Japanese Stationery

I published this post on my other blog, but I thought you guys might be interested in it, too!

Since the purchase of my Hobonichi, and what a good purchase it was, I've been picking up bits of stationery to go with it. Although not every page looks as beautiful and organized as I wish it did, I wanted to show you a few things that definitely help.

Japan really gets it right when it comes to stationery. A lot of things here can be a bit too cutesy for my liking, but the sheer volume of these bits and bobs means you will be able to find something that suits you. 

Let's start with the washi tape. Washi tape is like masking tape, but it's made from natural fibres like bamboo or hemp. Decorative tape is really popular in Japan. One of my students has a collection, and she's aiming to have 100 different designs! They come in different widths, colours, and patterns. I get most of mine from Daiso - the dollar store, but lots of stores have tape with anime characters and other things. The tape third from the top in the photo is from the Pokemon Centre.

My next favourite thing is deco-tape. This comes in a dispenser like white out tape. These can be a bit tricky to apply and sometimes stretch out, rip or have half stay on the role. Also, this will stick to itself. Don't put it in the same place on opposing pages. It will peel off, and all of it will end up on one page. Not cute. If you do need to take it off, an eraser works.

Muji has excellent pens. I bought these this weekend. The colours are beautiful! The ink is smooth! These come in a variety of other colours and thickness, depending on your preference. 0.4 was the least fine tip available for these pens. It was all I could do to limit myself to only two!

Lazy Day Makeup

On lazy days I like to keep it simple and fresh. Here's a no fuss look I've been enjoying lately.

Tarte amazonian clay full coverage airbrush powder foundation

Only Minerals foundation brush (not pictured)

Nars creamy concealer

Elf concealer brush

Maybelline master glaze in pink fever

Real Techniques stippling brush

Almay liquid lip balm in cantaloupe cream

Maybelline the rocket volume express

Muji eyelash curler

Majolica Majorca eyeshadow in BE286

Hakuhodo eyeshadow brush J5523

I'm working on some great posts for you guys! I'll be updating every wednesday and friday. To tide you over, you can also check out my Youtube channel which has been getting more action than my blog this month. Enjoy!

Travel Makeup: Hawaii

I'm in Hawaii for Golden Week (plus a little extra) and I wanted to show you lovely readers which makeup items I brought with me. I knew I was going to buy lots so I tried to keep it to a minimum. 

Most of the items pictured have been mentioned on this blog or my YouTube channel - which if you don't know you should check out!!! If you want the names of anything, just leave me a comment. 

What did you do for Golden Week?

DIY Lip and Body Scrubs

Lately I've been having weird lip issues. They've been really dry and flaky, even though the weather is getting warmer, and Japan is fairly humid year round. So I browsed Pinterest and decided to make myself a DIY Lip Scrub. While I was at it I made my second batch of the Cardamom and Coffee Body Scrub.

Lip Scrub

For my lip scrub I looked at lots of recipes and chose to combine ingredients I already had in my apartment. A lot of lip scrub recipes out there are very similar. Here's what I did:

You will need:

1 tbsp each of Honey and Almond Oil

2 tsp of sugar

Mix it all together and then store in the fridge.

I found that the almond oil didn't mix all that well with the honey and sugar. It kind of sits on top of the scrub. Although this doesn't look as nice as some other scrubs, this doesn't make that big of a difference when using it.

I used my lip scrub as soon as I finished it, and then again this morning. I saw an immediate improvement!

Body Scrub

I got the idea and recipe for the body scrub from Essie Button, my first and favourite beauty blogger and youtuber. You can see her post here! The texture of my scrub is more grainy than hers. I used almond oil instead of cocoa and shea butter.

You will need:

Ground coffee

Sugar - white or brown

Ground cardamom
Almond Oil

Instructions:

Combine equal parts sugar and ground coffee. I used the Ikea coffee that comes ground, and regular white sugar. Add ground cardamom to scent ~3 tsp. I added almond oil until my scrub was a consistency I was happy with.

It's Spring!

Every so often I like to reorganize my makeup vanity. I clean and sort through my makeup, and rotate the products in the front of my drawer. I'm the kind of person that will forget about something if I don't see it. This weekend I dusted off some spring and summertime favourites and got ready to start using them again: corals, oranges, brights, and pastels. I wanted to show you what makes me feel like spring!

Hakuhodo: Love at First Use

We've all used products that have taking a little warming up to. You know, the ones that just don't work the way you want them to, or don't live up to your expectations at first, and then sneak their way into your heart and daily routine? This is not a post about one of those. This is a post about something that blew me away the first time I used it. Are you ready for it? Here it is:

The Hakuhodo J5523.

This fluffy goat hair eyeshadow crease brush, like all Hakuhodo brushes, is handmade in Japan. The company is based just outside of Hiroshima, in Kumano. People have been making brushes in this area for over 200 years, and Hakuhodo continues to use traditional methods. 

At ~1600yen, I recommend you pick this up. If you live in Japan, it's about half the price of cult favourite, the MAC 217 brush. I don't have a MAC 217, but the J5523 performs beautifully! It picks up lots of product, distributes evenly, and blends beautifully.

Have you tried any Japanese brushes?

March Favourites

 

Beauty Favourites

This was a month of excellent blushes! Who am I kidding? I'm obsessed with blush every month. I got the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour blush in Blissful from my fiance's sisters in a care package at the beginning of the month. I've mentioned this blush and how I had been NEEDING it in my life, but my Sephora was out of it, and then I moved to the land where Sephora does not exist. (Until recently, because now they ship to Japan!) This blush is everything I had hoped and more. I've been alternating between that and the Ettusais Rose Cheek Color, which you can read about here! The last blush I want to talk about is the liquid blush in Coral Creme from Majolica Majorca. I usually apply a few strokes directly to my cheeks and then blend with my Real Techniques Stippling Brush. Make sure to do one cheek at a time! This stuff dries fast. I like that it gives a really natural looking flush to my cheeks. 

For eyes I've been playing with the ELF Essential Little Black Beauty Book Warm Edition. This is a gorgeous assortment of 48 warm toned eye shadows. I've been really wanting to get my hands on the Naked palettes and this has been a great affordable alternative. There's a wide variety in the quality, texture, finish, hardness, lasting power, and tendency to crease in these shadows. I expected them to all be pretty similar. For only $6, I have definitely gotten my money's worth!

In the skin care category it should come as no surprise that a couple Ettusais bits have been getting a lot of love. You can read my review of the Puru Puru Serum here! I've also been wearing the ultra moisturizing Lip Essence SPF 18 PA++. It's just a nice, non-sticky lip balm in a tube.

My favourite (colour) lip product has been the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Cherish. Barbie pink is not a colour I thought I would like but it's so much fun! It's a much bluer pink than anything else I have. 

Non-beauty Favourites

The book I could not put down this month was Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. This is a book about Ursula, a woman who gets a bunch of do-overs on life. She dies and then is reborn, as herself, and gets a fresh start. She learns from the mistakes she makes in her previous lives, and these inform some of her later decisions. I loved reading this because I was always so interested to see what direction her new life would take! I really recommend this book!

Next I want to recommend a podcast. I love podcasts, and listen to them constantly - while walking to work, getting groceries, cleaning, or cooking, getting ready in the morning, etc. I have loads of podcasts I listen to and am always looking for new ones.  Stop Podcasting Yourself is a comedy podcast and a member of the Maximum Fun network, which I love. It consists of two comedians, Dave Shumka and Graham Clark, and a possible guest, who do regular segments where they talk about their week, things they've overheard, and occasionally some Hulk Hogan news, or a Pop Rocks minute. The podcast is based in Vancouver, and I love the Canadian content. This show is hilarious. Sometimes I laugh out loud in public when I listen to this because it is just that funny. I recommend starting with an episode where Brent Butt, Canadian comedy royalty, is the guest.

Last month my favourite book was science fiction. This month I've got a video game in my favs. Guess what?! I'm kind of a geek. Yay! This month Tyler and I wiped our old data and started a new file for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This is a game I play a lot when it first came out and it fills me with happy nostalgia. We were pretty hooked on playing the Subspace Emissary mode which I had completely forgotten. Because my game playing prime was the early 2000s, I prefer to use a Game Cube controller. It's more stable than the wii-mote and nunchuk setup. Haha!

What have you been loving this month?