Tourist in Own/Foreign Country: Tuen Ng – Dragon Boat Race Festival

Qu Yuan was a minister and poet of the Chu State during the Era of Warring States. The Qin state was the most powerful of all the 7 states. That’s why he suggested the king of the Chu state to make an alliance with the other kingdoms against the Qin. However the king decided to ally with the Qin. Qu Yuan opposed the alliance and therefore was banished.

Qu went back to his hometown. He travelled a lot and wrote some of the greatest poetry in Chinese literature. When he learned that the capital of his country has been captured, he wrote ‘Lament for Ying’. Later he walked to the Miluo river and committed suicide as a protest against the corruption during that time.

The villagers desperately tried to save him. They raced their boats across the river trying to locate him. They threw in packages of rice into the river to keep the spirits and fish away from Qu Yuan’s body.

This is the folktale behind the festival of the yummy ‘zhong’ (packages of rice in reed leaves) and the dragon boat races, Tuen Ng Tsit. Tuen Ng is on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. The day is celebrated by eating ‘zhong’, my personal favourite is the zhong with peanut my granny makes.

There’s also the yearly dragon boat race. I was never able to attend to one, because well I lived at the other side of the world. But this year it’s different! I went to the Dragon Boat Race Festival in Stanley with a few friends. I always knew I wanted to see the dragon boat race at least once in my lifetime. It was really fun! The beaches were full of spectators, the participating groups were really eager, saw some really funny outfits, the sun was shining (a little bit too much at times, but the water had a very cooling effect so it was good). All in all, I really enjoyed my time at the beach that day. We really should do this again next year!

Sparkling Nude Nails

Finally! In the past 2,5 months I bought two bottles of nail polishes. Personally I thought I would buy a lot more now that I’m in Hong Kong. I guess the lack of time prevented me to buy more (not sure if this is a good thing or a bad one).

The nail polishes I got are Kate’s BE-19 and Missha’s PP05. BE-19 is a pink-nude colour. The formula is light/watery, which results to a very sheer colour. PP05 is also a sheer colour. The colour is a grey with a pink/purple sheen to it. And there is also a little amount of tiny little holo glitters.

I used two coats of BE-19

Two coats of PP05 on top of the BE-19

Muji Shrink Wrap Scarf

I got myself a scarf at Muji a while ago. It’s a compressed scarves that I saw some time ago and really wanted. They also have T-shirts that are compressed into small cubes. The first time I saw these little cubes my thought was 'There's no way that's a T-shirt/scarf', but it really is. Pretty neat, don't you think?

The scarf is a bit stiff and hard when I ‘unpacked’ it, but I’m sure it’ll get softer (The sample scarf in the store was very soft =p ). Muji is known for their qualitative products and this scarf is no exception.

Price: 100HKD

Review: Heroine Make Quick Eyeliner

I think I finally found a pencil eyeliner that doesn’t smudge and is quite affordable! The weather in Hong Kong is turning more humid and hot day by day. Every day I go out I feel like an ice cream, battling the sun so I won’t melt!

The eyeliner I got is from Heroine Make in number 2, which is brown. Most people will know this brand for it’s sublime mascara, which would not even budge even if you throw a bucket of water over it. The automatic pencil eyeliner is from the same quality. I applied the eyeliner in the morning and when I went back home it was still there. I didn’t turn into a panda bear!

The texture is something between a wax and a cream texture. You can create very thin of thick lines with it, depending on how you hold the pencil. When using the pencil, try not to turn too much product out of the ‘case’. Or you might break the pencil.

I personally like to smudge out the eyeliner a bit, so it doesn’t look too harsh. This can be done with the little sponge on the back of the pencil. Though it does feel a bit flimsy, like it can fall out every moment when you press on it too hard.

The packaging feels and looks cheap, but hey the product works and it’s only 69HKD, which is about €6,5.

I would definitely buy this product again! As a matter of fact, I’m planning to buy this in black.

Review: Lioele Fresh Sun Screen SPF 45 PA ++

Woops, the 'later today or tomorrow' eventually became (almost) a whole week in the end. But here's the review!

After being in Hong Kong for less than a week, I noticed that my skin got a few tones darker. Now, I don’t mind getting a tan, I think it looks healthier, but when I saw this older lady with 2 big hyper pigmentation patches on both her cheeks. My first thought was: “I need to start using sunscreen!”. Most Chinese originally have fair skin and with overexposure to the sun, instead of just tanning most of us grow patches of hyper pigmentation. I think that is one of the main reasons why Hong Kong ladies avoid the sun in any way they can.

I am comparing this sunscreen to L’Oreal’s Solar Expertise sunscreen. I didn’t really use any sunscreen back in Europe. The reason for that is, well we hardly ever see the sun. So when we do we’d run outside and try to get a tan!

The first thing that I noticed after I applied the sunscreen is that it doesn’t feel sticky! At first I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to use it, as the texture is on the creamy side. Another thing that I was concerned about when I saw the texture is if it would be easy to apply. And to my surprise it is. When you apply it, it feels like you’re putting on lotion or moisturizer. After I’ve applied the sunscreen, it doesn’t feel like I have anything on my skin.

Even though Solar Expertise’s texture was more liquid, it was quite sticky when applied to the skin. It also made me shine like a disco ball! And it was hard to apply. I had to pat it on, or I would end up with patches of sunscreen over my face.

A drawback is that it leaves a little bit of a white cast, but that’s fairly normal as the SPF is that high. Another thing is that it’s only PA++. It would be better if it was PA+++ and with a lower SPF.

The PA sunscreen ranking system is very common for Asian sunscreens. I haven’t seen this ranking system in Europe, I’m not sure about the US. What it stands for is the amount of UVA rays the sunscreen blocks out. There are three ranks: PA+, PA++ and PA+++.

Overall it’s a good sunscreen. I am not sure if I would buy it again. Not because it isn’t good, but because there are so many other sunscreens to try out. I also would like to try one with lower SPF, but with PA+++.