On Korea + Allergy Update + Awards + Macaron Lovin'

UPDATE @ 5:40PM:

I know this post is already a mishmash of many things but for those who aren't aware:

On the 23rd, North Korea fired onto Yeonpyeong Island, located just south of the maritime border with a civilian population of about 1,600 and a military presence of 1,000. Two South Korean marines were killed, while 16 soldiers and 3 civilians were injured. This act of aggression comes eight months after the sinking of the South Korean Cheonan ship that killed 46 sailors. Read more in the following articles (in English) from Joongang Daily, Reuters, and New York Times. - Dramabeans

Especially nowadays, people are becoming more aware of South Korea through Kpop, k-dramas and movies but the fact remains is that those things reflect only one facet of Korea.  The glamorous, happy image K-entertainers portray tend to overshadow much of the troubles that continue to plague the Koreas.  The Korean War continues to this day (no peace treaty was ever signed), families are still separated by the DMZ, and no matter how far South Korea goes economically, North Korea remains its unpredictable brother that holds it back.

Anyway, I won't get into my political opinions right now but I hope that this encourages and challenges the people who say they "love" Korean culture to start looking beyond the glossy images of Korea's singers, dancers, and actors and see Korea as it truly is, warts and all - and to love Korea even so.

***And just to clarify, I'm not trying to single anyone out for not being all "into" global politics or something ^_^ I was just in a philosophical mood after seeing my brother's friends gawking over Suju & SNSD while having no idea what else is going on in Korea :\  I'm sorry if there was any misunderstandings ^^~ *sigh* I need to watch myself when I get up on my soapbox ><

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Hi, everyone~
I'm sorry I have been really slow on reviews lately but my skin really needs a break (for reasons I'll explain below) so unfortunately, here's another filler post :(  For people waiting for the concealer video, I still have to film the last bit and with my face being so friggin' annoying I haven't been able to do it yet >_>

Anyway, remember my post about what I thought was a pineapple allergy?  Well, the good news is that I'm not allergic to pineapples (or the Skinfood Pineapple Peel in general) :) The bad news is that I'm allergic - for sure - to this:

I could choke on the amount of irony written on this jar....

I got a sample of this with my UD BoSIII palette but forgot about it till now.  I remembered that I had used this for the first time on pineapple day but honestly, this moisturizer is known for it's gentleness that it didn't even occur to me it could be this.   Basically,  by two days ago my skin had pretty much returned to its old self.  I figured I could finally start moisturizing again (I always cut off lotions/makeup when my face is having a flare-up) and after washing my face with Theragenics Tomato Carrot Soap (not allergic to this b/c I've used even when my face was recovering) and used a Skinfood Pumpkin Gel Mask (I also used this every night while my face was recovering and it helped it heal, so not allergic to this either), I put on the Philosophy Hope In a Jar.  My skin felt tingly (I thought in a good way) and I went to sleep.

When I woke up in Monday, I had broken out in hives again.  Today my face is swollen and much worse so than last time; the itchiness has also intensified.  Unfortunately, this is not surprising since it's said allergic reactions get worse each time your exposed to the allergen again.   It'll take a good 3-4 days (perhaps longer this time) before it goes away.  

Water/Aqua/Eau, Glycerin, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Oil, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Glyceryl Stearate, Peg-100 Stearate, Octyldodecanol, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Lecithin, Tocopheryl Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Arachidyl Propionate, Ethyl Linoleate, Ethyl Linolenate, Citric Acid, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Salvia Officinialis (Sage) Oil, Triethanolamine, Limonene, Linalool, Diazolidinyl Urea, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

I googled "Hope In A Jar allergy" and the only page I came across fingered lavender as the culprit.  I admit I've never put lavender on my face but I'm wary of jumping to conclusions because I have put on the Bath & Body Works Lavender Chamomile Sleep Lotion many times on my body with no problems (well, a year or so ago).  Either the lavender concentration in the lotion isn't high enough or I've developed a lavender allergy or my reaction isn't to lavender.   Bottom line: I doubt I'll ever figure out what I'm allergic to specifically but no more Hope In A Jar for me.  This is really disappointing to me as I wanted to try Philosophy's Microdermabrasion set and now I'm wary of it.

So that's where I am right now and why I haven't been in the mood to test out and review any makeup :(  Ugh....not a good way to start Thanksgiving break...

Now on to the happy stuff :D~~~

My weekend got a really nice start when I found out suki pooki tagged me for this award ^_^   I was especially moved because even though this is a beauty blog, I like to write about a lot of other things as well and I worry if that's really a good thing ^^  So thank you suki pooki!

Rules
1.) Thank and link back to who gave you this award.
2.) Share seven things about yourself.
3.) Pass it along to seven other blogs of which you've recently discovered and leave them a note to tell them of the award.

7 Bits of Trivia
1.) My feet are small - I wear 5.5 - 6.5 to my 5'6 height.  Maybe that's why I'm clumsy xD?
2.) I used to collect stickers and I still have them! I have a couple really cool ones...fuzzy, glow-in-the dark, holographic....
3.) I cut my nails when I'm stressed out. You can literally judge my stress levels by my nail length.
4.) I brush my teeth in the shower.
5.) I've never broken a bone.
6.) When I yawn, I cry.  I dunno why, tears just come out ^^
7.) My cousin in an actor in Korea (really :D!)  And yes, he still acts in dramas and movies, maybe you've seen him on-screen once ;)

7 Versatile Bloggers
1.) 6ixx
2.) Ice Pandora
3.) Happy Cloud Moments
4.) Peacefully Folding
5.) Worship at the House of Blues
6.) Exotic Japan
7.) All Things Marie

Needless to say this was just a cherry on top of my weekend ^_^ Elisa Lee of Memorabledays tagged me this award - thank you ^_^ Even better, there are no rules ;) just tag-a-fy 15 lovely people~ Fyi, if you already got this, that's why I didn't tag you ^^

1.) Mara
2.) Cambo Soup
3.) Siwing
4.) Asami - her nailsssssssss!!!
5.) Pop Champagne
6.) PDXBeautiful
7.) 52 New Days
8.) Occasionally Cute
9.) Clover Beauty Inn
10.) Sarah Hassan
11.) Msodapop
12.) Sisi Sparkles
13.) tuttifruttibeauti
14.) Beauty & the Scientist
15.) wuguimei

And on to the last sweet thing~

Mini macarons!  I was talking to suki pooki about these ^_^  I got this from Wegmans and it's the first time I've tried these.  I don't remember how much they were and though I remember thinking they were a little pricey, I totally don't regret buying them because they're just so doggone cute!

A macaron.... is meringue-based: made from a mixture of egg whites, almond flour, and both granulated and confectionery sugar. The confectionery is characterized by its smooth, domed top, ruffled circumference (referred to as the "foot"), flat base, mildly moist and easily melted into mouths. Connoisseurs prize a delicate, egg shell-like crust that yields to a moist and airy interior. The macaron is commonly filled with a buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two macaron cookies.

I'm not a good judge of these since it's the first time I tried them but they were indeed delicately crisp on the outside with a moist, fluffy interior.  They were delectably sweet and I finished these in one sitting ^^

Pistachio - I don't like pistachios normally but it tasted very good as a macaron ^^ I actually think this was my favorite :D

Lemon - tastes just like a lemon!  The lemon ones seemed more 'moist' than the others for some reason but it still tasted very good, if a bit on the sweet side rather than tangy side.

Chocolate - SO SWEET even to me.  It was like a bite of triple layer chocolate cake!  But they were good, oh so good. Very moist and rich!

Strawberry - how can you go wrong with strawberry ^_^?  It was very good but the flavor a little artificial for my taste.  Not "subtle" just in your face strawberry (flavoring).

Vanilla Bean - very sweet, though not as much as the Chocolate one. It tasted very "natural" if that makes any sense - it was good :D

Lisa also introduced to this friggin amazing macaron shop on Etsy, Sparkles Kitchen.  Omg they look so good O_O and so many unusual flavors!

miniReview: SkinFood Pineapple Peeling Gel + Pineapple Allergy?

Update 11/24/2010

Ok I lied - I'm not actually allergic to pinapples or the Skinfood Pinapple Peeling Gel at all.   I was reacting to the Philosophy Hope In A Jar moisturizer.  Read my full post about it here.

Guess what? So I had a most unpleasant surprise last Friday - I found out that I'm allergic to pineapples. Interestingly, I can eat the raw fruit just fine, so how did I find out about this allergy?  Well, of the thousands of fruit-products out there I decided to try the Skinfood Pineapple Peeling Gel.

A deep peeling gel with Pineapple Extracts that exfoliate the skin, thus enhancing skin turnover.

From YesAsia.com.

It worked very well on my brother (he's my guinea pig wbahaha). He legit turned 2-3 shades lighter and his skin tone evened out a lot (and many reviews concur this is a nice buy).   So with high hopes I smeared this liberally on my face and because I love you all so much I shall reveal to you exactly how I spent my weekend:

....yes, that is my extremely resentful eye staring at you. And yes, even my tear ducts were swollen -___-   I'm afraid I don't have the cajones to put my entire miserable face up but I think you get the idea ;) So, basically I broke out with hives all over my face ~7-10 hrs later and itched like a madwomen for about 3-4 days.  I took nothing but Claritin (works better on me than Benadryl) and abstained from all makeup/lotions except a gentle cleanser for 4 days. I didn't scar at all but it was a trial for my patience since I couldn't scratch anything.

Honestly, I'm not 100% sure if it's pineapple that caused this or something else in the Skinfood Peeling Gel.  Since I can still eat pineapples and I got hives just on my face, I am exploring the possibility that my allergy may be to some other ingredient.  I'm currently spot-testing myself (must be my lab rat side coming out) to narrow the possibilities.  Either way, this peel is most certainly not for me since I know it was the peel that caused it, pineapple or no.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I read that people allergic to either mangoes, pineapples, or kiwis (all acidic fruits) tend to be allergic/sensitive to all three of these fruits.  I broke out in hives around my mouth in HS because I developed an allergy to mangoes (*sigh* I must have been asked if I had an STD 100x) so I guess I should not be surprised I've developed some kind of sensitivity to pineapples as well.  I love kiwis so I hope that I won't become allergic to that too >_>  Something that kind of supports my allergy theory (tho still unconfirmed) is that my brother is not allergic to mangoes and he took to this gel like a fish to water.

To clarify, this isn't a review of the Skinfood Pineapple Peel, it's more of a warning to those allergic to mangoes, pineapples or kiwis to avoid this peel because you may not react well to it.  Otherwise, it's fairly cheap ($12 at YesAsia) and my brother and other people got a very good result from the gel; give it a wing if you wish~