Week 40/52 : Keep calm and hug a panda

I bought this adorable panda hoodie at the Animax Carnival last October. It was my first time attending a cosplay event without my sister. We’ve been attending conventions together since 2007. Ever since she moved to California I haven’t gone to one here in the Philippines, though she’s been to plenty over there since Kurt does cosplay videography (you can watch his videos HERE). I haven’t really found anyone else to go with to these sort of events so I’ve just been skipping them. But recently I was introduced to a new friend who enjoys going to these events as much as I do and he invited me to go with him 🙂

Goodies from Japan/Taiwan

Last month we went on a short cruise around Japan and Taiwan. We signed up for some tours/shore excursions but unfortunately they were cancelled so we ended up having to explore places ourselves. This actually turned out to be a blessing because we still ended up seeing the places we wanted to visit, and we enjoyed having control of our time. Plus, we used the money we saved from the cancelled tours (roughly 160 USD per person) to go shopping.

As usual, I decided to share some of the goodies I bought here on my blog. Unlike last year’s haul, most of these are food items so they’re gone now. I’d like to say we gave most away as pasalubong, but majority of them found their way into our tummies. Please note that not all of these are mine. Some are stuff my parents bought (but I ate them anyway XD)

First we have these spicy shrimp rice crackers. We’ve already finished one box and we’re trying to save the other one because they’re so good.

Pretzel sticks. I love the brown sugar one on the upper left

Okinawa seems to love purple yam. I’m not sure if it’s the same as our ube, but they look pretty similar. Most of these are pasalubong so I’m not sure if they taste the same.

Matcha goodies! You guys know I love Matcha. The Oreos are my favorite.

Brinks went crazy over these Calbee chips while we were there. I’ve never tried them before but she told me there were good so I bought different flavors. I liked them, my favorite is the sweet potato one.

Face masks overload – Japan + Korea haul

Hi guys!  Our family just got back from a 9-day trip to Japan/Korea and I figured it would be fun to showcase some of the things I bought while I was there.  We didn’t really have that much time to go shopping since we were on a ship most of the time (Princess Cruises FTW!), but we still managed to hit up a few stores during our stay there (mostly during our first two days since we didn’t board the ship until the 2nd day).

First, here are some of the snacks that I had left after our trip:

Ezra and I had a lot of fun raiding Japanese convenience stores and 100-yen shops for various sweets.  Japanese candy is the best! I bought most of my pasalubong from there as well.  Unfortunately, this is all I had left by the end of our trip because Ezra and I ate most of them (and gave some away).  I wish I took a picture of the strawberry mochi waffle that Ezra and I loved, but you’ll probably see us eating it in a vlog when I get around to editing it – maybe next year? Eek! (Edit : I posted the vlog at the end of THIS BLOG ENTRY.)

I also bought some green tea powder – at least that’s what I think these are since I can’t read Japanese.  I’m pretty sure the one on the right is instant green milk tea, and the one on the left says “Macha Cappuccino”, but I’m not really  sure about the one in the middle.

I wasn’t planning on buying beauty products during this trip, but Ezra and I found ourselves inside a HUGE beauty store in Harajuku and I just couldn’t help myself.

Despite only having about $10 with me that day (since I really wasn’t planning on spending a lot), I ended up with these three items from Canmake (I had to borrow money from Ezra to pay for them).  I picked up a powder foundation, a lipstick and a highlighting powder.  I haven’t tried any of them yet but I hope they’re good.  I’ve heard a lot of good things about Canmake.

These were a little cheaper since I got them from Daiso.  I bought a blush and highlight duo, an eyebrow pencil, some face blotting paper and a makeup brush cleaner. I’ve tried the blush and highlight duo and it’s alright. It’s not that pigmented, but what do you expect for 100 yen. (I actually like the subtle glow and color it gives – I don’t normally wear blush but I wanted to give it a try.)

I also bought two packs of makeup remover wipes from Daiso.  Initially I only bought the one at the top, because I ran out of cotton balls which I use to remove my makeup at night, and I didn’t pack my cleansing cream, so I used these instead.  They suck at removing waterproof eyeliner and mascara, but they’re alright for taking off your foundation.

Pasalubong Diaries : Japan

My parents returned last night from their trip to Japan.  They signed up for a cruise that would take them to different cities along Southern Japan, but thanks to Typhoon Vhongfong they spent more than half their time out at sea.  Their captain did his best to keep them safe, so instead of stopping at the different ports like they were supposed to, they ended up spending 5 days hiding out near west Korea.  They’re a little disappointed to not have seen the places they wanted to see, but we’re all just really glad that they’re safe.  Besides, they still enjoyed themselves despite being stuck on the ship for 5 days.  They lounged around, watched some great shows, ate plenty of good food and got a lot of relaxation time.

Naturally, they weren’t able to do much shopping, but they still managed to pick up some goodies for Ezra and me.

Green tea and strawberry cream daifuku, some strawberry pretzel sticks and onigiri.

Rice crackers, furikake and melonpan

We also asked my mom to pick up a magazine that has Satoh Takeru on the cover.  Since Rurouni Kenshin just came out, we figured it would be easy for her to find a magazine that featured him.  Unfortunately, my mom is still not that skilled when it comes to differentiating Japanese faces.  This is what she ended up getting:

Hello Ryo-chan~

It’s not Satoh Takeru, but Ezra and I are still happy.  After all, we were huge NEWS fans back in the day.  Ryo and Yamapi were our favorites.  (The next issue of Anan will have Yamapi on the cover.  It’s already been released but unfortunately my mom wasn’t able to get it for us T__T)

Thanks Mom and Dad for the gifts!  We’re glad you enjoyed your trip despite the change in plans.

Week 29/52 : Be yourself – an original is worth more than a copy

I bought this shirt at the ToyCon last June. It’s the shirt that G-Dragon wore in this “One of a Kind” MV.

I looked for it last October when Ezra and I dropped by Cosmania, but they didn’t have it. Fortunately it was available at the ToyCon  The stall I bought it from had a bunch of other Kpop and Jpop designs too. (Ezra’s still beating herself up for not buying a One OK Rock shirt when she had the chance.)

Anyway, this is just a simple self portrait. You’ll probably see a couple of these in my next few uploads, seeing as I’m already 6 weeks behind. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Gah~

Bangkok Shopping Experience

In a previous entry, I talked about how our family spent Christmas in Bangkok.  I spent a lot of time going shopping, and promised that I would make a separate entry about that.  So here it is 🙂  A little late, but what did you expect.

I mentioned in my previous entry that our hotel was located in the Pratunam area, which was awesome.  The hotel we usually stay at in Bangkok requires us to take a taxi to get to Pratunam, but this year our parents thought it would be better for us to get a hotel in the area itself.  Best idea ever!  Ezra, my mom and I were so excited that as soon as we got there, we decided to check out the shops around us.  It was pretty late at night and we were tired from travelling so we only allowed ourselves 2 hours to walk around.  In that short amount of time I ended up with 5 dresses and 2 earrings.

This was what the street outside our hotel looked like:

Lots of little tents/shops.  And lots of people.  Sometimes I forget that these shops are located along the road, and I would get startled when a car honks or drives really close to me.

Sometimes Ezra and I would venture further and check out the streets a few blocks away from our hotel.

Shops everywhere!  This was on the sidewalk so we didn’t have to worry about getting run over by speeding taxis

But we did have to be careful not to get carried away by the crowd.  Don’t let this picture fool you.  I had to wait a while to get a shot without that many people because I wanted to show you guys the shops.  In reality, the place looked more like this:

There were times when I had to just stand still and wait for everyone to pass because it was so crowded

I mostly bought clothes but they had other interesting stuff there too

Like these cute pouches.  I bought my Instagram pouch here for only 50 Baht.

 

Powerbanks for only 100 Baht

Adorable phone cases.  Most of them were for the iPhone though 😦  Sucks because they had so many designs I wanted.  (I found a Khuntoria case here.  WGM FTW!)

There were also plenty of cute accessories there.

California 2014 Haul

It’s been a long time since I made a post like this.  I like taking pictures of things I buy, even if I don’t always post them, since it helps me see clearly where my money goes.  Usually I just dump everything into one photo, but I took these while I was trying to organize my things so I decided make separate little groups for them.  Since I put more effort in these pictures than I usually do, I figured I might as well share them.

A little disclaimer before we begin, some of these are gifts and pasalubong for friends.  So it may seem like a lot, but I’m giving some of these away.

The very first thing I bought when we got there was this 1-inch Conair curling iron.  I have a 1 and 1/2 inch Revlon curling iron that I use in the Philippines, but it runs on 220V which means I can’t use it in the States.  This one by Conair is dual voltage so I can use when I travel.

I also picked up some basic toiletries – facial scrub, moisturizer, hair mask and conditioner.  (I love Garnier Fructis products!)

A pack of cute EOS lip balms.  I’m going to be giving most of these away since I still have a couple of lip balms at home I need to finish.

 This may seem random, but I got this tweezer set for only 99 cents!  We use these during our lab experiments so I figured I should just get a pack since it was so cheap.

Nail art stickers.  Most of these came from the Dollar Tree and the 99 Cent Only store, but the three in the upper left are from bhcosmetics.com.

Nail polish

Candies.  I tried to avoid buying too much since sugar and my thighs can’t seem to get along, but sometimes you just have to give in to those cravings.

Body sprays and perfumes from Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works.  I might have gone a little overboard, but I have a weakness for anything that smells good.  Most of these were on sale so I don’t feel too bad about buying so much.  This time I bought the smaller bottles because it takes me forever to finish the large ones. (Remember all those body sprays and perfumes I got for Christmas back in 2011?  I still have some of them left.)

Huge bottle of TUMS from Costco.  (I also got a smaller bottle to carry around in my bag from Walmart.)  I always have problems with hyperacidity so I usually bring a pack of Kremil-S with me, but these taste so much better!

Make up brushes. They’re so much cheaper over there.

Review : Milani Multitasker Face Powder

This is more like a first impression than a review since I only used the product for three days.  But I just like it so much that I had to write this entry.

A lot of makeup gurus on YouTube have mentioned this in their monthly favorites so I figured I’d give it a try.  I actually picked this up last year, back when I was running low on my Maybelline Powder Foundation.  But for some reason I only opened this a few weeks ago

I bought it from Walmart and I can’t remember how much I got it for, but according to their site it should be around $7

I normally prefer BB creams and liquid foundation, but since it’s summer I haven’t been in the mood to put anything too heavy on my face.  I figured if this has good coverage, I can skip the BB cream/foundation.

I like the fact that the sponge comes in a separate compartment.  I know it makes for a bulkier packaging, but I feel it’s more sanitary this way.

I also love the print on the actual powder.  I think it looks very elegant.

 

The shade I picked up was Light Tan (#4).  Each compact comes with 10.5g of product.

This is what the Milani website has to say about this product

A luxurious, velvet-soft face powder, specially formulated to provide a dimensional yet natural-matte finish. Provides perfect light to medium coverage.

(EZRA) 39/52 : Heroes and Villains

Here’s another shot of Ezra and I with our Batman and Joker shirts.  We have matching self portrait this week 😀  Look at Ezra’s scary face, lol.

We had fun shooting this, even though we had to rush it.  I think we were done in about 10 minutes because we had to move on to our next self portrait idea.  We shot about 3 self portraits each that day, so we couldn’t spend too much time on just one concept.  But I think this turned out great 🙂

Week 43/52 : I may be on the side of the angels, but don’t think for one second that I am one of them

I don’t usually take my self portraits with another person, but I just love this shot of us. We bought these shirts last month at American Boulevard. We were wandering around the mall and we saw that they were having a sale. It was really crowded inside the shop so we got separated while looking for things we like. After a few minutes, I made my way over the cashier to pay and found Ezra in line already. The funny thing was, I was holding a Batman shirt and she had a Joker shirt in her hands. It happened randomly, it’s not like we had a chance to talk and plan this while we were inside the shop. Does this confirm the fact that we are natural enemies? And that she’s the evil one and I’m the good guy? I think it does XD

(I was actually looking for Captain America or Ironman, but I couldn’t find them)

The quote in my title is from the BBC series “Sherlock”. The recently released some teaser photos and the network announced that the 3rd season will begin airing on January 1, 2014. I can’t wait!