I haven't hauled anything in so long... Concert tickets are expensive and I've been trying to use up what skincare I already have. But with the free time at work, I've lurking the Asian Beauty sub-reddit and reading a lot. After seeing so many opinions and general liking of "BAE" I decided to do an order with them. I can say I wasn't disappointed.

I picked up a few items for an impression haul, chose some well raved products and some that I was just curious about. I received this package in June but never got the chance to finish writing a post, it's late and I already got another Jolse haul but better late than never, right?

You get free standard shipping and tracking for orders over $40USD, which is pretty nice. If you wanted tracking without being on the price tier, it's only $2.50 for tracking itself. My order took about 2 days to be processed and shipped, and another 2 weeks to arrive. In terms of speed, it was right on time, 10 business days.

I got a haul in between the $75 and $100 mark to try out their samples variety since you get to choose a free full sized gift at the $100 tier. They gave a pretty decent variety of samples from make-up to skincare and included a sheet mask ($50 tier) and a scrub glove (not shown; $70 tier). Since it was my first time hauling from them, I expected to be impressed this much; second haul, that's another post. Didn't know TonyMoly had packets for hand cream samples though, interesting.

There were some leakage horror stories I've read about certain products but all my products came in perfect condition and beautifully bubble wrapped. They also markdown the customs sheet by a lot, I mean, quite a lot and checks them off as gifts. My order was over $70, but they marked it down to $7. The package passed customs safely and freely into my hands.

In terms of variety in brands that Jolse offers, you'll definitely be able to find the usual suspects like Skin Food, Etude House, Innisfree, Nature Republic, Missha, and all that other jazz. Products are updated pretty frequently so you won't miss out on trying the newest products hot of the press from Korea. There's also always something in the 1+1 section and often there are sales and discounts. The pricing for the products aren't too bad either, if not for the conversion rates.

If you like samples and free shipping, I recommend giving Jolse a try.

Here's the lineup of this time's haul:

• OST C20 Serum
• the SAEM Ubran Eco Harakeke Essence
• the SAEM Cover Perfect Tip Concealer
• CosRX Natural BHA Skin Returning Emulsion
• CosRX AHA Whitehead Power Liquid

Initially, I was looking for an emulsion for my acne-prone sister and heard good things about actives. I have never had an actual active step in my skincare before so I thought it'd be good to try and compare.

Picked up two CosRX products, both with or is an active itself. I chose to go with the BHA Emulsion first to ease my skin into using an active, I'm not ready for the purging to happen with the full BHA Blackhead Liquid. I still purged a bit, not a bit, but not a lot. It might've happened slower since it supposedly has a lower concentrate of BHA than the Blackhead Liquid. At first I started at night only, then I switched to morning only, I've also tried both day and night. I tried this in a span of a month, but I found it to be best used in the morning, since I did AHA every three days in the evening. Using the BHA emulsion day and night started to over-exfoliate me so I slowed down the routine again recently.

I'll probably hand over the emulsion to my sister now that's I've got my skin used to everything and I'll purchase the BHA Blackhead Liquid in a new haul sometime later.

My the SAEM Harakeke Essence was to mainly to replace my TFS Smim Dew Fermentation Moisturizing Essence which I reluctantly finished. It was a really nice serum but it didn't do enough for me to justify buying it in full price (I got it on discount). I'm liking the Harakeke Essence right now, although I think my skin was a bit sensitive to something when I first tried it.

I got the Cover Perfect Tip Concealer as well since it was quite popular among certain beauty bloggers. It's not bad but it definitely oxidizes and does become dry through the day. I got it in shade 1.5, which works well for my dark circles but not that well for the rest of my face. It's just a slight shade darker so I might look at buying shade 1 in the future. This concealer also has SPF 28, PA++ for those interested.

I haven't used my C20 yet since I just started on the acids, I've been meaning to try it sometime, so maybe this week. It's just been fitting comfy in my fridge for the past while, I think my skin's calmed enough to finally start.

Finding time to write these days isn't hard but the motivation to write is floating around somewhere. I guess I also haven't been buying much either in the past couple of months, so there's that. Most of my money these days have been going to upcoming concerts and events. I, for some reason or other, splurged to see Bangtan in September... and of course, that BIGBANG concert this coming October wasn't cheap.

Summer is a blackhole for money.

The perfectly aligned February is finally over. Despite it being my birth month, February has never been one of my favourite months. Too many events, the weather is horrid, and just generally a very stressful month. The temperature dipped to extreme lows this month thus making the air even more dry and frigid than before. To be honest, this is pretty common for a Canadian winter so it didn't phase me much.

Due to the extreme cold, I tried to stay home most days catching up on my animanga. I did have some days where I went out to meet up with friends, relatives, and also for lunar new year. My make up and skincare routines stayed mostly the same this month so you may not see as many skincare favourites as last month. It's actually mainly eye make up this month.

Cosmetic Favourites

1) Innisfree Mineral Single Shadow #40 Girly Ribbon

If you've read the haul post with this item in it, you would know that this was not one of my initial favourites. However, after using it more frequently, I've come to like this soft dark neutral colour. It really matched the mood this month. As you will see in the swatch a little bit lower in the post, this colour is not very pigmented and it does fade a bit sometimes. Despite all that, it gave me a very nice mauve base that was a little bit more smokey than natural but still not too exaggerated. It became one of my go-to shades for the rest of winter.

2) Annabelle Eye Shadow #118 Golden Shine

February is the month which Lunar New Year often occurs, and what is auspicious for this event? Definitely, gold. For me and my Chinese relatives, red and gold become the staple colours during those couple of days. The occasion basically called for gold eye shadow. This gold eye shadow isn't sparkly, but it is shimmery. It is also not overly exaggerated but gave my eyes the perfect gold sheen.

3) the Saem Eco Soul Shine Jelly Shadow #02 Sexy Plum

I felt that red eye shadow might have been too much even for a special event so I went for something less bright but still gives some colour to the eyes. This shadow rose well to the occasion to give my eyes a good amount of red and sparkle. It is quite pigmented and is pretty long lasting. It is a "jelly" type shadow thus it feels similar to an ink pad and applies similar to cream shadows but not as cakey. It was really perfect this February.

Swatch for the three above shadows.

4) Nature Republic Real Nature Rose Ampoule

This ampoule was something I received at the end of January, replacing my Innisfree Green Tea Serum. So far I've been pretty impressed with this product, it has been keeping my skin quite hydrated and smooth. I do also notice my skin looking a little bit brighter and the rose scent in the product is very lovely so I would say this is a favourite this month. I haven't had any problems with it in the month that I've been using it other than somewhat disliking the dropper.

5) Lush Rose Jam Bubbleroon

Unfortunately, there won't be a photo of this product since I've gone and kind of cut it up not thinking much about it. You will see a glimpse of it in an upcoming review though so there's that. It basically looks like a large pink whoopie pie (or I think it's supposed to look like a macaron). Being a first time user of Lush products, I was pleasantly surprised by this bubbleroon (bubble bar). I don't want to say too much about it since I'm also talking about it in the next review so I'll just say this; it made my skin feel so smooth and it smelled so nice. Having a pink bath is also dream come true.

Media Favourites

1. Kang Seung Yoon - 맘도둑 (Stealer)


This was my February jam. I had this on repeat for a while because of, well, everything about this song. I'm still not quite over it, it's such a lovely, soothing song. Somewhat different from his new sophisticated WINNER image, Kang Seungyoon is super adorable in his solo videos. Although I spent my Valentine's day celebrating anything but, this song gives you the sweet lovey dovey feeling that makes you feel bubbly. If ever you need a sweet little pick me up song, I'd definitely recommend this one. (His Wild and Young single is also really good, more upbeat rock-pop type music. It Rains, his other single, is a more low tempo, relaxing song if you're more into that. Seungyoon's voice is just so refreshing to listen to.)

2. 京騒戯画 (Kyousougiga)


As I wrote in the intro, I finally had the time to go through my unfinished animanga list. Kyousogiga was one of the shows I anticipated since they released the very first ONA in 2011. At first everyone thought it was going to be a one over but I guess it attracted enough attention to garner more development. I was originally attracted to the fact that it was heavily inspired by Alice in Wonderland and by the colourful animation. As the story became more developed in the 2012 five episode back-story ONA, I got more and more interested in the characters and their stories. Finally, with the ten full episodes in 2013, the story was deliciously complete.

This show is a little hard to summarize and describe depending on which part of the series you are watching. There are themes that I think could be openly interpreted but I also feel that this was ultimately a story about some very deep messages. Definitely, you cannot judge this series by the colourful and cute animations. The story of the original ONA is not what it seems. There are stories later of love, selfishness, discovery, and other existential themes. It's definitely something one needs to experience oneself, I cannot recommend this enough. The finale is also quite satisfying, it closes the story quite well which is always an important thing for a good show. More details, here.

3. 暗殺教室 (Assassination Classroom)

This was something I randomly picked up, I saw it on the front page since it was newly updated and thought I'd give it a try. To be honest, I thought I would drop it after the first couple of chapters. I was sorely mistaken. This is an absolute gem despite the premise sounding utterly ridiculous. While usually not a fan of these shounen type manga, I actually got sucked right into it. It does have the typical "teacher helping and inspiring students to excel in life" kind of story, what keeps me going is the big mystery of Korosensei. While the story moves slowly, it gives itself a kind of deadline as well. Although I suspect that "deadline" may become the true climax of the story. For a story to keep my attention as well as this one is doing takes quite some power. It also recently got an anime adaptation, so I started watching that too. The show itself is very colourful and fun so far. If you're interested in a not very spoilery summary, click here.

4. Adult Wednesday Addams (YouTube Series)


If you grew up like I did, then you must've watched The Addams Family some time in your childhood. My family and I loved that show, although strange they let me watch it as a child with all the macabre themes subtly inserted in that show. I remember mainly watching The New Addams Family since it was the one airing on TV at the time and the 1991 movie. As if it were #tbt, I find this little gem while wandering through the internet. It's so nice to see an adaptation of a grown-up Wednesday, it's like we've grown up together. I'm not throwing this up here for nostalgia (though a big part of it) but this mini-series also throws you some modern issues and how to deal with it Wednesday's way. Nonetheless, I look forward to continue watching this mini-series as it is witty and just plain good to watch.

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How was your February? Hopefully the cold and snow didn't get you too good, it was a frosty February. I tried to keep it short, I noticed that I tend to write too much when I'm not even trying to write a review. Let's keep marching on this March!