Hello everyone!
It's been raining almost every day in California lately, so I haven't been able to take any pictures for reviews. Instead, today I thought I'd talk about something else and do something that I've never done on this blog before- a travel post! Sort of. For those of you who don't know, I was in Seoul, South Korea for almost the entire summer of 2016. Long story short: I was there for Korea University's international (pre-college for me) summer program. I know I said I'd blog about it, but as you can see... that didn't happen, heh. ^^; If you guys would like to hear about what I did in Korea and what the program was like though, let me know in the comments below and I'll definitely set aside time to write posts about Seoul and the program! :D
Anyways, during my stay in Seoul, I was able to meet up with my lovely unnie Alice, aka Seohyun Bang, aka the woman behind W2Beauty. I first started talking with Alice when I started my blog, so about 2.5 years ago. At that time I emailed her to ask about her recommendations for a certain product, but over time we started talking more and more and became friends. So when I told her that I was going to Seoul to study, we agreed that we had to meet up. If you're reading this unnie, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to hang out with me!
Enough chitchat now, and let's get started with the actual post! I apologize beforehand for the lack of details and pictures- it's been half a year since I went to Seoul and I took along a crappy point-and-shoot camera instead of my DSLR.
Side note to self: never ever get lazy again and always bring a good camera even if it's heavy. =__= One of my biggest regrets tbh was not bringing my DSLR.
Side note to self: never ever get lazy again and always bring a good camera even if it's heavy. =__= One of my biggest regrets tbh was not bringing my DSLR.
Alice and I decided to meet in Myeongdong, which is the shopping district of Seoul when it comes to Korean cosmetics. It's literally every beauty blogger's dream place (and also our wallets' worst nightmare haha). I seriously spent so much money and time just wandering the streets of Myeongdong with friends and by myself. Since Alice and I met up during the early evening, we decided to have an early dinner. She took me to one of her favorite restaurants, which I don't remember the name to, but if you guys are interested I can ask Alice and let you all know! It was located on the outer edges of Myeongdong somewhere near the back away from the entrance. The restaurant was on the second floor of a building and it wasn't extremely visible. What I remember though was that that place had the best bulgogi I ever had. If you're a fan of bulgogi, then you definitely have to give this place a try!
While we were waiting for the meat to cook we attempted to take photos together. By attempted I mean we tried and semi-failed lol
Sooo yeah. Moving on. Here's a picture of the bulgogi (I can't find any other pictures of it >__<).
To be honest I wouldn't really recommend getting bulgogi in Korea if you're looking for Korean dishes you can't try anywhere else or dishes that just don't taste the same outside of Korea (like tteokbokki). However if you're going to get bulgogi anywhere then that's the place!
After we ate Alice took me to one of her favorite stores in Myeongdong, which also happens to be one of mine too- the Primera flagship store! I don't have any photos of the inside of the store because I wasn't sure if the employees allow pictures, but it's really nice inside with even a sink for you to try out their cleansing products.
We also went to the IOPE flagship store, where the employees passed out miniature airpuffs for you to test out the cushions. The famous IOPE Air Cushions were everywhere in the store! Check out this giant IOPE Air Cushion and the wall of cushion cases behind it:
You could even dress up as Miss IOPE and take a picture wearing a tiara, sash, and other accessories. I didn't take any pictures though because the store was quite crowded ^^;
After we left the store Alice had to buy a few things for W2Beauty, so we went on a mini shopping trip for her customers! If you were interested in what goes on behind the scenes of W2Beauty, here's some pictures of Alice shopping. We went to Tony Moly, A'Pieu, Clio, and a couple of other stores as well! Can you recognize any of the brands below?
We also passed by the Laneige flagship store, located in the center of Myeongdong. Laneige had just released their LANEIGE X PLAYNOMORE collection back then.
As we walked around Alice and I talked about W2Beauty, since she single handedly runs everything (although she does get help from her boyfriend for certain things). I always thought it was amazing of her to be able to handle hundreds of customer emails, shopping, and shipping orders all by herself. She told me about how she's received calls from customers at 3 in the morning before, which was a bit shocking to hear. Of course, she said, even if she was sleeping she still answers them since it's her job. When asked about why she doesn't hire someone to help her, she said that she prefers to keep the close relationship/contact she keeps with her customers, which I think is what makes W2Beauty different from other Korean beauty stores. I remember what made me interested in W2Beauty in the first place was the fact that the owner personally answered customer emails, and that the owner was really sweet. If any of you have contacted Alice before, you probably know what I mean! ^^
A quick side note- Alice is soo pretty! Pictures don't do her justice, honestly. She reminds me of Bora from SISTAR! Also her skin is perfect. Praying that one day my skin will reach the level of perfection that I saw so many girls in Korea have lol
Alice also mentioned how her phone got stolen twice in Myeongdong already, which I was surprised to hear since pickpocketing didn't seem very common in Korea (as opposed to China). A reminder to everyone to always be careful of your personal belongings when in crowded areas, you never know what could happen!
We spent the rest of our time together chatting at the coffee shop and eventually parted ways on the subway at around 10 pm I think. I had a lot of fun, and it was so nice to finally meet a good friend after talking with them online for so long! Alice even got me a lot of gifts, and of course I gave her some too but she seriously spoiled me guys ;__;
Please check out W2Beauty and feel free to like/follow Alice on Facebook and Instagram for giveaways and other updates! First time customers can sign up using my code 04308009 to receive $5 off their first minimum order of $30.
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| Alice looking through customers' orders near the end of our meal. |
We also went to the IOPE flagship store, where the employees passed out miniature airpuffs for you to test out the cushions. The famous IOPE Air Cushions were everywhere in the store! Check out this giant IOPE Air Cushion and the wall of cushion cases behind it:
You could even dress up as Miss IOPE and take a picture wearing a tiara, sash, and other accessories. I didn't take any pictures though because the store was quite crowded ^^;
After we left the store Alice had to buy a few things for W2Beauty, so we went on a mini shopping trip for her customers! If you were interested in what goes on behind the scenes of W2Beauty, here's some pictures of Alice shopping. We went to Tony Moly, A'Pieu, Clio, and a couple of other stores as well! Can you recognize any of the brands below?
We also passed by the Laneige flagship store, located in the center of Myeongdong. Laneige had just released their LANEIGE X PLAYNOMORE collection back then.
As we walked around Alice and I talked about W2Beauty, since she single handedly runs everything (although she does get help from her boyfriend for certain things). I always thought it was amazing of her to be able to handle hundreds of customer emails, shopping, and shipping orders all by herself. She told me about how she's received calls from customers at 3 in the morning before, which was a bit shocking to hear. Of course, she said, even if she was sleeping she still answers them since it's her job. When asked about why she doesn't hire someone to help her, she said that she prefers to keep the close relationship/contact she keeps with her customers, which I think is what makes W2Beauty different from other Korean beauty stores. I remember what made me interested in W2Beauty in the first place was the fact that the owner personally answered customer emails, and that the owner was really sweet. If any of you have contacted Alice before, you probably know what I mean! ^^
A quick side note- Alice is soo pretty! Pictures don't do her justice, honestly. She reminds me of Bora from SISTAR! Also her skin is perfect. Praying that one day my skin will reach the level of perfection that I saw so many girls in Korea have lol
Alice also mentioned how her phone got stolen twice in Myeongdong already, which I was surprised to hear since pickpocketing didn't seem very common in Korea (as opposed to China). A reminder to everyone to always be careful of your personal belongings when in crowded areas, you never know what could happen!
We spent the rest of our time together chatting at the coffee shop and eventually parted ways on the subway at around 10 pm I think. I had a lot of fun, and it was so nice to finally meet a good friend after talking with them online for so long! Alice even got me a lot of gifts, and of course I gave her some too but she seriously spoiled me guys ;__;
Please check out W2Beauty and feel free to like/follow Alice on Facebook and Instagram for giveaways and other updates! First time customers can sign up using my code 04308009 to receive $5 off their first minimum order of $30.
If you guys would like to read more about Korea, leave me a comment down below and I'll get to work on those posts! Also, be on the lookout for a HUGE haul post that's coming soon :D Thank you for reading!
Disclaimer: I was not told nor paid to write about this at all, and simply wanted to share a snippet with all of you of what I did in Korea! :)
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