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I have tried many beauty products before, & I’ve got to admit that I really like all of the products I’ve gotten in Japan. There is one particular product that I’ve purchased recently that I have absolutely fell in love with. The product is called Aroma Moist Cream, manufactured by Kowa Company, Ltd. It is a rich hand & foot moisturizing cream that comes in five different scents (Grace Rose, Relaxing Lavender, White Floral Bouquet, Juicy Citron, & Herb & Fruits Tea).
I came across this cream one day while I was riding the JR metro train with my husband. I happened to spot this advertisement posted next to the train doors & took a picture of the ad with my cellphone camera thinking that I could show the photo to my Japanese friend. Perhaps she could help me find out where I could buy this cream. Then, one evening, one of my female friends had asked to stop by one of the drug stores near our hotel, & that’s when I stumbled upon this cream. It must have been fate, or a coincidence, or something like that. I was so excited that I found this cream, I was tempted to get one tube in every scent. However, my husband being the skeptic (& logical/sensible one), told me to just get one or two tubes since I didn’t know if I would like it or not. I ended up getting two tubes (Grace Rose & Herb & Fruits Tea).
I just fell in love with this cream almost immediately. The cream itself starts off really smooth & soft, but as you work the product into your skin, it becomes thick & rich in texture. It really moisturizes the hands well, & it leaves a gentle scent (not an overpowering perfume smell). No matter what the season, my hands are always feeling dry & my cuticles are always cracked &/or peeling. After using this Aroma Moist Cream for about a month, my hands are feeling less dry & my cuticles are slowly coming back to life. I don’t usually like floral scented anything, but I’ve been using the Grace Rose scented cream, & I am enjoying the soft fragrance. It has a very delicate flower smell without smelling like a chemical perfume (eg. Febreez or those Glade plug-ins). The Herb & Fruits Tea scent has notes of eucalyptus, cassis, rosemary, roses & pear. I haven’t yet tried the Juicy Citron scent…so I’m excited to try it soon.
By the time I had returned from my trip to Tokyo this past November, I was mentally kicking myself for not getting more. For weeks I had scoured the internet to see if I could buy this cream online (like at: Rakuten or Amazon) or find out any information about this product. I had practically hit a dead end, until miraculously I was able to find this cream on the Amazon Japan website. The price was also the same as what I paid in Japan which was ¥590 JPY (roughly $5.83 USD). I didn’t waste any time buying more of this cream. I quickly bought 6 tubes, but I didn’t quite buy all of the scents. The scents I purchased this time were: (more) Grace Rose, Juicy Citron, & (more) Herb & Fruits Tea. I think I may have gone a little overboard with the hand creams, but since this cream is hard to get/find, I had to grab as much as I could to fill up my addiction to this cream! Buying these creams through Amazon Japan was a bit of a hassle, since there are, sadly, a lot of products that cannot be shipped to the United States through their website. However, I found a small loophole in which I used a forwarding service to be able to ship these to my American address. Unfortunately, you do need to pay a shipping & handling fee to the forwarding service, which can get expensive, but for small items such as these creams the small fee was well worth it…& these sweet babies arrived on my doorstep just in time! I am so happy I was able to find these creams again, & I can’t wait to use the other scents!!
On a side note, here’s a little trick I learned from my mom on how to “squeeze” the most out of a tube of hand cream (or a tube of just about anything). Once I’ve squeezed a majority of the product through the cap of the tube, instead of squeezing the tube until it is flat, I will cut off approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the end of the tube. Then, I can reach in & scrape off the remaining product from the walls of the tube. To cover the open end of the tube, I will use the cut-off end of the tube as a cap. Voila! It’s an easy way to get the most out of your tubed products.
Photos courtesy of: http://www.walllbase.cc
The time has finally arrived! Tomorrow, I am jetting off to Taipei, Taiwan. I am incredibly thrilled to attend my friends’ wedding. (We are close friends with both the bride & groom.) Also, being able to visit a place I’ve heard so much about since my early childhood is exciting. I am so ready for this trip… I can’t wait to post photos soon!! Cheers.
My friends are getting married in two weeks. They are hosting their wedding in Taipei, Taiwan. I am so excited to be visiting Taipei for the first time in my life. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve heard so many awesome stories from my mom (who grew up there by the way), & I’ve always hear from my relative about how mind-blowing incredible the food is. I’ve been eating Taiwanese influenced food my entire life, so I’m really pumped up to be trying the real deal while I’m over there. Also, I’m so extremely excited that both of my friends are finally getting married…& that I get to go on an epic trip with all of my closest friends!
[ I remember my friends’ proposal like it was yesterday. Our whole circle of friends went to the San Diego Comic Con in 2011. In the spur of the moment, our male friend (the fiancé) had asked us to help him stage the proposal on the beach. We only had a couple of hours to pull the whole thing together, including: 1. helping him write her (the fiancée) a letter/message in a bottle, 2. get an empty wine bottle to stage a scene on the beach where they would randomly find said bottle, & 3. (the most tricky part of all) film the whole proposal with a friend’s Pro photography camera without her knowing they were being filmed. We somehow managed to make it work with our extremely limited resources, & voila! Our friends are finally tying the knot. ]
Not only will this trip be for our friends’ wedding, but it will probably be the last major trip my husband & I will take for a long time because after this, we are going to anchor ourselves down & get the ball rolling on continuing the family tree (if you know what I mean). [Bow-chicka-wow-wow!] After our friends’ wedding, my husband & I are going to stay in Taipei for a few extra days, then jet off to Tokyo, Japan to visit an old friend of mine as well as my cousins & my last surviving uncle (from my dad’s side of the family). Before we head off to Tokyo, we’ve got quite a bit of sightseeing to do in Taipei, since it’ll be our first time traveling there. I am definitely planning to take a lot of pictures, which I hope I will have time to upload on to this blog. *Fingers Crossed* Also, my mom has given us a laundry list of things to do on her behalf (e.g. take a picture of her alma mater college, visit the national museum, have lunch with one of her friends…whose nickname is Little Horse in Mandarin. I kid you not.)
After our little excursion in Taipei, we are off to Tokyo. This time we are going there with two of our closest friends (my husband’s best friend & his wife…who is a close friend of mine as well). We are all very excited to visit new neighborhoods & try new things this time. However, as per my usual routine, I must visit at least one or two of my cousins & I must visit my grandparents in their final resting place to pay my respects. Also, I will be meeting up with a longtime friend of mine (whom I’ve known since Kindergarten), & I couldn’t be more thrilled to see her after 5 years. We’ve both been very busy with work & family, so it’s been difficult for us to keep up regular contact with each other. This time in Tokyo, we are going to take it easy, go slow & really soak up all of the fun. I’m usually more of a fast-paced kind of girl when I’m on vacation. I want to cram in as much things to see & do in one day as I can, but this time my husband has convinced me to just slow down & really enjoy my time…for this may be my last overseas for a long time. Like always, I’m going to be taking photos galore in Tokyo, & like I said before, hopefully I’ll be able to upload them when I can.
I am so excited for this trip, I can hardly wait.
Rabbits & Foxes 
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