Best Korean Snacks: My Korean Snack Haul

I was dating a Korean guy for about three years, so I thought I knew almost everything about their culture and most importantly their snacks. But as it turned out, after my friend returned from his 2-year teaching stint in Korea with a suitcase full of treats for me, I realized that there's always more to learn, and eat!

During our three years together, my boyfriend introduced me to a multitude of Korean snacks and dishes like bulgogi, bimpap and my favorite, naeg-myeon also known as cold noodle soup. Then of course there's kimchi which I will just snack on straight from the jar. My first time in the Korean grocery superstore H-Mart, which is sporadically located around the USA, was amusing to my then boyfriend who watched as I explored the shelves like an alien exploring his surroundings after a crash-landing to Earth. After he patiently dealt with my constant "What's this" about almost every item, we emerged from the store with things I couldn't wait to try, and things that I had no idea what to do with.

Fast-forward to three years later, I can navigate the aisles of  the store exceptionally well, grabbing what I need and want without hesitation. But when my friend showed up with all sorts of new Korean goodies I looked like an amateur again as I investigated the freshly-exported goods.

A few hours after delivery, I had to stop myself from eating everything so I could take a picture and share my  favorites from the Korean haul.

Benefit's Fake Up Review

So my eyes probably have more bags packed than Paris Hilton has when she goes out of town for a week. I mean, I have puffy morning eyes, dark circles and exposed veins-basically everything that can go wrong around the ocular area, I have.

Benefit's Fake Up

So with all my...baggage, you'd think that I would have piles of concealers and eye creams. Admittedly, my upkeep in this area is pretty dismal; I've even used lip balm to moisturizer this area before. In retrospect this is pretty embarrassing.

Of the few under-eye concealers I've tried, I've never found that one triple threat. Brighten, cover and moisturize-it's the under-eye concealer trifecta, and I've been betting against finding it for years, which I why I completely nixed this type of product from my morning routine.

Then recently, I started hearing the buzz surrounding Benefit's new concealer Fake Up, and while I'm a fan of the brand, their products seem to be hit or miss so dropping 24$ for a .012 oz product sight unseen was harder to swallow than a mouthful of dry soda crackers.

So I checked out some blogs, infiltrated my local Ulta and tried out the product for myself. After testing it out and checking the results from just about every mirror in the store, I eventually left with my new tube of Fake Up.

May 2013 Love With Food Box Review

What are things you can put in an omelette for 1,000, Alex.

After taking a good, long look at my May 2013, Mother's Day themed Love with Food box, it took me a while to piece together how any of the included items could help my mom "start the day off with a delicious breakfast in bed". Instead I imagined walking into my mom's room with a tray packed full of random junk. Cajun spices, a jar of jam, a huge vegan cookie and some dried tomato slices only made me picture my mom making her very best confused face.

May 2013 Love With Food

Eventually, I realized that this month's box was pretty much worthless upon arrival and it was packed with the assumption that the recipient is culinarily inclined enough to figure out what do do with half of the items...which is not me.

Why would someone who can burn soup subscribe to a food box? Well, normally from past experiences, the items that came in my boxes included snack-type things like gummy fruit chews, juice boxes and chocolate-covered confections.

Once I realized that most of these food items could combine with things in a normal person's fridge to make a delightful breakfast for mom, I started to judge the box less harshly and I give them credit for letting recipients get a little bit creative with their contents.

For me, I decided that an omelette and toast would probably be the best I could do with this month's box which consisted of the following:

My Philosophy on Philosophy: Philosophy Skincare Review

What's my philosophy on the brand Philosophy? Buy everything you see from them.
It takes a lot of trial and error along with breakouts and dry patches to find that one brand that your skin just clicks with. For me, that brand is Philosophy.

Admittedly, I do think some of their prices are steep, but every time I see the results in the mirror I am reminded why I paid so much for something that runs out in about a month...willingly. To compensate for the prices, I'm constantly prowling their site  for coupons and sales to stretch my dollar further. So when I noticed that they were having a month-long birthday event last March, 2013-complete with daily specials and coupon codes, I found myself stalking their site like it was my boyfriend's ex girlfriend's Facebook page.

Eventually around the close of their birthday bash, I saw that they were selling some gift sets at 50% off. My eyes must have popped out of my head when I saw that they were selling one package worth more than $250 for $54.98. As fast as I reeled my eyeballs back into my sockets, I whipped out my credit card to snatch the deal before the dreaded 'sold out' sign arrived.

As soon as the credit card dust settled and my purchase was confirmed I felt that sale euphoria take over as I did a happy dance around my house with my unamused cat. One week later, a box packed with 8 different Philosophy products greeted me after a long day at work. I was so happy to get this deluxe skin care kit, because three of the products it came with were already things I needed to restock on and it would have cost 120$ to do so anyway!

Guerlain’s Cils d’Enfer Maxi Lash- Another Thing From Guerlain to Lust After

I went in with the intentions to buy something specific but I came out with something completely different. I don't know how many times this has happened to other people, but for me it happens with every purposeful trip to Sephora I take.

Guerlain’s Cils d’Enfer Maxi Lash

I stopped in to Sephora, made a confident b-line to to pick up my old-faithful mascara, but as I walked up to their mascara display to grab a new tube of Dior Show, a shiny gold package caught my eye and stole my attention.

I've recently become enamored with the Guerlain brand, a brand I used to dismiss as a line for fancy old ladies. Please don't take offense to that, I do aspire to be a fancy old lady one day-just not yet. But as I put my prejudices aside, I've come to find that their products do what they claim and often times, outperform other brands.