Myeongdong with a friend!

So I met up with a childhood friend of mine at Myeongdong, Seoul, Korea. First we went to innisfree to get the skinny waterproof microcara which cost 10,000₩. The brush is 2.5mm (super tiny which is perfect for asian eyes). I also bought their eyelash curler which is small enough to not pinch my skin. This. Was 3,000₩ and comes with 2 replacement pads. Then we went to Myon which is a photo sticker booth. It was 8,000₩ and they were having a 1 + 1 deal. So for two people it was actually 4,000₩! Pictures came out great too! Afterwards we went to Cafe Poem to have some parfait (8,000₩ each). I got strawberry parfait and my friend got choco parfait. It was so delicious and worth the price because it had 2 scoops of ice cream, lot of fruits, and cake in the middle. After walking around a little more we went to Rookie Norebang (karaoke) which was expensive-12,000₩ per hour. Then we went to Gwanghamun for Kyobo bookstore - HotTracks. I bought a Loveholic CD 14,500₩, paper pencil box (1,500₩), and 2 stylus tipped pens (1,000₩ each). Today was really fun and I hope I can hang out with my friends again.

Lip Tints!

At Hongdae I bought It's Skin babyface jelly tint in number 2 flower pink and Etude house Fresh Cherry tint in OR201 Cherry Peach. Wow these smell delicious! But don't try to lick your lips after application. Lip tints never taste good... they're bitter. The babyface liptint smells like fresh peaches! Etude House lip tint smells like white grapes! They both smell sooo good. The Etude House lip tint is more of a milky pinky peach color and it gives my lips a "my lips but better" look. It gives off a shine and tint to my lips. It's not drying as far as I know. But I shall do a review on these two really soon!

Beauty Haul from Hongdae

So I met up with a 3 childhood friends of mine at Hongdae. Here's what I bought:

Clio Professional Gelpresso Waterproof Pastel Upper Liners

I walked around the Myeongdong shopping district several times and I finally went into Club Clio to get a few of the upper liners. There are pastel pink, purple, mint, and brown. Normally, they're 12,000₩ which is about $10-11 USD. They were on sale for 6,000₩($5 USD)! I was really excited but I only bought the purple one because the mint one was limited edition and they said they didn't carry it anymore... so sad! Luckily I remembered that Home Plus carried it. * Home Plus is a grocery/everything store. So today I bought the mint color except it cost 12,000₩... kinda expensive... It was the last one so it was worth it! After I swatched them I let them sit for a few minutes. And I just did a smudge test on my forearm. No smudge or budge, and its waterproof! But if you rub it with water it'll will come off. So it doesn't erase easily with water. I love it so far! 
What do you think? Have you tried any? Which colors are your favorite? Leave your comments below!

Colors: #3 Mint Ade and #4 Peace One Day

Here are some photos and swatches.

Cosmetic Stores on Myeongdong 4-gil

By the way if you didn't know "gil" means street in Korean. Here are some of the stores on this street.

 

So have you been to any of these stores? Do you have a favorite Korean Cosmetic store? Which one would you like to visit first? Let me know what you think in the comments! 

Myeongdong Main Street

Some cosmetic stores on the main street.

Myeongdong Tourist Information Centre

I wanted to get maps of this place and other places like hongdae and dream forest. The info center is located on myeongdong 9-gil near paris baguette. Theres a whole wall full of maps and pamphlets and guidebooks in English, Chinese, and Japanese. So feel free to look around and grab as many maps as you'd like!

Some Cheap Places to Eat in Myeongdong

So during my one month internship I've found a few cheap places to eat at Myeongdong. The first two photos are 명동 교자 (myeongdong gyoja) and they carry noodles and mandu. Everything on the menu is 8,000₩. You get seated and order n pay at your seat. If you get noodles you can get more noodles or more broth at no extra charge. Cooked rice is about 1/2 cup no extra charge. The service is fast and they refill your kimchi when you run out. There are 2 of these restaurants on the street myeongdong 10-gil.

 1.

 

 

2.  The next two are 명인 만두 (myung-in mandu). They serve a variety of dishes. So they have a menu with pictures and there's an order sheet you have to fill out to give to one of the servers. If you can't read Korean you can request for the actual menu which includes pictures. Water is self serve as that place is quite busy. Service is pretty quick. Most of the tables have a drawer with spoons and chopsticks. There's nothing over 6,000₩! Awesome right?? BUT!  Warning they have the occasional cockroach.  I saw one today so I covered it up with a nearby trash can. This is on myeongdong 3-gil.

 

 3. The third set of photos are 유가네 (yoo-ga-ne). There's also 2 of these as well. I ate here today and I got marinated chicken fried rice for 6,000₩. It wasnt very spicy and it was really good. I highly recommend it! The server will come by now and then to cook it for you at your seat. You also get to borrow an apron so that you don't get food on your clothes. Each table has a single stove thing.  Both places are on Myeongdong 10-gil.

 

Do you know of any cheap places for food? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Thanks for taking your time to read!  

Art Box in Myeongdong

So after I finished intern work for the day I decided to stop by the popular Artbox that everyone talks about. These are just a few pictures to highlight what they have in the store.  So they have bathroom things, sleep masks, candy, albums, frames, art supplies, small section of cosmetics, pencil cases, gift boxes, message capsule jars, keychains and things like that.

 

PSY FACIAL SHEET MASKS!!!

 

 Such cute USB Hubs!!! 

 

Adorable Hair accessories! 

 

Hoodies, Shirts, Tops 

 

Nice Journals... 

 

Part of the Small section of cosmetics 

 

I got a pack of 2 small bottles that each have one message capsule for 1,000 KRW. Have you been here? What did you buy from Art Box? Questions, Comments? Let me know!

Mini haul in Korea

So my grandma and I went to Etude House to get Precious mineral Any Cushion in natural beige W13 and goodbye pore ever primer. They were having a 1 + 1 deal on sunscreen which is like buy one get one free deal in the US. So I bought sunprise super aqua spf35 PA++. Then we went to homeplus to get skinfood facial water vita-B mist.

I have combination oily skin so I need my makeup to last all day. I got help from the sales lady and all of these are for those with combination to oily skin tones, even the sunscreen!

I learned that I have to dress up like a model for my internship so my aunt and uncle bought me 2 department store outfits and a pair of kitten heels. I also need to wear makeup which is why I had to buy these... I don't wear a ton of makeup in the summer because it melts off. But hopefully this works out.

My Used Up Empty

So I know some Youtube people have been posting up their "empties" aka used up products, but I don't use a lot of products every day... So here's one that I've used up and loved. It's the Naruko Tea Tree Night Gelly. It was a clear gel type and it was really moisturizing. This is for combination/oily skin types. It was a bit pricey for 2 oz of product. It cost around $22 at a nearby Chinese Market. It is a Taiwanese product. It left my skin feeling soft and silky. The packaging is high quality because it's glass instead of plastic. The picture shows the jar as blue, but it is actually purple. Also the product came with a little black spatula. This lasted me for almost a year since I've used it sparingly. I feel like it helped with my occasional acne. I also added a few drops of Tea Tree oil into the product. Before I added the Tea Tree oil into it, the gel did have a slight tea tree oil scent to it. I do recommend the product though.  

Going to Korea!

Hi readers! It's been quite a while since I blogged anything. Yup, just as the title says, I'm going to Korea on May 13th and I'll be back in August. I'll be a paid intern at my uncle's company. I speak Korean too, but his company speaks mostly English. So it's all good~ I'll definitely be buying some Korean brand cosmetics and a few cute clothes. Best of all, I'll be with my relatives and we'll be going to historical sites which I'm very excited about! I'll try to remember to post up a blog with my phone since I won't be taking my laptop. Well I'll post soon!

New Elf Eyelid Primer??

So I was at Target the other day and I found Elf's eyelid primer, but I noticed the packaging was different. The corner of the packaging said "NEW!" Maybe the formula changed? So here's a comparison between the two. Top is new and bottom is old.

                                                   Top: New
                                                   Bottom: Old

  The consistency seems to have changed from the older one. The new formula is more watery. The old formula is kinda chalky.

When blended out the old one leaves somewhat of a white/chalky cast. The new one blends to an invisible finish.

I used a matte brown eyeshadow from my limited edition wet n wild spring 2013 palette to see the difference. I would say they work about the same, but I think the new formula really brings out the color. For longevity, I'm not quite sure. It's eyelid primer; I'm sure it'll stay on for a few hours.