ツバキ ダメージケアウオーター (さらさら) Tsubaki Damage Care Water Review

bottle designed by Mika Ninagawa

To celebrate Tsubaki's 10th Anniversary, they have created a shampoo/conditioner/damage care water set with a Japanese photographer: Mika Ninagawa. The bottles and bag were designed by her. The price was very reasonable: ¥1080 for the whole set! So obviously, I got the set. 

I have not heard of Damage Care water before... I have only heard of hair spray, hair serum and hair oil. So this was definitely an interesting product for me. 

Country: Made in Japan

Brand: Tsubaki (parent company: Shiseido)

Amount: 220mL

instructions and ingredients

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical using this product because it has a strong  Tsubaki shampoo smell... I was afraid there were a lot of chemicals inside... and... I was right... I was a bit surprised as how a product with such a simple name have so many chemicals >___<.

Nonetheless... I still gave this product a try. I tried to avoid my scalp area because I didn't want all these chemicals to sit on my scalp for long periods of time (e.g. 24 hours).

Tsubaki's Damage Care Water has two types: 1. Rustling and 2. Moist. Since I wasn't familiar with Damage Care Waters, I decided to follow the shampoo options which suited my needs... I chose the Volume Touch set (purple coloured). They paired this set with the Rustling Damage Care Water.

instructions:

1. after washing hair, towel dry

• (this product can also be used to dry hair)

1. point spray 5-10 cm from your hair and spray
2. after spraying brush and let hair dry (you may also use a hair dryer)

(other instructions are how to open the product and remove the safety plug)

ingredients, country of origin, amount

impressions:

• strong aroma
• very light
• did not irritate my scalp or skin
• made my hair easier to manage (less tangles)
• literally "repaired" my hair
• only took 1 use to feel and see the effects

I was definitely impressed and surprised with this product! Seriously!! it works!!! Despite the strong scent... I love this! It didn't irritate my scalp and somehow made it easier to dry my hair (even air drying time was significantly less).

score: 9/10

website: http://www.shiseido.co.jp/sw/products/SWFG070410.seam?shohin_pl_c_cd=693202&online_shohin_ctlg_kbn=1 (Japanese)

iRemax Proda Power Bank review

20000mAh Power Box

I'm quite surprised I couldn't find any reviews of this Power Bank anywhere! Anywayz, this will be the first one then :P

I have been using Power Banks for over 4 years, so I think I am quite qualified to do a review... and to determine whether a Power Bank is good or not.

some information at the back of the package

They specifically indicated that this product was Designed in Hong Kong and Made in China.

I would assume that most of you (my loyal readers and friends) would not have heard of this brand or this Power Bank (unless you came to my page through a Search Engine like Yahoo or Google, of course). 

In fact, I have never heard of this brand and because of the bad reputation that Chinese Power Banks have built up, I would never consider buying a Power Bank that is made in China (my other power banks were made in Thailand or Hong Kong).

contents included in package

I was introduced to this brand by my friend. One day, while I was eating with my friends, my Nexus 6 (I blame Marshmallow, Android 6.0.1 for this tragedy) ran out of battery (as in zero). To my luck, I forgot to charge my Power Bank and thus I couldn't use my phone. 

My friend then told me about her Power Bank that she got in China... and that I could use it (everyone at the table started their negative comments and what they heard on the news). But my friend explained that this one was different. 

1. It was designed in Hong Kong, 
2. The Power Bank was Long lasting 
3. It charges phones fast *
4. It did not explode on her, and she has been using it for 3-4 years. 
5. It is apparently famous for those who always have to take pictures on their phones (for work).

*For the 3rd point... just to give you a feel of how fast it charges... (according to Google my Nexus 6 has a 3220mAh battery) it only took 45 mins for my phone's battery to recover to 55%! (my other power banks take at least 2 hours to get to that range). I was amazed!

information about this Power Bank

I quickly asked my friend for the details... but unfortunately, she said she bought it in China, in a store... she didn't even know the brand. so I took her power bank and took pictures of it. I went online and found it (I actually found this quite troublesome... I went online, got their contact details, their "customer service" was not helpful). I later found out that my friend's PowerBank has been discontinued and Proda is the newer range. Long story short, I finally found it on tvc-mall.com. You can also buy it on alibaba.com (as suggested by their representative). I asked them and TVC Mall is their certified seller. (while searching for this product, I learned that there are fake/replicas of this product... so be careful when purchasing.

LCD indicator, it looks like mirror when it is turned off

I was happy when this FINALLY arrived... I was desperate for a Power Bank!!I was quite happy when I got it. The packaging and the product both felt very authentic. The Power Bank was easy to hold. I couldn't wait to use it immediately. (there was 44% of power in the Power Bank). It was a little heavy... (because the battery capacity is so big). The LCD was very clear (see picture below) and it looked like a mirror when it isn't on. I was quite disappointed there was no wall charger included... how do we charge it???

the outlets there are 2 USB output and 1 input

pros:

• easy to grip and hold (fits in your hand so well)
• considerably light (it is 20 000mAh) according to the mailing label = 0.420KG
• easy to fit in purse
• charges my phone fast! (almost as fast as my phone wall charger)
• indicator of percentage left, so I know how much power is remaining in bank
• very cheap and affordable
• large capacity and very sturdy
• 2 usb outlets (you can charge 2 devices at the same time)

cons:

• no wall charger included
• cannot charge and be charged at the same time
• takes a long time to be fully charged (I use a turbo charger and it takes me a whole night to get it fully charged!)
• need to push "power button" to start charging

power button: you can turn on the device, check how much battery is left and turn on/off the light

One of my biggest disappoints is that it cannot charge devices while being charged. This REALLY sucks!! This is supposed to be a new and improved product (it was launched in March 2016) I am absolutely disappointed...

Another one of my disappointments is that I need to press the power button in order for the Power Bank to charge my device... this does not make any sense to me...

bright light

Overall, I am happy with this purchase. 1. It is so cheap! 2. It charges my phone fast. 3. It feels very durable. 

where I bought this Power Bank (product link): www.tvc-mall.com

I will do a review on shopping at www.tvc-mall.com soon

score: 8/10
website: http://www.iremax.hk/index.php?type=detail&channel=product&lang=en&id=3707


also... if you are interested, please check out my personal blog and follow me around Tokyo :)

Japanese version of North American Chocolate bar snacks [review]

Aero, Crispy Crunch and KitKat

Hey Everyone!

I hope you are all great!! I hope you all have been following me on Facebook where I do short reviews and updates! Sometimes certain products are quite hard to write full reviews on, so I would just give a short simple review on my Facebook page.

Aero:

Because of the square-ish shape and larger size, this Japanese version of Aero forced me to bite into the chocolate instead of letting it melt like the North American version. It does maintain it's taste but there is a weird sugary residue left in your mouth after you have indulged the chocolate. But, it did have Aero's special bubbly feeling when it was  partially "melting".

I might be biased, but I prefer the Canadian/North American version because it was smaller and easier to melt in my mouth. It also did not leave a weird sugary residue.

score: 5/10

Crunch:

This was the best out of these 3! There were lots of rice crisps in each piece and they made the chocolate so much more exciting and flavourful. The texture was very "crispy". Since there were more rice crisps, the flavour was more rice "cakey" and less chocolate. Either way, it was tasty!

I prefer the Japanese version to the American/Canadian version because there were a lot more rice bits.

score: 9.5/10

KitKat:

quite disappointed... I see why the Japanese KitKat company is always innovating new Kitkats (e.g. roasted KitKat, Matcha Kitkat, Sake Kitkat... etc.) because their original Kitkat kind of taste bad...

The North American version is SOOOOOOOO much better... compared to the Japanese version, the North American version is filled with a creamy layer of sweet milk chocolate whereas the Japanese original Kitkat has a weird bitter cocoa taste (not dark chocolate kind of cococa...) that makes it taste bad... the lack of milk taste in the chocolate also adds to bad taste (cocoa does not have a strong taste either).

score: 7/10

It was definitely interesting trying these 3 candy bars in Japan. When I found them, I didn't expect them to taste any different from the North American versions... I thought they were the same... however, my tastebuds told me I was wrong. The next time I head back to North America... I am definitely stocking up on Kitkats and Aeros!

website: http://nestle.jp/brand/