Empties #2

I know, it's been awhile. I'm just not able to maintain a regular schedule like other people. But who cares. It's not like, I need to justify anything as it is my own blog anyway. I also want to write things down for myself to be able to remember.

So here's another empties blog post from me...

 

I'm a sucker for mango products. One of my favorite fruits in the world. I rarely buy them in Germany because they don't grow here. Thus any mango in store is picked before its time. But in Taiwan that's a different thing. When I'm in Taiwan during mango season, I need to eat one a day. Sometimes even more ;-)

1. Mango shower gel from Balea - Love the smell. I even had multiple backups. Now that it's winter, I'm glad, I'm done though. It's more a summer thing for me.
   
2. Mango shower gel from DuschDas. I'm not a fan. Balea is better.
   
3. Body lotion from Vandini with grapefruit scent. It was a present, one I didn't really like because I don't like scented body lotions. I only like things like Nivea or Dove.
   
4. Toner from Balea. Toners are difficult. This one is sticky and I hate stickiness on my skin...
   
5. Shimmery brown cream eye shadow pen "24h Perfect Stay Eye Shadow and Liner" from Astor in "Creamy Taupe". I liked the easy application and color but it broke. I don't know if it was just bad luck or whatever but I have enough other products and won't rebuy it.
   
6. Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter "050 Berry Smoothie". I loved the color and lip butters in general. Since you can't buy Revlon products in Germany, it might take awhile until I will be able to rebuy this.
   
7. "Feel Good Mineral Blush" from P2 in "020 sweet rose". I didn't like it because the color payoff is quite bad.
   
8. P2 matte eye shadow "050 rose charm". I love it. This and the taupe color are my favorite. If they ever discontinue, I will need to buy tons of backups. Fortunately, they last for a really long time!
   
9. Black eye liner pen from Catrice. This is a horrible product. First, it's not really black, somehow patchy. And at last, it transfers and smudges on my lid. Really not my thing...
   

[Travel Thursday] Hamburg, meine Perle

I have thought a little about blog routines. So far my blog style is more messy than anything else. But let me give this a try. In real life I'm very organized. Really...

This summer I went to Hamburg, one of my favorite German cities. A business training with pleasure leisure time... Some of the girls and me went out for an Alster boat tour. Gotta love the northern humor ;-) Some of my best friends live around Hamburg and they are the funniest people in the world. They could do a comedy show.

I haven't been there in ages... 5 years... Actually, that's not THAT long ago... I just feel like it was more.

The city is gorgeous and shopping is so much fun. It's like Venice or Geneva...

Here is the view from my hotel. There is a bar on the top level which wasn't that expensive.

My room was gorgeous too. What a great bed and bathroom... I like these American counters. There's so much space. I need something like that later in my future apartment/house.

I also went a little crazy on my shopping tour in the Adidas and Douglas store. Finally, I found Ardell lashes and NYX blushes. Uhh, and my very first high-end blush from Illamasqua named Tweak. I still haven't unpacked it because I still want to blog about it... It's probably so yesterday but I love this color...

 

Skin Conditioner

This is a must-have beauty product for going to tropical countries or for hot summer days or nights. This is my second bottle. The first I bought in Japan, the second in Taiwan but I haven't seen anything like this in German drugstores... It kind of looks like a toner because it's clear but it's not. It nourishes the skin but it's very light which is perfect for summer, maybe not for 2014 but normally it would be great.

I refilled the liquid to a mini spray bottle of 30ml for light traveling which I got in Muji.

 

 

Empties #1

I love to watch Empties videos on YouTube. Using up a complete beauty product really shows if you like a product or if it totally doesn't work for you... So here are my first Empties.

1. S-Quito free: I've only used it for 6 days, spraying my arms and legs twice a day, and it's already empty. Besides, it claims to even work against tropical Mosquitos but I've already got 4 mosquito bites on my legs. So it doesn't even work properly. I definitely won't buy this again!
2. P2 bronzer #030 Bali heat: This bronzer is actually quite good. I like the color and that it shows up on my skin, even when I'm tanned. It's neither matte nor glittery. It has more of a sattin finish. I consider buying it again but I have a couple other bronzers at home. Right now, I use KIKO #103 which is matte but has a similar color.
3. Maybelline - illegal length mascara: It is waterproof and has fibers in it. It dried quickly and was clumpy. Besides, I didn't like the brush either. I won't rebuy it as I've found a better mascara, the Max Factor - masterpiece.
4. Essence - SOS spot killer: It worked but was too aggressive for my skin.
5. The Body Shop - Mango body scrub: Amazing. My holy grail body scrub. I love the scent, the efficacy and it actually nourishes the skin.
6. Maybelline - pure cover mineral concealer: I loved it but it was discontinued.
7. Balea - peeling gel: It's not bad but nothing special...
8. Florena: I used both day- and night creme. They were both not bad.
9. Clinique - All about eyes: It's a great eye cream. I even bought the full size "All about eyes rich". But I think the normal version is better.

 

Nails: Mint and Turquoise

I like accent nails. I usually either choose the nails of my ring finger and thumb or index and small finger.

I love this color combination of mint and turquoise. This picture is actually from last year but I haven't blogged about it yet.

I used p2 #560 "who cares" and manhattan & buffalo LE #19 "pepper in my mint" nail polish.

I can't recommend the manhattan LE polish, although it's such a pretty color. It transferred to my nail and made it green even though I used a base. Big no go. Haven't worn it since...

 

Elephantastic pink

Hey everyone,

Long time no see... I'm really not good at keeping up with my blog. I don't know how others are able to work fulltime, workout, cook and blog on a normal day to day basis.

Anyway, here are some old pictures. It's been a year or so.

I'm not typically wearing pink all the time but sometimes it's just nice.

I'm wearing Catrice #210 Pinkadilly Circus lipstick and Elephantastic Pink by OPI, the latter is from Taiwan. See the Chinese below ;-)

The lipstick is a matte pink which is a little drying but very pretty if the lips are soft and even.

Now that I started working in an office, I don't wear anything bright on my nails anymore. What a pity for this polish. Now it's only something for my toes or for vacation.

Speaking of vacation - I'm on my way to the Dominican Republic again.

Have a great Sunday!

 

Nail Art: Cherry Blossoms

I know, it's not really the season for cherry blossoms but somehow I wanted to try out this little nail design.

 

 

I used the following products:

1. As the base: Essie - Grow Richer
2. Main Color: Catrice Ultimate Nudes - 01 Karl says très chic
3. Black branches: Essence Colour & Go - 21 Fabuless
4. Essence dotting tool
5. White blossoms: P2 color victim - 030 virgin
6. Red dots: Catrice ultimate nail lacquer - C01 Red Butler
7. Top coat: Essence studio nails - better than gel nails

I think the main color from Catrice is a little thick which I don't like too much but it looks nice once it's on the nails. One coat is quite opaque but I used two nonetheless because it wasn't the same on all my nails.

 

How do you like my little flowers? Somehow I think it's still fall appropriate because of the rosewood nude polish which is a great color.

 

 

Travel Tip: Masks

Hey everybody,

Hope you've had a great weekend. Mine was very relaxing...

Since I'm about to leave for a trip again, I thought I share a travel tip from some YouTube beauty gurus. Use a mask whenever you fly long distance. Because of the air conditioning the air is very dry. Thus giving back moisture to the skin by applying a mask is perfect. I do that mostly, when the lights go out because it's not as embarrassing... But actually I shouldn't care.

When I'm done with my mask, my skin feels absolutely great because it absorbs almost everything.

 

Here are a couple of mine from the past few trips... I can recommend #1 and #3 from the German drugstore DM. I didn't like #2 because it contains alcohol which dried out my skin instead of helping me. #4 are great tissue masks from Taiwan. I love these and I'll buy more, when I get there again. Unfortunately, it won't be any time soon...

 

P2 volume gloss gel look nail polish #080 grande dame

I'm in love with these strawberry raspberry colors. Thus, seeing this new volume gloss nail polish by P2 (080 grande dame), I just couldn't resist...

Here you see only one coat of polish, using clear base and top coats. It is long wearing as well - holding up for 5 days without tip wear.

Day light

 

At night using flash

 

It actually quite reminds me of Essie - too too hot. In the bottle it looks similar.

 

 

But on white paper and also on my nails, you can see the difference. Essie is much darker and a bit more raspberry-like.

 

 

I just don't look the new P2 brush not because it's wide but because it's irregular which makes it a little challenging to paint.

 

 

Outfit #20 Business Look

This was my business look for the way to Beijing. I even got a blazer but it was just freaking too hot to wear on the way...

Pants by Zara, blouse by H&M, blazer by New Yorker, shoes by Deichmann

 

Actually, I survived almost two working days in this outfit because I started the day with a 2h train ride to a business meeting on the day of our flight. Otherwise I would have chosen something else for the plane and the weather. Between the meeting and the flight, I worked on my notes, some more background information on the physical matters and company. We went straight to the airport (1.5h by car, 11h flight) and straight to the Chinese company. No time to shower. I didn't see any showers at the airport in Beijing either (is that a German thing?) but I wished I did. Thus I'm glad I had some refreshing wipes for a small touch up and only changed the blouse at the airport.

Btw how do you like my suitcase? I got it at the Taipei Nightmarket in Shilin when I went to Taiwan with my dad. I love the color, the size and the fact that it turns 360° on its four wheels... All that for only about 25€.

So anyway to my makeup.

 

Face makeup

1) Instead of foundation, I was wearing the pink Korean Skin 79 Super BB cream with triple functions: whitening, UV protection SPF25 and wrinkle improvement which I've bought in Taiwan as well (500NT = 12.50€). I applied it using my fingers. Either I've got the right skin color or it really adapts but I've never quite believed that. How does the BB cream know which color I have?

 

2) Powder: Manhattan clear compact #75 beige (brush: Ebelin professional)

3) Bronzer: P2 sunshine powder #030 Bali heat (brush: Ebelin professional)

4) Blush: Essence LE flower grunge "Be Flowerful" (brush: Ebelin professional)

Eye makeup

My eye makeup was simple. It's my go-to-look. It's fast and simple. Only matt neutrals.

 

1) All over the lid: Essence Ballerina Backstage LE - Eye soufflé #01 dance the swan lake (application: finger)

2) Outer corner of the eye: Maybelline Color Tattoo #40 Permanent Taupe (application: finger)

3) Eye shadows: P2 matte dream #050 rose charm and #070 grey pleasure (brushes: Sigma tapered blending brushes E40 and E35)

4) Eye Liner: brown Catrice Gel Liner #020 It's Mambo Nr.2 (brush: Sigma eyeliner brush E05)

5) Lashes: Shu Uemara eyelash curler, Maybelline False Lashes Volume Express black waterproof mascara

5) Eyebrow Powder: Catrice Eyebrow Set (brush: Essence eyeliner brush)

 

Lips

1) Revlon Colorburst Lipbutter #050 Berry Smoothie

 

 

Stage Make-up

I play the main character in a play which has some kind of typical dirty dancing plot. At first my character can't dance at all. She is terribly ashamed of it. To win back her big love, she needs to become the queen of salsa dancing...

Thus I've got two different looks. Look 1 is innocent and cute, while Look 2 is a vampy style.

Look 1 - innocent and cute

 

Look 2 - vamp

 

Between Look 1 (innocent and cute) and Look 2 (vamp) I only changed the blush and lipstick color. Sorry for the bad image quality in the second picture. I was already backstage between different performances and it was dark, thus the flash gave me some unnatural skin color...

Make-up on stage needs to be a lot stronger than in real life. Thus there's a ton of products in the following pictures. At least for me, there is but I know some people use that as daily routines... If I did, I would have to become a lot more time-efficient. My make-up takes about an hour before I go on stage.

 

 

 

Foundation

So I start with my fake beauty blender (A) and my Maybelline foundation Matti Teint in Natural Beige (1), followed by the Maybelline pure.cover mineral concealer #01 nude beige (2) for under-eye circles and redness around the nose, using (A) as well. I applied my Manhattan clear compact powder #75 beige (3) with the Ebelin professional powder brush (B) all over my face and using the Ebelin professional concealer brush (E) below the eye, continued by the P2 bronzer sunshine powder #030 Bali heat (4) using the Ebelin professional blush brush (C).

Blushes

For Look 1 I chose Manhattan Oktoberfest limited edition Wiesn Fever (5a) as blush, using Ebelin professional blush brush (D), bought in 2012 - I think, that's why it looks so different from brush (C).

For Look 2 I chose both Mac's Love Joy blush (5c) and Sleek's Scandalous blush (5b) as highlight, using the same brush (D).

Eye Priming

Now, using my fingers I primed my eyelids with Essence I <3 Stage base (6), followed by Essence Ballerina Backstage LE - Eye Soufflé #01 (7) dance the swan lake all over the lid and under the brow bow. Then, I put Maybelline Color Tattoo #40 Permanent Taupe or #35 Tough as Taupe in the US (8) on the small lid and in the outer corner of the eyes and blended everything out. After that, I continued with Essence Ballerina Backstage LE - Eye Soufflé #03 Grand-Plié in Black (9) on the small lid, followed by Milani's Liquif'eye metallic eye liner pencil #01 black (10) to tightline the upper and lower lash line as well as to amplify the outer corner of my eyes. Again, my ring finger had to do the blending.

After each color, I need to wash my hands because it is so messy...

Eyeshadows

Then, I set everything with eyeshadow. Using my black Sigma tapered blending brush E40 (F), I applied P2 matte dream eyeshadow #050 rose charm (11) all over the inner eye lid and up to the eyebrows. Using the Ebelin professional eye shadow brush (H), I applied Essence matte dream Eyeshadow #010 black attitude (13) on the small lid as well as Manhattan Mat Effect Eyeshadow in #1010N Mat Black (14) in the outer corner. For blending purposes I applied P2 matte dream eyeshadow #070 grey pleasure (12) with Sigma's slightly smaller tapered blending brush E35 (G) to avoid any harsh lines.

Eyebrows

For my eyebrows I used Catrice eyebrow set with Essence eyeliner brush (K). I always start off with the lighter color and continue with the darker color, if my make-up is more dramatic. Otherwise the lighter color is enough.

Eyeliner

I've got a new favorite black gel eye liner. It's the Maybelline Eyestudio lasting drama 24h in #01 intense black (16). So much better than Essence or Catrice because it doesn't smudge! I always apply it with Sigma's eyeliner brush E05 (I). After that, Sigma tightliner E16 (J) helps me to set it with the Manhattan black eyeshadow (14).

Fake lashes

My Japanese Canmake fake lashes #10 (17) are solidly glued to my eyelids with the Artdeko lash glue (18). They haven't fallen off yet, even though I was dancing on stage for quite some time...

I can tell you, it's quite some work to put these fake lashes into the famous Shu Uemara lash curler (19), blending in my natural lashes. Because these lashes are so freaking dramatic already, I don't use any mascara. I'm also quite lazy, I wouldn't want to get it off again...

Highlighting

To highlight my inner corners of my eyes as well as the brow bone, I use Catrice made to stay highlighter pen #010 eye like (20) and the eyeshadow MNY 600A (21).

Lips

For Look 1 I chose Revlon's Super Lucious - Wink for Pink (22a), while I needed a little more drama for Look 2, using Essence lip liner #08 red blush (22b) and Mac's famous Russian Red (22c).

 

Japanese Nail Art

I barely ever do anything fancy with my nails but since I've had a couple salsa events recently, I thought, I'll try out something new.

I bought some Japanese 3D nail art stickers a couple years ago and I didn't use them. I don't actually know why. It's some inner voice that tells me not to waste anything that pretty. I love these Hawaiian hibiscus flowers.

I'm actually quite surprised that the stickers last that long. It's my 4th day of wearing them and they haven't vanished yet. The petals aren't as white as before but they still look okay.

The only issue I have is that the stickers are 3D... The petals are made of some kind of jelly or silicon, giving my nails structure which I really don't quite appreciate because I like to have smooth nails... So I guess I won't be a big fan of these new fancy sand materials in nail polish.

The red nail polish is "fever" from P2 with a glossy top coat from P2 as well. After everything dried, I applied the silver stickers which are flat. It should be quite easy to recreate... Followed by the hibiscus flowers.

Edit: Here are some close-ups.

Baila Conmigo

Yesterday we had a little Salsa performance at the dance school which I'd like to show you... I've danced salsa for about 3.5 years, while my boyfriend is absolutely amazing at it. He also teaches it as he's professional. We started to do salsa shows about last year. Before, I only helped out doing some new figures and stuff like that. Hope you like it...

 

 

I also wanted to try out my Japanese lashes. In Asia people are crazy about false eyelashes, while in the Dominican Republic everybody already has amazing lashes. I'm so jealous. Some are so long, they touch the owner's eye brows...

 

I absolutely love the result. My only problem with them is, they aren't very comfortable because of the plastic band and my eyelash curler is slightly too small for these lashes...

But anyway, I will still wear them next time.

 

Recent Haul

Since this week was the glamour shopping week, I just couldn't resist, although I've had a ton of work to do at the university as a tutor for the freshmen weeks... I'm not too sure I've exploit the card to my total advantage because I went to lots of other stores as well but I got 5€ off at Douglas and also 5€ off at The BodyShop.

So anyhow, let's get started.

At Douglas I found these two cute little Clinique bags. I'm most interested in the eye cream. I've heard only good things about it. So we'll see how it works. At the left there's the moisture surge extended thirst relief, the moisture surge tinted moisturizer and the all about eyes cream. At the right hand side there's the great skin starts here 3 step skin care set for combination to oily skin. I'm very curious if it really is all that great. I will let you know, when I finished all the bottles.

I also went to The BodyShop to buy a Mango scrub and Mango body lotion... I love mango.

 

Here's my DM drugstore haul.

• I liked the Florena mattifying day and night face cream. Since it worked so well, I also bought the toner as well.
• Gloves for washing dishes
• Persil laundry tabs - I haven't used them but I'm curious if they are better than the usual powder.
• Contact lenses and solution
• Balea professional volumizing shampoo and conditioner - I use the one for shiny hair right now but it seems to be a little too heavy after they changed the formula. So I want to give this a try. Balea professional has really great shampoo, I think. Without silicon... Better than many expensive shampoos. I started using them, when Jettie from Give the bitch her chocolate blogged about it and I can only agree.
• Ebelin professional nail polish remover. I haven't tried it yet but I read good things about it. I normally use the green bottle and it's not bad either.
• Balea shaving gel... I switch up the scents like all the time. It works but isn't anything too special.
• Catrice Cucuba Limited Edition - loose eye shadow C04 Havana Drum
• P2 transparent lip liner
• Wick cough drops with lemon taste - my favorite cough drops. I still can't get rid of my cold...
• DM bag - you can give it back to the store and exchange it for another one or return it - like those returnable bottles to help saving the environment.

 

So an extended view on all the makeup items from several stores.

I ordered Sigma brushes from amazon.de recently. For almost 10€ for each brush, it was rather expensive but I love those four brushes. I just couldn't find any tapered blending brushes in normal stores and I wasn't willing to pay for Mac brushes... Now that I even got two (E35 and E40), I can't imagine my makeup life without it. E35 is slightly smaller than E40. I also got an eyeliner brush E05 and a tightline liner E16. They're great!

I've got several colored lip liners but this one from P2 is transparent. Actually quite genius. We only need one for all lipsticks...

I adore this Catrice loose eye shadow. It's from the cucuba limited edition - C04 Havana Drum. Beautiful color! Here's a swatch next to the Essence Nateventurista Limited Edition - 02 Mother earth is watching you, which I don't use as an eyeliner as it is supposed to be but as a creamy eye shadow.

Finally, I've bought my very first Mac blush - Love Joy. Isn't it adorable... Such a pretty fall color. It's shimmery, coppery and simply beautiful. Soo pigmented as well. I'm so sick of all the cheap plastic that breaks... I hope this will last for a long time... And it's probably just the start. I feel like I need more...

 

Of course, I've got some swatches as well.

Here it is next to Rimmel Coral which was soo hard to swatch because it didn't wanna give up any color to my wrist... As you can see, Mac's Love Joy is much more pigmented... ELF's Berry Merry is rather pinkish, plum-colored than the Mac blush.

Since my new Mac blush looked so brownish, I swatched it next to my other bronzers from Essence (02 Love to be Matt) and P2 (030 Bali Heat). Next to these more yellow-undertoned bronzers it shows off its reddish undertone. It lasted more than 12 hours... I'm impressed by so much quality...

And I haven't shown you how the OPI - Makes men blush looks like on my nails. Perfect pink for French nails... I made those last Saturday and now it's Friday and it just chipped. The lady at the counter told me to buy the top coat from OPI so that it'll last two weeks... Who the hell wants to have the same nail polish for two weeks?! I'm fine with these 6 days and now I'm glad I can paint another color on my nails...

Unfortunately, I can't capture the holo effect of the polish... It's too bad because it's so pretty!!!

 

So anyway, how do you like my haul?

[Tagged] You smell gorgeous!

from Miss W.

1. Your favorite scent?

Zen, Shiseido (see my recent blogpost << click >>).

2. What kind of scent do you like best?

Fresh, fruity but not too much like citrus. Not too sweet. A little spicy but not too much...

3. Your first perfume?

Chanel Allure - I got it from my Mom because she got it as a present and didn't use it.

4. Do you use matching bodylotion and showergel?

I did... Dove Go Fresh - Fresh Touch (<< click >>) but it's empty and I can't find all the products in Germany and I read that even the deodorant won't be continued. I still have a back-up but still... So sad...

5. Which scents do you own?

• Body mists:
1. Adidas - Free Emotion*
   (it smells like summer - so fresh and fruity)
2. Bath&Body Works - Exotic Coconut
   (a bit too strong but great coconut smell for the hair)
3. Calgon - Tropical Dream
   (very floral, it's a present which I don't wear very often but I used to like it a lot)

• Perfumes and Eaus de Toilette
1. Zen, Shiseido
   (Christmas present 2011 from my boyfriend, love it very much)
2. Bombshell, Victoria's Secret*
   (bought it in Chicago and LOVE it, it's the best scent from VS because it's not as heavy and sweet as their other lines)
3. Diamonds, Armani
   (my first Christmas present from my boyfriend... same name as my dance group)
4. A scent by Issey Miyaki*
   (absolutely love this... a little bit like green tea, not too strong)
5. Sentiment, Escada
   (A present, I used to like very much but now I think it's too sweet but it's good for winter)
6. Cat Deluxe, Naomi Campbell
   (I don't like it, it's too sweet but I got it as a present)

* bought by myself

6. Which perfume is on your must-have list?

Armani Code, Georgio Armani.

7. What else do you like to smell (apart from your favorite perfume)?

• My boyfriend
• Freshly cooked meals
• Fruits when they are ripe, especially mango
• Fresh coffee

Body Care Products: Dove Go Fresh (Fresh touch)

I ♥♥♥ Dove Go Fresh (Fresh touch) with cucumber and grean tea - the green edition. I got it as a deodorant, shower gel and body lotion. Unfortunately, I don't know where to get the shower gel and body lotion in Germany because I bought them in Switzerland and they are almost empty...

Have you seen them in drugstores? Could you tell me where? 

Maybe I just have bad luck but I never see them in my DM drugstore. Anyway, I love these products for the summer because it's refreshing and cools down my skin longer than any other products. As all dove products, they are also very gentle to my skin but I don't have big issues with my skin anyway.

There's also a soap bar and some liquid hand wash in that line which I will buy, as soon as I move out! ˆ.ˆ I love matching products because I don't have to worry about non-matching scents...

Nail Design: Flowers

This is one of the very few nail design that I can actually do... ˆ.ˆ It is very easy and I love how it accentuates the nails in a cute but nonetheless very femine way. Just find some nice matching colors and start practicing. I learnt this from my Japanese friend whom I met in the US - she's so cute, she's done the nails for a couple girls back then... Nail art in Japan is huge! You can buy sooo many things over there...

Anyway...  You can take any colors you like. I just happen to take the following nail polishes for this nail design:

1. Manhattan Crazy Colours LE #1304
2. Essence Nail Art #05 purple magic
3. Essence Colour&Go #02 White Secret (but with the cleaned brush of purple magic)

Then you can follow these instructions:

1. Start with the base color. 
2. After it's dry, paint the blossoms with a very thin brush - basically they are made of 6 slightly curved lines, starting at the middle of one side of the nail and spreading out to the other side.
3. Fill in those blossoms with another nailpolish, after they are dry.

Of course, you can always add a top coat but I'm just not as patient to wait for another coat to dry. Also, your nail polish with the design on top has to be absolutely dry, otherwise there will be streaks and then you might have wasted your time doing this nail art and have to start all over again... 

Shiseido Zen

I got the parfume from my boyfriend. It was my Christmas gift ^.^ It's too bad, you can't smell it over the internet but it is amazing! I still need to do the parfume tag from Miss W... But this is my favorite scent!

Here's what they say on their homepage:

A breath of floral freshness layered with amber and wood, conveying sweetness and femininity in a new, modern language. (shiseido.com)

I don't quite agree because I don't smell any flowers... It is very Japanese, I think. It is clear, fresh and reminds me of green tea...

I read that the golden square shape was inspired by Japanese golden room for tea ceremony. That fits quite well to my impression of the scent.

It doesn't last on my skin as long as I hope it would but if I spray it on my hair, it's great because it lasts a whole day... This parfume is not too strong so that it is great for day and night without giving anyone any headache.