Perhaps one of the most bittersweet time during our trip, our last day in Tokyo 😔 To be honest me and Ken did not make any plans for this day, except for the fact that we'll be meeting my childhood friend in Shinjuku for a dinner that night.

After checking out from our hostel, &And Hostel Minamisenju were nice enough to let us park our luggage while we spend the day out and about in Tokyo. Thanks for that &And Hostel ♡ YUDABEST!

I miss you and the nearby Santouku and Lawson ♡

Since it's our last day in Tokyo, we decided to do some last minute sight seeing of famous places you can only see in Tokyo, and one of them is...


... where you'll see this:


Sure, I have had a photo with Hachiko before already:



But whatever, I am a sucker for touristy stuff!

IDK But I look like homeless here 🤷

After grabbing some lunch at a nearby Matsuya,



Ken's gout started acting up which prompted him to go back to the hostel to rest ayaw nya mag Starbucks that time, ewan ko din baket. As for me, I proceed on running around Shibuya looking for some shoes in Esperanza...


Aside from Esperanza, I also checked out some shops in Shibuya 101 to see if I could shop for some clothes that are also work-appropriate. Unfortunately clothes are SOOOOO expensive here, and so tiny! HAHAHAH! I think those cute skirts I saw in a store would only fit one thigh 🙃


After checking out shops, I decided to head over somewhere else instead and wander for 20 minutes before I go to my 2nd destination.

Such Fab, much WOW!

After just going with the flow of the people in Shibuya, admiring Japanese women in their chicest outfits, mindlessly walking around not caring where I'll end up, I take a one last look at Shibuya and vowed to come back as soon as I could, before heading to Sekaido in Shinjuku.

Photo taken during my visit in 2018, got lazy to take a photo last Feb hahahuhuhu.

Just a recap, Sekaido is art heaven in Tokyo (Yup, in Tokyo, not in whole of Japan, because there's also art heaven in Fukuoka! You can check it HERE). Here you can buy whatever art materials your heart desires, for more details on what can you expect when you visit this store, check out my post HERE! Did some last minute shopping, particularly for my side hustle, Nicoco's Pasabuys, but I also managed to nab a new set of watercolors that are discounted ✌ Will probably do a blogpost about it pag sinipag.

IDK but at that time there was a small rally in Shinjuku station 🤷

What I miss the most about Japan is the convenience of travelling anywhere in that country. Despite 2 over-packed luggages in tow, we did not feel hassled because it's simple easy to go to one place to another. We had 2 train rides from Minamisenju to Shinjuku and it took us less than 30 minutes!  Oh, Philippines, when are you going to keep up?


Prior to arriving here in Shinjuku, me and my friend Nico were chatting on where is the best place to meet and have dinner. At first we were thinking of Sushi, however the one that he prefers is a bit of a stretch away from Shinjuku station, and at that time as much as possible we opt somewhere near Shinjuku station so it's easier for us to go to the bus station and board for Kyoto. After a couple of suggestions, from Ichiran, Santouka, and even Famima hahaha, we ended up with Katsukura in Takashimaya, which is a stone's throw away from Shinjuku Station, and Hilton Shinjuku (where Nico is staying).

Let's just say I am currently missing that glorious pork cutlet meal with unlimited shredded cabbage and rice paired with a cheeky pint of Highball 🙁 I was expecting food in Katsukura will be expensive, given that it's inside the swanky mall that is Takashimaya, but in fairness the price is reasonable. I think for my whole meal + the drink I spent around ￥ 2,500, which is a good deal given that usually food in restaurants in swanky malls tend to be pricier. Also, their staff are really nice 👌

Sorry ladies, unfortunately may jowa nya sya hahaha!

Hollaaaa!

Haters gonna hate, potatoes gonna potate 🥔🥔🥔

Despite all the cool techniques I have learned recently, I still stay to my roots by still coloring stuff top to bottom, and with that the first part I color is hair. Whenever I color hair before I usually just put on the base color, and find it difficult to gauge on where to put the highlights and shadows! But since I am learning light sources and shadings in drawings, I think I have improved in this department by now knowing how to create more depth- and adding shine for that shampoo commercial shimmer pizzaz!

Werq it gh0rl!

Pucker up, buttercup

The item is enclosed inside a box. The box has an illustration of what the bottle of lip tint looks like and the logo of the product. On the top and bottom part of the box you can see the cannister with the number which indicates its shelf life, as well as the shade of the liptint.


Unlike the Airy Ink Velvet's packaging, the plastic body of this ink lacquer feels glassy and heavier. I would say the glassy plastic material resembles closer to the Peripera Sugar Glow Tint but with frosty glass finish. Now, does this miniscule detail really matter? For a very clumsy person like me, kinda? I always experience accidentally dropping my make-up whenever I open my Cath Kidston polka dotted pouch, hence it's been an important unique selling proposition of an item to withstand x100000 falls and drops.

Cutting the whole story short, I dropped this lip lacquer countless of times during our trip to Japan, and I am proud to say that I was able to bring this home in one piece.


One good thing about the packaging is the clear inscription of the shade name and number, which is perfect should you ever want to repurchase this Ink Lacquer in the future.


Let's move on to the actual product, I always get attached to describing the packaging lol hahaha!


Staying true to its name, it's thick as lacquer, but not excessive like an oil paint. I actually find this VERY SIMILAR to Airy Ink Velvet, where the consistency is very creamy, however this is thicker and denser. Another similarity would be the faint floral, but milky candy-like smell that is pleasant but not irritating that you'll take it as a deciding factor not to pick this up again.



As I have said, this Ink lacquer feels like sowing all the benefits of wearing a matte lipstick without suffering its cons. When applied on the lips you get to fully cover your lips with color with just one swipe. This is a big thing for me, given that my lips are pigmented so it takes a couple of coats to ensure that the color fully covered my dark lips.

 What I actually like about matte lipsticks are how pure the color pay-off tends to be, unlike when you wear Satin or Glossy finishes. With this lip lacquer you get to have that impressive color pay-off, also you get to "customize" how strong the color will turn out.

In using this Ink lacquer you can either come up with a solid opaque lip, or...


Nooooow, the real make-or-break determining factor for me: STAYING POWER.

As much as I want I would like to be consistent in doing touch-ups of my make-up, I supposed I am simply not that kind of girl. Given that I am such a lazy ass, my usual go-to's are make-up items that promises long lasting and long wearing. With that, does the Peripera Ink Lacquer fit the bill?


Because I believe in the saying, "pics or it didn't happen," here I am giving you proof to further justify my claim on Ink Lacquer having a 🗢🗢🗢 out of 5 lips. When I went to Japan I actually brought along 4 lipsticks with seemingly identical shades (HAHAHA) and this is one of them. As I lose interest in putting on full make-up, I start to amp up the boldness of the color, and this is the brightest amongst the lippies I had with me. As our trip gets close to its end, I start using this lip lacquer frequently than I did in the first half.

Soooo the photo shows my lips at different times of the day. The first one was taken at 10:00 am, and as expected the color is there, because it has been only an hour after I applied the lippie without eating nor drinking.

The second photo was taken at 1:00 PM, where I already finished a light meal. Basing on the photo, the color on my lips are still thriving, in fact it still looks nice, gotta commend this lip lacquer for that!

The last photo was taken around 4:00 PM, after having an icecream and beer at the Umeda building, and as you can see the color is completely gone.

Verdict for this? It's a small improvement from the Airy Ink Velvet, because this one withstand a couple of hours without touch-ups! However, I still can't place this amongst the Superstays of the world, because after gulping some beer, the color has finally departed from my puckers- but come to think of it this product never claimed to be long lasting 🤷



*Rubbing hands* ok, let's do this!

PROS:
💓 Despite the thick consistency, it feels light when applied on the lips.
💓 Really digging the glass-like packaging, very chic!
💓 Also, I appreciate that the details like shade name & number, and expiration date are included on the bottle itself.
💓 Easy to apply and blend.
💓 Nice color pay-off.
💓 Build-able color.
💓 Very pigmented!

CONS:
💔 Not really a major con, but at its price of around Php 600-Php 700 here in the PH, I feel like I could get a similar product from a much lower price range.
💔 Limited shades, they only have 5 in this product range. They always run out of stocks sooo fast!
💔 Sure, long lasting isn't part of its Unique Selling Proposition (USP), but it would have been fantastic if they added that feature on this wonderful product.