Curiously Carmen

Food: Sushi House – Two visits

April 28, 2018

A couple of months ago, the boyfriend was working in Richmond and stopped by Sushi House for lunch. We came here almost five years ago with some people, but I have completely forgotten how the food was there. So let’s treat this as a new visit!

Lunch combo, $11.95: On his own visit, the boyfriend ordered the lunch special. Sushi House was quite packed with other workers on their lunch break.

The sashimi don was filling and fresh. The sushi rice was prepared well too. For $11.95, this is a good deal! Look at how much sashimi there is =O

It also came with a side of salad and miso soup. He said the lunch deal was really worth it and would come back for it.
A couple of weeks later, he took me here and we ordered some other items!

Negitoro roll: There was a good amount of fresh and soft tuna.

Chopped scallop roll, $4.25: The scallop had a nice snap to it, which is evidence that it is fresh.

Beef teriyaki roll, $3.75: Normally we don’t order teriyaki rolls, but the boyfriend wanted to see how it fared here. He had no complaints about it and I didn’t try it since we had ordered so many rolls that night.
Tamago roll, $2.50: I love my tamago! This was your average tamago roll, nothing extremely bad or good about it.

Salmon roll, $2.50: Again, the salmon was nice and fresh. There was a good amount of meat to rice ratio too.

Tobiko roll, $3.25: Mmmm, how I love tobiko. So crunchy and savoury. No complaints again!

Sushi House is a solid choice when you find yourself in Richmond. It is a small and cozy restaurant, with attentive service and decent rolls!
Yay!

Beauty: Shiseido Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate

April 25, 2018

Shiseido is a brand that I have always been surrounded by growing up. It was a brand that my mom and her friends liked, so it wouldn’t be surprising to make a stop at their beauty counter when I was a kid.

I haven’t really heard or seen many people my age use it though, I guess they are geared to a different demographic! I think this is my first time featuring Shiseido on my blog, now that I think about it!

Anyways, I was sent a sample of their Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate from Influenster and decided to write a review on it.

What it says (Taken from Shiseido):

This one-of-a-kind boosting pre-treatment defends against multiple signs of aging and damage. And the benefits don’t end there. Using Ultimune helps anything you put on top of it, like moisturizer or serum, work harder. Ultimune acts as both protection from potential damage and a buffer to the daily assault that can visibly age skin.

Application: A little goes a long way and I usually just put two small dabs on my hand and apply. I really like the light texture of this concentrate, it’s lightweight and absorbs very quickly into the skin. It is more on the watery side and spreads easily on your skin hence why you don’t need a lot, yet your skin still feels moisturized!

The fragrance is also really nice, and is a great start to my morning. I like to combine it with my Mizon snail cream for added moisture and skin protection.

For the summer, it would be a great moisturizer to use! It doesn’t make my skin more oily either. I’ve noticed that my skin is less oily at the end of the day in the past 2 weeks that I’ve used this.

It’s probably not enough if you have dry skin, but if you have oily skin like I do, it’s great!

Yay!

Availability: Online and at the Shiseido counter
Price: $70.00 CAD (for full size product, pictured above is the sample size)

Press sample featured from Influenster #gotitfree. All opinions are own.

Travel: Hyatt House Bellevue Review

April 20, 2018

In February, I went on a double date weekend trip to Seattle! One of the main reasons why I agreed to go on this double date was because my house was lately facing a ton of issues. We stayed one night at the Hyatt House Bellevue, which was about a 20 minute drive to downtown Seattle.

We chose Bellevue over Seattle because the hotels were significantly cheaper (like half of the price cheaper!). Hyatt House also came with free parking, free wifi, and free breakfast buffet! All three things won us over.

Even though it was only one night, I really enjoyed my stay at this hotel.

One thing I really liked about the Hyatt House was how quiet it was. Even in the hallways, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Even though the hotel was facing a highway, you could not tell because of how greatly soundproofed it was.

Here is a shot of our room when you first walk in! We had the standard room with king size bed.

Right beside the entrance, was the small kitchen. I don’t want to call it a kitchenette because it came with a full sized fridge, a stove top, dishwasher, and all cooking utensils (pots, spatulas). If we stayed longer than one night, I definitely would have utilized it! There was no stink from kitchen sink, so plumbing must be perfect there.

The bed was extremely comfortable. I loved the super soft pillows and power outlets were conveniently placed on the lamp holders. I slept really well and woke up feeling refreshed and ready to explore Seattle!

View of the room from the bed. It’s not very big, but it was comfortable enough and super quiet. With the windows closed, all the highway noise was completely blocked out.

The washroom was separated with the sink outside, and the toliet/bathtub inside. I was telling my boyfriend how I prefer this efficient set up and it is the style in Japan too. This way, two people are able to get ready at the same time rather than one person having to wait.

The toiletries were pretty average, nothing special about it.

In the morning, we woke up and went straight to the breakfast buffet downstairs! The breakfast buffet was really delicious and a lot higher quality than I expected it would be. There was a plethora of delicious breakfast foods, including waffles, scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, toast, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, and fresh fruit.

It was really clean and the staff did a good job in ensuring that nothing ever went empty. Definitely a great way to start the morning and fuel ourselves for the day.

As for cons, there honestly wasn’t much to complain about. Maki noticed afterwards that she was charged an ‘authorization for incidentals’ despite not making any phone calls, eating the minibar snacks, etc. But that was easily fixed after calling the hotel and they refunded her.

The cost of our hotel visit at Hyatt House Bellevue was $147.00 CAD, which was very reasonable considering the quality, comfort, and free amenities.

If you’re planning on heading down to the Seattle area, the Hyatt House is a great choice.

Hotel stay purchased by myself. Opinions are own.

Food: White Spot Brunch

April 18, 2018

Earlier this year, the boyfriend went to White Spot for brunch with some friends. Afterwards, he couldn’t stop talking about how delicious it was so he took me a few months later. We normally don’t go out for brunch so it was a nice treat.
Cheesesteak hash, (price not listed on website): This was what the boyfriend ordered the first time, so I wanted to try it for myself. He was definitely not wrong because it was delicious. The cheesesteak hash came in a hot skillet with smashbrown potatoes cheese, beef, spinach, red peppers topped with two poached eggs and hollandaise.

It was a really rich and filling meal and I couldn’t finish the side toast!

Oh right, if you order this, keep in mind that the smashbrown potatoes offer free refills. I was too full to partake in this offer, but definitely do it if your stomach has the room. The potatoes are really crispy and seasoned well.
Buttermilk chicken and waffles, (price not listed on website): Since he tried the cheesesteak hash the first visit, the boyfriend decided to try something different. However, this dish was pretty disappointing.

There was a tiny portion of fried chicken hidden under the egg, which was also kind of bland. Everything else was alright but the dish didn’t seem worth it due to how small and flavourless the chicken was. Good thing the cheesesteak hash was huge, he ended up helping me eat it so he was still satisfied at the end.

We came back here a second time for brunch with friends and enjoyed it (didn’t order the buttermilk chicken and waffles again though). It’s a good choice if you’re feeling like having a hearty brunch on the weekends. I wouldn’t mind coming back if we ever craved brunch food!

Yay!

Beauty: Product Empties – Spring 2018

April 17, 2018

My last empties post was last August, so I figured it was time to write another empties post!

Here are the products I finished recently! Unfortunately, I forgot to keep the empty wrapper (aka garbage to non-beauty peeps) so one of the pics will be a stock photo.

Mizon snail cream: If only I could finish moisturizers as fast as I did with my Mizon snail cream. My skin gulped it up and I’ve been using it pretty regularly since November… which means it lasted approximately five months.

I used this down to the last smear and ordered another one off Amazon a couple of weeks after! I debated on trying a new moisturizer but decided to stick with this one again since I’ve had such good results. But my skin tends to get bored of products and they slowly lose their effect so I probably should alternate.

Seche vite top coat: I’ve had this for a bit over 2 years now, and while there is still 1/4 left, it’s getting to the point where it’s not fresh and cute to use anymore. I don’t blame it since I purchased this two years ago. It’s very thick and goopy, and doesn’t dry as fast anymore.

Although I don’t paint my nails as often now because I get hard gel nails, I’ll probably end up repurchasing this when I do decide to paint them. My nail polish does not even last 24 hours without this! It’s a great product.

Wunderbrow: I also purchased this in November in preparation for my trip to Mexico. Over time, I noticed that my (oily) skin has probably gotten too used to it because it’s not as waterproof anymore. That, or perhaps the product isn’t as fresh. But in general, ‘waterproof’ products don’t work a long time on my oily skin.

On the first few uses and during the trip, it was quite waterproof but it comes off easily in the shower now. I don’t think I’ll purchase this again anytime soon since it’s $40 and isn’t really waterproof for me anymore… Perhaps if I go on another tropical vacation I’ll give it another shot.

Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Cream: Ahh, I forgot to take a photo of the sample before I threw it away! I received a few sample packs from Sephora awhile ago. I really liked this cream and am considering splurging on it. It makes my skin soft for over 24 hours, and I noticed that it’s really radiant and clear. Alternating between my Mizon snail cream and this would leave my skin looking amazing! But I’ll probably save up a bit more before purchasing.