This post is part of my Japan 2014 Beauty Series. It's my take on "beauty-travel blogging" where I post exclusively about fashion, makeup, skincare and shopping while travelling to another land.
Click here for the Japan 2014 Beauty Series overview post. Summary of posts is at the bottom!
I experienced my first winter last December 30, 2014 to January 3, 2015 in Japan. Of course I was anxious about my clothing. I'm the kind of girl who drapes a thin blanket to take a nap during high noon. If you know what 12 noon in the Philippines is like, you'd know it's not an exaggeration when I say the blistering heat actually stings the skin and feels like an oven. But of course, if there's at least a 1kph whisper of a breeze, I need a blanket.
And of course weeks later I'd find out Japan wasn't my first winter. Why the heck has my memory been wiped clean of this glorious time I proudly held a snow ball in my hands.
So here's my first evar OOTD I'm calling: All The Layers
The cold was biting, and even gloves would not prevent me from feeling like the blood in my fingers had frozen up and were up and ready to snap off. To think, I only got to experience temperature in the single digits and low negatives (Celsius, of course.)
I had no choice but to layer as I don't really have adequate winter clothing. Locals say this is a really good strategy though, and apart from the hands, I actually felt great.
Lower Body:
My cousin says he had a hard time with the winter wind on his legs, despite wearing thermal leggings. I thought thermal leggings + sleggings (slacks / leggings hybrid) + knee high socks + sheepskin boots would keep me warm enough. They worked fantastic, actually! I'd prefer leather boots to go with my biker chic look but when it's this cold, I'd rather live toasty warm than die a fashionable death.
Upper Body:
I wore a white turtleneck and a thick black cord vest. I stressed about my five sets of tops to bring because I wanted to have unique looks for each day. It was pretty futile considering it was so cold that I constantly had my jacket zipped up.
To look like I changed clothes everyday, I should have brought lots of different scarves and hats. Stuff that would actually show outside my trusty leather jacket. Oh well. My favorite is this giant neck warmer that I would sometimes drape over my crown from the back and over my nose from the front.
I had these arm socks too, which conveniently kept my sleeves from riding up my jacket. When I could bear it, I wore them alone without gloves to keep my hands somewhat warm while shopping around. Gloves are just an absolute mess when handling money and phones.
And if you want to keep really warm, focus on your head. Ear muffs and face masks are the way, the truth and the light.
The cold was biting, and even gloves would not prevent me from feeling like the blood in my fingers had frozen up and were up and ready to snap off. To think, I only got to experience temperature in the single digits and low negatives (Celsius, of course.)
I had no choice but to layer as I don't really have adequate winter clothing. Locals say this is a really good strategy though, and apart from the hands, I actually felt great.
Lower Body:
My cousin says he had a hard time with the winter wind on his legs, despite wearing thermal leggings. I thought thermal leggings + sleggings (slacks / leggings hybrid) + knee high socks + sheepskin boots would keep me warm enough. They worked fantastic, actually! I'd prefer leather boots to go with my biker chic look but when it's this cold, I'd rather live toasty warm than die a fashionable death.
Upper Body:
I wore a white turtleneck and a thick black cord vest. I stressed about my five sets of tops to bring because I wanted to have unique looks for each day. It was pretty futile considering it was so cold that I constantly had my jacket zipped up.
To look like I changed clothes everyday, I should have brought lots of different scarves and hats. Stuff that would actually show outside my trusty leather jacket. Oh well. My favorite is this giant neck warmer that I would sometimes drape over my crown from the back and over my nose from the front.
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| Black Snowman |
I had these arm socks too, which conveniently kept my sleeves from riding up my jacket. When I could bear it, I wore them alone without gloves to keep my hands somewhat warm while shopping around. Gloves are just an absolute mess when handling money and phones.
And if you want to keep really warm, focus on your head. Ear muffs and face masks are the way, the truth and the light.
I am ticking off planned posts from the Japan 2014 Beauty Series one by one, and am actually dreading my haul / scouted post. All my receipts are in Japanese and I don't know if I'll be able to track how much each item cost!