another impulse buy: baublebar

BaubleBar had a flash sale this past weekend, and I just couldn't resist this adorable ring tree.

How cute is that? I have a super cute ring holder already in a cat shape (from Japan) and a giraffe jewelry holder from Anthropologie, but it's getting a little crazy as you can see from these pictures:

 

I'm thinking about just having my engagement and wedding rings on the cat and putting my other rings on the elephant!

How do you organize your jewelry?

impulse buy: it cosmetics

I got a $25 discount code from It Cosmetics for filling out a survey recently, and I knew I wanted to purchase a brush from them, since I've heard so many good things about the quality about their brushes! Imagine my surprise when I was browsing their site today and found this:

Needless to say, I jumped on this--with my $25 discount, I paid roughly $10 for 7 brushes! I can't wait for these to come in and will let you know my thoughts after I've played with them.

Have you made any impulse buys recently?

mini korean beauty haul

I was undaunted by my foray into the facial oil world, but decided to go a different route to get more moisture into my skin! I heard a lot of good things about this Mizon Snail Intensive Repair Ampoule. An ampoule is kind of like a serum, except more concentrated and liquidy, which is supposed to help your skin absorb and react better to the ingredients.

I was also in the market for an eye cream, and also heard great things about this Mizon Snail Repair Eye Cream. My eye concerns are mainly darkness and EXTREME puffiness. I've gone through many an eye cream to no avail...so I'm not super hopeful, but fingers crossed!

The last thing on the list is the Etude House Waterproof Dr. Mascara Fixer for Perfect Lash. I only bought this to get free shipping, but I'm looking forward to trying it anyway. I have extremely oily lids that results in insane raccoon eyes every time I don't use my trusty Heroine Make mascara with primer. The Dr. Mascara Fixer is supposed to let you use any mascara since it tops it off with a waterproof layer. I have a bunch of mascaras that I would like to use up, but haven't yet because I become a smudgey mess when I do, so hopefully this does the trick!

I know I'm a little late to the bandwagon, but this is also my first time to use anything with snail extract in it. Am a little apprehensive, but will let you know when my order gets in sometime next week!

summer haul

Stopped by Uniqlo to pick up some basics...

and these scarves were on sale for only 500 yen!

I went to donate a bunch of my old clothes to H&M and got a coupon for 500 yen off 3000 yen. Picked up a dress, skirt, necklace, and shirt.

Last, I have a couple of summer weddings to go to; one is on a beach, so I thought this blue chiffon midi dress would be perfect! As for the other dress, I don't have anything in this hot pink color, so I thought I would branch out of my comfort zone a bit.

There are so many good sales going on in Japan right now, but I'm trying not to buy too much since I'm moving back to the States soon and I don't want to over stuff my luggage!

recent ozoc/the emporium purchases

Ozoc and The Emporium are two different Japanese brands owned by the same parent company. I was in Utsunomiya recently and stopped in to take a look in the stores inside the train station.

I saw this pink blouse peeking out from under a cream sweater and I couldn't resist; it's perfect for spring!

The cream sweater has pretty metallic gold flecks throughout--not sure if you can see.

The shoes also have gold flecks running through them. I've been wanting loafers for a while, and I thought these were so perfect--especially since black and white seems to be big for spring this year!

recent mini haul

I've been trying not to buy clothes, but I couldn't resist the after New Year's sales. Both items were only 2000 yen!

First is a faux leather jacket from Lowry's Farm. It's really soft and fits really well! The second are faux suede/patent tipped flats from Earth, Music, & Ecology.

pink and brown

Holiday deals get me every time! I know I just bought a Love Liner set, but this one was an extra 500 yen off! The mascara retails for 1600, so I couldn't resist--it's like getting it for sale AND the eyeliner free. The Dolly Wink was also 500 yen off. Got both at Don Quixote (this huge, Walmart-like store in Japan)!

I don't need it though, so I'm giving it to my sister. I got her the black version instead of the brown!

Hopefully I'll have a review of the brown eyeliner and mascara up soon!

uniqlo goes to sf

Uniqlo is opening in San Francisco on October 5th! Hurrah! It's such a great place to shop for basics, and before I moved to Japan, the only Uniqlo I've ever stepped in was in New York. My impression then was that it was like Gap with similar pricing, but after having lived in Japan for a while now, I've realized how much it gets marked up outside of Japan. I was reading a U.S. fashion magazine, and a cardigan that I got from Uniqlo was featured. I had paid  ¥1250 for it, or roughly $16, but it was selling in the U.S. for $30! That's pretty much two times the price. They're also forever running special deals; I bought another of the same cardigan maybe a week later for  ¥790!

I've also found that in Japan, people see Uniqlo as a really accessible, inexpensive store. Even out in rural Japan, there will be Uniqlo stores littered throughout the rice fields (I kid, but that's kind of what it feels like). So it makes me giggle a little when I hear about the hype around Uniqlo in the States. Don't get me wrong, I love Uniqlo! But...

I was more excited to find out about Uniqlo's sister store, G.U. When you pronounce G.U., in Japanese it becomes ji-yu, which means free. The concept is that you're free from paying high prices for fashion. It's cheaper (hard to believe!) and trendier than Uniqlo. They have a huge store in Ginza, (Japan's premium shopping area) and I stopped by there recently to pick up some skinny jeans.

I got a mustard pair, a black, and a dark wash denim. They were so affordable at ¥990, I couldn't resist! The black and dark wash pairs fit really well; I can't wait to wear them!