Good evening everyone,
if you follow me on Instagram, you might know that I went back to Japan for Christmas (darn, time flies since….it’s almost Chrismtas again).
Of course I went shopping there. Japan has so many great products, not only make-up and nail related things, but also lifestyleand fashion goods, as well as lots of great food and cooking ingredients.
Today I want to show you some pictures of my time in Japan and also the products I bought. Some of them I will review in depth in following blog posts.
I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: advertisement – the following products were bought and paid by myself.
Holiday impressions
Japan is wonderful during Christmas time. It is not too cold (if you are in Kanto or Kansai area) and all the shopping centers, train stations and shops are beautifully decorated. I just love it.
If you ever have the chance to visit Japan, especially during Christmas, make sure to try all the lovely sweets. Not only decorated Christmas cakes, but also the famous cheesecake from Pablo.
I myself am not a huge cake fan. I love to bake and decorate them, but eat them rarely. But this one was so~ delicious!
If you don’t want to pay around 10 dollar for a cheesecake or around 30 to 40 dollars for a whole Christmas cake, you can also buy smaller versions or slices or hit the convenience store near by and get a slice or two there.
Dalloyau Paris, which is also available in Japan, makes incredible delicious cakes. They cost a bit more, but trust me it is worth it. For all the mini cakes I payed around 60 dollars, but no regrets!
cakes at the department store are a bit cheaper, but look and taste just as great
cake from Lawson convinience store was also very yummy
Not only do they sell delicious cakes, but also chips with chocolate on top. These were with caramel as well, which I love!
I always eat A LOT in Japan, I can’t help it. I love japanese food! BUT I also went shopping a lot.
You know I love nail art and I am always looking for inspiration so I had to hit a book-off, where you can buy all kinds of used things (books, cd’s/DVD’s, games/consoles, cameras etc.).
I was looking for nail art books/magazines and picked the following (the last one I got from my friend Momo)
Momo also gave me a couple of other things for Christmas, one of them was the winter garden from Lush. A cute gift set.
it included the bar soap respect your elders
the hand cream helping hands
and the shower gel rose jam
I usually don’t buy Lush products myself, but got a few of them as gifts. I went to one of their shops before and I have to say that I can’t stay there longer than 10 minutes. The scents are just too much for me, especially when all their products are scenting away in on room. The individual ones are okay, but I personally don’t understand why people are so crazy about Lush.
Funny thing, when I went back home, my suitcase was so full that the gift set didn’t fit anymore. So I had to carry it within my hand luggage. People at security check obviously asked what it was and scanned it several times to make sure that it is no bomb.
I also bought a bunch of nail art decoration for back home. Tons of different size swarovsky rhine stones
black flowers
and colorful flakies. Unicorn skin anyone? :D
To store all those decorations, I bought a bunch of these little containers from the dollar store. They hold 8 little boxes each, which are perfect for rhine stones and small decorations. You can open them seperately and they close very well and securely.
Since I was there for about 3 weeks and didn’t feel the need to bring polish and remover, I got a few must-haves so I could do my nails over there.
polish remover from Shiseido
a lip liner brush to clean up around the cuticles
and of course a bunch of polishes that I wanted to take home with me.
[82] カラーバルーン on the left
[BC] ベースコート in the middle
[57] ブルーデニム on the right
left to right
BV 19V
BX 5W
BC 1T
BS 3T
BZ 8S
HD Ruby Kisses
left to right
HDP614J White Vacation
HDP610J Snow White
HDP607J Emerald
Prorance internaional
left to right
28
26
Kanebo KATE – SV-7
Shiseido INTEGRATE – RS591
KOSÉ nailholic – BL904
pa – dear laura – Premier AA120
Since I don’t really own good nail art brushes I decided to pick this one up. It has a thin shape and is great to correct designs or draw them on. I have used it a while now and it works great for polish and acrylic paint.
I also picked up a small nail clipper, which I like to use to clip off excess skin on the left and right of my nails.
Some nice tweezers also found their way into my shopping cart.
Due to my use of Fingr’s acrylic nails I always need a good adhesive. I usually don’t glue them on permanently, only for a night during events, so I prefere these patches instead of real glue. In Germany they are not sold seperately, so I got them in Japan.
I also spotted this set of nail wraps and thought they look super pretty. They contain so many designs and nail wraps that I just had to have them.
My friend Momo also gave me these cute Kiki & Lala nail stickers from pa – Dear Laura.
I also got some metal organizing rings for all my nails tips. I store most of them in my two Werkhaus pencil organizers, but sometimes I like to keep collections like the sheer tints all together on a ring.
Since nail care is just as important to me as pretty nail designs I also bought a cuticle pen
a nail care pack
and Momo also gave me this amazing nail mask which contains of some sort of wax product that you have to soften with warm water, dip your nails in and leave it on for a bit.
Now on to the other beauty products I got.
My friend Momo seriously make the best presents. She knows that I love face masks and bath stuff so she got me a bun of masks and this crazy poop looking bath bomb.
I got myself this nice yuzu bath powder
more yuzu bath bombs
and tons of onsen bath powder
Like I said, I am big into the japanese and korean face mask and saw this silicone mask that you put on after you applied the sheet face mask. It helps to keep everything in place and helps the skin treatmeant to really sink into your skin.
Only down point for the people around you, you will like like a serial killer haha
My boyfriend always complain about how scary I look when I have this on, mostly because you are not able to see any facial expression whatsoever.
Speaking of face masks, I really went nuts this time. I will post about each of them individual later on.
KOSÉ clear turn essence mask with vitamin C in the 30 sheet pack
Pure Smile aloé vera mask 8 sheet pack
Pure Smile also offers a bunch of face mask that have animals, characters or traditional Kabuki style faces on them.
Since I know that my dear Heidi, who was born in Argentina, celebrates the Día de los Muertos (day of the dead) I had to bring her this Día de los Muertos face mask.
But Pure Smile also offer plain face masks with different ingredients and purposes.
Did you ever wanted to be a panda or look like a Beijing opera character? Yes? Well then you would have bought these face masks from SNP (Shining Nature Purity) as well haha
Mitomo Japan also offers a wirde range of face mask, some of them might sound weird, but I guarantee them you won’t be disappointed if you try them.
Again, presents from my dear Momo. More face masks
facial cleansing treatment from tansan kakumei, called sparkling gorgeous.
This carbonated water face wash is one of the best selling items in Japan and Korea. It consists of two bags with two powders, which combined make up your carbonated water.
and the bakatono face mask
You probably don’t know him, he is a very famosu japanese comedian.
Please check him out in this sketch with japanese talent ローラ.
Counting, I got a total of around 70 face masks….whoops.
Momo also got me these cute Hello Kitty eye care patches. What do you think?
Care masks and packs are a big thing in Japan, Pure Smile also offers lip care patches which I wanted to try, so I bought the one in honey. It is really nourishing and leaves your lips soft and moisturized.
I definetly want to try more of their products.
I don’t know if you have seen or heard of these foot mask that are also a big thing in Korea and Japan. They are basically bags in the shape of feet that contain a liquid. You put your feet in them and them them on for up to 2 hours if you want and after a few days your old skin starts to peel of. The whole process takes about two weeks and in the end will leave you with super soft “new” feet. I wanted to spare you the look of the peeling skin, but if you are curious, just type “exfoliating foot mask” into the google picture search and see for yourself. I bought these two different types.
and since all the walking around and shopping can be tiring for your feet I also bought these foot patches.
Last but not least you might have seen my blog post about the LUX products in Japan. I am a huge fan of their shampoo and hair treatments and also their body soap, which is why I went a little overboard with these as well.
LUX reapair shampoo & conditioner
LUX super damaged shampoo & conditioner
LUX shine shampoo
LUX radiant touch body soap
LUX floral touch body soap
I also bought a bunch of food and inredients which I tok back to Germany, but I guess that is not really intresting for you.
The last thing I thought might be intresting is this candy making kit for candy sushi, which I bought to make with my 3 year old niece. She was super excited and loved making this with me.
Do you have any experience with japanese beauty products?
all the small stuff and things 