OOTD#4 - for Vivid

Yo! Hope you're all doing well!

Sorry about the delay of this post, I know I said I'd post it the day after my Vivid Sydney post BUT I had some plans meeting up with my aunty for lunch in the city for talks and yeah... also spent the rest of the night gaming and doing my blood moon akali costest.

ANYWAY let's get started!
So this is what I pretty much looked like on the Vivid Sydney outting with my mom. Outfit was super comfy and warm especially since it's winter now and it has been quite chilly and also I'll be walking around alot in the open, this outfit did justice. Also carried my Nikon D7000 DSLR camera with the 18-55mm kit lens.

Starting with the top. I wore a super old denim dress shirt which use to be my parents in the 90s and surprisingly they kept it in super great condition and now I wear it. It fits really comfortable with a slight oversize look, not dropping so much on the shoulder, long with the back being slightly longer, and I jazzed it up by adding some studs on the corners and the back of the collar, and on the bottom of the placket.

Layered the semi-thick denim top a freesized bat sleeve union jack knit (female) jumper which was extremely warm and adds a nice pop. The sleeves hugs around the arm very nicely which keeps my arm very warm. The jumper was bought on ebay and can be purchased here

Finished off the top off with my upcycled slouch beanie which can be viewed here :D

And of course the usual prescribed glasses with my Dueba Puffy 3 tone Brown lenses.

Usually I'd  be wearing some arm accessories but actually forgot for once, did feel bare without it ahahaha

I paired my tops with black skinny fitted jeans that I modified to fit my legs more so my legs look longer :D For super comfort and warmth, I wore my black ugg boots that has a thick sole that is made to be worn outdoors.

Here is the front view of the outfit.

Back view of the outfit. Sorry about the messy room

Side view of the outfit. Carried along my blue messenger side bag that I got from G.U store in Ikebukuro in Japan last year. Awesome bag that has a large strap handle that can be worn like a handbag, and very spacious inside to hold my wallet, keys and my camera.

 That concludes this outfit of the day post.
Until then~ stay well & take care! :D

Vivid Sydney + Guylian cafe outting with mom (PICTURE HEAVY)

HELLO there everyone, hope you're all doing well~

Last week on Wednesday 29th May 2013 I decided to take my mom out and drive to the city to see the Vivid Lights Sydney event at Circular Quay since we've been hearing about it on the news about the lights being set up and displayed and my mom has never actually been, so I took this opportunity to let her experience it.

Left the house at around 4.20pm and started driving up to the city which usually takes around 45minutes on average with low traffic, but we decided to leave the house earlier to avoid the peak hour traffic in my area. BUT we ended up facing heavy traffic towards the city area, and legit I mean super heavy traffic to the point where only 1 car could go through before the traffic lights hit red again because of the traffic on the other side not moving. ANYWAY at around 5.45pm we finally reached the underground parking and got parking and instantly went to find some dinner and a toilet since we were busting because of traffic haha! 

Mom and I ended up dining at Ichi Ban Boshi at the Galleries, mom got the Tokyo Ramen and I got the usual Chicken Karaage Curry with Cheese. My all time favorite here since it's the only place that does Japanese curry with cheese. Unfortunately I didn't get to take any photos because we were so hungry, the food was delightful and delicious as always and now it was time to heard down to the harbour. 

My good friend and also fellow cosplayer told me that there were fireworks at Darling Harbour at 6.30pm but unfortunately we were still at the restaurant eating and didn't get out till 6.45pm so we missed out the displays at Darling Harbour. 

After eating so much at the restaurant, mom and I decided to just walk to Circular Quay which is a 10-15minute walk from where we ate (I think the walk was further but it didn't feel long because we walk fast). Using this time to exercise and digest the food. The weather was extremely nice unlike other days where it was super wet; nice cool 17 degrees celsius weather with no winds. Whats funny was that mom and I were dressed extremely warm to the point we sweated abit haha!

Finally got to Circular Quay and can see the light displays and the lights shun on the Opera House and also hear music. Here are some pictures that I took, unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to take pictures of the names of the displays to credit them. .___.; Also there were a couple more displays that I decided to not include in the blog entry for privacy sake due to the faces of random people were seen. And also some pictures had children in it and I don't want to be suspected as some creepy male stalker as seen on the news about males being highly suspected ;A; 
PS: If you feel a certain picture is inappropriate please comment or email me to remove it. Thank you :D

Small tunnel of light

These were so cool! They vibrated (that sounds wrong) and you can hear the flower bells rattling next to each other

Lights shun on the Museum of Contemporary Arts syncing  to Dubstep music

Another building which shown lights that reminded me of Transformer. Syncing to electro music

Awesome seesaw that synced according to which side was heavier. Also awesome LED background screen. Hope I'm okay with uploaded this pic with these folks.

Awesome display that looked like a fish and synced with the rhythm of the drum. Yes the kid is there because kids love the drum and light interaction, I'm not being creepy- I SWEAR :O

Piano where lights synced when its being played.  Bad crop since the girl who was playing beautifully was very visible and yeah :(

Mom and I call this the Fish Scales Cos it does! .. well now that I think about it, fish bones.

Synthesizer that synced to an actual synthesizer

Wasn't sure what this display was but I think you could build your own. Not sure since it was crowded

Awesome display of white milk-crates :D

That's it for the pictures I'll show. Did miss out on some since we wanted to sit in a cafe and chill out abit; so we decided to go to the Guylian Cafe. Actually short funny story why we ended up there- 

Mom and I was walking around to find a cafe and she spots the Guylian sign and she asks me "Isn't that the chocolate brand?" I was really surprised that she knew and took notice of it so I said yes and her reply was "LETS GO THERE." 

And that's how we ended up at the Guylian Cafe. Neither of us have been there so it was a good opportunity to try it out despite on the pricier side. Walked in and the waitress brings us to our table. The cafe was somewhat crowded and customers kept coming in and out. Ordered my mom a large cappuccino and I got myself the 100% Pure Pleasure dessert.

The large cappuccino was presented beautifully with the coffee art and served with a chocolate truffle on the side. In terms of taste, both mom and I was actually quite disappointed. The cappuccino wasn't really a cappuccino, more of a latte since there was only a thin layer of frothe. WORST of all, it was warm-cold. Something you wouldn't expect from a more pricier end cafe especially with a large chocolate trademark name. It would've been forgiveable if the weather was extremely cold, but it wasn't and the service brought it to us instantly as soon as the coffee was made. Big downer. Luckily the price was standard like any other regular cafe (I think it was $5.80AUD for the large).

My dessert comes out and it's presented gorgeously. This is the 100% Pure Pleasure, a chocolate mousse with a almond panacotta filling, covered with dark Guylian chocolate with brandy snap pieces, served with some honey crumble, chocolate swirls and raspberry coulis.

 This dessert indeed was heavenly but I definitely wouldn't call it 100% Pure Pleasure.. maybe 99%? haha! Then again that's only me being picky. Reason being is that the almond panacotta as stated in the menu, didn't taste like almond at all. Just tasted like white chocolate mousse with a slight gelatine texture. But overall it was extremely enjoyable, even my mom who isn't a fan of chocolate enjoyed it. Price was around $16-17AUD

After chilling at the cafe for around 30-40minutes, we decided to walk back to the car and head home since it was already 9pm. Got home nicely without traffic around 9.50pm and that was the outting with my mom.

Hope you enjoyed this post, Will post my OOTD for the night tomorrow.

Until then, stay well & take care!

Contact lens Review : Dueba Puffy 3 Tone - Brown (PICTURE HEAVY)

Yo! Hope you're all doing well!

This will be the first time I'm doing a contact lens review and the first pair of lenses I'll be reviewing is the Dueba Puffy 3 Tone.

Also did a video review on the len which can be viewed her :

I ordered these lenses on Honeycolor originally retailing for $25.90USD, but now on sale for only $20.72USD in the color brown. 

To make it short and easy to read (hopefully), I'll post the details in points.

• Diameter (DIA) : 14.5mm
• Base Curve (B.C) : 8.6mm
• Water Content : 38%
• One year expiry
• Comes in 6 different colors: Blue. Grey/Gray, Green, Brown, Pink, Purple
• Comes in different prescriptions.

Before I start with the lens review, lets quickly (okay not so quick) talk about HoneyColor's service.

Honeycolor was recommended to me by a good cosplayer friend of mine (Thanks Pina!) and ever since 2009- I've been ordering my contact lenses from HoneyColor, so it's been approximately almost 4 years now and their service has never failed to deliver.

Variety & Price : There is a wide range of variety of lenses from different brands such as GEO, Beaucon, Dolly+, Dueba etc and each is quite reasonably priced in my opinion. Honeycolor do tend to have sales on different lenses every month and especially on newly released lenses. Who doesn't love sales :P

Processing orders : They are really fast on processing orders, especially if you order your lenses on a weekday. I ordered my lenses on the 18th May 2013, which was a weekend so they couldn't really respond and prepare my package until the weekday. Tuesday I receive an email confirming that my package have been shipped.

Shipping & Postage : They have two range of shipping, the normal shipping which is $9.00AUD, and the express for $12.00AUD. It wasn't until this order that I realised that the shipping price for the standard shipping was jacked up by $3.00AUD as it used to be $6.00AUD. To be honest $6.00AUD for postage was kinda killing me already since I'm quite tight on that. BUT let me just say that the normal shipping is great unless you're in super desperate need. On average the package arrives no later than 2 weeks, usually its 1.5-2weeks on the dot. Sometimes when the offices and posts aren't busy and sends out the packages instantly, you may even receive your package within a week. 
My package was shipped on the 21st May, and I received it on the 24th-25th May which was very unexpected considering I payed for the standard shipping. Both shipping do come with a working tracking number which is very reassuring.

Packaging : The packaging is secure and safe to ensure the lenses and products arrive in one piece since the lenses do come in small glass viles. Typically for small orders you will receive lenses in a small orangey-yellow bag that's lined with bubble wrap. 

Inside the bag you will receive your free contact lense case thats sealed up to ensure that the cases are brand new and free from contamination. Along with the case is a small box in which your lens vile is stored and stays put in place.

Service : The service in terms of contacting them is alright, I wouldn't say the best as there have been past experiences where I tried to contact them via email to resolve an issue I had (apparently they were out of stock on the lenses and they asked me to contact them about it) and they didn't reply at all. BUT I've been told that Honeycolor is more active on Facebook and that they reply very quickly.

ANYWAY! That wraps up for Honeycolor, let's get back onto the contact lens review.
The contact lenses comes in sealed viles that labels "DUEBA MESSISH". I don't know why it doesn't say Puffy 3 Tone or even Barbie like other reviews I've read, but oh well.

I ordered the lenses in the color brown with no prescription. Originally I wanted to get my own prescription on it which is ±0.50-0.75 but apparently the lowest prescription you can get apart from ±0.00 was ±1.00 which was too strong for my eye, so no prescription for the best.

From looking at the lens alone, they looked very similar to the GEO TRICOLOR series however the centre color of the lens is darker than the GEO TRICOLOR series which blends into the pupil. What I love about this lens is the outter rim not being a black ring, giving it a more natural look. The pattern seem to look quite natural and the fact that it has 3-tones of one color gives is a natural appeal.

New lenses when first opened should be stored in new contact lens solution for a minimum of 6 hours as the sterile buffered saline solution in the vile has been stored for too long which can harm the eyes despite it being sterile.

After putting one lens in, I was actually surprised by a couple of things.

1. The color was surprisingly vibrant and showed up. Thought it would've blended in with my natural eye like GEO NUDY series.
2. Thought the enlarging effect was large but it was pretty good, not as bad as other 14.5mm lenses I've tried
3. Lens was soft and easy to put it and extremely comfortable

Natural naked eye on left, Lens on the right. Derpy snapshot from Review Video

Natural naked eye on left, Lens on the right. Sorry out of focus. Snapshot from Review Video

The lenses surprisingly showed up on all different lighting, from dim rooms and of course bright daylight lighting. 

Daylight with closed blinds for dim room.

Flash Photography

Outdoor Daylight lighting

One thing I've noticed from looking at it especially up close is that it does kind of look poppy like the GEO TRICOLOR but not as much since the color is more darker. From afar I guess they do look somewhat natural, but surely up close like casual conversation- people would notice they're lenses (maybe?).

So I wore the lenses for the whole day (6 hours is the average time frame lenses should be worn before they start to get dry) and I honestly did not feel any discomfort until the 5th-6th hour. Faced many weather challenges as it was cold and sunny and also super windy while I was driving which I would expect my contact to dry out, but it didn't. It may be because these lenses are brand new and I've only worn them twice (second time for this review) but yeah.

Here is what my eyes look like 2-3 hours after putting the lens in :

Here are my eyes at the end of the night after having the lens on for approximately 6 hours. By this time my eyes felt slightly dry, especially when I was so concentrated making some cosplay props (as seen behind) which I didn't blink as often as I should. But yeah my eyes did sting only a tiny bit hence my eyes are abit red.

Verdict? 
I definitely do recommend these lenses. 

• They have vibrant colors that show up quite naturally. Which can be worn normally and for cosplay purposes.
• They're super comfortable and soft which allows my eyes to breathe.
• They have a slight enlarging effect with its 14.5mm diameter.
• They come in 6 different colors.

Here are my ratings:

Color : 4/5

Comfort : 4/5

Englarging : 3.5/5

Price : 3/5

That concludes the first contact lens review, sorry for the babbling along the way- will try cut down on those~  Here, have another pic of me (to eat your internet) with flash with the lens on taken tonight after an outting  O3O)/

Hope this review was somewhat helpful, please do leave a comment on what you think and also your thoughts and opinions on the lens as well. Would love to see it :)

Until then, stay well and take care!

Review : Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery BB (PICTURE HEAVY)

Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well!

Not long ago I needed to restock on my usual sunscreen by Biore and while browsing, I thought I'd order a couple of other products in their UV Aqua Rich line. I'll do reviews for each of them after I start testing and trying them out. :)

I really love the Biore UV Aqua Rich line especially their Watery Mousse sunscreen and their Watery Essence sunscreen as it does wonders for my normal-combination skin, leaving my skin feeling protected from the sun, hydrated and finished with a velvety powder finish.

The first thing I was really eager to try was the Biore Aqua Rich Watery BB which was their latest releases from their UV Aqua Rich line and also because it's a BB (assuming its a BB cream).

Retail Packaging.

This BB cream comes in a beige tube containing 33grams of product retailing online on Ebay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Biore-KAO-Japan-Biore-UV-Aqua-Rich-Watery-BB-Cream-Face-SPF50-PA-33g-/221208045088?pt=US_Skin_Care&hash=item338106e620) for approximately $13.50 AUD and comes in only one shade. This water-based product has a SPF of 50+ / PA+++ consisting of Hyaluronic acid and many citrus extracts of orange, grapefruit and lemon. Claims to protect the skin from UV rays whilst evening and brightening skin tones leaving the skin feeling refreshed and light. The only concern I have is that Ethanol is the third ingredient on the list, which may be a concern for those with dry-sensitive skin.

Just a side fact about Hyaluronic acid; It is commonly used in conjuction with vitamin C to help penetrate the skin further for effective results and is also commonly used for anti-aging purposes to correct or 'reverse' aging skin. It is also a common substance used to treat dry or damaged skin (such as eczema).
For the citrus extracts, citrus is a great source of Vitamin C being ascorbic acid which is commonly in skincare products to help stimulate other substances to make it more effective such as the synthesis of collagen. In this case, It helps the Hyaluronic acid to penetrate deep into the skin. Vitamin C is also known to help fade scars, and minimise wrinkles and fine lines.

Back onto the review, the squeeze tube comes in a nozzle after removing the twist cap off which is excellent as it is hygienic, not messy and also distributes the product easily. Upon swatching the product on the hand, the salmon-pink tinted cream is super lightweight, wet and very easy to spread- almost felt like a water gel. The cream did have an odd scent unlike the other products in their UV Aqua Rich line which had a subtle lemon scent. The BB cream smelt like PVA glue, which wasn't really pleasant. Once the cream was blended, a white sheen finish could be seen which did brighten the skin and did leave the skin feeling hydrated. After the cream settled after 3-5minutes, the cream had a nice velvety powder finish without being sticky.

First swatch test- consistency and texture.

Upon testing the coverage on the upper exposed wrist (as shown in image below - click to enlarge) the coverage is very thin, it did even the skin tone out and brighten the skin as it claimed to but didn't really cover.

Now it was to try on the face. Lately the weather in Sydney has been quite relatively cold which leaves my normal-combination skin dry in some areas such as the sides of the nose and cheeks whilst still have some oil in the T-zone area. I apply the BB cream by dotting and then blend it out through the face and down the neck like any other BB cream.

After blending and waiting 4 minutes for the BB cream to set, I would say that my skin has definitely brighten up and that it really did even my skin tone and cover up the redness around my nose but It didn't have enough coverage to cover the redness of my pimple below my lip. 
There were some difficulties in blending the product as it kept leaving patches of the cream behind which required me to literally rub into the skin. Even with further rubbing in, there was still residues hidden in my eyebrows which looked really awkward up close. Not sure if the skin where my eyebrow lies was dry or not BUT it did leave my cheekbone area and the sides of my nose some dry patches.

Applied it on the other side of the face and I can say that my skin definitely did feel hydrated as it has this cold sensation as if you have the air conditioner blowing into your face, despite leaving some dry patches on the areas that was already dry. I'm guessing this was the result of the ethanol being third in the ingredient list. 
After allowing the products to settle in, there were still some white residues of the product on my eyebrows. On the positive note, my skin tone was really evened out and also brightened and surprisingly with flash photography- It didn't really leave such a harsh white cast as most sunscreen would've. Also my skin felt quite firm and had this plumpy feeling to it which was great.

Got my day started and ran around doing errands outdoor in the sun with the cold weather.  Got back after 5 hours of application of the BB cream and this is the result: 

You can kind of see the redness of the sides of my nose peeking through which shows that some of the cream or the tint of the cream has faded. My T-zone area was only abit shiny but definitely not as oily as when I go without it. My skin at this point still felt dry and powdery and still had that plump/firm feeling. The dry patches on the side of the nose, the pimple and the cheekbone area was still there and the residues on my eyebrow was still there. 
In terms of hydration and moisture, I'd say only 40% of it was left because my skin did feel abit tight in such that slightly on the dry side; but my skin did not feel heavy at all.

So lets sum up on the Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery BB.  
Pros : 

• Did evened out skin tone as claimed
• Did brighten up the complexion as claimed
• SPF 50+/ PA+++
• Lightweight cream and refreshing feeling
• Non sticky & Non greasy
• Dry velvety powder finish
• Cooling sensation upon applying
• Comes in a clean squeeze tube
• Not much of a white cast
• Controls oils quite well

Cons: 

• Didn't hydrate the skin very well
• Left some dry patches and residues
• Requires alot of blending and rubbing in
• Comes in one shade (quite light as well)
• Very little coverage
• PVA-glue scent
• Slightly pricey, almost $14.00AUD for 33grams (excluding shipping price) [Though I'm sure it's heaps cheaper in japan]

Final verdict :

I probably wouldn't really recommend this product if you're looking for an actual BB cream that moisturises the skin, has some coverage. I wouldn't even say this product is a tinted moisturiser and it doesn't really moisturise the skin. ALSO, definitely wouldn't recommend for those with dry-sensitive skin as it left me dry patches in some areas and my skin is normal-combination, wouldn't want to imagine what it would be on dry skin. Not recommended for sensitive skin because the ethanol content may be harsh for your skin. 

Not sure if I'd recommend it for oily-combination skin users but I'm guessing it'd be great to  keep your face less shiny.

Probably would use this more in summer where the sun is more harsh and my skin gets more oily. But $14.00AUD for this product, I'd probably prefer other products to be honest. Quite disappointing really because I'd expect it to be great like the other products in the same line.

Anyway hope this review is somewhat helpful. 

Please leave comments on your thoughts of the cream and the review, would love to hear it.

If you would like to purchase this product- I purchased it from Yoicho29 on Ebay (http://myworld.ebay.com.au/yoicho29) which situates from Japan, and delivers great service. [Not sponsored] And hey, Hello Kitty stamps! *^*!

Until then, stay well & take care!