So in the past few weeks I was not taking care of my skin very well
((lots of junk food, no exercise, slept with makeup on, etc.)
so because of that my pores got pretty big! Also I started to breakout like crazy, so I've been trying to find natural & cheap ways to help my skin recover and well..be better ^_^
Through my searches to make my pores smaller and get rid of acne, I found Bubzbeauty's post about a DIY egg mask ^_^! and I love her beauty vids so I thought I'd give it a shot!
DIY Egg Mask
1 Egg, beaten until frothy
then apply to face until it dries ^_^
this process takes about 10-15 min
yeah my camera isn't that good...also my hands shake a lot when I try to take pictures >__< sorry!
but anyway, my skin was lighter and so smooth after use! Also since it's a natural mask, it's good for your skin - at least I hope it is! - I really love this and I think I'll be using at most once a week ^_^! Also I think it would be good to apply a lotion after !
And while I did the egg mask, I still had the yolk of the egg to use!
Yolks are great for hair and using for masks in general!
Eggs in general can help to strengthen and moisturize hair while the yolk, can help bind ingredients together so they can mix well together ~ also they have high sulfur content which may help with dandruff problems~ woohoo!
So for this mask I used
☆4 eggs (i have long hair)
☆4 tablespoons of olive oil
☆3 tablespoons of milk
let it set for 15-20 min, wash off with mild shampoo
Some tips for this mask:
☆apply on damp hair
☆when you wash, don't make the water too hot, this will cook the egg and you will not be happy
I noticed an immediate change to my hair!
My hair is very dry and damaged from a digi perm I did last year and also I recently dyed it so ..more damage to my hair - sorry hair >_<
but after the mask, my hair is so soft and it doesn't look as damaged as it looked before! A friend that has been constantly telling me to go to a salon for hair treatment said that my hair looked better!
So I really think that this hair mask is a great way to help your hair ...so maybe you don't have to go spend lots of money for a hair treatment that adds more chemicals right???? maybe ><
but i really like both these masks and highly recommend them!
((unless you're allergic to eggs then please don't ;-; ))
If you didn't know one of tokyo's bigger shopping malls, shibuya 109, has a HUGE sale in the beginning of the new year, most of the items are the previous years unsold clothing line..BUT they also have these special bags called 福袋 (fukubukuro) or lucky bags / happy bags. cute name right!
Oh and some stores can go up to 80% off! that's a lot!
but since as I said earlier, this sale is mostly to get rid of the previous years clothes that didn't sell well, a lot of the items I didn't really care for >__<! Also the lines were insane and every single store staff was yelling sooo much trying to attract customers I couldn't handle much TwT i know, i'm weak.
But I guess it was ok since I ended up buying 2 items: 2 sweaters since I only have 1 currently form H&M ((I'm from hawaii! I don't own much cute winter stuff!) TwT!
First Sweater from Ingni which I bought at HALF price! woohooo!
Still a bit expensive at about $20 but it was still half price ^^!
What the sweater looks like, I think it would look great with a white or black skirt!
Then the second sweater I bought from emsexcite, one of my favorite stores!
(I bought 2 of the same tops - different color - from them cus I loved the top haha!)
The sweater wasn't really on sale, I think I bought it for $15 but it was originally $17. Still a penny saved right?
Well all in all, even though it was completely chaotic and there was so much pushing and scary ladies, it was a fun experience - I'm not sure why - but I'd love to do it again next year!
So since the year was ending I went into a small fit of
omg-the-year-is-ending-i-need-to-do-something
haha! so I decided to dye my hair brown (yeah not really daring...)
I already have naturally dark brown hair with highlights kindly provided by the sun, but I wanted a lighter brown color just to try out for a change ^_^
And since I LOVE Masuwaka Tsubasa, I decided to use Palty!
Front
Hair colors~!
I would say my hair color is the far left color in the heart ^_^
the one that's labeled 黒めの髪
before~
see? very dark brown hair with a few high lights here and there thanks to many, many years under Hawaii's sun..also I am in my thermals XD
What it comes with:
♡gloves♡
♡cup♡
♡spatula♡
♡activator water♡
♡dye♡
♡treatment oil♡
☆Instructions☆
☆shake the activator liquid (clear-ish bottle) about 20 times before use, then pour into the cup
☆next, pour in the dye (red tube)
☆ mix with spatula until it reaches the line
☆ after it reaches the line, apply to hair and wait for 20 min
well isn't that attractive =w=
lol! I was reading up on other reviews about this product and it seemed that many people weren't too happy with it. Some advice I can offer about this would be to leave it for maybe 25-30 min, or longer if you want to have lighter hair~. But for my experience I probably left the dye stuff in for about 25 min and i think it came out great! I really love it!
The only thing I didn't like about the product (like most other dyes) the smell was soooo strong, my roommate got mad at me and made me sit in the corner of the apartment TwT LOL. but of course, like any other dye type product, the smell was really strong and gave me a headache, bleh.
Anyway!
The results:
I think it came out quite nice!
Not sure if you can see the color >< it's hard to see in pictures maybe
Well, overall I'm quite pleased with the results! Also I reached 5,000 followers on google plus! so happy! ^__^ Thank you so very much !
I didn't really have anything that I didn't like about this product. Of course with any hair dye there is that strong smell and heat sensation >_< I love that this came with treatment oil ! And I really love how the color turned out! So for people that also want to use this product, follow the instructions carefully, but after applying to your hair leave for like 25-30 min ^__^ try that~!
Thanks for reading! have you also tried this product? How was it for you?
Aloha my dear~it is officially Jan 1 2014 here in Tokyo
I hope you had a fantastic 2013 and look forward to this new year :)
If you've been on the internet long enough, you've probably seen the cute year jar where people get an empty jar and fill it with memories that are important to them that had happened within the past year (ie for 2013, etc.) I decided to do it too and I will definitely do it for 2014!
My jar wasn't that full, I mostly put good memories in it, but I think for next year, I will also include important life changing moments and other things that I want to. The jar is supposed to be used for a time to remember all the great and happy things that had happened in the past year, and I think it's a fantastic idea!
So anyway~ I just wanted to share a little bit of what my jar looked like!
2013 was quite a busy year and of course there were some sad times...but I am glad that I can reflect on 2013 with a more positive feeling because of this jar ^__^! so happy
my jar before opening ^__^
lots of purikura hahah!
It was my first snow day since coming to Japan! super fun!
Early 2013, I went to Legoland in Odaiba with a special friend and it was extremely fun! They also have Madame Tussades and an awesome game center in Odaiba! Well Madame Tussades was only open after feb 2013 but yeah >w<
one of my favorite memories of 2013 was getting passed the first round of the Japanese magazine CanCam's new age model contest! I was so happy, it was the first time I did anything like that so just getting passed the first round meant so much to me and I hope to do more modeling things like this!
Oh also some of the purikura hahhahaha
I hope you have an amazing 2014! May your year be full of great memories :)
If you didn't know, I have been living in Japan for a little over a year now and I absolutely LOVE christmas/the holiday season! In America, I know we all have our own respective religions and based on our religions, we celebrate our own style of holiday season, and the same for people who don't have a religion ^__^ But all in all most people in America celebrate the holiday season their own cool, awesome way :) I have only celebrated christmas my entire life, I do not know much about other peoples' holiday fun times, I wish I did though ^_^ feel free to comment how you celebrate your winters! I'd love to hear it!
Anyway, so how is Christmas in Japan?
1. Do they even celebrate Christmas?
Yes they do ^__^! I have asked many, MANY students why people celebrate christmas in Japan, whether they may or may not be christian. A lot of my students responded that it was from American influence, it isn't a national holiday (they kinda still have to work on christmas I heard :( but no school!) but they do acknowledge it as a special day
2. What do they eat?
Surprisingly a lot of modern families eat KFC! (again, american influence) In fact, a lot of my students asked me "you don't eat fried chicken for christmas in america?!" You need to reserve for KFC early if you want to get food! In fact KFC Japan's most profitable day is Christmas Eve :) fun fact! They also eat CHRISTMAS CAKE!!! Isn't that the best thing you've ever heard?! yes. I don't know about you guys, but in Hawaii we don't have christmas cake, there is dessert, but no specific, fancy christmas cake :( I think this needs to be changed. Some of the students I talked to said that since KFC gets too crowded and troublesome to bother to reserve, they instead buy or reserve roast chicken in other places like big department stores like Isetan, etc. ^__^
KFC Christmas Campaign page 2013
Cozy Corner Bakery Christmas Campaign Page 2013
ALSO, theres みかん(mikan) which is just little cutie tangerines which can come in sizes: small, medium, and large. which is super popular in winter time ^__^ what they do is buy a bunch of mikan and just hide under their cozy kotatsus and eat mikan ^__^ its AWESOME. trust me
also cats
3. Christmas Lights?
YES. omg. I absolutely LOVE Tokyo around this time because theres tons of "illumination parks" which are basically parks or areas where everything is decorated in christmas lights and other christmas deco :) It's absolutely stunning and beautiful and theres tons of places to go! So far my favorite places are: Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Dome. Roppongi Hills is quite big and there's so much to see! Tokyo Dome has a theme park! A lot of theme parks like Disney or Yomiuri land are also very beautiful I've heard but both are quite far for me so hehe ^_^;; (just quickly google イルミネーション and you will see so many awesome things, I promise)
Tokyo Dome
rurubu's site promoting the many illuminations all over Japan!
pretty right?
4. Christmas Characters? Songs?
Santa and Rudolph are super popular :) there are many stores like Tokyu Hands or Don Quijote that offer costumes for Santa & Rudolph, also them santa hats >w<! There even the Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer song in Japanese >w<! It's so cute! Also every single store in Japan will play sooooo much christmas music. I think I've heard like 5 different versions of Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You" so far
Sign Language with BoA's Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
in Korean, Japanese, English
(i know she's kpop but i LOVE her ok)
side story: I was telling one of the families that I teach and I was telling them about how in America lots of kids put out cookies and milk for santa, and that naughty kids get coal! They were so interested that they want to try it for next year ^_^!
5. Presents?
I think so! I am not too sure because I have asked around and half of my students said yes, but the other half said no. (but there are TONS of christmas specials and sales in like every mall hehe)
Here is an interested thread I found from japantoday: You can read many peoples (who live in japan) perspectives on christmas :) It's a very interesting read!
Spend a lot of money and get some free stuff! Yeah I know, we have these in America too, but I think the ones in Japan are a bit more worth it to spend money on >w<! There's actually TONS of great sales around christmas and new years. but we'll get to the new years ones on another post ^_^
Hmmm, what I find kind of strange about Japan's christmas is that it is very couple-focused. So many of my japanese friends and students were telling me that christmas is no fun if you're single..but I told them that in America, christmas is mainly focused for family/loved ones and about being with the people you love whether it is family, friends, etc.~ And they thought that was weird..So it's more couple focused, that's pretty interesting I guess.
How will you celebrate your Christmas ^_^/Winter Holidays ^_^?
