It’s really too early to tell what effect another blog would have on my ever-growing stable of blogs, but I decided to take the plunge and launch a blog on Livejournal as a way to talk about beauty tips, tricks, and raves from an ordinary girl’s perspective.
Well, it’s also another avenue to promote and create awareness for my blog shop, Beauty Box, by tapping into the LJ community which is seriously a whole other blog universe on its own.
I’m no make up expert but I do love my products so I feel enthused about having a girly blog to indulge my vanity. When I was writing lifestyle and features columns for magazines back in Singapore, I always secretly wished I was in the beauty department but felt I didn’t meet the style quota. Anyway, here’s my own corner to fulfill that desire and chat about what I love in my powder room right here in Japan.
As I am growing my pet project, Meiji Amino Collagen, I have been keeping an eye out for lucrative Japanese items. Through my foraging, I’ve come across a couple of hilarious, and disturbing, things for sale in this land of high tech products and massive consumerism.
I couldn’t believe it when I saw the words F Cup Cookie. Apparently, the active ingredient to increase your bust line is pueraria mirifica. The reason why I even know how to spell this herb without referring to Google is that I’ve written about a certain brand of bust cream back in the day when I was a magazine journalist. There are some bits of my portfolio that never see the light of day and this advertorial is one of them. Let’s just say, I had no idea this could be consumed orally and what if these delicious biscuits go to your butt and not your bust?
Another bewildering product is curry bath powder by Bandai. These bath salts will turn water brown and has curry-like spices like ginger and red pepper. Ew. I would feel more dirty after such a bath, rather than squeaky clean and relaxed. Even worse, what if some dumb gaijin picks this up thinking it is really curry powder?!
I kind of get the bust enhancer cookies because Asian women are constantly trying to make their boobs bigger, but the curry bath powder? Go figure…
Beauty Box is having a pre-order spree for Fancl products — prices are 15% off retail prices. The deadline for submitting orders is November 15, Friday.
For more details, click here.
Please help spread the word to your friends who are Fancl fanatics. Thanks!
Join Beauty Box’s Facebook group here
If you need to impress but refuse to burn a hole in your pocket, Umaya is an excellent choice for authentic Japanese food in a quaint traditional Japanese restaurant. Its claim to fame is that it was started by a well-known kabuki actor and even uses its third floor as a rehearsal studio. So you can actually savour your food to frantic dance steps just above your head.
With Edo-period stamped all over it, you get the feeling you’ve stepped into an oasis of Japanese zen, but it has modern tables and chairs so you won’t get muscle cramps at the end of the evening. An oxymoron, you think? Go on over and check it out.
Continue Reading…
My heart feels heavy right now — I just returned from my meeting with the social insurance people who explained the process of collecting unemployment pay.
I know this is a good thing because it’s some financial support in lieu of being retrenched and you can’t say no to such help. But it felt like a very sad day although I was more than prepared for it. I just wanted to get over with it and take the cash. Honestly, I had no emotions whatsoever and practical issues were only on my mind.
Continue Reading…
In my two years here, I’ve always wanted to take pictures of my favourite jogging area — the Imperial Palace. But digital cameras and sweaty runs don’t go together, so when we were doing some exploring with Mrs. Kangaroo, I went trigger-happy of course.
What’s breathtaking, particularly at night, is the juxtaposition of centuries-old Japan and futuristic William Gibson skyscrapers side-by-side. You can’t quite feel the same sense of awe in daylight but it’s still pretty damn cool.
Continue Reading…
I have two name cardholders — one is for my own luiyuming.com cards and the other for great restaurants to go to for a special occasion.
Since Mrs. Kangaroo was in town, it didn’t seem fun to always eat around Akasaka, so I whipped out my cards and decided we’d go to a cute little joint off Dogenzaka Dori in Shibuya called Kaikaya By The Sea. It says French-Japonaise cuisine on their card but I’m not sure if it’s really French-influenced Japanese food — it’s just great fusion nosh.
Continue Reading…
Many people are surprised to know that Mrs. Kangaroo is a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s anime movies. She watches them on CBS in Sydney once a week and has even videotaped all her favourites, including Porco Rosso, and Kiki’s Delivery Van. Her granddaughters are particularly enamoured by Miyazaki’s Totoro.
On her way to Italy, she stopped by Tokyo and we took a day trip to Nikko. But before she left, she made sure she bought three tickets to the Studio Ghibli Museum a month in advance for her short stay here when she flew back from Italy to Sydney.
Continue Reading…
After dealing with a sleepless night, I staggered out of my futon like a bear with a sore head. I think it was the umeshu (plum liquor) I had last night at dinner and I was maybe feeling a little stressed about getting things done, so I watched several episodes of Brothers & Sisters till 4am.
But at midday, as I went through my RSS reader, I clicked on ProBlogger.net, blogging evangelist Darren Rowse’s blog about blogging tips, and saw that Lioness in Japan was featured on his post today, Reflections on 48 Hours of Inviting Readers to Comment ‘Spam’ My Blog.
Continue Reading…
Apart from buying a piece of glass (thinking it was a bench) and going through the nightmare of applying for an apartment, I think Tokyo hasn’t been too harsh on me. I always feel lucky that I can read most kanji and even enjoy getting reacquainted with Mandarin, my mother tongue, which has gone rusty from lack of use.
But sometimes, I would feel like I’m a two-year-old pretending to be an adult. This moment came every time I sent in a new application form for a telephone land line. In all, I have sent six forms. They were rejected because they were either filled in wrongly or the telephone company claimed they didn’t receive it. The last form was also exactly the same as the first one we filled in that wasn’t successful. What the hell was going on? Well, the ordeal is finally over and we got our phone.
Continue Reading…
