Afternoon Tea at the Rotunda (inside Neiman Marcus), San Francisco

When my family visited back in April, we took them to The Rotunda for afternoon tea as a belated birthday party for my sister. Funny as it sounds, but at the time I hadn't "discovered" Crown & Crumpet in Japantown yet -.-' This restaurant is located on the 4th floor of Neiman Marcus downtown SF, and we walked through Chinatown to get there, stopping for pictures along the way.

Crown & Crumpet Tea Room, San Francisco, Part II (Picture heavy!)

It's rare that I do a complete 180 degrees turnaround on anything, but in the case of Crown & Crumpet Tea Room I feel I owe it to myself to reflect honestly. Now, I've always had a thing for afternoon tea, but this place officially turned me into an addict, because to get my fix, I come here once a week. Yes, you read that right. Once a week.

My first experience here with hubby wasn't anything special, and I even said so! Their savories were meh, but scones and sweets were excellent. So a couple of weeks later when I was stressed out from work and craved some tea and sweets, I loaded my iPhone Instapaper with a lengthy reading list and came crawling back one afternoon. This time, I substituted the mini sandwiches on the savories plate with an order of the Chicken, Mozzarella, Tomato, and Pesto pressed sandwich from the lunch menu. I also added an order of soup. I was told they serve a different soup every day, and that day's soup du jour was Cream of Chicken and Rice. Fine, I thought I'd try it.

Clinique for Men Face Scrub

Been using this 15mL travel size tube of Clinique for Men Face Scrub every third morning after my retinoid treatment the night before. I also have a full size 100mL/3.4oz. I bought for hubby, although he hasn't start using it yet. This is a facial exfoliator marketed for men skincare, but I don't see why I (or you!) can't use it :P

That said, I'm still on the fence with this Face Scrub. I can't find a list of ingredients for it yet (I accidentally threw out the packaging for the full size before taking a picture of the ingredients. Oops.), but I'm fairly sure it has either peppermint oil or menthol in it, because it creates quite a tingly minty sensation on the skin! It does not foam, but it cleans very well and can be used in place of a cleanser, although I would *not* recommend it for daily use for yourself (or him).

Astalift [Day] Cream

This tiny 5g jar of Astalift [Day] Cream is lasting me for freakin' ever! It came with the 2012 Deluxe Trial Set I bought from Rakuten JP, and after two months of daily use I still have half a jar left to go! If I sound impatient, that's because I am :X

This is a milky orangey cream scented with the same Astalift signature mild rose fragrance. Astalift Japan calls this product simply Cream and I was only able to figure out that it's a day cream because they also have a separate night cream, which they call, well, Night Cream. Astalift UK labels it a bit more clearly, distinguishing it as Replenishing Day Cream versus the Regenerating Night Cream. I am not sure if the UK version is formulated any differently than the Japanese version. 

Astalift Lotion

Almost forgot to post this! It's been sitting in my draft folder for a few weeks now. Ooops.

Finished two 30mL travel sized bottles of Astalift Lotion a couple of weeks ago during my trial of the Astalift skincare line. Those two bottles were from the 2012 Astalift trial Moisture Kit (top two pictures) and the Deluxe Trial Kit 2012 (bottom two) I bought from Rakuten JP.

L'Occitane Pivoine Flora Beauty Milk

Last of the L'Occitane stuff, I think... I do like this Pivoine Flora Beauty Milk very much! It is supposed to be paired with the Shower Gel and I gave away one of my two pairs from the Pivoine Flora Spring Set and the Brighten Up Collection GWP to my cousin J.

Pivoine Flora Spring Set and Brighten Up Collection

L'Occitane Spring Cherry Velvet Moisturizing Gel

This 75mL/2.5fl oz. L'Occitane Spring Cherry Velvet Moisturizing Gel is to be paired with the Iridescent Shower Gel, both from the Springtime Cherry Collection I bought a few months ago in spring. I have to say I like it much better than the shower gel, because at least it moisturizes my skin, even if a little.

Springtime Cherry Collection

Clarins Beauty Flash Balm

Been using this Clarins Beauty Flash Balm occasionally for the past 2+ months. This 30mL/1.06oz tube came from the Feed 10 Kit that I bought during Clarins' 2013 Spring Beauty Gift GWP event.

2013 Spring Beauty Gift

The Feed 10 Kit comes with another 3mL/0.1fl oz. tube of UV Plus HP SPF40 Day Screen, this Beauty Flash Balm, 0.13oz. jar of Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch, and 0.15oz. tube of Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in the color 01 Rose Shimmer.

L'Occitane Verdon Spring Set

Bought this L'Occitane Verdon Spring Set for hubby to try and immediately regretted it the moment I opened the box. This Verdon line is strongly scented with woodsy manly cologne. Sounds nice, only it's way to overpowering, as if someone poured an entire bottle of cologne into these products. It makes me wonder if L'Occitane thinks men stinks in general and need this much help in escaping their evolutionary residual caveman aroma. Urgh. 

Verdon Spring Set, which includes a 100mL Invigorating Shave in an aerosol can, 50mL/1.7fl oz. Fresh Water Shower, 15mL/0.5fl oz. Energy Moisturizer in a squeeze tube, and 100g/3.5oz. bar of Verdon Soap. 

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector

Thanks to Clarin's 2013 Spring Beauty Gift GWP, I caved and bought the Feed 10 Kit I've been eyeing for a long time.

Finally taking the Clarins plunge, ...


...And this 2013 Spring Beauty Gift is to blame.

The Feed 10 Kit comes with another 3mL/0.1fl oz. tube of UV Plus HP SPF40 Day Screen, which was passed on to my mum as I already had a revisit, 1.06oz. of Beauty Flash Balm, which I'm using and will review soon, 0.13oz. jar of Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch, a makeup primer which I don't use and probably won't get to, and 0.15oz. tube of Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in the color 01 Rose Shimmer, which I am reviewing in this post.