Marinda Leigh's Giveaway from Japan

I'm hosting a big Giveaway from Japan on my collaboration blog - Marindaleigh.com

Everything here is a personal favourite. There are three sets of prizes and three winners to be picked for this giveaway! 

3rd prize - winner to be drawn on 12th June 2013

This prize includes a lot of snacks from Japan and also a cute box filled with cookies from the Maid Cafe in Akihabara!

Runner up prize - winner to be drawn on the 12th July 2013

This prize includes the following:

Diamond Lash - Airy eyes 

I'm really into natural looking false lashes lately and these lashes are incredibly natural looking, soft and easy to apply. 5 pairs will also last you a while!

Dolly Wink eyeshadow 01 Brown

I swear by Dolly Wink and Candy Doll products. You can't go wrong with this neutral brown colour palette. It's the best selling Dolly Wink eyeshadow palette! It's so popular that Tsubasa made two other variations - 02 Pink brown and 03 Smoky brown.

Cotton Pad Dispenser

I am in love with this dispenser! It's a cute addition to any bathroom and I think it's a must have for every girl!

Pure Smile mask - Chocolate

I fell in love with these Pure Smile masks during this Japan trip. They have a variety of flavours and I kinda went crazy and bought almost every single one! 

BVLGARI Jasmin Noir L'essence Eau de Parfum 1.5ml

Bvlgari's new sensual and uniquely intimate jasmine perfume. You can slip this little bottle into your wallet and carry it around with you, hassle free! Perfect for date night.

EMODA make up bag

And last but not least for the runner up prize is this is useful make up bag by EMODA for when you're travelling! There's a stand up mirror, slots for your brushes, a handy pouch for eyeliners and mascaras, and a big zip up pouch for powders and eyeshadows and really whatever else you want to put in there!

Grand prize - winner to be drawn on the 12th August 2013.

Within this prize includes:

EMODA bag

This totally cool bag can fit so much in it. It's handy for day wear and easily transitions into an overnight stay bag if you need it to.

JILL STUART Floral Hand Cream

I am in love with the scent of this hand cream. I also bought the perfume which carries the same scent and it is divine, subtle and sweet! Did I mention that I'm a HUGE Jill Stuart fan? Their princess-like packaging is irresistible! I'll also be including a Jill Stuart day care essence sample!

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler

Hands down one of the best eye lash curlers out there! Do a search on Google if you don't believe me!

Love Liner - Eyeliner and Mascara (black)

This is the most raved about eyeliner in all the Gyaru magazines. You can achieve amazingly sharp lines and it doesn't smudge easily!

Diamond Lash - Girly eyes 

These lashes are natural with a little kick. Great for parties. Diamond lashes are soft and easy to apply. 5 pairs will last you a while.

Hello Kitty Lip Treatment

Who doesn't love Hello Kitty? The flavour is juicy apple and it contains SPF10+. Personally, it was the cute packaging that I fell in love with!

Pure smile mask - Chocolate

This mask which was included in the runner up prize is also included in the grand prize. How exciting!

PINKY GIRLS Sweater with the latest Pinky Girls Catalogue

I love Pinky Girls! I went crazy the last time I went to Japan at Pinky Girls in Shibuya 109 and I did it again this time. Their cute feminine sweaters and coats are to die for! This coral cardigan is soft and smooth and looks great on for a casual day out or even to wear to work.

This giveaway is open internationally. Find out how to enter here.

Winners will be drawn via the random number generator!

GOOD LUCK!!!

[Sponsored Review] Royal Vision Bella Brown and MagicMagic False lashes

Eye Candy kindly sponsored me a pair of lenses and a box of false lashes to review. This is a super belated review and I am so grateful for Eye Candy's kind patience!

Magic Magic W-05 False Eyelashes

- 100% handmade

- The softest, silkiest fibres that feel as natural as your own

- Thin, flexible band

- Lightweight, comfortable

I am a huge fan of false lashes so I was really happy when Eye Candy sponsored me not only contact lenses but lashes as well. I love the cute packaging these lashes came in! There are 8 pairs in one box.

They are very soft and delicate so please take care when putting these lashes on. I think they look very natural as you can see from the photos below:

I think they look very natural and very comfortable! I really recommend them! The price is affordable, especially since Eye Candy offers free worldwide shipping!

Royal Vision Bella 4 Tone - Brown

Life Span : 6 months

Diameter : 14.5mm

BC : 8.6mm 

Water Content : 42%

Manufacturer : Vassen OEM

Every pair of lenses come with a free lenses case.

What the lenses look like indoors

And under natural light..

Comfort:

 ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤/5

This was the main pair of lenses I  have worn in the past couple of months. I worn them for the majority of my 2 week holiday in Japan. They are very comfortable and doesn't dry up even after  I have worn them for a whole day. I have also worn them to a smoky club in Japan with no problem!

Design:

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤/5

These lenses look very very natural! I especially like what they look like in natural lighting. You can't go wrong with natural lenses, they look nice with natural make up and at the same time they look great with heavy make up too!

Enlargement:

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤/5

Great enlargement effect. These lenses make your eyes look really big!

Overall I am really happy with these lenses and eyelashes! I hope you found this review useful! Please use the coupon code "YUKI109" for a free surprise gift with your order. 

Sakura, Tokyo, 2013!

I've been wanting to visit Japan during cherry blossom season since 2003! And this year, my dream will finally be realised!

Yes, that's right! I will be visiting Tokyo for the first two weeks of April for the cherry blossom season! Soon I will be taking photos like below with my own camera!!

Here are some of the things on the agenda for this trip:

Host Club
Maid Cafe
Butler Cafe
Cat Cafe
Ghibli Museum
Odaiba - Rainbow Bridge
Hot Springs
Sky Tree
Tokyo Tower
Do my hair and nails and spa!
Shopping shopping and more shopping - Emoda, Murua, Gyda, Resexxy, Lip Service, F&V and moreee!! Yeh, I will be living in Shibuya109! hahaha
Party and clubbing :)

Hmm.. I think I can fit them all in two weeks.. ^__^ and yes yes I will be blogging about EVERYTHING! And hosting a HUGE giveaway when I return! Please give me some idea for giveaway prizes, I will be buying them all in Tokyo :)

Giveaway will be hosted on my new collaboration blog, as well as most of my posts about this trip >>> MARINDALEIGH.COM

So please follow marindaleigh.com! I will be posting a lot of updates on my Marinda Leigh Facebook and Instagram  during my trip so please follow and stay in tuned!

*skips off excitedly*

New Collaboration Blog!

Hey everyone! I have very exciting news to share with you all! 

I have started a new collaboration blog! Official launch is today!

It will be a magazine styled blog with a more professional tone. There will be fashion posts, product recommendation and reviews, travel posts and much much more!

I will be blogging in detail about my upcoming Tokyo trip and host a lot of amazing giveaways!

Please please support and follow my new blog and please like the Facebook page as well!

Of course I will continue to blog here as well, but there will be no repeated content! 

Hope you all will like my new blog~ see you all there <3

Bad experience with EMODA!!

Hi all! It's such a shame that my first proper post of 2013 will be a negative post, but I feel like I must speak up about my horrible first (indirect) experience with Emoda!

My friend was visiting Tokyo at the beginning of Jan and picked up some Emoda stuff for me from the Shibuya109 store. It was during the 5 days Shibuya sale so it was utter pandemonium inside the store. He managed to grab the last sizes of two pairs of shoes and a coat for me. I'm so disappointed at Emoda at this point,  I don't even want to post pictures of the other Emoda items I got.

Below are some photos he sent me from Tokyo and I was sooo happy and excited!! My first Emoda items from the Shibua109 store!

A week later he came back and passed them to me and guess what I discovered?!?!

The black pumps I bought, one of the shoe was a size S and the other shoe was a size M! 

I was sooo mad! How can the SA make a mistake like that? It doesn't matter how busy they were!

I asked my friend in Tokyo to call the Emoda store for me. They were waiting for my call. They said I had to courier the shoes back with the receipt for an exchange! 

Well there was no way I'm going to pay for courier for the shoes to go back and forth! Luckily my best friend could fit the S size and she was happy to buy the shoes. So I asked my friend in Tokyo to go buy the other S and M pair from Emoda.

Now.. this is the the part that made me soo angry and disappointed at the Emoda service...

My friend tried to ask for a discount. The SA apparently gave a sincere apology but refused to give ANY discount! I had to pay FULL price for the second pair even though I'm buying another pair of shoes because of their mistake!!!

I even got the original pair for 10% off since it was bought during the Shibuya 109 sale! And these shoes are not cheap!! The price is 11,860yen (~135AUD)! I mean, the least they could've offered was a novelty item or something! And on top of that, I had to pay 4000yen (~50aud) to courier the shoes to Australia!

I tried to send a message via the Emoda website and I left the following message on Ena Matsumoto's blog and tried to send her a message too.

I basically told her my story and how disappointed I was at the Emoda service.

• エナさんへ、

  オーストラリアからのemodaファンです。

  ２０１３年１月２日にemoda、Shibuya１０９店にて初めてのお買い上げさせて頂きました。知り合いが東京に旅行していたので、私の変わりにemodaでカバープレートヒールパンプすを購入してもらいました。

  ですが、オーストラリアまで知り合いが持ち帰ってきてくれた新しいパンプスを開けたら片方ずつ、サイズSとサイズMが入っていたことに気づきました。店員さんがこんなミスを起こしたことがすごい残念です。特に海外に住んでいるため、すぐに返品して頂くことすらできないので、とても不可解です。

  知り合いにまた渋谷109店にお問い合わせして頂いた結果、一度靴を返品するために日本まで送り返して欲しいと店員の方に言われました。ですが、海外への送料はとても高いので知り合いが同じ靴を欲しいと言ってくれたので、残されていたサイズSとサイズMの同じパンプスを購入することにしました。

  このときに、店員のミスのお詫びに割引、またはノベルティーを要求したところ、お断りされました。

  店員のミスなのに、こちらで出来る限り早い解決法を案じたものの店員の態度にとても不可解な気持ちになりました。お詫びになにもしてくれないのはなぜでしょうか？

  私はemodaがとても大好きで、いつもチェックをしているのですが、お店の店員さんの接客の仕方に納得いきません。とてもがっかりです。私が日本のお客でないのが原因なのか知りませんが、どこのお客でも同じ対応をしてくれると信じています。

  下にミスを起こした店員さんと伝票番号を記入しておきます。
  何かの解決法をお待ちしてます。

  伝票番号：125155
  販売員：０２４５６　白樫　良太
  販売日：　１３年１月二日　２０：０９：０８

  
  

  And it was ignored!!!!

  I mean.. I really have nothing against the brand - the quality of the items were great and of course I love their style so so much. But I am thoroughly disappointed at the service! I've always loved shopping in Japan because the Japanese customer service is always impeccable! But this is just shocking!! Even the service in Australia isn't this bad! If they made such a big mistake like this, I am pretty sure I would be offered some kind of compensation! 

  I just don't think I can feel the same love for Emoda any more after this horrible experience. I was really looking forward to buying a LOT of Emoda when I visit Tokyo next month.. but now I'm starting to look into other Japanese brands such as Gyda, MURUA and Rienda. It's hard to respect a brand that cares that little about their customers. 

  I am in such a dilemma though, because I still love their clothes so much. My Japanese friends that heard this story were all so shocked and angry! They are all sworn off Emoda now =/

LensVillage Winners..

Congrats to the winners...


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thank you everyone for participating!

LensVillage giveaway!

Lens Village has kindly sponsored me two pairs of lenses for this giveaway!!

Two winners will be drawn where they will win a pair of contact lenses of their choice! (Excluding the brand Colourvue)

Just follow the widget for instructions on how to enter!

Please put the banner below in your blog side bar for +2 entries ^__^

Good luck everyone!!

Giveaway ends on the 7th Jan 2013!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

i.Fairy Jewel Brown and Kirei Blue

Today I'm going to review two lenses by i.Fairy sponsored by Lensvillage!

i.Fairy Jewel Brown

Life Span : 1 Year

Diameter : 15mm

BC : 8.6mm 

Water Content : 55%

Manufacturer : Vassen

I really like the pretty hazel colour!

Photo taken with iPhone5! My eyes look really gold in these photos!

Photo taken below with my camera. The lenses make my eyes look really watery ^__^

This is my first time trying out brands from Vassen.

Comfort:

 ❤ ❤ ❤/5

These lenses dry out quite fast! I don’t think I can wear them for longer than 6-8 hours. Other comfortable lenses, I can wear them from 8am til 2-3am, almost 24 hours and no problem!

Design:

❤ ❤ ❤/5

If you want natural looking hazel eyes then I definitely recommend these lenses!

Enlargement:

❤ ❤ ❤/5

I like the size of these lenses. It’s a good size for natural looking eyes

I really wish these lenses are more comfortable because they would make great everyday natural lenses!

i.Fairy Kirei Blue

Life Span : 1 Year

Diameter : 16.2mm

BC : 8.6mm 

Water Content : 55%

Love how they look under direct sunlight!

Natural lighting

Indoor lighting at night

Comfort:

 ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤/5

I’m really surprised how comfortable these lenses are because it is the same brand as the Jewel brown lenses! You can obviously tell I like these lenses better because I wear them more often!

Design:

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤/5

It's difficult for Asians to pull off green/blue contact lenses but these blue lenses look really natural on Asian eyes. Totally recommend them!

Enlargement:

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤/5

I like the enlargement effect but with large lenses, they make you look more cute than sexy so it depends what kind of look you want to achieve.

Hope you guys found the reviews useful ^__^

LensVillage is sponsoring another giveaway! I will be posting up that soon! Will be giving away two pairs of lenses to two winners!

Also, yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of my blog! Time just flies! I admit, this year I have been very slack with updates L But I still want to thank all my readers for your support! I will be doing a 2 year anniversary giveaway after the LensVillage giveaway ends!

Only in China...

Hey everyone! I know this is a super late travel post... it's like 10 months late.. but better late than never right?

During my Dec 2011/Jan 2012 China/HK trip, I went to Harbin for a couple of days!

Here are some information on Harbin which I have extracted off Wikipedia!

Harbin is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China.

The city is known for its coldest weather and longest winter among major Chinese cities. Its "Ice City" nickname is well-earned, as Winters here are dry and bitterly cold, with a 24-hour average in January of only −18.4 °C (−1.1 °F), although the city sees little precipitation during the winter and is often sunny. 

The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival has been held since 1985. Although the official start date is January 5 each year, in practice, many of the sculptures can be seen before. While there are ice sculptures throughout the city, there are two main exhibition areas: Enormous snow sculptures at Sun Island and the separate "Ice and Snow World" that operates each night. 

Ice and Snow World features illuminated full size buildings made from blocks of 2–3 feet thick crystal clear ice directly taken from Songhua River which passes through the city. 

The "Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival" is one of the four largest ice and snow festivals in the world, along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival.

So that's where I went! The 13th Annual Ice and Snow World in Harbin! I will let all the photos do the talking.. but it was amazing.. the amount of labour that must've went into creating this! I guess why the title of this post is "Only in China".

The entrance! I think it stretches out for a bit longer than this but I couldn't capture it all with my camera!

Can you believe this is all man made?? And it's all ice??

Massive ice slide! Yes that is me coming down the slide hahaha! It's actually not that fun.. esp the second time when the slide was really bumpy and omg my poor bum =(

Started getting dark so all the lights came on!! Yes! There are lights embedded in the ice!!

I really love this picture! Can you believe it is all made of ice???

Pretty awesome Coke ad!

Love the dusking sky~

There was bumper car rides and snow motor sleds but I forgot to take photos of them!

Look at this hut made of snow!

I really love this photo below!!

Ice world at night!

Massive snow sculpture of Guanyin!

And ice sculptures! I think these were the finalists in an ice sculpture contest!

I think this is the one that won first prize! Romeo and Juliet!

Forbidden city!

They even have cute horse drawn carriage rides!

Massive Pirates of the Caribbean Snow sculpture! 

Disney Princesses!

Micky and Minnie mouse!

It was freezing cold! I think it was like minus 20-30 degrees Celsius! But my god it was soo worth it!! It was truly amazing and breath taking!!

Next day we went to the Yabuli Alpine Ski slopes!

Check out those ski slopes omg!

Ski lodges!

We took a cable car to the top of the slopes

And here we are, at the beginning of the slopes! And I saw this little russian kid with his parents going down that and I was like.. omg =O

Layout of the ski slopes! The black slopes are for expert/advanced skiers, blue is for intermediate and green is for the beginners. 

Since I don't know how to ski, I went down the slope toboggan style!! 

This is the toboggan entrance ^_^

Then we went to a baby slope to try out skiing for the first time! My family and I hired an instructor each to give us some basic guidance! It's much harder than anticipated but it was so much fun!! I can't wait to ski again!

Harbin at night! It was amazing because the city is lit up with lights like these...

And ice and snow "buildings" like below scattered all over the city!

If you ever travel to the northern part of China, I strongly recommend you to visit Harbin! Hope you enjoyed this post! I promise I will try and blog more frequently again!

I'll be travelling to New Zealand in December making a stop over in Melbourne and Sydney!

And I'm going to Tokyo for two weeks in April next year to see Sakura! I'm supppper excited about that trip and I promise I will blog sooo much about it! I'm going to buy so much EMODA and Mode clothes and shoes and everything!!!! I can't wait ^__^