Shu Uemura 24K Gold Eyelash Curler

Yay! Giddy giddy me! When I went to Shu Uemura Trinoma to buy my powder foundation, I found out that they have also released their much coveted limited edition 24K gold eye lash curler. BUT I didn't buy it because I still have the original Shu Uemura eyelash curler and I am absolutely okay with not buying the 24K version. 

Okay, so why am I giddy and why do I have this? On my way home I was talking to P on the phone about this and little did I know he planned to get one for me. One tiring night coming home from work, I spotted a package for me on my table and tadaaah! Kilig much! It's really sweet and thoughtful of P. 

Look at that 24K goodness, heaven! 

Performance wise it does the same as the original version. No tugging, just perfectly curled eyelashes. This works well on my thin sparse Chinese lashes lol! The only perk about this is that it is extra pretty and luxurious with the 24K gold plating. One thing I noticed is that this is significantly lighter than the original one. 

Upon checking the label, I noticed that the 24K eyelash curlers are made in Taiwan as opposed to the original version I bought in Hong Kong that are made in Japan. Perhaps that could be one reason why this curler feels lighter on my hand than the original one. I'm not sure nor familiar with the production in Japan and Taiwan but both countries do produce great eyelash curlers. Both Taiwan and Japan made curlers works well on my lashes so there should not be a problem. 

My BRTC BB Cream bought from Taiwan is NOT fake (picture heavy)

Recently I read an online shop in Multiply saying that we should be warned about fake BB creams from Taiwan because BB creams come from Korea and not Taiwan. I'd like to commend the seller for putting out a public notice because it is hard to know these days if your beauty product is real or not especially if the price is very low (a good example is Mac Cosmetics). 

However, I'd like to clear out that my Php900 BRTC BB Cream I bought from my suki seller based in Taiwan is NOT fake. BB creams can be bought in almost all Asian market and it is imported from Korea. This is the link of BRTC Taiwan's website and it will show you exactly the same tube I have: http://www.brtc.com.tw/html/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=ProtectionLine04&PreView=1 

Honestly, right now if you go to www.brtc.com.tw the server is down But luckily I bookmarked the link so it still goes to the page where I found my BB Cream. 

And I found another beauty blog by Ms. Jamilla and she has a photo of her BRTC BB cream box with the "Premium Quality" label: http://www.makeupforprofessionalasianwomen.com/2009/01/legere-white-multi-bb-and-brtc.html 

special thanks to Ms. Jamilla for allowing me to post the link to her blog article! =) 

Here at home my family watches Taiwanese channels and often I'd stumble upon shows advertising BB creams and the top two of the most popular and most advertised are BRTC and L'egere. 

Another proof that my BB Cream is not fake is that I've been using it since August everyday and my skin has never been healthier than ever. When I went to Hongkong my father bought me pure crushed pearls mixed along with other Chinese herbal medicine to flush out the toxins in my weakened liver that causes my unhealthy complexion and I always had pimples all over. I drank it and it became effective until my body got used to it and I broke out again. 

However when I combined the medicine with BRTC BB cream, the BB cream actually helped my skin become healthy again and it's more effective than the expensive crushed pearls I drink everyday. This quickly dries up my pimples and help maintain it that way. I still have small pimples but it goes away in one day or two.

here's an actual photo of my BB Cream 

and yes it has the "Premium Quality" label printed on the box

The label written on the back of the tube

When I went to Taiwan, I found imported products are posted with a sticker with Chinese characters imprinted on them because most Taiwanese cannot read foreign languages such as the Korean language; I find this very consumer friendly for the Taiwanese market and again it doesn't entail that this is fake. Later on I'll show you some other products I've personally bought in Taiwan that are super cheap and has Chinese labels too.

I peeled the sticker off to show that beneath the Chinese characters are Korean characters so you don't have to worry if it's fake or not.

The list of ingredients are written on the sides:

Here are my other Taiwan goodies that are rock bottom prices but are authentic:

Elizabeth Arden Green Tea 100ml perfume and a free clutch bag (and green tea colored gloves but I lost it) all for NT$500+

A separate product I bought is the Elizabeth Arden Green Tea 500ml Shower Gel

I'll admit the clutch bag is made in China but it's not fake

I think we don't have this Elizabeth Arden shower gel here in the Philippines in this size, we only have the small trial sizes but this is also real and it costs me around NT$ 100-200 only

Again, this has the Chinese label in order for Taiwanese to understand the description of the product written in foreign languages

Here we could see certain labels that I think I myself wouldn't doubt if this is authentic or not.

Another bargain I got from Taiwan is this authentic Shiseido eye lash curler which I only bought for NT$150

My curler has a different packaging and it is made in Taiwan for the Taiwan market. I went to Shiseido in Rockwell and I saw the exact same thing, the difference is that the packaging here in the Philippines is much more fancy and curlers are much more thin; the metal is thinner compared to what I own.

Where do I buy all of these bargains? At Jmart; I found it in a quiet city away from Taipei where my aunt lives for more than 10 years already and she took me there and I went crazy looking at all the products because of it's marked down prices. Jmart is located in a wet market in the morning and it transforms into a night market in the evening.

Sure if you'll check mall prices you'll see more expensive prices for these products but in Jmart, I think they sell the excess products unsold at malls.

I bought this at Watson's in Taipei 101 Tower and it just costs NT$300+ as opposed to the Philippine mall price that could go at Php900+

So there you go, a lot of beauty products imported in Taiwan are really cheap compared to other Asian counties, I recently ordered Majolica Majorca in Taiwan and if you'll check the Majolica Majorca Taiwan website it shows that it just costs NT$320 but it doesn't mean it's fake just because Japan sells it for a higher price.

Hope this helps you re-think about cheap Taiwan beauty products. When we think of beauty products in the Asian Market, we think about Hongkong, Japan, Singapore and Korea but we don't usually think Taiwan sells products way cheaper but for me that's the beauty of the Taiwanese market; you don't have much competition so when you enter a beauty store, you can shop in peace and you can go wild not worrying if the product you're thinking to buy will go out of stock once you take a step out of the shop. 

Shu Uemura Mini Eyelash Curler

It's here! It's here! My lemming for Shu Uemura's answer to my lash curling woes is here! I have really really short lashes so this is the answer to my problem in curling hard to reach areas.

Aug 1, 2009, Wald and I went to Shu Uemura's flagship store in Rockwell, my heart sank when the SA told us that it's discontinued here in the Philippines... The horrors! >.<

Wald texted his brother Wyatt who's in Hongkong to buy me one coz wala na pla dito, yup he saved me from the great birthday depression by buying me one! Yey!


This costs HK$80 and it can be found in selected Sasa branches or to be sure you can just go to Lane Crawford or any Shu Uemura free standing stores in Hongkong Malls. If I'm not mistaken there's a free standing store near Marco Polo hotel in Canton Road.

Yup, this baby works great, it's my first Shu Uemura curler, but my Shiseido eyelash curler is also doing its work well. I was telling Jaq this morning how could I ever stretch my budget if I convert to Shu Uemura coz they don't sell extra silicon rubber pads, so if it wears out, you have to buy a whole set again. While Shiseido offers rubber pads, they'll cost you P600 for two rubber pads, those two little silicon rubber pads is sure worth a lot too, but the curler ain't a curler if not for the magical pads.

The mini eyelash curler works wonders on chinky eyes, especially if you've got those super duper short lashes on the corners of your eye, when you use the regular sized curler when you try to reach for those small parts you end up pinching your lids, tada! Here's the answer for it!

Another good thing about this mini curler for me is that I have kirat left eye, I'm not ashamed of it now though I used to in my childhood days. A lot of Asians have the same problem that's why they developed double eyelid glues and tapes. When I use the Shiseido normal sized curler, I end up not curler the whole eyelash and if I do succeed, my curled eyelash would droop down due to the shape of my eyes. With the Shu Uemura mini eyelash curler, I get to curl my left lashes precisely and it doesn't droop. 


Shu Uemura Vs. Shiseido
I think for every person it varies, it just turns out that Shiseido fits me better than Shu Uemura, I took these two for a test, after curling my lashes using both on each eyelash, I splashed my face with water to see if the curl would wear down, Shiseido lash is still curled but Shu Uemura lash straightened up again...

I still love my Shu Uemura curler though, hope shiseido produces a mini eyelash curler too though!