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My younger two sons decided to go big this year for Mother's Day. After they told the hubs what they were planning on getting for me, he decided he wanted in on it too so the cost of it was split three ways. They got the iPad 3 for me.
I wasn't too sure if I'd really want one, even after playing around with my oldest son's iPad 3 in Japan. I'll admit that it is quite convenient to have although I honestly still prefer using a PC.
I wanted the front cover and back shell cover in pink. Since I knew that I would be getting the pink back shell cover, I went with the white iPad. I also decided to decorate it with sakura stickers, just to differentiate it from others.
I also have a soft case for it--it was actually used when I went to Japan and took my mom's netbook with me.
Although I don't think that I'll be blogging with it, I have done a little bit of commenting using the iPad. I have Twitter on it and downloaded a book but otherwise, don't do much with it. Please help me with ideas on how you use your iPads. I do have an iPhone and do more things on it.
*Kat*
About 6 months or so ago a fellow blogger, Lulu, had asked another fellow blogger, Sheila, to pick up some bottles of sponge cleanser from the Daiso in her area. For those who don't know, Daiso is a Japanese store in which everything is 100 yen (approximately $1.00.) Lulu said that she uses it to clean her makeup sponges but a few months earlier I had read on another blog (sorry can't remember which one) that it was great on brushes. We don't have Daiso here in Hawaii so I was naturally quite curious about it. Sheila kindly gifted me with a bottle!
What I can read, it says Puff • Sponge Detergent. I finally tried it a few days ago and I was blown away! I decided to use it to clean my foundation brushes, which are typically difficult to clean easily. Using baby shampoo, it usually takes me at least 4 times of washing and rinsing to get it clean. With the Daiso cleanser, it cleaned very well in the first washing. I did wash a second time just to make sure but it really wasn't necessary. With baby shampoo, I usually have to put a large amount of shampoo into my palm to wash the brush. With the Daiso, I probably used less than half the amount of the baby shampoo that I use. When I used my brush the next day, the bristles were so nice and soft.
My only regret is that I didn't try this out before my trip to Japan. I went into a Daiso there and saw a display of these bottles. I would have picked up a few at that time.
Thank you Sheila for being so sweet and kind and gifting me this bottle.
*Kat*
It's been a bit crazy for me at work since I got back from Japan so I haven't had the chance to blog consistently and haven't even replied to comments from the last post. I will reply as soon as I can!
Since Mother's Day week, it's been days of going in early just as the sun rises and leaving just as the sun gets ready to set. I finally had enough of it the other day and when I left to go to the mall to pick up dinner, I decided to stop into Sephora to treat myself to some goodies that I had seen a few nights ago. I ended up purchasing two new eyeshadows and a Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Color, all from Urban Decay. I thought that the lip color was interesting because it's a fat pencil instead of your typical lip gloss or lipstick tube. I got the color in Lovechild, which is a pink color. I thought that it looked really pretty when I swatched it on my hand but I'm not so in love with it on my lips. Perhaps it just takes getting used to. I do like the feel of it as it does feel moisturizing.
The eyeshadows that I purchased were Verve (which is also included in NAKED 2 palette) and Mushroom.
From the NAKED 2 palette, Verve is the one color that I really like. Mushroom is also a new color in the Urban Decay line and it's a charcoal taupe color. I totally love it!
Although it looks more brown in the first picture with Verve, the above picture is a truer color of Mushroom.
For my EOTD, this is the list of products used:
UDPP Primer Potion in Eden
Urban Decay Eyeshadows in Verve and Mushroom
MAC Eyeshadow in Print
K-Palette 24h Lasting Eyeliner
After applying primer potion, I applied Verve on the inner 1/3 of upper eyelid, Mushroom to the remainder 2/3 of eyelid. Print is applied to the outer corner and outer V of eyelid. I lined the upper lashline and outer lower 1/4 of lashline with K-Palette. I then applied Print over the liner of lower lashline and blending the color in and fading it toward mid eye.
I'm not sure if NAKED 2 was made with the new eyeshadow formulation but Urban Decay has reformulated their eyeshadows. When I first started using Urban Decay, I loved how pigmented and soft the eyeshadows were but I did experience fall out with it when doing my makeup application. I know many people have also complained about some colors being glitter bombs with major glitter fall out. The new formulation is supposed to be longer wearing with no fall out issues. While I can't say anything about the super glittery shadows since I haven't tried it out, I can say that I didn't experience any fall out with the new formulation of Verve and Mushroom. It's still very pigmented, but I don't think that it's quite as soft as the older version. In many ways, this is good for me as I tended to forget how soft the eyeshadows were and take a heavy swipe. It's just my opinion but I think that the "feel" of the new formulation is quite similar to how the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows feel--nicely pigments with a slight creamy feel to it.
Has anyone else tried Urban Decay's eyeshadows in the new formulation? What do you think?
*Kat*
Congratulations to the Class of 2012!
EDIT: I forgot to mention that Urban Decay has come out with a "build your own" palette and that the single eyeshadows now will pop out of the casing it is in. Unfortunately, it still has a "lip" to it and the palette itself isn't magnetic. I think that the eyeshadow is also in another tin so you can probably depot it from the popped out pan to be able to put it into a magnetized palette. I'm probably going to play around with it later and will let everyone know. (Thanks Sheila for your comment! It reminded me that I had originally wanted to put this info into my post.)
Next up is the clothing and clothing-related items that I purchased while in Japan. I will admit that a majority of the time that I spent shopping was in clothing stores but mainly looking for clothes for the two sons who were at home taking care of the yard, dog and cat. Most of my shopping time was limited to 15 minute to 1/2 hour increments, which did not make for productive or satisfying shopping experiences. I still did manage to get a few things.
From Daiso, I found the pants/skirt hangers that I really love!
I use these for hanging up my laundry to dry. I bought 4 of the smaller ones and 6 of the larger ones. I really like the smaller ones, which I had purchased in Hawaii many years ago but it's no longer available here. The Daiso that I was at had only 4 of those smaller ones otherwise I'd have brought home a lot more. These hangers took up a lot of suitcase space.
From G.U.
This top was only 790 yen! It's very comfortable and I adore the dotted print.
From Uniqlo
This was only 1500 yen. I had been looking at the Uniqlo x Laura Ashely collection but wasn't too impressed by the selection. I spied this top and decided to get it. I had been looking around for a red top and the cat design is cute. I forgot to take a picture of it but on the back of the shirt, there is a small mouse. It's so cute!
From Avail
This top was instant love! It was on sale for 1280 yen. It also came in black, which I liked but the hubs insisted that I buy this peach color since I have so much black. It is a knit eyelet fabric. There is nice detailing to it.
The center front is pleated and there are individual flowers sewn on, accenting the neckline area and the hem area.
I also bought a couple of camis to wear underneath low cut necklines but I can't remember where I got it from. I think they were purchased from Avail too. If I remember correctly, they were only around 500 yen each.
These stores that we stopped into were inexpensive clothing stores. We also stopped into Shimamura and perhaps another store. It's so much fun when you can find nice bargains.
*Kat*
I'm back from my Japan trip! I'm so sorry for not writing regularly but prior to my Japan trip, it was craziness! We left on Easter Sunday on a 6:15 p.m.flight but the hours leading up to it was packed! Since it was the Easter weekend, it was quite busy at work. To top it off, tax returns were going to be due while we were gone so I had to make sure it was all done and ready. The night before, my son told me that he did more research and found out that the rail pass that I decided not to get was going to be a way better value than we thought so after I spent a morning at work on Sunday, I ran to the Japan Travel Bureau to purchase the rail passes. I didn't get home until 1:30 and we needed to leave to go to the airport by 3:30. I still had to shower, wash and dry my hair and pack all of my last minute things. It was a huge rush! I think that I got maybe 4 hours of sleep Friday night, 2 hours of sleep on Saturday night. Sunday night, which turned into Monday night when we arrived in Japan, I got no sleep at all, which is normal for me the first night away from my own bed.
Our trip was jam packed with all kinds of sight seeing activities planned by our son and his family and his in-laws. The result was that we didn't have much time for shopping. I still did manage to a little bit of hauling and today I'm going to show you my makeup haul.
From Daiso, which is a 100 yen store.
A box of face masks and a couple of packets of Hello Kitty face masks.
I was so excited when I saw these mirrors. I had exactly the same one in black for years. About a month ago, Hime chan reached up onto the counter when I was putting on my makeup and accidently pulled down my mirror. It fell to the ground and broke. I tried looking for a replacement but could only find round ones. I bought one and didn't like it. I ended up buying the light pink and dark pink at Daiso.
I also bought the blush palette there. For only 100 yen, it is a good quality blush and highlighter. I ended up using it the whole duration of my trip. It's actually the first time that I like the highlighter that comes with the blush.
Everything there comes out to 105 yen, when you include the tax. I really wish that I had more time to browse in there.
For the next two pictures, the items were purchased in Donki and Kawachi.
I bought backups of my favorite eyeliner--K-Palette and Mezaik Stretch Double Eyelid Fiber.
Biore Makeup Remover Sheets in Pink container. Justine of Sakura Lovely told me these were her favorite. I have to admit, they are really good although I find the sheets to be a bit too small so I end up using two each time. I also bought a backup of Canmake Shading Powder and a new blush from Canmake, which I haven't even opened to test yet.
The one "high-end" makeup purchase was done at Tokyo Station in Daimaru. I went to the floor which had all the cosmetics and found the Addiction counter!
I finally decided to purchase a single eyeshadow. I'm so happy that I bought it to try. Unlike most Japanese eyeshadows, this one is well pigmented, although it's not as soft and silky as Urban Decay. I also loved their color selection, which was quite a nice array of colors. I'm probably going to want to get a few more. The next time I'm actually at an Addiction counter, I'd like to test out their foundations.
So that's my makeup haul. As I mentioned at the beginning, it's not very much but I'm really happy with what I got.
*Kat*
