Arteastiq ♥ at Mandarin Gallery

Despite TWG being my eternal favorite place for tea, it's still nice to try out other places and discover new things. So here's another place for tea: Arteastiq Tea Lounge at Mandarin Gallery. It's located in town, so it's perfect to go to after an afternoon walking around. By the way, Antoinette now has another branch at Mandarin Gallery too!

It was my second time here at Arteastiq; I ordered the same thing I ordered the first time, Monet dessert tea!

Presentation-wise it's a lot different from the first time I had it, but just as delicious.

Their presentation is gorgeous by the way, everything looks so good!

Monet is a French rose tea with champagne vanilla ice-cream, love the flavors!

Cut of just the French rose tea, and a side of biscotti and green tea mochi.

The biscotti and green tea mochi.

Also had the high tea set.

I love food that comes in tiers, all food should come like this!

Orange cake and a wrap!

Yumyum smoked salmon~ And salad.

Ham!

Green tea in a pot!

Interesting intricate lighting fixture.

Arteastiq doesn't have much cakes or patisseries, which is what I like to have with tea... So my favorite tea place is still TWG ♥ Been to TWG countless times ever since the days when they only had one outlet at Republic Plaza, and now they've opened branches in Ion Orchard, Takashimaya, Marina Bay Sands and even overseas! My favorite tea's Charlemagne, a mixture of green and white tea infused with hints of rose and strawberry, so if you're ever there, do try it out! ♥ Also, their breakfast is delicious :)

Cupnoodles Museum Yokohama

 

I'm sure no one's a stranger to cup noodles. Though they now come in all sorts of flavors and packaging, the original cup noodles are the ones by Nissin, invented by Ando Momofuku (founder of Nissin) in 1971. Anyway, if you're ever in Yokohama, check out the Cupnoodles Museum! 

 

Only recently opened 2 years ago, the museum is dedicated to cup noodles and the spirit of invention. Conveniently located in the Minatomirai area, you can learn about the history of cup noodles, instant noodles and even try your hand at making them ♡ You can also concoct your own flavor of cup noodles!

 

Walls and walls of the various types of Nissin noodles and cup noodles.
Ando Momofuku invented instant noodles in 1958 when he was 48,
cup noodles in 1971 when he was 61,
and Space Ram (instant noodles for outer space) in 2006 when he was 95! 

My "Delicious Seafood Flavor"~ ♡
If you're short on time but still want an original souvenir,
you can concoct your own flavor of cup noodles for 300yen!
It takes less than 15minutes, and the helping of toppings is very generous. ♡

You can also design the exterior of the cup.

 

Choose from 4 soup bases: seafood, curry, chicken and...I forgot^^
Then you get to choose up to 4 toppings to add in.
I chose shrimp, crab stick, fishcake and spring onions.
The fishcake is imprinted with cute chicks!

 

Then you pack it in an inflatable bag to sling over your shoulder and carry around~
Apparently it's a very common activity for couples when they come to Yokohama,
saw many of them carrying these and walking around Minatomirai.

The cup noodle mascot!

 

If you have more time on your hands, another fun hands-on activity you can try out is making your own chicken ramen, which takes about 45 minutes.

 

You get to make it from scratch, starting from the flour and oil!
Mix and knead until it becomes dough, then roll to flatten.

 

Then comes the tiring part, putting the dough through this machine to flatten it evenly.
Done by manually rotating the handles...many tens of times. Just keep rotating and rotating...

 

And the finished product!
You get to design the packaging too!

 

For children, on the upper level there's a Cup Noodles Park.

 

It's basically a playground/play area where kids can "experience" being a piece of noodle in a factory line.
Sadly I didn't get to try it because only kids were allowed^^

 

Art piece in the museum.
In the mass of noodle strands, you can see words like unique, happy and creative.

 

There's also a cool light/shadows interactive display thing.
Touch the wall and shadow things appear and move about!

 

Every museum has a gift shop!

Cup noodle-shaped manjuu!

The Cupnoodles Museum is located in Minatomira in Yokohama, very near the city's other attractions. There's also an Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka (where Ando Momofuku first set up Nissin), and they have the same activities, so if you're in Osaka you can check out the one there instead~

Hyakumanben Flea Market 百万遍さんの「手づくり市」

On the 15th of every month, the Hyakumanben Flea Market (Tezukuri Ichi) is held at Chion-ji, a temple near Demachiyanagi in Kyoto. Here you can find a variety of handmade crafts and goodies like dolls, bags, furniture, pottery and etc!

Adorable handmade crabs!

Crafted with Japanese cloth. Lots of the cell phone accessories and straps sold at the flea market are made with that kind of cloth. I don't know what it's called but you can recognize it by the texture and patterns!

Little bags, pouches and phone straps; all handmade too!

Handmade dolls/figurines; I got a bunny!
The maker is a sweet old lady who makes these during her spare time.

Black and white phone straps with interesting patterns.
I regret not getting these!

Handmade tote bags

Wooden beads, buttons and stuff to make your own accessories.

Colorful, cute little baubles! (And a baby)

The flea is held on Chionji's temple grounds, and it was rather crowded^^

More cute phone straps and accessories!

Lots of people come to browse through the selection of handicrafts.

Washi (paper)!

Handmade mobiles!

More handmade bags and even a yukata

Handcrafted stool and other wooden goods!

Handmade cell phone charms

Crockery

Totes and wooden toys

More canvas totes.

To get there, at Shijo Kawaramachi station take bus 31 or 201 from bus stop F, or bus 3 or 17 from bus stop H. Make sure the bus is going in the direction of Gion/Demachiyanagi. Get off at Hyakumanben and walk towards this direction.  Just keep a lookout for the words Hyakumanben " 百万遍".

I wasn't too sure myself, so I followed a group of older ladies who looked like they were heading to the flea...yay gut instinct! You have to walk quite a bit before reaching the temple. The flea market is open from about 9am~4pm.

Dolly Wink Renewal

Dolly Wink came out with some new items, and revamped most of its old items with newer packaging so that matches the newer floral girly theme, as opposed to the old pink x black polka dots. I feel like the brand is shifting towards a more "grown up" and feminine look, with all the supposed "natural" lashes and neutral colors for their items.

Pencil Eyecolor, 945yen 

This is a new item, the color is Cream Lame and it's meant for highlighting under the eyes.

It also comes with a cute cap with floral details!

 (To me) the color of the Pencil Eyecolor is similar to this Cream Eye Shadow in 01 Gold, 

which got a revamp in its packaging. Price is 1,050yen.

The change in packaging. 

It also seems that the old 02 Crystal was cut from the lineup, 

as it's no longer featured on the Dolly Wink website. 

 Revamp of Eye Shadow.

1,680yen

 The old 01 Brown still remains 01 Brown.

But the old 02 Gray Pink, 03 Blue Orange and 04 Green Pink have been discontinued.

However, there are two new palettes in the lineup.

02 Pink Brown 

 03 Smoky Brown

Three new eyelashes were also added to the lineup: 15 Pure Girl, 16 Dolly Mix and 17 Diamond Dolly.  The old line, No.1~No.8 got revamped packaging. However three were also discontinued: No.3 Natural Girly, No.6 Baby Cute and No.7 Vivid Pop. 

 

No.15 Pure Girl 

This is a partial lash for the ends of the eyes.

According to the description, it's a cross-type lash meant to give natural droopy eyes (tare-me) and is recommended for wear in the office; for OLs and university students.

The promo image for No.15 Pure Girl. 

No.16 Dolly Mix

The lash has volume at the base, and will emphasize the irises and  the pupils for a grown-up look.

Promo image for No.16 Dolly Mix.

No.17 Diamond Dolly 

A mixed type lash with three different types at the inner end, middle and outer end.

It also has a black lash band, as opposed to the clear ones for Dolly Wink's other lashes, because many fans requested Tsubasa to make a black band type lash. It's meant to emphasize the double eyelid and the irises.

Promo image for No.17 Diamond Dolly. 

Dolly Wink's all-time best-selling eyelash, No.1 Dolly Sweet.

 New promo image for No.1 Dolly Sweet.

No.2 Sweet Girly

 New promo image for No.2 Sweet Girly.

No.4 Feminine Style 

 New promo image for No.4 Feminine Style.

 Dolly Wink's best-selling lower lash, No.5 Real Nude.

 New promo image for No.5 Real Nude.

No.8 Pure Little 

New promo image for No.8 Pure Little.

Also revamped quite a while ago were the eyeliners, both pencil and liquid. And for a while, the mascara was available in brown (limited edition), in a packaging that matches the new Dolly Wink theme. The pink tube is 01 Long, and the blue tube is 02 Volume. 

However, the regular black mascara has not changed packaging, and on the website it's still the old polka dot packaging version...Kinda odd since it's the only item with the old packaging now! (Other than the sharpener!)