People are sneezing, itching, coughing, and what not. Green stuff is slowly dripping from their eyes. Disgusting.
Spring allergies are never pleasant, but in Japan they are even more unpleasant than elsewhere. They are brutal and exhausting. And they seem to last forever. From about mid February until the end of October. There might be a brief break in August, but that all depends on how wet the summer season is.
To deal with this mess I take a battery of allergy meds - tablets, two kinds of eye drops and two kinds of nasal sprays. But even with all that I still want to just poke my eyes sometimes. Quickly and efficiently, preferably with something sharp so I can scratch the insides of my eye sockets at the same time to relive the itch.
But sadly, I can't afford to go through life as a blind and otherwise challenged person, so I bravely suffer through the itching and the swelling and the goo and the asthma and the stuffed nose and everything else.
Taaaa... sezon na kafunsho w pelni. Ludzie smarkaja, charchaja, oczy swedza, zielone cus z nich wycieka. Wiosenne alergie nigdy nie sa przyjemne, ale w Japonii sa one wyjatkowo brutalne i wyjatkowo wyczerpujace. Zaczynaja sie gdzies tak w polowie lutego i moga sobie trwac az do konca pazdziernika.
W walce z kafunsho biora u mnie udzial tabletki, dwa rodzaje kropli do oczu i spray do nosa. Ale nawet przy tym wszystkim, mam sobie ochote oczy wydrapac i nos wydlubac. Najlepiej czyms bardzo ostrym, szybko i skutecznie.
Niestety, na zycie jako niewidoma inwalidka nie moge sobie pozwolic, wiec dzielnie znosze te droge przez meke.
Easy to imagine that if something drips out of your eyes 24/7 for about 6 months in a year, any eye makeup (or any makeup in general) is difficult to put on, even more difficult to maintain, and quite frankly - pointless.
It will just:
1. irritate your swollen eyes even more, and
2. will be obliterated by the dripping goo (eyes and nose) within less than 3 minutes after application.
That's why when the kafunsho season is upon us, I simply give up on any kind of eye make up.
But the native females are a lot more ambitious, and even though they also suffer from kafunsho, they still manage to walk around with their eyes fully made up. I envy their will power. I'm not that strong. If my eyes itch, I need to scratch them.
Jak latwo sobie wyobrazic, jesli oczy swedza i cos z nich wycieka 24 godziny na dobe, jakikolwiek makijaz jest trudny do wykonania i mijajacy sie z celem, bo:
1. tylko podrazni spuchniete rejony jeszcze bardziej i
2. zostanie gruntownie i dokladnie rozmazany w 3 minuty po wykonaniu.
Dlatego tez, podczas sezonu na kafunsho, o ile nie musze wygladac jako tako prezentacyjnie, to odpuszczam sobie malowanie oczu.
Japonki, pomimo tego, ze na kafunsho rowniez cierpia, to i tak wala pelna tapete w rejony okolo-oczne. Nie wiem jak one to robia. Ja nie mam na tyle silnej woli, zeby w swedzacych galach sobie nie dlubac.
Finding a mascara that would survive my compulsive eye rubbing is almost impossible. Why? Because I and Japanese mascaras don't get along. Why? Because they tend to consists mostly of annoying and very unflattering fibers. I absolutely despise such formulas.
I know, and I understand that Asian women need those fibers to make their lashes look longer and thicker.
My lashes are long enough. They could be thicker, but so far, I'm not complaining.
Dodatkowym problemem, przynajmniej dla mnie, byla mascara, ktora owe dlubanie, ze o zielonej wydzielinie juz nie wspomne, by wytrzymala.
My sie z japonskimi tuszami do rzes nie lubimy. Dlaczego? Ano dlatego, ze jak wiekszosc azjatyckich mascar, skladaja sie one glownie z bardzo irytujacych klaczkow.
Wiem, ze te klaczki sa Japonkom potrzebne, aby uzyskac efekt gestych i dlugich rzes. Moje rzesy sa juz wystarczajaco dlugie, podkrecone i choc nie sa geste, to nie narzekam.
Within that last few years I've probably tried every single Japanese drugstore mascara. All of them were fibrous and incredibly annoying. After each Japanese drugstore mascara try, with a huge relief I'd be back to my favorite Lancome Virtuose. But only from the end of October until February.
I've tried a few more or less exclusive mascaras as well. The biggest disappointment was, hands down, the mascara from SK-II. In retrospect, its strongest point was the packaging. It looked like a very swanky bright red dildo.
After coming back from Tonga I discovered that my nearly new Virtuose was virtually dry. I did not expect that from Lancome - major fail!
So, it landed in the waste basket and I had to rush to the drugstore to buy "anything".
And that's how I discovered the new, just launched mascara from Fasio. Fasio is one of many lines from the mega company Kose.
Its name was Smart Curl and was available in three different varieties: L (length), C (curl) and V (volume). There was only one color available - black.
I got the L version for 800 yen (promotional pricing, it retails for 1200 yen).
W ciagu ostatnich lat sprobowalam chyba kazdej drogeryjnej (i nie tylko) mascary. Wszystkie byly mniej lub bardziej klaczkowate. Wszystkie, przez te nieszczesne klaczki, doprowadzaly mnie do szalu. Po kazdej nieudanej probie siegalam po moja ulubiona lancome'owska Virtuose i oddychalam z ulga. Ale tylko od pazdziernika do lutego.
Probowalam tez bardziej ekskluzywnych marek. Chyba najwiekszym rozczarowaniem okazal sie tusz od SK-II. Jego najmocniejszym punktem bylo opakowanie, ktore wygladalo jak blyszczace, czerwone dildo.
Po powrocie z Tonga dokonalam bardzo niepokojacego odkrycia. Moja niemal nowa Virtuose mascara od Lancome zrobila sie zdecydowanie za sucha. No co jak co, ale takiego obrotu sprawy od Lancome sie nie spodziewalam. Virtuose wyladowalo w koszu na smieci, a ja pojechalam do drogerii kupic cos na "byle bylo".
I tak to wpadlam na premiere tuszow do rzes od Fasio. Fasio to jedna z wielu linii Kose.
Mascara nazywala sie Smart Curl i byla dostepna w trzech wariantach: L (long, na dlugosc), C (curl, na podkrecenie) i V (volume, na volume :-). Kolor byl tylko jeden - czarny.
Jako ze byla na promocji za raptem 800 jenow (cena wyjsciowa to chyba okolo 1200 jenow), kupilam wersje L.
For 800 yen I didn't expect any fireworks. I was prepared for yet another fibrous Japanese disaster, which was going to end up in the trash.
But the super tacky white packaging immediately captured my heart. LOL!
Za takie pieniadze cudow nie oczekiwalam. Bylam przygotowana na kolejnego klaczkowatego bubla, ktory po kilku pierwszych probach wyladuje w koszu na smieci.
Z miejsca urzeklo mnie mega-tandetne biale opakowanie.
Of course!!! Here they are! Fibers!
Po otwarciu, surprise! Klaczki!
Those hated, black fibers.
Znienawidzone, czarne klaczki.
I didn't even want to try it. I stuck it somewhere in the bathroom and immediately forgot about it. A few days later I bought a new Virtuose. And then the kafunsho season came.
Lancome was its first casualty - it was impossible to use mascara. My eyes were dripping, my nose was dripping and everything was itching.
And probably I'd still be eye makeup-free if not for a certain special occasion where I had to look vaguely human.
I remembered Smart Curl and it's water- and everything proof properties.
I tried.
I didn't get my hopes up.
Nie chcialo mi sie jej probowac, wiec odlozylam na polke i natychmiast o niej zapomnialam. Kilka dni pozniej kupilam nowa Virtuose.
A potem nadeszlo kafunsho. Tusz od Lancome poszedl w odstawke, a ja zaczelam wygladac jak ofiara losu z kapiacym nosem i rozbabranymi oczami.
I pewnie wygladalabym jak ofiara losu do dzisiaj, gdyby nie pewna oficjalna okazja, ktora wymagala z mojej strony przyzwoitego wygladu, a co za tym idzie - rowniez makijazu.
Odkopalam Smart Curl. Sprobowalam. Nie liczylam na zbyt wiele.
In the evening my dripping and itching eyes still looked very decent. The mascara was on my lashes, and not under my eyes, in my eyes, or godknowswhere. The annoying fibers were still sticking to my lashes and each other, and not to my eyeballs. I didn't feel any additional irritation (other than what was already going on due to kafunsho).
I used Panna Pompa micellar water to remove my eye makeup. The mascara needed three swipes. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised.
Wieczorem moje cieknace i rozdrapane oczy nadal wygladaly nienagannie. Tusz siedzial na rzesach. Nic sie nie osypywalo. Klaczki do oczu nie wchodzily. Nie bylo dodatkowych podraznien.
Do demakijazu uzylam miceli Panna Pompa, tusz ladnie sie zmyl po trzech miznieciach.
Musze przyznac, ze bylam bardzo mile zaskoczona.
I've been using it almost every day since then and for the price I paid for it, there's really nothing I can complain about it. And I like to complain.
Fasio Smart Curl is 100% kafunsho-proof.
The L version is the least fibery of the three. Version C and V are a bit heavier and seem to consist mostly of fibers and little else. I'm going to stick with L. I just wish they made it in other colors, as well.
Od tamtej pory uzywam niemal codziennie i nie mam sie do czego przyczepic. Co jest o tyle niesamowite, bo ja lubie sie czepiac i niemal zawsze szukam czegos czepu-wartego az do skutku.
Jednak w przypadku Smart Curl od Fasio, moge te mascare z czystym sumieniem polecic.
Jest w 100% kafunsho-proof.
PS. Wersja L jest najmniej klaczkowata. Wersje C i V sa ciezsze i skladaja sie niemal wylacznie z klaczkow. Tuszu sie w nich nie dopatrzylam. Czyli, trafilo mi sie jak slepej kurze (lub kurze z zaropialymi oczami).
