Checking out Poshmark

Poshmark is a shopping platform for individuals to sell to individuals - mostly for women's clothing and accessories. I joined as tonkotsu to get rid of items that are too nice to donate but that don't belong in my closet.  For a great summary about Poshmark and advice on how to sell on there, check out Wardrobe Oxygen's post.

I'd describe it as virtual thrifting through other people's closets.

As a shopping experience it seems pretty good - I haven't actually bought anything yet but it's pretty easy to find items and filter based on my size, etc. For browsing it's a bit more random as it's hard to have a quality feed. I find it better to pick a category or brand and browse through the results. I get the impression that there is more supply than demand since a lot of items are pretty cheap but still for sale - midrange designer jeans like AG Adriano Goldschmied are available in my size for less than $30. The reasonable prices make it really tempting to buy things that I don't need.

For selling it's been slow - there are a lot of people on the platform so it's hard to find your customer.  Fortunately the search is pretty good.

I did notice that trying to take photos from a tablet was terrible but that probably was a quirk of the Samsung Nexus 10 camera I was using. The app would enlarge the photo and auto-center it so that my item was off-center. And there were restrictions on image height and width so I couldn't zoom to fix the image. I haven't had issues when using my Android phone though.

Get a $10 credit when you join Poshmark with code: PLVPP. I get a credit too if you use this code.

On the music front, new music from Kiley Dean:


So great to hear new stuff from her!

Officially on a no-buy*

I'm officially on a no-buy - as in, I can't buy any makeup or skin care until I use up what I have.

So. Much. Stuff.  I have been trying to organize my stuff for a week now, and haven't made much progress.  However, it's official that I have more stuff than I know what to do with.  And I can't bring myself to throw any of it out, so I've just gotta use it up.

Which means, I can't buy anything new until I do use the stuff up.   Years!  It will take years, I say!  The skin care will get used up more quickly at least...

On my to-buy list:

1. Revlon Color Stay Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain - Rendezvous
2. Boots Hot Balm (cleansing balm)
3. Neutrogena - Pure & Free Liquid Daily Sunblock (a physical sunscreen - currently using up my mentholatum sunscreen)
4. I'd like Sleek Blush by 3, but I don't think I'll ever use up my blushes so that's probably never going to happen.

I need better-fitting sunglasses - the ones I have are too narrow for my head.

Carolina Hererra Chic (Women)

Found Carolina Hererra Chic for 1260 yen in a little drugstore in Shibuya with a surprisingly extensive inventory of perfume and drugstore items.

In the store, I noticed the signs saying not to touch the perfume after I accidentally knocked a bottle to the floor.  Interestingly, they don't let you test the perfume on skin - perhaps too many people trying to spray without buying?  Many of the testers are broken anyway, including Chic, Mat:Matsuzaki White, and a silver Mat.

Chanel Cristalle EDT can be had for 5600 yen (before tax?) so it's really not a bad place to pick up certain interesting finds.  The Mats all went for about 4000 yen or so.

Anyway, currently testing Chic - it's interesting.  As people have mentioned on fragrantica, the opening is off-putting.  I get some aquatic notes from it so I'm not sure how much I like it...

Chic is listed as in production, but the NY Carolina Herrera site no longer lists the women's version, and the international version only talks about the newer CH fragrance line.

Bad experience at the makeup counter

I spent too much time fuming about my experience last night at the Laura Mercier Counter in Mitsukoshi Ginza, so I'm going to just vent here and move on as fast as possible.

I've never spent much time at the Laura Mercier counters in Tokyo, mainly because there are so many other flashier brands.  And after yesterday, I don't think I'll be inclined to go near one for a long time!

This weekend, I bought the Laura Mercier mook, which came with a generous voucher for a little fan brush, a small sample pot of powder (perhaps the brightening powder), and a sample tube of hand cream in one of the 4 permanent scents (other than Creme Brulee).  It's been a full 2 months since the mook came out, so my visit yesterday was very late for trying out the voucher, but I went to the Laura Mercier counter at Mitsukoshi Ginza 三越銀座 and inquired.  They'd run out of the other items but the sales assistant (SA) offered me a sample of the hand cream if it was okay with me.  I selected Coconut Almond to try.  She asked if I'd like anything else, and I said I'd like to try out the brightening powder ”パウダーを試したいんですが。。。”.  She misunderstood me and repeated quickly that they ran out of it a month ago at Mitsukoshi so they didn't have any samples left.  As she'd already said they ran out of it, I had actually meant that I wanted to try it out directly at the counter, but I was rather taken aback by her repetition of the previous information and her polite implication that I was being too persistent.  Since she apparently hadn't been asking if I was interested in other products, I was a bit confused as to what she was actually asking for, so I asked if there was anything else I could select; I suppose this reinforced her impression that I was stupid.  She went off and got me the sample hand cream; I thanked her, and then went to poke around the displays.  However, it seemed like she wanted to get rid of me, as she followed me around, ignoring the other customers browsing, and replied to my questions as if I was stupid ("We have two types of concealer, one for under the eyes, one for in general"), so I gave up in the face of her hostility and ran off to find shelter at the Suqqu counter.

The Suqqu SA was so nice in contrast!  It was a great balm to my wounded psyche.  She showed me swatches of the quads and offered to apply the eyeshadows on me.  As I had lost the desire to browse, I politely declined and said I'd come back when I had more time, and she offered me a flyer, telling me that they would have new products out in Feb.  The ladies at Laduree were also charming and friendly.  They have the sweetest uniforms.

A month ago, when I had a voucher for a mini nail polish at Addiction, the Tokyu dept. store SA was super gracious, even though I didn't have time to shop around and try out products then.  So I really don't understand the attitude of the Laura Mercier SA.  It's a pity, as I like the Mercier approach to makeup, and the markup of the products in Japan is not as obscene as other foreign and domestic brands.  However, I would rather have avoided the whole unpleasant experience instead of getting the free sample of hand cream.

On the bright side, this has totally killed my desire to continue shopping during the new years sales, so my wallet is happy.

I ended the day with some fruitless clothing shopping and a stop at the Pandan Leaf Cafe in Printemps Ginza.  The egg tarts and rare cheese tarts are excellent!  The kaya toast is pretty good too, but it's quite different from what they serve in Singapore (toast is thicker and not as crispy at Pandan Leaf Cafe).

Boo Clarks Japan

Add Clarks to the list of shoe stores that only carry up to size 25 cm for women in Japan.  The last time I checked, Castaner also only carried up to size 25.  Considering the fact that these companies manufacture larger sizes, I really don't understand why they don't bother importing them to Japan.  They could even do it on demand when there's a request from customers.

bags!

I love this orange clutch available at ninewest!
Adorable, but really, don't need it :(

This one is pretty snazzy too.  Trendy, though.

However, I feel that this one would be the most practical for work. This pale gold metallic one seems more functional but the color is a bit too frivolous. The price is so good though! 

I love the way this orange striped one looks, but reviews of a similar style mention that the straps started cracking, so quality is not so good.  Still, I could replace the straps with cloth later.  More worrisome is the fact that one reviewer mentioned that the color came off on her shirt!  That would be really problematic.

posture

Corsets are a funny thing - pretty much worn only once or twice in a lifetime these days.

Went for another fitting today; I think I need to lose about 500g in order for the dress to fit better.  Otherwise they'll let it out a bit.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to try a rice porridge/Japanese konyaku diet.  And start walking, etc.

In beauty news, I'm trying out a Tony Moly Floria Nutra-Energy Mask Sheet - I quite like it; a light clean scent, moisturizing but not overly sticky.  We'll see how my skin likes it, but so far so good.  It's been a while since I pampered my skin with a face mask.  Far too long.

boo

My new Uniqlo jeans are too big. Boo for not being able to return them as I've already worn them.
Do I buy another pair in the correct size? Or just give up and wait for a sale on the super soft Gap jeans that are twice the price?
I think I'll wait for some Vicky jeans. So far they're my favorite pair ever. In fact they're on sale now; I'll go try them on.

I love the start of a new year

Even though it's only symbolic, I love the fresh start that it symbolizes.

I should have a fresh start every month. A time to take stock of everything and make small/big adjustments.

One of my goals is to get through the belly dance DVD that I bought last year.
I haven't done anything yet - I'm not sure why. I'll go to the onsen tonight, hit the grocery store for some chicken to pan-fry, and put on the dvd while the chicken cooks.

I also took serious advantage of the New Year sales in Tokyo. However, I haven't the patience to look at everything on sale (every store has a sale - I literally can't visit every store!) so I've just hit the GAP, Zara, Banana Republic, and Uniqlo. I wish I took more advantage of the Japanese brands, but the shoulder sizing and arm sizing tends to be too short for me, even at Uniqlo which has more forgiving sizing than the smaller boutique brands. So it's more efficient for me to stick to the western brands. Pants fit nicely though and it's hard to beat Uniqlo prices! I try not to convert prices to USD though.

I have to characterize my spree as a binge; over the holidays I got:
GAP: a light brown down jacket
GAP: a thin tan cashmere/wool turtleneck
GAP: a workout tank in a blue-purple
GAP: a long-sleeved workout top in black
GAP: a black and white boxy short-sleeved cardigan
GAP: a black zip up knit vest trimmed with soft fake fur
Banana Republic: A soft blue cropped suit jacket
Uniqlo: warmup pants in dark blue
Uniqlo: Dark regular boot cut jeans
Uniqlo: pink wool turtleneck
UnderArmour: two sports bras
UnderArmour: pink heatgear v-neck top - super comfy

In retrospect, I should have passed on the tan turtleneck and the soft blue suit jacket, but I will definitely wear everything. The jacket will look nice with my tweed brown skirt. Anyway, that's my winter shopping for the year! Urgh.

some long-term lemmings

For whatever reason (it's fall?) I am in the mood to shop recently (since yesterday).
Perhaps checking out the final +J collection at Uniqlo last night was a bad idea.

I found two nice work skirts for 1300 yen each though, so I'm quite happy. Fortunately, none of the coats quite fit me, so I escaped from the clutches of the new collection quite unscathed. The XL coats are a bit too big, but the sleeves are not long enough.
They have lovely large cashmere scarves (mufflers) limited to the Ginza Uniqlo shop, but they're 14,000 yen or something and I wasn't prepared to spend that much on a scarf.

Some cosmetics lemmings of mine:

Shiseido Shimmering Eye Color: So pretty! I want the gunmetal, the purple, and the medium blue, but the light pink and the beige are probably much more practical colors for me. But the deeper colors are just lovely so it's difficult to be practical. With the weak yen, I'm tempted to buy abroad.

large shoe sizes for ladies in Tokyo

Queen's卑弥呼銀座店
The shoes are not cheap here; expect to pay more than 10,000 (sorry, accidentally wrote 100,000 which is incorrect, thanks lostinube!) on average. But they do have occasional sales.

Ginza Washington
They have a shop specializing in large sizes in Ginza also. Similarly priced to Queen's 卑弥呼, but perhaps a bit better quality.

In addition, 0101 department store (Marui) has a 01 MODEL floor on the 7th floor of the main building specializing in large shoe sizes for ladies. 新宿マルイ本館

materialism: stating the obvious: rule 1 of online shopping

Well, rule 1 perhaps should be "don't spend more than you can afford," but I'm going to start with a rule that occurred to me this morning:

1. Shop for specific items. Don't go browsing; it's ideal to go online with a specific item and a price range in mind already. Browsing through stuff is an easy way to end up with things you don't need and won't use.
It's best if you have a specific product in mind too. For example, go shopping for the Manolo Blahnik Kidskin Low-Heel Halter, Navy in size 8 (I wish! Gorgeous shoe).

I was looking for decants of Bergamote by The Different Company, and ended up on Beauty Habit's Outlet page, a very dangerous page with Jurlique products and other delightful skin care and cosmetics offerings. I collected a cart full of products, and had to run off to work. Later on I'll cull out the unnecessary items and perhaps buy something.

on purses and quality

A very interesting and well done thread on the ostensibly common question "Should I keep it or return it?"
About a leather handbag, with some interesting links and explanations of markers of quality.

sequoia e-mook

I have got to start eating breakfast.
Mary J. Blige and Christy Turlington are great.

It's really nice to see the great supermodels returning. There are tons of pretty models nowadays, but Turlington is gorgeous and interesting. I don't like Kate Moss as much, even though she does manage to be a fashion leader.

I picked up the e-mook from Sequoia this weekend. Included as a huroku/gift is a hot pink little tote bag with sturdy leather handles. I'm using it at work for my midday (lunch) excursions, as my little canvas Miffy tote (gift from Lawson by collecting stickers) is a bit grungy and could use a wash. The pink Sequoia tote is much more of a proper bag as it's even lined! For 1200 yen, you can't beat it in Japan. It's probably made in China of course, but it's cute and useful. My Chisato Mori tote has a terribly cute pattern, but it's not as nicely made so I'll use it for shopping closer to hope - easy to toss my wallet, keys and phone into totes as opposed to proper purses.

It's funny, Le Sport Sac bags are really far too marked up in Japan. Much better to buy in the U.S. as Le Sport Sac even has a sale site! Currently down for maintenance. I hope it comes back soon so I can do some holiday shopping. I'll check out Bluefly instead.

on using money sensibly

I've bought 4 pairs of shoes in the last week.

This is quite an unusual event, in that it's rather difficult to find my shoe size here in Japan. Normally, shoes for women only go as large as 24.5 cm here. However, I've slowly gotten to know the stores that carry larger sizes.

Washington Appropriate (specialty branch of Washington, a Japanese shoe store) in Ginza (6F of the building that Dalloyau sits in). I only learned about this store recently, but the shoes are reasonably stylish and seem to be pretty well made. Probably on the high end of average shoe prices in Japan. Summer and winter sales periods are a good time to shop, as most shoes are on sale for half price. Even then, a pair of shoes is likely to be 10,000 yen. I heard about this shop just in time for the current sale period and in my excitement, I bought 3 pairs :) All of the shoes are quite attractive, but the loveliest pair was too stiff and gave me blisters. I had to take it to the local repair shop to have them stretch it out. Still, one pair of shoes is soft leather and is almost guaranteed to be comfortable. The last pair of shoes will probably have to be stretched and softened too.

Oriental Traffic carries larger sizes at all of their stores apparently. Shimokitazawa has a floor devoted to the larger sizes, which is much less crowded than the ground floor shop. Trendy and inexpensive shoes (many 5,000 yen shoes). Quality is what you would expect from the price, but fun styles. I think all of the shoes are made in China. I've never owned any of their shoes.

O1O1's branch next to MUJI in East Shinjuku (after Kinokuniya and on the way to Isetan) has a store in the basement devoted to Model sizes (I like their term for large sizes!). Styles are quite fashionable, and prices range from 10,000 to 20,000+ easily. Quality is average or above. I have a pair of shoes that have lasted a couple years and are still wearable. They carry a range of brands so I don't know how good the quality is in general.

Queen's 卑弥呼 is the specialty branch of the 卑弥呼 shoe manufacturer, located in Keio Mall on the basement level of the west side of Shinjuku. Styles are fashionable and prices range from 10,000 to 20,000, but the pair of shoes I got from this shop only lasted about a year of regular use. They were quite comfortable in the beginning though.

Tulsa Time in Kichijoji - for the average prices they charge, I didn't think the quality of the shoes was particularly good. Most shoes were in the 7,000 to 15,000 yen range, but of course there are less and more expensive shoes also available. Styles lean towards what is trendy for women in their mid-20s here.

There's a shoe store on the west side of Seibu Shinjuku station - coming from Shinjuku station you go out the west exit, turn right, and walk along that large street for a while before coming to the shop on the left side of the street. Styles lean towards older and less trendy fashions. The store itself feels rather old. I thought quality was so-so, and didn't end up buying anything. Price range was similar to Tulsa Time.

As a bonus, I discovered that my local shoe/bag repair shop carries Castaner sandals! Sadly they were sold out of my size, but I did find some lovely italian sandals in a soft dark brown leather for a mere 4,000. That was my fourth purchase this week, and the very best. Ridiculously cheap, classically stylish, and comfortable shoes. I may just stalk the store for their half-yearly shipments of new stock, as they make spending more money at other places look terribly nonsensical. If you wear size 35 or 37, there's a shop I can tell you about.