Innisfree Pink Beam Mineral Pact Highlighter {review}

I stumbled across this lovely little highlighter while on a shopping spree in Seoul. After hearing nothing but raving reviews about Innisfree's 'No Sebum' range of products I decided I needed to try them out myself in the hopes of finding a good blotting/setting powder for my oily skin before the humidity of summer arrives here in Korea. I picked up the Mineral Melting BB Cushion and the No Sebum Mineral Pact (reviews to come soon) at one of the Innisfree stores in Myeongdong, and added this Pink Bean Mineral Pact to my shopping basket. It's a delightful new addition to my makeup routine and I am so happy to have it join my collection. It makes a nice change from my Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Correcting Bronzer (which is too dark to wear here in Korea, where pale skin is favoured over the bronzed look) and my ultimate Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Pink Quartz (reviews to come soon!).

As with all of Innisfree's products, the packaging is simple but elegant. This compact fits into the palm of your hand and is the perfect size for slipping into your handbag for mid day touch ups (although I haven't needed to touch up once when using it). It comes in two forms, a pressed powder (pictured here) and a loose powder. I found the powder rather messy, whereas the pressed powder gives more accurate application and you don't need to worry about having a makeup brush handy. The powder puff included in the pressed version does the job perfectly.

The soft pink shimmer lasts all day, and leaves me looked slightly flushed and glowing in a very pretty way. It's gorgeous and I can't quite get enough of it. I use it as my eyeshadow on days when I don't feel like applying anything else.

My only problem with this highlighter is the white sponge applicator. It's so pretty being white, but very impractical, this powder is a highlighter and that means it get's applied over your foundation. The sponge ends up looking dirty as it absorbs the foundation underneath. It's not the end of the world, but still a little annoying. I need to see if I can find replacement puffs for it, then I can just pop a new one in and not worry about it being unhygienic. 

I am loving this new addition to may makeup products, and the packaging is just so sweet. You can find yours at your nearest Innisfree store for W12 000 or online through Gmarket. For international buyers, I'm afraid I haven't seen it for sale on any of the international sites that sell Korean makeup. When I do I'll be sure to let you know. For now you can find other great Korean products for international purchase at the following online stores: w2 Beauty, Soko Glam and WishTrend.

Happy Easter Sunday.

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter Sunday. And what a glorious reason to be celebrating today. Strangely enough, Easter isn't a very big occasion here in korea. You would that with with the hundreds of churches everywhere, it would be a bigger holiday. And we haven't been able to get hold of one Easter egg...so make sure you eat your fill of chocolate for us too!

x

Sad days for South Korea and it's sinking ship

On Wednesday morning a ferry bound for Jeju Island, set sail from Incheon carrying over 450 passengers (of which about 320 were students traveling with their teachers on a school trip). Just three hours from it's destination, the ferry began to list and start sinking. From there things seem to get a little hazy, with some reports stating the captain (who was a fill in for the actual captain away on leave) first told passengers to stay where they were, grab a life jacket and sit tight, and then issued the evacuation call, which it seems may or may not have been heard over the intercom system.

Farmboy and I have been on ferries just like the one that is sinking, and they are a nightmare. Everyone pushing and shoving under normal circumstances when entering and leaving the boat, never mind when there is the threat of a sinking ship. The stairways are narrow, metal and therefore very slippery when wet. It must have been terrifying. Coupled with the fact that I'm sure many passengers are not strong swimmers, and the water is 12C or 55F. 

I recently read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers which offers some ideas and plausible reasonings behind previous Korean airline crashes, stating that the Korean culture of respecting ones elders and superiors is so deeply ingrained that obeying orders often overrides common sense. Could this be a reason for the delay in evacuation? It's something to think about.

Passenger Koo Bon-hee, 36, told the AP that many people were trapped inside by windows that were too hard to break. He wanted to escape earlier but an announcement said passengers should stay put.

"The rescue wasn't done well. We were wearing life jackets. We had time," Koo, who was on a business trip to Jeju with a co-worker, said from a hospital bed in Mokpo where he was treated for minor injuries. "If people had jumped into the water ... they could have been rescued. But we were told not to go out." (Fox News)

As of publishing this post 179 people have been rescued, 28 have died, and 268 are still missing. My students are devastated by the news, and it's hard to try and teach them English when their minds are occupied. If you are interested in keeping up to date with the news, click here for live video coverage (it's all in Korean but you do get a good idea of what's happening).

Our Apartment in South Korea

A lot of family and friends have asked us about our apartment here in South Korea so I thought I'd post the pictures here for those of you who might be interested to see how we live here in Asia. This apartment is what is known as a 2 room apartment (one bedroom and one living room). Most teachers are placed in studio apartments which are one room, and that one room houses the bedroom, kitchen and living room. There isn't much space in Korea and nearly everyone here lives in apartments. We felt rather ungrateful asking for a bigger apartment this year, as there are families of three or four living in apartments the same size as ours. Luckily for us, a friend of ours is leaving soon (he was randomly placed in a huge three bedroom apartment in our town) and we are very fortunate to be moving in there next week It's much older that this place, and needs a lot of work done, but I'll take scrubbing for weeks on end for three bedrooms any day. These photographs were all taken with my phone, so they are a little on the blurry side but they do give you a good idea of where we have been living for the past year.

The picture above was taken from our front door. As you walk in the bathroom is directly ahead, and the door on the left houses the washing machine and boiler for our hot water and underfloor heating system or Ondol as it's called here. The picturebelow left is what is inside the washing room looks like (as you can see it's impossible to buy toilet paper in anything less than packs of 36...#toiletpaperforyears). And the photograph above right is of the front door. The white cupboard is a show cupboard. We have gone all Korean and don't wear our shoes in the house at all. It keeps things a lot cleaner too.

Below is our kitchen area. All of us teachers are given the basics in our apartment (microwave, one or two plate stove, bed, wardrobe, table, fridge and TV) the rest of the appliances we have to purchase ourselves. It's a pretty good deal considering we don't pay rent at all! We bought the little stove online (it works like  bomb) and found the milk crates outside. As our space is very limited, everything is very compact (you can se where my exercise equipment lives too!)

From the kitchen we have a sliding door which leads to the bedroom. We do have quite a lot of space in our bedroom, and  lovely big window which lets in plenty of light. Apart from our small kitchen window the bedroom window is the only other natural light source in our house, which isn't so great in winter time.

As you can see we make use of every inch of space for storage. We found the most amazing vacuum sealing bags that shrink mountains of clothes and bedding into small, manageable bags (as pictured above my wardrobe). And yes, those are aeroplanes planes you can see hiding behind the TV and on top of Farmboys cupboard (there were five, but I managed to convince him he only really needs two at the moment). They are actually really amazing little machines that Farmboy built himself and flies all over our town. You can see some of them in action here. 

And finally the bathroom (or wet room as they are called here as the space is completely with no actual 'shower area'. We are lucky that our shower is in the corner of the bathroom. Most apartments have the shower placed above the toilet, so when you shower, the entire room gets soaked (including the toilet paper!). And I've included a sneaky pic of my bathroom cupboard too (hubby thinks I own far too many products, what do you think? And yes, the top right hand corner is just for him, how much more space does he need really?)

So there you have it. Our two bedroom apartment in Buan, South Korea. It actually looks pretty spacious from these pictures, but I took them on a day when there was no laundry hanging out to dry, when we didn't have guests staying over and the blow up mattress was out, or when I was baking. It's been a lovely little home for the past year, but we are VERY ready to move into out bigger place next week...yippee! You can see our old apartments in South Korea back in 2010 by clicking here (they were studio apartments and much smaller than the one we are in now).

Peanut Butter, Banana, Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip cookies {recipe}

Oh my these cookies are yummy (freshly baked as well as eaten just out of the mixing bowl). I found the original recipe on one of my favourite food blog's Sally's Baking Addiction when looking for a use for my brown bananas and oats (or oatmeal). These cookies are wholesome (they are in fact gluten free as they contain no flour) and are super easy to whip together. They contain no flour, sugar, milk or eggs.

I had them for breakfast (only one morning as I had eaten just about all of them the night before!) and they gave me so much energy, and kept me feeling full for the morning, thus stopping me from reaching for all the snacks in my staff room. Plus, they are filled with only good & healthy ingredients so you can absolutely justify eating cookies for breakfast.

An important thing to note is you need instant oats for this, not rolled oats (but you can whizz your whole, rolled oats in a blender on high for a few minutes to get instant oats). 

Happy baking!

x

Ingredients

• 2 and 1/3 cups (190g) quick oats* (not whole oats)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup (250g) peanut butter (or almond butter as the original recipe called for)
• 1/4 cup (82g) pure maple syrup (or honey)
• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup (60g) dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup (33g) sliced almonds (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180C degrees. Oil a large cookie sheet (I use coconut oil and set aside.

Combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl. Using a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix until all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined. The dough will be sticky and thick.

Roll into balls using a teaspoon to help shape your cookies.  Drop this amount onto a cookie tray and slightly flatten the tops into desired thickness. They won't spread in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes until the edges are very slightly brown. Don't bake any longer or the cookies will taste dry. I took my cookies out right before they started going brown, as I like these cookies chewy. After removing from the oven, allow to cool completely (if you can stop yourself from tucking in!).

These cookies will stay fresh at room temperature for 1 week and can be frozen up to 3 months.

*adapted from the original recipe over on Sally's Baking Addiction

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope your week hasn't been too tough on you, and if it has, well you've got 2 days to recover and gain back a little joy in your step. We're off to the coffee expo in Seoul this weekend, and I'm also hoping we manage to find out way to this amazing looking coffee shop below on the outskirts of the capital. Will post my findings if we manage to get there.

Happy weekend everyone!

x

Sue Ann & Shannon {love shoot}

I took these photographs for a special friend when I was still living in Pietermaritzburg last year. The lovely couple got engaged shortly after our shoot, and were married last weekend. I wanted to share them again with you here on the blog.

It was Autumn in South Africa, and we made full use of the pretty light and colourful leaves.

Wishing you and Shannon every happiness in the the world as you embark on your new adventures together as husband and wife Sue! xxx 

As a photographer it's important to look back on your previous work, and see how much you've grown as a photographer. It's so important to continue to grow and learn...I loved this shoot that I did, and I like how the photographs turned out. But knowing what I know now about my camera there are certain small elements that I would change (for one making sure to back up all my images correctly and in a logical way...I had to download these from Facebook as I can no longer find the original files, so that will explain the slight fuzzy look to them!).

Does looking back at your old work inspire of frighten you? I'd love to know how you feel when looking back <3 x

A little letter love...

Here are a few photographs of letter sets that made their way into my every expanding stationery collection yesterday. I will be adding a few of these to my stationery store soon. Are there any that catch your eye?

Life After the Dress {Episode 10} Erin Kendrick

In this series I interview married women of all ages and from all walks of life and ask them real questions about their lives now, after all the glitter and sparkle of the day is over. If you'd like to read more about the series and meet the other lovely ladies I have interviewed, click here.

Today I have a very interesting love story for you, from Erin who blogs over at  Traveling Techies. Erin and her hubby are also here in South Korea, but they aren't doing what 99% of us are doing here. They are doing something a lot more interesting.

So grab yourself a cup of tea  and get ready to feel inspired.

x

Image by Dorette from Dots I Am Photography

Q1: Please introduce yourself (age, of both yourself and your husband, where do
you live, what do you do & how long have you been married for?)
Hello! My name is Erin and I blog at Traveling Techies! My husband and I are both 28 and we've been married for about 3.5 years, the last 2 years of that spent working in one of the largest shipyards in Korea. We're both engineers (a little nerdy, I'll admit it) and love to travel which is how we ended up a long way from home! We make sure to post fun stories about the places we're traveling and also what it's like working in a Korean shipyard. I hope you'll come check us out! 

Q2: Which Disney character do you feel sums you up to a ‘T’?
I'm going to go with Belle from Beauty and the Beast here - not only is she a brunette just like me (brunettes definitely have more fun!) but she was smart, witty, and able to see the beauty inside people which I think is wonderful. I'd like to think I'm a little like her...I'm usually pretty quick to make a joke to make others laugh and I always try to remember not to judge a book by its cover and get to know people for who they are inside. 

Q3: How did you and your hubby meet?
Math class. I know - so romantic...just how I always dreamed it would be! It really is a true story - we met in our differential equations class sophomore year of college and became really good friends over the next 3 years. Once we graduated, we realized we missed each other more than we missed our other friends so we decided to see if dating would work out. Secretly, we both knew that if we ever started dating, that would be it - we'd get married and spend the rest of our days enjoying life together. And, that's just what happened! He moved down to Texas and we started working at the same company, about 6 months later - he asked me to be his forever and we had a beautiful wedding in New England a year later. 

Q4: Was your wedding everything you hoped it would be? Would you go back
and change anything? Do you have any advice for brides-to-be?
Absolutely - I married the man of my dreams and got to celebrate with my family and friends - it was fantastic! We made it our goal early on to: "Get married" - and, all I can say is...mission accomplished! Did everything go as planned?! Of course not...it was pouring with rain...I mean, seriously POURING rain the night before...it even woke me up with all of the thunder and lightning, but it didn't waver my spirit in the least. The next day, as soon as I started putting my dress on, the sun came out in full force. It ended up being great because the grass was extra green for our pictures which was awesome! 

We also had a cross word on our programs to entertain our guests and the way they were printed, it left off some of the boxes. My mom came to me confessing the error and how sorry she was that she didn't catch it and I just laughed and said, "Well, we stumped a church full of engineers...there's no way they can solve it then." 

So, my advice is to remember the end goal is to start your new life with your husband and let everything else be like water on a duck - just let it roll off and keep your smile bright!

Q5: Has ‘life after the dress’ been as you imagined it would be?
I would say it's been better than I imagined - we're traveling the world together and loving it. We make sure to spend quality time together and encourage each other in all that we do. While there have been some bumps in the road and things didn't work out the way we planned all the time, we have absolutely loved being married to each other and are both extremely thankful with how our story has unfolded thus far.

Q6: What have you learnt about yourself since being married?
I CAN cook! In college, they used to tease me because I couldn't really make anything other than sandwiches and Kraft macaroni and cheese. Once we got married, I really loved to make dinner for my husband. I started trying all kinds of new recipes and it's now one of my favorite hobbies! My hubby tells me I have become quite the cook and he's always happy and well fed so it's a win-win in the Kendrick household. 

Q7: If you could describe your marriage in 3 words, what would they be?
This came straight from my husband: "Pretty Damn Sweet"

Q8: Do you have any pearls of wisdom you would like to share with my readers
about being married? Perhaps something some wise person once told you, or
something you’ve learnt the hard way?
Keep your sense of humor - go the extra mile every day to make your hubby or wife laugh and make sure to laugh with them. We feel so much closer to each other when we laugh and often bring up funny stories later because they are inside jokes for us which makes us smile even more. They say a belly laugh is good for your health (lower blood pressure, reduces stress, etc.) and I can assure you that there is nothing better than rolling on the floor laughing with your spouse; it really makes you happy all around. Making those extra efforts to do this as often as possible will keep such a fun spirit between you that even when the stresses of life (finances, major decisions, family drama, etc.) start to get to you, you've got a way to release that for a little while and feel awesome together.  

Top and bottom left Images by Dorette from Dots I Am Photography

You can find Erin at the following places:

Blog

BlogLovin

Pinterest

I hope you have been enjoying this series as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

If you would like to be featured here on the blog, you can drop me an email using the contact form above or leave me a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you!

x

Photography Styling Challenge {LIGHT}

The theme for this months photo styling challenge was Light. I had grand ideas of building a studio, light painting the beautiful cherry blossoms happening here in Korea right now, fairy lights and mason jars but the last few weeks have run away with me and I used what I had at my disposal this morning. This included a new mint green succulent I found at a strawberry festival yesterday, my windowsill, pretty early morning light and a few bamboo shoots.

This is my sixth submission for Redesigned by M's Photography Styling Challenge which she started in June last year. You can see the previous photographs here: Morning, Bedroom, Order, Patterns and Fashion. In this challenge the photographs cannot be edited, and only a maximum of five images may be posted. This is always difficult for me as I tend to take so many photographs and I always struggle to choose JUST five. Each one appeals to me in a different way. But, in essence this is exactly the point of the challenge...to better yourself as a photographer and stylist. 

I chose to use the literal interpretation of light, and catch the early morning rays that come into my little kitchen window. I also wanted to photograph my new 'green' collection of bamboo and succulents, and then thought to myself...plants need light more than anything else to survive. They are the perfect encapsulation of the theme, but also, aren't they pretty!

I used the following settings on my NIkon d300s & 35mm 1.8 lens:

-ISO 250

-Aperture variation of 2.8

-Shutter-speed 500

-I had my white balance on indoor

And for the first time I played around with my exposure (I've never really known exactly what to do with it) and got a glimpse as to how it can lighten certain elements of a photograph. That's the thing with photography, there is always new things to learn, and it's always a fun journey.

Enjoy! x

As always I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Make sure to pop on over to the other participants and see how they interpreted this theme:

Redesigned By M, At The Corner Of Happy And Harried, My Food Tapestry, Inge Kathleen Photography, A Woven Life, The Delicious World Of Chefette Spicy, A Tree Grows in the Bayou, I Live Under A Rock, Hooked On Homes, Samta Photography, Miss Wang Photography

And a warm welcome  to our newest participant: SimplyVegetarian 777

Spring Blooms in Korea

Todays post is a little Instagram round up of all the pretty Spring blossoms and blooms I've seen so far here in South Korea. I'm not sure if I've ever seen such pretty flowers, or whether I am appreciating spring a lot more since having just been through such a cold winter. Spring is quite possibly my favourite month of the year, there is a buzz in the air, and the world seems full of endless possibilities for dreams to come true and for adventures to be had. Wishing you all a very happy Friday and a lovely start to your weekend, wherever in the world you may be.

P.S. Today is your last chance to enter my #Motex labeler Giveaway! Click here to enter <3

Rooftop gardening in Korea

Spring is officially here in South Korea, and to celebrate, Farmboy and I went off in search of some seeds to plant on the roof our apartment. Farmboy has been busy being, well, a farmboy, and hand made garden beds out of old palettes he found lying around in the streets. I found these, round smaller pots at our local Daiso. We also found all the seeds we were looking for at there too, as well as some gardening gloves for me (pink of course). For the soil we headed to the back of our building to dig up some topsoil and we found a large bag of nutrient rich soil at the local garden store. The basil and coriander has already started popping up in the big boxes and I can't wait to start making pesto again!

Not all of us have roof tops here in Korea, or rather not all of us have access to them (or land lords nice enough to let us use the space). If you don't, you can find little pots like these round ones all over the place and you can grow your own herbs and vegetables in your home. Your little plants just need water and sunlight to be happy. Now is the perfect time to start planting before the summer heat & humidity sets in.

Have you had any success growing your own herbs? I'd love to hear from you!

P.S Don't forget to enter my #NationalStationeryWeek Giveway where you can win a very pretty pink Motex labeler...click here to enter!

Motex giveaway in celebration of National Stationery Week!

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Monday marks the start of National Stationery Week in the UK and to celebrate this wonderful occasion, (and because I have a love for all things stationery!) I'm going to be giving away a pretty pink Motex labeler, as well as an extra roll of lime green tape. I have loved my labeler and have gone a little crazy labeling everything I can get my hands on (all in the name if organizing...or so I tell Farmboy). If you're not sure what a Motex labeler is, it's basically a label embosser which uses a click wheel to  literally 'punch' your desired letters or symbols onto sticky backed label paper. You can click here for some pretty pictures of what people have used their labelers to decorate. They have been around for years, but have started gaining popularity again especially within the crafty, snail mail circles of people who use them to make their packages look extra special.

This pink labeler comes with 4 text disks (English uppercase, English lowercase, Korean and another one with symbols I'n not sure the origins of) as well as two rolls of sticky backed tape (one pink and one lime green). The reason for the Korean disk is that the Motex labeler is made right here in Korea.

If you would like to win simply use the giveaway entry system below. I'd also love to know what you plan on labeling first if you win, let me know in the comments section below.

Give me a shout if you have any problems with the entry system (it sometimes acts up in certain internet browsers). You can get multiple entries by doing different things, so just follow the instructions for more info. 

You can also gain another entry by sharing the top image on Instagram and using the following hashtag (so I can track your entry) #citygirlsearching and my username @roxyhutton.

This giveaway is open to everyone (local and international) and the winner will be drawn on Friday evening.

Good luck everyone! 

X

Maehwa Spring Flower Festival in Gwangyang, South Korea

Traditionally one of Korea’s first spring flower festivals, Maehwa Village’s 83 acres of apricot trees cover the Baegunsan mountains with their white blossoms - Discover Korea

This past weekend marked the start of the spring blossoms here in South Korea. One of the first festivals is in Gwangyang (South Jeolla Province) about a 1.5 hour bus ride from Gwangju in Seomjin Village. Farmboy and I headed there last minute on Sunday to catch a glimpse of the pretty blossoms. As with most Korean festivals, we were left disappointed. Not disappointed with the actual blossoms (they were gorgeous!) but with the festival in general. There were so many people. The buses were delayed. The food on offer left a lot to be desired, and everything was over priced. I mean W3000 ($3 for a small can of Sprite?!). But, I'm glad we went along, even if just to remind ourselves of why we visit the beauty that South Korea has to offer on days before and after the designated festival dates.

It took us over 6 bus rides in total to get to Gwangyang, but that's only because we live in the sticks. From the Gwangyang Bus Terminal there is a shuttle bus to Maewwa that goes around the hour which costs W3600 a person. The timetable for the shuttle is on the hour every hour for the festival weekends, but we were able to get standing spots for the 30 minute journey at random intervals between the allocated shuttle times. From the festival grounds, we were able to buy return tickets all the way back to Gwangju. As the weather was so nice it turned out to be a great day. If you are thinking about going, make sure to pack a picnic and try to get there early, before the rest of Korea!

Address

33, Sicheong-ro, Gwangyang-si, Jeollanam-do

전라남도 광양시 다압면 지막1길 55

For more detailed info visit www.gwangyang.co.kr

Coconut oil banana & chocolate chip cookies {recipe}

My friend Cassandra baked these scrumptious coconut oil banana & choc chip cookies a few weeks ago. They were soft and all kinds of melt in your mouth delicious that I had to give them a try too. I decided I would try make them a little bit 'healthier' and used whole wheat flour instead of regular white flour...what a flop. Anyway, my second batch were just about perfect, having followed exactly what the recipe called for (as most people would have done from the beginning, but I like to improvise, add and supplement recipes with what I have in my cupboard at the time. This works for me more often than not, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a husband who will willingly eat anything you bake him).

My little oven here in Korea is a real dragon and heats up to the temperature of 10 suns in only a few minutes. So I baked these for 8 minutes at 100C (and even then I managed to nuke a few while getting distracted by something on Instagram). When you try them yourself I recommend adjusting the time according to your oven, going no more than 12 - 15 minutes before checking on them.

Ingredients (makes about 24 cookies)

1/2 cup coconut oil (melt if not in liquid form)

1 egg

1 ripe banana (I used 4 as I had 4 that were about to turn rather nasty so use according to your taste...the more you add the sweeter your cookies will be and of course the more banana flavour they will have)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup regular sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 tablespoon milk

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

chocolate chips 

Method

1. Mash the bananas with a fork.

2. Cream the oil, egg, sugars, vanilla, milk & banana and mix until smooth.

3. Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix gently.

5. Finally add the chocolate chips and spoon your batter onto a well greased baking tray (I use hardened coconut oil to grease my pans).

Bake in a preheated oven at 150C for 10 - 15 minutes, or until a light, golden brown.

Let me know if you try these super easy, and oh-so-yummy cookies...better yet, share a picture of them with us on Facebook! 

New in my Stationery Store

Last week I finalised the finishing touches on my brand spanking new stationery store, filling it with individual items (pens, pencils, washi tape, lace paper doilies, packaging bags & notebooks) as well as making it easier for you to find what you need. The ordering process is simple, and I am now able to accept payment by debit and credit card (through PayPal).

Prices for items are as follows:

Pencils: $2

Pens: $2.50

Notebooks: $3.50 - $6

Pretty Packages: $15 - $30

Washi Tape: $2 - $3

Lace Paper Doilies: $2.50

Happy shopping!

How to style photographs for your blog

This post is all about helping you create beautiful photographs for your blog, using tools that you already have around the house. I want to show you that you don't need to have a big, fancy camera to create pretty pictures.  All of these photographs have been shot using an Iphone 4S, and when edited, they have been edited in Instagram.

The most important part of blog posts for me, is the images and photographs that go along with the text. If a blog post has terrible photographs, now matter how good their content is, I tend to move on to the next one and probably won't go back. I am a very visual person, and tend to skim over long, wordy blog posts but if a blog has pretty, creative photographs I can spend hours pouring over the details of the photo's, and I'm always left feeling inspired for my own blog. So this post is going to give you some tips for styling your photographs and making them look beautiful, without the need for any fancy equipment.

Step 1 {Think}

Think about the type of photograph you want to take. Are you going for soft and whimsical, or clear and bright? The kind of photo you want to create will determine the sorts of props you will need to make it happen. I wanted to create images images for this blog post that made use of the pretty bits if stationery I have. Most of my stationery colours are pastel and so I decided to go for a muted, warm feeling and added a candle for a little extra ambiance. If you want to style photographs for a recipe post, think about bright colours (possibly adding a variety utensils/fruit/bowls/chopping boards to the mix to give it a kitcheny feel). 

Step 2 {Studio Space}

The base for most styled shoots is a white background/surface so as not to distract from the actual content of your photograph. White also reflects light and when paired with natural light (place your products near a big window for the best natural light) creates a beautiful, soft glow and always looks very professional. I used 2 pieces of white foam board from my local stationery store. One piece for the 'table' or rather to cover my horrible green crates that I use for height, and then I used the other for the background in some of my images. When I didn't use the white board for the background I made sure to set up my 'studio' with a simple section of wallpaper in our apartment.

My studio (unedited). As you can see, you really don't need anything fancy. I used these crates instead of the table as I could move them to the big natural light source in our bedroom.

Step 3 {Play}

Now that you've got your space set up you need to play around with your props until you are happy. Try different angles, try playing with height, move objects around. The options are endless. This is the best and the worst part of styling for me. I love making things look pretty, but sometimes it can take up to 20 tries before I am happy with the photo's. 

Once you feel you've got some great photos, delete the ones you don't like (there's no use having 50 photographs of the same thing when you only need about 5 - 10 good ones). 

Styling your photographs is easy...you don't even need to be a very creative person, just play round with your props and have fun! You can read about more tips and apps for editing your phone pictures by clicking here and here.

Pretty Packages in the mail

A few weeks a go I received a very lovely package in the mail from my friend and fellow South African blogger, Nadia. Everything was put together with such care, such love and all in all...such pretty-ness! These pretty little packages are taking the world by storm under the name 'snail mail' (just do a search on Pinterest or Instagram to see the amount of time people spend on creating pretty packages of stationery and letters to send to friends and pen pals across the seas). 

In essence snail mail is the term given to the physical mailing of letters, which is such a rare thing these days with people opting to instead send instant texts and emails instead of the slower (ie snail) postal service. But, nothing quite beats that feeling of receiving something special from the post man, and that is what Snail Mailing is all about. Nadia has written a wonderful post with more information on snail mailing and how to find pen-pals to exchange packages with...click here to see more.

I have received some lovely packages in the past few months...click here and here to see them. 

Do you enjoy snail mail? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below <3

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Beauty in Korea {and our renewal interviews for year 2}

For those of you who are new here to my blog, my husband (Farmboy) and I have been teaching English in a small town in the South West corner of South Korea since June last year. We packed up our first little home after getting married in 2012 and decided to head out here to build a nest egg and do what we love doing most, traveling and adventuring together. We were here in Korea back in 2010, as a dating couple in the bustling metropolis of Daejeon. After finishing up one year we headed back home to South Africa to get married and get a feel for the job market (which obviously wasn't very exciting as here we are again!). This time around we are able to put a lot more money away as we now live together and share expenses (we chose not to live together before we were married) and because we are in a very small town out in the country. South Korea offers many benefits to their English Teachers (free housing, return flights, renewal bonuses, extra pay for being out in rural areas and for being at multiple schools and relatively inexpensive living costs).  Farmboy teaches at 4 schools, whereas I am lucky enough to be at just one, an all girls middle school. It has been an amazing experience so far, and we have, as planned, decided to stay in our same town and at our same schools for at least another year. 

Since June last year we have been to Malaysia, Vietnam, had to cancel a trip to Mongolia  and traveled extensively around Korea. There have been highs, and a lot of lows (being in a country where EVERYTHING is done so differently from your home country is difficult. The food is strange, the people can be strange, the way that a school is run is strange, the kids can be terrors and you will miss your family and friends more than you can ever prepare yourself for. But, at the same time, if you don't throw yourself head first into situations like these you will never find out how strong you are as a person and how much you are really able to handle. And then there are the positives too (our jobs aren't exactly rocket science and in most cases we are treated really well by our schools). There are days when all I want to do is go home, have babies and spend all day photographing them while baking up delicious chocolate treats. But then I am reminded that this opportunity here in Korea allows us to save for a house back home, meet interesting new people and travel the world. 

BUT the title of this post is about beauty and Korea ( and our interviews), and I seem to have gotten side tracked...I had planned to do an outfit post here, hence the pictures below, but it has turned into more of a reflective post on our time here. This often happens when I blog...and to be honest happens all day in my classroom (my kids love this as it inevitable means less learning and teaching and more stories about South Africa).

Where am I going with this...oh yes...Image and looks are extremely important here in Korea. That sounds awfully shallow but when you live here long enough you being to understand the reasons why. I do not agree with the Korean mentality that beauty is everything, but when someone spends time on their appearance and care has been taken to look neat and tidy this translates to an overall better image of that person than someone who looks sloppy and smells funny. Koreans always look amazing, their makeup and hair is always immaculate and they always look incredibly smart. It gives off a sense of pride, pride in their appearance and pride in who they are. On the other end of the scale, this obsession with outward beauty has led to a unbelievable amount of money being spent plastic surgery, makeup products and diet pills. I understand that for Koreans appearance is everything, this is ingrained into them from birth, and culturally this something us Westerners will never really be able to fully understand. For us, beauty is linked to vanity and is seen as something more on the negative side of things than what it is for the people here. 'Beautiful' people get boyfriends, get married and have a family. If this doesn't happen, the older generation will have no one too look after them when they get to old to work. That is pretty much how it works here. The older generations worked incredibly hard to put their kids through school and university so they can get good jobs. It is then expected that they will provide and care for their elders. It seems a bit odd considering our Western mindsets, but here in Korea there are very few old age homes. Family members are cared for until death, living with their children and their families. Hence why there is such a strong emphasis placed on family.

So it seems that beauty leads to a family which leads to safety and security for the old. Beauty is that important to Koreans. Having said that, I think that one should always try to look neat and tidy, and have a certain level of pride in our appearance. But as the younger generation starts to blend into the same person (having had the same procedures to achieve the perfect lips/chin/cheeks/eyes/mouth) as shown by the latest K-pop (Korean Pop) singer, it starts to be ridiculous. The young women in this society seem ashamed of their Korean looks and heritage , opting for eye lid surgery, cheek implants, lip injections, eye brow lifts and contacts to achieve an impossible level of beauty that borders on lunacy. Here is an article and the picture that went with it which circulated a few years ago about the Miss Korea pageant, I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourself whether or not the contestants all look the same (they are beautiful, for sure, but they look eerily similar, wouldn't you agree?) 

I have nothing against plastic surgery, I know lots of people who have had some form of surgery or another, and it's a very personal decision. What I don't like is that it's being done to such a point that people are barely recognizable as their 'pre-surgery' selves. I must still say that I do have Korean girl friends who don't agree with the plastic surgery craze, so it's important for me to note that not every Korean woman has undergone surgery. But, it is alarming when I ask my middle school girls (13 - 15 year olds) whether they think plastic surgery is a good thing and 65% of them put up their hands and tell me what they are going to have done when they are old enough. It's as common as makeup shopping, and apparently Korea is the cheapest place in the world to go under the knife. You can get your eye lids done during your lunch break and be back at work the next day with little to no recovery time needed.

It's rather strange that the first thing a Korean person will say when they meet you will have something to do with your looks "Oh...beautiful", "Pretty", "Handsome", "Small face", "Big eyes". It's all very flattering at first, but, when you actually think about it, it's really strange. Would the first thing you tell someone when meeting them for the first time be "Oh, you have such a small face. And really big eyes. And you're so pretty"? For Koreans, a small face is seen as 'cute' and whereas a big face is seen as masculine (my students have told me that this is why they make the 'peace' signs with their hands and fingers in pictures, to make their faces appear smaller and therefore more cute and feminine...bizarre).  

And now after all of the above, it seems rather conceited to be posting pictures of myself all dressed up. But I wanted this post to be an outfit one, and then I got a little carried away with the topic of beauty and anyway, here we are now.

This is what I wore to our renewal interview last week. We were meeting with the VIP's in the Education Office and had been advised by friends to go all out to really make a good impression. There have also been lots of rumors of budget cuts and a number of our friends have been been moved/lost their jobs due to these cuts. So we really did want to make a good impression, and were rather nervous throughout the entire interview. But, after lots of smiling and bowing we were done in a very short amount of time and have just been told that we have been accepted to renew. Phew! Then those heels (as little as they are were killing me!) and thin stockings in the middle of winter were worth it!

What do you think about plastic surgery? How do you feel about the fixation with beauty that seems to permeate not just Korea, but the entire world? Are we all just shallow beings, or are we trying to hide what we think is ugly, in the hopes that people will love us for who we really are? I've spent a lot of time thinking about these things since being in Korea, i hope this post today has given you something to think about.

x 

How to create your own homemade stationery {Guest Post}

Today's lovely post is from the very creative Yu Rong, who lives in Australia and has a delightful blog, xo-lovelee. I 'met' Yu Rong on Instagram. She posts the most beautiful photographs of stationery and letters, it's all just so pretty. Each of her photographs is lovingly styled and put together, and I spend hours pouring over every single detail. So I contacted her and asked if she would like to be on my blog, and share a little stationery love for all of you. Thank you for your wonderful words and pictures Yu Rong...it's been lovely following your blog and Instagram and getting to know you <3

Hello hello! My name is Yu Rong, the girl behind xo-lovelee; a fellow blogger and lover of beautiful stationery that is stylish and functional. I adore love letters, pretty colours and washi tape. 

As an avid snail mailer and penpaller, I have seen the most creative way to send beautiful mail. I cherish all the letters that I have received but there is always a special place in my heart for handmade notepaper that have been put together by the amazing creative minds of the writer. There’s something gorgeous about holding something handmade that someone has put time and effort into. Today, I would like to bring to you a combination of all of the above with some handmade stationery paper that can be used for letters, cards and notepaper!

This isn't hard, I promise! It’s super easy and fun to make. All you need are the basics, paper in whatever size you would like, grid or blank, and one of my obsessions at the moment, many different kinds of washi tape!

This is one of my favourites – to make this look, select four to five washi tapes that coordinate with one another. 

The next step is to tear off different lengths of the coordinating washi tape and layer them across the top of the pages. Don’t be afraid to get messy, you can trim off the excess when you’re done!I had so much fun that I just had to make another set!

As you can see, using different washi tapes can give you a different outcome, so don’t be afraid to experiment. You never know what you can create!

Another one of my loves are stamps, the above stamp was purchased from Oh Hello Friend and it makes the most perfect start to a letter, don’t you agree?

I love buntings, so of course I had to create this! Using different washi tapes, cut triangles and stick it on the paper in a row. Mix and match colours, use different patterns of washi tape and whatever else that tickles your fancy! This is very versatile and you can use this for birthday or party invitations. Feel free to use skinny washi tapes as borders for around the paper in order to “dress it up” a bit. 

I've already told you that I love snail mail so an air mail themed paper is required. Using air mail themed washi, I lined the top and bottom border, layering it. 

Washi tapes come in a large variety of patterns, colours and different themes. This makes them very versatile for many different creative creations. I hope you had a good time looking through these and that it inspires you to create your very own handmade stationery!

Do say hello! You can find me at:

Instagram: @xoylee 

Blog: xo-lovelee.blogspot.com