Meh: THREE eyeliner and K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner 24h

I'm forced to conclude that on my eyes, pencil eyeliners just don't cut it.  I thought that the THREE flash performance eyeliner held up pretty well, but at the end of the day it does crease on me.  The same goes for INTEGRATE Kira Wink Gel liners, and Pixi endless silky eye pens.  I just got an ADDICTION pencil eyeliner so I'll give that one last try, then I give up on pencils.  MUFE aqua eyes don't last on me either.

It's a pity.  All those unobtainable pretty colors!

This probably means I should be using a primer, but I haven't figured out how to use those, and the KATE Super sharp liner still works for me, so I am fine with that.

K-Palette 1 Day Tattoo Real Lasting Eyeliner 24h (wp) is pretty easy to use, but after a few hours it smudges on my oily lids, so I won't be repurchasing.  Interestingly, they didn't shy away from the word "tattoo," but Maybelline chose to rename their "Color Tattoo" eyeshadows for the Japanese market as "Color Ink."

orange! bags!

Gosh, I love the look of this orange blazer from Zara.

This orange shopper also looks amazing, but I need a zipper.

This brown square bowling bag is also cute, but not quite as stunning.

H&M is taking in clothes for recycling; they give a 500 yen coupon (good for any purchase 3000 yen or more) and will take any clothes, even if there are holes or stains, as they can recycle them for purposes other than re-wear.  Unlike Uniqlo, they will take any brand of clothing.  That's pretty awesome, as currently I just throw out such clothing with the burnable trash.

These bags look like they'd be great for work:

Brown H&M bag

 

Black H&M bag

Simplifying my Wardrobe: Bags

Inspired by The Minimalist Mom and other sites, I've started thinking more about how to get rid of things.  Composing this post forced me to be realistic and eliminate 4 additional items.  I found this point from http://www.xojane.com/clothes/project-33-capsule-wardrobe very apt:

Dress for your real life, not your fantasy one.

Eliminated:

1. A satin magnetic closure purse that I bought more than 8 years ago.  I've used it a few times, but that's about it.
2. red wallet that is too small to be useful (magazine freebie)
3. Large orange briefcase that can be split up into 2 sections - passed it to the SO
4. A large purse that is nice but too heavy
5. A small purse that doesn't hold enough for my purposes

Inventory:

1. Small black ostrich leather purse - super cute and looks like it will last me my lifetime.  After 10 years or so, it looks like new!  Partially this is because I only use it occasionally.
2. To be replaced: Brown computer briefcase.  Light and well designed, but showing a bit of wear on the leather accents.  If I ever wear it out, I hope I can get this sleek briefcase:This black purse is probably a bit more versatile and generally useful, but it's not as stunningly sleek as the briefcase: 
3. To be replaced: Blue crossbody nylon purse -> hoping to replace this some day with a sleeker, more durable alternative

On the travel side:

1. Orange weekender bag
2. Fold-able blue duffle for sports
3. Large suitcase - the zipper for the expandable section has broken, but otherwise it's in good condition
4. Fold-able thin black travel pack - ostensibly for when I might need an extra suitcase coming home, but it has only been used once for travel, and otherwise for hauling laundry.
5. To be replaced: Black Nike backpack that has an almost unusable zipper - practically new but I hate it because of the faulty zipper -> I would definitely like to replace this backpack with a better one, but am trying to get more use out of it first
6. Candidate for elimination: Maroon duffel from my college crew days - nostalgic and one of a kind.  Mostly just used for hauling laundry to and from the laundromat
7. Candidate for elimination: Orange duffel bag -> storing my unused-for-years snowboarding equipment.
8. 2 travel organizers
9. 2 toiletry cases
10. A sento bag for visits to the local baths

I may still have a small carry-on, or I may have dumped this as it was on its last legs.  I'm not sure as it may be inside of the large suitcase.

Other:

1. 5 simple totes (magazine freebies plus a こきんちゃん tote) - used for my toiletries, my belts, my weekend purse, and my hair things
2. 2 canvas shopping bags, 3 nylon shopping totes
3. 4 wallets
4. 3 pouches, 2 change pouches

 Next up, maybe shoes, maybe looping back to clothes.  This is an iterative process.

flan in Tokyo

In addition to the addictive Portuguese flan at Villa Moura Ginza ヴィラモウラ 銀座 (closer to 日比谷 really), Junkadelic in 中目黒 does an excellent flan.

Both are highly recommended!

KATE rouge hg (high glam) in OR-10, LUX hair mask

KATE rouge hg (high glam) in OR-10 is a pretty, wearable coral.  On my pigmented lips it seems moderately pigmented.  Quite good value, as you can sometimes find KATE sold at 30% off list price.  Unless I find a color I absolutely have to have, this will be the most I spend on lipsticks until I use up a few lip products.  Kanebo Media will probably be able to fill the orange lipstick gap in my wardrobe, and Addiction Last Scene has my red lipstick craving satisfied, so I'm set for now.

I'm testing out LUX super rich shine hair mask - in terms of texture and detangling it feels great. After blow-drying, my hair is not quite dry but it's not silky soft either, so I would describe this as average.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I do love reading Miss Manners.  I just finished reading her Guide to Domestic Tranquility which I found quite educational, although admittedly slow at times.  I will need to read it a few more times and practice actually being polite in certain areas where I have repeatedly failed in the past.

Addiction Moroccan Rose Coffret

I picked up this holiday coffret in 2012 as it was absolutely gorgeous, but it turns out that it's actually a bit too gorgeous to touch.  Now I'm waffling about posting it on eBay minus the nail polish as Japan Post doesn't allow nail polishes to be mailed.

Hum de dum, it's so gorgeous, but do I really need it?

Dick Page explores cities around the world

There's this fantastic series of videos published by Shiseido in April where Dick Page shows his favorite spots around a few cities:

The cities:
* Dick Page takes Paris
* Dick Page Discovers Hong Kong
* Dick Page in New York City
* Dick Page in Tokyo

The full list of Shiseido Dick Page videos.