Review: Prorance Hair Rich Powder

I have little hair which makes my scalp obvious when I part my hair. I am not balding but because the scalp against my black hair makes it more obvious and ages me.

As you can see below, this was how obvious my scalp was before. As the top of my head is relatively flat, it makes my hair looks flat and sparse too.


Prorance Hair Rich Powder is the first cosmetic product I bought for my hair. I am not familiar with this brand but I note that they have lots of products for hair, so I do feel like they are a hair product specialist.

The product, with its black and gold theme, gives off a luxurious feel.



At the top of the cap is a mirror. A nice touch but I don't think I will be using it to view my application of the product on my hair.



Once opened, there is a white puff and upon shaking it with the puff facing downwards, there will be specks of powder coming out. The powder comes out quite easily. Reminds me of shaking pepper but odourless.



This was how it looked like when I tried shaking it on the back of my hand. The powder stays on quite well when I tried to dry wiped it, but can be easily removed with just water.



This was how my hairline looks like immediately after application. It does look better, especially when I am taking photos from the front. So far I have not experienced any discomfort from using this product. It doesn't feel itchy although I have to clarify that I was in an air-conditioned environment for most part of the time while using this product.

Gmarket Haul #2

frankly speaking, this should be my 5th gmarket haul, but being the lazy me, i didn't blog about the 2nd, 3rd nor the 4th. this haul was ordered during the gmarket black week, aka 1111 (11 Nov). gmarket was having massive discounts, big coupons (20,000W off) and giveaways during black week.

i shall state up front that this was my most disappointing gmarket experience, and i will explain it shortly. before that, let's take a look at the items i bought this time round! shall start with the purchases that pleases me the most.

1) sleeveless turtle neck flare dress (US$15)
this dress fitted me so well! because of my long neck, i like tops/dresses with high neck or turtleneck. a very simple and classic little black dress. i'm on the tall side so many korean one-piece dress tends to be too short, but this was just nice. it doesn't look impressive in my lousy photo as it does when one wears it. i just hope it doesn't shrink after washing!

2) ecole lucy waterproof longwear eye shadow + roll-on makeup remover + lip tint (US$13)
this was such a steal! all these for only US$13, can you believe it?! it's a customizable set of makeup, and the makeup remover was the additional optional item. sorry, didn't manage to get a shot of the orange lip tint, but i will definitely do a makeup review when i try it on. these items were neatly wrapped in bubble-wrap and came in a big box.

3) IPKN starlight eyes (2 colours) + remover (US$9)
i couldn't find any english review of IPKN waterglow starlight eye shadow on the web, but decided to purchase it because of the subtle glittery effect it was supposed to give. their spokesperson is girls generation's tiffany! i did a swatch of one of the colours on my hand, seems pretty cool! again, like all korean cosmetics, it came neatly wrapped and in a big box.

4) henry tee (US$11)
a very simple looking tee, but i don't quite like the material. it doesn't feel like pure cotton and wrinkles easily. although it was neatly packed, but when i opened it, it was all wrinkly.

ok, now back to why i was disappointed with gmarket this time round. out of the 4 items, 3 were very good while 1 was just alright. the problem wasn't with my purchase, but those that i place an order for, but was subsequently cancelled. besides the above 4 items, i also ordered a colourful knit sweater (from same shop as the henry tee) and a checkered sundress. these two items were the most expensive out of the six, so naturally i applied the biggest discount coupons to these items.

for the knit sweater, they changed the status to 'preparing for delivery', only to change it to 'cancelled' a few days later. the money was refunded straight to my credit card. what makes me annoyed is i wasted my biggest coupon on this item which i could have use it on other stuff, and for a in-season item, i wouldn't expect it to be unavailable so soon. btw, they didn't give me the reason for the unavailability, and even after they refunded me, they continue to list the item on their page for people to order.

the sundress was still understandable because it is a off-season item and after they cancelled it, they changed it to "out of stock". the problem is they refunded me in the form of cash balance to my gmarket account. as i have mentioned in one of my earlier posts, such form of cash means you will have to make a purchase from gmarket again to utilize that money. sure you can withdraw it, but currently they only support withdrawing to a korean bank account.

11st Haul #1

a month ago i wrote about my first experience with 11st, but i havent had the time to update on the final outcome of that first experience.

after receiving that email notifying me of trying to push for a quick delivery from the seller, i received a call from 11st. the customer service guy informed me that one of the delayed item was out-of-stock and asked if i wanted to cancel or wait. as i was going on a overseas trip soon, i decided to cancel the item. the guy sounded apologetic over the phone and told me the money will be refunded to me. his english was clear so thats a plus point. i would have been satisfied if they just email me to confirm, but the fact that they did this long-distance call showed that they were more responsible. the problem this time round was quite minor, but imagine if im having major issues, i would think them initiating a phone call would be easier.

ok, so things really did speed up after that phone call. within less than an hour, i received another auto-message email informing me that item has been cancelled and the money refunded. i paid for my order by paypal, so the money was refunded straight into my paypal. this, to me is very important. i know of e-commerce websites, especially korean sites, refunding back to your account which you can either withdraw it to your bank account or use it for future purchases. i dislike the idea of the refunded money being left in the site's account because it sorts of force me to have to buy something if not my money's going to be just left there. the other option of withdrawing to a bank account is very troublesome and most of the korean websites will only support korean banks or credit cards.

my order then proceeded to ship out by ems. ems is usually very fast. from past experiences, shipping by ems will take no longer than 5 working days (on average it was 3) to reach my doorstep. if the parcel reaches singapore at 2-3am on a working day, i can receive it on the same day (by noon). if it reaches singapore in the afternoon, im able to get it the next morning. really fast!

items i bought

rating: 4.7/5
mint green flare skirt. i bought this as a working attire and it didnt disappoint! my most basic expectation of such skirt is that it shouldnt crease or crumple easily. this skirt doesnt. in fact, the material used was above average, though there was minor fray ends. the skirt ended up slightly above my knee (im quite tall), so its still length-appropriate as a working attire. i have since wore it once to work, and my friend complimented it! the mint green is a lovely pastel shade!

rating: 4.7/5

grey glitter slip-on. i really have nothing negative to say about this shoe! its comfy and fits snugly on my feet. i wore it twice so far, never gave me any blisters. its well crafted, shimmery without being too bling. no flaws that are obvious to the naked eye. the only reason why i didnt give it a 5/5 was i think i saw similar slip-ons going at a cheaper price but of cos i can't be sure of the quality of those.

Korean Online Shopping Malls

no doubt, i love korean fashion. they have really unique yet asian-focused items which suit me. there's also a wide variety of items and the attractiveness of korean fashion can be partly attributable to the 'natural' feel their models pull off. with korean pop (kpop) being so popular and internationally recognised these days, it is hard not to get attracted to their style.

being one of the most wired country in the world, korea has many online shopping malls and domestic delivery is usually quick and comprehensive. you can deliver anything from food, snacks, groceries to fashion items all at a click of the mouse.

problem
despite the huge number of online shopping malls (blogshop equivalent), it is hard for people living outside of korea to purchase. here's some of the reasons why:
- some websites require verification of korean identity in order to register
- webmasters can't speak/communicate in english and website are in korean
- items for sale are usually made in small quantities, not enough for international demand
- selling to international customers require certain approval from authorities
- parcel forwarding service for korea products is rare

my experience
i have looked into many of the korean online shopping malls. there's so many beautiful items which i would love to have, but only a handful of such malls cater to the international community.

most of the malls require you to verify your korean identity which makes it impossible for non-koreans to register. although the main page of the mall is usually full of english links/words, but once you clicked in on the item, you will realised the details are all in korean. i have sufficient knowledge of korean to navigate through the website and to purchase, but as i have said earlier, most of these sites are not opened to international customers.

if you really really want to get the item, i supposed emailing the webmaster might work, provided they can speak decent english. the downside is that because they have no structured delivery system for such adhoc international orders, the delivery is usually expensive and payment mode might be limited (e.g. wire transfer which is extremely troublesome). additionally, you will miss out on any loyalty programme that website had to offer as compared to korean buyers.

i did bought a shoe directly from one of the korean sites before. i had to do wire transfer and the entire cost (including the shipping cost) was not worth it. i specifically told the webmaster to give me a brochure (which has my fave idol on it), he agreed, but ended up didn't packed it in the package.

this kind of situation frustrates me. that item looked really good, but yet i cant buy it. sad.

this prompted me to source for more effective way to get similar items... but i shall talk about it another day!