Review: J.One Jelly Pack

Wow. No words.

When I was in Korea a few weeks ago I heard about this product called the J.One Jelly pack. It was created from beloved Korean actress Ji Won Ha (thus, the name J.One). She has seriously amazing skin and was kind enough to finally release her "secret weapon."

This product is a bit strange, and in her video on the subject, Ji Won described this jelly pack as a corset for your face. Huh? I thought it sounded kind of strange too. She said it basically pulls everything in and makes your skin feel supported all day. Watch the video below and see how she does it herself! (I like how she says positive things to herself whilst applying the product. I definitely believe this works!)

In Korea this product was only available through her website . I did find it at one beauty shop (like Olive Young or LOHBs) but I can't remember the name at the moment. I liked ordering through the website though because they gave me a free full sized face wash!

Here's what my skin looked like after waking up:

Just after washing. And then, here is what it looked like after applying the jelly pack:

Not a hugely noticeable difference at first. The product is a little gooey and a little sticky. It's hard to describe but it definitely feels strange when you first apply it. In the video she does soooo many pumps but I only do 2, 3 at the most. I feel like 4 is overkill and this is precious stuff to me! You can immediately feel the pull she describes in the video. Your face feels lifted, it's like armor for your skin. It really does feel so unique and incredible. This is one of many beauty multi-taskers to come out of Korea recently. Not everyone enjoys the 10-13 step skincare process and are creating items that cut down on the time it takes to get ready both morning and night.

This is after air cushion foundation has been applied and after I suddenly grew myself some eyebrows. Jk, I have them but they are very hard to see and nearly invisible just like my friend Niyatee told me in middle school -.- I think this product gives me such a nice glow and I love having it on.

Finished makeup look! I adore using this product and I will definitely be purchasing it again. I have to say, if you can buy it while traveling, do it. They jack up the price so much here! It was 23,000 won in Korea (about 20 dollars) and I see it listed at memebox for $35, some places for $42! Yikes. 

Have you heard of this product featured in Vogue? Have any of you tried it? I recommend it, it will change your beauty routine! 

You can find this item here or here.  

Lusting for Lately

Spring has sprung and that means suddenly all of the minimalist beautiful tumblr post I see fill me with envy and I find myself, sadly, without any finances with which I can selfishly buy all the things I want. Spring is so short here in Texas that I'm already dreading the summer I can feel rapidly approaching. For now I will enjoy the beautiful cool nights and mornings and not think about the months to come. 

Lately I've been stressed and excited. I have a big idea for what I want to do with my life, but find myself without the connections or resources to do this. I know it's possible, I just have to decide which difficult path I want to go down. All expensive, all time consuming, but certainly worth it. So for now, I will peruse the internet, tumbling down the deepest pathways of online forums and beauty blogs to find more things I don't need (but really, really want).

 1. Cute storage. I have always loved these kind from Urban. I don't know why I love simple glass/ metal pairings so much, but I do!

 2. I LOVE Diptyque candles, and I remember smelling (I think) this fragrance several years ago at Nordstrom. I told her I wanted something woodsy and not too feminine. I always told myself I would get it after I used up my Hermes one, but alas, that is still very full. I need to remember to wear my perfume every day!

 3. Photo from this website. I really want to read more and this book really interests me. I don't love the NastyGal company, mostly because I think the clothes are for a very limited number of people and I'm definitely not one of them, nor do I really love the styles. But I love the company's CEO. I read a little of this book when I was in the bookstore and I loved her voice, her work ethic, and her frugalness.

 4. This Drew bag by Chloe is so beautiful to me. I love the gold hardware, I love the shape of it, but most of all I love the lock system they have in place. I think this would be such a cute color with my color palette I'm always wearing (think creams, whites, blues, and black). I'm trying to add more color into my life (seriously I'm wearing grey on grey on grey today) so this is a good starting point. Baby steps!

 5. I have wanted a moisturizing, glowy lotion for a while now and I've heard great things about this one. Also fun that you can put it in your hair! I know I'm a pale, white, bed-sheet ghost, but I still want to pretend I can have fun and tan with the girls and you know, I think this oil could do the trick.

6. Photo found here. I am DYING to have shinier, softer hair and I've heard this product is amazing. I'm hoping after a few more Posh sales/ I finally get paid that I will be able to purchase this. I've heard you can wear it as a mask or even over night and it just restores your hair and makes it so shiny and soft.

What have you been lusting after lately? Have you tried any of these products? Comment below!

Coconut Oil for... Shaving?

Do you ever like... procrastinate shaving your legs as your life, room, job, romantic life, etc. falls apart around you? And then one day you're like, "I can't be productive until I shave my legs?" No? Maybe I'm the only person who does this.

Regardless of why you do or don't shave your legs, this morning I really had a bee in my bonnet regarding the subject. Lately I've 1) felt like my life is falling apart b/c my boyfriend lives over 6,000 miles away from me right now (and honestly sometimes I feel like I care more about it than him) 2) been ignoring my responsibilities 3) not be shaving regularly (but tbh why would it's been winter and i also just don't feel like i should all the time if i don't want to.

So today I thought to myself, "I'm not doing anything until my legs are soft and smooth."

I remember reading an article a while ago about coconut oil and I know everyone and their pet parakeet were using it for everything but I abstained. Late to the train, but I was intrigued about the shaving your legs part.

Guess what? Did it today... amazing. Like you use a good scoop of it, rub it all over, it isn't thick so your razor does not get clogged, and it moisturizes as you shave! Win win! And it shaves so close to the skin. I can't believe, still, how soft and smooth my legs are. 10/10 highly recommend.

Source

Review: Posie K by Kylie Jenner

OK I know this is way overdue and everyone and their freaking dog has done a review for Kylie's lip kit but I must say. I was really intrigued seeing as everyone has been raving over it so much! I like the color and I like the longevity of it but I do have one complaint. OK maybe two. But hey, its Julia, master complainer.

The color swatches I see online and even the colors posted on Kylie's website herself look completely different to the product I received. You see, this is Posie K on Kylie's site.

 So I of course thought this was going to be a pretty pink! And posies look like this, for reference (because I didn't know):

I mean I thought she named the color after the flower, no? Anyway, so I get the product and it looks a lot darker than I thought it would be. I also got Dolce K but it seemed too brown I didn't even bother! So here's Posie K on me:


I wanted the color to be a brighter pink rather than this kind of dusty pink on me. And.... here's the color on someone else!

From Laura Lee's blog 

I do like the color and of course, as it's matte it's pretty drying. Like, if your lips are super hydrated beforehand it can look like you applied acrylic paint haha. I want to try Candy k or maybe even Koko K next.

Have you gotten a kylie product? What did you think?

Review: Son and Park All That Shimmering Eye Kit

When I was in Seoul visiting my boyfriend last week, I finally purchased a slew of products from a brand I have been extremely interested in: Son and Park. Son Dae-Sik and Park Tae-Yun are two of the most famous make up artists in Korea.

Ever heard of the actress Jeon Ji-Hyun? She is a really famous Korean actress in lots of movies and dramas (including the mega-hit "My Love from the Star." Son is her make-up artist! So obviously these two know a lot about make-up and making women look beautiful.

Photo from Son's personal Instagram

Photo found here

That being said, I think, perhaps they are better make-up artists than product creators? I bought and tested a lot of their products. I loved their packaging-- very minimalist and cute! But the products don't bring much that is new to me. The color cubes for lips were pretty drying for me, and actually, most of the lip products were drying to me. As they are a fledgling company, maybe they will get better over time.

However, today I am not reviewing the brand! Just a product. And I liked this one, even though I don't think it's necessarily anything super special, I find it very convenient.

The Son and Park All That Shimmering Eye Kit is exactly what it says it is. A kit for your eyes! The far right colors, all of the shimmery browns, are to be used on the eyelid or along the lash line. The middle color is actually a highlighter (nifty!) to give your face that glow that all Korean women lust after. The nude color is for the brow bone, to bring everything together, and the far left is a shimmery white that is to be used for the tear duct. As you can see, this is an all-in-one palette.

This is what the swatch looks like without any primer. The brow color basically blended in perfectly with my skin and was impossible to photograph. As you can see, left is highlighter, and the rest are the over all colors.

You can also see the package comes with a little guide letting you know what everything is for. Thanks, Son and Park!

I found this product very easy to use. The colors are pretty pigmented and I think this would be really useful and versatile for a great night out look. You could easily do a great smokey eye with this or make it more simple for daytime. I think the shadow colors would also look really lovely along the lash line to bring some color around your eye that isn't as harsh as a liner.

 See that highlight? That's probably what they are known best for... a beautiful dewy, shining look. I didn't go too strong on the colors because hi, it's 11am and I don't want to go to starbucks in a skirt and tennis shoes with my face ready for a night out. Also, the camera has kind of washed out the boldness of the colors. Grrr... gotta fix these settings.

iPhone pics for good measure. All pictures taken with naturally lighting! (Maybe that's the problem. Perhaps I'll buy some studio lights...)

So what do you think? Do you like Son and Park's products/ Korean beauty? You can buy this kit at:

USA: Sokoglam ($38.00)
South Korea: Olive Young (₩32,000)

If you're visiting Korea soon, I recommend buying it there and getting the tax refund. So much cheaper!

Rimmel Apocalips: Big Bang

I'm still really really happy that ASOS exists and that they sell Apocalips in the US because I wouldn't be able to get it anywhere else.

I loved Nova so much I decided to get another color. I find this to be... the perfect red?!

I know I'm a redhead and blah blah blah "too harsh on us" or whatever but you know what? If I wanna wear red lipstick, I'm gonna, you know? I think this color looks good on everyone. I'm serious, I looked up blog posts before I ordered it just to see what to expect and lemme say... I was pleasantly surprised. If you have access to it, I highly suggest ordering it. It lasts a long time. It's not super glossy, but it's really creamy. Its like a lipgloss // lipstick hybrid.

$7.62 on ASOS

Instagrams from the Week

I have some new products coming in, so when I get that last one I can to a haul/ review of some of the products! Excited about all of them, they've been great so far.

From the top: Dog sleeping like a crazy person, Texas sunsets, salon where I got my hair cut, working out at the gym with one of my best friends Caroline, rain creating melting trees through glass, the bathroom at a restaurant on Valentine's day.

Mixed feelings about this week, in a lot of ways it was very difficult but also very rewarding. I had a bout of pretty harsh cyber bullying that left me down in the dumps and feeling bad, but I also worked out a lot this week, made progress with school work, and other personal goals. So, yeah, all in all, mixed week.

However, lots of exciting things coming up in the next week, very excited to make some of these posts!

Dealing with Tangled Pool Hair

If any of you are like me, you have a love / hate relationship with summer. I live in Texas, so things that suck about summer time here are:
- mosquitos
- humidity
- lack of rain
- hot cars that burn the bottom of your legs
- sweating

But there are so many other things that I love about summer, one of them being swimming. Swimming to me is just quintessential summer. I just think watermelon, sunblock, laughter, and that wonderful feeling of burning your feet against he pavement and then jumping into those cool chlorinated waves of water. An unfortunate side effect of swimming is what becomes of my hair. It gets kind of sticky and dry, it does weird things, and it becomes a nightmare to brush. I for one always loathed getting out of the pool and dealing with my chlorinated hair. It just becomes dull, dull, dull.

About a year and a half ago, I was perusing the counters of Nordstrom's when I came upon this little gem. Let me show you:

This product is by Frederic Fekkai and it's called Marine Summer Hair: Beachcomber leave-in conditioner. It smells so summery and good, no lie, I love love LOVE the smell of this stuff. It's my favorite of any hair care product that I own. It just smells right, you know what I mean? Anyway, it has liquid that separates, so when you are done swimming, playing in the ocean, or even showering you just:

Shake the bottle
Hold about six inches away from your head
Gently mist, paying close attention to the tangles near the tips and in the middle of your hair!
Avoid your eyes
Smell amazing

That's it. Put a brush through that hair and it will smell instantly better.
I don't think this product is necessarily the best for moisture control, so if dry hair in the summer is your problem, this won't be the solution for you. However, if you deal with tangled and dull hair, this product will for sure bring life back into those roots and bonus- it leaves you smelling amazing.

*Note: I've had some trouble finding this on the Fekkai website, so I'm not sure if it's not in their line anymore, but it's available online at several places, just search for Frederic Fekkai Beach Comber Leave-In Conditioner. The link will take you to an example on Amazon.
** I wasn't paid to endorse this product. I doubt Frederic Fekkai even knows who I am. I bought this with my own money as a college student, so don't worry about me trying to peddle a product I don't like.