Korean beauty products

I never used to care much about makeup. All through high school and college, makeup was for special occasions only. I didn't bother with it for day-to-day things. Class? Nah. Grabbing dinner with friends? Maybe, if I feel like it. Bar or party? Yeah, I probably should. My rule of thumb was if I paid particular attention to wearing nice clothes, I should throw on some eyeshadow and mascara.  I didn't even learn how to wear foundation until just before I studied in Korea...at 21 years old.

When I was here last time, I bought a pack of face masks and used, like...three.  I didn't bring a lot of eyeshadow colors with me when I moved in August, so I picked a few up when I first got here.

That is when I learned about the samples.

I mean, I already knew that makeup/beauty stores usually gave samples, but I'd never gotten any before.

Ohhhh how times have changed.

Not pictured: all the samples I have already used or packed up to send to friends/family

I have a skincare routine now. It's weird to think about. I used to resist all forms of skincare/makeup/anything even remotely resembling any of that, and now I love going into makeup/beauty stores.

Face masks are 10+10? Whoops, now I have 20 more face masks.

There are stores for this stuff pretty much everywhere, and stuff is generally pretty reasonably priced. I have favorites for different things - I get my eyeshadow here, my face masks there, my nail polish at that one...it's great.  Most of all, I love trying out the different product samples I get. It lets me explore new stuff without worrying about being stuck with a jar or bottle of something I don't like.

The U.S. needs to up its game in regards to this stuff. Seriously. If I ever end up leaving Korea, I'm going to miss the beauty products so much. SO much.

I got my ear pierced!

I wanted to get my cartilage pierced when I was here last year, but I was told not to drink at all for two weeks afterward...and the next day was the last outing of the summer. Nope, not missing that.

Yes, I could have gotten it done in the US, but I wanted something to commemorate my time here. I made getting it done one of my top priorities for the first few weeks, and now I have a third piercing in my right ear~

I went to a shop in Hongdae that seemed pretty cool (and clean!), and the ladies there were super friendly and helpful.  I had looked up some useful vocab before going, and they were impressed that even though they were using English at first, I kept trying to use Korean.  The longest part of the process was trying to pick an earring.  I couldn't settle and ended up picking up a spare for when I can change them out, and I'll probably be back for a couple more eventually.  Overall, earring + piercing was ₩16,000, and the spare was another ₩6,000.  

This shop is a bit of a hike from where I live, but I'm definitely going back there if I decide I want any more piercings while I'm here.