Stop & Chat: Word Vomit

M returned from his work trip on Friday the 1st.

Stop & Chat: Hamster Lids, Stickers, and FACE MASKS!!

Remember when I said I was done buying plants? That all but my heartiest of hearty snake plants liked dying off and I was tired of wasting money on them? Yeeeah.

M went to the Garden 5 the other day and sent some pictures of the plants they had. I couldn't resist asking him to pick up a few. I've been craving more life in the house. Plant life, that is. We have more than enough animal life going on currently. LOL

Lush Shampoo Bars

I've known about Lush and their shampoo bars for over five and a half years. I've tried their makeup, conditioner, bubble bars, bath bombs, body butters, hand oils, hair creams, and jar shampoos. I have gushed thick and thin about some products and given my best "thanks but no thanks" to others. Why, then, has it taken so long for me to try out the very first product of theirs that I discovered in the depths of YouTube?

The answer may never be known, but now I've had some time to play with these three shampoo bars and can give my thoughts.

Haul: Solstice Scents January 2017

This has been a long time coming. I originally wanted to make this order in late Spring/early Summer 2016, but it turns out the whole reason I was making my order was a Winter only scent! Snowshoe Pass, why did you make me wait so long?!

While I was on the site I decided to try out some other fragrances in eau de parfum form that I quite enjoyed in oil extrait form. I learned from Rose Mallow Cream that oil extrait and eau de parfum behave very differently once on the skin, and sometimes not in the way you expected or wanted. Perhaps a newbie lesson, one I needed to relearn, but a lesson nonetheless.

I placed my order on January 11th and it shipped... on January 11th. Less than four hours after I paid I already had a shipping notification. Talk about a fast TAT!

Haul: Zoya Black Friday 2016

Who can resist a sale? A once in a lifetime opportunity? A 70% off sale from a brand that usually retails for anywhere between $8 and $10 and has consistently great performance on your nails? I don't know about you, but I sure couldn't resist. My only regret is that I did not unleash the crazy. Alas, it's time to wipe my tears and turn my attention to these beauties!

I submitted my order on November 25th and it shipped on December 1st. Due to shipping restrictions, this had to be shipped via boat and did not arrive until January 11th. Thus, this belated Black Friday haul post!

Haul - Sniff My Tarts December 2016 Opening

I did not ask for this. I did not plan for this. My dear bloggy friends reminded me constantly, pushing and prodding at my feeble self control with their talk of blends and plans for this opening. Before I knew it, I was planning out blends. You know. Just in case. Then I found myself perusing the new website and testing out the new gift registry system. Just in case.

Before I knew it, Amy announced the website was open. My poor fingers had a mind of their own. How did they remember my payment information?! Why were my eyes complying, reading off the order and comparing it to my Just In Case list? How can one submit an order with such speed when they obviously had no intentions of ordering?

Alas, it was too late. I admitted defeat to my friends, confessed to my husband... then settled in with extreme excitement at the thought of another order. Imagine my pleasure when I discovered I was 12th in line - in the first group!

I placed my order on December 2nd, paid shipping on December 12th, and my package shipped on December 13th.

Haul - Satin Suzie Scents Black Friday 2016

Better late than never, right? At least, that's what I keep telling myself. Anyway, here's my very belated Satin Suzie Scents haul! Around Black Friday, Bernadette offered themed samplers, each featuring 10 scent shots for $15. I decided to pick two up, and boy am I glad I did!

Haul: Stickers from Brandys Shop!

This isn't exactly a Black Friday/Cyber Monday haul that I asked about in one of my Stop & Chats, but it arrived during that time so I'm going to rope it in with those other posts. LOL

Brandy's Shop is a sticker shop that specializes in stickers designed to correspond with the layouts of several commonly used planners such as the Erin Condren Life Planner and the Happy Planner from Me And My Big Ideas. I bought from them in late September and fell in love with their weekly kit style, so when they had a sale in early November I jumped at the chance to further stock up.

Let's get straight to it!

Haul: The Bathing Garden August 2016

This might be a bit out of season now that Halloween has passed, but my experience with Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas melts is they're fairly interchangeable in the cooler months. That works out if you seem to've fallen behind on melting.

This was a fairly monumental order for me because I finally decided to bite the bullet and try out some of Shannon's much praised bath and body!

I placed my order on August 4th and it shipped on September 15th, within her stated turn around time.

Haul: Lush Korea September 2016

Lush restock time! I foolishly let my shampoo run out and had to use drugstore stuff for about a week, and my scalp is still hating me for it. I'm also slowly checking into indie vendors for a good shampoo & conditioner solution, but until I find something that works I'm going to have to keep going back to Lush. This particular haul was a little bit of restocking, little bit of trying new things, little bit of "hey Liz wants to spoil herself so let her buy some bubble bars, dammit!"

Stop & Chat: September 9-15 - Yatap-dong (야탑동), Chuseok (추석), and More!

This past week has been another whirlwind of activities. Get your food and/or drink of choice, because it's a long one!

Haul: Glitterati Mystery Box List 2016

This box snuck up on me. I'd completely forgotten about hopping on the list until Janine tagged me on Facebook in the call up post. I'm not one to say no to some Glitterati, so off to pay my invoice I hopped! Let's oogle some wax together, shall we?

I paid my invoice on August 20th and the box was shipped on August 25th.

Haul: Etude House August 2016

This is a prime example of why samples are awesome, both for consumers and businesses. In my last haul post I mentioned receiving a freebie of the Toning White C skincare set. I loved it so much I went back and bought full sizes in the skincare set. Thus, this haul!

The price breakdown of each product will be a little different. I will share the price in USD found on the international Etude House storefront, the price I pay here in Korea in both Won and USD, as well as the sale pricing I paid on the particular day I went to the store. That's a lot of numbers and I don't blame you if you think it's too much information, but I think it's good to include all of this information, both for other people and for my own records. This blog doubles as a personal diary, after all. ;)

Another side note, the English translations of each products' purpose might not flow very well. I still included it so you could get an idea of each products' purpose.

Let's move on to what I got... even though you can see it all right here. Shh, we all know you're just here for the pictures. :P

Stop & Chat: August 16-19 - Garden 5, EMart, IPark... Everywhere

I got a very special package on Tuesday that I will be blogging about soon. In any case, Tuesday was spent waiting for that package. I'm actually disappointed in myself. I spent so much time worried about that package that I didn't really do anything. I watched YouTube all day and played the various Halo games with my siblings. Technology is so awesome, so long as you don't become completely entrenched in it.

Anyways, on to the rest of my week!

Willow Metals - Deep Purple Amethyst Studs

After Julie's post about Willow Metals, I couldn't help but meander my way to Heather's Etsy store and take a peek myself. Imagine my pleasure when I saw this lovely set of earrings for the low cost of $19!

These earrings have 5mm African Amethyst cabochons set in a sterling silver bezel. As Julie pointed out in her post, these are a comfortable wear.

I also have to take some time to gush over the packaging. The earrings came in a bubble mailer that had a sprinkling of lavender and rosebuds in it, leaving everything smelling absolutely divine. Within the mailer was this little package with a simple yet beautiful wrapping of tissue paper and yarn. Within that bag was the purple cloth drawstring you can see in the top picture, which had the earrings within. Between each layer (except the one between purple drawstring and earrings) was a healthy coating of bubble wrap. I appreciate all the care taken to make sure these earrings got to me in South Korea in one piece. I will definitely be buying from Willow Metals again in the future!

Have you checked out Willow Metals yet?

Haul: Etude House July 2016

Oh, girl. Have I got a basket of complaints for you! Not about these products. Just about life and hot-as-balls-temperatures and photography woes. How am I supposed to take pictures when it is constantly overcast/raining? How am I supposed to write out a blog post when just thinking about sitting in the office makes me sweat in all the wrong places? My temporary solution has turned into bringing out the laptop. Which involved stealing it from M's work bag LOL. He is not a happy camper today. Anyways, that rant is for another post and another time.

Today I'm going to talk to you guys about my lovely haul from Etude House! This was the same store I had the lovely experience I talked about in this Stop & Chat post. Just thinking about it gives me (and my face) a warm glow.

Anyways, let's move on to what I got!

Haul: Candles From the Keeping Room July 2016

This haul wasn't exactly planned. I happened to be on Facebook when Carol posted that the website was open, and after I consulted my handy blogging group of friends I decided to go ahead and place an order. I am in need of Fall scents, after all.

This order was placed on July 16 and it shipped on July 17. Carol and I had a pleasant exchange after she had some difficulties creating her shipping label for my purchase, and she insisted that I let her know when my package arrived safely.

Let's get to looking at the lovely wax!

Haul: Glitterati Customs 2015

It's here. It's here. It's here! My unicorn wax! Let me do a little dance of happiness. For those of you who don't know, The Glitterati Candle Co is a one-woman show run entirely through her Facebook group. The owner, Janine, has carved a reputation for herself as a creator of amazingly high quality wax tarts and as a result her wax has become incredibly popular. Add the fact that she has no intentions of expanding due to familial obligations and you have some seriously rare wax.

TAT is a little difficult explain. I submitted my order to Janine on May 25th and it shipped on June 14th - 3 weeks. Sounds amazing, right? Look at the title of this post. I did not make a typo when I put in '2015.' On the afternoon of March 21st, 2015, I was one of 100 people who managed to say "me" early enough for a customs sign up list. My name originally came up in December, but I had to defer as we were in the middle of a move. So depending on how you view it, TAT could be almost 15 months. For the 2016 customs list, Janine tightened up her rules on orders to ensure a shorter TAT this time around, including the removal of the option to defer to the bottom of the list. My point is, Janine's methods of operation aren't for everyone. I still can't figure out whether I like or dislike it, but I can appreciate that Janine has been incredibly open about TATs, where she is at on X mystery list and Y customs list, and her reasons for staying a one-woman team run out of her house's kitchen.

Now that we have all of that boring introduction stuff out of the way, let's get to the fun stuff - what exactly I got!

Haul: Doorihanji in Insa-dong!

See that piece of Hanji above? I made that with the items I am about to show you. This store even has an online storefront for those who are curious: doorihanji.co.kr. It's all in Hangul, of course, but using Google Translate has helped me navigate the page enough to find prices. Looking at the page, though, I realize that I definitely get a cheaper price in store. I know I did not pay the price on the website for my paper.

Anyways, on to what I got! I will try and include the prices I paid. I even have a handwritten itemized receipt. The only problem is my receipt is in Hangul, and it's not written big enough for a translator app to pick up on. Sooo.... I might be guestimating on some of these items! :) (But Liz, why don't you just learn Korean? Shhh, I am. I still don't know enough to understand what I'm reading)

Haul: Beezy Tarts March 2016

Ah, Beezy. The vendor whose wax I seemed to always get in destashes but never ordered directly from.
This year I aimed to change a lot of my previous experiences with vendor wax and ordered directly from said vendors. Sniff My Tarts was one of those vendors. Beezy is another.

I placed this order on March 6 and it shipped on May 9. A nine week TAT (technically within the stated TAT of 35-40 business days) that felt longer than it actually was. I think it's just because I was worried about missing the package and it being sent back. Our mail center only holds mail for so long before it's returned, making it important that we check mail frequently.

I've had his wax sitting in front of me for about 3 weeks now, so I think I should finally get to posting about it, yes?