try to make it once again in the near time, see how much I have improved in drawing still life...

Lilo 3 years ago, Lilo 2 years ago, Lilo 1 year ago. Not so much improvement.. But glad I can make the line thinner in the Tinkerbell one!

Just some random character.. Moomin, the once-hyped Minions (I don't quite like them though).

Sailormoon nails!!! I've made this recently when I'm in a full nostalgic mode back from my visit to Sailormoon Exhibition which you can see the post here. Quite proud of these pieces :)

And this one is a very random character nails that I've tried to create myself as a requirement for a small nail design challenge online. Haven'y get the result yet, didn't expect to win too as long as I'm having fun with it.

And I think that's all with my character nail journey which definitely were not finished yet.

I realize that character nails is one of the nail art type which everybody likes for sure, and wanted to do even just once in their whole lifetime. So will definitely practice harder to make it perfect so that I can bring an ear-to-ear smile for my future customers later!

See you on my next post!

Mengurus Visa Travel Korea di Jepang - Tokyo

Baru saja beberapa jam lalu saya menyelesaikan proses pembuatan ijin visa travel Korea saya di Jepang. Di luar dugaan, sangat mudah sekali. Malahan lebih capai di jalan ketimbang mempersiapkan prosesnya. tsk tsk.

Ini merupakan proses yang saya lakukan sendiri (berdasarkan riset-riset yang saya kumpulkan sendiri di internet) sehingga apabila ada kesalahan informasi, mohon dimaafkan. Dianjurkan juga bagi para pembaca sekalian untuk melakukan riset sendiri mengenai dokumen-dokumen dan syarat-syarat yang diperlukan sebelum melakukan aplikasi, karena mungkin dokumen yang diperlukan berbeda-beda sesuai dengan tujuan kepergian.

Saya sendiri mengajukan aplikasi dengan tujuan travel, dan kondisi saya sekarang adalah WNI yang tinggal di Jepang dengan visa bekerja 5 tahun.

DOKUMEN

Berikut dokumen yang saya ajukan ketika saya mengajukan aplikasi:

1. Formulir pengajuan visa + foto - isi selengkap-lengkapnya dan berikan dokumen yang diperlukan apabila dipersyaratkan di poin pertanyaan. Googling saja "korea visa application form" dan biasanya langsung keluar di option pertama, link dari MOFA Korea lengkap dengan huruf bulat2 mereka hehe.
2. Paspor asli
3. Fotokopi paspor (entah kenapa malahan tidak diambil oleh petugasnya..tidak diperlukan?)
4. Fotokopi visa kerja (dikembalikan juga..)
5. Fotokopi KTP Indonesia dan Zairyuu Card Jepang depan belakang
6. Print out flight itinerary hari H

Dokumen yang saya pikir diperlukan (berdasarkan riset internet) malah dikembalikan, dokumen yang saya pikir tidak diperlukan (seperti tiket ke korea) malah diambil.. Memang cukup membingungkan.

LOKASI

Kedubes Korea untuk aplikasi visa sendiri berlokasi di Azabujuban. Dari stasiun Azabujuban, keluar exit 2, jalan lurus terus sekitar 500-600 meter. Patokannya adalah Olympic Inn. Jalan sedikit lagi dari Olympic Inn langsung bisa terlihat 1 gedung dengan lambang bendera Korea; untuk aplikasi visa bisa langsung ke lantai 3.

PROSES 

Setelah sampai bisa langsung berikan dokumen aplikasi visa di meja resepsi, mungkin akan ditanya2 sedikit mengenai travel plan (walaupun saya tidak ditanya-tanya sama sekali sih), kemudian diinstruksikan untuk membeli tiket pembayaran pembuatan visa di mesin yang ditunjukkan. Saya membayar 4800 yen, berdasarkan riset, ada juga yang membayar hanya 2400 yen. Terus teraang saya tidak tahu basisnya yang penting lolos dulu.. pikir saya. Tiket yang keluar dari mesin tersebut ditempelkan ke formulir pengajuan visa, dan ambil nomor urut untuk membawa semua dokumen yang ada ke petugasnya. Selesai.

Saya mengajukan aplikasi tanggal 28 Juni, selesai 30 Juni 2016. Aplikasi dibuka dari jam 09.00 - 12.00, pengambilan adalah dari jam 14.00 - 16.00.

HASIL

Pemakaian sekali pulang pergi dalam jangka waktu 3 bulan.

Tidak ada gunanya juga sih, pasang foto di sini.. toh semua disensor hehehe..Kepingin pamer saja, akhirnya selesai juga prosesnya. Lega deh jalan-jalannya ntar Agustus.

Terus terang dari awal sedikit pusing tentang persyaratan dokumen yang harus diajukan, informasi di internet mengenai WNI yang bekerja di Jepang dan yang mengajukan visa korea di Jepang pun bisa dihitung jari. Ternyata aplikasinya sendiri kurang dari 1 minggu.. Lebih pusing mencari informasinya dibanding pengajuan real-nya. Karena itu semoga sedikit informasi yang saya tuliskan di sini cukup bermanfaat bagi para teman2 seposisi dan sependeritaan di Jepang sini.

Kadang-kadang cukup kesal sih lahir sebagai WNI, khususnya di bidang traveling. Teman-teman saya orang Jepang, Singapur dan lainnya rata-rata tidak memerlukan visa untuk pergi ke mana-mana. Hanya saya saja yang kadang suka terbirit2 mengejar travel plan demi mendapatkan tanggal berangkat, alamat hotel dan lain-lain untuk keperluan visa...Impulsive overseas travel is really out of the option for us, sadly.

Doa sederhana saya, semoga di masa yang akan datang visa waiver untuk WNI bisa lebih diperbanyak.

See you on my next post!! 

Sailor Moon Exhibition in Roppongi - Tokyo 2016

On this June 17^th I had the chance to go back in time and had a severe nostalgia time in the Sailor Moon Exhibition located in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. This event was only celebrated for such a short time (for only 2 months I guess) so the hype was quite big.

To be honest I was ONCE a big fan of Sailor Moon however I grow up and blah blah so many things happened and suddenly it disappeared from my childhood without me knowing it. But then I went here.... The moment I saw all of the things shown on the exhibition there, it literally KICK MY HEAD OFF back to my childhood memories, damn, damn, hard.

“DAMN Yolanda, such a stupid of you for growing up...”

Said me to myself for the whole 3 hours there...

It was located on the 52^th floor of Mori Tower where they usually have art exhibition there. The entrance fee itself was not that cheap, 1800 yen for one adult.

I remember there are several sections for the exhibition:

• The main hall where they show the main artwork created by Naoko Takeuchi, the mangaka (“comic artist”) for the exhibition included several displayed knick-knacks from the past, and photo spot on the center for those who interested.
• The area that shows chronological story of Sailor Moon from the first publicity, short movie area.
• The display area for several manga sketches, toys and merchandise from the past and present, such as dolls, wands, action figures.
• Main Photo Spot.
• Artwork display plus a monitor that plays Sailor Moon songs from the past anime again and again (and I stunned there for more than 15 minutes just to hear the song and chill as in having goosebumps all over again)
• Another artwork display area that shows mostly the real artwork for this exhibition which is AWESOME.
• Shop area.

Unfortunately most of the area here were “no-photos area”, except the main hall and the photo spot area. Well, privilege for those who paid to get in!

However will keep to try my best to show you all what I see and what I managed to take.

The first thing were the main hall. The main hall was huge and the first thing I saw was all of the artwork hanged with Tokyo View seen from 52th floor as the background.

Even Usagi was like summoning the Tokyo Tower here.

Right in the middle of the main hall was the first photo spot,

and next to it was this SUUUPER BIG and PRETTY main artwork for this exhibition.

OMG. I want to take it home. Kill me.

Circling the main figures of the room were these glass-sealed knicks-knacks, several old comic books and everything else here.  

Really want the Luna and Artemis cushion so bad..

And what made me go super ga-ga was these several display of Sailor Moon merchandise scattered around the room such as this Cosmic Heart Brooch,

And this Spiral Heart Rod,

And this bad-ass Rainbow Moon Chalice.

And guess what??? I have those at my home back there in Jakarta!!! Directly contact my mom to not throw all my toys away back home as maybe someday I can auction it big on Yahoo and make a fortune out of it hehehe.

Continued from the main hall were the "no-photo" spots that I have mentioned above. It was amazing to see all the incredible sketches and artworks shown; how can one person can make such  pretty artwork by herself. Admire Naoko Takeuchi to the top. The only photo that I can take was this:

With Takeuchi's real autograph there. 

Besides the sketches and artwork (that I can never make even if I practice til I die) section, what excites me the most was the display of several toys and collectibles from the past. The funny thing is that on each every section of the exhibition I always found my toys here and there, literally everywhere! I’m going crazy as like “OMG I have this before wtf!” or “Oh gosh where did I put this card?!?! I used to have it I’m sure” or “OMG OMG I die I die I have this one played like crazy before” and so on and so on..

Such a tiring but exciting but sad but satisfying whole 3 hours of my life.

And the most satisfying photo spot was this 2 real-size figure of Usagi and Mamoru or known too as Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion here (full geek mode completely on here).

Gotta take selfies.

Scream. 

Too bad that my selfie was the last photo that I can post here as I don’t have any more photos to be posted related to the exhibition contents. Yes, the exhibition was quite strict about photo taking as they place several officers here and there to guard the visitor from recording or taking photos. 

Since I went there 2 days before the last day of the exhibition, most of the limited items that can be brought from the shop were completely sold out, I managed to buy only several post cards with the exhibition original artwork for quite a price. Japanese really know how to make me go bankrupt.

They have the Chibiusa Café too with super cute menus displayed however since the queue was very long, I didn’t went there. It was quite tempting you know. Who's not tempted with pink burgers wtf. Can see it slightly here.

Well, overall, it was such an enjoyable and memorable visit for me as all of the images and things displayed there still sit firmly on my head even until now.

I’m glad I went there as actually on the day before this visit, had quite a lot of overtime and kind of have to push myself to go here that day, but I’m so happy I can drag my ass off here and have a fantastic nostalgia time for a moment; reminding me of how blessed and happy I am as a kid years ago (and glad too that my mom bought me so much toys at that time.. seriously.)

Sailor Moon, thank you for making my childhood awesome and I promise I will make my adulthood even better. It’s time to take those moon power back to reality, and continuing my present life, more hopeful and powerful than before.

See you on my next post!

KUKUKU by Yolanda Inge

What is KUKUKU, if you're wondering?

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As you guys know that I have this OCD on nail arts and after these several years of thoughts after thoughts, I've decided to take my hobby to the next level: making it a well-paid job, hopefully, by opening my own home base salon in Jakarta next October!

For those who knows me well, yes I'm now still working in Japan but will be BACK HOME for good to Jakarta soon for this. (for those who wanted to know more in detail can contact me personally too of course!)

Still so much to more to be prepared though, from pricing, places, promotion and so forth (the list will never ends) INCLUDING perfecting my skills. However if one step were never taken I won't go better anyway.

So, why not make it (half) official?

under the name KUKUKU, means "my nails" in Indonesian Language, I want to introduce you guys to several of my portfolios before the real work begins in October.

I hope with a routine uploads and everything's going on, I can discipline myself to keep working and working on my nail skills.

KUKUKU main account right now is Instagram, can follow it @__kukuku__ (with double dash each there!) or Facebook which still using my personal account to post. 

From now on I will post my work here on my personal blog too and will try to do it on weekly basis so I hope I can update my blog even more often!

So as a starter here's my first 3 post from instagram to catch up all the missing updates!

The first one was the showcase of my 2 years plus of practice result in nail chips.. Some messed up, some were quite (accidentally) nice, some were made with tears (literally!).  I guess this will be my first little step from what I will be doing from here and on.

The second one was this! Practicing my basic skills such as gradation glitter art, half-french art and sugar-coated style art. Playing with gradation sucks as it was very hard but playing with giltters will be always forever fun! It sticks a lot on my brush though..

The third one is below, which I'm trying to showcase how my works on textured art progressed. Some need more works, definitely. Marble will always be everybody's favorite, but have to admit creating marble effects were quite difficult as I realize every individual have their own "perfect marble" image on their own.

So far my favorite was the white marble, second favorite was that knitted matte design! Perfect for winter.

By the way, please note that not every design posted here were originally mine; I mostly see other artist's design first and I imitate to practice. I have (and hate) to admit that my original designs is not so much at this point as I still need to learn a lot more. That's why I kindly need your support here.

I will try to catch up on my instagram posts and definitely will  post the other soon so please stay tuned!

See you on the next one!

L’oreal Lipcolor: Color Riche Extra Rouge Lily (Collection STAR by Blake) and Color Riche Extra Rouge Matte Jardin Pamplemousse Review

I’ve bought two new babies last week which I'm dying to introduce them here:

L’oreal Color Riche Extra Rouge Lily (Collection STAR by Blake) and L’oreal Color Riche Extra Rouge Matte no. 109 Jardin Pamplemousse.

A bright pink lipgloss with subtle pearl in it and matte coral lippie that’s perfect for summer.

Swatched it on my hands but I didn’t have the time to swatch it right away on my lips at that time because of several reasons (read: lazy) and I think representing each color with the right look is better for the color to stand out.

So, after one week of waiting and 2 looks later, here’s the swatch directly on my lips plus go directly on the review.

The Extra Rouge Lily review:

Pardon my big face. See the lips. Lip color, I mean.

9 out of 10.

This is a very pigmented lip gloss which I like, and the subtle glitter make it even prettier for the dimension effect. It was very easy to apply, however can be a little bit tricky to build up the color. Put too much and it will end up with a slimy line on the lips that can be seen clearly especially when you talk or opening your mouth. The gloss is like the usual gloss, it will disappear in an instant after drinking or eating and multiple reapplication is needed to refresh the gloss, however the stain can last the whole day depends on how thick you applied the product or how long you let it stay on your lip before you eat and drink. Overall I’m very very satisfied with this and definitely will try the other color of this series!!

The Extra Rouge Matte review:

I'm quite shock that It gave so much different feel indoor and outdoor with different lights; it looked so neon indoor however it was not that shocking if I bring this outdoor.

7 out of 10.

The color is very pigmented and very pretty, and with the same applicator as the lip gloss one, It was very easy to apply too. The stain last long, but re-application still needed after 4 hour plus after first application. However my everlasting problem with matte lipstick is it always dried out my lips like crazy, and this one is not excluded too, unfortunately. After 5 hour plus of application, it started to dry my lips and people definitely can see my chapped skin seen with the lipstick on. It was not as bad when I use the YSL matte lipstick series; however I hate the feeling when I have to clean my chapped skin before I reapply it again after several hours; that's what the minus 3 is for. I think I still need some time to get used to matte lipsticks anyway and this product is lip-friendly enough to be given another go for matte-lipstick-newbie-user like me.

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I know it was a very random lippie swatches and review for this one but I always thought a little bit more information shared won’t hurt anyone! On the other hand the one that really concern me is that It took me so much courage to post my full face pictures as a reference for the lip color itself as I’m not a very selfie person personally... But I decided to go crazy selfie once a while for this post hahaha.

That’s why I really hope you enjoy this one the same as I enjoyed it and see you on the next post!

MUJI Pasta Series: Pancetta and Mushroom Cheese Cream Sauce

Out of curiosity I’ve finally tried Mujirushi Ryouhin’s pasta sauce that I have been eyeing for such a long time: the Pancetta and Mushroom Cheese Cream Sauce.

And just out of boredom, I kind of want to try to do a quick review about this, so, here I am with this post!

By the way in case that you didn’t know, Muji is considered as a Japanese retail company that sells everything from clothes to furniture, stationary to travel goods, and lots lots of other things including food! I always love their pasta series; as several of them were really nice such as the Peperoncino sauce, Americaine sauce and lots of others.

The one that I tried this time was a little bit different, as the normal series is usually consists only one package of sauce for 2 servings, this one is the reverse; 2 mixing package of sauce for one serving. It’s like the premium series I guess? Considered the price is almost doubled, 450 yen per package compared to the normal one for around 250 yen averagely. Bought it when it was on promo back then, for 432 yen.

This is the packages appearance:

And inside contains of other 2 packages: the Pancetta oil sauce for the green colored one and the cheese cream for the yellow one. (Thousand times I rotated the pic and blogger keep giving me this upside down picture!! WTF. Sorry about this..)

Poured on top of my previously prepared 100gr warm pasta before I mixed them: the left side is the cheese one and the right side is the pancetta one.

Quite surprised of how big the pork slice though! Too balanced it off they only put 3 of it. Smart move.

Mixed it up, and DONE!

Not so much change..

Judging by the looks, it was not THAT convincing either, but I have to say, I’m beat. I finished the whole plate in less than 10 minutes. Yums.

Final judgement??

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It was great and I’m so glad I tried this!!

The combination of both sauce were great. The cheese was not as thick as I expected to be, in a good way that it didn’t make me sick of it until the last bite. The consistency is good; not too oily yet not too creamy; it was just right. The mushroom is not stale too, it was fresh and I can still feel the soft-crunchy texture of it. However!! The one big winning point that I was overwhelmed about this is that how fragrant the pork slices (pancetta) are!! I can smell and taste the roasted, slight bitter taste of the spices on the meat very clear. Was damn niiiiceee. Too bad they only put 3 of it L

It was a fulfilling (symbolically, and literally), one plate of an (instant) pasta for me.

If you’re looking for a little bit of heavy-sauced pasta and the "cheaper" version of it, I think this may be the right choice for you as usually restaurant-made heavy-sauced fancy pasta can cost me like 1000 to 1500 yen per portion here in Tokyo.

For people who are more concerned about the price though, well, it was indeed expensive for instant style pasta. But still it was something that I will recommend to at least try once just for the sake of killing the curiosity. If I have to spend another 450 yen plus for pasta sauce, I will try other flavor or brand instead of repurchasing it.

So, how’s your thought?? 

See you on my next post!

Lush’s Cupcake Mask and Sakura Bath Bomb Review

Hi there again!

As I promise you all before, that I will make more of beauty products review and here I am coming in with two new products that I wanted to review since last week!

First of all is the Lush’s famous chocolate-scented mask: Cupcake. 

Actually, this was my birthday present last week; my friend baited me with a very subtle question when we visit Lush’s store and he was  like “Hey If you were to try on one of the mask (displayed) here what would you like to try?” and I weightlessly said “Of course the chocolate one! Just for the sake of having chocolate all over my face LOL”. And then next week he came by and gave me this. Quite surprised but yes I’m excited. Thank you so much!

The complete ingredients and other what-nots are here, so read it beforehand so you get the full image of what’s this product is like!

I get this much for 60 grams of product:

And what I love about Lush product is that they usually (not always) put the portrait of the makers on the packaging; so I knew that my product were made by Ino-san. Thaankies!

How does it feel during usage?

Since this product should be keep refrigerated, I had a hard time to smear it off my face smoothly as so many natural flaky ingredients were there; however it was not until the point that it fall out all over, so that’s good. Note to myself to keep it outside the fridge for several minutes before application so that it will go smoother.

As for the smell, it was such a pleasant smell! I thought I will get sick of the cocoa smell as I have to leave it on my face for 10 plus minutes, however, when I use this and let it sit for several minutes, the cocoa smell is  not so strong but somehow it changed more of sandalwood smell and a slight bit of mint in the middle. Thank God it was such a refreshing (and rather masculine, I have to say) smell that all of my worries lifted in an instant.

How does it feel after usage?

As the purpose of the product is on deep cleansing and oil control, the end result was a squeaky clean feeling after washing. I don’t know how “deep” the cleansing this product can do as I’ve just use this once, however I fell my face a little bit brighter than before.

Rate and Re-purchase?

7 out of 10.

For me, I won’t repurchase it. It was purely not because of the product problem, but for me personally I love masks or products that have moisturizing effect as my skin were quite dry; for example I love this Lush Face Cleansing Angel’s on Bare Skin as it was very moisturizing (and can be used to scrub at the same time). Maybe I still can use it during summer where the weather still tolerates my dry skin.  I think this was perfect for people with oily skin or combination skin with squeaky clean end result. So, for people with a very oily skin, this maybe will be a great product for you.

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Finish with the Cupcake Masks, just a quick review on the Sakura Bath Bomb! Quite excited with this one too!

This one is Japan’s spring limited edition so I think they won’t have it on the shelf anymore these days. The product itself is so pretty:

This one said to be made by Mako-san.

How does it feel during usage?

The color was not as pink as I expected it to be and it kind of turned me down as I like Lush bombs that usually gave magical colors every time; it turns a little bit to clear white but not as milky white either. It stays on the clear white color. The smell was pleasant, but again, not as strong as I expected it will be. Especially after it dissolves; I smell more of a fresh powder smell rather than the sakura itself.

How does it feel after usage?

Nice but not that “urgh so great” one. It moisturizes in an okay way but it gone when you pat dry yourself with towel. The smell, maybe, gone? I don’t know. I didn’t notice such a good smell afterwards so I conclude it must be gone without me knowing it. It  was different when I use their Karma Bubble Bath as I keep thinking of “what a great smell this product had” several times even after my bath.

Rate and Re-Purchase?

5 out of 10.

Since it was a limited edition, I think it was worth buying...once. I won’t buy this anymore and will just go to the other limited edition one or maybe the all year series one.

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So...this week’s review turned out to be not a very satisfying one, I suppose? However I won’t gave up on Lush’s product as I know that they did some great sh*ts like the Angels on Bare Skin face cleansing which I’m still using right now and I believe that they had some more on their stash of products.

That’s it for today! See you on my next one!

Look of the Day #1 - Daily Classic

Today I feel like posting my look of the day!

As it was such a loooooooong time for me since I posted things about makeup and stuffs, it reminded me that the first reason I build my blog is mainly because I wanted to do some makeup reviews.

However there’s a tilt change on the middle of the road, I kind of didn’t wanted to do those reviews  anymore and blah blah, ended up with posts more on my traveling and other than makeup. These days it changed again though. Suddenly I feel this urge to start reviewing again some of the products that I love until now and some of the products that maybe, maybe, I will get later.

So as a starter kick for a all the upcoming review posts, I will just give you a quick look of the day post!

Here I am using:

Face

1. Etude House Precious Mineral BB Cream Perfect Fit (+SPF 30, love it!)
2. Kate Slim Create Powder for COVER
3. Mujirushi Ryouhin Pearl Natural Face Powder

Eyes

1. L.A. Colors Eye Design no. 74134 (took the green and beige colored one)
2. Etude House Styling Eye Liner in Brown
3. Etude House Oh! M’Eye Lash - Volume
4. Etude House Oh M’Eye Line - Black

Brows

1. The Body Shop Brow Palette (Wear it since long ago, didn’t know what shade and what series anymore L
2. Kate Eyebrow Color in Natural Ash

Lip

1. Chifure S748 – Kawa Brown

That’s it. I’m surely an Etude House’s products’ lover there. Just because it’s cheap, for now. Anyway planned to go Korea several next months and planned to haul some products later there! Done my research and I have several lists what I want to buy there. However, if any of you have any recommendation on what to buy, please let me know! I will be more than happy to buy it and review it for you J

And one last photo before wrap it all in:

See you on my next post!