So right before spring semester, I was back in Seoul again, after my trip to Hong Kong with Allison. I was there for a little over a week, and traveling to other countries makes you realize that indeed…Seoul probably has the best shopping. It has has the most stuff that I like so I met up with my friend Christine, and we did a bit of shopping near Ewha Women’s University (이대, my favorite place to shop). But over the weekend, Allison and I hit up all the major shopping areas we like the frequent. Myeongdong, Edae, Hongdae.
Kdrama Fashion (Sunglasses)
We went to Hongdae specifically, to find the flagship store of the Korean sunglasses brand that is a huge trend right now…Gentle Monster (젠틀몬스터). I have to say, pre-Korea, I could care less as to what make up or brands celebrities wore, but nowadays, thanks to Korean netizens, I’m really interested whenever I watch Kdramas.
Kdramas often make particular jewelry brands, make up products, or brands super popular…and then fans go crazy, buy everything, and then they are sold out and impossible to find. Korea is really good at advertising brands and selling them. Well so of course, I had bought a pretty floral dress at H&M that was really cheap that IU wore to an awards ceremony (actually it was sold out in Korea last year, and Allison bought it in the states for me). These days, I’m always combing through naver blogs when I see a celeb wearing a lipstick or cosmetic product that looks pretty. I bought into the whole “My Love From Another Star” and “Pinocchio” craze (the lipsticks from Iope and cream pencils from Mamonde were huge at the time).
So despite not watching these dramas…the actress Jeon Jihyeon and Ha Jiwon inspired me to find out what sunglasses they were wearing. I just loved how gorgeous they looked with them on. When I saw Shin Sekyung’s multitude of sunglasses in “Sensory Couple” I really wanted to know what sunglasses she was wearing as well. Ironically, all of them were wearing the same brand. After a quick naver blog search, I discovered the brand Gentle Monster.
Just look at all the Koreans celebrities rocking Gentle Monster sunglasses…
So of course, I checked out the Gentle Monster homepage and resolved that I wanted to check out the store, because the concept and articles about the brand sounded really cool (read about their concept here). I mean, even American celebrities are going crazy over this brand (see here). They even recently launched a store in NYC, but of course, the prices outside of Korea are much muchhhh higher.
So, over the weekend in Seoul, I visited the flagship store in Hongdae with my sister, and let me tell you…getting to this store is not easy. None of their stores are in easily accessible areas, they require a bit of a trek.
The store concept was unique, and very dark. Dim lighting. It felt like a…vintage old home? Anyway, despite the VIP service if you buy sunglasses, the people on the floor were surprisingly…not very helpful. They were just strolling about with clipboards, cleaning sunglasses whenever someone tried them on. I expected them to offer some fashion advice or help people (like Koreans usually do in the stores). Usually they are on top of you. Anyway, I wasn’t surprised to find tons of Chinese and other foreigners checking out the sunglasses, wanting to find the “Cheon Song-yi sunglasses.” Oh and if you didn’t know already, their regular glasses are also really popular right now. The lead actress in “Oh My Venus” wore them in the drama.
So of course, I went to check out the most popular shades right now called “Didi-D” worn by Jeon Jihyun, Lee Jongsuk, and Shin Sekyung. But, after trying on literally every model and every pair of sunglasses in the store, I found that I didn’t like Didi-D on my face shape. I ended up really liking the model “Absente One.” All shades come in multiple frame colors/patterns, and you can also change the glass color, and can get them reflective or not. You can even change the metal color for ones with metal on the sunglasses. I liked Absente One a lot, and it came in this interesting purple floraly/leopard print frame, a standard leoprint/tortoise shell brown frame, and classic blacks ones. I ended up buying…the classic black ones. I really was leaning towards the dark purple ones for a while, but I decided the black ones were classic and easy to match.
These days, I’ve been really into buying blacks, grays, and beiges, which I never really owned in my closet before (I tend to wear a lot of colors or just jeans). Anyway, the quality of the sunglasses are clear. The frames are thick and very sturdy, also glossy. The glass of the sunglasses is also very high quality, making it so dark when sun is present that I swear it’s night time. I never really thought designer brand sunglasses were different from any other pair of sunglasses. I was wrong…
Click to view slideshow.
When you were ready to buy, employees wrote your selections on a card, then sent you downstairs. You were given a beeper, and had to wait as they prepared your glasses in this back area. They took them out of a brand new box, and adjusted the sunglasses and cleaned them. After your beeper went off, they had you try them on, and they would custom fit/adjust them to fit your face. It was really impressive.
I haven’t gotten a real opportunity to wear them out and about yet, because it isn’t quite sunny enough these days (it’s always snowing or raining). But, I’m happy to get such a unique pair of Korean brand sunglasses. I’ve been interested in Ray Bans for the past year or so, but I thought a Korean brand would be a lot more unique and harder to find for the lowest possible price when I return to America. They also seem to suit Asian face shapes really well, which I don’t think other western brands would cater to Asian faces like these do. Anyway, this brand is definitely worth checking out! Even if you don’t buy them, if you’re interested in kdramas and fashion, it’s cool just to check out the flagship stores and try the glasses on. But if you happen to be in the market for a new pair of sunglasses, this brand is certainly worth keeping in mind :)
Kdrama/Kpop Makeup
Moonshot
I posted about this on my instagram and facebook, but I went to YG Entertainment’s launching party/event for their new cushions (BB cushion and highlighting cushion). It was open invitation obviously, I heard about this event through Allison who asked me to go in her stead. If you attended the event, you got a free sample bag, plus free samples with a purchase. With your purchase, you also get a full sized eye shadow jelly pot sent to you in the mail with your order! It was a really good deal. They also had some deals going on with if you buy, you can get a deal with coffee or something, because the event was held at the Coffeesmith in Sinsa (Garosugil).
GD is supposed to represent the bb cushion, and Dara represents the highlight cushion. It was a cute concept, because when you went to place the pre-order, they asked who you want “Do you want GD or Dara?”
To place orders, they just had assistants standing by the products you could sample, and then they led you over to coffee tables were other people were standing with tablets. You sign up on their site with the tablet, and place the order, so you could have also done the pre-order and gotten the free eye shadow jelly pot on their website. You didn’t have to be their in person to pre-order, but if you went in person you could sample the products and get the free samples. I think they only accepted pre-orders on their website on the date of the event…I don’t think they’re doing it anymore. But if you pre-ordered, they’ll be shipping the products to the address you input at the time of your order :)
I really love moonshot, these days I’ve been wearing the jelly pot eye shadow everyday. It doesn’t budge, has high pigmentation, and has a really interesting texture. The texture is really like jelly! It’s a little bouncy and definitely liquidy. The only downside is that it can be difficult to blend, because once it sets, it sets.
Cheese in the Trap
Apparently the main character in the drama “Cheese in the Trap,” Hong Seol, wears Chataeu Labiotte’s Wine Lip Tint. I only found out because I was browsing around Ewha Women’s University, and this tint caught my eye. The packaging was so cute, and it turns out, this was used in the drama! It was pretty cheap, maybe 12,000 won? And it came with a free mini sample size in a different color.
And those are all my kdrama fashion/make up updates for now~