Review: Wet and Wild, Kat Von D

I wanted to try everything immediately so I got swatches, and let's just say... if you're an avid fan of any of these items, you may not like this review.

On a plus side, though. If you have a Rite-aid near you, all Wet n Wild items are 40% off! L'oreal and a bunch of others as well are Buy One Get One Half Off! You can use coupons too, and even find some printable ones online. All Rite Aid makeup can be returned even if it's been opened, being my main reason to go there rather than say, Target.

L'oreal Paris - Magic Perfecting Base - 13.29$ USD

A creamy consistency. Seems okay on it's own. (It's on about half of my hand there)

It's here that I wanted to try the Foundation - L'oreal Paris - True Match LUMI Healthy Luminous Makeup (12.99$ USD) in W1-2 Porcelain/Light Ivory (as shown below) but as I put the top back on, it came apart - the entire bottle just, fell over while the top had 'broken' off. The entire top half of the foundation had been cracked and lifted off! On top of that, this foundation doesn't seem that good.

See the blotchy-ness? It could be the base, but after the incident, I don't care to try it without the primer.

MY POOR MIFFY BLANKET!!! I HAD IT SINCE I WAS A BABY!! (T_T)

A close up, but the lines seem really defined in just my hand.
I imagine it's even worse on my face...

Wet n Wild - Coverall Liquid Concealer Wand in 811 Fair - 2.99$ USD + 40% off

(L to R) Concealer, Concealer patted in, With (Chanel) Powder.

I think the only thing that saved this one was the Chanel powder. However, it's still very grainy. 

Nevermind that the colours don't actually work with me - my skin is lighter than my hand.

For reference I used my 'normal' routine on my hand.
Pictured is Murad Primer (I don't think they sell it anymore..)
Chanel Perfection Lumiere, Chanel Poudre Universelle Compacte and Maybelline FIT me! Concealer.
The colour of concealer isn't 100% and the Chanel one works better in that department, but overall (if you can tell), it has a much silkier finish and doesn't look as 'grainy', or look as, for lack of better words, 'dirty' than L'oreal one imo.

(L to R) Wet n Wild - Mega Eyes Defining Marker 3.99$ USD, Mega Liner Liquid Liner 2.99$ USD,

Coloricon .99$ USD + 40% off (all in black)

Don't buy the marker. I did this on my hand and look at it (furthest to the left). Yeah, barely any pay off. I thought it would be like an actual marker, not an old pen-cap-left-off-the-marker-oh-shit-better-dab-it-on-my-tongue-and-hope-it-gets-wet-enough-to-work type of marker. I had to rub it quite a bit on my hand just to get that colour; imagine the pain for your eyeball covers.

To the right of that is the liquid liner. It looks nice so far, but I haven't tried it on a full face of makeup yet to see how long it lasts, but as far as this go, it looks pretty nice. Before drying it may get everywhere, but it seemed to dry pretty fast.

The one on the far right is the regular pencil. Even just drawing it on my hand looked a bit faded, but if you can see on the next picture, it rubs away so easily. Not in a good, easy to smudge away, either. Just look at it! It's barely left any colour! Not impressed by either pencil or marker. The liner seems the best out of all the items so far, and i'm excited to test it out properly.

Wet n Wild - (L to R) 392 A Tunnel Vision, 395 A The Naked Truth 3.99$USD each + 40% off

Wet n Wild - (L to R) 336 Spoiled Brat 2.99$ USD, 738 Comfort Zone 4.99$ USD + 40% off

I tried to keep the order of eyeshadow and the swatches close together to make it easier.
I must say, I am impressed. I did notice though, if you can see in "The Naked Truth" Palette, that it sort of crumbled already. I barely pressed down and it took up so much colour on the little sponge.
The colours aren't anything too new or special, but I tend to rebuy a lot of the same things - really neutral colours.
I'm a little disappointed in the pink colour of "Spoiled Brat" since I was looking for a really good, deep, pink colour. I swiped it 3-4 times over my hand and it was still pretty light, especially compared to all the other colours.
The "Define" for "Comfort Zone" (The one on the left hand size there that looks green-ish) really surprised me too, it ended up swatching a beautiful copper brownish colour with a hint of green sheen.

I've heard the most about the Wet n Wild eyeshadow palettes, and I'm not surprised. Especially for the price, these colours seem to be quite good. My comparison (since I legit have used the same things for years and rarely go outside my comfort zone haha) would be and and all of the Bourjois Eyeshadows - my favourite are the Smoky Eyes Trio.
For the price, however, these neutral or darker shades can be a good substitute. They sell singles too from what I saw, though seemed to be limited in available colours.

Wet n Wild - Ultimate Brow Kit 3.99$ USD + 40% off

I don't have too much to say about this since I haven't actually used it on my brows yet, but so far, I don't imagine the "brow wax" (white thing up there) will 'hold' my eyebrows as it describes, since I have very coarse hair. I don't like tiny tweezers either, personally. I feel like the colours are a little too grey for my personal skin tone and preference as well, so i'm not sure how well this will work, but we'll see! It could look much better than my usual one. If it works colour wise, I've heard some good things about this as well.

For a comparison, I regularly use a Japanese drugstore brand eyebrow kit by Cezanne. It's sort of like the equivalent of Wet n Wild and is about 500¥ (under 5$USD).

Kat Von D - True Romance Eyeshadow Palette 9.99$ USD, Everlasting Lover Liquid Lipstick 6.99$ USD

Wet n Wild - Megaslicks Balm Stain (below) 2.99$ USD

Megaclicks balm stain - limited colour payoff. I bought a very beige colour, so that could be the problem, but I was hoping for a good nude-ish colour and this is literally nothing. 'Colourless' chapstick that looks white will give you more colour to be completely honest. (fyi thats patch of colour is after rubbing it over a few times)

Kat Von D Lipstick is amazing. This colour stain is so rich and sticks so well. I tried a little on my lips and it was just as great. I'm not sure how long it'll stay since i've just swatched it, but I'm impressed enough. I don't really wear lipstick or anything when I go out unless it's a nude colour, but when I want to take a photo, you bet I want a bold colour to pop and look amazing.

So, the eyeshadow palette and lipstick I got at Marshall's (discount store, if you don't know it). The items are probably a bit old, but i'm hoping not more than a year or so. I read online that they were selling the palette for half off at Sephora in September because they were re-vamping, or just trying to focus more on the lipsticks? I have no idea, but I got this for 10$ USD, and the lipstick for $7. Not bad at all. I think part of the reason, or as a result, the one cream eyeshadow (second from the top in the palette, up there, I wasn't able to get a swatch) had dried up. You can see the condensation on the mirror a little bit.

I'm not sure if it has any effect on the other shadows, but the colours are gorgeous imo. All colours I would like to use! I actually think maybe the dry shadows became a bit more dry because there seemed to be some clumping and fall out, but easily blown away. To be honest, I love the way the colours look too much to be too upset, and for the price it's definitely not bad. (Also plan on trying to fix that cream eyeshadow with some alcohol).



Overall? I feel like i've upset the Chanel gods and started a basket to re-buy all the Chanel items I have and have run out of and it quickly exceeded 450$USD.... eh....heh... (but won't/can't re-purchase just yet...)

In the meanwhile, i'm returning most of the items sans the wet n wild eyeshadow palettes, liquid eyeliner, mascara (depending on how it is when I try it!), and Kat Von D items. Incredibly disappointed in the L'oreal products, but I guess I just have to try some more. Any recommendations!? 

Makeup Review: Physicians Formula, Maybeline

So i've been more obsessed with watching "get ready with me" or "whatevermonths favourite" videos on youtube lately, and of course that got me to start wanting to try a few products that people have mentioned.

Since I can't/don't want to spend too much money on unnecessary items, I decided to try some drugstore brand items first. I've tried many high end brands in the past, but for the past few years, i've basically stuck with the same-old items (which I can get to later, and probably will just to show what I use regularly - it's really REALLY minimal). Anyway, so i've never been much of a drugstore brand girl. I've never tried a drugstore foundation (that I know of) until this point, at least in this country - I think I've tried a few in Japan, however. So I was -REALLY- new to all of this. I've gone through the makeup aisles of course, but my collection is pretty minimal, and I'm pretty stuck in my ways, so unless something is -absolutely amazing- I won't be persuaded so easily.

But, of course being the lazy, yet not lazy when it comes to google person that I am, I of course had to check out all the reviews and videos I could, to find the best ones.

This first one, not being one of them. Ha.

Physicians Formula - Youthful Wear in Light - 14.95$ USD

I bought this at Fred Meyers (eugh, not a fan of these large super store type places), but it had a large variety of make up so I scoped it out. I saw one person (asian) that mentioned this, and she said it worked amazingly, so having that bit of assurance from someone else who may have the colour issue/skin type (she seemed to have the same skin type as me from her other videos), I thought I would enjoy it. A few other people had mentioned physicians formula being an amazing brand, and great for being drugstore, but dear god will I never take that recommendation again.

★☆☆☆☆ - 1 star

This foundation was so greasy and disgusting I felt like I was putting oil directly onto my face. I can't believe anyone would want to use this! I don't know if this is just the type of foundation this is, or if it's a normal thing, but i've never used a greasy foundation! Nevertheless, I tried it on for the day. Eugh. Gross. The colour was a little too dark, and the undertone didn't match me just right, it made me look, I dunno, dirty? Somehow, it was weird. The coverage was quite well, but the BB cream I had underneath for half of my face (to see how it worked with and without) was overly tinted, it was basically a light coverage foundation. Anyway, coverage and stay wise - sure, it's okay. But it does get into creases, and that greasy feeling - it doesn't leave you.

Physicians Formula - Mineral Wear Loose Powder - 12.95$ USD

Well, I wanted to try a powder to go along with the above liquid foundation.

Terrible mistake.


★★☆☆☆ - 2 stars

Okay, so the powder itself wasn't really bad. I mean, it set the foundation and kept it a little matte, but that quickly faded. (PROBABLY BECAUSE IT WAS SO GREASY) but the powder itself wasn't terrible. I mean, it was just loose powder IMO. -BUT- this ridiculous casing, however cute and handy with the little brush on top, is so difficult to use and the tiny brush is so hard to use because of the size. The powder literally gets everywhere, and I wasn't sure how to get it out nicely. I guess it's made for an "emergency" and to be compact and able to carry around or something, but I would never carry -loose- powder with me, so it rendered useless. Oh, and the colour... well, it's just a light colour, so it's sort of hard to mess this one up.

Maybelline New York - FIT me! Pressed powder - 7.99$ USD

I had read and saw on youtube that the fit me line was great (but I guess they just meant one specific product which is down below), so I wanted to try the powder since it was on sale, and I much rather have a pressed powder to carry around with me instead of a loose one.


★★☆☆☆ - 2 stars

Yeah, bad idea. The colour, like the physicians formula, was okay, but something about the undertone made me look dirty somehow. I guess it's too yellow it makes me look even more yellow? I'm not sure, but it looked bad. It didn't matter so much though, since there is literally no colour pay off unless you pack this baby on, and once you do, boy, can you tell. I used this on another day, separate from the loose powder and there was such a huge difference. I generally like using a pressed powder when i'm out, since I don't want to carry loose powder around with me, but I don't think I'd want to use this even as a back-up. I give this two stars, only because if you really just do a tiny bit, I don't think it would do much damage, but if you want any colour pay off at all, you'll pack it on and it'll get into any crease or crevasse and all those pores you've tried so hard to minimize with all those expensive products will look as big as ever. (Though that could be due to that terrible foundation...) 

Maybelline New York FIT me! Concealer - 6.49$ USD

One item on my list that many youtubers had actually mentioned for once (I know, what was the point of those other ones then).


★★★★☆ - 4/5 stars

Finally, something I didn't have to return.

So, from what I saw on youtube was that was a good dupe for the MAC concealer. I've never tried it since I have a thing against MAC and haven't been there since living in Japan, but I did use the Chanel concealer quite often and it's about equal, if not better than that in my opinion. (The chanel one tbh isn't that amazing, I mean it does it's job, but it wasn't that... concealing). This product on the other hand is really affordable and conceals great. It lasts pretty darn well too, so long as you have a good base. (I don't wear concealer alone which apparently is a thing?? so I can't say i've tested it out like that). The only reason I don't give it 5/5 is because I don't like the idea of putting a brush directly to my face. I prefer tubes or pumps or something that doesn't directly touch my skin - especially if you have acne or something to cover up and the whole cross contamination thing. I usually just put it on the back of my hand and dab it on from there, but I dunno, maybe that's the point.



As I was writing this I went out and bought two Kat Von D items and like 25$usd worth of on-sale Wet and Wild products, so i'll test those out. I don't mind buying cheap items like eyeliner, mascara, eyeshadow, lipstick and the sort so long as my base is nice looks good, which is why I put most of my money and emphasis on skin care, primer, and foundation rather than everything else. I've seen a lot of good reviews on certain Wet and Wild products, so i'm excited to see if they're as good as they say! I think I bought like, 5 eyeshadow palettes haha

Anyway starting from the bottom (price range) up, I guess!


P.S. I've compared the above items to the following items that i've been using regularly for too many years now:

Foundation: Chanel Perfection Lumiere
Loose Powder: Skin Food Peach Sake Silky Finish Powder / Chanel Universelle Libre 
Pressed powder: Chanel Poudre Universelle Compacte 
Concealer: Chanel Correcteur Perfection

I didn't realize it was mostly Chanel :v I guess i'm just a chanel girl when it comes to base makeup... :v

About me - Eating disorder

One of those "my story" type things, but I hate that title so I just said 'About me' haha.

Anyway, so i you're not into these kind of posts just skip it, but I think I might make this blog a place to vent/write more about my actual daily life just to give me something to do that's somewhat productive (which says a lot because you can imagine how unproductive I am to consider typing up a blog-entry-productive). 

When I was really young I wasn't actually overweight, but once I started schooling I start putting on the pounds. I lived with my grandma while my mother worked, so that could be part of it (I guess the grandparents trying to stuff you full runs in any country haha). But because of that, by the time I was in the 8th grade I weight around 136kg (300lbs). The most I have ever weighed. I actually may have weighed more than this, but I stopped checking the scales. Of course I had cared about my weight by then, but at this point I had had enough and was sick of just crying myself to sleep about it. I would stay up and do 1000 crunches every night and 100 pushups, run in place for as long as I could (which wasn't that long because I'm pretty easily distracted) but situps and pushups you can do on the ground.

Slowly I started skipping breakfast, then throwing my lunch away or just 'buying' it at school and just getting a salad with nothing else. Of course it wasn't easy at first and I would come home and just binge binge binge. But I did end up losing weight, because I didn't binge as much as I skipped. Eventually I got the hang of skipping meals and by my third year in high school? I believe, I was going a few days without food. Mind you, I'm still huge so I didn't look like your typical 'anorexic' at this point, and from what I remember from looking at all the 'thinspo' sites, is that what I was was called 'ed-nos' or whatever. I didn't care for that kind of stuff, I was still /fat/. 

So of course I tried diet pills (which, to be honest, even if I didn't diet they were amazing because I could stay up and work for hours haha), tried working out more, but failed because of hating to be looked at at the gym and just continued to restrict. I envied the people who could just go to the gym, but even to this day, I hate the thought of people looking at me. I don't care what they think of me, but I hated how I looked so I hated the idea of other people seeing what I see - i'm still very much like this.

After all of this I made it to about 90kg (200lbs) and I moved back to Japan. Yeah, that was great. Just going on my usual diet, but actually eating a little because I lived with my dad, I still managed to get to 81kg (180lbs) where I plateaued for a few years. I hated everything, I hated still being fat, I hated college, I hated work, I knew if I was thinner I'd have more confidence (which, ha, I did). So since I couldn't avoid eating entirely, I started purging. [biggest mistake of my life]

Of course this worked at first, and to anyone who says it doesn't work is dumb. Of course it works, but that doesn't mean it's your easy way of getting thin. You do get used to it. And it's very much not good for you (duh). I lost another 20kg or so doing this and ended up in the 60kg (132lbs) range. I still had a huge bloopy stomach though, even though I was 'average' weight - turns out, I have a tiny body frame. We moved from one area of Tokyo to another, near shibuya where a bunch of rich people lived but was secluded enough that I could run around. I ran every morning, only a few minutes since I couldn't go for too long, and walked everywhere (which I did in general in Japan anyway). Eventually I made it to somewhere in the 50s, maybe under the 50kg range (110lbs or lower) and I was -happy-. I was super healthy, I even ate at this point. Nothing super fatty, but I had three to five meals a day. (Still probably below 2000kal, but nothing too drastic).

But of course, I wouldn't be writing this if there wasn't a downfall. Because of problems at home and a lot of other stress piling on, I began to binge eat again. This was fine since I kept purging it, but this is when it started getting bad. I wouldn't purge it. Not in time, at least. I'm not sure the actual legit-ness of this, but I read that if you don't purge whatever you ate in 20 minutes, you gain most of the calories anyway. Well, I would eat so much I would pass out and wake up 8 hours later.

And then purge.

What's the point then, right. I would feel empty enough to want to eat /again/ which is what I did.

This went on and off until I was back to 60kg (132) then 80 (176) and so on and so on. I had actually got it down again to around 70kg (154) and was slowly bringing it back down, until my dad told me to basically gtfo and some other really obnoxious things which led me to move into my own place, and eventually leave the country (mistake #2). Since then i've gained more weight and it's because I still do this binge and purge thing - but not in tme. I hate purging. I doubt anyone actually enjoys it - do they? But of course, purging is better than keeping that disgusting food inside of you. Which is why I still do it.

So that's 'my story' I guess. It's still not over and i'm still working on getting healthy. I just find it so weird that it was so easy to just be happy and eat normally when I actually hit a good weight that I felt comfortable at. That's really all I want to get back to since it's the healthiest and happiest i've ever been. 

I guess that's where I'm going to begin this "weight loss diary" (仮). I plan on trying to eat 'healthy' ish... probably not too healthy, but as healthy as I feel I can actually /eat/ without having the urge to binge (which it's really easy to trigger me to get there) so maybe i'll post some recipes and what not.



^^^^ I wrote all that up a while ago and never published it, but there you go. I know a lot of people around me have issues with dieting/food/weight (too much or too little), and i'm no health expert by ANY MEANS but I do research a lot of stuff, so if you would like any input i'm totally open to discussion or helping you out, or if you just want to talk about it, whether you're going through something similar, or just have some thoughts about restricting or already in the ED world. It's definitely easier to get out of the mindset before you start PHYSICALLY doing things...

Of course fat people/unhealthy people (not necessarily the same thing, but generally speaking, if you look obese youre gonna be unhealthy) know they are unhealthy. Whether it be too thin or too big, (most) people aren't stupid. Ideals get skewed, and some people want to have a certain look, whether you approve of that or not is a different story. In my case, I know i'm fat, I know what I need to do to be healthy and skinny, but easier said than done. People have this stigma that fat people just don't know how to take care of themselves, but it's not as easy to implement something; larger people, generally speaking, ---probably--- know more about health than "thinner" "normal" people since that's literally all so many of us do, battle our weight day in and day out. We know all the new "trends" and we know they don't work but that doesn't mean we don't have a tiny glimmer of hope that they will. We know an active, healthy lifestyle is what is what gets you to that ultimate goal -but it's not just about that-.

Oh, and if it's a little hard to add up the years up there, I basically started out with anorexia (tendencies I guess, since I wasn't underweight) when I was 13-14, and started purging around 17-18. Essentially i've been doing something or other for 14 or so years, so more than half of my life, really.

Anyway, that last bit went into a bit of a tangent, but that's me in a nutshell. I'll start posting daily (I'LL TRY) if anything just for myself so I can put it out there what I ate and what I did each day. Maybe it will motivate me some. I hope it does. If anyone wants to start a diet or anything with me, please let me know! I'll try to write up about some things i've been doing lately, and my general plan in the next day or two, or some skin care/makeup reviews/routine stuff.


Sorry for the tldr;
here's some good music to make up for it!

Ólafur Arnalds - Ljósið (Official Music Video)

First impression: Julep Konjac Sponge

So this is the first time i'm doing a review, so i'm sorry if it's not very good :q

I'll be reviewing a sponge I got from Julep, a beauty brand that started out in Seattle, WA and can now be found at a Sephora near you! (Though they don't carry all of their items, so you may want to try their website directly). I believe they started out with just nail products, but have since branched out to things such as makeup and skincare.

KONJAC SPONGE

This super-soft sponge is an all-natural exfoliant made from the fibrous root of the Japanese Konjac plant.

Features & Benefits:

Gentle enough for everyday use

Enriched with skin-clarifying charcoal

Attached to a suction cup for easy shower storage

100% biodegradable

Recommended for all skin types

Out of the package.

To use: 

Rinse under warm water before each use. Massage your face in a circular motion to exfoliate dead skin cells. Rinse thoroughly and squeeze out excess water after each use. Replace every 2-3 months.

Hanging after use, as advised on the package.

Comes with:

Attached string (black part there) for easy hanging.

Suction cup to attach to your shower/bathroom/mirror.

So I've only started using this product as of a few days ago, so I can't share too many details about how good the results are, but in my opinion, no matter how good the results, if you don't enjoy using the product, theres really no reason to use it (or, in my case, you'll probably just say fuck it and let it sit there as an 'art piece').

The first thing you'll notice when you check out the sponge is that it's wet. It sort of skeeved me out, not gonna lie there. I'm assuming its just water? Or something that's not necessarily bad, but it still grossed me out as it looked like the sponge was sweating. Once you get over your initial (possible) 'ew' factor, when you pull out the sponge, you'll realize it's not your average sponge. The back of the package says it's made from the root of the Japanese Konjac plant - wait a minute, Konnyaku?? (蒟蒻・こんにゃく) Is that what it means?

(Thanks Google imagesearch - taken from JP wikipedia page )

So when I realized it was probably a konnyaku sponge (apparently EN spelling/pronunciation is Konjac - learn something new everyday!), I felt a little less grossed out, as the item is pretty well known in Japan. (And i'm assuming the surrounding countries?)

The actual sponge is very... squishy. It's porous, but almost feels plastic-y, just not so much in a scratchy sort of way. As per instruction, you're supposed to rub the sponge on your face in circular motions (with face wash/cleanser) to gently exfoliate the skin. It doesn't say -this- on the actual package, BUT, a lot of Japanese/what the konnyaku sponge is used for mostly (in Japan at least), is to create a lot of foam from your choice of face wash. Using the foam rather than the face wash directly is supposedly how you're actually meant to wash your face (or at least that's what Japanese marketing and research has taught me). You're not supposed to 'wring' (sp?) the sponge (i'm assuming squeeze the excess water and suds out by twisting it back and forth), but you can squeeze it. I'm assuming it's to save the integrity of the actual sponge and have it keep as long as it claims to be okay to use.

Washing your face with the sponge is actually quite nice. It's very gentle and I would highly recommend it to someone with sensitive skin! Or, if you just like to mix up your face sponge... regime. In my case, I use the cheaper version of the Clarisonic - the Vitagoods skinbrush [10/10 do recommend!!! also cheaper via amazon hinthint]. The only thing is, it is electronic and even when using the softest brush, it can be a bit abrasive. I like to use a skinbrush after a day with lots of makeup, or just when i'm feeling extra greasy and really want that extra bit of care, but I do not like using a skinbrush for morning AND night. If you have rougher skin, or need to exfoliate a LOT because of going outside and what have you, you may need it, but for people like me who rarely if ever go outside, lately haven't been wearing makeup at all, and if so usually just base makeup, the konjac sponge is definitely a good substitute.

Konjac cleansing sponge - 12.00$ USD 

The price for the item is fairly reasonable, I think. I've seen a few konjac sponges go for nearly 20$USD which I found a bit ridiculous. Unless it has some sort of magic power in it, or a lifetime guarantee, I don't know what the point of chocking one of these sponges up to 20$ really is. (To be fair, you can actually find a konjac sponge in some Japanese 100y shops, and usually for under 500y (5$USD) in drugstores... but what can you do!) If you are a Julep member (Maven), the price is a bit cheaper as shown in the screenshot. (Note: I only recommend you become a Maven if you're a nail care and nail colour enthusiast + enjoy multiple colours.... although they do offer other items as well.)

Some 'dupes' (not really) I can recommend that may a bit cheaper, though in my experience a bit more abrasive, are things such as a regular 'face sponge'. I've searched a few places and only ONE out of THREE of the drugstores I've been to (RiteAid, Walgreens, BartellDrugs) have actually had any face sponges, which I found strange! The one I found however, was a pretty good one in my opinion. It was about 7$USD in the store but I found it's available on Amazon for cheaper.

Buf-Puf Regular (Left) Buf-Puf Extra Gentle (Right) [thx amazon]

I have tried the "extra gentle" and it still is a little rough, to the point that if you're too rough with it, you can probably actually damage the skin and give yourself a scratch - yikes! If you do as you're supposed to and rub gently though, you should be okay. (I'm not going to lie and say that I don't just smash the thing into my face sometimes though...) But even so, I think having a VERY MILD, VERY GENTLE konjac sponge is a good thing to have around just for when you need a nice cleansing, but are having a sensitive day.

My only 'con' I suppose of the konjac sponge is that when you 'dry' it out and set it on the little hook, that the thing shrinks down a LOT and to get it to puff up again to become useful, it takes a lot of water and squeezing. (Unless it's okay to use it in the dry, sort of hard state?) It's okay if you're washing your face over the sink where you can just fill the sink up with water and let it soak for a moment, but if you're like me and keep it in the shower, it's sort of obnoxious. I am a little worried that if I let it dry out for an extended period of time that it may dry out completely to the point where I can't use it anymore, but since I shower every day, I hopefully won't experience anything like that.

So here is my first review! I hope it answers any questions you may have, and sorry for the tldr-ness of it all :< I'll try to write more reviews up just so I can get better at doing them since I honestly have no idea what i'm doing (and even now i'm just avoiding doing some work I don't wanna do :q)

Hope you all have a good day! And if you have any other questions, or requests for reviews/impressions, please let me know!

♪ Music of the day ♪

world's end girlfriend - Storytelling feat.Yukawa Shione

I haven't blogged in years, but a lot has happened and I honestly have nothing better to do.

The last post on here was 2012? So I guess i'll start there, from what I remember at least. I started to get into a new band called DIV which I am now obsessed with still, went to Europe alone for the first time (though met up again with some lovely people♡) and had to find a new job. 2013 on the other hand, was a terrible, terrible year which, even though it sucked, i'd like to turn back time now.

So, the beginning of 2013 I was jobless and was searching, though wasn't having too much luck. My dad (who I was living with at the time) decided he was quitting his own job and moving back home to Hokkaido, and my options were to go move with him (uh, no) live alone, or move to America. With my current situation of not really having any money, leaving the country wasn't an option and instead I moved into my own apartment in Saitama.

It was terrible. I hate Saitama, I hate the countryside and the punk kids. Haha
It probably wouldn't be so bad without them, but they were just so obnoxious. My actual apartment wasn't too bad, it was a little far, but it was brand new and really big! Anyway, so all of that was great but there was a lot of trouble with my family (aka my dad was just being a huge douche) and I almost feel like this was like a mental breakdown because I literally threw my hands up and said "fuck this" and left the country a month later.

So I quit my job (which, tbh, was also really starting to get annoying because of how unprofessional they were), spent the rest of my money following DIV around the country then moved to America at the end of June.

I don't know about you, but I know/knew a lot of people who thought/think moving to Japan will fix all their problems, that it's some magical land that makes you happy and you will never have a problem - this is the stupidest thing ever and its really obnoxious when people do this. But, essentially, it's what I did myself when moving back to America. I lived here as a teenager and grew up here, but never had to actually DO anything myself. Work, taxes, legal... anything, really. While in Japan i've had to find work, go in for unemployment, get my own apartment, deal with all that stuff numerous times, and it's so completely different and so confusing here. I thought coming here i'd be able to get a dumb easy job for minimum wage at least then just save up while I live with my mom (who also lives in America), but I was far from wrong.

6+ months later and i'm still jobless.

I got denied from Ross

A few places have just not responded, others have contacted me back telling me that if they can't contact the companies I worked for before, it doesn't hold up because it's not 'experience'. I'm sorry that the companies I worked for in the past only speak Japanese, but I can't really do anything about that. It's really difficult and I think the stress has gotten to me, which I usually don't think is something I deal with, or at least notice, but with a string of health problems that have started (and are most likely stress related) i'm starting to think otherwise. Sleeping has always been a problem for me, but it's definitely a stress factor, I believe. I've gained soooo much weight since getting here (which is what I do when i'm stressed, I think) and just in general, i'm more useless than usual. It's terrible.

So basically this is where I am now. I'm starting this blog up again to hopefully motivate me to try harder each day, maybe apply to even more jobs even if i'm not qualified just to see if they'll hear me out, move around more, do anything but eat my problems away (which, to be honest, I don't even realize I do most of the time).

My plan right now is to get a job and stay in America for a year or a year in a half after to save up enough money to move back to Japan. I contacted the embassy about my citizenship (I have both) and apparently the "22" year restriction isn't set in stone, and I can keep one or the other a bit longer, but it's not forever. Once I can save up enough money and move back, I'll unfortunately have to give up my American citizenship, which is a shame because my mother and grandmother are here. But it's really difficult for me to live here and I can't give up my own life for them even if it may be a little selfish. Consequently, if I give up my Japanese citizenship, I'd be leaving my family in Japan too. Ideally I could keep both forever, but what can you do. I prefer living in Japan with my friends and family there, and just a system I can understand more. It's mostly these little things that bother me a lot - the water here is incredibly hard (lol), the food isn't very good, cars frighten me and I prefer the transportation there, generally more polite, I can find foundation in my colour, hair products actually work on me.... just tiny little things like that.

Though one thing I am very thankful for is a dryer (like, clothing dryer)

I guess that's all for now, this is just a post to let out everything for the time being and it'll probably be more retarded pointless points coming up. I'll probably focus on trying to lose weight and maybe makeup of the sort to update about, but we'll see.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all are well xoxo

Because who doesn't love pictures of food.

Quiche! I loveeeeee quiche.

At qui'l fait bon! It's a pretty famous tart place. We went to the one in Ginza!

A pancake place in Daikanyama!

La Maison tarts mmmmmm :q

Some cafe in Shibuya!

Just a regular Izakaya that we frequent, but the first time we had the custard cream fondue! *q*

More tarts :q This was at "Berry Cafe" in Ginza. They have other locations too!

A vegetable all you can eat buffet + one main dish place. I dunno, but it was reallllly good. And all you can eat veggies always makes me happy :q

Also, this was my hair. it was longgggg and brown (although most of this was extensions) and the underneath bits (eriashi) were blond and black. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to dye my hair like a retard and

This is the tragic outcome. Why the hell did I do this to myself. I always wonder this after dying my hair a dumb color, so I really should just stop doing it. I probably will though, age wise i'm sort of over it :v I just want to dye my hair brown with black bits. It's also really short now! If you know Sakito's look from the world/Alumina it's that length.

For Ruka's birthday we celebrated! He turned 33 this year so we had to celebrate! Also, it meant we could all hang out and have a tart :v we all love tarts as you can see.

My friend made these adorable lil packages with chiroru choclate (you can get them custom made packaging!) and she got them Ruka'd out! Adorable!

So that's that :v

I will try and be artistic or something one of these days, but i'm not very artistic in the slightest ... but I can try. sobbu.

kuchizuke

It's been forever since I last updated since I really am too lazy for my own good. It's really annoying, actually; even though it's my own doing. Sigh. I wish I had motivation to do anything. Haha.

Anyways, I just wanted to talk about clothes and items that I plan on purchasing sometime in the future, assuming that I can find them and they don't sell out. 

Firstly, I need a new bag. Currently I use my Givenchy Nightingale bag.

Which looks like this ^^^^^^

I love it and all, but I would like a less fancy one that I can just throw shit in, because face it, that's what we all do.

Since I basically own only black (since i'm fat, and also I have no sense of fashion so I can never match things together) I thought i'd go for a colorful bag this time:

Clearly, this is not colorful. I was going to purchase this in red! It's a Jas M.B. small travelers bag. (Link)

Also, as a different shape, and because of it's relatively cheap-ish price, I was considering getting a bag (or two) by Mementism. 

These two, by a brand called "Mementism" 

The prices range, but these run about 12,000~20,000yen, which really isn't that bad in my opinion! (Especially compared to Givenchy sdfafafafiafdsafa cry)

As for other accessories, I am longing for shoes, and sandals. The current weather is dreadful though, and doesn't really scream "sandalllllsss!!!" yet, but I know it's coming, and I will kill myself wearing regular shoes in the heat.

These shoes by Harris Brown are quite popular right now - a bunch of different designers have taken on this same look.

 

Though personally, these damn ones have grown on me and I sort of want them. Sigh. The ones pictures above are slightly more, ... by about 4 times the price.

GIACOMORELLI for roughly 80,000yen.

As for bracelets and necklaces (since really, who can have enough?):

This is by Catherine Michiels. I actually have two of these type of bracelets, and two of the stone ones by her! I love them, and would love another one with three pendant? like things attached. The slight ethnic-ey-ness (...) of it makes me happy. 

The two above are both by Robert Wan. 

The "Cube" one I actually owned before (well, still do) but I broke it with my amazing skills of breaking literally anything I own for more than a year. Sigh. It's a rather cheap piece, though! Only around 5,000yen, while the one above (in red) I think is closer to 30,000yen. 

Lastly, by Tomasz Donocik. I currently only own a piercing, but I so very much want this bracelet to mix and match with other things! The second photo is a Trizn limited edition, I want this too but the amount that it costs kills me on the inside.

I guess for one entry that is enough. I'm sure there will be another one soon! If anything, it's more of a memo of stuff I want, and to remind myself of what to get once I get a new job. (Le sigh) 

P.S.

Completely unrelated, Nightmare is having their Fanclub tour, and their tour with Baroque soon! (Just like old times! And well, I guess technically it's not really that soon...)

Anyways, the lives I plan to attent (though it's very iffy at the moment since I don't have a job, and once I get one i'm not sure what days i'll have off, etc...)

Nightmare VS. Baroque 

Natural Born Errors

2012.7.31(tue) Club Diamond Hall
2012.8.1(wed) Nanba Hatch
2012.8.4(sat) Hibiya Yagai Ongakudo

Nightmare FC 10Year Anniversary Tenka Gyakusou

2012.8.5(sun) Hibiya Yagai Ongakudo
2012.8.10(fri) Fukuoka DRUM Be-1
2012.8.12(sun) Hiroshima Namiki Junction
2012.8.15(wed) Nagoya ElectricLadyLand
2012.8.17(fri) Osaka BIG CAT
2012.8.20(mon) Sapporo KRAPS HALL
2012.8.22(wed) Sendai RENSA

The ones in bold I plan on going to, but the others i'm not sure yet! Hopefully I can make it to them all, especially since it's FC lives and FC lives are usually the best! 

Since they are playing Hibiya Yagai 2 days in a row (Yagai means outdoors, and if you've seen the place you'll see that it is very... outdoors), my friends and I plan on cosplaying Baroque on the day they play with Baroque, then Nightmare for the FC live! That way we can take pictures with our Nightmare friends and be Baroque x Nightmare! (We're all Baroque and Nightmare fans anyways so we like, cried when we heard they were playing together. All the feels)

So that's that :q

P.P.S.

Plastic Tree's Kuchizuke was just recently released and it is amazing.

For those of you who aren't very Vkei, (although I don't think Plastic Tree is that Vkei, as far as Vkei goes...) 

But if you're more into... indie? I guess rock type of stuff, I just heard of this band and recommend them!

I think if you like bands like ONE OK ROCK, Rin tosite sigure and stuff you might enjoy it.

.... and lastly vocaloid-ey stuff because I love this song.

I need to clean my room, so someone please give me some motivation to stop being so fat and lazy. /forever slash wrists