Life | My trip to Seoul!

Hi everyone! 

It's been ages, and for that I'm sorry. It's nearly Christmas!!
I went to Seoul a little while ago! I stayed in Hongdae at Miso guesthouse.
I had the best time ever. I can't wait to go back again! I got to practice my Korean and eat so much delicious food. Anyway, I figured I'd post some photos from my trip.

Jogyesa/Insadong

At Jogyesa temple

LOTS OF IMAGES AFTER JUMP!!! ^_^

Life | It's been a while

Sorry I haven't been posting. Life has been busy and hard. 

But thanks to people who have been visiting my posts. 

I'll hopefully have a chance to post again soon. 

♥ Bec

Life | Hangul Day + Purchases!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to share something pretty cool that happened this week.

Well, the 9th of October is Hangul day, a day to celebrate the proclamation of the Korean script. 

To celebrate, my Korean class watched some performances put on by other students from uni, and also from the Korean Culture Office in Sydney. There were traditional dances and a drum performance, as well as Kpop dance covers. It was really fun to watch.

This was a performance of Korean knife dance, or geonmu.
They were really graceful and their hanbok (traditional Korean dress) were beautiful!
I was completely mesmerised.

Review | Dolly Eye Crystal.i Hazel Lens

Hi everyone!! 

Finally, here is my review of the Dolly Eye Crystal.i Hazel lenses that I received from Uniqso. 

Also, I forgot to mention that I was given a discount code to offer to my readers! 

If you look in the side bar, there is a discount code for purchases from Uniqso. Just enter Paper10 at checkout for a 10% discount!!! So if you ever wanted to try these lenses out, go have a look! :) 

If you're still a bit worried or have never used contacts before, do visit Uniqso's Circle Lens Library.

There is tons of information about circle lenses here, including solutions to common problems encountered when wearing contact lenses.

Bzzzz!

Life | Scones, Selfies, Stories.

 Hi everyone. 

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything still. I haven't gotten around to taking photos for the final review from my last batch of circle lenses. I've really like them though! I wear them quite often.

Anyway, I figured I would post some photos of goings on in my life lately.

Oh! And in only 3 and a bit weeks I'll be heading to Korea! I honestly can't wait. I know it's going to show me how poor my Korean language skills are though. =P

Homemade scones and dolsot bibimbap.

Last Christmas my mum bought me a dolsot (Korean hot pot).
I love making my own bibimbap with whatever meat and veg I have lying around. Gochujang is so tasty! 

It's the red pepper paste you mix in at the end. *drools all over keyboard*

And here is the easiest scone recipe ever! 
No more rubbing in butter or kneading till your hands hurt! =D

안녕! / Procrastination

한 동안 이야기 못 했어요.
내일에 시험이 있어서 오늘에 열심히 공부해야 돼요.
어제 밤 잘 못 잤기 때문에 정말 피곤해요. 일요일이기 SBS PopAsia는 테레비전에 있어요.
한국어 노래들하고 일본 노래도 좋아해요. 소녀시대를 존경해요.
한국어를 1년만 동안 배웠어요. 그런데 최선을 다할게요.
행운을 빌이주세요!

Hopefully this is what I just wrote:

I haven't spoken in a while.
Tomorrow I have an exam, so today I must study hard.
Because I didn't sleep well last night, I am really tired.
It's a Sunday, so SBS PopAsia is on television.
I like Korean songs and Japanese songs too. I admire Girls Generation.
It has only been 1 year that I have been learning Korean. But I'll try my best.
Please wish me luck! 

If that's not what it means, and I just wrote a bunch of Korean jibberish, I can't see myself doing well tomorrow.

I will have new posts soon. I have just hit a bit of a low point. Also, I'm heading to Korea in about a month!

Review | Beuberry Natural Grey Lens

 Hi again everyone! 

I guess I got excited about these lenses, last night's fiasco (R.I.P. left puffy green lens) :'(

But this morning I put my Beuberry Natural Grey lenses in, and I am really impressed.

This is my first time trying Beuberry lenses. I got them in my package from Uniqso.

I think they are almost identical to the GEO Xtra Grey, but maybe slightly less dramatic. 

I'm definitely going to put these back into their lens case A LOT more carefully than I did with my Barbie Puffy 3 tone greens. I'm still very upset with myself for wrecking them. 

But these lenses have got me all excited because they are excellent as well!

|  Just painted my nails! ^__^  |

 They are INCREDIBLY comfortable. The most comfortable big lenses I've worn so far. 

Despite being 16mm in diameter, I've been wearing the lenses for 8 hours already and am experiencing almost no discomfort (that said, I should probably take them out soon).

If I had one complaint about these lenses, it's that they're TOO comfortable

I keep forgetting I'm wearing them!  ; )

|  This was on my way to work. I obviously just woke up. Baggy eyes. (-__-')  |

Honestly though, I can't fault these lenses on anything. 

The design is perfect for my grey-blue eyes and they are quite natural looking whilst still being really enlarging. I definitely recommend these lenses to anyone wanting to give some larger lenses a try! Especially if you're prone to dry eyes, because these are a very comfortable 16mm lens.

They're great for those with lighter coloured eyes. It seems like these were almost designed with lighter coloured eyes in mind. Which is nice, as it seems like most are designed especially for darker eye colours (that makes sense of course, since they're made in Asia).

I love love looove these lenses!

Close up / Comparisons 

|  Both lenses in!  |

 |  Comparison of my normal eye and my eye with Beuberry lenses  |

 | GEO Xtra lens     |     Beuberry Natural lens |

Above is a comparison between the GEO Xtra WTA55, and the Beuberry Natural Grey.
In terms of aesthetics, the difference between these lenses is barely noticeable.
I think that the GEO Xtra look an itty bitty bit bigger, and in terms of design, GEO use lines going inward from the limbal ring, whereas Beuberry use a ring of fading pixels.
Both blend well with my natural eyes, but I do think that the Beuberry's are less dramatic.

|  bows, hearts, and kitty cats  |

Hooray! I'm excited to try my last pair of new lenses from my package. :D
Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!
Let me know what you think in a comment, or head over to my Facebook page!
I've got a Korean speaking test today, so I better go practice!
잂어서 감사합니다!

♥ Bec

Review | Barbie Puffy 3 Tone Green Lens

Hi again.

So this is an initial review with a longer review coming later because I'm a big dummy.

This afternoon I got home and was excited to try on my new lenses - especially the Barbie Puffy 3 tones.

 And I love them. 

With flash

I'm sad though. Because I love them so much. But I ruined them as soon as I took them out!! 

The left lens got caught in the lid of the lens case and I didn't notice, so I started screwing the lid on. 

And I shredded it! I'm really bummed. 

I didn't even get a good full face photo with them in! 

Without flash

Anyway, I think you can buy a single lens from Uniqso. 

So at least I can replace the lens that I destroyed instead of buying another set  

I'm definitely going to be more careful from now on. 

What do you think of these lenses?

I really love the colour and how enlarging they are.

The design works really well with my natural eye colour.

But I couldn't find out how comfortable they were/how long I could wear them without getting dry eyes. 

Because I didn't get to wear them for very long. AH I'm still so upset. T_T

I'll update this post once I've received my replacement lens. 

Thanks for reading guys! 

(◕‿◕)

♥ Bec

Upcoming Lens Reviews

Hi everyone!

I just picked up my latest purchase from Uniqso!

And as always, I'm really excited to try all my new lenses. The reviews will be posted over the next couple of weeks.

I have them soaking in solution at the moment... I wish I didn't have to wait!! >_<

|  Barbie Puffy 3-tone Green  |  Dolly Eye Crystal.i Hazel  |  Beuberry Natural Grey  |

It came with these which each contain a pair of rubber tipped tweezers, lens case, mirror, and a lens remover. I've never used a lens remover before, and to be honest I think it might be harder to use the stick than my fingers. But I'll give it a try anyway. For science! ;P

|  Aussie flag for an Aussie customer  |  Pandas because everyone loves pandas.  |

It's always a lovely surprise when I open my packages from Uniqso and see the gifts they've left for me.

They really are so lovely. (^_^)

Keep smiling, and stay tuned for these lens reviews!

 ♥ Bec

Outfit | Minty fresh!

Hi everyone. 

I found this photo whilst flicking through my camera and thought I'd share!

(Click to enlarge)

 | dress: Chicwish | shoes: Yumetenbo | headband: Colette by Colette Hayman |

It's crazy how perfectly the colour of these shoes match the dress I recently got from Chicwish. 

I also love this minty colour paired with the pastel orange of my headband. 

The Yumetenbo shoes are sturdy and pretty, but they're a bit too high for me to wear everyday. 

I still love them though. 

(✿◠‿◠)

♥ Bec

Review | Face Shop Aqua UV CC Cream

After my sort of disappointing experience with The Face Shop's Smart Capsule CC cream (Click here for my review),
I was keen to try one of their other varieties before exploring options from other brands. 

I'm just so forgiving like that. ^_^

When I went to The Face Shop store in Sydney, they did not have this one at all. They did have the Face It Aura CC cream though, which is packaged in the same style, with a handy pump style compact design.

 I had heard that the Aqua UV CC cream was supposed to be much more hydrating than the Smart Capsule.
So I was really excited to try this one!

 (Click images to enlarge)

Click here to view the promo pictures.
Suzy from Miss A did the promotions for this product.

She's so stunning! ^_^

I really like the fact that you can buy refills for this product. Instead of buying a whole new product, you simply buy a cartridge that you insert into the base of the compact. This is good news because it saves on materials and cost (theoretically at least; I can't find anywhere that stocks the refill cartridges online for the Aqua UV CC cream, only the Aura).

First up, this is a huge improvement from the Smart Capsule CC cream in terms of how it settles on my skin.
Whilst the Smart Capsule became quite flaky and made my skin look old and dry, this one makes my skin look dewy and smooth. As opposed to the Smart Capsule CC cream which is only available in one colour, is white and becomes coloured upon blending, the Aqua UV is available in #1 Radiant/Bright Beige, or #2 Natural Beige.
I bought it in colour #1.

1.5-2 pumps releases enough cream to get decent coverage on my face. I use the puff that comes with the compact to lightly tap the cream onto my face. This is different from what I'm used to in terms of applying face creams, as I usually blend with my fingers.

However the tapping method provides more even coverage.
As an experiment, I applied the cream with my fingertips in a blending motion, and the texture left on my skin was uneven. So definitely use a makeup puff and tapping motion, rather than blending.

 I always use a moisturising night cream after cleansing my face and before applying CC cream.
My skin is quite dry during the colder months, so I've begun using night cream in the morning and evening.

Because this CC cream is SPF 50, I don't need to use a moisturiser with SPF in it in the morning.
After application, this CC cream leaves a dewy texture. However this only lasts a little while, as once the cream settles it has a semi-matte finish.

Photos!

 before

 left hand side with, right hand side without

 Whilst I don't quite know what they mean by the fact that it contains "plantwater" (I'm guessing water from plants but I don't know how that is superior to regular water), the cream is quite cooling on the skin.

I've been wearing this CC cream most days since I got it. And I have to say that I really love it.
Also, I'm fairly confident that my skin texture has improved greatly since I began using it.

My only complaint is that the UV CC Cream is only 20mL.
I am hoping this lasts me a while because I want to use it everyday! :P

with makeup

with lenses and dry hair :P

This CC cream is much better than the smart capsule variety in my opinion.
The texture is much nicer and improves my complexion a lot.
I have reused the smart capsule CC cream since my initial review.
I have found it better, but the Aqua UV CC Cream is far better.

I hope you liked my review!

Thanks for reading.

Keep smiling! (^_^)

♥ Bec

Review | GEO Xtra WTA55 Grey Lens

Hi everybody!

I've already shared a couple of images of me wearing these lenses in previous posts, 

but felt I should give a proper review and provide some comparison pictures!

It's been a while since I've reviewed any lenses, but I will have some new ones coming soon as well!

I bought these lenses from Uniqso, who are currently celebrating their 2nd anniversary!
I prefer to buy from Uniqso because they provide excellent advice and customer service.

Photo from my last outfit post!

I bought f(x)'s new album, Pink Tape. It's such a great album!!!
I love every single song and the packaging is so cute. Korea really know how to package their music.

 

Obligatory Sass cuddle photo.
I can't resist snapping photos of us hanging out using Photobooth on my computer. ^_^

GEO Xtra Review

Colour & Design
The colour and design of these is wonderful. Great for those with grey or light blue eyes. I think they would work really well with hazel or green eyes as well.


Enlargement
The enlargement of these is great! The colour on the edges blends into the grey colouring of the lens a bit so there isn't too harsh an edge (such as on the Candy Eye grey lenses). This provides extra enlargement without looking too crazy alien.


Comfort
Today I wore these lenses from 9am - 3pm. That's around 7 hours, which is when they started to feel a bit dry. I probably could have applied eye drops and worn them for longer though. So these are relatively comfortable. Especially given their larger diameter. These are as comfortable, or possibly more comfortable than the EOS puffy 3 tone grey lenses, which are only 14.5mm. So that's pretty excellent.

Details

Diameter: 15mm

Base curve: 8.7

Water Content: 38%

Click here to look at other GEO brand lenses.

Indoor lighting

Outdoor lighting / comparison

The verdict

These lenses are a good balance of natural and dramatic. The colour compliments my natural eye colour and blends well. The darker limbal ring creates quite a lot of enlargement, but detracts from the naturalness of the lenses. They definitely give your eyes a dolly like look, without making you look too alien.

These lenses are my new favourite grey pair. Granted, I haven't tried THAT many but these are the biggest and most comfortable I've tried. I really like them and they've re-sparked my love of lenses.

These lenses get a 10/10!

 YAY! Well I hope you liked this post.
Stay tuned for some new lens reviews and other beauty product reviews coming soon.
Feel free to Like my Facebook page to keep up to date with new posts.
Keep smiling everyone!

♥ Bec

Uniqso competition + EOS Fay Brown lenses

As a part of their second anniversary celebration, Uniqso are holding a photo competition!
The major prize is a Hello Kitty Instax camera, and there are also circle lenses and store credit vouchers to be won.

I entered the competition with a recent photo of me  wearing the EOS Fay 3-tone brown lenses. 

These are still one of my favourite pairs as they are natural looking but still really enlarging.

And they even blend really well with my grey-blue eyes. 

 
It would be really cool if you guys could head the competition page and click vote for me. 

PRETTY PLEASE? (◕‿◕✿)

Just click this image to go to the competition and click the vote button!

Thanks for your support and as always, take care of yourselves!

♥ Bec

Outfit | Yumetenbo dress + my lucky cardigan

Hello everyone! ^_^

For ages I've been meaning to share photos and thoughts on the items I've bought from Yumetenbo/Dreamv. 

It's already clear that I love their colourful heels, but I also have dresses from their store and their lovely!

The quality is decent for the price ($30). The lining under the lace is quite sheer, so I have to wear a singlet but that's no trouble as I do most days anyway. The little pearly gold buttons and the peter pan collar both make this a very feminine, cutesy dress. I may need to resew the buttons in the future as they're coming a bit loose. The skirt has a lining and is light and flouncy. Sometimes I wear a petticoat underneath, especially if it's a windy day. 

When buying from Yumetenbo, it's the shipping that hits your wallet hardest. 

The only shipping option is EMS and shipping cost is based on the cost of your order. shipping is 1575 yen for every 5250 yen you spend. If your order is 5251 yen, you pay 3150 yen for shipping. Nasty, right? 

For sizing, the lovely Karisa at ciramisu has a really good guide to shopping with Yumetenbo, which includes translations of the sizing guides. I have it bookmarked so I can double check everything before I place an order. 

The colour I purchased was called sax flower.
Sax usually refers to the light blue items (sometimes also called soda depending on the brand). Sometimes the translation on the Rakuten global site isn't very good.  If you're worried or confused, the styles in the list are usually in the same order as they are in the colour&detail photo.

Also I'm really pleased that this dress looks just as good in real life as it does in the promo photos.
I hate it when promo shots lie to you! :P

This dress comes in 11 different colours, so making a decision on which skirt I wanted was almost impossible! 

Luckily, I got some help from some of my friends. I sort of made them pick for me! The runner up was the blue polka dots.

Wah I want all of the colours! T_T

This here is my lucky cardigan!! 

The story of how it came to be mine is a bit embarrassing, but awesome at the same time. 

In general, I'm a bit of a rummager. Around my neighbourhood, people will put old books, fabric cuttings, cushions, bookshelves... Honestly everything you can even think of. My sister is possibly starting a blog dedicated to the things that she finds and re-utilises from the street. 

Anyway, recently I spotted a big cardboard box full of woolen sweaters and cardigans on the side of the road. 

My boyfriend stood patiently as I dug through this box. I guess he's used to it now.

But then a guy comes out of a house and yells "wait wait! I'm not throwing those out! I'm moving in!" 

I felt so bad and apologised a ton. He said it was fine (and that he'd probably have done the same thing). I complimented him on the red cardigan that I was about to steal from him and he responded with "you know... I never actually wear that anymore. Would you like to keep it?"

So a complete stranger forgave me for almost stealing his things, and then gifted me an amazing cardigan. 

Crazy story, right? I love how bright the colour is and it's all loose and cozy. ^_^

THANK YOU STRANGER!

AND I even found a four leaved clover whilst wearing my lucky cardigan and taking these photos in my backyard!

I'm not sure how luck works, but I'd like to transfer its lucky powers to you: my lovely readers. 

 Snuggly times with my curious assistant. 

I had my camera propped on a chair and was using a shutter release remote (I hope I get better at hiding it in the actual photos.. oops!). Of course my darling Sassafrass got curious about the shutter sounds and decided to put her tiny furry face right in front of the camera. So I scooped her up for a cuddle. 

She's too cute sometimes. ^_^ 

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of this post! 

I'm still new to the game and would love some feedback. 

Take care of yourselves and keep smiling. 

♥ Bec 

(Click here for my previous post about Yumetenbo)

Upcoming reviews!

Hi everyone! 

I've been super busy with crazy life things and uni on top of that. 

But I will have some exciting new reviews for you soon. 

I was really excited to receive these products in the mail and can't wait to share my thoughts on them with you. 

So here's a little preview of what's coming your way!

Etude House Wonder Pore corrector

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!! 

New favourite step in my skin care routine.

The Face Shop Aqua UV CC Cream

I wanted to try one of TFS's other CC creams after being disappointed with Smart Capsule. 

Suzy did promos for this product! But I promise that's not the only reason I bought it. ;P

 

Etude House Dream Girls Cute Eyes Maker

Create aegyo sal easily for a cute look! 

I'll explain what that means in my review! ◠‿◠

 

 GEO Xtra WTA55 Grey circle lenses

 These lenses are from Uniqso and are possibly my new favourite! 

Natural, comfortable, but big!

All of the beauty products that I bought were quite cheap from eBay store, f2plus1. 

They are based in Korea and sell a ton of different Korean beauty brands. 

Shipping was free and fast, and I'm definitely buying from them again.

I hope to have the first of the reviews out early next week.

Oh an I also have an outfit post planned! 

One of the items has a pretty bizarre story attached to it. 

So watch this space! And please take care of yourselves. 

♥ Bec

Review | Tony Moly Petite Bunny Gloss Bar

I bought Tony Moly Petite Bunny Gloss Bar in colour #4 - juicy cherry ($9.90 from Tony Moly)

The colour is a pretty reddish pink and is quite long lasting.

 Plus, it smells absolutely DELICIOUS! I definitely want it in other colours.

 The lid is an adorable (kind of bored-looking) bunny. It's a bit of a mix of a balm and a lip gloss. 

I prefer balms as they're smooth and moisturising. This is everything I like about balms, but with a glossy sheen!

 

I hope to have more reviews for you soon! 

I should be receiving my eBay purchases any day now. Can't wait. (>.<)

Thank you for reading and please leave me a comment!

♥ Bec

Hair | Dream High Inspired

Go Hye Mi/Yoon Baek Hi's Fishtail plaits

I recently finished watching the Korean drama, Dream High. 

And I fell in love with Go Hye Mi's hair in the first episode. 

So I thought I'd try my best to copy it.  

 Yoon Baek Hi & Go Hye Mi.

I really loved this show. The fashion and hair styles in it were all amazing as well. 

I've never been very good at doing anything with my hair, but recently I've want to try out new styles. 

Today I did my hair into fishtail plaits for the first time! I think I did a pretty good job for my first try. :P

Trying to look bored/annoyed like Go Hye Mi does most of the time. :P

The fishtails are a bit messy. But I'm hoping to improve. Practice makes perfect right?

How do you think I did?

Leave me a comment or just say hello! (^_^)

♥ Bec

Outfit | 스타일베리 (StyleBerry) purchases! :D

Hello everybody! (◠‿◠)

Recently, I discovered a Korean clothing shop called StyleBerry.

And oh my god... I fell in love with nearly all of the things.

cute logo! 

 I originally found them through YesStyle.com but wanted to see everything they sold so found their online store. Although it's all in Korean, it isn't too hard to navigate the website (plus I can practice my reading while I shop!) I purchased 2 dresses after narrowing down my options. At one point I must have had 50 different pages open with all of the things I wanted!

#1

This was the dress that I immediately fell in love with. It made me search their website for more beautiful dresses. The shape is perfect and the small collar is adorable. This is one of my favourite dresses at the moment and I wear it all the time! It looks great with my red cardigan and a red tote bag, which is usually what I pair it with for a smart casual work outfit.

#2
I love the pattern on the skirt of this dress. It's so pretty and the colours are really lovely. The top is really flouncy and feminine with layers on the sleeves and a scoop style neck. I wore a tulle skirt under both dresses to add extra oomph.
Today was the first day of semester and this is what I wore to class! So happy to be doing Korean again.
한국어를 제미있어! 이번 학기에 나는 열심히 공부해!

Also I'm wearing the shoes that I bought from Yumetenbo with both of these outfits!
I have them in 3 colours and really love being able to colour coordinate my shoes with tons of the dresses in my wardrobe.

Quality

Both dresses are polyester, but they're both fully lined and the fabric feels good quality. I've only worn them in cooler weather so far, but I think they would breathe enough to not leave you uncomfortable in warmer weather. Both of them look exactly as they did in the pictures, which is great and both dresses are made in Korea.

Price

Each dress cost me around $45, which is a good price point for the quality and the fact that they're so cute! The prices are comparatively cheaper on the StyleBerry website than they are on YesStyle (depending on your currency's exchange rate with KRW) which was a nice surprise. However YesStyle also have tons of other brands and the whole website is in English. 

Size

Both dresses fit me perfectly which is lucky because I didn't check the returns policy before I bought them. Woops! I'm a small apparently. Some of the items are free sizing, but there is a size chart included with the pictures of each item.

Shipping

On the subject of shipping, StyleBerry use DGG, which is a Korean post forwarding service. So basically non-Korean residents can buy items from many different Korean online stores, and have their goods forwarded all in one package. As this was the first time I had used DGG, I wasn't entirely certain on the process. But now I am!

1. You pay the store for the goods
2. They forward it to a holding centre (I think it's in Hong Kong or maybe Gumcheon airport)
3. DGG send you an invoice for the shipping cost via email (CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER)
4. They send your package to you once they've received your payment.

So there's some info about one of my new favourite fashion brands.
I think my wardrobe could very slowly fill up with Styleberry, Yumetenbo, and Review purchases. 

On that note, I'm planning on sharing some pics/reviews of the things I've bought from Yumetenbo, but I'm waiting for my remote shutter control to get here so I don't have to run back and forth between the spot I pose in (also looking for a spot with better lighting) and the stack of books my camera is on. :P

I hope you guys like this post! I will have more for you soon I hope!

Keep smiling!
♥ Bec