My Mini Korean Haul! May 2018 Edition

My brother came back from his trip to Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong, and gifted me with some goodies! This post aims to share these additions to my collection and to tell the background stories to these items. 

Here are my goods from Kakao Friends - an Apeach neck pillow and an Apeach sleep mask. My brother also surprised me with this Kakao Friends branded cola!

I also received a cold cup from the Starbucks 2018 Cherry Blossom collection. 

I'll have separate unboxing reviews for these Kakao and Starbucks items (including the cola!) soon.

Lovelyz: 治癒 (치유 / Healing) 4th Mini Album Review

Woollim is on fire this year, releasing practically one comeback per month! This time, it's Lovelyz' comeback on April 23rd, with their 4th mini album entitled 治癒 (치유 / Healing). It's been 5 months since Lovelyz' last comeback, and this time the lovely girls are back with their continued pure and innocent vibe, but with a spring vibe.

This time I pre-ordered the album with a folded poster on eBay from seller goods-store01 for $18.99 USD shipped. This is my first time pre-ordering an album on eBay, but I figured I'd give it a try because 1) this seller claims to be officially contracted with Synnara and that each purchase will count on the music charts of Synnara, Hanteo, Gaon, and Music Bank, and 2) I found ordering the album with a folded poster here was dollars cheaper than ordering from my usual of Ktown4u.

My package was shipped on the April 23rd and arrived on May 3rd, in just 10 days! Pictured above is the customs form. My album and poster arrived wrapped securely in 4 layers of bubblewrap and placed in a waterproof envelope. Overall I'm very happy with the condition, price, and speed of this eBay seller, and will definitely consider purchasing from them again.

Here are the album and folded poster. The poster is folded a bit smaller than other vendors, but I don't mind since it was packaged and protected due to its small size.

Lovelyz is continuing the book style packaging like their previous album Fall in Lovelyz; even the dimensions are the same as Fall in Lovelyz. The colors of this concept fit so well with the spring season.

The album cover is simple yet intricate, with a gloss overlay design on top of the matte album.

The back cover has a similar design. The tracklist is printed at the bottom.

Opening up the album, the CD is embedded on the left around a sturdy board backing and held in place by a foam circle. The right is the photobook. And hanging in the middle is a piece of hemp.

The photobook cover is one of the two group photos in the photobook. The photobook contains 92 pages.

Majority of the photos are of each member individually, and each page contains one photo. The first section of the photobook contains photos from the white photoshoot, the same photoshoot as the photobook cover. The girls look so pure and perfect as always!

The top of the left page states "LOVELYZ 4TH MINI ALBUM" while the top of the right page states  the album title, "- 治癒 -".

The next section contains photos from the blue photoshoot.

There is one page per song, including the song credits and lyrics. These pages are spread throughout the photobook.

The last main section contains photos from the brown photoshoot. All three main sections have roughly the same amount of photos.

I love Jiae's purple hair! It may be an unnatural color, but she pulls it off so well and it looks so natural here.

The next section contains 4 pages for the Thanks To.

Lastly there is one group photo from the brown photoshoot, and then the album credits on the last page. The girls look sophisticated and mature here, yet still fit their concept so well. Baby Soul reminds me of a safari attendant at an amusement park...but in a really cute way!

This album also includes 2 random photocards and 1 bookmark.

There are 2 photocard sets, both sets with 1 card per member. The first photocard set is the typical photocard, with a photo on one side and printed autograph on the backside. The images of these photocards are cute closeups of the girls. I got Sujeong's~

Here's the backside of my photocard.

The second photocard set also has a cute closeup on one side, and the backside has a childhood image of the member! I got Mijoo's~ Both cards are glossy and have similar dimensions to Lovelyz' previous small photocards (like from Lovelyz8, A New Trilogy, R U Ready?, and Now, We), except these are about 1mm narrower and 1mm taller.

Here's the baby picture of Mijoo!

The album also comes with 1 random member bookmark out of 8. This is where that random piece of hemp comes into play - you can string it through the hole at the top of the bookmark. The bookmark is made of thin cardstock with a matte front and slightly glossy (and fingerprint-prone) back. I got Jisoo's~ This image isn't included in the photobook.

Here is the backside of the bookmark. The entire cardstock is 3.5" by 5.125".

This comeback contains 2 exterior first press posters. One poster is horizontal and uses the same image as the photobook cover, and the other one is pictured above, with vertical orientation from the blue photoshoot. I'm happy to have gotten this poster version since this image isn't included in the photobook. I'm so glad that the image is much crisper than Woollim's previous posters with a grainy effect. The poster has a nice slighly glossy finish. The poster dimensions are the same as Woollim's usual exterior first press album posters.

Now I'll discuss the tracklist. This mini album contains 6 tracks:

1. 治癒 (치유) - (Healing) is the intro track. Both the intro track and title track are composed by none other than SWEETUNE! 
2. 그날의 너 - (That Day) is the title track, and definitely has the signature Lovelyz sound throughout the entire song! Furthermore, I'm so happy the girls have earned their first win for this song, as they've definitely deserved it and so much more. Furthermore, I'm really proud of the girls' participation in this album. Baby Soul solely participated in the chorus!
3. 미묘미묘해 - is such a fun B-track! Lovelyz performed this at this album showcase, and I hope they continue to perform this song live. The choreography is really cute! Baby Soul, Kei, and Sujeong also worked on the chorus!
4. Temptation - is another track with Baby Soul's participation, this time in the rap making!
5. 수채화 - (Watercolor) is a ballad composed by Razer of Rphabet! This is the same Rphabet that composed Infinite's later titles "Destiny", "Back", "Bad", "The Eye", "Tell Me". Lovelyz have been promoting this track along with the title.
6. Shining★Star - is another fun track that adds to the overall bubbly feel of this album. This song was created by the same team (1Take, TAK, AARAN) as Lovelyz' previous title track "Twinkle"!

Overall, I love this album! The selection of songs fit Lovelyz so well - this is probably my favorite album where I can constantly listen to all entire album on repeat. With the announcement of Lovelyz' Asia fan meeting tour, I can't wait to see what else this year has in store for the girls!

Infinite: 2017 Season's Greetings Review

With the new year comes new calendars! But for me, it also means buying previous years' discounted calendars. I purchased Infinite's 2017 Season's Greetings + Folded Poster set on December 28th, 2017 on Amazon for $26 USD. This item was sold by reseller Alice&Chris, based in Kentucky, and fulfilled by Amazon. The estimated delivery range was January 4th to 8th, 2018.

My package shipped on the 4th from Texas. Shortly after it shipped, Amazon charged me a few bucks for taxes, which I didn't realize until after viewing my order details once it shipped. I would suggest being fully aware if Amazon charged you taxes after your goods have shipped. Furthermore, the estimated delivery updated to January 10th, and on the 10th it was delayed even more. My package finally arrived on the 11th in an oversized cardboard box with no protection inside, but luckily my calendar arrived in good condition (except for the exception of a long dent on cover).

The concept for this season's greetings is very dark and ominous, continuing the theme from Infinite previous release of Infinite Only. The packaging is like Infinite's previous season's greetings boxes, similar to a cardboard pizza box. The dimensions of the exterior box are 11.625" by 9.375" by 1.5".

Here is the bottom of the exterior packaging. The entire box has a matte black finish. I like how Infinite has a new logo just for this season's greetings that fits well with this concept.

The side of the box has the new Infinite logo printed with a matte finish. I like the subtle details like this that Woollim puts into their products.

Opening up the flap reveals the main feature, the desk calendar.

Inside the same clear wrap as the desk calendar are the bookmark and standing mirror.

Underneath the desk calendar is the diary, packaged well in its cardboard bed. The diary is packaged in its own clear wrap (which I had already removed).

Lastly, underneath the diary is the making DVD. Continuing the theme, the desk calendar, diary, and making DVD case all have that matte black finish.

Here is the calendar. The image of Infinite is glossy while the page itself is matte but highly prone to fingerprints. There are a total of 14 physical pages, or 28 including both sides, with the remaining pages being all matte. When flat, the dimensions are 10.375" by 9".

This is the backside of the calendar. The thick cardboard creates a sturdy base so that the calendar stands up well.

Both the front and back have a triangular mirror, and all of the pages have a cutout for this.

Here is how the calendar looks standing up. The dimensions like this are 10.375" by 8.75" with the base about 3".

The next page is a yearly calendar that includes all members' birthdays and Infinite's 7th anniversary.

The following page contains individual photos of the members. All photos in the calendar are from the same photoshoot.

There are two pages per month. Each member gets an entire month with two close-up shots. Woohyun has the month of May^^ One page has the days displayed in a weekly format.

The other page has the days displayed at the bottom of the page in one long line.

For the remaining 5 months, each member gets one more individual page.

There are also 2 pages splitting the group.

Finally, there is 1 page for a group shot.

The last page of the calendar is a design very similar to the Season's Greetings box design.

There is also a thick piece of paper that I'll call the calendar sheet.

The backside includes the members' printed messages and autographs, as well as global holiday dates for China, Japan, the US, and Taiwan.

The calendar includes a sheet of red and green stickers that can be used to mark special dates on the desk calendar.

Here is the standing mirror, with dimensions 5.5" at the widest by 5.625" at the center. This is the first time I've seen a mirror included in official merchandise, and I'm not quite sure what to do with it. The mirror itself is quite foggy and practically nonfunctional as a mirror anyways. Other than that, Infinite looks great!

The backside of the standing mirror has a foldable stand so that the mirror can stand on its own.

The bookmark is a highly reflective plastic with a flap in the middle to slip in between a page. I personally don't like the quality of this as the material naturally has a lot of scratches and is prone to fingerprints. The dimensions are 2.75" by 4.375" at the tip.

This is the diary, which has a construction paper cover with cutouts in the center. The dimensions are 5.125" by 7.5" by 0.5".

The back cover has the gorgeous Infinite logo.

The spine is also detailed with an engraving of the logo on top, "INFINITE" in the center, and "DIARY" at the bottom.

The silver backing is actually a postcard. You can see how reflective the back of this postcard is - much more than the mirror itself!

Here is the frontside of the postcard, with a nice image of OT7 and the logo in the background. This postcard has dimensions 4.75" by 7".

Removing the postcard from the diary reveals this image of Infinite as the diary cover. These photos are the same images as the images on the calendar sheet. This design is very similar to the diary included in Infinite's 2014 Season's Greetings.

There is a 2-page spread showing the 2017 and 2018 calendars. I really like these calendars because they show the members' birthdays and Infinite's anniversary. It even includes Hoya's birthday in 2018...

The diary includes an undated monthly planner where each 2-page spread is for 1 month, so that you can use it for any year.

The next section includes an undated weekly planner where each page is for 1 week.

The remaining pages are the diary portion, with various pages for you to write. The first section includes lined pages with the Infinite logo decorating the top.

The next section consists of blank pages, with the logo on the bottom left and "INFINITE" on the bottom right.

The last section contains graph paper.

Next is the making DVD, which comes in a matte black envelope.

Here is the backside of the envelope.

Here is the DVD. It is for all regions and is just over 40 minutes long with Korean subtitles. Majority of the time is dedicated to each member answering various questions, with short clips of that member's 2 individual shoots. Some of these questions include what is each member's imaginary role in a family, and what is the member's most favorite and hardest parts of the "The Eye" choreography. The length of time spent on each member really varied, with Sungjong only taking up 3.5 minutes and Dongwoo taking up 7 minutes, depending on the editing of each member's interview. There are few clips of the group and subgroup photoshoots in between the members' interviews. The tracks of Infinite Only play throughout the video.

Here is the exterior folded poster. The poster is really large - a lot bigger than Woollim's typical first press album posters! The dimensions are 34" by 24". The poster is also high quality, with a slightly gloss finish.

Overall, though I'm quite late in getting this 2017 Season's Greetings, I'm so happy to have it in my collection. I like how each year Infinite has a different concept for their calendar. 2017's concept is definitely the darkest out of all of Infinite's season's greetings. Sadly, this is also Infinite's last season's greetings with OT7.