Review: KAO Liese Prettia (Natural Ash & Royal Brown)

*warning:IMAGE-HEAVY*

I'm dyeing my hair today with KAO's Liese Prettia! So will my sister. She will be using 'Royal Brown' (1st box) while I'll be using 'Natural Ash' (2nd box). 

I thought I might as well do a review for especially for those who are using the products on virgin black hair. We only want subtle changes so we did not bleach our before coloring our hairs.

KAO's Liese Prettia is Japanese brand and it's new type of permanent hair coloring which uses foam instead of tradition liquid dye. The ones I bought are from ebay and they are the Japanese version so it's all in Japanese.

I seriously love their package. It's looks so pretty, but when thinking about it. The Caucasian models on normal hair dye packages are pretty too, but it's just that I'm not used to seeing Asian models on the hair dye products ^.^ Other than that, I also think that it looks so cute~ The roundish Japanese font, then the feminine font and flowers. Damn, Japan has everything T_T They just know how to make everything cute and pretty.

So I opened the box and it contains: the hair dye, bottle with the activator, pump for the bottle, hair conditioner and lastly the instructions.

In the instructions, I found a piece of paper with a circle on which you're supposed to use for the allergy-test (which we didn't do). You mix some from bottle 1 and 2 on the circle and then put on your skin. I think you have to do this 48 hours before coloring your hair.

On with the disposable gloves and we just followed the instructions- putting (1) into (2):

Super easy to do that and the smell from the bottle smells really good. Like sweet gummy-bears ^.^
The tricky part though is the inverting the bottle instead of shaking it. I think some make that mistake and they don't end up with no foam..

We were so nervous when we started to invert the bottle and my sister didn't dare to squeeze the bottle because she thought it was a pump. 

It came out all right though.

Finished both heads. Our hair was not nearly as foamy as the model's heheh, but when we massage it, it becomes a bit more foamy.. Also the smell is pretty strong lol not smelling like gummy-bears anymore ^.^

Then I waited for 50 minutes and washed mine off and Sandy waited for over an hour and washed hers off. The dye came with this incredibly lovely conditioner!
It smelled really good, but I don't think it was enough our hair.

When I had washed it, my hair was so light. I didn't really like it at first because I thought it became too light especially at my hair line and roots, but after drying it I thought it became less light and it's actually a very nice. My sister thinks it did a great job because my hair looks like the box, but when it dried it became darker (or just maybe me who's getting used to the color) and now it's like a medium ash brown.

My sisters hair also changed a bit of color, but it's really minimal so it's barely noticeable. We already have brown hair so I'm not sure if her's came out so much different. I'm thinking maybe a couple of washes and it will show up better. It's like her normal 'indoors' hair has become like her hair in the sun and now in the sun it's brighter.. lol not sure if that made sense..

Before & After. Picture differ from real life, but you can see a difference! I can't get it 100 % right :/

FINAL THOUGHTS 

Natural Ash: I'd describe my hair as medium ash brown. It's very much like on the box (not model's hair) but maybe darker. I'm satisfied. It takes a little time to get used to. In real life it looks very much like this, but in when it's dark I think it looks the same...... but it's obviously lighter lol
Royal Brown: It's very discreet and natural. Her hair is now lighter like when her hair is out in the sun, but it could be really nice if it was a bit lighter. It's not really noticeable because it looks natural, but she likes that. Compared to the box, it's also darker than the box, but her hair is indeed brown now.

Color? ✿✿✿/5 - We're satisfied, but it could be lighter so it's more alike the box. maybe best to strip some color to achieve it? It's like the dye is very translucent and doesn't really change your hair from like black → blonde. More like black, but your hair can look blond in some light and then normal in others?
Easy to use? ✿✿✿✿✿/5 - So easy! If you have long hair as me or thick hair like my sister then don't worry! One bottle is really enough for your hair. The foam makes it so easy to apply.
Price? ✿✿✿/5 - It's pricy, but compared to prices here in DK it's alright
Fun? ✿✿✿✿✿/5 - So much fun with the foam! lol

Overall: ✿✿✿✿/5!
Really fun and easy. The hair changes color as it should, but you can't expect a 100% same color. Also natural colors show up--- well very natural so it's not so noticeable, but the colors do show. I'd choose a lighter color when you want something specific. Also it didn't damage our hair and it works on virgin dark brown hair.

UPDATE - My sister's hair is really brown now ;) Mine is always still ash brown, but lighter than hers.

Pandan Mantou

I love Pandan Mantou so much! I could really eat only those everyday for my entire life if it was possible. It tastes good alone and also with food. If only I could buy it everyday ^.^ I was craving it when I was at my friend's house and when I got home I asked my mom to buy me some Pandan leaves so I could make it!

She didn't buy me the leaves, but something even better.. PANDAN EXTRACT! 

That way I don't have to suffer to get the juices of the leaves.

I followed my usual recipe, but added more milk this time.

If I could do it again, I'd add coconut milk! because it goes well with pandan.. Also the flour is called Red Lotus Special Flour and it's a special kind of flour used for dumplings, buns and cakes.. so it is cake flour, but I guess you can say it's a bit special..

I was actually going to take picture of every step, but it's extremely hard to do alone. I have so much respect for food bloggers now lol how they can take pictures and cook/bake at the same time blows my mind. My mom was looking at me like I was crazy and I realized how dumb I looked so I just took pictures of before steamed and after steamed. I seriously don't know why I always make mantous in the middle of the night. 

I don't know why it bulges out in the middle, but I don't care! Project Pandan Mantou SUCCESS!

Next time I will add some coconut because Panda and Coconut kind of goes hand in hand ^.^

I hope my mom likes these. Last time I made pork-filled baozi she couldn't eat them because she's on a 1 month vegan diet. This she can eat *hehe* 

Also I just received my hair dye products from KAO ^__^
So tomorrow I will dye my hair! Yay.

I hope everything goes as planned and my hair looks pretty.. Hopefully not totally green or the product severely damages my hair T__T huge risk I'm taking with my precious hair lol

Preview: GnG/Dueba Crystal Diamond (Pink)

I bought these a long time ago. Along with the browns, GEO Honey Wings Brown, EOS Flower Pink & Brown and GnG X9 Queenies Grey. So in total I bought 6 circle lenses. I have my phases where I'm just obsessed with circle lenses, but then I wear them and I realize that my eyes are too small for circle lenses :'(

When I bought the circle lenses, I was only happy with the Queenies and the EOS Flowers. I wish I had taken pictures and reviewed them, but I was so disappointed with most of them so I didn't really bother. From what I can remember: Queenies were definitely the prettiest and most comfortable and the EOS ones looked so pretty, but made my eyes dry. The Honey Wings were defective and hurt my eye and looked too natural for my taste. Also if the black rim is too thick and solid, I can't wear them. So you'd imagine that the Crystal Diamonds don't really suit me at all and I even bought them two colors :'(

I have already thrown the other lenses out because I opened them a long time ago, but I still have this pair left. I'm asking my sister to review them because her eyes are like huge O____O so it will be prettier on her than on me lol.

Also, I'm currently waiting on these lenses:
- GnG/Dueba Puffy 3-tone Brown
- GnG X9 Queenies Grey
- GnG/Dueba Natural 3-tone Honey Brown

Re-buying Queenies because they look so great. Expect reviews of those too ♥
I hope I've chosen some pretty lenses.. and hopefully not too unnatural or too natural ^.^

.01 Selca-shot

Taken yesterday at friend's house

It's really easy to selca with an iPhone 4S. I don't own one, but my sister does so I borrowed to take some selca-shots. At first it felt a bit awkward because the buttons are placed a bit off on the iPhone, but other than that it's really easy. Especially when you have the right app. She's using this Chinese app which makes it possible to apply effects. You can choose what kind of colours you want and you can also apply an blur effect so everything looks blur except a chosen point on the pictures. The first picture was a test-shot and also the first I applied an effect on with focus on the lips.

After that I took some more because I thought it looked pretty.

It's Snowed!

Yesterday it snowed for the first time in my city.
I was hoping for no snow this year, but that's just a wish-thinking.
It's not much and it's beginning to melt now, but the news said that we should be prepared for some more snowing tonight :-(
It's such a bummer because I was just saying the day before yesterday that I hoped it wouldn't snow at all this year. I actually snapped a picture of that day before and I said that is was so pretty: no snow, dry and sunny.

Just when I hope it never snows and that maybe we were so lucky this year, it just happen to snow the next day. I think I jinxed it.
Whenever I wish for something, the least wanted thing/opposite thing always happens. Look at the next day:

I was really bummed out because of the snow, but it was nonetheless a good day. Early morning I went out to the mall because sister had a appointment with a optician to see if her sight was as screwed up as she thinks it. Turns out, it really wasn't that bad.. As I've told her ;-)

After that we went over to our friend's house to relax and eat breakfast. My sister had an appointment and we nearly overslept so we didn't get to eat breakfast yet and luckily neither did our friend. We already had plans to go shopping with her, but she invited us over for breakfast. So we did :) We were tired as well so we wanted to chill before going out.

She made us eggs with bacon, bread, sausage and cucumber.
It was really delicious. I also had some green tea.

After our breakfast we just relaxed and talked before going shopping. Our friend was shopping for food ingredients for the dinner she would be making that day. We helped her to make bún thịt nướng  and it was really successful! It tasted so good because we made everything with no help from our Vietnamese mothers (except for some essential ingredients).

Bún thịt nướng is a cold Vietnamese dish which consist of grilled pork with vermecilli noodles. We usually serve bún thịt nướng with nước mắm pha, sliced cucumbers and crushed peanuts. Very simple, right?

My friend made the nước mắm differently than our family and she doesn't eat as spicy as my either. I bet it's because she's originally from North Vietnam so her family don't eat so spicy. Despite of that her mắm was really good! At first I thought it wasn't spicy enough and maybe to lemon-y, but after combining it with the dish, it tasted really good. Obviously not as good as how our moms' dishes, but good enough.

After our dinner we just hung out, more tea and talk. Some other people came over and it was really fun for various reasons.  We came home at 5AM and I just headed off to bed..

Now I'm just relaxing *he he* and tomorrow it's go-go time again.
I also just changed the layout to two-column because I wanted bigger sized pictures I wish I had done that to begin with..
My previous pictures seem so tiny now.

Early Birthday Presents

My birthday is coming up real soon and my family and sister have given me some early birthday presents! I'm so happy because I've been wanting these items for so long. I love my family so much!!!!!! ;')

From my mom and dad I got $$$$$ which I was going to use to buy some Converse All Stars. Those babies are quite expensive, but it was so worth it! And I ain't painting/customizing them or anything because they cost so much dough.
The ones I got are the classic Black/White low-tops. These are my second pair while my first pair I got was several years ago and it was the tall orange ones which I ended up cutting in half. I definitely like these so much more than my first pair ♥

At first I wanted the gray ones, but after seeing the classics, I thought it would be better to stick to black/white because it fits with basically everything in my closet. My next pair will be high-tops or possibly mid-tops if I ever find those. I'm not sure about the color yet, maybe beige..
 
I got my All Stars a couple days ago and today I got a lens from my sister. She got me the Canon EF 50 f/1.8 II ^_^ We went to the mall to buy my lens and we saw that they had a 10% off on all items that they've used for display. So we bought the discounted ones because nobody really touches the display items and it's good to save as much money as possible when you buy expensive things lol.

I really like this lens and I think it's really good, but I'm not a pro at taking pictures so I'm not sure if it's as good as I feel it is. I have wanted this lens for so long because everyone raves about it so I wanted to check that out myself. Lenses are quite expensive, but this one is the relatively cheap for such a good starter-lens. I'm not used to it yet because it's so tiny! and also it doesn't really zoom, but I'm really loving the DoF ('depth of field') so the pros definitely outweigh the "cons".
I'm very excited to try taking pictures of various things and also portraits because I hear it's good for that.

Here's some test-shots I took:

My sister bought something nice for herself, a CANON EOS 600D:

Remember I said that they had a 10% off in the store. Well they just happen to have one Canon EOS 600D left which they were selling for a VERY good price considering it's the newest model and it cost $100 less than what I paid for my 450D two years ago. We realized that the price was good so she bought it. She's been using mine for a while now (she's way better than me), but she's never owned a DSLR so it was a good time for her to buy her one since I'll be moving out soon.

I'm kind of jealous because it had all sorts of new functions while mine is like so 2 years old, can't film or have any fancy things like hers .. It even has a flip-view so you can easily take camwhore-shots! but oh well, you can't have it all.. Besides I think that both DSLR take even good pictures I think it's the lenses that makes a difference.

That's it for today! Today's so great! Life's good, he he he

Chinese Steamed Buns (baozi, mantou, bánh bao)

The first well-made bun I formed! <3

Chinese steamed buns also more known to me as Bánh Bao! I'm Vietnamese so yeah..
I modified this recipe so it suited my taste, but I ended up using all sorts of things so it's not entirely the recipe I ended up using. The initial recipe was very good, but it didn't turn out as I wanted it, so I added a few other ingredients.  I've been meaning to post this for so long, but it's just now that I got the recipe alright..

I always prefer my buns to be a little on the sweet side, so if you're not too fond of that I strongly suggest to use less if you're following my recipe.. maybe 200g of sugar? Most of the recipes I stumble upon are not sweet enough for me. Some say I eat too sweet, but I really can't take a bland bun and so does the rest of my family feel! I always seem to double the amount the say in a bun recipe. My family and I are after all from Southern Vietnam so everything needs to be a little be sweeter..

My buns turned out really tasty and fluffy. I added a bit white vinegar in the steamer to make the buns whiter, but it's optional. I'm not sure if it really does work because other times where I don't use it they turn white too. I can't really give the recipe for the fillings because that's the magic of my mom :-) I think it's just onions, scallions, pork, some sort of black mushroom and a couple of other things. Boiled eggs are super delicious too~

***

Here's my recipe if anyone cares.. I made a pretty picture out of it lol

(you can use ap flour too, but use less milk; rough guess 300 ml.. Next time I'll make these I'll try to mix ap flour and cake flour.. Maybe next time 700g cake flour and 300g ap flour?)

- First I make dough starter: mix ingredients, cover it and wait for 20 minutes, stir and then use. The mixture is kind of weird because it starts to bubble and it's very air-y? I'm pretty sure it's the yeast activating. I'm not entirely sure, but my mom said that this will ensure that it will rise better. I trust her words.
- After you're done with the dough starter, you take 1 dl of the dough starter and put in it the flour and mix!
- Add the dry ingredients to the flour (if you using dry yeast, then add that; sugar, baking powder)
- If you're using fresh yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk and add egg white and vegetable oil
- Make a well in the flour and the gradually pour yeast mixture and mix (tbhI just poured 3-4 times because I'm lazy.)
- Knead with your hands! I did it for 5-10 minutes
- Let it rise in a comfy warm place to double size.
- Knead again and then you're ready to fill those babies
- STEAM THEM!!! for 20 minutes! or maybe more.
- Open the steamer and let it cool.

Really important: Don't open the lid before it's done! Sometimes the dough just collapses! Also if water (e.g. from the lid) hit the buns, the buns will turn patchy. Trust me on this! Several of my previous buns got 'injured' because of that. When you're done, it should turn out somewhat like these or maybe even prettier because I suck at making them looking decent.

I hope yours turn out well, but don't hate me if it doesn't!! I've failed so many times.... and finally I get something right.. *high five*

***

THEY TASTE SOOO GOOOD. It's pretty late now so I didn't get a chance to take so many pictures. I might do it tomorrow when I steam one for breakfast he he <3 but I seriously only made a few pretty ones and I have stuffed them all in a bag in the freezer so I'm not even sure if the shape is alright.. but anyways, I love banh bao!!

Vietnamese Lunar New Year!

We have now entered the Dragon's year and I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year!

or Chúc mừng năm mới as you would say in Vietnamese :-)

I usually spend Tết ('Vietnamese Lunar New Year') with my family, but this year I happen to celebrate it with friends instead. A friend, who just recently finished his studies as a engineer, had arranged a social get-together with friends and family. It's a shame I couldn't spend Tết with my family even though it really is the time where you get together with your family, but I had a great time at the party. It's odd how different New Year's Eve is compared to Tết because when it's New Year's Eve you usually should/want to spend that time with your friends whereas Tết is mainly a time for family (also friends, but mainly most importantly family) or at least that's how it's always been in our family. Sometime we go to these big social events which our town had arranged, but I rarely go there. I think it's nice though, but sometimes it's a little bit awkward and I always feel that people stare too much. That might just be my imagination though..

As far as I know, my family didn't go to the Tết festival, but the celebrated at my uncle's house. They also happen to celebrate the birthday of my baby cousin William (age 1 now) so it was very festive day as Tết usually are in my family. I wish I could be there, but at the same time.. It's not every day a friend of yours becomes an engineer at the age of 23 - that's a pretty amazing accomplishment which understandable should be celebrated with family and friends. Our host had actually made a lot of delicious food so I'm not sad about missing out on typical Tết food.

© sandytrang.blogspot.com

Doesn't it look delicious?
But anyways.. once again, happy lunar new year to everyone who celebrates it! ♥ Mostly Asians.
I hope everything goes well in the New Year and also con chúc ba má dồi dào sức khỏe!

Lots of love to my family, xo