U-Bike Taipei

Very last post on Taipei! 

I walked by this U-Bike Station everyday on Heping East Road and was always curious how it works. It's located right in the intersection of Heping East Road and Shida Road, making it super convenient for tourists and college students alike with the Shida Night Market right down the street as well as the university next door. We also found another rental station at the corner of Zhongxiao East Road and Guangfu South Road (光復南路), I suppose so people can ride their bikes down to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and the Xinyi shopping district where Taipei 101 is.

Hubby and I had imagined a whole day of biking around town on these, but between school and visitors, the next thing we knew Thanksgiving was already around the corner. And then the rain came. God, it rained, and rained, and rained. And it wasn't until right before we left Taipei did the sun came out for, like, a day. 

British Science Formulations Hair Strengthener

Been using this 6fl oz./177mL bottle of British Science Formulations Hair Strengthener for almost 2 months now. I got 2 bottles from the Dermstore Fall 2012 Super Luxe Grab Bag #2 and 4 (Bag #4 was mistakenly identified as Bag #1 due to packing list mix up), but gave one to my mum and only kept one to use.

Dermstore Fall 2012 Super Luxe Grab Bag #2


Dermstore Fall 2012 Super Luxe Grab Bag #4


Funny enough, I had to go over to Blissworld (Bliss's online store) to read about something I got from Dermstore, but according to Bliss, this Hair Strengthener is the 2nd of a 4-step treatment for thinning hair. My hair is not thinning, but who says you have to have thinning hair to use a strengthening treatment? ^.^

NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil

Got this 0.08oz/2.5g mini Nars Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil from the Sephora 2012 Holiday It Kit #2 - Best in Classic, which was one of the nicer GWP during the holiday season. 

I'm very much impressed with this formula. It's not as glossy as my beloved Stila Lip Glaze Sticks, but it's still much glossier than the vast majority of lip pencils I've tried in addition to being more pigmented than Stila. It goes on with a texture identical to my favorite Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick, super smooth and moist, if not a tad thicker and even more buttery, which is quite incredible given the fact that it's a freakin' pencil! 

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Coffret D'Or Eye Appeal Shadow Part II

Bought the remaining 2 palettes of Coffret D'Or Eye Appeal Shadows in Taipei also and was using them on and off while visiting my folks, whenever I got bored with Kate Wide Edge Eyes ^.^ 

02 Fairy Pink and 05 Mint Purple. All pictures taken in natural light without flash. 

Tsururi Pore Cleansing Brush

Stumbled onto this Tsururi Pore Cleansing Brush while browsing my local Japanese drugstore back then. It was on sale for around 600yen, down from the 1,000yen retail. Plus I remembered reading about a Daiso duplicate of it so I picked one up out of curiosity (I also tried the Daiso Puff & Sponge Detergent Yumeko recommended, will review next). Yup, that just sums up why hubby was always wary of my drugstore browsing trips, because I always came home with some useless impulse buys. Good thing this wasn't too big a damage ^.^

Selecty Glitter Aburatorigami Oil Blotting Paper

Got a tiny travel size packet of Selecty Glitter Aburatorigami Oil Blotting Paper as part of Don Quixote's Visee Eye Color and Liquid Eye Liner Sets I got during the holiday season 2011.  

This particular set came with  each containing a deluxe 30mL travel size jar of Fasio Oil Cleansing EX, a small 2.5mL sample tube of Fasio Mascara Easy Remover (which I probably will never use...), a mini 70-sheet booklet of this Selecty Glitter Aburatorigami Oil Blotting Paper (retails 420yen), a Visee Glam Glow Eyes BR-3 (the other option was PK-1, each palette retails 1,680yen), and a full size Visee Liquid Eye Liner in BK001 (retails 1,050yen, haven't gotten to this either). 

Steam Cream

So I've been reading about these Steam Creams for a few years now but have refrained for the longest time! Why? Because, well, just look at them! Of course I want all the adorable tins (have you seen the new Fabric of Japan designs? OMG - want!!!), but seriously, how many giant tins of the same darn cream do I need? One. Actually, a fifth of one, may be even less, because I scooped mine out into a much smaller 0.5fl oz. glass jar (from Avon Hydrofirming Eye Cream) in order to seal up the tin and keep the rest of it fresh. Even then, I've been using this glass jar for the past two months and still haven't gotten through half of it! Should I just start slapping this stuff all over or what?!? 

Clockwise from top left: Gris-Gris (black cat on yellow), Fragaria (strawberries on sky blue), Daisy (girl on royal gingham), and Yume (sakura on metallic pink). 

DDF Amplifying Elixir

Got this 15mL deluxe sample of DDF Amplifying Elixir from the Ulta Spring 2012 GWP and been using it for the past month. This is a serum and is supposed to go on after toner but before moisturizers. It's supposed to help the skin absorb whatever goes on next, maximizing its benefits.

Spring 2012 GWP

***Screenshot via Ulta.com.

Kate Wide Edge Eyes

Happy hearts day!

Picked up these Kate Wide Edge Eyes at Watsons while I was still in Taipei. I started out having no lemmings for them whatsoever, but after visiting the store so often and walking by their display every single time, I just threw my hands up one day and bought them. Yup, that's how they get you. At least that was how they got me ^.^' Of course it made it all the more tempting when there was always some sort of promotion going on, and that was in addition to the majority of Japanese makeup items going for about 15-20% cheaper than Japanese retail. I ended up coming home with quite a haul, and that was after exercising enormous restraint. Ha... 

From left to right: Kate Wide Edge Eyes in BR-2, BR-3, and PU-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Hadanomy Collagen Concentrated Lotion

This Hadanomy Collagen Concentrated Lotion is the last of the 4 products I started using from this line. This lotion (toner) is a much thicker and much more moisturizing version of the Collagen Lotion. It is supposedly the second to last step before the cream, which raises my eyebrows, because it's very moisturizing already just by itself!

Suggested routine for nights (purple section): 

1. Collagen Cleansing (for makeup removal, pink tube, haven't tried this yet; if you wear a water resistant Japanese sunscreen, you will need an oil cleanser to remove that first), OR

2. Collagen Wash (follow up cleanser, pink pump bottle, I skipped this and didn't bother with it)

3. Collagen Concentrated Mist, OR

4. Collagen Lotion

5. Collagen Milk

6. Twice a week treatment: Collagen Mask (skipped this too) 

7. This Concentrated Lotion

8. Collagen Cream (haven't tried this yet)

Suggested routine for days (yellow section):

1. Collagen Wash

2. Collagen Concentrated Mist, OR

3. Collagen Lotion

4. Collagen Milk, OR

5. Collagen Cream

***Hadanomy product guide from Hadanomy JP.