Wednesday, January 22, 2014

♥ Etude House Haul ♥

Annyeong~!
Like i mentioned in my previous post, this post will be a haul about what i got for christmas and as you can see in the title, ITS FROM ETUDE HOUSE!
Are you excited? because i was totally jumping up and down when i received the package!
So without further ado, lets get right into it starting with a picture of SHINee looking cute :D
Etude house has always been like a dream land for me and the fact that SHINee is the endorsement model just makes it all that better!

The products shown in this post are purchases from the time i was in Hong Kong and from a website called Korea Depart. 

Click HERE to go take advantage of their extremely cheap prices!

The first thing i grabbed off the shelfs at Etude House in Hong Kong was the Be My Princess Minime SHINee Perfume!


When these perfumes came out, it was said that SHINee designed these scents by themselves from the product to the packaging according to their ideal type!
....I am not sure to what extend i should believe that but whatever. it works for me! :D

And to state the obvious, i got Minho's version~


Introducing... MS BLOOM!

The hair accessories on each bottle is actually like a bonus present because they can be removed from the bottle and plugged into your phone! 

This is the described scent of the perfume and i'm not really sure what each category (top, middle, bottom) really means..
But i do know that it smells very floral like the name of the scent suggests and that it smells amazing ♥

A BTS videos of SHINee working on the perfumes...



Handsome hubby working on the package design ;D

Shirley's Take

Package Design: ★★★★★
Scent: ★★★★★
Durability: ★★★★✩
Price: ★★★✩✩
Efficiency: ★✩✩✩✩

The package design and scent has nothing to be complained about. Perfect.

The smell will slowly fade like any perfume but since the scent is already quite subtle, after a while you won't be able to smell it...
If i remember correctly, the price was quite high but i think it's because i got it in Hong Kong. I'm sure if you buy it in Korea or online it'll be a lot cheaper than what i got it for.
And the efficiency is very low because well, you can't really take the big bottle with you on-the-go..

Second thing i wanted was a really natural BB cream so after trying on Etude House's super wide range of BB creams, i settled with the precious mineral BB in cotton fit.

The BB cream comes in two types both with three colour selections: cotton fit and bright fit
The cotton fit is more matte whereas the bright fit will give you a healthy glow that seemed to be treading in Korea when it was released.
I got the cotton fit because lets just say, if i added anymore glow to my face i would become a light bulb >.>

Shirley's Take
Package Design: ★★★★★
Scent: ★★★★★
Durability: ★★★★★
Price: ★★★✩✩
Efficiency: ★★★✩✩

Packaging is easy to use and gives you maximum control on how much product you wish to pump out.

There is a very faint scent in the product and i myself have no problem with that but if you don't like products that smell, maybe try something else.
Durability is great also. i wear it to work and after a whole day of running around making drinks and serving, it is still in its place!
The price is the same deal as the perfume. Just don't get it in Hong Kong haha
And the efficiency is meh lah..normal sized bottle..

Next up is the Baby Doll Puff

Cuteness overload!

This, is basically a bigger version of the famous beauty blender with a more curvy design

It's supposed to replace all those brushes used for face make up such as foundation, concealer, powder or blush


Shirley's Take
Package Design: ★★★★★
Durability: ★★★★✩
Price: ★★★★✩
Efficiency: ★★★✩✩

I personally are amazed at how industrial designers think. Sometimes when i see a really clever design, i think to myself about how they came up with this stuff. The designer of the Etude House Baby Doll Puff is an upgrade from the beauty blender as the curves of the puff will fit right onto the surface of the chin and nose bridge. At the same time, the designer is able to find the similarities of shape between the puff and the traditional russian doll and furthermore, use it for packaging and promotion style.


The durability of this puff is indeed very long lasting as you may use it for as long as you wish however, because it is a sponge, it will suck up  liquids whether it be water or face product and it is very hard to completely get it out. My point being that over time, bacterial is surely going to build up and it may be a good idea to get a new one!

The price is indeed cheaper than the beauty blender but i believe Hong Kong still sold it to me at a higher price than usual so yea..
And as for the efficiency, it is small. you can carry it around with you MUCH easier than carrying all sorts of brushes. However, it is kind of a pain in the ass to clean it. There are cleansers that are especially designed for the beauty blender that will also work for the baby doll puff but without it, it takes A LOT of effort.

So that is all the stuff i got from Etude House in Hong Kong and i shall now get to the more recent purchases from Korea Depart!

Note that the products were each wrapped up nicely when it came. I took them off to get a more meaningful(?) picture

I got three lips products which includes the vivid pop stick lip crayon, dear my jelly lips-talk lipstick and the fresh cherry lip tint



I also purchased 2 eye products and 2 face products, keep reading to see the review!

Starting with the Dear my jelly lips-talk:
*Ratings for the lip products will be after all three are introduced*
There is a very wide range of colours as you can see and i actually wanted to get JPK002 but they were sold out T^T
As a solution i got JPK003 instead
And i LOVE it!
The colour is a very light pink that is very natural in my opinion.
It is very wearable for school, work, outings, you name it

Coming up next is the Vivid colour pop lip crayon
I really don't know how a lip crayon differs from a lipstick but who cares! This stuff is amazing~♥ I LOVE lah

I got colour number eight which looks like a classic red colour but it turned out to have a small hint of pink in it..

But hey, it still looks great and it is definitely my favourite buy from the lip products

Last lip product is the Fresh Cherry lip tint which always reminds me of the fruit market because of the Fresh part...is it just me?
I actually had a very hard time picking out a colour from here. The colour range isn't very full and they are all very pretty colours so when i eliminated RD301 and PK001, i had to refer to the comment section for reviews and recommendations. Both OR201 and PK002 were very popular and was recommended so i ended up going on youtube to do some investigation @.@
Haha i take my time ^3^

AND it was decided that i get the orange since it was indeed loved by many people, PLUS i already got the Dear my jelly lips-talk lipstick in pink.

The colour is very VERY subtle....almost  non-existent.....
I mean you can see a bit of colour but errr let's just say they were going for a very natural look?

I tested out the lasting power by putting one swatch of each lip product on my arm and rubbing it twice from right to left.

Fresh cherry lip         Dear my jelly lip-talk          Vivid colour popstick

Shirley's Take on Dear my jelly lips-talk lipstick

Package Design: ★★★★★
Scent: ★★★★★
Durability: ★★★
Price: ★★★★★
Pigmentation: ★★★★✩
Hydration: ★★★★★

I reckon Etude House's forte is definitely package design because the packing of their products are completely adorable and looks like thy belong to a princess xD

The lipstick does have a subtle floral scent to it which i love~
The durability is alright but for vibrant colour, re-apply every once in a while?
As i said earlier, Hong Kong definitely sells the stuff more expensive than Korea and online because this i got this lipstick for only $7(not including shipping fee) WHICH is insanely cheap if you compare it to lipsticks that are sold in drugstores!
Pigmentation not VERY good but it is build-able. I usually wear like 3-4 coats i think..
MOST moisturising lipstick ever. nuff said ;)

Shirley's Take on Vivid colour pop lip crayon

Package Design: ★★★✩✩
Scent: -
Durability: ★★★★★
Price: ★★★★★
Pigmentation: ★★★★★
Hydration: ★★✩✩✩

You know how i said that Etude House has super good packaging? yea....i don't know what happened to these lip crayons....come on Etude House i know the colour is amazing but you could have done a lot little better on the packaging :L

There is no scent in this at all so i can't really rate it. I prefer products that have scents but it doesn't bother me all that much if they don't.
durability is great as well as the price of only $7(without shipping fee) and super duper pigmentation.
One bad thing about this product is that it isn't the most moisturising product.. but perhaps that is what makes the durability good! It is very creamy and glades on very nicely however, i would definitely use a lip balm either under or over it.

Shirley's Take on Fresh cherry lip tint

Package Design: ★★★★★
Scent: ★★★★★
Durability: ★★★★★
Price: ★★★★★
Pigmentation: ★✩✩✩✩
Hydration: ★★★★★

Ahhhhh back to Etude House's cute packaging!

The scent as the name suggests is the smell of cherries! Although i am not sure if its the smell of FRESH cherries...whats the difference?!
The price is $6(without shipping fee). How amazing is that. If only the shipping wasn't so expensive for Australia... -sigh-
Pigmentation is no where near as good as i hoped it would be but it is build-able..but it will STILL be very faintly coloured >>
BUT to make up for the lack of pigmentation, it is very moisturising unlike most lip tints! Just make sure not to rub your lips together while waiting for it to dry because you will end up moving the product around making a uneven application and we don't want that xD

That is all the of the lip products and out of all three, i would rank them like this:

1. Vivid colour popstick
2.Dear my Jelly Lips-talk
3. Fresh Cherry Tint

Now lets get to the eye products~! :D



*Sorry for the blurry-ness D:*
In this picture, i used a little amount of the dear girls cute eyes maker and the tear drop liner that would probably look better with the team work of other eye makeup~


The dear girls cute eyes maker may be a bit confusing to some of you if you are not that into asian trends because this product is used to create a look that is very popular in korea, japan, china etc and not so much in other countries.




So what is this trend i am talking about?


I believe this trend was set by Korean Ulzzangs (People who are considered to have the 'best' face in Korea and are famous on the internet for their good looks)

Popular among bloggers

Youtubers

and idols

See the similarity? :D
This tremendous trend is none other than the aygeo sal which translates to cute flesh(?)
By having this piece of flesh under your eyes and above your eye bags (keke), you're supposed to more cute and innocent (the exact image ulzzangs go for!)
Fact: come people even get plastic surgery done to have them aygeo sal >.>

Shirley's take
Package Design: ★★★★★
Scent: ✩✩✩✩✩
Durability: ★★★★✩
Price: ★★★★★
Pigmentation: ★★★✩✩

Great package design and price as usual~
I don't think this product is supposed to have a scent but it does have a oily-ish smell that i'm not liking so much...errr
the durability is pretty good and will cost you no problems UNLESS you rub your eyes ;P
as for the pigmentation, it's not the best but like most products it is build-able and will leave you with no problems regarding colour vibrance :D

The second product are the tear drop liners that come in four colours:


         Deep tear     Innocent tear        Pearl tear         Sun tear


I got the innocent tear liner because.....idk i just chose randomly lah
Just like the dear girls cute eyes maker, these liners will make you look cute and innocent hahaha ^3^


Shirley's take
Package Design: ★★★★★
Scent: ✩✩✩✩✩
Durability: ★★★★★
Price: ★★★★★
Pigmentation: ★★★★✩

No complains about the package design, price and durability here!
As soon as it dries, it will last you a eternity~
The scent is the same oily scent as the Dear girls cute eyes maker. Not the nicest smelling product in the world but the scent doesn't really bother me...and its not like the product is right under my nose and i have to smell it whenever i wear it right?
The pigmentation is also great except for the fact that a completely even application on both eyes is kinda difficult because of the applicator which i believe could be designed in a better way....

Lastly, two face products!
the goodbye pore ever primer essence
Like any primer, this product was supposed to cover up the pores and provide a flawless canvas for other face makeup. This is the first primer i have ever gotten so i don't know if it is just this primer but this had no effect at all......I don't know if its because i'm not using it correctly but come on, all you do is rub it on your face =.= it can't be me ok. My point is, i actually kinda regret buying this! It is officially the first product from Etude House that i'm not satisfied with...especially when its part of such a popular line!


Shirley's take
Package Design: ★★★★
Scent: ★★★★★ 
Durability: -
Price: ★
Coverage: 
Hydration: ★★★

Package design of this product is good but not really that special..
The scent is a nice flowery scent which i personally like to have in products ~~
The durability of this primer is something that i really don't know how i can test because i honestly don't see or feel a effect...which explains why i don't know how long the effect lasts.
The price was pretty good but for a product that doesn't work, EXPENSIVE!
Coverage is....zero, zilch, nada. Doesn't cover at all.
And...the hydrating purpose of the primer is alright lah..
Conclusion: Don't buy it!

Lastly, the surprise concealer stick
The concealer stick comes in two shades of light beige and natural beige.
The surprise concealer line also comes in three forms: liquid, stick and palette
credit of this photo goes to etudeshop.wordexpress.com^

Shirley's take
Package Design: ★★★★
Scent: ★★★★★ 
Durability: ★★★★★ 
Price: ★★★★
Coverage: ★★★
Hydration: ★★

I love everything about this product! end of story haha
The design of the product is satisfying because it is easy to use like a lipstick..just twist it out and apply away!
The scent is amazing! i don't know how to describe the scent but it reminds me of shampoo lolol nonetheless it smells so nice i could just apply like a whole lot under my nose so i can smell it all day haha
durability is great because it is on the dry side i guess. But i think that the dry-ness actually works for me since i get very oily on the T-zone!
Price is mazing for such a good product.


As for the coverage, see for yourself!


You can see that it covers perfectly on my hand, however on the face, the coverage lessens when i try to blend it out more..but don't get the wrong idea lah, it is still really great i promise :D

I also got two free samples that i have yet to try out haha

So, that is sums up everything i have ever gotten from Etude House!
I hope you enjoyed reading and stay tuned for more hauls of clothes, shoes and bags from my holiday trip!

See you next time!


Friday, January 10, 2014

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year~!

How are your holidays everyone!?
I know i'm just a tad very late but er...
MERRY CHRISTMAS and 
Taken by ME from MY instagram kekekeke

Coming from a asian family, we didn't really celebrate christmas but i DID get christmas presents which i am TOTALLY loving. BUT i will share that with you guys in another post :)

So back to celebrations, yea we didn't do any of that.
INSTEAD, we spent 3 days at a apartment in gold coast RIGHT next to the beach and then spent 3 days in the mountains with no shower and a toilet that smelt like vomit and well, POOP mixed together and placed right in front of ya. 
Get the idea? ^^
Way to experience the extremes huh >.>

Apartment tour!
The walls look a bit distorted because i used panorama because i wanted to show the full view lah 


Bedroom with a telescope to peek at the buildings nearby xD

The best bathroom ever!

except for the fact that the spa was broken and it couldn't be fixed within the time that we stayed for..T^T
But we still got to enjoy their facilities privately!
We had the gym, indoor swimming pool, spa and sauna all to ourselves since we went at the latest time possible
Something i found funny about the design of the bathroom:
There was a window next to the spa that allowed you to view the...bedroom?
I think the purpose was to see the beach while you're in the spa but errr nope!
Not possible. The only thing within view is the bed :D
Random bathroom selfie lah

Kitchen that was just meh lah

The apartment was AMAZING mostly because it was so clean
so different to our house haha
but lets not forget how beautiful the view was~






Mummy pig posing haha



During our stay at gold coast, we also visited movie world and wet 'n' wild~!

Movie world was having a White Christmas special at the time and we decided to get extra tickets since they had a buffet that was apparently quite good according to some friends who's already been


Talk about 'ren shan ren hai'!

However, things did NOT go as planned because the deal was you either eat in the buffet or watch the show. And we only found out about that after we went through the trouble of getting good seats!
So we ended up just eating hamburgers and fries on the stands..
So much for a big christmas dinner huh?

This lady here has the best job in the world i reckon!

I wish i could get payed to fly :D
A white christmas is not white without snow right?
Well, movie world took care of that because they brought the snow to the movie world!
haha not sure if you can see it but it's the white circles in the picture above...
not that realistic i know but hey they tried :)



neat dress huh?

The parade that everyone was waiting for finally started and Santa came sleding out!





 took these photos with my mum's iphone and apple, you really need to improve the resolution because...well, it sucks :)

Decided to snap one last picture of this magical-ness on the way out
taken with camera instead of iPhone btw..in case you were wondering why the resolution is so different

purchased my most wanted item since november when i saw a little kid wearing this to movie world

Muahaha i shall be wearing this next time i go again xD
We also went to Wet 'n' wild like i said earlier but we have no photos at all since we stored all our stuff in the lockers so yea..but i'm sure you all know what a water park looks like lah

To finish off the year, i went boxing day shopping with Helen and her mum to spent my hard earned money on stuff i might not even need...

my favourite buy of the day was this little black dress ^3^
Shirley Likey xD

A few days later, we headed up to the mountains for our camping trip!

Stopped at Maccas on the way to treat myself to some macaroons~

I only remembered to take a photo after finishing most of it..errr
but 6 macaroons for $10 is not a bd deal! not bad at all :D
Look how cute the watermelon flavour is~ its even got seeds! ^^

First thing after arriving: building the tent of course!

Our tent was famous i tell ya!
People actually came up to us and called it a mansion haha
And then they all asked where we got it and said they were going to go buy it when they get back.
BCF you own us some advertisement fee :L
Bedroom~
we only bought one air mattress so we had to use it side ways to fit
unfortunately for my parents, they had a problem with fitting their legs on and luckily for me, i was short enough to fit :D YAY 

Right after we finished building the tent, my parents fell asleep...leaving me with an empty stomach and my ipad to entertain me =_=


After they finally woke up, it was time to cook dinner and my dad decided that it was the perfect time to throw our knife into a tree?

And then we had to waste our limited amount of clean water to wash it...nice dad -______-

Amazing scenery from a viewing deck near our camping site 0_0

Going on a bush walk and passed a river where all the little kids jumped in fearlessly to swim despite the freezing water @.@ 

On our way back from the destination of the bush walking, we decided that instead of walking the path we've already walked coming up, it would be more interesting to go back through the river way :D
So we jumped from rock to rock and climbed over tree trunks just because we're a weird family and like to do things the hard way xD

Group photo! Find me!
My dad has officially fallen in love with camping so guess what?
We have another camping trip scheduled in 2 weeks!

So that basically sums up our christmas!
For new years, we actually didn't really do much because as chinese people, we celebrate the lunar new year instead of the new year on the 1st of Jan.

As a small celebration though, we did go to see the Brisbane River fireworks which i shall now be flooding you photos of:









Lastly, a picture to hint at my christmas present mentioned earlier :D
So that has been my christmas and new years....and with no further ado, i shall now end this post right here