Tag Archives: Japanese

Giveaway Contest | Ebizo Ichikawa Japan Theatre

Hi Loves!

Are you a fan of Japanese theatre? Then you’ll be pleased to know thatEBIZO ICHIKAWA XI’s JAPAN THEATER 2015 will be here in Singapore in October!

Ebizo Ichikawa XI as Ishikawa Goemon in Mimasu Kuruwa no KasauriEbizo Ichikawa XI

Ebizo Ichikawa XI is from one of Japan’s oldest and most prestigious kabuki families. This October, the ‘Crown Prince of Kabuki’ will be coming to Singapore to debut two new kabuki plays, Uwanari and Mimasu Kuruwa no Kasauri. Uwanari has not been performed in a hundred years, and its debut on the 17th of October marks a significant moment in kabuki history.

Catch a glimpse of the show on video here:
https://youtu.be/sdDsKAke7JA

 The show will be running for two days on the 17th and 18th October at Marina Bay Sands, and the show-times are indicated below for your easy reference:

Showtime

17 October 2015 – Saturday

3pm & 7:30pm

18 October 2015 – Sunday

3pm

Thanks to EBIZO ICHIKAWA XI’s JAPAN THEATER 2015 & their PR, we are giving a way a pair of tickets, each worth $145!

Contest Date: 14th September to 25th September

Terms and Conditions: No age limit, no photography nor videography during the performance, and no reselling of complimentary tickets. The organizer reserves the right to make changes to the terms and conditions.

All you have to do is to go to my IG and FB page to look out for the giveaway post and follow the steps to qualify for the giveaway!

Good luck!

x

Ena

Kose’s Youthful Radiance Beauty Workshop with Ariel Lin

As announced on my Instagram & Facebook,
I’m currently in the running as one of the six finalist for Kose Sekkisei Cinderella contest! 🙂
(took me so long to announce here… procrastination will be the death of me >.<)

As part of the contest, each finalist has a dedicated Kose Facebook page where we post our beauty tips and journey through the month of May.
Do show some love and support by liking my page here (you can also click like on the sidebar)! <3
o(^^)o

Prior to joining the contest, I was invited by June to attend a Kose Beauty workshop where Taiwanese actress and Kose Ambassador Ariel Lin was also in attendance! 🙂

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Kose make up artist Cleo, June, Ariel and DJ Jia Hui during the skincare segment.2014-04-05 14.57.15

Fan interaction where Cleo and Ariel show how one can complete the make up base regime in less than 5 min.

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Ariel giving out token of appreciation to the volunteers. Lucky lucky volunteer who got her face touched by Ariel! Haha!

Next up we have make up segment by Osamu Dobashi, Japanese make up artist who looks like Vanness Wu, especially from his side profile. 😛 Model of the segment is the model/actress Haley.2014-04-05 15.13.32 2014-04-05 15.13.36-2 2014-04-05 15.14.53

Look at all the important looking Japanese men at the front row. I was wondering if they enjoyed the workshop as much as we ladies did. Hehe!

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Dobashi getting very animated about makeup.2014-04-05 15.49.00

And the whole look is completed!

Then we have Ariel re-entering the stage with a beautiful blue dress. 2014-04-05 15.52.54 2014-04-05 15.53.15 2014-04-05 15.53.23 2014-04-05 15.53.27 2014-04-05 15.53.29 2014-04-05 15.59.35 2014-04-05 16.00.34 2014-04-05 16.00.36 Sorry my Iphone 5 photos doesn’t do her justice. Her skin is as beautiful (or perhaps more so) than a 24 year old’s and she’s past 30! I want to have beautiful skin like hers when I’m her age! <3

After the stage demos, all of the participants got to explore booths and buy Kose products at a discount! Yay!

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Beach themed decoration. So cute!2014-04-05 17.00.21

Instagram activities for the evening! 2014-04-05 17.31.23Photo collage with all the lovely people at the event! <3

I’ll be blogging about the Kose Sekkisei Cinderella Contest audition and interview process in another post soon!

Some of my updates on my Kose page:-
Be sure to visit my page here to read about each post and like for updates! 😉

2014-05-02 11.11.50 2014-05-02 15.23.00 2014-05-03 09.50.19 2014-04-16 00.20.00 2014-05-09 15.28.49Thank you June, Kose Sg Team for the wondering afternoon at MBS for the workshop.

Thank you for reading <3

xx

Ena

HABA Japanese Non-Additive Skincare Review

Hello~!

Today I’ll be reviewing a set of products from HABA, a Japanese skincare and beauty line. ^^

HABA Skincare Review

HABA the brand, is an acronym which stands for Health Aid Beauty Aid.
HABA believes in beauty from the inside out:
that the right skincare and healthcare will lead to a better life.

HABA also desires for their users to experience a Non-Additive mindset,
which originates from Hokkaido, Japan.

What is unique about HABA is that it boasts to be:
Paraben-Free
Mineral Oil Free
Artificial Colourant Free
Artificial Fragrance Free
Petrochemical Surfactant Free

These are common additives (aka preservatives) in many brands’ products
that can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions.
Instead, HABA uses ingredients such as sasa kurilensis water (bamboo extract) which acts as a preservative, contains antibacterial properties and helps to keep the skin moisturized. (Is that why bamboo juice is so refreshing on a hot summer day?!). HABA only uses ingredients that are safe  and healthy for the skin.

Enabalista HABA Skincare Review

Weeks back, I was invited down for a mini facial and skincare treatment at the HABA Suntec outlet.

The skincare treatment consists of the items which I also brought back for use to review.

The regime is as such:

HABA Micro Force Cleansing Review

1) Cleanse
with HABA’s Micro Force Cleansing
2 in 1 make up remover and cleanser

Usage:
I pump 1-2 times on my cotton pad and wipe away my makeup.
Then I will gently cleanse my face with water.

After using this to remove my make up, it also cleanses my skin, so technically it saves me one step!
That said, however I still use a gentle cleanser in the shower. 😛

I love this water based cleanser as it is very hydrating and moderate in consistency,
much like a water based lotion and cleanses gently as much as  thoroughly.

HABA White Lady Whitening Serum Review

2) Special Care
with HABA’s best selling whitening serum, White Lady

Usage:
I use 1 pump for my entire (small) face.
Pump generously into your palm for how much you require,
and gently pat on your face with your fingers.

This serum is developed from a doctor’s formula,
contains sasa kurilensis water (bamboo extract) and vitamin C,
it is moisturizing, antiseptic and has sterilizing effects.
The serum is light weight and is liquid in consistency.

HABA VC Whitening Healing Toner Review

3) Moisturize with
HABA’s VC lotion, whitening toner

Usage:
Apply VC Lotion by patting lightly on the skin with both hands.
HABA encourages ladies to apply this toner 5 times during each use.
This way, the product can fully penetrate the skin, leaving it refreshed and supple.

I was quite amazed at why I was never previously educated on this method,
it does make a lot of sense since toner bottles always come in such big bottles and take forever to finish.
That said, it’s still important to check and follow the recommended dosage for different brands
as not all toners are formulated in the same way. 🙂

VC lotion is a moisturizing alcohol free toner infused with Vitamin C derivative
which can penetrate the skin better and is non irritating to the skin.
It also contains Ceramide nanosome which
helps to keep moisture levels in your skin for a longer time.

HABA Squalane Beauty Oil Review

4) Protect 
with HABA’s Squalane

Usage:
With hands and face still moist from toner lotion,
apply one drop of Squalane on your moist hands,
spread the Squalane on your palms and press them gently on your moist face.

This is also one of HABA’s best selling products.
Extracted from deep sea shark’s liver oil, this is the same oil
that is in our skin that created a protective film to retain hydration.

After using this set for weeks in the morning and evening, I feel that my skin is pampered and properly hydrated. I would definitely recommend this to ladies who are looking for natural skin care products, for hydrated and supple skin, especially in dry weather. 

The prices of the featured products are as such:
– Micro Force Cleansing (Makeup Remover) 120ml, S$46
– White Lady (Whitening Serum) 30ml, $78
– VC Lotion 180ml, S$85
– Squalane (Beauty Oil), 15ml $29
I’ve been using these products for about 3 weeks now,
and I approximate that these will last for 3 months.

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5) Moist White Beauty Drink 
A fresh, crisp beauty drink that contains Haskap (blueberry honeysuckle),
a fruit that is coveted for its powerful whitening and anti-aging properties.
It also includes collagen, ceramidea and L-Cystine
which helps to enhance skin clarity and firmness.
Each bottle contains 3,000mg of collagen and on 21 calories per bottle. 🙂

The taste is sweet, smooth and I love the blueberry flavour.
I only got to try 1 bottle, so I can’t attest to it’s longer term effect.
Also, as I am also in my early 20s I don’t (yet) have to worry about collagen loss.
Altho’ I’m quite sure when the time comes (another 5-10 years) I’ll start collagen intake regularly
as it’s been said that collagen drink works wonders for your skin! 😉
$49/box (of 10 bottles).

ION Esthe II Review

When I was in their store, I als got to try their Ion My Esthe II,
a home esthetic treatment device that cleanses and treats your skin with the power of ion.
It performs two basic function in two modes:
Ion Cleansing Mode and Ion Care Mode.

I tried their  Ion Care Mode as such:
Apply 8-10 pumps of White Lady Serum on face
Soak a face sheet with VC Lotion
Put the mask on face and slowly roll on Ion My Esthe II on my face
At approximately 8 minutes, a beeping sound will go off to indicate that the treatment is done.
Remove the mask and apply lotion Squalane on your face.
It is recommended to perform Ion Care Mode twice a week
and Ion Cleanse Mode once a week for maximum results.

I am quite amazed at how ION treatment works, in the sense that I am unsure how it works.:P
(Maybe my learned chemical engineering sister can tell me how?)
It’s also hard for me to say how effective it is as I’ve only tried it once.
However I can attest that it’s definitely safe, it uses our/my own body’s ION power to
charge this instrument. Cool huh?!
That’s one of the reason why I love being a blogger!
Getting acquainted and to be able to try new and cool
beauty products and treatments to share on my blog. ^^
Given the chance, I would definitely love to try using it for a longer period. 🙂

 The Ion My Esthe II (Facial Instrument) costs $350.

HABA also has make up products, which I had the pleasure to try during my visit.
Their make up products are light and feels very natural
and also creates a very Japanese look, in my opinion.
If you’re a fan of natural/non-additive products, do give their make up range a try. 🙂

~ For my dear readers ~ ^^
Quote my name “Ena” and get 15% discount, valid till April 2014.  

I will also be having a HABA GIVEAWAY &
1 lucky winner will win more than $200 worth of HABA products consisting of:

– 1 make up remover

– 1 White Lady (whitening serum)

– 1 toner

– 1 Squalane oil

To join, simply do the following:

 Step 1: LIKE HABA’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/haba.com.sg

Step 2: Like my blog Enabalista Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/enabalista

Step 3: SHARE this Facebook post here.

Deadline: 30 March 2014, Sunday 7pm.
Winner will be announced here and on my Enabalista FB page shortly after.

Winner will have to provide his/her email address and pick up the products at the Suntec store!
HABA staff will select the suitable products after checking your skin type. ^^

You can find HABA outlets at:

Suntec City Mall #01-306

Ngee Ann City #B2-13A

And their *NEW* OG Orchard !
To celebrate this event, they are having an exclusive promotion, see below image for more info.:

HABA OG Orchard EDM_edited-4

Follow HABA on their Facebook here.

Thanks for reading! <3

X

Ena

Matsuri Day Beauty Workshop featuring Majolica Majorca, Senka & Ma Cherie

Hello!

Today I’ll be blogging about my experience at Matsuri Day Beauty Workshop about 2 weeks ago. 🙂

Matsuri means Festival in Japanese. I am not quite sure which festival we were meant to be celebrating, but I think it should be the Mid-Autumn Festival or Lantern Festival which was just recently passed!

Once again, I’ll let the photos do the talking. 🙂

Matsuri Beauty Workshop Shiseido
The workshop was held at Shiseido’s office and conference hall.
Matsuri Beauty Workshop Hummingbird Palette
The little hummingbook III and a set of nail polish looking bottles which are actually blush tints! >_<

So I took these photos before the workshop started proper, and I thought those bottles were nail polish. When the time came for us to test and apply the products, I used them on my finger, only to realize they don’t dry up but rather they become a powder-like layer over my names! The girls on the same table and I have a good  laugh over it. 😛

Matsuri Beauty Workshop Hummingbird Palette 2
This is how the little Hummingbird III Palette look on the inside. It has a 3 light eyeshadow pots and 1 lip gloss pot.

The light pink is the eyeshadow base followed by two eyeshadow colours in gold and pink which you can decide to use them individually or together. I don’t like that the eyeshadow and lip gloss pots were placed together as the eyeshadow powder will contaminate the lip gloss pot. I also don’t like the lip gloss colour as it didn’t seem to go with the other colours. But what I do love, is the pretty and unique packaging…

Matsuri Beauty Workshop Hummingbird Palette 3
The palette with musical score which I believe to be accurate. Would be interesting to play it out on the piano!
Matsuri Beauty Workshop Senka
Senka Product Table

The workshop started first with Senka product introduction followed by testing/application. According to the trainer whose name is Louis, Senka means expert or specialist in Japanese and essentially the brand is known to be focus on R&D to produce the best skincare products for Asian skin. Hence they have good quality products without much fan-fare on the packaging.

I won’t go much into details about the products except for the Senka Perfect Watery Oil, which is known to be a makeup remover that also helps to remove and minimize blackheads!

Perfect Watery Oil Senka

Louis was raving about how effective it was and that he used it and it works. So I even asked him if it is non-comodegenic (non acne causing) and he said it is! Out of all the products, it’s one that I’d like to try and thankfully they handed us a sample bottle to try! So I’ll likely try and put up a review after I’ve used it. ^^ Meanwhile, you can check out QiuQiu’s sponsored review on their makeup removers here.

Matsuri Beauty Workshop Majolica Makeup 2013

After the Senka introduction portion, we had our hands on session with Majolica Majorca makeup! I tweeted after the session how I love this brand for its fantasy concept… It’s so beautiful lah! *^^* They remind me of Anna Sui, except with a stronger concept with more story telling. 🙂 Check out their website and watch the video on the site! You can follow their FB page here. This season’s story is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland with a strong baroque styling. Not exactly the most original concept, but still interesting and captivating!

Matsuri Beauty Workshop Majolica Makeup

My favourite items out of the tray of testers/samples will definitely be the Skin Lingerie Pore Cream with its BB cream like effect and it acts much like a lightweight primer and the golden brown eyeliner, which I also have one at home. I bought it at Watsons sometime last year when I was hunting for a brown liquid liner and the lady recommended me it. It doesn’t have the best of mechanism as it requires one to shake and dispense on a brush tip, but when I mastered it, the effect and colour is most lovely. 🙂 Matsuri Beauty Workshop Majolica Tints

Saying Hi again to the deceptive blush tints, nail polish wanna-bes! 😛

Matsuri Beauty Workshop Ma Cherie

The last segment of the workshop was Ma Cherie, it means my dear in french. Looking at the branding and design it looks just like a French pastry store logo doesn’t it? I guess Ma Cherie wishes its customers to feel sweet and happy when using their products!

Matsuri Beauty Workshop Hair Demo

Louis the skincare and hair trainer showing how to work a Ma Cherie product. I think this was a hair curl setting spray.

Matsuri Beauty Workshop Ena and Friends

Taking a photo for memories with the ladies on our table! Wei ling, Huihong, Winnie & Huili! 🙂

My review! 

Out of all the workshops/events I’ve attended thus far, this has got to be one of the most light-hearted and enjoyable event, much credit due to Louis’ good humour and entertaining demonstrations! It was also really nice meeting new friends who are also makeup lovers! Thus the time during the session just flew past. 😀

It’s surprising to me that Shiseido would invite 30 female guests down for a free workshop and offer so many of its products for free testing. But I reckon it works out for them if after the session 1/2 of us or more would actually buy their products after testing and potentially become loyal users. This is especially so if there are also existing and similar Japanese brands such as Hada Labo skincare and Liese haircare in the market who are stiff competitors. Also, I got a chance to attend the workshop by taking part in Majolica Majorca’s Facebook contest and was 1 of the 10 winners. So it’s also a strategy of giving back to the fans, thereby reinforcing brand loyalty. 🙂

I don’t love every single item that I tried on that day, there were definitely some hits and misses. But for what it’s worth, it made me fall in love with the Majolica Majorca Skin Lingerie Pore Cream and want to try the Senka Perfect Watery Oil! That’s a pretty good desired effect from a participant, I reckon!

Oh, as a note to self,  it might also be a good idea to bring a small set of usual makeup so in case there aren’t some holy grail makeup items to achieve my desire effect, such as my eye makeup, at least I would have backup… I didn’t that day and took the longest time using Majolica Majorca’s makeup (which are not close substitute to my usual ones) to draw my eye makeup. >-<

So with a face full of makeup (which is rare for me, since I usually don’t put full on foundation) I decided I’d snap more photos!

Ena reviews Majolica Majorca Makeup

After the Nth time to get a good angle.

Ena reviews Majolica Majorca Makeup2

Still a bit dark.

Ena reviews Majolica Majorca Makeup3

Changed a spot to get the light on my face. 🙂

Ena reviews Majolica Majorca Makeup4

Anotther one. Panda eyes, Duck smile!

Ena reviews Majolica Majorca Makeup5

Retarded smile! 😛 Angles are so important for face selfies, really!

Ena reviews Majolica Majorca Makeup6

Gotta love my tiny eyes and funny faces! ^^

And yes, I’ve probably worn the exact outfit and necklace combination more than thrice. What do it, it’s nice like that right? 😛

xx

Ena