Today I'll be reviewing the Elizavecca Milky Piggy Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask! I received this product from Memebox, which is an awesome website where you can buy Korean beauty products. I mentioned it in this post, where I also hauled this product along with several other goodies from Memebox! I also did a first impressions on this product (which is at the end of this post!) , so don't forget to check out that video and subscribe to my channel, The Beauty Breakdown! 

So let's get to the breakdown...

Packaging

This product comes nicely packaged in a plastic tub and also comes with a handy spatula. It also comes with a plastic lid inside to protect the mask from being exposed to the air. I'll explain this later, but don't throw this away! You need to keep it on there while you have the product! 

Directions
How this product works is you use the little spatula is comes with to smooth the product onto your skin. You then leave it on for 5 minutes while it works its magic and then wash it off!

Benefits
This product is supposed to "deep-clean" your pores. Since it's carbonated and bubbly, it works itself deep into your skin to clean out impurities like excess sebum, dirt, oil and makeup! It's meant to work well on blackheads. This is supposed to be gentle on your skin and used weekly!

Texture
Omg, this product is so weird! It's a jelly-like texture and is an almost gross grey color! Ah, I was kind of scared to put this on my face!

Process
When you initially apply this to your skin, work quick! You want to just get a glob from the tub with the spatula and quickly replace the plastic lid inside. This is because this product activates with oxygen exposure! So you want to be careful not to expose your entire tub or it will be ruined :(

Anyways, I used the spatula to smooth it onto my skin. It almost immediately starts bubbling! As you can see from the first picture, after one minute, the bubbles are already activating! You can actually hear the bubbles as the grow and one thing I was not expecting was the tickling/itchy sensation! This is not a bad thing because it's really from the bubbles. They move very slightly because they are growing and activating, and since it's so subtle, you can feel it! I found this very ticklish (as you can see in the video) but don't worry, it only last for about a minute!

After 3 minutes, you can see there are more bubbles! I was having a lot of fun with this mask clearly! haha.

 Finally, this is what it looked like after 5 minutes. There are lots of bubbles! One tip though if you decide to get this product is be careful not to put it to close to your eyes/hair/nose/etc. because it does expand! You don't want any bubbles in your eyes do you? haha.

 Next, if you want to make the mask more effective, once the bubbles have all expanding, massage the mask into your skin! This was a fun process for me because you get to pop all the bubbles and massage your skin. The mask is nice and smooth so this feels really nice!

 Once it's all popped and massaged in, it just looks like your typical clay mask!

And you reveal...dun dun dun!

Results
Amazing skin! My skin felt so clean and smooth after using this mask! It didn't feel overly tight or dry but it just felt so nice and smooth! OMG I'm in love.

 I couldn't even believe how nice this made my skin! I couldn't stop touching my face.

 Overall
I'm in love with this mask. It's fun to use and even better, it makes my skin look and feel SO nice! In LOVE :)

Packaging: ****

Fun: *****

Texture: ***

Scent: ****

Benefits: *****

Results: *****

Overall: **** (and a half!) 

If you end up using this product, tweet or Instagram me a pick and tell Memebox I sent you :) 

xoxo, 

Morgan 

Shopping in Seoul, Korea: A Guide to Shopping in Myeongdong

This is a fun installment to my website that I thought would be helpful for those of you visiting Korea! When I was initially planning my trip, the thing I was really excited for was the SHOPPING. Seoul, Korea is the shopping mecca and of course, there are different areas that sell different things and have different vibes. Because of this, I wanted to create shopping guides for the different shopping districts! Today's post is going to be on the most notorious place; Myeongdong!

Myeongdong (명동) is the number one shopping district in Seoul. It attracts people from all over the world because it's the one-stop shop for essentially everything. All the streets are lined with delicious places to eat, beauty stores, and international clothing stores and designers.

So let's get to the breakdown of shopping in Myeongdong...

Beauty Shops

If you're looking for one place to buy all your Korean makeup and skincare needs, you should definitely go to Myeongdong. Myeongdong has every Korean beauty brand you could think of and most likely, a couple of the same kind. For example, you can walk down one street in Myeongdong and see at Etude House. Take a stroll a little further, you'll probably find another...and another...and another! This is especially convenient for those of you who like to find the best deals! You can shop around and find the best prices because yes, some of the stores will offer different deals. For example, you could go to one Etude House and find buy one, get one face mask and then go to another Etude House and find buy 10, get 10 face masks. 

Also, you'll notice that since they're are so many beauty shops, there will be sales people standing outside of the stores offering you free samples to come in and look. You do have to enter the store if you want the sample (usually it's a small box of cotton pads or a sheet mask), and look around. You actually don't have to buy anything to look, but I usually don't enter a store unless I'm interested in buying something. This is only because in Korea, the sales associates in the stores are very attentive, especially in the beauty shops. They'll actually follow you around so you can ask questions and they'll usually try to have you try some of their products.

Heads up though if you don't speak Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. If you speak one of these languages, there is almost always someone who can help you. English speakers are a little harder to find and you will rarely find someone to help you if you speak any other language. That's not to say you can't enjoy shopping here! Just be prepared to be a little on your own if you don't speak these languages. But hey, maybe you like shopping that way! 

Restaurants/Street Food

If you're hungry, you can definitely find all kinds of food at Myeongdong. Whether you're in the mood for sitting down somewhere nice for something to eat or just picking something up from a food cart to snack on as you walk around, you'll find it here! 

Don't forget to look up! Usually more places to eat :) 

In this area, you can find all kinds of foods, including international foods and fast food. The prices, even at restaurants, are fairly reasonable. If you're looking for something really cheap, check out the food carts that are usually lined along the streets! For about $1-3 USD, you can buy tteokboki, chicken skewers, spiral potatoes on a stick, and many other choices! And of course, they're delicious. You can always find something to your liking to eat :)   

Clothing Stores

Myeongdong is where you can find a mix of international and Korean clothing stores. The prices here for clothing are mid-range. They're not super cheap but you can clothing for reasonable prices. There are stores like H&M and Forever 21 and also stores like SPAO and UNIQLO. Typically, international brands like Levi's or Converse are more expensive since they're imported. If you're looking for super cheap clothing, check out the carts that come out later in the day or at night or go to another shopping district like Dongdaemun or by EWHA University which I will feature in later posts.   

Hope this was a helpful guide to shopping in Myeongdong! More guides like this to come so let me know if it's helpful or if you have more questions!

xoxo, 

Morgan 

Follow Morgan: Visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, Korea!

My mom and I decided to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace the second day we were in Seoul, Korea. Again, this is another you must do if you're ever visiting Seoul.

Since we started our day off by visiting the palace, my mom and I needed to get something to eat. We ate at this little cafe, The Healing Place, which is across the street from the Gyeongbokgung Palace.  

I can't remember how much it cost to get into the gates but I don't think it's too expensive. Once you're inside, you can spend a couple hours checking out the whole area. There's a lot of land to cover so if you're really interested in looking at the entire area, I would definitely wear comfortable walking shoes! 

What's crazy about this palace for me is that this historical spot is located smack in the busy center of Seoul. Although, most of it was destroyed during the Japanese occupation in the early 20th century, several restoration efforts have been made to re-establish it's former glory.

On a side note, one really cool thing about the Gyeongbokgung Palace is that it has free tours is several different languages. Just head over to the information booth to see what time they are held and where to meet. This was the english-speaking one and as you can see, the tour guides wear traditional hanboks, so they're fairly easy to find. 

One of the first buildings you'll come across is the Geunjeongjeon. This the royal throne hall where the king was formally briefed by his officials. 

This is what the inside looked like. As you can see, this is the throne that the king would sit on. Isn't it so pretty?!

 One thing you'll notice on many of the buildings are gargoyles lining the roofs. Our tour guide pointed these out and told us it's supposed to ward off evil spirits and energies. Be sure to look out for these! I find them so interesting!

 I think at this point, my mom and I decided to wander off from the tour. We'd gotten a lot of interesting information from it, but wanted to walk around a little bit for ourselves. The actual area is so gorgeous and green! Here is the Gyeonghoeru. Look familiar?? That's because this is the same structure that is on the 10,000 won! The King also held formal banquets here.

 Another beautiful structure to check out is the Hyangwonjeong. This was the King's informal banquet hall. Although, I have to say, it still looks pretty dang nice to me for being "informal".

 We found these statues outside of the museum. I believe it represents the 12 Korean Zodiac Animals...

 Like I said earlier, what's really amazing to me is how all of this is located right in the center of Seoul. You almost forget you're in such a busy city! If there is ever a day you feel like you need to get away from the crowds and connect with nature, you should definitely visit here!

The last thing I wanted to mention was the changing of the guards! I would check before you go to see what time of the day they change, but every day, they have a traditional ceremony. It's pretty fun to watch and you can also take pictures with the guards, who of course, are emotionless and don't move. But hey, it's all still fun! 

Well I hope you enjoyed this post! I know some people enjoy seeing pictures and reading about traveling versus watching videos so I wanted to do both!

xoxo,

Morgan

Follow Morgan: Visiting Namsan Tower and Riding the Cable Car

Visiting Namsan Tower if you're ever in Seoul, Korea is, in my opinion, something that you should definitely do! Namsan Tower, which means "North Tower", is both a communication tower used for radio and television and also an observation point since it's the tallest point in Seoul. This is definitely a fun tourist destination because there is so much to do!

In my video, you can see that we took the cable car up to the base of Namsan Mountain. The tickets were pretty affordable and the view is for sure worth the ticket price. 

There are a lot of things to do at Namsan Tower. They have several restaurants at the base and even an Olive Young! 

This is also where the infamous lock trees and gates are located. Here, you can personalize a lock and attach it to one of these to ensure you and your love will be together forever (well let's hope so!).

You can buy locks here, but I hear they're pretty expensive and that you're almost better off buying a lock before you come. 

After you're done soaking up all the beautiful sights of Seoul, you can take an escalator into the actual tower itself. From there, you have an even better view and Seoul! There's also a fantastic gift shop that sells all kinds of cute things and activities for children. 

 This is one of the pictures I took from inside the tower. Pretty neat huh? :)

Hope that this Seoul travel series is interesting to you guys! Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for my next Seoul trip! :)

xoxo,
Morgan

Korean Beauty FAILS! Skincare and Makeup Products I Regret Buying

We've all been there. You get caught up in the hype surrounding a particular beauty product and know you must have it. You spend your hard-earned money and take the plunge! However, to your dismay, the product SUCKS.

Well, I'm no stranger to that feeling. Since I review and try a lot of different Korean beauty products, there are bound to be some I don't like or feel was over-hyped. Here are some of those products that I wish I could go back in time and persuade myself to not buy!

*Disclaimer: All of these are my own opinions. I understand there are people who might love these products, but they just didn't work for me... no hard feelings, yeah? ;)*

Let's get to the breakdown of products I regret buying...

I bought this when I was in Seoul, Korea. I was really into the whole "peeling gel" thing because I thought it was such a neat idea! Something that would exfoliate your skin and remove all the dead cells without being too abrasive? Sounds great! I saw this in Nature Republic and saw how cheap they were (around $4!) so I snatched them up without a second thought. Unfortunately, these Skin Smoothing Apple and Lemon Peeling Gels are not even worth the couple bucks I spent on them. They don't remove any dead cells, they smell AWFUL and they just don't work.

 I know, I know... I should've known these were too gimmicky to be true. Luckily, I received these in a Mask Maven Box, so I didn't actually buy them. But these Tony Moly Red Cheeks Girl's Patch are just silly, in my opinion. They are too slimy, slide right off your face, and don't have any lasting effects. Fun yes, effective no.

 You can pick up capsule packs like this at pretty much every road shop in Korea! I love the idea behind these because you can try different skincare masks without committing to buying a full size. Why don't we have this in the United States?! Anyways, these It's Skin Todak Todak Capsule Packs didn't do anything for my skin.

 Now I know some people like this Holika Holika Pro Beauty Bloody Oil Tint. Mine is in the shade "Vampire Kiss". The concept behind this is it's supposed to be a moisturizing lip tint that doesn't dry out your lips. At first, I liked this and the shade itself. But then....something weird happened. One day, I picked it up to use it and noticed it looked weird. I shook it and noticed it wasn't mixing together! I was so confused because before, it mixed together perfectly. I opened it and noticed it had a really ODD smell. Yuck. It smelled like a dirty mop. haha. I don't know if it's just mine but I couldn't even bring myself to use this. It looked gross and smelled gross. Sad thing is is that I've only had this for a couple months. It shouldn't be bad already! Let me know if you had this same issue :(

You can see the "chunks" in it...like it doesn't mix together anymore! 

 This is kind of silly. But the reason why I'm including these hair velcro things from SkinFood is because they don't hold my hair back when I'm doing my makeup! My hair is too thick and when I use these to pull my bangs back, they slowly migrate back towards my face. Not very helpful when I'm trying to apply my foundation without getting it in my hair.

 Another thing that is super hyped in the Korean Beauty World is the concept of cushion products. Cushion foundation, cushion blushers, cushion eyeshadows... you name it! There's a cushion version for everything. I saw this Lock N' Summer Cushion Eyeliner at Etude House and thought "Wow, how great! It's so portable!". Well, I used this thing maybe once and then the next time I went to use it, it was all dried up! So sad. And yes, I had the lid on tight! I think the actual eyeliner formula was just to dry and this was more of a gimmicky product than actually functional :(

 These Dr. Mascara Fixer Mascara Primers from Etude House are well-loved by many. But these just didn't work for my eyelashes. I don't have "Asian" eyelashes (meaning pretty straight, short eyelashes) but I don't have great eyelashes either. Either way, these mascara primers were hard to work with for me and almost made mascara application harder for me.

Finally, I did mention the Berrisom Tattoo Lip Tint Pack in my video! I know this one is SUPER controversial... so you'll have to watch the video to see why it didn't work for me and why I don't like it! :D

Well that's it! I'm sure I'll encounter more products I don't like as I try more, so don't forget to subscribe to my channel, The Beauty Breakdown, to get updates on when I add new videos, content, etc! Let me know what you think and products you didn't care for so I can avoid them at all costs! haha.

xoxo,
Morgan

PONY x Memebox Shine Easy Glam 3 Collection Haul and Review

I was so excited when I checked my mailbox and saw these little beauties! It's the PONY x Memebox Shine Easy Glam 3 Collection! I can't wait to share these products with you so you can get an idea of how the collection is and see if you'd be interested in picking them up for yourself!

*Disclaimer: I was sent these products to review, but all opinions are my own! I wouldn't recommend anything I didn't like :) *

Let's check out the breakdown of the collection! 

This collection comes packaged in these very "Spring-inspired" boxes. I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality of the packaging because these boxes are actually really nice! I almost want to keep them and not throw them away! haha. Right off the bat, I can tell that Memebox really made the effort to create a high-quality collection. Instead of just using Pony's name to create all the hype for this collection, they actually took the extra time to create products that are very nicely packaging and high-quality! So far so good! 

Now, let's take a look at the eyeshadow quad! I received the Eyeshadow Quad in #01 Brown Bloom.

These eyeshadows are awesome! They're nice and smooth and apply really nicely! Plus, they're super glittery! 

I like this eyeshadow quad in particular because I feel like it's an overall great palette for everyone! You can create a very natural look using these shadows, or create a more glamourous look because they're SO sparkly! Plus, don't you love this packaging?! Yes, the palette does get easily smudged with your fingertips, but I still love how pretty and classy the gold and white looks!

Let's move onto the Pony Blossom Lipsticks! I received all 4 lipsticks and again, the packaging is amazing.

Going from left to right, the lipstick names are #01 Rose Garden, #02 Spring Romance, #03 Orange Dahlia, and #04 Blooming Love. All of these lipsticks are very pigmented and apply super smoothly! Love that these lipsticks are vey comfortable to wear and somewhat moisturizing! They don't dry out my lips and again, I love the packaging! Plus, I love the colors because you don't normally see a lot of Asian brands making darker colors. I'm slightly obsessed with burgundy colors on my lips, so it's nice that there's actually a deep, dark red color!

Swatches coming soon :) 

Hope this review/haul was helpful for those of you who are looking for more information about the collection! Let me know if you end up buying any of these products and which ones you like! 

xoxo, 

Morgan