Curiously Carmen

45 Degree Bubble Tea House

October 2, 2018

While hanging out with Cola and the monkeys downtown, Cola suggested we grab some bubble tea here. 45 Degree Bubble Tea House is a small little cafe off West Pender, close to Stanley Park and the seawall. It was pretty quiet when we came on a weekend afternoon.

I was planning on getting bubble tea that evening with friends, so I didn’t order anything here but the rest of them did.

Milk tea with pearls: The boyfriend got his usual, a regular milk tea with pearls. It was fragrant and one of the better milk teas he has had. He said that the pearls were fresh and chewy as well.

Lavender milk tea: Cola ordered a lavender milk tea, which she had no complaints about.

Strawberry slush with pearls: Monkey 1 had the strawberry slush, which she enjoyed.

Mango slush with coconut jelly: Monkey 2 had the mango slush, which she enjoyed too.

Since we were in the area, 45 Degree was convenient and we would probably go back should we crave some bubble tea!

Yay!

Earl’s – Happy Hour Revisit

September 29, 2018

Over the weekend, we met up with Macaroni and Cheese for happy hour at Earl’s. We have been here a couple times before, but I didn’t write about it since we ordered the same things as the first post I wrote last year.

Drinks: The happy hour specials at Earl’s are definitely a great value. We each ordered a drink, which I forgot to take a photo of. I had the rose sangria which was sweet and sugary, reminiscent of a pink lemonade. However, I would recommend ordering it with light ice because half the wine glass was ice.

Earl’s Chorizo Nachos: At first, we weren’t sure whether or not the nachos would be enough for 4 people because it seemed pretty cheap ($10 compared to most places, where nachos are $15+). Luckily, it was a good portion for snacking and we all enjoyed it.

The nachos reminded us of chili, like if you put chili over some nacho chips. There was a lot of chorizo sausage and a decent amount of ripe avocado, but it could have used more cheese. It was a good choice and I wouldn’t mind sharing it again.

Margherita pizza: Last time when Cocoa ordered this, it was disappointing but Macaroni was craving some pizza that day, so we all shared it too. It looked sad and small, but taste wise, it wasn’t bad.

The price increased from $3.50 to $4.00 since last year which is not surprising as the cost of materials and living continue to rise. However, if the price keeps on slowly creeping up, it definitely would not be worth it based on the size.

Yam fries: Surprisingly, I’m not a huge fan of yam fries so I didn’t have any. However, the rest of them did not have any complaints about it.

Garlic fries: I forgot to take a photo of the garlic fries! Last time, I remember that the garlic fries were disappointing and not garlicky at all. Well, this time, it was a lot better because there was a huge amount of crushed garlic! We ended up ordering another bowl of these to share, and all wounded up with garlic breath afterwards! LOL!

As in my last post, I mentioned that the happy hour items are a bit hit and miss… in this visit, we enjoyed all of the dishes, which is making me think that they are inconsistent. For example, the garlic fries last time barely had any garlic, but this time, there was a huge amount. I would say don’t come with extremely high expectations because you won’t know if they’re having an off day or not.

I find service here spotty too, it is either really good, or really slow.

But if you just want a place for cheap drinks, then Earl’s is the place to go!

Yay!

ACI Beauty Preview Fall 2018 – Part 2/2

September 27, 2018

Here is part 2/2 of the ACI Beauty Preview for Fall 2018! This time, we previewed Stila, Korres, and St. Tropez.

You can read part 1 for the cult favourites of each brand above, as well as one of the new releases from Korres! This post will continue on with the products from Korres, Stila and St. Tropez.

The second major release for Korres is their Pure Olive Oil line! This line was originally only available in Greece, but it was so popular that they decided to expand! As of now, there are only 3 Shoppers Drug Mart locations in North America that offer this line – one of them is in Vancouver, and 2 are in Calgary. They are available online at the Shoppers Beauty Boutique though.

For their Pure Olive Oil line, there are 3 aspects: hair, bath & body, and skincare.

The Pure Olive Oil hair line features conditioner, shampoo, and hair masks which all help to hydrate your hair with the use of olive oil. These products are more catered towards dry and damaged hair and will give a healthy, bouncy shine to your hair!

Their body line features bar soap, creams, and a body oil. I found the body oil to be interesting because oils are usually dispensed in a dropper as it is too dense to be sprayed. Their body oil is called a ‘dry body oil’ because you can spray it. The consistency when you apply is still slippery and oily, but absorbs fast.

Lastly, we have the Pure Olive Oil skincare! While the Wild Rose line focuses more on brightening your skin, the Pure Olive Oil line focuses on intense hydration. We tried a bit of the day and night creams, and the night cream in particular was very rich! The night cream could also be used only 2-3x a week for an intensely hydrating sleeping mask.

Moving on to Stila, Heaven’s Dew Glimmer has a new formulation, making it softer and weightless than ever before. It features a glossy illumination, with a gleaming, wet-like finish but without the tackiness. This would be nice to wear on its own for some sparkle, or over a highlighter.

The second main feature of Stila was the vivid & vibrant eye shadow duo! Each contains a sparkle and coordinating metallic foil-finish shade. They are less pigmented and pack a lighter punch than the intensely pigmented liquid eye shadow.

St. Tropez did not have any new launches this season, but we went over some of their existing products. Starting from the far left, in the metallic green/blue bottle, is the Extra Dark Mousse. It offers the quickest and darkest self tan.

Next to the Extra Dark Mousse, the small gold tube is the Gradual Tan Tinted Everyday Moisturizer + Primer. It gives a sheer bronze glow to your face and will gradually develop if used daily.

The Gradual Tan One Minute Pre-Shower Tanning Mousse is to be applied dry, one minute before your shower. You then rinse it off in the shower and a gradual tan will reveal after approximately 8 hours.

The Self Tan Purity Bronzing Water is a hydrating water spray that helps lock in your spray tan. It also includes the deeply moisturizing hyaluronic acid!

ACI Beauty Preview Fall 2018 – Part 1/2

September 24, 2018

It’s time for my semi-annual ACI Beauty Preview post! In case you don’t know, ACI Beauty is a Canadian distributor for brands such as Stila, Korres, St Tropez, Ardell, CLEAN, Paul & Joe, etc. This post will feature products from Korres, Stila and St. Tropez.

I always look forward to seeing what new product launches they will have in the Fall and Spring!

This season had a section on cult faves, aka products from each brand that made them famous. Aka, their OG products – hence the nostalgaic decor! Recognize any of these nostalgic items? 🙂

For St. Tropez, we have the bronzing mousse. They have mastered the art of the at-home spray tan, especially when it comes to the scent. I am not familiar with spray tans but I have heard most spray tans do not have a great smell. St Tropez ensures that their tans smell great so that it is not off putting.

For Stila, we have a variety of different cult favourites including the Stay All Day liner, One Stop Correct primer, certain shades of eyeshadows, and the liquid eyeshadow! My own personal favourite also includes the Stay All Day foundation.

Lastly, for cult faves, the two products from Korres was the Golden Krocus Elixir and the Black Pine Eye Serum. The Golden Krocus Elixir can be described as a very rich, liquid gold product. And with that name, I would certainly not question it! The Black Pine Eye Serum has a push cap and helps to fill in fine lines and plump up the eye area. It can also be used as an eye primer to smooth everything out.

I have tried neither of them so I can not really offer my own opinion on them.

Moving on now to the new releases! There are a bunch of new releases from Korres, but I will only talk about one line in this post. I don’t like super long posts so I will make another post on the other new Korres, Stila and St. Tropez releases after this.

The Korres Wild Rose oil is one that I have raved about multiple times here. This season, they have released the Wild Rose 15% Brightening Serum which is basically an improved version of the original Wild Rose… I mean, the Wild Rose oil was already amazing at brightening up your skin, so I can’t imagine how it can get any better. The vitamin c oil helps brighten skin and with regular use, you will notice a difference.

Another new launch in the Wild Rose line is the Korres Wild Rose Foaming Cleanser. It also contains the same vitamin c as the oils above, which will further assist in brightening your skin. The cleanser is gentle and moisturizing yet is able to remove waterproof makeup easily. I have been using it for a few days, so stay tuned for a review!

This post is getting lengthy so I will end it here! Stay tuned for part 2 where I share another Korres line launch, and the new Stila and St. Tropez releases!

Kimu Japanese Restaurant

September 20, 2018

Kimu Japanese Restaurant opened up about 2.5 years ago, and I surprisingly have not yet written a review about it! There was a period of time in 2016 when the boyfriend and I came here quite often, as the replacement to Uomo Sushi when it started going downhill (increase in price, decline in quality and quantity).

I’m not sure why we stopped coming here in 2017 and 2018, probably because we don’t have Japanese as much as we used to. Or because lately, we have been getting Osaka Sushi.

But I’m glad that Kimu hasn’t changed much from our last visit!

Salmon sashimi: Pretty standard salmon sashimi, nothing much to complain or rave about here. It was fresh tasting and satisfied my sashimi cravings that night.
Beef teriyaki roll: Teriyaki rolls aren’t something we used to order until the past year, upon discovery of Osaka Sushi’s delicious chicken teriyaki roll. Now we like to compare different restaurants and their teriyaki rolls.

At first, the thin drizzle of teriyaki looked disappointing. Luckily, the beef was seasoned and it was a bit sweet. I wouldn’t really call it a beef teriyaki roll, more of just a cooked beef roll but it was good nonetheless.
Negi Bluefin roll: The negi bluefin sashimi was rich, soft and fatty. Delicious!

Negitoro roll: The negitoro roll was pretty decent, no complaints about it.
Crunch roll: This roll came with crunchy shrimp tempura and tempura flakes, which is fitting for the name. The tempura was fresh and the flakes were tasty too, although I’m not too sure of what it was made of.

Kimu was not disappointed us yet, and our break from Kimu made us realize how much we enjoyed it before. It is a decent option for cheap and quick Japanese food. In a city like Vancouver where Korean-run Japanese restaurants are super abundant, Kimu is a good choice.

There is also a parking lot which usually has lots of spaces, and free street parking!

Yay!