Etude House Missing U Panda and Pink Dolphin Hand Cream Review

Etude House has a line of hand creams called Missing U, with each product focusing on a protecting a particular species. These protects spread awareness and part of the proceeds go toward that cause. The original series includes #1 Harp Seal, #2 Fairy Penguin,  #3 Panda, and #4 Pink Dolphin. I reviewed the Harp Seal before here and the Fairy Penguin here.

What first drew me to this hand cream series and to Etude House in the first place was seeing it on the drama Shut Up Flower Boy Band. I know I said this in the Harp Seal review, but I'll state it again. Ye Rim hands Infinite's Myungsoo the Pink Dolphin hand cream, which I honestly thought was the ugliest thing I've seen. How can you turn a dolphin's snout into a 2D surface. But because Myungsoo's had contact with this one (they probably chose the most ugly one to boost its sales), I had to get this one. When I was in Seoul, I bought the two I'm missing, the Panda and the Pink Dolphin.

I gave most of my thoughts about the products in my Harp Seal review, so here I'll do a quicker review of the packaging, the hand cream container, and the cream itself, for the Panda and Pink Dolphin. Etude's English website also has information on this hand cream series here.

The packaging is environmentally friendly; it is printed on 100% recycled paper and with soy ink, and has won a packaging award in 2011. This is the panda one.

And here is the similar packaging for the dolphin. I like the graphic of the pink dolphin in its natural habitat~

The backside states the "Panda Story" in Korean and is very descriptive. The side has a translation in English, but the "Panda Story" is much shorter than the Korean one. It reads:

"Our endangered animal friends are rapidly becoming extinct from the planet... I really want to see you...

I miss you!

Hi~ I am Panda

I live in China, love to eat bamboo and practice kung-fu."

It also states that this cream contains herbs, shea butter, and olives, to "moisturize, heal and soothe hands." While it is a hand cream, you can also apply it to arms.

The story for the pink dolphin story states: "I live in the Amazon River, love to swim and chat with friends." Like the other Missing U hand creams, it is also made with the same ingredients and has the same directions.

The hand creams fit in my hand and contain 30ml. They're so adorable; I love how the arms are 3D, adding to the cuteness.

The panda is peach scented, as indicated on its belly. To me, it smells like a typical flowery lotion scent, not necessarily peachy like Tony Moly's peach hand cream. The pink dolphin is fiona scented. I have no idea what "fiona" could be besides a name of a person, but the picture on the container looks more like a peony flower. To me, it smells like potpourri (which isn't a bad thing!). You simply unscrew the top, and inside there's a clear plastic cover and then the cream.

Overall, I love this series and I'm glad I have the complete collection! The containers are cute (...I'll eventually accept the Pink Dolphin's appearance), and the creams do their job in moisturizing my hands. I'm sorry I didn't blog much about the cream itself, but I do mention it on the other posts.

F to F Magazine Jan 2013 Vol.01 Review

F to F World Wide Entertainment Magazine is a monthly Japanese magazine focusing on the Hallyu wave, including Kpop, Korean dramas and advertisements for Korean brands.  The physical magazine is rather minimal, with just two staples at the side instead of a real spine.  This easily causes creases across the covers.  Each issue is 980 Yen, but of course buying overseas makes the sales price much higher.  I bought the F to F January 2013 issue in Singapore's Kinokuniya bookstore for $29.30 SGD (roughly $22.99 USD).

Anything to do with Kim Myungsoo, and I'm all over it.  Instantly when I saw the cast of Shut Up Flower Boy Band as the cover of F to F, I shrieked with joy.  All of the magazines at Kinokuniya were wrapped, so sadly I was unable to look at the contents before purchasing.  I decided to take a gamble and buy the magazine, despite knowing how much of Myungsoo I'd actually see inside.  I didn't know that the SUFBB cast was featured in a magazine, let alone one from eight months ago, so I was really happy to add this magazine to my Kpop collection.

The individual photoshoots of the five current members of Eye Candy were beautifully laid out at the beginning of the Shut Up Flower Boy Band spread.  Unfortunately this article was only 10 pages long, but they're filled of gorgeous photos of the flower boy cast.

The next six pages covered the five main actors.  The first two pages were dedicated to Myungsoo (top photo).  These photos alone were worth the price of the magazine!  I love that he's first in the list of characters, despite not being the lead.  The next two pages were of Sung Joon, the main character of the drama.  The following two pages were for the remaining three flower boys.

The last two pages of the spread continued its focus on the remaining three band members of Eye Candy, as well as showed screenshots from the drama.  In total, there were nine stunning photos of Myungsoo, making this magazine a treasure.

The bulk of this magazine has 10 different interviews about two to four pages long each of Hallyu stars, from Korean actors to dramas to boybands.  These interviews include actors John Hoon and Yoo Seung Ho (shortly before entering the military!), drama King Two Hearts, and boybands Boyfriend, Code-V, Shu-I, and more.

There were a few pages of advertisements that caught my eye.  On the back cover (left picture) is an ad for perfume by Korean beauty brand Missha.  On the inside cover (right picture) was an ad for Lotte Duty Free shopping with endorser Jang Geun Suk.  There was also another ad for Jang Geuk Suk's cookbook, showing the singer-actor-(and now chef?) having fun while preparing food.

Overall, I wish that this issue had a larger spread on Shut Up Flower Boy Band.  While the photos from this shoot were nice, it probably wasn't worth the price (but the photos of Myungsoo made up for it).  But I am glad to have a magazine with the lovely Myungsoo on the cover!

Shut Up Flower Boy Band OST Album Review

Shut Up Flower Boy Band is the second drama from the Oh! Boy teen drama series, airing throughout the first quarter of 2012.  It's definitely a more serious teen drama that portrays a school band, Eye Candy, that deals with many hardships, as well as relationships with with rival bands and girls.

This drama is very meaningful to me, because it opened me up to the world of Infinite, all thanks to Kim Myungsoo's stellar acting (...and looks).  I have never considered myself a part of any fandom until I watched the karaoke scene of the band singing along to 'Be Mine.'  Because of the drama's significance, I just had to buy the OST!

I was a bit too excited that in the middle of opening my album, I remembered to take a picture.  The exterior wrapping has a sticker naming the main cast of the drama.

The back cover is full of the flower boy cast, decked out in black.  Included is the tracklist and authentication sticker.

This album's packaging is quite simple, with a sleeve at the left containing the photo booklet and the CD at the right.  The staff credits are listed on the sleeve.  It's a pretty tight fit for the booklet because the sleeve doesn't have a bottom edge (if that makes sense), so I usually just place the booklet between the sleeve and the CD.

The photobook has 22 pages filled with screenshots and behind the scenes pictures of the flower boys.

There are lyrics and credits for all 10 tracks, printed autographs of the cast, gorgeous photos of mostly the six actors (five from Eye Candy and one from the leader of Strawberry Fields, the rival band).  These photos really show Eye Candy as a rock band, portraying the tough guy image throughout the pages.  There are also two pages for the two actresses, Kim Ye Rim and Jo Bo Ah.  The last two pages is a collage of pictures while on set.

Here's the tracklist displayed in the photobook.  Honestly, the majority of the songs from this OST aren't to my liking.  The tracks I do pay special attention to, however, are track 3, "Jaywalking," and track 6, "Love U Like U."  "Jaywalking" is Eye Candy's main hit song that gets played often, and it's definitely grown on me. The song I truly adore is "Love U Like U," which is a pop ballad duet by Kim Myungsoo and Kim Ye Rim. I love this song because it showcases Myungsoo's voice beautifully and the lyrics are just so sweet.  Also I'm surprised that the second track is completely in grammatically correct English, though it's also not my type of song.  Overall, I'm so happy to have this OST in my collection because of its significance to me and because I love Myungsoo so much.

Tokyo's Shinjuku: HMV

I have visited only a handful of locations of music chain store HMV, but the best one was during my stop in Tokyo's Shinjuku area.  This HMV is located on level 6 of the mall Lumine Est, a multistory mall with a basement entrance connected directly at Shinjuku Station's east exit.  While this branch may look small, it has an immense collection of Kpop, from new releases to albums from a few years' back.

At the front of the store is a display of the weekly charts, with one row dedicated to Kpop albums.  If you're just browsing, this is a great place to start to get an idea of the week's most popular music.

In the middle of the store there was a cart of Korean and Japanese magazines featuring Korean singers and actors such as Infinite, Song Joong Ki and Lee Jong Suk.  There were even a few copies of the latest K-Boy Paradise issue, which was released the day before.

In front of the magazine display was an island of the newest Korean Jpop releases.  One side had all three versions of IU's Monday Afternoon single, as well as SNSD's latest Jpop single and Kara's and f(x)'s Kpop albums.  The next section includes the latest from Korean boy bands, such as SHINee and Exo.  In store there are also three electronic kiosks for you to search for specific items and their availability.  Each kiosk also had a set of headphones, so I think you can sample CDs, but I couldn't figure it out.  You can get a glimpse of the kiosk on the right.

The backside of this display has more new Kpop and Korean Jpop releases.  The left has CNBlue's latest Japanese single, along with other CNBlue goods, We Got Married OST, and more.  The right has G-Dragon's and Seungri's latest albums, along with the latest Kpop albums from BTS, BtoB and B.A.P. Provided are headphones to check out these hits (I suppose...I didn't actually test them out).

In the back corner is where majority of the Kpop and Korean Jpop goods are held, and though small, it's well packed and very diverse.  There are popular groups, such as Infinite, Exo, f(x), T-ara, etc., along with more obscure groups like AA, as well as groups from the past like Ss501 and I believe I also saw an Tony An or H.O.T. album.  Majority of the shelves are organized alphabetically for Kpop groups, then the last two shelves are of OSTs and compilation albums.  While the entire discographies of these groups aren't all in stock, there is still a large selection and I'd be surprised if anyone left empty handed at this store!

www.hmv.co.jp is a very handy website to check out before visiting an HMV in Japan.  You can check a specific item and see which Japanese locations have that item in stock, low stock or not in stock; the inventory gets updated every hour.  You can also reserve a copy at a particular store if you create an HMV account and have a Japanese home address.  The three items I desperately wanted were all listed as 'low stock' at the Lumine Est location, and about 24 hours after I purchased these, they were listed as out of stock.  If you see an item listed as 'low stock,' I suggest reserving a copy if you can and picking it up quickly!

I bought Infinite's Ranking King, Infinite's limited full album, Shut Up Flower Boy Band OST and BtoB's Thriller mini album.  The latter two came in a clear plastic wrap with a reusable sticky seal, which was nice.

Also there was a promotional sticker on a few of these albums, which I'm guessing is saying if you buy 2 marked CDs, DVDs or Blurays, then you'll get $1000 Yen off.  Also at the register, a few of my items rung up a few US dollars cheaper than the marked price.  My merchandise was already selling at the listed price, but having these secret discounts added to my amazing experience here.

Overall, I absolutely love Japan's HMV and the inventory system and would love to shop here again someday!

Singapore's Orchard Road: Korean Shopping

Orchard Road is a tourist destination full of high end shopping.  Despite seeing do many western designer stores, I managed to find some stores selling Kpop related goods!

HMV

313@Somerset: 313 Orchard Road #04-23124

HMV is a large music chain store. This location has an extensive Kpop CD collection that lines the shelves of the back wall.  They carry a few CDs from practically every group that's current today (no Ss501).  Korean Jpop isn't common in Singapore, yet I still found Infinite's She's Back single (normal edition).  Korean Jpop would be placed under the Kpop section.

One display also has official Big Bang goods, like fans and rings.

There are also several stands throughout the center of the store that advertise the latest Kpop releases.

Additionally, there is a section for legit Korean dramas and movies.  They had Werewolf Boy, Song Joong Ki's latest movie, but only the Chinese version.  The workers are also approachable; I asked one to look up Infinite's Japanese releases but both of Singapore's locations didn't have any in stock (besides She's Back).

Many DVDs had a "parental guidance" sticker, including Infinite's Second Invasion Evolution concert DVD (...probably for Hoya's solo stage...), surprising me on Singapore's purity.  Overall, I was surprised at the extensive Kpop collection at this HMV!

Books Kinokuniya

Ngee Ann City: 391 Orchard Road #03-09/10/15

Kinokuniya is a Japanese bookstore with branches throughout the globe.  The location in Ngee Ann City is one of two in Singapore. This branch is very large and has an extensive selection of books, yet the Korean culture collection is quite limited.

I asked a cashier if there were any Korean or Japanese CDs or DVDs and he said no. Yet I managed to find a small display of SM and Rain DVDs.

There are also rows upon rows of magazines, and I found one small section of Korean Jpop magazines. This includes various issues of F to F dating throughout 2013 (one of Shut Up Flower Boy Band, one of Infinite H, and one more), @star1, and other magazines featuring Song Joong Ki, Lee Byung Hun and 2PM. There were only one or two copies of these magazines and the issues ranged from most recent to a few months old. All of the magazines had a sealed wrapping, so sadly you can't flip through the magazines to look at the contents inside.

I had to buy F to F featuring SUFBB because of the drama's significance to me! Unfortunately I didn't know the price of the magazine and it wasn't until I reached the cashier that he told me it was $29.30 SGD ($22.99 USD) though retail is $980 Yen ($9.85 USD).  While I know this store is very expensive at the Seattle location, I didn't think Singapore's would be so much more expensive!  While I paid more than I'd like, I'm still happy about my purchase and about finding this rare magazine.

Taxi Ride

To my surprise, the cab I rode in had a nice magazine nestled in both front seat's back pockets.  This magazine featured G-Dragon on the cover and had a few page spread on him.  In the back there was also an advertisement for SkinFood's GoldKiwi line.

If you're in Singapore, catch a taxi and hope there's a Kpop magazine in the back and ride to Orchard Road to buy some Kpop albums and magazines!

Korean Beauty Brand: Etude House and Missing U Harp Seal Hand Cream Review

Etude House is a famous Korean beauty brand whose theme is to make customers feel like princesses living in a dollhouse. Etude House shops are beautifully designed to look pristine and dollhouse-like, matching the brand's theme beautifully, and I wish to visit one someday.

Etude's latest celebrity endorsers are boy band SHINee (one of the collections they promote is Missing U Bee Happy hand creams), along with girl group f(x)'s Krystal and Sulli, who have recently joined to endorse for 2013.

I ordered my hand cream from A-Poly on Amazon.com, since sadly there are no Etude House stores in North America. This seal was approximately $6.50 plus $4.40 for shipping.

The Missing U collection is environmentally friendly and part of the proceeds goes to protecting the particular animal of the product you are buying. This cardboard box is green because it is made of 100% recycled paper and it is printed from soy ink. The box also says that this product won for best packaging in 2011, and I can see why. The soft shape and small size makes this seal super adorable.

As you can see, the seal is so small that it can comfortably sit in the palm of my hand. It holds 30ml of lotion, which is only about one ounce. I can use up one ounce of lotion very quickly, but the packaging is too adorable to pass up so I had to order this!

The Pros

• eco-friendly packaging and helps saves seals
• cute packaging (it makes me want to collect all the Missing U hand creams!)
• small size can be easily stored in purses
• pleasant, subtle green tea scent
• creamy texture moisturizes super dry hands (tried and true, by me!), which is especially handy for the cold, harsh weather I've been facing
• just a penny-sized amount moisturizes my hands
  

The Cons

• small sizes means small amount of lotion (this can be easily used up in a few days, depending on sparingly you use it...okay, I may be exaggerating a bit on this one)
  

Overall, this hand cream is so adorable and I will probably order another animal (most likely the penguin) in the future.

On a related note, I just watched the Behind the Scenes episode of Shut Up Flower Boy Band and there is a scene where Kim Ye Rim gives Kim Myungsoo some hand cream.  By the way, I found out this is episode 14.  It turns out, this hand cream is from the Missing U collection, the Pink Dolphin.  Honestly the Pink Dolphin was the least flattering of the four hand creams, but because Myung Soo touched this, I'm so tempted to buy one for myself...!