The Body Shop Indian Gardenia

After wearing both the perfume oil and the eau de parfum, I give this fragrance a thumbs up.

Neither version lasts very long, but it's a warm, pretty perfume. So far it's the only thing I want to wear this very cold winter. I have built up rather a stock of samples and perfumes to retry during the spring and summer.

Now, I want to try some perfumes that smell like English teas with lemon and sugar. Green teas remind me too much of green tea ice cream.

I'm still addicted to almond scented bath products, but they're pretty hard to find. I can't stomach the 100% markup over U.S. prices in L'Occitane's Japanese stores, and Lush only has the winter season Snowcake soap available (now gone for the year). Maybe I'll try L'Occitane's almond hand soap.

The Body Shop Pink Pepper Eau de Parfum and Passion Fruit Eau de Parfum

Pink Pepper is peppery and sweet. I don't think I like pepper much.

Passion Fruit was initially sweet but turned into vegetables on me. Rather curious.

Pride and Prejudice

The movie just came to theatres in Japan a couple weeks ago. You know, I don't think I want to watch a version of Pride and Prejudice that doesn't have Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

He just had the perfect combination of natural arrogance and sensibility for the part.

I'll just have to buy the BBC miniseries. I wonder if my mother would like it. It's only $26.17 at overstock.com!

All the Slam Dunk english comic books

Did I mention that I bought the entire set of the Slam Dunk manga (a basketball masterpiece) in the Singapore English edition? All 31 books in one fell swoop at Kinokuniya in Shinjuku. I also got a set for my cousin, who is still waiting for the last 8 books (that I am being lazy about mailing). The U.S. edition only got up to volume 5 before the publisher folded.

The Kinokuniya staff must think I'm obsessed, heh. I wonder if the Singapore publisher is noticing high sales in Japan.

I still want the Slam Dunk Perfect Edition (Japanese only), which is 24 large format books with lovely covers and nice paper. But that would come to another $250 or so, when I already have the regular Japanese version (mostly used books) and now the English one. Maybe when I'm completely fluent in Japanese.

The life of a moderate otaku. (-_-;) I can say I'm moderate because:
a) I have savings. Every month even!
b) My conversation doesn't relate to Slam Dunk and Studio Ghibli (most of the time)
c) Reasons too innumerable to list.

Minus point:
a) I don't particularly care about college or pro basketball (but the women's teams rock!!) but I adore this comic
b) The need to defend myself against the label "otaku" is itself a little incriminating
c) Knowing what "otaku" means is also a little incriminating (Otaku is a Japanese colloquialism for fanatic [such as comic fanatic/video-game addict] according to my dictionary. I was going to say anime geek. In the U.S. it just means Japanese anime/manga fan, methinks).

I am apparently a nerd because I say "parse" to mean distinguishing individual words in a sentence.

collectibles

Today I succumbed to the lure of 8 varieties of little Hello Kitty figurines dressed up in various winter olympic sports outfits. They come as extras with Lipton's Limone lemon tea bottles. The drink itself is ok, but I wouldn't have bought it without the Hello Kitty figures. I don't normally like Hello Kitty, but these dressed up versions are cute. You should see the snowman version. I must get that one. I'll put a picture online sometime this month, haha.

movies that I am looking forward to

* "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (単騎、千里を走る。)," the new Zhang Yimou film starring Ken Takakura (revered Japanese actor)

* The Chronicles of Narnia movie (loved the books as a child)

* The new Wallace and Gromit movie

I'd like to see Narnia in the theatre, but I will see the Zhang Yimou film in the theatre if I have to go by myself.

have no will power

This month I bought Lanvin Eclat d'Arpege for about $15. It's very light and might be nice for summer. We'll see. So far, it's just ok. The top notes are lovely! Citrusy, bright, and a little sweet, but after fifteen minutes or so it turns powdery and soft and stays that way.

I also bought The Body Shop's Indian Gardenia eau de parfum. They're no longer carrying it in Japan (perhaps discontinuing it altogether?) and although I already have the perfume oil, I wanted the EDP also. It's nice! A bit lighter than the perfume oil, but lasts a little longer.

listening

It's funny when people refuse to budge the images they've fixed in their mind.

I told people specifically that I was doing 3 things, and for some reason they persist in believing that I will do a fourth thing. Even though I specifically said that I would not do the fourth thing, they continue to believe that I will.

It's amusing because they do not actually tell me that I should do the fourth thing, but they still think I will do it.

Must be polite. Must be polite.

In other news, it's really nice to get a solid night's sleep. I'm totally cheerful today. Hungry too, even though I had breakfast. It is still a challenge to sit up straight though.

Maybelline Color Wear Eye Shadow

メイベリンカラーウェアアイシャドウ

This may be a product packaged for Japan. Individual eye shadows sell for 460 yen each.

I tried a medium taupe color, but when it gets into my eyes it seems to be mildly irritating.

I give it a thumbs down for the irritation.

Revlon Moisture Shine Lipgloss

I got Revlon Moisture Shine Lipgloss モイスチャーシャイン リップグロス in Coffee Gleam. It's a nice rich medium coffee color. It's a bit shimmery although not glittery. The color is very pretty.

The texture is a bit sticky so it lasts fairly well. It tingles irritatingly a bit when I first apply it.

It has the same square tube packaging as Revlon SuperLustrous Lipgloss, so I'm a bit bitter at the 125% markup; it's 1680 yen in Japan.

Because of the price, I definitely won't be repurchasing this in Japan. I might pick up a darker color in the U.S. if I see it on sale. For $6 I think the color selection is very nice. I haven't been able to find many dark colored glosses, and brown colors seem particularly rare.

2006/03/08 update: lipgloss ranking:
1) revlon moisture shine lipgloss - basically, it wins because of the color. The light vanilla scent isn't bad either.

2) the body shop hi-shine lip treatment - comes in second because of the pretty color. It smells deliciously fruity too.

3) maybelline water shiny gloss in cappucino cream - comes in third. I love the texture and look, but it doesn't feel as nice when my lips are a bit dry, which they have been recently. Also, the color selection is rather bland.

4) Shu Uemura lip shimmer in strawberry compote - very pretty, lasts decently long, but I've had it for more than 2 years so I'm a little bored of it.

5) shades of hue lip lacquer - pretty, purplish metallic color. Texture is way too sticky and goopy, although the metallic shine is great. I mix it with the shiseido gloss to thin out the texture. Because of the metallic shine, it's pretty much only an evening color.

6) Shiseido The Makeup Lip Gloss in clear (limited edition - I'm such an easy mark) - light, nice texture, but it just doesn't taste very good, and I'm not a fan of the rose scent.

In summary, they're all pretty good, but I will try out other lipglosses before I repeat any of these purchases. Of the above, the Shu Uemura lip shimmer is definitely the best. No irritating smell or taste, no tingling. Just pretty, long lasting gloss.

It's funny, but this pretty much encapsulates my entire history of lip gloss purchases. I've bought a gloss jelly or two, but this is all the lip gloss I've ever bought. I guess I can count how many lipsticks I've purchased in my life too. One Origins lipstick (pretty brownish shade but got too thick so threw it away). One Shiseido lipstick (again, pretty brownish shade but got thick so threw it away). One Fasio lipstick (still using, but the shade is a boring reddish one so not so exciting). Oh, I bought a lot of pink maybelline lipsticks when I was in high school, but they never suited me all that well. Pink doesn't work for me in general. Gee, now I don't feel so bad about multiplying the number of glosses I own by 5 in the course of a year (it went from 1 to 5).