Drama Discussion: Ex Girlfriends Club ♥︎

Here's another drama review! I'll be discussing TvN's Ex Girlfriend Club 구여친클럽!

As you may know, I'm quite picky with the dramas I watch. I was a little hesitant when my friend told me to watch this drama. (Yes, I've drama buddies. We watch dramas together and then discuss about them afterward.)

The description on Asianwiki reads:

Soo-Jin (Song Ji-Hyo) is a producer at a film production company. Her company decides to make a film based on a popular webcomic by Myeong-Soo’s (Byun Yo-Han). The webcomic is about Myeong-Soo's ex-girlfriends. It just so happens, Soo-Jin is also an ex-girlfriend of Myeong-Soo. Now, Soo-Jin has to interact with her ex-boyfriend and his 3 ex-girlfriends: Hwa-Young (Lee Yoon-Ji), Ji-A (Jang Ji-Eun) and Ra-Ra (Hwa Young).

I didn't really stand out at first but after my friend insisted, I gave in and started watching this drama. I definitely wasn't disappointed! For 12 episodes this drama managed to develop all the various plots.

The Characters.

The female lead, Kim Soojin, was played by Song Jihyo. She's a single lady in her 30s still living with her sister. She's also a well known producer with an award for a movie she produced some years back. The drama sets her to be someone dedicated to her job and she isn't portrayed as a typically damsel in distress.

The male lead, Bang Myeongsoo, played by Byun Yohan is a webtoon artist and is popular amongst the ladies. He's the main character of the webtoon/movie that features his life and his ex girlfriends. He's the typical Korean guy that has a complicated love life. He's also supposed to be the kind that is popular amongst the ladies. As you would notice from the drama, his ex girlfriends are all of different characters so maybe they're trying to highlight that he's popular amongst all different types of ladies.

The other three important characters would be the three ex girlfriends. They are represented differently by three animals which you'll find out when you watch the drama. I think that these three characters are the main element that makes the show light hearted and funny.

Oh! I feel that another important character would also be the director. He was something like a catalyst that helped the plot progress smoothly. If his character was taken out, I think the whole story line would have just fallen apart.

The Plot.

So basically, the title of the drama sums up what the entire drama is about. Soojin is tasked to produce a movie that is taken from this popular webtoon that is written by Myeongsoo. The title of this webtoon/movie is none other than 'Ex Girlfriends Club'.

The drama takes us through the relationships between all the characters. It's actually quite funny watching them get to know each other and how they work together. I guess that's what makes this drama comical. The other side of the drama shows us the challenges they face while producing the movie and also the challenge of solving their complicated relationships.

Despite the highs and lows of the story plot, it flows pretty smoothly so it isn't at all abrupt.

The Ending.

Although it was rather predictable, as most Korean dramas are, I still was a little curious as to how they would end this drama off. There were two versions of the ending I predicted:

1. They would make the movie successfully but Soojin and Myeongsoo would have to sacrifice their relationship. 
2. The movie wouldn't be a success but Soojin and Myeongsoo would become successful in other aspect.

Well, this is just what I thought could have happened. I always expect some sort of twist especially since Korean dramas seem to have a certain style of endings. The older dramas had better endings, recently the endings are pretty brief and in certain cases, they don't even address some issues at the end. I really dislike dramas that leaves me with question marks.

Thankfully, the most viewers would probably be satisfied with the ending for this drama. It was good enough for a short drama like this.

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That's all from me on the Korean drama Ex Girlfriends Club! I would recommend this drama for those who enjoy romantic comedies. Do let me know if you're watching any interesting dramas lately and what are your thoughts on them!

June 2015 Makeup Faves: Lip Products Special ♥︎

Back with another makeup favourites post!

This month, instead of the usual makeup favourites post, this post is going to be on lip products! In the month of June I have purchased a lot of lip products enough to write an entire post on it! I've been using many of this products on a daily basis, with an exception of some lazy days.

There's a total of 5 lip products! 2 products from Etude House, 1 from Banila Co., 1 from Too Cool For School and 1 from 3CE.

Anyway, let's get right to it!

Etude House Dreaming Swan Dear My Blooming Lips Talk PK024 Hot Pink

This would be my favourite lip product out of the 5. Even though it's supposed to be like hot pink, it actually comes out rather sheer and just the perfect shade of pink for everyday wear. Once I forgot to bring out a blush and I used this on my cheeks as well. It wasn't too outstanding but visible just enough for it to be seen.

I've read certain reviews saying that this product is more matte than expected but surprisingly I did not find it too drying. I do apply a layer of Laneige's Lip Primer to be safe though, it helps protect your lips.

Banila Co. it Moist Seoul Tint in Lacquer 03 GarosuGil 

I think out of the lot, this would be the most expensive product. It cost about USD $14 from koreadepart.com. I was deciding which shade to get and both 02 Jihyo Pink and 03 GarosuGil caught my eye. I decided on 03 GarosuGil in the end as I thought it seemed more unique and a lot of reviews recommended it.

This product is pigmented and it's thick so I don't have to apply a lot. Despite it being thick, I like how it feels on my lips. It doesn't dry out my lips and it does last fairly long so I don't have to keep touching up unless I eat something.

I would recommend this to my friends although it's not so easy to get it since it isn't a brand found locally. You'd have to order it online or purchase it from Korea.

Too Cool For School Milk Tint #2 Milk Orange

I learned about this product from a youtube tutorial by a Korean youtuber called daddoa. I'll include the video at the end of this section!

It's a lip tint so I didn't expect it to be thick so I'm quite pleased with the texture of this product. It applies easily and the colour isn't bright orange but a peachy orange that blends in with my own lip colour to just give it a natural look. I think it's good for days where I feel really lazy to apply anything, I would just apply this product and head out.

Etude House Color in Liquid Lips PK001 Pink in Ribbon

So basically I bought this lipstick on impulse. I tend to do that... Walking into Etude House without intending to get anything but end up leaving with something. I thought I wouldn't be getting anything but once I started testing the product on my hand, I knew I would be getting it.

The texture of this product isn't like other products I've owned. It's really thick and the colour payoff is really worth the price. It costed me about $17! I don't usually apply a lot of it, I just dot it sparsely on my lips and use my fingers to blend it out. Sometimes it's thicker than I expected so I'll use a tissue to dab off the excess.

Recently, Etude House came out with new shades for this line. I think it was a collaboration with another company so it comes with a new packaging as well. It's called Bling Me Prism Color in Liquid Lips a collaboration with a Korean (jewellery??) brand High Cheeks. Quite tempted to get them if they come to local stores or I could just get them online.

3CE Dot Edition Original Lip Colour #802 Love Sick

This product is a part of the dot series by 3CE, it's a limited edition series so I don't think you'll be able to find this on their official website but you might find it on other websites. I think it costed about ₩17,000.

Hehehe feeling happy just looking at this lip product. My friend helped me purchase the black casing version of this product in Korea when she went there last year. After using it for a few months, I decided that I should get the white casing version as well. It feels like I'm not wearing anything on my lips and the colours are really pretty!

For 802 Love Sick, the colour is a little special. In some lightings it looks red, in some lightings it looks pinkish. I like that it's not too bright for a red lipstick so it's possible to wear daily.

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That's all I have for my June favourites! I know it's a little late (almost the end of July) but hope that this have provided some useful information ^^ Stay tuned for July favourites!

Jukebox #36 나쁜 여자 ♥︎

The weekends are here again and you know what that means... It's time for another song recommendation!

This week, we have 나쁜 여자 (Bad Girl) by Ladies' Code. I've been planning to recommend this song for some time now but I've pushed it back just because I'm not sure how to approach it.

It's been some time since the devastating news of the Ladies' Code members broke. I thought it was super sad for something like that to have happened to people so young and have their entire future before them.

This was Ladies' Code's debut song and I think it really left an impression. For some reason, I was rather impressed with their debut. They had pretty good vocals and for a debut song, they went with something rather sassy instead of the usual cutesy kind of Korean style.

Regarding the news about EunB and Rise...

It happened when Ladies' Code was getting themselves known. I followed the news everyday in hopes that Rise would survive, unfortunately... she didn't. I knew about Rise from WGM, she was on it for a short while with David Oh. I thought she was very cute and it was pretty unique since she grew up in Japan. Sadly, this had to happen. It's pretty common for drivers to drive recklessly in Korea. I think this was the most serious accident that caused two girl group members to pass away.

This reminds me of the accident the Super Junior members met with years ago. And in between there were many other road accidents reported on the news. Shouldn't managers learn from this? Also, companies shouldn't have too jammed packed schedules so nobody needs to rush from place to place. This would prevent reckless driving by a lot. Although it's the driver's fault for causing the accident, I feel like everything played a part. They were on the road late at night, rushing from one venue to another. Sometimes, they forget that they're humans too.

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Alright, that's all for this week's song recommendation! Back next week with another song to recommend! I think I'll be recommending a song from the current summer promotions!

Yum Tum Tum: Chicken Up ♥︎

Tried out Chicken Up for the first time a few weeks ago! My mum has been going on about this new Korean chicken joint for weeks. She enjoyed their japchae and she kept suggesting that place whenever we went out to eat. So finally one day, we did go there for dinner.

Address: 2 Tampines Central 5, #01-44 to 47,

Chicken Up Tampines, Singapore 529509

Open Everyday: 11:30am-11pm (last order at 10:30pm)

The place was crowded just like what we expected. So we waited for around 20 minutes till we were ushered inside and given a table for 2 but with an extra chair to make it a table for 3. We thought it was pretty ridiculous since I was sitting literally in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't put my legs under the table so I had to cross it awkwardly at the side. Not only that, the table was obviously too small for 3 people to have a comfortable meal.

After bringing it up to the friendly manager, he assured us he would move us to the bigger table that they were currently clearing up. About 10 minutes later, we moved to a table for 4 and the kind waitress (unfortunately I don't remember her name) helped us to move our cups. She even remembered which cup belonged to which person and we thought that was really nice of her.

We ordered 2 different flavours of chicken. One is the original fried chicken and the other would be the yangnyum (seasoned) chicken. We also ordered japchae (not photographed) and the corn salad.

I thought the chicken tasted pretty good. The outer layer of the chicken was crispy and well flavoured which to me is the most important factor in Korean fried chicken. For the yangnyum chicken, I quite enjoyed the sauce as well. It was a pretty good balance between sweet, salty and spicy.

For dessert we ordered...

BINGSOO!

Ever since trying my first bingsoo in Korea last year, it's been at the top of my dessert list along with ice cream. As we were quite full from the main meals, we ordered two cups of mini bingsoo, mango and pat (red bean).

Unfortunately, I wasn't that pleased with this mini bingsoos. The cup is tall so halfway through I was just eating plain ice since the toppings were just at the top. If we ordered a full bingsoo in a bowl, I would think the toppings are more and layered so that every scoop would have some flavour instead of it being just plain ice. I guess that's the difference. So sometimes ordering the full sized one would be more worth it.

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This is my first food blog post or review! Please go easy on me! I would recommend this restaurant to friends and I would visit this place again despite it being on the costly side. They do have pretty decent tasting chicken and since they don't have many outlets in Singapore, you can be assured that the quality is maintain probably quite close to the standard in Korea. Maybe next time I'll just go with my parents again (yay to free meals). Hehehe.

Jukebox #35 Love Me Right ♥︎

Writing this post a little late as I couldn't decide which song to blog about. I usually decide which song to blog about during the week. There were 2 songs I was debating over but I decided to go with this one anyway.

So this week, we have EXO's Love Me Right up for review!

I don't think anyone could possibly dislike this song! Just the first time listening to it and I fell in love with it. In fact, just the intro was enough to conclude that I like this song! I don't know if it was the dance or the melody or the beat but it was just totally awesome!

I have to say though, the 2 white borders at the top and the bottom of the video kind of bothers me. It just made the whole viewing portion seem so small. I noticed it in SHINee's View as well. I feel as though the screen has been reduced and I get to see less of the handsome faces and cool dance moves. Hopefully they won't have this white border for future videos.

What makes this song look good is also the dance. I can't deny that EXO are awesome dancers. Even those that aren't so good at dancing, they look good doing the dances (with the exception of maybe the Wolf dance that looks a little more like a musical). I think I really like the dances for Overdose, Call me baby and Love me right. The choreography is really good. And also maybe Kai is just able to make every dance look good.

Recently I watched them on YHY's Sketchbook and Growl with the live band was really cool. Shall just include a clip of that as extras since this post is on EXO anyways. I shall end of with that video.

Enjoy the performance and have a good week ahead!

Expectations VS Reality ♥︎

I've been thinking... I've been reflecting on a lot things...

Things never seem to go as planned or they don't turn out the way I expected it to. But does this mean I should stop trying? Does it mean I should stop and not continue?

Most of the time, I'll stop and think. It's not that difficult to...

...even if I fall at least I'll land amongst the clouds right?

There are a few areas where I felt that I've raised my expectations too high that I need to stop for a reality check.

Work Expectations.

So far, I think there were a couple of times I've been discouraged while working. Although I've encouraging and supportive colleagues, there were times I just felt like there was nothing I could do despite being a graduate. Countless times, I've wished I was still studying so I could use that as my excuse when I meet difficult situations. I felt that everything at that point in time didn't go as well as expected.

But I guess I've learned to deal with my expectations. As much as I want to excel at work and maybe aim for some sort of promotion, I should take little steps first and celebrate every achievement. I shouldn't ignore the littlest of achievements and just go ahead to aim for higher goals without first telling myself, 'good job' or 'well done'. I feel that it would just make one lose focus if they don't stop to reflect.

Makeup Expectations.

This is a funny one. Sometimes I watch makeup tutorials or come across a makeup look that I really like, I would try it out the next day. I would expect it to look nice like in the video or in the photo. Does it turn out the way I expected it to? Of course not!

I think when it comes to makeup, it's pretty individualised. You've to be very familiar with your own face shape and face type. I've come to realise that not everything looks good on me even though it looks super good in the video or the photo.

I'm not especially good with my eyeliner. I actually have uneven eyes, right eye with double eyelids and left eye with half of a double eyelid. So drawing eyeliner can be such a hassle sometimes! I've to make sure it looks even and must make sure it's visible on the left eye because that eyelid tends to fold in hiding whatever line drawn. It makes it quite impossible to draw a cat eye!

Thankfully, I've somewhat come up with a routine on how to draw my eyeliner and apply my makeup so I think I'm quite exceptional to be able to apply my makeup within half an hour *applause*

Blog Expectations.

As much as I try my best to blog a few posts every week, it obviously doesn't happen. I start writing on something but the post just sits in my draft folder for the longest time. I think when I was schooling I just had more time to write and take photos and whatever. Now with work and everything, by the time I get home, my energy level is almost close to zero.

That's why I came up with a weekly schedule to ensure that at least once a week there'll be something being posted. So, every weekend there'll be a song recommendation post! I try to be regular in updating that unless I'm on holiday or on medical leave. Heh.

After changing my URL to this one, viewership has decreased quite a bit. Going to take some time for it to pick up again? Not to worry! It won't affect whatever I'm blogging since I blog regardless of how many readers I have. Hahaha so thick skin.

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In conclusion, the most important thing about dealing with expectations would also be able to remind myself that everything comes from God. I shouldn't worry too much or expect too much or even be disappointed when I don't achieve something because everything comes from God. Also, if I achieve something, I must remember to thank God as I definitely wouldn't be able to get there without God's guidance and planning ^^

Decided to write this post in hopes of encouraging others and also as a reminder to myself! Hope it was useful to some!

Jukebox #34 I Just Wanna ♥︎

Another week has gone by! I think I was quite busy this week and by the time I got home I did not have anymore energy to work on my blog. It's one of the reasons why I've a draft folder that's constantly expanding *shakes head* I shouldn't attempt to write so many posts at once.

Anyway! Back to this week's song! We have Amber's I Just Wanna!

This is actually the English version of the song Goodbye Summer that was previously in f(x)'s album featuring EXO's DO. Honestly I'm not sure which version came first. I've read some people saying that the English version is the original one. Anyone that has some confirmation, do let me know!

On the whole, I actually quite like Amber's album. It's pretty unique. I mean in f(x), Amber can't show off her own musical talents and abilities but with a solo album, she's able to go on with whatever concept or style that's unique to her. I thought it was cool that she sang in this album. It's a surprising fact that she entered the company as a vocalist but she ended up being a rapper. Maybe in the time to come she'll have more singing parts?

But honestly, I'm not sure what's going to become of f(x). I've always thought f(x) was a cool group but now with the whole Sulli scandal, I'm not sure how it'll be like in the future. Their popularity is kind of dwindling like SHINee's. Actually, in the past year till now SM has had quite a lot of scandals. It really says something about the company, doesn't it? 

Anyway, I really hope that f(x)'s next comeback would be a successful one even as a 4 member group. Maybe it's time SM should pay more attention to them and maybe give their fans a fandom name?

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That's all I have for this weekend's song recommendation! Stay tuned for next week's song! Probably going to be a song by a group that's recently has been in the news quite a lot so do check it out!

Makeup Madness: L'oreal Miss Manga Falsies Mascara ♥︎

Haven't written any makeup reviews in a long time! Finally I've something to review! The new mascara L'oreal has released and because it's new, I managed to get it at a special price at Watsons for about $19.

I saw the advertisement on Youtube and thought I should get it! I've heard good things about L'oreal mascaras so I was quite excited to try this out.

The packaging kind of reminds me of the Maybeline Hyper Curl mascara but in terms of the formula, I don't think it's comparable. The Maybeline mascara has a better formula. I expected this mascara to have a lengthening property or at least something that would make my eyelashes look like false lashes. It is waterproof and it does hold curls well but it doesn't do anything to my lashes. My lashes looked the same.

So honestly, I'm pretty disappointed in this product. I checked with my friend and she told me that L'oreal mascaras dries up really quickly. It can't be that it dried up even before I purchased it? If that's really the case then it's really bad packaging.

In conclusion, I wouldn't recommend this product to anyone. It isn't even that cheap. I don't know about the other mascaras in the Miss Manga collection but they only brought in the Falsies version in stores here. Feel free to share your thoughts on this product in the comments below!