Ice queen winter playsuit realness with Luxemme ♡

Playsuit // c/o Luxemme // Leather jacket // Topshop // Beanie // Forever 21 // Boots // Topshop

Hey guys! Its been about ten billion years since I've done an outfit post but here am I today because the lovely guys over at Luxemme sent me this really cute playsuit to review. Normally halterneck styles don't suit me because of my boobs but I actually found this one very flattering, I dressed this for a more casj day look with a beanie but if you wore this with heels and upped the make up (I'm thinking silver glittery eyes for ice queen vibes) this would be fab for a night out as well. The material is pretty light and linen-y so this would be really nice for keeping you cool in summer as well, I definitely can see myself getting a lot of use out it next year with white sandals and a tan (hopefully).

They have loads of cute bits on the website and I believe they are Manchester based so well worth supporting! I definitely recommend checking them out. xx

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Photography: instagram @moppykitty

Nivea Men sensitive post shave balm as a primer | Review

Nivea Men sensitive post shave balm

So after seeing one of my fav YouTube beauty gurus Nikkietutorials rave about this for ages I decided to buy it and see what all the fuss is about - and I'm so glad I did! For some reason I never really got into primers, despite having pretty oily skin and always finding my foundation applied patchy in places no matter what brushes I used. This stuff makes your foundation apply far more smoothly (I literally noticed this instantly), and buff properly into what are usually problem areas for me like my nose which foundation will usually refuse to sink into. 

It has a very light typical 'man product' scent which isn't obvious and goes away after make up application, and you get quite a lot of product and need to use very little. Plus, because this is designed for sensitive skin I find it doesn't break me out, and if anything gives me extra moisture. Also you can use it for it's actual purpose of being a post shave balm, especially on areas which are really sensitive to shaving like the bikini line. I got this in Sainsburys on offer for £3 and will definitely be buying again! I'm just worried now Nivea will realise the product's popularity and raise the price...

Have you guys tried this?

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Make up and skincare shopping in Japan ♡ Sailor moon eyeliner, circle lens etc

I thought I'd take some pictures of what make up shopping is like in Japan, because I know people are interested in Japanese make up, but also there are some pretty interesting differences between British and Japanese make up.

    For starters, my friend advised me to bring matte eyeshadow with me because it's hard to find in  Japan due to the popularity of sparkly, shimmery, fairly un-pigmented eyeshadows. Also if you          are into super bright, highly pigmented eyeshadows (same with colour variation in lipstick too fyi) they're also pretty hard to find from the mainstream Japanese make up brands because this just isn't the 'normal' look girls are going for.

Quality, but for cheap. In the UK I would probably always avoid crazy cheap make up unless a blogger had recommended otherwise (i.e MUA), but due to Japanese product quality in general being good I've often been surprised by how high quality things like cheap nail polishes are.

Packaging, too much of it but it's seriously cute. Again this is the same with a lot of Japanese products, presentation is everything in Japan so I often feel like the amount of packaging used is wasteful but aesthetically looks great.

Stunning fake press on nails (see above) and huge nail art/design sections (lots of gel nail and UV lamps on sale for example). Japan has some of the best nail art in the world at their salons and it's reflected it what you can buy pre-made in shops.

Very high quality eyeliners - I'd say the eyes are definitely a focus for Japanese make up, and Japanese eyeliners are seriously good.

Eyelash heaven - the variety of eyelashes on sale is insane compared to what you will find in the UK next to the tweezers and make up brushes in Boots. Prepare to feel the strong urge to buy them all.

5 beauty favourites | July 2015

Original Source Vanilla & Raspberry shower gel // Contour brush // Sailor Moon eyeliner // Frizz Ease Nourishing Oil Elixir // Anastasia Beverly Hills DipBrow Pomade

Back on the favourites train! This Original Source shower gel is literally like my crack, the smell is kind of like white chocolate and almost smells edible. Plus these shower gels are usually only £1 in Boots so deffo a fav by my standards. Click on the links above to see my review of the contour brush and the eyeliner, the latter is just so pigmented and precise I can't even. I was looking for a new hair oil and grabbed this Frizz Ease one the other day and it seems really good! 

I had been using coconut oil on my hair til I was informed it's actually meant to be used as a hair mask and washed out, which is explains why my hair was looking so greasy after using it...Regarding brows I'm so in love with DipBrow, it does work best when it's kept in a slightly higher than room temperature environment as the product does get a little stiff, but it's still workable and gives fab brows everytime. What products did you enjoy last month? xx

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Leaving Japan and returning to the UK

So where have I been? Apologies for the extreme lack of posting! I got somewhat caught up in end of year exams, then 'shit I've been in Japan for nearly a year and haven't done anything and I'm about to leave' / 'shit I'm about to leave Japan and I have a crapload of preparation to do' mode started. After I came home it was a blur of seeing family members I hadn't seen for 10 months, visiting friends and family and then heading off to Spain on a family holiday for a week. But I'm back now! I've been back in the UK for nearly 3 weeks now and I've readjusted alarmingly quickly, although some things have stuck from being in Japan - it took me about a week to get used to pounds and pence again, a bus driver asked me for 10p and I gave him a 2p coin (which look like 10 yen coins) and he looked at me like I was the dimmest person ever...

I'm going to do some posts on it but there's definitely some things I was glad to return to in the UK and some things I wasn't, the lack of politeness and efficiency compared to Japan has been getting on my nerves a bit, not that we're bad at it but Japanese standards are insane! The picture was taken by my friend who's a talented fashion photographer, check out his insta @danielhirozawa xx

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Synthetic kawaii pink 24 piece make up brush set | Review

Brushes // c/o DressLink

Recently DressLink very kindly sent me these brushes to try out. My brush collection is actually pretty small for a make up fanatic so I was uber pleased to receive these. Because they are synthetic I was worried they'd have that scratchy texture but these are so soft! I did some make up on my friend recently (see above), and she had zero complaints at me blending like crazy because of how soft the brushes are (btw we put lipgloss on her eyelids so this has made the blending look a little off). There's a really good selection of brushes, especially for eye make up - down to ones that are small enough to use to apply gel eyeliner etc. My absolute fav in the set is the angled blush brush which I use to apply cheek contour, before I was using a freebie Lancome brush but this new one has upped my contour game like crazy. 

The only thing really lacking in this set is a foundation brush in the stippling style, a flat style one is provided but I find them useless because I always want to buff my foundation in rather than 'paint' it on. The set is cray cheap at around $8, plus shipping and converted back to her Maj's pounds and you're looking at around £15 for 24 brushes and them shipped to you - uber good value. Keep in mind though DressLink is based in China I think though so shipping is usually around 2 weeks unless you pay for a faster method. Overall I'm very happy with these brushes! xx

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Kusama Yayoi polka dots/light room inspired nail art/manicure | Nails

Hey guys! Here's some super quick nail art I did loosely inspired by Kusama Yayoi's light room (click here for pictures of it, it's absolutely stunning - I saw it in London when her exhib was at the Tate Modern I think). This is really easy to do, the nail polishes themselves are all Japanese brands but the nail pens are Models Own and Barry M (Barry M ones are the best nail pens I've tried, thoroughly recommend these). I'm off to go re-dye my hair now, hope everyone had/is having a fab weekend (the UK time difference always confuses me) xx

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Tokyo bits and bobs: Visiting the Lost in Translation Park Hyatt Hotel, exploring Kichijouji and Shibuya | Japan

Kichijouji

Shu Cream (puff pastries filled with cream)

The food above is fake, it's called サンプル (sample) and you see it everywhere in front of restaurants and cafes in Japan.

Coke bench inside a Game Centre in Kichijouji

Graffiti in a back street in Shibuya

Socks and outside of Pachinko (gambling) parlour in Shibuya

View from the Park Hyatt's New York bar

So recently I've been up to interesting (read: getting drunk) things on Sundays, last weekend I went with some friends to the New York bar in the Park Hyatt Hotel to listen to some jazz (I'm so classy I can't even handle it). The hotel and the bar are used in the film Lost in Translation so it was pretty exciting to visit, plus the views were insane. Also while we were there Nicola Formichetti (Gaga's ex stylist and creative director of Diesel) walked in for dinner! He was also joined by Kiko Mizuhara who is G-Dragon from Big Bang's (Kpop band) girlfriend and a really popular model in Japan - not bad for a celeb sighting imo.

This weekend that just passed my friend and I spent some time in Kichijouji which is a up and coming 'trendy' spot in Tokyo, it has a lot of nice shops and bars and usually we go there for karaoke. We were actually searching for locations to do a photo shoot which had a kind of tacky/run down vibe to it so I got some interesting reference photos. Continuing the fun Sundays theme, I also went to a Tinder hosted rooftop party in Odaiba yesterday which was pretty interesting. It was windy as hell and they had girls in neon bikinis pole dancing on a pole which was swaying dangerously in said wind, and we were also given a lot of free vodka/gin/tequila so needless to say I didn't go to class this morning...

Let me know if you guys like these sort of Japan posts interesting! xx

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Sailor Moon Miracle Romance Black Liquid Eyeliner / セーラームーンリキッドアイライナー | Review ☾

Until I bought this eyeliner I actually hadn't bought any in Japan as I bought 4 with me to Tokyo, but apparently Japanese liquid eyeliners are amazing so I decided to get one! The one I originally bought came without the cap that makes it looks like a Moon Stick so I went back and bought another eyeliner with the cap haha (dedication).

This eyeliner is definitely very Japanese style, a lot of girls just do an extremely fine line and not much of a flick/cat eye - so this brush is a crazy thin 0.1mm. This means for a thicker western cat eye you do a bit of filling in but it's easier to be precise with the thickness of the line and you can get your eyeliner wings uber sharp.

It also says it's waterproof on the packaging but then removable with hot water (lol), if you aren't looking up at the sky during a downpour it really stays put and super opaque during the day. However, occasionally my right eye does this 'oh hey thur I see you made effort with your eye make up today, let me ruin that for you' thing where it waters out of the right corner like mad, which does cause this eyeliner to sort of dissolve (but not run, which is a positive). However to combat this I just go over the wing part of my eyeliner with MAC Liquidlast cos that shit does not move for anything.

Mainly I'd recommend this eyeliner to Sailor Moon fans, as there are better fine line Japanese eyeliners on the market in terms of staying power. There's also a version with the Cutie Moon Rod cap you can buy, they're actually being sold on eBay for only about £5 more than they in stores in Japan so definitely worth investing if you're a fan (sold HERE and HERE, seller is based in Hong Kong though).

Any sailor moon fans out there who'd buy this? xx

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Recently in Tokyo... | Instagram update #6

Uni outfits 1 // 2 // Practising cut crease make up for a night out in Shibuya // Waffles in Kichijouji // Konbini lunch // Sailor moon goodies from Akihabara

A quick insta update for those of you that don't follow me on there! Last weekend was pretty eventful, what was supposed to be a big night out in Nichoume (the gay district in Tokyo) ended up being just three of us in a club in Shibuya and we happened to be there the night Kill the Noise was doing a set (I had to look him up but apparently he's pretty famous) which was actually pretty fun in the end. We also went to Akihabara (the anime/electronics area in Tokyo) for a mooch and got some Sailor Moon goodies from a gacha machine (Sailor Chibi tho so I'll be going back to try for Mars or Sailor Moon versions).

I've also started snapping outfit mirror shots when I actually have on something other than leggings and a massive grey jumper for uni. I'm much more active on Instagram than on my actual blog so if you like you can follow me @liquoricepearls xx

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AlphaH Liquid Gold Skincare on sensitive/oily skin | Review

I bought this product ages ago from Cult Beauty as a Christmas present to myself and I have kind of mixed feelings about it. As an fyi I have oily, sensitive skin. This product is basically a Glycolic Acid exfoliator, I'd read somewhere that it's better to use these kind of toner-like liquid exfoliators instead of an actual scrub on your face (especially with oily skin as scrubbing just stimulates oil production), so I decided to try this out. I got mine from Cult Beauty here for £33.50.

The way I use it is the intensive treatment way, before bed you cleanse and tone, then apply the liquid gold as you would a toner, then skip moisturiser and repeat this every other night. I was going to review this after two weeks but I was pretty undecided about it. Basically for sure this improves skin texture and gets rid of dead skin cells. 

I have quite a 'bumpy' forehead, not spots as such just an uneven skin surface, and I definitely felt like my skin looked and felt a lot smoother. Also if you have any spots, resisting the urge to squeeze them and then using Liquid Gold definitely reduced them overnight as I guess the product dries them out.

However, I realised recently I have mild rosacea on my cheeks (sometimes I wake up with very red cheeks or patches or red and tiny whiteheads and this either fades throughout the day or lasts) - and using Liquid Gold was definitely making this flare up. I did some research online and found loads of rosacea sites being like 'the following products will probably provoke a rosacea flare up' and acid exfoliators were listed as a big no-no. 

Liquid Gold is marketed to be fine to use with sensitive skin but I think Rosacea is probably a bit different, it might be alright with 'normal' sensitive skin. So at the moment I only use Liquid Gold on my forehead and chin taking care to avoid my cheeks entirely. Apparently though Liquid Gold Intensive Night Repair serum is recommended for soothing Rosacea so I might try that.

Pros:

- good exfoliant

- improves skin texture

- reduces spots

Cons:

- pricey

- not suitable if you have Rosacea

Have any of you used Liquid Gold before? xx

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