Feed Your Face

erin and sarah tell you what to put in your mouth and on your face

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You know what works magic for Keratosis Pilaris? Paula's Choice 10% AHA solution. I can't include a link here, but google "RESIST Skin Revealing Body Lotion with 10% AHA". It has worked magic on me, my brother and a friend. It's a bit creepy and tingly and is certain powerful - may induce flaking and angry skin, but it DOES work. And she has a Japan portal. And she does samples if you don't want to commit to a huge bottle. :)

Thank you for the tip! I will add it to my `Things To Be Ordered From Rakuten` list. I really appreciate hearing about products that have worked for other people. 

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Operation : DEATH TO KP

SO, not only do I have my own wedding day to worry about (SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE / WHO THE HECK KNOWS WHEN), but I am also going to be Maid Of Honour at my BFF's wedding next March. What better time to try and get rid of the annoying KP on my forearms?! I have tried a bunch of dermatologist creams while I have been in Japan, but none of them made much difference. And, my inherent distrust of medicine in Japan coupled with the fact that Asian women don't really get much KP, makes me wonder if Japanese doctors really able to deal with a problem they don't often see? 

I know that KP doesn't ever really go away, but it is possible to make it calm the heck down with a lot of vigilant dedication.  With the help of Erin and the interwebs, we found three products that have worked for a number of people with KP. I AM READY TO TRY THEM ALL. 

1. Buffy the Backside Slayer (ahahahahha) from LUSH

  Firstly, Sarah Michelle is one of my girl crushes. Secondly, (this is somewhat related) the name reminds me of when I was in boarding school and my grandpa used to tape Buffy for me every week so I could watch it when I came home. He labelled the VHS tape `Muffy the Vampire Eater` HA. Grandpa FTW. Lush's Buffy is an exfoliating scrub that also has a built in moisturizer. The first step in battling KP is finding a good exfoliator and the second step is MOISTURIZER, so Buffy definitely has a lot of promise. 

2. St. Ives Apricot Scrub Gentle

paired together with 

3. Coconut Oil, which is apparently an amazing moisturizer when used in the shower! Who knew?!

So, my mission is to try all three of these `miracle` products and hope that one ... or more... of them will work for me too. I picked up Buffy today, from the Lush in the basement of Odori and I ordered St Ives and the Coconut OIl from Rakuten, since neither of them are available here.  I'll be starting my experiments with Buffy, TONIGHT. LET'S DO THIS.

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Night Time Sensitive Skin Care Regime

Hi! Long time no see! I've bought a million things recently, but since I'm still trying them all out, I thought I'd show you my current (tried and tested) night time skin care regime because it's been working pretty well. 

First of all, I have quite sensitive skin that can dry up pretty easily, especially in winter. I really hate washing my face and having that terrible tight feeling, so I have been on the lookout for a good, moisturizing wash. I also have KP on my nose and what I am starting to suspect is rosacea on my cheeks, so what I need in skin care is 1) decrease in redness 2) nothing drying and 3) since I wear contacts every day, something that takes off my eye makeup, but doesnt irritate my eyes.

1. The MAC Cleanse Off Oil Tranquil : A pretty good oil based make up remover. I use two or three pumps in dry hands and rub it over my face. After a few minutes, I wash it off with lukewarm water. It does leave a little bit of oil residue and sometimes doesnt take off all my mascara. The first few weeks I used it, I rubbed it liberally into my eyes, but I found that it dried them out a little, so now I prefer to use it sparingly near my eye area.

2. Because I don't like to use too much, I usually follow it up with the Curel Sensitive Skin Remedy Face Wash. This wash is pretty useless on it's own if you're using it to remove makeup. I think it would be perfect if used by someone who uses it to wash an already bare face, but since I love my makeup too much, that's never going to happen. That being said, I like that it removes the lingering bits of MAC oil, leaving my skin soft, but not at all dried out.

3. After patting my skin dry, I use the Clinique All About Eyes Eye Cream. I got three sample packs of this last month and after I finished them, I decided to buy the full size pot. It is supposed to decrease bags, puffiness and dark circles. I feel like I have seen a slight decrease in puffiness and bags, but not so much on my dark circles... yet? I will report back again in a few months when I've finished the tub! It feels great on my skin, not at all irritating and since it has quite a bit of caffeine, my eyes do feel more awake and less... droopy.

4. Finally, I use the Curel Sensitive Skin Moisturiser. It's rich and makes my skin look SHINY, so I usually only use this at night. But I love the way my skin feels in the morning after I've used it, so it's worth the night time oil slickiness.

The only thing missing is a good exfoliator. I've tried a few, but they all make my skin really red, dry or tight and uncomfortable. Does anybody have a good suggestion of a sensitive skin exfoliator?

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cle de peau concealer stick

My favorite under-eye concealer for the last few years has been Kevyn Aucoin's Sensual Skin Enhancer (I use SX02). It lasts forever, is super pigmented, and when it's applied properly, it looks amazing. But it's a bit tricky to put on and I fall in and out of love, hoping to find something that's more grab-and-go.

So I drank the Kool-Aid and bought cle de peau's concealer stick a few weeks ago. After reading all the reviews I could handle (the hype for this product!), I was sure this was going to be The One. I bought Ivory, the lightest color (I believe it's the equivalent of Light Ochre in Japan). It's maybe a teensy bit dark for me? But not that noticeable under my eyes, so that's not really an issue. There are only 4 colors though, so it may be hard for some to get a match. It's 6000 yen in Japan and 70 dollars in America. The texture is more on the dry side but is easy to blend, especially heated up with your finger tips, but I still need to add eye cream before applying it. It's medium coverage with one layer but then gets a bit cakey if over-applied. I have a lot of redness at the outer corner of my eyes that this doesn't seem to do much for, so I still bust out the SSE for that. I dust with the Guerlain Meteorites Pressed Powder and ta-dah. The result is: "It's pretty okay." I took some creepy pictures of my eyes because I hate reviews that don't have pictures/only have hand swatches.

With only sunscreen and Burberry's Fresh Tint

With one layer of cle de peau's concealer I mean, it's nice. The coverage is relatively natural (no Kardashian eyes) and it lasts  (I just woke up from a nap and it looks the same!) but the finish is a bit flat and dry by itself. It's not perfect, which it maybe should be for the price tag, but I can kind of see why it's so well-reviewed. It seems a bit silly that I'm often adding either an additional 45 dollar concealer or 40 dollar illuminator on top of it though? Bottom line: I like it well enough but I probably will need to use it for a few more months (with a more emollient eye cream!) to decide if it's repurchase material. 

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(I hope you don't mind me asking, but I though you ladies might have some experience) I went to my first Japanese wedding, gave my 3万, and toddled home with my gift bag and catalog. The catalog contents range from a Hello Kitty pillow to an afternoon cruise. I don't see any kind of price guidelines, the postcard just has space for the item # and address info. So, is it permissible to choose anything from the catalog, or should I have some restraint?

Hi! I actually have never heard of these before, but good ol' Chiebukuro has informed me that you can pick whatever you want-- all of the items are the same price as far as the couple is concerned. There tend to be a cut-off date when you can submit your postcard, so don't let that run out before you decide!

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The closest combini to us now that we've moved is a small Mini-Stop, meaning I'm not really getting the same steady stream of sweets and weird potato chips that I've been used to. Today we passed by the far-away 7-Eleven (my fav!) and I popped in to check what I've been missing. Currently 7-Eleven is doing a "Walt Disney 110th Anniversary" special with different goods and food to commemorate what would have been Disney's 110th birthday. I picked up the Mickey Lots of Cream & Chocolate Pudding for 250JPY. It's the same basic idea as the fancy pudding that I love(d): whipped cream, a layer of sponge cake, and then pudding. This also included nama-choco in the middle of the sponge cake and some weird pink sauce on top of the cream. I didn't really like this. The pink sauce was hard and had the texture of candle wax. I can't remember if it tasted like anything. The pudding was one of those Jell-O types where it was not totally creamy but had a kind of gelatin texture. There wasn't enough cream to balance out all the sweetness and I didn't really want to finish it (but I did anyway!). I left all these clumps of cream with the waxy sauce on them. Should have just bought the regular pudding. Lesson learned: never try. 

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long time no see!

I had to make an impromptu trip to America last week to see my fabulous but ailing grandma, so I haven't had a lot of time/energy to blog, but I DID have the energy to buy everything I could ever think of. I think this might be all of it:

3 Burberry eyeshadows (Porcelain White, Trench, Almond) Burberry Fresh Glow Luminous Fluid Base Le Metier de Beaute Creme Fresh Tint in Poppy NARS blush in Gilda and Docuer NARS Stylo liner in Koala YSL Glossy Stain in #7 Clinique Quickliner Intense Revlon Kissable Lip Stain in Rendezvous Philosophy Help Me Philosophy Turbo C Booster Philosophy Purity cleanser Cor Silver Soap  Essie Sand Tropez & First Base My mom, appropriately, "You're sick!"

a sampling I meant to take nice pictures of everything but destroyed all the packaging when I realized my suitcase was way too small for all this consumerism. I never want to buy makeup again. Though honestly, I think I'm going to put beauty purchases on hold for a few months and focus on the stuff I already have since this buying frenzy has sort of calmed the obsessive beast inside me. Time to raid the combini and talk about chips! 宜しくお願いします♪ (By the way, if you want to read my blog post about being a cheapass and new obsession with Hakuhodo, see here! I think I meant to crosspost it here and never did? worst blogger award) 

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Because I'm crazily fair skinned and really designed for deep cave dwelling, I wear a daily moisturiser with an SPH 15 factor in it. I brought a stack with me to Japan (I'm currently using the Olay one) but is there a good one to buy in Japan? I did look, but it seems most of the options come in teeny tiny pots that will last me a week :/

I remember having a tough time when I first got to Japan looking for a moisturizer with SPF in it already, as that tends to be the norm in America: everything has added SPF. I think that more people here prefer to use a separate sunscreen so it's less common to find an "all-in-one" type moisturizer. Instead, there are lots of "UV Milk" type products which might be more of a moisturizing sunscreen than a moisturizer with sunscreen. One example of this would be Hada Labo's Super Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing UV Milk, which is around 1000JPY and can be found at the drugstore. It has SPF 50 and can be worn by itself. That said, I use Kose's Whitist Day Solution (blue bottle) as I have for the last 3-4 years. It has SPF 12 with a kind of ascorbic acid as the active ingredient, so I wouldn't use this as primary sunscreen. For that, I use sofina jenne's Day Protector (SPF 50) which has a dry, matte finish but they have two SPF 24 versions that are more moisturizing and depending on your skin type might be suitable on their own. (Admittedly, these come in the tiny packs you were talking about!) Department stores with American brands (i.e. Clinique) will have more options but at a hefty price (and worse mark-up), so unless you have a brand loyalty, I'd stick with the drugstore. BB creams are also an option but realistically, you'd need to pile them on quite thick to get the full benefits from their SPF protection.I used to think it was annoying to add the extra step of sunscreen but now it's just another part of my routine, so you might find it easier to get a separate sunscreen. Japan has a huge range of them with every finish under the sun (no pun intended?!) so even if you don't like typical sunscreens, it's worth taking a look at again. Sun protection is one of the best things you can do for your skin and if you go out much, SPF 15 might not be enough.Sarah? Any recommendations from readers in Japan? I have like 3 backup bottles of my Whitist because it's so cheap and easy that I haven't looked at new moisturizers in ages, so I'm sorry I can't give more specific brand suggestions.

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These aren't Asian/Japanese skin care related but I love them: Peter Thomas Roth Un-Wrinkle Peel Pads. I originally bought them for my husband, who has very temperamental skin. He tends to have lots of congestion and uneven skin texture (dryness and large pores) and has struggled for years with getting it under control. Enter, Peter Thomas Roth! They are cotton pads soaked in what PTR describes as:

Formulated with our 20% proprietary complex of alpha, beta & gamma exfoliators (including glycolic, salicylic, lactic, linolenic acids), amino acids, the building blocks of peptides, and antioxidants, these unique, plush peel pads help you reveal beautiful, clear, glowing skin today while fighting to reduce the appearance of wrinkles over time.

They are well-soaked and don't dry out, even toward the end of the container, so there's enough product that I can cut one in half and do my face, neck, elbows and hands. After waiting a few minutes, you rinse and you're done! It tingled a bit at the beginning and I had a bit of redness after the first few times I used it, but not anymore. My husband never had any irritation. My skin is in okay condition to begin with but they make it so smooth and bright. Some improvement in blackheads but not much on the freckles on my cheeks/nose. Mostly I just use it for maintenance and ~*~glow~*~. On the other hand, I could see a huge difference in my husband's skin within the first week. Specifically, improvement in the visibility of his pores, breakouts, and evenness in his complexion and we both agreed that the fine lines around his eyes and forehead have diminished. I can always tell the next day he uses it just by how glow-y and even his skin is (plus I used it to scare him into wearing sunscreen everyday). It hasn't completely eliminated his skin problems, but between this, the Clarisonic, and a good clay mask, his face looks the best it's been since I met him 4+ years ago. I use one maybe once a week and he uses one every two or three days. I bought the 60 pack in April? so it lasts quite a while, especially if you cut them in half. PTR products aren't technically available in Japan, but these peel-pads are sold through StrawberryNet and Amazon.co.jp.

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Summer (is almost over) Manicure # 3 : the 'I went to a wedding' edition

Erin, my enabler, sent me a link to This Nail Art Blog (click for link) and all bets were off the table. I have to try ALL her designs.

I went to the wedding of an old friend - an English teacher from the very first school I ever taught at in Japan. She lives in Philly now with her husband, Mike and I realised yesterday how much I have missed her. Good friends are hard to come by, even harder in Japan.

I decided to try fancy-up my nails because... well.... no better occasion than a wedding. It was a bit of risk because I did it 2 hours before we had to leave AND i had run out of remover, so even if it was terrible, I would be stuck with it FOREVER. I'd also never done a masking tape manicure, so I really was flying high in the sky with my pants around my ankles.

I decided to use Bourjois 10 Days in Macaron and Essie's Glamour Purse from the Fall 2011 collection. 

Both are great, formula wise. I have had trouble with some Essie formulas (A Crewed Interest, I'm looking at you), but Glamour Purse is a smooth ride. Bourjois has never been anything but perfect.

(just before I took this pic, I cleaned my craft stamps with acetone and got a bit on my fingers, hence the dragging. NOOO! Such a klutz)

I did two accented nails on each hand using normal, office sellotape and some black lace nail stickers from Loft (about 200 yen a sheet).

It was pretty easy! I was shocked. So was fiancé. `You did it so well! Why?!` Gee. Thanks. :)

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Summer Manicure # 2

I`ve been looking for a light grey polish for ages. Most of the others I've tried, made my hands look red, but I loved the look of this Lancome Vernis in Love Gris Angora when I walked past it in Maruimai a few weeks ago.

It's a dove grey with a light purple undertone to it, but even better than the colour was the formula. IT WAS AMAZING. No gloopy bits, no streaks, just one coat and it dried in about 2 minutes.

I KNOW I KNOW, I am a slave to the glitters. I added China Glaze Prismatic in Full Spectrum, just to my ring finger.

Full Spectrum is purple and pink based duo chrome glitter polish and it looks beautiful in the sunshine. WIN WIN all round. 

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glossybox: wwd beauty box

I signed up for Glossybox through their limited WWD Beauty Box offering last month and was pretty impressed with my box:

Rose de Marrakech haircare set: Rose de Marrakech is a Japanese brand all about "moroccan beauty" so think lots of argan oil and rose. It came with 50 grams of ghassoul clay shampoo, 50 grams of argan oil conditioner, and 6 grams of the Gel d'Argan, which is a hair wax. Both shampoo and conditioner are non-silicone. I've been using this for about a week and they're alright though nothing incredible. The shampoo lathers well and the conditioner is good but not quite moisturizing for me in the summer. The hair wax smells really nice and calms my fly-aways without being greasy. This set is on sale for 1365Y on their website with free shipping so pretty cheap to try. Not sure if I'd repurchase as I have a gigantic thing of Kiehl's shampoo left but in light of our discussion about how terrible most Japanese shampoo/conditioner is, this could be an option for someone looking for a nice smelling non-silicone. Deica Herbal Aroma Beauty Towel: These are herbal "refresh" towelettes in individual packets to wipe away sweat. They have a fragrance but I haven't used these yet so I'm not sure how well they work, though considering how sweaty it is in Tokyo, these could come in handy. There were 2 in mine but a 12 pack costs 1575Y, making them a bit too expensive for more than a Sometimes Luxury in my opinion. hanapirka bath salt & hand/body cream: There were 6 packs of 3g cream packs and two packets of bath salt: warmth (ginger) and beauty (lavender & rosemary). The hand/body cream is very rich and absorbs without feeling sticky. 3g was enough to cover both legs, elbows, and hands, but I wouldn't pay 2500 yen for the full sized. I tried the warmth bath salt (525yen for one pack) and it was heavenly. I sweated buckets. If I saw it at Loft, I might pick it up for winter, but I don't think I would actually expressly order it online as it's quite pricy. PS: not to be confused with the glorious yume pirika  cm of the year

rolland O-WAY: There's like 6 packs of shampoo/conditioner samples for their full line, but I'm still getting through my moroccan beauty so they'll have to wait. I don't know how much you can tell from one days use of anything, but whatever.

le bois La Quan Wa phyto calm lotion: This is a Japanese-style lotion, very runny and clear which you apply to your face with a cotton. I put a few pumps in my palms and pat it on my skin because I'm lazy but I started to have a few unusual breakouts so I stopped after a few days. I'll try to return to it after I'm back to normal. Neal's Yard Remedies English Rose Lip Gloss: I think this is my favorite item in the box. It's a great Your Lips But Better gloss, light pink with a tiny bit of shimmer, no stickiness, smells like orange oil. I just wish it wasn't 2300yen! There's currently a waiting list for Glossybox in Japan, so if you sign up, they will email you once your turn has come up but I don't know how long that typically is. It's 1500 yen a month, so a bit more expensive than Prunus Box, but I was a bit disappointed with my PB this month (more on that later!) so YMMV.

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Summer Manicure # 1

I am really loving all the pictures trending on Pinterest of bright colours coupled with ring finger bling-bling.  Seeing as it's summer vacation and I can go wild (as wild as this heat affords... it is hard to get crazy when you can't stop lying on the cool floorboards watching Ally McBeal repeats). Problem 1 : I am terrible at nail polish application, especially compared to Erin and her professionalism. Problem 2 : I couldn't get the Chanel Orange Fizz to photograph according to colour. Problem 3 : I never realised my hand is actually THE CLAW until I tried to take self pictures of it.

Chanel Le Vernis 3-7 : Orange Fizz (which has more salmon pink undertones than the bright orange in my photo) and The Color Club Jewel Glitter collection : Topaz For You.

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missha perfect cover bb cream

BB creams had always struck me as something nice for some people but Not For Me, like AKB48 and men's doujinshi shops. I think I assumed that none of the colors in Asian ones would match me? But Google told me that Missha Perfect Cover in #21 would be close to my color (NW15-- fair with cool undertones) and it's generally well regarded/reviewed, so, intrigued, I went on Rakuten and bought a tube. Using points, it only came out to 800 yen including shipping, so no big loss if I wasn't into it. My first impression was that it had a strong, old lady perfume scent that for the first few days I could smell on skin even a few hours later. After using it for a week or so, I stopped noticing it so much but it's pretty strong and would lodge itself into my brushes.  I've tried wearing it:

- alone (a bit sticky, not enough coverage for my dark circles)

- with MUFE neutral primer (no real change from wearing it alone)

- with Sofina jenne Day Protector sunscreen (also kind of meh)

- with MAC Studio Fix powder (looks nice in the morning but gets a bit powdery and oily by afternoon) I added Fix+ one day with this and it was super (too?) dewy.

- with MUFE HD powder (takes down the stickiness of the BB cream but the finish is very flat)

- with Guerlain Meteorites pressed powder (this looked the nicest and most natural to me) I tried applying it with my hands and with a brush (Shiseido 131! love this brush), but I prefer the brush the best. I typically would add YSL's Touche Eclat (not a huge fan of this but the dryness goes well with the stickiness of the BB cream) under my eyes, maybe layered over TimeBalm concealer because my dark circles need some work. I would wear just this as my sunscreen if I was just going to work, but even with the high SPF in it, I'd want to put real sunscreen on underneath if I was going to be outside longer (and reapply!) Getting to the point, it applies very smoothly, covers just enough to look and feel natural, and I like the finish. Honestly, it looks nicer than the ~40 dollar MUFE HD Foundation I've been using (HG of many ladies but is so-so for me as it tends to sink into my pores). It matches my skintone well and doesn't give off a grey cast. So, what's the catch? I started breaking out. Bummer. But it's a nice formula and piqued my curiosity about BB creams. Some of the Missha BB creams including this one can be found at normal Japanese drugstores (specifically bigger, cosmetic-focused ones) for around 2,500JPY. I'm taking a trip to Shin Okubo over the weekend, perhaps it's cheaper there!

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Problem Solved!

Do you remember this little problem I had? My usually strong nails had started splitting, breaking and just generally falling to shreds. I was so distraught about it I remember seriously saying to Erin that I thought I had Progeria (Rapid Aging Syndrome) and actually googled symptoms for about 10 minutes before I pulled myself together and got off the crazy train.

Eventually I figured out that my nails started breaking ONLY when I took off nail polish. This narrowed it down to 2 culprits - the polish or the remover. 

TA DA : 

Since I stopped using this OPI Acetone Free remover, my nails have gone back to normal. I AM SO SAD because i LOVE OPI and I trusted them to take care of me! 

I give this a 0/5 and the only nails I recommend using it on are the ones you need to remove rust from. 

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Hi, reader in Tokyo here, would love to meet up with one of you one day! Strictly beauty related question: is it possible to find a good clay mask here? I don't like sheet ones with lots of "supposedly helpful essences and serums." They only make me break out, and I would like to find a nice clay mask that dries out your pores/food for acne. I've used several in the past before, but can't find ANYTHING in Japan. Help? Or is this another to add to the 'get from the US" list?

There are definitely clay masks out there! Usually they're called 泥パック, クレイパック or contain the word 粘土 somewhere.I usually use Lush's Mask of Magnaminty, which is called Power Mask in Japan. It's not the greatest for congestion, but it feels really nice (especially the cool peppermint in the summer!) and is a good manual scrub full of azuki beans. Lush has a selection of fresh masks, but they always expire before I can finish them so I prefer this.I've also heard good things about DHC's Mineral Mask and Labo Labo Super Keana Clay Pack but not tried either myself. They are typical wash-off type clay masks. I'm guessing both would be easily found at a Plaza/Loft or big drugstore.For cheap and easy, there are one-use packs from Pure Smile (makers of our favorite sheet masks!) called Muddy Girl. These are around 100 yen each so they won't break the bank testing the different kinds.Now I want to go do a mask. Let me know how it goes! 

(This is Erin, by the way-- Sarah, feel free to weigh in!) 

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A Telegram Review For You

Been busy stop

Things are falling to pieces stop

Gratuitous `eating ice cream in bed for breakfast` picture stop

# Seriously guys, in love with these Haagen-Dazs Crepe Glace (ice-cream-cake-crepe-pancake) things. Tiramisu was a bit middling, but the Strawberry Cheesecake and the Caramel Cookie ones are gorgeous.  That`s right. I ate all three.