HALLOWEEN STAYCATION PT.1

I don't usually write an event report unless I'm obligated to (I prefer to do a product review) because I find it boring (not the event, just the process of writing it).

BUT THIS EVENT WAS SUCH A HOOT, I immediately sorted out the photos after the event was done (right at the hotel's lobby while waiting for Sam), which is totally unheard of for me as I usually do this week(s) after, and edited all the photos sometime later. It's a Halloween Staycation with Emina!

The staycation was held at Yello Hotel, and luckily, it's walking distance from where Sam works! So he drove me from home to his office, then I only needed to drive like hundreds of meters from his office to the hotel. Yay. I hate driving in Jakarta with a passion.

I arrived pretty early, so I snapped some photos of the pretty decor. The theme was "TROPICAL".

That's real fruits! I actually poked it cos I thought they were fake 😅

EMINA "Soul Mattes". Haha pun. Have you ever realized that a bunch of Emina products' name are puns?😂

Anyway, the soul mattes, I've filmed a video of them and I actually like the fact that they're not waxy and dry like other matte lipsticks. They don't cling as much to dry patches of your lips either!

The hotel.

It's freaking adorable, please! It's one of those artsy, hipster-ish boutique hotels. The vibe is very casual and youthful, precisely the kind of hotel you'd have a staycation with your friends in.

There's lounge area where I spent 5 hours the next day at while waiting for Sam to finish work. So happy there's this area, or else I'd have to spend money on some random cafe (this hotel is in the same building with a small mall) and I'm too cheap for that. #forevercheapskate

X-box Kinect for guests to play with!

I think I took this photo because if that unique bicycle seat chair. Hipster enough for you?

And this one is me attempting an artsy shot 😂...and to show you there's foosball table.

We had lunch after the others had arrived, which is a buffet by Yello. I've mentioned my love for buffet multiple times in this blog, so yes, I was in bliss taking and gorging down all the food on the buffet line.

And I have to say, whilst the buffet is simple (just like other boutique hotels), the foods were really tasty.

That curried chicken was sooo delicious! The fish with, I think it was dabu-dabu sambal or rica-rica, was really good too.

I like their customized plate and bowl, so adorable. If I could bring 'em home, I would.

random photo I took of the buffet.😅

The cakes! which were meh haha. Go for their hot food instead ok!

This is what I meant by artsy hipster boutique hotel! There are sooo many murals you can practically do a whole week of OOTD with different background each time 😂. Perfect for Instagram-loving millennials, no?

There are full-length windows surrounding the area too, so may your vain photos always be LIT! Hey, it's a pun! See why I love Emina products' name now?

After lunch, our first activity was making our own lipstick!! And we could mix it with whatever color we want.

The pigment. There were red, nude, brown, pink, purple, etc.

And here's a vain photo of me with my concoction. There are only 2 vain photos of me in this post, I promise.

My lipstick!! I just anyhow threw in whatever color in front of me and ended up with a very boring red color 😞

Melt the pigment on this hot stove.

AND LOOK! I MADE A PLETHORA OF GIFs OF THE PROCESS! (okay, it's only 3 GIFs, but "plethora" seems infinitely more exciting)

 Woooo, self-spinning beaker.

Pour the hot hot mixture into a mold

AND LIFT!!

AND VOILA! My boring red lipstick emerged!! But so satisfyingly perfectly molded, right? 😜

Mine is the middle swatch. I wish I did a warm nude lipstick, which is equally boring I admit, but I'd wear it more often at least.

After this, we had a bit of chit-chat about the Soul Matte lipstick and off we go to our room. I'm bunking with Chaca. Met her during this staycation and she's sooo nice, love her. And that's her effort btw in making the lipstick swatches to be the shape of hearts.

See, there's even a mural on the wall of the room!! And the room is predominantly white and grey, purrfect for Instagram-dweller favorite theme, right? Minimalist, clean and barren. 

Ok, ok, I poked fun at all these IG stereotypes, but I actually also like the minimalist and clean theme 😆

Here's the other and the last vain photo of me! See, I kept my promise. Only 2 gratuitous photos.

The goodies Emina team left us on our bed. We were so spoiled. 💓

Thankyou Emina and Beauty Journal for having me on this Halloween Staycation! Stay tuned for the part 2 of this Staycation ok, that's the Halloween part! I'll blog very soon cos I'm feeling diligent.

MIZZU SHORT MOVIE!!! | Beauty Journal X MIZZU

Quick blog update!

Went to a MIZZU event a couple weeks ago to preview their short movie. Local brands are really creative nowadays, love it.

I'm sure y'all (from Indonesia) familiar with Mizzu. Their eyeliner pen was such an instant and HUGE HUGE hit back when it first launched.

Anyway, because I'm not really a beauty junkie and quite often late to the party when it comes to cosmetics and beauty trends, I actually thought Mizzu specialized in kick-ass eyeliner pen only (and liquid lippies, their liquid lippies were quite a hit too), where in fact they have actually launched a plethora of other makeup products!! Mascara, eyeshadow, remover...

See? See? Blush on, eyeliner pencil, eyebrow products, lip liner...

Their latest product is GLAM ROCK foundation!

Not quite sure if it's launched already or not. I'm not even sure if it's like powder foundation, cushion, or what...I'm so bad at this wtf 😅

In my defense, the event was focused on the short movie, so the glam rock was only mentioned in passing by the actress who wore it in the movie. She said something along the line of how it lasts for a long time and that she only needed to touch up once or twice in a whole day of filming. Something like that. *defensive*

There were 3 activities during the event, but I was horribly late (Kemang traffic is no joke 😑 and it was raining cats and dogs) so I kinda skipped the first one and went ahead to take some food haha.

Quiche and Mini sandwich from NOMZ Jakarta

I tried being a diligent blogger and took some photos of the surrounding while my team (I just randomly joined Yuri's team) finished the first task haha *useless teammate I was*

and I spotted something interesting. Will we make some kind of lippie concoction?? 😍

After the first activity, we got a preview of the Short Movie, titled "COMPLETE"!

All cozy on the bean bag chairs while the emcee introduce the movie

Okay, this GIF not much of a preview, but the story is, there's this popular "influencer" (I hate this word, barf) who always refuses to attend events and sends back products all the time, so she's been known as arrogant and bitchy. Then, a company wants to use her, and just so happen one of the employees was the influencer's schoolmate. Thus, the journey begins in uncovering as to why this influencer is arrogant af.

Haha how's my summarising skill?

The actors. Yup, they use actual actors, not random people who'll deliver cringe-level acting.

I'm gonna be honest here, I'm not much of a nationalist when it comes to the entertainment industry in Indonesia (entertainment= movies, tv series, & music). 

I find most are cringe-worthy and too drama-laden and I'm not a fan of most of the humor used. As for music, I like some of oldie music (Sheila on 7, Chrisye, Rossa, Ebiet), but not so much the newer ones (maybe I'm just getting old lah 'cos I also don't like a lot of the current edm-heavy, clubby-vibe western music - no, I'm not trying to be hipster ok, I'm just saying I'm old). 

I do love to support local brands like Mizzu though! And there are some local movies and series that I liked when I was younger! And I love Indonesia of course (I feel like I have to add this in case people accuse me of not loving my country and its crafts)!!!

That being said, after I've watched the movie preview, it's not as cringy as I expected. The storyline is kinda interesting. I can see that a lot of work goes into the movie, it's not just some random clips put together to promote Mizzu products (they say Mizzu only appears for a split second near the end). The movie actually has a story to tell and lessons in the media life to give. 

The soundtrack is an original by The Voice winner (forgot his name, Billy something) and I think people in general will like it. So, yeah, go ahead and give it a watch when it's released on MIZZU youtube channel. 💕

Moving on to the second activity...

YUP! We're actually going to make our own liquid lipstick~

This is the color that we have to recreate.

Pic from @giselavi

And our team actually WON this challenge!! I don't have any photo of us tho :( I brought my DSLR with me, but stupidly I forgot to bring the CF memory card wtf. All the photos, except the ones from Gisela, were taken with my phone.

Another round of food 😍 also from NOMZ.

I freaking love their unique churros. You know how churros are usually crispy outside doughy inside? These ones are CRUNCHY through and through. It has this caramelized sugar texture. LOVE IT! Pairs really well with the bitter chocolate sauce and sour strawberries. I downed 3 cups of these and when I went to get more, they're gone already 😩.

The third and final activity is a make-up estafet (relay race)~

Pic from @giselavi

This is the only photo I have of the race. Putting this up cos I look PRO with my itty bitty makeup sponge lol. We didn't win this race though.

And that wraps up the MIZZU X Beauty Journal event!

oh, oh, by the way, the event was held at COMO Park and there is a dog park in it!!! So exciting! It's free too, you can just bring you pup there and have a good time. Let me know if you know any dog-friendly place/park/beach around Jakarta and Tangerang area :)

Ok toodles

xo take care



FTC Disclaimer: This is a sponsored blogpost in collaboration with Mizzu and Beauty Journal as a part of Sociolla Blogger Network.

JAPAN Summer Trip DAY 4 Pt.2 | Famous Kawaguchiko Ryokan

OMG OMG this is the last part of Day 4, so that means we're officially HALFWAY DONE with this travelogue (when I've finished this entry that is)!!

Can you believe it's been more than 2 years since the trip itself and I'm only halfway done?? I need to be more diligent 'cos I want to start to blog about last year's and this year's travelogue at least BEFORE the end of the year, or the beginning of 2018 at the latest.

Okay, here's the previous entries of this travelogue:

• DAY 1 | Shinsaibashi & Sinsekai
• DAY 2 Pt.1 | Universal Studios Japan Osaka
• DAY 2 Pt.2 | Dotonbori & Sheraton Miyako Hotel Osaka
• DAY 3 Pt.1 | Natto, Shinkansen, & Kiyomizu-dera
• DAY 3 Pt.2 | Bamboo Groove & Tenryū-ji Temple
• DAY 3 Pt.3 | Kaiseki Dinner & SHIOK Onsen + Takeshima Hotel
• DAY 4 Pt.1 | OMG-SO-GOOD SUSHI & Gotemba Premium Outlet

There are 20+ photos for this entry, so let's get to it.

From Gotemba, we went to our lodging for the night, which is another RYOKAN! Yay another night sleeping on a futon. No, I'm not saying this sarcastically, I truly, truly love sleeping on a futon ♡

Kawaguchiko Hotel 河口湖ホテル 

This particular ryokan is very old and some parts were slightly dingy, but overall still pretty well-maintained. The facade is beautiful tho, isn't it? Looks like a traditional german house.

It supposedly used to be a famous ryokan 'cos some important people of Japan (is it the PM? The royalty?) got married here or something to that effect. googled this, so the royal family members have stayed in this ryokan from time to time, including Emperor Hirohito and his son, Emperor Akihito.

 The room and my impregnated luggage 

 The washing basin.

I really don't know how to make this caption any more interesting than this lol. 

Oey, got that current-hipster-marble-top one!

 Another washing basin inside the old old, but clean bathroom.

 The room is pretty spacious, especially for a lodging in Japan. It has a small balcony area and dining table.

 TV too!

Inside that little round basket is a tea set in case you want to act all atas (high?) and luxurious and have a traditional tea party. 

 Got fridge too. Old, but should still work.

The very very best part about this ryokan is the IMPECCABLE VIEW though!! Breathtaking, right? It's Lake Kawaguchiko if I'm not wrong. And I THINK that's mount Fuji? 

 Another view from a different room.

 Tell me this is not something you want outside you room??!!

 Must camwhore with the provided yukata near the gorgeous view!

How smug is his face?

Here, not so smug in this one.

Here's a redeeming one. He indeed can smile!

The dinner from the ryokan.

I particularly remember that innocuous looking fish at the top. SOOO BUTTERY AND SO YUMMY!! Melted in my mouth!

The beef was really good too, but that fish totally takes the cake. And I'm not even a big fish fan. Actually, come to think of it, I started to like fish more during this trip. Japanese fish are bombdiggity.

The melon there was extremely sweet and juicy. The other stuff was decent.

group pic in our kimono.

I went to the onsen afterward. 

Seriously guys, if your hotel/ryokan has an onsen, YOU HAVE TO GO! Yeah sure it's a bit weird at first being naked among other people, but after you take your first soak, maaaannnn, such pleasure. You'd be like "the hell with other people, stare at me all you want while I enjoy this magnificent bath." (actually, no one will stare at you, nobody gives two hoot, and you won't be too.)

Here's some sneaky photo I took of the onsen area in this ryokan.

Eh, I don't actually have a photo of the actual onsen part (there were probably people there, so I didn't take any). The onsen is just this long pool with irregular shape and the man and woman onsen are separated by this wall that has a gap on top, so you can hear everything from the other side.

I kept hearing my brother saying "HELLICOPTEEERRR!!" hahaha immature. I think shinchan reader will get this.

Bought some hot cocoa from the vending machine outside of the onsen. Nice.

Perfect looking peach. So sweet. Japanese fruits are awesome.

Wagashi I bought from Kyoto station the day before. Meh. Don't like it.

See, I'm not THAT biased with my love for Japan.

Okay, see ya on the next post! xoxo take care.