Shara Shara Repairing Hair Essence Lotion Review

Today I'm reviewing Korean beauty brand Shara Shara's Hair Repairing Essence Lotion. The product label and the product's webpage here have have very little English, but here's what I got from it~ The backside states that this "Hair lotion cares damaged hair intensively with vegetable oil and protein ingredient."

The webpage and the rest of the label are in Korean. According to my friend, it says that you can use this product on both wet and dry hair, by combing the product through your hair. If your hair is wet, make sure to towel dry it first.

The product smells really good and sweet, like peach gummy rings. It is also smooth and a little runny. Looking at the photo, this is about how much one pump is. I use this much on about a five inch section of my hair, and clamp my palms together from the top of my hair and drag it to the bottom to fully disperse the product throughout my hair. I used a lot of this lotion on towel-dried hair, and after a few hours I noticed that the lotion left a sticky residue, like hair gel, all over my hair. It became really knotty and made my hair bothersome especially when I ran my fingers through my hair. The lotion had set my hair and was especially noticeable on my bangs. I think this product fits more as a light-hold hair gel that sets regular and light hairstyles and flyaway strands rather than fancy curls and buns. As for its repairing effects, I'm not sure how to test that. To recap:

The Pros

• The sweet, candy peach scent is heavenly.
• The lotion is smooth and runny on the hands rather than sticky, so it's mess-free.
• The lotion lightly sets hair, like a light-hold hair gel.

The Cons

• The lotion dries like a gel, making hair knotty and sticky (this can be a pro if you like hair gel).

Overall, this product is more of a nuisance since it makes my hair knotty and feels like someone had drenched my hair in soda; however, that is kind of how gel feels like as well, so if this product were labeled as a light-hold gel, I'd be more satisfied. The bottom line, the one con really outweighs the pros for me, definitely not making me a fan of the product.

Infinite: That Summer Concert 2 DVD Review

Infinite held their second small summer concert series, That Summer Concert 2, in 2014, following their first one in 2012. TSC2 took place over seven days, from August 8th to August 16th. Woollim released this concert on DVD on May 13th, 2015 for Korea and for Japan (they have a DVD version and bluray version with different photocards).

I ordered mine with an unfolded poster from Kpoptown, and it was shipped about the same day it was released. My poster arrived 12 days after shipment and my DVD arrived in 20 days, which is much longer than usual. Sadly it arrived damaged, with the disc container intended and causing a crack in the plastic case. Kpoptown also has this policy where you can't return anything after you open it :/

As expected, the format of  the TSC2 packaging is very similar to that of TSC1. They're roughly the same size (this one is not is wide) and has a simplistic, yet elegant feel. The material is more waterproof this time, with a wood-like texture design.

The backside has the typical information DVD information, except this time without the setlist or special features listed. This is for all regions excluding 2, and includes subtitles in Korean, English, and Chinese. The English subtitles are pretty good, of course with the few grammatical errors and typos.

This set includes, from top to bottom, the DVD case ("digipak"), the photocards ("photo album"), and photobook. It's cool how the outside case is a cutout of the cloud! And I like the various shades of blue concept.

Here is the cover design of all the contents.

And here is the backside. The back of the photocards container is supposed to be upside down.

The three discs are in a trifold format, with the setlist and special features listed on the right flap. The first and second discs are 79 and 95 minutes long, respectively, and contain the concert and the "Special Making Film." The third disc is 63 minutes long.

The concert is absolutely amazing. It stays true to the summer vacation theme, with Infinite opening up sitting in chairs as if they were around a campfire. The intro VCR also shows Infinite getting ready for their summer roadtrip. Other VCRs include the continuation of TSC1 with the members asking for L's advice, and a mini interview.The setlist includes songs up to and including "Back" and "Diamond" from Be Back. This concert is from the last day, and doesn't include any solo performances nor the VCR leading up to the solo performances. Sadly Hoya had previously injured his leg while performing at Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook, so he performed while sitting instead of dancing. For the last day, Infinite was also surprised with a video of their friends giving supporting messages to each member (with Sungyeol choosing his brother, Myungsoo choosing his high school teacher, and Sunggyu choosing the head of the department LOL), and then they brought out a cake to celebrate~ It was all really touching. During the ending ments, it was sad how Woohyun was saying a fan pushed past him to see another member, and how hurt he was by that; it was nice knowing he felt comfortable telling Inspirits his true feelings like that, but I hope he knows not all Inspirits are like that! I'm sorry I don't have much to say (or maybe this is a good thing) about the concert, I basically said it all when I saw Day 5 and Day 6 live.

The second disc also contains the "Special Making Film," which is just under 18 minutes long. It is one cohesive video not divided into parts or days, and shows the various things Infinite needs to do from preparing for the concert to completing it. It was cool seeing Infinite recording for the intro audio (not shown in the DVD) telling the audience not to record any part of the concert. It was also cool seeing the various places around and inside the venue, including under the bridge where all the fansites were, the tents to buy merchandise, the lines to enter the venue, and inside the venue itself.

The last disc shows a documentary clip of each member's solo stages, with each video being about 9 minutes. Each clip shows the VCR for that member, starting off with their predebut days (like a childhood photo and a clip of their audition video) and a mini interview. The rest includes the member rehearing for his solo stages and backstage during his concert day, with that member expressing his feelings throughout the day. It was cool seeing that member would lead the group's chant right before they begin that day's concert. Probably due to copyright issues, the actual solo performances weren't shown, or had its audio removed. They did show bits of some members' performances with audio, like Sungyeol's stage with Infinite F. It was really cool seeing Myungsoo singing a part of K.Will's "Day One" backstage, Woohyun practicing his hearts for "For 1000 Days," Dongwoo practicing the piano, and Hoya practicing his chair dance despite his injury. I also thought it was cool seeing a glimpse of the intro VCR from backstage, it's like seeing the concert from a different perspective.

The photocards slide out from the top of its case.

The case has perforated lines on the front and back so you could fold and peel it in such a way for it to become a stand to display the photocards. This case is too precious for me to make it deformed though! Included inside a an instruction manual on how to display the photocards.

There are eight photocards, including one for each member (ordered from oldest to youngest) and then a group collage one with those filters again. Dongwoo's outfit is different here than from the concert DVD, showing they were different outfits on different days~ And I like how Myungsoo's is from his solo stage, since the performance isn't included in the DVD.

The photocards are thin, matte cardstock. The backside is a nice pale blue with the TSC2 logo.

The photobook is 79 pages long and begins with two 2-page spreads of the stage and of Infinite. All the group photos use the two filters, which is a bit bothersome as it loses some detail of the otherwise gorgeous photos. I wish the photobook also gave details about the concert dates and venue, like it usually does in Infinite's other concert DVD photobooks.

The photobook focuses on members' individual photos, from oldest to youngest, with each member having eight pages. All these photos are either in color or have a black and white filter. These member sections include photos from the concert performances, solo stages, and rehearsals. I'm really happy that many of these photos are from the solo stages or from rehearsals of the solo stages, such as the above photos of Dongwoo practicing for his solo stage.

There is also one 2-page spread of Infinite performing in between the members' sections, again with the filters.

The last four pages are various photos of the group and the credits.

And here is the poster design! This is one of my favorite Infinite posters, because it shows the atmosphere of the concert, as well as closeups of the members. The filters make it look more coherent and matches the blue theme, though if it were in color that would've been nicer.

To my surprise, the poster is only 14.5" x 20". It is as tall as the New Challenge poster, and I think the smallest external poster Woollim's released. It's also more of thin, matte paper feel, so it's not as high quality as Infinite's other posters. Oddly enough, there are also no companies (Woollim, Loen, SM, etc.) printed on the poster; it feels like someone just printed this from their house. Regardless, it is still one of my favorite posters, and as you can see, it's already framed and displayed in my room~

Overall, I am just so excited Woollim released That Summer Concert 2 on DVD, as I actually went to Day 5 and Day 6 of this concert series. Because of this, it was so emotional for me to watch the DVD, especially "Last Romeo" and "Back" and even more so during the fanchant of "Back" as that was the most vivid memory I had of the concerts. Nothing can explain just how special this set is to me, and how upset I was that it arrived damaged internally. Regardless, I am so happy to have TSC2^^