Spontaneous Taipei Trip | Butaya & Wendels Cafe

Oh Taipei, you never managed to leave from my top list of spontaneous travel spots. Perhaps being able to read and speak, its somewhere I always feel safe.

4D3N completely unplanned, just focused on eats. It was bright and sunny the whole time *blessed face. First up a katsu place - 

Butaya 豚屋

16 Lane 51, Section 1, Daan Road Taipei

台北市大安路一段51巷16號

 蘆筍里脊豬排卷 Asparagus Tenderloin Pork Roll
Deep fried pork wrapped asparagus. Pork was deep fried yet juicy and feels light to the taste. The green taste of asparagus brings out the sweetness of the meat. For the record pork katsu is probably one of my least favourite food on earth, I actually liked this! According to someone who loves fried food, this is like a 9.5 (whoa that high!).

乳酪里脊豬排 Cheese Tenderloin Pork
The cheese is mild. It is probably tame chedder for adding a tad of chewiness to the stiffness of the deep fried meat. The perfect amount of taste explode in your lips without overpowering. 

Funded by Jay Chou (pop singer in Taiwan), inside Butaya is the traditional dark sushi restaurant kind of design. We were surprised it was quite empty on a weekend morning. It is so relaxing compared to Hong Kong. When you first sit down, they give you sesame to grind for fun to mix with the katsu sauce (just like they give kids some dough to play at Bertuccis lol). 

I also adored the choice of their dishes. We only ordered 2 dishes and above is everything that came with!  It reminds me of Not only it was bon apetite, it was some eye candy. I felt like a king paying only US$25 lol. As much as I don't like fried food (at all), I highly recommend this place for its food and ambience.

Wendels

5 Dexing West Road, Shilin District, Taipei

11158台北市士林區德行西路5號

 Just passed this cafe while looking for another one we couldnt find. It was damn hot outside so we decided to drop by for some icy cappuccino, which I think was more than an awesome choice. We also got panna cotta and mango cake to try. While sitting at the outdoor area, I spotted some Taiwanese TV celebrities  inside the store having tea! But I couldnt think of their names on top of my head la, I just thought huh celebrities come here uh *stupid grin.

More to come for this Taiwan trip la, but in conclusion I was just eating non-stop.
I can probably use the below 2 pictures to sum up the whole trip -

wtf. talk to you all laterr.

Next up. September favourites!

Maybelline Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer in Radiant

After a long hunt for convenient pen concealers for awhile, I completely turned a 180 on YSL Touche Eclat. Hey don't blame me - the Maybelline Limi Touch Highlighing Concealer is only $8. I could get the whole Limi Touch collection for one Touche Eclat haha. To cut it short? I love this product!

The texture is very light and you're supposed to pick a color slightly lighter than your skintone to give that highlighting effect. The above is blended and below is the original form.

I got color Radiant out of the collection of 6 color choices. It is about 2 shades lighter than my NC 25 skin and perfect for highlighting.

On your right (my left face) is the side I applied this concealer on, left side remain bare. See the differences? 

1. Undereye area where my dark circle is
2. Above and below brow bone
3. Smile line
4. Cupids bow
5. Random pimple

Certainly there are many places to highlight the face to give more dimension and shine. Read Eli's article HERE for the perfect example.

Another comparison picture - 

As you see dark circles and redness around the lips are completely sealed up. The texture is very light and lasts a good 6 hours on my face. It applies wet and dries powery (though I still set it with power on top). I have stopped wearing foundation / bb cream since I starting using this highlighting concealer. The only thing I would complain is it starts to cake up when I reapply powder, but I am referring to 6-7 hours of wear constantly travel between 85° f - 60° f climates. 

If you are looking forward to shrink your morning makeup time from 20 to 5 minutes and give your face a radiant lift, try to give this Maybelline Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer a go!

Hope you all are having a good weekend!

Review | Lush Cupcake Fresh Face Mask

I have been on such a Lush crave since a Lush is opened at the Admiralty MTR station near my work place in Hong Kong. Compared to the prices in the US, it is even more unfair that Lush is so much cheaper in the UK. Lush fresh face makes are not sold in Hong Kong, which makes the best souvenirs from friend visiting London for the Olympic games :)

A wet cold mud half melting texture with a heavy mint chocolate scent. Looking it up close is quite gross. As other mud masks,  this rhassoul mud mask filled with cocoa, vanilla and spearmint oil is supposed to deep cleanse by sucking out all the nitty gritty in the pores.

Slather in this cocoa concoction as a generous layer, wait for about 15 - 20 minutes. It dries quickly and does not have the tightness effect that a lot of mud masks on the market do. Made specifically for oily and teenage acne prone skin, I must say it works just as fine on my combination skin if I tone it down to using it twice a week, or only use it the t-zone. 

The result is spectacular! My skin has never felt this clean. The blackheads becomes unnoticeable when with a close look. All the slight bums, whiteheads are also gone. The first time I used this I was in shock - I did not know my skin could feel as smooth and cleansed without that tight feeling. I highly recommend it if you use foundation / BB cream daily like me.

Cheers to Lush! Another awesome products :) Have been trying out A LOT of face masks and this is definitely one of my current favorite ones!