Love from Nagoya and My Summer Hair

My friend Jen was visiting from Nagoya, Japan and she hooked me up with some love since she reads my blog and knows how much I love Japanese goodies! So thoughtful and super sweet!!



She picked up the L'egere for me to try out, especially since she uses this bb cream herself!


Ahhhh the beloved L'egere...I think it's fair to call it a "cult classic" in blog world thanks to Fuz's rave review! Though this one is the Shiny Pearl Water Drop oil-free version, not the White Multi bb cream...but so far though I'm liking it! The color match is awesome...now I'm curious to try the White Multi version to see how it compares, hehe.

Jen brought me these green tea powder mixes that I first tried through Yumeko. I love this stuff! But apparently it's green tea flavored, so I don't think it counts as drinking green tea, haha bummer. I still really like it though and have yet to find it nearby! When you pour in the mix, it makes cracking fizzy sounds like Pop Rocks. =P


She really catered to my sweet tooth! She gave me bags and bags of yummy Japanese gummies and also the Hello Kitty milk candies, mmmmm!! Now you know why I have a bag of sweets in my room, hehe, you sweet ladies keep filling it up!

These milk candies are sooooo good...they remind me of White Rabbit which I loved as a kid but these are way softer! And Hello Kitty is just looking too darn adorable in her cow costume, hehe.

Speaking of Hello Kitty...

Check out these cool Hello Kitty chopsticks! (Omg Tammy...I now have cute chopsticks and Hurricane popcorn just like you!)

And she even threw in some raspberry balt salts (although the ingredients say strawberry extract, hehe). Isn't the packaging nice? Thank goodness for the English or else I'd want to drink it!

And...she also gave me her June VOCE magazine that she read on the plane, aw I love Japanese magazines...

And guess what? It came with Ascience shampoo and conditioner samples!

And yummm...more Meltyblend! She's the one who told me it's called Melty Kiss, hehe, which I think sounds so much sweeter. ♥


ahaha okay she didn't give me that many boxes but I just wanted to show my stack...looks like Japanese Jenga! ^_^V

THANK YOU, JEN!!
You are too sweet, thoughtful and generous...you really spoiled me!! ♥

Moving on...I picked up some new hair dye since my roots were starting to grow out already. I really can't wait until I can dye it all black! But I know once I do that, I won't be able to go lighter without highlighting, so I'm just going to wait until fall before I go dark brown/black.

But for now, I picked up the L'oreal Superior Preference that Mona recently used because I thought it looked promising thanks to its "optimized fade-defying system" and the wide selection of brunette shades. She was NOT KIDDING when she said the chemical smell was strong! I was breathing like I was doing lamaze...trying to breath fast through/out my mouth! (I'd been using Japanese dyes for the past year...those smell just lovely.)


I opted for 6A Light Ash Brown, because whenever my old highlights fade they get brassy or copper tones (my hair looks dark brown but in flash or sunlight the back looks all sorts of bright colors!) and "6A is a light mocha brown shade with ash tones, which will minimize red/orange tones." Hair dye is the color pigmentation in your hair reflected off light...so lighting makes all the difference!

Oh...wifey asked for me to be more vain so here are lots of pictures!

"They like, 'oh GOD why you go so hard?'"
haha I'm super cheesin' and trying hard here! (song lyric from Kanye West featuring Young Jeezy "It's Amazing" for those who didn't get the reference)

I think this is a truer color representation...hmm this is going to make me want to rearrange my video set up...again!

I dunno this is the way I see myself/the way I see the world seeing me...my looking-down/off-to-the-side pose

outdoors in the shade...this kind of lighting is awesome for making skin look flawless!

when the sunlight hits my hair it gives it a lighter tint...outside gives it a warm tint, inside gives it a cooler tint (like the box color)

so you can see my hair color and skintone for that matter really varies on different lighting! But the more yellow or dim the lighting, the darker I look

Aside from the crazy strong chemical smell (no seriously...if you use this dye...use it outside...on the balcony high in the sky on a breezy night hahaha)...I think so far so good. I knew it wasn't going to make my hair that light because of the dark brown dye already in my hair, but I just wanted it to be a little lighter and to even out the color(s) until I go back to my natural color. This might be the color I stick with for the summer! *fingers crossed*

Oh yeah, I usually don't list what makeup I'm wearing but I was using the new L'egere! Here's a picture of everything on my face:


-MAC Prep + Prime SPF 50
- L'egere Shiny Pearl Water Drop bb cream
- Sana Pore Putty Make Up Base (e/s primer)
- KATE green eye shadow palette
- Canmake Cheek Gradient in Peach Stripe 05
- Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Reflect in Lacy Apricot 147
- K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner
- Rimmel pencil liner
- Lancome Virtuous mascara in black
- MAC MSF Natural in Medium Plus
- and MAC e/s in Texture (eyebrows, not pictured)

Geez no wonder I don't usually list...that's a lot! haha

And...that's all! I'm starving...but I wanted to blog before I eat, haha. Peace! ^_^V