Hi friends!
One of the best things about living in Korea is Gmarket. For those of you who don’t know, Gmarket is the Korean equivalent of… well, I don’t actually think we’ve come up with something equally as AWESOME so it is sort of in a league of its own. Basically, its a website where you can shop online for pretty much ANYTHING. Clothes, shoes, food, makeup, technology, furtniture, art… you name it, Gmarket’s got it. I, of course, prefer to peruse the beauty section, especially after an ill-fitting shoe purchase put me off the endless, impossible search for Korean shoes that fit. Besides, who needs shoes when you can buy cosmetics!?
The other night I was clicking around (as I love to do) and saw a few things on sale that I obviously had to try. The first one was A’Pieu’s Kissable Tint Stick SPF14/PA+. This is basically a ripoff/dupe of Dior’s Lip Glow, which is the ubiquitous and beautiful lip product du jour. Basically, it is ever-so-slightly tinted to give a ‘my looks but better’ appearance, with a soft, pink glow. My friend Sehar swears by it, and also one of the 5-year-olds in my class has it. Yep, my grubby little angel is swinging a Dior lippie like it ain’t a thing. My kids officially have more swag than me.
This is what it looks like:
(I hope you like my beautiful new flowers in the background! I <3 them)
I actually really love the smell of this lip balm/stick and it feels so nice on. The smell actually reminds me of a cherry lip balm I had when I was a kid that I used to love, so it takes me back! It’s fragrance is sort of a mix of cherry and strawberry but it is quite faint so I really had to rack my brain (and nostrils) to identify the scents. It feels like a balm to me but it leaves a nice shiny, glowy sheen without being sticky. Really happy with this purchase, especially for ₩7,500!
Gmarket/Missha (A’Pieu’s sister brand) also sent me two samples of Missha’s Ultra Water-full Cream, which I always appreciate. They actually put this tiny little lip stick in a box with loads of stuffing, which seemed ridiculous but at least when I dropped it (because yes, I did drop it) I knew it wasn’t going to get bruised.
Next, Mizon were having a 1+1 on their I’m By Mizon Water Glam Lip Tint. I have actually been pretty curious about Mizon for a while, ever since I heard of their All in One Snail Repair Cream which has made pretty big waves in the Korean beauty industry and blogosphere (I think). I ordered one of these babies in Hot Pink and one in Pink. Adventurous, I know!
One of the best parts of this whole order were the amount of samples Mizon gave me. They came in a cute little paper envelope and especially compared to the Missha samples it seemed like a lot! I was so happy, samples really do work wonders on me. So much free mini goodness! For those of you wondering, the samples are: Mizon’s Original Skin Energy Placenta 45, Pore Refine Silky Essence, Water Volume Aqua Gel Cream, Snail Repair Intensive Ampoule and All in One Snail Repair Cream(!). I am one happy waygook!
Lip tints seem to be another trend right now in Korea (especially the ‘gradient lip’ which I don’t fully understand) and I find these ones really interesting. In the pictures on Gmarket, they looked really robotic and angular, and I thought, ‘oh, that’s just Korean photoshopping for you, like when they put water drops all over pictures of face creams, they’ll be a lipstick for sure and not some plastic-coated future-tube’. WRONG. These things are actually a plastic, lipstick-shape tube filled with the lip tint which appears from a hole in the middle when you rotate the stick. This is all sounding a bit weird so I’m just gonna insert a photo right here:
Crazy, no? I find this really peculiar and funny and oh-so-Korean and I love it. It’s really fun to use and I don’t know, I’m just so excited! Korea has done some funny things to me, and one of those things is altering my perception of a normal reaction to a cosmetics product/inanimate object. These things are fun and they actually work, too (bonus!).
I tried them on straight away and found them to be really moisturising, even though I was waiting for that drying, lip-tint thing to happen. Excellent. Then I had some water, ate some snacks (obvs) and checked the mirror. It was still there, bright as day. I haven’t tested this out over an extended period but I have high hopes for these babies!The hot pink may be a tad too bright for me but you can control the amount you apply and blended together they look really pretty. Plus, did I mention they’re fun and beautiful and amazing?! I just… I’m just so happy.
And that concludes the end of this review/love fest. As I said, Gmarket is amazing and I highly recommend everyone try it at least once in their lives. It does ship worldwide so really, you’re losing money by not buying random things from it. I’ve always had great experiences with it and it’s just so fun!
I hope you enjoyed this rave/rant and I will speak to y’all soon!
Steph x
I am so jealous of your haul! You can order from Gmarket overseas, the shipping costs are INSANE because the stuff can only be sent via EMS. Sort of takes away from those awesome deal prices. :/ Anyway, I had no idea that Mizon made tints! I’m very, very intrigued.
Oh no! I didn’t know that, I assumed it would be as awesome for everyone 🙁 Yes as much as I miss things from home, this awesomeness makes up for it hehe. I actually really like the pink Mizon tint, it’s really pretty and natural and just fun to use. And moisturising too! Perhaps you should try it 😉
Awesome haul. I also like to order from korean sellers. They give a lot of samples! 😉
Oh my gosh they are the best! Gmarket really impressed me with the amount of samples I received, there were more than what some of the stores give me (although it really depends who you get)! Isn’t online shopping great?! 😉