Dentist visit

Let's say it's been a long time since I've been to the dentist and I was very apprehensive. But Neil insisted we should at least get a check up so we went.  The location was easy to find from the subway, it's near U-Square. The building has several other medical offices.

It was a rainy day and we sat in the reception area waiting for our turn. Once we're called up, we went into this long room with several dentist chairs. There's a glass barrier between each one so you can't see the next person. There were a ton of nurses around. The dentist came by and he spoke perfect English and seemed very nice and kind. He took a look in my mouth and told me I still had two of my wisdom tooth. One is easy to take out and the other a bit trickier. He also asked me what I'd like to do today. I told him I'd like a cleaning first and then will think about taking out one of my wisdom tooth. 

The nurse came and showed me a piece of paper with instructions on what to do if I feel too much pain. I don't think she really spoke much English at all. Then she went to work on cleaning my teeth. She was very thorough and took about 30 minutes cleaning. At times it did hurt but I managed through the pain. My mouth felt really clean after that and I know it would be sensitive for a while. 

After Neil was done with his appointment we went to set up our next appointment where I would get my teeth pulled out and Neil will get some thing added to his gum. I'm still not sure what it's called. The best part of this experience was finding out the price. That almost hour-long visit only cost us each 30,000 won (which is roughly $30). 

My next dentist visit was much less apprehensive. I can only describe it as quick, thorough and painless. The nurse once again cleaned my mouth for about 20 minutes and then once the anesthesia worked, the dentist came by and pulled out my tooth. It took less than five minutes! I had to wait 30 minutes for Neil's appointment to be done. When we went to pay, they decided to give us discounts. My cost was only 12,900 won. And Neil's 3 gum thing was 120,000 won. Wow, what a deal! 

I have since recovered from this and it only took about a day of eating soft food before I was ready for some solid food. There was no bad reaction at all either. Neil took a video of me describing our experience and I look like a chipmunk and sound funny because of the cotton ball in my mouth. 

Homemade Meals

Ever since living in Korea, I've been more inclined to cook at home. One reason is because there's not a lot of choices for food at 10pm at night. A second reason is because I enjoy cooking and cooking for two people is much more fun than one!

In this post, I'd like share some of the meals I've made that are in my circulation. I've separated them into breakfast and dinner. Lunch is usually leftovers so there's not much write about. 

Breakfast

Eggs in a variety of ways - scrambled, fried, sunny-side up, over-easy/medium, poached, hardboiled, with toast. It's simple to make in a variety of ways and you can add veggies if you make an omelet. 

Congee - about 1/2 cup of rice with 2 chicken bouillon cubes and 4 cups of water. I let it all boil in one pot - no need to stir. After it's boiled, I put in the pork or chicken and grate some carrots. When it boiled is when you can stir. Depending on how soft you want the grains to be, I usually cook it for about 30 min to 1 hour. The longer you cook it, the more water you'll have to add. Do not put a lid on it. After it's done, I take it off the stove and stir in two raw eggs one at a time. The egg cooks in the heat and creates a creamier texture. It's almost risotto like.

Dumplings - I put them single layered into a pan with a bit of oil and water and close the lid on medium heat. After a few minutes it'll have cooked the insides and then I turn up the heat so it'll pan fry the dumplings to make it crunchier. The dip is a mixture of soy sauce and sesame oil. I sometimes like to put in some hot sauce too. 

French toast - there are a few recipes and I can't seem to find the one I like. But it's usually a mixture of eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Soak the bread in the mixture and then put some butter in a pan and cook it on low heat. It's a shame that I can only do one at a time. And it is more time consuming so I don't do this that often. 

Other breakfast includes oatmeal, toast with peanut butter and nutella. 

Dinner

Fried rice - I always make some rice first in the rice cooker, about 1 and half cup of rice. You can make this with pretty much anything. I usually like to add cabbage, spam and corn. Sometimes I substitute the spam with ground pork. If using raw meat, I will cook that first then drain it and leave it in a bowl. Then I will steam some cabbage and corn in the pan with a lid on so it's cooked. Then I stir in the meat and add a bit of soy sauce. Finally I add the cooked rice and put some more soy sauce and stir it up. At this point, everything is cooked, it just needs to be mixed well together.

Tomato noodle soup - I like to quarter cherry tomatoes length wise, about a handful. Then let it boil in a pot with about 7 cups of water and 3 chicken bouillon cubes. Once it's cooked and the tomatoes are mushy, I'll put in some ground pork. I'll add in about a tablespoon of fish sauce.I like to use fusili noodles or rice noodles. I will either cook the noodle in soup over the stove or cook the noodles separately and the two together to serve. 

Shanghai noodle <recipe courtesy of Erica :)> I'll cut up the udon noodle package into four and boil them in hot water. I like to cook my meat separately to make sure it's cooked properly. So I'll cut up the pork into small bites and pan fry it until it's cooked through. Then drain it and leave it in a bowl. In the pan I'll put in sliced cabbage with enoki mushroom with some garlic powder and let it cook with a cover on. Once it's cooked, I'll open the lid and cook it until the water evaporates (or drained). Then I add in the meat and put some soy sauce in it. Next I add the udon noodles and put more soy sauce and oyster sauce. The portion of the sauce is to taste. I keep tasting it until it tastes just right. Also, I like to add beansprouts when I add the noodles. 

Udon in miso soup - I boil the udon noodle separately. The miso soup is an instant paste. I'll cook it over the stove in a pot and then add the udon noodle once they're done. I like to add some enoki mushrooms sometimes. This is pretty much a meatless dish. 

Pasta - I like to put pork or seafood (clams and shrimp) in the pasta. I also add some diced zucchini, spinach or whatever greens is available. I cook the meat first then the veggies and then add the pasta sauce. Sorry not from scratch but a jar. 

Curry - there are many kinds of curry powder and very simple to use. I usually cube some potatoes and carrots and boil them. I also cube the chicken and cook it separately. Once all is cooked, I put it in a big and deep pan and add some water and the curry powder. Leaving it on low, the sauce will thicken on its own and I can serve it over rice. 

Black bean sauce pork over rice (jajang sauce) - The sauce comes in a powder form. I usually put fatty
pork slices with cubed red and yellow peppers (sometimes zucchini) in it. Much like curry this goes well over rice. 

Chicken salad - This is lettuce, quartered cherry tomatoes and pan fried chicken slices with balsamic vinagrette. This is needed when we've been eating too much heavy food. It's nice and refreshing. 

Neil is a wonderful cook and usually he makes a meal once or twice a week and it's always delicious! He makes a mean roast pork with the most buttery mashed potatoes among other things. I'm a lucky girl :)

A day in the life of a hagwon teacher in Gwangju

(This is a post I've been meaning to write but haven't had the time)

We've been here for almost a year and things are finally going in a routine manner. We work 5 days a week with the weekends off. Working in a Hagwon (aka English Academy) means we work late. So here's a snapshot of a typical Monday morning.

Morning

Neil usually starts the day off by waking up anywhere between 8am and 9am and then heads to the gym that's a block away from us. I'd wake up and spend about half an hour to an hour on my ipad, catching up with the west coast and playing some games. Eventually I'll get up and wash the dishes (if it hasn't been washed the night before). If I hadn't packed lunch the night before I'd start prepping breakfast and lunch. By the time Neil gets back, breakfast is usually ready and lunch is cooling down. Typical breakfast includes dumplings, eggs and toast, congee or if I'm feeling fancy then french toast. On extremely lazy days Neil will have oatmeal and I'll have nutella and peanut butter on toast. Oh and we always have either coffee or tea in the morning that Neil makes. Our lunches are usually leftovers from the night before or I'll make something easy like fried rice. 

We'll watch a short Netflix TedTalk or episode of something funny while having breakfast. Then I'll usually take a shower first because it takes a lot longer for me to get ready in the morning. I'm usually still finishing my coffee or tea. By the time we're both ready - dressed and packed - we'll head out the door by 12:30pm. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, we have to get to work by 1:00pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, it's 2:00pm so we'll spend an extra hour watching tv or leave early to run an errand like pay bills or buy something. 

Afternoon

By the time we get to work, most of the other teachers are just trickling in as well. On Mondays, all the Korean teachers have a meeting so that usually runs from 12pm-ish to about 1:30pm. I usually begin my lesson planning. There are 8 classes in one day that are paired up into 4 blocks. Korean and Native teachers share half the classes and students are generally here for 2 hours. The first block is usually the youngest students ranging from 7 years old to 10 years old. We teach them course books - which are designated books with a set curriculum. There's a pattern to these and eventually you'll get the hang of them and it's fairly simple to teach. The next block are a bit older but still in Elementary school. But again, still course books with set curriculum. In the third block, we have the older students, either in the last few years of Elementary school or first year Middle school. Native teachers focus mainly on teaching reading and writing books. Reading two times a week and writing once a week. Our last block are the Middle school students. There tend to be less of those students and some teachers have more breaks at this time. Once students have graduated from Middle school they no longer come to us and goes to a different type of hagwon.

I digress. Mostly planning is a bit robotic. I have a notebook where I write down what I plan to do with the kids. Usually the first thing I do is check their homework then we review vocabulary. Depending on the type of lesson, we read or do an activity. I also note down what homework I'm assigning for the day. For my younger students, I always give them special stickers for homework and if they've done well in class, I'd give them a certain amount of the school stickers. They all have sticker books that they'll collect and claim a prize from the receptionist. 

After planning my lessons, it's about 2:30pm and Neil and I head to the break room and have our lunch. Most of the other native teachers also eat around this time so we all sit together and catch up. Shortly before 3:00pm we can hear kids running and talking in the lobby and know we'll have to get back to our desk soon because classes start at 3:00pm. After each block of classes, we'll get a 10 minute break, which is nice to give us time to sit down or use the bathroom. On Mondays I teach 7 classes and get to leave at around 9:00pm. 

Night

Since March, Neil and I both get off at 9:00pm on Mondays so we'll head home together. Depending on what we're eating for dinner, we sometimes stop by the grocery along the way to pick up stuff. After getting home, we'll put our stuff down and get out of our work clothes. I start prepping dinner. Usually dinner is ready in about an hour. I specifically choose easy meals so I don't have to spend so much time cooking so late. A typical dinner includes black bean pork over rice, chicken curry, tomato noodle soup, shanghai udon fried noodle, pasta, or a chicken salad. After eating we'll usually watch an episode of something on Netflix to relax and digest. Then we'll get ready for bed. While in bed, I'd play on my ipad some more and Neil would be on his phone reading. Then we'd call it a night and start the day all over again. :)  

Seoul with Tommy & Stacey - Part 2 (with pictures)

<read part 1 first>

We were both still tired and a bit cranky the next morning but a quick stop at the convenience store, we greeted Tommy and Stacey with better spirits.

Today we wanted to head to the Hanok Village before the crowds so we got a cab there around 10am. Since we haven't ate yet, we stopped by a restaurant that was advertising Ginseng Chicken soup. Normally I am NOT a fan of ginseng at all. The strong medicinal taste really turns me off. But when the soup came out, the smell was minimal and the chicken was so tender. I would defintely have it again. My mom would be so proud of me for having ginseng without her coercion! 

We walked around the hilly area and there are some old-style houses mixed in with more modern ones. I think I prefer the Jeonju one more. It's more compact and there's an actual map to know what I'm looking at. Next, we took a cab to Norangjin Fish Market to get some fresh seafood. It was a very interesting place but after a while, all the seafood stands looked like they sold the same things. After almost walking the entire place, we chose a stand and got some jumbo shrimps ($14), jumbo scallops ($10) and little live octopus ($15). Then just after we paid and they packed up our food, a woman from one of the restaurants grabbed our food and said for us to follow her. She led us through a series of tables and chairs and finally told us to go into an enclose place with other tables and chairs filled with people. We found a seat for four at the back and sat down. Later, a woman asked us how we wanted them cooked. For the octopus we said "sashimi", the scallops "bbq" and same for the shrimps. When the food came we proceeded to eat and take pictures and videos. It was very yummy! Surprisingly between the four of us, we still couldn't finish it all. At the end, it costs us another $10 for each dish so that meal came to $69. Not bad but would've been expensive if it was just Neil and I.

We still had some time to kill before our Eland cruise on the Hangang River so we hopped into a cab and went to Coex Mall to kill some time. We walked around until we were tired and went to a coffee shop to have some drinks and rest. Then we caught the subway to head to cruise. Unfortunately Tommy twisted his ankle at one of the stations but we weren't that far so we kept going. And then we got off one station too early, so we grabbed a cab but after the cab dropped us off, we were still a good 10 minute walk away from the docks. We had to go to the terminal window to pick up tickets and sign some kind of waiver form. Thinking back now, it's almost like those airplane passenger list because we had to fill in our names, sex and date of birth. I guess it's in case the boat capsizes. Anyhow, this area by the river is very nice and lively. It reminded me a bit like Vancouver's English Bay. Lots of people around, flying kites, lying on the grass, biking, etc. Next time, I definitely have to go back.

After we boarded the cruise ship, we just sat down and they announced that there's going to a live music performance shortly after 8pm. At the beginning many people were sitting and once the boat started moving, everyone got up and just went to stand out by the rails for a better look and pictures. This was an ideal time to be on the cruise, we were able to watch the sunset then we passed the Banpo Rainbow bridge. It began to light up and we took many pictures. The weather was very pleasant, with a slight chill. It was a very nice way to cruise along the river (spoiler alert! We also saw one of the buildings that was used in the filming of Avengers 2). Next time, we'll have to do the cruise + buffet. 

After a long day of adventures, we headed back to Itaewon and grabbed some Thai food at Wang Thai. We ordered two curry and pad thai and some appies to share. The pad thai was amazing! I am still thinking about it now. I wished I had bought some home with me. Mmmm....another place we have to go back to! 

On the last day, I was hoping to say something to management before we checked out but. Again no one was around so we just left. We dropped off our bags at T&S's and went to get some western breakfast at the Wolfhound (a place Neil and I have been to before). We bid our adieus and went our separate ways. T&S went to do a little shopping before they have to leave the next day and N & I went do grab some books at What The Book and grocercies at High Street Market. 

And that was the end of our long weekend in Seoul with Tommy and Stacey. A short but very sweet trip!

Seoul with Tommy & Stacey - Part 1

During Tommy and Stacey's Asia trip, they made a one week stop in Seoul. We met them for the weekend and it was perfect that it was a long weekend for us! (3-days off!)

We're not good with leaving the house early. We slept in and and hurried to the bus terminal. Unfortunately the next bus wasn't leaving for an hour so we just went to a coffee shop to wait out the time. I'm generally not a fan of public washrooms and I happened to witness an old lady sitting inside a handicap stall with the doors wide open. I'm not sure what business she was conducting but I wanted to get out of there asap!

We finally got to our hostel (Pop@Itaewon) to check in and just took off to meet up with Tommy and Stacey. In hindsight we should've checked to make sure everything worked before leaving because the a/c did not work the ENTIRE time we were there. It was the worst two nights of my hostel experience, even worse than the other hostel (G Guesthouse) in Itaewon. From now on, we will NEVER stay at a hostel in Itaewon, no matter how convenient it is. My sleep, my comfort and my sanity is WAY more important. Because their office was only opened from 1p-10p - we would never back at the hostel to talk to their management to get it fixed. Another big problem was that there's a club/lounge right outside the only window in our room and being a weekend (long weekend) music, people's voices and singing came from it the whole two nights we were there. The first night, we managed to put ear plugs in and sleep for 5 or so hours. The next night, the sound went on till 4am and I just couldn't fall asleep for more than two hours. I was completely exhausted. When I got home, I passed out and sleep for a good 8-10 hours. I've never sleep so soundly like that in a long time. 

---- end of rant ----

So we went to Tommy and Stacey's hotel and met them in the lobby. We headed to a nearby Korean BBQ place to have some food because we were all quite hungry. Next we dropped off some stuff at their hotel and took a bus Myeongdong area for some street food and sulbing. I wish I couldn't eaten more! I got a mochi ball with red bean and strawberry inside. It had a really cute packaging - there's a bow on top to make it look like a bunny. I also had honey butter flavored sweet corn on the cob. It was AMAZING! I've missed sweet corn on the cob! The corn they have here is not the same. It's not sweet, it has a subtle flavor and tastes more plastic-ky. Tommy go a hurricane potato wrapped around a hot dog. It was interesting but was only okay he says. Before I had my corn on the cob, we went to Korean Dessert to get some sulbing. Neil and I shared the Mango Premium and Tommy and Stacey had the Mango cheesecake one. Oh man, they were absolutely delicious! I much prefer the fruity one over the almond one I had last year. 

This area was very much tourist-driven. So prices were a bit more than other places. The lemonade in a bag, I can get at downtown for $1, but here it was $3. So next I wanted to take Tommy and Stacey to Hongdae to check out the buskin and college crowd scene. We are a bit older but this place is quite cheap. After walking around the area and seeing several buskers, we decided to nip into a beer and chicken place. We headed to a place we've been to before but this time we didn't get to go downstairs because it wasn't as busy. After more food, we called it a night and cabbed back to our hostel/hotel. This was the night we discovered the loud sounds of someone saying "Encore! Encore!" and the broken A/C. 

Five day holiday in Busan!

During the first week of May we had a five-day holiday! We started looking at prices to go abroad but because it's a little last minute, the prices were through the roof! We seriously considered somewhere in China or Japan. But we decided we will do Osaka in July and the China visa would take too long for us to get and we simply couldn't be bothered. The last few months with the new schedule and classes, has been exhausting and we really just want to relax. In the end, we chose Busan and stay in hotel instead of a hostel.

On Friday we took the 3.5-4 hour bus ride to Busan. This time I chose a different bus stop then the one originally and it's so much more modern! It's actually located in a mall so it was very busy. We had to walk to through a department store to reach the subway. Our hotel was located near Haeundae Beach called Hotel ForU.  It had said on the website that this used to be a love motel and was recently renovated into a hotel. We were a bit wary but it turned out very nice! It's very modern and looked great. They had housekeeping so every time we come back the bed was made and we had new towels. Too bad there's no room service hehe.

Rather than a long written detailed post, I'm going to summarize what we did in Busan. 

Day 1

- arrived in Busan

- dinner at Boi Brazil - amazing Brazilian restaurant! For $35/person, it was all you can eat meat!  There was five different types of skewered meats that they would deliver and shave onto your plate. My favourite was the bbq whole pineapple with cinnamon and brown sugar mmmm... worth every penny and even the meat sweats!

- walk along the beach

- first of many bubble baths

Day 2

- morning bubble bath

- breakfast at Sharky's 

- Holly's for a coffee and some blogging

- Shinsegae Centum City department store (known as one of the biggest) - I only bought a book there

- Megabox to watch Avengers 2 for the second time and got the Avengers popcorn tin and plastic cups that Neil now uses at work

Day 3 (rainy)

- morning bubble bath

- I watched Grey's Anatomy while Neil watched the fight on TV

- Indian restaurant - I think Gwangju's better

- Piewang for some homemade British style pies

- English breakfast for dinner

- baskin robins ice cream

- bubble bath (I took advantage of all the bubble baths I can have!) 

Day 4 

- morning bubble bath

- second attempt to go to a Korean restaurant An Ga - but still closed :( 

- walk along the beach

- also attempted to go to Sushi Berry but it was closed for two hours and we didn't want to wait

- ended up going to Ilpum Hanwoo - high-end Korean bbq restaurant attached to a hotel. It was good but very pricey. Also, there's a woman who helped us cook our food the ENTIRE time we were there. Maybe some people like it this way, but it was awkward. Neil and I were very aware of her the whole time and it made it weird for us to have a conversation so we ate in mostly silence with a few words here and there. Imagine you're going on a first date with a chaperon sitting right next to you. Good food, expensive but too strange of an experience. 

- nitrogen made ice cream along the Haeudae strip

- Japanese bbq skewere place for a night time snack (reminded me of Zakkushi)

 

Day 5 

- packed up, had breakfast and headed home.

Korean Makeup Reviews

Before coming to Korea, I've been very fascinated with Korean makeup. There are loads of blogs and video tutorials and reviews about Korean makeup. I was only familiar with a few name brands but since then, I've learned a few more.

I don't have a particular favourite brand yet. And I haven't used everything yet. But here's some stuff I've used. 

Skinfood

- Egg White Pore Foam

I've gotten this a recommendation from a co-worker. It's alright. To be honest, it doesn't make me feel anything. It foams up really nicely but it doesn't spell bad. But I don't feel like it's doing anything for me. I feel like the cleanser stays on top of my skin instead of going deep down. Right now I'm just trying to use it up so it doesn't go to waste. I alternate between using this and my other cleanser.

Tony Moly

- Egg Pore - black head steam balm.

I've read that this is great all over the internet. It's suppose to help cleanse your pores around your nose, which I find is a big issue for me. I'd like find ways to help clean those pores and minimize their appearance. It's got a very cute egg-shaped packaging. When you rub the gel-like substance on your nose, it heats up. I'm probably not using this often enough for it to work. But I do like it.

Etude House

- Aloe Moistfull soothing skin (toner)

I was looking for a toner since mine had run out. I went in asking for a toner and this was given to me. I've read that Korean toners do not have the same kick that western ones do. It's very gentle. It's feels refreshing to put on right after the shower. This big bottle lasted for more than six months and I use this every day. I put it in a small spray bottle so only a little comes out on a cotton at a time. 

- Sweet Cherry Tint

I really wanted a red lipstick and most of the ones tend to look pink on me than red. When the sames person put it on her hand it looked really bright red so I got it. But it still isn't quite the red I wanted. I just use it sparingly.

- Styling Eye Liner (white)

I really wanted a white eyeliner and honestly Etude House is very inexpensive. 

- Play 101 Pencils (Pearl, Black, Turquoise, Blue)

I found these were talked about a lot on the Internet. I like the pearly one for under my eyes but I always forget to put it on before my black eyeliner. The black is just standard. The other colors were on sale when I got it. I was looking for green eyeshadow so I got these. They are pretty thick and so I can just smudge it out to use as eyeshadow. Surprisingly there's not a lot of colors beyond pinkish and earthy colors for eyeshadows out there.
- Juicy Pop Tube
It's good to add a bit more shine to your lipstick. It was cheap and cute.

Isa Knox 

- loose powder

I was running out on the loose powder so I found this one at Olive Young (equivalent of Shoppers Drug Mart), I quickly got it despite it being $35. Creams and compacts are much more popular here, loose powder, not so much. So far I've had it for 3 months and it's still good. I like it. Even though now that it's summer, it might be too light. I'll need to mix it with the darker ones I still have left.  

Faceshop

- Chia Seed Moisturizer

I love this moisturizer! It feels silky and great on my skin. I put it on after my toner. The density is not too think and not too light. It feels light and smells great too but at the same times I can feel it giving my face more moisture. It's great to use during the winter time when my face is dry from the cold.

-Triple Eyes 

This little compact of three eye shadows were on sale when I bought it ($4). At first I just bought the purple shades, cause I love purple. Then I went back and got the smoky (black/grey) one too. The pigment is great on this! On top of my eye primer, it lasts all day for me. Great find! 

- Lip care cream - I'm mango butter!

Faceshop had a huge sale and I love lip balms so I got this. I'm not a big fan of having to squeeze out the gel because sometimes I squeeze too much. And because if I squeezed too much out, there's residue left so it doesn't look that great if it gets messy. It's okay. I alternate between this one and the Innisfree one. I put this on before my lipstick. 

- Ink Graffi brush pen liner

I love brush pen liners over pen liners any day! And these were on sale so I got two for when I finish using my Innisfree one. It was only $6 each! 

- Over Girl Edge Stick Pen (purple)

This is  roll-on eye shadow. I've only used it a handful of times since my regular makeup tends to be more browns and blacks than light purple. It was cheap when I got it so it's still worth it.
- Rice Water Bright - cleansing foam
I actually haven't used this one yet. I wanted to try it because it's one of those raved about products but I'm enjoying my Innisfree one right now. I'll probably use this when I'm done the other one.

Innisfree

- No-sebum Mineral Powder

This was a very popular product from what I've read. But to be honest, I don't see what the hype is. Maybe I'm not sure how to use it. It's a white powder that's suppose to decrease the shiny-ness of your face. But the compact is so small, it's really tedious to apply all over your face. Maybe other people have the bigger one or smaller face. But I haven't really touched it since I got it. 

- No-sebum Mineral Primer

Whenever I use a cream base foundation, I like to use a primer to smooth out the texture of my skin so it goes on smoother and cleaner. I like this product and it works well. My only qualm is that it's so small that it can used in a month - two months max. Maybe others only use it sparingly but I like to have it all over my face. 

- Green Tea Balancing Lotion

I was running out of my moisturizer so I wanted to get a new one and the salesperson recommended this. I touched and and I liked how light and watery it felt. The problem is that when I got it home, it was too watery. I felt like once it was absorbed into my face, my face felt tight and shiny. Also, it took a while to be completely absorbed. But I think if I use less it might be better. For the winter it's not moisturizing enough but it will be good for the summer when I want it to be more watery than oily. 

- Green Tea Balancing Skin (toner)

This came as a companion to my lotion. Also it was the same price to buy the lotion as the set with this. So I picked it up as well. It felt the same as the lotion so I will save this to use for the summer. 

- Green Tea Pure Cleansing Foam

I love this cleanser! It smells great and feels great! Every time I've used it, my face feels clean and breezy. 

- Canola Honey Lip Balm (deep moisture) 

I really like this lip balm. It's very moisturizing. It smells good. Goes great underneath my lip products. 

- Cherry Lip Tint

I'm trying to like lip tints but it's weird. They're suppose to dye your lips but not to the darkness of what it appears. Always slightly lighter. Also it feels dry when the lip tint dries. I just prefer more moisture on my lips. 

- Jeju Peach Hand Cream

I love their hand creams. It's very affordable and there's always a buy two get one free deals. I think I got this as the B2G1 for $4 each, so for $8 I got three hand creams to put in my purses. 

- Powerproof Pen Liner

I'm not a fan of pen liners because they are too hard and pokes my eye too much. I like to get really close to my eyes when my liner so this hurts. 

- Powerproof Brush Liner

From top to bottom: (1) brush liner + pen combo
(2) eyebrow pen + brush (2) brush liner (3) pen liner

My favourite eye liner! It goes on very dark and I have great control over it. The only thing was it was hard to get off if you don't use a proper eye makeup remover. I used to use wet paper to get my makeup but this doesn't work on it. You must you eye makeup remover. I thought I had originally bought these for $6 but the second time I got it was $9. Strange. Still good though. It lasts for a good 3 months and I use it every day. 

- Brush Liner + Pencil Liner combo

I really wanted a pencil liner cause I know eventually mine will run out. And this one came with a brush liner, so score! It's great to take on trips because I like to use brush on top and pencil on the bottom. 

- Eyebrow pen with brush

I used to use an eyebrow brush and dark brown makeup to colour in my eyebrows, But I thought I'd give this one a try and it's amazing! I love it! You have to use small strokes that go with the growth of your hair to make it look normal. I alternate between using this and my eyebrow brush.