During my trip to Seoul, I have purchased an insane amount of skincare items. Now that I have been using some of them, I want to share my experience on some of these items. Today's post will focus on the Skinfood Freh Apple Sparkling Pore Cream.

Texture
I love the texture on this cream. Since I have sensitive skin, I am always nervous about putting thick creams on my skin. This is a very thin and water-based cream. It definitely helps hydrate your skin in the winter months. However, during the colder weeks in Toronto, I found that this cream was not enough to keep my skin moisturized and I had to use some thicker cream - my Lancome Renergie Lift Volumetry to help me out.
Overall, I feel that this will be my perfect face cream for the spring and summer months!

Scent
The cream has this fresh and light perfume scent. When I first used the cream, I really liked the scent, it makes me feel fresh and clean. However, now that I have gotten used to the scent, I don't find it that special anymore.

Price
The price of the cream is relatively cheap for a mid-level brand. I bought it in Hong Kong for approximately 20 CAD. However, I feel that you can probably get it cheaper if you purchased it in Seoul.

Overall
I would give this a 4 out of 5!

This would be a great face cream for the summer due to its lightweight texture and I will definitely repurchase it!

A much delayed post about my trip to Seoul. This was a small family trip that I took with my aunt and my mom :) We didn't follow any tour groups and decided to plan the trip ourselves!

We took Asiana Airline as they had the cheapest direct flight tickets. The flight was approximately 4 hours from Hong Kong. During the flight, there was a small in plane meal with my favourite Korean dish! Bi Bim Bap. Unlike our own Canadian airlines, even short haul flights have meals, which is always a plus on my books! They're also within the Star Alliance so the air miles can be counted towards my account.

We arrived around 6pm and we wanted to grab our "T-money" cards, which is similar to the Presto cards for all of you that live in Toronto or the Octopus cards in Hong Kong. So they were COMPLETELY sold out of the T-money cards. I was very disappointed in how they can be sold out of their travel cards at their international airport. Still boggles my mind.

Despite running into our first obstacle, we proceed to catch our bus back to the hotel. This was one of the most expensive bus rides and seems like an added traveller's expense. It costs approximately 20 CAD, which is pretty pricey for a GO bus-like ride. GO bus to the Pearson airport is only 10 CAD.

We got to our hotel and obviously they forgot to put a second bed in our hotel. Not only did we have to pay extra for our second bed (as expected), however, it wasn't even set up when we arrived.



Upset and hungry, we went to go get dinner. As we stayed in a rather popular shopping district, there were tons of restaurants opened late. People were standing outside trying to get us to go in. We ended up choosing this small restaurant that was filled with people, as that can only mean they have good food!
Not knowing what to order, we asked the waitress for help and she recommended some dishes. The food was delicious, but also SUPER spicy! Don't think I've ever drank that much water in my life!

That pretty much sums up Day 1 of my 5 days in Korea! Tune in for Day 2 post soon :)

Finally my long awaited Chanel bag arrived in the Toronto boutique and I went to pick up the beauty.

The packaging for the classic flap was gorgeous and I really don't think I have seen a bag packaged this exquisitely ever.

I ended up getting the Chanel Classic flap in black caviar with silver hardware in the medium size. Due to my small frame, I have decided to get the medium because any other size will look like its eating me hahahah.

The prices for the Chanel bags have increased exponentially over the past two years. I feel that the price I paid was a little too much, but then I want to get it before their next price increase, which should be around June 2013.

I will soon be doing a post on the Chanel prices for 2012-2013. Stay tune!

Ever since 2nd year of university, I have been lusting over brand name designer bags. It started with Coach and quickly escalated up to Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Prada. What further fueled my obsession was the Internet. Bloggers will often post their prize possessions and fashionable closet items that would make any 20 year old envious. Through my summer internships, I started saving money to purchase these high-end designer items.

Throughout the past two years, I have quickly realized that some items are classic pieces that will always raise in value and there are pieces that will quickly drop in value once you have used it.

This post is intended to explain which pieces I believe would be a great addition for someone who just started collecting and for someone who is looking for some classic staples to upgrade their wardrobe.

1) Chanel 2.55 Double Flap
I have lusted over this handbag for many years. With stars such as Blake Lively using such bag, it is bound to be a favourite for many people. However, this bag has quite the history! Coco Chanel said she created this bag to give women a practical yet classic piece for their closet.

2) Ferragamo Bow Flats/Heels
These are one of the most classic pieces in fashion. Many girls have a pair of these gorgeous heels or flats. My boyfriend bought them for me a year ago for my Christmas present and I was ecstatic!

3) Burberry Trench Coat
The Burberry Trench always reminded me of rainy days in London. The Burberry pattern peaking out of the lapels of the trench coat makes it subtle yet classy. I would love to add this to my closet in the near future.

4) Christian Louboutin
Who can say no to a pair of red-bottoms? Louboutins have been an essential for any blogger and youtuber's closet. These classy shoes start from $700 and can go up to thousands of dollars. But it's every girl's dreams to own a pair!

5) Burberry Scarf
Another chic yet quintessential piece. I love the burberry scarf. It makes any coat that you're wearing on a cold winter day 100x cuter. This is a must-have accessory piece.

Hopefully you guys found this list to be helpful! If you think there are any items that should be added, feel free to leave it in the comment section below!

As the Target stores are opening its 3 pilot stores in Guelph, Fergus, and Milton today, I wanted to write a short blog post about their recent Prabal Gurung line and their upcoming Kate Young line.

I was super excited about the Prabal Gurung line when I heard it was coming to Target. However, I think I was slightly disappointed with the some of the looks and the quality of the items. Although I did not pick up any items from their online store, I did read and watch many bloggers review the items they purchased. I have attached a few pictures of my favourite pieces from the collection.

 



So my favourite pieces are the red dress and the red soles. These two pieces are quite popular as the cut for both items are very flattering and it hugs your figure in the perfect way! However, for the rest of the pieces, I have heard mixed reviews and many bloggers that I read mention that the fabric and the cutting did not flatter them.

Since Target has opened in Toronto, I am definitely hoping that the Kate Young line will come to Toronto. Here are a couple of sketches of designs/styles that is for the Target line. I am so excited!!!

** All pictures are from the Target website.

I personally feel that Kate Young's line is a lot more feminine and definitely suits my style a little more. I will definitely look for that long dress and hopefully it will fit! It looks super cute.

Who else is excited for the Kate Young line?

My boyfriend recently surprised me with the Nikon J1 that I have wanted for a while. It is one of the cutest cameras ever. He bought it in white since they don't have it in pink at the place he bought it from.

The image quality is definitely an upgrade from my older camera. It looks super adorable and cute. It's hit too heavy or bulky so it fits in my longchamp pliagr well :)

I am looking to buy a case for the camera so it wot get scratched when I throw it in my bag :)

I haven't had time to write recently because of work. Busy season has definitely crept up on me! I have been working more than 12 hours a day for the past two weeks. Although, it is nice to just have to focus on work, I would, however, prefer to have spent my Valentines day doing something other than comparing reports. :) My parents often tell me that this is the sacrifice of making money.

On a happier note, it was Chinese New Years and my mother's birthday this past week. I went shopping with my family and boyfriend on Chinese New Years and my mom picked out a brand new purse for herself from Holt Renfrew Last Call at Vaughn Mills.

It was marked down from $3,400 to $2,039 with an additional 30% off. With tax, we paid just a little over $1,600 for the bag. I thought it was a steal :) This was from Bottega Veneta's SS'12 collection. It's called the Cloth Intreccio Vivo Cervo Bag.

My mom has always wanted a BV bag as she loved the weaving pattern and its soft sheepskin leather. I'm super happy that we were able to buy that for her birthday!

I haven't posted for a while and decided that I would start the new year off with a haul! I went shopping quite a bit during the Christmas holidays. So below are a couple pictures of some things I bought! I hope you enjoy.



1. Bath & Body Works Candles - 3 for $30 with 30% off coupon

• Sensual - Black currant and vanilla
• London Calling - Lemon Tea
• Twisted Peppermint

2. Vaughnmills Boxing Day (starting from the top)

• BCBG - 50% off ticketed price
• Emil - Mauve-coloured suede cropped jacket in XXSmall at $35.50
• Gravel Voty T-shirt in Large at $8.50
• Morissa Shirt in Blue Snake Skin in XXSmall at $35.50
• Celine - Blue Tiered Silk Dress from the Runway Collection in XXSmall at $59.00
• Strapless Crepe Dress - Galaxy print in size 0 at $19.50
• Tommy Hilfiger
• Tan Knit Dress (bottom row) at $40.00
• Jcrew
• Jewelled Belt at $16.50
• There are also a couple of things that my boyfriend bought from Hugo Boss (blue bird tie), Shirts (from Tommy Hilfiger and Jcrew) and Dress pants (from Tommy Hilfiger)

3. Aritzia

• Cabane Heather Gray Sweater in XSmall at $65.00

So I'm currently writing this post as I sit on the hotel bed :) this has been a very busy week where I've worked approximately 12 hours a day :( So tired from work! The only good thing from work is the satisfaction I get from the food allowance :D

There are not many restaurants in Guelph so I wasn't able to have good restaurant food. But I did have Tim Hortons, Turtle Jacks, lots of Swiss Chalet and some mediocre Thai and Sushi :(. Since we have been working so much, we usually eat within our hotel while working.

I've also went to Metro and purchased a ton of chocolate ad snacks to prepyself for busy season, so I'm super excited for this :) I've instagrammed a picture of all the chocolate I bought :)

Tomorrow is the CKE results so I'm super worried about my results. Even though people keep telling me it's going to be okay, I'm still worried :(

Since I'll be starting work soon, I decided to make a small blogpost about makeup I will be using for work :)

1. Missha M Signature Real Complete BB Cream SPF25/PA++ in 23

2. Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof in ebene

3. YSL Touche Eclat in 215
4. Rock & Republic Contrived Blush in Call me

5. YSL Rouge Volupte Lipstick in #1 Nude Beige

6. Urban Decay Naked Palette 

7. Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder

Recently visited Guu izakaya forthw first time on church and college :) We lined up at 5pm since we were worried that there were not going to be any seats for a table of 11 :) Fortunately, when we got there the line was not too long.

The staff greeted our party with amazing enthusiasm (which was a little overwhelming). With such a big party, we were able to try out a lot of different dishes at the place. Below are the pictures :)

Overall, I loved the uniqueness of the food there. The taste was amazing. Although it was a little on the pricey side, I thought it wa well worth the splurge :)

 

Pork Cheeks  - Delicious and tender, although a little oily

 Grilled Salmon - A little too fatty for my likings, but it was grilled very well and crispy!

Fried Calamari  - Ordered it because my boyfriend loves calamari, but I thought it wasn't crispy enough

Cheese and Kimchi BiBimBap - Loved the cheesy taste with Kimchi :) It had this zesty taste! One of my favs that night

Salmon Sashimi - Probably my favourite dish of the night! It was favourful and juicy. The mayo and pepper really makes a difference though :D

Fried Blue Cheese - The blue cheese mixed in with the sweet sauce was like a perfect combination of salty and sweet together :D

 Beef Noodles - Do not remember the exact name. It was delicious and filling for once, but I felt like it wasn't anything extremely special and wasn't worth the 7 dollars we had to pay for it.

Squid Pancakes - I thought the Squid balls were much better. This was interesting and it was more crispy :)

 Grilled Pork - This was done very well so that the pork was still juicy :)

Squid Balls - One of my all time favourite street food items. Although they make it like 100x better here!

Beef Sashimi - Another one of my favourite dishes of the night. I seriously think mayo makes a huge difference in all of these. The beef tasted so fresh and juicy!!

 Fried Shrimp - It was good and the shrimp tasted a lot fresher than other Japanese places but I didn't feel like it was anything different or special

 Cheese Oysters - Probably the best dish of the night. I love oysters and cheese so this was the perfect combination for me

I've always had very dry hair, so since I'm in hong kong, I've been on the hunt for some good hair products! I usually wash my hair daily, so my ends tend to get very dry and wispy.

I've tried out the fructis and Pantene line available in Canada. I've used the conditioner and shampoos for both the dry and the normal hair, which didn't show much improvement. The one for color damage hair for both brands made my scalp very oily.

When I got to hong kong, I noticed that they have a different Pantene Clinicare line that is only available in hk, Tokyo, Taipei, and Singapore.

I decided to give it a try and the results were pretty good! I've been using the Time Renewal line. My hair has had significant improvements.

Pros:

• Very moisturizing and helps to keep your hair silky smooth throughout the day
• Only need a little squirt of product - Bottle lasts a very long time
• Keeps your hair smelling wonderful all day (even if you sweat a little)
• Softens up any frizzy hair that you have (my biggest issue)

Cons:

• Approximately 75hkd or 10CAD per bottle - rather pricey in comparison to other drugstore brands that I have been using
• Can only be purchased in Asia (the other Pantene formulae do not work as good for my hair)

 Regardless of the price, this is my current favorite conditioner!

Today my boyfriend and I decided to try out Inatei, which is located at highway 7 and leslie.

We decided to order a bento box and two rolls (the spider roll and the spicy salmon roll). The food came relatively quickly and the service was excellent.

The salmon bento box came with a soup and salad, which in my opinion is a lot tastier than many other Japanese restaurants I have been to. The bento box was smaller than what I expected, but it was okay because I'm a small eater anyway. The teriyaki salmon and rice was delicious and so was the freshly made tempura. You rarely see shrimp tempura this big!

My boyfriend was looking forward to the Spider roll the most as our favorite japanese restaurant that recently closed down had awesome spider rolls. The spider roll here was very good and crispy, however, I felt that it was not as good.

We both enjoyed the spicy salmon roll and thought that having sliced cucumbers with the spicy salmon made it a lot tastier!

Overall, we would recommend this restaurant to others and we will most likely go back!!

Recently, I have been having some terrible obsession with jewelry, especially arm candy. It's ridiculous!! Since I can't spend a lot of money on buying jewelry :( I've resorted to making my own!

Below are some of the jewelry pieces I made. If interested, you can message me and I'll make some for you :D

This Cuba trip has been an amazing experience. It was my first time in the Caribbean and I pretty much packed everything to try and be prepared for anything that can happen. The time we went was apparently during the dry season so there was very little rain. However, it still rained for 2 days (tropical rainstorms that lasts for 15 mins to 2 hours), which was better than what the weather forecast told us, which was raining for 5 days out of our 7 day trip. In general, it was sunny for most part of the trip with Daniel having to find shade because he might turn crispy trololol. Therefore, sunscreen was a must for us and even with mounds of sunscreen I still got pretty tanned and a sun burn on one of my shoulder.

Varadero

Varadero is an amazing city and the people there are amazingly friendly. This is definitely a tourist town as it is located by a beautiful beach running 10km. There are over 60 resorts in the Varadero area and we chose to stay at Bellevue Palma Real or the locals know it as Palma Real. Personally, I felt that the location of our resort was very good because it was a 5 minute walk from the beach and it was close enough to the town so that you can explore it. During our visit in town to buy souvenirs and visit to the bank to exchange for some Pesos, there were a lot of street vendors that are trying to sell you freshly made piña coladas and little souvenirs. There are also a lot of antique cars on the road and carriages that was definitely a sight for us :)

Food

Food was extremely meh at the resort, however, if you are not very picky, the food would still be bearable. Some of the buffet food is rather blend and sometimes over cooked or raw. So you will have to be careful of the food at the resort. There are always a few good items in the buffet and they always change up the food; so at the end of the day, I feel that the food is still okay. My favorite items at the buffet is the grilled fish and the banana and pineapple smoothies. Personally, I think breakfast is the best meal at the buffet and that it's probably the only meal that I have no complaints about.

In terms of the a la carte restaurants, there are 3 of them: Cuban, Italian, and Chinese. You will have to make a reservation for the Cuban and Chinese restaurants and they are usually fully booked so you should try to make your reservation once you get to the resort. We had the Cuban cuisine on the 2n last night we were there and the Chinese on the last night.

The Cuban cuisine was actually decent. The starter, which we got the fried banana and the crackling pork, was not so great. However, we enjoyed the main dish (Hagi and I - chicken; Raymond - land and sea; Daniel - shredded beef). The desserts were similar to what is offered at the buffet, which includes fresh fruits, ice cream, and assorted pastries.

The Chinese restaurant was a huge disappointment, especially since we have read good reviews about it. Firstly, all the food was made with excessive amounts of soy sauce including the rice and the soup. The main dish (sweet and sour pork, spicy fish, and fish stir fry) was very disappointing as it was nothing like Chinese food, not even similar to Mandarin style Chinese food. The desserts, which we got fried banana and house pastries, was excellent. The friend banana was probably the best part of the meal.

La Pizzaria was probably our favorite a la carte at the resort. We ate there almost everyday as no booking was required and it opened from 12:30 to 9pm everyday, giving us ample time to eat there. One downside to the restaurant was the slow service. It would take approximately 1 hour for them to make our pizza even though the place was never really that busy. However, they made very good pizzas and we felt that it was an even healthier option to the snack bar, buffet food and even pizza back home in Toronto. The pizza had a very thin crust and less cheese than we are used to, but it still taste fabulous in comparison to all the other resort food.

We would recommend the Italian restaurant to everyone that goes to the Palma Real! We usually go there for lunch and the check out the buffet for any interesting dishes :) so we end up having 2-3 lunches or dinners.

The snack bar is our 2nd favorite restaurant as it is opened almost 24/7, and closed 3 hours of the day for preparation. They offer hot dogs, burgers, grilled ham and cheese, and fries. My favorite is the grilled h and cheese, while the guys enjoy their burgers. This is always the place for our late night snacks. One downside to the snack bar that the service is sometimes very slow and the coffee machine occasionally runs out of coffee and ends up giving us watered down coffee or hot chocolate. There is also a snack bar at the beach that is opened until 6:30pm everyday.

In term of the drinks, they put a lot of alcohol in your drinks and you should definitely monitor how much alcohol you drink. The piña coladas are very slushy, however, you can get nice piña coladas from the street vendors for 2-3 pesos. You should definitely try everything on the drinks menu! There are several bars at the resort: main lobby, pool, beach, and the second building. There is always a huge line at the main lobby bar so we like to go to the bar in our building (the second building bar). The drink I recommend trying is the coffee with milk and alcohol because they are delicious!

Beach/Pool

I loved the beach and the pool :) I personally think it was the best part of the resort. The beach was extremely pretty and there are always more than enough beach chairs. However, it is sometimes difficult to get a spot in the shade, so you should go early if you want to grab a spot!

Rooms

The rooms were a little older, but it was expected through many of the pictures that we saw via reviews online. The corner room that I got was smaller than Daniel and Hagi's room, which wasn't a big deal for us. There were a lot of mosquitos in our room for some reason and at the end, we suspected that there was some kind of mosquito nest. The mosquitos in the room never bit us probably because we had the AC on. Raymond's biggest problem was probably the showers. It takes around 5-10 minutes for the water to heat up and there is absolutely no water pressure. This can be a problem for those who just want a quick relaxing shower.

 

Jeep Safari Excursion

This was the best excursion for us :) You get to do some snorkeling and see the coral reefs (which gave us many cuts), swimming in the Saturno cave, drive a motorized boat for 40km in a river, horseback riding, and driving a jeep and experiencing the Cuban countryside. Although we had some problems with driving the jeep, it was quickly solved by our helpful tour guide, Reynardo.

Havana Tour

The Havana tour was a big disappointment for us because after the amazing jeep excursion, we had relatively high expectations for this Havana tour. Much of the tour was spent on the bus, which was expected. However, we did not get to explore the city as much as we wanted. The worst part was the fact that whenever we wanted to use a washroom, they would always ask for a tip and the y would even ask to go through our wallets if we said we did not have any change. This was a huge let down f for us as we did not expect this and in Varadero, we were not forced to tip, but was given the option to. However, since it was our first time in Cuba, we felt that it was necessary to explore the capita city and learn a little bit more about the Cuban culture. We would not do this tour a second time and would probably do the catamaran tour next time we visit Cuba.

Service

The maids were extremely nice and helpful and they were very creative in making our beds :) Many of the bartenders were very nice, however, there was always this one that had terrible attitude. Tipping is important not only to get better service but mostly because many of te workers depend on your tip for income. The average wage in Cuba is $19 :(

Advice

1) Bring lots of bug spray (preferably in an aerosol spray can for convenience)
2) Bring an umbrella in case of sudden showers
3) Bring Canadian loonies and toonies to give as tips at the hotel

We would definitely return to Cuba as we loved the experience. Even though we enjoyed Palma Real, I feel that we would probably like to explore other hotels :)