| rev:text
| - This place is so fun.
Written on the bubblegum pink paper bags beneath L'Amour's logo reads "Japanese Beauty And Life", signifying their specialty of imported Asian cosmetics and beauty goods. No longer limited to just Japanese brands, as the K-pop trend continues and we look to the perfect-looking skin and doe eyes of those pop stars, Korean beauty products also fill the shelves.
Yes, there's a much larger, chain-owned multi-brand cosmetics store in the mall right across the street, but the innovation of those brands are super slow in comparison to the Asian market trends. For $30, you can get a tube of cream from Korea that temporarily (lasts roughly 3 hours) turns your skin ~3 shades whiter, and for another $40-50 you can get one called Wedding Dress Cream that you apply on bare skin when wearing a dress at a fancy occasions that will match your body to your newly super-pale face for about 5 hours.
Pastel and French-pastry shop themed packaging adorn the shelves like a literal candy store. Things you never knew you needed, like self-heating, disposable sleeping eye masks/shades made of paper (scented like lavender, rose, chamomile, mint) suddenly become a must-have.
Or maybe just want to pick up a pack of facial-blotting papers? There's a charcoal-infused pack endorsed by Kumamon (the black bear mascot of Japan's Kumamoto prefecture), a strawberry-cream scented pack, a chocolate-scented pack, a rose-scented pack...amongst a couple others hanging towards the back wall.
Need some fake lashes? There's an entire shelf dedicated to your needs, filled with the more expensive Dolly Wink (unique to this brand are the bottom lash strips, putting Sucker Punch's Baby Doll eyes to shame), D.U.P., Meijiao, and more. Next to it are the wall pegs displaying various eyelid tapes, which gives you the coveted "double lid" look for any mono-lids. There was also a ready-to-use eyeliner tape, which gives you a fool-proof, perfect cat's eye in different thickness levels.
More seemingly random beauty items are here too, like soft squares of cotton pads similar to Shiseido's but at a much lower price point, and boxes of tissue paper that would probably feel like gently weeping into the open arms of a downy-winged cherub. Scented laundry beads, circular seat cushions optimized for comfort, gel beads for scented rooms, colourful bottles and single-pack foils of hair care products, many powders and beads for a soaking bath that will add additional heat, scent, bubble, detox, ease muscle pain, or even slim you down (so the package claims) can all be found. Wackier random stuff you might not think to look at it: PiaFloss, a scented floss for your pierced ears to remove dead skin buildup. Velcro squares to pull back your hair without ruining your 'do with telltale clip marks. Eye drops with refresh-levels between 1-10 ("refresh" really meaning "minty") by the circle-lenses which give you a wide-eyed, innocent look - they've been all the rage in Asia for many years.
Vitamins fill a "health" wall at the back, but I'm always wary of these as the FDA isn't as strict in Asia and may have negative interactions with prescription medications.
Staff are typically Mandarin-speaking - if you're Asian but don't speak Mandarin, if you hear something that starts with "Ni-hao ma..." most likely they are essentially asking "Hi, how are you - is there anything I can help you find today?". Answer in English and they'll switch over. Despite the store's byline, answering in Japanese will still give you an English answer.
Even if you're not Asian, it's still worth a peruse.
You're bound to find something that makes you smile.
And if you don't, well, there's a full-face mask that can help you with that (it will exercise your face muscles: back left wall, made of cotton, ~$50).
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)