#instagram (2)

I haven't done one of these in a while so I thought I'd just share with you guys some of my recent instagram photos! You may notice that basically all of my photos are of food. And that's because...well, to be honest, I don't have an excuse for that other than I just really love food! :) Hope you guys enjoy these little snippets of my life.

Six Degrees of Separation (Playlist #3)

Hi everyone! It's been ages since I've posted anything and I'm so sorry for that, but this week has just been crazy busy and I haven't had a lot of time to focus on this. I missed a few days of school last week and have been spending hours just trying to make up all the work I missed. Anyway, the blog will be back to its normal posting schedule starting tomorrow, but I wanted to post a playlist for you guys today to apologize for being so absent!



The Script recently came out with a new album and while it's not the most amazing thing I've ever heard, this is my favorite song from it and it's incredible, I'm so obsessed! This is the clean version of it just because I don't want to have a lot of language here on the blog just in case there are any young girls (or guys) reading.



Taylor Swift also recently came out with her new album and I'm also obsessed. This is one of the first songs she released before her album officially came out and it's by far my favorite on the album. Plus, how gorgeous does she look on the cover here?



I've been really loving Andrew Belle recently, ever since I went on a Andrew Belle buying spree a few days ago and I haven't been able to stop listening to these songs. He has a very distinct sound and while it might not be for everyone, I find it really calming.



I love Benjamin Francis Leftwich and I think this might be my favorite song of his. It's constantly on repeat on my phone and I can't stop listening to it! It's one of those songs that makes me happy once I hear it and the music video is so sweet!



The same goes for this song. The music video is so adorable and makes me think of Peter Pan which is one of my favorite stories of al time! The song is just so upbeat and it's very indie, but that's very much my type of music.

That's all for this playlist! I hope you guys enjoy the songs and let me know if you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them. :)

Take a Bite: New York Grill (Tokyo)

Given my supreme love of food and basically anything edible, I thought this Take a Bite series would be a nice one to feature on my blog. For my first feature (sorry for having so many photos!) I decided to talk about the New York Grill, which is a restaurant in the Park Hyatt Tokyo. It's pretty pricey though, so I would save this one for special occasions when you really want to go all out for your meal.

The food is absolutely incredible and they're known for their amazing selection of steaks. The one I ordered is the Yonezawa Sirloin steak which is very thin and has a higher fat content than most steaks but I think personally it's really delicious and has a lot of flavor. My brother ordered the Omi Tenderloin which he also really enjoyed as it doesn't have much fat and is a very thick piece of meat. My mom doesn't take beef so she ordered something else, and luckily this restaurant also offers an extensive selection of seafood and other grilled meats. It's also common to order a few side dishes to share with the whole table. I highly recommend the duck fat french fries because they're a much classier take on what might otherwise be a fast food meal. The mashed potatoes were also really creamy and had a lot of flavor, and they go really well with the steaks.

Dessert is also such a treat, my mom and I ordered the chocolate pudding to share and it was so delicious and rich. Servings here are quite large so I recommend sharing dishes with the people at your table as it makes it much easier to finish the food and doesn't waste money. The service here is great, I felt like all of the employees really knew the menu well and could recommend good dishes based on your preference. The chef is also very willing to come out and talk to you about the food, so I felt really welcomed and assured that I would enjoy my food.

What are some of your favorite restaurants?

Live While We're Young (Playlist #2)

Is it lame of me to add a One Direction song to this week's playlist? I don't usually listen to a lot of their songs but I've been really obsessed with this one - it's just so catchy and fun! Plus, how cute does Harry look in this video? ;)



Aaaaand my Imagine Dragons obsession continues. I've loved this song for a while and can't believe it's not on iTunes, I want to have it on my iPod so badly! I can't stop listening to it and this song just proves to me how amazing this band is. Is it even possible for them to come out with a bad song?



Corey Gray is an independent (I think?) YouTube artist and I'm in love with this song. It's beautiful and the music video is just too cute! I've been listening to this nonstop and I really think it was about time for me to officially declare my love for Corey.



I found this song through a Lookbook-esque video that I saw, and since I watched that video I'm obsessed with this song! It's not usually the type of song that I would deem as being my type, but it's very catchy and fun. Plus, they all look absolutely stunning! I'm crazy obsessed with their makeup, and Jade's hair.



This song reminds me a bit of Ed Sheeran's music, and I think Nina Nesbitt was actually featured in one of his songs so it's funny that I think that. I love her makeup in this video, she's absolutely gorgeous and this song is so addicting. The music video is adorable! I'll definitely be keeping up with Nina's music from now on.

That's it for this playlist! I'm getting the feeling that these will be a really common feature here on this blog, since I'm always finding/becoming obsessed with new music. I hope you guys are enjoying these!

What songs have you been listening to lately? Seriously, tell me! I'd love some recommendations. :)

Japan Day 2: Food + Shopping!

So I suppose the recaps of my Japan trip continue with this second post! Hopefully you guys don't get tired of me posting about my trip and all the things I'm eating and buying, but I'll have some reviews up in a bit so my page won't be completely covered in all things Japan-related.

Today my mom and I spent most of our time shopping along Omotesando, which is a really big street in Tokyo that has a lot of adorable boutiques and small restaurants that are really yummy! Omotesando is also the area that boasts a lot of the American name brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci, and it has a massive MAC store that had so many things I had never even heard of before! The first place we stopped by was the Samantha Thavasa store, which I believe is their flagship store here in Tokyo.

My mom and I first discovered the brand about five years ago when we visited Tokyo and have loved their bags ever since! They're definitely not cheap but I think they're really worth it - they're very well made and they last for ages. I remember buying one back in 2007 and it's still in fantastic condition and I use it for nights out! I bought one bag this time and I can't wait to show you guys what it looks like - it's my new baby for sure!

For lunch we picked a random restaurant that turned out to have really yummy udon noodles! My brother ordered miso ramen with tempura while my mom and I decided to order the ramen with spicy miso and ground beef. Too delicious! I wish I could tell you guys the name of this place but unfortunately I can't read/type Japanese, so I can't :(

 

After eating my brother wanted to go look at shoes, since he's a huge Jordans fanatic. If you're looking for sneakers (limited edition or otherwise) and are willing to spend a little more money on them, I highly recommend Kicks Lab or Undefeated, which are the two shops we went into and they both had a great selection of sneakers, mainly for men. Undefeated also has a nice selection of t-shirts that my brother really liked, I think they'd make great gifts if you're in need of some! As for department stores, my mom and I had a really nice time looking around La Foret, which is a medium sized department store that hosts a bunch of cute little boutiques. The style is a little quirky so it might not suit everyone, but they do have a Kitson store there that has a lot of more typical clothing as well.

We also ended up stopping for crepes, which were so yummy and unique! They boasted a wide range of crepes, from chocolate banana crepes to cobb salad crepes. I opted for a matcha cheesecake crepe that was super filling but totally worth the binge.

We then dropped our stuff off at the hotel and headed over to Takashimaya, which is one of the largest chain department stores in Japan. We had a really nice time shopping around the cosmetics counters since a lot of the brands were either cheaper here or not available in Hong Kong, so I ended up buying a lot of things that aren't available back home.

The two items in the picture above are probably the strangest out of all these purchases. I bought the squeezy bottle for my brush cleanser because I think it's easier to apply with a tube like that, and I'm familiar with it since it's what we use in AP Chemistry to hold distilled water when we're doing titrations (if that didn't make any sense to you, I'm sorry!), and I just think it'd be really convenient for cleaning my brushes. As for the spray bottle, I just felt like I could use one just in case. You never know when one might come in handy! As always, reviews will be posted soon. Most of these items are already out of their packaging because I'm really excited to try them out already!

Okay, that's all I have to say for now. Sorry if this post completely bored you out of your mind, I'll be posting something non-Japan related very soon! Hope you guys are having/have had a fabulous Saturday, see you soon :)

Japan Day 1: Recap + Haul!

I'm very happy to say that I'm now officially on fall break and I'm so lucky to be spending it in Tokyo, Japan! Of course, I won't get to spend the whole week here since I have to go back to Hong Kong and prepare for my first time taking the SAT - wish me luck! Japan isn't very conducive to studying, but it IS extremely encouraging of eating and shopping :) I just wanted to share a few things with you guys from today.

My family and I arrived in Tokyo quite late, it was around five o'clock by the time we reached the hotel and about six when we had all freshened up and started to head out for dinner. We're staying at the Peninsula which is an absolutely gorgeous hotel - I'll try to get some photos to post tomorrow. It's also very conveniently located near Ginza, which is a district here in Tokyo known for its little boutiques and large shopping malls.

 

We had a really lovely sushi dinner and walked around for a little bit before heading into Lumine, one of the larger shopping malls in Ginza. Japan's streets are really unique, at least in my opinion. The back alleys don't seem like alleys at all, and everything here is so pristine and just has a very Japanese feel to it, I think. The culture is infused in so many different things and places, it's really such a calming experience to just walk around and look. At Lumine, I ducked into Skin Food and LUSH and bought some really nice things that I've been wanting to try!

LUSH came out with a makeup line just a short while ago and since I first heard about it I'd been dying to try the lip colors and the eyeliner! I've heard so much about their gold liquid liner so it was the first thing I picked up when we were there. I also had my eye on this bright pink lipstick so I got that too! I love the packaging, it's so quirky and reminds me a lot of a science lab which I think is really cute.
I also got the Argan Oil from Skin Food, which I haven't really heard much about but I absolutely love argan oil and it seems to be the only thing that works to hydrate my dry ends, so hopefully this works out as well as my beloved Moroccanoil.

I got really caught up in the skincare area of Skin Food so I also bought their Black Sugar Mask, which the lady at the counter recommended to even out my rough, problematic skin. It smells delicious and feels really nice on the skin, not too abrasive but not so gentle that I can't feel it doing anything, so that's really nice. I also bought the Black Raspberry Su Serum, which she also recommended to me, and it felt really nice and smooth on my hand and sunk in quite quickly, so I have high expectations for this. But in addition to skincare I also bought a cream eyeshadow palette from them, which has three colors inside that I picked myself, and their All Over Muffin Cake Finish in #4. It's a really pretty pink and white baked powder and when I swatched it in the store it turned out to be a really gorgeous highlight color! I'm very excited to try this out on my face.

That's all I wanted to say for now! I'll have reviews of all these products up soon hopefully, and I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on my next few days here. I have so much I want to share with all of you and I hope you enjoy reading these! Hope you're having a fabulous weekend so far :)

#instagram (1)

Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple of days, I've been super busy with school since it's the last week before we all go off on break. I can't believe it's already almost October; it seems like just yesterday I was nervous about starting my junior year. This year is going to go by so quickly, I can already tell!

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you some of the things I've been doing/loving recently via my instagram. I'm absolutely obsessed with instagram, if you didn't already know, and it's actually getting a bit ridiculous, how many times a day I refresh my feed! So below are a few of my photos from the last couple weeks. Hope you guys enjoy :)

Clearly my life revolves mainly around food and makeup ;) If you want to follow me on instagram, my username is stephxtang. 

Have a lovely day guys! ♥

Don't You Worry, Child

Recently I've discovered and been listening to a lot of new music, and I thought I'd share some of the songs I've been loving lately with you guys. I'm thinking of making these kinds of features a regular thing; let me know what you think! :)