January Giveaways

There are some awesome giveaways from bloggers this month! Check them out below:

1. Michievous Mack great Nature Republic and Skinfood giveaway. She's so generous with her prizes! Follow her blog on great reviews of masks and participate in her giveaway (:

2. Lisa of He Qi Crystal Designs is having 300 follower giveaway. Please support her shop and for Haiti donations!!

3.Kate Gene's 100 follower giveaway! She's giving really fabulous prizes, check out her blog!

4. Tammy from tummycake: -3 calories, 0 grams of fat is having her first giveaway! You'll definitely wish you can win this giveaway...

5. Dollymix 184 has a giveaway that ends Feb 26th, check her blog out!

6. Tastes Like Glitter has a 100 Follower Giveaway! And she has Lush as part of her prize.....!!!

7. Stacie's 3rd Mini Giveaway!.... And it just gets better each time!!

8. Koala's Life's 100th Post Giveaway - gotta give it to this girl for her wonderful giveaway! Check out her FOTD posts!

9. Winoxicity is having a giveaway for gorgeous Koh nailpolishes!

10. Dainty Dollymix is having a 300 Follower giveaway with brand new prizes. Look at the fabulous-ness (is this even a word?!) of it all ^__^

11. Jeweled Thumb has a 50+ follower giveway!

Good luck to those who have entered these giveaways!

12.

Mario Badescu & Korean Cuisine

Last month I signed up for some Mario Badescu samples because there was a huge hype on this line of product and I was curious if whether or not its reputation holds up. 

I filled MB's questionnaire and the samples I received was catered to my skin type. I received samples of moisturizer, mask, a scrub, toner and a special eye cream. 

(some samples received are not photographed here)

I have not been consistently using the mask/scrub (or rather, it's avoidance) because it is a littlle unhygenic for me to scoop it out with my fingers out of the little jar... however I am hooked on the moisturizer!!

I received the Hydro-Moisturizer with Vitamin C and it's definitely hydrating. I have normal skin, but lately because of the harsh and dry weather, my skin is lacking freshness and is in need of some pampering. On MB's website, the moisturizer is described as a "lightweight, antioxidant moisturizer suitable for normal, combination skin. Vitamin C formula restores clarity and health to tired, dehydrated skin. Non-greasy".

The ingredients are: Deionized Water,Propylene Glycol,Carnation Oil,Squalene,Isopropyl Myristate,Glyceryl Stearate,Myristyl Lactate,Cetyl Alcohol, Ascorbic Acid,Cetrimonium Bromide,Methylparaben,Stearic Acid,Propylparaben.

I can only describe the consistency of the cream as watery-like and non-greasy. I really like that it feels so light on the skin and has not been clogging my pores. Also I like the fact that it's scentless. The only thing I wish it had was SPF! The cost of a normal 2oz bottle is $18, which I can still afford.....BUT I'll most likely try out their other moisturizers with SPF (nothing against the sun, but I don't like to tan!)

I've also used the MB eye cream daily, the Special eye cream V, described as: rich and creamy formula made with essential oils and antioxidant Vitamins A and E. Best for dry and mature skin types. Simple, effective and gentle for sensitive eye area". I'm not sure if I have mature skin (O_o).... but it definitely keeps the area around my eyes moisturized. It actually feels a tad bit "greasy" and stays that way until the rest of the day! I guess that's how it maintains the moisture. I feel that it works great for when your eyelid goes wonky, you know those days when you get THREE creases instead of the normal two/double eyelids. The cream actually  minimizes the multiple creases.

Cho Won Restaurant:

17 Drewry Avenue, North York

Mr. W and I decided to try another korean restaurant instead of our normal favorite, Nak Won up in Richmond Hill. We tried Cho Won Family Restaurant, which is located at 17 Drewry Avenue. The intersection is Yonge and Cummer (which becomes Drewry) in North York. The atmosphere and food is decent, but for those in the GTA vicinity, I do not recommend going on Friday nights because you will not find parking and there will be a rather long line up all the way out the door....

When I first entered the restaurant I thought the place was the tiniest place on earth, because it seemed like it could only seat 8 people (and these 8 customers would not even be sitting comfortably), but my eyes were deceived. The restaurant actually has two parts and Mr. W and I managed to score ourselves a table on the inner part of the restaurant, otherwise I would have been so upset to have waited 45 minutes before getting seated!

The prices are normal and not extremely expensive in comparison to what you would normally get (but in comparison to Nak Won, I think it still pales in comparison!). You get all the normal korean appetizers and it's relatively fresh.

We ordered a Udong vegetable hotpot

Kimchi pancake

The Kimchi pancake was done well but portions are huge! The hotpot soup base tasted a little salty and very similar to chicken instant noodle soup base. I got terribly sick of the taste after several bowls, so I definitely recommend sharing any hotpot dish from Cho Won among at least three people. I'm not sure if I will be returning to this restaurant mainly because of the turnover rate and mediocre dishes. To be fair, I did not order  their best dish, the Bimbimbap, so perhaps I will give Cho Won another try.

What's your favorite korean dish?

A Girl's Love

I am finally getting to posting the jewelry I've purchased and received from Steph of Julu Jewelry! I ordered two necklaces, one of the small heart and one of the simply love me heart necklace.

This is the small heart in black diamond AB. It comes with a sterling silver chain, but I took it off temporarily. I wear this every day!

This is the Simply Love Me in Deep Sea Blue. It's REALLY sparkly and fabulous in real life. 

This is the Filigree Heart LE earrings that I won from Tammi, from The Culture Enthusiast several months ago when I named her earrings from Steph. I love them! They're so girly and romantic. Thanks Tammi!!

Go check out Steph's jewelry. They're really high quality, stunning and wonderfully made; she also writes really cute notes and provides lots of snacks (which usually disappears within the first 5 minutes of receipt....)!.

Happy Holidays and Gmarket Haul

trHappy Holidays!! It's snowing and super cold in Canada, but I managed to avoid parts of the freezing temperature temporarily.

I just came back from the sunny Nassau and the Bahamas and is every so slighly tanned... and to also find the airports in chaos! It's difficult to be so detached to the world when you are on vacation and then to find out there was almost another catastrophe! Anyway, I digress.... loved the weather!

The Bahamas

Also, my Gmarket order came! I was so ecstatic because I thought it would never arrive, or that I would have to pay the shipping fee again, but Gmarket came through!! It makes me feel so appreciative how responsible Gmarket and the Korea Post is in comparison to Canada Post... complete awesome service!

The box it came in was HUGE..... and inside it was....

 

Just three packages!! Literally the three packages could have fit snuggly in that white box underneath the pink package... I guess the only complaint is the shipping fees (which is frustrating but won't prevent me from ordering again). To give a rough idea of what the shipping costs were like, for this order, shipping was 30% of the total cost, for <1.5kg. I ordered shoes, which made up most of the weight, but swim wear was locked in at 0.5kg.

I love the design and material of the second swim wear, which I believe you can actually use in a pool.... the seller is K-Girl and I'm pretty satisfied with the purchase. The first swim wear's quality is made of terry cloth, which is not appropriate in water, but will suffice for tanning purposes! I forgot who the seller was!

 

The shoes, are made of pleather, but the quality is surprisingly good for $15 (excluding shipping). I will definitely be purchasing more shoes!

Overall, albeit being so worried for not receiving my order, Gmarket came through in the end and I am still a happy customer. The process of ordering is only complex when going through all the options/designs to select the product since everything is written in Korean. Payment, however, is relatively easy because we can now pay through Paypal. Shipping is really fast, since I can see through the tracking slip that it arrives at the local post office within two days of shipping (but make sure your address is correct)!!