Kose Anmiel Mascara

 I don't know about everyone else, but I'm very picky when it comes to mascara. I find that a lot of them smudge under my eyes. I've only been using the Dejavu Fiberwig mascara (for the last 8 years or so) and for the past half year, the Dolly Wink Long Mascara (the volume one smudges).
I was happy to see that there was a new fiber mascara that is apparently very similar to both Fiberwig and Dolly Wink because it comes off with warm water.

It's supposed to have different types of fibers to build length. I find it to be a decent mascara. It definitely lengthens very well, to the point where if I'm not careful, it will touch my glasses lens. There's no smudging, but by the end of a very long day, I sometimes notice a fiber or two under my eyes.
The curling power of this mascara is mediocre, unless I do a very good job at curling with the lash curler. The application is like most other mascaras, if you're layering too much on, there's a tendency to clump, unless you comb it out. I also find this mascara takes too long to dry and when I close my eyes (while using hair spray) I can feel it sticking to the bottom lashes.

 You can clearly see how much fiber is packed into this mascara, it's even fuzzier than Dolly Wink and Fiberwig mascara. The first few times I used it, I felt one of the fibers in my eye, but lucky for me I wasn't wearing contact lenses.
The mascara comes off with warm water, although I find that I have to massage it longer than the other fiber mascaras to take it off.

In the end, I would probably not repurchase. When I look back at the cons, it's not really worth it unless there's a special package like bonus eyeliner or something.

Skincare Things

This is a super over due post of some more items I got from Japan (back in August).
As you might recall, I was using Orbis with a mix of Paul & Joe. During the day time, I used the Orbis Aqua Force moisture lotion because it absorbed quickly, but as the weather started to change, it wasn't moisturizing enough. After finishing it in August, I purchased the Sofina Beaute Emulsion.
The emulsion comes in 3 varieties, Fresh I, Light Moist II and Moist III. I think the difference is the moisturizing levels. The one I got is II Light Moist 120mL, I can't remember the price, but HK sells it for $290HKD.
I've been using it for daytime since the end of August and there's still a bit more than half the bottle left. So I think it's worth the price.
The bottle is very pretty with the white flowers. It's plastic and you kinda half squeeze half pour the moisturizer out.

I translated the HK Sofina website using Google, but most of it doesn't make sense in English. It basically says that this moisturizer penetrates the cell's core and helps with anti-aging. It's supposed to also help dry damaged skin from the environment. You can read it yourself here.

This moisturizer is super milky, I'd say a bit more than the Laneige emulsions. It absorbs very quickly and has a light floral aroma. I definitely think this is a great moisturizer because it makes my skin really soft and doesn't leave any residue, whereas Laneige did (back when it was my fav skincare). The floral scent goes away quickly so there's no need to worry about leftover smells. Since it absorbs quickly, I don't have to wait before applying makeup and worry about dry patches on my skin.
I use a little more than what this picture shows and it's more than enough to moisturize my skin.

Other Sofina Beaute items I'm using is the Wrinkle Essence. I got that in HK in February for $380HKD 25mL. I use this under my eyes everyday and sometimes on my face and neck. I can't really give good results since I didn't notice much. I think it's just good to prevent any further wrinkles though. After I'm done all my P&J products, I'm going to slowly switch over to the rest of the Sofina Beaute items as they're supposed to help with anti-aging.

I've been using nose strips for a long as I can remember, but sometimes they just don't pull out all the junk. In a quest to find something to boost the nose strip power, I found the Kose Softymo Hot Cleansing Gel from Japan.
This is a small tube, 25g for I think $5-6CAD? But it works well with the nose strip. After cleansing and drying my skin, I rub a 2 pea sized amount on the areas that the nose strip will touch. There's no hot feeling at all, but whatever haha. The gel is black and has a bit of tiny scrubbage to it. I do this for about 2 minutes then rinse off with water and apply the nose strip.
After peeling off the strip, here's what I'm left with... a lot more crap out of my pores than if I didn't use the gel. Whhheeee!!!!

Current Cleansers

I feel like I change cleansers brands so much, but in actual fact, I probably use the same ones for at least 2 months.
This time, my cleansers have changed from the Orbis Cleansing Liquid to the Hanskin Cleansing Oil Black Head and from Orbis Mild Cleaser to the Softymo Airy Whip.

The Hanskin oil comes in a hard plastic pump bottle with 200mL of product. It's like your typical oil cleanser, nothing too special. It has a slight citrus scent to it and that's about it.
Compared to the Orbis Cleansing Liquid, the Hanskin doesn't wash off as clean. My skin feels a bit oil afterwards so I follow up with a facial cleanser (I always do anyway).
I prefer the Orbis over Hanskin because Orbis washes off cleaner and doesn't have a scent to it.

As for the Softymo Airy Whip, I first saw this on the Muse's blog. I've been wanting this for a long time already but Adambeauty does not ship aerosol cans overseas.
Airy Whip is pretty much a standard facial cleanser except it comes out like mousse. I like how it's kinda pre-lathered up for you. The mousse is dense and really holds up, even when you massage it on your face a few times.

It's got a pleasant fragrance, almost floraly and not too strong. The product rinses off clean without drying out my skin.

There's 180g of product and if you ever have a chance to order or get someone to do a CP for you, you should try this out. Not expensive either, I got 2 bottles at $35HKD each.

Here are just a few pictures from Japan, most of the pictures are on Tim's laptop.
Ayu is plastered everywhere in Japan! It got me excited haha.
This is the outside of a drugstore in Tokyo. I love how they have all the cosmetics I want in one store AND with no SA to be a bitch about it!

Can anyone tell me what this is?? All I know is, there are tons of these kinds of ad trucks driving around, but this particular one got me wondering.