Unboxing: Fall/Winter 2023 Haul

(Warning: This post is extremely long and photo-heavy.)

So, between my birthday, Black Friday, and the holiday sales in general, I bought a lot of stuff. Like, A LOT OF STUFF.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max in White Titanium
Casetify MagSafe Clear Cases for iPhone 15 Pro Max by The Little Red House
(Left to right: Moon Bear with Boba, Red Panda with Leaf, and Happy Octopus with Takoyaki)
Casetify Impact Cases for iPhone 15 Pro Max by The Little Red House(Left to right: Taiyaki with Bunny, Mice with Egg Tart, and Spring Time Bunnies)
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)
Elago AirPods Pro 2 Strawberry Ice Cream Case Cover
I traded in my old iPhone 13 Pro Max and got a new iPhone 15 Pro Max for my birthday. So obviously, I had to get cases for it. Coincidentally, Casetify was having a 30% off discount for Black Friday, so I bought not one, not two, but six phone cases. (Variety is the spice of life?) Then my colleague wanted to take advantage of a 20% off promotion at Costco on Apple products, but he needed to spend a minimum of $1,000 and all he wanted was an iPad. I figured since I would have to get USB-C adaptors for all my Lightning connectors because of the iPhone 15, it would be easier to just switch all my iPhone accessories to wireless, so I got a pair of AirPods Pro to take advantage of the discount. I actually wasn't going to get a case for it initially, but then I saw this one shaped like an ice cream bar, and that was that. 

Tiffany & Co. Return to Tiffany Silver Mini Heart Tag Stud Earrings
Also as a birthday present to myself this year (and to celebrate my work bonus), I got a pair of new Tiffany Return to Tiffany heart tag earrings to replace my really old ones from 15 years ago. There was no sale or anything. I just thought they were cute.

Fresh Sugar Lychee Eau de Parfum 100ml x 2 and Sugar Lemon Eau de Parfum 30ml
Fresh Sugar Lychee Eau de Parfum 100ml x 2 and Sugar Lemon Eau de Parfum 30ml
Fresh Sugar Lychee Body & Hand Wash and Body Lotion
Fresh Hesperides Grapefruit Body & Hand Wash and Body Lotion
Fresh Milk Bodycare Set: Milk Body Cleanser, Body Lotion, and Hand Cream
Fresh Tea Elixir Skin Resilience Activating Serum, Lotus Youth preserve Dream Face Cream, and Lotus Youth Preserve Eye Cream
Fresh Holiday Gift: Kombucha Facial Treatment Essence, Black Tea Advanced Age Renewal Cream, Tea Elixir Skin Resilience Activating Serum, Sugar Advanced Therapy Lip Treatment, and Soy Face Cleanser
Fresh was having a 30% off sale for Black Friday, so I decided to stock up on my favourite Sugar Lychee Eau de Parfum (I've been using this for a decade so I don't mind splurging regularly, but when it's on sale, I get 2 bottles), a smaller size of the Sugar Lemon Eau de Parfum, plus some of the body products that I would never have considered buying at full price. I also took the opportunity to get some new skincare from them because again, I find their products to be way too expensive to purchase on a regular basis, but I don't feel so guilty when they're on sale. I've used the Lotus Youth Preserve Dream Face Cream before and really liked it, but have wanted to try the Tea Elixir Resilience Activating Serum and the Lotus Youth Preserve Eye Cream for a while, so I got those, too. Because now that I'm 37, I have to PRESERVE MY YOUTH.

Shingmulnara Jeju Sparkling Water Pore Deep Cleansing Foam x 2 and Jeju Sparkling Water Power Whip Cleansing Foam x 2
Klavuu Phytoncide Mild Cleansing Foam and Ariul Apple Cider Fresh Puree Scrub Mask
Numbuzin No. 3 Skin Softening Serum, No. 4 Collagen 73% Pudding Serum, and No. 6 Deep Sleep Mask Serum

Innisfree Black Tea Youth Enhancing Ampoule and Black Tea Youth Enhancing Cream
Which is why I also bought a ton of skincare from Olive Young, because they were having a 25% off sale for Black Friday as well, and I'm basically treating this like Sephora VIB sale. (And since I don't shop at Sephora anymore, I obviously have to take advantage of their sales.) All I'm saying is, with all the money I spend on skincare, I better look like I'm 25 when I'm 40. 

LEGO Botanical Collection Wildflower Bouquet
LEGO Tranquil Garden
LEGO Vincent van Gogh - The Starry Night
LEGO Hokusai - The Great Wave
Knowing my affinity for building LEGO, my friend Ronsee told me that Indigo was selling all LEGO sets at 20% off for Black Friday. I didn't even know Indigo carried LEGO sets, let alone have a sale for them, but I ended up getting four of the ones I'd been eyeing. Crazy that I could get them at Indigo on sale but LEGO itself didn't offer any discounts on these sets at all. (In fact, their Black Friday deals were absolute shit. Bless Ronsee for always looking out for me!) Anyway, at this rate, my apartment will basically become a hybrid BTS-LEGO exhibition soon.

Smoko Souffle Pancake Ambient Light
Smoko Tayto Potato Ramen Vinyl Figurine Blind Boxes
Smoko Tayto Potato Ramen Vinyl Figurine Blind Boxes(Tayto Ramen and Tayto Deluxe Ramen)
Smoko Tayto Potato Ramen Vinyl Figurine Blind Boxes(Tayto Udon and Tayto Cup Ramen)
Smoko Dim Sum Plush Keychain Blind Boxes
Smoko Dim Sum Plush Keychain Blind Boxes(Shrimp dumpling and baked bun)
Smoko Dim Sum Plush Keychain Blind Boxes(Siu mai and molten egg custard buns)
Smoko Dim Sum Plush Keychain Blind Boxes(Xiao long bao and egg tart)
Okay, so those who have been following this blog for the past few years will know that collecting figures has become one of my hobbies. (Perhaps this makes up for all the dolls and shit that I didn't play with when I was a kid because they scared the shit out of me.) Some people spend extra money on travel, some spend it on designer bags or shoes, and I spend it on figurines. (I'm basically living out my childhood dreams.) It started with BT21, but has apparently moved on to whatever the fuck is too cute to resist. Case in point, my shopping spree at Smoko because they were having a 25% off sale for Black Friday and I quite literally bought a total of 27 blind boxes. Potatoes in ramen? Dim sum plushes? HECK. YES. (Except I do feel like those blind boxes are somewhat rigged. Those potato ramen figures? I actually bought a total of 15 of them. I figured that would be enough to collect all 5 versions. Umm, I got 7 OF ONE TYPE. This is how they get you. It's like getting lottery tickets. You always buy more in hopes of winning. But at least I managed to get all 6 of those dim sum plushes.)

BT21 Mang "Hope in Love" Humidifier
BT21 Minini Monitor Figurines(Left to right: Tata, Koya, RJ, and Shooky)
BT21 Minini Monitor Figurines(Left to right: Mang, Chimmy, and Cooky)
BT21 x FRAGMENT Chimmy Graphic Hoodie(Front + Back)
BT21 x FRAGMENT Cube Keyring
Of course, I can't leave out my BT21 items. These were not on sale. They were just cute and I wanted them. (Err... Holiday presents to myself?) I was especially excited about the BT21 x FRAGMENT collection because there hasn't been a streetwear collab with BT21 since the one with Anti Social Social Club in 2018. I only really wanted the hoodies and was set to buy both Cooky and Chimmy, but the Cooky one was sold out almost immediately so I only ended up with the one. At least I got a cute keychain as a gift with it.

SUGA | Agust Tour D-Day The Final Guitar Pick Set
Jungkook GOLDEN Accessory Tray
Jungkook GOLDEN Keyring

That finally leads me to some BTS merch that I had pre-ordered and finally arrived. No sale or anything, just my standard BTS merch ordering. (They're all enlisted in the military now but that does not mean the merch stops.) And with that, my end-of-year shopping haul is complete! WHAT GOODIES WILL 2024 BRING? (Actually, I've already got a few BTS things coming for next year since I pre-ordered some stuff over the last two months... but I digress.) 

I hope everyone has a safe, healthy, and happy new year!

Unboxing: Seoul 2023 Travel Haul

So, over the course of 5 days in Seoul, I bought at least a year's worth of skincare:

Epictetos Beomcheol Heo (허범철) Soothing Serum and Soothing Skin
Epictetos Beomcheol Heo (허범철) High Density Soothing Cream and Soothing Suncream SPF50 PA++++
Innisfree Green Tea Balancing Skin, Balancing Lotion, and Balancing Cream
Innisfree "Green Holidays" Special Edition Black Tea Youth Enhancing Ampoule and Green Tea Seed Hyaluronic Serum
Innisfree Apple Seed Cleansing Cream, Apple Seed Lip & Eye Makeup Remover, and Perfect 9 Intensive Eye Cream
Innisfree Squeeze Energy Masks in Hydrating Green Tea
Nature Republic Super Aqua Max Watery Toner, Watery Essence, and Combination Watery Cream
Nature Republic Jeju Sparkling Foam Cleanser, Essential Lip Balm in Grapefruit and Peppermint, and Good Skin Ampoule in Madecassoside (Soothing) and Noni (Healthy Skin)
COSRX Propolis Synergy Toner and Propolis Light Ampoule, and Scinic Enjoy Super Mild Sun Essence Special Set
Rom&nd Bare Water Cushion in 05 Sanad
Korean cartoon socks
J-Hope — Jack in the Box LP (Vinyl)

Korean skincare is literally half the price of what it is in Canada, so I had to stock up. (Plus, a lot of stores were having 30 - 50% off sales, too. It would've been foolish to resist.) I also got some cute Korean socks at 3 for ₩5,000 from a random vendor in Namdaemun Market, a black sweatshirt, a black cropped jacket, and best of all, J-Hope's Jack in the Box on vinyl! It was sold out on Weverse Shop in about 5 seconds, and I somehow found one lone copy available at retail price at the A-KPOP pop-up store in Insadong so I didn't have to pay the most ridiculous shipping fees.

On another note, can you believe I didn't buy any BT21 stuff in Korea?! (To be fair, it's because I bought all the stuff I wanted online in January and February, so there wasn't anything new that I thought was worth lugging back. But still.)

Epictetos Pop-Up Store

Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP)

281 Eulji-ro

Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

+82-2-2153-0000

Innisfree

164-1 Donggyo-dong

Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

+82-2-322-1817

Nature Republic 

27 Myeongdong-gil

Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

+82-2-3789-5636

Olive Young

53 Myeongdong-gil

Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

+82-2-736-5290

Namdaemun Market

21 Namdaemunsijang 4-gil

Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

+82-02-753-2805

A-KPOP Pop-Up Store

Annyeong Insadong

49 Insadong-gil

Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

+82-2-6954-2910

Unboxing: Olive Young Haul — Fall/Winter 2022

This is the first year in over a decade that I won't be partaking in Sephora's VIB sale (yes, enter gasp here)... because I spent over $500 at Olive Young during their 20% off sale instead. So back in April, when I said, "in the decade that I've been using Korean skincare brands, I have yet to have a negative reaction to any of the products I've tried," I TOTALLY JINXED MYSELF. Because as it turns out, I am allergic to all the Abib products I bought. Yes, after a month of using those Abib skincare products, my skin turned into SANDPAPER. I had oily skin my entire life and all of a sudden, my skin turned drier than the desert. Itchy, flaky, peeling, you name it. It's been three months and I'm still trying to repair it. So this time around, I only looked for skincare with the keywords, "hydrating," "soothing," "calming," "moisturizing," and "repairing." 

COSRX Hydrium Watery Toner, Centella Aqua Soothing Ampoule, and The Vitamin C 23 Serum
COSRX Advanced Snail Radiance Dual Essence and Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Spa Mask
Shingmulnara Mild Enzyme Peel Cleansing Foam and Acwell pH Balancing Soothing Cleansing Foam 1+1 Special Set
Graymelin The Last Frontier Alaska Glacier Water 85% Natural Toner and Scinic The Simple Calming Toner 2-for-1 Set
Anua Birch 70% Moisture Boosting Serum Duo Set and Mixsoon Centella Asiatica Essence
ROUND LAB Birch Juice Moisturizing Serum, Birch Juice Moisturizing Cream Jumbo Size, and Soybean Nourishing Cream
HYGGEE Relief Chamomile Mist and Mediheal Madecassoside Essential Mask Soothing Sheets 20P
Scinic Enjoy Super Mild Sun Essence SPF 50+ and COSRX Aloe Soothing Sun Cream SPF 50+
Passion & Beyond Deep Moisture Classic Hand Cream and Total Recovery Classic Intensive Hand Cream
Rom&nd Nu Zero Cushion in 05 Sand and Hanyul Nature in Life Lip Balm in Red Rice

I also bought skin makeup for the first time in 3 years. I decided to venture into cushion foundations because I wanted something that is low-maintenance and requires minimal effort. But I also wanted a formula that is weightless and gives natural medium coverage (enough to even out the redness in my skin while still looking like skin). So after a ton of research and looking into brands that actually makes a shade dark enough for me (the most difficult part of buying Korean skin makeup is that they usually only make light shades), I decided on this one by a brand called Rom&nd. It's quite risky buying skin makeup without trying it on in person (also because Olive Young does not take returns for used product), but the darkest shade, Sand, matches me pretty well (I'm an NC30 in MAC Studio Fix Powder for reference). It's still a touch lighter and more beige than my true skintone, but I think this is as good as it's gonna get.

Anyway, pray that my skin goes back to normal before winter gets here.