My Laneige Story

 I originally started blogging about my cosmetic experiences when I saw a  post on Soompi with someone asking about Laneige products. If you look back I re-uploaded the brief review that I gave of everything that I used at the time but I will go back on each of these posts how things have changed. I've been using these products for so long now I can't even remember how I got into using it but I think I wanted to try it as soon as I was old enough to try it. Ever since I was young I would go to Hong Kong very often and the Laneige shops and adverts are dotted around everywhere so hard to miss and I guess the feel that I got from the brand drew me in. As soon as I was old enough to buy these types of things myself, I went into a shop to see what they had on offer.

I have been using their products religiously since I was about 19/20 years old, I am now 24 and still using it religiously! I am one of those people who don't mind to spend quite abit on skincare products as I do believe that if your canvas as blank then anything you put on it will be nicer. I have very strange skin, it is extremely dry and sensitive with an oily-ish T-Zone, if only it would even out and it would be normal! However, its not about having perfect things, its about working with what you have and this is what I found with Laneige.

For those who are not familiar with Laneige (French for The Snow), the brand is a product line from Amore Pacific, a leading cosmetic brand from South Korea. It is not available in the UK where I live unfortunately so each time I go to Hong Kong I have to stock up and bring it back or if I run out is where the internet comes in handy, although I have been told to be careful when buying online as there are fakes but if you buy from reputable companies such as SaSa or Bonjour HK then I highly doubt they are fake.

In this series of posts I am going to review the products that I am using now and how it has changed over time as Laneige tend to discontinue or improve/change products about every 2 years or so.  I hope you enjoy and if you have any questions for me at all, please leave me a comment below or you can even tweet me! @Karyyeung

Kary x

Etude House Crazy!

Just a quick one, First time trying to blog on my mobile... Hope this works!

Been a bit Etude House crazy recently, this is my latest purchases! Review coming soon on the Dear My Blooming Lips range!

K x

Buychina.com and Taobao

Back to old habits and not posting again... sorry! Promise to be good from now on, I have been abit Etude House crazy recently so I have lots to post! Bit of a wordy one and no pictures for this one but I would really like to share this!

So I recently discovered Taobao. For those who don't know this site, it is basically like China's version of eBay. Unfortunately though, if you are overseas you can't buy directly from there and you need either a relative to get things for you and post it to you or use a third party agent.

There was something I really wanted that I saw on there and to go about buying it I did a Google search to see how and if it was possible as it is all in Chinese! I am Chinese but however my reading skills are relatively low from being born in the UK and not really paying attention Chinese School when I went! I think there are a few agents that you can use but I saw a guide and Buychina.com seemed to be the one that they recommended so I went ahead for it.

What you need to do is look for the item that you want from Taobao and then paste the URL into Buychina's website. What I have noticed though is that not everything is available, obviously being large items such as a floor length mirror I saw, haha and also things that are fragile such as mugs and for some reason I wasn't able to buy a stainless steel flask.. not sure why about that one!

I have now placed 3 orders in total, my first one consisted of a new case for my phone and a new case for a tablet. My second order was for clothes and my third order which is currently in progress of more clothes and a few hair accessories.

First Order:
I ordered this on 24th March and I can't remember the day that this arrived unfortunately but it did take about 2 - 3 weeks. Bare in mind that the process is a little longer as I am getting this from half way round the world and someone has to buy it for me and sent to them before it comes out to me. It comes with a tracking number and you can also change the weight of the items if you know for sure how much the item weighs to reduce shipping charges. If it comes to sending it out and its actually heavier than you though then Buychina will get in contact with you to pay the additional charge. The items itself were pretty good, something that I expect from China if I went shopping there. All in all, no problems, very straight forward. Buy, pay, sent, received, even came with a tracking number.

Second Order:
After I received this order, I saw many other things that I wanted! This time it was clothing. This took about 1 month this time, I'm not sure why. I am thinking because there were quite a few items and they receive all the items before it gets sent to you. This is where I must warn you to be careful. I got my package and it incurred a customs charge,  not a big problem but the clothing itself was not the best of quality. I ordered, 3 skirts/ dress and also 2 chiffon shirts. After washing one of the shirts, mysterious stains seemed to appear on the shirt but in all honesty, to me its not the biggest of problems as it was quite cheap anyway but don't expect the clothing to last that long, its not high quality but its not bad. If you have ever bought any clothing from China, you would know what I mean.

Third Order:
This order is what inspired me to share my experiences. If you can't read Chinese, it is a bit of a problem... I bought a dress which was $10RMB and I thought, wow! What a cheap price for something so nice! So I bought it and it appears that this was a deposit price and I had to pay additional for it in the end, this also happened with a bag that I saw and I ended up getting 2 and altogether it would have cost an additional $81USD for it.

BuyChina customer service were really helpful though and gave me quick responses and they even refunded me the money for the additional when I said I didn't want it. I ended up paying the extra the first time round because it wasn't too expensive (they didn't realise I ordered 2 and just increased the price for 1) and it was really hassle free!

I am still waiting for this order but I think it should come soon. I'd definitely recommend using BuyChina if you wanted to buy something from taobao! Just be careful though, you do need to look at seller ratings and don't expect the greatest of quality! And also be careful with the deposit stuff!

I'll be back with more product reviews soon! As always in the mean time, please do leave me a comment if you have any questions :)

Kary x

Update: I finally got my latest order!!! After all the communication with the deposit amounts, as soon as I requested for a refund I got it. I had to wait ages for this package because there was a dress that I bought that would not be delivered to the agent until the end of May. The package got sent on 3rd June and it got to me on 21st June. I did get a £22 customs charge on it, I have noticed that on my larger orders of clothes I have been charged customs so do take note and be prepared to pay it if you need it! 

 

3D Eyelash Extensions

From false lashes to eyelash extensions! On my recent trip to Hong Kong I saw a deal on Groupon for 3D eyelash extensions, it was only $88HKD much cheaper than UK so I decided to give this a go. I have only ever had cluster extensions before so having individual extensions was something new to me.

I must say my whole Groupon experience in Hong Kong was amazing, I love how they have a concept store so you can buy something and collect in store for free! Definately recommend even if you are just visiting, I paid with my debit card online and my bank it just converted the amount. However if it something that needs an appointment I do suggest that you make sure to make an appointment at the earliest opportunity even if it is 3/4 months away! I bought one for a hair cut and perm and I lost that thinking that since its so far away I can book later, a month before I was going to go there were no appointments for 2 months!

The place that I went to, I don't think I am going to name because I didn't have the best experience that I was expecting, it was more of a budget place and the lady who was also doing the eye treatment on my sister was literally trying to sell us something every minute! It was in a good location in Causeway Bay though. Apparently the lady who usually does the extensions was not available too so we ended up getting someone else who wasn't a professional but had been trained but the rest of the experience was pleasant.

We got taken into the treatment room and we were given a choice of 2 different types of lashes, synthetic and human hair (at an additional cost). I took the synthetic option because I thought since I wear my dollywink everyday, it shouldn't feel that much different. The 3D bit of the extension is just that they stick it in different layers on your eyelid as opposed to sticking it directly to your existing lashes, nothing that much more exciting I'm afraid.

Let's take a look at some pictures of the final result!

Personally, I hated this considering I am used to wearing false lashes. I have a friend who gets them all the time and she doesn't feel them at all whereas these were really hard and if I were to lift the lashes up to tightline, the eyelash extension would poke so hard into my eyelid, it felt so uncomfortable. If you look carefully at the last picture, you will be able to see large clumps of glue... I've seen many different people's and it was nice but both my experiences of getting extensions have not been good so I think I may stick with my beloved Dolly Wink's!

Dolly Wink Lashes Number 11 (Pure Sweet)

I first started wearing false eyelashes when one time I decided to get some eyelash extensions. These were the cluster type ones and a whole clump came off the following day on one eye...Not a good experience there! After that I decided to take them off myself as it just didn't look good. I would definitely recommend for you to get them removed professionally if you can but I was being really impatient and it was a Sunday night with work the following morning! I used a cotton pad with normal olive oil and just pressed that into my eye for a while until it started to come off. What I don't recommend doing is what I did.. I ended doing this but being impatient again, I pulled off the clusters as soon as they got a little loose and I ended up pulling out my real eyelashes with it!!! I did recently get some 3D eyelash extensions too that I did not like but I will be posting about that too later on  in another post

I barely have any lashes as it is, they are very short, sparse and point downwards as they grow. So having basically nothing there I decided to use false lashes. I had bought a few pairs of Dolly Wink eyelashes before as for many years I had tried to use them and just failed at using them everytime. I have also used 'Princess Lee' and some random ones that I found on ebay called 'Three Trees'. I got the 'Princess Lee' lashes after watching a video from BeautyQQ on YouTube. She highly recommended them because the main thing being that the lash strip was very flexible so she could stick it in any shape that she needed so I gave these a go. Unfortunately, I found it very difficult to stick because it was so flexible, the best way to describe it is that the lash strip is a very thin line of metal that you can bend very easily. I had so much trouble using them as a newbie though, paired with really bad glue it didn't go well and I was constantly watching videos to learn how to do it! The 'Three Tree' ones were even worse, very cheap and horrible to use! Avoid at all costs!

Dolly Wink eyelashes are handmade and produced by Japanese Gyaru model, Tsubasa Masuwaka. She is absolutely gorgeous and an idol to me!!!!

Dolly Wink are most popular for their eyelashes however they do produce much more such as one of my favourite liquid eyeliners, pencil eyeliners, eyebrow mascara and much much more, I am a massive fan of this brand!

When I first used Dolly Wink's I found the hairs very soft, they are hand made and they don't look for feel plasticy at all. Most importantly for me, the natural curvature of the lash itself was so good and it fit the shape of my eye perfectly without having to use both hands and fiddle with both ends and the glue drying too much so that its not tacky anymore. They are aimed at people who want to have the Gyaru look, there is alot of emphasis on the big eyes so the eyelashes are made to be longer so that it can create a doll look - elongated, twinkling doe eyes.

I won't go too much into the background because it has been around for some time and very popular so you may know alot about them already. If not - take a look at the whole collection, it is so nice! I haven't tried all of them before but I have used No1 Dolly Sweet,Number 3 Natural Girly and a air of lower lashes, Number 5 Real Nude. I do love these also but so far my favourite is Number 11, Pure Sweet. This is part of the newer "Otona" (more mature) series.

I now wear these everyday when going to work or going out and feel a bit naked without them! What I love about these is that this gives you a very natural, long and voluminous eyelashes. I have tried other brands that you can readily buy in the UK before such as Eylure but with my small eyes, they basically looked like horse lashes, very very long and it didn't look right at all. I also had some trouble getting them on as well because the natural curvature of the lash was also larger which didn't work for me.

I do cut them down from the outside because my eyes are really small and the look that I go for is more of a natural, enhanced eyelash look as opposed to the elongated large doll eye look. From the start it has felt like I am not wearing anything at all which is what false eyelashes should feel like in the first place but the Princess Lee one's that I used previous to this felt really crunchy which isn't normal! 

What I personally do as well is because I re-wear them everyday, they do need to be cleaned every day. I don't put on mascara when I wear these either as my natural lashes are basically close to nothing, as you can see in the picture above that you can't see my natural lashes so there is no point making it dirty with mascara everyday. 

The cleaning process is quite simple though, everyday during the week as I don't have time to soak and dry these all the time, all I do is take a pair of tweezers and very gently peel the glue off the lash band until it is clean, it does take a good 15 - 20 minutes because you must be careful with the curvature of the lash. Otherwise on weekends when I have more time, I soak them in eye make up remover and after a while I will pick off any remaining glue that is there and leave to air dry. This makes the lashes last longer and I can usually wear a pair for about 3 - 4 weeks. 

Definitely recommend these to anyone, they are in my opinion the perfect lashes in the world!

Broken City Movie Make Up By Michelle Phan

Michelle Phan has always been a favourite beauty guru on YouTube for me, she is the one that really got me started being interested in skincare and cosmetics. I once even went to a focus group set up by herself and her collegues, sadly she was not there but I had a really great time.

Having followed her for a long time now, I have seen the way she has changed, from being just somebody wishing to share her knowledge in her room to this millionnaire she is now! From that I have seen the way her videos change too, the period I enjoyed the most was when she was sitting in front of her TV which had picture on so she could use this as her backdrop, such as her NaNa tutorial and her Theme Park make up. This was when she was also apart of IQQU and she was working to make her own skincare products and this was what got me interested in skincare too. 

Although she went through of phase of just being all Lancome, Lancome, Lancome and now, Ipsy, Ipsy, Ipsy (currently not open to international customers) in this particular video which she has called 'Broken City Movie Make Up' I feel like this video has definately captured what she used to be and my favourite part of this video is that she is using only using her fingers to apply her eyeshadow, not only how to put on but to blend as well. I have loads of brushes that I just keep buying a buying and in all honesty, this takes me back, your fingers are your best tools for definite. 

Please take a look at her video!

***Mikami Salon***

Hello everyone!!!! I just want to start off by wishing you all a happy new year and all the best for 2013!!! Have you got a new years resolution yet? Mine is to work hard and acheive my goal of moving to Hong Kong like I have always wanted, I think it may take me a couple of years still but it is finally a work in progress. It has always been a dream of mine to move to Hong Kong, I love going there and I think life out there suits me more, I have always felt that I was too young and not confident enough to do it and I was in uni so busy with that but now I don't feel like I have anything stopping me and I am not losing anything or leaving anything behind so now is the perfect time to begin this adventure! Good luck with all your endeavours and I wish you all the bset of luck for completing your resolutions for 2013!!

Back to the main purpose of this post, I finally got a chance to go to Mikami Salon!!! I have wanted to go for many years but since it is half way round the other side of the world in Hong Kong, I don't really get many chances! Really excited to share this because before I went I couldn't see much about it on the internet besides on their facebook page so I hope this helps anyone who is looking to go there!

I've just come back from Hong Kong so I am very excited to share everything that I got up to! The salon has been around for quite a few years now, the owner is a lovely girl and brilliant amazing photographer called Mikocokiki, I haven't had a chance to meet her yet but I caught her on the way out of the salon whilst I was walking in. I tried to read some reviews on the internet before I went but didn't find much...

The salon is conveniently located in the middle of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. Mikocokiki also owns a clothes shop (SP Fashion - which is also on the top floor of this building) and a nail salon (Mini Nail - This was below SP Fashion but it has just moved.) It was very easy to find even though it is not on the ground floor of the building.

What makes this salon stand out for me? Well for many years the spokesperson for the company have been 2 very popular HK models, Janice Man and Angelababy, they are both very gorgeous girls who have very long beautiful hair, they are both very good friends with Mikocokiki and combined with her photography skills, they look stunning as ever! The salon in my opinion is very good and aimed at those who are young and wish to have hair like themselves, very girly and young adult. I don't tend to like going to hairdressers and cut my own hair because no hairdresser has really ever given me what I wanted even though I show them pictures of exactly how I want it, it always seems to come out completely different!

This is how long my hair was before I got it cut and digitally permed.

So first of all, when I walked in I ws greeted by staff and they asked me to sit down and wait a bit whilst the stylist got things ready. I had 2 lovely boys work on my hair, one was Kin who cut my hair and there was another guy who I don't know the name of...sorry!! But he was the one that did all the perming. They were both extra nice and friendly and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone! Kin trimmed it slightly first and then proceeded to wash my hair. The price on the poster for a digital perm is $398HKD and then there is an added price dependant on which perm solution you went for. I ended up choosing the Matrix perm soution because I usually use Matrix hair dye so I have had quite good experience with it, this was at a price of $420HKD.

This is what you look like with the crazy heating machine which gives you perfect curls! What's so great about digital perms is that each section of hair that is attached to this machine is that the temperature of the rollers are all at the same temperature thoughout so it creates a nicer curl.

After all this, Kin came back and chopped all my hair off )=. It was definitely for the best though, with my hair being so long, it meant that it was harder to look after and I never cut it... so it was super damaged to begin with and the perming process made it worse!

So this is the final look!  Straight out the salon! My hair has aways been dead straight and curling it would be quite a chore because it would never stay in unless I basically used a whole can of hairspray! Now, it is nice and effortlessly curly! I would definitely recommend Mikami Salon to anyone, the whole experience was great from start to finish, the whole process for me only took 3 hours so not long at all. To find more information please go onto their Facebook Page, its mainly in chinese though so if you have any questions at all, please feel free to leave me a comment below!

One last note: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Couple more clearer pictures of how it is now after about 4/5 days here and I had washed it inbetween too.