Pink and Undecided: nivea

Body-Tale 01 : Nivea Happy Time Body Lotion (Bamboo-Milk)

Hi everybody!

I just got back from my other birthday dinner *LOL* (yes, we keep on celebrating) so... more stuffs to blog about. Plus i received my Lola Box and BTI today, so i will be posting the unboxing of both boxes soon. Hunny's waiting for me impatiently as i type this to watch Running Man, so i'm just gonna post another drafted post since the list of drafted product reviews became so long already!

And today's review is another body lotion hehe (but there's something new LOL, i rename my body care stuffs reviews to Body-Tale now, i am coming up with different name for my reviews, let's see how creative i can (continue) be :p). Come on, don't be sick of my body lotion reviews please, i still got plenty to come :p. You know, i don't throw away my empty bottles of body lotions before i write a review on them nowadays (so i can have it with me when i write the reviews, sniff the smell and feel whatever product leftover that i can find inside the bottle hehehehe, that's just the way i do it), and since i've been slacking off in the reviewing department the collection of empty body lotion bottles are growing in mountains zzzz. So yeah, i'm gonna write their reviews ASAP now so i can throw them away :p.

Today it's just another cheap ass but from a well known drugstore brand lotion that most people know and love, Nivea! Now, Nivea is a brand that is dear to most Indonesian since it's been around forever, easy to find and also easy on the pocket!

Whenever i heard the name Nivea, the first thing that pops in my mind is obviously the iconic blue and white tube/bottles. In the past, Nivea products that were available in Indonesia was very limited, you know, just the blue and white bottled variant (not sure if it's a global things or just in Asia). It's not a secret that i got bored really easily and am never been able to stay loyal to just one brand when it comes to bath and body products, so with the vast choices of readily available bath and body products, i am glad that now Nivea has so many different variants to try for!

Whenever is saw something new (both from new or old brands), i feel the strong need to grab it, that's why when i saw Nivea Visage Happy Time Body Lotion (Bamboo-Milk), a fairly new (for me, or maybe i just didn't go to supermarkets much before so i didn't know of their existence) variant and it most probably was on promotion (the biggest force behind my purchases), i didn't think twice.

Photo courtesy of Google :)

The shape's quite nice yes? Not your usual straight up and down shaped ones hehe. Good for Nivea for tweaking the designs and coming up with new stuffs! It's quite cute (the shape, but the color and everything made it looked regular hahaha)! Let's take a look of my (now empty, but still full when i took the pictures) own bottle of Happy Time :

Nivea Happy Time Body Lotion, see the "Free Nivea Soft" sticker? Yes, that must've why i bought it hahahaha, i already used and finished the Nivea Soft and i loved it equally

And let's see the consistency :

You can see from the picture that unlike your regular Nivea body lotions (that are quite opaque and thick, cream-like), this Happy Time variant is a lot more runny, gelly and quite see through (i blobbed quite a lot in that picture so it didn't look see through). It was already dripping in the picture even though i just blobbed it, another giveaway sign to the runny consistency.

How it looked like once i spread it

It's very light, easy to spread and absorbed but didn't disappear right away like how most light weigh lotions usually do. It keeps your skin very soft and moisturized with a trace of buttery feeling, but not overly greasy to the point that it gets annoying (you know i cannot stand greasiness...). It performs really really well (didn't expect anything less from Nivea) on my normal skin and the moisturizing feeling really lasts too.

This lotion is suitable for normal to dry skin so i, of course, tested it on hunny's skin as well. His skin is, as you know, very peculiar. It cannot stand several brands even though those brands were famous for being soft and moisturizing (i.e : Cusson's Imperial Lather body showers dries him like crazy, and we just found out that he cannot stand Etude House's shower gels/creams either), even the regular Nivea lotion didn't work all that amazing on him (the best performing drugstore lotion brand on his skin so far : Vaseline. But his skin couldn't tolerate Vaseline's facial wash!), however this one worked quite well on him. His skin became quite healthy, supple and moisturized (but not to a point of being super healthy like when we used Vaseline on him though)

Another thing that i really really love about this lotion was the smell! It is scented with Orange Flower, and even though i am not so sure how an orange flower should smell, i really am in love with the lotion's smell! It's very refreshing, soft and energizing. For me the tagline "feel good sensation" they put in the bottle didn't lie, i do feel lifted and instantly happy whenever i sniff this lotion! I don't necessarily like (but not hate either) the regular, old Nivea lotions signature smell, so i am very delighted that they came up with something that smells super lovely to my nose! It could possibly very well be my favorite smelling drugstore lotion (that's available in Indonesia, you know i LOVE my Johnson's Body Care as well! Sadly they are not yet available here) so far!

I obviously cannot remember the price, but it should be very cheap hehe. I am very highly recommending this lotion for all skin types (because it's not overtly greasy yet moisturizing enough, just right!), also for people who likes their lotions to smell refreshing (because the scent's pretty strong and lasting), performs really well and very easy on the pocket! Probably not for people who dislike orange flower smell (i cannot explain how an orange flower smell, for me it struck the perfect balance between citrusy and floral, coz i don't even like citrus smells!) but other than that i cannot find any other point that might put people off from trying this awesome lotion.

Will i re-purchase it? Hell, yeah! Most probably gonna wait until they have promotions though, i do still have countless lotions to go through in my stash.

Til next review, peeps!

#Pink

11:10:00 PM
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Europe Trip Diary : Day 12 (Rome&Frankfurt Airports)

airport

Hi, my dearies!

We finally come to the end of my Europe Trip Diary! Yes, It finally happens! But after this final Europe Trip Diary entry, i'm still gonna blog about the rest of the Europe hauls (that i haven't covered in my entries, and apparently there were still a LOT of them, i just realized while i was resizing and cropping the pictures as usual) and then more hauls (plus some other things) from Jakarta after i got back from Europe, so... Yeah, i still got plenty to write about haha.

Day 12 actually can no longer be categorized as a day in Europe, we're always in airports or up in the sky-the whole day! Woke up later than usual (usually had to wake up at 5.30) at 8 because there won't be any tour today, just go straight to Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome (somehow i find the name amusing, immediately thinking about Da Vinci Code and stuffs, even though they clearly named the airport long before all the hypes about Da Vinci Code) and our flight was in the afternoon, so there was no need to rush.

Hunny and i agreed to wake up as late as possible and skip breakfast because we're so tired already (and quite traumatized from the previous day's breakfast). And it turned out to be a wise decision! Breakfast ended at 10 (like in most hotels), and we were given individual breakfast coupons the night before, Kikie also told us to have breakfast anytime we want, but when L and Eek went down at 9.30 they were shooed away by the attendants, telling them that breakfast was "FINITO! FINITO!" WTF.

Like most Indonesian on a tour, we brought a few instant cup noodles (we were told to, actually, by Kikie a few days before the tour began), just in case the food wasn't suitable to our palate. But i guess we're (except Eek, who kept on cooking his instant noodle) too gluttony that we can down any food without (much) complaints, our noodle cups were almost intact! We planned to have them for breakfast that last day so we won't have to bring it all the way back to Indonesia, that'd be stupid, right? Thankfully we had exactly four cups, so we can share them with L and Eek so they didn't have to go hungry haha.

Hunny and L preparing the cup noodles (while Eek and i waited like Kings hahahaha)

I was blowing on my cup noodles and Eek insisted on taking my picture :

Bluekk

He didn't even have to ask me to cam-whore, i will automatically do it anyway.

See?

Indonesian food really is the best. Even the cup instant noodle. Haha

Oh, before we jump even further, i snapped some OOTD pic.

Lighting in the bathroom always so good. And those bumps and bulks were from my layers of clothings, thank you very much.

Wasn't very satisfied at all with the OOTD pic that i snapped in the room, later when i was at the hotel's public bathroom i saw a full length mirror so...

Yes, i snapped some more

Sunnies : Payless, Inner Turtleneck Pink Top : Esprit, Knitted Tunic : from my own boutique, Brown Cow Spots Legging : Matahari Dept Store, Long Socks : random accessories store, Sneaker Booties : Planet Surf

Last one, i promise! I only put on BB cream+powder and blush on

Next was Leonardo da Vinci Airport obvi (i just love to say the name, probably my fave airport name now), we were way early so we had to wait for quite some time (and deal with some problem, like how some of the aunties tried to get tax refunds for their shopping items in Switzerland, even though we were repeatedly told that Switzerland shopping taxes had to be refunded when we're leaving Switzerland, it cannot be refunded anywhere else like the Schengen countries!), also got our falling apart suitcase completely wrapped (it costs a BOMB, but better than getting new suitcases or facing my 'rents wrath LOL).

Hunny with the newly and securely wrapped suitcase, the plastic wrap was neon green! Why no baby pink plastic wrap? LOL

Finally we're flying Lufthansa!

Then we can finally pass the immigration and screening.. Where the Italian officer called me "Signorina, signorina, aqua?". I was stunned, err... Aqua? Yeah, my brain kinda farted for a bit and i completely forgot the obvious, that Aqua means water (i was for a second taken aback because he was asking for a famous mineral water from Indonesia LOLOLOLOL FML) zzz. No, mister, no aqua whatsoever in my bags, you can check! He totally got the wrong signorina. And i am not a signorina anyway LOL :p.

Once we entered the departure area, we were greeted with quite inviting rows of shops, and suddenly L and i had a crazy urge for last minute shopping! I didn't even get any branded item yet (except for that See by Chloe bag, that was so cheap it didn't count anyway)!

And... All hell break loose again for me, i thought i really didn't shop much in Europe (wrong. Judging from the amount of pictures i just resized for the rest of Europe haul post, it's considered quite a lot for a normal person), so what the hell! I was enchanted by Armani Jeans' bags, i've been a bit obsessed with jelly-like, glossy bags, and they had plenty of them in their latest collection! I was so busy browsing, choosing, and debating with myself (because quite frankly, i don't really have any space for bags anymore, that's why i'm demanding to get a new all-glass showcase just for my prettiest and most expensive bags! Soon, baby, soon!) so i didn't snap any picture of the shops.

Originally wanted a more subtle colored bag (now i can't remember the exact color, it was probably a muted benhur blue or something) with more of a boxy shape, but there was no zip or magnetic clasp, and that's quite a problem if i wear it in Indonesia (pickpockets and my own tendency to drop things without noticing. I lost a mobile phone once, it was pink and beautiful and i haven't finished paying the installment by then-only a month after my hunny had his effing expensive mobile stolen, i was severely traumatized ever since), also the shop keeper kept on telling me it was an old design (or probably because it was cheaper, she naturally pushed me to go for a more expensive item), and there was another bag that caught my eyes. L said it's prettier and the shop keeper was like "That's a new design!" (or was it because it's a lot more expensive, huh?), in the end i got the second choice.

Yeah, i've been using it a lot, you might already see it in one of my OOTD like this one, problem is... it's heavy as hell so it wasn't suitable for an all day shopping spree or travelling!

Before you accuse me for being an easily steered person (on the contrary, no matter how people will tell me that one item is better, if i feel like getting the other one i will definitely follow my own intuition), the reason why i finally chose it was quite a lot. I love the design (reminded me of LV's Alma, but younger, not so auntie-ish), love the color, it comes with the beautiful charm (the other one didn't), and because i fell in love with this first :

Yep, a matching pouch. Not exactly matching though, the pouch's a much brighter red, whereas the bag was more maroon. I wouldn't even hesitate to choose the bag if it was the exact color as the pouch! But yeah, in the end i went "Well, it matches enough" LOL, nothing works better than a self conviction, you know. The other bag's texture were more jelly-ish, that's why i was even more attracted to it first *crazy about jelly*, if i stayed too long i'd probably puchased both.

Armani Jeans was not expensive at all there, it's quite pricey in Asia you know. I ended up paying a lot less than IDR 3.000.000 for both items, i think! A total steal! (on a less important note, i just googled : Armani Jeans red glossy bag and the first few pictures were my pictures! LOLOLOL).

Here's L and i, happy after shopping (not sure if L did shop more or not, she did shopped at Frankfurt's airport)..

Since i am afraid of Indonesian fussy customs (in case you don't know, they might make you pay taxes if you buy branded items overseas), i had to use the new bag right away, and stuffed the pouch (complete with the box) inside it, i think my shoulder almost got dislocated after a whole day carrying it. It's so damn heavy on its own already and i was carrying a lot of things inside (clearly, like how you do when you travel).

While we were busy shopping, the guys were busy... snacking. Here are some of the stuffs that survived when we were done shopping so i could still snap pics of them.

A unique ice cream coffee, you actually can drink it! It's very creamy and ice cold, obviously

A yummy (and very oily) croquette

Dunno what this is, but it some sort of pastry with cream inside (actually it was fla, but i have no idea what fla is in English)

This is random, but i when i was busy snapping pictures of stuffs, Mr H said "Why not take a pic of my new Bally shoes?" so i did *LOL*!

Mr. H's shiny new shoes, he collects branded shoes!

I didn't expect that i would shop in the airport, actually, i am not the type who shops at airports (until recently, i do love shopping at Changi now! Especially for make ups and Victoria Secrets fragrances!) because i used to associate airport with expensive. I dunno why (maybe because food and souvenirs are always crazy expensive in airports), when clearly it should be cheaper because they're duty free. Dunno if the stuffs in Italy's airport were duty free though because we actually got to refund the taxes some more (later in Frankfurt)! In the end i think i got the most items in one place in the airports *LOL*. Yes, more shopping in Frankfurt later, but only for small items :p.

The flight to Frankfurt wasn't long, less than two hours i think (i don't remember, i googled and they said it's 1 hour and 45 minutes, around that time lah!), but then we'd have to wait for quite a few hours to catch the next flight. Hunny being a total foodie that he is, found a pretzel cart the minute we get off the plane (and now he whines about wanting "that pretzel in Germany" every once in a while FML).

The pretzel he often dreams about hahaha

And since L has a very similar taste bud to my hunny, she immediately went to the same cart but ended up ordering something else.

I am oh so fascinated by their hanging sauces!

Seriously, they're so cute..

L's super yummy looking hot dog!

The Frankfurt airport was quite pretty, there were more high end designer branded shops too. L ended up getting the Gucci bag of her dreams (but not exactly the one that she always wanted because it's no longer in production, the new model of Gucci Shopping Bag was slightly different in details than the old one), in times like this i guess i can see how Eek actually cares about her a lot (because you won't guess it by the way he talk, or shout, and acts LOL) because she didn't actually asked for it or whatever, just kept on going into every Gucci store she could find and fondle the bag longingly LOLOLOL, Eek finally cracked and bought her the bag there, but with a note "No more branded bags for another 6 years" LOLOLOLOL.

As for myself? I kept on thinking about the Hermes bracelet because i am very into those kind of leather wrap bracelet nowadays, but really... i couldn't justify spending IDR 3.000.000 on a thin leather bracelet with a metal H as the buckle. But i found these Etienne Aigner leather wrap bracelet duo, and i'm in love!

They were still the most expensive non-gold bracelet i own, but they're so pretty, there were two of them (one of them is baby pink *gasp!*), and i've been using them so much lately that i think they're worth every penny. It was less than IDR 900.000.

We only had cup instant noodles for breakfast (and a few bites of snacks here and there), it was quite late in the afternoon already, after done shopping, i realized that i was quite starving! Walked until the end of the terminal and couldn't find the restaurant serving pork knuckles Kikie told us about (turned out it was the other way, we should've turn left instead of right, when we turn right and go further we found our Gate instead LOL), so we settled for.... What else but the trusty McDonnald's!

I think this was an Orea milk shake

Some burger we didn't have in Asia

Nom nom nom hahahaha

We split the meal, so we weren't crazy stuffed. And hunny was still so curious about the pork knuckle. He waited until L caught up with us *we left her in the Gucci store while she was still making the purchase, buying branded stuffs in foreign lands are so complicated, so many steps to take hahaha including tax refund and stuffs* and then he said he wanted to go look for the pork knuckle. He found it and it was super HUGE, like the size of a grown man's arm LOL, he almost died finishing the whole thing (because it was so good, plus he's every bit as kiasu as me so cannot throw away food, especially good food okay hahahaha) by himself.

Also, i guess my narcissism rubbed off him, he asked someone *most probably Kikie* to snap a pic of him with the pork knuckle.

They did say you shouldn't come to Germany and not try the pork knuckle, even though we were only at the airport...

While he was busy stuffing himself, i dragged L around the cosmetic and convenience shop around McD. I went there earlier with hunny and had a few look-see, but i was too hungry to make a decision, and i decided to come back later after having some food. I spotted a Furla section in one of the stores (Furla's fast becoming one of my favorite brands now), too bad they only had such small selections :(... The price's very low compared to the prices in Asian countries, i was quite relieved that i didn't see my baby pink candy bag there *coz it'll hurt me to see it in much lower price than what i paid for *LOL*. If they had more choices, i'm pretty sure i would've purchased something, so maybe it was a good thing that they didn't hahahaha.

I also originally wanted to find some token for our *super brief* visit to Germany *'s airport*, but every little thing was crazy expensive in the stores! So i ended up buying cosmetics and whatnot in the end! Here's my little haul in Frankfurt airport :

Not too much, right? Yes, i restrained myself really hard!!!

These stuffs i got from the convenient stores, it caught my eyes for being very cheap (EUR 1 to EUR 1.50 i think), but i didn't keep any of them *LOL*.

Hand creams

Florena Hand Cream, i gave it to my BFF A

Kamill Hand creme, i gave it to my other BFF, G. See my super grown gel nails? I've two other gel polish done ever since *LOL*

But as soon as we arrived in Jakarta, guess what advertisement i saw? Kamill! WTF! Is it available in Indonesia already? Story of my life. But at least i've never stumbled into any of their items so far

Bubchen Soft Creme. This one's for Baby Boy, he has such problematic and allergic prone (super sensitive) skin, whenever i see a creme or whatever that promises to help with sensitive skins (for kids) i can't help but reach for them

And the these two i got from the cosmetic store next to the convenient store. I would've purchased a LOT more items, but like i said... I restrained myself with an iron-like will LOLOLOL. Only got two items *so proud of myself* HAHA.

Nivea BB Cream

Told ya i am cray cray over BB Creams, any BB cream i can find i would definitely purchase it, especially if it's cheap, this one's not expensive at all even though i can't remember the exact price, must be below EUR 10 for sure (it was EUR 5 or 6 i think!)

Especially attracted to drugstore, non-Korean branded BB creams, always curious if they are any good. Of course Nivea's widely available in Indonesia, but i am quite sure the BB cream's not available in Asia yet

But seeing my luck, they might launch in Asia like, next month. Like the whole Garnier thing, i asked my mum to get me their BB cream (always wanted it but never got them for some reasons) in Singapore, and less than a month after i got it... It's available in Indonesia with shockingly low price. FML.

Next is this...

Korres Mandarin Lip Butter Stick

I got it in Rose

I've read so many raves about Korres stuffs in various blogs, and it was crazy cheap in Frankfurt, problem was... I didn't dare purchasing the shower gels, body lotions etc because we're flying to Singapore, what if in Singapore they refused to let me bring the liquids in??? We won't meet our luggage until Jakarta so i couldn't slip it in, so i decided it wasn't worth the risk, wouldn't say i wasn't disappointed though :(. I think Sephora or something stocks Korres items, but the prices in Asia is almost double the price in Germany :(. I think i got the lip butter for EUR 8 or something, i seriously can't remember!

Trust me, if i let myself-i would go home with another suitcase full of beauty products, just from Frankfurt airport! They have so many pretty things that are not available (from brands i've never even heard of) in Asia, so annoying... After searching high and low in every spots we went to around Europe, all of the pretty things revealed themselves to me in the last spot *when i almost finish all of my EUR and swiped too many of our credit and debit cards hahaha*. But yeah, i think i did good (but honestly, i didn't do so well in JB and Spore... you'll know what i mean soon...) this time round!

Our flight was later in the evening, so we decided to clean our faces and change out of our contact lenses so we can sleep on the flight comfortably, but before we turn into our nerdy selves, one last picture in Europe...

Nothing much afterward, the flight to Singapore felt half as long as the flight to Amsterdam somehow, we just slept soundly through the flight! Funny thing was, they served breakfast just a few hours before we landed (because it was like, 7 AM in Europe), and once we arrived in Singapore... It was late in the afternoon already! We were quite shocked hahahaha.

Remember from my second Europe Trip Diary entry that i wanted some stuffs in Changi but couldn't get them because we didn't have our boarding passes yet, this time we had a few minutes (yes, only a few minutes FOL, coz it took forever to get the damn boarding passes again and our next flight's leaving pretty soon after we landed) to shop and from the wish list i mentally made, i only managed to get one item *___*.

Shu Eumura Eye Shadow

in G Silver

At last! I got my hands on my coveted star dusts! It was IDR 113.000 once converted in rupiah. Not exactly the kind of price i'd normally pay for a single eye shadow, but it was from Shu Eumura! And it was so pretty i didn't care anymore.

I didn't get the Maybelline lip glow because at the store i went to, they only have the trio package, it's quite expensive so i only wanted one! I vaguely remember in the other store we went to 10 days earlier, they sold them individually! So i had to give it a pass. Doesn't mean i am not going to hunt for it next time i'm in Changi (or any other place, maybe in Taiwan??) *LOL*. Speaking of lip glow, i went gaga and bought quite a few of those Soda Pop Jelly from Silky Girl when i was in JB. But that's another story for another entry okay!

And we've come to the end of my Europe Trip Diary! I know it's super duper long, but i love reliving every single detail of my life long dream, i hope you enjoyed tracing the steps with me as well!

More travel entries still queuing up... lots of them *sigh*.

'Til next time then!

#Pink
PS : we're off to Taiwan tomorrow! Yay!!!