Tuesday, December 10, 2013

My Favorite Fall / Winter Lippies

Here are my go-to lipsticks for fall or winter time! I hope you lovelies will like it too.


First off, my MAC Rebel Lipstick. It is described as a mid tonal cream plum color with a satin finish. This semi-matte lipstick just screams fall / winter season. It looks to me like it is a combination of red and violet color. This beautiful color is creamy and is buildable to give an opaque look. But if applied with just one coat, it could appear sheer. I believe this color is good for almost all skin tones. With this color and confidence, for sure one will look good with this.


Next is my MAC Up the Amp Lipstick. This lipstick is described as lavender violet. For me, it looks lilac with a pinch of pink to my skin tone. I love this color. It makes me feel fierce without being over-the-top or being steered to goth department. It is under an amplified formulation making it one of my favorite lipsticks. It is very moisturizing while giving off great pigmentation. Love! Love ! Love!



Who says we cannot wear nudes on fall / winter? Well, I love wearing nude lipsticks during fall or winter! And that is also because I love wearing dramatic, bold, strong eye-makeup on these seasons. MAC Blankety Lipstick is one of my favorite nude lipstick. I feel like this is the perfect nude for the cold season. Its color is a muted browny pink. Being an amplified finish, it is so creamy, very moisturizing and very pigmented as well. I believe this color would suit well for lighter complexion. But it doesn't look bad on a tan skinned like me. It may look pale when applied heavily. I just pat this on my lips and whoalla! Perfect nude lipstick.


 Lastly, but definitely not the least,  MAC Jubilee Lipstcik. I adore this lipstick!!! It has a lustre finish to it, which is one of my favorite finishes as well. With this lipstick, I do not have to be precise making to so easy to wear. Moreover, it gives a slight shine making your lips look healthy as well. This naked beige-pink color falls under my-lips-but-better category. I so love it! This is my second stick already, making my most used MAC lipstick. You should try it!!!


So, what are your favorite fall or winter lipsticks???

Enjoy your day! Stay beautiful! :)











Highlight of Seoul City Tour - October Escapades Continued...

So, after the Temple Tour we joined the Highlight of Seoul City Tour. The course is good for 5 hours and  highlights the must-see in Seoul. 

First stop, Insadong. Insadong is a neighborhood of the Jung-gu District of Seoul. It is an antique alley which is lined with art galleries, antique shops, craft shops, pottery shops, traditional restaurants, tea houses and street food stalls. We ate lunch there, gladly an authentic Korean food!





The food was amazing! Me and my hubby love it! It has some distinct taste to it… and I don't even know the name of the food we had, hehehe! But this is not my favorite food while in Korea. My favorite is a street food, believe it or not! It is the Ho-tteok - a sweet Korean pancake!!!


This yummy treat is basically a cinnamon and brown sugar pancake, fried on a griddle. It cost a 1000 won, approx $0.90. I shared one with my hubby at first, but it wasn't enough, so I got another one.


And then another one… nyahahaha!


And, I am going to make one, now… I'm not kidding, I am looking on recipes on how to do this one now, hehe! But before that, I will finish this blog, hehe!

So aside from the gastronomic adventure, we saw some exciting and note-worthy finds while roaming around Insadong. This place truly exudes local and traditional charms-- so amazing, so authentic. An hour trip to this place is just never enough.




Next stop is Jogyesa Temple!

Jogyesa Temple is the head quarters of jogyejong sect, the main sect of Korean Buddhism. This temple was first established on 1395, at the dawn of Joseon Dynasty. This historical temple is located in Gyeonji-dong, Jongno-gu, in central Seoul.










After a brief visit to Jogyesa Temple, we went straight ahead to Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Gyeongbokgung Palace, a former seat of power, is probably the Korea's most famous royal palace.  Its name means a palace greatly blessed by heaven. This was built in the late 1300s, and has been destroyed and reconstructed numerous times. It is located at the northern end of Seoul's main boulevard, Sejongro.  It took us a good hour to tour the place.












It was a long, cold, tiring walk touring this place. This place is ginormous! And we have only toured half of it. Some parts of it are still under construction, some we refused to go into, hehehe! But, it was all worth it. It is amazing how the Koreans took pride in restoring and preserving this historical place making not only the Koreans, but also the foreigners understand the people, their culture, their way of life before and the power that this place exudes. Each of this structures showed how creative, innovative and skillful Koreans are. No wonder that a nation such as theirs is strong, dynamic and beautiful. Nothing changed with the way I look at South Korea. It will always be my dream home away from home.


Stay Beautiful!











Monday, November 4, 2013

October Escapades - Incheon Temple Tour

Last October has been very interesting and life-changing for me. I have been  to two of the dearest country for me - South Korea and Philippines. Though for a short period only, my time spent in South Korea particularly in Incheon and Seoul has been blissful and inspiring.

This is my second time in South Korea. The first time I was there was when I get to represent my High School in a Girl Scout International Camping in Mt. Togyu in 2007. My first impression-- I want to live in Seoul someday! South Korea is beautiful, and that impression lasted... Coming back, I saw there has been a few changes and made me see South Korea in a different light. It made me see how soulful Seoul is.

During our 13-hours layover in South Korea, me and my husband opted to take the free Transit Tour offered by Incheon International Airport. We were tired, but we believe it will be wise spending time in tour than stay in the airport the whole time. There are seven Free Korea Transit Tours to choose from depending on your time availability. Since we had a few to spare, we chose two of the tours - the Incheon Temple Tour and Highlight of Seoul City Tour.

But before everything else, we want an authentic Korean breakfast to give us energy with the tour. While in the Airport, we saw this restaurant called Sanuki Bore. I don't know how authentic they can be but their menu were in Hangul (Korean Alphabet) and the food looks Korean, hehe! So we did order. Only to know now that Sanuki Bore is a japanese restaurant, nyahahaha! Oh well, the food were great... we both loved it!




The Incheon Temple Tour lasted for good two hours. From the airport, we passed through the Incheon Grand Bridge. This is a newly constructed reinforced concrete bridge that is 21.38 kms long and opened October 2009. It became the second connection between Yeongjong Island and Incheon mainland. It is the World's Seventh Longest Cable-Stayed Bridge (Wikipedia).




Next stop is the Heungryunsa Temple which is located half way up to Cheongryunsan Mountain in Dongchun-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. This temple was established approximately 613 years ago, in the second year of King Wu (Goryeo Dynasty) by Perceptor Naong, a royal monk of King Gongmin. Unfortunately, the temple  was lost to fire during the Japanese Invasion of Korea (1592) and was left desolate for 340 years. In 1938, a new temple was constructed, but was then torn down in 1966 to be rebuilt into eight new buildings. In 1977, the temple name was changed to "Heungryunsa."

This temple nowadays operates a meditation center and a  Manbuljeon, a room that enshrines thousands of Buddha. 

This place is brimming with divinity, with a solemnity that can pacify anybody. I love this place.









Here are some shots of the Buddhas in Heungryunsa Temple...







From the Heungryunsa Temple, we immediately head to the Memorial Hall for Incheon Landing Operation. This was built to honor the memory of Battle of Incheon, wherein brave men fought for South Korea in September 15, 1950 led by General Douglas MacArthur. This was opened on September 15, 1984.






The Memorial Hall for Incheon Landing Operation also has many pavillions where the exhibit the weapons they used during the war. Here are some of it... Hubby just loves this place!











On our way back to the airport, we saw this lovely city. They call it the Songdo International City. They also call this the Smart City, which was built from scratch on 1,500 acres (610 ha) of reclaimed land along Incheon's waterfront southwest of Seoul, South Korea. This business district will feature the Northeast Asia Tower and the Incheon Tower. Schools, hospitals, apartments, office buildings and cultural amenities are to be built in the district. Replicas of architectural hallmarks like New York's Central Park and Venice's Waterways will also be incorporated.



Beautiful isn't it?! Love, love, love it!


Stay beautiful! And stay tune... I'll be posting more from my trip! mwaahh!