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?

Jeju Island Introduction Course

So many you aren't aware of this, but just south of Korea there is a little island called Jeju. Jeju-do (do in Korean means island) is beloved by all Koreans. Seriously, when I lived there I thought this place must be freaking paradise because of how everyone talked about it. It's the honeymoon island and traditionally where the older generation traveled after they got married.

Illustration done by a local artist whose website can be found here

Jeju has a big beautiful mountain in the middle of the island, and plenty of strange and interesting attractions (like a museum dedicated to the local, elderly female divers or the sex themed sculpture park). I will say, as I've traveled to many beautiful places in my life, I was a little underwhelmed by Jeju. Sorry! Maybe an unpopular opinion. Perhaps don't go there expecting it to be like Hawaii. Because it's not. It's different, and that's ok!

The plane ride from Seoul is about one hour. So that says how small Korea is! It's super cheap and easy to get there as there are a lot of airlines that fly to and from there. I recommend Jejuair or Eastar Jet. Once you arrive you have a few options. You can either rent a car (I'd do Lotte rental car because if you become a member you get a serious discount) or you use the bus/ taxi system. Every SINGLE time I've gone, somehow my international drivers license got messed up and I have yet to rent a car. Super annoying! So guess what? We took the bus everywhere. It is definitely cheap, not sure how easy it is to navigate if you don't speak Korean. In the summer the car rentals fill up/ sell out insanely fast so I highly, highly recommend booking in advance!

The first time I went to Jeju was in the middle of summer. I think it was July. It was super hot. And because we didn't have a car rental (this time we didn't get one because they sold out too fast) that meant buses and walking. And let me tell you, bus drivers in Jeju are mental. They drive super aggressively.

One night we were taking the bus back from a day trip and the driver was honking the horn at everyone, flying over speed bumps, and in Korean kept groaning, "I wanna go hooooooooome." He stopped at a stoplight in the middle of a town, got out, peed, and got back on the bus. I can't make this stuff up.

 Even though there is no "aloha" spirit here and it's maybe not as exotic or tourist developed as other islands, I love Jeju. My boyfriend's parents live there, and I've been many times. As a quick overview and in fear that this post could become just way too long, I'll write my recommendations below. Later I'll go more in depth about specific day trips, places to visit, and small neighboring islands to go to!

• Eat Hallabong oranges. They are native to Jeju and the best oranges I've ever had... in my life. you'll get a bunch of orange themed products. Try them all! They are cheaper in Jeju and eaten all over Korea. The only time you can't get them is in summertime, when it's too hot for the oranges to grow.
• Visit the beaches on the west side of the island! There is Hallim park, where you can pay an entry fee to see lots of beautiful botanical wonders, caves, and man-made waterfalls. Across from the park is a really great beach, and there is an Italian style pizza place nearby (pictured above)
• Go to the green tea fields and sample some products. I didn't get to do this but I still want to!
• Go hike/ drive through Hallasan (Halla Mountain). It's so beautiful and peaceful year round.
• Drive east and visit Udo (Cow Island). In my opinion, the best beaches in Jeju! So fun and cheap to rent a bike or a little electric car and go around the island, eating the local peanut ice cream or peanut sauce hot dogs & burgers. May sound weird, but even for a picky person like me I loved it. 

Have you been to Jeju before? What's your favorite warm weather locale? I'm gonna sit back now and dream of those oranges... 

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!

The Road to Accutane and Living to Tell the Tale

So... everyone gets acne when they're a teenager, right? (Probably right, I mean, I hope that's right...)

I did, and all my friends did, too. Here is a really embarrassing photo: 

See? Embarrassing. Redness, blotchiness... all around not a good time. And I was doing everything. Foam cleansers, milk cleansers, oil cleansers, oil free, you name it, I tried it. I also tried harsh salicylic acid and benzoyl treatments... didn't work. 

Flash forward to college. Not only had my problems not been reduced at all, they had actually gotten worse. 

As you can see I was getting large lumps on my face. I have probably deleted all the photos of my really bad cystic acne, but it went all along my jawline. It was painful and I felt hopeless. I didn't want to see anyone and make up didn't really cover it that well. And trust me, at that time there were no youtube gurus telling you had to do all these things. You had to do it the hard trial and error way! 

Finally I went to go see my dermatologist. We talked about some of my medical problems (blood clotting and PCOS) and she recommended I go on accutane. I wanted to more than anything. The promise of healthy skin was too great, even with the warning that acne could come back, I was ready to try anything. 

Before you can take the medicine, if you're a girl, you need to take a pregnancy test. You also need to provide tow forms of birth control to prove that you won't be able to get pregnant while on the medication. Every month they took my blood to make sure my liver and blood sugars were healthy. It was painful at times and time consuming. Keep this in mind before you consider accutane! 

The summer I started accutane was really hard. I had injured my foot and gained weight. I was depressed (without linking it to my medication) and I wanted to bury myself, away from friends and prying eyes. The sun burned so badly, I felt sick every time I walked outside. My skin would burn (still does tbh) incredibly easily. Even with sunscreen, a hat, and staying under an umbrella, I felt queasy being out in the sun. 

Most of the time I stayed indoors

My hair started changing it's shape.

Before accutane: 

After/ During:

My hair got super brittle and dry. It was frizzy ALL the time, my fly-aways were out of control no matter how many deep conditioning treatments or oils I used. It took two years post accutane for my hair to get semi-normal! 

There are so many side effects to accutane. And they are really all possible. The ones I had to deal with:

• hair change 
• dry skin/ lips
• eye problems 
• depression
• higher liver enzymes
• higher triglyceride levels 

My eyes were more sensitive but I also started getting a ton of styes in my eyes. They were really painful and I hated going to class (I was in college at the time). I finally found a way to get rid of them (green tea packet, warm water, keep it on your eye overnight with medical tape!) I found out from my eye doctor that accutane dries up the oil in your body that produces acne. This can also dry up the oil around your eye, causing blockage problems. 

Because my liver and triglyceride levels were up, I had to be put on a smaller dose over a larger period of time-- one year. After six months my skin was pretty much perfect. All my blackheads fell out, my pores became smaller. But my doctor recommended I stay on the medication for longer to lower the chance of acne coming back. 

I'm going to be honest... I got really bad depression on accutane. I've had situational depression before, and I know many of my family members struggle with depression. If you have depression or are worried about it, talk to your dermatologist about it! Do NOT keep that information from them. I'm a generally happy person but I found that when taking accutane I was incredibly depressed. Only when I finished the medicine did that fog lift and I realized the medicine was what caused it. I lost a lot of friends and wasted a lot of time because I refused to admit that I was having a period of depression. 

For dry lips, the only thing that would keep my lips moisturized was AQUAPHORE. I got 12 packets of it in my stocking that Christmas. It was a life saver! I took it everywhere with me. I highly recommend it. Conventional lip balm didn't cut it. 

Now... would I do it again? Yes. Even though I think I have a persisting eye problem because of accutane, I love my skin now. Yes, some of my pores opened up a little bit (though not as large as pre-accutane). Sometimes I get a few spots when my period is about to start or I'm stressed. But for the most part, I'm pain free, cyst free, and really happy with my complexion. I recommend it. 

This is me now!! 

I only use a cleansing water from Bioderma as my skin is now more sensitive than it used to be. I also use BB or CC cream or a light tinted moisturizer. I rarely, if ever, like to use a real honest-to-goodness foundation. I like my natural skin! If you have any questions about accutane, please don't hesitate to send me a message or comment below! 

Korean Beauty

You know I tried to deny the fact that I love blogging but I just can't help it. It combines all the loves of my life into one place.

I survived my year in Korea with hardly any blogging, made myself a boyfriend, moved home, and am currently in my last stretch of my visit to Seoul.

Speaking of Seoul, since coming here my love, affinity, and deep respect for Korean skin care has returned. I can't believe the number of articles I've read in magazines that touch on the forward thinking and risk taking nature of Korean cosmetics and skincare without ever giving credit to the labels here that supply the ideas. I always read about a western equivalent and I'm gonna be honest with you; they don't match up!

Korean skin is famous for a reason. Women here truly view it as a ritual to be treated with real respect. Massages, face stones, masks, ampoules, essences, mists, lotions, moisturizers... The list goes on and on. They have morning and nighttime routines and it's not just the women-- men contribute just as much effort. I have purchased so many goodies I can't wait to review and I've thought of so many make-up looks I want to try.

To keep up to date on my life make sure to check out my snapchat (juliakinsley) and my Instagram (Juliakingsley)


My computer broke while here so this update is being done through my phone. But I'll be up and running again soon! I'll list the product sources when I have a normal format.

Happy weekend everyone!

Wow. Woops.

In all honesty I kind of forgot this blog existed and that I'm supposed to be diligently updating it every day if not every week. I'm sorry, it's a shame I haven't been as good because my life has been full of many dramatic ups and downs. I've gotten used to, fallen in love with, fallen out of love with, and finally accepted my work here in Korea. It is both rewarding and difficult. I love almost all my students, I love interacting with them, I love an interest in learning. But, I hate some in-office aspects of life, some of the courses, and my schedule can be really hard at times.
While here I've also made some friends, mostly because of the cafe I frequent, but also through other friends and such. Of course two friends from university days live in Korea so it's great getting to see them from time to time. I haven't seen them much recently though because I got a boyfriend.
For most people this is semi-big news (as big of news as men can be which, let's be real, there are more important things in life) because I went to an all girls school and I'm suuuuuupes awkward around guys. I want nothing more than to post photos of me and him together and tell everyone all the details I can about him and what we do together.
Unfortunately I can't do any of this for a little bit of time. But I promise by summer. Or by mid-summer, I will be able to post photos and I will clarify why all the secrecy had to happen etc. etc.
I can tell you he is younger than me and he loves me very dearly.

Since we have open classes coming up here at my hagwon, I have to go to bed because I'm burned out and super tired and stressed. But I will upload photos of my life so far, maybe photos that sum up the time I've missed b/c of lack of blogging? And maybe I'll start doing this thing again :) If the demand is there.