Tokyo Trip in Jun/Jul – My personal purchases from the trip

I’m hereby bowing down to pressure from many friends who have asked what do I do on my trips with thechicshop girls when we go to Japan for our spree.

I always answer – what else… shopping of course!~

This time round, I’m very satisfied with all the purchases for myself and it’s pretty ironic to say, but I did save $$$ shopping in Tokyo, a city which is said to be expensive for many products!~

I always get excited when I view pictures of what people buy on their trips to Japan. So, to up the adrenaline in this first post on the Jun/Jul trip, here are the items that I’ve purchased:

1. Lycee Eyedrops. It gives a cooling sensation which Yan and I call it our Miracle water (named after skII). Really refreshes tired and dry eyes. It’s sold in Matsumoto Kiyoshi.

2. Three different bottles of nail polish – Kiss cosmetics, Majolica Majorca and Jill Stuart – my dad made this comment after I’ve told him about my purchases in Tokyo – ‘Singapore cannnot buy nail polish is it?’

3. Jill Stuart Mix Compact Blush – Yes, I finally thrown in the towel and got a mix compact for myself.

4. RMK eye gel – not bad, quite like the cooling effect of the gel after application and eye area does feel more hydrated. But it’s not for people looking for lighten dark eye circles. Not much difference from Fancl eyegel but I think RMK might be a cheaper alternative because it comes in 20g a tube.

5. Shu Uemura Depsea skincare and UV base – cheaper in Japan.

6. New mascara from Fiberwig called Fiberwig Ex – not sure if it’s good as I bought it on a whim.

7. Majolica Majorca full and smooth mascara + white eyeliner- restocking for my own makeup supplies. Still one of my favorite brands for mascara.

8. Sunblock from Allie – its point of sale poster said it is one of the fave sunblock by Japanese. I’ve tried it and it still has the smell of normal sunblock but it feels less greasy. Think I’ll not be purchasing another bottle after I’ve finished with it.

9. Nivea Lipbalm – nothing special just that I forgot to bring my lipbalm to Tokyo and hence had to get one from the stores. Air is really dry over there. Need to bring moisturister and lipbalm.

1. Three tees from cecil mcbee – they had a sale and each costs 2980 Yen,

2. Three canisters of Uniqlo tees. Uniqlo had a sale and some tees went down to 999 Yen. Only managed to buy one that cost 999. The other two cost 1500 Yen. bought a tee with ranma picture, very happy with the surprise buy,

3. a skirt from a flea market (800 Yen) at long last, managed to visit a flea market!,

4. a pretty lacy top (2100 Yen) Another surprise buy but what I felt was disappointing is that it requires drycleaning. Ex!

Besides the above, I also purchased a Canon camera which is way cheaper than the prices in Singapore, one Agnes B bag, one Garcia bag, one pair of shoes, a audio technica earphone and an ipod gift set (contains a 1500 Yen card, a charger for use in Japan, two cleaning cloth, plastic film protector, the plastic piece that coils up the excess earphones!)

Don’t ask me how much I’ve spent as I’m not going to give myself a fright! It’s already quite scary to see the difference in my bank account before and after the trip!~

Krispy Kreme Donuts in Tokyo – sweet nothings Part 1

I really wonder why people love queuing up for donuts. Being curious over this, I too joined the queue for it but personally, I feel it is not worth an hour to 1.5 hours wait. Before even attempting to queue, I walked pass the outlet once and commented to my partner-in-crime Yan that “these people are crazy, queuing for donuts in the rain”.

Who knew on the next day, we were one of the crazy fellows queuing up for donuts! That day, we queued up for more than 1.5 hours just to step in the outlet. The strangest thing wasn’t the 1.5 hours wait but rather everyone was still queuing when Tokyo faced earthquake tremors! Yan, who was then in queue (erm.. I was shopping in Takashimaya when that happened), said that noone attempted to move out from their spot in the queue even though the bridge swayed quite forcefully. Imagine that! Either the Japanese were nonchalant about earthquakes, treating it like a normal occurance or they felt too much was at stake if they moved away from the bridge (meaning their spot in the queue). Sigh… I seriously hope it is the latter reason.

There were two queues, one in front of the outlet and another that was up on the bridge. It took more than 1.5 hours to step into the outlet!!

But the great thing about Krispy Kreme in Japan was that they gave free delicious original donuts, just out from the oven, and a cup of iced water for those in queue. For those in the first queue (in front of the outlet), there were umbrellas for them to use it. Really that was fantastic service. and that’s what I love about Japan! The service people are really considerate! However, both Yan and I agreed that this would never materialise in Singapore. Not because Singapore’s service industry is bad but rather Singaporeans will just queue up and take their free donuts and then run off. Perhaps they may even take the umbrellas away (after all they look really sweet, with ruffles at the ends)!

 

About 1.5 hours later, we got to the line that was nearest to the glass windows of the outlet and took pictures of the donut processing chain where the donuts were first dipped into oil then sugar syrup was dripped all over the donuts, then quality checks. Some were wrapped up to give out as free donuts while the others were put into crates. It was quite interesting to see how donuts were made but it really shows you how unhealthy donuts are.. Immersed in oil and full of sugar and starch. My.. why would anyone wants to go for a second serving??