MY FAVORITE AGE IS 26...27?

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MY FAVORITE AGE IS 26...27?

I turned 27 a few weeks ago. Last year was the best year of my life, but every year has been greater than the one before, so I expect this year will be even better.

Sound cliche? Maybe, but it was really a fantastic year. I had so much fun at work and in my private life.

1. WORK
(for those of you who don't know, I'm an engineer in a certain manufacturing company. I won't tell you who I work for, but I'm 90% sure you have one of our products at home. I start up production lines)

My 26th birthday was spent on a business trip to Germany, visiting one of our production sites. Since I didn't know very many people there, I thought I'd spend my birthday alone. It certainly didn't turn out that way - see the picture below!

One of the girls decided to throw a party for me (I'm 5th from left)

It was great working in Germany - very different from what I'm used to. I spent a month in a certain factory in a very small town in southern Germany!


Another thing that went great was that I finished my project in China! It went fantastically well, even though everyone I worked with was younger than me (HORROR!!!!), they all tried their best. The best part was that they made me feel very welcome and we were really one great team!

Me with my team

2. LIFE
My passion is traveling. Along with my business trips last year, I got to go to so many places and do so many things. IT WAS THE BEST.

Where did I go?

GERMANY

PARIS
(Eiffel tower, sorry I'm not in the picture since I was there alone!)

This is a biking tour through Paris - I highly recommend this!!
(I don't know the people in the pic. They were just in the same biking group)

BEIJING
(Great Wall, and right before the Olympics!)

Tiananmen Square

Part of my pearl haul... only part of it!
(excuse the shine. Go to 紅橋市場 for great pearls and great bargaining!!)

TIANJIN
(China - I worked there on and off for nearly 6 months!)

HAWAII
(Yes, that's me scuba diving with sea turtles)

GOA (India)

HONG KONG

(I took these pics from a moving ferry. Sorry if it's out of focus!)

3. FRIENDS
I made so many good friends last year. Isn't that the best thing ever?

Some are old friends...

Scott lives in Canada and I only see him rarely - but we met up in China!

Some are new friends...

Amber was one of the girls I worked with in China!

So yeah, last year was truly a fantastic year for me! I'm gonna do my best to make sure that my 27th year is better than my 26th so that next year I'll be able to say "My Favorite Age is 27...!!"

EOTD: Purple and pink

Sorry for being totally MIA... I'm trying to catch up on all the blogs in my reader!!!!

Wow, an actual EOTD! I'm just as surprised as you!!
I am a total newbie when it comes to e/s application...

Since I'm going to work today and I'm still a little scared of wearing bright e/s to work, here's something that's very soft with only a hint of color:


I used the Kate Gradical Eyes Palette in PU-1, a purple palette.

• Base - Cream shadow (Daiso)
• Lid color - C
• Inner corner - dark pink color from Daiso palette
• Outside corner - A, blended with B
• Liner - Kate gel eyeliner in BK-3 (Black with blue sparkles)
• Mascara base - Daiso
• Mascara - Cover Girl Volume Exact Waterproof mascara in Very Black (not sold in Japan)
  

It was a total PAIN to get a good picture of my own eye.

For all my beauty blogger sisters, how do you take your EOTD pictures?

Nosey visitors and OUCH!!!

(non-beauty related blog, sorry!!!)

Pic of the day - I burned myself badly as I was making Gyoza (potstickers). But at least the gyoza was GOOD!!!

And yes, this is a rant.

My best friend from jr high / high school suddenly texted me on Friday night asking if she could stay the night on Saturday. We haven't talked in like 10 years and she lives in Tokyo (300 miles away), so obviously I was very, very surprised at this sudden request.

Of course I said yes. She came to my house... and wow, that was tiring. I'll keep my complaining to a total minimum, but I really need to let out steam!!!

Let's just say that I spent an evening listening to her complain. That is a total understatement.

She also felt that it was OK to look through every cabinet that I own. She criticized me on where I keep my toilet paper, how many different kinds of spices I own, what CDs I have, and that my house is old. Even my parents aren't that nosey.

OK, my rant is over!!!! Hope your weekend was better than mine!

Awards!

Wow, I’ve been super bad about updating… But then again, I haven’t bought anything recently!!! LOL

My best friend from middle school emailed me yesterday asking to come over TODAY. She lives in Tokyo (500 miles away) and I haven’t seen her since I graduated from high school. Obviously I’m in a rush to clean my house!! I am so excited to see her later today!

My first award from MiuMiu! Thank you!!!

Rules:

List 7 things that you love, and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you love! Be sure to tag them and let them know that they have won. You can copy the picture of the award and paste it on your sidebar letting the whole world know...you are Kreativ!

1. Makeup & skin care, even though I’m still learning

2. Traveling! I went to India in February. It was FUN!

3. Shopping!!!!

4. Eating!!

5. Cooking / Baking!! (it goes hand in hand with 4 hahaha)

6. Jewelry!!

7. Talking!!!

Thank you valiohh for this next award!

“This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog’s content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.

“When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!”

ten things about myself;;

1. I drink my 2 liters of water daily. It is entirely water or tea. I try not to drink sugary drinks!

2. I have a very big collection of pearl jewelry (bracelets, necklaces, and earrings). I bought them at a market in Beijing, China. Bargaining is the best part – I got most of my stuff for under $5!

3. I moved to Kobe from near Tokyo. This area is similar to the southern US – it is a totally different culture! (and I LOVE it!!!)

4. I read all the blogs in my blogroll daily… but I can’t seem to remember to update daily…

5. Headaches are a part of my life. I love Excederin and I stock up on it when I’m in the US. Recently L introduced me to Aleve. It may be my new love.

6. When I put on my makeup in the morning, I’m usually watching a DVD of CSI.

7. I don’t own a TV. I don’t miss it at all.

8. The first beauty product I ever bought was mascara.

9. I love to see everyone’s EOTD. I try to copy your eyeshadow techniques but I’ve got a long way to go since I used to only wear very natural eyeshadow

10. I recently found my holy grail of pinky-beige lipsticks. LOVE

I’m not tagging anyone since I think everyone has done it already!

Since I'm not wearing any makeup right now (HORROR!!!!), here's my jewelry from yesterday.

Japan Drugstore event samples - part 2

I've been getting similar comments so let me mention it here... I LIVE in Japan! I'm not visiting!!!

Part 2 of the samples I got at the drugstore event!

Toner with H. acid!!

Facial wash! Kyoko Kano advertises these. She's like an older version of Paris Hilton in that no one is really sure why she's famous...

Guess what these super kawaii butterflies are???? CONDOMS! Heehee!

I was going to post the wonderful things that the other bloggers gave me, but I'm super tired... Tomorrow, I promise!!!

And my jewelry today:

Grey pearl necklace. It goes with EVERYTHING

Black earrings. I'm not sure what kind of stones they are but they are SUPER shiny <3 data-blogger-escaped-br="br">
xoxo, K

Japan Drugstore event samples - part 1

The event was really so-so. It was fun, but people were a bit stingy with samples... Anyway, I got to meet a bunch of nice bloggers and that was SUPER fun!

Here are a few of the samples I got:

Eco bag for the show. Let's cut down on the plastic bags!!!
Facial masks! This brand is so great!! It makes my skin feel like a baby's!!!
Body soap!

Facial soap!

Maybelline liquid mineral foundation samples!

More tomorrow!!!

Here's my jewelry today:

Pink Pearl earrings

matching pink pearl necklace

matching Pink pearl bracelet

And the pink bag I keep them in!

Japan Powow!

Today I traveled to Tokyo to meet up with some wonderful beauty bloggers!
Tokyo is more than 500 km (300 miles) from Kobe so it's quite a trip!!! It was SOOO nice to meet some other bloggers based in Japan!

However, I forgot to take pictures... so I'll wait a bit for the other ladies to post their pics...

Also, I got some nice samples and some VERY NICE goodies from the other ladies. I really want to post those, but I am super super tired today from my travels and from all the walking around that we did...

I think I'll go soak in the bathtub and go to sleep...

xoxo, K

PS: Lady L, what was that blue medicine you gave me? It worked GREAT.

Review: Bling eyeshadow in Pink

Here's a quick review of the eyeshadow that I bought in my last mini haul. I said it was Elle Far, but I guess it wasn't!
I wouldn't call it "Bling" eyeshadow, because it certainly isn't shimmery and the package only contains a small holographic label on it! The colors are very natural and not very pigmented.


There's a small mirror on the lid. You can see my fingers in the reflection!
This palette contains 5 colors.
Top row: White, light pink, brown
Bottom row: nude cream shadow, bright pink

Swatches - from left: bright pink, brown, light pink, white, nude cream
I did not use primer on my arm and these are in natural sunlight.

There seems to be shimmer in the color but it does not show up. The white and light pink have a pearlish finish to them which makes them great for highlighting.

I'm not sure how to use the nude cream shadow. It does not have any color at all and it is thick and oily. I tried using it as a base, and actually it worked quite well... so I guess I'm using it right???

Surprisingly, when I used the cream base, my eyeshadow did not crease at all! This was very surprising considering that eyeshadows ALWAYS crease on me!

The colors were very wearable and did not make me look like I'd been in a fight, hahaha! The pigmentation was medium and can be blended well. An EOTD is coming up soon!

This palette is 105 yen ($1) from Daiso. I was highly impressed with the quality. Yeah, it's not MAC or Dior, but it is as good as many of the drugstore brands.

I bought this palette since I just wanted to try pink eyeshadow, but I've ended up wearing this almost everyday, even more than my beloved Kate palettes! I guess this was a great buy!!!

Review: Rohto Hadalabo Gokujun hyaluronic acid Eki

Today is the final in my series of "3 most important things for skin care"! It is, of course, moisturizing!

It seems that East Asians have different concepts when it comes to moisturizing. I put on a watery liquid before putting on a cream. In English, this liquid is often referred to as "toner" but in my mind, that is more like witch hazel. Rose water seems to be a bit more similar. In this review, I'll call it "lotion" just out of convenience.

A while ago, it started to become popular to do cotton masks with your lotion. More about that soon!

Since I use so much lotion everyday, I need to find one that is affordable, yet works well to moisturize my skin!
What it does: (From Rohto's website) Super Hyaluronic acid attracts twice as much moisture as regular hyaluronic acid. Moisturizes your skin completely, and keeps your skin moisturized.
(The picture is of the refill in "light". )

Price: 1260 JPY (around $13) for 170 ml, or 1050 JPY for 150 ml (refill)
I have personally never bought this for this price. The refill can be found for 690 JPY at drug stores. You shouldn't be paying more than 800 JPY!

Review: Like I said, it is cheap and keeps my skin moisturized completely. The hyaluronic acid works great. The "regular" type tends to be a bit sticky for me and I use the "light" type in the warmer months.

Will I buy it again? Definitely!!!

Day Trip: Kobe part 2

(Continued from yesterday)
So after walking around the shrine, I walked to Motomachi Station. It's a few km, so it's a nice walk for someone in dire need of exercise (like me)!!!
There are a bunch of places to see near Motomachi & Sannomiya Stations. Sannomiya is the main station in Kobe.

Kobe is known in Japan for having a large number of foreigners. Along with Yokohama and Nagasaki, it is one of the historical port cities of Japan. These three cities are also known for having the three major China towns in Japan (more on that soon!)

Kobe is well known for Kobe beef (after which Kobe Bryant is named!), coffee (the largest amount of coffee per person in Japan is consumed here), good bakeries, good seafood, etc. Yes, I love to eat!!!!

There is a loooong shopping strip which stretches from Kobe station, to Motomachi, to Sannomiya, containing everything from old fashioned kimono stores, to book stores that have been there forever, to trendy clothing boutiques, and of course, drug stores.

Matsumoto Kiyoshi rocks!! You can spot the yellow signs a mile away!

So what did I buy in Kobe? Some treats to share!

Day Trip: Kobe part 1

Since Yume-chan's day trips are so interesting, I'm going to try to share my day trips to western Japan! As it says in my profile, I live in Kobe, Japan.
A few days ago, I took a quick walk near Kobe station, and found this shrine.
This is Minatogawa Shrine, built in 1872. More on the shrine can be found here:
http://www.kippo.or.jp/KansaiWindowHtml/Travel/English/000578.html

The weather was absolutely beautiful and I had a nice walk inside the shrine.


Here's a picture of Kobe station.

Of course I went shopping as well!! I'll share what I bought tomorrow!

Review: Kate Powder Gel Liner

Today's review is for my everyday eyeliner from Kate!!!

What it does: (from the Kate website) "Goes on smoothly and is easy to blend. This new powder gel liner dries quickly"

Price: 1575 yen (about $16). A tip from me: Never buy Kate at full price in Japan! Many drugstores sell them at 20-30% off normally!

Review: BK-3 (on the left hand) is black with metallic blue sparkles, and GN-1 (on the right hand) is olive green. Both go on smoothly and the brush it comes with is quite nice. It will smudge, although I consider that a normal part of wearing eyeliner and I touch up my makeup during the day to get rid of the smudges!
I like to line my eyes and then blend them with some dark eye shadow. An unblended line on my eye tends to look very harsh!
One warning is that if you wear hard contacts (like me!), please be careful applying BK-3. If the glitter gets into your eyes IT WILL HURT LIKE HELL (I know from experience!!!!)

Will I buy it again? Honestly I'm not sure. I like this product but it's not total love. Then again, I'm still on a search to find an eyeliner I'd buy over again!

meme

A quick meme about me!

What’s your favorite eye shadow color to wear?
brown & taupe! I just recently learned what "taupe" looks like... it's not something you learn at school!

What’s the one product you wouldn’t leave your house without?
vaseline or a similar lip moisturizer. I will buy one if I forget it.

What’s your favorite makeup look – high drama OR natural?
Natural. I still need to build my makeup skills before I can go high drama!

Which feature do you play up the most?
Eyes. The first makeup item I ever bought was mascara.

Which feature do you try to downplay/cover up?
the redness around my cheeks and nose. EDM intensive concealer does a great job!
(yes, a review is coming!!!)

Your favorite makeup brand, if you could pick only ONE to exist?
Kate. Yeah, I know I should say some high end brand, but with Kate I am never disappointed.
I am looking forward to reviewing my Kate eyeshadows, eyeliners, eyebrow mascaras, etc...

Which product have you re-purchased OVER and OVER again?
Clinique moisturizer (the yellow one) in gel formula : Japan doesn't seem to have non-oily moisturizers...
Hadaken keshosui ("beauty water") : the big difference between Asian skin care and Western skin care. I really want to do a post about keshosui.

Which product would you NEVER repurchase again and why?
I don't really remember products that I hated...

One beauty treatment you would always PAY to have done?
Haircuts

One beauty treatment you would NEVER pay to have done?
I am not a fan of facials!

One beauty trick you can share with everyone:
Blast your eyelash curler with air from your hair drier, or run the curler through the flame of a lighter before using it. It will help the curl to keep longer. 5-10 seconds will do the trick, and remember to check the temperature with your hand/wrist before using it. Those things can get hot quickly!!!

Best advice you've ever been given regarding beauty and makeup?
Wear sunscreen! Although I have been wearing sunscreen religiously since college, I didn't wear it in high school and now I have a lot of sun damage.

Hoped that helped you know a little bit about me! xoxo, K

review: Muji Mild Oil Cleansing

Thank you to everyone for their warm welcome to me! I'm really enjoying getting to be part of the beauty blogger world since I'm an avid reader of everyone's blogs!

I was trying to get this post out yesterday. I'm very sorry for the delay. Yesterday was an incredibly shitty day for me. So many of my good intensions and high expectations were crushed.

Anyway, back to the review! Today is part 2 of my "3 most important beauty items" - cleanser / makeup remover! Normal face cleanser doesn't seem to remove my makeup, and I have used oil-based cleansers since they became popular in Japan in the late 1990s. I know not everyone likes them! I'll talk about oil-based makeup removers in a separate review!

What it does:
From the Muji website: Contains olive oil and jojoba oil. Quickly and effectively removes even point makeup (point makeup is a Japanese phrase that means lipstick, mascara, etc, everything other than foundation / concealer). Contains apricot juice and peach leaf essence as moisturizing ingredients. Non-fragrance.

Price: 780 yen (about $8) for 200ml

Review: This is a typical oil cleanser and effectively removes makeup like it says. It doesn't leave my skin feeling tight and dry, although I would never use this without a moisturizer after rinsing my face. I apply it to cotton to take off my eye & lip makeup, and use my hands to massage the oil into my face for the rest of my skin. It effectively removes my waterproof mascara & eye liner. It is also affordable compared to other oil-based cleansers (for comparison, DHC is around $30 for the same size.

Will I buy it again? I think I'll try other oil-based cleansers, but this is high on the list of products I'd recommend!

xoxo, K

Review: Biore Sarasara UV daily care gel

Since I'm calling my blog Bihada Diaries (Bi=beautiful, hada = skin), I thought I would start off with the most important element of skin care.

UV protection!!!!

Oh wait, maybe the most important element is moisturizing... or cleanser/makeup remover... I agree with all of these opinions so a review on these two are coming up! But in the mean time, here is a review of this product.

I've been using this sunblock religiously, every day since I was around 18. Before that, I loved to tan in the summer. Believe me, I am paying for that mistake now!!!

What it does:
From the Biore website: "a moisturizing UV gel for your body. Contains natural Aloe, and will ensure smooth skin while blocking UV rays every day. SPF 25 PA++"

Price: 764 yen (about $7.50, from kenko.com) for 140ml

Review: This product comes out of the bottle in a white viscous gel. I apply it to my face even though it contains alcohol. I started using it because I don't like to apply many oily products to my face (moisturizer, primer, sunblock, foundation...) and I use it daily. It does not cause me to break out and does not make my makeup slide off.

Will I buy it again? Until another company makes a non-oily sunblock, I'll continue using this!

I have a loooooooong way to go before my reviews get good. But at least I've started!!

xoxo, K

First Post!!

Hello Blogger world! Welcome to Bihada Diaries!
This is my small blog where I'll be sharing my makeup and skin care finds from Japan with the world!

Here's a small intro for me:
I'm K, a 26 year old girl in Kobe, Japan. I love playing around with makeup and skin care things and drugstore finds in general! I hope you enjoy my blog and I hope I can make lots of friends here!!

xoxo, K