South-Korea

Korean cosmetics online

~ lauraleonilla ~ 1 Comment

Cosmetics_online-2After moving to Umeå I’ve done more and more shopping online, since the options to shop here are rather limited. First it was just clothes from Zalando, but I continued with home decoration and recently, cosmetics. There is a  Kicks store at the center but I didn’t feel like taking the time to go there, so I bought stuff online instead. The thing about buying cosmetics online is that you cannot test them before you buy and once you have opened the package you can’t return them.

However, I wanted to take the risk and was happy with what I got.

Two face mall

I studied in South Korea for six months in 2013 and one of the things I’ve really been missing are the cosmetics. In Korea you get so much more with the money you have, compared to the nordic countries. Koreas are also extremely good at designing cute packaging, which for myself is part of the buying experience.

I wanted to order just a CC cream by Beyond, as I had had it before and it was the best CC cream ever. But just out of curiosity I ended up buying a lip tint as well, as they were very popular in Korea, but I had never tried one myself.

The shipping took a couple of weeks, which in my opinion is pretty much an average time it takes to get stuff up here to the north. I was very pleased for all the free samples I got with the only two things I had ordered. I like to try new things and free samples are probably the best way to do that. 😀

Lip_tint_Etude_house

The CC cream wasn’t that interesting, as I knew what to expect from it, but the Etude House lip tint seemed rather weird at first. It was green! When putting it on, the color started to change and became a nice pink tone. Though I still have no idea why it should be green at first, someone, please tell me!

Lip_tint_Etude_house2Lip_tint

The Angel Aqua CC cream was as good as always, it doesn’t make my skin feel dry and the tone is nice and light. I rarely wear any lip make up, but really like the lip tint, as it doesn’t smudge like lip stick and lasts for hours. I use way too much lip balm and was able to add it after putting on the lip tint, which is great.

I will definitely buy more stuff from Korea as soon as I run out of these. I haven’t tried other online stores, but based on my experience, can recommend Two Face Mall. Though one idea for next summer would be to visit and come back with a bunch of cosmetics!

싸이!

~ lauraleonilla ~ Leave a comment

For almost a year now South Korea has been mostly famous for him… In most countries nobody understood a word (or maybe 3 words) of his most viral music video, but yet it was everywhere.

I discovered Gangnam Style a bit after it was released via Facebook. I had applied an exchange in Korea and new knew the alphabet and a couple of words. I rarely watch the youtube stuff people post on Facebook, but for that time I made an exception. A friend of mine from Denmark had shared it and a bit later one of my Finnish friends did the same. I recognized the writing to be Korean and became curious about what Korean thing would have spread around the Europe… So, I clicked on the link and was amazed, the coolest, most entertaining music video I had ever seen!

And a little bit later it was everywhere… Everyone knew the dance moves and “오빠는 강남 스타일”! ( I’m also practicing my korean writing here.) When I arrived to Korea, Gangnam Style wasn’t really popular anymore, it sometimes played at bars and clubs but didn’t really attract people on the dance floor. Yet, plenty of tourist stuff still sells with PSY…

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If I’m going to bring souvenirs for my friends, it’ll most likely be this. 1000 won for a pair of socks is super cheap compared to the prices in Finland. They’re also funny, useful and definitely Korean. Not really my style (I buy most of the things black), but still, good enough. Image

Two weeks ago PSY released a new single, Gentleman. And it is now everywhere here. On the following day he had a concert in Seoul, I WAS THERE. Really, a dream come true to see PSY on a live concert here, the show was awesome. Although I understood none of the things he said on the stage, but still, I was happy to pay for the ticket.

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Not only was the show as awesome as it was, but it was also a change to get some really cool pics. I gave a try for my fisheye lens as well…

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I can now say I’ve seen about 50 000 Koreans dancing Gangnam Style.

Some really corny stuff from Namsan, Seoul.

~ lauraleonilla ~ Leave a comment

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I’ve been to the Namsan tower a couple of times already… But this was the first time during the day time and with a good camera. I’m not really into the lovelock thing (forever alone). But at least I got some really cute pics! I’ve seen lovelocks around the world before, but never as many as in Namsan.

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A mailbox for the keys.

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I still need to go during the nighttime with my camera and tripod for some awesome pics of the city lights. Although I took some after the sun went down, but without a tripod they didn’t turn out too well… I’d also like to try the fisheye lens I got for my birthday last fall.