Nature Republic x EXO Natural Butter Lip Balm 01 Cherry (Baekhyun) & 02 Strawberry (Chen) Review

I saw Nature Republic released these lip balms on my birthday in December 2015. I lusted after these for the longest time, but then rationalised that buying the hand creams were better value. A single lip balm is 6000 won, but you get two tubes of hand cream and a photocard for 6600 won. So I decided not to get the lip balms.

Every time I went wandering around in the city, I would go into one of the many shops which sell Korean and Japanese makeup and look at their testers. I kept on swatching these lip balms and convincing myself that they weren't worth it (even though they smell really, really good). I love the Nature Republic Wild Cherry hand cream that got discontinued a year or two ago and kept on thinking maybe, just maybe, I should pick up the Cherry version of this lip balm because the scent was so similar. Baekhyun (who happens to be my bias) is also on the packaging.

Nature Republic EXO Hand and Nature Hand Cream Review (D.O Shea Butter and Baekhyun Wild Berry)

EXO is my kpop weakness. Do I need more hand cream? Do I want this hand cream beyond the EXO branding, the packaging, and the photocards? Well...

The answer is no. I still purchased these hand creams anyway.

These Nature Republic Hand and Nature Hand Creams are from the same series as this set of hand creams I reviewed a few years ago. They were repackaged at the end of 2014 and got an EXO makeover at the end of 2015. You can purchase the regular packaging if you do not like the EXO branding.

I drafted this post on the 24th of April, but haven't posted it until the 24th of July. As a result, I have actually used up quite a bit of both hand creams and can give a more accurate representation of my opinions on both these hand creams.

Cosmetic-Love Mini Haul and Review

Nature Republic released another new EXO collaboration in mid December 2015 (pretty much on my birthdayT_T). I have been getting itchy about getting the lipbalms because it came in a Cherry flavour and it had a cute Baekhyun cartoon on it. Also the 2nd photobook/catalogue. After thinking about it for three months and checking out multiple online retailers, I decided to settle with two sets of the handcreams from Cosmetic-Love.

I like that Cosmetic-Love allows you to change the currency to something other than USD and KWN. I found it very helpful to see how much everything costs in AUD. There is also free shipping worldwide which I find to be a better deal when purchasing bits and pieces. However, I don't find the site particularly easy to navigate and I keep on missing out on the 'prices from' text on the bottom of selected items. 

There was a 10% discount on Nature Republic so I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to pick up some handcreams. I am currently on a self-imposed no-buy and I used this as an opportunity to celebrate my small win of getting some contract work. I consistently work through and use my handcreams so I wasn't worried about hoarding these.

Testerkorea haul and review #2 (Nature Republic EXO Standees, masks, photobook|| O HUI, Laneige edition)

*Sigh* I actually wrote this on 4th of September and it got deleted! The entire thing. Here is my review again that I managed to salvage as an image that I lovingly retyped -_-

This haul was from a while ago, so these are my thoughts on the old site, before Testerkorea had a total site overhaul in June, 2014. I have not ordered from them since. Unfortunately, my second shopping experience was not as fantastic as my first one, but it was still great service!

Order Timeline

Email for manual order: 11/02/14
Confirmation of order: 12/02/14
Payment sent: 12/02/14
Payment confirmed: 20/02/14
Items shipped: 25/02/14
Arrived: 04/3/14

As you can see, the order process was a pain. It took around a week and a half for everything to be shipped. The package arrived surprisingly quickly through standard shipping though (four working days)!

Oh, so many foam pieces!

MCM x LuHan

Stress, stress, everywhere. Stay safe everyone! <3

(For the first time this year, I felt like sketching something... and it came at 2am. I hope those terrible rumours about Lu-ge aren't true and that he takes some time to recover well). 

[10/10/14 edit]: So the rumours were not baseless. I hope Luhan recovers well and is able to progress with his career. EXO-M was the first group I followed from debut. What's going to happen next? Is EXO-M going to merge into EXO-K and permanently be EXO? Or will K members join M whilst doing promotions? 

2yearswithexo

Just dug up this photo from my hard drive to celebrate (and to procrastinate). Two years since EXO became life ruiners.

Some of my *ahem* EXO collection

From from left to right --> top to bottom

1. Sunny 10 Grape (D.O)
2. Sunny 10 Pineapple (Kai)
3. (Kris' pirate) Baby Alpacasso aka. "Ace"
4. XOXO First Year phone swing
5. Nature Republic EXO photobook + envelope underneath
6. Nature Republic Snail Solution Hydrogel Mask Sheet
7. Nature Republic Hand & Nature Apple Mango Hand Cream (Baekhyun's choice)
8. Nature Republic Hand & Nature Wild Cherry Hand Cream (Luhan's choice)
9. Nature Republic EXO Standees; Xiumin, Luhan, Kris, Lay, Chen, Tao, Suho, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, Sehun (I'm sorry I cut you off ;__;)

A very tiny collection to celebrate their two year anniversary! Gonna stare at my EXO-K MAMA poster and regret my life decisions for not picking up their The Face Shop advertorial posters when I had the opportunity. Also making angry eyes at the website I picked the standees from-- I got them for 1500won each and now it's 9900won for the entire set. But it's still worth it to see these happy faces smiling at you when you're studying:)

:)

I'm pretty excited for their comeback and their solo tour! I wish my full time job was a combination of a fangirl/ TouhouPokemonVN gamer/ cosplayer/ Vocaloid karaoke singer. If only. Back to the terrible reality of 1000000 assignments and responsibility.

Nature Republic: Hand & Nature (aka Nature Republic EXO's Hand Cream) Review/ Baekhyun and Luhan's Pick

I haven't really seen many reviews of these hands creams by Nature Republic floating around so I thought I'd give my two cents. Ever since EXO started endorsing Nature Republic, I've actually taken up the want to try something besides their highly raved Aloe Vera 92% Soothing Gel (which is still on my wishlist). Looks like their marketing ploy is working. Just according to keikaku ಠ_ಠ

There are more varieties in this hand cream series than even EXO can endorse:

I purchased Baekhyun's Apple Mango and Luhan's Wild Cherry from Testerkorea for 4620 won each (normal price is 6600 won). 

EXO-K Sunny 10 blast drink (Kai's pineapple) and Qoo White Grape

So finally this CF came out recently after like a year in the making...

I actually found the exact Sunny 10 pineapple drink that Chanyeol is holding in this CF. I got it from a supermarket in World Square for a dollar at the beginning of February. Yes, a dollar! They only had Kai and Chanyeol's version and since Kai is one of my bbs, I got his version of the drink.

Sunny 10 Pineapple (Kai's pick:)

The English side of the drink.

Uh, I haven't drank it yet. I was just going to keep it on my desk and eventually on my self for decoration because I don't really like pineapple flavoured items=__=

I would like to find Baek's version because I like Baekhyun.

-----

A few weeks later, I went back to World Square supermarket and purchased this drink along with Korean rice cakes (tteokbokki) and sweet chilli fried chicken to have for dinner with my mum.

I purchased Qoo (クー) White Grape Juice. Both this drink and the Sunny 10 drink is produced by the Coca Cola Company. I like Minute Maid so I purchased this one to drink to drown the spiciness of the rice cakes. 

On the way back to the station, people were handing out free cans of Coke Zero:)

Taste: 3.5/5

It was a light grape flavoured juice. It was tasty, but not mind blowing. 

Price: 2/5

From memory it was around $1.80. A pretty good price.

Sorry, I took the photos from my phone then threw the can away...

Kids Alpacasso; べーJr.

My friend Alanna won him from the UFO machines at the Capitol. He's so, so, soooooo cute >__<

His little tail... little feet...floppy ears... furrrrrr (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) But don't worry Tofu, I haven't forgotten about your cuteness.

I cannot.

Ever since I saw Kris from Exo-M carry around his son Ace... I thought these alpacas were cute.