curiouslycarmen, Author at Curiously Carmen

Beauty: KARIDERM

April 2, 2018

Today, I would like to introduce a new brand on my blog… KARIDERM! KARIDERM is a Canadian beauty brand focused on natural products, specializing in shea butter. Each KARIDERM product is made from organic, unrefined shea butter, which we all know as amazing moisturizing benefits by now.

One thing I found interesting about KARIDERM is that it is one of the few companies to work directly with shea butter producers in Western Africa. They pay 2.5x the market price for the organic shea butter, which supports fair compensation and better working conditions to African workers.

I was sent out a few of their products to try out, here’s what I thought of them!

Neutral, natural soap: KARIDERM’s soap is unscented and as pure as they come. At first, it was quite odd to wash myself with unscented soap as I didn’t feel clean. However, my doubts were washed away (pun intended), when I rinsed myself off as my skin felt really clean.

Hand cream: The hand cream is pretty lightweight and is not as hydrating as I would like it to be. It would be good for the summer/spring when you don’t have super dry or cracked hands from the weather. It absorbs quickly and has a light lavender scent.

Organic lip balm: The lip balm is made of a blend of organic waxes and vegetable oils. I loved the soft vanilla scent, which reminded me of vanilla beans. The waxy texture took some adjusting but my lips felt soft and moisturized. My favourite part of this was definitely the vanilla bean smell!

Pure organic shea butter: This small jar contains organic shea butter of the highest purity. It has the same waxy texture as the organic lip balm, and it took some rubbing to fully absorb into my skin. I would recommend this for dry patches and spot treatment, as you do have to rub it in slowly which can take a bit of time.

You can check out their website here!

Yay!

Availability: Online or at health stores
Price: Pricing from low-mid range

Press product featured. Opinions are own.

Beauty: Palmer’s Coconut Oil – Giveaway!!!

March 28, 2018

Mmmm….coconut oil. One of the most trendy products out there in the past few years. Coconut oil has been known for many things other than beauty (Non-beauty pro tip: Cooking steak in coconut oil with a dash of salt and pepper is amazing).

Coconut oil has many hydrating factors for skin and hair. That is why Palmer’s has released a new Coconut Oil line. Palmer’s new Coconut Oil line contains ethically and sustainably sourced coconuts. The formula deeply hydrates your skin. For me personally, coconut is reminiscent of summer and warm weather… So the scent of coconut always transports me to a tropical paradise.

Here is a review on each of the new Palmer’s Coconut Oil line!

Body oil: The body oil is light weight and focuses on boosting your skin and making it look radiant. It is quite slippery and watery which is expected for a body oil, so no surprise there. I liked that it absorbed very quickly so that it didn’t leave a mess.
Body lotion: Since coconut oil is naturally high in fatty acids and protein, it works wonders on the skin. The lotion moisturizes very well and smells great. Compared to the body butter, it is a lot lighter and has the consistency of your typical lotion.
Body cream: The cream has the richest and thickest level of moisturizer. Think of the texture of a body butter. Actually, even thicker… it reminded me of very thick Greek yogurt. It really repairs dry and cracked skin.

Well, there you have it! Coconut oil is amazing, and so is coconut water. Writing this post has made me want to get a can of coconut water!

Check out my review of their Cocoa Butter line as well!

Giveaway Guidelines, Rules, and Conditions

I am giving away a set of the Palmer’s Coconut Oil line for you to try as well!

To enter:

Comment which Palmer’s Coconut Oil product you’d like to try most
For a bonus entry, follow me on Instagram and comment a ‘palm tree’ emoji on my giveaway post

Rules:

Contest open to Canadians of legal age only
Must provide CuriouslyCarmen & Palmer’s with a Canadian shipping address
If winner does not respond in 3 days, CuriouslyCarmen will select a new winner

Conditions:

CuriouslyCarmen & Palmer’s are not responsible for any allergic or health reactions that may occur. It is up to the individual to consult product ingredients and acknowledge ingredients are right for them.
Winner will be drawn on April 18, 2018

Good luck and thanks for reading!

Availability: Drugstores
Pricing: Low end pricing range

Food: Chad Thai – Revisit

March 24, 2018

It was Cinnamon’s birthday, and she felt like having Thai food! Always a solid choice. It’s been almost four years since my last visit to Chad Thai which is a bit crazy because time is going by so quickly.

In fact, Chad Thai was one of the first restaurants I’ve ever blogged about! You can read my first post here.

Tofu pad thai, $10.99: Sangria ordered the tofu pad thai. She had no complaints about it. There was a good amount of spice in it for her.

Shrimp pad thai, $11.99: Despite Cocoa asking for no spice, we think that the kitchen combined the two pad thai orders because her dish was spicy. She didn’t feel like waiting for it to be made again so she tried it anyways. However, it was too spicy for her so she only ended up eating half the plate.

Mussamun curry, $11.99: I wasn’t too sure what mussamun curry was, but I wanted to try it because it came with pineapple and potatoes! It was a good choice because it was delicious. The mussamun curry had a mild spice level. I also ordered it with a small coconut rice, which could have used a bit more coconut milk as there wasn’t much flavour.

Tom yum noodle, $10.99: Cinnamon and Lollipop both ordered the prawn tom yum noodle soup. It looked very warming and comforting. They had no complaints about their bowl of noodles!

Green curry fried rice with beef, $11.99: About a month after my visit with the girls, I took the boyfriend here! We ordered the mussamum curry again, pictured above. The second thing we ordered was the green curry fried rice. It was quite exquisite and I haven’t had anything quite like it before. Fried rice with curry is actually a really delicious combination!

I am making a mental note to myself to come here more often because the prices are great, and the food is even better! If you like Thai food, I would recommend checking out Chad Thai.

Yay!

Food: Shang Noodle House

March 19, 2018

While browsing Groupon in the fall, I came across a really good deal at Shang Noodle House! The Groupon came with two bowls of noodles, takoyaki, fried chicken, and two cans of pop for only $25! I purchased it right away and we went to go try it a few months after.

After we paid for street parking, we went inside the restaurant and found out that they had free reserved spots -_- so a heads up to all of you driving there, save yourself some money! The restaurant was completely full and it looked like most people also had the Groupon based on the food everyone ordered. I mean, Asian people usually do not buy canned pop at restaurants… we all know it’s really overpriced!

Takoyaki: The takoyaki came out piping out and fresh. The outside was crispy while the inside had a good amount of stuffing and a piece of octopus. It was pretty good!

Chicken wings: The chicken wings also came out piping out and fresh. I really liked them because they had the flavour of chicken karaage. They were also very crunchy and crispy.

Prawn, scallop, chicken, and bbq pork ramen in pork broth: I chose this one since I like my prawn and chicken. The pork broth was yummy and flavourful, with a strong white pepper flavour. The ramen was different than the usual type of ramen. I would describe the noodles to be more like egg noodles actually.

Pork katsu udon in bonito shoyu: The pork katsu came on the side, and it was quite a big portion. Definitely worth the full price of $10.90! Just like the other fried stuff, the pork katsu was very crunchy and fresh. The bonito shoyu broth was tasty as well.

The Groupon was a great deal because the portions here are really filling and delicious. Even without a Groupon, I would definitely come back. If they do another Groupon deal, I’m definitely going to re-purchase it!

While doing research for this review, I found out that this place is owned under the Kirin Restaurant Group. Even more bonus points because Kirin is quite notable for Chinese fine dining.

Yay!

Food: Osaka Teppanyaki

March 12, 2018

During our trip to Mexico, the boyfriend and I tried out the teppanyaki restaurant at our all-inclusive resort. It was both of our first time having teppanyaki and seeing how it was a fun experience, I wanted to try one in Vancouver to see how it compared!

I came across Osaka Teppanyaki on Yelp and thought it would be fun to try for my birthday.

Osaka Teppanyaki is located on West Broadway. Walking in, the restaurant was a bit dark but somewhat busy. We were seated quickly and brought our tea and water.

For teppanyaki, you have to wait until your seating area is filled (usually bout 9 people) until the chef comes out and cooks for everyone. Otherwise, it’s a waste of their time to come out for only 2 customers. I wonder what happens if the seats next to you don’t fill up??

Anyways, after receiving our complimentary soup (it was some kind of clear beef broth soup, nothing special) and salad (Japanese ginger sauce style), our chef came. He did some quick fire shows which we enjoyed watching. Each person also had 3 complimentary shrimp!

Steak & chicken, $33: The boyfriend’s New York Steak was a perfect medium rare. It was tender and flavourful albeit a bit small.

Steak & chicken, $33: As for the chicken, it was very juicy and flavourful too! I liked how we could see it being prepared, so we knew exactly which types of seasoning were being used.

Shrimp, $33: Although each dish comes with 3 complementary pieces of shrimp, I love shrimp so I ordered it for my main. The shrimp was super delicious. We saw him squeeze fresh lemon juice and a chunk of butter… mm, so good. I’m definitely going to cook it this way at home in the future!

All in all, our first teppanyaki experience in Vancouver was enjoyable. I would recommend going at least once because it’s fun to watch the fire shows and see your food being prepared by the chef.

Yay!