[SHOPPING TAG] TesterKorea package!

Hello everyone!
After a ridiculous experience of standing in the queue at Starbucks for having a drink for 100 Rs, I was thrilled to receive the items I had ordered from TesterKorea with my friend.
Although the wait for it was very long and the customs decided to rip us with their ridiculous duty fee as well, I was glad it reached us safe and in a good condition.
I'll just put the pictures of what all I received today in this post, and review them in another post!

I received a bunch of things in the mail which includes

Etude House Hot Style Salon Creme Hair Bleach

TonyMoly x POKEMON collaboration
Kkobugi (Squirtle) Hydrating Face Wash & Fairi Brightening Foam Cleanser (150ml)

Pikachu Mini Cover Cushion
I also got two samples of Etude House Dear Darling Lip Tint and a sample of the Jjammanbo (snorlax) Hand Cream and a collagen skin mask for free which was really nice cuz I love freebies hohoho

the tint samples

the mask

The customs took ages to clear the parcel, but I'm glad it all came to us in a single piece and not tattered.

Gonna review them soon!

The Starbucks for 100 bucks Saga

Hello everybody,

Today must've been a very stressful day to the Starbucks Baristas heh?
I have a story to tell you all! It's called "Starbucks for 100 bucks"

It all began when last week, everyone starting getting messages about the ₹100 drink offer in Starbucks that was gonna be on the 28th of October, celebrating the launch of it's 100th outlet in India. The menu said that they would be selling any of your favourite beverage for ₹100 (roughly somewhere around $1.55)

Honestly, My friends and I are regulars there and were even more excited about this whole offer because... After all, we are also students. We were hyped about getting this one drink of our choice, free of GST.
We initially had planned to go to the mall we always hung out at, at like 11am in the morning and sit and work at Starbucks like our usual weekends.

It so happened that we landed up going to another mall close by because the outlet at that mall had the queue lined up across the exit gate (LOL)

So we walked into the other mall on a Saturday, seeing that little line of 4-5 people you often have at Starbucks, full of people. (PS: this is a mall with barely any people ok)

The people almost lined up to the center of the mall.
It was mostly students in the morning. The line however, kept moving further really quick also showing us some surprises along the way.
We were amazed to have seen grown ups, cut in to the queue and claim that they had been there before us. We looked behind to see uncles, aunties and dada daadis also lined up in the queue.
As our queue got shorter and shorter, we noticed that people inside were having more than one beverage each, some were having more than three beverages.

What I find funny is, people refuse to buy something large in quantity which is obviously for a higher price but buy more of something for when it's for a lower price. But then again, that's a personal opinion so... eh.

So yeah, we waited in line for our turn and one of us got the drinks for all three of us.
It was a total shame as the drinks we saw people having versus the drinks we got were a total let down.
We all received a half done Java chip Frappuccino with no whipped cream.
In fact, my friend's Java Chip was not even well mixed and had like two different layers in the cup. The workers from this outlet... were rude to their customers and did not care about how shabby the drink was, except for it having been the same drink altogether.

What was more genius about this marketing technique was the stuff I read up on the internet.
I read that the Gold level members who stood in the line and expressed their dissatisfaction towards the service of that day were given a free drink as a token of apology.
Well played Starbucks! *Claps*

After we got out of the outlet, the queue was relatively smaller but I somehow managed to sneak a picture in.

This was one hell of an experience though!

Here's my friend showing her disappointment :P

I also heard from my friends living in Pune, that their queue was much more longer and they waited in queue for almost an hour and gave up on it!

I would make sure that I go there on regular working days hahaha!
Comment below your experience if any of you went there on that day!

[MERCH] MONSTA X 2nd Gen Monbebe Membership

Hello everyone!!

I woke up to a very pleasant surprise this morning!

As soon as I opened my eyes, my mother just told me that the parcel had arrived.

So I decided to make an unboxing video for it, filming it while I open it too.

The membership kit this time is camping themed and in a pretty green and white colour scheme.

The package was really tiny and it came with the following things
- Membership Card
- Message Book
- Photo Garland
- Pin Badge with the MXMB logo
- Photo Card
- Broadcast Card
- DVD (contents listed below)

• 1st Fanmeeting Highlight 
• 1st Fanmeeting Behind
• 1st Fanmeeting VCR Behind

And a discount coupon (i'm not sure of it's usage yet!)

I did a really sloppy job by unboxing it with one hand but I assure you that it's good quality!
Hope you all like it!!

[Shopping Tag] Another visit to Innisfree

Hello everyone!

Due to the horrible weather changes and constant health issues, the skin on my face has started to get really oily. I don't really use cosmetics due to my sensitive skin, but my cheeks have started reacting by turning red after I wash my face and really itchy too.

I tried a bunch of face wash and regular rose water as toners but none of them seemed to be helping at all!
Besides, I recently saved up quite a lot and even sold two of my K-pop albums so I decided to pay this emergency visit to Innisfree. 

Also, this time Innisfree was currently running the Eco-Handkerchief campaign at the store too. This campaign is to promote the usage of a handkerchief over tissues to save trees. I had previously worked on a college project for the same.
As I walked into the store, I saw this beautiful picture of SF9's Rowoon put up.

Credits to myself HAHA!
He is so good-looking though.

For those of you who don't know.
(SF9 is A k-pop group debuted in October 2016 and Rowoon is one of their members who is the model for this campaign. I will shamelessly promote them here and ask you to go and check out their music and knife-like choreography)

Coming back to the subject of the topic!!

I was particularly looking forward to buying the Jeju volcanic clay mask, but I was recommended to buy a product from the same range that served a similar purpose; cleansing my skin well.

Anyway, here is a picture of what I purchased today.

I hope this picture is clear enough! Here's all the stuff I got.

I was recommended to use the Jeju volcanic pore cleansing foam as it cleanses the pores by absorbing the sebum. 

This product has contents of Volcanic scoria which is ingredient formed from lava as it cools after a volcanic eruption. 

 I actually tried this product as soon as I went back home and it did wonders. It was quite effective and refreshing than the other face wash I've used in the past and it left my skin dry after I washed it. My skin hasn't been feeling itchy in the past hour at all!
This came for around 650INR which is quiiiite cheaper than I expected.

I'm not sure if this is clear

Second product I chose was the toner from the Green Tea line. Now rises the question WHY?

Why did I choose Green Tea Fresh Toner instead of the Jeju Volcanic pore tightening toner??
I honestly didn't have that on my mind and I picked this product because it is effective for oily skin.
HAHA.
This product was for 1100INR (more expensive than the other stuff I bought)

I do not know why I took a picture of this upside down

I am a huge fan of the Green Tea line products and I really like the smell of this toner. It is very very refreshing both on the skin and the smell. I usually have red patches on my skin after using some astringents / Toners but this one was nice to me (the previous one I used was also nice to me).

Switching to the next product I bought. I was going to get the water fit cushion (foundation), but i don't trust make-up on my skin at all. So I opted for the No Sebum Mineral Powder.

I normally used light fragrance powders because I am allergic to strong fragrance powders. (i sneeze constantly), but I thought i'd give this a try.
Due to excessive sweating, I don't wear powder very often.

This product was for 540INR and It's pretty small in size.

Also, I wanted to share a picture from the Innisfree official website , showing how the powder can be used for different purposes

This is  quite interesting and well explained here in this picture. 

I still haven't used this product, but will try using it like this!!!

Credits to their official site.

Here are more pictures of the product. The cushion is very soft and fluffy, and I just pray that it doesn't wear out too quickly. (I can buy replacements for it though)
I did actually try a bit of it on my hand in the store and it didn't really smell strong. Most powders leaves a smooth texture on your skin and I kind of like it. (strange preferences, i tell ya)

This Vita C face mask was a last minute purchase and I am not going to use it soon, so I am not reviewing it! This was for 150INR

After purchasing these three products, I received two samples of the Volcanic Pore Clay Mask and the Green Tea Seed Serum and Lotion.

I also picked two eco handkerchiefs! The packaging for the handkerchiefs is very cute~
And the designs are also very cute!

I wonder how and where I am going to use the handkerchief~

these are really pretty1

Lastly, I will be my shameless fangirl self and ask you all to watch this video of the innisfree Eco-Handkerchief Campaign 2017 with Rowoon in it!  It also features the three designs for this year!

[Shopping Tag] Aliexpress Stationery Haul

Hello Everyone!!!

I am back with another shopping tag which is not skin care or hair care but stationery!

A few weeks ago, I was browsing stuff on Aliexpress like I always do.. and I landed up spending around $18 on 7 items there. (No Regrets)
I recently received all of those items, so I thought of reviewing each one of them here.

Firstly, have a look at the stuff !

I had taken this picture when the last two of the 7 items had not reached me so pls ignore.

Here's a picture of 5 out of those 7 items again.


A lot of them look a LOT like Korean stationery and a few items are actually made in Korea.
I've always been a fan of Korean and Japanese Stationery because they are VERY cute and they have a lot of animal-related stuff and those things are my weaknesses in life (LOL)

So I shall start reviewing the items shared here one by one now.




Mini-Note

This came in a set of 4. Considering how much I impulse-buy notebooks and diaries, these were a good choice. (I was slightly disappointed as the notebooks were pocket-sized)

I got these for barely 0.60$ (40INR) and these were surprisingly unruled and tinier in real life
The covers are cute and are in pretty colours as well, the paper quality doesn't seem bad at al!



STICKERS

Cats~
I love cats! need I say anymore???
These stickers are meant for diaries/notes/letters but are just plain ordinary cute cat stickers!
They're all good quality and I got them for $1 (let's say around 70INR)



My little friend - Pony BrownThis adorable character has a couple of different sayings / daily life phrases on every sticker which can be a good motivation source.
I got these also for $1 (around 70INR)







Planner/ Organiser Note

I got two of them, one of them has the same character that the "My little friend" stickers have~
And it's adorable! It is also in my favourite colour , pastel green.
I bought this one for around $5.42 (350INR sliiightly expensive ) as this was branded and original.

This is what the actual thing looks like from the front

Here's a crappy low quality photo of the front and the back. Sorry about that.



This planner slightly smaller than the A5 size and it's quite easy to carry too!
It has different sections for Monthly checkpoints , Yearly plan columns and Monthly Plans / Weekly Plans.

One good thing about this diary is that it DOES NOT have specified months and dates.
It Just mentions months and days (number of days being default every month) which could have been if it were on separate pages! However, it's in small rows with every week just taking up double page worth space.

I am not sure how clear this is, but here's a sample of the page for Weekly Plan

It also has cute illustrations of the character previously mentioned throughout the diary on different pages. 

If you all would ever want to buy this stuff, I'd totally recommend it!

I bought the two planner diaries for nearly the same price. The second one is called 365 diary, which is slightly bigger than the PonyBrown one and is hardbound. (obviously I chose the green colour)

This one is quite simple looking with random food item illustrations on and inside it. (kind of cute)

This one was also around the same price as the previous one. Although the page quality and the binding of the book is very neat, this is quite cheaper than expected.

It looks really simple and formal from the outside.

This one is actually quite simple even from the inside, except for it having really cute illustrations on the page. This one also has the text in colour.

The layout for this diary is quite different from the previous one. It has a continuous 12 month layout set first, unlike the previous one. And then it has the weekly plan. Every page has a set of two weeks with a tiny box that is assumed to be for the to-do-list at the bottom of every page.

This diary also includes Project Record pages, which is clearly specifying that this could be used for college purposes or work. (one really cool thing about it!)

Here's a page for the Monthly plan. It's quite simple and looks quite perfect for a college planner.

I managed to take a picture of the Daily Plan (weekly plan)as well.

This is the page at the beginning of the diary.

Another cool thing about this diary is that it has a blank pages section too. Unlike the first diary that had a blank page and a memo page in the last, this one only has blank pages. 

To be Honest, I didn't like this diary and was thinking of returning or selling it off at first. But then I went through it and this is quite perfect for students / working students.

I would recommend this too!

Sticky Notes / Memo

First of all,  let me tell you how much of a collector I am for such cute stuff.
I just randomly found this and it was less than a dollar, so I just added this set of Rilakkuma sticky notes and memo pad to my cart.

I really don't think I have anything to review in this other than the design being accurate to what the seller uploaded on the site, so i'll pass it by uploading a picture

It is cute.

Lastly, I bought one thing that I needed the most in the last 8 years. . .  A pencil case.
I had been using a Naruto one which was black and I used it for so long, that it had started to tear from all possible sides, dropping my pencils out. This is what made me pick one from Aliexpress for a cheap price of $3. I really like the fabric quality and the colours it came in!
One thing I was skeptical about, was the storage space inside it.
The previous one I used, had a LOT of space and trust me. . I nearly fit in 35 pens inside it once.

I was slightly disappointed by the size it came it, but the storage space turned out to be quite large and my stationery did fit in!

Here, take a loot at it!

Aliexpress is quite good and specific with their shipping options, and this time they were CRAZY fast at shipping them too!
I received all of this within a time span of 24 days from ordering date.
I was actually out of town for a week and by the time I was back, these things were lying on my table already!
Do check out the site for some cool stuff !

[FANDOM TALK] Monsta X, An obsession or inspiration?

Hello Everyone!

It's the first of May and I decided to talk about this question that some of my friends had asked me a long time ago. I have always been very supportive of the K-pop idol group MONSTA X in every activity of theirs. Not only do I love their different style and their unique music, but also they hold a huge place in my heart. (also a huge place in my wallet)

My friends have often told me that I have been obsessing over them and spending on them way too much. But, How does a fan live otherwise?
I have explained them how this idol group is an inspiration to me than an obsession, but I thought this topic would have been great to write about on my blog!

This all flashes back to early 2015 when I was in my second year of college and dealing with a lot in college. The issues did not only limit to academics but also trust issues among friends and health issues (majorly health issues). .
This is when I used to stay in the dorm and I came across their survival show "No Mercy".
Honestly, I NEVER have been a fan of survival shows and I do not know why I even started watching this. Of course, trainees as just like students that overwork for hours and get no proper food or sleep.
I do not know why but this I found the trainees on this uber-scripted show to be very relatable. This is how I continued watching the show until the end. It did have very very very disappointing moments in it, but that is another discussion altogether.
When you are dealing with a lot of things, You need something to lean on. I was stepping into the competitive field, everything was harsh on me. I was starting to think about my choices.
This group's debut was what slightly got me out of that slump. I don't know if anyone would take this seriously but fans on a larger scale get inspired by either lyrics or song or something the idols would say on a show. For me, It wasn't lyrics, song but pre-debut trainees on a show.
You all reading this may feel that I am being over-dramatic and all, but it is true.

I can't really explain my mental condition from that time, but these guys working hard towards their dream of making music inspired me a lot.
The made me realise that even when things are extremely rough, there can still be a way out of it!
This is why I want to support them in every way I can!

Oh yeah! They're almost close to their 2nd debut anniversary which is on the 14th of May and I am a very proud fan watching their fanbase grow.
Not denying at all that this fandom has made me have some great friends!

This is why this group has a huge place in my heart. I will continue to love and support them in the very same way.

I end this post by sharing their latest release and would recommend you all to go and listen to it (listen to it again if you already have!)

BONUS

Pre-debut Biases :P

Walking Down the memory lane

Hello Everyone,

Today is going to be very very very sentimental as it's pretty close for college to end.
And I sort of looked back to how much the people around me have changed and influenced me as a person.
Four years is not a short time. Although School was longer, but the life I lived at university and the life I lived when i was in school was different.
It is a fact that when you grow older, life comes with responsibilities.
However, You aren't the only one facing everything in that time. This time indeed, brings a lot of change in your life. I would call this "Youth"
This is the time when you make same mistakes as everyone, do the same things as everyone, are as curious as everyone. Self Acceptance, Reflection, Identity Crisis, Depression, Anxiety and Stress are all the contents of this new book that we've begun to write. Well, those aren't all.

Walking down the memory lane, I was a very different person when I joined college. I bet everyone else was too. And we've m .
In July 2013, A baby bird set out on it's journey to explore a whole new world. Everything to it, was completely new. It wanted to fly high like the other birds in the sky, but it had just learnt how to fly. It tried to compete against a fully grown bird in the sky and got hurt. However, it did not give up!
It's desire to fly grew even bigger, i

We were all flower buds, that have bloomed into pretty flowers in the past years.
I have met a lot of people, and have made a variety of memories!
But, there are a few precious people without whom I would not have been able to be who I am.
Those people have played a major part in my life.
There were times when I wanted to stay closed within the four walls of my dorm room while there were times when I hung out with people and got to know them better.

Although we're all different people, we all have dreams. We are all working to make a path that leads to our dream. We all make mistakes and we learn through them. . But we are not alone. Everyone is together in this. And my classmates and friends have played an important role in this time period of 4 years!

I am grateful to them as they have been an inspiration and have had me learn about a lot. And my dear friends, who have never complained even once while listening to my daily rants. All your nagging and friendly advice never upset me okay?

Lastly, I wouldn't have been able to even write this if these people weren't there for me. My Family, My backbone, My support. Thank You always for supporting me in what I do and trusting me always. Without my loving and supporting family, these four years would have been very difficult to deal with.

I leave this post on a quote

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
John F. Kennedy

[Shopping Tag #3] Discounts are definitely our friends~

Hello Everyone,

 After long posts of ranting about various things in life, I decided to post about something cool!
It's summer time and my sheet masks were over, So I was just scrolling past sites from where I could buy sheet masks.
Nykaa recently had an offer on the sheet masks for "The Face Shop" on which we could buy 10 for 500INR which is nearly around $7.
It took quite some time to reach me, but hey! I just got them in the mail yesterday!
I really like how fancy their packaging for their sheet masks look!




Previously, I had purchased sheet masks from Innisfree and I was quite satisfied with their care (you see what I did there?)
Also, The face shop was quite known to me as I had previously purchased a hand cream from there and It is beautiful. (refer to the post here)

Getting back to topic, I decided to try the lemon one and it was quite refreshing!
The tissue was softer and it was also smaller than the one I had used earlier.
But, it had a really humid after-effect due to the heat.

Sometimes, macs can serve as a great black background for photography!

Thank You to the friend who recommended me to try the lemon one!
I'll try the green tea and the Blueberry one next~

I'll wrap up this post by just telling you all to take care this summer as it is getting hotter day by day!
Keep yourself hydrated enough and make sure you protect yourself well from this heat!
Take care :)