♡ Hyper Japan ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

It's rare for Sapphire and I to see each other so close together after a visit from whichever person but as we both wanted to go to Hyper Japan this year, how could we both pass up such an opportunity? We only went on the Saturday with a dual pass ticket (as the day was split into two sessions) but honestly, it was the best decision to go then!

The difference between Hyper Japan and MCM Expo (personal experience here) is that I find HJ less crowded than Expo... even on a Saturday and the fact it's now the beginning of summer holidays here. Even though there are many similarities and differences between the two events... Hyper Japan is just more my thing. Yes; it's nice at Expo to get the variety of movies, games and more cosplayers where as at HJ you just get a small handful of cosplayers, no real movie promotions and a small selection of recent games to check out... it's the cultural side of things that draws me towards HJ. You get to find out about studying in Japan, learning the language, the food, travelling, what is popular and what is traditional etc etc. All in all, the experience at HJ as just made me want to go again and indeed I shall. Luckily they have a Christmas version in November so I have officially decided to skip October Expo this year and just go to Hyper Japan for the weekend in November. Sorted.

The only problem I had with Hyper Japan was the heat... recently in the UK the weather has been absolutely dreadful with high humidty and scorching sunny days with no signs of rain anywhere. Saturday was no different, and it was just so horrible travelling through London on the tube because of the crappy air-con. Plus there seemed to be no air-con at Earls Court either, except for a couple of cool spots, but other than that... I was using a programme to fan myself most of the day!

Despite the heat, I loved looking around all the different stalls at HJ. There were different section dedicated to special genres of what HJ is trying to promote - so there was a section for food, for languages/studies and a section for "kawaii" stuff such as fashion, make-up, deco etc. The 'Fringe Market' was also extremely interesting to look around, as it's an area dedicated to small, independent shops/stalls selling whatever they do in their trade - so there were manga artists, wig sellers and jewellery sellers in that area.

Gosh there were so many highlights of the whole day. One being seeing friends whom I haven't seen (for what feels like) years! Finding an actually Diamond Lash stall in the 'Hyper Kawaii' section and talking to the stall owner for like 20 odd minutes about eyelashes and make-up (yes I get happy over that) The fashion show towards the end of the day that showcased Ayumi Seto's new fashion line;

Don't all the clothes look so freakin' adorable?! I honestly cannot decide which is my favourite piece... oh and all of the models are so cute and friendly just GAH! I'm so glad that I stayed to watch this show! Also seeing NEEKO was an amazing highlight as well!

Another major highlight of the day for me was seeing ONE NOT'E! After being told about them from my penpal and that they would be at HJ... how could I resist going? Also, the last official gig I went to was wwwaaayyy back in 2012!! Listening to them perform, it made me realise how much I do miss going to gigs and if there are any happening between now and before I leave for China, well I'm definitely going to make the effort! Also about ONE NOT'E, someone commented to me about the guitarist, Takato, looking extremely familiar and he really did but at that point I couldn't quite put my finger on it to where I had seen him before until I got home and googled the band... he's ex.VIRGIL! Don't you just hate it when you recognise someone but you just never remember until the moment has passed?! That was me...

Honestly, they were sooooo good performing live that I wished I had snapped out of my daydreaming and recorded some footage of them performing ahhh! I really hope in the future they'll do some more overseas gigs... if not I'm sure a quick trip to Japan won't hurt! Oh, what is a day out without food involved? My life would be incomplete without food, even though it felt like that all I had done was consume liquid most of the day because of the heat wwwaaahhh.

Oh and must not forgot about what I purchased throughout the day. You'll be able to see how truly happy I was about the Diamond Lash stall in the end! I think I picked up some amazing bargains though as well as finding out about some new shops that are worth checking out again in the future!

All in all, the day was fabulous and I'm glad that I went. I will definitely stick to my plan of going for the full weekend at Christmas time for a bit of fun (and as it's on my birthday weekend... a birthday treat!) All the above picture kind of sum everything up on how it all went on as I have nothing else really interesting left to say except for that the company was amazing, the atmosphere was brilliant and already I wish it wasn't over even though I still ache. As that is really it now, I'll just finish this post off with a couple of face pictures;

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

♡ Diamond Lash Angel Eye ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

Diamond Lashes is the one eyelash brand I will always wear no matter what. Seriously I cannot fault the brand no matter how hard I try and look for something to pick at and the style 'Angel Eye' has been a particular eyelash I have been after since I first heard of this brand. Many Gaijin Gyaru seem to prefer this particular style of eyelash for their eye make-up as it's such an exaggerated style and if you double up (put a second pair over the first pair) it's just... wow it's so hard to describe but it's almost like the style of eyelash you would see on people from MTV's 'Jersey Shore' and 'Geordie Shore'. And I know this because, I admit, I watch these programmes sobs.

One of the best features I find with Diamond Lash is the thin, flexible rubber band used instead of the thicker black bands you tend to see on either extremely cheap eyelashes or with certain styles. Mind you, thinking about it, there seems to be more brands using the thin rubber band and personally it's great! I find putting eyelashes on, even when using tweezers, really fiddly and tedious and sometimes I get stressed out because the glue wouldn't set properly and it started to peel off my eyeliner. I even have this problem with Diamond Lashes, heck I was doing it the other day when dressing up for work, but it only happens 1 out of 10 applications so the other 9 times are pretty straight forward and smooth sailing.

I loved how this style has given my eyes a bit of a 'pop' with the over exaggerated bundles of lashes. It's also interesting to see how there are no little hidden tricks in the lashes. What I mean by this is, for example, with 'Celebrity Eye' from my last lash review, you'll see how there are a few thick bundle of lashes in the middle whilst on the inner and outer corners there are rather 'natural' looking placed lashes. With this style it is just over exaggerated, and with different lengths so you don't poke your eyes out, bundles from inner to outer corner.

They look so pretty arranged in the palette... I feel like such a loser when I get upset to take them out of palette because I'm scared of ruining the shape and other things. It sounds silly, I know, but if I didn't wear lashes; I would just have a shoebox full of unopened lashes because of that silly feeling. Luckily I do get over that and wear lashes nearly all of the time so everyday is pretty fabulous!

Comfort; besides a couple of lashes poking me in the inner corners of my eyes, which I did have to trim down in the end, these are extremely comfortable once again. The first time I wore these lashes I was like "woah" because they're very long and fluttery.

Durability; like all lashes from this brand, the life expectancy for each pair of lashes is about between 5 and 10 times... it just all depends on how careful you are when cleaning off old glue and make-up etc.

Design; this particular design gets top marks from me because of the over exaggerated style. I love OTT designs *cough* lookatabovecommentsaboutJerseyShore *cough* and this one is quite honestly my favourite Diamond Lash design to date.

Overall Verdict; ★★★★★

I know that I said that the 'Celebrity Eye' style was actually my favourite Diamond Lash design but I lied. This style has taken a clear win on all levels from me from the fact you can re-use them over and over again after careful cleaning, so it's good for your purse strings. 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ Diamond Lash Celebrity Eye ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

I'm keeping up with my end of the bargain about bring out at least one blog post per week... I now need to decide on a specific day to bring said post but until then voilà! Second post and the first (of probably many many more) review of the year.

Diamond Lashes are pretty much the only brand I had been using (until SHO-BI came into my life) since the first day I've worn lashes and they've never failed me yet. I love how each individual style brings dimension to my eyes (as I feel that my eyes are my best feature) and how pretty much nearly all of the styles can be suitable for everyday looks. My wonderful friend Rachael was kind enough to purchase me a couple of boxes of Diamond Lashes whilst she was out in Japan for a whole month so I asked for my usual Glamour Eye lashes and the Celebrity Eye from the Volume series;

What drew me to the Celebrity Eye more was the thicker parts in the middle of the lashes... normally you see this kind of thing on the outer lashes to help create a cat eye effect but this style called to me and it was definitely the right choice to go for. I think one of the main reasons I go for Diamond Lashes more than other well known brands is the amount you are getting for your money... five pairs of lashes for around 1000 - 1200 yen? C'mon that's practically giving them away if you compare the pricing to say... Dollywink. Now I'm not hating on Dollywink at all that's just one of the obvious ones when you compare right? There are also certain Eyemazing series if you'd like another example.

I love how the lashes are arranged in the palettes but it does scare me when I want to take a pair out because I'm worried that I'd bend it wrong or something... if I could keep them in their boxes forever I would but alas I love them on my eyes too much.

Comfort; the one thing I love the most about Diamond Lashes is the invisible band... it is so flexible that it makes it feel like that I'm not even wearing lashes and that is such a major plus for me as I do have rather sensitive eyes

Durability; one thing I learnt the first time I tried to take a lash out of the packaging is that you have to be so so so careful when doing so because of said invisible band it makes them feel rather flimsy and once you bend them out of shape... you can't really re-shape them to the original style properly which does suck but hey you learn from your mistakes for sure

Design; this design is just perfect... it gives off a dramatic flare as they are quite thick in the middle with rather feathery, natural lashes on the inside and outside of the band. It makes the whole design pretty and the inside lashes don't irritate the inside of my eye...

Overall Verdict; ★★★★★
These lashes get full marks from me as I literally cannot fault them... I can fault other designs from Diamond Lash but these ones it just feels like that they were made for me! It sounds silly I know but they are indeed my favourite style and I haven't stopped wearing this style since I received the box.

Note; I do apologise for the atrocious photographs that have gone with this post... but what with the weather being extremely here and there it's hard to take decent pictures... so hence the overload of lightness that has gone with these ones. Hopefully it shan't happen again any time soon!

Thanks for reading!
xoxo