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Korean Beauty Haul: My Favorite Products, Part 2

see:Korean Beauty Haul: IntroductionKorean Beauty Haul: My Favorite Products, Part 1Korean Beauty Haul: My Favorite Products, Part 3 Laneige Water Sleeping Pack_EX, ($23 at Target)(As far as I can tell, the Water Sleeping Pack_EX is the Asian version of the American Water Sleeping Mask — same formulation but different names. If I am wrong, please correct me.) I've wanted to try this "sleeping mask" ever since Target began to carry Laneige, a popular Korean beauty brand, earlier this year. This is supposedly one of Laneige's best-selling products across all of Asia, and after a couple of weeks' use, I can definitely see why! The Water Sleeping Pack_EX is a thick cream that looks like a translucent blue gel. It glides on smoothly and...

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Korean Beauty Haul: My Favorite Products, Part 1

In my introduction post, I revealed how Korean women can use 14-17 skincare products throughout a typical day. And if you're anything like me, you're probably wondering what you could possibly do to your skin aside from cleanse and moisturize! Luckily, for the clueless like myself, Charlotte Cho of Soko Glam has shared with us a wonderful tutorial on The 10-Step Korean Skincare Routine. No, you do not have to follow the steps to the T, nor do you have to use the exact products mentioned in the article. And some of the items (like masks) are not meant to used every day. Additionally, because many Korean skincare products — especially emulsions and serums — tend to target only one or two skincare issues (but...

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Reflecting Back on Korea

I wanted to jot down some memories from my first-time-back-in-13-years trip to Korea before my aging brain locks everything away into the dark corners of obscurity. And since I love making lists, here are 10 things that are freshest on my mind from my trek back to the motherland! 1.  First and foremost (in what is probably a no-brainer for most of my readers), Korea far surpasses the U.S. in terms of everyday technology. My relatives' apartment complexes, for example, had retina-scan security systems and motion-activated lights in hallways which automatically dim at night. There were security and emergency intercom systems in every bathroom. Underfloor heating systems. Filtered faucets and showerheads. Heated toilet seats. And much, much more. When I commented on these to my uncle, he...

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Back to Life, Back to Reality [Jetlag Edition]

The current time here, back home on the east coast of the U.S., is 2:47am and I am WIDE AWAKE. :-? It figures — just as my body was finally becoming accustomed to the day-night reversal in Korea, my vacation came to an abrupt end. When I was still planning this trip, J (who has taken 3 trips to Hong Kong in the past couple of years) warned me that I would need at least a week in Korea and another week to fully recover because "We're old now! Our bodies can't handle the time difference like we could in our twenties!" And it seems that he is correct. If I could say one thing about this visit to Korea, it would be that nothing was...

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