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Life happens and I hate that I haven't continued this blog like I said I would last summer. I will come back and finish my China-Japan story and complete my beauty reviews but right now I am just trying to figure out what and where I will be next.

I'm alive!

This blogging thing is much more time consuming and hard work than I had imagined! I am going to eventually go back to my China-Japan story but for now, I wanted to at least review the products that I have been trying for the past couple of months.

I'll start off with my favorite Japanese beauty product so far. The anti-aging face lotion Astablanc by Kose is a higher-end drugstore product commonly found in Japan. Not only does it claim to help minimize the appearance of fine lines, it also promises to brighten dark spots caused by sun damage.

I must say that in the past few months that I have been using this lotion, I have seen a slight but noticeable difference in my most pronounced fine lines, especially a small line on my forehead and my smile lines around my mouth. I didn't take any before pictures that clearly show my skin before but here's the best I can come up with from my camera roll.

This was taken literally the day I bought the lotion in Namba (Osaka, Japan) drug store.

June 18, 2016

This next photo was taken today, granted the distance between the camera and my face and the facial expression are much different, I think you can still tell how much less noticeable that forehead line is today.

August 24, 2016

Overall, I plan on using this product in the morning and before I go to bed and will report my findings in a few months. 

To recap, the anti-aging brightening facial lotion Astablanc by Kose gets 4 out of 5 minis so far! You can find it on www.amazon.com and www.ebay.com for around $60 or if you have the pleasure of visiting, you can find it for about JPY 4350 or $43 USD. 

Next is the 2nd best beauty product I bought in the same Japanese drugstore, the Kiss Me Heroine Make Long Mascara. I got the waterproof one by total chance since I had no idea what the packaging said. Speaking of the packaging, at 34 years old I never go for what I consider "infantile" looking products but I had read great reviews from English-language bloggers living in Japan. Against my better judgment, I went ahead and threw it in the bag! 

Photo credit www.amazon.com/kiss-me-hereoine-mascara-01-black

Since it's a waterproof mascara I have mostly used it for my bottom lashes. In the past couple of months, I have used it maybe six times and can't say I have anything to complain about. It did not flake and it really separated my lashes. Now, I must say that I have naturally very curly lashes but I do feel like this mascara does a great job adding some volume and definition to each lash.

Here are the best photos I can find where I am actually wearing this mascara on both top and bottom lashes.

June 22, 2016

At the Namba drugstore, I found this mascara for around JPY 1200 or around $12 USD, which is pretty expensive for the drugstore. I must say that for the most part drugstore products anywhere outside of the U.S. are quite expensive so the $12 doesn't surprise me much. 

Next post I will review a couple of the face washes and sheet masks that I have yet to try!

Lululun Face Masks

Photo credit: www.takasaki.com

Kose Powder Face Wash

www.global.rakuten.com

We have landed! China Part 1

So the beauty reviews will have to wait a little longer. As I start to recall our trip to China so many other details are flooding my mind that I can't even concentrate on beauty products. Please be patient and come back soon for the reviews very soon...For now please find the first part of our trip to China below, it's choppy but I didn't want to keep you all waiting.

Wednesday, June 8. 12 am (PST) Fly from LAX to TEI (Taipei, Taiwan)

·        Economy plus 14-hour flight – Get dinner and fall asleep for about 6 hours. Try one of my masks on the plane, works fine but ends up spilling into my things inside my purse.

We arrive in Taipei at 9:30 am Thursday (6:30 pm Wed. PST).  

o   Very clean airport, high-end stores everywhere

o   Little English is heard or read but most airport personnel speak English.

o   Take tons of pictures with funny cartoons

(Taipei International Airport)

  Arrive in Shanghai Pudong International Airport around 12:30 pm.

o   Immediately feel so unprepared! My phone doesn’t work!!!! Find an ATM and lady tries to get us a cab, we ask her for help with hotel shuttle, she says no shuttle. I get phone service and call the Shanghai Pearl Hotel and their staff speaks very broken English but is able to tell us that in fact there is a shuttle and that it should be there in about 15 minutes. We wait and nothing! So I have the bright idea to go to the departure floor (3^rd floor) since I didn’t see any hotel shuttles where we are currently standing. Eventually, I realize that in fact, they are on the 1^st floor where we initially were standing. Take the escalator back down with our 3 suitcases, backpack and my 15 lbs. handbag.  On our way down, we both are exhausted and starting to get a bit grumpy when a man in a white button shirt and tie approaches us and asked us something in Chinese. After the cab offer earlier we think it’s another cab driver so we say no and keep walking. Finally, I see the hotel shuttle and we hurry to the small bus. As we get in I remember that the front desk said to that the driver would be wearing a white shirt and it hits me, we just ignored our shuttle driver! We turn back and sure enough he’s on his way to the bus. We apologize in English and repeat the only Chinese we know at this point, xie, xie, xie, xie (thank you).

·         Arrive at Shanghai Pearl Hotel

o   We are exhausted! Joe goes to bed and falls asleep for a couple hours. I am too enthralled in a book I started reading on the plane, “The Distance Between Us: A Memoir” by Reyna Grande (great book btw about a fellow Mexican raised in Northeast LA!) that I stay up reading. Once Joe wakes up I am like a little girl on Christmas morning, too damn excited to stay in a hotel room and I suggest we check out the downtown Shanghai scene. We ask our front desk staff for a cab but decide on using Uber, since we are able to pick up some data at the hotel. Our Uber driver doesn’t speak any English but we are able to communicate through the map and our final destination. 

o   We arrive at the Nanjing Road and instantly I am in awe! I can’t believe this girl from East L.A., ASU Sun Devil, Texas and Kansas living military spouse is in China! As we walk down busy boulevard which I describe as the Las Vegas + New York on steroids of China, we both feel a tremendous amount of excitement and I will admit some fear about the alien world we have just landed on.

To be continued...

I am bloggin!

I have no idea what the hell I am doing! Nevertheless, I have been wanting to start a blog about makeup, travel and my life in general for a long time. This basic post on this basic blog is only the beginning of what I dream of becoming a wonderful outlet for my thoughts and ideas. I started journaling back in January of 1989 when my Tia Mari (family friend who is more like family) gifted me a Hello Kitty Diary that I still have in my possession. It looks like this

 (Hello Kitty Diary Source: www.pinterest.com). 

Most of my entries back in 1989 included lists of what I had asked Santa for Christmas, school adventures and whatever else my 7-year-old mind felt like writing...I'd say that 90% was about my mom and dad and the anxious anticipation of my first and only sibling, my brother who is 8 years younger than me.

Since then I kept a diary/journal for most of my teenage and young adult life. I wrote much less frequently during my last years in high school and after college graduation but I still keep my old journals and have a great time looking back and reminiscing about my previous selves. 

Anyway, the main purpose of this blog is to review random stuff. Mostly beauty products that I have become obsessed with in the past 4 to 5 years. My friends know that I love makeup, trying new products and sharing with them when I find a product that makes a good impression. As I am approaching my mid-30s the majority of the products I have been trying out are focused on anti-aging properties but lip products are definitely my favorite! My other passions include traveling and education. I will begin my first official post (next one) with the details of my last expedition to Asia, where I got to experience China and Japan along with my husband of 9 years. I will discuss our adventures and my thoughts on getting there, air travel, language barriers, food and the beauty products I discovered along the way. 

(At the Xihui Park in Wuxi, China 2016)

Thanks for getting this far and please don't expect too much...it's always better to be pleasantly surprised!