Massaging stuff from Tokyu Hands

Sales tried to sell me this brand of magnetic band called colantotte. Although they're endorsed by sportsmen, there's no clinical trials that proof it works.

Bought bunch of massaging stuff and something called "Frownies", which is from US, said to reduce wrinkles by just pasting the paper on your face! 12 pieces for 525yen is quite pricey... hope it works!

The massaging stuff I bought:
-Rocoroco pen with a metallic ball roller, 840yen
-Kubimomux for neck pain relief, 840yen
-Akaishi Eye stick for eye strain relief, 840yen
-Head Spa Handpro for scalp massaging, 1050yen
-Eye training googles "pasonet eye", 1029yen.

Dr. Ci:Labo review

I received their free sample last week and gave it a try. Unfortunately, I do not like any of them. Their make up remover doesn't clean as well as Fancl MCO, their essence is too intense and their gel is filled with alcohol smell that I had to rub for more than 3 seconds to get rid of.

Comes with a letter to thank us for trying out, so polite... But sorry I don't like your products.

Body Brush and massager

Bought this brush because I read that dry brushing helps to lessen cellulite. I'd been using various "improved formula" of Clarins body shaping cream and body lift but they don't work at all. Tried L'occitane cellulite control Amande, which was limited edition, worked ok but not fantastic too. So finally I decided that it should be more worthwhile to invest in a good brush that can be used for a long time than spending on expensive creams. My friend discovered that it feels good to use the massaging side too to hit your back to release shoulder tension XD This brush has natural pig bristles. Made in Taiwan, 2310yen.

Tried this with my friend last time too and it felt good. Made in Japan, 3150yen. Hopefully it will help to ease my shoulder tension.

Fancl pore products and sunscreen

Fancl pore cleansing pack for 2500yen. I found it not bad, and targeting the T-zone and U-zone area. Skin pores do seem smaller after first use. I'm thinking that it's stronger than peeling creams. I hope it'll  help to clear my pimples after a month, then I continue to maintain with peeling creams. I also bought pore cover base mouse style 1800yen since it is such a raved product.

Bought Orezo White Face Protect UV because the sales say that this has low irritation and PA++++ to prevent wrinkles, perfect for the eye area. Did not feel too greasy after application.

Update:

The Fancl pore cover base was fantastic at first when I wasn't sweating. It really made my pores invisible. Unfortunately, once I sweat (a lot), the cream came off with my foundation and the nose and cheek area became a murky mess... Sad... I thought it worked well...

As for Orezo, I'd used it several times around my eyes now and it is really non-irritating unlike other sunscreen products. (my eyes are very sensitive). With PA++++, can't go wrong to protect eyes from wrinkling!

Japanese skincare products for summer

Pimples are appearing on my face and blackheads are dotting my T-zone and chin area. So I went to Tokyu Hands with my friend to stock up on some summer skincare products. We tried Ettusais peeling milk(120ml) and it seems to work well at 1365yen. The sales say that this product is very weak with water, especially when you apply in the bathroom with damp hands, so she recommended Hanayuki cleansing gel (200ml 3150yen) that has been a long-time best-selling product in Japan. She said that peeling products are recommended than using those blackhead-peeling sheets that will enlarge your pores even more because the holes become stuck again without proper care. So the best way is to reduce the pores gradually. Ok, sounds legit. I just tried Hanayuki and it does work pretty well, hopefully after a few weeks (2-3 times/week), my white and blackheads will be completely removed!

We also looked at sunscreen for body that is not sticky and found Skin Aquat: spf50, 40ml at 880yen. Japan doesn't have much shelter like Singapore so I bought one to use over here. But it feels very good when we tested the sample so I might buy more for my friend back home too :3

Japanese Hair care products

Ordered this La Sana trial set (those in the box) for 1050yen. Contains 5 sachets of shampoo, 5 sachets of conditioner (but they prefer to call it "treatment" here), mini hair essence bottle and hair mist for the morning. Used their hair essence (shittori type) and felt my hair softer next morning, so I bought the "sara-sara" type hair essence (L bottle) to try out since it was on special offer 4980yen.

Edit (15/7/2013): The essence shittori works very well but sara-sara was soso. The hair mist was weak.

Also bought the famous tsubaki oil from Oshima at 1150yen to try out because of my thinning curly hair. I wonder if this is the secret to Japanese hair still looking so thick even with so much colouring and damage to their hair and scalp!

Japanese skin care and hair care companies always like to mail lots of papers along with the order to explain the usage, product line introduction, customer reviews and thank you letter.... And yes, a few free samples too!

Tokyo Haneda DFS

L'occitane Immortelle Precious Serum 6200yen
L'occitane Precious Cream 5300yen
L'occitane Immortelle Precious Water 2300yen
L'occitane Hand cream set 3300yen

Estee Lauder Blush 3800yen
Estee Lauder 3pc lip color 5200yen
Estee Lauder 5pc lip gloss set 3200yen
Estee Lauder Crystal lip 2800yen
Estee Lauder Pure color lip 2200yen
Guerlain shine auto 3300yen

Taiwan DFS

L'occitane Immortelle Precious Water NT780

L'occitane Immortelle Precious Serum NT2190

SK2 clear lotion NT1620

Clarins High Definition NT1615

Clarins UV PLUS SPF40 (tinted)x2  NT2850

Clarins Body Shaping Cream NT1870

DFS Changi Terminal 1

They don't carry L'occitane Immortelle gel and Clarins powder.
These are my stock up for a year and to attend friend's wedding:

Guerlain Meteorites (Pearls + Primer) $130 >This one is kind of useless...
Guerlain rose blush $56
SKII treatment essence 330ml $217
SKII skin signature eye cream 15g $102
Clarins Hydraquench Bi-phase Intensive Serum 30ml $77
Clarins Hydraquench Cream Melt 50ml $67.50
Clarins Defining Eye Lift 20ml $67.50

Received $30 voucher that I used to deduct one item, then won a $5 chocolate voucher at the lucky spin.

L'oocitane Verbana

Verbena mist spray 50ml and towelettes set: 3000yen.
Immortelle brightening essence 30ml and 15ml brightening cream set: 9500yen.

Free sorbet maker mug and hand cream.

L'occitane Japan buys

Aimed to get my freebie cute bag...
Immortelle brightening cream and facial foam set 8500yen.
Soothing series shampoo and conditioner trial kit 1600yen.
UV spf15 body lotion 3800yen.
Spatula 300yen.

Uniqlo buys in Golden Week

 3 polo T for 1500yen each.

 Kitson T shirt on special offer 990yen.

 Flair shorts 1990yen.

2 pairs of pants, 2500yen each.

Clarins and SK2 at Changi DFS

Clarins Defining Eye Lift shot up by $3 within 6 months!

Clarins UV PLUS SPF40 (tinted) 30ml $84, Defining Eye Lift 15ml $57, 1-step exfoliating cleanser 125ml $37.40. Received free gift pouch and trial set containing facial lift, whitening serum and tinted UV Plus.

SK2 Pitera Deluxe set containing FTE 215ml and Clear lotion 215ml for $220, Facial Clear Solution 100ml $86x2

Uniqlo Japan special buys

Plain long sleeve shirt 690yen.

Premium light down jacket (foldable) 3990yen.

Mitsui Outlet first shopping catch

My first time to local outlet chain Mitsui at Tama Minami Osawa in Tokyo and first time to shop in Japan's new year sale. Train ride costs 390yen and around 35-40mins from Shinjuku via Keio line.

My fashionable winter cap 2835yen from Topkapi. Original 3150yen. Still expensive but I like the design.

Bought my first 2012 lucky bag from Prose Verse, a local fashion store that I'm not familiar with. 8400yen. 8 items in total, cannot see them because each bag was sealed. The last bag was in our hands so I made the purchase since it contains winter wear.

Ugly hairband... no thanks. Give to my friend's niece.

Nice orange stole until...

 I found a mud stain on it... I thought it's brand new?

This design was ok at first, but on a later thought, it looks too hippy for me.

Don't like this shirt too.

 This one is nice when I wear black turtleneck inside.

This one is nice, but I need to buy a long sleeve round neck heattech from uniqlo to match.

Next year's fashion color is orange. I think I'll wear it with my turtleneck when the weather is not so col, brrr~

Troublesome button coat, but cute.

A disclaimer to decline exchanges and a 20% coupon for next purchase on original prices only. The original price is so expensive, of course I'll not buy unless its on clearance price!

Tea from Wedgewood sold at Fete seems nice. They sell lots of olive oil too, but they're expensive and expires within 6 months. I'm not cooking yet so I'll just grab cheaper oil from supermarket.

Gotemba Christmas Shopping

Friend is here so we went to Gotemba for some shopping. I bought a T-fal stirfry 28cm pan for 2800yen and cover for 2000yen. For my new apartment with kitchen :)

Also went to Fauchon to buy their bread and noticed that they sell chocolate and coffee too. Bought one dark chocolate 735yen and instant coffee 1050yen. Coffee wasn't impressive.

Bought 3 boxes of Godiva patisserie sets (1200yen/ea) as presents for my scholarship office and professor. Yummy yummy!

Gotemba Outlet shopping

I'd decided to start a section here on my Gotemba Outlet shopping trips since I go there like twice a year. Attempt to keep track of my spending and remind me not to spend too much money on a particular category or brand.

I skipped all the luxury brands in order to save money and time. Sayonara to Prada, Tods and Burberry, the boutiques that I always go in but never bought anything except for a pair of Tods shoes that I love dearly now.

I'd also learned to zoom into only clothes that are on special clearance discount and not buy any "latest" stock that has no further discount.

Was looking for an oven plate to grill my chicken and found this Made in Japan Cera-Cook at Franc Franc. The design and quality looks good and was on special sale at 2500yen. Not sure how much was the original price, but since it's made in Japan, it should be very good. Comes with mini recipe :)

Found this super mini weighing machine that was also on clearance sale @1980 yen and was enthusiastically looking forward to weigh myself but...

It doesn't work. I checked that the battery was connected and everything switched on, but the damn 0.0kg wouldn't show. Instead it showed some weird digits for 1 sec and disappeared. Damn... a faulty product. So I had no choice but to spend an expensive phone call to Franc Franc and ask what to do. Luckily, in a good service nation like Japan, the sales offered to deliver a brand new unit to my home to exchange for the faulty unit. FOC! So nice of them, will definitely buy more stuff from them in the future if I need anything.

Also bought these cooking tools to accumulate my bill to more than 5250 yen for a 5% further discount. They're a bit expensive, but good quality.

Bought some Godiva gift sets because they're clearing expiring soon products. Buy over 3000yen to get this cool ice bag. Not sure if I'll ever use it, but it's free, so I take.

Yummy patisserie inside~ Good to last me till end of next week :> Still pondering to have the other box of chocolate biscuits all to myself or give it away during christmas...hmm...

Went inside Lacoste outlet for the first time. Always missed it because I spent too much time digging at GAP. Found this really cute long sleeve shirt @3400yen, originally @8400yen.

I really like Lacoste design, it has a very elegant and designer look to it. But the sleeves are always too long and the prices too expensive for a student like me. But this hoodie was on special discount and I really love the patterns on its hood. Originally @14700yen, after discount is 7182yen. I think it's a good deal because I can wear this for spring and fall, plus bring it back to Singapore to shield office air-con.

Banana Republic here is really more expensive than US. Anyway, I found another special discount shirt that is nice to go over with one of my Uniqlo heatec garment. Originally sold at 5800yen, now 2610yen. Also a pair of socks at 504yen.

Was eying on a white sweater to add into my wardrobe and found this. Originally at 6800yen, now 4284yen.

Last but not least, my favorite cheap and good quality store GAP. This wool cardigan at 3923yen, originally 5900yen.

Another hoodie at 2802yen, originally 5900yen. Like this color a lot :)