토요일 Tunes #5 Wonder Boy ♥

Kpop. Shuffle. Play.

Haven't written a song recommendation in some time! Haven't had the time and I realised that people weren't that interested in these song recommendations? Maybe it's just what I thought but I'll still continue to write these posts as I still would love to share what's on my playlist with whoever who wants to know. Hahaha.

The song chosen by iTunes shuffle was Afterschool Blue's Wonder Boy!

I quite like this song surprisingly. I mean I've not paid much attention to Afterschool and especially since they're like a project group kind of thing, it was difficult to keep up with the members, with Uee being the only member I knew. And usually I wouldn't listen to songs that are by groups I'm not familiar with. But I liked both the songs by Afterschool Blue and Afterschool Red.

I felt that this song compared to the Afterschool Red one has more of a cute and girly concept whereas that song is more sexy. Nonetheless, I like both songs. Hehe. The lyrics of the song are that of those typical Kpop girly love songs. I can't find another way to describe it ><

Totally liking the fact that the MV is blue and more blue! Although I don't understand what's up with the outfits :/ It looks like they're having a pyjama party and yet they're singing about wanting a guy to fall in love with the girl. Haha. I don't even...

On the whole it's a pretty good song from a unit group! It was a one off unit group thing and I was hoping to see more of these unit groups. Maybe they were not as successful as compared to Orange Caramel.

So here's this week's 토요일 Tune or Saturday Song in English, after a really long break! Hopefully I'll have time to write another one next week!

xoxo, Fid♥

BB Cream Collection ♥

All about BB Creams!

Finally starting a new series of blog posts reviewing and talking about the makeup products I bought in Korea when I was there in June! It may include some other makeup products that I didn't buy in Korea but are from Korean makeup brands as well.

1. The Face Shop Aura Color Control Cream

I didn't get this product in Korea and it's not in the title though isn't a BB Cream but a CC Cream. For some brands, CC Creams are white and applied below another foundation or BB Cream. For this CC Cream, it comes already with a colour, so it works just like any other foundation or BB Cream. Therefore, I thought it would fit into this post too.

It comes in a circular compact container with a sponge and mirror.

The product comes out from the hole in the middle by pressing the button.

The product is quite thick and it doesn't flow. It's really feels like some sort of cream or lotion, providing a medium to full coverage. I got it in #2 Natural Beige and it comes with 20g of product with SPF30 and PA++. The 2 swatches above were taken with lighting and as you can see, it does make your skin brighter. Just like what it says on the container!

However, I've heard many bad reviews on the product though many people are saying that it's good. My Korean friend told me that contrary to what people are saying here, it isn't popular in Korea as many people had reactions after using this CC Cream. And Vaneh broke out after using it too and she gave it to me. I didn't break out after using it but it wasn't really my favourite product. It felt sticky even after spreading it over my face which I don't quite like.

Plus the packaging isn't really very smart. I can't tell if there's anymore product left in the container or it's time to throw it out :/ I tried using it but nothing's coming out, so should I throw it out? Haha.

2. Innisfree Long Wear Cushion

I got this product after my Korean friend recommended it. This is the newer version of the BB Cushion though. It's the Long Wear Cushion supposedly suitable for hot weather and climate. It cost about ₩20,000 which isn't too bad though it comes with 15g of product. I got it in #21 Natural Beige and it also has SPF50+ and PA+++.

Recently, I visited a local Innisfree store and found out they brought this product in as well as it's selling for about SGD $30. I didn't find out if they sold the refill. It would definitely be cheaper and more environmentally friendly to get the refill.

The packaging is rather simple and not too bulky.

The box it came in.

The product is stored in the sponge.

The puff applicator.

The product is applied easily by tapping gently to blend into skin.

After blending it into skin.

The coverage this product has is light but it's buildable. Since I don't really like thick base makeup, I usually apply one layer and then add another layer to those areas that need more coverage. Just using the sponge to blend out the BB Cream is quite sufficient. I've seen some beauty gurus using a Beauty Blender instead of the sponge and that works fine too ^^ so I guess it's really up to your preference!

On the down side, it took me awhile to get used to the smell of the product. It smells a little like grass but of course it was something I expected since the ingredients are natural and so it would smell like nature. I think that compared to other BB Creams, this BB Cushion wouldn't be able to last as long and probably not as hygienic as well. I heard it dries up quite quickly and it can last for about 3 months. So far I got it about a month ago so we'll see if it does dry up that quickly!

3. Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly BB

How I came to buy this product is pretty funny and I think I might have gotten it on impulse >< I've heard many things about this BB Cream and many beauty gurus on youtube have spoken well of it. It never crossed my mind that I would actually buy this but one morning when I was scrolling through my SNS, one of my favourite youtubers, Jen (meejmuse) posted a picture of the new packaging for this product. It now has a blue cap with white polka dots (the previous one was just green I think)!

So that day I went into Holika Holika and bought it! It costed about ₩13,000 which really isn't too bad for 40ml of product! I got it in 02 Aqua Neutral with SPF20 and PA++.

It has such an adorable packing! Looks like jelly!

What a cute box!

What I really like about this product is that it's super light! It feels like I've nothing on my skin. Not only that, I think the shade suits my skin tone quite well compared to the previous BB Creams I've used. You can barely tell the difference after blending it on my hand though it's slightly different from the tone on my face (since I've gotten tanner on my hand and maybe even on my face from the Korean sun), it's not overly white or bright. It doesn't really have a scent but it doesn't smell bad! I like how it's cooling when you apply it on and the texture of the product is not too thick and not too watery, it's has like a gel like or jelly like texture. I've used it for quite some time now and there's still a lot of product left. I'm hoping to see if it would last me a whole year. Hehehe.

What isn't so good about this product is probably the packaging? I've read many people saying the packing isn't so hygienic and I agree. I use that scoop thingy to apply some product onto my hand and then putting it back into the bottle. So I guess it exposes the remaining product to whatever dirt or germs? But if I don't share this with anyone, it shouldn't get contaminated.

Currently, my favourite BB Cream would be the Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly BB. It seems the most suitable for my skin tone and it's pretty good in the climate here. It can last the whole day without melting off. Since the weather here is very humid and I've a oily combination skin type, I still would need to blot my face at least once in the afternoon. I'll keep using the product and maybe consider buying a new bottle when it finishes ^^

Hope this short review was insightful! Can't wait to talk about the other products I bought in Korea! Hehehe. Let me know if you've any thoughts on these products!

xoxo, Fid♥

Daehanminguk 2014 Day 3 ♥

14th June 2014.
Ewha Womans University. Hongdae. Trick eye museum. Haha's restaurant.

It was a pretty slack day considering the places we visited but somehow we still walked a lot! We started off our 3rd day in Seoul at the same time. I remember us heading to Olive Young before leaving Myeongdong as they were having some sales. I didn't end up getting anything since the products were much cheaper back home.

Olive Young is something like a drugstore and something like Watsons for those who knows what Watsons is. Haha. They sell makeup products, soap, snacks and medicine. I'm not sure if it's a new shop since I didn't really notice it in 2012 but it seemed to be everywhere in 2014.

The egg bread we had for breakfast from a road side stall.

Ewha womans university street is quite good for shopping. It's quite similar to Hongdae but maybe they have a lower price range there. It was pretty affordable as compared to many of the other places we went to. We bought things like socks and makeup there. I think my sister got a skirt and Vaneh got a pair of shoes. Didn't take any photos of the place since all the street shopping locations look pretty much the same.

We had our lunch at another random restaurant at the area after asking the red shirt people to point us in the direction of the restaurants. These red shirt people are volunteers and they'll help you with directions plus provide information. They're usually available at tourist locations like Myeongdong, Hongdae and Ewha Womans University. But they are there for like a certain period of time only.

It was a pretty hot day so we decided to get the Naengmyeon (cold noodles) along with cheese ramyeon and kimchi fried rice. The servings are pretty large so the 4 of us would always share! Plus, they're quite generous with their side dishes!

Our yummy meal!

Since we were at the Ewha Womans University street, we decided to visit the university campus itself. It didn't take us very long to find the university and we kind of just walked right in.

It was really big and spacious! Really different compared to the local universities back home. There were like courtyards and many places where people could just chill. I guess it's something possible only in countries where there's sufficient land. It was pretty cool visiting a university in a different country though it would have been pretty cool to see the classrooms or lecture halls too. Hehe. Unfortunately, visitors weren't allowed into the building as classes were ongoing at that time.

After Ewha Womans University, we decided to go to Sinchon to look for the pianos on the street. Apparently, there's a street where there are stray pianos for people to play or take photos with. We ended up walking from Sinchon to Hongdae without seeing any of these pianos. I guess it's probably at some place that only locals know of.

We arrived at Hongdae and headed straight for the Trick Eye Museum. It's quite easy to get to from Exit 9 of the Hongdae station. Directions can be found on the official KTO website ^^ Entrance tickets cost ₩15,000 each.

It was pretty crowded at the museum since it was a Saturday after all. I didn't appear in many photos but helped my sister and Vaneh to take photos. Here are some of the photos! There are more but I just picked a few funny ones~

She insisted her hair had to be like this. Hahaha.

Let's take a selfie.

Singing in the rain inspired. Or not.

This would be the highlight! LOL.

The ticket allowed us entry into the Ice Museum as well. We decided not to waste it and went into the Ice Museum too.

Everything was literally ice! They gave us each something like a raincoat or poncho so that our clothes wouldn't get wet. It wasn't that big a place so I guess they didn't expect people to stay inside for a long time. It was literally freezing! We stayed inside for about 15 minutes and came out feeling like icicles.

Here's a video of my sister going down the ice slide! I was wearing a skirt so I didn't go down the slide ><

We completed the Trick Eye Museum and the Ice Museum just in time for dinner! Guess where we went? Hehehe. Haha's restaurant!

Unfortunately, the menu changed and so did the restaurant's layout. They didn't serve makchang anymore. They only had 4 kinds of meat on the menu and we were required to order at least 3 servings.

We got beef and 2 different kinds of pork. It was a little pricey >< and rather disappointing. I preferred the previous menu as it had a wider variety of meats to choose from and the wasn't as pricey. It wasn't too bad since there were many foreigners visiting the restaurant so the staff were quite helpful.

We continued walking around Hongdae after dinner. Stopping and shopping here and there. It was a pretty happening area with street performances too!

I think it's free to set up and perform there but they only allow it for a certain period of time. It was ending when we got there but it seems like they've gathered quite a crowd. They're quite supportive of local talents there and people aren't afraid to showcase their talents too. There are really many talented people in Korea!

xoxo, Fid♥︎

Daehanminguk 2014 Day 2 ♥

Taking a longer time than expected to blog about the trip. So here goes, our second day in Seoul, Korea!

13th June 2014.
Gyeongbokgung. Insadong. Bukchon Hanok Village. Myeongdong. Singing in the Rain.

We started the day with a hearty breakfast at the Myeongdong subway station. There's a little stall that serves kimbap, ddokbbokki and other dishes that are easy to eat. So we got kimbap and ddokbbokki to share. Of course, the servings are usually pretty big so it was more than sufficient for four people.

Kimbap. ₩1,500.

Ddokbbokki. ₩2,500.

And the friendly ahjumma gave us a bottle of Yakult as service.

Service is something that you might hear of quite frequently in Korea. They call getting extra free things, a service. It's like telling customers to please come back often. So in this case, we got a Yakult as a service. Other times we may get an extra piece of something or a bowl of soup as service. Sometimes if you're familiar enough with the store owner or have been to a place often enough, you can try to ask for service.

After breakfast, we headed to the Gyeongbokgung which was at the Gwanghwamun station. If I'm not wrong, you should be able to walk either from the Gwanghwamun or the Gyeongbokgung station. From the Gwanghwamun station, we were able to see the palace from afar so we just walked in that direction.

We were able to see King Sejong at Gwanghwamun Square, along the way to the palace. And underneath the statue or whatever it's called, there's an exhibition hall that is free for viewing. It just provided information about Hangul and some other historical information.

Along the Gwanghwamun Square, we also saw the Waterway of History which records milestones in the history of South Korea. It looked pretty cool and fascinating! But I didn't take the time to stop and read every single record.

The big road that we had to cross to get to the palace.

Changing of guards.

Children on a field trip in their traditional Korean outfits!

Unfortunately we didn't go into the palace. We went through the gate and took a few photos outside the palace entrance and left. We decided that the entrance fee of ₩3,000 wasn't worth it since well, the palaces all look the same! But my sister and I did visit a palace in the end on day 13 of our trip in Suwon. I'll blog about it when I get to day 13! ^^

After our short visit to the Gyeongbokgung, we went to Insadong, toward the Anguk station! We didn't know the exact way there so we asked the tourist information counter at the Gyeongbokgung. Hehehe. Intended to just walk down the Insadong street and just look at things but of course, we did some shopping!

The shops at Insadong were quite interesting and we ended up at this mall where every floor was connected by a slope. So I could walk from the 2nd to the 3rd floor without climbing up any stairs! There were stairs in the building which we used to come back down. It was also the place that Choo Sunghoon from Superman is back went to with his daughter Sarang! He made a hand carved stamp with her name on it.

Although we didn't get many things, street shopping itself was pretty fun! It's not something we get to do back home anyway.

We got a late lunch around 2pm at a Korean restaurant. We decide where to eat on the menu and the price. This restaurant looked good and it wasn't too expensive. It was pretty cool too since it was a sit-on-the-floor type of restaurant though it was troublesome to remove our shoes. I would recommend sharing if you aren't big eaters as the portions are pretty big.

Tofu stew.

Bibimbap.

Kimchi pancake.

We were super full after the meal! It was super filling! We continued our journey to the Bukchon Hanok Village which was around the same area. There are a few other Hanok Villages around Seoul itself but we decided to visit this one rather last minute.

It's just basically a stretch of traditional Korean houses. Most of it have been turned into shops and cafes though some were still residential. There was this whole area though that was blocked out and surrounded by a pretty traditional looking stone wall. We peered over and it looked like a residential area. As in like an entire area of traditional Hanok houses and people are still living in them! I'm pretty sure that most of these houses would have air condition in them. Hehehe.

The roads were pretty steep

Traditional looking houses.

Pretty narrow streets.

We had some time left before we went for our musical so we went back to Myeongdong for some shopping! Decided to get some makeup shopping done. We went to Innisfree, The Face Shop and The Saem before we ran out of time. We stopped by the guest house to drop things off before we went for our musical.

The musical was at the Chungmu Art Hall which was at the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station, Exit 2. We were able to find the directions from the official Korean Tourism Organization website. It's a very useful website especially if you have a wifi device. You could just google up something on the spot.

Oh! You might wanna take note that the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station is huge! It took us forever to get to Exit 2 and we were almost late for our ticket collection ><

If you're planning to watch a musical a Korea, though you might want to take note that there are no subtitles, you can purchase the tickets online through Interpark. I got my tickets there in 2012 for "Catch me if you can" and now I bought my tickets there again.

Sadly, since we weren't special members of the website, we didn't get the priority sales that began an hour before the actual ticket sales so we ended up sitting in the first row upstairs. The first floor was filled up to the 19th row by the time the public sales began ㅠㅠ

Here are our tickets.

And our view from our seats.

We had a whole view of the stage which was pretty good. Though there weren't any subtitles, we did research beforehand to find out the storyline so we wouldn't be too lost. I honestly do not remember any of the lines or what was said but I think the second female lead was pretty talented. The female lead for our show was pretty good too. Lucky her! She got to kiss Kyuhyun

After the musical ended, we went to wait by the exit of the car park hoping to catch a glimpse of Kyuhyun as he left. There was a crowd waiting on the inside of the building by the lifts and another on the outside where the car park barricade was. We waited outside as it would be safer and it would save us from running.

Kyuhyun's car drove out a few minutes later and he's really very sweet! He lowered the window and waved to us just as the car stopped at the security barrier. Hehehe. I think Liting managed to take a fancam of the moment. While my supposed fancam got interrupted at the important second by someone's arm and head. Kyuhyun's face totally got blocked out! Sobs.

But at least we got to see him again outside the SM building on Day 6. Say what? Wait till that day to find out what happened! Hehehe.

We got our first chicken delivery that night too! Two two fried chicken! We got the 반반 which literally means half-half. So it was half fried and half with sweet and spicy sauce. It was pretty good but I totally prefer Kyochon~ I really recommend trying the fried chicken there! If you're staying at a guest house, you can get the people working there to help you make an order. I think for our Two two fried chicken order, it cost us about ₩15,000 for the whole chicken. It's quite worth it since you just sit and wait comfortably for the chicken to come to you. Hehehe.

xoxo, Fid♥

Naked 3 ❤

Finally found some time to work on this post! It's been some time since I've blogged about something makeup related.

My sisters got me the Naked 3 palette for my birthday this year. They planned and got it from Sephora without me knowing. They even managed to get points for my card! So clever!

Here's a picture of the palette!

The packaging is similar to the Naked 2. But the top is kind of wavy and bumpy as compared to the Naked 2 which is just flat with embossed words.

I knew about this Naked 3 palette way before I got it. It would have been considered late since it was released months before I got it. I read reviews and watched tutorials so I decided that I would buy it! was a little expensive so I wanted to save up before getting it. But it was super awesome to receive it for my birthday!

The colours are actually quite different from the previous two palettes. This palette had more of a rose gold theme and also more towards the pink tones. Of course, just like the other Naked palettes the shadows blend well with each other and they are compatible with all the other shades. The quality of the shadows are as per the other palettes. They're thick and creamy, thus easy to blend and you don't have to grab a lot of shadow for it to show on your eyelids.

I don't really have a style of how I apply my eyeshadow. I like applying a lighter, shimmery shade on the outer half of the crease line and then a darker shade on the outer half lid below the crease and blend it into the rest of the eye. I would also apply the darker shade on the lower outer eye to blend it together with the lid. I would sometimes add a shimmery product on the inner corners of the eye. I think it's a pretty Korean-ish way to wear eyeshadows. Hehehe.

My favourite shade from this palette would be Buzz and I like how to looks with Liar and Factory. I would use Trick along with Mugshot quite often as well. I should try using Burnout and Darkside more often too.

Recently, I've been using Naked 3 more than the other two Naked palettes though I should be giving them an equal amount of love >< haha! I'll make sure not to stick to one palette too often especially since I do my makeup to work everyday. So I have many days to play around with the shades ^^

Shall do more makeup posts like this soon! Featuring the makeup I recently bought in Korea!

xoxo, Fid♥

Useful Things For Korea ♥

Things you can't live without.

I realized that there were some things that we absolutely needed while travelling in Korea. Of course it's possible to get around and have a good trip without these things but it made our lives so much easier just having them.

1. Portable wifi device

With a wifi device, it can solve many of your headaches especially since all you need to do is search online. We used our wifi device a lot! Especially when we were looking for directions to get to cafes and restaurants owned by Kpop stars. People who have been to these places have provided instructions and directions on their blogs and websites so it is indeed useful to be able to access the Internet on the go.

It's also useful when you need to contact people. When I met up with my Korean friend, it was more troublesome to contact her without wifi connection. Our wifi device had some problems after 8 days so we had to resort to using old fashion (and expensive) text messaging. Thankfully we arranged to meet at an easy location so none of us got lost. 

You can get a wifi device easily in Korea. The Olleh egg is a pretty popular one and you should be able to find counters offering these services at the airport. For us, we decided to go with a local company, y5buddy, as they were having a promotion. Though our device didn't work after 8 days, their admin was really swift in replying us and updating us on their progress. They even refunded me the money for the days the device wasn't working and informed me that they've since changed their wifi devices for Korea. So I would recommend them ^^

2. Subway phone application

I'm sure most of us are using smart phones. So getting the Seoul subway application would be a great help! The application provides you a map of all the stations on the subway line. You are able to find out what is the fastest route to and from places. It helps you with the transiting when you need to transfer lines by telling you the station name so it's easier to point out which direction you should walk. The Seoul subway lines can be really confusing at times ><

Here are some screenshots of the application I used.

It highlights the fastest route from the starting point "Myeongdong" to the end point "Gangnam". There is a tab to choose the fewest transits too.

By pressing on the 'transit info' tab, it'll so you a detailed breakdown of the directions based on the time you selected the route. It'll show you where the train is bound for so it's easier to find the correct platform.

3. T-money card

It's the Seoul transportation card. It's easily available at any convenience store for I think ₩2000 if I'm not wrong. You can add value into the card at any convenience store or the machines at the subway stations. The minimum value you can add is ₩2000 to ₩5000. And you can use the card to make purchases at convenient stores so you don't have to worry about the stored value. 

This card allows you to take the subway and buses in Seoul. If I'm not wrong, the transportation costs increased since the last time I was there in 2012 but with the card, I think you're able to save some money through rebates or something like that. And since people get around Seoul mostly using the subway, it would be wise to use the card. Of course, you can keep the card and use it again the next time you go to Korea.

We were able to use this card for the subway in Busan as well but there weren't any automated top up machines so the only way to add value to the card in Busan would be via the convenience stores.

This is the card I purchased in 2012 and it's still valid now.

We actually found T-money cards with like Kpop stars on the front from the stores at the Myeongdong station. But after my sister got it, I realized it was actually just a normal card with a printed sticker and they sold it for ₩10,000 without any value in it. Pretty good way to make money eh~

4. Plastic bags

It may seem like something ridiculous but trust me when you are in Korea, it'll be something you wish you had more of. It's difficult to find rubbish bins in Korea and yet the streets and public transportation are clean. Why? People carry their trash until they find a bin!

Unlike over here, where we aren't allowed to eat or drink on public transport, it's allowed over there in Korea. So we usually would buy like packet drinks and snacks but once we are done with them, there are no bins nearby! It's kind of irritating to be holding a packet in each of your hands so that's why carrying plastic bags in your bag is useful! You can just dump all the trash into the plastic bag and then throw it out when you find a bin. Your trash won't hinder you from taking pictures or whatever else. Hehehe. Of course, a plastic bag would come in handy too when you've a wet umbrella!

So here are some hopefully useful tips for people who are travelling to Korea ^^ Took me a long enough time to finish this post >< Do look forward to more posts on my recent trip to Korea!

xoxo, Fid♥