Review: SBS Super Concert 2019 in Gwangju with KTO and Trazy
Tuesday, 20 August 2019 at August 20, 2019
Since I've penned down my
Love Yourself in Singapore concert experience, I thought my SBS Super Concert 2019 experience should have its own blog post too. Planning my April 2019 Korea trip, I knew that I wanted to meet BTS again and so I jumped onto every single opportunity that would lead me to them. I signed up for weekly music shows (because the universe supports me and coincidentally the 2 weeks I was in Korea was the exact 2 weeks that BTS will be promoting their Map of The Soul: Persona album in Korea!), I participated in fan-sign events (no luck there though), I participated in events for The Fact Music Awards, and I also I participated in a lucky draw for tickets to the SBS Super Concert 2019 in Gwangju hosted by the Korean Tourism Organization.
Honestly, even though the opportunities were endless (lucky K-ARMYs!), it wasn't easy since you're fighting a spot with thousands and thousands of ARMYs who are dying to meet them too, also because the 2 major events will be happening outside of Seoul. Not gonna lie, I was losing hope, until I received an e-mail from KTO stating that I've won two tickets to the SBS Super Concert 2019 in Gwangju! After calculating the travelling costs to and fro Gwangju and Seoul, and making some changes to our itinerary, we decided to buy the tickets and private transport package from
Trazy.
We were picked up at Hongik University so it was super convenient for us since we stay only a station away from Hongik University. I'd say that the tour provided by Trazy was a complete disaster and mess. First of all, our tour guide was so soft-spoken it's ridiculous. Me being an introvert, I understand how it's like to be soft-spoken, but hell you're a tour guide for God's sake! I seriously wonder how he even got the job. On top of that, he was also clueless about everything. Meeting spots, tickets collection, and he also failed to inform us his name and the bus number which made everyone lost for awhile when the concert ended.
Before we went to the stadium, we stopped by Uchi Park in Gwangju which was meant for sight-seeing. To all our disappointment, you actually need tickets to enter the park and so most of us just loitered outside while eating convenience store food. Thankfully for my boyfriend and I, I made rice balls the night before and so we had our very own picnic there. Then it was finally time to head to the stadium! We spent so long queuing for a parking lot which was again, another waste of time because arriving early would actually give us better seats so they should have just let us alight at the entrance. Since I got my tickets from KTO, I got seats on the first floor while the tickets from Trazy were on the second floor.
The stadium was massive and the stage, mind-blowing! It's unbelievable how they've set all of this up just for the SBS Super Concert 2019. The SBS Super Concert 2019 was also being broadcast live and so there were cameras everywhere. This is the first time I've ever attended a music show broadcast and it was eye-opening to see how everything was being filmed!
I didn't had any fanboards or lightsticks and I brought my Map Of The Soul: Persona Album... Just for photo-taking purposes. I sat at the far right of the stage and it was bad. I thought my spot during the Love Yourself in Singapore concert was bad... It wasn't, as compared to my seat here. The line up included IZ*ONE, Momoland, TXT, Hong Jin Young, TWICE, and many others which I'm not familiar with... I wasn't paying full attention because the entire way I was just annoyed by how bad my view was. So before Hong Jin Young and TWICE came out, I decided you know what, Imma steal someone else's seat.
I headed towards the middle and found a few empty seats and I decided to settle there! My boyfriend was afraid of getting caught but many people were changing seats and I noticed some good seats were empty since the beginning anyway. The view was much better and especially good when they came up to the extended stage! Obviously, BTS came out last and it was such an epic moment. The first song they performed was Boy With Luv so I was finally able to do the fanchant I practiced so hard for!
They performed a total of 4 songs which I must say that I'm quite disappointed because during the SBS Super Concert 2018 in Taipei, they performed 6 songs! The songs they performed were Boy With Luv, IDOL, DNA, and Make it Right. I was upset that they didn't perform one of my favourite songs, Fake Love, but happy to get to be able to hear them perform Make It Right live for the first time! Since they knew the audience consisted of many foreign ARMYs, RM also spoke in English to greet the international ARMYs!
Right after the final performance ended, full blown fireworks were put off it was insane!! Being a Singaporean, full blown fireworks shows are rare. Seriously, they only appear during National Day and New Year Day so I really wasn't expecting any fireworks for a concert!
Once the concert ended, we started to look for our tour guide at the meeting spot he fixed earlier and he was no where to be found. After waiting for a few minutes, we decided to head to the parking area to find our bus ourselves but even after walking around the entire parking area twice, we were unable to locate our bus. Thankfully, there were a group of Trazy staff outside the stadium and along with the other lost customers, we waited for our tour guide to finally appear with our bus. Once we arrived at Hongik University, he simply alighted and went to smoke instead of assisting us to get a taxi back to our hotels... All in all, the service and tour from Trazy were below expectations, but the concert was definitely a memorable one!
watch the vlog here.
Labels: BTS, korea, review, travel
Skincare Talk: Hyaluronic Acid
Friday, 16 August 2019 at August 16, 2019
Dealing with dry skin? Dehydrated skin? A compromised skin barrier? Acne? Acne scars? Redness? Skin sensitizing? Skin irritants? Damaged skin? Hydrate. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Because I have oily skin, I've always thought that hydrating my skin isn't
that important, but the fact is, hydration is the solution to every skin problems. If you've read my blog post on
how to moisturize your skin the right way (if you haven't already, you need to read it!), you'll know that there are 3 key components when it comes to moisturizing your skin.
Moisture → Humectant → Emollient.
So in today's Skincare Talk, I will be talking about my favourite humectant, Hyaluronic Acid.
Hyaluronic Acid is a clear, gooey humectant naturally found in our body and humectants in skincare, are substances that attracts and retains moisture. Just like
AHA, hyaluronic acid comes in different molecule sizes and as usual, size matters (that's
not what she said). If the molecule size is too big, it might not be able to penetrate deep into our skin to deliver any benefits, and if the molecules size is too small, it might have an adverse effect on our skin. Fortunately, unless you're a chemist who formulates your own skincare products and hyaluronic acid... There's not much to worry about hyaluronic acids having a negative side effect on our skin.
Think of humectants as moisture magnets. While there are many different types of humectants such as glycerin, AHA, sodium PCA, etc, hyaluronic acid tops the list for me as it can impressively attract and hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water. With hyaluronic acid, we can ensure that our skin is well-moisturized and therefore healthy, plump, and youthful looking.
Since our body produces hyaluronic acid, why do we still need to topically apply hyaluronic acid on our skin? As we age, the amount of hyaluronic acid in our body decreases due to external factors as such as sun exposure, which means our skin's ability to retain moisture, drops. Like I said, hydration is the key to solving all skincare problems, so that also means that dehydrated skin is the source of all skin problems. Dehydrated skin causes acne, peeling, irritations, infections, damage, and of course, all signs of aging. Thus, it is important that we support our skin's ability to hold as much moisture as it could. If you have normal skin, using a regular moisturizer might be sufficient as all moisturizers contains all 3 components (moisture, humectant and emollient), but if you're a person who uses acids like AHA or BHA, or if you have sensitive skin, or dehydrated skin, incorporating hyaluronic acid in your routine will definitely increase your skin's tolerance to potential skin irritants.
As mentioned, there are a few types of hyaluronic acid depending on its molecule size. Most (good) skincare products will include a mixture of a few different types of hyaluronic acid to provide maximum benefit for your skin, so don't be surprise to see a few of them in just one product. Thankfully, the common hyaluronic acids all have similar names, so it's not difficult to distinguish them in the ingredient list. A few of the most common hyaluronic acids are Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, and Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate. If you're interested to know more about how the different molecule sizes will affect our skin, Hada Labo, a great brand to go to if you're keen to start using hyaluronic acid in your routine, has explained the differences in simple terms
here.
There are countless of hyaluronic acid serums and essences in the market at the moment, but always make sure to check the ingredient list. Here's why. The
La Roche Posay Hyalu B5 serum is a popular one that I've seen many Youtubers including Liah Yoo recommend. However, when we dive into the ingredient list, this $55 serum has alcohol as its third ingredient and hyaluronic acid is its 12th ingredient... EH. The
Drunk Elephant B-Hydra™ Intensive Hydration Serum states sodium hyaluronate as one of its key ingredients but this $74 (omg) serum has Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer as its 13th ingredient and Sodium Hyaluronate as its 17th ingredient... The $64
Sunday Riley Tidal Brightening Enzyme Water Cream has hyaluronic acid listed as its first key ingredients but Sodium Hyaluronate is the product's 20th
-ish ingredient. 20th-
ish because I lost count.
Well, if it's not obvious by now, my current go-to product for hyaluronic acid is none other than
The Ordinary's Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5. At only $11, this serum has Sodium Hyaluronate as its 2nd ingredient, and Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer as its 5th ingredient. This serum is also oil-free and alcohol free, unlike the examples given above. Whenever my skin feels extra dehydrated, I will top it up with the
Hada Labo Whitening Premium Lotion ($19) which contains 3 different types of hyaluronic acid along with vitamin C and E for brightening effects.
In conclusion, hyaluronic acid has become a staple in my routine especially after I've started using chemical exfoliants such as BHA and azelaic acid. These acids are really easy to overdo (and yes I've done it multiple times...) and therefore, it is really important for me to maintain the health of my skin by always ensuring that it is well-moisturized. If you have acne and is currently using an acne treatment like benzoyl peroxide or epiduo, these treatments can dry out your skin (like crazy), so you may want to consider adding hyaluronic acid in your routine as well to avoid any negative side effects.
Labels: beauty, review, skincare, skincare talk, tips
BTS Comic Cafe 만화가게 V from Run! BTS Ep 66
Tuesday, 13 August 2019 at August 13, 2019
Located right along the bustling streets of Gangnam, I decided to pay Cartoon Shop V, or 만화가게 V a visit after shopping at the Chicor Flagship Store. If you're a BTS ARMY, you should be familiar with this comic cafe as it was first featured in the Anpanman Skit where Taehyung and Jimin visited the cafe, ate some delicious food and cuddled together in the resting area while Taehyung studied English! It was later featured again on episode 66 of Run! BTS where all 7 members gathered together to play games and compete with the Run! BTS staff.
This cafe is located on the second floor of a building called 영동빌딩 (
google map) which is located in between Nonhyeon and Sinnonhyeon subway station. In my opinion, it is located slightly nearer to Nonhyeon station. Keep a lookout for the logo and signage of the cafe as they also have a sign outside the building! We took the stairs up and it being a pretty small building, it didn't require any effort at all to find the cafe. Upon arrival, there are pictures of the boys outside and also a notice to remind visitors that this isn't a tourist attraction so you're not allowed to simply go there just to snap photos!
To enter the cafe and gain access to their facilities, you'll need to pay 3,000 won per pax for an hour of staying in the cafe. I find this reasonably priced if you're a comic fanatic and even if you're not keen on reading comics, there are also board games available. One of the reasons why I wanted to visit the cafe was also because the food looked delicious! The cafe has a "BTS menu", so you can order whatever BTS ordered when they visited.
I decided to go with a simple bowl of ramen and the sausage and rice cakes (sau-tteok) Jungkook was raving about. I can't remember the prices of the food but I remembered it being very expensive considering how the menu simply consists of instant food. The ramen was none other than plain ol' instant Shin ramen and the sau-tteok was just covered in ketchup and fried shallots.
When we arrived at the cafe, it was literally empty for awhile before one guy came in to chill in one of the tents at the back. The cafe was very clean, very quiet, and well-organized and even the pillows and in-house slippers were neatly arranged. After I had my fill, I decided to take a break in one of the resting area where Taehyung and Jimin were cuddling at. The pillows and blankets felt a little dusty and... Dirty. Obviously, I don't expect them to wash them everyday so just a heads up if you're somehow expecting them to be clean.
BTS stickers can be found at the specific spots where the members had hung out at, if you wanna be a creep like me and make sure that I'm using the same table as Taehyung and Jimin.......... Like I mentioned, the cafe was empty so it wasn't difficult getting these spots at all.
Overall, I thought it was an interesting visit since I don't think I've ever been to a comic cafe in my life. But it was definitely an expensive experience since my boyfriend and I simply ate there so we basically paid 6,000won on top of the expensive food just to have processed, instant food. The cafe was also awfully quiet since it was empty and so I'm not sure if it'd be appropriate to actually play board games there while other people are reading. Nevertheless, if you're a BTS ARMY, I do think it's worth paying it a visit while you're around the area! Before you leave, make sure to leave a message for the boys because who knows, they might be back again during their free time or for another episode of Run! BTS!
Labels: BTS, food, korea, travel
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