Shu Uemura Canada - Gift with Purchase

I don't usually blog about makeup or beauty products, but I have to say I'm quite happy with the Shu Uemura Canadian site.  I've known for several years that Shu Uemura has a Canadian office so that means, no duties and they ship out really quickly!

I've been a fan of Shu Uemura cleansing oils for years after trying a number of different ones including DHC and Muji and have found Shu Uemura to work very well at removing makeup and when you buy the large bottle (450ml), it's quite cost effective.  A bottle can last me around 9 months.  I used to buy the cleansing oil from overseas beauty outlets but when I found out we had a Shu Uemura branch and the price was the same, I started ordering from them (shipping free over $75).  The bonus, they are always offering free gifts!! 

Here is a 5 piece gift that I got on my last order (sample sizes of three different cleansing oils, mini laque supreme lip gloss, tsuya emulsion, and a cosmetic bag).  And, they also include a free sample with your purchase (I selected the ultime8 sublime cleasing oil).  Love to take these samples size products with me when I travel (gosh it's been so long), but I will probably end up giving a couple of them to family or friends that want to try them out.
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This pic shows the lip gloss I missed in the top pic.
 

Ichiban Living - Ahhh! Japanese $2 Store in Toronto!

Where have I been to not know that Toronto now has a Japanese (Two) Dollar Store?!  My friend had recommended this store on the P1 level of Pacific Mall (okay, it's in Markham) when I was looking to buy a pair of travel scissors (a.k.a. baby food scissors for when you are eating out and need to cut up food).  Anyway, we arrive and we're happily surprised that it's a Japanese housewares store.  We look around and it's small...but wait, wait...they have another level, one floor below which is larger! 

Sensory overload!  I had to stay focused on looking for scissors but my eyes kept wandering to all the little knick knacks and cute stuff.  After calming down a bit, I decided to limit my purchase to a few things.  Most items are written in Japanese though.  The items are also either made in China or Japan but it looks like even if it's made in China, it is intended for the Japanese market because the packaging contains very few Chinese characters, if any.

Picked up this cute mold that apparently is to make honey castella cake in the microwave in 90 seconds.  I was intrigued but also a little wary.  In the end, I thought 'it's only $2' and it looked really cute.  There were other molds and cookie cutters, and bento box type accessories but I didn't have enough time to look through them all. 

Instructions in Japanese

The mold comes with a recipe but calls for Hot Cake Mix which I didn't have so I used a Japanese hot cake recipe I found online.  Interestingly, there is a very small difference between hot cake and pancakes mix in Japan, you can read more here.  Anyway, only one of my 3 came out nicely because I didn't actually grease it beforehand and need to work on timing as my microwave is 1000 watts and they recipe was for 700 watt microwave.  Still cute :)

The store is not as big as Daiso, but it's a start! 

Glassware and Grass Jelly

Sometimes I'm influenced by the things I watch and read just a little too much...especially when it comes to food and food related items.  Several years ago, I'd watch HK soaps and inevitably start to crave what the characters were eating.  For example, if they were eating instant noodle, I'd want to eat one too.  If the show was based on a Chinese dessert shop selling "tang yuan" (glutinous rice balls), I'd get a craving to go to a Chinese dessert shop.  Don't get me started on food from Taiwan or bubble tea!

This is not only with food.  On one blog that I've started reading, one post highlighted the Duralex brand of glasses.  They looked nice and upon reading that they have been around since 1945 and are used in many cafes and other establishments in France, I wanted them too!  (I can be a such a sheep sometimes!)  It also helped that I was looking for some large glassware and that they are made of tempered glass, dishwasher & microwave safe, and resistant to thermal shock so hot and cold beverages can be served.

Off, I went searching for them on the internet.

And luck would have it that they were on sale for 50% at The Bay!  Of course I had to pick some up and it was just in time for me to make an iced milk tea with grass jelly.  Because the Roasted Milk Tea with Grass Jelly at ChaTime is one of my go-to bubbletea choices, I picked up this grass jelly product at the Kuo Hua store in Markham to eat at home.  Gua Hua Trading company imports products from Taiwan and they have a retail store in Markham. 

The availability of grass jelly in Toronto was limited to the canned variety, which has a firmer jelly texture and wasn't as compatible with adding it to a drink.  However, when Chatime first came on the scene, their grass jelly was soooo smooth and had a nice hint of herbal taste to it, instantly becoming a customer favorite.  But, you can't easily find the same grass jelly anywhere.  Chatime makes their own grass jelly and I believe it's from a powdered product from Taiwan.  So far, I have not found the powdered form as I think it currently is only sold to restaurants/food services.  But, Chatime is not the only tea shop that has a nice smooth grass jelly.  (Yes, you heard me.)  Other tea shops that produce the same consistency of grass jelly include ZenQ (2 locations I'm aware of) and Share Tea (I just found out that there are now 4 locations in the GTA including one downtown!). 

But, if you can't get to any of these locations and want to have some at home, bottle grass jelly might be an option.  So, how did this retail grass jelly measure up?

It's a step up from the canned version if you're looking for softer jelly and less of an herbal flavour.  But, falls short of being an exact substitute.  First, it comes in a bottle like container and thus breaks into little pieces as you try to pour it out; unlike the big chunks that you can get at Chatime.  The texture is smooth similar to the Chatime grass jelly though, so that was good. There's also quite a bit of liquid, would be nice if there was more jelly.

 

Taste was okay, slightly sweet and a little less herbal tasting than Chatime.  Overall, it was a good substitute but you won't be able to get the same large chunks.  I'd still buy it again because it'd be easy to stock at home and the taste and texture was okay.

 

Retail was $1 per 500ml bottle on sale and I'd use 100-200ml for my drink.

David's Tea Travel Mug Review

a. David's Tea Carry Travel Mug, b. Lid with dry tea storage, c. Mesh strainer (removable)

I was looking for a new tea travel thermos/mug and remembered I had a David'd Tea gift card from a couple years back that I still haven't used.  Some might say, what?!  Why haven't you used it?!  Although I'm a tea fanatic, I'm not a fan of David's Tea but I'm also not a hater.  Most of the teas are flavoured teas which are not my thing, but I can see the appeal and I'm sure every once and a while, they are great to have.  I prefer drinking tea brewed from just pure tea leaves (which David's does offer) or if flavoured, flavoured with fresh fruits/juices.

Anyway, back to the travel mug, so off I went to David's Tea to check out their teawares.

I didn't do much research but I've looked at them before and they seemed to meet my needs.  Keeps tea hot, fairly light, the mesh tea strainer can be removed, and leak proof.  SOLD.

After a couple weeks of use, I thought a quick review would be good.

Pros

- Keeps your tea hot! And for the 6 hours it states!
- Lightweight (compared to glass)
- Leak proof
- The plastic parts have not stained but I'll have to update in 3 months
- Handle at the top for ease of carrying

Cons

- You'll need 2 hands when you want to drink from the thermos, one to hold the lid and the other, the body.  Not a deal breaker by any means but you can't just flip it open with a finger and drink with the same hand.
- Maybe keeps things too hot that you can't drink the tea without burning your tongue, lol!
Not really a con since it's purpose IS to maintain the temperature of the liquid but a little bothersome when you want to drink and can't.  I'll usually leave the lid off for ten minutes to cool it down.  Other options include brewing the tea separately (but defeats the purpose of the attached basket) or drinking green tea which requires a much lower brewing temperature.

Additional notes:
- There is a space in the lid to store addition dry tea leaves but I don't think I'd use.  One, because after I brew tea, I take the basket out to prevent over brewing.  If I was going to brew again, I'd have to clean out the basket and reattach and would have to do again later for the second brew which would be a little more work than I'd like.  And, I tested carrying around dry tea leaves in the compartment and for half the day it was fine.  But, when I tried to screw on the lid after drinking some tea, I knocked the compartment open and out came the tea.
- The size may be a bit large for some people.  I carry a large tote so it's fine for me.

I'm pretty amazed at how well David's Tea is branded and how quickly it has expanded.  David's Tea started in Toronto in 2008 and if you check out their website, you'll see how far they've come from one store on Queen St. West.

Final Verdict:  Recommend

Iced Tea Candy

I found this new tea flavoured candy at T & T Supermarket.  I'm generally not a fan of hard candies, but when it's tea flavoured I'm more interested. So, I gave it a go.

Quick run-down:

• Brand: Bali's Best (also makes coffee candy which I've seen before)
• Hard candy
• Made with tea extracts
• Indonesian tea, from the Java region

The one I purchased was Classic Iced Tea but the other flavours were Green Tea Latte and Citrus Green Tea.  Whole green tea leaves are apparently used to make the green tea candies which was interesting to note and I was tempted to get the green tea latte as that would be the drink I'd choose, but classic iced tea in a candy was a little different.  Indonesian black tea is supposed to be similar to Assam or Ceylon tea rather than Chinese black tea (although I don't think I've had loose leaf Indonesian tea yet), so I expected it to be like the iced tea we know in North America. 

Taste:  Good tea flavour and tastes slightly lemon-y.  More Ceylon tea flavour then citrus.  Some black teas can naturally have more citrus notes to it and it's possible that the tea used has this flavour profile (but I wonder if it can be detected in extracts).  I remember doing a tea tasting using various estate teas and they produced different iced tea flavours without the addition of lemon (i.e. Court Lodge FBOP had citrus notes compared to Kenmare FBOP...and yes, I had to look at my past notes for the names).

Sweetness level is good, not too sweet where you only taste sugar.

But, if you're looking for a strong tea taste, especially if you're used to drinking your tea strong, you won't find the candy as good.

Ingredients: glucose syrup (tapioca), cane sugar, tea extract, natural tea flavor, salt.
I inquired about the tea leaves and it is primarily made from black tea leaves.  They also note on their packaging that they are "all natural".

Price at T&T was $2.99 for 42 pieces.

Overall: This is a pretty good tasting tea candy.  Yes, I'd purchase again and I'd definitely try the other flavours!  

The Face Shop - Charcoal & Konjac Cleansing Puff/Sponge

The charcoal & konjac cleansing puff (or sponge as I think of it), is one of the beauty tools you can find at The Face Shop, a very popular Korean beauty products company.  With at least nine locations in the GTA now, the first I believe at Pacific Mall in Markham, they seem to be expanding at a ferocious pace!  Check out the facebook page for locations.

I don't do beauty reviews since I rarely experiment with new products, but I recently had to pick up another puff/sponge from The Face Shop and thought, "it's a product I like so why not"?!

This is what the sponge looks like.

When wet it has a bit of a jelly-like texture.  If you hang dry it, it will become hard and you'll need to soak it in warm water before your next use.

The purpose of the sponge is to "improve skin waste-removing effect" or I think of it as "eliminate excess oil/sebum from the skin to ensure clearer skin".  Konjac is a root vegetable consumed in Asia sometimes for it's purported detoxifying abilities, but often as a diet food; here's the wiki.  Or to many, it is the little konjac jelly cups (lychee flavour being the first) from Asia that were so popular many years back.  The bamboo charcoal component is supposed to help with oily skin.

Since using the sponge (often with a foam cleanser though), my skin has been clearer and my pores a little less noticeable, except my nose which I have accepted will forever have large pores.  But, I digress. I really like the sponge as it's very gentle (great for my sensitive skin) and I feel it does remove dry skin.  If I do have acne, it goes away a lot quicker when using the sponge in my experience.

Unfortunately, I can't speak to any scientific backing for the product but it's been working for me and at $5 it's worth a try!  (The brand Boscia has a similar product.)  In fact, their beauty tools section is quite good and well priced.  I also picked up a round brush for blow drying for $4 and have purchased their cotton cleansing pads and cotton swabs as well.

But last time I checked, not all the stores carry the puff, I've picked up mine at Fairview Mall and Pacific Mall. The location at Eaton Centre did not carry the product when I was there in the winter.

In terms of the store itself, the service is always very friendly at the locations I've been to and they provide samples of other products when you purchase something.