Thursday, June 4, 2009

School + Cosmetics

Hakkyo.... (school)
Ah marketingggg -- the professor is still great and interesting, but sometimes it's a bit nerve-racking to be in his class when he shouts out "YO" all of a sudden after explaining a concept and then picks on someone randomly and asks them a question. The questions really vary from a test to see how much you remember from previous lectures to what would you do in this situation if you were the marketer, your opinion, your personal life, and how life compares in "America" to Korea. He especially likes to call out on the foreign students so sometimes, when I don't know the answer, I try to hide my name card (yea we have to pick up our name card before the start of every class as a form of attendence) behind the person in front of me, out of his view hehe... but it doesn't really work 'cause he knows all our names very well.. and 'pretending to be occupied' doesn't work.. you'll still get called on.

This is a pic from yesterday when he called on both groups who presented on the marketing scheme: Product Placement (PPL) to debate on why a company would chose to spend their money to have their product shown subtly for 10 seconds or less in a movie or TV show rather than make a 30 second commercial where all the attention is on the product. Btw, the answer is simple -- because you have control when you watch TV to either change the channel or go up to do other things during commercials whereas in movies, you are forced, in a way, to pay attention to every aspect and so you will subconsciously remember a brand. One of the PPL groups used the movie ET as an example. Do you remember when ET grabbed those M&Ms? Well, because of it, sales of M&Ms grew by quite a significant percentage (I forgot how much exactly) that year.
I've canceled all my plans for this weekend to stay in and study and work on my projects. I have another 15 page Marketing case study to put together for Monday, a 15 pg OM project to edit, a ton of Korean homework, a Korean Culture and Society final on Wednesday, and my team chose me to present our OM project along with another girl for Wednesday. I'm just going to relax tonight and start work tomorrow morning.
I've got such a funnn weekend ahead of me, don't I?

Fact: the base price for taxis here in Korea has increased by 500won to 2,400won over the weekend! (Oh so that was what the taxi driver was trying to tell me when I cabbed home the night I came back from Japan). This covers the first 2 kilometres. But, if you ride compact cars with an engine power less than 1000cc such as Kia’s Morning (999cc) and GM Daewoo’s Matiz (800cc), it's cheaper (and better for the environment, too)!
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The start of my Japanese makeup collection~
Shiseido Maquillage -- oh how long I've waited to get my hands on these products!
It's known as Shiseido's younger line.
- Agnes B Voyage cosmetics bag
- Shiseido Maquillage Design Cheek Colors in 70 + case
- Shiseido Maquillage Glossy Gloss in 74 (the tri-colour lip gloss.. too pretty to mix the layers up to use...)
- Shiseido Maquillage Cheek Color in PK313
- Shiseido Maquillage Neo Climax Lip in RD745 is hands down the best lip gloss I own (and I own a lottt). It's actually in between a lipstick and lip gloss -- semi-sheer, natural looking, not sticky, and acts like a lip balm, too!
Another Shiseido line called Majolica Majorca is much more affordable than their Maquillage line and delivers pretty good quality products for its price. This lip gloss (800Yen.. approx $10CDN) is much more sheer than I thought it would be, but it smells pleasant and the applicator is angled which makes it easier to apply. A bit sticky. Rouge Majex in BE205.Kanebo's newish line (as of 2007) called Coffret D'or.
I took a risk in purchasing these 2 products... on a whim... without even testing them out.
- Coffret D'or Blend Color Blush (right) in BE-17 (this shade is a contour blush)
- Coffre D'or TD Eyes in 03 (Khaki green tones). I like how they have instructions on the back to tell you how to apply these colours -- especially for a newbie eyeshadow user like myself! If you can't read, you can go onto their English website, which translates it for you. The colours are very pigmented and sparkly. Japanese people seem to love sparkles. I have to get used to the sparkle.Lastly, Jill Stuart!
I indulged. Jill Stuart is a prestigious fashion designer that expanded with its own cosmetics line. Until last year, Jill Stuart cosmetics products were only available in Asia (Japan, HK, and Tw) and they even had a cult following, but now it's available in the States. It's produced by a major Japanese manufacturer (Kose). Their packaging has an ultra-pretty and luxurious yet sophisticated look to them. I would have bought a couple more just because they're so nice to look at if they weren't so pricey. I got an eye brightener cream and a powder blush (neat way to apply) in sunny tan. I actually wore a bit of it today and was surprised when I got compliments on my "new tan". Little do they know, it'll be all gone tomorrow! Magic.

Overall, I'm a big fan of Japanese cosmetics and their packaging. Unfortunately for me, they are not cheap at all (most drug store products from lines like Shiseido + Kanebo range from $25-55CDN and department stores are around $30CDN+.. of course, depending on the item). I think their pigmentation in general is very good quality for what you pay for and their skincare/skin products are exceptional for Asians especially because they seem to understand that Asian skin tone is different and don't all work with MAC.

OK enough about Japanese cosmetics... I've been looking into Korean ones, but so far, I haven't been too impressed with the typical Korean brands like The Face Shop and Etude House. Maybe I'll find some treasures if I look harder! Aja~

1 comment:

  1. Hi Nat~~
    Wow :D I'm jealous! I really like the packaging of japanese makeup too.. but a lot of them are quite expensive, you really did splurge! and now I wana try that lip gloss :P

    ReplyDelete