Bite Beauty Lip Shine

This 0.1oz/2.72g tube of Bite Beauty Lip Shine in Vintage is part of the 2012 Sephora Give Me Some Lip trial set. Bite Beauty is a new brand for me and I'm happy for a chance to try something new ^.^

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

From left to right: Sephora Collection Glossy Gloss 03 Precious Pink full size (gifted to my sister), Fresh Sugar Rose Mini Tinted Lip Treatment 0.08oz/2.2g, this Bite Beauty Lip Shine Vintage 0.1oz/2.72g, Laura Mercier Lip Glace Baby Doll 0.1oz/2.8g, Hourglass Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss Child 0.12oz/3.5g, and Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Tint Hope full size.

Fresh Sugar Mini Tinted Lip Treatment

Read some really great things about these Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Treatments but been refraining due to their atrocious pricing. Which is why these Sephora Give Me Some Lip trial sets are a great idea ^.^

I don't remember whether Sephora has been releasing a different set every year, but I have to say this 2012 set is way better than the 2010 set both in terms of value as well as selection! I was already curious with that Rose Mini one, not to mention the full size Tarte LipSurgence alone is $24! The bonuses are Bite Beauty and Hourglass, two brands I have never heard of and will happily try ^.^

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Sephora Hot Hues Neon Lip Balm Part II

This review is overdue, since I've been using these new additions of the Sephora Hot Hues Neon Lip Balm last December. I hunted down two more colors of this balm, Paradisso Purple and Funky Fuchsia after good experience with the color Hot Pink, even though I don't love the formula.

Paradisso Purple and Funky Fuchsia. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Herbacin Wuta Kamille and Glycerin Hand Creme

Using this 20mL travel sized tube of Herbacin Wuta Kamille and Glycerin Hand Creme now. Wanting to spend my last few Taiwanese dollars I bought it at a random drugstore at Taoyuan International Airport on my way home from Taipei ^.^

From left to right: this Wuta Kamille and Glycerin Hand Creme, Wuta Kamille Soft Mild Hand Cream, Wuta Kamille (White Line) Hand and Nail Balm, 20mL each.

Dermstore Lip Quench

I received a bunch of these full size 0.28oz. Dermstore Lip Quenches, 5 in total, from the four Fall 2012 Super Luxe Grab Bags and the 2012 Black Friday Special Mystery Grab Bag. A new lip balm to try? Sure, why not!

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Japantown, San Francisco (Picture heavy!)

Long post ahead!

After spending two memorable years in Japan, are you surprised that my most favorite part of San Francisco is Japantown? It speaks to my fondness of Japan, and how much I miss the place, that I roam Japantown and its surrounding areas at least once a week! Of course it's nothing reminiscent of the sprawling underground shopping mazes mall at the major Japanese train/subway stations, nor is it anything particularly special or nice or even culturally authentic. It's really just your average mall with shops selling overpriced let's-pretend-Asian things. And don't even get me started on the pathetic "Japanese" food they try to pass off there. Just thinking about it makes me mad. But I like the place anyway :P When my cousin J. visited from out of town, we spent a day and a half there exploring all the shops ^.^

Let's start at the intersection of Buchanan and Sutter Streets, where Buchanan Street turns into a pedestrian walk with mostly restaurants lining both sides. This Buchanan pedestrian walk goes one block south towards Post Street, crossing which you will arrive at the Peace Plaza with the concrete Peace Pagoda. The Peace Plaza joins the Kintetsu East and West Malls, pretty much the center of all the attention in Japantown ^.^ And by the way, it was a Monday afternoon in mid March when J. and I were there, which is the reason the whole place looks like a ghost town in these pictures.

Looking back at Sutter from Post on the Buchanan pedestrian walk, with Post Street directly behind me.

Skin79 The Oriental Gold Plus BB Cream SPF30 PA++

Since bb creams became all the rage first in Japan and now here in the US of A, I've been buying a tube here and there as presents for my friends. ...And got loads of samples in the process, including two of these 5g tubes of Skin79 The Oriental Gold Plus BB Cream SPF30 PA++. Each actually comes with a cellphone strap, but I think that's kind of...weird. If I were to tote these around, I'd carry them in my makeup bag, not keep them dangling on my cell phone. I can understand if it were a mini gloss or lip balm, but a bb cream?

Anyway, I've been using this on my stay-at-home days. The sun protection in this product, no, all other skincare and cosmetic products that are not actual sunscreens, is useless and shouldn't even be a part of the consideration. Again, to get that labeled SPF and PA protection, I would have to goop a 1/4 teaspoon of the stuff onto my face. For skincare products like moisturizers, I might as well go fry an egg with the oil slick. For cosmetics like foundation or bb cream, forget it. I doubt they use that much for the stage or even HDTV. And don't think you'll get half the protection using half the amount required. It just doesn't work that way.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Clarins UV Plus HP SPF40 Day Screen

After L'Occitane Immortelle Brightening Shield SPF40 PA+++, I moved on to testing this 3mL/0.1fl oz. sample of Clarins UV Plus HP SPF40 Day Screen. According to Clarins, this is a 100% physical sunblock lotion with active ingredients of 8.1% Titanium Dioxide. It's actually not my first time using this particular product - I had used up a few bottles of its former carnation aka the UV Plus Protective Day Screen SPF40 about 7-8 years ago.

I have to say, this product has come a long way since and it now feels significantly different than its old self, and for the better too! While it's still a milk, it's no longer runny and is slightly thicker and, as far as I can tell, requires no shaking. Again, for each application I applied about 1mL's worth, a third of the sample tube. At this amount, it took 10 minutes or so to dry completely. Once absorped, I got a comfortable and completely matte finish that left no visible white cast. I have no doubt it would make an awesome makeup base. What's more, it felt much more substantive than the previous version and seemed to have some oil control function as my t-zone did not get oily after a few hours. Thinking back to the old version that turned me greasy, this is a huge improvement! In other words, this day screen now looks and feels no different than my favorite Japanese sunscreens! Shall I remind you again it's supposedly 100% physical sunblock? It's quite an impressive feat for a physical sunblock to be so elegant!

Interstate Driving

***Warning: this post may bore you ^.^

You already know hubby and I temporarily moved to San Francisco. We didn't actually "move" all our things. Rather, we just packed up our car with what we thought we'll need for a few months' stay and drove ourselves over. Now that I have a moment to take a breather, I thought I'd share some of the pictures we took along the way during our drive. We had specific goals for our rest stop by the end of each day: Salt Lake City by the first night, Reno by the second, then straight into San Francisco bay by the third. So these pictures were taken by me or hubby while the other was driving, because at no point could we stop for photos.

How do you like my fashionable interstate driving? xD Actually, the hat was to help with the sun, because sitting behind the wheels for hours will get you toasted to a crisp if you don't cover up properly.

Cle de Peau Beaute Intensive Facial Contour Serum

Been using this 4mL 0.13oz. tube of Cle de Peau Beaute Intensive Facial Contour Serum for a month now after finally finished up the burnt-rubber smelling DDF Amplifying Elixir. This was a part of an older set of samples from E(vil)bay, which I bought solely for the cute little glass bottles the Gentle Nourishing Emulsion as well as the Gentle Balancing Lotion came in ^.^

This sample set (left) includes, from left to right, the Gentle Balancing Lotion 15mL/0.5fl oz., Gentle Cleansing Foam 10mL/0.38oz., this Intensive Facial Contour Serum 4mL/0.13oz., and Gentle Nourishing Emulsion 6mL/0.20fl oz.