The Great Korean Make Up Haul

I think I bought less make up products than I did with skin care. Then again, make up products look smaller than skin care, maybe that's why *shrugs*
Additionally, it appears that I've garnered a handful of Japanese imports too, because sometimes the prices are very decent and not crazily overpriced.


The list of products I bought in Korea/featured in this video is listed in the description box on the YT page.

The Great Korean Skin Care Haul

Filmed the video in Korea, editted a month later in England.

Made me miss browsing skin care stores in Korea. It's always fun because almost every product in store had a tester for you to try out before buying, which was amazing. Ever since I got back I've been grimacing everytime I wanted to test a product out at Boots or Superdrug, to find out there is no tester.
The struggle is real.
Korea's skin care culture has spoiled me.

The list of products I bought in Korea/featured in this video is listed in the description box on the YT page.

CLIO Lipnicure in #3 Crime Pink Review

CLIO Lipnicure #3 Crime Pink

Up until now I never had a bad lip product experience. That's right, CLIO's Lipnicure disappointed me a lot.

During Autumn, CLIO released a line of lip laquers titled 'Lipnicure'. The packaging looked sexy, and so did the colour range. The price was not so sexy, retailing at 16,000₩ (almost £10). 
Not knowing much Korean, I guessed that its selling points were that it offered vivid matte results and long lasting colour. 

Clio Gelpresso Pencil Gel Liner Review

During my first few weeks in Seoul, I passed a small Clio store whilst shopping around in Myeongdong. On that day, I didn't take my 'Korean cosmetics shopping list' with me, but I did vividly recall wanting to try out the Gelpresso liners after reading numerous positive reviews of it online. So I went straight in and headed for the eyeliner section.

The staff there didn't know much English. So when I asked one of the female assistants if they sold any non-glitter/shimmer ones she had no idea what I was talking about. My friend helped out by saying "Bling Bling" and that was then that they understood! I should of said matte because then one of the male sales assistants proceeded to loudly say "MAT-TAY! MAT-TAY!". The female SA then started plucking out all the brightly coloured matte pencils and started making swatches on my hand. Unfortunately, there were no matte black liners available in the Gelpresso line, only Golden Black which was a black liner with gold shimmers.

CLIO Gelpresso Mini Liners in Beige Shine, Golden Khaki, Star Purple, Dark Choco, and Golden Black

John Frieda Precision Foam Colour: Extra Light Ash Blonde 10A Review

Late hair dye review post, but I think it's necessary that I tell you all about my lovely experience with John Frieda's Extra Light Ash Blonde foam dye. In short, I love it just as much as Prettia's foam dyes!

John Frieda: Extra Light Ash Blonde 10A. Mini picture on the right is the foam solution.

I bought the box from Boots back in early June 2013 when it was on sale for around £6, and ended up using it in early August before my 1 year-long study abroad adventure in Seoul, South Korea.

Freshlight Hair Dye: Melty Cherry Review

I thought I was going to die just hours into my birthday because of this dye's fumes! Yes, I was dying my hair when the clock struck midnight, marking the beginning of my 21-year-old years. I began my 21st by dying my hair with Freshlight's Melty Cherry foam dye.

Originally I wanted to try out Rose Macaron because it was a lighter pink, but unfortunately it appears that Korea does not sell it. I've tried browsing numerous Olive Young and Watson branches in Seoul, before I dyed it and even after dying it, but still I can't find it. I think the Korean market prefers having medium/darker hair colours, and if they really wanted a light colour it would be blonde.
At one point I was searching up other brands' reviews online, one of them being Palty's foam dye. I was deliberating between the Palty's Raspberry Jam and Freshlight, but chose the latter in the end because people online had said that Palty foam tends to fizzle out quickly and you are left dealing with a pile of gloop when you're halfway through application. In Korea, they only sell Beautylabo, Palty, and Freshlight dyes from Japan. Beautylabo had mediocre reviews also. I also ventured into looking at Korean foam dyes, but reviews online were limited and I never heard anything special about Korean foam dyes anyway. Plus, a Korean friend did NOT recommend trying out the Mise en Scene Hello Bubble dyes since they dried out her hair big time.

CLIO Waterproof Pencil Liner in Killer Black Review

Hope you all had a great new years! *laughs nervously*

So I may have accidentally abandonned this blog for a long while since my last post in early October. This is because I wanted to focus on updating my Korea blog more as well as be able to balance a social life and uni work. I know, I actually have a social life in Korea *le gasp*
But now that it's Winter break, and a majority of my newly made friends have now left me forever since they only came to study for one semester (*cries*), I now have time to update you guys on my latest experiences with Korean cosmetics! Huzzah!

So let's start off with a product that I have a love-hate relationship with. The CLIO Waterproof Pencil Liner in Killer Black!

CLIO Waterproof Pencil Liner in Killer Black. The black end of the pencil is the sharpener.

Etude House Membership Card

The haul!

If you're a student studying abroad in Korea, who is also a skin care fanatic like me, get your ARC (alien registration card) ASAP so you can pop into Etude House and set yourself up with an Etude House membership card!

With the Etude House membership card you can take advantage of their random sales.
Etude house sometimes sets up a large 'up to 50% off' poster outside their store, meaning that a majority of their products are on sale. Inside you'll see sections and shelves marked with stickers on them tellng you how much % is being taken off. The 20% and 30% stickers are more frequently seen.

Of course, this discount sale is only available for membership card owners. Visitors without a Korean ID card or ARC unfortunately cannot set  up a membership account.

This membership card is going to be like the Body Shop card for me, fantastic but lethal to my bank account.

L'oreal Mousse Absolue Review

On Sunday evening I decided dye my hair with L'oreal's Mousse Absolue in Very Light Frosted Blonde 1021. In short, the experience was very disappointing.

After: Mousse Absolue 1021 under dimmed sunlight

Before: faded Prettia Cassis Berry under strong sunlight

L'oreal's Mousse Absolue: Very Light Frosted Blonde 1021

After having seen L'oreal's Mousse Absolue hair dye being advertised on the Boots website a week prior at an introductory price of £8.99, I decided to give this a try.

Yes, I gave up the idea of getting Prettia's Rose Tea Brown despite it only being a few pounds more expensive at around £11, which is basically how much Mousse Absolue would retail at starting from mid-April - £10.99.

L'oreal Mousse Absolue is marketed as an 'innovative' re-useable hair dye. I had to visit the main website for a more detailed explanation since Boots wasn't in-depth enough. In sum it's basically foam hair dye in a spray can. Almost like hair spray: you spray on the necessary amount required (obviously enough to cover your hair), clean the nozzle, pop the lid on, and leave it on your bathroom shelf until you need it again for future touch ups. 

Very handy and convenient. Far less tedious and time-consuming in comparison to other dyes out there which would require you to squeeze the tube of colour into a developer bottle - I always spend a good minute or two making sure every little bit of colourant comes out.
Looking at the diagrams for the Mousse Absolue, it hold two canisters - a developer and colourant, and mixes the two together within the nozzle once it's pressed. Meaning the developer and colourant is kept separate for future use - no product wasted! 

Winter Hair: Prettia Cassis Berry

Pictures taken under natural light, no sun, just clouds, indoors, autocolour on camcorder.

So on Tuesday night I finally broke out of my 3 year long Milk Tea Brown hair for a more darker and red-ish/pink-ish colour: Cassis Berry.
Summer 2012 didn't count ok. The L'oreal Recital Performance dye was just a tinge darker than MTB.

I normally wouldn't go for this colour, but because my mother bought Prettia Cassis Berry from HK in Summer 2010 and realised it doesn't work on ageing white hair - thus leaving it in our home's hair dye box to collect dust, I decided to use this dye box before it expires. Waste not want not!

The colour turned out well. My hair's noticeably darker than before: more red-ish brown than golden yellow brown. I was hoping to get a nice pink tint to my hair but it didn't quite happen, but oh well, I managed to get the colour that many had sought for a few years ago thanks to Cheryl Cole.

Under warm yellow-ish lights the hair tends to look a bit red-er. In the above picture it looks more brown.

I was worried that the colour would come out patchy since I didn't actually massage it properly into my hair. I also planned on dying my brows to this colour as well as an experiment, but alas, I forgot. I only remembered to do day exactly 24 hours after I finished dying my hair. There was still some product left in the bottle after the dye job!!

Nails

It's been 2 days since half term started, and I have yet to do anything productive. I spent my remaining Thursday watching TV shows on YouTube. Friday on manga and more videos. Today? Whipped out Exam sketchbook (YAY!), laid it out on the floor, vowed to do it, 7 hours later, the sketchbook is still there untouched with experimental pieces waiting to be stuck in while I surf the world wide web...(BOO!)

I painted my nails just now though, that's something productive right? :D Spent a good hour and a half doing it. Most of it was just waiting for layers to dry whilst I test out on what colours to use on a piece of paper and what design to make. I need those thin-brush nail art stuff...
My right hand looks worse than my left (this pic). Ignore the paint that got onto the skin around the nail...I'm fixing that later...

Getting hair cut in Colindale (North London) again on Tuesday, I feel like going back to my old hairstyle because having straight bangs are too troublesome...Maybe I'll give it another 3 or 4 months...meh.
...Look I got a late V-day rose!



Guess who my BF is? ;D

...MinWoo 8D !

...Just kidding. Father bought it on Tuesday because it was on sale. Originally £8 (because of the Disney Minnie Mouse plushie) and daddy got it for 40p. BARGAIN!
If only I had a BF who would get me a huge £30 Stitch plushie for V-day ; - ; Would freakin love him to death.