Snapshots from Seoul: Gyeongbokgung Palace

It might have been ages since I went to South Korea but as I was browsing through my folders of photos and unpublished entries, I realised that I wasn’t able to post this yet. I felt that I still should show them to you because I liked this place. Like the other places  of interest we visited in South Korea, we did not spend that much time here so my documentation is incomplete. Nevertheless, please indulge me 🙂

Gyeongbokgung Palace is right beside the National Folk Museum of Korea so we did not enter by the main gate. It was kind of unfortunate since I was looking forward to seeing the changing of guards. Anyway, there’s always a next time, right? I’m not sure which gate we entered but it was not far from the Queen’s Quarters.

Located in northern Seoul, Gyeongbokgung Palace is the main and largest palace built by the Joseon Dynasty. It was really awesome walking at the palace grounds seeing the different buildings and rooms with its intricate designs (where around 40% were restored to its original state after being nearly destroyed by the Japanese) and knowing that this ancient glory is actually right in the middle of a vibrant and modern city.

Here are some of the photos I took… Please enjoy and be transported to South Korea’s Joseon Dynasty…

how colourful and unique is this roof !

beautiful buildings

Gyotaejeon – The Queen’s Quarters

Gyeonghoeru – Royal Banquet Hall

Geunjeongjeon – Throne Hall

King’s throne in the center

courtyard

Geunjeongmun – the main gate to the courtyard and Geunjeongjeon (Throne Hall)

Gyeongbokgung Palace is right within the city, a perfect mix of the old and the new.

Palace grounds

outside the palace… and some random Han River pictures (taken from the bus ;))

If ever I go back to Seoul, I will definitely revisit Gyeongbokgung Palace and explore more of the history behind the buildings and the palace itself. My friends and sister have been here and I know there is also a place within the palace grounds where you can “borrow” a hanbok (traditional Korean dress) for that most memorable photo opportunity!

Gyeongbokgung Palace is definitely a must-visit in Seoul, especially if you’re into history and culture or just a plain Korean drama fangirl 🙂 I think there are quite a few sageuk (historical dramas/ plays) shot here.

Aside from shopping, what do you look for and are eager to experience when you travel to a foreign country? Care to share?

Hope you all have a good Monday!

Cheers 🙂

Peripera My Color Lips No.21 Soul Pink

First of all, I’d like to say thank you to cocochanel for suggesting to review this lipstick and at the same time, my apologies for this late blog post.

Anyway, I’d like to introduce you all to Peripera My Color Lips No.21 (Soul Pink) lipstick. I got this lipstick when I went to South Korea months ago. I haven’t known of this brand before but I often see people buy this from Gmarket so I got curious. I took a chance to check it out when I saw it at a cosmetic outlet. I actually intended this to be a present for someone else but I decided to keep it for myself.

First Impression/s: Describing it as pretty is an understatement! It is amazing how this company paid a lot of attention to its aesthetics and packaging. Can you notice the details in the pink lipstick cap (cover?) which is engraved with flowers and if you are into pink, then you will be completely sold to this product! It looks really chic, too.

Scent: It has a faint rose fragrance. Once you apply it onto your lips, the smell fades so you don’t have to worry if you’re not into rose scents.

Hue: It’s No.21 – Soul Pink (I can’t read Korean but I checked the name online). As the name suggests, it is pink, a nude-y rose pink with tiny gold flecks. Its colour is very much similar to my lip colour, only it’s prettier.

natural lighting

with flash

Consistency/ Formulation: The lipstick is creamy and highly pigmented. It is a little shimmery because of the tiny, tiny gold flecks. Even without a lip balm, the lipstick was very smooth when applied on the lips. It is not drying, either.

Swatches:

Top: natural light with flash (swatch – shimmery light pink)

Middle: natural light without flash (swatch – looks more reddish pink)

Bottom: indoors with flash (swatch – old rose/nude-ish pink)

Staying Power: I rarely eat nor drink two hours after I wear it so it stays around that time. I haven’t worn it for a long time to test the amount of time it can last.

Price: KRW15,000 (approximately USD13)

Availability: It’s not available in Bangkok. It can be ordered online through Gmarket, though.

Do I recommend/ Will I buy again?: Yes. Its quality is worth your money, not to mention the really attractive packaging. I really regretted not buying more colours.

Have you tried this lipstick before? How do you like it? Care to share?

Friday is coming, hope we all have a lovely weekend!

Cheers 🙂

Peripera Rose Nail Polish PK019

Hi everyone! I’m back 🙂 I’m sorry for being MIA (again!) for a little over a week as I have been caught up with a lot of deadlines at work as well as other issues on the side. As I haven’t been able to fix some of the pictures for my blog entries yet, I’m doing another nail polish swatch again. I was planning to try playing with my new dotting tool but I still haven’t gotten the hang of using it, meaning, I still can’t create perfect dots, tsk.

Anyway, after wearing layers of glitter nail polish for the past week, I decided to just wear a simple (almost neutral) pink nail polish from Peripera with the shade PK019 (Peripera is a South Korean cosmetics brand). I reckon that a plain nail polish is easier on the eyes plus I really have no inspiration for a nail art these days.

Pretty Packaging

I love how they paid attention to the details of the brush handle and the packaging as a whole. It made the product look chic and special.

Product

Rose Nail Polish PK019 is a limited edition 2011 F/W collection. I also got PP109, which is a purple colour and you can see the swatch here. I got both colours from Gmarket. Unfortunately, Peripera is not available here in Thailand.

Claim

In Peripera’s page in Gmarket, it claimed that the Rose Nail Polish can be applied with only one layer, will dry after one minute and can last up to one week.

Result/s

I can really attest to all of their claims – a thick stroke of the nail polish is really enough for one layer; it dried in around 1-2 minutes and it did not chip  for days. Although it comprises of a creamy and thick consistency,  it was easy to apply especially with the help of its flat, wide brush.

Peripera’s flat, wide brush vs. Revlon’s rounded, narrow brush

Here are some swatches…

with top coat  and flash

no flash

and I tried to put one coat of Revlon Whimsical on my ring finger

(I had to redo my ring finger because when I applied two layers of Whimsical, it got messy and was quite odd-looking. I should have just used one coat.)

Will I recommend/ buy again?

I got the Peripera Rose Nail Polish PP019 since November 2011 and it’s still in good condition consistency-wise. I do recommend this nail polish especially to those who are looking for a good quality product at a reasonable price (At Gmarket, three bottles are sold for KRW9,000 ~ approx US$8.14 + shipping, of course). I’m planning to buy more colours the next time I order from Gmarket.

Have your tried any of  Peripera nail polishes before? Care to share your experience?

Hope you all have a fun and stress-free week ahead!

Cheers 🙂

Snapshots from Seoul: The National Folk Museum of Korea

One of the places we (our tour group) visited when I went to Seoul is The National Folk Museum of Korea. Located in the heart of Seoul and right next to Gyeongbokgung Palace, the national museum features over 98,000 artifacts and comprises of three exhibition halls.

According to the website,the Three Exhibition Halls are:

“1.) History of Korean People – which displays the representative materials of everyday life and customs in Korea from prehistoric to modern times.

“2.) The Korean Way of Life – which illustrates how Korean life of the Joseon period (1392-1910) revolved around the cycles of nature central to an agricultural society.

“3.) Life Cycle of Koreans – which traces the  major events in the life of  a Korean born into the upper class of Joseon (1392-1910)  society.”

Credits to The National Folk Museum of Korea website that can be accessed here.

The National Folk Museum of Korea also holds open-air exhibitions and special classes such as traditional crafts workshop and traditional music and dance for foreign visitors. There is also a Donation Hall to recognise those who have donated family heirlooms permanently to the museum as well as a souvenir shop where you can find books, replicas, artwork, fans, magnets, pens, and the list goes on…

Here are some of the photos I took. Apologies for the picture quality as camera flash is not allowed inside the museum halls. Please click the photos to enlarge 😉

The National Folk Museum Building

entrance

(I’m sorry I can’t remember the name of the mountain ;))

another side

Clothes worn on 1st birthday (yellow and red hanbok for boy and girl, respectively)

Wedding Ceremony

Bridal Palanquin

I’m not too sure if it’s a funeral pyre. (sorry!)

Clothes and Head dress depending on position in society

Another set of clothes and head dress

Throne Hall at Gyeongbokgung Palace

I don’t have a lot of pictures because I forgot to take them as I read and looked through the displays.

I love museums and I am always fascinated by learning more about the history, culture and way of life of a certain place, country, group of people, etc.  What is also so awesome was the fact that the things I used to just see in historical Korean dramas were right before my very eyes.

It was also cool to be allowed to take pictures inside the museum 🙂 I hope you enjoyed looking through the pictures albeit not really complete and comprehensive (some pictures have my face :). My last “Snapshots from Seoul” entry is coming up… Guess what it will be about? 😉

Do you enjoy getting lost and immersed in museum exhibits? What’s your favourite museum? Care to share?

Cheers 🙂

More Pictures from my South Korean Winter Trip

Hi everyone, I’m showing you more pictures from my South Korean trip a month ago. You can tell I am really missing this beautiful country… and especially the cold weather (as the weather here in Bangkok averages in 34 degrees Celsius, sometimes it gets to 36 degrees Celsius even).

Please join me as I reminisce my trip through my camera lens…

(Note: Long and picture-heavy post)

Yangji Pine Resort

We were brought to Yangji Pine Resort to ski but everyone in our group opted for sledding instead. I don’t know how to ski so I joined them, too. We were allotted three hours at the ski resort but after 20 minutes of perhaps 6 times of going up and down the slope, everyone had enough of it. I think I did more but I got tired and perspired in my heavily layered clothes so I stopped after a few minutes, too. All we did was take pictures near the beginners’ ski slope. Then we just sat down, ate, talked and took more photos again.

Waujeongsa Temple

We went to Waujeongsa Temple after our “ski activity” which is famous for the Buddha head and reclining Buddha. We only stayed here for a few minutes so I was not able to explore the temple grounds or even go inside the temple.

Everland

‘Everland Resort is South Korea’s theme park. According to its website, “Everland comprises of Everland (one of the four major theme parks in the world), Caribbean Bay (world-class water park), Home Bridge (nature-themed lodging facility), Glen Rose Golf Club (public gold course), Hoam Art Museum, and Transportation Museum.”

We only went to see Everland but with only three hours inside the huge theme park, it was not enough to see everything. Queuing and waiting alone took more than half an hour for each attraction. So we missed the many awesome attractions such as Safari World, Snow Buster, Rolling XTrain, Mystery Mansion and a whole lot more. We were only able to watch a 3D movie, “Zootopia”, featuring Everland’s mascots, at the Space Tour. The best part in Everland? We went shopping at Etude House! 🙂

Drum Cat Show

We also watched a performance called “Drum Cat” featuring an all-female percussion group which is recognized internationally for its amazing drumming skills and entertaining shows. Located at MyungBo Arthall, I thought I will not enjoy the show but I did. It was amazing how they performed – drumming and dancing in rhythm as well as engaging the audience to participate. There was also a pretty violinist who accompanied the Drum Cats as well as a comedic duo who performed magic tricks to keep the audience lively and interested. The people in the audience aren’t the best though, because they don’t participate. I’m not sure if they didn’t understand or they just don’t care.

N Seoul Tower

N Seoul Tower is a communication and observation tower located in Namsan, in central Seoul. And no, we did not go up to the observation deck or the restaurant (it is not part of our package). Some of us wanted to go up the tower but we only stayed there for 15 minutes (our walk up and down the tower/ mountain took longer). At least the love locks were at the foot of the tower.  The love locks placed by couples are believed to symbolize that they will be together forever. Since I was by my lonesome, I didn’t  bring my own padlock 😉

I really can’t wait to be back to see and experience more things like a local – ride the subway and buses, visit the supermarket and markets, eat streetfood, order my own food, walk along Cheonggyecheon Stream, probably do some fangirling stuff 😉 and the list goes on…

Have you been to South Korea or Seoul? What’s your favourite place? Care to share?

Cheers 🙂