bloomzy /

Birthday Gifts 2

Some gifts from friends

I shall certainly be smelling nice for the rest of the year (not that I don’t already), with some gorgeous items from Lush. 
Little Green Bag includes: Squeaky Green Shampoo & Jungle Solid Conditioner, Sugar Scrub, Sea Vegetable Soap and Each Peach and Two’s a Pair Massage Bar and Tin.
Buttercup includes: Butterball bath bomb and Honey I Washed the Kids soap.
Some old favourites of mine, and some new ones that I can’t wait to try!
The Tea gift set is from the wonderful Teapigs online store and included: Yerba Mate, Lemon & Ginger, Super Fruit and Mao Feng Green Tea. All amazing teas that I adore – can’t wait to relax with this!!
You all know my love for Matcha (powdered green tea) by now, well you can also buy it at Teapigs!
Finally, an absolutely amazing present.
This t-shirt is from my friend Zak, we lived together in Tokyo and went to the same university there. Whilst we were studying in Tokyo we often came up with strange, random things on our commutes. This is one of those things – yep, it’s me riding atop a sting ray yelling “キモチィィィ” (Japanese for ‘wonderful feeling’). He drew and designed it whilst we were in Tokyo, and this year he put it on a t-shirt for me.
Thank you to all my wonderful friends ♥
bloomzy /

Style Crush; Eriko Nakao

Eriko NakaoJapanese blogger and model Eriko Nakao

Eriko is someone I’ve seen pop up on the internet from time to time when browsing fashion sites, but only recently have I been visiting her collaborative blog which she works on alongside her hairstylist and photographer friends (see source). To be honest I’ve also been drooling over her amazing fashion-sense and gorgeous hair. I adore her sense of style, it’s very much like my own in that it doesn’t really fall into one definitive category. I love the mixture of street style, simplicity and strong sexuality in her coordinates and the photography.
Eriko is definitely on my ones to watch list.

Eriko Nakao Eriko Nakao Eriko Nakao

Source; 1

bloomzy /

Update; Wakatsuki Chinatsu

A small update on Chinatsu Wakatsuki.
The producer of W♥C recently revealed through a blog post that she is 5 months pregnant, and now married to a non-celebrity husband. The couple have known each other for 3 years and have been dating for half of those. 
She is very happy, and promises her fans she will do her best.
Congratulations & Good Luck
bloomzy /

Treats from Japan & Paris

Delicious Christmas treats from the fiancé and friends.

This year I received some delicious treats from people.
One of my best friends from Japan sent me Matcha (Green Tea) Fran & Gianduja Meltykiss. My fiancé bought me Macarons & Matcha Madeleines from Paris, whilst his family bought me a Matcha, Cherry Cake Mix, along with some Oolong Pocky and some delectable Chocolate & Peppermint Fudge.
I have started on the madeleines, but after that I won’t know where to begin.
What do you guys think?
bloomzy /

プリクラ for your phone!

My own personal ‘purikura’
プリクラ (purikura) is the name given to the photo-booths and pictures well known and loved in Japan. Why are they so popular? Purikura machines allow you to take a variety of pictures with different backdrops and lighting, afterwards you are given the chance to decorate the final photos.
As they gain popularity worldwide (they’re in a city near you!) mobile app stores have seen an increase in the amount of ‘purikura apps’.
Here is a small review of my current favourite purikura app; DecoPic
Click ‘read more’ for the full post.

I’m not a fan of a lot of the purikura apps on the app store as I find they’re all pretty similar, but DecoPic intrigued me as the stamps, frames etc are very close to the ones used in the machines in Japan.

Once you have chosen to take a picture or use one from your album (awww look at my cute puppy), you can move and scale it to your needs. Then you have the option of adding lots of pretty, sparkly things.

Options include:

Art filters – much like instagram etc.
Not something you would find on a regular purikura machine. Obviously an addition that is aimed at the current ‘filter’ trend hitting the app stores.

Frames – a varied and not bad selection.

Stamps – 15 pages worth, all of which are just like the stamps you find on the machines in Japan.

Message – add messages such as ‘Today’s coordinate’ & ‘I love you’.

Pen – various colours/styles of pen to write by freehand.
Text – various styles and a selection of colours to write by text.

When adding a message, stamp, text etc. there is the option of: resizing, rotating, moving and undoing the item. 
Finally, when you click ‘save’ the photo is automatically stored in your photo album and you have the option of sharing it with the community, or Facebook/Twitter etc.
I like the categories they have used for the stamps, messages and borders (feminine, blogger, vintage and more) – giving you the chance to pick your item depending on your mood/the feeling of the photo. There is also an ‘event’ category, which changes throughout the year.
With over 300 design options, if you want an app to decorate your photos with that is easy-to-use, authentic to the machines and FREE, then this is the one for you!

Want your own personal purikura photobooth on your iPhone/Android?

 

If anyone knows if it is on any other app stores please let me know.

bloomzy /

A very pink present…

Canmake; powder cheek, cheek&cheek, melty nude lip, lip care essence
& Bath Roman salts

One of my closest friends, the always gorgeous Alanna, visited Japan recently and whilst she was there she was kind enough to pick me up a few things…and also send me a couple of surprise items. Such a sweety!!

bloomzy /

Winter Warmer

My fiancé bought me this dress almost 2 years ago, on our first holiday to Japan together. It’s from a small, but wonderful store in Shibuya 109’s basement.
I only get to bring it out in Winter as it’s made from a very thick, almost fleece-like material. It’s simple, but the material & studs dotted around the collar make it different enough for people to compliment me on it. This has to be one of my staple Winter pieces, and I hope it will be for a while.