Tuesday, August 30, 2016

[Korean Beauty] Beauteque Mask Maven June 2016


I have been doing Mask Maven for a few months, and love it! Every month I get like 9 masks to use and enjoy. Nothing is more comfortable than chilling out on the sofa under a blanket with a sheet mask on! Mask Maven is a great monthly bag that Beauteque does where you get a bag filled with masks every month for $13.95 a month! Junes theme was sweets, and each mask has a fun "sweets" theme to them.


A'Pieu Melon and Milk Mask. This mask had a ton of product on it and was drippy, but it felt good and left my skin feeling cool and soft after I took it off. It is supposed to have milk protein in it for softer and brighter skin. 


NOHJ Manuka Honey Mask. This mask went on super easy (sometimes they don't want to go on smooth on your face) it had a great cooling effect on my face and the product soaked into my skin really well, no greasy feeling after I took it off. 


Ipuda Strawberry Mask. This mask smelled great. It was a bit big, and the edges wanted to pop up, but it had a lot of product and soaked into the skin well. 


Dr. Morita Green Tea and Amino Essence Moisturizing Facial Mask, This mask didn't have a smell to it. It went on easy and had a decent amount of product. I left it on a little longer than the other masks so my skin could soak it all in. 


Lovemore Rose Hybrid Whiting Mask. So far my favorite out of this months masks. It smelled AMAZING! Just like roses. The mask came in-capsuled between two sheets, a thick white one and a blue on. The mask was in the middle. (I almost thought the blue part was the mask....) It had a good amount of product and it soaked into the skin really well. I would get this one again in a heart beat. 


LUS Royal Jelly Essence Mask: This was my least favorite mask in the bunch. It did not smell good at all, I actually took the mask off before the 15 min mark because it smelled awful. It had a lot of product on it, and went on my face fine, but I couldn't get over the smell of it. 


Lovemore Wine Yeast Whitening Sheet Mask: This was about the same as the Rose Hybrid above. It had the two pieces that the mask was between in the package. It did have a sake smell to it but it was very light. It went on great and felt wonderful on my face. I really like this companies masks! 


Daylight and Hue Propolis Mask: this mask went on easy and had a slight honey smell to it. It is for firming and softening skin. 


The last mask is the Hanaka Macaron Facial Mask in Hyaluronic Acid. I love these little masks, they are not sheet Masks, you apply an even dose of the mask on your face and let it stay for 15-20 min and then wipe it off with warm water once that time is up. I also love how if you have two of these and put the packaging together it makes a cute French Macaron!

Mask Maven is a monthly Mask bag from Beauteque and costs 18.95 (including the shipping). I have been doing this for a few months now and love what I get each month! 



Monday, August 29, 2016

[Tea Travels] David's Tea: King of Prussia, Pa


While visiting the King of Prussia Mall about a year ago I passed by the David's Tea and tried all their samples. They were good and I was rushed out of the shop by the people I was with (since me and tea shops means I will be in there looking and smelling tea forever.) I was lucky enough to make it back to King of Prussia Mall and made sure to head to David's Tea first!


The inside of the store was very laid out wonderfully. It is small, so they utilize the space that they have very well. From photos I have seen of other David's Tea, the layout seems to be standard for their stores. One wall has all the teas and is behind the counter, the other has bagged teas, and tea ware, They also have small area in the middle that have tea ware and other goodies. The two people working while I was there (and wonderful girl and guy!) Were really friendly and very enthusiastic about the tea! They were super helpful and helped me choose the teas I that I purchased. 


I also got a fantastic Peach Matcha to take with me on travels shopping for the rest of my trip (which wasn't long since the other store I drove to the mall for was closed for inventory..... UGH!)


My spoils of my trip! Flavored Matcha packets (coffee, Mint, and Vanilla), and four different teas (Cherry Blossom, The Earl's Garden, Pink Flamingo, and Countess of Seville.) I would highly recommend checking out David's Tea. It is a chain tea store, but the workers are friendly and the teas are great! They also have their own line of tea ware, which go from cute to conservative, and they have a lot of lovely pastels in their color schemes. Check out David's Tea online here and the King of Prussia Stores Facebook Page here



Tuesday, August 23, 2016

[Korean Beauty] Urban Dollkiss Delicious Collagen Jelly Pack


I have been eyeing the Urban Dollkiss Collagen Jelly Pack for awhile. I have a weird fascination with collagen products and really wanted to try this one out. Since I won a $50.00 gift card on instagram from Beauteque (posting those photos of your purchases do occasionally pay off!) I decided to use it partially on this face product! (as well as some other stuff!)


The container is good sized and there is a lot of product in it (10.10 ounces.) The lid screws off and the cream is a jelly consistency that you scoop out with a small spoon that is included in the box. I had way too much fun jiggling this stuff around inside the container after taking the top off because the consistency was so different to other face products I have used.


You rub the jelly on your skin and let it soak in. Collagen promotes elasticity and the strength of your skin. I put this on at night since it gives your skin time to soak the product in while you sleep (and you need the extra moisture at night since that's when your skin looses the most.) I really love how this stuff feels on my skin too, it goes on smooth and soaks in well, and has a nice cool feeling on your skin. It retails for $24.00 and can be found on Beauteque here. 





Monday, August 22, 2016

[Tea Travels] Charleston Tea Plantation in Charleston SC



I have been wanting to visit the Charleston Tea Plantation in Charleston SC for a really long time! I have heard a lot about America's only Tea Garden and I was so excited to spend a day there drinking all the tea I could consume, and checking out all the awesome sights of how tea is made! I also brought home some yummy tea and goodies with me!

To start off I had to get a photo with the giant tea drinking frog named Waddy, that is outside the main building/store/walk through tea factory. 


The inside of the shop was a tea lovers paradise. So much tea and tea goodies! 


And all you could drink free tea! OMG! I had so much tea, they had hot and cold and it was all so yummy! I drank SO much tea while there! 


Also they sell loose and tea bags of the tea made from the plants that they grow at the Tea Plantation. I picked up a box of loose and a box of tea bags (more about those later!)

Inside their store they also have a walking tour of the factory where the tea is dried. It is narrated by the owner of the Biglow Company, 




They even talk about the machine that was made just for harvesting tea on the plantation. The only machine of this type that exists. 


You can even pay for a tour of the remainder of the plantation for $10.00. It consists of a thirty or so minute trolley tour. You get to see the plants and hear the history of the plantation and how it came to be. 


You start off by seeing all the tea plants, and get a bit of background on how the plants got to SC.


You get to see how the plants are grown from sprigs and see how small they are before they are planted on the plantation to become full grown and be turned into tea. The driver also went over how the flavored teas are made and why the company only makes a Black and Green tea.

The trolley returned back to the main building once the tour was over and you could see a few fun signs that told you how far the next Tea Plantations were. There was also a historic sign talking about the plantation. 


I also got some great stuff while I was there too! A tin of their Rockville Raspberry Tea Loose Tea, Cinnamon Spice Tea Bags, Key Lime cookies (for my father), treble clef Teaspoon, Light House Tea bag holder (for my mother), and a fun reusable bag!


There is also a Pokemon Go! gym and lots of Pokestops on the plantation as well! I stuck my Vaporean "Earl Grey" on the gym. 


And the three pokestops! 

And lots of Pokemon!


This was such a fun trip and a full on immersion of tea culture! I loved it and had such a blast visiting! Hopefully I'll get a chance to come back and visit again, I highly recommend checking this place out if you love tea and/or history! You can check them out on their webpage.














Friday, August 19, 2016

[Kickstarter] Awesome Kickstarters Going on Now!

So I love all the awesome art that the fandom community does! And there are some amazing artist out there, right now there are two Kickstarters I have been watching hoping they make their goals, and one I am really excited to see start!

The Stompadon Plishie!

Image from the Stompadon Kickstarter page
Kelsey does amazing art and her original character Stompadon is getting a plushie! And it is super cute. She also has a few other great perks like story books, comicgrab bags and a maquette. There are 18 days left on this one so definitely give it a look and donate!! Stompadon is a lovable Kaiju monster and you know you want one protecting you as you sleep at night! You can check out the Stompadon plushie here.


Norfolk Merdogs Corgi Mermaid Plushie

Image from the MerCorgi Kickstarter Page
A few months ago Shlii did a Merpug and now she is doing a Corgi, she has met her goal and this one has 6 days left to go. There are other perks like keychains, pins and art as well. You can check this one out here.

Jimmy with the MerPug from Shlii's last Kickstarter!


Kimchi Kawaii Purrista Pawfee

Photo from Kimchi Kawaii FB page
This one I am super excited for because I really want the two Mewcaron plushie. I have the pink one from her earlier kickstarter, and in Sept. she will have another to try and fund the rest of the plushies she wants to do! Check out her fb page here!

Jimmy with the Pink Mewcaron from Kimchi Kawaii's last kickstarter!
I am so excited to see these amazing artist funding their creations! I really hope all these kickstarters make their goals because it is so fun to see such cute art and plushies out there! 

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

[Beauty] June 2016 Beauteque BB Bag


Beauteque's BB Bag is always a really fun monthly bag to get, it comes with six full sized Korean products and a cute makeup bag. Each month has a theme, this months was "Sweets", which I was really excited about since it was products with a food theme. The bag this month wasn't my favorite, but it is spacious and can hold a lot even if it is not visually amazing. 


Each month Beauteque does spoilers for their bag, they announced 1,2,3 and 6 on the list. I really like this so you have an idea of what you are getting, while also still having a surprise for 2 or 3 of the items in the bag. 

Holika Holika Cover Hiding Concealer in #2


Holika Holika Cover Hiding Concealer is a pretty straight forward product. its a pencil concealer. The color was actually pretty good for my skin tone. It was creamy and went on smooth and blended well into my skin. It is also not a huge product size so it fits well into my makeup bag. 

Skinfood Black Sugar Mask


This mask is great! It exfoliates and feels good on your skin. You scoop it out and put it on your skin, keep it on for 15 minutes or so, and then wash it off. After using this my skin felt great, clean and smooth. 

The Saem Chocopie Hand Cream 


This was one of the items I was most excited about. It is a hand cream that looks like a chocolate cookie! It has a good smell, not super sweet but still yummy smelling. It is moisturizing and the packaging keeps the product in it. You screw open the two pieces of cookies to get to the lotion. Really fun design! The package it cam in was a sealed bag that looks like a cookie packaging too!

Beauty Blending Sponge 


I love beauty blending sponges, they make putting makeup on so easy. This one is super soft and spongy, I was worried since I am sure there is some latex in it, but it didn't make my skin red or have a reaction so that is good! (I couldn't find contents of it anywhere on the package) but it didn't bother my skin so woot! It blends great and washes up well (since I am super consistent about keeping all the brushes and sponges I put on my face clean.)

Purederm Vital Radiance Hair Mask - Honey


Hair masks are great! I have long super straight hair and deal with split ends pretty badly so I love hair masks to help strengthen my hair! This one wasn't super sticky (which was my first thought when I read Honey Hair mask.) it also was enough for my waist length hair. Rub it into your hair, let it sit for a little bit and then wash it out. Pretty straight forward. 

Holika Holika Desert Lip Balm


This was the second product that I was excited for in this months bag. The cute cupcake lip balm. All of the options for this one were really cute and I like the choco one I got. the lip balm is a reddish color and gives off a little bit of a gleam to it when worn. 

I love getting to try six full sized products every month in the BB Bags. Getting a mixture of skin care products and makeup products is great since only getting one of those two every month would be a bit much. Also Korean companies make such unique and great quality products that it is such a great value at 24.99 a month. The bags themselves can be hit or miss on how cute they look but all the products have been great to use so far! You can find more here!