CANMAKE Candy Wrap Lip

Hello dear readers!

Do you know the cosmetic brand CANMAKE?

It's a popular Japanese brand, with cute packaging and reasonable prices. 

Since we got into the often grey days of autumn I feel my complexion looks a bit dull, so I went shopping for some lip gloss to cheer it up. I haven't tried CANMAKE before, but I always thought their products look very pretty. This red gloss (the colour is Lady Strawberry) caught my eye. Red lipstick is quite difficult to pull off, at least in my experience, but somehow a gloss is much easier and has a far softer effect. 

What do you think? The top picture is without the gloss, and the bottom one is with. I definitely think my complexion looks brighter with the lip gloss! You only need to apply a little to to get this colour and it has a nice moisturing effect since it's formulated with hyaluronic acid, honey extract and shea butter.

I'm sure I'll get something form CANMAKE again, perhaps an eyeshadow set since they also look so cute! Here's their English website, if you are interested:

http://www.canmake.com/en/index.html

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I've been working on a few things lately, for example a new hair tutorial, photoshoots, and an autumn themed hat for the Triple Fortune Tea Party! Aviva and I are going this weekend, I'm so excited! Please look forward to these future posts :)

See you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

Classic Lolita Make-up Tutorial

Natural Cat Eye Make-up Tutorial

Hello dear readers! How are you today? Hope you are well.

Today I'm trying something for the first time; a make up tutorial. The lovely Namalie asked me to make one, and I was happy to oblige.

This tutorial is for my everyday eye make-up style. As a classic lolita, I try to acheive a look that is natural but still doll-like, emphasising big eyes. I use black winged eyeliner, neutral eyeshadow and occasionally half lashes.  Mine are from Daiso- cheap but effective!

These half lashes give an nice emphasis to the outer corner of the eyes, which is perfect for cat-eye make-up.

Here is what you'll need to create this look: 

Black liquid eyeliner pen

White eyeliner pencil 

Light gold eyeshadow

Dark gold eyeshadow

Eyelash curler

Black volumising mascara

Half-type false lashes

Lash glue

Now on to the tutorial!

1. Start by applying your favourite base make-up. I use a mineral powder foundation, and make sure I put some on my eye area and eyelashes in order to create a good base for my eye make-up to stick to.

2. Use the liquid eyeliner pen to line the roots of your upper lashes. It's a little difficult to describe, but you should run the pen under your lashes, not quite on the waterline but right at the roots. It doesn't show much in the pictures, but trust me, it makes a difference!

3. Draw a line starting slightly in from the inside corner of your eye, extending outwards and downwards from the outside corner of your eye. Drawing the line downwards gives a tare me (drooping eye) effect for kind-looking eyes.

3. Draw a line from the centre of your lower lid outwards and upwards, connecting with the line we drew before. This creates the template for the retro neko me (cat eye) wing.

4. Now fill in the wing, ensuring that the line narrows as it nears the inner corner of your eye. Use the white eyeliner pencil to add a highlight to the inner corner of your eye. 

5. Here you can see it from a different angle. The white eyeliner helps to open and brighten the eye.

6. Apply the light gold eyeshadow all over your upper eyelid and eye socket, and along your lower lash line. Add a little extra on your browbone to highlight.

7. Applying rather thick eyeliner has caused the double eyelid to appear decreased, so now we need to restore some depth to the eye area. Apply the dark gold eyeshadow to your eye crease.

8. Also apply some to the outer corner of your lower lid, and blend the two shades together. If any of the shadow has got onto your eyeliner (it probably has), reapply.

9. Allow a little time for your reapplied eyeliner to dry, then curl your upper lashes and apply black mascara.

10. Again, allow some time for your upper lashes to dry. Then apply black mascara to your lower lashes.

11. The finishing touch is the application of the half lashes. Half lashes are great for beginners as they are much easier to apply than full lashes, being much shorter. Apply a fairly generous amount of glue to the spine of the lash, making sure to put a little extra at the ends. Allow 30 seconds for the glue to become tacky, then apply the lashes slightly outwards and downwards of the outer corner of your eye (following the line we drew in step 3).

Finished!

Well, I'm not be a make-up genius and I'm still trying to make improvements here and there, but I tried to make my tutorial as clear and concise as possible so that anyone can use it, even lolitas who have not tried make-up before. Let me know what you think!

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Sapphira

xxxx

The name of the ROSE

Hello readers! How are you enjoying your weekend?

I'm having a photoshoot with Lauren Pinhorn Photography tomorrow, I can't wait! I'll share the photos with you as soon as possible.

Today I will tell you about ASAGI of D's original bath salts!

My friend Yami No Geisha recommended this product to me. She has written a very nice review of it which you can read here. I love to take baths, and I love roses, and I love D, so I had to try it!

As you can see, it's called "The name of the ROSE" like D's album and the pretty packaging features lots of beautiful red roses. The scent is "rose garden".

In the box you get five sachets of bath salts. Also included is a photocard of the band wearing their Schwarzschild costumes which is very nice apart from the awkward photoshop of poor Ruiza! He could carry a tea tray on his head if it was really that flat.

The ingredients include rose hip oil, rose water, wild rose essence, hyaluronic acid and collagen. Lots of lovely things for your skin! The last two seem to be very popular ingredients in Japanese skincare at the moment.

Since my friend had praised this product so much I couldn't wait to use it! I wasn't disappointed at all. As she said, the scent is very natural, a kind and gentle rosy smell. Sometimes rose scents can be too sickly sweet, like rose syrup, but this was very delicate.

However, it does rather look like rose syrup (Malaysian and Singapore readers- it's like taking a bath in bandung!) Luckily this pretty shade of pink does not leave any trace apart from a delicious rose smell, but at the time I was worried that my mother would see the water and accuse me of ruining her bathroom! 

Although the colour looks strong, the bath was pleasant and mild on my skin and had a nice moisturising effect. Of course, everyone's skin is different but I do think that this is a high quality product. I had a lovely and relaxing bath and felt so pretty afterwards with this beautiful scent!

So there you have it, not only is ASAGI a talented musician but he makes wonderful bath salts too! Many thanks to Yami No Geisha for the tip.

You can buy The name of the ROSE bath salts from cooljapan store here, or if you're in Japan from ASAGI's brand Rosen Kranz.

Thanks for reading! 

Happy New Year at Asakusa and Ueno

Hello everyone! I'm back in England, having returned yesterday. 

Thanks very much for your comments while I was away. I have read your suggestions carefully and I'll do my best to improve!

I had a wonderful time in Tokyo, and I spent a bit of time in Yokohama too. Today I'm writing up the first post about my trip!

I arrived on the 31st of December. I managed to do some shopping right away- I picked up a yukata and the latest Gothic and Lolita Bible in the airport! The yukata was on sale in Uniqlo. I've been meaning to get one for ages, so I grabbed it. I wasn't expecting them to be sold in December, even at a reduced price!

It took a couple of hours to get to the hotel in Shinjuku from Narita. I saw Kikirarashoten from the train as it passed through Shibuya!  When I got to the hotel I had a nap, and got up to have dinner and see the new year in. 

I wanted to have an authentic Japanese new year as possible, so my friend and I watched Kouhaku (Red and White), a variety music program that's on every 31st of December. The colours represent two teams of performers, and at the end there's a vote to decide which team did the best. The team leaders/presenters were Arashi for the white team and a very pretty actress for the red team, with performances by Kouda Kumi, Wada Akiko (who seemed to be on Japanese television for the whole of my two-week stay), EXILE, Lady Gaga, AKB48, a lot of enka singers and of course SMAP. And lots more besides! 

As well as Kouhaku, the sun rising over Mount Fuji was broadcast on live on tv, and I ate soba! So that was my fairly authenic seeing-in of the new year. By the way, my Chinese horoscope is Dragon, so 2012 is my year! 

I got up at six o'clock to go to the famous Sensoji temple complex in Asakusa. Going to a temple is new year tradition. 

This is the main entrance to the complex, Kaminarimon. After you pass under the red lantern, there is a long street filled with stalls and shops selling souvenirs, dolls, wigs and hair ornaments, sweets, snacks, leather goods, clothes for your dog etc. Rather different from going to church! Further up there are lots of food stalls, which I particularly enjoyed. 

After browsing the shops, we went to get o-mikuji (fortunes). At the place where you get them there is a little box of long sticks which each have a number on, which corresponds to one of many little numbered drawers containing papers on which your fortune is written. You make a donation and shake the box until a stick drops out of the little hole, then check the number and collect your fortune.

I was not fortunate!

Ouch! To dispel the bad luck, you must tie the slip of paper to a special frame.

A bit tricky with cold fingers, but I tried to tie it as tightly as possible. I hope it stays put! On the left of the picture you can see some of the little drawers containing fortunes. After that we went to the main temple to make an offering and new year's wish. I also got an o-mamori, which I'll show you later.

Then it was time to attack the food stalls! I had sweet sake, takoyaki, yakitori, yakisoba, and one non-fried and oily things, a miso-y, nimono-y thing that was very delicious. I enjoyed the food ever so much! I also felt the need for a cup of tea, so we found a nice little cafe just outside the complex.

Having warmed up a bit, we went back to Sensoji for another look around. It's pretty, and very large, so there's plenty to see. We met a very handsome fellow there!

I think perhaps we met before, when I visited Sensoji for the first time about five years ago. Maybe he remembered me, since he came over to say hello.

He must have felt quite relaxed in my company at any rate, deciding to have a lie down.

This little boy decided to join us! He looked very cute in his puffy green coat, like a pea in a pod.

When we had finished at Sensoji, I suggested we go to Ueno park, since nearly everything was closed that day and at least we could have a nice walk. We actually did a lot of walking that day because we tried to go to Ueno-koen on foot. It turned out to be further than expected, so we had to give up and take the metro, but at least we saw some interesting sights along the way:

Lots of tanuki! Do you like tanuki? I'm very fond of them now, though I recall the first time I saw one of these ceramic ones I wondered what on earth they were supposed to be. In case you are also wondering, tanuki are little sharp-toothed furry mammals native to Japan. In mythology, they are also mischevious shape-shifters, who like drinking lots of sake. I recommend the film 'Pom Poko' if you'd like to know more about them! 

I tried to pose like the tanuki, but I think I rather failed. I just look like a giraffe as usual!

Ueno Park has a small but rather nice shrine, which you can get to by walking through these red gates:

I always think these gates look so impressive!

Even the drain covers are pretty in Ueno!

On the way from the station, we found one lively street with a lot of shops open, including a Matsumoto Kiyoshi (it's a drug store), so I did a bit more shopping!

Let's have some materialism after all that culture! 

1. Bioré Marshmallow Whip I saw this in Singapore and was very attracted by the name, but it was quite expensive so I decided to wait until I went to Japan. It was a little discounted at Matsumoto Kiyoshi, so my patience paid off. I can report that it's definitely a good cleanser! It doesn't dry your skin, but still gets it very clean and leaves it soft and smooth. Just one pump is enough for your face and neck; it's very foamy!

2. False lashes I wanted to try out these separated-type lashes, since they seem to really open up your eyes. These were only 315 yen, but they are very soft and not too shiny. I don't think they look that great on me though!

3. O-mamori This is a charm my friend bought me at the temple. If I return to Japan next year, I'll take it once again to the temple for it to be burnt. I do hope I will return!

4. Bioré oil-in sheet refill I used to just wash my face with foam cleanser to get my make-up off (horror!) but after reading articles about how dreadfully that practice it will age you, I started to use make-up remover. This oil-in sheet remover was being promoted in Singapore, so I picked it up there. There's a cute pink case that dispenses the remover wipes; this is a refill.

5. Esprique Aqua Drape lipgloss I'm keen on Japanese cosmetics, thanks mostly to the attractive packaging! As well as that they're effective for me personally since I'm Eurasian and have a more Asian skin-type and colouring. I've been trying for ages to find a nice lip gloss that looks natural but gives a bit of freshness and colour to my face, and when I saw this coral one it looked just right. Esprique is a slightly pricey brand but I was totally sick of looking for lip gloss in England so I treated myself. I'm glad I did because I'm really happy with it!

6. Lavshuca eye palette Lavshuca has lovely packaging! I liked this set of natural colours. You can create quite a few different looks with this colours, and they all work well together. The middle colour is super sparkly!

I hope you've enjoyed this first post about my time in Tokyo. I'm looking foward to writing up all the rest! Next up is the first day of sales shopping~

Until then,

Sapphira