Victoria's Secret HyperGloss Eye Shimmer

Last year, while browsing and hoping my beloved Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Soothing Lip Balm to make a comeback, I discovered these HyperGloss Eye Shimmer in the clearance section and picked them up on a whim. I'm soooooooo glad I did, because they're gorgeous!

I bought 3 colors at the time, Night Lights, Moon Lights, and Golden Lights. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lancome Rouge in Love

Other than the occasional freebie, I haven't bought any Lancome lippy for a long time, so that was my excuse to give the Rouge in Love line a try. 

I guess what got me interested was that the lip colors are divided into 3 "moods":

- Those marked with "M": Jolis Matins, "fresh" colors for daytime wear (wait, does that mean for any other time the colors aren't fresh?!?).

- Those marked with "B": Boudoir Time, "pop" colors, I guess here means bright, for cocktail time.

- Those marked with "N": Tonight is My Night, "intense" colors for nighttime wear.

As you can probably guess, I bought 3 M's and 1 B's, because I don't like intense lip colors: 106M Jolis Matins (that's the name of the color!), 128M Ever So Sweet, 322M Corail in Love, and 340B Rose Boudoir. I actually didn't intend to get any B's, but I was curious to see how bright is "pop" ^.^

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Shiseido The Makeup Camellia Compact

Picked up this Shiseido The Makeup Limited Edition Camellia Compact a couple of years ago actually. The problem with a really gorgeous compact is that, well, you're afraid to use -.-' But for the past year I finally got over my fear and "ruined" its pristine condition for your viewing pleasure LOL

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

The Body Shop Lily Cole Puff On Radiance

Update Saturday, March 22, 2014.

A reader, Ann, wanted to clarify whether these pearls are truly colorless, so I have posted a swatch photo, which I should have done to begin with ^.^ By the way, from playing with these pearls, I learned they are buttery and silky to the touch!

The pearls are of 3 colors (left to right): peachy pink (less than 20%), pearly shell pink (about 40%), and pearly gold (about 40%). To get each swatch, I literally picked one out and rubbed it many times to get a color to show up. Only the peach pink would work as a blush, and that's if you were to apply the same way I swatched, as in picking that specific color out and rub it heavily onto your cheek xD Technically, you can separate the peachy pink pearls and use a blush brush to pick up the color as blush. Otherwise, given the percentage of the color distribution and the disperse of a stippling or highlighting brush, there will only a brightening veil of warmth (due to the peach pink and gold). 

 

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Original post Thursday, March 20, 2014.

Picked up this Body Shop Lily Cole Puff On Radiance at the same time as the sheer and bulky Lip & Cheek Domes and have been using this powder since. It's in a giant ball jar with a flat base, which makes it both bulky and difficult to store, but thankfully the powder itself is quite nice ^.^

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

SK-II Facial Treatment Cleansing Oil

I have several of these SK-II Facial Treatment Cleansing Oil in 34mL travel size bottles and have been taking them with me on travels.

Unlike other travel sized cleansing oils I've used in the past, these come with a stopper lid which prevents spillage, which I appreciate. The stopper lid also dispenses sparingly with shakes, meaning no overflowing in the palms, which I also appreciate. 

Fillmore Street, San Francisco Part II (Picture heavy!)

Combining some posts again, and adding in new ones. Here are more food porn on Fillmore Street, in poor lighting that adds to their mysteriousness. Just kidding.

- La Mediterranee - Fillmore: my friend A. recommended this place to me and I owe her a big favor for it. This place singlehandedly made me a fan of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food. I always thought my tastebuds are prejudice against the cuisine. Sure hubby and I loved the Turkish Kebab Truck in Yokohama, but since that was fast food it's not a fair comparison. In Japan we've also had authentic Arabian food, complete with a live belly dance performance (Al Ain, near Kannai Station, the chef used to be the executive chef at the Kuwaiti Embassy, this was not some pretend-exotic restaurant), and Greek (Sparta Restaurant, again near Kannai). Then there was also poshy Greek food in Manhattan, fancy Turkish elsewhere, blah blah blah. Nope, none of that did anything for me. They were good, but nothing to write home about. But La Mediterranee? I ate lunch there once with A. and immediately made a reservation for dinner with hubby the Friday after. Since then, I've ordered catering from there, had lunches and dinners. Thank goodness my tastebuds weren't prejudice - I just haven't had Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food that really impressed me. Until now. Whether you're new to this cuisine or a seasoned fan, you must try this place!

R & G Lounge (Chinese Cuisine), San Francisco

Hubby and I tend to avoid restaurants with lots of publicity, as in it has been repeatedly featured, in big name newspapers, magazines, TV shows, etc. To this day, I think our single worst dining experience was Joe's Shanghai of Manhattan's Chinatown. The 2-hours wait in the northeast bitter cold, the rude young hostess who treated people like dirt because dare they want to eat at her restaurant, the scalding hot soup dumplings that burned all of us who took the first bite, the greasy "soup" that spilled out from those dumplings, still pink with curdles of bloody run-offs. Yeah, suffice to say I was traumatized. 

So when hubby's colleague A-san visited us from Tokyo last fall and he wanted to go to R & G Lounge, my first reaction was, not that again! R & G Lounge has been featured extensively, you see. Anthony Bourdain nibbled on bites of their salt & pepper crab specialty back in 2010. And then there's A-san's Japanese sightseeing guidebook listing all the famous dishes one should definitely try.

Hubby snapped this calligraphy of this Bo Zhuyi poem to read while waiting for our food ^.^

Japantown, San Francisco Part III

Been cleaning up my blog some recently. I'm combining a few posts into this one with the addition of a couple new ones (Kappa and Kissako Tea) ^.^

- Kappa: let's get this out of the way - this is NOT a sushi restaurant. Kappa is located at the corner of Webster and Buchanan and well hidden on the second floor, sharing an entrance with Milo Lounge. This tiny little restaurant serves up Kyoto style kaiseki in a very intimate setting - the place's run solely by the chef and his wife. And all that will cost you - the omakase 7-course set meal is $86/person. With drinks, you can easily run up a tab of $200+ for 2. Reservations are made by phone or email only. And the omakase must be reserved at least 1 day in advance. You'll see why below.

Afternoon Tea at Craftsman and Wolves, San Francisco

Went to Craftsman and Wolves with A. for afternoon tea one day. Interesting name for a bakery, right? Someone recommended it to us after having seen me lurking around Crown & Crumpet one too many times. Being a fan of afternoon tea, I was totally game to try something new. 

Ruth's Chris Steak House, San Francisco

Happy Valentine's! Sorry I've been away for work, but I'm back and will start catching up with the list of drafts I've got built up :X

Let's start with Ruth's Chris Steak House. It's a high-end steak house and yes, it's a chain. I've been here a few times with hubby, the first time was to take his Japanese colleague A-san for an "American" treat. A-san actually already tried a Ruth's Chris branch in Seattle but didn't like it, and as I was doing my research for a nice steak house in SF, all I found was poshy places that served up Japanese-fusion plates. Not that there's anything wrong with Japanese-fusion, only that A-san was looking for a more "traditional" steak. It seemed like Ruth's Chris offered a pretty straight up fare, and so off we went. And it was a huge hit. 

Sorry the pictures are kind of crappy because the lighting was so dim!