ETUDE HOUSE Collagen Moistfull Essence & Sunblocks Review

Remember those beauty products I bought from Seoul earlier this year? I finally got a chance to try them out and review them now.

One of my best buys is the above Etude House Collagen Moistfull Essence retailing at 15,000KRW in Korea.

Yes, you've guessed it! The reason why I like it is because at this extremely low price, I can still get a quality product that's effective. It's selling at about 40+SGD here but cost me less than 20SGD. The texture is a little sticky but it moisturize well and smells lovely. Sometimes, I use this essence before my moisturiser. Other times, I even use it on its own!

I've been trying out all kinds of sunblock and none has been satisfactory so far. Mainly, It's because I dislike the thick and slightly oily texture of sunblocks. And I prefer those with SPF50 and above. 

So far, Etude House Sun Power Cotton Touch with SPF50+ meets my expectations. It's meant to give a cottony finish with its thick and powdery texture. For starters, you may find it a little hard to apply and even out the thick sunblock. The trick is to thinly layer it on so that you won't look pasty with a purplish tinge to your skin.

Somehow, I think the purple tinge will play a part in toning down yellow skin tone. I think this sunblock is great and indeed less oily than most SPF50+ sunblocks in the market. By the way, I have combination skin.

As for the other Sun Toner Water Jelly SPF30 in the bottom half of the picture, the texture is similar to many other sunblocks and feels a little sticky to me. After application, I need to let it settle for at least 15 mins before putting on my foundation. I was attracted to this the Sun Toner Water Jelly because of its "Water Jelly" description. Also, all Etude House sunblocks were having a 1 for 1 promotion in Korea in mid June this year.

How cheap can they get??!! Heh!

Where To Buy Korean Keyboard Stickers in Singapore

From my previous post, some of you may know that I am studying Korean now. Of course, I not only want to speak and read the language, I want to write it as well.

So, I had to get Korean keyboard stickers to start my Korean language practice on my laptop.

I intended to get my stickers from a US seller at ebay. But after adding the postage, it was more logical to get it from a Singapore seller at $1-2 more and who can deliver them much faster. 

I chose the transparent stickers with orange letters and am satisfied with the service of the seller. If you're interested to purchase Korean keyboard stickers ere in Singapore, you can email Jayson at imjayson@hotmail.com. The sticker details can be found here.

I combined my purchase with 2 other friends and got a bulk discount too. Just email Jayson to find out more, he responds fast and is a very helpful and responsible seller.

You'll only need to to go the Control Panel on your computer, add the Korean language bar in the Regional and Language folder after sticking on your new stickers to be able to type away in Korean.

Now, I can! =)

Cocotte French Restaurant @ Wanderlust Hotel, Dickson Road

I've been busy but still managed to catch a good meal last week at Cocotte, a french restaurant situated at the ground floor of Wanderlust hotel at Dickson Road.

I just found out that Cocotte means both a round casserole and prostitute in French. It's an interesting play of word, especially since Dickson Road is at shady end of Little India. 

Wanderlust Hotel @ Dickson Road

Cocotte serves french cuisine in a casual setting and with a communal dining concept.

See, they even have a communal round dining table that can sit 12.

The food at Cocotte tastes excellent and it goes very well with the relaxed ambiance.

I ordered a set with a French Cured Pork Sausage as appetizer.

Bf had the Roast Pork Collar topped with mustard sauce and brussels sprouts with roasted almond. And the ooh-la-la mushrooms.

Oooo... thinking of that dish makes my mouth waters. It was very delicious and the mustard sauce complimented the roasted pork collar very well.

I had the Bouef Bourguignon, which is a beef stew. The beef was very tender but I still preferred bf's dish. So, it was swapped midway into the meal. heh!

We ended the meal with Chocolate Royal, a Varhona chocolate mousse cake with praline at the bottom and a nice cuppa of coffee. Mmmmm... heavenly...

Wanderlust Hotel Lobby

I had a great meal that afternoon and it was entertaining to watch the chicly dressed hotel guests streamed  into Wanderlust Hotel lobby.

Cocotte serves up quality food made with fine ingredients and the whole meal cost us about $80. It's a great restaurant to go to with friends and definitely a recommended place to try out at least once!

iHerb.com Promotions & Reviews

In addition to the existing promotion where first time buyers get a 5USD off when using a member's code on iHerb.com and that member earns a 4% of commission of the purchase, iHerb.com has another promotion! 

From now until 17 August 2011, there's free postage for purchases of 40USD and above as long as the weight doesn't exceed 1800g.

Just last week, I received some unexpected free samples from the generous people from iHerb.com. What a pleasant surprise!

It consists of the following:

- 1 box of 25 bags of organic Mandarin Orange Green Tea

- 1 Strawberry Champagne Lip Balm

- 1 tin of Natural Stress Relief Rescue Pastilles in black current flavour

- 1 sachet of Cafe Cordyceps

After dinner, we tried the Mandarin Orange Green Tea and it was simply lovely. It has a tinge of vanilla mixed with mild orange smell to me and the taste of the orange rolls in your mouth as I sip the warm tea. I really love the smell of the warm tea when I brought the cup up to sip.

It was also the first time I came across stress relief sweets and it tasted nice! I don't know whether it worked as I wasn't feeling particularly stressed out after dinner, hehe... I'll definitely keep this tin close by for stressful emergencies. Maybe the sucking action of the pastilles is enough to focus your mind a little off your problems. Who knows? ;)

The Strawberry Champange is divine. It tasted really heavenly with the mild strawberry smell and the texture wasn't too oily or waxy. Besides days of needs, I'll use this every night so that I can be reminded of strawberry fields before I sleep. Ah... what bliss! =)

Read about my first purchase from iHerb.com here.
Here too.

Where To Learn Korean In Singapore? Which Korean School Is Good?

My title says it all. I read that...

• Singapore Korean School is good but the location is bad
• NUS Extension (known as NEX) is very structured but super ex
• Cambridge School of Education is good and not so ex but really basic

And I narrowed it down to the Community Centres which seems good enough but I didn't get to find much feedback on it.

Help help! Any recommendations and reviews to share? I just want to converse and write/email in basic Korean.

Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market Food Adventure

Here are some pictures of my first trip to Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market in May this year. 

I stayed at Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku which has a Tokyo Subway Station elevator right next to the hotel entrance, making it exceptionally convenient to stumble my way to Tsukiji Market in the wee hours of the morning. Read more about the hotel here.

We reached Tsukiji Fish Market early in the morning when the sun has just risen. We didn't make plans to experience the tuna auction 'coz it was way beyond my waking ability. If you want to do so, click here for more information.

So, we only walked around the outside market looking at all the fresh seafood catch of the day.

Then, we came upon this shop that hung up a lot of wild life! *Gasp*

I quickly took some shots. Look at the bear, eagle, crocodile etc! I don't know what were they selling exactly but I think it's dried seafood.

We also came across quite a few Tamagoyaki specialty shops in Tsukiji Fish Market like the one below.

And one little interesting fried fugu store where we had a little pre-breakfast snack.

This whole shop sells Fugu aka Puffer fish.

We also had a Sashimi breakfast, the must do in Tsukiji Fish market even though I wasn't really up to it; eating raw food for breakfast.

It was the best Sashimi we had that trip. 

A Mix Of Raw & Slightly Cooked Fish & Horse Meat

You can read more about my food adventures in my last Tokyo trip here too.

I really miss Japan and posting up these pictures make me relief the happy moments all over again! Yeah! =)

iHerb.com Website Review: Quality, Low Priced & Reliable Health Supplements Online Website

I've never tried buying health supplements online until 2 months back. iHerb.com was introduced by a Korean friend who uses it regularly and a stranger who recommended the natural herbs website in a forum I frequent.

So, I casually surfed the website and realised iHerb.com has a very wide range of heath supplements for both health and beauty needs.  A Vitamin B&C supplement that suits mine and bf's needs caught my eyes: 

::Stress Relief:: 

It was priced at a very value rate of 10.92USD and had many good reviews! So, I click on the "buy" button and opted for normal international airmail.Not knowing whether the website was reliable or not back then, I   didn't want to pay extra for UPS postage. The normal international airmail cost is very low and seem like a lower risk at 4USD only.

You may be surprised to know iHerb.com has tracking service for USA, Japan & Korea so I guess their business is huge!

I've been taking Hi-Stress B&C and would say that it helps for me. I don't feel so lethargic if I start my day with 2 tablets of this.

They even gave me a free sachet of Cococeps with my purchase.

The only drawback  with iHerb.com is that using the normal international airmail took the product more than 2 weeks to reach me here in Singapore.

But it's not a big issue 'coz I'll simply opt for UPS mailing in future. I've decided to just buy most of my health supplements from iHerb.com now if they're cheaper. I'm sure it'll be more value to use UPS the more I buy each time.

Pros
-Low Priced
-Wide Range of Health Supplements
-Quality
-Reliable Website
-Stock Status
-Free Sample
-Loyalty Program

What is there not to like yeah?

For you 1st time buyers, you can save 5USD for your 1st purchase if you quote my code: VEW578. What's in it for me? I can earn monetary commission off my future purchases with details here.

So, why am I recommending iHerb.com? Just because I'm one happy customer. Hope you'll find it a good deal like me. Yeah to health!

Read here for 10 reasons to use iHerb.com which will answer most of your concerns

Read here about other iHerb.com products reviews.
Here too.