From Korea with love

Ok, Ok, I've been home for a week now, but only now, finally, I'm sitting down in peace to write something about this trip. Because it was a very fruitful trip. But more about those lovely fruits next time. Today I'm just going to say a few things that most people don't want to hear. No, I'm not going to tell you about how toxic and harmful those awful Korean cosmetics are. 

(Note to my foreign readers - this is a running joke in the Polish beauty blogosphere - two Polish women based in Japan love to spew nonsense on their YouTube channel about how Korean cosmetics are toxic garbage and cause everything from cancer to global warming. Ok, I admit, that global warming bit was from me, but you get the idea - two nutcases, who pretend to be experts).

Jah, jah, jestem juz w domu od tygodnia, ale w koncu sie zebralam do kupy, zeby cos napisac o tym wypadzie. Bo wypad byl owocny. Ale o tych owocach bedzie w kolejnym wpisie. Dzis, natomiast bedzie kilka slow, ktorych wiele ludzi nie chce uslyszec. Nie, spoko, nie bedzie o tym, jakie to toksyczne i szkodliwe te koreanskie kosmetyki sa, LOL. (A swoja droga, i tak przy okazji, to jedno dziewcze, ktore znam, jest w trakcie tlumaczen tych filmikow na jezyk koreanski i chce wyslac transkrypty do koreanskich pism kobiecych i prasy, no bo przeciez trzeba jakos ostrzec miliony tych nieszczesnych koreanskich kobiet zyjacych w calkowitej niewiedzy.)

Ok, ale gdzie ja bylam?
Aha, w Seulu, w dzielnicy Myeongdong, ktorej ulice to jedna wielka galeria handlowa - glownie kosmetyczna.

Ok, so where was I?
Yes, in Seoul. In Myeongdong, where the streets resemble one big shopping mall selling mostly cosmetics.

A ile sklepow tych samych firm mozna upchnac na jedno skrzyzowanie? Okazuje sie, ze calkiem sporo. Te same Tony Moly, Nature Republic, Missha, Innisfree, Skin-to-tamto-i-owamto sprzedajace dokladnie te same produkty, sa doslownie co krok. Az mozna sie pogubic, bo ma sie wrazenie, ze juz obok tego sklepu sie przechodzilo. Ale nie, to kolejny sklep tej samej firmy.

And how many stores of the same brand can you stick on one street corner? Many, it turns out. The same Tony Molys, Nature Republics, Misshas, Innisfrees, Skin-something-or-the-other selling the same products are literally every 50 meters, or so. Very easy to get lost, because you always have this feeling that you've just passed this one shop, but no, it's a different shop of the same company.

Nie wiem skad sie wziela opinia, ze te marki sa ekskluzywne. Nie sa. Nigdy nie byly. I nie maja zamiaru byc, bo ich grupa docelowa klientek jest inna. W Myeongdong wydawalo sie, ze te klientki to glownie Rosjanki. Kupowaly calymi kartonami, jestem niemal pewna, ze w celu sprzedazy w ich wlasnym kraju.

I have no idea where the myth that those are exclusive brands came from. Because they are not. Never were. And don't intend to be, because their target customer base is completely different. And in Myeongdong it seemed that this group is mostly Russian. There were Russian women everywhere, buying whole cases of stuff, no doubt to resell back home.

Po moich pierwszych przygodach z niskopolkowymi koreanskimi kosmetykami, bo takimi wlasnie te wyzej wymienione sa, bylam w stanie zgodzic sie z opinia, ze to smieci. Przyzwyczajona do raczej bardziej ekskluzywniejszych produktow, nie wiedzialam skad ta fascynacja zwyklymi drogeryjnymi koreanskimi kosmetykami. Bo oprocz ladnych opakowan, nie mialy one mojej cerze nic do zaoferowania. Oprocz wypryskow, podraznionej skory i ziemistego koloru (tak typowego dla tanich marek koreanskich kremow BB).

Dla scislosci, poniewaz moja cera to prawdziwa bestia, podobne reakcje mam rowniez na pielegnacje chanelowska i kilku innych wysokopolkowych.

After my first adventures with Korean drugstore brands, because that's what they are - your Korean Walgreens and CVS products, I could almost agree that this was garbage. Being used to a bit more fancier department store stuff, I couldn't figure out why the obsession with low-end Korean cosme was so widespread. Because other than cute packaging, they have very little to offer, at least to me. Besides zits, acne outbreaks, irritated skin and a zombieish "I've been dead for a few days already, but at least my complexion is oh-so-dewy" skin tone (so typical of cheap Korean bb creams).

To be fair, my skin can be a nasty beast and gets pissed off very easily at high end brands too - for example Chanel skincare turns my face into a raw pepperoni pizza.

I z tym w glowie, postanowilam dowiedziec sie, jakich to produktow uzywaja przygodnie spotkane Koreanki, w mniej wiecej moim wieku (choc przyznaje, trudno jest odgadnac ile dana babka moze miec lat, jesli stoi sie na ulicy, o zmroku).

Ustawilam sie wiec strategicznie w poblizu budki sprzedajacej lody w czyms co wygladalo jak pokrecona rurka, i wraz ze znajoma koreanska obstawa zaczelysmy zadawac babkom pytania.
Przepytalysmy 30 kobiet, z ktorych 7 okazalo sie Chinkami, wiec ich odpowiedzi nie bralysmy pod uwage.

So, I set out to find out what kind of products Korean women my age (though, granted, it can be difficult to judge somebody's age at night while standing on a busy street corner) use.
I positioned myself strategically right by a stand selling ice cream in something that looked like a twisted walking cane, and together with a friendly Korean helper, we started to ask questions.

We polled 30 women, of these 7 turned out to be Chinese, so we disregarded their answers.


I rezultaty?
And the results?

Z 23 Koreanek ani jedna nie wspomniala o Tony Moly czy It's Skin.
Out of 23 Korean women not one mentioned Tony Moly or It's Skin.

Nazwy, ktore padaly, to te:
Instead, they mentioned these names:

• - Ohui
• - Sulwhasoo
• - Iope
• - Amore Pacific
• - Su:m 37
• - Hera
• - Dior
• - Estee Lauder
• - Chanel
• - La Mer
• - La Prairie

i pare innych, ktorych nie moge odczytac, bo moja znajoma zapisywala je w hangulu po pijanemu.
And a couple of others that I can't read, because my friend was writing them down in hangul, while being somewhat drunk.

Ta pani lubi su:m 37 i Sulwhasoo i byla zdziwiona, ze cudzoziemka o nich slyszala.
This lady likes sum:37 and Sulwhasoo and was surprised that a westerner knew what they were.

Poniewaz ich odpowiedzi pokrywaly sie czesciowo z tym co sama chcialam kupic, potwierdzilo to tylko moje zamiary.
Because their answers overlapped more or less with what I wanted to buy myself, it was that extra confirmation I needed when spending large sums of money on stuff that I am not 100% familiar with.

Pierwsze szesc nazw na tej liscie to marki, ktorych na prozno szukac na ulicach Myeongdong. Nie ta przegrodka i cenowa i jakosciowa. To kosmetyki sprzedawane w departamentach zaraz obok diorow i chanelow. Byc moze dlatego osoby trabiace o szkodliwych koreanskich kosmetykach nigdy o nich nie slyszaly.

The first six, or so, names on this list you won't find in the cheap drugstores lining the streets of Myeongdong. Not that price and quality range. And a different target market, it seems. Instead, you have to go to fancy department stores and look right next to diors and chanels. So it's possible that vloggers preaching about harmful Korean cosme simply never heard that high-end Korean skincare brands also exist and offer quality comparable to (if not higher than) western fancy schmancy products.

Czy wiec w ogole kupilam cos na ulicach Myeongdong, czy tez moze gralam kosmetyczna snobke przez caly czas? Oczywiscie, ze kupilam! Zawsze jestem chetna na wyprobowanie czegos co nie kosztuje 3/4 mojej wyplaty. A nuz sie trafi jakas perelka?

So, did I buy anything on the streets of Myeongdong, or did I act like a cosmetics snob till the very bitter end? Of course I bought something! I wouldn't be myself otherwise. I'm always eager to try something new, especially if that something doesn't cost an arm and a leg and a little bit. Because buying expensive stuff all the time, I'm going to eventually run out of arms and legs and organs to sell on the black market.

Ta firma urzekla mnie swoja nazwa, wiec cos po prostu musialam kupic.
This company's name I simply couldn't ignore. I had to buy something.


A co kupilam, tak ogolnie?
Pokazywalam juz na instagramciu. Ale bedzie i oddzielny wpis wkrotce. Bo

So, in the end, what did I buy, overall?
I showed most of the stuff on IG, but I'll prepare a special post here as well.


Milego tygodnia!!
Have a great week!

Promosi Di Bulan Ramadhan

KEBAIKAN MELAKUKAN FACIAL :

*membersihkan lapisan epedermis kulit dengan lebih mendalam

*merangsang peredaran darah.

*membuang bahan toksik dari kulit.

*merehatkan saraf & otot fasial

*mempercepatkan fungsi & pertumbuhan kulit

*melambatkan proses penuan

*membaiki keadaan kulit muka yang kering,berminyak & bermasalah.

*mengurangkan kedutan pada kulit muka.rawatan facial di maksudkan di sini buka rawatan yang kita lakukan basic di rumah seperti cuci muka,pakai toner, paling kuat pakai mask..tapi rawatan dari PAKAR ESTETIC yang merawat menggunakan produk yang bersesuaian, prosuder rawatan mengikut jenis kulit & penggunaan mesin yang betul.Di negara korea sendiri kemajuan dalam bidang kecantikan sangat cepat, malahan FACIAL menjadi sebahagian rutin bagi kaum lelaki & wanita..kalo kita tengok cite korea makcik-makcik pun pergi wat rawatan muka..sangat kagum dengan negara yang menjadi pengeluar pertama BB Cream..

Fasio Smart Curl Mascara

Yes, it's that time of the year again!!! The universally hated kafunsho season.
People are sneezing, itching, coughing, and what not. Green stuff is slowly dripping from their eyes. Disgusting.

Spring allergies are never pleasant, but in Japan they are even more unpleasant than elsewhere. They are brutal and exhausting. And they seem to last forever. From about mid February until the end of October. There might be a brief break in August, but that all depends on how wet the summer season is.

To deal with this mess I take a battery of allergy meds - tablets, two kinds of eye drops and two kinds of nasal sprays. But even with all that I still want to just poke my eyes sometimes. Quickly and efficiently, preferably with something sharp so I can scratch the insides of my eye sockets at the same time to relive the itch. 

But sadly, I can't afford to go through life as a blind and otherwise challenged person, so I bravely suffer through the itching and the swelling and the goo and the asthma and the stuffed nose and everything else.

Taaaa... sezon na kafunsho w pelni. Ludzie smarkaja, charchaja, oczy swedza, zielone cus z nich wycieka. Wiosenne alergie nigdy nie sa przyjemne, ale w Japonii sa one wyjatkowo brutalne i wyjatkowo wyczerpujace. Zaczynaja sie gdzies tak w polowie lutego i moga sobie trwac az do konca pazdziernika.

W walce z kafunsho biora u mnie udzial tabletki, dwa rodzaje kropli do oczu i spray do nosa. Ale nawet przy tym wszystkim, mam sobie ochote oczy wydrapac i nos wydlubac. Najlepiej czyms bardzo ostrym, szybko i skutecznie.

Niestety, na zycie jako niewidoma inwalidka nie moge sobie pozwolic, wiec dzielnie znosze te droge przez meke.


Easy to imagine that if something drips out of your eyes 24/7 for about 6 months in a year, any eye makeup (or any makeup in general) is difficult to put on, even more difficult to maintain, and quite frankly - pointless.
It will just:
1. irritate your swollen eyes even more, and
2. will be obliterated by the dripping goo (eyes and nose) within less than 3 minutes after application.

That's why when the kafunsho season is upon us, I simply give up on any kind of eye make up. 
But the native females are a lot more ambitious, and even though they also suffer from kafunsho, they still manage to walk around with their eyes fully made up. I envy their will power. I'm not that strong. If my eyes itch, I need to scratch them.

Jak latwo sobie wyobrazic, jesli oczy swedza i cos z nich wycieka 24 godziny na dobe, jakikolwiek makijaz jest trudny do wykonania i mijajacy sie z celem, bo:

1. tylko podrazni spuchniete rejony jeszcze bardziej i
2. zostanie gruntownie i dokladnie rozmazany w 3 minuty po wykonaniu.

Dlatego tez, podczas sezonu na kafunsho, o ile nie musze wygladac jako tako prezentacyjnie, to odpuszczam sobie malowanie oczu.

Japonki, pomimo tego, ze na kafunsho rowniez cierpia, to i tak wala pelna tapete w rejony okolo-oczne. Nie wiem jak one to robia. Ja nie mam na tyle silnej woli, zeby w swedzacych galach sobie nie dlubac.




Finding a mascara that would survive my compulsive eye rubbing is almost impossible. Why? Because I and Japanese mascaras don't get along. Why? Because they tend to consists mostly of annoying and very unflattering fibers. I absolutely despise such formulas.

I know, and I understand that Asian women need those fibers to make their lashes look longer and thicker.

My lashes are long enough. They could be thicker, but so far, I'm not complaining.

Dodatkowym problemem, przynajmniej dla mnie, byla mascara, ktora owe dlubanie, ze o zielonej wydzielinie juz nie wspomne, by wytrzymala.

My sie z japonskimi tuszami do rzes nie lubimy. Dlaczego? Ano dlatego, ze jak wiekszosc azjatyckich mascar, skladaja sie one glownie z bardzo irytujacych klaczkow.

Wiem, ze te klaczki sa Japonkom potrzebne, aby uzyskac efekt gestych i dlugich rzes. Moje rzesy sa juz wystarczajaco dlugie, podkrecone i choc nie sa geste, to nie narzekam.


Within that last few years I've probably tried every single Japanese drugstore mascara. All of them were fibrous and incredibly annoying. After each Japanese drugstore mascara try, with a huge relief I'd be back to my favorite Lancome Virtuose. But only from the end of October until February.

I've tried a few more or less exclusive mascaras as well. The biggest disappointment was, hands down, the mascara from SK-II. In retrospect, its strongest point was the packaging. It looked like a very swanky bright red dildo.

After coming back from Tonga I discovered that my nearly new Virtuose was virtually dry. I did not expect that from Lancome - major fail!
So, it landed in the waste basket and I had to rush to the drugstore to buy "anything". 
And that's how I discovered the new, just launched mascara from Fasio. Fasio is one of many lines from the mega company Kose.

Its name was Smart Curl and was available in three different varieties: L (length), C (curl) and V (volume). There was only one color available - black.

I got the L version for 800 yen (promotional pricing, it retails for 1200 yen).

W ciagu ostatnich lat sprobowalam chyba kazdej drogeryjnej (i nie tylko) mascary. Wszystkie byly mniej lub bardziej klaczkowate. Wszystkie, przez te nieszczesne klaczki, doprowadzaly mnie do szalu. Po kazdej nieudanej probie siegalam po moja ulubiona lancome'owska Virtuose i oddychalam z ulga. Ale tylko od pazdziernika do lutego.

Probowalam tez bardziej ekskluzywnych marek. Chyba najwiekszym rozczarowaniem okazal sie tusz od SK-II. Jego najmocniejszym punktem bylo opakowanie, ktore wygladalo jak blyszczace, czerwone dildo.

Po powrocie z Tonga dokonalam bardzo niepokojacego odkrycia. Moja niemal nowa Virtuose mascara od Lancome zrobila sie zdecydowanie za sucha. No co jak co, ale takiego obrotu sprawy od Lancome sie nie spodziewalam. Virtuose wyladowalo w koszu na smieci, a ja pojechalam do drogerii kupic cos na "byle bylo".

I tak to wpadlam na premiere tuszow do rzes od Fasio. Fasio to jedna z wielu linii Kose.

Mascara nazywala sie Smart Curl i byla dostepna w trzech wariantach: L (long, na dlugosc), C (curl, na podkrecenie) i V (volume, na volume :-). Kolor byl tylko jeden - czarny.

Jako ze byla na promocji za raptem 800 jenow (cena wyjsciowa to chyba okolo 1200 jenow), kupilam wersje L.

For 800 yen I didn't expect any fireworks. I was prepared for yet another fibrous Japanese disaster, which was going to end up in the trash.

But the super tacky white packaging immediately captured my heart. LOL!


Za takie pieniadze cudow nie oczekiwalam. Bylam przygotowana na kolejnego klaczkowatego bubla, ktory po kilku pierwszych probach wyladuje w koszu na smieci.

Z miejsca urzeklo mnie mega-tandetne biale opakowanie.

Of course!!! Here they are! Fibers!

Po otwarciu, surprise! Klaczki!

Those hated, black fibers.

Znienawidzone, czarne klaczki.

I didn't even want to try it. I stuck it somewhere in the bathroom and immediately forgot about it. A few days later I bought a new Virtuose. And then the kafunsho season came.
Lancome was its first casualty - it was impossible to use mascara. My eyes were dripping, my nose was dripping and everything was itching.

And probably I'd still be eye makeup-free if not for a certain special occasion where I had to look vaguely human. 
I remembered Smart Curl and it's water- and everything proof properties.
I tried. 
I didn't get my hopes up.

Nie chcialo mi sie jej probowac, wiec odlozylam na polke i natychmiast o niej zapomnialam. Kilka dni pozniej kupilam nowa Virtuose.

A potem nadeszlo kafunsho. Tusz od Lancome poszedl w odstawke, a ja zaczelam wygladac jak ofiara losu z kapiacym nosem i rozbabranymi oczami.

I pewnie wygladalabym jak ofiara losu do dzisiaj, gdyby nie pewna oficjalna okazja, ktora wymagala z mojej strony przyzwoitego wygladu, a co za tym idzie - rowniez makijazu.

Odkopalam Smart Curl. Sprobowalam. Nie liczylam na zbyt wiele.



In the evening my dripping and itching eyes still looked very decent. The mascara was on my lashes, and not under my eyes, in my eyes, or godknowswhere. The annoying fibers were still sticking to my lashes and each other, and not to my eyeballs. I didn't feel any additional irritation (other than what was already going on due to kafunsho).

I used Panna Pompa micellar water to remove my eye makeup. The mascara needed three swipes. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised.

Wieczorem moje cieknace i rozdrapane oczy nadal wygladaly nienagannie. Tusz siedzial na rzesach. Nic sie nie osypywalo. Klaczki do oczu nie wchodzily. Nie bylo dodatkowych podraznien.

Do demakijazu uzylam miceli Panna Pompa, tusz ladnie sie zmyl po trzech miznieciach.
Musze przyznac, ze bylam bardzo mile zaskoczona.


I've been using it almost every day since then and for the price I paid for it, there's really nothing I can complain about it. And I like to complain.

Fasio Smart Curl is 100% kafunsho-proof. 

The L version is the least fibery of the three. Version C and V are a bit heavier and seem to consist mostly of fibers and little else. I'm going to stick with L. I just wish they made it in other colors, as well.

Od tamtej pory uzywam niemal codziennie i nie mam sie do czego przyczepic. Co jest o tyle niesamowite, bo ja lubie sie czepiac i niemal zawsze szukam czegos czepu-wartego az do skutku.

Jednak w przypadku Smart Curl od Fasio, moge te mascare z czystym sumieniem polecic.
Jest w 100% kafunsho-proof.

PS. Wersja L jest najmniej klaczkowata. Wersje C i V sa ciezsze i skladaja sie niemal wylacznie z klaczkow. Tuszu sie w nich nie dopatrzylam. Czyli, trafilo mi sie jak slepej kurze (lub kurze z zaropialymi oczami).

karnival sifarkan denggi

Jemput hadir ke karnival kesihatan sifarkan denggi. Jalankan tanggungjawab anda bagi menghapuskan denggi dan menyelamatkan nyawa.

Ozone therapy

make me gorgeous

Are you ready?